Friday's Flowers

Sharing a beautiful flower photo this Friday x

photo via @bed.threads

Birthday planning.

My mum is turning 60 next week and I'm putting together a little mood board of ideas to celebrate her special day. I'm thinking pink, flowers and a delicious cake!

She's not having a party so I'm doing lots of little things to make it a special day.

How do you like to spend your birthday? Is there one thing/tradition you always do?

Pink.

I couldn't resist these pink ranunculus when I walked past them at the florist the other day. 

Most times I am drawn to the white bunches of flowers but this time these pink lovelies were calling!

They added a gorgeous pop of colour to the house and made me so happy every time I walked by.

I just had to take a few photos of them.......

2015 best nine on Instagram

I love sharing photos on Instagram and it is always interesting to see which photos resonate the most with everyone that follows my page @honeyandfizz

The latest craze at the moment is to share your #2015bestnine on Instagram. You can go to this website and find out which were your nine most popular photos this year.

Here's mine.....

It looks like my most liked photos were mainly about food! The fun snacks I make for the kids and cute ideas I try out after seeing them on Pinterest are up there. It has inspired me to look for some more to try.  I'm glad those beautiful peonies made it too! Also who doesn't love birthday balloons?! 

I also looked at the #2015bestnine for my @honeyandfizz_theblog page

Here they are.......

Food, especially cakes were a winner again! Also our bedroom makeover made it in too.

Have you checked out your best nine?

It's so great to have a quick look back over the year!

I'm loving......

A few things I'v been loving lately....

Ripped jeans and cosy knits

This 7 vegetable super salad.

Recipe found here

White everything!

Cute DIY ideas.  I'd love to make this for our dog Dash

Seen here

Plants everywhere!

 Pink peonies. So beautiful.

Dreaming of a couple of nights away, somewhere cosy with a fireplace.

Doesn't this place look perfect!

What have you been loving lately? x

Decorating with flowers at home and how to keep them looking fresh for longer.

I love having fresh flowers at home. I think they are a great way of adding that little something extra to a space and bringing life and colour to a room.

I use them to add texture,colour and interest to vignettes around the house and also to bring a little bit of nature inside. Plus they are pretty to look at!

I usually buy some weekly although at the moment there is an abundance as I have some bunches surviving from Mother's Day plus I bought a couple of bunches for a photo shoot we had here on the weekend.

I don't spend a lot on my flowers. I usually pick them up from the supermarket during my weekly grocery shop. Although if there is nothing there I like the look of I might pop past the deli/market to see what I have.  I prefer bunches of one colour and my favourites are white, pink and maybe yellow in the summer. To keep them fresher for longer I cut the stems diagonally when I get them home before I pop them in a vase. Make sure there are no leaves or greenery below the water as this pollutes the water quicker. I also recut stems and change the water every few days.
My favourite flowers change each season but I do love hydrangeas, pink roses and dahlias.

Also don't forget to look at your own garden for any flowers or greenery you can cut and pop into a vase. I love using our jasmine when it's blooming and I've got friends who have great gardens who will leave a bunch on the doorstep every now and again.

I steer away from heavily perfumed flowers as I have a sensitive nose and they can be a bit over powering inside. I always give them the sniff test before I buy, no matter how pretty they are!

I have a variety of vases to suit different types of flowers and spaces. I use anything from vases, bowls, mason jars, pencil holders and cannisters. If it's waterproof I'll use it!
I prefer clear glass but I have a couple of gold and marble look ones for extra interest.

I just love using flowers to decorate and add that personal touch to a space.
It really brings a freshness to the home.

Do you have flowers at home?
What type of flower is your favourite?

My Mother's Day weekend

We had a Mother's Day weekend as we hosted dinner at our place on Saturday night for both our mums and families as it was the one time we could all be together.

Simon cooked a delicious chicken and chorizo paella, followed by 2 fabulous cakes and lots of champagne. I felt very pampered and I hope our mums did too. 

My contribution to the night was setting the table ;)

I couldn't go past those pink tulips without picking up a few bunches.

We love the Lemon Drizzle cake from Flour and Stone. 

It's the perfect blend of sweet with a tart tang! The chocolate cake was divine as well.

It was a lovely night.

On Sunday morning I woke up to handmade cards and gifts from the Mother's Day stall at school.

Bliss! I always love seeing what the boys choose.

We all sat in bed sipping sparkling apple juice from champagne flutes and the boys all made little speeches. It was so sweet. 

Sunday was a relaxed day at home. We were going to go out but it was a little chilly and we were all happy to stay put. I pottered around finding spots for my gifts, including this new Slim Aarons print.

In the afternoon my box of chocolates were opened and shared around. 

You can't go past a classic Milk Tray!

I felt very lucky and loved.

How was your Mother's Day? Did you get spoilt?

What did you get up to?

Our week - Back to reality

The holidays are over and we are slowly getting back into routine. It's actually quite nice to get back into a regular rhythm again. The boys are excited to be back at school and with their friends.

Lets hope the enthusiasm lasts!

Here is a look at our week -

With everyone back at school it was up and at em! 

Getting the house back in order after the holidays means fresh flowers too. 

I couldn't resist these dahlias.

The weekends are for pancake breakfasts.

Simon and I saw 2 movies in 2 days. Our movie drought is well and truly over. The Theory of Everything was about Stephen Hawking's early life, marriage and children. It was a really sweet but sad movie. I really liked it and found it quite interesting as I didn't really know much about him.

Wild was the 2nd movie. A true story about a woman who decides to hike alone for 3 months after her marriage breaks down and her mother dies. I enjoyed it as it kept you watching  and hoping for a happy ending.  Reese Witherspoon was great in it.

I signed up for this Social Media workshop being held in Sydney in April by The Digital Picnic.

I can't wait to learn some new tips + tricks. I love the motivation a good workshop gives you.

Is this is something you'd be interested in?

Finn was away on school camp for a few days and I took the opportunity to rearrange his room and freshen things up. I also couldn't resist this cute little side table from Kmart.

I bought a new hanging plant to sit on my kitchen shelves and the latest issue of Real Living arrived.

The week ended with a little disappointment when we walked out to the kitchen yesterday morning and found water squirting out of the gaps between the floorboards. It turns out that when we had the dishwasher repairman out last week, he didn't reconnect the hose properly. So we have had a steady leak all week that has seeped out under the majority of the floorboards in the kitchen and living area.

We're getting advice on where we go from here! Luckily insurance covers everything.

I also reopened my Etsy shop after a long break over the school holidays.

So how has your week been?

Tulips.

I bought some tulips with my groceries last week and I enjoyed watching them change every couple of days.

It's amazing how delicate they are.

I change the water every couple of days and trim the stems to prolong their life.

I also read if you pop an ice cube into the vase each day this is supposed to help the tulips last longer.

When all that fails and the tulip's time is up, I have started experimenting with creating a face out of the foliage. 

I was inspired by a couple of accounts on IG, one of them being Justina Blakeney.

I can't go past a pink tulip.

What is one of your favourite flowers?

Tulips at home.

So we've had tulips in the house the last week or so. I always grab some flowers when I do my weekly grocery shop and tulips were my pick this time.
Here is how I had them displayed around the home.

They really added a cheery pop of colour to the house.
Do you buy your flowers with your shopping too? What's your favourite flower?