On my mind...

A few of the unused journals/notebooks/stationery

Hello lovely people. I hope you had a wonderful Easter. It is always important to remember the death and resurrection of Christ. He is risen indeed.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about a habit of mine that I want to change. I tend to buy things or receive pretty things as gifts and they will just sit there. I might put them in a nice box or leave them in their packaging and just...look at it. For example I have a ton of beautiful notebooks and journals yet I find it difficult to write in them or use them. They are just too 'pretty' to use. So instead of writing my thoughts or writing lists or recording memories they look pretty and stay in pristine condition. I find this is the same with pretty stationery or pens or even clothes and beauty products. I have trouble using them. I feel like I'm waiting for that perfect moment, for when everything falls into place and I will finally make that memory journal I've been wanting to do for years. Or that print that needs the right frame and only then I will display it. I mean what a waste?! I have all these lovely items that don't get used and it just accumulates and doesn't really get used. (♥ picture up above).

So, I've decided that I'm going to write in those journals (that I'm saving for what?), use that pretty paper (because who doesn't like to receive lovely mail) put those special stickers I'm saving into a notebook (because why not?). I want this to spill out into my everyday life too and use those special tea cups for my afternoon tea, or wear that dressy top to work, or cut up those magazines because I want to display or put that picture into a journal.

I want to stop holding back with admiring the beautiful things in life and instead experience the beauty of life. To stop looking just for inspiration but use what inspires me to create things instead of just dreaming about it and making lists. I'm a master list maker but a terrible doer.

I'm not sure who else feels this way but I'm sick of watching my life pass me by when each day is certainly a blessing. I can't take it for granted. I know I don't get very personal on this blog but there are some things that bounce around in my mind and I need to get those thoughts out.

Please tell me I'm not alone in this :) What do you need to let go of, or need to use or want to experience?

Have a fantastic week lovelies.

P.S. I'm sorry if this is just a jumble of words. I just started typing and the words just started flowing.

Wander lusting...

Lately I've been wander lusting so much. It made me want to plan another holiday. We are going to Melbourne in July this year and I'm so excited about that trip. The last time I went was for my 18th birthday. 

I'm also planning pre planning a trip to Europe. So you if have any suggestions feel free to leave them in the comments :) 

As for the photos, they are both film photos from my honeymoon from three years ago. We had a disposable waterproof camera and these are some of the ones that turned out decently. We went to Hamilton Island for our honeymoon and it is the most beautiful place. 

The top photo is from the Infinity pool at our resort. I loved it! The second photo is when we went kayaking.

We went to an adventure travel expo on the weekend even though it wasn't quite what we were looking for. Talking to one of the ladies at Intrepid reignited my passion (that I had in high school) to go on a trek to South America. One day maybe. 

Do you have wanderlust? Where do you dream on going?

That time we went to the USA... Part 9

...Oh that's right it was about 6 months ago. Hello lovely people. I realise that I never finished doing my USA posts. I only had two more to go. We went back to LA for our last few days of our trip. It was still a big few days with meeting up with some of my cousins, meeting up with Erica and Belen and Disneyland! 

The Hotel Wilshire

Santa Monica

Erica and Belen 

I loved meeting up with these girls. They are soo great to hang out with and yet again I'm amazed by the blog world. We hung out at Santa Monica then went shopping. We also found a photo booth which was awesome. 

This is an iPhone photo of the photo booth strip. I was so glad we found one. 

I love those girls and I can't wait to be able to hang out with them again (sometime in the future. I have major wanderlust)

Elijah's 1st Birthday

Hello lovely people. I guess I went on an unintentional blog break. My poor Macbook air's power cord died and I was unable to blog for a bit. But I have a few catch up posts to do.

My youngest nephew Elijah's birthday is two days before mine. This was from his 1st birthday party and it was Sesame Street themed. 

His cake that my sister in law Melly made! It was delicious. And my other sister in law Gem made the cupcakes surrounding the cake. 

Elijah and his mum Melly. You can just see the biscuit he's eating in midair :) 

My hair is still longish and I haven't had my fringe cut yet. I'm also wearing a vintage dress I bought from Megan's shop.  

He loved licking my cup because he could taste the sweetness of the drink. 

I'm not sure if my brother Alvin is having a Lion King moment here. 

I love seeing babies walk around and explore. 

He really loved this plum. He ate the whole thing (I did have to bite the skin for him but after that he was fine to munch on it himself)

He had a great day and was on the go the whole time. I'm sure he conked out when they went home but for his party he was full of energy. I will have to write about all my nephews soon. 

Have a wonderful week.

On goals and getting out of my comfort zone

*Photo taken by my lovely friend Laura*

Lately I've been doing a lot of thinking about my life and what I want to do with it. I guess it stems from my work contract ending in July. I need to find another job but I've been wondering what to look for. This has always been a problem for me, what to do for the rest of my life. I have an idea but it will take a lot of commitment. I might share it one day when I have a better understanding about exactly how I'm going to go about it. 

I decided that this year I'm going to try and learn more. There are these short courses and skills that I've wanted to do for years and I would always come up with an excuse about why I can't do it right now. But I feel as though my life is starting to pass me by and I'm not really moving forward with anything. So I've written down the courses and skills I want to learn and actively enroll in the courses or search for tutorials. Here's my list so far....

♥ Letterpress course (I've wanted to do this for so long and I'm finally going to sign up for a course)

♥ Book binding (I can do basic book binding but I'm fascinated with the whole process and want to learn it properly)

♥ Calligraphy (I bought a starter kit to practice with and hopefully do some lessons this year)

♥ Crochet (I have found a few tutorials which I hope to follow. Plus I've wanted to do this for awhile so I have tools)

There are a few more but they are some of the goals I will be trying to do this year. The other area I've wanted to improve is stepping out of my comfort zone. Again for years I've wanted to go to Cambodia to help out with the SHE rescue home my church has set up for girls that have been rescued from sex trafficking. And it just never happens. Last week I finally emailed to get some information and I have the application form just ready to be filled out. I can't deny that it has made me feel extremely nervous but I have at least taken that first step. 

I wanted to share this on here to keep me accountable so hopefully I will actually do these things. How do you break out of your comfort zone? Any goals you've had for years but still haven't achieved?

Have a wonderful week.

Unicorn Party

Hello lovelies. My wonderful hubby retrieved my photos that I thought I lost :) So here are some of the photos from my unicorn inspired birthday. 

It turned out to be an amazingly beautiful day. The weather was great, we ate food, painted wooden wands, filled tiny bottles full of glitter, played with bubbles and balloons, took plenty of photos, wore unicorn horn party hats. I know it sounds like a children's party but those are the best kinds. Each of my girls went home with a cotton bag I hand printed a unicorn (forgot to take a photo), some handmade cards, and either a bracelet or necklace with a tiny unicorn charm. 

I did have a great birthday and I'm so blessed to have the most incredible friends. Have a wonderful weekend. 

Sneak Peak Unicorn Party

Hello my lovely people. I wanted to blog about my unicorn inspired party I had for my birthday but I deleted the photos from my camera :( I thought they had transferred over to my computer but obviously not. It was a very sad moment for me and I may have a shed a tear but there might be a way to retrieve the photos. For now I just wanted to share one of the photos that did work.

There's nothing better than girl friends getting together with food, balloons, crafting, glitter and unicorn horns. I had an amazing day and felt so blessed. Hopefully I can blog about that day soon.

Have a wonderful week!