The effects of rain

Now I am generally a real sun person and love blue skies and warm weather but after the few days of heat that Melbourne has had I have loved all the rain over the past 24 hours.

After it has been so hot, the smell of rain, the coolness it brings and the effect it has on the environment is wonderful. Last night as I sat in my kids room while they were going to sleep, I had their window wide open and just listened to the rain and sound of crickets. Very relaxing.

This morning my little boy and I walked my daughter to school and there were puddles everywhere, the Eucalyptus smelt wonderful wet and the birds were all calling out, all because of the Summer rain.

Also yesterday we got our rainwater tank installed so now have another reason to love the rain when it has been so dry.

Today now the rain has stopped the builders are working on putting in a deck down this side and around the tank. This deck will wrap around the house and meet up with the back deck. So I will be sharing lots of deck photos soon.

Adding colour and fun

We as many do, have kept all our walls white in our new rooms to give us a blank canvas. But without decoration it can be a little sterile so slowly starting to add things around the house.

The photo above is the kids playroom, so a room that definitely needs colour and fun. With the kids favourite colours being red and blue (along with being mine too) it was easy to work out the colour scheme.

I have been so looking forward to hanging up bunting and found this in a gorgeous little French homewares store near our house along with the letters.

Of course a kids room also needs a place to hang their artwork.

And I ended up loving these red and white paper balls from Domayne so much that have hung some in the family room.

Hope you are all having a great weekend. It is certainly a hot one here in Melbourne, so good to be spending time inside in the air-conditioning.

G

Bougainvillea a Mediterranean inspiration

I have loved Bougainvillea ever since we saw a lot of it growing on the Amalfi Coast of Italy. The stunning colours against the Mediterranean and the stone houses has always inspired me. So much so that I planted a vine as soon as we bought our house some eight years ago.

Now said vine is hidden down the side of the new extension, so will look at moving, but in the meantime have been bringing it inside.

First day of School memories

First day back at school for my daughter today. She is starting year 1. So to remember the day we took a photo of her next to this blackboard with the intention of now doing it every year.

When she started Prep we naturally took lots of photos at home and in front of the school but was wondering what we could do this year and for the many more to come. I saw a great article with ideas, one of which suggested holding up a small blackboard to record the year and take the same picture each year and watch them grow. So this is my plan, plus to each year take one on the deck and in front of our Maple tree as we did last year.

This blackboard is coming in handy for many occasions and so has a permanent place near our kitchen.

Are you a list person?

I have written lists but normally when organising a special occasion or getting ready to go on holiday, writing lists it is not something I am in continual habit of doing.

Today though is my last day of holidays, I go back to work tomorrow after having almost four weeks off with my kids (and hubby for two weeks of it ) and looking around I am thinking I will need to get more organised and start writing lists.

Images from Kikki. K website

I can see all these things I meant to do over the past week particularly and didn't get done. I am not upset about it as instead spent lots of quality time with my two children but as I prepare to start work tomorrow, I have suddenly remembered how hard the juggle of everything was and I promised myself to be more organised this year!I recently read an article in Home Beautiful about Kristina Karlsson founder of Kikki. k who apparently loves writing lists, filing and clears her desk every evening. Kikki. K has lots of beautifully designed stationary and more to help me to do the same. I am thinking I may need to order a few things from the website or visit to a store nearby.

Agapanthus add to decorating

The sun finally shone in Melbourne for the first time in a week today and so managed to get out into the garden.

I am loving the explosion of purple the Agapanthus provide and so I thought they would go well indoors too, adding to the 'look' I love for my house.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

A holiday, New Year and new perspective

Firstly Happy New Year! it has been a while since I posted, as I must admit I was a little over renovating and talking about it. I needed a break from the house, Melbourne, work and the everyday routine.

After having two birthdays in the Christmas week, with parties at our house (my beautiful girl turned six and then two days later I had my birthday), then also Christmas day lunch here, I was a little exhausted and also frustrated with the fact our builder hadn't finished external work in time for all the parties. So this meant trying to ignore the outside mess and entertain around it (not easy with kids).

At least in these two photos you can see we got our L shaped deck done, just haven't yet got the pergola for me to hang my lanterns on and put all the fairy lights around I bought just for Christmas.

Well we have just recently got back from a much needed holiday in Adelaide, visiting family and old friends. Plus we spent lots of time going for walks in the stunning Adelaide Hills or along the beach and plenty of time near or in water. It was relaxing and just what was needed.

Coming back home I found I could now appreciate and enjoy the house again, look at it from the perspective of what we have done in the past year rather then what still needs to be done.

I have also come back online to find that the lovely Deb from Let's go Moerkabout has passed an award over to me:

Liebster is a German word meaning "dearest" and the award is given to bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. The award has a few stipulations:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it you.

2. Reveal your five blogger picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Hope that people you have sent the award to forward it on to their favourite bloggers.

Now its my turn to pass this award on to five bloggers that I love to pop in and visit.

At home with Sam and I
Change of Place
B is Building a House
Ledamae
From Avenue to Boulevard

Thanks also to Deb, I always enjoy reading her blog.

So back to showing plenty of photos and sharing stories of what is happening around my place. I look forward to reading your blogs again too and finding out what you have been up to. Hope 2012 is a happy and good one for you all!