Theatre Buff

I grew up in the very multicultural city of Melbourne. In High School I developed a love for Art Galleries and Stage Productions, particularly Musical Theatre. I would go to see every new show that came to town. Fiddler on The Roof, Oliver, West Side Story, Beauty and the Beast, Oklahoma to name but a few. But by far my favourite of all time and one I saw four times was Phantom of the Opera with Anthony Warlow playing the Phantom. - What a voice!!! In my 20s I moved to Sydney and continued my theatre going there and included ballet and live orchestra too.

Thirteen years ago my husband and I moved to regional Queensland and we went to see Les Miserables at the Lyric Theatre in Brisbane. At the time I was heavily pregnant with our first child. Since then theatre has been a non-entity in my life and I've missed it so much.

So last Sunday my darling husband sent me to the theatre with one of my BFFs. He would have loved to come too but sacrificed his chance to look after the children with my girl friends husband who is not a theatre goer at all. My girlfriend is a long time friend of many years. We worked together in Melbourne over 25 years ago. A year ago she moved to Brisbane and now I once again have a "Theatre Buff Buddy"

As you've probably guessed we went to see Dr Zhivago. Anthony Warlow played the part of Yuri Zhivago. Still has the most amazing voice. The costumes,  the atmosphere, the voices, the songs, the music.....WOW! I loved every minute of it.

I took some photos of the Brisbane skyline on my mobile phone.

Hard to believe that only six months ago this area was a disaster flood zone. Even the theatre was closed down due to flooding. There were no tell tales signs of disaster that I could see.

 A lot of cleaning up and life goes on. 

While we two girls watched the three hour show our men and children walked around Brisbane city to the Brisbane River Markets to see all the interesting items for sale. Aboriginal paintings on T-Shirts, and beautiful silk scarves.

Interesting street art.

...and a pink sun!

A fourty eight car ferris wheel sits aside the Brisbane River

We love ferris wheels

Even though we are a bit wary of heights

A street busker playing the didgeridoo

Gemstones!

More gem stones....

Aboriginal boomerangs...

Masquerade Masks

...more silks with gorgeous colours and designs...

...handmade jewellery...

Didgeridoo's

Other local Australiana arts and crafts...

And who is this?

 We have no idea!

Some random man who insisted on walking into our photo - so here you are HAPPY now? Hee hee hee!

It was an amazing day for us all finished off by the yummiest Greek Souvlaki at one of Brisbanes local Greek Restaurants.

Home safe and sound!

So now we can sleep peacefully again.

And what's next on the Theatre Agenda? Well...she's flying into Brisbane soon with her umbrella and big carpet bag and sings about "Feeding the Birds." Any guesses who it might be?

Wordless Wednesday

Winter Morning Sun

Wordless Wednesday

Unintentional Bird Collecting

Inspired by our bird bath which attracts lots of little visitors...

..and the two cheeky Willy Wagtails who visited us last year

- you can read about them here

The Tale of Two Willy Wagtails

My husband and I bought these two little birds to decorate our outdoor room.

The plant they guard changes with the seasons, but the birds stay here looking pretty all year around.

Then I found a bird house and added a little bird to sit beside it. Recently I also found some Bird book boxes and have used them around the house for different purposes.

After that my husband made it his mission to start collecting birds made out of all different materials. So the Bird collector in this post has turned out to be - not ME but my dear darling.

This is his favourite so far

A little interesting bird made of wire, must admit I do love it too, so unusual.

This little duck egg blue bird I found at Sam's Warehouse (a cheap $2 shop) for just $1 and it holds a little tea light or small size candle. It's kind of stuck in him since the last dinner party we had...  hmmm...  might have to cut it out soon so I can replace it.

Here's another of the book boxes. There were three inside each other. I got them on sale 75% off at one of my favourite home furniture stores. They were getting rid of all their accessories and ornaments. I had planned on only buying the biggest one for all the loose mail in the office, but when the lady said I could have all three for the price of just one, well I wasn't going to say no was I?

This little 3 dimensional plaque is just gorgeous. It's made of plaster I think. The colours are so vibrant and I love the little saying on it too. Being content with the things we have rather than always having what we want.

 

At another homewares store that was closing down I recently found this little platter. Just big enough for my cup of tea and a treat on the side.

Here is a close up of one of the book boxes.

I found these two bird pictures and seeing that they also had the same duck egg blue colourways added them to our outdoor room.

They remind me of  Japanese influenced painting with the blossoms.

So pretty!

A few weeks ago we visited on of our favourite little craft towns and my "Little Mister" spent his pocket money without me knowing on this gorgeous glass jewellry box. He said "I just had to get it for you Mummy because it has a little Birdie on top." So cute! I love it. It sits on top of my desk.

Then Dear Darling found our most recent bird. A ceramic bird in light green. Love the cut work and texture of this one. I really am spoilt. I don't even need to start collecting myself, the boys in the house have taken it upon themselves to do it for me!

Childrens Art Caddy

This is our Art/Games Cupboard. Not too bad now. I did a major declutter over the school holidays and have been working at getting it more organized over the past few weeks so that things are easier for the children to get in and out. I just need to put some labels on the baskets so that things go back in their right place. I've already noticed a difference in how things go back in though. Having baskets for beading, for small loose toys, for craft items, for drawing pencils etc. has made such a difference to having it just shoved in to the cupboard any which way and then me having to tidy it up every few weeks.

Still, the basket for pencils and textas and other drawing things is always, always, ALWAYS messy! Pencils get left laying around and then chewed up by the dogs. I find broken pencils in there and even though we had different containers for things, I think that just made it harder to work with for little hands.

I read a very inspiring post over at iheart organizing the other week about an art caddy found at Target. Well, believe me I have searched high and low at Target here in Australia with no success. I even got on their web site to see if I could order it online. Nope! Yesterday I went into our local Spotlight store (haberdashery/linen/kitchenware/crafts) and look what I found. It's black, it's glossy (so I don't even need to paint it) and it's enamel with a lovely handle.

Again inspired by the post at iHeart Organizing I bought some white glitter lettering stickers to stick on the sides. 

One one side I wrote the word "Imagine" to get those little creative juices happening. And on the other side the word "Create" which I must again give credit for to iHeart Organizing. I couldn't have thought of a better word that fits so nicely on an art caddy.

...and LOOK....everything fits in so nicely. Pencils, HB pencils in all different grades, (HB, 2B, 4B, 6B....Daddy has been teaching 'Little Miss' how to 'shade'), textas, glitter and gel pens, scissors and even glue. This was my midnight project since it took me that long to nicely resharpen all those colouring in pencils last night. Even Daddy sat up and helped me. So, then it was waiting and ready on our homework station for 'Little Miss' when she woke up this morning....and guess what I found her doing when I woke up? Of course! Creating!

Here's a top view. See all nice and tidy. No more lost pencils for puppies to chew on. I must admit I do like the more squarish container. It seems to fit more in. But this one will do just nicely.

I first tried this lovely daisy chain sticker but then decided on the wording instead for a childrens art caddy. However, I LOVE this look so much I think I will have to go back to Spotlight for another caddy for myself. Hmmm...sound familiar? We can't stop at one can we.

Someone was feeling a bit cuddly today and just HAD to sit on my knee while I was here blogging. Marley really is a Mummys boy.

"Hmmm..... I think it's looking pretty good Mummy don't you agree Jasper?"

"Yeah whatever! I just want to get back to watching those people waiting at the bus stop out front."