This weekend...

This weekend I...

*Caught up with old friends

*Went to a body pump class and am now suffering the consequences

*Went to a new friends birthday lunch

*Babysat a one, three, four and five year old, challenging and exhausting to say the least

*Spoke to a good friend on the phone

*Cleaned out the shed and the cobwebs

*Had my eyebrows waxed...ouch

*Dreamed about my future tattoo

*Watched Julie and Julia, and loved it.

*Went to our neighbours and watched Federer beat Murray in the Australian open (i was going for Murray)

*Quietly didnt mind that Brendan stole my copy of Valley of the Dolls to read for himself

What did you get up to this weekend?

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Mail Heavy Post

So today I have managed to write 10 postcards woswsers I am literally postcarded out. I just want to share a few of my favourites with you....

These are two I am sending out for my swap on swap - bot. If you dont know what swapbot is check out their website. Its pretty much just a website that allows you to swap anything and everything with people all over the world. This is my first one so will let you know how it goes.

I love my vintage advertisement postcards and find them very hard to seperate with.

The next two are going to bloggy friends!

I have also received some amazing mail this week as well....

A gorgeous thankyou card from Summer, arent the stamps lovely?

And this gorgeous postcard from Erin in Canada.

I received this postcard from Postmuse as part of her orphaned postcard project.

And this one from Lauren, which reminded me i really want to see this movie.

For a great Giveaway check out Bianca's blog, the giveaway is packed with great stationery and is a celebration of reaching 100 followers woot woo!

Have you guys checked out Kiki K's new "Love Mail" range? I have my eye on these few things....

Love Mail Sticker Book

Reusable mailbag

Camera Kit

Wooden stamp set

It is taking every ounce of my strength not to get my credit card out and purchase these little babies.

For the crafters out there...

Last night I cleaned through all my Jewellery and found alot of things that I either dont wear anymore, are broken or a missing pieces (i.e. a lone ranger earring) and a few buttons. I was just about to chuck all this stuff out when I thought of all the amazing crafty people in blogland who could probably use this stuff to create something wonderful. Alot of the beads and embellishments are still fine. If your interested in this stuff just comment below(or if you know someone who might be interested, let them know), first person to comment will get the stuff if they want it. Please only ask for it if your generally interested in using this stuff as it would be a shame for it to go to waste when someone could use it. Oh and the other thing is I might not be able to send it out for a week or two so there may be a delay in it getting there.

A little trip away

My time in Melbourne was Amazing, it was really nice to get away from the "real" world and spend a couple of fun filled days with good friends. We spent Sunday night with one of my best friends from uni who moved to Melbourne last year. He became like a big brother to me at uni and I love getting to see him. We had a few drinks and than headed to the casino (Melbourne has the best casino in Aus). I dont really like gambling so i let the boys go and I just enjoyed watching all the different people there. Unfortunately no wins but I think the boys had fun.

Brendan and me out the front of my friends apartment.

Monday was spent eating and shopping, two of my favourite things! Than Tuesday we headed to Big Day Out. I had never been to a music festival this big and it was hard to comprehend that 60,000 people were going to be there, it was massive. It was such a fun day, and one of my highlights was hearing the Temper Trap sing Sweet Disposition (think 500 days of Summer) it sent shivers up my spine. Lily Allen was pretty good too, but we were way back in the crowd and couldnt see her very well. I didnt realise she was retiring, apparently this was one of her last shows.

Our little gang.

Lily Allen and how ridiculously far back we were.

Overall an amazing few days away and now I am exhausted and have a 101 things to catch up on. Let me know how your week is going.

Snail

Today is meant to be a productive day for me but I seem to be moving at snail pace. I am trying to pack for Melbourne but keep distracting myself. I dont think i mentioned that the reason I am going to Melbourne is to go to Big Day Out which is a HUGE music festival in Aus. The main person I am looking forward to seeing is this little miss...

Lily Allen

The festival is on in Sydney today where it is apparently 42 degrees celcius about 106 degrees fahrenheit. So hoping that it cools down by Tuesday.

I went to an op shop today in the next suburb that was having a sale and got a top that I adore and am going to wear at the festival. I also found some gorgeous earrings all for a painstaking $6. I love thrifting but am not very good at it, would love any tips from the professionals out there.

The colours are more vibrant in real life and it is a very light weight material, perfect for the heat.

I also hit up the gym today and did a little bit of shopping and bought my Valentines Day Swap partner a few little things. I have seen a few things on etsy that I think I will get her as well. Anyway I guess I should get back to the packing. Hope you all have a great weekend and I will be back in a few days.

Oh and wow 56 followers! When I first started this blog I thought I would be lucky to reach 10 followers. Thankyou so much for reading and I do try and visit each and every one of you as often as I can.

A little mail and some other odds and ends.

Inbox

This one from Bianca at Goodnight little spoon, love the little aliens.

This one from Belen who always has such gorgeous stamps.

Outbox

A reply to Belen, with a movie themed envelope.

A postcard for postcrossing. I havent received a postcard from postcrossing for ages which is annoying but hopefully soon.

Than this one for my Nan. My nan had a stroke 10 years ago and this left her without the ability to move or speak but her mind is fine, she is essentially "locked in."I  wish i had of thought to send her letters years ago. I am going to try and write to her every two weeks. If you want to know more about being locked in you should read The diving bell and the butterfly. It was written by the then, editor of the french Elle magazine after he suffered a massive stroke leaving him "locked in". He wrote it through blinking his left eyelid, its an inredible story and I highly recommend it.

I joined my first swap through swap - bot today, I am a little bit apprehensive but excited. Its just a postcard swap so that should be fine. I will let you know how it goes. Also, I am heading to Melbourne next week so thought I would put out the call for anyone who would like to receive a postcard, just send me an email.

Yesterday I got an iphone! Very exciting news, i had wanted one for ages but was stuck on a plan with another phone. I have also lost my camera charger, i have searched the whole house and cant find it so there will be a lack of piccies till its located :-) Anyway I am off to do a little reading. I have three books going at the moment but tonight I am reading "The book of tomorrow" by Cecelia Ahern (the author of PS, I Love you).

Body love Wednesday

So I wanted to change the direction of this project a little. I want to focus on the things I love about my body and not focus entirely on the things I want to change. I want this to be a positive journey for me and anyone else along on the ride, thus the name change.

Firstly check out this delicious receipe for rissoles, I left out the egg and cheese and they still taste amazing.

Secondly, I think that alot of the time we (myself included) give ourselves and our bodies a really hard time so this week I encourage you to do something to reward yourself. Here are just a few suggestions:

*Check out your local beauty school (they usually have discounted prices) and book yourself in for a massage or facial.

*Try a new dance class in your local area, how about Jazzercise or Zomba?

* Run a hot bath and soak for awhile and catch up on one of your favourite magazines.

*Create a meal based entirely on fresh produce, better yet invite a friend over and make it together.

*Give yourself a medi/pedi

*Take an hour out of your day to do something that you enjoy. Read a book, cook a cake, catch up on your favourite blog.
*Get 8 hours of sleep or have a little sleep in on the weekend, your body will thankyou.
*There is alot of fun swaps happeneing in the blogosphere (check out my right column) join one and send something to put a smile on someone elses face

Thirdly I lost 1.1kg this week, so it is good to see the changes I am making are working (even if I did have chinese twice last week).

Make sure you spoil yourself this week, you deserve it.

Sharing my space

I love when people share photos of their houses and creative spaces. These photos are of my study/wardrobe. There are still a few things I want to add and change to this space but its definately getting

there.

This is the photo I took so you could kind of see how big the room is. I am thinking of putting a reading chair under the window in that white space.

My bookshelf. Full of law text books and odds and ends. I got the print of the Moulin Rogue in Paris for like $4 and I love it. The Jewellery box is from Ikea, it only cost $20 but took about 5 hours to put together and than another 5 hours of painting.

My desk where I study, write letters and of course blog. My postcard wall is slowly getting bigger.

Another Paris print and photos from when Brendan and I climbed the harbour bridge.

Clothes rack, stuff that was fuing out of the wardrobe.

Another little set of shelves full of handbags, beanies and jewellery.

Sorry about the poor quaity of the photos, photography is definately not one of my strengths.

Give Away Winner

Very excited to annouce that the winner of my giveaway was Bianca from Goodnight Little Spoon.

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I used the random number generator from http://www.random.org/ and the number that came out was number 34.

Thankyou so much to everyone who entered and shared with me why they love blogging. I will definately be doing more giveaways in the future so keep an eye out.

My first envelope creations

Today I had a few spare hours at work, I have one of those jobs where its either crazy busy or completely dead. I decided to try and make some of my own envelopes, after admiring many made by other bloggers. All I had at my disposal was a magazine so thats why their all decorated with magazine stuff. I kinda like that they all have a "theme" and can be matched with the person they get sent to.

"Interior decorating"

"Festival Fashion"

"Food"

This one is just a collage of images/words I liked.

I used this guide to make them if your interested.

I went and saw Avatar last night. I really enjoyed it but am not sure if it lived up to all the hype.

Wishing you all a fantastic weekend. Were off tonight for a friends birthday, pizza and wine :-)

Weighing in Wednesday

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So this week when I weighed myself I had a major setback! Last week when I weighed myself I was at my parents house so I used their scales which they had before I was even born (22years ago). They mustn't be zeroed properly anymore so when I weighed myself at home on my state of the art digital scales I found out that I actually weigh 3.5kg (7.7lbs) more than I thought I did :-( I was a but upset because it means my first goal of 7kgs which seemed attainable is now 10.5kgs. Plus I dont know if I lost any weight last week because I didnt have my correct weight to start with *sigh*. One thing though it has definately got me even more motivated than I was before which is a good thing.

Exercise

I havent figured out a set routine for exercisisng yet. At the moment I am going back and forth between long walks in the morning or going to the gym in the afternoons. Next week classes start at my gym again and I want to try and do a Yoga, weights and RPM class once a week. I always work harder in classes because there is someone there pushing me and I cant slack off or go home.

Food

In general I am just trying to make healthier choices and supplement fresh produce for processed foods. I have to admit as cliche as it sounds I am already feeling more energised by upping the amount of vitamins and all that other good stuff that I consume. My other thing is though I dont want to deprive myself completely, where is the fun in not being able to enjoy the delicious food in life, I am just trying to not indulge as often as I use to.

My Basic daily food plan at the moment:
Breakfast: Two pieces of toast (wholegrain, no butter) with sliced tomatos and Italian herbs on top or a piece of toast and an egg.
Snack: ususally a piece of fruit my favourites at the moment are nectrines, plums and cherries
Lunch: Salad Sandwhich - wholegrain bread, no butter, ham, cucumber, carrott, tomato, spanish onion, unfortunately no cheese
Snack: ususally a museli bar and some nuts to get me through the afternoon cravings
Dinner: Veggies (at the moment corn, carrots, brocoli and zuccinni) plus wither fish, steak or chicken breast.

If you have any suggestions for great healthy dinner receipes please email me or if their on your blog let me know. I am especially interested in Vegetarian options.

I have a confession too, I ate this:

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A delicious Banana and Praline Crepe from Max Brenner. I couldnt resist and I enjoyed every mouthful.

Oh and interesting fact, did you know on average each person eats 2kgs of food a day! That seems like an awful lot to me but apparently thats the way of the world.

Anyway the main thing is I definately feel heathier and better about myself.

Happy 101 Tag ~ Things that make me happy

The lovely Pip from Pipalachic for the Happy 101 award. Thanks Pip, I love being tagged for these things and I especially love this one.To accept the award you need to post 10 things that make you happy and do at least one of them today. Remember to link to the person who tagged you and pass on to 10 others.

The ten things that make me happy (in no particular order).

1. Nip/ Tuck

My sister lent me the first 4 seasons and I am addicted. I can never just watch one episode. I may also kinda have a little celebrity crush on Julian McMahon.

2. My family

Having people in your life who you know no matter what love you and are there for you truelly makes me happy.

3. Bulmers Cider

It is so so hot here at the moment, 38 degrees today and with no air conditioning at the end of the day these are really refreshing.

4. Blogging (of course)

I love reading blogs and of course writing mine. I have meet so many amazing people and never dreamed of the friends I would make through this blog. I follow so many blogs now that it can take me hours to comment on them all but its definately worth the effort when I have the time.

Two of my fav things happening on blogs at the moment. Kateigh's Book swap and Lauren's new mail blog.

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5. My friends

I am lucky to have an amazing friends from all walks of life. I can count on them to be there for me and most importantly to have fun with and laugh.

6. Shopping

I am weak! If I go into a shop I have to buy something I dont know where I got this addiction from but it is not good for my bank balance but it does make me happy. When I have no money I try and avoid the shops all together or the credit card comes out.

Our lovely is this image

7. My guinea pig

Not everyone likes guinea pigs but it was the only pet we were allowed to have and I love little Chuckie. Believe it or not he does have his own little personality and makes me laugh at all the little things he does.

8. Going out for dinner

I love trying new foods and having someone else do the cleaning and cooking makes me happy.

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9. Fruit and Veggies

On my campaign to be fit and healthy I am eating lots of fruit and veggies. Very cliche but I am already feeling more energised and not as gluggy from substituting processed foods for natural produce.

10. Brendan

Last but definately not least is Brendan. He is my best friend in whole world and I am very lucky to have him as part of my life. He is the reason I started blogging. When I first started I didnt think i was a very blogger and was pretty sure no one would ever read my blog. He told me to stick with it and be paitent and I am so glad he encouraged me because now I love it.

I would like to pass this tag onto -

belen: beh - LEHN

Dolce Vita

Chapped lips and all

Absent minded

Goodnight little spoon

Under lock and Key

Gabby she wrote

Oh missy me

Just a little mishap

She cried for November