Springish weather continues

What a beautiful day today was.  According to the temp thingymajig in my car it said it was 18* outside, and it certainly felt warm.  I packed a good amount in to my day starting with a leisurely couple of hours at work.  Collected some old buttons I won on trade me, visited some op shops and then went all country and visited my potty friend Dawn.

Dawn's latest sculpture, crazy fat birds in a tree.  Still to be glazed but still fantastic.

This gorgeous unglazed woman is part of a totem pole Dawn is making, so much work and I cannot wait to see her all glazed in fabulous colour.  I think this one is going in an exhibition/competition.

I love that she actually planted a weed in her out door table and it is thriving, even flowering.  Oh and my last eye pot, kept forgetting to take it home.

And the very regal Taz!  She is such a sweet little cat who always finds the piece of sunlight in the most comfortable spot.

Of course todays selection of goodies.  The umbrella stand came from the dump shop.  The buttons I won off Trade Me for a mere $7-50 and they are fab.  Another basket but one like a trug.  Long sleeve top which is actually a lot brighter than the picture and a 100% cotton short sleeve cardy for those lovely Spring days!!

 My face pots got given some hair by way of blue grass!!

I could not resist taking photos of these Spring flowers.

Who doesn't like Spring flowers?  I love all the bright colours mixed in with the paleness of my dafs.  Even my Tulips have started to pop up out of the soil in the two big pots I mass planted.

Remember the possum skins I got, well I joined them together and wore them today as a shawl.  Check out my Daphne bush, she is doing so well this year and the smell is divine!!

Spring has Sprung!

Well in my garden it is showing signs of attempting to kick Winters cold wet sorry arse outta town!!

Spring bulbs are starting to bud up and prepare to burst out to announce the next season.

Camellias, Calla lilies, Birds of Paradise with the dainty Allisum, and even the Fennel looks beautiful.

Big pink Chatham Island forget-me-not, sweet violas, a huge pod and the reliable easy to grow Geranium.

 My favourite Winter flowers, Hellebore or Winter Rose.

Who can go past Daphne without filling up on the heady scent it breathes out.  My dads favourite flower, so I grow it in his honor.

The most inquisitive hen in my coup checking out what I was doing out in the garden.  According to the weather dude on TV we are now in Spring.  Sure was warmer this morning, then it got greyer by the second and now it is down right cold and miserable, just in time for the weekend.

Party in town

Last night we went to town and celebrated one of my extra children turning 21.  He actually turned this age a month ago while in Oz visiting his mother, and the one whos bedroom I filled with balloons while he was away.  So last night his dad and step mum hired the VIP room at Diggers, a local bar smack bang in the party zone in town. It was an entertaining night with a bunch of young people having a grand old time with an inflatable girlfriend.

The blow up girl greeted everyone at the door and was used and abused the entire night.  Instead of a key to sign everyone left a message on Porky Pauline as she has been named.  I added some vital information to 40 Urgent stickers for the birthday boy to hand out to unsuspecting females, not sure what his strike rate was like and how successful it turned out.

TOF and I were the only grown ups there with the birthday boys dad and step mum whom we just happen to get on with.  Thankfully there was a big screen so we could watch our team the CHIEFS win the semi final and now will be playing next week to take out the competition, Rugby that is!!

Me and TOF had our eldest son and girlfriend hanging with us for a while.  Our eldest is 21 next year in March so this could be a prospective venue to have a wee do for him.  It was upstairs with an outside balcony which was a great place to retreat to when my furnace would over heat. Pauline the doll got thrown off the balcony to the bar next door where she had photos taken with peeps in there then they threw her back up to us.  At the end of the night I was given the task of getting her home safely as they were all heading to the clubs. TOF wouldn't walk with me so me and Pauline found our own way back to the car getting stopped all the time with people wanting to meet the popular Pauline.

It was nice to get home to my slippers and a hot cuppa. Call me Nana if you like but my staying out late days are few and far between.

I wore my Trelise Cooper frock with a long sleeve top and leggings underneath.  Very comfy and pretty.  Topped off with pearls, and straightened hair!!  

Found Pauline still in the back of the car this morning and she was feeling a bit flat.  She has since been returned to her owner and now I am just waiting for one of the lads to pick up his car and gear from our place.  Have spent the afternoon in the garden shredding branches and spreading them in the chicken house.  Youngest son wants to take me and TOF out for dinner tonight.  Who are we to argue!

Hey hey hey it's Saturday!!!

Just got back from catching up with two of my favourite friends, last time we got together for lunch it took 12 hours.  So 3 hours for morning tea isn't too bad.

Denise (in the middle and wearing high heels because she is actually as short as me) and Vicki (on the end who is always the hostess with the mostess) I have known since our youngest were all at the same Kindergarten.  We along with a few  other good sorts were on the committee and believe me we had an enormous amount of fun, and yes we raised a lot of funds for the kindy while enjoying the good company of each other.  These two are still only in there 40's just girls really!!  We always have a fine old time when we get together, loads of laughing, plenty of story telling, the odd tears,  a bit of mischief and we have been known to consume a bit of alcohol over the years.  Next time we get together we are thinking of an all nighter,  well Denise is from out of town so it would be rude not to stay over!!

Last night as I was about to head off to bed I found Sheba in a rather comfortable position on out couch, with that look of "if I lay really still she won't see me" on her face.   Talk about luxury sleeping, and yes you can stay there!!

And I keep forgetting to show off my new to me boots.  Pretty dam awesome don't you think?? So soft and comfy to wear, and not your average pair of red boots, Hispanitas, a Spanish brand.

Call me fast, but I remembered we have a Manderin tree out the front of our property.  Well down the side of the house really, and it has never done a lot, so I was quite surprised to discover that the bugger has actually produced fruit this year!!  Not the biggest Manderins in the world but Manderins all the same, free  and plenty of them.  Maybe that is the key to success, neglect!!  It works for me!!  So it is Saturday, hey hey hey, and a beautiful one at that.  Sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I should really be hanging out my washing.  So toodles for now, and with a bit of luck and good camera skills I will have a show and tell of tonights party in town.

Rules are made to be broken

I am seriously Menopausal at the moment and having numerous power surges so figuring out what to wear at the moment is proving a problem!!  Hence my love affair with layering continuing.

My mother always said that a woman shouldn't have long hair after 30. Well tough titties at 51 I am in the throws of growing it long again!!  Apparently you don't mix patterns with patterns.  Another set of tough titties, I put animal with floral and stripes!!  Show me the book that tells me how I should act and dress at 50+ and I will bring out another pair of tough titties, probably the biggest pair I can find!!  Of late I have read a few blogs with woman expressing their feelings on how us gals of a certain age are "supposed" to be, and I am glad you are all rebelling.  I am so happy that there is a world wide bunch of rule breakers out there in Bloggerland.  You all inspire me to be "Me".  When I was a teenager I always dressed opposite to everyone else, like if short skirts were in I wore long.  When raincoats were uncool I wore a long granny one. I have no intention of behaving as expected any time soon either.

I don't even feel the need to be a perfect size either. Not even sure what a perfect size is, I suspect it is the size you are happy being. I am quite comfortable being me and dressing to please myself, in fact it is fun every morning picking out a combination. The other weekend my eldest sister asked if a top and a bag she had just bought matched.  I told her it didn't matter and that I don't think anyone will look at her and think, OMG her bag doesn't match her top!!  I don't have much that matches even in my house, like we don't have a lounge suite we have a huge couch and two very different chairs.  My dinner set is a mix of two with lots of other colourful bits thrown in.  So I am enjoying not being to obsessed with matching clothes.  And I really don't mind what the average joe thinks because as the saying goes, 

“Those who matter don't care, and those who care don't matter.”
― Dr. Seuss

Go forth Bloggers and have a fabulous rule breaking weekend!!

Trifecta of brooches and another gorgeous dress

Yesterday the Webber Woman came in to town so we got together for the afternoon.  Getting my outfit for the day sorted I couldn't decide which brooch I would wear.  I have a few but not as many as some of you lovely blogger gals.  Dilemma, I think not, I wore three of them, in fact these three.  Instead of necklaces I went for what has been called by Helga as a scrummage of brooches.  I forgot to take a photo of me all gussied up but I did get a closeup of the scrummage!!

The scrummage was worn in a line going down the front of a very long top that I ended up tying knots in to make shorter.  Worn over black and white spotted top, floral leggings, and purple tunic dress.

This lovely silk blend jacket I found and fell deeply in love with. It looks much better on. There were a few temptations on offer but I showed fabulous restraint which for me is sometimes difficult.

Now this gorgeous dress was waiting for me behind the counter in one of the op shops we visited.  If you are a Kiwi you will know of Trelise Cooper, and this is one of hers.  A little big but it is fab on and so gorgeous.  Made from Silk, it is beaded, ruched and laced and ribboned, very girlie girl which is so Trelise.  Worth hundreds and I grabbed it for $20.  Will be wearing this baby out on Saturday night to a 21st birthday party in town.  You shall see a photo of it on me then.  I just have to work out what to wear under it as it is incredibly low and quite see through!

The Union Jack bunting I picked up for $1 for my sons girlfriend, she is English and loves all things Union Jack.  The 2 rolls of trimming were only $2 each, and the cigar box was $4, pin cushion was $3, I have a few of these pin cushions now.  The picture mirror is small and was only $4 and to cute to leave behind.  The URGENT tickets are going to be turned into business cards for the birthday boy whose 21st we are going to.   They will have, "It's my birthday tonight so call me" above the URGENT and his mobile number underneath.  Needless to say these will more than likely be given out to some unsuspecting females later that night when they all hit the clubs. 
Today was some what dull and at times wet, but not cold, or was that my menopausal moments kicking in.  Anyway, I brightened up the day with colour, I love this top and with purple on top and black underneath I succeeded in being colourful.  One more sleep and it's the weekend again!!

I buy summer dresses in winter

I am so over Winter, so over it that in fact while out and about today amongst a few of my favourite op shops I found Summer frocks that needed to be bought, so buy them I did.   If need be I shall put things on top and underneath until Summer gets her sorry butt back here!!

Both sleeveless ones have SPOTS on them, and the one in the middle is a now dress as in Winter and my best score of the day.  It is a Desigual dress which retail for Moonbeams, and as I don't have a good supply of such things I was beyond stoked when I found it was $10 and dam near brand new.  The other two were $6 each and will look much better when Summer arrives and I can shed my Winter coat and get some colour on my limbs.

This selection of goodies has been collected over the last couple of days.  A Dragonfly is for the Dragonfly collecting friend of mine Ms Webber, 4 fabulous heavy cotton place mats for me in the most fabulous colours.  The terracotta face pots I want to plant Mondo grass in so they will have outrageous hair.  The wooden painted bowl and pot are Russian and divine.  Four oblong and square fabric serviettes, these are going to be used in an up cycle project that involves a black jacket that is brewing in my head.  And lastly the edging on this top is all I want, also going to be used in an up cycling project.

I bought the two black possum skins off trade me that I am going to stitch together how I have them laying on the floor so they will be a possum wrap.  The cape which is totally reversible and has a small hole that can be repaired was $2 and the dress needs a new zip and was also $2.  Really should continue with sparing up the un spare room!!

So today I wore black and purple with my fabulous multi coloured scarf.  I was toastie!!  Oh and congrats to William and Katherine in England on the birth of their baby boy.  I do like happy news!!