A nasty case of blogger envy...

Every now and then in the land called 'Blog', you come across a blogger that is so completely amazing that you are left feeling well, a little mediocre. Possibly even worse :)
This is especially so if the blogger is french, hot and lives in a gorgeous part of the french country side with her beautiful children, husband and dogs. I don't mean to sound dramatic, but once you become acquainted with the blogger Mimi Thorisson and her blog Manger, you too will feel my pain. This blog without sounding dramatic, is divine - in every sense of the word.

My friend Catherine from Farmhouse Home got me onto this blog (thanks Catherine - I am in love with your new blog design too by the way!) and quite simply I have been left agasp. The outfits worn by Mimi as she casually cooks in her kitchen are divine. There is even some shots on her blog of Mimi meandering threw a field with her beautiful daughter at her feet picking berries. But wait, she is wearing a three quarter length shoe string strap dress and gumboots! Her recipes are delicious and 'homely' and the photography included throughout the blog is equally amazing. Her husband Oddur Thorrison is a photographer. Need I say anymore.

I am beginning to sound neurotic or at best, a little loopy.

Just check out her blog and you will see exactly what I mean.

Here is the most beautiful video of her cooking too - found on Youtube.
A word of warning, if you a feeling hormonal or having one of those 'ugly days,' I suggest you watch this another time or with a glass of red and chocolate. You may be left feeling just a little depressed.  Do you know what is even more suckful, (yes, in the land of A Little Home with Freesia's this is a word) chances are in real life, Mimi is not only gorgeous and obviously talented, but nice too! ;)

I will say no more. Look at the blog, weep at the video and let me know whether you have been left feeling just a tad mediocre.

On that note dear friends, Happy Friday!

March ...how can it be?

Well, we are officially into March. I remain quite confused as to where the last three months have gone.

We have settled into childcare and I am finally beginning to find my feet managing work, childcare, family, housework etc. I am crap with change, but eventually pull through - never without a drama or funny story to tell.

I have spent the morning trying to catch up on my favourite blogs and housework, while playing and providing entertainment. I believe Oprah calls it multi-tasking. I call it living in chaos :)
I have also been taking the odd photo. There are so many beautiful photos on my favourite blogs at the moment. People are so talented - it's ridiculous!

I was at a loss to what to write about today. I thought I could tell you about how I lost my iPhone at New Farm Park last Thursday. You heard it. My iPhone. 1000 photos and all, to then have it found by a total stranger. He went to great lengths to contact me, finally returning my phone on Friday. My photos have since been downloaded safely onto our computer and I remain very grateful for the honesty and kindness that is still very much alive in my community. I figured that the phone would be gone forever!

I then thought I could do a post on the trials and tribulations of toilet training the modern day three year old - but figured that would be boring and potentially over sharing :)  

Instead, I have opted to post some photos that I have taken of the house this morning. These photos are not necessarily of my favourite spaces, but where we seem to spend a great deal of our time.....

This photo represents how I would like you to think that we live - 'Home sweet, home'.

If you look carefully you can see yoghurt stains from little toddler paws on my favourite        
Aunty Cookie cushion. 

This photo represents the chaos behind the shot. I have had to dig my old quilt out of storage to cover the Vegemite stains all over the couch. The whole couch can't be shown cause of the washing I need to fold which is in the right hand corner. Not to mention the toilet training .... little puddles popping up everywhere. Even on the couch.... not the greatest of days.

I don't need to say anymore do I? :)

Hope you are all having a good week. Thank you so much to the new people that have started following my blog recently. I am also really excited to announce that I have been nominated for the Kidspot 'Voices of 2014' Top blogger award. Big hugs to friends and readers that took time out to vote for me.

x

My Valentine

No Valentine's around here friends, but I was smothered in kisses by a very handsome little man this morning. My ever thoughtful mother sent Dominic this Valentine's Day card in the mail.

On the inside it read: 'Dom, we love you every day, not just on Valentine's Day!'

I could have cried :)

Happy Valentine's Day lovely friends. Make sure you have an extra fun weekend.

x

I promised a certain someone that I would update this post. I did receive a beautiful card from my Valentine on Valentine's Day evening :)...It was in fact me who was disorganised without a card to give!

Foot photos

I will let you in on a secret.

I am pretty easily amused in fact, very easily amused. Particularly after a night shift. For some reason lots of random things are really funny after a night shift. Obviously this may not always be the case, one can also be quite fragile after a night shift but today, everything is very amusing.

Dominic I am ashamed to say, remains very iPhone savvy. Do you remember my 'Techno Turkey' post?
He can have your phone speaking Japanese, can lock you out of your phone indefinitely and even hang up on your boss (repeatedly) when she calls you to do an extra shift (that was an awkward moment)!

Nothing however, has been so bizarre as Dom's random 'foot shots' that keep appearing on my phone. Every couple of days these delicious little feet keep popping up in unexpected photos.

Needless to say, these photos have given us a good laugh. I found a few more random shots this morning and felt that I had to share... :)

Exhibit (a) - Little trotters casually kicking back on toddler day bed. Is that Chris' foot in the background?
I do believe it is ..... delightful.

Exhibit (b) - Yes, on the toilet. Don't judge me for giving him the iPhone to get him to sit still on the loo! 

Of course, this will be a problem when he drops the iPhone in the toilet, which will undoubtedly happen. Maybe I will stop doing that....  

Exhibit (c) - Little feet casually resting on the back of the passenger seat in the car.

Have you ever had funny photos taken by children pop up on your phone, or is this strictly a Dominic phenomena? He is pretty out there....
Where would I be without my funny little boy :)

x

January .... where did you go?

We have been busy. We have started childcare again. It is a Montessori childcare, it is beyond beautiful and the girls who work there, I could bottle up and bring home with me. My little mate, although dreadfully enthusiastic about attending and seeing 'the kids', is struggling a little with adjusting. The girls say that he has been sad and that he misses me dreadfully. Needless to say that has been met with tears (from us both). Loving the childcare centre as much as I do, has made me feel a lot stronger through this process, but my goodness motherhood is hard sometimes isn't it? 

So, true to my New Years resolution of paying particular attention to my 'self care' in 2014, I have been eating really well, treating myself to daily juices, practicing gratitude (yes, I proudly still maintain my journal) and enjoying the great outdoors with our daily walk and even just hanging out together in our backyard. Chris and I kicked a ball around the backyard the other day. Those who know me would be having a bit of a chuckle at this, I am not known for my co-ordination, but it was such a good laugh!

I have otherwise been sorting through my magazines ( I desperately need to throw out my magazines from last year!) and cutting out pictures for inspiration and making an effort where possible to be creative. 

This is a process I truly love - imagining the little things I want to do with our home and recording it in my decorating journal.  

Seeing Stephanie Alexander's house feature on her blog today and on realestate.com.au (have you got a spare million?) also got my imagination going crazy. Imagine having a garden like this! 

Stephanie has created the most wonderful home for her family. It pretty much sums up exactly everything we want for our little house - homeliness and warmth surrounded by books, photos and sentimental belongings. 

Stephanie if I had the cash, I would buy your house in a heart beat. I would love so much to navigate my way through this garden and tend daily to the veggie patch. Of course this would be a full-time job, so I wouldn't be able to work. What a shame that would be ;) 

What creative projects have you been embarking on recently?

Hope you are all well.

x

The common crow ...

I will let you in on a secret friends. You may not agree, but I really don't like birds. Especially crows. 

In fact, I can't stand them. That horrible 'aaaaarrrrkkkk' sound they make irritates me more than words can say, and the fact we seem to have a community of them living in our Jacaranda tree, is not impressing me. Not. At. All. The fact that one shat on me the other day as I pushed Dominic on his swing for the twenty billionth time, also did not please me. It did however, seem to amuse my little friend as I swore loudly :)

Maybe it goes back to my childhood. Crows would attempt to steal our tuckshop lunches at school and would always be hovering around the bins. I remember laughing hysterically (my laugh has been described by some as raucous), when my bestie was commenting on how loud and distracting the crows were, while we were trying to concentrate during our exams. She joked that maybe the crows outside were calling out 'faaaarrrkkkk', cause let's face it as we sat that English exam, that was exactly what we were thinking - 'faaaarrrrrrkkkk' :)

By coincidence (or was it?) in that same year, the bestie fell victim to what she described as a vicious and intentional attack by pigeons in the Queen Street Mall. This event left her falling to her knees during lunchtime rush hour, commando rolling past Hungry Jacks! She hasn't been the same since. 

Even as adults, I have been in situations with the bestie where we have been walking, talking animatedly about what is undoubtedly a very important social issue, when suddenly she will drop to her knees, hands over her head screaming 'Birds..... I hate freaking birds'. Without a joke, she has even accused a butcher bird of swooping her! Ok that may be a lie but my point is, I have a history with birds - especially the common crow.

Anyway, over the last couple of weeks at home we have noticed this...

Excuse the photo quality, it is hard to make a water feature look pretty.

Yes beloved readers, that is bread floating in our water feature. This happens daily. I know. Completely random. At first I thought it might be kids(?), although I appreciate there is little logic in this theory. I then came across the offending crow. I have tried to get a photo of him, but he is smarter and a lot quicker than me. This morning I watched him drop, yes drop, one single piece of bread into our water feature. He then yelled 'faarrrkkkk' and flew away. He returned an hour or so later and collected the now soggy bread, which he gobbled up in a few quick bites. How bazaar is that? Can you believe it? Crows have been intentionally dropping bread into our water feature to soften it to eat! 

Maybe after all this time, I have underestimated the common crow. I still hate them, but one has to admire such multi-tasking :)

Do you have any strange bird stories? You don't do you. I didn't think so. 

These strange things after all, could only happen to me :)

FYI ..I did not consult the bestie in the publication of this post. Being the clever lass that she is, she gave birth to her second baby a gorgeous little boy, this week. We are so proud of them both and I thought that this post might give her a bit of a laugh. x

A new year....Tintin.

I promised a post about my New Years resolutions didn't I?

I wrote a very long-winded post (unlike me I know), on all the things I would like to achieve this year.
It was boring. In short, my 2014 is about self care and continuing to eat well. I am feeling so good for eating more wholefoods and now I have a juicer! Crazy times ahead ;) Juicing is deliciously addictive. Who would have thought that carrot and beetroot could taste so damn good!

I have also started keeping a gratitude journal. Given the amount of time I devote to my iPhone and iPad, it seemed appropriate that I download an app for such a thing. Gratitude 365 people. It is fabulously easy and you can attach photos from your day too. Love it.

In the meantime, I have been daydreaming about the many things I want to do with Dom's room. I have long been a fan of vintage posters but alas, my budget does not allow for the purchase of the same.
One day I will have the perfect Baly poster.
In the meantime, I have been eyeing off Tintin posters for Dominic's room.
Surely if I can't have a vintage poster he can? ;)
I have been searching high and low for inspiration and found the perfect Tintin poster at the Wooloongabba Antique Centre. It is the same as the picture below.

What do you think?
Are these posters not gorgeous?
Tintin, I am thinking you may just find yourself on my little boys bedroom wall.

x