My coffee date.

I have been having a coffee date each Wednesday morning with my middle guy.  This is only going to last for the first school term though as he eases his way into Prep (the school gives them the day off).  We normally just duck into a cafe for a quick coffee and a milkshake but we took it to the next level this morning and went to Max Brenner and oh my goodness!  Indulgence and half!

Chocolate milkshake which was literally just melted chocolate in a cup! and a decorate your own biscuit tray!  The boy and I were in seventh heaven!

We're having a baby!!!!

It's only a short pregnancy... in fact our due date is only a month away.

This little man is coming to live with us in the very near future...

Hello teeny chocolate lab. 

We don't have a name for you yet but there are three small people in this house who can't wait to love you.

Now if someone could just give me some tips on training a puppy... oh, and anyone interested in popping over frequently to clean up the dog poop and vacuum up the dog hair!

Name suggestions are most welcome!



1000 steps

I braved the 1000 steps this morning.  I can't believe I have lived in Melbourne for almost 15 years and never tried them out before!  They are only a 20 minute drive from my house and I will totes be doing them again... although that depends on my ability to walk tomorrow since it was HARD work!

Word of advice if you are going to try them out... don't Instagram at the same time!  You should be too busy looking for spots to put your feet and concentrating on the simple task of breathing!!!

On the way up.

My view!  It is actually quite surprising that there is no-one in this picture as it is a super busy spot for workout nuts!  Seriously crowded!  I swear I saw people jogging up these... with babies on their backs!

The plaque at the top.  Proof I made it.

I chose to go back down the walking track rather than confront that skinny staircase again.

It was still super steep and hard work and I have the jelly legs to prove it!

You can see how pretty the whole area is by watching this video.  Go to the 4 minute mark to get an understanding of the steepness of those stairs!

Red.

(I bought this wrap around skirt from Made590 last week in their sale)

My husband asked me why I was leaving the house in what appeared to be a curtain.  I didn't care.  I was totes getting my 'doily' on today!  And in red!

In fact, whilst having my Wednesday date with the middle boy, we may have popped into Target for yet more Lego minifigures (!!!!) and popped back out again with some red skinny leg jeans. 

image and linky loo if you like them so much you want some of your own

Styling You tells me I can totally get away with them!  So does LMNOP, but then their advice is praps aimed at small people under 10!

Who do you take your fashion advice from?

52 weeks of Grateful: Week 7

This week I'm grateful for Sunday drives.

 Beautiful car scenery.

Beechworth Bakery Pitstop.

Some by the river contemplation.

Cheeky Isaac action

Finding love hearts in leaves.

Skate park dudes.

Some inventive scarf wearing for when it started to rain.

Dessert bought home in the car - a beesting or a french vanilla slice??? 

(For the record, I did share and had half of each!)

Feel the grateful love with Bron at Maxabella loves. 

My creative space... Part two!

Gosh I love making these little skirts for presents!  Quick, easy, not too expensive... and completely sticking with my attempt at handmade gifts this year!

I like to team them with a plain t-shirt picked up at Target or Big W which I can then leave plain or pretty it up!  In this case with a babushka dolly that I have ironed and sewn on!  What a surprise!

For this skirt I followed this tutorial to add the apple panel onto the bottom.  I then finished it off like I do with the Pretty Panel Doll skirts - sew the side seams together, iron them out, create a hem, create a waistband.

Our creative spaces is a weekly blog post where you can head to add your own creative link and check out everyone elses.

My creative space...

I'm afraid I have not been very creative at all this week.  I dont think writing out class contact lists for my role as the class parent or formatting the kinder newsletter really count!

I am onto the fourth band of my granny corner blanket which I managed to do whilst 'watching' my small girl in the pool the other day though!

I am liking it a bit more now since I have added the blue.  The lavender purple was scaring me a little bit initially but it has toned down and will probably be even better once the next band of colour is finished!

I've also managed to cut out some babushka ladies ready for some skirts too!  The two that went toward the King Auction ended up getting to $50 which I thought was fantastic!

More creative peeps are hanging around 'our creative spaces'.

Spinach, Olive and Pine Nut Tart

My cookbook collection is an embarrassment of riches.  It's quite embarrassing really since I don't really cook... much.  Generally, my husband is the chef, and when he's away for work I splash out and have toast... or cereal... or chocolate.

If I cook at all, it must be simple and quick and this Spinach, Olive and Pine Nut tart was sooooo easy and fast and since Darren's away there is enough left over for me to have for lunch, and then tea again!

Above is what it's suppsed to look like...

and here's mine.

2 sheets of frozen shortcrust pastry, thawed

2 teaspoons of olive oil

1 red onion, finely sliced

200g baby spinach leaves

1 cup pitted kalamata olives

125g Philadlephia Block Cream Cheese, broken into 2cm pieces

4 eggs

1/2 cup of cream

salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons of pine nuts

Press pastry into the base of a lightly greased 33cmx9cm rectangular fluted tart pan with removable base. Pastry will need to overlap slightly and be trimmed to fit.  Prick well with a fork and bake in a hot oven 200c for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden.

Heat the oil in a large frypan, add onion and saute for 2-3 minutes until softened.  Stir in spinach and olives, cook a further 1-2 minutes until spinach has just wilted. Cool slightly.

Spoon spinach mixture over the base of pastry and scatter over Philly chunks.  Whisk together the eggs, cream and seasonings, then pour over spinach mixture.  Top with pine nuts and bake in a moderately slow oven 160c for 20-30 minutes until set.  Slice and serve with a green salad.

This tastes just as good cold!

A new Pin project.

Source: sarahlondon.wordpress.com via Sonia on Pinterest

I definately waste a lot of time on Pinterest.  I tend to pin my own things, go through and sort out my boards and next thing you know an hour has passed and all I have been doing is clicking and repinning and gasping with inspiration!

Along with Sarah London, I am going to attempt to actually use some of that inspiration!

I pinned this recently from the Lion Brand website...

Source: lionbrand.com via Sonia on Pinterest

It comes with a nice easy tutorial to follow as well.  I like that it looked nice and simple and meant that I could mindlessly watch all my tv shows returning this week and merrily crochet away.

I am not 100% sure of my colour choices but we'll see how it all comes together. 

This is soooo totally what happens to me....

Source: sarahlondon.wordpress.com via Sonia on Pinterest

RIP Whitney.

How could you not love Whitney and that voice.

I feel a bit sad about it all actually.

Favourite Whitney song???

52 Weeks of Grateful: Week 6

This week I'm grateful for the goodness in people.

Have you seen what's going on over here?  And here?

Incredible people supporting someone they may not know and are unlikely to ever meet.

Makes me feel all warm and aglow inside.

It happens all the time in this bloggy community and I'm grateful I get to be a part of that!



Join in with 52 weeks of Grateful.

Winner and King Auction

Just an iphone snap of the random number generator which means that Julie from Mama of 2 boys won my crochet love hearts!  Yay for Julie who must be one of the nicest bloggers going around at the moment!  She always, always leaves the most beautiful, thoughtful comments on my post.

Will email you Jules for your postal address so I can get this out to you in the Friday afternoon post.

Also, dont forget to pop over to the the Seven Cherubs Facebook page and bid on one of the fabulous items in the King Auction.  A couple of people have bid on my Pretty Panel Dolly Skirts which is a relief (means that someone must like them!!!)

Facebook King Auction

Tomorrow night Naomi of Seven Cherubs is hosting a King Auction on her facebook page. 

You may have already heard about the King family and the loss of their son Noah in October last year.  More recently, Lisa's husband Aaron died quite suddenly of a heart attack.  An overwhelming amount of people have already generously donated money to support Lisa and her three sons in the coming months and this auction seeks to add to this.

I am offering two Pretty Panel Doll Skirts for this auction ...

...and I'd love it if you could all pop on over and put a bid in on one of the lovely items that have been offered.  All proceeds will go directly to Lisa's family.



(Pop over here if you would like to win my teeny rainbow crochet heart bunting.  I'll be drawing it tomorrow night after I get home from work an so far only 3 people have entered!!!)

Love.

Small girls in tulle.  My, oh my.

Jazz hands praps?

Doing the Pony.

And the Butterfly.

Could these sweet girls be any happier?

And of course, after such dancing success we had to go straight to the dance shop and get these little outifts....

...you can't be a ballerina without a tutu... and apparently some arm crossing...

...and some practice dancing just to make sure the outfits work.

So now I have photobombed with you with the little person I love, I feel the need to share it around.

Would you like my little crochet heart bunting?

Follow my blog and leave me a comment by Thursday 9th February telling me who you love 

(so I can post it to you on Friday and you might just get it for Valentines, Aus residents only).

Crochet Hearts... or something else?!

Last year I made these cute wee hearts around Valentines day and then gave them away.  I thought I'd do the same thing again so tonight, I set myself up on the couch tonight with my little suitcase of yarny odds and ends and Crazy Stupid Love on Foxtel (ahh, Ryan, how I love thee!).

Cute, yes?

Except when you put a bunch of them together like this.....

... and suddenly all I could see where hearts with vajayjays at their centre!!!!

Now who on earth is going to want them???!!!

52 weeks of Grateful: Week 5

Do you know, I forgot to be grateful last week?!  Trust me when I say I was, I am sure grateful for many things!!!!

This week is supposed to be all about smiles in grateful land, and can I tell you I have seen a few!  Lots from mummy with the return of school, swimming, kinder next week and lots of routine!  Oh, how I love me some routine!

The biggest smile has to come from my middle boy, Isaac, who started Prep today.  Yesterday he told me that his head and his legs were ready for school but he wasn't so sure about his tummy. 

Cute much! 

I'm guessing he had a huge case of butterflies!

Prepare to photobombed with my cute boy and his gorgeous cheeky grin!

Getting a sticker straight away for being a most excellent bag unpacker!

Finding his seat and table.

What's a boy to do but head straight for the dinosaurs!

Have you seen lots of smiles in your week?

Visit the lovely Bron and send some grateful love to others.