Dragon Sculpture

Tomorrow (Jan 23rd, 2012) is the Chinese New Year. In some places in my country, the celebration is much greater than the common New Year (Jan 1st). For The Weekend in Black and White,
I'd like to share pictures that relate with Chinese culture. My husband captured it when we visited a Chinese themed shopping place.

Best Flower Options for your Home Made Arrangements

When it comes to making flower arrangements, it's always much more fun to make them with flowers you have grown yourself. Whether you are making an arrangement to liven up your living space or to give to someone else, using your own flowers will make the arrangement that much more special, causing people to ask: “are those from your garden?” There are a number of excellent plant choices for use as cut flowers: perennials and annuals both make for great cut flowers and also will grow easily in your garden. Here are a few suggestions of great flowers you can grow yourself that will also result in a lush, one-of-a-kind bouquet.

Roses

They make great Valentines Day flowers when you want to express love to your partner, but that is not the only thing they are useful for. Roses are really easy to grow and will produce beautiful blossoms year after year as well as add a lot of elegance to an arrangement. Roses also come in a variety of soft and beautiful colours.

Cosmos

These flowers are everyone's favourite cut flowers mainly because they bloom profusely and come in a variety of colours. The more you pick them, the more they grow, which makes them ideal to use in an arrangement. The delicate flowers and wispy leaves do a lot to accent your bouquet.

Spider Flower

These tall, gangly plants explode in spidery blossoms of pink, purple and white. The vivid colours and the unique shape of the flowers add a lot of texture and intrigue to both your garden and your arrangement.

Forget-Me-Nots

These popular garden plants also make a great addition to an arrangement given their rare true blue colour and lasting blooms. Forget-me-nots grow in tight vivid clusters, which will help you achieve a variety of shapes and sizes in your bouquet.

Marigolds

Marigolds produce amazing, brightly coloured flowers that are strong enough to help prop up other flowers in your bouquet. Their texture will give your arrangement a very soft and touchable look and come in great spring shades from soft yellow to deep gold.

Sunflowers

Whether you choose the short or the giant variety, sunflowers of all sizes make great long-lasting cut flowers. As the focal point of a bouquet, these bright and cheerful blossoms will bring the fresh feeling of spring to your home.

Sweet Peas

Nothing grows faster and with as much vigour in your garden than the sweet pea. Although the fruit they bear is often the prize of growing them, the blossoms they produce also make great filler in a spring bouquet. The stems are deceptively strong adding structure to your arrangement, and the flowers offer a variety of colour and spicy scents.

Baby's Breath

Baby's breath is a favourite of many gardeners for adding texture and a light feeling to their flowerbed. In an arrangement, the airy sprays of white and pink flowers add a burst of freshness and variety and create a sense of lightness, delicacy and softness.

Black-eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susans are a staple of any flower garden. The traditional golden daisy-like petals burst out of both gardens and flower arrangements like the sun; they are easy to grow, and their long, straight stalks add dimension to your arrangement.

How to Create an Outdoor Room

One of the many advantages of living in Australia is being able to spend warm weekends and Christmas holidays outdoors. Many Australians use outdoor areas for cooking, entertaining, alfresco dining, swimming and growing flowers and plants. A well designed space adjacent to the home proper can ideally be utilized all year-round as recent innovations in outdoor heating, accessories and flooring are providing more options for versatility and comfort.

As more and more Australians move closer to major cities, available outdoor space has been significantly reduced. However a limited amount of external space does not mean having to abandon your idea of an outdoor room. Creating a well designed outside area allows you to increase your living space without the expense of renovating or extending your home.

Container Plants and Climbers

Flowering plants and climbing vines can not only provide much needed privacy to your outdoor area they also create boundaries allowing you to clearly define your space. Container plants and vines also add texture, colour and dimension to your outdoor area. Climbing plants are perfect additions, especially in limited space, while climbing species are readily available to suit any type of environment. Researching flowers online or asking your local nursery about the sunlight and temperature requirements of flowering climbers will help you decide which one is best for your space.

Bougainvilleas can create a roof-like canopy over your pergola or add colour and texture to a bare wall. Star Jasmine not only looks beautiful trailing over fences or walls but its lovely fragrance will catch on the breeze, bringing a calming influence into your living area. Lavender can be potted and positioned to define or separate outdoor spaces and the scent of Lavender also provides a pleasant atmosphere. There are many options when it comes to container plants including the planting of bulbs like tulips and daffodils or clustering trendy succulents in large pots to create borders and decoration.

Outdoor Heating

Portable fire pits and other outdoor heaters come in a range of styles and options that allow you choices when it comes to arranging your space; and if you’re renting you get to take it with you. There are various types of gas, electric and eco-friendly ethanol heaters suitable for outside that are stylish and effective in a contained space, encouraging longer use through the cooler seasons.

Furniture

New trends in outdoor furniture include bamboo frames, metal frames, timber slated screens and wicker furniture. Investing in good quality fabrics that withstand the changing elements is worth-while if you don’t like dragging it all inside each time it rains.

Lighting

Lighting is an important part of the function of an outdoor area. Appropriate lighting gives more options and versatility in your space and can usher your room seamlessly into the night. LED’s, light emitting diodes, are energy efficient and cheap to run. LED’s can light up your outdoor room brilliantly or in a subdued mood no matter the size and are available to suit a range of fixtures. Wall-mounted spot lights, reflective post lights, wall washers, landscape lighting and floodlighting can all be achieved with LED’s. New styles also come in stainless-steel for outdoor durability and ensured weatherproofing.

Outdoor Rugs

An outdoor rug can define your space while adding colour and comfort during colder months. Many beautiful and fashionable outdoor rugs are available in weather resistant materials. Matching the colour of your rug with pots, floral displays or outdoor cushions can tie the entertaining space together.

Outdoor Kitchens

To complete your Australian outdoor room you can’t go past an outdoor kitchen or modern stainless steel barbecue. Modern outdoor kitchen and barbecues contain everything you need to entertain outdoors including refrigerators, dishwashers and even the kitchen sink. Their sleek form and function will have you wondering how you ever ate the food off that old greasy barbecue at the beach last year. Well, now that you have completed your outdoor room you will never have to do that again.

/image: nirmana.info/

8 Great Businesses for the Stay at Home Mum

Many stay at home mums decide that they want to go into business for themselves. Often a lack of money can be an issue when it comes to starting up a business but there are many options for starting a home based business. Depending on what you decide to do your start up costs can be minimal. It is also great to be able to work, contribute to the family income and still be there to look after your children. It is a decision many women are making because they are finding it difficult to make ends meet financially, they need something extra in their lives or they want to go back to work but can't afford to put children into childcare. Do note that if you start up a home based business you will need to make sure that your insurance is up to date, including your home and contents insurance, and you will need public liability if clients will be coming to your home. Some women find that their home based business becomes so successful they need more space and have to either move to a bigger home, or even build an office space in the back garden. When moving house make sure you choose a reputable removalist.

Party plan

Having a party plan business is a fantastic option for the stay at home mum as she can work it in to fit around her children. She can work as little or as much as she likes and potentially earn an unlimited income. There are many different party plan companies to choose from with a wide variety of products to sell. From plastic containers, to bed linen, to lingerie and even chocolate, there is plenty of choices for someone who wants to run their own business but have the support of the company and other consultants.

Photographer

A photographer can take all sorts of different photos. Many go out into the field to take photos, and often if they do portraits they may visit people in their homes or do shots outdoors. Some photographers who are based at home choose to set up a studio in a spare room. You do need to invest in a fair amount of equipment but there is the potential to do very well.

Make up artist

There are many places that do training so that you can become a qualified make up artist. A make artist will travel around and do make up for weddings, special occasions and even fashion shoots. You can easily work from home as all you need are your make up kit and be able to drive to your client.

Bookkeeper

There are courses available to learn how to be a bookkeeper. Make sure you set up your home office properly, have the right computer system and plenty of storage space for clients paperwork. It is worth investing in a large filing cabinet.

Massage

You can be a massage therapist from home. You could choose to have a room in your house set aside especially for clients, with a massage table, and conduct your business at home. Otherwise you might choose to take a portable table around with you to your clients homes.

Franchise

You might decide to buy into a gardening franchise and maintain people's gardens. As a franchise you are representing a company but are essentially in business for yourself. Other franchises that you can do from home include dog wash services, ice cream delivery or even financial planners.

Day care

If you get a Working with Children check, and your home adheres to the right standards, you can run a Family Day Care from home.

Online store

If you can't afford to set up a retail store, or you need to be home with the children, you can set up a retail business online and have an online store.

There are plenty of options for businesses for the stay at home mum, it is just a matter of choosing the right one for you.

Flowers and a Girl

Meet Aya, my brother’s daughter who lives in Bandung (West Java, Indonesia). When I detached my father’s condolence flowers from the boards to be spread on his grave, Aya asked some flowers to decorate her hair. Isn’t she sweet?

Nagreg Tunnel

On the way back home from our last trip with my late father, we passed through this Nagreg tunnel (West Java, Indonesia). It's our first time. This bypass is much safer, as the old path is very dangerous and slope upward.

The Weekend in Black and White