31 year old Me...

I had my 31st birthday last month and to celebrate my parents and I went for a day trip to Mt Glorious, Mt Nebo and Mt Cootha. The three of us love bushwalking and photography so that is how we spent the day. There are some lovely walks with lookouts looking both east and west along the drive to Mt Glorious. We started at Mt Glorious then made our way to Mt Nebo then Mt Cootha stopping along the way for morning tea and a few scenic walks. There were a few cafes along the way but only one of them was open, the others must only open on the weekends.

31 year old me...

The only cafe that was open had really good coffee and the yummiest peacan pie I can remember having. It was very busy with hordes of leather clad bike riders and a couple of tourist types like us.





Some more photos from the day...

We finished the day with something to eat at the cafe on Mt Cootha.

Mel...

Camping at the dam...so fun...

We went camping at Moogerah Dam with family and friends last weekend. Fun was had by all in spite of the magpie and the cold nights. It was Kathryn (Leon's sister) and family's first camping trip in the new camper trailer and our second camping trip in a fabulous tent. The other people with us were seasoned campers.

We went kayaking on the lake, ate yummy food, played volleyball, tried slacklinging again (and decided that I should give up trying as it really hurts) and did a bit of star gazing. The kids also got chased by a very territorial magpie that only attacked children.

I forgot to pack our sleeping bags so we had to wear layers of clothing to bed and borrow blankets from friends. It was a great weekend and I look forward to more camping trips this summer...

Cheese, Chocolate, Pizza and Brisbane Festival...

The Brisbane Cheese Festival was on a Hamilton's Portside last Sunday. Being rather fond of cheese, Leon and I were waiting in anticipation all week for a taste of all the lovely cheeses on display. With wine for me and apple cider for Leon, we wondered around the stalls tasting yummy cheese and trying to decide which ones we wanted to take home. We ended up with a lovely washed rind cheese, marinated feta and a mature vintage. All very good!

After cheese we discovered that Max Brenner had opened at Portside. So it was time for coffee and chocolate. We shared a yummy, rich choc sundae...chocolate icecream, melted chocolate, choc waffer balls and choc brownie....sooooo good. ( So hungry as I write this.)

In the evening we went to Southbank for the Laser Light show and all the other festivities. We had yummy pizza for dinner and sat on the riverbank and watched the light show.
On the whole it was a lovely day out...

Mel...

P.S. I just found this post that I was going to put up last week...opps

Today I....

• did 4.5 hours of productive study...
• washed 2 loads of laundry....
• made hummus (using Gary Mehigan's recipe)find resipe here
• made bread (find recipe here)
• played with the dogs....
• spent 2.5 hours in the vegie patch, planting seedingling and pruning herbs...
• watched the adorable baby rainbow lorikeets learn to fly.

On the whole, it was a very satisfying day.

Exciting new possibilities...

I have often regretted not going to University when I finished High School. At the start of this year I was thinking why not? Why can't I go to uni? So I applied. After much waiting I finally got an offer from USQ to study a Bachelor of General Studies. I was sooooo excited. Today was my first day of serious study. I think it might take a little while to get used to the amount of reading that I have to do. I happen to have chosen a major that has an enormous amount of reading. But that is ok, I am excited about what I am going to learn over the next few months. This semester my fun subject is World History from 1500 to 1914.

Here is how I spent most of my day today...


Have a lovely week...
Mel

Top of Town, Ipswich and Sunday Sport...

Leon was off to climb Mt Warning in northern N.S.W on Saturday so I decided to spend the morning exploring the Op Shops in the Top of Town Precinct in Ipswich. Oh what fun...I love a good Op Shop forage and the Top of Town feels so festive on a Saturday morning. The people of Ipswich and beyond all come out for a jaunt in the coffee shops and boutiques that line Brisbane Street.
There are four Op Shops in the Top of Town and several more within a 5 minute walking distance. My favorite is the Hospice which also has a secondhand book shop next door.

In the Old Flour Mill across the road from the Hospice is a Vintage Boutique full of awesome vintage loveliness...

It has lots of vintage kitchenware, ceramics, jewellery and books.
After exploring all of the Op Shops I stopped in for a coffee at the new shop on the block, Urban Pantry. The coffee here is really good, the service is great and there are lots of lovely products for the pantry to buy.
It was a lovely way to spend the morning.

On Sunday, we were off to the St Lucia campus of UQ for Leon to play Volleyball in the Corporate Games. I watched him play for a while and then found my way to the Co-op Bookshop and the Wordsmith Cafe. They serve Campos coffee here, probably my favorite coffee in Brisbane. I had a coffee and spent several hours in the Bookshop, I love this bookshop. This bookshop and Mary Ryan on Park Road, Milton are my most favorite bookshops in Brisbane.
On the whole, it was a lovely day and a lovely weekend...
Have a great week,
Mel
(P.s please excuse the overuse of the word "lovely", can't be bothered rewriting...)

Home-Sweet-Home...

Tuesdays are the day I spend at home all day, all by myself. This is the day that I can have all to myself to craft, sew, crochet, play with the dogs, bake...you get the picture. Today I decided to to a bit of redecorating. Last weekend was hard rubbish pickup in our area and I scored some new/old things to play with. I have also been very blessed with lots of Thrift Shop goodies from recent trips around the local shops, I have also found some beautiful vintage books.
On a side note, I looove vintage books. My two favorites that I have bought this week are a beautifully bound copy of Shakespeare's Histories and a book titled " Familiar Quotations".
Today I set to work cleaning the things I had found and wondering what I should do with them...among the found objects were some drawers from a Singer Sewing Machine (incidentally they are something I have been wanting for awhile as I am not about to pull apart my vintage sewing machine that is in almost perfect condition). I thought they would be lovely on top of my bookcase, here is the result...

I have used a mixture of thrift shop finds (the books, teapot, vintage stamps and vintage cotton spools) and inherited treasures from my Grandmother's (the mint green tiny tea cup and saucer and the doggies). The Peach print is a free printable found at The Paper Mama.

Yesterday when I went Thrift Store Shopping, I found a gorgeous mirror. It was only $10 so it had to come home with me. I have a T.V. cabinet that is very much like having a huge mantelpiece and I thought the mirror would be perfect on top of it.

On a crafty note, I was inspired to make a terrarium by my friend Jess (you will find her pretty blog here) who made one to decorate the food table at her daughter's first birthday party. I bought some tiny ferns from Bunnings and used some thrift shop bought jars. I searched the web for a tutorial but ended up not needing one. You just: get jar, put dirt in jar (I used Yates seedraising mix) plant plants in dirt and decorate. Joy-of-joys I found some real moss and tiny fungi in my backyard so I dug those up and put them in as well. I had so much fun and like it so much that I made three. The bambi figurine I inherited from my grandma. Take a look...

Lovely...

Have a fun week...
Mel

10 Happy Years...

May 8th...that is the day 10 years ago that my husband and I had our first date. It was a Wednesday, I think and we went to Alexandra Park in Bundaberg and had KFC for lunch. I was nervous and excited and wondering the whole time if he was going to hold my hand. I knew within a few months that he was "The One". It took us two and a half years to finally tie the knot but all that time getting to know each other was worth it. Our marriage is built on a strong friendship that has helped us through some really hard stuff.

These are the pretty flowers that Leon bought me for our anniversary, aren't they lovely...  

A visitor or 3...

Last saturday I had a visit from my sister, my baby niece and my sister's sister-in-law. We had a fun time catching up and remembering the good old days...the days when we were footloose and fancy free. After a cuppa we headed into Jindalee DFO for lunch and some shopping.

Morning...

Our first camping trip...

I have been desperate to go camping for ages so when a friend suggested a weekend camping trip I jumped at the chance. We went to The Gorge which is less than 10 minutes from Aratula, South East Queensland. Leon and I could only stay 1 night but the rest of the group had 2 nights at the camp site. It is such a beautiful place to camp. There is a flowing creek that you can swim in or kayak on. You can set up your tent right on the bank of the creek. Our site was a little way back from the creek as we had children with us.

Leon and I bought a marvelous tent about 5 years ago and we finally got to use it!! Upon using it for the first time, we decided that a smaller tent would be good for weekend camping trips as our big 2 room tent was too big for overnighters. We also discovered that even though we have never been camping as a couple before, we are remarkably well prepared when it comes to camp equipment.

We all had so much fun swimming in the creek, sitting around the camp fire chatting and eating really yummy camp food.
On the way home we went to Moogerah Dam and went for a swim and cooked up all of our left over food for lunch.

Such a lovely weekend...

Mel

Craft Challenge Update...

Well, I'm 10 days into the Challenge and I have had less time than I thought I would to devote to the challenge. I have made a few of the things that I have been wanting to make for ages so in essence I have been meeting the challenge. I have also tried some new crafts including decoupage and embroidery.

Photos of my craftiness to come...

Mel

Crafty Challenge: Day 1

A Crochet Pincushion: I have been needing a new pincushion for ages and now I have one.
Have a great February,
Mel

A Crafty Challenge...

I want to challenge myself in all ways crafty. So for the month of February I plan to make something everyday. I want to try crafts that I haven't tried before and make things that I have been wanting to make for ages. I will endeavour to record my progress here and by the end of the month I should have 29 new pretty things that I have made, and hopefully acquired some new skills in the realm of crafty.

Australia Day 2012

We had such a great Australia Day this year. First we had lunch at the park with some of our Bible Study group. Neil got his Slackline out again and we had another go at trying to get across without falling off. I was a bit better at it this time and didn't hurt myself. The Slackline drew quite a crowd as there were other people having lunch near us. Their kids all came over wanting to try walking across the slackline. They needed help but they had fun doing it. It was fun to watch and help the kids as they tried to find their balance and walk across.

After lunch we met up with some other friends from our Bible Study group at White Rock - Spring Mountain Conservation Estate and went for a bushwalk. Leon and I hadn't done this bushwalk before but I had been wanting to do it for awhile. While we were there we saw a couple of people riding their mountain bikes along the trails, just lately I have been wanting to get into Mountain Biking so this might be a good place to do that. We enjoyed exploring the short tracks and the kids had fun.

We decided that Bushwalking is something we should do together much more often. Maybe next time we will do a longer one.

I hope everyone's Aussie Day was as fun as ours.

Mel

Weekend Diaries...

We had such a great weekend. So full of fun, friends and all round frivolity. It started with dinner at a friends place on Saturday night. We ate a delicious dinner and caught up with friends old and new. Then on Sunday it was off to the beach after church. We met up with 3 other couples and their kids at Tallebudgera Creek on the Gold Coast. The creek was so nice to swim in, a great place to take young children. After a swim, we went down to the beach front and a friend of ours set up his Slackline so that we could try Slacklining. It was soooo much fun but very hard. You have to keep your balance while the line is moving all over the place. I fell off about 15 times and have a huge bruise to show for my efforts. After everyone else had taken their kids home Leon and I went for another swim in the creek to get all of the sand off us. The tide was coming in and it was raining but the water was beautiful. It was clear so you could see the sandy bottom and the water was a lovely dark greeny blue colour. It reminded me how much I love swimming. I really should get back into swimming laps at the local pool.

Have a great week,
Mel

New Friends...

I just had an awesome day hanging out with some new friends. First it was over to Sophia's place for morning tea and a chat. It is so nice getting to know new friends and spending time with like minded people. Sophia has some gorgeous old breed chickens that has rekindled my desire for some new chickens to add to my flock. Then it was off to the Op shops with Anita. We spent time browsing through the Animal Welfare League and the Hospice looking for treasures to decorate our homes.

Wrap up of 2011

It has been a looooong time since I posted anything so here is a pictorial summary of the major events of the last quarter of 2011.

October: I had my 30th Birthday!

As I never have birthday parties I decided to have 2 for my 30th. An Afternoon Tea Party with all of my family and an Indian Banquet Dinner with my friends.

November: And unto them a child is born...My sister and her husband had a baby, Miley Eva.

December: We travelled north to Rockhampton to spent Christmas with my family. It was 5 days of eating, chatting, watching cricket, spending time at the beach and playing with the kids. On the way home we stayed with Leon's family in Bundaburg for another 5 days and it was more of the same.

One week into 2012 and I am excited about what the new year will bring. I have many plans and goals for the year (all of which I still need to write down) and I am sure that there will be some surprises as well.

Happy New Year,
Mel