Life Lately // All The Things!

'Kevin' the cat who's taken to living on our front porch

Wow, it’s been ages since I’ve posted anything, let alone an update on what’s been going on around here – and let’s be honest that has been a lot! So, what has been keeping me from updating this little space on the internet? Mostly my complete lack of internet! Since I moved into the new house we have had nothing but the measly mobile data supplied on our phone plans – not quite enough for blogging! I’ve missed writing (and reading all the other wonderful blogs) a lot but I have been finding ways to keep extremely busy while I’ve been sans internet. Here’s what I’ve been up to of late:

Working, working and working! Work has been crazy busy and I’ve yet to have a day off this term, as well as taking on a big project that’s eating up some of my free time as well, It’s hard but I’m learning new skills as well.

Planning a big party that we held last weekend – watch this space for all the details (I won’t drop the ball again, promise!)

All the cleaning and unpacking! We’re not finished yet but the house has been scrubbed within an inch of its life and I’ve unpacked enough boxes to build a small house out of! The end is definitely in sight, even if a few doors are still kept firmly shut against the mountains of clutter to be sorted!

Getting rid of carpets! It’s certainly not a task I anticipated embarking on so soon after moving into a new place but the dogs managed to rip a hole in the hallway carpets within days of moving in – so I started the monumental task of ripping them out, stripping back the awful 80s adhesive underlay, sanding and polishing… I’m currently on step two due to a complete lack of time but it’s been great to see the wooden boards emerging. I’m also very glad for my prior experience in my old house as it means I’m not stressing about it – I know just how long this task can take and I also know how satisfying it will all be once I have it looking nice!

Quadrant ensuring that there was no way Mark could leave her at the shelter!

Quadrant cat – another stray has wondered into our lives and taken up residence in our lounge room (not to mention Kevin, the cat that’s decided to live on our porch, definitely not a stray but still wants to live in our house!)

And here are the little things filling my day to day with joy:

My new literary obsession! 

Watching: old episodes of Hart of Dixie - pure escapism in the best form!
Reading: American Gods by Neil Gaiman - I just started and I already love it.
Listening to: the contented purrs of a cat that's finally found a loving home (not to mention the loud yelling when she's hungry!)
Cooking: not much - I'm still drowning in leftovers from the party!
Feeling: Tired - I've had so much going on lately that it's doing me in! In the best way possible!
Planning: lots of lessons in the unlikely subjects of Biology and Cooking!
Loving: the idea of a relaxed weekend at home.
Enjoying: starting to see some progress around the house.

Little things of note:

• We've booked all our eating spots for our holiday to the States and I'm finally starting to get excited (food makes everything seem real!)
• I've signed up for the next Hogwarts Running Club medal which means I'm still in the running for the Challenge Medal at the end of the year!
• My craft room/office space is starting to take shape - after nearly two years without one I'm more than a little excited!
• The Quadrant cat has been half killing mice so they crawl away and die and I have to hunt down their bodies before the house starts to smell too bad! (I'm sure you were all dying for that piece of information!)

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Life Lately // Life is Actually Pretty Good

Breakfast in the Barossa after a 6am wake up to get my car serviced 

Our lives are filled with Pinterest perfect images and the perfectly coordinated tones of Instagram, the curated lives of bloggers and the perfect shot posted to social media - it's enough to get you down! You find yourself wondering why your life isn't as pretty, perfect or well lit as all those online but, of course, neither are those shining example we find and greedily pin to our virtual pin boards. They are but a snap shot, a perfectly curated part of someones life, after all, who uploads a photo when they are sick in bed or when the dishes haven't been done in a few crazy day or you continuously seem to forget to bring the broom home from the other house (just me? ok then!)

A sneak peek at my new house with all it's red bench tops and faux wood panelling - definitely not Pinterest material!

These thoughts have been whizzing around my head a lot lately and, while I don't tend to document this stuff on my blog, I though this topic was maybe one I needed to write down and put out there. How do you write a lifestyle blog if you don't do anything interesting? I kept asking myself that and putting off posting until I did something 'blog worthy' but, of course, that's the wrong approach - my lifestyle blog should showcase my life and actually, my life ain't half bad right now!  

The hallway! A full 'before' house tour to follow - watch this space!

People who know me IRL know that I'm a bit of control freak (this is where I lose people because they are laughing so hard at the understatement of the year!) - I have to do everything myself because, in my mind, I'm the only person who can do it 'right,' most of this stems from my need to prove that, actually, I am very capable and I don't need someone else to tell me how to do things. This mentality has both been great, because I learn new skills and have become very capable in many different areas, and really stressful, because I need to do it all myself and really hate people helping - unless they are prepared to default to my clearly superior (read the sarcasm) way of doing things (i.e. letting me be the queen of my castle - and not always a nice one at that!) All that to say - sometimes I stress a lot, sometimes I need to step back and remind myself that life isn't always a perfectly curated Instagram feed, sometimes I need to remember that even if my life isn't picture perfect it can still be pretty damn great! So today I'm grateful my house is a mess because moving to my new home is taking precedent over cleaning; I'm grateful for coffee on the go because I don't have time for a relaxing cup of tea; I'm grateful for all those people who are still offering help despite my exacting standards and I'm grateful for you - whoever you are, reading this blog, being a part of my life in any way - thank you!

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Pupdate: Akela

When I first did my 'introducing' post for Akela I had had him for about a week and he was only about 10 weeks old. Now he is just past 5 months old and has been part of our lives for about 3 months I thought I would give you a little update on his progress. Here's what you need to know:

• He now weighs over 20kg and stands at 60cm tall (to the withers)
• His tail and ears are both still too large for his body.
• He is very smart and is picking up commands and general obedience very well - his puppy destruction has mostly been confined to cardboard and papers.
• He is very vocal and lets us know if anyone walks past the back gate or comes to the mailbox.
• He is quickly learning his own strength and to change it based on his opponent - he is very gentle when he plays with Jack but knows how to rough and tumble when he's playing with a larger friend.
• He now sleeps most of the night through, only getting up once to go outside.
• he's very snuggly and thinks he's a big lap dog... I may encourage him a bit! 

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Life Lately: Thursday Update

Hello, thanks for stopping by for this little life update. Those that know me IRL know that I’ve had a lot going on at the moment and not all of them have been good things, consequently this little place on the internet has had to take the backseat. I have missed devoting time to my blog but I also will admit to feeling a little uninspired lately – I think I’ve just been too tired to think up new ideas!

So what’s been taking up my time lately: paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork! I’ve had applications for work, some legal documents and so much budgeting (trying to make the dollars and cents add up was hard this year!) I’ve also been trying to get on top of the mess that is currently my house, trying to sort out all the stuff I brought with me as well as all of Mark’s things that were left at his parent’s house until this past month. It’s been hard work and we are having to leave a reasonable amount of stuff packed away just to be able to move around the house! It’s been a lot of hard work and I’m just relieved that I’m starting to get on top of it all! Here's an update on the little things I've been up to lately: 

Watching: Old episodes of the Gilmore Girls in preparation for A Year in the Life.
Reading: The Hate List by Jennifer Brown - I just finished it this afternoon, two days after I started it!
Listening to: Revolution Radio by Green Day. On repeat.
Cooking: Nothing today! Had a pub meal for dinner.
Feeling: Overwhelmed - I've had so much on my plate recently and it just doesn't seem to stop piling up!
Planning: A relaxing weekend at home without needing to drive down to Adelaide!
Loving: Walking around without a thick winter coat on - I feel so light!
Enjoying: Getting out walking with my not-so-little puppy.

Little things of note:

• We booked our trip to America (specifically California) for the July holidays next year.
• Akela has turned out to be quite the little terror and needed ANOTHER trip to the vet - this time someone bit him a little too hard while there were playing on a rather sensitive part of his anatomy. 
• I've been getting back into the kitchen and cooking up some simple little meals - nothing fancy but it's good when I get the time to actually cook!

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10 things that have made me happy this week

The first week back of term is always a bad one for me, I'm a person of routine and going back to the uncertainty of relief of work is always difficult for me, because of that I find I need to really focus on the little things - even if they aren't the most exciting!

1. Catching up with my Dad in Burra last weekend - lunch, cider tasting and coffee with scones, the perfect way to end the holidays.
2. Putting on classical music for the bunnies and watching them relax - it helps drown out distractions and makes them feel calm enough to stretch out and sleep.
3. Pub takeaway for dinner on Wednesday night - didn't have to cook and for once it wasn't even soggy! 
4. Watching old episodes from the first season of Gilmore Girls - even if it's mildly scary that I'm now closer to the age of Lorelei than Rory! 
5. Being able to take off my jacket yesterday and enjoy the sunshine in a light weight shirt.
6. An unexpected two days at work for the week.
7. My holds coming in at the library - new books to read always make me happy!
8. Hot cups of earl grey tea.
9. Lego bunnies arriving in the mail - since Mark's Lego takes up such a large part of our house I decided we needed some bunnies to add to the collection.
10. Being able to see a noticeable improvement in Akela's training - sometimes it takes ages to start seeing results but it's so rewarding when you do!

*** Happy sharing inspired by Rosie ***

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Weekend Wanderings: A Team Reunion

After a false start on Friday (getting land locked by flooding) I ventured down to Adelaide on Saturday to catch up with some old friends. My friends, Amy and Angela, both came over from interstate and we hadn't all been in the same state for about 5 years! We stayed at Amy's brother's house and used it as a base camp to go out and explore the city like we use to do when we were younger. We started the night off at Casablabla where we shared some tapas and caught up on everything that's been going on in each others lives. Shortly after we had eaten we were joined by another old friend, Raima, who still lives locally and agreed to show us some of the better places to go in the city, now that we are no longer university students!

Hummus, pumpkin and beetroot dips - yum!

L-R Amy, Angela and Raima

After we had eaten our fill, and made a quick detour to pose with the famous Rundle Mall pigs (and recreate some old photos from the last time we all went out together), we headed to 2K.W. a sophisticated bar situated on the 8th floor of it's building. Raima treated us all to cocktails (thanks Raima!) and we sipped on them overlooking the views of the city.

The view from 2K.W

Our cocktails - The Jam Factory

After indulging in a cocktail over looking the city of Adelaide we headed to Bank Street which had, in my opinion, excellent decor with exposed brick walls and bare Edison bulbs. The place, however, was a bit over crowded and while enjoyable enough (we found a seat and continued to talk) didn't hold our attention for long! Being slightly older now than when we first spent time in the city we all decided to call it a night and headed home! It was amazing to reunite the A Team (Amy, Angela + Anya) after so long apart, as well as get to know Raima a little better and I'm looking forward to the next reunion!  

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Life Lately: Storm of the Century

The last 24 hours have been interesting, to say the least, so I thought I would take the opportunity to give you all a quick update on the very wet world I'm living in right now. South Australia has been hit with one of it's worst storms in 50 years and while we, personally, have avoided the worst of it, it has been fairly wild! At about 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon the whole state lost all power - while Adelaide regained power after only about 4 hours up here in the mid north we were without it for just over 24 hours (some places are still without, poor souls!) The last 24 hours have consisted of eating sandwiches (bocconcini, tomato and spinach pesto), reading by candlelight, talking and shivering under a pile of animals (imagine a bed piled high with dogs, people and a cat all snuggled together to keep warm!) I'd like to say that the worst is passed but they are tipping another storm tonight, possibly worse than last nights! (might have to say bye bye to the power again for awhile!)

I took these photos huddled in the doorway so as not to get too wet, I know compared to many from around that state they look very mild (and they are), but I wasn't going to venture out during the worst of it and luckily for us we have had no major damage (so far). My heart goes out to those from Blyth who were hit by the worst of it, including a tornado. Stay safe South Australia!

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Life Lately: Wednesday Update

The last few weeks have been crazy busy between work and the menagerie of animals and finding time to write posts has been hard, let alone finding the content! no one wants to hear about my job, after all! He's a quick update on the little things that have been filing my life lately:

Watching: Stranger Things - Well, I just finished it and loved it! Cannot wait for the next season.
Reading: Wizard and Glass (Book #4 of Stephen King's Dark Tower series)
Listening to: Comeback Kid by The Band Perry
Cooking: Lamb Yiros - one of my easy go to meals for busy days.
Feeling: Tired but relieved - I spent most of last night up with a dog who had broken into the dog food container and was feeling very sorry for himself! He's definitely feeling better now he's gotten it all out of his system.
Planning: A better system for storing the dog food!
Loving: My dear father and his wife for coming up and helping me clear the weeds from the back yard.
Enjoying: Some solid days at work before the holidays.

Little things of note:

• Akela's ears have now reach the crazy stage - one is almost always up (if a little sideways) and the other one is still firmly down. My little puppy is growing up too quickly!
• The internet has been S.L.O.W... like, shoot me now, slow. I'm assured it's because they are working on the NBN and that it will all be worth it but in the mean time it's less than fun.
• I've been grappling with this Twitter thing - I'm not sure I'm convinced but I guess time will tell! (link at the bottom of post if you want to follow along with my awkward Twittering)
• I'm more than a little sad that spring seems to have given way to winter again.
• Those faces up there at the top of this post... they are making me pretty happy at the moment! 

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Weekend Wanderings: 1st Birthday Party

My weekend was a busy one with two birthday parties - one, a joint birthday and housewarming for Mark's bother and his girlfriend, the other my niece's first birthday. The one I want to talk about today is the first birthday of my darling niece. I have photographed the amazing decor and food that my sister-in-law and brother made, I think they did a great job, don't you?

On arrival guests were greeted by a sign all about the birthday girl, her current loves, and milestones. To one side was a table for the gifts and to the other sat party bags for the other small children in attendance.

 Next came the food table - lunch consisted of mini quiches, pizzas, cold meats and cheese as well as dips, biscuits and fruit. The food was a mix of dairy free and gluten free to suit all the dietary needs within my family. The food table was decorated with pretty framed photos from a birthday shoot with the little lady and personalised bunting. Beyond the food table was an area set up with play mats, tunnels and a small ball pit for the youngsters.

Dessert was large and varied consisting of cupcake flowers, various slices, cookies and bliss balls - I wish I could direct you to the recipes but alas I don't have them! Suffice to say not only was the majority of the desserts gluten and lactose free they were also really delicious and certainly did not lack for flavour!
 

And lastly, the cake! this simple but elegant cake was a gluten free, lactose free chocolate cake made from... (wait for it) quinoa! I had heard of quinoa cakes before but would never have imagined that they would actually work. If I had any complaint to make about the cake it would be that it was far to rich after so many sweets.

Not long after having the cake it was time for the birthday girl's nap so we left to hurry over to our second party for the day! It was a very long day but certainly one to be remembered. I, for one, can't wait for the next reason to celebrate.

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