What a wonderful weekend!

My weekend was awesome.  Really awesome, in fact.

I won't blather on with all of the details but we spent a couple of lovely days on the Bellarine Peninsula. (All so we could catch the amazing Carus at a dinner/show at Harvester Moon) and then headed to see our much-loved Swans play on Sunday.

So here's a few highlights from an excellent few days:

Ahhh...the ocean!

A delicious breakfast in Barwon Heads

My lovely hubby and I at the footy

So here's to another week and another imminent weekend - woohoo!

My weekend sewing projects

 had a lovely quiet weekend relaxing, and sewing some birthday presents for my little sister.

I made her this jewellery roll from a pattern in Cath Kidston's Sew (I even successfully put in a zip!  Hooray for me!):

And I also made her this laptop case from a wonderful tutorial at amy a la mode with a nice soft quilted lining and her name embroidered on the front :

I hope she likes them!  Now I just have to remember to post them so she gets them on time!

    

Some creative writing fun

It was without warning and with little effort that she thought suddenly of her grandmother.  Only moments before she had been immersed in random, happily meaningless thoughts.  What's for dinner tonight?  How cute is this skirt I am wearing?  Should I be walking faster than this?  It hit so suddenly, the wave of nostalgia, of memory.  That is the very nature of those things.  All it takes is something as insignificant as a bunch of daffodils at a passing florist and WHAM - she is back there!  Back in a moment that occurred so long ago and so far from this place that it's like being slammed against a wall.  She can smell eucalyptus.  She can hear their muffled voices again.  Her breath catches for a moment.  Her heart quickens as she is pulled through herself, back to the past.  She is caught off guard; completely unprepared for the emotion that pulses through her.  She lets out a moan.

"Are you okay?" 

She blinks her eyes and she has returned to the side walk.  To the florist.  To the stranger that is looking at her with such concern she feels herself flush.  She nods.  Blinks again.  She pushes the memory back into the deepest part of her body and returns to her thoughts of dinner.       

Five Faves

I thought I would play along with Pip and share five things I'm loving this week...

1.  Tea - I just can't get enough of it!  As much as I don't like the cold weather, I do love the opportunity to drink copious amounts of tea.  And so I am. 

2.  Yoga - This week marks the end of our ten week sequence so we enjoyed a 'led' practice (i.e. - no instructions!).  We listened to music and just followed along at our own pace.  It was much fun, super relaxing and just what I needed last night after a shitty kinda day.    

3.  My cats - Following the cold theme, my poor little kitties have been feeling it as well.  But, they are uncharacteristically enjoying lots of couch-time snuggles.  This is not only very nice but also helps to keep me warm too!

4.  Lunch time walks - I always try to get out for my half hour lunch break everyday.  Lately I've been enjoying nice long walks through the sunny streets of South Melbourne and just enjoying being outside.  

5.  Pushing Daisies, Season 2 - What can I say?  It's excellent. 

My weekend

I love weekends.  I count down the weekdays until the weekends arrive (and feel bad that I am wishing away time like that!) but I just absolutely adore my weekends.  I love sleeping in, heading out for brunch, watching the football, going out to dinner, sewing...just the little leisurely things you don't get to do during the week.

This weekend I worked on a birthday present for my little sister (shhh - don't tell her!) from Cath Kidston's Sew.  I'm almost finished - hurrah! For the first time in a long time I don't have multiple crafting projects going on at the same time.  I shall hopefully rectify that soon, although I'm not sure what I want to work on next?  My quilt was such a mammoth effort I felt in need of a little crafting break.  But...back to it now!

We also headed out to our local council's Sustainability Expo.  It was only a small event but it was good nonetheless.  The picture in the middle is our new Bokashi Bin which I'm (sadly) very excited about.  I have been very much missing our Brisbane backyard and worm farm lately.  Living in an apartment makes things a little tricky but the Bokashi Bin means no more throwing out organic waste from our kitchen anymore.  Plus our little garden will love us for the fertilizer it will receive :)

We also did lots of laying on the couch and keeping warm with my newly finished quilt and our two cuddly kitties.  Kitties who aren't normally very cuddly but are obviously feeling the Melbourne cold as much as we are right now.  That's Alex up there.  Isn't he just adorable?

And now it's Monday yet again, so let us battle on through to Friday afternoon.

My Yoga moments

Image by Eric Lon via Flickr

I am absolutely and totally in love with Yoga at the moment (and hopefully indefinitely).  I started doing a course about 10 weeks ago and haven't looked back.  I used to go to classes years ago but stopped and never seemed to be able to start again.  I went to a class here and there but it just never felt right.  Never fit.  I'd almost given up hope on finding a great yoga class again when I received a flyer in my letterbox about a yoga course starting just minutes from my house.  What luck!  Especially considering I don't normally even read the squillions of advertising material that ends up in our letterbox (straight to the recycling bin for you!).  So I consider myself exceptionally blessed to have found a class and a teacher that feels right for me.  So right in fact that I have started going twice a week.  Tis brilliant.

I also happen to be reading "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert at the moment which has been a lovely coincidence.  A work college gave it to me to read because she though I would like it.  I must say that I was pretty ignorant about what the book was actually about.  I had seen it around before but had no idea what it was about, and felt obliged to read it purely because it had been loaned to me.  But I am very much enjoying the read and am sorry I hadn't read it sooner.  It's very honest and inspiring.  I do recommend it :)

I am thoroughly enjoying my two little unexpected yoga moments - what are you enjoying right now? 

Three things

Thought I would follow Dawn at handmadelove and share three things about me (check her's out here):

1.  I went to Japan in March this year.  It was absolutely amazing! (That's me below in Shinjuku)

2.  I've been going to Yoga classes for the past few months and I absolutely love it!  I'm going twice a week now and I feel fantastic for it.

3.  I have two adorable cats named Alex and Jasper 

That is all :)

Long time no post

Ok, so it's been a while between posts.  I won't bore you with excuses, but I am back!

I am back and I am happy to report that I have finished my first ever quilt.  *insert joy here*

Thanks to an amazing quilt-a-long guide at i have to say... i have now FINISHED a quilt that I absolutely adore.  I can't praise Randi and her quilt-a-long instructions enough because I definitely wouldn't have been able to do it without them.  You should check her blog out - it's awesome!

Here is a very bad picture of my quilt taken with my iphone (apologies):

So as you can see, even though I have been very bad at blogging this year, I have been crossing some things off my 'to do' list - yay me!

Expect to see more of me from now on...

Oh, and a gigantic thank you to everyone who has commented on my neglected blog so far.  You are all lovely.