Garland girls

 

 

We didn't go craycray with the baby shower decorations... Just little touches here and there, but, we had our main feature. 

Gary the garland.

He was made out of a lot of fabric, which involved a lot of tearing or cutting and what felt like the beginnings of tennis elbow and some twine.

I was pretty certain it packed a fair punch in the visual stakes. We went for a carnival colour theme which was perfect for a baby boy, no?

Tools required on the day....

 

The coffee turned out to be a necessity for Amy....a coffee and kisses from Jed.

 

 

Oh, the little paper doilys I'm holding in front of the garland were from the $1 store and I spelt out Hudson's name on them and made a bunting. I was inspired by my clever friend Michelle,she had made doily bunting for her salon a little while back. I banked it.

 

Side note.....when holding a garland, that weird bending banana stance is the way to go. Aka, I have no upper arm strength, Gary was heavy and my body was buckling.

 

Keepin' it sweet

 

This house stuff really can be pretty stressful, so many decisions and so many ideas to come up with to keep the budget nice and LOW! I am so passionate about the design stuff and Guy just let's me run with it, which is actually great, but until his parts of the process come along, I can occasionally feel like I'm dragging the cart alone (enter the finance and spreadsheet stage, I'm breaking into a sprint in the opposite direction) they say building a house is one of the most testing things a couple can do together, and testing it has and will continue to be. To be completely honest we very rarely (practically never) fight with each other, not in an annoying 'we never fight instead we write love notes and he paints my toenails' kinda way... It's just, neither of us like the feeling of it, some people need that release and can have a barny and go on with their day, but for me, I'll worry about it until its all sorted!

I hate the feeling of being in a huff with someone, it eats me up. So, early on in this process we decided to have a safe song....kinda like a safe word but less creepy and a lot more fun. We promised that if anything ever got too much and we needed to shake it off and remember that this is actually a very cool thing to be doing and we're damn lucky, we would listen to this song, dance like awkward turtles and laugh it off.

Friday morning was the first time. We had a bit of a moment in the morning and hadn't really sorted it.... it was so minor in the grand scheme of the project and after taking the time to realise that, I went into the living room, turned on the surround sound, cranked the safe song and waited poised in the robot. Guy emerged from the other end of the house, big smile, bad dance moves. All was good again. Safe songs rule, meet ours and its hilariously weird video remix

 

 

 

Design haze

 

So.... I'm hoping I will be able to blog a little more than once a fortnight..... I'm determined to not make this like every other attempt at a journal I've ever had....10 pages in and it would seem that life had stopped. I definitely feel that this blog is going to make a sharp turn into the land of designing and building your own home on a crazy small budget, because that right now, is our life. My brain will not turn off and Pinterest is going to be the death of me/ the inspiration that will keep me going. These will give you a taste of what's going on in this head of mine and what I'm hoping to have going on in our future home...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7

 

 

 

 

Neglected

The blog has been grossly neglected as of late, so as a quick way to get you up to speed this is our life in pictures... Prepare for the bomb and brief explanations.

macarons from a lovely client

eating macarons with lovely client

lovely client

sharing macarons after lunch in the sun with Guy

and Jed, who was on watch

meeting baby Willem....huge fan!

are you smooching the screen, I'd forgive if you were

guitar and beer sessions with the fella.

 

So, that's almost it apart from.....

 

 

Would you just look how much this wee man has grown and how lovely Olivia looks!!!!!!!! They are all such troopers.....power and positive vibes slamming their way.

 

 

 

Oh and today we are the official owners of 2.5 acres, no big deal. I'm lying.....

 

IT'S A HUGE DEAL!!!!!

 

Off for a celebratory drink now if you'll excuse me. Yeeha.

 

The old man

 

Yesterday was Fathers day. I love my Dad to the moon and back and he loves all of his girls just as much, but the person he loves most of all is my Mother....We were very lucky to grow up around two people that much in love, the only fight I ever witnessed between my parents was an act orchestrated by them to teach us a lesson about fighting with each other (sly, very sly) Clearly we were onto them though because it didn't really work! Ha!!

 

 

Anyway, Thanks Dad for teaching me how to dance and lip quiver like Elvis among so many other things. I think you will forever be the only man I know who can...... Sew, decorate a mean cake, braid hair, cook like a champ, restore a '29 chevvy from scratch, build a house, build anything, farm, paint, draw, play wild thing on the guitar like your life depends on it, and get along with anyone and everyone.

Oh yeah, and thanks for choosing me to inherit your whole face (Jim in a wig), your legs ( it's only taken 29 years for them to fill out and allow me to grow into them), your pasty Irish skin, your love for beer, and the inability to laugh without lunging. That's all been SUPER great.

 

This photo was taken 5 months ago, even with the hubby around I still sometimes find myself snuggled up asleep with my old man......it seems sometimes with a beer still in hand. Classy.

 

You are very loved Papa.

 

DIYers

 

Since we've decided to embark on the little ol' adventure of BUILDING A FREAKIN' HOUSE FROM SCRATCH.... What? Crap! Breathe..... Ok, sorry... So since we decided to build, it's had me reminiscing about our renovations on our current place. We really have come a loooong way, from mustard walls, red brick, stinky carpet/curtains and the odd bold 90's cobalt blue feature wall. There were so many long days and late nights but the end result felt like such an achievement, I also collected a rather large amount of my fathers clothes.... Including a pair of cords that I used a piece of rope to keep up...yea it was as cute as you are imagining (read: not cute at all).

 

One thing that I will regret hugely is that we were so busy...we barely took any photos, in fact, this is pretty much it! Gutted! Also there was a lot of vinyl....not a high point. But I did find a couple of shots that were taken from the same angle.

 

I'm hoping that by doing it all from scratch it will be even more satisfying, but this time we'll be in it for the long haul.

 

Unconditional

 

Every time we have visited the little block of land that we have an offer on, Jed straight up refuses to leave....he stages a sit down protest. He doesn't do this at parks or anywhere else, this is a new thing. He just doesn't wanna leave. I don't blame him. I wish I could click my fingers and be there right now. Yesterday.....we went unconditional! That means this little dream is going to become a reality. There is going to be a lot of hardwork involved and I'm absolutely gunning to get started. If anyone is reading who has built before and has any tips! Let me know..... Open book!