Home Inspirations

picture from Let your creativity FLOW

The completion date for our new home is getting closer and closer and I have been scouring the web for decorating inspiration. My decorating style is naturally very minimalist (read, boring), so I am taking this opportunity to delve into the unknown and inject some colour and style into my new home.

There are hundreds of sites that give me daily inspiration, but I have narrowed this list down to some of my favourites…..

Absolutely Beautiful Things – Anna’s store is in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane and I am definitely going to visit in the next couple of weekends!

Let your creativity FLOW – I particularly love the posts on Jennifer Worts design and Taylor Hannah Architect.

Desire to Inspire – Whilst I love all of the pictures, most are a little to far ‘out there’ for me, but I still get some great ideas from this site.

Coco+Kelley - I just found this website the other day, and so far I am love, love, loving it!

Martha Stewart - I always have loved Martha and probably always will – but I am particularly loving this before and after.

I suppose inspiration is one thing, only time will tell if I can break the mould and be daring with my decoration!

Please let me know if you have any favourite sites that you can recommend….

T xx

No Snow

I had a great weekend at Mt Buller - only problem was there was no snow :(

Still we made the very best of it anyway...... Aggie (mil) and I took the chairlift up the mountain, went snowshoeing without the snow or the snowshoes (hiking, I think it is called!), treated ourselves to massages, caught up on our sleep and drank lots of hot chocolate (yum!).

All in all I wasn't too disappointed, it was great to still have a few days away and we got to check out most of the hotels on the mountain. However it has inspired me to start planning a trip for next year to Thredbo, though this time it will definitely be in August!!

Time for a completely self serving link - sorry :) If anyone is still looking for snow accommodation in August or September check out our snow pages on Travelzone.

NSW Snow Holidays

VIC Snow Holidays

Bye for now,

T xx

Mt Buller Here I Come!

This week I am lucky enough to be heading off to the snow with The Big Man’s Mum (my future mil). We are leaving very early on Thursday morning and staying up there for 3 nights - I can’t wait!!

The last time I saw snow was 3 years ago in Tasmania and before that it was in Waco, Texas (strange, but true!) and I have never actually been skiing. Suffice to say I am very excited :)

A couple of weeks ago I went shopping to buy some clothes for the upcoming trip, but I was completely unprepared for how expensive they are. I ended up just getting a pair of ski pants and am going to borrow a few bits and pieces from my future mil and hire everything else that I need. If I go again next year I will get a jacket and slowly build up my snow gear that way. I don’t think my bank balance (or The Big Man) would cope with a full blown ‘snow trip shopping spree’.

I plan to enjoy every moment and hopefully I will come back with lots of photos and no broken bones.

Check back soon!

T xx

Starlight Escape

When Little Miss Ava was in hospital she was visited by Captain Starlight (thanks to Erin xx) and she got such a kick out of it. So when I was given the chance to volunteer on one of the Starlight Escapes I jumped at the opportunity.

The Escape was held at Movie World on the Gold Coast and about 65 children and their families were invited (400+ people in total!). The day kicked off at 10am with a private screening of the very cool 4D Shrek Adventure, followed by a morning of rides and entertainment and then an amazing buffet lunch. Afterwards all of the Warner Bros characters turned up for photos - with Batman being the definite favourite with the kids.

I was so impressed with the lengths that the staff at Starlight and the companies that sponsored the escape (Axa and Movie World) went to in order to make sure that the day was really special for the kids and their families. Quite a few of the parents also expressed how overwhelmed they were - especially with the show bags that all of the kids received - which were packed with at least a $100 worth of Movie World goodies!

All in all it was a very rewarding day and something I will hopefully be doing again very soon :)

T xx

Little Miss Ava

Not everything in life goes as planned..... I didn't get over to Heron Island on the weekend, as my beautiful little niece Ava was admitted to hospital.

We got a phone call from our Brother in law just as we were leaving for the airport, letting us know that Ava was being flown down to the intensive care unit at Royal Brisbane Womens and Children.

Ava has asthma and that combined with a (suspected - tests aren't back yet) chest infection was stopping her from absorbing enough oxygen. I am sure that Jen that will explain more of the details on her blog.

Luckily Ava is now out of icu and in the regular childrens ward and is feeling much better! She is still on oxygen and a few medications, but she should be getting out later this week :)

Visiting the hospital is not something I have ever really had to do (except when I went to see Ava the day after she was born) and seeing the way that the doctors, nurses and staff have looked after Ava, Jen and Richard has given me a few things to think about....

Firstly I am very grateful for the fact that I haven't had to spend much time at hospitals before this. My family has been blessed with relatively good health and I have always taken that for granted. Ava was able to leave the icu after 36 hours, not all families are that lucky. My heart goes out to the parents and families of the children that need to spend considerably longer there.

I am so very impressed with each of the nurses that I have met. Their jobs must be mighty challenging at times and they all have such big smiles and lots of kind words for their patients.

I also think that Ronald McDonald House provides a really valueable service for families of sick children. I plan to ensure that I make a donation evertime I go to McDonalds from now on!

Ava and The Pooper

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Hopefully Ava gets out soon - in the meantime please send all of your love and kisses her way.

T xx

Thank Goodness for Long Weekends

No time to post, I am off to Heron Island for the long weekend....... I hope you all have a good one!

T xx

I Love Creations by Robyn

I just found this blog and I think Robyn's work is absolutely gorgeous!!

Enjoy - http://creationsbyrobyn.blogspot.com/

Back soon,

T xx

A Work in Progress

Yesterday I went out to the block to check on the progress of our house, and to be honest I really wasn't expecting too much to have happened. It has been raining on and off for the last 5 days. When I got out there is was so very very happy to see that we have internal walls now!

I have decided to make this blog a picture journey of the progress so far (for all of my family members that don't have facebook!).........

I think the pipes sticking up are our plumbing and electrics

Our Free Fence

The Big Man and the Pooper checking out the Waffle Pods

Our Slab from the back

Our Slab from the front

The frame!!

This is one of my favourite photos

Roof!

The Big Man and the Pooper in the Dining Room

These doors were the reason we fell in love with this design

The bricks don't really match the roof - we will be rendering soon (thanks Plug!)

Looking down the hall to the front door.

Hopefully I will have some more progress photos to put up very soon!

T xx

Still Living in Limbo

Today it is raining and I have to confess that I am not happy about that. Which is practically a sin considering that we are living in the midst of the longest drought in the history of south-east Queensland. I have a good reason for disliking the rain, so hopefully I will be forgiven..... Our house is still not finished, in fact it isn't even close to being finished and to make matters worse the roof is leaking in our little (not so) temporary home! The only one who doesn't seem to mind the rain is the Pooper, he found a hole behind the shed that had filled up with water and mud and had himself a very good time....

The Pooper was overdue for a bath anyway.........

The one thing I do love about the rain is that it gives me time for craft. I bought a ribbon caddy for my collection of ribbons a couple of weeks ago and I managed to get it beautifully decorated over the weekend. I choose a really pretty and colourful scheme to make up for the grey skies outside. Much easier to find the perfect ribbon now!

Before

After

Much better I think!

As much as I love craft weekends, I do hope it stops raining soon so that they can finish my house. I will post some photos of the progress soon.

T xx