Lady in Red

So I did a thing, red hair;

It's just a rinse, but I felt like something a bit different. (I think I hate it already, ha!)

Foolproof Dresses

I have a few dresses in my wardrobe that are on standby for those days when nothing sits right, and all of them are maxi dresses. Case in point, I'm horrendously sick at the moment, but a standby maxi and a slick of lippie and I'm good to go! (Bonus points; can have hairy legs and no one knows!)

*Side note; I'll no longer be uploading pics by mobile blogger because the distortion is horrendous!

Happiness.

I have a "Happy Book."

It started out as a Gratitude Journal but I found that most days I was grateful for the same things, so I scrapped it and just decided to write an enormous list of things that make me happy. These things include;

Windmills, cups of tea, lighthouses, bacon sandwiches, jigsaw puzzles, short shorts, Mondays, pulled pork, folding towels, grip ball, guys in V-neck tee's, white choc mocha's, chip sanga's, budgies, David Duchovny... (I think you get the picture)

Somehow I've managed to fill half an exercise book on things that make me happy. (Okay, there are a few accidental double-ups), but the main thing that I love about this book is every time I'm feeling grumpy, all I have to do is pull it out and read a page or two and I realise that my life is pretty damn good. I know it's a cliché but for anyone who's ever suffered depression, I HIGHLY recommend starting your own one. Nothing makes me feel as good as it does, and sometimes all I need is that little reality check, that yeah, there are amazing things like self-saucing puddings, Harry Potter movie marathons, and lemon tree's that are plentiful out there in my little world. Life is never as bad as it seems.

Bugs!

Hm, seems like I am still working out a few little bugs while working between my laptop, iPad and iPhone. Seems like posts off my phone aren't publishing properly and when I've updated on my laptop they all get muddled around in order! Oh well, I guess it's a bit of a learning curve isn't it?!

We've all been a little stressed here lately, so I've just sat down with a cuppa and lit a Sicilian Lemon and Basil candle (thank you Kmart!) and locked the boys in the Toy Room so I can have 15 minutes to myself. Well okay, I haven't locked them in, but I'm hoping they find something in there to distract themselves for a little while and play nicely. I've been looking at some new crochet projects, (UFO pile, stop looking at me like that! I KNOW I'm easily distracted!) I'd like to do some new coasters for on my desk and in the Sunroom, and I'm umming and ahhing about doing a new market bag. The last one I made is beautiful, but I thought it was way too small when following the pattern so I enlarged it. BIG MISTAKE! The thing is enormous and currently holds my rather large collection of scarves and wraps. That's how big it is! So I think a new one might be on the cards, especially since we are coming into summer now so I don't really have a need for new beanies or scarves. The new Simply Crochet magazine came out yesterday so I'm feeling a little inspired, I hate that stagnant feeling that comes with not accomplishing anything in so long! I keep saying to myself I'll pick up a project when the house is clean, but the jobs are always never ending and I should know by now that I deserve to sit down occasionally for halfa and just bang out some crochet, Mum needs "Me time" too. To be honest, I think the problem is more that when I do decide to take some time out, there are so many different things that I could be doing that I end up doing nothing because I can't decide what would be the best use of my time. I suppose this is a pretty common dilemma among busy parents though, so really I can't complain!

I'm lucky that I love cooking, because I get to work that into my routine every day when I do tea for everyone, it's the break at the end of a hectic day when the kids either sit on the bench and help me out or go and play together while I get on with it. I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't find joy in cooking! Anyway, my quiet 15 minutes is up, I can hear one child jumping on something he shouldn't be and the other one is starting a coughing fit. Have a fab day everyone!

Boys.

I love having boys.

I love being the lady in a household of boys.

The boat driver.

The see-saw-ers

The gardener.

The Swinger

And this bloke.
Who just gets me.
And has my heart.

Being Busy.

Gosh life gets busy sometimes doesn't it?! We've had a whole household of sickkies the last few weeks, finally seems like everyone except the little one are finally over it! (Little one keeps coughing so hard he vomits everywhere - yum!) So it feels like we've been super busy and I haven't had time for ANYTHING lately. Seriously, you only need to see the state of my house to know that I'm telling the truth! HA.

In reality though, I have been doing some bits and pieces around the house (this also includes reading Home Beautiful magazines and trawling Pinterest for new home ideas!) I've just cleaned out my bookcases AND cleaned my desk, this is amazing stuff people! I am the most disorganised person on the planet, my desk is usually complete chaos, and now it's all sparkling and clean. I don't even know who I am any more. Now all I need to do is find somewhere to put my ten thousand cookbooks. Ha. I've also decided that I'm no longer going to buy books, unless they are books that I've REALLY enjoyed, because I don't often re-read them any more, I barely have the time to read NEW books let alone read my old ones! So I've re-joined the library, even though I still have old library books on my bookshelf from 2006. They were actually really good about it, after all those years my overdue fine was only $35, which I'm happy to pay, but they said if I return the books they will waive the fee, I guess they're just happy to have more people using the library! I'm excited because I think the kids will really enjoy it too. Carter loves books, and with Lucas starting school next year I can see him slowly getting more interested in learning new things. Perhaps that's where my time has gone.. I've read two books in 3 days as well! Everyone needs some time out occasionally - right?! And I figure that reading books is a more fulfilling past time than shopping, which is my usual go-to. I've also started painting again (just quietly) but that's something that I have to do when the kids are in bed or else it turns into their fun time and not mine! (Speaking of painting, I seem to have misplaced my paints for my wedding invitations whilst cleaning my desk - oops!)

So unfortunately I don't even get fifteen minutes to myself to bang out a decent blog post, and I need to go and deal with some wayward children. I'll leave you with a couple of happy snaps of our past few days!

Someone fell asleep, how he was comfortable I have no idea!

At least he's happy enough to pull funny faces even when he's ill though!

Where is that Green Sheep?! Who cares when there's baby feet!

Sunny days make everyone feel like they're on the mend don't they?!

And if sunny days don't, homemade frozen yoghurts will!

But when all else fails, Milk.

I hope your past few days have been better than ours! I'm motivated to feel motivated again! (Is that even a thing? It is now!)

Robin.

A sad, sad day. This world didn't deserve a shining star like you. 

Loneliness

Do you think it's odd that even people who are surrounded by many people can feel lonely? I should be the LEAST lonely person on the planet with the amount of awesome people that are around me, but with my best friend jetsetting off to Europe for 6 months this is the prospect I am faced with. I know with Facebook, Instagram and Skype she's really not that unreachable, but it's still so different than knowing she's just down the road when I need her. She's my Maid of Honour too, lucky we don't get married until the end of next year but the bitch isn't even going to be here for half of my planning and crafting time! Lol. She's the one I can relate to on every level, it's not often that you find someone who just gets you. Someone you can go years without talking to and know that nothing changes. This isn't the first time she's left, she missed the birth of my smallest man because she was living it up in Coral Bay, and she doesn't even live in my town at the moment anyway, but that's besides the point. She's going to be all the way on the other side of the world, and I'm going to be here, slightly lonely.

Lucky I have my awesome family to keep me occupied. 

Will miss your face Yodz. Have a blast and a half!

*Disclaimer; I wrote this post last week, she's off today, so only fitting that I post this now and can wallow in self-pity a little.

Who am I kidding, I've been sitting beside the pool in my bikini in the sun.. Life is grand! But I will miss her. Heh.

BFFL♥

Fashion Victim

I like to describe myself as a bit of a fashion victim... Not in the way that people look at me and go, "Holy hell, what on Earth is that lady wearing?!" (Although now that I think about it, that's probably a very reasonable response sometimes!) But I mean in the way that I love clothes. Love them. I love buying them, I love wearing them, sometimes I get changed four times a day just because I can. I will wear anything, at least once. I like obscure things that most people would cringe at. I like to wear what's in fashion, I also like to wear what's out of fashion (although I'm not sure if this is just something that comes with age, but it seems to me as though the lines of "what's in" and "what's not" get blurrier and blurrier), basically, I know what I like and I own it!

BOY, do I own it. Not just in the "I'm fucking fabulous" sense, (I am, it's true, it's okay to bask in my radiance), but in the "I have an entire floordrobe in my WIR that is threatening to encompass my bedroom floor as well." It's gotten to a point where I realise I actually could clothe a small country, and then some! Bear in mind I actually cleaned it out less than 6 months ago, and donated 15 bags to the Salvos. I shudder to think how much my wardrobe is actually worth, even though I don't buy expensive items, there's just a lot there!

At least I appreciate how good I have it! Current loves include;

My Birkenstock Lookalikes. $20 from Target Australia

My Lennon-esque sunnies. $3(ish) from eBay.

Straight Up Mug. $5 from Typo

 (although I got mine on sale when they had 30% off storewide!)

What have YOU been loving lately? Picked up any bargains?! 

hanzbanana.

So this is a thing...

Om nom nom. Cheeky Monkey.

Re-boot!!

Hello Lovers!!

Well, it has been WAY too long in between posts, you know how life gets though, one thing after another and then all of a sudden the months are FLYING by!! Its been over a year since I have last posted! Please forgive me! What have you lovely people been doing while I've been gone?! I have;

• Had my second baby boy! (And his first birthday!!)
• Started buying our house.
• Got engaged to the man of my dreams and set our date for the wedding of the century.
• Been awesome as shit. (But that one is a given!)

So we've been super busy bee's and at the same time really don't have that much to show for it, once again, that's how life is most of the time isn't it?! Am I doing this life thing right!? Take nothing but good memories! (Who am I kidding - we all know I have a pretty severe shopping addiction!) But my point is, life is good, and I am the happiest I have EVER been.

I've only just pulled my laptop out and cleaned it up massively for the first time in what feels like forever. It actually got pulled out and scrubbed up so I could play Age of Empires on it, but now that its out again I think I'll start using it more. Don't get me wrong, I love my iPad, but sometimes it's nice to have a PROPER keyboard! I feel like I am accomplishing something instead of procrastinating, which is basically what iPads were invented for, surely! All you have to do is look at my Pinterest to see how little I actually do with my iPad (it's a LOT, just nothing productive!)

My (BIG!) babies.

And my sexy face! Missed y'all!

SO, to summarise.. I'm back, baby! Expect some more regular posts from now on! Even though I need to clean my desk, quite badly, before I can set Lappy up in his proper, permanent position. Heh.

Have a fab day gentlefolk!

hanzbanana x