I know you’ve waited for our holiday pictures for so long and it’s taken me this long to edit them! Between the two of us…I think we took about 2000 over photos! I’m not sure how I’m going to condense all the stories I’m about to tell you of our trip…but here goes!

Germany was our first stop in Europe. My mum and step dad lives in Stuttgart, in the state of Baden-Württemberg so we spent most of our time touring the Southwest of the country before making our way up north. Southwest Germany is beautiful for its mountain landscapes, lush Black Forest and half-timbered towns. The region is also famous for its cuckoo clocks and needless to say, we wasted no time in purchasing one for our house:) I’ll share pictures in my next post.

Rich found that the longer he stayed in Germany, the more he grew to love the sights and its people. We agreed that Germans are hands down one of the funniest and friendliest people!

Since we were always on the go, we would start our day with a freshly baked pretzel from the bakery. I like the pumpkin seed ones the best.

One of our holiday highlights was a road trip down to Bavaria with some friends. The sight of the Bavarian alps were just incredible!

Now, being in a country where it’s famously known as the ‘Country of castles’ (there is around 25,000 castles in Germany) you could say we were spoiled with choices. Hence our trip to Bavaria because there was only one castle that we REALLY had to visit; the Neuschwanstein Castle.

Built in the 18th century by King Ludwig II, Neuschwanstein Castle is also known as the “Fairy Tale Castle” and is said to have inspired several Walt Disney castles. The castle was breathtakingly beautiful and to see it up close and walk through the rooms that Kind Ludwig II visioned himself, was an unforgettable experience!

On one of our day trips out of Stuttgart, we visited a university town called, Tübingen. The Neckar river runs through the old town which makes this scene look postcard perfect! We strolled along the river and park, before venturing into the medieval town centre. We bought fresh raspberries from the marketplace and for most of the afternoon I had sticky red fingers.

In Esslingen which is just on the outskirts of Stuttgart, we hiked up the steep cobbled hill to check out the town’s castle. Once up at the lookout tower, we were treated to an amazing panorama of the village and the vineyard. Walking down the cobbled road later proved to be a challenge itself!

Aside from castles and alps, Germany is also famous for its wide range of beer, sausages and currywurst (hot pork sausage seasoned with curry ketchup). The serving size in this country is ridiculously huge and most of the time I was contented with eating one meal a day!

Next stop Berlin…in my next post!

Rich took me to the cinemas this weekend…and we rarely go to the cinemas because ticket prices in Australia are astoundingly steep. If we do go, it has to be a film that we badly want to see.

So I’ve got to say, Komaneko The Curious Cat is the cutest thing/animal/animation ever! I don’t think I’ve been this excited about a film for a very long time. The only time I was this mad was after watching Spirited Away.

Komaneko is the brainchild of Tsuneo Goda who is also the creator of Domo-kun. Shot in stop-motion style, the film follows Koma’s adventures as she decides to make an animated movie with her 8mm camera (Koma meaning stop frame animation and Neko meaning cat).

During her filmmaking adventures she meets Radi-Bo, a ghost and a Bigfoot-like creature!

As you can see from the stills, the film is utterly adorable. The cute puppetry and endearing story makes it perfect for all ages to watch:) I must now convince my husband to get me a boxset so that I add it to my animation collection!

A few of my favourite things…

Gnome in a pot

Rainbow rag rug

Baked claypot chicken rice

A smiley Babushka lamp

What are you loving this weekend?

We’re back! We saw so much, ate and drank and hiked and snapped silly photos. I think I’ve seen enough monuments, musuems and castles to last me for awhile…so for now, it’s good to be home!

I have tons of photos to share but I’ll start with a fun and quirky collection that I created with my husband:) I’m going to call it my Door Album.

I’ve always had a special fondness for doors and door photography. I love all kinds of doors; wooden doors with large brass handles, a retro and kitsch door, a church door with stained glass windows, old stable doors…or even a cute trap door for the kitties!

So during our trip, I asked my husband to help me snap a door photo in the places that we visited. I would handpick the doors, and if I liked it and found it to be unique, I would add it to my door album.

Soon it became a game between us to to be on the lookout for the “perfect” door. From big to small, to old and new, to bright and muted…there were doors in all sizes and makes! Here are some of my favourites:)

Which is your favourite door? I love the green door and green shutters the best! I think it’s the perfect colour to paint my front door one day. I’ll blog more with pictures of our travels in my next post:)

Doors in order:
Apartment door in Stuttgart, stable doors in Tübingen, southwest Germany, fiery red door in Esslingen, University door in Tübingen, cottage door in Wales, golden door in Paris, graffiti apartment door in Pankow, east Berlin, green door in Strasbourg, northeast France, blue office door in Paris, Berlin cathedral door, London phone booth door.

Heya! I thought I’d write one last post and share with you my first roll of film from my Diana Mini before we leave for our trip!

I was a bit nervous when I collected my film because I’ve heard of horror stories from other lomo photographers about their first roll being a total disaster! But wow, I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I loved my photos for all its quirks and imperfections. I was lucky that most of my photos turned out well (thanks to my film enthusiast husband).

The first few photos I took overlapped or overexposed too much because I didn’t realise that I had to wind the counter all the way till it stopped, before taking my next shot. But some of the accidental exposed shots came out lovelier than I expected! The beauty of the Diana Mini is you can take endless multiple exposures, usually 2 or 3 is good enough. This one had 5 images overlapped! So do it at your own risk!

After I realised my mistake, I started winding the counter properly! Here are a few of my favourites.

Nothing beats a blue blue sky

On a good day during my lunch break, I like to take my packed lunch and sit out at the park or by the beach. I think this is the best view to look at when I eat my sandwich!

My first long exposure shot with the train and cars passing by. All I remember is shouting “one alligator…two alligator” while holding the shutter open.

With me that night was a very hungry and cold husband who modeled in for me while I played with my camera!

Last weekend we celebrated my birthday early and I requested a massively candle-lit cake

Niina brought back a suitcase full of toys from her recent Hong Kong trip

It was a great night!

Film stock used: Fujicolour Superia 200

Today my day with Autumn started out like this…

I took out Olivier’s moleskine and worked on my last contribution for his book. I painted a blustery scene amidst the blue sky since we’ve been having some of those lately.

I used my new watercolour brush pen and watercolour kit. I think it’s one of the best things I ever purchased…besides my Diana mini and imac:)

Then I walked to the post office to mail off Olivier’s book.

And on the way home, Autumn wished me goodbye through the trees.

As promised, I have one last custom portrait to share with you!

Thanks to Lexa, this was a fun one to draw! Lexa loves her octopuses and wanted me to draw her a custom piece in Little Mo style. She sent some samples of her favourite colour swatches; a mix of pink, mauve, burgundy and green tones. She also told me how much she loves oriental flower motifs.

This is my version of Lexa’s octopus surrounded by magical flowers. I’d like to think that such a magical place exists underwater! A bed of flowers, a swimming mouse, floating seaplants and a strange small eyed octopus. Thanks so much Lexa! I hope you find a good spot to hang up your art print!

When we got married, we postponed our honeymoon. We thought we’d try to take things a little easy after the wedding and not rush headlong into a honeymoon trip. This allowed us to save up a bit of money and plan the kind of holiday that we wanted to embark on.

We leave for our honeymoon next week, and I think the one year wait was a great decision because we both feel really energised and excited about our trip! We’ll be visiting my family in Malaysia, then heading off to Stuttgart, Berlin, Paris, Wales and London for a month. I’d love to hear your tips of places to see if you’ve traveled to these cities! We’re going to try and visit some of the neighbouring towns for short day trips.

This morning I was packing a few “creative things” to bring with me. I call it my creative pack…which I hope to take out and use on some occasions. Lots of rolls of films for my Diana Mini, our guidebooks, a sketchbook, a water brush pen (which holds water inside the barrel) and a small watercolour kit.

I would highly recommend the DK travel books, I think they are probably the best guide books out there, in terms of layout and coloured photos! This time we decided to buy the pocket sized version because from past experience, we always left our heavy travel books in the hotel! The pocket sized book narrows down all the information and places to visit in the best of 10. It still manages to pack in plenty of coloured photos and a pullout map. The only thing missing in the book is the lengthy introduction and history.

A bit of housekeeping, my Little Mo and Friends shop is shut and I won’t be taking any new orders until the shop reopens on 4th July. I know some of you have emailed me about wholesale orders, and I will most likely get in touch with you again when I return from my holidays. Thanks so much for your support! Hopefully I can share one last custom portrait that I’ve been working on before I leave for my trip! So keep a lookout!

My Diana Mini is here! Oh the torture I tell you!

I waited and waited for 2 weeks for the postman to bring my new camera, but he never showed up. Then today Richard collected it from the post office and called to let me know. I raced home after work, and rushed through the front door (unashamedly) to open my package! I’m almost embaressed to even blog about this!

It’s so pink! And so cute! And so tiny! I’m utterly and romantically head over heels with my Diana Mini Rose!

For those who haven’t got a clue on what I’m blabbering on about, the Diana Mini is an analogue toy camera from the Lomo camera family. It’s the ‘mini’ version of the normal Diana camera. Unlike the Diana, the Diana Mini shoots on 35mm film only and can take half frame shots and square frame shots. It’s very cute and gimmicky, almost like a fashion accessory really! And like all the Lomo cameras, the photos come out in an explosion of high saturated colours, dark vignette edges and lots of exposed and experimental shots in between. All part of the fun and charm of the Lomo experience!

I can’t wait to start taking photos with it…expect to see a lot of random shots on my blog as I test out my new camera:)

We went to the Kozyndan Opening Show at Outre Gallery. They are a husband and wife team, and are one of my all time favourite artists. Like me, they are also quite bunny obsessed! Their new works had an ocean theme and was simply magical and delightful to see in person!

Rich bought me one of their colouring books and got Kozyndan to sign it. I was super stoked and couldn’t stop smiling the entire night.

If you’re in town, you can catch their ‘Washed Away’ exhibition running from
7 May – 29 May at Outre Gallery, 260 William Street, Northbridge.

Update:
A few months later we went back to Outre Gallery and purchased Kozyndan’s ‘Best Sushi In Town’. It’s the piece which we are standing in front of in the pictures above. We loved it when we first saw it and it always makes a great conversational piece at our dining table!