Its My Lucky Week

I've just won my 2nd giveaway this week! Big thanks to Leanne writer of the humerous blog Deep Fried Fruit for picking me, ok and all the other entrants too she's way too generous! A Motivation Pack is on its way simply because I gave a few woot woots! I'm so excited to be getting something other than bills in my mailbox this month, what a treat.

I'm not being greedy but lets hope luck comes in 3s ... I'm off to buy a lotto ticket RIGHT NOW!

Thanks again Leanne your a star x

[Image via Deep Fried Fruit]

Pin It Now!

New Outdoor Dining Setting

Thanks to those who gave advice on my dining dilemma your comments are greatly appreciated :-)

I've decided to go for it and create an outdoor dining area. It will be under the patio until the decks built so it's time to pimp the patio before Friday's dinner party! The first thing to do is replace the old glass table and sling back chairs which has aged over the years and gone a bit rusty (nothing kills a fancy dining experience more than rust!) and find something a bit more fancy.

I absolutely love square shaped tables I think they're more sociable than the rectangle tables as you can sit in pairs and see everyone. I like the wicker look too. So with my wish list sorted, Pete and I jumped in the car and went for a Sunday drive. At the first stop Segals I found a setting that was perfect it was brown wicker, square table and comfy chairs. But at $1500 it was way over budget and I just couldn't bring myself to spend that much. We even drove back there and asked for their best price but as it was already on sale  they wouldn't go any lower.

We looked at a few more places but didn't find anything we liked in budget so feeling disheartened headed for home and seeing my bottom lip quivering Pete on a whim took a side street and pulled into Australia Outdoor and Leisure, it was 10 minutes before closing they were literally shutting the doors as we rushed in and straight away my eyes landed on a nearly exact same setting, same square table that seats 8 but with different chairs. Also the wicker is a grey/black look instead of brown which I quite like. I was grinning and squealing at the same time and after a test of the chairs said those magical words "we'll take it!"

The table looks like this, square in black wicker with a tempered black glass table top.

The chairs are also black wicker and came with grey tie on cushions. They have open arms instead of the tub style but actually I think these will be better as your legs won't be against the wicker, so they'll be more comfortable. The wicker is UV resistant PE wicker which means that you can hose them down to clean them also a bonus.

Oh and the price you won't believe this - $699 for the complete setting - table, 8 chairs and cushions. Yep that's less than half of what the other set cost! We took it home, unwrapped the zillions of bubble wrap on the chairs, assembled the table and tadaaaaaaa here it is.

The outdoor dining room is definitely in the making ... what do you think?

 

 

[Images Segals setting, Second setting, Rhode Chair and

1st and last 3 images my own]

 

Pin It Now!

Yipee I won!

Thanks so much to the lovely Anna creator of one of my favourite blogs Lona de Anna and to her gorgeous little boy for drawing out my name in her giveaway.

That's me! Yipee!!

I picked out this Calendar by artist Leigh Viner and can't wait for it to arrive in my mailbox.

Thanks again Anna you made my day. If I could do a happy dance and type at the same time I would be :-)

[Images from Lona de Anna]

Pin It Now!

Point and Shoot

When: Saturday, 26 March 2011 @ 5pm

Where: Friend's House

Saturday was one of those hectic days that had me driving around the countryside trying to get heaps of things done by lunchtime as I had a friends BBQ to go to. I did the food shop, then had breakfast with a girlfriend, then bought an entire wardrobe (well almost) at Kmart for under $20 I'm talking a dress, skirt, 4 tops, they had a crazy sale on. Raced to a few Targets to pick up some canvass art but didn't see the one I wanted which goes to show if you see something you like you have to buy it there and then or it might be gone forever : ( I had 2 attempts at making a couscous salad, but once again my arch rival beat me and not wanting to serve up sludge I had to make a corn and bean salad instead. In the afternoon got to my friend's house for a BBQ and it was time to relax and enjoy a few bottles glasses of wine. We played card games for most of the day it was such fun, there were rules for each card you pulled from the deck with things like "all the boys drink" "make a rule that everyone has to follow" "I went camping and took with me" (memory game) "Pick a subject" (like cosmetic brands) "Pick a word and everyone has to rhyme" it was so entertaining and hysterically funny at times. Just my kind of weekend!

I hope everyone had a fun filled weekend

I"m off to catch up on everyones Point and Shoot over at Fat Mum Slim

Pin It Now!

Dining Room Dilema

We are having a dinner party next week and there will be too many of us to fit in our dining room so we'll be dining alfresco ala patio. It's got me wondering what to do with our dining area when we re-design the kitchen ....

Should it be kept as a small dining area?

Or should the kitchen be extended out and have the dining elsewhere?

Do people dine alfresco all year round or would this restrict out dinner parties to daytime events (no doubt turning it into a bbq!)?

This small dining area next to the kitchen is what I have to work with. We’ve had a few dinner parties here and it’s a bit of a squeeze to fit 4 people comfortably. Not only that because you're so close to the kitchen there’s no hiding the mess and seeing the leftover food and dishes sitting there doesn’t make for a very elegant dining space.

Dining and Kitchen before we moved in

I love sitting along the kitchen bench for informal meals and am toying with the idea of extending this out to fit up to 4/5 people and doing away with the dining area all together.

I have a low buffet wine cabinet that would fit nicely along the wall for extra storage and fill the space without overcrowding it.

The future plan is to knock out this window and put in french doors that go out to a deck, so this area will need to be left fairly open with a walkway through the middle.

A reality check tells me that a deck is about 2 years away but I still need to be mindful of this when designing the kitchen.

So with no space for a dinner party inside there's no choice but to take it outside .... dining alfresco under the patio. Doesn't sound too glamorous but I think if I prettied it up a bit outside it would work.

But I'm more thinking long term, this is what we would have to do when having the parents over for dinner or a group of friends so I'm just not sure how comfortable this would be all year round like on a cold winters night.

This is our patio at the moment .... in need of some sprucing!

Maybe I just need some outdoor dining inspiration to see what can be done with the humble patio in turning it into an outdoor dining space.

Hmmmm what to do .... advice anyone?

For exclusive extras and daily updates ... follow Jarrah Jungle on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

[All images my own]

Pin It Now!

Point and Shoot

Where: Cranked Coffee, Leederville

When: Saturday, 19 March 2011 @ 9.50am

Grilled haloumi, field mushroom and tomato served on a potato rosti, with fresh spinach and basil pesto with a poached egg on the side. That's how I kick started the weekend and it was delicious! Having breakfast out is such a treat and a great way to start the weekend. After breakfast Pete and I headed to the movies to see the advanced screening of Biutiful which I'd won tickets too. Yes that's about the only thing that would get me out of bed early on the weekend! There's something about going inside in the morning and then coming out in the bright sunshine after midday made me feel like I'd disappeared to another world and come back to reality again. Bit like the movie we watched, it was a trip back to Barcelona which had me reminiscing in yesterdays post. A bit of window shopping and a cafe latte in the sunshine afterwards finished off the day nicely.

Sweet Chantelle from Fat Mum Slim is posting from the USA for this weeks Point and Shoot so we're getting in a bit early this week. I'm heading over there now to see what everyone else has been up to this weekend :-)

Pin It Now!

Biutiful Barcelona

I won tickets to the advance screening of the Spanish film Biutiful. It was a really good flick, intense with a strong storyline to keep you engaged. It was filmed in Barcelona and showed you the dark side that tourists don't see. I've been to Barcelona twice, it really is a beautiful place and the architecture and colours they use are full of personality. 

Oh Barcelona ... I'll go back one day three times is a lucky number afterall.

[Images my own]

Pin It Now!