HIM & HER

Adventures at Dawn

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One of the objectives for this year was to dedicate time to exploring Hawkes Bay and all it’s goodness. So we have started doing a mid week, overnight excursion, once a month. This time we headed southeast, to Kairakau Beach. We kept it simple, packing a few clothes, the camera, a few good books for those early nights with no tv or cellphone service plus a little food and the fishing rods. 

When the alarm goes off in the morning, there is always a moment where I want to just roll over and go back to sleep, but I love waking up early and seeing the sunrise. There is something grounding and refreshing about it. This crisp autumn morning, we woke up, grabbed our gear and a thermos of hot coffee and walked down to the beach. The light at that time of day is out of control beautiful, and I spent the whole time running around like a mad woman taking snaps and declaring ” how amazing is this light!?” while Nathan attempted to catch breakfast ( unfortunately the small throw back kahawai and crab didnt quite make the cut. )

One of the best ways to start the day. Here’s to many more overnight excursions and dawn fishing trips.

Thailand | Krabi & Koh Lanta

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It’s almost torture editing and posting these photos, seems like a lifetime ago!

After the hustle and bustle of the great city that is Bangkok, we headed to the Islands. Koh Lanta to be exact. And although it was short but sweet, boy was it just the change of pace we needed. 

Before heading across to Koh Lanta we had a day in Krabi town, taking the chance to get up at the break of dawn, scale the 1,237 steps of Tiger Cave Temple mountain and overcome ( not really ) my fear of monkeys. But the view was well worth it. Standing at the top, looking out of the jungle and sea to the sound of the monks morning call was one of my favourite moments of the trip. I would happily do that each morning! Minus the creepy monkeys.

We then took the ferry to Koh Lanta, deciding to stay near the bottom of the island, opting for a little more peaceful than party. And of course island life equals scooter life so each day we wound our way up and down the one sleepy road between eateries and our little beach bungalow. There is nothing quite like whizzing past the palm trees and cruising down the shoreline on the back of a scooter with the one you love. Other than that, most of our time was spent pool side or seaside, with a bit of island hopping, snorkeling and a lot of cocktail drinking thrown in for good measure.

Thailand | Bangkok

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Hi!

I have been a little MIA as of late, Blackbird Goods has been sucking up most of my extra time, But I am back! And thought I would share a few snaps from our trip to Thailand. 

We embarked and ended our journey in Bangkok, beautiful, crazy Bangkok. With The Monocle Guide to Bangkok in hand, we were insanely excited to eat and experience all Bangkok had to offer, while of course chucking some work in there. Well it may have been a bit the opposite, there were far too many great things to be found ( that will soon grace the shelves of Blackbird Goods ) and we seemed to run out of luck with establishments, arriving too late or on the wrong day. Note to self, always check before you venture across the city. Nevertheless, Bangkok is an incredible city, always bustling with people, smells, plants and delicious food. And it’s always a bonus when it’s Chinese new year.

Next stop, Krabi and Koh Lanta.

More soon

x

Blackbird Goods feature for Homestyle Magazine

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Images by our ever talented gal pal Heather Liddell

For those of you who have been following our journey,  you would’ve seen that we opened our very own bricks & mortar a few months ago, and we are so very proud to have Blackbird Goods featured in the latest issue of Homestyle Magazine ! It’s so nice to see the shop in print, to see our hard work come to fruition! ‘Cos it wasn’t that pretty when we moved in (cue images of dark grey, coffee stains with a flaking fire engine red feature wall) Luckily, Resene to the rescue!

After pulling everything out and cleaning off coffee grime, our next port of call was to block out the wall of red. Red is one of those colours that seeps through when you are going white, often leaving a pink tinge. So we painted a coat of Resene Stack over the lot which covered it nicely allowing us to power ahead with the white. We also had a large chalkboard wall to cover, sealing it with trusty Resene  Sureseal.

Next up we bought back our old favourite, Resene Black White, we knew it was the only choice for walls, giving us the gallery like feel we were after. We wanted the shop to feel open and fresh, to have space to let each item breathe and shine. Resene Black White went over the walls, bar our panelled back door and panel which I wanted to feature. ( You can see that a little in the top image ) we painted that in Resene Antidote, a new favourite, it’s a neutral almost nude like putty. I loved it so much we also painted our gallery like plinths in it too! The idea with the plinths was to  feature different products, to show them off in isolation to the rest of the mid-west general store type feel. Our floor to ceiling  shelves were made by the handy father and husband, Metal frames painted in Resene Flat Black, mirroring our giant industrial windows painted in the same. The pine shelves were stained in Resene Iroko, and the stain echoed in our large plywood counter.

When it came to the exterior we wanted to give a nod to the heritage of our city of Napier. An art deco feel, but bringing it into 2015. After multiple tests to find the perfect earthy, slightly muddied green we landed on Resene Siam.

All in all we are pretty chuffed with the outcome, and we hope you like it too!

To read more about the shop, our influences for the design and our journey between work and life go pick up a copy of the latest Homestyle! Or come and chat in store at 25 Dalton Street, Napier.

Also, keep your eyes peeled for my wreath DIY later in the week!

Until next time