I Love Paris in the Springtime...

... I also love Paris in the Summer when it sizzles. 

In fact, I'm sure I'd like Paris in any weather, but it just so happens I've only been in Spring & Summer so far. 

I'm starting to get excited about my Vegas trip which is just over a week away!! So I thought in the lead up to this fun little trip I would post some of my favourite travel photos that I've taken to get me super excited (not that I really need anything to get me super excited about overseas travel).

Today we take a trip to Paris, enjoy.

All images by me, please ask permission or link back to this blog before using

Some of the above images you may have already seen in my very first post where I showed a few of my favourite travel images to get this little blog started.

~ Clare x

Play List

Happy Monday!

Today I thought I would let you in on a few great tunes Linda & I have been listening to. I have a few Aussie faves which may interest a few of you overseas readers. Anyway, here's each of our top 5 albums we've been listening to of late...

Clare's Top 5

1. Angus & Julia Stone ~ Down the Way

2. Gyroscope ~ Cohesion

3. King Khan and the Shrines ~ The Supreme Genius of King Khan and the Shrines

4. The Bronx ~ Mariachi El Bronx

5. Rodrigo y Gabriela ~ 11:11

Image 1 from here

Image 2 from here

Image 3 from here

Image 4 from here

Image 5 from here

Linda's Top 5

 1. Alice in Chains ~ Black Gives Way To Blue

2. King Crimson ~ Thrak

3. Porcupine Tree ~ In Absentia

4. Tomahawk ~ Anonymous

5. U2 ~ The Unforgettable Fire

Image 1 from here

Image 2 from here

Image 3 from here

Image 4 from here

Image 5 from here

It was hard to choose just 5, but otherwise we'd be here for ever. Linda based her choice on the fact that the above 5 are wintery albums for her. Can't say why mine made the top 5...just been the most recent on high rotation in my car I guess...

~ Clare x

Avant-garde Alice in Wonderland Photo Shoot

Hooray for the weekend!
I hope you all enjoyed a little peek at Linda's home which soon won't be her home anymore. Sad to say goodbye to your first home, but it will be exciting for her to buy a new family home that she can decorate & have plenty of room for her daughter, Violet, to run around & play.

As I mentioned earlier, Linda & I took part in an Alice in Wonderland photo shoot for the talented photographer Loren Palombo of Obscur Photography. Linda did the makeup & I got to be the Cheshire Cat (my favourite character). Here are some of Loren's shots....

 The White Rabbit

Mad Hatter

Cheshire Cat

(yup, that's me, hi!)

Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum

(aren't they cute?)

And of course, Alice

All images by Loren at Obscur Photography

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." 

The White Queen, Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll

~ Clare x

Goodbye Home

Greetings to those who have enjoyed Clare's posts, as I have. This is my first post so I thought I'd start with my exciting news. I just sold my home of 5 1/2 years! Although my husband and I are excited to sell, we can't help but be a little sad about saying goodbye to our first home together.

When we first bought it in December 2004 we worked on it for a month, doing all of the painting, flooring and lighting ourselves, with the help of our families.

A couple of years later we had enough saved for a new kitchen. With the help of my parents, we did the tiling ourselves...

More recently in the past year we've focused on the back courtyard. We had installed the awning, paving and deck around the already existing spa. We're thrilled with the results. We've turned our backyard into a tropical sanctuary.

But alas, now that it looks fabulous we only have 6 more weeks (in the middle of Winter) to enjoy it. We can only look forward to making our next home into our sanctuary. Having our 14 month girl, Violet, we want something a little larger, with a bigger backyard for her to play. So we're on the hunt for the right place! I'm excited that in a couple of months we could have another blank canvas to decorate. Hmmm, what theme should we go with? I'll keep you posted.

~Linda   

Mad as a Hatter

An interesting day for Australia today. We now have our first ever female Prime Minister.

Keeping things interesting, I have decided to share these beautiful photos from a Mad Hatter shoot that I found on Style Me Pretty. Shot by Jessica Claire and styled by Renee Delsigne of OC Prop Girl.

Enjoy....

All images from Style Me Pretty

Isn't it perfect?

~ Clare x

More Fairytales & More Leibovitz...

"The wind began to swish
The house, to pitch
And suddenly the hinges started to unhitch
Just then the Witch
To satisfy an itch
Was flying on her broomstick, thumbing for a hitch."
Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz

For me, The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, have always been my favourite stories. These 2 are the most fantastical, crazy, magical, creative stories. As a child they were perfect for me as I could get lost in their imaginative worlds. I don't think I've changed as I've grown up. I'm still a dreamer and love anything that inspires me creatively and anything that transports me into a dream world!

Here are more dreamy images from the super talented Annie Leibovitz for Vogue. Enjoy!
 

The Wizard of Oz, starring Keira Knightley....

Beauty & the Beast, starring Drew Barrymore...

 All images from here

 

    "If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard.
Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with!"
Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz

I suppose there really is no place like home...

~ Clare x