Hello...

Hello everyone...I'm just popping in quickly to say my life is busy at the moment, and my blog has taken a little backseat for the time being. Everything is good, I just don't have anything much to share right now. I have been stepping outside my little box, and it feels great.

I have spent time with some wonderful friends, enjoyed time with my family, eaten some amazing meals, started a new job in the community and shared stories and music with beautiful kindreds (you know who you are)...oh, and received a gorgeous gift in the mail yesterday from across the ocean (I will tell you more about that next time) - my heart is indeed full.

I hope to get around to visiting you all over the next few days to catch up on what everyone's been up to. I am going to leave you with this link. Melody Ross has the most inspirational blog, and she writes so beautifully. She can say it a whole lot better than I can, but this is where I am at right now too...I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I do!

See you all sooner than soon xxx

(pic from Melody Ross blog)

Girls' Weekend

This weekend, I was lucky enough to spend a wonderful couple of days away with an amazing group of friends. We travelled a few hours away to a place called Bundalong, near Yarrawonga in Victoria's north, where we stayed at Anna's beautiful holiday home. She was the most gracious host, spoiling us with a home cooked dinner Friday night, way too many Cosmopolitan cocktails, and a night of dancing and fun! The next morning we dragged ourselves out of bed (ouch) and visited a beautiful winery, built back in the 1800's.

Our tour guide Ralph informed us that there is indeed a resident ghost here...but unfortunately we didn't meet him today...but we did sample the beautiful wines, made in the traditional way with the very same ancient machinery that was used back then. We wandered the gorgeous gardens, then sampled some beautiful cheeses, before heading out by the lake to enjoy an afternoon of wine and yummy cheese platters.

After a little rest back at Anna's we headed out to the local for a pub meal and a night of snooker, dancing and much laughter...phew!

Thanks girls for a magical fun weekend...can't wait to do it again!

Roadtrip

weeeeeeeeeee....I'm off on a girls' roadtrip for the weekend! Yipee! See you on the flip side xxx

The mountains are calling me

 I am sure I have told you here before of my love for the mountains near my home...they were calling me last week, so I hopped in the car, put this CD on, and drove through the beautiful rainforest...it was very cold and foggy - the perfect weather for a visit to the mountains.
I enjoyed a beautiful lunch in this cosy French cafe...goat's cheese and capsicum tart...while the rain fell outside. Delicious in every sense...
Can you spot the little chippy coffee table in the next pic? After all of your lovely comments about my kitchen dresser, I am inspired to pick up the paint brush again and make over a pine coffee table just like this one, that was actually a wedding present 20 years ago...hopefully I can achieve this look.

Then I had a browse through some lovely little shops. Sassafras is the name of this beautiful village nestled in the mountains. It is one of my very favourite places to visit.

This gorgeous doll's house belonged to Dame Zara Bates, who was an Australian fashion designer and wife of former Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt (Harold Holt died mysteriously in December 1967 when he was swept from a rock while swimming at the beach near Portsea in Victoria). It lives in a little room of this shop.

It is actually now for sale - anyone got a cool $12,500?

I also wanted to say hi to my new readers...it's always so nice to meet new friends, and everyone here is so lovely - do you know how much I love your visits?

Speaking of new friends, on our walk this morning, Pippi met a new friend...

Um, unfortunately it didn't end well...they have decided not to be friends...

(In case you were concerned, Pippi is fine...the cat didn't actually scratch her, I just think she got one hell of a fright! You see she had never met a cat before, and I think she was quite scared, but also curious...I feel a bit bad for telling her pussy wouldn't hurt her) I had a little video of the incident, but blogger, for some reason, won't let me upload it...it's probably for the best...

"The more I think, the more I feel there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people" - Vincent Van Gogh

(I think he should have added 'and animals', don't you?)

Makeover Magic

So, as promised, here is my kitchen dresser makeover - ta da! I am in love with it. Just look at it before - dated and boring. Armed with a colour that knocked my socks off, and a couple of hours work,

here she is after her makeover...all it took was a $7.00 sample pot and some vintage style knobs and I have a whole new piece of furniture. I sanded it back in some places so the wood could show through and give that vintagey look.

 I decided to leave the doors off the top bit so I could display my glasses and cups and saucers.

A closer look...I love my little teepee painting that my friend Elspeth painted...the colours pop next to the turquoise.

 I am rather pleased with how my dresser turned out...all the colours make me smile mixed in with my silver, coloured glass and plates...

"If we all did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves" - Thomas Edison

Mother Love...and an update below...

I have just quickly popped in here to wish all of you beautiful mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts and grandmothers a most wonderful, magical Mothers Day...I hope that you are all enjoying yourselves...we just had some home-made soup with crusty bread. I am about to light the fire (it's freezing here today) and my mum is arriving soon for afternoon tea. We shall have sponge cake and scones with jam and cream...mmmmm.

I'm back...couldn't resist sharing some photos of our day.

Mum and I sharing a glass of bubbles...

An open fire and a dog by my side...I am a happy mummy.

"There are two lasting bequests we can give our children: one is roots, the other is wings" - Hodding Carter

Second Hand Rose

There is something incredibly thrilling and addictive about finding treasure in second hand shops...one of my very favourite past times is hitting the opportunity shops (or op shops as they are affectionately known)...I think overseas you guys call them thrift stores.  I am forever chasing a bargain, and feel like I have won the lottery when I bring home someone else's discarded treasure.

 I may have mentioned a favourite shop of mine here in Melbourne called 'Harem' Well, imagine my delight when our local op shop had a shop-load of their clothing at ridiculous prices! I was like a kid in a candy store...no matter that some things were very small, and would not even go close to fitting me, I still had to have them. Gotta think outside the box sometimes - if it's something you love, it can always be used for lots of other things, like displaying on mannequins, or the fabric could be used for sewing projects - much cheaper than going to a fabric store.

I am so glad I brought these lovelies home...

 Another score this week were these lovely cloches - they are so pretty for displaying different things under...check out my baby shoes - awwwww. And of course the lovely nest my beautiful friend Jo made for me last year.

 I procrastinated over buying this latest edition of Flea Market Style - worth a fortune here in Australia...but I'm so glad I succumbed. Look how beautiful these pages are...then I came across this gorgeous plate, cup and saucer in the op shop...it says blah blah, Queen Mother on it, so it was a bit dearer than I would normally spend, but I couldn't resist, especially with Mother's Day just around the corner - I'm picturing a romantic afternoon tea inspired by this photo....

And isn't synchronisity a funny thing? Just look at the collections - remember I recently purchased a piano accordian? Then on the next page, I loved the idea of these stacked velvet boxes, and lo and behold, I found one for $1 on a dusty shelf, yep, you guessed it, in an op shop! Oh Happy Day!

Finally, i just have to share this pic from the magazine also...that turquoise table makes me weak at the knees...so I have decided that my very dated kitchen sideboard needs a makeover - I went to the paint shop with magazine in hand, and they have matched this colour for me - you know that I will share photos as soon as this project is completed - stay tuned.

So, the moral of this little story is...surround yourself with things that make you smile. Think outside the box, and finally, you really don't need to spend a fortune to have a beautiful home. Just be creative and look for inspiration all around you.