Busy

I don't know if I am too busy, but I do know I am close to that point.  I still found the time to stop and snap the sunset on my phone as I drove down the road near home.  Maybe I know I am ok if I have time to stop and enjoy the simple things, even if just for a moment.

I love the light just before the light is gone for the day.  It is soft and makes me think of romance, and of taking photos.

Peppy the Pony

New saddle, boots and reins = expensive

New pony = a lot more expensive

Riding in your pj's one afternoon = priceless!

Peppy joins our existing pony Lily.  Now we have one for both children which is a lot more fun.  Pony club, here we come!

Swoon

This quilt is going to take me forever.

Only two out of nine blocks done, maybe I will catch up over Easter...

Flix in the Stix

I was lucky enough to win two tickets to Flix in the Stix with thanks to Arts North West.  It was quite a drive for us to get there and back with dropping off kids and picking them up too, but I was really excited by the concept of open air cinema.

Nan babysat the children again while Colin and I set forth with picnic and chairs, the below photo shows the view from our seats.  I like the idea of the yellow ticket bean bag area but once the show started I don't feel like I missed anything from where we sat.

 

I didn't realise how much effort the sponsors put in to the running of this show.  Optus had free popcorn all night for everyone in big tubs and had a game console set up in a van on a big screen to entertain any children who might not enjoy the short films.  I ate more than my fair share of popcorn, thanks Optus!  They had Fruit Tingles too.

NRMA had free coffee and Lindt chocolates and their van was kept busy.  It was really good coffee and if you know me you will know I love coffee so this was very exciting for me!  I drank a few and lost track of how many chocolates I ate.

Commonwealth Bank did a fantastic job with glow sticks, lolly pops and inflatable foot/back rests perfect for outdoor movies.  They had a giveaway too and my name came out of the barrel, lucky me!

A surprise, fantastic find for the night was Little Creatures Brewery. It is a shame we both had to drive home or I could have sat there all night drinking beer.  The Bright Ale was fantastic and I can say it is one of the BEST BEERS I have had.  I will be doing a search and looking for this next time I need beer.

Obviously the beer was not free, but everything else mentioned along with bottled water was so this makes the tickets really good value for money.

 

I loved James Reyne, such a talented Aussie act and fantastic to listen to. He sang 'The boys light up', 'Hammerhead' and 'Reckless' among others.  I think I am becoming addicted to live music!

Aussie bush poet Murray Hartin  provided the other part of the live entertainment.  He performed 'Turbulence' and 'Rain from Nowhere' with a few others.  So much talent in the line up for the night.

My only complaint, and I feel like it is a big one, is that it was billed as family friendly entertainment but the first short film shown had adult themes and I would have been horrified if my children watched it, I don't know what the rating would have been but I would put it at an M as there was 'F word' swearing and a man got shot in what I consider to be a fairly graphic way.  For an event to be billed as family friendly I would have expected it to be PG.  Maybe that is just me?

All in all, I do plan to go back next year as this really was a great event and the Mr and I had a lot of fun, but I won't be taking the kids, even if they would love the glow sticks and popcorn.

A Day on the Green

I had never been to a concert before so when I saw that A Day on the Green had extended their tour schedule to include our area I excitedly booked tickets.  And because I have never been to a concert before I decided to do things properly and I booked us good reserved area tickets at that, you can see photos of our vantage point further down.

Choirboys and Dragon 

Richard Clapton and Ross Wilson 

Ian Moss

Amazing acts, and we were so close to the stage, it made it so fun to watch.  So many great songs that we all knew, and some we didn't but new is still good and it was enjoyable, except for Ross Wilson's dancing ha ha.

Between each set we were entertained by Dj Grand Master Baitz.  He was actually very entertaining and did a great job of keeping things going between the acts.

Grand Master Baitz

I asked a couple behind us to take some photos of Colin and I.  We don't often have photos with both of us in them so I was glad I did, not that they are great.  It was so warm and sunny, perfect weather for it.

Hmm, getting photo heavy, have you stopped reading yet?

The main event was Noiseworks.  Seriously amazing, that is all I have to say.

Thanks Nan and Pop for babysitting.  It is only the second time we have left the children for a night and I don't really like it.  I thought about them a lot and we got up this morning and left early to drive home.   Naturally the children were both fine and didn't seem to have missed us much, little devils!

I was interviewed by the local ABC radio station to give the event a plug too, but I didn't hear it on-air myself :)

Edit: It took me 2 days to realise that the name Master Baitz sounds like masturbates. 

Puppy Dog Eyes

On Saturday after I finished BBQ duty at the Bunnings sausage sizzle we picked up this little fellow.

He is seriously cute!

My brother was unable to keep him, the joys of being a tennant, so when I heard he was trying to sell him I offered to take him.  We knew he was a sweet little pup, great with kids, and I hope he has grown out of shoe chewing?

He kids love him!  We have given him a bath, been playing fetch and generally having fun in the yard with him.  I love that he is quiet of a night, is so soft and silky and did I mention he fetches?  I have never had a dog that would play fetch before!

Lets pretend I bought him for the kids...

The kids are calling him Banjo, which is close to his original name so I am going with it.  

2012 Reading List

I don't imagine, between uni and life, that I will get to read too much this year, but I will keep updating this list as progress is made.  Looking at the previous years totals, it is obvious that I had a lot of free time in 2009, moved to a renovation block in 2010 and went back to uni in 2011.  I hope this year I can beat last year's tally!  I will link this list to the picture on my sidebar if you are interested in keeping track.

1. The Postmistress - Sarah Blake
2. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simpson
3. The Donkey who carried the wounded - Jackie French
4. Truth - Peter Temple
5. Murder on a Midsummer Night - Kerry Greenwood
6. Wintersmith - Terry Pratchett
7. In the Heat of the Night - John Ball

June 26th: Hurrah, I am already equal to last year!

8. Dead Heat - Bronwyn Parry
9. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
10. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
11. catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
12. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins


The 2011 List (7 books)
The 2010 List  (18 books)
The 2009 List (57 books)

Autumn Tango

I finished sewing the binding down on my Autumn Tango quilt and wouldn't you know it is blowing a gale outside which has made it all but impossible to get decent photos.  The only sheltered areas seemed to be dark corners, or worse, full sun.

I am really happy to have finished this quilt.  This project was not without it's drama when UPS lost my fabric forcing me to source more after already waiting a month for the original order to arrive.  Locally I  managed to find more fabric, but the print I ordered to use for the binding didn't work in person so I ended up using grey.  I like the grey so this is ok.  The lost fabric did cause me to use more 'orange' than 'tangerine' fabrics, but by this stage I didn't care, I just wanted it done.

I used some of my Sandi Henderson Petal Party for the backing and I am very glad I did as I love it.  Neither the Mr or I liked this quilt as it sat on the design wall, but as soon as it came off the machine we both changed our minds.  It is nice that I have made something we both like and can use!

I am very glad I signed on for the Tangerine Tango challenge.  It isn't a colour I have used before and I am really happy to have this in the house now, very fitting for our first day of Autumn today!

It also counts as my March finish for AJ's 12 in 12 challenge.

And now that I think about it, it is Thursday so happy Creative Spaces to you all too!