Puppy Love

My little dog - a heartbeat at my feet.


Edith Wharton

Melbourne Cafes Photo Blog

Ahh be still my beating heart.

One of my favourite blogs going around at the moment is Melbourne Cafe Photo Blog.

The talented Rebecca Hughes has combined her love for coffee and photography which has resulted in this beautiful picture blog. It previews the funky, the polished and some of the stylish cafes from all over Melbourne.

She has been capturing Melbourne cafes and sharing them on her blog for over a year now.

Rebecca Hughes is a Melbourne based photographer specialising in interiors architectural photography, editorial photography and portraiture.

We were lucky enough to get Rebecca to share with us some of her favourite places to visit which we will publish over two posts.

Here are the first FIVE of Rebecca's Favourites.

De Clieu
187 Gertrude St
Fitzroy

"This place is so beautiful.
I love the work of Six Degrees design... and this is a shining example."

Little Mule
19 Somerset Place
Melbourne CDB

"I love the Melbourne lane-way scene.
Little Mule is quite recently opened & there are great stories behind the mostly recycled fit-out"

Salford Lads Club
1 Fennell St (Cnr Bridge St)
Port Melbourne

"This beautiful cafe is hidden in the depths of the western
Port Melbourne industrial zone ... it is simply ... handsome."

Kinfolk
675 Bourke St
Melbourne

"Right down at the Southern Cross Station end of Bourke St Kinfolk is a great place for an excellent coffee in funky surrounds & being a social enterprise project of YGAP Kinfolk is a guilt free indulgence!"

Melbourne GPO
23/350 Bourke Street
Melbourne

"This place is no secret - perched under the Arcades of one of Melbourne's most prominent historic buildings. But that does not detract from it's beautiful setting - and it as certainly a handy location!"

Bundoora Park Cafe

Next to this fabulous play area is the cafe which has indoor and outdoor seating, changing facilities and of course the trusty highchairs. The menu is simple and offers a variety of basic options such as pies, sandwiches and chips. For the sweet tooth there are jars of smiley face biscuits, ice-creams and a small selection of lollies.

Like the sound of Bundoora Park Cafe?

You can read the rest of this review HERE.

To Be Sure - To Be Sure!!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Have a slice of GREEN on us for your day.

Love Me and the Boys

xo

Connect 2 Mums

Have you read the latest edition of the March connect2mums Magazine?

Well grab a cuppa and a cheeky chocolate biscuit and take five minutes for yourself this afternoon.

Oh and P.S - See Hey Bambini on Page 106-107

We share with our mummy readers some of Melbourne's Best Baby Friendly Cafes

Enjoy!

Our LONG Weekend

{The Bell Jar Cafe in Clifton Hill}

{Moomba Parade Fun}

{Carnival Games}

{Mr Red Shoes}

{My 1st Moomba!}

l hope you all had a FAB long weekend.

We sure did.

We ate cupcakes, checked out a new-ish cafe in Clifton Hill, went shopping, stood on tippy toes to watch the Moomba Parade, lunched in China Town (Yes Yum Cha - surprised??) tried our luck at the Moomba carnival games and munched on Fairy Floss in the park.

In all we had a great family weekend.

How was yours?

Babycino LOVE

They're creamy - fluffy and come with marshmallows
We love our Babycinos!

Here are some of our favourite places to get them.


Bella Sistas Espresso in Camberwell
Squirrel Cafe in Clifton Hill
Enriks Cafe in Blackburn
APTE in Alphington

Kanteen in South Yarra
Teatime and Tales in Carlton North
Choclatte in Camberwell
Brunswick Flour Mill in Brunswick

Thanks Mum!

l guess you never really stop being a Mum no matter what age you are.

l just wanted to say thanks to MY Mum who looked after me this weekend while l was ill.

Mr 2 enjoyed having Grandma around and l enjoyed not having to worry about the dishes, the washing up and organising meals.

They only thing l had to worry about was to get better and rest.

So THANKS Mum for being you and looking after me - I'm sure you hated every minute of it! ;)

Vintage Tin Goodies

So it's our Wedding Anniversary next month and as tradition says for the three year milestone the gift of choice should be LEATHER - which is nice, but I'd rather speed things up and get TIN - which is ten years.

l'd much rather have one of these vintage tin teapots or trays. Aren't' they just the sweetest things you've ever seen? Although a nice new leather bag would also be nice...

You can find these gorgeous little goodies here.

Green Thumbs Anyone?

This week we welcome Jo Harvey from Babyjo Bamboo with her guest post on getting into the garden with the bubbas.


Way back when I was in my early 20’s, I would never have thought that I would be “the gardening” type. I could barely even keep a cactus alive, let alone grow vegetables or fruit.

Enter…….. child #1 (in my very late 20’s) and the tables have turned. With an established and beautiful home, lots of space and time to get outside, I found myself enjoying (yes, enjoying) a “greener” lifestyle.

I realize that it is very convenient to just “pop into the supermarket” for vegetables and fruit when you need them, yet there is something so satisfying about growing your own from seeds or seedlings, that make it so enjoyable. Not to mention, you don’t have to use your car to go and get them, they don’t require packaging and they ALWAYS taste better!

As my daughter Mia was becoming mobile (and boy could she move fast), we would spend most of our days outside having fun and exploring. One of our favourite activities was planting out garden beds (usually with veggies or fruit) and the other………. Eating them once they had grown.

My very lovely, retired parents have the most amazing organic veggie garden at their home, along with a few very obliging chickens who lay lovely eggs! (Their gardening certainly puts my little “hobby” to shame, however it does give me something to aspire too at the same time.)
Each time Mia and I visit, she is fast to ask Grandpa to take her down to the garden to “hunt”… and boy, what a find. Raspberries, strawberries, peaches, blueberries. Yellow beans, green beans, purple beans, broad beans. Zucchini and squash, lettuce and asparagus. Baby carrots (a favourite) and potatoes – every herb imaginable, and the list goes on.

A visit to the hen house will always produce at least two eggs, and if we are lucky, they are still warm! I love the fact that Mia knows where fruit and vegetables come from – I am still undecided whether it is a good thing that she thinks eggs come from a chicken’s bum though! There are far too many kids out there these days, who think that these items just come from the supermarket, in a bag, box or plastic wrap – how can we try to educate our littlies on good, healthy nutrition if they do not understand the fundamentals to start with.

So even though we are extremely lucky to have “Granny and Grandpa’s delightful organic garden at our fingertips, we decided to start our own – eggplants and broccoli, corn and tomatoes. Green Capsicum, yellow beans and my favourite – snow peas…. They have all grown so well over the years, and we replenish as needed, or add new items when we find something we like.

The evenings often hold a stroll around the house (which is only 15 minutes from Melbourne’s CBD I might add, so not a massive farm of any kind) and Mia and I love to pick fresh, organic produce from the garden and walk around munching it. There is nothing nicer than seeing her with a red capsicum (whole) in her hand and she is happily munching away on it.

There is absolutely no reason not to give it a go at your house today – it is a surefire way to encourage your little one to enjoy fresh veggies and fruit, and if you feel you don’t have the space, there is an option for every kind of garden. Just check out some of these inspirational and funky ideas above!

Jo Harvey is the founder and creator of Babyjo Bamboo Wear which was “conceived” in 2007, when her daughter Mia was approximately 5 months old. When Mia suffered a mild case of eczema Jo started researching the best clothing and natural product to help alleviate the problem. It was then that she came across Bamboo fibre, and after extensively testing and trialling bamboo, Jo saw firsthand how soft is was on her skin, and how well it helped to manage Mia's eczema. From that day forward, Jo embarked upon designing a range of bamboo items for the growing number of babies and toddlers with eczema, and also because she loved the feel and qualities of the fabric. Babyjo clothing is not just for bubs suffering eczema, but for any mum or dad who loves their precious little poppet enough to think of their comfort and the "health" of our environment.

Joy Cupcakes

The two boys and l had a lovely little outing to the city last week.

Mummy had some grown up appointments to go to and Mr 2 was very well behaved, so he got to have a cupcake a Joy Cupcakes on Exhibition St.

We got the Mini Banana and the Chocolate Marshmallow cupcakes. And dare l write it - but they were 'yummo!'

They were a real treat - although Mr 2 wanted to run around and touch every possible item he could get his little hands on - so we quickly ate and left. (It was THAT time of the day when toddlers turn from sweet smiling faces to pure tantrum evil!!)

They had a great little selection - they even have gluten free, nut free and vegan cupcakes on the menu. From Carrot to Cinnamon Sugar and Rhubarb to Toffee Apple my mouth was watering and l had to call upon my "will power" not to buy a dozen.

Highly recommend a visit next time you're in the city. Because...

"Everyone deserves a little Joy in their day"