Hey everyone!

So we just spent the last fortnight in China, visiting the historical city of Beijing and awesome Shanghai following the most amazing year in France and Paris.

At long last, we touched down to home Sydney soil yesterday morning and are now back in our respective beds. It feels weird being back, more weird than having no Facebook, Youtube or Tumblr access for a full fortnight in China due to the Firewall there. (Which explains our MIA!!)

I guess we’ll experience a whole group of different and complex emotions within the next few days and weeks as we eventually get back into our old rhythm and reality that is Sydney life.

All the memories, moments and friends that we’ve had and made during our year abroad are special and will not be forgotten. It was so hard to say goodbye, or rather see you soon as we do hope that we will get the chance to see a lot of the people in the upcoming few years… since you know, Sydney is the place to be with its beautiful beaches and weather for most of the year.

Since Gareth and I do not live under the same roof anymore, the status of Les Deux is currently a ‘not-quite-sure’, but we shall see after we talk about it. Nonetheless, photos and memories from our China leg will definitely be up, of course!

But for now, I am off the optometrist to see what is going on with my eye :)

xx H

Here’s a sneak peek into our recently very eventful and fantastic weekend!

Have a guess at where we went - one full of flowers, one full of clay…

All will be revealed very soon :)
Have a great start of the week everybody!

Hmm…. bean sprouts? Plant sprouts? Any guesses what they are??

That’s right… onions turned bad and sprouting! This is definitely how onions should NOT look like!! :/

Basically, when we were leaving for Budapest + Prague recently and were cleaning out the kitchen, we did indeed forget to look under the sink cupboard… where we normally keep onions, garlic etc. We had a new batch of onions and only discovered this afternoon that…. they were still there….

HAPPY FRIDAY everyone :)

UPDATE:
I got us a Flickr PRO account (*happy dance*) - so for now, come check it out for the first of our City Snapshots!

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How great did the cast of the Sylvia ballet look??? I loved it immensely, particularly as ballet is one of my new passions (though I can’t dance!) that developed during my adolescence. The finesse in which they move their entire body, the elaborate and beautiful costumes, the music that takes you to that same place else… everything is so perfectly crafted to create such magical masterpieces. I would definitely recommend seeing at least one ballet performance for anyone that has not yet done so!

It was also recently that I realised that it goes perfectly hand in hand (my love for ballet) with my adoration for Edgar Degas, the french painter. Who literally blows me away every time I see a painting of his, particularly those featuring his beloved ballerinas or race horses. Being in Paris certainly doesn’t help, since an abundance of his works are on display in various museums and art galleries around town. Breathing this city, combined with the chance to travel to many other exotic European countries, has definitely fed my inspiration monkey for the past couple of months. It has certainly been a long time coming, since the last time I remember the monkey being awake was first year of uni (2007)…. goodness, studying accounting and finance really does do things to you, doesn’t it? ;)

Nevertheless, it feels great to be re-inspired and getting back to my creative roots makes me feel so comfortable and never want to leave this happy place. I’ve always wanted to make a life out of my creativity. In the past few months, it has definitely weighed on my mind a bit more but actually putting it into action is the hard part. Where do I start? I don’t even know for sure what it is that I am best at and what I should start off with… too many creative passions + not enough time + indecisiveness = makes not a good recipe!

Throughout my many creative musings however, I’ve come up with several ideas that I’ve been excited about… perhaps start an accessories line (I’ve got a couple of sample pieces in my head, yay!) or start sewing again and make a few limited pieces to see how that goes… save up for a new DSL camera and get more into photography… further develop my website-building and programming skills. So many possibilities, can you feel the creative rush alongside the frustration?? At least I am in the process on developing a new website idea with a friend these days… taking some time but we shall see how it goes :) And what about everything else? Well, when I finally get my butt back to Sydney, time will tell, and who knows what will happen! But you will certainly find out here!

Well I leave you guys to it for today, no doubt you’ve heard enough of me talking for a while. A rather busy day for me today, with dozens of uni projects to finish by the end of the week and homework pieces, the pile’s too high!! So here’s some inspirational art by Degas:

Swaying Dancer, Edgar Degas

As Gareth and I were walking home the other day, we finally noticed how the trees and bushes around our residence were green! Gone are the days of depressing leaf-less trees and that terribly cold Winter feeling.

Although honestly, no matter how cold and dreary the weather is in Paris, I still found it beautiful, even the leaf-less trees (Gareth disagrees!)

I’ve been wanting to put up these photos for a while, just a few snapshots I took a month ago when it was nearing the end of Winter and a few friends and I decided to walk around after having dinner in Paris.

Now with Spring having truly arrived, these are a reminiscence of the end of my first European winter ♥

Have a great weekend everyone :)