My 'It's A Girl' Baby Shower!

Today I want to share with you my Baby Shower which was thrown a few weeks ago to celebrate my baby bump and to get ready to welcome Mr P and I's new addition as we're just weeks away from starting our own little family.

I wore a flower crown because when else will I have an excuse to wear one! It was made by a talented local The Flower Crown Cartel and it made me feel every bit the glowing Mum-To-Be. When I eventually (and reluctantly!) took the flower crown off I dried the flowers out and it's become a pretty dried flower crown which I've hung in the baby's nursery (more to come on the nursery tour soon!).

The Baby Shower was a combined effort by my two beautiful bridesmaids who impressed everyone with their Hen Party planning for my Wedding that when they offered to throw me a Baby Shower I was very grateful and happy to accept!

My two friends did the invitations, decorations, games and were the hostess with the hostess on the day which meant I could relax and socialise with all the guests which really made the whole day so much more enjoyable for me.

We had the Baby Shower at my house out on the newly built deck and the girls decorated it beautifully with a pink, black and white theme with bunting, balloons and paper pompoms it looked so pretty.

I made a dozen or so flower arrangements with a few bunches of pink and white flowers from my favourite florists on Beaufort Street in Mount Lawley. I recycled the jars from my engagement party and replaced the ribbons with pink, black and white ribbons to match the theme.

I placed the flowers on the tables out on the deck and by the front door and they looked so pretty.

My lovely Mum made all the food for afternoon tea - little finger sandwiches, quiches, fritata, sausage rolls and for the dessert table this was a combined effort I made cupcakes, my Mum made slice and my Auntie made a cake and biscuits.

I gave my camera to a friend to take photos on the day so I didn't need to worry about it and she did a great job at capturing all the happy snaps (including the odd selfie per below!).

Friends and family traveled near and far to make my Baby Shower and I especially love that my 90 year old Nanna (and cruise ship companion!) rang the morning of the party saying she just didn't want to miss it and organised for a 4 hour round trip from the Country to come to the party and I'm so glad she did.

I was showered with gifts from friends and family and feeling ever so grateful for all the thoughtfulness and love our little one will have when she enters this world.

I have hosted two Baby Showers for friends and family and it really is a special occasion to celebrate.

Did you have a Baby Shower?

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2016 ... A Very Plain Christmas

It's with a heavy heart I tell you all that I won't be decorating the Jarrah Jungle home for Christmas this year! Shock horror I know right I can't quite believe it myself!!

I  know some of you may have been waiting to see what theme I'd come up with this year and sadly the theme is going to be .... A very plain Christmas!

The reason I can't decorate is we're having work done to our living room ceiling and so I can't put the Christmas tree in it's normal spot in here because we have to move all the furniture out and cover everything up ready for the dusty work to begin.

The carpenter who is building our deck and patio also does ceilings and Mr P and I recently started a DIY ceiling lift in the living room and master bedroom using ceiling washers (much like we lifted the laundry ceiling). The carpenter is going to finish this off and plaster, skim and sand the ceiling for us which will save us a heap of time and work - then we'll just need to paint.

The downside is all my lovely Christmas decorations will need to stay packed away this year.

Every day that Christmas gets closer and my Instagram feed fills up with people's beautiful homes and sparkling Christmas trees and decorations and I'm just so sad that I can't be a part of the festivities as I just love to decorate for Christmas.

Each year I pick a different theme - you can see my previous year's themes here 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 ... 2016 is going to be a very plain Christmas!

All I can say is watch out for next year because I'm going to have to go bigger and better than ever to make up for this years non-decorating.

This isn't the first time renovating has stopped my Christmas cheer but hopefully it will be the last!

On a positive note at least I won't have tiny bits of tinsel and glitter scattered all over my house like I usually do!!

How are you decorating for Christmas this year? Do you have a theme?

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A Book Lovers Christmas Party

My Book Club 'The Tuesday Girls' had our 6th Christmas Party last weekend.

Every year we do something different to celebrate the silly season and this year the Mums tucked the kids into bed, the wives kissed the hubbys goodbye, the rest of us patted our fur-babies and jumped in the car for a girls weekend away!

We really wanted to stay together overnight in a big house but couldn't find one with enough beds to accommodate us all.

So instead I found us a great self contained apartment in South Perth where we booked two rooms to sleep us all and it was in a really good location close to the Swan River and a short walk to nearby restaurants.

We went out for a nice pub lunch, indulged in nibbles and drinks back at our apartment for dinner and had a lovely late breakfast the next day before heading home.

Of course it wouldn't be a party without countless bottles of bubbles and wine being consumed as well!

We watched movies, played games and essentially followed the mantra ... eat, drink and be merry!

For gifts rather than buy for everyone we do a Secret Santa and give just one person who has been secretly drawn out for us a gift - the gifts were all so well thought out and there's always a few books being gifted! 

I also prepared some goodie bags filled with book products to give to the book club girls which were gifted by some awesome Australian companies and individuals which I've detailed below. 

Stress Free Dinner Parties and Build Your Signature Wardrobe by Alexandria Blaelock - An Australian writer and philosopher and author of these great reads. 

Stress Free Dinner Parties is a great book for anyone who loves to entertain at home and it takes you through how to plan, host and most importantly enjoy your party. Build Your Signature Wardrobe is inspired by the Great Depression and World War eras on how they would build a signature wardrobe and this book takes it into the 21st century and explains how to shop strategically and helps you confidentially build your signature wardrobe.

Brand New Day: The highs and lows of starting a small business by Lara Solomon - London born and now Australian based author Lara, in diary style, shares her experience of leaving her full time job to start her own business venture and the trials and tribulations, what worked and what didn't and is a really honest and open account in the first 4 years of her business. 

This is a perfect read for anyone wanting a better understanding and honest view of what running a business is all about.

Australian Book Review Magazine - One of Australia's leading cultural magazines this is full of reviews, essays and commentary on the latest films, plays, operas, dance and art exhibitions. It provides an outlet for creative writing around Australia which is then showcased internationally.

This magazine is a great read for art and culture enthusiasts.

Get Packing: The Ultimate Travel Guide by John Kumm & Barbara Walsh - John and Barbara have written a couple of travel guides and The Ultimate Travel Guide is geared towards anyone who loves the idea of travelling the world but is a bit unsure about where to start to plan for such an amazing holiday. From tips on saving on accommodation to what to pack for a cruise holiday this guide has it all.

This book is a great read for newbie globetrotters.

This Is It by Jackie Parry - Originally from the UK Jackie is now an adopted Australian and has published numerous books of her travels around the world. This Is It is about a sailing trip she took with her husband Noel which turned out to be as much a voyage of self discovery as it was an adventure.

Check out their website Noel & Jackie's Journeys for more tales of their travel adventures.

I also hosted a giveaway which was decided on who could tell the best joke and the winner received this awesome Book Club Agenda tea towel from Stylie which sums up our Book Club perfectly!

Stylie is the creation of two sisters who have a knack for seeking out creative, cute and quirky bits and pieces. They also run gift wrapping workshops in Sydney which would be a lot of fun and you can follow them on Instagram for daily creative wrapping ideas!

It was such a great weekend away and I'm just so happy to have found a group of girls who love books and reading as much as I do!

Have the Christmas celebrations started for you?

Disclosure: Thanks very much to Alexandria Blaelock, Lara Solomon, ABR, John Kumm, Jackie Parry and Stylie for providing these book lovers products. I have not received any payment or compensation for this blog post. As always, all opinions are my own.

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A Week In Seminyak, Indonesia

Mr P and I are back from our week long getaway to Seminyak, Indonesia feeling relaxed and recharged - the sign of a good holiday!

I first visited Bali about 15 years ago and stayed in Kuta which is a bustling, lively, party town. This time around it was nice to stay out of the hustle and bustle and in the nicer area of Seminyak.

A few months ago I found an amazing deal on Scoopon which gave us over 60% off accommodation plus a bunch of extras like airport transfers, meals, massages and more which was too good a deal to pass up. 

The place we stayed at The Jineng Villas was amazing - it's a group of about 10 villas which are all privately enclosed with their own swimming pool. If you are looking for a romantic and secluded place to stay which is perfect for couples I highly recommend it. 

The accommodation package included 3 meals a day which they would bring to our villa and set the dining table for a romantic meal. We could have breakfast, lunch or dinner and high tea every day. 

I had so many recommendations from people for places to go for dinner or bars for drinks but because the food was so good at our villa we only went out for lunch and dinner a few times as it was just too relaxing dining in and it was free!

Bali is a really hot and humid climate and they have two seasons - wet and dry. November is the wet season so it was even more humid after it rained, which it did in the afternoon and evening most days. 

So when we weren't having a dip in our private swimming pool we spent time at the beach cooling down with our toes in the water and at the beach side bars.

One day we went on a sightseeing tour with Bali Driver Seminyak - we did the full day Tanah Lot and Countryside Tour. 

We were in our own private van and driven around by our guide out of the city of Bali, through all the little towns and into the countryside. We visited three temples which were all so different and unique to one another, we trekked through a rice terrace field and had lunch overlooking the rice fields (this was on my bucket list and I loved it) and on our way home we went to a coffee and tea plantation and tasted samples of all the different coffee and tea varieties.

It was great to get out of the city and tourist areas for the day and see some of the real Bali.

Another really fun thing we did was a Balinese Cooking Class with Nia Cooking School - it was great and I highly recommend doing a cooking class if you want to know more about the local food.

We met up with our group and were taken to a local food market in Seminyak and learnt all about the different spices, herbs and vegetables used in Balinese cooking. Then we went to the Chef's Restaurant Warung Nia and our group took it in turns to help the Chef prepare each dish - we made 12 dishes in total which we were then served for lunch.

We were given a recipe book of the dishes we made which was a really nice touch. Mr P and I are big foodies so we can't wait to recreate some of these traditional Balinese dishes at home.

We had such a great holiday on this tropical island with a good balance of relaxing, pampering, eating, swimming, shopping and sightseeing!

Have you been to Indonesia? 

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