Five Things I've Been Loving {A Cup of Tea with Me (and Pip!)} // Life

So I mentioned in this post that I had signed up for a blogging course with Pip from Meet Me At Mike's. Although I still haven't finished working my way through all of the lessons (life kinda kicked my arse there for a while with Mum in hospital), I have learnt quite a bit and really enjoyed getting to know the other students. And of course learning from one of the blogging masters herself, Pip.


So anyway, Pip has been ever so kind and hosted a lovely linky where myself and all the other Blog with Pip May students can share a little about what we are loving right now. As well as give you, our readers, a chance to find and check out some new blogs. Score! I can highly recommend Pip's course* if you're looking to learn a few things or take a bit of a refresher course on blogging!

So without further ado, grab yourself a cuppa and settle in to read the most earth-shattering post you'll read today. And when you find it, please let me know what it is so I can read it too. In the meantime, here are 5 things I have been loving lately...

1. Running.

Who knew that running would also give me a chance to practice my photography

I don't even know who I am anymore. If you had told me this time last year that not only would I be consistently running three times a week, but enjoying it, I would have smacked you upside the head! I have the awesome Kate and my fellow running buddies in the June Learn to Run program to thank for this. Some runs are hard work, but I was just saying to Dave today that even the sore legs later on give me a perverse sense of satisfaction. Sore legs mean that I have been working hard and pushing past my own silly brain that tells me "You're going to die!!!!".

2. Photography

Ok. If you've read my blog more than a few times you may have noticed that I am a bit of a photography nut. But I am making a renewed effort to shoot most of my images in manual mode and I am having so much fun experimenting. Pushing myself to work outside my comfort zone has renewed the fire in my belly, and I am maybe starting to think that hey, I'm not so bad afterall and could one day make a go of doing something that I love for a living.

3. Baby Talk

Zee has recently started to mimic the speech of those around her and it is ridiculously cute! Whenever something is really interesting Punky always says "oooooooo, woooooow", just like they do in Peppa Pig, and now Zee has started doing it too. She also says "oh, oh" whenever she drops something and "Row, row, row" when she wants you to hold her hands, rock her backwards and forwards and sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Trying desperately to catch some of it on video.

4. Experimenting with Photoshop and Illustrator

That chevron pattern was the very first thing I created in Illustrator. And the bottom picture was edited
using one of the Greater than Gatsby Photoshop actions

I've been doing an introductory graphic design course via Open Colleges and as part of it I need to learn some of the basics of creating in Illustrator. It's really fun. And as part of my renewed experimenting with my photography, I've also been learning a few basic editing skills in Photoshop. I've installed some gorgeous sample action sets from Greater than Gatsby* which have really made my images pop! As soon as my new iMac arrives I'll be purchasing a complete collection. Seriously though, check out their website, even just for the gorgeous photography throughout.

5.  Little Moments by Fat Mum Slim

Just some of the pictures I've created using the Little Moments App

I'm a bit of a photo app junkie. I have heaps of them on my iPhone. My most favourite is Vintique, but last Friday the amazing Fat Mum Slim released her very own app, Little Moments*,  and I have gone a little nuts for it. It's everything you want in a photo app; gorgeous filters, lovely fonts, pre-loaded text & quotes, as well as some super cute drawings and other fun stuff. It also has the Photo a Day prompts loaded in there and gives you a little reminder of the prompt for each day on your phone's lock screen (if you have notifications set up).

It's $1.99 in the Apple app store (it's not available on Android. Yet.) and it's worth every single cent. I've also coughed up the cash to unlock the extra packs and I am very happy that I did. I have a whole blog post on my favourite photo apps in the works, but until then, do yourself a favour and download Little Moments by Fat Mum Slim.

So that's what I'm loving right now. I'd love to know what you've been loving. Make sure you head over to Meet Me At Mike's and check out the blogs of my other Blog with Pip May alumni.

Do you have a favourite photo app? I'd love to know what it is!

*This post is in no way affiliated with Greater than Gatsy, Little Moments by Fat Mum Slim or Blog with Pip. I just loved all three products and wanted to tell you about them.

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