Just start writing.

If you know me at all, you would know that I like to write. If you know me very well, you would know that I have always liked to write. So it's no surprise, I suppose, that when I reflect on the things I have been good at in my life, and had a natural easiness and quiet happiness with, writing played a major role.

Dear Santa...

It's been a great year and I've done my best to be good. I love my family and my friends and am very grateful for the birth of my delightful daughter this year. I'm thankful for the opportunities which have come our way this year to enrich our lives. Do you think you might see your way clear to put a couple of these under the tree for me?

On my night stand...

Despite all the crazy goings-on at my place lately, or perhaps because of them, I have found myself accumulating a pile of books and magazines which need to be read! Because they all look so appealing the hardest decision has been which ones to read first. Eventually I decided that the library books, particularly those with reservations on them, would take priority. But I've still sneaked a peak at the others! So here's a quick review: 

Such cleverness :: floral party hats.

Are these not the best things EVER??!! I mean, really! These have totally added fuel to my fledgling idea of a domestic goddess high tea Christmas lunch. Just another excuse to craft and then eat cucumber sandwiches and cupcakes!

This comes from one of my favorite crafty sites Oh Happy Day. Just go there. And make them. invite your girlfriends over. And then drink tea and eat scones with lots of cream and jam.

:: Inspirations :: Get wrapped up in this space...

*sigh*

My ideal home will have one of these. Maybe I will give more gifts then, too. Is it not a thing of beauty?

My new appreciation for The Wiggles....and Bluejuice

Recently I heard this song play on my favorite AM station (okay my favorite radio station, just happens to be AM) and loved it. So here it is. Enjoy (your kids will too!).  

'Tis the season to just say no...

It's that time of year. The jolly, social, let's be merry, wear silly earrings and exchange-cheap-Kris-Kringle-gifts time of year. The time of year that is upon us before we know it, yet streaks past in a cacophony of carols and disappears into the new year with a fizz of fireworks, leaving behind dead Christmas trees on the nature strip, empty bottles of Yellowglen in the recycling bin, forgotten leftover turkey and ham at the bottom of the fridge and brown pine needles in the carpet. 

The Seachange. Make that an Overseaschange.

Several months ago my husband and I were having flights of fancy about our lives. He was feeling pressure at work and I was feeling the effects of months of being tied to a new baby and not getting out much.  We talked about how great would it be to work overseas, let the kids learn a new culture, inject some newness into our marriage and family life!

Welcome to Holland (with apologies to the Dutch...)

Soon after Jack was diagnosed with CP, I was sent the following by his paediatrician. It's a good analogy for the experience of being the parent of a child with a disability. Some days Holland is more like Timbuktoo, or Mars, but the message that it's not Italy but still an interesting place, rings true. Read on and you'll understand.