Why do we 'I Do' ?

I’m getting married in 5 days. Yep. I’ll be a wife this time next week and I can’t wait.

It wasn’t until a couple of weeks after Owbags and I got engaged that I actually starting thinking seriously about what marriage means.

In our society, it’s every girls dream to get married. We fantasize about pretty dresses and prince charming but in all our dreaming we forget to seriously consider the act of marriage and what it actually means to us. That seems to be the boring part.

Today marriage is becoming a lot more of an event rather than a serious lifetime commitment. Over the past two decades, divorce rates have skyrocketed and the wedding industry is booming out of control.

No doubt there’s a heap of love involved but I do wonder how seriously tying the knot is being taken these days. As soon as he pops the question, there’s no time to ponder whether you can really see yourself with this man forever because you’re way too busy rolling out the lifetime dream of tulle, sappy love songs and marzipan.

Today, I think choice and freedom can be blamed for these ironic facts. We choose to be happy and we can be. If we’re unhappy in a marriage then we’ll end it. In a society of people who want quick fixes and to work less with the same rewards, these statistics are kind of inevitable.

But can someone please tell me where the real love has gone? The love that will stick it out through thick and thin, for richer for poorer in sickness and in health. The love that can see through the hard times, can find romance in the small things and remembers all the reasons you fell in love in the first place?

Owbags and I have been together for a long while now and I think we’ve had our fair share of ups and downs to test us. However I’ll never be that smug as to say that we’ve finally made it, nor are we kidding ourselves into thinking that the rest of our lives are going to be peachy because we are going to exchange rings and make some promises.

All I know is that I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with my best friend. The one who has seen me at my worst on a dodgy hostel floor in Nicaragua, the one who doesn’t mind if I eat the best part of his dinner and the one who makes me feel at home wherever I am in the world. I know that the future holds lots of challenges and bucket loads of joy and I cant wait for either because I’ll be sharing them with my husband.

The Blue Line

I have a love hate relationship with my journey home each day. It’s love because I get to go home to my little family of dog and boyfriend. It’s hate because I have to get on the train to get there. Ok, hate is such a strong word. Like any good relationship I go through passionate highs and lows with the train. There are moments when I feel inspired, when the sun glints through the dirty windows onto the grafitti and makes it seem like anything is possible. Then there are days where it is so depressing you want to get off at the nearest stop. You know them…the days when it’s raining, you don’t get a seat and the man who gets off at Sydenham is letting his umbrella drip into your shoe.

One of the factors that contributes to my mixed feeling about this mode of transport is the way people look and act when they're on the train. To be frank, they look dead sad. They don't make eye contact. They pretend that other people aren't there. They leave their bag on the spare seat knowing that someone else could sit there. Since when did it become hard to be polite to other people?

The other half of me hangs onto to the train ride for those tiny sparks of life. There are days when you see people give up their seat for others, when the baby in the stoller giggles his way through 5 stops and when you get a seat and can read your book the whole way into the city.

I also hold onto some optimisn about my train rides. It reminds me of being in a long distance relationship with my boyfriend. For a while there we did 8 hour train rides to see each other. It was dreadful and it was romantic...the anticipation, the dreamy stares out the window, the excitement at the end of the train ride. There was also this one time when a dreadlocked hippy from Byron fell asleep on my shoulder. AWKWARD. Another night I sat next to a nice boy and chatted for an hour or so. When I woke up in the morning he was gone. There was a note left under my food tray with his name, number & a nice to meet you message. Of course, I never called him, but it just shows what can happen when you reach out and acknowledge people. I am sure I wouldn't have got a note if I had put my ipod on and pretended he didn't exist.

So next time you're on the train try one of these: Give up your seat for someone, Smile at someone random for no reason, Sing out loud to the music in your ear phones, Get up to let the person next to you out, Help a lady with a stroller. Just DO SOMETHING. Because who knows? Maybe we all feel the same way about the train and we're all too scared to make the first move.

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Women of Letters

When was the last time you wrote a letter? Like, a real letter needing a 60c stamp and written with a pen? This doesn’t include birthday or Christmas cards either, cheaters.

I was about 13 I think. Dad got a promotion and we moved away from the little coastal town I had spent the previous 12 years of my life. For a 13 year old girl this is like, so totally devastating.

So my friends and I wrote letters to each other.  The letters mainly included information on who was new BFF's with who or that Rodney threw a half eaten apple at Anna’s head – he SO likes her.

Sometimes we would send each other friendship bands that we had crafted ourselves and at some point we went through a stage where we’d put the weirdest thing possible in an envelope and send it. I remember receiving a smear of toothpaste with a note that read “try this new toothpaste mum bought me - dare ya to lick it”

A while ago we went to a Women of Letters event at the Red Rattler in Marickville. It bought together some of Sydney’s brightest musicians, writers, and actresses to celebrate the lost art of letter-writing and share a letter they had penned specifically relating to love.

Our faves were Claudia Karvan and Sally Seltman. Claudia because well… she’s Claudia and wrote a letter to love itself. She read it aloud like she was narrating a scene from Love My Way. It was beaudiful.

And Sally because she sang Beyonce’s Halo in a love tribute to catchy pop songs. She had everyone singing along with her, which was quite entertaining in itself.

Hand written letters needing a 60c stamp truly are a lost art. Which is why I’m so glad I kept every single one that I received when I was 13. They’re all in a box in my old bedroom and every few years I read them. Each one has been designed with love hearts or flowers with pretty colours and personality.

Nothing compares to a good old tangible letter, does it?

Poppy the Psychic

We went to see a psychic called Poppy yesterday. She is in Newtown at the back of her store that sells second hand fashion. Not just any fashion, but the outlandish type, with bright colours, big shoulder pads, shiny fabric and furs all crammed into one room. You have to take the trip through this den of pre-loved clothing to make it out the back to her psychic room. It's worth it. It's like going to see a therapist and being able to talk about yourself for a whole hour. No guilt involved. She is engaging, kooky, and wears some very interesting eye makeup. She told us good stuff, some weird stuff and also some stuff that didn't really make sense at all. But we loved it all the same...

Have we mentioned that we love Newtown? Being there gave us an excuse to skulk around the backstreets with a camera. There is so much inspiration....goths, drag queens, grafitti, rubbish, fashion, dogs, music, environmental causes, markets....we love it all. We love Newtown.

If you want to see Poppy she is at 22 Enmore Rd in Newtown. At the back of her store Purple 22. Duh.

funbooth, will you marry me?

I went to a wedding on Friday. It was just lovely. The bride and groom were so happy. Everyone cried, including the men. It was a day that celebrated the love between the happy couple, but also the love they share with their families and the community they they come from.

Apart from enjoying the love in the room, it was also the place where I discovered the funbooth. It is a portable photo booth that you stand in, cue pose, have 4 photos taken, and then get cute little prints to take home with you. I can't really explain why, but I just love photos. All types. Any camera. This being the digital age, I love photos even more when I can hold them in my hand instantly. Polaroid cameras are on my current crush list. So this booth is really just a large version of a polaroid camera. Oh, and did I mention they had a suitcase of props to use as well? I basically wanted to keep going in it. all. night. long.

My sole mission in life is now to have a party that warrants hiring the funbooth. Is it wrong to want to get married just to have one?

It's allllmost here...

In the summertime when the weather's high,

you can stretch right up and touch the sky,
when the weather's fine...

It might be a couple of months 'til summer but it's beach weather already I say.

Into the wild - we recommend it

This time last year I had just arrived home from a two year, globe trotting stint.

Traveling the world with nothing but a backpack does something to you that I’m not too sure anything else can. It makes you realize what true freedom is. It liberates you. It puts life into perspective. It gives you the ability to be whoever you want to be.

But most of all, it gives you timeout from your life so that you can decide on what it is you really want to do – what’s really important. What makes you happy and what you are passionate about.

I was reading through my travel diary this morning, reminiscing and just before I came home I wrote a list of all the things I wanted to achieve and things I wanted to change.

I remember being really anxious about going back to my old life and forgetting all things I’d learnt about myself. I wanted to really appreciate things more and DO things that I would otherwise procrastinate about.

Whilst reading I came across this quote by Christopher McCandless which I’d written down when we were cruising around Alaska in our van. I was reading John Krakauer’s ‘Into the Wild’ (if you haven't, you should read it)

The quote resonated with me so much at the time and it still does.

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.

The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

Here are some pics from Alaska. We decided it was one of the biggest highlights of our trip. It was so vast, untouched and uncompromising.

“Screw it, let’s do it” Richard Branson

In recent weeks I went to a breakfast with guest speaker Sir Richard Branson. Since we are like this (you can’t see me, but I’m crossing my fingers) I call him Dickie Branson for short. Now when I say went to a breakfast, I mean I sat in a room with 1000 other Business Chicks and ate all of the food and then watched him speak from the stage.

This post is quite late in terms of blogosphere timings because I have been thinking about what my main take home points were from the morning. Obviously, I needed some extra thinking time, as the breakfast was on the 13 September. Simply put, I didn’t find it as inspiring as I hoped. He was very subdued. At one point  newsreader Natarsha Belling quoted a moving part from his auto-biography and Dickie had to admit that he didn’t remember that exact quote. Credit to him, he continued on and told another related story but it left me feeling like he hadn’t really been properly briefed.

I had possibly let my imagination run away with me and in my head I saw him pumping his fists on stage mid motivational quotes and me bursting out from the venue doors with a new inspired lease on life. So I only had myself to blame really. But since I have had over 20 days to think about it, I have two main take home points that I want to share: 

1) During the breakfast it was mentioned that his motto for business is “Screw it, let’s do it”. I do quite like this. I love the fact that for all the planning and plotting people do, at the end of the day you really just have to take a leap. It reminds me of a quote by Erica Jong: “If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more”. If you let yourself be ruled by plans and money and what if’s, then you will miss out on all of the positive changes that take place when you do something different. Bugger it, I say, let’s all go join the circus. Weeeeee! 

2) The other point that really stuck with me was when he talked about the people that he employs. Sir Richard said of potential employees "the absolute key thing is that they are kind and genuine people". Alleluia! He said that the foundation of a good business is the people that you employ. I agree 100% with this comment. Sometimes we focus so much on the superficial parts of the workplace that we lose sight of the basics. It’s simple, but it can have a huge impact not only in your professional life, but in your personal life too.


Here is a pic of the outdoor billboard for his latest venture - V Gym. There is one opening in Pitt St in Sydney soon. It sounds like it will be on a planet of its own. You know you have made it when your name is the main part of the ad. 

Say hello to your friends...

I had a bit of a mental day off work today and accidently went op shopping. I had the guilts at first but I’m glad I did. A good op shop find always makes you feel like yourself again – especially the op shop around the corner from my house.

It’s a bit of a secret. It’s not a chain like vinnies or the salvos, it’s one of a kind and the ladies that volunteer there are lovely. They love a good bargain themselves and always go out of their way to show you the goodies that have just come in.

There’s one lady in particular I love. We’ve never swapped names and even though I only visit once in a while, she knows my story and asks about Owbags and how our wedding planning is coming along.

Today I found 30 Babysitters Club books. I took a big trip down memory lane when I saw them. Every word to the theme song found it's way out of the depths of my memory. "Say hello to your friends, Babysitters Club, say hello to the people who care, nothin's better than friends....."

I used to want so bad to have a babysitters club of my own, didn't you? What are your most treasured Babysitter's Club memories?

Organic Us

We spent a sun drenched day at Manly Primary School markets on Saturday. Business wasn’t booming like on Election Day, but I left with a good feeling on the inside when the long day was over. We covered our costs, bought yummy food, talked to some new people and also restrained ourselves from buying Alice McCall and One Teaspoon dresses with our takings. PLUS, we sold our favourite Michael Jackson inspired leather jacket.

The thing I love so much about the markets is that it gives you permission to chat to random people without any reason in particular. People will stop to look and start telling you about their daughter who is so tall, beautiful and wore a dress for the first time to her school formal. Most of the time on my daily journey to/from work, strangers go out of their way to avoid eye contact. Being at the markets gives anyone instant permission to engage in a convo with serious eye contact. And I just love it.

There is also feeling of camaraderie amongst market stall holders. On one side we have Rachel who designs and screen-prints her own t-shirts. She is always good for a chat and to give advice on her market experience. She is a talented artist as well. On the other side we have Jeannie and Chas*, an old couple who sell glassware that Chas has cut out of old vodka and cranberry juice bottles. They make me laugh. She bosses him around all day and they are forever re-arranging their stall to test what works best. Jeannie and also wears high waisted pants with a belt ala Annie Hall. I heart that look.

The most exciting part of the day (apart from the bit where the youngish gentleman took his jeans off in our stall to try on a pair of our skinny jeans) was when Owbags (thanks Manager) took over the stall whilst we hunted for lunch. We discovered Organicus kitchen and pantry. Newly opened and a beautiful breath of fresh food air. All organic produce displayed in a giant glass window, a giant blackboard behind the counter, a huge wooden table in the middle of the room, plants hanging from one wall. We ate fresh salmon, chorizo tart, lentil salad and quinoa that made my mouth water. It was fresh, so yummy and beautifully packaged in brown boxes and disposable wooden cutlery. It’s worth a trip to Manly just to try it out.


* I would love to hyperlink their name, but I so know they don’t have a blog. They are old fashioned. I can tell.

I'm on the pursuit of happiness

One thing I have been musing about lately is being H-A-P-P-Y. I found July and August this year to be really hard months. For a start it was a cold, rainy winter. But mainly I just felt really out of sorts. I would stand in front of my wardrobe and complain to boyfriend that I had nothing to wear (cue an avalanche of clothes piling on top of me). Boyfriend would cook me dinner every night and I would get home with stress face and give Manu the Dog the lamb chops he made. I stalked around the office like I had a vendetta against everyone in there. And I swear to you that I am a nice, normal person usually, both of my parents will tell you that.
It also didn’t help that I was still recovering from an ankle injury which meant that I hadn’t exercised properly since March. If that isn’t proof that exercise produces feel-good endorphins, I don’t what is.

But of course, it all becomes clear in retrospect.

I was letting everything weigh me down. I wasn’t focusing on the positive. I was dwelling on all of the negative, insignificant parts of my life and then the good wasn’t shining through.

Leafie + Lize recently had a sleepover at the home of the lovely Grandma Shirley before our Manly markets day in August. She is cool. She sat with us on the floor in her lounge room and gave us some vintage clothes to sell at our stall. She also inferred in a very polite way that I may have an addiction to stationary. You see, she’s wise too. This is what was on her fridge. LIVE IT.

I believe you liar

We went to see Megan Washington last night, the spunky little minx she is.

It’s always inspiring to see people in their element doing what it is they were born to do. Washington is one of those people. She has raw musical talent and was put on the planet to perform.

She is self-assured; comfortable in her own skin and after her rendition of The Divinyls’s I touch myself she completely won the crowd. The boys wanted her and the girls wanted to be her.

leafie + lize are official Washington groupies. Check out our pics.