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My Sunday In Pictures

by Chavah Kinloch on August 29, 2011

The sun is finally shining upon us here down in the deep south and I am LOVING it. Apparently it’s disappearing again come Tuesday but I’m sure all of Southland is with me when I say I’m crossing my fingers that it doesn’t stay away for long.

I was fortunate enough last week to be the winner of two tickets to a Stags vs BOP rugby game for Sunday afternoon; so I passed those tickets on to my husband so that he and our eldest son could go have some father-son bonding time. While they were gone I chilled out on the deck getting some much needed vitamin D onto my not-so-brown-anymore skin and caught up on my latest Your Home and Garden magazine. I also tackled rearranging and deep cleaning Bostons bedroom. After all these winter months those windows were in need of some thorough cleaning! Here’s what our Sunday looked like:

Photo A: Miss fashionista scootering up a storm. B: Fixing up a damaged frame so I could use it again. C: Brought in one of the kids bookshelves to store some books and puzzles in Bostons’ room. D: Boss likes to use the foam puzzles pieces as a hopscotch game. 

E: The most amazing gifts arrived for me in the post on Thursday. I’ve been dying to share them with you since then but I’m only just charging my camera batteries now (2011 Queen of procrastination). All of these shots were taken with my phone. The incredibly talented Joanna of Applique Today made these just for me! The photos do not do them justice. First we have a V (in the frame that I just fixed) which I can’t wait to put up in Miss V’s bedroom – she loves it, and then there is the most amazing cushion cover I’ve ever had the pleasure of owning. It has a crown on it! Can I just say I LOVE love my friends for remembering little details about me; like how I’m obsessed with crowns. Not only that but in the surrounds of the cushion she has embroidered words such as beautiful, grow and artist. I can’t rave about it enough. My daughter has claimed it for now and it’s taken pride of place on her bed. F: My Davis (5) has an obsession of his own…Angry Birds. He drew little angry bird characters on the back of each of these old business cards and then proceeded to make large letters with them.

I caught Vahnija practicing dance moves on the back of her brothers boogie board and it was too cute not to shoot. I wish I’d made her pose ‘flexing’ her arms. This girl has the best muscles! Every single one of them is defined. Shoulders, biceps & triceps. Gosh…if only. She’s actually really proud of them, that’s how I know about them. She was bragging to me lol. I think my new goal is to be more cut than my own daughter.

Andrew and Nas got back from the game around 4:30pm and we decided we’d all go get one of those new frozen L & P drinks they’re selling at McDonald’s now. Ummm yum. I best be avoiding that place like the plague because I really liked them and I can’t afford to backtrack on all my hard work! I still have a long way to go.

It was still so sunny out that we decided to head to the beach with our drinks, which then developed into family runs up the sand dunes and getting dirty from head to toe. Bliss!

This photo is of Andrew running down the sand dunes about to attack me with kisses hehe.

In the background of the middle photo you can see Stewart Island. Please excuse those boogers in the above photo. I hate boogers but I rarely ever get a photo of Boston’s face. His eyes always look brown in pics but he’s my only blue eyed baby. Mucky puppy.

Uhh, don’t really know what was going on in these photos. Why am I looking away, why didn’t he say he was actually taking a photo when I pulled that face? Don’t give my husband the camera. Also, why does it look like I have an inverted nipple? These are the questions I ponder.

The sun was setting as we headed home. So beautiful to see the sky red/purple again.

Saturday was just as fun but we didn’t get any photo’s. Probably a good thing because this post is crazy full of them.

How was your weekend? Did you get sun too? Or are you on the other side of the world having to prepare for the opposite weather now?

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Post image for Face Paint, Snow and a Glimpse Into My Room (Photo Overload)

Face Paint, Snow and a Glimpse Into My Room (Photo Overload)

by Chavah Kinloch on July 25, 2011

Life’s going well at the moment. That’s always welcome, right? It’s freezing all over the country and we’ve been snowed in with tales that severe frosts are headed our way so today for the first time in my entire life, I shoveled a driveway. Very nostalgic. We did it in the hopes that the entire driveway wouldn’t turn into ice and thus have us stuck at home forever in fear that we might die as we try to reverse out onto the road.

Before the snow hit though, children had their faces painted and I rearranged my bedroom. The rest of my home is usually kept tidyish (I do have children) but my room gets left to suffer as I just don’t have any energy left to deal with it. I’m a firm believer in “A place for everything and everything in it’s place” so that’s what I did with my Saturday night. Living the life I tells ya!

They had free face painting last weekend at The Warehouse, my kids were all over that.

Boston didn’t get out to play in the snow last year but he’s not missing out this time around!

Our warm wee home.

All of us :D

I took off the doors to my wardrobe, stripped it of clothes and made it a shoe closet. Eventually I’ll redo this whole room and pimp this thing out but for now it’s neat, tidy and done for free.

With Vahnija’s bedroom makeover she doesn’t need this shelf anymore so I took out the baskets and put my high heels on that!

Accessorising with what I have on hand.

The lamp cost $8 from Briscoes
Flower clip for your hair but I’ve worn it as a brooch too. $5 from Pagani Factory Outlet in Auckland
Brown jewellery box – a gift from Andrew. Bought at Trade Aid I think.
Blue floral dish (can’t think what they’re called) – a gift from Andrew’s Grandmother

Close up

Inside I’m storing rings in one and nail polish in the other.

I’m notorious for losing my earrings. I just take them off and leave them around. I obviously LOVE earrings so I needed somewhere to put them all where they wouldn’t get ruined and could be kept out of range of little fingers. You all know I’m stingey so I took the back of a weetbix box, pierced holes in it and threaded my earrings through. Works perfectly! I haven’t lost any earrings in months.

I love bags but control myself (for now) when purchasing/not purchasing them. I used to go through handbags like nothing because I’d only buy $20-$30 ones. The one in the middle cost 10 times that and it’s still in brand new condition many years later, totally worth the investment. The top and bottom bags in the picture were both under $5 and I use them just as much though. No label snobbery here.

I put up lots of hooks going up the wall to hang our belts on. Ok so they’re ALL my belts but Andrew can join in if he wants to as well. At least those are his suits in the background.

Can’t forget about the scarves. Andrews ties are on the opposite wall, arranged exactly the same way. Wish I had flash hangers.

A little bit of art.

From the top left going clockwise:
A canvas print of our oldest two children – a gift for Creating My Reality
Kiss From a Rose – Painting by Chavah Kinloch
I Keep Your Kisses Close – Painting by Chavah Kinloch
Wire Heart – Purchased at some boutique store way up north
The Impermanence of Form – Painting by Melissa Muirhead, received through an art swap
Wisdom #17 – Painting by Sophia Elise, a gift from a friend

We don’t have any drawers believe it or not so everything is hanging up. Once again, wish I had cute hangers because this looks a little messy but it’s super easy to find stuff now. One third of that lower rack is Andrews.

I was meant to get more of a shot of the fan but I think this is just me posing lol. The fan was brought back from China and given to us as a gift. I love it. Also I moved this full length mirror into our bedroom so I don’t have to keep walking through to the living room to see if I look normal enough to leave the house.

I put up hooks for my hair gear! It only took 4 years. Now to hang that towel rail you can see in the corner…

Some of my perfumes. Most are gifts. Perfect gift!

Candles, make up and a little silver frame with my little girl as a little girl.

The little corner next to my side of the bed. Candles, storage for the jewellery I’ll take off at the end of a day and a notebook to jot down the things that pop into my head in the middle of the night. Also love that Japanese print that I picked up for $2 one day when thrifting.

P.S. Sorry the photos are grainy, I didn’t bother using the flash. Also no photo of my bed because our linen is in the laundry. I posted previously about our bedroom a few years back when we first painted the wall green, I’m ready to wallpaper it white now.

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Family Fun Night

by Chavah Kinloch on May 27, 2011

Last week, for a whole week straight we lived with stormy weather. On top of that our car was in the shop for most of the week so we were literally stuck at home. Kids were bouncing off the walls & I was losing my mind by the end of last week. No joke lol.

So as soon as we could; I got us out of the house. There’s really not much to go do at 7 o’clock on a Friday night, in the winter, for a family down here so we decided to grab the camera and just go for it.  It was a lot of fun. Cold and slightly wet but still fun!

The real payoff is that I finally have some photos with me & all the kiddos. Their facial expressions crack me up, I didn’t bother trying to get everything perfect for the shots. I don’t have that much patience.

They thought the whole thing was great and they were worn out by the time we got home so the plan worked out perfectly. I just wish Andrew could have been in the shots with us. Next time I’ll have to remember to grab the tripod.

Here’s a glimpse of our evening:

Do you ever just get up and do things at the spur of the moment? I really need to practice doing this more!

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The Next 21 Days – Day 2

by Chavah Kinloch on March 4, 2011

I’m a day late with this post. Life got in the way sorry. My third child, Davis, starts school next week so I had some errands to do.

Back to the Basics

First things first it’s back to planning menu’s. I get lazy because I know what I can/can’t eat so don’t bother writing it down after a while. Seeing as I’ve got a freshly stocked fridge, freezer and pantry it’s time to figure out what I can do with it all. It all goes so much further when it’s planned.

My rules are 5-6 small meals, with the aim of each containing a protein, fibrous carb and starchy carb. – I’ll offer an explanation to this later down the track.

I’m also pulling out my food journal again. This one’s a big help for me. Here I record what I actually ate and what time. After a week, sometimes even the next day I get to analyse how each food made me feel. For example, because of my food journal I know that any pasta meal will make me bloated the next day. Whereas any time I eat meat or treat myself to a bit of dark chocolate I’m able drop a lot of fat. – Something I never would have figured out without writing down every detail. The chocolate thing could just be a coincidence but hey man, if it isn’t causing any harm it can stay. It’s great for getting to understand your own body. What works for me won’t work for all. I’m sure Italians have absolutely no bloating  issues with pasta.

My last tip for back to basics, works hand in hand with the others mentioned here and helps me remember to stop and eat because when you’re the Mum and you have young kids and you work from home, it’s extremely easy to lose track of time. Then next thing you know it’s 6 o’clock and you haven’t eaten a thing.

Set an alarm. I have about 7 alarms on my phone. Two for the morning and five to tell me to stop what I’m doing and eat. I switched them off last week when I was at the courthouse everyday so today they’re getting put back in place.

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Welcome to 2011 Everyone!

by Chavah Kinloch on January 5, 2011

I missed you!

I decided to take the same time off that my husband was getting, so we could do family stuff. That’s what life’s all about right? At first it was hard not to get up and write everyday but then I started relaxing and turned my attention to the sketch book to let out the creative juices and the days got easier.

We really didn’t do much. We seemed to nap a lot! I guess an entire year of work takes it out of you huh lol. Did anyone else find themselves alternating nap times?

Of course it wasn’t all sleep. We had a great, quiet Christmas, we went to the beach, I had a girls day out, Andrew had a boys day in. The kids hung out with friends, we almost finished Boston’s room (one work day away!) and we had a few visitors pop by for New Years. My break was very relaxing!

What did you get up to? I would have loved to have spent most of my time at beaches but our weather wasn’t exactly the greatest down here. I hope you were able to get out and start the new year the way you wanted to.

Now, first things first. Remember this painting?

I never heard back from the winner, sooo it’s yours! Just leave me a comment (on the blog) and I’ll draw a winner TOMORROW. So be quick.

Also, I’m in the beginning stages of a sale. Go here to get your own original piece. I promise you’ll love it.

Now that that’s done, here are a few photo’s from the past couple of weeks.

I’m really looking forward to writing again this year. I love what I do. I appreciate the people I meet through doing it and the amazing finds I stumble across because of it. Come back again and I’ll share a whole lot more.

Have a fabulous 2011 everyone!

P.S. Yes I did eat some cake and lost 5cm from my waist doing so.

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Six Things I’m Loving Today

I love this photo. It’s of my nephew Justus with my Nana/his Great-Grandma. She’s been in hospital recently, my brother snapped this shot of them on one of their visits with her. Oh my gosh, it makes my heart melt. It reminds me of a shot I have of my daughter and her, taken on [...]

Six Things I’m Loving Today

My Sussie Skin Care Package: This arrived for me on the weekend and I am in love. My favourite product is the eye cream  Toucha’ Love. I started using it on Monday because I am having a fierce reaction to something in Invercargill. It’s like hay fever symptoms quadrupled. I found myself on Sunday having to [...]

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