Two Bears Upstairs

Romy & I have been keeping a low profile the last couple of days. We've been spending our days upstairs together on mine & Luke's bed napping, playing, reading & telling each other stories. She is having a little growth spurt and has been sleeping a lot more lately. Which was much appreciated today as I slept funny last night and woke up with a weird stiff neck and shooting pains down my back. Today was a small challenge, and I am really glad that the day is almost over. Hopefully tomorrow I wake up to everything magically fixed and I resume feeling lovely again. 

Cute Boys With Cats

[ click here ]

Have you seen this fun website? My friend Lara just shared this gem with me after she spent the evening looking at it with her Mum. They both enjoyed looking at pictures of cute boys holding cats and Lara thought I would to. The above picture is an example of the delightfulness that is Cute Boys With Cats. Not only is he holding a cat, but in front of a personal framed unicorn art collection. Fear not crazy cat ladies, there is still hope!

My Monthly Agenda / October

TUNE / NEED / MEAL / READ

This month I have decided to re-read 'Valley Of The Dolls', which has been my favourite novel since I was 15. The very first time I read it I was so distraught with the ending, especially the very last page, I didn't go to school the following day I felt so sad about it. I was so excited by the characters and the storyline as it was unlike any sort of book I had read before, & I invested a lot of interest in it. So when Anne sat quietly in the dark, I was really disappointed. My perspective on most things has changed a lot in the last decade, so this time around I might get a different perspective. 

The last couple of weeks Luke & I have been re-arranging things around our house and making little touches to certain spaces and it really gives the whole house a freshen up. I added an Ecoya 'sweet pea & jasmine' candle yesterday to our kitchen space & it is so delightful! I've been especially keen on candles lately, I hope it doesn't get to the 'cat lady stage' of liking something though! 

So Long, September

This month Luke & I got a lot of things done. We kept busy with dinner dates, we went out for the first time together in ages and saw our friends band for the first time. Now that the weather has started to warm up we made our first batch of ice tea, and made more of an effort to cook all components of our meals like stocks and sauces. And we made a cheese burger inspired pizza and discovered it is our favourite pizza topping, it is best served with grown up ginger beer! Lots of changes happened on the Romy front, she hit the 5 month mark which completely happened without us noticing. She grew out of her infant car seat + carrier and started using her first car seat - that she loves. We're pretty lucky to have  a baby that doesn't mind travelling in the car. Romy also started solids this month, we started her on a mixture of blueberries, banana, avocado and grapes. Our next step is vegetables, hopefully that is an even smoother transition into this food business for her. Not only was Romy babysat for the first time by our friend Sarah, but she was babysat for an entire day by my sister so I could do a fill in shift at my old work. It was really weird being away from her for an extended period of time, I missed her for the first time!

This month we went to the markets almost every weekend, which was fantastic as going to the markets on a weekend morning is my ideal way of spending the weekend. I've previously always, always worked Saturday mornings for as long as I can remember, and now that I am in the stay at home club, Saturday mornings are my oyster! One of our market trips was at the farmers market in Newcastle with my sister Ashleigh, and bro-in-law Allan. And another was spent with my friend Ally, who I studied design with. It was especially fun going to the markets with Ally because she appreciates good design too and likes to talk about it in length. Luke can only talk about throw cushions for so long! Something else we did this month was finally getting around to sanding back our antique tea cart, fixing the broken shelf and painting that bad boy a dark blue. It has been on our 'project nest' list for the past six months, so we're both pretty excited to not only have it fixed and snazzed up, but it serves a practical purpose as our record player stand. I drank a lot of late afternoon coffees and found myself getting a lot done around the house. I feel as though both Luke & I got a lot done this month and put some positive changes in place. See you next year September!

>>I also started using Twitter more, 

read my tweets here!

Start Your Week Off With..

Feeling like an adult & disasters in coffee shops by Sometimes Sweet

The evolution of blogging by Little Chief Honeybee

DIY felt ball garland by Paper Umbrella

Little sea horse family by Take Hart

Have a neat week!

To The Farmers Market We Went

Romy & I spent our Sunday with my sister & brother-in-law at the farmers markets in Newcastle. It has been a while since our last visit, and Romy is a fan of longer trips in the car and is an even bigger fan of her favourite aunty and uncle, so it was a successful day all round. Allan wore Romy in the Baby Bjorn for the first time like a proud uncle, it was really sweet and Romy definitely enjoyed it! She loves people watching, and being out and about in the sun. I didn't buy a lot of fresh produce today because Luke & I haven't planned our meals for the week, but I did bring home some kale, chillies, broccoli and  some asparagus we put on our pizzas tonight. I'm definitely going to be more prepared for next visit to the farmers market! These types of Sundays are my favourite.

Fancy Folk / Paper Umbrella

Have you met Ella?

What lovely things have you crossed off of your 2013 to-do-list?

So far, 2013 has been a crazy year of changes and adventures for me. Right before the year started I graduated from college and started my real adult life (if you can call it that...!) - I've had my first real adult job, co-founded a company in an area I never thought I'd be interested in, left my first adult job, and made big decisions about where I'm going next.  But, I'd say the best thing I crossed off my list this year was traveling around Europe with my boyfriend. It was perfect and now we dream about moving into a tiny apartment in Paris :) Oh, and I finally got around to doing the blog redesign I've been putting off for ages!

Describe your style

My style can be a bit all over the place...I'm still trying to figure it out! During the Summer I can usually be found in a girly dress or skirt with my hair pinned back by a homemade bow. In the Winter my uniform is a comfy knit sweater, jeans and ankle boots. I used to wear mostly black, white, grey and brown, but lately I've been loving wearing neutral outfits with pops of color. I always say that if I could have one store be my closet it would be Urban Outfitters...a girl can dream, right?

What would your menu be for a dinner party that you're hosting?

I think it would be super fun to host an Indian feast where everyone cooks together. To start, we would make some vegetable pakora and drinks to snack on while we cook. It would be fun to come up with a cocktail based on a mango lassi or other flavors commonly found in Indian food. Then, we would make my favorite chickpea and spinach curry and butter chicken curry with rice and fresh roti. For desert we would have a yummy fruit salad.

If you were a cat who would you follow all day in the hope that they would look after you?

It would be fun to sneak around, meeting lots of people and peeking into their lives. But, honestly, at the end of the day I would probably end up back at home. My housemate, Sydney, desperately wants a cat and would give me endless treats and attention.

Your perfect day would be...

My perfect day starts with waking up early on a warm Summer day. My boyfriend and I would walk to our favorite tea shop down the street, grab some bubble tea, and then maybe go sit in the park and do a little reading/writing.  Then we would go into town to do some exploring, and of course stop at food carts for lunch. After exploring we would go to my favorite happy hour and spend the rest of the night laughing with all of my closest friends (who all magically came for a visit at the same time from all over the country/world).

>> Check out Ella's blog,

she has some really cute DIY's