What we did in September

Isn't the year flying I really can't keep up.  September was another busy month.  One of the highlights of the months was two days of lessons with the wonderful Donna Downey, http://www.donnadowney.com she is one of the most delightful people Ive ever met and she is so talented.  The classes were so enjoyable I don't consider myself arty in any way but three of the projects were finished and the fourth was an art journal so it was ongoing   We attended the classes at Joybells in Landsborough http://www.joybellsscrapbooking.com.au.  Joy is amazing and is able to get some top rated teachers to come to the Sunshine Coast to teach us lucky girls.

  

 

Last month I attended an organic veggie gardening workshop with Lizzie Moult from http://www.strayedtable.com and Gary from Kookaburra Organics http://www.malenyfarmersmarket.com.au  loved every minute of it so I eventually got my veggie garden started.  They suggested we use mushroom compost from one of the mushroom farms here on the coast so I tracked some down and we were told to make sure we were there early we got there the first Saturday at 6.20am and they had sold out, the next Saturday we arrived at 5.45am and they weren't selling that day, needless to say we still haven't gotten any from that farm we went to another mushroom farm and they had plenty but it didn't seem as fresh. Anyway I have one small  garden which is a start. I planted some lettuce Kale and beans I have some heirloom tomato seeds that I have to plant.  On the 7th of September Tony, Lucy and I went to the Maleny Real Food Festival,  http://realfoodfestival.com.au.  I love this festival we are so lucky to live in an area that has the best farmers producing the most spectacular fresh food.  This festival has everything  and it's a delight to go to.

 

Oh my goodness this honey was divine and was the zucchini pickles and I also picked up this cute apron.

I participated in Ali Edwards from http://aliedwards.com A week in the life.  I have started putting the album together but as usual haven't finished it yet.  I do love this project and Im also looking forward to the December Daily Album.

Just because she's cute if you look at her nose there are bits missing she hates other dogs and every chance she gets she has a go at this big dog called Bob he is in his yard behind his gate , they usually just make a lot of noise.  This day Milly stuck her nose in a bit too far and he bit it, totally her fault and she hasn't done it since, she really suffers from little dog syndrome.  One of my biggies this month is that I joined a gym, I really don't like exercise  I used to play a lot of sport when I was younger but once I left the army and had children it all went to the way side.  I had been walking the past few weeks but I felt I needed more and a bit of structure,  I think Ive been there about four or five weeks so far.  Its a good gym I haven't for a minute felt uncomfortable, you know how some gyms are.

This has become my second home.  

My football team made it to the final series and won the minor premiership   Go the Roosters

Tess got a new tattoo no I don't like them but she's 20 and it's her decision at least they are fairly tasteful and hidden except for this one which was small birds it was rather cute.  She asks me to go with her in case she faints and can't drive home like when she past out at the piercing shop.  Lucy had exam block so want at school a great deal throughout the month. Of course Nanny turned 101 years old.I finally got to go to It's Rawsome  which is at 522 Petrie Creek Rd Rosemount,it is a raw vegan cafe I have been trying to get there for a year surprisingly it was Tony who came with me not Tess and surprisingly he really enjoyed it. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-Rawsome-Cafe/156217407775977

Tony's always on the phone  I can't remember what Tony had a burger of sorts, could have been a chickpea patty but I had beetroot ravioli with cashew cream, absolutely divine but dessert was even better Tony had a the hazelnut cheesecake mine was a Banoffee pie.  Superb .

Tony and I had two days at the Gold Coast to meet up with an old army friend of Tonys, we had a great time, staying at a lovely resort Peppers

The view from our balcony

 

All we seemed to do was eat as soon as we arrived we found a cute little coffee shop then went onto a pub for lunch which was excellent.  The lovely surprise was dinner, not being overly hungry and wanting to leave room for dessert we ended up at a cuban restaurant which was right near Peppers, I can't remember the name of it but the food was so lovely.  Sorry about the not so good photo's I only took them with my phone.  Im going to have to find some cuban recipes.

 

After dinner we went to Max Brenner  http://www.maxbrenner.com.au OMG this was amazing and so so delicious.

 

 

 

 

Tony and I woke up early  so we went back to the cuban restaurant for breakfast then a walk along the beach.  

The weather had been horrible the day and especially the night before it was starting to clear so the day ended up hot and humid.  We checked out of our room and met up again with Tony's friend and then went over to Pacific fair for some shopping  We had yum cha at a chinese restaurant it was different and it was the least enjoyable meal of the trip.  We left the Gold Coast at about 2pm and headed home.  I headed straight to the gym to work off all that wonderful food which I think Im still paying for.

Lucy wanted to go and stay with my parents over the school holidays so we met them halfway it was Grandma's birthday, I should have taken  photo inside as it was really windy and very sunny

After we left Tess and I called in for a quick visit to Ikea, we just wanted to get a couple of LITTLE storage items

Lucky we drove the 4WD and I had been after an outside table for ages.  

The last week of September was spent painting our bedroom, it used to be Lucy's room  I do love the colour but wanted an all white room, silly me decided to paint our furniture to which I still have to do yet.  I painted the bedside tables but still have to do the four poster bed and the dressing table.  I don't have an after photo yet but Im really happy with it

After the first coat Tony didn't like the gaps in the vj's as you can see below yes I know that sounds stupid so he fill them and it looks so much better

 

Anyway that was our September.

Bye for now

Jackie

Fabulous Weekend

 

The weekend has come and gone and it’s back to reality, I really wish I was still there.  We got up on Friday morning at 3am to catch a 6.30 flight.  I'm glad Tony was wide awake for the hour drive to  Brisbane because I felt barely conscious.  We had to drop our car off at 5am then they drove the ten minute drive to the airport and had us there by 5.20 it was great no stress and plenty of time to check in before boarding at 6am.  I don't do early mornings very well which is funny considering I had a job that required me to be at work by 5.30 for four years.

Sunrise at Brisbane airport.

The flight was uneventful and we landed at Proserpine airport just before 8am then whisked off on a bus to Abel Point Marina at Airlie Beach where we were able to grab some coffee before the ferry was due at 10am.  It only took about 25 minutes to get to Daydream.

Welcome to Daydream Island. The island is only a kilometre long and about 500 metres wide with a tiny hill in the middle.  We were lucky that our room was ready and we were able to check in straight away.  We went and found Tony’s brothers and sat by the pool just swimming ,drinking and having lunch until 1.30.  Then it was time to get ready for Mel and Clint’s wedding.  The wedding was at Lovers cove which is a little beach with a wooden deck over looking the water and islands.

Tony’s mum Sonja, niece Fauve, sister in law Karen and niece Jana.

I have two hoods for my lens and  both have gone missing so I really struggled taking photos at the wedding which was disappointing as the glare was so bad.  I'm hoping to be able to do something with the photos in Photoshop but this couple were the cutest couple there apart from the bride and groom.

Nephew Norton and his girlfriend Portia.

My sister in law Jenny (in the orange dress), nephew Sam and brother in law Mick.

 

Niece Jaylene, her partner Shane and daughter Amelia

The beautiful bride and her dad Peter

Mel’s sister Jess was bridesmaid.

It was a gorgeous wedding, relaxed yet very elegant I loved the dresses and the location it was one of the more enjoyable weddings that I've been to.

Double trouble Tony and Sam

The reception area which overlooked another beach, pier and islands.  It was so beautiful, food was superb especially the pavlova it was the best I've ever tasted I knew not to eat it but I did and as a result was back to my room by 10.30pm with a really bad headache and woke up at 3 in the morning with a migraine.  No more photos from the night as they show bad behaviour and I think the worse behaved were the Uncles, need I say more.  Lets just say they were rather amusing.

Next morning was off to a bit of a slow start, I swear I drank the least and I think I felt the worse, hardly fair is it.  Once the headache dimmed and after breakfast we went back to Lover’s cove as Tony wanted to do some snorkelling. The rest of the day was spent walking around exploring, an afternoon sleep then dinner. 

It was too much for some.

Now dinner deserves its own post.  Oh my goodness I really thought I’d died and gone to heaven.  We decided to go to the seafood buffet and it didn't disappoint.  I had Lobster, crab, prawns, bugs, muscles and oysters and then there were wonderful salads and hot food as well. I'm salivating just at the thought of it again.

This photo isn't the best as it was taken on the I phone.  This was plate number one I hate to admit but I went back four times, the lobster was my favourite.

Sunday was our last day so we were up early for breakfast, fresh fruit, bircher muesli and pancakes to start the day.  We said Goodbye to some then the rest of us went down to the Daydream village to hang beside the pool for a couple of hours before we had to leave at 1.50pm.

Little Slater, Jess’ son

Slater with his dad, Shawn

Time to go, I don't think I want to.

After the most exquisite weather we were heading towards this

Just about to land in Brisbane

We arrived home at 5.30 just in time to listen to the Grand Final.  It was lovely to be home and the house was lovely and tidy, Tess even managed to get Lucy to clean her room.  This is what the weather was like here on the coast yesterday, wet and cold.  Welcome back to the Sunshine Coast.

Would I go there again?  Most definitely however it is so expensive especially food and drinks and there are no facilities for you to take your own food and drink, if you could sneak alcohol in do it.  I would only go there in winter but that’s just me I hate humidity.  Be prepared to queue they don't have enough staff on anywhere.  For some reason we were booked on the wrong ferry and missed the connecting bus to the airport although the girl at reception recommended we go on the ferry that we did we had to fork out another $94 in taxi fees (we had already paid for the bus back to the airport) I have spoken to a manager on the island and at the moment am waiting for him to phone me today.  There is a lot of buck passing between the reservation office (which made the first mistake they had us leaving on Saturday) and the Island but it will get sorted.  Beside that we really did have the best time.

Bye for now

Jackie