green love.

looking through my garden beds this morning, and around my neighborhood while i was running, i noticed something, and it put a BIG fat smile on my face.

BLOSSOMS and BUDS!



jasmine budding on my front door step. hopefully it won't take too long to bloom, i LOVE the smell of jasmine flowers :D



this little freesia is budding too! if there's a flower i like the smell of MORE than jasmine, it's freesia.
one of my neighbours has freesias planted all the way along their fence and walking past is heaven.



this daffodil is almost in full bloom. i can't wait til there's lots of these in flower so i can justify picking a couple for inside.



and then there is this beautiful specimen. a late blooming rose in the front garden of the house next door. there's no one living there at the moment but i sure am appreciating it's prettiness.

what's blooming in your garden and neighbourhood at the moment?

ta-da!

you know that cowl i cast on last week?
well, it's done!



it's a LOT narrower than the pattern states as i completely ran out of wool!
and when i googled where i'd be able to find some more, i found out that it was discontinued!
bit of a bummer, but i tried it on last night, and even though it is a bit skinnier, when it's wrapped around twice, it's still super cosy!

i just hope the birthday girl likes it :D

i've almost got july's woodland sampler finished too!
i did a whole lot of tedious white stitching, based on the positioning of some lettering i'd done earlier in the month, only to realise when i was done, the lettering was one stitch to the left of where it should've been!
gah! i must be the worst cross stitcher going round!

what have you finished lately? are you stitching up a sampler too? are you any good at counted cross stitch?

meal planning monday.

another week of monday-friday work for me, so i made sure i got myself all organised for the week ahead yesterday.
last week i managed to be organised enough to not need to go to the supermarket at all during the week! a mighty feat!
also, my mum won a meat pack over the weekend at her local club, and when we were on our way home from a quick visit yesterday, she packed us up with almost all of it! lots of meat pack dinners this week :D



tonight, i'm cooking up some curried sausages. i haven't made them in AGES! nice comfort food using an ingredient i wouldn't otherwise use unless i was cooking up a bbq (and the weather is NOT co-operating for that kind of thing)

tomorrow night, i'll cook up the steaks that came in the meatpack. i might braise some cabbage and bake some crunchy chips. yum!

wednesday night, ncb night, i'll grab some bolognaise out of the freezer and cook up some pasta before i leave. that way i should be hungry enough for cake by the time i get there :D

thursday night, the last thing out of the meat pack, burgers! with some fresh bread rolls and a handful of salad, they should be delish!

friday, i've got the day off from work for a 'study' day. i'm secretly hoping that bb will get off from work early, and we can head off for a little road trip, making the most of my last weekend off for a couple of weeks, and catching up with a good friend in her new house. it should be a good weekend with lots of good food! i can't wait!

what are you eating this week? trying anything new? road-tripping anywhere?

little lovelies.

every weekend, i put together a little list of lovely things that have happened during the week. always looking for the nice side of the week :D



i received this lovely biscuit in the mail from a new mama. it was to say thank-you for a little blankie i knitted up. what a lovely gesture! it's too pretty to eat though!



i cast on a new project during the week on my way to brown owls. a gap-tastic cowl for a friend's upcoming birthday
it's using the yarn that i mentioned last week!



and speaking of yarn, the back-ordered yarn i ordered a few weeks ago for the granny stripe has turned up. so i'm back at work on it! well in between knitting up the above mentioned cowl that is ;)

today, i'm heading off on a little roadtrip to visit my parents. i haven't been to visit them since mothers day! whoops!

what cool things have happened to you this week?

making over the 'case.

a couple of months ago, i foraged this beauty off one of my neighbours front lawn!



it is in desperate need of a lot of tlc!
i spent a little bit of time over the weekend, cleaning the inside and outside, sanding the hinges and thinking about all of the possibilities of what i could do!



the inside lining will need to be replaced i think... time to get the modpodge out!
i'm thinking it would look nice in a vintage printed fabric. might need to go op-shopping for some vintage sheeting!



the outside will need a paint job, as the facade is a little messed up! a lick of mint green paint should do the trick.
oh, and those hinges, they definitely need a bit more work with the steel wool!
as well as a bit of alignment i think.



what do you think? do you have any suggestions for making over a suitcase?

green love.

not much has changed since last week on the edible side of things in the garden, so this week i thought i'd share the floral happenings in the garden!



there are a lot of flowers springing up from bulbs, these grape hyacinths are doing fabulous things, despite that fact that they probably need a good water
these, and others, sit under the eaves of our house, which means they get missed when it rains, and missed by me because i assume that they're been rained on! oops!



these lovelies are almost in full flower, in my front yard, in my neighbours front yard, and all over the neighbourhood!



bb and i bought this hydrangea a few weeks ago on clearance. i've been trying to keep the water up to it (it too, sits under the eaves) but all the leaves have fallen off and i'm a bit worried that it's not long for this world.
keep your fingers crossed for me?



and finally, my rose.
i pruned the living daylights out of it a few months ago, for the very first time.
pruning my rose bush is one of those things i always mean to do, but never quite get around to... which normally results in a ridiculous looking plant come spring time.
it must've really enjoyed the pruning though because the buds i pruned back to (and one's further down) have already started to grow! huzzah!

is much happening in your garden at the moment? how are you flowers growing?

polishin' up.

as i mentioned on saturday, i picked up a gel polish kit last week.
on my morning off on friday, i had a bit of a play...



the instructions that come with the kit are quite straight forward.
i'm sure i would've been ok without them though, due to my experience in receiving gel polish manicures in the past.
in fact, the reason i stopped getting them, was that i'd had so many, i knew exactly what needed doing, and when the 'professionals' missed a step, the $35 manicure would barely last a week, let alone the 'up to 3 weeks' that is advertised.
super frustrating!!



the pack that i picked up (from hairhouse warehouse fyi, the special is on until the 28th of july) allowed you to pick two colours yourself.
i chose passion and seafoam. (full colour list here
i applied the seafoam on friday when i was having a play. because it was a very light pastel, i actually did 3 coats to make sure there was a nice even colour.



the finish came up quite well! i was really proud of myself!
it's not the best my nails have ever looked (with a professional job, tha is), but it's not the worst either!

the worst thing i found with this kit was the amount of time it took me!
i'm used to being able to cure one hand, while the other hand is painted (by someone else) but obviously, only having two hands, i couldn't do that myself!
also, the lamp is a bit smaller than the professional ones you come across in salons, so you have to cure your 4 long fingers first, and then the thumb. took a little longer but so far, the finish is worth the time!

the real test will be to see how long they last!

do you get gel polish manicures? have you ever tried it yourself?