Technology Trouble

Image from here

Once again, I’ve been missing from the blogosphere for a few days, this time due to computer issues which are causing us much frustration. I think it’s time we looked into upgrading. I haven’t forgotten about my little giveaway which is due to be drawn tomorrow night (enter here if you haven’t already) – although I may be a little late announcing the winner.

I’m going to try and take advantage of this forced break away from the Internet and use the time to clear our email inbox, sort through the basket of paperwork on the kitchen bench and make the polka dot garlands for Grace’s party (I’ll post some party progress photos next week),

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend – I will catch up on all your lovely blogs as soon as our PC starts behaving itself!! In the meantime, I'll leave you all with the pretty flowers above...

Weekend 'Window' Shopping

I was all set to do an ANZAC Day post over the long weekend but instead, tried to stay off the computer and use the time to rest.

I did squeeze in a little bit of browsing time on the Not On The High Street website though as I was on the hunt for some wooden printer’s block style letters. I would love to buy some of the blocks in the first image to spell out the word ‘home’ for the console table in our entryway (if only postage from the UK to Australia were cheaper!!) I’m wondering if I can make something similar myself.

I could spend hours browsing on this online store – there are so many lovely products. Below are a few things that caught my eye…









Don't forget to enter my giveaway on this post to win a copy of the book 'Recipe For a Happy Life' if you haven't already. I'll be drawing the winner on Saturday evening...

All images from here

100th Post Giveaway!!

Today's post is my 100th post!! It is hard to believe that I have been part of this blogging community for that long now as my blog still feels relatively new to me. I am so happy that back in October, I decided to finally start Homely One (thanks to some encouragement from my lovely blogging friend Catherine of Little Glowing Lights). My blog has been a wonderful creative outlet and led me to ‘meet’ many like-minded 'kindred spirits'.

To celebrate my 100th post and to say thank you to all of you who read my blog and leave me such positive and supportive comments, I’m giving away the book below which I spotted at Crabtree and Evelyn a few weeks ago called ‘Recipe For A Happy Life’ by Cheryl Saban. This book contains some words of wisdom as well as lots of gorgeous homely images.

To enter my giveaway, all you have to do is be a follower of Homely One and leave a comment on this post. The competition will run all week and end at 5pm on the 1st of May (Western Standard Time). The winner will be drawn on Saturday evening.

Good luck!

Disappearing Act

Image source unknown

Sorry for being a terrible blogger and announcing an upcoming giveaway, only to disappear from my blog for a few days. Grace has had a really unsettled week as she is teething and to top it off, came down with a cold last night. So although I haven’t hit the point of exhaustion yet, all these broken nights’ sleep have left me in no way to write coherent, inspiring posts.

So today lovely ladies, I’m leaving you with one of my all time favourite images of a bed I dream to be relaxing in today and catching up on some much needed slumber. I’ve always loved this photo – complete with its incredibly comfortable looking bed, pot of coffee and reading material, it looks like the perfect place to rest.

My next post is #100 so I promise I will reveal my little giveaway then…

Game and Upcoming Giveaway

Here in Perth, autumn has definitely arrived. This past noticeably cooler week has seen me drag out my good old ugg boots again, snuggle up under a throw on the couch at night and cook some more wintry meals.

Today, my lovely blogging friend Tina from Rubies Place has invited me to play a blogging game called Photo #6. I am meant to go back to the 6th photo I ever uploaded to my blog, re-post it to share with you all, and remember the moment. So here it is...

This picture is from not long after I started blogging. It is the moodboard I put together last October for the Pink Ribbon Morning Tea I held. I really enjoyed putting ideas together for this little party, making invites and preparing all the food. It’s funny that at this point in time I am once again in ‘party planning mode’ for Grace’s birthday.

I am to invite 6 of my lovely readers to participate in this game. As with any games or awards I pass on, there is absolutely no pressure whatsoever to participate. I would like to invite:

1. Catherine from Little Glowing Lights
2. Flick from Everyday Chick
3. Catherine from A Time To Create
4. Sarah from Molly’s Maison
5. Nicole from Bubby Makes Three
6. Melissa from undomestic/mumma

Thanks for inviting me to play Tina, it was fun to look back on some old posts!!

Also, stay tuned this week for my first ever giveaway in celebration of my upcoming 100th post…

Fantastic Find

Image found via here

Thanks for all your anniversary wishes yesterday. Paul came home with a beautiful bunch of flowers and then ended up surprising me and taking me to a different restaurant to the one I thought he had booked. We ended up having a lovely night out at a restaurant called Limones in East Fremantle which I’ve been wanting to try for months.

Onto today’s great find... as per my post on Wednesday, I’ve begun working on Grace’s ‘first year photo timeline’. I liked the idea of hanging little Polaroids, but without actually owning such a camera myself, I was going to make little cardboard versions by trimming photos and backing them on white card. Then I miraculously remembered a link I’d seen in a past issue of Real Living magazine for Poladroid.

This website has a great little program you can download for free that allows you to drag across your normal photos and watch them transform into Polaroids before your eyes – there is even a delay as the picture gradually comes into focus like a real Polaroid picture.

I've gone ahead and transformed twelve photos for Grace’s party to be hung up and displayed. Below is another example of one I tried. Go ahead and have some fun with your own photos…

Fifth Wedding Anniversary

Morning ladies! Today is a special day in our household as it is our fifth wedding anniversary. We are going out for tea tonight at the Bluewater Grill to celebrate (our first meal out with just the two of us since Grace was born).

I feel so lucky to share such a wonderful life with Paul – he means the world to me and my days are all the more brighter just by having him around.

Below are a few of my favourite shots from our wedding. Hope you have a lovely end to the week…

Planning Grace's Birthday

Image from Party Perfect

I think I need to get cracking with making the decorations for Grace’s party which is only four weeks away tomorrow. I had a dream last week that I woke up and it was her birthday and I had no food for the guests and the decorations hadn’t even been made!

I’ve been collecting ideas from all over the Internet and sketching ideas in my notebook and am now ready to actually start making some things. I’m thinking of going with a pink, green and white colour palette for something girly. In terms of decorations, I'd like to have a display of some sort with photos from Grace's first year, some paper circle garlands and either tissue paper pom-poms or rice paper lanterns.

Here are a few images from my inspiration folder I may adapt for Grace’s special day…

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Image source: #2 Lobster & Swan, #3 unknown

Weekend Over

Hope everyone has had as lovely a weekend as we did. I made the tarts above for a function, managed a quick trip to Ikea, started looking for new carpet and bought some plants to add some colour to our garden.

The afternoon was spent trying to put together my Ikea purchases, a task which always proves more difficult than I anticipate! What lovely things did you all get up to on the weekend?

Parisian Cafe

Whenever my friend Kylie is on holidays, we make sure to catch up for lunch or morning tea. Yesterday we met for coffee at one of my favourite little cafes, Le Paris Brest Café in Kalamunda. It was nice to go for a little drive out to the hills as I’m not often out that way and it was nice to catch up with my lovely friend and have a good chat.

This café has such character and is decorated so beautifully with all things French from a replica Eiffel Tower, to bicycles, geraniums and Parisian clocks – even the poodle tied up out front when we arrived fit in with the Parisian theme!! Best of all, this café makes the most exquisite patisseries which are always the perfect accompaniment to my cuppa.

What’s your favourite little cafe to stop for morning tea?

Belated Awards

Image above from here

I've recently been given two awards and haven't yet gotten around to saying thank you to the lovely bloggers who gave them to me.

Firstly, I'd like to thank Silvia from Casa Bella for passing on the Happy 101 Award to me. Silvia posts about all things beautiful on her delightful blog and always finds the most stunning images to share. Pop over and say hi if you haven't already.



Secondly, the gorgeous Mirela from Melli's Designs gave me the Master of Friendship Award. Mirela is such a sweetie - she always writes such lovely posts about life with her family and her creative projects and I always enjoy seeing what she's been up to.

Thank you so much girls and thank you to all the lovely fellow bloggers who stop by Homely One. I'm so glad I decided to join this little blogging community of ours all those months ago!

If you commented on this post and your comment hasn't appeared I'm sorry but I had blogging issues and had to re-post this which meant my comments disappeared :(

Birthday Wishes

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. Ours has been quite a busy one with a cousin's wedding on Saturday (at which we had a fabulous time) and today we did a final clean up at my Dad's house before we hand over the keys to its new owners this week.

Most importantly, yesterday was my husband’s birthday so we had a family lunch at our house to celebrate both Easter and his special day. Paul is not only a loving and supportive husband but also an amazing daddy to our little Grace and I am thankful every day to be able to share my life with him. Hope you had a great birthday Paul!

Easter Weekend

This morning we have visited my Nanna to bring her some flowers for Easter, enjoyed a cuppa and some of the biscuits I baked and now I have a huge 'to do list' to work my way through. We have a family wedding tomorrow so I have a bit of cooking I want to do today in preparation for Sunday's lunch.

The other 'project' I want to tackle is tidying our spare room which has become a huge dumping ground lately. I have piles of old baby clothes to be stored away, things to sort through to give to charity and boxes of items from my Dad's place I need to decide what to do with.

In case I don't get back here before Sunday, I wish you all a safe and happy Easter with your families.