Just Like Martha

Happy Mothers Day

Sending 'pre' Mothers Day wishes to all the special "mums" out there. We will be celebrating with a special "High Tea" in the afternoon with my mum....and sending lots of love via the phone to John's mum up north.

xxx

Easter Show Wrapup (better late then never...)

As we approach the last days of April I thought it was about time I posted about our "Easter Show outing"! When the girls were younger we used to try and make it an outing every 'other year' but somehow we have missed the past few years...it was time!

It was a lovely Autumn day and we headed off in the morning with packed lunches and comfy walking shoes. Our tickets included transport, no need to worry about driving and finding car parking..perfect! Our Easter treat to all the grandparents was Easter Show tickets...how special that we were all able to meet up and enjoy afternoon tea with the ladies from the Country Womens Association .....cups of tea and scones all round..when we were there the ladies had baked a grant total already of 38,618 scones!!! WOW!

The decorated cakes are always a favourite to visit, A M A Z I N G!!!

Time for a quick photo with a favoutite...

AND another with a bannana?????

What is a trip to the Easter show without a turn on the 'Clowns' in the carnival area...

Winners are grinners!!

We didn't go on any other rides in the Carnival area but I couldn't resist taking some photos.....

We were content wandering and just 'taking it all in', there was so much to see and do and of course no trip to the Easter Show is complete without a visit to the Animal Nursery (always been a favourite with my girls even since they were 'little people').

The evening entertainment in the arena was fantastic! We grabbed some healthy sushi and yummy hot chips and settled in for the "Showtime Spectacular"...my favourite was the 'Stockmans Ride" and of course the 15 minute fireworks finale.."Colours of the outback"! We hopped on the bus for the drive home exhausted but happy xx

Happy Birthday Dad xxx

My dad is celebrating his Birthday today...21 again!

I love this photo of 'me and my dad'..check out the old pool...and the cigarette, and dad what a figure!!!

Its a sunny day here in Sydney and mum and dad are on their way over to have lunch with us to celebrate...yippee!

Taylor has been busy baking a yummy cake (don't you just love schools holidays..I do!)

Happy Birthday to an extra special dad - enjoy xxx

Photo a Day challenge....I did it!

Yep I did it, completed the PHOTO A DAY CHALLENGE with help from Instagram and inspired by Chantelle.....okay so it was a March challenge and it is now mid April but so what I have a wonderful collage of photos to remember each wonderfully full and frantic day in the month of March!

I do love challenges that make me 'think outside the square' when it comes to daily life and photography and Instagram is a fun way to share the adveture along the way. Thanks Chantelle, hope to play along again soon!

Happy Easter

Just back from a few days up north relaxing with friends and celebrating Easter.

Hope you have had a relaxing few days, HAPPY EASTER xxx

This weeks Birthday and Present crafting share..

First up a large wedding card was needed for a collegue at work, I had no suitable cardboard handy so with the help of a manilla folder and some gorgeous paper...

And the insde...

Next 'project' was a friends 50th Birthday. We decided to buy her the latest Bill Granger Asian cookbook and I could see a themed pressie emerging...

A visit to my local Asian supermarket, some dinnerware, chopsticks and a bamboo steamer and we were set, all that was left was to repurpose a wooden box, make a card (themed of course) and I was done!

This week the girls also had a few school friends celebrating Birthdays, so a few more cards and presents were wrapped and ready to go..

Okay so I have  been checking my list and I think thats me done for another week of Birthday and present crafting...I am sure there will be plenty more next week!

Bye for now xxx

 

Birhday party Sleepover

Last weekend Lilly celebrated her 13th Birthday with a sleepover party. She invited a couple of special friends and they planned to "dress up" and take lots of fun photos then just "chill" and giggle over a few girly movies...the perfect party plan.

First up 'invitations'....

Then we planned the PHOTO BOOTH, a few fun 'props' to pose with and a plain sheet and we had the perfect place to create lovely memories...

Next on my list for 'party planning' was food! The girls enjoyed healthy home made pizzas on our outdoor pizza oven for dinner but I think it was dessert they were really waiting for.....

The cake of course was the favourite, lots of oohs and aahhs when it was cut (gotta love Martha Stewart's rainbow cake)

Love the new little milk bottles filled with srawberry milk...and the 'marshmallow stacks' were a real hit too!

Way too much neopolitan icecream was consumed...with loads of sprinkles, yum!

And to finish off a selection of favourite lollies (there was a movie to watch after all)

The girls 'party favour' bag (the one I forgot to take a photo of) included these cute sleep shorts and a few other goodies...

The party was a hailed a huge success! What I loved more than anything was seeing a lovely bunch of 13 year old girls having some good old fashioned fun!

RIP beautiful Latte...

Sadly our beautiful bunny Latte is no longer with us....we are all very sad and we miss her...

RIP Latte - 2006 - 2012

Cruising the Northern Beaches...

We have a visitor from the UK staying with us for a week. Gillian is very familiar with Sydney having lived here on a teacher exchange many years ago, but it had been a while since she had visited the northern beaches....so that is exactly where we went on my day off this week!

Sadly no that is NOT my car, pretty cool huh! It seems there were other people 'crusing the beaches' too!

First stop my favourite coffee shop to visit in Mona Vale... Armchair Collective, with its amazing coffee, tea, milkshakes, treats etc (the list goes on - very yummy place to visit for breakky!)...

Gotta love a bathtub filled with wonderful flowers and plants to purchase..

Lots of yummy treats for sale...ahhh and the homewares are to die for! If you are ever in Mona Vale make sure you stop by for a visit!

We then drove up to Palm Beach driving past lots of wonderful beaches on the way (Newport, Whale Beach and Bungan just to name a few) I had never really noticed befor how the sand changes colour from beach to beach, by the time we had reached Palm Beach the sand is quite an orange colour..

We had a good look around, ooohed and ahhhed at some of the amazing houses then headed on over to The Boathouse for lunch.

Thoroughly enjoyed my roast vegie panini..

Definitely glad I ordered the Chai tea...

Although it was cloudy and overcast the view was still very pleasant...

The flowers on display and ready for sale inside were amazing...

and the putside view pretty good too..

Enroute home we called in to Freshwater (or "Freshie" as we affectionately call it - best beach in the world!!)

Hope you have enjoyed "cruising" with me, I loved showing Gillian our special part of the world xx

Whats in the Cookie Jar THIS VALENTINES DAY?

VALENTINES DAY COOKIES of course!

The girls made a batch last night to share with their friends at school today, the rest will be enjoyed over the coming days in for afternoon tea treats I am sure.

One might even appear with a cuppa later tonight??? It is Valentines Day after all!

The cookies were sourced from Taste and are called "Christmas Cookies", they are easy to make and the inclusion of custard powder in the recipe makes them extra yummy! You can of course decorate them with icing, sadly we ran out of time last night but hey I think they are pretty yum just the way they are!