Exhale...

I'm back.

I was so chuffed to hear a few readers ask when I was going to blog again, I even had one gorgeous woman say she was praying for my safety! Nothing happening to this old dame, just one busy timetable. The past two months have been crazy-busy. I have completed my final dipEd prac for uni (5 weeks at a co-ed high school), completed a handful of uni assignments, was part of a collaborative art exhibition in Bathurst, celebrated three birthdays at home and prepared for the upcoming nuptials of  my gorgeous brother and his beautiful fiancé (this coming Saturday!!!!), it's no easy feat buying clothes for six during the school holidays.

Anyway, with all of the above spinning around in my head it was time to exhale and stop a while.

So last week we packed up and went bush, heading south with my parents and a boot load of gear to my in laws and my hubby's best mate's farm. 

Time, space, family and good old country air did wonders for us all.

I feel refreshed and relaxed, well I did until I got home and had to iron all of the starched school shirts for first day back…..life goes on!

Tomorrow I am on my own for the first time in 3 weeks, so once i've taken a chunk out of another uni assignment, I'll pop the kettle on and read my favourite blogs on the deck in the sun (hoping to tan my lily white legs for Saturday).

Tons of love to you all, and a big thank you to Mariko, Bob, Fleur and Dave for filling our hearts with country warmth.

Liv x

Carcoar Spring Fair

We headed off early on Saturday to my Aunty and Uncle's in Carcoar (not far from Orange, NSW).
But first we made a breaky stop at The golden Arches, where we bumped into the only copper in NSW driving a Porche...needless to say, we asked for a turn!

Back to Carcoar... It is an old historic country town spilling over with character and charm.
What is nice about a small Spring Fair as apposed to a city/big Fair is that you can get close to the action without the crowds and it feels much more intimate and uncontrived.
We watched the usual woodchopping, sheep shearing, cattle dogs and draft horses, but this year it was so much more exciting as I watched it through the eyes of a two year old. I witnessed the excitement in his step, I felt the excitement in the clench of his hands, the saw the excitement in his bulging eyes and I heard the excitement in his shrill. It was gorgeous to watch.
The biggies were more into side show alley and the 2 rides on offer, and as for my parents, sister and brother inlaw and ourselves, it was the beautiful village in all of its Spring glory that stole our hearts.

This is My Aunty & Uncles home. It is everything I have dreamed of: HIGH pressed metal ceilings,

wrap around verandah, chunky timber sideboards, gorgeous vignettes in every room, but most of all, full of welcoming happy faces, tasty food & flowers galore!

A few other pretty corners of Carcoar.

Check out that roo on the ridge. It was a perfect evening.

Other fun things:

Quaint shops, mason jar milkshakes, warm eggs, and chalkboards!

The Spring Show

- If these eggs won 'the biggest' of the show, and someone else's 'biggest' are those behind, imagine how huge they are against 'normal sized' eggs. OUCH. Poor mother hen.

-Loved this cake category: 'Best Packet Cake'!

The tourists

The explorers. This old rail was built in 1886.

Our Digs. 

An old convent attached to this beautiful church, perched high on a hill. 

I was a little freaked out by a few ghost stories I heard at dinner the night before so I dragged Paul to the loo with me at 2am (he thought I was pathetic! Tough.)

....and we finished off with Bear getting a vomiting bug which has now run through all of us except daddy over the past 6 days. 

This weekend get away seems like a distant memory.  

Thanks Jo & John for your hospitality. We had a great weekend.

Liv xo