perfect sunday

 Am sooo tired tonight!
Have spent the day moving furniture around the house after getting up early for my 6km Sunday morning walk with friends.
In the afternoon we were at Mum and Dad's in the pool ~ so now I'm ready for bed.
Now that all of my furniture has been painted brand sparkling new white, I am putting it back into place and de-cluttering and organising as I do it. Rooms are getting changed around so that they function better for us. It's a big job and one of those things that look a lot worse before they look better. Things in our little house were getting chaotic before so pretty much anything's an improvement.
With the new white furniture and spring clean my house is looking so much lighter and bigger, it's very encouraging to keep on going.
So here's the after and before shot of my corner shelf. It lives in my kitchen. I inherited this one from my sister. SO much better!

and just to prove today was a perfect Sunday,
here's my photo for the January photo a day challenge... DAY 8 "your sky"
Perfect Sunday to you too!

January Photo A Day

Fat Mum Slim has created a list for anyone wanting to join in this years January Photo A Day.
I have joined in for the first time and almost a week in ~ I am really enjoying the challenge.
It's not not really a "challenge" because it's really fun and easy peasy but it is a great way to focus on an exercise that will develop your creativity and at the end you will have a neat little collection of images.
This is my collection for the first week.
I am also posting my images daily here at flickr. where I have a little explanation under each photo.

DAY 1 YOU     DAY 2   BREAKFAST 

DAY 3  SOMETHING YOU ADORE     DAY 4  LETTERBOX 

DAY  5  SOMETHING YOU WORE 

DAY 6  MAKES YOU SMILE

• It's not too late to follow along.
Check out the details here ➭ JANUARY PHOTO A DAY
It's really interesting seeing everyone else's interpretations too.
You don't need a blog or to even post them anywhere at all, you can just do it for yourself.
You don't have to be a photographer, it's for everyone!
 Let me know if you're playing along too!

painting furniture

Here's a little bit of what I've been doing this week. 

I had a couple of days before I went back to work so my sister came over with her spray gun 

and we got down to some BIDNESS.

My whole house has been turned upside down and inside out, rearranged and 

de-cluttered {or rather ~ in the process of being}. 

During this we took a motley crew of items that I have begged, borrowed and stolen over the years 

and sprayed them white and now they look fantastic! So clean and fresh and they make my dark little house so much lighter.

This is my dining table ~ orange pine be gone!

My sister gave me the chairs when she bought new ones.

I also painted the frame of the print I got at the junk shop which was gold ~ remember? 

Not too sure - may be a bit contrasty ~ I can always repaint the frame later but will see house everything looks once it is all finishes. Now I have a new dining room rather than us being squashed in a corner of our sitting room. More pics too come - got to finish sorting! 

Everyone's de-cluttering  ~ how are you going?

•BEFORE•

 •AFTER•

two for tuesday

1 quote + 1 picture = two for tuesday

champagne and beer

let me just ask you to rewind a couple of days so I can show you the champagne and beer from
new year's eve - that is, if you're not feeling to seedy...
I made these champagne cupcakes to take to the barbecue me and the boys were invited to for NYE.
I adapted the lovely looking recipe from here ➭ at sprinkle bakes! but basically left out the champagne creme filling in the middle AND the sour cream because I didn't have the ingredients.
hmm bit of a poor man's version but ~ quite nice ~ a bit unusual ~ will make again for sure.

My friends have a very special room at their house - a beer room.
A room dedicated to the making and appreciating of beer.
I loved Ben's glass collection and beer fridge ~ taps inserted straight in the door! No mucking around.
Ben had a selection of his home brew to try - Strawbeery was my favourite!

More stories of Ben's beer ➭ here and ➭ here.
It was a great night, lots of families and kids, a yummy halloumi and nectarine salad that I will have to
track down the recipe for and we were home before midnight so I was up early the next day getting
stuck in to two thousand and twelve ~ day one.

perfect sunday

happy new year from my house to yours!

  

We twa hae paidl’d i' the burn,
frae morning sun till dine ;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
sin auld lang syne.

• • •

For auld lang syne, my dear
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

• • •

the first hydrangea of the season peeped out at me this morning and if you're into signs, which I am, it means something good. I have hardly any flowers at all in my garden so it makes me pretty happy 

when I see one. 

How was your first day of 2012?

I have been DE-CLUTTERING! 

I have cleaned out drawers and cupboards and am painting furniture, taking down christmas decos and putting in vases of leaves from the garden, rearranging stuff, taking out bags of rubbish. 

Friends and family are on board to help! 

My sister and her family dropped round for afternoon tea on the front verandah and we sipped a rose and

turkish apple iced tea concoction from T2! chilled, another perfect sunday ♥ 

inspiration for your new year!

This post from Foxs Lane has inspired me so much I had to share it with you.
Naturally everyone at this time of year is having a rethink, re-evaluating, re-energising themselves for a new year. Perhaps you are coming back from holiday feeling revitalised or like me have just had a break from work and a change from the routine of the daily grind {kid's lunches, uniforms, homework} uggh I shouldn't mention it. I think this list is a fantastic reminder for me about simplifying stuff and sticking to what's important for me and making it a daily ritual.

❤ top ten tips for settling back home beautifully

Happy New Year's Eve!

Have a great night - what ever you are doing!

  

Sparkle for NYE!

 1 rockin the rocks     2 bronze dining   3 champagne    4 yellow and sparkle

5 Fireworks Print by Cocoshack       6 silver quartz pinata - confetti system 

7 Great Gatsby Headband        8 glittery dress

Owl Calendar 2012

speaking of owls - My Owl Barn has put together another exceptional calendar for 2012 illustrated beautifully by artists from all over the world! This was an extremely popular project last year and I am so glad it's back. You can choose which illustrations you like and so customise your own calendar and then download it for free! Once again - difficult to choose!

"There's Owl. He hasn't exactly got Brain but he Knows Things"
                                                                                                                                                 A.A. Milne

illustrations by Cally Johnson-Isaacs • Yoon See • Alisa Coburn

I have stuck a link on the side and here's another!