Trees and parks and birds!
We’ve decided that in July 2004 we will have enough saved to start looking for a house. Until then we will stay here with Mum and Dad and drive them (and us) completely batty. But it’s all for a good cause.
We now have our sights set on the outer North-Eastern suburbs (full of trees and parks and birds and people who like trees and parks and birds!) such as Eltham and Montmorency. It’s a long way away from life-as-we-know-it but as we have discovered over the last few years, wherever you move to very quickly becomes the centre of life-as-we-know-it. House prices are so much better value for money out there (point of comparison -and unfortunately way out of price range – here is a house out in Eltham and a house for the same price around the corner from here) and did I mention the trees, the parks and the birds? Lovely.
Meanwhile, I have a new design up for Summer and a new list of December treats on my about page. What is December about for you?
Gorgeous summer design, Claire.
December is about my birthday (!), visiting Victoria for the Folk, Rhythm and Life Festival, fridge magnets, giving up my day job to finally work full time as a freelance writer, making decorations, discovering John Marsden, Christmas Party catch ups with workmates and friends and decking the halls fa la la la la (minus the snowflakes).
December is christmas and families and flights to Qld with wagging labradors.
On another note, we stayed with my wife’s parents for 6 months whilst we saved for a house – was the best thing we ever did!
Ohhh, I LOVE the AV Jennings dreamhome out in Eltham! I think the whole housing boom thing is unfair, but, if we must be shipped out into the burbs, might as well make them the pretty burbs!
December is about being away on an overseas trip for three weeks, baby’s first international flight, Christmas in Manila, seeing family and friends after twelve years, jelly kelly, shopping, giving without expecting anything in return, a new haircut, get-togethers. I’m not sending my Loobylu holiday cards this year — I was all done addressing this year’s cards when I ordered them. Plus they’re too precious to give away, but I’ll do that next year!
Keeping my head above water. That is, attempting to fulfill a years worth of work, social and family commitments into one month.
Cold, snow, hopefully, and now, dreaming about a house out inEltham!
I love the new look! It’s fun and lovely!
December for me is about family gatherings, giving gifts, and Christmas music.
-penelope
dumb question, but do u guys put up christmas trees in australia? cause it’s summer and all…
do ur decorations still have snowflakes on them?
Wow! Awesome site. 🙂 It’s so cute. Keep up the great work! Hope you end up buying a house, a really nice one at that.
wow! you website looks amazing!
Eltham?!? Montmorency?!?!
What about Greensborough!? What! What, I say!!
We’re just as good as Eltham or Monty, and we have a big shopping centre, now with 4% less loitering unemployed youths*!
C’mon, come over to the dark side.
* between 8:00AM and 8:30AM every second Sunday. Outside these hours, normal unemployed-youth-loitering levels apply.
December is freezing cold temperatures, the end of a semester of school, trying to cement some plans for my post-graduation life in six months, finding cover art for my first book, editing the second book, beginning writing on the third, puttering around on writing a movie screenplay, watching my nephew turn one year old, trying to solicit companies to sponsor our universities asian fencing team to go to Korea for competition, and probably a few other things I can’t quite remember.
Your summer site looks gorgeous! I love the comparison between houses – so true!
December is about creating a Christmas stocking for Jasmine, knitting little red birds for our Christmas tree, trying to finish a summer top for me, cooking and eating lots of yummy food, lots of laughs and playtime with Oskar, Jasmine and Ben, and trying to get enough sleep.
Oh, and also about sending out my Loobylu Christmas cards!!
December is about – showing the ones i love just how much, new beginnings and working on decreasing stress levels… or just dealing with it better maybe…
December is…
grapefruit, post-it notes, two sugars
one cream coffee, my new red leather
handbag, hopes for
Atlantic Monthly
contest, Margaret Atwood’s poetry
Ooh lovely new loobylu styling…
I grew up in Eltham, it is a beautiful place…
December = that felling in the air…
I love the redesign Claire, it looks beautiful.
ah. a topic to sink teeth into.a guy named ollie who i met as a fledgling eltham writer a few years back wrote a gorgeous poem – “Eltham: where the clay meets the concrete” he read it at the festival – two years running…bloody standing ovations.
i’d head a little further out if i was you…go research (little far from train station though)…or Wattle Glan/Hurstbridge…bit further away from the bright blue Blockbuster…
anyway – i moved from the area only recently. found my childhood home of Wattle Glen and Diamond Creek in Central Victoria.
Castlemaine and Mount Alexander are a step back in time. the same box ironbark forests, rugged terrain, empty paddocks and funny little shops in the main street.
we have 8 acres – and are planning on building a strawbale house…all will be documented on the website.
cheers & luck…sounds like being a grown up is kicking in – weird isn’t it.
i love your new layout! i feel so warm and happy inside when i look at it! perfect for the cold cold winter coming up.
good luck with the house hunting. i hope you do find your magic cottage 🙂
december is about burning fireplaces, warm hot cocoa, an intriguing good book, a faboulous scarf and mittens.
Cool pad in Eltham. 🙂
Enjoy your summer in Oz… it’s freezing here in Cali.
Cheers.
the new design looks brilliant, really redolent of summer in melbourne, which I’m missing by the way. This December I’m falling hopelessly in love with my new son, more than I ever thought possible, and preparing to go back to work, which I thought I really wanted to do, but now I’m not so sure!
love the new layout! December is about: that smell of summer, fizzy alcoholic drinks, nights at the beach, taking my boys for more walks and more daylight.
December is about family and wrapping up warm : )(i am in the UK, it is freezing!)
abs x
December is about tons and tons of snow, freezing so much that hands and feet go numb, and darkness day and night (I don’t remember what the sun looks like anymore…).
But it’s also about warm smiled from people you meet on the street while shopping Christmas gifts, blankets, hot chocolate, my birthday and family gatherings.
December in Sweden is nice. If for no other reason than that the solstice is near and we all know that it’ll soon be warmer and lighter. 🙂
Oh wow – I love the new colourful look! So cheery, and that’s what I need to see through the grey winters of Canada!
December is about family and finishing my Christmas shopping without going mad at the shops!
I love the new look. The floating dandelion or whatever seeds they are in Australia, are lovely.
December is about looking out the window and watching the spritely winter birds visiting from the North, competing with the resident big fat squirrels for birdseed.
December is about making our home as warm and cozy as possible.
December is about creating new traditions to celebrate with hubby each year.
congratulations on the house hunting! july will be here before you know it!
my husband and i also lived with his parents for six months while we saved to buy a house — it wasn’t always easy, but it wasn’t difficult either, and in the end it was so worth it! i still miss my mom-in-law’s cooking!! 🙂
marta – yes! we do have christmas trees. We are about to decorate ours this week. We often get nice, toasty christmas days, but we still tend to cling on to the Northern Hemisphere traditions. Turkey for lunch and hot plum pudding are not uncommon at all.
What about snowflakes? Do you have them on your decorations? Cause I have a hard time imagining sun rays and flowers on Christmas balls. haha. 😉
I love the new design! December for me this year is sending out Loobylu cards. Also it is going to be very cold with lots of snow. I plan to spend a bunch of it snuggling with my hubby and kitties.
Oh, reading about Christmas on your site makes me want to move to Australia for the months that are colder here! (I live an hour outside New York City.) And I seem to remember something last year about New Year’s Eve picnics? Picnics!! We’re here, stuck in our living rooms, watching the poor souls in Times Square freeze their tooshies off. Anyway, your new design is goregous, and I love the Loobylu Christmas cards – as long as I can get motivated to fill them out, they’ll be headed out to all my friends this weekend. Happy Holidays!
This December is about keeping cozy inside with my four year-old son, while his future brother or sister begins doing backflips in my belly. I love being an at-home mom now more then ever.
About the house thing, I faced the same choice a few years ago. I opted to buy twice the house for half the money just eleven miles away from where I was living, and I have no regrets.
ooh yes! NE melbourne! We’re in Hurstbridge 🙂 It sure is … green.