Romy's First Picnic

Today Romy went on her first picnic, and she loved it! Every week we meet up with our friends Renee & Oscar for coffee and this week we changed things up with a picnic. For the past couple of months Luke & I have been trying to take Romy on a picnic to no avail. Either the frustrating Central Coast weather is an issue, or we have grown up commitments or appointments to go to and we can never quite make it happen. So when Renee suggested a picnic to get the babies out of their prams for our next coffee date, I was a little worried my picnic curse would get in the way. But today was perfect picnic weather! Renee baked some delicious banana bread and packed some berries,  and I brought the picnic rug and brought the coffees. Romy & Oscar loved being able to interact with each other, rolling around and sharing each others toys, it was so lovely to see them enjoy themselves. Towards the end of the picnic the wind was starting to get to Romy & Oscar so we cut the morning short, but overall it was a successful morning picnic! 

How Has Your Year Been So Far?

It feels like forever that I've been actually able to use my computer! I mentioned in my previous post that my internet connection was down for almost a month, but as of today it has all been sorted so I'm back in business. Which means that this post is a little late.

I've been trying to work as much as I can before the last month or so of my pregnancy approaches when I might not be able to do as much. So lately I've been working six days a week, and it has really been the best thing for me. During my first trimester I was working around four to five days a week and I found on my days off I would just sleep and eat unnecessarily. I had a conversation with my sister Ash one afternoon where I was telling her how hungry I was and how I had been eating more often and she quickly snapped some sense into me that I wasn't in fact eating for two and I was eating unnecessarily. And I had noticed that I had put on a little bit of weight quite quickly, so even though I thought it was a little snappy initially it was one of the best things she could have said to me. After that I planned my meals more carefully and found that I haven't put on much weight at all. And as of next Friday I'll be six months pregnant, and my baby belly is starting to show now! Keeping busy has definitely made these six months just fly by.

Since the Christmas period I've only had a couple of days off, one being New Years Day in which I got to spend it with Luke. We went out for breakfast, spent a couple of hours with my parents and went on an evening picnic in the park to have our dinner. Dinner picnics are by far my favourite kind of picnic. Luke made a salad, some bruschetta with sour dough toast, he packed some deli delights for himself and I cut up some fruit. The park near our house backs onto the beach so it was nice to eat dinner on a picnic rug by the water. It was especially nice to see families on holidays with their children having dinner picnics, and to think how next summer we'll be able to take our baby on dinner picnics with us. 

The only other day I've had free this year was last Friday where Luke & I ventured to Sydney for his birthday. It was a bit of a disastrous day, but for the lovely part of the day we had a nice breakfast together, I bought some cute shoes, and we went to the Francis Bacon retrospective exhibition at the art gallery. Even though a chunk of his paintings he destroyed, he left behind such a great body of work. I haven't always been a fan of his work, but after seeing it all together it made sense and flowed intrinsically. If you're in Sydney while its still exhibiting I would definitely recommend paying it a visit. 

So that is what I've been up to so far this year. I'm looking forward to having an afternoon where I can catch up on all your lovely blogs. Leave me a comment if you've found new blogs, stumbled upon old ones or would like me to visit yours. I'll need somewhere to start when I have a spare afternoon later in the week!

A Quick Spring Picnic

Luke & I had such a perfect little day together on Monday. We were dressed, ready and out the door relatively early (for a day off) so we could have a little breakfast date at Lotus cafe. We've been meaning to cross that cafe off our list for some time, and now we can and know not to go back. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't what we were into. The food was lovely and super quick, so quick we received it within 5 minutes or ordering, but the coffee tasted a little stale as though the beans had been ground weeks before or something. After breakfast we went to some furniture stores in search of a decorative sitting chair. Our flat is really small, but we've come up with a way to change it up so we can fit a cute chair in. Our last stop was Freedom where we found the perfect lemongrass coloured chair. I never think to go into Freedom because it always looks a little too pretentious and expensive, but their current stock is just perfect. My sister is also in the process of redecorating so I'm hoping she'll go there to so the things I can't fit in my current flat, she might get for herself!

Once we found what we were looking for, we did a quick grocery shop, banked two months worth of coin collecting, did a quick tidy up and washed some clothes. Once all that was out of the way we packed some sandwiches + fruit, grabbed some coffees and went on a little picnic! We found the perfect little nook in the park to lay our picnic rug down and play cards on. The few times Luke & I have had days off together throughout the year, it's either rained or we've had to do other things and our picnics have been put on hold. So it was just the loveliest afternoon to be out in the park, laying down in the sun. 

When we came home we decided to do some baking together, and we made the most delightful hazelnut cake. I'm going to post the recipe soon, because it would be absolutely selfish of me not to! And we finished our day off with some lasagne Luke made while I finished up on an illustration. It was extra delicious because my boss picked me a huge bunch of home grown organic silver beet from her veggie patch! 

A Monday Picnic

Today Luke & I went on a little picnic. It was such a lovely, sunny day here on the Coast for a change. Not like the horrible, wet & moody weather lately. We slept in a little later than we would have liked to, quickly did a clean up and some washing, and packed a picnic. Luke made delicious salad rolls with spinach, sun dried tomato, swiss cheese, leek, mushroom & south west sauce, and a cinnamon & honey granola. We also packed some nuts and poppers and went on our way.

Picnic Delight

I've finally found a minute after such a busy couple of weeks to sit at peace with some tea & share some delightful adventures the past weeks have comprised of!

Last week on Luke's day off we woke up early to go for breakfast at this sort of old world type cafe that we always drive past & make promises to visit one day. So we went, and although it was a few stops short of awful (hence my lack of recommendation & directions to get there!), it was a nice sunny day & we were both in too high spirits to let it bother us. We picked up some tickets to Harvest Festival , which I am so super excited about! Finallllly a chance to see The National! Oh, swoon! 


After our breakfast we came home & readied our bikes for an afternoon ride & we packed my wicker basket with some sandwiches and ice tea and off we went to enjoy the sunny afternoon. It was such a cute little afternoon. We found this little picnic area near our house with a little foot bridge and a bountiful assortment of trees.