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.

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!

Some photos from our winery adventures. We had so much fun!

We went up to Swan Valley, got a map from the tourist centre and drove through the wine trails stopping at the local wineyards. We stopped at some pottery shops and the chocolate factory, bought chocolate (obviously) and some fresh local produce. We even found a Little Mo pond for me to sketch!

The wine tasting was wonderful on that summer afternoon…I don’t think I remembered much after that…other then we found this lovely spot to sit…and unwind from all that wine drinking!

Oh I got a bit lucky, I had a surprise present from Big Mo. I could get used to this!

So happy to receive a copy of Going Places in my mail!

Here is Little Mo on the MAS Airlines Inflight Magazine! A few days ago an ex-colleague messaged me and told me he had seen the article when he was on board the MAS flight. And I hadn’t had a clue then that the article had been published. I was just as surprised as him. You can read the article here.

While it’s autumn in Australia, it’s spring time elsewhere! And it’s also cherry blossom time in some countries like Japan and Korea.

Around this time last year we went backpacking in Korea, starting at Seoul and making our way down to Busan. We ate Korean pancake and drank potent rice wine under the cherry blossoms. It was one of those good feeling moments where you sit quietly and watch, as nature smiles back at you.

I was so taken with the pretty flowers that when I returned home, I illustrated my own cherry blossom notebook and cherry blossom wrapping paper. For the romantics, I hope you will enjoy a little piece of my cherry blossom.

One of our favourite travels during our time in Asia was Hong Kong. It was a melting pot of culture, smell, food and arts. My biggest regret was not visiting Chungking mansion. If you are a huge Wong Kar Wai fan like myself, you will know about his cult favourite, Chungking Express. So it really was a shame that I didn’t venture into this symbolic place that had inspired me so hugely into taking an interest in film and arts.

Most of the time, I felt like I was walking in a scene from a Wong Kar Wai film or a Haruki Murakami novel (much of his films were inspired by the author’s writings). I found myself thinking about similar themes in their stories; long dark night, girl and boy meets, a slow jazz number, bright neon lights flickering above, seagulls by the pier, a ferry ride, when dawn comes girl and boy parts.

If only it was that easy to write a novel!

But it really felt like I was walking in one. You’ll know my exact sentiments when you read or watch any of the two artists’ works.

There’s something to be loved about bakeries, the smell of home baked bread, fresh coffee and cakes and girls in cute aprons! When backpacking in Japan, we stumbled upon the cutest bread shop in Harajuku. It was tucked away in the alley streets and it had the sweetest atmosphere. We ordered a sunflower and pine nut loaf, a pistachio nut bun and a toasted cheese bread to share between us for lunch. And as we ate, we could see the bakers in the kitchen making new bread.