It’s been killing me, but I was waiting for the tulips to bloom and the sun to shine before I showed you my home, and finally that moment has arrived.
I will post heaps more photos in the next post but for now, this is the little sneak peek on Grace’s site, and this is what I get up to , all exposed in Erin’s Dailies. …hmm, I am feeling rather naked at this moment.
(PS are you wondering why I didn’t make the bed for Design*Sponge? I’m wondering that too, what was I thinking?!)
Our next guest has finally arrived, and as you can see, it hasn’t taken him long to get comfy…
Yep, this friend of mine is über stylish. Contrary to what the above image suggests, my new guest is tall, blonde and handsome, and he knows how to play “eye spy with my little eye” better than the rest of us.
Haven’t got a clue what I’m talking about? Let’s see if some visuals can give us a helping hand…
Before my guest got his hands on this beautiful Tommy Hilfiger image, it looked like this:
And after he waved his magic wand, it turned to this:
before his golden touch, and after…
and again…
Isn’t this fun? It’s called image manipulation, and it is this incredible expertise that my friend is, well, an expert at. Okay, okay, I won’t leave you in suspense any longer. Welcome to the (blog)house my dear friend, Marcus Thyer.
Marcus runs a company called Cave, and although he is based in Sydney he has been coming to Holland every 6 months or so to work on the Tommy Hillfiger campaigns, and of course, to come play with me! He is the one who ‘sold’ amsterdam to me – when I first arrived to check it out he showed me around, doubling me on my bike and taking me to all the best vintage clothes shops, bars and restaurants. He was also here for Queen’s Day, and he and I were busy snapping shots in between sipping rosé by the Prinsengracht and watching people fall into the canal. When with Marcus, I can’t help but have a fabulous time and his playful personality is evident in his work.
I have heaps more to share with you about Marcus, but all in good time, all in good time. We will also take a look at retouching, and image manipulation in television and print media while Marcus is with us. But for now, please welcome him to the guest quarters – go and sip a martini and watch the sunset or rise, depending on where you are in the world. Meanwhile Marcus, you sit back & relax, enjoy the view and the pampering. Would you like some more olives with that? Shall I top you up? I’ll just put the air con on, let me know if it gets a little too chilly in here…
All images courtesy of Cave.
but wait there’s more!
and then i saw the sign to wagga…
… and I realised I’d been tricked – for all aussies know that wagga wagga is nooooooowhere near the ocean. What wonderful witchery was this? It’s a place called zaandvoort and is one of The Netherlands beaches, complete with beachside cafes bearing Australian flags. French Boy and I took the half hour train ride and hung out here all afternoon, lapping up the sunshine + sea breeze, and sipping wine. It was just what the doctor in me ordered (yes I’m known to self-diagnose and self-medicate on a regular basis). The pipelette in me ran riot, telling sydney seaside stories, and creating crocodile dundee-style legends.
Needless to say a few friends back home got a few late night text messages from me. I’m (sort of) sorry if I woke you guys.
I also spotted this little photo shoot, which I thought was rather magical…
Yep, I am happy now everyone – I know exactly where I can go to get a dose of home. I just won’t look at that strange fomey stuff that wobbles on the shore, and I’ll imagine the water is blue and not brown, and that the waves roll high and that the sand is golden and nice to the touch. Yep, nearly there. Thanks Holland, for creating a little home away from home just for me…
My friend Joe and I are a bit like Will and Grace. Except Joe is not gay, nor am I Jewish. But we love each other just the same, and when we were teenagers we used to play a little water game.
You see, Joe and I lived on the Northern Beaches of Sydney which is a strip of land that juts up and out of the Australian coastline, creating a series of beautiful golden sand beaches on one side of the strip, and a number of bays on the other (has anyone seen Home and Away? that is our home – even the school uniform is ours) – our high school was on the bay, our homes were by the bay, and so this is where we played.
We had a little run down runabout, and Joe and I used to take it out every weekend. We would visit out friend Sara across the bay, and we’d hang out by the edges of Scotland Island, or we’d go to one of the creeks and explore (sans funnel web spiders preferably).
And the other day, while I was out on David’s runabout cruising the canals of Amsterdam, memories of my time with Joe on the bay came flooding back.
While Joe and I were in our runabout going from a to b, we would spot the name on a moored boat, and try to come up with a very cool and funny sentence with this strange name in it, and the other person would have to find that boat with the mystery word. It seemed to entertain us for hours, and we would communicate like that for the whole day. Sometimes we would just float our boat amongst all the massive moored yachts, bath in the sunshine, and talk to each other using these boat names. And if we were feeling extra clever we would incorporate two or three boat names in one sentence, or come up with a poem. I’ve forgotten the many beautiful poems we used to create, but the memory of our time is still very vivid. And I remember that Joe was always better at the game than me.
So Joe, this one is for you…
“won’t you be my scialuppa…”
(check comments box for the meaning)
