This month I got to spend a lot more time with this guy. It was a good time. We also ate a lot of watermelon.


I repainted our kitchen dresser. I couldn't decide on one colour, so I tried out a few sample pots I had lying around. I might change it again in a few months.


Theo investigated a friendly peacock at Cataract Gorge.


This guy is great. Even when he has climbed up on the kitchen table (which is often) and is throwing things off the table onto the ground and smearing the kitchen window with various food items.



Spraying his mother in the face with milk became Theo's favourite pastime (and he laughed harder than I've ever heard him). I've been taking him for lots of walks lately into the city and letting C have a 'day off' playing computer games. I love getting to spend extended, uninterrupted time with Theo - I haven't really gotten to do that much since I started back at uni earlier this year. I love watching him observing, mimicking things, figuring out how things work, trying to find something he has misplaced ("Wheredigo?!"), watching me doing something and wondering why. This age is a total delight. If I could bypass the newborn age and just have 3 of these guys, I would. My house would be even messier than it is now, but that would be okay.

Theo loves walking everywhere and can mostly be trusted not to wander off. It's nice to go for walks and not have to take the pram. Sometimes we see friendly cats on the street and Theo squats down to pat them (like his dad does).


I found this sweet sailor suit at the opshop and made Theo wear it a lot. He's also started putting things in his pockets recently, like rocks and food scraps.

Reading | A Bone of Fact - David Walsh
Watching | Outlander (urgh, I can't wait for it to come back in April!)
Listening | Tiny Ruins, Ben Folds, Head and the Heart & Rufus Wainwright
Making | I've been working on commissions and doing a little bit of painting, addressing envelopes, but haven't been doing many creative things lately. I guess it was my first uni-free month so there was no forced creativity. Next month I'd like to start on some fun little creative projects. My current course is on break at the moment until February, so I'm excited to have a whole month of free creative time.
Purchasing | A sweet Dear Creatures dress in Launceston that was 75% off! I'm considering going back to get the same dress in a different colour.
Looking forward to | My brother and niece visiting in January for a week, getting to work on my studio and garden and working on creative projects.

I'm not much of a resolution maker, but my goals for the new year can be summed up in three words: organisation, creativity and health. How about you?

Happy New Year!

A few weeks ago, while my step sister Jaime was staying with us, we took a trip to Hobart to show her around. When we visit Hobart we usually just stay with friends, but I thought it would be fun to book two rooms for us at The Alabama Hotel (which I've been ogling online for months). I bought tickets to see Ben Folds with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra 6 months prior, not knowing who we'd get to mind Theo that night, so Jaime was kind enough to stay back at the hotel while C and I had one of our extremely rare evenings out - thankfully Theo slept the entire time.



The hotel was really lovely. It calls itself budget boutique accommodation, so there are shared bathrooms and the facilities are simple, but it has a lovely vibe, comfy rooms, the sweetest decor and a wonderful little bar and reading room downstairs with a balcony that overlooks Liverpool Street. It's a nice big step up from a backpackers/hostel but not as pricy as a hotel. It was very comfortable, cute and affordable ($80/night) and I highly recommend it.







Ben Folds was fantastic. It was probably one of the best shows I've ever seen. Even though I've loved his music since I was a little kid (my brother made me a mixtape in the late 90s which I played a lot), I didn't quite realise just what an amazing singer he is, masked beneath his Southern accent and slightly nasal tone. An exceptionally talented musician. And seeing him with the symphony was a total treat. He even made up a song on the spot and directed each part of the orchestra to play along.




I started reading A Bone Of Fact which was in the reading room at the hotel and I got pretty hooked on it. It's a memoir by David Walsh, professional gambler and owner of MONA. I hope I can buy myself a copy sometime, it was very engrossing.




Theo loved the balcony and wanted to wave at the people in their cars below on busy Liverpool Street.







My recommendations for visiting Hobart:
Stay | The Alabama Hotel
Eat | Machine + Room For A Pony + Shoebox Cafe
Shop | Salamanca Market
See | MONA
Wander | Botanical Gardens
Dance | Rektango

Hi there! Long time no see!

This week my step sister Jaime flew home after staying with us for 10 days. We took her to MONA, stayed at the Alabama Hotel (more on that later), she minded Theo while we went to see Ben Folds with the symphony, we visited Deloraine, had a dip in the waterfall at Lilydale Falls and a picnic and a paddle at Cataract Gorge, I took her to a graphic design workshop, we went for a couple of bike rides and we ate A LOT of fruit because Jaime is a fruit addict. We don't get too many guests down here in Tassie (come visit me! I have a sofa bed waiting for you!) so it was lovely to get to show Jaime around and see Tasmania with fresh eyes again. I am so glad that having lived here for four and a half years (!), I still find it to be a ridiculously lovely place to live.

I bought this dress and a new tube of Ruby Woo when we were in Hobart. Literally the only place I buy clothes from is Dangerfield, downstairs at the Myer in Hobart which means that I rarely buy new clothes and when I do I get really excited about it.




I have officially stopped calling this guy a baby now. Look at him - he's ENORMOUS! Several times a day I say to him "Weren't you just born?!" or "Are you even real?!". He has about ten words now and his current favourite activities are dancing, washing his hands (so many times a day), brushing his teeth, jumping on his little trampoline, playing in the dirt in the backyard, kicking and throwing balls, pretending to talk on the phone and diving off of high things. I have been a bit lazy with writing in my little baby book for him and should really do an update - it's nice to slow down and try to be a bit more present and write things down. I have been really busy lately but have been able to spend a lot more time at home with this guy, which is always good.

+ Dress: Dangerfield; cardigan: Revival; shoes: Doc Martens; brooch: vintage.

I've been wanting to write my own list of 100 Ideas, inspired by Keri Smith's for ages. I thought I'd post them in volumes of 25 - here is the first volume.

1. Make a collection of items with similarities (eg. all orange items, tiny things, beach trash, flowers from your neighbourhood, tea tags, things starting with the letter P, etc), lay them out and photograph them. Do this with different items.
2. Doodle on post-it notes and stick them in public places (you might want to use washi tape to stick them to a surface so it doesn't blow away).
3. Take a photo of your feet at the same time every day for a week (in different locations, wearing different footwear/socks/barefeet).
4. Pick a random address out of the phonebook (or search for a random name in an online address directory) and mail them a postcard with a nice message. Include your return address, or not.
5. Participate in (or start) a 'Free Art Friday' in your area and leave pieces of art for people to find in public spaces.
6. Go to a public space and people watch. Make a piece of art in response to this experience (eg. draw people's faces, write down conversations heard, write haikus, create an abstract response).
7. Make a font based on your own handwriting.
8. Do a pencil sketch of some of the products in your pantry or fridge in their packaging. Colour them in with watercolours.
9. Take a photo of your house and do a sketch based on it. Sketch other houses in your street. Colour them with whatever colours you think they should be (purple roofs, polka dot bricks, orange doors, etc).
10. Take close up pictures of the patterns or textures of your favourite clothes.
11. Bookcross a book. Leave a message in the back of the book telling future readers what you enjoyed about the book.
12. Write a series of haikus about someone you love, try to summarise their character. Share them with the person.
13. Write a dot point list summarising your day in chronological order. Try doing this for a week.
14. Go to a thrift shop. Pick an item and write a short story detailing what kind of life you think it had with its previous owner(s).
15. Make pom poms and hang them from a tree in a public area. Try hanging them when nobody is around, then return to the tree later when people are walking by and see if people notice them.
16. Make yourself an interesting business card, regardless of what you do. You can even just have your name and email address on it. Give them to people you meet.
17. Create three self portraits using different materials (eg. pen, paint, collage, graphics tablet, photograph, ink, linocut, etc.) or in different styles.
18. Each time you are in a department store, try on a different perfume. Sketch the bottle and write their names down so that you can remember them and write something about the scent (eg. fruity, musky, lemony, woodsy, floral, light, spicy).
19. Arrange a small, fun, scavenger hunt for someone you know who might need a pick-me-up.
20. Create a paste-up and stick it somewhere that you regularly pass by.
21.  Take a photo, convert it to black and white and get it printed as big as you can (for as little money as you can - I got a huge one printed at A1 size). Hang it in your house.
22. Illustrate one of your favourite recipes and hang it in your kitchen.
23. Write a paragraph review of every tea or coffee you drink at a cafe in the next month.
24. Go for a walk around your suburb/city making quick drawings of signs that you see.
25. Try drawing a zentangle.

Ps. If you're looking for more fun creative ideas, you should read Mary's 100 ways to be creative list and her 100 things to do when you're bored list.