5 things... I've been loving lately // Ramblings

I can't believe it's December. December! Holy shitballs, has this year flown by or what?! The first part of this year cruised on by, and then about September it felt like everything just went in to overdrive.

To say that so much has happened in the last 11 months would be a total understatement. I have a post planned to do a little wrap-up of the year that was, but in the meantime, I thought today I'd just stop for a moment and ponder the small things of late. The things that I've been loving lately...

My Tattoo

I got my first tattoo when I was 21. I'd been thinking about it for ages, and when a friend asked me to go with her when she went to get a new one, I decided to finally do it. I thought heaps about what I wanted and decided it had to be something for my Grandma, who had passed away 2 years earlier.

One of my best memories as a child was when Grandma gave my cousins and I butterfly nets. We spent so many hours in her backyard, trying to catch butterflies. It was so much fun. When we went on one of our many family holidays together, she bought me a butterfly brooch at the Big Merino. It was beautiful and I can't tell you how much I wish I still had it.

So I chose to get a butterfly on my shoulder blade, with the thought that I would carry Grandma round on my shoulder.

I got my second tattoo in September on my Wicked Girl's Night. Again, i'd been thinking about getting my next one for ages. Since before Zee was born. I knew that I wanted to get something for my girls, I just hadn't decided what. When Kelly said she was going to get a new tattoo the Friday arvo before the big night, I knew it was time.

I had been pinning a lot of design ideas on Pinterest, and I knew I wanted the tattoo on my wrist. I loved the idea of an infinity symbol and using the phrase "My Life". Punky's name means 'my' or 'mine', and Zee's name means 'Life'. I created a rough sketch of what I wanted in Illustrator, and Mel at LDF Tattoo in Newtown made it a beautiful reality.

And I LOVE it!

My Uberkate necklace

When Sonia contacted me about jewellery brand Uberkate advertising on the blog I was totally on board! In return for 3 months of sidebar advertising I was given a gorgeous, personalised Ubercircle.

I knew exactly what I wanted it to say and got the word 'Smile'. It's my lucky photography necklace and I've worn it when  I've done my last couple of photography jobs. I also wore it quite a bit when I was in Perth and I just love it. It's so damn pretty, and after eyeing one off for a while now, I'm so stoked to have one of my own.

Moo business cards

I was keen to get some business cards for my photography work and after having a look at a few online stores I decided to go with Moo. I wanted something a little bit different and fun, and I loved the fact that I could have a different design on the back of every card if I wanted.

I designed a logo for the front, and chose some of my favourite photos to adorn the back. I chose to get half as squares and the other half as mini cards. They arrived while I was away, and I am super impressed with the quality. It's good card stock and the pictures turned out great, the colours spot-on.

(This is not sponsored at all, I'm just a very happy customer)

Perth

I had the best time in Perth. It was really awesome to spend time hanging out at the iinet offices and getting a little insight in to the way things work. We got to do some really cool stuff while there, as well test out some cool new Samsung gear.

Without a doubt, some of the highlights were the lovely, lovely people who work for iinet, a visit to the supercomputer and the awesome food on offer. I'm planning a series of posts about my time in Perth and at iinet and I can't wait to share it all with you. And don't worry, I took plenty of photos.

Playing with the girls

Despite how much fun I had in Perth it was still amazing to come home and be with Dave and the girls again. Unfortunately Zee caught my cold and wasn't the happiest of kids on my return, but even that hasn't been enough to dampen my high.

I let Punky have the day off school yesterday, for no reason other than to spend time with her. In just a week it felt like they had both grown so much, and I really loved the one-on-one time Punky and I had when Zee was sleeping.

Being away from them for 5 nights was hard, but at the same time it really made me appreciate how lucky I am to be at home with them during this stage of their lives. I don't know how long the calm will last before Yelly Mummy comes back, but I'm gonna try to ride this Zen wave as long as I can!

So that's what I've been loving lately. Usually today would have been my Reading writes Linky, but I've decided to give it the silly season off and it will be back bigger and better in January.

Now it's your turn, tell me 2 things you've been loving lately, in the comments.

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