A Liebster award x 2

I have been feeling the Liebster love this week. Actually that's like saying ATM machine (Automatic Teller Machine machine..) because Liebster apparently means a bunch of variations on lovely. Essentially a Liebster award is a way of bloggers recognising other bloggers and spreading the word. You can read my previous Liebster award post here. I've been nominated for two Liebster awards in the last week which is such a joy. The first was from Sheridan who writes over at Sheridan Anne - a lovely lifestyle blog with recipes, DIY and household tips for busy mums.
The second was from Nicole from The Builder's Wife. Nicole's blog is a bit of a chronicle of her journey to renovate and extend her gorgeous Queenslander. Definitely worth checking out if you are in the mood for a reno or home decoration inspiration.

Such a delightful week

It has been just the most delightful week! I can't even focus on the little moments of happiness because I've been too busy with the big ones :)

Tuesday morning I launched my new blog! For some time I have been pondering the future of Seeking Victory. It is not quite a food blog and I have less focus on wine than what I would like given that wine (and the blog) is such a huge part of my life. I wanted to create a blog that focussed on wine and food and one that I could direct professional contacts to without worrying they would stumble across a post about my dog or breast cancer awareness. So Champagne and Chips was born. I would love you to head over and have a look. Don't worry though, Seeking Victory is here to stay with its usual mish mash of posts on the things I want to say; just there won't be as much food here anymore (I'm sure it will still creep in :)

Meet...The Girl has Sparke

I want you to meet Megan, she writes over at The Girl has Sparke, one of my favourite Lifestyle blogs with a lovely mix of food-porn, travel, style and posts about her Canberra which make you want to jump on a plane to the nation's capital immediately. I first got to know Megan through her previous blog which was a little more vintage style focussed. Late last year she decided to make a fresh start with The Girl has Sparke and it was a good choice- her gorgeous sunny personality shines through her posts and stunning photographs. One of the things I love most about Megan's blog is her style posts which feature affordable pieces and achievable looks, even for the fashion-challenged individuals like myself.

Happy Monday

It has been such a big week! My grandma's funeral, a lot of family time, flights to and from Brisbane, catching up at work, the final planning stages for a blogger meetup I have happening on Tuesday, working on a new project- just so much going on. It has actually been a very lovely week. The funeral was quite small and simple, just as grandma would have wanted. I managed to slip some funny little stories into the eulogy which I think she would have liked. Seeing my family is always good, even under the circumstances, and my impending aunty status felt very real with my sister in law sporting quite a baby bump (16 weeks along).

Things that made me happy this week:

Happy Monday

I am feeling a bit conquered by the universe lately. I try really hard to focus on the positive things rather than wallow in the bad but I feel like I have had months (and months and months) of swimming upstream. I am exhausted emotionally and I should be exhausted physically except I seem constantly high on a stream of adrenaline. I headed upstairs at 2:30 on Sunday morning purely because I thought I should lie still for a bit. I think I maybe slept two hours.

The upside is that I am often awake to see the sky do amazing things.

3am Saturday morning...

Fat Mum Slim Photo a day #2

Well I'm still faffing about with my camera and I still have not read the damn manual but I did manage to make it through an entire months of taking a photo everyday. This is a little late because life got chaotic but just for posterity I wanted to share the second half of October's Photo a day pics. When I left you last time I had got up to P.

Q is for... quiet at the end of the day

Where Pho Lives {Pho House Review}

Regular readers will know I am on a mission to find west side dining that replaces my faves from Fitzroy. The good news is that I am having some success. Not that long ago I wrote about my Pho place in Fitzroy (with some excellent tips on pronunciation:) and now I've found, perhaps an even better one for the westies (OK, North Westies, I know there are heaps of good Vietnamese joints in Footscray).

Despite walking past Pho House most days it has taken me this long to go. I just checked the dates on Urbanspoon, they have been there over a year. #bloggerfail

The decor is simple, clean and inviting with this absolutely mouth-watering mural.

Taking Stock: October

No Happy Monday this week because I am madly studying for an exam and although the week has had some nice stuff in it I wanted to plan a little further ahead and schedule this baby in (ahh, the magic of the internet). I often read other taking stock posts and think how mind-healthy they are but have never done one. Something nice to reflect upon in the future too I think.