Is it summer yet?

My family back in Scotland would laugh out loud.  I live in Queensland, but of course I hail from that much colder (yet stunningly beautiful) country, where winter lasts for months on end and where summer happens on a Thursday, so you'd better have your shorts and swimmers at the ready, because you don't want to miss it.

And yet I still struggle, just a little bit, in winter - even when winter only means a couple of months where the mercury dips below 20 degrees Celsius!  A 'hothouse flower', my mum calls me.  I always look forward to the turning of the winter solstice corner and with that out of the way this week, my thoughts are turning to spring and summer and my colour radar is picking up on hues of sunshine and blue skies ....

Small but perfectly formed pops of yellow and turquoise in plenty in the apartment of Spanish Designer Mikel Irastorza.  Image via the always-inspring yellowtrace - click here to see more of the apartment.

I find it so strange how colours just sneak up on you. I've never been one for yellow really, but lately I'm being drawn to it more and more - maybe 'Yellow is the New Orange', a post that made me smile this week from the folks over at prairie hive.  Combine yellow with those favourite shades of turquoise or blue green, and it really is a fresh and summery winner.  I've only been doing this blog for a few weeks, and look how much of this combo has snuck in already ....

From left to right, a photo of mine, two colours from the Kevin McCloud Mid-Century Modern range for Fired Earth, Soprano wallpaper from Graham and Brown (and that chair again) and a recent feature from Livingetc

I also realised how many touches of these colours I have dotted around the house ....

From left to right, some bottles from my (growing) Avon collection, blue mud bowl with Penguin pencils and yellow Pienet Kivet fabric by Marimekko (now discontinued I think), and one of many secondhand finds with those 50s buttons

So it's time for us here in the Southern Hemisphere to start daydreaming of summer ....

via karma button

Of long lazy lunches ....

I must write down the source as soon as I find the image - if this is yours or you know where it's from, let me know!

And making the most of our outdoor spaces ....

Umbrella by OEKE, Acapulco Chairs in Turquoise & Neon Yellow, reversible cushion from Thomas Paul (and I did see this on one of the blogs I follow but can't seem to track back to which one - if it's yours, let me know and I'll credit)

Of sipping homemade lemonade (or just arranging some lemons in a jar if making our own soft drinks is too much of a stretch!) ....

via Decor8, photo by Julia Hoersch

And last but by no means least, of days at the beach in this beautiful country I am so lucky to call home ....

via Eclecticrevisited

What gets you thinking about summer?