Chocolate Almond Torte... almost

Today woke up with rain! Yay! Rain! The weather becomes so much more noticeable in a country town, and with such a vast amount of lawn (for now its lawn), that after a week of mega sunshine we were stoked. We scuttled up into the roof first thing to put in some insulation. When it’s 33degrees outside and inside is 32 (see I told you weather = much more interesting all of a sudden) we needed some action and fast. Half the house is now done and the bedrooms are already noticeably cooler.

Anyway, as it was cooler today I thought I would give my new kitchen and oven a test run. Speaking to our neighbour over the fence (yes that really does happen!) we discovered that it was her birthday on Friday.  Never one to pass up an opportunity to be neighbourly and fulfil a beautiful cliché, I thought I would bake our neighbour a cake.

We bought the ingredients when we went to get more insulation (measure twice purchase once dammit!) and this afternoon I set to it.

The cake is a thoroughly enjoyable one to make. Gooey silky brown chocolate mix all in the one saucepan. Enjoyable, that is, until the moment I realised I was no longer in possession of an electric whisk. The one in Sydney belonged to our house mate. Twice in only one week now I have become unstuck in the kitchen because of not owning such a device (hint hint husband). Not only do we not own an electric whisk, we do not even own a mechanical one. So hand held it was. The process of the cake baking became momentarily less enjoyable as I proceeded to whisk the egg whites (Tip: Just push through the pain, don’t stop whisking it will only make it hurt more!) but as they did eventually stand up that old sense of achievement came back of why I used to bake all the time for fun as a kid.

Into the pan it went, but alas my oven is wayyyyy hot… like 30 degrees hotter inside than it says it is on the dial. Ouch. Also this is a runny mixture and proceeded to drip all through my clean shiny oven. Due to the oven temperature the cake burnt and was not fit for sharing with my (very forgiving) husband let alone my new neighbour. And as it currently tastes like charcoal I don't even want to give you the recipe yet as I don't know what it really tastes like. Mind you, the stuff straight out of the bowl was goooood. That's what a test run is for I guess. Next time gadget, next time.

One week in.

We have now been living here for one week. It's been massive... and expensive. Yeah... setting up a house is ex-pen-sive. Yikes. But. It is super nice having *new* things. A new broom and dustpan, a new bin, new pots and pans, and precious things out to use. Things we were given as wedding presents and had left in there packaging because we would hate for someone else to break them. 

Now that we are pretty much unpacked, today we've made ourselves stop. Aside from giving the house its first proper clean (Bev I have shiny wooden floors you would be drooling after!) we're making an effort to meet people, and do fun stuff. 

What else about this place? Every night magic happens. Every night the sunset has been like the pictures. It's blowing our minds! The day time pictures are from Australia day. The pool is my parents, not ours... but now that they're just around the corner... it is kinda ours... tehe! And it's friggen hot so its a most welcome thing. 

Okay so I keep promising pictures of the house and I'll deliver soon! I've picked out some paints so there are gonna be some before and after action as well!

So far...

Every evening there has been a glorious pink sunset.
Every morning golden light streams through the front of the little blue house.
It's marvellous. There is so much to do, and the sheer weirdness of setting up (read: unpacking haphazardly!) a house of our own, the quietness and the sense of disbelief that all this is actually ours means that I don't yet really believe that it's all true. Meanwhile some sexy shots of our sunsets, sunrises and the little blue house.

Welcome to Wagga Wagga!

Sydney nostalgia aside, this place is ammmmazing. My very own house! I can't wait to show you around! As soon as we have internet... And a place to put the computer... Hmmm.

I lived in the city.

In the middle of the city.

There's this hill.

It's quiet.

It has the most perfect view.

There's a bench.

And you bring your own beer in a brown paper bag.

And you can watch the sun set to magnificent colours to your left.

And the city lights twinkle straight ahead.

There's people walking their dogs.

And I could just walk there.

Climb the hill.

And sit.

And feel an enourmous sense of not only belonging... but ownership.

Today we leave. I wonder if that sense of ownership will too?

Dear 8 years in Surry Hills,

I will miss you:
* Dasher the Wonderdog
* St Minas fruit and Veg
* Yullis (lets try somewhere different for a drink... naaahhhh)
* Coffee coffee coffee
* The Hipsters
* The laneways to explore
* Bumping into people on the street
* Feeling like I live in the centre of the World
* The bike lanes
* Cat Alley
* Bakers Bun Yes (screw you Bourke St Bakery!)

I won't miss you:
* The crazy loud neighbours
* People pouring out of The Clock at midnight every night
* The expensiveness
* The Hipsters
* The buses
* Renting
* Never feeling cool enough
* People Puking/pissing/defecating (no I'm not even joking or nuthin') on our back steps...

I can't actually believe its our last day being Sydney-siders. Wow. Just. holy fricken wow. Tim and I have been counting down for a while now, and the eyes... the look of "....wow" really lets us know that we're both feeling the same way.

Wow.

Bouquet

Our succulents are having flowers at the moment and they just keep on going. Wouldn't they look amazing draping out of a bouquet with some Billy Buttons and perhaps sweet grey lambs ears and dusty pink roses?

Things to be Thankful For*

* That my husband and I are exactly the same clothing size. Double the wardrobe.
* The furniture shop down the road that carefully folds all its boxes and puts them in an unlocked cardboard recycling skip.
* The exquisite taste of good quality milk chocolate.
* Husband just finished his last day at work. He is now a full time student!
* Today is my second last day at work before we move.
* Friends who have promised to help us pack our truck.
* All the amazing friendships that have resulted out of having housemates for the first 5 years of our marriage.
* No matter where I live I can take this space with me.
* That I can go to the corner store in my pajamas on a Saturday morning, and no one cares.
* Organisations that rescue pooches from the pound and then give them to loving homes ;)

{image, via}


More thankfullness...

Link Love for Friday*

* Beautiful landscapes, carved out of books.
* Brilliant collection of clothing inspiration. I know I need all the inspiration I can get when it comes to clothes!
* Art remakes.
* Builder robots! We live in the future!
* Origami wallpaper.
* I love breakfast.
* Who knew they used to do this for children's portraits? Spooky!


* More links than you can poke a stick at.

Oasis

Our garden is looking grand! It's a pity we leave it soon - our little oasis in the middle of the city. We've been so lucky to have a proper (if small) garden for most of the time we've lived here. Great for abundant herbs, worm cultivation and a wee picnic.
I have a feeling our new garden is going to be a little bit more maintenance, but I'm so excited for what we do with it. I came across this post whilst scouring le blog for past photos of the garden. I didn't know then that 6 months later we would buy it and a year later move there! Lets see if we can make that daydream come true.

Things to be Thankful for*

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* I am moving to my dream cottage in the country. {thanks to Jodi for reminding me to be grateful about this}
* The colours of the Surry Hills markets.
* Being spoilt for choice in world class coffee.
* Free boxes from friends.
* My uber snuggely husband.
* Tickets to see Elbow!
* Summer sun & freckles.
* Sunscreen.
* Clothes that make you feel pretty.
* Clean floorboards.

More Thankfulness over here.

Link Love for Friday*

* Things your Grandma should have told ya.
* Great article.
* The early days of blogging.
* More vintage blogging. Ps. I have an old LJ account.
* How adorable is this mini printer?! 
* I'm a George girl, all the way.
* Who new street view was so pretty?
* Guaranteed to make you smile.
* wowa.
* Amazing images.

New Year, New house, New town.

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Things are being squished into boxes.

Lists are being made.

And everytime I go somewhere I get a pang of... "oh, I'm gonna miss this."

We're packing up our amazing Sydney life and moving to our little blue house in the country! In oh errrr two weeks... by the way. We're so excited to see what our house looks like again - we've only seen the inside once on the inspection - are we crazy? ermmm maybe. Hopefully in the ensuing year there will be before and after photos aplenty. And hopefully this tree change will be just the change we need!

{Have I been pinning inspiration much? You know it! A whole house of my own to decorate!}

I think I can well and truly say I am done with eating. Silly season? Nup, no silliness here (well, no more than usual) eating season more like. Yikes. After being on three different holidays in three weeks with three different sets of people the eating has been out of control. So much so that I no longer wake up hungry, I am in a permanent state of fullness.
In other news we had a quiet NYE with a little wine, a little bit of sparklers and then a New Years Day on the beach learning to surf. Man, it was fun, but I have bruises showing up all over me from it! And now it's back to work and more busyness and absence from me. Boo.
I hope you all had a marvelous Christmas and New Year. xsx

{Picture unrelated but totally awesome}