*e*

new stuff!

more fun stuff to come in my etsy shop over the next few weeks - i have been so happy being all messy and artsy this week - with my crazy girls being messy at my feet. yindi even picked up a stray paintbrush and looked like she knew what she was doing with it - eee!

there is also a chance to win one of my camera straps here on sara's blog. she took the prettiest pictures of my humble little home too - its a beautiful thing to see your everyday stuff through someone else's eyes!

happy, colourful weekend wishes :)

etsy update tomorrow

i've been doing lots of thinking and planning and going with the flow of 'change' that has been brewing in me for a while now...which led me to say a sad goodbye to being a garden girl on 2peas this week. it was hard to let go, but i'm curious to see where my journey leads me next ;)

so tomorrow i have an etsy update that has me squealing inside like a little girl - some original paintings, some handmade journals, and maybe (depending on the needy-ness of a certain someone) a few other fun things. can't wait to share with you! if i say a certain time i'll be stressing all day - so lets just say afternoon-evening-ish...? haha! happy 4th of july!

my little tree huggers

i grew up surrounded by trees and bushland, trees have always been so magical and soothing to me. i would always breathe a big relaxing breath when driving home in perth when i passed 'the city' and started driving through the trees towards my house. not having that was one of the biggest adjustments i had to make moving over here. so i'm happy to report that i have not one but two little tree huggers in the making!

we spent the day yesterday in some beautiful botanical gardens and everyone was happy to be amongst the trees, flowers and herbs. i'm planning to make the most of mum being here and get some 'help' (i believe my role will be standing around giving directions...) in our little garden as she is so clever with that sort of thing! hooray for grannis, and trees, and summer!

it was a weekend full of excitement

first of all, the 'howmanysleeps?' countdown was over, and granni arrived from australia!
then, somebody turned ONE YEAR OLD!!!!
(drooling with excitement over her new gift?!!)

there was a party in the park with some sweet friends, and a new trick from the birthday girl herself...
and...
IVY'S TOOTH FINALLY CAME OUT (while sitting on the toilet of all places!)...this has been an ongoing drama in out house for many, many weeks. here she is showing off her gap ;)
it's been crazy, emotional and FUN! tonight i plan to put the girls to bed early and do some much-needed journalling about this whole beautiful year we have shared with this sweet little girl. and thankyou, dear blog readers - for being there with me this past year and sharing in yindi's journey - i can't believe how fast it flew.

domestic bliss

today i felt something that is not normal. i felt excited to do a load of washing. i didn't even need to do one - i scrummaged up some random dirty things to wash and threw them in. the reason behind this madness is this: i have my very own washing line!
it has only taken 6 months of nagging and finally a threat to do it myself (i was really kidding) for mick to create this masterpiece. yes, it is his own design and finding those logs was an all day process.

i am excited because:

• i no longer have to haul that akward and fragile clothes horse in and out of the house
• the garage will no longer have random clothing and sheets draped off every hook, bike and treadmill
• i will rid myself of 'dryer-guilt' re. the environment and our electricity bill
• i love the smell of sun-dried laundry
• ivy is excited to hand me pegs, and i forgot she used to do this when she was teeny in australia
• it feels like a real backyard now ;)

while i was busy admiring my washing line, ivy was busy creating quite a tablepiece around yindi's dinner bowl. she claims she was practicing for the 1st birthday celebrations that will be happening this weekend!
yindi seemed to like it, and only tried to eat one of the flowers ;)

precious

i have been struggling to get out of bed every morning this week! i just want to stay in my zombie-like state with the covers pulled over my head for as long as possible. ivy, the little blessing that she is - will so kindly entertain yindi for a while each morning while i muster up the strength to face the day. when i rolled over and caught a glimpse of this precious sight, i had to reach for my camera...

the reason i can see this from my bed is because our house is teeny - therefore our wardrobe makes a perfect fairy bedroom for ivy! despite the fact that my mum thinks child protection services might get me for housing my kid in a 'cupboard' (ha!), it really is very sweet and yindi's most favourite place to visit. sweet girls :)

snip, snip!

guess what happened yesterday...



its something we have been talking about for many months - we love the long hair...but we hate brushing it, fighting about brushing it, getting rid of salty and chloriney tangles all summer...and finding that elusive hairbrush!! SO...we discussed the options and ivy was very excited at the idea of her hair being turned into a wig for another child via locks of love. over 10 inches hacked off in a matter of seconds!

she doesn't miss that long pony at all and loved jumping into the pool right afterwards with her tiny little pony (which, i am pleased to report, did not turn into dreadlocks after 2 hours of swimming and diving and flipping like crazy in the water!). it's a win-win situation!

charity crop this saturday

for you local girls - there is a big crop happening in carlsbad on saturday to raise money for a family in need. i'll be there from 10-11am doing a crazy-collage-painting-demo which will then be raffled off to help raise some money for them. details here and here for those who might be able to come.

home sweet home

so i'm back on the art journal wagon again! it's always the sad way - when i get crazy and busy and stressed i don't art journal, and that is when i need it the most! so i'm trying to squeeze in a slap of paint, or a little bit of collage (junk picked up off the floor!) every time i go near my table - so that i can be building up the pages easily - true pieces of my life.
i'm always trying to do things to cozy up our little rental homes. of course i love day dreaming about the 'one day' when i will be settled somewhere with our own home - and what i want the most when i think about our future home is a happy, warm, cozy place filled with lots of children, and a place where everyone feels comfortable and WANTS to be! i want our house to be the place our children want to be, and want to bring their friends. i love that my art journal is full of random pieces of information like this - and as i change and experience new things, so does my art journal. i love being back on the road again - join me if you will!

watching this made me cry

background, for those who don't know: sam is the middle of my 3 younger brothers. sam is a legend. sam is a pro downhill mountainbike rider. sam loves what he does. we love sam. sam won the world championship title the past 2 years (you may recall excited blog posts). sam had girl-racer-girlfriend sabrina (otherwise known around here as 'bina') for 3 years who became one of my very best friends. sabrina is french. sabrina is obsessed with pink. sabrina scrapbooks. sabrina basically rocks in every way. sabrina won the women's world championship title the past 2 years. the big race was this weekend in italy (yeah, would have been nice if it had been 2 weeks ago while i was there, I KNOW!)...and...poo poo! sam had a massive lead and crashed right before the finish line = got 3rd place. waiting to hear what happened with bina who got 2nd place. still amazing, i know - but i am sure they are disappointed! it didn't hit me until i saw his video, seeing him crash, seeing his cute little sad self.

(i hope these work). boring if you don't know them or care about mtb, but if you do, enjoy!

and, i am channeling my roller-coaster emotions this weekend (oh yes! the joys of womanhood have returned to this mumma) into some art journal pages. i know i dropped the ball on my challenges but i am scrambling to get back on the wagon.