rebecca:vavic

Food and Cooking: Right now...

Firstly a disclaimer - I AM BY NO MEANS A NUTRITIONALIST !!

I am simply a Mumma passionately interested in nourishing her family as best she can...

Once again, I  find myself interested in all manner of books and blogs about food and nutrition, the flame has been reignited with my Thermomix. 

BOOKS....

I have many books on the subject of food and nutrition and I think I do pretty well with nourishing my family! And working out what's right for us, and every family has their own winning formula for them.

I have written many blog posts on books that I read and am inspired by:

• Back in 2011 I discovered Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar, and Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Diet here. Both highly recommend!
• Tiffany Hall and some information I found super helpful here.
• A comprehensive list of books I refer to regularly & remain my "go to" books here.
• and still more books here.

I can say this post and this journal entry would be the main reason I am so into my Thermomix:

Date on the page 25th March 2012... TWO years ago. So it's not a "new" passion... it's a deep seated desire to do the best by myself and for my family.

I am looking forward to getting a copy of QUIRKY COOKING, which will be available Monday 5th May, get in quick because I am sure they won't last long.

This leads me the blogs I read and am constatly inspired by:

BLOGS...

Quirky Cooking - lots of allergy friendly, dairy free and raw recipes.

Life in Surry Hills - Paleo friendly, but I mainly go for the food eye candy, her photography is beautiful !!

 

Little Bit of Thyme - well this blog is one I love all round, food & crafts & kids and simple living... A visit here with a cuppa tea, as Tash suggests... I a slice of heaven!

 

 A house in the Hills - A-MAYYYY-zing food photography... & lots of gluten free recipes, particularly intersts me because of her crohns disease and healing herself with food! Plus she is a pretty all round funky kinda chick!

 

 The Road to Loving my Thermomix - Peta has lots of great tips and tricks, plus menu planners and lots of recipes including skin care and kids crafts!

Other BLOGS that I quite like are:

ThermoQueen

Food4Thought

Be a Fun Mum

Mummy Smiles

I hope you enjoy taking a look at the books and blogs that inspire me, and I am sure they will inspire you too!

Happy Cooking...

Bxo

Reading lately...

On my bedside table right now: 

Cloth Paper Scissors magazine, latest edition to arrive in the mail JOY!

Notebook magazine, that may be last month's edition... this months is in a bag that I carry with me {leave in the car} and delve into when I get a few spare moments. Basically a portable studio of sorts :)

After the Party by Lisa Jewell, I've just finished this, it was a light and easy read I quite enjoyed. I hadn't read the first one, but I don't think it mattered. A good book.

You Sexy Mother by Jodie Hedley-Ward - AWESOME BOOK I can not rave about enough... this book is so inspiring and encouraging & just exactly what I required at the time I got it a few weeks ago. I think I read it in record time. I was in a bit of a FUNK, a "been-at-home-with-the-kidlets-for-almost-three-years-and-not-quite-sure-what-to-do-with-myself" kinda funk. It was not a good space to be in. It was TOUGH. And I knew logically... it didn't need to be tough, and in fact, could be (and had been) quite wonderful most days. I just needed this book to get me back to THERE, to wonderful... BACK to ME really! I totally recommend it.

You Sexy Mother - The Journal - also by Jodie Hedley-Ward... to accompany the book. I am slowly working through this and creating my own journal, visual diary on my feelings, thoughts, ideas... I need to do a whole other post on this little project and journey!

The Healthy Skin Diet by Karen Fischer... I can not recommend this book enough. I am not into DIETS as such, I have been on diets... but they are not DIETS per-se... they are actually just "eating right programs". This book is amazing & I have learnt so much about my body, it's workings... and how to eliminate health issues SO EASILY by reading this book (oh, and following the program!). I also got it for Mikaela and her excema. If you are keen to improve the diet of you and your family... if you are interested in nutrition... this is the book for you. My dear friend Lusi is the one to get me thinking MUCH more about nutrition for my family >> thank you Lusi.

 

I am quite literally devouring this book, it comes with me most everywhere I go and each day I am adding more to my diet... apple cider vinegar, chlorophyl... in just a few days I feel amazing. Energised and alert... much healthier, and no longer sluggish. I know it will get much harder, but I am encouraged by the immediate health benefits, to keep going with this new regime, as best I can. For me and for my family.

StoryCatcher by Christine Baldwin... slowly reading this one. I'll admit that I have not been able (yet) to devote as much time as I'd like to this book, or to capturing the story of our family. I think I do okay with my 365 layouts, however, I also know there is much more soul spilling, heart sharing I would like to share with my children by way of story. I know there is more to be unravelled than simply our day-to-day happenings and special events, and this will take some digging and prodding... and time. I want to capture that FEELING I have when I am breast feeding my babe... when I watch my two young boys hug each other with love and enthusiasm. The way I feel about my daughter getting older and some of the amazing conversations and connections we are sharing these days. Oh, there are so many stories I want to capture for them. I will. I do. The best I can.

So... What about you? What books have you recently been inspired by... totally WOWED by??

Oh, and if you are interested in getting Heathy Skin or You Sexy Mother, Exile have 50% off sales on FRIDAY's... YEP >>>> that's TODAY!

Hugs

Bx

Baby Shower Party...

Planning a baby shower? Need a few ideas? Here are a few things I did to celebrate my sister-in-law having her first bubs.

HELLO BABY MINI ALBUM...

Essentially, I prepared the whole album before the day... including the names etc of attendees >>>> so all they needed to do on the day was to add their little blessing note, well wishes, advice... however you would like to refer to these special little notes to "Mum to Be" and Bubba.

On the day I took a photo of each person, and a few of the party itself. I then just needed to develop the photos and stick them in. Everything else was done.I added a few ribbons. Viola. A great little keepsake. Here it is all finished.

The cover:

 

And a few middle pages:

 

 

 

You can take a look at all the pages over at my Flickr.

I love this mini album - I adore the range of October Afternoon, Thrift Shop Range that I used... so versatile... suits either for girl or boy. Simply cute as.

TAKE A GUESS...

Another fun part we did was to guess the baby's birth details, include a table with information such as Date, Time, Weight, Length, Gender and Guessed by. It's fun to see who came closest to the actual birth details afterwards.

 

GAME - BABY BINGO...

 

Guests emailed me a photograph of themselves as a bubba... I put them together on a large sheet of cardboard. On the day try and match the adults to the photos. We had one of the "Mum to Be" also, and it was a fun game to surprise her with.

CELEBRITY MUM AND BABY MATCH...

I know my "Mum to Be" loves her trash mags... so I knew she would find this fun. Not everyone did tho, as it was a bit tough... I know I wouldn't have gotten many correct.

Here is a link for you to download the game Download Celebrity Baby Game.docx

And answers Download Celebrity Baby ANSWERS.docx

OTHER GAMES...

We played a few other games... A-Z of names, points for a name no one else had put down. Word scramble I got from here, you can download the question and answer sheet there. Easy peasy!

Matching pairs of socks... we got about 14 pairs of socks together, various sizes, colours, patterns. The idea is to mix them up and throw them onto the floor... time each person to see who can put them into pairs the quickest. Afterwards the socks are given to the "Mum to Be" as another little gift for Bubs.

I had lots of other games planned too, but we ran out of time.

BOOK FOR BABY...

Each guest bought a book that meant something special to them for the bubba. We then sat in a circle and took turns to present the book to the "Mum to Be" and explain to her why the book was special to us. I also got people to introduce themselves and explain how it was that they knew "Mum to Be"... this was a really good icebreaker. And especially nice for Mum and Dad to go through the books together and marvel at the instant library they had before them!

DECORATIONS...

We had a baby shower at a great cafe that had a separate room out back, which was perfect!

"Mum to Be" got the bunting, banner and some napkins  from on online store, unfortunately the banner was incorrectly spelt... but it didnt matter. "Mum to Be" also arranged for some balloons. We got the green and blue tissue pom poms from here.

I found this site really useful BabyShower101.

So if you are planning a baby shower I hope that helps some. 

And if you can find yourself a nine year old to record EVERY SINGLE SECOND without any editing whatsoever... I highly recommend it. Especially if they refuse to move out of photos and you can be heard on said video at least 12 times asking for them to do so... before giving up and taking the shot anyways!

We had a great time. Whose next in line for a baby shower I wonder? I am ready, let me just say that!!!

Love out...

Bx

Thoughtful...

Is how I would best describe my man, he never fails to surprise me with his attention to detail of me and my loves. For my birthday I got an upgrade for my camera. But the thing that really made me cry... that caught my breath... that stopped my heart, was the card and it's contents.

Nath explained that the books had not yet arrived, he had them on order and instead colour copies to the front covers were inside an already lovely card. I could not believe or comprehend how Nath knew I wanted these.

I had a bit of a teary. Nath was like "babe what are you crying for?. its not even your main present"... I explained that I could have bought the camera myself, even we never met... even if it were still just me and Mikaela. What I could not buy, or ever have imagined was possible, was to have such a thoughtful and considerate husband (not always of course, but you know what I mean!!!)...

So these are the books:

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller and Storycatcher by Christina Baldwin. There is another book by Christina still on its way.

I knew that these books were ones on my "wish list" but I couldn't remember, had I blogged it? nope Nath tells me. Apparently, I had written the details of these books down in a notebook while we were on holidays in Palm Cove at Christmas. I recall I was inspired by this post by Ali (the image above is from her post).

Nath simply put the information into his iphone when I wasn't around... and months later surprises the socks off me. AGAIN !!!

Both books arrived last night and I just need to decide which one to start first!

I hope you have a beautiful weekend.

Love out 
Bxo  

December Daily #5...

You know after taking so many photos of my cousins and the boys Friday, I was not so into taking photos yesterday... & we were pretty busy. DFO, Mikaela's last game of basketball for the season. I went to watch with the boys in tow, rather we all went together. Usually Nath and Mikaela go on their own I stay home as it is hard to explain ball & danger to Joshua, he just equates ball=fun! & it is usually his nap time after his swimming lesson. Did some more packing, contented with a teething bubba and generally grumpy 2 year old.

Anyhooooo... my page for yesterday is pretty much all about MOI, and my 50 minutes... COUNT THEM ... FIFTY to myself at a cafe and bookstore = enough time to feel more like "myself" again :) To be just simply "Me" for a bit:

 

Friday this book arrived:

 

Lisa has a website too. Totally coincidental is that my cousin had just returned my book "the artists way by Julie Cameron" who is quoted on the cover and refers to Lisa as a muse. I like moments like that. You see, my cousin had the book for months, and has tried to return it to me a few times, but either she or I forgot. So now I have both gorgeous books and look forward to my journey into "writing motherhood"... I feel it is something I really need right about now!

Yesterday I took some time out of my day, and away from the family... an hour to myself, a mini-artist date all to myself. 

I went here and here. I sat down and enjoyed a brownie and latte:

 

Photo taken with my iphone.

I bought myself an accompaniment to "writing motherhood"... a journal, a mother notebook... it's a "Zoe" journal by Mudlark. I love the quote in the back cover:

Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love. ~Rumi

That pretty much was the deciding factor of me buying it :) And I think apt that I use this as my "mothering notebook".

I also bought this book as a gift to myself... with the intention to read it over our Christmas/New Year holiday at the beach/s :)

Nath and I also watched "Jane Austen Bookclub" recently... which I totally enjoyed, and thankful that my hubs is so thoughtful to tape it for me cause he knew I'd like it. Thanks babes!

Love out

Bxo

Monday Morning...

Hiya gorgeous peeps :)

Thanks so much for all your birthday wishes, I had a wonderful weekend... full of love and relaxation, creativity, great food and thoughtfulness...

Isn't my hubs a cute one with his post :) I am very lucky that's for sure! Will post a weekend review soon... once I get my breath back LOL!

Hey, do you remember this book I mentioned back here.

Well, I did an interview for Get Creative some time ago, and here it is in the latest issue:

Check out the Spiritual Business site here for some fabulous inspiration! 

Happy Monday lovelies...

Bxo