Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Bed Time Stories / Surfing Cats

On request Luke can come up with some pretty funny bed time stories. If I'm having trouble falling asleep he usually sits with me until I reach the land of nod and tells me a bed time story about whatever I like. And one of the things I like most is cats! Last night Luke told me a little tale about a mother cat who lived in the bush with her four kittens. They all lived in a little hut and kept busy with little jobs & bush adventures during the day, and napped in the afternoons. The little pack of kittens went on an adventure one day without their Mother and found on the outskirts of the bush, a beach. Each day they discovered more and more of the beach, and they eventually came across some drift wood. Being the adventurous kittens they were, they used the drift wood as surf boards and took to the ocean. The kittens loved their afternoon of surfing and returned back to the family hut to tell their Mother all about their surfing adventures. To their surprise she was not impressed and the kittens were told the beach was off limits. They used afternoon nap time while their Mother was asleep to sneak off to the beach to surf. Their surfing sessions were kept a top secret for many years until their Mother urged them to go out and be their own cats. And their own cats they were! They drifted along the coast surfing all day long!

Monday, August 27, 2012

Start Your Week Off With..


I was lucky enough to start the week off with a gigantic sleep in with Luke, followed by a sunny stroll to one of our favourite cafes for coffee and and a late lunch. Our afternoon was spent doing an early spring clean of our spare room, and a surprise visit from my mum for cups of tea and a cheese plate. Have a great little week!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Digging For Dinosaur Teeth

My Sister posted this photo on Facebook this evening, it was taken in the early 90's at my childhood home in Gunnedah with my Sister Ashleigh & two of my cousins, Jay & Dan. Ashleigh is on a weekend cleaning rampage and must have stumbled upon some old photographs. On our old gravel driveway we were digging for dinosaur teeth that my Mother promised us were there! Before my parents concreted the driveway, we used to play on it and I have a clear memory of Ash & I sorting through the gravel to find the whitest pebbles to hide under or pillows to trick the tooth fairy into giving us money! 

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

My Illustrations Elsewhere

A couple of months ago Rose Eva, who blogs over at Silhouetted, commissioned four custom illustrations from me. Rose Eva was an absolute delight to work with and being a designer herself, was quite specific with what she wanted for her illustrations. And while it is fun to be given free range when creating custom portraits and illustrations, I found it to be just as nice to have clear-cut boundaries. You can find all four of the illustrations on her blog navigation pages. Go check them out! And if you would like something similar for your blog, send me an email.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Recent Purchases

Perfume The Body Shop  Earrings Lovisa  Dress Glassons  Cushion Target

Last week when I went to the shops I noticed all the pretty Spring dresses and couldn't leave without one. The end of winter is the best time to stock up on cute dresses with sleeves. I don't like to wear sleeveless dresses, I like the t-shirt style dress and they're always so hard to find in the summer because everything is sleeveless or spaghetti strap. I picked this dress up at Glassons for $49.95, and couldn't be happier with it. I now have three dresses, all pretty similar, from Glassons. Theres nothing better than a dualistic dress. Well, I'm sure there is. Like all the new products at The Body Shop, especially their Japanese Cherry Blossom range.

I got through home ware phases, sometimes I'm particularly interested in them, and the rest of the time I'm focused on dresses or coffee table books. Lately I've been keeping my eyes open for unnecessary home wares and found myself coveting this stamp like anchor cushion from Target. And to my delight, it was marked down an extra six dollars to $20.95!I also picked up two pairs of earrings for $10 from Lovisa. I love big stud earrings but haven't had much luck finding any that I love enough to wear. I didn't realise how much I needed a pair of horse & heart earrings until I bought them! 

Start Your Week Off With..

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Delight + Dislike

Big Brother started here in Australia this week, and although I've been watching it, I'm still not sold on it. It feels this time around the show has been given a big wipe over with a PG rated cloth. Which is totally fine because I'm not going to be watching it religiously, but it feels even more put on than the previous years. With Big Brother although the concept remains the same, the ideas that strengthen the shows foundation are what makes you want to keep watching it into a new series. And the ideas already put forth this year really are not that fascinating or unique. So far the housemates have been sitting around making assumptions about one another and giving back handed compliments. As I get older I'm not really that entertained by grown ups in a bitch circle anymore. Big Brother rant over. Something that I found delightful this week that took me by surprise was Norah Jones' new single 'Miriam'. It is absolutely delightful! I am not a fan of her previous records, but if her new stuff sounds like this I may just consider becoming one. And she is also quite cute rowing in a boat in the film clip singing about a girl she hates. Have a great little weekend!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Custom Illustration

Recently Peta from The Sea And Me Change commissioned me to do an illustration for her sister. To read about the illustration, check out her lovely post on the piece here. While you're visiting her blog, make sure you check out her absolutely gorgeous wedding photos and features. If you would like your own custom illustration, or would like to give one as a gift to somebody special, send me an email to laurenemily[at]y7mail[dot]com

Friday, August 10, 2012

Tea For Three

Today has been a pretty lovely Friday, even though the weather has been horrendous. Luke had a late start this morning so we got to have breakfast together. We bought some coffees, and came home so Luke could make French toast for breakfast. After I drove him to work, I went to the shops and bought some new Spring dresses. An old friend whom I hadn't spoke to in a while called while I was dress scouting, and believe me when I say that trying on clothes while holding a phone up to your ear with your shoulder and maintaining concentration about a serious topic is hard! My cousin is visiting us this evening and we're having a little family dinner together at my parents house. I haven't seen her since she last visited late last year. Most of my family live in Gunnedah, so there is always large gaps in-between seeing them all. Ashleigh, Sarah & I had a late lunch date at Two Birds Gallery, which is one of my favourite cafes on the Central Coast and is conveniently a block away from my flat. And afterwards came back to my place for cups of tea. I finally opened the Vanilla + Mint Tisane I bought from T2, and if you have the chance to buy/try it, I suggest you do so! 

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

My Monthly Agenda / August

I've been debating whether to read Fifty Shades Of Grey or not, but my curiosity is starting to actually annoy me. A couple of customers have come in to the cafe during their lunch breaks and been reading it, and the more its in my face the more I want to read it. My Mother read it a couple of weeks ago & I asked her what it was about and she blushed a little and told me I wouldn't like it. I still haven't quite finished my read for July, so I better get onto that before I cure my curiosity! Another thing that seems to be everywhere lately is macaroons. The cafes across the road from my flat have all started to sell them, so the urge to bake my own batch will be my Sunday afternoon plans with Luke this weekend. 

Putting together these little collages has already helped me to get organised and prioritise what I need, and focus on what I want rather than impulse buying. On last month's 'Need' agenda I listed a juicer, and last week I actually bought one! I've been saying to myself for the better part of this year that I wanted to invest in a juicer and because I committed to the idea it happened! (I'm less excited about my 'Need' purchase this month, because lets face it, who gets excited over a step ladder?)I also opened an actual novel, which is something I haven't done for quite some time, and cooked a meal I've been meaning to try. The only thing from last month's agenda that wasn't achieved was buying the dress that I listed for my July 'Want'. That won't be happening this month because even though I do want it, I really need some hemp hand cream from The Body Shop. Heres to hoping I get everything covered this month!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

What I Wore


Skirt Cocolatte  Shirt Cotton On Cardigan Kmart  Brooch Diva Bag Mink Pink
This has been one of my favourite outfits lately, lashing out and spending the $2 on the awkwardly bright pink 'hello' brooch was totally worth it! This shirt was a present from my lovely husband for our anniversary this year. It was the first time Luke has gone to the shops on his own accord to buy me an item of clothing, and I'm pretty impressed with his efforts! 

Monday, August 6, 2012

Start Your Week Off With..


I hope you enjoy these little links to start your week off with, I came across a new blog this week -Spotted Gazelle - which is a fairly new blog on the block. Go check it out! Have a great little week!

Friday, August 3, 2012

Delight + Dislike

I have neglected this new feature for the past two weeks, I completely forgot to schedule one while I was in Sydney last week. But it's okay, because while I was in Sydney I picked up some new T2 teas that have been a delight all week long! If you're a regular reader of this blog, you would know by now that I'm pretty into tea and it is a daily delight of mine. This week I've been brewing up pots of Creme Brûlée T2 tea, and it is super tasty!

And this week's dislike goes to goats. Yep, goats. Last week Luke & I were watching the episode of 'How I Met Your Mother' where Lily brings home a goat and it eats everything in Ted's apartment. And all of a sudden I just felt sick and weird and gross watching the goat be a goat. And for the past couple of days I've been seeing them everywhere on blogs, in the paper and on tv. They've never really been an issue for me, but all of a sudden I just can't stand them!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Little Lovers In The City


This post is a couple of days late, but I think it'll be okay. Last week Luke & I spent a couple of nights in Sydney as a late celebratory anniversary treat. We both worked on the actual day, and we figured we would post-pone it until later in the month. We caught the train to Sydney late Thursday afternoon, and got stuck in afternoon traffic and got to the station just as our train did. We didn't have any time to buy tickets, and the next train was ages afterwards, so we got on. It was such a stressful hour and a half, I kept thinking at any time we would be fined hundreds of dollars for not buying a ticket. But we got to Sydney without any fines. Because Luke & I are just naturally unorganised people, we didn't actually look up an address for our hotel, but when we walked straight out of the station it was directly opposite. And our luck continued with a free room upgrade when we checked in! After we dropped our bags off in the room, we had some pre drinks and left for Jack White's solo Sydney gig at The Horden Pavilion. It was absolutely amazing, Mr White is just perfect live.

We gave ourselves a gigantic sleep in on Friday and then ventured out for brunch in Surry Hills. We normally flock straight to Newtown, but my sister suggested we visit Surry Hills for a change, and it was a fantastic suggestion! We had brunch at a cute little cafe that had the most delightful organic coffee, looked at so so many delightful stores and then made our way back to central so we could get a train to Newtown. I was determined not to come home without a new dress, and third shop into my mission I found the most delightful violet vintage day dress. I also picked up some new T2 teas and some T2 tea infused jam and a marmalade. We had dinner at Corridor, the same place we had dinner at for our anniversary last year. Only last year we didn't drink as many cocktails! Afterwards we went to see Band Of Skulls at The Factory. It was slightly more enjoyable than the gig the previous night because we were close to the front, and because I'm short that really helps! We had the best evening, Luke particularly because Band Of Skulls is one of his favourite bands. 

Our evening had to end earlier than we would have liked, because we both had to work on the Saturday morning so we made an early morning exit at 5 am. Luke & I haven't spent a couple of days away together alone in such a long time, so it was really lovely to spend some actual time together. Little trips like these are so important, and I can't wait to go on another adventure soon!