glitterlife

Its been really busy around here in Oz. So many big events going on that I don't even no were to start. First, a month ago we received notice that the owner of the house we are living at the moment was having issues with the tax department. Because of this he will be needing to move back into the house in January 2010, so we found our selves homeless! So we started at full gear looking for a new rental place and re-thinking the whole, "lets wait another year to buy a house". So we started looking into sale properties and rental. After some search in the past two weeks we found an affordable 4 by 2 in a good neighbourhood, just walking distance from my mother in law. Its a great location, the neighbourhood is very green with loads of beautiful parks. The schools in the area are one of the best in Perth so for Luke this will be very good. The house is only a short walk to the shops and almost in front of the house there is a small park with huge gumtrees and a little playground for Luke. It is also in a cul-de-sac which means no big traffic so if Luke wants to play on the street he can. The house itself is on a big land 736 square meters (for Brazilian standards this is not very big but for Dutch standards this is huge!). It has an awesome big back yard with two peach trees, one mandarin tree and one lime tree so loads of "caipirinhas or margaritas" in the future. The house inside is very tiered, it needs a good scrub and a good paint job. A new kitchen is also a must in the house and floors too. All in all its a great house with so much potential, so we bought the house!!! I am very excited because its my first property and its all mine which makes a big difference from renting all the time. We got a good price for it and because we need to gut the inside we can change and do what ever we want. So very very exciting times to come ahead, I made some pictures of the inside and as you can see there are still tenants in the house but they will be gone by next week. So we

Here in Oz we had a long weekend which was pretty full on. On Saturday we spent the afternoon with Tania, Glen and the kids. We went to the park near their house and Glen and Rob entertained the kids with a bottle rocket launcher. It was great and all the kids in the park were very intrigued by the rocket. Glen made a video and its on facebook (don't know if the link will work) for those of you who want to check it out. Luke had his first time on a swing and he just loved it. It was a wonderful sunny day on Saturday and on the Sunday the weather was even better. Around midday on Sunday we met Aline, Paco and Nina for lunch at the beach. We had lunch at Trigg beach cafe and the food was the best I had since arriving in Perth. The weather was just wonderful, 26 degrees Celsius!!! So after a long winter we finally manged to go to the beach and soak up the sun a bit. Nina and Luke saw the beach for the first time and cried when we put them on the water, I guess the water was still too cold for them. Luke was just mesmerised by the beach with its birds , sand and sea. The sun was pretty strong so I had to slime Luke with sun protection and keep him in the shade for most of it, but still it was just wonderful day. Monday Luke and Rob spend the day at Grandma's and I stayed at home having some time for myself, unfortunately didn't get to do any crafts because the house was a mess and it needed some good cleaning. Managed to do so much, I forgot how easy it can be to clean the house when you don't have a baby interrupting you every 10 minutes!I also started a scrapblog a while ago and thought it would be great to share it with all of you. I am doing this for my family so I can print it out when Luke turns one, so they can have a photobook of Luke's first year. Its turning out nicely, would recommend the site to any one wanting to do a scarpblog-book. Its a free site and very user friendly, check it out! Well will leave you all here and hope all is well. Enjoy the photos and

Luke is getting funnier by the minute. I had to share the video below with all of you because this little man keeps making me laugh all day long! He is truly a happy baby who loves to play and have fun but it leaves me with no time at all to be crafty and I am starting to miss my machine! Oh, you might be wondering why I have a picture of ducks here but these two little fellows decided to just hang around on our roof one afternoon. I just hope they don't make a nest up there, also Luke was finding this very funny and kept yelling at the ducks!My mom and dad are arriving in Perth on the 10th of October so I just cant wait for them to be here with us and share with us our special moments. My mom will see Luke for the first time,she has seen him through photos and video calls but not in person so he will be a very spoiled little man in a couple of weeks time. I hope you enjoy the video and photos! The photos you just click on it and will take you to my web album. Will hopefully be able to post some crafty things soon! Funny faces Bath Time! Having fun with Grandma

Luke is growing so fast that it seems like ever day he is learning something new. His grandmother found some old toys that where from my husband when he was a bub! So Luke got some exciting vintage toys to explore. His favorite is the ball with shapes which he still cant find the corresponding shape to fit into the ball. But he has manged to get a few in when mummy helps him. He just loves it when the shape fits and disappears inside the ball, he goes on and on giggling in delight of his achievement. Luke is also starting to sit on his own but I still keep some cushions around him just in case he loses balance and falls over. After two weeks of the whole family being ill and Luke having to have a trip to the emergency room, its great to see him feeling like himself again. I haven't had the time to do any crafts lately because I was also ill and feeling very run down but hopefully this weekend I can continue to work on Luca's quilt. As you all can see I have changed the look of my blog and I think I am finally satisfied with it. I also added snapshot, which means; in places with links you can see a snapshot of the website, its a pretty cool tool. I hope all of you are well and enjoy the videos and pictures below.

Swimming is a big part of OZ life so we decided to enroll Luke early for swimming lessons. I think is a great way also for bub and daddy to have some quality time together during the weekend. Also I can go swimming and do some sauna while they are busy with the lesson, so on the end everyone is happy. Luke didn't know what to make of his first swimming and cried a little, his instructor told us that it is normal and by the third time he will start to really enjoy it. By the second lesson he was enjoying it more and cried less. When the lesson is over we change Luke and give him his bottle and before we reach the car he is in a very deep sleep. Its funny because he doesn't even wake up when we strap him in the baby seat in the car and usually he is very light sleeper. So now during bath time Luke starts kicking the same way he does during his swimming lesson and he just laughs away while mommy gets completely wet. So here are videos and pictures of my little swimmer. Also I added the pictures of the little elephant Eli that I made, its my design also which is the first for me. Hope you all enjoy!!!!

So here are some more photos of OZ...we had a busy couple of days but we are almost done unpacking!!! Rob and I are very happy with the progress and I will take some pictures soon from the house so all of you can see our place. But for now I have uploaded photos of the baby shower and 3 pictures taken today this late afternoon at the beach. It is very warm here 35 C and after a day organising Rob and I went to the beach at the end of the day to cool off a little, we met his brother and Jasmin (Rob's niece). It was great but the sea was a little rough but very refreshing! You all can see that Greenpeace was almost coming and dragging me back to the sea, I look like a whale with my big belly. The baby is healthy and growing how you all can notice. Not long now I am on week 33 so just a couple more weeks and the baby will be with us. Hope you all are well and miss all of you! Enjoy...

We had such a great time last night at Paul's house. It was strange but wonderful to have the passage of the New Year outside having a barbecue in a warm summer night. The memories of when we had our New Year parties in Brazil was present throughout the evening for me. I had very nice fish with some very yummy salad and lots and lots of water and soda. The picture posted on the blog is just for fun....Rob and Paul were smoking cigars and we thought it would be fun to take picture with me with the cigar and beer ... so for all of you out there I did not smoke a cigar or drank beer this New Year!!! It was great to be among friends and family and everyone really had a wonderful time. Alice was really enjoying the warm weather and the great food. It really was a perfect evening for all of us! I wish all of you a great 2009 and that this year will bring peace, joy and happiness for all of you who read my blog. Enjoy the slide show...

I have noticed that this particular post is very popular, so welcome to my blog, please feel free to also see other posts and features in my blog. It would be great if you would come back now then and see whats new. Well enjoy!!! For all of you who want a very nice dessert with no fuss, you should try this classic Brazilian pudding. It has a lot of sugar so its not something you should make every week. This dessert can make any occasion special and it will hit all the right places. But please be warned that this dessert is addictive, once you start eating you cant stop! It needs to be cold so take that in consideration when making it. I usually make it on the end of the day and eat it the next day. Like any pudding there are a lot of variations to this traditional recipe out there, I have altered the recipe as well just because I like an extra hint of orange to my pudding but they are all basically the same. The big secret of this recipe is how to make the pudding have the little bubbles in it, don't worry this recipe guarantees the bubbles in your pudding. The method seems very difficult and complex but when you do start you cant believe how easy it is! I will write this recipe in English and Portuguese so bare with me OK. Lets start....Ingredients (Ingredientes):2 cans of condensed milk (2 latas de leite condesado)2 cans of milk -use the same cans from the condensed milk for mesaurments. (a mesma medida de leite comum)5 eggs (5 ovos)1 orange zest (1 raspa de laranja)Vanila extract (estrato de baunilha)sauce (calda):1 cup of castor sugar (1 xicara de acucar)1/2 cup of water (1/2 xicara de agua)*You will need a bunt baking pan; the one that is round with the tube in the middle.Methode (modo de fazer):1. Start with the sauce. Please be extra careful with this step specially if you have small childeren at home because the caramel can be very hot and make a lot of damage on little or adult fingers. Bring the sugar and the water together in a small sauce pan. Let it bo

I am so sorry for my very long silence but I have great news for those who don't already know. Luke Gabriel was born on the 3rd of February at 10:16 pm at the Birth Center. I had a natural labour and it was about 7 hours. For the most part of it I stayed at home and around 6:30 pm Rob took me to the Birthing Center, were I stayed in the hot tube till minutes before pushing my little angel to the world. I had only one shot of morphine for pain relief which was enough for me, I was very lucky; my labour was very fast and I could handle the pain well. Rob took two weeks off from work and they gave him one week paternal leave. It was great, cause I really needed the help in the first month. Now Luke and I are trying to get into a routine. He suffered from colic and also my milk supply is low so at the moment we are working to get my supply up. I never thought one would have this problem, I just thought milk would come poring out, like non-stop! For the rest we are all doing really well, the weather is starting to cool down which for me is a relief. Also I am already planning my holidays in Holland for June cause my brother is getting married. So very busy, as all of you can see, I hope I will be able to update the blog more frequently I will try my best to at least do one post a month. I have done a video of Luke Gabriel, I hope you all enjoy. It's a funny one, he is doing his business and he makes some funny faces, well enjoy. Hugs to all of you!

Hello my fellow bloggers.....I have missed my little blog very much!!! Sorry again for the strong case of disappearance that has been keeping me away form my beloved little blog. Can't stress enough how being a mom has truly changed my life. Gone are the spare hours that I had to add nice pictures of holidays to the blog or great recipes that I tried one afternoon or even better yet, the little craft projects that I used to do. But don't worry I might be less frequent on my posts but they still will be added with great pleasure, just not as frequent!!! So much has happened, cant believe that it has only been 2 months since my last post (it feels like 6 months!!).OK... update on the baby front. Luke is growing so fast, he is not a newborn anymore, each day he discovers something new in this big wide world of ours. He is such a good baby, cant complain at all. He sleeps through the night and always wakes up with such a big beautiful smile in his little face. I wish I could wake up with such a smile in my face every morning, it truly makes you appreciate your life more, he is only 4 months old and already he is giving me life lessons. He is a very content little boy who always smiles and giggles, I'm in love...really! Motherhood has been one of the best decision of my life, really cant complain at all ....I am loving it! On the craft front... I have been busy making baby pants which I got a tutorial made by a great fellow blogger Jessica who created it just for me (isn't she awesome!!!). Here is the link to her tutorial (http://balancingeverything.com/2009/04/21/how-to-make-easy-baby-and-kid-pants/), check out her blog is just great! Will post pictures of the baby pants that I made for Luke and some for Kim's new baby boy that I made but it will have to be another time cause didn't have the time to take the pictures of it yet...sorry guys. Also I made a baby blanket/quilt for Kim's little baby boy which also I have no pictures....naughty Alex!!! A couple of weeks ago

Now that Luke is having his afternoon nap I thought it would be a good time to update my blog. I just made these beautiful yummy apple and potato crepes that I thought I'd share the recipe with you. They are not something you can eat everyday because of the calories(610 kcal per 40 g) but they are a wonderful Sunday brunch treat. I love to have them with smoked Tasmanian salmon but my hubby doesn't eat fish so I buy a good quality smoked ham for him. Its a fairly easy recipe and the results are really impressive, light and with that wonderful sweet and sour hint. It is a great recipe to do when your apples are starting to have a sorry look, here at home we always have apples but they tend to linger too long sometimes. So here it goes:Ingredients: (this will make about 6 crepes)1 onion (medium size)2 potatoes (medium sized)3 granny smith apples (I think they are the best ones for this recipe but if you don't have them in the house, any apple will do)1 egg2tbsp plain flourChivesHorseradish creamDillSour Cream or Cream FreshSaltPepperPreparation: (45 minutes)1. Peel 1 onion and grate on a hand-grater. Put it in a bowl. Peel and wash the two potatoes and grate them coarsely on the grater. Wash and peel the three granny smith apples(if you have large ones use only two apples). Grate them coarsely as far as the core and add to the bowl with the grated onion and potatoes.2. Stir one egg into the mixture and add salt (1tsp), pepper and the flour, mixing well. Add the chopped chives and mix again. The mixture should not be dry, if its too runny add a little more flour.3. Heat a good quality oil ( I use rice bran oil because of it's high heat point) in a non-stick frying pan and add a little butter if you like. With a spoon add the batter and press it a little till its flat. The best, so far for me is three crepes at a time, cooking them for about 4 to 5 minutes in each side. Set aside in plate with some paper towel to drain any oil.4. Put a generous amount of smoked ham (tr

Winter for me was always cold, wet and windy when living for 12 years in Holland and as any one in Holland I was always complaining about the cold, the wind and the darkness that engulfed the land during the 6 months of Autumn and Winter. Snuggling under a warm wool blanket with woolly socks with a nice hot cuppa tea watching movies was something that I used to love to do in the cold dark winter months. This has long changed since we moved to OZ. Mind you, it is still cold for us here, Rob and I even bought a gas heater to warm up our little house in the evenings but nothing at all like the winter's in Europe. My red winter coat has been left in the dark closet and has not been worn at all this winter in OZ. I guess I am still not completely acclimatized to the weather because when I go out for walks with Luke everyone seems to be wearing their winter coats and scarves. But for me its just a nice sunny day and only a light jacket is needed to keep me warm. It has rained a bit, which meant that Luke and I stayed inside most of these wet days, giving me a chance to finish a couple of projects that have been sitting beside my sewing machine. I also went for a workshop and made Luke a very cute bean bag to sit, when he gets older. The shop that gives these workshops has become my favorite fabric shop in Perth. Its called Hot Possum, it is such a wonderful little shop with a great selection of fabrics. They also have a lovely blog where you can see all their quilts and other designs. So I have been busy while Luke sleeps or has his naps during the day. I managed to finish a little pram quilt for Kim's new baby boy. Also made some baby pants and a little elephant (which I forgot to take pictures) for Isobel. I think Kim must be receiving the parcel next week, I hope everything fits the baby because they do grow so fast. I also am working on Luca's quilt which I hope to finish for him for Christmas and my latest project is a cute cover for my sewing machine. I am still get

Our religious wedding was just beautiful and wonderful. Everyone we invited came to the wedding and even people who were not living in Holland. Uta, Lance and the kids came from France. Erica, the girls and Adam came from the US. Also Claire and Owen came from Irland to see us and I was very pleased because I haven't seen here since Washington. It was truly a wonderful day but a little sad because it was also a kind of farewell. Rob and I missed his mother and father who were not able to attend because it was too short notice for them to come from Australia. But we know in our hearts they were there with us in spirit. I will post the pictures when the photographer send us the pictures. I will post some pictures we managed to take on the day but the really nice ones you all have to wait. On the Monday we left in the morning to Luxenbourg. Rob had to go there for work so I thought it would be nice to join him and explore Luxembourg. We arrived there at 14:00pm, Rob went to work and I went to the city center. All shops were closed so I decided to explore the old part of town. It is truly a beautiful city and the old part is medieval which makes you wonder how many battles were won and lost. There was only one museum open, The Museum of Modern Art. It was great because they had an expo on Emily Bates photographs (Love Scenes). It was great to be able to see her photos. After I went to have some lunch in a very nice little pastry cafe, I had a wonderful grilled veggie salad and a really really yummy strawberry pie. I kept strolling at the old part of town till I met Rob in town for dinner after his work. We went to a nice restaurant and had German food. Rob had veal Schnitzel and I had Sauerkraut with very nice sausages from Luxembourg. The next day after Rob went to work I went to the city again. this time the shops and all the museums were open. I went to the City museum which is mainly the history of Luxembourg. It was a very beautiful building and I had no idea Luxe

So here they are just a fraction of all the pictures that were taken. But I hope everyone will enjoy them as much as Rob and I enjoyed our happy day. Thank you for all of you who could made it to our wedding and for the one's who could not make it due to the fact that it was all very short notice, please be sure that you were in our hearts throughout our happy day. Enjoy the slide show bellow, if you would like a full screen slide show use the link bellow:http://picasaweb.google.com/glitterlife.nl/WeddingNetherlands/photo#s5208748963226611346

There are not enough words to describe how wonderful our trip to Brazil was for Rob and I. Not only it was a great honeymoon but for me it was special because I haven't gone back home in 11 years. I had a chance to meet up with some of my old friends and also to meet with my two sisters who I had missed so much. We started our trip in Sao Paulo, (were I was born and were one of my sister's lives) we stayed there for 7 days. It was great to meet Henrique after 11 years, he hasn't changed much, just that know he works very hard and has a wonderful sweet girlfriend (soon to be wife I hope!). Carolina also went to Brazil at the same time as us so we caught up with her and her sisters, which was great! My neighbourhood has changed so much that I almost didn't recognise it. The school which I used to go to high school has been demolished and now its a car park. Although the neighbourhood has changed and grown, it has also become a very trendy area with all the best bars and nightclubs. It was very strange to be there with everyone because it was the same but at the same time very different. I felt like a tourist which made me a little sad. Also I had a chance to have some great pizza (my city really has the best pizza in the world) and great steaks. I had a chance to spend some time with Regina (my oldest sister) and it was very nice to see her and my nephew Alexandre. I was happy to find them well and it was great to catch up with them after 4 years. Rob had a chance to go fly a helicopter in Sao Paulo and he absolutely loved it! The 7 days flew by so fast and before we knew it, it was time to move on to Buzios. We took a bus to Buzios (8 hour drive) and arrived in the morning. My sister Rulla picked us up at the very small bus station of the town. It was so nice to see her because I hadn't seen her in 14 years!!! We talked over some breakfast and after I had to have a nap because I didn't sleep in the bus over the excitement of seeing her after so many years. We truly

I am aware that many of you had no idea of the great news that I am about to tell you! After a year of trying and with some sad results along the year; we are finally pregnant!!!! Yes I am 12 weeks pregnant and just had my first ultrasound yesterday! For some reason I didn't believe it was true till yesterday, after seeing my little peanut I was sure enough that he/she is here to stay. I changed its name from peanut to jumping bean because throughout the ultrasound it kept jumping around and having fun while we were watching. Jumping bean is about 5 cm at the moment, it has all its limbs and is healthy. Rob and I were so surprised because we expected not see much with the ultrasound (we thought we would just see a little blob hahaha) but than there it was a perfect mini baby with its little hands waving at us! We found out that I was pregnant a couple of days before leaving to our honeymoon in Brazil. So I didn't even go see the doctor because I was just scared that something would go wrong again so I decided to wait. I just enjoyed my honeymoon and just when I arrived here in Perth Australia did I go to the doctor. They did all the tests and everything is fine, which gives me an immense relief. For the rest everything is fine over here DOWN UNDER. The first week we just slept a lot and since then ts been non-stop with all the immigration papers. We bought a new car last week, a Subaru outback 2008. We are also at the moment looking for houses because we are staying with Rob's parents at the moment. Rob is looking for employment too. So everything is slowly arranging itself. Well this is all the news I have to give you all. Rob and I are very happy with the baby, I am sure all of you are too! Well enjoy the pictures of jumping bean bellow:The photo above is from Kim Mallroy photographer.

First of all I want to say that I am sorry for my silence regarding my blog posts. Its been a very hectic August, not only were we looking for a house (which by the way turned to be a very exhausting experience) but also Rob is looking for work. We did find a house which we liked and we are now waiting for all the paper work to be accepted.On the baby front everything is going very well. I will have my next ultrasound in a couple of weeks which of course I will post the pictures for all of you to see the little jumping bean growing into a real size baby. I still cant feel the little bugger move, even though everyone is asking me, "Have you felt it yet???". It is just a weired concept that I can feel my child move inside of me, I don't know why but I always get images of the film Alien when the thing explodes out of the chest of its host (hahahah). Oh well it is one of my favorite films...another thing that is becoming increasingly annoying is everyone turning to me and saying, "Enjoy your life now because it will be over soon." Talk about positive attitude towards starting a family, than they are surprised why women get post natal depression. Wouldn't you get depressed if the only thing you hear is that you life will be over when your child is born and when you finally popped it out, not only you need to deal with the fact that you have a tinny life to take care but also all those words of "wisdom" of people around you come to hunt you? I wish that there was a kind of law against being negative around pregnant women. Well sorry guys for all the rant on pregnancy ordeals but I needed to get it out of my chest. I am finally experiencing the happy hormones which they talk so much about. I do feel much better and also it feels like I can take the world, its a nice feeling. For the rest Perth is getting warmer and all the wild flowers are coming out to greet us. I do love spring I think its my favorite season, not too hot and all that fresh air with flowers everywhere.

Rob and I had an unexpected little outing to Canberra. He was called in for an interview and I tagged along to see if I would like to live in Canberra. For those of you who don't know, Canberra is the Capital of Australia . It was a planned city built with the purpose to become the capital just like Brasilia was built to be the capital of Brazil. I thought both cities had a lot in common even though I have not been physically to Brasilia and only know it through TV and pictures.Canberra has new architecture and is very spacious place. It has beautiful parks, natural life and the shopping is great! We had dinner in a very nice Italian restaurant which I enjoyed the chicken pasta with white wine sauce and Rob got the veal a parmigiana. For dessert we had tiramisu who was nothing else but sponge cake with cream, no hint of coffee or amaretto a real disappointment.It was very cold in Canberra (it has a ski resort near by so you can imagine that it is cold there), I was all dressed up like winter which was strange. I never expected to be so cold here in Australia for some ignorant reason I thought the whole country was warm and hot! By the way we are not moving to Canberra, it wasnt that we did not like the place but with the baby on the way I wanted to be near family and friends seeing that most of my family is in Holland. Well hope you guys enjoy the slide show with the few pictures we took while in Canberra.

I was waiting till I moved to my new home to start Luca's quilt which I promised him he would receive for Christmas but my mother in law just gave me the extra push I needed to start. I reached for the stars for inspiration on this one and I already had all the fabric tones that I wanted to use, just got some extra material from my mother in law. I started by washing all the fabric that I was going to use seeing it was kept in boxes for half a year. When I hanged all the fat quarters outside to dry I realised that this quilt will be very very special. I am sure Luca's will love it and use well in his new home in France. After some color matching and some cutting I kept all pieces separate for each star. It does make the whole process easier and I am thankful for Tiiu's tip on this one. So I hope you all enjoy the small slide show of the progress so far and hopefully soon I will be able to post the end result! Enjoy.

I usually don't add any videos to my posts by these are just so funny and simplistic that I could not keep myself from sharing it with all of you! Enjoy the show: