A Painting and A Piano

Two years ago on Tuesday, my husband turned 40. The big 4-0! Being the man that he is, he really couldn't care less. We had a wonderful lunch harbour side with friends as well as a small family occasion and it was such a lovely way to celebrate this milestone. I really wanted to do something special for him but being mid renovation, my head couldn't think of anything nor could I really justify any great expense.

Fast forward two years and I thought perhaps for this birthday I should make up for it a little!

Our neighbours had an incredible painting done when they first rebuilt their house and I always admired it, their home is completely different to ours, super contemporary albeit lovely, where ours is more of a French Provincial style with our own eclectic taste thrown in for good measure.

The artist, Georgina Hart, has her studio alongside our favourite cake store Kiss Me Cake and when I went to organise Zoe's First holy Communion cake back in October, it dawned on me that we could commission a painting by the wonderful Georgina.

Today the girls and I went and indulged in cake and coffee (well they had water!) in amongst all of Georgina's wonderful work and collected our painting "Wish Upon a Sunset" ready to gift on Tuesday. (That is it in the bubble wrap with the big red bow!) The girls are so excited to give this to their dad, an artwork based on them!! They are equally excited about the i-phone cover and the back scratcher, so that was good news!

One of my To Do's for 2014 was to begin the path of learning to play the piano! So Ciára and I started last week (Zoe will do flute with school). We have hired an electric piano and we are loving the lessons and the practice. I dream of a baby grand in that room, but for now, this fab piano will get us through!

Who Am I Kidding?

I was hoping to have the whole house done before we went away later in the week.

I am kidding myself.

It is stinking hot, the kids are exhausted and my 15 month old niece was here for the day today.

An at home day was declared and whilst the girls played all together, rested and hung out I cranked up the air con and got into more of the summer cleaning jobs. Argh. Fridge and freezer is spotless and shining, Christmas decorations are all wrapped and packed up, then I moved onto the dishwasher and the bins. All look brand spanking new now. Talk about elbow grease!

And that all took the best part of the day.

It is nearly 4pm and I still want to achieve a few things this afternoon/evening - washing folded and put away, pantry tidied and sorted and our bed changed. Downstairs straightened up. And if I have any energy left the cupboards under the book shelves (where the kids toys are) sorted and straightened up. That might be me being over ambitious though. I will see how I go.

I need a cuppa though, so it is time to sit in the sun with a green tea and read my new book for 1/2 hour so I feel like I have had some "me time"...and then I will get back into it.

I can not wait for the next series of Downton Abbey to be released!

Summer Cleaning

Part of my goals for 2014 is to recreate old positive habits that have gone astray in the past 12-24 months...lemon in warm water on rising, a green smoothie a day, an hour of exercise a day, following my schedule to keep on track. These benefit me more than words can say, and in turn my family is much happier because everything is running smoothly and I feel sane!

In the past, I have always used January as a type of spring cleaning month, though it being January, it really is Summer Cleaning. Room by room,
de-cluttering, clearing out, wiping out, wiping over, straightening up - you get the drift, right...?

The inlaws have been here for 6 weeks, some times it felt like it was flying by and other days it felt like they had been here for 6 months. Tonight they were flying out, home, back to Ireland. The whole family was here for the most of the day, emotions were running high. It is always so sad to say "see you soon" to them, especially seeing them farewell all the kids. I thought it was a good time to kick start my summer cleaning by escaping into my sewing room.

Until I started I thought it was all in fairly good order....but I decided to take it a step further - storage containers and labels. Works a treat, everything is in its very own home now, and when I slide open the wardrobe door it is all clearly there for me to see.

I do still need to sort that fabric out properly! And also go through the crafting magazines and books and be realistic/ruthless about what I really do need.

I can feel an ebay selling explosion coming on I have to say. Or is it gum tree these days?

So, other than a general straightening up now and the above couple of jobs, the sewing room summer clean is done. I can cross it off my list.

Now about the rest of the house and those other habits I need to re-ignite!!!

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.

I have a craft room...

We bought our house 7 years ago. A great location, great bones and a very blank canvas. We had a plan. Live in it for 5 years then renovate. 2 years in the nearly 100 year old roof, in original condition, couldn't take any more patching up and needed replacing. We knew the time had come, albeit earlier than anticipated, to go into design mode and get it all happening. Our plan was to extend out the back and to add a second level. My head went into over drive with all the possibilities.

One thing that was high on my wish list was my very own space, a craft room. And I scored the best room in the house for it, our old bedroom.

Now 18 months down the track, the decorating of the whole house is almost complete and with only a few more jobs to do, we are in love with our gorgeous home and the expense and, at times heartache, was totally worth it. I have a beautiful space that I can call my very own, lots of light, lots of room, a desk, shelving for some of my favourite bits and bobs, a sofa bed for "overflow guests" (we have a spare room with a queen size bed but we often need more sleeping space!) that is really comfy to lie on to read a book, the exercise bike is in here and all my weights as well, so I guess it almost doubles as a home gym ;) - and hugely important for any crafter - lots of storage space! I love it. I am hopeful that 2014 is much quieter than this year has been and that I will be able to get in here to actually enjoy the space and get some crafting/study/fun stuff happening!

Oh So Pretty

Today when I was in our local homewares shop buying a couple of gifts, I spied this little plate. It is only a wee small thing, 11 cm square, but when I saw it and it made me smile, I knew it had to come home with me!

It is a dark picture, but the one with the flash just made it look funny!

They're Back

We have an amazing tree right next to the entrance to the front courtyard of our house. It is a rare Japanese Gingko. It is stunning when it is in full bloom as it is now and also when in autumn and the leaves are changing colour to a beautuful gold. Admittedly it does cause us alot of grief when it sheds it's leaves and it would have been easier if it wasn't there when we were designing our renovation...Anyway, I digress...We have lived in our home for 3 1/2 years. The first year around this time we started to hear this very strange noise of a late afternoon and into the evening. Zoe was convinced it was monsters. Dave was away at the time and I had no idea what it was. After much Monster Away (lavender) spray was used, eventually we spotted this pair....and they have been back to visit every year since. They are a beautiful pair of Tawny Frogmouth Owls and they love our tree just as much as we do.

I Wish....for one of these in Black...

...but I really don't think the budget will stretch that far...

A Joyous Morning!

Nearly every morning I awake somewhere between 5.30 and 6am and go for a walk with my pooch. I love this start to the day, the fresh air, the solitude, it really sets me up for a great day, and I can feel the difference in myself, and the dog, when I don't do it. I was delighted that this morning it was finally warm enough to wear just a long sleeve tee, without a jacket. Spring has well and truly sprung and I love that! We got caught in a massive down pour and got drenched but this morning even that didn't dampen (ha) my spirits.

As I do every morning, I logged into the council website to check the status of our DA. A long 77 days ago, we submitted our plans into council. Imagine my ecstatic whoop of delight when this morning, dripping wet, I logged into the council website and saw that our plans have been approved and a letter is on the way to us!

So soon, our dream home will be a reality. It will be hell on earth to get there as we are living through the build but it will be more than worth it in the end!

Excitement is...

forgetting that your new clock is being delivered and the door bell going and the delivery man standing there in the pouring rain with a HUGE big box just for you!

I was recently in Adelaide visiting one of my great friends. She took me to a fabulous interior design store, Update Interiors.

I fell in love with this clock. I had to have it. We tried to source it in Sydney, but in the end it was shipped up from Adelaide. The lovely Liz, proprietor of Update gave me a generous discount to help with the shipping costs. I am so glad we decided to get it as it would have been one of those "Why didn't I get it when I saw it" stories.

It is 92cm in diameter and looks huge, and when the house renovation is done, it will go in the family room. Until then, it will go back in it's box for safe keeping until it's special piece of wall is ready for it! Now we just need council to get a wriggle on with our approval!



Not a great photo, as I just popped it onto the dining room table to make sure it was all ok and in working order!

Dreaming...My Dream home in the Making!

For 13 long months we made plans - meeting after meeting with the designer and architect, conversation after conversation between Dave and I, always looking for ideas and inspiration on the internet, in real estate guides, in the local newspapers. I dreamed of my dream home's layout and structure. Then in May, we had it! We were happy! Off to council, we went. An hour and half later we left, disappointed, we had been unable to lodge. Our local council had brought in new guidelines with regards to water retention - a whole 10,000 litres of it. So back to the drawing board, we engaged an engineer and then 3 weeks later our DA was finally lodged into council. It was advertised on their website, council received a submission (read objection) from a neighbour BUT it is now out of our hands - I thought I would be stressed about it, we have a tricky block in that it is sloping so with the amount of excavation we need to do we have really pushed the limits within some of the guidleines! I really do just feel what will be, will be and we can worry about it if and when we need to.

In the mean time, I have been playing with ideas for all the pretty things.

This has been taking up some time and I am really enjoying it. I can really picture my home, my dream home and I can't wait for it to come to fruition!