books in the mail

i have been able to tick another thing off my to do list.
last night we had our presentation night at school. it went fantastically, without a hitch. the children sang beautifully and the parents had a great time. i am very glad that it is all over and done with. it took a lot of organising, rehearsing and stress so that is why i am glad it is over.

this wonderful little book arrived in the mail yesterday...

now that school is winding down and i have done most of the important things associated with the end of the school year i can afford a little time to start thinking of our trip to Cambodia at the end of december.

i wish i had kept all my lonely planet books but as we traveled we got rid of them to make our bags lighter. we would have had a very good collection by now!

my hubby wanted me to get the ipad version but i wanted a hard copy. we had an ipad version for when we were in the states but i found that all three of us would fight over using the ipad so i think it will just be easier for me to read a book then negotiate with my two boys to use the ipad.

i am starting to get a wee bit excited and then i remember all the things i have to do to get ready for an overseas trip and then i start to freak a little. especially the little thing of having my little boy properly toilet trained. lots of prayer, persistence and patients needed there.

i am going to go and make myself a chai latte, curl up in my rocker and read my book
happy tuesday to you
xoxo

hello there...

summer is well and truly here, the past couple of days here in the west have been steaming.
my little house is like a sauna. i escaped to the shopping center today to take advantage of the air conditioning but it was a little too crowded so we headed home after picking up all the little things we needed.

we have been enjoying spending the hot afternoons at the beach and eating ice-cream of course. i cant wait to get the boat and kayaks out on the ocean again.

life has been busy as usual. things are starting to wind down at school so i am a busy little squirrel doing school reports, planning Christmas activities, organising for end of year awards night and so on and so on...
only two and a half weeks and the little guy and i will be finished with school and be on summer holidays!
i have had a great time being back at work but i am so looking to getting a little of my free time back.

We are the middle of organising our Christmas plans - where we will be eating lunch and dinner, what gifts to buy, what food we need...

i do love this time of year, being so busy makes it go too fast. just think this time last year we were living in the snow!

well now it is time to get up and go and do all the things around the house i was supposed to do today but put off because it was too hot (we have no air conditioning in our little cottage)
happy thursday to you
xoxo

a sneak peek into my home...

my humble little kitchen...

filled with vintage treasures...

it is a lovely place to be when the kettle is boiling and there is the smell of tasty treats on the oven...

i love this pace we call home

run baby run

as you may know i am a bit of a gym junkie, it is my second home.

i am usually there 4 or 5 times a week, and when you work and have a family to look after that is a lot to fit in.

even though i work out a lot i have yet to master going for a run on the treadmill. the cross trainer - no problem but the treadmill has always got the best of me.

i would always find weak excuses - i have bad knees to the impact of running would be too much for my joints, i could never figure out my breathing so i would puff out easily and generally i would give up ufter a few minutes.

well not anymore my friends!

i have conquered the treadmill - i own that bad boy!

i found this great blog - itty bits of balance and on there i came across a great interval running program

there were three options for the program - beginners, intermediate and challenging. i started on the challenging one and after two goes i had mastered it - no giving up, no slowing down and no quitting before the twenty minutes. after two weeks i am now running for twenty five minutes - yay me!
if you would like to give it a go i recommend that you pop over to the blog and check out the programs.
i have also found now that i have changed up my gym program i am starting to lose weight again. i had reached a bit of a plateau stage so now adding a run into my gym sessions i am back on the weight loss track again - just in time for summer.

dear santa...

today the little guy posted his very first letter to santa

he told santa he had been a good guy

that he ate all his breakfast 

and played nicely with his friends

he is such a little cutie

you can write to the big guy in red at

the north pole

9999

make sure you leave your reply address on the back of the envelope so he can send you a letter

you can find out all about posting santa mail here

we went a got our christmas tree today

we all piled in the car and headed on down to....

kmart!

yes kmart, no real chrissy trees here

we found the cheapest biggest tree we could find

15 dollars!

not to bad for a 6 foot tree

so now we are going to decorate that bad boy and get ourselves some holiday cheer!

happy saturday to you

xoxo

{pretty little letters}

i love letters

i have a little collection of them around the house these days

one for the little guy ....

 

one for the big guy ....

and now one for me ....

 materials ....

paper mache letter 

{mine was purchased at spotlight}

pretty paper

pva glue {one that dries glue}

scissors

pencil

trace around the letter onto your pretty paper and cut it out

 cover the letter in the glue and attach your paper on top

 then cover the pretty paper with the glue to seal it

{this is why you must use a glue that dries clear}

and ta da...

now you have a pretty letter

weekend getaway...

this weekend we escaped the hustle and bustle of life and headed on a little getaway

we escaped down south with my sis-in-law and her little family

we stayed at evedon park bush resort 

it was so beautiful, peaceful and relaxing

we ate, drank, played games, explored our bush resort and enjoyed each others company

i just love taking a little time out to enjoy life and my little family

we visited the ferguson valley while we were there and it was so beautiful

very picturesque, rolling green hills, sun setting out over the ocean in the distance, cows and horses, vineyards and brewerys...

i think i may just move there... someday

happy weekend to you

xoxo

furniture facelift

i decided to be brave and start tackling some of the d.i.y projects i had in mind

{and had pinned on my pinterest board}

i have a lot of furniture that i have purchased from secondhand stores 

with the intent of prettying them up

well i finally prettied up something!

remember this lovely 70s bookshelf?

she got a facelift!

and i love her so much more now!

the painting face lift was really easy to do

and i followed the tips on how to paint wood furniture that i found here

my tips when it comes to painting furniture are...

apply a white undercoat using a spray can

it goes on real easy and it makes painting in your final colour a lot easier

i only had to do two coats of paint to make it look fab

do you painting on a nice warm sunny day

i painted two coats and it was dry and back in the house in a few hours

paint is not cheap

if your furniture is small enough i recommend using spray paint

it is a lot cheaper but unfortunately not as many colour choices

and, use water based paint for easy cleanup

happy wednesday to you
xoxo

{kindy garden}

as you know recently it was my gorgeous little niece halle's first birthday

i wanted to buy her something cute for her birthday so i searched the wonderful world wide web and stumbled accross the cutest etsy seller

kindy garden on etsy

she sells the most delightful artwork for children 

and i just couldnt resist her sweet little prints and i ordered some for my niece

i ordered a set of pictures that spell out her name

they arrived in a sweet little envelope and it even came with a free little gift

{yay, i love free gifts}

i purchased some white frames and placed the prints inside

and they look super cute!

thank-you to megan at kindy garden

your prints are a delight

happy tuesday to you
xoxo

lake world tour... part three

i am so excited to tell you that we are planning our next little adventure!

at the end of the year me and my little family are heading over to cambodia with my hubby's parents

we are going to help out the organisation transform cambodia

On any one day there are over 15,000 young children working or living on the streets of Cambodia, scraping a living from scavenging, begging or selling.  They have no education or hope for the future. Transform Cambodia gives them not just hope, but a guaranteed bright future. 

At Transform we feed and educate them, and train them to become leaders of Cambodia's future.  We currently operate eleven Life Centres which transform the lives of 100 children each - all staffed by Khmer nationals, and are on target to add 500 children
every year.  We are passionate about this
country, and the opportunity
we have to make such
a huge difference. 

transformcambodia.com 

i am so excited to be apart of this amazing movement to help the next generation of young people in cambodia make a better life for themselves and their families.

we will be helping out in the centers where we are needed.
we will help to train the leaders in the center... helping with their english, their teaching skills and  providing additional skills and resources
for example last time my mumsy in law was there she was teaching the leaders art skills - like mixing colours, drawing skills, the use of imagination things that seem so simple to us but have been lost along the way

my in-laws have already made several trips to cambodia and have been helping out over the past year
and i am really looking forward to sharing this experience with them

i will keep you updated and let you know how you can be involved in helping to raise up the next generation of khmer people
so that they can make their country a better place to live

happy sunday to you
xoxo

summer love

I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something that you can be thankful for... no matter how simple it is.

 

the weather is warming up here in our little city by the sea

and summer is well and truly on its way

i am getting just a wee bit excited for summer

{mainly because it will be holidays time}

here is what i am loving about summer time...

there will be lots of ice-cream eating at our store

mmmmm...... forerro rocher and nougat are my all time favorites

i love having dinner 

{usually fish and chips}

down the beach front on a warm summer evening

boating, boating and more boating

the hubby is keen to get the boat out again

there will be lots of fishing, wake boarding and boat trips out to penguin island this summer

swimming in the cool ocean

{hopefully no more shark attacks of our coast, there was been a few too many of late for my liking}

swimming lessons with my little guy and his best friend

they are cheeky little monkeys together so it should be an interesting experience!

Christmas time!

my most favorite summer thing of all

i cant wait!

 

happy friday to you

xoxo

i am linking up here

jar jackets

after being inspired by these lovely little handy dandy jars in their cute little coats

i made my own little coats for some little jars

the jars that inspired me were covered in vintage material

but since i do not have any lovely vintage material at my disposal i used 

scrap-booking paper

yarn

lace

and

a vintage doily

{thanks nanna!}

a quick little pop of colour to spruce up my kitchen