Drum roll….
Catheryn Walker.
Whoop! Yay! Hooray!
Catheryn, can you email me?
I moved house yesterday. It sux. I’m aching. It’s really early here and I’m about to head back to the old joint to clean. Can’t wait for next week when everything settles…
Miss you guys. Back soon!
Happy Australia Day! I remember making one of these huts once. Lucky I didn’t have to paint the flag on it 
I’m hanging out with my friends and Amie is coming over for the day. I’ll be wearing a Kaftan (drawing the winner soon!) and eating snags off the bbq.
I’m moving house tomorrow, so back on board next week.
I have a new Facebook page here too if you want to join!
Have a great day.
This time last year we were recovering from floods in Wagga. Everything was green and lush. This year it’s been our usual Summer… hot and dry. This is mostly what our landscape looks like in the surrounding areas.
Yesterday some friends and our families drove to Narrandera (about an hour away) to use their pool complex with a water-slide. It was really hot and really windy. As we drove I couldn’t help but notice the landscape.
This is typical Australian countryside. A far cry from all the lovely beach images I keep seeing on everyone’s blogs!
This is how I spent my Summer as a kid. Battling through the heat, laying under the air-conditioner and only getting to play outside after I’d had my bath in the evening. The heat can be excruciating out here!
Nothing much has changed. I love it. While I do love visiting the beach, I still love all the smells, the sparseness and the openness of living in the country.
Australia Day is here this week and I’ll spend that day doing much of the same… heading to our ‘brown-dirty’ lake, bbq-ing and letting the blokes drink beer. Then we’ll come home and lay under the air-conditioner moaning about how hot it is and how sun-burnt we got (even though we didn’t mean to!)…
Today, I am still packing. We’re moving in a few days. It feels good to sort through everything. I’m just praying it’s not 38 degrees on moving day!
Have a great week. X
If you missed a few of my posts last week – you must catch up on My Blog Design Tips and My Kaftan Giveaway.
Morning bloggers!
As the new year began, a lot of bloggers started to ponder and think about what direction they want to take their blog. I’ve been reading lots of your posts where you talk about new directions, feeling refreshed and excited about your blog for 2012. This is great!
But have you thought about your image/brand?
Have you put your best foot forward?
Have you set yourself a blog budget?
Have you asked someone to critique your blog?
Do you wonder if some of your readers have moved on from you because they see you’ve lost sight?
These are questions we all ask ourselves. Don’t worry, it happens to lots of us.
The best blogs have a design that meets the needs of your reader. Uncluttered, directional and purposeful.
The best way to start making changes to your design is to think about your readers. Pick 3 people (real or imaginary) who you think would read your blog. What would they like? If you find it difficult to imagine who reads your blog, then ask some friends.
Critique is hard to take sometimes, but it’s helpful. I promise!
1. Is your page polished and professional? Uncluttered? Do you have a theme of colours?
2. What layout are you using? Is everything grouped together? Do you have a spot for advertising? Or is everything thrown around? If your page is amateur, then unfortunately your blog will look amateur.
3. Don’t run with google images and standard template images. Try to be as creative as you can within your budget.
4. If your blog is a business, then invest the money in a good design that will stand the test of time and tell your readers that you’re serious.
5. Where are your subscribe RSS buttons? Do you want me to be a loyal reader? Then I need to be able to follow you.
6. Give yourself a tagline – it will tell your readers what your blog is about.
7. Do you have a photo of yourself? You must. I won’t read your blog if I don’t know who you are.
8. Does your background blind my eyes? Does your background load slow?
9. Do you have a search field? You must! This drives me mad if you don’t.
10. Do you have categories/labels/tags clear in the sidebar? If not, then you run the risk of losing readers. I may only come to your blog because I want to read about a few topics you write about. More than 25 categories is annoying though.
11. More than 5 photos in a blog post is too much. Most people only stay on a page for 1-2 minutes. This is a fact.
12. Turn word verification off. Self-explanatory. Turn it off people.
13. You’ll lose readers if your sidebar has more content than your posts. Cull it down.
14. Flashing stuff. I can’t read your post and concentrate if stuff is flashing.
15. Contrast your fonts with colours and sizes. It’s appealing and will highlight and point out various parts of your blog.
16. Don’t interrupt all of your posts with advertising.
Phew. Sorry for the overload. But I hope you can take away a few pointers for your blog design.
So, today, why don’t you grab a cup of coffee (yes, that’s one heck of a coffee cup!), sit down in front of your blog and go over the layout?
Ask some friends for advice. Ask a stranger for advice. Even ask your husband, mother, brother, what their first impression is…
Have a great weekend x
I remember doing this in year 8. It was 1991. I had high waisted denim shorts with the hem all frayed and I wore them over bottle-green opaque tights with black brogue shoes (remember them?). Plus I wore a white Guns ‘n’ Roses t-shirt.
So, this look is back apparently (minus the Gunner t-shirt).
Who’s in?
Mel, are we doing this? I’m not sure….
And if you’ve already been doing it, well you’re a step ahead! Let me know if I’m behind – show me pictures.
This is what I wore yesterday. Jokes!
Don’t forget to enter my Kaftan giveaway.
PS. Disclaimer: Leggings are not pants #leggingarenotpants. So this look will not work without shorts.
Most of you will know I had a garage sale on Saturday. This house (which we are saying goodbye to next week 
) has a 6 car garage, so it was the perfect spot. My sister Amie, my sister-in-law and my bestie Mel, all brought junk over to add to the sale. So it turned out to be maaaassive! Mel helped me run it on the day.
I have never laughed so hard. There are some real serious garage sale hunters out there.
There is a fine line between getting a bargain and a scab. I like a good deal, or a great 2nd hand item, but I don’t haggle when something’s already $2.
There is a blantant disregard for a start and finish time. They also have no respect for the ‘stuff’ you might have outside of the clearly marked garage sale area.
People will happily pay $4 for a coffee, but not $2 for a toy.
So here are the 9 weirdest things people said and did:
1. Lady: Oh my god, these kids boots are so adorable (little red ones).
Me: (In general conversation) Aren’t they just the cutest? And for only $2!
Lady: Don’t push me or I’ll back off.
Don’t push me? What? What? Did she just say that? I didn’t know where to look. I saw my husband shuffle. Uh oh, my husband was about to tell her off. I changed the subject. She wandered off and then asked her husband for the $2 and bought them. I should have said “put them back, I don’t want your $2 and nick off.” She was THE best. I won’t forget that face.
…
2. A lady circled the sale 3 times and then asked “do you have any clothing or jewellery?“
Why, yes of course, I have some out the back, would you like to come through. Oh, and I have a catalogue, would you like to order out of that – they will be in stock next week?
This is not a shop lady.
…
3. Lady: What is this?
Me: A mannequin.
Lady: What do you do with it? Doesn’t matter, will you take $2?
She just loved the thrill of bargaining I think. She didn’t even know what it was and she bargained me down and took it. Strange.
…
4. Lady (to my husband): Does that vacuum work?
My husband starts a demonstration. She asks him to vacuum certain sections of the garage floor. It was an old Dyson. My husband was really in to it, showing her all the bits. She was keen, but then realised there was a tiny attachment missing (that you never use!). It was $20.
She said no thanks.
My husband said “Lady, this is not Harvey Norman.”
Then she came to me and asked “does the front come off that high chair?”
I start demonstrating.
I turn around and she’s gone.
WTF. No, she really really really thought she was at Harvey Norman!
…
5. Lady: Will you take 50c?
Mel: No, $2. It’s a brand new toy.
Lady: Too much (and she threw it!, Yes, threw it back in the box and stormed out!).
…
6. Man: Can I have those prints for free because they are worn out?
Me: No, they are $20 for the set.
Man: But they’re all worn out.
Me: Yes, and this is a garage sale not a shop where they’d be $100 each.
He walked off.
I waved bye bye.
…
7. A man walks around the side of our garage and went through all our rubbish. He took a small section of a hose, a piece of timber, a plastic lid and a broken hammer.
…
8. I think next time I go to a garage sale, I’ll speak in another language to confuse the people and then I’ll get stuff for $5 instead of $20 because they don’t know what you’re saying.
…
9. And lastly, don’t forget, if you break something you don’t have to pay for it because it’s a garage sale. Yes, a lady did this and said this…. Ummm, I didn’t own that or anything!!!
…
So, moral to the story. Be ready. Have your game face on and get tough!
PS. Have you entered my kaftan giveaway? It’s a beauty.
I managed to get my hands on another one for you!
It’s a M/L and I would say it’s a 12-13 (prob not quite a 14). BUT the beauty of a kaftan is that even an 8-10 can wear it. The flowy-er the better
Check it out!
Get on this giveaway peeps. All you have to do is enter on this post and I’ll draw a lucky winner next week.
See my post earlier today where I’ve gone kaftan mad. Ha ha!
You’ll be looking hot in this! Any shape can wear a kaftan. I swan around all day with the material floating.
This is the cutest black and white leopard print!
Good luck and thanks for stopping by. X.
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