Jikana Damaru

Come, pull up a chair

On my sweeping journey around both the blogiverse and generalisations, I have noticed that we bloggers tend to write from one of five tables. Yes, only five.

These tables are more than our crafty talents, political leanings, parental status, gender, lifestyle, sexual persuasion, hair colour... well, these sort of differences are mere chairs, not tables.

No, as far as I can see, the blogs that really work all work from one of these:

1. The Broadcast Table
Generally produced by someone of extra-amazing talent, they tend to stay at their table and send their message out to the world. They either enhance our capabilities on some level, challenge our view of the world or they leave us turning a lurid shade of green. Either way, the people come to them, they need not go to the people.

2. The Kitchen Table
A day to day blog that chronicles the life of the blogger. The interest is in the details - they share their heartache along with their recipes. Visiting a blog like this is like visiting your best friend for a cuppa. We love their children like our own.

3. The Cafe Table.
These bloggers write about something they've been thinking about and then leave the conversation on the table. That topic is sometimes personal, but generally not. The cafe is very busy - you start a conversation on one blog and finish it on another.

4. The Coffee Table
Ooooh, pretty. The kind of blog we like to keep out on our Blog Roll - far too lovely to be put on the Reader shelf. Beautiful images, beautiful people, beautiful... stuff. Envy inducing? All of them. Vacuous? Some of them. Irresistable? Oh yes.

5. The Bar Table
This blogger lets it all hang out. Every mishap, every wrinkle, every thought, every scream. Seemingly written with a wine in one hand and a razor blade in the other, they are personal, funny and off-hand and completely addictive. We go here to kill ourselves laughing.

Maxabella loves... is definitely a cafe table.

Do you write from one of these tables? Have you found other types of blogs out there?

[Image by Oda Rose]

last weekend

was a time for me to get dressed up & celebrate love.
a gorgeous wedding
time away with friends
relaxing
dancing
& enjoying.
the weather was perfect
lots of sunshine & lots of smiles.

First Day At School

The first day at school is always so exciting and thankfully for me Sofia was bursting to get there - no tears, no anxiety only questions of "can I go in now, what are we waiting for"!!

So proud of my big/little middle girl - she looks so grown up in her uniform but she is such a little thing that her bag is almost bigger than her.

So another year at school begins - we have had a wonderful summer break but definitely ready for some routine and I am definitely ready for a few days without someone constantly saying "Mum I want something to eat!"

Inspirational pins - Vintage Kitchen

Today in my series of posts "Inspirational Pins", I bring you gorgeous kitchens with a touch of pink inspired by my Kitchen Ideas inspirational board.

Have a sweet day!

What kind of mother?

As Max returns to school and Cappers gets ready for her big first day at Kindergarten tomorrow (!!! oh yes !!!), my thoughts turn to what being an 'older child' mother is all about. Once our babies grow bigger, meeting the physical and developmental needs tends to give way to the more organic, character building stuff.

When I think of my own mother and the way she raised me (along with my Dad, but this is about Mum), I think:

She was wise.
She really listened to me.
She liked trying new things.
She believed in me and she made me believe in me too.
She made me feel loved and secure.
I didn't want to disappoint her.

My mum is, of course, still all these things and so much more. Our relationship has grown up along with me, but the list above is how I remember my childhood with her. One thing I know, she had a special relationship with her four children both as a 'unit' and as individuals. She found the time to forge a unique bond with each of us.

I still have enormous respect for the sheer 'goodness' that has always been in Mum. She always knows what the right thing to do is. Her influence was real and genuine, a huge positive force without being manufactured or contrived. Of course, she had her flaws - this is not a Disney movie after all - and sometimes her flaws were all I could see! But not for long. She was herself and no other.

I have been thinking a lot about how I would like the Tsunamis to remember their own childhood mumma. What would I like them to think and say about me?

My Best Mum descriptors at the moment are:

She was wise
She really listened to me
She was always dreaming up new ideas and new experiences
She made me feel loved and secure.

These descriptors are the foundations for building the kind of mum I try to be. They help me to focus on what is important to me and hopefully my children. I work daily on being this Mum.

Is this something you think about?
How would you like your children to remember their own childhood mum?

[Image via weheartit]

Rockstar Candy Table

Purple, silver and white were the colours used for this candy table I put together for one lucky 7 year old last Friday. With a Rockstar theme and the birthday girls favourite colour being purple the candy table tied in beautifully with the festivities of the day.

Disco balls hung from the ceiling.

Gumballs, marshmallows dipped in chocolate and mini merringues

Thank you Charlotte for asking me to be part of your celebration.

Kitch or Cool... the collector teaspoon!

Welcome to Monday... did you have a nice weekend? Mine was happily filled with sunshine, and any weekend where the sun is shining has to be a good one!

Carrying over from my tea theme last week, I thought I'd share with you a little purchase I made recently and get your thoughts... I was poking through an op shop hoping to find some vintage pillowslips to make more little dresses like this one when something else caught my eye. Buried amongst the plastic turner-upperers, rusty egg-beaters and mismatching cutlery... I found a little box of collector teaspoons.

The little box was more a big box, really, and was filled to the brim with collector teaspoons (most still in their plastic velvet-lined cases). Pawing through the box, I was immediately intrigued. Who had owned these spoons, and what was their story? I mean, this was somebody's life represented in teaspoons! There were tens of them. I could see where they had travelled, what events they had lived through.... and, sadly, I was to witness the ultimate resting place of the spoons on a dusty shelf in an op shop, unwanted and unloved.

But you know me better than that. Do you think I could leave these spoons on the shelf? I think not! Let it be said, I am not a collector of teaspoons myself but something about these spoons was calling me to adopt and bring them home with me. I decided to restrain myself to four spoons. The last thing I want is a house full of (more) junk, and I wagered that if nothing else, they would be cute for Fern's little tea parties in the cubby.

And it took me ages to decide. Way too long, really. I fiffed and I faffed until finally I reminded myself that at 0.50c each, I could hardly go wrong and could always come back for more! So, this is what I came up with:

I chose two spoons with pretty flowers, and a commemorative spoon of Halley's Comet from 1984 which seemed fun and hey - could be worth something one day! These, I have passed on to Fern.

But my piece de resistance, and the only one to make it into my own cutlery drawer and the one guaranteed to have pride of place at any high-tea I decide to hold in the future:

Do you love it? It's got 'England' engraved on the front, and a crown with little red stone held inside. The spoon is about 20 years old and they are not in circulation anymore. I know, because I spent a happy hour on google looking it up. It is so deliciously kitch and I.love.it. Here it is with the vintage china teacup and saucer I brought home in my backpack from an op shop in Brighton Beach 4 years ago. In England, beautiful and vintage teaware is literally everywhere, and I kick myself to this day that I only brought home one piece!

So tell me. Cool..... or kitch?