Our Engagement Story

  

For those of you who don't follow/know me on social media, SJ and I got engaged earlier this month!

I'd love to say it was a total surprise, but I'd be lying. We've long intended to marry each other (and have babies) and are have been working to a rough time scale. So I was expecting it at some point soon you could say. Even less of a surprise was the weekend itself, Poor SJ booked us flights and put my frequent flyer number on them. We had an time change for our Paris/December flights and I had to approve it...and spotted flights to Canberra for September. So I knew for a few weeks before the trip that we were heading south for the weekend and painted my nails just in case...

So SJ told me on the Thursday that though we were flying to Canberra we were actually heading to Thredbo for the weekend. Thredbo has some significance for us, if you're read our 'how we got together story' you might remember that we visited Thredbo with friends the week before we got together and in was, in a sense, the start of us. Heading the Thredbo where there was still some late season snow had the added advantage of allowing us to trial some of the gear we have purchased for Iceland. He planned it well.

Friday morning we flew down to Canberra and drove from there down to Thredbo. He had no plans for that afternoon (turns out he did originally, they'd been moved to Saturday instead) so we checked into our room (we stayed here) and chilled out for the afternoon. Dinner was nothing too special but there were more gluten free options than expected (ate here)

Innocence Lost

This post is likely to sit as a draft post until I feel comfortable to share it.

This is the story of my first pregnancy.

Our Wedding - The Dress

This is the first in a series of blog posts about our wedding. A few things made our wedding a little different and I'd love to share some of the behind the scenes. To begin with, I'll start with some photos with a particular focus on 'the dress'. Designed by Wendy Makin, I first saw 'Daphne' at the Queensland Brides Design Awards and knew it was perfect for me. Photos in this post are by Blue Tulip Imaging.

Tick tock

I am running out of time.

3 pages...the length of my to-do list.
5 days left at work.
9 days until we leave for Europe.
27 days until Christmas.
47 days...how long we're away, which is great but also really hard because...
113 days until the wedding. And still so much to do.

It's all very exciting but also a bit stressful. Planning a DIY wedding in 6 months from the engagement is crazy and I don't recommend it. Particularly not with a 6 week holiday smack bang in the middle.

On the upside, I'm getting much better about making decisions. No time for deliberation here!

I will post about my trip on Instagram/Facebook for anyone that's interested. And I'll probably have time to post a bit more about the wedding plans then too and the various DIY projects that have been going on lately.

I'll be back in 2016!

Review: Go-To Skincare

For the last few years I have habitually used MooGoo Skincare (and still do!) but in the midst of the great rosehip drought of 2015 winter took its toll on my skin and I looked outside the MooGoo world.

I looked at reviews and blog posts for face oils searching for an alternative to rosehip oil that might bring my face back to life. In my search, Go-To Skincare's Face Hero popped up, given Go-To is all natural, australian owned (and made in NZ), cruelty free and a little quirky (all the things I liked about MooGoo) wrapped up in chic peach packaging, I decided to give Go-To Skincare a shot. Three months on and I'm now converted, so with my second order placed I thought I would share my thoughts.

Photography tips: What is twilight?

Everyone who owns a camera has photographed a sunrise or sunset at least once and it's well known that the 'golden hour' (the first or last daylight) is the best time for photography. I have countless photographs of sunsets (particularly from my balcony while living in Melbourne) but it was only once I started planning our trip to Iceland that I really researched the three different phases of twilight.

Blogging revisited.

I'm back. Again.

I actually thought a lot about my blog during the last three months as I struggled for the time and motivation to post. I would like for it to be more of a true expression of me and my life. Despite my lack of consistency, I don't want to shut it down, this blog represents some significant periods of my life and I will stubbornly continue to 'be a blogger', sporadically if need be.

SJ turned 30

So it's the big dirty thirty year for SJ and I and most of our friends. We didn't make a big deal out of our 29th birthdays (no real presents and we bought a house the day before his!) and given we are likely to have kids before our 40th birthdays I figured it would be the last chance for a proper party. We didn't make the decision to have a party until 3 weeks beforehand though, so once the decision was made I had to act FAST.

Visit to Darwin

Bringing you up to speed with what I've been up to over the last 4 months will be hard work, so to start simply, this week I've been in Darwin for work. I bought a new point and shoot camera a few weeks ago (an Olympus TG-3 if you're wondering) and took it along for a trial. Given it was a work trip, I didn't have too much down time so this isn't a long post (and actually most photos are from the plane...) but better than no post at all though!

I'm still breathing...

Just wanted to make you aware I'm still here for those of you who don't follow me on Twitter/Instagram or have me as a friend on Facebook.

I'd like to say we've been super busy renovating over the last few months, but the truth is, we haven't got much to show for our work since January. We've both been a bit busy with work and my lack of blog posts is due to a perfectly mixed cocktail - part no motivation, part no inspiration and part 'I have so many other things I should do'.

But I'm back (and I know I've said that before, but hey, sue me). I'm going to prep a few posts now so I'll at least have something to say over the next week.

Stay tuned!

ABCD #001 - #010

I'm a bit behind on my ABCD Series so I'll have to churn out a few posts to catch myself up.

Leaving work just after the storm came through (flooded Ann St)

Decorating...Christmas and Photo Gallery

In the last two weeks I have managed to both print and hang 33 photos for my wall gallery and buy and assemble a Christmas tree and decorations. Reasonably productive I'd say.

You may remember I spoke about my travel photo wall gallery plans here. I really wanted to fit the maximum number of photos I could manage onto our walls, while still looking organised of course.

Well they're up and I love every one.

ABCD

I've been struggling for blog post inspiration lately. We haven't worked that much on the house (a combination of attempting to have a life and helping my parents with a big cull and house move) and I've also been really tired and lazy lately. So much so, I don't even feel the need to apologise for it. I have been thinking a lot lately and want to start a new series to help me stay motivated to blog.

G20 Cultural Celebrations

SJ and I took a break from working on the house last week to head into the city to see the lights and displays for the G20 Cultural Celebrations.

I signed up to 'design' one of the Colour Me lights displays online, so I was camera ready at 7:08pm when my purple and green design lit up the city. I don't think there any slots left now to submit designs but you can still have a play here: http://colourmebrisbane.g20cultural.initiatives.qld.gov.au/

Decorating...A new table

We swapped our dining room table with a cousin over the weekend. She's moving to a much smaller place and liked the look of my cheap tiny one.

So we went from this...

Decorating...Shaggy Rag Rug

Since I figured I wasn't busy enough with all our renovations, I've also been working a little side project....I'm making a rug for our living room.

I started during the first few weeks we owned the house, before the asbestos was removed and we couldn't do much. After that I worked on it while we were staying at Mum and Dads, particularly during the week we had to wait for the floors to cure.

Since then I work on it every few nights depending on what else I've got going on (at the moment, cleaning a lot of paint flecks off the floor because I wasn't as careful as I should have been painting the skirtings!).

Renovations...The almost AFTER photos

We're almost at the end of 'Stage 1' of the renovations and the house is looking a lot different to it did in those BEFORE photos. Which I posted at the end of September, along with a list of things we still had to complete:

Still to complete over the next few weeks:

- replaced the rest of the internal doors and paint them

- fill (nail holes) and paint all the skirting and architraves

- install roller blinds  (half complete)

- install kitchen kickboards

- paint the kitchen cupboards

- tile the kitchen splash back

Still to complete over the next year:

- the entire front room (still gutted)

- the downstairs bathroom (still gutted)

- renovating the existing bathroom

- sanding all the timber casement windows back to bare timber

- building a new deck

- painting the house/roof (external)

- all landscaping

Decorating...Travel Photo Wall Gallery

This is just a quick post while I get a few others sorted. Friday's post should be photos of the whole house as it was a few weeks ago before I started painting all the skirtings, architraves and doors.

While renovating the house has been fun (sometimes) I'm really itching to get into decorating the house properly. All the furniture we have is second hand or old (our bedroom setting as been mine for almost 10 years) for the most part, we'll make do for the time being and slowly upgrade but I'm really keen to starting putting a personalised mark on the house...beyond choosing the paint colour.

I'm really excited to be able to put up photo frames and want a travel photo wall gallery. SJ and I have so many good photos that need to be freed from the computer.

Renovations...The kitchen (part 2)

Attaching our cupboard doors was a bit of a drama. When my cousin delivered the kitchen to our house, I was busy painting the bifold door and window. I didn't help unload it but her husband presented me with a bag of screws for the doors reminding me that they were very important and I should put them somewhere safe. I swear I did but for the life of me, I couldn't/can't find them. I fear they were put with other old screws/nails/etc. and thrown out by a helper. We searched for new screws to purchase, but most are sold with hinges (worth $10-20 each) but in the end bought a $3 pack of screws the right gauge but wrong length which SJ cut down at work. Worked a treat in the end! Now we have cupboard doors the kitchen looks a lot more finished.

Renovations...The kitchen (part 1)

After waiting the required 10 days for the floor to cure (and they were a long 10 days when we couldn't do any work!) we were able to start installing the kitchen. It was also the period where we started to really move into the house, filling up the garage with our stuff...after making some room amongst all the tools and supplies.

In the end, we had to buy both a new sink and oven. The day we installed the oven, it fell over and the glass front shattered...it may be repairable, but we decided it just wasn't worth it. I'm hoping to sell it on Gumtree. The sink had a dent in it when we removed it from the packaging, the corner had rolled over, and while we may have been able to bash it out, again just not worth it.

Renovations...Polishing the floor

First of all, Happy Birthday to me! I'm now only 1 year off 30...how scary.

As luck would have it, today's post is on of my favourite results of our home renovation, polishing the floor. A lot of what we were doing was leading up to the floor and it was the last piece of major work before we could really start living there. I'm so happy with the results, we get a lot of complements on it and it's super shiny. The decision to go gloss vs matte wasn't a hard one for me, matte is a bit on trend but high gloss is definitely classic and really brings out the natural colours of the timber.

Renovations...Sanding the floor

Once the house was painted we could finally, finally sand and polish the timber floor. You may, like many of our family and friends, believe that the floors look great as they are based on the photographs I've shared. I'm sorry to say, I've deceived you. I usually took photographs of the house and the end of each stage of work when we had cleaned everything up. This usually involved me mopping the floors so I took photos immediately after...as a result, in some shots we appear to have beautifully polished floors. We didn't.

Renovations...Painting the walls

For the walls we chose Dulux (Wash'n'Wear) in Grand Piano Quarter, the ceilings are just Dulux ceiling white. I didn't use any sample pots but went off paint chips and lots of google searches, from everything I had read it was a beige/warm grey that throws green. I first sampled the paint on the kitchen wall (below where cabinets would go) and didn't like it, it looked too lemon for my liking. The paint wasn't stirred properly though and once we actually put the colour on the walls I was very happy with it.

Renovations...Priming the walls

On the 19th of July we had our first 'day off' from the house. We drove to Toowoomba for a wedding and spent 2 nights in dust free bliss. It was great not to have to think much about the house and to get all dressed up and clean (and paint my nails!).

The Sunday after we were right back into it though, we finished up all the paint prep and cemented the last bits of cornice ready for a week of painting. We then primed Monday and Tuesday with the help of SJ's mum. SJ took Monday and Tuesday off work and I took Tuesday and Friday (to pain the ceilings), it was nice to get a big chunk of work done without having to work super late each night.

Renovations...Paint prep and cornices

Another boring step before we could start painting was to fill all the dents and scratches and holes in the existing horse hair plaster walls and ceilings. Horse hair plaster is really annoying by the way.

To make life easier for when we sanded the floors, we removed all the skirting boards from the existing rooms and then we also pulled off all the existing architrave. We had to put new skirting and architrave in the new rooms anyway, and in replacing the trim we sized up (previously 42mm architraves and 66mm skirting, now 66mm architraves and 92mm skirting). The added advantage of going a size up in the existing rooms was that we didn't have to patch areas where the plaster ripped a little. I also taped all the edges where we had exposed plaster which stopped it from continuously crumbling while we were painting and sealing the floor, we then nailed the new trim right over the top.

Renovations...Plastering

Plastering was easily the worst phase of the house renovations, it's dusty, it makes an incredible mess that you can never quite get clean and you just feel so gross through the whole thing. It's the phase that most people will warn you about when you say you're renovating and doing it all yourself, everyone I know seems to have a plastering story whether they did it themselves or would never even consider it.

We're glad we did it ourselves (I say we, but SJ really did most of it) even though there are some visible flaws, particularly in the ceilings. We've learnt from experience and have noticed worse flaws in other homes so it was worth the savings. 

Renovations...Hanging the Gyprock

The next step in our renovations was to hang the Gyprock, we started in mid-June and it took about two weeks worth of work (nights and weekends). During that time I was sealing the cedar door and window and we started some of the plastering, but we also had a bit of family help so two weeks is probably the right timing.

My dad has been a great help with the renovations (my family loves this sort of thing) and bought us/himself a plasterboard lifter and screw gun. Made the whole process a lot faster and less frustrating (thought it was still very frustrating!).

Renovations...New door and window

One of the bigger changes we have made to the living space has been to replace an existing window with a bifold cedar door that opens up onto the deck.

At the same time, we also replaced the existing kitchen window (which was previously frameless glass sliding panels) with a cedar bifold servery window. You'll notice that at the moment it looks a little odd hanging from the side of the house as it does, we intend to extend the deck below the window and include a BBQ space. Actually, there's a lot we intend to do with the deck but that's all down the track.

Renovations...Insulation!

Now the title of this post might be a little deceiving when I mentioned in yesterday's post that this was the 'most disgusting task yet' but this isn't just about installing insulations, it's about removing all of the old stuff as well.

Given we had rooms gutted, we figured it would be a good time to clear out the roof allowing us to drag everything down into the open rooms rather than attempting to break down large sheets of Styrofoam to fit through the man-hole.

Renovations...Stripping it back

The first steps in our home renovations were removing all the carpets and curtains, they were old and they smelt. The second step was getting the asbestos removed from five rooms. The asbestos came out in the last week of May, so we had owned the house for 4 weeks without being able to do much at all.

Introducing Our House...the BEFORE Pics

As I mentioned in my last post, our house has changed quite a bit over the last 5 months. A lot of changes aren't that noticeable from the before photos (a room that has asbestos that's been gutted and re plastered still looks like a room) but we've definitely seen our hard work pay off.

Introducing Our House...

We've owned our home for 5 months now, we're officially living it and we're still very busy each weekend with the renovations. Renovations plus a lack of internet access are my main excuses for not posting about what's been going on.

The Gluten Issue

First off, a little bit of good news, we have a quote for asbestos removal that's about half what the previous quotes have been! It's all booked in for the end of the month and I have a new credit card with 0% on purchases for 10 months to pay for it all with. There are a few other things we're going to do on the house in the meantime but they will get their own post.

The rest of this post isn't house related, it's just a chance for me to complain about my current state of health. 

The Asbestos Issue

​I've had a few questions about the house, are we in it yet? Are we renovating it yet? The big answer to both those questions is....No!

Don't get me wrong, we're super keen to be doing both, but we have a bit of an asbestos issue that needs to be dealt with first.

Asbestos (for those of you who don't know) is a natural mineral that was use in a lot of building products from the 1940s through to the 1980s. It has the potential to cause health problems when fibres are inhaled and the body doesn't manage to get rid of them naturally. If fibres remain in your lungs then long term (40+ years) you may end up with all types of nasty lung related diseases (i.e. cancer or a lot of scaring from your body attempting to cover the fibres and as a result slowly reducing your lung capacity)...it's pretty nasty stuff.

5 months later...

Perhaps I only used to be a blogger, the way I used to dye my hair blonde and live in Melbourne. My life has changed quite a lot over the course of the last five months, yet at the same time, here I am sitting on my parent's couch typing away with nothing better to do.

Welcome to the world...

My gorgeous little niece arrived early morning on Sunday 17th November.

Captured in Europe #4 - Love in Verona

42 days, 9 countries, 8730 photographs...countless travel memories. I want to share with you some of my favourite moments from the trip, going beyond the photographs to tell you the stories behind them and give you a little taste of Europe...this could be a long series...

Date: Thursday July 25
Location:Verona, Italy

Captured in Europe #3 - Capital of the Alps

42 days, 9 countries, 8730 photographs...countless travel memories. I want to share with you some of my favourite moments from the trip, going beyond the photographs to tell you the stories behind them and give you a little taste of Europe...this could be a long series...

At the top of the Karwendel range, Innsbruck, Austria

Date: Friday July 26
Location: Innsbruck, Austria

What's been keeping me busy...

In the last month, I've co-hosted a hen's night and a baby shower, attended a wedding for SJ's cousin and was maid of honour at MissA's wedding. There was a lot of prep involved in hosting the hens and shower but I couldn't share any of it as I was working on it, MissA and MissE both read my blog on occasion and I didn't want to spoil any surprises.

Captured in Europe #2 - Bastille Day

42 days, 9 countries, 8730 photographs...countless travel memories. I want to share with you some of my favourite moments from the trip, going beyond the photographs to tell you the stories behind them and give you a little taste of Europe...this could be a long series...

The Louvre at night (click to enlarge and get the full glory of the panorama)

Saturday July 14
Location: Paris, France

Captured in Europe #1 - English Poppies

42 days, 9 countries, 8730 photographs...countless travel memories. I want to share with you some of my favourite moments from the trip, going beyond the photographs to tell you the stories behind them and give you a little taste of Europe...this could be a long series...

Poppies and Canola

Date: Saturday July 6
Location: Barton-upon-Humber, North Lincolnshire, UK

FYI

Given my love of red, I made an effort to capture the reds of Europe, I can't wait to really play with these photos!

I'm back.

My Bag is Packed!

I'm all ready to go!

I'm still here.

Just in case you were wondering.

My Travel Wardrobe

I have a heap of travel related posts I keep meaning to write, but I never seem to find the time to take photos. Instead, today I have spent my lunch break on Polyvore putting together a travel wardrobe that looks very similar to the one I have packed at home (I'm not joking, everything is set aside and waiting!).

I'm planning on taking only one carry on sized bag and actually intend to carry it on my flight over to Europe. I'm flying Malaysia Airlines, so that means keeping it to below their 7kg limit. I should manage it.

Homemade Travel Goodies

Been a busy little bee over the last few weeks continuing to plan and organise my trip. I've been having internet issues and have had multiple attempts to book train tickets today, it's frustrated me so much I've decided I'd rather attempt to deal with blogger. I think that says it all!

With These Hands - Baby

So Rhi and I have been a little slack with this project, I'm not sure if we'll be doing anymore.

Nevertheless, I did complete the baby project (on time too!) but as it was a gift I didn't want to post it before it was given. I think the recipient (well his Mum anyway) has found my blog through Instagram...Hi E!

My Trip Planning

It's been more than a month since I last posted, that's a long time in between even for me. I think I have lost a few followers as a result, so if you're still with me, thanks!

I mentioned very briefly in my last post that I had started planning a trip, well the last month I have spent all my laptop time planning and booking things and even a little online shopping. So I have plenty of material to fill up a few blog posts, I just have to write them.

So where am I going?

I'm back.

In Melbourne that is.

Worked three night shifts, played netball with my sisters, attended a 1st Birthday Party and might have started planning a big trip.

Exciting times.

Posts to follow once I work out what day it is again.

With These Hands - Garden Project

Here is the efforts from my With These Hands project from last week's theme (Garden).

With These Hands - Week Three - Baby

I know I haven't completed a project for Week Two yet, but I didn't want to be late announcing the theme for Week Three...which is...

Frankston and Mum's Visit

Mum came to visit me for the weekend and I took her on a mini road trip.

With These Hands - Week Two - Garden

Just a quick post to mention that the week two theme for With These Hands is garden.

With These Hands - Valentine's Day

Should I apologise again for my lack of posts? Probably not, you all know how slack I am by now. My weekend with mum was great and I actually took photos, so I will post them soon.

First though, I managed to finish my 'With These Hands - Valentine's Day' project last night and I thought I'd share it with you. It's a gift I will be giving to SJ tonight so he has strict instructions not to come anywhere near the blog until after then!

With These Hands...A New Project

This blog has been stressing me out of late, I can't find things to blog about. And the few things I can find take a lot of motivation to actually become blog posts.

Well all of that is about to change, I'm teaming up with Rhiannon (from Vanilla Bliss) and Sophia (from Je m'appelle Sophia) for a little project.

We've all been looking for things to blog about lately and looking for more creativity in our lives. This is our solution...

The Idea: A weekly theme, released on Fridays, to which we have to create something (with our hands). 

Weekend in Adelaide

SJ and I drove to Adelaide for the Australia Day long weekend. Not a lot to report, the weekend was fun and relaxing yet I came back incredibly tired.

One more week.

Earlier this week, my laptop stopped turning on, something I consider to be quite a vital element in using it. Luckily it  was fixed without me losing any data. Huge relief, I have been putting a lot of effort into a project lately and would have been incredibly upset to lose it all.

Christmas Catch Up #4

I have to admit, I find heading home for Christmas to be a little exhausting. Not just from the 21 hour drive to get there. Living away from all of our family and friends means out catch up list is usually quite long.

Christmas Catch Up #3

My mother and sisters know about this blog and have taken to reading it on occasion. Apparently the criteria for a good present this year wasn't 'something Ash would like' but 'something Ash would blog about'.

I was rather spoiled this Christmas but don't want to bombard you with every little thing I received, so here are the highlights...

Christmas Catch Up #2

So after driving for a three days to get home for Christmas, it would make sense that SJ wanted to make macarons, right? Sadly not his best batch but I think the lack of patience to sift almond meal can be forgiven. These ones are candy cane flavoured, the ganache is made from melted candy canes, white chocolate, butter and cream.

Christmas Catch Up #1

This blog and I have had a rather long distance relationship of late. So now, three weeks after Christmas, when everyone is back at work and finally getting on with their lives...I'm going to update you all on my Christmas in Brisbane.

Starting with...the drive from Melbourne to Brisbane.

All Things Christmas

Only 5 more sleeps til Santa comes!

What I've been up to...

1. Undergound Cinema - theme was 70s Summer so this was my outfit.

Sydney Trip

I know, I know, I should have my blogger licence revoked.

Jokes. I never got one to start with!

So a few weeks ago now I spent the week in Sydney for a conference...

A visit from Mum

I was lucky enough to have a visit from my mum a few weekends ago. Was quite a busy period with our Perth guests leaving on the Monday, my netball grand final on the Tuesday evening and a work trip on Thursday and Friday.

Yarra Valley Weekend

Now I know this is a little delayed but I thought I should catch up on posts in the order they occurred. So going back in time to the 10-11 of November...

If you remember, SJ and I had guests over from Perth for the weekend and ventured to the Yarra Valley. We ventured all over the place and visited a few wineries.

When it rains, it pours...

Another quick post with no photos attached. I have been meaning to write a number of posts lately but haven't found the time. Even now I am taking a break from writing a work related report (at 10pm!) to get this quick post out.

A few weeks ago I wasn't posting because I had nothing to write about...now I have a lot of things to write about but can't find the time!

Blogger and Uploading Photos

Taking a break from my usual life posts today to share with you a little bit of Blogger advice.

I have come across a few people questioning the 1 GB upload limit for blogger both through the vogue forums and twitter and thought I'd write a nice reference post on the topic.

The Engineer and The Teacher

A few weeks ago inspiration hit me and I wrote a little short story.

Thought I would share it with you to perk up Friday afternoon...

Cropped Black Jacket

Sharing with you two work outfits today, both include the same shoes (because I only keep one pair at work) and my favourite cropped black jacket but I think the outfits are very different looks.

All the good things and sun burn

And I'm back. Not just from Brisbane, from my blogging slump. At least, that's the plan!

Firstly, I apologise for the low quality photos that may follow. My trusty Nokia is currently in the shop waiting to be fixed and my HTC camera sucks in comparison. I also apologise for any double up with instagram, I try to take different photos but I've been lazy.

I went for a run.

I don't expect anyone else to care about this post much, but I know that by posting it I will motivate myself that little bit more.

I have decided to train for a half marathon, specifically, the Canberra one on April 14th 2013.

Anyone want to join me?

Meet Squirt

I intended to introduce him earlier in the week, put him together on Saturday and his first outing was to the South Melbourne markets on Sunday.

Analysing my Facebook Friends

As the title suggest, I recently analysed my Facebook Friends.

Why?

I was starting to feel like everyone I know was either talking about a wedding or new addition to the family. So I decided to see what the stats were really like.

My latest project: Polymer Clay

I've been incredibly bored lately (and have had nothing to blog about) so I've been trying to find ways to amuse myself. Enter my new project, Polymer Clay.

I had the idea after discussing wedding cake toppers with MissA, she likes some of the personalised ones you can find on etsy (like these) but can't justify paying $200 with shipping for one.

For those who don't know, Polymer Clay (or Fimo as I've usually known it) is colourful/plain clay that you mould stuff out of and then cook to harden. I had a bit of exposure to the stuff as a child from spending a lot of time at an art and craft market...

Not the call I was hoping for...

Don't uncross you fingers for us just yet.

First, I'm sorry again for being so slack with blogging lately, it's hard to think of things to blog at the moment. I'm also sorry for not replying to the comments everyone has been nice enough to leave, generally because there's only so many times you can write 'Thanks' after a comment before you feel stupid.

So, the bad news first.

Good Enough for the Fridge

Wore this outfit to work earlier in the week. On one of the rare days I didn't ride my bike to work.

The right palette.

I got an email from 'GOOP' (Gwyneth Paltrow's weekly newsletter thing) on Friday, informing me that the autumn season palette includes rich burgundy, cherry red and deep turquoise teamed with black and white.

Guess what I was wearing?

The next step.

I flew to Brisbane on Thursday for my interview for 'Job'. I still haven't heard anything about 'Senior Job' and was told they would probably rush the process on this one so they are announced at the same time...sometime over the next few weeks.

The only way is up!

Just thought I should post a quick update on how things are going on the job/interview front.

I was told at the interview (for Senior Job) I would hear in 3-4 weeks...4 weeks is right about now. I know the jobs haven't been announced yet, but I'm starting to lose hope.

On the upside, I did get an interview for Job and will be flying to Brisbane next Thursday for it. So I still have reason to think we could be living in Brisbane by the end of the year.

Miss Fox - Melbourne

I have been visiting Miss Fox for a few months now for my waxing and have just started getting my eyebrows threaded. I've been meaning to write a post on it but haven't taken any photos...before and afters aren't particularly exciting.

Camping in the Grampians

Started our camping trip with a lunch stop in Ballarat by Lake Wendouree.

What September means for me...

I'm excited about September.

It means:

The Full Story.

I'm sorry this has taken me so long to write, but here you go, the full story behind my 'secret'. I apologise if it's too long for you to care to read it, there are some outfit and food pictures at the end so just scroll on through.

I should probably give you some background first, hard when I don't want to give too much detail away on where I work, so lets just call it Company. Now Company has a head office in Melbourne, plus regional offices in all the capital cities. I work in the regional office in Melbourne (which is only a few hundred metres from the Head Office). My position in Company is known as Job and above me there is Senior Job and Manager Job.

Got that?

It's about a Job

In Brisbane.

And I haven't told my mum.

It's a senior position so I'm not sure what my chances are but it would be a very big deal.

Interview was Friday, I have pictures of my outfit to upload to make the post more interesting but I don't have time at the moment, just thought I'd better get it out there as I know some of you were waiting on this post.

Hope it's a big enough deal for those who feel I have been leading you on, there is a little more to it but that's the biggest part of it all (a few other jobs connected to that one, some in Melbourne). My original post was to see how many of my friends IRL were reading this blog...it worked, MissA sent me a text within a few hours of the post going up, so I had to tell her in person first.

Oh and my mother added me on instagram on Saturday...I hope she (or my sisters) hasn't discovered my blog as a result...if so, sorry Mum, I wanted it to be a surprise...

Almost.

I was going to write a blog post tonight to reveal my secret but something has come up relating to said secret and now I am super busy.

Will post and reveal all over the weekend I promise!

Macaron Attempt #2

Last weekend I had my second attempt at macarons. This time I did it properly and made Salted Milk Chocolate Caramel Zumbarons.

Sock Bun!

Just a quick post to include some pictures of my sock bun last weekend.

Aix Cafe and Mamasita

I'll be honest up front...this is pretty much a food post...

SJ and I had a day out in the city on Saturday, started the day off with brunch at Aix Cafe Creperie Salon.

Catch Up Post #2

 I am getting slack, aren't I?

On the upside, I finally got instagram and twitter on my second phone so I have been posting things a little more frequently there. My instagram name thingy is missdirections...though originally it was missdirectiond so thanks to a typo so you may see me pop up there as well.

This is a quick post about my weekend in Canberra and finding MissA's wedding dress (as you should remember, I am her maid of honour)...

Catch Up Post #1

First off, thank you all for you kind words on my last post. Let me assure that I'm not keeping any bad secrets, more just that I'm not sure which direction of change I'm going to be heading along and I don't want to share until I'm more sure.

I am most definitely NOT pregnant to anyone who jumped to that conclusion. Nor are SJ and I engaged, we're still a long way from any of that financially, he still doesn't have a full time job, remember?

Now onto my weekend in Brisbane...

Keeping Secrets

Looks like I haven't managed to get out of my blogging slump just yet.

In my defence I have been a little busy lately, spent the weekend in Brisbane and will be spending the next one in Canberra.

Work is also crazy.

I am also keeping secrets from you because I'm not ready to share them just yet. And those secrets are occupying precious brain space I don't want to share with remembering to take outfit photos and the like.

So no blog for the moment.

Will post pictures of the weekend just gone soon.

Ash xx

My Wall Stickers!!!!

A little bit late, but here they are!

For those of you who are wondering what I'm talking about, I first posted about my wall stickers here.

I ordered them all from The Wall Sticker Company, who were a pleasure to deal with. I had quick service, my order was finalised (some changes were made to cutting lines etc.) and shipped within 3 days. Then I just had to wait for the postman!

Sunny Saturday

I thought it wasn't that long ago that I had my hair coloured, based on when I was posting about it, it was back in April!

Luckily for me, I my roots aren't too far away from the colours I have in my hair!

Anyway, Saturday I finally got it done again and got a much needed hair cut. The first one since December! I though I'd want my fringe shorter again, but it's grown out so much now that the hairdresser decided I should leave it.

Macaron Attempt #1

First off, I'd like to mention that this week my blog is being featured on the Decorating Forum which means I am going to have to force myself to find the motivation to post more than once this week!

I think I can get around that by splitting up my usual long weekend post into a few (cheating I know!) and I have saved the post on my wall stickers for this week especially.

French Stripes and Red

Very late, as usual, but this is the outfit I wore on Saturday. Which as you all remember, was Bastille Day.

Bad Blogger!

Looks like I am becominga once-a-week blogger. I apologise for that.

Will make up for it next week with almost daily posts, I promise!

My photos are up but I don't have decent photographs of them all just yet, we had a friend over using the guest room on the weekend (didn't want to invade) and I had a stomach bug and the last two days off work...and was too lazy to take photos or post about the rest of my weekend.

Will do it all soon.

Hope you're all still reading :-)

The last 7 days...

Thursday I made this card for the newlyweds. May sound scabby but I have ony given $100 in cash as a gift to each of the weddings I have been to this year. Well this does mark #5 and SJ still doesn't have a real job so I don't feel too guilty. Surely I get extra points for folding it nicely anyway?

Friday I wore this to work.

Rather boring but my blue cashmere scarf livens the look up a little.

See my rose-gold earrings? I usually wear yellow gold ones but changed knowing I will want to wear them to the wedding.

Well I have one in my left ear in this photo, taken in the wicked sunset light as I rushed to leave for the airport.

I got on the plane and that earring was missing! Think I lost it due to the scarf wear somewhere around security or boarding the plane.

Damn.

Lucky I packed backups...

This is what I wore to the wedding on Saturday. SJ is in the grey suit next to me. Probably the only time he was standing actually, he spent most of the wedding sitting down like the old man in the corner...

Sadly, the only photograph I have of myself from the day, was too distracted seeing people and staying warm (was easily just on 10 degrees in the Gold Coast Hinterland) that I forgot.

I did however capture the bride's gown. I love this dress and the veil, I could see myself getting married in something similar!

Sunday I went to my sister's house with my parents to help build her deck. We had intended to visit friends but SJ spent the entire day sleeping in her spare bed...best not to make others sick.

How gorgeous is this timber? it's mixed hardwoods and Dad bought it for her from the seconds auction place thingy. Cost just over $2 a metre (when it would usually cost $6!).

Probably just as well when she's basically decking her entire backyard!

My job was to pick the boards that looked pretty and were a close length to what was needed, nothing too major.

Which reminds me, I got myself some Poshe Top Coat, appeared to do a good job. My nails survived the day at least!

(Though I am wearing Big Apple Red right now and I have a nail that has big time shrinkage!)

I was in major Pirate mode on Monday. Wore a stripey shirt with boots. I think I'm going to wear this shirt on Saturday for Bastille Day, should work well with my now red nails.

Tuesday I didn't start work til lunch time (but was still there at 9pm!) thanks to our operational stuff, so I did our market shop before work. Bought myself these tulips, I do love tulips. Possibly more than roses.

Wednesday was yesterday, my photos came and I put the up and they look awesome (though the Royal Exhibition building has turned up a little dark and lacking detail). I would most definitely have taken pictures to share with you but I left my phone on my work desk overnight, been a bit scatter brained lately.

I'll take good pictures on the weekend to share then.

Today (Thursday) I got a new HTC Velocity phone as my work phone, so looking forward to finding the time to play with that. And a friend from Perth is over for a visit, he's here to participate in some bike races over the weekend.

Oh and of course, since the tour (the Tour De France that is) got interesting this week I've been staying up to watch it (grateful for that late start on Tuesday!). A little worried for Cadel but I think he'll pull through.

There I think that's it. I really shouldn't post so infrequently so they don't have to be soooo long!