#1 Photography In a Week (PIAW)

QVB, On business adventure.

NELSON BAY, Some half decent Polaroids.

ANU CANBERRA, Idly strolling through education. 

ANU CANBERRA, "Why deregulate?"

ENGLAND  CANBERRA, A remarkable lake.

SCOTLAND CANBERRA, - with stepping stones.

New Segment Alert: A Week of Photography

Where I share a little of my fav pics of the week! 

Taken from my DSLR and iphone (the quality says it all), this gives you a bit of an insight to my daily routine without the commitment of a vlog, you know, no strings attached. Hope that's all good with you.

Stick around for upcoming posts, we are loaded and ready to get back to content delivering!

Festival Virgin: Splendour Bender Edition

New milestone in life – I am a festival virgin no more! Leading up to Splendour I was almost talking myself out about the long travel, the packing and rainy weather – also, I’ll admit, the camping (I am not of the same substance as Bear Grylls).

For all you gal readers out there (and maybe guys too) who are imploding with both excitement and anxiousness about the festival experience, here’s to you! 

The tips are a guide only and I haven’t been to near as many festivals to be that knowledgeable so I’m coming from more of a “I survived” category.

 

Wise Words
1. Festivals are known for their immaculate toileting facilities (said no one ever so pack the sanitiser/wipes)
2. Stay hydrated with the H2O – you don’t want to lose that mosh spot because you or your friend just had to faint...
3. Check the weather – not the “Iphone weather”, I swear by the Bureau of Meterology lol

For Happy Festival Times:
Mini Bag – for the essential phone, cash, ID etc
Sunnies + Hat
Deodorant
Empty water bottle – security will make you pour it out even though it doesn’t smell like vodka

 

For Happy Camping (most are self-explanatory and in no order):
Hiking mat – you get a sore enough back standing in the mosh etc for each line up
Comb – the “I woke up like this” look doesn’t always go your way here)Thermal Sleeping Bag
Torch – you don’t want to trip over someone’s tent peg (awkward)
Hand Wipes + Sanitiser
Serviettes/Toilet roll
Spare dry socks – nothings more worse or colder than wet feet!
Plastic Bags – for washing and other things you don’t want to worry about until you get home
Resealable Bag – for keeping matches and instant coffee dry
Tent – lol why not
Shampoos/conditioner/soap/other toiletries
Raincoat + gumbooties
Deodorant – even though you showered you’ll still smell like a festival in no time!
Make up + mirror – brows, mascara, eyeliners are the bare essentials!

Outfit
Do you want to do festivals right? Of course you do now proceed to drooling over pictures of festival goddesses Vanessa Hudgens, Coachella Vic Secret squad (goals much) and fashion mags.
Clothing stores also awaken from their slumber of seasonal pieces (even in Winter) and deck out some festival inspo. Also... embrace the GLITTER!

So here’s to the first (and not the last) festival – unless you live for festivals, I salute you.

MVPD
xx

On the Road Again

Tips for road trips
My parents are big on the 'you must see your home country because you explore abroad' hence why I have only ever been overseas once - to Vietnam. Hence why we always go on road trips like drive to Melbourne if we have a spare week.

 

So I've seen my fair share of little country NSW towns and gigantic landmarks like the Big Pineapple in Bunderberg and the Big Merino in Goulburn!

Now that means I slightly (only slightly) fancy myself the semi-ultimate road tripper so here's a little guide of how to survive the sore bottom, the leg cramps, solve the playlist dilemma and have you looking happy and fab (non hobo) at your destination.

 

1. I hope I don't need to tell you this already but: UPDATE YOUR IPOD. You can only go so far with the last sync circa 2010. Seriously, challenge yourself to listen to all the songs that come on shuffle (that's right - don't you skip that Hannah Montana track).

2. Plan de snacks.
Don't immediately go for your chips and crisps because: chips/crackers = dehydrate = drink water = busting for the non-existent toilet on the road (AKA The Water Cycle).
So get some hydrating snacks in the cooler bag too like fruit, carrots/cucumbers/Celery with dip.

3. Pack plenty of water - stay hydrated kids!

4. Pack simple cutlery in case you make that grocery stop and don't have the props to, for example, demolish your shared tub of ice cream!

5. Girls (and guys) pack all your face essentials or you’ll be wishing your face didn't look like a peeling mandarin.

6. Be equipped with thongs so those little toes of yours actually get to see the light (would you want to be crammed in sneakers for a 6 hour road trip – didn’t think so). Show your neck some love too with a contour pillow!

 

7. SUNNIES – last thing you need are holes in your retina to stop you from enjoying the passing landscape!

8. Don’t always Bypass the towns (unless its Bowral  - I joke). Country towns for some reason usually have a sweets store and of course nice cafes and homey bakeries for your lunch fix. (BONUS: non-cliche insta photo of a cafe no one else in Sydney has been)

 

9. If you can, plan a road trip where you can visit the Weekend markets! Places like Byron Bay have farmers and miscellaneous markets – just check which weekend of the month they’re open!

So there you have it, my list that hasn’t quite let me down yet. I’ll leave you to fight over who drives and who does the washing :P

Seriously, road trips are where memories are made!

MVPD xx

Devon Cafe Review

I don't know about you but when fellow brunchers post and snap about this mysterious 'Aphrodite's Bowl' from Devon Cafe in Surry Hills, something ignites in me - a curiosity (duh) and part that likes 'pretty things'.

100% sure I was eating Happiness in a bowl....

With the havoc of uni exams and assignments forcing you to compromise with quick dodgy mascara, el-DAG attires and cycling between the same three shoes.... the time had come to finally 'feel pretty' hehe. (Not endorsing that this bowl has supernatural powers capable of solving all our issues - I wish)

Disclaimer: The sis had not finished exams yet so was not allowed to celebrate despite it being a 'Government Politics' unit.

So us superior second years went and brunched in style. Devon is one of those cafes that kinda surprise you the way it looks cause all you see from other bloggers and Instagram is table + food + beverages. But we loved the seating at the back - very courtyard garden-y minus actual foliage.

The only non-food picture evidence of actual Devon interior
since we were waay too engrossed with snapshoting our food
(I mean hello, Aphrodite's own bowl was in front of me)!

We ordered two 'Naked Bruschetta' (didn't come with diced tomatoes for all you tomato lovers out there!). But the goats cheese was juuuuust right (I swear cafes always get it right here - never too salty!) and don't we all love roasted beetroots with avo? Also- shout out to the egg (always the egg) and thinly roasted slices of beetroot and radish (yum yum in my tum tum).

While there were other items on the menu - in this episode I was again  'girl on a mission'. In a nutshell (description totally not doing it justice here) it's a rice pudding garnished with rose petals, pistachio and crunchy honeycomb with a dollop of chia jam. I think rose water may come into the equation somewhere but my senses don't tingle as well as Spidey's.

Please excuse the bruschetta at the back looking
like a dark star :P

 The ratio of rice to actually pudding-ness (I'm sorry if I'm politically incorrect) was a little low for my liking if I think of rice pudding past times. But with this said, garnishes on point! They add the right chew and crunch (and at the right time too- magical?) so you can be assured you're not just having bby food. Tops to Devon on their chia jam too, went great with each pudding spoonful! So Aphrodite's Bowl did deliver and now I literally want a little elf or something preparing me this every morning for breakfast in bed as I catch up on the newest GoT.

"Naked Bruschetta" with hiding walnut bread
- Sorry for the dark photo :( 

I don't go to Surry Hills enough but it's always been the best!
We learned the hard way that Devon doesn't get cronuts delivered from its other store during weekdays. So we jumped on the first train to Brewtown and also learnt the hard way (again) that brewnuts go like (literally) 'hot cakes' with this chick before us ordering 'one of each' - what a cruel, cruel world!

Somehow we always end up in Newtown?! Coincidence? I think not! :)

Three Word Summary: Bright, Modern, Cronuts
Ambience 4/5
Fare $$
Service 5/5
Foodwise 4/5


Ciao for now!
MVPD xo

I’m in love with the Coco .... whip!

Ice cream, gelato, frozen yoghurt move over cause I’m feeling like some soft serve!
I never knew Sandhana’s Kitchen in Enmore served this until a friend was literally fangirling to me about it. The only words I caught were “refined sugar free”, “gluten free” and “topped with superfood caramel slice”. Pretty much all the words I needed to hear before we popped in for our no-refined-sugar hit!  

 

I don’t know about you but the phrase “flavour bomb” pretty much wins me over (whatever it is) and it was so hard to choose which topping to grace our cocowhip! How do you choose between toppings which are organic, raw, vegan and refined sugar free! We got ours twisted with SK cacao and coconut and in typical soft serve fashion began melting before our eyes (and camera lens). Sorry Tim Tams because we opted for the Salted Caramel and Wagon Wheels Sundaes.
You can't go wrong with any choice really! The topping in all its healthy goodness can taste a little strange to begin with but goes so well with the cocowhip (wow the raspberry jam on the wagon wheels sundae)!

Sandhana's sure knows how to make you feel good after eating dessert!
This is dessert done guilt free so what are you waiting for?

MVPD xx






 

Shakin' in up Smoothie Edition

I follow a few too many vegan foodie/fitties on Instagram but I'm not going to lie - these are my people, my tribe....they sure know how to enjoy the most important meal of the day, Brekkie!

As my thumb does the hard work scrolling through the insta feed I'm seeing all these amazing smoothie bowls decked out with all this fruity colour and granola goodness. But I cry when no recipe is attached but hey how hard can a smoothie bowl be?

I thought I would throw my 2 cents worth and give this one a crack and oh it was a cracker alright. I can't imagine anything else for breakfast when there's no milk in the fridge.

It doesn't get any easier than this when Mimi can whip this up to go before heading to uni - that's right no excuses!

I like to keep a container in the freezer of frozen fruits handy, that's how serious I am about this!

One word - Enjoy!
P.S the recipe may not what you read elsewhere but oh wells!

Breakfast Smoothie bowl

1/3 mango, cubed & frozen overnight*
1 peach, sliced & frozen*
2 T water (to help blend if too frozen)
1/2 fresh banana, sliced
Handful granola/clusters

What the heck - add some nuts if you fancy!

* add any choice of fruits, whatever's in season!

1. Take frozen fruit out of freezer and leave out to defrost a bit. Blend when you can stick a fork through it semi-easily (or give it 20 secs in microwave if you're short of time)

2. Blend frozen fruits so it's a frappe consistency (add the extra water if the blender is choking on the big chunks) and transfer to your fav bowl.

 

3. Hard work is done (or until someone else cleans the blender :P)
Top with sliced banana, granola and nuts and enjoy! Just go topping C-RAZY!

It's autumn now and I'm still loving the freeze of the smoothie! I just kick myself every now and then for not discovering this sooner when I used to wake up to 30 degree mornings!!

Ciao for now!

MVPD
Xx