What a fabulous day!!

Well I had a fabulous day today. Anne, one of the girls I work with, is just about to move into her new house and on Tuesday when we were at work she was talking about some things she'd seen around town and asked if I'd like to have a look at a couple of shops today. Of course I said yes, especially since Owen was off work and it would be the first time in MONTHS that I had looked around a homewares store without a toddler in tow. While we were talking about it Charlene that we work with as well overheard and was very excited because it was her day off as well. Anne's house was being painted today and she was meeting with the painter this morning at 6.30 and so we decided to start off our day with a nice breakfast at our place. So the girls rocked up this morning at about 7.30 and after a nice leisurely breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, coffee & juice we headed off for our days adventure.

We started off at the gorgeous shop called All About House that is in the most fabulous old church and the owner lives in a fantastic building just next door. We were waiting on the doorstep when the store opened. They have some beautiful things there, homewares and furniture. So we had a browse through there and I even found a funky little something for the EB embellishment swap as well as a cool cat jigsaw for Jack. After that we went to a new store that one of my mother's best friends opened called Just DeVine. And it is devine. Great stuff there. Beautiful homewares and furniture...again. Then we went for a stroll through the mall, I tried on some exquisite hats that I would never be able to wear since I never go anywhere where a hat is required, picked up some more cool little things for the embellishment swap, picked up a gift for a collegue of ours who was promoted and transferred to a different store and then went to a shop called Table & Tots. There are some of the most delicious sounding things in that store and I'll definately be going back for a better look. They have some specialty chocolates, gormet sauces, bar supplies like special glass rimming sugars for your coctails and hibiscus flowers for your champagne, some kitchenware and some childrens gift lines. Great shop, it's actually owned by Owen's ex-boss's wife.

So since we were in the area, we called in to the Criterion Hotel for lunch and some coctails. Yes, that's right I said coctails, in the middle of the day, on a week day. Well we only had one each, well I had one and a half because it was too strong for Anne. I can't remember what it was called but it was a devine mix of butterscotch snapps, chocolate liquer, vanilla vodka, cream, milk and ice. It's like a desert really. So since I don't drink very often I was just a little tipsy when we left, luckily I wasn't driving. Then we headed to Sweet & Shabby where I got a bargain cruet set, pictured below. It was marked down from $54.95 to $12. What a bargain. Then we had a browse through The Complete Garden, which is a store that I really love, some cute little gift items there.

The day didn't end there. We went to Anne's to receive a delivery of some of her furniture and then off shopping again. We had a look through Everyday Living, who also have some lovely things and then we stopped for some coffee and muffins at The Goosehorn, which is a cafe/restaurant/wine bar and then off we went again. Checked out a few places in the homemaker centre ending at Define Homestyle which is quite a large homewares store in Rocky. I saw this great mortar & pestle set and Charlene & Anne very kindly bought it for me as a very early birthday present. Arn't they sweet and isn't it just gorgeous? We're going to try and do it regularly, should be fun.

Then we headed off home...so were shopped and lunch and munched from 7.30 this morning until about 5ish this afternoon. Big day, and Owen was fantastic and spent the day at home playing with Jack.

Here's a couple of photos Owen took of Jack today. He said he was very good today and used the toilet about 8 times which is fantastic. He's such a good, sweet, cute boy. In the first photo he is modeling Owen's latest Ebay buy, a Jack of hearts necklace, Owen's poker crazy at the moment, play on-line and at some pub competition and the second photo is Jack's latest photo face. He's learnt to say "cheeeeeeeeeeeeese" when you are taking his photo. Very cute. Well, I'm feeling very nervous about work tomorrow. Our new boss started today. I'll let you all know how it went.

Ciao