Somebody said to me the other day "there's not much going on at Green Trick lately Lizzy D"... yes, this is true. So when they say "much" and "lately" they really mean "nothing" and " a years time". So, I've been a little slack, a little lazy. I know, I know, but It took me a little while to settle into Melbourne Town and I didn't have much to write about. Then once I settled I was having too much of a good time and no time to write anything. Now I have settled myself in my little nest of a bed with too many cushions and am ready to write.

I guess a lot has happened in a years time, so I'll do my best to fill in the blanks of where I last left off. 

Once I arrived in Melbourne I was lucky enough to find a job and a house in a bout a month of being here. It was hard because it was sooooo freakin' cold!! I didn't really wanna go looking for a job and I didn't really wanna leave my spot on the couch just for the cat to claim it, but somehow it all fell into place. I managed to find a place to live 10 minutes walk from my sisters house ( convenient for last minute dinners and cat patting) and get a job in one of Melbourne's biggest florists! 

 I started to settle in at work and made friends with this bunch of weirdos, I love them.

Then as I started making my way around Melbourne I discovered so many amazing eating and drinking places. Not great for your wallet or your waistline but who can say no to a rose water cocktail or cakes from Laurent with a flamingo bingo on the side?!! I dare you to! No, you can't can you? Because no one can resist these guys!

Or these!

I'm pretty lucky, even though sometimes I bitch and moan about work I get to do some pretty amazing stuff!

 

To be fair, I had nothing to do with stampy.. although he was amazing!

Then I had the privilege of making the flowers for my friend Steph's wedding. I tell ya the girl got good taste! Mmmmhhhm!! She tells me David Austins and she tells me big! So what did she get? A giant posy of gerberas? A cascading bouquet of ming fern? I think not! She got big beautiful bouquets of david Austins with a few peonies in hers. It was such a beautiful wedding (minus the lateness of my friends and I at the ceremony.... I will get you for that Adam.... one day). 

My birthday and Christmas came and went. As usual I managed to drag my birthday out for at least a week. 

And I won our 'gingerbread off'!! A battle between my sister and I of who's gingerbread is best. We obviously had been watching far too much master chef as we took it very seriously and conducted a blind tasting.

After the festive season I tried to slip back into some form of regularity and took up a new hobby! Its still a work in progress but they sure are fun to make.
Cushion covers for all!!

Then just recently I had a visit from my favourite kind of people... my gaggle! Two talls and two smalls make the best kind of gaggle.

We did a lot of this.

And this.

Followed by this.

It was perfect! 

Now its time to start organising my next adventure!! Im off to the UK and Europe for a month!! I'm trying to suss out an awesome floristry workshop I can do while Im over there... but its so hard to decide!! Oh and I'll be staying in this place for a week

No biggie.

So its been a while... but I couldn't leave another travel journal unfinished. So heres a re cap of the last part of my journey.

We did a few more ikebana classes at the Sogetsu school.

This is one of our teachers, he was funny... I think a hit with all the ladies in our class too!

 Then we did a class at the Ohara school. It was interesting to see the two different styles of Ikebana. With this particular style you have to place all the flowers on the kenzan in a line. Which to me is a little odd because you have so much space on that thing and all the stems crammed into one line, but hey who am I to judge an ancient art form!

As you can see theres a lot of maths in ikebana.. not my strongest point.

These are the two finished products, I dunno about the gerberas but I like the designs.

Amanda looks thrilled with her masterpiece.

After class we went for pizza, I don't think its going to be Japans speciality any time soon.

This guy, now he's the biz!

The view from the Art museum.

Now, time for a ticket dinner! Pick what you want from the machine, get a ticket and wait..

 For this delicious soup... yep theres an egg in there.

 The people in Japan made me laugh everyday. Look at this kid, all tuckered out from a bike ride.

They put little dogs in their bags and go shopping.

And if you have three dogs, well you use a pram silly!

So out of the blue we get a message from mum saying, see you on the 17th got room for Lyn and I? Ha! My mum doesn't like to miss out on anything. We had a nice little dinner at home that night, all the food was great... except... I accidentally ate chicken livers.. BLAGGGHH!!!

 Freezer full of Haagen Dazs...hmmm, CHECK! And yes I ate majority of theses without any guilt what so ever.. come on you gotta get it while you can! Sandi knows what Im talking about.

Then two days later this kid has to leave. Off to blow glass of something.

This is the kind of AMAZING fabrics at the flea market! I ferreted through all this gold for about 45 minutes. Came out with 3 obis and 2 kimonos... thats all I could carry :(

As you can see from that huge bag mum and Lyn did all right too.

 Mum didn't have any luck on the claw either.

 Then Mum, Lyn and I headed for Kyoto. We visited temples, saw a geisha show and shopped!

 These kids were hilarious, real trouble makers heckling the guy at the office then riding off on their bikes. One kid even had his pants on backwards, rebel.

Egg head rice kids = great advertising.

Tea ceremony

Ikebana

Maiko's dance

Party maikos

We stumbled upon this shrine.. a shrine to...

 RATS!! gross!

Walking through the path of philosophy. There must be a lot of philosophical dogs out there.

You can still get Haagen Dazs on your philosophical journey too. 

Cute

Japanese cemetery.

Soft whips, in every flavour imaginable

I went with a peach soft whip.. they were out of cherry blossom flavour :(

 Buses aren't quick, this guy was annoyed.

The Golden Temple

Train picnic

These photos seemed to have loaded all out of order, and Im not thaaaat great on the ol' compute but I thought they were worth a look anyway. These ones are taken around our neighbourhood in Togoshi.

I love this picture, he's so pumped to scare his friend.. but his friend didn't really care much. 

Awesome backpacks!

Everyone rides their bike, even 70 year olds! This guy had stopped to look at a puffy dog down the street.

Cute houses with awesome colour schemes.

This little girl was THE cutest! Practicing her unicycling.. she was pretty good.

She got the giggles

It is true, everything is cute in Japan!

These photos were taken at the fish market.As you would imagine.. BEST SASHIMI IN TOWN!!

This looks waaaay too hard!

And this lady is asleep.

Lining up for egg rolls.

I had an AMAZING trip! I have learnt lots of new things both in the flower world and the every day. I will miss the matcha frappes, the shopping, the people watching, the walking the streets scouting for cute weiner dogs, and obviously the sashimi, just to name a few. Japan is definitely a place I would return to... maybe with an empty suitcase this time.

Now I have returned home, excited to eat bread that isn't ridiculously sweet, watch tv I can understand properly and have what feels like all the space in the world! I am ready for my next new challenge.. Melbourne-town!!