:: Lavender & Lock Photography ::

So, after months of doing weddings, maternity shoots, baby shoots and family shoots under no name and no business/company I've finally branched out and created a photography business/company! Exciting times!

http://www.lavenderandlockphotography.com/

I also have a facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/lavenderandlock check it out!

:: Gracie's Unicorn Birthday Party ::

Earlier this year (February, I am SO behind!) I was invited to Gracie's unicorn themed birthday party. Gracie always has the best birthday themes and this party did not disappoint. The first one I went to was Alice in Wonderland themed and the second was a pretty pink picnic.

Gracie made adorable unicorn horns for everyone to wear in place of birthday hats. My little sister dubbed ownership of mine after the party and she still has it in an almost pristine condition because she loves it so much. There was fairy wands to decorate and little glass jars to fill with glitter. I loved getting my craft on. Gracie also made little packs for everyone to take home, always generous even on a day that is supposed to be about her!

Gorgeous wand by little miss Laylah.

Photo of me courtesy of Gracie's gorgeous friend Laura - proof that I was actually there!

Do you love themed parties as much as I do? I think all parties should have a theme! I'm desperate to have a 90s themed party - overalls, Doc Martens, awesome (ie dodgy) music, scrunchies, bad teased fringes - perfection!

:: Health and Fitness ::

107.5kg dead lift

I've been thinking a lot about health and fitness lately. Today marks one year since the beginning of my pancreas/large intestine fiasco and while I've had some really good days, it frustrates me that I still have really bad days.

So I've turned to my diet to see if there's something I'm eating that's making me sick without realising. I already have a list of foods I avoid due to allergies, intolerances and general inability to digest them like gluten, dairy, pumpkin, carrot, lettuce, cranberries and so on. But lately I've been directed to a group of foods called FODMAPs. FODMAP containing foods are foods such as apples, nectarines, peaches, beetroot, lychees, pulses, beans, artificial sweeteners (maltitol, xylitol) among many others. People with an intolerance to these FODMAPs get sick because they aren't absorbed properly through your digestive system and they begin to ferment where they shouldn't which causes all kinds of problems and pain.

I've been off these FODMAPs for about two weeks now and I already feel so much better. Who knew that something seemingly safe like an apple could cause so many problems? Now that I'm starting to feel better I'm getting more into gym and fitness again. Last month a few of my friends and I completed the Lorna Jane squat challenge (below) and have decided to keep doing at least 100 squats a day from now on.

This month we're completing a plank challenge (along with the daily 100 squats). I have rubbish core muscles, so hopefully this will help! Having a stronger core will help with all my other exercises like deadlifts (see first photo), back squats, leg press and even running.

Do you have any other monthly/30-day challenges you can recommend? A friend and I have decided to do one a month til the end of the year!

:: 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!

:: Vlog - Australian Accent ::

I am fascinated by accents. Whenever one of my friends from overseas posts a little video on Vine or Instagram I secretly hope I will be able to hear them talk because I love, love, love accents. I think I have a pretty standard Australian accent, but I get asked a LOT if I'm from America or New Zealand. Um, no. In light of this I thought I'd make a video for you guys so you can hear what I sound like!

I did a Google search and found a list of words that are apparently said differently around the world. Here they are so you can read them while you watch my video:
Aunt, roof, route, wash, oil, theatre, iron, salmon, caramel, fire, water, sure, data, ruin, crayon, toilet, New Orleans, pecan, both, again, probably, spitting image, Alabama, lawyer, coupon, mayonnaise, syrup, pyjamas, caught, orange, coffee, direction, naturally, aluminium, herbs.

And then some questions:
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

And then a passage to read:
Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store: six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob. We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy for the kids. She can scoop these things into three red bags and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.

Do I sound different than you expected? I'd love it if you could make a video and post the link in the comments below so I can hear what you sound like!

:: Melbourne - Second Wedding Anniversary (Part Three) ::

Yep, you read the title right. Another post about Melbourne. I promise this will be the last one. I'm dedicating this post to 'everything else' - the buskers, the cafes, the trams ... the little things that make Melbourne so special.

In case you missed them, here are part one and part two.

If you ever go to Melbourne, Sydney or Adelaide make sure you check out Haighs chocolate. Seriously. So good.

Mario was awesome. He was such a good guitar player (and poser, haha).

I am in love with The Little Library.

The back courtyard at The Vegie Bar. Such a fantastic restaurant - great service, great vegetarian and vegan menu (as well as gluten free options), with the added bonus of being on my favourite street in Melbourne - Brunswick Street, Fitzroy.

Melbourne Airport has love locks! Who knew!

Now I want to go back!

:: Melbourne - Second Wedding Anniversary (Part Two) ::

Mr LG and I have been to Melbourne a few times, sometimes for wedding anniversaries and sometimes just because. It's our favourite place to go on holidays. This year was my first time visiting the Melbourne Zoo. I love zoo's and it's always bummed me out that Brisbane doesn't have a proper one. The closest we have is Australia Zoo which is on the Sunshine Coast and while it is awesome, it still doesn't have all the animals that other zoo's have. The day we went the temperature hit 43 degrees (celsius - that's 109.4F, so you can imagine how hot it was!). So freaking hot! It was an awesome day though and I can't wait to go back again.

This poor guy was hiding in the shade.

I love this peacock photo because there is actually a wire fence between us. I used my manual focus to focus on the peacock and not the fence. You can sort of see it around his face - the little lines through the bokeh around his head is actually blurred fence.

My favourite zoo animal is the otters. They weren't in their enclosure when we were there which was sad. I also like red pandas. What's your favourite animal to see at the zoo?

Loved the little guy who landed on my shoulder while we were in the butterfly enclosure.