Earlier in 2012 I remember writing that we were going to go on a holiday to New Zealand…well our plans got changed somewhere along the way and we ended up going to Japan in December. We still hope to go to New Zealand one day soon!
We traveled with one of our friends who lives in Singapore, where we also spent a few days and had a ball. I became quite addicted to the shopping scene over there and enjoyed lots and lots of tasty meals. It is so great visiting a city where you know people, they always show you the best things! After four days in Singapore we were on our way to Japan.

Japan is such an interesting place. It is so technologically advanced in so many ways, yet so many aspects are rooted in the past. We spent ten days visiting Tokyo, Kyoto and a little town called Hamamatsu, which we were told is quite similar in size to Perth. Unfortunately I was sick at the beginning of the trip, which slowed us down a little – but I managed to perk up towards the end!

Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

Pigging out at a chocolate buffet in Singapore – Oh my gosh. I was in a world of pain after this, but it was so worth it. We all went a little crazy from the sugar overload and took some silly pictures with chocolate all over our faces and running down our chins. It is worth noting that we were at an extremely posh hotel!

Going indoor sky diving – Anyone who knows me well will attest to the fact that I am the biggest scaredy-cat out and I would NEVER go sky diving. So when my boy bought me an indoor skydiving session in Singapore I was a little apprehensive. It turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life and ever since I have been telling everyone and anyone that they need to try it. The one thing people never tell you about sky-diving (indoor or outdoor) is that you drool a heck of a lot, luckily you can’t see it in the photos!

Visiting a cat cafe in Tokyo – When I saw that Stef and Erin went to a cat cafe on their trip to Tokyo, I knew I had to go. It’s so funny, you pay around $10 (AUD) to go in and that includes a drink, then you can choose to pay a little extra to get some food. We didn’t do this at first, but after about 10 minutes with no cats for company we decided to pay the extra to get some cat treats, after which they came swarming (great business strategy). Only in Toyko!

Posing like samurai’s in front of almost every temple in Kyoto – Oh boy did we have fun with this. The temples we visited were very serene so posing in such ways felt a little absurd, but it created some great memories and photo ops!

Rocking out at karaoke in Tokyo – We enjoyed this so much that we went two nights in a row. They have the karaoke experience down-pat in Tokyo. I really love how everyone embraces it over there as a fun activity to do on any given night of the week. I wish we could bring the Japanese karaoke scene to Perth!

Having fun at Tokyo Disney and Tokyo Disney Sea – Our trip to Japan would not have been complete without a visit to Disney! Tokyo Disney Sea was definitely the standout. I surprised myself and went on a ride which had a 360 degree loop and ended up loving it and we had lots and lots of silly fun!

Taking a ride on the bullet train and spotting Mt Fuji – Wow! The bullet trains in Japan are incredible. Looking out the window whilst traveling 300km/h really tests the limits of your eye sight. Despite the speed, we managed to spot Mt Fuji and get some great photos. It is so beautiful!

I hope you enjoyed a few snapshots of our trip, I had better get back to reality for now!

…the boy and I moved out!!!

After nearly eight months of searching the mister and I finally found a place to call home in October last year! It has been so much fun living together and we are loving being in a more central location!

Moving day – I had to drive the truck because Grant can’t drive a stick!

In the end we decided to rent to allow us to see what we could afford, how big a house we needed and to focus on our career goals. I think it was the best decision we could have come to at this stage in our lives. Plus we found a really cute little place with a perfect little kitchen for my adventures in baking!

One of my many adventures in baking.

Searching for a place was frustrating at times most of the time, but there were also some fun and happy moments like when the boy and I had lengthy conversations about our dreams and ambitions. Then there were the terrifying moments, like when we put an offer down on our first ever house, and the devastating moments, when the said offer was not accepted and we realised that people we knew (crazy small place called Perth) got the place for only a few thousand dollars more. If I were to draw a graph of my emotions over the first few months of 2012 it would consist of a long series of peaks and troughs.

The great thing about reflecting on this is realising how beneficial and worthwhile our experience was and how great our lives are now because of it.

Enjoying a nice cup of tea (or two) in our lovely lounge room.

Here are some of my tips if you are looking to move into your first home:

Be patient - although I tried to be, I was not very patient during the house finding process. Thankfully my mister was and he brought me back to Earth on many occasions, reminding me that we were lucky that we already had a place to live and that we would find something eventually.

Don’t settle – there were times when I was so frustrated I was ready to buy the next thing I saw, but now I am so glad we didn’t settle for something that wasn’t right.

Give yourself time to think about your game plan – we went into this experience thinking we wanted to buy but came out the other side with a completely different perspective. There are pros and cons to each scenario, you need to do what is best for you and your future.

You can change the home but you can’t change where it is – if the perfect house is in the wrong location it is probably not worth it, you can always change what a house looks like but you can’t change a busy road or a bad neighbourhood (unless you are Batman).

Don’t over extend – one of the main reasons we decided to rent in the end was to get a good idea of what we can afford. It would be our worst nightmare to buy a place and then not be able to have the lifestyle we want because we have massive bills to pay. This way we can still have a home and go on a holiday or focus on our future plans.

Four months on and we are having a ball in our little home. I hope to take some better pictures of it soon, we just need to get a few more things organised and hang some pretty pictures on the walls! For now, here is a picture of our lovely Christmas tree (all packed away now – sigh).

I had my wisdom teeth removed last Thursday so the past week I have been in recovery mode while my chipmunk cheeks deflate and my wounds heal. I’ve been watching a lot of Chuck (remind me to tell you about my love of spies and nerds one of these days), working on my crochet afghan, getting around in my new pj’s and attempting to eat various mushy foods (YoGo you are my saviour).

I was quite nervous in the lead up to the operation – I had never been under general anaesthetic before – but my wonderful mum and amazing boyfriend were there for me every step of the way (including the lengthy wait at the hospital). I also have some pretty great family and friends who sent lots of love my way.

It all turned out to be a pretty easy process, the anaesthetic was exactly the way everyone had explained it and I woke up giggling and talking to everyone in recovery, despite having masses of gauze in my mouth and a bandaged up head. I even managed to tell one of the nurses she had nice shoes – they were Calvin Klein. Turns out having surgery is pretty fun…until the pain killers start to wear off!

Meet Whizzy – the cutest little bunny to help me through the surgery – from my one and only.

Breakfast consisted of a peanut butter and banana smoothie and peaches on most days.

Another present from my wonderful gentleman, a pretty dress for when I am ready to go out in public again!

Pretty yarns and fun patterns make me smile.

It’s back to work for me tomorrow, fingers crossed the last of my swelling goes down overnight so I can look like a relatively normal person again. I’m going to miss the spies, nerds, crafting and comfy clothes – the pain not so much!

The Mister and I have been searching for a house/apartment/unit for the past six months and boy is it a frustrating, long and slow process! You could say we are just like Goldilocks when it comes to inspections – it’s too small, I don’t like the street/suburb, the outside is ugly, it’s too expensive, there’s no parking, it’s made of asbestos, there are too many neighbours close by – we mostly whinge about them being too small or too expensive.

We are also having a hard time deciding whether we want an apartment, unit or house. I think we have pretty much ruled out units, we would put up with an apartment if it was in a small block and not too small/ugly on the outside and we would really love a house but probably can’t afford it. So I guess that leaves us no choice but to go for an apartment.

Unfortunately a lot of apartments in Perth are in these awful beige-brick, ten-plus-storey buildings which really couldn’t feel like home for us so the waiting game continues until the perfect place comes up. In the meantime I have been pinning house designs and decor and dreaming about living in a gorgeous character home with high ceilings and wood floorboards. Here are some of my latest inspirations:

via My Ideal Home

via My Ideal Home

via Remain Simple

via provehito inaltum

via Dust Jacket

Oh boy….that was an awkwardly long break. Life has been crazy over here with work, assignments, social commitments and trying to find some sort of house to live in. I have not had time to knit or crochet, let alone scratch my nose. But lets stop with the excuses, no-one wants to read me ramble on for a whole blog post about how much of a bad blogger I am. Am I right?

Winter has well and truly kicked in and I am loving the wooly socks, flannel sheets, hot chocolates and puddle skipping – the freezing cold mornings when I have to get up early not so much. Here are a few other things that are making me smile this winter.

My brother’s wedding is just 8 months away (not to freak you out brother!). It’s even sooner than expected due to a slight hiccup with the venue, but that’s all the more reason to be excited. We might just have to ask the photographer to snap a cute picture like this.

Cosy knits. I’ve been rocking a lot of wooly jumpers and cardigans lately. This one here via Alisa Design is just so ladylike with the accentuated shoulders.

Our trip to New Zealand in December. We plan on doing a lot of Lord of the Rings type tours to keep the boys happy and I am most excited about visiting Hobbiton – I hope it looks just as pretty as the picture above.

I have been finding so much inspiration for my graphic design course lately. I keep being drawn to pieces like this one from Leens Print. I think I will have to make my own sometime soon – fun craft project for my wall?

And of course this adorable doggy trench via The Rover Boutique, what a cute, happy (and warm) puppy!

What’s keeping you happy and warm this winter, or summer as it may be in your corner of the globe?

xx

Today’s Try Something New Tuesday brings me to the Daily Planet in Mount Lawley. To be honest I am actually trying two new things this Tuesday, writing a review AND blogging from a cafe. Look at me go! I have blogged outdoors before so I didn’t really feel like I was exerting myself if the only new thing I tried was blogging in a cafe. So lets just focus on the review.

Despite getting off to a rocky start earlier in the year the Daily Planet is establishing itself as yet another tasty feeding ground on the Beaufort Street strip. I was here last on Sunday for a late lunch and enjoyed some kind of delicious breakfast burrito creation and an apple, pineapple and watermelon juice that packed a punch.

It took a lot of willpower to avoid the dessert cabinet but I didn’t order any food today because I am just about to hop along to tap and food in the belly plus jumping around does not make for a happy dancer. I did however try one of their hot chocolates which are served with not one but two marshmallows – always a winner in my book!

It’s not often that I find a cafe where I am comfortable to do my knitting and crochet, but I would definitely be happy to bring it along to the Daily Planet. There is a really nice area towards the back of the cafe which is a little more private and the staff aren’t bothering you every two seconds or trying to kick you out to fit more people in. There are also power points, a plus for anyone who likes to take a working lunch.

On top of all this they play really great music, the staff are friendly and the decor is super cosy (there’s even a fireplace), all they need now is just a few more bodies warming up the place.

Happy Tuesday! I better go get ready for dancing now.

Do you ever have those moments when you see something and you feel you need to have/make/do it immediately? For me this occurs on a daily basis, but I rarely have the funds or time to get on to whatever it is straight away and then it ends up on my forever growing to-do-list glaring at me each day I open my diary. Well today that is different!

 
I saw this print on Urban Outfitters and I got the sudden urge to make something similar with one of the pretty photos I took on holidays last October.

The photo is of the outside of the Chelsea Market in New York where we bought some amazing cheese, ate delicious brownies and sipped on iced tea. It was such a lovely place.

I used Illustrator to create the effects and played around with colours and opacity until it felt jazzy enough. I really like the way that the squares frame the pretty details of the building.

I think I might make a series of these images from our New York visit and print them on canvas for my wall – on the to-do-list it goes! Go on, give it a try with one of your photos!

I’ve had the pattern for this project in my head for months and finally got around to making it the other day, it took me around 90 minutes. I used some old fabric scraps and some faux leather that I bought a couple of months ago. Faux leather is quite pricey, mine cost $50 for two meters, so if you would prefer to save your pennies you could use laminated fabric instead.

1. First, you will want to get your brushes out and measure up a pattern that fits them all in. You can choose whether you would prefer the roll to have rounded or square edges, it won’t matter either way. 2. Then trace around your pattern onto the wrong side of the leather and cut it out. Once you have done this pin the pattern to your fabric and cut it out around the edges, this will make up the outside of the roll. 3. Now you will need to fold the pattern in half, pin it to the fabric again and cut it out. This piece will be used to hold the brushes in place. 4. Now that you have all of your materials cut to size you will need to hem the top edge of the fabric which will hold your brushes in place. Fold and press the top half of the fabric down 1/2cm and then again 1cm. Sew along this edge as close as you can to the fold line. 5. From here you will sew this piece (right side down) to the wrong side of the leather, 1/2cm from the fabric’s edge. You will want to leave the hemmed edge open. I did not want to damage the leather so instead of pinning these pieces together I used sticky tape along the open edge to hold the two pieces together while I sewed. When you have finished sewing, trim the corners back and turn the fabric right side out. 6. It’s time to measure your brushes. Use pins to mark where you need to sew. I placed the brushes inside the pocket and pressed down on either side of each one to measure how much room was needed. 7. When you have finished pinning your measurements you can sew the pockets for the brushes. Be careful to over-sew at each edge to make sure the stitching is going to stay put when you are using it later on. Double check that each brush fits as you sew the pockets.

8. Now you can get your straps ready. Cut a 90x3cm strip of leather and sew it together at the sides. I used a contrasting thread for an extra bit of detail, but you could use a thread that matches your leather. Sew each end shut and cut the strip in half so you are left with two 45cm strips. Place the strips aside while you work on the next step. 9. Sew the backing and the lining together with right sides together as close to the edges as possible leaving a 5cm gap at the end where you would like your straps to go.Trim the corners and any edges with excess fabric, the good thing about leather is that it won’t fray so cut it as close to the stitching as possible. 10. Turn the brush roll right side out and place the straps inside the opening, folding the material inside as you go. Now you will sew the gap shut with the ends of the straps inside. I was lazy and did this with the machine, but you could do it by hand with a sharp needle and some thread. 11. Now put your brushes inside, wrap it up and marvel at your organised-ness!

Have a happy Sunday!

It feels like autumn is finally here, I have been waiting for this moment since November when summer kicked in early. It’s been one of the hottest summers ever and I am more than ready bust out the scarves, hats and gloves. I have been teased and tormented for the past six months looking at all my favourite blogs of people based on the other side of the world with their cute colourful tights, warm cosy jackets and boots, and now I finally get to wear it all!

This year I have set a challenge for myself to make an afghan rug and it finally feels cool enough to get started. I have been pinning tons of different afghan rugs and finally settled on a pattern that I love. It’s a crochet sampler and one of the stitches used is called popcorn stitch. I tried it out last night and it actually makes me want to eat popcorn, I think it will be the perfect addition to my movie-buff boyfriend’s and my future living room.

Here are some other afghan patterns that came pretty close.

Slip stitch sampler throw

Shaded ripple afghan

Patchwork sampler throw

Cascading leaves throw

Tweedy mitered afghan

$85 later (I wish shops in Australia stocked Lion Brand yarn) and am patiently waiting the arrival of my materials. Happy autumn everyone!

I have committed the cardinal sin of blogging – not blogging. Unfortunately two weeks ago I developed a repetitive strain injury (RSI) in my wrists and hands from all of the work, blogging, craft and graphic design study I had been doing.

The doctor said I had to take time out from blogging, craft and study and just focus on work until I was better. It killed me to come home and not get to do anything with my hands and I have been going crazy thinking about all the things I want to do but can’t. I did catch up on a lot of TV shows though! The good news is that I am on the mend, my hands and wrists hurt less each day and I have been gradually increasing my work load and have added my study back into the schedule. If you ever develop RSI listen to your doctor, as it can develop into a pretty serious injury if you ignore it.

So over the next few weeks you can expect fewer blogs from me, however I have decided to try out video blogging so keep an eye out for that! For now, these are a few of the illustrations I have had to work on (slowly and carefully) for my graphic design course.