:: Melbourne - First Wedding Anniversary ::

About three weeks ago Mr LG and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary! Can you believe it's been a year already? I sure can't. For our one year anniversary we flew down to Melbourne, the same place we spent the first week of our honeymoon. We adore Melbourne and plan to spend as much time there as possible!

Anniversary dinner at our favourite restaurant - Mamasita's!

Just looking at these photos brings me back to the cooler weather, the sound of the trams, and the amazing culture that Melbourne offers.

PS. Oh! I nearly forgot to tell you all about my incredible Christmas present ...

[image via Wikipedia]

A Canon 70-200mm 2.8!!! OMG! I nearly wet my pants when I opened it!

I've been putting it to good use in the past few weeks. It's taking me a little while to get used to the size of it, but I adore it! I was truly spoilt :D

:: Happy Birthday to Me! ::

I turned 29 on the 6th of January. I'm now one year away from being 30! About a year and a half ago I decided to compile a list of 101 things I wanted to complete before I turned 30. Back then I thought I had lots of time ... and on my birthday I realised I only had one year to complete everything on the list! One year! Yikes!

I'll share some of those things with you throughout the year, but for now I'll leave you with some photos of my birthday party.

PS. I'll tell you about my amazing Christmas present in my next post, promise!

:: Christmas - 2011 ::

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

I hope you all had an amazing day filled with love, laughter, family, and friends. Our first Christmas as a married couple was fantastic. We woke up early (not too early though!) and cooked a big breakfast for Mr LG's brother who came over to our house. We swapped presents and hung out for a while before heading over to my parents house to see all my brothers and sisters.

I was given some amazing presents this year. Words cannot even express how loved I felt. Everyone put so much thought and love into each and every present. I love watching people's faces light up with excitement when they open up a gift.

While I adored every present I was given, there was one in particular that I was blown away by. I won't give anything away, because it deserves a post of it's own. I can't wait to tell you what I got!!

Now the count down to the new year is on, and also to my birthday! Can you believe I'll be 29 soon? I can't!

:: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas ::

Slowly, but surely, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our little house. Can you believe Christmas is so close? If it weren't for the Christmas decorations up around our house, I wouldn't believe it. It feels like it should be August or something - where did the year go?!

This will be my first Christmas in our house and I'm super excited! We have plans to have Mr LG's brother over for breakfast and we will feast on a delicious vegetarian breakfast ... that I have yet to get recipe ideas for. I really should get onto that soon!

The two nativity scene photos were taken for my sister's church Christmas window. I can't wait to see them in the window soon!

Mr LG and I have decided not to give each other Christmas presents this year because we're going to Melbourne for our one year wedding anniversary in January (see what I mean - where did the year go?!). Instead we have been using our advent calendar to surprise each other with fun little gifts every second day. I can't wait to share with you all the fun things Mr LG has given me!

Two more crafty things I have made lately are a shabby chic star wreath from fabric scraps, ribbon and buttons; and, a wreath made out of lollies! Mmm!

Pretty cool, hey? So far I have resisted temptation and haven't eaten any of the lollies on the wreath! I'm not sure how long my resolve will last though.

The last three photos were taken at my parents house. My Mum has the most amazing Christmas tree. It's a piece of art! I'll share photos of it soon! I love the white LED lights on her tree and hope to get some for our tree next year.

Has Christmas made an appearance in your house yet?

:: DIY - Christmas Tags ::

I've been feeling extra crafty lately, so I channeled my creativity into making some super cute (and easy!) Christmas crafts. I decided to make some Christmas gift tags out of paint sample cards. I drew my inspiration from a pin I saw on Pinterest (by the way, how good is Pinterest?!).

I went to Bunnings and chose some cute coloured paint sample cards, then took out my stamps, corner cutters, Christmas hole punches, and got to work! This is some of what I created ...

You know what the best thing about these gift tags is? You don't even need stamps and cutters, all you need is a hole punch and a permanent marker to write your gift recipients name with. It'll still be super cute and everyone will love it!

Do you have any Christmas crafts you're working on at the moment? I've also made a wreath out of lollies and a shabby chic style star wreath out of fabric scraps and buttons.

PS. This is what my room looked like after the weekend!

:: A First Birthday ::

A little while ago my nephew turned one. I can't believe he's already one, it really feels like only yesterday my sister phoned me and whispered, "Jaz ... I'm pregnant."

My sister is anti-photos-on-the-Internet of my nephew, so I'll show you some photos of one of the amazing cakes she made instead. She actually made two - the one below on his actual birthday and then a train cake for his birthday party. She's the baking queen!

And speaking of birthdays, I've already started planning mine even though it's not 'til January. I want to have a whimsical garden party with pretty cupcakes, little meringues, bunting and lots of flowers!