Framed Fridays

May 4, 2012 by steffanywillis

I like to use the framing app on my iPhone to create little framed pictures. I often take more than one picture but of the same kind of thing or at the same event and I like to collate them. You may have noticed that if you follow me on instragram or that I ever like to do it for this blog. Either way, I’ve been a bit slack with posts lately and I have to admit it’s because I’ve been busy living. Busy working, busy with uni and busy with an almost too active social life. Here are some framed shots you might enjoy.

Apart from our hair colour which we kind of swapped and the obvious stunner factor – we’re basically the same people. I love my sister a lot!

Brother hangs, reading on a bed on a balcony and fun in the grass. Thank you McEwans.

SHOES! I love taking photos of my shoes!

Stefan’s parents came to town so we had a bit of a mid-week party. It was great.

I always find the prettiest things to take photos of!

I love this place, it’s people and the coffee.

Don’t mind a Saturday catch up with these long time lovelies.

Saturday Morning Saint Session.

Dance like Steff’s not taking pictures for her blog.

If it’s a public holiday and you HAVE to study.. you may as well study with friends nearby.

I don’t mind a good and colourful Swalisswasen evening.

I just really love coffee.

We went out for dinner and then off to the theatre to celebrate Brett’s 25th. These people are some of the best and I’m so lucky I get to spend time with them.

Thoughts from the road.

March 27, 2012 by steffanywillis

This weekend I checked two things off my ‘The Last Single Girl’ list.

13. Go on a vacation by myself.

21. Go on a road trip.

This weekend I went on a road trip by myself.

Honestly it was one of best ideas/decisions/things I’ve had/made/done. I’d been feeling a little bit ‘bleh’ and decided just to do something a little bit spontaneous. I decided last Friday to go. Booked that night and the following Saturday morning I was off! I wasn’t too worried about having only myself for company, however I thought a one night trip would be a good starting place.

I stopped off for coffee at Blaine & Tegan’s before I left. Caffeine is critical for long drives but it also makes me happy. It also felt a bit like I had a cute little send off.

I drove to Byron Bay, which I’d actually never been to before. I drove up to the lighthouse.. walked around. Drove down to the beach. Sat on the beach and contempated life.

I had lunch and coffee at Bayleaf. Felt a bit judged with my slick hair and Prada handbag but got over it enough to enjoy the experience. And then I drove the last and longer leg of my journey on to Coffs Harbour. I stopped only once more to take a few photos and arrived in Coffs Harbour at 5pm.

When I road trip, I road trip in style. No backpackers or seedy motels. Resort luxury baby! Private access to the beach, a room that didn’t need to be that big. Pools, grassy lawns, sneaking a peak at a wedding they had that night. Yes, I think I’d make the right choice.

I wandered down to the jetty.. basked in the delightfully pink sunset. Picked up some dinner and settled in for some election updates which was all that was really on tv that night. I snuck a midnight (actually 8.30pm) swim and froze to death. Used every towel they provided me (6 in total). Took 2 showers and a bath and just generally enjoyed doing nothing.

Upon a recommendation from a local (B Ward represent) I went to Urban for breakfast, LOVED it. Stopped in at the beach again and then headed home.

Important lessons to be learnt from road trips.

You are not invincible. My calves are aching today. I feel ridiculously tired, not relaxed. Whoops.
Take a car with cruise control. Ouch. Seriously, my calves are SO sore.
Go luxury. It’s worth it.
Take photos. Lots of them.
If you feel the need to talk to yourself, do it. I didn’t talk to myself, but I certainly did laugh out loud. Quite a lot. I laughed when I got to my room and realised how big it was. I laughed when I thought I’d take a shortcut back to my car from the beach and walked directly into a caravan park.
Still talk to people. I think complete isolation is a bad idea when you travel alone.
The whole point of being alone is that you can do things on your own timeframe. Eat dinner at 5pm, or 9pm if you wish. Stay up late, go to bed early, sleep in. Do whatEVER you want. WhenEVER you want.
Get an amazing playlist. A mix between new songs and classics you love.
Use a GPS. Not maps. I downloaded TomTom for my iPhone. Works a treat.. yells out directions to you and even if you have your headphones in, it will dim your music and let you know amazing things like ‘Keep going on Pacific Hwy for 76 km’. Ok great. Like I had other options.
Snacks. That’s what I sort of forgot about. I should have gotten really into it and planned a little esky situation. Nope. Whoops.
Look up places you want to go before hand. Research your coffee joints.
Remember that there’s a time difference between the states. I got home way earlier than I needed to be due to a little thing we call Day Light Savings. Darn.

So many times I would sit/stand somewhere beautiful and think ‘Boy, I’m having such a good time’. And I would want to tell someone, but there was no one, and realising that was the main reason I was having such a good time was such a liberating experience. There’s something very important and necessary about open roads, relying on a map, street names you aren’t familiar with and a tiny bit of risk.

I’m sorry if you never see me on the weekends anymore, I will be adding more oil to my car (whoops again) and be road tripping all around our great country. Happy travels.

Paradise

March 19, 2012 by steffanywillis

It’s no secret to the world that I like blogging. I follow one or two travel blogs and a couple of travel tumblr accounts. I only follow a couple because I was so so sure that following them would make me depressed. I desperately want to see more of the world but a lack of money and dedication to save said money has prevented this. So far I’ve been basically no where. I’ve been to New Zealand, but only briefly for work and I’ve been to New Caledonia and Vanuatu. The worst part is I’ve only really been to Sydney and Melbourne when it comes to my own country. I’ve briefly visited Adelaide so I don’t think it counts and the only thing I’m proud of is how much of Tasmania I’ve seen.

I’ve realised that until I finish university and start earning the big dollars, my overseas adventures will probably be a little limited. BUT, Australia still awaits! I’ve realised that Australia is actually pretty amazing. I’ve become so accustomed to beautiful scenery that I’m almost not aware of it anymore. Hanging out with foreigners brings new light and perspective. They are so aware of how different and beautiful everything is here and I’ve come to appreciate the country I live in so much more because of that.

Images Courtesy of Tourism Queensland.

Birthday No. 17

March 15, 2012 by steffanywillis

Did I tell you it was birthday month or did I tell you?

Today Tegan celebrates her first birthday as a Swanborough and her 17th birthday since we have been friends. However she is actually 23 years old. For approximately six months we are the same age and I’ll presume she agrees but these are probably the best 6 months of the year.

Reasons why Tegan Swanborough is worth a full post on her birthday:

She is my No. 1 blog supporter so it is only fitting that she gets mentioned here. We like to discuss stats, new features, how many drafts, the difficulties of photo arrangements, tagging, where our viewers come from and how often is it actually appropriate to spam everyone about each other.
She is no longer with me. That sounds morbid but actually, she’s just in Melbourne for a long weekend with Blaine. However it’s still a little bit sad because this is probably the first birthday since her 18th that we haven’t spent together. Sad. We shall make up for it soon.
She is the MOST consistent person. That’s my favourite quality in people and she has it down. She is the same person, with minimal changes (apart from the good changes) as she was when I first met her.
She’s so talented. You should check out her blog My Favourite Colour is SHINY to see some of the things she can create. This isn’t even the half of it.
She did the best thing possible to preserve our friendship even further, she married my other best friend Blaine Swanborough. Hanging out with both of them is basically like hanging out with Tegan on her own. Which is awesome.
She knows me. Like actually knows me and still loves me. WHAAT?
She’s been a part of every big moment of my life, good and bad.
She is a babe. And that can be made clear by the following pictures.

All the best in friendship,

STEgan. xo

Taking Pictures

February 20, 2012 by steffanywillis

With my 365 grateful project all wrapped up – I kind of missing taking and sharing pictures.

First Time for Everything

February 18, 2012 by steffanywillis

Today I used Skype for the first time. I never understood why people raved about it so SO much, but now I do.

It’s actually so important to see someone face to face, to hear their voice and to see their expressions and hand movements. Grace and I had a tea date today over skype. We talked for about an hour and a half and drank tea and discussed and chatted like we normally would. Skype is the best thing ever! Next to Grace Davis.

Grace – I love you and can’t wait for you to come home.

In true love the smallest distance is too great, and the greatest distance can be bridged.

Just my type.

February 8, 2012 by steffanywillis

Lately I’ve been using pintrest. It’s quite wonderful. Being a words person .. it’s not surprising that I love quotes and images and pretty wording and that I have a specific board for typography.

Source: simplygoodstuff.tumblr.com via Steffany on Pinterest

Source: greenlikebathwater.tumblr.com via Steffany on Pinterest

Source: imgfave.com via Steffany on Pinterest

Source: inspirationfeed.com via Steffany on Pinterest

Source: theroxor.com via Steffany on Pinterest

Spectrum

February 5, 2012 by steffanywillis

Say my name and every colour illuminates.

We are shining and we will never be afraid again.

Grace Davis.

January 31, 2012 by steffanywillis

Mid last year I met a girl. Her name was Grace Davis and quite suddenly she became a big part of my life. Canadian and on a working holiday visa, her approach to life and her drive to meet new people was how our little friendship began.

Our relationship works because I like to make people laugh and Grace really likes to laugh. Mostly we laugh a lot. We also talk a lot. We talk so much that it wears us out. We share a mutual love for writing, discussing social media and how it affects culture, books, TVD, coffee and having an all around good time.

Grace is temporarily moving back to Canada to sort out a few things and the time she we will be away is uncertain. However I am not uncertain about our friendship or the connection that we share. Steph and I will sorely miss Grace and will now be severely outnumbered in the gender department. I think we shall probably make a cardboard cutout of Grace and we can take turn saying classic Grace phrases and make the ‘Grace Face’.

This post is an ode to Grace Davis. Thank you for 6 months of laughs and love. I look forward to an exceedingly sweet reunion.

Hipstamatically accurate.

January 18, 2012 by steffanywillis

Hipstamatic. Did everyone just forget about this little app with the invasion of instagram? I did. But lately I’ve been taking a few little shots. These are for your enjoyment you instagram snobs. Don’t ignore the other photo apps.