Filofax love

Thanks for all your lovely comments :) They truly make my day!

For my anniversary gift, Jason gave me a Filofax. He told me he wanted to get it for me because the first wedding anniversary involved paper. It's a really thoughtful gift because I have wanted one for soo long!

It's this pretty aqua/turquoise colour. 

It came with this pretty pink note paper. 

I've started writing in it. 

It has a little plastic pocket and an area for coins, notes and cards if you want to also use it as a purse. 

What I love about it is I can keep myself more organised. It has an area for address and phone numbers, a To Do list, an area for notes. I like to write all my things done even though I have an iPhone. I guess to me, I feel as though I'm more organised when it's written down with pen and paper. 

I'm just trying to find the perfect pen to accompany it now. Anyone else like to use organisers? Or paper diaries?

Eeep! I'm my birthday on Tuesday and I really don't want to get a year older :( I might spend my day shopping because I'll be alone :( Though I'm meeting Jason for lunch and we will go out for dinner (and my Alice in Wonderland themed birthday later on in the month too).

Hope you had a fantastic weekend!!

P.S. I'm having a giveaway over at Busy Bee Lauren's blog :) Check it out 

One Year Anni

For our one year wedding anniversary we stayed at the Marriot hotel in the city. The night before our one year. We had a lovely dinner that night.

Our room. I don't know what that white circle on my jeans is. Camera fail. 

We had room service bring us dessert. My yummy pavlova. 

The next day. This is the view from our room. You can see the Brisbane river which flooded. It's a horrible colour at the moment. 

On the day of our anniversary we went to the Sunshine Coast to go to Underwater World, an aquarium. 

A type of shark which may have existed. 

Jason playing around (not sure why his eyes look like that)

I was completely fascinated by these baby sharks. They live on that sac. I guess it works like an umbilical cord. They have various baby sharks in different stages of development and it was so interesting to see.

Pretty, pretty sea horses. 

This was in the Oceanarium tunnel. It's another world under here. 

It was so weird to have these guys swimming over the top of your head. 

One of the beautiful seals, in their viewing room. 

This is a frozen Hammer head shark. It's the largest frozen one in the world. This guy is huge and creepy to look at up close. It's a bad photo but I had to show this fella. 

Bubble head. There was this section where you crawl under and put your head in this bubble. It was crazy to see the fish swimming around you. 

Afterwards we went down to one of the beaches to have a walk. It was such a gorgeous day.

We had a fantastic day and I'm glad we were able to spend it doing something educational but still fun. We also watched a seal show and I was thinking of getting a photo of a seal kissing my cheek. 

It's my birthday next Tuesday (1st), which I will probably spend alone during the day :( but this weekend I would love to go to Thunderbird Park and mine thundereggs :) This year I want to explore my city and state more. 

Anyway, have a wonderful and beautiful weekend!

Happy Australia Day!

It's Australia Day today and it has been wonderful! You have to have a BBQ and maybe a beach trip if you are able.

We went down to the Gold Coast with a few friends for a BBQ lunch. It was packed with people but it was such a great atmosphere. There were Australian flags, people with green and gold wigs (Aussie colours), Australian flag temporary tattoos (girls wearing Aussie flag bikinis - one year I will get one).

I didn't get to take too many photos as I was having a good time relaxing under the shade and chatting away. The weather was amazing! The day was just perfect. Beautiful blue skies and warm temperature. It's what I expect Queensland to look and feel like. The water at the beach felt so refreshing too, though I'm a touch red in the face from too much sun.

This is just a random shot of people around us with their shade set up. In the background some kids set up a slip and slide and there's a giant green and gold beach ball (which I really wanted). 

You need to have a BBQ on Aussie Day!

Our pretty towels lined up. We didn't bother lining up the guys' towels, they were in the water by then. 

Me, Claire and Laura. This was at the end of the day.

I hope all my fellow Aussies out there had a fantastic day!!

P.S. Thanks again for your comments about our one year wedding anniversary!

Happy One Year!

It's our one year wedding anniversary today! It has flown by so quickly and I can't quite believe that I've been married for a year. 

It's been wonderful!! 

Friendship Bracelets and other pretties

I've become sort of obsessed with friendship bracelets right now. Ever since Nicole's Friendship Bracelet Project, I've become kind of fascinated with them. So I'm making some for fun and other bracelet items.

This is some bracelets I'm making as part of a new project with Project You. I do like how they have turned out. And I took the photos using my iPhone 4 and played around with some camera apps. So fun :)

Via Sportsgirl

I was actually first inspired to make those bracelets after seeing this bracelet for the Butterfly Foundation, which Sportsgirl supports. It's to support Australians with eating disorders and negative body image. 

So the purpose my of little bracelets is sort of similar. I wanted it to be a reminder for those who have joined Project You that they are special, beautiful and unique. 

Anyway, it seems as though friendship style bracelets are everywhere! It makes me love them even more. 

Via Sportsgirl

Via Sportsgirl

And there are a lot more but I don't think I would need to list all the ones I like. Definitely liking bracelets lately. Like Alyssa said, bracelets are for us to admire, while necklaces are for others to admire. Or along those lines :) 

Do you like friendship style wrap bracelets? Do you prefer necklaces or bracelets? 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Collecting Memories

Lately, I've been trying to write in my journal more often. I've just felt the need to document my thoughts and even the mundane happenings in my life. I guess I feel that if I had to save something I would save my journals, letters and photos. 

This is my current journal. It's getting pretty fat because I always glue in little bits like clothing tags, movie tickets, stickers, little notes, all sorts of ephemera I collect.

I have about a third left and I hope to finish it soon. 

I took this photo of my pretty journals and notebooks that are ready to be used and filled with all sorts memories.

Do any of you like to keep memories? Write in a journal? Keep all your letters and little notes? I have boxes of these. Maybe I will take a photo of them sometime.

Anyway, I have a giveaway going on over at Sandy a la Mode. Go and check it out to win a headband, a pair of earrings and some mini note cards of your choice!!

Just a Minute in...January

Via Gingerlillytea Flickr

Just a Minute in... January

♥ Praying... For my city, my state, my country
♥ Feeling... More positive and proud of my fellow Aussies
♥ Looking... Forward to my 1 year wedding anniversary (24th January) and 1 week off from work!
♥ Planning... My Alice in Wonderland birthday
♥ Wanting... To journal more often and put down my crazy thoughts
♥ Creating... More headbands and other sweet bits and pieces
♥ Hoping... To write all my letters and catch up on everything
♥ Thinking... About everyone affected by the floods
♥ Loving... That the sun is back and it feels like summer again
♥ Listing... Everything I must do and hope to complete in the next few weeks

Thanks again everyone for all your kind thoughts, comments and emails. It does my soul good to have such wonderful support.

Flood wise, I love my city and the people. So many people got out there to help out with the clean up that they had to start turning away volunteers because there were too many people! That's amazing! And it warms my heart to see people bonding together and wanting to make a difference.

Just to let you know. I'm still donating 100% of my Etsy sales to the Flood relief. This will be until the 26th January which is Australia Day.

Everyone have a beautiful week and remember to hug your friends and family and feel blessed that they are with you.

A bit of happiness

Thanks so much for your comments, emails, thoughts and prayers. It swells my heart up to know so many people are thinking about us. The news for the moment is, the Brisbane CBD is slowly filling up with water from the Brisbane River. It will peak early tomorrow morning so we will see how bad the flooding is tomorrow.

♥ 

A few little happy things. First everyone should enter Alyssa's swap. It's sure to be a lot of fun.

And you need to enter in Sandy a la Mode's one year Blogiversary giveaway! So many wonderful items that she is giving away. 

I'm a sponsor of Sandy a la Mode and you should enter this code - SALM1YEAR in my shop to receive 20% off everything. And if you check out Sandy a la Mode's blog you can see the other sponsors that are offering discounts. 

I have more items to add and I will add these headbands.

"You're so sweet"

"You're so pretty" 

" You're so lovely" 

"You're so adorable"

My news is if you buy anything from my shop I will donate 100% of each sale to the Queensland Floods. 

It's just one other way I can think of to help out until the big clean up. 

Thanks again everyone for everything!! 

Flood Devastation

 

Via Courier Mail

I'm not sure how many of you know but Queensland is in a state of crisis. The floods have devastated our state. There was a major and powerful storm with a mountain of water that swept through the town of Toowoomba (around 3 hours away from Brisbane). Their city is destroyed and many people are missing.

And today, the Brisbane River is swelling causing water to start overflowing and many suburbs are needing to evacuate because it's going to get worse in the next few days.

I can't even begin to let you know how heart breaking it is to see your city go into a state of panic. The grocery stores were inundated with people stocking up and people are packing up and moving to the evacuation zones.

I feel so helpless and all I can do is pray for everyone. I'm so thankful that we live just outside of the flood warning zones but Jason came home early from work because the Brisbane CBD is starting to flood :(

I urge you to please pray for Queensland and Brisbane. It's all we can do at this moment.

A few bday ideas

I first want to say that I haven't been affected by the floods but much of my state is flooded. It's pretty devastating to see and the rain has not stopped. My thoughts and prayers go out to all that are affected.

On a happier note (because we have to remain positive - and I can see that the Queenslanders have kept up their battler spirit no matter what and it makes me proud to see that even though many have lost everything they are still smiling and keeping their hopes up).

♥

I have a whole lot of ideas for my birthday and I just want to note them down and see what you think. And if you have any ideas of your own :)

I'm getting a dress/costume made like this one. A few changes of course but it will be lovely. The sweet Erica is making it for me. 

I loved all her different blue dresses in the movie.

Some other ideas...

♥ I'm thinking of giving my guests a black (or colourful) hair bow as a favour

♥ Definitely setting up a photo booth so need some props for that (a little white rabbit, a pocket watch, random tea cups etc)

♥ I'm thinking of making a little white rabbit garland to hang

♥ Maybe hang teacups from tree branches or from string (perhaps a string of lights)

♥ My lovely Laura suggested that I should have the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack in the background 

♥ I'm going to put rugs around the yard and place mini teacups and teapots and scatter paper hearts

I'm still thinking of my other ideas (like food and other things to do). But it's not going to be traditional Alice in Wonderland. Just using the elements and hopefully inject it with my own personality. 

What do you think? Any ideas of your own?

Have a wonderful week!

Rain, rain go away

This has been the wettest summer that I can remember. It has been raining so much that if I ever see sun I need to go outside and feel it on my skin. 

If it's not raining, it's an overcast day. It's hard to believe that a few years ago we were in a horrible drought with water restrictions. Now our dams are overflowing and half the state is flooded. 

But I should be thankful that we have water and everything is looking nice and green. Plus this weather makes me want to read and watch movies or a TV series. What I've been doing is watching TV shows and making things. I'm only just getting back into everything.

This is my latest project. Making fabric yoyo's with the intention of putting them on headbands, making shoe clips and a few other things. I want to make some bows too. I'm loving fabric and pretty shank buttons lately.

I want to create more for my Etsy and branch out a little from my usual fare. I have a lot of ideas floating around in this head of mine.

A few creative things to do...

♥ Create more items for Etsy

♥ Work on my project idea for Project You :) 

♥ Catch up on all my mail 

♥ Start creating for my Alice in Wonderland themed birthday (my birthday isn't until 1st of Feb and the actual party won't be until later but I really want to creative for it so I should start now - I have tons of ideas so maybe a post on that later)

I think I just want to be more creative in general. Work doesn't give me much of an opportunity with that so it's nice to go home and make things. 

So have a lovely weekend and I want to say to Jasmine of Lavender's Green that I hope you have a beautiful wedding and have fun!!