have a sunshiney kind of weekend

Thank goodness it's Friday!

I've been looking forward to the end of this week a lot! As much as I love Josh to bits, he is really extra exhausting at the moment. Can't wait for some Josh + daddy time this weekend.

The other reason I'm excited is it's the Buffet of Life tomorrow organised and hosted by the lovely Sunny Mummy Stacey. I'm taking my mum and my sis and we are going to have a lovely, girly, happy breakfast together and soak in all the rays of sunshine. Any other Sydney-siders going to this?

I hope there is some real sunshine too after all this rain we have had.

 xo

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it's raining it's pouring

What do you when it rains?

We are really fortunate to have an outdoor covered balcony. So our sanity is saved from being stuck indoors totally to being able to escape outside for a little. Josh has his little car he likes to drive and Zoe loves to push her babies in a pram around. I love that the kids think they are still getting outside but we are still protected by even the most torrential of rain - that's if we can brave the cold!

my favourite banana bread

It's perfect banana bread weather at the moment, don't you think?

This is my favourite recipe. I've used it over and over again with a few of my own amendments. It's a Donna Hay recipe and the best one I've tried. My favourite thing about it is the hazelnut meal in it. It just makes it that much denser, more wholesome and less cakey than a lot of other ones I've tried.

Here's the recipe:

Banana cinnamon breads

140g butter

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups plain four, sifted

3/4 teaspoon baking powder, sifted

1/2 cup hazelnut meal

1/3 cup buttermilk (I've just used normal milk if I haven't any buttermilk and it still works fine)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 large or 2 small bananas, sliced (I also mash 1-2 bananas and mix into the mixture at the end)

melted butter for brushing

demerara sugar for sprinkling (it's worth using this sugar, it's chunkier and more caramel-y than normal sugar)

Preheat the oven to 180C. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Add the egg and beat well. Add the flour, baking powder, hazelnut meal, buttermilk and cinnamon and fold through until smooth.

Grease 6 x 3/4 cup capacity tins. (I don't do this, I just put it all into a loaf tin.) Spoon in the mixture and place the banana slices on top. Brush with the melted butter, sprinkle with demerara sugar and bake for 35 minutes or until golden and cooked when tested with a skewer. Then enjoy!

I always seem to have overripe bananas in the fruit bowl and I make sure there always hazelnut meal in the pantry, just in case I get the hankering for some banana bread, though I have done this with almond meal as well. Not quite the same but still works. 

I love eating this bread any time of the day, but particularly in the mornings with my coffee. Heaven!

free as a bird

Have you been on a swing lately?

All children love swings don't they? I still love it even as an adult. There is something so liberating about flying through the air back and forth.

As a teenager, I used to sometimes get off my bus at a later stop than usual just so I could walk through a park that had swings on my way home. I'd stop and have a turn for a while. The higher I went the more glimpses of the bay below I could see. It was a great way to end the day. No matter what had happened or how I felt, a good swing was enough to wipe the stresses of the day away and leave me feeling free and happy.

Now as an adult I sometimes feel a bit silly on a swing, but it's worth it just to get that feeling back.

point and shoot at my house

With all this rain lately, we've been spending lots of time indoors. The other thing I'm getting used to, is that now Zoe is walking and running everywhere, I often don't know where she has disappeared to in the house, and I get a little laugh when I see what she's up to after I find her.

This is an example of the cute little moments I stumble across when I walk into a room at the moment in our house.

This post is part of point + shoot and at my house.

good day sunshine

Morning!!

Before I head off to try and start this week off well and entertaining the little people, I am here to announce the winners of my blog birthday giveaway.

Thanks to random.org the winner of the the stamps, print and cards is:

Flick,

and the winner of the second set of cards is:

Sarah

Congratulations! Please send me your postal address and I'll have them to you in no time.

Thank you to everyone who stops by here and reads and comments. You all brighten my week that little bit more. Here's to another year of blogging!

hurrah for friday

So glad it's the end of the week. In more ways than one....

I love weekends for:

♥ hubby being home = extra pair of hands = me not being outnumbered

♥ getting some 'me' time, even if for only for an hour and I'm doing the fruit and veg shopping

♥ getting into the garden

♥ feeling free of the pressures and obligations of the week

♥ spending time with friends and family

Thank you for all your lovely comments so far in my blog birthday post. If you haven't had a look yet, drop by at this post and leave me a comment to be in the running to win one of two lovely prizes! I'll be drawing and announcing the winner on Monday morning.

Well, this afternoon, I'm off to the hairdresser for a cut and blowdry. I can't wait. My hair will be all shiny and new, and to top that off, I'll be going out for a family dinner (all expenses paid by FIL!) at Somersault restaurant. Although, the reason for the dinner may bring about lots of awkward moments and possible conflict, I'm going to try and just sit back and enjoy the delicious child free meal and keep my head in the clouds and out of family dramas!

What are you up to this weekend?

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the art of being organised

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Are you naturally neat or untidy at home? I'm not especially one or the other. In fact, I always used to sway from one to the other. I was the kind of teenager that would accumulate mess over a time, until it would really get to me and then I'd have a massive clean up and throw lots of things out and get tidy and then the whole cycle would start again.

The older I get, though, the more I'm getting very particular about the house being and staying tidy and not messy. I can't relax if our house is too out of control. It really affects my mood and gets me down. I wish it didn't.....I think it stems partly from having children and knowing that I can't let things get too out of control otherwise the task of cleaning becomes too big and unachievable. The other part I think is from exposing myself to lots of inspirational people and houses in blogs and magazines and aspiring to have a space myself that is similar. 

I'm always at war with myself though because I'm not a 'naturally' neat/tidy/organised person, I really have to push myself to get my house looking the way I need/want it.

What about you? Do you 'need' your living space to be organised or are you happy in a more relaxed environment?

happy one year blog-iversary

Well, it's been a whole year since I started this little blog. It seems like much longer than that given all the things that have happened in the last twelve months. We've moved house, I had a really rough eight months of continuous sleep deprivation with Zoe, we've had birthdays, Christmas, babies born and unfortunately lots of family struck with serious illness. I'm hoping this next twelve months shapes up to be just as eventful in lots of positive ways.

As promised, to celebrate, I'm having a little giveaway of a few of my favourite goodies.

1. This Too Shall Pass print by Nan Lawson 2. Handmade buttons stamps in a matchbox by talktothesun

These two goodies I have found along my Etsy travels. Nan Lawson has to be one of my fave sellers and when I saw this print I thought it was just perfect to summarise my mantra for the past twelve months! I think I need to get one of these for myself. Would be great to have one in every room of the house as a reminder. 

The little stamp set was an accidental find, but I thought it was such a cute idea, and the seller is in Sydney! The buttons are so adorable and would make a great little addition to your little notes or letters.

3. Babushka doll card set by Melei

The third part of the giveaway is a set of cards from the gorgeous Jen at Melei. I've mentioned Melei a few times on my blog - I bought Zoe a lovely dress by Melei and was fortunate enough to finally meet Jen, the creator of all things Melei, at the last Mathilda's Market. She has generously contributed these latest creations for my giveaway. I have four of these lovely cards so will give two away as part of the main prize, and will have a second prize of two cards also. 

To enter my first blog birthday/anniversary giveaway, please just leave me a comment. Any comment. You can just say hello. You can give me some blog inspiration or tips.  You can tell me what you love about blogging. I don't mind really, I'd just love to see that you've stopped by.

On Monday next week, 24 May, I will draw two lucky winners. The first will be the recipient of the print, stamps and two Melei cards. The second will be the recipient of two Melei cards.

Start your comments now!

here i am!

Hello! I promise I haven't left! I've just been spending a lot more time trying to be a good mummy and have also been busy with some new work I've picked up. And Masterchef may be taking up some of my 'me' time too.....

These beautiful flowers were my gift to myself for Mothers Day. 'Twas very low key here this year. I even bought myself the Margaret Fulton complete cookbook as my present.....

Anyway, I'm hoping to get back to my little blog a tad more regularly again, and I've already got some lovely goodies lined up to share with you including some little giveaways.

As I've mentioned already, May marks my one year blogaversary (is that a word?) and I'll be doing a giveaway to mark my great milestone. I just have to get a photo of one of the lovely prizes that has been generously donated and then I'll whip up a post about that this week. So stay tuned!

What's been happening in your neck of the woods? Any exciting blog land news I should know about??

sweet winter's day

Brrr it's cold this morning.

I've just dropped off my sweet little boy who lets me leave him at preschool now with no tears. It makes the drop off so much easier now.

We've been doing a lot of pottering around our garden lately. We've planted camellias, gardenias and other little plants, and I asked hubby to plant me some rununculus bulbs so that hopefully I will have beautiful flowers such as these in my garden. Plans are underway for our vege garden too. Can't wait!

This month marks a year since I started this little blog....can't believe it's been that long and yet so much has happened during that time....

To celebrate I'll be having a little giveaway next week, so do drop by and have a look at the sweet little things that will be up for grabs! I will have two little prizes for two lucky readers.

Have a lovely winter's day today my friend.

{image: Kristybee}

my little munchkin

Pop over and see my little Miss Z over at the Little Munkins segement on the Little Sooti blog here. She's wearing all her latest and favourite gear!

shop til you drop

Well I didn't quite drop today.

It was such a beautiful day yesterday. I don't think there was a single cloud in the sky was there?

I arrived at Mathilda's Market yesterday without a hitch. It was just Zoe and I. It was great to say hi to some lovely ladies I've come to know of through blogs and forums: Mel from Paperklip, Helen from ensparkle ceramics, Chris from Billy Mac, Wynona from Ivy Designs and the lovely Jen from Melei. (Hope I haven't missed anyone!)

Ok, so onto the purchases....I was really trying hard not to be too heavily swayed by all the lovely girly things as Zoe has HEAPS of clothes and Josh seems to miss out a tad. So I found myself at Billy Mac buying him a blue long sleeved VW combi shirt. He was very impressed with it! He loves his cars and knows all the badges now so he was happy with his 'VMW' shirt (mmm, we're having a little trouble with VW/BMW...).

Then I found myself at Elki Design. I had been hanging out to see their clothing in real life. They use Liberty of London fabrics for many of their designs which I just LOVE. My mum used to use Liberty prints for a lot of the clothes she sewed for me when I was little, and it brings back lovely memories. I also have a beautiful patchwork quilt she made me with Liberty prints in it. 

I ended up buying Zoe this dress with the matching pants.

Beautiful don't you think? They had lovely gingham shirts for boys too and I'll probably end up getting one for Josh. Check out their online store! Elki is made up of two sisters who sew the clothes. They have gorgeous little rompers and singlets for babies embroidered with grub roses , as well as clothing for boys and girls up to age 8. There is even a little home ware.

Then I made my way over to Thula Thula wear I picked up a little short sleeved mauve cardigan for Zoe. Thula Thula sell handmade clothing inspired by the 30s and 40s. 

My next purchase was a handpainted ceramic plate from ensparkle ceramics for my six year old niece. It's her birthday this month so she is getting this gorgeous little personalised plate from our little family.

Go and check out Helen's other gorgeous work here. I've got my eye on the milk jug. Maybe if hubby is reading this before Mothers Day.....

And last but not least, I bought my gorgeous mum some knitted house socks from Wynona at Ivy Designs. These were actually a market only item, so you can't buy them online unfortunately. I was cheeky and gave them to my mum today. I know she'll get great use out of them. She lives in a pair every winter.

So there you have it. It was a great day out. Only thing is I can't believe I missed out on the cupcakes!!

Anyone else go along that has some goodies to share?

hurrah for mathilda!

Hurrah! I'm off to Mathilda's Market tomorrow in Sydney. Can't wait to say hello to some bloggy/internet friends, check out all the gorgeous things, eat some cupcakes and spend money!

I might even pick up a little something to giveaway for my bloggy one year birthday this month. Will keep my eyes out for something a little special. 

Will make sure I share any lovely purchases with you this week!

{image: Mathilda's Market}