Happy Days

My Dad left Sydney last night to return to Ireland after a wonderful 12 days here. As usual I was a bawling heap when he was leaving. To say I adore my Dad and think he's the best thing since sliced bread is a huge understatement. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful father and my little boys are just mad about their fantastic Grandad.

This was his 8th visit to Sydney in the last 8 years and I love how the boys just picked things straight back up from when they last saw him. H was chatting straight away about everything from soccer to space and promptly dumped me as school dropper off-er and picker up-er in favour of Grandad. S spent the whole 12 days planted firmly on his Grandad's knee whenever he had the chance and D was like a little stalker wanting to know where Grandad was every time he left the room for even a second :-)

Our time was filled with lovely outings, meals out, some beach trips, good weather and not-so-good weather and lovely times just chilling out at home...

Just thought I'd share a few favourite photos from his trip...

We all love you Dad and miss you so much already. We're so happy you're such a big part of our lives here and your little Grandsons are dying to see you again already :-)

Cook a l'orange

My little collection of orange cast iron cookware has a couple of new additions...

A gorgeous vintage Le Creuset casserole - I use it for making sauces :-)

And this lovely little Le Creuset casserole, in mint condition, perfect for making pies...

Happily sitting with its big brother :-)

A little recap on my other pieces...

Now please excuse me while I squeal with excitement!!! My Dad is arriving from Ireland tomorrow!!! My boys have lots of fun planned for Grandad - swimming races, light saber battles, picnics... I hope he's well rested when he arrives ;-)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day :-) It's been years since my man and I celebrated the day of love, romance and all that! We both think it's a lot of commercial nonsense to be honest (although it took a few years of sending me red roses, chocolates and giant teddies for my hubbie to admit this - false advertising on his part? ;-)

Anyway, this year for some reason I decided to have a little bit of fun with Valentine's, hiding chocolate hearts in my boys' lunch boxes (including my hubbie) and decorating the dinner table with valentine balloons and glittery hearts, surrounded by which we enjoyed a yummy Indian takeaway and a bottle of wine followed by the most delicious little chocolate cake my lovely man brought home, all in all a very lovely evening :-)

Pictured here are a recent Etsy purchase I thought was fitting for the day, I love this set of clay hearts, beautifully glazed, they were on a recent Etsy treasury and I couldn't resist them and bought them straight away! Ah l'amour :-)

Schoolboy

My Little S started big school last week...

I don't think I've ever seen anyone quite as cuddly looking in their uniform - so tiny :-)

In the months leading up to this big day I have been quite stressed as to how it would go, how would he settle in? Would he like it? With him having special needs and not being able to talk yet how would I know the little details of his day?

Well, I needn't have worried, he has settled straight in, no tears on his first day (can't say the same for me), his teacher's daily reports fill me in on exactly what he's been doing and she is delighted with how quickly he has settled in and gotten in to the routine. At the end of each day, when I ask him how he got on I get so many smiles, he loves it! We're very lucky he's in such a lovely school with a very lovely teacher :-)

Phew, all that worry for nothing, thank God!

I can't believe my little man is a big schoolboy, the years are flying by way too quickly, only one year till my tiniest man starts school, please let this year go by veeery sloooowly.

Green Eyed MONSTER!!!

Look at all this beautiful vintage Le Creuset snapped up for the princely sum of $7!!!

That's right, $7 for the LOT.

Jealous? Yeah? Well so am I! Because alas, this is not my own find.

Now I know one of the ten commandments is "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbour's Goods" but seriously when I read this post on Flickr I felt physically SICK with envy... I mean a large casserole, 2 pots and 3 pans in great condition and in such a beautiful colour (it's called Paris Blue) for $7!!!

I then discovered Stephanie has a lovely blog called Kitchen Culinaria, she's a brand new blogger and I have a feeling that if this find is anything to go by, this is a blog to watch!

I'm still feeling more than slightly jealous, I will NEVER EVER have a find that good!

Teardrops

Australia Day is coming up on January 26th and I thought I could take the opportunity to share with you something that happened on this national day of celebration back in 2007.

It was the day an obsession was born.

My husband and I were wandering through the city with our 2 little men, D was yet to be born, on our way to the harbour celebrations. Along Macquarie street every Australia Day, is an exhibition of classic vehicles, cars, motorcycles, buses and caravans. I was oohing and aahing over classic Jaguars, Ferraris and such when I spotted this...

I should explain I have an obsession with miniature versions of anything (seriously I nearly sobbed once at the sight of a tiny tube of Colgate in a hotel) and the sight of this tiny caravan nearly sent me over the edge!!!

I mean seriously, look at the little curtains over the window and the teeny kitchen.

I got chatting with the owner and she explained that these little caravans/campers are called Teardrops and were originally made in the 1930s. They are tiny and literally just have a kitchen space in the trunk and enough interior space for a mattress. They have had a resurgence in popularity and clever people out there are making brand new versions!

Check out these cuties...

Go-fast stripes!

Wood-panelled luxury.

Fully-fitted kitchen.

Hotel-style boudoir.

Why not bring the boat?

It really doesn't help that these are available on the market now at not-ridiculous prices! Check this one out...

Turquoise - check!

Wining and dining function - check!

Even the hubcaps are blue, seriously did somebody crawl inside my head and build this for me? Sob!

And look at the sleeping area, complete with porthole window, bookshelf and bunch of flowers!

If YOUR husband will let you get one of these here is the listing on eBay.

The only possible change I would make to this tiny thing of beauty is the kitchen, I think I would kit it out more like this...

I know!!! Duck egg blue accents and appliances, sigh... This one is for sale here.

I know these probably aren't the most practical caravans for a family of five but I want one soooo badly!!!

Winner!

Drum roll please....

and over to my little assistant in PJs...

and the winner is...

Congratulations to Tara Beaulieu over at Scarborough Seashells. I sent you a comment Tara asking for your address details so I can order your book pronto :-)