Photographer of the week... Kylie Grinham

I told you my friends are talented!

Mother and Son by Kylie Grinham

How could I regularly post a photographer of the week and not mention my friend Kylie Grinham? She's just completed a series of images that re-interpret the work of Melbourne Painter John Brack. The image above is one of them, the rest can be seen on her website.

What's Hot + What's Not

What will my flight path be?

What's Hot:

Feeling uplifted and inspired! I feel so supported by so many people right now it makes me feel like I could do anything - and that is an incredible feeling! I'm thinking a lot about the future and what direction I might like to take work-wise. I'm ready to do some further study to skill-up and I've started talking to people about where I might head.

My kids are ace, my husband is amazing, my mother-in-law is worth her weight in gold, my friends are talented, blogland is inspiring, and my boot camp trainer hasn't killed me yet.

What's not:

'Losing' my nearly four year old at a shopping centre this morning was definitely not hot. One minute he was walking around me in circles, next minute it was around the whole fruit and veg stand where I'd see his blond head bobbing between shelves, and the next he was gone. It turned out he was sitting inside one of the shelves, not even realising that he was hiding or that I was frantically looking for him. A customer coming down an escalator spotted the whole scene and told me where he was - thank you mystery shopper!

Pop over to Loobylu to see who else is playing What's Hot + What's Not.

Photographer of the week... John Gollings

image from here

Whilst looking for a link to the Seaford LSC for my What's Hot + What's Not post last week I found some great photos of it that happened to be by John Gollings and I was instantly reminded of how fantastic his photography is.

image from here

I first came across his work when I was studying photography many years ago. His images are arresting in their perfection and are just gorgeous to take a long look at. And he is a Melbournian!

image from here

It's worth taking a look at his website where there is a wide variety of his work that is much better presented than here. And this is a good article about him.

My Place & Yours... My Collection

I know that most of my posts these days are joining in with other people's memes but I'm having fun and it's keeping me blogging at this busy time of year. So this week I'm joining in with Pip's My Place & Yours and this week's theme, thanks to Kate from Fox's Lane, is My Collection.

I have to admit I hoard more than collect. I love collections and I watch Collectors every week! But I haven't really found my calling as a collector yet. When I was little, an aunt decided that I collected miniature shoes and a collection was quickly born, but I never felt very attached to them.

None of mine were as cool as these, from here

In my teens I collected vintage suitcases and had a lovely stack of them that conveniently stored many of my hoarded objects, but after many years and many moves they eventually felt too reminiscent of the student-days-share-house existence I had moved on from. I was ready to stop moving around (cases at the ready), put down roots, and set up some nice shelves for a change.

image from here

I still have a few of the old cases tucked away storing some treasures but they're no longer a collection.

Recently I've started collecting pictures from magazines to use for crafting with my kids.


I have huge stacks of magazines that have been passed on to me from my cousin. They hang around for ages in piles on the loungeroom floor and in bookshelves. And when they're several years old and not at the height of fashion any more I flick through and cut out cute pictures for future pasting sessions such as when we made these personalised lunch bags...

Note: Daddy added the iphone to his lunch bag - he wishes!

I'm looking forward to seeing all the collections popping up at Pip's place through the week.

What's Hot + What's Not

What's Hot:

Picking up on the fact that my toddler was 'telling' me he was ready to toilet train and him getting it straight away. I'm not saying we're going places out of nappies yet but for nearly a week he's been without a nappy as much as possible during the day at home and hasn't had a single accident! The hot weather has helped. I used undies as an incentive when training my first boy but the difference between undies and nappies was not clear enough for him. This time around we're just going nude below the waist and it's working so much better!

The beach. We spent a glorious morning at Seaford beach on Sunday: brunch at the LSC cafe followed by a paddle in the shallows before it got too hot. We were all done and had retreated from the burning sun by noon. I was annoyed I hadn't packed my swimmers, it would have been nice to go in with the boys.

What's Not:

Aching muscles from boot camp. That in itself is OK, it's kind of good pain, but hobbling around after the children, wincing when I need to squat down to get to the back of cupboards, and not being able to pick the kids up because it just hurts too much, is not so hot. I don't mean to whinge about boot camp though - I am absolutely loving it so it definitely belongs in the hot category.

Haven't started Christmas gift making, haven't written any Christmas cards, haven't even written my Christmas list!!! But three out of four of us in this house have a birthday between now and Christmas so I am a bit preoccupied with all of that right now.

Pop over to Loobylu to see who else is playing What's Hot + What's Not.

Exhausted

image from here

Today was day two of boot camp.
I thought I was sore already.
When I thought I couldn't run anymore he gave me a tyre to carry.
The pain has just begun.

What's Hot + What's Not

image from here

What's Hot:

Signing up for boot camp (I think that's hot) two mornings a week for six weeks.

Tav agreeing to do everything involved behind the scenes to make that happen (taking the boys to creche etc).

Getting some enthusiasm back for cooking, I've been a lazy cook all winter but I suddenly have the urge to make salads and rice paper rolls and mini quiches and bread (not all at once).

What's Not:

It was day one of boot camp yesterday, and today every muscle is aching from the fitness test. Guess what? I'm not fit.

The cost of postgrad education from the perspective of a part-time-worker-with-a-mortgage-and-mother-of-two-small-children. I know it's an investment in the future but ouch, it's a bit daunting to contemplate. We've worked so hard over the last six years, budgeted well and done everything we can to reduce our debt - I don't know if I can increase it by a lazy $10k for a course.

I abandoned my plan to do 12 months of new things somewhere around the middle of the year and haven't got back on track. Does boot camp count?

Thanks Loobylu, I'm enjoying What's Hot + What's Not.

Eye Spy... my favourite gadget

Of course it is!

Thanks Kellie of 74 Lime Lane for a great theme this week, I suspect her camera might be her favourite gadget too? Thanks also to Cindy for hosting Eye Spy.

My Creative Space

This week I finally got around to making some little sand/bean/rice throw bag type things for a little fella whose birthday was now a few weeks back.


I've been meaning to make them for some time but I got a bit bogged down by the question of the content - what's best to put in these things? Sand - too fine and leaky, rice - susceptible to pests, beans - expensive, potentially too lumpy, and a bit wasteful.


I ended up with rice with some lavender thrown in to deter pests. Fingers crossed. They were wonderfully easy and a joy to make of course. Satisfying sewing.

More Creative Spaces over at Kootoyoo.

What's Hot + What's Not

Hot:

I am playing along with Loobylu's What's Hot + What's Not this week!

Bendigo was sweltering when we visited the other day. Picking up Tav's new to us vintage BMW motorbike from my uncle was totally hot, but driving there and back with two sweaty and over-it kids was definitely not hot. And is not to be repeated with only one adult in the car to adjudicate.


Our garden, which is looking super hot after we've spent some time recently giving it a much needed weed, prune, tidy and mulch. Phew - hard and very enjoyable work that makes a massive difference to how I feel about the place. The garden is just exploding with new growth right now and it is a joy to mooch about in it doing a bit of maintenance.

Not hot:

Feeling like I've been too busy lately, neglecting my blog, visiting my favourite blogs much less and barely commenting of late. Boo.