welcome back

Welcome back me, and welcome back blogging.
It's been a little quiet here at Rain or Shine, so where have I been? America. Land of the free. My husband and I took probably one of our last big trips for a while. We had an amazing time, part of it shared with some great friends, and part of it just the two of us. We ventured from Newport (Rhode Island), to Boston, to New York, to LA, to San Francisco, to Vegas, and then a quick detour to Canada on the way home. Not only was it a great travelling experience, but I also discovered some inspiring american design and art. And in true American style, every piece of art was inspired from another part of the world. I tried to capture as much inspiration on camera as possible, and soon I will post my favourites of "American-design". For now, here's a snippet of our travels, captured in one photo for each amazing place:

Newport (in front of the Newport Bridge with the girls!):

Cape Cod (the beautiful scenery of Provincetown):

Boston (the architecture of old and new):

New York (fifth ave):

LA (dining on Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills):

Venice Beach (the most colourful of places, Ocean Front Walk markets):

San Francisco (colourful homes of Haight Ashbury):

Vegas (the Excalibur Casino at sunset):

Grand Canyon (lunch with a view):

Sun Peaks, Canada (with our best friends D & J @ Lake Louise)

inside envy grand opening

There is nothing like seeing your work in real life (not just on the computer screen). Simon & I headed to the city for a day out last Saturday, starting off with a visit to the Grand Opening of "Inside Envy" - logo and business cards designed by Rammikin.

Sadly my camera was forgotten, and so my new favourite App program Instagram was used instead. Here are some pics...

Big congrats to my gorgeous friend Mel on her new adventure, the shop looks amazing & it is going to be a HUGE success. All your hard work has finally paid off :)

Visit the shop on Facebook: Inside Envy

1. some welcoming banners & the window display (wish I got more of the images that were displayed all over the front windows, it looked amazing.
2. "Inside Envy" owner and new Unley It-Girl i'm sure - Mel. Me & some swing tags designed by Rammikin.
3. The LilyMoo Makings display. My amazing purchase.

a new york moment

I'm no good at surprises - keeping them secret that is! Especially when I'm so excited about the surprise. Well thankfully I don't think my hubby Lurch reads my blog that often (perhaps something I should be encouraging!) so I am going to spill....

This December is our 2nd Wedding Anniversary, and it's my turn to organise something (we take turns ever year). We only arrive home from our overseas trip a week before our anniversary date, so we'll be too poor and probably too tired to worry about anything extravagant. But of course I want to make sure it's something memorable!

Then yesterday the greatest idea came to me (well after reading a celeb gossip mag where Jen Annisten had just done the same thing with her beau)... I'm going to book a on-location photo shoot for me and Simon in New York City!! Just think - the backdrop of Central Park, then in front of a NYC Taxi, then on a rooftop overlooking the city, then the Brooklyn Bridge! It will be like having a personal photographer capture a once in a lifetime experience. Now the only challenge is getting Simon to like the idea of having his photo taken for the whole session (let's just say he HATES being in photos).

The whole idea has got me looking into couple photography, not just weddings and engagements, but shoots that just capture the personality of the couple. I don't want the standard "pose & shoot", I want natural happy & really just being stupid photos. Here are some that I love (mixture of amazing NYC locations, and photo style...):

(& if you are reading this, don't tell Simon!)

handy tip for the easily distracted

This is by far one of the greatest idea's for any easily distracted worker!

high almighty for high tea

I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate a birthday than High Tea with the ladies. And that's exactly what my wonderful friend Monique organised for her 30th this year. Nestled in the Barossa hills, our venue for the celebration was Lyndoch Hill, and the sunshine made it a fabulous day!
So we donned our Sunday best, and spent the afternoon eating delicate foods & drinking champagne. Amazing! (Unfortunately I was having too much fun to take many photos, but have found some great inspiration from my favourite image-sharing site Pinterest that might inspire your next High Tea event...)
xx

I love the Witches High Tea pic! And below a quick snap of me with the leftovers!

it's a baby world out there

It's raining babies this year. Almost every week there's either a pregnant friend, or a new mumma/dadda friend. My facebook page is filling up daily with new posts about babies... who's given birth, what the babies name is, photos of little one's who are only hours old. It's really hard to keep up, but at the same time it's really exciting!
So now I'm in the middle of buying gifts, and finding it a very competitive "market". There are some great gifts out there, but you have to be the first one to find it. Plus you want to make sure you buy something a little practical - I mean, a baby can only have so many teddies right?! And I also like the idea of buying something that they can keep and look back on when they're older and think "oh this is still so cute!!".
Here's some ideas I've found so far ....

1. Artwork - from one of my favourite sites Etsy. The Barking Bird Art shop is so adorable, all original artist prints!
2. Bibs - love these bibs from Funky Giraffe Bibs in the UK. Prices start from only $AU8, and shipping to Australia is only  6 pounds (around $12)!
3. Photography - something to last a lifetime, I just adore newborn photography, the whole Anne Geddes style! One of my favourite local photographers is Head In The Clouds from Adelaide who specialise in newborns (plur much more!)
4. Carseat Covers - our friends were telling us about their ugly hand-me down carseat the other day, and then I saw these car seat covers & thought they would be perfect! Just need to find somewhere that sells them in Australia!
4. Wall Decor - I love wall stickers! And these are just so cute, from another Etsy store Design by Maya.



markets are for me

So it has been a month between blogging. How lazy! But I have a good excuse - I have been super busy with Rammikin and that just makes me super happy! I found some pictures from a few months ago when Simon and I spent an afternoon at the Port Markets. We had a great day out, exploring all the tiny stores & mixing with the store owners (who looked like they hadn't left their store for 20 years, or brushed their hair, or cleaned their teeth, haha!).

The next time you have a few spare hours on a Sunday head down to the Port markets. It's located right on the harbour, next to the Lighthouse!

I will try and keep up with my blogging from now on, because there is so much amazing things out in the world that need to be shared, so I will promise to share!