Guest post: Transition is my Middle Name

* While I'm getting my yoga on in Bali this week, I've asked some of my blog friends to share their favourite travel stories. Today I'm delighted to have Abby from the gorgeous blog Transition is my Middle Name. Abby's about to get married and move across the country so her blog is full of excitement :) After you've finished reading make sure you stop by her corner of the blogsophere to say hi! *

hello there, sweet readers!

my name is abby and i live in the tiny state of new hampshire in the u.s.

i'm so excited to be posting today while

our girl is away!

i'm about to go on a bit of an adventure of my own in a few weeks . . .

i'm getting married to my best friend

{the sweetest, most handsome guy i've ever met}

on Christmas Eve . . . just one problem:

he lives halfway across the country in nashville, tn!

nashville is a lively city that is just perfect for a young couple

like us in our first year of marriage.

can you think of a better way to start off your life together?

that said, i now have to move all my stuff down there before the wedding

so that we're not packing like crazy people after

a whirlwind honeymoon.

my good friend katie volunteered to help me make the cross-country trek

and i am so excited to go with her.

with all this moving, and packing and general wedding excitement,

katie and i have prepped a decent list of things we need to bring with us!

i thought it might be useful to you ladies too . . . who knows when

you suddenly will jump in the car for a cross-country adventure of your own, right?

first and foremost, comfy clothes are an absolute must . . .

i'm addicted to plaid flannel shirts

{which is very exciting, because so is my fiance, which means i get to steal his soon too!}

and any kind of comfy jean and footwear . . .

and of course, amazing Christmas tunes are also in order

for a long holiday-time drive.

finally, probably the most important thing we will take with us

other than the GPS, is snacks!

i'm a vegetarian and both katie and i are fans of delicious but healthy treats,

so truck-stop food will probably not cut it for us

{well, except maaaaybe a slushy here and there}

so, we're packing lots of yummy things to nosh on while we drive the 18+ hours.

1. dried fruit . . . like apples, cranberries or delicious crystalized ginger

2. coffee . . . my drink of choice is a soy latte, extra hot

3. fall trail mix with your favorite sweet and savory bits

4. the best candy in the world: swedish fish!

so what would you bring on your cross-country drive?

i would love to know your suggestions for what you think i should

bring on our trip . . . share your advice

and make sure to visit me to see how our trip goes in just a few weeks!

Guest post: Her New Love

* While I'm getting my yoga on in Bali this week, I've asked some of my blog friends to share their favourite travel stories. Today we have a beautiful story about SURFING from Tabitha who blogs over at Her New Love. If you're into gorgeous scenery and sweet photos, go check it out! *

That Surf Trip

Spontaneity. That’s my favorite word, why? Because my best and most unforgettable experiences are always from spontaneous trips with friends. Most of these trips include hitting the beach at hours notice and riding public transportation to get to our destination.

The most memorable travel adventure I had was with a girl friend. We decided to take a 4-day vacation to surf. Just one day after talking about it, we took the first bus ride to a province called Zambales from Manila (Philippines). With just our backpacks and slippers, we were up for the consequences of our unpreparedness!

This tent was our home for 4 days. Our living condition wasn’t at all fancy! We hung our clothes on trees to dry, took a bath at the open shower (which I always dreaded because the place was just incredibly windy!) and ate from canned goods.

Our everyday itinerary was to wake up early in the morning to catch some waves, laze around in the afternoon and then surf till the sun goes down. We even met a couple of cool dudes on our stay there! They lent us their boards so we wouldn’t have to rent and we ended up hanging out with them till the end of our short vacation!

That particular surf trip didn’t only give me a hell of a sun kissed nose; it gave me things to reflect on. Living in a quiet environment, away from the busyness of the city made me appreciate the simplicity that life offers and that we have forgotten. It has also taught me that strangers can eventually be lifelong friends. And that no amount of sunscreen will prevent my nose from getting sun burnt! J

I encourage you to stop making plans for a second, remember to live and be spontaneous! You’ll never know where it’ll take you and what amazing memories it can create.

Guest post: 10 things about Gaby, by Husband!

* Today I have something very exciting to share - a guest post from my husband! Yeah that's right, my anonymous husband is making his very first appearance on my blog. So without further ado, I bring you Husband, live and unedited... *

Snapped the other day. The book would put me to sleep too though.

Hey. I'm Anonymous aka Husband. I'm the guy in the photos here, here and here, never quite showing my face. I'm doing a guest post while Gaby is away on a trip. I've been toying with the idea of doing a guest post for a while but I don't think Gaby was too keen on me doing a post without at least some editorial supervision.

My wife... chica

By now most readers of this blog will have seen a lot of what Gaby can do in life. She takes ripper photos, makes wonderful craft thingy's (I can now spot a really good yoga mat bag) and teaches a mean yoga class.

I wanted to share a couple of things about her that I find quintessentially Gaby:

1. Gaby hates mornings (the inertia of bed for Gaby is overwhelming)

2. Gaby hates mornings (she sleeps with an eye mask on which makes her look like she's going before the firing squad at dawn)

3. She's incredibly sweet

4. She has an hilarious yawn that sounds like she's having a seizure or a door is closing

5. She's a really good rock climber and gymnast

6. She is a prolific crafter, everything from teddy bears, to skirts to knitted bikinis. That's right, a knitted bikini

7. She has a rubbish sense of direction. She has on one occasion asked me "which direction are the western suburbs?" the hilarity never stops

8. She has a funny accent (to me anyway)

9. Her nickname is chica. It's Spanish for girl. I started calling her it ages ago on account of her Colombian heritage. Seems to have sticked)

10. She puts up with me teasing her about chakras and energy meridians "oh great! Another book about prenatal yoga. My favourite!"

Guest post: A Collection of Passions

* While I'm getting my yoga on in Bali this week, I've asked some of my blog friends to share their favourite travel stories. I'm excited to have Kacie from A Collection of Passions to kick us off today. Kacie is an actress/mom to baby Gwyneth and her bog is full of cute mum style, gorgeous photos and lovely inspiration. Be sure to head on over to her blog to say hi!

Hi there, I'm Kacie from A Collection of Passions. I love Gaby's blog and I live vicariously through her calm yoga-infused existence. I'm happy to be here guest blogging while she's on her trip. My very favorite place to travel is Paris. I am constantly watching the airfare updates and dreaming of croissants, Tuileries and ballet flats. My husband and I are working hard so that we can take a trip next year to Scotland, Ireland, Paris and Barcelona. We may not make to all these places but we have to take our daughter, Gwyneth, to Paris. I can't cross into Europe without visiting this magical city. I adore Paris. I thought I'd share with you my ten thirteen favorite things about it. All these photos are from our honeymoon which feels like it was ages ago! Just looking at these makes me want to hop aboard a flight...

The incredible food. Where else can you eat a five course lunch (every day for three weeks)?

The awkward signs in the Modern Art Museum.

Glimpses of the Eiffel Tower through windows. This happens all over the city.

Walking everywhere. It's one of the best walking cities in the world.

Espressos and croissants to start off every day.

Sunset on the Champs de Mars while sipping a glass polishing off a bottle of wine and holding hands with a charming gentleman.

The street performers...

...and the metro singers.

Sharing a carafe of wine on the Ile St. Louis (in the middle of the day). Nothing like sightseeing with a buzz.

Cafe goers and their pups.

The physics-defying parking of the Parisians... and their tiny cars.

Dressing rooms like this!

And, of course, the Pont Alexndre III. Everyone finds a favorite bridge at some point in their life. This is mine.

Thanks for taking a walk down memory lane with me.

And I'm off...

last minute hemming (why oh why?) and a packed suitcase

Hi friends! Just wanted to pop in to say hi and bye. It's rainy and miserable here in Sydney and I'm just a little bit excited about escaping :) While I'm away I have a week's worth of exciting guest posts, including husband's very first blog post.... Hope you all have a great week and I'll be back soon, with lots of photos and stories to share.

xo

Gaby

I need your decorating advice

Source: boho-storm.tumblr.com via Gabriela on Pinterest

Now that the summer temperatures have arrived, I'm once again wondering how on earth to make my bed. This happens every year when summer rolls around; I want a pretty bed but it's hot as hell and most nights we're sleeping with just a sheet, a fan that goes all night and sometimes even a cold towel over our faces (not just yet, but give it another month or so...).

And as much as I love this floating bed, - which is really the perfect summer bed, don't you think? - I'm stuck with the bed you see below. In winter, it's all made by me flannel and wool. But how, oh how, do you make a bed look pretty in summer?

A very Australian playlist

As a follow up to my very Canadian playlist, today I thought I'd share a very Australian playlist. There is some pretty awesome music coming out of this country, and I hope you find something new to love... Also, I really wanted to add a song by Winter People but it wasn't on grooveshark, so go here to watch a beautiful video of the band playing their song Wishingbone.

My creative Space: how to make a clutch

Alright, alright... So I said fairly recently that I would stop making clutches. But I did do something different for my last creative space, so that counts for something right?

So back to this clutch up here, it's made from a tea towel. Wanna know how to make one of your very own? Well read on friends because here comes my very first sewing tutorial... Oh, and it may be helpful to keep in mind my good friend's words of sewing wisdom: Close enough is good enough. Yes indeed.

You will need:

- 2 pieces of fabric each measuring 41 cm by 22cm (I used a vintage tea towel and some cotton from Ikea, be creative, use what you have on hand)

- 1 piece of light or medium weight iron on interfacing measuring 41 cm by 22 cm

- a snap fastener (velcro circles also work)

- a sewing machine

- thread to match (or mismatch if that's your style) your fabric

- pins

1. Choose your fabrics and cut them to size. I love the look of this tea towel with this mismatching leaf print, and both were pulled out of my stash. You don't need much fabric so it's a good way to use up smaller pieces. Once you've chosen your exterior and lining fabrics cut them to 41 x 22 cm. Then cut your interfacing to the same size. Now iron this piece of interfacing (shiny side down, this is the adhesive side) onto the wrong side of your lining so it stays put.

2. Pin your three layers together. Lay your lining piece right side up (this is the piece with the interfacing ironed on) and then lay your exterior piece wrong side up on top of it. Your two rectangles of fabric should be right sides facing each other now. Pin all around this rectangle.

3. Start sewing. Using a 1 cm seam allowance sew all around the four sides of the bag, leaving open a gap on one shorter side that's at least 12 or so centimeters long.

4. Clip corners and turn inside out. See that corner bit up there, go ahead and chop those off being careful NOT to cut into your sea at all. This will make your corners sharper. Now carefully turn your bag out through the hole you left. Poke the corners out gently so they're nice and neat and give the bag a good press.

5. Topstitch the opening closed. See that hole up there? Time to close that bad boy up. Topstitch (which means sewing close to the edge) all the way from one short end to the next so you close the hole up.

6. Finish sewing! Take your rectangle and lay it on a flat surface with the lining facing you. Fold up the bottom edge 15 cm. So the blue piece of fabric up there with the dog, that's 15 cm from the fold to the top (of the blue fabric, not all the way to top the top). Now topstitch from the bottom of one side all the way to the top. Then do the other side. Now pat yourself on the back and put your sewing machine away.

7. Hand sew on your snap fastener. Grab your snap fastener and center one half of it on the inside of the flap. Carefully hand stitch this in place so it's nice and strong (I doubled my thread) but be careful not to catch the exterior fabric so your stitches are not visible from the outside. If they are, you can cover them with a decorative button. Next, match the other half of the fastener on the body of your bag and carefully hand stitch this in place.

8. You're done! Admire your handiwork!

p.s. I hope this was clear, but I realize there's a large chance it's not so if you have any questions feel free to ask me! Happy sewing. xx

p.p.s. for more creative spaces, go here

Calling all guest bloggers!

I got some good news yesterday: I was granted a temporary passport so that I can travel next week. I'll be internetless for just over a week and I would LOVE to line up some guest bloggers to fill in while I'm gone. If you're interested shoot me an email at: thislittleport@gmail.com

Can't wait to hear from you!

Eddie Izzard (and an embarrassing tale)

For a long time, Eddie Izzard has been one of my favourite comedians. Years ago when I was visiting my friend in L.A. I saw him and made a total fool of myself. We were in her car and we had just pulled into a parking lot. He was going into a shop and I excitedly started to yell: "Oh my god it's Eddie Izzard!!! Eeeeee! I love him!" My friend had no idea who he was, and was mortified because the windows were all rolled down and I hadn't noticed. Awesome. So it's safe to say that he witnessed this outburst from crazy over-excited Canadian tourist and then he had to shop with me. I totally avoided him and hung my head in shame.

Fast forward to 2011... Last night I dragged my sick ass out of bed and over to the opera house to see Eddie Izzard. You see, my friend had a free ticket for me and NOTHING short of being hospitalised was going to stop me from being there. It was an absolutely brilliant show and I'm so grateful to my friend for the ticket.

I also realized last night that I can die happy now because I've seen my trifecta of favourite comedians: Eddie Izzard, Dylan Moran and Mike Berbiglia. And just for kicks, I leave you with one of my favourite Eddie Izzard skits of all time...

Especially grateful for, 3rd edition

In the midst of yet another fairly crappy week involving the continuing passport saga and me coming down with the flu on the hottest day of the year yet (seriously, it was 32 degrees celsius yesterday and I got the flu, wtf???), I'm really feeling the need to put a hold on the self pity and remind myself of the things I have to be grateful for. So inspired by Whitney, here are 10 things I'm feeling especially grateful for...

1. Husband, who took such good care of me yesterday and came home instead of doing what he actually wanted to do so he could make me dinner, and make sure my fever wasn't going through the roof (it is).

2. My mom who is doing everything she can on the other side of the world to get me a passport, thanks mom!

3. The air conditioning unit in our flat. I think I'd die without it.

4. Visiting yoga teachers who never cease to leave me feeling oh so inspired, both as a yoga student and a teacher.

5. Fleet Foxes. Love them.

6. The fact that another Ira Glass show was added to his Sydney line-up. I'm seriously hoping that this time I actually manage to get tickets for husband and I.

7. Skype. What would us expats do without it?

8. Coffee. I'm not a major coffee drinker but sometimes it's exactly what I need to get me through the morning :)

9. The beautiful skirt from Anthro that my mom sent me. She has the best taste!

10. Inspiring books. Right now I'm reading Women's Power to Heal: Through Inner Medicine by Maya Tiwari (a.k.a. Mother Maya). If you're interested in Ayurveda at all, this a must read!

Smores!!!

I am just going for my life here, sexy

One of the best things to happen to me in the last month is the arrival of Nicole, who brought with her one of my favourite treats from home: graham crackers! I seriously have not eaten a smore since I moved here, 3 years ago.

You cannot find graham crackers in Australia, and what's more, should you try to explain what a smore is to an Australian, they will openly mock you. So for my Aussie/Kiwi readers, here's how you make a smore...

1. Get someone to bring you graham crackers from North America. They are biscuits.

2. Sandwich chocolate and 1 marshmallow in between 2 graham crackers.

3. Put this sandwich into a hot oven for about 5 minutes, or better yet, wrap this sandwich in tin foil and put it on top of a fire. Smores are camping food.

4. Thank your friend for bringing you graham crackers.

♥♥♥

An impromptu retreat

In the midst of this week's frustrations, I got to escape for a night to an impromptu yoga retreat at one of my favourite retreat centers (see my other trips here and here). It felt a bit irresponsible to run away to the bush when I had so much to do in the city, but I decided that it was more important to pause. To just be. However briefly.

It was amazing to me to think about just how different it was last time I was there. Just a couple of months ago I was bundled up in scarves and boots, drinking tea and sitting by the fire.

This time I spent most of my time melting in my swimsuit, drinking cold water and going for swims in the billabong. Just as good, but in a very different way. There was also some yoga, but not a whole lot to be totally honest. Relaxing, staying cool and playing with the kids took up much of our time.

Practicing my adjustments with another yoga teacher.

Eating alfresco.

Sunlight hitting the outdoor living area.

This billabong was our saviour!

p.s. Happy 11/11/11 everyone! I'm heading off to a chanting extravaganza to celebrate. Any other yogis have any plans for the day?