This week I feel like we’ve earned this blog title with preparing for Christmas, making finishing touches on homemade and sewn gifts, beginning to refinance our home, setting up our new camper trailer (kitchen and all!) ready for a maiden voyage, meeting with DOCs and Lawyers to make sure our Foster son’s interested were being represented, building our foster son’s new Christmas BMX bike (discovering in the last hour a part was broken so had to return it and start again only to have a punctured tyre on the second BMX…frustrating!) all whilst being called into work every day for input into a large proposal due out before Christmas. And it’s only Wednesday. But despite all the craziness I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

Ahead of Me, I have to finish gifts, register and pack up the trailer, bake for an office Christmas party, wash and frontline the dogs ready for the kennel, conduct a final round of second interviews for a new PA to start in the new year and cook a Christmas Eve Dinner.

In amongst the madness my Hubby and I snuck into the city for a beautiful lunch on the water at Peter Doyle @ The Quay for champagne and Lobster (yum yum!) to celebrate 2 years of marriage. We talked about all the crazy adventures we’ve taken on these past 2 years and dreamed up some big dreams for the future (I love a good dream).

our 2nd Anniversary, 20th December 2010

Our wedding, 20th december 2008 

photos by Wedding by Wayne

 Jingle Bells, H xxxx



Christmas Cookie Jars

One of my favourite things about Christmas is all the divine little treats we get to indulge in. Being the only cook in my family each year I bake up an array of shortbreads, truffles and slices to enjoy over the Christmas break. So thought I would share the baking love for Christmas this year.

Wait for it……Christmas Cookie Jars.

Cute right? These gorgeous little jars are layered with ingredients for yummy choc chip and oat cookies with a little note attached instructing how to prepare them. Yum!

They were a cinch to make so if you’re looking for a cheap last minute gift idea you’ve found it.

First, hit up your local discount or craft store for nice smooth 1L Jars with lids. Try to avoid ones with logos.

Then layer the following :

• 1 and 1/3 cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking Soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cooking oats
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or red and green m&ms/ peanut m&ms)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup white sugar

Decorate with some ribbon and add a tag with instructions. I’ve made some that can be printed double sided so one side says “Christmas cookies!” and the other has instructions for baking (double click for full size).

 Enjoy and Merry Christmas

H. xxx



A night with Bon Jovi.

After a couple of killer weeks, Last night we went to see Bon Jovi in concert. It was amazing, the tickets were great, the atmosphere was electric, the beer was warm and the music was out of this world. I shimmied my ass off and waved and clapped my hands until they ached as any deserving Jon Bon Jovi fan should!

Here’s a few happy snaps of the night.

What could be more fun than planning your new laundry!

Okay, maybe plenty of things could be, but I’m still pretty excited to be designing mine from scratch.

Our current Laundry is very small and dingy and inspiring. There is literally enough space for a sink and the washer/ dryer stacked…with no precious bench space. How can one survive without a function laundry I ask? And how can one be inspired to wash if their laundry is dingy and inspiring? Well these are my current excuses for not keeping on top of the laundry, and I’m stickin to it until I have created a real laundry.

I'm dreaming of a beautiful laundry with natural light, uplifting colours and plenty of functionality.

When we bought our home the side veranda was covered in as a “Queenslander room”. In other words it was a dingy space with astro turf flooring and green shade cloth walls. Not being in line with our design standards we began to pull it down to leave it as a plain veranda but as the Kiddos moved in we realised our home was getting a little crowed. Then Brilliance struck…. What about making this side veranda into a room. Genius huh? We would only need to build walls and flooring and we would have ourselves a brand spank’n new laundry and storage area! Since we have no enclosed garage this would be a lifesaver. This would also mean we could blow out our main bathroom into the old laundry space (see whole floorplan here). My hubby was going to try this himself, but after the disaster that was our new ensuite walls I thought it best to get in a professional. So now I need a plan!

Here is the overview of the space,

It’s only narrow but with the right colours and natural light it will open up.


I’m in love with deep blue walls at the moment, it reminds me of those beautiful days by the beach With blue skies as far as the eye can see. See my heart is pretty set on this colour scheme…..

So now’s the fun bit, how to arrange the laundry. I have become painfully indecisive so have laid out a few options. All include the Washer, Dryer, Sink, chest Freezer, Wine rack and bench space. Have a favourite???

Short but Sweet

Today’s a shorty but a sweety. Life’s been very hectic this past week with lots of wonderful exciting things going on. I’m working on some fun projects to post soon for Christmas gifts so I’m not totally neglecting this little blog.. I promise! In the meantime I found this beautiful quote on Daisy and the sea.   

Have a wonderful Wednesday!