"Come live in my heart, and pay no rent"

18th January 2012

Let it snow...

The appearance of snow never gets old for this Antipodean.

I think I was even more excited than Avalon this morning to open up the curtains and see the white blanket covering our street, backyard and the rolling hills of Farnham Park. After a late morning start of coffee and eggs, Avalon and Daddy just had to get out in it.

There is something so beautiful and magical about a snow day, when you have nowhere to go of course. 

A lazy Sunday is the perfect Snow Day and here we are (not so secretly) hoping we get some more falling over night, ensuring tomorrow is a stay at home day for Grant too.

Now, the girl is napping and I am catching up on blogs and watching Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.

Bits & Pieces

Listening to this on repeat in the car... Luckily Avalon is also a fan and sings along to 'Lithium'... Well, the 'yeah, yeah, yeaaahs'

We have an Ergo and we love it, but now I want something a little more aesthetically pleasing... I think the answer lies in the Boba 3G carrier. One to try out at the next sling meet for sure.

I bought this for Avalon from Lush and it smells DIVINE. I have been using it myself and am going to see what other products are (hopefully) in the line... Great moniker too in 'Honey I Washed The Kids'

Grant bought me a subscription to The Green Parent for Christmas. I absolutely adore it and keep picking it up again and again to read. I can't wait for next month's edition.

Michael Fassbender. Oh. My.

Ebi Kare Loman from Wagamama is awesome. I could eat it everyday.

My last working week...

I am finishing up work tomorrow to start my 5 weeks vacation time which will then roll into my maternity leave for 12 months.

There is a part of me that feels really relieved to be finishing up work. I am getting increasingly tired as I get bigger and am finding it difficult juggling home life and work life while Avalon is so young.

On the other hand I feel sad to be leaving the company, albeit for a year.

I do enjoy my working day at my desk, cup of coffee to my right and chatting to my colleagues. I am lucky to work with a great bunch of people and will miss the banter and relationships I have had over the past 4 years.

On a selfish note, I will also miss being able to wander Guildford aimlessly in my lunch hour, browsing the shops without a toddler attached to me and eating my lunch without interuption.

But here is to the next chapter and feeling very lucky to able to take this time to be with my children....

Wordless Wednesday

Reading to Ribbet

In Roxy's woolly owl ('ow ow') hat

Wordless Wednesday

A woman I love...

Liv Tyler.

Need I say more?

Current Reading # 1

Everyday People

This song always puts me in a great mood and I need the 'lift' today.

Join me and SMILE!

There is something I should tell you...

24 weeks + 6 days

There is no more hiding it, I feel like my 'not telling' kind of translates to lying so here is what is happening in our world: I am pregnant. Quite a bit pregnant, actually.

There are a number of reasons I have kept quiet about my pregnancy, some of which I don't wish to divulge but I will say for the most part that I have felt much more private about it than I did when I was expecting Avalon. I think the fact I am kept so busy with a toddler plays a huge part in not really discussing it- I have hardly had a moment to digest these changes myself, nor have the 'luxury' I did the first time around of focussing wholely on mt growing bump.

We have told very few people we are expecting again, obviously those we see reguarly and dear friends and family know, but I have not 'announced' my pregnancy on Facebook- a surprise for some. I freely admit I'm more than a little addicted to the social networking site and through this blog and my Facebook acount, I say I live a pretty 'open' life.

There has been a lot G and I have had to work through this time and as one week rolled into the next I just decided to keep up with the 'not telling.' It may be really hard for some people to understand I am sure but for more than one reason I just wanted to focus on other parts of my life.

When baby arrives I will absolutely be blogging about our life with 2 children under 2, so it seems fitting that I do include this post- also as this blog has developed more into a journal of our life it is only right to mention the impending arrival of Mini DS as we call 'baby' (and no that is not an acronym for 'Dear Son'.)

So, if any of my friends are reading this, I respectfully ask you to keep 'mum'.

So... Shhhhhhhhhhhh.

Sleeping.

Is there anything sweeter?

three more weeks three more weeks three more weeks...

Avalon 20 months

I am really finding this working part-time malarky kind of hard.

The being at work part is fine, actually, I will go so far as to say I like it. What I do find hard is leaving on those two mornings a week from home or my child minders; watching my girl cry as I have to run out the door after the third hug or losing out on work and thus a day's pay when she is ill (because, heaven forbid my child comes first!) Add to that the run of the mill stuff: packing lunches, dressing her and I, showers, brushing hair, breakfast, reading stories... ahhhhh!... and all before 7.30am. Tell me, how do other women do this full-time? How do they find balance between work and raising more than one child (as my Mother did)!? I feel I am not able to give 100% either to the company I work for or my daughter.
It is a balancing act I have not perfected and my proverbial hat is off to any parent that can do this.

I am finishing up work in three weeks and... I. am. counting. down.

No longer shall I sit in traffic an hour and a half in the morning to get to the office on time. No longer shall I feel the guilt about leaving my daughter (often) upset. I had hoped I could 'do this' but alas, the juggle is not for me. Do not get me wrong, it is going to be financially hard and money will be VERY tight but this is something I will just have to get used to as it is what WE have chosen to do.

I am looking forward to a few more days like this, just hanging out with my girl....

couch surfing, belly button twiddling & watching cartoons.

Izzy & Avie.

Credit to Nina for the photo and for spending the day with my girl.

Snapshot.

Today

New Years Resolutions... Here's hoping.

So, every year I make a few resolutions for the coming year. It is the optimist in me trying to overpower the ever present pessimist. So, here goes. It is worth a shot, hey?

1. Read More.
I am pretty sure this was on the list last year as well. I easily read about 15 books a year, by and large due to a daily 40 minute train commute and being one half of a child-less couple. Well that all changed. Since I acknowledge I spend waaaaay too much time on social networking sites I can at least incorporate a little reading time into each day. Even with a toddler. I think. I have several books on the shelf at home waiting to be devoured and I would also like to read/re-read the Dark Tower series by Stephen King.
But first up; a refresher with Ina May.

2. Take my vitamins and drink more water.
Thrilling stuff, really.

3. Work Out.
I will be honest and say for once in my life the vow to take more physical exercise has little to do with vanity and weight loss, well, that is probably about 10% of the reason.
I swear I have such low energy and also do not sleep well. I can only partly blame Motherhood for that one and the rest is purely not taking better care of myself. I am hoping that by getting out in the fresh air and pounding the pavement I will feel a little better and have a little 'me' time as well. Possibly looking better will be a by product.

4. Get back to nature.
As a lead on from resolution No. 3, I am going to aim to spend more time (particularly on weekends) enjoying the great outdoors with my family. I don't think we do it enough, and I mean PROPER walks, of the mile(s) variety.  We always have a great day out together when we do and live in such a beautiful part of the country, with so many amazing trails and national parks on our doorstep it seems silly to waste that..

5. Be more assertive.
For those that know me this may seem like a laugh. For those that TRULY 'get' me will know I struggle badly with this. When I am bothered by something, I let it eat away at me, consume me (Hello? Insomnia?!) and that is far from healthy. There are a couple of people in my life that I struggle with finding the words to stand my ground (they are also people I MUST have in my life.)
Here's to finding the right words to not get walked over, and most importantly, feel that I have said what needs to be said in a constructive way.

I think that is it?

Best keep it short and sweet.

Wish me luck.

Home is where the heart is and my heart is in...

... Farnham.

We are happily nestled in our new home in Surrey. It feels so good to put the move behind us and focus on the coming year. It is pretty safe to say that we are starting to feel more settled in general; G in his new job and the three of us in our new digs.

We are still without broadband (what is up with that, 'customer service'?)  and will unfortunately remain that way until the end of the month but am stealing a few minutes at work to catch up on my favourite blogs and tell you about our home.

Our house is cosy and has fantastic views over the town (am I starting to sound like I am in real estate agent?) It is only a rental but we are easing into the new surroundings and making it 'ours'. It covers all our needs; 3 bedrooms, garage, storage, walk to train and town, great location and most importantly, is within budget.

A's bedroom is huge in comparison to the last and adequately fits her too many toys, clothes, dolls house and other what not she has accumulated in her 21 months.

From our living room and bedrooms we can see Farnham Park and the castle, a far cry from our old view of multi storey car park and Burger King.We have moved  a mere 10 minute drive from our old place yet in a country like England it is not surprising that we have passed into another county. We couldn't be more excited to be in Farnham as it is a place we have grown to love over the past 4 years of residing in the UK. Many a Saturday had been spent wandering the boutique stores, charity shops, dining in the restaurants and spending time in the park. It is such a truly beautiful town; cobblestone streets, lush parks, streams, Victorian buildings and old world charm. I feel much safer living here and also generally much more positive as it is a wonderful place to have our children and the schools are bar none (well, so I hear.)

Even the cat seems impressed.

Being able to walk to town is a huge plus for us with a toddler and an even shorter work to the train station which G uses every day. A direct line to London will always be a plus in my book when we seek a little hustle and bustle.

As we settled in over the Christmas period we spent many a day moseying down to Gostrey Meadows Park with the girl, grabbing a take-away coffee from Morello's and whittling away several relaxing hours in the playground. We also took the opportunity to do all our Christmas shopping locally which was so easy and felt great to support local business.

Twice we have walked along the North Downs Way,  for us a 2 mile circuit which includes a drink or two at the pub and feeding the horses , much to A's delight. I will blog more on this later once I can upload my own photos.

The town has some great places to visit and I look forward to dropping in and saying 'hello' over the next year; The Barn, the ceramics cafe, The Maltings, scrummy restaurants and our new 'local' The Mulberry which serves the most delicious gourmet burgers. We were regulars of the monthly Farmers Market and now have the advantage of walking there.

Most importantly, feeling excited about making some very happy memories in our new home and enjoying the company of visiting friends and family. Things just seem to be getting better and better.

Ciao for now...

With the house move comes disconnection from the virtual world.

It looks like we won't have internet access until at least mid January, so for now... 

Happy Holidays x

It's beginning to look alot like...

I admit I really do love this time of year.

Growing up in Australia in the heat I really cherish the Northern Hemisphere Christmas. After spending the first 24 years of my life lazing in the pool on Christmas day (okay, okay, that is pretty great too) it is lovely to be having Christmas Day the way I had always envisioned, snuggled up in the house from the cold, sometimes snowing outside, having a hot Christmas dinner and warm mulled wine.

I love seeing the Christmas lights adorning the High Street, neighbours decorating their houses and, I'll confess, Christmas carols playing in the stores. To me, it is the quintessential holiday season experience.

I have been enjoying my share of Christmas foodie treats as I figure I cannot indulge in too much of that delicious mulled wine so fruit mince pies with lashings of cream it is!

One hard part to this time of year (and being an ex-pat) is missing my family. We were lucky to be back in Australia last year for December and it was my first with my parents, brothers, Grandmother and Aunts in 6 years. I am so happy that Avalon had her first Christmas in sunny Australia.

This year, will be a bit more harried as we will have moved into our new house only 12 days before so our tree and decorations will be going up late. My best friend of 22 years arrives (I cannot wait!) with her baby boy and partner just after our move and they'll be with us on and off for the following 3 weeks... it is going to be a lovely (although not restful) couple of weeks.

20 months today and the girl's favourite reading material...

Avalon is 20 months old today so I thought I would share some of her favourite books; ones she loves read to her and also the ones she 'reads' herself, holding the books herself and turning the pages. It amazes me how much she remembers from the stories being read to her.

So her are some of her favourites on rotation...

Oui Monsieur Garrel

I love French actor Louis Garrel.

I first saw him in The Dreamers and since then in Mar Mere, Les Chansons d'Amour & Dans Paris. 

I don't have much more to add other than the usual fan girl gushing but I highly recommend The Dreamers as it is one of my favourite films, I love all things 'Paris' and I lose myself in the feeling that Bertolucci's film evokes.

Suffice to say I think he is just beautiful.

This blogger has the right idea...