Yesterday I did something completely unplanned and non-work-related: I got up at the crack of dawn and took the thalys train to Brussels to explore a brocante at place du jeu de balle. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, and when leslie told me she was going to stop by there on her way back to Amsterdam from a weekend away, I decided to meet her there and finally check it out. It was great, we loved the market and found heaps of great things. I even bartered in French which was lots of fun, and all the stall owners that we dealt with were really friendly and kind (two of the stall owners let us gather our findings at their stalls throughout the day until we fetched the car).   After that we had some lunch and strolled around town. It was really nice to get out of ‘the office’ for a while…

I was only there for a few hours, but would you like to know my first impressions of Brussels?

1. I thought Paris and Amsterdam were full of cobblestones but Brussels really is the cobbliest city I’ve ever been in.

2. If you love street art, you’ll love this city! It’s full of fabulous street art and graffiti.

3. It feels like a mix of Paris and Amsterdam, which is really cool.

4. Everybody speaks French, and that’s awesome.

5. If you love brocante treasures and antiques, there is plenty of the good stuff in Brussels.

I’m eager to plan a longer trip now and explore some more.

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Spring was only just emerging in the haute fagnes forest in belgium where french boy and i spent our very restful, computer-free weekend. We walked, talked, explored, sat in the forest, listened to the birds, caught some afternoon sun on the terrace (I’ve got colours), and slept. It was just what we needed – some time away from the city hum and crazy work commitments. We stumbled upon a castle, hidden deep inside the forest, and as we climbed the ancient stone stairs I imagined myself as a maiden, standing on the landing, hoping with all her heart to see her warrior lover come over the hill. I asked French Boy if he would come back for me and he said “without a doubt”. I said, “would you be missing a limb?” and he asked “would you still love me if I was?” and I said “without a doubt”.

A walk in a forest in spring is such wonderful medicine for the heart and soul…

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…was wonderful.

if i can’t be by my sea, then sit me in the middle of a forest and i will be a happy girl.

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It was a misty drive back through the French countryside… The fog was thick and heavy, revealing some rather eerie tree creatures along the way. I was able to capture a few with my camera from behind the safety of the car window – they were so spooky, I did not dare open my window to get a closer look, just in case one of them stretched their ghostly branches toward me and snapped me out of my warm comfy seat.. to get a really good feel for this ghoulish ride, click here to open a new window for the soundtrack to this post, then come back here to scroll through the images below… happy halloween my dear readers…

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Nearly two weeks has passed since I returned from my brief, unanticipated trip back to Sydney.

And it’s only now I’ve had a moment to look at my photos, soundscapes, and diary notes from my time there. Over the next coming days I will be sharing these with you, with the hope to be able to communicate a little of my quietly chaotic sydney life through a series of moments – both silent and sounded. Next week I will continue with my regular posts about current things I am loving, things I’ve been up to while back in Amsterdam (it’s been a very busy couple of weeks!), plus getting the guest quarters ready for our next guest. And I’ll also be letting you know where we are at with the much anticipated My Heart Wanders.

But for now, let’s get geared up for our third series of soundscapes by first taking a road trip to our sound-filled destination…

My life down under has always been seaside, namely because I have always lived on a particular strip of Sydney coastline called the Northern Beaches. It’s a special piece of 125sq km of land that juts north, isolating a stretch of water aptly named Pittwater. This unique peninsula encompasses two National Parks with little pockets of rainforests, nine beaches with seven ocean rockpools, headlands, and sea cliffs…

My time in Sydney is taken up alot with driving up and down this peninsula, coming back and forth from the city to my home. I love the drive as I see the ocean poke out around every corner, and as certain landmarks appear, the memories of my youth come flooding forth. So venez avec moi on this mini trip down memory lane, along Pittwater Road in my zippy white starlet, starting at Collaroy beach and ending at my home, where we will pick up our first soundscape from series 3, in the next post. Strap on your selt belt as it’s going to be a speedy ride (under the speed limit of 60km, of course!).

But before we start, let’s have some music while we take this journey – click here to open my soundtrack of choice which is appropriately titled Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap. Then, as you know, come back to this window to scroll through the photos and captions. Please enjoy…

Long Reef Headland.

A cute beach house on Beach Road…

Tropical-ness, roadside…

…and we’re off!

Collaroy Cinema is a landmark that I hope will always remain. On the right we see an old building with a new shop called Cherry Blossom… it stands right next to the apartment block where my cousin and cousin-in-law used to live back when they were first together. They nicknamed it ‘Cockroach Castle’. I loved that place.

An island that I have never explored, just beyond the Narrabeen Bridge.

Lagoon living.

A favourite fence. An ex-boyfriend and I always imagined our future house to have this fence.

The Rock Lily – all done up but still full of fabulous memories. This was an institution as in my day it was the only nightclub on the peninsula. Now it’s a pizza place.

The local tennis courts where I have watched many-a-game of tennis. Yes, I said watched.

The back road. To the left was the way to my high school. Straight ahead was the way to my heart.

The house full of my childhood memories.

And the windy road that I used to ride my bike up and down.

A place where ‘no parking’ was allowed, but ‘parking’ is exactly what we got up to.

And my primary school with its massive gum trees and rusty tin roofs…

Another drinking establishment, where many a late night was enjoyed by all. This is pretty much what it would look like once you finally pulled yourself away from the premises.

And the neighbouring park by the shoreline became a place for stealing kisses.

Then there is the water that calms my soul…

…and the sunset that soothes my tired eyes.

…to be continued…

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You are about to notice a 48 hour lapse in my posts starting from now. Why? Because I’m in transit. There has been no time to organise guest bloggers. There has not even been time to say pollypickedapocketfullofpoppiesforherpuppy. I have needed to make a swift change of plans which I will fill you in on the details once at my destination. I hope you don’t mind that you will all be coming with me.

So there’s no time to dawdle: just grab your toothbrush, grab your bagel, blow everyone a kiss and get moving! I promise to fill you in on our whereabouts once there. In the meantime, I shall leave you with my second drawing of Miss Harriet.

xx

PS. oh I meant to do the proper blog thing and say “meanwhile, feel free to leaf through my blog archives”. When will I get this thing right?

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…joined me for lunch and then accompanied me on one of my shoots. Yes, I’m talking about the lovely Marie from ici et là. Although we only had a short time to meet, it was lovely getting to know her face to face, learning about her adventures in Paris and chatting away in our Aussie accents amongst the Parisiennes. Thanks for joining me Marie, I do hope we get to see more of each other while we are both in Europe!

Another hit of fabulous Aussieness came a few days later when sweet Anna from Absolutely Beautiful Things landed on the continent. I caught her at the beginning of her 3 week vacation through France, and we were able to catch up for a drink and some banter. What a treat!! Anna lives in Brisbane as most of you already know, and I was keen to hear all about her life in this favourite place of mine, and she was keen to hear all about my life in this favourite place of hers! We had a great time, I hope to see her again soon, wherever in the world that may be (okay, secretly I’m hoping its in Brisbane, or at her incredible holiday home on Stradbroke Island).

Lots of other things happened in Paris that you will just have to wait to hear more about soon, but straight after that I was back to le petit bateau in Amsterdam and then on the train to Den Hague for a rather lavish 3 day shoot in a magnificent property (i gasped, gawked, and shrieked with pleasure when I laid eyes on this place. sometimes my job is too good to me). Spending three days in The Hague was pretty special, while I was shopping for props there I managed to snap a few photos for you, I was so eager to show you this beautiful town…

Sure, it was super sunny the whole time I was there, and we all know how much the sun effects me, but it got me thinking, could this little Dutch city be more gorgeous, quaint and laid back than my Amsterdam?

I was in love with this town. Meanwhile, the shoot was an extraordinarily humungous amount of work and while I was expressing my concerns about the huge set I had to create in the coming days while I was on the phone to dear Danielle, next thing I knew she was offering her assistance. I couldnt have been happier – what a wonderful treat to get to spend the whole day with my friend, and have her wonderful helping hands. So on the last day of the shoot, Danielle and I were busy making lavish garden table settings and little vignettes around the place. Danielle made the most beautiful floral arrangements too, and as soon as the production is in print I shall show you all! Thanks again Danielle, I hope we get to work together again soon, i think we make a pretty fab styling team.

So that’s my catch up news, now for sharing something else very much on my mind, plus a few posts and thoughts I’ve been wanting to share with you. A bientot!

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But you have to be super quick! Remember my article about Langkawi? Well, Holiday magazine has just announced they are offering a 3day, 2 night stay at the Mutiara Buray Bay resort, in Langkawi!! This is the resort that has the very awesome Seashell Cafe I was telling you about, with the giant electric guitar, and the photo above is one I took while at the resort, it is so gorgeous.

To win just be the 25th member to register with Holiday magazine, that’s it, it’s so simple!Click here. Good luck!

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First of all, do you remember this photo above? I posted about it here when I was on deadline, writing an article. I couldn’t tell you about it then but guess what, I can now! The magazine has just been launched, so it’s time to spill all…

This place holds a very special piece of my wandering heart. And yes, French Boy has everything to do with it.

I will save the love story for another time but for now, I just want to take you to this special place. A few of you have already been, since one of our favourite bloggers beat me to it and posted about her recent trip there last Friday. How lucky she is to live so close by to this magical place! So for those of you who know who I’m talking about, let’s just pretend this is your first time to…

With thanks to my dear friend and editor, Vanitha Krishnasamy, it is an honour to be part of this first, awesome issue of Holiday. Here is the rest of my article below. And even though the text is small, I promise you will want to take the time to read every bit, it is packed with my absolute favourite things to do on the island.

French boy and I adore the menu at Bonton Resort. THIS is the place to have your caipirinha poolside, then wander into the pavillon for an incredible feast. heaven, I tell you…

We spent 10 days here, staying at Berjaya and exploring around, looking for the best restaurants and places to visit. The main town is very touristy so we stayed away, and in doing so managed to find the island’s best-kept secrets. One of the most fun we had was taking the scooter out for the day. We designed our own tour, stopping just whenever we felt something looked interesting and then exploring, finding a whole world within it. We saw a wooden sign pointing the way toward a mangrove jungle, and since French boy had never experienced mangroves before (wow, i know! country boy!), we headed in. I was blown away, it is the most incredible mangrove forest I have ever seen…

Can you see the monkey?

We found this restaurant called ‘The Seashell Cafe’ – it is just a little walk along the beach from Berjaya. It was fabulous – a beach hut covered in fairy lights, complete with this giant electric guitar…

I know, hilarious! We thought we had died and gone to heaven. Oh I could go on and on and on about our time there. I found so much inspiration. It was a time in my life when my heart was well lost. And it was this place, and this boy, who found it again…

………………………………….

Holiday magazine can be found in travel agents and on airlines all through Malaysia. For overseas interest, please ask your local travel agent. Holiday magazine is also the proud parent of the Help Keep Our Children Safe campaign, read more about it here by clicking on the campaign logo to the right of the page. And to find out more about the magazine, click here.

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