October 2014Life Love and Hiccups: October 2014
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Friday 31 October 2014

Weekend Rewind - A Totally Random Story About Compliments and Toe Bans

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I made a complete ass of myself again today... all because I suck at taking compliments.

I had stopped into the 7 Eleven on my way home from a meeting this morning, as I had a serious craving for an icy cold Coke in a glass bottle. It's got to be in glass, always glass because I cannot drink Coke or any fizzy drink for that matter, from a plastic bottle. I have this thing in my head that makes me believe that it is just not cold enough or refreshing enough unless it is in glass.

Are you the same or are you not fazed either way and just think I am weird...er than you originally gave me credit for?

Anyway, that paarticular argument is completely irrelevant because it was what happened when I was in the servo that was behind today's serving of self imposed humiliation.

So I grabbed my icy cold glass bottle of coke from the fridge and I plonked it down in front of the register and start digging around in my purse for some change.

"That's a nice colour lipstick" says a man's voice.

I look up from my purse and look at the man behind the counter before quickly spinning around to look behind me. When I find there is no one behind me, It dawns on me that he was talking to me.

"You what?" I asked somewhat bewildered.

"That's a nice colour lipstick you are wearing maam" he said again as he looked directly at me.

I paused for a count before I opened my lips and started furiously rubbing at my teeth "Oh man, do I have lipstick on my teeth?" I mumbled with my finger stuck in my mouth.

"No, I don't think so, I didn't notice" he said "I just like the colour of your lipstick, it looks nice on you" he added without breaking out into the fits of laughter I was totally expecting from him.

"Ahhhh thanks. I like the colour of your ummm head thingy" I said pointing to the purple cloth wrapped around the top of his head whilst cursing myself for having a total brain fart and not remembering the name of it.

"Its a Toe ban" he informed me "Thank you"

"A WHAT? A Toe ban?" I asked incredulously

No maam, its a T.U.R.B.A.N he repeated slowly and clearly so that I wouldn't misunderstand his accent again.

"Of course it''s a turban Sonia you moron" I thought to myself as we stood there in awkward silence, neither of us knowing what to say or do next. "der"

I quickly grabbed some guilt purchases - you know, the packet of mints, three Curly Whirlys for the kids and an NW mag that you buy because you are so embarrassed by what just went down and you think that buying extra stuff will make up for being such an A class idiot.

I placed them next to my icy cold coke in it's glass bottle and handed over my keycard all the while feeling like a complete moron.

I walked out of there somewhat stunned by what had just gone down. How on earth did I manage to turn what I am guessing was supposed to be a nice innocent compliment into that awkward confusing exchange of words?

Because I suck at taking compliments. That's why!

The point is... well there is no point really. In hindsight this post is just as random as a stranger in a servo with a purple 'toe ban' on his head telling me that he likes my lipstick colour. Except, next time I will just offer a simple thank you for a compliment instead of creating such a toe ban curling awkward situation and looking like a complete ass.

I do however stand by my claim that coke is colder and tastes better in a glass bottle.

Oh by the way... if you remember, come back tomorrow as I have a HUGE announcement I have been busting to tell you about!

Happy Weekend you guys xx

How are you at accepting compliments?
Do you prefer Coke and fizzy drink in glass over plastic?
Do me a favour and say turban out loud with an Indian (I think) accent.. Does it sound like 'toe ban' to you or am I just a moron with wax in her ears?

TIME FOR WEEKEND REWIND
Link up your favourite post from the past week and then if you get a chance, pop around and say hello to some of the other lovely linkers. The Weekend Rewind blog hopping party starts every Friday night at 8pm and links will close on Sunday night at midnight. Link up here or over on Bron's blog (Heartfelt Living)Sonia's blog (Sonia Styling) or Kelly's at A Life Less Frantic
It does not matter where you link as your link will show up in all 4 places.

Thursday 30 October 2014

Making an Entrance

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I tend to be a HUGE klutz when it comes to making an entrance. I can pretty much guarantee that at least 2 out of 3 times I will completely humiliate myself by falling out of my car, walking into a wall, tripping over my own feet, or just saying something really really dumb.

But I'm not here to humiliate myself any further by telling you about just how awkward I really am. Nope, the type of entrances I am talking about today are the ones in our homes.

When I am walking along the street, pretty much any street, and I see someone coming out of their front door, I am the weirdo straining her neck to get a little peak at their entry and front hallway.

From one teeny glimpse through the front door, I can get a feeling for a place. Uh huh! I telepathically tune into the energy flowing out the front door and tap into the vibes in the bricks...

OK not really... and by not really I mean that I have absolutely no telepathic powers to read a house's energy, but the bit about having a creaky neck from being such a sticky beak is unfortunately true.

So, you've probably picked up from my random ramblings lately that I am in the process of doing up our home. I am indeed attempting to renovate on a very VERY tight budget.

The first two rooms I have unleashed myself upon are the master bedroom and the entry and front hall way area and I am pleased to report that I am kind of *cough cough* making progress.

Ohhh OK, so the progress bit is a lie too!

Truth be told, I have barely made much progress at all apart from buying the paint and collecting the artworks and bits and bobbys that I plan to put on the walls. I've have however managed to pin a shitload of images of hallways and entries onto my Pinterest board.. so I am just gonna go ahead and call it progress anyways... purely for motivational purposes.

I thought I'd give you a peak at some of the fabulous entries and hallways I found on Pinterest that I have been using as inspiration for our own home... minus the exposed brick work, expensive chandeliers and vintage floor boards, because not only am I not telepathic, I am also not an alchemist and sadly I cannot perform those kind of miracles on a next to nothing budget.

I'll share some progress of our joint with you soon, hopefully after I actually manage to get a little more done. But in the meantime... let's swoon together at these gorgeous homes.



Do you likey?
Any of these particular styles taking your fancy at the moment?
Are you a sticky beak too when it comes to getting a nosey through other people's front doors?

Image Source



I Sorta Kinda LiedHalloween Party At My PlaceWeekend Rewind - Don't Be Shy!Win 2 Stunning Love Bands From Uberkate

Tuesday 28 October 2014

The One Where I Sort Of Kind Of Not Really Try to Explain Myself

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I may have waved the kids off a little too enthusiastically this morning at school drop off.

"See ya later have a great day be good I love you" vrroooooooooom ... I was out of there and on my way to pick up my Mum and scoot us as fast as I could to IKEA.

Hot diggety damn, I love that place.

I mean, there you are all innocently wandering around amidst an explosion of housey porn and you're so busy chucking a couple of these, one of that, and ohhhhh maybe 4 of those, into your trolley and before you know it, you're calling for a back up trolley because someone *ahem* chucked a whole load of stuff in your trolley when you weren't looking.

That happens at IKEA you know?

I've tried explaining this to my hubby (more times than I care to remember) that IKEA has super speedy Ninjas that whip around the aisle chucking random stuff into your trolley and because you are so busy soaking up all the awesomeness around you and they are so quick and swifty, you don't even realise what has happened until after you have paid for it all. By then you are so plum tuckered out and ready to go home, that you're all "Oh well, I paid for it so I may as well take it home with me."

Or something like that.

What? It's true!

It happens you know!

Heck we were so preoccupied that neither my Mum or I noticed that I walked out with a big yellow chair.


Oh ok, I may have been lucid enough to know what I was doing when it came to that chair.... but I totally blame my Mum.

Don't let her innocent finger wagging fool you. She is an enabler my friends. And a notorious enabler at that.

Anyway, no harm done. Well not much anyway.

And as for that chair... that awesome bright yellow chair that makes my heart sing... well it just so happened that I had a perfect little corner waiting for it at home. so we're all good. We've made peace.

Earlier today, Kathy from Ying Yang Mother asked the question on my Facebook page today - "what is the average amount you spend at Ikea, and what is the lowest amount - one time I went there and only spent like $80, normally we're talking $200." 

Well Kathy, in my humble opinion,  if you walk out of IKEA having only parted with $200 then you have done exceptionally well. 

But then I am the daughter of an enabler so whatever.

Over to you...

What would be your average spend when you visit IKEA?
Do you show your partner everything your bought or do you kind of just put it in it's place at home and hope that no one notices?
Have you ever accidentally kinda of on purpose bought anything you didn't actually set out to buy?





I Sorta Kinda LiedHalloween Party At My PlaceWeekend Rewind - Don't Be Shy!Win 2 Stunning Love Bands From Uberkate

Monday 27 October 2014

Could it All be In The Stars and Numbers...

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I think I have mentioned before... like at least a gazillion times, that I am the type of person who is open to pretty much anything when it comes to religion, ghosts, psychics, power of the mind and universal spirituality. I mean hey... I have to be, considering I was *ahem* once an ancient Celtic healing witch or something like that.

Whilst we choose to send our kids to a religious school, we do so not because we believe that that particular religion is the be all and end all. No, we chose it for the small community and to give our boys some kind of foundation to form their own beliefs, as they mature.

I am not locked into any particular religion myself.  I'm personally drawn to a number of different religions and beliefs for varying reasons, most of which revolve around love and respect.

Over the years I have devoured books on Christianity, Paganism, Buddhism, physiology and even recently I have been reading more about Islam to try and have a greater understanding of their beliefs. So I guess you could say I am fascinated by all of them and to be honest, I like to cherry pick the most peaceful and meaningful parts of all the different religions and then apply those principles to how I choose to live my own life and guide our children.

Now whilst they aren't technically religions as such - astrology, numerology, psychics and clairvoyants and all that mystical kind of stuff, fascinates the bejeezus out of me as well.

I can't remember if I told you this, but recently some girlfriends of mine invited a psychic to our house, someone none of us had ever met before, and as soon as she walked in the door she said to me "Your deceased father in law is here you know. He says you don't have a single photo of him up anywhere and he wants you to fix that."

Ahhhh yep, and she would be correct on that. There were no photos up of my Father in Law, who had lived with us in this house until he passed away. But there sure as hell is a photo or two now!

Spooky? Yes, but then I love that kind of stuff. It intrigues me to no end.

A couple of years ago I had a psychic tell me among other things, that I would leave my corporate job and work for myself doing something that will help other people. Of course at the time I was earning a good wicket in my fancy pants corporate job and I was all "Pfft! Yeah not likely I'll ever leave this job".

Sure enough a year later, on a 2am whim, I quit that very same corporate job that I was so attached to and went into business for myself helping other businesses with their Social Media Strategy and Brand Development.

Coincidence? mmmmm maybe.

A few months back one of my best friend's Aunt offered to do a numerology reading for me.

To be honest, I was kinda freaked out a little by this idea as it is one thing to have someone tell you stuff about your future, but I wasn't so sure how I felt about having my future actually mapped out on paper. But after I was assured that you can control your own destiny and that this is merely a guide, I accepted the generous offer and waited with baited breath.

What arrived a few weeks later in the mail was pages and pages of beautifully, painstakingly, hand written notes in which Jude had outlined everything about me and my personality, past events and my future. I sat for a good hour and devoured it all, marvelling at how spookily accurate she was with the past and the present, and how exciting the future read.

Jude pinpointed issues that would arise in coming months with my health, contracts that would be signed and opportunities that would present themselves that ... holy shitballs ... have actually happened.

It's not for everyone numerology and psychics and all that kind of stuff, and totally each to their own on that. But at the end of the day, I do believe that each of us holds the power to create our own destiny and change course when things go awry. But all that said, I love to believe that there is something far greater than us out there, something religious, spiritual, universal, whatever... I just find it comforting to know that there is so much more than we can ever hope to discover in this lifetime... that when we die, after all of this, well it doesn't just stop there.

You know what I mean?

Have I completely freaked you out?
Do you believe in this kind of stuff or is it not for you?
Have you ever had your numbers done or seen a psychic?

If anyone would like your numbers read by Jude, let me know in the comments and I will put you in touch with her as she does it all via mail. She is good, very very good. I can totally vouch for that! 




Join Us For Dinner At My Place and WinWin A Kip & Co Queen Size Quilt Set From AdairsTugging At The LeashUsing PicMonkey To Improve Your ImagesThe Great Paint DebateI Sorta Kinda LiedHalloween Party At My PlaceWeekend Rewind - Don't Be Shy!Win 2 Stunning Love Bands From Uberkate

Sunday 26 October 2014

Win 2 Stunning Silver Personalised Your Script Love Bands From Uberkate

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***THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED - THANK YOU FOR ENTERING***


"Oh wow, how gorgeous! I would give the other to my mum (I know I'm supposed to say my husband, but he's already hit the maximum level of jewellery he'll ever wear!!) with my dad's handwriting in it. My dad wasn't a romantic at all, and often forgot her birthday and Valentine's Day. One year he went all out for Valentine's Day - present, card, dinner, the works. Two days later he died suddenly. She still has the card, and I'd get his written message put inside the love band."

You know that feeling you get when you watch one your precious friends do something so incredibly amazing that you want to squeeze them to bits and tell them just how proud of them you are whilst singing their praise from the roof tops.... yep that!

My absolutely gorgeous friend Kate of Uberkate has just launched her new Your Script technology AND a new blog and website all in the one week. How she and her hubby and business partner Adam are still standing after all the work that went into it, I truly do not know. But I am so proud of them.. so DAMN proud.


The story behind Your Script literally gives me absolute goosebumps. 


It's movie material stuff, I kid you not.

Imagine if your hubby proposed to you as he swanned through a restaurant, guitar in hand, singing you a love song called “Take My Name”... that he actually wrote for you! 


Are you swooning yet?

But wait... it gets better. 


11 years later on their anniversary, he presents her with an Uberkate Jewellery box. Luckily she restrained herself from punching him for giving her a piece of her own jewellery as a wedding anniversary gift, because, when she opened the box, she found inside a hand formed silver cuff with the lyrics from the song he wrote for her embedded into the metal. 

Even better, the lyrics were written in his very own handwriting.

If this couple weren't so incredibly genuine, kind, generous and every kind of amazing... you could be forgiven for wanting to poke them in the eyes for being such a loved up couple.

But you can't, poke them that is, because I would be forced to poke you back for they truly are the real deal and two of the most gorgeous souls you could ever hope to meet.

Kate was so blown away by the incredible gift from her hubby that she dreamt about being able to share this gift with everyone in some way.  

Kate's dream is now a reality, as Uberkate has combined an age old concept with cutting edge technology to deeply engrave your personal handwriting or the handwriting of a loved one, into all of their jewellery designs.

You can visit the brand new Uberkate website to view the full range of Uberkate Jewellery available and organise your own beautiful Your Script piece. 

But before you dive into their awesome website, hang around a little longer because I am so thrilled to tell you that Kate and Adam would love one of you guys to win a set of stunning silver Love Bands personalised with your handwriting or the handwriting of a loved one.

I know right! Probably the best giveaway I have ever had the privilege of running.


To enter to win 2 stunning silver Uberkate Love Bands personalised with Your Script by Uberkate valued at $870, leave me a comment telling me;

Who would you give the other love band to and what would you have engraved on them?

Then follow the prompts in the Rafflecopter widget below and cross all your fingers and toes and hope you are the winner.


The competition is open now and closes Sunday 16/11/14 at 7.00 pm AEST




Join Us For Dinner At My Place and WinWin A Kip & Co Queen Size Quilt Set From AdairsTugging At The LeashUsing PicMonkey To Improve Your ImagesThe Great Paint DebateI Sorta Kinda LiedHalloween Party At My PlaceWeekend Rewind - Don't Be Shy!


Friday 24 October 2014

Weekend Rewind - Don't Be Shy!

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Remember how yesterday I was kinda sorta bragging a little about telling some porkies to my kids about how I didn't really do much whilst they were at school, when really I had taken the day off work and was off gallivanting around Manly and lunching with friends?

Yeah, well I got bit in the ass I did... not literally, although that would make for one helluva story if someone did actually take a bite of my butt wouldn't it?

Nope instead I spent the night up at the hospital with one of my boys who had a suspected twisted testies.

I know, ouch right!

I don't even own a set of dangly bits but I'm still crossing my legs at the thought.

He's fine and just has to take it easy and rest the bits for a few days, which of course, meant he was home from school today.

But then one of his brothers who absolutely refused to be outdone by a testicle and jipped out of a day off school, conveniently came down with a whopper of a headache that granted him VIP access to the couch too.

And so consequently the two of them spent the day snarling at each other and fighting over the iPad, whilst I played the role of referee slash madwoman trying to catch up from a shifty day off whilst rescuing not one but two motherless baby bandicoots from our backyard.



Karma huh. She can be a tad temperamental at times.

On another note, I have been absolutely loving the fact that so many new bloggers have taken the time to say hello lately and I have spent many a night this week pouring over your gorgeous blogs.

Now I know who you are, please don't be shy OK. Join up with BronSoniaKelly, myself and loads of other awesome bloggers for the Weekend Rewind, as it's an awesome way to introduce new readers to your blog and for you to meet some other totally fabulous bloggers too.

Just link up your fave post from the week and then pop around and say hello to a few other lovely linkees.

So I was drooling and itching to let Mad Martha out after reading some of last week's links and I thought I would share some of my fave posts from last week's Weekend Rewind.

Happy Weekend you guys - hope you enjoy the promised sunshine.

What did you get up to this past week?
Been bitten on the butt by any porkies lately?


Top row left to right:

Middle row left to right:

Bottom Row left to right





Link up your favourite post from the past week and then if you get a chance, pop around and say hello to some of the other lovely linkers. The Weekend Rewind blog hopping party starts every Friday night at 8pm and links will close on Sunday night at midnight. Link up here or over on Bron's blog (Maxabella)Sonia's blog (Sonia Styling) or Kelly's at A Life Less Frantic
It does not matter where you link as your link will show up in all 4 places.

Halloween Party At Home

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This post is brought to you by Coles

Halloween, love it or hate it, is just around the corner and its coming for you and me for all of us.

Yep, come October 31st, the streets will come alive with witches and zombies and goblins and insert a gazillion other costume ideas here, because generally, on Halloween, anything goes.

We live in an estate that totally embraces Halloween and trick or treating (with a major emphasis on the treating part) and despite my *ahem* strict pre-child stance on never getting caught up in the Halloween hype, come Hallows Eve you will find me wandering the street with some other mum friends as we tag along behind our dressed up kids as they knock on neighbours doors in search of loot.

The hubby stays at home armed with treats to hand out to the creatures that come on knocking on our door and he is under strict instructions. Box A treats go to kids we know and Box B treats go to the random ghouls we have never laid eyes on before.

This year I have Box A consists of Chupa Chup Ghosts, Bat Poo and Jelly cup Jack-O-Lanterns.


Box B contains a whole load of Gruesome Body Parts.


Apart from the usual dressing up and roaming of the streets (and because I am inclined to go completely over the top with pretty much any excuse of a celebration), I like to throw a party at home for the boys too.

I put together a whole load of gruesome goodies, let the kids loose on the grub and then together as a family, we massacre carve up a pumpkin or two.


All of our Halloween party treats and goodies were put together from items I sourced from Coles, except for the googly eyes with I grabbed from my local craft store. And the beauty of this offering is that there are actually some healthy foods disguised as treats thrown into the mix. Mum 1 Kids 0. For the win!

Mummy Milkshakes & Spooky Eyes
Glass of malted milk in a bottle dressed up with a crepe bandage and some googly eyes, accompanied by Oreos split in half with some black icing for pupils.

Vampire Blood
You can use Blackcurrant juice for this or a little creaming soda if you are game.



Zombie Eating Watermelon
Cut the bottom off a whole watermelon and scoop out the insides. Carefully carve a face into the melon carcass and then arrange the chopped up melon, some grapes and blueberries (or whatever fruits your kids are into) around the base so it looks like the watermelon is puking zombies. Yeah I know, but the grosser the better on Halloween.


Bat Poo & Ghost Poo
Again with the grossness, but if it has the word poo in it, I can pretty much guarantee your kids are going to love it.

The Bat Poo is just a mixture of Malteasers and sultanas in a seal lock bag with a Bat poo topper you can download this topper below). The Ghost poo is mere popcorn in a bucket.

Spider web Tarts
You simply buy the ready made Raspberry Tarts from the Coles Bakery section and using a black icing writing pen from the bakery aisle, draw on some webs.

Chupa Chup Ghosts
Tear up squares of paper towel and fold it over the head of the Chupa Chup. Tie (or hot glue) a little ribbon around the neck and draw on some eyes with black pen.

Jelly Cup Jack-O-Lanterns
Flip some jelly fruit cups upside down, draw on a face with a black marker and hot glue a little twisted pipe cleaner on top.


Pumpkin Carving
Grab one of the Halloween Carving Pumpkins, or one of the Mini Halloween Little Jack Pumpkins which Coles has especially grown for carving (not eating) and download one of the free pumpkin carving stencils at coles.com.au. Then you and the kids can create a master piece or something that looks like Freddy Kruger did a number on... Whatever.

Ghost Centerpiece
Scrunch clear cellophane into a ball, leaving a little out the bottom to poke into a bottle full of water. Drape over with white tissue paper, tie a ribbon around the neck and glue on a couple of googly eyes.




Dont forget to stock up on treats for any little monsters that come-a-knockin, tricks arent all that frequent in a friendly neighbourhood, but hey, why take the chance!

Coles has loads of Halloween themed goodies, as well as decorating and costumes for the kids too so there is no excuse to not be prepared and my advice - be very very prepared as you dont want to start a zombie apocalypse.

So how about you - are you guys doing Halloween this year?





Weekend Rewind - A Pimple On An Elephant's Butt

Join Us For Dinner At My Place and WinWin A Kip & Co Queen Size Quilt Set From AdairsTugging At The LeashUsing PicMonkey To Improve Your ImagesThe Great Paint DebateI Sorta Kinda Lied

Thursday 23 October 2014

I Sorta Kinda Lied About Nothing Much

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"Mum, what did you do today while I was at school?" asked the youngest one.

"Mmmmm, a bit of this and a bit of that. Nothing much really" I sorta kinda lied.

Actually, it wasn't a total lie.

I didn't do much compared to a typical day, and if you can somehow qualify wandering around Manly with my camera in hand and then spending a couple of hours sitting at Hugos at Manly Wharf having lunch with some gorgeous friends, doing nothing much but eating and laughing, then theoretically I didn't lie at all.

After two hectic weeks of working crazy hours, I gave myself the day off.

Yep, the whole day.

Aaaaaand it just so happens that I spent that day doing... well nothing much really.

Glorious nothing.

And damned if I am going to feel an ounce of guilt about it.

When did you last take a guilt free day of nothing for yourself?
What would you do with a 'nothing much' day?

Tessa
Bron