thankful.

I am thankful for my home, which keeps me grounded and safe. I’m thankful for Jango; my ever-bouncy baby bunny – he’ll be turning 1 soon – who makes me smile when I’m feeling my worst. I’m thankful for my clothing; for ever-so-slowly discovering my own personal style, which communicates so much of ourselves to the outside world. I’m thankful for coffee. I’m thankful for Rufus. I’m thankful for a healthy body. I’m thankful for family. I’m thankful for a growing circle of friends. I’m thankful for food – nourishing, wholesome, delicious food – and new favourite restaurants. I’m thankful for an upcoming holiday – and of course, the financial stability required for a mid-year holiday.
I’m thankful for my ring collection. I’m thankful for my hair. I’m thankful for my eye colour. I’m thankful for new BB cream. I’m thankful for a facewash that works. I’m thankful for my favourite sunglasses and my favourite diary and my favourite blouse. I’m thankful for discovering a brand new way to wear cardigans.

I’m thankful for these photos, because they remind me of an awesome weekend spent wandering by the sea, eating delicious food, holding hands, and acquiring wonderful art.

I need to see the sea again.

slices of weekend(s).

Um, well, it’s been a while. So much is going on right now, most of which I don’t know how to articulate, and some of which I can’t tell you about just yet. So let’s focus on some little things for now.

My weeks have been filled with happiness and good food – of course. Breakfasts at Rosey’s (rosemary mushrooms with smashed avocado and sambal on rye), The Annex (hazelnut croissants), home (blueberry and lemon yoghurt pancakes), and Zest (smokey baked beans and smashed avocado). Cheese tasting, chocolate tasting, beer tasting, and wine tasting on a mini-trip to Hahndorf. Photography exhibitions at the Adelaide museum, goodbyes at airports at 6am, movies and meals with friends as part of the Adelaide Film Festival, Amazing Race marathons after work, and lots of bunny cuddles.

I haven’t been living very mindfully lately; I haven’t taken photos in a couple of weeks, which is something that – despite judgmental glances and scoffs from fellow diners – I genuinely enjoy. Ah well; I’m enjoying life – you’ll just have to take my word for it! I’ve eaten some delicious food, drunk some amazing wine, and laughed so hard I cried on more than one occasion. I love my little family.

just a minute in September.

Watching: We’re a bit restless in the TV department; switching between Under the Dome, Suits, and Broadchurch. I have to say I’m enjoying them all! Broadchurch and Under the Dome have me anxiously awaiting the next episodes, as always.

Reading: My chemistry text book! Travel guides mostly… old Kinfolk magazines, Women’s Health… I’ve started reading a novel called Burial Rites, which has started off well! I’m just finding it difficult to keep my head in one space at the moment. Although I’m only studying one subject per semester, uni is still always on the back of my mind. I just want to be a qualified Nutritionist already, damnit! 

Drinking: Heeeeeaps of this tea. I’ve also started back with the coffee cravings, and I’m enjoying as much water as my body can handle. 

Listening: I’m on a huge The National binge lately! I’ve been truly, awfully anxious and The National seems to calm me down. Rufus and I are going to a Kvelertak gig tonight, which should be fun – I love a bit of hard rock! 

Loving: I’m just super in love with my own life right now. Rufus has me feeling like a giddy 16-year-old and Jango is cuter than a damn button, with his two little lopped ears. I love the longer days that Spring is bringing – it’s depressing to leave work at 6:30pm when it’s dark outside. No more! I’m also loving our weekend adventures, which I’m proud to say I’ve been documenting quite nicely! 

The photo above is from this time last year (approximately). We’d just arrived home from our American Adventure before we headed off to the middle of nowhere to visit our friends in Andamooka. I’ve noticed that our selfies always look the same: Rufus is a babe and I look like a gremlin. Oh, well. He looks happy, so it’s good enough for me!

slices of weekend x2 (also; passion).

Friends! These two weekends past have been fun! Last weekend Rufus and I went to the Royal Adelaide Show with his parents (my favourite parts were the food and wine trail, and the baby animals; obviously). We went to the Central Markets and subsequently visited my family for fancy wine and fresh bread, dukkah and fancy oils before a decidedly un-fancy pizza feast. At home, Rufus continued his novel-writing journey (see more here) while I took photos, and we both continued to fall more in love with Jango.

This weekend was much more domestic. We celebrated the end of the working week with beers and pho at Adelaide Pho. I made sugar-free granola, gogi-chocolate-treats, and curried chickpeas. We went out for breakfast on Saturday morning, and spent some time at the Central Markets (again). We worked on a little project together and spent 7 hours cleaning our house – inside and out. On Sunday, we ran 12km for charity, and spent the rest of the day watching movies and napping at his parents’ house. In the evening, we got takeaway. I regret nothing!

I’m spending time studying furiously, daydreaming about travel, planning some big changes, and thoroughly enjoying my time with Rufus. I recently realised my two biggest passions – travelling and eating food – and I’ve been plotting and planning ways to dedicate more time to these activities. It seems so obvious now, but I had to ask myself the question to put my life into context: what am I passionate about? What makes me feel genuinely excited? (A link from this post helped me on my way.)

What are you passionate about?

the first weekend in Spring.

This weekend was the most perfect start to Spring. Market wanderings, a food truck festival, first iced coffees of the season, board games with friends, and a long alfresco lunch (with homemade sangria).

On Saturday morning, Rufus and I headed to the Adelaide Central Markets for some foodie inspiration. I love the Central Markets, and, I admit; haven’t been there in months. We grabbed some coffees and meandered past fruit and veg stands, bakeries, stalls filled with spices and grains, and new modern charcuteries. Although we couldn’t buy anything, we nibbled at a couple of gluten-free cinnamon donuts and made mental notes for what to buy next time.

We caught the tram a few stops out of the city for Fork on the Road food truck festival! Adelaide’s first attempt at food truck festivities was a huge success. There were some really wonderful, creative trucks with absolutely delicious cuisine on offer. We opted for a hot dog and a vego burrito (respectively) and nibbled on some cheese balls while we drank beer and listened to live music in the sunshine. A few more tram stops saw us playing totem tennis and wandering through That Dapper Market – an indie market for local artists and their cute wares. In the evening, we caught up with friends over some board games and red wine. We spent five hours wandering around in the sunshine on Saturday, and sleep came easily.

After my solo walk early on Sunday morning, Rufus and I grabbed some iced coffees and headed out for the day. We wandered through the sunshine at the farmers market – marvelling at how the nicer weather improves everyone’s mood – before heading to his parents’ house for a Father’s Day feast! As always, his Mum went all out on nibbles, salads, vegetarian bean burgers, and homemade sangria. For dessert, the others had cheesecake while I had homemade tropical sorbet and chocolate-covered strawberries. After we’d feasted, we sat in the sunshine while Rufus’ Dad played the squeezebox.

Weekends like these fill me with gratitude for just about everything in my life. I’m feeling revived and optimistic, though I’m also deeply nostalgic for our adventure to America last year (the beautiful weather evokes bittersweet memories of our trip), and as always, just a little sad to see the weekend end. With tired eyes and slightly-sunburned skin we saw a sneak-peak of summer, and I couldn’t be more excited.

slices of weekend (birthday edition!)

I suppose the fun really started on Wednesday night – Rufus’ birthday! Rufus and I went out with his Mum, Dad and Nanna for some birthday tapas; despite the bitingly cold wind. We shared a carafe of sangria, a few plates of very tasty Spanish food, and some warm, indulgent churros for dessert.

On Friday, I ate burgers with one of my favourite people in the world (remember my Melbourne trip in February? And then in April?). We drank imported beers at Jack Ruby (a little American-style bar), and snacked on free popcorn, as we spoke about… well, everything. She has the ability to put everything in my life back in perspective. She honestly makes me a better human. I miss her quite terribly, truth be told.

In the evening, we went to Melt Pizzeria for Rufus’ surprise birthday dinner – I’d been planning it for months! (How I kept it a secret I will never know, as I am a terrible liar.) We sat around long tables and laughed for hours; filling our plates with pizza and tapas, and sipping on really great wine and beer. Rufus’ face was so sweet and endearing as he blushed and turned shy with the sudden increase of dinner-guests!

Saturday involved pancakes for breakfast, coffees and op-shopping and exploring a new part of town, a trip to our favourite Greek supermarket, long walks through the suburbs, and a beautiful engagement party for my cousin. It was such a wonderful day, made perfect with a night of laughter and silliness with my family over a few glasses of wine. I couldn’t have been any happier when I fell into bed on Saturday night!

Sunday morning was delicious.

Sauteed kale with chili flakes and goats cheese, eggs on wholemeal crumpets (with a little blackberry-vanilla bean jam), and a cup of tea. I flicked through blogs while Rufus played video games, and the morning started perfectly. We spent a little time at the farmer’s market before heading to his parents’ house to do our washing, where we cuddled on the couch and watched nature documentaries for hours. In the evening, we ran down to the beach to catch the sunset. We ate noodles for dinner, and watched cartoons with Jango before bed. After this weekend, I’m bursting with gratitude for the people in my life.

I’m starting to shake off the winter blues as I get more excited about Spring. I’m making plans for picnics and barbeques and wine-and-cheese nights and after dinner walks. I don’t know exactly what’s renewed my optimism and inspiration for life, but I’m glad it did.

slices of weekend.

This weekend, we welcomed a new addition to the family – we got a bunny! His name is Jango and we are absolutely head-over-heels in love with him! In fact, after picking him up on Saturday, most of our weekend was dedicated to Jango: buying toys for him, watching him binky around the living room, enjoying the way he whacks a toilet roll against his hutch (and then laughing ourselves stupid when he dragged it into his sleeping area at night), nearly exploding when he dipped his paws in his water bowl and then cleaned his face and ears with them… He’s pretty cool. Even if he does leave little ‘presents’ all over the house.

Other highlights include puppysitting the sweetest little dog in the world (my dear friend‘s new puppy Banjo), actual sunshine, an early morning workout, breakfast at Zest cafe (muesli, fruit and yoghurt for her, spicy baked eggs with chorizo for him) in the aforementioned sunshine, frolicking through the farmers market and meeting up with a good friend, beers and nachos and a hilarious movie with some awesome friends, and a family dinner on Sunday night.

I’m pretty damn happy. I love animals, I love the sunshine, I love food, and I love my Rufus. Plus, we grew a gorgeous yellow rose in our backyard. What more could I ask for?!

…He’s got a freakin’ moustache, guys.

life, lately.

How is it mid-July already? We’re halfway through winter here in Australia, and I’m starting to look forward to sunshine and life and adventures and a fresh-start in spring. We’ve had some particularly wild weather lately, and my circulation seems to be getting a little worse each year; I can never get warm! But in general, I love the winter time. It brings me back to a rested, reflective place. I love rugging up and watching the rain fall and eating soups and casseroles and drinking copious quantities of tea**! I thought I’d share a hodge-podge of images and thoughts – a view of my life, lately. Please forgive the lack of cohesiveness; I suppose that’s just what life has been.

Winter has been full of red wine. Of sleepy mornings in bed with my love. Of hearty meals made with plenty of beans. I’ve had nachos-and-wine-and-Youtube nights with female friends, multiple games nights with coupled friends, beers-at-the-pub-then-dumplings-for-dinner nights with old friends, and all-out-rager nights with new work friends. Rufus and I have spent our weekends nesting; purchasing new bits and pieces for our home and cleaning our small space. We buy coffees and wander down to the beach – all rugged up – and grin at all the happy dogs.

Life is altogether pretty damn fantastic. I’ve been working a lot, which means little time for anything else during the week (though I’ve been making an effort to get to the gym whenever I can). I feel I’ve not committed time to being the best friend or daughter that I could be, and that makes me sad. I’ve little time to do the cooking, so Rufus has been making our meals, and that makes me sad too (not his meals, they’re delicious!).

But I appreciate the time I do have. I made a special visit to a friend last week to spend time with her beautiful baby girl (more posts about Evie here and here). We drank green tea and ate crackers with dip and chattered away, as Lisa soothed her daughter in the beautiful, soft, quiet way that only a mother can.

But enough about me, how have you been?

**I’ve fallen in love with Pukka herbs; an organic herbal tea company. My favourites are Revitalise, Night time, and Morning time… but I’ve still got so many more to try! The flavours are interesting – different from your regular supermarket-brand teas – and I can feel the herbs having wonderful effects on my body. Give them a try!

just a minute in May/June.

Watching: Throughout May, Rufus and I went through a Face Off binge; have you seen it? It’s a reality show about special effects make up – reality TV at it’s finest. We’re currently re-watching all the Harry Potter movies, and we’re also catching up on It’s Always Sunny and the new season of Arrested Development – ALL of the laughs! 

Reading: Since last we spoke, I finished The Time Traveller’s Wife, The Happiness Project (which I highly recommend), and John Dies At The End. I’m currently reading Pump Six; a collection of short stories by Paolo Bacigalupi (whom I raved about here) – my favourite author who we were lucky enough to see at Comic Con last year!

Drinking: Tea: lots and lots of tea. ‘Tis the season!

Listening: A mixtape that Rufus made for my birthday! I’ve listened to it over and over…

Loving: The gift that Rufus and I bought each other for our anniversary: a beautiful art print by our favourite artist James Jean. It was a little expensive, but it’s a beautiful investment that really makes me realise the permanency of our relationship. 

good morning, Monday.

Hello friends, I hope you’re well. How was your weekend? I went to a gorgeous wedding and enjoyed the company of some wonderful friends, and also spent some quality time with my parents and their cute cats. I’m feeling very loved and grateful. And just to top it off, the world turned pink this morning; I couldn’t resist running outside in my pyjamas to capture it! What a beautiful way to start a Monday. Have a happy week!