The House

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Stylish Blogger Award

Last week my lovely and very creative blogger/interior designer friend Kristie from Elements at Home presented me with a Stylish Blogger Award. Thank you K, I'm absolutely chuffed!!

Elements at Home has become a style guide for me since landing in the blog world. Thank You Kristie for continuing to Inspire me.

http://elementsathome.blogspot.com/

Part of accepting this award is to reveal 7 things about me. So here goes...

1. I'm slightly obsessed with design. When I enter a shop, bar, restaurant, house or any building I spend much of my time taking in the design elements. It takes 30 seconds of my time if I'm not inspired by what I see or 30minutes or more if I am. So if you want my undivided attention, please don't take me anywhere really cool!

(I didn't catch a word my husband said at The Ivy in Sydney!)

2. I have a weakness for cocktails... namely fruity Martini (French, Lychee, Mandarine & Passionfruit). Put a martini in front of me and you won't see it long enough to admire its hue!

3. I'm an Olay Total Effects Ambassador. I first appeared in Marie Claire 10 years ago to launch the product and have been using Olay ever since (truly).

As a family we also do Television commercials and photoshoots. I'm always a mum (I only have one look!). The most enjoyable commercial I did was for Michel's Pattisserie where I was paid to flirt with a very handsome [pretend] barista.

4. I love photography. I never go anywhere without at least one camera (sometimes 3!).

5. I love travelling. I have visited about 18 countries and we are currently planning a 2 month trip this year to Italy, Croatia, London, New York & San Francisco.

My favourites are Positano, Barcelona, Paris, Prague, Austria and Turkey.

You only live once... I enjoy moving every few years. If I had to live in the same house/neighbourhood/town all of my life I'd have to give myself a good kick up the bum! It would bore me to tears.

6. Before I injured my back I was a very good sportsperson. I used to row surf boats, sprint, long jump, waterski & kick a soccer ball very well.

Eventually (maybe soon) I will have a back operation. At the moment I am too chicken.

7. I have 2 beautiful children Billie and Remo (and a fantastic husband) who I love more than anything.

I will now present a Stylish Blogger Award of my own to my talented Sister in law Nina. Nina has a blog called Unusual Bird. Apart from being one of the most creative people I know she has brought my niece and nephew into the world who are just divine little people.

http://unusualbird.blogspot.com/

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Happy January and Blue Skies

It has been an eventful month and I've felt guilty blogging about our new house when so many people in my city and State (and country) have lost their homes and belongings. The good news for us is that despite having a riverfront property in Brisbane the water didn't reach our current or new house or any of our client's riverfront properties. It was a huge relief... and perhaps a combination of goodluck and good management?

We had a very chilled Christmas day at the Sugarcube and then Christmas Dinner and Lychee & Cranberry Martinis with a few other families at a friend's house. On Boxing day we received the best present of all... a new nephew called 'Bowie' and he is divine. We spent the day driving (13hours!!) to Airlie Beach constantly checking the BOM site and driving through floodwaters... who said that an X5 wasn't a real 4WD?

We spent 7 lovely days on Hamilton Island drinking Moet with friends, playing frisbee (and drinking Moet) on Whitehaven Beach (LOVE), snorkelling at Chalkies Beach and catching up with my cousin who is a skipper on the island. The drive from Airlie Beach on our return only lasted a few hours and we ended up having to fly home from Mackay and leave our car there until the flood waters subsided and the roads were re-opened (a few days ago). We saw some sights and met some very unfortunate people. The thing that I have been really impressed with are the positive attitudes of people who have lost so much.

The kids and I were in Sydney for 2 weeks while the floods peaked in Brisbane. Adam (with the help of some mates) had to move all of our furniture & belongings upstairs and board up the house until it resembled an ark. We had no power for 4 days and our street was evacuated. He then spent 4 days helping friends and strangers clean up the mud. There's still a long way to go and it is heartbreaking to see our beautiful city so damaged, but everyone is staying very positive.

I haven't "moved back in" to our house yet. It looks like it's been strip searched, so I'm sorting through it, spring cleaning & filling charity bags as I go.

Pick the Builder's House

The park a few doors away went under

This is at the start of our new street

This is the boardwalk at the back of our house

Our fence and steps from the boardwalk

Thank God it didn't peak at the expected level (1m higher)!!

Our city cat terminal

The old ones stayed where they were & all of the new ones ended up in Moreton Bay

The Jetty

No water is getting into our house!

Helping clean up and rescue wine at Jellyfish Restaurant in the City

Grange Anyone?

Somewhere down there is a carpark!

January 22nd and the cleanup continues.

Our new bedroom is a good vantage point to see the tugboats in action

This is another section of our beloved bikeway being towed away from the city

Our bedroom.

The hardest part of this has been deciding on (and agreeing on) where our bed should go. It's going to be built in with lights/electrical, flip down roof mounted tv, facing the river and off centre to allow for a sitting room to the right. Once it's there it'll stay there so it has to be just right!)

These windows are huge and will capture the morning sun and that valuable northern light. There'll be large helical fins angled north-east for light and privacy.

The kids are getting very skilled at ladder climbing

Kitchen, living room and dining room taken from the deck

The scrap pile is like a pile of treasure to the kids. They made aeroplanes out of these scraps

The front of the house has black tinted glass windows which look like a mirror from outside. Adam's idea & I really like it!! We'll get morning sun without too much heat.