Getting out and about in your active wear.

Last Sunday I was active in my activewear. Just for the record, I usually am active when wearing my gym clothes. This time I took activewear to where it is most at home, the great outdoors, or more specifically, Royal Sydney National Park. The RSNP is an hour (with no traffic) drive south of Sydney. You can actually see the headland when you're coming in to land at Sydney Airport! We set out on our 7km walk from a nondescript car park. The thing about this walk, and the car park, is that there aren't many signs confirming exactly where you are. Luckily, we had Google Maps! We walked, and walked and walked through similar looking track and bush for what felt like forever. Until we came out to some cliffs that look over the ocean and revealed a secret beach. From there, we were about 900m from the Wedding Cake Rock - a geometric cliff-side that is made from naturally occurring white sandstone - bound to fall in to the ocean at any time. There is a fence warning you not to go on the rock because it is so unstable. I fear these words and these images will come back to haunt me when the rock finally does depart in to the sea. I was a nervous wreck for most of the time whilst standing both on the rock and off it, watching brave tourists get adventurous photos. Facing my fears of following the rock off the side of the cliff and in to the ocean I crawled on my hands and knees to the magic Insta-photo-opportunity spot. With my hands in the air, a smile on my face I confronted my fears of heights and cliff edges, and now have a photo to prove it. After we left the rock, and the adrenaline subsided, I felt a little proud of overcoming a fear and was able to relate it to different areas of my life. Fear can be a fickle beast, but when you meet it head on and work your way through it, it's not so bad. In someways I think we feel fear to remind ourselves of how much we are capable of once we get to the other side of it. I'll be the first to admit that getting out of my comfort zone isn't one of my natural talents, but when I do, boy, do I feel so much better for it!

When was the last time you were in nature and out of your comfort zone?

SaveSaveSaveSave

A new day.

This morning in Darling Point

We woke up at 5.30am to see the dawn breaking from beyond the hills and the yachts. Everything was still and silent whilst the sky talks in soft pinks and opaque gold. It feels good to be alive.

An afternoon in Darling Point, Sydney.

Some mementoes from my first ever trip to Darling Point last weekend. What a dreamy suburb - a mix of heritage homes, art deco entranceways, crispy orange leaves on the ground, bare branches in the sky and lots of soft shades of pink. This girl was in love.

Terrigal.

Wearing: Camilla and Marc top (from sample sale), Zara jeans, scarf from Brunswick Markets, near Byron Bay, Michael Kors watch.

This Easter Monday I traveled up to Terrigal to meet my sister who was staying in Newcastle. We thought instead of one coming to the other why not meet half way and explore somewhere we hadn't been before. Driving in to Terrigal felt a lot like being at home on the Gold Coast. Wide roads, open spaces, big pine trees lining the beach, a concentrated area of people and shops all buzzing thanks to the public holiday. It's a different, more carefree vibe than that of being around the city. We did what tourists do and drove around, parked, got out, explored a beach, had lunch, people watched, you know the routine. A storm had been brewing since we arrived. The sky had been turning a deeper shade of grey every time I looked up at it. Racing against time (and somewhat like that Tornado movie in my mind) we managed to make it to Long Jetty for some quick pictures before the storm fully set in. Those last moments before the heavy spots of rain fell to the ground felt electric, like we had won the storm chasers race.

Infinity Sourdough, Paddington.

Often on a Sunday (and who am I kidding, Saturday too) I wake up wanting nothing else then a fresh pastry and a coffee. This has become a little weekend tradition of sorts for L and I. We have ventured out to quite a few Sydney bakeries and last weekend decided to try out Infinity Sourdough in Paddington. For starters, the beautiful interior is well worth the visit. High white ceilings with decorative ceilings, copper piping, those retro black sandwich boards with the white letters, polished concrete floors and scattered plants throughout. It was a bit of a Pinterest delight! Not to mention the glass cabinets were overflowing with croissants the size of footballs, salted caramel brownies, pear danishes and love heart shaped pretzels. We both shared a pumpkin, feta and chickpea sausage roll and an almond croissant. It was so exciting to try a bakery that made a vegetarian sausage roll that wasn't the tired and done spinach and feta version and boy was it good! The almond croissant was quite easily the largest almond croissant I have seen so far! Some bakeries put the almond filling on the inside, this filling was on the top and it made for an excellent crunchy crust while letting the croissant-y layers do their soft thing on the inside. Also, their barista was awesome. It was super hot on Sunday so short blacks on ice was needed. The barista brought us over a standard short black espresso on ice and then he brought us over a cold press coffee on ice so we could try both and taste the difference, what a legend! The cold press was definitely our favourite, so much smoother on the palate than the heat extracted coffee. I could have stayed there all morning but alas things need to get done on a Sunday. I'm sure it won't be long until we're back!

Infinity Sourdough, 178 Oxford Street, Paddington, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Valentine's Day, 2015.

Valentine's Day, the day for lovers. The perfect day to put on your rose coloured glasses and see all of the beautiful flowers, the well dressed couples, the cute heart shaped cakes, out and about. L and I celebrated the morning with a trip to Eveleigh Farmer's Markets to pick up some fresh fruit and vegetables with a side of multi-coloured roses (whose perfume is intoxicatingly delicate and sweet) and apple and walnut croissants. 

Even if the whole Valentine's Day is a myth created to sell more Hallmark cards, I think it's really nice to celebrate love, happiness and togetherness, whether with your other half, with your best girlfriends or your best self.

Hope you all are having a wonderful day! x

Secret beaches.

instagram

I know I talked about my resolutions last time but I'm still sticking with them and enjoying them much the same. One of my personal resolutions is to get out and explore more of Sydney's secret beaches during summer. I stumbled upon this perfect list on Friday afternoon and picked out Shelly Beach for a Saturday adventure. The main reason I picked this beach was because it involved a ferry ride and I like those. Being out on the Harbour,  in a big boat, even if it is just public transport, out amongst all of the yachts and fancy boats is one of the best cheap thrills available in Sydney. I had only been to Manly once before and its similarity to the Gold Coast  really resonated with me. Before we trekked over to the mysterious 'secret beach' L and I stopped for quite possibly the best burritos we have ever consumed. I am still thinking about the freshly made tortillas and the mushy mess of rice, black beans, sour cream and guacamole left at the end. 

It was the perfect summer day in every notion; heat moving slowly, if at all, crystal clear blue waters, not a cloud in the sky, people with colourful towels and umbrellas dotting the shoreline as far as the eye could see. 'This is summer' I thought when I stopped to take the above photograph. 'This is living' I thought when I dived into the deep cold water for the first time. We stayed in a shady spot under some trees for nearly four hours. Just reading, thinking, talking and lying, taking intermittent runs across the hot sand for cool dips. We left lightly sun kissed and blissed out. This 'secret beach' was well worth the adventure. 

Update: If this day was a song, it would be this.

Sculpture by the Sea.

Wearing Cotton On singlet (similar), ASOS jeans, ASOS bag, Converse shoes, Le Specs sunglasses

It's Saturday night in Sydney and after a hot, sunny day it's now storming and raining. I'm going through my backlog of photos on my camera and have found these ones from our trip out to Bondi Beach in early November for Sculpture by the Sea. To beat the crowds we got up super early on a Sunday morning and ventured down to the beginning of the walk. Sometimes getting up super early is hard but the rewards can be great. For our efforts we were greeted with beautiful, soft, early morning light, a few wanderers and time to take all of the surrounding sculptures in. Although Sydney beaches are typically very crowded and the water is a little cool they are incredibly beautiful when they are uninhabited early in the morning.

Work Outfit: Blue + Red.

Wearing: Coat, vintage, Top, ASOS, Jeans, Country Road, Boots, Country Road

I have been obsessed with this pale blue high neck shirt ever since I saw it pop up on ASOS. It's clean, fresh and elevates what ever it is paired with. In this case for work I have been wearing it with my waxed black jeans and leather boots. For impact, and warmth, I pair it with my favourite LRC (little red coat) which I found last year in an op shop for $10. Fun with that element of conservative - just how I like my work wear.

How do you keep your work wear fun?

Weekend Outfit: Get up to go out!

Wearing: Top, Zara (similar), Skirt, Finders Keepers (similar), Boots, Country Road, Clutch, ASOS (similar)

After nearly six months of living in Sydney I am finally back online and can resume working on my blog! Words can't describe the excitement last night when the little wireless symbol lit up on my Mac and I was back in to the portal of the online world. There were all of these things that I had made a mental list of that I would do as soon as I got back on to the internet but when it finally happened everything was so overwhelming that I just dipped my toes in Pinterest-land for a little while before venturing out into the inter webs. 

However living without the internet did have its positives, like watching Seinfeld every night, going to bed earlier, reading books (remember those old things...?!), writing in diaries and learning how to crochet. So it hasn't been all that bad. 

In regards to the above photos, this has been my go-to going out outfit of late. The mercury has begun to drop overnight as autumn is well and truly setting in. This calls for more coverage in which I've turned to a long sleeve blouse, skirt and boots. The bare legs can weather the cool brunt for a little longer while the boots keep your feet nice and toasty.

PS - apologies for my scarred legs - they have taken a beating of late; firstly falling on the stairs at work and requiring three stitches and secondly, and very embarrassingly, taking a tumble on the treadmill at the gym... it wasn't as bad as these though, promise!

Summer Bay.

Wearing: Top, Sunny Girl, Shorts, Tigerlily (old), Hat, Seed Heritage, Sunglasses, Le Specs, Shoes, Windsor Smith

As a new Sydney-ite I have been out and about exploring the town but last weekend I decided to really get out and visit the northern beaches, in particular Palm Beach, that little beachside town that is otherwise known as Summer Bay. Ah yes, I am a Home and Away fan from way back and then some. My mother is a devotee whose 7pm to 7.30pm time slot is always reserved for that precious television show! Of course, like mother like daughter and up until my uni years I too was a Home and Away tragic. Not so much any more though.

Walking around Palm Beach, or as I called it all day Summer Bay, was a very surreal experience. It felt like I was walking around in an episode, going to the beach to meet up with my love interest or grabbing a smoothie from the Surf Club to talk things over with Indi and Dex. What I wasn't surprised by was how beautiful the area is. It is everything that it looks like on TV but even more stunning in real life. Those original set researchers sure made the right decision!

We spent most of the time on the beach which was surprisingly empty for its beauty and then ventured to the other side of the Bay to The Boathouse Palm Beach for lunch and a sweet - which I believe is used as an outside shot for The Diner... The Boathouse was an amazing choice for lunch. There were bunches of fresh flowers and floral arrangements everywhere, bowls of fresh fruit and citrus and not to mention fresh and tasty food! I had an yummy meringue and huge ice coffee which was just what I needed to get me through the two hour bus ride back to Sydney!

Sydney.

So I did it. I finally moved to Sydney! It was all a lot faster than I had originally planned but I couldn't be happier to be here, in a great new job and living in a terrace house (that was the dream package: Sydney + a terrace house!). I have spent most of this weekend just aimlessly walking around, exploring my new neighbourhood. The streets are lined with big leafy trees that gently filter the sun through and light up the old buildings and terraces. There are plenty of spring flowers out in bloom including amazing purple agapanthus which remind me of my great grandma.

Although it's only been a couple of days I am really missing my family and friends. It's so strange not to have my family and friends close by; not being able to go and get a coffee with someone or just pop around to Mum's house for lunch. I have found some solace in making lists of all of the places I want to go, all the cafes to eat at, the bars to drink at and the galleries to see. There is so much to do and see here and I'm so excited to share it all!