Home and Garden

Food during our last garden party and thankgiving 2012.
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I can’t wait to hold again another party in our garden. Every year, we usually  host  a big party. We always invite friends and neighbors during the celebration. It is   a thanksgiving and birthday party put into  one. There are various entertainment from singing to dancing. I hope  in my next party to come, we can already buy a sonare flute at guitar center because a friend will be playing it. He is such a good guitar player.  Sumptuous and delicious foods are always served. This  might be  one of the reasons why our friends keep on coming back. Wine and beer are also served.  Karaoke singing is also always present.

I can’t wait for our next garden party this summer time.

My calendar says that we went to the nearest furniture store to look  for  a new kitchen set last January 25. Despite of the cold and snowy weather that day, we still decided to go there because we found a new kitchen set that was on sale that week.

Every week we received flyers and advertisement from  different  stores and  establishments around the area. The one that we received from Mobelhof, a furniture shop near our place seems to be the perfect  one for our   kitchen renovation plan. We want to replaced  our  very old and dilapidated kitchen.  We want to start it this coming spring season.

Mobelhof has a lot of kitchen sets in their store. Depending on your needs and budget, you can have a kitchen set from $1,000 to $15,000 or when customized, it might be more expensive. The  set  that  we were  looking on their flyer normally cost almost $7,000 and it was on sale for around $2,500. That was already a big discount. After looking around the store, we decided to  order a new one.

More updates to come soon about our new kitchen set. I will share an image of the  one that we ordered.

My fave kitchen set.
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This is one of my favorite set that was displayed in Mobelhof. Sad to say, our kitchen is not so big and this one will surely not fit in it.  I can’t wait  to see  our new kitchen this coming spring time.

One of the main reasons people are unsuccessful with dieting is because they cut out all of the food they most like from their diets and also those that are the most filling, leaving them feeling deflated, tired and hungry. At the start of a new year, perhaps it is time to learn how to lose weight with Dukan effectively. Hungry people don’t lose weight, so it is much better to focus on what you can eat and channel any negative energy into fierce work outs here and there.

Because of the necessity to eat and stay fuller for longer, the Dukan 100 foods list is compiled of 72 high-protein foods and 28 recommended vegetables which you are able to eat as often as you like. To keep it all balanced you are encouraged to alternate between pure protein days and protein plus veg days. There are hundreds of recipes online to try, books you can buy by Pierre Dukan himself and of course you could always create your own concoctions.

As I have mentioned, exercise is an important part of any healthy diet plan as it works with your careful eating to tone your body, improve fitness and eventually maintain your ideal weight. There are so many offers for gyms around at the moment as it is the start of a new year that there is little excuse not to join one. Having said that, if you are short on time or money, you can always come up with a ‘home-grown’ gym where you can look up how to get fit doing exercises just in your lounge, investing in a DVD or going for a run every other day.

To reiterate, one of the most important things is that you don’t feel tired or washed out every day which is why the Dukan diet is so heavily protein based. With the correct amount of exercise to match this (which you are guided with) you will notice the difference and you won’t be anywhere near as hungry as you would be with other diets.

Most will only ever see these suburbs in our dreams or when out sightseeing. It’s no surprise that they are all found in Sydney after it was proclaimed the second most expensive city in the world. While most of us will never own a home in such luxurious and expensive locales as these, one can always dream and picture a life that could be rather than a life that is.

Point Piper

The most expensive suburb in Australia; a home here will cost you a whopping $7 million. It is found in Sydney’s east, by the harbour and Seven Shillings Beach, 6 km away from Sydney’s CBD. It is small and exclusive with no commercial centres or tourist attractions (unless you count the gigantic residences). Point Piper is also home to one of the world’s ten most expensive streets – Wolseley Rd – with each square metre costing $20,900. (more…)

I love gardening and I call myself a gardener. I grow different plants and flowers in our garden. Inside our house I also have indoor and Exotic Plants. I love all flowers even in the wilderness. A lot of my friends are telling me that I have a green thumb. Sometimes I am plant seeds of plants and trees and they are growing.

There are a lot of flowers that I love but I have my fave ones which can also be found in our garden. Below are among the few ones.

Roses– I believed most women are always happy when given a bouquet or bundle of roses. What do you think ladies? I would feel the same. That is why I love roses and I planted some in our garden. Rose plants vary in size from compact, miniature roses, to Climbers that can reach up to 7 metres high.

You can see roses, lilium and lavender in our garden. I took this photo last summer of this year.

Lilium or simply called as Lilies, I love these flowers as well. I already collected different colours of it and are flowering in our garden every summer season. I have orange, white, pink and yellow lilies in our garden. When I first planted these flowers, I asked the experts for some Winter Tips on how to maintain these flowers. I was glad to know that they are always coming back after snow season.

Lavandula or commonly known as Lavender, I love these  flowers  because of its fragrance.  No wonder its essential oil with sweet smell can be used in balms, perfumes, cosmetics and other application.  Would you believe  that when I am having a headache or feeling dizzy, I just pick-up some  flowers and leaves of lavender in our garden, smell it and I feel better. I believed  it is because of its aromatherapy effect.

Lovely yellow Dahlia flowers. Simply beautiful!

Dahlia– These tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants are very lovely. That is why it is always found every year in our garden. I remembered planting it for the first time and I was truly impressed by its beauty.  I still need to dig them in our garden before  the soil freezes this fall season. This is the disadvantage of having winter season, you cannot see the flowers all year round in your garden.

As the cultural capital of Australia, it’s no surprise that Melbourne’s vast metropolitan area – all 8,806 square kilometres of it – is richly varied, from its leafy outer suburbs to its vibrant inner core. Finding the right suburb for your next home can be challenging in any city. Add a young family into consideration and the diverse sprawl of Melbourne into the mix and the task is even more difficult.

Here’s our guide to the best suburbs in Melbourne for raising a family, and our reasons why.

Hawthorn

When it comes to Melbourne’s best suburbs for families, Hawthorn is an obvious choice: just six kilometres east of the city, it has plenty of train and tram links, great shopping and over a dozen neighbouring schools to choose from. Though surrounded by some of Melbourne’s most well-heeled suburbs, Hawthorn managed to escape the stuffiness of Toorak and the party scene of Carlton. Hawthorn’s streets are safe and as far as suburbia goes, quite pretty, and the range and quality of its restaurants mirror the suburb’s ethnic diversity. Sporting facilities, youth clubs and other public amenities also abound. The only downside? The secret’s out and the area has seen a median house price growth of 244% over the past ten years, meaning family homes can be expensive.

Elsternwick

Yes, yes, it was once the home of the most famous brothel in the country, but don’t let that put you off this little gem of a suburb. Elsternwick is our pick for city-slickers who are looking to raise their young in a safe, family-friendly environment without losing proximity to the culture and thrills of the big city. Just nine kilometres out of Melbourne, particularly close to buzzing St Kilda, Elsternwick has plenty of its cafes, bars and a boutique or two, with a sufficiently urban vibe yet also the quietness, safety and proximity to prestigious schools that parents will love. With an Eastern European Jewish feel (bagel addicts will be at home here!), historic Victorian-era shopfronts and Classic Cinema, one of Melbourne’s oldest theatres, Elsternwick has a whimsical appeal.

Carnegie

Leafy, quiet Carnegie is on the rise. Family-oriented yet vibrant, peaceful yet only 12 kilometres south-east of the city centre (and with well-developed public transport connections), Carnegie offers all the pros of Melbourne suburbia without the cons. Its dining scene is eclectic, its range of facilities formidable, boasting several parks, gyms and a wealth of schools catering for all income brackets. Shopping opportunities are also plentiful, as the suburb is but a few minutes’ drive from Chadstone (or ‘Chaddy’ as locals know it), one of the largest shopping centres in the Southern Hemisphere. For a friendly neighbourhood with wide streets, chirping birds and newly-built homes at a reasonable price, you can’t go past Carnegie.

Mernda

Tree-lined, hilly and pretty, Mernda is popular among young families. As a quiet little spot some 30 kilometres north-east of Melbourne, with plenty of amenities, two primary schools, several colleges and two universities within reach, it’s easy to see why. Wetlands, parks and Red River gums surround Mernda, offering a scenic backdrop if you’re after a semi-rural lifestyle for your young family. Best of all, recent road improvements and expansion of public transport in neighbouring suburbs have improved Mernda’s access to the city, while prime real estate in Melbourne has increased with Stockland opening residential villages.

Ferny Creek

Ferny Creek: the name epitomises the suburb. Sheltered amid bushland and flora, surrounded by conservation zones and national parks – the Dandenong Ranges and Sherbrooke Forest to name a few – Ferny Creek is a picturesque greenie’s paradise of a suburb. It offers all the benefits you’d expect of a rural community, like large residential blocks,  a close-knit, friendly atmosphere, beautiful natural environment and low crime (in fact, the lowest per capita crime rate of any Melburnian suburb) – all of this only 33 kilometres south-east of the buzzing Melbourne CBD. For all the tranquillity and peace of Ferny Creek though, it feels worlds away.

Author bio: Marie Donaghue is a freelance writer from Melbourne who loves exploring all her city has to offer.

We just arrived from our weekend trips in Switzerland and France. Among the places we visited were Riquewihr and Strasbourg, both are located in France and Basel in Switzerland.  Those were  such wonderful trips and was so cheap considering that  we stayed in a 5-star Hilton hotel in Basel.

As a traveler, I am always observant everytime I visit a place. I always look around and love to take pictures of anything. Last Sunday, as we were on our way to Strasbourg, this retired German guy who was with us in that bus trip told me something like, “You are taking a lot of pictures, huh?” I answered back, “Because we have nice cameras and taking pictures is only the memories we can bring home for free. Besides, we are beautiful that’s why we love to take pictures of ourselves”. He ended up shutting his mouth. (more…)

First of all, I am so thankful  for having a warm home. In this very cold winter in Europe,  having  heaters at home  that function well are really a must.   This afternoon, I heard over the radio that  the temperature in Germany will drop to sub-zero. Not only negative  5°  Celsius (23° Fahrenheit)   -10°  Celsius  (14° F) but it will reach to negative 20°  C (-4° F). This is so far the  coldest I experience in Germany since I live here.

Most of our heaters are on. We are using electric  heaters and pellet oven as well. The pellet  oven is running 24 hours a day unless it is being clean.  Using it is cheaper than electric especially that  power and electricity in Germany  is getting  expensive now. We also  have a fireplace but we already discontinue  using it. I will explain in my next post  how our heaters are functioning. I will also show you some pictures of how it looks like.

To all my friends, please keep yourselves warm. Also be very careful when driving on snowy roads. Take care everyone!

We did quite good last year. There were home improvements that we accomplished. We are so thankful and happy that we did a lot of things in slowly making our home a more comfortable and better place to stay. Here are some of the home improvements we did last 2012.

New Bed– I have been complaining for back pains since years now. This is also the reason we really made it to the point of buying a  new bed. It was perfect timing last month because I found a bed online which was on sale. I immediately ordered it and was delivered after two weeks.  It might not be the most expensive bed but it is more comfortable than our previous one.

Total Bathroom Renovation– It is finally done! After some months of renovating it, it is finally finished today. It was a total renovation and in order to save money for labour, we did the renovation by ourselves. This was also the reason why it took us around 5 months to finish it. Besides, we only do it during weekends. We are very happy with the outcome. We just need to put a bathroom furniture and other bathroom accessories. I love the one I found at Hydrotherm. Wow, it is overwhelming when you see your own hard labour. I want to take some photos of it and share it here next times.

Patio and Garage  Flooring– One of the biggest home improvements we did last  2011  was our patio/garage. It is almost 60 square metres in size. Even though it is still not fully done, we are happy that we can already use it. Half of it is use as garage and the other half is a terrace. It was only last summer  2012  when we put   flooring for it. Hopefully this year, we can already put   permanent glass walling on it. The one that we installed   now are  just temporary. I love relaxing there  during summer!

The kind of flooring that we used for our patio/ garage.

We were  taught in school  that before the invention of electric lighting, candles and  oil lamps are  commonly used as illuminations.  Nowadays,  there are still areas in some corners of this world without electricity  and Candles are routinely used.

For  some reasons, I love candles and you can find it everywhere inside our home.  Below are only  some of the reasons why I always keep candles inside our premises.

Candles as Decorations– I love  to decorate  and in fact I also use candles as decorations. I  have a lot  of candle holders and I usually put colourful and scented candles on it.  I have Christmas candles, spring and autumn candles as well.  Candle holders  from crystals to porcelains, ceramics  to glasses are also found in our home.

I always light  Scented Candles everytime I cook. Most of the times, when we cook there are really smells or odors that are coming out depending on what we are cooking. I use scented candles in order to eliminate the smell of the food  I cook.

I love the smell of scented candles. I am using the aesthetic value and scent of candles  to make a soft, warm and romantic ambiance inside  our home. I always love it! Do you?

Candles as emergency lighting– I  remember back in my home country where we always have power failures.  We always have candles  ready to lit in times of  electrical power failures.  In my  nine years of living here in Europe, I only experienced  it twice in our area.

Scented candles as aromatherapy.  I believed a lot of you are using candles due to its aroma. Yes, I do the same. It always feels good when we smell or breath something good. Scented candles  truly  bring   therapy to us. It is like a balsam to our body.

Candles as religious  or ritual purposes.  Many  are using candles as  religious  or ritual purposes. When I travel and visit a  church and  I always try to lit candles  inside and offer some prayers. You  might also notice that when you go inside a church, you always see candles inside especially on the altars.

Before I end up, I want to let you know that a  candle manufacturer is traditionally called as chandler.