This year I WILL get married.......

This is my positive affirmation for the day. It might not seem like much to most, but really, it is a big one for me. You see, I've been engaged for almost 2 years now and have never seemed to be able to seal the deal. The location has been changed four times, the date 3 times, we almost eloped twice, but luckily the groom hasn't changed - he has been my one constant! We have now set the date for the 20th of September (2 and half years after the beautiful day when the Big Man proposed) and I am promising to myself that this time we will go through with it.

Each time we have changed the date I've convinced myself it was for a legitimate reason, but I am starting to realise that no matter how long I wait, no matter how much I have achieved, no matter how much I plan, the wedding will never be one hundred percent perfect. And perfect is what I was holding out for..... I have come to accept that it doesn't matter if things aren't exactly as I have always dreamed, there is always next time........ just kidding, there will be no next time, I'm definitely a 'one and only marriage' kind of girl :) Seriously though even if it isn't perfect, it will still be the most special day of my life to date, and that's enough for me.

With all that out of the way I have decided that I need to get down and dirty and do some serious planning. Even my lovely and talented (but not so wedding orientated) sister has started to plan things for my wedding day, I really need to get my butt into gear! (If you have a look at her blog you will be able to see the beautiful cake that she picked out for me.) My new goal is going to be to plan and put in place something new for the wedding each week from now onwards. Otherwise I will be an absoulte mess in the week leading up to the wedding.........

I think this weeks goal will either be to finalise the patterns for the bridesmaids dresses or to buy or hire all the bits and pieces we need to make the cake. I'll keep you posted!!

I couldn't help myself and reposted the cake, it is just so gorgeous! Jenny found it for me on the Martha Stewart website, which btw is my new favourite site.

T xx

Crafty Cupboards

At the moment I am going a little bit crazy waiting for my house to be built. The place I am living in at the moment is very small and not very homely and it can leave me feeling a little bit blue. I decided this weekend that the best thing I could do would be something that would make me feel like I was one step closer to my new house.

I had a few ideas in mind and decided that kitchen jars would be a good first project. Right now I don't have a pantry, just four small cupboards that are overflowing with food. So one of the things I am looking forward to the most in the new house is having a spacious walk in panty. I was thinking that the nicest thing in the world would be to be able to walk into my new panty and have lots of beautiful jars instead of mismatched boxes and containers. I had been itching to try an off the page style scrapbook project, so this was just perfect.

I started out at Big W where I picked up some relatively cheap jars with silver lids (I already had a few beautiful glass jars that my lovely Mum had given to me, but definitely needed more). I also had a look in the srapbooking section there and choose a colour scheme that I think I will love for lots of years. I picked up some papers, embelishments, ribbons, glue, paint and paintbrushes whilst I was there. The next stop was my favourite scrapbooking store (Two Scrappin Chicks), where, with the help of the ever lovely Cheryl, I got the rest of the bits and pieces that I needed; chipboard shapes, more embelishments (you can never have to many), magic clear stuff that probably has a name and some great tools for filing things.

Once I got my supplies home the first thing I did was mix up some paints to match the accents in my papers so that I could paint the (not so nice silver) lids of my new jars, as well as the chipbpard tags. This was a pretty big deal for me, the last time I painted anything I would have been about 12 years old! Once all of the painting was dry I got to work on making my labels and decorating the painted lids. I tried to make sure that every label was a little bit different and I had loads of fun coming up with new ideas. I made 15 lables all up and have posted some photos below so that you can see for yourself.

Considering it was my very first craft project (except for Scrapbooking) I am really happy with the results. Now I just can't wait until my new pantry is ready for me to use, in the meantime I am sad to say that my lovely jars will be tucked away in my four small cupboards.

Until next time, T xx

Happy Valentines Day

The Big Man doesn't listen to me very much at all and he generally does what he wants to, when he wants to. So it was much to my surprise this Valentines Day when he finally did listen to me.

Only problem was, he wasn't surposed to.........

Really, when I have I ever truly not wanted a present? Sure, I said that I thought we should make more of an effort to cut out extra spending and that I would be happy with just his company this year. But honestly did I ever really mean it?

This month we are going to see how much extra money we can save by being a bit more frugal. So in the lead up to Valentines Day, I of course said that this year no present was neccesary - I even meant it, for all of 10 seconds, before I changed my mind. Only problem was that the Big Man didn't catch on when I changed my mind..........

I thought the fact that I let him know that the kitchen was off limits on Wednesday night so that I could bake him his special Valentines surprise might have been a hint... If that wasn't enough, I was convinced that after he got my lovingly homemade gift this morning that he would be straight on the phone to the florist, or at least pay a quick visit to the florist in our office block. But no, he honestly still believed that I didn't want a present this year. It took me a while, but by lunchtime I had realised that no flowers had been ordered. A few years ago (or even last year) this might have been a dramatic situation that could have very well ended in tears, but I like to think I have grown up quite a lot since then (well at least a little bit). This year I was able to take control of the potential diasater. I simply took the Big Man shopping at lunch time and let him know that it would be nice if we could get me a little something. I ended up with a gorgeous, baby pink, silky robe that I had wanted for ages. Next year I think I will try the same approach!

Valentines Day Card and Special Valentines Slice - Made with love by Me

T xx

Introducing Me.......

I don't have a perfect life. I thought I should just get that out in the open right from the start. Some people might think it looks ok, but it all is really just an illusion. It looks pretty good from the outside, but as you get closer the cracks start to appear......

Who really who has time to be perfect these days anyway? I sure don't, I spend most of my time just trying to stay sane!

Now that we have that sorted, I should really remember my manners and introduce myself....

I'm Tamsyn, engaged to the Big Man, mummy to a precious Cavoodle (the Pooper) and I spend most of my time trying to keep afloat whilst running our little businesses and trying to make the most of life!

The Pooper

This year is going to be a big one for us. The Big Man and I plan to finish building our house in May, get married in September and go on our honeymoon in November. We've also just relocated the business we run to a brand spanking new office, so that we can (hopefully) get ourselves some great staff. More on all that later though, I'm off to get some groceries (which will be a whole other post in itself I'm sure).

T xx