Magazines of the online variety

image source: www.weheartit.com/wowloverly

Magazines hold a special place in our hearts. I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is that makes them so nice. All I know is, when I see the new edition of my favourite title turn up on the shelves or in my letterbox, my heart skips a beat.

So when we noticed a beautiful selection of free online magazines popping up around the place we thought we should share the love.

Reading an online mag is completely different to reading the paper type. There’s something a little more selfish and indulgent about them. They’re filled with links so you can just click and click and click and you are taken to the source of all the pretty things for a hit of instant information gratification.

You forget to spend time appreciating the layout and the stories because before you know it, with all that clicking, you’ve been engulfed into the bottomless pit of the blogosphere and cyberspace. Never fear though, you will surface with much knowledge of pretty things and very long ‘must have’ list.

Here are four of our fave magazines of the online variety.

•www.adoremagazine.com

•www.estemag.com

•puregreenliving.com

•www.maevemagazine.com

A new winter blanket

For those of you who know my mum, you know she’s pretty clever when it comes to art and craft. Because we grew up with it, we probably take a lot of wonderful things she does for granted.

When we were younger she would make ALL of our clothes(photos of us wearing these outfits are a whole other blogpost),she’d make clothes for our barbies and cabbage patch dolls, write us stories complete with illustrations and sometimes she would even get carried away and do our school assignments.

Even though we’re older now, she still loves doing things that she knows will make us smile.

And smile we did when after our wedding she gave us this beauty that she had secretly made from all of the mis-matched, fabric napkins left over from our wedding day.

It is the cosiest blanky I’ve ever slept under for so many reasons.

Oh yeah, we got hitched...

I thought it was about time I shared our wedding. It was such a lovely whirlwind. All of our special people in the one place at the same time.

I love going to weddings. There is just so much love. And when it’s all aimed at you, your heart almost explodes.

I have so many beautiful memories written down but I thought I’d share my two favorites (today) here.

The first was on the way to the ceremony. Dad drove the girls and I to the reserve in his landcruiser (have I mentioned what a classy lady I am? Well I am a very classy lady, settling for nothing less than the best wedding transport) Man was there some love in that car. In the lead up to our day, the south coast had the most rain it had ever had in the past 25 years and an hour or so before we were due to be married it stopped and the sun came out. It shone through the clouds to create the most magical light you can imagine. Owen had told me the day before that I had no need to worry about the weather because he had asked someone very special to look after it for us.  I shared this with Dad and the girls and there were last minute happy tears everywhere.

The second was at the end of the night.  After the reception at Owens parent’s house, everyone stayed in the same little house down at the beach with a few extras on the couch and a lot of partying into the night.

Owen and I stayed in the same house, upstairs. As soon as we closed the door behind us, I sat on the floor and he gently took all the pins out of my hair. It was our first moment of quiet, calm, happy silence as husband and wife and I just remember feeling so content there with him even though there were crazy parties going on down stairs.

So that’s that. Here are a few of our official wedding photos...

my little fam

my 'little' sister

soon after the lorikeet pooped on us

aren't they beautiful?

the ceremony at Bawley reserve... look at that light!

Rosie and her beautiful boys

did I say I cried a lot? I did.

a million paper hearts - thanks mumma

helo

my new little fam

back at the reception - Owen's nana, Shirley, Gesina and aunty Ju Ju

past Peterson and McTavish generations

 

my heart wanders

On Friday night we went to the launch of Pia Jane Bijkerk's book, 'my heart wanders'. If you haven't discovered her yet, there is so much to love about her blog. We love her to the power of a million. To give you a quick run-down she is an Australian interior stylist (amongst other things) who has returned to Sydney after following her heart to Paris and then to Amsterdam where she lived on a houseboat. Her blog and her book trace this journey via whimsical photos, interior styling arrangements and heartfelt words.

Tis true that we felt a connection with her before we went to the opening, hence why we made the effort to go when we are complete nobodies. I really didn't know what to expect as a lot of the "stylist" type people in Sydney are faux and I was hoping that I wouldn't be disapointed by her in the flesh. I wasn't. She was L.O.V.E.L.Y. The other thing that really stuck with me is that she seemed so normal, she was completely approachable. It was obvious she was nervous and I loved it because I felt the same way about meeting her. It gave me hope that if she can do it, so can I. So can anyone. Now I just have to figure out what "it" is. This is meant as the ultimate compliment because Pia is extremely talented and inspiring.

By the way, the book is just so beautiful. It is a treasure in itself. I have only savoured a few pages and I am holding back on devouring it because I don't want it to end.

I was taking Manu the dog for a walk today and saw this tree with blossoms on it. It reminded me of Pia...

An open letter to Leafie + Lize fans

To our Mum’s, siblings, partners and two other friends who read this blog,

We want to sincerely apologise for letting our commitment to Leafie + Lize slip over the past months. We have become distracted and and in turn we have let our dedication to this sweet little blog slide. It’s not that we don’t have a good excuse, we totally do. First of all there was a wedding (ahem, the wedding of the century), work (boring, but as per usual we have to do it), then Summer, then Santa came, then an engagement, then a long distance relationship, then the end of summer (cue depression), then a holiday to Tasmania and more work in between. So, obviously we have lots to update you on and the excuses are wearing thin.


So, here is to a blog filled 2011 (yes, we know its March, give us a break will ya?), to being inspired and to finding the positive in the everyday.

somewhere on the south coast...

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.