Around here

Around here I have just come back from my first 9 day holiday in years.  I flew to Perth to visit my sister and meet my niece's first baby who was 4 weeks old when I arrived.  I was staying with my sister so every morning we took the dog for a walk and had a coffee at a local coffee shop and in the evenings we took him for another walk.  In between we went to cuddle the new baby and take my niece out as she couldn't drive for 6 weeks.  I just loved spending time with my sister and her grown up kids.  She moved to Perth about 38 years ago and comes back to Brisbane every couple of years to catch up and we have visited over the years however I haven't been to Perth for 17 years and hadn't been on a plane in over 8 years so it was very exciting for me to go on this trip.  We are actually going back in a few months time as my nephew is getting married.  We were booked to go for my nieces wedding 3 years ago before the world shut down.

We went to Cottesloe Beach and had a swim a couple of days as it was very hot towards the end of the trip and the beginning it was a little windy and cold.  Mostly it was coffees out and family time which I love.  I took a roll of film while I was there so I will need to get it developed next week.  Here's a few photos of my trip and the new baby.

My sister and I at a cafe at Hillary's Boat Harbour.

Toby wondering why I have my camera in his face.... he's so cute.

He's like Billy who we mind for my friend however he has longer legs so is a bit taller.

My niece with her new baby.

My sister is now a Grandmother for the first time.

Not a great photo of this as there was too much refection and the colours aren't true to life but you get the idea.  When my niece was born 31 years ago I did this cross stitch for her and got it framed and took it to Perth to give to my sister for her first baby.  As you know cross stitch takes hours and hours and I only did one for her first child and not the other 2 however my sister gave it to my niece who has now put it up in her own daughters nursery so this cross stitch is 31 years old next month.  So touched she has put it up and it looks great in the nursery.

How beautiful is this bub.

Yummy fish taco's for lunch.

Meeting the baby for the first time.

Happy New Year 2023

Welcome to 2023 and a Happy New Year to you all.  We had a lovely Christmas which I host at my place and my sisters and I have our things we do each year so it makes they day really easy.  We had our usual leg ham, fresh prawns, bread rolls, Asian Noodle Salad and Pasta Salad followed by Chocolate Plum Pudding and brandy custard and coffee and slices.  It never gets old and we do the same thing every Christmas.  My Aunty makes her biscuit Christmas Tree which always looks great and the biscuits have a hole in the centre and then are threaded onto the dowel like this however there are quite a few on the market so just search for Christmas Cookie Tree.

Someone was asking in the Additive Free Lifestyle group today about recipes for bread using a bread maker so I jumped onto Rhonda's blog from Down to Earth and found a heap of blog posts about her recipes she used when she was making bread with the bread maker.

On the 1st January, 2023 my friend and I are participating in a 21 Day Manifesting Challenge with Gabby Bernstein and in fact we have tickets to see her in Brisbane in May this year which is really exciting.  Each day you get to listen to a 5 minute talk and then do a small task, like write out your desires, everyone was making vision boards and it's such a positive vibe.  I love reading these types of books and reframing your mindset and what better place to start than at the beginning of the year.  I'm claiming it now.....it's going to be my best year yet.  This is my vision board that I put together and thought you might like to see it.  I did this in Photoshop however you can do it in a word document, people are using Canva which is free.  I started out with a couple of photos on Saturday and added a few, and tweaked it over a few days and then finalized it on Tuesday with placing the words over the top and now I'm happy.  It makes me happy just looking at it.  I hope you are having a great start to 2023.