Merry Christmas + Happy New Year!

A very Paton Christmas

A belated Merry Christmas to you all! I hope everyone had a wonderfully, relaxing day off yesterday, ate plenty of yummy food and got spoiled by Santa. I love Christmas, it's hard not to when you like food, gifts, celebrating and being all round festive. It's the best holiday to take quality time out to spend with your closet family and friends and just enjoy life. Speaking of, life is looking very exciting at the moment as I only have two more sleeps until I leave for a 16 day adventure around Japan! I am looking forward to starting 2013 in a different country with new inspiration and  fresh perspective. I have been busily writing down my goals and resolutions for 2013 and have been so eager that I may have started a couple already! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful, amazing, time-of-you-life New Years and I can't wait to come home and share with you my Japan photos! 

May 2013 bring you lots of love, happiness, creativity and good fortune!

Byron Bliss.

Dress: Vintage

Shoes: Sportsgirl (old)

Bag: Who is Hue? (similar)

Perks of living at the southern end of the Gold Coast: it only takes 45 minutes to drive to the beautiful Byron Bay! When I am stuck for something to do on the weekend (which is a bit rare) driving down to Byron always pops into my head. The small town is always a buzz with backpackers, holidaying families, healthy food, cocktails and alternative shopping. The hardest decision I am always faced with each time I come to Byron is what to have for lunch? The food in Byron Bay is always exceptional! There are just too many places to choose from! This time the decision was easy as I had a recommendation from my friend to try out The Conscious Cafe hidden in the car park near Woolworths. The cafe was surrounded by lush green trees and each table was decorated with fresh flowers; it felt like eating in the garden of Eden. The food was all organic and vegetarian making it my idea of heaven! I had the falafels with sprouted bread and hummus  in the picture above, and it tasted just as good as it looked! I washed it down with delicious fresh coconut water straight from the source and eagerly anticipated the rest of the day. We checked out the new store called 'In This Street' owned by Australian contemporary artist David Bromely, which I would recommend even though I am not a huge fan of some of his work, before heading up the hill to people watch at the beach. Then we went for a ritual drive around Wategos looking at all of the amazing houses and sizing them up for when we are older (and richer). Other places I would recommend going to in Byron would be The Balcony (for tapas and cocktails), the Top Pub (for relaxed afternoons), the Middle Eastern/Egyptian place down the alley near the Top Pub, St Elmo and the boutiques down Fletcher Street.

There is always so much to do in Byron when the sun is shining, all you have to do is get out there and experience it!