Some adventures from last week

Be prepared ~ tons of photos here.... I'll try to keep the commentary down as much as I can! Last week my sweet friend Kathy came down to stay for a week and we went out treasure hunting & to the football, as you have seen, and did lots of other things. Here's some pics of places we went and things we did!

First up though, is not a place we went to! It's a stunning vintage bag that Kathy kindly gave me when she arrived!!!! OH MY how I love this bag..... there are even rhinestones on the closures...

AND she made me a quilt!!! YES that's right, a whole beautiful quilt! In one of my fave Rachel Ashwell fabrics, which co-ordinates beautifully with a cushion of Kathy's shown in the pic here. Now I have a lovely quilt to snuggle up with this winter, thank you Kathy, you are way too kind!
On to country Victoria, about an hour and a half from Melbourne. This is Lavandula Lavender Farm, not far from where we stayed in Daylesford. One of my favourite spots ever, so peaceful, serene and beautiful. I love the historical stone building and the lovely gardens... and the FOOD..... oh boy... you'll see in a sec...
How beautiful is this place, even on a cold wet day??!!!
Sweet hellebore were everywhere...
Some of the lovely products they sell at the lavender farm, they even sell lavender tea!!! They make divine lavender scones and lavender ice-cream using culinary lavender.... sounds weird but it's so wonderful!
So we were a bit peckish when we ordered. LOL!!!!! I asked when I ordered my pumpkin pine nut & fennel pappardelle "Is it a good sized serve?" LOL!!! Too funny!!! These meals could have fed a football team! Kathy's was a scream, like a whole big fat chicken is on her plate! But how good.... oh wonderful food! All organic and locally produced, and affordable!

The BEFORE shot of the food...


And the AFTER shot, we really tried hard but had to leave room for some handmade chocolates from the shop in town.
Does anyone else LOVE Chinotto? People (my hubby and Kathy!) think I am strange for liking something bitter like that! I guess that's the Italian in me, grew up drinking it with my grandparents so I love to have it with a meal when I am out, doesn't mess up the taste of the food...
In Hepburn Springs, this is The Old Macaroni Factory which was seen in the film "Love's Brother", which was filmed in the area around Daylesford/Hepburn Springs.
We managed to fit in some antique shopping at my favourite place, the people are wonderful out there, we have known them for a long time and love their stuff!

I painted a chalk board for a sweet customer who is opening up a Cupcake Cafe on the outskirts of Ballarat, near where we stayed, and seeing that we were nearby I delivered it to her.
And look at what she made for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH BOY were we in heaven that day. After Kathy was served OLIVE BREAD toast with her strawberry jam ~ (Yes you read right, and no she didn't eat it and sent it back), this was a welcome delicious treat for us!!!! This lady is going to do so wonderfully well in her business, when she is up and running I'll post a link but until then she can't have people turning up at the door just yet!
This was the one I chose, GREEN of course!!!
Here's me goofing around in my lemon lime and bitters, decided that the ice looked like it should be eyes and made a nose and mouth.... i know, silly....
Here's the view from our place we stayed at overnight in Daylesford, on the day we arrived. It was cold but not too bad, at least it stopped raining and got sunny....until...
Here's 7.30am the following day.... it SNOWED!!!!!!!!! Ok so I know this looks really pathetic as far as snow goes to my friends in the northern hemisphere. I know it's barely considered snow. But I've never been anywhere when it snowed except one day at the snowfields as an 8 year old, and that doesn't count because it's supposed to snow in the snowfields. Kathy, being from The Sunshine Coast in the Sunshine State (I am not kidding!), has never seen snow in her life!!! What a strange thing for us! Totally unexpected...

Brrrrr my poor little car didn't know what hit her!!!! Snow on the windscreen.... had to warm her up gently...
And here is Kathy, Leroy and myself taken just before she left. Her camera is so cool!
And a shot of Leroy and I. As most mothers would know, we are generally the ones taking all the photos right? So I very rarely have a pic with my little man. So that's why I am sharing this one.
Thanks for stopping by~! More long posts to come to catch up on lots of other things like my wonderful swap items and as promised some pics of Melbourne for Karla!

Bye,

Natasha xo