planning on potting

i'm going to go to bunnings and pot 

some pretty flowers one weekend soon!

inspired

a little bit of blog inspiration found its way to me tonight.

i choose to do some personal ones about some things i've

 been up to lately as opposed to other peoples pictures and quotes.

still to come... new zealand, kahli's abode, other bits and pieces

and maybe even a little about the new man in my life... maybe.

red stamp crazy

is everyone loving the app red stamp?

i'm kind of obsessed by it at the moment

and wish i could spend my days sitting

around making cute little messages to

send to friends and family. if you don't 

have it... i think you should download it!

here are some i have made or received. 

real food festival

i whisked beth away for a weekend on the coast this sunny saturday and sunday.

it was so much fun, especially our day at the maleny real food festival. there were 

heaps of stalls showcasing fresh, local produce and beth and i made the most of the

taste testers... even going back for more when the stall holder wasn't looking! we

 sampled strawberries, cheese, olive oil, caramelised balsamic vinegar, dukkah, 

watermelon (as well as fig) fairy floss, freshly cooked haloumi, dips, jams, sauces, 

spreads (like lemon or passionfruit butter), chocolate, nuts (not for beth though 

who is alergic, despite me offering her something that contained nuts various 

times throughout the day!), salted butter, creamed honey and lots, lots more. 

for lunch we each had a mini gourmet sausage (lamb, mint and rosemary for 

beth and beef, tomato and basil for me) on fresh mini bread rolls with homemade

chunky tomato sauce. we sat together on a bail of hay with our yummy jamie

oliver style snags and homemade lemonade and people watched for a while. 

then it was time for more wandering... and eating! this time we tried more of 

all of the above, as well as indulged in anzac biccis, chocolate coated strawberries 

and strawberry parfait (we enjoyed lots of strawberries that day!). it really was 

a fun day out. apart from getting so full that we actually stopped accepting taste 

tests, we also got to hold a baby duckling and baby chicken! my kind of day ♥

coffee break

i'm not drinking coffee lately. it's not too hard but i 

am noticing that a green tea doesn't quite cut it when 

it hits the early afternoon and all i want to do is take

a nap under (or on, i'm not fussed) my desk. we've 

ordered coffee a few times now by texting ahead. 

the first two times they got it slightly wrong but the 

third time was spot on. we later realised the third 

text was received by a lady barista... perhaps that

had something to do with it! wish me luck for the

rest of the week, i'm pretty sure i'll cave by friday!

townsville getaway

some happy snaps from my weekend in townsville recently.

i had such a lovely time and it reminded me that i am happiest 

when soaking up the sun and laughing with my best friend kahli. 

i fell in love with the town and wanted to move there after my trip, 

much like how i felt about new zealand when i returned home...!

below are some of the things we got up to... a swim in the pool after 

a nap and some reading (50 shades!),  yummy breakfast at cafe bambini, 

sipping chai lates on our walk home, fish and chips over looking the ocean

and strolling along the strand, looking summery, on our first morning.

i really did have a fabulous time and it certainly left me feeling happy 

and refreshed. thank you so much for having me k and alex!

hello

hello!

i am still around.

rest assured haha. 

i just don't feel like writing much these days. 

not too sure why as i am very happy and inspired. 

i am trying to get it back for you though!

stay posted.

i ♥ nz

hello!

i'm back from my adventure to nz. 

i didn't even get a chance to say i was going!

we can blame a sprained ankle and the flu for that.

i have lots of pictures and stories to come.

in the meantime, just wanted to say...

i heart nz.

(this is one pic, taken from the inside of our fogged up little 

car as we climbed higher into the snow topped mountains)

flowers for thoughts

“if i had a flower for every time i thought of you... i could walk through my garden forever.”

cute cards

these cards from twigseeds are so sweet! the same artist has also designed some little affirmations sets. i think they make beautiful gifts. i gave beth the 'a little bird told me' one, for my birthday kahli gave me 'wise cats' and i almost bought jen the 'every dog has its day' set on the weekend. every day i wake up and see the words 'the principle business of life is to enjoy it'. it's a nice little reminder and one i tend to forget!

sick of being sick

i'm at home today as i've got a cold. i went through a whole box of tissues at work yesterday so i thought i would spare everyone having to listen to my sniffles and croaky voice again today and opt to work from home instead. it's been good being able to work away in the comfort of my lounge room wearing cozy clothes but not so good for keeping away from the chocolate in cupboard and ice cream in the freezer just metres away! i had my normal healthy breakfast of porridge with strawberries and honey and then heated up some soup for lunch (sick or not, i love soup) but things went down hill after that. has anyone tried maggie beer's dark chocolate and orange ice cream? if you have, you probably don't blame me. it's so delicious and rivals my long time love of mint chocolate chip. i'm sure it doesn't have any flu fighting properties (although... it is choc orange...) but it did make me feel a little better! i don't really have any tips or techniques for getting over a cold. i normally wait far too long before going to the chemist. i like to think that i can fight it off naturally or tough it out, until it's pretty obvious that i can't! i've actually been sick a lot this year, which  annoyingly means i can no longer use this proud statement of mine... 'i never get sick'!

weekend by the beach

my really good week ended with an even better weekend! with no plans in the diary and a new found, or perhaps rediscovered, desire to make the most of staff travel, i decided to visit my bestie kahli in townsville. i also had friday off work as i worked ekka wednesday so was able to fly up that afternoon to really make the most of it. as a result, i think i've fallen a little bit in love with townsville. i haven't felt as relaxed or as happy in a long time. maybe it was being around my oldest and dearest friend, or maybe it was the warm weather, palm trees and ocean views. or both! i had a lovely time just hanging out as friends do. we ate in, ate out, slept in, walked along the strand, lay by the pool, read, had a swim, went to the cultural festival across the road, almost had our fortunes told, shopped, laughed, sipped vodka, lemonade and lime on the balcony, were entertained by alex's school friend, instagrammed, talked, painted nails, watched telly, were waited on by alex and much more. kahli's place is simply gorgeous and makes you feel like you're on holidays the moment you step inside. i had my own room with turquoise sheets and fresh flowers by my bedside. (i will share some pictures of her abode soon!) so all in all, and despite having a bad head cold for most of my visit, i had a blast. i can't wait to go back, this time with my other bestie naomi. i am already looking forward to exploring more of townsville, climbing the big mountain that sits behind it, trying some more restaurants, bars and cafes and of course visiting the beautiful magnetic island for some fun in the sun. i think the next time i feel a bit down, i'll simply book a flight to north queensland, my new happy place!

lace love

this is pretty ♥

i have a thing for white lace at the moment.

i especially love pieces that allow you to have a little bit of skin on show like this. 

i recently wore a white lace dress to a work event and you could see through the sleeves.

i felt classy but pretty and sexy at the same time.

in focus

is it just me, or do you sometimes (ok, frequently!) feel like the things you see or read are speaking directly to you about something that is going on in your life? i know it's silly, and it's probably because the articles i read are generic enough to apply to everyone but it still amazes me regardless and always feels like some kind of sign. the other day i picked up a cosmo magazine of naomi's and page after page related to an area of my life... namely to do with relationships of course, as cosmopolitain does best, but still! just this week, i went to a blog that i rarely ever visit and read a post about how the young woman went through a really hard, low time when she was in her mid twenties. then no more than twenty minutes later, beth and i were emailing about how we were experience a similar thing. it was like i had read that post at the perfect time. then there is star signs. nine times out of ten my star signs are spot on. i still haven't worked out how they do that! this weeks read 'something is stressing you out, hemming you in, winding you up, getting you down'. um, yes! the good news is that apparently it is going to disappear in the next couple of weeks, which funnily enough, it feels like this is happening. during the week i collected a heap of weekend paper magazines from work (sunday magazine, q weekend, the sunday times magazine, wish from the australian and more). i always like to have a flick through these when i can, they are the best part of the paper in my opinion, shhh! tonight i picked up one off the stack and opened it to the first page. of course the editors letter happened to be all about happiness. a topic close to mine, and presumably everyone's, heart. beth and i had a lovely dinner date tonight and spent most of our time talking about this very thing. in fact, i spend most of my time thinking about it, trying to work out how to find it. i don't know why, but when this kind of thing happens, i always think to myself 'the universe is telling me something'. if only i knew what! for those who are interested, some of the article read... remember when 'happy' was just something you were. good days, bad days, happy days, sad days - all jumbled in a life you lived rather than thought about. today happiness is a commodity; a 'goal', a 'revolution', a 'project'. it's what we want we want for ourselves and our children. "yes, please," we'd say to the doctor if she could vaccinate against sadness, along with the usual measles and mumps. anything to immunise ourselves against pain and unease. interesting indeed and something i agree with. she then goes on to talk about the book the happiness project. this made me smile even more as i receive an email every day from the happiness project lady with a daily happiness quote. (i don't recommend subscribing though as i can hardly ever make sense of them!) so am i alone in this thinking? or do you ever smile at yourself over similar things? i hope so! p.s. this picture is stolen from kahli's blog. it's currently my desktop screen saver. maybe it's working!

hello and goodnight

i'm finally feeling a bit more settled in my new suburb and home, as well as in other areas of this crazy little thing called my life! i have lots to of posts to catch up on and there will be no sad ones in the mix i promise! i am so tired right now (eyes are closing!) so this is just a quick post to check in. goodnight world... ♥

ever feel like this?

uk becomes nz

soooo my dreams to see europe are on hold for various reasons. sad, but not the end of the world. 

i'm having a smaller adventure to queenstown in new zealand instead which is still very exciting and will be somewhere new to explore. sorry to get your hopes up... (ok, i'm talking to myself here)!

cherished

happy birthday for today dad. 

i love you so so so so very much.

the older i get (and the older you get!)

the more i think about my love for you. 

you have done so much for me and continue

to do so in so many ways. i sometimes

wish there were more ways to show 

you just how much i cherish you.

love always, your first born. 

high five for the olympics!

is everyone loving the olympics? i am!

it's hard to believe they only happen every four years.

certainly feels like less when they roll around again.

going to an olympic event is certainly on my bucket list. 

brazil when i'm twenty nine though? maybe not...!

i think i should have jumped on the london boat long ago.

tonight i scored a try by diving over the line. i can safely 

say that's the closest i'll ever come to olympic glory. 

that's why i made the most of it and threw the ball up 

in the air like they do in footy and high fived everyone. 

too hard?