~ this week in stills ~

 

 

I know its an absolute cliche to say it but I really cannot believe how fast this year is flying by.
We've just finished 3rd term...only 10 weeks of school left for the year and then my baby will be finished kinder and off to full-time school (sob!)
It was the school's 60th birthday this week. We had a music assembly, many renditions of Birds of Tokyo's "lanterns" song and then a lantern parade through the streets of Sandy Bay on a cold and rainy night - lots of fun.

1.  My grade 4 photo from the same school my children now attend.  The lady who was the cleaner when I was there still helps out in the classrooms most days - and she remembers me (eeep! - that can't be a good sign).  I'm the one with waaaay too much hair (nothing's changed) in the front row.  How daggy we all look!

2.  I like a fund-raiser that's actually useful - these are really good t-towels - and so cute!

3.  Very Tasmanian homework.  I love the comment from the teacher - my chatty daughter struggles to stop giggling and gossiping long enough to get most of her work done.

4.  Playing memory with grandma.

5.  The tall-ships in full sail heading out of Hobart and towards Sydney.

6.  The park gang - hogging the swings and loving the spring sunshine

7.  Purple meringues for the grand-final.  Our team didn't come first but we're still very proud Freo fans.

8.  The blue-bells are springing up everywhere in my garden  - love that soft blue.

Its holidays now. We're planning less routine and more fun. Hopefully some park trips, MONA, sleepovers, a walk on the mountain and some beachcombing.

How's your week looking?
I'm linking up at the Beetleshack with Em.

♥

~ taking stock : me, today ~

I really enjoyed Pip's taking stock list last month 

(I asked Lil if she would like to do one too and it was a great insight into my very quiet and introspective child)

So here's today's - its very clear I'm suffering a bad case of purple fever.   

Here's me last month as well.

Making : the kids blow up balloons in Freo colours
Cooking : purple meringues
Drinking : green tea with rose petals from T2 – my new addiction
Reading: Jo Nesbo
Wanting: new sandshoes (mine are falling apart and a bit stinky)
Looking: at the mountain out my window every day for a moment of calm
Playing: sleeping queens with the youngest
Wasting: good sleep time by staying up too late watching crap tv
Fixing: Flop the dog whose ear is falling off
Deciding: whether to sign the contract for a new job
Wishing: on shooting stars
Enjoying: spring popping up in my garden
Waiting: for snail mail surprises
Liking: greek yoghurt and fruit on my muesli
Wondering: how in can possibly be nearly October
Loving: my new rainbow cushions
Pondering: activities for the school holidays
Considering: planting some new seeds today
Watching: Cloudstreet on dvd and loving it
Hoping: that Freo will play well today – and maybe even win
Marvelling: at my children’s resilience
Needing: more uninterrupted sleep
Smelling: all the lovely jasmine in the garden
Wearing: purple today (have you spotted the theme of the day?)
Following: lots of lovely blogs
Noticing: the little things (always)
Knowing: my intention are good
Thinking: I really should get around to learning to crochet
Feeling: calm
Admiring: pretty spring gardens in the neighbourhood
Buying: some new gym gear with my birthday voucher
Getting: stronger
Bookmarking: recipes for spring salads
Opening: lovely surprise mail from our IG mail exchange
Giggling: at my children’s dancing 

 

Did you try this last month?

Do let me know if you join in today - I may not make a lot of lists myself but I love reading them!

 ♥

Go Freo 

~ the purple haze ~

We moved to Perth in 1998. 
Right into Eagles heart-land as it turned out - walking distance to Subiaco oval - the Eagle's nest as it was known locally.
We (well, the Doc really) wanted to go to the football, to support the local team ... but there was no way he could ever support the Eagles ... and so we joined the purple army.

The Dockers weren't easy to support  - game after game they kicked woefully, made ridiculous errors and they lost - over and over again.

Slowly but surely their haplessness captured our hearts.  We became the ultimate optimists...believing that one day they'd be good enough.

We've continued to watch and barrack from afar.   We've indoctrinated the kids too  - the purple team was an easy sell for the girls but Jack has been a little harder to convince (for a few years the girls were convinced they were called the "doctors" and that's why we barracked for them).

We only get to about one game a year now.  
This year we travelled to Launceston and watched them get thrashed by the Hawks.  
It felt like the same-old/same-old.  The optimism was getting hard to hold onto.

Tomorrow they get a chance to change all that.  
They play in their first grand-final ever and we couldn't be more excited.  
The Doc is going to the game (he pre-purchased the chance to go the GF in March.... quietly confident that they had the goods this year) and the kids and I will wear purple and cheer loudly from here.

It still feels almost surreal that they are there.  That the hapless, inept team (with the big purple heart) of a decade ago are playing for the flag.  Really, I'm just so amazed that they're there that the result doesn't matter...that much!

Are you a football fan?
Who are you barracking for tomorrow?

 ♥

~ snippets from a rainy week in spring ~

1.  I squeezed in a trip to Ikea when I was in Perth (I really wish they would build one here) - these gorgeous rainbow cushion covers made it into the shopping bag along with some more of those lacy pot plant holders.  The girls are trying to stake a claim on the cushions but I'm holding firm at this stage.  I'm liking the extra colour - and the cosiness of the linen doona cover.

2.  More rainbows.  Rainy day painting fun.

3.  These are springing up everywhere in the garden - they're perfect for little hands to pick.

4.  Its been raining A LOT - the size of the laundry pile does not bear thinking about.

5 and 6.  Chasing rain droplets in the garden.  I really should try the tripod for these shots...but then again I'm lucky to even get the macro lens out let alone try and work out how to move all those tripod legs that go every which way but where I think they should go.

7.  A birthday protea and some more gorgeous instagram prints.  I have way too much stationery stacked up in the cupboards but I couldn't resist these.  They're from here and the quality is lovely.


We heading into big week this week.  Its the last week of term 3 (hooray for holidays) and the children's school (and my old school) is turning 60... lots of celebrations planned all week.  And then grand final day - this year for the first time ever our team is playing - we'll be wearing purple and cheering loudly (and the Doc is lucky enough to be going... I'm super jealous!)

What's your week looking like?
I'm linking with lovely Em at the beetleshack.

 ♥

~ battle of the bands ~

I visited some old friends in Perth - they've had another little boy since I saw them last - and between half-finished conversations and cups of luke-warm tea (as she referreed their fights/fed them snacks/found that lost toy and I revelled in being momentarily child-free) she offered me an apology.

She remembered being childless and sitting in our car 6 years ago on a trip round Bruny Island absolutely horrified that my CD choices were limited to Playschool, The Wiggles and the Hooley Dooleys.  She thought I'd sunk lower than she could ever imagine going.  She's now there - Rhys from Play School sings her favourite songs now.

6 years on, though, and I'm still not in charge of the music selection in my car - or my house.

Somewhat sadly Jack has not grown up on a diet of Wiggles and Playschool - he was the 2 year old singing along to Katy Perry and Pink.  His big sisters took control of the music a while ago and I still haven't got it back.

In the car we have 6 CDs on rotation.  They've been there unchanged for about 3 years now...because we can't agree on any others.  And so we have Norah Jones,  Crowded House, The Finn Brothers, an odd compilation that's only there because Jack's favourite song ever is on it (Daydream Believer!!) and sometimes we have that on repeat the whole way to school.  The other 2 are mixtures of stuff another friend plays during her spin class and we all now know off by heart.  This is where Katy, Pink and Guy Sebastian come into their own.

I'm too wussy to go with the radio stations.  The song lyrics are horrifying (so often) and if they're not the announcers are just unbearable.  One friend is permanently stuck on the relgious station as they screen their music for "unsuitable" lyrics but that's not for me either.  Another just has classic FM on in an effort to calm her kids down - they just retreat to their ipods. 

At home we've got a Sonos system that streams music from itunes or MOG.  On the rare occasions I'm home alone I actually get to choose - Sarah Humphreys, Lisa Mitchell, Agnes Obel, Paul Kelly, Mozart - all top of my list at the moment.  The rest of the time its a battle to queue up your playlist before anyone else.  And so we have Lily with Oly Murs, Owl City and Glee,  Gracie is my country girl - she's more likely to choose Kasey Chambers or Taylor Swift.  And then there's Jack who's so obsessed with the Lanterns song (its the song for the school's 60th birthday celebration next week) that he just has that over and over and over (it's by Birds of Tokyo  - great song - for the first 100 times anyway) or he's back to Daydream Believer**.

Who chooses in your house/car?

What are you listening to and loving?

♥

*the shell clearly has no relevance to this post but I liked the colours

**he always used to call it the sleeping queen song - took me ages to work out that he heard "sleepy Jean" as that...I need to remember this






 

~ moments from this week ~

1.  Couldn't stop vignetting even after the comp week had finished - the wattle is so pretty - and luckily none of us get hay fever from it like so many others do

2.  I love the wrapping and the choosing of cards a little too much I think.

3.  Flame trees in South Perth

4 and 5.  I miss seeing all the pelicans on the lakes and waterways - not that I want to get too close - I am definitely not a bird person - they scare me.  

6.  We had a fabulous meal at Nobu - Japanese with a Spanish influence.  Sounds weird but the food was amazing - and the bar lights were pretty cool too.

7.  Our old favourite cafe in West Leederville (cafe 130) has gone - but this is its sister across the road - very groovy and great coffee.

8.  City beach.  The instagram filters are doing this a lot of favours - it was quite grey and overcast and chilly - and you can see how many people were filling the beach.  We had a quick swim - more like a tea-bag dunk than a swim.  I miss that wild ocean more than anything else since we left.


It's been a great week - 4 days in Perth (without kids thanks to my wonderful parents-in-law) and while David was conferencing I shopped, walked, caught up with friends and neighbours and read 3 books (I'm addicted to Louise Penny at the moment - her Inspector Gamache series is fabulous).  It was fascinating to go back (we lived there for 8 years and left almost 9 years ago when Grace was 4 weeks old) - and find everything so familiar and yet, so not.  It was very clearly "not home" either - so glad we made the move when we did.  

We got home for a busy weekend too - soccer presentations, sleep overs, dinner out and a beautifully sunny birthday celebration day today with friends.  I feel very lucky.

♥



 

~ vignettes as snippets ~

day 1 - green

day 2 - folded

day 3 - alcohol

day 4 - pile

day 5 - borrowed

day 6 - round

day 7 - framed

I spent much of this week faffing around creating little vignettes and making pretty. 

I spent the rest of it trying to put away all the bits and pieces without being overcome by the heady scent of jasmine (I had arm fulls of the stuff all over the kitchen). 

So, with everything else going on this week (school excursion to science week, vomiting child, mountains of washing)  these are just about the only shots that ended up on my camera (definitely an iphone only kind of week).  Still I love #7vignettes week - lots of laughs and pretty pictures over in IG land during these weeks.

I really like the little pops of pink and green this week - the jasmine obviously was the scene stealer and the little photify prints snuck in a couple of times too.  The alcohol shot clearly doesn't work with the others but I really wanted to use the vintage cork board!

We've got a short trip to Perth this week (I'm very excited to get back there and see some old friends while the Doc is conferencing) - I hope you've got something to look forward to too.

Linking up with Em at the beetleshack for weekly snippets and stills (even though I'm cheating a bit this week).

♥

~ garden mood board Aug/Sept 2013 ~

Spring is my favourite time of the year.  The sheer pink exuberance of the blossom trees and magnolias lining the streets, the first hint of warmth in the air, the scent of jasmine and daphne as I break a piece off to bring inside each time I pass.

The garden is a beautiful chaotic rainbow - pinks, reds, yellows, blues and purples interspersed with bare patches and naked branches.

I love the prettiness, the sense of expectation, the promise of more.

How does your garden grow?  See other mood boards here and link up your own - I'd love to see it.

♥

~ kids were here [September] ~

They're creative, imaginative, playful and fun.

They're also messy, careless, distractable, forgetful.

Our little people, the messes they make, the joy they bring, the love we share - it's what makes this house a home.

Each month I'm trying to remember to take some shots before I begin the endless tidy-up - see the other posts in this series here, here and here.

How's your house looking this week?

 ♥

ps - the washing machine one is for Tahnee because she saw stars and I got a turtle.