July-a snapshot

Flannel sheets of the lovliest kind.

Rainy days.

A new old chair.

Daffodils.

String of Pearls in bloom. A wee bit excited about that.

In our crazy and wonderFULL family life, I am grateful to have had a few days this month to fill my cup. A special day shared with my gorgeous friend Karlyn celebrating her 40th birthday. We spent a day in the country, there was coffee, pumpkin scones, fruit cake too. We wandered and foraged about the junk shop and enjoyed some uninterupted conversation.  In the late arvo we headed out to the farm for a cuppa and early dinner around the fire with our boys and the kiddos. A lovely day will with lots of lovely.

I was also lucky enough to spend a few days away in Melbourne. I had the very best day wandering the Finders Keepers Markets. I have wanted to attend forever but have patiently waited until the time was right. I spent the day wandering and eating and drinking. Latte and gumbo-not together, red vevet cupcake and coffee scrolls. I enjoyed my own company and came home with a nice haul. Some new discoveries included Little Quarters, Bonsai Kitten and Ellery Fox. I was also able to visit Emily Besser's art exhibition at Hut 13 and am now the happy owner of a lovely new artwork (that still awaits framing!).

 That's me recording July in September pfft!

For the love of happy mail-Part 1

A while ago I hosted a little mail swap in the hope of connecting with others through smail mail, kickstarting some creativity and making someone's day a little bit happier.
Initially, I thought it would be fun to see what I could rustle up and stuff into an A5 envelope but then I sat down and began to write the letters. I felt a wee bit overwhelmed for a second or two because I had a few to write...but once I put pen to paper, the words flowed and I really enjoyed the process of writing a good old fashioned letter. Each letter was very different. Some of the letters were written to real life friends, others to long time blog friends and others to brand new blog friends who had read about the swap and joined in.

Over the past couple of months I have been so blessed to have a steady flow of happy mail arriving in return.
I am so grateful for the wonderful letters and amazing treasures I have been gifted through the swap. Seriously, I have been completely and utterly spoilt! If you want all your Christmases to come at once, then I strongly recommend you host a happy mail swap!

I really, really LOVED reading your letters. It was so nice to connect a little more personally and share and hear a little bit more about our offline lives. I made myself a cuppa and sat quietly opening your packages and reading your mail. There was so much thought put into each and every happy mail. I can only hope everyone felt the same way about the mail they received.

This is my outgoing happy mail. I sent cards, both bought and handmade, fabric, teabags, seeds, notebooks, vintage treasures, mixed media packs, pretty papers, confetti, origami, giftwrapping supplies, feathers, bookmarks, recipes, quotes that inspire me, photographs... gosh so much fun choosing things for the recipients. I'll be posting a part two soon with a bit of a show n tell of the happy mail I received plus some of the fun packaging!

A snapshot of June

The cold snap arrived and my stress levels rise a notch as we work a bit harder with Boo's health regime.
We have all had a fair share of icky colds and chesty coughs.
I spent two days in bed and am so grateful to have become unwell on a weekend. I was able to sleep on and off, read and rest while the Mr held the fort. I watched episode after episode of Twin Peaks. Have you seen it? I can't say I'm loving it but of course I've been sucked in now and have to find out who killed Laura Palmer.
There's been making of muesli bars and comfort food like pumpkin risotto and chicken soup-I used Lisa's recipe here.  It was absolutely delicious and how clever she was to slow cook it on the fire place. I just used my regular old slow cooker and it turned out GREAT! It has pumpkin in it too and I threw in a handful of quinoa for good measure. You should definitely make it.
Saturday morning soccer has been followed by visits to the Artisan Bakery for baked treats and hot chocolates. Our boys headed to Melbourne for a night to watch their team. Grammy and Grandy sent us some bagpipes they bought while in Scotland. We spent a happy but chilly weekend with friends in Tumut.

Tonight we have plans to don our beanies and polarfleece, light the fire and toast some marshmallows.
Happy Winter! Stay warm!