a new clock

I have been looking for a new kitchen clock for a while now. I think I just found it. On Etsy, made by the amazingly talented Mary Kate. Go check out her shop here, it's soooooo tempting not to buy EVERYTHING!!

at my house...

snow in blue mountains by Mark Brown

...we just returned from staying at our friend's new gorgeous grey and white painted weatherboard cottage in the Blue Mountains. So dreamy. The Blue Mountains are only a 2 hour drive from me but you feel a million miles from the bright city lights.

We ate the best devonshire tea here, I browsed here for an insanely long time (nice coffee too), I discovered a beautiful fabric store in Blackheath called Ribbons and Rainbows and walked through here. Everything is antiquated and just my cup of tea and there is a really cool mix of bohemian folk buzzing around which leads to my favourite overheard conversation of the trip;

Waitress: 'Morning Julie'

Julie: 'Morning but I'm not Julie anymore I changed my name to Ada last year'

Waitress: 'Oh ok, sorry Ada but that will take a little getting used to'

Ada: {Bemused totally unimpressed reaction}

So yes, I did manage a spot of shopping. Fabrics, buttons, ribbons and all sorts of stuff but my favourite things I found were;

Scotty dog appliques cut from original 1930's fabrics. Have a few ideas with where these will end up.....
..... and this sweet hand painted bowl for Kitty to eat cereal from when she's a bit bigger and has stopped lobbing everything across the room. It was sitting in an antique pile and when I turned it over and saw it was painted in England in 1976 (made the same year as me-does that make me antique too?!) I had to have it. It was $5! What a splurge!

Pop over to Lou for more homely insights.

at my house...

.... we are getting super excited about our trip back to the UK in a few weeks.

On my husband's suggestion that I pop to the dollar shop and grab a couple of travel diaries for his 8 and 10 year old girls, I got myself a bit over excited, bypassed the dollar shop and next thing you know I'm in kikki.K (the goddess of stationary shops)
Check out this journal it is so sweet.

He asked me to spend a few dollars on them. Well $50 might be 'a few' somewhere in the world?
But there are certain things in life.....

....that you can't find at the two dollar shop....

....and some things that should never be left on the shelf. If you were going overseas you'd surely splurge on one of these wouldn't you!?

Pop over here for more housey goings on.

cute fabric-at my house

Little bit in love with this fabric. How cute is the boy on stilts and the hula hooping girl? Found the best shop on Botany Road which is right here. If you get chance please go there it's so exciting. Chances are you already have. Am still reeling in the shock of hubbie actually pulling over to allow me to explore a fabric shop. He must be after some serious brownie points.

I also made this cake at the weekend just because Beci Orpin said it was the best cake ever. I'm nearly agreeing with her. It was seriously good. Especially the icing.

We also walked around the city a lot this weekend. I love doing that as you stumble across so many goings on. My favourite stumble was over this food market. I tried olive oil, Chinese dumplings, sourdough bread, chicken chipolatas, chocolate potato truffles and pretty much didn't need lunch after all that sampling!

Just discovered Lou - thanks for hosting At My House!