I’m blogging about our upcoming roadtrip around Australia at a new blog – Oz Gypsies. We leave in less than a week! Add me to your reader 
January 9th, 2012
Aussie Roadtrip
December 7th, 2011
New hair – synthetic dreadlocks again :)
Blonde, natural-style ones this time Single-ended and self-installed, took me about 2 hours to put them in.
I bought them from IonicRoost on Etsy. The seller, Therin Mayhem, is based in Portland, Oregon and she is lovely and super helpful. And her dreads are AMAZING! Because they’re natural knotty-style dreads, they’re lighter than the regular twisted synth dreads, and softer, and much more comfortable to wear, in my opinion.
I love wearing synthetic dreads, I think they look awesome and if you end up in a situation where you can’t have dreads anymore (eg. a new job) you don’t have to shave your head, you just take them out. Also it’s a lot easier to change your hair colour, and if your natural hair isn’t long enough to create real dreads, synth dreads are a pretty sweet alternative. I know a lot of people with real dreads disagree quite strongly with the idea of synthetic dreads, but, you know, each to their own I figure
IonicRoost comes highly recommended I’d definitely buy from her again.
November 24th, 2011
Things I Love Thursday
This week I’m loving:
- Our new puppy, Badger! So adorable 
- Being offered the job that I really wanted, and accepting it. Best feeling!
- New hair – blonde again for the first time in years.
- The sound of cicadas in the trees around our house, a noise that always makes me feel that summer is here.
- Chuck Palahniuk’s latest novel, Damned. I wasn’t too impressed with the first quarter of it, but after that it starts to get really good.
- Mangoes. Oh my god. MANGOES.
And, well, pretty much my whole life in general… everything is just falling into place exactly the way I’d hoped for it’s truly amazing…
November 24th, 2011
Puppy!
Badger, 8 weeks old
We picked him up yesterday morning, and we both already love him to bits He’s an 8-week-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and seriously, how could you not love that face?
SOOOO CUTE!!
November 17th, 2011
Book Review: The Sookie Stackhouse Novels
The Sookie Stackhouse Novels by Charlaine Harris are the books that the HBO TV series True Blood is based on. I started reading them in September, when I was on holiday in Thailand (more about that later!). They’re not exactly going to be classed as literary, but they’re definitely entertaining.
There’s currently 11 books in the series, with a twelfth on the way. I powered through all eleven of them over the past month and a half. The storylines and characters pull you into their world, which is a fun escape from the everyday. The subplot of Sookie’s ever-changing love life keeps you reading too, and the sex scenes don’t hurt either
As the books progress through the series, the plot deepens with topics of politics and war. That might sound all serious, but Harris keeps it reasonably light-hearted and action-packed, with regular digressions into Sookie’s current romantic situation.
Overall, these books are definitely worth a read, just for the pure enjoyment of it. I’m looking forwards to the twelfth book being released – gotta know what happens to Sookie!
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Have you guys read any of these? What did you think?
November 17th, 2011
Things I Love Thursday
5 minutes walk from our house
This week I’m grateful for:
- The Aussie summer weather. I know it’s not even officially summer yet, but the temperatures here on the Sunshine Coast are already reaching 30 degrees most days. And it’s clear and sunny EVERY DAY, with a nice little breeze coming off the ocean. Amazing.
- Spending time with my gorgeous man
- Taking definite steps towards travel plans – we’re going on a big roadtrip around Australia next year and recently put a deposit on our camper trailer. So exciting!
- Abundance in all areas of my life.
- Finishing the Sookie Stackhouse novel series (the ones that True Blood is based on). So good! Now I need to find something new to read…
- Chai green tea. Mmm…
- Having lots of spare time to do what I want, since I’m only working part time at the moment.
- Anticipating bringing our puppy home! We’re adopting a little staffy puppy next week, he is SUPER cute see for yourself:
adorable, right?
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What are you guys loving this week?
November 16th, 2011
New beginnings
I’ve decided to start blogging again. You know, on a regular basis. Rather than like… twice a year.
It’s been more than six months since I last wrote. So! Let me re-introduce myself Quite a lot has changed…
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Hi! I’m Gem. I’m a 26-year-old Aussie girl, and recently moved back to Australia after living in New Zealand for close to a year and a half. I moved there with a boyfriend (his idea), things didn’t work out between us, and he moved back to Australia a few short months after we’d arrived in NZ. Despite the fact that I’d been apprehensive about living there, I decided to stay a while longer.
By myself.
At the time, it was a pretty big deal for me. I was living alone for the first time in my life, and not just that, I was living alone in a foreign country with no friends or family close by. Everyone back home in Australia was trying to convince me to move home, but I’m contrary by nature, so decided that I wanted to prove that I could handle the situation I was in. And I did – I made friends, had some great experiences, and learned a lot from it all. But around the middle of this year, I started to feel like soon it’d be time for me to move back to Australia.
I make the majority of my decisions on what ‘feels right’. And late in October, I moved back to Aus, and though I loved my time in NZ, I am so happy to be home
I’m living the life I want to live now. Doing what feels right for me. Making plans for the future that excite me, and spending time with people who make me feel good. And I feel that I owe a lot of this to some things I learned over the past year, about positive thinking and ‘thoughts becoming things’ and consciously attracting what you want in your life, and being grateful for what you have.
And love. Love in all its forms. But more on that later…
Life is great