Returning to a view

The older I get, the more I like to take my holidays in the same place.

Beside the same beach shacks.

In a unit with the same plastic flowers.

Baby spends his time putting Bunny in the cupboard.

And then taking him out again. He will grow up coming here. I love that.

We visit the second hand bookshop, then the mall with paddle boats on a dirty canal. We eat at the same bar.

When I can, I sneak out to the op-shop.

I don't think the girl I was in my twenties would have valued this slow progression of things.

How could I have known it was the sweetest thing?

Stuff and nonsense

You know when you get sick, and then better, and then sick again, and again?

When you get the feeling your immune system has left the building, letting every gate crasher germ in town into your out of control house party of snot and sneezing? That.

It's lovely not to feel sick any more.

Summery and bright is the order of the day. I'm obsessed with this knit top from Witchery.

The back is droopy and interesting too. I love an interesting back.

These gold sandals from Country Road are also key.

I like to keep our brights coordinated.

My baby sister has moved out of home. I took her this housewarming hamper full of Chrissy decorations, Nutella and Weetbix. She's such a Weetbix kid.

With the return of good health, the fire of decorating has come upon me. I snapped these linens at Koskela in Sydney a few weekends ago. I wish knitting needles came in this size so I could commission one of these blankets from my mother in law right away. I love those round Rachel Castle cushions so hard too. I definitely see one in my future.

Spectacular rugs, but exy. The dearth of attractive, reasonably priced rugs in this country is diabolical isn't it? The o/s sites won't ship them here and unless you want to go to Rugs A Million or Ikea your options are extremely limited.

I think I may have found a solution for the bare boards of my living room however. It will be deliciously 70s resort if it works out. I'll keep you posted.

I know Halloween is done and dusted but here's a picture of my decorative effort. It looked a treat until it got caught in a torrential storm the day before Halloween.

various unrelated things

Skulls are everywhere at the moment aren't they? So hot right now. I've amassed this collection of grinning Tim Burton-esque spectres from bargain shops and eBay. Love them.

Here they are making an appearance with some more summer wardrobe staples. Many long, lazy layers are key.

My current favourite bed linens with His and Her embroidered pillowcases. Baby pulled the blue gingham curtains down this morning. I'm not sure if I should put them back up or if it's time to hang the mosquito nets for summer already. I've been pretending not to hear the first whines of nocturnal buzzing but I can't ignore them forever.

Is it weird that I sometimes photograph the food I make for Baby? I can't help it. I just think it looks so beautiful and appetising in its separate compartments. I know it's popular to deride the modern obsession with documenting tiny fragments of the mundane, especially if you blog about it. I think it's all feels very human though and I don't think it's anything new. History is littered with obsessive diarists, leaving lifetime long records of meals and weather reports and I've always been drawn to those stories. Blogging to me feels the same as my slavish teenage diary keeping. Like a summation, or a soundtrack.

Right now, whenever I lock the front door to go out with Baby in my arms we have to stop so he can ring the doorbell. It's just about the cutest thing ever and I want to eat his head when I watch how happy it makes him. I took this photo because he won't do it for very long and then I'll forget he ever did it at all.

I'm posting it online because, why not? There are millions of voices out there now in this vast empty space, why not murmur with them? I think that's rather beautiful too, and also very human.

I got quite introspective for a minute there, didn't I? Here's a photo of the Baby wearing funny glasses to restore the equilibrium.

Everything spring

The baby is in shorts and the spring is everywhere I look. It feels so warm already I'm scared that summer is going to be perishingly hot and unbearable.

I had to fight a swarm of bees for these.

To stave off my terror I've been giving some serious thought to summer wardrobe planning.

This mostly involves stalking eBay for desirably slouchy Bassike pieces.

I also picked up this pink scarf from Witchery. I've had the Funkis t-bar clogs for years now. Still love them.

I baked a quiche. My Stephanie Alexander recipe calls for four egg yolks and the pavlova has four egg whites. Serendipity like that cannot be ignored so one always follows the other in our house.

I used stewed rhubarb on the top of this pav as I had some that needed using and it was pretty magnificent.

In other Spring news I downloaded a new album. This is significant as I am terrible at listening to new music and play the same playlist of songs I have had forever ad nauseam. This Clare Bowditch album is really very good. Jazzy and folky and sweet and perfect for warm breezes and cold drinks despite it's name.

Speaking of cool drinks. This is where we will be having them. I've reorganised the back deck with a view to childproofing, toy storage and warmer days. We do a lot of living out here in the summer and now I can leave the doors open and let baby potter in and out as he pleases throughout the day.

I took these photos with the panorama setting on the iPhone 5. Doesn't my verandah look gigantic? I'm panoramming everything at the moment. It's definitely my favourite new feature on the iPhone 5. (My spell check doesn't agree that 'panoramming' is a word but I'm calling it now for 2013.)

We inherited the squatters chairs and I had them on the front verandah where NO ONE ever sat in them. They are super comfy though and getting lots of love here for lazy breakfasts.

I've even made the ultimate sacrifice for verandah usability and replaced my vintage (wobbly, paint flaking, bugger to clean and no safety straps) highchair with a ubiquitous Ikea Antilop. We have a proper high chair in the kitchen but it's nice to have a spare out here to pop him in too. I persevered with the old wooden one for a few weeks but was too scared to ever turn my back on him while he sat in it so it had to go. Plus, now he'll think we're eating in a cafe every time he sits outside.

Brisbane's best ramen (really)

Baby and I met J in town for lunch. Taros is the only place in the Brisbane CBD I ever want to eat when I'm asked. It's on Adelaide St, across the intersection from the Christie Centre.

The tonkotsu makes me weep with pleasure.

I'm trying to turn and get a back shot of this 80s shirt here. I failed, but the back is complicated and interesting. I dug it out of storage in the shed while we were preparing for our garage sale. It was purloined from my mother's wardrobe many years ago.

The DKNY kicks are still first in my affections.

In other news, I've reorganised my iPhone with a view towards minimalism. I do so much on my phone and always have multiple of pages of apps to scroll through. Clearing the screen and forcing everything under a few umbrella categories feels fresh and so super organised.

The charming iPhone wallpapers are a free download from Eat Drink Chic.

Cat or cushion? It's so hard to tell sometimes.

Of garage sales and skeggings

It's so good to have a clear out isn't it?

We have such a massive shed here but somehow we managed to fill it to the brim with… stuff. It was time for action.

This is how early we got up to set things up, but apparently people in the country don't turn up hours early to garage sales like they do in the city and we didn't have our first browser until a very civilised 7am.

Baby in cage. Not for sale.

In other news, these are my new 'skeggings'. I love a good portmanteau, don't you?. There was a documentary on the tele recently about the 'globesity' epidemic and I try and work that word into sentences whenever I can now. Such a time saver.

Anyway, in case you were wondering, these are leggings, with an attached skirt, hence skeggings. It's an awful word, isn't it?

I came across these at Target and found I could not leave without them. They remind me of a period in the late 90s when there was a trend to wear mini skirts over jeans. Eventually, in it's death throes, the trend morphed into pants with attached skirts in the same fabric. I have a distinct memory of browsing racks of these in Miss Shop circa 1999. They were fairly dire.

The skeggings are similar, but interesting in that I think they come from a different place. Rather than referencing a trend of layering skirts over pants, I think these are to help women who like to wear leggings as pants. By adding an extra, bum covering skirt layer to the leggings a baggy top that is not quite a dress suddenly seems more achievable.

As leggings are pretty much the ultimate 'stay at home mum' staple of my wardrobe right now I won't deny I sometimes face this battle, so I thought I'd give the skeggings a whirl. I've yet to wear them out of the house at this stage but I'll keep you posted.

household miscellany

Mr. Bunny relaxing after one of his frequent spa treatments (in my washing machine). He is loved that bunny. LOVED.

Do you need someone to reorganise your office supplies? He works for post-its.

Bircher breakfast in the making.

Brownies in a lazy tray. I'm sure these disposable foil trays are not very eco but I love them. I got the idea from Nigella.

Neon orange scarf. Very necessary on these grey days.

Power balls. I hate this name but i haven't thought of a better one yet. Really they are date and seed and nut balls that you freeze. They are delicious and full of virtue. Baby adores them.

This is what they look like finished. Recipe is here.

Whoops! and also Yay!

Omo rice with excessive pickled ginger and mayo. I have Japan on the brain since we booked flights to Osaka later in the year. So excited to get my fix. Baby's passport is ordered and I've fired up my Pimsleur tapes in the car. Can. Not. Wait.

Finally, is this is weed, or a bean? We can't decide.