A little sneak peak into our Wedding Day

25th of April 2010

"If love be all ~ Then you are love ~ For you are all to me"

x S.K.K x

I would like to introduce you to a very special business

This gorgeous business is owned and run by the very talented and creative Claire!

What draws me to these products are their uniqueness and flair mixed with Claire's enthusiasm for creating earth-friendly products.

Here are a few samples of her work...

Are you celebrating a special birthday, introducing a special new addition, celebrating a wedding. These fun, unique and totally gorgeous invitations will set your party/announcement apart from the rest.  

Along with these stunning invitations Claire also offers a range of eco-friendly products that include 'Mini Garden' Collection, Seeded Paper and Gifts that Grow. This range will definitely impress your next gift receiver.

           Gifts that Grow

Seeded Paper   

Please head over to her website - Scissors Paper Rock - to see more of these divine invitations and special gifts.

Body Balance

I have not had a decent night sleeps in 2 years. I am surviving on 3-4 hours maximum of sleep a night and I unfortunately can not say that this is because of a lovely child. I work 50 hours a week looking after 3 kids aged 2, 5 and 7 and my job involves school runs, play dates, dinner prep, school lunch making, homework, swimming lessons, footy training, bed making, toy room cleaning, ballet lessons....sounding familiar mums...then I have to go home each night and run my own household! I love my job but it definitely keeps me on my toes. I see it as intense training for when I become a mum to my own child. I went to the doctors to make sure there was nothing physically wrong with me and surprise surprise...all perfect...dam i mean great! but that means the no sleep and headaches and back aches are all due to....drumroll please....stress! DUH! Show me someone out there that isn't stressed! I went to my chiropractor and they said the same thing...stress...she wouldn't work on me until I had a massage cause I was so tense she couldn't adjust properly!

SO both the doctor and my chiro have told me to take hot baths at least 3 times a week and take up Yoga! This will clear my mind and stretch out my body! I must admit this does make perfect sense as when I'm lying there in bed at 2 in the morning staring at the ceiling I do have a strange urge to start stretching out my legs and back to calm my body down! So a few weeks ago I made the change and signed up to my local gym and decided to start body balance! Which is a mix of Yoga, Thai Chi and Pilaties.

Today was my first session and boy I am scared to wake up in the morning! I feel I am going to be in so much pain! hahah but with the pain aside I did have a wonderful time and really felt it did wonders for my body! Its amazing how stretching out your body can make you feel so calm. I must admit the old ballet hands made there way in there a few times and the need to push myself to my limits may not have been the best idea for my first time but I just loved it and wanted to join in 100%. We went through the stages and I did pretty well with all of the moves however when the 'core strength' section came I really had to pull myself up and remind myself not to push too hard if I wanted to walk tomorrow. So hopefully in a few weeks I will be up with the rest of them! At the end of the session they turn the music on and dim the lights and you have meditation time for 5 minutes. Mind you the minute I laid down and stopped my mind and head blew up and was so heavy and throbbing from all the hard work my body had just done, It was such a weird feeling I really needed that 5 minutes to take control back over my body so I could walk out of that room safely! My legs have been jelly all night but all these feelings my body is going through have been so wonderful and I know are signs that finally my body is being active! Lets hope I get through the night and I am not too sore tomorrow!

x S.K.K x

Week - a - Boo

~ The kids I look after came to my house Friday night and had a sleep over for the first time. It was fun introducing them to my world ~

~ After a 4.30 am wake up we went for a walk to our local cafe for breakfast...on our way home we stopped at the park and ended up staying for a 3 hour play ~

~ Their favourite part of coming to my house is visiting and playing with all of the animals. They especially love collecting the eggs from the chicken coup ~

~ Nothing better then fresh chicken eggs ~

 

~ Smoothies for lunch before heading home ~

~ Saturday night I went to the Broncos Leagues Club for dinner with my husband...first time I had seen him all week - but totally worth the wait. Seafood, Pasta, Pizza, Asian and the yummiest desserts all made a naughty yummy dinner ~

~ Sunday I did absolutely NOTHING...I left the mattress in the lounge room from the sleep over and I stayed in my Pj's and watched mindless T.V all day ~

It's sometimes nice to stop and relax and take a me day.

What did you do this weekend??? Head on over to Claire at Scissors Paper Rock and take a peek into other bloggers weekend adventures.

x S.K.K.x

Election '10

Well its over…finally…after countless tv adds and contorversial radio campaigns  it was time to vote and choose which party will run our country for the next three years. I am unsure whether I agree to the compulsary voting or not. It is wonderful that we live in a free country where we have the right and a say in how our country is run but unfortunatly these days I feel our generation is simply not educated enough to be voting and making such a crucial decision for our country. A lot of people these days do not take an intrest in politics and I think the biggest reason for this is because we ae simply not educated. I say 'we' because I am definatly one of these people. Yes we studied the basics of government in grade 7 whch was topped off by a trip to sydney and canberra which included a trip to parliament house. But that was just learning the running of the governments and the house and not actually about the parties themselves and what they stand for. I feel the ads and ‘discussions’ on tv end up becoming so childish, pety and controversial that I ended up giving up on listening as they were more intersted in shutting down each other than really showing and teaching us what they are about. 

I wouldn’t have a clue about Labour and Libral and who is what and what they stand for. I feel because Julia Gillard has been appointed prime minister there will be a majority of our peple voting for her simply because she is a female and not because she has our countries best interest at heart and in reverse Im sure there are a lot of people that didn't vote for her because she is a ‘ranga’. I think that because it is compulsary that we vote a lot of people will be making an uneducated decision and will be voting for the wrong reasons which will therefore potentially place a party in control that is not best suited for our country.I am sure there is an extremely large group out there that voted for the 'sex party' just because it was funny. What does this party even stand for...besides the obvious...and how will it help our country. 

I have absolutly NO IDEA about politics and unfortunatly I dont think a lot of people do, which scares me that the wrong party will get voted in by people 'guessing'. Lets hope we get it right.

x S.K.K x

Wordless Wednesday

Join in the wordless Wednesday fun here at Faith Hope and a whole lotta Love

Ugandan Penfriend

This lovely ladies name is Ritah Nanulumba and she is my penfriend from Uganda!

Ritah is 18 years old and lives in the village of Kyabirwa. She has a daughter born earlier this year whose name is Shalon. Her husband (though they are not officially married) is in his late 20's and his name is Emma. Ritah also cares for two other children so she will often say she has 3 children. I am not sure if the other two are her husband's from a previous relationship or if they are orphans from either her family or his.

My dad's partner is a volunteer over in Uganda and teaches English to the ladies over there. 

You can follow her blog here

The penfriend program was designed to help further develop the ladies English writing while also making friends and learning about our beautiful country!  I have only received one letter from Ritah and I will be writing to her in response and telling her about my life here in Australia! I can't wait to receive my next letter from her. We only get 4 letters a year as it takes months and months for the letters to be delivered back and forth. We can also include small gifts for our pen friends and their families but it must be small and light as the postage is very expensive. I'm thinking of making a small bracelet with a symbol for me and a symbol for Ritah on it and sending one to her and keeping one for me so we can both wear one. It will always be a reminder to me to be happy and be thankful for the beautiful life I have and how special this connection is!

If you are interested in becoming a penfriend please contact me and we can organise a lady for you :)

I will keep you all up to date with my letters from Ritah!

x S.K.K x

Byjingo's Tie Dye

Byjingo's Tie Dye was created by mummy duo Tammy and Mel! This is their mummy business that they have been nurturing like one of their own.They do all of their own tie dyeing in their spare time on sunny days with love in their hearts and children at their feet. All their colour choices are made with various inspiration behind them, including you. They take pride in what they do and hope that you enjoy their products as much as they enjoy putting them out there and seeing them in all their psychadelic wonder. 

This is my cousins business and fell in love the minute I saw their gorgeous products at the markets.

Their products range from gorgeous baby jumpsuits...

 to matching baby sets...

from boys clothes...

 to girls clothes...

 to anything in between...

Please check out their facebook page here and loose yourself in the wonder of colour!  

Every item is made with splashes of colour and a whole lot of love!

 Why not brighten yours and bubs day :)  
 x S.K.K x 

Happy Birthday to my gorgeous husband for yesterday!

I love you ~ always have ~ always will

x S.K.K x

Weekend Camping

~ I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! I am off camping to Gordon Country in the morning! ~

I have packed my essentials! My books, my head lamp for reading at night, my gumboots and of course my winter jacket and gloves and beanie! I'm going to freeeeze!

I will be loosing myself in my books while dreaming of hot summer days :)

x S.K.K x

Join in the "Wordless Wednesday" fun here at Faith Hope and a whole lotta Love

At My House

...Well it wasn't exactly at my house...but I'm rarely at my house so I hope I can still join in with 'at my work' 

I am a full time nanny for 3 gorgeous children aged 7, 5 and 2. I was really looking forward to today as the oldest 2 were at school and we had no jobs to do so youngest and I had the whole day for exploring! My plan was a day in the New Farm Park which has only recently re-opened and we have been dying for a free day to go check it out! However I wake up this morning to...rain...park plan = FAIL!

My brain went instantly into panic mode...what am I going to do all day with a very hyperactive 2 year old...normally the day gets broken up with shopping or jobs or he has trips with his mum but today we were all free! 

~ Thank goodness for my Blog community ~

Luckily last night I had been reading through, with delight, Buttons by Lou Lou's and her followers "At My House" Blogs. I went straight to the pantry and tried to find all the rice and pasta and bits and pieces I could get my hands on! As this was a last minute plan I had no time for dying any of the rice or pasta but I still think youngest had a ball! 

...We had a selection of rice, pasta, paints, regular stamps and a sweet potato stamp...

...After preparing tonight's dinner I had the end of a sweet potato left over so I cut some jagged edges into it and we used it as a vegetable stamp...

... I found a broken car so once youngest had completed some painting I told him to drive his car through it ...

... car painting ...

So THANK YOU very much to the crafty mum bloggers out there! 

You made our rainy day!

Check out Buttons by Lou Lou's "At My House" blogs here 

x S.K.K x

It has been a very busy and full on weekend but thoroughly enjoyable...

On Friday night my husband met me after work for a quick bite to eat before we went and visited our wonderful friends who just got engaged! A simple meal of subway at the Kangaroo Point cliffs allowed us to witness this gorgeous sunset! I tried to capture it on my phone to show you all...

It's the simple things in life that are so beautiful!

On Saturday morning I packed my little over night bag and drove, with my dad, the 2 and a half hours to the lovely town of Lismore. Its was my grandma's 81st birthday on Sunday and it has been 1 year since my grandpa passed away, so even though I was fighting off a cold and had a lot to do at home I felt I needed to be there this weekend to be with my family. We spent a lovely day on Saturday with a pub lunch at 'Tommys' with my grandma and Aunty and Cousins and then enjoyed a cup of coffee and hot chocolate at a little cafe down the road. This cafe was very special as this was out the front...

Each brick had been engraved with special messages from "1982" by the people who had 'bought a brick' to help lay the path! Although 1982 isn't that long ago for us but imagine how special this path will be in 100s of years to come! They definitely put a new meaning to 'leaving their mark on the world' Many bricks had names, pictures, hang 10 symbols (must of been the 'in' thing back then) and a lot of "jesus loves you" but one brick really stood out to me! There was a dad, mum and girls name with the year 1982 written on it. It really really intrigued me and got me thinking about where that little family is today! Was she their only child? Did they have any more? How old is the girl today? Is she married yet? Does she have kids of her own? Are the parents still alive? ~ It's funny how one little brick can trigger a train of thoughts and imagination.

~

Sunday morning we were up early for a Hungry Jacks birthday breakfast treat for my grandma! Her choice! We then headed off to the Channon markets! These markets were incredible - alternate - but incredible. And the food there - oh my gosh - divine! Everything there was organic - hand made - or one of a kind. My cousin had her first store there as she makes and sells tie dye baby clothes (stay tuned for pictures in the next couple of days!) If anyone is looking for a lovely day out I hihgly recommend driving through the gorgeous countryside to the Channon markets and then taking a detour via Byron Bay on your way home! Gorgeous day out!

~ I hope you all enjoyed your weekend ~

x S.K.K x

Join in the "Wordless Wednesday" fun here at Faith Hope and a whole lotta Love

Forgive

Forgive the sun who didnt shine

The sky had asked her in to dine

Forgive the stars that heard your wish

The moon prepared their favourite dish

Forgive the rain for its attack

The clouds have tears they can't hold back

Don't hate the birds 'cause they are free

Don't envy all the things they see

Don't block the wind, but hear its cry

Or else that wind may pass you by

Forgive the storm it means no harm

Could not resist to show its charm

Forgive the earth that never turns

Don't hate the sun, becasue too much burns

Life intends to not casue pain

The flowers bloom from all the rain

The storm will come and it will pass

The sun that shone, it grows the grass

The wind it cannot help but cry

The stars at night light up the sky

Forgive the world in which we live

We'll all find peace if we forgive.

~ Danielle Rosenblatt ~

Who can you forgive today?

x S.K.S x

Handmade Naturals

I remember the first time I learned how to "cleanse, tone and moisturise" I was a young teenager and my mum booked me into a beauty and deportment class in the city. These classes taught young girls how to develop a daily skincare routine, apply basic make up, how to carry ourselves in public, how to speak one on one and to a group and how to have self confidence through those "difficult teenage years". I was so proud and excited when mum picked me up from graduating with a small little present. My very own cleanser, toner and moisturiser! I was over the moon and was eager to get home and try my brand new products! Over the past decade I have used hundreds upon hundreds of products and have never found one I truly love. The past few years I have been a fond user of body shop products as I liked their background and beliefs as well as their products. This was until I got my hot little hands on these gorgeous products...

Handmade Naturals by Corrine 

https://naturals.com.au

Her Mission: To make a completely natural skin
and body care range at a very affordable price
without sacrificing quality.

My first product I received from Homemade Naturals was the Jojoba oil. I was working with a lady and I was telling her about my concerns for the rash on the 2 year olds arm (that I nanny for). She said to put this on each day and it will clear away...and it actually did...I had tried everything from vitamin E cream to paw paw cream to even sudocrem but nothing took the rash away except for this oil! I was blown away by the results and was touched when the next day the lady bought me a bottle. She said to take it home and put it all over my body and even in my hair! Never one to hold back on trying something different I went home and did just that! I was skeptical though and thought that being an oil it would be extremely greasy and would get all over my pj's and bed sheets. So I put on old flanneys and put a towel down on my pillow and bed but the minute I put the oil on my skin it literally sucked it up! It was like my skin was craving its nutrients and it left my skin feeling so soft! I have been a convert ever since!

The following Friday after baby gymnastics with the 2 year old I took a quick detour before home and headed straight to this shop. I could have spent hours in there! It was so gorgeous and amazing and every product I read just had the most divine ingredients...Jojoba oil being very prominent in most of the products. And best part was that every product was so incredibly affordable and definitely cheaper than most products in the supermarket. I chose carefully and decided to buy a face exfoliant and a face cream. The face cream I chose was "Rosehip and Jojoba Face Cream" as I knew i already loved the Jojoba oil so I stuck with what I knew! This cream is made up from jojoba, apricot kernel, macadamia nut and sunflower plus pure essential oils of french lavender, geranium and rosewood, rosehip and evening primrose. It is to die for and just melts to your face and has a fresh and calming smell which isn't very over powering.  

These products are just so beautiful!  

What is your favourite Beauty Product? 

x S.K.K x

Healing Love

"To the soul there is nothing more healing than love"

Tonight I want to send all of my love, prayers and positive energy to a very special person who has a sad heart. Claire I pray that our love acts as a bandaid for you as you and your family work together to heal your soul x

A Wife's Commitment

Rob, you are my true love, my best friend, and my strength. Your love is what makes me whole. Our love is built on trust, compassion, respect and support. I look forward to us growing together and continue to fall in love a little more every day. My heart is forever yours. This is my solemn vow.

On the 25th of April 2010 I said the above vow to my husband. Just over 3 months ago I promised, in the presence of my family and closest friends, to love him, care for him and above all support him for the rest of our lives together. Today was the first time I had to sit back, remind myself of these vows and the promise I made to him. At certain times in our lives we are faced with a decision. A fork in the road. Some paths are easy to take, others take a bit more time to decide which way to go. 

My decision today was between my commitment to myself and my commitments as a wife, which made me think back to those all important vows. When I married I didn't agree to give up my life for another person but I did agree to do everything in my power to make a happy, long and successful life for us. Today I made a sacrifice for my husband and put my ultimate happiness aside and my dream career on hold so he can get ahead in his career with a wonderful company which will hopefully lead to bigger and better opportunities. His happiness means the world to me and if that means I stay in the job I am in for a little bit longer then that is what I will do. A little sacrifice on my behalf that will make us stronger in the future. 

I now must embrace my new commitment to my job and never look back on the decision I made. It is with a positive attitude, a beautiful outlook on the future and the love for my husband that will be my guiding light to get through the next few years. I do love my job...and love my kids more so I'm very lucky that I am in a job that is 70% amazing 30% difficult...but aren't most jobs...my fingers are now crossed that Robs job is successful and we can both move ahead and make our dream life become a reality.

x S.K.K x