I'd been searching for a good journal for a couple of months, leading up to the end of the year and couldn't really find anything I liked. It's frustrating that a lot of websites don't show what's inside diaries and journals because I guess I'm kind of specific about what I like in a journal (monthly planners at the start and small spaces for weekly entries and lots of space for notes). After a recommendation from Marlou on Instagram I thought I'd check out this one from Ponybrown which I bought on eBay (it's perfectly her style). It's really adorable and has exactly the kind of layout I like and the illustrations are so gorgeous - I wish I knew who they were by!







Each page has a gorgeous illustration in the corner, some of them make me laugh.







The journal comes with a couple of sheets of cute stickers to add to the pages, which you can keep in a sleeve at the front/back.



I can't wait to use it throughout the year.



I feel like I should apologise for the quality of these pictures - my camera and I are not seeing eye to eye at the moment. I think it's time for something new (especially for taking a zillion baby photos), does anyone have any recommendations for a smaller-sized, medium-priced DSLR?

Today I bought a set of three mint green coloured, 6-foot tall, old school lockers for the baby's bedroom. They're in pretty bad shape and were a bit more expensive than I was hoping to pay, but I think they will be a fun DIY project to work on. I am also really bad at bartering and I need to learn some skills! The task I have ahead of me involves pulling off a bunch of damaged chipboard that was oddly attached to one of the sides (definitely wearing a mask for this part), adding some pretty fabric to the side, cutting some MDF to size for shelves, possibly gurneying the interior then spray paint it and touching up the cute mint paint job. I hope I'm not being overambitious! My new years resolution to get more handy is coming true. Stay tuned! Next up is to buy a cordless drill and a jigsaw! (My mum has built a house by hand, so I feel like any of my handy woman aspirations pale in comparison!).

This weekend we went to the Evandale Markets and picked up just a couple of fun frivolous bits and pieces. They're really great markets about fifteen minutes out of the city and set in a gorgeous country town that C and I would love to move to. The markets have the same bits-and-bobs-sellers that most markets have but also a lot of quality vintage sellers, fresh produce and a huge indoor hall full of vintage items. Not pictured are the cute new tea set C bought and the enormous punnet of cheap raspberries I've already devoured!

I really enjoy the markets even when I come home empty handed. That being said, people are often so impolite as they walk around - I feel like asking people "where would you like me to walk?" when they walk three abreast or take up a huge amount of space, insist on walking on the right hand side (I think road rules should apply to walking too) and not allow me any space to walk by. C thinks says he feels like he's constantly playing a losing game of chicken. End rant! Ha. Despite this the markets were lovely this weekend. I feel like I always only just skim the surface!



We bought the above sad smoking child print to go with our collection of other blue prints (below). We seem to be growing our collection of sad looking children prints - C's parents think we're pretty weird.





We also couldn't resist this seventies flower petal serving set. I'm not sure what its original use would have been but we had C's parents over for a cup of tea today and we put cakes in the centre and pulled off the petal plates for serving. I love that it goes with our orange dining chairs (below).



We've never had a house with room for a dining table before this one and I feel like I can never do without it again. After finding this set of orange swivel chairs for a hundred bucks at my favourite opshop, I painted our (boring wood laminate) dining table with chalkboard paint and we now eat every meal here. We always ate at our desks or on the couch before - it feels very civilised! There is a big sky light directly above the dining table and it makes it a pretty lovely place to sit.



And I can't resist drawing on the table (although it's a massive pain to wash - it never looks clean!).



We bought this cheap old sideboard at the same place as the swivel chairs, with the purpose of being our crazy cat kitsch cabinet. C's mum likes to buy us cute but very cheesy cat paraphernalia from catalogue magazines (you know the ones?) and we thought it would be fun to put them all in a display cabinet. She bought us an amazing cheesy cat bowl shaped clock for Christmas this year, I'll have to take a photo some time.

...it's a boy! (Just as I suspected thanks to fun pregnancy dreams). We're pretty excited!
Just wanted to share!

I've been apprehensive about making any overambitious goals or resolutions for this year because I feel like I have no idea what to expect from this year, but broad ambitions always seem to suit me best, so these are a few things I feel as though will be unchanging throughout the year.

+ In line with wanting to learn new skills, I'd love to put together a tool box for myself and challenge myself to make some fun bits and pieces for around our house. I think I need to redefine 'spending my time wisely' as enjoying whatever I'm doing and not feeling guilty about other things I'm not doing - down time and productive time being as important as each other. The idea of motherhood is something I've been wondering about how I'll adapt to, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes. I am a bit introverted and antisocial by nature so I think that pushing myself to meet new people would really benefit me. Any overarching ambitions you're bringing with you into the new year?

+ In squid news, somebody is quite enjoying stretching their limbs out in my belly, especially when I'm about to go to sleep. I don't think I'll ever get used to that feeling!