Weekend away

A couple of my Melbourne friends came to visit this weekend for my birthday (I am very spoiled) and we stayed on the Sunshine Coast for a couple of days, at Alexandra Headland.


It was a perfect weekend away - friends, food + wine, lots of magazines, afternoon naps and the beach.

Trip to Spotlight

One of my good friends had a birthday in October and I hadn't given her a present yet. I'd been planning to make something for her for ages but had never quite got there. But she came to visit me last weekend from Melbourne for my birthday so I had to have it done by then.

Along came some inspiration from Soule Mama and I had a plan. A trip to Spotlight was in order (any excuse.. ). I needed to find a main fabric and contrasting fabric to make some Lounge Pants from Amy Butler's In Stitches.

I had 2 options -

Red...


Or yellow...


Yellow won.


And I actually like how they turned out.



Might make myself the red pair.

Pretty papers

Oh man.. I went to Spotlight tonight (more about that later) and cause I had a bit of time on my hands I wandered around the whole shop and ended up in the scrapbooking section. I'm not into scrapbooking, I don't really get it but there was such pretty bits of paper there.

I could have bought so many pieces except I have no idea what I can do with them really.. other than wrap little presents in them. I did pick up two pieces. Any ideas what I could do with them?


They're from American Crafts which is probably something everyone knows about but I'd never heard of them. So much paper goodness. I want I want.

Happy Birthday Prince Charles!

Prince Charles is 59 today, but more importantly... I have turned 29! The last of my twenties.

It's fun working for yourself on your birthday because you can take half the day off and go and get a pedicure and there's not much anyone can do about it. I picked myself a few little stationery items while i was out.. really cute tape from smiggle and a couple of pretty ribbons from borders. People who 'get' stationery will understand that this was exciting for me.


I was also very spoiled by family and friends and got lots of pressies...

A new Mozi apron andthe 2008 Donna Hay diary,


The Softies book (yay) and some pretty material and another little pattern,


Some pretty flowers and from my Mum and Dad (who always spoil us on our birthdays) I am going away this weekend to here with G and a couple of girlfriends from Melbourne who are coming up to visit. I can't wait :) And so I had something to unwrap, a big basket of goodies to take away with us.

Driving Around

We decided to go for a little drive on Saturday afternoon because we had nothing better to do.


We drove past a lookout for one of Brisbane's dams so we stopped and had a look.. they are sooo low at the moment!


And we kinda got lost on our way home so our little drive ended up being a pretty long one.


Oh, and I have started my Christmas shopping. I am very proud of myself for that.

Those Faraday Girls

I have been on a reading binge lately. I don't know why, but you know sometimes you just get into the habit of reading at night again and then all of a sudden you've read a few books without really realising it. The books I've been reading lately have been so readable too so I guess that has helped, nothing to heavy.. I'm all about the light-hearted for now, too much going on for books that make you think too much :)

A lot of this book is about the little lies and roles people play within their families to keep things going the way they think everyone wants them to. They're a pretty happy family really so it's kinda sad to see the way they all act around each other. Nice happy ending though so you feel pretty good after you've read it.

Flashback Friday

Late as usual...

This week's theme was family portraits, and we are one of those families. About every 5 years we have to get dressed up - all six of us, in clothes that match and get a family portrait taken. Looking back at them now they were kind of cute when we were little but who seriously wants a family portrait with 4 snotty teenagers in it?


This is one of the ones when we were still cute. I'm in the pink dress and this is my family before my two little brothers came along. Got to love the textured brown folder it came in.

Apparently this photographer was a cranky old man, but we must have thought he took good photos because the next few family portraits are by him also. After that they start to go down hill a bit.

Paying it forward

I think this is a great idea, a bit of fun anyway... so I'm in. I found it through Catherine, who found it via Sarah.

The rules are that I have to send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I'll be getting a gift from Catherine, yay for me!

Melbourne Cup Day

Two days ago already, the weeks are passing way too quickly at the moment. Our Melbourne Cup Day lunch at the cafe went pretty well we think. We knew most of the people that booked tables though so they had to say good things :)

Here's our menu and a couple of photos I had a chance to take either before or after. Didn't get too much of a chance to take photos during the event, I didn't even get a chance to watch the race. All I know is that the horse I got from the sweep didn't win. Hope your horses did better than mine!

Weekend at Kitchen and Storehouse

We added Bircher Muesli to our breakfast menu this weekend, perfect for the hot hot weather we have been having lately. I've never made it before, I love the fresh blueberries in it, little cold and juicy bits of flavour.


And a new frittata - cherry tomato and parmigano, very yummy if I do say so myself.


Some yellow cupcakes this time.


And Jam Donut muffins, very cinnamon-y one of my favourite flavours.


Tomorrow I'm at home preparing for our Melbourne Cup Day lunch.

Le Train Fantome

Wee Wonderfuls had a link to Le Train Fantome on her blog, I had never seen the website before, but their softies are really cool. I love the bunny, Eddy and the little girl, Babette. I love the look of the website also.





photos from the Le Train Fantome website.

Black + White

One of the fun things about renovating a cafe is multiple shopping trips. During the trips I picked up a few little goodies for myself, and all of them happened to be black and white.




And a little bit of red. I can't wait to wrap up some presents using these bags.

Christmas crafting

I like these ideas from this month's Better Homes & Gardens Magazine. I might have to give them a try. I really like the simple shape of the Santas.



According to a sign I saw in a shop somewhere there are now only 7 Saturday's to go.

Garage Sale Goodies

The local church had a massive garage sale on Saturday. Unfortunately I only had about a little time to look around before the cafe opened but I did buy a couple of books. They had a fantastic dresser and tallboy from the seventies I think but it had already sold :(


I love the illustrations in the home entertaining book, they remind me of the Jetsons. Here's a handy tip from the book about children and grown-up parties... "In general, children do not belong at adult parties. Too often they are either shy or they show off. Intelligent parents realise their children are not wonder children to other people" hehe.

Morning Tea

We had a small group of mothers (around 20, eek!) from a local primary school come to the cafe for a morning tea recently. So there was lots of baking to be done. As well as some old favourites we made some pretty cupcakes, neinish tarts and caramel macadamia slice and had a fully stocked up cake fridge.




I think it went pretty well, we didn't stuff anything up and I think we got through all the orders in pretty good time. So hopefully some of them will be back or tell some of their friends about us.

Garden Spells

This is the debut novel for Sarah Addison Allen and I loved it! A sweet little story with a little bit of magic.. like a fairy tale for grown ups. I love this kind of book. Claire, the main character runs a catering company and uses flowers from her garden to make special dishes that will bring a certain mood to a party or event. Like adding Dandelion flowers to a dish will encourage faithfulness and causes the eater to be blind to the flaws in others.

It's a good book, read it if you have a chance :)

Flashback Friday - my stylish mum

Wow, it's been awhile since I've done a Flashback post. I love the theme this week, I had so much to choose from, there was some fabulous kaftan photos I passed up on. I decided on 2 photos in the end.

The first is my mum's going away outfit after her wedding.. whenever we saw wedding photos of my mum and dad when we were kids we always heard about how this was a 'designer' outfit and it cost a weeks pay, she was so proud of it. Rocking the double denim.


The next one I picked because I just think it's a great photo. My mum had some great long skirts. I coveted them in my hippy high school/uni days. She is cool, my mum.