Look at my little poppet. She looks so grown up!

Wowee, October already and the Christmas decorations are being set up in the shops! Maybe I can get onto my cards early this time instead of the last minute late nighter. I am really looking forward to Christmas this year. It’ll be different with a two year old in the house!

I’ve been very busy catching up over —-> here, but I am hopefully having a blogging day tomorrow of my very own! Lots of posts piling up and photos to upload — including my ‘Thrift Challenge’ update and other goodies…

We recently got back from a family holiday in Tathra on the NSW South Coast (another reason things have been a little quiet around here!). We had a brilliant time and after the first couple of cloudy days the weather picked up and it got quite warm! Eloise quickly immersed herself into the beach atmosphere making sandcastles every day, chasing seagulls and paddling in the ocean (read/see more about her adventures here). It’s such a beautiful part of the country. Lush green hills, amazing beaches, National Parks and bushwalks and lots of cheese tasting!!! I love it at this time of year, not too cold, not too hot and lovely and quiet!

One afternoon Rohan and I went exploring a tiny portion of the Mimosa Rocks National Park. I took the photos above near Bithray Inlet (below). They had the most amazing patterns and textures.

While Eloise was busy refusing to nap for the first time in weeks, I decided to do something I have been wanting to do forever…make Lemon Butter (Lemon Curd). I was inspired after reading this entry on Melissa’s lovely blog Tiny Happy. I used a mix of lemons and limes and it turned out to be pretty delicious for a first attempt! By the time I had finished I took a peek around the corner into the loungeroom and this is what I found…

Ha! There’s a first time for everything. Even the blanket is her own doing! I just KNEW she was tired!

I’m home from a lovely but waaayyy too short holiday visiting my folks in New South Wales. Rohan had a conference in Canberra, so after spending a couple of days there, Eloise and I tootled three hours up the highway to the Blue Mountains. It was wonderful to catch up with family and see Eloise run around in the house where I grew up. Although it’s still another month until Spring, the trees had started to blossom and the wattle was abundant with fluffy flowers (sorry Dad, couldn’t resist!).

In Canberra I caught up with my childhood friend, Narelle. She cooked us the most delicious dinner and Ellie got up to mischief running around the house with her boys. We’ve been in and out of contact over the years and have both moved interstate so it was wonderful to catch up and still feel so familiar and comfortable like no time had passed. To me those are good friendships. It’s such a shame we live so far away! Narelle does the most gorgeous floral designs. Have a peek at her website Brave Botanics.

While in Canberra I discovered a shop called Pepe’s Paperie and it was stocked with the most stunning selection of notepaper and accessories. I bought a couple of small boxes of tiny fancy paper clips packaged in small drawstring bags by le the des ecrivains. I also bought some stunning file folders by Cavallini & Co and was sooooo very tempted to get Eloise a set of these flash cards. I had to work hard to convince myself that she didn’t need to know ‘W’ was for wig-wam just yet. I also couldn’t resist a couple of gift boxes by Hipp…just because they were so pretty.

There were goodies in my letterbox upon my return including this lovely card from the talented Gwen at bugheart.

Apologies things have been so quiet! I have lots of posts ready to whirl once I get my act together (and my photos!). I have postcard swap thank-you’s to do and I owe a lot of emails. If you have emailed or commented lately hang in there, I will reply. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your feedback!

Erghh! Lightening! It’s been raining on and off constantly since I got back. (Not the best light here for photography!) I’d better press ‘publish’ and turn off the computer…just in case…

Eloise and I made cookies this morning. She doesn’t get many foodie treats because of the dairy thing. I feared these gingerbread cookies may be a bit too spicy, but no, sure enough she comes toddling over and drags me into the kitchen asking for ‘more star peaaseee, more star’. (this also explains why only one star made its way into the photo above!)

Cooking doesn’t come naturally to me, actually I’m not very good at it at all. So when I had to improvise and use a wine bottle as a rolling pin I freaked out a little. I think I also overcooked them a bit….but hey…my little customer isn’t complaining….although she did call my gingerbread man a bear!