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…

(Click here to read more…)

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?

So it’s been a very eventful past few weeks. Let’s jump back a few steps and start with who I had the pleasure of meeting up with while in Paris a couple of weeks ago. Two lovely bloggers in fact, both of whom you know I adore so I was keen to meet them in the flesh. First of all, the young lady who creates these divine crocheted garlands…

…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!

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!

yes. you heard me. i can’t think of ANY better way to celebrate all your hard work for My Heart Wanders, nor a better way to help me unwind and rejuvenate. So come on, get your sarong on, take your towel and sun hat, grab your favourite book and I’ll order the capirinhias! It’s holiday time!!!

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…

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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.