Oh eighteen...

This evening I attended Jordy's 18th birthday dinner. It was nice. I forgot what it was like to be around nice girls without having to drink... it's ridiculous how much that is encouraged in this tiny town. Although we didn't order until almost 8 (so late for dinner) I just generally had a nice night :)

How do you think I'd look with a bob? The hairdresser suggested a concave bob, but I refuse to trust hairdressers anymore. They are evil :p David and I worked out that my shortest layer is uneven on both sides. Fail.


Me and Kim arrived first. We were hungry. Classic self timer shot - I think we photograph wonderfully together; such a contrast. Which is just a bonus because I like Kim. We've hung out a lot and gotten pretty close after a bit of a rough start :p I'll miss her when I leave.


Hayley (Ms Organiser) and the birthday girl :) They're such stylish best friends.


A few of the girls after dinner. HUGE apology to my little Bec who was inside paying for her dinner at the time and Renee who had already left. It was a bit of a muddle at the end of the night. And if you look really closely you can see where I spilt my food down my dress. "What are the chances?" Lol.

It's so hot.

In the past week it has jumped from 26 degrees celsius to 34 degrees +. My eyes have been super itchy and I sneeze every time I leave the house. Yep, spring is here :p The kitties and David had a ball outside gardening and playing but I opted to stay in.


The long weekend consisted of a random, boring night at the pub (total waste of makeup), a draw in the AFL grand final (which means they have to play again this weekend, it's the weirdest thing), making caramel slice with Kim (recipe to come, I didn't take step by step photos - oops!) and a lot of Gossip Girl watching with David. He won't let me watch it without him, but shh, I didn't tell the internet of his secret love ;)

I'm getting pretty excited about the prospect of leaving now... but unsure about uni. Decisions suck. I've decided to defer another 6 months, which I can do without any penalty, and get a job while we get on our feet. It's gonna be pretty tight now that David owns a house, a rental cottage and a half block of land with his parents. It all adds up to a pretty big mortgage and I want to be able to help out... which I can't do while doing uni full-time, so we'll see what happens :)

How do you guys deal with making big decisions? I suck at it. Oh and if you ever wanted to know what my feet look like... there you are. Taken during mine and Mischa's nap in the afternoon sun-room aka the spare bedroom :p


Mischa just loves to sleep on clothes. Especially dark coloured ones. It drives me mental.

So much news!

I'm back! I'm back! Perth was amazing. I bought a camera bag so I can and will take my baby everywhere now :) But that's hardly news compared to everything else that occurred whilst on holiday.

Firstly, we bought a house! Well, David bought a house. It's in his name although I'll be making repayments with my inheritance and when I get a job after uni... he said it was so he could borrow more money from the bank, apparently the bank thinks people spend more money when they're in a relationship and therefore let you borrow less. I think it's completely the opposite, but let's not go into that. I just, ya know... it's a little disheartening to see your long-term boyfriend sign a legal form stating he is single. Anyway, snaps of the house (I stupidly didn't take one of the house before we went in for our second viewing, and by the time we were leaving our purchase the past owners had the shed open and cars parked on the lawn, hmph!) Let me introduce you to the inside of 4 Mallard Way. Our new home.

The front open room we may eventually turn into a theatre.

The view from the bedroom into the open wir/ensuite.

Looking back into the bedroom from the wir area.

The kitchen and pantry. I love me some downlights!

Looking over the kitchen bench. I can't wait to fill this area...

The dining room and the sliding door that opens up to our patio!

Perfect for warm summers and bbqs.

The back corner of the backyard.. awesome high walls to contain the cats.

Shot from the dining room/in front of the garage entry.
- Not pictured: the awesomely lit laundry, 3 extra bedrooms and the main bathroom. But you can see all that when I decorate :)

What else, well, I got my hair cut. Again. I know. I was just going to get my bangs trimmed but ended up coming out with thinned, feathered, layered hair. I dunno if I love it yet, giving it a chance... on the plus side it reminds me of my year 10 hair. I was 15-16 and totally in love with myself. I remember feeling so confident with my appearance... I never worried if I was gaining weight, or what people thought of me. I've been much more confident and can-do since having my hair this way. On the down side I think it makes my head even bigger, what with the short layers on my crown. That and I can't possibly style it as funky as the hairdresser did when I got it done.. isn't that always the way? :p



The wedding was 400 times better than I thought it could be. I got some amazing shots of the ceremony.. how amazing was Amanda's dress? Travis and Amanda looked so cute together and they had their flower girls/younger bridesmaids in a very light pink... it looks so nice! The whole party just looked sublime. There's David reading out Travis's first poem to Amanda... and the wedding took place where they first met (The sunken gardens at the University of Western Australia) SO CUTE!





And yes, I had an absolute blast at the reception. This could have been due to the liquid courage (or 3) I downed with David's parents before the official party started, but I like to think it was my stellar dance moves and social skills :D I made sure to get online the day before and read all your wonderful comments. It kept me thinking positive all day :) I can't thank you enough. You all know how scared I was about not fitting in etc with David's gal pals... well, I still don't really. BUT I sat and ate at that table, I made small talk and I made an amazing new friend in one of David's mates gfs. Bexx. She is damn cool and in the same boat as me. Not only did we rip up the dancefloor together, but we have the same size feet. (We discovered after wearing one shoe each on the df, yeah, shit got crazy) Match made in heaven? I think so :) Oh and I caught the bouquet. Yep! I'ma collect 5 of these in and cash them in for a hubby, that's how it works right?


Off to Boxercise again tonight. Last week I hurt for 3 days afterwards... lets cross our fingers for 2 days this time :)

Heart rate pumpin'

Last night my friend Bec (you know, Bec, the little one. She's super cute and you need to all know who I'm talking about because you shall all be meeting her one day when you come and meet me!) and I went to a cardio session (free? I'm there!) put on by the shire and my God was it hard work or was it hard work! ps. it was terribly hard work. Bit disappointed today because nothing really hurts, but it did at the time :p Tonight is boxercise! So although I devoured pretty much 2 entire Cadbury blocks and enough Thai food to feed a family of 4 on the weekend, I am hopeful I will be able to fit into my dress. What dress you ask? Well David's best friend is getting married this weekend!


That's all of them on their Buck's trip. As you can see, David's a shortie (which is funny, because I am not.) and the groom is the one to the right of him. Now, this wedding.. I'm a little nervous. The last time I was at a wedding I was uh, 6. And the flower girl.


This time David's the best man and I'm seated on a table with a  bunch of his best mate's (as everyone pictured is in the bridal party) girlfriends. But they're not just girlfriends, they're also the Groom's really good mates. They're all one big happy family and we've hung out a couple of times and well, it was awkward. I was the odd one out and I'm scared it will be exactly the same. And I'm scared my dress won't be appropriate. Argh! But mainly the girls/table thing - I'm not a girl's girl. I don't know what it is but girls as a whole don't like me. Do any of you have the same problem? Advice please. Haha.

So yep, we leave tomorrow and jump straight into looking at houses. Both the ones I already shared on this blog are on our viewing list. The same agent is reppin a bunch of houses we love so that's already a positive sign :) Will be a little easier if we're just negotiating with one person. I think. I dunno. I've never bought a house before. David has and he said we're not going to let on his job if possible. (He makes better than average money.) I told him he can do all the dodging and lying. I'll just state truthfully that I'm a Uni student (ie. poor!) That still feels pretty cool to say/type :)




I took my camera to lunch the other day and took photos of my food. I even had the courage to ask the waitress to take a pic of Kim and I, but I couldn't work up the nerve to ask anyone to take an outfit pic for me. And the tripod and me aren't agreeing so you can have this photo as an example of what I wore. Yep, that dress again - but with sandals, a sash and a gold key necklace. Plus I rolled the sleeves up. Oh and look at that cool plait! Yeah I've been watching Dawson's Creek (onto the 3rd season) a bit and was feeling a little 90s cool. Say hi to my new remote btw. Now to get a bag, a sturdier tripod and a 50mm lense and I will be in bizz-ness! (Yep, said exactly like that.)



Have a great time while I'm gone! (and wish me luck - eep!) I will have 100s of photos to show you when I get back (woo new camera) so brace yourselves :) Miss you already.

Well fancy that!

Nice and sore after two days of practise touch rugby matches :) But it's great to get back into it. I really like when my body gets a work out - my face seems clearer the next day and my hair shinier. Maybe it's just the Garnier shampoo I had to use because my Lush BIG ran out, but I'm pretty sure it's the exercise.


As I was waiting to get picked up Thursday afternoon I spotted and had to snap a few shots of this rainbow. I love rainbows, especially when they're totally unexpected like this because I didn't even notice it had rained.



Today and yesterday on the other hand... miserable :p Don't get me wrong, I love the rain and so do the cats it seems. David let them spend a good half hour getting soaked while I was at work and he said they loved it. Weirdos :D I would be enjoying the rain if 1) I wasn't playing sport and 2) David didn't have the man flu. Oh yes yes, he's at work on a Saturday but he can't possibly come play touch or go for a walk in the showers or come to beerfest tonight... "He's sick" Poor kid. He's just lucky I'm willing to wait on him hand & foot... until next week when we're in Perth and I expect to get spoiled rotten :)

Carrot & Orange Cupcakes

Recipe from Women's Weekly 'Cakes' cook book.
Total time: 50 minutes - Makes: 12

What you need:
2/3 cup (160ml) of vegetable oil
3/4 cup (165g) firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon finely grated orange rind
1 1/2 cups (210g) firmly packed coarsely grated carrot
1 3/4 (260g) self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda
1 teaspoon of mixed spice (we've forgotten this both times and it has still turned out nummy, so don't stress if you don't have/can't find this)
For the orange glace icing:
2 cups (320g) icing sugar
20g butter, melted
2 tablespoons orange juice


What you do:
1. Preheat oven to 180º/160ºC fan forced. (That's 356ºF for you Americans!)
2. Put 12 patty pans in a muffin tray.
3. Beat oil, sugar, eggs and rind in small bowl with electric mixer. (We used a little handheld whisky thing) Do this until thick & creamy.
4. Transfer to large bowl; stir in carrot and then sifted dry ingredients.
5. Spoon mixture into paper cases and bake for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool on rack.
6. Start on your icing after about 5-10 mins; sift icing sugar into small heatproof bowl; stir in butter and enough juice to make a firm paste. Stir over small saucepan of simmering water until spreadable :)


Again, you could probably skip the bowl over heated water, it would just mean the icing would be thicker and you'd probably have to make more. *Simple trick* Use a heated knife (run it under hot water) to spread your icing. We also just dipped a few cupcakes into the icing and twisted, that seemed to work too!

And yes, I'm wearing that Sportsgirl dress backwards Kate :p I put it on that way and decided to wear it like that all day. Hehe.

Preserving memories

Scrapbooking to me is about telling a story, focusing on the journalling and the photos. I guess that's why I don't really stack on elements or just decorate a photo - I mean some people do that and they are AMAZING works of art, but that's not what I'm about. I was pretty damn proud of my pages last month. So much so that I printed a few of them out and have them hanging above the iMac. Hoping it inspires me to create more, I'd love to be all up to date by the time we move so that I'm just scrapping as I go from then.




I feel the same way about blogging. I want this to be a recollection of my memories and ideas, triumphs and fails. (Speaking of fails I didn't make Lauren Reid's Creative Team and I'm pretty bummed.) I'm not the sort of person that can just fill this place with photos I find on tumblr, again, I have nothing against, heck I admire some blogs that do that, but it's not my style. I have a few weeks of blogging to get caught up with because I'm terribly uninspired to write when I don't have my guy around. Weird huh? Guess he's my muse :p

But he's back! So I'm full of creative juices and admiration for him, as he was thoughtful enough to get me an amazing birthday present while in Vegas. *sigh* How awesome is that?

What's the best birthday present you've received?

What do you want to do?

Write a best-selling novel? Paint something that changes someone's perspective? Learn a new language? Sing a hit song? Become a model? Design the perfect dress? Have a family? Save someone's life? Be able to educate the younger generations? Star in a movie? Start a business? Inspire someone? Be inspired?

What's stopping you?
Today is now and now is the time to start living your dream. So do it :)

I want to be a mum. More than anything. But until that happens I want to be a graphic designer. I want to work in magazines. I've ordered a few design books and I'm starting on my portfolio tomorrow night. Tonight I have to clean the house :p