June 2022

candles for fun things to do when you are at home alone

Staying Warm And Cozy

Hi friends, I know a lot of you are enjoying Summer at the moment and I’m feeling a bit jealous looking at all your sunny pics haha! As for me here in Sydney, it’s been freezing cold so this weekend has been all about staying warm and cozy! Hope you all had a great weekend. Here’s a snapshot of mine for today’s post, thank you so much for stopping by to have a read. I always appreciate it so much!! Friday Night We had our first Friday of the month dinner with my family at our place on Friday night and we had a blast. I love my family so much and every time we get together we have the best time. Not everyone could make it this time around and we missed a couple of family members. One had to work and the other had another commitment. But that’s ok, we’ll blink and before we know it, it will be our July get-together! Time flies by so crazy fast! I tried to keep the menu simple. With Steve working Saturday evening it meant that I didn’t have my right-hand man to help me. Because he’s in hospitality he knows exactly how to time things just right so that the food miraculously appears all hot and ready on the table. But I think I did ok and everything turned out great. We started with a cheeseboard. I made Mediterranean chicken served with a big salad, rice, crunchy baked potatoes, and garlic bread. Because you can never have enough carbs! For dessert, my aunty brought a big chocolate cake and I completely forgot to take a photo. But everybody loved it. Saturday I went to the bakery to pick up some bread rolls and on the way back to the car. I was struck by how blue the sky was. It was bright blue and sunny but super cold and windy. I spent most of the day doing some chores that I didn’t get to during the week. I went to change my son’s bed sheets. He normally strips his own bed but routine flew out the window this week. He was sick again with an upper respiratory tract infection plus he had a bunch of assignments due. Anyway, when I went to get the sheets off his bed I heard an unimpressed miaow. My little cat was staying warm and cozy all wrapped up in the sheets. Ha! she wasn’t too happy about having to move! I watered the plants with this cute watering can I picked up from Ikea a while ago. Initially, I didn’t like it because the water spilled if I tipped it too fast. But I have learned to tip slowly and it works great. A couple of months ago my Monstera plant had lots of new leaves that sadly turned brown and then black. When I googled it. Google said that it was because I wasn’t watering it enough. So now I am making sure that I water every Saturday. The same goes for my Peace Lily. So far so good. No more droopy plants or brown/black leaves. Fingers crossed these lovely plants survive my brown thumb. I washed my rangehood filters. I’ve heard you can put them in the dishwasher?? I didn’t this time but I should try it next time. A Surprise Dinner Invitation I was all set to spend the evening home alone watching a movie under a cozy blanket after dinner. Like every Saturday Steve was at work and Sam was out with his lovely girlfriend. But my friend rang me at around 6.00 pm and invited me over to her house for dinner. We only live a few streets away so I said YES! Got changed and was there in a flash. Impromptu dinner plans are so much fun and we had a great time. She made cottage pie and I found out why hers always tastes so good. She mixes parmesan cheese into the mashed potato before she spreads it over the mince. I will be doing this from now on for sure! Sunday We all slept in and skipped breakfast. Before we knew it, it was lunchtime. We had leftovers from Friday night (yes, I always seem to over cater). Steve went to work and I caught up on some blogging. It was another cold day and it just got colder as the sun went down. The sky was a very pretty pink though. As the sun started to set I went around the house lighting some candles. I’ve got these great battery-operated candles that I bought from Pottery Barn. I love them because you can set them with a timer and they turn on automatically at around 4.30 pm every day. Such a cool feature! I really love lighting candles in the evening, especially during winter. The warm soft glow of the candles makes me happy and It’s one of the things I like to do to make my home feel snug. A while ago I did a post on “How To Make A Home Feel Cozy”. If you would like to read about five simple ways to do this, you can find them here. We just spent the rest of Sunday at home relaxing which was really nice. See my little cat, she’s all curled up on her soft pillow under the coffee table. That just about wraps up my weekend. It was a fun one that as usual went by way too fast. I really do hope you all have a wonderful week. Happy Monday! Linking up with Holly and Sarah Sharing on            

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Mecca store logo for Friday already post

Friday Already

  Can you believe it’s Friday already? Friends this week has gone by so fast! I am super excited for the weekend as I am sure you all are too. This past week has been soooo cold!! I am tempted to take back what I said a few weeks ago. That I was excited about the cooler weather and looking forward to cosy winter nights at home. Indeed I am enjoying cosy nights at home but freezing cold days are not my thing at all. So this leads me to my very first favourite for this week. 1. My Jacket Oh, my warm Calvin Klein jacket I love you so much!!! I have been working at the same preschool for 25 years this October and every winter I freeze in the playground. I usually wear short jackets and I even invested in a Uniqlo feather jacket a while ago. But nothing compares to this jacket which I bought before winter hit. It is long, warm and cosy. I know that winter in Sydney Australia is pretty mild compared to some other countries. But anything under 15C is just like Arctic conditions for me. This week was one of those weeks where it got down to under 15C. It was so windy and because our preschool sits up high, the playground feels like it’s a wind tunnel. The kids are ok because they run around and get warm really fast. There are also some nice sunny spots around the playground. But in the afternoon it gets shady and even colder. So this jacket makes the top of the list for this week’s favourites!! 2. A Mecca Store I went to my local Westfield the other day and couldn’t believe my eyes! We have a new Mecca store that has just opened!! Mecca is an Australian retail store that sells all things cosmetics, skincare and perfume. The reason why I am so excited is if I ever needed to buy any really nice skincare or cosmetics. Then I would need to take a trip into the city as we don’t really have anything locally. A trip into the city isn’t really that far as it’s only about 25 minutes by train. But having a closer option is so much more convenient. Our local Westfield Shopping Centre is only about 2 minutes drive from my house. There’s nothing like the opening of a brand new store. It was buzzing with people, pretty bright lights and lots of friendly staff. 3. A New Concealer I was running out of concealer so it was a perfect opportunity to try a new one. I spoke to the lovely sales assistant and she suggested a few different concealers from different brands. In the end, based on my skin type she found this one for me. It’s made by a brand that I have never used before but I am so happy with it. I think that it suits my skin type and tone much better than my previous Chanel one. The sales assistant spent such a long time with me, very patiently finding the right one.  Then as part of the new opening store promotion I also received a free gift in a lovely Mecca bag. This mecca mascara was all wrapped up in pretty tissue paper. I felt like it was my birthday! 4. Favourite Preschool Moments There was lots of building happening with blocks, Duplo and of course those fun Magna tiles. A very clever little friend made a house out of the Magna tiles. She was so proud of her work! There was more fun messy box construction! Puzzles This week was Reconciliation Week where we celebrate Indigenous history and culture in Australia. So at preschool we……. Had the sensory table with some fun Australian animals, pebbles and sand. Red, black and yellow playdough We also had a visiting indigenous artist who is working with the children for the next few weeks. The theme this week was waterholes so the artist showed the children how to paint them on their own small canvases. It was a fun week at preschool. Freezing but fun! I guess that’s it for this week’s Friday favourites. Four quick favourites, I’m having all my family over for dinner tonight. That includes my lovely children, cousins and their partners as well as my aunty and I am beyond excited. We made a decision earlier this year that every first Friday of the month we would get together for dinner. We are rotating where we meet and so this month we are back at my place. Wishing you the best weekend! Happy Friday friends! Linking up with Andrea and Erika for today’s post    

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