My wish is for unlimited long weekends!

Hey friends! Hope you've enjoyed your second long weekend in a row?! Between the bunnies and the Anzac ceremonies, and the unseasonal sunshine, wowzers it's been a great couple of weeks!

Our long weekend was a brilliant combination of quiet down-time and fun autumn outings. Anzac Day was observed pretty quietly at home, some yoga in the morning, some footy watching in the afternoon. Saturday we spent time with some magic friends of ours, eating dinner and planning more of our trip to Western Australia in August (YAY!). Sunday was just a freakin' ripper of a day. The sun was shining, breakfast and coffees and long overdue catch ups, a quick paper read in the sun out the back at home and then more footy!  I've very quickly come to realise that in Melbourne, it's kinda the go-to activity? I'm totally ok with it, hot coffees in the afternoon sun, cheering, people watching... Reminds me of how much I love this town! My team won on Friday (yes!), Dunc's team didn't win today (nawwww), but it was just really great to have a good old fashioned afternoon out.

Right now we're camped by the fire, watching ok-just-ONE-MORE-episode of The Bridge (if you're not watching it, please start immediately!) getting ready for our week. Gosh, even with an extra day this weekend, it still feels crazy that tomorrow is Monday!

Hope your weekend was just as brilliant! Maybe even more brilliant?! Lucky you! :)

[This book! I know I'm like a million years late to the party but, man! This book! I got through a fair chunk of it this weekend sitting right here :)]

[Yeah, so I rarely left the fire this weekend... We love it!]

[Penny is more in love with the firewood than the fire... Silly girl!]

[Anzac day! Collingwood won! I drank red wine on the couch!

YAAAAAAAAY!]

[Pen was interested in me for my warmth, but quickly learnt I was being way too noisy and shouty for her liking and moved to the other end of the room. Ha!]

[In order to go grocery shopping, you gotta fuel up guys! And before you ask, no these were NOT both for me :)]

[The delis at Prahran Market... My word!]

[Our spoils from the Market for delicious homemade souvlakis (Thanks Gourmet Girlfriend!...]

[... that were devoured with this little gang!]

[More footy! With a scarf change?! I'm a part-time Bulldogs supporter... but my blood will always bleed black and white :)]

[Peezel also gets involved in the costume change]

[Looking on! Go dogs!]

[Oh, Melbourne, you just don't quit]

The Night Noodle Markets came to Melbourne, and this Sydney-sider was the happiest girl in the world.

(Our strategy included getting in as soon as the gates were opened to get a table before the chaos of opening night began!)

(Oh these two! They make my days at school so lovely)

(See?! Chaos!)

(Ok, so we may have gone to the noodle markets and not eaten noodles however this was some of the most amazing indian food I've ever come across and they had the smallest queues?! What?!)

(We ate enough dumplings to make up for the lack of noodles anyhow. These were amazing free-range chicken Nepalese dumplings. So, so great.)

(And these dancers! Don't think I ever saw them in Sydney. Melbourne, you win my heart everytime.)

xx

2013: blink and you'll miss it...

Yowsers... Where has this year even gone?! December?! Who even are you?! Where did you come from?! And come to think of it, September, October and November, I don't even remember you happening!!

An even scarier thing?! In a month's time I will have been living in Melbourne for ONE WHOLE YEAR. I just can't even deal. Thinking I need to do something totally Melbourne-kitsch, like go on the restaurant tram or something... Any suggestions throw them my way ;)

So let me fill you in! I've been finishing classes for the year, getting wisdom teeth pulled, finally finding a new place to move into, smooching Pen, watching lovely friends get married, waiting for summer to come (I'd even take Spring right now?!! 16 degree days do NOT belong in December, Melbourne!), getting assignments done, studying for exams, walking the tan, becoming a two coffee a day girl (yikes)... You know, things that keep you from being a good blog-keeper... Life things.

This week is my first week that I haven't been tethered to my school schedule, and I have to admit, I'm really liking my discipline so far. I've still got two exams coming up that I need to get my head around, so I've been setting myself little goals each day... "get through reviewing 4 weeks of notes this morning and then we'll go out for a leg stretch and coffee break" type goals. I need them. I like them. They keep me focussed and determined and on track (most of the time). Although there has also been a fair bit of overdue cleaning... organising... other usual procrastination suspects taking place, I'm feeling ok, feeling prepared. A little bit of structure and lot bit of rosemary essential oil (GREAT for memory/retention), getting me through the pointy end of the school year.

Even more exciting than finishing my first year back at school would most definitely have to be finding an amazing place to move into with Dunc and Biz. Holy moly, it is perfect! Massive living areas, a back patio!, an open fireplace!!, an amazing kitchen and most importantly, space that feels like my own, my home. Pen is not going to know herself in the wide open space of the new place! We move the day of my final exam, so hello party time! I'm already planning the jugs of Pimms for the hot days and the big vats of red wine by the fire on the cold ones - I know your tricks Melbourne, you sneaky devil!

But for now, before the hilarity and the chaos commence in the lead up to a move and some hefty exams some little snaps from the last little while.

Enjoy my darlings xx

(A little afternoon date with Monet at the NGV - such an amazing exhibition)

(Half in my cat in a hat costume for Alex's hens)

(These girls!!)

(Hiding behind this big, huge zippy bag full of ice is my big fat post-surgery face. I'm doing you a favour by not letting you see it. Trust me.)

(My life for three straight weeks. Study, study, study. Coffee, coffee, coffee.)

(So this. The best Japanese curry I've ever eaten within walking distance and 10 days later I move neighbourhoods. Prahran East, I'll be back, you hear me?!)

(Sometimes instead of studying Microbiology and Biology I read a novel the size of a house)

(Melbourne, you can be freezing but you can also be a gorgeous little cricket.)

(Ding dong the witch is dead - at my bank)

(Christmas is comingggggg!!)

(That sleepy face?! Those furry paws?! My heart!)

(This book made me cry. I mean... It is totally about Microbiology and helped me prepare for my final exam)

(This little beauty is MINE ALL MINE!)

(Despite being beyond ecstatic about moving into a new place, I was a little sad to leave behind my coffee at Final Step and my buttery, heavenly croissants at French Fantasies. Naturally, I had to take a little time out during packing and moving to soak up some sunshine and say farewell)

Field trip to the Botanic Gardens!

Ok so one of the most amazing things about studying to be a Naturopath is that you get to study some pretty cool stuff. The way plants grow and develop into things that can be great for our health is only one example of the truly, truly fascinating (and sometimes freaky) things we're learning about.

A couple Wednesdays ago on one of the more stunning Spring mornings Melbourne has been gracing us with (keep 'em coming! this girl can't get enough!) we had a lil field trip to the Herbarium and Herb Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens right by my house, a little added bonus :)

May I just say... wow! For a gal who's pounded the Tan track a few bazillion times like any self-respecting Melburnian, I can. not. believe that the treasures of the Garden were but a slight detour away! My favourite by far was our visit to the Greenhouses. Those colours, that humidity (Hi Sydney. Miss you. x), man oh man. Just. Wow.

It helps that my giggly besties were there in attendance too. Next time we go back we've already decided we're having a scone date at the Tea Rooms afterwards. It's what any Naturopath would do, der!

xx

Wednesday night hangs in our city.

When I first moved to Melbourne back in December last year, Sally was my saving grace, taking me into her home, letting me crash in with her gorge daughter Amelia and annoy her husband Rothy til I found my feet (read: til I wasn't homeless or jobless anymore).

While Sally and Rothy were like my new little Melbourne parents and Amelia my new little sister, Rachael was definitely my mischievous older sister, always up for some cheeky fun. When I was bored in the daytime and had nothing to keep me occupied (read: a job), Rach was always at hand, never poo-poo-ing the idea of a drink in the sun before 3pm.

Now all these months down the track, the three of us are often getting together, not so much to drink in the daytime, but definitely still to annoy Rothy, and on this occasion, the three of us went on a date with Melbourne on a Wednesday night. We had cocktail hour at a classic, The Toff and some of Mama Shandongs finest dumplings for dinner. But not before we'd had a bunch of fun in the late night random stores along Bourke St.

A classic Melbourne night with some classic Melbourne dames!

xx