1. Getting to spend a month with James! :) 2. Being by water, whether it;s a river, lake or the ocean some of my favourite places are near water.
3. The Opera House. 4. Kikki.k - amazing stationary and crafts shop!
5. The view the animals at Taronga Zoo have....jealous! 6. The Hangover! Awesome movie!
7. Darling Harbour. So nice to just sit around and do nothing there. 8. HUGS!! Come in all shapes and sizes. :)
9. Cupcake ice-creams. We even put little treats inside! 10. James' cooking! Yum! He made chicken kiev with rice and peppers, and profiterolls for dessert. :)
This is almost like an update about what I did in Australia...but that won't stop me giving you a proper update!
Finally I can load some pictures! It may take me a while to post more because it took such a long time to do this post...but it's something!!!
The cool fountain:
The gaiety: I will try and post about Australia as soon as possible, and everything else will be started in a week. Taking a week to get used to home, and enjoy the company of family, then I am going to start with organising my room and wardrobe. :)
So I haven't been around lately, a.k.a the last month, but I have a reason. I've been busy. Not really doing much, but having fun and spending as much time with James as possible before I go home.
I wanted to post about my trip to Australia a few time a week, with pictures. But I couldn't load any pictures and thought loads of fully text posts would be boring. (I am a visual person) So I haven't been saying much. James is at a lecture now, so I thought I would just drop by and explain myself and say what should be coming up. I have had a bit of time to plan things, and I love planning, and for my next 2 months off uni I have a lot of fun planned!
What I want to do: -Post about Australia. -Paint, draw things for my new room. -Make things to put on the walls and plan layouts. -Buy cute, practical stationary. -Make place settings for our dining room. -Make door stops. -Take beautiful pictures. -Hang out with my family. -Learn to cook well. -Bake. -Sort out my wardrobe and all my un-needed things. -Post lots of 10 things I love lists. -Sort out my blog. -Post about all these things.
It's been a while since I've been able to update, and I am choosing to blame: 1) My travelling, and 2) The fact that my home hates my computer and won't give me internet for more than 5 mins.
I am now in Australia, James' house, more on that later, and I have internet connection!!! YAY!!! SO I will update people on what I have been doing.
SO! On my way home from Uni I met my mum in Paris. Ooo la la! Seriously not as cool as I remember it being. It's pretty. The old buildings and architecture are amazing, and the river is nice. BUT it was soooooooooooooooo hot, which never puts me in a good mood, the Eiffel tower looked old and well quite a bit like scaffolding, which I now find ugly and think ruins the rest of the view slightly, and the Louvre....man oh man...not what I expected.
The first day we only had time for dinner because my plane landed quite late. It was an hour delayed (seems to be the story of my life at the moment, more later). So we went out and found this nice little restaurant. We actually found lots of nice little restaurants, but this was the only one with free tables. We both got salads and some white wine. There were two salads that looked really good, so we shared them, half each, YUM. I forgot how much I loved Salads. I forgot how much I loved European food, and the lifestyle. So after a long dinner of chatting and wine, we went back to the hotel and slept.
Next day we attacked the Louvre, not literally, after having coffee and pain au chocolat at a cafe. It's very pretty from the outside, and the little triangular fountain/water things were very cold, so nice for refreshing yourself. The queue was not what I expected it to be. The other times I had been to Paris and been past the Louvre there were HUGE queues, but this time barely anyone. We joined the queue at 10:15 and were in with tickets by 10:30! That was probably the most exciting bit about the Louvre. :P We went to see the Mona Lisa, because that’s what you should do when you go to the Louvre, and I must say, it is overrated. Sure it's a great painting and all, but it's so small and no better than any of the other paintings on the rest of the walls. I'm sure if it wasn't on it's own wall people wouldn't notice it. We walked around the Museum for 2 hours, and my legs HURT!
So we left to have some lunch. We ate the Louvre restaurant, which is small and cute and well next to the Louvre. We had some nems and a clubsandwich between us, and enjoyed sitting down. (There were hardly any seats in the Louvre when we wanted to sit!).
After the nice break, we walked through that garden in front of the Louvre. It has some fancy name, but I can't remember it. It was hard walking through there. The gravely stuff was white, and reflecting the strong sun back up at us. Needless to say it was HOT. So we found some benches in the shade and sat down.
My mum wanted to go to this square that has painters on it, which turns out to be next to the Sacre Coeur, a LONG walk away. So we got the Metro! Yay for Metros! We took another break up their and had a beer. It's a tough life visiting Paris.
After that we were exhausted and went back to the hotel for a nap. And then dinner. We went to this nice place near the Pompidou. The waiters were so nice. :) and the food was good, and the location pretty. We liked it there. We had the plat de jours, which was Salmon and tagliatelli. YUM. :) That was one looong day.
Final day, we got up late, and went to the same cafe for breakfast. Then headed to the Pompidou. Unfortunately it was closed on Tuesday. :( But there was a cool display in the fountains outside. The fountains were made by Niki de Saint Phalle. I love her stuff. :) To kill some time, we went round a shopping centre, and then had lunch at the same restaurant we had dinner at the night before. We tried to make the meal last until 3:30. We did quite well, we were there til 3:15.
We then went to BHV, but not until I had taken photos of all the Gay bars we went past. I now understand were Gay Paris comes from. :P BHV was pretty awesome, especially the crafts and decorating floor. Oh my! I so want to go back this summer to get things for next year’s house!
Once our legs were bored of that we went to Ben and Jerry’s for ice cream, and then to the airport. It was a long wait in the airport, but I didn't care. It was air-conditioned, and we had seats. :)
(I would post pictures...if I could...but none will load. :( so maybe tomorrow)
Unfortunately I don't own a house, so can not use any, but I can dream! :) So I've been doing some snooping to see if you can get any different kinds of chalkboard paint, because as nice as black is, it'd be awesome to have lots of other colours!! And I found something!! YAY!
Martha Stewarts has come up with a homemade formula for making your own chalkboard paint, granted it may take longer to apply than a ready made black paint, but it'll be colourful!! :) I thought I'd share the recipe for anyone else interested.
She says: Start with flat-finish latex paint in any shade. For small areas, such as a door panel, mix 1 cup at a time.
1. Pour 1 cup of paint into a container. Add 2 tablespoons of unsanded tile grout. Mix with a paint stirrer, carefully breaking up clumps.
2. Apply paint with a roller or a sponge paintbrush to a primed or painted surface. Work in small sections, going over the same spot several times to ensure full, even coverage. Let dry.
3. Smooth area with 150-grit sandpaper, and wipe off dust.
4. To condition: Rub the side of a piece of chalk over entire surface. Wipe away residue with a barely damp sponge.
There are so many things you can use this for. Like, for a small child's room, on cabinets in the kitchen for reminders of foods you need to buy, in the bathroom when you need more toilet roll, in an office you can a calendar. It's a pretty awesome idea!
I have been looking at some stationary for a while. I love looking at stationary, and I found some stuff by Lotta Jansdotter recently. It is SO SO SO pretty. Very simple and cute, and the colours are very earthy and natural. I love it so much. I bought some stuff today, but really want to share with you how pretty their stuff is.
1. The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet.
I haven’t read very far yet, just the foreword, I want to save the book for my flight over to Australia. But my curiosities lead me to look up some quotes, and the book does seem truely inspirational and uplifting. I would already recommend it.
Some wonderful quotes:
"Lots of people talk to animals," said Pooh.
"Maybe, but..."
Not very many listen, though," he said.
"That's the problem," he added. Everything has its own place and function. That applies to people, although many don't seem to realize it, stuck as they are in the wrong job, the wrong marriage, or the wrong house. When you know and respect your Inner Nature, you know where you belong. You also know where you don't belong. Thousands of years ago, man lived in harmony with the rest of the natural world . . . he communicated with animals, plants, and other forms of life - none of which he considered "beneath" himself, only different, with different jobs to perform.
2.Brook Fraser – amazing women with a lot to say. So inspirational with what she is doing in Africa, and how she is trying to spread the word.
3. These cute Monsters!
4. Meet the Robinsons! I watched it last night, and it's so inspirational and cute! I love it!
“Around here, however, we don’t
look backwards for very long.
We keeping moving forward, opening up new doors and
Doing new things, because we’re curious...
And curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
-Walt Disney
5. Popcorn Cupcakes! Oh my! I now really want a movie night so that I can make these!
6. My toenails! Painted for a beach party themed party. :P
7. Stationary! I love any kind, just give me stationary and I'm happy!
8. Feels like Woah - Wes Carr (Australian Idol winner)
9. SCRUBS!! -boy do I watch a lot of things! I love Scrubs, so funny, so amazing, so real...and great music!
10. Hugs! You can't give a hug without getting a hug.
