*New Feature* Pizza Sunday

I've mentioned before that Sunday nights are mine & Luke's pizza night. Every Sunday we try to make a different pizza & it has become one of our things we like to do together. We even make it a novelty be getting a little competitive with who comes up with the better topping ideas! So I thought I could turn our little weekly ritual into a pizza feature on here. Even though I am vegetarian, not all the pizzas in this feature will be. Some weeks Luke makes his own pizza with meat on it, and if they aren't too gross (Luke likes to put egg on his meat pizzas & it weirds me out a little) I'll break the veg fest up with some of his.

Broccoli with roasted pumpkin & eshallots 

This week I wanted to use broccoli on my pizza, I've tried it once before but I over-steamed it and it didn't end up having too much taste. We originally intended to put on sun-dried tomatoes, but we forgot to pick them up at the shops this afternoon. Luckily Luke had some roasted eshallots to take their place and it ended up being much nicer, especially with the roasted pumpkin. We topped ours with aioli, and it was delicious with the extra hint of garlic!

Pin Of The Week

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Over the last 8 months or so Luke & I have been slowly adding colourful pieces to our house, and while I mostly love it, sometimes I wish Luke would get on board with the simple B&W combo.

One Moment

Friday, 3 January 2014, 11.12am

*New Feature* My Happy List / Picnics

After reading The Happiness Project, I started to think about all of the simple things that made me happy and how I sometimes take those things for granted. It also made me realise how caught up in my own stuff I can get, and how that doesn't always create a positive effect or atmosphere considering a lot of the little things that do make me really happy involve Luke & Romy. So I wanted to make sure I did something every week off my happy list so I take the time to appreciate all of the simpler pleasures, and share the types of things every week that make me happy!

Picnics are one of my favourite ways to spend an afternoon, and last New Years Day Luke & I decided that we would start a New Years Day picnic tradition for our little family. And this time around it was much more enjoyable because Romy got to join in with us! Luke made some sandwiches to go with our ciders, and Romy had fresh mango - which is her new favourite thing!

Happy New Year!

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New beginnings are wonderful, especially the first day of a new year. There is so much promise and positivity because you have the chance to start afresh and make changes in your life no matter how big or small. This year rather than set myself big resolutions and let my motivation for them fizzle out if they aren't seen through within the first few weeks, I am going to span out the things I want to work on and change across the next 12 months. First up on my 2014 agenda is working on this space here. I will be changing my blog content slightly, starting new features & posting more regularly about the things that I want to post about. Blogging has been such a positive & productive hobby for me, and especially so the last 6 months. When I started to plan blog posts, I found I started to get more ideas for this space and I became more interested in what I was trying to achieve. I originally started this blog because I wanted a space to share my illustrations as a way of motivating myself to draw more and to do more with those drawings. And this year I would like to get back to basics and make better use of my creative side, which I feel as been quite lazy of late. 

This year I want to read more, and watch less. Lighten up & let things go. Take advantage of the fact that I have a chef as a husband and take him up on his offer to teach me how to cook. Discover my green thumb and plant some herbs. Stay positive. Get to the bottom of my craft box and make more things. Ditch some bad habits. Learn to sew. And get into the habit of doing things now. I have a great feeling about this year, happy New Year everyone!

See you later 2013, its been a blast!

2013 has been incredible, and has gone incredibly fast. Even though this is the last day of the year, I still have this unsettling feeling about it coming to an end because it still feels as though the year is lingering around the April/May/June part. It most certainly does not feel like the 31st of December. When people told me that having a baby makes the time go by faster I didn't quite understand how that could be, especially when some weeks during my pregnancy seemed to go by at a snails pace. But now I am ending the year with an 8 month old baby and that alone is quite overwhelming. This year was big for Luke & I, we started the year off with a dinner picnic in the park talking about how much things were going to change for us in 2013, but we had no idea just how much they would. We both kept busy working and on the odd day off together we would rush around trying to get things organised. We  bought a new car, applied for and paid off our very first bank loan, we moved house at the last minute, and welcomed our beautiful daughter Romy into the world a month early.

Romy's early arrival was one of the biggest challenges Luke & I have had so far, firstly because we had barely unpacked our things in our new house, and secondly I did not prepare myself for a caesarean, or the recovery process. I kept my mind occupied with working and making lists of all the things I had to get organised before hand that I never actually read any of the material I was given at my midwife appointments. I started to read a little bit about the birthing process and got really overwhelmed, and that was that, I had read enough. Even though my hospital experience was awful, in hindsight I can't help but think that everything happened exactly the way it was suppose to. And although the start was a bit rocky, this motherhood thing has been one of the best experiences of my life. Luke & I didn't plan to have a baby, but the universe gave us Romy at exactly the right time. It is sometimes even hard to believe we never had her! Before Romy, I had next to no experience with children, so much so I changed my first nappy in hospital. I didn't know how to bath or burp a baby, or the importance of being organised because I've never had to organise anyone else except for myself. And I can sometimes get a little too laid back with things. So 2013 has been a big learning curve for me. 

When the end of the year comes around I start to panic about finishing off books, projects, drawings and crossing the last thing off one of my lists. And this year is no different, only I am just as excited about the new year ticking over as I am panicked. So many wonderful things will be happening in the New Year, for one we will be moving and will no longer be living amongst some of the most unreasonable people I have encountered in all my renting years. Which will take a huge pressure off, as these neighbours create a drama on a weekly basis. Even as I type this my neighbour is watching my house with the creepiest smile I have ever seen. Luke will be changing jobs so he no longer will be working for an employer who has little family values. I will be able to see more of my best friend who has recently had a baby herself, so that will be wonderful seeing our babies play and grow together. And I will be changing some things up on my blog in the New Year. There is so much to look forward to, and I am looking forward to sharing it all here! See you next year!

Three Out Of Four Isn't So Bad

Early November I set myself four simple goals to work on during the last part of the year inspired by Elsie's goals from A Beautiful Mess. I wanted to spend more of my spare time making things, cross a couple of things off Romy's 'firsts' list, be more creative at meal times and step outside my comfort zone. I didn't quite get all four crossed off, so working on creative meals will have to go on the 2014 agenda!

Although I didn't accomplish all four of my goals, I happily crossed off 'spend time making things' first and was very impressed with myself with this one. I find that I have so many ideas for creative projects, and little time/motivation for them. I can't remember where I read this, but recently I came across a really helpful bit of advice that really motivated me with this particular goal, 'you will never find the time to do anything unless you make the time'. So one night after Romy was well and truly asleep I got out my craft box and made a felt Christmas decoration, and after one I was really inspired to make more. Luke & I decided to only put up a small tree this year because we all wouldn't be together for Christmas, so I only made four decorations for our tree and another one for a friend. I really enjoyed making these and will definitely be whipping up a few more for next years tree!

One of the most important firsts for Romy for me was going on her first picnic, and picnic she did! The end of November and early December went by so fast I didn't get to do as much as I would have liked in regards to Romy. She did however get her first tooth, start rocking back and forth on all fours, put her pacifier in her mouth on her own, started to dance to music on her own accord, and can say 'mum' & 'dad' (just not to us on purpose!). 

Setting the goal of stepping outside my comfort zone made me think about just how much I hold back in doing things. I posted earlier in the month about stepping outside my comfort zone with some different dress choices, and for my designated Christmas outfit I made the conscious effort to pick something I normal wouldn't. I have almost next to nothing bright and colourful in my closet, so while I was waiting for my Mum to finish work before we left for our road trip last week I quickly bought a bright pink & orange dress from a local boutique to wear on Christmas day. I also went to a mothers group baby craft day, which is something I wouldn't normally do. And it was even more out of my comfort zone as I only knew one of the mothers there, and it was in Sydney. I have never driven in Sydney so that was a whole other accomplishment in itself!