Thursday 28 March 2013

Shoal Bay 2013...


Last month H and I had a week at Shoal Bay in Port Stephens with my parents. We have been going to Shoal Bay annually for nearly 30 years...

It's a great beach for kids as it's a bay so not too deep nor too rough. Nice calm waters...

They call it the blue water paradise and when the weather gods are shining down on you it really is...

This year we had very patchy weather but when we were able to get to the beach we made the most of it...

H was rocking his Bobbi Sunshine Swimwear... he looked terrific (in my very biased opinion!!)

Shoal Bay is only 2.5hrs from Sydney and a great spot for families or couples to Holiday. Port Stephens is a large area and includes areas such as Nelson Bay, Fingal Bay, Corlette, Soldiers Point, Anna Bay, Shoal Bay, Little Beach, Salamander Bay and many others.

It's well worth a visit for a weekend, a week or several...









Jx

Monday 25 March 2013

Pretty Pink Dahlia...

I've never had Dahlia's in the house before and I'm loving them...

To me... they are a happy flower. Don't you think?...







I hope they put a smile on your face today... Jx

Saturday 23 March 2013

The job of maintaining oneself...

Yesterday I had a haircut for the second time since H was born (he is now 20 months old)... I have very boring, straight, dark brown hair that luckily doesn't need colouring so it is very low maintenance as hair goes...

Having said that I was mortified when I saw the look on my hairdressers face at the condition of my hair... which was nothing short of dismal. It was lank, lifeless, straggly, all one length and constantly tied up. He was polite about it and we had a joke but I was, in no uncertain terms, told my hair was terrible.

4 inches and many layers later I felt... and looked like a new woman! I felt so much lighter walking out of there and feel like I look the best I have in AGES!! (even Hubby agrees) Which is such a lovely feeling and not at all overrated... so good for the soul and self esteem.

I find hair, makeup, waxing and shaving all have a knock on effect. For me, I found the worst my hair got the more I dragged it up and back (so much easier when chasing after a toddler) which then looked awful so you think to yourself... what good will makeup do?... So you don't put any on etc, etc. You can see my pattern. Needless to say I have been getting around looking like something the cat dragged in...

Well... I am here on in endeavouring to invest more time and energy in the job of maintaining myself. I have already booked my next haircut. I'm off to book my eyebrow appointment and will try and put a bit of a face on more than I have been.

So... if you are at all like me, I urge you to spend a little more time on yourself as I promise you'll feel a million dollars afterwards. ... and couldn't we all do with a bit of that!?

Jx

P.S I know this is a relatively trivial issue in light of all the many things we face in our daily lives... but isn't it nice to focus on the fun things sometimes?

Thursday 21 March 2013

The face of determination...

When I have a spare moment (these are very rare) I am trying to play catch up with my photo books... and by catch up I mean the only one I have done is of our Wedding... which was nearly 3 years ago...

I have just started to put together one from H's first year. Wow!!!... what a walk down memory lane. Interesting timing with only 11 weeks before #2 arrives. There are so, so many photos.

I came across this photo and it completely cracked me up. I didn't appreciate it at the time I took it as I was probably trying to achieve something else in the photo. Just have a look at the complete determination on my little man's face. He was really getting into his crawling and the look on his face sums it up completely.


To me... this is the face of determination, perseverance and concentration...

Absolutely priceless... Jx

Monday 18 March 2013

Magnolia Flower love... with a bit of Hipstamatic...

Our little Magnolia Gem in the backyard was flowering a couple of weeks ago. It was the first time since we planted it last July. I was very excited and couldn't resist taking some photos. I took them with my iPhone and got some regular ones and some others using the app Hipstamatic. My use of Hipstmatic has waned in recent times but due to this post from Carla Coulson my interest was reignited.

I was really happy with the photos and can't decide which is my favourite... the colour or the back and white...

What do you think?...

Here are the regular ones...




Here are the black and white Hipstamatic...




Here are the colour Hipstamatic ones...




Aren't they a romantic flower?...

Jx