Look at What I Found Today

Look at What I Found Today

Hello lovely people, hope you are all still there - its been a busy couple of weeks - no excuse though really!

Well today has been a fabulous day all round.  It started with Grandparents Day at School - the kids really look forward to this every year - there chance to show nanny and poppy what they do - unfortunately 3 of our grandparents had doctors appointments so it was up to my dad and myself to share ourselves, it was so wonderful to see so many grandparents there.  We really are so lucky at our School - such a fabulous little community.

After then sorting out the Book Week Costume (note to self don't leave it to the last minute next time) I decided to head down the Southern Outlet (with windows down and music blaring) to visit Lifeline Chosen Pieces - and gee aren't I glad I did!  The difference with Lifeline is that they are paid employees as opposed to volunteers at most of the others.  They take a lot of pride in what they put out and at the sorting depot in town they generally despatch their designer and high end pieces to Kingston first.  Take a look at what set my heart a racing today!!!

This divine little One Red Fly dress is from Summer 2010.  I absolutely loved it then but at $130 couldn't realise justify it - I think you will agree it is $10 well spent today - and did I mention it looks brand spankers!

I picked us this gorgeous Gorman camisole for myself for $8.  I am thinking I will wear it with a touch of neon underneath.  You can check out Gorman here

I got this Mimco scarf for Miss 7 which she loves - looks like she is going to follow in mums footsteps - my favourite accessory!  If you are not familiar with Mimco check them out here fab statement accessories and not to mention gorgeous shoes.

I couldn't go past these cute little daisy studs for $2.

When I stopped in Sandy Bay this afternoon I also popped in to Pink and picked up these 3 snake bracelets for $12 total - I am loving the pink & gold combo.  Kiss Life wrap bracelet is by Sass & Bide.

I also made a visit to my favourite childrens store Forget Me Not in the quest to find some bathers for the girls before we head away.  Unfortunately new season stock has not dropped yet but I did manage to find Miss 4 a pair from last season that I knew she would love- floral & ruffles!!  I actually didn't realise Jets by Jessike Allen did childrens as well, cannot wait to see what they offer for Summer 2012/13.

This afternoon I also decided to get hubby an early Fathers Day present (and added bonus I can use it too).  We have both been wanting a Garmin for a while now so today on a whim I decided to get it for him, and those that know me know that I love to give presents straight away-I am hopeless at waiting (yes I know J you are nodding your head at me!).  The Running Edge really do know their stuff and the lovely guy also gave me the name of a site that hubby might like - Strava, it is a running and cycling GPS tracker, you can track all your runs and rides, set personal records and beat your friends' times. Enter virtual competitions, climb the leaderboards, create and join clubs.  Sounds like a great motivational site also.

Today really was a simple but simply wonderful day.  I realise how blessed and lucky I am.  With that in mind I decided to start again discussing as a family what we are grateful for - we did this about 6 months ago but didn't carry on with it.  I know Miss 7 gets the concept but unsure of Miss 4 - her reply was "I am grateful for daddy doing pop offs"  Miss 4 I'm not!! And on that note see you soon.

Mel xx

Our Rough Diamond!

As some of you lovely followers would know we recently bought an investment property.  From the very first inspection I got excited as I could see how much potential this place has and it has always been a dream of mine to renovate a property (I know some of you who have already done this will tell me I am crazzzzzy!).  Anyway at this stage it is just some fairly minor cosmetic changes we need to make in order to get it ready for our tenants.  I thought I would share with you our beautiful mess as it is at the moment with doors off, walls stripped, curtains down and basically crap everywhere as we wait for our garage sale.

 The view!!!

 Work in progress bedroom 2- basically just requires a coat of paint and carpet cleaned

 Bathroom - plans are to remove the carpet, paint (obviously) and tiles around the vanity

 Hallway, again a repaint and carpet clean

Our biggest challenge - at this stage we are not going to put in a new kitchen so just doing a few tweeks, remove some shelving, changing the oven configuration, new flooring and of course a paint job!

 Dining/family room - this part of the house is in good condition, basically just needs a fresh coat of paint and the carpet cleaned

 This room is magic when the sun is shining -  hence why it has an automatic shutter-will get very hot in summer!

 Large living/lounge room - again just a fresh coat of paint and removing those hideous light fittings off the wall!

 Great backyard for kids (and future renovations - we can already visualise this space)

 View from the master bedroom-lovely waking up to that each day.

Hopefully the painting will start in the next week or so - the kitchen will be all white and the rest of the house will have white ceilings with Dulux Pebble Bay walls.

While we are on the home front my favourite online mag is out - you can view Adore Home Magazine here I love looking at magazines online but in my view they can never replace traditional magazines!

Have a lovely Tuesday
Mel xx

My Personal Guide to Op Shopping!

One of the most common questions I get asked about op shopping is "how do you find all these fabulous things" so I thought I would share with you my own guide to how I op shop.

• Before you start the most important thing is to open your mind and leave any snobbery or pretence at the door, op shops are not like they used to be and it has become very fashionable to op shop.
• I personally am a label shopper and flick through the racks looking firstly at the label-I generally look for designer labels (yep all those mag reading days have served me well - I call it research).  If I see a label I like then that is when I generally have a good look at the piece-you can imagine my excitement when I stumble upon a Sass & Bide label, and I do!
• Inspect really carefully any pieces before buying - yes I have been caught out on this one a few times.  I am really fortunate that my mum is a brilliant sewer,  so missing buttons, hems down I know she can fix these easily.  Stains can be tricky also - grease and oil stains are really hard to get out so I generally leave these pieces.  Remember to check zips also - these can be really expensive to get fixed-so no matter how much of a bargain it is, it won't be if you need to have it professionally repaired.
• Be sure to check out those accessory bins - I have picked up some amazing designer bags and scarves.  Be sure to smell handbags-if they smell musty or of cigarette smoke then leave them where they are - no amount of airing will fix these.
• Give yourself plenty of time - there are bargains to be had but it does take time and patience. Don't feel disappointed if you come away with nothing, this happens to me alot - I think this makes the times when you do score a fab find that much sweeter.  The old thrill of the hunt!!
• Don't limit yourself to just clothing, check out homewares/books and toys - most op shops have a huge bookcase full of books.  I  have found some gorgeous vintage homewares - I love the character they add to my home.
• Make sure you wash all items before wearing - I also add a little disinifectant to the wash as well.
• Finally if you find a favourite shop and visit regularly - get to know the volunteers, if you are looking for something in particular they can keep an eye out for it for you.  You will also notice if you visit regularly which days they put out new stock - some stores will tell you which days if you are lucky.
• MOST IMPORTANTLY HAVE FUN - its just stuff!!!

I hope that helps.  If any of you have your own tips be sure to share-I strongly believe the more we share the more it comes back to us!

Goodnight
Mel xx

I'M BACK!

HELLOOOOOOOOOO, it feels as though it has been forever since I blogged, and what a few weeks it has been.  My last post I had a sick little poppet and of course it was inevitable I was going to end up with it-and that I did, and of course if would be when hubbie was away.  I can honestly say it is only now after 3 weeks that I feel back to my old self-I know I am not alone, I think half of Australia has had the dreaded flu-and I mean the flu not a cold!!!!!  I will be the first one in line next year for the flu shot as I don't ever want to feel like that again. 
Anyway I discovered a few things while I was not well and here they are;

• I am definitely in a cooking rut - after watching the cooking shows on TV I realised I am very predictable with my meals, you know the red meat Monday, fish Tuesday, soup Wednesday - I can always remember growing up how predictable our menu was (sorry mum).  I am not sure how I have ended up like this-I could blame it on the girls multiple allergies (chicken in particular) but I think it just comes down to lack of planning.  Look out google mince meat recipe here I come!!
• I need to make more of an effort with the girls hair of a morning.  This hit home when p2 came home from school with a beautiful inside out braid that her beautiful teacher had done-I know she would not have wanted me to feel like.  I did ask P2 if she carried on a treat when Mrs J did her hair, like she does for me - of course we all know the answer to that question.
• Shawn the Sheep on ABC for kids is really funny!  I have never really watched it before, it is very clever
• NEVER EVER make an online purchase when you are not well-very bad choice.  I thought I would get on board the neon trend with a pair of multi coloured high tops - someone please humour me and tell me you have done the same as I did.  I originally wanted the gold ones which I blogged about here.  When I had a look at the neon pair I noticed they were sold out in every size except mine as opposed to the gold ones which had multiple stock-my rationale the neons must be awesome as they were nearly sold out-I must get those before they all go-yep and that was the big mistake.

I also had given some thought as to the direction I would like to take with this blog-I would love some feedback on your thoughts and what you would love to see on here.  Here is what I have planned;

• My personal guide as to how I Op Shop
• Labels to look out for when Op Shopping
• A focus on a particular Op Shop each week
• My fabulous finds

Of course there will be other posts on all sorts of things.  Please let me know your thoughts.

Some of you observant little people may have noticed my new blog header-Katrina from the block did a brilliant little tutorial showing how to use PicMonkey, you can find it here. I have challenged myself to learn one new thing each week in this blogging journey!

Have a lovely Tuesday!

Mel xx

Sickness, Shopping & Squeezing


Hello my lovely followers.  Firstly I would just like to say a HUGE thankyou to those who have been encouraging me with your lovely comments-I love getting feedback, good, bad or otherwise.

Well just when I had planned to pick up the blogging game, illness hits.  Poor little P1 came down sick at school on Tuesday with a nasty virus and has had the rest of the week off school.  This has however forced me to STOP, which has been a good thing.  Here is how I have spent my quiet week mostly at home.

Wednesday we did venture out to do a chemist run, fortunately I was only in the driveway when I ended up looking like this

I really do need to find a suitable home in my bag for my teabags.

This short trip didn't end too well with P1 vomitting in daddys car (mine was in for a service), shame that!!!!

Thursday I had both P's at home as the kinder week had finished.  I had a window of 4 hours while the nurofen was still  in her system so we decided to head out to Northgate to Target to get some presents for some upcoming birthdays.  While we were there I ducked in to Coles to check out the Mix range of clothing-must say I was pleasantly surprised - I did purchase a cream shirt and will do an outfit post on it next week.  You can check out Mix here, unfortunately the shirt I bought has sold out online so you are unable to view it!

Today was a quiet one again.  We headed up to pick up my free range eggs I order every Friday from the Church Op Shop.  While in Bellerive we popped in to the Salvos and I picked up these vintage cross stitch ballerina's for P1's bedroom-I had fun this afternoon styling up the top of her desk - yep I will be lucky if it lasts until the morning!!

I was checking out facebook this afternoon when I came across this post, I had never thought about freezing lemon juice or zest, turns out our new place has a massive lemon tree so with my fruit basket full I decided to freeze away.  This is another citrus idea I fell in love with also but lets just say after numerous attempts I had to admit defeat.

I have also been trying to do Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar Program (find it here).  I must admit this is attempt 3.  I am not doing it for any other reason than to break my sugar addiction and to see if I do feel better without the sweet stuff.  Sarah recommends using Natvia (100% natural sweetener) initially while weaning off the sugar.  I gave it a go this afternoon with some natural Greek yoghurt and it was divine-would be even better with some blueberries/raspberries and almonds added.  I did also omit the sugar from these donna hay muffins and added some natvia instead - the kids loved them!

Not sure why my husband thinks I am a messy cook!!!

So there it is the week that was!  Have a fabulous weekend.
Mel xx

Latest Loves & Mini Facebook Sale

I thought I would share with you my latest loves!

You can find these awesome sneakers here

This is how I would love to wear them when the weather warms up (minus the white jeans!)

You all know my love for Sass & Bide, their latest offering Sing Brother Sing does not disappoint at all!

The earrings would have to be my fav.  I wonder how many comments I would get though telling me my earrings don't match!

I have decided to do a mini facebook sale tomorrow night.  I have a few womens pieces (Country Road, Jac & Jack, Firetrap) and a few childrens pieces also (Fred Bare, Country Road, Jack & Milly).  To be fair to all it will be first in best dressed! 

See you all tomorrow
Mel xx

The Weekend That Was - What I Wore, Ate & Did!

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!  I kicked off my weekend on Friday night with a small surprise dinner for a dear friend.  Her husband had arranged for a chef to come in to their home and cater for dinner for a small group of her closest friends.  To say the least the food was AMAZING and honestly I think there were approximately 142 courses - well maybe 6 or 7 not including appetisers!



Just one of the 142 courses!

Beautiful Bday girl with her equally beautiful cake from here - this is where my I Quit Sugar Campaign went dramatically down hill!

Remember I blogged about my fabulous Sass & Bide Op Shop Find, well here they are - sorry photo quality a little poor

My absolute favourite part of these jeans is the hook and eye at the back - fully functioning so you could change it up by leaving some partially undone!  In case you are wondering the top underneath is from Maurie & Eve and the jacket is another Op Shop Find - it is by great Sydney label Minty Meets Munts it has definitely had $15 worth of wear already.  The shoes are from Betts - becuase the jeans are a bit rock chic I decided to go with a ladylike heel - I love the whole juxtaposition concept!

Well here is a contrast:

This is how I spent most of Sunday - yep I think I got the WORST job ever!  We have bought another property as an investment and it is in need of some TLC - I don't even want to think of all the other walls there is to do.  Please if anyone has some tips on quick, effective wallpaper removal please share.

No need to do an outfit post on this one I think.

BTW I haven't forgotten about my Jewellery challenge, I will be back on to that one this week.  In addition I am also doing http://theinteriorsaddict.com/interiors-photo-month-on-instagram-wanna-play-heres-how.  As you know I now have come of age and got a smart phone - so I am going to dip my toes in Instagram - I will share my photos with you as I go!

Have a fabulous Tuesday!

Mel xx