Bat Country

Visiting the bat colony at Yarra Bend Park has been on my "Melbourne Bucket List" for some time now. Every evening at dusk the bats migrate over the city, and the park is where these leathery beasts hang out during daylight hours. Thousands of them! They make quite the freakish spectacle.

While we were there we saw this guy who had been found in a suburban garden. Luckily Wildlife Victoria could come and pick him up, and he was reunited with his batty pals. Our visit was at twilight, and there were some bands playing while we watched as the bats got ready for their evening adventures.

And we saw a cookaburra! He was unusually quiet - perhaps he was in awe of the bats too.

It's quite hard to capture on camera just how many bats there were, so I took some video footage! Check it out below for more bat action, peppered with some choice kiwi accents, marvelling at these amazing creatures.

I Love Tray

I'm in love… with a tray. The 'How Wonderful Life Is' tray to be exact! Made in Sweden and decorated with a hand drawn image by Hanna Melin. I spotted this beauty on Hello Polly and fell head over heels! I'm not sure if it was the "Your Song" lyrics that got me, or the thought of the tray laden with tea and cakes, or breakfast in bed. Anyway, I am smitten!

Hamuary

I love the idea of starting your own traditions. For Mr Meet-Cute and I, our Christmas tradition is to get a massive ham which we eat for weeks afterwards. The first two weeks of January we were eating variations of ham for pretty much every single meal. Hence, the season of 'Hamuary'. After way too many meals of ham and quinoa salad I tried to get a bit more inventive.

We finished up the last of the ham with Nigella's homemade oaty rolls and a platter of cream cheese, cornichons, and these marinated mushrooms from foodie blog Hungry & Frozen. So. Good.

See you next year, Hamuary!

{recipe video here}

{recipe here}

New year, fresh face

New colours! I have decided that my love affair with pastels ends now! Kinda… I'm trying to move on by embracing these bright, tropical colours, which lately I have been becoming more and more drawn to.

Gorman Astrid cardigan in electric lime // "L.O.V.E. Banana" video João Brasil feat. Lovefoxxx // Emily Green's colour pop necklaces // Cheap Monday Alex Stripe Moss tee // the Taco Truck bold lettering & aztec colours // Gorman Ring bikini top and high waisted bikini bottom - trés tropical.

Moonrise & Hische

Wes Anderson's just released trailer for Moonrise Kingdom has been spreading like wildfire on the internets! I'm particularly enamoured with the typography used, which was created by Jessica Hische in what she has described as "a life changing project". Hische is an inspiration to type nerds everywhere, so I would say it's a match made in heaven.

Christmas Prizes

I did rather well for myself – present wise, this last Christmas. I must say my 'Books I Want' post really paid off! And I was absolutely thrilled to recieve this Pentax camera – a lovely and unexpected gift from Mr Meet-Cute. I'm picking up my first 3 rolls of film taken over the Christmas break later today. Fingers crossed they turn out okay!

Keke

All photos from Keke, seen via thedesignfiles.

Keke is a beautiful food blog created by Kirra Jameson (who also happens to be an incredible artist). There's a lovely 'unfussiness' about the photographs and personal stories accompanying each recipe. I'd like to try my hand at this one: Chèvre Soufflés.

Dark Crystals

I'm so into these paintings of semi-precious gems and minerals by Carly Waito.

Crafty New Year

Something about this new year has made me want to start getting a bit crafty. I'm even thinking of buying a new sewing machine, to replace the one I sold before I moved to Australia. Or perhaps I'll take up needlepoint, with a super awesome project such as this Rob Ryan for Emily Peacock Tapestry Kit.

Brooklyn Digs #2

When I saw this photo of artist Johanna Burke on freunde von freunden there was something awfully familiar about it. That view and those windows …

… her apartment is in the very same building that I stayed at in New York! That I blogged about here!

Years ago the building was a pasta factory, and now it's home to a bunch of New York creatives. Honestly, everyone we ran into in the elevator was so cool, good looking and friendly - I felt like such a shy country mouse in the big city!

These photos and more (including Johanna's amazing work-in-progress sculptures) from freunde von freunden.