obsessions

for a long time i have been obsessed with wooden letters and words. now this has extended to pretty hanging hooks. they seem to be popping up everywhere in shops. this website has some cool ones. if only i had my own house to bang holes into. it's probably a good thing i don't as they would be everywhere.

moving galleries

some trains in melbourne have poems displayed in the carriages. it always made the journey to grandma's more interesting. these are my faves...

‘companion’ by jackie hosking

in death 
she will leave the shape 
of a cat

‘colourful characters’ by paul mitchell

so, where’s bluey? oh, he’s off with snowy. 
where? 
snowy’s feelin a bit green round the gills 
so bluey’s gone over to try & give his cloud 
a bit of a silver lining. 
oh yeah. so where’s blacky? 
he got in a blue with browny. 
yeah? Is he black and blue? 
nah, whitey was there and he saw red. 
helped blackie out. 
ah good. so whitey’s comin? 
nah, he’s over at greenie’s, tickled pink cos 
they put a hundred on yellow fever and she ran red hot. 
fair dinkum? so who’s gunna paint this house, fluoro? 
just you and me rainbow, just you and me.

‘occasional furniture’ by ian mcbryde

occasional furniture - 
what are you 
the rest of the time?

you can see more here.

take the time

everyone should take the time to check out the pictures (and words) at http://flyfromnearby.tumblr.com/. oliver is a friend of a friend who took one photo a day for a year and posted it on tumblr. my favourite pictures are the cat ones of course but i must admit the dog ones are awesome too. in fact they are all pretty special. he has an exhibition in melbourne at the moment that i would have loved to have seen. i'll be there next weekend though and his photos of melbourne have made me even more excited about my visit.

delicate dance candle

shona gave me this beautiful tinned candle on tuesday.

it smells lovely and a lot like my perfume. 

'a delicate dance: linden, honeyed rose, wisteria petals & white musk'

is how it is described on their simple yet cute website.

an impressive website always pleases me after discovering something new.

view it here.  

just for fun

seeing as i'm feeling the aussie spirit at the moment i wanted to share this aussie slang website. some i've never heard of, others i use every day. almost all make me feel proud to be an australian (sheila). check it out here.

boating part two

the boat. this photo does not do it justice. it was amazing. and big. and expensive! we had the best weather. every man and his dog was out on some kind of boat with aussie flags flying everywhere.

i actually spent most of the day sick with some kind of fever but it didn't stop me from venturing into the sun for some fresh air, salt water and vitamin d.

no australia day is complete without snags and an aussie flag. matt was in charge of the barbie and he did a smashing job.

you can never be too sick to eat pav. best homemade pavlova i've ever had. homegrown passionfruit, eggs laid by hens at home, base made from scratch. so good!

boating luxury style

today is australia day! i have refrained from my applying usual australian flag temporary tattoos as matt and i are going on a fancy boat! we are about to head off to the gold coast where we'll be going on his bosses parents boat with his boss. the boat is called a maritimo which matt says is very luxurious, like something you'd see on the greek islands!

the good guide

brissy girls enjoy!

these are ultimate (and cute) (and free!) guides to all things great in brisbane.

the best designer stores, the best bars, the best restaurants and cafés and more.

they are rated 'the best' by locals and so far so good after my visit to the wooloongabba antique store.

i've seen them all around town but in the meantime you can read about 'the best' spots right... here!

nicci in oz

this weekend was all about good friends.

please don't go. you are the life of the party!

fiji in february

matt and i have decided to go on a holiday in mid february to fiji. we'll be there for valentines day which is so romantic! i read this while researching places to stay and i am beyond excited about our first overseas trip together (and ever!)...

fiji, the ultimate south pacific paradise - a collection of 333 sun-drenched tropical islands with soft sandy beaches, swaying coconut palms and stunning blue lagoons. a land of rainforests and waterfalls, colourful coral reefs and magnificent surf breaks. home to the friendliest, most welcoming people on earth, where instant smiles and lasting memories are guaranteed.

fiji is waiting for us!

good food & good friends

last night i shared beautiful food with my beautiful friend kathleen.

she reminds me how much i miss all the things in melbourne, especially her.

while trying to catch up on the past three months (which feels more like two weeks, it's gone so fast) we enjoyed the food and drink of mecca bah in the valley.

sweet potato falafels with tahini sauce

spit roasted lamb, rocket, yoghurt & sumac turkish pizza

apple, cranberry, orange juice, pomegranate molasses, lime, lemon and orange

& garnished with a sprig of mint

dreaming

i really want the goals book and 101 dreams book from kikki.k. perhaps my first goal should be 'come to the realisation that you don't need pretty books to achieve your goals and make your dreams a reality'!

let love fly

i ♥ syd

the argyle

last night we all met up for 'a' drink. we couldn't find anywhere that was open at first but then we were directed down a red brick road that led to this massive bar called the argyle. it was just around the corner from our hotel at the rocks and it had the most impressive and clever decor. everywhere you looked was a different space or nook with a different style. it was really delightful and two bottles of wine later we were the last ones there. i didn't want to leave the colourful little haven! so to spread my new found love for this place here are some pictures i found on their website.  

jess the mess

felling a little worse for wear today. i had to be woken up by cam (my beautiful work friend) as i was dead to the world and had (not surprisingly) set my alarm to 7:30 pm instead of am the night before. to counteract the large amount of white wine i consumed last night i have spent all day trying to recover by having coffee, fruit salad, yoghurt, orange juice, lots of water, peanut butter on toast and strawberry extra. i am very slowly starting to feel better but needless to say not a whole lot of work is getting done! it was so much fun though and worth the messy hair and red eyes i am sporting today.

date night

off on a date with matt and am just waiting to be picked up, talk about old school style ♥
i'm wearing so much of the beautiful perfume he gave me that it's making me sneeze! we had a lovely day together today and i wish it wasn't sunday so that we could do it all over again.

cherry blossom hair

speaking of hair... i bought some new shampoo and conditioner the other day. i am still searching for the perfect one (the same goes for foundation and mascara!) and so always love to try a new brand in a pretty new bottle. their products contain organic ingredients and they have so many beautiful sounding and smelling names to choose from. after a considerable length of time and complex decision making process i went with cherry blossom ginseng. isn't it amazing how simple words and colours conjure up so many different sensations. they just sound delicious.

coconut milk

mandarin olive oil

teatree mint

cherry blossom ginseng

shea butter

vanilla silk

whitetea grapeseed

pomegranate green tea

lavender soymilk

grapefruit mango butter

cocoa butter

passionfruit guava 

p.s. i am slightly obsessed with flowers at the moment. 

vija

i'm going to get my hair done this afternoon. it's been a long three months since the last time i went and to say i'm looking forward to it is an understatement. the place is named vija, which means to be beautiful or fascinating in the language of latvian.

montego bay

anna brought back this amazing scented candle from melbourne today and i am in love with it. the whole house smells like coconut and lime and we haven't even lit it yet. i looked up montego bay online and after one glance i instantly want to be there. palm trees. white sand. clear blue water. i think this candle will be as close as i can get to it for now. she bought it from peter alexander but their website is here... glasshouse fragrances.

lazy afternoon

i highly recommend watching this
it made for a lovely lazy afternoon

brightening up

on friday i took an early mark from my work and picked up a takeaway coffee from 'the deli' in bulimba. they make beautiful coffee and it was nice to see people out and about after a pretty sombre and quiet few days.

while i was out i also bought a bunch of lillies. i love lillies, they are my favourite flower. rach bought me a big bunch for my eighteenth birthday and they always make me happy when i see them. they also look and smell gorgeous in the house.

the swamp

matt's house aka 'the swamp'

it went well up over the fence later on and flooded everything under the house 

(which luckily wasn't much as we'd moved everything up)

flower street

this is just one of the many streets flooded near matt's house

the last few days

this is what the last few days have entailed...

tuesday

throughout the morning people started to gather around each others computers looking at websites and photos of the predicted floods. slowly people started to get more and more concerned and at 11:30 we were told that we had to be out of the building by 12. that's when things got really chaotic. people fled the building in no time, myself included!

i had already spent the morning before work packing up all of my belongings from underneath matt's house  as i knew it was going to go under. after i left work i went over to his and we went and got some lunch to ponder over all that was happening to our little city and suburbs. 

i left matt behind as he was adamant about manning the fort at his and came home for an early night at mine but ended up spending hours watching the news coverage on tv and went to be feeling very sad. 

wednesday

wednesday morning was spent washing and cleaning and sorting all of the stuff that i had brought over from matt's. most of it i hadn't looked at since moving from melbourne and it was quite a big job. it was fun discovering all the things i had forgotten about but not so fun realising i now have no where to put it all. 

matt and i went out for a late breakfast after driving around all parts of brisbane looking for somewhere that was open and not partially flooded. we went to bulimba just an hour before it became a ghost town according to the radio. we then went to kangaroo point, along with what felt like the rest of brisbane. there were people everywhere and it was a very surreal feeling looking down at that surging river.

for dinner i made a roast chicken with baked veggies. only problem was that i had no one to share it with! matt was at the story bridge hotel and anna is in melbourne. i made it using the very few ingredients that were left in the supermarket. it is quite scary to think how reliant we are on things such as a grocery store. 

thursday

this morning at 4am matt and i went for a drive to look at the brisbane river again. there were still people everywhere walking around in their pj's holding torches. it really is a historic event and one in which we'll remember and talk about throughout the rest of our lives. 

today i got a taste of working from home. i'm not sure how good i am at it. i've learned you can work while watching a movie and not having to get dressed or do your hair and makeup which i live. it is also slightly counter productive. i still got lots done though and feel back on top of everything. next week we'll be working from sydney as our offices were completely flooded. 

right now matt is asleep on the couch and has been for the last 3 hours. we sat down to watch the matrix and i ended up watching the entire thing by myself (a common occurrence when matt and i watch dvd's together!) it's the third time i've seen the matrix and yet i still don't fully understand it. they do have cool clothes and moves though, i know that much. 

i called my mum before to let her know that all is ok with matt and i in brisbane in case she was wondering (i hadn't heard from her yet!) i think my parents have shown the least concern! the floods are expected to peak right about now so i'm going to go for a walk and take some photos of the floods at the bottom of my street to show anna. thank goodness we are up high as there are whole houses completely under. 

all in all an eventful yet heartbreaking few days for queensland and queenslanders. it's very hard to imagine how long it will take for things to return to normal. brisbane will probably never be the same, especially since iconic things like the floating boardwalk have been completely washed away. 

thank you to everyone who sent me some kind of message of support. it almost feels unwarranted when i see and hear what others are going through but it is still very touching to be thought of. 

qld

sitting here watching the news and feeling rather overwhelmed by all the images on tv. i am lucky to be high and dry today and my thoughts go out to all those people affected by the devastating queensland floods. please donate to the premiers disaster relief appeal here. i'm just about to. every little bit counts.

more blog talk

what i keep trying to remind myself!

i was held up at work tonight, in fact i'm still here waiting to approve things, so i thought i'd fill in some time by going blog hunting! as a result i am now following 11 new ones! while this is highly exciting and i have loads of reading and exploring and admiring to do, they did make my little old blog feel quite uninspiring and inadequate in comparison. some of the photography and creativity and writing on other blogs is just amazing. i particularly love blogs that contain pregnancies, babies, weddings, houses, animals and photography. and most of those things i have none of. one day. i should spend more time thinking of my posts and finding beautiful imagery to accompany what ever words come to me on the day. it's amazing how big the blog world is and how so many link to one another or reference each other. some blogs have been going for years too! one thing that i love about blogs, especially personal ones, is that they track a persons life. you can literally follow someones life journey like jo, from a cup of jo. her blog goes way back, with my favourite posts spanning across her engagement, wedding, honeymoon, pregnancy, new baby, home and beyond. it's lovely that she and so many other people are sharing their lives on the world wide web for people like me to peer in and admire from afar. very inspiring stuff.

blog love

people all around me are creating blogs and it's so exciting! the more the better i say.
i love reading other blogs more than i enjoy writing my own, especially those of friends.
beth is only a few days into hers and it's already looking wonderful.

then of course there is kahli's beautiful blog.

where on earth she finds such pretty pictures, i'll never know.

one day

after meeting jen's tiny little puppy bronx yesterday i can't stop thinking about all things little! i am such a cat lover and want a kitten badly. i think it will be a long time before i can get one though. and i also have to somehow cure matt's cat allergy and general dislike for the species. i always imagine myself curling up with a cat on my lap when it rains like this. speaking of cats, coco is currently locked in the laundry as she's been banned from the house for peeing on a mat. we won't tell matt that though! cat's (and puppies) rule! 

rainy sunday

it's pouring with rain outside but i'm inside all warm and cozy. matt and i spent the morning at the noosa farmers market and managed to miss the heavy rain that came right before and right after we went. there was still lots of big puddles though and we ended up very muddy. we had beautiful coffee and crepes with fresh lemon juice and sugar (yum!) for breakfast and enjoyed sampling fruit from all the different stalls. after the markets we went in search of flooded roads and checked out all the surf spots. now i'm back at home showered and clean, wondering what to do with the rest of my day in this weather. i don't even have a book at the moment! this certainly hasn't been the summer that i imagined before moving back.

catch up

on a slightly different note... here's what's bee happening lately and what is on this weekend.
♥ i had a lovely night at sushi and the movies with kahli and naomi. i didn't enjoy the movie as much as i thought i would. anne hathaway is highly annoying at the start. i know kahli felt the same way as we kept looking at each other to say 'seriously?'. i thought we'd have all these things to talk about when it was over but then i realised there was no need because k just gets it!
♥ on thursday night i had beth over for dinner. she made a deliciously simple salad and i cooked lamp chops. she was shocked at my lack of cooking skills after living out of home for so long. i was on the phone to matt asking all kinds of questions as meat cooking is normally his domain. i don't really enjoy cooking which is a shame. maybe one day. i really admire people that can cook and that love to. josh is on the top of that list. after living with a masterchef for a year i think i stopped trying! i bought some flowers and had the table set. there's something really nice about going to that kind of effort for a friend or loved one and that's always been the part i love.
♥ friday night was spent watching friends and painting my nails. i pretty much only ate dark chocolate for dinner too! i then felt like being social so got dressed and went and met matt and his boss at the story bridge hotel for a drink. we're going out on his bosses luxury boat on australia day which is going to be oh so glamorous.
♥ today i am off to noosa again! i can't stay away from the place. the main reason i am going up is to meet jenna's new puppy! she's been sending my photos and he is so adorable. i need to make the most of him because puppies and kittens and babies don't come around too often. i bought a vanilla slice to take over to jen's from this awesome bakery matt and i had coffee at this morning. it should be a fun day. in fact i need to get ready! matt's waiting for me at his house and i'm sitting here in a towel nowhere near ready.

hello

hello! i am back. i went away for a few days (not physically, just on here!) i've been lacking inspiration and motivation to write, even the everyday stuff. not too sure why. i think it has something to do with being unhappy in my job at the moment. it's not stressful or hard, i just lack passion for what i am doing and as a result i don't really want to be there. i came to the realisation last night that i miss the customer aspect of my old job.  i guess it's like anything in life, the more experience we have at something the quicker we come to realise what we do and don't want or what our strengths are. at virgin i have nothing to do with our members or guests where as when i worked at myer that was 95% of my day, and i loved it. i got great satisfaction from giving our customers the best experience possible and always tried my best to turn the bad experiences around. as a result i received many compliments from customers and coworkers and i truly felt valued and good at what i was doing, like i was making a difference. at my new job, while the people are lovely, it's a nice working environment and the staff benefits are amazing, i just don't think it's for me. and i certainly can't see myself doing it for the rest of my life! now i'm not going to quit or anything, i just think it helps to put these feelings out there.

favourites

tonight i get to enjoy some of my favourite things:

sushi

movies

best friends

seeing red

after all of my complaining about the rain and bad weather, the sun was out in full force today. as a result however, i am extremely sunburnt. be careful what you wish for as they say!

2011

cleaning my car for the first time. 

it was so hot that i went for three swims in between.

we took matt's dog missy for a walk along the river. 

we also got followed by a bush turkey!

fishing with alyce and elliot. the cutest couple in the world.

lazing around with coco at home while finishing my book.