June 2005. That sounds like so long ago doesn't it? 4 years.
That's when I started this blog. I missed my bloggy B'day again, ooops.
I think I'm starting to fatigue. I've had many bloggy friends retire over those years. And I can completely understand why.
Others, like a phoenix, burn out only to bloom again in another form even more bright and lovely than before.
I think I either need to "pick up the pace" and interestingness, or maybe take a break for a while.
I recently read someone's post having a rant about "blog princesses" (which I learnt is a term to describe someone who blogs but never returns comments). I felt a massive wave of guilt, realising I'm become a really lazy commenter too. I'm still reading your blogs, I'm just finding myself too tired to comment. I've reverted back to my lurking youth. heh-heh.
Taking a break would be such a relief.
Ahh, who am I kidding? I can't give this up, it's too entrenched... At least not without a good excuse (like having a baby). I have no excuse...
You'll have to just excuse my infrequent, lack-lustre posts. And I'll just squint and hang on till this slump passes.
In the meantime, I do apologise (both for my boring blog, and this pity-party).
I'll make it up to you.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
weddingy wednesday 10
Renamed:
It turns out I have a big decision to make. Should I change my name?
For years I thought I wouldn't, but recently I have warmed to like the idea. However, Mr You hates the concept of me taking his name, not that he doesn't want to share it, it's just that he said he doesn't want flossy-p to disappear off the face of the planet. He thinks it's really sad that the person he fell in love with won't exist anymore.
What if I double up? Have both names, no hyphen, just two names?
What if I wait and see how I feel once we have children?
flossy-p.... flossy-You.... flossy-p You....
I honestly can't decide. I'm in a pickle.
What did you choose to do? How did you decide? Are you happy with your decision?
It turns out I have a big decision to make. Should I change my name?
For years I thought I wouldn't, but recently I have warmed to like the idea. However, Mr You hates the concept of me taking his name, not that he doesn't want to share it, it's just that he said he doesn't want flossy-p to disappear off the face of the planet. He thinks it's really sad that the person he fell in love with won't exist anymore.
What if I double up? Have both names, no hyphen, just two names?
What if I wait and see how I feel once we have children?
flossy-p.... flossy-You.... flossy-p You....
I honestly can't decide. I'm in a pickle.
What did you choose to do? How did you decide? Are you happy with your decision?
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
free art!
That got your attention. ;)
Have you heard of the Feed Your Soul project yet? Jen from Indie Fixx started up the Feed Your Soul art project earlier in the year, inviting artists to create works to give away. It's her way of keeping art flowing into peoples homes throughout the GFC. Clever, isn't she?
Each month a new bunch of works are offered as free PDFs for you to download, print off, and hang in your home. I've been collecting my favourites over the past few months, and am excited to know there's still more to come.
Here are an example of some (but not all) of the lovely works on offer so far:
(Featuring: Abigail Halpin, Mandy Sutcliffe, Lindsey Carr, Belinda Hemp, Marcy Davy, and Gemma Correll).
My contribution, along with a short interview, went up this week too.
I couldn't really show all the works on offer here, so you'll just have to go choose your favourites on your own. Go on. Feed Your Soul...
What are you waiting for? It's art, and it's free!!!! Scooot.
Have you heard of the Feed Your Soul project yet? Jen from Indie Fixx started up the Feed Your Soul art project earlier in the year, inviting artists to create works to give away. It's her way of keeping art flowing into peoples homes throughout the GFC. Clever, isn't she?
Each month a new bunch of works are offered as free PDFs for you to download, print off, and hang in your home. I've been collecting my favourites over the past few months, and am excited to know there's still more to come.
Here are an example of some (but not all) of the lovely works on offer so far:
(Featuring: Abigail Halpin, Mandy Sutcliffe, Lindsey Carr, Belinda Hemp, Marcy Davy, and Gemma Correll).
My contribution, along with a short interview, went up this week too.
I couldn't really show all the works on offer here, so you'll just have to go choose your favourites on your own. Go on. Feed Your Soul...
What are you waiting for? It's art, and it's free!!!! Scooot.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
eye-spy a sign
I had completely lost track of eye-spy again recently. But thanks to a weekend trapped inside due to torrential rain and a great topic from August Street, I'm glad to be back at it again today.I love funny sign spotting. So I have a few to share:
I took this first photo because it totally sums up our town, (LOADS of older folks flock here to retire). It' not so much the sign itself, more the "display". It cracked me up when I saw it:
The next one is outside the corner store, (chipped and faded), here in our little village. The ad agency must have had a ball with this campaign:
Mmmm, so I've heard. ;)
Meanwhile, back in Sydney, to THE BEST Chinese dumpling place in town...
The menu alone was packed with jems like this:
The signs on the walls were all excellent too, and on our way out we grabbed one of these menus:
And we had to pose with this brilliant sign on the window. If you look closely you can see all the "corrections" they've made so far... (speciaL, noodel, etc), just haven't made it all the way to Firday yet ;)
Before you ask, yes we have both the Engrish and Chinglish books. :D
Thursday, June 18, 2009
ribbon
I'm gasping for breath...
Having trouble breathing...
Hyperventilating at how beautiful this is...
Wondering if constructing an old fence along the road to our wedding is taking it a little TOO far, just for the sake of being able to have this!!!!???
SO worth it though, wouldn't you say? (Please say yes. I'll pay you!) ;)
(By event decorators Sillapere. Found via 100 Layer Cake)
Having trouble breathing...
Hyperventilating at how beautiful this is...
Wondering if constructing an old fence along the road to our wedding is taking it a little TOO far, just for the sake of being able to have this!!!!???
SO worth it though, wouldn't you say? (Please say yes. I'll pay you!) ;)
(By event decorators Sillapere. Found via 100 Layer Cake)
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
sea serpent
After the big storms and floods a few weeks back, we discovered the most amazing thing washed up at the end of the beach.
It was a long, thick, twist of twigs... like a giant sea serpent washed up onto the rocks.
So long it would have covered the length of one and a half tennis courts, and stretched straight it surely would have been longer.
Winding and weaving its way between the rocks, left resting heavy where it lay.
It must have been formed by the constant rolling motion of the waves against the shore. Unable to escape. A dense felted twine of dried sea forestry, dislodged from deep below the sea surface.
One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
We felt as though we stumbled upon one of Andy Goldsworthy's artworks, honoured and amazed (who doesn't love his work). Only even more so because it was a completely natural formation, proving again that nature is Queen!
For anyone unfamiliar with Andy Goldsworthy's work....
It was a long, thick, twist of twigs... like a giant sea serpent washed up onto the rocks.
So long it would have covered the length of one and a half tennis courts, and stretched straight it surely would have been longer.
Winding and weaving its way between the rocks, left resting heavy where it lay.
It must have been formed by the constant rolling motion of the waves against the shore. Unable to escape. A dense felted twine of dried sea forestry, dislodged from deep below the sea surface.
One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
We felt as though we stumbled upon one of Andy Goldsworthy's artworks, honoured and amazed (who doesn't love his work). Only even more so because it was a completely natural formation, proving again that nature is Queen!
For anyone unfamiliar with Andy Goldsworthy's work....
Thursday, June 11, 2009
hey diddle diddle
A friend of mine, who had been a vegetarian as long as I've known her, (past tense is because she's no longer a vego, but still a friend), once burst out during a quiet moment "We bought a leather lounge!" followed quickly by "There I said it!"
We chuckled because this admission had clearly been weighing her with guilt. Funny that such a banal thing should seem like such a big deal (not that I'm saying the lounge was banal, just that compared to other confessions this was pretty domestic... Something like "I was once a man!" would have suited her level of embarrassment more). Anyway I really didn't think anything of it, other than feeling sorry for her that she felt she needed to confess this fact to everyone she knew.
Shine the interrogation spotlight in this direction, and hear to me squeel:
"I'll be wearing a white wedding dress!" ... I take a sharp intake of breath and hold it for the response.
I know, I know, most of you out there will be thinking, "Um Der, Yeah". So why do I feel as though I need to confess this fact to everyone?
It's because alot of people I've told this to so far have looked at me as if I've just told them I'll be wearing this:
It's true, I never thought I would ever wear a white wedding dress myself, and this is probably adding to my troubles and other peoples surprise. But the shocked double takes are starting to make me feel a little insecure. And that's just when I tell them the colour, what's going to happen when I'm actually wearing it?
I didn't pay alot for it, and it didn't come from a wedding dress shop, but essentially my dress is going to look "the part".
I was nervous when I bought it, but I thought it was just the fact that I looked so bridey in it, which I wasn't expecting, but that I'd get used to it. I'm discovering now that there seems to be such a stigma about it that I didn't expect. As I'm trying to work all this out I think perhaps many people assume that women that choose to wear white dresses:
A) Have one of those creepy 600 page wedding scrapbooks they've been keeping since they were 5 years old, and have just been on the hunt for a real man to act it all out with
B) Thinks undeniably that wedding day is all about her, and how she looks
C) The choice of dress will be tacky
D) And the wedding will be all ice sculptures, smoke machines, cheesy wedding singers with bad comb-overs, and Mariah Carey music.
Since when did the word "bride" become such an unfashionable term inducing shivers in all who use it? And when did wearing white become such a taboo? I'm blaming these vixens...
On the weekend we went to a Wedding Expo (more gasps)... It was a very small regional one, so we weren't too daunted about going, and Mr You was the one who convinced me to go, saying when else are we going to get a chance to go to one of those things? So we went and I made him promise not to let me laugh at anything inappropriate ('cause let's face it, yes I'll be wearing a white dress, and that's one thing, but there's a whole world of other stuff in this realm that's down-right funny).
The first time I had to stifle a laugh was seeing the teddy bears in dresses and suits strapped to the front of all the wedding cars. Every wedding car display featured some sort of stuffed toy or beanie-bear dressed to the nines and strapped to the front!!!! C'mon, that's funny!
There were a couple of god-awful table displays, and there was a lady sitting next to a square of astro-turf (who knows what that was about?), but the rest was kind of what you'd expect. Highlights were all the cake samples we got to "taste-test", and the fashion show where all the models were attempting to make it to the end of the catwalk and back in way-too-big-for-them-stilettos.
But the one thing that has impressed us the most.... the photographer who was championing this style:
Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon,
the little dog laughed to see such fun, and the groom ran away with the spoon!
WTF!!!???
Anyway, as you can see I'm trying my darnedest to put all this in perspective. YES, I'll be wearing a white dress at our wedding, but NO we will not have stuffed toys strapped to the front of any forms of transportation, my relatives will have no need to blush at the amount of boob that'll be on display, I will not be wearing a veil so tall and poofy it touches the tree's or so long it nets and captures small children, and we will not be dancing a boxy waltz to Whitney's "I Will Always Love You".
Yes, I'm still a bit nervous about looking like a bride (and the word "bride" does make we quiver a little), but relax people, it's just a dress and just one tiny part of a very full day. Right?
So all that said and done my dress is ready. My Mum and Sister Sparkle are going to pick it up for me this weekend.
There's no turning back now. Anyway, why would I want to? It's pretty.
We chuckled because this admission had clearly been weighing her with guilt. Funny that such a banal thing should seem like such a big deal (not that I'm saying the lounge was banal, just that compared to other confessions this was pretty domestic... Something like "I was once a man!" would have suited her level of embarrassment more). Anyway I really didn't think anything of it, other than feeling sorry for her that she felt she needed to confess this fact to everyone she knew.
Shine the interrogation spotlight in this direction, and hear to me squeel:
"I'll be wearing a white wedding dress!" ... I take a sharp intake of breath and hold it for the response.
I know, I know, most of you out there will be thinking, "Um Der, Yeah". So why do I feel as though I need to confess this fact to everyone?
It's because alot of people I've told this to so far have looked at me as if I've just told them I'll be wearing this:
It's true, I never thought I would ever wear a white wedding dress myself, and this is probably adding to my troubles and other peoples surprise. But the shocked double takes are starting to make me feel a little insecure. And that's just when I tell them the colour, what's going to happen when I'm actually wearing it?
I didn't pay alot for it, and it didn't come from a wedding dress shop, but essentially my dress is going to look "the part".
I was nervous when I bought it, but I thought it was just the fact that I looked so bridey in it, which I wasn't expecting, but that I'd get used to it. I'm discovering now that there seems to be such a stigma about it that I didn't expect. As I'm trying to work all this out I think perhaps many people assume that women that choose to wear white dresses:
A) Have one of those creepy 600 page wedding scrapbooks they've been keeping since they were 5 years old, and have just been on the hunt for a real man to act it all out with
B) Thinks undeniably that wedding day is all about her, and how she looks
C) The choice of dress will be tacky
D) And the wedding will be all ice sculptures, smoke machines, cheesy wedding singers with bad comb-overs, and Mariah Carey music.
Since when did the word "bride" become such an unfashionable term inducing shivers in all who use it? And when did wearing white become such a taboo? I'm blaming these vixens...
On the weekend we went to a Wedding Expo (more gasps)... It was a very small regional one, so we weren't too daunted about going, and Mr You was the one who convinced me to go, saying when else are we going to get a chance to go to one of those things? So we went and I made him promise not to let me laugh at anything inappropriate ('cause let's face it, yes I'll be wearing a white dress, and that's one thing, but there's a whole world of other stuff in this realm that's down-right funny).
The first time I had to stifle a laugh was seeing the teddy bears in dresses and suits strapped to the front of all the wedding cars. Every wedding car display featured some sort of stuffed toy or beanie-bear dressed to the nines and strapped to the front!!!! C'mon, that's funny!
There were a couple of god-awful table displays, and there was a lady sitting next to a square of astro-turf (who knows what that was about?), but the rest was kind of what you'd expect. Highlights were all the cake samples we got to "taste-test", and the fashion show where all the models were attempting to make it to the end of the catwalk and back in way-too-big-for-them-stilettos.
But the one thing that has impressed us the most.... the photographer who was championing this style:
Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon,
the little dog laughed to see such fun, and the groom ran away with the spoon!
WTF!!!???
Anyway, as you can see I'm trying my darnedest to put all this in perspective. YES, I'll be wearing a white dress at our wedding, but NO we will not have stuffed toys strapped to the front of any forms of transportation, my relatives will have no need to blush at the amount of boob that'll be on display, I will not be wearing a veil so tall and poofy it touches the tree's or so long it nets and captures small children, and we will not be dancing a boxy waltz to Whitney's "I Will Always Love You".
Yes, I'm still a bit nervous about looking like a bride (and the word "bride" does make we quiver a little), but relax people, it's just a dress and just one tiny part of a very full day. Right?
So all that said and done my dress is ready. My Mum and Sister Sparkle are going to pick it up for me this weekend.
There's no turning back now. Anyway, why would I want to? It's pretty.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
anthropologie seems like disneyland to me
Just a little soft porn to kick off the weekend. :)
(The Astrid Chair, and Battersea Sofa, both from Anthropologie)
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
sprung
I sit her, hands clasped over my mouth, eyes pinched, cheeks hot and red from blushing.
I've been sprung. BIG TIME!
I've shown you before, how I sometimes use images of people from magazines (or online) as inspiration for my illustrations. Well...
...In what can only be described as a coincidence I could NEVER have predicted, one of these people, one of my inspirations, has recognised herself in one of my illo's. Yikes! *blush*
*breath*
Last year when I was working my way through my series of 20 portraits for the Affirmations exhibition, I once again turned to magazines to find faces that inspired me. One of these faces was Trenna from an article in Frankie about the IRVING BABY shops.
Fast foward 1 year >>> a couple of weeks ago who should contact me? Trenna and Briar from IRVING BABY of course! *blush a bit more* They had seen my greeting cards at the Art Gallery NSW, and wanted to order some for their shops. (Exciting, I Know!!!!)
I wondered, when they included the card of "Invite Colour Into Your Life" in their order, whether or not I should "fess-up" at that point. Too embarrassed, and thinking it was unlikely they would notice, I didn't.
Fast foward to today >>> My package of cards arrive at IRVING BABY, Trenna emails me to let me know they've arrived, and also mentions "I identify in a strangely personal way" to that illo. eeeeeeeeek SPRUNG!
*blush*blush*blush*blush*blush*blush*blush*blush*blush*blush*
I don't know what to say. I hope she isn't too weirded-out about it; about being a muse to a complete stranger. I imagine it must be one of the more eerie things in life to come across a pencilled version of yourself. All I can say is that I was inspired by her image... *gulp*
Oh, and the title "Invite Colour Into Your Life" is by no means an instruction to Trenna, no no, it's an affirmation I try to remind myself of (remember this work was one for the 'Affirmations" show). A mantra I adopted a few years back to embrace colour in my everyday life more. As you can see below, the girls of IRVING BABY are perfectly colourful. In my illo I've moved the fantastic red of her lips to her glasses.
Anyhoo, while I try to recover from the embarrassment I'll reinforce the great parts of this post:
- My cards are now available at the very cool boutiques in Adelaide CBD known as IRVING BABY! I'm REALLY excited about this!
- IRVING BABY! stock new and vintage clothing and accessories aimed at customers between the ages of 15 and 35. They also host art exhibitions and support local jewellery designers.
- I have actually been to both stores in Adelaide, and even bought a great top from there.
- You can go too... and why wouldn't you?
IRVING BABY!
33 Twin Street, and 83 Hindley Street, Adelaide, SA.
I've been sprung. BIG TIME!
I've shown you before, how I sometimes use images of people from magazines (or online) as inspiration for my illustrations. Well...
...In what can only be described as a coincidence I could NEVER have predicted, one of these people, one of my inspirations, has recognised herself in one of my illo's. Yikes! *blush*
*breath*
Last year when I was working my way through my series of 20 portraits for the Affirmations exhibition, I once again turned to magazines to find faces that inspired me. One of these faces was Trenna from an article in Frankie about the IRVING BABY shops.
Fast foward 1 year >>> a couple of weeks ago who should contact me? Trenna and Briar from IRVING BABY of course! *blush a bit more* They had seen my greeting cards at the Art Gallery NSW, and wanted to order some for their shops. (Exciting, I Know!!!!)
I wondered, when they included the card of "Invite Colour Into Your Life" in their order, whether or not I should "fess-up" at that point. Too embarrassed, and thinking it was unlikely they would notice, I didn't.
Fast foward to today >>> My package of cards arrive at IRVING BABY, Trenna emails me to let me know they've arrived, and also mentions "I identify in a strangely personal way" to that illo. eeeeeeeeek SPRUNG!
*blush*blush*blush*blush*blush*blush*blush*blush*blush*blush*
I don't know what to say. I hope she isn't too weirded-out about it; about being a muse to a complete stranger. I imagine it must be one of the more eerie things in life to come across a pencilled version of yourself. All I can say is that I was inspired by her image... *gulp*
Oh, and the title "Invite Colour Into Your Life" is by no means an instruction to Trenna, no no, it's an affirmation I try to remind myself of (remember this work was one for the 'Affirmations" show). A mantra I adopted a few years back to embrace colour in my everyday life more. As you can see below, the girls of IRVING BABY are perfectly colourful. In my illo I've moved the fantastic red of her lips to her glasses.
Anyhoo, while I try to recover from the embarrassment I'll reinforce the great parts of this post:- My cards are now available at the very cool boutiques in Adelaide CBD known as IRVING BABY! I'm REALLY excited about this!
- IRVING BABY! stock new and vintage clothing and accessories aimed at customers between the ages of 15 and 35. They also host art exhibitions and support local jewellery designers.
- I have actually been to both stores in Adelaide, and even bought a great top from there.
- You can go too... and why wouldn't you?
IRVING BABY!
33 Twin Street, and 83 Hindley Street, Adelaide, SA.
sweeping the piles away
The recent wild weather the other week left us without power and internet for patches at a time. Nothing to cause any great alarm (some severe boredom, but no alarm). Ever since then our internet connection has been up and down, and after getting increasingly frustrated with it, I abandoned it altogether.
This snip between us could not have come at a better time. I had only just been confessing my increasing (and seemingly long term) addiction to a friend, workshopping it with Mr You, and starting to accept that I needed to take some decisive action to get my life back.
Two weeks later and I cannot tell you what a difference it has made.
I have taken my time back, retrained myself to get real-life stuff done, and crossed almost every item off a big, imposing, bossy to-do list I've had stuck on my wall all year. Some of the items fell inline with one of my new years resolutions (which was to change things about our house that didn't reflect us properly), something that would make everyday life feel better in small sub-conscious ways.
In the last two weeks I:
- tidied and rearranged things in our house, packed away old trinkets and unpacked others
- framed some nice photo's of loved ones
- hung some more art on the walls
- made new cushion covers to replace old dated ones
- revamped an old skirt into something new and cool
- caught up with new friends
- phoned old friends
- lined up more "paying" work for myself over the coming months
- visited the dentist for the first time in years (thankfully all was fine)
- caught up on 4 years of income tax (eeek)
- started an exercise plan
- updated my portfolio site
- and packed up and posted some "parcels" to people that were long overdue.
It feels great. Things that have been looming over me, weighing me down with guilt, are now gone.
And it's been rewarding too! My tax, which I was absolutely dreading thinking I'd owe heaps, ended in a massively happy surprise rebate! The dentist, which I'd also been dreading, was completely fine. And the new things around the house has made us feel much better, as planned.
I still have some important "to-do's" to be done, but hopefully now the first pile has been swept away, the next will be easier to get to.
Pheeeeeeeeeeeeew, relief.
Show and tell:
This snip between us could not have come at a better time. I had only just been confessing my increasing (and seemingly long term) addiction to a friend, workshopping it with Mr You, and starting to accept that I needed to take some decisive action to get my life back.
Two weeks later and I cannot tell you what a difference it has made.
I have taken my time back, retrained myself to get real-life stuff done, and crossed almost every item off a big, imposing, bossy to-do list I've had stuck on my wall all year. Some of the items fell inline with one of my new years resolutions (which was to change things about our house that didn't reflect us properly), something that would make everyday life feel better in small sub-conscious ways.
In the last two weeks I:
- tidied and rearranged things in our house, packed away old trinkets and unpacked others
- framed some nice photo's of loved ones
- hung some more art on the walls
- made new cushion covers to replace old dated ones
- revamped an old skirt into something new and cool
- caught up with new friends
- phoned old friends
- lined up more "paying" work for myself over the coming months
- visited the dentist for the first time in years (thankfully all was fine)
- caught up on 4 years of income tax (eeek)
- started an exercise plan
- updated my portfolio site
- and packed up and posted some "parcels" to people that were long overdue.
It feels great. Things that have been looming over me, weighing me down with guilt, are now gone.
And it's been rewarding too! My tax, which I was absolutely dreading thinking I'd owe heaps, ended in a massively happy surprise rebate! The dentist, which I'd also been dreading, was completely fine. And the new things around the house has made us feel much better, as planned.
I still have some important "to-do's" to be done, but hopefully now the first pile has been swept away, the next will be easier to get to.
Pheeeeeeeeeeeeew, relief.
Show and tell:
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
bird watching
I splashed out, I did. I bought myself an entirely delightful pair of earrings, and they arrived today! They are so lovely and delicate in real life, I can't wait to wear them out.These 'Botanical Bird' earrings are made by Tinyartjewelry on Etsy.
She has some really unique and wondrous things in there, reminiscent of discovering a secret garden.
Go take a peek! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
