...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)

...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 :)

...dreams of cooking for you...

I LOVE unique, fun food. and ADORE pinterest (follow me ) 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

:
Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Cookies

Raspberry Lemonade Bars

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

Frozen Peppermint Cheesecake


Juice'n'Fruit Ice Blocks


Choc & Caramel Pudding Pops


White Choc and Raspberry Icecream

and to drink...

Strawberry Champagne Slushies!

...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)

...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!)

...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!

...dreams of outdoor dining...

My beloved little family - husband Matt and Irish Setter Colossus - and I live in a very sweet little clad house complete with a white picket fence and a fabulous backyard. In that backyard we have a very old paperbark tree, and under that paperbark tree we have a paved area, just the right size for an 8 seater table. I LOVE it. And it has so much potential!

I want to turn that space into something like this scene from Brothers and Sisters, which was my original inspiration for outdoor dining.

So far, this is the best I have come up with

But these are more what I dream to do, come spring

Planning is in process - just need it to be warm enough to start dining outside again!!

...loves nooks...

I have ALWAYS had a thing for window seats, nooks - anywhere cosy to curl up with a coffee/tea/glass of wine and a good book or my journal. One my favourite current eye candies are pics of nooks that are designed perfectly for this kind of activity.

(via Thunk Thoughts)

(via Decoratrix)

(via Obsessions and Loves)

...this caught my eye...

I am in a creative spurt at the moment, completely and utterly taken by so many design, creative and food ideas that never fail to catch my attention when I should be doing other things online. Being winter, however, and living in a 'for now' rather than 'forever' house, I am somewhat hampered in what I can actually put into practice. I don't want to lose those ideas or images that speak to me so I'm going to store them here - whatever I love, I dream of doing or I actually dare to do!