the simple things that i love.

On a serious note. 

Words of Truth.

I read this and had to share it. Anyone can get through anytime of hardship with if not all but one of these things. There is nothing like a solid workout to get your mind back on track, a solid cry to let all the tears sting your face until you have no more tears left to cry or, my favourite, a dive into the ocean. For that split second nothing else in the world matters, your whole body is being cuddled by the cold yet comforting water, your mind is being pushed into a whole new area and it feels like a new life. Byron Bay and Shoal Bay have provided me with this  on more than one occasion. 

Simple JOYS of sisterhood. 

Need I say more. What a life!  

A little piece of us. 

Three years ago a mixture of six of mothers, sisters, aunties, daughters and best friends took a little escape to Thailand. The luscious sands of Patong Beach crinkled between their toes while the essence of the waves sung them lullabies after many days of hard shopping.

Once the sun had said goodnight, they carried on up to their favourite place for a feast, typically, The Aussie Bar. They engraved their names into the thin wood that held the tiny building together. Creating a little piece of home with their marks in tact, they instantly felt comfortable and connected with the big wide world.

Leaving a little mark of who you are on something much bigger than you can have a very soulful impact. Don’t be afraid.

Makeup Artist. Milan. London. New York. France. Fashion Week. Dream. 

Just another aspect of life I would love to accomplish. 

I could not help but take a snap of these! I was out at King Street Hotel with my beautiful friends and stumbled across these three little pieces on our crazy night out. I don't know who their owners are or where they are from, but they are so cute I could not help myself.

Alison Ali 'Bucko' Buxton

So I have this delicious friend that I met at Uni. We were both studying Journalism at that stage, since then we have both changed our minds a thousand times of what we want to do but she has still stuck the degree out. Me - I swapped. Kudos to her. She wants to change to Law, if she does I'll be forced to sue her somehow, she is an amazing writer, as you will see, and i am going to force her to continue. 

Its not very often I get to see her but this particular night was amazing. A phone call to say "I'm on my way" was all I needed, the wine was awaiting upon her arrival. Turning up with red lips, thick black-framed glasses and the figure of a ballerina, we drank, talked and indulged in snuggles all night. The next morning is explained in her blog, which is shown below. She is Bew-di-ful and her boyfriend's name is Pe-ter - My-er. I love her with all my heart. So below is a little piece she wrote about me. It is the simple things like this that make my life so complete.  

BL. x

To Bonnie. From Ali.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

                         EVENTS THAT TOOK PLACE YESTERDAY - PART ONE.

        

I was awake, out of bed and literally climbing a mountain before 9am.

I was out in Nelson Bay for a long overdue snuggle with my Bon Bon. Bonnie is a tiny little pocket rocket babe who I met in my first ever couple of weeks of university. We clicked like an 80s love song backing track and we spent a year hanging out, usually with intentions of getting assignments done and always with the result of drinking wine and cuddling all night.

Then she up and left me, the bitch. She changed degrees and moved to Albury with her boyfriend. We spent the night of her farewell drunkenly snuggling and crying like babies until we fell asleep while Dan (the bf) lay ignored on the other side of the bed.

So now we catch up when we can and I miss her terribly. She is amazing and everyone who doesn’t know her is missing out. She manages to fit so much exuberance and life and sunshine (along with a spectacular singing voice) into her petite little frame and it brightens everyone she meets. She is incredibly affectionate and open and has a heart of pure gold. She accepts me for who I am and doesn’t try to change me and I love her for that.

And she has great tits.

It did turn out to be worth her dragging me out of bed and up the mountain and now these stunning pictures from the top of Tomaree will always be a comfort when I miss my friend. Bew-di-ful!

Simple Teapot Happiness.


Teapots will always remain as something I cling to on a freezing cold Winters day, providing me with warmth and what feels like a mouth full of snuggles.  I can not help but feel instantly comforted by the unique figure that sits on my coffee table keeping my toes toasty. I cant wait for Winter 'tea on the terrace' with Mumma Mooney. While this picture may depict more of a 'Summer' take on Teapots, with one look of it's figure it provides me with an instant warmth and a positive attitude. Simply Divine.

when we were young.

Being young is a feeling of freedom. Freedom is a power to think what one wants.

What one wants is to to be forever young. 

Stylist - Bonnie Eick

MUA  - Bonnie Eick

Model - Belle Orton

Photographer - Wade Lowe

Clothing - Bamboostik

POTM - If your a bird, I'm a bird.

Photo of the month - June

It has come to that time of the year when the leaves stop falling and we begin to freeze. Excuses for blankets, bourbons and boys. Three guilty addictions during winter. May your troubles fly away and you find yourself in a perfect little winter bubble that allows you to think, feel and create what ever you want.  

what makes my house a home.

'There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort'

- Jane Austen

What makes my house my home.
This display sits just above my fire place. It has five different things that make turn my house into my home. These pieces are from people that mean the most. I smile every time I look at them.
Antique Candle-sticks - As soon as me and Dan found out where we were moving mum and I were off shopping. She took me into her favourite home wares shop and bought me these two candlesticks (she has the same ones). My house is oozing with little presents from my mummy but these are the best.
Kissing Figure - There is a long story to this little carving, but long story short,  Dan bought it for me while he was away for three months at recruits. He just didn't know he did at the time.
Tree - Bianca Beatty. One of the most beautiful girls you will ever meet! She would bend over backwards for anyone, thats just one of her many qualities. Bianca bought this for me and Dan when we left for Albury as a little house warming gift. I originally used it to hang all my jewellery on but it was to pretty not to be seen.
White wooden candlesticks - Funny little story about these. Cazz, Dan's God mother, bought them for us. If you down for a drink then you are down with Cazz! On her recent trip to Bali she lost ALL her bags of shopping. On her way home to Australia, a few weeks later the airline found one of her bags and returned it. In it was a whole heap of work shirts and our candles sticks :) We were very excited.
Balls on top - I was attending the beautiful wedding of Ryan and Jessica's Andrews in 2009, these little bobbles were sky high in glass vases. There would have been at least a thousand amongst all the tables. I asked Jess if i could have some to put into a glass vase in my room, she threw me about 20 but I only needed three :) They are a perfect fit!
Framed shells - For those that have read my 'Melodies' page will know how much I love my brother.  These shells were a gift from Ben for my eighteenth birthday. All of these things remind me so much of home, but this one especially. Not only does it remind me of the beach and the beautiful place in which we lived but it reminds me of all the times shared with my family. A little piece of home sitting in my lounge room.  

After June long weekend it was time to pack up all my sweet little things into the car and road trip the move from Sydney to Albury. 

First night home. Tea on the terrace and view like no other. 

My inspiration Board - When I was living in sydney I would continually cut out pictures from magazines, newspapers and catalogues on the boring train rides home from work. When I got home I would excitedly scatter them all around my room to brighten it up. When I moved back to Albury Dan and I spent the day setting up my studio and blu-tacking all my pictures back on to a spare canvas.

Total eclipse of the heart - This is my favourite piece of artwork in my house. When we first moved to Albury in 2009 Dan and I had a huge blank wall above our bed. This, in my eyes, was not aloud. We spent a whole weekend nailing together a frame and tie-dying calico. This 3 x 4m piece is the first one we did together. Our house is now filled with them.

 This is my little Diesel. My best friend. He likes snuggles, romantic dinners and long walks on the beach, Oh and Pina Coladas if your down for it. 

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy but rain on the roof makes me smile.

Colsey & Kate

Listening to the sound of the rain on a roof has always made me think of my Nanna Betty, the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on. For the ten years I can remember of my Nanna Betty, I can recall countless days when the rain would be pouring, and there in the lounge room was Nanna Betty and all her grandchildren cuddled up with the windows wide open listening to the rain trickle off the roof. Along with this beautiful memory from the rain of my Nanna now comes another,  the life of our friend Jake Coles, formally known as Colsey.
As the rain fell on the grey skied morning of his service, the copious amounts of water droplets only represented a fraction of the amount of tears that had been cried at the loss of our beautiful freind. While the rain dampened the atmosphere for most, inside it bought me comfort. It took me back to the times with my Nanna and made me think of all the happy times that we shared with Colsey.


Every person that knew Colsey had a different story and thats what made him so unique. He would be there for a shoulder to cry on, a partner to drink with and a mate to watch the footy with. Some would say he was like a little old man, the kind who would always be so genuinly intrigued by what was happening in your life. You could never escape a big bear hug or happy hello from this bloke, nor would you want to. His infectious smile along with his vivacious personality bought 22 years of joy to all his family and friends.


Three huge cheers were carried out at the end of his Dad's words at his service. The kind of words that made you feel so uplifted from a family who is feeling so much loss. The walls shook as the three stern 'hip hip's' were led by Jake's Dad and were followed with strong 'hoorays' from all that were there.  I know that You would think that this kind of chant is done in celebration of birthdays or graduations, but thats exactly what is was, a celebration of life of someone that we love.


I say love and not loved as he is not gone, he never will be. He will be with all of us, every second of every day. We will never stop loving him and he will never stop loving us. After hearing this song at Jakes service on wednesday I sat down and read the lyrics to Jimmy Barnes' 'Aint no mountain High enough'. This phase stuck out - I strongly believe jake would be screaming this out to us -

My love is alive

Way down in my heart
Although we are miles apart

If you ever need a helping hand
I'll be there on the double
just as fast as I can

don't you know that ;
there ain't no mountain high enough,
ain't no valley low enough,
ain't no river wide enough,
to keep me from getting to you

You will be dearly missed my friend. Thoughts and prayers are with you. 


BL. x

3 little treasuers.

The 'Sean-a-pauls'

'Compared to a friendship, gold is dirt'

Treasured Friends

Treasured Memories

Treasured Girls

We sat in the car for over an hour talking about the previous night and how our boyfriend 'Vodka' betrayed us yet again, an occasion that we found reoccuring most Sundays. We parked the car in my driveway ready to get out but none of us had the energy to open the door and walk up the driveway. Ashleigh was wearing the only Sean-a-paul we had, a necklace that we had shared amoungst the three of us whenever we went out for the previous 18 months.While I was spread out accross the back seat gasping for fresh air, I noticed a huge bundle of wire from one of Karas uni assignments and started to weave another Sean-a-paul. It wasnt long until they noticed was I was doing and locked the car doors until I had finished making us all one. With our best friend Ash now settled down in London, Kara and I now LOVE to wear our littel treasured 'Sean-a-pauls' with great pride as if she were still here. They will always hold apart of her and remind of us the all the playful times we shared. One in Albury, one in London and the other still in Nelson Bay, no matter how far apart we are we will always still be together. Long live the Sean-a-paul. Miss you Smasha. Come home soon, actually no don't, stay and we will come to you!  xx

BL. xx

A day well spent.

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation"

- Plato 

Endless Smiles. 

Today Dan and I spent the whole day weaving in and out of the rain and in to the shops of the Sydney CBD. Not only was I ecstatic to be shopping, but it was awesome to have my partner in crime back with me for the weekend. We had good intentions of spending no money and just quickly ducking in to grab a pair of sunglasses from Paddy's Markets before lunch, but that soon changed. We did pretty well up until the last hour or so but managed to walk away with many laughs under our belt and shopping bags in both hands. We tried on all our favourites in the high fashion stores and trekked up through China Town to have bite to eat. We scored unbelievable bargins everywhere we went. All in all, we made some wise purchases with a few luxury lay-buys. It just had to be done. Six hours later we found ourselves finally leaving he city. Hand in hand we walked back up to Central Station sipping on 'Venti' cappuccinos and figuring out what the rest of the weekend was going to have in store. It wasn't long into the train ride before I had fallen asleep on Dan's shoulder, a busy day to say the least. I didn't even think to whip out the camera to take some shots. I was lost in the moment. 
I honestly had the best start to this long weekend. It was filled with endless amounts of fun, fashion, love and laughs. A day well spent I'd say.




BL. x

Buy of the Day - $40 Paddy's Markets!
I was looking at a similar pair of boots by Tony Bianco and wanted them so bad. I was SO close to buying them online but I am so glad that I held off and found these! They look exactly the same. Although I have an undivided love for you Mr Bianco, my bank account doesn't always agree.