Wordless Wednesday- #Fmy52weeksofmemories weeks 1-4

#happy   Happiness is playing in a warm rockpool!!

A pic for Teapots and Tractors #mumswearyourbathers

I collected pretties while sitting in the rockpool!!

After walking back to the top of the hill after our swim the kids all scooted off back down to the park!!  #summer

#sky  

#together

Linking up with Finding Myself Young for her #Fmy52weekofmemories and for the first time in ages with My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday.

Reading #returning

my very own signed copy!!

This is the list of books I have read since Boxing Day.  A massive effort by me seeing as how in 2014 I managed to read 2 books.

I have been switching off completely and losing myself in books.  One of the benefits of being up all hours with late night partaying children is that I ended up ignoring them and getting stuck into my books!!

I did the three John Grishams in a row.  I really liked all of them except the ending of The Racketeer.  It seemed a little rushed but was still a great ending.

Then I started on Returning.

2It is written by the extremely talented Francesca from Francesca Writes Here.

I really enjoyed it.  I really really hope Ms Suters is working on a sequel and that someone buys the rights to the book to turn it into a movie!!

I decided I can't say too much about it without giving bits away so you will just have to grab a copy and read for yourselves!!

Next up I have a book I grabbed from our library's bargain rack called Glasgow Kiss which sounds like a good one!!  Although I sense my reading time will be very limited in the next few weeks as we get right back into the swing of reality.

Linking up with One Mother Hen for #openslather and My Home Truths for I Must Confess.

Things I Know #43- Today is Friday

Shortest #tik ever as I just realised today is actually Friday and not Thursday.  Hence the Four weddings clip!!

I guess a whole week of shite sleep courtesy of all 3 of my little delights will in fact cause a brain malfunction.

Finally going to bed at 3am Wednesday morning being the worst night ever closely followed by last night with a 1am bedtime.

Uggh.

In other news I will be finalising the details over the weekend to send Maxine off on her journey.  Last call to have a turn and play along!!

Song of the week "Take Me To Church" is a new fave, reminds me of Elton John!!

I hope your week has played out a great deal better than mine!!

An InLinkz Link-up

#maxinethemaxi -Sarah from People Don't Eat Enough Fudge

When I commented on this post Five in Five on Ann's blog back in September and said ''I cant do maxi dresses for some reason, I love them on other people and, being tall, I always think they should suit me but I just end up looking like a pair of walking curtains. I really didn't think very much more about it.

Until!!!

Ann contacted me and asked me if I would like to take part in The Sisterhood of the Travelling Maxi Dress.

The idea was that Ann would send the dress to me, I would style it my way and write a post about it and then I would send the dress back.

Would I like to do that??

Hell YES!

A couple of weeks later the postman delivered a parcel and I was SO excited!

The dress was pretty, slinky and even long enough for ME which at 6ft is something of a rarity!

Now I'm famed for wearing most of my clothes far too short. It's probably my rebellious streak kicking against the god awful weather we have here in the UK for much of the year.

There's nothing I like better than wearing my shorts or little summer dresses and I've never even looked sideways at a maxi dress before (see reason above) and to be honest, I was stumped!

I had NO idea how to style this dress. I liked the look of it, I liked the feel of it. I loved the way it flowed and skimmed and was totally weightless. I also loved the fact that after travelling for 12000 miles it came out of that package without a single crease (I don't really do ironing ... or dusting .... or .... well, that's another post ...).

I turned to the internet for inspiration and found loads of different ways you can wear a maxi dress.

Belts, scarves, shoes, boots, safety pins - yep, safety pins - but don't worry, I didn't use any, I didn't want to poke holes in Ann's dress.

I had lots of fun trying out the different styles although I've got to admit I was REALLY bad at getting them to look the way they did on line and most were a complete disaster.

I roped Miss Mac in as my photographer and we took a few pics in the garden.

I take a TERRIBLE photo! Seriously! I pull weird faces nearly every time!

You know when you go out with a group of friends and they all start snapping away on their phones and post photos on FB about what a great time everyone's having?

Well, you hardly ever see any of me (unless they are really mean friends). They take the snaps but then I see them review them, frown and then silently hit delete no doubt inwardly berating me for ruining yet another great shot.

So anyway, Miss Mac (bless her) tried SO hard and took SO many photos (and laughed a LOT) and eventually we got a few photos that don't make me want to garrote myself with the twisted up dress (which would be a shame as it is a lovely dress).

First of all I wore the dress full length with just a belt slung low around my waist and (at Miss Mac's insistence) a scarf tied bandana style around my head and simple gladiator style sandals with turquoise beads.

The photo is a little blurry but it really was the best one we got!

Then I tried it (as shown on tinternet) with a belted vest top over it and long brown boots (see me looking all wistful and gardener like?)

Then I folded the top of the dress down (this was really easy as it's such a light fabric) and belted it at the waist so it became a long skirt and I wore it with a white vest top and a lightweight denim shirt dress worn open over the top.

I really wanted to show the way they had pinned the dress so the hem hung in a handkerchief way, all unevenly just above the knee but as I said, I didn't want to pin the dress so I've tried to show kind of how it should look by sitting down. I've teamed it this time with my favourite long line cable knit cardigan and the same brown boots turned down to show the sheepskin lining.

Finally I asked Miss Mac to style the dress her way for me.

She looked SO pretty! She's gone for a great young look with the dress folded and belted to make it above the knee borrowing my wide tan belt to hold it and the same gladiator sandals I wore and added a flower head band and an acid wash denim jacket for a really youthful hippy chick look.

I wish I could have done the dress more justice in these photos, I've really had my eyes opened to their versatility and practicality and, who knows, maybe I will buy one for myself next summer.

Thanks you SO much Ann for choosing me to style this dress for you, I'm really looking forward to seeing how everyone else wears it!

Sarah xx

I really want to thank Sarah and Miss Mac for their amazing contribution towards #maxinethemaxi or #thesisterhoodofthetravellingmaxi   You both have nailed it and I love love love your pictures 

Head on over and check out Sarah's hilariously funny blog People Don't Eat Enough Fudge and give her a like on Facebook

If you want to have Maxine pop over and visit you or if you want to see me and Maxine head on over to this post for all the goss!!

Maxine the maxidress

Way back in September I wrote this post Five in Five and in it I spoke of my love of maxi dresses.  It turns out not everyone shares my love of the maxi and quite frankly I thought the non maxi lovers are all nuts and I am setting out to change the minds of those who disagree!!

Meet Maxine the Maxi!!

Initially after the comments on the Five in Five I had the idea to find a one size fits most dress and send it off on it's merry way but then I totally forgot about this brilliant idea until one random afternoon Maxine appeared on my local buy swap and sell site!!  Turns out the lady selling her was a school mum so the very next day I had Maxine in my hot little hands!!

Maxine has already been and visited Sarah from People don't eat enough fudge in the UK.  I will share her amazing Maxine experience post tomorrow.

Now I am sending Maxine off around Australia.  First up she is heading to another Sarah!!  Sarah from Creating Contentment she is then going to visit (hopefully if they agree) Alicia, Em, Leanda, The Zilla, Rae and Ness as they were maxi dissers!!  I haven't asked them and I am putting them on the spot!!  I will be in contact ladies!!

If you would like a visit from Maxine feel free to shoot me an email help_stuck@hotmail.com and she can come over and visit!!  Like I said I am hoping to change a few minds on this subject!!

I have to admit I would not have purchased Maxine for myself.  I am not a massive fan of how the straps are and she is a tad too long for me but after wearing her for a day I kind of like her!!  As we were going out for a whole day I wore a black singlet under her so i could wear a comfy bra!!  I thought being polyester she may have been a little too hot but she wasn't and I was very comfortable walking around in 30 degree heat.

Linking up with My Home Truths for I Must Confess who funnily enough has the prompt today of bargains and Maxine was a bargain!!  Also linking up with One Mother Hen for #openslather.

Things I Know #42- Still switched off

Our little holiday is coming to an end unfortunately.

Next week semi reality kicks back in and we start to get a little normality back.

I have enjoyed the last couple of weeks immensely.

We haven't done much, a few trips to the beach, a lot of hanging out, a few sneaky arvo naps, a lot of Carona and lime drunk and this week a special 4th birthday and intensive swimming for the big boys.

I have read 2 books and am devouring the next one.  I am loving reading, loving it.

I will be back into blogging next week as I will be up early again and have my quiet hour or so in the morning as the HOTH is back to work so no more sleeping in!!

I am kicking next week off with a fun little project I have been working on, be sure to pop by on Monday to meet Maxine.  I also have a review and giveaway to come in the following weeks as well as the usual tripe!!

I am excited to be able to share more photos as I rece3ntly discovered a little thing called a card reader!!  Who knew??!!  Long story short I rang Fuji about getting a cord to transfer photos from my camera to the computer as I am over doing it wirelessly and the lovely lady told me I could get a cord but it would be much cheaper to buy a card reader.  I ordered one off ebay and it turned up this week yay!!

So that wraps up another week.  I have a total random earworm as song of the week, sorry not sorry!! Catch up with you all next week!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Things I Know #41- Just Keep Swimming

Love this picture A Parenting Life shared on facey!!

Another one I saw and liked on facey!!



What a roller coaster the end of 2014 was here.  There was extreme emotions from happiness to sadness and absolutely everything in between.

2015 is off to a great start.  I love this time of year when it is the five of us just hanging out, doing what we do.  These holidays are flying by way too quickly but we will make the most of the next week or so.

I know at this time of year people start with their inspirational posts about what they hope to achieve in the coming year.  I am jumping on the bandwagon with my phrase for the year-

It worked last year although I only really realised once we stopped at the end of the year that it had been exactly what I had been doing all along, and I am sure I can make it work this year too!!
I am not a fan of over thinking and over complicating things in my life!!

There will be change but I will think and do more about this later on when the normality of daily life returns and I am no longer in holiday mode!!

Apologies to all the #tik linkers I haven't visited lately.  A combination of holidays and the reoccurring dodgy wifi has seen me hardly touch the computer the last couple of weeks.  I will get around and stop by soon, promise!!

An InLinkz Link-up