The Thing in The Thing

So obviously we are living out of boxes .... and one tiny little shoe box of a room .... sorry mum but to be honest its pretty bloody small. (and to be even more honest I may have taken over the wardrobe in the guest bedroom as well but lets not mention that)

So I realised last night that I needed one piece of paper ... a birth certificate actually and not mine - that I am smart enough to keep on hand. This one teeny tiny little piece of paper is in a box .... somewhere in the mountain of boxes that seems to be my belongings. Somewhere in there is a box, and in the box is a folder and in the folder I am hoping is the birth certificate I desperately need. ... this is one of those "oh dear" moments isnt it?

Christmas Wrapped Up

I love a prettily wrapped present. To me its almost as good as the present itself and so I really take care to make an effort when wrapping my christmas presents.

It may even be selfish of me because I get the pleasure of them sitting under my tree but either way, presents should be well wrapped and easy on the eye!

These are some of my favorites this year .... red and white seem to be very big this season. Bring on the christmas spirit.

My Friend B

It seems that all my lovely friends are moving into their homes and where I would have expected to be so jealous I make myself sick its actually pretty cool watching them move in and start to make it their own.

My friend B from B is building a house (here) has just moved in and here are a few pics I have "nabb'ed" from her blog - sorry B I could resist, call it house envy but I'm happy to show off your lovely new home.

Let us hope when the time comes ..... eventually .... I will be just as excited about moving into my own home.

Martha Stewart - Eat Your Heart Out

For me .... cooking is something to do when I'm happy. Baking means I'm really happy or else desperately trying to get happy. On Sunday I baked .... I didn't just bake but I challenged myself to macaroons. We had had them in Paris and I love them, I also think the amazing colours make them even more tempting and I wanted to learn how to cook them.

So look at what I did - they taste divine, chewy on the inside, crunchy on the outside, perfect.

Don't you just love it when it all comes together like its supposed to .... I'm not going to talk about the chocolate ones which didn't quite turn out like I planned but the mint chocolate and vanilla ones are a triumph.

So please bask in my self delight and appreciate just how perfect these are!

A Curve Ball

As you would know by now - I am a planner. I am a real, down to the minute planner and the idea of not having the next 6 months of my life carefully drafted out sends me out in hives ... and cold sores .... and waves of dizziness I really don't like.

So before I went on holidays I was told my team were moving to Aberdeen, Scotland and that I was to be moved to another team. Now I have provisionally been asked if I would consider moving with my team.... and this is where I start having issues remembering to breath ... do I want to go to Scotland. How would it work, what would happen to the house??? What about my lovely little baby girl Lacey?

Way too much to think about???? Oh God Oh God Oh God .....

So in honour of my undying loyalty to being an ostrich .... I am ignoring the whole issue at the moment. I don't want to change my life ... why can't my team stay here with me and we just continue as we always have. Why do things have to change?

Blade Wall Changes

When I came back I agonised over my curved blade wall having a hole in it. Obviously it wasnt a hole - it just ended in the wrong spot which would have been fine were it done in the lovely stone I had originally picked but with just plain render it was slightly odd looking.

I actually had quite a bit of debate with friends over whether to fill it in or not .... some said it made the house look interesting but for me it was just odd ..... so its gone and I like the changes? What do you think?

Another Sneak Peek

Last week .... or it could have been the week before .... time seems to be flying at the moment but im getting away from the point. Last week I showed you some pictures of my parents house dining room. Now a few people mentioned they would be interested in seeing the rest of the house and I have managed to convince my parents that people ARE interested in the house and they have agreed.

So without further ado .... mum and dads new backyard. This was only finished on the weekend and they are very excited to no longer be living with sand... I like it, its still got a bit to go, there is a roof to go on top of the spa and the plants need to settle in and grow slightly bit doesnt it look great. All the hard work is paying off for them and im so happy!

Heaven is a Perfect Summer Day

For me heaven is the perfect summer day. This weekend we had a perfect summer day and my girlfriend and I utilised this by sitting in the shade of a big umbrella watching the world go by.

The beginning of every summer I am again surprised with just how blessed we Australians are.

Friday Fun-ness

Ok so definately not gramatically correct but its Friday - YAY and I woke up without needing my alarm - DOUBLE YAY and finally I actually dragged myself out of bed and went for a walk - YAY YAY YAY.

So while I am in a wonderfully great mood my lovely little girl Lacey is sad. She misses her daddy very much (Remember she got all of 3 hours with him on our holiday return) and is moping around the house feeling very sorry for herself. The good news is only a few more days and he will be home, the bad news is my heart is breaking watching her shove her face in his shoes.....

So I thought to dedicate this post to all those dog lovers out there - these pics are by a photographer called Carlie Davidson (here) and I have to say, if your not smiling at the end of this either you have had too much botox or are obviously a cat person ....

 

PROGRESS

Its such a shame I cant actually project the fact that I'm practically singing the word "Proggreeessss" but I am hoping you get my point.

Anyways not only have they started the internal rendering but they are saying the house will be at lock up mid December. This is not just good news but great news because they are also saying we will get the keys three months after lock up ... can you believe it?

So mostly pictures today but tomorrow I am going to show you the final gate design ... .hubby found it and I have to say I am most impressed

Look What I Found

These are super cute ... I can imagine them sitting in a bedroom somewhere .... and do you want to hear the best bit .... they were actually cheap. I found them in one of those Things Homeware stores. Isnt it amazing the things they can do these days.

I do love these, they have that Parisian Chic feel without the price tag.

Oh oh oh and as for the house, I should have some pretty amazing pictures to show you tomorrow - we are getting rendered!

What Defines You

It seems I have come back to work to craziness. My team are moving to Aberdeen and I will not be going with them which leaves me trying to figure out what on earth I want to do job wise.

Thinking about a new job, a big change and an even bigger decision makes me feel sick not just in my head but really physically sick. I have never been one to have this need to prove myself with a professional job with a smart title. I have always been happy to have a job that makes me happy and gives me time with my husband. Now however I am having to think about my next move seriously and the amount of people with opinions on the matter is never ending. Apparently I need to move up in the world, accept a position with more responsibility, some great title on my business card and a whole lot of stress. Its funny because in my head I was always going to do really well in life and don't get me wrong I think I have but if high school Miss V saw 28 year old married Miss V would she be proud or just a little bit disappointed.

Do I want to move into an area that will give me that great job or should I just stay with what I know and focus on other things. My family all seem to be quite technical and professional, the best at what they do and yet I just seem happy to coast along. 

So I guess the question I really need to ask myself .... who am I trying to please with this new job of mine? Do I need to please anyone? Am I any less because I don't have the big career and what will really make me happy?

American Christmas

I dont know about you but every single Christmas I am fixated by the American Shopping websites who put together these mindblowingly good christmas decoration designs.

These christmas trees and room decorations make the myer trees look like they were decorated by 2 year olds. Why oh why cant we have amazing looking homes like this ????

Well I suppose we can but it just seems unreachable even for me. These beautiful pictures come from a website called "Front Gate" and are in the running for my favorite decoration of all time.

A Box Arrived

I don't know about you but receiving a box in the post is one of those exciting things that just doesn't grow old.

This box was actually from us .... we posted it from Dubai when we realised the suitcases might be slightly heavier than we thought. So last night we pulled the box apart laughing at hubby's Leiderhosen and playing with all the new display pieces we brought while overseas.

My favorites are the two helmets.... now the Roman one is cool but hubby seems to be quite partial to the Tower of London one we brought. Either way these are so so so cool for the new house. The only really sad thing is we are going to have to pack them away for another 6 months.....

Oh yes, and of course boys like to play with their toys and my dad could not wait to try them on!

A Slight Issue

Last night was my first really good look at the house since we have been back. Obviously mostly everything is fabulous but there is one thing that just doesn't look right.

Its my curved wall. As most of you know we had to change the wall from these lovely textured bricks to plain render.

The plans were all done when based on the wall being the different bricks and now looking at it built what would have looked fine with bricks is going to look slightly odd without???

See there is now a hole (Square). I don't really know how to describe it properly but have a look at the pictures. To me this just looks odd.