52 lists – things I wanted to be when I grew up

1. When I was really little, I used to tell my parents that I wanted to be a ‘fruit shop lady’. This really amuses me now :) 

2. Then as I started to grow up, I became obsessed with Hollywood and was convinced that I wanted to be an actress. Drama classes, performances, concerts were my life! 

3. All through highschool I wanted to be a journalist. This was my plan until the day I found out I’d got into a Communications degree. Then for some reason, I freaked out, changed my mind and enrolled in a Business degree instead. 

Do you think anyone decides what they want to do and then actually becomes that thing? 

52 lists – things I loved as a child

One of my favourite things to do when I was little was to go on adventure hunts in the backyard. Mum would give my sister and I each an ice-cream container and a list and send us to find certain things. Feathers, a fern leaf, a flower, a pebble, etc. She was such a good Mum.

I also loved to play on my go go ball. Try as I might, I have not been able to find a picture of one on the whole of the internets. Do you remember what they looked like? It was kind of  like Saturn and you could bounce around on the plastic frame around the ball. Mine was red and blue and Leigh’s was pink and yellow. Fun times.

I also loved: 

Viewmasters! Were they not awesome? And is there anything like them today? No.
Hyper colour tshirts! I wish these would make a comeback!
Mr Galliano’s Circus. My favourite Enid Blyton book.
Making letters out of dough then baking them.
Making jewellery out of flowers. Also looking for 4 leaf clovers.
Yearly ski trips.
Doing hand stands in the pool and making Mum judge them out of 10.
Warheads! I loved tricking my grandparents with these.
My little ponies. The original, vintage versions not the newfangled ones out today!

How bout you?

Music Monday//Adele + Afro Circus

When I broke my phone last year, my lovely friend Kylie leant me her old iPhone for a bit. This was when I suddenly became an Apple convert. The other wonderful thing was that I found a long list of music on the phone that Kylie liked. It took me a good few months but I slowly worked my way through the tunes, discovering many new artists and rediscovering old ones.

One artist was Adele, who I kinda knew but not really. Are you a fan?

Someone like you makes my heart ache. It reminds me of a friend whose partner left her for another girl.

My second favourite is Set fire to the rain. Shesh kebabs but her voice is strong.

And of course, then there’s Rolling in the deep which was her first single.

If you’re a James Bond fan, you’ll know her song Skyfall from the latest movie in the series. I myself don’t care much for Mr Bond but I absolutely love this song.

And relatedly (or not), this is a song that I put on when I want to impress my husband with a crazy dance. Ra da da da da da da da!

It’s Gats – tastic!

If you’re looking forward to seeing The Great Gatsby as much as I am, then you might like a couple of links I’ve come across this evening. 

Natalie did a little sneaky poo of the Gatsby spread in Vogue this month. You can check it out here. 

And if it’s the music you’re after, you can have a first listen here. 

How much longer do we have to wait Baz? 

My own personal DIY’er

Wouldn’t it be great if you could hire your own personal DIY’er. I mean, you can hire a cleaner. You can hire a gardener. You can hire a handy man. Why not someone who you can brief a little creative DIY project in to? You’d get your Pinty board ‘to dos’ cleared in no time!

If such a person was available, I’d get them working quick smart on making me a collection of these twine bottles.

And then I’d say ‘Now you get started on these nature organisers PRONTO’.

Then I would need them to whip up a few of these sunglasses cases.

And with any spare time left, I’d insist on rows and rows of heart garland like this.

 

What would you commission if you had a crafty minx at your disposal?

Autumnal leaves

I’ve just come back from a lovely little overnight stay in Canberra. It’s looking quite stunning down there right now.

We lay on our backs and gazed up at the blue skies, watching the sun stream through the trees. Then the Sheelster had some fun frolicking amongst the pretty leaves.

 Canberra, in all your autumnal glory, my breath was officially taken. 

52 lists – cookies I love

So Pip from Meet me at Mikes has made the list of the week all about cookies. I really don’t want to be thinking about cookies right now. But if I must, then I guess I must. I mean, that’s the way the cookie crumbles right?

There are SO many cookies out there. Millions and millions of them. But my favourite will always be the choc chip cookie. I like all versions of choc chip cookies. In this department, I am not a purist.

Here’s some delicious choc chip combos for you.

1 – Peanut butter & choc chip cookies

2 - Choc chip, nutella, candy cane cookies 

3 – Salted caramel chocolate chip cookies

4 – Choc chip cookies with nutella, brown butter and sea salt

5 – Skillet baked, chocolate chip cookies

6 – Buttered popcorn, chocolate chip cookies

7 - Salted, spicy, double chocolate, chilli cookies

8 – Pumpkin, chocolate chip cookies

What are your favourite cookies?

52 lists – things that warm my heart

My heart is suitably warmed right now. Some things that do this:

Hugs

Watching E sleep

Seeing elderly couples hold hands

Watching people eat a packed lunch (I know, this is weird, but seeing someone unwrap a sandwich and then open a flask of coffee brings me so much pleasure)

The look on E’s face when he sees me after we’ve been apart for a few hours or days

Animals dressed in clothes and/or glasses

This.

52 lists – things I find relaxing

I could do with some relaxing today, after a super busy weekend. Things that make me relax:

Sitting quietly on my verandah

Colouring in my colouring books

Hearing no sounds, except for birds chirping

The late afternoon sun

Watching a good movie

Wandering through book shops

Literary time

Church

Being immersed in water. Bubble baths, long hot showers, swimming in a pool or the ocean

Lying on the grass in the sun

I hope you have time to relax this week.

Pasta la vista

I’ve come across three delicious looking pasta dishes over the last few weeks and I thought I’d share them here.

The first one is a spaghetti with roasted tomatoes + a pea and goat cheese pesto. I’d use ricotta instead of goats cheese to be sure.

The second one is spaghetti carbonara. In theory, I love the idea of this. When it comes to actually eating food with raw egg in it though, I quietly freak out.

The third one is a butterey, garlicky, mushroomy treat of a meal.

All three of these pastas look like the perfect dish to make for guests. Visitors would come,  they’d eat carbs, they’d leave happy.

I suppose you all want a dinner invite now, huh?