Specializing in interiors, food, travel, still life, lifestyle, portrait and wedding photography (wow, what a list!), talented Australian photographer Amanda McLaughlin has a gorgeous portfolio online to peruse for inspiration today. Would you like to see some lovely visuals that may perhaps spark your creativity? Of course you do!

Amanda's work is so gorgeous, isn't it? I love seeing the branches in vases above... my friend Ingrid brought me a huge "bouquet" of berry branches from the German countryside that she picked and they are gorgeous and in my ceramic vase on my work desk. They are so pretty and really brought in some of the outdoors which always helps to "warm up" a space, especially in a brand new space that is quite spare currently as mine is...

How are you doing today? I hope that you are well! I have been very busy trying to sort out our new apartment (you can see photos of it here) -- unpacking, sorting, deciding what I should keep and what I should pass on to a new home, etc. Plus I'm still working on Decorate (which will be published first in England in March and then in May in the US and THEN in Germany next Autumn!), planning my kitchen (the new Smeg (thank you dear Yvonne for the suggestion!) arrived today - I love it and can't wait to bake the first cupcakes in there) and I decided to make some presents for my students that I'll bring to Morocco next week on my teaching adventure there --  so I've been doing a lot of crafty stuff which energizes me so much and makes me very happy! Once I'm back from Morocco, I'll share some photos of the gifts that I made for them so that you can see -- but not yet, as they read my blog and I can't blow the little surprise with a sneak peek (sorry).

I'm also working on my class materials and handouts for my lovely class there, too. I can't wait to meet the lovely ladies who will be joining me -- I feel so blessed right now. To top it all off, this morning I was able to attend a photoshoot at the home of my new neighbor who lives upstairs from us -- a German stylist and photographer from Hamburg were styling and shooting and I was able to watch them in action which was a lot of fun.

So! Those are my updates for the week so far. How are you doing?

(images: amanda mclaughlin)