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 What do you get when you start with a block of hebel stone, a box of tools, and a weekend ahead? When you add some physical exertion, a very necessary dust mask, and some helpful instruction from an expert? Then finish with a bit of sand paper and a splash of oxide? Well, for one you need a really good scrub in the shower... But you've also got yourself a chubby little tiki style owl! :D Mr You made an awesome stylised cat face, but I don't think he'll let me show it (he's a bit hard on himself). Anyway, we had a great weekend at the sculpture workshop. We keep talking about all the things you could do if you had more time. I think we'd definitely both love to try it again. But, all in all not bad for our first attempt.
 To a woman who has befriended, supported, and encouraged me, and showered with with gifts and love... To a woman that gives new meaning to generosity, warmth, and heart... To a woman who is strong and delicate, tender and funny... To a woman who is feisty, sharp, sweet and caring... To a woman who more than anyone else I know deserves an entire world-wide day all to herself... Let's all celebrate Renee Day!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY RENEE!!!!!! :D (This was initiated by some friend's of Renee, who have been madly contacting her online buddies to hold a simultaneous Renee Day in her honour. They say you can tell alot about someone by the company they keep.)
I've been working on a new commission the past few weeks, and it's due next week, so I've been up til midnight drawing until my eyes are very nearly bleeding. Then this morning, just 10 minutes ago I had a very... close... call. I set my full cup of tea down on the table, and being not fully awake I put it on the edge of my drawing board and the whole cup tipped over! Thankfully it was all over me (it's not often I would say that). If it had tipped in the opposite direction it would have landed right on the picture... all over it.... exhale! pheeeeeew! The good news is I didn't get burnt, my picture didn't get damaged and I see that as being a good start to the day. I think this painting is going to be a good one. :)  - - - Don't forget Earth Hour tomorrow night :D - - - Mr You and I are off to a full weekend sculpture carving workshop together starting tomorrow. That'll put his metallic elbow to the test!
The Dress: (eeek! I know) We had a powerhouse of a week; booking vendors left right and centre! There are still a few crucial things to book (i.e. a celebrant!) but now things are being ticked off, I can finally start thinking "pretty". HEEEEEEE! Don't even pretend this isn't the one you've all been waiting for: the dress. ;) Call me lackadaisical if you will, but it still feels a little early to me, to be thinking about the dress just yet. But in exactly 3 weeks, I'm off to Sydney for almost all of April, and intend to use the time wisely, shopping for a dress or fabric (if the dress plan fails), and shoes. So, I need to pull myself into gear and start thinking about what I might like. I've been asking every married woman I know how on earth they chose their dress. It seems like the options are endless to me, and I had no idea where to start. Some of them admitted to having a dress picture kept from years back that they'd always dreamed of. Some suggested looking through my wardrobe to see what my style is, and go from there. Others told how they didn't know until they started trying things on. In the meantime I've been researching... Originally I was thinking COLOUR:  (Source: Jason Frank Rothenberg Photography, Not noted, From Etsy)Maybe something soft?  (Source: Rose and Ruby, Trinny and Suzanna, Rosa Clara)Maybe something bright?  (Source: Michelle Williams, J Crew, Anthropologie, Burda Style Patterns)Lacy vintage? 
(Source: Maria Pinto, Not noted, Jenny Lee)Or even classic black?  (Source: From Etsy, Not noted, Rose and Ruby)I remember one of my friends in the lead up to her wedding. Originally she was NOT going to do anything "bridey": not wear white, not carry flowers, etc. But then as she got deeper into the planning she told me how something mysterious came over her, and the longer she went on the more "brideness" crept its way in. She ended up wearing a white 60's mod-style dress with white knee high boots, carrying a flower AND wearing a diamond tiara in her hair! Of course she looked gorgeous... now I can't imagine her wearing anything but that! With her words ringing true in my ears, I'm finding myself drawn more and more by the mysterious magnetism. I've decided I'd like to wear white. :) But you'll have to wait till next week for that installment. :)
 A little while ago I picked up this little stitched house for $1 at the op-shop! I gave his frame a revamp, and now he looks all bright and fresh again. He's inspired me to create a "home" themed picture cluster on one of our walls. A good way to get more involved in one of my new years resolutions (to redecorate parts of our house to make it reflect " us" more). I keep intending to re-cover all our cushions, but keep having more pressing tasks push their way to the head of the queue instead. Hopefully I'll fulfill this resolution at some point... at least before the year is up. :) In other parts of the house...  A few weeks ago we were invited to our new friends' house for a BBQ. We were each asked to bring some food, I was assigned the fruit platter. I can't tell you how relieved I was about this. I'm sure you'll all recall my discomfort with the kitchen, but adding to that one of our new friends is a chef! We now have 3 friends who's partners are either chefs or hard-core foodies. There's been many a time we've enjoyed some amazing feast, far beyond our normal world of pasta and stir-fries. And while those feasts are some of the best moments in living memory, the downside is the guilt and shame I have that I can in no way return the favour. Often getting so embarrassed about my kitchenly shortcomings, that when we invite them around for a meal, we usually chicken-out and get take-away instead. Anyway, this time I was asked to bring a fruit platter, and finally I felt in my element with food, ending up with something I was proud of. Much like my maths tutoring, anything I can trick myself into thinking is an art exercise usually works out quite well. In this instance of catering, I didn't even think about the food, just the colours and textures. ' Catering by Colour' I call it, and should I ever venture that way in the future, this shall be the name of my business ;) While this method doesn't always turn out so well (see the spaghetti and rice incident of 2006), I've discovered thankfully you can't go too wrong with fruit.
 Last week, in my town, a new exhibition opened. Women of the World featured over 80 illustration, caricature and cartoon works by women from all over the world, and when I say "all over" I don't just mean London, New York and Paris. They were from the most far-flung places; Azerbaijan for example! At the end of the opening night, Mr You finally convinced me to be brave and introduce myself to the gallery owner, who was lovely, and very excited to find out I was a local. She introduced me to Jules (the guy in the photo), he's the President of the Australian Cartoon Association, and he was really nice. I also got to meet Judy (who painted Amy Winehouse) who had come from Newcastle for the opening night. I let out an excited little "EEEEP" when I spotted 2 beautiful works by Emma Kidd of Benconservato fame! The Bunker Gallery is literally that; a gallery build into an old underground war bunker. It's a really great space! The exhibition coincided with International Women's Week, and had such a great response, they're talking about trying to have it again next year.
I realised there's not much been going on in this space apart from wedding talk these days, despite my little whinge on Wednesday complaining about that very imbalance. So I've shown up here today to attempt to redress this balance, and start catching up on all the "real life" stuff that's been going on. Some of you may recall a call out for help a while ago, when I was trying to decide which digital SLR to buy. I finally decided on the Nikon D80, only to discover when I rang to buy it, that it had been discontinued the day before! It took me another 2 weeks to decide I could part with enough money to get myself a Nikon D90 with an 18-200 lens. I got out my credit card, racked up the new debt and began the wait 'til it arrived, only it never did... Nikon's prices went up across the board in March. I got my order in before then, but Nikon chose that exact time to do a country wide stocktake, meaning no new stock was being distributed from them to any retailers at the time. I waited and waited, for weeks (with a wedding I have to shoot fast approaching). Because I got my order in before the prices went up I was suppose to get the gear at the lower price, BUT, when it finally came through the prices had risen. I could get the camera body at the old price, but the lens had increased. Not by alot overall, compared to what I was paying anyway, but it was enough to tip my cash balance, and have me withdraw my order and jump ship to Canon. I've had Nikon gear for a long time, and lots of it. So the brand switch is a big deal for me. But I can tell you I was just as happy when this baby arrived last Friday!  I'm now the proud owner of a new Canon 450D. (oops, just realised the pic is the wrong model, oh, you get the idea).The switch saved me money, time and stress. I bought it over the phone, and it arrived on my doorstep less than 24hrs later! We're still getting acquainted. There are SO many buttons I have to learn; I'm not in the land of film anymore. I haven't gotten to the chapter of the manual about getting the photo's out of the camera onto the computer yet, but when I do, I'm sure you'll notice ;) In the meantime I'll be polishing up all my film gear ready for Ebay. I still love it all dearly, but since I moved away from the city, I just can't get my favourite films, or trust the printing anymore, making film photography very very difficult to maintain. Sigh. But... a new era awaits! I'm a bit cited!
Finding Balance:Tell me ladies (and gents), what did you do during your wedding planning to help stay balanced? I watched my first ever episode of "Bridezilla's" last night, and although I'm quietly confident that camera crew won't have a need to come knocking on our door, I'm not entirely convinced I won't lose balance at some point between now and October. I'm not talking about losing my temper (that's low risk for me), I'm more concerned about losing contact with my normal life. Everyone I speak to talks to me about wedding plans, and although I'm getting some fantastic advice, and it's great to get excited about it with friends, I'm also starting to get a bit worn out from all the wedding talk. Plus last night I had the first instance of inter-family chinese-whisper misunderstandings to clear up. Already. I thought I could keep it under control by only dealing with one "section of planning" at a time. But I'm finding people asking me about dress codes, seating plans, lighting set-ups, and all sorts of stuff I haven't even started thinking of yet. And they ask me, not Mr You. Lots of it we haven't even had a chance to talk to each other about yet. Now, I know girls are suppose to ADORE all this. And I am. Don't get me wrong. But I'm trying to set a plan in action now, so that I can maintain balance over the next 7 months. Plan a wedding AND live my normal life. I think once we get everything booked over this next month, I might institute a period of "wedding talk hush" for a few months... I wonder if that's possible? hehehe. As a friend keeps reminding me, the aim of the day is for Mr You and I to be married. That's what we ultimately want. If at the end of the day, we have achieved that, then the whole day will have been a great success. And MY GOD, I can't wait to marry that boy! He's been so amazing in all this. So supportive and understanding. And ladies, listen up, he has decoration ideas of his own, (Good ones! That blew me away with their loveliness). How cool is that?! So, my inspiration pictures this week are dedicated to him. Thanks for listening friends. Thanks for listening Mr You. Inspiration Pics: (from shredbetties.com)   
 My new friend has started a new blog (her first). Hooray! She has had a lovely soft and colourful presence on Etsy for a while, with her gorgeous handmade softies. I love that each softie comes with a name and a story of who they are and what they're about. I love the fabrics they are made from. I also love their eyes! I love that they're filled with character, and sewed on extra, extra strongly to prevent chokey bits for kiddies. But now there's a Chunky Chooky blog for extra loveliness. To celebrate her new blog Cath from Chunky Chooky is hosting a giveaway! YAY! If you're clever you may have a chance to win Oleander the Tweeter. To help get the word out I have made a side-bar button. So if you would like to help a fellow crafty gal spread the word and introduce herself to people, feel free to grab the button and display it proudly on your bidebar. Here's how... - Click here for a tutorial on adding buttons to your sidebar - But use this button instead (see my sidebar) - And use this link URL: http://chunkychooky.blogspot.com/2009/03/hooray-its-giveaway.html Welcome to the happy happy world of blogging Chooky!
 "Eye Spy my favourite colour" (This week's theme by Amityville Boronia.) Favourite colour overall = blue. But right now... YELLOW = rockin' my world + making me happy.  (Isn't this little guy cute? Have you ever seen a cuter fish chin? I wish he lived with me.) This post just reminded me of my maths tutor in high school. I was so bad at maths that I got an after school tutor. It had no improvement, until... she started using my tubes of paint as props. "If we have this many cool coloured paints, and this many warm coloured paints, what fraction of the paints are cool?" After that things started improving, hehehe. She even let me mix paints together, and I got to teach her some colour theory in return. Ah, happy maths-making days. Despite all that work, I still miscalculated my coffee money the other day. I like to put some change in my pocket so I can get take-away coffee's on my way back from having a swim at the beach. So the other day I packed money for 2 coffee's in my pocket. "1 coffee = $3.50. I'm getting 2, I'll need $6..." I know! I was very embarrassed when I went to pay. Luckily they kinda know me now and gave them to me anyway. I must go pay them the extra this week. ...blush... If only I had a few tubes of paint with me. :)
In The GardenYou will be glad to hear (maybe not as much as us) that we have made some decisions... On a hopefully sunny Saturday, this coming October, Mr You and I plan to be wed in the garden at his parents house. A garden wedding! We plan to hire a marquee just in case the weather isn't co-operative. Weeeeeeee! Initial thoughts of this making the wedding a little more affordable went out the window when we started adding up the costs of the extra things we will need to hire; chairs, plates, glasses, etc. However, we've had to have some serious conversations about trying to keep things cheap V's having things that mean something to us. I'm the one with the spreadsheet of costs, so having Mr You come in with his calming voice of sentiment makes a fine balance indeed. Obviously we have A LOT more planning to do, but this to me is a sound start. One that makes us both very happy. We've also had advice from a friend who said she regretted seeing her family do so much of the work at and after her wedding. So we are making plans to avoid that if we can. It feels so great to have such a major decision made. Next we start booking everything, and that will feel even better... and a step closer to planning the "pretty parts". Inspiration Pics:  
 I'm sure you all remember the amazing bouncy ball competition draw tool Mr You made for my Thanksgiving Illustration Giveaway. And I'm sure you remember a lass named Kath was the winner... We'll as I mentioned in my previous post Kath wanted me to paint her a picture along the lines of a few works I've done before. She told me among her favourite flowers and birds were peonies and red cardinals... Neither of which I've ever painted before. This was what I came up with for her. I hope she likes it :)  (It's very pretty, pretty, isn't it? I've been looking at so much wedding stuff, I think it's all starting to seep deeply in).There'll be another traditional Thanksgiving Illustration again this year. I'll give you plenty of notice.
I'm eagerly awaiting news from Kath that her painting has arrived. I posted it at the beginning of last week, so she should be getting it any day now. Kath was the winner of this year's Thanksgiving Illustration Giveaway. She couldn't decide what she wanted me to paint for her, so in January she just let me know that she loves this painting of mine, and asked for something along those lines.  Usually I'm asked to paint a family portrait, so it was really fun to this time be asked to just create. It was completely up to me what I ended up doing for her. I had fun! To get me started I asked what her favourite birds and flowers were, that way I could make it a bit more personalised for her. And soon, when I get to show you the finished picture, you'll be able to find out her answer. I don't want to spoil her surprise, so I can't show it to you just yet, we'll just have to wait till she has received it. Shouldn't be too long now.
All About The TreesWe set off venue hunting again on the weekend. If nothing else, we've had some lovely weekend outings and discovered some truly beautiful places. A few weeks ago we went to the beaches, the following weekend we went inland to the country and valley. This time, we followed the river...  I've been taking snaps at every location so that we can remember them all. I realised a couple of week ago, when we were hitting the beachside venues, that I was taking photo's with my back to the beach, shooting towards the trees. It was then I realised it's all about the trees. Since then when we've been looking at places, I've also been paying close attention to the trees.  Neither Mr You nor I are particularly religious, however, the idea of being married under a big, old, wise, soul-filled tree to me seems somewhat sacred. As though the union will be witnessed by nature itself. Endorsed by the natural order of things. I like that idea :) Inspiration Pics:     (Sorry, I've been grabbing inspiration pics like a madwoman, and haven't recorded where I've been getting them from. I do know a couple of these are from oncewed.com)
"Eye Spy something that makes me HAPPY!" (This week's theme by Iris + Lily) I get really happy when I'm reminded that the most un-naturally amazing colours, are in actual fact, completely natural. In this life where I'm so often sat in front of a screen, being blown away by the "real thing" never fails to make me happy.  While this isn't a photo of the beautiful sunset we saw just last night, it is my (un-enhanced in any way) photo of one we saw just over a year ago.
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