Head/Heart: February 2015.

In case you missed it, last month I began a new series called Month-By-Month in an effort to give myself more opportunities to share personal reflections here. As it turns out, this is very similar to a series called Head & Heart that my Twitter & Instagram friend Helen runs on her blog, and so from now on I'll be following her format and writing under that series name.

February always is just one big blur of activity. When I got home from the holidays I threw myself back into everything, feeling energised after two big trips and after a 2014 where I took the time to focus on myself and things I wanted to do outside of my career. Truly, last month was a breeze, just a precursor to a mind-blowingly full March & April—I've known what's happening every single weekend in the next two months since January.

What I'm grateful for:

The "big country town" that is Brisbane, where foliage is everywhere you look.
If you live in Brisbane & you've never left, you don't know how lucky you are to live in a city where there's a beautiful, thriving tree on every corner. Brisbane is also unique in that almost everyone knows everyone through some way or another, and I often find myself meeting someone who, as it turns out, knows fifteen other people I know and we've probably been in the same room several times in the past without knowing it. It's incredibly incestuous.

Regular freelance work, creative projects & collaborations.
When I was in uni, I simply assumed I'd struggle to find a job. The creative industry is incredibly competitive, and the job market in Brisbane is small—so you can only imagine how delighted and grateful I am to have found my first design job four days after graduating (5 years ago now), to now work in an amazing agency with people who I know will be my lifelong friends, but most of all, that I get regular (paid!) freelance jobs every year. I get to meet some of the most talented thinkers, dreamers & doers in Australia, and it can only get better from here.

The abundance of quality & gourmet food, coffee and organic produce in Australia.
Anyone who's ever travelled overseas will know how disenchanting it is to have to order average food just because it may be the only option available. I missed Brisbane's cute little cafés, fresh fruit and veg and variety when it comes to vegetarian options while I was gone.

What I've been thinking of:

My next travel adventure, and my next personal creative project.
This year I won't be able to take on any treks like Borneo, but I'm already thinking about potential destinations for next year. I really want to go to Nepal. I'm also hoping to set aside the last 6 months of 2015 to work on personal photography projects I keep putting on the back-burner—as any creative would know, it's hard to produce your personal body of work when your schedule is full with paid work. 6 months will hopefully be ample time to get these projects underway. I'm also hoping to curate another exhibition, but that may also have to be a 2016 thing.

The next five years.
As you can tell, I have a lot of things I want to achieve in the next 5 years (that's when I'll turn 30). No, life is by no means over when you're 30, but I've had the misfortune of being a pretty determined individual, and that means I cram as many crazy and somewhat unrealistic goals as I can into a short period of time. I desperately want to travel with my better half—we've yet to go overseas together. Martin had two leg surgeries in 2014, taking him between 3-5 months to recover on both occasions. Shortly after that he became unemployed and has been taking an extended break to focus on freelance work, so we've had to put the idea of travel on hold.

P.S. Be glad that this thinking section isn't an essay. I'm a textbook overthinker.

What I'm excited for:

Visiting Sydney later this week.
As some of you know, my sister just moved to Sydney, so I'm visiting her for a few days. I've only been to Sydney three times since I've been in Australia, and Martin and I have never been together, so it will be nice to explore more of the suburbs I've never been before. I've also never been to Bondi Beach, so I think a trip to those iconic icebergs is a must.

Yoga teacher training.
The week after I come back from Sydney I start yoga teacher training! It's a 6 month course until September—there's about 200 contact hours on top of regular training and home practice, not to mention the theoretical aspects I'll get to learn. I've been doing yoga for 3 years now and it's something I enjoy deeply, so I really wanted to take it a step further and this just made sense to me—even if I don't end up teaching regularly, it will benefit my personal practice infinitely.

What I'm doing:

Invoicing, shooting, editing, planning, repeat.
On top of my full-time job, I do my freelance work most nights & weekends. I only just finished editing a shoot with my studios at Inna Bliss Yoga from last weekend, and I even managed to squeeze a sudden corporate shoot in during a lunch break last week. I've been in the throes of planning my April shoots, which means I'm completely booked for freelance work until after June. Yikes. I still haven't properly processed the Philippines portion of my trip; it may be even longer until I get around to it given that most of my March & April weekends are now full.

What I'm reading:

Blogs, mostly.
Given everything that I mentioned above it should come as no surprise that I don't have a lot of time for things like watching TV or reading. It was actually one of my goals this year to read more (this coming from a kid who spent a lot of school lunch breaks and mornings at the library, read every night before dinner, then again before bed), but I'm not perfect.

Most of my reading these days is confined to blogs, but I still find it incredibly beneficial because they're the perfect creative fuel I need day-to-day. I have this little routine where I bring my iPad to the cafe around the corner from work, have a nice, slow lunch break and read. I never thought I'd use an iPad, buying my first one ever shortly before Borneo, but now I use it to read my blogs using an app called Reeder. I love it a lot—give it a go if you haven't yet used it.

Below: snapshots from life during February, 2015.