Have a jolly Christmas

{Jojo and I with Santa, circa 1977}

Hello you.

I didn't mean to be away for so long.

But I got wrapped up in enjoying the good weather, Christmas parties, going to a wedding, birthdays, being crazy busy at work and of course fitting in the Christmas shopping.

I have still been trying to keep on top of all your lovely blog posts though, so don't think I have totally neglected or forgotten you. It's not true.

I'm off for a few days to spend Christmas with family and friends. Lots of laying back, having fun and enjoying the sunshine is planned. Oh, and in a few days I turn another year older. Well I guess technically I will only be 3 days older than I am now but you know what I mean.

I'm going to take another few days break from favourito and when I am back I will share the lovely gifts that have been arriving in my letterbox from Amy, Laura and Ann. Thank you all, I love them!

Have a jolly Christmas, see you in a little bit (I promise) xx

It's Movember baby!

Forget November, this month is Movember and it's not too late to late to get all of the guys in your life involved. And you can become a Mo Sista too if you want. Check it all out here. It's for a great cause and haven't you always wanted your very own Magnum PI? At least for a month anyway.

Tales from the weekend

My weekend was fabulous. How was yours?

Friday night I went to see Crowded House play. I adore Neil Finn but I thought the concert was good, not great. Their new stuff seemed a little dull but it was really good to hear the old tunes that I know so well. Pluto and Supergroove supported and were great!

I picked up some great bargains at a local fair. A lovely orange floral retro outdoor umbrella for $2! And a great seat which I am going to re-upholster for $10. Oh, I love summer and all it's fair glory.

Yes, it would be better if I had photos to share but for now you will have to use your imagination. I will try to take some soon.

The weekend also involved a lovely walk in the gardens, passionfruit gelato, crazy science experiments with Finn & Briar, catching up with my friend Dom over the Home and Away omnibus and a delicious barbecue at my friend Emma's lovely new home.

Today I came home to find my own copy of Mixtape in the mail. Hurrah!

I wasn't quick enough to get my hands on the first issue so I made sure I got in quick when they announced the 2nd issue.

But good news, the first issue sold out so quickly that a few more have been printed. Be quick and click here to get yours.

Mixtape - a zine for making time for the small things. Which is precisely what I intend on doing. It's only 7 weeks until Christmas (My favourite time of year) and I need to act fast if I intend to make a lot of presents. Also, I want to make the most of summer and all it's gorgeous sunshine warmth so my blogging posts may become more sporadic in the next few weeks and longer. Which probably won't be that much of a change as they seem to have become quite sporadic already. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

PIF

{Melbourne graffiti that caught my eye}

I love this idea and how the whole blogging land creates a tidal wave of sweet crafty love.

So here is my pledge:

“I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.”

I found this via tummy-ache , I'm not really sure where it started but I think Camilla and Bibbi may have been some of the early crafters... Sweet. Oh, and like Amy, I endeavour to send my gifts out before Christmas.

I'm home

{business card from Hail Mary I'm Home - Sydney}

Jo and I had a blast in Melbourne.
We shopped, shopped, ate and shopped some more. Fabulous.
And now our weary feet have bought us back home. As much as I love going on holiday, it's always nice to be home.
Here are some trip highlights:
- Visiting the Queen Victoria market. The food market was amazing. Prosciutto for $1 a slice. As cheap as chips and yum, yum, yummy. We fell instantly in love with the delicatessan rows
- Going to the Klaxons gig. Brilliant and bonkers at the same time. This was quite possibly the longest day ever. It felt like it was 3 days long. We arrived in Melbourne at 7am after getting less than than 4 hours sleep. The band didn't come on until almost 11pm! I know, I sound like a Granny. A lot of the young folk were wearing shiny nylon lycra leggings and fluro baggy tee shirts. It felt like 1984 all over again. And not in a good way.
- Lovely gelato from my most favourite of favourites gelato stores, Trampoline. Check out their website. They are very cool people.
- Taking Jo to see Once. Which was twice for me. I can't wait to see it for the third, fourth, fifth time and more.
- The hot hot heat. And equally as welcoming was the cool showery rain.
- Exploring Brunswick Street. The new Meet Me at Mikes store looks great.
- Discovering stationery paradise at Zetta Florence. Heaven!
- Catching a tram going the wrong direction just for shits and giggles. Ok, so it was a mistake but we eventually did end up at our destination which was St Kilda.
- Stocking up on more Moroccan tea glasses from Husk.
- Shopping at IKEA. Yay! And buying the most ridiculous things to cart all the way home. What?! The water jug was only $4 and will be the perfect vessel for those lovely summer Pimms drinks. See, totally justified.
- Making eyeshadow purchases from Mecca Cosmetica. Stila, I love you. Mecca, I love you too. The word on the street is that Mecca is coming to Auckland. I hope so. Thanks for keeping your ear to the ground for good news like this Miss Maria.

And thank you to my sis Jo for a fabulous week!

{Queen Victoria food market}

{lovely Koko Black thank you chocolate from Mecca Cosmetica}

{Brunswick Street}

{the finest gelato of them all}

{Trampoline - mmm, good}

{Flinders Street station}

It's holiday time!

{image by flickr member Woodyatt}

Righto, I'm outta here to Melbourne for a week.
I have been busy, unorganised and slack because I owe you a cd bonanza post (for all the wonderful cds I have received in the mail) and a 'contents of my bag' post via Alyson.
I will try to be more on to it when I get back.
But for the next week, I will be exploring and 'getting lost' in Melbourne.
And right now I need to finish packing and have to get up in 5 hours. Yikes.
Catch you all soon x

Food from Friends

On Saturday morning there was an article in the newspaper about Matthew Fraser whose life has been turned upside down by Motor Nuerone Disease.

I know Matthew's mother Kate. I first met Kate (who is the Editor of Zest - food and fashion section of The Press) when I was a student at fashion school. Even though, I am no longer actively designing, Kate has always been a supportive and loyal mentor.

Matthew is only 37. He has a loving wife. 3 young adorable children. And he will die from this degenerative disease.

Kate has called in support from local & international chefs to create this cookbook. This will make a perfect (and very reasonably priced) Christmas present. Please click here to purchase and help this family.

Keep up with Matthew by reading his blog here.

Thanks guys. x

A letter of love to my Postie

Dear Postie

Even though I was annoyed at you when you bent my Fifi Lapin 'Fifi loves Chanel' print to get it through the mail slot instead of putting it in the parcel section, today you came through by delivering some good mail.

1. A wedding invite. Hurrah! I am super excited to go to the wedding of my good school friend Louise.

2. Some mini Moo* cards. It says on the pack 'How very exciting'. And it totally is.

3. Oh you also bought me a bill for my cell phone. I have to admit, I wasn't totally overjoyed to receive this. But I talk, I text, I have to pay. I'm ok with it.

Thank you Postie. You did good today.

Love love love Sarah xx

* anyone want to do a Moo card swap?

The pink morning tea

Today is the official fundraiser day for the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation.

My workplace got into the spirit of things with a Pink morning tea. Of course there are not many (if any) pink savoury treats you can get so we had a sugar explosion! But it was a lot of fun and we raised a great amount of money for a cause that is close to my heart.

Mmm, I am craving something savoury now....

Brighten the corner where you are!

This little autograph book was found in an old shop in Hong Kong in December 2005. The owner is unknown. This little book is full of photos, quotes and entries in English but mostly Chinese. You can find it here to peruse and translate if you are able!

I like little gems like this.

Music Tuesday - on a Wednesday

I forgot that I was going to a play at The Court Theatre last night so I couldn't do a Music Tuesday post.
And I know last week I said I was going to post about the wonderful cds that have arrived in the mail but I am not at all organised so that will now happen next week.

Remember this sad iPod post? Well it turns out that my beloved iPod was unrepairable. Sad! But the extended warranty came through and it got replaced by a brand new one. Happy! Oh so happy.

I'm loving having my tunes with me all the time and am ecstatic that I can now view videos, photos and everything is in colour. My old iPod was monochromatic! It's literally music to my ears and eyes.

I was just downloading in rainbows when I saw this post from Alyson. Alyson is tech savvy and I am not as the download didn't seem to work (or probably I am not doing something right) and I have had to email the helpdesk. Boo.

Weekend happenings

I'm a little grumpy today. I had to part with $300 of my holiday money to pay for my car insurance excess for an accident that wasn't my fault! Grrr. It's just bad timing with going away next week.

Anyhoo, I had a lovely weekend so am grateful for good things.

Went for a drive to Oxford and had this yummy hot chocolate from Seager's. Mmm, it tasted good.

And the scenery was lovely too. It's good to explore your surroundings now and then.

Short and sweet today. I'm dead tired and need an early night.

Hope you had a fabulous weekend too. x

Good Moo mail is a comin'

{image by blancucha}

I ordered some more Moo cards over the weekend. This time I ordered some Blanca Gomez ones. I adore her illustrations. I can't wait for them to arrive.

I had to get some petrol today and was inside paying when a young guy drove off with the pump hose still in his car. It ripped straight out of the pump. He obviously forgot and was mortified. I felt bad for him. I also felt bad that I found it a teensy bit funny.

Music Tuesday - Snow Patrol gig review

{image from flickr member Fizzy Fizah}

While I was away from my blog I went to a Snow Patrol gig.
I knew I liked their sound but to be honest I hadn't listened to them excessively. Until now. Oh my. They were A M A Z I N G!
Every second, every song was fantastic. It was worth every cent.

What makes a gig for me is not only the music, of course that's a big part of it, but the band has to be enjoying it you know? There is nothing worse than going to a gig where the band seem to not want to be there. It's as dull as dishwater. Snow Patrol was the polar opposite. They were so passionate and it really got the crowd going.
Especially when Gary said 'we warmed the cockles of his heart'. He had me at 'Hello'.

I believe the band is taking some time off from touring to write and record some new material so when you next get the chance to see them live, don't even think twice. You won't regret it.

Next week: I will be sharing pieces of all the great mix cds I have received in the mail. You can hardly wait can you?

By the way - thank you for your sweet words on my return. It is heart warming to have blogging friends like you!

And to Sarah & Lacey - no I didn't make Mr Frog iPod cover. Sadly I cannot crochet whatsoever! My sister Jo got him for me from Spitalfields market in London. He sure is pretty.

I'm doing the iPod shuffle

Here's a fun little game from Lacey.

Put your iPod in shuffle mode and name the first 10 songs that play. Even if some you would prefer to keep secret!

Mine played like this:

1. Miracle Drug by U2 - a perfect way to start. I love this song. It's true, I am a big U2 fan but this song didn't have that much impact on me until I saw the movie 7 Days. Love it. The part when Bono sings the word 'sweetheart'? Well that just makes me weak at the knees. Are you hearing me Maria?

2. Viva Forever by the Spice Girls - ok you got me. There goes all my music cred out the speaker! Well I like this song so get over it!

3. Cry Me A River by Justin Timberlake - ha ha am I digging myself into a hole here? At least you can tell I'm not cheating. It's true, I like this song too! JT is coming to NZ for 3 sold out concerts in November and whilst I don't love him enough to pay for flights and accommodation in Auckland, if he came to Christchurch I would be there.

4. Road to Joy by Bright Eyes - love pretty much everything that comes out of Conor Oberst's mouth. I love how angst ridden he sounds in this song.

5. California by Phantom Planet - will always remind me of The OC but it's a good song in it's own right. A nice summer tune.

6. First Day of my Life by Bright Eyes - Again, I LOVE his voice! This came up on Lacey's shuffle mix too. Nice coincidence. But as Bright Eyes has already featured in my shuffle mode, does anyone else notice that once your iPod has selected an artist they play more frequently in shuffle mode. I'm tired, did that setence even make sense?

7. What's Left Of Me by Nick Lachey - oh my god, can my reputation recover? Yep, I love it. Honestly, this is a good sing along in the car song. Trust me!

8. Too Lost in You by the Sugababes - lovely. Will always remind me of Love Actually.

9. Numb (live) by Linken Park - I love Chester. Enough said.

10. Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks - LOVE The Kinks! Love Ray Davies. Love Muswell Hill in London because of him. I love to sing along to this. You can't help to tap your toes to this little tune either.

There you go. I may have to do this again, to make up for the cheesy hits that embarassingly made it onto my list. I need to redeem some kind of cool. Have a go yourself and no cheating!

Night night x

And I'm back

Meet Mary-Jane. The cute little reason I have been away for one month. Today Mary-Jane's Ma & Pa arrived back from their jaunt to Europe and thus, I am back here. I had a lovely time away. My own little holiday. It's good to be back though. I missed you!

Needless to say I have missed out on ALOT of blogging posts, so it may take me a while to catch up on all that you have been doing.

I had a busy time so will have to back track a little over the next week to fill you in on all the goss but it goes a little like this:

- I missed some birthdays. I know, unforgivable!

- I ate some good Japanese food. And some equally as good Thai food.

- I fell in love with Gary Lightbody.

- I received a plethora of good music in the mail. And some lovely other surprise goodies.

- I revelled in the glorious sunshine of Spring.

- I bought fresh tulips for the house. And daffodils. And more tulips.

- I started my Christmas present shopping list. Does that make up for forgetting birthdays?

- I laughed. And laughed some more.

- And then a silly man cut the corner and crashed into my car and I cried. I'm fine. My car is being repaired at the panel beater's so I have a loan car from them which is automatic and quite zippy and has power steering! My car doesn't, so it is quite a treat for me.

And I'm still bloody reading Harry Potter!

More soon...

5 weeks and counting...

... until I can lose myself in Melbourne. LOVE this advert.

Hello by the way! Hope you have had a lovely weekend x

Checking in

Hello! I have really missed blogging this past week! Just popped home to pick up a few things and had to share Bret's brilliant dance which pays homage to the great dancer that is Kevin Bacon.
Enjoy, have a great weekend and I miss you!

Saturday shopping & a little blogging break

I did some self gifting yesterday. Buying these ('Dance' ballet flats in Black), these, these (mine are the authentic Keds!) and these gorgeous earrings from my new favourite jewellery store Filigree. Actually, the smoky quartz drop on these earrings is a custom order for my sister Jo, but the shop had no more available so Jo is letting me borrow these until she comes to visit in a couple of weeks. She's the best.

I also went to this new art store and loved it. It's so big and spacious and I love these David Trubridge light fittings they have.
I was impressed with the selection of graphic design, illustration and font books they have. I will definitely have to go back and self gift again sometime soon.
I especially liked the Curvy range of books which Yen magazine put out. I don't know why Yen is no longer available in NZ but at least I can still get to see all of these cool illustrations. And I think that's enough self gifting for now!

I'm off now to housesit for a friend who has jetted off to Spain, Portugal and Morocco. I know, I'm envious too but she deserves the break. I will also be looking after Mary-Jane, her pretty little kitty. I can't wait. Dom's house is a sun trap and I plan on taking a little blogging break and catching up on reading, going through my magazines, relaxing etc. I'm sure I will sneak back in the weekends as I don't think I can stay away from all of your goodness for one month!
Be good, crafty and inspiring. I know you will be! x

Swap ready

I've been crafting my little heart out making these cd covers for the Storytellers cd swap. My first plan got scuppered so I had to think of another design which took me a little longer than I thought so yes, I am 2 days late in posting these. I hate that! Nevermind, they will be posted and I am pleased with how they turned out (though my blanket stitching needs a little practice).

I have a whole pile of things ready to be posted. The back2school swap goodies for Nancy, Robin is getting this from this giveaway I did and I have a good mail surprise for Liz who I hope has not developed RSI from folding all of those cranes. (Sorry Liz, I had hoped I would have sent this earlier for you to enjoy over your August holiday but that didn't come to pass and now it's September already! Oops).

But this stack will keep the postie busy for a bit. I love these swaps!

Je voudrais un croissant s'il vous plait

I love this little tune. And the video is so cute! Don't blame me if you get it stuck in your head...



And here is Bret in the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra.
Ukulele's rock.


And here he is again in The Black Seeds with a nice little tune for Summer.
Can't wait for those hot summer days and afternoon treats from the dairy.

Music Tuesday - iPod is sad and so am I

I don't know what I did before I got my iPod. Actually I do. It used to take me forever to make mix tapes and I used to have to carry alot of tapes with me. Then cds. Then mini discs. Then I got my iPod and life was sweet. Until it started playing up recently. I have had my iPod for almost 3 years now. I use it pretty much every day. It's not a colour one, but it is white. And it is clever.
So I bought a new computer 2 weeks ago and I have been able to update my iPod, but sometimes it doesn't want to. Like yesterday. It just will not show up in the source list so it cannot update! I hate it when technology goes wrong.
I hunted for my extended warranty details and lucky me, bingo, I found them. So tomorrow I will have to make one of those phone calls I hate. Probably first to a machine, then on hold for twenty minutes or so, then to someone who probably can't help me. See how excited about it I am already? It's just that these things never go well. Those extended warranties that I never want but always seem to get always have clauses. Like when I lived in London and I had worldwide travel insurance through my bank and I went to visit my friend in Scotland and got pick pocketed on the way back home but the insurance would not cover it because I didn't have 'pre-booked' accommodation. Yes I did I told them. I didn't just turn up on my friend's doorstep!
Sigh! Wish me luck!

Something beginning with S...

{photo by flickr user Dave Gorman}

my name: Sarah

four words: serendipity. super. signature. smitten.

town/place: Stratford. Sicily.

boy name: Spencer

girl name: Sabine

occupation: scientist

something found in a kitchen: saffron. sugar. straws

something you shout: salute!

something you look for in a guy/girl: sense of humour

something that is in your room: shoes

place to shop at: Selfridges

name a band/artist: Supergrass. Stephen Malkmus

inspired by Alyson

Are you an eagle or a shark?

{image from Eagle vs Shark}

It's hard to believe it's Monday already. But the nights are getting lighter and the days are getting warmer. I'm loving the winter sun. We have been lucky.

It was a very quiet weekend. Actually I had a whole list of things I wanted to achieve but I spent most of the weekend not well in bed. Stink.

Anyhoo, on Friday night I went to The Fish & Chip Shop for dinner and had the 'Cheap as Chips' meal. De-lish.

{Emma at The Fish & Chip Shop}

Then we went to see Eagle vs Shark. It was sweet, funny, sad, hilarious, embarrassing. In fact, it was a whole lot of things and it has a lot of quotable lines if that's what you're into sucka! (It has a great soundtrack too).

Happy Monday to you x

Music Tuesday - a catchy tune

I know the subject is a little sad but I like this song and it's catchy tune.
I love Kate's accent. And the video is cool too, especially Kate's pretty yellow dress, her haircut, the patterned spiral staircase and the dinky toothbrushes!

Kate Nash - Foundations

{I know it's Wednesday and this is my Music Tuesday post but I went to a pub quiz last night and didn't have time to post!}

A lot happened...

It was a good weekend. Actually, every weekend is a good one. Simply because I have time for me. I love that.

I went to a couple of movies at the Film Festival. Finally getting to see Once. Oh my! Could I possibly be more in love with this movie? I loved every second, every song. Then I went searching for the soundtrack and couldn't find it anywhere. People didn't know what I was talking about. So I listened to the songs on the movie website over and over and then discovered a great podcast which had a full concert by The Swell Season. Ali, by all means you can say 'I told you so' because you posted about this way back here.

Then it was time for a little Japanese for dinner before going to see Death at a Funeral. Hilarious! Go see! Go See! Go see! Sadly, Rupert Graves doesn't do it for me quite like he did as Freddy Honeychurch. Must we get older? Loved Daisy Donovan.

Sunday was spent with a little baby love. How cute are these two?! Sorry that the photo is a little blurry. I was trying to take the photo quickly to try not to wake them up!

I'm trying to figure out bloglines. I can blog, set the dvd timer to record, tune in tvs so why do I find bloglines complicated? It works though yeah? So I should persevere?

Liz posted a great mosaic she made with flickr toys. I love these toys. I think I got a little addicted playing last night and that's why I felt a little light headed today. Oops.

And right now I am super excited because this morning I got tickets to see the Klaxons when I go to Melbourne in October. 9 weeks and counting...

The King lives on

I'm sure you have all heard about this song and video which has been realeased today on the anniversary of Elvis' death (which was actually yesterday in NZ).
I love this song. I have to admit, I'm not so sure about the video but the song definitely has impact and I am pleased that the proceeds are going towards charity.
Read more about it here.

It's so freezing cold here. I'm in for a lazy Friday night watching Rove and then the Elvis Comeback Special from '68 is on the telly. That'll do me.
Happy Friday!

Finished.

Tonight I finished these two notebooks at my bookbinding course. I was thinking of making a lot of these for presents. The folding and sewing I like. But the glueing sucks. It took me all night just to finish these two covers! It wasn't a good night. I mean they turned out ok, but it was like my hand eye co-ordination wasn't working. So I may have to rethink my presents plan. Hmmm. And on that note, I need to give my eyes a rest so night night. x

Some degrees of separation

Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series of books are on my all time favourite list of books. I fell in love right from the start. And then I saw the tv series (which I have on dvd, that's how dedicated I am) and I fell in love with Laura Linney playing Mary Ann Singleton and Olympia Dukakis playing Anna Madrigal. In fact, all of the characters were perfectly cast.

And now there is another book! Michael Tolliver Lives. Thank you Mr Maupin!

I also love the new look for the old books. Pity, I already have my well loved set, or I would be tempted to buy these just for the pretty covers!

I can't wait to get this in my hands and read it from start to finish. But I still have to finish Harry Potter. Can you believe I am only halfway through?! I don't know why it is taking me so long. Then I have to read Eclipse. I must find out what happens to Bella and Edward next. When Jo was staying over the weekend I kind of got her hooked on these young adult fiction books. She's 36.

So anyways, my some degress of separation to Armistead Maupin goes like this:

My friend Audrey lives in Cornwall, UK and she is friends with author Patrick Gale who is friends with Armistead Maupin and Audrey has received Christmas cards from Mr Maupin herself.

So I don't know just how many degrees of separation that is exactly. 2? 3? 4? But whatever it is, I think it's pretty cool.

Oh, and I think he used to live in Akaroa, NZ which is only about an hours drive from my house. But I could be wrong. In one way or another, it is a small world indeed.

Armistead Maupin has a blog here.

Music Tuesday - discoveries & confessions

I'm fairly late to this band but I have recently discovered The Klaxons and I am loving their sound. And that discovery led me to discover that they are touring Melbourne when I will be there. This tour is delayed because they had to postpone after Jamie broke his leg after jumping off the stage in France (so rock and roll), so even though most tickets are already allocated, I'm crossing my fingers that I will be able to get my hands on a couple.


And my confession is... that I love singing loud in my car. Ok, so that's not that shocking. We all do it. But the song on repeat play this week is Patience by Take That (again, I am a little late, but hey). I've always had a soft spot for little Marky Owen and even talked my friend Katie into going to see his solo tour with me on my last week in London. I had to go out on a high. The next night, and my last London gig was The Strokes.

Thursday is my favourite day

It's been fun today shopping in the sun. Yes, that was not a misprint, the sun. It's so crazy, we are right in the middle of winter here in NZ, yet today was a day I would be happy for in November/December. I could have even gone crazy and worn jandals. Maybe tomorrow I might live on the edge and do just that.

Started the day with one of the fabulous hot chocolates I blogged about here but this time I took my camera. Looks good huh? And it tasted just as good!

Jo did some great shopping. I will try to take photos of her lovely purchases tomorrow.

And then the day ended with another session of bookbinding. These little notebooks are still in progress but I am smitten with these open spine designs. I found the folding of paper and the stitching very calming. The glueing will start next week, I might not find that very calming. I come a little unstuck (no pun intended!).

And I would like to thank you for all your sweet comments on my concertina album. You guys are the best cheerleaders ever!

And I'm looking forward to another day off tomorrow. Bliss...

Being crafty

Here's a shot of the concertina album (Amy Butler fabric) I made in my bookbinding class last week. I like these.

And I have the next few days off. Hurrah! I am so happy to have a break from my 8-5pm routine. My sister Jo is down from Wellington for a long weekend so we get to play. Yay.

Wishing you a fabulous day!

Music Tuesday - Swap-o-rama

If you missed out on participating in Ky's Storyteller cd mix swap, then it's not too late to participate in Shelly's Little Faux cd mix swap. Check out the details here.

Not at all music related but swap related. Marta is holding another swap and after the success of the Mellow & Yellow swap, I am sure this one will be a hit too. It's a Back 2 School swap (except it's no back to school in NZ, we have our summer hols in January), and I am already drooling over the things I will send my partner. Put me in a good stationery shop (think Kikki K and Muji) and for me it is like being locked overnight in Hamleys toy store. Get involved here.

The Sweetest Thing

It was a sweet weekend.
I spent my Saturday evening celebrating Chris & Emma's engagement. I love these guys.

They are some crazy cats who seek fun and make the most of life.

Every second spent with them is a blast and I can't wait until they hurry up and get married and have babies.

The world will be a better place then.

Hope your weekend was just as fabulous x

Seize the day

We all know we should seize every day. Every moment. But too often, for some reason or another we get buried under other things that consume us and our motivation and desire wanes. Until that moment when something significant happens that stops us in our tracks. Forces us to reflect everything that our life means. Everything that we have done. Everything we want to do.
These videos are about 10 minutes long each. 30 minutes total. Not long for a lesson about how to make every moment a moment to remember. Forever.
Belinda = inspiration. And we all need a little of that.


{part one}


{part two}


{part 3}

I love Seletti

Just take a look at this lovely tin can I purchased from The General Store on the weekend. Except that it is ceramic!
Oh I love love love it with it's dinky lid.
Check out the other lovely things you can get from Seletti here. The world dinner maps are cool!

Music Tuesday - cd buying

{illustration by Betsy Walton}

So I took advantage of Borders discount coupons over the weekend and purchased:

Bright Eyes - Cassadaga and

Cat Power - The Greatest

I had never heard anything by Cat Power but I had read a few good things about her on various blogs and when I saw this post by Decor8 on the art of Betsy Walton and I explored further, I found this great illustration she did of Cat Power which influenced my purchase of the cd as I had to find out more! And I love what I have heard so far.

Bright Eyes too. That goes without saying.

And thus marks my one hundredth post. Woohoo! Who would have thought?

Ciao for now x

10 reasons to love the weekend

1. Borders 40% discount coupons for books, cds & dvds arriving by email Friday afternoon.
2. Friday night shopping at Borders purchasing:
- new Domino magazine
- Sublime Stitching book. Cute pattern overload. Can't wait to start getting crafty
- Wagamama cookbook. Mmmm, me love me some wagamama. I heard a rumour that it is opening in Christchurch. I hope, I hope it becomes a reality. And soon.
- a couple of cds (see Music Tuesday post for more info)
3. Celebrating my God-daughter's 13th birthday. 13! Go Liv! Olivia is a fabulous dancer and when I spied the first series of the tv version of Fame I instantly thought what a great present it would make. Then I saw that it was made in 1982. Could it be that the tv show I loved as a child is really 25 years old?! I decided that it maight not be as cool now as it was then. Well to a 13 year old anyway. I have faith that I will still love it though. So I settled on a new 'retro' tee shirt of Flashdance instead. She loved it.
4. Lying in bed late Friday night watching Rove's special from New York. Love Rove. Janeane Garofalo was on it. Love her too but man she has become skinny! I didn't realise she had so many tattoos.
5. Going to visit a friend's new house. Gorgeous! I want one of those fancy ice making fridges!
6. Finally finding time to visit my beauty therapist. It's amazing how a brow shape and lash tint can make you feel a million bucks. Thanks Trace!
7. Experiencing the BEST hot chocolate ever. A glass of hot milk and a shot glass of chocolate chips. Deeee-lish. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera!
8. Finally going to see Paris Je T'aime with Andrea. It's true. I love Paris and I loved this movie.
9. A little Harry reading. And I mean a little! I really need to dedicate some serious Harry time to get this finished!
10. A quiet lazy Sunday.
Hope your weekend was just as sweet!

Jeremy Cole lights

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I adore these lightshades by New Zealand designer Jeremy Cole. These shades are from the Aloe range which is inspired by the agave plant which I also love. So organic, textural and raw. Yet also, so cosy looking.