Three on Thursday

Random.

1.  I am loving our new "deck" under the front porch.  The concrete underneath was poured with the slab of the house (standard gray), and I love the exposed aggregate we chose for the path and driveway but it looked a bit odd that they didn't match.  I didn't really want tiles or pavers to cover it up, then thought we could use some of the leftover timber from constructing our side fence to build a deck to cover the plain concrete.  I wanted it to be at the same level as the front door step but thought that the likelihood of that happening was very remote, so I was expecting a slight difference between the door step and the deck... it turned our exactly the same!  What are the chances?  It is now finished but we are considering whether to install some solar lights onto the edge near the entry.  Solar because we don't have a powerpoint out the front to run electricals and they not only come on automatically when it's dark but they cost nothing to run.  The garden is still a work in progress, but I don't think a garden is ever "done" - it always needs something doing.

Before:

After:

(it didn't take long to get dusty)

2.  My baby girl is 18 months old today.  I can't believe how grown up she is.  I love that she is developing her own little personality (which at the minute seems a lot more outgoing and boisterous than Emily).  She never ceases to make me smile or laugh - especially last week when the 2 girls emerged from Emily's bedroom each with a handbag over their arm and wearing sunnies.  They were going shopping of course!

One of Sophie's favourite words at the minute is "book" (which comes out something like "booh").  She loves books!  She has a couple of sets of mini board books that come in a cardboard case, and she will spend ages pulling the books out just to put them all back in the case again.  I stealthily took this picture when she was quietly reading in her room last week.

3.  I want to get into some art for our walls.  We have a large wall in the dining room that is bare and I think it needs a nice big artwork to hang there.  I saw a gorgeous canvas set in Melbourne when we last went to the market and it got me thinking of what I could make (instead of buy).  I am thinking that a set of 3 vertical canvases to make up a large rectangle would look fab.  I have dabbled with acrylics on canvas before but this time I'm going to embrace the 3D and get some impasto happening as well.  At least I can guarantee whatever I make will be a unique, one-of-a-kind, original artwork (and I'm hoping that's in a good way, not a cringe way).  I think slightly abstract will be my style - I was never very good at impressionism or still-life.
This was my initial inspiration in the shop window (bad glare I know, but I only had my iPhone with me):