Jetlag

I'm back in Sydney after having the most fantastic time in Ireland. It was so wonderful being with the best family I could possibly wish for, my wonderful parents, fantastic sisters and adorable nieces and nephew...

Taking in lovely Irish scenery...

Tastes..

Textures...

And of course lots of shopping :-)

I missed my little men like crazy and realise just how lucky I am to have the BEST family in the world on both sides of the planet.

Normal blogging will resume when I have recovered from the jetlag!

Top of the morning to ye

Just saying a quick hello from Ireland, where I am being spoilt rotten by my wonderful parents who have flown me over for a much needed holiday. Spending time hanging out with the best Mum and Dad I could possibly wish for, my gorgeous sisters and adorable nieces and nephew :-)

I haven't had a chance to upload any of my photos yet, but the above image is of a beautiful gift I received yesterday from my Mum's friend. It is a fabulous tea towel with beautiful graphic representations of Dublin's landmarks and attractions. I LOVE it and am going to frame it when I get back to Sydney.

Housewife

I found a lovely collection of vintage tea towels in Vinnie's a few weeks ago. There were about 30 there in total (although I restrained myself and bought only 6). Somebody had obviously donated them all at once. I always wonder what triggers somebody to just suddenly give away a collection they've obviously been gathering over a long time, do they just crack one morning and scream "NO MORE"!!!

Lovely! Isn't it a good thing we can't see in to the future? Seriously, if at 18 I could have seen myself at 36 blogging about pyrex and tea towels I may very well have hung myself!

Yet here I am happily doing so :-) How could a housewife not get excited by all those lovely retro patterns and at only $2 each!!!

If you're looking for some fab tea towels check out this gorgeous website for some beautiful new vintage styles.

Pressies

Usually, checking our letterbox is not at all exciting, junk mail and bills just don't do it for me (although the occasional massive spider does liven things up for an arachnophobic such as myself).

Last week was a different matter altogether. Firstly I totally hit the jackpot with the person who made my Pay It Forward gift :-)

Just look what the very talented my little birdie sent me!

Beautiful handmade cards, the prettiest hairclips and a beautiful purse!

Just look at that beautiful workmanship!

Thank you so much for my beautiful gifts, I am thrilled with them :-)

I should mention to the people who are waiting on my Pay it Forward gifts that I am nowhere near this standard in crafting but will do my very best. I hope to have your gifts to you soon. I am very much a last minute person, with a 365 day deadline there's a huge chance your gifts will be sent on the 364th day (only kidding, I'll get them to you well before then ;-)

Then some goodies I ordered from the Book Depository arrived. I totally blame Kate for this purchase for reminding me the Book Depository sells gorgeous stationery aswell as books ;-)

Some lovely Cath Kidston stationery for me...

A fab Charley Harper colouring book for H...

And a beautiful set of Charley Harper flashcards for S and D, a stunning illustration for each letter of the alphabet.

Not all the surprises came in the mail though, The Thrifty Ba sent me a message to say she has awarded me the Versatile Blogger Award. Thank you so much for this, it's always lovely to know people out there are enjoying my posts and thoughts :-) I'm supposed to pass this on to 15 other bloggers but to be honest I have a large list of blogs that I read and love them ALL, so please consider yourselves all very much awarded and enjoyed :-)