It’s no secret that I love my iPad. But most people don’t use it to its full capacity. I have been keeping a scrapbook/journal on mine for the past two years. When you spend every day making sure things align perfectly to spec, it can be refreshing to throw the damn grid out the window and pretend we are back in school replete with scissors/glue/different coloured pens and highlighters. The thing is, when I feel inspired, I am unlikely to have stacks of magazines/cutting tools/paste with me ready to go. Carrying all that gear around is likely to give you a bad back plus, the idea of cutting up my design mags feels like sacrilege… and don’t even start on the post-creative sesh clean up. I therefore prefer using my iPad going old-skool the digital way with a funky little app called notebook (and it’s free).

I have a basic stylus to annotate web clippings. If I want editable text, I just use the text box tool. I feel like I can make a real mess without actually making any mess at all and I can do it all whilst sipping a latte at the local coffee shop. Using a stylus with an iPad can be a little challenging at first, but the more you use it the more natural it begins to feel. Notebook is a great little app for freeform journaling too. I will often write a one page letter, export as a jpg and email it to a friend. It always feels just a little bit more heartfelt than your usual stock standard email.

My boyfriend and I moved to Melbourne 3 months ago. We found a beautiful two story apartment on Fitzroy st, St Kilda. The fourth floor duplex looks out over Albert park with a busy bakery at the base of the building. The floors of our place are newly polished, the walls freshly painted and the light that streams through the high ceilinged windows makes it difficult to feel anything but peaceful. All in all it was a treasure of a find.

On what is one of the warmest days I’ve experienced since arrival, Remy and I are sitting on the balcony soaking up what is left of the evening sun. He is reading a magazine while I tap away on my iPad. In these rare moments I am learning to appreciate the universe and all it has blessed me with. I feel content and that is more than most of us could wish for.