Link Love for Friday...

 * Street art of the year.
* My first blog to life meeting experience!
* What it looks like inside a 2 year olds head!
* Now that is a nice camera bag.
* An Insult generator!
* Anyone else out there a fan of Tom Waits?
* Understanding 'Ism's'
* Got baggage?
* A mattress to make cuddling comfortable!
* The most famous movie haircuts.

Melbourne: Rain with a chance of more rain.

A flight twice as long as it should be due to: The Weather.
Luggage not coming for anhour due to: The Weather.
Journey to accomodation painstakingly slow due to: The Weather.

Thank goodness I remembered my brolly!

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Street Photography

I've always liked taking pictures. I was really blessed to have a year 4 teacher who was a hobby photographer and set up a dark room next to our classroom and taught us all how to develop our own film. Film. Those where the days. Street photography is an art I greatly admire. The candidness and pure emotion not to mention naturally occurring beauty in the everyday is so good for the soul to see. Husbando just sent me a link to this article, and I really had to share it with you all. How amazing are Henri Cartier-Bresson's pictures? And Eric Kim's tips are brilliant too!

Romantic weekend.

Catch Up

{The Viking part of Dublin in the sun, The Queen of Tarts x 2 - Look at that cake!, Dublin has a wee bit more neon sign-age than Western cities usually do, and a bit of awesome street art.}

So apologies for the absence... again. It seems to be happening a lot at the moment things are crescendoing. So a catch up.
* I threw Tim a suprise 30th birthday party... and it was a surprise. I'll do a post on it (and how to pull it off) when I get some pictures together.
* I've been to England for a couple of days to squeeze in time with some precious people.
* I've been to Dublin for work... pictures as above...
* I got straight off an international flight slept in my own bed for 6 hours and then got straight onto another flight to teach at university that day.
* I got straight off a flight and into a car to go on a 4 day holiday with husbando. No internet, no television, and no phone reception and plenty of wine, reading, amazing food and a little too much nature (ticks, snakes etc).
* And tomorrow I do it all again: Flight, teach, Flight, Flight to Melb, Work... Yikes.

Dear Blog,

Happy 2nd birthday to you! Look how far we have come! It's been a blessing and a joy and yes I'll admit sometimes a struggle filling these pages, but I love how you've documented my life, I love the friends I feel I've made and I love all the pretty things you hold.

Some highlights of the year:
Hitting the 100 mark!
The one where we bought a house.
That rant about being a vego.
My new bicycle.
The most popular post on my blog ever!

Yours Thankfully,
Sophie

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Nana-nerner...

I pledged to eat a banana a day whilst I was in a country where they are an affordable commodity. I present to you bananas in every way!

{Ps. I didn't really drop the skin on the floor...}

How to not look like a tourist when you are a tourist...

* Jay walk. Obviously only when it's safe to do so.
* Sure, carry a camera, but don't have it poised and ready to go. If you're not on a safari camp then you're probably taking pictures of buildings. They're not going anywhere fast, so just stop, take off the camera lens and snap casual stylee.
* Avoid taking pictures of people and buildings. Separate the two...
* Look at the map before you leave the accommodation. Find land marks, get orientated. Then just head in the general direction.
* Dress like a normal person.
* Go wide eyed. By which I mean: don't have tunnel vision. Take in everything around you casually. You might be surprised by what you find and you won't look like a doofball. (new word of mine that...)

I know I know. Where would you be without me???

Oh and if in doubt, chuck all this aside and employ your super cute accent to win hearts and minds.

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Things to be thankful for*

* Skype; making missing husband that tiny bit easier.
* Notebooks. Without any technology and no one to talk to, writing things down feels like sweet relief.
* A successful opening night.
* The strong dollar!
* The amazing "hellos" I have done this week.
* The beautiful people who I managed to see and who it breaks my heart to leave all over again. There are some downsides to having two passports.
* The river Liffey, without it I would be completely lost and disorientated in Dublin.
* Though I thought I was going to die on the flight over, I didn't. That though I was sick, it was only little (And fitted in the bag. TMI?). I didn't pass out as expected and that thank God, I had my darling friend Caz there to look after me.
* My grandparents had 5 children who had lots of children too, which led to me having lots and lots of excellent cousins.
* The hugeness of the apartment that I'm staying in! It's like I can pretend I live here! (ps. I rearranged the furniture as soon as I arrived! hehe!)

More thankfulness over here, and on my blog every week.

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Northern hemisphere fashion

 Don't laugh but I'm sending phone pictures of me in dressing rooms to husbando. I really am the worlds most indecisive shopper! So tell me... can I work biker boots? Are dungarees/overall dresses really back? (I dont know if I ever left them behind actually.) Do I, lady of the black, white and grey wardrobe, have the balls to wear some freakin' colour ?!!!

Radio Silence!

I'm in Dublin and quite busy. Don't worry I have a whole list (yes it is actually a list, on paper) of posts for you... it's just I havn't been able to get them up yet! Dublin is superb! (my flight here less so... more on that later!) Back soon! *s*

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Things to be thankful for*

* Safe travels, loooong but safe.
* How vegetarians get their food first on airplanes (haha)
* How smells stay the same across the years. The london underground smell, my grandparents house...
* My grandparents. so. flippin. awesome.
* The stories my grandparents have.
* My grandparents garden. Simply glorious.
* Old stuff. Nice one England.
* Gran's lemonade, soup and fruit cake.
* Tad's eyebrows, enthusiasm for technology and for always having ice-cream to hand.
* The 30 years today of my husbands life. Thanks parents in law for that!

More thankfulness over here this week...

My creative space...

 

Is it cheating if its over 15 years old? Our dear family friend (and awesome artist), Jules scanned this in to her computer and sent it to me the other day! She had kept it all these years because clearly even at the age of 10 I was completely adorable! Ha! Have to confess my drawing skills havn't improved much since then... Though I am now quite good at drawing feet... yup, there's a Random Fact of the Day about me for you. You are SO welcome.

More creative spaces over here...

I wish I was related to...

Not that my family isn't 120% awesome. Just that there are some people I would love to hang out with in a family setting. John Cleese would be great at Christmas lunch. I have a feeling Maggie Smith would be wickedly lovely to have over for tea, Jonathan from Media Watch,  Anton from SBS news... These are people that I wish I was related to. Who would you love to just be able to hang out with in a relaxed setting?

Maggie Smith
John Cleese

Wisdom, Insight, Feelings...

 Does anyone scrapbook? And would anyone be interested in digital scrap booking? I've been offered to do a promotion on this blog and I'm not quite sure what to think. I personally don't scrapbook and can't imagine myself spending time digitally scrap booking. Heaven knows I spend too much time on the computer as it is... But if I have readers that are keen...

It's funny, I was so stoked to reach 100 followers because, way back when, I remember reaching 20 and being completely over the moon and husbando telling me... "ohhh when you reach 100 you should monetise your blog" and I was like: "Ha! Yeah right" but also "Yes!!".

I'd like to say it was never my aim to have lots of readers, but it's simply not true. It's nice to feel liked and appreciated. And now, 2 years later, here I am and I'm nervous about this offer. (I kinda feel okay writing this because I doubt they've actually read my blog. If they had they would know I don't scrapbook!)

What do you think? I know lots of bloggers like to be ad free and that's cool, I read blogs with ad's and promotions and enter giveaways for such things... and I read blogs that don't too. I just don't feel like this blog is particularly focused enough on any one thing. I'm not a mummy blogger (though I read heaps of them), I'm not a craft or sewing blogger (though I do craft from time to time), I'm not a food blogger (but I love to cook). I just errr... blog. And that's okay. Sometimes I don't feel like blogging so I write short posts. Sometimes I share a lot. It's all okay. You're all here. And no matter what husbando and my mum will read along. (Thanks guys!)

Beth wrote an interesting post about this a while ago when she got sent a whole heap of toys for her kids to review and perhaps maybe she would blog about it. I felt what she describes - "Whoppee!  A company wants to use my blog because I speak to The People!" And then for me "Um... actually I probably just passed some statistic test and they send out 500 of these emails every day...annnnnd I don't scrap book..."

What do you think bloggy friends?? Wisdom, Insight, Feelings? My Facebook followers have said that if the business fits then the business can buy me chocolate (money buys chocolate) butI'm honestly not very sure if this business fits. Scrap booking anyone?

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Mantle Piece Monday

So not my mantle piece but my mum and dads bookshelf. It was looking so pretty the other day I thought it would be perfect for a bit of blog love.
The tree painting is by a friend of theirs. I don't think her work is online though. They collect antique wooden vases with Kookaburras on them - a specific collection I know, but they're beautiful things. The wattle and pear blossom is from their garden. Oh, and there's a picture of Tim and I on our wedding day, the one where I'm carrying him... erm yeah. And some African carved animals from various overseas trips.

Mantle Piece Monday hangs out over here...

Things to be Thankful For

* Paid trips overseas.
* The amount that you can get done in a day if you're woken up really early. (damn builders next door)
* Spellcheck.
* The internet.
* Friends who lend a helping hand.
* Paperclips, labels, organisational tools!
* Spring, the sun, my sunflower!
* Caramelised onion! Yum!

Link Love for Friday...

* Very funny friendship rant.
* How to get rainbow roses.
* The most beautiful birth story I ever read.
* Children's book by Bowie.
* Say something nice.
* The French are having a post it war.