24

 Last Saturday was my birthday and I had a fun weekend to celebrate I had a lunch at my Oma and Opas to  celebrate. We had lots of my favourite foods, pancakes, waffles and chocolate coffee birthday cake. I don't get too Adelaide to see my family often enough but when I do its always special even if its just for the day

 My cousin Madi organised for us four (AJ and her bridesmaids;) to go for a girls night out to a 'virtual wedding'. It was like a wedding expo but it was set up like an actual wedding with actors getting pretend married. There were lots of table settings and decoration ideas and it was good fun having drinks and nibbles while looking around

 The girls made a toast to my birthday:)

 My favourite thing at anything wedding related is always the photography. OK so my favourite thing at any event like this is the photography

there were so many gorgeous flowers

We loved this cake with the little Dutch kissing kids. Our mums family comes from Holland so this cake was extra special to us

 Me and lil

 Unfortunately this desert bar was only display;( lots of great ideas though

We had the nicest time and then I stayed up late chatting to Madi until we fell asleep, probably mid sentence.
Sunday night Benny took me and his parents out for tea to our favourite local pub.
I think I like being 24 already!

lavendar and dandelions

 while Dad and Benny were watching boring car races yesterday I disappeared into the garden

 The lavender bushes I planted a few years ago are humongous and so beautiful!

 They are a favourite spot for the bees

 these little guys look so happy

 cut ready to make lavender wheat heat bags for markets

(Mum, Dad, I have no idea why your garden is about to be full of dandelions *cough cough*)

On monday i needed an adventure. I wasnt feeling quite my happy self and wasnt quite sure why so i knew it was just what i needed, to get away and see some beauty outside.

It was a fun sort of a journey, It was the day before payday and all i had to my name was twenty dollars.

Fifteen dollars gave me fuel to take me where i wanted to go and $5 left for a snack along the way.

I drove off towards the sun, following the blue sky and puffy clouds. It was an unbelievably glorious day,

When i got to my new favourite beach i poured a cup of tea from my thermos and read a few pages from my book. Then i decided to go for a little wonder down the beach. My bare feet skipped along over waves and through sea foam, i went out as far as i could without wetting my rolled up jeans. Before i knew it, I was at the end of the beach. I walked up some stairs and looked back at the beach i had just walked. It sparkled and glissened as kids splashed about. In the distance i could see men fishing off the jetty near the small white dot that was my car.

I crossed the road and went down a boardwalk that i never knew existed. Id never walked this far. I came down to another beach. Less people were on this one,

On the way back i ran a few times. It was wonderful to run with my hair wild and free, lapping about in the wind. The sun beamed down in the corner of my eye

Holidays day three

 I needed to get out of the house and do something fun.
 Some of my favourite days are days like this one, little adventures by myself. Getting out amongst beautiful nature, clearing my head, making room for new thoughts, more positive ones.

I took some craft projects and a book so that Id have something to do but I didnt need them. All I needed was the green grass to lay in, the breeze that rustled the leaves and blew the occasional one gracefully to the ground.

I love looking up and seing the sunlight lighting up leaves from behind. I love seing snippets of blue sky framed by them

All I needed was to be somewhere else, somewhere fresh and new where I new that I wouldn't see anyone I knew. Somewhere where I could climb trees and just be... with no worries or thoughts of the past or future, just the present there and then.

I held on tight to the trees strong trunk and felt safe knowing that it would hold me up high

I love this beautiful life I have

There can be such freedom In new surroundings

I love warmth in the garden

 I love getting outside in the early morning and now that the weathers heating up im enjoying the weekly meditation that is watering my garden. Its even more fun during spring and early summer when all the flowers are happily blooming.
 My garden has come a long way since weve lived here ( I enjoy clicking on the 'garden' label to see how much its all changed!)
Slowly with much mulch, compost and manure the clay is becoming easily diggable soil in my garden beds and some things are beginning to thrive!


 Most of the garden beds didnt exist when we mored in so the soil was solid and rocky and the back yard was all dirt and barkchips. They planted some plants just before we moved in in a u shape around the clothes line (in the middle of a hot summer!) and the rest I have slowly added

  A 'before shot' of my day cares going green with outside toys (I havent done anything much yet). We have lots of metal and wooden baking toys in the sandpit that ive thrifted over the years but id love some other ideas for 'green' outdoor toys.

Our grass isnt quite that dead looking but I always have that little transition time between my cool weather watering and warm weather watering.
During cool weather I do it all with my watering can using rain water while our tank is being regularly filled. during this time I only need to water pots and veggie plants.
Then warm weather comes back and the lawn starts looking like the picture above! I figure it needs a regular soaking with the hose! All the natives that our landlord planted are now well established and tolerate little water but they grow like crazy when they get their occasional drink

Everyday beautiful and a present for me!

 I am loving how pretty my breakfast bar is looking at the moment, beautiful roses given to me by Bennys mum, a poppy from my garden and various pretty flowers from walks around town. The three metal leaf dishes were thrifted long ago and hold pretty shells, nature finds and crystals. Of course there are a few kombis (where in my house isnt there?)

Ive been very buisy lately, soon after starting my etsy shop I got quite a bit more day care work. I was still enthusiastic about getting things made for the etsy but Id been getting a bit stressed about when orders would come and if I would have time to make them so ive taken down my made to order items for the time being and will still add bits and pieces as I finish them but probably not much until after Christmas. I feel relaxed in my choice, my house is a little cleaner and I feel like I have time to make toys for my day care again, which id almost forgotten was my reason for toy making in the first place!
To celebrate my new found happiness I made myself a beautiful wooden leaf chopping board, something id wanted to do since before I started getting into wood working. Ahh, my last plastic chopping board is in a bag ready to be opp shopped!
Id been wondering for a while if chopping boards could be polished with bees wax polish and read that apparently you can but you should never use olive oil on them as it can go rancid. How funny, thats what ive always used!

I gave it a polish and of course searched the fridge for some thing to chop right away!

I also gave my other chopping boards a bees wax coating. The Jarah (dark) board was present from my parents last christmas, bought at our favourite craft co-op in Kadina. The little 'round' one was thrifted. (I still refer to it as round even though it got left in water which caused the sides to snap off. Its not so pretty but its the perfect size for chopping some fruit)

I realy do love my wooden chopping boards, they are some thing so ordinary but I enjoy using them every day  

Orchard cardi

Ive almost finished my 'orchard' cardi (The wool is Jo sharp classic, orchard colourway) It could easily be finished, blocked and drying right now but unfortunately when I cast off at the bottom and tried it on I just couldn't bring myself to take it off! I love it!
 Luckily its perfect for the weather weve been having at the moment. I hope cool weather stays around a little longer so that I can enjoy in my new cardi.
Im not sure how much I love the colour, I may dye it blue.

Ive also been wet felting this bowl. Its made of the rainbow wool I showed here. The colours turned out beautifully in it.

On friday we went to the fertility specialist. I was nervous and had put it off (weve been trying for a baby for nearly 2 years) But Im honesly realy glad that we went.

Ive been given a script for Clomid tablets to try for 3 months and although I hate taking medication ( I rather natural remedies etc) I'm excited to try it and its given us some new hope. Fingers crossed, who knows    

Wondering Wednesday

Ive joint Garden Mama and many others again for Wondering Wednesday. Because what can i say, i like to wonder.

 I'm a little bit of a cheater, I work on Wednesdays and don't wonder real far, so this was actually on a beach adventure yesterday.

Wondering, wondering across pointy rocks, to the perfect flat rock to sit and just be...

Here I sat, breathing in salty air and enjoying having the whole beach to my self.

Feeling thankful for my solo journeys that I'm able to take on days off work, when most of the world is at work or at school or doing what they 'should' be doing, practical tasks.

This is when my spirit truly feels free, I can go wherever i like, feel the wind in my hair, adventure, explore.  

I truly treasure these days

dreamy

After seeing this post The other day i decided to build a cubby house with the kidlets I look after. It was so much fun reading them stories in our dreamy little tent, the blue satin sheet made the perfect 'sky', letting in pleny of purple glowing light. After they'd gone home i decided it was the perfect little spot to lay and read my book. I realy wish it could stay in my garden forever (i think im going have to grow a giant one of these!((it doesnt show with that link but the pic is from Mulbery spot))

Quietly camomile tea and muffins were the perfect 'backyard camping' food i must say. 

We loved cloud gazing through the little sky light

Look Anneke, swirly (the care bare) that you gave me had fun too