girly weekend #2...

our little trip to the Collingwood Children's Farm...

Nora found it difficult to leave. 

What a beautiful way to spend a Saturday...or any day.

-  If you're wondering what the mysterious spot on Nora's nose is, she had a dive at childcare the day we came to Melbourne. Poor little sausage...

-  Total photo overload...

girly weekend #1...

Nora and I have come to Melbourne for a lovely weekend with my sister, Tracy. It's beautiful weather and luckily Tracy lives close to the essentials of Melbourne...

So far we've enjoyed delicious coffee at the lovely Cibi's - child friendly and great service; walked up and down Brunswick, bought some LongLissies, had a swing and have now returned home for a nap.

Some pictures of today's adventures and my sister's lovely home.  Tomorrow morning we're off to the Collingwood Children's Farm...

the everyday calm...

Following the holidays and some lovely unpredictability, we're back into 'it'. Since then, I've been mulling over how to capture 'that holiday feeling' into the everyday week.  I realised its not necessarily the holiday I'm seeking, I quite enjoy my home and work routine, rather it's the feeling I get when everything feels calm and well....good. I feel a little more like the person I strive to be.

After a few more daydreaming minutes watching Nora roll around in the sand I'd come up with a condensed list of what gives me shrills on the inside...

- finding a beautiful jacket

- a lingering breakfast

- omitting the worry and enjoying my child/family
- walking through any market
- dining with an incredible group of people
- trying something new
- drinking tea out of a fancy teacup
- enjoying fresh and delicious food
(with no afterthought other than "ill be eating that again")
- making something beautiful

- listening to a song that curls me into a reverie
- when lunch with friends turns into dinner
- walking into a cafe or shop and thinking "they've got it!"
- growing something from scratch

Obviously finding and buying a beautiful jacket is not going to make it's way into my 'everyday' (sigh). However, taking time to drink tea out of a teapot and growing/sharing with family and friends are all things that can be somehow incorporated into our everyday.

Life is far from monotonous, we* sometimes just forget to include the things that makes us quiver. laugh. wonder.

What makes you feel calm?  Do you bring those things into your everyday or save it for the holidays?


*and by 'we', I mean 'me'...

carry on summer...

Nora and I met up with a dear friend today for some coffee (to attach the drip) and a trip to the beach.

A constant fun-filled activity that we take advantage of at least two or three times a week. Time gets lost when we're hiding our toes in the sand, squealing and jumping waves.

There's nothing like hanging on to summer holidays...

date day...

Since it's been school holidays my lovely man has been home for the last two weeks. Woot!

Nora still went to childcare last Tuesday so Joel and I took a day out to spend some time together, check out some salvage yards and drink lots of coffee.
And we took our time over everything...it was delicious. What a luxury!

I'm not sure you appreciate the small things, like having time to eat and drink slowly, before you have children. It was bliss! And our bellies thanked us.

So here are parts of the day for your viewing pleasure:

Morning tea, including the BEST chai latte I've EVER had,
at the Mockingbird Lounge

Sitting outside for lunch in my oversized sunglasses

One of the many beautiful streets we wandered down

and a blissful end at home...

Blessed....

What would you call an absolute luxury on your days off?  

Good Times...

Hello Hello!
Getting back into the groove after the holiday was a little harder than expected...

Here are some snaps from our trip away -

One of the many beautiful breakfast's we indulged in.

Mushrooms in a white wine sauce, chilli and dill on ciabatta.

Yes....breakfast.

We had a brilliant time away.  Nora was truly amazing at all points of the trip, we're really proud of her and look forward to many more adventures in the future.  Koh Samui was a great destination and the Thai people are beautiful, smiley and so helpful.  We had a lot of time to stop, think, re-evaluate, not think, eat and enjoy happy hour.

We're very blessed...

Leaving on a jet plane...

Today, we leave on our adventure to Koh Samui in Thailand.  We're nervous and excited. Joel's never been overseas before and well...we're travelling with a 15 month old. It feels like we've been planning forever so I didn't think this day would actually come. Now that it has, it feels pretty surreal.

I've bought Nora these cute Fizz Green Native's:

I figured we'd be spending most of our time around water and it is possible that it may rain most days, so these little waterproof beauties should pull through!

Since we have a 7 hour and then another 2 hour flight to get to Koh Samui, I did some trolling through the blogs to find some tips on travelling with an infant.  These were some amazing tips from the lovely A CUP OF JO blog.  Check it out, it will definitely provide some great guidance on your next trip with the bubs.

Do you have any more tips on travelling with children?

P.S. I'll hopefully be having an internet free holiday so will not get to any posts until we return.  I look forward to sharing some holiday snaps with you.  Thanks so much for visiting...