+ A very sketchy artists impression of my house.

+ The lovely view across the city, out to the water and hills. I especially like watching the weather come in slowly over the city. It's a shame being so far up the hill hinders bicycle riding, but it sure is pretty from up here.
+ Its cute, green, leafy exterior.
+ The way that it always feels like it's air conditioned even on the hottest days.
+ Having so much room - room enough for a nursery and a spare room and a dining table and a big kitchen and an office, dreamy!
+ The big lead light window above my desk.
+ Shiny wooden floors that are good for sliding around on in socks (don't worry, I'm not doing any of that while in my current condition!).
+ Lovely natural light (skylights!).
+ Having a big comfy bathtub.
+ Its proximity to the city - a five minute walk to the park, the shops & the CBD (it feels funny saying that Launceston has one of those - it's so little!).
+ The verandah out front which houses our second couch - a nice spot for afternoon reading while watching over the city - when my grandma stayed with us, she spent a lot of time sitting on it in the sunshine reading her newspaper with one of our cats beside her and we'd hear her asking "what do you think, puss?".
+ The fact that sometimes people walking by stop and take its picture.

What are your favourite things about your abode?

I am beginning to enjoy this putting-a-bit-of-effort-into-my-appearance thing again. I think I've moved into the territory of treating this big belly of mine as a kind of accessory, rather than something that makes all of my clothes look ill-fitting. Last week we had a check-up and baby boy was measuring a week bigger than his 25 week estimation, so I hope that means I'm feeding him well and that he might pay us a visit a little earlier than planned.

I am still spending most of my time immersed in nursery decor planning and DIYs and eBay and Gumtree and second hand shops. It's bringing me equal amounts of joy and anxiousness - I still need to buy a capsule, cloth nappies, clothing and some other odds and ends, but most of the main bits have been collected. I finish up at work at the end of next month and have decided to take a full 52 weeks of leave (4 weeks of annual leave, then 18 weeks of paid leave and the rest unpaid). I mostly do the midnight closing shifts and I don't spend too much time serving customers any more, just doing the jobs and cleaning up before we close, but I'm starting to get really worn out. Restocking the drinks fridge each night is my workout for the day. I know a lot of women work right up until their due date (even in jobs like mine where you're on your feet all day) but I decided that taking two months off before my due date would be my treat to myself. I'm hoping to spend it opshopping, crafting, nesting, going for fun little drives and relaxing (and getting enough sleep to last me for the next year or two).





+ shoes: melissa
+ skirt & shirt: kmart
+ tights: sussan
+ cardigan: nanna's
+ badge: i can't remember! somebody sent it to me. was it you?!

Speaking of Nanna's - the ladies from favourite little local vintage clothes and coffee shop are selling their lovely shop after two successful years (Laura is in the baby growing club too). If I wasn't full of baby myself I'd love to give it a go, but I really hope somebody snaps it up and treats it as well as Laura and Lucy have. Anyone feel like moving to Tasmania and running a gorgeous little vintage shop?!

I collected about a hundred vintage Valentine cards last year to use for our save the date cards for our wedding, but I never ended up using them (they were too good to send away!). I love all of the cute puns and old timey graphics - and a lot of them came with sweet handwritten notes on the back, dated from the fifties from school children to their friends. I scanned a bunch of them and you're welcome to use them as you please - print them out onto some card stock and give them to a couple of people who deserve a sweet Valentine! Click on each image to view size options for downloading/printing. Now, allow me to bombard you with Valentines!








Got a favourite? I like the lady painting a picture.
Ps. You can view all of the downloadable/printable things I've shared here if you're ever keen.

I have been meaning to take more photos of the progression of this growing belly of mine but I'll admit I have been putting less and less effort into my appearance as the weeks progress. In the last two weeks I feel like this belly/baby of mine has doubled in size. Comfort is foremost! Lots of stretchy things and high waisted jersey skirts - nothing particularly photograph worthy. After these photos were taken C and I went out for our there-abouts-pretty-much-four-year-anniversary. We tend to just celebrate some time in February and both having the night off work, we decided to eat at our favourite Indian restaurant and we went to see Silver Linings Playbook at the cinema. I so enjoyed it. I don't give out five stars for films very often, but I think this one gets it from me. We had a lovely evening. What a lovely four years we've had together.



Mini rant: I know it's meant only in jest, but my work colleagues walking up to me when they see me and shouting "oh my god you are so fat!"/"you look like you're overdue!"/"you're freaking enormous!" is kind of starting to grate on me. I think commenting on pregnant womens' size is fine, but should possibly be done with more tact? Maybe it's just me? I guess it just makes me feel more like a hideous beast than a glowing baby vessel! I'm not really even phased by the walking-up-and-touching-a-pregnant-woman's-belly-without-asking issue, just the verbal stuff! Ha. Fifteen weeks to go!