Easter Snaps

Easter was lovely. Hunted for houses, caught up with friends and ate too much chocolate. Nothing like spending four days straight with my little lady. Being a parent is so much fun when you get to introduce the Easter Bunny and watch tiny people squeal with joy as they giggle their way through an Easter Egg hunt. Bliss x

Time for a Trim!

Yesterday the day finally came for Maddie's first hair cut. After years of patiently waiting for her hair to grow I decided that it was time to get her little unruly tufts trimmed.

Our dear friend Meags booked Maddie, Linus and Edie (Meagan's two little ones) in for a 10:30am appointment at a fab hair dresser in Randwick called 'Kids Lids'. It is more like going into a cool play room than a hair dresser. The kids get to hang out in a groovy play room while they wait for their appointment. When it is time for their trim they get to sit in vintage aeroplane toys and watch the Wiggles on their own personal plasma screen while the hair dressers do the deed. The result of the hair cut was a glittery, butterfly sprinkled delight. Mads was on could nine when they handed her a 'first hair cut' certificate complete with a lock of her hair in a little plastic bag. Not to mention getting a jelly bean for being so good and a balloon as an added bonus!

Lots going on in our lives. We had an amazing visit from my mum and brother a few weeks ago. It was bloody brilliant to have them in Sydney and made me realise how much I miss having immediate family close by. I try not to think about it too much because I miss them terribly.

We are hoping to buy a house very soon. My wonderful brother Michael is considering investing with us which will finally make it possible for us to get on the property ladder. We are meeting with a mortgage broker this week (she is a lovely Lebanese lesbian) and if the stars align, hopefully we will be in our own home by the end of this year. The project has become my new obsession and I spend every spare minute I have cruising the streets and fantasising about which house will be ours.

I know the whole 'buying a house thing' can be soul destroying, but I have decided that I am going to make it a positive experience by getting the best advice, doing my research and listening to the experts. Benny has already warned me to 'cool my jets' and told me to prepare myself for heart break when it comes to buying a house. He has told me that I will fall in love with so many houses and I will emotionally move in before I have even got a mortgage approved and that I need to separate my heart and my head on this decision. He knows me too well!

Poor Mads wasn't very well last week so I had to work from home on Thursday to look after her. Even though she was poorly, it was such a treat to have an extra day with her. We had the most glorious weekend together just hanging out, reading books, going to the park, going to the beach, playing, singing, dancing and just generally carrying on. She is just so much fun to be around and when Sunday afternoon comes and the sun starts to go down, my heart breaks that I will not get to spend much time with Simes and Maddie again for another 5 days. I am bloody lucky to have an interesting job that I enjoy going to, but I have to admit that I have only two words to describe how it feels after I have tucked her into bed at the end of each weekend... SUNDAY BLUES!

Why does she have to be SO lovely?

A 'Pro' Shoot by Barnaby Miles

When our fabulous friends Barnaby Miles Wilshier and Howard Spreadbury were in Sydney in the new year with we were lucky enough to spend the afternoon with Barnaby's family and friends at his parents house in Contarf. Barnaby is a professional photography and a very humble one at that. He is such a dear friend and such a bloody character that when we see each other we just carry on like idiots and don't really talk about work. So I decided to check out his website after they had left to see what he has been up to and I was completely blown away... http://www.barnabywilshier.com/

I have watched Barney work so hard over the years, first studying at uni and then working as a photographers assistant and just look at him now! He is one of the most amazingly talented people I know. In fact, I cant believe I have a friend that is SO clever.

We were lucky enough to have him point his camera at little Maddie and his gorgeous niece Freya. Maddie and Freya were great mates from the moment they met, in fact they swapped shoes within 5 minutes of meeting each other (a pair of green crocks for some white flip flops - sign of the times!). Here are the snaps. Thanks Barnabs... we love you xx

Home Making...

I just downloaded a couple of weeks worth of photos from our digital camera (thanks mum, dad and uncle mikey for the fab camera) and it made me realise just how lucky we are to live in Sydney. It is, quite simply, a gorgeous looking city! We have spent the last few weeks filling our weekends with little family adventures including Maddie's first trip on a Sydney Ferry (she was thrilled to the back teeth and kept repeating... "mummy, daddy, we are on the fairy boat!"), trips to local beaches and lots of visits with friends.

What struck me is not only how beautiful the city is but that all our friends have now bought houses and turned them into lovely homes. Proper, grown up homes! They are not all necessarily multi-million dollar mansions but they are warm and cosy and have character. There is nothing better than catching up with friends in a home that is full of love. Watching them buy something and then flush it full of their own personal touches. I must admit that not owning our own home is one of the things that causes me the most nocturnal anxiety (and believe me, I could worry for the entire country! I am up most nights worrying about one thing or another). Even though I like our little house and I love living across the road from Meags and Martin, I don't really feel like it is a home. I want to fall in love with a house and make it a home for our little family. Simes and I are both SO BLOODY RUBBISH with money. We need to get our shit together and save for a deposit. We have had such a blast during our 15 years together and rarely said 'no' to any adventure that has come our way, but I fear it is time to grow up and focus on our finances. It kills me that we are paying someone elses mortgage every week by renting.

OK, so if everyone else we know can do it so can we. We want to own a home and I am going to make it happen in the next 12-18 months. There. It's in writing. Now I have to make it happen.