LIfe - A Journey Not A Race


Life is not a race
But a journey to be savoured
Each step of the way
Yesterday is history
Tomorrow is a mystery
Today is a gift

Do not fret over what has passed it can not be undone
Remember tomorrow always becomes today
So cherish the moments that today has bought
And above all - Take time to smell the roses


Bicycle helmet

Yakkay smart one bicycle helmet
So I have found my dream bike, and what I think is the most adorable bicycle basket. This got me thinking about finding cool bike helmets because as much as I would rather not wear one, I realise it's better to be safe than sorry. After much searching I found this cool one from Yakkay.

"Yakkay 'smart one' is a new smart design that differs by its rounded ear straps and adjustment buckles in polished stainless steel. But the real difference shows when one of the many different covers is attached to helmet – It changes from its characteristics of a helmet to a hat and becomes an accessory to your outfit. You adjust the helmet to your head with a number of adhesive foam circles which have the added advantage that air can circulate between them. When you are riding your bicycle, air will be pushed into the helmet, and pleasantly cool down your head. In addition, your head will stay dry in rainy weather, as the covers are designed without open holes."

Flickr faves Sunday

Flickr faves
I love Flickr. It's what got me started on my blog, so I wanted to highlight here some of my Flickr Favourites (view them all here). I will endeavour to bring you four of my Flickr Faves every Sunday from some of the most inspirational photographers on Flickr.

Pretty! Oh, so pretty! Some beautiful shots that I have favourited (clockwise from top left):

Plumo sale

Plumo sale

Pretty bird hooks and beaded hangers are just a few of the pretty things in the Plumo sale.

Designers Guild sale

Designers Guild sale
It's the time of year when all the sales start, so I have pulled together a few of the beautiful items on sale at Designers Guild.


Bicycle basket

Carrie bicycle basket
So as I said in one of my recent blogs ("I want to ride my bicycle!") I have been dreaming of owning a bicycle with a basket on the front. Well, I've found what I think is the most adorable bicycle basket: the Carrie bicycle basket from Design Stockholm.

"Carrie is an unique bike basket designed for the urban cyclist. The designer Marie-Louise Gustafsson selected the ornate material as it reminded her of the Swedish crochet tablecloths on which her grandmother used to serve afternoon tea. Also doubles as a shopping basket."

~ Here She Is ~


The latest addition to our family has arrived

Introducing Indiana Lucia

We are so blessed to have another beautiful daughter

She weighed in at 2.83kg and is 49cm long.

I will post more next week - enjoy your weekend - I definitely will!!


~ Signing Off for a Few Days ~


This is my last post before life takes our family on another big adventure.


The sign in the maternity ward at the hospital did say that they have free internet access in all rooms so hopefully I will get to post news soon about our new addition - I know the next 5 days will most probably be the most relaxing I will be getting for quite some time so I intend to make the most of it!

Stay tuned ......


Life Is LIke A Winter's Day


I was sitting at my desk this morning, looking out at the climbing rose, admiring how much it is flourishing under the blue winter sky - no clouds, just fresh winter sun. Thinking to myself how funny it is that a plant could reaffirm to me so many life lessons.

I then got busy on my computer and in my study - still sorting out stuff - my life seems full of stuff.

The next time I looked out the window I was surprised to see a grey sky instead of blue - no real clouds (obviously high ones that blended together to make the grey) but not stormy at all just grey. Probably only 15-20 mins had passed and yet the day took on a totally different hue.


This got me to thinking about how life is like a winter's day - one minute sunny and one minute grey. But rather than let the grey get me down, I gave thanks that more rain was on the way, we so desperately need it here in Perth. It is also warmer when there is cloud cover and we have been having some cold nights that play havoc with my old bones. But I also looked forward to knowing that the blue will come back, something to look forward to. A bit like eating the veggies you don't like knowing that you are saving the good part of your dinner for last.

Life is like that - one minute good things are happening, the next some more difficult one may appear, but the difficult ones can allow you to achieve things you didn't think you could, and for most of us there is light at the end of the tunnel - your blue sky so to speak.

Who would have thought that moving my study into a new room would give me the opportunity to become so philosophical on such a regular basis.

My wish for you is that I hope your life is giving you a good balance of fresh blue winter skies to outweigh the grey ones.

xxx

Seen in St Kilda

I took these shots during a recent weekend stay in St Kilda - enjoy!










~ A wonderful cause ~

I am sorry I missed my post yesterday - life got very busy and I had to head out to a meeting for the wonderful charity I am one of the founding members of.  So I thought now would be a good opportunity to blog about this wonderful cause that I am so passionate about.

As some of you will know from reading past posts our first daugther, Laura was stillborn.  She arrived on the 11th March 2003 - she would be 6 if she was still here with us.  The grief and disbelief that consumed my husband and I following this tragic day was hard to comprehend.  Thankfully we were to meet some wonderful people who helped us through this rough time and it is through the amazing support network that I met a group of equally passionate mums who decided that we needed to do more to prevent the tragedy of stillbirth happening to others.

In 2005 we launched The Stillbirth Foundation.

Stillbirth is when a baby dies whilst inside its mother and can occur at anytime from 20 weeks until immediately before birth. 

1 in every 140 babies born in Australia is stillborn   

In Australia, each year, 2000 babies are stillborn and this number has remained steady for over ten years. It is disturbing that, in an age of enormous technical and medical advances, the death rate of stillborn babies is not declining nor well understood. The Stillbirth Foundation has been established to encourage and fund research to ensure that the stillbirth rate begins to decline.

On the 25th July we will be holding our 4th annual Little Feet Taking Big Steps Ball at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney.  We had great success last year in raising much needed funds for research and hope that this years event is a huge success as well.

I would love you to visit our website to learn more about this wonderful cause - www.stillbirthfoundation.org.au

This week is such a big week for our family with the impending arrival of our fourth child this Friday (unless it makes a sudden appearance before my booked ceasar).  I am excited but also so very anxious as I know too much about what can happen, so it with fingers and a positive outlook that I pray that Friday will be full of joy and I will be able to post about new bundle of joy to you all next week.


Bird hooks

Enchanted bird coat hanger hooks
My enchanted bird coat hanger hooks were a Christmas gift and I had been saving them until we decorated our cloakroom to put them in there. In the meantime, we finished decorating our bedroom and the wall opposite the bed seemed like the perfect place for them instead.

To get the look see my Polyvore set below:

Bird hooks
Bird hooks by Torie Jayne featuring Monsoon accessories


Enchanted bird coat hanger hooks close-up
Enchanted bird coat hanger hooks from Dot Com Gift Shop


Bangle, bracelet and sequin cape on coat hanger hooks
Animal print bangle from Accessorize
Enamel bracelet, vintage find
Sequin cape, vintage find


Bird necklace and beaded necklace
Bird necklace from French Connection
Beaded necklace from Accessorize

~ Clever idea ~

I love this fabulous idea of hiding the printer in the drawer - neat and no visible cords and means there is more space on your desk!  Will put this on the wish list for the new study.

Looking For Your Feedback And/Or Posts

As mentioned in the header to the blog, I would love people to share stories, or quotes or anything that inspires them - it might be a web address or even another blog (I'm not going to get upset by that).

So if you would like me to post here on your behalf, just email it to me and let me know if you want to tell the world your name, or keep it anonymous - I don't mind either way, but I would love this to be more than my thoughts - after all maybe only I find them inspirational.

Or maybe you just want to tell me "I dreaming" (quote from the Aussie movie 'The Castle' - now that will give you a laugh, well it will if you are an Aussie).

Be assured that I won't be discouraged if I don't get any response for there is more that I want to share but I want to make sure you all know that I would love you to be part of this blog journey as well.

Bunting

Bunting
I recently helped to organize a tea party for my friend who is getting married in a few weeks. To decorate outside we made bunting to match the outdoor tableware that we were using. I designed and printed out different triangle patterned pieces, cut around the edges, punched holes in the top corners, and threaded them onto rick rack tape. Voila! Matching bunting.

Please feel free to use the bunting patterns below for personal projects. Just click on the pics below for a larger version ready for printing.


Blue polka dot bunting
Pink polka dot bunting
Red polka dot bunting
Green polka dot bunting
Blue gingham bunting
Pink gingham bunting
Red gingham bunting
Green gingham bunting

Inner Strength & Endurance

It is a little over a week since I wrote my Giving Thanks post. As I look out of my study window this morning, my climbing rose is lush and green, shading my study window from the sun. Even those branches that I thought had no hope of recovering from my neglect are now sprouting green leaves. Two honeyeaters are busily feeding off the various insects and sipping water droplets of the leaves left from the last shower.

I know that this is a plant and not a person, but this plant did not give up, I had - I thought it was dead. But it found inner strength to thrive.

So perhaps there is another lesson this rose can teach us - even when others have given up on you, you can find your inner strength and show them what you are made of. Don't let others take away your hope.

As Christopher Reeve said after his accident

"Once you choose hope, anything is possible".

If you are feeling down and hopeless, I hope this may help, please believe that there is always hope, there is always a way forward - you just need to find your inner strength and choose to thrive.

Bird door stop

Cast iron bird door stop from Anthropologie in the craft room
The above cast iron door stop is from Anthropologie and has a really lovely weathered vintage effect to it. Sadly, they don't sell them anymore but Cast in Style sells them unpainted (see cast iron door wedge in rust effect finish below).


Cast iron bird door wedge

~ Begin Countdown ~

The countdown to arrival date has begun - 7 days and counting!  May they go fast and the 26th June be here before I know it!

Have a great weekend everyone.

~ Baby Linen ~

I have been searching websites for some lovely linen for our soon to be arrival and I came across these lovely items 

This beautiful shawl looks devine

Here are some great pram blankets

A gorgeous hooded towel 

And a snuggly cot blanket

Funny isn't that we leave it to our last child to get all the nice things and work out what we really want!!

Images courtesy of  The Nursery Window

Sequin jars

Jars of sequins in the craft room
Over the years, I've collected so many sequins that it seemed a shame to hide them away in boxes. So now they proudly sit on my window sill!

The two large jars are old bath cream jars from M&S. The small one is a spice jar from Habitat. I tied 3mm aqua ribbon around their necks to match the colour scheme in my craft room.

The butterfly clip was from Tchibo, but unfortunately they only stock items for a couple of weeks, if you're lucky!

~ Washing, Washing, Washing ~

There has been quite a bit of laundry love going on with a few of the blogs I have been watching so I thought I would get in on the act and add some of my favourites.

It is a room we all seem to spend a lot of time in and for me that is going to increase again very soon so here are a few lovely laundries.  I look forward to posting my new laundry when it arrives in a few months.