Pinterest therapy ...

Today I am feeling very superficial. Do you have days like this? So as to address my shallow state of mind I thought it only appropriate, even therapeutic to spend sometime on pinterest. I have lusted after photos of fashion, food and houses. My little bit of therapy :)

Humour me friends :) Imagine if you will, what it must be like to have:

Hair like this ....

Or to look like this ( I told you, I am being superficial) ...



A dress like this .....



Or do you prefer this one?



Or a cute kitchen like this ....



Shelving like this .... Are people seriously this tidy? I am such a let down as a homemaker ;)



Or have a rug, just like this ....

But most of all.... give me a strong coffee and a big piece of this! And no, just in case you are wondering, I never have and never will share dessert. I am just not that kind of girl :)

 

Kate x

 

Buzzing like a bee ....

Friends, I am buzzing just like a 'Queen Bee'. Bossing people around, tidying and organising. We are ploughing through our 2013 'to do' list and have decided we are going to try and sell our little house. 

I don't want to say too much more in fear of jinxing ourselves. We are currently having the inside of our shanty re painted. Yes, this did include the bedroom that I started painting in September 2012 but never quite finished - very typically me. It now looks beautiful. I will get my little bro to take some photos from around the house when we have finished our little revamp. Things are beginning to come together nicely.

For us, 2013 is about taking risks and believe me friends (all 16 of you :), we are not risk takers. We over analyse and confuse ourselves. Discuss and then re-discuss. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes you just have to 'bite the bullet' - at least this is what I keep telling my husband. At times he can be a little hard to convince :)

In an attempt to keep myself grounded with so much happening in our little family, I have 'spring cleaned' my little veggie patch. The horrendous heat and the freakin possums have absolutely trashed my little piece of Australia, leaving it in desperate need of love. After reading the fantastic post published on The Design Files about Rebecca Grogan from 'The Sage Garden', I have felt truly inspired. One day I want so badly to have an enormous flourishing patch of vegetable goodness for Dominic to enjoy. With photos like these, can you blame me? ......

 

How beautiful are these photos? Click on the pics for pinterest links...

 

So, I have planted rainbow silver beet and corn, more cherry toms and spring onions. The laundry tubs with herbs have been re fertilised and are beginning to stretch their lovely leaves up toward the sun once again.

 

I started writing this post early last week and never published it. A lot has happened in 'old Brisbane town' since then. Thankfully we have not been affected by the floods. We are so lucky. Sure the veggie patch has flooded, the herbs have drowned in the laundry tubs and in the early hours of this morning, our outdoor umbrella was hurled into the air crashing into the side of the house. Otherwise nothing. To think only a couple of kilometres away, streets have been turned into creeks and people's homes have filled with water.

I have been thinking a lot about my friends who have once again been affected by the floods, when it only seems like yesterday we had the floods of 2011. Tonight though, my thoughts are particularly with the people of Bundaberg. It must be terrifying having to grab your belongings and the people that you love and leave your home - not being sure what will be there when you return. What an overwhelmingly tragic Australia Day weekend.

2013 .....

New Year's resolutions.... I am a woman who dreams friends. I have lots of ideas but some of them are a little slow to come together. I am pleased to report that my two New Year's resolutions for 2012 came together pretty nicely. I started a blog (round of applause to me) and I also started taking better care of myself. In 2011, I had bushy eyebrows and crazy long hair with atrocious regrowth. In 2012,  I had my hair done and eye brows waxed approximately 4 times - this people is progress.

So, what for 2013?

(1)  Exercise - and so begins interval training on the bike we have under our house. I will report back with progress - then again, I may not :). Supposedly interval training is exercise for the time poor?? The fact that Dominic keeps coming up to my tummy and going 'wobba wobba' is motivation enough. The mummy tummy is going in 2013!

(2) I want to increase my blog followers. I also need to revamp this blog. Not sure how I am going to do it, but it is time to up the ante! I hereby declare that it is time to get creative people - less talk and far more action.

(3) I spend too much time wandering and dreaming about the 'what if' forgetting to be grateful for all that I have. This year I am going to start a gratitude journal. I have read about this concept on numerous blogs and love it!

There are other potential projects in the pipeline which will be revealed later in the year. We are definitely going to be busy for 2013!

What are some of your resolutions? Care to share them or would you prefer to keep things secret squirrel ;)

Image from

www.pinterest.com

Happy Christmas friends...

 

I have been busy wrapping my presents and trying to be a little creative with my present wrapping this year. I have had so much fun with my Kikki K Alphabet stamping kit and am pretty happy with the results.

 

I am going to sign off from my little blog now until the New Year - I will put little updates and pics on my facebook page. Thankyou to everyone who has supported my little blog this year - I have had so much fun and can't wait to post more stories and pics in the New Year.

Enjoy a restful and above all, fun Christmas with your family and friends. See you in the New Year!

x

NYC Christmas...

I am SO excited about Christmas Day, present giving and spending time with the people I love.

But I must confess, in the dreadful heat we have been experiencing here in Brisbane this week, it has got me imagining what it must be like to be cold at Christmas. Imagine being so cold on Christmas Day that your teeth chattered and you had to wear layers of clothing to keep warm? Imagine having a Christmas where you didn't have to cover food in fear of the flies getting to it or dread turning on the oven in fear of making your little house hotter than it already was! No, I wouldn't have it any other way but humour me with my little dream nonetheless.

One of my family's dreams is to one day all celebrate Christmas in New York City. We have it all planned out - in our imaginations of course. We would watch people ice skate at the Rockefeller Centre, shop at Bloomingdale's and maybe window shop at Saks. We would check out the Christmas window display at Macy's and so much more. Maybe we would be there early enough to attend the Christmas parade? I am not sure where we would have Christmas dinner. Any suggestions? Either way in my imagination it would be somewhere very beautiful, with an open fire.

Click on the photos for links to Pinterest ...

We would walk in Central Park Christmas Eve ....



Admire the Rockefeller Centre Christmas Tree ...



Off the topic, but isn't this print of the Rockefeller Centre gorgeous?



For Christmas Dinner I could wear something like this?



Or maybe this little skirt? Of course in my imagination I have ridiculously skinny legs and a fabulous collection of high heel shoes...but of course!

But if I was going to go completely overboard and because this is my little dream I am allowed, I would probably wear something just like this .... SJP style ....

Yes, a girl can imagine. In the meantime, I am so excited about being hot and sweaty Christmas Day : ) - thank goodness the oldies have aircon! I will wear a sundress, eat cold meats, seafood and salad, drink chilled wine, play trivia games and spend time with the people I love. I will also have a huge piece of Christmas pudding and watch my little boy open his Christmas presents  - it doesn't get much better than that:)

What are your plans for Christmas Day beautiful friends?

News from the hood.....

This week I have taken a few pics from around the house. The Christmas decorations are up - nothing over the top, but festive none the less. Yes, there are fairy lights strategically placed around our little home and I am pleased to report that the little man has managed to keep his chubby little paws off the tree - no mean feat when you are 20 months old. My beautiful Mondocherry birdies arrived in the mail today too. I am beginning to feel truly festive - even more so knowing that we will all be on holidays in the next week!

As I have been driving around our neighbourhood, I have been tickled pink to see many houses decorated with lights and other Christmas paraphernalia. It is so great to see the Christmas spirit alive and well in our local area BUT (you sensed a but didn't you ;) I will pose this question to you lovely readers. Is it possible to overdo fairy lights and almost become 'Griswald-esque' in our attempts to be festive? I am fairly confident that our neighbours decorating efforts would be seen from one of the Russian satellites (this is not a good thing) as they have chosen to decorate their home with flashing blue and red lights. Such is the intensity of these flashing lights that we have had to draw our blinds at night to stop our room lighting up like well, a Christmas tree! I was going to say the red light district but felt that was leaving me open to scrutiny :) As you can imagine this has provided us with a good laugh....

Did I mention that I have aged a year since I last wrote a post? Yes, hold your breath, I am now 36 - shock horror! I had the best birthday, indulging in a little bit of me time and spending time with my family. So, what's news from your neck of the woods? Feeling festive? Baking treats? As I write this post I am on a sugar high from eating too much rocky road :) .....

Gifting (for me) ...

Is it wrong that I put so much thought into what gifts I would like to receive for Christmas?

Don't get me wrong, I get way more enjoyment buying the perfect gift for loved ones and seeing their reaction when I have chosen the perfect gift, but I must confess, only to you dear readers, I do love hinting and helping my husband in the direction of the perfect gift - for me!

Here I some of the gifts I will be hinting for this festive season :)

 

Kate Badge certainly knows how to put together the perfect necklace. Her beautiful pieces of jewellery featured in Fete magazine this week...divine! 

 

Of course when in doubt, the perfect bottle of Jo Malone never goes astray. Did I tell you that I  accidentally dropped a bottle of this a couple of months ago? It was 3/4 full - I cried. This was NOT a good day...

 

 

Needless to say, I also have quite an extensive list of books that I would love too. Here are a few just to get me started...(I copied both these covers from fishpond...)

  

Which reminds me, remember how I mentioned that I was going to do a book review every month? Apparently I lied. I have just learnt to accept that when I lie down I fall asleep, which as you can imagine makes reading ever so difficult. I should probably stress that I don't have to necessarily lie down on a bed, I might lie on the floor, on a patch of grass, you name it - I can sleep anywhere!
Next year I will learn not to make any false promises on this blog. Remember my wicker chair? Still waiting to finish that project too. Oh yeah, haven't finished painting the bedroom yet either - maybe by Christmas? :)

 

So don't leave me hanging here friends, what is on your gift/hint list this year? What are some of the great present ideas you have come up with for your loved ones?