With rose coloured glasses...

So with daylight still shining down on the sleepy little town I made a detour past what used to be known as the lake. It's now more of a grass lands in the centre of the towns most expenisve real estate.... wonder how those prices are doing now with their 'mud veiws'...

 Again, it was another scene that didn't match the memory in my mind, amazing how things change, grow and evolve, yet your memory of it stays the same, no matter how many years pass by.

There was an amazing amount of sunlight, for a place that I remember being very dark and cold. Ironic, the long row of boat sheds, lined up with no boats, the yacht club with no water now turned in to a restaurant called Sails, a water side cafe, with no water... a few moments of reflection... only without a reflection in the water...

Blonde Vintage

Whilst waiting for my lunch date on sunny Saturday, I stumbled across a little treasure. In the old shell of what I remembered to be a second hand CD store, is a very warm little nook, housing a collection of old, recycled, upcycled, vintage, newly printed but made-to-look vintage, pre loved and generously gorgeous trinkets.

It was hard to leave behind a fire engine red leather clutch purse, there was so much history and soul in that store. The hand written price tags were a delight, keeping track of all these little treasures, most of which sprung up in a time before barcodes.

These old olive oil tins turned planters stopped me in my tracks at the front door, and the rest, as they say is history.

My new favourite nook in the old home town.

Catch up coffees and the number 8

On Saturday, the travel plans of a life long friend called for lunch and catch up coffees in the little old town of the B'rat... yes that's right - two weekends in a row!

We settled for lunch at the old Golden City Hotel, which was quiet when we arrived and roaring with locals when we left, all out for a weekend chin wag, a late breakfast or an early brunch.

This was follwed by some window shopping and a walk down memory lane, seeing all the shop fronts with the same displays 5 years on, and other that had changed hands, changing the street scape from the one in my mind. After all the window shopping and reminiscing it was time for another coffee, and for the second time in the same day, we found ourselves at another table 8! My number! :D This one had a very cute pair of 'ghostly' salt and pepper shakers. I've always liked this store, which now has a cafe (genius!), it was just a pity that the coffee was burnt, the machine needed a clean and I needed an extra sugar to get it down (you're good Ballarat... but your coffee's a little less than average!) Not that I'm city coffee snob :)

It was a lovely warm winters afternoon, with more (waterless) lake side pics to come...

Ballarat Heritage weekend - May 9th

While in Ballarat for Mothers Day, we ventured up Lydiard street to the mining exchange to see what was on display. There were horse and carriage rides and vintage bus trips along Sturt Street and a small collection of vintage cars parked in front of the mining exchange. For a Sunday, the city centre was quite busy!

The mining exchange had an awesome display of antique bicycles (and tricycles) down the centre, with small booths representing different historical societies, geneaology resources and libraries from around the central highlands district. The bikes were each unique with amazing seats and hadlebars, breaking systems and bells.

Also at the mining exchange was a collection of very old, and now very expensive luggage by Louis Vuiton. In a time before luggage limits, metal detectors and frequesnt flyer points, there was some very, very nice cases. Some small, some large, all very carefully finished, stiched and studed. some trunks were like a wardrobe in a box, with suit hangers, shoe pockets and draws, to keep ones belongings in order whilst at sea. They're certainly much nicer (and undoubtedle heavier) than luggage of the 21st century. It's sad that the LV print has been cheapened by the tacky rip offs and (in my eyes) over use. Things are much nicer before they make it to mass production...

From there we wandered across the street to where the big band was playing on the balcony of the George Hotel. Upstairs was an exquisite display of lucite hangbags, each one different, once a prized possession of its owner, and still now, all these years later, in imaculate condition, some from as early as the turn of last century! There were too many to have a favourite, I guess even after generations, a girl can never have too many hand bags!

It's amazing to think that when this little treasures were hung from petite forearms, they held little more than a hankerchief and some lipstick. Unlike today where we carry half our lives around on our shoulders, phones, purses, diaries... it's no wonder there are so many neck and back problems in today's society.




From the George we headed back to the Town Hall were there were displays of antique postcards, displaying local houses, stores, churches and schools, some of which are still recognisable today. There were tourism brochures and campaign materials from post gold rush era but pre WWI, which I found quite amusing. There were even instructions on how to "see Ballaarat in 7 days" with directions on how to catch the trams to local attractions at the time. There was also an entire display based on the Chinese history of Ballarat from the Gold rush era, with some beautiful Chinese artifacts, that unfortunately I was unable to photograph. I was called "ma'am" by a teenage boy (not appreciated, made me feel INCREDIBLY old) how ever he is forgiven, only because he was in an air cadet unform and as such, knows no better. Here are the few pictures I did manage to take before being told off!

All in all a very cheap (all the exhibits we saw were free), and a very interesting day out. So much so I may need to mark this in to next years calendar!

Mothers Day 2010

This year I baked a cake! Late saturday night, while watching "Hot Fuzz" I baked an orange popyseed cake. After spending almost an hour in the oven and another half hour cooling, it finally struck me, as I was icing this delicious pile of scrumptiousness, that I did not own a plastic container large enough to store this cake in! Oppps....

After hunting high and low, I found the bamboo skewers I knew I had and cut them into toothpick lengths to attempt to hold cling wrap off the icing... alas, attempts were futile. Today I bought a "cake carrier" from Coles, crisis averted, and only a week too late! Now I need another excuse to bake a cake! :) I digress....

So on Sunday I drove with said cake on the front passenger seat of the car to Melton, before continuing on to Ballarat. We had afternoon tea with Nan and Pa who talked for hours. It was a lovely afternoon with lots of coffee, cake, cheese and crackers, not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Cupcakes!!

After destroying the handle of a saucepan (not my fault I might add) I
went out today to find a replacement. While standing in the
kitchenware isle I spotted a bright pink silicon muffin tray. It had
to come home with me, and when it got home, was itching to bake some
sweet treats! So here they are, a Melanie dozen (11... They smelt too
good to wait till they were cool enough to ice) of vanilla cup cakes.
Complete with colourful sugar hearts! :) yum!

Who's up for coffee and a cupcake??

Mobile posting

So, after 6 months of being without a "real" Internet connection, I've
been really slack on the blog posts. I've done a little bit of
catching up while house and puppy sitting this weekend. While I was
giving my page a bit of a facelift, I stumbled across the mobile
posting settings and think I may have got it all worked out!! Lookout,
the lazy blogga is now connected! :D

Sent from my iPhone

Historicial Happy Snaps in Hobart

I don't know why but I have a 'thing' for old buildings, I always have. Old homesteads, old churches, town halls, things with history, built with craftsmanship, by hand, over time.... And now I really think about it, it's not just old buildings, it's old documents, old furniture, old cards (vintage cars, not just an '82 colt!), old trinkets, old people.... just anything that has been around longer than me!

Unfortunately we'd all flown on different carriers to Hobart, so I had a few hours to kill on my own while waiting for my flight home. This suited me fine as I quite happily roamed the streets of Hobart, with the knowledge that I couldn't get lost with my awesome iPhone with GPS (yes Ben, you were right... I don't know how I ever lived with out it) and snapped away at the quaint little homes, letter boxes, fences, churches and other things that looked old for the afternoon. I hope you enjoy these half as much as I did taking them! Enjoy!

9th January 2010

So I blogged about the High Tea hen's afternoon, I guess it's only fair that I blog about the main event!

Lyd and I caught abus from Hobart to the stop closest to the ceremony site (which took about 45 mins) and then walked quite some distance (love the iPhone and it's GPS or we may never have made it!) across the park. The ceremony was held outside, the weather was a perfect mid-twenties, and no real breeze right by the waters edge. The bride and her bridesmaids arrived in style, making waves as they did, much to the delight of the guests!

 

The boys could have been mistaken for an up and comming boy band with their stylish sunnies, and the girls made the long walk from the jetty to the ailse under gorgeous parasols. The flower girl and page boy were very well behaved, as the sun set on a lovely afternoon.

Congratulations (belated I know) to Mr & Mrs McInnes!

High Tea Hens Day

So in January (I realise this happened before Ben's brithday, but we'll ignore the chronological hiccup and tell the story anyway!) Lydia and I travelled over to Tassie to spend the weekend and be part of a beautiful wedding. On the Friday afternoon, all the ladies headed out in their finest vintage or opshop out fit and headed to a gorgeous historical hotel in Hobart for a high tea.

We spent the afternoon drinking tea and coffee, eating sandwiches and cakes, all in the company of some wonderful women. Recipes were written out for the bride to be, a collection of her friends favourite dishes, a very fitting present for the new bride. There were photos taken and memories made, all in an afternoon of great indulgance. A couple of happy snaps from the day...

Ben's Birthday

Another year older... another year.... older???

We spent the night with my folks, having Ben's favourite, roast lamb, done in Dad's big BBQ. Of course there was apple pie for dessert!

We googled recipes, made cocktails and ate cake. All in all a good night in, 7th of February 2010.

The summer that was.... 2009/2010

So we're well and truely feeling the winter weather in Melbourne right now, and as I flick through photos from summer, I'm counting down to the return of the warmer weather.

Over christmas and new year, I had almost a week off work, we managed to get to the Boxing Day test with an old work mate of Bens, which was an interesting day out, we also got to JB Hifi Boxing day sales and stocked up on accesories and Super Mario World for the Wii :)





We also made it to a 20/20 match with the parents which was very exciting, Vics pulling through to win in the last over.

Concerts featured heavily early this year, pity now with all the house expenses they've fallen off the list of priorities. My bestie and I made it to see Britney Spears on some freebie tickets quickly followed by Lily Allen! The production at Britney was AMAZING, but Lily was my favourite, the atmosphere Festival Hall was pretty awesome!!


There was more 'house shopping' drooling over TVs and lounge suites for the new place, shopping around for just the right things at just the right prices! :)

All too soon I was back to work, but most people had January off so at least the office was quiet! A week back in, I interviewed for the Event Management position and two weeks later found out that I had it. It was a very exciting time with lots of changes at home and at work! Things have calmed down now, playing the waiting game... waiting for the house, waiting for my replacement, waiting for that first wedding to eventuate... the calm before the storm....

The house that Ben and Mel built - Update

So, we're at month 13... lucky for some....

We've been waiting just over a month for our bi-fold doors. Without them the bricklayers can't finish they're job, and with out bricks we can't "lock up". On Tuesday these precious doors were delivered, and before they could be installed on Wednesday morning, the smaller set were stolen. If not for the fact that the other set were either too big or too heavy to be shifted, they may have both gone. Regardless, we have one set of bi-fold doors and they look pretty.

On the inside, we have kitchen cabinets, my fabulous pot draws :) handles and all... even the kitchen sink! :)




The wrong shaped basins and bath tub have been put in, but apparently they will be swapped over for the round option we'd originally chosen.




We have a front door, but it's still missing a door handle and a coat of paint! Otherwise the roller door is the only missing to make it look like a house.





The stolen bi-fold doors have set us back another couple of weeks, but the guys at Clarendon still think that we could be in for Christmas in July! Another 6 weeks of this waiting game and we may finally have a solid hand over date. We have found our floor tiles, which were removed from our contract initially, and now are on the look out for a local tiler to lay them. The carpet quotes we have had varied by almost 30% so we've asked for a third opinion to try and work out which of the first two quotes were ripping us off.... would hate to get caught out with a bill 40% more expensive after going with the cheaper option.... all so time consuming, geting multiple quotes and shopping around all the time, especially when Ben and I don't have matching work days off, squeezing it all in on public holidays is a pain! Fingers crossed it will all be worth it in the long run.