week two

week two

The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. work is the key to success, and hard work can help you accomplish anything.

This week I enrolled in to my masters in nursing, I worked 6 days straight and still managed to work out three times, including an hour and a half paddle up the Swan River. On Saturday we planned to drive to Collie, 2.5 hours south of Perth but were both so tired from the week that we ended up sleeping in until long past 10am. Instead we drove to Dwellingup and got lost amongst the endless forests. We cooled off in rivers and lakes and Jessie swam after a duck. That evening we drove in to Mandurah to see Dan's family and bought sweet potato fries and burgers from Grill'd. On Sunday we went for a look around bunnings to find inspiration for our new home which we move in to in just a few weeks time.

This photo is from our trip to Dwellingup, whilst we were lost in the forest some 4 wheel drivers came speeding past and created a huge dust cloud. We pulled over and I managed to grab my camera out of my bag just in time to capture the dust floating in the sunlight.

How was your week?xo

week one

Week one, 2017

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that

I really wanted a photo to sum up my week and when I was photographing some candles I recently bought from a handmade market, I saw this through the viewfinder and knew it was the photo to sum up my first week of 2017. The candle is from Possum & Blossom, a Perth based business who sell a beautiful array of candles and body products.

This week I made a devout effort to start the year right, I set my alarm for before 7am, I've flood my body with clean, organic fruit and veggies (you know the wonderful type that come still covered in dirt) and made an active effort to stay active. I've signed back up for a volunteer first aider role and enrolled in yoga classes to restore some inner balance and peace. I've spent extra time working on being mindful and trying to balance my thinking, and taking extra time before getting fiesty with people at work. On my mornings off work I've spent time at the beach, just me and jessie dog running in the waves to cool off and having cuddles with all the new puppies. Dan and I are trying to spend more time connecting, less time on social media (hence this post being late) and work phones.

How was your start to 2017?

xo

swellbound blog // 2017 blogging goals

I literally cannot believe we're 5 days into 2017 already! 

Last year seemed to jump from April to December and everything went by in a total blur, I worked so hard at work that my personal life took a serious backseat and sadly blogging went with it. So this year I've decided to prep and plan to make sure that I get a balance of me time, work time and blog time, I figured writing out my blogging goals as my first post of the year would be a great place to start.

001. Re-brand! I'm not sure if you've arrived here expecting We are Dannah or Swellbound either way welcome and thank you for stopping by. When I first moved to Australia I wanted to focus my blog on Dan and I, to use it as a bit of diary as we emigrated and settled in, however I quickly outgrew it and wanted to be able to just publish photos stories and share with my readers. So mid-2016 I decided, with some encouragement from my blogger pals old and new, to re-brand in 2017 to something more true to me, which I'm hoping is exactly what swellbound will become. 

002. Complete a project 52. Last year I attempted project 366, taking a photo every day for a year, it was a great idea and I'm sure that if I checked my phone I probably did take a day a photo a year however I realised after a few weeks that it was a little ambitious. This year I aim to post a diary / round up type post, filled with pretty photos or backgrounds I've made (like the picture above). 

003. Draw inspiration from bloggers I love. I've always adored bloggers who post photo stories, travel diaries and wonderfully honest personal reflections (check out the list of bloggers in my side bar for some inspiration) and want my blog to reflect these things a lot more.

004. Support the little / local guys. I've worked with some incredible companies during my time blogging, but some of my favourites have been little start ups who I feel I'm really helping. I want Swellbound to be a place that really supports little and local business.

005. Post more! Super simple and I'm not going to set a number because I don't want to not hit it. Like I said before, 2016 put my blog on a serious back seat and I really missed it, so this year I want to really put some effort in to my blog and to re-ignite my passion for blogging. The best thing is, I have such an awesome list of things to look forward to this year and I can't wait to share with you all. 

So here's to a 2017 filled with regular posts, flooding your feed with sunshine, sand and salt water

♥

What are your 2017 blogging goals?

xo

Two years in Australia

At the end of September 2014 we packed up our lives and made the move to Western Australia.
One year on I wrote a re-cap about our first year in Australia, the first year was most definitely a rollercoaster of emotions and adjusting to living in a new culture, but by the end of the first year I had just started to find my feet and was starting to feel settled in Perth.

So what was year 2 like?

As we finished our first year in Australia we both were working pretty good jobs and had just moved in to a beautiful old cottage in Wembley with a swimming pool and beautiful tropical garden for the summer. We packed up our bags for a long weekend and head to Sydney  (psst click for sydney blog posts) where we got to know some of Australia's most iconic landmarks like the Opera House and Bondi Beach. We had an awesome time, but felt much more at home when we got back to Perth. 

It was relatively plain sailing counting out the rest of the year, we got to know Perth city a little better and at the middle of December welcomed Dan's family for a month. We celebrated christmas with the English family and the family who already live in WA, spent time on their boat, playing on paddle boards and watching dolphins in Mandurah. 

Not long after Dan's family flew back to England we hopped on a flight to Brisbane and explored the tropical Gold Coast. We teamed our flights to land not long after my mum, who was visiting a friend from England, and after a week in Brisbane we all flew back over to Perth. The timing was impeccable (I can't lie it was totally planned) as mum was able to help us pack up our short term rental to move up the coast into a longer term rental. We had a few short days with mum in the new house before she went back to the UK. It was heartbreaking as ever waving her goodbye, knowing she's so far away. Whilst mum was visiting I gained a clinical nursing position in the community.

At the start of March we welcomed number three in to our mini family, Jessie the border collie. Our lives changed forever and we fell totally in love with our crazy little ball of fur. The next few months were filled with walks, puppy school, crate training, obedience training and doggy day care (yes, it's a real thing). There were some horrid nights of being awake all night, but slowly Jessie somehow made us feel more and more at home, and after a camping trip for my birthday in April, where we spent the weekend watching her run up and down the beach, I thought I really really like living here. There was a love forming like nothing I had ever imagined, for a four legged friend, so unconditional that all the sleepless nights, peed on carpets and chewed shoes seemed so insignificant. 

The next few months were a total blur, and I grew to totally neglect blogging and social media. Our lives became balancing acts, but we formed amazing new friendships with people at work, started taking the 4WD out more and generally started to feel like Perth was becoming home. Almost in sync, both our careers took off and we expectations at work increased, we saved every cent we earned   and our evenings quickly became consumed with working from home. 

After a few months of work, work, work I realised I was beyond unhappy in my job and despite it sounding incredible on paper I was unsupported and over worked. A break was much needed so when an email landed in my inbox from a hotel in Bali we realised it was a sign we had to go and not long after we were floating in a pool with a Bintang in hand, the holiday flew by and on the way back I turned to Dan and said 'where are we going?' and he replied 'home'. 

When we got back we spoke at length and crunched numbers and realised the stress, the toll on my health and the lack of free time at my job just wasn't worth it..so one Monday morning, not long after getting back from Bali, I bounced in to my managers office resignation in hand. 

I felt a new wave of motivation and creativity. I threw myself in to new hobbies, jumped out of bed at 6am and felt a fire burning inside me that had been put out months before. The stars obviously aligned quite quickly, because before I had even worked my notice I had landed an incredible new role with identical pay but a lot less hours. 

I started my new job at the middle of September and was able to maintain my new hobbies, my twice daily dog walks and occasional stops at the gym for spin class. By the end of September we decided that Perth would be our home for a good few years, so started researching buying our first house together and hope to be in to something new in the next 6 months.

Once again, it's been a total rollercoaster, however we have grown umpteen amounts. We are no longer young people, but young adults with career paths and yearly plans, we have our own fur child who is the most incredible ray of sunshine on the darkest days. 

xo

one year in australia

I absolutely cannot believe we've lived in Perth for a whole year now (technically a year and 4 days), so much has happened and our lives have changed so dramatically. I thought it was only fair to write a little summary post of our first year in Australia, filled with our roller coaster journey so far...

We arrived late September and spent our first month sorting out CVs, driving licenses, registrations and finding cars. We were able to stay with Dan's family in Mandurah for the whole time which was great as we payed hardly any rent and had constant company (both human and furry). I spent most of the first month struggling away from my friends, family and the job I loved. We also got our first taste of Perth royal show, which is a yearly event held at Claremont show grounds (check out the linked blog post, it's hard to explain).

By month two we both had cars and jobs, but were still living in Mandurah. Dan started working towards changing his UK electricians license to an Australian one, and I got a job in retail whilst waiting for my checks and registration for a job in healthcare. I spent a lot of my evenings escaping to the gym because it was the only place I felt at home, I'd whatsapp my old coach almost every day with proud little messages about everything I'd achieved. We spent most of our spare time looking for rentals and deciding where to live, pretty much everyone we knew advised that we stay in Mandurah so we based our search between there and Rockingham. We struggled to meet new people as we both worked with people in their 50s+, so spent our weekends with each other and with Dan's family.

After almost two months of searching we found our first aussie house in a brand new estate around 20 minutes from Mandurah. I got my first job in healthcare working with young adults with disabilities, something I hadn't really done before but it was a damn sight closer to my previous job than retail. I handed in my resignation the same day and was for some reason banned from the retail chain for life by the top boss for leaving (she was a total arse). Around the same time I suffered a horrible injury whilst at crossfit, I tore a muscle so badly that I could barely walk for two weeks. 

We slowly started to settle a little more by the end of month 3, we had jobs similar enough to keep us happy, a large modern house and enough money to pay the bills. We were out walking through Serptentine falls  one day when Dan's brother rung us and told us they'd just been for a 12 week scan and were expecting another baby boy. It was the first moment when we realised just how far from home we were. We managed to make a few friends through a Facebook page I'd joined, some couples similar ages to ourselves. We all went out on a pub crawl and had lots of fun.

By our second christmas in Australia  we both felt a lot more settled, we decided to stick to our pact of a bottle of champagne on the beach on christmas morning, but it was christmas afternoon because I had to work. We had christmas with Dan's family and stayed the night. We spent hours and hours at the beach, staring at the waves remembering that all the hard work would pay off one day. We both knew it wouldn't be easy but didn't realise it'd be that hard either. We made a decision that we both needed a little break from reality so started planning a holiday. Dan's birthday is just between christmas and new years, so celebrations tend to be kept to a minimum (not for lack of trying) we went out for burgers and then on a mini bar crawl with his family in Mandurah.

After christmas and New years we packed our camping gear and set off to explore Margaret River , we'd done a super quick tour on holiday the year before but knew there was a lot left to see. We totally fell in love with everything, camping, long white sandy beaches, surfing all day, BBQs for every meal, incredible wine and beer. I felt so much happier, and this happiness doubled every time I remembered we can escape to Margaret river any weekend we want. We vowed to explore more and make the most of Australia, we spent as much time as possible with our new friends and bit by bit everything started to feel better.

In February I started a new job working away from home for a few days at a time, we struggled initially especially as the lady I worked with needed so much care around the clock. Luckily I got 2 weeks off at the end of each shift cycle and a significant pay rise. A girl I spoke to on instagram told me about Seal Island which we absolutely loved. I also started chatting more with other Perth bloggers and met a few at a paddleboarding lesson. 

Not long after we discovered Seal island we bought a go pro, so spent as much time as possible taking it out snorkelling with us. The more time we spent at the beach and on the sea the more I felt at home. We decided to paddle board across to Seal island again but on the way got distracted by some dolphins  who we paddled and swam with for a few hours (seriously, if you read one of my blog posts make it dolphins). I felt more settled in my job and slowly it got easier being away from home. I made the most of every day off, having beers with friends at the beach, surfing and watching the sunsets. 

My mum came out to visit and during my time off work she took me to bali, mum had spent a long time in Bali a few years ago so I was really excited to go back with her. Dan stayed at home and enjoyed the peace and quiet, heading to the driving range and out for surfs. We got back and took mum to Margaret river for a few days and she understood why we loved Perth so much. The last few days were so incredibly hard knowing she was going, and that we couldn't just pop out for a coffee anymore. During the same time that my mum was here Catherine from Luxlife was too, we managed to grab a quick brunch together and Catherine took me to her favourite beach, she also introduced me to two of her friends who I've adopted as my own. Everyone left just before my birthday, my friend Hannah helped organise a night out with some friends but it just didn't feel the same without the friends I'd had for years. I started putting more effort into my instagram and spent almost all my breaks at work commenting and liking other peoples pictures, I was so excited to watch it grow day by day.

I started feeling a bit more settled around May, I was in a good job, with great pay, we loved our little house and to make things even better Dan got a new job with a much better company. I had a few friends who I could message whenever I wanted to and we felt comfortable knowing our way around.  We started exploring Perth city itself a lot more and my love for the city grew ten fold. I started talking to more and more bloggers and went for a bloggers brunch hosted by Demelza Buckley and Em from The Illusive Femme, I got to meet a whole array of Perth bloggers and it was great to finally meet Em who I'd been chatting to on instagram for ages. Shortly after Kiara from Lion in the Wild invited me to another bloggers brunch, and I met yet more lovely Perth bloggers. Around this time we also found out that Dan's mum, her partner and his youngest brother had booked tickets to come to Perth in December - January. 

In July we head back down to Margaret River and stayed at the gorgeous Pullman Resort Bunker Bay, a much needed get away. Whilst away we discovered Hot Chocolatte an incredible coffee / sweet shop in Dunsborough. I finally had my registration come through after 10 months of waiting so I was able to start applying for nursing jobs and before I knew it was sat across a table from my now manager, I was shaking beyond belief but as soon as I made a stupid joke and she laughed I knew I was going to be alright. I was offered a job at the end of the interview and almost cried, I knew I had to tell my old manager and was worried how she'd react but she was incredibly understanding. Just before the interview I was unfortunately seriously assaulted at work resulting in time off, lots of X-Rays and regular doctors visits, as much as I knew it wasn't the persons fault I knew it was my time to go.

By the start of August I'd finished all my training and was able to start my new job, working at a beyond busy Perth hospital. By the end of my first week on the ward I felt really at home. By now we were both commuting a minimum of 3 hours a day, and we knew we couldn't keep it up; I'd work a double shift and leave home at 4:30am and not be home until way past midnight. We were both sat at home one evening and had an out of the blue phone call from home, we had the worst news ever that they thought out pup Sadie needed to be put to sleep. We cried and cried and cried but then Sadie pulled through and as I write this now, is her normal self. We started house hunting and fell in love with a character home north of the river, there were a few harsh words said by family about how awkward it will be now when the family come to stay, but we decided to do what's best for us and made the move. We both took the weekend off work for the move, hired a truck and Dan's cousin helped with some of the heavy lifting. By the end of the first weekend we knew we'd done the right thing and regretted not moving sooner. We spent a chilled out afternoon at Core cider house in Pickering Brook  and I spent a day at Bloggers United AU Perth hanging out with a tonne of Perth bloggers I'd never found before. By the end of August it felt like most of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle had fallen in to place.

September has been taken up by Perth fashion festival which I rounded off with a gorgeous brunch with Target. Apart from that we've been enjoying our new house which has a beautiful garden complete with swimming pool, I've gone a bit design crazy and am constantly thinking about how we can decorate it to feel more us. This weekend we enjoyed a gorgeous stay at Crown Metropol to celebrate our first year in Australia and went to Mandurah to see family and go to a friends house warming party. 

We are now at the end of September and we both feel like Perth is the place for us, I'm not quite sure it's home yet, but if I was on holiday and had to get a plane home I guess I'd jump on the one to Perth and not one to England, so maybe it is? We both feel like everything's really starting to pay off, all the tears, sleepless nights and the incredibly hard work. The only piece of the puzzle thats missing is a dog to welcome us home each day, but watch this space!