Love

"Sweet dreams and shiny things / decorate the space between / awake and sleeping." (Because sometimes we all need a bit of stop motion in our day).[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/45858914 w=525&h=295]

V as love from giuli&giordi on Vimeo.

Aaaaand...

* on iVoices: why I love my body (seriously!) * on English Muse: affordable designer pieces for your home

What to pack for London

Have you seen the Kate Spade city guides? They offer stylish advice on places to sleep, eat, drink, shop, explore, visit and even what to pack for five fabulous cities, and more to come. For anyone lucky enough to be heading Olympic-ward, this is the packing list for London. Isn't it cute?

Magic

This is the Airbus 2050 concept plane. When I first saw it today I thought "scary" and immediately after that I thought "sunburn."

But before I thought either of those things I thought, "magic."

What do you think?

The face of Etsy

Is this the face of Etsy? I had a rare moment of self-realisation today, when I discovered I had been sub-consciously limiting Etsy sellers to a set of extremely narrow parameters (mostly females in their 20s and 30s, quirky, creative, probably fans of Jane Austen novels...). Why did I do this? After all, Etsy is just an online market, and market sellers are about as diverse as they come.

This is Jim Power, an Etsy seller who is also known as the "Mosaic Man" because he has been creating beautiful mosaics on the lamp-posts of New York's East Village for decades, supported by donations from locals. Jim might not be as young or pretty as my imagined Etsy sellers, but his work is beautiful and meaningful, a gift to the city. Plus his dog is super cute. (Photos from Jim's Facebook page).

A day at the races

I have always wanted to do this.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POJEkwv-Oss]

(Photos, video and concept from Improv Everywhere)

Also, RUDE FOOD! (I'm writing about the Magic Pudding on English Muse) >>

Capture the colour

Have you heard of the Capture the Colour competition? You post your travel pics in blue, green, yellow white and red, to potentially win prizes. I love the theme of this competition, and the concept of storytelling that is to go along with the photos. So while my photographs are nothing special visually, I thought that just for fun, I'd use this idea to take myself (and you) on a little armchair journey through some old memories.

Blue Steel blue water, blue sky and a blue warship, all reflected in the cool blue glass facades of Manhattan skyscrapers...

In 2009, two Australian warships HMA Sydney and HMA Ballarat sailed into New York as part of the centenary celebration of the Great White Fleet. I was lucky enough to be one of four Aussie journalists taken out by the US Coastguard to greet the frigates. I will never forget the early morning salt-slap of water against my face as we headed out to the mouth of the Hudson River; nor the surge of patriotic pride that took me completely by surprise as Sydney churned into view, white-clad officers lining her deck, and the strains of a band playing "Down Under" bouncing over the waves.

Green On a trek through the Sacred Valley in Peru, we came across this group of school children playing football. The players and the field appeared seemingly out of nowhere as we emerged from dense forest. What with the green field, the green mountains and the thick forest, it was as though these boys were playing inside a green globe, above, below and around.

Yellow I snapped this little fellow with his yellow truck, yellow striped mat and almost-yellow hair at the Lee Street fete in Melbourne, Australia, earlier this year.

It was a poignant day for me. I was six months pregnant with my first baby, and Mr B and I had recently moved to Melbourne, the fourth state we'd lived in in less than a year and the fifth interstate move for me since I'd left New York only two years earlier. Finally we were settled, creating a home. And since the Lee Street school was where our little one would eventually go, we decided to visit to the fete. I think it was on this day that I really started to get clucky, and the reality of our baby-to-be sank in.

White The white sails of this yacht, and the white sea-foam created by our own yacht, stood out in wonderful contrast to sea, land and sky during a sunset cruise in Newport, Rhode Island (USA).

I had taken two weeks away from steamy August in New York and stayed in a B&B that was a 300 year-old rum runner's house overlooking Narragansett Bay. In between harbour cruises, I spent a lot of time visiting remote graveyards in the wilderness, researching the bizarre stories of vampires that plagued this corner of America as recently as 100 years ago.

Red A sea of red terracotta rooftops, curving away into the distance in the Old Town part of Nice, France.

This was taken during our family holidays last year. Everyone else had gone down to the beach, but I wanted some time out so I climbed alone up stone steps cut into a cliff, to a kind of belvedere lookout from what was once, so I read, a Celtic castle ruin. I remember the sensation that you could almost reach out your hand and touch the roof tiles, although they were actually very far away. I didn't know it at the time but I carried my baby with me on this climb, a tiny speck of a promise only a day or two old.

Part of the Capture the Colour initiative involves tagging five other bloggers who you think might want to take part. Finding five fabulous photographically-talented bloggers with a penchant for travel was easy. LIMITING the list to five was a lot tougher! Here they are:

Melissa of Press Play Brandi of Not Your Average Ordinary Deb of Bright and Precious Katherine of Through My Looking Glass Kate of Our Little Sins

Ladies, will you join me?

Sisters + Paris

Dear Lennon and Maisy, how have I not seen/heard you before? I am in love![youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_aJHJdCHAo] And...

What would you do if you’d never been to Paris before and you had one day, just one, precious day, to see as much of this magical city as you could? Where would you go? What would you see?

That's the content of my post on the English Muse today, here.

Favourite things - snap happy

The weekend is almost here! Time to pull out the camera and get creative... 1. Wearable photos Loving this DIY tutorial from Photojojo to print your memories onto fabric.

2. Instagram secrets Those cheeky Instagrammers! I've been wondering how on earth they manage such amazing photographs, even with the help of the Instagram filters. Then I read this how-to and discovered what goes on behind the scenes.

3. The still life stylist Still Life stylist Sonia Rentsch is guest blogging for the Design Files. I love her simple, quirky aesthetic. She says, "A fruit tree, so simple and evocative, is beautiful in and of itself – but how do I make it more? In a world saturated with imagery, how do I ask people to look again?"

4. Women of WWII Take a look at this post and collection of archive photos from WWII on Hila Shachar's blog, le project d'amour. So moving, and thought-provoking.

5. Closeup worthy pink hair Temporary, damage-free, wash-out-able pink hair? I am so going to do this, thanks to this tutorial from The Beauty Department.

Chain reactions

What's even better than that Mouse Trap board game everyone played as kids (I didn't have one but I badly wanted one) in which a mouse tries to navigate an obstacle course? A Mouse Trap-esque automated postcard writer called Melvin, travelling the world in two suitcases, that's what. [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/40539993 w=525&h=295]

Melvin the Mini Machine from HEYHEYHEY on Vimeo.

Melvin the Machine is designed to travel the world. Each time his little mousetrap workings complete a run, he writes (ink-stamps) a postcard, and sticks a postage stamp to it. Melvin if you are reading this, I'd like really a postcard, pretty please.

Melvin is equipped with a smartphone so he can record not only where he goes on his travels, but also the people he meets as he is busy writing postcards. This is all connected to a website, which you'll find here.

What else is awesome about Melvin? That when Brandi from Brandi from Not Your Average Ordinary first heard about him, she thought of me! Another chain reaction: writing a book + people reading the book + writing letters of thanks + blogging about it + discovering lovely bloggers like Brandi = MELVIN & ME.

* One more thing. I am blogging on English Muse today, about time travel and a sense of history and the modern children's classic Playing Beatie Bow. Come visit me and tell me what you think!

Favourite things - party time

I am off to Sydney today! It's just a very quick visit to say hello to my dear friends and family before the baby arrives, before I am too pregnant to fly. I simply can't wait to see everyone. It has been way too long. My friends have organised a little celebratory "baby is on the way" party for me for Saturday, although I've made them promise no games or presents, just the good company of people I love. How do you like your parties to go?

1. Party in a box How about adorable little "parties in a box" like those pictured here (Valentine's Day party, St Patrick's Day party; and Easter party)? These and other fab ideas and beautiful photography are all on You Are My Fave.

2. Potter party For ages now I've been planning to host a Harry Potter party for Emily. When I finally get around to it, she and her friends will sit down (ok lie down) for a marathon viewing of every one of the movies, and I am going to cook up a storm. At regular breaks in the movies we'll stop to eat...

There'll be acid pops, chocolates and more on the Hogwarts Express; pie, drumsticks, roast vegetables and more for the Hogwarts Great Hall feast; spiced hot chocolate and crumpets in the Griffindoor Common Room; cauldron cakes and butterbeer on a Hogsmeade visit; and I've even found recipes for Skiving Snackboxes, which I think I'll give to Em's friends as take-away gifts at the end. Somewhere during the marathon I'll also need to slip in these amazing Golden Snitch cake pops, because they are just gorgeous.

There's even more food planned (eek!) but it's too much to put on here. If you're looking for Harry Potter recipes, let me know in the comments and I can email you what I've gathered so far, with links to the recipes.

3. Free candy-stripe party favours box Wouldn't you like to give a box like this to your friends at your next party? I sure would! (So you should come to my next party). Amy from Eat Drink Chic designed these, and her instructions and design are FREE.

4. DIY bunting, badges & invitations I found these fabulous DIY tips and ideas on In Honor of Design last week.

5. Wild forest party One day when I throw a party just because, I will hold it in a beautiful forest. When you arrive at the edge of the forest, magical night-lights will guide you to the party, looking a little something like this photograph by Rune Guneriussen. At the end of the path, all of our friends will be waiting. We will warm our hands at a crackling bonfire. Festive music will play. Wine will flow. We will sing and dance until dawn.