32/2016 - Back to Reality

 

 

After a very relaxing break today was back to reality, back to work, back to days and days of early mornings. Booooo.  I've actually been back in Perth for a week and had intended to blog some holiday snaps earlier but you know... time gets away from me! While I had an absolutely wonderful break in Sydney with my brother and his beautiful family, I found when I got home that I didn't really take many photos around the city. The ones above were about the best I got - I didn't even make it to the bridge this time! It would seem that my focus was pretty well targeted towards these two cuties.

 

And let me tell you, it was pretty darn hard saying goodbye to them! Can't wait to see them again at Christmas...

15/2016 - Scuptures by the Sea - Sømærke

So... I've been missing for a while now.... To be honest I actually haven't been taking many photos lately. Lets call it a brief lack of inspiration. But today I finally got up super early in the morning and picked up the camera to go explore this year's Sculptures by the Sea in Cottesloe. So now I have roughly a billion photos for you!

Starting with Sømærke by Berlin based architecture collective KWY, Ricardo Gomes and Ben Allen with Lise Kassow.  I'm always drawn to wooden sculptures - I think I just like the texture and grain in wood - always interesting when you get up close. This was the first sculpture that struck me as I approached the beach and I enjoyed the different perspectives you get from different angles.

 

 

 

13/2016 - Food Glorious Foooood

 

I am one of those embarrassing people who always takes photos of their food. And when one stretches their birthday celebrations out over a series of days, some delicious food of questionable nutritious value is bound to ensue.. From late night chocolate fondue with a good friend,  to delicious brunch with my parents, to tasty cupcakes made with love by two adorable munchkins to just the most insane milkshake (complete with cronut and macaron) it's been a big week for my stomach. Or it's been a week to make my stomach big. Either way - it's salads and exercise for me from Monday onwards!

 

 

 

 

1/2016 - Fresh Air, Fresh Start

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous time over the holiday period and are looking forward to a wonderful new year! According to the 'on this day' feature on Facebook, every year for the last four years I've posted an early morning photo from the beach on the 2nd of January and this year was no different. There's just something about the sea air and sunshine that screams 'healthy fresh start' to me you know? And that is certainly something I need!

I decided to take a bit of a break from the blogging at the end of 2015, I was off work as well and just decided that I needed a break from pretty much everything. Except eating apparently - that I did like a champ for about 4 weeks straight! The only thing I seemed to take photos of was this little bundle of cuteness anyways...

I'm looking forward to visiting all of your blogs to see what you've been up to while I was away!!

174 - Tradition

 

My Nanna's shortbread is one of those things that I remember from a very early age as a special indicator that Christmas was nearly here. When she was younger, she would spend a few weeks every festive season busting out a huge number of cakes for gifts that were eagerly anticipated by the ones lucky enough to receive them. As time went on, my Aunty and I were let in on the secret recipe and we would spend one big day each year baking with Nanna to get them all made. I adored my Nan, and treasured our annual bake-off. She may no longer be with us (although I feel her with me every single day), but we've managed to keep the tradition alive - and it's still one that I very much look forward to every year. This year we had the added pleasure of bringing in the kids of the family to make their own special shortbread cookies. Many little hands scrunching batter - what a joyous way to spend the day!

 

 

173 - Emma-Cake

 

You may notice as Christmas draws ever nearer that a solid amount of baking related photos start to creep their way onto the blog... I can't help it, it's just what I do. This cake however, was for a very special non-Christmas related purpose. My beautiful little cousin Sophie turned 4 and being that she is yellow Wiggle Emma's number 1 fan - of course a super bright Wiggles cake was needed. A vanilla cake was requested but I couldn't quite resist adding some sprinkles to the mix. A plain white cake just seemed too well... plain!

 

 

It seemed a shame to cut it! But I noticed at least one little mouth couldn't quite resist taking an early bite out of that bow... I can't talk though - I couldn't resist taking a bite of my slice before I got a photo either! 

163 - Delectable Delights

 

 

I LOVE breakfast. Its my favourite. I go out for breakfast/brunch way more often than dinner. But very rarely do I get served up a meal that is this visually beautiful! On Sunday Mamma, Pappa and I got up early and trekked into Northbridge to check out Flora and Fauna, a very quaint little boutique cafe tucked away down a little side street. In high contrast to the sundae I devoured the day before, the food here is vegan/vegetarian and very healthy (not to mention super tasty!). I suspect it wasn't really Dad's cup of tea - although he was very good at not saying it out loud I could almost hear his brain ticking over... no full English breakfast?! Flowers in my food?! What the?! but I think even he enjoyed the super moist and banana bread. If, like Dad, your brekkie tastes lean toward the more traditional this may not be the place for you but for those who like something a little bit different it's definitely worth a try!

150 - Boo at the Zoo!

I love Halloween. I think if I lived in America or something it'd be my favourite holiday. Unfortunately here in Perth its not really celebrated too widely - although this year I was pleased to see more Halloween stuff out in the shops so maybe its finally catching on? Really I just like any chance to play  dress-ups. :P This year when I heard about the Halloween event at the Perth Zoo I thought... a chance to dress up AND go to the zoo? Hells yeah! Of course... it was a kids event but luckily I had the worlds cutest little witch and skeleton to go with. With animal exhibits open late, trick or treat stops dotted around the place, a spooky disco and a haunted trail through the rain forest I think it's safe to say a good time was had by all!

 

 

148 - Funhouse Mirrors

 

How good are long weekends? Even better when supplemented by an extra flexi leave day. I had the day off yesterday and spent a beautiful morning wandering around the Kings Park Festival with Mamma. So be prepared for lots of flowers and cute little bugs in the next couple of days... I loved the little warped reflections that I spied in the droplets on these flowers, they reminded me of garden beds seen through teeny tiny fun house mirrors! I hope you're all having a fab start to the weekend :)

Today I'm linking in with Weekend Reflections - Check it out to see more cool reflections!

145 - Teensy Tiny Things Part 2

Now I know I'm at risk of a reputation as the 'girl with an obsession with dewdrops'. Buuuut... I'm kinda a girl with an obsession with dewdrops. They're just so pretty - like little shiny gemstones!

 

In the moss on this rocky outcrop there were little patches of what I think were spider webs covered in dew. But what they looked like was little patches of bubbles suspended in midair. So so cool.

142 - A Few Things I've Learnt From My Dad

When I was born, I won the parent lottery. Any of you who read Perth Daily Photo know how incredibly awesome my Mum is already. But you might not be so well acquainted with my Dad. It's fathers Day today in Australia and I thought I might share just a couple of the lessons I've learned from my Dad.

If you're going to do something, do it to the very best of your ability - I sometimes (as a tease) say that my Dad doesn't know how to hobby. When he decides to learn how to do something he seeks out as much information as he can about it and he practices and practices until he's got it nailed (hence I have some fabulous original pieces of furniture a la Dad in my house). I think that this lesson has contributed to both me and my brother having pretty solid work ethics and that's pretty important.

People are inherently good - I may be guilty of the occasional proclamation of 'Man. People are jerks'. But that's usually just when someone has done something jerky. Dad's view is, generally, most people are decent, you should give them the benefit of the doubt. And I agree.

Take time to enjoy things - I really really enjoy hiking with Dad and one of the reasons for that is just having a chance to take some time out and just enjoy nature. Sure it's exercise and you could tackle it by trying to walk a certain pace or go a certain distance within a set time-frame or whatever, but really, why do it if you aren't going to enjoy all there is to take in?

Just be yourself - This one was always heavily reinforced by both Dad and Mum. I was lucky enough to grow up in an environment where my uh... decidedly quirky nature was both nurtured and encouraged. I don't know that I would have the awesome self esteem that I have now if it weren't for my parents constantly telling me that being myself is all I ever need to be.

I know that in most of the bush walking photos I post of Dad it looks like he's taking off ahead and leaving me behind, but actually what he's doing is making sure that the path is clear (of spiders and snakes and whatnot). He goes ahead to keep me safe. I'm a lucky girl. Happy Fathers Day Pappa!