Guest Post: Diana

Today we arrive in New York, and so we asked our friend Diana from our city lights to share a little about this wonderful city. Diana is a great lady and knows her stuff.
- enjoy m&k
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New York City isn’t just a city; it’s an experience of a lifetime. There is nothing like actually visiting NYC, but the experience can be packaged and sold in a dish (the iconic cuisine- pizza!), for some it’s watching a movie (Hi, Woody Allen), and some, like myself, believe it’s reading. The best American writers come from New York City and now I know why- they have so much to write about! Below are my favorite books about New York or writers from New York.



The Godfather by Mario Puzo. The Mafia isn’t NYC, and NYC doesn’t represent the Mafia, but Puzo’s description of the Carleone family stays with you. After reading it, it’ll be an adventure of NYC you’d hope you’ll never experience  but so glad you read.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I read this book at an impressionable age, and it has stayed with me forever. Esther Greenwood is a woman coming of age with and with poor circumstance, leads to a state of broken mentality. It's dark, and reminds me of the vulnerability we all have.

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. Ok, so this isn't riveting literature. It's an easy read (I should warn you it ends nothing like the movie adaptation), but working in the top magazine in the world based in New York City makes any fashionista appreciate the book. It's bit grim, but the description of the City is worth the read.

Summer Crossing by Truman Capote. If there was one writer who would represent New York, it would be Capote. No, he wasn't born in NY, but most of his stories were based in NY. This story is a draft version of a young girl in love with life. It's not his best work, but what you're reading isn't just the story, it's absolute Capote in the raw.

Eloise by Kay Thompson- I'm totally jealous of Eloise. She lives in The Plaza hotel, and can have anything she wants, when she wants. She's a socialite without the snobbery. She's adventurous, unpredictable and imaginative, all with a touch of class a kid could exude. Reading her is an adventure at any age and a must read before going to the Plaza.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Another coming of age book based in NY but amidst all the digital reading, I will always own this on my shelf. This generation may have Gossip Girl but we had Holden Caulfied, the first teenager who attended prep school with a string of emotional problems we could all relate to no matter the measurement. Blair has nothing on him!

Honorable mentions: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzergerald, Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote, A Tree Grown in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, anything by James Henry.


I hope K&M have a blast and are able to return safely with their own adventures to share. Can’t wait! Best of luck to you both on your new journey ♥
Diana

Welcome to America

We have made it to America and are having a lovely time staying with our friend Derek and his family.

It is so beautiful here. Today we went for a drive to a ski slope, and we all saw snow fall for the first time. We built a snowman and made snow angels. It was incredible and pretty cold. I have been wanting to see snow for a while and was one of my goals to do before my next birthday.





Yesterday, Derek and his dad took us to shoot some guns. We had so much fun. We shot at targets and clay pigeons.






Derek's dad is a bit of a hunting pro. He has quite a few deer's in his trophy room.



Well thats it for now. We have one more day in Michigan, and then we fly to New York. If you want to follow us on Instagram we are posting pictures there under the username "morganandkim".
Hope you all had a great Christmas.
-kim

Guest Post: Derek

We are in Michigan, and staying with our good friend Derek. Derek usually lives in Australia, but is back home with his family for the Holidays. We are so excited to start our adventure with him.
- enjoy m&k
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Morgan and Kim asked me to write a post for their blog a couple months ago when they decided to come visit me in Michigan over Christmas. So i thought i would give the low down of some of the activities that will be taking place (weather permitting).

Shooting Skeet. America loves guns, Australia doesn't. I'm not saying that we're going to hit anything but we are definitely going to throw some lead around and probably have bruised shoulders the next day.



Sledding. (Hopefully we get some snow for this) always a good time, we're still snowless at the moment, which means we'll have to trek to a ski hill which will mean taller, scarier, faster hills. I feel like the kid in the middle has the most genuine sled-excitement face.



Build a Snowman. Snow ball fight. Snow Angels. Snowmobiling, We really need some snow.........


The Michigan sun is pretty lazy in winter, it gets up late and goes down early. Most time is spent indoors out of the blustery cold eating delicious food, and enjoying your company. So there will be plenty of time to introduce newcomers to the U.S. to things they have been missing out on.
Derek

See Ya!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Well today is the day that we leave for France via America and Iceland. We have been waiting for this day for a long time and have a little bit of every emotion flowing through our blood. I'd say mostly READY!
We hope you enjoy your Christmas day and dont get caught up in the consumerism side of things but enjoy Hope, Peace, Joy, Family and Jesus (if your so inclined).
We're off to 39 hours transit! woo hoo.



We will try keep you updated as much as internet allows us, but stay tuned we have some international guest bloggers the next couple of weeks.

Much Love
-Morgan and Kim.

i made: a red dress

So about 5 months ago a friend of mine moved back to Canada, and was clearing out her sowing gear and so I snatched up this beautiful 1950's pattern. I have been working on this dress on and off since then, and it has been a long time coming, but this week I finally finished it.



I learnt a lot making this dress, and am very happy with the result. There something special about making something from scratch, it's very rewarding. I wore this when we celebrated Christmas this week with my family.







enjoy.
-kim

the sea

Yesterday I got some negatives back from the shop. I took my Sprocket Rocket out on a little boating trip with two good friends of mine. I love the richness in colour that this camera gives. I am yet to use a scanner that allows me to show the exposed sprocket holes but either way I love the shots this camera helps me take.









-morgan.

pentax expired film.

When I was working at the op shop I would always find old cameras that sometimes work and sometimes didn't. When the didn't I would salvage the film. This roll was taken with my pentax K1000 with an old expired 400asa where I'm used to using a 200asa. I found alot of dark, grainy shots but a few turned out ok.






Enjoy
-morgan

going away

Yesterday day we had a little going away afternoon tea party in the park. It was a mixture of joy and sadness as we celebrate good times and friends now and tear up as we say our goodbyes. It's nice to know we'll be missed.








ps. 6 MORE SLEEPS until we move overseas!

diy round up

This year, getting ready for Christmas with lots of Christmas crafts has been a little distracted by another exciting event. We haven't even made a new Christmas tree this year, but recycling our one from last year. We are usually pretty good at it, see here & here

I have however been busy finishing off lots of crafts, and working on some tutorials other people have shared online. I thought I would share a little more of my finished products like I did here, to help you if you're in need of some diy christmas present inspiration.


i made a detachable collar from a tutorial from the owls are not what they seem blog


i also made some fabric covers for our bibles loosely based on the blog moonstitches


morgan made a frame to hang our instax photos in, inspired by Talia Christine


and i made some Peppermint Seasalt Foot Scrub for some christmas gifts from Tipnut

ps. I have pinned a whole heap of great diy ideas on pinterest which could make great gifts. Check them out here, here, here, here and here.
enjoy.
-kim

christmas cheer.

These past few days of unemployment have been busy and fun. Today I baked some cookies for all my old colleagues at work. I always like to do something nice for the people I work with at Christmas.

Although we don't have much money to throw around this Christmas, I do have time, so made everyone some gingerbread cookies and dipped them in dark chocolate. We have already packed up the cookie cutters so I had to go with circles. I didn't have any little bags to put the cookies in either so I sowed up some Baking paper into little pouches and tied them up with a ribbon.






They were pretty simple to make, and just used resources I already had, but I think they turned out pretty good, and I hope that everyone who receives one feels pretty blessed.

Have a great day.
-kim

our night at a silent film

To celebrate my last day working last Thursday, Morgan and I travelled out to The Majestic Theatre, to experience the wonder of a silent film. This theatre has been open for 90 years and has so much character. The film we saw was 3 Bad Men, a Western set in the American Gold rush. This was such a special experience watching this 1920's film with a live piano playing alongside it, to an audience that consisted of us and only 5 others.





We forgot to take a camera up, so just snapped these ones on the iphone. Our friend Derek visited earlier this year and took a couple of beautiful photos you should see. They capture it a lot better.
-kim

weekend away

We went for a family christmas/holiday last week end. Some friends lent us their holiday house on a beach island. We had to drive a 4WD on the beach to get there. It was absolutely stunning. We relaxed all weekend, ate good food, watched movies, swam and visited many beautiful areas. I will miss the beach when we are traveling.






Have a great week end.

-morgan