clockwise from top left: “after lunch colours”; “sewing day, colours du jour“; beautiful balmoral beach; our first harvest.

The weather in Sydney is glorious right now – sunny blue skies, beautiful sea breezes… summer is definitely on its way. Being the homebody that I am, I’ve been mostly enjoying the weather from the comfort of my home. I’m growing organic vegies and herbs in our little backyard (above is evidence of our first tiny harvest! Three radishes, they were delicious, I can’t wait for more), and on the front porch I have created a little retreat from the sun, complete with comfy cushions and bamboo blinds. Below is a glimpse of the backyard and the front porch…

I’m finally getting the house organised, it’s taken a lot longer than I had planned, but it’s coming together so nicely, I’m eager to show you the spaces I’ve been creating.

Meanwhile, I’m going to be sending out the first batch of books at the end of this week, so if you’d like to receive My Heart Wanders, or Paris: Made by Hand, or Amsterdam:Made by Hand (or all three), signed and wrapped and delivered to your front door by the end of this month, then place your order now so I can include you with this first batch.  Thank you for the wonderful orders so far, I’m so looking forward to signing the books with your names and sending them off around the world – a little piece of my heart will be wandering off with each parcel.

As many of you are aware, My Heart Wanders won’t officially be available in North America until April of next year. Over the last few months I’ve taken note of the collective dismay expressed by those living in North America not able to get a copy for themselves or their friends and family for Christmas. So it got me thinking, what can I do?

Well, in between bouts of nausea and back pain (but oh to also now feel little feet and hands kicking and wriggling inside my growing belly – it’s so strange and beautiful) over the last few weeks I’ve been quietly working on creating a little “November only” online book boutique – a place where you can buy not just My Heart Wanders, but also Paris: Made by Hand and Amsterdam: Made by Hand, no matter where you are in the world.  To make it extra special, I will be signing each book with a personal message and dedication, so that your copy will be one of a kind.

The November book boutique will, as the title suggests, only be available for the month of November so that I can get all orders shipped out and to your door by mid December. And although due to the weight of the books the shipping seems expensive, it’s important to note that knowing my current situation,  I won’t be able to travel to book events, workshops or signings for quite a while, so this will be the only chance to get hold of your own personally signed copy of the book…

If you don’t see your country of residence in the shipping section, do not fret – I was not able to select regions (i.e. Scandinavia, Europe, North America, Africa, Asia etc) so instead I chose a few countries in each region -  you can pick the country closest to you as that will be the same shipping cost, or if you don’t see a country near enough to you then just email me your country and what you’d like to purchase and I’ll email you a paypal invoice tailored specific to your needs. (Australians please note: There is a great inexpensive flat rate for books sent within Australia – $5 for either Made by Hand books, $12 for My Heart Wanders , or $18 for all three).

I made the boutique very simple, specifically for buying one copy of each. However, if you want something more,  for example, 2 or 3 copies of My Heart Wanders with 3 different dedicated signatures, then email me your order request, I’ll get the shipping quote for you and will email you a paypal invoice specific to your needs.

So without further ado, let me welcome you to my November online book boutique! Please click here to browse the boutique at your leisure…

I do hope you like this idea, and that you’ll make room for a book or two on your Christmas list.

xx

Extra notes:

+All prices are in Australian dollars.
+Limited copies available, so please get in earlier rather than later to ensure your signed copy.
+The last order will be taken November 30, 2011 to ensure deliver by mid-December.
+Please click here to send me an email for special requests.

Thank you for all the support & well wishes that have poured in over the weekend, you guys are truly wonderful. Something else I’ve wanted to share for some time are these 3 lovely features in 3 of my new favourite independent magazines. First off is the beautiful spread in the latest Anthology magazine. It features never-before-seen photographs of our petit bateau vert (little green houseboat) in Amsterdam. I took these images last year and saved them especially for this article. Above is an image of our tiny boat loungeroom. Last year, Romain spent the year composing his first guitar album, and that exact setting was his office! Meanwhile, I sat at the desk just 2 metres away writing and editing images for My Heart Wanders – it was a special year that we will always cherish, and was the perfect ending to our 3 years of life in Amsterdam on the houseboat.

Below is an image of the bed, covered in a mosquito net during summer, and a view of the living room space, looking down from the kitchen…

It’s a really special feature written by Anh-Minh Le, with lots of info about what life was like living on the boat. This image below is also from the article, and is one of my all-time favourite photographs from inside the boat. Over the course of a year or so I’d taped flower stems to one of the walls and watched them strike their natural, deceased pose. The muted shades, textures and unique characteristics captured my imagination each time I gazed at the wall. The little Dutch sailing boat I found at a market that Leslie and I visited, and I made the sail from scraps of linen, tea stained cotton and lace…

I’m in the midst of recreating another wall like this here in my new home in Sydney, I’ll be sure to show you once it’s complete.

The next sweet feature is in the latest issue (issue 10) of Canadian-based magazine, Uppercase. This one is written by lovely Christine Chitnis, who you may recall was also a recent guest in the (blog)house (here are her fab posts on life in New England). In this article Christine captured my thoughts, ideas, ideals, and ambitions in the most elegant of ways, and included one of my intimate poems from My Heart Wanders . I hope you can find yourself a copy of this issue, there are loads more great articles “for the creative and curious”…

And the third sweet piece is in the newest issue of peppermint magazine, an Australian-based publication focused on sustainable style. It’s a terrific mag filled with eco-minded articles, products and fashion trends. In this article, written by Frances Frangenheim, I talk about my ‘natural’ tendencies, all that inspires me, and my sustainable goals in life and work…

Just before My Heart Wanders was launched here in Australia in April, I decided to get some publicity portraits done by Olga Bennett. Although I was nervous and awkward in front of the camera, Olga managed to grab some great, relaxed images, many of which have since been featured in editorial pieces around the world. I want to thank Olga especially for letting me use these images for publicity. Please visit her fab blog here, and to see more of her photography, please click here.

In other news, I’ve managed to update the stockists page for my books, click here to view. My friend Heidi said she saw big stacks of both Paris: Made by Hand and Amsterdam: Made by Hand in the Seattle Anthropologie store, which is wonderful news. So from what I’ve heard, Anthropologie now stock both these books throughout their USA stores  – thanks Anthro!

I also heard that My Heart Wanders was nowhere to be seen for a while in Europe and the UK, and apparently it was because there was no stock left, which is also terrific news. But even better is that another print run has been completed and sent to stores in Europe, the UK, and restocked throughout Australia.

As many of you have become aware, the book won’t officially be released in the US until Spring (April/May) 2012. But I have something special in mind for those of you who would love to receive the book for Christmas – I’ll post about this next week.

Have a beautiful week mes amis.

I took this photo the other day on my phone. It was dusk, I had just woken from a late afternoon nap, and this was what I saw as I opened my eyes.  I lay there and watched the scene as the sun set behind the curtain, it was one of the most beautiful impromptu nature performances I’d seen in quite some time.

…………………………………………

There is something else I want to share. Something rather wonderful. Many of you have noticed that I’ve been absent from the airwaves over the past few months. I’ve been very ill, but for the very loveliest of reasons:  I’m pregnant.

I’m now 5 months along. Indeed it’s an incredibly wonderful surprise, something I’ve only ever dreamed of, not truly believing I would actually experience it, but always hoping. On the flip side, it’s been an incredibly rough ride. Unfortunately due to the severity and consistency of my symptoms I had to cancel my work commitments, shoots, book events, and travel which included the fabulous workshop in Canada.  Blogging, emailing, and anything of the sort, has also been out of my reach. At first I was confused, anxious, and worried but my doctor informed me there is a small percentage of women who experience intense symptoms throughout the entire pregnancy. In my life I’d never met anyone who had experienced the symptoms to this extent, so it was a shock to me. But the good news is that over the past few weeks I’ve been having some moments of reprieve from the symptoms, so lets hope those moments turn into days, and maybe even weeks.

Aside from all that, it is pure magic. I am now experiencing lots of movement, and when I rest, I rest knowing  – and feeling – there is a life growing inside me, I am mesmerized. Romain and I are both so happy, and I couldn’t be more nurtured, I feel blessed, regardless of the difficulties.

Thank you for all your lovely, caring emails and comments over the past few months, I apologise for not being able to respond to all. Although I can’t commit to much else at this stage (i.e. consistent blogging or normal work schedule), I strive for it every day. In the meantime, your continual support in my work, my books, and my photography is beyond words, I’m so looking forward to getting back into the thick of it – for now, it’s one new adventure at a time.

xx

“camping in the living room”, all photographs in this post by Pia Jane Bijkerk

Do you remember a while ago I talked about Victoria’s exhibition in London, called Other People’s Houses? (click here to read my original post about it). Although I’m months behind I wanted to show you some of the photographs I submitted for the exhibition which you can now view in full, online.

I took these photographs back in April when we had just moved into our new abode, relocating from Amsterdam to Sydney. Of course this new abode is very different to the little green houseboat, and it’s taken quite a while to get used to, but we are slowly settling in, and slowly getting into the swing of life in Sydney. A lot has changed inside the house since I took these images: for one we’re not sleeping on the lounge room floor anymore (as seen in the above photo) and two, all the boxes from Amsterdam have been unpacked.

“peeking through the kitchen window” and “it still wanders”

“memories and boxes” and “hallway of sunlight”

Over time I’ll show you more snippets as I progress in making this house a home, but for now, I hope you like these photographs.  I love – for those who own a copy of my book, My Heart Wanders will already know – creating double exposures, so for this project I chose to combine two or more images within several of the photographs as my heart and thoughts were very much  in two places at the time – Amsterdam and Sydney. So you’ll see some images have soft exposures of the Amsterdam winter combined with ‘real time’ stills of my surrounding interiors.

“the green wall”

“the worlds we create” and “the chair”

For more information about the images and the exhibition, please click here, and if you are interested in purchasing any of the images you can contact Victoria directly, details are here. There are 10 exhibitors in total, so be sure to check out all of their images too – it’s like peeking through people’s windows at night, but all over the world at the same time. Fascinating.

“temporary office”

I realise my posting has slowed dramatically over the past few months. There is much I’d like to share with you, and I hope to be able to catch up over time. Thank you so much for your patience, support and loyality mes chers amis.

xx