An outback Christmas

I am back to civilisation after spending four days on my Uncle's property out near Condoblin ("outback Australia"). No phone service or internet for four days was just what the doctor ordered and I feel very refreshed. We had such a wonderful Christmas- spent mostly opening presents, eating delicious food and drinking beer whilst lazying around the pool. It was a super hot day around 37 degrees celcius (approx 99F) which is my type of weather- luckily we had good air conditioning. Quality time with my family was so enjoyable and there is nothing better then being in the middle of no where with no real world distractions.

Little chicken born on Christmas day, perfect timing?

The following pictures were taken when we went 4 wheel driving - the country is so beautiful at the moment because of all the rain.

A little friend we found on our trip.

Our Chrissie tree, my Aunty did such a good job decorating.

Pre-dinner wine, I love my new dress from my sister.

A delicious Christmas dinner, with perfect company.

I hope your Christmas was magical and I would love to hear about it.

One last bday post & a Merry Christmas

I just wanted to share the first text message I received on my birthday. My best friend (who now lives 5 hours away) and I were obsessed with the movie Beaches, and still are. She was always Hilary and I was CC and we would always be walking around singing the songs or reenacting scenes. Seeing this first thing Thursday morning was a great start to the day...

This will be my last time on the blog over the holiday period so I wish all of you celebrating this holiday season a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!! Be safe and have a wonderful time with family and friends. I will be catching up with comments and blogs when I get back. Lots of Love and Best wishes xxx

A mail post...its been awhile

So I definitely got behind schedule with posting my mail going ons so this post will possibly be a little all over the place but I am ready to get back into the habit of posting more regularly.

Outgoings

I sent this little handmade Babushka doll out to Erin for Micaela's ornament swap. This is one of my favourite swaps and the second time I have participated. You can see the ornament hanging on Erin's tree here.

This was the vintage jewelery package I sent out to Alicia for Kjrsten's Vintage Jewelery swap. It was hard to part with some of these pieces but it is nice to know their going to a good home.

An overdue letter to Tez.

Some outgoing postcards for postcrossing

And finally some outgoing chrissie cards and letters.

An overdue first letter to Hosanna

Unfortunately these are the only outgoing photos I have from the last 5 weeks but I will be more proactive in documenting from now on.

Incomings

I was so excited to see this gorgeous package when I got home from work one day. It arrived perfectly, a pretty package from Alyssa filled with shoes :-)

A package from the ever so lovely Gracie for my birthday! How well does this girl know me headbands, stationery and Babushka dolls - perfection!!

A wonderful letter from the now married Micaela who soon gets to head back to her home state, so much exciting news.

Was so happy to hear from Caiti the other day when I received this letter.

A very cool birthday card from the lovely Alyssa.

Love this envelope from Aaron.

I hope all your mailboxes are full of holiday fun! I am still waiting for a few online presents that I ordered to show up and unfortunately I don't think they will be here by Christmas. I will hopefully be using some of my holiday time to catch up on letters.

Happy Birthday Lover

Happy 23rd Birthday to my boyfriend and best friend!

I am so proud of everything you have achieved in your 23 years of life and am so grateful that I now get to share this life with you.

You are one of the most kind and caring people I know and are always there for your family and friends - no matter what. This is one of the characteristics I most admire about you. As well as your happy go lucky personality and easy going attitude. 

No matter what you are always making life fun, and I hope that never changes.

P.s Just because its your birthday doesn't mean you get out of washing up....alright yes it does :-)

23 before 24

Being list obsessed I saw this on Elsie's blog and though it was a great way to set out my goals for the next year. A lot of them are just fun and easy little things that always get put off until another day. I already achieved one the day after my birthday when my sister and I headed to the zoo. It was so much fun - I love zoos. My favourite animals were the giraffe and the brown bears. I also loved patting the little wallabies, so cute. Here are a few piccies from the day...

Your never to old for the zoo, right?

Birthday!

I have been absent from the blogging world as I celebrated my 23rd birthday last Thursday and managed to spread the celebrations through out the weekend. Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday messages on fb and twitter, it made my day!
I had to work on Thursday but was greeted by the staff at my work singing happy birthday and a nice bottle of red wine. In the afternoon I went and got a Thai massage which I had never done before - I always have a sore back and neck from sitting at my work computer all the time but it is definitely much better after the massage. That night Brendan and I went to one of our favourite restaurants for some delicious Italian food. I was determined to order something different to my usual but when I got there I of course ordered the seafood risotto as per usual. After dinner my sister arrived all the way from Sydney to spend the weekend - definitely one of the best presents.

Friday night I went to my favourite tea house with some of my uni friends for tea and cakes which was really nice. Had the most amazing chai frappe oh my goodness it was to die for!! Then Saturday night we had friends over for drinks and spent the night dancing to old nineties music. It was a really good night but I was so tired on Sunday and ended up in bed my 8.30pm. All in all I had an absolutely wonderful weekend and feel it was a terrific start to my 24th year. Without turning this in to a post all about presents I wanted to share a few with you as I have went on about them on my blog before. I finally got my Filofax that I have been yapping on about. I spent all Friday morning putting in birthdays and getting organised, I am such a nerd but thats ok. Brendan got me the Pandora ring from this post that I have been spying on for awhile now, it has already attracted a lot of comments.

And finally I got a NEW BIKE! This present was a complete surprise and was given to me by my friends. These are pretty dorky photos but they demonstrated how excited I was. I cant wait to take it for a spin when this dreadful weather clears up - yes its raining here again :-(

Obsession ~ Girl Crush ~

I am a little late to the ball game with my current obsession with Mad Men but I have fallen head over heels with Christina Hendricks who plays the character of Joan in the show. 

You have to admit she is absolutely gorgeous and I love the way she flaunts her curves. I would give anything to be able to sneak a few pieces out of her Mad Men wardrobe.

"....all those times I had agents who were like, ‘You have to lose some weight,’ and all of a sudden, people are celebrating it. It’s like: ‘Oh, thank you! Thank you for letting me be me’.

Nothing beats home made ice cream

Source

Every Christmas my cousin makes this absolutely delicious homemade ice cream. I finally got the receipe off him and made it for a Christmas party we went to on Saturday night. It was such a hit and went really well with sticky date pudding. Here is the receipe if anyone is interested in giving it a go....

Ingredients
600ml cream
400g of condensed milk
160g of violet crumble

Instructions
1. Beat cream until it becomes thick
2.Push cream to edge of bowl and pour in condensed milk
3. Fold together until mixed but no not beat/whip together
4. Put in freezer for 3-4 hours until half frozen also place violet crumbles in freezer
5. After four hours crush violet crumbles and mix into half frozen ice cream
6. Freeze for another four hours and then it is ready to serve

Serves 7-10 people

Me with my secret Santa gift

Book v Kindle

Source

I am a self proclaimed book lover as is probably evident from this blog. Ever since I heard about Kindle's I have tried to resist their charm and stick to good old tangible books. I have always dreamt of having a big library of books in my house and just love the "feel" of reading actual books. I attended a Christmas dinner on Friday night and was sat with two huge fans of the Kindle and have to admit they really sold it to me. Classics such as Shakespeare and Jane Austin can be downloaded for free, you can download books anytime and have access to them instantly, all books are stored on your Amazon account indefinitely, books are much cheaper to purchase through the kindle then to purchase hard copies from Australian bookstores. I currently purchase all my books through  The Bookdepository and have to wait 10-14 days for delivery. I also like the idea of having my books all in one place especially for holidays and travel. Very conflicted at the moment and would love to hear your views. Is my fear that tangible books will become extinct irrational or inevitable?

Source

Gift Guide ~under $40~

We all have people in our lives who are really hard to buy for or have everything. I put this little guide together with these type of people in mind but made sure it was all things I would be happy to receive in my chrissie stocking....

Espirit Beach towels - these towel are so soft and huge! Perfect for the beach or pool. Currently $39.90 from Myer.

Glass House candles are the absolute bomb. I have bought them for so many of my girlfriends this christmas. Coconut Lime is my current favourite and they are available from Peter Alexander for $35.

I will always stand by my belief that people can never have too many pj's. Soho pj sets are always good quality and are only $30 (from Myer). Peter Alexander also has some really cute male boxer shorts at the moment for $30.

This Calendar from Rhianne of The Easily Distracted is filled with such lovely photography that it will look gorgeous in anyones home or office - approx $US12.15.

I am anxiously awaiting presents that I have bought off the internet to arrive and have my fingers crossed that they arrive by Christmas, I hope all your gift shopping is going well. I have two last little things to pick up this afternoon and I am all done.

Weekend recap; meeting a bloggy friend & Finders Keepers.

I spent this last weekend in Sydney visiting with my sister, I was there for four days but it was such a mega busy weekend, but a lot of fun and it was great to get away for a little while. The weather was miserable but we soldiered on and got lots and lots and lots of Christmas shopping done, I only have three presents to go!

One of the highlights of the weekend was going to my first Finders Keepers markets where I meet the absolutely adorable Alyssa from Just putting it out there. I was sooo nervous about meeting a blog friend, I thought it might be terribly awkward and we would have nothing to say but I don't think we stopped talking the whole time. Were such awful bloggers that we didn't even get a photo together to mark the occasion but my mum and sister were witnesses if anyone needs evidence :-) Her poor friend that dropped her at the markets was worried I was really a forty year old man which I am glad I got to prove otherwise. I am now sad that we live three hours away  from each other and cannot hang out more often. It makes me excited to meet other blog friends one day.

My spending at the markets was quite controlled due to my budget until I start working next year. I bought the Frankie Spaces book which is just amazing, I highly recommend buying it if you don't already have it and a postcard set from Melbourne designers Write to Me.

Saturday night my mum was given free tickets to Alison Dubois (aka Medium) so we decided to go along, I am generally up for anything so wanted to go for the experience. I wont say too much about my thoughts on the show but I am skeptical of her claimed psychic ability.

In other news I FINISHED UNI TODAY!! My last exam was over at 11am.So you may never have to hear any more uni related rants again. I have really mixed emotions about finishing but am so excited to be starting a new chapter in my life now that study is over (well at least for now). I hope you all had lovely weekends!

About Me...

Hey there, I am Megan - pleased to meet you! I am glad that you could stop by. I would offer you tea but the inter-webs is yet to offer the service, feel free to get yourself a tea and snackeroo and get comfy for a little while.

If you have come over to this page I assume it is to get to know a little about me and this blog. I created Time After Tea as a place to correlate all the things in my life that make me happy and to document the day to day happenings in my life. I am still new to this blogging world and enjoy learning new things every day and meeting new people. I never imagined the friends I would make from starting this blog.

So who am I?

+ Firstly I am a daughter and a sister

+ I am privileged with a wonderful and caring boyfriend, Brendan.

+I am happiest when I am surrounded by my friends, I am not quite sure how I managed to nab such amazing people in my life

+I am a Law graduate who is commencing full time work in February 2011

+I am a book worm
+A Canberra blogger

+ I am a professional shopper (feel free to substitute professional for addicted)

+ I appreciate a good wine, a comforting tea and a daily coke zero

+ I strive to exercise regularly and eat healthy - sometimes I fail

+ I am passionate about travelling and my dream is to go overseas once a year.

+ Sending and receiving mail makes me smile

+I like to be organised

If you would like to get in touch my email is...

timeaftertea (at) gmail (dot) com