Inspired

Hi there friends, once again I have been caught in the whirlwind that is life and have had no time to blog.

Ok, I lie. I had time to blog last week when I took a week off work to get stuff done and to take a break but the urge to blog did not come over me. Sometimes you've just gotta go with the flow... you know?

Anyhow, this week has been a busy one, and as I sit at my office desk I feel mentally and physically tired. I have not been treating my poor body that well on the food front - I haven't been eating takeaway junk or anything like that and have been working out hard as normal but I know when I get busy and stressed I rarely cook proper meals for myself and I get by on the old bowl of cereal or smoothie for dinner here and there.

I can tell I need to nourish my body better next week so meal prep this weekend is crucial. Not nourishing your body with good amounts of food can be just as bad as eating a truck load of junk - I need to remember this.

In light of all of this 'exhaustion' talk, I wanted to share a couple of things that are inspiring me at the moment. All this talk about food brings me to a fantastic blogger and business woman who I mentioned in my last post.

Sophie Hansen of Local is Lovely released her book this week, (titled the same as the blog) and I am super excited to read it. Her blog is beautiful and she shares so many great pictures of her life on the farm, recipes and the amazing food she produces and makes into glorious meals. I just placed my order and cannot wait for it to arrive!

This cooler weather is making me miss working on my parent's veggie patch which sadly has now died. The summer was brutal to the patch and I was battling to keep it alive last year and my parents have not had the time to keep up the maintenance since.

Now that I live in the city and have no yard I am having to resort to 'patio planting' inspiration! I have sighted the cutest planters on The Block Shop's website. (Yes I am addicted to that show!) These jelly planters are about $55 or so and would look super cute hanging on the patio (they also come in different colours). I'm not sure they'd work for veggies but I'd settle for some yummy herbs or a pretty weeping plant.

I am heading off to Bathurst this weekend to attend my godson's baptism. I have never been asked to be a god parent before so I feel so honoured and excited that my friend would ask me! It should be such a great weekend. The weather forecast is looking a little chilly so I need to be thinking about stocking up on a couple more winter knits! I love a change in the season!

Stay happy!
E, x

A few of my favourite things

One of my favourite things about being back home in the country for uni holidays is getting the opportunity to get outdoors and enjoy the little things that country life has to offer.

One of these things is veggie gardening! I have had a love of veggie gardening for some time now and have never really had the space in either of my rentals that I have lived in to have a big veggie patch. Fortunately our family home is situated on a 5 acre paddock so there is plenty of room to grow gorgeous veggies!

Unfortunately this past summer has been a super hot one for our region so our veggies suffered. My parents also work a lot so they don't have a lot of time to put into the garden as much as they would like to.

Over the last week and a bit of me being home, I have made it my mission to bring the veggies back to life! So far I have managed to harvest some capsicums and an eggplant and I am trying my hardest to save our zucchini plant and get to the tomatoes before the bugs do!!

Our plot is only small at the moment but I have big plans if things keep going well!

Today's harvest from the Nelyambo (this is our house paddocks name) veggie patch also came from our lovely hens who I am glad to report did not get washed away with all of the rain we had last week! Still doing us proud and providing our family with plenty of yummy eggs.

I'm going to do some reading up on organic or alternate methods to getting rid of bugs from our veggies. Over the last week I had to resort to using an insecticide just to try and save what was left of the rotting and dying patch but I'd really like to start using organic alternatives to keep our veggies as healthy as ever!

Do you have any suggestions?? Any green-thumbs out there with some tips for me?? Please comment, I'd love to hear from you :)

E, x

Ow My Head!

Okay, I know people say this frequently but, why do we drink?! Ow my head hurts from last nights festivities!!!! lol

Alright, I admitt... It's kind of a good hurt since I had such an awesome time with some great friends!

 This was me before I hit the town with my girl friends for a six course dinner and some yummy wine (maybe a tad too much wine! haha)

It has been another busy week with work and exercise and socialising with friends but it has ended nicely and I am feeling super happy which is great! I haven't got a great deal of news to share and am a little boring with my blog updates this week but I'll try and kick back into full gear next week!

Oh, also I have been admiring my "green thumb" work watching my hydrangeas plants starting to flower - they are in full bloom at the moment and are just gorgeous! These are my favourite flowers and I can help but smile when I see them.

How have you been this week?

This week...

Reflecting on this past week, I think I've learnt a few things....

1. People can and will always surprise you. Whether its a good surprise or a bad one, people are constantly surprising me. I'm learning that some people aren't really as they seem, and some people are really making me smile.

2. Exercise is my friend!! After a long couple of weeks getting used to being back at work and getting my "groove" back with exercise (lol) I've noticed such a change in how I feel in the morning and my motivation levels have sky rocketed! Yay!

3. Fake tan is my new best friend! Thank you to my good friend Jess.C who has motivated me to attempt fake tanning at home. For as long as I can remember I have envied girls with a beautiful sunny glow when Summer rolled around and this week I decided to bite the bullet and try a bit on my ever-so pasty and white legs. Well Jess you were right! I am now addicted to this tan. I love it, my legs look so golden and sunkissed and all this without an inch of sunburn! Hooray!!! lol

I'm using this awesome product by the Aussie label SugarBaby. I swear by this stuff!

4. Meeting new and different people is great!! After my life changing trip to Europe I came home feeling like I could tackle anything. Now I am throwing myself into new and different things in attempt to meet different people. I've met some awesome people and now spending some time with these "new friends" is making me really happy! Its not so scary putting yourself out there and getting into different friend "circles", I've learnt it can turn out to be a really good thing.

5. Gardening is not just for Nannas! I am loving getting into our garden and veggie patch. I am currently throwing myself into "reviving" my poor neglected basil plant that I thought had died already. Come back to me little Basil!!!!

6. Also along the lines of exercise, I am STOKED that online shopping is becoming more and more popular with general stores. I shopped up a storm at Running Bare online. Check it out if you (like me) need a makeover when it comes to your work out clothes. (I can finally retire my "Year 6" memorial t-shirt from making appearances in our local gym. lol) Plus, its also another awesome Aussie brand! Yep, I'm flying the flag for shopping in our country! hehe

7. Lastly, I am discovering a new love obsession with Sundays (not just Saturdays!) Today was a beautiful day and I've had a big smile on my face almost all day! I love the weekend.

How has your week been?? Fill me in, comment below!!

In my garden...

Today in our town a storm was brewing.

Thunder was rumbling off in the distance and the sun was barely peaking through the overcast clouds. It was a typically chilly autumn day but there was a special feel to the breeze that enticed me to get out of the warmth of the house and explore outside & the garden.

Autumn can be such a pretty time in the seasons don't you think??

Now is the perfect time to be knitting. Its chilly and sometimes dreary outside and all I want to do is stay in and knit. (My granny status is rising!!! hehe Just kidding, knitting is SO not only for grannies!)

At the moment I am busily working on my "Little Ruffle" scarf that I am so excited to be making. What a gorgeous pattern, but very time consuming! It is taking me a loooong time to get the bulk of the scarf done and lots of continual knitting and purling rows (47 inches to be exact. At the moment I've done about 34 inches and counting...)

I am trying so hard to hold myself back from starting a new project until I cast off on the Ruffle because I don't want to lose interest because I really really want to be able to wear my Ruffle before the end of winter!!

Next up on my "to-do" list is this gorg number, made with yummy Malabrigo Worsted of course!

I can't get enough of Malabrigo yarns at the moment. Luckily for me Jodie at Jellywares has PLENTY of Malabrigo to purchase in her shop so I am stocking up when ever I can before she sells out!

My Ruffle is being whipped up in the beautiful Malabrigo Silky Merino and I am head over heels in love with this yarn. I think I love this yarn even more than I love the Malabrigo worsted. Its silky and shiny and soft! I definitely reccommend if you can get your hands on some - do it!!!

Okay, enough lusting over yarns, I'm off to bed. I can't believe that the weekend is over already, where did it go? Time doesn't seem to stand still for very long anymore!! I think its a sign that I am getting old! LOL

Good night Blogland.

Ellie..........x

All things Merry and Christmasy!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Gosh I love this time of year, and now that it is Boxing Day, I have to admit I am a little sad that it's all over for another year.

Yesterday was a great day spent with my gorgeous family, opening presents, laughing, relaxing and eating... LOTS of eating!

I was also very spoilt this year in the presents department! The biggest present that I received off my Mum and Dad was my very first Mix Master! I am soooo stoked! Its a gorgeous Sunbeam Cafe Series Mix Master. I LOVE it! It also made an appearance in the kitchen on Chrissie day when I attempted making my first ever Pavlova. After all, what time of Christmas would it be without a pav, right??!

I was sooo surprised with myself once I finished whipping up the pav from scratch and tasted it... it was a hit!!!

All of these years I have been thinking that pavlova's were hard to make, when in fact they're SUPER easy! Especially when you're lucky enough to have a snazzy new mix master to help you whip those egg whites!! hehe

Also on the Christmas front, I promised that I'd post about my Jellywares Christmas washer swap goodies, so here they are...

Firstly from Toni at The Red Boot Quilt Company I received this gorgeous red washer. It is sooo soft and beautifully made - perfect for the festive season!

Then I received this cute handmade soap holder, also in Christmas colours!

And inside was this neat bar of soap...

Also in my parcel of goodies was some very yummy chocolates (which I couldn't help myself with and ate already!) and some beautiful Chai tea and black tea... yummo!

Thank you so much for the goodies Toni! I love them all, it was such a nice early Christmas present to receive these in the mail!

In other news, today I strolled outside into our tiny backyard and noticed that I had 2 bright red and scrumptious looking tomato's hanging from my 2 tomato bushes! I was super happy to see these beauties as they're the first tomato's I've managed to harvest this season!

All in all, the last few days have been great and I'm looking forward to the next few off work! Ahh, holidays are so nice aren't they?!

I hope your Christmas day has been as relaxing and lovely as mine. Did Santa find you!?

Until my next post, enjoy the time off!

Veggie patch update...

These days I find myself wishing that I had more time on my hands to do the stuff that I love, like crochet, knitting and of course time to tend to my (slightly neglected) veggie patches!!!

This week has seen Roger and I both very tired and worn out with work and uni study (for me) taking its toll. I managed to snap a few piccies of the yummy veggies in our garden, that are luckily surviving even without my constant attention!

This little strawberry bud is looking a little thirsty but I'm so glad that its still growing strong. Hopefully we'll have some yummy strawberries in no time!

Some zucchini seedlings started to sprout!

Our tomato plants are slowly getting bigger!

We've been super lucky with all of the rocket that I've planted, it seems to flourish no matter the conditions! These little seedlings sprouted pretty much straight away!

The weekend is fast approaching and I have plenty of crochet/knitting and gardening projects to work on. What have you got planned for the weekend??

* smiles *

Ellie x

Harvesting...

Today I harvested some baby carrots from our veggie patch!! I was so excited to pluck the little orange veggies from the garden, some of them turned out better than others and some were really funny looking all curly at the ends!

These carrots were grown from seeds, they're some of the first veggies that I've ever grown and I've definitely learnt a few things since growing these babies.

Next time around I'm definitely going to space my carrot seeds out more so they have space to grow larger and over-crowding wont happen. But for now I'm happy with this first batch of baby carrots and are hoping they'll taste very yummy steamed maybe with some honey as honey baby carrots!!

Also this week I'm hoping to get some pretty crocheted bed socks started. I found this pattern on Ravelry and I love how they look.

Hopefully I can get them started when I find some more spare time!

Ellie x