Crumbed sausages

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Take one small child (preferably baby/toddler) and cover liberally in sunscreen.

Take said child to the beach.

Allow to play.

Encourage (or at least ignore) free-flowing drool.

Enjoy.

The Veggie Mama Style File

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So recently I was asked if Cotton On Kids could send Pepper some baby clothes. She was four days old but hey, she's a stylish kid, so I said yes. Like she's a celebrity or something. Plus Cotton On Kids has the cutest stuff so I trusted them! And it got me thinking how grateful I was to have ditched the maternity daggies myself and could get back to my normal clothes again. Oh how free I feel! How un-whale-like. How me.

So I decided to do a post (which has actually appeared elsewhere, but that blog died a good bloggy death) on what makes my style my own. I'm wondering how Pepper's will evolve, just as I wonder if Abby will stop wearing shorts and t-shirts and start insisting on dresses. I will have to get someone to shop with her if she does, I am just no good in the frill department.

So anyway. My style:

These shoes are what I'm about. Sneakers. Whether Converse, Vans, Macbeths... any kind of funky sneaker is going to be on my feet. I wear them with dresses, pants or shorts and I'm not fussy. I will MAKE it work. It's sad that I live in such a hot climate, so wear flip-flops (god "thong" is a weird word) most of the time, but as soon as the weather cools, these things go back on my feet.

Me + summer = black Havaianas.

Cutoff denim shorts. It may be very Huck Finn, but I can be found in these pretty much all summer, spring and autumn. Winter changes these to tights or leggings (yes, I'm one of THOSE PEOPLE who wear tights as pants)... but for as long as I can get away with, I'm wearing them. I made these ones about six years ago with a pair of $30 Jay Jays jeans. They are now my favourite pair and I get sad when they're in the wash. That's when I hang off my closet doors and moan "but I've got nothing to weaaarrrrr!". When I was heavily pregnant and had to put them away for a while, I made a pair of maternity cutoffs. True story.

Funky bangles. They can make such a difference to an outfit. This one is my current favourite - I saw a  fellow Instagrammer post this in my feed and I commented underneath I needed to own it. Two weeks and $40 later, this pretty little thing turned up on my doorstep. It says "loose lips sink ships" and it is made of buffalo horn lovingly etched by the very talented Tenille at Eels Jewellery. At first I was all like "uh I can't wear buffalo horn!", but Tenille explained she used these products in her work because she preferred working with organic, sustainable, recycled and biodegradable materials rather than petro-based plastics and resins. The horn is recycled after the buffalo dies naturally.

Sold.

I have tried so many different hairstyles in my life. Short bobs were my go-to style during high school. Including one memorable disaster just after I'd started a new school, which rendered me an outcast on my second day. My hair is wavy and completely unmanageable and unbrushable in its natural state - it becomes a mass of dried frizz and is hideous to look at. I can't do bangs because of this and because my forehead is too small so I have to use more hair. I'll never have the silky-straight Asian hair I covet, so I just run with what I've got - long and messy. Believe it or not, it's much easier for me to style when it's like this. I usually wash, braid and sleep. Next morning I control the GROSSNESS with a run-over of the GHD and add a little curl. I've made my peace with the fact I'll never be a wash-and-go gal.

Crazy earrings. Big and dangly. Otherwise they get lost in my mop. These were $5 from K-Mart. My style is also Bargain.

Unusual rings. I have teapots, cupcakes, owls, vintage emeralds - anything I can find that catches my eye. Again, a $5 find from Diva.

Socks, stripes and Hello Kitty. All in one item. A gift from a friend who went to Japan.

Hair accessories. I love headbands, barrettes, bobbles on my elastics, everything. Though most days you'll just find this black bow from Diva.

 Roomy, yet semi-fitted tops. I like to hide the E-cups and I like to be comfortable. Anything too structured draws attention to my Lego-man shoulders and I cannot stand anything that hugs my armpits.

Vintage watches. Vintage anything, really - brooches, purses, handbags... I love them all. This was a gift from my beloved on our wedding day. It made me cry and ruined my makeup. 

Perhaps one day Pepper will wear it. Perhaps Abby will fight her for it. Perhaps I'll have to buy two, just to keep them happy... I'm willing to make that sacrifice for my children.

But until then, just look at little Peps in her cute little Cotton On Kids getup. Want to squish the cheeks, no?!

So what do you like to wear? What is your uniform? What is that one thing that encapsulates YOU?


*disclaimer: Cotton On Kids sent me three outfits for the littlest brat. That's all, folks.

No tea party baby shower is complete without Iced VoVos

I wasn't really going to do any baby showering, but my sister asked last week if I wanted to have a little get-together, mostly for an excuse to eat some goodies.

I told her I'd do anything if she just made me some lemon coconut slice.

Sure I could make it myself, but that's not the point.

I brought the Iced VoVos and Custard Creams. That's enough, right?

Ok fair enough I also made the brie and cranberry rolls. Almost all of which I ate single-handedly.

Oh and don't be that guy who will hassle me about eating brie. Just don't.

Ok so I also made the punch. Two cans of Golden Circle Sunshine Punch, some ginger ale, strawberries and passionfruit.

My friend Karlee made the scones and I practically shouted through my first mouthful that they were incredible. And they were. I am SUPER fussy with scones, and I absolutely hate her now that she can make such good ones and I can't. 

My friend Madi brough Turkish delight cupcakes. They even had sprinkles inside! Madi has a super-awesome kiddo-clothes-and-things store and makes the best stuff ever.

Down the hatch!

My lovely sister made little Mexican bites, with avocado, salsa and sour cream on organic tortilla chips. They were the hit of the day!

We also had the obligatory cheese and biscuits and dip, some fruit and the aforementioned lemon slice.

I didn't notice until later that somebody had boxed up the leftovers AND TAKEN THEM HOME.

My lemon slice. My one and only. My sad.

What wasn't sad though, was the tea party part! I had a lovely stash courtesy of Madame Flavour that I had been putting off sharing for a long time. They were the first to go! I'm not surprised, their tea is divine. (PSST... I have a giveaway coming up so stay tuned!)

I had a Rooibos and Vanilla from the even bigger stash I had courtesy of Nerada (remember this post?) and spent half the time sniffing my cup. That stuff is seriously so good.

I'm ashamed to say it, but I was scared to get my good teacups out. I need some good-but-I-won't-cry-if-they-break teacups for situations such as this.

And what was even cuter was Abby making friends and playing like a big kid.

And it was seriously cool to meet Amy for the first time in the flesh! She was up for her brother's wedding and we snatched an hour or so to hang out. She blogs at Mrs Smyth Gets a Life (and makes cute stuff too! and we became friends via twitter when our first babies were merely weeks away. 

It was hilarious to find that we were actually (and surprisingly) both pregnant at the same time together again.

I appear to not grow babies properly because in that picture I am 38 weeks and Amy is 32, and she has a proper cute bump and I have a pasta lunch bloat. This is not fair.

Anyway, that's how you do a last-minute baby shower masquerading as an excuse for tea party food.

Any questions? ;-)

Of blog buddy playdates, jumping pillows and ruffled baby butts

I don't often get together with other bloggers, but that is really quite silly because they're a lot of fun. And don't get cranky if you talk to them while tweeting.

or taking photos of eh-veh-ree-thing.

Like what I packed to keep Abby afloat during the two-hour drive, the date, a trip to Ikea and the two-hour drive home...

She had avocado sandwich on rye, banana, apple, Cheerio/Frosted Mini Wheats/sultana mix, Honey Graham crackers, an wholegrain apple fruit bar and vegan banana bread.

And apparently it was imperative she travel with her Care Bear and a random pair of pants.

The drive down was largely uneventful, she slept, I sang and we made it only 10 minutes late thanks to an ill-timed bathroom break.

We met the lovely Christie from Fig and Cherry, and her daughter. She is just about the cutest little poppet you've ever seen. True story.

We played at the Broadwater Parklands on the Gold Coast, which looks a hell of a lot different to when I used to live there! It was so much fun, and an excellent place for kiddos and families. I cannot wait to get back. Especially the rockpools, they were insane.

These two on the tiny seesaw were killing me. Abby kept singing "seeeeesaaaaaw" and trying to bounce up and down.

Friends! I love it.

And then she half-fell off this thing.

Which is almost as funny as when she fully fell off the one the following week when we met Mother Down Under at Mooloolaba. She flipped totally backwards and I caught one ankle as she went over. 

She got up like it weren't no thang. I tried to act casual in front of the other mothers who were probably all "OH MY GOD THAT WOMAN JUST LET HER TODDLER FLIP BACKWARDS, HOW NEGLECTFUL I WOULD TOTALLY NEVER DO THAT".

Ok, the rockpools. They were seriously cool. A little man-made riverbed-type thingy with little fountains, rockpools and waterfalls. The water would recede every so often, then refill just like the tide going in and out. 

Never mind the water was a bit nippy, Abby was in there like a shot. She was absolutely thrilled and I'll be taking her back very soon. Her dad especially would love it. I couldn't take any pictures of her splashing about in the water because I am Clumsy McClumserson and cannot afford another Canon.

Oh and the jumping pillow! I've a sneaking suspicion I loved it more than the kids did, although Abby screamed when I finally made her get off. She was having an absolute ball. 

As were two very boisterous adults using it like their own private trampoline. There may have been gratuitous making out and rolling around and I may have been rather amused and semi-wigged out.

And sadly jumping on this did not send me into labour. 

And how cute is Miss Christie, she brought a frozen veggie red curry for after the baby was born, AND  a strawberry bread-and-butter pudding simply because I told her once I liked it.

SO kind.

And it tasted exactly like I imagined. Like strawberries and custard and spicy fruit bread and utter deliciousness. There were two occasions where I ate it for breakfast. And I don't mind telling you that apart from the occasional share with the overzealous toddler, I ate the whole thing myself. And I'm not sorry.

I'm totally not scared to hang out with other bloggers now. It seems you CAN meet cool people on the internet, and not everyone is a freaky old man in overalls blogging from his mom's basement. Although, if he gave me a bread and butter pudding like this, I might consider being his friend.