Home

Hi friends, today I am looking at dream travel locations! What a fun topic, I love the idea of visiting many dream destinations BUT as I have mentioned many times before. I am totally afraid of flying so unfortunately some of these locations will always remain a dream for me! I have to say though that my fear will NOT stop me from traveling. So if I am invited to a destination wedding like I have been for January next year. Then I will get on THAT plane. If I won a trip around the world then I would definitely go. I would just be paralyzed with fear and not want anyone around me to speak to me. You see I would be too busy concentrating on making sure the plane was flying along nicely as it should be. (because I would really know if something was wrong….not). I am thankful that I have put my fear aside and have been on a plane many times before and traveled to a few really beautiful destinations. So I have listed some dream locations that I have already visited and added a few that I haven’t. Disneyland I just love love love Disneyland and I have been very fortunate enough to visit it three times. I first went when I was 10, 14, and 30. It truly is such a magical place and I remember feeling so emotional when I walked through the entrance the last time I went. I still get all choked up thinking about it. The Netherlands My husband was born in Australia but his family is from The Netherlands. I have seen such beautiful photos of the buildings, landscapes, and scenery. All looks so breathtaking plus I love the sound of the language. I tried learning Dutch a while ago but I just couldn’t get my head around it! Machu Pichu I was born in Peru but my family moved to Australia when I was an eight-month-old baby. So aside from visiting family when I was ten, I haven’t been back and I never got to see any of the touristy places. Machu Pichu does look like an amazingly interesting place to visit. Hawaii Hawaii is just beautiful! The people are so relaxed and friendly, the pace is so much slower than in the big cities. It definitely makes my list of dream travel locations. I have family who actually lives in Hawaii so I really should visit more often. The last time I went was back in 2004. New Zealand I was lucky enough to visit New Zealand in 2007. My cousin had the most spectacular wedding there as his wife is from New Zealand. We stayed in Christchurch and loved every minute of our stay. So much beautiful scenery and interesting places to visit like The Antarctic Centre. Fiji I have never been to Fiji but have heard that it is beautiful and that the people are extremely friendly. Bula! Lord Howe Island This is where Steve and I went on our honeymoon and we spent two glorious weeks on Lord Howe Island. It’s an amazingly beautiful place to visit. Lord Howe Island is a tiny Australian island in the Tasman sea. It has crystal clear waters and the most gorgeous beaches. There are not many people living on the island and they only allow a certain number of tourists in to visit at any one time. So this means that it is never crowded, you can literally have an entire beach to yourselves!! Furthermore, what totally surprised me was that you can leave your hotel room unlocked and leave any valuables on the beach and nobody steals anything! Nantucket I hear about Nantucket a lot from many blogs I read and it just sounds like the most fantastic place! I don’t know much about it other than that it looks like such a cute place to visit. Canada Canada looks just glorious! A friend of mine visited a few years ago and she went to places like Lake Louise and Whistler. Her photos of the scenery looked absolutely spectacular. Someone once described Canada to me like this “Canada is like Australia only way better”???hahaha!! Sweden I watched a show called “Wallander” a few years ago. This show was set in Sweden and I think I loved looking at the background scenery as much as I loved the show. Sweden fascinates me but I think that I would have to visit in the Summer. If I can’t cope with Australian winters which are mild compared to most of the world. Then there is no way I could cope with a Swedish winter! ******** So these are my dream destinations. Some of these places I would love to go back to. Others I would really love to visit in the future. Thank you so much for stopping by to have a read and I really hope that you have the best week! Linking up with Sarah and Joanne for today’s post Sharing on                

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            

Hi everyone and welcome back Friday, so nice to see you again! Can you believe that it is nearly the end of February already? I usually feel sad to see the end of summer, but I feel differently about it this year.  In all honesty, the weather this summer has been pretty blah! So for the first time ever I am actually happy to see the end of it. While we are on the topic of the weather I guess my first favourite for this week has been Listening to the rain in the evening! My goodness, it has been bucketing down for the last few days. While I am not a fan of wet weather during the day, I do love the soothing sound of it at night. Wet preschool days are definitely more challenging. Being stuck inside all day with about 40 kids is not ideal at all. This was what our playground looked like. I snapped these photos around pick-up time. Why does it always seem to pour down with so much rain during school pick-up time? The poor parents were getting saturated, even the ones with huge umbrellas! Some Pretty Red Roses I stepped outside my door to have a peek at the rain and I saw this pretty rose blooming in my front garden. Roses are my favourite flower and the other day when I was chatting to my lovely friend outside my place as she was leaving after a visit. I mentioned how I needed another rose bush as there was a gap where one had died. So when I saw her on Thursday. Look at what she surprised me with! Lovely groundcover roses, perfect for that big gap in my front garden. She is such a kind and thoughtful friend! A Cosy Candle I lit a candle that I got from the supermarket recently. I love the soft glow of a nice scented candle on a rainy evening. Most definitely a huge favourite! My Favourite Headphones I have decided that these are my favourite headphones! I bought some Jabra Bluetooth earpods last year and I wasn’t a fan. They hurt my ears and then only one earpod would reach full charge and the other one wouldn’t. It just annoyed me! I have had these Sony headphones for many years and they were a birthday present from my oldest son. They are so comfortable and the sound is great. I wore them the other day to listen to music while I was folding the washing (not a favourite chore). Fun 80’s Music Listening to music while doing any kind of housework is a favourite because it makes things way more fun. It does take me a bit longer to get the job done though because sometimes I can’t help but dance! While doing all my folding I was listening to some of my favourite 80’s music like I know, I know my boys can’t believe that this song is probably one of my favourites. This one is another favourite too and this I could go on and on. Just love 80’s music Comfy Summer Slides I bought these cute pink slides from a shop called Miniso. They sell all sorts of nick-nacks, gadgets and a variety of small storage solutions. I think the store originates from Japan. Anyway, these slides were only $10 and they are super comfortable and perfect for this hot weather. The little spot bump things on the inside of the slides stop my feet from feeling sticky. Previously I had a pair of Superga slides that cost way more than that. Unfortunately, they fell apart really fast and they were not nearly as comfortable as these ones. Playdough We are always running out of playdough at preschool so we have to make it constantly. I made some Autumn inspired colours! This playdough recipe I follow makes the softest play dough ever. If you are interested in making some for your little ones, you should really try it. Playdough has so many fantastic educational benefits too. You can find the recipe here.   I guess that’s about it for this week’s favourites. I’m excited for a quiet weekend at home. It’s supposed to be stormy until the end of next week. Happy Friday friends, I really hope you all have a great weekend! Linking up with Andrea and Erika for today’s post  

To Prime Or Not To Prime (This post contains NO affiliate links) A couple of months ago my seventeen-year-old son finally convinced me to sign up for Amazon Prime. With Christmas coming up it meant that I would be able to get free delivery on a huge range of products. In addition, with an Amazon Prime subscription, we would also have access to Amazon Prime Video. I have to admit that at first, I wasn’t overly keen because we already have Netflix as well as Stan. And we don’t always have enough hours in the day to watch much of either of those. BUT when I compared prices I discovered that Amazon Prime Video was so much cheaper than the other streaming services I’m already paying for anyway plus the free delivery option was just way too good an offer to pass up especially as it was so close to Christmas. So I chose to go for the annual $59.00 a year option. I could have also picked the $6.99 per month option if I had wanted to. Those are the current prices in Australia at the moment. What I Like About Amazon Prime Well needless to say I am so glad that I did subscribe. I bought many presents for my family and I didn’t have to pay any delivery fee. Plus I also like the variety of shows Amazon Prime Video has to offer. It has original shows as well as some really cool retro shows!! And in my opinion, this really makes it different compared to say Netflix and Stan. Shows I Really Enjoyed Being The Ricardos I read so many reviews on this film which is about a week in the lives of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Many of them were so negative that I almost gave it a miss. The reviews heavily criticised the film because the two lead actors didn’t look very much like the real Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Ignore The Bad Reviews A couple of reviews even went on to say how bad the film was mainly due to the fact that Nicole Kidman wasn’t funny or given the opportunity to be funny. Finally, I read about how Lucie Arnaz, the famous daughter of Lucille Ball, and Desi Arnaz thought the film was brilliant. I thought that if she gave it her approval then that beat all the other bad reviews. Amazing Actors Well, Lucie Arnaz was most definitely right. It was brilliant and the two lead actors Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem were brilliant!! I grew up watching “I Love Lucy” on TV. It was one of my favourite shows to watch with my mum after school.  And watching Nicole Kidman play Lucille Ball was truly spectacular. No, she didn’t look a whole lot like Lucille Ball apart from her hair. But her voice and mannerisms were one hundred percent spot on! I agree that Nicole Kidman wasn’t really funny but the reason was that she wasn’t meant to be funny. This movie was about Lucille Balls’ brilliant mind as a truly gifted comedienne. Being The Ricardos gives us a peek into how thoughtful and meticulous Ball was in regards to every single tiny detail of every episode of “I Love Lucy”. So this show that I grew up watching and truly enjoying was much more complex than I could have ever imagined. Every funny line, gag, and silly movement as well as facial expression was considered and choreographed until it was perfect. The result is that “I Love Lucy” is a truly funny and timeless half hour of pure comedy genius. It was so forward-thinking and changed many things about comedy television that we take for granted today. I really recommend “Being The Ricardos”. I think that it gives such a fantastic insight into the truly amazing talent and minds of a couple of comic geniuses. You won’t be disappointed! Modern Love I had been looking for a series to watch and I found one in “Modern Love”. At first, I wasn’t sure so I did what I usually do. I gave it the 5-10 minute test. If a show doesn’t grab me in that amount of time then I will move on and find something else to watch. It’s actually a good way to test a show because for me it saves a lot of time and disappointment. Well, “Modern Love” grabbed me in the first minute and it hasn’t let me go! It is based on the New York Times weekly column also called Modern Love. Different love stories are adapted into half-hour episodes and you will find some big-name actors in every episode of “Modern Love”. The first season featured Anne Hathaway, Tina Fey, Ed Sheeran, and Dave Patel. The second series has Minnie Driver, Kit Harrington, and Anna Paquin. Who doesn’t love a good dose of romance? I know I do!! and “Modern Love” gives me the romance fix I crave every single time! Definitely a series worth watching. Shows I Didn’t Enjoy Little Fires Everywhere The first few minutes of this show were interesting and dramatic enough that it straight away had me intrigued. The eight-part series starring Reece Witherspoon and Kerry Washington was indeed very intense. It follows the seemingly perfect life of the Richardson family and how they become tangled up with a mother and daughter who come to live in their town. There were so many layers to every character and overall it was full of twists and turns. After every hour-long episode, there were just so many unanswered questions! So I ended up binge-watching the whole season over two nights. But I have to say that I didn’t really like this show very much at all. I had read many reviews claiming how great it was and when it was first released it was extremely popular. The reason why I watched it so quickly was because I wanted to find out how it ended. I was really impatient with

  I was in the kitchen the other day cooking and listening to music on my Google Nest Hub when Michael Jacksons’ “Billie Jean ” came on. I like that song, you know the part where he sings ” She’s just a girl who claims that I am the one, But the kid is not my son.” Well, this is what I heard and gleefully sang for many years ” She’s just a girl who claims that I am the one, the Devil woman’s son.” This song was just confusing to me because I thought he was in love with someone who went around saying nasty things about him. I mean really, why would he be in love with someone calling him a devil woman’s son. Not nice at all. It’s funny, isn’t it? When we hear something it’s so hard to unhear it!  and then you find out what the lyrics actually say…..Well….. Boom! what a revelation! You know ABBAs famous song Chiquitita. I read in an article once that the bit where it says “Chiquitita tell me what’s wrong” Some had been singing “Take your teeth out, tell me what’s wrong” Well, that’s just ridiculous! they were clearly singing “Chiquitita” but the part that stumped me was when they sang “You’ll be dancing once again and the pain will end” well, this is what I sang “You’ll be dancing once again like a Pengrilen” and I just assumed that a Pengrilen was a very famous Swedish Dancer. Made sense right? I’ve also come to realize that many ’70s and 80’s songs were just…..you know…..really really explicit and I sang these songs. Out loud. Very loud. In front of my family. My mum and I absolutely loved Grease and she took me to see it twice!  TWICE! We played the soundtrack over and over. So when my mums’  friends came over with their kids, we all dressed up and put on a concert for them. and sang Grease Lightning. Have you READ the lyrics? Lord knows what we sang that day? but bless our little hearts I’m sure we thankfully got the lyrics wrong. In the Eighties, I just loooved Cyndi Lauper and her song “She Bop” “She Bop, he bop, we bop, I bop, you bop, they bop” I thought she meant she loved to dance. sigh! It’s not about dancing at all. Get my drift? Fast forward to recently and when Despacito (which translates to “slowly” in Spanish) came out, again I thought it was about taking your time and you know dancing real slow so you get all the moves right. Ahem, nope. It’s not about dancing AT ALL. and you know who set me straight? My mum did. Yep, she did. I had downloaded the song for her on her iPod Shuffle and I thought she would enjoy listening to a song in her native tongue. That was a mistake. Well! There you go! So when we hear what our kids are listening to “These days” let’s not forget what we were listening to in “Our days”. And now I’m beginning to think that when I was singing along to “you can ring my bell, ring my bell” It’s not referring to a sweet boy ringing your front doorbell. Right?