Camera wishlist

I'm not a photographer at all but lately I've wanted to explore photography as another hobby. I have my digital camera which is good to keep in my handbag and my iPhone which is good for sneaky shots :) but I would really like to get a DSLR camera.

What are your recommendations for a DSLR camera? Used more for a hobby than anything else. I was thinking of some kind of Cannon??

Anyway, I do want to get these other cameras, again to play around with photography.

via Lomography Australia

Can't decide which colour to get (although the black and turquoise one is out of stock on this site for the moment). Any ideas?? 

Via Photojojo

I do think this is quite adorable. And I definitely want to get one of these. Again I know there are other colours that can be purchased. 

Via Photojojo

And this little thing looks amazing. The little videos it captures with that awesome vintage feel and the photos too. 

So at the moment these are on my wish list. Any other recommendations are most welcome. I'm only really entering this other world of cameras (besides my digital). 

Have a fantastic rest of week!!

Meet Layla-Rose

This is sweet Layla-Rose. My good friend's baby girl. 

She has really long lashes. I absolutely adore her already. 

I love seeing Jason when he is holding a baby. She fell asleep in his arms. 

She was having a little cry here. Is it bad that I thought it was really cute?! 

Right, so now all I have to do is stop wanting to have my own baby and wait until we are completely ready for it!! Sigh

A happy list for the week

It was great to read your baby thoughts :) Thank you!

I've been feeling good lately and wanted to share a happy list from the week with you.

♥ Watching Eat, Pray Love with Julia yesterday
♥ Eating maltesers in the movie theatre because I was starving
♥ Going to Max Brenner for the first time (with Julia)

This is my hot chocolate in my hug mug :)

This is the waffles Julia got. Delicious!

♥ Finding out Borders has a whole lot of new stationery ranges (my mouth watered)

Borders has pretty masking/deco tape now

My sneaky shot of the tape with my iphone. 

Another sneaky iPhone shot (why these photos aren't so clear)

♥ Seeing new stationery lines at work (whee!)

♥ Buying my first pair of TOMS shoes (I loves them)

I was quite excited to get them. 

 ♥ Going to TYPO and buying some Christmas presents (I'm in love with this store)

Most of this is for pen pals  :) Makes me feel less guilty for purchasing so much

♥  Buying things in Mombasa (one of my fave shops) during my 15 minute work tea breaks

 I love this necklace. I wore it yesterday and received quite a few compliments.

 My new skirt from Mombasa. I wish I bought the green one now just because I'm trying to get out of buying pink.

A floral dress for summer. I don't wear many prints so I'm starting to branch out. 

♥ Buying the Frankie 2011 Daily journal. 

This diary is slightly too big for me so I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep it yet. 

♥ Putting together my present for my friends baby. Little Layla was born on Thursday

Hopefully be visiting my friend and baby this afternoon. 

♥ Walking around Southbank in the afternoon. 

♥ Realising that I live in a beautiful city and I'm going to learn to appreciate it more.

Have a wonderful rest of weekend!

So many babies around here

Via Mila's Daydreams

Lately I've been surrounded by babies. I work in the childrens wear department so I see babies on a daily basis. Sometimes they can drive me nuts (crying and screaming and I wonder why the mother doesn't take them to the mother's room for awhile - and not being a mum I'm not here to judge). Other times my heart melts. 

When I see them I just want to pick them up and give them a cuddle. Doubly so if they give me a gummy smile. And when I have to put through the teeny tiny singlets, onesies, little shoes, and other adorable outfits it really makes me want to have one.

But...I know we are ready yet. We're not ready for the responsibility to have children. Besides, we still want to travel and spend more time as just a married couple. Even though my heart is so full of love for these tiny blessings, it's just not the right time.

So instead I spoil the babies I do know :) One of my best friends is having a baby tomorrow (c-section) and I'm completely excited! I've bought a few items already, a few sweet onesies, some baby shoes, and I did get a tiny singlet with fairy wings.

Plus, I'm getting another nephew or niece! But it's a very tangled story and I'm not sure I would be ready to share it on here.

I do know that I'm going to start my childrens book collection and I have a few other little bits already. I've been going through some baby names and testing them with our last name to make sure it flows.

I try to put myself off for the moment by watching birth videos. The first one I watched freaked me out! But then I just ended up crying when they put the baby into the arms of the mother.

So all in all I would like to have kids but I also know that we aren't ready for it right now. Does anyone else feel the same way? Or to the mothers out there, what do you love most about being a mum??

Have a fantastic rest of week!

Summer plans!

 

Via Kiss the Groom 

The summer season is coming! I'm so excited. The warm weather always gets me excited for Christmas. This year we are spending Christmas on the Sunshine Coast, so that means BEACH! It's going to be amazing. My job this year is to make the bonbons :) I'm going to personalise each one. 

Anyway, this is my summer time list of things to do...

♥ Go to the beach as often as possible

♥ Have a few picnics

♥ Late afternoon walks

♥ Use our complex swimming pool

♥ Buy another sweet bikini (hopefully Seafolly) 

♥ Wear lots of pretty dresses and skirts

♥ Take a lot of photos

♥ Attend Finders Keepers Spring/Summer markets

♥ Read light books

♥ Go on a trip to Melbourne

♥ Have BBQs

♥ Eat lots of watermelon

I have more plans but I work A LOT over this season. Jason and I desperately want to go to Hamilton Island again. That's where we went on our honeymoon but it's the rainy season in summer. 

Oh and another plan is to make some head bands. I have some supplies from Etsy.

These are some of my supplies. I hope to get some fabric to make some flowers too. Hopefully these will end up in my Etsy shop. 

We get our new registers tomorrow. Have a wonderful week!

A blog with substance :)

Hey lovelies! It's been a busy busy work week and next week is even worse. So my blog post may be a bit sporadic. We are getting the new registers next week (whee!) which is good news. The old clunky registers will be gone.

Anyway, I received the same blog award from two wonderful bloggers. Jess from The beat my heart Skips and Karolina from Better than Barszcz.

Funnily enough the award had different requirements. For Karolina's award...I want to say thank you for reading. It really makes me happy to know that I can share my life and other bits of happiness in my life.

Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation and experience with five words...
Happiness, creativity, life, inspiration, friendship

And for Jess' award, I'm to list 10 things I love...

1. My hubby Jason

2. Being a Christian and having a wonderful Saviour

3. My family and friends

4. Stationery

 

 Via Kikki.K

5. Books!!

 Via Wehearit

6. Journals

Via Weheartit

7. Being inspired

8. Butterflies

Via Tumblr

9. Ballet flats

Via Tumblr

10. Receiving mail

 

 Via  Weheartit

Thanks to everyone who reads my blog. You guys are great! This award is for everyone :)

Have a wonderful weekend! What do you love??

A beautiful weekend

The weekend started with work (a pretty horrid day too). But then at night Jason and I went on a date. We haven't done this in a long time so it was lovely.

My outfit for the night. I had to wear a little grey cardi because there was a chill in the air. It's been raining all week (I miss the sunshine). I bought this Bardot dress from work. It was soo cheap because there was 40% off. I thought I would get the mint colour because I always buy white/cream or blush pink (the other colour available).

We ate at the Breakfast Creek Hotel. It's known for it's steaks. You go there to eat steak. It was so filling, but the steak was soo good! 

After dinner we went on a Gondola cruise down Brisbane river for an hour. It was a gift from Jason's work mates (for our wedding, we finally used it). It was hard to take photos because it had soft lighting inside. But the gondola ride was beautiful. It was relaxing and the view was stunning! 

Then today, it was the 10 year anniversary of our senior pastors (10 years with being senior pastors at our church). So we had this huge combined service. It was utterly awesome! 

I bought this hand made soy candle with proceeds going to our SHE rescue home in Cambodia. It smells divine.

All in all a wonderful weekend. I spent the afternoon relaxing with Jason and watching Bathurst 1000. I don't really watch V8 car racing but this is a huge race and Jason came from Bathurst originally. 

I hope you all have a fabulous week (I have a big work week).

A few questions...

Hey lovelies, thanks for your comments about my Etsy shop. I do hope to spend more time on it.

I received this sweet award from the absolutely lovely Diana! I adore her blog with all it's beautiful pictures and wonderful fashion. Her blog is full of girliness and I love it!

This award has some interesting questions attached so here we go....

1. Why do you blog? 

It's like my visual journal. I get to post pretty pictures, share parts of my life and my favourite bit is having blog friends! I could not imagine the kind of friends I have made through blogging. It's what keeps me blogging. One day I would love to meet you all ;)

2. Name your three best memories...

♥ Best Memory one - When Jason proposed. It was so sweet and meaningful. I will never forgot when he asked me.

♥ Best Memory two - Getting married. Another unforgettable day and memory. Knowing I would be spending the rest of my life with my best friend...

♥ Best Memory three - Just having the most amazing family and friends. I'm so blessed to have them in my life. It's not a memory but it's something I will always remember. 

3. Name 4 of the best fiction books you've read.

As many of you know, I like the lighter books. And many series. 

♥ - The Hunger Games 

♥ - The Chronicles of Narnia

♥ - Pride and Prejudice

♥ - To Kill a Mockingbird

4. What are the 5 best movies ever made? (Ah this is hard because I don't watch many more serious movies)

♥ - Blood Diamond

♥ - Lord of the Rings

♥ - Romeo and Juliet (Baz Luhrmann version)

♥ - Breakfast at Tiffanys

♥ - Robin Hood : Men in Tights (for fun)

5. Name 5 things you can't live without.

♥ - My wedding ring

♥ - Lucas' Paw paw cream

♥ - Books

♥ - Journals

♥ - Stationery 

6. If you could change your name what would it be?

I haven't really thought about it because I do like my name (as hard as it is to pronounce). It's unique. But I did 'change' my name to Graciana in high school to sounds more 'Spanish.' 

7. Tell us a unique and interesting fact about yourself

I'm a bit of a Star Wars geek. I have all the movies and watch them all a few times a year. Jason and I finished Star Wars Lego for the Wii. I have a light saber app on my phone and I have crossed light sabers with my nephews before. 

(This is really embarrassing I know...I think I've posted it before - and to clarify I'm posing as a joke lol) 

8. What do you love most about yourself?

Hmm, my friends say I'm sweet? So I do love that. Mainly I think it's my compassion because it's what makes me care about people. And what makes me want to help others. 

9. If you had a 'Freaky Friday' experience, who would you change places with?

Maybe Jessica Alba or Natalie Portman. I think Jessica Alba is a real sweetheart (I follow her on Twitter!) And Natalie Portman is so talented and great. 

10. What is the best thing about being a woman?

I love that we can be really emotional and share our feelings. That we can be strong yet still be soft hearted, caring and compassionate. I love that we can have girly days with our friends. I am happy to be a woman. 

So I award this to...

Jasmine from Lavender's Green 

Karolina from Better than Barszcz

Jess from The Beat my Heart Skips

Megan from Time After Tea

Heather from A Measure of...

Sydney from The Tightrope

Rachael from It's Simple Love

Claire from Bicoastally 

Micaela from Dolce Vita

Sandy from Sandy a la Mode

You girls are just absolutely wonderful!! Thank you to everyone that reads my blog and for everyone who comments. Thanks for being amazing!!

P.S. I do have another award I was going to share. I got it from two blog friends so it will be for next post. 

Etsy shop re-opened!

I've re-opened my Etsy shop! There's not a lot in it yet. It will mainly be stud earrings and few mini note cards for the moment. Hopefully some headbands when I receive my supplies.

Here's a few things for sale...

Tiny yellow rose studs 

Small aqua chrysanthemum studs

A touch of spring mini note cards

The lighting wasn't very good this day. I've also got to figure out a better way to take photos of them. 

I'm going to add more items soon. Thanks everyone for your comments and support! 

Just a Minute in...October

Via Ania-Maria Flickr

Just a Minute in....October


Reading... The Handmade Marketplace, some travel books


Writing... Letters, lists and in my many journals

Hoping... To re-open my Etsy soon (I've finally started taking photos of my items...need to list some items at least)

Praying... For new opportunities to come along

Looking... For a new job

Thinking... About studying again (this is pretty much definite)

At the moment I've decided study next year but I will try and get another job, most likely in retail (for flexibility). I think a change is what I need right now.

And as I mentioned I will hopefully re-open the Etsy store. It might be slow at first and I'm going to change my branding slightly but I'm finally doing something about it.

Oh and I'm thinking of getting this bag for studying next year...

Via Christystudio Etsy

Via Christystudio Etsy 

I would like it for an everyday bag anyway so I will probably get it no matter what. 

Hope you all had a great weekend. Have a fantastic week.