Fruit and Flowers

Look what I found at my local chemist. A chemist for you Americans is our version of a drugstore. Is it just plastic fruit and flowers???

You can flip open the tops for lip balm.

They are by an Australian cosmetics company Miki. Check out their very cute website: http://www.mikicosmetics.com/main.html .

Yummy Mummy

One of the Australian fashion magazines, Madison, included a free Butter London nailpolish with the December 2011 magazine. I snagged the one with Yummy Mummy. It has the color of ashes of roses, which is an old color name for a pink taupe color. It reminded me of the color my new hybrid rosebush (yes I am a dork) named Julia. For those who are a bit older..ahem...it also reminded me of the dress that Maggie wore in the Thornbirds movie.

Butter London Yummy Mummy Nail Polish

Julia Hybrid Tea Rose



Thornbirds

A New Habit

" When Aunt Elizabeth Murray permitted Emily to drink real tea - as a matter of course and not as an occasional concession -  she thereby tactility consented to let Emily grow up."

 - Emily's Quest by LM Montgomery

I have been having trouble sleeping at night. Of course it could be the gallons of Diet Coke I consume all day to keep up with a three year old. So here is a new goal and habit for me that I have started tonight. No more Diet Coke after 1pm. Herbal non caffeinated tea will be my drink of choice before bedtime. I have to admit though, I still want my Diet Coke.

My new over and over and over and over song.....

I haven't found a song that I love hit the repeat button on for a long time.

Eet by Regina Spektor

It's like forgetting the words to your favorite song
You can't believe it
You were always singing along
It was so easy and the words so sweet
You can't remember
You try to feel the beat

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet, eet, eet, eet
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeteeet, eet, eet, eet

You spent half of your life trying to fall behind
You're using your headphones to drown out your mind
It was so easy, and the words so sweet
You can't remember
You try to move your feet
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet, eet, eet, eet
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeteeet, eet, eet, eet
[From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/r/regina-spektor-lyrics/eet-lyrics.html ]

Someone's deciding whether or not to steal
He opens the window just to feel the chill
He hears that outside a small boy just starting to cry
'Cause it's his turn but his brother won't let him try

It's like forgetting the words to your favorite song
You can't believe it
You were always singing along
It was so easy and the words so sweet
You can't remember
You try to move your feet

It was so easy and the words so sweet
You can't remember, you try to feel the beat

Sunday Safe Nail Polish

While all of the Northern Hemisphere is cozying up to the dark and ruby colored nail polishes, here in Australia the summer colors are revving up. I call this OPI Butterflies nail polish, Sunday safe because it won't shock the grey hair ladies on Sunday.

Sunday Drive

                                              MY COUNTRY
                                             A poem by Dorothea Mackellar

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft dim skies,
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

Boo was sick for several days and was tired of being cooped up in the house. I didn't want to inflict him on the general public, so I strapped him in his carseat. As I was driving, I was reminded why I love Australia so much.

The Someday Shoes

    Someday

          By Author Unknown

Someday I'll jump through puddles,
Take a stroll or run a race.
Someday I'll walk across the street
Or maybe walk in space.
Someday I'll scale a mountain
Or I'll join a nature corps.
Someday I'll walk a tightrope
Or explore the ocean floor.
Someday these feet will do some things
That only heaven knows,
BUT
For today they're happy
Just to wiggle all their toes.

                                                                                   

These are the most romantic, impractical shoes I own. The picture does not do it justice. They are made of a beautiful green and gold tapestry. I cannot remember the last time I wore them. Wait, I dimly remember a time before I was pregnant or chasing a toddler. These days it is about comfort and ease. Unfortunately, I am embarrassed to admit that crocs grace my very big feet. At least they can be sprayed off with a hose.

A Highland Hour

"Scottish by birth, British by law, Highlander by the grace of God."
- Anonymous

A few weeks ago I took Boo Boo to the Scottish Highland Festival in Australia. Good times were had for all and my son left loving the bag pipes.

Nailpolishes inspired by the plaid.

I snagged a piece a jewelry as a souvenir.

Food we avoided.

Spring on Norman Fisher

These days, with what is almost homesickness, I watch for the first robin. - Frances Theadora Parsons

Finally there are signs of Spring in Canberra, Australia. While my American friends are preparing for the Winter months ahead, I am warming my face in the sun.

Seeking the Sun

It is the end of winter here in Australia and I feel like I will never be warm again. I started looking at the pictures from a vacation in Cyprus in 2005 to try and imagine being warm. The picture below helped.

At least I can paint my toes in summer colors.

From left to right, Essie Barbados Blue, Orly Lemonade, and Orly Cabana Boy.

Obstacles

I am feeling overwhelmed these days with special needs therapy, college and a big move. I found a wonderful quote by Booker T. Washington that is helping to put things into perspective.

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed."

I took this photo in Rome 2006, at the Presbyterian Cemetery.

Time

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. - Carl Sandburg

Necklace from Forever21

Vintage Tapestry Bag

I picked up this bag at a boutique in Utah named Bed of Roses. This will make the perfect bag to store my needlepoint projects.

Little Sister

A sister is a little bit of childhood that never can be lost. - unknown

The smallest sign....

Everywhere I find the signature, the autograph of God, and he will never deny his own handwriting. God hath set his tabernacle in the dewdrop as surely as in the sun. No man can any more create the smallest flower than he could create the greatest world.
                                                                                                      -Joseph Parker

My family had an unexpected and sad journey back to the States for a funeral recently. We stopped to see my grandmother and I found such peace in her garden. She has a 40 year old hoya plant. The buds start out as hard and waxy and bloom in a star blossom that is velvety to the touch.

Vintage Book Find!

 This weekend I drove my little boy and myself to my favorite second-hand bookstore in Bungendore, Australia. The owner and I chat a bit when I visit and he knows what I am interested in these days. I usually purchase vintage Australia Ladies Home Journal magazines, but I found something new entirely.



I cannot find a publishing date for The Jolly Book, but I am guessing it was in the 1940's. This is my above is a favorite illustration from the book.

This books was published in 1912 in New Jersey. The Trippertrots On Their Travels was read to children over the phone. They could call in and hear the stories.

A Rosy Future

You love the roses - so do I. I wish
The sky would rain down roses, as they rain
From off the shaken bush. Why will it not?
Then all the valley would be pink and white
And soft to tread on. They would fall as light
As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be
Like sleeping and like waking, all at once!
                               - George Eliot

When I was 14, I visited the Rose Gardens at the Huntington Gardens and Museum in southern California. I was enchanted with the gardens, but especially with the roses and their exotic and sometimes outrageous names. These days I find items within my home that are inspired by my passion for roses. Even though Australia is in its winter right now, I find that I can have the different shades of roses without waiting for the Spring.

I collect a pattern of china named “ Dimity Rose” by Royal Albert. I hunt for these pieces on ebay and budget for a teacup at a time.
I will never run out of rose inspired stationary. Now I just need to use it!

Rose inspired costume jewelry.
My favorite rose scents are Satin by Victoria Secret and Evelyn Rose by Crabtree and Evelyn.
Rosy nails are a must for me. This is only a sampling of the various shades I own. From L to R, Essie’s Shop till you Drop, Butter’s Pink Ribbon, Essies’s Forget Me Nots, and Orly’s Rose Colored Glasses.
Rose lips can be created with Tiramisu (Estee Lauder, Berry Rose (L’Oreal) A Rose Romance (MAC) Rose Hollywood, (Christian Dior) Ripe Rose (ELF)Swatches of the lipsticks from the Top to Bottom:
ELF, Christian Dior, MAC, L’Oreal, and Estee Lauder.