Oh boy!

I am in the middle of a home redecoration cycle and have just about finished my son Haydens room. I find boys rooms a bit hard. When they are babies it's quiet easy to complete a boys room lots of neutrals, white and small splashes of green and blue. Decorating for a four year old is different. There is personality to consider and their stuff! However there is a limit to how much plastic multicoloured toys one can handle so when he is not around I begun the cull. He rarely notices and to make myself feel less of an ogre I promise to 'invest' in only beautiful and classically crafted toys(more for me I know). What do you think of the cheap plastic toys that seem to fill every gap in our homes?

Soul food!

Photo from illmungos photo stream


As the sun starts to disappear, it makes me crave warming and soulful soup. Tonight's menu was one of my favourites, the classic French onion soup........yum! I love cooking simple old school food and soup is so easy. It's one of your best friends in the the kitchen. We always make our own vege stock from a couple of carrots, celery, leeks, sweet potato, onion, bay leaves, fresh parsley and thymne. Sometimes if I have a chicken carcass lying around I will add it. Chicken marrow and fat is incredibly healing and I don't mind it in my home made stock. This gets all chopped up roughly and chucked into my big stock pot and bubbles away for a couple of hours. This is normally a weekend job both Aaron or I will enjoy doing and we can freeze it and use it in anything we make like pasta sauce, casseroles etc.
Having my own stock makes cooking home made soup easy. Tonight Aaron chopped up the onions we added our stock some White wine vinegar, garlic and we were done. Dinner in 15 minutes oh don't forget the cheesy croutons with home made pesto from the fridge. Just what I needed after a crazy Monday and a full on weekend painting. What do you think of when it's cold and you're hungry?

Somewhere to Sleep

I am crazy about change! I am always changing my mind, changing my hair, changing my clothes, changing my house. Yes changing my house is one of my absolute passions. So after cutting all of my hair off in february and forever donating my clothes to charity it was time to move on to the house.
Repaint kids bedrooms.
I have recently repainted/redecorated my 6year old daughters bedroom. For some reason we painted it dark purple when we first moved in. Purple is her favourite colour and I wanted her to feel more at home so allowed her to choose the paint colour(big mistake. The colour never grew on me and I have been secretly hating since she chose it).
So I moved her into the baby's room(she is nearly 3.....not quite a baby)and got busy painting the horrid purple away. I am a big researcher and spent alot of time flicking through my tear sheets, magazines, web sites and favourite blogs until I was happy with my style board. I rounded up what I could from the house, shopped the local charity stores, etsy and eBay and good old target also were handy.
All I can say about the style is it's sparsely decorated, with soft colours and sweet, beachy, feminine touches. It a little girls room that feels a little grown up. And Chalise absolutley loves it.
On to Haydens room now. Ah what have I done. The projects list just keeps getting longer.
Wish me luck.

One fine day

With all the crazy hype about weddings lately it's got me thinking about my own. Today is my anniversary. And sometimes I just want do it again. I love the idea of weddings and dresses. Everything in your wildest dreams seams possible. It's more about style than trend. White, fluffy, polyester meringues aren't the only option. And I now see so many great designs that I want to wear.
So I now must admit to what I got up to on Friday. I had my own little royal wedding party just by myself. Now its does sound like something nanna would do. I know, but the occasion just called for it. I couldn't have a party without dressing up. So i did. Picture it a lovely little fascinator, my best and somewhat tacky bling, a smart jacket, a soft and sweet blouse. All blended with my old jeans and ugh boots. Oh what a sight I must have been. Glam up top, comfy on the bottom all on top of a messy couch...I don't think husband knew what to think! I watched it and loved it, with a tear in my eye. I always end up a blubbering mess at weddings. Secretly wishing I was invited. Remembering my own nuptials and fantasising about pretty dresses.
Tonight is our anniversary. We are going out and maybe I might put a bit more occasion into my dinner outfit. It certainly wasn't a royal wedding but it was just as special to us. And looking back it was beautiful. My memories are better just a little faded.

Happy May Day

Deciding on an opening line. By Amy Ryan
Beginning with a smile and a big hello, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Amy I am a mum of three very energetic and clever kids and wife to an incredibly lively and creative designer. We live in a bespoke home in a beachy suburb in  Perth, the most isolated city in the world.
At times I have come up with, but never acted upon many and varied ideas for businesses, fashion, art, music and travel. Oh if only I could figure out a way to live it all at once! At the same time I am incredibly nuts about my health and diet. I'm vegetarian and have been since as long as I can remember and try to follow a whole food/slow food lifestyle. And since giving up alcohol as a new years resolution I am enjoying exercise and wait for it ...running for the first time in my life! I dabble in all things creative like fashion and design, not enough though, decorating and designing my home and cooking and baking  which I enjoy more than ever. I love planning parties and dreaming up new and exciting adventures; like moving my family to France for a year or buying a caravan and going around Australia. The issue is always finance but I have a feeling this is my 'year of big'.
Here it is, and hopefully you will enjoy. This life and times of me - a nutty and hyper-creative dreamer who has to get some thoughts out of my head.