Sniffing flowers

This week it was time to return to my beloved Royal Melbourne Exhibition Building for some flower sniffing and viewing with the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. It finishes on April 1st, so get in while it lasts!

I've gathered some photo favourites. I had to put the camera away pretty early on in the flower show after visiting a few plant stalls! There's always something unusual that we've never seen at a market or is just so pretty that we have to give it a go in our own gardens :)

I always love the flower fashions! I loved this 'Mother Nature'. She was a bit different and had an air of grace and warmth about her.

I love those exhibits that have a little fun! Poor Humpty Dumpty!

Just how I like my soft boiled eggs in the morning! haha :)

Now, I love this flower, but it has a name I always forget. I had never seen it with a white body and purple tips before. Stunning!

There is always wonderful tulips on display at the Garden Show.

Perfectly pink! I love the rose-sniffing section. There's a lovely purple one there that smells like passion fruit! Delicious!

I thought I recognised Elizabeth I at the gardens! This is a sculpture by Bronwyn Lewis in the sculpture competition walkway.

And some party roses to take home! :)

We Are Family.

We are now a family! Over the weekend we adopted a wonderfully ugly fat cat that is what the adoption agency called 'violently affectionate' and are head over heels in love with him :)

I cried :P

Blue Melbourne

Last week I was wandering around the city following an early morning interview and couldn't believe how gloriously blue the sky was! Having lived in another country, you come to appreciate the wonderful shades of blue that the Australian sky can shine. I thought I'd share a little of some Melbourne icons and the beautiful big blue :)

Flinders Street Station, Fed Square, the tall Eureka tower and spikey white Arts Centre.

The glamorous Forum. Apparently my gran's uncle once worked there.

My beloved Fed Square hiding within the Ian Potter National Art Gallery. I went and had a peek at the Top Arts 2011 exhibition - there is some fantastic work in there!

Image source: NGV

I particularly loved this artwork by Catherine Gilford "Human tapestry". Such a wonderful vibrancy and so many twists and turns of perception. Do go check out the exhibition if you're in and around the area. It's free, it's fantastic and it's wonderful to see what amazing artworks VCE students can produce!

Beautiful blue Melbourne ain't so blue :)

The Lady in the Tower

Image source

"The Lady in the Tower: The fall of Anne Boleyn" by Alison Weir was one of the first non-thesis related books I started reading after the end of my thesis. I had seen the cover of the book and picked it up a few times after it first came out, reading the blurb and placing it back on the shelf going 'I wish I had time to read this book'. That was even before I went gaga for The Tudors and/or Anne Boleyn. Luckily for me, I managed to pick it up for $8.99 at a local discount bookstore! Bingo!

This book covers in wonderful detail the final months of Anne Boleyn's life. Weir makes the case that Anne's execution was carefully orchestrated by Thomas Cromwell, who used her lack of popularity with the lords and nobles to his advantage. I loved it for its dedication to historical documentation, but there are moments of pure assumption and creative license. It tells a very intricate story and you cannot fault it for bringing together a wonderfully interesting world to life. I only wish that it had covered more of Queen Anne's life!

Definitely worth checking out if you're a Tudor lover like me :)

Sleeping Cemetery

I had wondered if it was going to be creepy, sleeping near a cemetery. Often, when passing by houses next cemeteries saying "I could never live there".

I was a bit excited and inquisitive to find out that our Port Fairy campsite was next door to the local cemetery. I was prepared for ghost sightings, spooky noises, even random chills. (I'm easily sucked into those haunted house shows :P)

It was a beautiful place. We wandered about at dusk.

It was quite touching; reading out wonderfully old-fashioned names, admiring long lives and what they must have seen and the brief glimpses of others.

We all slept perfectly peacefully that night :)

Moving out together.

Image source: weheartit.com

The Boy and I have been talking for some time now about moving out together. I've gone through waves of excitement and nervousness and back to excitement. Honestly though? I can't wait. I'm ready now :)

We've been looking at places that are in suburbs that aren't too far from our parents' places. It gives us a great list of potentials that are closer to the city and perfectly affordable rent-wise for just the two of us. How nice it would be, to be free of family and housemates! The questions are now traveling down the track of unit, house or apartment? I love the idea of having a garden to play with, but realise that that may not be an option as renters. We'd also love to get a kitty or two, so we'd have to find somewhere pet-friendly.

Any hints, tips, ideas or words of wisdom? Please pass them on! I would love to hear them :)

Port Fairy

Over the long weekend, we joined Mr. Loverboy's friends for a camping trip down to Port Fairy while the Port Fairy Folk Festival was on. While we didn't actually go into the festival, it was a wonderful weekend getaway.

I've never been to Port Fairy before, and it is truly a beautiful place. Just look how blue the ocean is!

It's a four hour drive away from us, so it's quite a drive! Luckily for the boy and I, drives are our favourite bits of any adventure. We listen to podcasts, music (yeah Jaydiohead!), chat, eat, drink, flirt and blab. And I must admit that I was super excited to realise that my Mermaid Blue Ford Fiesta matched the colour of the Port Fairy ocean. I always knew it was a mermaid!

We surprisingly (for me, at least) managed to get our tent up with ease. I never knew my Mr. Loverboy was such a pro at tents! Bing, bang, BOOM! It was up! No swearing or nothing! haha Taking it down and folding it up? Yeah, I might have gotten a little cranky then :P

We spent the time hanging out with our friends playing card games, drinking and checking out the main road with its market stalls and buskers. It was a lovely weekend away :) I'd love to go back and explore it some more!