I first saw this Georg Jensen Serenity Ring when I was in Melbourne in May and it never left my thoughts! I bit the bullet and popped in on lay-by three months ago and last week it turned up in our letter box. It is such a gorgeous piece and oh so organic in its shape. I love it! Xx
On occasions I guide for Tourism Tasmania’s Visiting Journalist Program and worked with a film crew from Channel 7 last weekend, who were filming an episode for Virgin Australia’s ‘The Long Weekender‘.
On Friday afternoon I met the Director and crew at The Henry Jones Art Hotel where my role was to support them with the local knowledge on the ground in Tasmania for the weekend. The ‘talent’ turned out to be ‘Tim and Anna’ from the first series of The Bachelor. I have never really watched the ‘Bach’ so I was a little naive about them. They were both very nice and it was their first time in Tasmania, so it was pleasure to share our little ‘piece of paradise’ with them!
Heads were turned whilst filming at the Salamanca Market on Saturday with gushing girls lining up for a selfie with the stars. We continued on to the Bangor Wine & Oyster Shed where Anna learnt to shuck an oyster with Tom Gray.
On Sunday morning we went out on Wild Ocean Tasmania where Tim and Anna went swimming with the local seals. I was glad of my boating experience as I needed to provide stabilising support for one of the cameraman, as he attempted to film with a decent swell rolling through!
Tim and Anna finished off the day by making Gin at the William McHenry and Sons Distillery. After a big day of filming, we all enjoyed a drink at sunset on this gorgeous property.
Having spent time with the crew over the weekend, it certainly gave me a greater appreciation of how much work goes into everything we watch on tellie and one that I won’t take for granted. I look forward to seeing the final result, and Tasmania shine on the big screen in late October. xx
I know it is clichéd, but where has the time gone?
Poppy has started going to Pre-Kinder for a couple of hours a week in preparation for next year. She is beyond excitement and very ready for this next stage of her life but I am still coming to terms with our ‘baby’ starting school!
She loved meeting her new teachers, seeing all her friends from Day Care and exploring the amazing facilities in the Kindergarten at Waimea Heights Primary School in Sandy Bay.
In just a few months I will be kissing her at the school gate and even though she has been in Care for the past three years, this will be a whole new chapter. I will be reminiscing about the days at home when she was a newborn and would sleep for 20 hours a day! It certainly is an amazing journey and one that I would have hated to miss out on. xx
Last Sunday I went along to an ‘Instagram Debunked‘ class offered by The School with the lovely Stephanie Somebody – a stylist, photographer and interior designer from Melbourne.
The class was held in the uber cool surrounds of the Core Collective, an architectural firm above Franklin Restaurant in Hobart. Stepping into this design oasis where I was able to sit and learn all things Instagram for two and a half hours, was total bliss.
I am so thankful that Megan Morton’s ‘The School’ makes their way south to share such valuable knowledge.
Come listen and learn from self taught human Insta machine Stephanie Somebody!
Instagram can be a powerful tool. We all portray an image of ourselves through our Instagram feed and by making some small refinements your IG feed can be a thing of beauty but also set you apart from the rest. There are simple techniques which can vastly improve the overall appearance of your feed beginning with identifying your brand and then learning how to treat your photos for maximum impact. With a few key tools you can transform your IG feed into a visual manifesto and extend your reach beyond your immediate network.
Learn how to edit photos with basic editing programs, how design principles & elements impact your output, what people look at when they look at your photos/accounts and how to get the most out of the app. Hear about Stephanie’s personal experience with IG – how it has grown, where it’s going & how she got to where she is.
I had a lovely weekend last week spent with our little man James, as Nick took Poppy away on the boat for a ‘Dad and Daughter‘ weekend with some of his mates and their girls. Poppy had an amazing time playing with her friends, fishing, collecting shells and watching Barbie movies.
I really valued the time spent with James one-on-one and I didn’t realise just how much Poppy talks when she is at home. It was so quiet as James just potted around with his books and puzzles!
On Saturday morning, I met Sam and Scarlett for a walk on Mt. Wellington. We popped our little hitchhikers in our packs and off we went to Silver Falls and onto The Springs via Radfords Track. It was so fantastic to get back into the bush and to walk and talk … and puff, with my dear friend.
We have both entered into the Triple Tops Mountain Run along Mt. Claude, Mt. Van Dyke and Mt. Roland in November. This was the start of our ‘training’, which is quite effective with 15 kilos on our backs! We have both competed in this event before (pre-children) and performed quite well, so it will be interesting to see how we go this time round!? I dare say there will be a lot of pain, but we will appreciate those friendly ‘Lion Club’ smiles as they hand out oranges to quench our thirst and exhaustion!
So it all started with reading Le Chop by super stylish French blogger, Garance Dore.
As I am nearing my 45th birthday (eek that sounds so old) I have started feeling well – like I am aging. The lines on my face are becoming more pronounced and Poppy keeps telling me how many freckles I have. My hair has always been the thorn in my side – thin and fine – the killer combination. For years I have overcome these limitations by tying it back in a boring ponytail or up in a crazy bun to mix it up a bit.
I was starting to feel restless as the days are becoming longer and the air warmer, and then I read Le Chop. That’s it – I need to cut my hair off, if Garance can do it, so can I!? I would only entrust this job to my hairdresser that I have been seeing now for 9 or 10 years (I swear to god it is almost like a relationship in it’s own right) and as luck would have it, she managed to have a free appointment on Saturday afternoon. 
I showed Alison my inspirational photo of Garance and was half expecting her to say – “Mmmm – not sure, think you may regret it“, but no, she said, “Great let’s do it NOW”!
Ok, I might have had a moment of regret as she snipped off my limp ponytail but I trusted her and after more snip – snip – snip she styled it up and ba bam, here is the result:
I am super happy with it – it feels so free and liberating and I think Garance would be proud. Ok, so now for Nick and Poppy’s reaction on their return home this afternoon! xx
* Nick and Poppy both loved it … with Poppy exclaiming she would now like her hair cut like Mum’s!
Last night Poppy and I went along to the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra’s Family Concert series to enjoy Maximus Musicus. Complete with pre-concert colouring-in and mask making I had one very excited four year old!
After a less than inspiring music teacher when I was young, I unfortunately never learnt to play any musical instrument apart from the recorder and piano (both very badly)! ABC Classical FM constantly plays in my car and at home, but experiencing a full orchestra in swing gives me goose-bumps every single time, and last night was no exception. We are so lucky to have a Federation Concert Hall 5 minutes from home with a complete symphony orchestra.
It truly was fantastic!
Max, the cutest mouse in the whole world, pays his first visit to Tasmania having already wowed audiences from Amsterdam to Washington and pretty much everywhere in-between. A delightful introduction to the instruments of the orchestra, Maximus Musicus visits the Orchestra features Ravel’s Bolero, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and other great works. Big-screen projections make the concert even more enjoyable. Suitable for children of all ages…and grown-up kids too!
We have just had a night away on the boat for the weekend. On Saturday afternoon after a lovely day time sleep to the gentle roll of the Chanel, we anchored in Great Bay on Bruny Island to go to Get Shucked for some tasty oysters – a la Kilpatrick and a Virgin Mary.
As we were waiting for our ‘Mother In Laws Kilpatrick‘ to cook a family visiting from China pulled in and were most delighted to pat Maisy, who was tied up at the gate greeting these visitors with a zesty wag of her tail. They were so taken by their experience that the ‘Mum’ pulled out her selfie stick and took several photos of her and Maisy – who obliged accordingly.
There were gushes over our little curly-haired blondies with more photos taken, in front of the signs and with their oysters.
As I wandered back over the road in our gumboots, onto the beach and into the dinghy with our dog and two blondies in tow, this experience got me thinking. Thinking about the contrasts of life. We live in this ‘isolated’ southern island, with desolate beaches, bush as far as the eye can see, savouring seafood that is freshly plucked from the ocean and enjoying simple days with our family. I wondered what kind of world they lived in – a high rise in Shanghai, surrounded by a billion people perhaps?
I love living our life in our Tasmanian home, but there are so many ‘lives’ to be lived in all manner of locations. I sometimes forget how ‘the other half’ live until I am reminded of my past travelling days or when I meet new people who marvel at all the unique values of Tasmania.
So Maisy is probably famous on some Chinese website by now, but we are still tinkering away on the water, fossicking for shells, picking flowers, marvelling at dolphins and making more family memories. Xx
My poor blog, it is definitely taking a back seat at the moment as life just seems to be really, really busy, with working a three-day week and a two and a four year old in tow!
So today, I wish to share with you my love of the classic blue and white striped top. It is rather embarrassing but on any given day I am usually wearing some form of stripe, and sometimes we all step out of the house with matching tops (totally unconsciously however)!
I have always loved the classic Bassike organic jersey tops but after some hard wearing I do find they stretch/shrink or get tiny holes in the fabric. I have literally loved this top to death though, but Bassike do get the stripe just right (not too thick, not too thin).
I recently bought a cheap and cheerful number from Sportsgirl. Nothing quite like a stripe and a French slogan to boot: La Vie est Belle – Life is Beautiful
Also on my radar is the classic French Saint James Minquiers 10 from Olive & Clover:
Saint James is the maker of the authentic nautical Breton shirt in combed cotton jersey that has been part of the official French naval uniform since 1871. According to an old lore from Brittany, the 21 stripes each correspond to a naval victory of Napoleon’s French fleet against the British.
xx
Another week has passed and Friday is upon us already!
With hints of Spring in the air, we have enjoyed a party for Nick’s 40th birthday, our 7th Wedding Anniversary, Book Week costumes galore and a mid-week night away on the boat.
Nick picked me up from work on Wednesday afternoon, which was a beautiful day in Hobart – we grabbed the kids and jumped on the boat with Nick’s brother Will, his wife Tup and their gorgeous girls. We cruised to Fish Frenzy for dinner and then continued on and anchored off Nutgrove Beach. Poppy and James went to bed and Nick and I watched a movie to the gentle sway of the swell. I love Hobart and how easy it is to access nature, even on school-night, whether it be by boat, bike or foot.
It is a rainy day here today and we are cooking pancakes for breakfast, doing puzzles, playing with train sets and resisting that daily urge to pop the tellie on before we go to Hill Street to stock up the pantry. Xx
The Poppy Files 