168/365 Synchronised Surfing | Byron Bay

12:45pm | Belongil Beach. Byron Bay.

Yeah, it's a Wednesday. Hahaha. I love that there are surfers out no matter the time, the day, the weather :) These two made me smile! 

Girl-date!

I'm just a little bit excited.

Because it's FINALLY almost THIS weekend. And this weekend - my bestie Claire and I are off on a girrrrls getaway!! 

Claire turned 40 in February [ I, of course, blogged about it! You can see all the festivities here ] and her super-lovely husband thought that the perfect gift would be *drum roll* a weekend away in Byron with me. Hahaha. 

Umm, YEAH!

We're staying at Byron at Byron. One of my favourite places in Byron to relax and hang out [ T booked me in for a surprise spa massage on mother's day just last month so I feel a bit crazy-spoilt going back again already ] but I haven't actually stayed in a couple of years and I'm looking forward to soaking it all up. 

Especially as the last few months since we got back from our big trip have been quite the emotional roller-coaster for me as the boys settled into school and I adjusted to my new creative life. Meanwhile, Claire has been intensively working on her new business: The Shabby Chick [ I tell you, the woman is seriously entrepreneurial ], chasing after her own THREE boys, generally getting covered in paint, and training her new puppy not to chew on paintbrushes, or her bras. Unsuccessfully.

We haven't seen each other in four months.  So... 

Beach-Walking,

Cocktail-drinking,

Dog-reuniting-aside we have a hit list:

1. Pedicures.

2. Eyebrow waxing [ okay, that's just me ].

3. Buying new sunglasses.

Yay!

I'm also prettttty sure we'll be getting dressed up, talking about dogs and blogs and furniture, listening to lots of music, going to the movies [ Has anyone seen The Fault in Our Stars - recommend?? ] , eating too much chocolate, and taking photos.

Including, ummm, the occasional selfie :)

Stay tuned - and let's see if I manage to post anything else before Monday or not. Now, I had better go get some beauty sleep *damn you gorgeous bestie!!*

Amber. XO

When Your Friend Has Triplets? It's Triple the Cute!

We lived in Sydney the year our boys were four and six. 

It's funny living somewhere for just a year: you have to meet a lot of new people but you don't make many actual 'friends' in that time. [ Well, I didn't... Maybe you have a fabulous social technique! In which case you should share it with us so we can join the friend-a-thon :) ].

Anyway, so there I was. In Sydney. With two little boys. Among the people I met was another mama, Simone, who also had two boys. She lived on our street. Her eldest child was in the same class as my eldest child. And guess what?! We became friends. 

Not that we got to spend lots of time together - what is TIME when you have four small busy boys between you ;) - but we walked to and from the school, we celebrated the Winter Solstice, we drank the occasional cup of tea together. And I knew that we would likely stay in touch after that year had slipped past us. 

I also knew that she was hoping for another baby :)

We settled back into our country-life to the north and got busy homeschooling. Life shuffled along. And then I heard that Simone was expected a baby! Well, actually *three* babies to be precise. Wow! From a family of four to a family of seven... I [ still! ] can only imagine. And - they were all girls.

We did get to meet them when the the triplets were a few months old which was lovely but earlier this year we caught up again and I brought my camera along for an impromptu photoshoot. To capture our cool-cat boys hanging out together - yay! - AND the cute little ones, now two, also.

Here are some of the photos. I'm even going to see if I can remember which girl is which. Simone can tell us if I get it totally wrong!! Lol. My favourite shots are the last ones: where we tried to get our seven monkeys to get into the same photo. Funny.  

Oh! And I'm thinking of coming down to Sydney in a few weeks time. I might even take a few bookings  if anyone is interested :) 

  

Margot.

Tilly.

Rosa. 

Simone and her girls. 

Our biggest monkeys! 

Plus our middle two :)

Me, Simone and Tilly. I think! ;)

p.s. Don't forget to let me know if you're interested in booking a family shoot - I'd love to talk to you!

Love, Amber. XO

144/365 My Miniature Character Actor

How I wish both of my boys loved the camera as much as this little one does! Lol.

I got to spend a few rare hours with just my small-fry today while Buster B was visiting a friend. We played handball. And Boggle. We went to the markets. And drank sugar cane juice. I took a few photos of him while we hid from the sun under a beautiful old fig tree and I couldn't choose just one. They're a funny little series. So, here I present - what happens when I ask Kingsley Tiger to smile for a photo ;) Enjoy! x

Crazy kid :)

The Bangalow Billycart Derby 2014

The annual Bangalow billycart derby was held this weekend. 

Close down the main street! 

Put out the hay-bales! 

And it's racing!

As you can tell it's a real whole-town event, fun-fair, eccentricity and all ;)

Is your hometown known for a special event? Or do you have a favourite billycart moment?! x