Reminiscing a Summer Weekend

Today is the first day of spring - welcome, spring!

Very regularly over the last couple months of winter, I have been dreaming of summer. Only instead of dreaming ahead to this coming summer, I've been reminiscing on last summer - in particular, a special weekend I spent with my friend Annelise and her family, in their home near Sydney.

This was definitely one of my favourite weekends from summer 2014/2015. It was an absolute dream! It basically consisted of relaxing evenings, restful nights, lazy mornings, going for drives, browsing the shops, drinking coffee, walking along the beach, taking photos, soaking in the sunshine... It was bliss!

Thank you, Annelise, for blessing me with your friendship, and thank you to the whole family for such a wonderful weekend! I look forward to the next time I get to visit :)

~Rachel

An Evening in the City

On Thursday after work, Andre and I spent some time walking around the city. The weather was SO beautiful!! I felt so relaxed - having the opportunity to simply stay in the city (not rushing straight home after work), wander around, enjoy the sights (as opposed to walking past everything on the way to and from work), and appreciate the small things, was just wonderful!!

[most photos courtesy of Mr A. Lucas :) ]

In the Christmas spirit!

I bet you've never had a photo with a ten-pin!! =P 

We love photography :)

So rich, we walk on money...
[har, har]

The sunnies that I wear because he likes them

A secret, magical door!!! I just wanted to go inside!

Beautiful buildings...

...on North Terrace...

...just for our enjoyment :)

What makes you relaxed? Perhaps reading a book, watching a sunset, going bike-riding, listening to music..?

~Rachel

Cronulla Beach

During outreach in Sydney, back in June, on our last day we took ourselves on an outing to Cronulla Beach.

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Loved it! It was so, so relaxing - watching the sunset, breathing in the fresh air, listening to the birds, taking photos... It was a perfect finish to our time in Sydney!
Here are a few of the photos I snapped :-)

Canberra's Skyfire 2012 {PLUS!!! - Justice Crew!}

The weekend of March 25 was a relaxing one for me.

On Saturday, I went with Jamie into Civic just to check out the "city" of Canberra, chill, and get away from the base / home for a few hours :-) It was great to just hop on the bus and then spend a couple hours walking around Civic.

Then at about 5pm, the lovely Emma and Tamara picked me up and we headed to Commonwealth Park / Lake Burley Griffin, for Skyfire 2012.

It felt like we walked miles after we parked the car, but eventually we got a great seat at the centre of the stage, also with a good view of the lake - ready for the fireworks that would happen later in the evening.

Delicious pinwheels that Emma and Tamara's Mum generously provided. Yum!

Dance group

Resting :-)

Canons

Dancing helicopters

I love Australia :-)

Roulettes

Amazing!!!!

And before the fireworks began... We were treated to a dose of Justice Crew! If you've never heard of them - they were the winner of Australia's Got Talent 2010! =D

And finally, the fireworks started! Of course, it started raining about 10 minutes before the fireworks began ;-) Which really made for great photography*......

*Note to self: Trying to take photos of fireworks (aka, looking upwards) from under an umbrella while it is raining, is a hard ask!

hehe, I just love all the umbrellas you see in this one!

The best one of the lot =D

Walking back to the car

We finished the night by sitting in the car for half an hour? - 40 minutes? - waiting for the traffic to pass by. Even then, once we pulled out, it was a long time before we got out onto the road!

A huge thank you to these beautiful girls for inviting me out for a night with them!!!

~Rachel