Baby Gifts

I have a few friends and family members who are all expecting, and I need to find some gifts pronto!

I have brought from So Bright Designs before and loved her designs and the level of service, her parcel arrived so quickly!!! I am loving her new onsies.

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Christmas Cards

It is that time of year where I need to think about buying Christmas Cards, especially after last years disastrous attempt (ie, I didn't do it).

Bring on my friend Etsy

From Sarahnock

I like understated cards, and refuse to have snow scenes on my cards due to living in the southern hemisphere, but nothing is really grabbing me this year.
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Spare Room - Electrics

It's been a while since we have had a spare room update, and there is a good reason for that:

a new toy to restore. He had me between a rock and a hard place, as I had recently brought my iMac, and he was due for a large purchase. Humph. It was a double "humph" seeing as though it was my stepdad's bike, and the husband wanted to restore it for his 60th birthday that took place at the end of September.

With that milestone in the past, it was back to renovating. Starting with the electrics. This room originally only had one powerpoint. A single power point at that. Somedays having a sparky for a husband comes in handy, as one single powerpoint was not going to do in my world.

Cable was ran around the room, and in the suspended ceiling. We will now have 4 double powerpoints, 4 downlights with a dimmer, and a ceiling fan. Woot!!!

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Why I love Tiffany's

A few months back, in July I think, I lost one of my Tiffany Bow Earrings at the hairdressers. I was terribly upset, and searched high and low for it but it never showed up.'

Luckily for me, Tiffany's will sell half sets of earrings! Phew!!! So the lovely Ilona ordered me one lonely earring, and off I went on my merry way. I asked for the earring to be couriered to me at work, so I wouldn't need to come to Melbourne to collect it when the time came.

A few weeks later my earring arrived wrapped in enough bubble wrap to cover a small nation (10/10 for packaging for Tiff's, it was so well wrapped that the swing bag inside wasn't even creased!). I was estatic to have a pair of earrings again.

Imagine my surprise a few weeks later when I received a hand written card from Ilona enquiring that I received my package and inviting me to stop by when next in Melbourne. How lovely. I may just have to do that *wink* .

This is why I love Tiffanys.
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iPhone App: iBook

Picture from here

This is a simple App, and from what I can remember, a free one too. iBook is just that, a book on your iPhone (or iPad, whichever way you swing), that you can take anywhere with you.  Originally released for the iPad, to rival the other E-Readers on the market, iBooks had a slowish start. Release it onto an iPhone and you have a much wider market. Wise move Apple.

I personally have a US iTunes account, as they have better content that the Australia store, and apparently this is very true for the bookstore. Whilst in the US store I can buy majority of new release novels (I am currently reading The Carrie Diaries), the same can't be said for the Australia store (fix this please Apple). Books are reasonably priced, I think I paid $15 for The Carrie Diaries, which was cheaper than I could find it on eBay, plus I don't have to lug around a heavy book.

This App has saved myself from boredom many times: being stuck on a train, waiting in doctors surgeries, and even the odd lunch break at work, I just open iBooks and away I go, I never loose my page thanks to the handy bookmarking system, and how it syncs with my computer when I remember to connect my phone.

Oh, and the husband loves it as it means I don't have nearly as many books laying around the house!


This is a Blog This challenge. Head on over and submit your review, but do it before 8pm tonight (Sydney time)! Pin It

Harmony

For a little while now I have been having an affair with Etsy. It is a love affair based on our mutual love for beautiful things that aren't mass produced.

However I do not have a love affair with my credit card, and often have to ban myself from shopping. I am currently in one of those times. However, with christmas just around the corner, I need to store up some ideas on what I would like.

This year I would love some harmony. In our families, and in my hallway.

From Poetry & Cloth

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Love this lamp

I am loving this floor lamp form Ikea. And a steal at only $129 smacko's!

I have been looking for a floor lamp for the office for some time, and was beginning to think that I would never find an ideal floor lamp for under $350! Thank you Ikea!
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Slipper Chairs

I have a thing for slipper chairs at the moment, and would love one for our spare room in this corner, seeing as though the dresser has found a new home in our room.

And I am back to cursing living in Australia, as all the nice (and cheap) chairs are in the US. Like this beauty that I found on Living the Sweet Life

 and this one from here

Oh how I wish we had the stock that US Target has.

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Bathroom Tile Inspiration

I am still on the hunt for bathroom tiles that I like. I am not holding my breath given that I still haven't made a decision on the tiles for our kitchen!

I liked these, but given the area we need to cover, I think it might be a bit much (plus I think it might have been wallpaper).

This was cute, but the husband shot it down as being too 'loud'.

I thought these could tie the kitchen and bathroom together, given they face each other, so it would be consistent. Maybe with some 300x600 beige tiles?

Or I could do something like this I suppose, but something is holding me back from loving it.

Any other suggestions?
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All moved in

I promised awhile back photos of Ime once she was all moved in, and here tis. Despite initial resistance, the husband spends more time on her than I do. I think he loves our new child as much as I!

Those incredibly cute roses came from Woolies for a grand total of $3 one saturday afternoon, and they lasted for 3 weeks! Bargain!!!

Writing this post reminds me that I really do need to install the floating shelf on the wall beside the desk, and get around to hanging the certificates that have been framed on the wall. One day.
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Mary Mary, How Does Your Garden Grow?

At the start of the year I made an effort to make our side garden pretty, and thought I better do an update seeing as though we are about to come into summer again.

This is what I had in January

And this is what we have now

Bit sad, isn't it! With all the rain we have had recently, a lot of the plants got waterlogged and died :( Not to mention that I only ever got half way through putting the bark chip down before I forgot about it and went inside.

But now that the weather is warming up again, I am thinking of putting in some new plants, some more yukkas (because I couldn't kill those, even with all the water), some more cordilines (same story as the yukka) and maybe some banana palms (which are currently on special at the garden center).

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Bills Breakfast- Sydney

As you all know, as I couldn't keep my excitement contained, the lovely Britt and I went to Sydney for the weekend a few weeks back, and one of the amazing things we did was go to Bills for breakfast.

I have only been to Sydney once before, a few years back with the husband, and one thing I really wanted to do was go Bills, however we ran out of time. So I was super excited when we just happened to walk past his Woollahra restaurant! Even more so when Britt mentioned she was hungry, as I was starving.

As it happened, Lady Luck was on our side (finally, I was beginning to think I was cursed!) and we were seated within a few moments of arriving. It was a glorious day, with many people sitting outside in the courtyard, all enjoying one of two meals: ricotta hotcakes or sweet corn fritters. Hmmm, seems there are some clear cut winners in the Bills world


Me being me, ordered the fritters, as my friendship with corn will be coming to an end in a few weeks when they start to put fill back in my band. And Oh. My. God. They were delish! The word food and orgasm may have been mentioned. I may have also told the husband we need to move to Sydney later that day. For what looked like a smallish meal when it came out, I was more than well fed by the time we left! A-MAZE-ING!

Now, for the tricky part, does anyone know how to recreate these, as the husband said no to the suggestion of moving to Sydney.
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Loving Ikea (again)

As the title says, I am back to loving Ikea. It has been six months since my last visit, long enough that I have almost forgotten the hell that I endured in the store.

This time around, there is some new items on my shopping list, like these candle holders that would look super cute on our side buffet

and this vase to put pens in on my desk.

and this painting for in our bedroom, providing it is more red than pink.

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Uh oh

Boredom is never a good thing. Especially on a Friday night when home sick. More so when there is a conversation on twitter about buying shoes.

High end shoes.

mmmm, Christian Louboutin Corto 85's. I am in love.

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The Rug

A while back I mentioned about how a company was willing to give me a rug to promote their business in Australia? Well after many months it finally arrived.

Whilst I am happy with it, I am not thrilled. I should have ordered the next size up, however it was meant to go in the kitchen so I ordered that size. When I put it in the kitchen it was all kinds of wrong, and it found a new home in the dining room.

So my review of the rug and company it came from? The rug is nice, but feels a bit 'cheap', but that could be because its designed as in indoor/outdoor rug, and not the plush rugs I am used to. Either way, it is easy to care for, a quick swipe of the Dyson and it's happy. The shopping experience was less than ideal, despite there being a million choices online, everything I chose was out of stock and a due date was not known. And when I finally did find an item that I liked that was in stock, my order was lost. This was quickly rectified, but then the shipping company lost my rug.

After several months of hearing nothing, I contacted the rep I was assigned, who claimed she had contacted me but I never replied. This didn't really suprise me, as she was a touch vague at times, and often confused me with someone else. I was given the opportunity to chose a new rug, and start the ordeal again, eventually getting the above rug.

Would I shop with them again? Maybe, if the price was right, but I would expect a lot better customer service if I was actually paying for the goods. But a free rug is a free rug!
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Donna Hay General Store - Sydney

One of my favourite celebrity chef's is Donna Hay. She seems so down to earth, and anyone who bakes cupcakes and deserts is fine by me!

It was such a cute shop, filled with even cuter things. I was very restrained, given that I was threatened with divorce - prior to leaving Victoria - should I return home with a number of purchases. All I left with was two utensils that I haven't been able to find anywhere (a spatula and spoonula that are one solid piece instead of the standard plastic handle glued to the silicon blade), the Donna Hay Essentials Chocolate cookbook, a giant chocolate freckle and a hot chocolate spoon (read, giant blob of chocolate attached to a spoon - Genius!)

Whilst there were many other little things I would have liked, a quick glance at the prices showed me that I could buy a similar item a lot cheaper elsewhere, like on Etsy. I would happily go back though, as there was so much to look at and admire.

So there you go husband, I do have stingey days, I just have to travel to another state to have those moments!
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Yummy sandwichs

Every now and then I get a craving for a fresh sandwich, on fresh white bread, with heaps of toppings.

I wonder if this one would cut the mustard (geddit ;) ). Not too sure if I can digest felt better than regular bread though. Either way, it is super cute

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