Tina from Hi Tree is celebrating her birthday and fall collection by giving away two of her beauty autumn maple trees. There's 3 ways to enter into the draw -love1. Twitter (not a member, don't ever plan to be!)2. Post on FB3. Blog (the OBVIOUS choice!)loveSo between the dates of September 21st - 28th she's giving 15% of your total order in her shop. Isn't the tree scrumptious?! 
Please be mine! hehe shameless i tell ya!!
I heart romantic comedies with a passion!! Somehow i love that they are completely predictable and teary worthy but I've seen a million of these movies and it's starting to make me kinda numb!So lately i've been starving for something new & original that grabs all my heart strings, gives it an all mighty tug & makes me wanna get up from my seat applauding (tho i doubt this will ever happen) To my delight '500 days of summer' did all that and more. I walked away with the biggest grin on my face and was so engrossed in the film i completely forgot to eat the chocolate bar in my bag which is unheard of in Livvy's world.Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and adorable Zooey Deschanel, this movie is about the deconstruction of a relationship, from day 1 to 500. With an awesome soundtrack and amazing chemistry between the leads this is no ordinary love story. You'll find yourself hooked from the beginning to end and leave wanting more. I send out a HUGE recommendation to anyone who loves a good love flick that's left of center and breaks away from all of Hollywood's cliched notion of love.
Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!
Every now and again a few of us Perthie sellers from etsy get together for something known as 'meet & make'. Everyone brings a plate and over lunch we catch up on the latest market goss, what's happening online, and there was even a show & tell today =)Today's meeting was hosted by lovely Pam from Get Silvered and the spread was like 'woahh!' (good job everyone!) There was sushi, pizza, frittata, salad, carrot cake, scones, gluten free chocolate cake (which i totally forgot to have a piece of Niina!) and much more.It's so wonderful to know a group of people who know exactly what you're going through and are there to support and throw creative ideas around. Can't wait for the next meet up ladies =)** other attendants were Lara from Smith & Bird and Annie from 17 threads (sorry girls and Pam, i didn't get to take a picture of you but i won't forget the next time hehe)
Another fave piece for an upcoming Olive Farm photo shoot =)
Don't you just love when pictures turn out the way you imagine them in your head?
Hubby is away on camp and i don't mean like how 12 year old's go on camp, i mean he's facilitating in an event known as RYLA where they take young adults, throw them in the woods and build character attributes such as confidence ( in a less cave man manner like i'm describing). His participation is voluntary however since hubby himself attended RYLA a few years ago i guess he wants to give something back, one of many reasons why he's such a great guy =)
HOWEVER.... this means i'm home alone.
Being home alone as a kid was exciting. I would often snoop in my sisters room to gather evidence should i ever need it for a sticky situation but now that i'm a grown up and living in my own house, i dreaded hubby leaving for fear of all things that go bump in the night. I've been sitting here for the past 3, maybe 4 hours listening to Eat Pray Love and working on Olive Farm when it suddenly dawned on me 'i haven't said anything in the last 4 hours!!', not one word, squeak or sound, which is unusual for someone normally so chatty.
In this silence my mind is rested and calm.
Creativity is flowing and my breathing is almost rhythmical.
With all the everyday stresses that i carry on my shoulders i am, at least for a little while, peaceful.I guess sometimes you just gotta shut the hell up!
I'm not usually one to read 'self help' books but this one really appealed to me after watching the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, on Oprah talk about her experiences in Italy. She truly is a magical, talented, amazing writer and this book lifted my spirits so high I was walking around in a secret bubble of absolute giddiness for a few days after reading it.
So you can imagine my thrill when I discovered the book on audio (actually hubby found it), which made me immediately change my usual playlist of old school R&B to her. Like most people, I work with music playing from my computer but now instead of smooth tunes from Marvin Gaye & Stevie Wonder I have Elizabeth describing the delicious pizza they serve in Naples and her voice is so comforting I feel I'm right there with her =)
Just a sneak peak on another piece i've been working on =)
started with an outline
decided to fill the design with glass beads
close up of almost finished piece
I'm not going to lie, this question use to scare me when i first decided to start Olive Farm. Running your own label isn't the norm. I mean its crazy hours, virtually no pay when you first start, flooded with extreme emotions of doubt, insecurities and fear. Why would anyone want to run their own business, especially in the design world? They didn't come up with the term 'starving artist' for nothing haha
So when i explain what i do to strangers of course they become curious to how is it i've decided to pull myself away from the herd and do something... well... different. I've yet to find an answer i'm completely satisfied with and claiming 'i just love it' doesn't seem enough but that's my answer ' i just LOVE it!'. I am my own boss. I work from home so i have the luxury of wearing pj's & uggys to work on days i'm feeling lazy. I can have a break whenever i feel like it and all the success i achieve from my business is from a direct result of all the blood, sweat and tears i put in.There's positive and negative in everything however personally for me deciding to start something different has my creative side dancing about in pure joy. I'm nothing if not creative and for as long as i remember i've kept that girl tamed and now she runs around free as a bird, how can i not be happy?
Realistically though I doubt i would of been able to pursue this dream if it wasn't for the support of my family, friends and darling husband. Thank you for believing in me =)
Enjoying lunch with the ladies
For entree we had scrumptious mushroom & asparagus risotto with creme fraiche & walnut crumble , grilled prawns in garlic and herb butter with potato saffron pave & tomato and fennel concasse, & salmon and avocado carpaccio with a blood orange and basil vinaigrette. YUM!
4 outta the 7 girls couldn't resist the fabulous crispy skinned saltwater Barramundi fillet, with caponata vegetables and lemon basil aioli. Have to go back for this one!
And for my dessert i picked the vanilla bean crème brulée, blackberry compote and almond tuile. Sooooooo good!
