Moonrise Kingdom

This movie looks to be all kinds of amazing. Has anyone heard anything about it? [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N8wkVA4_8s]

Favourite things - oh baby!

Amid the excitement and anticipation of my little stowaway's arrival, I have been indulging my long-term love of all things childlike and whimsical. Truth is, I would love all of these ideas and projects for my very own self sans Baby Bulger, but now I have an iron-clad excuse. 1. An enchanted forest mural Have you seen these wonderful wallpapers and wallpaper-murals from Anthropologie? I think my little one will dream beautiful dreams in this enchanted forest. And if he or she doesn't share my taste? Hello Naomi's study wall! (I also love the children's wallpaper at Hibou Home).

2. A hot air balloon lantern I think I will make several hot air balloon lanterns for Baby Bulger's room. I am thinking red and yellow circus stripes, and of filling the balloon baskets with fun characters and toys. Tutorial on Momtastic.

3. A crocheted playground Once I tried to knit a cardigan. I got about three rows in when my flatmate took over because I had already dropped more stitches than I made. That was more than 10 years ago. As such, I suspect this brilliant crocheted playground may be slightly out of my skill-range. Nanna? Aunty? Instead of a blankey of crocheted squares, could you make one of these for my baby?

4. A birthday piñata I don't know at what age Baby Bulger will be wanting to smash hanging things open to reveal assorted lollies, but I can tell you I have not grown out of that age yet! So I am going to save this tutorial from Oh Happy Day for a birthday party in the (hopefully) not so distant future.

5. Dotty children If all my decorating ideas come to nought (or if it transpires that I lack the talent to realise my own vision), I will resort to Plan B. To whit: paint everything (walls, ceiling, floors, furniture) white, then let Baby Bulger and a host of his or her friends loose with a million coloured stickers, just like in this "obliteration room" at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia.

Favourite things - pretty parties

Blah thought: I am packing boxes again. Happy thought: when I unpack them, it will be in a city I love and in the company of people I actually know! One of the many things I am really looking forward to is having friends over. I'm even planning a party or two, which has inspired this post. 1. Party popper invitations Imagine receiving one of these invitations in the mail. Bemused, you pull the string. A loud bang, you are showered with confetti, and the invitation flies out. Magical! I have so many ways I am thinking of using these.

2. The meringue bar I love meringues. I love them so much. And I love all things meringue-related, like pavlovas, lemon meringue pies, and macaroons. Oh, Lordy, what happiness this meringue dessert bar therefore brings! I will try to make something like this for my party. This was in Issue 59 of Donna Hay magazine, highlighted by Jane Flanagan of Ill Seen Ill Said.

3. Sparkler photography At my party, I will set up my new camera on a tripod and take long-exposure photographs of pretty sparkler patters we make to break open the night. Photo by R-evolution Photography, from here.

4. Free organiser How sweet is this little "Making the most of today" organiser from In Honor of Design? And free! A perfect last-minute planner as the party approaches.

5. Serenity When the party is over and I am all worn out, I will refresh my soul by drinking in the lovely, dreamy images to be found on Wild Keiki.

Roman holiday

Let's go wandering together. October 2011

On noticing butterflies

"It is astounding how little the ordinary person notices butterflies."Vladimir Nabokov

I think you would have to be pretty extraordinary not to notice these Monarch butterflies, just arrived in Mexico after migrating from Canada for the winter. The butterflies don't live long enough to repeat the journey, yet they arrive each year in the same places that their ancestors left the previous season, finding their way to 'familiar' homes they've never seen.

I found these photographs via model Denni Elias on her blog thechicmuse, and she kindly gave me permission to use them here. Denni sat in silence among the butterflies of the forest in Michoacan, Mexico. "The only sound I could hear was the beating of wings," she said. Can you imagine?

I don't think I could even write in such a moment. Just dream. Lately I've been feeling a little like a migratory insect myself, drifting my way across thousands of kilometres in the company of my family, pets and way too many accumulated possessions.

Like these butterflies, I have more than once alighted in a home I had never before seen. I am about to do it again, in Melbourne. Perhaps now is the time to trust my instincts and simply embrace the journey.

Summer holidays craft

Remember when I told you I was in love with this crayon art? Last night, Em and her cousin Maggie had a go at creating their own melty masterpieces.However, not content with simply making a colourful mess, the girls built stories into their creations. Maggie drew a sweet couple sheltering under an umbrella behind a multi-coloured waterfall of rain. Em sketched a young woman casting a curved patronus charm that kept the rainbow mess at bay.

I think they did a wonderful job, don't you? Em and Maggie are both 13 and the best of friends. They are such a delightful team, it is always a joy to have them together in our home. (And yes, that is a stack of packing boxes alongside general mess and chaos that you see in the background. We are moving AGAIN this month, this time to Melbourne. That makes four interstate moves in less than a year and, I can assure you, we intend this to be the last one for a VERY long time).

Oh boy, 2011

Happy New Year! Are you excited? Renewed? Planning new adventures? I sure am, but it was rather therapeutic today to think through the year that was. (Hint: as you read this, you might even discover a special little surprise I've been keeping up my sleeve for a while now.) January Harvested a veritable vegetable bounty from our tiny back yard in Enmore, Sydney. An impressive feat given that only a couple of months earlier this was a black-plastic-and-gravel-covered parking space, and that even now it could boast only about half a foot of soil before the dense clay began.

February Suffered through a heat-wave in our wonderful old Hogwarts house (twisting corridors, staircases that turn corners and go up and then down again for no reason, PLUS a genuine cupboard under the stairs). Though we loved this house, it was hot hot hot, about 10 degrees worse inside than out. (The picture is of the house as I had it made into a snowglobe. Oh, for snow!)

March Married the funniest, smartest, kindest, most generous, most surprising man I have ever met, in the vegetable patch of the Hogwarts house (complete with a back door painted “Notting Hill blue” by my mother and father), in the presence of a small but wonderfully-loved group of family and friends.

April Airmail came out. Suddenly had to discover social media: Facebook pages, Twitter, Goodreads, all kinds of groups and forums, and started a blog. Got excited about this new online world. Got annoyed that said new online world was taking over my life. Began to learn (still trying to learn) balance.

May Packed house contents into storage. Bundled up dog, cat, office and a suitcase of clothes, and moved up to the Gold Coast. Stayed in a soulless one-bedroom apartment that overlooked the garbage bins. Em taught Oliver to swim. Airmail won “Rising Star” award and was featured on bn.com boutique.

June Mr B went to America for work and, as well as missing him, it made me miss all my USA friends even more than I already did every day. Learned how to make really good cupcakes by using and adapting the Magnolia Bakery recipe. Got fat. Reconnected with a wonderful friend, who made the GC bearable.

July New job for Mr B, in Adelaide = Packing. Organising removalists. Organising cleaners. House hunting. Thinking, “How did we accrue so much STUFF in Queensland after only 10 weeks?” Meanwhile editing a magazine on a very tight deadline. Joined Kristen Lamb’s brilliant #WANA711 blogging group.

August Flew to the Blue Mountains to visit parents for Dad’s birthday. Flew alone to Adelaide to greet removalists at a house I’d never seen. Big relief! The house was lovely. Set up very own "dream study." Damaged back. Flew back to Qld. Joined Mr B, dog and cat for final two-day road-trip to our new home.

September First royalty cheque arrived for Airmail! Not huge (not even slightly), but still special. Couldn’t bring self to cash it. To Paris for a glorious week with two friends I’d known and loved for 25 years. Cheese, wine, mussels, street art, galleries, parks, cobblestoned laneways, churches, love.

October Took train to London to meet Mr B, Em, her cousin Maggie and Nanna. Unforgettable picnic in St James Park with dearly loved and greatly missed friends. Three weeks of explorations through London, Paris, Toulouse, Carcassonne, Nice, Venice. In Rome, the girls threw me a birthday party.

November Back home in Australia, discovered a little stowaway who had been secretly riding with us since France. Baby Bulger is on the way! Spent the month embracing the questionable glories of utter exhaustion, morning sickness (all day and all night) and a body that was rapidly becoming not my own.

December Learned how to cook vegetarian, egg-phobia and pregnant woman -related Christmas feasts. Baby Bulger passed the 12-week scan officially “low risk.” Christmas Day in Melbourne with friends, little cousins at Nanna's house, storms and floods. Nephew saved an old lady from her flooded car.

To be continued in 2012.

And a Happy New Year to you!

Summer holidays

I am off to immerse myself in summer holidays. Another road trip. Christmas spent with friends and family. A home filled with children and laughter and most probably too much junk food than is strictly good for any of us. We will walk with our feet in the Southern Ocean at sunset. We will joust one another on inflatable logs in the swimming pool. We will get sunscreen in our eyes, and salt water in our hair. We will play many rounds of Pictionary, all of which Mr B will lose. We will have picnics and play petanque in the park. We will take trips to strange country towns. We will bake and cook and eat, and eat more. We will spend whole days immersed in books. And we will make plans and promises and dreams for the coming year.

Wishing you a glorious holiday season, whatever and however you celebrate; and a refreshing, hope-filled, love-filled 2012. See you next year!

Christmas for booklovers

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/33862482 w=400&h=300]And many happy returns to you, friend.

Defining beauty

I am so excited to bring you this little movie today. If it's the only thing you watch in the busy lead-up to Christmas, you won't regret it. It is challenging, funny at times, inspiring, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and incredibly important. But what's the movie about?It's a movie about a beauty pageant.

A beauty pageant for men.

Men who are HIV positive.

No, I'm not kidding. Take a look at Walk the Talk: Talk the Walk below, a short documentary covering the inaugural "Mr HIV Positive Living" beauty pageant in Gaborone, Botswana.

I promise, you will be so very glad you watched this. You'll be thinking about it for days later, and telling your friends about it at parties. [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/15311998 w=525&h=295]

WALK THE TALK: Living Positive With HIV from THINKBOX on Vimeo.

I interviewed one of the producers of this video last year*, a Botswanan PhD student at the University of Sydney, Kabo Matlho, who now spends his days researching answers and improvements to HIV/AIDS resistance at the Westmead Millennium Institute just west of Sydney, Australia.

After the footage was recorded, Kabo spent three years travelling back and forth between Botswana and  Australia for this video, checking facts and providing cultural advice and interpretation services. I loved my time talking with Kabo. He is one of the nicest people you could meet, deeply committed to his research and to the message of this video.

“AIDS affects everyone, regardless of gender, social class or culture," Kabo told me. "Australia has developed excellent management of HIV and the rate of infection. It is inspiring to see HIV-positive people in Australia step up and take charge of their own destiny, fight for their own lives. Our documentary represents the beginnings of something that I hope will be similar in Botswana. It is a small step, but it is a step forward.”

Talk the Walk: Walk the Talk won the Juror’s First Prize and the People’s Choice Award at the Association for Consumer Research Conference film festival in the USA in 2010. Well deserved, I think.

*Interview was conducted for the Westmead Medical Research Foundation