Happiness in the West.

Cornflower Skies

Trips to Ikea (Be Still my Beating Heart!)

Mango Gelati

Running along the Coast

Salty Breeze

New Dress from Forever New

 Contentment

 Happy Friday Everyone ❤

Flights with the Little Lion.

I think I can safely say that Tuesday would have to have been one of the longest days of my life. As I've mentioned previously I was a little anxious about the two flights with Carter, as I seriously didn't know what to expect and how he would react on the plane. I packed his backpack to breaking point with books, snacks, drinks, dummies, nappies, panadol, his blanket and pillow and pencils and paper. Surely I had covered everything? 

At the airport I started feeling a little concerned when the first flight was delayed. I knew I initially had a comfortable 20 minutes to get to my next flight when we landed in Melbourne, but slowly, bit by bit that time was being eaten away until I realised I had a whole 5 minutes to get to my next flight.

Crap. 

I ran from one end of the airport to the other, carrying a full backpack, laptop bag and my handbag with the Little Lion in a rugby style hold. I can't remember the last time I was so stressed. I finally got to the gate as the boarding sign was flashing with my heart pumping, sweat pouring off me, gasping for breath and close to tears. Classy. 

That flight from Melbourne to Perth felt like an eternity. Carter ate his lunch, then settled in for a nap which unfortunately lasted a whole 25 minutes. Just enough time for me to scoff down my own lunch. The rest of the time was spent trying to keep him occupied and entertained, and by the end of it I felt slightly frazzled and completely exhausted. I tell you what though, those little Mr Men pouches with the pencils and colouring books they give kids were gold. The crew thought he was so adorable that he scored two. 

I should say that he was a really good little boy and dealt with the two flights the best he could but damn it would have been so much easier to have someone to tag team with. We found Grandma (or 'mamar' as he calls her) as soon as we entered the terminal, and for the first time since 9am that morning I could relax. We were here. And you know what the funny thing is? I don't live here, but it felt like we were home. 

Wordless Wednesday- Puffball #3

Playing Wordless Wednesday with Faith, Hope and a Whole Lotta Love and My Little Drummer Boys.

The Weekend, and Blocking like Crazy.

I'm stopping to take a breather for a second. Phew! The weekend has been crazy, nd today hasn't been much better!

As you can see from my pics, I've been blocking my butt off. I've got five orders to do, three before the Little Lion and I head off to Perth tomorrow. Speaking of Perth, I can't believe it's finally here, and although the anxiety about flying with him is starting to build up, I can't wait for a super massive hug from my mum. 

Saturday night was lovely, and it was so nice to relax now I'm on holidays for two weeks. Friends, Indian food, wine and laughter all round. 

I've been making hundreds of lists about what to pack for our trip, but in the end I crossed a hell of a lot of it out and concentrated on the essentials. One of my biggest problems is that I always tend to over pack when traveling, and I want to get out of that habit! Any anyway, whatever I forget, I can always get in Perth.

Apologies that this post is a little scattered and all over the place! I'm still have a hundred things to do this arvo. It didn't help that Carter locked me outside today, which he's done before. Lock me out once, shame on you. Lock me out twice, shame on me. Or, something like that anyway! I felt calm for a minute as I remembered mum telling me about the spare key, but then panic set in when I couldn't find it. Shit. 

I raced next door to borrow the phone, accidentally letting the dog out the process. Shit, again. I called Deon, who called the lovely glass man to come around immediately, then I raced down our street in bare feet like a feral. Grabbed Nikita, threw her back in the yard and talked to Carter through the door.

Luckily, it didn't end in smashed glass like last time. Before the glass man could remove the pane, the Little Lion toddled over, reached up and flicked the switch to unlock the door. Trust me, I'll be putting my own spare key out next time. 

Ok, time to get back to packing!

Last Day!

So, we're finally here... the last day of Term 3! 

On Tuesday the Little Lion and I will be winging our way to Perth to spend 10 days with my mum and dad. Let's just say that I'm a little bit excited about it. Although, I am slightly nervous about the flight as we'll need to catch two flights to get there and I'm not sure how Carter will go, but I'm guessing we'll be OK. I have terrible images of him suddenly chucking the mother of all tantrums on the plane and me apologising to ever single person on that aircraft, who are all in turn giving me evil glares. However, I do have a secret weapon to keep him quiet. All three Toy Story movies on the laptop, and we should be right!

Once I'm there, I'm planning on spending quite a bit of time on the beach, in the sunshine, with a good book or two. I'm sure my mum will be quite happy to take the Little Lion off my hands for a bit!

What's on the agenda these school holidays for you? Are you jetsetting somewhere too?

30 Day Shred Update!

So, I thought it was about time for another 30 Day Shred update given that I'm almost halfway through!

Level 1 kicked my butt for the first few days, and I found day 2 and 3 extremely tough by doing the workout with sore muscles. What amazed though was that by day 4 the soreness had disappeared, and suddenly stamina kicked in. I'm still not good at push ups, I have to do the 'girly' modified ones, but otherwise I was able to keep up with the more challenging aspects of the program.

Once I got to day 7, I felt like I needed a bit of a change. I took a deep breath, then selected level 2.

Yowza.

Yowza x100. 

There are quite a few planks in this level. Now, I find planking difficult enough on it's own, but imagine planking with jacks, and planking with knee twists to work the abs. (And no, unfortunately these aren't the lie-flat-on-your-stomach planks, and I won't be taking a photo and uploading to Planking Australia on Facebook. These are tough, muscle trembling planks guys.)

However, all this planking is definitely doing something. My stomach muscles are becoming stronger, and more defined. I've lost a couple of kilos, but I'm not really aiming for weight loss, but more toning and overall fitness. The cardio is still a killer in this one as I can never get through all the double jumps, but I'm hoping to get there in the next couple of days. I'm not game to try level 3 until I've mastered the other two!

I really, really love that it's only 20 minutes a day, with a 5 minute cool down. If I'm doing Level 1, the Little Lion will join in and pick up two building blocks as weights when we do our bicep curls. However, it's also counter productive for me as I tend to get the giggles watching him and lose my concentration. If it's Level 2 I normally have to wait until he's asleep or Deon can watch him as he constantly tries to sit on my back whenever I'm planking.

I'm sure what I'll do once the 30 days are up, I think I'll continue but then incorporate another one of her programs. Maybe something like Ripped in 30 Days. Summertime and swimsuits, here I come! 

Wordless Wednesday- Cherry Blossom.

Playing Wordless Wednesday with Faith, Hope and a Whole Lotta Love and My Little Drummer Boys.

 

Those Squally Days.

Yesterday was one of those windy, squally days that shriek and whistle through the house. That whips and flicks your hair around your face and turns the sky a dusty, dirty beige.

I remember that the kids at the school I used to teach at would go slightly crazy whenever it was super windy. What is it about kids and windy days? It was just like as if it was a full moon. Honestly, on days like yesterday, it's better to hide indoors. 

 
Which is exactly what the Little Lion and did. We ventured out very briefly in the morning to pick up the mail and race into Kmart, but otherwise we took taking refuge indoors with the Emmys, colouring pencils, toy story books and racing cars to keep us company.

 
 While he slept in the afternoon, I quickly fit in a Jillian Michaels workout then relaxed on the couch in the dim light. Although it was 3pm, the sky was so thick with dust the sun had no chance of peeking through. However, there was something so relaxing and peaceful about having that quiet time that I just didn't want it to end. And honestly? Right now, I can't imagine the days I have with the Little Lion ending in the future. Part of me doesn't want him growing up and going to school, which I know sounds incredibly selfish. Right now it's just too lovely, and I'm trying to savour every moment.

Heel Envy.

Confession: I hate wearing heels.

I love the way they look. I love the way they instantly make me feel like a glamazon and do wondrous things to make my legs look seventy billions times longer than normal, and actually give me defined calf muscles, but damn I hate wearing them. It's just not in my DNA to wear shoes on a slant. Give me flat soled shoes anyday.

Honestly, I wish I wasn't like this. I wish I was Carrie Bradshaw ala Sex and the City gliding gracefully down the streets of New York in towering stilettos. I just can't do it. Those suckers hurt and I still, even after 30 years, feel ungainly in them.

But sometimes, an occasion will call on for you to pull out those heels. This occasion occurred for me last Friday night (my school's Deb Ball) and I had to race to find some shoes to go with the dress that I had bought. I ended up finding a gorgeous nude pair from Novo, but damn they were tall. Well, for me anyway.

Mariana heels from Novo

I had forgotten to bring the dress in to match them, but luckily they were a perfect match.

Dress with fab pockets from Grace and Hart

I grabbed my husbands arm as I teetered and tottered unsteadily over the dirt and rocks on the way to the hall. I tell you what, next time I'll be investing in those shoe gel pouches as my feet were killing by the end of the night, and of course the first thing I did was kick those suckers off as soon as I got home.

Don't get me wrong, I still absolutely adore heels and love window shopping for them, but on a day to day basis I'll always choose flats or wedges over heels. If you're someone who can wear them everyday, I'm extremely jealous and admire you greatly! How on earth do you do it?

A Weekend of Success.

So, today has been a day of success for us. Yesterday I spent the entire afternoon changing the Little Lion's room from a nursery into a toddler's room, and that included changing his cot into a toddler bed. I have to admit, when we popped him into bed at night it was with some trepidation that we would be in for a long, sleep deprived one as all I could picture was him jumping in and out of bed constantly, but I couldn't have been more wrong. He actually didn't get out once. (I know, I know, I'm probably in for a shock once he figures out that he can actually get out, but I'm happy living in my little dreamworld right now!)

He loves his new room. I mean, super awesomely loves it. The word of the day has been Buzz. As in, Buzz Lightyear. New Buzz doona cover, new Buzz paintings, and new Buzz figurine that hasn't left his side since yesterday. In fact, the first words he said to me when I went into his room this morning were 'Where's Buzz?'

It's such a relief that he loves it. Previously, he very rarely ventured into his room but now it's hard to get him out. There's one or two more things I need to finish it, and one is this amazing, gorgeous textured play rug from Urban Baby :

Adore. 

To finish off, we've had another success today. He sat up with me at tea time, and had a plate of roast chicken, corn and vegies. All, this and using his fork too. 

Unfreakingbelievable. 

Once his room is done, I'd love to post some pics. Today has been full of happiness. Hopefully your weekend has been too xx

Ducks and Tangelo Juice.

The Little Lion and I have just returned for an absolutely gorgeous morning spent down at the lakes at our local Farmer's Market. We met up with friends, patted baby chickens, watched the ducks, drank tangelo juice and soaked up all that beautiful sunshine.

 We finished up by hitting the kids table for a spot of colouring in, which he took very seriously. I hope you've all had a morning as relaxing as ours. Happy weekend everyone! xx

Work. And Guilt.

I feel like I'm letting people down.

I know it' something that's out of my control, and I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. However, I'm starting to feel a huge amount of anxiety over it, and sometimes I just want to scream into the wind and let that frustration and inner turmoil disappear on a cool breeze.

I've taken so much sick leave this year and last year that I'm pretty sure I'm about to run out of days. And, it's not even for me. It's to look after the Little Lion.

Last year, the combination of sickness from his food allergies and picking up those everyday bugs from childcare was a nightmare. I was averaging around one day a week off, and when you only work 3 days a week the effect can be quite damaging. Not only was I preparing normal lessons for my classes, but also backup ones that didn't involve practical work in case I wasn't going to make it.

Guilt, guilt, guilt. 

I hated other teachers having to cover for me. It wasn't fair on them, and it wasn't fair to my kids. But, what could I do? Deon and I were both taking turns to stay home to watch him, but the days were still adding up. Last week I once again had to stay home. I grit my teeth and called our daily organiser. I'm sure he dreads seeing my number flash up on his phone in the mornings. I always start off with I am so, so sorry...

Luckily, the warmer weather is approaching so I'm hoping it will keep the bugs at bay. I know that I shouldn't feel guilt over staying home to look after my child, but I just can't help it. I have the most wonderful team at school who always say Don't worry about it, family comes first but I seriously just feel like I'm letting them down. 

Surely I'm not the only one out there dealing with this. Please tell me I'm not alone!

There's Something About Coral....

Do you know what I love about the change of seasons? All of a sudden, I want to push all my black, grey and charcoal coloured clothes to the back of the cupboard and bring out those hues and and tints that really pop. 

I'm still all about neutrals, there's nothing I like better that white, linen and cream, especially in different textures, but this season I'm also all about coral. There's something about that bright, fresh summery colour that makes me happy. I thought I'd share some of the items on my wish list ...

Adelina Dress by Wish

Portside Shoe by Therapy

Pick me Up Hem Tunic from Free People

Fringed Tab Hobo Bag from Sportsgirl

And of course, coral lippy!

What colour are you obsessed with this season?

Taking Orders!

Hola my lovely readers!

I've had such a positive response to the watercolour paintings I did for Carter's room that I've decided take orders for anyone who would like an original, personalised watercolour painting for their own child's room! Oh, and it doesn't have to be Toy Story either. It can be anything you like.

Each painting is 8 x 10 inches, and I only use paper of the highest quality (Montval 300gsm watercolour paper). Painting come unframed, but will be packed safely when posted. 

I normally charge $80 for original paintings, but for the next two weeks I have a special price of $50 each, or $125 for 3. Postage is an extra $5. Please allow 4 weeks for works to be completed and posted.

 

I believe that original artworks create such a beautiful, personal touch when decorating a child's room. It's something they can treasure for years to come, and possibly one day pas down to their own children. Original paintings are also a perfect for Christmas or Birthdays!

For those of you who would like a little bit of background on who I am, and what I do, art has been in my blood my entire life. I completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts and majored in drawing and photography, and am currently teaching art from prep to year 12. I love to experiment with all forms of media, including printingmaking, photography, painting and textile art, and will often combine media for different effects. What can I say, I'm happiest when I have a project to work on, or if I'm working on a collection of artworks for an exhibition.

So, that's me! If you're interested in commissioning a work from me for your child's room, email me at hummingbirdssong@live.com, or drop me a message in the comments below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can! 

Wordless Wednesday- White Silk.

Playing Wordless Wednesday with Faith, Hope and a Whole Lotta Love and My Little Drummer Boys.

10 Small Steps to a Healthier Lifestyle.

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Sometimes it can be daunting when you take the plunge to lose weight, become fitter and embark on a healthier lifestyle. Those goals can often seem out of reach, but I thought I'd share with you some of the small lifestyle changes I've made which has really helped me on my journey to become fitter and healthier in 2011.

❤ Keep a water bottle with you at all times. I find that I drink twice as much more water during the day if I have on with me, as otherwise I can tend to 'forget' to drink and become dehydrated at the end of the day. Upside? No more headaches! But, you do tend to pee more. Sorry, is that TMI?

❤ Chuck your favourite uplifting music on and dance your butt off while you do the housework. The Little Lion and I do this every morning, and it's one of my favourite parts of the day. We like to shake it to Beyonce's latest. Who cares if it sounds like the soundtrack to a 90's romcom (Hello Jennifer Love Hewitt!), it gives me happy vibes.

❤ Honestly, I have no willpower when it comes to food. Put a slice of cake in front of me, and I'll dig into it. A few ways to fix this? I don't buy snacky junk food when grocery shopping. If it's not in my pantry, I can't eat it. We have takeaway one night a week, so I get my *insert fastfood franchise here* fix each week guilt free. Sidenote- damn you Maccas for getting rid of the M&M McFlurry!

❤ If you're a chocaholic like me, switch to dark chocolate. You'll only need a couple of squares as opposed to half a block! Also, the husband told me if you eat too much it gives you the runs. I don't know if he's lying or not but it definitely stops me from eating too much... just in case.

❤ If possible, walk as much as you can instead of taking the car. If I need to go into town (providing the weather is good!) I chuck the Little Lion in the pram, load up the ipod and head off. It may take just under an hour there and back, but we love it!

❤ Make sure you have breakfast! I know, I know, some of you say that it makes you feel like you want to chuck if you eat in the morning and I get that, but trust me it gets easier. Eating breakfast actually helps with weight loss and enables you to concentrate through the day. Sorry, am I sounding preachy? I don't mean to! Toast, yogurt, apple pie, whatever works for you.

❤ Think about the way you cook. Try steaming, baking or grilling. OK, I'll be real here. Steamed food, unless it's dimsims, is as boring as batshit for me. I like baking or grilling, as at least you can throw a bit of oil and a whole heap of spices at whatever you're cooking. Steamed pumpkin? Please. I'd rather roast that sucker. 

❤ Eat before grocery shopping!! if I go when I'm hungry, there's a good chance that my grocery bill will double. I don't discriminate against any food when I'm starving. All I can think as I walk down each aisle is get in my belly!

❤ Make like a sheep and graze. Eat lots of tiny meals through the day (no, sorry, Junior Whopper Burgers don't count) such as almonds, carrots sticks with tzatziki dip, yogurt, rice crackers, etc. 

❤ Just remember, when it comes to weight loss, exercise only accounts for 20-30% Diet is everything. Make small adjustments, such as switching full fat to low fat milk. There's no point sweating your booty off if it all comes undone with a Krispy Kreme donut!

Hope these little tips help guys. Let me know if you implement any of them, or tell me a few new tips that I haven't mentioned!

Paintings for the Little Lion.

Looking around at the Little Lion's room last weekend, I definitely decided it was time for a change. Time to go from a nursery to a big boy's room. Deciding on the theme was easy, like I've mentioned before he's obsessed with Toy Story, and now it was time for the fun stuff. Redecorating!


I'm not going to go into detail until I have all the bits and pieces here and I've completely redecorated him room (which will hopefully be next weekend) but I do want to share with you the little project I was working on last week. 


Instead of buying Toy Story prints to put on his wall, I chose to paint them instead myself. I decided to use watercolours to create more of a vintage feel. No, with no further adieu we have...

Woody

Buzz

...and Jessie!

I can't wait to frame and hang them, and I can't wait to see his little face when he spots them for the first time. I really hope that he loves them, and that he treasures them for years to come.

What Makes Me Happy?

What makes me happy? 

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❤ Coming home to a sea of bright pink splashes from the geranium blooms at the front of our house.

❤ Stopping for a hot chocolate at McCafe with Margaret before our drive to work each morning.

❤ Finding a gorgeous crochet top that's massively on sale. In my size. And that fits perfectly.

❤ A cup of tea and a few squares of dark chocolate. 

❤ The scent of vanilla. 

❤ Feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin.

❤ Reconnecting with a long lost friend.

❤ Polished floorboards, white furniture and terrariums.    

❤ Sunday morning snuggles with Deon and the Little Lion.

❤ Curling up on the couch in bedsocks with my laptop at night to catch up on blogging.

 

  What simple things make you happy?

Saturday.

The Hummingbird Household is going to be fairly quiet this weekend. Both the husband and the Little Lion are recovering from a cold and there is a mountain of housework giving me the evil eye everywhere I look. 

Right now though, I'm off to escape to a hair appointment. I tell you what, I have been hanging for this appointment for the last few weeks. Why? Well, let me tell you people, I learnt my lesson. There are certain things that you just shouldn't be a tightarse on.

Let's paint the scene here. You've been battling your curly hair for the past 12 years armed with only a straightener, barrel brush and hairdryer. It takes around 40 minutes to go from curly to sleek, and you do this roughly three times a week. The amount of time you've sacrificed from your life to achieve said sleekness is a little terrifying. Understandably, you're absolutely jack of it and are looking for a shortcut. Professional job? $350. Supermarket job? $30. 

That $30 was not well spent. Unless you want orange hair to boot.

Yes, I have had a lovely goldy orange tint for over a month. It looks like a bad home dye job. 

Apart from that, I just want lots of book reading, painting, movies and chill out time. Have a lovely weekend everyone xx.