A home away from home ​

I miss being a Melbourne girl. I only recently moved back to Perth at the end of February this year. Prior to that I spent that last year and a half living and working in Melbourne and it was fabulous! I had a great job working which kept me busy at all hours of the day and I mean all hours - urgent text messages from suppliers at 10pm were not uncommon. But I loved it. And when you love what you're doing you don't mind jumping on your emails to fire off artwork proofs in all directions.

But what I miss most is my incredible group of girlfriends; housemates, neighbours, old friends and new. My time in Melbourne would not have been the same without them and I will forever associate that year and a half in Victoria with nights spent pouring our hearts out over the kitchen table, drinking the latest drop of rose picked out at the bottle shop for it's appealing graphic design (yes, we do know a think or two about wine but packaging is equally important) and trying to make sense of the world. We were there for each other whether we knew we needed it or not.

We didn't spend all our time mopping around and moaning. Most of our days were spent out and about soaking up the culture of the city, sipping coffee at our favourite local St James Cafe, mooching around Prahran Market, sipping cocktails until we were sure we'd found the best Espresso Martini in Melbourne. There were road trips to country which often involved a terrible rendition of carpool karaoke and ended in a trip to the local Kmart to pick up a pair of track pants - assimilation is key. We'd go out exploring during the day and in the evening we'd dance around the kitchen like no one was watching. The next morning always required a breakfast fry up - eggs, bacon, avo and toast. You know the drill. We've all been there. Hangovers are not what they used to be anymore.

All in all it was a magical time and I will forever hold it close to my heart. We might not be close in the geographical sense of the word but I've made friends that I will keep for a lifetime, and memories that I will hold onto for an eternity. We still talk all the time, thank you Instagram, iMessage, Facebook etc, and I still cop it for not freeing up enough space on my phone for Snapchat (I'm sorry, I don't even have enough room to take a a photo without first deleting half my library). But there's a bond there that cannot be broken despite the absence of a pesky little app.

I think, as women, these are the kinds of friendships we should hold onto and I'm sure all you ladies out there can relate. We need our girlfriends to pick us up when we're down or to talk us down when we're ten feet off the ground and in desperate need of a reality check. So hold them close to your heart and take good care of them because a little love goes a long way in this world.

Here's to you - my Melbourne ladies. Thank you for the memories and here's to many more!

x Abbie