love affair.

well hello there strangers! hope this finds you well. time has completely escaped me. one minute it's 87 days and counting, now we're at only 11. crazy! i have 5 days of full time work left before me and saying goodbye to work friends at the end of the day is beginning to make me teary. i've spent nearly 4 and a half years at the gallery, met incredible people, artists, seen and been a part of activities that i would never have been privy to as a visitor. as mentioned in a previous post, i had the ultimate pleasure of meeting the likes of yoshitomo nara, andy goldsworthy, ron mueck and taking part in my very first performance art piece at goma alongside the fabulous parachute ladies. some days have been long and tiring, others i've felt like the days just aren't long enough. my time here has only reaffirmed that my heart lies deep within the art world, changing my perspectives on many global issues and inspiring my own art practice. i have fallen in love many times over, spent hours talking to patrons about art and many more hours chatting to my colleagues. i have never been so inspired by my surroundings and i will look back on my time at qagoma with only the fondest of memories. i am beyond excited about adventuring across the world and seeing what europe has to offer me, and the inspiration that awaits me behind the doors of the kunsthal, the tate and the prado. from the very first time i set foot inside goma, overwhelmed by the amazingness that was warhol, to watching mueck vacuum his giant baby sculpture, to hearing goldsworthy speak of new site specific works, to watching in awe the making of nara's mobile studio...my love for contemporary art has blossomed by the bucket load. this experience has gone beyond being just a job, it's a full blown love affair, my happy place...where i'll be leaving a little piece of my heart as i go.

my heart.

my heart is a champion wanderer. it's not too frivolous or flirty but definately has it's favourite places where it prefers to spend it's time. for the past almost 3 years it has regained it's independence, lent itself to my job and my love for vintage and allowed me to be continually inspired by what life has to offer me. since returning from europe in july, my heart has been working harder than ever before. i have never felt so alive and so sure of where i will be heading next. tonight i booked a one way ticket to london. on february 20th i make my way to london for a week, see my best friend and family, test the job waters and then follow my heart to rotterdam. who would have known that this would be what my life had in store for me? i have no concrete plans, but with some dollars in my pocket, a thirst for letting my creative side run wild and a heart bursting with love, i can do nothing but go with all my heart. i at least owe it that. 

nara love.

pattern love.

goma love.

floral love.

bike love.

new hangout love.

shoe love.

neighbourhood love.

life lately.

life lately, or as i like to describe it....an excuse to show you pretty pictures and a couple of my latest oppy finds. it's one of my favourite things to blog about as there's no real direction and i can go off on a million different tangents and yet come together at the end with some sort of unified message. pretty much my life story. i'm tucking into a freshly baked friand as we speak, an impulse saturday afternoon bake off that has turned out deliciously well. they're one of my favourite things to bake, no icing, gluten free and very little sugar. i'll take the remaining 10 or so down to the coast tomorrow where i'll spend the afternoon sushi'ing, beaching and afternoon teaing with two of my favourites. i've got london on my mind and i'm feeling more motivated than usual. i'm adorning my $96 stretchy pants and walking home from work, infact, walking everywhere i can and loving it. i'm grabbing this burst of energy with both hands and am waiting with great anticipation for rachel castle's screenprinting class in late october. here i was complaining about the days crawling by and now i can barely work out what month we're in. it's the season of family birthdays and before i know it, i'll be whipping up yorkshire puddings to michael buble's christmas carols. the days are warm and at a perfect temperature, unlike what is expected come christmas. i've taken a vow to enjoy this last aussie summer, for i have been warned that i'll need some summer sunshine to cling on to whilst dressed to the nines in 17 layers and cradling a hot chocolate the size of my head. i tried on my winter coat the other day, it hasn't seen the light of day for a year and even though i was sweating at the time, i couldn't contain my excitement imagining it teamed with cute boots, skinny jeans and a floral scarf. of course not everyday will be that cute, i can see my trackies becoming a staple and socks? i hate socks...but i'm sure they'll soon become my best friend. i've lost count of how many tangents i've taken you on, but here we are, coming to a close and the message for this week? life is too unpredictable and short to not be lived exactly as you please. love your most important people and tell them so, as often as possible. love and friands for the week ahead.

spring and strawberries, my current favourite combo.

vintage floral treats picked up at the oppy today. delicious.

rifle paper co products never cease to inspire me. this one will house all of my textile design inspirations.

culling my beautiful crockery collection to make life lighter for the move. these babies made the cut of course.

the perfect kind of mail from my mama. she knows me too well.

walking through my neighbourhood this morning, stopping every 10 mins to snap my local delights.

falling deeper and deeper in love with my galleries. portrait of spain is rocking everyone's socks off at the moment.

golden coast.

where do i begin? i had one of the most blissful days cruising the coast with one of my favourites, popping into a couple of oppies, discovering new favourite nooks, wandering the markets in miami and chatting & instagramming our way through afternoon tea at a gorgeous coast cafe. after a night of dancing (and screaming, as promised) to the new tunes of one of my longest loves at a rather too cool for school club, a lazy sleep-in and breakfast cooked for me, ash and i decided to leave our boys/wingmen and head out for a day on the coast. ash having lived in tweed and me in the deep forests of mudgeeraba, we had a few places we wanted to revisit and reminisce over. a couple of my favourite oppies turned up some treats, the beautiful shop 'little love and happiness' which is a beautiful gift/florist combo hidden in the tallebudgera valley delivered copious amounts of eye candy whilst an afternoon of wandering rummage in the miami marketta had me inspired up to the eyeballs. an artist studio lined laneway packed with suitcases selling some rather special second hand goods (a few that i deemed especially perfect enough to come home with me) and chats over vintage florals had me completely besotted. bumping into a fellow blogger and gorgeous crafter trudie from vintage vow had a stall beaming with staffordshire potteries goodness, handcrafted clutches, story books and vintage floral. those treats i will share with you tomorrow. was so lovely to meet you in person trudie and i look forward to extending my handmade clutch collection in the near future. after some glorious chats, eye candy overload and lighter purses we decided it was best we refuel at a little well loved cafe nearby. vegan banana bread complete with ricotta and honey accompaniments soon became best friends with my belly and chats with my lovely partner in crime turned to old stories and talk of future dreams. i really had the best day, made even better by the company i kept. tomorrow i head into the gallery to perform with some rather fabulous ladies in partnership with the new exhibition. if you're around goma at 3.30 tomorrow afternoon, be sure to keep an eye out for some sneaky tap dancing behaviour. hope your weekend has started just as beautifully. i'll be back tomorrow with some of today's finds. goodnight!

love and happiness abounds here.

floral love.

rummaging through positively perfect fabrics.

gorgeous displays.

amazing colours

and treasure.

wallpaper lined displays.

cafe love.

pretty arrangements.

best banana bread, ever.

the perfect end to a perfect day.

tis the season.

to be blessed. because ladies & gents, i am one lucky mf. i don't want to break blog etiquette with that kinda language but since hearing emily say shit on her blog a while back i thought it may just be ok. that's not the point though, but just how lucky i am, is. this week has been a long one. adding some overtime into the mix seemed like a great idea for the added $$ at the beginning of the week but by the time friday came about, i was suffering from friday sickness rather than fever and just wishing for it to be over. i'd even lost my instagram mojo (for all of 15 minutes, but still) and the bubble of the lovely weekend i had planned just seemed to burst, right there in gallery 12 around 3pm underneath nolan's mrs fraser. boo freakin hoo. so i put my sorry arse on the 204 and stopped off at coles to buy the essentials. quality street chocolates (christmas in a tin), yorkshire pudding mix and the december issue of country style.

mood had begun to lift (helped a bit by the smell that was emminating from the chocolate tin) so i wandered home and stumbled across a little pop up shop, right there, smack bang in the middle of my neighbourhood. screaming footy/cricket/whatever fans aside that were bustling about the place...i had uncovered a treasure and so i stepped inside. australian flora and fauna, fabrics and christmas decorations, vintage signs and letters, napery, vintage stationary essentials and even a moustache on a mug were to be found inside. i walked away with a couple of pressies but knew a quick once over wasn't going to be enough. arriving home in darkness and to an unlocked gate (this always means the postie/courier has come), i squealed at the sight of TWO parcels awaiting me. vintage floral found on etsy in one and a love package from mama in the other. a truly perfect end to a rather abnormally average friday.

the first saturday treasure hunt stop for kimberley, amy and i was returning to the pop up shop. in i went, girls in tow to show off the treasure i'd found the night before. more goodies purchased and off we went to my lovely local oppy and where many finds over time had been uncovered with my two best friends (who are currently living their dream lives in europe). the 20c price tags aren't the only thing that keep me coming back. the ladies who volunteer there are completely charming. a few giggles about me not quite fitting into the mini powder blue smocked purchase were exchanged and then we were off to apples for brunch. avocado on organic sourdough which rested upon retro melmac was the icing on the morning's treasure hunting cake. the opportunity to catch up with the gorgeous owners (hi kim, if you're reading this in your car) and the chat of possibly becoming the new owner of their johnson mug collection, was delightful.

since having my iphone and falling completely head over heels in love with instagram and it's 1977 effect awesomeness, i am able to capture the simple beauty that surrounds me, everyday, everywhere. it didn't take an iphone for me to work that out, but it makes capturing it and sharing it so much more fun. so, i come to my photos from the week. i've compiled a 'few' collages for you to gaze upon and for those of you following me on instagram, thank you, thank you and thank you. your feedback has been lovely and i am completely inspired by your happy places too. your comments on here and on the gram mean a whole lot to me and always have, so thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. you make me want to explore more corners and delve deeper into the beautiful life that i lead. and yes, my life is completely beautiful and i feel so blessed to be living it, for having you in it and to be driven to move forward and discover more of it. i am a very lucky girl and i thank you for coming along for the ride. i'll be back tomorrow with some snippets of my afternoon pottering about the rummage and general sunday behaviour. happy weekend all!

my saturday.

my week's florals.

my hood.

my gallery.

my christmas!

my other gallery.

my baking.

my thrifted finds.

sunday at the gallery.

i've been at the gallery for just over three years now. the love affair continues. i spent this beautiful afternoon with some cool kids at the gallery, checking out the fabulous cartier-bresson exhibition. i get to admire his work almost daily but an excuse to head back into the gallery on my day off has never phased me. i am in love with my beautiful gallery and it constantly reminds me how lucky we are as a city to be showcasing such beauty. of course i sometimes get bored, or my legs get tired from wandering the back galleries all day...but there is always a small moment of time that is spent with a certain artwork, that completely inspires me and takes my breath away.

i thought i would share a few of my favourites with you from our extensive collection. goma is another story and even though much more contemporary and sometimes a little overwhelming, i will never forget the moment i walked into the warhol exhibition nearly 5 years ago. it was love at first sight and for that very reason, why i will always hold goma close to my heart. we popped into the new kusama exhibition and although a small sneak peek into her dot-filled world, was engaging and completely charming. the photos speak for themselves.

the lovely visitors that i get to chat with during my day outweigh the odd weirdo who won't take 2 minutes out of their time to really look at a work of art. i don't aim to educate everyone, the artwork can speak for itself...but if you're lucky, you'll walk away from at least one work of art with a sense of enlightenment that will most surely stay with you forever.

the pink room. packed with beauty.

cool cats admiring the colonial works.

rivers & olley. charming in every way.

hickey & fairweather. i could look at these works allll day.

tucker & long (closest we'll get to a goldsworthy for a while!)

kusama working her magic.

like a kid in a candy store.

posers.

dotty love.

playing in 'obliteration of dots'.

a sheet of stickers each to place wherever we wished. too much fun.

i missed my gallery buddy.

kirkland love.

audrey.

coco.

catherine.

andy.

marilyn.

dean, judy & frank.

brigitte.

working at the gallery of modern art has it's high points, which is pretty much everyday for me. douglas kirkland's celebrity photographs are on display until sunday. they are beautiful, elegant and revealing. here are a few of my favs from his collection. i could, and do, look at them all day. if you have time to get to goma before the end of sunday, you won't be disappointed.