time out...

Christmas craziness is in full swing, so this is the picture I have on my desktop to remind me to take it easy... this was taken on when H & I visited Venice on our honeymoon last October, it was such a lovely relaxing day, *sigh*

As Strong As Dan - what a man!

Dan you will be missed.

You kept my husband smiling at work every day, your strength, humour and tenacity were always nothing short of inspiring.

"end scene" is hardest to accept when you expect the story to continue, but I'm grateful I had even the smallest role in the production that was your life.

I hope, that like you, I can make sure that when my final scene closes my story has been epic in the best way...

most appropriate for today

well it made me laugh any way ;p

Having Cake and Eating It Too

I'm extremely tired and unmotivated today... so for a bit of a cheer up I hit up What Katie Ate for some delicious and inspiring food and photography love... two things my Uncle was awesome at - cooking and taking photos - so I thought this a great place to start to help me pick a recipe for lunch with my Aunty next Tuesday... for now I'm lusting after this delicious chocolate cake - Y U M! you can get the recipe here

One of each please!

Well we've finished painting the bedroom, will post some pics a little later because for now, I'm on the hunt for the perfect wall decor... these fabulous 'framed objects' from the. are top of the list at the moment (hint hint mum if you're still looking for my christmas present!)

a time for a peaceful rest & all the very best

Uncle John, you will be remembered. Thank you for being the witty, honest & inspiring Uncle that I will always look up to.

giddy up!

Inspired by the Melbourne Cup today, I horsed around a bit on the www and found these super rocking chairs by NZ designer Tim Wigmore. Whoo hoo! Don't they look fun?!

bedroom shennanigans - the renovating begins!

whoohoo! finally over tolerating the vinyl wallpaper peeling at every join and desperate to remove the nasty matted and pet stained shag carpet (hmm yes the previous renters clearly had low hygiene standards - eeww gross!) I decided to attack the bedroom! this meant peeling off the vinyl layer of the wallpaper first, to allow the steamer to more effeciently remove the paper layer glued to the wall... it was quite a lot of fun just ripping & stripping of the paper & H was certainly a little surprised when he came home from the gym that morning... "hi honey, soo... I've done a little housework - what do you think?" hehehe... this part of the process only took around an hour - not to bad a work out for myself...then it was time to hit up our local Kennards for the steamer... put your patience hat on and this process works a treat. Although some what time consuming, it saves a lot of money if you do it yourself & it's also a great work out for the arms, make sure you have a good platform too... the mini-skaff here was borrowed from Alicia's dad (thanks so much for the assist A!) but you can also hire these from your local Kennards too. Go H Go! Doing a great job - nearly half way now...The ever reliable site supervisor Indi, good boy! One slight delay in the process was that while stripping the wallpaper, a somewhat significant portion of the paint and plaster underneath also fell away from the wall and needed scrapping back, sanding and replastering and sanding again (go the skim coat to tackle those pesky hairline cracks that have the potential to ruin the fabulous new paint job... if you don't prep properly you'll be so disappointed in the cracked uneven finish in a brand new paint job - plenty of options are available for to fix this at your local hardware store).

This was all very time consuming but provided a great sense of satisfaction once all the prep work had finally been completed. If you want to give this a go yourselves, your best friends will be a steamer, paint scraper, 'No More Gaps', a flexible spatula, plaster skim coat... if your removing existing carpet do this last as it will provide a perfectly fitted drop sheet to protect your floor. Stay tuned, H & I have now finished removing the carpet, painting and sanding the great floor boards we found beneath that awful shag... We're searching for new curtains and deciding on artwork, and should have a few pics of the finished product soon... YAY!

One-derful Anniversary Treats

These are some of the memories I

captured from the amazing, uber

relaxing, divine day that my

wonderful Husband organised for the

One Year Anniversary of our marriage...

H - thank you for a spectacular day all over again xx  

 

black & white delight.

my favourite moments of one perfect day  -