On Rainy Days I Stay In

I've been sick lately and it's made me quite miserable but I this little peek of sunshine which created a rainbow made me smile. Just a simple shot. BFF is always preaching about good light after it rains so thought I'd just take a shot rather than hear another lecture about it when I don't have the camera handy and can't capture it anyways LOL.

Anyways - this is the view from the balcony of our apartment. I love seeing smoke coming out of the odd chimmney on cold mornings.

Anyways back to recovering - lots of tea and sleep.

Legendary Ribs xo

This is a story about a legendary rib dish. So it really all started in Adelaide. I have a crazy friend from uni days back in Adelaide who I met under forced circumstances i.e. we were put into the same tutorial group for some supply chain logistics course (I almost fell asleep writing the course name). He used to pretend that he couldn't speak English, so I felt compelled to answer tutorial questions on behalf of the group (since they were all adopting this tactic). In any event this dude turned out to be quiet a fluent English speaking character with quite the sense of humour.

Since graduating we've kept in touch and he then introduced me to a friend of his when I first moved to Melbourne. Fortunately for all involved this new friend was a huge foodie and a great cook! We've enjoyed the delights of his home cooking which never fails to disappoint. The dishes he serves, I believe are certainly good enough to be on any hipster restaurant menu and I think is legendary ribs are the bomb! BFF and I have heard tales of food friend's legendary ribs which have the reputation of being mind blowing!!! The recipe is top secret but we've hard rumours of shavings of chocolate possibly being used. Who knows if it's true because no one dares ask and really I like the mystery. I also like that it's said friend's special ... dare I say signature recipe!

Honestly the best tasting ribs ever put before me! My taste buds are going crazy just recalling the flavours as I write this post. You can tell this foodie loves his meat! So do I! lol

I always try to help out by making a dessert but honestly we're all there for the main that he serves up! I love my foodie friends and I love their generosity. BFF and I don't own a dining table so we feel terrible about not inviting people over for dinners but honestly I take my hat off to those who cook a meal with their own hands and put on a dinner for others. It's a truly heart warming gesture that I truly appreciate. Being away from my family means I miss that warmth most. Sharing in a meal made by a friend brings a real smile to my face :)

So a heart felt thank to foodie friend maker of legendary ribs! I hrt these ribs! lol

Legendary Ribs how i love thee! (Photo does not do it justice!)

Lakehouse

So the cold here in Melbourne has really set in. Winter days remind me to be thankful that I have a car to drive to my office desk job in! I love mugs of tea and falling asleep to the sound of rain on the roof.

Last weekend BFF and I celebrated our two year anniversary (cannot believe how quickly time has gone by & how much we have done in 24 months!). BFF organised a wonderful surprise day trip to lovely Daylesford, Victoria.

It was such a delight to get away from the city for a change and unwind with some fresh air. I was completely spoilt with a relaxing massage and a scrumptious meal at the Lakehouse. Funny that! Food once again featuring on a blog post! 

Was really the perfect way to celebrate :)

Rabbit dish. Gorgeous presentation and such cute little copper pots!

We didnt' really venture all that far after filling up on a hearty meal. Some shots from exploring the near by lake. It was pretty cold I have to say but beautiful :)

Black and white shot of the lake. Still water = reflections of interesting things (love!)

I love shooting straight up at the sky. Contrast tree with leaves vs. bare branches against a blue sky.

i hrt weddings!

Lights + Camera + Action : shot of a stage at a recent wedding

So once again been really slack with the blog! Highlight of May 2012 thus far was attending a wedding back in Adelaide. Took my sister as my date for the evening and it was honestly such a lovely evening catching up with some old friends which I haven't had the chance to for years now (since moving away from Adelaide).

Not sure what mode I took this photo in on the Leica. I think it was set to monochromatic (but I can't remember/bothered checking). Love the soft fabrics in the background makes it all very romantic. Strong contrast with the silhouettes created by the lighting tripods and chairs.

Wedding was beautiful and so happy. Bride and groom both looked beautiful as you would expect. I love weddings because everyone is always in such a good mood and I love the fact that it's an entire event built around celebrating love. Not just romantic love but love in form of family and friends who have been unwavering supporters of the bride and groom as individuals well before they event met each other in most cases.

Hopeless romantic, that I am but I honestly love celebrating such a beautiful thing :)

Anyways so had a great time at the wedding and catching up with family in Adelaide. Not sure what to now that the colder weather has set in here in Melbourne. I am making full use of the heater and already have been sick. Though I suspect that's from being on a plane and inhaling disgusting germy air for an hour and a half on the return trip.

Nonetheless trying to keep motivated at work and getting my fitness up with a weekly dose of bootcamp to shock the system and remind my lazy side who's boss! LOL

Woohoo! Love this shot with all that's happening around the bride & groom. Very Raw show somehow.

Everybody loves a photographer right?! Check out the dude on stage (lol) love it!
[Pic taken in sunset mode.]

Out of focus love: gorgeous photo of my sister. Love the colours in the background, her sweet smile and the blurred photographer's silhouette on stage.

Do your laundry!

Laundromat - pretty self explanatory lol

Ok so it's no secret around this household that I have eczema and have had since I was a wee child. My skin is easily irritated by all sorts of triggers but mainly dust and dust mites. Around here we call them 'buggies' and I really try to keep things clean and vacuum regularly to avoid the eczema fare up!

Just happened to be passing by an old school laundromat one night and thought we've seen these photos everywhere. The fascination with vintage old machines - there has to be so many examples of ad campaigns that have run using cool hipsters posing in black skinny legs in front of a sad pastel wall of laundromat machines.

Well I couldn't resist so took a snap. They are cute and they remind me of things like old photo booths or Polaroid cameras - just vintage stuff. So there's my contribution to the art of vintage! Just a bit of fun really.

Marching into April?! LOL

Sorry again for not blogging in March! It was a big month though for me personally and for my BFF. We both celebrated birthdays!!! Gotta love a good birthday - especially cake. I love cake! I seriously think it's the only time you can have double cake and not feel bad!

Anyways I sadly don't have any pictures of the cake my friend made at work. It was a red velvet cake and had about 4 layers with cream cheese cream in between was so tasty! Not to mention it looked divine! Took some photos but using Instagram - sadly my phone has been pretty influential lately and the Leica camera has been getting a little less action. Instagram is seriously addictive especially how easy it is to just put on vintage filters etc.

Here's a pic from the Leica however taken at around 7am in the morning before work. Beautiful sight to wake up to on my 25th birthday! Quarter life crises here i come! Just gorgeous!

25th Birthday Quarter Life Crises - scenes from the morning of my birthday. Definitely made me smile :)

Of course I went out to eat for my birthday. A quiet dinner for two at a place that another foodie friend from work suggested. La Luna Bistro in Carlton (aka the meat place as someone referred to it) is a nice little relaxed dining setting where I had a lovely pasta and indulged in a chocolate pudding that had a gooey centre which made me melt into a pool of happiness lol!

Good prices, good food, good service. Recommend if you are looking for that relaxed bistro sort of dinner out!

Anyways some shots from La Luna - Leica struggled a bit with all the textured patterns I think it was in some face recognition mode and it was seriously getting confused but got some decent shots I think.

La Luna Bistro - love the painting on the wall (actually on the wall not a picture hanging on the wall) in the hallway framed by the door

Nice dramatic shot black and white really suits business. Interesting angle photographing the top of someones' hair/head haha!

oooie gooie goodness: chocolate pudding all finished up!

FebruApril (where has the time gone?!)

I cannot believe where the time as gone!!! I set out to blog every month and now well it's April and my last four blogs were made in January!!! LOL what can I say - it's been a very busy start to the year! So here's my attempt to cover February (so so late now lol)...

February highlight: Valentines Day spoilt with some beautiful roses which made me smile from the BFF!

I'm such a sucker for fresh cut flowers! Love all types of flowers to be honest such a gift to have something from nature in your house or on your desk at work. Reminds you about the simple beauty and fragility of life. If you are ever feeling down buy some flowers or send flowers.

I had this thought the other day about men and how important having a good tailor is, barber/hairdresser, signature cologne etc. and I honestly thought as I looked at yet another bunch of fresh cut flowers given to me from the BFF how important having a go to reliable florist near that you can easily get to on your way home from work is for a man. I might be a hopeless romantic but I'd like to think that there a men out there that take sending flowers seriously and not just for their partners but for family and friends. Men who have a reasonable knowledge of flowers and at least know where to track down a bunch from a good florist get big thumbs up from me. I love people watching and seeing men carrying huge bouquets - I always wonder who the lucky person will be and what a smile it will bring :)

Rainbow of Macarons: Still loving these cuties. I shall blog seperately about a great little pre mix that Donna Hay has created.

 These macarons featured front and centre at a Thomax Dux Grocer on Bridge Road in Melbourne. If you have never been and you are foodie you will love this grocery store. I first came across Thomas Dux in 2010 when I was sent on a work trip to check out a whole variety of different food and grocery stores. Thomax Dux is up market, trendy and meant to give you that it's not a chain supermarket feel. They do alright but be warned you can spend a lot of money in there very quickly!

The Shrine on a fine warm day - Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne

One of favourite things to do (aside from eating and shopping) is to organise little picnics. My picnicing location of choice is  the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. it's just beautiful and big and calm. I love to be calm and feel the sun on my skin and soak up all the good natural vitamin D. So much more fun that taking supplements to be honest. My BFF's mum bought us a cute little picnic rug which is perfect for stretching out on and trips to Thomax Dux making packing a picnic so simple. I will certainly miss the warmer weather which is so inviting for such wanderings into the outdoors. The cold just makes me want to stay inside with a cup of tea and good book.

Happy Lunar New Year - Chuc Mung Nam Moi!

It's the year of the lucky dragon! Let's hope it really is a lucky year because don't we all need a bit of luck?!

Photos from last weekend's Victoria St Vietnamese Community Lunar New Year Celebrations (aka Tet).

Had such a blast - so much food haha.

Hai Loc - fortunes for the year

Lion Dancing - great tradition

Can't believe they do this all day haha

Just on and on up and down the street ...

First time I asked to take a stranger's photo. This kid was way too cute in traditional dress ;)

Cave man! haha

I shall be brief - photos from the Naracoorte Limestone Caves.

Mirror pool - pretty spooky but cool!

Love that Leica black and white!

Just looks like honey dripping from the ceiling (nom nom)

Road Trip!

So my bf (bff) and I decided to head on a road trip adventure starting in Adelaide which took us along South Australia's Coorong area - the Limestone Coast, to Mt Gambier and then along the Great Ocean Road before heading back to Melbourne.

We stayed at some amazing accommodation. Highlight was seeing the Naracoorte limestone caves which I haven't seen again since a child. The Blue Lake in Mt Gambier was pretty cool and so to was the local meat (nom nom). More on that in another blog post but for now just some photos from the drive - really dry rough country. Had a great time - so much sun!!!

Henley Beach - South Australia

Sunny along the Coorong in South Australia

The Coorong - South Australia

Off Road

Fields of salt: the result of removing native vegetation from the land

Fish shop near the Jetty in Kingston SA

All about the seafood

Happy New Year!!!

ADL 2012: Adelaide 2012 got it in the first take on NYE. Using sparklers and shutter priority mode on Leica set to 2 seconds taken by my wonderful bf (haha bff lol)

In 2011, I started blogging when I moved to Melbourne. Okay so a little lazy towards the end and didn't get as many blog posts up as I would have liked but I had so much fun in the process. 2011 was great! It had it's challenges of course but hey I had fun most of the time!

In 2012 there are a few more goals I'd like to set for myself.

Keep Blogging!
One being to continue to blog at least two posts per month. My Lecia D Lux 5 will still be the primary camera for the shots included in this blog but think I might make a real effort to include some shots taken with a bigger camera (Pentax K7).

I'll admit I'm lazy when it comes to slugging around a huge DSLR but will try harder to make the use of other cameras that I have access to.

Fitness
I'd like to be fitter in 2012. I really slacked off on the exercising this year - so here's to more discipline and motivation!!! I really don't have any more excuses for sitting around and doing nothing!

Budget $
In 2012 I want to cut back on impulse purchases and really focus on saving for big(ger) ticket items like trips away, furniture for the apartment and making sure I stay on top of all my finances - really get smart about superannuation etc...

Collecting Family Recipes
I started this project in 2011 but really want to commit to collecting classic recipes that I take for granted from my mum, dad and aunties! Get it all together and work on pulling at least a PDF collection of recipes to share with interested parties.

Just a few that I've thought of thus far. I will keep thinking about it all :)

Lonely Heart! Love this photo so much fun!

XOX: Kids were so much fun to hang out with! They really reminded me to remember to have fun and play.

NYE 2012: Achieved using mobile phone screens set to different colours. Again shutter mode on Leica set to 2 seconds.

Stick People: how fast can you draw a stick figure? About 2 seconds lol