Heaven is a Place on Earth

My girls and I have just spent 5 glorious days with this view over Main Beach, on the Gold Coast in sunny Queensland.

We flew up to meet and stay with some friends who were up there. It is the 3rd time we have been up there in the past 18 months. We absolutely love it. We had a wonderful time though we missed Daddy!

Our days went something like this;

Mornings
Wake up
Breakfast
Coffee on the balcony
Put togs on and lather up on the sunscreen
Head to the beach until lunch time
Mosy back to apartment for lunch

Afternoons
Rest
Relax
Movie
I-something
Putt putt
Pool
Or whatever took our fancy

We headed down to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary for a day.

We bought seafood and hot chips from the best fish market on the coast and ate it on the beach one night. With champagne, of course.

We had dinner with friends from Adelaide who were up there as well. Southport SLSC is a great place to eat out with kids.

I took this photo on the last night, it was so pretty!

It is always tough to finish a great holiday, but we were excited to get home to see Daddy and the dog. They missed us too!

We now have 2 weeks of holidays left. And then another school year will begin! Where does the time go?

Some Unintentional but Much Needed Quiet Time

We had alot of fun this festive season. Family have been here visiting from New York and Dublin, so there was alot of family get togethers, sight seeing and catching up. Christmas swung around before we knew it.

We have a Christmas Eve that is the same every year. I guess it has unintentionally become a tradition for us, but we love it. Always hanging out at home together, an early dinner, Mass, driving around all the fabulous local Christmas lights, home, kids to bed, red wine poured, the last of the Christmas presents out to be wrapped, the Melbourne Myer Bowl Christmas Carols on tele and then we watch Love Actually. We never tire of it. We always laugh about it. We love it though. Our in laws are here this year, so it was nice to do it with them as well.

An early start on Christmas Day - 3.45am. WHAT??!! It was back to bed for that young lady, with them both finally waking at a much more decent hour of 7.30am. Oh, the excitement of Santa's visit and receiving much anticipated and hoped for gifts. Santa didn't fail to deliver this year!

A busy morning prepping and finishing organising Christmas lunch - 13 adults and 6 kids this year. A very fun day - food, laughs, drinks, karaoke, cleaning up, more drinks, exhaustion. A very fun day spent with family.

Then Boxing Day rolls around - another unintentional tradition - any friends who are in Sydney come in to say hello, swim, eat, share a bevvie and a few laughs and it is always a fantastic day spent with great people.

Towards the end of the day though I started to feel really off. Mum had a bit of a bug on Christmas Day and spent most of the day upstairs in bed. I thought I was getting her bug. I felt dreadful and had a fairly early night. 5am the next morning it was clear that Miss Z had caught Nanny's bug, and she spent the next 24 hours vomitting. Poor little poppet. Miss C seemed fine. As for me, I couldn't drag myself out of bed. I don't think I have ever felt so unwell. So off I went to the doctor yesterday and it turns out it is a flu virus and an ear infection - who knew!? The rest of yesterday I spent snoozing on the lounge. Today I am feeling brighter but still achey and lethargic. I have manged to indulge in (much needed) quiet time and do a few things I enjoy most...

Gotta love the Ashes! Listening to the English supporters is almost worth watching it for that alone.

Some mindless colouring

And I finished a fantastic book, set in a beautiful coastal village I know so well.

Hopeful that tomorrow I will feel up to getting up and doing alot more. Everyone is getting cabin fever here in a huge way.

Wishing you a happy new year and all the very best for 2014.

Princess J's Quilt

I have finished my niece's quilt in time for her Naming Day on Sunday. Feels good to be getting some of projects and WIP's finished and gifted. I am definitely getting these quilts finished and out the door to their new owners as I am having them actually quilted for me! And I have to say I love that - as I could never have them looking as fabulous with machine quilting as Emma does! She ALWAYS does a beautiful job, and she is a quilting machine! This quilt has been done with the open feathers that I love those much. The fluffiness the quilt gets after it has been tumbled dried is just lovely from the feathering! I do have plans to get some hand quilting done this year, but they may not end up on the 2013 Completed Quilts List!

Also an update on the Pies and Tarts quilt, the quilt that will never end is what it feels like, I am delighted to say that I have completed 50 blocks and sewn them up as well as 50 of the little tarts that will be appliqued onto it at the end. I just love this quilt!!! Right now onto the next WIP, or should I actually start Handstitched???

Princess D's quilt is ready to gift!

Last September ,we welcomed two little princesses to our family - my sister welcomed Princess J to the world, and my brother in law and his wife welcomed Princess D.

As all good quilty aunty's do, I decided to make them both a quilt. As this quilty aunty does, I am way behind schedule on them both!

Miss D was christened in Dublin in December so I wanted to have her quilt done for their return, I am only a couple of weeks late. It is a cute little pram/cot quilt and I just love the colours in this - a little different from the usual baby girl colours. Emma quilted it and I asked for an all over open pattern. The usual story, she did a fabulous job. I do love the open feathers, as once the quilt has been washed and tumbled dried it has such a lovely cuddly crinkly look and feel to it!

Now to get back to Princess J's quilt - her naming day is on the 24th March and I would like to gift it to her then!

Holiday Fun...and Sewing...

My lovely little family and I have just spent a wonderful 5 days staying here in Smiths Lake. Ah, the serenity. It was wonderful. We felt like we were the only people there. Zeus even got to come with us.25m left great coffee, 25m right a playground, all around us gorgeous lake views. We watched DVD's. We played board games. We did sticker mosaics. We played Twister. We walked by the lake. We went up to Forster. We blew bubbles. We collected shells. We danced to the Mary Poppins CD a hundred times. We went to "The Recky" for dinner. We went for a run or two. We rolled down the sand dunes at Blueys Beach. We hung out. We had an absolute ball!

In amongst all the family fun, I got to indulge in some sewing. YAY for me!

I finished Abby's Quilt. Now to pop it in the post to Emma for her apply her amazing talent and quilt it for me, ready to gift in early September.


I made some of the blocks up for my inlaws 40th weding anniversary quilt. I am struggling with this one. It is a kit and I chose it specifically, thinking my mother in law would love the fabrics and the colours, but it is just not something I would normally choose. I am finding it hard work, rather than enjoying it. Dave is heading to Ireland, via a conference in Munich in late September so I have a little time up my sleeve to get it done. It will also be going off to Emma to be quilted when I get it finished.

I also got a start on Sal's Farewell Quilt. Sal is a very dear part of our family, a wonderful family friend and Zoe's godmother. we have spent many special times with Sal (in fact she was at the birth of both my girls), and after many many years living in Australia she has decided to make the move back to the UK. I am devastated to say the least, but to what better way to send her off with lots of love and best wishes than to make a quilt?!!! It is just a very basic strip lap quilt but the colours are fabulous and I can't wait to see what Emma does with it when I send it off to be quilted!

I also pottered along on my pies and tarts - finishing 1 block as well as 2 extra pies and tarts to be appliqued onto their block of fabric.

Mixed Emotions

I sit here feeling so exhausted and unmotivated.

I do have a slump every year, just after Easter. Too much chocolate and the weather getting cooler (I definitely fall into the warm weather lover category) just seems to take the wind out from under my wings. I seem to go around in circles with my chores, take longer to do the things that I usually whip through, I don't exercise as I know I should and my nutrition leaves a fair bit to be desired...I put on a few kilos and all the wheels seem to fall off the wagon. I KNOW what I SHOULD be doing but I just can't seem to get motivated. This year seems to be worse; we have had the inlaws in Sydney for the past month, and have been traipsing back and forth to brother in laws 35 minutes away. With Dave's travel, the reno, school holidays and the big dog I seem to have lost my mojo in a serious way.

Regardless of all this, I have not lost touch with how blessed I truly am. I feel content and happy (even if somewhat frumpy and slothy) with my lot in life. I am surrounded by the love of two gorgeous giggling girls who fill my days with equal amounts of delight and frustration, and a big dog who does the same. I have a wonderful husband who works his butt off for our family but never forgets what really counts in life. I love my family more than I ever thought possible. I still feel an overwhelm at times that suprises me with the joy they bring me.

To get myself out of this rut I am going to do Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation Challenge. for the past few years I have been a huge fan of Holly Rigsby's FYM, which is US based. I love the forums as well as Holly's resistance and interval based workouts and have done a few of her challenges with great results. However I am finding more and more that I am missing workout with real live people (LOL) and missing gym classes! I loved Combat and Pump back in the day and I love to jog. As the 12WBT is Australian based and incorporates all types of exercise I am finding it really appealing. It kicks off on 23rd May and I will be incorporating FYM workouts, running, interval training and gym classes into my workouts. Just the kick up the pants I need right now me thinks!

So, my next post will be slightly cheerier and I am going to put my goals out there and results as I go along (don't worry, no before pics!!). If I put everything out there then i can not let myself down!

xxx

Oh, the Enthusiasm!!!

The big girl was excited about being in Year 1 but she was so cute giving her little sister a pep talk about her first day at pre-school. Being experienced in these matters given she was there in 2009, there was a fair amount of quiet conversation but I was told that it was "sister talk and that it was rude to listen in!" I wonder if that is something I have really said??? I don't recall....

Well, Day 1 at preschool was a complete success. Given Ciára's personality and that she has been in day care for a couple of years, we really didn't think it wouldn't be. However I was taken aback when I turned up at 12.45 (meant to be a half day for day 1) only to be told by the little miss ""Go away and please come back when I have had lunch with my new friends". The absolutely delightful teacher said she was more than happy for her to stay as she was going to be there til 2.30pm. So off I went to do a few chores in the village (much quicker without her in tow anyway) and then an hour later went back. This time she was very happy to head home.

This morning no sooner had we walked in the school gate to drop Zoe at school, I was being tugged on the arm "It is my turn to be dropped off now Mum, c'mon, c'moooooooon, Muuuuuumy, NOW!"....

Ciára is far from the reserved and quietly confident girl my Zoe is - however Zoe is delighted with her teacher and class mates and quite happy not to be one of the "littlie cute kids" in the school anymore.

All in all, a hugely successful start to the 2011 school year!

Australia Day

Hope you had as much fun as we did, celebrating this great nation!

Merry Christmas Everyone...

The weather is freakishly cold and snowy in Dublin, and whilst we are looking forward to getting home and soaking up some sun, we are still having a fun time!

There was a visit to Santa's Cottage up in the north - a wonderful experience for us all, but the kids especially loved it!

There has been a few trips into Dublin city to meet up with Zoe's school friend and her family, who is also visiting Ireland. Dave and I also had a couple of nights in town together..and we took the girls to go into the National Leprechaun Museum and to see the Christmas windows and lights.
Of course there was the whole reason we came to Ireland at this time of year. The wedding of my brother in law John to his gorgeous fiance Sinead. A spray tan, central heating and a short one shouldered dress almost lulled me ito a false sense of security that it wasn't actually sub zero temperatures..that was until we went out into the snow for the official family photos....
Of course there have been lots of cups of tea and red wines with friends and family. To keep me sane I have read 5 books, worked on my Pies and Tarts blocks and been going to the gym a few times a week.
I was also delighted to find a Little People Nativity Set, and the girls have had a great time re-enacting Jesus' birth.
I got the best early Christmas present ever - we are the proud owners of a black AGA cooker that is ordered and will be shipped to Sydney. To buy in Sydney it was way out of the budget but with the exchange rate the way it is it was nearly half the price, even paying shipping costs and duties. I can not wait for my new kitchen!!!

Now we have Christmas day to look forward to, and Zoe's 6th birthday on New Years Eve and then a couple of days later we wil fly out to go home.

I'd like to wish you and yours peace and love this Christmas, enjoy your day and may Santa bring all your dreams true. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Ciara was in the deepest sleep when we landed in Singapore. We couldn't wake her, and she remained asleep the entire stop over and about an hour into the 2nd leg of the flight. Flying into Dublin. Minus 7 degrees and snow. We had been laughing about how the weather was going to be when we arrived, but the reality was we were in total denial. Pretty to look at as we flew in though.

Zoe had a ball catching up with her second cousins in the back yard on the day we arrived.

I dared to venture outside at 8am yesterday morning, I couldn't believe the darkness. I lived in London for 3 years many years ago but had obviously blocked those dark wintery mornings out of my mind. Now here it is light not long after 8am and dark again at 4.30pm.

I have a fear of cabin fever. After 3 days I am feeling it. Shortly I am going to have a snooze with the kids so we can try and break the jet lag. 3am mornings are not fun. There was a fair amount of snow over night, it looks so lovely. Then I am going down to join the local gym so I can get out of the house for an hour a day. Then we are going to Bewleys Cafe for the girls to have a hot chocolate.

I realise how I have taken for granted the small things like playing in the back yard, going for a stroll in the brisk winterweather. This snow just makes things really different! Even the Irish are over it already!!!

"In Dublin's Fair City...

...where the girls are so pretty" we landed to -7 degrees and snow yesterday morning. IT IS COLD!!! The flight was pain free as the girls were just awesome, we were so proud of the way they travelled. We all got a fair amount of sleep along the way!

Yesterday was spent unpacking, lots of cups of tea catching up with family and the girls playing in the back yard in the snow with their second cousins.

Dave headed off for a few pints with his dad in the early afternoon whilst the girls and I hung around home with Granny Mai and other family dropping in and out. One by one we all dropped off into a jet lag induced sleep. Ciara first at 2pm, followed by Zoe at 4.30, then me at 5pm then Dave followed at 8pm when he got home. So by 3am this morning it was party time...it is going to be a long day.

It is the first time that Dublin has seen snow this early in the winter for many years. I have already taken load sof pics, but for some reason I am unable to upload them at the moment, will try again later on in the day!

We are all so excited to be here and looking forward to lots of fun and laughter with the Irish lot!

They Say a Dog is a Man's Best Friend...

...but in this house Zeus is Zoe's best friend!!!

Show and Tell...

Ciára was very excited when her daycare teacher asked her if she would like to bring Zeus in for her news!

"Good morning everyone! This is my dog Zeus...". She went on totell them all about what he eats, where he sleeps, that Dr Harry paid us visit because he chases his tail...and the added bonus news was "and my mum has really pretty purple toes and I love those shoes because you can see them. Any questions?"

Weather Forecast...

Thanks to here I was able to see the forecast for when we land in Dublin next week...

Monday 29 Nov High: 3° Low: -1°Scattered Flurries

This morning I have been going through my wardrobe trying to work out what will help me cope with 3 degrees and scattered flurries - whatever they might be!!! Snow perhaps??? I own nothing of the thermal nature, and neither does the rest of my family!!! An excuse to go shopping straight off the plane perhaps??? Last year in London, I bought a fabulous winter overcoat - I may as well have left it there as it hasn't been worn once yet...however my guess is that I will be entirely sick of it by the time we get back to sunny Sydney!

Trust me, I am REALLy very excited about this holiday, Christmas, Zoe's 6th birthday and a family wedding, the whole trip is going to be filled with fun, love and laughter - I just don't do cold very well!!!!

I have a cross stitch, the Pies + Tarts BOM to take with me to keep crafty..and
I have ordered a "Learn to Crochet" book which I hope arrives in time. I have also signed up to the local gym for the 5 weeks we are there. Hopefully these things will keep me sane and warm!!!

I am looking forward to it all, really I am!

Better Homes and Gardens

Tonight my beautiful boy Zeus was in a segment on BHG. Sometime ago Dr Harry paid us a house call which you can read about here. We had a fabulous night tonight - beer, pizza and great friends to watch our poor boy on tele. Wow, he might have looked a little bit mad with that tail chasing, but what a magnificent looking boy I have!

Click here to see Zeus and I in action...

Where do the days go?

Time seems to be so short at the moment. I struggle to get through my to do list on a daily basis. Maybe my expectations are too high, maybe I am trying to achieve too much? I don't know but I am feeling more and more frustrated on a daily basis!

To ensure my sanity, I have snatched time here and there for reading my enormous 700 and something page book and I am loving it, I baked gingerbread with the big kid (albeit from a box but at this time my mantra seems to be "something is better than nothing") and I have also had some quiet moments to do some hand stitching on Jack's quilt. I was hoping to have it finished by the time we went away but with 24 days to go and knowing all I have to achieve in this time I just don't think it will happen!!!

With everything that is going on and stress being caused from outside my immediate family unit, my husband and my children have offered me the hope that I need at the moment. Their smiles, their cuddles and their love lift me up and they bring me so much joy and sunshine through the clouds. We are all creators of our own destiny, we design our lives through the desicions and the choices that we make. I wish that everyone could have this realisation and that they could see that life is really quite simple, it is ourselves that make it hard if we so choose!

Mason's Life Journey Quilt

Last night, I finally finished my adorable nephew Mason's throw quilt. It was quilted by the amazing Emma of Sampaquita Quilts and she blogged about it here. Now I need to order some new printable labels and make a label and gift it to him next week!



Next job, to handquilt Jack's Quilt!

A Clucky Good Time.

My brother in law, John, is marrying the lovely Sinead in December. On Friday 20 of us ventured down to Melbourne for her Hens party!

I got an early flight down on Friday morning with my sister and a friend. We left a gorgeous summer day at 9am and Melbourne greeted us with wind, rain and a very chilly day. Brrrr!!! It was cold!

A day of shopping, followed by a day at The Caulfield Cup and an evening of partying, followed by a Sunday morning of a very chilled out brunch to recover and a wander around the lovely lanes of Melbourne city.

We were delighted that, although very brisk, we had mostly fine weather for the races.

We arrived back to another gorgeous afternoon in Sydney and headed to a barbie at my other brother in laws - a lovely time to cap off a fabulous weekend!

From the Mouth of The 3 Year Old...

...this morning....

"I've decided that I want another sister as well as Zoe, so tomorrow I am going to go to the museum and get one called Asherlee"

Friends...

are the family you choose!

I am blessed to have so many really wonderful friends. Without their love and support, life would be duller and laughs would be fewer.

This is one special mate who I met when I was 11. Like all friendships we have had our ups and downs but we always come out on top and have shared so much over the past 25 years that I think I would truly be lost without her!



There are probably hundreds of these immature and silly photos through the years - we don't get away with them as much as when we were 12...but we try!!



Between us we have 4 special princesses who adore each other as well. It is so special that the friendship lives on in our next generation!



We have just spent a really fun time hanging out in Fiji all together, along with some more of her family and other friends.