Hey, November

Well, November just snuck up on me over the weekend & it wasn't until Sunday that I realised that October was done & dusted. That tends to happen this time of year. I think I have slightly begun getting a little too focused on the fact that yet another year is coming to it's grand close, & thinking about everything that goes along with that. What will we do for NYE? How long will we go back home for over the Christmas period? What can I quickly cross off the list before the new year? All of those thoughts are beginning. And I know what happens next because this happens every year, but this year I am not taking any of those unnecessary stresses that this time of year evokes. I didn't get around to setting up a sweet, sweet dream nest in our bedroom - & that is okay! I'll put in on my 2015 goals & be super impressed with myself that I have been really focused the last two weeks and have kept busy & kept moving forward. 

This month I am going to focus on putting out positive energy, because, how lucky are we to even be here really?! I recently read this pretty cool interview with Brian Cox where he talks about the possibilities of there being other civilisations in the universe as extremely rare so we should see ourselves as being very lucky to even be here. And we should harness that information & start behaving differently. Which is a heavy kind of existential thought, but it you take it down a notch it is a simple & uplifting one. 

Lately

1 First ponytail. Ever.

2 Some of my extended family were visiting Newcastle, so we had a family catch up at my sister's house

3 My bff & I went to see Miley, it was ah-mazing! It was a shame my phone had no battery & I couldn't take any of my own pics though ( source )

4 As part of my sister's annual birthday week we made Greek inspired mezze for her birthday dinner

5 Romy grew some serious curls this month & picked up a bunch of cool stuff from The Wiggles

We kept ourselves quite busy this month, it's a little bit of a shame that I didn't take many pictures from our daily adventures though. I must remember to pack my camera more for November (yikes, that is only a couple of days away!!).

Present Suggestions For Coffee Fiends

In the last year or so I've made a conscious effort to buy better presents for family & friends for birthdays & other special occasions. I wouldn't go as far as to say that I bought horribly bad presents before, but I noticed a bad present buying habit of mine that affected my choices - plan early, act late. So I would find myself with a few days to sort it out, and more often than not would end up wrapping the most convenient option. After I came to this realisation, I decided it had to end because I love buying presents for other people, I love the whole planning aspect of it and pondering what my presentee will like for their special day. 

Just before Christmas last year I came across a Christmas present buying method one blogger had adopted for their shopping last year - theming their presents. Genius right?! Now, when I say 'theme', don't think Disney Princesses on Ice kinda theme, more like, oh you like the markets? cool! I'll gift you a bunch of cool shit from the markets type theme. And incase you find yourself stuck for gifting ideas, I thought I'd make it into a blog post to help you out! First up..

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Do you have a coffee fiend friend? Sure you do! I've selected a couple of neat suggestions for varying types of caffeine junkies, & factoring in varying types of present buying budgets. While it isn't always the best approach to have in mind while present shopping, the above suggestions are things I would like to receive, as a coffee fiend myself.  

For a simple birthday gift, or low key office Chris Cringle a coffee mug is always a safe bet. And if your presentee & yourself have an 'in joke' together, you can personalise the mug with that. My sister received a coffee mug as a 'handing in her thesis' present from a work colleague that had a Marnie quote from GIRLS on it, I think that is a killer gift - practical and personal. Should you find yourself with a little extra money in your present budget because your mug of choice was on sale, you could easily chuck in a packet of chocolate coated coffee beans for something extra. But if you find yourself on a really tight budget, why not make a batch of homemade biscotti up for your presentee! 

If your presentee already has a coffee making device like a percolator or French press, but will buy their coffee in ready ground bags, take their morning coffee to the next level with an inexpensive coffee grinder. I have this particular grinder and use it at home to grind my coffee beans every morning. If you know what type of beans your presentee likes, pair the grinder up with a small bag to get them started. My top pick from this suggestion list would be an espresso machine. And if you like coffee too then everybody wins! It may seem like an outrageous present, but you could always get others to pitch in too for a group effort. This particular machine is definitely affordable, & makes a pretty tasty cup of jo. I bought one last year, & have saved myself a lot of money from not buying multiple takeaway coffees during the week.

Toddler Life / Tantrums

This little yoghurt faced warrior is having a melt down, in fact for the past three or so weeks she has been having a melt down. I know they tell you all about the terrible twos and tantrums, but they didn't tell you it would be this difficult - and Romy isn't even two yet! I know that she is just trying to sort her feelings out and is trying to communicate with us, and I know how frustrating it can be at times when I am poorly trying to explain something and it isn't getting across, so I understand. But it's the high pitched squeals that hold that same piercing note for what seems like great lengths of time that get me. I thought those unsettled newborn cries broke my parental ear drums in, but they were just warming me up for what was to come. My friend Elle was telling me a few months back how she had been reading something somewhere about toddler behaviour and how this time in a person's life is generally the most violent you will ever be, & I remember really listening and tucking that tid-bit away. But it has only now really resonated with me as Romy has grown into that boisterous toddler that uses her entire body to communicate.  

If her plate gets caught under the tray of the highchair, that warrants a tantrum. And if she stays in the highchair one second too long that also warrants a tantrum. Brushing her teeth & hair  = tantrum. Sitting in the pram = tantrum. Anything that doesn't involve The Wiggles, the park or food = tantrum. Her outbursts in the highchair are (if I have to choose!) preferable because she doesn't tend to hurt herself while having them, whereas if she was walking around and got upset she will instantly be on the ground rolling around and on the occasion hitting and kicking anything in reach. The more I try to calm her down and resolve the situation, the worse it becomes so I  approach the situation by letting her get it all out of her system and being her calming spot to cool down. And that works for us (at least for now).   

Currently

Reading: 'The Neighborhood'  by S.K Epperson. I came across this author when I was first loading my kindle up with light reading a couple of months back and snapped up her free kindle novel 'Green Lake', which was one of the easiest books to digest in a couple of sittings, & 'the neighborhood' is much the same. If you read Goosebumps as a kind, then you will definitely love this ladies novels that are in a similar vein for an older audience only the monsters in her novels are your neighbours.

Watching:  Veep. Oh, you too?! Awesome! How good is it!!!! My sister was raving on about it for a good couple of weeks before I actually gave it a go, and boy oh boy am I glad I did! It took me a couple of episodes to get into the groove of the shows pace and humour, the jokes are short sharp bullets of sass one after the other. By the time you have finished laughing at one quip, there has already been four more. I cannot recommend this show enough! Gary is my favourite, he has the BEST awkward faces and I love how utterly clueless he can be at times. And his bag! Go watch it!

Listening to: Taylor Swift's 'Red' album to wait out the 1989 anticipation. I normally can either take or leave her music but after coming around to her latest single 'shake it off' I have a renewed respect for how light hearted her music is, and I like being distracted by her love woes on my drive to work on the weekends. 

Loving:  This spring weather. The first week of spring was a sad & miserable joke that luckily has made a turn around. These past few weeks have been wonderful, I love this time of year where you hardly notice the weather and you aren't hot or cold. And I especially love spring now that day light savings has started and our afternoons aren't spent rushing around to fit in an afternoon walk before the sun goes down. If Luke isn't working a split he usually finishes around 4.30pm, giving us heaps of extra day light to go for an afternoon walk before the sun sets at 7pm.

Working On:  Making Romy's room a sweet space that she can play in. At the moment her bedroom is purely a sleeping haven, and a place for bits and pieces and bags of clothes she has grown out of. So bit by bit we've been de-cluttering and transforming it into what it should be - a simple toddler bedroom. 

Eating : Quinoa. During the colder months Luke & I tend to shy away from making quinoa dishes, but now that spring has sprung we're filling our plates with quinoa fattoush once again! I even tried my hand at making quinoa fritters last week and they were delicious!

Looking Forward To : My friends wedding, seeing my extended family on their Newcastle visit & a night in the city with my bff to see Miley.

Saturday Style / Table Centers

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Once upon a time I foolishly thought that table centrepieces weren't that overly important to create alovely space. But in the last year or so I've realised just how essential a finished table top is to create a cohesive vibe between life & decor. Each space is unique and in some cases the one size fits all won't work, so work with your space & find ways to complement it. And if all else fails a nice scented candle in a sturdy jar will also do the trick!

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Three Things A Day

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Last year when the adjustment period had passed for being a full time stay at home mum, I implemented my 'do three things a day' goal to stay motivated. Beforehand, there were days where I wouldn't really achieve anything productive and that would bring on the guilts. When you're factoring in a baby or teething toddler, some days it really is impossible to cross even the most basic jobs off of your to-do list, so I spread it out over the week and aim to get one big & two small tasks completed each day. And while it is only three things you're aiming for each day, some days those three things end up being a small victory. Now that I have been more accepting of not always having the opportunity to get things done when I would like to, I am now able to just roll with whenever I can get it done. 

Today I started to rearrange Romy's bedroom, cleaned the bathroom & I vacuum sealed my unworn clothes. We're currently going through that period in our home where we're finally getting around to replacing & rearranging things in our house post-move. We moved into this rental about six months ago, & because we were unorganised for the move we unpacked things for the sake of unpacking them quickly and gave little thought to how we really wanted things to be. So that is where we're at right now, room by room slowly de-cluttering drawer by drawer to obtain a better organised living space.