Journalling

I love to journal. It's the place where I can write about anything without being afraid of being judged (even then I sometimes censor my writing thinking someone will read it in 50 years time...weird I know).

This is my current journal. I go through stages where I will write every day and use up the journal but I've had this one almost a year now. It won't close because it's full of little bits.

These are my current notebooks (as well as journal). The first one is for my organising, the second in where I keep track of books I've read, journal and the Moleskine I use for ideas.

Via Weheartit

I have this dream of one day when I'm travelling I will be taking a leather bound journal, a fountain pen and a camera and sitting at little cafes penning my thoughts and adding photos (I guess I should have a Polaroid style camera) and little sketches.

But that's just a little dream for the moment. Right now besides my normal journal I would love to have a one that is just for daydreams, quotes, song lyrics, poems, attempts at sketching and decorated with bit of lace, paper doilies, Japanese masking tape, Polaroids, stitching...

Here are some examples of what I mean. It's taken from the same Flickr account, GingerLillyTea. I love her flickr, it's so dreamy and fairytale-like. My kind of person :)

Via Gingerlillytea flickr

Via Gingerlillytea Flickr

Via Gingerlillytea Flickr

Via Gingerlillytea flickr

She seems to have a fascination with Narnia, which I do too. It's one of my favourite books! But more about that another time.

This weekend will be filled with organising the house, putting photos up and hopefully starting a creative/dreamy journal. (That would be a fun swap!)

I hope you all have a wonderful, fantastic weekend!

P.S. Enter beautiful Micaela's giveaway! She's such a sweetheart and favourite of mine.

What's in my bag tag

Hello lovelies! I was tagged by the lovely Belen. It's to see what's inside my bag (or purse? we use bag here in Aus). I have to say I love seeing what people keep in their bags. It's really interesting.

I had some lovely sunshine pouring in through the window this morning so I quickly took a photo. The sun is off and on at the moment. I hope it stays out for my washing.

Anyway, here's the photo and what's inside....

1. My bag is from Forever New. It's one of my favourite shops ever. Jase got me this bag as part of my bday present.

2. The Guess wallet next to it is to keep my excess cards and other things

3. The little blue purse (was part of a package from Julia) and it has my bits like eye drops, blotting paper, mini nail file etc.

4. The grey pouch is for my camera

5. My sunnies and I can't seem to find the case

6. My little hair brush

7. My iPhone and pink case

8. My headphones (usually tucked into a pocket in the bag)

9. The little Oroton purse is where I keep my main cards that I use. I bought this ages ago when I used to work in another department store and it still looks almost as new. Excellent quality.

10. The other little purse is where I keep my keys, my work name badge and work locker key

11. The last row has my Kikki.K 2010 diary. It's so cute inside.

12. The slim notepad is also from Kikki.K. With a tiny Smiggle mechanical pencil. This is for all my random thoughts during the day.

13. The soft cover Moleskine sketchbook is for my ideas.

14. A little packet of tissues. I always try and have tissues in my bag.

15. My Lucas' Pawpaw ointment. I use it as a lip balm. This is an absolute must have! It's pretty much a cult item it's so good. Well it's a cult item here in Brisbane at least. Not sure about the other states?

16. A little pink Smiggle pencil case. It has other tiny pens, tiny scissors, tiny stapler and other staples, a pencil sharpener and a few paperclips. You never know when you need it and it has come in handy at the most random times :)

17. My favourite black pen. Jason got it for me. He knows how much I love black felt tipped pens.

In the pockets in the bag I keep feminine products and pain killers. I would usually have a book if I have a long work shift, a bottle of water and some snacks.

This little bag is actually a giant pencil case from Smiggle. (Yes I buy a lot from Smiggle even though it's a kids stationery store. and Jason bought me this...he knows me so well) I sometimes take this with me filled with stationery and letters or cards I need to write.

Now I tag...Megan, Julia, Mara, Nicole, & Yelena. I would love to what's in your bags if you want to participate of course :)

And a snapshot of the books I'm reading at the moment.

I'm re reading the Craft Inc book (because of Etsy). The Paper Flow book is to help stay organised. And the pretty hardback Penguin Classic Emma which was a gift from a friend.

Although I did read 3 books in the Maximum Ride series on the weekend and I have also borrowed some books from the library so they will also be on my book reading list.

Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult

Swimsuit - James Patterson

Thanks for the Memories - Cecelia Ahern

Well that's it. This turned out longer than I meant for it to be. Have a wonderful rest of week!

Much Love Monday with mail

This sweet necklace is part of a little package I received from the lovely Julia.

Today I love: Receiving packages/letters and sending them out....

Who doesn't love to receive mail?! The wonderful feeling of getting something in the letter box (that isn't a bill) brings me so much joy. I get so excited when I see a letter or package addressed to me. But I also love sending out letters and packages too.

Here are some packages I've received this year (and just the end of last year too).

This is the total package and letter from the beautiful Julia.

I received this pretty pretty necklace from sweet Caro at the end of last year.

This is from the lovely Cassie.

The gorgeous Pearl wedding frame from my pen pal Rachel.

This was part of the package from Rachel.

This amazing ceramic piece is from the ever so thoughtful Anastasia.

This is what I received from my stationery swap from Fallon :) organised by Megan.

I think this is simply adorable. It's a tiny suitcase to keep addresses and birthdays.

This is from sweet Caroline. I was a bit late signing up for the Mail Scramble but we sent a little something to each other.

This pretty letter is from Melody, a new pen pal. We have an age difference but I don't notice it I wasn't quite as mature at her age :)

This pretty letter is from Megan.

What I received in with Megan's letter.

I might do some outgoing mail next time.

Other things I love this week....

* Reading all afternoon and having two naps (yes this was how I spent yesterday arvo)

* Reminiscing while looking at old photos

* Hot chocolate made and brought to me by my wonderful Jason

* Getting all the main house cleaning done before 9:30 am...(today!)

* Wanting to be organised, so I'm actually taking some steps to make sure that happens

* Being happy just because

* Warm showers to wake me up

* Clash of the Titans...I love Greek Mythology and I just adore Sam Worthington.

Thanks for the comments and have a lovely week!

Awards and a videos

I have gotten a few awards that I must catch up on and pass along. The first one is from the lovely Cassie from Hydrangeas and White Daisies.

With this reward it appears there is a photo element. You open your first folder and find the tenth photo, post it and the story behind it. Ok...

Eepp! This was our year 12 formal and we were 17 here. That's Thara if you recognise her, one of my BM's. I sometimes hate seeing old photos. Maybe I should show old photos from school one day.

I forward this award to these gorgeous girls.... Nicole, Rachael, Sierra, Micaela and Belen. Check out these wonderful ladies.

The other award has come from a new blog friend Rachael from It's Simple Love.

So I must say 7 things about myself and pass it on to 7 other lovely ladies.

1. I was born in Sydney and lived there until I was 4 and we moved up to Queensland.

2. I got my first penpal when I was 9 and have loved writing letters since then.

3. In high school I had some obsession with everything Spanish and South/Central American. I even gave myself a Spanish sounding name. Well me and a few other friends of mine :) We listened to salsa style music and would intentionally find guys with sexy sounding Latin names on MSN to chat to (yes I was pretty embarrassing and I was boy crazy...I had no shame lol)

4. I wear glasses but I wear contacts most of the time. I got glasses when I was only 10.

5. I had braces when I was 13-14. Add that with glasses and I had a few years of being very self conscious.

6. I used to have light brown, curly hair when I was really young. People don't believe me now because I straighten or blow dry it. But it's actually wavy and kind of frizzy and dark brown.

7. I like watching UFC. Jason got me into it. I feel so blokey while I sit and watch and eat pizza.

I've probably repeated myself there. I lose track of what I've said before.

So I pass this onto these lovely ladies...Cassie, Jozen, Nahl, Elaine, Tiffany, Anna, and Trishie.

Make sure you visit all these lovely ladies. Thank you so much for the awards too!! Your too sweet and kind.

I was going to finish off with some mail but some of my photos haven't been uploaded yet and my camera battery is dying. And when I was looking for the photo for the first award I got a little nostalgic and looked through my other pics and things. So I thought I would leave you with this little video from a few years ago. It's little Caeleb when he was a baby. He was in my parents kitchen in his stroller and he's making all these noises. My favourite bit is when his eyes flick to the side. He ends up crying but it doesn't come out. It's a short video.

This second video is short and it's me just being silly. This was when I was 19 and we had rehearsals for the church Easter musical. Laura was videotaping this :) Funnily enough this was the year Laura and I met.

Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend! My plans are to watch Clash of the Titans, clean, write letters, sand down an old round table and repaint it and who knows what else. What are you up to??

Just a minute in...April

Via Livejournal

Just a Minute in...April

Reading... The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks, The Graveyard book by Neil Gaiman

Watching... Heroes, Clash of the Titans (hopefully this weekend)

Writing... Letters and in my journal (it's getting quite fat from all the bits and pieces I glue into it...does this happen to anyone else?)

Needing... To print our Thank you cards out and other photos (I have blank frames hanging around the house)

Wanting... To create items and re open my Etsy shop (I have some new ideas)

Hoping... To stretch myself and try new things and experiences. To learn how to do some things well (like take good photos, be able to use my letterpress, be more creative)

Praying... For direction

Loving... God and my family (I've been getting so emotional about them lately)

I have a few of the professional photos from Alvin and Melly's wedding. These were taken by Stewart Gould (his website doesn't seem to be working) but I got these from Melly's FB page.

I think this is absolutely stunning!

She is so gorgeous!

We did a few beach shots. They were pretty fun to do.

This photo cracks me up! It's hilarious. They took these before the wedding ceremony. I can't believe Jason looks so buff :p

They are all the photos that they have received for now. More will be coming but it depends on when they get them. They are probably on their way to Europe right now after 2 days in Singapore. I wish I was too :(

Anyway, the parentals are coming by to bring us some food. lol. We seriously need to go shopping.

Much Love Monday with wedding week

Today I love: Big fake blingy rings.

This picture was taken at my new sister in law's Hens night. It was such an awesome week of wedding.

I didn't get to take as many photos as I wanted because I was using other people's cameras to document the days. I have a few to share though.

It was a busy 4 days of Hens night, helping Melly out with all her last minute preps, a family dinner, running around the night before the wedding helping her pack for Europe, writing her thank you cards, helping her stay calm :), wedding rehearsal, hanging out with family the day before wedding.

The wedding was so so beautiful and I can't wait to see photos. It was so sweet and thoughtful and I got teary though out the ceremony. My brother teared up so many times and it made me get all emotional too. Melly is so lovely and talented. She wrote Alvin a song and sung it to him just before they were to sign the registry.

It was a special surprise for him and he could not contain himself and tears ran down his cheeks. It was absolutely amazing! They are one stunning couple and I can't begin to say how much I just love them. They left for Europe early this morning and we all hung out yesterday and had dinner. I will miss them while they are away for three months.

These are a few random photos from that week.

Melly's Hens night. We had dessert then went to a private Latin dance class which was fantastic! It was so much fun. Then hung out with a few of the girls at one of the apartments we were staying in.

The family dinner was too much for little Caeleb.

My family likes to sleep in public it seems. Alvin catching up on sleep the day before the wedding. We were all hanging out at this lounge bar after the wedding rehearsal. The bottom of his shirt has splotches (blood stains sigh) because while the rehearsal was happening (and he and his groomsmen weren't needed) they were playing some basketball. And he got a cut on the side of his nose. What are the chances of that?? Poor guy had to cover it with foundation.

The lovely breakfast set up on the wedding day.

Just a random shot of Melly's shoes and other accessories.

Flower girl gifts and jewellery. And the ring pillow.

Our absolutely stunning bouquets! They were handmade with bits of fabric, ribbon and a brooch. So beautiful and unique.

Sparkling wine to wash down lunch.

Part of the table decorations. Each table had an Eiffel tower with fairy lights sitting on a mirror with roses. The pretty frame is the favour for the ladies and the men were given a tiny bottle of Port.

This is my beautiful bouquet. Their theme was a classic vintage one with a touch of Parisian glamour.

It was a really gorgeous wedding and Melly put so much detail into it. They are also the most generous and thoughtful couple. I'm truly blessed to have been a part of their bridal party, along with Jason. Hopefully I will get some photos from the wedding soon.

I hope to catch up on your blogs soon. Thanks for all the lovely comments! Hope you all had a great Easter.