Pigeon post

Good morning, how was your weekend? Mine was all about brunches and baby smiles, Christmas trees and coffee, a visit to the Big Design Market and a walk through the city. I thought this cute little film might work as an antidote if you're suffering from Mondayitis.

Airmail from Sabah Nicolas on Vimeo.

ps. You can still win a handy Target voucher OR a present from me on this post

A very Australian Christmas, plus a giveaway

Target has designed a range of beautiful Australian-themed Christmas ornaments this year, for sale exclusively in Target Australia stores. I've bought two of each!

As a blogger, and as a person who has lived for some time on the opposite side of the world, I am lucky to have friends in many places and from many cultures. And when Christmas rolls around, I am almost always asked "How do you celebrate?" by my northern hemisphere friends. Here's a taste.

Long, lazy summer school-holidays, Daylight Savings, the smell of jasmine, Carols by Candlelight in every park. Stockings for Santa on Christmas Eve, a great big pile of toys and tinsel and wrapping paper and smiling children on Christmas morning. For some families, Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve or Church on Christmas Day. Ham and trimmings in some houses. Seafood platters in others. Food comas by mid-afternoon in almost every home.

What else happens on Christmas Day?

Water fights in the back yard. Christmas crackers with silly hats and bad jokes. Christmas carols playing on repeat. Watching the Queen's Christmas Day message in the hope that she will say something as hysterically funny as "annus horribilis" again so that you can make more crude puns. At least one broken toy. At least one uncle or family friend drinking too much and turning obnoxious.

I photographed these adorable Christmas ornaments in the park this week. They were designed exclusively for Target this year and, with prices ranging from $4 to $6, they're very affordable too!

They'll make great gifts for overseas friends and I plan on pulling together an Aussie care-package or two, adding in some other items new to Target this year, like Australian-themed crackers, glass baubles painted with Australian flowers, and a range of rather tasty sauces made with native Australian ingredients.

While we're having this conversation, did you know that Target now stocks a range of high-end fragrances, like Marc Jacobs, Bvlgari, Issey Miyake and Versace, at discount prices? This was news to me until recently, but very happy news when it came to hunting down Christmas presents while watching the budget.

Competition time

Last week Target contacted me and asked if I wanted to give you guys a $40 gift voucher. Since we're heading into Christmas, I thought that would probably be one of the handiest things you could have right now, so I said "of course!"

To be in the draw to win a $40 gift voucher to spend at any Target, Baby Target, or Target Country across Australia, simply leave a comment below and let me know how you celebrate this holiday season in your family.

For a second chance to win, Tweet about this competition and use the hashtags #targetchristmas and #targetlovesbloggers.

For a third chance, share this post on Facebook, and let me know about it.

Overseas readers

These gift vouchers are only valid in Australia, but I don't want you to miss out so I'm going to give away a second prize.

I'll randomly select one overseas person to win some of these lovely Christmas ornaments, plus an assortment of other goodies that I can gather together, and I'll post them all out to you anywhere in the world. (I might even make the mail look pretty, like this). Just let me know what country you're from in your comment when you enter.

Both prizes will be drawn at 9pm on Tuesday 11 December (Melbourne time). Good luck!

This post was sponsored by the lovely folks at Target. Perfumes and Australian-themed ornaments sold throughout Target Australia. Baby drool comes separately.

UPDATE: This competition is now closed. Congratulations Amber!

And to think that I saw it on Rathdowne Street

Today on my walk with Madeleine I saw many wonderful things. * A butterfly inside a perfume shop.

* Two teenaged girls on either side of a water fountain in the park, joyfully pelting each other with water balloons.

* A small boy carefully balancing a QUADRUPLE DECKER ice-cream cone.

The things you see on a summer's afternoon when you don't have your camera.

Favourite things - hidden messages

If you've been reading this blog for even just five minutes, you probably know that I love the idea of secret notes, hidden messages, surprises and unexpected joys. Your first clue may have been that I called my blog "messages in bottles." Here are five hidden messages that have been making me smile lately.

1. The Burt's Bees mail

Picture this, if you will. "Oh my," you think to yourself, "my lips are deplorably dry. Whatever shall I do?" Then you open your letterbox and, "What ho! Burt's Bees for me? Happy day! Tra la la." This is one of many, many cute mail ideas on AmberLee's blog GiversLog, which I discovered via oh, hello friend.

2. The gratitude rolls

Elizabeth on 8Balloons baked these message-filled 'gratitude rolls' as a cute twist on fortune cookies for Thanksgiving. But my mind is a-buzz with about a zillion different ways I could surprise friends with this lovely idea.

3. The balloons in the phone booth

I so want Jordan from Oh Happy Day to plan all my parties for me, forever. This brilliant idea was hers. She said, "I’ve always wanted to fill a phone booth with balloons and then send someone on a treasure hunt to the booth and have the phone ring so the person has to open it to answer the phone and the balloons come out." More here.

4. The punchy advent

I have bookmarked this "punch the days" advent calendar tutorial from You Are My Fave for when Madeleine is older. I think it will be so much fun! First seen on Meet Me At Mikes.

5.The sugar graffiti

Street artist Shelley Miller creates pictures, murals and surprise street-art out of... wait for it... cake icing! So now we know who the witch in Hansel and Gretel commissioned to make her enticing sugar house. But how lovely and transient Shelley's art must be to see. Visit Shelley's project blog to see more. Thanks Frankie mag for the tip-off!

That's it for Friday, dear friend. But don't forget to pop back tomorrow morning for your chance to win a Target gift voucher (very handy before Christmas!) or a special little gift in the mail if you live outside of Australia.

ps. Get your snail mail here!

Snail mail: pictures in the post

A little while ago I promised to post copies of my novella, Airmail, to anyone who subscribed to my blog, until the "party box" I have sitting in my home ran out. Lately I've been having all kinds of fun drawing little pictures on the book-packages before I send them out. Here's what I'm popping in the mail this week.

UPDATE 2017: Unfortunately I no longer have copies of this book to send out, but I do host other mail projects throughout the year. The best way to find out about these projects is to subscribe to my free email newsletter, which includes monthly mail-art templates, and the tips, projects and ideas around slow-living activities. 

If you're in the mood for even more letter-writing inspiration, I want to remind you about my letter-writing and mail-art e-course, "The Most Beautiful Letter You Have Ever Written." 

Over four weeks, I will guide you through multiple methods of making beautiful mail-art and creative, handmade stationery; teach you the art of writing and storytelling; help you forge personal connections in your letters and find pen-pals if you want them; and share time-management tips so even the busiest people can enjoy sending and receiving letters. There's also a host of downloadable resources, and access to my own private mail-art pen-pal group. Registrations are open right now, and you can find out more here. 

Meals on wheels - Yogurddiction

Madeleine and I hit up the Yogurddiction truck recently, for some guilt-free* dessert to complement what had developed into an uncomfortably hot afternoon. We struck gold: it was raspberry-pomegranate flavour day on the truck's rotation. There were trees in the distance, so we made a bee-line for them while the heat radiated in waves up from the pavement.

It was definitely a park kind of day. You know those days? Just when you think the sun is going to be unbearable, you find a spot deep in the shade of a leafy tree, sit down, and a breeze suddenly seems to spring up from nowhere.

I slurped up fast-melting raspberry-pomegranate frozen yoghurt and fresh strawberries. Madeleine rolled around on my lap. I tried to feed her but she wasn't even remotely interested because it was much too much fun looking around the park. Instead, she passed the time grinning and laughing and sucking on her toes.

It was pretty much the best way I could possibly think of to wile away an hour.

*Why guilt-free? Yogurddiction frozen yoghurt is made from fresh fruits and other ingredients. It's all natural, and free of artificial flavourings or preservatives. And all the ingredients are sourced nearby, supporting local farmers, and the fruit is hand-picked.

ps. Have you met Mr Burger?

Gloriously lost

Sometimes you don't realise how desperately you need a weekend outside of the city until the ocean air is in your lungs, dense forest canopy shades your face, and your mobile phone is useless. We are just back from three days of hiking in the bushland surrounding the Great Ocean Road as part of a group that's raising funds to support cancer patients.

Madeleine absolutely loved it, singing lustily from her carrier as we hiked our way through the trees, and laughing every time anyone talked to her or squeezed her chubby cheeks (which happened quite often).

She kept on laughing while we trekked through rainforests, up mountains, along clifftop paths and over sand dunes. She laughed when we got back to our cabin in the bush wayyyyy past her bedtime, and laughed at the very suggestion of going to sleep while the sun was still up. She laughed even more when I gave in and took her down to have dinner with the rest of the group.

We all sat together around long tables on a wide verandah, drinking wine and eating cheese and making our own pizzas in an outdoor oven. In the darkening sky, koalas growled and kookaburras chuckled. Without warning, a big, blustery, summer storm broke overhead, sending down sheets of rain and at some point, while thunder rolled and lightening split open the sky, Madeleine finally fell asleep in my arms.

Later I put her down in a travel cot beside our bed, a gift from Baby Bjorn, and she slept beautifully all night. Slept like a baby, in fact. She barely moved until I woke her up for her next feed.

I'm so thankful to Baby Bjorn, because the cot was fantastic. You just pull it out of the case and it bounces into place: you don't need a physics degree to put it together. It was small enough to fit in our tiny cabin room, but big enough for Madeleine to keep using it as she grows. The sides are at a kind of pyramid angle, making it super sturdy and safe, something very important to me because when she HASN'T been hiking all day, Madeleine thrashes and bumps around in her sleep like a washing machine full of towels. Plus there's mesh all around which means my baby gets all the airflow she needs, and I can see her through the sides, but she still feels snug and secure.

I also used the travel cot as a playpen for her during the day when we weren't hiking, putting it out on the verandah in the late afternoon sun to give Madeleine somewhere safe to roll around and play with her toys and show off how good she is at tummy time nowadays (really good).

How was your weekend, dear friend? Have you had a chance to get out of town lately?

* This post was sponsored by Baby Bjorn and Digital Parents Collective. Thanks so much for your support you guys. We couldn't have left home without you!

The curious case of the Yuletide yarn-bomber

Something strange has happened to the oak trees on Rathdowne Street. It started on Sunday: we were eating lunch in a cafe after the Color Run and noticed a woman who seemed to be winding a giant red scarf around a tree. Soon, the scarf looked more like a sweater. By the following day, six trees in a row proudly wore six scarlet sweaters like six warm cuddles. It didn't stop there. On Wednesday when I returned to Rathdowne Street, gorgeous yarn baubles hung from the branches; and sweet crocheted snow-flakes, Santas and Christmas trees proudly perched in rows around the red trunks.

This here folks is a yarn bomb of magnificent proportions and, if you live anywhere near Melbourne, you've got to come out to Carlton North and take a look. It is stunning. I took some photographs for you this morning, before the heat drove me back indoors (it's forecast to reach 38 degrees today. Blech!).

The yarn bomb is the handiwork of Yarn Corner, a Melbourne-based collective of 'yarn artists' who make up one of the biggest yarn-bombing groups in the world.

I contacted Yarn Corner's founder and director Bali this morning to ask her a bit more about this beautiful Christmas installation. She told me it involved 30 people and they had spent the past three months working on the hanging decorations for the trees, as well as similar Christmas yarn-bombs that are planned for nearby Richmond and Fitzroy.

But the wraps for the trees weren't made ahead of time, they were all created on site. "We had lots of lovely feedback from the Carlton residents when we were doing the trees there," Bali told me. "We even saw one girl riding her bike with her dad, but she was so in awe of what we were doing that she almost crashed into a parked car."

You know what else is kind of nice? This entire 'bomb' was actually commissioned by the local Council. Yay for bureaucrats supporting and celebrating the arts! They wanted something a little different and a little more artistic than the usual Christmas decorations you see around town at this time of year, so they turned to Yarn Corner with a brief and said "go for it." Mission accomplished, I say. Deck the halls with balls of yarn!

Short people

Short people: I am one of them. All my pants are too long. Emily Rose was taller than me by the time she was 11. I keep a step ladder in the kitchen to reach the items on the top shelves. On the rare occasion that I meet someone shorter than me, the whole world seems out of proportion and I feel like a giant. Still, that's no reason to sing a mean song about my people (I'm lookin' at you, Mr Randy Newman).

Street artist Slinkachu both loves and abandons short people. He remodels and paints little model train-set characters, then leaves them on the street all over the world (photographing them before he leaves). He uses the existing environment, and the rubbish and detritus found on the street, to create their tiny worlds. I think they are simply magical.

All images from Slinkachu's blog, used with his kind permission.

Inside the Melbourne Color Run

  This was the Melbourne Color Run festival after-party on Sunday, as seen from the outside. Want to know what it looked like inside that colour-cloud?

They call the Color Run "the happiest 5k on earth" and it possibly is. Certainly for the 12,500 of us who showed up at Flemington Racecourse on the weekend, there was a lot of joy, a lot of laughter, and a disturbing lot of men in tutus.

In fact it was so much fun that Yours Truly got caught up in the moment and moved over from the left-hand "walkers and dancers" side of the track to the bona fide right-hand "runners" side. With a bit of dancing and skipping thrown in for good measure. Ok I might have stopped to walk up a hill or two but, as my friend Tons said, "Interval training is better for us, anyway."

In case you couldn't make it out to Flemington on Sunday, I risked my beloved camera to capture a little taste of the Color Run just for you.

All those white headbands and long socks at the start. It was like a fabulously bizarre 70s convention.

The colour-proof camera

If you're wondering what it takes to keep a camera safe on the inside of a colour run, the answer is a lot of little extras and in many cases the willingness to click from the hip without actually seeing what you're photographing. With a big thanks to my dad for the advice and the gear, here's how I did it.

(I use an Olympus Pen E-P3 camera. It's compact and fabulous. For the run, I attached a zoom lens. That actually made photographing the crowd a LOT more difficult, but I chose the long lens because the hood I planned to use to keep some of the colour off was much bigger and longer than the one for my ordinary lens.)

1. storm hood (normally for rain)  2. lens hood (normally to prevent flares)  3. clear lens filter  4. 40-150 zoom lens  5. rubber air pump (to remove fine dust)

That storm hood was fantastic. There's a draw-string at either end of it, so it tightens around your camera lens at the front and over the actual camera at the back. As soon as the run started, I put the settings on Auto, stuck my hand inside the hood, and clicked away happily the whole time. I wasn't able to see what I was photographing because to open the hood and look inside would have exposed the camera to the colour-storm that was going on all around me. But that just made it all-the-more fun when it came to sorting through the photos later.

How was your weekend, friend? Did you spot any colour?

ps. Blogger attends Color Run, enters insane and awesome blue cloud, doesn't realise that camera is a) on and b) set to video:

ps2. If you subscribe to this blog today, I'll give you a free book. No strings. Details here. Not that you need any extra incentive, after a film-making extravaganza like this.