Adventures in the Gazbus Part 1

We have had a busy week.
Work has been hectic.
The Mr had 2 gigs.
But on Wednesday he bought a new van aka The Gazbus, replacing the Garavan.

This called for a celebratory road trip.
We headed off down the Pacific Highway on Friday evening with a plan to see a band and
and spend the night with our sweet friend Gemma Grace.
The band was average and we were home sharing cups of tea, slice and laughs before 10.30pm.
We settled in and snuggled up on the futon in Miss Gemma's spare room.

We woke late Saturday morning, to glorious sunshine blazing through the matchstick blinds.
Slow lazy weekends are just my favourite.
Eventually motivated enough by our growling bellies we started our day.
Miss Gemma had left us a love note, with several instructions and a suggestion for breakfast.

We headed to Beachwood Cafe for the most divine Dutch Pancakes and Scrambled Eggs.
Owner Sevtap was serving fresh squeezed mandarin juice.....made from mandarin's that Gemma had delivered directly from Mo'Ville!

We wandered the streets and them meandered home, taking the scenic route via the ferry.
Such an indulgent Saturday Morning, I feel revived.

                                        

Condensation - Are you breathing heavy ?

                                        

Dutch Pancakes, Scrambled Eggs, Coffee and Poppies = Beachwood Bliss

Love is finding a person that is your kind of crazy.

The Weekend with ALL THE THINGS.

My weekend had ALL THE THINGS!

A road trip with the BF.
Ice-skating, my first ever adventure on ice.
A romantic night away.
Delicious breakfasts.
Strolls by the ocean.
Playing Marylin Munroe at the Sawtell blow hole.
A photoshoot at the local Agricultural Show with the beautiful and talented Minyarose Photography.
Eating carny food.
Watching bull riding and woodchopping.
My babies came home from their dad's house.
An ANZAC service.
A picnic in the park.
Horse riding with Deegan and Shannon.
and Movies with the munchkins snuggled in bed.

I'm a Survivor

I'm a survivorI'm not gonna give upI'm not gonna stopI'm gonna work harderI'm a survivorI'm gonna make it I will survive and keep on survivin'- Destiny's Child, Survivor 


It's been 2 years. 
I am still alive. 
Because of friends, family, my babies, my man, therapy and drugs.
These years have been long, swift, changing, challenging, beautiful, awkward, evolving, educational and a blessing. 

Not only have I noticed changes in me; I have witnessed changes for my family and friends. 
Princess A turned her life around with a career change, My sista from another mister is moving to the big city to  follow her destiny, my art-soulmate is engaged to her sweetheart and I await the moment I can witness their marital union, my bro and SIL blessed the world with a beautiful new human, my children make me proud every day with their personal and educational growth. 

There are also new people in my life, and while our friendships are in their infancy, I feel like these beautiful people have been in my life forever. I love my C&D boys, but more I love their WAG's. These women embraced me and made me welcome to their inner circle. Women that I would probably never have met nor "chose" as friends under any other circumstances now fill my Friday and Saturday nights in bars with laughter and fun.

I would be lying if I said that it was all smooth sailing. 
It's not. 
My moods still fluctuate. 
I still struggle to control my emotions and words. 
I still cry and laugh manically; sometimes at the same time. 
But I am managing and sometimes I think that this is the best it will be.
I am ok with that. 
What makes it  more ok, is that there is a man that loves me, 
regardless of my imperfections, he actually embraces and encourages my idiosyncrasies  . 
When things are out of control in my head, he is in control, 
his voice speaks softly to my soul, and levels out my brain. 
His gentle calmness balances out my loud craziness almost perfectly.

The last 12 months have bought art back into my life on a more regular basis. 
Clearly I am blogging again.
I am writing .
I am art journalling. 
I am drawing.
I am painting. 
And I am accepting my mistakes, 
because art is no longer about perfection for me, it is about expression. 

As I am writing this, I am listening to my friends make beautiful music in the living room. 
Reflecting on the choices that I presented myself with 2 years ago, to live or to die. 
I was leaning so heavily towards taking my own life that when I think about it now I can;t believe that it was even a thought in my mind, let alone something I was prepared to do. 
How on earth did I think it would be OK to miss out on all the magic I am experiencing right now.

My life is not perfect but I am content and that is the best feeling ever. 

Happy, Health and Here. 

Photo: GS

Deep Thinking, Gentle Feeling.

I think a lot.
Too much.
I ponder and analyse.
I break down and reconstruct.

Today I thought about connections.
The threads that join us.
The needles that bring us together to start with.

My circle of friends is so richly woven.
One person, connecting me to the next.
Under and over and in-between.
Drawn together by food, music, humour and Bryan Adams.

Today I enjoyed my morning chai,
with my best friend and my boy.
A trio that was delicately stitched together
one night back in September 2012.

It was my besties first night on the
town in a long while and I was celebrating the
absence of my ex-husband and his birthday.
We went to catch a band we had heard all about
but never actually heard play.

We gathered our already intricately connected
groups of friends together and hit the pub.
We drank and danced
and were exposed to some interpretative dance.

It wasn't long before I was captivated.
Behind a microphone with nice piece of brass
in his left hand, was a boy.
A tall, rather good looking, smiling boy.

Now as girls do, I mentioned to my bestie
that I thought Brass Boy was attractive.
Her response was something along the lines of
" I've known him for years, he's not your type"

Never the less the thread had passed through the needle.
I threw it across the room at him.
It hit, but didn't stick.
I received a quiet invitation to a gig the following night.

With some struggle, nervousness, and awkwardness
we ended up hanging out.
He and I quickly developed a friendship, he really made me laugh,
this shocked bestie and others.

She was right, that bestie of mine.
He wasn't my type at all.
He was nice!
Gentle, caring, nurturing, understanding and amazing.

Our threads had crossed, then crossed back over again.
Each day our paths are drawn closer together
and our threads are making beautiful patterns
on the fabric of our souls.

The connections in my life
amaze me more every day.

Me and He - Bluesfest 2013

Shoot to Kill

Today was a long one.

I spent my morning working, mostly data entry and a little bit of admin stuff.

At lunch time I dropped in at my babies school to observe the ritual Easter Hat Parade.
Lillian was confident and happy, JD ended up in tears because he didn't win the raffle, and we spent a little bit of time talking about how not everyone can win and that the Easter Bunny will have a special surprise just for him on Sunday.

After a quick stop for a Chai and some fuel, I was on the road.
My life packed up in a back pack for a blissful 5 day break in the 'Ville, including 2 days of Bluesfest.
The drive is always a good time to think, play music and sing loudly with out being shoosh'd.

My afternoon mission was a delightful one.
A photo shoot with the absolutely stunning Shan-nay-nay.
She is truly one of the most beautiful women I know and I think the images we captured reflect that.
We laughed, we carried crazy props through long grass, we lost glasses off the roof of the car, we climbed through piles or sticks, we did crazy u-turns and basically had a blast.

This is how it looked in the end.

These boys I know make a lot of noise

So, there are these boys I know.

They're musicians.

Mr Keys, Mr Gheee-tar, Mr Bass Face, Mr Brass Boy and Mr Thumper.

They play music, sometimes all together, when this happens, they are called Clocks and Dice.

Sometimes in combinations of together and can be known as The Mo'villians, Swingset, Clock and Die . 

4 of them live together, yep band share house, scary right ? It gets better.

4 of them study music at University together.

Things are going so well for this band that they are playing the Lotus Palace Stage at BLUESFEST!

When I first heard that they were going to live together, play together and study together, I have to admit, I was a little worried.

Having lived in plenty of share house situations before, I could see all the ways that this could fall apart. 

It hasn't. 

These men, have bonded, shared and experienced a great deal in the last 3 months, 

away from there families and partners, they have developed a new family between themselves. 

But it's not the music that is the glue that is holding this all together. 

It is a beautiful, vibrant and brave woman. 

Mrs Bass Face.

This lady has her work cut out for her, living with 4 musicians.

She too is studying and in her spare time makes the most magnificent millinery creations.

She is the glue.

I feel pretty blessed that these people have come into my life, that they are sharing their adventures with me and that I can ride on this musical rollercoaster. 

I am especially honoured that Mrs Bass Face has offered her friendship too me; and while I am the grandma of the group, some days it feels like she is taking me under her wing and not the other way around. 

Mrs Bass Face

she is the glue.

Clocks and Dice

Sunday by the River

A beautiful way to spend the last day of my holidays.

Sunday was definitely one of the hottest days this summer.

So I packed up my camera and bikini and headed bush

to my beautiful friend's farm and spent the day

with her and her boys, hiding in the shade gossiping

and swimming in the cool river water.

The day was concluded with camp oven cooked roast pork;

the pork grown on the farm and cooked delicately by said friend's father,

it was a totally delicious feast and a wonderful end to a spectacular day.

Road Trippin'

No getting to know you chit chat here, you are either reading this because you already know me; or you’re a nosy little fucker and in which case, Welcome.

Not known to be to wordy I will cut straight to the chase, I went on an awesome road trip today, awesome in respects of the company i

kept, the mixed tape that aurally devoured, the food that was consumed, the antiquities that were procured and the giggling that was audible everywhere we went.

In pictures that looks a lot like this….

Cloud Staring and Butterfly Chasing

My soul feels revived after spending the afternoon

lying on a blanket staring at the sky and chatting with my beautiful friend Flick.

We munched on Chokito Cookies

and watched my 3 children (3,5&33)

catch butterflies in the bug catcher and play on the equipment.

Saturday afternoons just don't get any better that this.

In celebration of an amazing day of friendship and adventure !

What a fantastic day, books, antiques, boutiques, treasures, food, chatting, laughing and sharing.

there was a schedule; however it was only loosely adhered to.

our first stop was the Maclean Rotary Book Fair - SCORE= 1 BOX of books $5 for Lola and a bag of books for Felix.

Books @ Eclectika, Maclean

second stop was "on the bite"

a delightfully warm and inviting cafe on the main strip in Maclean

- SCORE = 1 x skinny latte for Lola and 1 x skinny flat white for Felix

Skinny Latte @ On the Bite, Maclean

we unswiftly followed out coffee with a visit to "OUR" favorite gem of Maclean "Eclectika"

when Lola became engaged in taking photo's of the unique and beautiful store and Felix engaged in a deep and revealing conversation with "Eclectika's" owner about food and restaurants of the area only to discover that said owner, once owned and ran the most successful restaurant in our region. the things you discover when on an adventure in your own back yard !

Felix @ Eclectika

stop number three, Bangalow and lunch at "ate" OMG the most delicious food.

- SCORE = Pumpkin and burnt spinach lasagna and Organic Lemonade for Lola

hmmm i can't recall a delicious looking pie with crispy brown pastry and an Organic Lemonade for Felix.

Felix deep in the pages of a cookbook @ Ate, Bangalow

Then we wandered the streets and boutiques of Bangalow

giggling, enjoying and embracing the culture of doing not very much.

I have had the most amazing day!

Inspiration comes in many forms

Images from an inspiring weekend with the most amazing women i know xxx

Spinning Camp

YAY Spinning camp !!!!!!!

huge shout out to Em, Emm, Courts, T, Eryn, Becky and Mabs - thanks for awesome times!

Even huger shout out to Miss Ellbell - i missed you sooooo much, you humor, your smile and your drunken slurs xxxx i love you miss xxx

Weekend Away

Knitting By Lisa - Photo by CourtneyBiscuits by Amanda
Floral Arrangement by Mabs - Brownies by Amanda

Tea Cups by Ellie

Vintage Book by Burnetts Books, Uralla, NSW