a very wordy Presidential Wednesday

Greetings all,

Simply could not cope with a Wordless Wednesday today, not with such an incredible week already!!  Air Force One has landed in my adopted home town of Canberra.

 US President Obama flew into this view - Canberra may be our nation's capital but it's a regional city in the middle of a sheep paddock, population of the Australian Capital Territory is under half a million people!! 

 Hmmm, he landed just in time to clog up the school run.  Children were stranded as buses & parents were stuck in grid lock between the airport & Parliament House, but no one was unhappy, we had plenty of notice & it's exciting . . . Canberra is not known as a 'happening place' so to have Queen Elizabeth last month, President Obama this month & OUR Crown Princess Mary next month visit, we're feeling a bit important, special & smug.

 I'm wondering if i might try my luck at a photo opportunity at the War Memorial tomorrow?? 

 Rumour has it President Obama is going to visit a local school in Canberra.  Hmmm, might supervise which shorts my son wears just in case??  Nothing like the school ringing you to say your son's shorts are ripped - if only i knew how to sew??

 I wonder what delicious food we're going to serve the President of the United States of Amercia.  I highly recommend my Sunday night's roast beef.  I just know they'll try to make him eat crocodile & kangaroo in Darwin tomorrow, so cliche (but tastey).

 Fresh garlic beans & salty rosemary potatoes, mmmm.

 Feeling completely exhausted this week, a mix of pride & heat stroke . . . at the high school state finals for athletics.   

 My eldest girl is a long distance runner, long & high jumper, winning places in the regionals, but to our shock, she came 3rd in the ACT for javelin??!!  She's reserve for the national finals.  All this talent, completely untrained + she's petit, once she gets some power & height, i can't imagine what she'll be capable of.  She absolutely loves sport & i hope, like me, she never thinks it's uncool.

 Before we went out to the Australian Institue of Sports, i swung by Peter Alexander for a little congratulations gift & could not resist these banana bloomers!!

She liked!!  We danced & then back to reality to finish an assignment.  Yawn.  Love Posie

things i'm loving . . . 'athletics carnival, high school style'

Greetings all,
I have always looked forward to my children starting high school.  I LOVED high school, the friends, the sports, the work, the parties, it was so much fun.  I did 5 sports a year - softball, netball, tennis, cricket + athletics.  My husband was super sporty too - athletics, tennis, swimming, hockey & water polo.  I love that our children are naturally sporty, it's so healthy & great for self confidence. 

I can't believe i'm already attending high school athletics carnivals.  I was SO excited this week.  Handsome soldier took our daughter early to run the 1500m (she came a energy-less 2nd place, after her virus, i'm amazed she could run at all).  

I love the track & field centre at the Australian Institute of Sports, you can move around & watch all the events your children are (like discus way over the other side or triple jump along the edge of the track).

 I am loving my daughter's high school so much, their attitude is amazing.  They are all about participation & encourage girls to dress up (so they turn up), it's a party atmosphere.  While my children are competitive & try their hardest, in high school . . . some girls have no desire to compete in sports . . . so the school offers participation points just for entering.  They run serious races, then non-competitive, where you'll see girls link arms & run together. 

 It's a large school, split into 6 houses.  My daugther's house is the smallest & they don't win anything, not even debating or choir, but they are enthusiastic.  Their dress up theme was 'ninjas' & most were dressed in full black or karate outfits.  The green house were 'terror' so there were lots of zombies & vampires, which looked hilarious as they ran down the track, some with axes attacking fellow racers!!  The blue house were 'toys' so there were Bananas In Pyjamas doing javelin & Cookie Monsters doing long jump.  Not sure why but there were lots of red power rangers too.  EDIT: red house were 'aliens & astronauts'.  Also, the announcer/ teacher wore a scream mask all day & it was so hilarious!!    

 Our sweet daughter is officially the youngest girl in the entire school (she skipped a year) & she amazes me with her petit size that she finishes in the top 5 of most events.  She competed in a dozen jumps, throws & running races, even started off the relay for her house.  The year 12 relays were fantastic, each team included a teacher & the male PE staff stole the show.  Another really cool event was The Flash - where the fastest 100m runner from each age group, ran against each other, to find the fastest girl at school. 

My husband set up a picnic rug on the hill & we had a great view, far away from the screaming cheerleaders.  I tell you, 1100 high school girls can scream, loudly, all day.  Even i left with a headache.  For more Things I'm Loving visit Paisley Jade, love Posie

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . . decoration shopping time!!

Greetings all,

Our Saturday pared out well, athletics in glorious sunshine, then quick shower of the children & dressed into various themed party ensembles & started delivering them around Canberra.  The last drop off & first pick up was in Jerrabomberra (NSW side of the bottom tip of the ACT) so after Shop Girl's tip to check out the Christmas Barn in Bredbo, we were off down the Monaro Highway towards the Snowy Mountains.  Bredbo is a tiny town north of Cooma & EVERYONE was at the Christmas Barn.  Husbands with arms folded & rolling their eyes, wives squealing with delight at decoration mania.  Judging from the ELF plated Audi out the front, the Christmas decoration business is very good indeed.

Super friendly service & so much variety, glitter & sequins, we had to do a lap before we picked up a single item.  My husband was overwhelmed, arms folded & rolling his eyes.  We were offered a basket & i started filling it with jingle bells & turtle doves.  Yes, i jingled all the way.  We were asked if we needed assistance . . . "what is your colour theme darling??"  Um, i looked at handsome soldier who was already covered in glitter & said "oh, we don't have a colour theme, a guess multicolour for fun".  So underprepared for this was i!! 

The Army tends to relocate you at Christmas time so we've had maybe 3 Christmas trees in the past 10 years, often using a hotel room fern as our tinsel & star encrusted attempt at a make shift Christmas tree to stand over the children's gifts.  So often my husband is away in a war zone on Christmas, we make other family celebrations a big deal, to take the pressure off a daddyless Christmas period.  This year my husband is home & wants a decent Christmas tree. 

Now i grew up with a plastic European Christmas tree.  I remember it well as it was strapped to me . . . aged 4 in 1979 it was my duty to drag it through the airport on the trip home from London to Sydney.  The box still has "Jennie QF2" all over it.  My husband is a genuine-pine-needle-dropping-real-tree enthusiast.  I grew up with an angel on top of the tree . . . um, acquired from a Policeman's Christmas Ball/ Dinner/ Dance in the mid 70's, my mum just really wanted it & held up my sister to reach it & the commissioner smiled - that's my mother's story (we just refer to it as the 'stolen angel' behind her back).  My husband's family Christmas Tree was real, with a star on top, purchased legally.  So this year it's a real pine tree with an angel on top (& proof of purchase)!!

Finding the angel was difficult but gave my husband something to do while i kept gasping at the Babushka decorations & wondering how an owl could fit into Christmas booty.  He found a beauty!!    

Voila, our contained collection of decorations for this year.  Love the folksy style & simple silver, all a tax deduction too as they are used as props & merchandising at my market stall, yippee!!
Have fabulous weeks everyone, love Posie
PS nice little plug for my new range of boys' fashion range METRIC over at the Handmade blog in Shop Handmade now, not far from the GingerBreadHouses of course!!  Thanks Tania!!

a bit of everything for the weekend . . .

Greetings all,
Seeing the weekend is a bit of everything (sports, parties, snowy mountains) i thought i'd make a post that reflects my scatty about-to-do-a-market brain.  So here goes . . .

My darling children made an awful mess in my studio last night but i woke to find gifts to the GingerBread Gods . . . how cute is this, they made some paper gingerbread men for the house (still in tact)!!  Plus my darling 3rd daughter, my deep thinking bohemian dreamy one, made a daisy chain at school (as you do during sports class on the oval) for the GingerBread House too.  These handmade GingerBread Houses are available in Shop Handmade Canberra NOW, plus $2.50 GingerBread Men, Trees, Snow Men . . . seriously delicious treats!!

Tonight i have a little twilight market & with only one trestle for stall space, i'm taking retro toys & vintage Tshirts, seeing all of my handmade stock is at Shop Handmade.  Yes, i used to import vintage Ts & sell them at the markets but now i'm more a handmade purest (read: do strictly handmade only markets) so this is a great way to move some stock!!  My husband will bring the children for a BBQ dinner & fingers crossed, help me load the car, yippee!! 

Ivy Designs is in Shop Handmade, check out her sweet accessories for children.  Love Wynona, she's really cool & her style, well, gorgeous, i have that necklace on the stand in my collection.  Wyn sent beautiful props & how about that branding display, so beautiful, just like her!!  Many more new designers starting in November too along with more stock from that Posie girl.
I'll just take this opportunity here in a mixed post to say my eldest daughter came top 4 in the ACT athletics for high jump!!  My super star, 4th in the state!!  She's not very tall yet, so when she gets the traditional McClelland long legs, the sky will be the limit!!

Finally, to make this post completely bitsy . . . just watching The Circle (shhhh, i should be at school watching my middle girl at midday assembly hand chosen to do a Japanese dance, but i'm also packing the car for tonight's market so my husband is the chosen parent to go armed with fancy SLR Nikon to capture her performance) . . . they discussed this cool site about childhood photos (usually horrific with bad hair) compared with ones taken now.  If you like Cake Wrecks, Regretsy & What Not To Knit . . . check this out . . . YoungMeNow!!
Have lovely weekends, love Posie

Anyone for tennis??

Greetings all,
An innocent invitation to a 'boy's sports party' had me thinking "how can i make it more glamorous for my daughter??"  I know, we can make it fancy dress, she can go as Maria Sharapova of course!!  This outfit $14 from Target + $6 Nike Sweatband.  I was going to make pom poms for her 'tennis socks' but drew the line at perhaps trying too hard??  Non?? 

So i typed up a SHARAPOVA to iron transfer across the back of her $4 Tshirt & "Singles Champion, Oscar's Birthday Grand Slam 2010" across the front (Oscar is of course, the birthday boy).  My first attempt at iron transfer in ages, i need practise!!  TIP: type up in Word, then cut & paste into Paint & flip it, for the mirror image printing!!
I can not tell you how many hours it took me on the internet to find such useful advice, remember, i'm on a new inexpensive basic laptop, as the burglars took my fancy one with InDesign, PhotoShop etc on it.  I'm clutching at straws with my software here.

A selection of my girls' ribbons from their school athletics carnival.  They didn't hand out all the long distance ones, so there are more blue ones coming.  I promise i was an unbaised time keeper!!  My boy has to wait 2 more  l  o  n  g  years before he's old enough to race competitively!!  FYI he did win every novelty race year 1 held, but look at who he has grown up chasing . . . my husband & i were very sporty too!!  All this glory has them competing at North Canberra this week, from 800m at the crack of dawn to the relays at the end, longest day ever!!  I especially love watching the long jump.  

Are you like me - you do a quick once over the house before you go to bed, fluff cushions & straighten up paperwork . . . look at the surprise my son left on the lounge.  Like a Babushka explosion!!

My children having a Saturday night treat in jammies!!

Have lovely Sundays everyone!!  Love Posie