Happy Friday!

It's Friday, and I'm excited.

I'm excited that I have two days off work.
I'm excited I'm going out with John's family tonight for dinner.
I'm excited that my new shoes came today (wearing them right now!).
I'm excited that I got a reach to photograph a wedding.

I'm also excited that I'm working on my website, and it'll be live soon! So that's VERY exciting.

I wonder how many times you can use the word exciting without it losing all meaning?!

Also, I'm going to be doing a fun lamp DIY in the next few weeks. It's a pretty ugly brown thing, but it has potential to be something excellent... can you guess what I'm going to say? EXCITING!

Ok, check out this lovely lady's photography. I'm really in love it it. You just HAVE to see it.

And, here's something to make you smile! :) 

Party Decor Inspiration, and Other Stuff

Well, it's my birthday in a few days. I'm going to be 24 years old. How the hell did that happen?? This probably sounds silly, but sometimes I forget that I'm a grown up - does that make me still a kid if I say "grown-up"? Probably - and sometimes I think, "oh I've got ages to do the things I want". Or, "I'll be set up eventually", or some other "one day..." excuse. But I'm almost a quarter of a century old, and there's still so much I want to do.

Don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly grateful for the things I have, I just want to make sure that I don't have any regrets about wishing I had done things and experienced more.

So, in my 24th year, I'm going to do the following:

Start Yoga/Pilates
Read more classics (Pride and Prejudice for example)
Do a wheelie (on my new bike!)
Master the fishtail braid
Learn more French
Call my parents more
Take more photos - professionally and recreationally
Put 110% into my Diploma
Do a short marathon

That's pretty much all I can think of for now, but it's enough to get me started!

But first, there's got to be cake and pretty decorations!

Spotty bunting

Green striped straws - I actually bought these!

I love washi tape!

I love this idea from The Crafted Sparrow, but maybe for my 25th? 

For this weekend's get-together though, I'm keepin' it simple. Green and pink bunting, green striped paper straws, pink polka dot plates, etc! 

Hope your day is colorful! :) 

Long weekend + beaches & sunshine

This past weekend was excellent. It was a long weekend, so we got to chill out and do whatever we wanted (doesn't happen too often!).

I did a bush run (John did one too, but he runs at a faster pace!) and stacked it pretty bad. My skins are ripped (might have to invest in some 2XU's??) and got a pretty gross gash on my knee. But I continued on for another 20 mins, and felt pretty good (apart from the knee-gash).

We watched a new TV series (The Tudors - reviews anyone?), spent lazy afternoons in the sun reading The Casual Vacancy, took Marley to a beach (with the whitest sand ever!) stayed up late and watched scary movies, had a bbq and just relaxed; it was heaven.

Here are some of my snaps :)

 Also, I enrolled in my Diploma in Photography! Very exciting!

It's by correspondance and I haven't had the best luck before sticking to such a relaxed schedule - any tips?

xx

Ragamuffin!

Best. Coffee. Ever. Seriously.

I always have soy (lactose intolerant) but I'm actually not a huge fan of it (I'd bring my own lactose free milk to coffee shops if I could!) but their mochas taste magnifique!

And their muffins. Oh my. 

For any Sydneysiders, or visitors to Sydney, they're located on Norton St, Leichhardt (aka "Little Italy"). And if you go to Ragamuffin for your soy mocha (or beverage of your choice) make sure you check out Bar Italia and their amazeballs carbonara. Incredibile! 

Happy Wednesday!

 

My Week in Instagram

This past week was special, fun, romantic, sad and satisfying.

It was John's birthday, presents and cakes galore.

My Dad came over for business, but we got to hang out too :)

I also had a funeral to go to, for someone truly caring, inspirational and well loved. It was a lovely service though; before he died, he requested that everyone wear bright clothes, and instead of flowers to bring a shrub or small tree to plant. His wife (my high school teacher and friend) told us some hilarious stories, and at the end some of his close friends did the Maori Haka - intensely awesome.

Some lovely moments were shared between my boyfriend and I. Without sounding too mushy or gushy, he's an amazing person and I'm so glad I found him.


Hope your weekend was all of the above and more!

:)

Spring Fever!

I love spring. Big fan. Fun things happen in spring, like my boyfriend's birthday (yesterday), my birthday, and lots of beautiful flowers, peaches, pretty dresses and daylight savings.


Last weekend we went on a bit of a road trip with the pup, and then stopped for coffee at our old place, Ragamuffin. Best soy mocha in Sydney. And the most amazing muffins. We don't get to go there regularly anymore, but it's nice to go back. Lots of nice memories from when my boyfriend and I were first going out.

Do you have special places like that? Certain smells and tastes that remind you of someone special? Sometimes it can be really strong, and you feel like you're back there :)

I also found this awesome dress that just says SPRING to me, by Modcloth :)

Wings of a Beauty


Hope you're having a great week! :)

Healthy(ish) Cookies

Ah cookies. You're a big love of mine and quite hard to have in moderation (seriously, who can have just one?)

So I embellished a recipe I found, and they turned out excellent! See the original here.

As you can see, they're from a diabetic website, so only a small amount of sugar was used and lighter calorie/kilojule ingredients used. Sometimes eating healthier doesn't mean you have to sacrifice the taste.

Now, I didn't add the butter and rum flavoring but I did add some hazelnut meal (about 1/4 cup). For the margarine, I used only 3 tablespoons of nuttlex. I also chucked in some slivered almonds and dark chocolate chips (don't judge me).

And they were delicious.