mushrooms...

no, not magic mushrooms! but little button mushrooms! and we're growing them (well, i should actually correctly say my husband is growing them!)

check out our little box of goodies:



the box comes all ready-to-grow, and it lives in our garage (dark and cool) and gets a light spray of water every morning. and wallah! 3 weeks later we're eating mushrooms for dinner every night...

all mushroom recipe comments gladly appreciated :)

what a weekend...

What a weekend! as always, it went too fast... but hey, that's life.

it's fun to do crazy things every now and again. like put up a christmas tree. in july. and have secret santa presents. and bon bons. and sit around a table and have a big cooked dinner and tell the stupid jokes from the bon bons.
[eg. what's big and green and always points north? a magnetic cucumber. seriously. who comes up with these?? ]



so yes, Christmas In July happened this weekend for us. and it was great to catch up with some friends that we haven't seen for AGES... it's good, isn't it?? to catch up. chew the fat. laugh. cry.

(love christmas!)

and here i am, sunday night. i have so much blog inspiration: and so little time. but here is a little promise: a blog this week! mayhaps two... oh i'd like that :)
shall i finish with a picture of rudolf in my lounge room. He's gotta have a red nose for Christmas, right?!



i think'd make santa proud, don't you?

a little walk

let me take you for a little walk around my suburb...

along the path...

past the local bowls club.
(i will make good use of this in 40 years time...)




our local butcher.
Sunday special: a free smile...




there's some beautiful places to explore.
but please, enjoy don't destroy.
it's too precious!

the eiffel tower on a squiggly gum??

it's the sort of suburb where all backyards meet in the middle.
it's cosy...

disclaimer: this is not my letterbox...

there were others on their Sunday Stroll...

right now, the wattle is out...
there are beautiful clouds of bright yellow everywhere.
simply stunning!

family heirlooms

it's a special thing, having something passed down to you: jewellery. an item of clothing. a painting. it's lovely to know that you have something that once was precious to someone you love.

i have a few special things. some brooch's of my grandmothers. some precious bags. a few pieces of crockery. a piano.

and then this week, came something special.

made my my great-grandmother.

passed down to my grandmother.

to my aunt, and then to my mother.

and now to me.







beautiful, isn't it??







and i know what you're thinking! it's a crazy little teapot cosy. and when Mum is one of 8 kids, and now there's lots of cousins running around, you've gotta take what you can get!

but it's surprisingly comforting, knowing that this little cosy is all about the little things in life, right?

a nice warm cuppa.

a big hug from your mum.

and the memory that you come from a long line of people who have lived amazing & precious lives before you.





it's beautifully kitsch! and i love it.

retail therapy

So there's comfort food, there's fluffy pyjamas. And i also totally believe in the value of a little bit of retail therapy every now-and-again, just to feel a bit better. within reason, you know! so i've been thinking about the blog this challenge this week - and just have to share with you my latest little buy...

i don't know why, but i have a little obsession with the colours red & orange. i'm strangely attracted to bright things. so when wandering around my local witchery store one day, out of the corner of my eye, i saw a flash of orange. i didn't know what it was, but i had to have it :) Imagine my delight when it was a scarf! (something else i'm obsessed with - one can never have too many scarves!).

And it didn't stop there, oh no.

It was a scarf.

with pockets.

for your hands: to keep your hands warm!

and i thought... how kitsch!







but, my friends, call it the GFC*, call it self control, But it didn't buy it that day. or the next. In fact, it was only a few weeks later when i walked back in the store, to see if it was still there... and it was! AND ON SALE!!!!!!!!!!

and then i was sold :)





and as for convincing my husband i needed an orange scarf with pockets for my hands?

...conveniently he was on an interstate work trip at the time... *wink*



*Global Financial Crisis, or Geelong Football Club, depending on which part of the country you come from.

best and worst

thanks mamamia, i think i just might. my best and worst of the weekend??

best: spending time with my best friend. laughing so much i was about to spit out my mouthful of drink. knowing that someone is there for me, maybe not being about to fix anything, but telling me i'm doing the right thing. my best friend is very special to me: he's my husband.
(and we did have fun! spent very little time together this weekend - him with sport, me with girlfriends, but strangely it was a game of football that brought out the laughs. good times! and go the lions!)

worst: *sigh* having someone apologise to me by saying "i'm sorry if it offends you." Is that really an apology? did they take back the nasty things? no. they still mean them. but they didn't mean to offend me?

and another possible worst: not having time to write my blog this blog. i have so many ideas! will need a photo shoot for this one: i'm excited! (watch this space).

night all. hope it's a great week ahead for you!

who i am

morning, all!
it's always fun to get a bit of an insight into the real someone. so here are 15 facts about me... some kitsch. some frivolous. some, deep down, are what make me who i am. check out blog this for the inspiration.

1. when i was in grade 2 we went on a class excursion to paris to watch swan lake. since then, i have loved the name odette and the gracefulness that ballet exudes.

2. i have visited every state and territory of australia. i had never been to dreamworld until i was 20, but i'd seen Uluru twice. i thought that was normal.

3. my pet hate: apple stickers. they're just so frustrating and small.

4. i also have a deep dislike for queensland newspapers. i just need Brisbane Journalists to step up the mark! in the meantime, i will make do with the Age, and the Australian.

5. since i was a little girl, i always loved the thought of becoming an architect. i still think about it. mainly because i wanted to follow in the footsteps of my daddy. he draws beautiful pictures of houses.

6. in reality, i'm quite a shy person. i may seem extroverted, but it's all a big act. that i pull off rather well, if i do say so myself.

7. i married my first kiss. and i think that's a beautiful thing.

8. speaking of the man i married, my first ever memory of my husband is grade eight home-economics when we were making apple crumble. he cut his finger and fainted at the sight of blood. who would have thought we'd fall in love six years later?

9. i am a good cook. i cannot, however hard i try, make gravy.

10. my tea of choice: earl grey

11. my most unfavourite movies are: milo & otis, the lion king. i still cannot watch those movies without bawling my eyes out.

12. mortality is something i face everyday in my job. death is a natural part of life. and i'm ok with that.

13. i have an intolerance for people who smoke around young, helpless children. thankyou for giving them cancer.

14. when i was little my parents bought me a "i got shipwrecked on great keppel island... and i survived" tshirt. White with blue writing. I really did believe it had happened to me!

15. i am really quite good at canulating. it's where you have to stick a needle in somebody's vein, to get a drip inserted. it is something i am secretly quite proud of. is that morbid?