John & Ginger in Freshwater

Home Beautiful arrived yesterday and as I was quickly flicking through,  as I won't have time to properly read it until after Dec 11th or when the majority of the work will be finished,  I was captivated by this image:

I was so enamoured of it that first thing this morning, ie. after I dropped the Captain off at school, I raced over to Freshie to have a look.  I was desperate to get those blue and white cushions as well...

mmmmm, look how lovely they are! 

Imagine, my disappointment when I found out that they were sold yesterday.  Some smartypants obviously got their copy of Home Beautiful before I did...

Nevermind, the trip to John & Ginger was well and truly worth it.  It is one of the most beautiful shops that I have ever visited and the owner is just gorgeous. 

The view from the front door.

Every time I step out the front door the carpet of jacaranda blossoms covering the lawn takes my breath away.  The contrast between the purple of blossom and the emerald green of the grass is divine.  Reminds me of playing with my beloved box of 72 Derwent Pencils as a child, I used to love re-arranging the order of the pencils trying to decide which colours best complemented each other.

The little one is in flower heaven at the moment, the garden is in full bloom and he spends ages examing and gathering flowers.  Fla fla (flower) was one of his very first words and his favourites are the yellow ones.  Lellow being his favourite colour and all!

He is itching to get his grubby paws on some of these and keeps asking me to go "cut some flowers for the house please mumma" but I am loving the gardenias and their glorious fragrance so much that it is towards them that the secateurs are headed:

Lastly Julia... I can't find your email address (or your blog?) to send this to you but I have been wanting to show it to you for ages... just couldn't find my high school year book in the chaos of the renovation!  Very boring for everyone but Julia... anyway see arrow below!

Thought it might amuse you!

I love "green waste" collection week...

                    Almost as much as Council Clean Up!

Driving the Captain to school this morning, the boys in the back happily listening to Micheal Hordern's fabulous voice narrating Paddington. I was busy scanning the piles of green waste on the side of the road.  Occasionally I find some great cuttings and this morning I scored big time:

A pile of silver birch branches!

Well, a couple of piles!

I forced myself to keep on driving. As tempted as I was to squeeze the bundles in the back between the boys car seats.  (No room in the boot it is full of QF uniforms, manuals, bags and other Flight Attendant paraphernalia that I have to return to work.  Yes, I resigned... but that is a blog post for another day!)

Anyway, dropped the Captain at school.  Took the little one to swimming lessons, picked up some supplies for the morning... sushi for him, coffee for me and... hurray... the garbage truck hadn't done our street yet!  I squashed some into the boot and the rest into the Captain's car seat and the space between the seats. Hope Husband doesn't read this bit... or the people that service the car... 

Back to my find though,  just look at how lovely they are:

Now what to do with them?

Maybe this gorgeous hand made Christmas tree that I spotted last year here.

Not sure if I have the skills to make these.

or these, but they are gorgeous and I am keen to try.  Both images found here.

Now, this looks the best idea yet.  I will have to have a word with the husband about making me one of these! Found here. 

so this is what has been keeping me busy....

The inside of the house has required some attention....  when we tackelled the original parts of the house internally we encountered some problems. The old termite damage is not the problem though... the floors weren't level and not one of the walls was straight!!!!  To put the new floor in and the new kitchen... we need level and straight.  Consequently, we have been very busy and as a result the blog and blog visits had to be put on hold.  Nevertheless, I have loved every minute of this renovation though and I have learnt so many new skills.  I have watched the tradesmen and Ross closely and am learning fast.  I feel confident helping to put gyprock up on a wall or ceiling and am quite the dab hand with a paint brush.  These days I don't even bother with the blue tape!

Life outside of the renovation has been equally busy.  Both my little pirates are growing fast.  There is so much to catch up on here and I have many blog posts planned but for the time being I will just document the last couple of months with some photos:

We spent a couple of weeks in Canberra, chez Grandma and Grandpa.

So we did a bunch of touristy stuff.

Canberra has some seriously cool playgrounds!

I can actually remember playing at this one, so it has to be around about 30 years old!

We went to the Fred Williams exhibition where Nicasso spent some time creating a Williams inspired masterpiece in the childrens room!

Every visit to Canberra the Captain asks to visit this installation by James Turrell in the grounds of the NGA.

Mt Stromlo (well what's left of it after the bushfires...)

The succulent garden in the backyard is finally starting to take off!

The bench seat in the dining room... can't wait till this is finished!

Front garden looking stunning at the moment.

Main bathroom is finished... we decided to go ahead and create the wet room area,  The best decision,  no more stressing about my two little ducks creating havoc in the bath. 

Halloween 2011... the little one is supposed to be Huckle Cat... he changed his mind at the last minute.  Fortunately, we did have some Lederhosen in the house. 

Ah well... I did my best with what we had in the house!