Chasing The Light ...

I have had a truly fantastic long long weekend thanks to Anzac day and also the benevolence of my boss!

During that time I managed to get creative and put together a blue and red Science inspired Candy Buffet which I am really quite proud of ... the only problem is by the time I had it perfect the light was wrong for photography.

That's right, I have the table perfectly set up but can't take any photo's. I find artificial light just doesn't do this type of thing justice so I have tried to race home every night to catch the afternoon sun to no avail ... winter and the early darkness is just not agreeing with me ... so now I have to try and protect my table from Tilly the Terror until the weekend when I can FINALLY get the photo's sorted.

Here however is the few photo's that did turn out ok ....  enjoy and happy Tuesday everyone.

An Escape ...

Although I would love to have a holiday home like the picture above .... actually that's an understatement ... I would give my right arm (I'm left handed) to have an escape like that however alas I'm just not that lucky.

Instead we have decided to have a little getaway down south ... in winter. Heaven, wine fireplace, rough stormy weather and lots of cuddling.

My idea of heaven ... now I just have to book it in!

An Interesting Idea ... Paving

So as you would know we have been slaving away on our paving over the last few months. The Alfresco is now complete and looks fantastic if I do say so myself and now we are considering moving down into the pool area. The thing is we are still trying to decide just how we want to do this. See we are considering the idea of changing the size and texture of the pavers down in that area - we would have a boarder of the big 300 x 600 times but then are thinking maybe using the smaller cobble stone pavers? 

What do you think - is this a good idea or will it just make everything too .... busy?

The Prep Has Begun...

That's right, I have started to prep for my next two candy buffet tables and boy are they interesting. 

One is sugar and sweet and everything nice while the other is slugs and snails and puppy-dogs tails? 

Its amazing how much I am enjoying creating things. Maybe I have missed my calling, maybe I need to be more creative and less .... corporate. Hell I might just start walking around in paint covered clothes like my old art teacher ... she certainly seemed to enjoy life. Although I must say ... there is something about a lovely silk blouse and a pencil skirt that just makes you smile. Ok perhaps any clothes make me smile!

Anyways a little teaser for my weekend ahead - Happy Monday Everyone!

Taking Life For Granted ....

Looking back at some of my recent posts it seems that I'm actually finding myself looking a bit closer at life and trying to remember just how important certain things are.

After 2 very long months of settling into my 30's here are a few of my more mature observations. Your 20's are all about building, you build your career, you build your relationship, you try to build your finances .... you work as hard as you can to build things up and then by the time you hit your 30's hopefully you are in a good place, your career is moving slowly but steadily, your finances are stable and your life is comfortable and your relationship is in a good place. Its a very selfish time in your life, all about you, your needs, your wants, your list of requirements.

So when you hit your 30's while you are still obviously focused on building, it slows down, you seem to have time to appreciate just how lucky you are to have everything you have built. There doesn't seem to be this frantic energy to "make it" to "be someone" and to "do everything"

What you want most is to enjoy everyone and everything you have built. 

5 years ago I would have selfishly thrown a tantrum if hubby (then boyfriend) didn't call every second or third day. After something like the Texas Explosion I am just so grateful to have my loved ones safe and sound. 

Life just seems to be less selfish, its not about me being the center of someone else's life, these days I don't need to hear those three little words that seem to cause so much drama in my 20's. These days I know I'm loved and that's enough.

And to be honest, that is the best bit about being in my 30's, the absolute stillness of your thoughts, the total lack of drama and the conviction in your yourself and those you love. 

I'm not even going to try and say that this is a permanent state of being. I'm sure there are and will be moments of doubt, of unsettledness and without fail there will be pain but for now ... life is better than good... for me I think life is just getting started!

Something New and Different!

Spending the last .... 5 years of my life building, renovating and generally just obsessing over all things house it seems to me that its very difficult to come up with ideas that are a little bit different.

Yesterday I came across this image and the utter simplicity of the idea totally blew my mind. 

How simple is this wall ... frames, prints and wallpaper but put together in a way that just makes it so much more interesting than the conventional wallpaper, then frame then image!

Happy Thursday People .... tomorrow I'm off to a mouse racing charity function ... look forward to updating you to yet another of my new experiences.

Back Splash .... Decision Made

So for the last .... 8 months, you would have seen a lot of posts regarding my agonising search for my back splash ...

I could instantly rule out a number of options .... glass, stainless ..... what I couldn't do is narrow down exactly what I wanted.

And yet now I have done exactly that ... 3 interesting options from the one store and a decision made .... tiles ordered and waiting for  rainy day when Hubby can't work outside. 

A lovely simple white subway tile ... soft and neutral. I just cant wait to see it up on the wall!

Candy Buffets ... The Fun Stuff

So for the past month I have been doing all the boring business related items to getting my new business started, for the last week I have agonised over the design aspects related to branding .... this weekend I finally indulged in a bit of "fun stuff".

In order to convince people I actually can design candy buffets I need to start putting together a series of photo's of work I have done to be used on websites, in advertising etc.

So this weekend I started ... this one is all about a ladies champagne lunch. Restrained and elegant there is something very sweet about the white and soft gold. You may recognise the lovely gold frames behind ... he he he ... these were my jumping off point.

I love all the different white textures, I love how pretty the glassware looks and I love love love the cupcakes ... self made filled with apricots and with a beautiful white butter cream icing.

I was so happy on Sunday pottering around my house .... making things sweet and pretty its kind of a bit sad I had to come back to work on Monday.

The Brand Saga Continues ...

A brand is the first thing someone sees of your business, its supposed to be a way for a person to be able to tell exactly what to expect ... for me, this is very hard because on one hand, i like the idea of a simple elegant type of logo - something swirly and muted and oh so sophisticated however on the other hand the bold, bright and vibrant options are drawing me as well.

So I suppose I just have to figure out what I'm trying to portray .... Its rather hard because although in some ways I am creative in others I struggle to work out who I want to be as a business.

Branding ... Making the Difficult Decisions

So back onto my new little business, I'm still in the process of trying to get this off the ground. I have spoken to small business advisers, accountants, insurance agents .... every single one of the integral yet boring tasks and now I'm onto something much more exciting.

I get to start thinking about my branding.

The logo is obviously my first port of call and I'm torn .... I have two very distinct styles of logo I am interested in however I'm really not sure what will work best for my business.

So I thought I would put them all up here and see what you think? For anyone who is slightly out of the look I am starting up a small candy buffet / desert bar company.

So without further ado .... please tell me what you think?

The Joy's of Parenthood ... Pethood!

I am sure there is a book out there with that title and I have to say .... right now im just not feeling it.

Obviously for the past 4 years you have heard me wax poetically about how lovely our little girl Lacey is and what a pleasure it is to have a pet. Now you may have heard on and off about the newest addition to our family Tilly and for a while I have hesistated to tell you just what a terror she is.

You see we kind of thought - if you just ignore it, if you pretend it doesnt exist maybe just maybe it will go away. But after a good 3 months of torture I think its time to admit the truth.

MY DOG IS A TERROR.

Thats right, Tilly the sweet adorable little puppy above is actually the devil re-incarnate. Im sure she doesnt mean any of it, Im sure she tries very hard to please .... ok well even thats not true, she doesnt try and please, I may as well admit it. Now if that wasnt enough, she has actually influencing the formerly sweet Lacey into moving to the dark side. Who would of thought dogs could be induced to naughtyness through peer pressure.

I don't think its possible for me to go through EVERY single misdeed but let me give you a snapshot of the adventures of Tilly.

• We were kicked out of puppy pre-school for peeing on the scales and then rolling around in it. Ok we wern't kicked out but retreated in shame.
• She has eaten over $250 worth of apple cables so far with no real hope of stopping
• She has managed to break in or out of every single space in both our and our parents house
• We have retreated from 3 beaches in shame as she screams whenever she sees another dog so loud everyone would think I am pulling her legs off one at a time
• She has peed in both of Lacey's baskets on nearly a weekly basis.
• She has shredded a carrot into teeny tiny pieces on my lovely shag pile carpet - I am still finding spots of orange
• She leaps into the pool, the shower, the pond, her water bowl and the sprinklers and then continued to tear around the house leaving a pool of water in her wake
• She knows how to wind down the window while I'm driving causing me contort myself just so I can try and drag her back into the car by her tail (NOTE: I'm not stupid, we now use the window lock)
• She has nearly drowned herself trying to retrieve a bone she dropped into the water bowl
• She has pulled every single feather off my favourite pair of peacock feathered shoes
• She has but almost a wheelbarrow full of sand into our lounge room by digging to china right next to the doggy door
• She cries and barks at me when we drive to my mum and dads if she doesn't feel she is going fast enough
• and to top it all off .... she has tripped me both up and down the stairs 6 times now .... that's right, 6 times I have fallen up or down the stairs.

One day she will grow into a beautiful calm little dog but right now Mr V's terrible pet is fast becoming the bane of my existence. My one big question ... why on earth would I consider having a child if i cant control one itty bitty little dog!

Beautiful Things

Every so often I find myself drawn to beautiful finished images. Imagine buying a house full of these beautiful rooms .... absolutely perfect furniture and all and just moving in. How lovely would it be to just enjoy every single little thing about it?

Heavenly ... I think so!

Keep Your Head Up .....

I dont know if anyone has heard the song Keep your Head Up by artist "Ben Howard" but it seems oh so fitting today for me.

Life is good, life is wonderful and full of joy but sometimes I think just the overwhelming nature of our life seems to almost drown me. Obviously I have choosen to fill up my life with things and people and activities and 99% of the time I love it but days like today it would be so easy to let it all overwhelm you. As I write this teams actually come to my eyes which is just ridiculous I know but ehhh .... we cant always control our emotions ... all we can do is keep out heads up, keep our hearts strong and hope the feelings will pass.

Anyone who just happens to be going through the same thing as I am - put your headphones on, turn the volume up and take alook at his youtube video .... here .... maybe, just maybe it will give you that little bit of extra something to survive the day.

If you are feeling bright and perky today watch the video anyways, if I owned a property like this you can bet I would be doing this over and over and over! It just looks like so very much fun don't you think?

007 Bond Style Party - The Pictures

So I am very excited to finally be able to show you some pics from the party. The photographer was a teeny bit slow but I am really happy with how they turned out.

I don't think I need many words for this post so maybe just a photo overload....