A beautiful day to remember...






The sun was shining and the sky was blue...the smell of pop corn, sweet icing and fragrant Jasmine filled the air...cuddles with the birthday boy and that cheeky look as he devoured smarties for the first time. Playing with my nephews and feeling happy that they could share this special day and time spent with my new little niece who I know will bring such sweetness to our family. Such precious moments...




Giggles and laughter from the adults and kids as we played games, discovered new toys, raced around after balloons and bubbles and caught up with family...we sat in the sun, enjoyed the food and most of all had fun with the kids (big and small)! I have to say the games really bring out the big kid in all of us...






One very tired little birthday boy...finding a soft place to rest x

♥ Jotting it all down


I need to leave the sadness that has settled over me since writing the post last night (please read if you have a couple of minutes, it would mean a lot to me). A complete change of feeling is needed to get me back on track. I hope that's not disrespectful.

After the fun of sharing Word Verification moments last week, I noticed a pattern in the (witty, engaging, lovely, thank you) comments I received.

So many of us notice things, don't write them down and then quickly they are forgotten.

I'm a jotter. You will have noticed this from my Friday posts. I love to write down everything. Everything I learn, everything I think is funny, everything that's actually funny, everything that's odd. Everything.

It's a habit I picked up working in Advertising. When I was a little Junior Burger, I worked for one of Sydney's most creative agencies. I learned a thing or two from those Big Macs, believe me, and not just about dancing in the white stuff (it was the nineties, after all). The best thing I learned was 'jot it down'. All the Creatives do it. They carry wanky little Moleskins around and write down everything that takes their fancy.

I do the same. Only I carry a wanky little whatever-was-free-on-the-cover-of-InsideOut-magazine. It's amazing what a fun and interesting 'journal' results from all this jotting. In amongst the doodles and Shopping and To Do Lists is a record of the unique, the weird, the odd and the marvellous. I've been doing it so long that these days, I sort of feel naked without a pen.

Do you do it too? What sorts of things do you jot down?

This post is part of ♥ Much Love ♥ Monday

[Image via weheartit]

Fern's Revamped Ikea Drawers

Remember this post when I bought a chest of Ikea drawers for Fern's 'big girl' room? Well, over the weekend I attached the sweet pink glass handles I ordered from Etsy in place of the existing black ones and transformed them from drab to... well, I think fab?

Here's the before:
And the after:
I have ditched the old change table from Fern's room and am temporarily using the top of the new drawers to hold the changing pad which seems to be working out fine... except that Fern thinks its funny to grab and pull down all the hats from the string above whenever I change her nappy. grrrr. I am storing the nappies and creams in the top drawer. Of course, I can't wait to get rid of the changing pad entirely so I can style her drawers; I have so many ideas for her 'big girl' room and its all hinging on her moving into a proper bed and being toilet trained! So, should only be another 400 years then?!

This whole toilet training thing is a topic for a whole other post... but I must admit its got me intimidated. I havn't even begun to go there yet; I've decided I'll wait til Summer and start the fun then; she'll turn two in January so it seems good timing. Though ironically, as I type this post, my daughter has just climbed out of bed, opened her bedroom door and crept out to the edge of the living room, knowing she should be in bed asleep. Pointing at her bottom, she just announced "mummy, poo, a poo!" And sure enough. So, maybe we're more ready than what I think. hmmmm.

Apart from that, I'm heading country for a few days to stay with my inlaws while hubby is away in NZ... I've talked incessantly about how much better at sewing my MIL is than myself, so I'm sure I'll have a few crafty goodies to share with you whence I return!

Enjoy your Monday xo

Vintage Mint

Vintage Mint
This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, in keeping with my Vintage week, I bring you a vintage mint palette with these gorgeous pics. Check back soon for some more of the most inspirational photographers on Flickr.

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites (clockwise from top left):

Have a sweet day!

Can't bearing witness


Did you see Iraq's Deadly Legacy on Dateline on SBS tonight? It will not leave me.

The atrocities left behind after the war in Iraq are heartbreaking.  Babies born so deformed and forlorn that your soul tries to flee your body to go to them. They are reason alone for us to fear what war makes us all become.

The uranium left behind by tools of war caused this. Whatever was in Iraq that the US thought they needed to rid the world of could not be worse than this. They caused this. They took those children's real lives and gave them one full of pain and suffering. They etched the scars.

Oh children, please don't hate us.

LOML could not stand to watch, but I stayed, my face a waterfall of grief. To bear witness.

I saw your pain, sweet babies. I saw you.

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