Travel: Western USA

 

 

 

I don't think words can adequately describe the truly amazing holiday we had in the States. I will let the happy snaps speak for themselves.

We started in Salt Lake City and Yellowstone National Park, spending a few days with Mr Sew Brunswick's family. We then parted ways and headed to Yosemite National Park and San Francisco. My two favourite places. Between San Francisco and Los Angeles we had a brief mini beach break at Pismo Beach, where I ate the most delicious fish tacos! We finished in Los Angeles with a few days at Disneyland and a visit to Mood and the Endeavour space shuttle. As you all know, I truly love travelling and am very grateful that we can share this passion with our boys.

L x

Celebrate: Australia Day "extended" Long Weekend

Me and the boys hot-footed it to Queensland last Thursday for the long weekend as Mr Sew Brunswick was gallivanting (aka working) around the world for a few weeks. Everything started well. I flew solo with the two "monsters" to Brisbane and Gran was there to meet us. We swung by the hospital to pick up Dad, day 1 post shoulder replacement, and headed down the highway and up the mountain to Mum & Dad's place on Mt Tamborine.

Things then went a little unplanned. It started to rain. And rain. And rain some more. Then the wind picked up and we were in the middle of an ex-cyclone. We had at least 35 inches of rain in the gauge between Friday and Monday. I reckon most of it was coming down sideways and didn't even get in to the gauge! Monday morning we were due to leave for Brisbane and the airport but there was no way I was flying in that weather and a big gum tree fell across the drive so we were stuck anyway. Plus all roads off the mountain were closed. Thankfully my brother managed to get through on Monday arvo with nappies and milk plus the skills to operate a chainsaw!

We did get to see my family on Friday and Saturday before the weather turned too bad. The boys got to play with their cousins and I got to see my brothers and sister-in-laws. I also got to spend some time with my sewing-tailoring-knitting ninja of a grandmother. She helped me fit my drape jacket and even hand-basted it for me. She also gave me some knitting tips. And of course, I got to spend some quality time with my parents. I knitted lots while watching the tennis and Madagascar. I did give mum's vintage Elna a spin but I was all out of sorts with a different machine and sewing space.

We made it home today. So much for work this week. Oh well, we were in good company and everyone was safe and sound.

Time to fire up the machines!! I'm itching to sew something.

L x

Celebrate: Christmas

We had a fabulous Christmas Day at home with just our little family of four. It was our first ever at home alone without numerous family and friends. At first it did feel a bit weird not to have all the fuss and busyness of lots of people, but we soon settled in for a lovely day with the kids. The boys got new scooters from us so we were out there in the beautiful sunshine teaching them how to scoot. Boy did I wish I had a scooter!!

Even though it was just us for Christmas, I still did all my favourites things for breakfast and lunch. For breakfast we had croissants and fresh fruit with champagne and orange juice. This is a family tradition for my family. Lunch was a marmalade glazed ham served with a pancetta potato salad and a rocket, parmesan and pear salad. I made honeycomb and macadamia icecream and served this as a sundae with crushed honeycomb, macadamias and palm sugar syrup. It was pure bliss!! All of this was followed by a 3 hour afternoon siesta. I realised I forgot to serve the prawns for lunch, so we had prawn sandwiches for dinner. Talk about a perfect day!!

I was very spoilt with beautiful presents including some sewing related gifts. My mother-in-law gave me a new super-duper ironing board cover and my sister-in-law gave me a cute pincushion from Etsy. Plus check out Mr N's gift to me!! A thread spool storage device for my iPhone headphones. How cool are they?! He bought them from the NGV shop if you're interested.

I wore an old dress (Vogue 1102 - reviewed on Sew Tessuti) I made for a good friend's wedding in 2011. I've only worn it once to the wedding, which is such a shame as I love the fabric colour. I just find the low cut of the back too exposed for everyday wear. I plan to cut the skirt off and either make a full skirt or a fitted top. I wore it with a beige singlet on Christmas Day as it is the perfect festive colour. It went perfectly with my new necklace that Mr Sew Brunswick gave me. He picks the most amazing necklaces and you all know how much I love a good necklace.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas Day with your loved ones. I sure did. The weather in Melbourne has been lovely and we got out today to take the boys and their new scooters to Princes Park. This afternoon I got a few quiet hours in my sewing room while the boys snoozed (including Mr Sew Brunswick) or watched a movie on the couch. I finished a dress made from a linen remnant I picked up at Tessuti last Friday. Talk about fast fashion! Tomorrow I'm going to hit the garden. Wish me luck!

L x