Brunch At Aunty Ash's House

My sister Ashleigh scored herself a long weekend off work to go to Kanye West, but before she set off on her exciting weekend with her girlfriends Romy & I spent the morning visiting and we had a little brunch date together.

On her morning travels Ash picked up some delicious jalapeño & cheddar bagels for our  brunch date. It's been a good couple of months since my last bagel and now that I've had a taste for them again I can feel a little bit of bagel fever coming on. I'm sure if I ask nicely Luke might bake a batch on his day off.

While Romy usually doesn't shy away from spicy foods, today she wasn't open to trying the bagels and stuck to her banana, blueberry & orange bread I baked during the week. I most definitely will be sharing this loaf recipe in the next couple of weeks because it would be extremely selfish of me not to considering how darn tasty it is!

During our visit Ash picked her first homegrown blueberry, it wasn't quite ready but it was still pretty exciting none the less! Ashleigh just recently bought her first home & the previous owners had planted a pretty extensive fruit & vegetable garden that has all kinds of things. I'm looking forward to our family dinners made using their garden produce.

I hope you enjoyed your Friday too & have a wonderful weekend ahead of you. I'll be working all weekend & Romy will be spending that time with Luke for the first time all by themselves. Fingers crossed I come home to a batch of freshly baked bagels!

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Spring, You're Here!

Today was the first real day of spring. For the past couple of weeks the weather here in Newcastle has been miserable and frustrating. During the middle of winter we were fortunate to have a good month of nice sunny t-shirt wearing days that unfortunately racked up a mighty fine cold & rainy debt. And for the past few weeks we've been shut inside watching The Wiggles waiting for the storm to pass, so to speak. I usually love winter, give me a cardigan and a hot water bottle any day & I'm happy. But its days like today where the temperature isn't bothersome in the slightest that wins me over - that and a good bunch of perfectly arranged (thanks Renee!) spring fresh flowers!

Toddler Meals // Lunch

Feeding a toddler can sometimes be a whole task in itself to cross off your to-do list, especially when your toddler happens to have a gourmet palette some days (but will eat whatever falls on the floor the next!). Their little tastebuds chop and change so rapidly part of the challenge is keeping up with it all. Some days Romy loves strawberries, and other days they're just an afterthought she turns her nose up at. So for Romy's lunches I make her up a mix of things for lunch that way she is bound to eat at least one thing!

A constant favourite of Romy's is ham, so you can guarantee that is in our shopping trolley each week as it seems to be one of the only meat items on her plate she will eat without questioning it. Next to ham on her 'foods I'll always eat' is peanut butter. More recently I started smearing medijool dates with peanut butter for Romy and she really took to it, so every couple of days this little gem makes an appearance on her lunch plate. Kale chips however will not be making another appearance anytime soon, it seems my little girl only likes the organic packet kale chips (which as tasty as they are, are also covered in flavouring) much to my dismay. 

I always have at least two types of fruit on her plate on offer, and unless its banana she really isn't too keen. According to some articles Luke was reading last week about fussy eaters, it can take up to 15 times for a toddler to be okay with a new food. We've given Romy five rounds with sultanas and she is just starting to warm up to them. Strawberries, bananas, super soft pears & grapes are about the only fruit she will eat. Oh, and mango come summer time. 

Romy's nap time is anywhere from 11.30.am - 12.30pm, so there isn't such a long gap in between meals or snacks I've started giving her a 'little lunch' around 11am which is a smaller version of the plate above, and I try and change it up every day so she can get the best of everything. And when she wakes up from her nap around 3.30pm I give the second part of her lunch which is usually a half sandwich and some yogurt to tie her over until we have dinner around 6. The better part of my day is spent preparing meals for this little bear, I swear!

Bargain Replica Gold

I don't know about you but I'm quite partial to the odd replica, especially if it is exactly what I'm looking for at the time, & in the exact colour I'm after with a reasonable price. Which is the exact story for these replica Eames chairs currently at Officeworks. For months Luke & I have left our small dinning area unresolved because we've always had in mind that we would give some roadside wooden chairs a second run with a good coat of yellow paint and some love. But with a busy toddler on the go that task was becoming seemingly more unattainable. Along with Newcastle's ever persistent wet weather and our lack of garage situation, it was just easier to buy some yellow chairs and be done with the whole thing. So that is what we did. Now I have the dinning room chair dilemma solved I can move onto making our laundry space less of an eye sore and more of a Pinterest perfect space (yeah right).

Friends & Their Babies

This afternoon Romy & I went to our friends house for an afternoon back yard mini picnic. My good friend Ali has a little boy, Xander, that is just four months younger than Romy. Ali & I met about eight years ago when we were both studying and new to Newcastle. I can remember us having hypothetical conversations about what we would be like and do together when we had children, and now that phase in our lives is here and is happening now. 

It is so sweet to not only watch these two grow as individuals, but to see their little friendship blossom. Xander has such a soft and sweet soul and he is very patient with how rough Romy can be at times (cough most times), she always seems to be hugging him too hard, or taking up too much of his side of the keyboard.

In the span of these sweet little babies lives we have never been able to get a nice photo of the four of us, and as trying as that can be I kind of like this one, it really sums up most of our play dates together and shows what it's really like to try and take pictures with babies. They like being photographed together and on their own it seems, but not with their mothers, and definitely not on cue!

Saturday Style // The Hallway

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Hallways are one of the ultimate decorating challenges when making your house into a home. Nail one hook too high, or buy a hallway mat too short and its all over. Well, not completely over, but minor details are heightened in this space because of their minimalist surroundings. There are however a surprising number of great decorating tips & styles you can apply to an often awkward space, & these are my four favourites.

1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Currently

Reading: 'Apple Tree Yard' by Louise Doughty, and oh man am I hooked! I have a small window of reading time each day and if Romy is having a good day and is happy to play by herself I will rush about trying to get all my morning jobs done so come nap time I can pick up where I left off the night before. I like how the stories outcome is laid out on the very first page and you know where it all ends, but how it all eventuates and the suspense behind the tale is just really captivating. I've been enjoying tragic romantic suspense novels lately which was triggered a few weeks back when I read 'Gone Girl' by Gillian Flynn.

Watching:  The Office (US version). Many, many years ago when the American version first started I caught a couple of episodes on tv and really enjoyed them but due to a late time slot I always forgot to watch it. If it was ever on when I was flicking the channels I would always watch it, but never really got invested in the show. My sister & brother-in-law are really into it and shared it with me and now I don't think I could ever look back. I mean, Jim & Pam are just the cutest! Question, is there a real life couple that darn cute?! In the first couple of seasons there were a lot of brutally awkward moments that I even caught Luke covering his face because he was so put off by it! We're currently up to season 6.

Listening to: Nothing in particular of late, however we rarely turn JJJ off these days. And after not listening to barely any new music in over a year I am enjoying getting back in the loop. Romy loves having the radio on and will stop whatever she is doing to shake her groove thing if some dope beats come on for her.

Loving:  The day visits Romy & I have been having with our dear friend Elle lately. We currently do not live in the same area, in fact we're almost three hours apart, so our visits aren't as frequently as I would like them to be. But it is a little hard to drag a teething toddler to the city, and when I visit her it doubles as a bff date AND personal day off.

Working On:  These past couple of weeks I have been working on starting this blog and how I want it to look. For now I'm keeping it simple & open to all kinds of possibilities. 

Eating : This is a little bit back yard bbq of me, but lately I've just been craving plain Jatz with cheese! I saw a friend of ours tagged on a Facebook picture for giving away their hospital afternoon crackers & cheese and ever since seeing that picture I've been hooked on them! 

Looking Forward To : Spending more of my afternoons at my sisters new house that she recently bought! Her backyard is a mini suburban gourmet farm with so many delicious things growing like blueberries, tomatoes, curry leaves, basil, sweet potatoes, lavender, macadamia nuts & lemons. They also have a chicken coupe too!