The Sun is out...

..and the birds are chirping.  What a beautiful start to the day!

I have been so busy with school returning and I am finding it really hard to get back into the rhythm of the school run.  I am usually so organised, extremely punctual and a slightly uptight person but something has happened to me over the school holidays and it's changed me into a slow moving, slightly late, less anxious, more chilled person.  I think I kinda like it.

My house is not as neat,
Dinner is a little later,
The girls are a little dishevelled
The dog is scruffier

But, I smile more,
I have more time to sit with the girls,
play with the dog,
and chat with friends.

I can see a pile of washing and my eye is starting to twitch.  I am not sure how long this chilled version is going to hang out for.

Keeping busy...and a Giveaway

It still raining here in Brisbane and we have been stuck inside for days. I can't tell you how excited my girls were when I showed them some gorgeous Goose Grease craft kits I received from Finlee & Me. I love that these kits include everything you need for an art activity. As well as the main craft item, they include the brushes, paint and the topcoat (and 2 hours of silence) all in a neat little carry bag. They are great to use now or to pack away for a rainy day or holidays.

My girls have been busy making wooden versions of our family. I am not sure why they are giggling so much while they are decorating the version of me. If I was a more arty mum, I can imagine it would be fun to cut up fabric, use sequins and little buttons and glue them on.

Next we are tackling the DYI Yo-yos. I think I am more excited than the girls. I think I will break out the sequins for this, it'll look more impressive when I do 'around-the-world' or 'walk-the-dog'.

Giveaway
To add to the excitment, Finley & Me has offered three lucky people the chance to win one DYI kit each. The three prizes are One DYI Family kit, one DYI Top kit and a DYI Yo Yo kit. It is so easy to enter, you need to like Finlee & Me and Redcliffe Style on facebook and comment either below or on facebook to register your interest. Make sure you do this before 6am on 6th February 2012. How easy is that??

We will announce the winners on Monday 6th February.

Please visit Finlee and Me, this is a wonderful site with so many fun and great products for children.

Miss 6 review - "It's all good, I like the painting and the brushes are really good"

Miss 8 review - "It was fun and creative, I liked painting the daddy"

People Amaze me

It's so easy to see the behaviour or actions of nasty, unkind or petty people but what I have been made more aware of through facebook and blogging is the extreme kindness of people.

There is a terribly sad story of a blogger that recently lost a children through illness and then last night her husband past away from a heart attack. I have seen an amazing amount of people reaching out wanting to help. If you would like to help this lady and her other three boys you can find information at Seven Cherubs

Locally, there is the wonderful business Lash Me.  They asked people on facebook to suggest ladies that have had a rough time and need a boost so they could offer them a complimentary service.  So many people responded with worthy recipients of the generous prize but even more heartwarming, many other local business like Beautiful You, Petite Princess Parlour, Arke Hair, Nailed in Suburbia, Kidmans Hair, Shoes on Scarborough and so many more, donated other prizes for the ladies needing a boost.

I am so inspired by all these wonderful people and business.  Seek them out and give them some love back.

I think we need to remember to look for the kindness and love in the people around us.

A stolen hour....

My husband, children and dog have all left the house for a morning walk. The temperature seems perfect for it and the rain has briefly stopped. They were all smiling, loaded up with hats and cameras with sweaters tied around their waists. The dog was running around them smiling, she really does smile. They had mapped out their walk to go around the water and to Newport and I couldn't join them because I have a lot to do around the house.

Am I disappointed? Yes, but that is the life of a mum. I wave them good bye, and warn them to not lose the dog.

I close the door, and look around at where to start. I only have about an hour.

A long scented bath....

My feet up and grown up television.....

The book I am having trouble getting into for book club....

There is so much to do and so little time.  

I have decided on the bath with a face mask, multi tasking.  But first I'll put on a load of washing and the dish washer, that way it sounds very busy and houseworky, then quickly wipe over a few benches with a cloth soaked in disinfectant, then it smells like I have been very busy too.

Exciting Plans...

School has returned in Queensland and now the rush is on to get out of the house in the morning again.  To make it even worse, it has been raining non-stop for the entire first week.  My hair is fine, frizzy and limp, these are all really attractive together.

So I have been talking with my good friend, Toni Hilton.  Toni owns Beautiful You in Margate and is also the main carer of my hair.  Toni has kindly agreed to help put together some articles for Quick Tips and Tricks for your Hair.  We hope to give you some nice and quick suggestions on what you can do to your hair with limited time.  We will do a few articles focusing on short, medium and long styles.  Toni has some great suggestions and I can't wait to share them with you.

I'd like to thank the academy

I am thrilled, the wonderful Ozziethriftmumma awarded me the Liebster Award.  This was such a lovely

surprise, thank you so much. This is my first blog award and I am going to milk it. 

Liebster is German and translates to "dearest,"favourite" and "beloved.

By giving this award to a blogger you are telling them they write a beloved and favourite blog.

1. Say thanks to the amazing blogger who awarded your liebster and link back to 
    their blog

2. Choose 5 fantastic blogs and leave a comment on their blog letting them know. 

    (They must have under 200 followers)

3. Post the award on your blog. 

   (Right click on the award image and save it to your hard-drive and then upload it to 
    your blog)

4. Enjoy your Liebster award

5. And best of all – have fun and spread the leib!

It was very hard to narrow it down to five, but here are five of my favourite blogs that are my choices for the Liebster Blog Award;

1. Blundermum

2. The Imperfect Housewife

3. A Jane day

4. Diary of a SAHM

5. Glossy Beauty

I love reading their blogs and look forward to reading more.

Rainy day Etiquette

We have a lot a rain in Queensland at the moment and a friend and I were struggling with our umbrellas in a crowd and she suggested that I should write a post about rainy day etiquette.  Well, gorgeous girl (you know who you are), here it is:

I think the biggest problem in the rain is with the umbrella.  The umbrella is a weapon and must be treated as one:

• An umbrella is to keep rain off you, if you are undercover you don't need it anymore.  You should close it all the way and aim the tip down.  I wonder about the people that leave them up.  Is it laziness? Have they have forgotten they are holding something above their heads? or do they think the sky is falling?;
• When walking in a crowd try to raise the sharp points above eye height.  I know this is may get you a little wetter, but water will dry, it's not worth someone losing an eye;
• Don't angle the umbrella so the water drains off down an innocent bystanders back.  I am not sure if it's my height, but this seems to happen to me a lot; and
• when entering a building, look around you for people and when it's clear, shake off the excess water before you enter (if possible); and

If in doubt, tie your hair back, put on some waterproof mascara and bright lipstick, a black outfit and some colourful gumboots and go jump in puddles.

What I am lovin' right now

I am loving the new Garnier BB Cream.  You have probably heard about this cream and there is a good reason everyone has been talking about it. BB means Beauty balm or blemish balm and they have been big in Asia for a while and have found their way here at last.

This cream is a combination of skincare, make up and sunscreen.  It is brilliant for the lazy lady that wants to put in minimal effort with maximin results. They call it the miracle skin perfector.  It's lightweight, with vitamin C, mineral pigments, SPF 15 UV filters and a light cover up.  This really is great for non make up people, because it doesn't feel like you are wearing any.

Also the price is only $14 approx. So perfect for the lazy and cheap lady.

I love dill.  The herb.

I am also loving my new Wittner boots. I had been on a mission to find boots like this for a while. How awesome are the sales at the moment? These amazing boots were down from $190 to $59. The leather is so beautiful and soft and the boots so carelessly slouchy. I think they'll look great with a dress in summer and even better with tights or jeans in winter.  I am not sure I'll be able to shop out of sales ever again.

This reminds me that I also love the new parking system at Chermside.  No more driving around looking for a vacant park.

Lastly, I am loving my new colour and cut. I visited Danielle at Beautiful You yesterday for some maintenance. My hair was in desperate need of some love after being twisted, knotted, braided and ignored for most of the school holidays. Beautiful You has some fantastic specials on for new customers at the moment, 50% off hair and beauty services. What a bargain!!

What a nice day!

Yesterday I look my girls down to Valori Coffee Lounge in Scarborough for a lesson in paper making.  Lesa Hepburn was the paper expert and she was amazing with all the eager children.  I got to sit back and nurse my excellent coffee (made with Neli beans) and delicious Hazelnut log.  Well, I almost got to enjoy the log until the girls saw my eyes roll in delight when I took a bite and they escaped the paper making briefly to demolish the remaining 3/4.

Lesa makes gorgeous paper, gives lessons and you can also order paper making kits from her.  Have a look at her websites How to make paper kit and Red Hot Fibre

Then I delivered my little angels to a good friend and I skipped off to visit Katrina at Lash me. I love Katrina, she does an amazing job and she is always so cool to hang out with. She had some serious work to do with my overgrow brows but she took to the challenge with gusto and I went from Wolverine to a lady in a few minutes. Lash me is at North Lakes and specialised in Lashes, brows and spray tanning.

Then because the day was so beautiful, we finished the day of with a dip in the pool and a chilled Corona. What a great ending to a summer day!

Looking for something local to do?

If you are like me and always looking for new and interesting things to do around the Peninsula you must have a look at this facebook page 365 Things to do in Redcliffe or their webpage www.iloveredcliffe.com.au. I recently discovered them and think they are so helpful. They are dedicated to finding new things to do on the Peninsula and each week they list a new activity. Thank you for all your great work!

If you have any suggestions of things to do in Redcliffe, I am sure they would love to hear from you.

365 Things to do in Redcliffe
www.iloveredcliffe.com.au
damien@weloveredcliffe.com.au
0403 044 424

Squeaky voices are slowly driving me crazy

So, I have had two little girls following me every where for 7 weeks.  Two little budgie voices asking question after question.  I love them a lot and it has been great hanging out with them, but sometimes you really need silence.  So after a morning of "Muuum, why do grown ups have hair down there, do you think _____ (pick a name) does? Muuum, why do dogs smell other dogs bottoms? Muuum, why is my poo black? Muuum, if god told you to hit me would you? Mumm, does it hurt when babies come out? I gave up and took them to AMC (Hoyts) at Kippa Ring to watch Chipmunks 3.

What was I thinking??  If I compare squeaky budgie voices to squeaky chipmunk voices, it's like comparing Paris Hilton to Aretha Franklin or Justin Beiber to Pavarotti.  It was like being forced to rub towelling on your teeth (I hate this) while you had to watch and listen to someone crunching on potato chips with their mouth open.

Afterwards, I asked my girls what they thought.  They loved it, particularly the singing.  That was singing??  I thought it was a documentary on how to kill cats.

Mean Girls

I was watching the movie Mean Girls with my girls and they had a million questions about the mean girls and their behaviour.  To be honest, the budgie voiced, machine gun paced questions totally ruined the movie for me. I was looking forward to watching a movie written and directed by the awesome Tina Fey, watching Tim Meadows in anything and seeing Lindsay Lohan for more than just a joke line in a stand up act.

Some things I realised during this movie are:
1. Lindsay Lohan didn't totally suck;
2. Tim Meadows can make me laugh by just looking at his face;
3. My 6yo doesn't need to take a breath when she is talking non-stop; and
4. that mean girls still exist in the grown up world. They haven't changed, they still try to drag others down, alienate people, lie, manipulate and bully but take away their youth, their beauty and you are just left with a nasty older person.

Ahh, the life lessons we can learn from Teen TV.  I am thinking Heathers, The Lost Boys or The Breakfast Club for the next lesson.

Reusable Sandwich bags - and I'm not talking about reusing the glad wrap

I dropped by Appleseed Lane for what I hope is the last item I need to purchase for school.  Appleseed Lane is a gorgeous children's boutique in Brighton. They have so many cute things in this shop but I was strong and only purchased what I had come for. The mega popular reusable sandwich bags by Keep Leaf. If you want to be in the in crowd this year - you need these. I love them instead of glad wrap or plastic.  Besides the fact that they look cute, they can be tossed into the dishwasher or washing machine to be cleaned, this is great for a busy (lazy) mum.  These are selling fast! Usually $11 but they have 25% off at the moment.

I see they have some matching lunch bags coming in soon too.  I am going to find them hard to resist. I only wish that I made myself a packed lunch so I could swing them about as I skip off to my office (which is in my kitchen, so it would be a little silly).

Appleseed Lane Boutique
Shop1/11 North Road, Brighton
3269 1080
www.appleseedlane.com.au

You've got to love a Freebie

As you know, I love freebies attached to the magazines. This morning I had to make a trip to Kippa-Ring for some necessary supplies and as I rushed through Coles I glimpsed across at the racks of magazines looking for the telltale plastic wrapping or protruding cardboard notifying me of the freebies attached. Excitedly dreaming of lip gloss, tweezers or a make up brush and what did I see ....... nothing .... not even magazines. It was past 11am, how can they be so late in stocking the magazine shelves? Seriously, it's magazine Monday, they should stock magazines before milk or bread. Who is running this circus?

I took a deep breath and walked to the news agency next door. This is usually not the best plan because the freebies are usually only in Woolworth or Coles. As I am walking towards the magazines, I notice one pile significantly high than the others...a thick magazine....wrapped in plastic...enclosing something. Gold I tell you, I struck gold, Cleo this month has a free maxi Seduce dress worth $129 attached. There are two choices, a black one or a pink one with orange trim.

 I am a happy girl, sitting here in my pink Seduce maxi, with my black Seduce maxi wrapped around my shoulders reading how Katy Perry wants to get back with Russell Brand.  I'm pulling for you crazy kids.

Guest Post - Styling You

I am very excited! I have a guest post at Styling You today.  Styling you is a wonderful blog by talented Nikki Parkinson. You will love it.  Pop over and visit www.stylingyou.com.au.

Bow Wow Chow

The other day we arrived home and our dog was waiting at the front gate.  We all commented on what a devoted girl she was and how much she obviously adored us (me).  She must have the sixth sense and know when we are getting closer.  We are so in tune with each other. I felt like the Australian female dog whisperer.

Then I noticed a box about 2 metres way from her, on the other side of the gate. It wasn't moving and or ticking, so I picked it up and discovered inside was a gourmet feast of doggy treats. The smells must have been wafting through the air and tickling her not-so-devoted-after-all nostrils.

This delicious box of doggy delicacies came from Bow Wow Chow and they are located on our Peninsula. The treats are packaged nicely and have fun names like Breakfast in bed..., Sunday Roast, Beef Bark, Chicken Cordon Bleu and more. My dog is going crazy for them.  She is doing everything on command in hope that she is rewarded.  Seriously, now is the time to teach her how to do cartwheels or play the piano.

Your dog will love these, or gift them to a friend('s dog).

Bow Wow Chow
http://www.facebook.com/Bowwowchowbarkery
www.bow-wow-chow.com.au
0410 158 003

Hunting for Poachers

It's true, sometimes we have to leave the Peninsula and this is one of those occasions. You will need to put on your party dress and your strutting heels (or your dress shirts and shiny shoes) because the talented, local band called "Hunting for Poachers" playing at the Princess Theatre on the 18th February 2012. This is a two person band with the lovely, talented Holly Banks on vocals and the awesome Thomas Hobbs on guitar.  Come out and support two great local talents.

I will even break my own curfew for them, but I will be very grumpy the next day, so beware.

Birthday Botox??

I have a birthday next month and I am very excited. No, there isn't anything special about this one, no big 0 or party planned -  just that it's mine. I love birthdays and I will tell everyone it's coming, I'd even wear a birthday girl badge if people didn't think I was weird. I happily skip around for a month beforehand in anticipation. I have no problems with my age, 38 nearly 39. I am a little surprise at the number but I wouldn't want to go back to the 20s for all the chocolate in Coles or Moet in Dan Murphy. The twenties were ruled by silly emotions, working too hard and too long for other people and drinking sweet, creamy cocktails in dim night clubs. The thirties have been great and the late thirties have been the best half (well, third).

My husband always chooses my presents and he does an excellent job, but this year I quietly whispered "I just want you to know that I wouldn't be insulted if you gave me a botox voucher", he scoffed and told me that the lines give me personality (Thank you darling, yours too). I am happy with personality but I want the personality to be happy. I have angry lines between my eyebrows, or they could also be from deep thinking or confusion. I would only like those ones smoothed out, I'd be happy to keep the others.

I know he is probably right, but I can't help but imagine how the world would smile back at me if it didn't look like I was always frowning at it.

Pet Peeves.....Table Manners

Is it just me, or do table manner seem to have disappeared. Some things that drive me completely nuts are;

• Pointing with your utensils. Don't point your knife at me unless you intend to stab me with it;
• Eating with your mouth open or talking with your mouth full. I don't want to see your masticated food and you look like a cow;
• Starting to eat before everyone has their food and is seated. It's not hard to wait. If you are literally going to die from hunger, you can always ask if you can start. It is worse manners to die at the table than to start eating;
• Holding the utensils like a caveman (or woman) or leaning your elbows on the table while you are eating;
• Pouring your own drink. Ask around, we all want to get drunk too.
• Getting too drunk.  It's from not sharing.
• Leaving the table before everyone has finished. If you have to, then at least excuse yourself;
• Not thanking the host. Even if you really didn't like the food (don't tell them), you have to appreciate the effort they put in;

I had better stop now. I can see I am on roll and soon no-one will ever want to dine with me again.