life lately (according to my iphone)

hmmm iphone catch up posts seem to be all I can muster up these days and I wish it was more. This season of life is surely a wonderful one and I want to store up the moments here to come back to in future days! It seems that we have ironed out all those kinks of our newly wedded days and now that I am working so close to home I am enjoying life so much more - the funk is gone people! I feel like I'm truly living life and am not just a spectator of my own life anymore, it's lovely. I am tired though - crazy tired (so sorry if this post makes no sense). I realized the other day that I haven't had a holiday/break from work since our last family holiday in March last year!!! So I am so looking forward to our 5 and a half week USA trip this June (we booked our tickets the other night so it is official!!!) We arrive at this ladies house on June 10th - SO excited! In other news I joined the creative team at Church. It is so wonderful to be part of a church family again and to give in to the congregation, excited to see what things we will come up with this year :) We're also doing a marriage course with our church group on Monday nights and are both getting a lot out of it. More than anything it is confirming to us that we are on the same page with our marriage, the way we want to parent etc - such a wonderful confirmation from the Lord. M has been super busy too - Indoor soccer once a week, church soccer too, church band practice and he's back at TAFE. We're hoping he can start looking for jobs in his chosen field (CAD Draftsman) when we get back from America. I am so excited to see where this course will take him and am desperate to see him doing something he is good at, something that he enjoys each day. Oh and we've been feeling super grown up this week, it seems all our bills have come at once - rego, insurance (for 2 cars), a hospital bill, phone bills etc etc. When it rains it pours huh! Ok back to painting, cleaning, 1st birthday planning for me... or maybe bed first ;)

So goodnight all and here's a small snapshot of life around here lately - 

1. Styling the new autumn/winter collection at work. I really adore the pieces our buyers have been getting in for this range and am having such fun putting our displays together!

2. Did you know Maccas now sells macrons!? and only $1.95 each - you can bet I have had more than a few over the past few weeks :)

3. M and I were cleaning out paperwork and found the funniest 'twixs for the trade' from my amazing 2010 USA bridal shower.

4. Even on my day off I am still a working girl. Painting the trim in our spare room...

5. It's been raining and storming here a lot lately and the prettiest big tree in our backyard fell down one afternoon. We are all so sad!

6. I found the most amazing juicing combination - orange, apple, pineapple, watermelon and passion fruit.

7. Again with the passion fruit obsession ...

8. Manly man covered in mud from chain sawing up the tree and fixing the fence in the rain.

9. My brother is cooler than yours! Feb sibling date My brother turned up in his cute little car and vintage inspired button up shirt - hes so awesome!

10. We went to a wedding in February. It was weird but the wine bottle was so pretty (and the wine yummy!)

11. Delicious and fresh greens

12. Typical Ling Ling and Lolly hang

13. We really need to do the filing more than once every six months! 

14. Mr A tries to hand saw through the tree branch!! He's a smart cookie that one!

travel.

There is such excitement + buzz here in the Ayling household right now. Because ... well because we have been busy planning a most amazing trip to the USA this coming June/July! We will be gone for just over 5 weeks and I am so excited to head back to a country I had so much fun in back in 2010 (see here + here). I am also excited to show Morgan off around too ;) and to see more of it than I did last time. 

On our trip, we are planning on visiting Southern California, San Fransisco, Portland, Spokane, Seattle, Chicago, New York and Charleston. Lots of plane flights and one fun old road trip too (we will be hiring a car and driving up the West Coast!) And even though we get to do a lot of traveling and see some pretty amazing places, I am even more excited about the people that I get to catch up with (and finally meet too!) I get to stay with this lady and this one and this one too! I get to catch up with her and her and her and hopefully her and maybe her. And hopefully this lady will be in town too!? Oh and so many others!!! I get to meet all the new babies and see how much growing the other little ones have done. I also get to explore New York with my Jacy girl and celebrate the fourthiest 4th with my Fairest. Oh the giddiness I feel over this little trip!

Anyway enough of me blabbing on and on... I found some pretty travel inspired images on Pinterest to ignite your own wanderlust. Specifically lust for the East coast of Australia where I hear there is the sweetest little b'n'b just awaiting it's first overseas visitors :)

image sources...

one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve 

(image eleven cause that's where we are headed baby!)

life lately accoridng to my iphone

(and Mr A's too!)

1. I think my husband is so beautiful when he sleeps

2. The only way I eat Nutella - by the spoonful!

3. I fell in love with this mat while shopping, but I couldn't think of anywhere I could put it in our house. It's from Pillowtalk if anyone is interested

4. Testing out a few craft projects

5. It's moments like these that melt me and make me excited to see him as a dad.

6. The day I forgot to brush my hair and went around town feeling a little bit scruffy

7. My new nail colour is charming. Literally - Revlon charming.

8. New $10 shoes in my favourite colour

9. Good morning Lucy - it's a rainy, snuggly, banana pancake making and dancing in the kitchen kind of Saturday morning

10. Out on my shopping travels - loved this chair and pillow. 

11.  Bargin fabric shopping for my chair makeover

8. His + Hers. Hers - lots of little nibbles. His Almost didn't make it into the photo!

still here

Hi there! I'm still here, I promise. Things have just been a little bit quiet at the Ayling household lately, so I don't really have much to blog about. In fact I worked all last week AND weekend - exciting life huh! But I have been feeling such an urge to nest around here lately, starting with our living room which is the most decorated room in our house so far and my favourite room too. I love sitting in it enjoying the white fresh walls and tall cathedral-like ceilings - it's my happy place for sure :) We have a few lovely pieces which we have loving bought and made but it has taken me so long to work out what colours I want to go with that we haven't got further than that. And then I found this amazing artwork below which has inspired the look and tones I want to go with. So I put together this mood board with some pieces we already have and some wish list pieces too...

from left to right:

1. artwork - I have no idea where this came from as I just found it by a happy accident. But I'd love to credit and then buy it!!!

2. Eames rocker (already have) we got ours from replica furniture.com

3. 'Lappljung Ruta' throw cushion - Ikea (only $12!!!)

4. Jacob Floor lamp (we already have) - Beacon Lighting

5. Linen and gold throw cushion - by me longings on etsy

6. Elizabeth Hurley Zelda Cushion in gold

7. Gumball Ottoman from Kush Living

8. Curio + Curio orange parrot cushion from Crate Expectations

9. White storage basket (sorry I forget where I found this image)

10. Grey Lounge - Hilton Lounge from Freedom in esquire pewter. We won't be getting a new lounge this time around, but we will be covering our existing lounge in a fabric similar to this - yay!

11. I also forget where I found this image but it is inspiration for my feature chair re upholstery project (chair shown in this post)

12. I also forget where I got this image from, but colour inspiration for throw cushions

Now I have some direction and a mood board to keep coming back to, I am excited to really see this room take shape and become a little more styled. I promise to record our progress here too :)

life lately according to my iphone

(and Mr A's too!)

1. New $13 glass tea pot. I LOVE it!
2. next DIY project... thinking dark grey upholstery.
3. Mr A gets a new haircut (and style). Mrs A is a fan... a BIG fan!
4. dessert for two
5. You know sometimes when you just win at dinner. This was one of those times chicken, grilled capsicum and eggplant stack. yum yum yummy!!!
6. just me. in the mirror. in my new top
7. someone desperatly wants some of my chicken vietnamese roll
8. Mr A (and his new hair do) sends me kisses while at work aaaw!

paige's twenty first post #5

Sorry guys, I'm still not done posting about Paige's Twenty First, but I hope you are enjoing these posts as much as I am posting them. This post is dedicated to the drinks and food :)

We did all the drinks and cocktails ourselves (well our very lovely 'city cousins' Aaron and Jesse
made and served all our drinks and cocktails). I seem to remember they made and served all the drinks for our engagement party too! You can find the cocktail recipe here (we have made it for various events and parties and it is yummy!) Here's what we served:

I love how this drink station turned out - and it was all free too! The drink dispensers were borrowed from my friend Kate (who purchased them for her wedding last Nov - photos to come soon!), the dresser is from Paige's bathroom, the place mats are our every day set and I found that cute chalkboard on the side of the road!!

For the food we hired Eden Catering and I can't say enough about Ailish and her lovely husband's service, presentation and general friendliness - they were such a pleasure to work with. Having catering was such a blessing as it left us with more time to you know decorate, took the stress away from my mother-in-law and it made the party feel that much more special. Oh AND they even did the washing up to even though we didn't use their plates! Yeah they are kinda awesome!

all photos by Kelle Walsh: http://www.kelleewalsh.com/

paige's twenty first post #4

The dessert buffet.

it's true, my mother-in-law pretty much rocks the dessert scene around here and she helped me put together this dessert table for the party. Here is what we served:

We bought the profiteroles from a local bakery but the mini berry pies and strawberry fluff (A Nanna Ayling recipe) was made by Morgan's mum. And those mini berry pies - scrumptious!!! The lovely red velvet birthday cake which was made by a friend and we decorated it simple with some vintage book page flowers. 

more to come tomorrow... 

all photos by Kelle Walsh: http://www.kelleewalsh.com/