Hello March

This year seems to be going along quite smoothly at a nice pace. I always find the first couple of months blend into one another and feel like one long month, and when April comes the year really starts as plans for the following months are made. This month our current lease ends, so our main focus right now is to find a new rental & relocate to Newcastle. We spent most of last month looking for houses and made more than a couple of trips to Newcastle for viewings with no luck, so March, I hope you brought us some good luck in the house department! This month we will also be saying goodbye to one of our dear friends Sarah as she has bought herself a one way ticket to Europe. Almost everybody that I know is in the process of a great transition in their lives, and it is almost hard to not feel the change in the air. 

One of my goals for this year was to work on my blog and already this year I have started new features, posted more regularly and varied my content. In the past I've only ever ran one consistent weekly feature, and this year I took on a couple of  extra weekly posts. And while I have enjoyed writing them each week, I found that it may not be the best method for me. I would like to work on posting more varied blog posts during March, so I will be making my weekly 'My Happy List' a monthly feature to make room for new content and not limit myself with a strict weekly routine. My Saturday 'Pin Of The Week' posts will also be revamped, and I am excited the most about about sharing my new style posts. I'm looking forward to trying out new things for this space this month and all the other changes that will be going on in-between! Now, go put on David Bowie's "Changes" & enjoy your day!

See You Next Year February!

This month we spent a lot of our free days together driving back and forth from Newcastle looking at potential new rentals. We didn't have much luck though.

I shared some things that make me happy,

everyday moments,

and some dresses that I need.

I visited my friend for a city date

and Luke & I made one of my favourite Sunday pizzas yet.

This month we spent a lot of time focusing on looking for a new place to live. Luke & I have made the decision that we're going to be moving back to Newcastle as soon as we can find somewhere to live. We made this decision a couple of months ago and now the time has come to start organising this big change & we've been driving back and forth to house viewings whenever we possibly can. Moving is the worst, I cannot wait to be all settled and unpacked already. Aside from house hunting, we've been keeping a low profile this month, which hasn't been hard with the wet weather we've been having here.  The colder season is definitely going to be a challenge with Romy, she really likes being out and about so I don't know how she'll take her first winter. But I most certainly am looking forward to bringing my cardigans back out again. See you later February!

Today

Yesterday I went to house viewing in Newcastle that we're keeping our fingers tightly crossed for, it isn't in the most ideal suburb, but it has everything that we are after. The viewing was late yesterday afternoon so applications were to be handed in at the office today, so we had to fax our application forms. Luke had a little trouble with the fax at his work, and I ended up having to rush to the post office and pay to fax the forms off, which cost me $16! I couldn't believe it, however I was feeling far too frantic to worry about how ridiculously overpriced such a simple task could cost. In the end faxing the forms turned out to be a much bigger ordeal than it should have been, and the receptionist mixed a couple of things up with the faulty batch of faxes we sent first and the real estate called Luke to say that it didn't go through. So around midday I started to get really worried that I might have to do more running back and forth for the applications, but everything got sorted. For most of the day I felt like a zombie running on empty after a sleepless night with a teething 10 month old who only would be consoled by slight bouncing, so my focus was quite scattered from lack of sleep and stress. My day got a lot better when my Mum dropped in on her way home from work with lattes, and then I had a surprise visit from my friend Elle & A. 

February Links

I came across this absolutely delightful blog at the end of last month, Postcard Daydreams

When I first moved out of home I used to constantly worry that my car was going to randomly break down in the middle of a busy intersection, so I used to keep a worry doll in my car. I don't know if it helped, but over time I worried about it less. This post reminded me of that.

Curious about bonsai? My friend Elle has started a blog to document her Elbonsai Adventures from square one.

This post on changing your dreams was super inspiring.

You learned everything you know about life from a giraffe in the back of a dark van and other signs you grew up in Australia in the 90's. This was so, so good!

These fantastic tips on how to simplify your home.

Some people are just so darn awesome, especially these parents. 

My friend Felicity has her own blog designing service and she recently shared some new designs she's been working on. Felicity has helped me out with almost all of my blog design installations, and she is such a sweet heart! Check her out if you're looking for a new blog design!

I almost stopped breathing for a second when I watched this!

I really enjoyed reading this post about how to save to stay at home, the comments are also really great for extra saving tips. 

>>> Enjoy

8/52

"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

The Bear did not hold back this week, and oh boy, there have been some tantrums! At times it can be a little difficult to take her tantrums seriously and acknowledge that yes, taking the remote off her makes her sad because she is just so darn cute, even when she cries. Lucky these little meltdowns don't last for long. There were a couple of times today that we started to laugh at the same volume her crying was so it would change her tune, and it worked almost every time. A couple of months ago the Bear worked out that when she coughs it catches out attention, so the fake cough has made a mysterious return this week, only this time around she is far more unsubtle about aiming to get our attention. Everyday gets better & better with her.

Pizza Sunday

Nacho Pizza

The pizza place where we buy our pizzas when we are too lazy to make them has a pretty tasty nacho pizza that Luke occasionally opts for, so I suggested we make our own version of it for pizza sunday. It is just topped with corn chips, so we put our own spin on it and it made it a little differently. 

For our nacho pizza we sprinkled a small amount of cheese on the base, and spread our simple nacho mix to cover the base. Our nacho mix was taco sauce, tabasco sauce, mexican spice, lentils, capsicum, mushrooms and baby spinach diced finely. We put the pizza in the oven just like that and in the last ten minutes or so of baking, we pulled the pizza out and sprinkled crushed up corn chip pieces & the top layer of cheese over the pizza. The corn chips were crushed up into smaller 1cm pieces, so they weren't too small. We then topped our pizza with sour cream, guacamole & sweet chilli. Fresh avocado pieces would have been much better, but like always the Coles near our house never has anything so we weren't able to buy any fresh avocados today. 

Our version of nacho pizza is definitely one of my favourite pizzas we have made, with our balsamic pizza being a close second.

Pin Of The Week

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A couple of years ago I saw on a home improvement type show a bedroom makeover that implemented a birdhouse for a bedside table, and it's something I've wanted to do ever since. I think it would be a great idea for a children's bedroom. Especially lining the back of the birdhouse with bright & fun patterns to match the rest of your bedroom decor.