A Sunday completely devoted to summer...

This weekend temps hit 32 degrees both days. Steve and I decided to spend a few hours at the beach today. It was so nice to hop in the car, drive 15 minutes and be at one of many great beaches. I really love love love living in Melbourne!:)

We went swimming, relaxed in the sun, caught some much needed rays (WOW, I'm pale!) and ate ice cream. The perfect day at the beach!

Lots of Yum Yum buses at the beaches!

Then, this evening we went for a little stroll through the botanical gardens, which are just around the corner from our house. They really are quite impressive. All the rain we've had over the last few months have really helped the gardens to blossom!

Pretty flowers and trees and bushes everywhere but these ones were especially nice! I adore the white leaves!

It was too hot to cook and well, we were lazy, so we picked up some Thai take away on the way home and relaxed in front of the TV. Ah, what a lovely way to spend one of the first Sundays of the summer season!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!

Tag!

Your hair:
Is newly BLOND! Yah!

Where is your cell phone?
Buried in the bottom of my work bag, still on silent. I'm terrible at remembering to keep my ringer on and my phone out! Sorry in advance to anyone who ever tries to call me!

Your mother:
Lives on the other side of the world, yet I always know she's right there if I need her:) xoYour father: Appreciated the simple things in life. You know, like 8 cans of sardines individually wrapped in his stocking or a root beer after he'd been racking leaves.

Your favorite food:

Pancakes!

Your dream from last night: Hmmm...I can't remember.

Your favorite drink: Strawberry or vanilla thick-shakes and Chardonnay.

Your dream/goal: To travel, travel, travel. See all I can of this world! Oh and maybe have one of these little squirts...

:)

What room are you in: Living room.

What is your hobby: Blogging, crafting, sewing, baking. A few of my favorite things:)

What is your fear: Okay, don't laugh but I have this new bizarre fear of a possum falling on me! It all started when I rolled open our rolling garage door and a possum and her baby fell out right beside me! They were sleeping inside the rolled up part. I. almost. dropped. dead. SERIOUSLY. Since then, I have had dreams of possums landing on me and clawing me and not letting go. I've woke up screaming a couple of times! I avoid walking under trees at night and very sloooowly open the garage door!

Where were you last night: Rox Salon, getting my hair done.

Something you are not: A hard-ass. Much more of a mush-ball;)

Muffins: One of my favorite things! I'm currently obsessed with the white chocolate and raspberry muffins at the cafe by my work! YUM!

Wish list items: This camera and a couch!

Where did you grow up: Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Last thing you did: Fed Jesse supper. Do you know that they don't say "supper" in Australia? They don't even know what it means!

What are you wearing: PJs...been wearing them all day! Pyjama day at work:)

Your TV: Needs to be dusted!

Your pets:

You mean this guy who thinks he's human and gets huffy if I wake him up too early? Ah, Bum Rubs...I wove you.

Your friends: All live too far away!

Your life: Is pretty awesome, I have to say!:)

Your mood:

Creative. I'm going to make some Christmas stuff after this!! I know it's early, but bare in mind, I'm going home to Canada for 2 weeks!

Missing someone:

Can't wait to catch up with my sisters and brother when I go home!

Vehicle: 2 Door Manual Toyota Yaris.

Something you’re not wearing:

Socks or shoes.

Your favorite store:

Gosh, I dunno. I really, really like thrift shopping. Does "thrift store" count?

Your favorite color: I have NO idea. I've never been able to answer this question! It's too stressful to choose!

When’s the last time you laughed: Today at work. Actually, I laugh a lot at work. The kids are pretty funny! I laughed especially hard today when one little boy asked how I turned my hair "lello";)

When’s the last time you cried: Hmmm...I'm a bit of a sap, so I cry often! I think the last time was on Tuesday! A good cry is good for the soul!:)

Your best friend:

Is a little cranky at the moment...

Luckily, best friend #2 rarely gets cranky!

One place you go over and over: Thai restaurant around the corner for take-away.

One person who emails me regularly:

Hmmm...not really anyone on a real regular basis. Although, this chick always makes an effort to find time to keep in touch via email...

Thanks Stace!

Favorite place to eat: Goodness...so many restaurants...I *love* eating out! But, I also love picnics!:)

Where do you want to be in 6 years: Anywhere that I'm surrounded by people I love, work that inspires me, good health and lots of happiness!:)

Okay, so now it's your turn! Copy, paste and share!:)

A new do...

So, after 4 hours, yes, 4 hours, I left the salon last night a blond woman again. Actually, this is the blondest I've ever been. It's a big change after the dark reddish color I've had for the last 6 months (can you believe we've been in Melbourne that long already???) and it's taking some getting used to! I keep catching my reflection in the mirror and doing a double take! I've missed the blond though, especially with summer just around the corner. Anyhoo, I'm off to work in my pjs. It's pyjama day today, a nice treat for teachers on a Friday!:)

Cup Day!

Today was Melbourne Cup day. "The race that stops the nation." It's also a public holiday in Melbourne, which meant a day off work. Yah! Steve and I aren't much into horse racing. I just know that it's a very prestigious race, with the winner making millions. It's part of a spring racing carnival and most people bet and everyone across Australia watches or listens to the race. The nation literally stops for the 2 or so minute race.

My favorite part of the race scene is seeing the ladies all over the city dressed for the event. They really do go all out and best of all, they all wear fascinators or large hats. How cool is that? When do you ever get an excuse to wear one of those? I want to go to the races just to have an opportunity to put something massively ridiculously huge on my head with a matching dress and heels! I love it!

Anyhoo, Steve and I took advantage of the day off and did a little exploring. We headed to the Mornington Peninsula (about an hour outside of Melbourne) and visited a couple of little towns called Rosebud, where we had a yummy lunch and Redhill, an area known for their cooler climate vineyards.

I get a little bored when Steve GPS-es...this is how I entertain myself:)

I took this photo because Steve has a very long eyebrow and it was reeeeeally bugging me! I'm a little obsessed with pulling out long eyebrows. I'm pretty sure it stems from my Dad getting me to pull his old man ones out. They bugged him just as much as they bug me!

Sadly, Steve doesn't care as much and wouldn't let me pull it out:(

Most of the drive goes along the coatline...very pretty.

Birds flying in a V. I think it's just amazing how they do this.

One of the look-offs. More pretties.

We went to the Eldridge vineyard and sampled some wine. It's just a small vineyard but was very nice. They make a really nice pinot noir. I'm sipping it as I type:)

Steve gets embarrassed when I take photos of him. You can see it by the look on his face! One of the reasons why I love doing it;)


Look what I put up on my front door! I know, I know...it's early. I don't want to hear it...I'm excited, ok?:) Going home in less than 3 weeks, makes the 8 weeks leading up to Christmas even more exciting!

A little of what I've been doing in the last few days...

~ Wearing sundresses and sandals. Yah!

~ Drying laundry in the sunshine in no time flat!

~ Sunscreening lots of little kiddies before playtime.

~ Making cookie dough and waiting until the sun goes down and the house cools off to bake it.

~ Eating ice cream on Lygon Street...


~ Laughing at my hairless husband...;)


~ Relaxing in the grass...


~ Swatting mosquitoes.

~ Enjoying a glass of white wine at dinner on a busy and bustling sidewalk.

~ Listening to the rain and watching our room light up with lightning...crazy thunder and lighting storms as I'm falling asleep...cooling everything off instantly!

Hmmm...I could be wrong but...I think summer is here!:)

So, with Halloween behind us...

...I'm already thinking Christmas! Does anyone have any cute crafty blogs to share that have inspiring Christmas ideas?:)

Happy Halloween!

Ah...it's that time of year again! I really like Halloween! Of course, I enjoy any reason for having an excuse to get dressed up in costume and act silly!
We had a massive Halloween day at work on Thursday (our busiest day). I dressed up as a fairy and the kids came as everything from a Ninja Turtle to a Dragon Princess. It was pretty cute!!! We also carved a pumpkin, which was super exciting because none of the kids had ever done that before, seeing as Halloween isn't really a big deal here. I put slime, cold spaghetti and pumpkin insides out for sensory play and we played a great game of toss the ghost into the plastic pumpkin. Of course there were lots of decorations and Halloween arts and crafts. We topped the day off with "Pirate's Gold" (pumpkin pastries) with "Witches' Broth" (banana milkshake) for lunch and "Worms in Dirt" (gummy worms in chocolate pudding) for afternoon tea.
It was a lot of fun!

That's one really awesome thing about working with kids that I missed when I wasn't doing it... the holidays are just so much more fun when you get to celebrate with the wee ones! I was pretty pooped though...all that fun means very hyper kiddies, so Steve and I are taking today pretty easy for Halloween. I think I've had my fill for another year!

Hope everyone has a very spooky and exciting Halloween!:)

Another splendid weekend!

We had another wonderfully relaxing weekend. Well, I did. Steve would have to speak for himself. Not sure if riding 3 hours on a trainer, followed by a run counts as relaxing to him or not. I, on the other hand, spent the day spring cleaning our house from top to bottom. Ah, feels so good to have it all organized and sparkling again! Makes me wanna create something new to add to the space! No time for that right now though...too much to do for work and Christmas before I go home in less than 4 weeks!
In other news...check out the awesome afghan I found at a thrift shop recently for only 4 bucks! I was thinking it would be fun to try to make one, but really...why bother when you can buy one for $4?? Feels good to relax and sip a glass of wine after a productive day of cleaning!

PS. I can't stop giggling at my hot husband's pics in the wetsuit. That guy sure does know how to make me laugh...for that I love him SO much!:) xo