Hello Monday

Hi there, friends! I hope you are all doing well and enjoyed a great weekend. For me, the weekend was an absolutely perfect opportunity to enjoy a cozy weekend at home. I didn’t have any plans for Saturday or Sunday. So I took full advantage of it by staying home all weekend long. It was so lovely to spend the time catching up on a little of this and that. It was wonderful to be in my own space, surrounded by my favourite things, and take the time just to be. I really needed a weekend like this one! Friday Night Pasta Night But before my cozy weekend at home started I enjoyed a fun family dinner on Friday night. My aunt hosted this month’s cousin connect. She is such an amazing cook and it was delicious pasta and schnitzel on the menu. An Early Egg Hunt We even had an easter egg hunt because my cousin and her family are flying to Ohio next week and they won’t be here for Easter. And to make the hunt a bit more competitive we decided to include anyone 18 years and younger. So Sam, his sweet girlfriend who are both 18 and two of my cousin’s kids who are 12 and 9 all got to hunt around my aunt’s house for chocolate eggs. It was very funny to watch these two grown-up kids against the real kids! Reminiscing We sat around talking for ages after dinner. I just love how we never run out of funny family stories. This time the conversation turned to my mum. And we all reminisced about her funny antics, especially the way that she used to tease our cat Sushi. She loved our cat and she used to tell me how much happy she felt having Sushi’s company when we were all at work and school. We all had a good laugh remembering how mum used to have staring contests with Sushi to see who blinked first. Yeah, my mum was funny and we all miss her very much. Saturday Just like that, the summer sunshine disappeared and autumn arrived. The sky was grey and it rained all weekend. I found myself reaching for my warm hoodie and I had to put cozy quilts on our beds because hey when it’s 15°C-21°C in Sydney that’s when I start to shiver hehe. Sam went to work early and Steve and I enjoyed a very late breakfast of scrambled eggs and crispy bacon with tomatoes and mushrooms. I saved some for Sam to eat when he got home in the afternoon. It was also perfect weather for hot chocolate with marshmallows. And for lighting candles and embracing the cozy atmosphere. I’m so proud of myself for sticking to my goal of meal planning every week. I think I have only had one week where things went off the rails. Despite this small hiccup, I’m happy that I haven’t let one bad week derail me. So as planned I made a mouth-watering roast lamb for dinner. It was so tender and juicy. The best part was that it was deboned which meant that carving it up was a breeze. I also made some blueberry muffins. I opened my T2 tea sampler that Sam’s girlfriend gave me for my birthday. And I made a nice cup of white tea. It really was white! A Cozy Sunday Sunday I didn’t even make it to church. Instead, I stayed home and had a late breakfast of crunchy rice bubbles. Then at around midday, Steve and I watched the last two episodes of season one of Blue Bloods. It’s such a great show and we are absolutely loving it! Steve went to work and I had a very late lunch. I made a lamb wrap with some salad and pita bread. It was so good. Then I pulled down my small box of Easter decorations. I don’t have a lot of decorations, just a few. And I scattered them around the house for a bit of a cozy Easter vibe. I added more eggs to my bowl of stone eggs that I always have on the dining room table. Hung some eggs with bunny faces on my decorative sticks. I placed a silver bunny and a couple of light-up ceramic eggs on the hallway table. A green bunny and Easter sign. And because we don’t have a lot of places to put decorations in our small house. I sat these silver bunnies on the open shelf in the kitchen. I was really happy with the small Easter touches around the house. In the evening I used up a whole lot of vegetables that had seen better days and made soup. In the evening I wrapped myself up in my soft pink blanket to watch my favourite movie ‘Volver’ with Penelope Cruz. Phew, after a hectic week at work that left my head buzzing, I was just craving a cozy weekend at home. I really needed to hibernate indoors and recharge my batteries. Now I feel ready for the short working week and I am so excited that Thursday is the last day of preschool and then it’s a wrap for term one 2023! Thank you so much for being here today. I hope that you have a wonderful week and I’m excited to be back here on Wednesday. Take care, friends! Happy Monday Linking up with Holly and Sarah Sharing on  

Hi friends I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend! I am really sad to see the weekend end so fast but I am very excited that we are now in the countdown for the end of term break. We finish term one on the 5th of April and then we are off for Autumn break until the 24th of April. I can NOT wait! Anyway, I am so glad that you are here today where I am linking up with Holly and Sarah to share my weekend wrap-up. FRIDAY Friday seems like a distant memory now but I just wanted to show you the beautiful sunrise from my kitchen window. Please excuse the not-so-clean window oops! The days are getting shorter now that it’s Autumn and I can’t say that I’m a big fan. When I wake up it’s quite dark and it also gets darker much earlier in the evenings. Daylight saving ends the following weekend which will leave me so confused for about a week or more! On the flip side, I am really happy that the days are still very sunny and warm. You gotta look at the positives! SATURDAY Saturday was election day and we all had to vote for an NSW Premier. Steve and I decided that we needed a bit of motivation to get us to the polls. So he suggested that we vote first and then go to the Ramsgate farmers market aferwards. We went to our local polling place and I honestly expected the lines to be super long. But luckily it wasn’t very busy which was a lovely unexpected surprise. So that meant that we were easily in and out in about ten minutes. Ramsgate Farmer’s Market Afterwards, we went to the market and bumped into our friends Marianne and Daniel as soon as we got there. We hung out with them for a while and had something to eat. I have known my friend Marianne forever, and she makes me laugh so much. We always say we need a proper agenda every time that we meet up because we have so much to say and our conversations are usually all over the place. We start by saying one thing and then digress to another bunch of topics. In the end, we totally forget about what we were talking about in the first place! Lunch Steve and I shared some Vietnamese noodle soup called Fuh which I’m never sure how to pronounce properly. We also had some prawn and pork spring rolls followed by a custard tart and coffee. After lunch, we said goodbye to our friends and had a browse around the market. I just love looking at all of the food stalls. Chicken Pie I found my favourite pie stall and bought the last family-sized chicken pie. Sadly I totally forgot about buying the jar of honey that I wanted. Oh well, I’ll just have to go back again next weekend hehe. A New Premier For NSW Saturday evening I watched the election results on TV and we said bye bye to the current NSW premier. and hello the newly elected one. A New Mini-Series After I had enough of watching all the political stuff, I started watching a new miniseries on Netflix called Safe. Steve came home from work just after midnight. I filled him in on what he had missed and he was totally engrossed in the next episode that we watched together. It truly amazes me how he can so easily get right into any show and it doesn’t matter to him how much he has missed. I always need to start from the first episode and work myself in. SUNDAY Some of the kids at preschool have been coming down with coughs and colds. I have been really motivated to remember to take my vitamins because I’m determined to try and stay healthy for the holidays. It’s easy to drink this Vitamin C effervescent tablet first thing in the morning because it is so refreshing. Hello Sushi what are you doing there? She knows that she is not allowed on my bed but she always tries hard to ignore this rule! Mid-morning I had a nice piece of raisin toast and a cup of coffee. A Fun Catch-Up In the afternoon I caught up with my lovely fun friend and we had a delicious lunch at a place called Japanese Kitchen. The food was so delicious and incredibly filling. Yum, I love Japanese food! Then we spent the rest of the afternoon strolling around the local shops. After watching ‘The Spice Trails’ together on TV last week we were keen to explore some of these global foods and spices. I took her to a local shop that has an amazing variety of spices and food products mainly from South America.  It was an interesting shop and I liked the infectious music they were playing which reminded me of my zumba days. We also walked around the shops inside our local Westfield and I spotted this card. Haha, my friend agreed that this totally described me. I’m on a constant quest for smooth hair so I bought these products which were half-price at Priceline. I walked home and I was really glad that my ankle felt pretty good afterwards. It was a bit tender after the long walk but nothing compared to how sore it was a couple of weeks ago. As I turned into my street I spotted a pretty tree. I have no clue what kind of tree it is but I really liked the purple flowers. And that’s my weekend wrap-up! I hope that you guys had a great weekend and are feeling ready for a brand-new week. Now as the school week gets underway, I can’t help but feel a little distracted. The school holidays are just around the corner, and it can get a bit tricky for me to stay focused and motivated when such an exciting break is

Hey there, welcome back to another week! I hope that you had a fantastic weekend filled with plenty of rest, relaxation, and maybe a little adventure too. As for me, I had a really nice couple of days enjoying good times with friends and family. I’m so glad that you have stopped by and as usual, I am excited to be linking up with Holly and Sarah to share some of the things that I got up to on this very hot and sunny weekend. Friday Night I got a call from my friend and her husband inviting me over for an impromptu dinner. I was really happy to accept as I didn’t have any plans for Friday night. Steve was at work and Sam was out with his girlfriend. So it would have been just me and my cat Sushi at home. My friend whipped up a quick pesto pasta and some pizza. For dessert, we had good old Maltesers with ice-cream. Yum! Everything was so delicious and it was so lovely to sit around eating and talking. I have known these guys since I was about 14 years old and they are more like family than friends. Then after dinner, we just sat around listening and singing along to our favourite music from back in the day. It was such a fun and unexpected night which I was really grateful for. Saturday I had a nice low-key Saturday. We got up later than usual and I made some scrambled eggs for a late breakfast. I also made some more smoothies. Steve commented that this smoothie tasted even better than the ones that I usually make. I totally agreed and I know that it’s because I have been using different honey. Normally I just use honey that I buy from the supermarket. But the last few times that I have made smoothies I have used honey that I bought from the farmer’s market. It’s all-natural raw Australian honey and it tastes so much nicer. I’m planning on making a trip to the farmers market next weekend. So I’ll make sure to grab another jar of this sweet goodness! A Trip To The Hairdressers And Some Shopping Later in the afternoon, I went to the hair salon to get a much-needed trim. I hadn’t been to the hairdresser since around December last year. It was so nice to have my hair washed, cut and blow-dried. I always think it’s so funny how a few inches of less hair always makes my whole head feel lighter. Here’s a pic that I took in the evening of my fresh trim. Why can’t I ever blow dry it the same way they do at the salon? After my haircut, I went to Westfield to buy a birthday present for Sam’s girlfriend who is turning 18. I bought her some pyjamas from Peter Alexander. I picked out some cute pyjama shorts with birthday cakes all over them and a light blue pyjama top to match. Sunday Morning Sunrise It was so hard getting out of bed at 6.30 am on Sunday morning to go to Steve’s swim club. But there are only a few more weeks left until the season ends and it was the second last social event. When we arrived at 7 am we got to see the most beautiful sunrise. So it was totally worth the early morning start. All of the races were finished by about 9 am which is very quick compared to other times when they have gone on until 11 am. We all enjoyed a BBQ breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, onions and bread rolls. Yum! It was such a nice relaxing morning and I was so glad that I didn’t give in to the temptation of staying in my cozy bed. A Whole Year Late Sunday afternoon, my whole family got together for an early dinner at Oatley pub. It was a bittersweet day because Sunday marked a whole year since my mum passed away. It’s hard to believe how quickly time has passed, and yet it feels like an eternity since we last saw her. I miss her so much. It was a special time when we enjoyed a meal and then spent hours talking and just being together. In the end, I really felt a sense of comfort knowing that we are always there for each other, even on the toughest days. All in all, I really enjoyed the good times that I shared with my friends and family this weekend. But today I am feeling a bit down and emotional. I’m sure that tomorrow will be better and I am grateful for the memories of the last couple of days…….So here’s to brighter days ahead! And I hope you all have a great rest of the week.        

Hi everyone! It’s great to be back again today linking up with Holly and Sarah to share a few of my weekend highlights! I hope that you all had a great weekend. Even though it’s now autumn here in Sydney. I don’t think that we will be feeling any cool temps for a while. And this is totally ok with me! And by the looks of this week’s weather forecast we are in for a scorcher of a week! Anyway, I’m so glad that you are here! So let’s jump right into some weekend highlights! Friday Night I felt so tired on Friday night but I wanted to get ahead and do a bit of prep for our Saturday night family dinner. Luckily I had ordered my groceries online so I didn’t have to go anywhere near the busy supermarket. My order arrived at 7 pm and after I packed all of it away. I used up the last of my energy to make some hummus that I wanted to serve as part of the cheese platter. This is such an easy recipe to make. All you have to do is throw all the ingredients into a food processor and you’re done! It’s so easy peasy and you can find the recipe right here. A Big Family Dinner Saturday was our monthly family dinner or ‘cousin connect’ as we call it. And it was my turn to host so on Saturday afternoon my kitchen looked like this. I made some Mediterranean chicken. Which is just basically chicken thigh fillets cooked in a tomato-based sauce. Then sprinkled with feta and black olives over the top. I like to pop it back in the hot oven so that the cheese melts a bit before I serve it. I also made spinach, feta and ricotta pie. There was also a big salad, rice and sausages because I always panic that we aren’t going to have enough food! About 10 minutes before everyone started to arrive I was scrambling and only just had enough time to put this together. Phew! Luckily I had already made the hummus the night before. For dessert, I made a super easy peach cobbler and I completely forgot to take a pic when I took it out of the oven. But here is a photo of it just before it went into the oven. A Fun Night It was so good to see almost everyone. My son’s fiancee had to work and my cousin’s girlfriend couldn’t make it as she was busy packing to move house so we missed seeing them. But there’s always next month! I really look forward to our monthly dinners and so this was at the top of the list of weekend highlights for sure. It was so funny, the whole family kind of arrived at almost the same time. We were all excited to see each other and we were hugging and saying hello etc. Then as soon as they found out that the black car parked in our driveway was actually Sam’s new car. Everyone went back outside again to check out his new wheels. Everybody was so happy for him! I was so thrilled that we got to eat outside in the courtyard because it can get a bit squishy in our small dining room. The weather forecast had predicted thunderstorms but luckily they were wrong. Instead, it was a beautiful night and we stayed outside finished dinner and chatted for ages. Until a cricket jumped on my aunty’s head and then the same cricket went down my top. After all the shrieking we quickly moved into the lounge room 😂. Sunday I walked to church on Sunday and it was such a beautiful day! So sunny with bright blue skies. We are studying the book of Acts and after the sermon, we sang one of my favourite songs” In Christ Alone”. I can never get past the last few lines without choking up every single time! I get so emotional whenever we sing this beautiful song in church. “From life’s first cry to final breath Jesus commands my destiny” Afternoon Tea When I got home I had some lunch and then before Steve went to work we shared a nice cup of tea and some carrot cake. Quick Trip To Aldi Later on, I walked to our local Westfields to grab a few things from Aldi. This is our quiet street. Then if you walk for about 10-15 minutes you’ll walk right into a very busy suburb with lots of shops, restaurants, cafes and tall apartment buildings. I really love where I live because it’s peaceful and calm, but still has a great buzz nearby. Here’s that amazing Aldi nighttime face cream that I mentioned the other day. I had just managed to scrape the last bit at the bottom of the jar the night before. While I was there I also bought some porcini mushroom and truffle triangoli. It’s a fancy kind of ravioli and you can’t find it in any other supermarket. I’m going to make this for dinner on Wednesday night and I’m really looking forward to it because it’s absolutely delicious! I have had it a few times before but not recently. And that wraps up my weekend highlights. Weekends, when I get to spend time with my family, are always the best ones. Now I’m staring down the barrel of a very busy week and I have something on every evening except for Wednesday. But they’re all fun things except for one so it’s all ok. I hope you have a great week and I look forward to being back here on Wednesday. Happy Monday!      

Hi friends, have you ever had one of those weekends that just seem to fly by in a blink of an eye? Well, that’s exactly how I feel about this weekend. I blinked and it was gone and here we are again saying hello to a brand new week! I hope that you guys had a great weekend. Thanks so much for stopping by today and letting me share with you a few of the things that I got up to. Friday First up Friday afternoon I literally raced home from work. I had a super fast shower and got changed. Because it was finally time to go see Ed Sheeran in concert with my lovely friend! I can hardly believe that we bought the tickets almost a year ago. Here I am saying that the weekend flew by. But I think that it really feels like time has just hit fast-forward! But first…..Sushi Anyway, my friend and I both decided that it was a good idea to grab a bite to eat before we went to the concert. She brought some delicious fresh sushi. And we tucked in while we caught up on what had been going on with us over the last couple of weeks. Ed Sheeran Sydney Concert Then it was time to get going and luckily we got through the busy Friday evening traffic ok. As a result, we were at Accor stadium just before 7 pm. And oh my goodness there were SO many people! I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t been to any big events in a couple of years.  But I felt kind of overwhelmed by the number of people everywhere. We walked around for a bit so I could get used to the masses before going inside the stadium. And I’m so glad that we did because this is what it looked like inside. The concert was completely sold out so eventually all of those seats, even the ones right up at the very top. They were all full. I loved that Ed Sheeran appeared right on time. And it was really fun to do the countdown with the crowd in the last ten seconds before showtime. Then all of a sudden bam there he was on stage. It definitely was a night to remember. The atmosphere was electric and the music was incredible. He is a very talented musician and he seemed very down to earth. It was such a fun night! Saturday Saturday morning I had to go to the shops to pick up a few things. Before I set out I made sure to have a coffee and make a list. Because there were a few things that I had to make sure that I didn’t forget. I also made sure to grab my list before I left home. I can’t tell you the number of times that I have gone to the shops and left my list at home grrrr!! On the way, I realised that my outfit matched my shopping bags ha! Then in the afternoon, I really enjoyed some downtime. I had a really late lunch while I watched a movie on Netflix called “The Strays”. Have you seen it? I can’t say I loved it but it was one of those movies where you feel committed enough to watch. Because you want to know how it ends. Well, it sure didn’t end the way I expected. In the evening, Sam came home from his part-time job and we had some dinner together. Then we watched the latest episode of “The Last Of Us”. Now, this is one show that I am really enjoying. And I especially love that Sam and I are watching it together. Steve works in the evenings so he hasn’t been watching it with us. But I’m pretty sure that he is secretly pleased because zombies scare him. And there are plenty of zombies in this one! Sunday was a fun day because I went to my cousin’s surprise birthday lunch. Her husband organised a really cute birthday cake. It had a picture of all their beloved cats singing happy birthday. So cute! In the excitement, her husband forgot to bring birthday candles. But it was all ok, we still sang nice and loud. After lunch, I came home and got to work on my meal planning for the week. I’m determined to do this on a Sunday afternoon. Because it really helps to keep me on track with my healthy eating goals. And it’s also great to not have to worry about what to cook each night of the week. Then I worked on my blog and before I knew it, the afternoon had flown by. Overall, it was a really great weekend and I’m thankful for all the fun times. But it was also really nice to have some time to unwind and recharge as well. It’s a bit tough saying goodbye to the weekend but I’m feeling ready to say hello to a brand new week. And tackle whatever the new week throws my way. Really I am 😜 Happy Monday! Linking up with Holly and Sarah Sharing on ;    

Hi friends it’s so great to be back again for today’s fun Hello Monday link up with Holly and Sarah. As I always say…Monday sure rolls around fast! Last week I shared with you guys that it was hot and sunny. Well, this weekend was the complete opposite! It was rainy and cool. Ha, the weather is so unpredictable here and sometimes it feels like we seem to get all four seasons in a week! Anyway, it was a really nice weekend where I hit the right balance of getting out to do some fun things. As well as spending time at home. I like weekends like this! Saturday Saturday morning the sun was trying really hard to get out from behind the clouds. And it looked like it was going to be a warm sunny day. But as the day went on it got really cloudy and then the rain set in late in the afternoon. We did manage to make the most of the morning when the weather was fairly decent. And Steve and I made a fun trip to our local Farmers Market in Ramsgate. As we walked along to the entrance of the market we went through a park with a creek. Normally we spot little fish and ducks. But this time we saw these huge jellyfish. We were so surprised because we had never seen jellyfish there before. Do jellyfish even live in creeks??? I guess they must. The farmers market was buzzing with so many people. I didn’t really need any fruit and vegetables but I was hoping to get a family-sized chicken and leek pie. But the stall that is usually there selling delicious pies wasn’t there this time. Chicken Pie I was really craving a chicken and leek pie. And after I didn’t find one at the market I decided to just make my own when I got home. Luckily I had all the ingredients anyway and all I needed to get was some leek. In the afternoon after Steve went to work, I got busy making a chicken and leek pie. We had it for dinner with mashed potato and salad and I was so happy with how it turned out. I will still get a pie from the market next time (hopefully the stall will be back). And I’m thinking that I’ll probably get a beef and mushroom pie. Because I like to pop one in the freezer for a quick meal during the week. And as I will be going back to work soon. I just want to make sure I have a few easy meals for those busy nights. After a yummy dinner, I couldn’t resist munching on a peanut butter M&M cookie. I made them last week and they have been such a huge hit. You can find the easy recipe right here. The Sopranos Saturday evening I watched a few episodes of ‘The Sopranos’. I know that I am way late to the party but I had never watched this series before. When it first aired on TV it didn’t really interest me much. Recently, I heard great things about it from a friend of mine. I always thought that it was a serious show about the mob. But surprisingly for me, it also has a good dose of humour! My friend was right. It really is a great show and I’m enjoying it. I just wish Tony Soprano didn’t work in a strip club because there are a lot of strip club scenes that make me cringe a bit. Oh yes, and there’s is also a lot of swearing. But apart from that, it’s great 😂 Binge Sam was super keen to watch ‘The Last Of Us’ which is a new series based on a game that he loved to play on Playstation. But it wasn’t showing on any of the streaming services we had. You can only watch it on Binge. So after a bit of convincing I agreed to subscribe to Binge BUT only if we unsubscribed to two other streaming services. My goodness, otherwise we would have had way too many. We ended up deciding to get rid of Britbox and Stan because we really weren’t watching anything that was on either of them. While Sam was trying hard to sell me the idea of subscribing to Binge. He was showing me ALL of the great shows that I was missing out on. And he did a great job because there are indeed a whole lot of shows that I was interested in and The Sopranos was one of them. Another show on Binge is ‘Game Of Thrones’ and I think almost everyone in my family except for me has watched it and loved it. I have always been curious about ‘Game Of Thrones’and felt like I was missing out. So I started watching but I only got about halfway through an episode. It just didn’t really grab me at all. Maybe I should try again just to satisfy my FOMO. Sunday Sunday was Steve’s swim club morning and I went along to watch the races. It was such a cloudy and drizzly morning. I mistakingly wore shorts expecting the day to warm up but it didn’t and my legs were so cold. Luckily I did wear a sloppy joe (I think my North American friends call it a sweater but we call it a sloppy joe. Haha I will have to write a post about all the different names we have for things here in Australia) I ended up putting a towel over my goosebumpy legs and enjoyed the morning. After swim club, Steve went to work and I went to my aunt and uncle’s house for lunch. I forgot to take a pic of lunch but I remembered to snap a photo of these delicious mini pavlovas we had for dessert. They were so good! My two cousins were there too and it was so great to catch up with

Hi everyone it’s so great to be back today on this very hot and sunny Monday. I am excited to be linking up with Holly and Sarah for today’s ‘Hello Monday’. Oh wow, it was such a hot and sunny weekend with temps reaching 29°C.  But I’m not complaining at all because I love the heat. And also because I spend the whole of winter wishing for days like the ones we are having at the moment. Shopping I spent most of Saturday shopping! In the morning my aunt and I went to Costco. I love going to Costco, it’s such a huge novelty for me. Our closest Costco is about thirty minutes by car. And I don’t have a membership but my aunt does. So she kindly takes me along for a trip usually every school holiday. I tried to hold back and not go nuts and buy too much. But I did stock up on things that we were running low on at home. We shared a trolley and in the end, it was quite packed! I also bought meat because prices at the local supermarket and butcher have just gone up so much in the last few months. And the prices at Costco were about $3.00 a kilo cheaper for some cuts. I like to make sure that I incorporate chicken and fish into our diet so we don’t eat a whole lot of red meat. So it should last us for a good while. My son was excited when I came home with his favourite BBQ sauce! These bottles are huge compared to the ones I can get from the local supermarket. And they work out to be about half the price too. We go through a fair amount of this sauce because my son loves it so much. I’m surprised he doesn’t just stick a straw in the bottle and drink it! I had been looking for some casual shorts and T-shirts when I went to the city the other day. But I couldn’t find any I liked. I wanted to replace the ones that I own because they are all starting to look a bit tatty. So I was super happy to find these. More Shopping In the afternoon my aunt dropped me off at home with all of my goodies from Costco. I had a quick bite to eat and then I walked to our local Westfields to shop some more! It’s about a good 25-minute brisk walk and it was so hot and sunny. By the time I got to Westfields, I was all sweaty and quite glad to be inside in the cool. I had a quick look inside Kmart and I bought another soy candle just like the one I showed you on Friday. I also had a look in the stationery section and saw these. But I was very strong and put them back on the shelf. Because I don’t think that I need any more planners for this year. I have to admit that it was tough letting go. “Hi, I’m Ruth and I’m addicted to stationery and planners!!” I got a really nice oil diffuser from Tk Maxx with a Christmas gift card that I received from one of my lovely friends. It changes into so many different pretty colours. I also bought this facial massager. It’s supposed to be good for temporarily getting rid of fine lines and puffiness. I would prefer permanent but I’ll take temporary! Pizza! Saturday night my husband got off work early because it wasn’t busy. Yay! So he brought home a pizza and we watched ‘Father Stu’ with Mark Wahlberg. It’s based on a true story and while it was very inspiring it was also sad. Sunday A good friend of ours came over for lunch and I made enough chicken schnitzel for days. I figured that if I was going to go to all the trouble of crumbing etc I might as well make a big batch. We had the schnitzel with salad and cheesy potato bake. My sweet cousin popped over too. And I was so happy to see her! She had some lunch with us and then we sat down to watch the Miss Universe pageant live on YouTube. The boys didn’t need much convincing to join us haha! My cousin and I have great memories of watching the pageant with my mum. She was a huge Miss Universe fan! In the evening after everyone had gone home and Steve went to work. I treated myself to a bath with some bath salts from my friend’s online shop called Aroma Of Earth. She makes and sells a range of really lovely sustainable beauty products. It felt so good to have a good soak! I spent the rest of the night reading some blogs and sipping tea. I made myself a pot of tea and drank it out of my favourite cup and saucer. And that was just about all that I got up to on this hot and sunny weekend. How was yours? I hope you had a good one and are all ready for a brand-new week. Thanks so much for stopping by to have a read. Happy Monday! Sharing on    

New Year’s Eve Weekend Recap Hi, friends welcome to the blog in 2023! Today it’s all about our New Year’s Eve weekend. And I have to tell you that I am so excited that it’s a brand new year. I don’t think that I have ever felt so happy to welcome in a new year before. Normally I feel a bit melancholy and wish that we were still in the holiday season. But like I shared with you guys on Thursday my word for 2023 is Mindfulness! So I am staying in the moment. And feeling delighted to be back here with you guys for the first ‘Hello Monday’ linkup of the year with Holly and Sarah. New Years Eve I hope that you all had a lovely New Year’s Eve. Up until Thursday, I had no plans and I was quite happy just to stay home and go to bed early. Steve was working New Year’s Eve and Sam was heading into the city with his girlfriend to see the fireworks. In the end, a friend of ours invited a small group of us over to his place for a very long lunch. Steve was able to join us until he had to go in to work and we all ended up having a really lovely time. We had some delicious roast chicken, potatoes and salad. For dessert, my friend brought the most amazing tiramisu. She added some crunchy toasted almonds and it was just perfection! Fun Movies We usually get together before Christmas to have dinner and watch a Christmas movie. But we ended up running out of available weekends and so we missed our traditional catch-up. We made up for it by watching ‘Love Actually’ together on New Year’s Eve. I really love this movie but I have to admit that when I first watched it I was horrified by the nude scenes. Now they don’t bother me as much because I guess I’m used to them. That night my friend had me in stitches when she told me a funny story about a friend of hers who watched the very censored version on an aeroplane many years ago when the movie was first released. So he had no idea that there was even an uncensored version and recommended it to all his church friends including the pastor and youth leaders. Before we watched Love Actually. We watched Shaun The Sheep -‘The Flight Before Christmas’. I love Shaun The Sheep! After the movies, we had some refreshing gelatos and then we called it an early night. I got home around 10 pm and Steve texted me to say that he would be home at 12.30 because his workplace wasn’t as busy as they had expected. Great news for me!! And I decided not to go to bed and I waited up instead. I probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway. Because people have been letting off fireworks near where we live almost every night since before Christmas. This is surprising since backyard fireworks are illegal here so I don’t even know how they had so many. I watched the spectacular Sydney fireworks on TV. And then I heard even more fireworks happening right near my house so I ran out and saw this. A backyard fireworks display! New Years Day We don’t typically do anything special on New Year’s Day. We thought about going out for brunch but in the end, we couldn’t be bothered so we just had a very lazy morning after we woke up late. I had a real craving for an iced coffee so I made my own whipped coffee and it was so good! It’s super easy to make and it satisfied my iced coffee craving instantly. You can find the easy recipe right here. I also made some ham and eggs. As you can see I didn’t have much luck keeping the yolk from breaking but it still tasted good! Packing Away Christmas In the afternoon I got down to packing away the Christmas tree and the few decorations I had put out this year. Normally I keep the tree up until the 6th or 7th of January. But this year I did it early because I just wanted everything packed away and back to normal. Plus nobody was home to stop me hehe. Usually, Steve and Sam are the ones who ask me to leave it up longer. But Steve was at work and Sam was out so it was bye-bye to the Christmas tree. This year I managed to get my tree back in the box without the box bulging at the sides. I was proud of myself! I took my time putting it all back and then I also rearranged the cupboard where I keep some of my Christmas stuff, toys and games. While I was rearranging things I pulled out one of Luke’s favourite old toys that were handed down to Sam. I like to clear and declutter but toys like this one I won’t get rid of. Too many sweet memories! I also took the opportunity to declutter my linen cupboard. Here I sprawled everything onto the lounge because I wanted to watch ‘The Deep End Of The Ocean’ with Michelle Pfieffer while I set to work. I have seen this movie many times before. But I like watching something familiar while I do chores. Sunday Evening The last time I made lasagna I froze some so I was glad that I didn’t have to cook. Especially after I had spent the afternoon busy getting things organised and put back. After dinner, I sat down to watch ‘Notting Hill’. I had seen it years ago but I couldn’t really remember it much. It’s such a lovely movie with the best ending! Ahhhhh……I love happy movies. I also opened a box of Cadbury favourites and had a couple of picnic bars. Yummy. It was a perfect way to end the weekend except that I spent the

Hi friends it’s Monday and the weekend sure went by way too fast!! Can you believe we are only days away from Christmas…DAYS!! Ok, I better stop saying that because I’m freaking myself out. I’m not as ready for Christmas as I would like to be and I still have a stack of things to do. Apart from this, I am so excited about this week because I finish work on Tuesday and then I’m officially on summer holidays! Woohoo!! Back To The City For More Christmas Shopping The weekend flew by but I was able to get some more Christmas shopping done which was great. I went into the city (again) this weekend and I was amazed by the size of the crowds. There were so many people everywhere!! I recently had covid so I think that I should be immune at least for a short while. But to make sure that I stayed safe I did wear my mask on the train and in the shops just in case. The city is so pretty at Christmas time. I especially love the Strand Arcade and so I took a couple of quick pics and then I kept ploughing through the crowds to get my shopping done. I really want to go back and see the big Christmas tree at Martin Place this week. It’s been two years since I have seen it and it’s on my December bucket list too! A Visit To Ikea I also made a quick trip to Ikea. There was nothing that I desperately needed to get but I love seeing their Christmas items. I did leave with a few things that I didn’t know I needed apart from the Christmas wrapping paper. It’s almost impossible to leave Ikea empty-handed. I bought this mulled fruit drink which is very sweet and delicious. The best part was that it was half-price. Normally they cost $7.00 a bottle so I only get one or two at the most. But this time I bought four bottles! I also bought this gingerbread house from Ikea and it was half price too! The Aldi gingerbread house kit that I usually buy was different this year. The house was already put together and ready to decorate. I didn’t think that this was much fun so I gave it a miss. I was happy to find this cute Ikea gingerbread house and I’m looking forward to putting it together and decorating it when I get a spare minute. (fingers crossed that I get a spare minute) Eggnog One of the things on my December bucket list is to make homemade eggnog. So this weekend I did just that and now I can tick this off my list as done. Friends, it was so delicious and super easy to make too. As much as I liked the supermarket one. This one is hands down so much better! I am going to share the recipe soon so stay tuned. Sam and I sipped our eggnog and watched ‘The Santa Clause’. It’s the first time that either of us had watched it and we both really enjoyed it! What’s Happened To Summer? And here it is….this week’s Sydney weather report. We are all seriously asking each other the same question. What has happened to summer???? It has been cloudy, rainy, and windy and the temps have only reached the low 20s during the day. At night it’s been even colder. We have had a handful of really beautiful days and that’s about it. But on the upside, I am still cooking comfort foods like this delicious and super easy lasagna. We have also been enjoying hot drinks like tea and hot chocolate. This just seems so crazy because December is typically a very hot month! Sunday Lunch After church, I went to my aunt and uncle’s house for lunch. I hadn’t seen them for a while and it was so great to catch up with them. I gave them a small gift of a poinsettia plant and a panettone. Panettones are originally from Italy but south Americans typically eat them during the Christmas season. I’m not a huge fan but I did like this particular brand that I tried last year for the first time. I remember that it also got a tick of approval from my mum who was a panettone connoisseur and a tough critic! hehe. Ok so that just about sums up my weekend. How was yours? I hope that it was a good one 😊 Thanks so much for being here today and I really hope that you have the best week. Happy Monday! Linking up with Holly and Sarah for today’s Hello Monday post

Hi friends, this weekend sure went by fast!! Wow, I had a very busy one with a couple of fun end-of-the-year celebrations. And it would have been so nice to have a day off from work to recover. But no such luck as I was back today and going at a hundred miles with all the end-of-year preschool stuff! Anyway, I’m on the countdown now as I only have six more days left before we finish up. Then it’s goodbye preschool 2022 and hello Summer holidays!! As usual, I am linking up with Holly and Sarah for today’s Hello Monday post. Thanks so much for being here today and letting me share with you a snapshot of what my weekend looked like. Staff Christmas Lunch On Saturday we had our highly anticipated staff Christmas lunch in the city and it was such a gloriously sunny day!! We went to a restaurant called 6 Head in The Rocks Sydney. This is the view from the restaurant and it was magnificent! We had such a fun time eating, talking and laughing. It was just so great to relax and enjoy the day!! I am so lucky to work with such a brilliant team who are like a second family to me. The menu was very pricey and I can’t say that the food blew me away. But the view, location and atmosphere are what it was mainly all about. I had a huge belly laugh when I made a goose of myself with the waitress. I ordered the steak and I thought I heard her say “with chips and salad” so I said “yes” with a big smile. Because every other restaurant I have been to always offers steak with either chips and salad or mashed potato and veggies. Makes sense right? She gave me a funny look and repeated herself and this time I heard her loud and clear. “Would you like your steak with chips OR salad? I went with the chips. After lunch, some of us kicked on and we went to an Irish pub where we had some drinks and then ended up enjoying a live band. It really was such a great day celebrating the end of another preschool year with such a fun bunch of ladies. Sunday On Sunday it was my husband’s swim club Christmas lunch. Talk about a weekend of celebrations!! I watched the swimming races and then afterwards it was time for some more Christmas fare!! It’s so funny how we are in summer over here and the other side of the world is all rugged up and cozy in chilly winter. I always think that it would be way more fun to have Christmas in the wintertime. Cold Christmas food for a warm day. Steve had to leave before the celebrations finished because he had to go to work. I had arranged to go Christmas shopping with my lovely bestie. She helped me pick out a few presents that I needed and now I’m nearly all done! I always have the best time with my lovely friend who is really more like a sister to me. I can chat with her about anything and everything. In between shops, we stopped off at a Japanese sushi place for a bite to eat. We had some sushi rolls and crispy crab things ( I can’t remember the name) but it was all delicious. I also had this green tea latte and I can honestly not stop thinking about it!! It was so sweet and refreshing. I want to go back for more!! When I Christmas shop I find it so hard not to get distracted looking for things that I want. Especially when I go to one of my favourite shops Muji. I got home around 8 pm and I was so tired from all the weekend fun. After I had a shower I plonked myself on the lounge and started watching the Netflix series “Harry and Meghan”. Is anyone else watching? I really enjoyed the first episode. But I had to force myself to turn it off and go to bed as it was getting so late. This week I will have to be better about going to bed at a decent time because we have so much happening at preschool. We have two Christmas parties and two concerts. Different children attend preschool at different ends of the week. So I will have to be on my A game and remember what I need to do as the concerts are not the same. I am so grateful that I finally feel like I have my energy back after being hit with covid a few weeks ago. I’m starting to feel like myself again which is great because I was so sick of dragging myself around in a funk. Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely weekend and are ready for a brand-new week. Eeeeks only 13 more days until Christmas. I can hardly believe it!! Let’s not panic!! Happy Monday friends!!