Happiness is ...

Finally I have made it to my happy list - thank you Lou from Lou, Boos and Shoes for tagging me and asking me to list all that makes me happy. I guess a happy list can be many things but this particular list is that which has made me happy this week - hope your week has been happy.

1. My beautiful warm and toasty fireplace that is keeping our house so warm!

2. An unexpected photo opportunity - here is Indi and Sofia this morning - happy and smiling (big sister was still in bed and it was 8am!)

3. My lovely new Kate Spade ring that Mr A found for me while on business in the US a few weeks ago - while I am very impressed with my bling I am equally impressed that he remembered hearing me mention the name "Kate Spade" so figured he should take a look!
4. A well co-ordinate party - my heart goes a flutter when everything matches.

5. My refound love of tennis - it has been over 20 years since I was out on the court - surprisingly I remember what to do and it feels so lovely to be out there again having fun each week.


6. Watching Rob Lowe on my TV screen every Monday night on Brothers and Sisters - apart from husband he has the dreamiest eyes in the universe.

7. An orderly closet and a tidy house!


8. The current Australian Home Beautiful which has a wonderful feature of the lovely A-M's house - and she scored the cover (I am sure most of you already follow A-M's blog but if you don't go take a peak - the link is on my blog roll).

9. Receiving a wedding invitation - this week we received a lovely wedding invitation - this friend who I have known for many years tragically lost her husband in an accident many years ago and it is so lovely to see her happy and with a new love - this is the second friend this year who after losing her love through tragedy has gone on to find happiness marrying a new love - happy times finally.


and finally ...

10. My lovely blogging friendships who this week have once again kept me smiling and happy - a few secret followers have said hello so hello back and thank you for leaving your comments (yes Mira would love those receipe's). I am getting around to everyone to say hi.

This weekend I am off to the Sunny Mummy Breakfast so if you are coming along I can't wait to meet you - if you would like to come along check out Stacey and the Sunny Mummy website here. I am hopping there will be lots of fellow bloggers there.

Last but not least I need to tag someone else to continue the Happiness 101 Award so I am going to tag the most perfect blogging friend for this award and that is Shelly at le happy - along with her positive outlook on life, the name of her blog says it all.

Have a happy happy weekend - look forward to sharing lots of happiness after the Sunny Mummy Breakfast.

Food Planning

I must say as a mum of three I hate dinner time! I know I am not alone with this as a lot of the mums I know feel the same. It is just such a busy and at times stressful time of the day - I am lucky to have two out of three good eaters but I still have to make 3 or 4 different dinners all of which are served at different times.

(Oh how I will it was like this!)

Indi is a great eater and probably the easiest of the lot - I have lots of pre-cooked vegies and meat all frozen into little cubes and I just get them out as I need them - she eats dinner at 5pm and still loves me to spoon feed her (which I am happy with as it is so much faster and cleaner!).

My four year old Sofia is my drama queen in the food world - has been since the spoon first hit her mouth - fussy and has the most limited palate - most nights it is plain pasta in a bowl and unless she is ravenous she only eats a few mouthfuls! She loves her nonna's food but unfortunately we can't eat their every night (it has crossed my mind though as they don't live that far away).

My 5 year old Sienna is a great eater and will eat most things but she certainly likes to tell what it is that she feels like each night for dinner - she loves fruits, vegies and meat and will generally pick the fruit in her lunch box over the treat (unlike Sofia who will avoid all healthy food at all costs).

Then there is dinner for myself and Mr A. As he is not home from work until around 7pm most nights that means we don't eat all together - sitting one is at 5pm, sitting two for the big girls is at 5.30pm and sitting three at 7.30pm-8pm and every sitting is something different! Is it any wonder that mums despise meal time.

Those of you that visit me regularly will know I am a highly organised person (yes very OCD) but I always feel very out of control when it comes to dinner - especially dinner for Mr A and myself - I honestly couldn't be bothered after feeding the kids and getting them to bed!

I am on a mission however to change things after reading a little ebook called What's for Dinner. I came across this little gem after purchasing a home organization system called Did you remember the milk?


I have today purchased a new receipe box from my favourite stationery store Kikki-K and I am about to build my new system. The book talks about having easy access to your favourite meals and doing a big marathon cooking session in which you freeze lots of food for either two weeks or a month - I know this is not rocket science as I have done it in the past but why do we feel guilty when we pull something out of the freezer for dinner - for some reason I feel that if I haven't made it fresh then I haven't really cooked dinner - silly really as it also means we waste more food and have to shop more often!


OK so I am off to find my favourite receipes and I am up for a marathon cooking session - will let you know how I go and please feel free to point me in the direction of any good meals to freeze. I am no longer going to feel guilty about pulling dinner from the freezer most nights!
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