A Hot, Hot Day

Yesterday, we had some catch up time with family and friends, in the 39 degrees heat. We went to Mum's place for lunch with my sister and her two little cuties. Thanks for the yummy lunch Mum! Blake is getting mighty big now, he's three months old already!

Lily was busily playing all afternoon, so that I could barely get a shot of her! So here's a blurry one.

She is such a bundle of fun!

That night we went out to dinner with our friends Richard and his Mum, Betty. Betty goes back home to NSW on Monday after being here since Christmas. She is so sweet!

We went to Caffe Amaretto, which has the BEST food! I had chilli mussels, which is my favourite dish of all time, and a yumlicious slice of cookies and cream cheesecake. Gosh.

I managed to avoid fizzy drink all day. Yay me! xx

Judith's Magical House

While in Tassie, we went to visit our friend Judith. Her home sits at the top of a hill overlooking the Tamar river. It is a majestic house; everything is on a grand scale, and it is filled with wonderful antiques and furniture. The gardens, too, are spectacular.

These photos are just from one room, so imagine the rest of the house!

Beautiful house

Last week I got together with some friends from work for a relaxing afternoon of fun and frivolity at our friend Jodi's house. We all felt like we were on the set of Grand Designs, because the house was of huge proportions and had beautiful details. Take this ceiling for example - swoon!


And the way the walls were rendered.


The handles on the recycled windows (and a stunning view of rolling hills!)


The huge stone fireplace...the flooring...


the walls that go up forever... the pretty doors, light fittings, and switches.

These lights!! (They will have shades eventually.)

This little decking and rockery area that Jodi whipped up the other day! (Kids supplied by myself and others.)

An adventure-inspiring play area in the backyard for Jodi's three boys (note the recycled bricks on the exterior of the house.)

A sand hill for sandboarding and other extreme sports.

And then, (that's not all!), Jodi also has an adorable cottage nearby, that they lived in while building their house. It has covetable verandahs...

that go all the way around...

Again, stunning recycled materials..

the view of the hills...copius quantities of lavender...

a view of the main house...

and the cutest laundry up the pathway...

with incredible doors!

And did I mention that Jodi and her husband Garth built all this themselves???!! Pretty impressive, if you ask me!

After that grand tour, let me introduce you to the silly people who were there. From the left, Mandy, Jodi, Narelle, Emma and Meagan. Beautiful sunny day, more-ish, yummy food, good company and lots of laughs.

Aaah, the holidays. Gotta love 'em!