Orchard Keepers… has a nice ring to it

I feel like I have been saying this A LOT lately but thanks all for your words of encouragement. I am sure that once I have finished battling through the inevitable adjustment period, I will stop being such a whiny little bitch (uncouth but true). To help hurry along a zen-like state, I have been massively indulging in all the things that give me the warm and fuzzies. Chocolate, wine, magazines, Real Housewives [of Melbourne] and Pinterest. The first four have just served to expand my waistline and rot my brain but I have long since been peddling Pinterest as educational and motivational. Really, it is. I sometimes delude myself into thinking that I am so good at it, that I could probably do it professionally (incidentally, if there is anyone from Pinterest reading this…call me, let’s talk). But I digress. What was I saying again? Oh yes, Pinterest. I recently stumbled across something called “Orchard Keepers” and you’d have to be dead inside not to want to investigate a name like that. Want to see what I found? Think white painted cladding, bare light fittings, polished concrete kitchen counters, grey linen sofa slip covers and subway tiles. Yep, you heard all that correctly. Now go swoon.

Source: EST Magazine | Photography: Sharyn Cairns

Growing Pains

The move is starting to catch up with me and for the past couple of weeks, I have been feeling a series of up and down emotions. One minute I feel settled and grounded, the next minute it’s all unfamiliar and foreign again. I’ve been grumpy, ecstatic and inconsolable all in one day. As I go through the motions and try to find some semblance of normality again, things are still a little erratic around here. On the plus side, living in the new city means my weekends often look a lot like this:

Source: The Fresh Exchange

Home and Away… with you each day! Let me be the one etc.

We didn’t get the best television in South Africa when I was growing up. It was the end of the 80s/early 90s, we lived in a dingy coal mining town on the outskirts of Johannesburg and it was apartheid. We were lucky to get some British comedies every now and then but what all South Africans were predominantly hooked on during that time was soap operas. My poison of choice was the Aussie soaps, Neighbours and Home and Away. So you can imagine my excitement when the first trip we took in Australia was to the very town where Home and Away is filmed – Avalon. I sang the opening song at every opportunity (I was real popular in the car by the end of the weekend). I took so many photos, here is just a taster of them. 

All photos by Wishful Thinking

DIYers we are not

Moving into a new home puts your DIY skills to the test. There is always a little something to hammer, tighten or repaint. Jordan is going to go all diva and bluster at this but we are seriously crap at DIY. Like there should be a law against us owning power tools. My debilitating impatience ensures that I regularly fail at DIY tasks. I never let glue set, I complete projects by skipping steps, I half-arsed read the instructions and can’t possibly wait for paint to dry. Jordan is an overzealous DIYer who would rather make four holes in the wall to hang a picture than one, who once got overenthusiastic with a dollar store hammer and nearly concussed himself when the head flew off and who recently tightened a loose kitchen tap so hard that it popped right off  (true stories by the way). Somehow we manage to get by but some days I do wonder if there is some sort of boot camp that could whip us into shape. In the meantime, I am hoping to follow through on my dream of doing a quick upholstery course to keep my waning creative edge (anyone done this Intoo one? If so, please drop me a line). I feel decidedly inspired by this project below (and yes, that is hand block printed linen)!

Before:

After:

During:

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Source: Remodelista | Photographs by Ariele Alasko

Ride upon the storm

The weekend is finally upon us. I was hoping to do my usual weekend ritual of heading down to the shore but the rain is still with us (notice the quiet restrain in my tone?). I’m going to suck it up anyway and grab a hoodie and some closed shoes and a very strong cup of coffee and feel the wet sand between my toes for a change. Although I am not jumping for joy over the endless rain Sydney has been experiencing, I am loving the extreme changes in weather. Hot winds, dark ominous clouds, thunder, lightning, hail – it all makes for very dramatic pictures and Jordan has been having a ball storm hunting with our camera. Pity we didn’t manage to capture anything quite like these pictures in the SMH. Instead, I just sat at my office desk and watched it roll in like a formidable predator.

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Every little thing – week 1

I am feeling much more balanced, centred and more myself (if that makes sense) since I started blogging again, which is funny because I was sure my rigorous daily blogging schedule was the very reason I was feeling not quite myself in the first place. I am not back at full whack though but that’s intentional –  blogging on a whim suits my current mood and is keeping the pressure at bay. But I still love my  little corner of the internet and I want it to continue to grow and give me the creative outlet and challenges that my somewhat sterile office job lacks. So my latest challenge to myself is to have a little blog revamp, get a good series going, sort my social media shit out (Twitter is still my mortal enemy and Facebook has locked my account) and post more of my own pictures - which in turn means taking more of my own pictures! I’m getting there so thanks for sticking by me. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a few pretty details from my weekend. Notice a theme in my life at the moment? I’ll give you a clue: it starts with b and rhymes with teach.

- A neighbourhood walk around Paddington -

- Coffee table driftwood from a long walk on Palm Beach -

- Beach rocks at Maroubra -

- Coral, ready for it’s close-up -

- Time to move to the beach, oh wait, I already live there! -

Holding on to the sunshine

I think I have webbed feet. And I can hardly believe that I am saying that sitting over here in my Australian ivory tower. Sydney has been in the midst of a deluge for the greater part of a week. I know that we desperately need the rain but I can’t help the funk it has put me in. I got so used to flip flops and sunshine that when I put my tootsies into closed shoes, I ended up with a mahoosive blister on my baby toe. True story. Oh well, it was only a matter of time before my 7-month summer came to an end but I am not quite ready to say goodbye yet. So I am taking us all on a tour of an outside space that epitomises summer. White washed pool area, outdoor fireplace, outdoor shower area and even an outdoor kitchen. You can thank me later.

Source: Gardenista