:: Giggle & Hoot Birthday ::

After a completely unplanned hiatus, I'm back! A whole heap of things have gone on since I last blogged - I shot two weddings, corporate photo shoots, a baby photo shoot, a family photo shoot, two cake smash photo shoots, both my nieces turned one, my nephew turned three, I turned 31, a holiday to the coast, a photo shoot with a very well known Instagrammer, I won a photography competition, lots of online photography features, and my sister is pregnant again (due in July, SO exciting!) ... to name a few! Part of my hiatus was due to the amount of photos I had to edit (over 15,000 to edit in two months, and that was on top of my normal 9-5 job!), and the other part was due to our Internet breaking. I didn't realise just how much I rely on the Internet in my every day life until we didn't have it for a few weeks.

Anyway! I've got some super cute photos to share with you from my niece's first birthday and my nephew's third birthday. My eldest niece and nephew share the same birthday so it was a joint first and third birthday. My sisters chose a Giggle & Hoot theme. For the non-Australians that read my blog Giggle & Hoot is an Australian children's television show that runs for about five minutes at a time in between other shows. It consists of a (super cute) host Jimmy Giggle (I think he was chosen for the Mummys, haha!) and his best friend Hoot (a stuffed owl puppet), they sing songs and do little skits. Hoot also has a friend called Hootabelle, who (as you can probably guess) is a girl owl. My niece is obsessed with Giggle & Hoot and it covers both boy and girl aspects of the party so it was a great choice!

(My sister is still against photos of my nephew being online, but I can assure you he was there and had a great time!)

The birthday girl, in her Hootabelle inspired dress

Party bags decorated to look like Hoot and Hootabelle - so cute! Each bag was filled with little toys for each guest and was later used to hold lollies and prizes from the Hootabelle pinata.

She couldn't stop high-fiving everyone all day, even while we were trying to take photos!

And to prove I was actually there!

:: Violet ::

When it comes to nieces and nephews I am pretty darn lucky. I have the cutest little people to spoil. Last year my younger sister gave birth to my niece on my nephew's second birthday which was pretty funny! Four months later I was blessed with another gorgeous niece. We have a special connection because we both have purple flower names - her name is Violet.

I don't care if it's from wind, this is the cutest ever.

I just love her chubby cheeks!

:: Happy Birthday To Me! ::

It's official ladies and gentlemen, I am now 30. No longer can I say I'm in my 20s and try to ignore the fact that 29 was the very tippy top of the 20s and as such, hardly counts as a '20-something'. But, in a desperate attempt to hold onto my 20s for just a little bit longer I decided to have a 20s themed party!

I decided on a simple invite, printed on white paper and glued to cream cardboard. I think the words and colour say enough, really! Below is my invitation (address omitted for obvious reasons!). My sister-in-law suggested an emerald green font as it was Pantone's colour of the year last year and emerald's always remind me of the 1920s. I used this font for the title and this font for the rest of the invitation. The little border decorations came from this site. We picked one and then rotated them to fit where we needed them. From memory, that particular border is found by using a capital 'M'.

We have quite a large backyard so Mr LG and I decided to buy a badminton set (fun!) and some quoits to play during the party - both of which were a big hit. We also had a marquee set up, lined with bunting, as well as 20s-style decorations dotted around the place. Mr LG and I love everything art deco so we already had old typewriters, old phones, old luggage and old bikes from that era to use. It was fun to see everyone dressed up with flippy dresses, suspenders, headbands, and lots of feathers and sequins.

Eloise and Ramona's Hotsy Totsy Book of Fun can be purchased from flapperdoodle on etsy. That store is amazing, I love so many items! Eloise and Ramona are just fabulous!

These colouring in pages can also be bought from flapperdoodle. I decided to have the activity book and colouring pages to entertain my smaller guests. They went down a treat, with kids and adults alike. Who doesn't love some fun colouring in?

Photo courtesy of Gracie

Photos courtesy of Gracie - I love the second photo, that pesky balloon just wanted to be in the photo!

My gorgeous niece Scarlett (with my Mum in the background). Is there anything better than a 1920s-dressed baby?

Photo courtesy of Gracie

Photos courtesy of Gracie - she is so cute!

Photo courtesy of Gracie - on a side note, does anyone know where I can buy typewriter ribbon from?

I loved my sister's wig! By the end of the day everyone was trying it on!

I had an amazing day surrounded by the people closest to me. I highly recommend a 1920s themed party to anyone who is considering one - it is fabulous fun!

:: My Brother's Surprise to his Wife ::

So, to follow on from my last post about my younger brother's wedding I thought I'd show you the photos I took of when he surprised my sister-in-law with their honeymoon plans. He decided he was going to keep it as a surprise until the day before they left. All she knew was that it would be cold, which ruled out the Southern Hemisphere.

It turns out he booked an amazing honeymoon for the two of them - Paris, Switzerland, and then Italy (starting in the North and making their way down to the South). No biggie. I think they were gone for a month, they came back just in time for Christmas (yes, I am that far behind on showing you guys photos!).

I love her expressions here. This is when she found out she was going to Paris. And, the best part is, her older sister (who's wedding I also took photos of) also went to Paris for her honeymoon. My brother and sister-in-law put a lovelock right next to her sister's! So cute! AND (it gets better), her older sister is overseas right now and she placed another lovelock next to the original two with a little note on it saying hi to future grandkids. Love it!

These photos crack me up. This is when she realised they were also going to Disneyland while they were in Paris. Best.Honeymoon.Ever. So lucky! And, of course, I heard all about the amazing stationery stores in Paris when they came home. I was given some awesome stamps and washi!

To all my married friends, where did you go on your honeymoon? I'd love to hear your stories! We went to Melbourne for a week and the Sunshine Coast for a week. So far, we've been back to Melbourne for our wedding anniversaries and we hope to go back every year. We went for our second anniversary back in January and I have some awesome photos to show you. I'm obsessed with Melbourne and would seriously consider moving there if it weren't for all my family up here.