Art Rooms... A gorgeous way to preserve your Child's artwork...

In February's edition of Home Beautiful (one of my favourite home magazines, as it combines design in everyday people's homes, it's all very real and practical) I found the following website, www.artrooms.com.au

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It's a great product for all of you with lots of kids artwork around the house. This company takes the artwork and makes framed collages with it.  Stunning for a study, playroom or kids bedroom.

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Bright and colourful and preserved forever... Gotta love that!!

I will be keeping this one on file...

Jx

Orange Cake - so easy and delicious...

My Mother has been making this Orange cake for years and it is sooo easy and sooo delicious. I wish I could tell you where the original recipe is from so if anyone can tell me I would love to know...

Orange Cake

1 whole orange, cut into 8 pieces

1 cup (225g) sugar

185g butter

3 eggs

1 ½ cup (225g) self raising flour

Blend whole orange and sugar for a short while. Add butter, eggs and self-raising flour and blend until smooth. Pour into bunt cake tin (i.e tin with a hole in the middle) or bar or round tin.

Bake in 180*C oven for 35-45 minutes.

You can ice it anyway you like. Mum iced her with plain icing flavoured with Orange Juice and Orange zest sprinkled over the top - Yummy!!

Jx

Murraya and Raindrops...

Our Murraya plants are flowering at the moment and looks and smells pretty... especially after rain. We have planted them in a garden bed at the front of the house and will hedge them up so when clipped they may not always have the chance to flower as well as they are now. They are growing so quickly which is the main reason we chose them for the front as we wanted something fast growing and lovely. We felt Murraya was a no brainer...

Jx

Eyelashes...

These eyelashes make my heart melt... Every time!!...

He is one lucky little man and he has his Daddy to thank!!

Jx

What I'm reading at the moment...

I am currently reading Maeve Binchy's latest book - A Week in Winter. I don't want to put it down. I have loved Maeve's books for many years and love reading every one of of them. Her latest one is no exception.

Maeve is an exceptional story teller. All her books are set in beautiful Ireland and she has such a way of drawing you into her characters' world. I am always sad when I finish one of her books and eagerly await the next one. Sadly she died in July 2012 and I am so sad about that.

If you are a fan of Maeve then you will know what I mean. If you don't know her please give her a go - I really think you'll enjoy her stories.

You can find A Week in Winter here and here. For a full list of Maeve's books click here.

I'm always keen to hear about new authors. I adore a good read. What are you reading at the moment?

Jx

Chic Maternity Style

Hi All...

Firstly... Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a wonderful festive season and your 2013 is off to a cracking start. It has certainly been a hot start to the year. I hope you've all managed to stay cool and out of bushfire danger.

Secondly... my apologies for my absence. I have had to take a break from ALPOTW due to severe morning sickness. We are having another baby in June and for whatever reason I have been horribly sick this time around. I am finally starting to feel my normal self again (as much as you can when you're pregnant!!!) and was just looking around the web at maternity style. I have found The Hatch Collection (via A Cup Of Jo) and think their clothes look gorgeous. I think I will buy myself a little something as a pick me up. Their pieces work for before, during and after baby which makes it even better.

I have found with this pregnancy a lot of the clothes I had for the first are not quite right as I was working full time so it was a work wardrobe. I don't want to buy too much or spend too much but still want to look my best if I can. So far I have been able to get by with bigger no maternity dresses and thank goodness for my maternity casual pants as I have been in them since 11 weeks - boy have I popped quickly!!

I love this caftan dress - it's on sale too - added bonus!!

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I love the tank too - cool and casual = easy to wear!

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I adore this but know I could never pull it off...

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I love this and am definitely getting one for the wardrobe as it will be perfect... I love a good hoodie and this way I still stand a chance of looking chic whilst being really comfy! Don't you love a good Win-Win?

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There are heaps of other great items so head over to their website and check them out. I really love that their pieces work for before, during and after pregnancy. They look chic and easy to wear... perfect for the awkward and sometimes depressing fashion moments pregnancy can present.

Over the next little while I'll probably be posting more pregnancy related posts like this one and some on getting ready for baby posts... I hope you enjoy them. If you're pregnant too... Congrats!!

Jx

Anything can be a phone...

What is it about phones, remote, tablets and computers that children love so much?... is it the sheer delight they get from pressing buttons and seeing things light up...or is it they are simply drawn to the forbidden?...

Whatever it is...our little man has been bitten by the phone bug big time!! he has been into the phone for a while now and it doesn't appear to be fading anytime soon. I actually adore it...he paces the floor with his phone to his ear chatting to whomever is on the other end...the conversation can be intense with lots of loud voices or quite jovial with short sentences broken up by laughing!...

I took these photos ages ago in the park. He was playing with a leaf and showing it to me. The next time I looked up he was pacing in the park and chatting loudly...he was using the leaf as a phone...

It's just too cute!!...

Photos copyright Jessica Flett

I know this is all part of normal development and something most children do...but I still take pride and pleasure in seeing him mimicking and learning from his environment...

Jx