:: Exploring Brisbane - Part One ::

At the beginning of January one of my closest friends flew up from Sydney to hang out with me for a few days. She had only been to Brisbane once before and had spent most of her time in a place called The Valley (full name is Fortitude Valley). Now, there's nothing wrong with the Valley, but it is geared towards a certain demographic - there is a lot of cool cafes, clubs, trendy bars etc, so it's perfect if you like that sort of thing. But, she had never actually been to Brisbane, the city (even though it's literally a ten minute walk from the Valley).

So in light of her last visit, I decided that we would do some exploring while she was here. It was fun to view my home town through the eyes of a 'tourist'. Gracie came along on one of the days (see her post here) and we went to South Bank, which is a parkland across the river from the city. South Bank has markets, food stalls, a man-made beach that overlooks the city, parklands (obviously), cafes and restaurants.

View of Brisbane city from Mt Coot-tha

View of Brisbane city from Bartley's Lookout in Hamilton

Playing with bokeh at Bartley's Lookout

View of Brisbane city from Kangaroo Point

One of the cool buildings in Brisbane city and the iconic bougainvillea walkways at South Bank

The Wheel of Brisbane and another reflective building in Brisbane city

View of the Valley end of Brisbane city with part of the Botanical Gardens to the left

Gracie on the City Cat (the name of our ferries)

Ducks at South Bank

More bougainvillea and the Brisbane Conservatory of Music ("the Con")

View of Brisbane city from near the top of the Wheel of Brisbane

Gracie and I have actually been talking a lot about what Brisbane has to offer lately and we have decided that we need to be a bit kinder to our home town and really start to enjoy what it has to offer. If you were to look through my photos you would see hundreds of photos of the beach, Melbourne, Perth ... anywhere but here. It's a little sad because Brisbane really does have a lot of amazing things to see and do. We went out on Friday night and walked through the city taking photos of all the pretty buildings and South Bank all lit up at night. I can't wait to show you those photos! We plan to get together once a month to see something new in Brisbane!

Are you like us? Do you forget to really 'see' your home town? If you have a post about where you live I'd love to read it! Leave a link so I can check it out. It'll be like a little tour around the world, from the comfort of my home :)

:: 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.

:: Wedding Photography ::

At the end of last year my little brother got married to the most gorgeous girl. My brother was planning the engagement surprise around the time of this wedding (which was the wedding of my sister-in-law's older sister). I've now been a part of two of the three girl's weddings, and I've already warned sister number three that I will crash her future wedding specifically to take photos even if I'm not invited.

Now, when I say my little brother I actually mean my younger brother because there is no way at a whole foot taller than me that he is 'little'! My brother is a huge giant of a man. He's around 6'2 with shoulder just as wide, and he loves things like weight lifting and cricket ... and he's also a huge romantic. He set up an engagement surprise for my sister-in-law that started with a dinner, then a walk around Kangaroo Point (she was in huge heels, so that was a bit of a problem, ha! For those of you who don't know Brisbane - Kangaroo Point is a lovely cliff that overlooks the city ... with huge staircases going down the cliffs to get to the river walk at the bottom) and suddenly they come across rose petals and candles scattered everywhere and Josh was on one knee. So romantic! He also turned their honeymoon into a surprise and didn't tell her until the day before they left - I have photos of that to share as well! But for now, I will leave you with some photos of their gorgeous wedding. I had a pretty good vantage point from the front pew - being a family member at weddings always guarantees good seats.

:: Finders Keepers Markets ::

Late last year Gracie and I went to the Finders Keepers markets together. I love these markets - they're basically etsy in real life! I always set myself a budget (with cash in hand) so that I don't go overboard and buy one of everything. Every year I'm amazed at how creative people are. I'm pretty sure I walk around repeating the phrases, "Oh, that's clever!", "I love that!", "Look! How do people come up with this?", "I wish I could do that." And yeah, you get the idea.

:: A House Update & A Giveaway Winner! ::

A fair bit has been going on in our little cottage since I last time talked about it. The last time I posted photos of our house it was when I was on a huge cleaning mission in an attempt to make this house feel a little prettier. It's no secret that I'm not a fan of the colour scheme the previous owners used on our house. The outside colours are a yellow-cream, dark red, and dark green. This is a lovely heritage colour scheme when done properly, but it hasn't worked so well on our house. On the inside we had a lovely mish-mash of colours - yellow, red, blue, dark teal, brown - so pretty!

In the last six months we've slowly made some changes around here - one of those being new paint inside! We've also finished grassing our backyard, our new roof is almost complete, and our bathroom renovation starts in a few weeks! Exciting times in the Lavender household! I suppose it will come as no surprise that the colour we chose for our interior is green. I'm kind of predictable. But, it's a lovely grey-based green and is actually the same colour my parents have in their house. Their house has been that colour since before they bought it back in 1993 and the colour hasn't dated yet which is a great sign that it is a perfect for colour for houses as old as ours (95 years old!).

See the lovely red trims? (The walls in the before photo were actually a yellow-cream colour)

The house feels so much bigger now - cleaner too! I can't wait to show you bathroom before and afters in a few months.

I also have a giveaway winner to announce - congratulations to the lovely Felicia!

PS. The colours we used were Pale Vellum (the green) and Clotted Cream (the trims/doors).