The Next Chapter - Melbourne

Well as many of you know by now I have decided to move to Melbourne in May. I'm one of those people that 'follows signs in life' and it's funny how one thing happens and starts a new thought process which is followed by a few more things happening supporting that new thought process (if that makes sense!) I just realised that my blog is now two years old. My first few posts are about leaving my previous job, the big 2-5 and preparing to head overseas and two years later I find myself in a similar scenario all over again, moving overseas, leaving family, having to find a new job, house etc I never seem to do just one thing at a time! But I figure that if I can move to London where I knew less than 5 people and land a job within a month then I can move to Melbourne where I have close friends and a bit more security waiting for me. I'm definitely at a point where I am wondering what to do next. Where do I want my career to go? What do I really want to do? I have a homeware and fashion background behind me now, where do you go from there? A lot of people go through life not really knowing what they want to do where as I have the opposite problem - I want to do too many things. I have the usual nerves and 'what if' questions floating through my head but I have worked hard to achieve everything that I have and am working on a website so I will be able to freelance and gain more variety in my work. I figure if I am prepared for my move as much as I can be then the rest will follow as it is meant to.

In the weekend my Uncle asked me what I would do if I won the lotto. Apart from the usual financial securities I said I would love to open a bakeshop. I have always loved baking and find it not only relaxing but a way to create as well. So now my latest idea is to start a blog around sweet creations and also sell at a stall with my bestie Ash who has already agreed to come on board - she is a lawyer who is also at a 'where do I go from here' point in her life. So while we figure it out, we shall bake!

Along with all this change, I feel it is also time to say farewell to my big OE blog especially as I won't be doing as much travel from the land of Aus. I did think of creating a new one as I will be exploring Australia and also heading to South East Asia at the end of the year but as time goes on I feel myself becoming more private and I want to focus my blogging and future endeavours on my work projects rather than my personal life.

I am so grateful for this blog and I want to thank everyone that has followed me on my journey - I have had the best two years of my life. I may even download my blog and design a book of my big OE (there we go again, something else to work on!)

I hope you have all enjoyed my journey and maybe it has inspired you to do some more travel of your own or take a leap of faith and start something new that you have always dreamed of doing. There is no such thing as luck and as Lucius Annaeus Seneca famously quoted: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

So work hard, stop wishing and start doing! Thanks again and take care xx

Easter Weekend

I hope everyone had as much fun over Easter as I did! I got to see most of my family and spend some good quality time with them before I leave the UK. We went ice skating on the Thursday night with over 12 of us going (I lose count there are just too many!) I hadn't been on the ice since my teens but got the hang of it pretty quick with a few 5 year olds helping me along the way! I also got to see a few of my my wee cousins in their Easter play and there is a photo of Summer (top right) after she had finished her performance - so sweet! We all just had a big chill weekend really and my Auntie Ali baked up a storm for a fundraiser at her work so we went along to that to support her while they raised some serious money! I stayed with my Auntie Anne and Uncle Eric who make sure I am fed 24/7 and are always laughing at something (mainly at me when I am there!) I appreciate every minute I get with my family and I am envious of people who are always around their's because there is such a sense of security and happiness that comes from spending time with loved ones and I feel like I have finally experienced what it is like to be a part of big family. My heart was breaking when I left yesterday, all the children are just beautiful little people who welcome you with so much love every time they set eyes on you and it will be hard not seeing them as frequently as I have been. 3 more weeks in London to go!

BERLIN!

BERLIN WAS AMAZING! On my Europe trip nearly two years ago I wasn't the hugest fan of Berlin at first, just like how I had originally felt about Paris, but now I can easily say that both Berlin and Paris are two of my favourite must-see cities of Europe! Berlin feels like a really open city and it's not overcrowded it has just the right amount of people. We arrived on Thursday and were quick to work out the underground system however we ended up walking half an hour in the wrong direction when we got to the station near our apartment! One taxi ride later and we finally arrived - our apartment was gorgeous! Lots of space and a downstairs room with a pool table and drinking area it was so flash! After we had settled in we headed out to explore our area and have our first German lunch which was so delicious - Bratkartoffeln which was panfried potatoes with an egg on top and side of salad along with a German beer - so good! Then headed back to the apartment to wait (drink) until the rest of the crew to arrived (in total 9 Aussies, 3 Poms and yes, I was the sole Kiwi!)

On the second day we were up and out by 10am to check out what we thought was 'an underground world' but turns out they were Nazi bunkers and if they called the tour 'Nazi Bunkers' they think no one will go... so it was interesting like seeing where everyone tried to hide while the bomb raids were happening and seeing where they would have had to live for days at a time but at the same time my imagination had run wild and I was actually expecting an underground city.... still I would recommend it if your interested and haven't seen too much on the war before - a few that were with us really enjoyed it and thought it was great! http://berliner-unterwelten.de/tour-1.13.1.html

Then we visited the Holocaust Memorial and Museum but to be honest I think there is no need to re-visit these kind of museums if you have already seen them as it is a very emotional experience and second time round I left half way through because it seemed to hit me a lot harder. We continued walking and saw some amazing sites before heading out for a really fun dinner (more fried potatoes and amazing meatballs) and you could get up and dance as well - like proper couple back-in-the-day dancing - so fun! The next day everyone was still sleeping as they stayed out till the early hours, I had a sneaky earlier night and headed out to explore the city by myself and had SUCH an amazing day! I love nothing more than walking around a new city by myself and discovering so many new things. I had a general idea of what direction to go in and just walked and walked coming across really funky shops, cool cafes and markets as well as a visit to the Berlin wall which is really stunning. That night we headed to a restaurant that I highly recommend to anyone visiting Berlin called The Bird - http://www.thebirdinberlin.com - where I had the best burgers and chips of my life. I actually couldn't move after and didn't really eat for the next two days!! The next morning we headed to the Mauerpark flea market - http://www.visitberlin.de/en/spot/fleamarket-at-mauerpark - where I picked up some cool prints and postcards. Great markets to visit with so much to see and choose from - food and drink was mainly German and Turkish and they had a whole range of items from door knobs and dinnerware to clothing and accessories. We finished off the trip with a traditional currywurst before heading back to the apartment to relax for a few hours before the flight home.

I was so inspired by this incredible city and have so many ideas for a new collection of prints that I can't wait to get started on. I have now convinced myself that I will be learning German and moving in a few years time! Lets see!

Christmas Trip Home

It's been a while so I have a bit of an essay - a big coffee is recommended! 

First of all apologies for the lack of blogging recently, combine Xmas with traveling to the other side of the world, coming back to London winter and fashion week / work travel - you have a neglected blog page! I recently read an article on moving overseas - you can read here at http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/what-happens-when-you-live-abroad/. It inspired me to write what I am wanting to write today, instead of writing about everything I got up to (which was running round like a headless chicken catching up with people along with camping, the beach and all things Kiwi) I thought it would be good to write about how differently I see things now I have been away for nearly two years, so, here goes.

When I was living in NZ I always wanted something more and always knew there was more out there for me. I literally waited for years for my opportunity and after 5 years of study and 2 1/2 of working I was more than ready to take the leap. Home is comfortable, easy and safe. It is all you have ever known. The furthest I had ever gone was Australia, twice and never went alone. I was quite loud and outgoing around family and friends but was really quite shy meeting new people in social situations. I was perfectly capable of living away from my parents but still heavily relied on them for support in all areas of my life so when I boarded that plane to England, alone, I think it is safe to say that I experienced every emotion out there, fear, excitement, sadness, anticipation - every 'what if' had crossed my mind again and again - this was it, no turning back. I was in such a state - in my whole life I had been away from my parents for 3 weeks and when I left I had no idea when I would see them again - in the end it was 20 months. 

Fast forward two years and I barely recognise the young women that left NZ that day. Everything I had ever dreamed and hoped for came true even though I ended up taking a path I never saw myself taking. If you had told me on that day 21 months ago that I would visit over 20 countries, land an exciting job in fashion within a month of arriving in London and be behind the scenes at London Fashion Week another month later I just wouldn't have believed you. You grow up watching movies of small town American girls moving to NY or somewhere similar to try and make it in the big city and it wasn't until I moved to London that I realised I was the small town girl. When you move to a city as big as London with barely any money, no job and few people you can call a friend something starts to change within you. You feel the need to survive. Its scary yet profoundly motivating at the same time. Mum and Dad aren't around the corner to feed you, chuck you $20 to last you till payday, give you a kiss or hug when you really need one. In the early days I struggled greatly with being separated from my family but this only made me more determined to make my new life work as I was sacrificing a lot back home to make my dream a reality.

I recently went home for the first time in 20 months. A lot of my friends are now married, buying / bought houses, have kids / are pregnant. I still need my parents but in a different way - I feel like parents want you to grow and become your own person yet part of them will always want to take care of you. It's surreal returning to the place where I grew up for 18 years and feeling like an outsider looking in - NZ is not my life anymore but it will always be my home. Everything was the same apart from the person that returned. Change is not a bad thing - I think its one of the best things that can happen to someone but not everyone will agree - there will be people that think you've changed too much but that's OK. You have to live the life you want to live - not the life that others want you to. I came back home calm, confident, relaxed, fulfilled, successful, but most importantly,happy. My Mum has said to me that its ironic I moved to one of the busiest cities in the world and learnt to chill out and relax. Things I used to lye awake and worry about in NZ don't even get a second thought now. There is so much to see and learn about life - I used to hesitate when an opportunity arose and weigh up all the pros and cons - now I jump at any chance I get! I have to come to realise how short life really is - you just don't know when your time is up and the older you get, the faster the years seem to go. There is a whole world of opportunity out there, new cultures to experience, historical places to see and learn about, fun times with your friends and loved ones to be had. Most of the time the only thing stopping you from experiencing these things is yourself. 

And so I leave you with a quote from Mark Twain. Thanks for reading and I promise the next update won't be as far away!

20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than things that you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.