Smile.

What is one thing that is making you smile today?

There are a few things making me smile at the moment. A beautiful little puppy named Norman {not at my house though}, apricot and almond biscotti, Lacey's kisses and cuddles, Hubby making me laugh with his crazy antics, dreaming, playing Scattergories, watching Toy Story 3 and Winter sunshine.

What about you? What's making you smile today?

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Shopping Of The Imaginary Kind.

I should never look online for kids clothes. It's like being pulled into a vortex, of which I fear I will never return to normal again. They're all so cute, and small, and sparkly... and it's so easy to toss them in my basket. There's no awkward coathanger threatening to poke out my eye, no toddler whining at my feet, no Hubby tsk tsking me from the sidelines. It's quite peaceful, and enjoyable. Except when I arrive at checkout and the number staring back at me is a little scary...

Here are some beautiful, little pieces I discovered whilst on an imaginary shopping trip online.

{t-shirt, floral dress, white onesie, red shoes, aqua tutu, black tutu & denim skirt}

{dinasaur gear, monster tee, patterned onesie, striped cardigan, black pants, stripey tee & boat shoes}

When shopping online, what are your favourite stores?

A Letter To Kim.

Dear Kim,

I think you're pretty. I watch your TV show... sometimes. But I'm going to have to ask you to think before you tweet.

I would have tweeted in response but 140 characters will just not do. It will not do at all.

Being a new mum is one the greatest joys in life {as I'm sure you've realised with your sister recently giving birth}, but it's also one of the most difficult too. We've either just given birth to something about the size of a watermelon from our lady garden nether regions or endured pretty major surgery in order to meet our little bundle of joy. It kinda hurts.

Whilst recovering from the birth, we're being prodded and poked from any willing nurse that passes by. "Is your milk in yet?" they'll ask as they squeeze our very tender breasts. Eventually the milk arrives, and any prudish attitude we've had towards others seeing our breasts goes out the window, but only when it comes to feeding our baby.

Sleep, or at least quality sleep is a thing of the past. We're awake whilst most other women are getting their beauty sleep. We probably need it most {to help budge the stubborn bags under our weary eyes}.

We're on a constant feeding schedule. For some it's every hour, for others every three. This feeding doesn't discriminate on whether the sun is up, or whether it's night. When a baby is hungry, we're there to feed them. We're walking milk-bars, at the ready to soothe any cry or tired whimper.

Consider this: In the beginning it can take up around 40 minutes to completely feed a baby. An hour and a half later, we're back feeding the baby again. We'll start doing something, anything and then have to stop again and feed. In between feeds we're changing nappies, attending to our birth wounds, applying lotion to our chapped nipples, attempting to shower for the first time in 3 days and contemplating finding something to eat that requires very little time and effort. If we manage to put a brush through our hair it's a miracle, and if by chance we have time for face cream... it's pretty darn note-worthy.

When heading out for a visit to the shops or eatery we need to pretty much pack the kitchen sink. Nappies, wipes, cream, bottles, dummies, toys, purse, keys, phone, spare brain and a truckload of patience are packed into one over-sized bag. Forgive us if we forget to pack a cover-up. Forgive us if we expose you to our breasts. Because perhaps we're surviving on an hour's sleep. Perhaps the baby has been crying all night. Perhaps we haven't had any adult conversation for what seems like forever. Perhaps we've forgotten what it feels like to not be attached at the breast to a little human for a better part of the day. Perhaps we've stopped caring, just for a moment. Perhaps you need to walk a mile in a new-mama's slippers before you judge them, and then tweet for the whole world to read.

Instead offer a smile, a nod, a knowing glance or tell us our baby is beautiful. Because we're doing the best we can. We really are.

{and mamas all over the world}

P.S. I agree that perhaps a dining table isn't the best place to change a nappy, but don't judge. Let it slide. If only, this once. Tweet about something else.

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Point & Shoot: The Hungry Monster.

I had so much to do this weekend. I'm still up to my ears in laundry {dirty & clean}. As well a bit of sorting and cleaning around the place. Lacey didn't want to leave my side, and with Hubby on night shift {meaning he's away at night, sleeping during the day} I had no choice but to let her cling to me as she desired.

She has an insatiable appetite at the moment too. I'm not sure if it's because she ate nothing for a week {with being ill} and is making up for lost time, or if it's a toddler thing. Do any toddler parents have any insights?

Honestly, she eats more than I do... and that's saying something. Eggs for breakfast, and then more toast, avocado, strawberries, grapes, sandwiches, noodles... and that's only in the morning. I sit down to relax and she's asking for more, more, more! I tried to distract her with some painting, but that lasted a whole 3.6 minutes.

I've got a busy week this week {school holidays}, but I'll be around at night to look at your pictures {from Point & Shoot}, read your comments and look at your blogs {if you have one, if not tsk tsk}.

Have a lovely week, and I'll see you guys around. In fact, I'll be back this afternoon with something a little bit different. x

How was your weekend? What was the highlight?

A Little Something, Something For Your Sunday.

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Coming Home.

As much as I love getting away: the checking in, discovering new places, hotel rooms, eating out and slipping into a comfy king-size bed... there really is nothing like coming back home. Home is where the heart is, the comfort is and where the washing machine is. I missed having a washing machine to clean my clothes. With days of vomiting we had very little clothes left... and I was so, so keen to start washing.

That's a little bit sad, isn't it? To be excited about washing. As a last hurrah to a holiday that went a little skewiff, Lacey decided to vomit all over me, and everything on our flight home. Not good. Or fun. I can still smell vomit where ever I turn.

I'll miss this lovely view (from our room in Noosa), but I do love coming back to all things familiar, home cooked food and yes, my washing machine. And I think Lacey is glad to be back to all her lovely toys and things.

As we drove back in from the airport it was like seeing where we live in a new light. In a week so much can change. I saw it all from a different perspective, I noticed the small things that may have always been there before, but went unnoticed. I noticed the big things. It was like someone sent a memo out and told the world we were going, "Change everything", it would have read. A big tree that used to block part of our view has disappeared. We can see so much now. The local shopping centre has changed, it has super sized lamp shades and cow print covered chairs for tired shoppers to sit on. Things changed.

But as we put the key into the door and stepped inside, it was home. And I was so glad to be back.

Do you like returning home? Is home where your heart is?

PS Thank you so much for all my beautiful birthday wishes. It was so lovely, and so special. I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and I'll 'see' you on Monday. Bring your Point & Shoot. x

We're Going To The Zoo.

When Steve Irwin died I was really sad. I had just walked down to do school pick-up with a baby that I nanny and a group of the Mums at the school told me. I was in shock and I got a little teary, an over-dramatic response for sure. "Oh, I'm sorry," comforted one of the women, "Did you know him personally?"

I didn't, and I didn't know why I had tears. It's definitely sad when someone so passionate and iconic passes away. When we visited Australia Zoo last Friday, you can tell that his passion and spirit lives on there.

{People lined up to feed the elephants celery}

We're zoo type people. We are 'friends' of Taronga Zoo which means we can visit as many times a year as we like {for a fee}. We visit about once a month, more if we can find the time.

Australia Zoo is so different though. The animals are so happy and have such personality. There are so many staff members around, they're really hands-on and passionate. Australia Zoo just oozes passion.

{Check out the drool on this guy!}

Lacey's favourite would have to be the Kangaroos. We made Hubby line up to get Kangaroo feed from the vending machine for $2, which requires much patience. It was worth it though. Lacey loved feeding them. She has us in hysterics because the wallaby would stand up and she'd think his hand was out just for her to shake it. She was constantly shaking his hand. He wasn't so happy when she went to shake his foot though. Cue tears.

{Despite being fed by people all day, these guys never seem to get full}

The barnyard animals were very sweet. There were two newborn little goats named Hamish and Andy which made for a laugh.

{Meet Spikey, Lacey's new friend}

Entry to Australia Zoo is $57, which we thought was expensive, but once you get through the gates you can see where the money is being spent. The Wildlife Warriors show is worth the $57 alone. It had us in stitches of laughter, and is so well done. There were birds, crocodiles, snakes, lizards and more. It's was unbelievable.

The elephants were so blissfully happy, which was definitely a highlight of our visit. They walked around the zoo, and then swam in their enclosure {which is massive}. They were hilarious, ducking under the water, making loud noises and just having a blast. I could have watched them all day.

What's your favourite animal at the zoo? Why?

Hi.

It all started when Hubby came home from night shift and I woke to him being sick in the bathroom. And then we flew out for my birthday holiday, he gradually got better, and then Lacey got sick. First of she was really tired, and we all know that's not normal for Lacey at all. She was falling asleep in restaurants. She slept for 14 hours straight. Whilst that sounds almost lovely, it's not really. I'd wish for sleepless nights over that. I just want my perky little munchkin back.

So we've spent the last few days covered in vomit, and constantly changing nappies in our hotel room as it rained outside.

I'm hoping the bug stops there.

And so that's very boring to read, I'm sure.

Enjoy these quirky prints I found on Etsy yesterday. I've purchased enough art from Etsy over the past year to more than fill the frames we have in our home. So I'm going to refrain from these from Dear Colleen. They're cute though. Don't you think?

Confessions Of A Cheapskate.

I have a confession to make. My excessive magazine obsession has saved me hundreds in cosmetic costs. How? I haven't purchased foundation in over 8 years. I haven't needed to. You see, I'm a cheapskate. I have enough of these sachets found glued to pages of magazines* I pore over to last me a while. A long while.

It's not something I've done with intention. I did buy foundation. A good Lancome one a long time ago. And then I worked my way to the bottom of it, and found myself in a bit of a predicament with nothing to use. I remembered a sachet I had in a magazine, and I used it. I never looked back.

Sometimes I score big {usually in the pricey international magazines} and get a brand like Sisley. Lucky my skin colour is pretty average and the colour match has been not too bad.

I know, I know... I can hear the girls at Primped tsking from here. Forgive me make-up gods, for I have sinned... but I sure have saved myself a pretty penny.

What's your confession? What cheapskate act have you been guilty of lately? How do you save yourself a pretty penny?

*I promise you that I buy perfume {or at least have it gifted to me}, I don't rub myself up and down magazines just to smell good.

52 Week Project: Twenty Two.

We're not the most experienced boat type people. Well Hubby is, but of boats without motors. So we cruised along the waters at the slowest speed ever, because that's all the our boat was capable of. We were warned of the sandbars, and we nodded and paid attention when we were being educated on them.


And off we went. We went far {saw Richard Branson's island} and we went near. We waved to the locals {I'm a serial waver, have hand, will wave}. As we cruised around we saw a boat load of young lads fishing, we waved but got no response. They just looked at us like we were crazy. And then we hit a sandbar.

Luckily Hubby was talented enough to get us out with his driving skills, but we were in hysterics in the back of the boat, as were the local fishing lads in their tinny. They saw that sandbar coming...

We then set the camera up on the self-timer, and got into position. Hubby left the drivers seat for a mere moment to pop into the shot. And this is it. Our first attempt. And we were back in hysterics again.

What a brilliant birthday. I love this shot. It's not the best, for many reasons... but it's fun. And it makes me smile.

Point & Shoot: Noosa.

Being 30 is blissful, so far. It's been all sunshine, saltwater and sandcastles.

We spent most of the day out on the water, cruising along looking at million-dollar houses, with trillion-dollar views, eating twenty dollar fish-and-chips. Just the way it should be.

How was your weekend? Did you manage to take a photo of something, somewhere? I'd love to see it. Just add it to your blog or even Facebook {and link back to here}. I am looking forward to seeing what you saw.

Happy (birthday) Weekend.

I am sneakily writing this in the hotel internet room, whilst waiting on an email. Lacey is upstairs with Gaga and Big Sis in a big bubble bath. We're getting ready for dinner out, and we're relaxed from our hair follicles to our tiniest toes.


The sun is shining. I'm not sure what it's doing back at home. I turn 30 in two days, and I'm excited. From what I hear, 30's rock... and I'm all up for that.

So, have the loveliest of all weekends and I'll see you on Monday. Bring your Point & Shoot. I'll bring a truckload of photos, and I'll let you know what being 30 is like.

Until then... happy days to you... and you. x

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Quit It.

I read these over on Kidspot the other day, and I had to share. It's a list of things that we should stop doing by the time we're 30.

1. Buying clothes from the junior section.
2. Forgetting her parents’ birthdays.
3. Making out with her BFFs at bars for attention.
4. Making out with her boyfriend at bars for attention.
5. Filling her bed with stuffed animals {really, even one is too many}.
6. Carrying a torch for anyone she hasn’t seen in the last five years.
7. Rebelling against her parents for the sake of rebelling against her parents.
8. Declaring an entire gender “all jerks.”
9. Holding a grudge against anyone who wronged her in high school.
10. Skipping regular gyno exams.
11. Going to bed without washing and moisturizing her face.
12. Being “that person” who had a bit too much to drink at the office party.
13. Crushing on Justin Bieber.
14. Thinking she’s got it all figured out.
15. Calling her father “daddy.”
16. Engaging in sibling rivalry.
17. Trying to get by on her looks.
18. Living paycheck to paycheck.
19. Expecting a man/knight in shining armor to swoop in and save her.
20. Aimlessly jumping from job to job.
21. Using MySpace/Facebook/Twitter to pick up guys.
22. Expecting a man to do all the wooing.
23. Wishing she had someone else’s life.
24. Expecting everyone to drop everything because it’s her birthday ...
25. ... or because her “boyfriend” of two weeks dumped her.
26. Measuring her self-worth by a number on the scale.
27. Being cheap.
28. Quitting a job without having a new one lined up first (especially in this economy!).
29. Blaming her mother for all her issues.
30. Romanticizing her 20s.


Are there any that you're still doing that you should have stopped by now, or soon?

I best get cracking on 26...

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Up, Up & Away.

My bags are packed and I'm on my way... on my way to a wee, little holiday. I'm up in air, probably right now as you're reading this. I'm off to a place where the sun never stops shining... and it's beautiful one day, perfect the next {heard that before? wink wink}.

I am so looking forward to a good dose of vitamin D, sunshine, carefree days and hopefully some sleep-ins {we'll see}.

So, I think you can guess what I'm smiling about today... just about everything. What about you? What is one thing that is making you smile today?

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I've Learnt A Thing Or Two Along The Way...

As each birthday comes around I get a little reflective, to where I was the year before and what I've done over the year. And this birthday has me feeling more reflective than ever. That's understandable though, right?


I've learnt a thing or two along the way to getting here, with much, much more to discover as well. In my {almost} 30 years I've learnt:

♥ Life is what you make of it. I've learnt that it's easy to be the victim. Well easy and hard, really. But sometimes you have to find a little courage and shake off the victim persona and empower yourself. I know that doesn't happen overnight, but when it happens life is a whole lot lighter, and so much more beautiful.

♥ Sometimes it's not just luck. Sometimes it's more than that. My girlfriend and I both have wonderfully amazing husbands. We've met our soul mates, and we're blissfully in love. We met our husbands around the same time, and people would say to us that we were lucky. And I guess we were. But it's more than that. Perhaps they're lucky too {to have us}. Perhaps it was meant to be. And perhaps we work hard at making it work, because we love each other that much.

♥ Self love will get you everywhere. As will self-belief. For years my fire was fuelled with self-doubt and self-hate. That's how I worked. And then with hard work, and a flick of an internal switch I discovered self-love. Because if you don't love yourself, who else can? I know that's incredibly cliche, but it's also incredibly true. Sure the self-love comes and goes... but even just knowing that I need it, is a giant leap in the right direction. Group hug.

♥ Sleep is a luxury. And boy did I take it for granted. I can't see myself having good quality sleep for years, and years... decades even. And I didn't realise that when I signed up to this parenthood gig that I was signing away my right to a good night's sleep. But that's okay. I can actually survive on very little sleep, and still function. It's okay.

♥ It's in the small things. The way her little hand wraps around my finger. The way I catch him smiling at me for no reason at all. The way the sun bounces off the water. The song playing on the radio at just the right time. Finding a coin on the ground and believing it be a sign of good luck. The way the man at the post office remembers my name, and wishes me well. The way my mum cares. The way the possibilities of a new day makes me feel. The small things is life are where the beauty lies... you just have to open your eyes to see them. They're there.

♥ Make your own way. Sometimes there isn't a right way, or a wrong way... there's just your way. And if you've got a dream, somewhere you want to be, something you want to achieve... sometimes you have to make your own way there.

♥ Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.

Here's cheers to years and years and years more learning, loving & living.

What have you learnt along the way in life?

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30 Things I Heart...

♥ sunshine, sunflare & sunrays ♥ birthday cake ♥ frocks ♥ lacey mae ♥ shane ♥ super hot bubble baths ♥ uninterrupted sleep ♥ weekends away ♥ diet coke ♥ my beautiful friends ♥ nurturing my creative side ♥ head massages ♥ closing my eyes ♥ when dreams come true ♥ scratchies ♥ the quiet of an early morning ♥ hope ♥ polaroids ♥ being inspired ♥ handwritten snail mail ♥ toasted ham & cheese sandwiches ♥ gardenias ♥ freshly cleaned linen ♥ glee ♥ sarah mclachlan singing ♥ newborn baby smell ♥ crying happy tears ♥ frankie magazine ♥ movies that move me ♥ life ♥

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Slow Cooker Curried Sausages.

I am hopeless when it comes to photographing food. I can't tell it to smile, or move to one side, or get in better light. You'd think it would be easier, but it's certainly not. It's something I am going to endeavour to master {or at least get better at than I am now}. Sausages are ugly to photography, I tell you right now. I almost didn't want to share because my photos were sooo bad, but these were so delicious I just had to. I am telling you now, you must try them.

We buy our sausages in bulk from the Farmer's Markets. They're really, really good quality. My stomach churns at the thought of eating anything else. I've heard too many stories, and watch too many Today Tonight food reports.

Curried sausages get made by Hubby at least once every fortnight. I don't know what he puts in {I'm thinking cream} but they're pretty darn delicious. These rivalled his, and took a lot less work {I think} and had hardly any fat at all.

12 good quality sausages

1 tbs oil {or use cooking spray}

2 medium brown onions, sliced

2 tbs mild curry powder

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

1 cup beef stock

1/2 cup water

vegetables of your choice

1. Put sausages in a large saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Boil, uncovered, for 2 minutes. Drain.

2. Heat oil in the same pan. Cook the onion and stir until soft. Add curry powder, cook and stir until fragrant. Remove from heat. Stir in tomatoes, stock and water.

3. Place sausages in slow cooker, add onion mixture. Cook on low {covered} for 8 hours.

4. Stir in vegetables with about an hour to go, and serve with mash.

Hubby amended my work by adding some cornflour {made into a paste} to the curry to make it a little thicker.

Adapted from Women's Weekly Slow Cooker cookbook.

Enjoy. Let me know if you make it, and what you thought of it.

A Kiss Is Just A Kiss?

Last week one of my favourite bloggers, Smaggle Style, posed a question that had my mind ticking over, Is a kiss forgivable?

When we think about cheating we generally think about sexual encounters, and sordid affairs. So when Smaggle posed this question it left readers divided, and it's quite difficult to know unless you've been there. I wanted to bring the question to you {my readers} and see what you thought.

If your partner kissed someone, could you forgive? Could you forget?

Take A Sip.

When I wrote about Sex and the City last week I mentioned that there were two parts of the movie that really resonated with me. This is one of them. If you haven't seen the movie yet, and plan on doing so soon... perhaps you'll like to skip away now {avoiding any spoilers} and return when you've watched it.

The first scene occurs in the kitchen. Charlotte has over committed herself by baking what seems like hundreds of cupcakes for her daughter's class. She's up to her eyeballs in icing and batter, the baby is screaming {which I found really, really disturbing} and she has reached her boiling point. You know when you're sailing along and you think you're doing okay as this motherhood gig, you've got it almost sorted. And then... you haven't. She whisks herself into the pantry for a mere moment and cries. Big, fat, ugly sobs.

Hands up if you've been there?

The second scene happens in a bar with Miranda and Charlotte. You can refresh your memory by watching the clip above. It doesn't show it all, just part... but you get the picture.

I think it should be almost compulsory for mothers to have a night like these at least every six months. Just to get it all out. It doesn't make us bad mamas for regurgitating those words about how hard it is, how consuming motherhood can be and just how much we need a break. We're human too. And sometimes motherhood isn't all rainbows, and butterflies. It just isn't. And of course we wouldn't swap motherhood for the world, and because we have moments that we want to lock ourselves in the pantry and sob, it doesn't mean we love them any less. Because we love them more than enough to come back out, wrap our arms around them and smother them in kisses.

So take a sip, or take a deep breathe... and know... that you're not alone.

Have you ever had a motherhood manic type moment?

52 Week Project: Twenty One.

On Saturday night, I was a runaway. Correction, I mean I went and saw The Runaways. I met with some fellow blogger friends {Liss, Lorraine & Corrie} for dinner and then to watch the film. It was quite a good movie. I had no idea what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised. It definitely showed Dakota Fanning in a whole new light...

{Oh, and I got a new hair cut and colour. You like? Not that you can really tell from the picture, but I got quite a lot chopped off. Yipppeee.}