La Vie en Chic - Life in Style

I've Moved

2011-12-16T21:36:00.000+03:00

I have decided to go with my own hosting and you can now find me over here at La Vie en Chic.

Drop by and say hi. :)

A Day to Remember : Mum

2011-11-20T11:05:00.000+03:00

Today would have been my Mum's 66th birthday. She passed away nearly 5 years ago aged 61 and one month. I often wonder what it would have been like if she had lived - and not had Alzheimer's?

Each year I get older, and my children get older there are so many more things I understand - and so many more things I want to know and understand and would love to ask her. If she had lived then it is most likely that she would not have been able to remember me, let alone answer my questions.

So it is not to be.

Perhaps it is best this way, and I take today to remember her. Look back at old photo's and share her with my children.

It would also have been my parents 46th wedding anniversary. They celebrated their 40th in the year before she died. I know my Dad finds today very hard. Being married on her birthday is something I share with my Mum as I too married on my birthday.

It is also quite the coincidence that the precious little pooch we got 4 years ago, who has wiggled his way into all our hearts, was born on Mum's birthday. It just makes him extra special to us. I know she would have adored our toy poodle Max too!

Happy birthday Mum - and Max!

ps - my children are learning how to groom him - so sometimes he does not quite look like your typical poodle. :)

Celebrate Banner

2011-11-18T22:17:00.000+03:00

Having made paper banners in the past for numerous celebrations I have been wanting to try making a more permanent one. De-cluttering and cleaning out for our yard sale last Thursday finally have me the momentum to get it done.

The evidence, when pulled out of storage, along with the realisation of how much ~~stuff~~ I was keeping just in case I could use it for projects and how little I missed it while things were packed away was enough for me to want to cull.

A lot went!! :)

However the lace on this old Shabby Chic sheet set from Rachel Ashwell was too nice to toss just because the sheet was worn out.

After un-stitching, washing, ironing and starching the lace, yesterday I used it as the basis for the Celebrate banner I had in mind.

Bias binding, some burlap and Pink Paislee scrapbooking alphabet letters all came together nicely to create a base for a banner that can be decorated up and added to for various upcoming celebrations we will have around here.

Right now it fills the space underneath this portrait nicely. Simple but elegant and with loads more potential. It is due to play a roll in a party I am planning - but is a surprise for one of the members in my house. This way I can get it made at least this far and they don't have a clue.

I love the vintage french feel the lace and burlap evoke.

Sorry about the shadows! No matter which way I took the photo's they could not be avoided.

Watch this space for more on the Celebrate Banner - and secret party planning.

Linking up here today.

Royal Icing Baby Cookies

2011-11-02T20:47:00.002+03:00

Yesterday saw me spending the day in my kitchen with my youngest daughter. We were baking and decorating "onesie" and pram shaped cookies ready for a friends baby shower today.

First we had to make and bake the cookies and the way I do it takes ~~a while~~ forever, but the results are superb, creating smooth, fluffy, light, and airy cookies that melt in your mouth. Having a great base to proceed with goes such a long time towards a perfect finished product.

It's been quite some time since I had a go at piped icing cookies. Over 3 years in fact which was for a high tea party. Can't say I have ever done baby cookies. Whilst it took me some time to get into the swing of it the Wilton cookie cutters were a huge help. :)

Getting the colours right can be tricky but starting off with just a little on the tip of a toothick and adding more to build up the colour is much simpler with gel colours. I find liquid colours just water down the icing. The finish is nowhere near as nice with that type of colouring either. To get that real baby pastel colour these called for I just used one tiny dip in the gel.

I was sharing the steps with my youngest daughter who is a keen cook and wants to learn cake decorating. It's a long process but so much fun to see it all come together at the end. Very gratifying and also great for teaching a young one "patience"!

She had so much fun letting her creative nature have free reign and decorating the cookies, she had lined and flooded, with icing for the two older siblings of the blessing to come.

I am so grateful to be able to share these special times, watching the development of her skills and to see the enjoyment on her face at what she can accomplish!

Pots of Royal Icing all mixed up with sweet soft shabby baby colours ready for piping are just so pretty.

It took me far longer than I remember in the past. Mostly due to my favourite small piping bag, the one that fits all my piping tubes, going missing. I have not seen it since we moved and just hope it is in a box in the store room somewhere with all those other things I have not been able to find since moving. I have had that particular bag and coupler since - well, lets just say it could be considered vintage.

I ended up using zip lock bags for the edge lining, flooding with a palette knife and then decorating with the zippy bags to finish off.

All done and left to dry out and set.

They were a huge hit, and while not decorated with quite the finesse that a proper icing kit would have provided they were delicious and cute. Just perfect for a baby shower!

Linking up here...

Eighteenth Birthday

2011-10-26T21:17:00.000+03:00

It hardly seems like yesterday that my eldest was born and yet already just this month he turned eighteen. I’m not the first and won’t be the last as I know there are many of you out there who have experienced the same feelings.

But yikes!

At his request rather than gush about how wonderful he is, the fabulous relationship we have, and how proud he has made me, this is supposed to be short and sweet.

Maybe!

He asked for a quiet night without any hoopla. Bowling and a couple of friends over for Mum’s Fettuccine with Chicken, Bacon, and Almonds, were top of his list. Oh – and a carrot cake with lots of cream cheese icing.

Now that I can do!

Or at least I thought I could. The cream cheese icing did not turn out very well. Don’t get me wrong, it tasted lovely and the cake was delicious. The icing just did not have the consistency I was after and my decorating efforts were less than stellar. Score on the cake, look for another icing recipe!

Short on party supplies stores here I was racking my brain on what to decorate it with to try and ~~distract your eye~~ enhance the icing. There are not many 18th birthday cake designs to be found online either. A little hand made banner with my scrapbooking supplies, twine and some wooden skewers sat nicely above some recycled bowling pins from a past birthday cake one of his siblings had years ago. Given we were going bowling it seemed like a good match

We had a short period of time before our friends arrived so ~~we headed~~ I dragged him outside in the humidity and still too strong sunlight to try and get some “seniors shots”. We had fun and a few of them are ok. I need to try a little later in the day next time.

Now I may have agreed not to gush, but did not say anything about sharing a photo.

(I didn’t really drag him – he went willingly. We had discussed it prior, he knew it was coming up and consequently had time to prepare. I find portrait photography works better this way with a couple of my sweet ones.) Rather than ruffle too many feathers at this "longer than it should have been gushy style" post I will leave you with this one he likes. A little attempt at a sun flare shot.

Happy birthday Son - I love you!

Dear Blog

2011-10-10T10:32:00.001+03:00

Dear poor neglected Blog.

I know it has been a while, a very long while. Too long in fact - but life has just been so busy and involved. Travel, health challenges, lifestyle changes, everyday responsibilities and loads of decision making have all conspired to keep me from you.

That's everyday life, and I know that is OK. It is a journey with much to be learned and enjoyed.

Yes, I know I could have blogged my way through those things that have kept me away. But sometimes things are too personal, or too close, or just too plain boring, to talk about it - even with you.

But I do miss you, and I do want to blog. It just has to be worked out in what format and what about and to what intent and depth. It must have purpose, and I feel like it needs structure rather than just my disjointed blather and ramblings.

So dear blog, and friends, please hang in there with me a little while longer while I travel this current season and remember I do care!

In the words of Arnie - I'll be back!

Soon.....

Canton Texas and Vintage Junk

2011-07-29T07:12:00.000+03:00

Today was Thursday of First Monday Trade days at Canton. It has long been a dream of mine to visit this very fabulous, very large, and very fascinating, world famous flea market that is held in the city of Canton Texas.

As we were headed down from Dallas to New Orleans today we had to drive straight past Canton. Not that ~~just happening~~ planning to be there had anything to do with it of course.

It was 100f and about as humid, so the two munchkins I had with me sweated it out as we walked around for about 3 hours. Thankfully everyone was very friendly, we had got there early, and along with parking very close, there were no crowds.

I guess that is one positive with the heat. :)

We met some wonderful people with amazing talent and skills in all manner of things. One former Mayor of Canton took time out of his day to chat with us while we visited his daughters booth. It was obvious how very proud of her he was and it was lovely to see him so enthusiastic about it and the town he calls home.

Of course I made a few little purchases. Small things we can pack carefully and take home. As we continued to drive for another 7 hours after leaving Canton we arrived in New Orleans as the sun was setting so I have not managed any "staging" shots of my haul. That may have to wait till I am back home.

However - just to give you a little glimpse of the treasures I found, you might like to visit those friendly, and beautifully talented gals from Girls Gone Junkin for a tiny taste of the fabulous day I had.

I have followed their blog for a long while and it was such a delight to meet them and spend time in their fabulous Canton booth. Talk about that dreamy, vintage, junk, bling, French inspired space all wrapped up with with linen and lace - altogether it was simply stunning. I must have walked around in circles for a while just soaking it all up.

Right now though I am ready for some sleep. It was a long day driving! Here's to dreaming about vintage junk shopping at Canton Texas.

Still on the Road and Polyface Farms Open Day 2011

2011-07-11T00:24:00.000+03:00

Yes, we are still here and still on the road. We had little or no internet connection for a few days after my last post. Then the trip got very busy and we were having loads of fun. So much so that we were falling into bed exhilarated but exhausted at night without me even thinking about blogging.

By the time I could have got on here I was out of the blogging groove and decided just to enjoy the moment without trying to push myself to be on here.

Since my last post we have traveled up through Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia, Maryland and into Pennsylvania where we stayed on a dairy farm in Lancaster County for a few days. We had a small apartment in an 1814 farm house and I must admit it was nice to have a kitchen again - albeit old. There was even had an interesting old built in cupboard with gorgeous original hardware that everyone is replicating currently.

Aside from having dinner in an Amish lady's home one night we cooked and ate at home. With so much choice of fresh food and wonderful raw milk right on the doorstep we would visit the roadside stalls, select something for dinner and enjoy the time together after being out doing the tourist thing in the morning. Then sit on the porch and enjoy the sunset to the clip clop of old order horse and buggies going up the road.

So you can understand why I could not bring myself to haul the laptop out there to the porch and blog. It would have killed the whole atmosphere watching the fireflys at dusk.

The down time did us all the world of good and the children enjoyed mucking out, learning how to milk a cow, feeding the baby calves and swimming in the creek with the farmers children.

The end of that week saw us drive down to High View in West Virginia to stay with friends. Quite near the town of Winchester just over the border into Virginia. We spent some time exploring the history of the area.

Being so close to Washington DC we took the opportunity and spent the 4th of July in the Nations capital where we saw the 2011 Independence Day parade outside the White House in the morning and the fabulous fireworks show in the evening. It was a long day but getting to hang out in many of the Smithsonian Museums again was good. We had been to DC in 2006 but not at night, and certainly we had not thought we would be back there. This I guess was the ultimate day to do it.

Friday saw us drive further south into Virginia to a place called Staunton. The trip though less than two hours was longer than that due to torrential rain all the way. It made for a harrowing drive. We ate dinner out in a nice restaurant for the first time since being on the trip. The Depot in Staunton is a wonderful place with a good atmospehre and is in the old train depot in Old Town Staunton. Food was just delicious and, as usual in the American style, very large portions. If you are ever by that way then make sure to try them out - and check out the fabulous white painted wood ceilings. Our waiter Shane was entertaining and made the experience all the more enjoyable.

Saturday saw us visit Polyface for their once in three years open day on the farm. Joel Salatin is someone whom I have read and studied for a number of years and the opportunity to visit the farm, see how he does things and meet the man was just too good to pass up. It is in fact the reason we headed east away from Texas and Oklahoma.

I want to talk a lot more about the Farm day but think I will leave that for another post as this one is getting a little long already - without even any pictures. My EHD is not accessible right now as I am blogging from the car as we drive West from Virginia across into Springfield Missouri where we will stop for 2 nights. I may add some in another time.

It is a long haul today but we are all doing well with the rest after being out for 11 hours at the farm yesterday. Right now it is bright sunshine as we drive through Illinois and we should make our destination before dark.

I have just one question - does anyone in the USA grow anything but corn? :)

Bayou Air Boat Swamp Tour in Louisiana

2011-06-22T05:35:00.000+03:00

My husband has dreamed of going on an airboat since he was a young child watching Gentle Ben. As it was his birthday this week it seemed like the perfect birthday gift.

We chose Airboat Tours in Des Allemandes after much research on the internet. They have a web site, but like most places we needed to call and reserve a time.

It was raining with a black sky when we arrived and it looked like we might have to wait - or cancel. To our surprise the sky's cleared about 10 mins after we arrived. A quick check by Arthur and Chad on the android phone - yes they work fine down in the swamps - and we were set to go.

Our guide today was Chad, and we could not have enjoyed the tour as much as we did without him. He was funny, very engaging and full of educational insights to the swamp life and habits of the creatures and plants that live there.

We had some fast windblown moments, along with some fun manouvers before heading up and over the levee into private swampland of about 1700 acres.

Chad covered a lot of miles with us, sharing the lifecycles of the cypress trees, the root systems of swamp plants and talked about the positives and negatives of water in relation to the levee being broken or water rising due to hurricanes.

We saw varied water bird life including beautiful blue herons and white egrets.

There were also incredible scenes of water lilies, a cypress swamp and a massive Bald Eagles nest.

Yes - we did see some alligators too.

Isn't he beautiful!

At at 12 feet 3inches this large alligator is called Big Al.

This fellow by comparison is a paltry 8.5'.

Not that I would want to tangle with either of them. One of us got to feed him though!

We also saw a nest.

With eggs!

All in all we had a wonderful time and would love to do it again. After dark is apparently better! We did a lot of research and had heard some negatives about airboat tours. Every aspect of Arthurs Airboat Tours impressed us and we would recommend them to anyone thinking about experiencing the Louisiana swamps in a fun and exciting way.

Another travel tip for today. Mix it up a little. Keep the munchkins and the hubby happy. If you have done something historical and old world, throw something else into the travel plans.

Oak Alley Plantation in Louisiana

2011-06-21T10:33:00.002+03:00

Yesterday, after leaving Shreveport around 1.30 pm, we drove to Vacherie, headed for Oak Alley Plantation. I had booked Cottage #6 at this well know plantation home, used in many TV shows and movies, for an overnight stay.

As we arrived around 6 pm the sun was just going down and everyone was overwhelmed with the beauty of the place. Son #2 was asking when we drove in if he could get out and run around. There were so many large tree's and vast expanses of lawn that he just wanted to be out of the car amongst them.

Suddenly in the car there was this sense of peace. After the busyness of the last week it was incredible to stop in such a quiet peaceful place. The crickets were just starting to chirp and you could hear the occasional frog croak.

We grabbed the camera's and headed for the plantation home and Oak Alley, hoping to capture some photo's before the sun set. Given we were staying the night we had free access to the grounds for as long as we liked. As a family we wandered the grounds together, enjoying the scenery as we made our way to the front of the property which sits along the Mississippi River behind a levee bank.

It truly is a stunning site looking back up Oak Alley to the house. Considering the trees at app 300 years old are only halfway through their lifespan they sure are magnificent with many of the massive branches reaching the ground.

After walking back to the cutest little cottage, complete with a spa bath, it was decided we should jump in the car and head back out onto the levee so we could watch the sunset over the Mississippi River.

Then it was time for dinner. After researching the area I knew there was nowhere nearby to get a meal easily, let alone something good. Which meant that our Creole dinner was pre-ordered and waiting in our cottage to be warmed and eaten when we chose. After being it the car all day it was so nice to have it already done, especially as the sun didn't set till about 9pm. Imagine having to turn around then and make dinner.

We enjoyed eating Gumbo, Red Beans and Rice with Smoked Sausage along with Crawfish Etouffee. It was finished off with delicious deserts such as Bread Pudding, Pecan Pie and Buttermilk Pie. To keep the cost down and allow us all to taste everything I just ordered one of each of 3 dishes and we all had a little along with a good plate of salad.

Which brings me to my travel trip for this post - think about having a meal pre-arranged at your destination accommodation. It's a nice break for Mum and makes life that little bit easier not having to find somewhere to eat at the last minute when you are tired and hungry - easier to make better food choices too. Try to experience the local cuisine that way - and enjoy the time you have there without the "what are we going to have for dinner" issue.

Everything there was from the Oak Alley Plantation restaurant, which is where we also had a plantation breakfast this morning.

Before we got to breakfast though we went back outside late, after it got dark, and walked the grounds again.

Green Oaks at night - lighting effect through camera though not the naked eye.

Just as well after that dinner!

Going out after dark was another wonderful adventure. The girls volunteered to stay home and do the dishes. Not because it was dark but because they were enjoying the fun of the little cottage and spending time together.

In the meantime the boys, hubby and I enjoyed the nightlife critters and the torches supplied with the cottage.

We were encouraged to wander around the grounds and I am so glad we did it more than once. The boys too got a kick out of pulling funny faces with the torches and trying to scare us.

Then we all slept like logs. The cottage is very, very comfortable.

After breakfast this morning of eggs, ham, and biscuits or beignets, we did the house tour which was very informative and well delivered. The house is amazing and the view from the outside gallery on the second floor made it worth taking the tour for that alone.

This is one place I would love to come and stay again - perhaps for longer. When I told my youngest daughter we needed to leave she sighed and said "I love this place". She did not want to leave and I can understand why. We all felt our spirits renewed and refreshed by the slower pace of life here, and the beauty that surrounded us.

Now we are heading south to Des Allemandes for an air boat tour. What a change of pace from the wonderful peaceful atmosphere of Oak Alley Plantation!

One Week Already!

2011-06-21T07:31:00.000+03:00

It hardly seems a week since we left for our summer road trip in the USA. In many ways it feels like a lifetime ago, yet at the same time it feels like a few very fast moments. It has flown by in a blur of good friends, good food and lots of laughter.

In that time we have traveled halfway around the world, flying through London Heathrow and into Dallas Texas. Then after landing and being met by our friends at the airport we drove about 3 hours to a cute little town in Oklahoma called Lawton.

My friend was tickled pink to be able to take us through an original old fashioned “drive through” called Wayne’s...just for my hubby of course (he has the same name).

The next day – last Tuesday, after waking early we headed out to Tuttle Ok to have lunch and do a tour of the Braum’s farm, dairy plant and factory. Whilst an interesting business model, with some fabulous examples of old fashioned business principles including good marketing of “people care” I came away a little disappointed at some of the practices – especially the way in which the young calves are raised and the whole grain thing....

The actual milking dairy, at over a mile away from our escorted tour, was shown in a sanitised film at the end of our tour. Not having got close enough to see or smell the place it is hard to know how “big” business it is. Given the volume of milk through there each day it must be pretty large.

The whole grain fed issue was at least tempered by the fact that the cows do get pasture, are not fed any hormones and everything was in house and local which are good positives. Feeding the rejected, broken, scrap food like bread, ice-cream cones and cinnamon scrolls (at the onsite factory) to the cows may be good for the company books but I have to wonder how good it is for the cows?

That said, we enjoyed the tour. Seeing the whole production and factory process all in one place is nice. Not a lot of haulage going on there. Braum’s ice cream and milk are nice and if you are a mainstream shopper not worried about pasteurization etc then they would be my pick from the supermarket shelves. The only problem with that – it is only available within 300 miles of the farm. They want their drivers home at night!

Wednesday saw us hiking out through the Wichita Wildlife Refuge. It was hot, humid and lots of fun.

We saw eagles and snakes, Texas long horn cows and just a couple of Bison. Not sure where they were hiding?

Then we drove to the Holy City and up Mt Scott before heading off for a late lunch of burgers and fried peaches, in fact fried anything, at Meer's.

Thursday I had my haircut, then packed the car and we started off on our road trip.
First stop – Dallas to spend a couple of days with some other friends. While there we celebrated my man’s birthday by going to the Mesquite rodeo. It was a fun night, enjoyed in the company of good friends.


Now that is some bull!

We also met another wonderful lady who I think has adopted my children. She wants to keep them and they did not want to leave. Thank you Nette for a fabulous stay – and for the “l’orange” treatment that helped rid my terribly bloated ankles and feet of way too much fluid. Those long haul flights are not much fun on my body these days.

Sunday night topped it all off with a young friend of ours whom we have known for over 10 years meeting us at Denton airport. He graduated from Uni recently and is a trainee air force pilot. Already having his private licence and needing to keep up his air miles was a good excuse for him to take us up. Yehaaw!!

Sorry, just had to do that. Must be something about being in Texas!

What a buzz!! Going up in a small 4 seater plane is a fabulous way to see the lights of Dallas. Not to mention getting in some really fun manoeuvres including some negative and positive “G’s”. We had a strong wind which enabled fast travel up to a height of about 8500 feet. Coming in and the landing was a little hairy but the whole experience was a major blast. I hope we get to do it again someday – and maybe during daylight.

Right now, as I type this, I am sitting in the car enjoying the rain showers, driving from Shreveport Louisiana. We left Dallas this morning and stopped in Shreveport to see my precious friend Connie (Mum of aforementioned pilot) on our way through to Valcherie LA where we will stay the night.
This evenings stop is a surprise that the family don’t know about – so I will leave it there and fill you in later.

I'm Leaving on A Jet Plane

2011-06-12T16:04:00.000+03:00

I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again.... leaving on a jet plan, dah dah dah dah da dah da dah ...

Well I do know actually but trying not to think about that. Just looking forward to the time we will be away.

The adventure awaits!

Everything is done ready to go - except for putting on my lippy and shoes I think we are just about right. We leave in a couple of hours for the trip to the airport.

We have even managed to be frugal with our luggage.

Just three suitcases for six of us. Plus all three come in underweight. A total of 54 kilo's all up. It would have to be a record low for us.

That even includes the travel cups, 3 Klean Kanteen's for water and a couple of other things we would not ordinarily carry with us. I guess after all these years we have the packing thing down pat.

I hope to be back online soon and blogging from ~~another~~ half way around the world.

Au revoir.

They're Going Back

2011-06-08T19:18:00.005+03:00

We will be spending some time this summer in the USA. A bit of a road trip - courtesy of some special friends who offered us their mini-van and blessed the socks of us.

We had intended to spend the summer here, but with so many friends in the USA happy to have us camp out with them for a couple of days, and the transport issue sorted, out we decided to go.

Summer here is long, hot (try 48c+ or 118f+), humid and difficult. Most people leave out over the summer, and hubby needed a break, after us spending the last two summers here. So you can appreciate our decision.

It has been a long, hard mulled over, difficult decision though. Especially just having gotten out of debt. It has not sat well with me for a long time, however I am feeling more positive about is now as our departure date fast approaches next week.

These kind of trips can tend to blow things out of whack in any budget. I did the numbers, and did them again, and did them again. It is tight for sure...and our plan is to only use what we have set aside for the trip. We do have a budget though - and hopefully this will be a good test to see if we can handle life out in the bigger wider world.

Which brings me to these.

Pretty funky hey? Let me explain. :)

I needed to find creative ways for this trip to travel on a budget and not blow it out. This is one of them.

Traveling with kids like we are, on that tight budget, and in the car a lot - someone else's car at that, it pays to think about what you will eat and drink.

And how!

We also try to eat healthy....and will be making a lot of our own meals. As I travel I may even share some of those meals with you. But for now lets get back to the cups.

And the budget!

In the past when we have traveled if we wanted or needed something we just bought it as we went. Some of which is why we had the debt we did - along with using cash you can't see (credit cards). This year that has all changed.

These dome lid, practical, double walled drinking cups are fabulous for the car and we got them on our last trip to the USA in 2008. They have lasted well, are still in great condition and we have been very pleased with them.

On planning for this trip we were just going to buy some new ones over there - as had been our old habit. We always bought home way more than we went with. :(

Let us say at $5 a piece (which is pretty low - I think they were more than that) that adds up to $30. That's a lot of fuel for the car, or entry to a museum - or many other things that make the trip more fun

But why do that when we already have some right here. It makes more sense on so many levels to take the ones we have with us....

Using what we have.
Spend less - or in this case nothing.
Less time shopping for things when we arrive.
Better for the environment with less consumption.
Better for my kitchen cupboards which are already too full. :)

You can probably come up with more reasons too. Which is why they are going back to the USA - for another road trip.

Twine Lotion Jar Metamorphosis

2011-06-07T00:02:00.000+03:00

I have a confession to make. The following Twine Jar repurposing, upscaling, makeover, metamorphosis (or whatever you want to call it) has been sitting in a folder on my old hard drive for quite a long time. It's easy to tell that because the lovely painted walls, the background, the luscious light - sorry, I digress - are from our old house.

Yikes! We have been here over 14 months now and it must have been made sometime well before the move.

It started out with my wanting to vintage beach style glam up my bedside table a little. I have also been trying to use glass as much as possible and the serendipitous emptying out a lovely glass cosmetic jar gave me an idea.

Anyway, without further ado here is my Twine Lotion Jar tutorial. Bout' time I got my act into gear you say?

Given this is what I started out with - a nice though plastic lotion bottle, the upscaling with the help of a few key ingredients will hopefully inspire you to try something like this yourself.

Enter a nice glass cosmetic bottle, some lovely natural jute hemp coloured twine and some good old white glue.

I pre-wrapped the jar first to see if it was going to work. This helped me realise the direction needed to get the twine to sit nice.

The next step was to begin by painting on a nice thin layer of the white glue all the way round the bottom half of the bottle. Then the bottle was sat for about half an hour to let the white glue get tacky dry. Another layer of glue over that ensured that there was a good adhesion to the glass. Allowing this to layer to become a little tacky also helped with getting the twine to sit nice instead of moving around while it was being wound on.

I started out with the twine turned under itself just at the underside of the bottom rim. This hid the end of the string with out any protrusions showing. Then gradually wound it up the sides. Every now and then it helped to sit the jar upright and push the twine down firmly against itself.
When the glue was covered with twine the whole process was repeated continuing to work up to the top. It is one complete piece of twine and the end was finished off the same as the start by using a toothpick to push the flatted end of twine under itself while the glue was still sticky. Just make sure you leave enough room to screw the bottle top or dispenser back on.

There, much nicer - but still a bit blah!

A few scrapbooking, stamping and card making supplies to the rescue. Right onto some neutral twill ribbon.

Two? I was trying to ~~be perfect~~ get the right colour.

Black won! So did the cute little starfish scrapbook charm.

A real shell from one of our travels just pulled the whole thing together.

Now doesn't that look so much nicer? In fact this is still sitting on my bedside table and I use it daily.

I hope you enjoyed this makeover which I am linking up to Susan's Met Monday at Between Naps on the Porch. Show and Share at Just a Girl and Amaze Me Monday at Dittle Dattle.

PS. I went back and had a look at the file info on the original photo's. They were taken in August of 2009. Told you it had been a while!

Heavy Heart

2011-05-23T22:00:00.000+03:00

My heart is very heavy tonight. Occasionally you see something unpleasant coming. Something inevitable, perhaps even the ~~right~~ necessary thing.

Nevertheless when it does eventually come it can still make you step back with feeling.

Tonight that happened and my heart is weighed down. Heavy with sadness. It is not a situation that really affects me, or mine, at this point in time, though we are part of the bigger picture.

Yet it makes me sad.

I can't even put my finger on why it makes me feel so gloomy, but I know people are, and will be, hurting over the next little while.

The remarkable thing is it would have given me great pleasure in seeing "this thing" happen a few years ago. However that would have been out of the need to be vindicated for the treatment we were being afforded at the time.

Now I just feel sorry - and sad...for everyone!

Perhaps though, thinking through this state of affairs, it is revealing in itself how the intervening years of growth have allowed me the capacity to avoid making this too personal - nor about me. To be objective, and move forward, with the facts of the matter themselves making the choices for everyone.
That is perhaps the silver lining!

Sorry to be so cryptic. Maybe in time I can explain.

For now - I am just sad that others are hurting. :(

Much Better

2011-05-13T20:00:00.004+03:00

After a few months of investigation into a potentially serious health challenge I was given the all clear on Wednesday. It was a huge relief and it will be nice to move on - not to mention no more trips to the hospital.

The last two days saw us at the Regional A swimming championships and all of our children were competing. The week before saw our youngest son win the B regionals for his age group. This propelled him into the A's which was a bonus.

All of them did well winning various medals, with my oldest son winning his age division and my oldest daughter coming 2nd in her age group. The son has won many times but it is the first time my precious DD has placed after many years of trying. She naturally cried with the emotion of it all - and so did her Mum!

Right now we are exhilarated but exhausted. It was 48 Celsius on Thursday with a hot dusty off the desert wind. While today was a little cooler it was still very hot and humid and all together we are out about 10 hours each day.

Taking tomorrow off!

Seeing Red

2011-05-04T06:45:00.000+03:00

These red shoes make me laugh. Cute, fun, spring...and sooo totally not useful!

Not having bought any new shoes since 2009 it was so good to see something I liked and be able to buy it.

With cash!

Just because!

After paying for them I was walking around the mall (a huge event in itself) with my two girls, and a friend with her two daughters...and found myself laughing as I announced "I can't believe I bought a pair of shoes that have no purpose - other than that I like them".

You see, I have been seeing red for a long time. Red - as in debt. And detesting it. Black is classic ..lol

The whole world seems out of balance when you are just surviving from pay to pay and not living a positive sustainable lifestyle of good stewardship. It has weighed on my soul for a long time.

Last year when we moved we decided to make a concerted stab at saving some money, and clearing the debt. That may seem like the wrong way round, but for us it was the right choice. I will try to explain more about that, the way and the why, in which we did it in another post.

However it was not enough! I was really feeling the burden, aware for many reasons, the passage of time and inevitability of life. Something had to change. It did.

Suffice to say six months of many tough choices, no outings, nothing new nor any takeaway food, we are now out of debt.

Goodness - we had not even been to the mall in all that time!

The shoes are a visible happy reminder of what you can achieve. Ironic, that of all the shoes to take my eye, they are red!

What Happens When

2011-04-17T16:29:00.000+03:00

What happens when you let a teenage boy loose with a can of paint?

Some time ago I was working on some DIY for a room makeover to use with my new work from home business. It required paint and wallpaper.

My eldest decided he wanted to help me out. He is awesome like that and any help is appreciated. I have always painted wherever we have lived, so it is nice to pass on some of the skills and tips to the next generation.

I'm guessing he got bored.


Hmm, how did that get there?


What am I going to do with it now?

I know!!

We had loads of fun working together, finished the painting and the room started taking shape.

Fortunately the wall paper was going to cover that area.

One Year Ago Today

2011-04-01T17:51:00.001+03:00

It's hard to believe that it is one year ago today that we moved to the new place. A lot has happened in that time. We have settled in and found a place for most things, though there are still some things that we could get rid of and sort out. Hopefully time will allow for that this summer.

Somehow though we still feel unsettled here. One of the children last week said they would happily move back to our old house. The lack of space here has proved a little frustrating to them too. It has been a good learning experience though. In the whole scheme of things we are more than abundantly blessed here.

They did mention they would like to take a couple of the facilities like the indoor pool and bowling alley back to the old place so perhaps that helps even out the lack of space.

One thing that has frustrated me no end has been the garden here. The company were kind enough to provide us with an empty sandlot of a back courtyard. A nice blank canvas of sand, half wall's and a path to the back gate.

12 months ago

Of course doing it on a budget of virtually nothing has been a challenge of itself. Most of our planting has been from cuttings from our old garden or self sown tree's we had potted up before moving. Also some swapping cutting with other residents or, in the case of these banana tree's, gifts from friends out of their garden helped out.

Early Planting

Between the howling wind, the terrible sandstorms and dreadful heat it has been a challenge to get established. Over winter the whole back yard has been in shade all day causing much of the planting to go yellow. It is not yet the green oasis I had hoped to create when we moved here.

Mind you this photo I took a couple of months ago looks pretty good. Digging up and bringing the compost and soil from our vegetable gardens at the old place improved the ~~soil~~ sand greatly.

My eldest son and I paved one half of the yard, leaving a space around the edge for the "pretty plants" my husband prefers to vegetable gardens. Mind you I snuck a few edibles in there too.

Basil, pretty, green and edible!

This post is getting pretty long so I will leave you with a couple of photo's of the back garden taken today, and save some of the in between progress for another post.


12 months on.

Still a way to go!

Ah! The Macaroon

2011-03-20T18:28:00.000+03:00

One of the delights we really looked forward to while visiting Paris this time last year was the Macaroon.

It was certainly worth waiting for and I must say the Laduree Macaroon's were for me the most delicious sweet little morsels you can imagine tasting. That being said by someone who does not have a sweet tooth. I think if we lived there I would fast develop one...and the waist to go with it.

Today is the 5th National Macaroon day in France. If only we had know last year, perhaps we could have timed our visit to be there for it - and just plain indulged.

Oh wait! We did indulge.

What can I say?

Spring feels good!

2011-03-15T22:35:00.001+03:00

Feeling less fragile today so I though I would share this photo of some pretty little flowers which are blooming in my garden this week.

Not sure what they are but in real life they look more purple than blue. We have such a short time where flowers survive here, before the terrible heat and high humidity temps of summer hit, that taking time to sit in the garden and enjoying it right now is so lovely - and important!

Life - As it Stands

2011-01-05T22:51:00.000+03:00

Life took off in a different direction that what I had planned. Nothing bad as such but I found it hard to get back here after my epic trip with my son to Australia.

I could not really blog much outback due to trouble getting online and then just seemed to lose the motivational to blog. Much of home style and decor creativity seems to have disappeared.

It may be due to the room renovations for the Nail Salon being complete - and I so love doing that. It it is more likely to be the fact that I am now working from home, exhausted at the end of the day and falling in to bed much earlier than normal. Leaves little time for all the blogging activities.

I have not even had the chance to catch up on all my favourite blog reads in a while.

At this stage I don't know whether to make an effort again or just let it ride. There are so many wonderful blogs out there that it won't make a difference to the world at large right now. :)

If there is anyone out there still reading or checking back please let me know if you think it is worth me continuing - if you feel like it. Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

:)

Still on the Road

2010-10-15T02:27:00.001+03:00

Been a long time coming - and going. Since the 16th of September I have been on 8 flights and in 9 different locations. It has been a pile of fun and there are still 5 weeks of this journey to go.

Mykonos with Cocoa Daisy, Karen Russell, Ali Edwards and Jenni Bowlin was just the most awesome experience and I learnt so much too.
Those ladies are all such beautiful and unique ladies that the week could not have been anything else.

Right now I am sitting out in the north west of NSW, Australia enjoying a cold wet and windy storm. Bliss after the heat and humidity of the Middle East.

My plans for a road trip changed slightly due to details beyond my control. We are still driving all over NSW but not staying in a tent...LOL! I know some of you will be pleased for me. :) Especially as the rain looks set in.

Staying put here for a bit so after spending some time catching up with the family should hopefully get back to the regular blogging real soon.

The 17th in Athens

2010-09-17T18:10:00.000+03:00

After waking early this morning it was nice to have a relaxing breakfast in the hotel. The food was delicious and there was more than enough to satisfy any food type. Erika, having traveled so much further than I, had asked me to wake her at 8.30.

Around 9.30 we headed out to explore Athens. Walking a couple of blocks down from the hotel it was easy to catch the Metro to Syntagma square. Emerging at the base of the steps leading to the Parliament house made this the first on our list of things to see. The guards in their quaint uniforms and funny shoes were ever so still. It was hard to even catch them blink. Luckily they only have to stand like that for an hour.

At the bottom of the square we discovered the open top bus tours and it was decided we should do the Athens and Pireus Port tours. This is a fabulous way to see much of the city, orient yourself well and hear a little history as you travel around. Sure beats walking in the heat! It is a little warmer here than I expected.

It is also a great way to work out the priority sights that you want to spend time at. Knowing what and where they are can easily save a bunch of time.

Around 2 we hopped off for some lunch. Fabulous food - again!! Guess we are doing a good job of choosing restaurants. Either that or it is all just good here. Time will tell.

After that we headed back on the tour to the hotel about 3.00 for a little break and freshen up. Erika wanted an hours sleep, and I took a short 20 min nap, letting her sleep for an hour and half before waking her. Jet lag had hit though and she just could not wake up. Letting her sleep till 6 I am about to go wake her to go out for dinner. She wants to try and adjust so I hope it happens quickly for her.

I have experienced jet lag before when traveling from the USA so was expecting it to hit her today. Greece is the same time zone for me so I am doing pretty well. Just a little tired from traveling and sitting out in that warm Greek sun all day.

We are planning on meeting up with a few other ladies for dinner at a local restaurant around close by to the hotel here. They are also stopped over in Athens before heading to Mykonos for the Cocoa Daisy retreat. It will be nice to get to know them a little too.

Athens, Greece

2010-09-16T22:22:00.002+03:00

Athens is everything I expected and more. After a long day traveling it was wonderful to finally meet up with Erika and get to our hotel.

The drive took us past many of history's famous sites. Now we are even more excited to be seeing them up closer tomorrow.

The boutique hotel is typically European. Renovated in what was perhaps an old residence. Many stairs to negotiate and handle bags up.

Which may be a good thing given how delicious the food is. :)

After freshening up, and unpacking some it was nice to take a little stroll along a couple of winding streets from our hotel. There we found some enchanting area's with many sidewalk cafe's dotted about at the base of the Acropolis encompassing the district surrounding the Acropolis Museum.

Choosing one that appeared popular, being of the firm belief that if it is busy and hard to get a table then it has to be better than the one next door with no one eating there, turned out to the right thing to do.

Dining on lightly golden fried cheese, tzatziki, moussaka, and fresh pork souvlaki we spent the time sitting out on the open air, watching not only the crowds but also the friendly stray dogs go by, and getting to know one another better.

Now it is time for sleep as we plan to spend some time walking around sightseeing all the typical touristy spots tomorrow.

Mind you - I keep pinching myself that I am actually here amidst so much of what has gone before.

Out of Here and off to Greece

2010-09-16T06:13:00.000+03:00

I am leaving on a flight today and finally meeting one of my online my friends, Erika, in Athens, Greece for a couple of days.

Then I'm joining Karen Russel for a photography class on the island of Mykonos. I did Karen's fabulous photography class earlier in the year and when this came up I jumped at the chance to learn in real life.

Along with Ali Edwards and Jenni Bowlin of scrap booking fame, not to mention Tricia and the girls from Cocoa Daisy to round out what looks to be a wonderful week.

Not sure how the internet will be there. I hope to check in but no promises. Will let you know how it goes in any case. :)

Pretty Napkin Pom Pom's

2010-09-08T12:17:00.002+03:00

After seeing these cute pom pom's all over the internet I wanted to try one for the new room. Posting this for Sarah over at A Beach Cottage. I made them a week or o ago but hadn't posted them yet.

Anyway - pretty tissue is difficult to find here, at least in a colour you would want to use! While wandering through Ikea, (note to self - dangerous occupation for the budget) looking for chairs I came across these napkins which are that perfect shade of "Tiffany like" robins egg blue. A light bulb moment occurred and a pack of white as well as the blue ended up in my trolley.

Unlike the chairs - which are not in stock. :(

Folding 8 layers of napkins concertina style and chopping the ends off was the easy bit. Tied up around the middle was easy too. Then I began to pull the layers apart. I had scrunched it a little first to get it to look softer. Just sat it in the metal vase so I could take the photo.

The napkins are fairly large so the pom pom was a bit droopy. Taking the scissors to it for a random all over hair cut was the solution. I am pleased with the result and will do some hanging ones once I get some fishing line to hang them with.

So napkins will work, they are just softer than tissue and take a bit more "pouffing".

Linking up to Someday Crafts, 733's Sugar and Spice Party, You Made it Tuesday and Show of Your Cottage Monday as I celebrate another step in my room makeover project.

Beadboard Wallpaper

2010-09-06T20:36:00.001+03:00

Ever since I saw Rhoda's post on Southern Hospitality using beadboard wall paper I knew it was something I wanted to try. Just adore the look of painted tongue and groove but can't find it anywhere here. Also in a rental this is the next best thing being easier to remove when we leave.

Downstairs in the new rental house there is a shower in the powder room that we don't use. With two showers upstairs it is a bit of overkill. Not to mention cleaning three bathrooms is not on my to do list. :)

We needed somewhere to be a broom, mop and ironing board closet. With glass doors needing some sort of covering to hide all the ~~junk~~ cleaning necessities the bead board wall paper seemed like it would be a great solution.

After trying to find it online I ended up ordering it from Amazon - and ordered two rolls "just in case".

They finally arrived.

This is the Graham and Brown brand. Looks nice and has a puffy soft sort of texture which should be forgiving.

Here is a before picture of what I am trying to convert into something much more practical and hopefully nicer.

Right now it has this cotton rug from Ikea hanging over it to make the room look a little more presentable. Still looks pretty awful.

My plan is to use the wall paper to cover the glass doors. I would really like to take them down and put in shutter type doors but not being my house that is not an option.

There are quite a few blogs showing how to use this amazing paper in various ways. Rhoda has this post showing how she put hers up. Shari at My Cottage of Bliss did wonders with hers. This one by Carolyn at My Backyard Eden is a lovely example of how beautiful this can look.

This last one is from one of my favourite blogs from Australia. Sarah at A Beach Cottage did this cute makeover in her bathroom out of the same wall paper.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Gold to White Shelf Makeover

2010-09-01T21:54:00.002+03:00

This shelf is one we bought about 8 years ago from a yard sale - or at least the equivalent to that here which is called a table top sale. Usually a few people get together and run one of these in a hall on a compound. As the temperatures here get so hot it is much better than being outside in the heat.

When we got it the thing was a lovely wood over painted with gold and distressed a little, kind of antiqued I guess. It certainly was not a flat gold. It went with our decor at the time and this is a photo of it at our old house in the downstairs powder room.

It's been sitting up in our storeroom and I want to use it in the room I am making over for my new home venture. The room is definitley going to have an elegant girly girl vibe. This shelf should help add to the overall chic, stylish and a bit shabby room.

Are you intrigued yet?

Seeing as my colour scheme is somewhat away from the gold theme out came the paint and an old acrylic nail buffer. Guessing given our dollar value back then the shelf was probably not as thrifty as it would be now. Using it twice by repainting it with some leftover white paint and roughing it up a little makes it even better value.

After two coats of paint and a couple of days to let it dry I gently used the nail buffer to sand over some of the raised areas and edhes to distress it back to the wood layer.

It looks more distressed in real life than in these pics. Mind you I might add some more distressing once I see how it looks on the wall.

Now I know someone out there is probably thinking it looked pretty nice in the gold. I really liked it in the gold - still do in fact. Which is ok as there are actually have two of these shelves. I've only painted one for now. :)

Linking up to... the following fabulous linky party's all found on Creative Link Up.
Metamorphis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.
Show of Your Cottage Monday at House in the Roses.
Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple
Twice Owned Tuesday at House of Grace

DIY at Fine Craft Guild
Sugar and Spice at 733blog
White Wednesday @ Faded Charm
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Where Do You Blog?

2010-08-31T23:06:00.032+03:00

Today I am sharing where I blog, or one area where I spend most time.

This spot is along one wall in our study room area. Pretty sad in decor terms!

It is one area we got set up quickly when and while utalitarian it looks a little boring right now. It needs something on the walls. So much else going on in the house I have not had the chance to put my stamp on this room just yet.

I did makeover the filing cabinet from my old house and it fits in the space quiet well along with some of the furniture supplied in the house.

We home educate our four munchkins so two of the other walls each have a two study zones along them. The fourth wall has shelves and bookcases along it covered with schooling curriculum, arts and craft ~~junk~~ needs, plus other bits and pieces. Hubby has a spot for his pc between two of the study zones. So it is a pretty crowded area already.

It is going to become more so as I move my little craft room contents in to make way for the venture I am undertaking - but I'll leave that for another post. :)

I am so thankful for my yet to be decorated place to blog and especially to hang out with my children while they work. If you want to see some other bloggers spots - and there sure are some wonderful ideas for blogging spots, check out the Where do You Blog? linky party at Centsational Girl which I am linking up to.

P.S - I often move the laptop to the cumfy couch by the window in the lounge too. :)

Photo Actions and a Wedding

2010-08-29T14:02:00.002+03:00

I picked up a set of actions from The Pioneer Woman quite some time ago. Thank you Ree for being so generous! These are such fun and so easy to use.

As I plan for my trip home to Australia later in the year I have been making a disc of photos I had taken of my nieces wedding and I got to playing.

This image has special meaning to our family as the little robin redbreast statue on the table belonged to my Mum (Nana). She may not have been there in body but she sure was in spirit - and our hearts.

My niece was the first grandchild and in the later years of Mum's Alzheimer's she would go and visit with her every week, and read to Nana. This is the first wedding in our family of that generation to marry and it was sad for Mum not to have been there. I know she would have enjoyed everything about it.

Here is some examples of the actions in action!

Straight out of Camera

Boost

Black and White

Sepia

Seventies

Seventies + Black and White

I love all the different effects you can achieve and am not sure what would be my favourite. Though I must say right now the whole vintage seventies thing takes my fancy.

Which one do you like best?

If you would like to play with the Pioneer Woman's Actions hop over here.

In the Picture - Pooch

2010-08-27T21:35:00.001+03:00

Definitely something wrong with this picture!

Let me take that back a bit further for you.

Our sweet pooch has his own bed...but even with it up on one of the boys beds he still wants to sleep where he chooses. Oh to have the life of a dog.

I took these pics just before we moved and came across them recently.

Time for DIY

2010-08-23T20:24:00.002+03:00

Time for DIY and renovations is the priority right now with the continuing plans for my new home based business venture progressing.

Time for DIY and renovations means less time for blogging.

All to say I am up to my elbows in these and enjoying the process. More will be revealed soon.

Back to the Past for White Wednesday

2010-08-18T18:35:00.000+03:00

I have taken my cue from the lovely flowers on the White Wednesday# 61 post over at Faded Charm for my inspiration today in sharing some photos from the past. Plus a new one from just this week.

First up are these beautiful flowers in a loaf pan which we picked up in Paris. We purchased a few different pots of bulbs not knowing what the flowers would be once they opened.

These lovely white ones started to bloom before we left France and were just gorgeous the week we got home. Never having had bulbs before it was a delightful experience and one I hope to continue. Still not sure what they are!

Love the contrast with the dark brown black loaf or pate' tin.

After the flowers had died I planted all the bulbs in one big pot, stuck it outside and waited for the leaves to die back. I then proceeded to dig up the bulbs to put in the dark and cold so they would grow again.

To my surprise many of them had new roots and new bulbs growing off them. So instead just took half inside and left the rest in the pot outside. It will be interesting to see what comes of them. Especially when you consider that it has been over 45c or 100f most of the last few weeks. I water them sporadically and they are still growing more bulbs - stay tuned on that one.

This next flower is also an unknown and was planted in my back garden sand pit this week. I don't know much arabic and the man I purchased this from had even less english.

He called it something like Whuul (sounded vaguely to my ears as whole). It has a perfume something like a cross between jasmine and gardenia. It is a little brown burnt from the heat and hot wind but is actually a lovely creamy white. I also planted some gardenia at the same time and he insists they are different plants. The leaves are different but perhaps it is a strain or other variety.

In any case it is lovely to have flowers in the garden again, the aroma is beautiful when you sit out that and the birds are starting to move in.

All good!

Join me over at White Wednesday....lots more lovely whites there too.

Working on a Project

2010-08-17T17:32:00.001+03:00

Two weeks ago an opportunity came my way that could be resisted no longer. I can't share too much at the moment as there are some finer details that still need to be ironed out before it is a go.

In the meantime it has prompted a project in anticipation of being given the green light to go ahead.

These are what I am using for inspiration. All will be revealed - hopefully soon!

A Retro Housewife

2010-08-15T20:52:00.000+03:00

So the latest ideabook edition of Houzz arrives at my inbox today. I usually quickly peruse the email and then later come back to take in each article more deeply.

That is unless a title really grabs my eye, which is exactly what happened today. After all The Retro Housewife's Perfect Home is a bold statement.

Seeing that much of the retro look is something I enjoy there was no denying the hop over to the article at Houzz. I had to go have a look. Add in the housewife word and I was inevitably drawn right in.

The opening statement sealed the deal. Kathryn Vercillo writes...

What exactly is the retro housewife? She is someone who chooses to stay at home to be a wife and mother. She has options to work outside of the home but prefers to make her living as the manager of her own household.

The rest of the article is just as perfect and really defines how I feel about being the keeper of my home. The word choose is the pivot point. I could have exchanged being at home for any number of career's having been educated in more than one. Various hobby's could have become careers outside the home as well.

Truth be told I would not change where I am for anything. People have often looked down on me for being at home. For making the sacrifices to do so. That has just served to strengthen my character in the face of doing what is right for us.

It has, and continues to all be worth it. Kathryn goes on to say...

The difference between her and an old-fashioned housewife is that she chooses this way of life and so revels in it. There are no chains holding her, here. She is a housewife because she loves to be one. Her home reflects this.

Totally rings a bell with me. The rest of the article could have been pretty much written about me with all the subtext to each idea photo almost describing me and my efforts at home.

So now I am thinking Retro Housewife could possibly be my new label. Not that I am married to my house - nor feel the need for a label. I never could stomach the domestic goddess label either. Retro has a nice ring to it though.

Hmmm, wonder what they will think of that next time I have to fill in occupation on a form?

Funny thing though - only a couple of the images really fit my style.
Now, this I could do in a games room for the munchkins.

This one too - adore the old typewriter. Even better if it could be used.

I could totally dig that in my garden. pun intended :)

Claw foot tub, pink, vintage bottles, old chair, weathered wood - divine!!

Most images were a little too retro and 70's style strong coloured for me. Perhaps there is a classic retro label to be found out there somewhere?

Hope on over and read the rest of the article - hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

All images via/from Houzz

Thankful Today!

2010-08-13T15:51:00.001+03:00

Dad had surgery today to remove the metal defibrillator that has a super bug embedded in the metal. Seems it took around three hours or so. The cardiologist who did the surgery said it went well.

My brother and two sisters who are all with him report back that Dad says he is feeling good.

Now just hope they get a handle on the super bug!

Feeling very thankful right now!

White Wednesday 60

2010-08-11T22:28:00.000+03:00

Today I am sharing these for white Wednesday # 60 over at Faded Charm.

These lovely shabby metal hanging candle holders were purchased before we moved. I came across these photos while choosing some from our move to share here. Now I just need to find somewhere to hang them now!

Linking up to White Wednesday # 60 @ Faded Charm

Back to the Past: April 2 - 8

2010-08-11T09:17:00.004+03:00

In an attempt to bring this blog up to date I am going to try and do a quick post photo update of some of the intervening weeks.

We moved in on the 1st of April which was a big relief even with all the stressors that come from moving and downsizing. We went out to a function that night which was not a bad idea - it took us out of the situation when we were too tired to do anything more than look at the mess. Not only that - no food prep or cleanup.

The next day we fulfilled the childrens wish of swimming in the new lagoon pool.

During the week we settled in and started the task of making us fit.

Some of us tried out one of the childrens playgrounds - before too many appropriate sized kids moved in.

Some of us just watched. :)

Then of course it was easter. Totally not organised for that except for this delicious packet of assorted flavoured almond meal centered chocolate eggs I picked up at G. Detou in Paris.

Note to self - do a post on G. Detou.

Seriously these are some of the most delectable centered sweets we have ever had. I am usually a plain or truffle chocolate kind of gal but somehow these were beyond resisting - they were that good! The middle was somewhat like marzipan (which I detest) in texture but no way the same in flavour. I think my favourite were the pistachio flavoured ones.

Maybe it was the french essence!

Pooch and kidlets settled in pretty quickly. The carpet is slightly bluer than the grey it looks in this photo. It also keeps growing big fluffy tumbleweeds of new carpet. (Still doing that even now 3 months later - must be cheap..LOL)

The next few days saw us unpacking more - and packing some things away. This lot were going into a box for storage.

Being "baby" plates it was decided by one and all they were no longer needed to be kept out.

The weekend saw us at a swim meet and trying to catch up on some rest. My kitchen was still a huge mess. I was preparing meals and cooking around boxes but we were making do.

This little storage cupboard, nestled between the kitchen and the study is going to be my craft area - when I can get it organised. For now as I found things that related to anything crafty that is where they got put. At least I had a place to coral it all - and a place to create!

So that gets us past the first week in the new home. Most boxes stacked through the house are gone. My Munchkins unpacked and set up their own rooms. Just a little tweaking needed there. Kitchen and main bedroom still look like bomb sites though.

Funny how this kitchen is taking me so long. Normally it is the first place I get sorted. Perhaps it has something to do with losing a walk in pantry plus more usable cupboards space.

You Never Know!

2010-08-09T10:53:00.002+03:00

You never know what life is going to throw at you. The best laid plans of mice and men and all that.

Around the time of my last post we got some devastating news from the family back home on hubby's side. To say that it shocked me is the least of it.

The same night my dad was admitted to hospital with a severe blood infection. He is still there and will be undergoing risky surgery to remove a defib implant that has a "super bug" in the metal.

The first news is unchangeable and the end result will be inevitable. The second news is ongoing, possibly dangerous and not easy to deal with from afar. Going home is not an option right now.

I can just be thankful that we are traveling back there in October.

In the meantime I needed to step back, regroup, examine my priorities and make some decisions. In many ways, tough though it is, sometimes these things are there to give you that kick up the behind and get you moving again.

My sincere hope is that many good things can come out of something so negative.

Been Too Long!

2010-07-16T17:08:00.000+03:00

For some reason when you are forced to take a break, go on vacation, move house, get through the competitive swim season with the munchkins, do a design course, pass exam and assignment for said design course, pave the back garden, get the vegetable beds in and cooking ready to plant, throw in a couple of birthdays and too many other things to mention then getting back to blogging seems to take a back seat.

Once the routine is mucked up it seems hard to get back to it. I want to - really! Which is why this post, even if short.

Thinking perhaps if I break the ice again it might all start to be more of an occurance. I sure have a lot to share with all that up there. :)

Stay tuned and hopefully I'll be back!

Jacques Cousteau

2010-06-11T21:49:00.000+03:00

If you have been anywhere near a Google search page today you may have seen the little graphic marking the hundred year annivesary of Jaques Cousteau's birth. If not - well it is today!

As a child I devoured anything written about or photographed by him. Hearing that wonderfully romantic French accent and reading about his adventures always transported me to wonderful places. What my imagination could not fill in was helped along by the awesome images he shared.

That, and Ask the Leyland Brothers - but that is a whole nother post I am not sure I want to cover..LOL

The sea has always fascinated me and I am very fortunate to have been brought up to enjoy it. Growing up living in Sydney, Australia, with it's wonderful beaches how could I not? Spending 3 years living on an island only 1 mile wide how could I not?

So far I have not had the opportunity to learn how to scuba dive to any depth. I have used scuba and the feeling is exhilarating - so perhaps that may come one day.

However one thing I have been able to do is something that was beyond my wildest dreams as a child. I always wanted to swim in the Red Sea...and while that is possible in other places I have done it from Jeddah, a name I seem to remember hearing with awe as a child.

Two years ago all 6 of us headed up there for a National Swimming Competition and had the opportunity to go to the beach belonging to the hotel. There we hired snorkels, masks and booties and I took my eldest son out snorkeling on the reef in the Red Sea. We even had a flip video of the occasion.

Simply stunning, amazing, beautiful, exhilarating and all the other adjectives you think of when you see underwater images of that area on TV. If not in heaven then certainly the quietness and beauty must be a glimpse of it. That was only on the top - imagine being able to get down there!

Then 2 weekends ago we headed back there. Just 3 of us this time.

Again I had the opportunity to scrunch the reddish sand under my feet and dip them into the delicious green sea.

We left on an early flight just so we could head back to the same beach. There we snorkeled in the protected beach area where we were also able to see many beautiful fish and other wonderful sea creatures.

We didn't head out to the reef area due to the current and wind being a bit rough and keeping an eye on two would have been hard. Still - we were there and all my childhood memories of being an explorer and discovering new things came flooding back.

So today on his birthday I just want to say thanks to Mr Jacques Cousteau for all the wonderful things he cared and shared about, his awesome photography - and for the memories!

Jacques Cousteau

Old Footage on YouTube

First Swim

2010-04-02T21:23:00.031+03:00

We all needed some time out of the house away from the boxes and unpacking. The munchkins had been begging to try out the lagoon pool here. They wanted to be the first in the new pool. As they are all keen swimmers and compete most weekends with one of the local swim teams so I can understand their excitement at being let loose in this one - just for fun!

Even though we had the keys for a couple of weeks the pool was not allowed to be used before the 1st day of occupancy - yesterday the 1st of April. We were too late and tired last night after the move and going to a dinner do to make it for a swim.

I will let the photo's tell the story of their first official dip in the new pool. Funny how your childrens characters come out in photos.

One to mark the occasion!

We'll all go together right? From the eldest.

Ready, set, GO!!

Ha!

Gee I'm clever..LOL

Ok, my turn!

As for me, I happily lay on the sun lounger under the thatched shade watching beneath the gently swaying palms as my children relaxed, swam to their hearts content and enjoyed this momentous occasion.

Sounds like bliss huh? Shame I had to come home.

Taking a break this week to get the house in order. I will be back soon with photo's of the progress.

We Are In!

2010-04-02T06:00:00.002+03:00

What I didn't tell you in the post with all the packed boxes was the drama to get them like that. They were over an hour late arriving and I guess that should have told me something.

After 5 minutes of them starting the job I had to stop them and show them how to wrap in preparation for packing. One guy was just shoving my expensive framed glass fronted portraits and hand embroideries flat in a box, with little or no paper between them. Thank heavens I saw what he was doing. He could speak little English so I grabbed the bubble wrap, butchers paper and tape and showed him by wrapping one. I have moved so often that I have it down to a fine art now - and nothing has been broken before now. :)

It turns out he and a few of the others were just new on the job. It was their first day and they have never packed anything before. No doubt driven by a company wanting to move a bunch of people in a hurry and a company wanting a job and saying they could do it even though they did not have the manpower. I am sure they just pulled some of these guys off the streets to win this contract. It's seems the nature of things out here.

Anyway it was on with the show. I had suspected that the move would be somewhat like this which is why we had done so much ourselves, especially the fragile and precious items.

What I had not expected was how long it would take these guys. You had to watch them or they would take shortcuts, which we discovered after we unpacked a few things last night. So in the long run I ended up packing up my whole kitchen myself. I asked for the boxes and packing stuff and went to work. Took me 20 boxes and about 7 hours in between checking on them, keeping the kids amused and fed.

In the meantime it took 4 or 5 of them that whole time to wrap about 8 or 9 framed items, a coffee table, a bunch of bookcases and shelves and few other things. Big items, not fragile and nothing that required a lot of thinking about. It amazed me how slow someone could work without falling asleep. How glad I am that we had done the majority of it and I decided to do the kitchen myself. I think we would still be there packing.

Which brings us to yesterday. They had told us on Tuesday, after they packed us, they had no idea what day the trucks would be able to move us. Sometime Friday or Saturday at the earliest. Hubby got on the phone and spoke with head office. We were booked to move Thursday, that's when we wanted it - besides which everything was packed. We had enough to get by till Thursday but not much longer.

Needless to say they agreed to come on Thursday.

We got up early, packed all the bedding and bathroom things into the car and drove out here. I planned to stay and sort a few things before they all arrived and it turned into one big shambles. Glad I did!

Hubby and my eldest son headed back and waited for the truck to arrive. We were expecting a covered van - but I will let the photo's tell the story....I have prattled on long enough. That's exhaustion for you!

It took two loads like this. I hate to think what our whole house would have taken. Given that little furniture was being moved as it comes/stays with the houses here for the most part.

That's the underside of our antique "arab door" coffee table, with original paintwork.

Yikes!!

No way two guys are gonna lift that - it weighs a ton.

Three guys now - and two just out of shot watching and ready to help carry it in.

Here is a sneak peak of our lounge taken early yesterday morning before too much mayhem and boxes arrived.

Looking at the kitchen now this morning there is about another 10 boxes in there with a small pathway between. Glad that is all over! We told them we would unpack and signed everything off just wanting it to be done and them gone so we could get on with it.

The next week is going to be fun!

Wordless Wednesday #1

2010-03-31T21:48:00.000+03:00

What a Week!

2010-03-29T07:39:00.000+03:00

I know, it has been more than a week. We have had so much going on that I have not had time to sit here and enjoy the pleasure of blogging.

We got the keys to the new place and had spent time arranging furniture and such. Had planned to show you some photos but it won't be this post. The place was filthy with dust and grim, even being brand new, not to mention the maintenance and things that need fixing already! So cleaning and such needed to be done.

Then last Thursday we had the first competitive swim meet of the season. All 4 children swam and did well, gaining some new best times. All the training sure pays off. On arriving home sometime mid afternoon we found a couple of missed phone calls and emails. Our move date had been set.

In a nutshell our pack date was moved up from what we had anticipated - to tomorrow, and our uplift is Thursday. Too fast too soon - my plans to move and dejunk nice a slowly went out the window.

At least we had got rid of a lot of unwanted items over the last couple of months

So I shall do it at the other end. Keep the things I need, those I find beautiful and practical, find a place for them in my home for them, give the rest away or chuck them out. I may have to check out fly lady and see if she has a reverse moving plan for those who get moved suddenly, in a hurry, or at least sooner than they thought.

It's 7.30 am here and I am off to do another load of things I don't want the packers doing. Will be back sometime soon - after we move to our new home.

Packing

2010-03-20T22:38:00.001+03:00

Life has got crazy busy now. We took the handover for the new villa on Thursday night. It is brand new and yet dirty and some things already need maintenance. So we have arranged for that to be done.

In the meantime, now that we have more idea about storage - or rather lack of, I am busy making plans to solve some of those issues. Then there is the preparations to move. The zone has become a packing room. Full of packing boxes, tape, tissue and bubble wrap.

See that gold mirror leaning amongst the packing stuff there? My plan is to paint it and makeover before we move - it won't suit the decor at the new place, and I have more room here to play with.

We are allowed to move in on the 1st of April with our essentials and such. Then just have to wait for the company to schedule the move.

Stay tuned!

White Wednesday

2010-03-17T20:42:00.000+03:00

I am joining in on Kathleen from Faded Charm for White Wednesday this week. I adore white, always have and probably always will. Since I painted my first piece of pre-loved furniture ~~many~~ a few years ago it is something that I have always had around me.

Much of my white is packed ready to move so I had to get creative with my whites to share today.

The first is a cake I made and decorated yesterday.

Just mad about the dreamy creamy fluffiness of homemade buttercream frosting.

Add some chocolate architectural details (work with me here) and it is even more delectable.

Speaking of delectable, here is another white that is just adorable and we love this white perhaps a little more than other whites around this place.

The Pooch - a dreamy creamy white ball of endearing sweetness. Our 2 year old Toy Poodle Max. He is without doubt the best white thing we have ever purchased

Thanks for looking at my white wednesday photos - please check out Faded Charm for more wonderful White Wednesday posts.

Paris and Flea Market Amazing Giveaway

2010-03-16T22:26:00.000+03:00

You can't miss this fabulous giveaway!!

Oh wait, maybe perhaps you can, then there is more chance for me.

Ha! No it doesn't work this way - and for starters I just want to share this wonderful blog with you. It wouldn't be right for me to keep it from you.

Pop on over to Fiona and Twig. The site is filled with loads of delicious goodies, all manner of vintage and shabby items, all for your viewing pleasure.I really enjoy reading about all the antiquing and estate sales there too.

Let them know I sent you!

Oh! And while you are there - you might just want to check out the afore mentioned giveaway - and if you really want to - enter for me.

A Glimpse of Home

2010-03-12T22:10:00.000+03:00

Today while catching up on the blogs I enjoy visiting, one had the theme that is close to my heart right now. A glimpse of home. As I am moving soon there comes the realistation that this home, the one I have lived in the longest in my whole life, while not even my "own" home has become just that - my home.

That it had actually been achieved that without even really seeing it happen. It brings a warmth to my heart to realise that my family feel the same way. While a couple of them are excited abut the possibilities with this move, they are all commenting each day about missing this one already. One does not want to move at all. This is the only home she remembers living in.

No matter how far and wide we travel - this is where we come back to, and I guess for her that is enough.

So capturing little glimpses of this home and recording them here has become something I am trying to accomplish now, in these last few weeks, amidst packing boxes.

Miss Emily over at Chatting at The Sky is holding a photo link up showing Glimpses of Home.

So here is my first little glimpse of home - a little shelf in my study. One that shows me - or the white and pastel shabby chic'ish loving side of me (which while undergoing major changes right now cannot be denied!). My creating side too.

Why not go and join in sharing a little glimpse of home.

The Zone

2010-03-10T12:23:00.006+03:00

For many years the study/craft area has been called "the zone". I think of it as my zone. Though more often than not someone else is hanging out with me, reading or crafting, or just wanting to be near. It is a wonderful zone for that reason alone.

Also because it is the one area where things have been somewhat to my taste. It has a couch and separate work areas. Most of the furniture is not mine. So it was a case of making do and working with what was around, styling it in to something that worked.

This room was a balcony. With temperatures up over 48 celcius for much of the year it was under used. So we added a window to the half wall and a tin roof with a drop ceiling due to the height limit we had, creating this area just for me. In the past my work space has been a desk in our bedroom or at the kitchen table.

Neither of them ideal! Which is why I have enjoyed this balcony turned room so much. At the area just before you enter the room is the upstairs living area which is my sweeties education (school) room. So I am with them, and able to supervise - but we all still have a sense of personal space. The door way is big as we removed to large slider glass doors to give access and make it all one connecting open space.

It is a hodge podge of old left over furniture, that came with this company house, and yard sale pieces I have picked up over the years here.

Is it perfect? No! Is it the way it would be given an unlimited decorating budget? No!

Does it work! Yes!

Before we went away I had been feeling unsettled about the way the house was, pulled apart and not at all like our home. So in an effort to solve that and still get sorted to move I decided to give my study craft area a ~~bit~~ major cleanup and create a spot to retreat to when needing a break.

There was also the knowledge that I am losing this room to spur me on. To enjoy it for the last few weeks, in a neat tidy way, rather than the usual creative mess it aspired to most days.

Photographing it brought the little things to attention again. Reminding me the fun had creating in here and how fortunate I am to have this space, even if it isn't perfect.

Home from Paris

2010-03-09T20:15:00.003+03:00

There is something to the being away and coming home that makes you appreciate what it is you have and where you live.

For me, each time I re-enter my home after traveling it is like seeing the place with new eyes. Looking at it like it is another destination on the journey we have just had. I like what I see, there is a contentment, even with the whole place being in a state of preparation to move.

Now arriving back I felt happy, and sad at the same time. We have fabulous memories here, and walking back in, the house wraps itself around you with that "home again" feeling.

We also have a letter telling us the removal company is coming on Thursday for the pre-packing inspection.

Yikes!

Just as well I spruced up my study/craft area, before going away - at least I have somewhere quiet and peaceful to go as things get crazier over the next couple of weeks.

Paris - was wonderful, magnifique!

Yet I find myself quietly disatisfied. More on that later after I have time to get over the jet-lag and ponder why.

France Awaits

2010-02-27T18:40:00.001+03:00

Bonjour!

The bags are packed, tickets and passports ready and the taxi arrives at 7.30. Sometime tomorrow we arrive at Charles de Gaulle. It's only a 6 hour flight from here but needing a domestic flight of 1 hour, then an international flight make it a much longer process.

The airline we are flying also requires a 3 hour check in - for domestic! Understandable for international but local? Crazy!

Fortunately the anticipation, some light reading and planning of our days should keep me occupied for some of that time. We have also pulled the DS lites and iPod touch out of mothballs to keep the sweeties entertained during the enforced stopovers - something else they look forward to when traveling is unrestricted time on the electronic babysitters.

Signing off for now - possibly not back till after the trip, leaving you with a travel quote I like.

"Travel is more than the seeing of sights, it is the change that goes on deep and permanent in the idea's of living". Miriam Beard

French Blogs

2010-02-26T19:52:00.001+03:00

This week my search online for the best things, beyond the usual touristy type stuff, to see, do, experience - and eat, has taken me to various blogs on an unending list of topics. Some very interesting reading ensued!

It seems more and more when doing a basic search in google, for instance "photographing Paris" that you inevitably end up on a blog. Wiki is usually up there, but then the blogs run on for pages. Once you find a good one, which really is a personal choice - looking for the blogs they link to you can take you on a wild ride, and give you some amazing results.

One such blog that popped up this week causing me hours of reading, not to mention drooling over the fabulous food images it contains is David Lebovitz site about life in Paris - and food!

So Cute

2010-02-22T17:49:00.000+03:00

So excited too!

My youngest sweetie, Miss 10, was reading the Encyclopedia on her computer this afternoon and discovered a whole interactive area on France. It's history, people, geography, and best of all - museums. She is my museum buddy.

This is the child who if you ask her the best bit of Rome will tell you Villa Borghese.

She will spend hours in museums (if tolerated by her siblings), just wandering, admiring the artifacts, the history and all that these wonderful places have to offer her delighted mind - and not even having to talk.

But right now - all she can do is chatter.

Every 2 minutes I am hearing "Mum, did you know?", " Mum did you know?". With her memory there is no doubt next week as we are exploring Paris she will be a fount of knowledge.

Which lets me off the hook some!

I love the excitement of a seeing my sweet child on the verge of discovery, and the anticipation she has at seeing her dream - the Louvre.

A bit like I am feeling inside too.

Pantry Blues

2010-02-21T21:36:00.020+03:00

Walking into where My Man was sitting on Friday night I asked "What am I going to do?". Of course he asked me what I was talking about.

In one word I answered.

"Pantry!"

We are losing our walk in pantry with the move to the new house. We have really enjoyed the freedom of walking into the W-I-P and everything being so easy to see and find. My cookbooks are on a bookcase in there along with a lot of our electrical appliances and all the "plastic-ware".

On top of that the new kitchen is poorly planned and there is not even a cupboard tall enough to take large breakfast cereal boxes let alone all the other things we keep in our pantry. Living here you also have to stock up on things when they come into the stores as oftentimes when they run out of stock you may not see the item again for 3-6 months.

It was like it suddenly hit me. Knowing you are losing it and finally facing the reality are two different things. Now I have the pantry blues.

Maybe I will have to put these on the kitchen counter top along the back of the bench.

Not that I like that look along my counter tops. It looks great in the Ikea catalogues, however as I immensely dislike clutter in my kitchen we have always kept the benches pretty clear. It makes prep uncomplicated, not to mention clean up is straightforward. Less to wipe off and around.

Going to have to come up with some creative solutions for the pantry contents!

I know - it's just a pantry and we will manage - but still. :)

French Essence

2010-02-20T10:04:00.001+03:00

In researching our trip to Paris I came across many wonderful blogs. One of these was a blog that I am sure I had the pleasure of seeing before - perhaps from a home design or expat web browsing trip.

That was back in the days when I just skipped through and didn't understand the whole reader/follow/bookmark thing that allows us to revisit our favourite blogs. Meaning it wasn't there to refer back to.

It was pure delight to come across this one particular one again. A fellow Australian, who does wonderful things with whatever she turns her hands to - and she is living in France. Plus she has Olive tree's - another dream of mine.

I am talking about Vicki Archer of French Essence. Vicki has a couple of books on the French life as well. When at home in Australia next I plan on hunting them down. They most likely will take a while to be available here in the middle east - though you can be sure I will be keeping my eye out in my travels. My new coffee table will need them!

Her photos are fabulous and of late the focus of the blog has been Paris itself, with everything from the Metro, the restaurant,of course the fabulous food, and everything in between. Vicki's recent list of 'must see and do' in Paris helped add a few more stops to our itinerary.

Paris is shaping up to be a very busy 8 days.

Todays News

2010-02-17T20:19:00.000+03:00

We have waited for a while now to hear about which villa we were getting. The "announcement" day had been changed a couple of times and we were not waiting with any expectation that it would actually happen though there were rumours it should be today. :)

So we were very pleasantly surprised to say the least when we received the mail today. Everyone is very excited and there is a buzz in the air with everyone chatting about the move.

We now know - and the house colour scheme is blue. Blue carpet, tiles, couches, curtains etc. White walls and a light oak effect furniture.

We can get the keys sometime in March - yes, more waiting, and a moving date is slated for some time in April.

Monday Munchies

2010-02-15T11:23:00.002+03:00

Enjoying some shortbread hearts left over from yesterday.

They seem even tastier today!

Valentines Day

2010-02-14T22:09:00.001+03:00

Took some time out today to enjoy a valentines tea with my sweeties. Homemade shortbread hearts, tea and love from my family. These are a few of my favourite things.

Hope your day was spent with someone you love!

Are You Frugal?

2010-02-11T09:36:00.000+03:00

I'll admit it!

I'm one of those frugal types - that also likes to spend money. Ha! Is that possible?

I come from a long line of hoarders - something to do with my grandparents being frugal, perhaps from living through wars and a depression. Then it carried on down the line. While I used to consider myself frugal this current situation has made me realise it has got beyond that into the realm of hoarding.

Things were tight for my family as a kid. My parents worked very hard yet ends never met. Cardboard boxes and cotton reels became houses and furniture for my one "Barbie style" doll. Shoe boxes became shelves and held the few little treasures that came my way. I learned to be creative with what was around me. That was the positive.

Can I help it if my mind continues to work in creative ways? :) Just because I see something and think "hmm, that item could become XYZ" doesn't make me a hoarder does it?

Perhaps it does if I save all that stuff and never do anything with it.

As we have started pulling things out of the many cupboards and storage area's in this house it has become apparent that we are hoarding. It's not a mess, my house is neat and tidy in general, though in the last few years I have felt like things had started to get out of hand. With four children growing up it was increasing exponentially.

Rocks, clay work, projects, artwork and other fun kid stuff has been breeding in the corners I think.

So glad we are moving, downsizing even, so I can stop this trend in it's tracks.

Paris

2010-02-08T08:28:00.000+03:00

I have always been enamoured of France. My great Grandparents were of French descent and I guess it has always been in my blood. Ever since I first saw a picture of the Eiffel Tower I have wanted to go there. The food, the people, the architecture, the light, the furnishings, the art - everything fascinates me.

Growing up hearing about my heritage, doing an apprenticeship as a chef and learning more about France and the French way had only increased my fascination with the place.

Having seen the Louvre on exhibition in Atlanta in 2007 amplified my desire to get to Paris. Then going to Rome last year was wonderful. Visiting the Villa Borghese, learning about the connections between artwork in Rome, France and Napoleon only furthered my longing to see Paris and wander around the Louvre.

Finally my dream is coming true. I am going to France, this month! Yes - to Paris. I can't quite believe it myself, and to say it just feels sureal.

The countdown to Paris begins - 21 days till we leave.

On a Mission

2010-02-02T09:40:00.000+03:00

All this moving talk and anticipation has me very preoccupied. Going out to the new house again made me realise how much needed to change for us to fit.

So I have been on a mission!

Divide and conquer. Actually I am doing the opposite really. Pulling things out of everywhere and putting it with like things. Much of what we have is going to need to be packed away - or got rid of.

For instance there is a large pile of pictures in frames growing along the wall in my hallway. Games are gathering on the bookcase in the lounge, and flowers are finding a new home in a large plastic tub - their other half, vases, pots or baskets assigned another spot.

By getting things together I can work out what is important enough to us to keep, and that which we can cheerfully let go.

But the current house feels unlike a home now - not to mention a mess. A vague feeling of unrest has descended. My unvoiced thoughts of having it all tidy and pretty again before we have to move seem to be fast disappearing.

Mind you, my thoughts are also filled with the opportunity ahead of us. A blank canvas. A new blank canvas. One which holds room for a lot of scope.

Or in other words one which needs a lot of help..LOL

It is now just a waiting game to see which villa of the 20 choices we had to make will be ours. Then I will know my colour scheme, orientation and garden/courtyard possibilities.

Till then the mission continues.

Home is where the Heart Is

2010-01-26T21:45:00.000+03:00

Home is where the heart is! That statement has always been true for me. Right here, right now - wherever that is, with My Man and my darling children is where my heart truly is.

But what if your heart is at home - and home is a long way away? That is one of the conundrums of being an expat. Both the loving where you are - and loving where you are from.

Most of the year I am pretty ok with it. However days like today, Australia Day, make me miss home. Sitting on the harbour in Sydney or by the foreshore on the Swan river in Perth enjoying the fireworks. Sharing our Nations day of celebration with family and friends.

Happy Australia Day to everyone back home. Hope you had a wonderful day!

I'll leave you to a link to one of my favourite blogs right now. Ness has a beautiful home, a fabulous sense of style and she does things on a budget. Gotta love that!

This is the picnic I dream of today - the way I would really enjoy spending Australia Day. Thanks Ness for the lovely day!

De-Clutter

2010-01-18T21:03:00.000+03:00

We did go back! Seeing it again was good. We had time last week to consider what we want to keep and what could go.

While I know we will be fine it is smaller than we had remembered - which means we need to have a total de-clutter and even a "de-room" if there is such a word.

"Getting rid of all that 'schtuff' is not a bad thing" she says, being positive!

Prior to this house we had moved every two years or less, and the houses were not all that big, which meant the clutter never had a chance to build up and every time we moved I would get rid of things.

Our time in this current home is over 8 years now, and it is very well planned with lots of room and storage – so of course we have managed to fill it up. There must be something to that saying about needing to fill empty spaces because we had plenty of empty cupboards and drawers when we moved in here.

In the time we have been here we also started to home school our children. School supplies and associated paraphernalia have built up too. On top of that we travel overseas a lot and have collected things on our travels.

I am going to have to be very creative in working out how to make what we want to keep fit! Need to spend some time looking into storage solutions.

Any idea's?

Open Day

2010-01-10T20:15:00.000+03:00

Last Friday, a beautiful sunny day, saw us at the open house on the new compound. It was an eye opener that's for sure.

The facilites are stunning.

The houses are another matter. Considering the rest of the place it is a bit of a let down. They are quite adequate though and we are so aware of how fortunate we are in even having a home. Much of the world does not.

They are nice, not well planned nor well built or put together but new which is a change from where we have been with its very old furniture that is falling apart. We have big cracks in our walls, windows that don't open – or close in some cases, so that side of things will be nice.

The one drawback is the size really – it seems way smaller than where we are, has no pantry, laundry room, den, craft room, and no hall closets at all. The footprint of the place is a good size. Poor planning has wasted so much of it.

We may go next Friday and have another look - with a tape measure and some graph paper to get some more idea of what we are working with.

The New House

2010-01-06T07:11:00.001+03:00

We don't actually know where our home will be. The new compound is built - we know where that is. There are approximately 700 homes on there and one of them will be ours.

We have seen the floor plans and layout, as well as a few photos of colour schemes and furniture. Of course these while being nice give no real indication of what it is like in real life.

On Friday we are going on an open day to the new company compound. We will be able to see all four colour schemes. There we will have the opportunity to explore our new facilities and walk through 6 display homes.

Then the fun begins.

A New Start

2010-01-05T07:41:00.001+03:00

Somehow the new year always prompts more focused thoughts of the future and what life might bring. This year promises to be an interesting one with some major changes on the horizon.

After 8 years in this home we are to move. From one fairly old villa to a brand new one. All of it in company housing that comes fully furnished. As someone who enjoys dabbling about with decorating, styling and design it creates a real challenge in living a life in style.

It can be done though - even if it is not the style I would ideally have if the home and furniture belonged to us. To be honest I am not even sure what my “style” is – knowing what is enjoyed is one thing but defining it another matter all together.

Which brings me to this blog and space on the web. My place to document the changes and challenges. To share some of my favourite things and my journey so far. Perhaps in doing so I will find my “style”.