life as a juggling act

I've been struggling with balance. The delicate balance between what I desire career wise, my relationship, my family, myself. Don't get me wrong, I'm not all 'oh life is crappy, I feel bad.'

Not that there is anything wrong with that. If I did feel that way I wouldn't hesitate to blog about it. Because I want to be true to real life on here. And my real life defo has its melly feels shitty times occasionally.

But this post is not that today.

Life is gooooooood.

Like awesomely freaking great.

Life is also changing in a day-to-day context. I am adjusting accordingly, but the changes that have been going down means that I really have had to asses what is really important to me and stick with that. Not to say that I don't totally feel super guilty about stuff because I really can't be in twenty places at once. My not having a twin/ personal assistant means I move things/people/myself onto the back burner frequently, it is just getting it 'right' I suppose.

This past week or so it has been all about working, himself and trying to catch up on house tasks. Anytime I have had off with himself has been spent just chilling, doing projects, or going on drives.

The time I have had off has consisted of my trying to get washing clean/dry/away/off the lounge room floor. Eep! Love the washing part and the having clean clothes part. The actual folding and putting away however is not my favourite thing in the world. In fact, for the past week and a half I truly have been rummaging everyday through the pile of clean washing on the lounge. I am finding that having what I desire means that I need to compromise like this. To let things slide a bit. So not easy for me and my 'everything has to be done and in its place before I can feel right' attitude. And defo not conductive to regular blogging. But practise is making for a more relaxed/balanced me.

Some stuff I have been up to in my "offline" life...

(in no particular order. mostly because I cannot remember which order they occurred in haha)

My Leah bestie came over, she bought her family with her. Twas lovely. Morgan is getting so big and grown up and it is such a joy to be a part of their lives :)

Seriously! There is a reason the whole 'kids grow up too fast' sentence is such a cliche, because it is so true :S

Myself and Himself have been thrifting a heap. We have found absolute gold!

 

That print is from letterhappy on etsy. I lovelovelove it! She is such a sweetheart too. I don't think that this will be its ultimate 'home', but since the curly-iron frame thingamy and the print were sitting around waiting to be a current project I figured they might as well hang instead.

We bought he iron-frame thingamy (anyone know what it is?) at our favourite vintage store locally. It was $28 and the lady who runs the store it such a kindred. She loves stuff with a history and we stayed for ages just chatting to her. As we left with out purchase she called out and said that she was glad to meet us and that we made her day. Lovely lady and an awesome contact to have as she is going to keep an eye out for some stuff we are after.

Probably my fave find of late has been this....

Driving home on Sunday (from markets and a picnic by the sea. Was bliss ♥) and himself spotted an old dude putting this out on the curb. It works for the radio so far, and we most likely can fix the record player in it. Stoked! Planning to play my box of eighties compilation records on it. Also found on the side of the road in this neighborhood six months ago before we lived here. Haha, I love us.

So much more to catch up on, hope to make some more time for this place here. I do so love this space since it is all mine. Himself is super encouraging of this blogging, always asking how it is all going and telling me that he likes it when I blog. What a gorgeous man he is :)

For now however, there is a load of darks in the machine, a load and a half of lights/colours and two loads of linen calling my name...

melanie ann xo

Of late.

Annnnnnd I'm alive! Haha. Believe me - there is no way of saying how excited we are to be done with the whole moving thing. Stupendously so my friends. That, and to be sitting here drinking tea (whilst I practically sit on the heater) typing this out is seriously the most excited I have been all month. 

Let me fill in the massive void of time that has passed since the last post.

 

Packing was not a huge issue once we actually got started, it was just the overwhelming dread beforehand that was the most daunting. That, and the whole sitting around playing Atari and looking at old photos were not conductive at all. We did however, pull an old suitcase out of the built-in wardrobe thinking it was empty, only to find that it was full to the brim with old cameras and accessories that himself bought at a garage sale and that we obviously never even went through (I only have about a quarter of my collection of cameras on display at once due to lack of space, and change them out every so often)

 

Who forgets they own that?!

 Getting the gazillion or so dollars together for the rental bond was a bit sketchy as we had no-where near enough saved up for it. Whoops. The real estate we rent through made life an absolute nightmare for us (not giving us all the keys anyone?!)

Getting the internet changed over was a nightmare also as we found out after a three week wait to be re-connected only to have no dial tone at all. Another week passed before they booked us a technician to come and sort it but only between the hours of 8-12 on a Friday. Handy huh? He was grumpy and rude but at least had the fact that he turned up at 8.02am playing in his favour. Turns out that when the kitchen was recently renovated the wall socket for the telephone was cut to move it, and the 'workmen' that did so chose to not re-wire. They instead just poked the old wire that lead to no-where through the hole in the floor and went on their merry way. Charming. Because I love paying $220 only to find that I was plugging my modem into the equivalent of thin air. Bastards.

The move was horrendous. Moving/lifting heavy things does not make for a happy me. In fact, manual labor of any description + me = a whole lot of tanty throwing. Hate it. Make no secret of it. More than happy to play the girl card on that one haha. 

It ended up that I lifted for the bulk of the stuff from both our places but then got to the point where we made the call to play to our strengths. He got a friend and they lifted and shifted whilst I did the cleaning and unpacking.

So yeah, a shit start but we have finally settled in and it is awesome! 

We were practically living together for a year or so previously aka himself sleeping over every night, so there aren't too many surprises on that front. We've both seen 'it all' and lived to tell the tale haha. TMI? Probably lol. 

This new place is 'ours' together though, and that it just lovely. During that nightmare-ish few weekends of moving/everything going badly, we had quite a few fun moments. Deciding which drawer to put the tea-towels in together was seriously the most fun. Sounds pretty mundane I'm sure, but to us it was our first decision together. The first room we unpacked together was the kitchen/dining actually, and it is turning out to be our favourite room to be in. Perhaps because he loves to cook and I love to watch him outwardly enjoy something so much? Or maybe even because the kitchen in my old place was so tiny and just yuck? Whatever it is I do so love being here with him. Here, in this house, this moment in time. Just so bliss filled and fun.

Truly, if I wasn't me I would make me sick with how in love I am with this gorgeous man. 

Ahem. Anyway, back on topic. My other favourite 'things' so far are -

Having my very own laundry/washing line/yard/back deck.

No more having to put a bra/pants on to put washing in the machine. Or worrying that I might have to make small talk with anyone while I hang it out (my neighbors were lovely but sometimes a gal just wants to do the chores and be left to it. That, and I am a total hermit on my days off lol)

After manymany years of share houses/units/granny flat living it is pure bliss to walk into my yard and just be.

Having a massive, nice kitchen with an oven and lots of storage.

The past few years have been lived with only a stovetop, microwave, and a tiny convection oven. Not fun.

The nicest, quietest neighbors ever!

On one side we've got a lovely older couple and their dog Emma. They are sooooo nice. Pa (not his name, but we'll respect their privacy here) brings our bins up the driveway for us on bin day and likes to show me pictures of his grandkids. Today when I was out it rained and I cursed something shocking knowing I had four loads of washing hung out. Not so. Arrived home to find it all bought in and placed outside our door. Seriously! How nice is that?!? Living in the world we do it is something like that that renews my faith in people not all being crappy to one another. I teared up a little haha

The other is the back fence of a large. leafy block so big win there! The area is proving to be quiet as. Sounding like the biggest grandma I know, but of a night, I love to sleep at a reasonable hour. And continue to stay asleep. Sometimes a big ask when living so close to others.

In any case, that is where I have been. Moving, unpacking, loving my man, loving my new house. Really hope y'all stuck around!

melanie ann xo

{this moment} 17.6.11

{this moment} - A friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember

inspired by soulemama

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see

 

Happy Friday!

moving sucks

Yup, it sucks really bad.

And it is stinky, yuck, and has no friends.

We've only just signed the lease today and already I am so far over it is is not funny in the slightest.

Above:random picture I found on Google images, made me laugh. This will totally be himself and I on the weekend.

Things today has taught me -

I've too much stuff. 

today...

...we were approved for a rental property

...was the third day in a row that I broke a promise to me that I would definitely get up and go to the gym

...I felt very yucky due to lack of physical activity for the past few days

...we got a call that we were indeed successful in our application to rent a house together. Oh, I already mentioned that did I? So so stoked :D

Kid, you’ll move mountains!

"...and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting..."

Theodor Seuss Geisel

It has been a huge week. Many many things of happened. Some of which I have mentioned here and some happenings that I can't/wont go into on here. Those are mostly 'maybe' happenings anyways, happenings that I have been wanting for quite some time that might just come to be. Soso stoked.
Of late I have been feeling a bit stuck in place. Working toward particular goals, waiting for other parts of my life to come to be in the "right" moment, not really being able to do anything much. This stuck place is not very kind to me as I am very solution orientated.

before + after

Let me preface these images by stating this - please be kind as the past week or so have not been so kind to me. My being busy + tired = embarrassing mess. 

Also, embarrassing mess + days off + no car + torrential rain = cleaning like mad.

Those factors, and the fact that I am moving soon sent me into a flurry of scrubbing walls, dusting, and donating half of my wardrobe to charity.

Before

Eep! Told you it was bad! Absolute chaos! Ugh, when my home is this way so is my head.