sparkle & shine

i am a little obsessed at the minute with all this sparkly and shimmery. i have no idea why...just a thing, so i thought i would just share with you some of my faves at the moment...enjoy & don't forget...

all sparkly images from here...

coke addict

image via pinterest



ok, so this post is a little hard to write. It is always really, really hard to admit when something is wrong, or you know you are doing something  you shouldn't, but as "they" always say the first step is to admit it and second it to do something about it..so here I go.

I am a coke addict. Not the coccaine sort of coke but the coca-cola sort of coke. I have been a huge consumer of the sugary sweet fizzy concoction for god knows how long, years and years..cannot go a day without it, and have way way way too much, sometimes up to six cans a day...I know even as I write that I cannot quite believe it.  So, suffce to say, I hate it, as much as I love it, if that makes sense, but for awhile now I have had this horrid nagging voice in my head telling me this is not good, and you need to make a change. I think I just didn't because I was not strong enough, or willing enough to let this crutch go. But, I want to lose some weight and I want to get myself healthier for me. In turn making my life better for myself, my family, my work and especially my kids.

Now I know, you may think, urgh addicted to coke, boo hoo, yeah right get over it. But I have spoken to my doctor about it and she is totally convinced that it is an addiction so I am not just making it up! lol.

So 7 days ago, I did it, I decided that was it, I was fed up and was NOT having it anymore. The stuff is now banned from life, my house, my anything. I have gone 7 full days without one single sip..and you know what, I feel great. I have only had two cravings, and one set of the shakes, which I think was more caffeine withdrawal than anything..I don't drink tea or coffee so the caffeine withdrawal was gonna be a toughy. So that is that...I am on the beginning of a path, I have a few other things I need to give up, but that is another day, baby steps...I will let you know how I am going in 6 months..

Do you have any addictions you would like to beat or have beaten? Please share...xo

retro house reno update

So lots of people who read this blog know that we are renovating our little piece of the coast, The Retro House, as we have named it..in the past few months we have done a few things..it is a work in progress and we really love it...so here are some pics of what we have been doing, before's & afters....the story so far...

Freckles room before (note this is NOT our furniture it was the tenants!)

and after... the kids each chose their own feature wall colour, I am not a fan of feature walls at all I must say, but they each wanted their room a colour so we compromised, freckles wanted fluro green..bit scary but it works so well for you, she loves it...

 The boys room before, once again not our furniture the tenants..note all the lovely tiles throughout...yuck!

  

 After - The boy wanted a black wall, so he got it..we love it it looks great...

Before - Our room, mmmmm isn't this a stunner...it was like a hospital room, I hated it..

 After - this is how it looks at the moment..not the ensuite is the next on our list!

 also here is the boy sleeping on our bed at the front door whilst we were doing the painting...

We have also recently painted about 80% of the rest of the inside of the house..including the poo brown wall that I loathed..it has all been painted in Resene Quarter Tea, and we love it..no after shots yet as we are still deciding on curtains, and light fittings..but very soon...

We also did a bit of a makeover on the party zone out the back, sorry for the crap photos but I took these tonight..will have to get some during the day...

project : drinks trolley

ok, so i love a good project, well I love to start them, not so great at finishing them. Anywho..I have one at the moment, (one of many!). I am in love with the concept of a drinks/bar, butlers trolley for my living room...I don't know why there is just something cool about it...so I found one on ebay.. and here she is...

I was inspired by some gorgeous pics, that i found on one of my new addictions, pinterest. have a look the beauties i found below..just gorgeous.. now mine sweetheart is going to be painted in a gorgeous shade of grey... cannot wait to see how she turns out, and then to have some gorgeous girls round for a g & t or two..anyone interested??

check these out in the meantime..

(all images, othere than my ebay one are from my pinterest board here)

do you pin?

so do you? do you pin? i have to say I do, and I L O V E it..the above description if accurate though..it is crazy! You can catalogue all your fave things from online in one special little place..it is just gorgeous..if you have not done so you should definatley check out Pinterest.

You will not look back..and if you do make sure you follow me...see you soon and have fun!

daniel

We have all seen this photo of Daniel a million times. Living on the Sunshine Coast, I don't know, you just cannot turn around without seeing those beautiful blue eyes. The news in the last 24 hours has been harrowing, especially for Daniel's family. Words cannot express how this family is coping with the news that this animal has finally been charged with the murder of their precious boy. The thing that struck me now they are searching a site is that he has been so close to home all this time...I cannot even think what this is doing to his family, and especially Denise, his battle worn and strong mother.  Tomorrow the Morcombe Family has asked for people to wear red in honour of Daniel, we will be doing this, we hope you can too. Daniel's disappearance has forever changed the way we think and measure the safety of our children. His legacy has been that he has helped save countless, maybe even thousands of beautiful childrens lives, children he never knew. For that we thank you Daniel. May they find you sweet boy, so your Mum and Dad can give you the rest and peace you deserve and in turn hopefully they will gain some themselves. God Speed...

you go girl..

                                 
Normally I am not one to buy trashy gossip mags unless -
a. I am on holidays
b. I am sick in bed
c. it is Who mag which I buy religiously...

But..this week I just had to buy the current issue of Ok Magazine..Ricki Lee Coulter was on the cover and I could not belive my eyes..this amazing Australian woman has transformed herself, with guts and determination and damned hard work..She looks incredible and is an inspiration...



Another couple of Aussie women who have caught my eye and definatley my attention, is the gorgeous girls from The Block, are just the coolest mums going around...let me just say they are rockin! If you are not a fan of the block you probably have no idea who I am talking about, and if you are you may have your favourites and that is all cool, but these two ladies are just the best.
They left their families, homes, jobs, everything to risk it all on The Block and they have done the most outstanding job..they make me laugh, they make me cry but mostly they inspire me.

So to these three aussie women, I salute you, thanks for inspiring this old girl...and hopefully many others as well.

ps. you can pop on over to Katrina's blog here, and oh she is an amazing graphic artist, see here!