Home sweet home

March 20, 2018March 20, 2018 | poppypeach

The big news that made me so happy last week was the approval of my hubby working remotely in Australia. Now with all the plans moving along it was a hard decision to up and leave a job but now with this in the pipeline and a presentation from our architect in Melbourne shortly I am getting excited to be back in Australia. This illustration was found at the park after I took the kids for a walk as I could not sit still after my hubby gave me the news. Day by day I am patiently waiting for the green light that says now start packing and selling everything it is time to go. But until then I am enjoying myself here and having fun carving out my future career in education.

I was still on a balanced nutrition diet last week had me caving and wanting extra flavour in my food with sriracha and miso mayo. Tacos have carbohydrates that I do not want to be eating in the evening, so I turned Taco Tuesday into a bowl minus the taco of salad, avocado salsa and beer battered fish. I know my diet of no bad stuff, but hey it fitted into my macro plan for the day! The bowl on the right is smoked salmon on a kale salad with miso mayo and spring onions. I am finding with eating fish is helping me reach my protein limit to build muscle, fingers crossed I am doing this thing right! I love food too much to eat bland food all the time…

At Ventana School where I work we made some pipe cleaner dolls for the dollhouse the kids built, and here they are all ready to be sold at the auction.

Speaking of the auction my hubby and I had a lovely night out on Saturday night at the adults-only event with cocktails, wine and a delicious catered dinner by Opa! It was a game theme, so my outfit was my own interpretation of a Candy Land princess :D. It was a bit wacky but anyway it gave me the opportunity to wear the lovely raw silk vintage beaded jacket (from my fave vintage store in Mountain View, which is now gone!) with a dress I made out of FabMo silk pieces.

The quilt that is pictured was created with help by the 1st-grade class I help teach. A grandma of the students (who is a star quilter) designed and made the quilt, and it is incredible. It was won by the parents of the class and will be shared by the parents to travel with this cohort of children at the school. It is an absolute treasure and captures the spirit of the community at the school.

My daughter came with me to work today, and we had a fun time in the classroom together. She was a bit tired by the end of the day, so she did some reading when I was working with the kindergarten kids. She had a fun time with the 1st grade and enjoyed the tinkering with the kids at lunchtime and ate and played with them all which was so good!

After work, we went to visit the lovely ladies AKA the chickens at the ranch, and they have a new addition an Easter Egger whom we call chicken cheeks which is just beautiful and tiny. Apparently, these ladies lay different coloured eggs which are how they get their name. I cannot wait until she starts laying. I was so happy to spend time with the chickens where at one point I turned around, and the whole flock of standard hens had followed me out into the grass, I am so looking forward to having chickens of our own one day!! At the coop we now have 13 bantams and 10 standard chickens so that is quite a flock and they are all very entertaining, I am sure they remember the people they interact with and most especially whoever gives them the best treats like strawberry tops and kombucha!

Spooking about the town

November 2, 2016November 2, 2016 | poppypeach

The inspiration for my Halloween costume came late one evening as I was trying on the costumes in my collection to find nothing that I felt like being or wearing for Halloween. It is nice to have a lot of ideas like a Hawaiian tourist, disco ball, square dancer but I really wanted a dance inspired costume so off to my fabric stash I went.I found this black and white fabric at an estate sale and it was just perfect for a swinging 1960s theme dress. This was a lot of fun to dance in as the primary reason for my costumes are wearing them to my aerobic dance class!

The makeup I worked with on Friday night was for Trunk or Treat with the kids and I used a black eyeliner underneath my lipstick for some Halloween depth. Monday when I went to class it was a lot of fun with a similar hairdo but not as dark on the makeup. Each year we do a group photograph to inspire us for Halloween next year. Our teacher Joan, is Carmen Miranda in the front row.

In amongst all the Halloween activities this weekend we went to the SFMOMA to meet friends from Oakland and check out the new exhibits. It was a beautiful rainy morning so after wandering a couple of galleries we had a break with some Dick Taylor Hot Chocolate crafted in Eureka – it was divine! Oh, and I have an inside hint for coat check – there is one on the 2nd Floor where you get your tickets and that is where you find the red bathroom (see the pic above) – the line is not as long when you want to take off!

For lunch in San Francisco, we went to Lemonade and my vegetarian friend and I enjoyed a yummy artichoke and provolone toasted sandwich and I shared a grasshopper pie (mint with chocolate cookie crumbs) with Mr. Ash for dessert. It is lovely to check out the area of SOMA and Lemonade was the perfect place for a family friendly meal. Everyone was happy and it has a seasonal menu as well – now that is the business.

Man, look who hijacked my camera when I was not looking – Mack and Ash!

For Halloween day after school, we went to the farm to do the weekly chicken chores as we were in the car a lot and listening to my favorite radio station KDFC – the classical music station of the Bay Area was playing Halloween themed music all day, check out the playlist here. It got us into the mood for a very long evening ahead of us for the start of the week – whew!

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Trick or Treating after the chicken chores we met with Missy’s school friends in the Bubb neighborhood and wandered a street or two there before heading over to see another friend in the Sylvan Park neighborhood and checked out their dragon sculpture – the kids had a super time but after their sugar high were very tired by the time they went to bed.

When I was shopping in the morning I loved the makeup of one of the Whole Foods employees who I regularly chat with. She is from Mexico and we were talking about Day of the Dead which is on November 1st. I loved her makeup and I was getting some hints on how to achieve this stunning design which took her 3 hours. Halloween and its festivities are one of my favorite times of the year and I will have to start thinking of my costume for next year – maybe a crazy cat lady!

A piece a Week – Dickens Fair Dress

December 8, 2015May 28, 2016 | poppypeach

After a few years of absence from the Dickens Fair we decided to revisit the idea again this year with the kids – now that they are older. Being very crowded we had to keep a close eye on all the kiddos – we went with some Aussie friends of ours who are even talking about going back next year! I will happily go back just to hear ‘Merry Christmas’ in an English accent! I just love people watching and being inspired by the costumes.

My costume was found at my fave vintage store in Mountain View – Empire Vintage on Villa Street. Soon we will have no vintage store and it will be a very sad Mountain View! The owner is moving and retiring from retail which is great for her as she has had 9 years in the biz and being the only vintage in the South Bay that is one fine find 🙂 I am so happy that I have had the opportunity to see Empire Vintage and support them as a local business. There is a super sale at the moment and I found this at their warehouse sale after Halloween for $5 – it was a very big skirt so I just took a panel and turned it into the front bodice, I have used another fabric for the back which works fine. I love looking at this dress as it is so ruffled and very fun to wear!

Pip Pip and Cheerio we are off to the Dickens Fair

The corset shop window is always amazing with these real life models with the corsets – this is a woman with a bottle of Absinthe and her green corset and fabulous skirt. This display reminds me of the green fairy from Moulin Rouge.

Fancy some Absinthe??

As we were wandering the vendors in the streets of London we found the a these beautifully tooled leather masks to try on. Here we are trying on a couple of owls and Ash is a fantasy creature.

All in disguise

Who let the fox out??

We were watching a conjurer in action and the younger girls decided to check out the shopping close by and found this cute children’s clothing store called Nanna’s Nursery where Missy’s Renaissance Fair dress was converted to Victorian with a bonnet, crochet collar, bow and all! The hoop under the skirt was bought as a Christmas gift from Christmas money and looks lovely underneath this dress.

Missy in her Victorian garb!

The big bow from the sash at the back

On our next adventure to the kids area with the carousel for only the little ones and Missy was very happy to have found this lion with a crown ready for his spin around and around!

Riding the African animal carousel

We all loved these boards to take pictures and the kids laughed and laughed and spent ages in behind the screens.

Who is scared of the big, bad wolf!

The Puss in Boots crew

After serious discussion about fairy houses and what they are going to do with them in the house, that is keep them in their room! So the kids decided to make them with their Christmas money and here they are… I spent a couple of hours with the kids watching them make them, at least I could sit down as it was the end of the day and my feet were ready for a rest!

Ash’s house with the dragon on the roof and his friend Jacobs Fairy House

Missys house with the fairy at the pathway

A piece a Week – A Fascinator and a Corset ready for Maker Faire

May 14, 2015May 28, 2016 | poppypeach

We do not get much of an opportunity to get dressed up these days – living the life of a mama in utilitarian though interesting clothing. So to me an event like the Maker Faire is time to get dressed up! I am volunteering at Swap O Rama Rama this Saturday for half the day and I thought it would be good for the would be sewers to be inspired by an upcycled outfit. Alabama Stitch Book takes all the credit for the corset as it is a pattern in the book for a reverse applique project. This matches the skirt I made a couple of weeks ago using the same repurposed tee shirt fabric from FabMo. Checking out the weather it will be a bit cool on the weekend so I am adding a shirt underneath with the scarf and brooch in the pic. Should be a fun, yet practical outfit to wear for the day!

The fascinator was from a tutorial I found on Pinterest using a mascarpone container. The tutorial I found uses a cup so that sat higher on the head. I like how this came out it is a cross between a small bowler and an air hostess all jazzed up!