Hallelujah!

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Ooooooh, Hallelujah. 

HALLELUJAH.

I have been waiting for this day for what feels like an eternity. Days upon days of frozen fingers and chillbitten noses are soon to be banished as... it's the day last day of Winter! Whoop whoop!

I'm doing a proverbial dance of joy as I blissfully imagine beautiful Springtime scenes of cornflour skies, blossom adorned trees and that glorious warmth from the sun radiating off my shoulders. Can you tell I'm just a tad bit excited about it? No more fighting that depressing greyness that fogs over me during that bleh month of August. Bring on that sunshine baby.

Now, of course I'm a realist. I know that Winter will be fighting and scratching to hang on a little bit longer, but I'm giving it a couple of weeks to bugger off completely. I expect beautiful 25 degree days so I can spend them down the park with the Little Lion without freezing my arse off. Oh, and cracking out the running shorts instead of layers of tights, jumpers and gloves just to go for a simple run. 

So, catchyalaterbye Winter. You can take a hike for a looooong time. It's time to retire the scarves and tights for another year! 

Wordless Wednesday- A Pop of Red.

Playing Wordless Wednesday with My Little Drummer Boys. 

Deer oh Deer.. a Splash of Ink.

Last week I mentioned how I'd been inspired to start a new art project, and if you follow me on Instagram or my Facebook page you'll have noticed that I've been totally inspired and a busy little beaver at that! When the Little Lion falls off to sleep for his afternoon nap I crack out the brown and black ink, some fine brushes, watercolour paper and paint while watching some trashy goodness on TV. (Currently, it's CGB. Totally loving the whole Christian bitch character played by Kristin Chenoweth.)

A sneek peek.. I'm tentatively titling them 'Deer oh Deer'. 

These little artworks have given me so much joy to paint. I feel centered, relaxed and all that narky restless energy has gone now that I have a creative outlet. I needed to paint something with fragility and the deer was the animal that continued to form in my mind, and seeing them come to life on my paper makes me feel like I finally breathe. 

Originally I had decided to create a set of three just for me to hang on one of my walls, but now I plan to sell them in my madeit store once I've reached ten artworks. I was planning on simply painting deer, but Deon and my students are pushing me to paint other creatures. 

So, hello little fox. 

I've decided I need to paint one more fox. Then, I need to choose another woodland creature.. what should it be? A raccoon? Rabbit? Squirrel? I don't know, help me!

Maybe I should just stick to the deer and foxes. 

Jillian Michaels Workout and Results!

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After doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred for quite a while now, I was getting pretty sick of the routines and needed to shake things up a bit. I also felt like my body was starting to plateau, and I felt that I needed to incorporate more workouts with light weights. 

Still a massive Jillian fan, I decided to buy three more of her workout DVDs to do while the Little Lion slept, and I started with No More Trouble Zones. 

Let me just say one thing- WOAH. After doing 25 minute workouts, to jump to 50 minute workout was a challenge. The workout consists of multiple circuits that target trouble zones- muffin tops, inner thighs, bingo wings, etc... but don't let that fool you. Your entire body gets a caning with what feels like a million and one reps using light weights in stacks of different exercises. KILLER. The first time I did this I barely got through it, and my muscles slowly turned into painful granite slabs over the next three days.

However, I've been doing this four times a week for four weeks now, and I can really see a difference. I'm starting to see the muscles in my back develop, my core is stronger, I can complete the whole workout without feeling like dying at the end and I can even see biceps! Woohoo! Granted they're small biceps, but they're still there! 

Hello mini muscles! 

Do you know what I love most about this workout though? That rush and feeling of accomplishment after that finally circuit is complete. You can't beat it. As the saying goes- You never regret a workout you do, only the ones you don't. 

I'm going to continue this workout for a couple more weeks, then hopefully Spring will have kicked in and I can combine it with running. (Yup. Despite all my efforts, I'm still sooky about running in the cold.) I have Extreme Shed Shred and Killer Buns and Thighs to try as well. 

Does anyone else out there do workout DVD's while their little ones sleep? What about the Michelle Bridges workouts, does anyone recommend those? 

Deer oh Deer thanks to Pinterest!

If you've been following me on my Instagram or Facebook account, you'll have noticed that I've become slightly obsessed with that beautiful little woodland creature- the deer- and I've been painting them to my hearts content. I've now completed five little ink paintings but I'm not ready to reveal them yet, hopefully that will be next week.

Instead, I thought I'd show you the source of my inspiration, from Pinterest of course. Naaaw. How can you not fall in love with this gorgeous creature?

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Wanna see more? Come check me out over at Pinterest! 

Polish Perfection.

Remember when I used to get my nails done every months in awesome sparkly colours? Well, in the interests of being a grown up and trying to save money my nails became a sacrifice and now I'm stuck with do-it-yourself nail polish. 

Initially this took me back to my teenage years- images of miscoloured cuticles, chipping within the hour and smudging no matter how long I waited between coats flew through my mind. Luckily though, there are stacks more options and when they say chip resistant, they actually mean it! Woohoo!

I thought I'd share with you a couple of my favourite nail varnishes at the moment. I'm right into cool colours- give me lavenders, lilacs, turquoises and aquas. I don't stick to just one colour on each hand eithr- I try to mix it up and paint different shades on different fingers. Right now I think that Rimmel is fabulous for three reasons. 

Number one- the brush is all sorts of amazing. Why no other brand has a thick, flat brush I'll never know. One swipe and the whole nail is covered! 

Number two- The price. I love that I can normally pick up 2-3 bottles for under $10. Yesterday when I was in Chemist Warehouse they had them for $2.50 in every shade you can imagine. I'm kicking myself that I didn't pick up any neon!

Number three- This is a great chip resistent polish. I can normally get away with two days if I'm not teaching art on those particular days. This is in conjunction with an OPI top coat though. 

If my Little Lion is up, I normally have to be super quick when applying nail polish and nine times out of ten I'll have heaps of imperfections due to me rushing like a mad thing. I've found a solution for this (and a way to add a bit of glitz to my day!) and that's to crack out the Sally Hanson Gem Crush polish.

This stuff is awesome, and the colours are absolutely beautiful. Right now I have Big Money on which consists of gold glitter and teeny tiny metallic pink dots. This stuff is like cement so the drawback is that it's a little difficult to get off, but if you have any chips you can easily paint the ends and no one will know any different. I've also found that if I have a light polish on that's chipping and I need a quick fix, I run two coats of Gem Crush over the top. Not only will the base colour pop through prettily, but those chips will disappear!

My final fave- Sally Hanson Crackle Overcoat. When I want a bit of texture and a cool instant pattern, I simply put 1-2 coats of this polish over a coloured nail base. Lately I've been loving the shimmery gold over an aqua or turquoise, but I'm interested to see what some of the other colours would look like. 

What nail colours are you rocking at the moment? 

Wordless Wednesday- Foliage

Playing Wordless Wednesday with My Little Drummer Boys.

Unlocking Inspiration.

I've been thinking lately about throwing myself into a new art project. It's been skirting around the edges of my mind lately- I knew that I wanted to create, but I just didn't know what. Photography? Printmaking? Watercolours? Maybe this was partly responsible for my fidgettyness lately. Anyway, I'd been scouring Pinterest for something to pop out and hit me with that spark of inspiration when I finally, finally got it last night. 

I've always admired the work created by Lauren Gray from The Haunted Hollow Tree. Such beautiful, delicate, ethereal works in subtle monotone shades. I swear one day that I'm going to own one of her prints- I've been coveting them for over a year now- my biggest problem is that I just have no idea which one to get! 

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But anyway, after one of the prints she was working on popped up on my Facebook feed, I knew instantly that I wanted to create a delicate work in muted natural shades. Ink and pen studies of woodland creatures- fawns, foxes, squirrels and owls. I've always enjoyed working on a small scale, and I think once I get started on these the restlessness will disappear. 

So today, once my Little Lion is sleeping I'll be opening up my toolbox and freeing those inks that haven't seen the light of day for about two years. I'm actually excited about it. Here's hoping it turns into something beautiful! 

Confession.

Confession: I have had crippling Blogger's Block for the past couple of weeks, and it's driving me batshit crazy. 

It's not like I don't have a few half formed ideas floating around in my head about things I can blog about, and in fact there's two things in particular that I have to blog about very soon, but they require someone to take photos of me and apart from Carter, who exactly is going to do that right now? (Yep, right now Deon is in the middle of a huge project which means leaving before sunrise and returning after sunset, so outdoor photos are kinda out of the question.)

I used to have all these quirky little ideas of things I could blog about, but right now I can't seem to muster up any enthusiasm or motivation to grab those ideas and shape them into something tangible. The longer I leave between posts the more nervous I get, thinking that I've lost my whole blogging mojo. I guess to compensate (and, let's face it, avoid blogger) I've been pinning and instagramming to my hearts content. 

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Yesterday my Little Lion had another food reaction, this time to green grapes. He's no stranger to green grapes, he's eaten them all through last Summer but we'd switched to red over the past six months. Three green grapes and once again the rash broke out, he itched and cried and I added yet another food to the banned list. We're slowly slipping down the rabbit hole and I'm losing all the confidence that I'd gained over the earlier part of the year. We've made another specialist appointment to try and figure out what to do next. I'm lost. 

Deon held him and snuggled him in on the couch, stroking his hair while he whimpered and the tears dried on his cheeks. Finally the Claratyne kicked in and he drifted off for a much needed sleep. 

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When he awoke Deon wanted to have a bit of fun, so he started up the Wii and taught Carter how to box and bowl on Wii sports. I watched them laughing from the kitchen where I was preparing tea, and my heart constricted. For a fleeting moment I wanted to cry as these moments are so rare right now, we're all so stupidly busy that family time is sacred. I'm finding myself wishing most of the week away just so the three of us can be together longer than half an hour, and I don't want to do that. I want to celebrate each day. Live in the moment and not keep looking ahead. Stop wasting hour upon hour wishing to get to that magical Sunday.

I guess the only way to break this blogger's block is just to run a stream of consciousness, like I've done today. Get back into reading and commenting and being part of the community.  Start writing down all my ideas when they come to me fleetingly. Sometime it just feels so overwhelming though, and I think I need to kick back a gear and just keep it simple. 

Sometimes, simple is more than enough. 

Peaceful.

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Although the sun may be out, albit temporarily by popping in and out from behind cottonflour clouds, the wind is bitterly cold so the Little Lion and I are hibernating inside today. 

It's been a lazy PJ morning- very rarely does he let me sleep in until 8am so I took full advantage of it. Housework here and there, some baking and anticipation of our favourite friends coming over tonight and this is shaping up to be a pretty relaxing day. 

Enjoy your Saturday lovelies. Hope it's been as peaceful as mine! 

Pash Me Off! Hello Puberty Blues!

As soon as I heard the opening lyrics of Dragon's Are You Old Enough? I got goosebumps. 

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I remember reading Puberty Blues when I was thirteen years old, and being completely shocked and slightly awed at what teenagers relatively the same age as me got up to. Remember, I was a bit of a good girl so the thought of climbing into a panel van would have never crossed my mind (square!!).

Last night, as I sat on the couch with a cup of tea and the first scene of the TV show that I'd been hanging out to see started, a smile spread across my face and that warm fizzy happiness feeling. My twitter stream was on fire with phrases such as 'ham steaks and pineapple' and 'pash me off!!' leaping out at me. Why were we all so excited? It felt like a one way ticket straight to reminisce-ville. The lack of mobile phones, the awkward conversations of 'you're dropped' and talking to friends on the phone for hours even though you'd just spent the whole day together at school. Even Deon who had originally rolled his eyes thinking I was tuning into 'chick flick stuff' became glued to the screen and swallowed up in the story of Deb, Sue and their dysfunctional families. 

I thank the Lord for this brilliant Aussie show. It's an antidote to the complete pile of reality crap *cough Lara Bingle, The Shire, Everybody Dance Now* that has been dished up in the last couple of months, and I can't wait until next Wednesday night to transport back to the seventies. 

Plus, I have a feeling that 'moll' might be making a comeback into our vocabulary. Or is it 'mole'? Whatever it is, it certainly made multiple appearances in my Twitter feed! Now, who wants to grab a Chiko Roll and come sunbake down the beach with me to watch the surf Gods? 

Off Kilter.

All week I've felt a little off kilter. My nerve endings are slightly exposed and I feel like I'm stepping slightly out of my natural rhythm. I'm concurrently incredibly tired and hyper awake. It's strange. I'm blaming August. 

On Monday night the clock stopped at 6pm, and the amount of times I've glanced at that clock makes it feel like it's always 6pm. The land of 6pm. 

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Yesterday I stopped and took stock of myself, and I wasn't liking what I saw. I felt like I needed some control back, and yes, it may be superficial, but it was time for a physical overhaul. A bit of TLC. Hair that was super frizzy and thrown back in a ponytail was washed and straightened. I finally made an appointment to get my terrible regrowth attended to. Nails with chipped and raggedy polish were buffed and repolished in my new super soothing favourite colours- aqua and turquoise. I always go for Rimmel as they have the best brushes. 

Legs were shaved, eyebrows plucked, skin exfoliated to within an inch of its life and then I finally applied my current favourite product to my face- Garnier Pure 3 in 1. Ever since that last evil monster blemish popped up I use this religiously morning and night without fail, and so far-touch wood- no more have made an appearance. I use it everyday as a facewash and exfoliant, and on Tuesday and Saturday mornings I leave it on for three minutes as a face mask.

After all that primping and preening, I started to feel a semblance of my old self. 

Just to add to the whole self-improvement thing, while the Little Lion drifted off for his afternoon nap I threw myself into Jillian Michael's No More Trouble Zones. Every single muscle may be hurting right now, but those endorphins have given me a good kick start and I'm congratulating myself for reaching for my hand weights rather than a piece of chocolate. 

Tomorrow, I'm wearing something that shouts colour. Enough of the black. And, I'm getting a new battery for the clock. I'm a little over the Land of 6pm. 

Everything Will Be OK.

Sometimes, I need a little pick-me-up. 

Today, I'm just going to leave it at this.

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Have a lovely Tuesday chickens. I'll see you in a couple of days xx 

Surviving August.

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Typically, this is the low point of the year for me. Unfortunately for poor old August, this month conjures up feelings of gloominess, shades of grey (err... not those particular shades) and mundane and repetitive moments.

I'm not sure why this is. It's probably the fact that the bitterly cold weather has finally gotten to me, and I can't even muster up any enthusiasm over wearing a pair of woolen tights and my beloved boots. I'm desperate for the sun, and I'm trying valiantly to keep my Seasonal Affective Disorder at bay. Term 3 is always a killer- the freezing weather makes the weeks feel so loooong even though it's incredibly busy too. 

I'm pushing myself to get through August so I can reach out and grab the combination of Spring and September by the fingertips. What have I been doing in an attempt to beat the Winter Blues?

❤ Grabbed a tall hot chocolate from McCafe to take on the long drive to work. Perfect for those frosty mornings. 

❤ Found refuge in the cosy cinema. Saturday morning found myself with some girlfriends watching Magic Mike. I may have just been a little excited when Channing came out with Pony playing in the background.. *cough*

❤ Deon has an aversion to electric blankets. He's a mutant who doesn't seem to feel the cold, and claims he overheats badly if a blanket is switched on, even if it's just on my side. To compensate, the trusty hot water bottle is my new best friend. 

❤ Exercise. Seriously. Forty minutes of a Jillian Michaels workout and I'm covered in sweat and hurting like a bitch. The results make the pain so worth it though!

❤  Curled up on the couch under my woolen throw and pinned to my hearts content. 

❤ Winter is a minefield when it comes to comfort food, so I've been searching for dishes that are both filling and healthy. My favourite so far? The Lemon and Garlic Spaghetti that I made last week. I'm going to make it again tonight, but tweak it slightly by adding a couple of prawns. 

If you're living in what feels like Siberia like me, and you also hate the feel of the cold, how do you combat it? Tell me all your little tricks and tips! I need them to survive August! 

Tears and Frustration.

Tears are prickling my eyes, I'm biting the inside of my cheek and I want to cry with frustration. 

We've had constant battles with the Little Lion, food and allergies. It started off with him looking sickly, suffering from constant ear infections, having allergy shiners around the eyes and mild eczema, but as he's growing older it's seems to be getting worse, not better. The past couple of weeks in particular have been hell with the chronic eczema and scratching until he bleeds, the tears through the night and red welts and rashes covering his body. 

We've tried to be as careful as possible by sticking to a gluten, dairy, egg and peanut free diet but so many little things are creeping in that he's becoming sensitive to. It's a minefield. The cake I made for his birthday? Gluten, egg and dairy free... but within five minutes he was covered in red welts from the food colouring. Scratch that off the list. Reacting to his clothes? Cross the new laundry powder off the list, revert to Earth Choice and rewash everything. In the bath? Remove all our products and replace with products which are friendly to sensitive skin and contains no chemicals, which really isn't a bad thing. Read all the labels. Second guess every food. Hesitate before applying anything on him.

I'm tired. I want to cry when I see his skin ravaged with scars, welts and the texture of sandpaper. I hate that he hurts- that he wakes in tears and sobs in frustration when the itching isn't soothed. I've had to revert back to a steroid cream and Claratyne to try and keep it at bay for now, which I also hate. 

He was allergy tested when he was two years old, and we've made the decision to go back to the specialist in desperation to try and gain some more answers. It's frustrating, heartbreaking and infuriating and also a long slow painful process to eliminate all the triggers. 

I'm sorry. I try to keep this place upbeat and positive.. but tonight I've slipped and I have a few tears of frustration for my baby. If I could swap with him, I'd do it in a heartbeat. 

Lemon Garlic Spaghetti!

I've been on the search for pasta dishes that are different to the ones I go for which are normally heavily calorie overloaded cream based ones or the tried and true tomato based ones. Being that I'm trying to watch what I eat to fit into my bridesmaids dress for my sisters wedding, what better place to look for recipes than to scour the healthy food recipes on Pinterest?

And that, my friends, is where I found this little beauty of a recipe. I posted a photo of it last Friday for my Pinterest post, and I was determined to try it for myself. Not only did it have simple ingredients, it was quick, easy and made no reference to cream or tomato. Score! I traced the image and recipe back to the blog Cutesy Jingles. Nice work! 

Introducing... Lemon Garlic Spaghetti

Ingredients:

A handful of dried spaghetti
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic
4-5 fresh basil leaves, shredded
2 tbsp pine nuts
1/2 a lemon
Fresh diced chili (optional)

Method:

Chuck the spaghetti into a pot of water to boil. While boiling, place the olive oil in a pan and throw in the garlic. Fry the garlic until it starts to brown around the edges, then take off the heat and set aside. (You can also throw in the chili with the garlic if you want a little bit of heat in your pasta.)

In a bowl, place the parmesan, the juice of half a lemon, shredded basil leaves and pine nuts. Pour in the garlic oil- diced garlic and all- and the spaghetti. Toss to combine and serve immediately. Voila!

I absolutely loved this dish. I loved the easiness of it, the simple flavours coming together and just how light it all was. Normally after pasta and I feel incredibly full and heavy, but this was perfect. It's definitely another recipe that I'll be adding as a weekly dish! 

Delicious Healthy Inspiration thanks to Pinterest!

This might sound a little sad, but when I saw that next Wednesday is supposed to be 24 and sunny, I did a little shriek of joy and a mini fist pump in the air. The thought of finally having a day where the temperature is above a bitter 15 degrees and where the grass isn't carpeted in frost makes me a little delirious with joy. It's time to emerge from hibernation, shake off those cobwebs and get out into the sunshine. No more Winter comfort foods that I've been trying so damn hard to avoid, it's time to embrace fresh, colourful and healthy foods!

So, do you need some inspiration on what sort of healthy recipes you can create? I searched Pinterest last night and found a few healthy dishes that spoke directly to my tastebuds...

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Don't they look amazing? I'm all inspired to whip something up now, and it's only 9:30am! I know what I'll be doing for tea on Monday night though- that lemon chicken is at the top of my list and the spaghetti comes a close second!

All images can be found on my Pinterest Boards.