Santa found us in Bali!

We had a great christmas here in Bali. Alex was so excited about all the presents that he found under the tree (when we finally woke him up!!), although apparently unwrapping is tiring work as after unwrapping one present and discovering what was inside, we had to coax him into opening more. Odd child! But he did have a great time discovering new toys, having been completely spoiled by Santa, us, my family in Tassie, and his godmother Lydia...

After a Skype date to Tom's parents, we headed off to have lunch with some of Tom's colleagues. The venue had been decided as the Intercontinental Resort at Jimbaran beach... not a bad backdrop!

Walking through the resort there was lots of 'oh wow - look at that, oooh - look!' moments. There were an array of different pools and water displays, as well as beautiful stone work. I couldn't resist but take a few pics... especially since Santa brought me a lovely new Canon 'Point and Shoot' camera!

At the restaurant itself we were treated to the private dining room used for visiting VIPs. We were feeling pretty special! Rather amusing to then see four highchairs lined up at one end of the room.

Our meal was exquisite although perhaps not what everyone would think of as traditional christmas. It was an Italian restaurant (my fave!) with buffet antipasto entre, soup that tasted just like my mum makes, mouthwatering main courses, and buffet dessert... I wasn't complaining!! Alex's favourite part of the lunch was the strawberry gelato we found at the dessert bar, accompanied by watermelon and panetone...

What a great way to spend Christmas - no cooking yet exquisite food, and then no cleaning up! The only thing missing was extended family, but hopefully we can convince family to visit for next year.

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and Boxing Day relaxing and spending time with family

Until next time! xx

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Oddly, having done all my Christmas shopping before moving, the silly season has crept up on me and all of a sudden things have been busy over the last week or so!

I finally put up the Christmas tree last Friday, although I think when I visit Canberra again I may have to make a trip out to the Christmas Barn in Bredbo to get some more pretty decorations for next year as it's looking a bit sparse. I love the Christmas Barn - it always has such a great range of unique decorations.

On Friday arvo we had heaps of fun at the Christmas party at Tom's work, followed by more drinks with Tom's colleagues on Saturday. It's a great group of people, and there are heaps of other kids now of similar age to Alex. This morning I met even more mum's by going along to a 'Bali Babies' christmas event at a play centre - Alex had a such a great time and it's so good to meet more people.

When we're not out and about I've been trying to get into my hobby room. I'm happy to report that I've pulled out the scrapbook supplies and done up a page of Alex's scrapbook (I'm a bit behind... still only up to 6 months of age!!) and I've done a couple of 'mend it' jobs on the sewing machine like putting a hem up on a skirt that was too long.

I've managed to get in a little bit of Christmas stitching but not as much as I would like... I'm working on a 'Merry Christmas' bunting by one of my fave designers, Rosalie Quinlan, but considering I've only completed 'm' and 'e' I don't think it will be done by this Christmas!!

I can't believe it's only a week until Christmas... if I don't manage another blog entry between now and then, have a wonderful Christmas and stay safe over silly season!!

Until next time xx

A room with a view

Last weekend Tom took me shopping... for a large table that would be my craft table :)

Here in Bali we've come to discover that you can go to a hardware shop and not find much in the way of hardware, and conversely you can go to what seems like an ordinary home furniture shop and buy reception desks... shops continually suprise us. Anyway, we went to the furniture shop in the mall and bought a table that would suit my purposes. Ok, so it's technically a 'meeting table' for an office, but a table's a table right?! It's about 2.5meters by 1.5meters... perfect!!

On Monday it was delivered and on Tuesday the men came to assemble it (don't ask me why set up couldn't happen the same day as delivery). And then the fun of setting up my hobby room. What do you think?

In the corner that you can't see there's a single couch to sit and stitch, and on the other side of the room I have a rather large desk set up with my computer. My music stand is in the corner to encourage me to pick up my violin from time to time, and a bookshelf and Tom's desk fill the rest of the space. Plus room for Alex to play... did I say it's a rather large room!?

So with my room set up, time to use it...

Having finished the stitchery panels I showed off in my last blog, it was time to put the apron together. It was so great to have plenty of room around my sewing - anyone who has saw my sewing corner back in Canberra would remember how cramped I used to be!

All done...

My grandma has mentioned that aprons that tie around her neck agitate her spine, so I've made an alternation there, and contrast to the original pattern, I added the stitchery rather than appliqued pockets.  I love the final result and hope my grandma does to!

And did you see the view from my room?! For the photo, I hung the apron on the doors to the balcony off from my hobby room... 

Sorry to brag... less bragging next time I promise!