what I truly wish for.

Today's #reverb12 prompt asks what I truly wish for. It was inspired by Cam from Curlypops.. The prompt asks that I

"Imagine a scenario where you only had one year left to live. What is one thing that you really wish to do that you just haven't had the chance to accomplish yet?

 What steps could you take (however small) to ensure that you accomplish this thing in 2013?"

A while ago I sat and reflected upon the things in my life that are important to me. The things that I love. The things I would truly regret not completing if I died tomorrow. For me this is not a very difficult question because I am often reflecting upon my life and how to make it better, this is something I learned to do in my late teens. But acting upon those things are generally another story. I can be incredibly nervous around people when I first meet them which tends to make the things that I want to complete very difficult.

There were a number of things that I wanted to complete when I wrote that list a while ago (actually it was around this time last year). I wanted to be happier in my own skin, to be more confident of who I am and to treat each day as a gift that is to be treasured. I also wanted to go back to university and complete my teaching degree so that I could have a rewarding career.  These are things that I have worked on this year, things that I have taken steps towards completing. 

The one thing that was on my list that I have not taken steps towards, the one thing that I TRULY wish for, is to play music again. 

For those who don't know, I love music. Singing and playing my guitar is my true happy place and although I play in my lounge room, I desperately yearn to sing in a band again. But I simply do not know where to start. When I sing, when I make music, it is the only time in my life that I am not nervous. 

I don't know what steps I would take to make my music dreams happen. I dream of recording a demo here at home (we have all the equipment) and attempting to get some gigs. I dream of writing more and putting my heart into song. 

I will start by embedding a video of me singing a song I wrote 5 1/2 years ago. Something that terrifies me, I am not sure why. The sound and video are slightly out of sync and I think (maybe) my guitar might be a little out of tune. I play this song slightly differently now (maybe because I play guitar better now), I really should re-record it, but you get the idea.

What is it that YOU truly wish for?

Sunday Snippets

 

A few snippets from this week. 

What have you been up to?

Playing along with tinniegirl

how are you starting?

I am starting this month playing along with #reverb12 over on I Saw You Dancing. Kat sent me a message here on Sunday last week asking if I would like to play along and I really think it might get me out of a non-blogging rut that I have been in the last month or so.

So today's prompt is "how are you starting this month?"

The first thing that I did this morning, to start this month, was send my gorgeous sister Carmel a birthday message. It's her birthday today and we wont be around to help her celebrate as she lives in Brisbane and we live in Melbourne. But we are excited to give her real hugs at Christmas time when we will see her.

I am starting this month busy. December is always a busy month here at our place with Christmas just around the corner and all of the organising that goes along with it I am looking forward to Christmas day to actually just sit down and relax.

I am starting this month in a festive mood. I've set up the Christmas tree, the kids have decorated it, and it is beautiful! I love when my kids decorate the tree, and this year the decorations are much more spread out than last year when they just put the decorations right in front of their faces and we had very well decorated sections of the tree.

 

How are you starting December?

Have you set up your Christmas tree yet?

Sunday Snippets

Joining in with Sunday Snippets. Reflecting on my week in photos.

a bit of cooking..

I started writing this blog post on Tuesday, but one thing leads to another and now, on Saturday I am finally posting it. Life is busy busy here at the moment. I am looking forward to Christmas time to sit down and relax on a beach with a beer or something.

I've been doing some pretty amazing healthy cooking here lately. I have been eating and sweating my way down to my goal weight and came to the realisation on Saturday that I have only got 5kg to go before I have reached my goal.

I am absolutely loving the delicious food that I have been creating with my clean eating regime.

Green with envy Pancakes

My own version of this Pumpkin Hummus recipe.

Clean eating for me has meant eating no preservatives, lots of veggies, no bread and limited dairy. I eat around 5-6 times a day depending on hunger and I am finding that eating this way makes me feel so healthy and full of energy. I very rarely eat store-bought or packaged foods unless the ingredients indicate that I could make it myself. I have read so many different websites and blogs that talk about clean eating and a simple google search will give you more information. I follow all of the rules aside from the no alcohol one.

Part of eating "clean" has meant that I have stopped having cow's milk. This has meant no milk in my tea, and no more lattes. It has also meant that I've had to find an alternative to have in my porridge, smoothies and other goodies. So I started having almond milk which I was afraid of to start with but it wasn't really that scary after all. But the price is pretty scary. Coles sells the stuff for around $6 per litre... EEK!!!

The other day I was talking to a man at work who told me to try making almond milk, its not very difficult... and so I have, and its really not. I thought I would share.

You'll need some raw almonds... About 10-18 per person and about a cup of water per person as well.

All you have to do is soak the almonds overnight in the water.

When you want to use them, put them in the blender, and go for it.

 

And that's it! 

Much cheaper, and tastes MUCH better than the store bought stuff! I used this almond milk in some yummy oats with berries. 

How's your weekend going?

Are you waiting on Christmas for a day off too?

What is your favourite healthy meal?

whoops!

I've let the last 12 days go past without any posting which I am kicking myself about. I have been very busy finalising the end of this semester at uni and ensuring I put in as much effort as I could to get the marks that I really want. I like to work hard as I think it pays off later in that I have learned as much as I can and do not need to really re-learn, just refresh.

A few things I have been up to...

 Sewing.

Celebrating another successful year for Miss-R at Calisthenics. Also celebrating the fact that we don't have to go to calisthenics practice for a couple of months.

Giving magical mummy cuddles.

Taking far too many "selfies".

I've also been doing lots of yummy clean-eating cooking, attempting to sell my car (without much luck so far), going to watch the MR play inline hockey, writing assignments, getting marks back for assignments, procrastinating, and working. I love my life, so busy and so many things that I get to do every week.

What kind of busy person tasks have you been up to or are you enjoying a more relaxed lifestyle?

Sunday Snippets

I forgot to publish this last night!

Blogtober 26th: Cancer

This morning I was informed that my G.P. of 5 years lost her battle with cancer two weeks ago.

She was so helpful to me after I had Mr-O and struggled terribly with Post Natal Depression and she helped so many more people also. It is difficult to digest that someone who helped so many sick people was sick herself. My heart and thoughts and prayers go out to her family during this time of loss.

Cancer is an awful disease that affects so many people. Most of us have been affected by it at some point in our lives.

It's effect on me today is to hold those that I love tighter, to kiss them a few more hundred times each morning when they wake up, and to make the most of every moment that I have on this earth. To use my life as a proclamation of joy, and happiness, and love. To not worry about tomorrow, but to have the very BEST TODAY possible.

Today it is National Bandanna Day in Australia.

National Bandanna Day is a fundraising initiative run by Canteen, an organisation that supports people aged 12 - 24 who have been diagnosed with cancer. People buy and wear bandannas all over Australia with the money going back into supporting these young people.

My G.P. wasn't a teenager, but there are so many young people who struggle with cancer in our country and National Bandanna Day is a great way to give them our support. So I encourage you to head over to their website and see how you can support these people today. There's a list of places you can buy bandannas too.

Blogtober 25th: my creative space

There's nothing much creative happening here today. Between work and children I am honestly not really in the headspace for it. There's still uni work to do too. I am hoping a hot shower after the kids are asleep will be rejuvenating for me.

Hope your day has been amazing and full of the kind of smiles that make you as tired as I am now :-)

blogtober 23rd: missing

Yes, I've been missing the last few days of Blogtoberfest. I have desperately wanted to post, but had computer issues, university assignments, and I decided to change my photo editing software because perhaps the previous software had something to do with the first excuse.

I have returned, I still have lots of assignments to work on and complete. One of which is a big, annoying and incredibly confusing research report that I am sure you don't want to read about. But thankfully life goes on, in a few weeks these subjects will be over and new ones will begin and I am gaining more knowledge about the profession that I will hold one day in the not so distant future.

I did promise to try to de-stash some patterns this month, and with only seven days remaining I really do wonder whether I will get another item sewn up with all of my other commitments. But I do want to start. I have two patterns that I would like to get sewn up in the near future.

Both of these patterns are yet to be opened and I am intent on doing so before the end of the year for both of them.

One is Vogue v8365 (I can't find a link to the pattern anywhere!). I am not really a shorts person generally. I don't know why, but I just think I look weird might be my height. Don't even get me started about how ridiculous I look in 3/4 pants! Anyway, I was looking through my stash of patterns and this one I had prepared with fabric chosen and everything in the folder with it ready to go. So I will divulge the desires of past-Amy and make up these shorts. Probably in view A. Short shorts are always more friendly than ones that finish just above the knee.

The other pattern is the Claire Cami Dress by Serendipity studio. This pattern has five different lengths to choose from from cami, tunic, short dress etc. I will probably (once again) head to the short option. It is getting close to summer.  I'm really looking forward to wearing one of these dresses actually.

Thirdly, and not pictured, I want to make another Anna Mini Dress. I love a good summer mini-dress and I made the longer length last year and I never wore it because it was at a silly length for me (and I made it too big). This pattern is obviously third on the list because I want to finish something I haven't started before first.

Well, its time to go make the lunches...



What photo editing software do you use?
Do you look funny in knee length shorts too?
What is your favourite Summer clothing item?

Blogtober 21st: Sunday Snippets

Blogtober 17th: wordless Wednesday

Snowed under by books.

Blogtober 16th: on working with children.

Finally, a wrap up of the items I completed in the KCWC.

I wanted to get some great modeled shots of the kids' new clothes, but working with children... yeah well we all know how that saying goes...

Mr-O tells me this is the best way to look at his new pants. By looking at the cool green fabric through the light of the window.

I was able to get him away from the window for a second before he went back...

Miss-R LOVES her new skirt, and as soon as she put it on, she ran out to the back garden to complete a very important test...

The twirl test... and it passed with flying colours.

Maybe one day soon I can get some great modeled shots for this blog, but for now, we can just see the clothes being enjoyed. That's all I wanted.

Are your kids unwilling models too?

Do your daughter's insist on checking the twirl factor on every skirt or dress?

Are you keeping up with Blogtoberfest?

Blogtober 15th: watch this space

I've been busy with work and uni the last couple of days, but I hope to be in tomorrow with photos of my KCWC finished items.

I haven't forgotten you blogtoberfest.

P.S. the MR surprised me with a new dishwasher today, isn't it beautiful?

Blogtober 13th: KCWC day 6

Today I gave myself a similar deal to yesterday. Rewarding myself with sewing is turning out to be quite satisfying. So after a lovely Saturday morning sleep in, some awesome breakfast and some reading time, I set to making Miss-R's Milkshake Skirt. 

The Milkshake Skirt is actually really easy to sew. MUCH easier than I had imagined, what with all those coloured panels. But it comes together really easily with only 3 pattern pieces. I have used the grey linen again (that's the last of it!) and some Happy Mochi Yum Yum by Monica Solaro-Snow as my accent fabric. 

It has meeblings in the selvage (bloomin iPhone games...)!

I am excited about how it will look when I finish it. I am also realising I have made both of the children items of clothing in grey and green... Totally un-planned, perhaps it has something to do with my mood. 

 

I actually gave myself a bit of reward time today. A few hours of study behind me and a skirt almost finished to show for my hard work. Hopefully I can finish it in the morning so Miss-R can wear it to watch daddy play hockey.

What did you get up to today?

Do you make strange connections to iPhone games too?

How do you reward yourself?

Blogtober 12th: KCWC Day 4 & 5

Yesterday my space was not so creative, and my place was full of tired, cranky parents. Mr-O made the executive decision to spend most of Wednesday night awake, coming into wake me five times during the night. Teamed with an early start to sit in traffic before a long, busy day at work, and then awful traffic on the way home, I didn't sew yesterday. In fact last night I didn't do much of anything other than mumble instructions to children about eating their dinner, brushing their teeth, and going to bed.

I did make a decision about what to make for Miss-R though for the KCWC. I am playing along with Karen from and so I sew this month and de-stashing some of my patterns in her great pattern de-stash. No, I'm not giving them away. The plan is to take some of the patterns out of the stash that I haven't used before, and use them! So in light of my blogtober plans to make, and to fulfill unfulfilled sewing promises, I will be making Miss-R the Milkshake Skirt I promised her back in June.

It's amazing what sleep can do, its so refreshing, and with only 2 visits from Mr-O during the night, today I decided that sewing would be a reward for me. 

I so desperately wanted to get into the sewing room and finish off Mr-O's pants. But I do have commitments to my study and I use Friday mornings to get a lot of reading done generally. So my deal with myself was to complete an hour's study before rewarding myself with some sewing. A good deal I do think myself.

And so today I give you the finished product. The shorts should be around 3/4 length on Mr-O, I will try to get some modeled shots up by the end of the week. I made a few changes to the original idea of the pattern, and so didn't follow the instructions at all, just used the pattern pieces.

The original pattern called for the pieces to be made into lined pants that can be turned up at the bottom to create a cuff that is held up by tabs with buttons. The problem with this is that Mr-O hates buttons. He pretty much lives in trackpants, won't wear a polo-shirt, and don't even ask him to wear a button up shirt! Making him something without buttons is the only way to get him to wear it.

The pants also have a stretchy drawstring. We are big fans of drawstrings here as pants that have the pull in waists have buttons also, and on the inside, meaning they are doubly horrid to Mr-O. I am thinking I will add in a bit of topstitching to the top of the waistband though to prevent this drawstring from digging in (the original tutorial probably asked me to do that but as I didn't read it...)

So there is my first finished item. It looks probably not much like the idea the pattern asked for, but it is what I had in mind.

Was your space creative yesterday?

Do your kids have clothing that they simply will not wear?

Do you know how to stop 4 year olds visiting their mummy 5 times a night?

Blogtober 10th: KCWC day 3

Today is day three of the Kids Clothing Week Challenge (although if you are in the US it is still day two).  I have put my dress sewing plans aside for the week so that I can use my sewing time for the kids challenge. 

I cut out the pieces and set to sewing today. I must admit, I have ditched the instructions completely as I have a slightly different finished product in mind than the original pattern intends. 

I pottered away for about an hour and a half today, making sure that every seam is straight and finished. I also made sure I did understitching in the pockets (not that the pattern asks for it)  to make sure that they sit flat and don't pop out as Mr-O runs around. 

I am even doing double top stitching in lime green to make the shorts have a more professional look.

I am really pleased with how well these are coming together and Mr-O is excited about having some new shorts to wear when the weather warms up. Can we wish it to warm up by sewing shorts and crossing our fingers and begging the sun to come out and defrost us??

I got the shorts almost finished today with only a few little tasks left to go. I will work on them again on Friday morning as I have work all day tomorrow and won't have time to actually sew. I have other kids clothing sewing plans for tomorrow evening, inbetween the reading and studying and general organising of small children. 

Are you playing along with the Kids Clothing Week Challenge?

Are you dropping by for the first time via Blogtoberfest?

Are you wishing for the warm weather to arrive like we are?