excursion

For the last 2 days I was on an excursion to Sydney.

We visited the art gallery of NSW. and saw the mad square exhibition and the exhibition of some pre-raphaelite drawing.. both interesting, but nothing reallly caught my attention.

But I got sketching in and that was fun. Here are some pictures..  

day 1 & day 2.... 

breakfast and lunch....

the second image is from a book - they are knitted slipper things.... i want to make them!

good intentions

After getting home from college I was inspired to start compiling a scrap book of all the things that I find along life's journey that inspire me. I was inspired to be inspiring... ? Anyway. I sorted through a bunch of magazines, found a bunch of cool things, felt pretty inspired.... and that's where it ended.

I have to say, I'm not really enjoying having the internet back. It's so much nicer without it. I wanted to get some work done for my studio. .. I wanted to get some design work done... I wanted to do something, make something.. but instead I played Age of Empires online and browsed pinterest. I need to learn self control when it comes to internet! I really wish I had a lock for it! hehe

Anyway, before my creativeness wasted away, I drew this picture of Mr Peck (which doesn't look that much like him) and stuck these pictures in my inspiration journal.

Guess What!? Fill in the Blanks

I finalllllllllly got internet at home which means I can finalllllly blog again! I can't say I've missed the internet terribly. I have been checking my emails at college and trying to keep up with the outside world but college somehow blocks me from posting, so that's why you haven't seen me.

I am pretty excited to say that this will be my last semester of college. I'm doing 3 subjects - Advanced ceramics, Studio & Exhibition (Yay! I get to exhibit at the end of the year!) and christian studies. I might do a separate post about the work I'm doing for my exhibition and you can let me know what you guys think!

So, without further ado, here is this weeks blanks from the little things we do, I'm pretty excited about answering them...

dang it... it's rotated again!! Whyyyy!? But this is my yellow cardigan again :)

1. One of life's most simple pleasures is wrapping your arms around a warm husband when you get in bed all cold hehe... yeah, I've experienced that a lot lately. I like it when Mr Peck warms up the bed for me!

2. Telemarketers make me want to punch someone.

3. I like my yellow cardigan because it makes every day seem happier and closer to summer!

4. Cantankerous is a funny word.

5. If I had to choose one beauty product to use for the rest of eternity it would be lipcream. I honestly can't live without it! Did you know the lips are the only part of the body that doesn't have oil glands. which means you need a little something to keep them moisterised!

6. I'm happy that today was such a beautiful day, I have an amazing husband, it's almost spring and I have a real proper clothesline that gets sun and my clothes dry!


7. I would never live somewhere where it is cold all the time.. i could not deal with it!

my brand.

Do you guys have a brand that you swear by for body & face care products? I never have. I always steered towards Clean&Clear because it worked well enough for me in my teens. I tried a few others like Neutrogena but it reacts with my skin. I never want to pay a lot either and usually get whatever is on sale or cheapest at the supermarket....! I'm a stinge, I'll admit it! 

But lately my skin has changed. It's becoming difficult! Maybe it's age, I'm not sure... Winter probably doesn't help either.  I have started to get dry skin on my face and a super sensitive scalp (and a few wrinkles!!) Noooooo! It's really annoying and for someone who never pays much attention or money to beauty products it's been a long winter searching for something that works. Add to that my new found fear of chemicals like Sulphates (which are found in de-greasers), Parabens (which apparently cause cancer!!!!) and other fun things like that.

I haven't found a favourite face moisteriser and cleanser yet (but I have some options to try - keep reading)... which is unfortunate because my face is so dry, no matter what I put on it :( ... but I think I have found a shampoo that is gentle enough but works, annnd that is free from all that yucky stuff. 

Enter Sukin. I was first introduced to the brand earlier this year when I won some hand cream from my friend over at Like A Vegan. It is excellent! It smells amazing, soaks in so well, doesn't leave you greasy (the worst in hand cream) and makes your hands so so soft.  I have been looking at the products on the website for a while but because they don't sell from their website, I've never gotten any further. 

But on Thursday we went to the shops and we found this amazing little shop full of organic products and super cute baby toys and other things. And they had a whole Sukin section. I think Sukin can also be found in David Jones and Myer but this is the first time I'd seen it in a shop, so I was excited :) 

I bought the Protein Shampoo and really like it! Just like the hand cream, it smells great. It doesn't lather into a huge frothy mass (which I usually like) but I actually think I like this better, knowing that what makes the lather is chemicals! It doesn't hurt my scalp (I've used it twice now and my head hasn't been itchy yet) and when my hair dries - soft and manageable. I only got the shampoo this time because I find with my short hair I don't really need conditioner. It was semi expensive at $12.95 for 500ml but so so worth it (and not a bad price to pay for organic shampoo that works)

Now I want to get all the products! Face moisteriser, Face scrub, lip cream, Night cream, Wrinkle cream.. And when I do, hopefully I can say that I have found a favourite in them as well.

So, I'm excited to say - I've finally found my brand! At least in shampoo for now!

Fill in the Blanks

Yay, Fill in the Blanks! Haven't done this for ages, so here we go. The Theme is Birthdays coz it's Lauren's Birthday today! Happy Birthday!!!!!

{via}

1. My most favorite birthday was all of the ones when I was little and mum used to make super cool cakes in all different shapes and themes. My favourite one was a clock with a mouse - that hickory dickory dock clock thingy... was awesome.. Also, this year Mr Peck made me a little party for just us two with a pinata, pin the tail on the donkey, an ice cream cake and lots of little gifts! He's the best :)

2. My worst birthday was not really existent. I don't remember a bad one... there were ones where nothing special happened and no one really told me happy birthday but it's kinda sad on the day and then you get over it! My 21st was a bit of a let down. I had a party .. but when it came to my speech I got a little shy and never even said thanks to my parents or anything like that... I am not good at speeches!

3. My favorite birthday memory is not really a memory, just the fact that when I was little my birthdays always felt so special! Even if no one was coming over for a party I always wore a pretty dress and did my hair (including a special clip or bow) and we had the cake and party food and had pictures and a few presents... :) 

4. The best birthday present I've ever received was ... there are so many great ones from my parents (who are waaaay to generous) to even list! Things like a camera, GHD, clothes & bags.... I can't even remember what was a birthday present haha.. I remember that if I wanted something big mum would(sometimes) buy and say this is your birthday present for this year :) 

5. The best birthday present I've ever given was I surprised Mr Peck last year with a longboard (a skate board) that he had been wanting for ages! I got his friends to input money ... but I didn't know exactly which one he wanted to I had to tell him so he could pick it. And this year, I got all his friends to write some notes or buy little gifts and was going to put them in envelopes for him to open one a day the week leading up to his birthday, but people didn't get back to me quick enough... but it still kind of worked and he liked it :)

6. Birthdays are fun.... but not my favourite day of each year. As I get older, the less they mean. I think I will get more into birthdays when we have kids because I want to be able to make my kids feel as special as my mum did for us!

7. My favorite age so far has been 23 ... right now. I think I am finally mature enough to know what I want and confident enough to get it. I am still a little shy about some things but I am getting better and I love being young enough and old enough at the same time :)

moving & shaking... sans the shaking

Man, I have been trying to make this post for hmm... about a week now but having no internet makes it a bit hard.. and to make it worse, college internet doesn't let me post?! Grr annoying!

Right now I am in Melbourne on a surprise visit to Mr Peck's family.  Ahh I love surprising people :) So fun!

So, we've officially moved into our new place. We finnnnallly moved all those last little bits of stuff that you have absolutely no idea what to do with, use them occassionally, but not enough to have a place for. We finnnnallly cleaned the old place, and we have allllllmost found a place for everything in our new house.

We even took a trip to IKEA yesterday and got a few pieces that make the place look pretty orgaised and nice :) Yay!

Annnyway.. so here is the last few days according to our phones...

A surprisingly delicious baked potato mexican style - lunch when we went to Ikea (It tasted soooo much better than it looks. Probably the best potato I've ever had!!)

I don't know why this loaded on the side? It is normal way up everywhere else hehe.

Anyway, this is beginning of setting up our Ikea purchases... The part before it got annoying and we were excited ;)

Annnd, that would be my first video appearance on here... true blue aussie style. It was after during a walk near our house... Yup... I haven't really watched it back before posting, so I'm not sure it's entirely appropriate and I'm sure it's embarrassing. I just felt showing you a video ;)

jumble jumblebees

Hi. 

This is gunna be a bit of a jumbled post. .. We are in the process of moving house so that pretty much sums up the reason for the weird combo you're about to witness..... 

We have been packing for about a week. And throwing soooo so much stuff out and what we are left with fills about half of one of the rooms in our house. Don't you think that it's weird that the whole contents of your house can fit into half a room? I thought so! (That's excluding most furniture mind you).... But I am so happy that we have managed to cut down on a lot of the clutter and junk because it means when we move into our smaller house, we won't be struggling to fit it! Yay!

On to our next topic - Cake. Mmmm cake.. Glorious chocolatey goodness. So, I really didn't feel like going to the shops today and seeing as we are trying to move, filling up the pantry didn't sound like a good idea anyway. So I decided to make do with what we had in the pantry & fridge. Which wasn't much. The list of what was in the pantry (& fridge) went something like this:

Fridge/freezer: 

• Bag of carrots
• Multiple jars of half finished jam, some may or may not contain mold
• Half a carton of soy milk
• 2 eggs (date of purchase - unknown)
• Unsalted butter - 250g
• Wilted celery (I'm always too lazy to cut it up and store it in water)
• Apples (2 or 3)
• Frozen peas & corn
• Half a loaf of frozen bread (date of purchase - unknown)

And that about sums up the fridge/freezer... not a whole lot to work with ey?! 

Pantry (abbreviated version):

• 1 bag raw sugar
• Small amount of brown sugar
• Flour - self raising, plain and wholemeal plain
• Dried apricots
• Packet of dates x 2 (I never eat these, why do I have two packets?!)
• Cereal - Half eaten and likely not the be eaten coz for some reason there are 2 half eaten biscuits inside the bag?! I don't even have children... I guess I have a husband though... and I am mildly weird.
• Herbal Tea
• Black eye Beans (not peas) - dried version
• Cocoa powder
• Yeast
• Lots and Lots and lots of plastic bags
• Golden Syrup
• Rice (small amount)
• Cous Cous
• A small amount of pasta (not enough for anything but too much to throw out -  I am a self confessed hoarder.. which is why we had so much junk to throw out)
• Unopened bottle of tomato cooking sauce
• Can of Nutolene
• 2 containers with a very small amount of nuts from who knows when (mostly crumbs)
• Bread crumbs

And that about covers it.

I seriously could not think of anything to make with all that... well, at least anything that didn't take ages, or that was remotely edible. So, what did I make? Yup... you guessed it - Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding.... 

Was pretty decent and I was able to make it with the utensils and dishes I hadn't packed away yet! Bonus! By the way, I should mention that Mr Peck packed away all the pots and pans so cooking anything in a pot was out of the question.... 

So, we had a totally healthy and satisfying dinner (I write this as my stomach is beginning to grumble).

I would love to know what you would have made instead!!! Tell me.., Tell me!!! Let's make it fun.. I would also love to know what you make for dinner when your cupboard and fridge are decidedly empty and you don't want to leave the house. Best answer wins something... like a free thing. Maybe a recipe or something food related? Sound good? I think so.. I might send you a cookie, in the mail... and then you can eat it (or you could save it for next time you can't be bothered cooking)

And finally, I just wanted to say that I love this girl and everything she makes and I wish I was this cool ... I'm pretty sure I have shared her stuff before... but what the heck, it is that good I'm gunna share it again. It's my blog, so deal with it. .. . . .. ... .(eep, a tad feisty no? Sorry... I'm in an odd mood... can you tell?!)