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The 24 week bump, and my new outtie (formerly an innie) which I will be parading around all summer. I didn't have an opportunity to post this last week, as the lead up to our wedding was pretty hectic. But we're married now! Promise to write all about it soon, now I'm catching up on some sleep. x

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How sweet is this little card? Thank you Frog Monsters, I got it in the post today. Only 4 more sleeps until the wedding, can't believe it's rolled around so quickly!

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Photos by my lovely pal and great photographer Chloe Paul. (Taken in my old London flat!)

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This morning I had a make-up trial at Mecca. Not usually into people putting make-up on me, but this was lots of fun! And I didn't walk away looking like a drag-queen, which is always a bonus. These are my two looks. I loved them both and now have to decide what to choose for the wedding. Red lips are great, but not sure I can be bothered fussing with lipstick all day. I wore it on my hens and there was just too much time dedicated to teeth checking. Not cool.

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The Bump! 23 weeks today. Also featuring Pipi Dog, PB's pooch which lives with his folks. (Both of our parents have been kind enough to adopt our doggies whilst we cavorted overseas, and are continuing to cavort in an apartment with no room for furry-friends).

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While I was in Melbourne I dropped by my favourite bookshop, Metropolis. I was a bit naughty and picked up a few children's books, although my mum paid for most of them so it's really a present from Babcia. They're so beautiful, I'm not sure I'll be able to hand them over to a little kiddie! I have visions of our poor child not being able to touch any picture books, looking from afar while Mum carefully turns each beautifully illustrated page – with clean hands of course! Oh dear. My favourite one is Sparkle and Spin, which PB read to The Bump this morning. I think The Bump was very impressed. I also picked up a really cute card by Darling Clementine for a friend, and I think I'll go back and get some more. They'd look very sweet framed in the baby's room, or rather a section of the baby's room which is really our room, until we can afford to move and get something bigger. But this isn't a post on domestic life, so have peep at more on the Darling Clementine shop here.

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Oooooh I love Melbourne. So much.  Imagine my arms flailing about and me over enthusiastically saying This Much! That's how much. Had a lovely Hen's do, an afternoon of High Tea at The Hotel Windsor, and a booth at The Toff to follow. It was so good to see my friends, and gorge on cake. And I didn't have to hold my tummy in, as excess bloating was passed of as the baby. What more could a girl ask for? The next day I dragged my parents back into town, and my poor dad obligingly walked around shops behind Mum and I with a smile on his face, stopping to buy us coffees and iced-chocolates. Whadda guy. As for me I cried like a baby when I said bye to the folks and my doggie. Don't know what came over me. Hormones? Maybe I'm just getting soft. So cheers everyone for a great Hen's, and can't wait to see you all at the wedding. Um, which is only 10 days away!

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I'm off to Melbourne tomorrow! I'll be gone a few days, so no blogging for a wee while. I've got my Hens this weekend and although I don't know what we're doing as it's been kept a surprise, I'm sure it will be a very lovely afternoon. Thanks Mrs.Brady for organising it (and doing the invite), can't wait to see everyone! x

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What a poser. The bump at 22 weeks! 

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(Stella McCartney Fall 2009)

This is what I feel like living back in Oz. Surrounded by nature, except without the fancy clothes and with a bit more of a smile on my head. I love it. Waking up to the birds singing (although this can also be a bad thing, like the over zealous kookaburra at our window this morning), giggling about the family of possums thumping around in the roof, walking down the path and hearing all the lizards scurry out of the way... Aaaahhh, bliss. 

Except for the creepy crawlies. After living in London for so long I forgot about the spiders and bugs that like to try and penetrate your home in the warmer weather. And these aren't any spiders, no sireee. These are like Hey Check Me Out, I'm Whatchya Call A Spider. PB had an altercation with a rather large and hairy Huntsman in the bathroom the other day, and by the noises that were coming from it I thought he may have been wresting a bear. And the other night I saw 5 cockroaches in the kitchen.* Gross. Let me point out our house isn't dirty, but we live in an old building in a loft conversion, so they get in through the cracks to escape the heat. I keep trying to romanticise it and imagine Bukowski or Miller and their poets lives with the roaches crawling up the walls and bottles of open wine and prostitites. Except I'm not a poet, I can't drink and thankfully haven't had the need to hire a hooker.

So looks like when the lease runs out we're moving. To a newer house that is a bit more creepy crawly proof. But there's still the Summer of Bug to get through first...

*I'd just like to mention here I've never seen a cockroach in Melbourne. Just mentioning, that's all.

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I have new hair! Yup, back to being a blondie. As much as I loved my red hair I found moving back to Oz faded it really quickly from the sun, and I didn't want to go through the ordeal of covering my bathroom in dye that often. It was great in London (where there is no sun), but it was time for a low maintenance do, especially with Baby on the way. Isn't that sensible of me? It's not bleached from the roots either, so it will grow out more like this, which I think looks pretty cool. I wasn't going to post a photo of the front, because I'm not very good at self-portraiture and they all turned out a bit serious. Two sullen photo posts in a row is cause for concern, and besides I'm feeling much better this week. Later on I felt like a bit of a chicken for not having a face shot, so I went back to get the last little skerrick of sunshine for a quick happy snap. Big cheesy smile!

Also took the opportunity to snap a pic of my engagement ring, which I love to bits and is now on Blanca's website. (Thanks again Blanca! x) I found the heart-shaped rock on a trip to Italy with PB. We were canyoning – in very inappropriate footwear mind you – and I found it right at the same time as he made his own discovery, which consisted of a ginormous ugly toad. He was much more impressed with his toad than my rock, but luckily that didn't make it home with us. 

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Things I have been doing instead of bunting:

1. Drawing ice-cream

2. Eating ice-cream

3. House cleaning

4. Reading

5. Flipping through old Vogues to find hair inspiration (I'm going for a much needed haircut tomorrow)

Now I must go and bunt.

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Today I took myself down to Spotlight to get some fabric for our wedding decorations. It's not the prettiest of stores, but we don't have the prettiest of budgets either. I can't believe how much stuff they sell there, it's like Bunnings for women. The lady serving me was hilarious, even though there was a queue of about 50 people behind me she was very content to chat away about weddings and champagne, having bought her first bottle of Moet & Chandon in preparation for Christmas. I found some nice fabric in their patchwork section, and plan to spend the weekend cutting triangles to make bunting. So if I was feeling a little odd and housebound already, I'm sure this won't help. Who knows, I tend to find stuff like this therapeutic. Oh, and I've never actually made bunting before, so fingers crossed for me it turns out alright!

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It's raining again outside, which makes me feel kind of ripped off. I do believe one of the deals of moving here was sunshine, so c'mon Sydney, brighten up that sky please. Lots of boring admin stuff to do today, and I'm going to try to get a bit of drawing in later on. I haven't been drawing for ages and I think the guilt is getting to me. The flat is almost sorted out now, but I feel like there are still lots of wedding related things to do and I should be focusing on those. Hmph. This morning I'm going to put my pinboard back up behind my computer, as I found the box with all the bits and pieces that it used to hold. Some of these have been lugged with me from here to London and back, as I didn't want to be with out them! Here are a couple of favourites:
1. Chihuahua postcard. I think I got this from Metropolis Bookshop when it was still in St.Kilda.
2. Jacob Holdt postcard from the Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2008 at the Photographers' Gallery, London.
3. Business card from Ivy Hopes boutique, Melbourne. (Is this still around?)
4. Monkey Teapot card from the NGV, from my parents for my 25th Birthday.
5. Postcard from Alice Euphemia, Melbourne.

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The 21-week bump photo. Much to PB's dismay he couldn't get me to smile for this one. I've been feeling gloomy the last few days... I love being in Sydney, but I'm still adjusting and I miss my friends, who are spotted around the world but mainly in London and Melbourne. Working from home doesn't really provide much of an opportunity to get out and mingle either. So I've been thinking of short courses or something I can do to meet people, because I think if I stay in my own little bubble for too much longer I might go a bit la-la, and no poor kid wants a mother walking down the street muttering into her groceries.  In the meantime I've found these 2 lovely blogs to keep the spirits up:

Wiksten-made

Abby try again

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The Chini Project by photographer Irina Werning. So cool.

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Today we went to see the Sculpture By The Sea exhibit at Bondi. It was ok, there were a couple of amazing horse sculptures but the photos didn't turn out that great. I'm always impressed by a good horse sculpture. The funnest sculptures were definitely the giant things; giant eyes, a giant windmill and the giant domino's. As of last week, I am the reigning champion of domino's in our household. PB thinks I cheated, but I didn't. I only ever cheat at Monopoly, because it's just a bit dull otherwise. I don't think it's possible to cheat at Domino's, but apparently there was some discrepancy with how to play a blank tile. Does anyone know? And more importantly – does anyone care?!