Dear Santa

(Excuse the interruption to my slack holiday postings, but I wanted to drop a 
few hints to Santa before the international postage cut off date!!!!)

Dear Santa

Is there even any point in telling you again that a Chanel 2.55 (black with silver fixings) is STILL top of my list? Or that I've added a Macbook air to that list as well???

OK so here's a few realistic ideas for you

Marc by Marc Jacobs Petal To The Metal Natasha Bag

House Of Harlow 1960 Orlina clutch

A few additions to the bookshelf

Lady Gaga V Terry Richardson

From Season To Season -Sophie Dahl

My French Life - Vicki Archer

Chasing A Dream - Carla Coulson

Miss Dior Cherie perfume

MOR Marshmallow perfume

Tickets to So Frenchy So Chic

(and this is awesome because Sadie can come for FREE= double present!!!!)

A Bokeh kit

I'm sure there's an idea or two
for this lady that's at the top of your nice list but if you need any more help
check out my pinterest boards HERE

 xoxo


Some late addition ideas
A Clarisonic, a case of Strawberry and Lime Rekorderling
oh and peace on earth and goodwill to all men AND women 
and kids and dogs and giraffes etc etc

Pombal

The main reason for our holiday was for Sadie and I to meet the baby-daddy's family,

and because his parent's still have a place in Portugal is the reason we were able 

to be away for as long as we were.

Most of our time in Portugal was spent in a place called Pombal, the main cities, Lisbon and Porto were both about an hour and a half in opposite directions.

Being a city girl through and through I was a little bummed at first that we weren't closer to the cities, but it was a blessing in disguise as we actually got to have a bit of down time.

 lots of exploring (wandering)

Every couple of days we would visit the old ladies set up on the 

corner selling nuts, beans and dried fruit.

Mondays were our favourite day to stay in, as the weekly fruit and 

vegetablemarket sold the best rissois around. 

One day I will attempt to make these myself......

One of my favourite things about Pombal was that you could walk down the street 

and on the left side of the road was a massive supermarket, then turn to your right 

and there was a castle at the top of the hill. 

Amazing

Portugal Fatima

my little explorer

so cultured,

 

and yet still so cheeky

Monday Monday

Illness, resigning from the company that I have worked for for the past 12 years, getting a new job, party planning, living life and slowing my computer down by uploading 4,500+ photos from the holiday and now being close to my data limit for the month.


This is why I'm behind in sharing my happy snaps with you, so while I continue to get myself sorted a quick question for anyone that can be bothered answering. 


How do you store your photos? Once uploaded do you burn them to disc and delete from your computer, portable hard drive, print everything "just in case"?
I have backed everything up but am a little scared to wipe from my desktop, hoping someone can share some storage tips.
Thanks xx

Our holiday PORTUGAL part 1

Nazare, Portugal

We found ourselves visiting this beautiful spot a handful of times.

Nazare was a 40 minute drive from where we were staying, the view was A H MAZING, 

food was delicious (and cheap) lots of shops along the water front and there was a 

yummy ice cream parlour on the shore that served ice cream in fish bowls,

 what more could you need?

The view from the top

Getting down

On the ground

   

As amazing as the beach looks, the water was FREEZING and the waves were a bit

 too loud for little ears, so we spent most of our time making sand castles

      

and we rocked our matchy matchy Saltwaters

So so slack, home for a week and, with the exception of our shitty start, 

I haven't shared a thing about our holiday.

We've all come home and been a bit under the weather (maybe thanks to the weather), 

had loads of visitors and just generally disorganised.

So while I try to get back to some sort of routine and sleep pattern here's 

a couple of pics to tide you over. xoxo

We discovered ancient castles in Portugal,

Got lost in Porto,

Devoured nutella crepes underneath some big tower,

Ran into the coolest rodent in the whole wide world,

Dropped in to say Hi to Lizzie and the newlyweds,

and had an awesome family holiday.

Now once I can get through these 4,000 + photos I took I might share some tales.

xoxo

the last of the shit start (or Part 3)

So about 10 minutes after I burst into tears as soon as I saw P's parents, P arrived with the news that at that point in time the airline actually had no idea where our bags were.  

Remember earlier when I told you about the new bra with the hurty underwire? I was 
almost ready to pull that underwire out to stab someone but what could I do, we headed
to the car park and tried to find the car. I didn't even have the energy to be annoyed as 
we went up and down a few times to locate it. We finally found the car and I breathed a
sigh of relief, just a short drive home and I could finally get some much needed sleep.

Or so I thought.

As we climbed into the backseat with P and I either side of Sadie we were told that 
by law you are not required to wear a seatbelt. I buckled up anyway and I'm glad I did. 
The drivers here are crazy and apparently even though the speed limit on the freeway
is 120, everyone does at least 140!!!!

So for the hour and a half drive (short drive, my arse!!!)  could feel myself drifting in and 
out of sleep, with my arms across Sadie's car seat the whole time, with a false sense of reassurance that if something happened at 140 km/hr my arm alone would save her.

When we finally got to Pombal, I seriously thought about kissing the ground, but knew 
that once I was down I wasn't getting back up. Sadie had fallen asleep in the car so I carried her up the two flights of stairs put her straight to bed and took dibs on the first shower.

All I wanted was clean pj's but because they were possibly still flying over the Indian Ocean, I showered and turned my leggings and tank top inside out and after attempting to eat I headed for bed as I had lost all ability to chew, let alone communicate.

I would love to say I slept for 12 hours and woke up refreshed and revived but the little princess awoke from her slumber at about 4 a.m. 

6 hours sleep was better than nothing, I pulled out the ipad  and while she watched a movie I dozed a bit longer, I finally got up still weary but I knew that it was all up from here.

I had a (free) room with a view, a fridge full of food, clean undies and a purse full of Euro's 

that I could buy new clothes and toiletries with. 

Time to forget about the more than forgettable trip over, I was finally in Portugal.

I had no concept of what time or day it was but I was ready for some proper Portuguese food, 

shopping and sight-seeing. Any problems had to now solve themselves because I was officially 

on HOLIDAYS!!!!!

FUN TIMES AHEAD

 (Incidentally our luggage tuned up 24 hours after we did!)

And... Part Two

So I've been writing part two of the journey here for about a week and between losing drafts,

 limited internet access and fighting for the computer, I'm going to try again. I promise this is 

the last long and whiny post, from here on in it will be all good.

Premium economy was pretty sweet, more leg room which was a big bonus for the almost 

6 foot baby-daddy and drinks and snacks on demand.

The Melbourne to Hong Kong leg wasn't too bad, Sadie had her pj's on as we boarded and 

thankfully she slept at least 6 of the 8 (ish) hours that we were in the air. Most of that time 

she was asleep on me, not physically the most comfortable but I took comfort in the fact that she 

wasn't going anywhere and as much as I tried to sleep I couldn't manage any more than a few 10 minute catnaps. Before we got off the plane for our stop over the lovely flight attendant mad sure we were stocked  up with snacks as she informed us that there wasn't much open at HK airport at 5 a.m. 

It was lucky that our lovely flight attendant had taken care of us, because even if the stores had 

been open, we got stuck in customs, where our duty free alcohol was confiscated from us. I don't

 know why they hadn't sealed the bags in Melbourne but I didn't want to be detained so I stopped

 short of going bonkers in Honkers (of yeah I was that delirious).

So we quickly freshened up and before we had time to think we were boarding for the dreaded long leg.  A few drops of rescue remedy and I was as ready as I could be for the 12 hours from Hong Kong to London. At this point I had been awake for over 24 hours and was a little tired and emotional. I tried to read but words were all blurring into each other and after trying to read the same page 3 times, I attempted to watch a movie or two. No luck I would either doze off and miss 10 minutes of the story or someone would demand my attention. Pretty early on I resigned to the fact that this was going to be the longest 12 hours I could imagine and tried to visualise some paint to watch dry.

(now idea where in the world I am)

We finally touched down in London and I could feel my body aching but I was looking 

forward to a shower and a decent meal in the American Airlines lounge that we had been 

given passes to for our 6 hour wait for our next flight. 

As we were about to disembark from the plane we were surprised when the captain called out 

our names and told us there would be someone waiting for us at the gate. 

We knew this was going to be good news. Just what we wanted, they had managed to get us on the earlier BA flight to Lisbon which meant we had to whizz through the airport to get our connecting flight with just enough time to make sure our baggage was coming with us.

Finally after over 40 hours in transit we were in Lisbon, delirious I didn't know what I 

wanted most a shower, a decent meal or a comfy bed. 

(4 minutes of net time let, I suppose I will finish off with part three when I recharge my data package xoxo)

And just when I thought our holiday could finally start I heard the announcement that the final bag was on the turn-style, which was a problem seeing as P was the only one with his suitcase. 

I thought about downing my whole bottle of Rescue Remedy or throwing myself on the floor arms and legs  waving in the air like a two year old having a tantrum, but I had a little someone that I had to worry about so we took a number to wait our turn.

At this point we tried to buy a phone card to let the in-laws know why we were delayed because they were waiting on the other side for us but two phone cards and 20 euros later we had two cards that didn't work and an increasingly frustrated baby daddy. 

All I could think of was that if it hadn't taken so bloody long to get here I wanted to go home.

But I sucked it up and left P to sort out the bags as Sadie and I went to let the relo's know what was going on

Jealous now?? Part One

After more than 40 hours in transit I have no idea what time zone I'm in.

 All I can say is that my mind feels like it is in one place my body another. I think I may have slept for abut 3 of those 40 hours so I'm a little tired and emotional to say the least, so I'll apologise here for the long and whiney post but it's the easiest way to keep the family updated all at once. And it can only get better from her on in.

So let's start at the beginning.

Wednesday August 31st - Up before the birds to finish packing and getting organized. Traveling is so different now. Last time I set off I didn't have a child or a house to worry 

about. There are lists everywhere. Snacks and toys to remember, bills to be paid, how the washing machine works and what and when the dogs eat ( thankfully my house and dogs 

are in the hands of one of my wonderful friends so after walking out and locking the front

 door I know that I don't have to think about my house again).

I didn't want to leave any room for anxiety to creep in, I believe that all children feel a parents anxiety and can feed from it, P deciding  had time to wash the doors an hour before we left didn't help my anxiety levels, but we'll leave that topic for another day.

So we set off at 12.30 for our 3.30 flight. 

After an easy check in, our worries about excess carry on baggage were eased as we strolled through customs, leaving a tube of toothpaste that exceeded the carry on liquid limit, and went to our gate to have something to eat and chill for a bit before we boarded.

We had timed the flight for 3.30, so in theory the first leg of the flight would be exciting then once we took off from Singapore, Sadie would hopefully get a decent sleep for the longest part of the flight.

At 3.15 there was announcement that our QANTAS flight was delayed by about half an hour, something to do with catering apparently. At this point I was more worried about that chewing into my duty free time in Singapore, I had accidently on purpose left my watch at home hoping I could get a bargain on the way. 20 minutes later we were told the flight was delayed a little longer, there was no time frame but we would be onboard as soon as possible.

After about an hour, and a few drops of Rescue Remedy we were finally called to board, we joined the cue and handed over our boarding passes, where we were asked to stand aside. 

My heart raced a little, I was convinced we had scored an upgrade. We soon found out there had been a problem with our original plane and the one being used to replace it was smaller and there were some seating problems. I'm pretty sure because there were three of us that is why people behind us made it on board. I felt sorry for the man that had to deliver the news to the 13 of us that were waiting for information. 

"Sorry folks but we've had a plane change and unfortunately we can't get you on this flight but we are doing the best we can to get you in the air a.s.a.p. "

I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh, cry or punch him in the face (or nuts), it seemed our options were an Emirates flight at 6.30 or the late QANTAS flight at 10.55 that night. 

As we were lead to the business lounge, besides missing or connecting flights all I could think about was how Sadie would cope with being stuck in the airport. 

I needn't have worried. We had loads of food, numerous computers to surf the net, or in our case watch funny animals on you tube, and best of all the booze was serve yourself free pour.

If I wasn't traveling with a 2.10 year old I don't think I would have been capable of boarding a plane to anywhere, but being the responsible adult that I am (have become!) I limited myself to a couple of weak glasses. We soon found out we weren't going on the Emirates flight so P made himself comfortable and had himself more than a few serves of cognac (he's so posh). 

After being in the lounge for what felt like a lifetime, but was probably only just over an hour, we were told that we would be leaving at 10.55 that night. Not ideal but better than nothing, the biggest problem was the connecting flights, oh and the fact that I had banked on a Singapore stop over but we were now going via Hong Kong.

In our spare time waiting for news we had found a few connecting flights from London to Lisbon. We had found a flight that left an hour after our Melbourne flight but QANTAS told us that didn't give us enough time so we were booked on a flight that gave us a 6 hour stop over at Heathrow. I never thought I would be disappointed about spending any extra time in London but all I could think of was if I had enough supplies to keep Sadie clean and occupied.

Luckily QANTAS upgraded us to premium economy and gave us some $$$ compensation so when 10.30 rolled around I put Sadie in her pj's and we heading back to the boarding lounge excited but mostly relieved to be on our way. 

I'll be back with part two next time I get net acess.

Let's just say it gets worse before it got better, but the most important thing is we are here safe, happy and healthy and soaking up the beautiful weather, food and sights.

Wish you were here xoxo

single digit countdown

The sleep countdown has now officially hit single digits.

In 9 sleeps we will be boarding a big jet plane and it seems that as soon 

as I cross something off the "TO DO" list, I add another two things to do.

Thankfully I have an eager beaver ready to give a helping hand.

Travel on baggage safety check can now be crossed off the list!

Oh and just gotta say how much I love blog land and social media 

at the moment for all the travel tips I've read and been sent. 

Thanks peeps I'll be sure to share what works (and possibly what doesn't).

Dear Ewan


I thought you already had enough room in my heart but to be honest you've made some shockers over the past few years and I am really not usually a fan of your American accent. 
Then I watched Beginners.
OMG my personal pic for movie of the year.

So so so good.

Raised By Wolves?

She may favour peanut butter from the jar

We may constantly disagree on the amount of clothing that should 

be worn during winter and about the use of hair brushes

and I may be powerless to that cheeky smile

but man, I love this kid

even if it does appear that sometimes she is raised by wolves

Oi

I see red

Tomorrow I will be wearing my red scarf and sending as must positive energy as I can to the Morcombe family as they face another horrid day


I can't even put into words what needs to be said, thankfully Nikki over at Styling You has 
take a second to have a read and maybe add some red to your outfit tomorrow - 


http://www.stylingyou.com.au/2011/08/whatever-you-wear-tomorrow-make-it-red-for-daniel/

I can't wait to get my paws on a copy of the September issue of UK Vogue for 

the awesome pics from Kate Moss's wedding portfolio.

Thought I'd share a couple here because they are that ace!

This is probably my favourite (in my head she's wearing faux fur)

How stressful would it have been to find the right outfit for this wedding.

I'm having palpitations just thinking about it.

More pics and article here

(although I wouldn't read the article if you're prone to wedding envy)

xx