growing up green

I love overhearing my children's chatter. The little things they say to each other in their play and their daily stories. 

This morning, while at the park playing in the sand I heard my children talking about a shop-bought dress-up costume another child was wearing. My two little ones said that while it was pretty it was made in a factory, and not as nice as homemade. 

And this afternoon, the kids set up their play shop with some pretty little playdough cupcakes. What a sweet bakery they have. Some funky beats playing in the background too. The little customer (Mishi) told the shopkeeper (Ari) "I don't need a bag".

Oh, heart sing. 

I myself grew up in what would best be described as a hippie household. My parents never took plastic bags at the shop, we wore hand-me-down or market bought clothes, we dyed our hair with henna (bought in bulk at the healthfood shop), we were vegetarians and ate organic food, we even went to a Steiner school!

Saying no to plastic bags is innate for me, and it brings me great pleasure to know that my children, young as they are, are learning and knowing and practicing such actions. 

Despite all this, I do feel, of late - living in the city and the current situation of our modern lives - that I have strayed from these ideals with which I was raised. We can only buy milk in a plastic carton; whereas when we were children at one stage of our lives we got milk fresh from a farm. 

I look around my home and see so many more objects and things and stuff than I want to be living with. It is easy in our society to buy things as we want, rather than need. And while I am conscious of what I buy, I also know that I have a far way to go to being the non-consumer I was raised to be.

This is an ever-evolving process, something that I am working on in my mind and consciousness, and trying to bring out into our daily lives. It's a venture, a slow thoughtful way of moving and changing and thinking and being. Each day by day by day. 

The Slow Project, as I'm calling it, will be my way of documenting and watching my personal changes as well as those of my family, and our continued business practices. I hope you will join me on this journey, either simply watching and encouraging, or perhaps finding some moments of inspiration to make small changes within your daily routines.

**images used with deep thanks to Little House on a Small Planet. (An amazing must-read book that I will talk about at a later stage, but let me just say that I am enjoying it immensely and am learning so much from it.)

finders keepers this weekend

If you live anywhere at all near to Brisbane - flying, driving, walking, skating distance - then you must come along to Finders Keepers design market this weekend.

I'm so pleased that this time around I'll be on the other side of the tables, not having the stress, tiredness, anxiety and anticipation of all the stall holders. Actually, to be truthful, I do really like many many aspects of market-life. The anticipation especially. But being on the other side means that I can enjoy the market in a totally different way. As a shopper. 

Wowee...

I'll be taking along some pocket money {hint, if you are heading there then take cash as a lot of the stallholders may not have their own eftpos machines} and expecting to bring home some new treasures. 

I love Finders Keepers because it is a very select group of local (and Aussie) designers. It's all of such a high quality, chosen through a very thorough process {believe me, it's possibly one of the longest applications for craft design markets around}, which means that everything there will be drool worthy and have that certain cuteness factor that is super popular and very covetable.

Check out all the designers, and even download a floor plan before you go.

I'm liking the look of Beattie, Birikini, Mainichi, Sanoii + Six, Mother Maria. hmmmm, they all appear to be clothing.
And of course my always favourites; some friends who I know well, others who I know through blog-land and the market rounds; Kindling, Udessi, Edward & Lilly, Chi Designs, We Are Messengers, Lauren Carney, and Pippijoe.

*all images used with thanks from (top-bottom) :: Udessi, Sanoii + Six, Kindling (x2), Edward & Lilly (x2), and We Are Messengers.

creative :: tidy + sunshine

This morning I completed Step 1 {finish tidying + sorting my office corner}.

The sun shining in the open windows has made a big difference to my mood. Thank you sun. Thank you also to your lovely, supportive comments. They helped me clear my mood away (even if only for this moment).

So, with a fresh and clean desk I'm feeling ready to tackle the other things on my list. And then move forward to getting the ideas off the sketch book and into real life fabric. Isn't it funny how a clear desk / room / head space makes you see so many possibilities that you couldn't see through the cloud and fog of the mess. 

It's also strange how much time I procrastinate about doing the clearing, cleaning, refreshing and how little time it actually takes. {I think I spend way more time looking for clothes in the pile, that if I folded them all and put them away each washing day!}.

Things I need for my desk, which will hopefully feature in next week's creative space.

• a soft fabric basket, from I Love Patchwork, for my camera, phone charger, cords, etc to sit and possibly one for "little bits of pieces" to sit before I find a home for them, or get over the needing to keep everything gene.
• some new pens! I mean seriously, the kids keep on taking all the pens I ever have.
• a computer free morning or late evening writing some real life paper letters to friends and then actually posting them out.
• getting all my paperwork in order, before tax due date. (our tax year ends June 30th).
• a yummy warm cup of Kukicha tea to sit on my sweet coaster.

 I also need to get the little kids table fully kitted out, so that Mishi can sit with me in this front room and we can both work together. Side-by-side. Some new pencils and a good way of keeping paper from ending up all over the house in tiny little pieces are necessary. And perhaps some pegs to display their finished artworks. {Thought perhaps this won't happen until the new house - the current set-up works pretty well too; bringing pencils + paper and cleaning up at the end of the creative time}.

There's a stack of creatives over Ms Kootoyoo's place. Though of course I have too many things to complete before the school bell rings, so I haven't been able to visit anyone. {must wash up before I blog-hop - new mantra to add to this great mantra}.

Enjoy your day my friends. xxx

trying....

• to be positive
• come up with fresh ideas
• motivate myself despite the gloomy skies and cold rainy days we've been having here lately
• sort out and throw away that pile of stuff that always seems to accumulate on my desk
• not dream and hope too much about the block of land (plus "rustic" shed) we're looking at next week
• ignore the fact that the kids room is a mess, again, even though I spent all day Friday tidying it
• clear my mind, body and soul
• stop agonising about everything that I can't do, and start reminding myself of the things that I do do
• stop spending so much time procrastinating, and blog-hopping
• get back into the sewing room, despite the cold down there, and the mess of things I'm trying to pack up for an eventual move. despite the little creature who wants to be beside me each and every day with her sweet, high-pitched voice. {thank you Ky + Roz for your total patience in waiting for the things I should be making for you}
• to get my crafty mojo back
• to find balance in my life
  

First step is getting my office back into shape. I had one of those rearrange all the furniture as a refresh over the busy weekend (while family was visiting). {Do you always find that when you're doing that extra tidy before family comes to stay is the time you want to start moving furniture around! I'm quite bad at it}.
Second step is the clothes pile that is too daunting to think about. Most of it are outgrown and never worn by the kids. So some massive clothes culling is in order. Less clothes = less to wash, fold and put away = less mess = more happy me. Simple formula, hey!
Third step is to get my sewing + printing room sorted out. Finish up the things I need to send out to all those patiently waiting people.
Fourth step is to find my design + sewing mojo again, and get stuck into this new range of products I have floating around in my head, and my sketch book.


Thankfully I'm finding happiness in small spots of my home. Little arrangements that speak to me. A clear spot within the gloom and mess that is in my head (and house). Bright, yet tiny, sparks within me building and growing, just waiting waiting waiting.

{flower from our beautiful tree in the front yard, that has daily birdy visitors. tea pot was my birthday gift to myself from the Bangalow market, by Lucy Vanstone. passionfruits are from the house down the road}{seems the lack of light inside my house has seriously effected this image}

more proof that skateboarders are pretty cool

I have no idea who this is, without going and finding the link again. Of course, Sam would know, but he's not here to ask. Isn't that background so interesting. See that ramp bit there, the boarders built it especially. That's what skaters do - find a cool spot to skate and add their ramps and jumps and things. And then have fun. 

I should find some images of Sam skating, to show you. He's pretty super cool too! 

{Okay, now back to delaying tidying the kids room....... Before school pickup and the hurrying of afternoon into evening. It's cold again here today, the sun is hiding, and I don't feel like doing anything.}

*image used with thanks from Ipath.

looking for moments of sunshine {on a cold Winter's day}

{a little lie in, with my morning coffee and some new library books}

{kids drawing birthday cards for our friend - 

doesn't turtle look sweet squashed into the couch cushion, just in arms reach}

{special vases - three on the left made by my mum}

{passionfruits ripening in our kitchen - 'borrowed' from the vacant house down the street}

{beautiful blooms from my beautiful sister - perfuming my bedroom while I sleep or read}

different styles and taste - but all colourful

I love my husband, totally. And his style. Sense of style. He's a very fashion conscious, stylish man. Loves his shoes (here's where I sneak off to take a photo of just a small selection of his 100+ shoe collection). Loves his t-shirts (won't show you that, mostly all black. But very very neatly folded. I'm not allowed to wash his clothes at all, as I do it wrong.)

Being a skateboarder, his sense of fashion does include wearing clothes at least 2-3 sizes bigger than his real waist size. And yes, with his pants hanging half down his bum.

But does that excuse the fact that he doesn't like this look. Doesn't think that I could pull this off. That this would be the funnest, best look to wear to the school drop off, or to meander down the streets of Brisbane city. I would totally wear this. Yes even the mini skirt, but only because of the thick tights underneath. (Though I don't know if I could actually successfully walk in that skirt without spending the day pulling at it??) Long gone are my days of wearing thigh.skimming.could.pass.as.a.belt mini skirts. On another note of different sense of style - Sam thinks perhaps I could wear mini skirts still now. 

{One day, while I was clearing out some clothes, he held up the skimpiest of skirts and asked me why I don't wear this anymore. I think I barely even answered him - probably just laughed and showed him my thighs! I'm blaming my kids, but perhaps should really look at the fact that I just canceled my gym membership, and haven't done a speck of yoga for at least 6 months}.

*just so you know, because Sam works in the industry he gets all his shoes and clothes for free or at really good staff discounts. (His shoe size is sample size, which has proven to be a nice handy little perk for him over the years of working in the skate industry; most skaters have must larger feet!).

**image from Suno NY. Check the website out. I linked over from a story on the very interesting, textile online newsletter, HandEye. (They do also have a real paper mag as well).

arquitectos del aire

This is where we will be this weekend.

Amococo is part of Out of The Box festival that has been running all this past week at Southbank, The State Library and Art Gallery in Brisbane. 

If you live near to Brisbane, then I suggest a visit to this place this coming long weekend. If you don't live nearby, head on over and watch the video.

I love the name Arquitectos del Aire :: Architects of Air. 

The luminaria are inflatable sculptures filled with natural light. Coloured plastics filter light in, creating a womb-like environment. Influenced by nature, geometry, light, cathedrals, the design....

 "… takes Moorish architecture as its starting point and then, as Gaudí did in Barcelona a century or more ago, turns it into something highly organic and distinctly ambivalent. Not that Gaudí would have recognised it.  What Parkinson has done is treat the inflated object as an immersive art experience, in which light, sound and architectural form combine.”
Hugh Pearman, Sunday Times*

{anything that relates to Moorish, Gaudi and Barcelona must be something truly special}.

*quote from AOA site.

mantra to remember

in this busy.can do.do everything world i often forget that if i don't do everything then it's still okay.
if i don't achieve every dream
or read every best seller
or sew everything on my wish list.
if i don't clean the house as well as i should
or have a perfect dinner prepared every evening for my family
or have freshly folded laundry put away in every cupboard.

life will be okay.
yes, i can do anything.
but i need to learn that i don't have to do everything.


*found on tumblr. from here.

Swap from a French friend {Cozy Homemaking}

When I arrived home on Monday evening {after my weekend away at my dad's (with no kids!) for the Environment Day faire}, there was a parcel waiting for me. Not just any parcel - a lovely big box. I knew straight away what it was.

Recently Sonia and I decided to do a little swap, and she was so prompt with her end of bargain that I've already got the beautiful.delicious.thoughtful.warm.handmade.loveliness in my hands. And some in my tummy too!

Look at this sweet little fabric coaster. With my name custom stamped, and those lovely little stitches. I've been meaning for such a long time to make myself a little coaster to put my cup on while I'm sitting at my desk, at my computer. Did you read my mind, Sonia? This is so pretty - I'm going to love looking at it every day under my cup of tea or dandelion.

And a little note book, brightened up with floral fabric and stitching details. I'll be carrying this around with me every day, in my handbag, to jot down all those things that pop into my head. I'm learning more and more in life to use the beautiful things and not keep them for a special occasion. Everyday's a special occasion, no?

I've already decided to make myself a skirt out of the fabric. It's the soft sweet green + pink floral print seen in the background above. Perfect Summer skirt - which means that I do have a few months before I have to make it (being realistic here, knowing I won't need it for Winter, so I'll put it in my fabric stack for a little while to enjoy). Of course, Mishi already suggested a dress for herself....

And the kids love their new books. We've been making up the story each time we read it, as it's all written in French. It's so nice to see some words that I can work out. But it's nicer still for the kids to have to make the story up, rather than relying on me to tell it to them. They're both very interested and curious about le tour Eiffel. It's also giving me a chance to tell them little bits about my visit to Paris many many lifetimes ago.

And thank you Sonia for the Marie Claire Idees magazine. I can barely believe that you didn't even open it up and read it. I've long seen this magazine around the web, and thought it looked interesting. Even though I can't read it, I'm loving looking at the fashion, the projects and bright fun French magazine. I think I'll be able to work out how to make some of the sewing projects in here, which is good. It's a great magazine, with a mix of things that I really like. 

You're wondering about them tummy bit.... well... Ummmm... I guess I could take a photo of a half eaten box of galettes or sucettes.

Thank you thank you thank you so much Sonia for your beautiful, thoughtful, generous and inspiring gifts. My whole family appreciates it. The kids love their books and cookie cutters (I'll do some baking with them today to use them), and I am so touched by all that you have made and sent me. 

I do promise that I'll get your swap sent off this week. Fingers crossed, promise.

*Please visit Sonia's beautiful blog Cozy Homemaking, and also her very inspiring Naturally Dyeing blog. Check out her Etsy shop, where she has some very special pieces made with love, care, and attention. (She currently has free shipping worldwide).

hem

I just found this link from Voodoo Rabbit blog, with some simple and great little tips on how to hem your clothing. Check it out if you want some new ideas on how to finish the edges. Unless, like me, you just keep them raw because you're too lazy to bother finishing up that last little bit to make your new skirt or dress look perfect! (seems I'm not the only one, so that's okay).

 

My favourite is a faced hem, but with a really big facing, which means you have the hem stitch line about 5+cm above the hemline. I like the look of it, as it's a bit different to the regular 1/2cm (or less) of most seams. Bit designery, no? That's how I finished this skirt hem.

{Bound Hem}

{Faced Hem}

*All images used with thanks from Craftzine.

my creative space {warm cocoa and the world}

I'm making some new mirrors for the markets this weekend. I'll have my usual fabric ones - some beautiful snippets of fabrics to see - but I'm also working on a new collection of world exploration. Sort of!

A short while ago, I put the (email) call out to my close family members, asking for any maps they might have that I could have, if they no longer needed them. Many many thanks to Jean to handed over a pile of fantastic world exploration. 

Some of the maps were from old Australian Geographic + National Geographic {yes people, there is a difference - I used to work at the Australian one}, and Ari's taken a real interest in some of them, so they went his way.

I've been loving using little land shapes, places I've visited, places I've wanted to visit, places one day I may visit, some I won't. That's okay - I can visit them in my dreams, can't I? {pPus I always tell my kids that they can go adventuring on their own one day, they won't need me to take them. They are quite surprised when I tell them they can go off into the world on their own}.

Being a coldish Winter (yes Winter is now officially here), we're having warm cocoa and melty-cheese corn chips with guacamole for morning tea. After that fuels me on, I'm headed down to the cold (and very messy) craft room to get some screen printing done for custom orders and for market folks.

More creatives are playing over here.

craftiness the Bris-Style way

This coming Saturday sees another glorious Winter day (fingers crossed we get the sun and not the wind and rain!) at the beautiful St Augustine's Church Grounds. Bris-Style's Winter Indie Designer's market is always a day of the best craft around, and the friendliest smiles and of course great displays too. Make sure you do come along for a fun day out - rain or shine we'll all be there.

Here's just a small line-up of a few of my favourites from the Bris-Style gang (which continues to grow each and every day).

Edward and Lily's Cherry Blossom Hand Embroidered Pendant

Flight Industries Local Owl Linocut Print or Sweet Little Cards

Hot Toffee's Juicy Apple Dangles or Juicy Lemon Lolly Cubes Fused Glass Earrings

SMBoutique's Hand Felted Scarflet with shades of grey, pink and white

Moose & Bird's Fabric Doll

Jettas Nest's Juicy Pear Brooch

Blossom Child's Summer Dress or Boys Plane Shorts

Miss Dish's Ruby Noir or The Coco

Enticing Icing's Edible Butterfly Cake Toppers or Sugar Letters

A Creature Strange's Yoyo Necklace in Caramel and Chocolate

Ruby2GoGo's Brilliante Frida Necklace

And of course, I'll be there too. With some new things that I'm making, and our fabrics - scrap packs and fat quarters. I'll have my trusty mirror/badge machine, which had a lot of fun at our last market outing, so bring your creative self and make a little treasure to take home. 

See you Saturday.

 

dandelion

The beautiful Megan from (my favourite childrens clothing) Blossom Child just posted the lovely images of her dandelion she printed at our workshop on Saturday.

Megan, Narelle and Kim came to the workshop with their designs ready to start, which gave them a headstart on most other people. It meant they had time to cut out those intricate designs really neatly, and get perfect results. 

I think this design would also look lovely on pillow cases + sheet sets. And t-shirts. Very simple and effective - the best sort of designs, don't you think?!

*image used with kind thanks to Megan.

more popular than cake decorating!

Yesterday we had our stencil workshop at Bleeding Heart Gallery as part of Brisbane City Council's Saviours of the Lost Arts.

I had a rushed morning with the kids, and getting everything sorted to take into town. {Printing screens, ink, blank tea towels + hemp tote bags, brushes, inspiration books, etc, etc, etc} Thanks grandparents for picking the kids up for me - giving me pure moments of quiet! Oh, yes!!!

The set-up at Bleeding Heart is really lovely. So homely, trendy, stylish, perfectly livable. The building itself is a beautiful heritage listed space - it's been lovingly repaired and looked after. An excellent location for a gallery space.

Once the workshop started I didn't get a chance to even think about taking any photos. Which is a real pity as there were so many creative, talented people there doing some really fun, thoughtful and inspiring designs. 

One lady's design was two feathers. Before I knew it she'd expertly hand cut them out, and was ready for printing. There was a Marimekko horse - white on the natural hemp looked so Finnish. Some pears, two wonderful little birdies, some fantastic abstract shapes, 'I heart 2 op shop' (perfect tote bag, hey!). Two dear friends came along and took home a dandelion and a native Australian looking flower bud. 

The workshop was so full - we had 20 people booked in, but I think we ended up with close to 35 in total. And what a noisy, fun group of women they were. Yes all women. Most had left the kids at home with husband or grandparents. At times it felt like 15 kids were demanding our attention, calling for our help. The event organiser, Melissa, said that our workshop was even more popular than cake decorating - how about that, hey!

So wonderful to be able to work alongside my husband, Sam, in this way. For us both to be there with our own skills, experience, talents and pass our information onto willing listening creatives (or creatives in training - as some had never done much drawing or anything similar before). 

Then it was all over - people saying good bye, showing off their finished pieces. While others were still inking or waiting for ink to dry. (Cold wet day meant the ink took a long time to dry). 

I didn't get an end line-up of all the finished pieces. In fact, I did not get even one picture of anyone at the whole workshop - start to finish. If any of you are reading this and feel like showing off your  new designer tote bags or tea towels, I'd love to see them (and share them on this blog). {Please email me photos to redseedstudio AT gmail DOT com}

If you live near enough, check out the rest of the program as I think there may still be vacancies in some workshops. And come into town (Brisbane City) on Tuesday for the Craft Fair. I've heard there'll be a tea garden (by the same stylist as all these spaces shown here), and we'll be there, so will some of the Bris-Style gang, as well as beautiful ceramacist Kim from Udessi (yes, she's beautiful and her work is as well - I have a few pieces and will add more when I have better studio space to display them).

the lighter side of

{death}. Don't worry this isn't like my last post on {death}.

While we were away, we stopped in at a lovely little township (3 or so shops, is that a township? a village? a group of shops?) called Newrybar. It was about 15 mins from the place we were staying. A beautiful drive along country roads. 

'It's all good stuff. Old is beautiful'. 

Makes me feel better about having passed another birthday.

The cafe,  Harvest, was delicious and a beautiful setting.

And then, across the road was a very interesting looking antique shop. Look at all those chairs lined up. I do wish we'd had space in our car to bring something home. But, you know, four people do need a whole car boot-ful of things for only three nights away!

 We brought home that purple glass old electricity topper thing. To add to our collection of 

electricity topped things that we have. What are they called, anyone know?

Country House Antiques is a quirky looking antique shop with so many perfectly little styled little corners. 

And what about the signs. 

This is where the {death} comes in. 'Dead People's Stuff Now On Sale'

'Antiques Made Daily'. Doesn't that make you look at your surroundings just that bit closer. The things you take for daily granted are the things that in two generations will be 'antiques'.  (Like this computer I'm using, and you're using - I do suppose. Or the sewing machine you'll sitting at sometime this weekend).

The flower arrangements were very pretty. Old fashioned camellias picked from the garden, presented in a sort of modern way. Against the corrogated tin walls.

This is a very homely, friendly place. The kids loved it, and the lady who owned the place chatted happily to them and us. I never once felt like the kids were 'unwelcome' as can often happen at somewhere with so many fragile things. 

In fact, I think the whole trip away was like that. Most everywhere we went people were friendly, and chatted to our kids. I did love watching them chat back, interact in conversation. It's so great to see Ari growing into someone who can stand strongly on his own two feet, and doesn't need us to assist him in every single aspect of life.

the light at the end

The final day of our holiday was the best, I think. 

The most relaxing - the kids + Sam / me all a bit wound down from our previous tension moments. {Loosing the car keys while packing the car may have helped. I found the final walk up the hill to be particularly breath-taking - in many ways; beautiful and a big hill to walk up!}

We stopped off at Byron Bay. One of the most visited places in the whole of Australia. (I imagine, not going to bother looking for stats or anything. It really is a big draw card for International and National tourists. Photos will show you the reasons).

We checked out all the skate-type shops in town. Which really were just surf and street wear with a few out-of-date skate boards hanging off the wall.

There were two interesting shops - but no photos as I always feel too self conscious photographing people's shops. Same thing for the quirky, trendy, tasty sushi train. I'd say it's the best looking sushi train I've ever been in. Really modern, yet with beautiful traditional Japanese aspects as well. And the vegetarian plates were clearly labeled - which always makes it much easier to try new things.

Then we headed up to the beautiful, landmark Byron Lighthouse.

The lighthouse keepers buildings date from 1901. 

We missed the tour to walk up the lighthouse by about 45mins (which Ari says wouldn't have happened had we not gone to all those boring shops). But we had a wonderful look around. 

The weather was perfect - look at those clouds. The light shinning on the water was divine - it simply couldn't be captured in all it's gloriousness in photos. 

Friendly people to chat with and smile at. Japanese tourists wanting to take our photo - they said we looked like a lovely family. What do you think?

The little museum inside the lighthouse was really interesting. Collections and old things. Lots of blown bulbs and maps. And this fantastic shelf of flags all folded. I wanted to unfold them all, and look at the great fabric.

*For those of you non-Aussies :: Byron Bay is the most easterly point of Australia. It gets the first light - well actually Mount Warning near Murwillumbah does. Byron is a thriving, bustling town. I spent many wonderful memories there as a child with my (extended) family, and haven't been for years. The beaches are some of the best in - dare I say it - the world. This is my thought anyway; though of course I admit I haven't trialed that many worldly beaches. They really are beautiful waters, none-the-less. 

Dolphin + whale spotting is a regular activity, depending on the day or time of year.

The lighthouse still shines every night, to warn passing boats of the perils of the rocks along the coast.

creative space :: robots

This is a bit of a cheat creative space. In that it's not from this week. I made this a few weeks ago for a dear friend's 4th birthday. 

It's made with one panel of Kristen Doran robots fabric + some spots that I had in my stash. 

It took way longer to make than it should have, as I kept changing my mind on the placement of the robots..... You know how that happens; designing as you're going.

The little pocket perfectly fits his robot softie. 

Other creative things happening today include running errands for supplies our workshop this weekend at the Saviours of the Lost Arts. I've just found out that the workshop is fully booked, with a waiting list. Just more reasons why I need to find a suitable space to run some workshops of my own - a long-held dream.....

Visit Kootoyoo for many more wonderful creatives doing wonderful creative things.

{in every image}

This holiday ended up being all about the kids. That's why they are in basically every single image. Actually, I do have many that they didn't manage to jump into - I'll show more later. Just wanted to let you all know we have returned home safely.

We did have such a lovely lovely time. 

The kids tested our boundaries of patience a bit too much. 

Our holiday home was so beautiful. Serene and quiet. Cold. It was so good to walk into a home that looked like that, and be able to live even if just for a few days, in a tidy and very styled home. No clutter!

{Lying in that bath was just wonderful. With all the candles on.}

 {The outside swings + creek + running hills. Pity it was so cold - or we'd have been swimming and paddling in the water. We didn't see the shy little platypus; but did have some funny guinea fowls to chase}

Breakfast at Harvest Cafe, Newrybar. If you're ever in the area, do make sure to stop at this lovely cafe. It's a 2second detour from the main highway. The food was yummy, very excellent value, good kids menu too, service was friendly and efficient. And the old Queenslander house looked beautiful - styling was lovely; it felt good just sitting in such a great building.

We drove past this church each day - think we'll stay here next time...

{there'll be more photos, once I upload Ari's camera, as he took some great ones}

That's enough for now. There's so many lovely ones - I do want to share with you. 

Be back soon.

E xxxx

Also - thank you so much to everyone for your sweet birthday wishes. Was so lovely to come home to all those emails - from blogger + facebook. It's such a wonderful feeling to have dear friends pop by for a little birthday love.

walking in my shoes

somebody* took these photos of my shoes.

the red + black pairs are both my everyday - obviously not on the same everyday, but alternate, or depending on my outfit - shoes
the pink ones are my wedding shoes. i wear them semi regularly. when i go out somewhere exciting. they are much more comfortable and easy to walk in than they look.

the gumboots were purchased for my NZ trip. for some silly reason i had it in my head that it always rained there, or would be wet with dew the whole time in the paddocks. or something like that. it didn't. or wasn't. i have worn them one or two times - occassionally on the school drop off wearing my giraffe skirt {my dad + sam both disapproved, but my sister didn't. i trust here. she's also more open to being a little bit off beat in dressing.}
the other black ones - strappy heels - sometimes get to go outside. generally my toes aren't in show-off condition to wear them. and they look a bit silly with socks or tights. much as i am fascinated with this style of look, it's not really me. i wear them when i want to dress up, and feel a bit more than just regular myself. you know, perhaps on date night or something....

mostly i wear barefeet as often as possible. especially around the house. we all take our shoes off when we get home. i've been wearing these inside so much already this cold season; they've almost worn through i've loved them so much. am going to make some new ones soon(ish). a very good looking pattern in weekend sewing that sylv + i have been talking about making. {in reality i will be doing the making and she the wearing, but that's okay. i like making.}

*photo was taken by mishi (i think). both kids love to take the camera and randomly take photos. sometimes some excellent shots turn out. views that i wouldn't normally enjoy or think to photograph. that's the wonderful thing about kids - they edit life differently, or don't edit at all really.