Bye Bye Christmas

Farewell Christmas and hello 2014!  Man alive, it is almost February. Bit late for a Happy New Year isn't it. How did that happen? Regardless, I hope you have had a lovely break filled with love and laughter. I love the Christmas holidays. Always have. Sun, food, beach time, family, friends. 

So my first Christmas Day as host was a success, despite all attempts by the weatherman to ruin it. As you know, it was the first time in the history of my family to have a cold lunch - massive deal. AND, wouldn't you know it, it rained. All I wanted was to sit under our newly installed shade in the yard, drink champagne, eat prawns and engage in the usual family banter in the sunshine. Champagne prawns champagne prawns, repeat.  Alas, it rained so the party was moved into the half finished carport and it wasn't the warmest of weather. Boo. So we didn't end up sitting outside for as long as I hoped and the backyard games that I had planned didn't happen either. Argh well, better luck next time eh.

A definite highlight of the day was our tree. As part of the day I requested that everyone wrap their gifts in "neutral + white" theme. Not because I have OCD, but instead of the mess of that cheap ugly Santa paper, (that makes for awesome missiles come the obligatory paper fight afterwards mind you), we had a beautiful tree with gorgeous looking presents under it. I wasn't sure how my request would go down with the extended family, but in actual fact, what happened was that everyone loved the idea and putting that extra effort into the wrapping, extended the joy. Which was awesome. 

My mother-in-law took out the prize for best looking presents. She hand cut(!) and designed the reindeers, snowmen. She made sleighs out of cut cereal boxes and covered with brown paper!  She is one clever lady. A cold English Christmas on her mind. So clever.  

Below is a snapshot of our day and my wrapping the last two pics, which I loved doing - those air dry clay ornaments were awesome.  Will be doing those again next year for sure.

The man on the BBQ, that's my brother. He was cooking under a beach umbrella in the rain - legend. Those cooked prawns on ice, that was only 1/3 of them - we had 4 kilos! Whoops. May have over catered. Those salads, I will be sharing some of those recipes soon. Too darn good not to.

What did your day look like? As wet as mine?

Here's to another fab year. Hope yours treats you well.

PS - I have fixed the commenting capabilities on the blog now.  Thanks for your patience and letting me know. x

Pappa's got a brand new...

Letter box. Yep, not bag like the great James Brown suggests or perhaps what you were expecting, but letter box and boy am I one happy lady!

I may or may not have mentioned previously, but my family are a bunch of wonderfully talented folk. My mum can whip up a gourmet dinner from a pantry that screams "I am empty" to everyone else, my father was a builder who is incredibly talented when it comes to wood and well, actually making anything with his hands. My sister is a journalist by trade, but a creative soul by heart who married the love of her life (who she met whilst ski instructing in Switzerland) and lives in Canada. All those craft ideas you see on Pinterest, well most of them came from her, I swear! My brother is a banker. Where he lacks in trained handyman skills, he makes up in brutal strength and enthusiasm for getting his hands dirty and creating things.

That all being said, it was my birthday in October and on that day I received a cryptic phone call from my sister telling me to check my email in 5 mins as dad was emailing me their joint present. What the?

What I found was a blueprint of sorts. A new letterbox that would be designed and built by my dad. Amazing!

So how on earth did they think of a letter box for goodness sake?  Well, as seen on this blog, I have spent a good few hours lusting over Robert Plumb. His furniture, the gardens of his other business, William Dangar... and of course his letterboxes.  Amazeballs.

So my sister, who follows me on Pinterest saw my letterbox fetish and thought that this was something that our amazing dad could build.  Thus, where the inspiration came from.

The log is mahogony. Dad sourced it from the central coast. The box is cedar, sized to suit the heftiness of the log.  Can I add that the log weighed over 250kgs! It took 4 grown men and a massive amount of huffing and puffing to get it 3 metres from the van to the hole. A neighbour heard the men's meeting plan of the exact manouver and had to come help. Love my neighbourhood!

Was a fun day.

So here she is in all her glory!

Ain't she preddy?!!!

And that cute little boy!  Oh man he kills me.  Those peace signs are actually his thumbs up. He hasn't quite worked it out yet. So darn cute.

(We are still to get numbers to go on the log. I tried gold; blah. Black, yuck. So I think we are going to go copper. Watch this space! We also have big plans for the front fence. THEN we will be able to make use of our great front yard and get rid of the old lady garden!)

Getting my Christmas Day Craft On!

In my last Christmas post I showed you where I am heading with my Christmas Day table styling. Well I got my craft on one afternoon last week and look at what happened! So easy and the clay being air dry is brilliant. Skills learnt as a 10 year old at my local Community Centre, school holiday pottery program paid off!

Another piece to my Christmas day puzzle comes together.

I am using the little letters as gift tags for my Kris Kringle and the kiddly-winks. Hearts are for the table.

Likey?  Me likey.

Excuse the skanky looking baking tray!  Perhaps I should spend more time scrubbing? Na!

The week that was

It was my birthday last week and we got out of Sydney for a few days.  My folks have a holiday house down the south coast that they bought with clam shells some 30 years ago. Is a great spot with long warm shallows to laze around in, often on a floating device and a chilled beverage of the alcoholic kind. As it had been so long since we had been there, all I wanted was to crack out the cossie, get in that water and get some sun on my skin. Do you think that mr weatherman listened to my private prayers? Nope he didn't. If he could have just turned off the chill in the light wind, that would have been great. Oh well. My skin and sanity will have to wait till Christmas.

We also have another little celebration to announce. My not even 6 month old has 3 teeth!  What the? I know!  He cut his third tooth, a front tooth on Halloween. Poor little mite.

So the below is a snapshot of our time recently.

1// The trip to the south coast took some 6 hours. A trip that would usually take 3. We had multiple feeding stops, both false alarms and real. I think my little one has found his limit in a car seat - 1 hour. Not helpful really. Alas, Berry was on the cards for a stop.  Why Berry? Why, because it has the best darn donuts in the whole world!  A coffee from the Berry Sourdough Bakery and donuts from the Famous Berry Donut Van. Birthday perfection.

2// The beach front at our holiday house. Little man had such a lovely time exploring; poking sticks at hermit crabs and jelly fish. Ah the simple things.

3// So if the wind picks up at our place, we head across the way to Murrays Beach. It sits on the southern end of Jervis Bay. Gorgeous part of the world. I went there in jeans and a cardi. The boys stripped off and went swimming. It was freeeezing. Boys!

4// Birthday pressie from the beautiful Cass at Live it, Do it. Such a gorgeous girl. She and her beautiful bevie of kids were able to drop in for a night while we were away. So it appears I have officially been inducted into the Northern Beaches community. I now have my own pair of Saltwater Sandals! Thanks Cass. So ugly they are nice right! x

5// Oh this little guy breaks my heart every single day. He is such a lover. So happy... except of course when teething. On this day, we found a new tooth. He was sad and sore and so very tired but I had to capture it.

Hope you are having a nice week.

Dressing my Christmas Day Table

What is Christmas like at your house?  My family always had the entire extended family, some 20 odd people over for a massive hot lunch which rolled onto afternoon activities, which rolled onto dinner.  Always a good day, crazy but fun. Each year the hosting family was also rotated, so the table dressing and clean house pressure wasn't always on the same family. The table dressing was always my favourite part. Weeks before Christmas, if it was my family's turn, long discussions would be had about that years colour and theme.  This would also run into the tree decorations too. So much fun.

Well, now that I have my own house, we have thrown our hat into the hosting ring so I have been busily searching for table inspiration. Thankfully I wont be having the 20 people, as nowadays, with everyone having their own family, that 20 of my childhood is more like 40.  My poor little cottage would get trampled! Time has come to break away.

SO the fun journey of pulling together my first Christmas has begun. We always had a hot lunch (think roast turkey, roast pork, ham, roast chicken and all the sides). Hot lunch on a sticking hot day? Sounds crazy doesn't it. It's not like my family just got off the ship from the UK and were used to a cold Christmas. Nope, we just had a hot lunch because we always had. Old habits die hard I guess. So playing host, we will be changing up the menu too. I am sure that some of the oldies will hate it and will openly object, alas, this year will be different.

I am also thinking that seeing we don't have a pool to entertain everyone nor to help lunch go down, we are going to have to have some games. Am thinking apple dunking, sack races, ring toss.... kinda like a mini Olympics.  Kimbo, if you are reading, I will have to get some game ideas from you from your street party please. We will also clearly then have to have a score board and present the winner with a prize at dinner. Clearly.

Now I know it is October, but soon it will be November, which means that December is right around the corner. Ekk!! I also have 2 kiddlets at home, so yes I am trying to be organised!

What I have found so far is nothing less than gorgeous. What I am going for is a balance between Australian and old world charm /rustic. The below perhaps lends itself to a more traditional lunch, but why follow the rules right!

My menu is likely is going to be less traditional (have to have a ham though - check out that ham stand below! How can I possibly resist?), but most certainly Australian.

What do you usually do Christmas day? Do you have any menu ideas for me? Game ideas?  I would love to hear.

Image sources: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 

As a side note, do you know Kara Rosenlund? She is responsible for image 2, 3 & 4.  I love her vintage, uniquely Australian naturalist style.  She is a stylist, props buyer, ex-photographer and vintage wares retailer that she sells out of her black 1950's caravan called Frankie. She has a real knack for pieceing together beautiful vignettes that simply blow my mind - oh to have that skill (Avignette is simply a crafted and well planned display of items... I have just learnt this myself, thanks Instagram!).  Her home makes me want to throw out all the colour in my house, start over and replace with linens and white! Check out her website here. A feast for the eyes.

Sneak Peak...

Little Baby A is 5 months old now. Cannot believe how quickly time has past us by. He had his first solids this week too! WHAAAT?  I know, crazy! It feel just like yesterday that I was leaving for the hospital. Loved my birth! Is it strange saying that? The below photo definitely captures the feeling of the moment and actually my birthing journey with Little A.  In this photo, I was in labour and we were about to leave for the hospital. Let the fun begin!

Now that little A is well settled in, one of my favourite parts of his development is watching his little personality coming to life. He is such a happy little guy. We have really been blessed with another chilled out baby. How lucky are we. So in the quiet reflective moments of feeding at 3am, I think over what I can do to make his room feel a little more him. As a result, I have been piecing together different ideas for a few months now. Below is a sneak peak. I am super excited to finish it and get it up on here to show you.  Just have to make a few finishing touches.

I am actually planning on doing a full post of both the boys rooms soon.  Little man's room was completed before we brought little A home to give him time to get used to his 'big boy room'. Thankfully he made the transition really well. He loves his room. I love his room.  So keep your eye out, post coming soon.

I am also excited about a new post series I will be doing. As having children can often change our world, I am interested to see how people's homes have also adjusted. This new series is called "Living with Kids".  Coming soon.

Sneak peak into Little A's room below.

Bedroom Inspiration

So we have been in our cottage 2 years in December. Crazy how time flies! When we moved in we didn't buy any new furniture - to be honest we didn't need to. We were living in a flat, yet it was jammed packed!  Friends always teased me about having too much furniture in there.  To me, I knew that living in a flat was short term in the big scheme of things, so if I was going to spend the money on a great piece, I wanted for it to also fit in a house. So yes, our flat was squishy! ha!

So our bedroom in the cottage. I won't show you a picture because really, there is not much to show. We actually diy'd a tuffed headboard when we were in our flat which I looved.  It was in raw linen too, but when we put our life in storage while we renovated, damp invaded our belongings. Wouldn't you know it, my headboard, my shoes plus some other bits were ruined. Seriously, there was about $2,000 of shoes absolutely ruined! Yep, I did cry.

So a bed without a headboard... to me, it looks a little bare... or does it?

Below is some inspiration for our new boudoir.  Might not be the very next project we undertake, but most certainly it's on the list.

Enjoy.

Image sources // 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 /

I have even more on my Pinterest page. So many beautiful ideas, not enough bedrooms to makeover! 

Busy busy worker bee!

I had a look at the last time I updated my blog and it was months ago!  So much has changed since last time I have written.  My little man is crawling and we have sold and bought a house!  Well, truth be told, it was actually the other way round!  We bought, then sold.  Talk about stressful and not something that I am wanting to do again any time soon.  Loads going on!

Yes - we have a house!  A diamond in the rough, that with a little love and a hell of a lot of attention, we will get it up and looking like it old self in no time!

It is an original weatherboard on the northern beaches.  It is really my dream house.... well, the house it has potential to be is.  So, I have been busying myself choosing floorboards, doors, carpets, weatherboard and paint!  I do have to say, this process is one that I have been dreaming about forever.  Renovating my own home... but I think the process has somewhat been tarnished by the stress of selling our unit.    So glad it is finally over!

My beautiful boys.

It is funny, in living in my unit for the past 3.5 years, we have actually completed quite a few DIY projects.  I have been busting to put up on this blog... I don't know why, but I almost want to wait to show you what it will look like in our real home, our house. Weird... I would have never of thought that had we not been looking for a house.  Our unit is awesome.... but it is not a house. I guess it is something fun to look forward to.

Another thing that I am busting to explore is the type of garden that will suit my little family and our new home.  I had so many ideas about what I thought I wanted, but now with the opportunity to actually do it, I am finding myself heading in a different direction.   Oh so much to think about.  Watch this space!

Via

Hello world!

This is my very first post on my very new blog.  I meet the challenge with a collection of feelings; shaking in my boots excitement, nervousness but also a touch of hesitation. Why hesitation? I guess as I am neither a professional writer nor ever been published (except if you count in store promotions in Woolies?), but throwing caution to the wind, here goes!  

So what is Ronnie Jones?  I guess I start this story at the beginning.  

After uni I went overseas for 12 months, living the life in London and travelling as much as I could. When I came home I did a lot of soul searching and realised that I wanted to start my own homewares brand.  I actually remember the exact moment it hit me. I was walking along Casuarina Beach, Kingscliff in the beautiful sunshine with all my wonderful thoughts/dreams/ideas flowing around me.  I was starting over, I could do anything!  Fast forward 5 years, my idea gained a name and I actually got the courage to do it.  Ronnie Jones was born.

So last year I was working in marketing for a large international advertising agency. I was working some pretty crazy hours and low and behold, I fell pregnant - surprising as I always thought you had to spend time with your loved one to create a baby!  ANYWAY, that was it.  That was the extra push I needed.  So, I resigned from my job (with massive support from my boss, for which I will always be grateful) and officially started Ronnie Jones.  

Ronnie Jones products, made it's presence known in Manly Markets in Spring, last year - baby belly and all.  I sold fabulous cushions and ottomans all handmade from fabulous fabrics.  

This year, now with a beautiful little bub on my hip, I am really excited about the next stage. I am still working through my approach of getting back to work, but also taking Ronnie Jones forward.  Cushions are just the start!

With this blog, I hope to excite you with not only my beautiful products that you will be able to eventually purchase, but share what inspires me, what makes me smile in hope that it touches and inspires you too!  

Amberx