our little home by the sea

As I sit down to write this, I think it’s the first time I can truly say I feel settled in our new home. We’ve had the keys for almost a month now, and in that time, we’ve made countless trips to Bunnings, laughed cried our way through unexpected leaks, and slowly breathed life into each room, unpacking a life that had been sitting in boxes for the past twelve months.

There’s still a to-do list a mile long, one my incredible dad is steadily working through with us, but that’s just part of loving a space that’s stood for nearly one hundred years. But every creak, every imperfection, every sunlit corner—we love.

Tonight, maybe for the first time, I can task myself to take a deep breath, close my eyes and allow myself to feel the quiet comfort of my new life settle around me. 

the time keeper

It’s no secret that I love capturing moments of my life. I was eleven years old the first time I seriously crafted a photograph, it was of my little sister in my Nonna and Nonno’s garden. Like most special experiences, it’s hard to describe, but in that moment, I discovered that looking through a viewfinder was how I preferred to see the world.

Over the years, I’ve viewed the world through many different lenses, but most often through the back of my phone camera.

Today is January 23rd, 2025. Donald Trump has just been inaugurated for another term, with tech billionaires seated front row as the powerful oligarchs they’ve become. Spending so much time documenting my life on Instagram and TikTok is starting to feel like being trapped in their house, with no way out. I feel  claustrophobic. As algorithms shift and platforms are bought and sold, my documented life and memories are shuffled around at their whim, leaving me feeling like I’ve lost control of them.

Fortunately, I’m not stuck in their house. And as I prepare to move into my own home, I want things to be different and this is my Statement of Intent. I hope to wipe the dust off this old space I once created to archive my photographs and memories. And hopefully here, I can reclaim my captured moments.