personal diary entry, august 7, 2006…

“I have the top of a tall fir tree in my line of sight outside this window, oh how I would love to see a beautiful bald head eagle fly to a branch right now. I would watch that eagle until he flew away.

The tide is out and the sludgy green-gray sand is stretched wide along the bay, sand dollars scattered across the slimy surface. Its a picture perfect view of Treasure Island, rocking in the wind, with the flag that I made already faded to white. I love its new weathered look.

This afternoon I will take a walk along the rocky shoreline. I will find a smooth rock and will lay myself down and look up. And close my eyes. I will take in this shoreline with all my senses as it has become so familiar to me, this ocean that I know so well from it’s other coastline. Being here is like being inside the mirror, looking back and waving to myself from behind the bluish glass. On the other side it is a different palette of blues, warm shades of blues. But here, its grey shades of blue: the dark blue-grey mountains meet the deep black-blue ocean – how is it that you now speak to me like I belong. It is a beautiful feeling, to feel you accepting my presence. I would like to get to know you better than I have over the past years. I’d like to see how it feels to call you home. What an opportunity that would be.”

But on that walk, and on that rock, I sensed something. I sensed that it was the last time I would walk there. The last time I would be invited to visit that special place with those special people who made me feel like I was home. So I lingered a little longer on that rock. I walked back a little slower. And I sensed my heart would ache. For a long time to come.

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The soundtrack to this post is here.

So it’s been a very eventful past few weeks. Let’s jump back a few steps and start with who I had the pleasure of meeting up with while in Paris a couple of weeks ago. Two lovely bloggers in fact, both of whom you know I adore so I was keen to meet them in the flesh. First of all, the young lady who creates these divine crocheted garlands…

…joined me for lunch and then accompanied me on one of my shoots. Yes, I’m talking about the lovely Marie from ici et là. Although we only had a short time to meet, it was lovely getting to know her face to face, learning about her adventures in Paris and chatting away in our Aussie accents amongst the Parisiennes. Thanks for joining me Marie, I do hope we get to see more of each other while we are both in Europe!

Another hit of fabulous Aussieness came a few days later when sweet Anna from Absolutely Beautiful Things landed on the continent. I caught her at the beginning of her 3 week vacation through France, and we were able to catch up for a drink and some banter. What a treat!! Anna lives in Brisbane as most of you already know, and I was keen to hear all about her life in this favourite place of mine, and she was keen to hear all about my life in this favourite place of hers! We had a great time, I hope to see her again soon, wherever in the world that may be (okay, secretly I’m hoping its in Brisbane, or at her incredible holiday home on Stradbroke Island).

Lots of other things happened in Paris that you will just have to wait to hear more about soon, but straight after that I was back to le petit bateau in Amsterdam and then on the train to Den Hague for a rather lavish 3 day shoot in a magnificent property (i gasped, gawked, and shrieked with pleasure when I laid eyes on this place. sometimes my job is too good to me). Spending three days in The Hague was pretty special, while I was shopping for props there I managed to snap a few photos for you, I was so eager to show you this beautiful town…

Sure, it was super sunny the whole time I was there, and we all know how much the sun effects me, but it got me thinking, could this little Dutch city be more gorgeous, quaint and laid back than my Amsterdam?

I was in love with this town. Meanwhile, the shoot was an extraordinarily humungous amount of work and while I was expressing my concerns about the huge set I had to create in the coming days while I was on the phone to dear Danielle, next thing I knew she was offering her assistance. I couldnt have been happier – what a wonderful treat to get to spend the whole day with my friend, and have her wonderful helping hands. So on the last day of the shoot, Danielle and I were busy making lavish garden table settings and little vignettes around the place. Danielle made the most beautiful floral arrangements too, and as soon as the production is in print I shall show you all! Thanks again Danielle, I hope we get to work together again soon, i think we make a pretty fab styling team.

So that’s my catch up news, now for sharing something else very much on my mind, plus a few posts and thoughts I’ve been wanting to share with you. A bientot!

This beautiful girl is so talented, every word she sings is straight from my own heart… how does she do that?! on a side note, i miss listening to triple j on my way home from work in my little white starlet, cruising along the rainforest-lined wakehurst parkway…

There are lots of things I miss in August. More about that soon! For now, it’s bed time for me, and this song is this posts soundtrack. Enjoy. Perhaps I’ll see you in the a.m? Sweet dreams.

xx

I’ve been spoilt rotten lately, and it’s time I tell you all about it!

Last week while I was frantic with meetings and prep, I was breezing through the office of the House of Orange and noticed that sitting on my portfolio shelf were the above goodies. I was on my way to a meeting at the bar so I couldnt look until after it had finished, but the moment it was over I couldnt wait any longer and had to see what it could be. I turned over this beautiful postcard and read the note. It was from Itsasne, one of my wonderful readers. She had collected a number of things that she thought I might love and sent them to me, wrapped in these gorgeous papers. As if the fantastic vintage postcard wasn’t enough…

…she had sent me a book of artist Anne De Gelas work, filled with the most inspiring pages of polaroid photography, hand written letters and drawings. Flipping over to the back I was not surprised to read that Itsasne was the graphic designer of this creation, of which is a work of art in itself. Boy do i have the most talented readers!!

Itsasne also included delicious Belgian chocolate and a Feist CD – the perfect mid week saviour kit for my crazy week. What a champion friend! I was blown away by her generosity, and I really do think that old adage about giving and you will receive is sacred and so true. Thank you Itsasne, you are truly a wonderful person.

Then, as if all that wasn’t enough, I received another package within days of Itsasne’s gift. Unwrapping this one revealed a few goodies from Royal Buffet – one little white package revealed the butterfly tags I had ordered from their etsy boutique(I will show you what I plan to do with these soon), and along with a beautiful note was a stunning papillon mobile made from French newspaper print. I have hung it up in the kitchen where the paper butterflies happily flutter in the breeze and dance with the water reflections on the ceiling…

…I will take more photos of it soon, but just this for now – I can’t help but show it off. Thank you girls, you are both the ants pants of creating dreamy things, I can’t get enough of your creations and now I have some in my own home!

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Now, do you think there couldn’t be more? Well yes, there is. My friend Danielle from The Style Files surprised me on Monday when we caught up for a quick drink after work. (Oh I love presents!!) It was a gift from her beautiful online store Le Souk. I haven’t had a chance to photograph it yet for you, but it is a handwoven cotton throw from Istanbul. I promise to photograph it soon for you to see. What a fabulous surprise! I feel totally spoilt, thank you Danielle. We also had a little styling adventure together yesterday which I will share with you tomorrow!

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And what could possibly be on top of all that goodness? What is the cherry on the delicious cake?! Well let me tell you! I have won my first ever blog award, three times!! Lovely bloggers Carol, Sofia, and Annie have each awarded me with the Brilliante Premio award over the last couple of weeks. Thank you girls, you rock! I think the rule is to pass the award onto others but since I have been so busy I think I’ve managed to unintentionally stop the lovely flow. bad girl! But if I can be honest, i am no good at picking a limited amount of blogs to award anyway, so I am awarding every single one of the blogs in my blogroll because each of them inspire me immensely. So if you haven’t already had a peak at my blogroll list to the right of this page, take a moment to do so now and check out some of the blogs that perhaps you aren’t familiar with, they are each a source of inspiration for my work, continually filling their blogs with the good stuff of design, interiors, art, photography, and life in general.

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PS I still have heaps to tell you – like my meeting of two fabulous bloggers in Paris on my last trip, a handy hint which I’ve been dying to post for so long now, and starting from tomorrow a special series of daily posts in celebration of an upcoming event. Oh where does the time fly to? I can barely keep up with all the things I want to share with you!

but next up: hmm, are you ready for a Paris soundscape?

and way back in march, sweet pamela jane tagged me asking for 7 random style facts about myself. I didn’t fulfill the tag back then as I had just done a similar tag and thought I should leave it a while. Well, it’s been a while, and no doubt Pamela has lost complete interest in me for not playing along back then, sorry Pamela! But here are my 7 random facts and since you mentioned the word ‘style’, i thought i would use that to share 7 style traits that i work and live by:

1. stay real.

2. love raw.

3. be refined.

4. think ‘sophistication’.

5. work in layers.

6. play loose.

7. work genuinely.

The photograph above is from a card I made for a new born a year or so ago. I cut a tiny dress from left over fabric, handstitched it with pink thread, made a tiny coat hanger from soft wire, hung it on a string attached to the card and created two little printed tags, one that said, “c’est une fille” and the other with the girl’s name. Do you like? I am bummed I gave it away actually as I know it wasn’t appreciated. But I can always make more! One fine day when I have the time again, I shall endeavor to make more. Perhaps when I have my own little bubs…one fine day.