a colourful weekend

Greetings all,

Ah, nothing like a few days off blogging to enjoy a colourful action packed weekend & generate new ideas for posts.  With Spring almost here, my husband & i have been preparing our crappy-state-of-backgarden-grass for weeks, we're starting to see results.  I also planted a new barrel of herbs & vegetables, following the no-dig-garden advice from these wonderful books.

 I kicked off the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation this morning with berries & ricotta on grainy bread - i have two new tips - defrost frozen berries in a colander & don't let berries roll off your toast, raspberries stain!!  

 Indulged in a couple of new dresses & tops from Country Road - to say i have fallen back in love with green is an understatement.  I adore stripes & this retro pattern, neat way to side step the-fluorescent-movement this season.

What a gorgeous way to say i-heart-leopard print, in a cute handbag case.  I picked up the rattan version of this last season from Seed, i use it as a sewing case or picnic-for-two with my husband.  I love having him back in Canberra, we meet for lunch twice a week, it's like dating all over again, when i was at Uni, he'd meet me for 10 minutes here & there between lectures, then drive me home, just to say hello.  

A gift for a nephew's birthday - he is obsessed with Eric Carle, but really, who isn't??

The colourful imagination of my eldest daughter, make what you want out of these fresh eggs . . . bulls eyes right??

Ah, glorious sunshine on the weekend had me in a flowing dress & back in Birkenstocks.  I picked up these purple patent leather beauties in Venice 2 years ago.  I do need a pedicure (i say seeing i've had like one in the past decade) & i'm thinking of a fun polish colour, maybe purple, green or orange??  Ideas!!

Poof, there you have it, heading into a busy week with a huge smile on my face, i'm up early enough to do 2 loads of washing, walk the dog, feed the chickens, make school lunches & a post before the school run, bliss!!  Love Posie

snap it 'red'

Greetings all,

Red is by far my favourite accessory colour for decor, kitchen appliances & fashion.  Scrolling through photos for red inspiration rather than take a new photograph, i found these beauties from family travels . . . 

a Murano glass chandelier in Venice - very difficult to photograph the glass in stores as most have 'no photo' signs, so i took shots on the move, much to my husband's horror.  They make red glass with gold, which explains why red glass is the most pricey . . . 

 yay, Disneyland, better yet, the Disneyland Hotel in Hong Kong where Minnie Mouse visits your table while you dine, it was the BEST family holiday of all time . . . 

 living in Canberra is fantastically close to the ski fields, so we throw the children on toboggans & push them down hills at Mt Selwyn for a wild time (our children have no fear, they even build jumps.) FYI best thigh work out EVER going back up the hills . . .   

 one year we had friends getting married in Sydney & we were about to move from Darwin, so i sent my husband & preschool aged son on a trip together while i packed up the house (they went for a week, the girls were in school, it was 6 hours of silent packing each day, ahhh.)  Here is our boy on a ferry from Taronga Zoo across Sydney Harbour with his much loved fearsome tiger 'Bella' . . . 

 Oh look at this, our now enormous German Shepherd was once a little puppy with a sweet red collar.  I nursed him on my lap the whole way home from the breeders, 300km away.  Yes, he grew into those massive paws & is the most loyal & loving family dog.

Playing with Faith Hope & a Whole Lotta Love Photography Snap It series today, love Posie

it's over so quickly . . .

Greetings all,
Thanks for the great comments, i feel like i'm home with friends, love you all!!  Coping much better today, with sleep + the concept of children resuming school & me returning to Shop Handmade in the morning.  I have a new focus, ideas & energy for my work.  For now, while i get my act together, here are some more images to gaze at, ahhhh . . .

So glad i had Italian tags on my luggage, i was waved through DIY customs with the big boarder security question of "do you have any cheese in your bag??" 

Crystal clear waters of Croatia, chandelier from the Duke's Palace in the Old City & that square paver is the ONLY square one - marking the centre of the Old City.

More glorious sites about Greece - check out the insane colours against the pool at the Olympia Resort!!  Little side story about the few remaining columns at the Temple of Zeus, the Persians took 90 marble columns from here, ground them to dust to lime wash their mosques - OMG, how short sighted are these vandals!!??

More sites around Rome, the Palace, Trevi Fountain, Roman Forum & authentic Roman Gladiators on their mobile phones??  Special mention that we went to the Vatican, did it for you Corrie from Retro Mummy!!  My husband was stopped over & over to take photos for people, he had our big Nikon around his neck so looked like a much better photographer than me with the little camera.  Either that or i look like the kind of person who would run off with your camera??

The horse statue is from the Palace in Rome, but i couldn't move the image from the rest of these snaps of Venice.  A peek at some woodwork, gelato & Murano glass around San Marco.  Just for Brenda of Red Stitch Design - some more tassell porn.  Very hard to resist but extremely expensive, that helped me part tassell-less.  I have my fabrics, ahhhhh . . .

Have lovely weeks, the Euro Fashion blog post will be next, bring on Summer, i have quite the tan already!!  Love Posie

& so i'm back . . . oh how i love Europe!!

Greetings all,

I'm back from the most wonderful holiday. Meeting up with my husband was the highlight & what a back drop for our reunion - Rome & Venice (Italy), Dubrovnik (Croatia), Athens & Katakolon (Greece) - sailing on a luxury cruise ship!! Yes TOTALLY spoilt. I had seen my husband for 18 days this year, this trip just added another 15 to the total!! Our children had a great time with Grandpa in Sydney & their aunties hung out with cousins to keep them busy in the school holidays & boy were they happy with their gifts!!  This was the first & only time we'll ever holiday without them. 
Now for some highlights & very limited images, or you'd get all 800 photos i took on the trip.

First stop was Rome, lots of kisses, tears & hugs at the airport, after my Canberra-Sydney-Hong Kong-Munich-Rome 30 hour travel epic. Handsome soldier had a short trip from the Middle East (this was his 2 week war leave) for a 2nd honeymoon after 13 years of marriage. Hotel was fantastic . .. . room, food, location, price . . . visited the Coloseum, Via Nazionale, Palatino. Termini.

Onto Venice, by train & a hotel just off Piazza San Marco. I do love Venice . . . designer stores, food, souvenirs, stationery, ferries, gelato, jewellery, Rialto. I found a fabric shop (of course) which makes soft furnishings for royal families around the world - fabrics start at 500E (about $aud750) per metre & clever me found a remnant bin. Handsome soldier bought me 3 pieces, OMG, love him!! He did draw the line at me buying tassels & was embarrassed when i took photos in the shop (after permission). Lots of stores say "NO FOTO" but in my quest to get shots of chandeliers, i did some walk by photography . . . hoping for the best. There was a ferry strike on the day we were going to visit the beach at Lido & glass factories at Murano, so we couldn't add to the glass we bought on our 1st honeymoon!!

From Venice we boarded the cruise ship & had the most fantastic relaxing holiday. Wow, where do i start in my excitement on our first cruise - the state room, balcony, food, cabin boy, sunshine . . . i wanted to kidnap our evening waiter Jose, from Chile. Of course everyone has a story in this world . . . gorgeous Jose joined this cruise ship to learn English so he could return & teach his village (barely anyone in Chile speaks English) & get a better job in his home city of Santiago. After 5 years on ships this was his last cruise, his English was impeccable. He also teaches children to ride/ care/ camp with horses - i offered to post him our 4 horse loving children (& me)!!

After hours of gazing at the mountainous Albanian Coastline, where the water is deep purple, we docked at Dubrovnik in Croatia. There are lots of Croatians in Australia so to see their homeland was incredible. A population of only 4.5M & crystal clear aqua waters, it's clean, inexpensive, friendly, uncrowded, spring water, interesting history & sites to see. I really enjoyed the old city, surrounded by walls to keep the pesky Persians out, we went all over the Duke's Palace, heard the bells ring & ate delicious creamy ice cream. They will be the last country to join the European Union.

Sailing on to Athens, a very busy & crowded industrial city centre with apartment buildings. Again, Australia has a huge Greek population so their food & customs are familiar. We chose a walking tour of Athens which included everything from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier & Parliament House to the Plaka & Parthenon at the Acryopolos. Hmmm . . . would loved to have walked up to it, alas, a strike had it ALL closed!! Did you know their flag is blue & white to represent the seas/ sky & clouds/ crashing waves?? Greeks also live for today, they smoke & don't want to know about cancer?? Taking an owl from Athens will give you wisdom (i took a few!!)

Final port on the cruise was Katakolon, near the birthplace of the Olympics. They have an Olympia museum & even the original marble start line for the ancient races!! We took a bus to the Olympic Village Resort (don't think it was the Ancient athletes' accommodation) where we relaxed on sun lounges & swam in the sea. We had lunch of freshly caught octopus & the most juicy lamb souvlaki ever + taramasalata (caviar) dip, yummy. They have amazing handmade cotton & olive products in Greece.

Back to Venice where my husband had to drag me off the ship to semi reality, like filing a police report for my mobile phone, coin purse, cash, driver's licence & Visa card, which all went 'missing' between checking in luggage at the port & our state room, argh!! The police sergeant rolled his eyes at me & in tune with most customer service in Italy - serving customers is simply annoying!! Such a contrast to the many Italians in Australia who are so friendly.

We finished up the trip with 4 more nights in Rome, staying at the boutique 400 year old hotel next to the Pantheon that we stayed in on our honeymoon. More shopping, food, sites & ruins to see . . . i love the touristy part of Rome, the fountains & the history, so easy to do on foot. My best friend from preschool (she still hasn't escaped me) is Italian & i grew up with her family's cooking, restaurant & customs. If i wanted the real taste of Italy, i'd plan a joint holiday with her family. 

My big tip would be to take a cruise, what a glorious way to visit different countries, travelling by sea & sight seeing when you reach each port, brilliant!! My parents are on their 3rd Queen Mary 2 cruise this year & i can see why, i think cruising could become quite addictive. We dined with a fantastic English/ American family & got involved in lots of activities like rock climbing, eating, mini golf, eating, tours, eating, shows, eating, shoping, eating . . . you get the drift!! We've even looked into a Pacific Cruise with the children out of Sydney in 2012, THEY would love it - the sport, activities, food & be at great ages too.

Thanks for all your pre-holiday well wishes, i really appreciate your interest in my blog, life, work & family. In a few months my husband will be home with us & we'll sort out what is happening next year - are we moving to Brisbane or staying in Canberra, big decisions to make for 2011 - including choosing a high school. For now, the reality of 4 school children to parent solo, a business to run & a husband to love long distance + my work with Handmade will keep me busy & distracted. I'm still recovering from my 40 hour trip back, i couldn't sleep either!!  Now i miss my husband more than ever too.  Love Posie
PS next post will be travel tips & Euro fashion!!