Brisbane Bound...

Last week the bf and I took a trip to sunny Queensland!

It was the most perfect time to get away as I hadn't had a day off work since Christmas and I was getting a little stir-crazy and needed some time to recharge.

We flew into the beautiful city of Brisbane on Thursday morning to meet seven of our friends for a long weekend adventure.

The bf has a long love affair with heavy metal music so we all decided we'd tag a long to the Soundwave music festival held on the Saturday. I don't go much on the heavy metal, but it was a great excuse to catch up with friends and have a weekend away in a new city.

Surprisingly I had never spent much time in Brissie (except for a night or two on a school excursion back in year nine!) It is a beautiful city, and so different to Sydney.

We stayed in the Bridgewater Apartments in Kangaroo Point and it was the most perfect location for what we were after. A good sized apartment will a beautiful swimming pool, a short stroll to the river with a great cocktail bar and restaurant on the corner. What more could we have asked for?

Now, let me get to the cocktails. Ah-mazing! We used the nearby Shelter Bar (part of the Story Bridge Hotel) as our "starting point" most nights and it was great! The presentation they put into their drinks (particularly the cocktails) and their food was fab!

My friend and I were drinking the $10 cocktail special (served on Friday nights as part of their 'Flavour Fridays' special) that were served in the cutest mason jars - I'm a sucker for a mason jar! And because we were drinking the cocktail special we got to enter into a competition to win a $125 Swarovski crystal voucher, and guess what??? I won the voucher on our first night at the bar! Suffice to say, the Shelter Bar is my new favourite hang out.

New earrings I purchased with my winning voucher!

Brisbane put on great weather for us too. I had been down before we left Sydney as I studied the forecast for the weekend and it said rain for all four days. BUT, mother nature pulled through and we had amazing sunshine plus cooler overcast weather for the festival. Winning!

We made a short trek up the coast on Friday to try our hand at Go-Karting! We visited the Big Go-Kart track only 21kms from Mooloolaba and we all had a ball (especially the boys who seem to always get their competitive racing faces on when anything with a motor is involved!)

We stopped in at my favourite beach in Australia (so far... I haven't seen them all), and had lunch at the Mooloolaba Surf Club (another of my regular hang-outs when on family holidays growing up).

I was surprised at how quiet Brisbane city was. Walking around the CBD and river on Sunday was so different to a day in Sydney. There weren't a lot of people, no rowdy noises, just beautiful scenery and lovely people.

On our final night the boys tried their hand at the casino (not me though, I was knackered and went home for an early night). It seemed a go on the pokies was "meant to be" for our friend Simon - he put $10 in for one hit (despite his gf telling him he'd spent enough that night!) and made himself a sweet $6,000!!!!

Holiday paid for. Lucky duck!!

All in all, it was the best weekend away! Brisbane, you put on such a good show, I am falling for your sunny charm. I hope we meet again soon.

E, x

Feed Your Soul event wrap part 1

Hey lovelies,
Happy Tuesday, I hope your weekend was spent doing things that you love! I know I spent mine doing some amazing stuff!

This past weekend my sister and I flew to the Gold Coast for the Feed Your Soul event as mentioned in my post back here.

I promised to report back on the event and all I can say is, WOW. I have learnt so much from this event so I am going to write about the things that I learnt in two posts (so you guys don't have to read an essay! lol)

I was soooo excited for the event but even more stoked when the whole day exceeded my expectations. I had been following Ashy Bines and Nicole Joy on Instagram for some time now and had never thought I'd actually get a chance to chat to them about normal girl to girl stuff, but at this event we did!

As Ashy said in her speech in the morning, a lot of people see her on social media and judge her quite harshly and unfairly because they have preconceived ideas of what they think she is like because of her successes. She reminded everyone that she is only human (an amazing one at that!) and asked that we do not judge anybody during the course of the event.

I was blown away at how well Ashy spoke. She presented herself so nicely and was so approachable. When my sister and I were leaving the venue we even had a chance to chat to Ashy by ourselves and I seriously felt like we were talking to an old friend. She is just like us, she is only 25 (her birthday was yesterday!!!!) and has her struggles just like anybody else.

I found her story super inspiring and I told her I thought she should definitely write a book (which she said she hopes to work on sometime in the future when ever she gets a spare moment, which doesn't look to be anytime soon - this girl is one busy entrepreneur!)

We were treated to raw goodies for breakfast, lunch and snacks including muesli for breakfast and a yummy green smoothie after our boot camp session with the ABBBC trainers.

OMG the training session was great!! I had never done a proper big group session like this one before and it made me realise and understand why Ashy's bikini body challenges work so well. Training in a group makes the session soooo much more fun. My mind was preoccupied most of the time laughing with the girls I had just met or being silly in some of the exercises.

So many girls I met at this event were gorgeous people inside and out. We all seemed to get along together even though we were all strangers. I guess this is what happens when you put a bunch of like-minded girls together, we all want the same things - to feel healthier and work towards a better life for ourselves, so we all clicked!

I was so surprised at how much I took in from this event. I had never been to a 'motivational' talk as such before and I guess until you go to one, you won't really know how you will respond to the information.

From Ashy's story alone I learnt that believing something negative about yourself can change your whole life and influence the path you are heading down. Ashy truly believed she was too dumb to succeed at anything in life so she put off her aspirations of becoming a personal trainer for years. It wasn't until her life took a path where she had really hit rock bottom that she could muster the strength to apply herself to the personal training course and do what she really wanted to do.

Image source www.transformationcentre.com.au 

It seems so crazy now to think that Ashy thought she could never become a personal trainer! She is running an empire involved with helping women change their lives through fitness and health. Imagine if she had continued to believe that she was stupid and never chose to change her life and apply herself?

It's amazing to think about. I took a lot away from her story. Of course we heard a lot more about Ashy as well but I would be blogging a long time to tell you it all. This is why I believe she should write a book - she has so much to tell that a lot of people don't know about her and assume that success just landed in her lap. This is so not the case.

People need to work hard to achieve their dreams and goals and this event reconfirmed this for me. Sometimes it's easy to think that we are working hard towards out dreams when truly we are just hoping, waiting and wishing things would all come together on their own.

I plan to use this knowledge and work harder towards my goals for sure!

E, x

Bondi Farmers Market

Yesterday I got up early and decided I wanted to visit the Bondi Farmers Market. I have been fixated on going and visiting Bondi for some reason since I moved closer to the city. I had been there before and I am told the beach is not great for swimming in but I wanted to visit it anyway, plus I heard the markets there are good!

So it took me about an hour to drive in and the weather was suppose to be terrible with rain and storms but Mother nature held out long enough for me to explore the markets and get to walk along the beach for a little bit.

It was beautiful down there yesterday. The storm clouds were rolling in but it was humid and warm enough to swim. I wish I had packed my new Seafolly swimmers so I could christen them the right way (in the ocean of course!)

Anyhow, after I got caught up looking through Bondi Wholefoods (which is a great store/cafe by the way! - They are soon opening online, I'm excited! I really hope they post out here!) I realised that I had only paid about $5 for parking and it was going to run out if I didn't make it back to the markets soon!

I rushed into the fresh produce stall and was in heaven! I get so overwhelmed at these kinds of things and often don't know what to by. Next time I am definitely going to take a couple of recipes with me so I can purchase with meals in mind.

I stocked up on some usual stuff that I have in my fridge however: some scrumptious baby tomatoes, a big bag full of rocket, some dutch carrots, a bag full of apricots, mangos and a litre of almond milk! Yum!!!! I love almond milk and will be making my oats with this this morning.

Despite all of the amazing food, I could't go past the flower stall. Oh the flowers.

As soon as I spotted the peonies I was in love. These are my favourite flowers (on par with hydrangeas) and the stall holder had them in white and this lush red. So gorgeous!

And in true "hipster" fashion, on my last stop before hauling all of my goodies into my car I had to try a cold pressed juice. I asked the stall holder to recommend me a juice out of the green or the red. He said that everyone seems to be jumping on the 'green smoothie/juice' bandwagon but his favourite was the red beetroot juice mix. I can't remember what was in it (maybe apple and something else) but it wasn't too bad, although I think I'll try the green next time.

The only thing I am super bummed I forgot to get was some of the "Bondi Yoghurt" I have been seeing posted around Facebook. Aw well, maybe next time.

Have you been to the  Bondi Farmers Market before? Do you live in the Sydney area and know of any other good markets to visit? 

I'd love to hear about them! I love a good market!

E, x

Holidaying QLD coast style!

Hey there bloggy peeps!

It's been a while, but I have good reason! I am currently on holidays with my family on the QLD coast!

We kicked off our trip with a weeks stay on the ever-gorgeous Sunshine Coast at the city of Mooloolaba. We have been staying at Mooloolaba for years and years since I was a child and it never disappoints!

We were lucky enough to have freakin' amazing weather for cruising around the beach, shops and eateries. I always love visiting Mooloolaba and can tell that each year it is getting more and more popular with tourists. I even noticed whilst I was there, some bloggers and Instagrammers that I follow were also holidaying there at the same time! Such a beautiful place in our country!

This week we are on the Gold Coast and believe it or not, its my first "proper" time on the GC as an adult. My parents brought me and my sisters here when we were little but I can't remember it so I'm classing this trip as my first time.

So far, the weather has been a little glum and overcast and I am so used to the slow and relaxed pace of the Sunshine Coast that I was shocked at how busy the GC is! I don't want to make my mind up too soon but I'm not sure I am that in love with the GC. Sorry if I offend any one by saying that but don't worry, I am keeping an open mind for the rest of the week and plan to better scope out the place!!

My sisters and I are also planning to visit "Dracula's" theatre restaurant! It may sound corny to some, but we have all been wanting to do it since we were kids and now we are all well and truly legal and of age we are trying it out! That might be tomorrow nights dinner event!

I have been really active on my Instagram feed (find me on: elliemaree12) while on holidays trying to capture lots of pics of my time on the coast so I can have my pictures printed via Prinstagram. I think this is a cool way to document our trip and from what I've heard, it is quite affordable!

Anyhow, just a relatively quick check in! More posts to come soon!

Take care