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!

Bye Bye Bunny.

My favourite kind of rabbit.

Not only is he of the Easter variety, but also a Kinder Surprise breed. We all know I love Kinder Surprise chocolates. Delicious! Did you know that many countries, like the USA, don't get Kinder Surprise chocolates? The poor buggers!

Museum Date Day

Date days are wonderful, warm and fuzzy days :) My lovely boy and I shared one just last week.

It all started with some delicious French toast cooked by Mr. Boyfriend after a lazy sleep-in. Strawberries, banana, honey and creamy vanilla yoghurt were added for yumminess. I'd never had French toast before. Consider me converted!

And then we ventured out and explored the Melbourne Museum*.

Despite my thesis being focused on museum learning, it seems to have escaped into realm of Missing Socks and was able to enjoy the day without thinking of too much theory. We had good fun giggling about while playing with the exhibits. The history of human dissection was equally gross and interesting!

Then it was time to head back home and relax with some left overs, tv shows and movies. Beautiful :)

*For $10 Adult entry and free student/concession entry, it's well worth an exploration!

Check out the Melbourne Museum here. And end spruik.

Sherlock Love

Image source: weheartit.com

The Boy and I celebrated Valentines a week ago, you know, beat the busybusiness of February 14. By luck, we were able to 'recreate' our very first date. It seems Sherlock Holmes likes to pop up regularly in our relationship :)

We had dinner at the restaurant where I famously spat gelati upon him (whilst giggling at his jokes, so it's a compliment really...) on our first date. I obviously made a good impression that night though, since he makes me ice cream often enough! After wallowing in that trough, mind, a little more dainty than the first time, we went off to see Sherlock Holmes. Yep, I'm all mature and a proper lady now!

Image source: weheartit.com

Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows

I enjoyed the visual feast of the short-lived gypsy set and costumes. I loved Stephen Fry as Mylcroft. Yawned a bit in the slow-mo-running-through-the-woods-getting-shot-at scene. And wondered when Rachel McAdams would be coming back with some awesome outfits and hats that I so loved from the first film. They can't have killed her off, surely? Most of the time though we were waiting for the awesomeness of BBC Sherlock to emerge.

Image source: weheartit.com

Nothing beats the BBC it seems. <3 BBC Sherlock

Love will keep us together

Happy Valentines Day!

What do you have planned for today? We had our Valentines celebrations last week, so we're just going to whip up some yummy pancakes for breakfast today.

And maybe play a little bit of Harry Potter Lego on the PS3. Yeah, I'm a gamer girl *cough splatter cough die*

The Boy loves pancakes with choc chips in the middle. Is it just me, or is that weird and gross? I love choc chips, but put them in cookies or something sensible please! :P

Images all via weheartit.com

I hope you all have wonderful days today :) Sending love and roses your way!

Rosetta Rose

Please welcome Rosetta Rose to my wardrobe!

I've spied this fun fabric on skirts in Dangerfield for a long time. I swore as soon as I saw it in dress form, it'd be coming home with me.

Of course, when it did turn up in dress form, I a couple of coins to my name and that was all. I admit, it was bit of a painful wait until pay day.

But the wait was worth it! Down from $88 to $60 on the price tag.

Take it to the register and BOOM! $48!

That's the way we like it!

By the way, totally worth checking out some of the bargain dresses on sale at Dangerfield at the moment ;) I know I'll be checking back there soon!

T20

I'm not a cricket fan by any means. Well, that's partially a lie. I like the noise of the commentary in the background on a hot summer day as I read a book on the couch. Usually that's the extent of my relationship with cricket.

Yesterday, I overdosed. T20 at the good ol' MCG.

Fireworks and fireballs were promised, plus segway cameramen. I was in.

Can you spy the segway cameraman?*

See, the Boyfriend is somewhat of a cricket nut. He's like an addicted encyclopedia with sports. It's quite impressive! Anyway, we trotted off with his father to watch the cricket. I realised early on that I wasn't going to 'get' a lot of the stuff happening (much of this may be the result of learning that the ball for this game was white - not red - towards the end of the match). I had a wonderful time regardless :)

Yeah, Brett Lee!*

I watched the crowds, the SkyCam, the fielders moving about, security, the dimwits in the crowd being escorted out, the birds swarming up above, the drunk man run onto the ground and be taken away by the police, the fireballs and the blow-up balls bouncing about. And a little bit of cricket. So much more goes on than what's put on tv!

And then it was all over. India won. And back home, through the huge crowds, we went.

*Apologies for the irritable quality of pictures. They were taken with my phone's camera.

Milkwood Masters

If you live anywhere near Melbourne, you must go to Milkwood.

Milkwood is a wonderful little cafe in Brunswick. Absolutely delicious organic foods! I'm a little obsessed with the ricotta pancakes with honey yoghurt, banana and toasted shredded coconut.

Yep, I'm dribbling right now.

Yummiest coffee I have ever had. And some heavy reading... my Masters. Time to read it all the way through. It's a little mind boggling. Thank god for Milkwood

Pony Pals

I got to have some fun down the beach away from the beach being a Pony Pal!

(Please tell me someone else loved Pony Pals as a kid?)

My horse liked walking into the butt of the horse in front of me. Which was funny, and then gross with how much it kept pooping on the walk! hahaha

My horsie, Finley. Cutie :)

Super cute speckled horse that everyone secretly wished they got to ride, and the cute one next door.

I always wanted a horse when I was younger. I'd still like one, please :)