A Super Fabulous Eclectic Giveaway

My babies started school on Friday, Miss L and B had their first day ever and this Mama was quite emotional. We are all ready for it but it felt very strange and odd, it's the end of an era, the close of some pretty major chapters in our book of life. Master J is a junior, starting Grade 1, when I picked him up he said " I love School, that was the best day ever" Bless him.

So to celebrate school going back I am hosting a great giveaway along with Eclectica.
For anyone who knows me I am currently having a love affair with this most fabulous shop on Pakington Street in Geelong West. I am a walking advertisement wearing my most gorgeous dresses, shirts and jewelery. The lovely Amanda has the most amazing eye for beautiful things so her shop is filled to the brim with an entire wish list of purchases.






Amanda and I are offering you a chance to win a $50 Eclectica Voucher and with the reasonable prices that will get you a whole lot of pretty.






So all you have to do is leave a comment here saying absolutely anything your heart desires but you need to use the word eclectic in your sentence. To increase your chances of winning you can also like us on Facebook. Go here for Piccadilly and here for Eclectica and tell me below you have done so.

You have until Thursday 8pm to do so.

For those non blog savvy people, if you don't have a Google Account just select anonymous and make sure you put your name and email address.

Thanks and Good Luck.

Eclectica can be found at 148 Pakington Street, Geelong West.
Let Amanda know you read about her here.

Discovering Nowa Nowa and Lake Bunga

I have just had one very blissful week sans kids at my parent’s holiday house near Lakes Entrance. It is a true slice of heaven and I can honestly say there are not many places where I would rather be spending my time. My parents bought in with 19 other families sight unseen to save this delightful beach house from being bought by developers. My Mum is one of those hippy dippy types who has strange occurrences like a “calling” that she MUST visit the Lake Tyers area and then moments later my Step Dad walked in saying we have had an offer to buy into a beach house at Lake Bunga, you guessed it.....right next to lake Tyers.

Anyway its 22 years later and I have spent many a wonderful holiday here as a single young girl with my friends, with various boyfriends, overseas friends and now my children who have grown up spending their Summers here. We have the lake on one side of the house where we can watch swans and sea eagles soaring and from the front porch we have 90 Mile Beach which is a 5 minute walk away. A big old Wombat ambled across the lawn the other night which was lovely. There is no TV, radio, internet so it is a true get away.

My dear friend Catherine spent the week with me and we took a day trip to Nowa Nowa which is the most delightful TINY town filled with a bunch of amazing, friendly artist types. There is a great old Collectibles Store which is always fun to have a look through. It is open on weekends and during the week they will open up on request. We wandered into the Nowa Nowa Caravan Park, which I discovered 2 years ago and fell in love with. There are a bunch of old caravans that you can stay in for $55 a night per couple, that is practically free in my books. It’s kooky and zany and right up my alley. They have recently acquired some old vintage doer uppers which make my heart swoon...sigh. I filled them in on dear old Constance and Rosie. Anyway we came across a group of women bottling apricots in the outdoor kitchen and the sight made us both want to pack it all in and move to Nowa Nowa immediately and be part of this delightful country living.

One of the women Angela suggested we go visit her artist husband Gary Yelen at their gallery/guest house about 1 km down the road and then another 3 kms through the countryside to their lakeside property. He made us a lovely tea and coffee and the 3 of us chatted out on the deck in the sunshine. We had a quick look of the house that can be rented out. It was amazing, very eclectic and arty and awesome. Gary did alot of the work on the guest house himself. They do hold a few retreats there which to me sound like bliss. The property is for sale for 1.3 million for 100 acres which reminds me I need to check my tatts ticket.


We tore ourselves away and went back to town to the Mingling Waters Caravan Park and had one of the talked about hamburgers for lunch before setting out for the art work along the river. We both fell in love with a little house called Home and its little shed called Birdie, also owned by the Yelens and there is a proposal to make Home into a delightful little Cafe. I can only imagine how delicious the offerings will be.




So if you find yourself driving towards Orbost from lakes Entrance on the Princes Highway, DONT blink pass this place by.... pop in and see what this lovely arty town has to offer.

My beautiful children have now arrived for a week of fun then it's back to start a great new business year.

Need some Pretty in your Life?

I do love an e magazine, lots of gorgeousness right at my fingertips. I have blogged about e-zines here and here.

Here is a new wedding themed e-zine from Style Me Pretty. You can view it here. Some of the images are just so amazing and make you want to get married all over again. Lots of lovely out door chandeliers stole my heart.

I went on to the website to look at more breathtaking shots and am sharing a few with you here. Enjoy!!! We all need a little pretty in our lives.

Word of The Year 2011

Happy New Year to all my peeps out there. I know a lot of people are away but for the ones that are around and reading I want to talk to you about choosing a word of the year. I am far too old to have resolutions, although I did tell my kids that mine was to put my clothes away before I went to sleep. I think it is far more sensible to choose one word or even let it choose you which mine did this year. The first year I did this was 2009 and my word was Change, in 2010 it was Peace and for 2011 it is commitment. I am so committed to my businesses, my children, my family, my reading, my crafts but I am NOT committed to ME. 2011 is about committing to making personal changes. I am putting it out there right here, right now that I am committed to being healthier, being less attached to chocolate and ice cream, being slimmer and I would like to RUN in the Mothers Day Classic in May.


I first heard of One Little Word from Ali Edwards and from Kelly Rae and I know there is a whole big community of One Little Word Supporters out there.

What will your word be and why?

You can even have your word put on a necklace here which is what I am about to do.

Christmas Images

So it's another year done and dusted. Mine was so wonderfully relaxed this year. Being Polish we celebrate on Christmas Eve with everyone on my Mums side of the family. It is a night very strong in tradition which we all love and I can see my children looking forward to all the traditional bits of the evening. It was at my Aunt Libby's house and she did an amazing job on the table, we all brought something along. My American cousin in law does THE most amazing Turkey and Ham. I did Margaret Fulton's Cherry Pav and the kids and I made a Gingerbread House. I also did this amazing layered salad which is always a big hit. So here are some images of my Christmas this year.





Now it is time to enjoy some well earned time off except for the occasional blog pop in.

In Memory of My Dad

Today, 23 December is one year since my Dad passed away from pancreatic cancer. I honestly cant believe a year has passed and as they say time eases the pain. Dad and I had a strained relationship but his passing was so sudden and such a shock to me. We were just starting to mend our relationship and he was getting to know his beautiful grandchildren. Sometimes I honestly think I have seen him in the street and go to wave and then remember.

My brother, Mum and I with our families are having a special dinner tonight in his memory.

I am very much looking forward to a happier Christmas celebration this year. I really don't remember much from last year except feeling numb.

So here is to you Dad. I love You.



when Jonah was born

Did somebody say drool?

OMG!!! I am completely blown away by this online magazine. I have been a fan of this blog for a while, if you have not heard of what katie ate then you are in for a treat. Even better is that she is an Aussie. I do warn you to not enter the site if you are feeling slightly peckish. I am still salivating. The photography will blow you away, I could literally smell the chocolate through my lap top screen. I am writing out an ingredient list for the Vanilla Cookies, Macadamia Cranberry Cookies and Chocolate Cherry Mousse Pots, just to mention a few.

I am all over the biscuiteers advent calendar and those cookies. Go do some more drooling when you are finished here.Need to get my hands on the Mozi Ham Bag.

The section on New York takes me back to the winter I spent in New York, I remember Christmas as being bitterly cold but so wonderfully magical. I often walked home from work and it really was like living in a dream. The giant wreath in the window of 'extra virgin' is giving me all sorts of ideas.

MUST MUST MUST visit Monsieur Truffe in Collingwood these holidays and next time I am in Sydney I do believe a picnic from The Sydney Picnic Co may be in order.

I could go on and on but that would ruin it for you. So sit back and enjoy 495...yes 495 pages of complete decadence from around the world.






Tell me what you thought....