216/365 Afternoon Skies

5pm. Bangalow. 

Tuscan Afternoons { When You're Not in Tuscany }

When I woke this morning, it was weirdly hazy.

And it's funny because it was also warmer than usual, and as I stepped outside, I felt like I was somewhere else...

The warmth and the subdued light.

Then, this afternoon as I drove north along the Pacific Highway towards the Gold Coast I realised that it was smoke; there was obviously a rather large fire just to the south of Tweed Heads and as the sun started to set everything was turning to honey.

And I was in Tuscany. 

Beautiful, beautiful Tuscany! Ahhhhh, to travel when you are not travelling. Dreamy bliss!!

I pulled the car over to breathe it in and capture its glory. A few minutes later as I crossed the Tweed River the golden ball of sun slipped deeper into the smoke and turned into a perfect crimson sphere. There was nowhere to stop so that moment just stains my memory with its beauty right now... but I at least have this one to share with you.

When was the last time you were transported to another time and place? Tell me, tell me.
Amber. XO

208/365 Bangalow Glow

Good morning from Bangalow!

It's so pretty out there { and so chilly inside } I must go and get out into it! Have a great Thursday everyone. It's almost the we-we-weekend!!

p.s. I'm off the the Byron Bay Writer's Fest on Sunday. What are you weekend plans? 
Amber. XO

203/365 Double Rainbow | Lennox Head

Wednesday. 4:30pm.

Double rainbows rock my world. 

I spotted this beauty dancing above Lennox Head.

Time to DETOX | Part 1 of my Forest Detox Adventures!

So, in case you didn't know - I like food :)

I like coffee.
And wine.
And chocolate.

I also LOVE fruit and vegetables, nuts, crazy raw sprouted living things and green smoothies; I LOVE healthy food. But yeah, sometimes the coffee / wine / chocolate bit gets the BEST of me. And toast? Evil, evil toast; the busy/lazy person’s solution to breakfast-lunch-dinner. Eeeeeek. Are you with me here?? { Btw, you can tell a persons eating patterns from their instagram I find - hahaha - sneak a peak here to see if I'm falling on the good or the bad side today! }

Yes, sometimes we let things slip, and then they slide and then, we’re finding ourselves needing these ‘crutches’ just to get through the day. This has been me the past few months.

And I knew I wanted to make some changes.

But habits are funny things aren’t they? They grip on; they whisper sweet nothings in our ears. Sometimes you have to stand up and walk away from them. Even if just for a day. And somehow that little break; that little break is all the difference you need.

So, here I was, filling my weeks with 'busy'. Having two large coffees a day { that’s four, sometimes five shots FFS }. And my energy was a bit flat, I was putting on weight { eeek! } and feeling disappointed in my willpower - when a wonderful invitation drifted my way…

Somehow through an act of sweet serendipity I had connected with Sahar at Organic Miracles. Firstly, at the Creative Business Women’s High Tea and then through the post I wrote when I read about the Forest Detox’s that she had been dreaming of holding on her property in the hinterland outside of Byron Bay! Sahar read the post and reached out - she was holding a trial detox day; with some of her closest  friends. Would I like to join them? Ummmm, I didn’t have to think long about that one ;) YES! Yes, please. I need that in my life!

So on the very last day of the school holidays, when I was most in need of a some self-love, I dragged myself out of my warm bed, refused the toast and the coffee, drank a cup of hot water and lemon juice as prescribed and headed out into the hills…

Ready to detox.

The day lived up to every expectation; in fact, it surpassed my expectations. I connected with a new group of beautiful, smart, compassionate women. I stretched my body; I was cleansed and blessed. I scrubbed away those lingering habits and reconnected with my own needs and wants. I also acknowledged that I don’t want to do a full detox right now { I do a big detox about once a year } but that I needed to bring more consciousness to my eating patterns and clarity to my meal preparation. Time. Focus. Yes, slow down and breathe. Ha! Isn’t that ALWAYS the lesson?! It is for me.

I also took a lot of photos.

I took so many, in fact that I think I’m going to present them across a few different posts :) This will be Part One: From our arrival to the smudge stick cleaning and blessing we all received, and our first green juice.

Part Two will be yoga, kombucha, our spa/sauna/body scrub, flower petal creations and final juices. And if it’s okay with Sahar, I will do another post showing you her house. Because, she really has created a magical life for herself and her beautiful family. Are you ready to see?

Arriving. 

The morning was icy in the shadows, but the house was beautifully warm. We were nine, including Sahar, her mother and sister, Rosa, Shayna, Elke, Margarita, Madeleine and myself. Our introductions made we headed out into the sunshine.

Freshly picked Lemon Myrtle Leaves were added to our welcome tea. 

Dragon Fruit broke our fast. 

Our gracious host, Sahar.

Our first round of smoothies { ready and waiting for a shake! } in the sunshine. 

Green Glowing Smoothie; Moringa powder, Wilsons Creek spring water, lemon, kale, apple, pear and banana.

Yum.

Our chatty sunshine-energy earthed itself; our busy minds slowed and centered themselves, as Sahar first cleansed each of us with the smoke from a home-bound smudge-stick and followed through with a guided meditation.

Amazing. I do love a guided meditation. I did lots while I was pregnant but not so many in recent years... something I might have to reintroduce into my life. Revitalised and refocused we gathered ourselves, our yoga mats, and got ready to soar!

What habits you need to clear and shift in your life? What habits do you need to reintroduce? Let's talk.  Amber. XO

p.s. Part Two is now on the blog! You can read it here :)x

201/365 Freelensing In The Rain

I haven't been doing much freelensing  - a photography technique where you physically remove the lens from your DSLR camera to create tilt-shift inspired macro photography - recently { which is funny because I got seriously obsessed with it a few months back! See here and here } but when I saw this gorgeous leaf kissed by raindrops my mind jumped straight back to the idea.

Have you tried freelensing? Do you have any other fun photography tricks to share?  
Amber. XO

188/365 The Busy Bee

Lavender.
Bees.
Blue sky needs.
Nestled below the teddy bear tree.
A world of neighbourhood pleasures. 

The Simple Extravagance of Nature | A Byron Bay Sunset

T said he needed to walk on the beach.

Too much screen time up my sleeves - I readily agreed. We bundled our boys straight from the school bus and into Byron. They said The Pass. 

We parked at the top of the hill and walked the track down. The trees closing in on us brought an early darkness that spilt us out at the bottom onto the sand and the most sublime sunset.

Ohhhhhh...

T walked.

The boys ran. 

And I was lost in light and colour.

The sun set over the water, the sky blending from a golden yellow to fiery burnt orange and when it finally dipped completely beneath the craggy mountainscape of Mt Warning and I didn't think it could get more beautiful a wave of pink swept in from the right; it swept right around from Wategos beach and.. it turned everything into magic.

{ You can actually watch a video I posted on instagram that night if you like - turn off the sound; it was windy! }

Oh,
Mother Nature you are just SO sublime.
So heartbreakingly beautiful.

I am still in awe of the amazing theatre of colour that danced around me that night. These are the moments that stop us. That keep our eyes open and our hearts singing. That fill us up with reserves of bliss and gratitude for life. The extravagances of a life lived simply.

Where do you go to find your bliss? What fills you up and keeps you going? Please share :)

Amber. XO

180/365 Pelican Power!

8:15 am | Main Beach Byron Bay.

Hello little guy! I've never seen you here before but you look at home :)

179/365 Organic Miracles | WIN a Moringa Detox Day in the Byron Bay Hinterland

One of the funny things that can happen when you are completing a #365 photo challenge { like I am } is that some days you take a crazy amount of shots and put together an über-big post only to realise that you didn't save anything for the 365!

That just happened here :) Hello Creative Business Women's Morning Tea post!

So I went back through the photos I had edited from Sunday... was there anything pretty that didn't make the post? Ahhhhh, yes! Loooooooook!

This photo of the Organic Miracles iced-tea { avec masses of beautiful mint #love } came out of the final post because - well, because it was too green!!! Hahaha. I couldn't find the right spot in the visual rhythm of the story for a blast of green. 

I also didn't include this image, below, of Sahar from OM because I had two others of her in black and white { she is stupidly photogenic } - one featuring her gorgeous crochet dress - and um, yeah it was busting some green :) So I'm going to include it here now too!

Perfect. 

And then something serendipitous happened - I visited the Organic Miracles site to get the links I wanted for this post - and discovered their new competition... Oh! Win a Moringa Detox Day in the Byron Bay Hinterland? Yes please! 

And in the true spirit of sharing the love I'm sharing it here :) Details below. Get entering!

WIN A MORINGA DETOX DAY IN THE BYRON BAY HINTERLANDS

Organic Miracles is so excited to be sharing this very special day with you in the forest. This will be the first event of many at my beautiful abode in the Byron Bay Hinterlands. The day will be spent detoxing with a 6 juice cleanse, moringa tea, yoga, meditation, sauna, hot tub, body scrubs, nature rainforest walk and witnessing the miracle of life. I have been waiting to open my home to all women who would like to experience a day of true nourishment and connection. The first event is invite only and of course to our winner of the Moringa detox day. The winner can bring a friend to share this magical day in the rainforest. I will keep you posted with upcoming events.

TO ENTER: Please LIKE us and SHARE this post on Facebook or FOLLOW us on Instagram @organicmiracles, repost photo and hash tag #organicmiracles

The detox day will be drawn randomly on Saturday, July 26th 2014 and announced on the Organic Miracles Instagram page and Facebook page. The detox day will be held on Saturday, August 2nd 2014

Let me know if you enter and double-triple let me know if you WIN!

It sounds like it will be an amazing day. I may well be entering myself because believe it or not I actually didn't get to taste the tea on Sunday { I often miss things because my camera steals my complete attention!  Grrrr pretty photo / #teafail } and I just read that it was a mix of Organic Moringa, ginger, raw honey, saffron, lemon and mint iced tea. Le sigh. Add some yoga, a hot tub, body scrub and a dash of juice cleansing?! Booyah!

Do you like to detox?

Amber. XO

175/365 Weeds and Wildflowers

Creating a beautiful life is about being present, open, grateful. It's in the sweet little details.

You don't need extravagance.
Sometimes you just need weeds and wildflowers.

Yes?