Tuesday, January 31, 2012

...loves, dreams & dares...

Wow so much has happened since my last post! We dared to sell our house based largely on what we felt God leading us to do. We have started dreaming about what our next house will look like (while we are living with my wonderfully accommodating in-laws), spreadsheet, pinterest board, lots of rambling walks and drives looking at houses and neighbourhoods and everything! I am in love with being creative (can't quite bring myself to use the word crafty) and made a few different Christmas gifts, with varying success - I will blog about a few of them that I'm going to do again.

 (from we.laugh-at-gilded.butterflies)
I am dreaming about my year and my passions and have made the decision to take time off from running my fortnightly dance group the Freedom Movement so that I can invest in dance classes for myself and in really seeking God and dreaming with Him about the vision for the Freedom Movement and what to do next! As a part of this, I am determined to get fit and have started personal training sessions - I love it!! I have had 5 sessions out of a total of 9 I got in a deal, and am sad to think they'll end - paying regular prices is sadly not a budget option. But I will probably switch to boot camp, and will also be starting dance classes at the end of Feb. I am DETERMINED to work on excellence in dance, to truly hone my body and increase my ability to dance in whatever way God wants me to, and being fit is a huge part of that.

Matty & I are also joining our church in a 'Daniel' fast of 21 days in Feb - we choose what to fast, so have decided not to buy take away food during that time (including Indian, Thai, pizza - so many of the foods we really really love) and also not to watch television, which is our main downtime activity together. This is going to really stretch us! It means we will be cooking a lot more for ourselves (we usually get takeaway 1-2 times per week, and often eat the leftovers for other meals), so I realise we need to be a lot more creative so we are interested in and excited by what we are eating at home, so takeaway won't be a temptation.  Time to get out the cookbooks! I'm quite excited about the idea of planning meals, and actually using the many cookbooks I own. It's good motivation to do something I have always wanted to do. It also means healthier diet and saving money, as well as helping focus us.

Not watching TV means will we have a lot more spare time at nights, so I am also looking forward to that! On a few occasions over our almost 3 years of marriage we have tried to start a habit of reading the Bible together, or praying together, and whilst its been good, it has been far from consistent. As something we can do together while still just chilling on the couch, this is a great opportunity to grow spiritually together. We have also started going on long walks together, as Matt wants to get fit and shed a few kgs almost as much as I do, and we find we have awesome couple time and chats while we are walking. I envisage lots more priority on walks once we don't have the TV distraction!

We will be fasting for breakthrough - in our church, for finances and revelation about direction, for unleasing of the promises God has for DaySpring. For us, it will be for our new home, the physical, financial and spiritual aspects of that, for our families. For me, it will also be about dance - about clearer understanding of what God has planned, of being able to identify and be passionate about my dream and vision and purpose in dance, and about seeing that come to fruition.

This one post has many other posts to come out of it. I am amazingly enthusiastic to see 2012 take shape!

Monday, October 31, 2011

...dreams of treating herself...

So, we are in the process of selling our house, which, combined with my busy schedule, means my dreams of cooking for friends and family is on hold - Saturdays are spent cleaning, having open houses, and then some little downtime after spending all week cleaning; Sundays are spent doing the washing and other time-heavy chores that render the house unsuitable for visitors.

It also means I feel more and more like I should be prepared to do little pick me ups and prepare nice food for me and my man! We are working out butts off to keep the house immaculate (not any easy task with two delightfully playful and adventurous puppies) so WE deserve something special!

To make this dream more realistic, I have made a shopping list based on my 'Food, glorious food' inspiration board on Pinterest, so that if I have a moment and the desire to whip up something a little out of the ordinary, the ingredients are already in my house and I have no excuse not to actually do it!

This especially applies to delicious refreshing drinks, champagne spritzers and fruit mojitos etc. Yummm...



Shopping List for treating Myself!

DRINKS
  • Strawberries
  • Raspberries
  • Mint
  • Lime
  • Lemons (homegrown)
  • Sparkling wine
  • White rum
  • Sparkling water
  • Lemonade
  • Vanilla Stevia
SNACKS
  • Pretzels, Choc-buttons & M'n'Ms (salty-sweet bite-size snack!)
  • Angel food cake mix & lemon pie filling (do we have either of these in Australia???) (lemon cake/slice)
  • Instant Yeast, brown sugar, ham, cheese, coarse salt, unsalted butter, plain four (cheesy ham bites)
  • 200ml apple juice, cinammon, oats, sultanas, flour, sugar (Matt's favourite muffins)

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

...loves foodgawker...




Want a look at whats hot in the interwebs world of food and get a million ideas for your next party/afternoon tea/just because? I have only just discovered this site but already I love it -


foodgawker | feed your eyes

Its well set out, easy to navigate, and full of DELCIOUSNESS :)

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

...dreams of cooking for you...

I LOVE unique, fun food. and ADORE pinterest (follow me Follow Me on Pinterest) In my way-too-much-time spent on pinterest, I am always sucked in by the amazing different recipes people post. So I am dreaming of holding lots of tea parties this summer to try out the recipes! I have already tried these two for a work bake-off, with surprising success as I am a very beginner baker

Other things that I really hope to cook for friends (my hubby doesn't really do much sweet food) this summer include:


Monday, September 26, 2011

...dares to name puppies after super heroes...

This post could alternatively be called ...dares to love again... because, after 6 months of grieving our beautiful little Cavoodle girl Indy, my little family & I have opened our hearts to a new puppy.

Our 9 month old black ball of joy, Indy, was tragically and traumatically taken from us in a random dog attack in March this year. And it sucked big time. My heart broke, I experienced a deep grief for the first time ever, and my faith in God as a protector was shaken - but not broken. I might blog more about Indy, my first baby, another time, but my husband Matt and I got through it. We turned to God rather than away from Him, and let the healing process occur naturally.

Indy

A huge step after that was getting another baby girl Cavoodle, Polly. Who is an incredible character, quite different from Indy in many ways and yet also very similiar in others. We adopted Polly at the start of August this year.


Polly on adoption day

Polly is short for Polaris, who is a female member of the X-men. She just happens to be good friends with another X-men character, Colossus, which works well since our Polly absolutely adores her big brother, our Setter Colossus :)

Polly & Colossus

Matt is a MASSIVE comic book/superhero fan (more about that later) and I love that we name our puppies after superheroes - people/creatures who don't just want to save the world, they go about doing it.


Colossus


Polaris (Polly)


Indiana (Indy)

Thursday, September 22, 2011

...dreams of hanging her own photos...

I have recently found photography a lot more interesting & fun. I love seeing my friends' really really good pictures of their children, friends, life, making the most of DSLR technology, which inspired me to get my own DSLR (Nikon D5ooo - thanks Matty!) for Christmas last year and a fabulous 55-200m lense (thanks again Matty!) for my birthday in July.

I take photos of my beloved puppies, at family events, holidays with friends etc - I just enjoy it. Someone asked me if it was my new hobby, which I never really thought about since I don't think I'm that good, but really - it is a hobby. I took a day course in basic SLR use recently, and I loved it. And you know what?! I'm improving!

I have decided that, in our next house (which will be bigger and more long term then our current little cottage) I want to start hanging canvas prints of some of my favourite photos. Like these:


Minamurra Falls December 2011

Minnamurra Rainforest December 2011

Magnetic Island August 2011

Polly & Colossus August 2011 (Maybe not canvas but I love this pic!)


Thursday, July 14, 2011

...dares DIY slippers...


Dear friends of ours recently got engaged. Given my newfound passion for design and decoration, I'll be posting more about this event, but today I want to focus on their engagement gift. Giving (and receiving!) gifts is one of my love languages, and so I wanted to make sure we gave them something meaningful and that they wanted (no formal engagement party, no gift registry). Their request - his&hers slippers! I went to many different stores in search of such creatures and if they do exist, they were not to be found on my shopping day. This kind of "slipper" (above) was not good enough.

So I dared to makeover some myself!

There was much saga involved in the preparation, including but not limited to finding the slippers, finding a store that sold purple dye, tossing up between iron-on and store embroidery for naming, and then trying to track down another pair after my precious boy was a wee bit naughty and mistook a slipper for a soft toy (he loves soft toys to pieces... literally).


Nonetheless, in the end, they worked!




1. Purchase comfy "doona feet" men's slippers in appropriate sizes for the lucky couple (they are very much lounge around, casual and comfortable people).

2. Dye one pair purple! I used Violet iDye for cotton which was super easy - one hot wash with the dye and a cup of salt, then one cold wash, dry in the sun and presto!

3. Iron on names - to match the casual footwear, we went for their nicknames.

4. Add an assortment of other presents including socks and microwave-proof tupperware (another gift request)

5. Wrap lavishly!