Travel Thursday: Insty Road Trip

Some shots of our last weekend away x

The last 20 weeks - In 5 Words or less.

Hmmmm. Is this doable? We shall see. It's almost like those life lately posts on crack.


September.
Baby moon. Two sweet words. A modern construct in a modern world. Regardless of your thoughts on a baby moon. We had saved my most anticipated trip in the States for fall of 2014. And we happened to be pregnant, so baby moon it became.
In short: Houston to Vancouver. Ferry to Victoria. Ferry to Seattle. Drive to Portland via Mount St Helens. Drive to Crater Lake via Columbia River Gorge. Drive to the Pacific. Then, casually trot down to San Fran. And let me just say, it was my favorite trip in the States. There will be so many Travel Thursdays coming from that trip.

So much happniess. Victoria is beautiful.

Crater Lake. There are actually no words.

Latourell Falls. One of so many beautiful spots along the gorge.

Two Baby showers!
So spoiled. A lovely afternoon tea at work. And a surprise shower and early thanksgiving from our adopted Texan family. We are so blessed to have a family a world away from our home.

Organizing a move in your Third Trimester.
Yeah, nah. Don't do it. Instead, enjoy little things. Like football. And donuts. This was a time of making the most of some of the things I love about America. Like football. And donuts.

Like donuts.

And football.

Little Man!
Our Texan family has been going through the pregnancy journey with us. And the bestest news... Little man decided to come two weeks early so we got to meet him! And spend a week with him. So happy and blessed to meet him.

Houston to Dubai. Dubai to Perth.
All I can say is that the other side of the world really is, the other side of the world. So far. So, so far. But having best friends waiting for you at the other end is rad. With a capital R.

Dude, we are kind of homeless.
Well, not really I suppose. We have a hotel for a month. But this baby mama has been waiting to nest for 7 months. Someone get me a house. Stat.

Wow. 29.
Is it me or did 29 years go pretty fast? Hmmm. Pretty happy about the way my 29th year has gone. Let's see how year 30 will be!

Sophie got in some great Happy Birthday kicks.

The view from my birthday lunch. I don't hate it here, not at all.

We have a house! And a thermomix!
Cue cleaning, building idea furniture, trips to the department store, trying to rest but really sucking at it, listening to the house noises, wondering whether we will be murdered or if it's just the house, scrubbing the bath, taking baths, chatting to Sophie, seeing our lovely friends, hoping for the temperatures not too get too high, being happy when temperatures stayed under 35, sulking when they got higher. And oh the thermomix. So much happiness in one machine.

Nesting.
It's like all the things I imagined and pinned and plotted suddenly started coming to life. So much relief, glee, excitement and aqua. I believe its a pregnancy thing.Can't wait to do a "nursery tour" and share where I got all the pretty things from.

I just love her Moses Basket.

This makes me happy.

Yes. This Ikea hack is my favorite thing ever.

Baby Shower.
I really have the bestest friends. So lucky. So lovely. Vintage woodland themed amazingness.

The origami garland.

Liz makes the cutest cupcakes.

Christmas!
The lead up to Christmas was mostly spent distracting myself from the upcoming delivery. So I made lots of Christmas decorations and tried to rest up. Christmas away from home is always hard. I was up anyway so I skyped my family at 4 am so I could watch my wee nephew open his presents. Totally worth it! Christmas Day itself was spent with our dear friends celebrating a special ladies birthday and enjoying the sunshine.

These lovely angels were a Pinterest win indeed.

You know when you nail something that you didn't have a pattern for? Very stoked!

Our lovely treeling.

Garland wall in all its loveliness.

Baby watch - two solid weeks of contractions mean we are just waiting for her to pop out (that's totally how it works right?). One day they will last more than a few hours and then it will be game on. For now it's a perching on the birth ball and waiting kind of game.

New Years!
Party animals. Well except not! More resting and wondering if all these contractions would lead to a baby born at 12:01 on January first. Nope! She's still there.

So that's us, all up to date! Its been lovely catching up with you guys! And I'm sorry. I guess I totally went over the 5 word mark.

Getting ready to be back in Perth

Yep, 14 weeks from now we will be in Perth, Australia. Marking the end of our first time living in the USA. While I am super bummed to be going, there are a few things I am super excited about...

Our Perth Family! I miss and love them so much... I can't wait to see them all again.

Kings Park - so much prettiness, the view is stunning, ducklings, running trails, picnics and the flowers - oh the flowers!

Miss Brown Vintage - where I first fell in love with vintage dresses.. pricier than Houston, but sorted in rainbows of color.

Nandos - best hangover chicken ever.

Dolphins in the river - the Swan river in general. So beautiful. We can see it from the office, perfect for paddle boarding. Love it.

Blue sky - for months and months non stop. It really is a beautiful place to live.

Early morning coffee runs with Liz.

Christmas parties - and socializing with colleagues.

Social life - I guess this may change now, since we have a wee one coming. Which I am totally okay with - I am just so excited to meet her.

The Ocean - The Indian Ocean to be exact. And those pretty beaches that edge them. So blue.

Rugby - All Blacks, Super 15, World Cup, rugby watching parties, it is all good. And we have missed that heaps.


Less potholes - dude these roads in Houston are rugged.

Meeting some babies that appeared after we left. Jack and Jack - can't wait to meet you little dudes.

Touch rugby- while I wont be able to play when we get back in November, Rob will and we both love it so much.

Vintage Dress in a Modern World - Anniversary Edition

So like I posted on Thursday, today is our first wedding anniversary. Which is exciting. Because I have never had a wedding anniversary before. Rob hasn't either so we are pretty smiley.

I have been wanting to share one of my all time favorite dresses, but thought it would be cute to post it on our wedding anniversary. So here it is.

I bought this dress at a Polka Dot Vintage Fair in Perth last August. It was on a sale rack, and I just absolutely adored the lemon color. I was reticent to try it because I don't really wear yellow, but I grabbed it as well as the light blue dress next to it. Turns out I loved it, regardless of my sickly, freckled skin tone, so I bought them both.

The first time I have ever worn lipstick.

I was going to wear a different dress, but advice from a friend made me change my mind. I had been wanting to wear white for the day, but I loved the feminine look of this one. It was definitely great advice. I think it was perfect.

My amazing hair dresser, Laura, gave me a vintage, curled side pony tail, and added some flowers pins I had bought to match the dress.

I wanted to have flowers for our registry wedding, because I was in the middle of making all the bouquets for the January day (here is a pic of them, a tutorial will be up soon). I couldn't decide whether to go pick out flowers or not, but again, lovely friends convinced me. I had an amazing time going through all the flowers in the florist and asking for this one and that, and I was very impressed with myself when it was all finished. Liz gave the bouquet a special touch by wrapping strands of fabric around it that I had been using to create bunting for the January wedding.

Walking back to work with the bouquet, the day before. It suddenly got real.

I sure know how to pick me some flowers.

Liz making them super awesome.

We had six friends with us for the ceremony. We all got ready together at our place, and the girls helped me get dressed. We had some champagne and nibbles and hung out together, before we went down to the office. It was a really special time. 

I was scared about the lipstick.

Lol this is not a staged photo.

Getting ready - my beautiful vintage robe.

Lol again, not a staged photo.

Very excited before hand.

Another very cute dress if I do say so myself.

At the office we had photos with the view of the Swan River behind us, and all had a pretty excited vibe on. Rob and I were very nervous and I had the giggles. 

When we entered the special room where the ceremony takes place, I practically skipped in. We signed all the paper work first and then we got to the best part..

Getting the legal part done.

  Brad, who is one of my oldest, closest friends was my witness. Phil, who, likewise is one of Robs oldest, closest friends was his witness. The celebrant went through the legal stuff, while Rob gripped my hand tight. 

The next part was our pledge, which had me in tears and sniffling between each line. Rob made his pledge and then we said "I Do".

And cue emotion.

The kiss was the best kiss of my life. That is all there is to say about it. Oh, and after Rob was covered in red lip stick haha.

Before we knew it, our friends were cheering and it was official. The man I had been in love with for the last six or so years, was my husband.

There were cuddles and tears and "churs" and more cuddles and smiles. We were like, on this happiness cloud. 



 

After the ceremony we caught the bus to our local, where we had booked a special area for all our Perth pals to come up and celebrate with us. It was filled with vintage furniture, and we had delicious food and sangria all night long. It was an amazing night, second only to our night in January, where our family and NZ friends were.

And that was our "special day" number 1. It really was such a terrific day. I really feel blessed to have shared it with Rob and our friends.

Thanks for having a look through, I hope you enjoyed hearing about our day (and liked the dress!).
Sarah xo

Thank you to Charlotte Horton and Liz Mahon for the ceremony photos. Thanks Tracey Eyre for risking life and life and limb to take the bus shot. And thanks Adora Tiernan for the awesome shot of Liz and I!