Winter love list

Most of the people on my bloglist are Northern Hemisperians and therefor, all pumped for summer and are making dreamy magical posts about beaches to swim at, books to read, places to see, whereas I am gearing up for winter down under. So, here is my winter wonderland list for 2010..

• I guess the big one is.. Melbourne in a few short weeks! I think winter has already begun over east but in Perth it's still sunny but with a wee chill. I might actually see snow this year in Victoria! I ♥ SNOW! I might actually have to wear wellington boots for the first time in decades. I might actually use an electric blanket for the first time ever! I will actually be able to buy pumpkin spice lattes! I have so many exciting plans for Melbourne and am very very excited to get there. (Hi sis!)
  
• South west trip! This trip was originally meant to be a 5 day trip visiting several towns up until a few hours but now it just involves Bunbury and for one day only, lame! But regardless, there will still be mixtapes, large amounts of bakery foods, lighthouse hunting and maybe some fishing. But no mountain climbing, whale watching or cheese tasting, boooo.
  
• Bands! I have tickets to see my Gyroscope not once, not twice but three times in 1 week in 2 states. Plus, I have tickets to see Kate Nash too! Plus, there are sooooo many Splendour sideshows that I may go to also. Plus, Melbourne city hardcore shows (are the best!) Plus, maybe Dionne Warwick!
• Hairspray! Live!
• FOOTBALL! & basketball.
  
• Fun indoor activities! Eg; ten pin bowling, ice skating, pajama parties, building forts out of furniture and blankets, scrabble etc!
  
• Cooking! I have a bounty of ideas for winter cooking when I get to Melbourne. Soups, pies, risottos, and general vegetarian goodness. And smores and gluwine!
  
• I want to do lots of craft projects! And make big warm fuzzy packages for my penpals.
• My winter wardrobe! This winter I am going to buy boots .. winter boots! I have never worn winter boots and I am pretty sure my Chucks just won't cut it in Melbourne. Plus tis the season of stockings, cheesey knitted sweaters, scarves and gloves! I love winter wardrobes the most.
  
• Movies! I want to see SATC 2 & The Runaways and I think that's all? I think I will just stick to my reading lists.
  

Things I Love Thursday

♥ Don Quixote at the ballet, sleeping in until 1130am on a rainy Sunday morning, Katarina Stratford, less than 2 weeks!, Mum drying the laundry in the oven, watching Mermaids on a rainy Sunday afternoon, customers that have moustaches so big they look like walrusses, when the train driver is playing Vampire Weekend really loud whilst driving the train so the whole carriage can hear, paint by numbers toilet paper, soup weather, Community Channel on Youtube, listening to Crisis everyday on the train to work, ice-cream, Japanese bubble bath time with rubber duckies, Java Juice coffee & not working.

Curious Tuesday 004

This week courtesy of tattooed vocalists, four wheel loathing, American idols and of course Miss Gala Darling!

1. Who is your favourite musician, NOT in terms of talent or aptitude, but based on pure sex appeal? I thought about this all day and again, I was kinda stumped. Not many, if any, but I guess Dallas Green or Angus Stone or Tom Delonge?

2. What were some quirks of your past lovers that drove you crazy? This shit of a boy I was seeing knew that I don't care about cars in any shape or form, but he would quite often tell me ALL about his car. I know most boys adore their cars but he just didn't get how little I cared. I would have liked him much more if he rode a bicycle!

3. If there was a movie made about your life, what song would you absolutely INSIST be on the soundtrack? Bruce Springsteen: Dancing in the dark

4. What is your favourite quote right now? Not so much a quote but a mantra/reminder: "we gotta stay positive!" from a Hold Steady song.

5. Connect up with other nonpareils! Post links to your website, Facebook, Twitter, etc., here! I has a Tumblr & Flickr

Love letter to PB

Hey America, why has it taken you so long to send us peanut butter M&Ms? Now you are for sale at the deli near my work, there is no going back. I was browsing the aisles with my yogurt in one hand and I had to back track to make sure it really was you. It was! You are in your pretty little red paper wrapper and I know you're not made here because our M&M's normally come in plastic wrappings. You're not even popular enough to be made here yet, you are still made in Hackettstown, NJ. You taste so much better than Reeses simply for the fact that you have a delicious crunchy shell like the rest of your family and you taste just like you did in June 2007 in the best way possible! I love you peanut butter M&M's, thanks for cheering up my dismal Tuesday.

My top 5 American foods that I cannot buy here..
♥ Pinkberries (with raspberries and oreo's!)
♥ Teaberry chewing gum (tastes like summer camp!)
♥ Pumpkin pie (sure, I can make it, but I can't buy it)
♥ Bagels (of the "everything" variety)
♥ Vanilla toothpaste (it's as good as food ok?)

All of these old addresses

Welcome to my room! It occurred to me this morning that when I move to Melbourne in a few weeks that I will not be taking much of anything, especially many of the bits and pieces that are currently in my room so I thought I would document it while I still have it all.
















This is 2 of my 2 old suitcases that I use for storage and a collection which I hope to one day reach the ceiling. Inside it contains all my hiking gear, to the left is my beloved (and dusty) snowboard and to the right are my backpacks. The blue suitcase I found across the road a few months ago for the bulk rubbish collection, I love the colour and shape! The green one is one I got in Melbourne last year that I bought for $2 and I remember when I opened it up.. it was full of snowflake confetti! I remember I even bought a bigger bag to put in because I didn't want it getting damaged on the flight home.
















My beloved bookshelf. I have always wanted a full bookcase and one day, I will have a whole room of books wall to wall! I'm not taking many books at all to Melbourne which is a total bummer. Well, maybe a few will make their way into my luggage. But really, chances are I will have a whole new collection before too long over there any way.

















My Polaroid wall and map of Japan! My friend in Japan sent me this map years ago and all the words on it are in Japanese script so she wrote all over it and translated the special parts for me and therefor, I love it all the more. I remember taking my first ever Polaroid in year 10 when my photography class went on an excursion to a studio and we got the play with them.. the rest is history. These bad boys are most definitely coming to Melbourne with me.

The rest of the photos are on my Flickr. I still really do not understand Blogspot + photo formatting so look there to see more because it's really not working for me here. Plus here is another one of my favourite songs at the moment.. Fyfe Dangerfield singing about rooms ♥

Living in that chest is a big big heart

My Saturday night consists of: watching Ten Things I Hate About You, eating mushroom and cheese burritos, drinking all of someone elses red wine, in bed by 9pm, refusing to watch flippin Must Love Dogs (for hundredth time!) and listening to the rain fall on the roof. AWESOME. Oh, & wondering who the frick on my street is playing that rediculous "bumble bee" song on repeat. You know the song that just keeps saying "humblebeebumblebeebumblbeebumblebee"? IT SOUNDS SO BAD BECAUSE IS IT.

My favourite songs this week:
♥ Love Lost - The Temper Trap "And if you flash your heart I won't mistreat it, I promise"

♥ Love Letter - Lisa Mitchell "Well a telegram's no substitute when it comes to living proof"

♥ Rich Kids - Washington "I remember why I left this town" (!)

♥ Eet - Regina Spektor "It's like forgetting the words to your favorite song, you can't believe it you were always singing along."

♥ Giving up the Gun - Vampire Weekend "But in the years that passed since I saw you last you haven’t moved an inch"

Things I Love Thursday

♥ Hearing T&S sing The Ocean!, my bangs are back!, ice-cream for dinner, ordering paneer at the Indian restaurant because that is what Sheldon Cooper would do, when customers sing along to my music playlist at work, calling the Corner at 9am, girl crush!, Wil in flip flops, when the glass repair man looks like Jemaine Clement, my Package project partner!, days off, playing scrabble until 11pm with my parents, listening to the Temper Trap alot, less than 3 weeks til M-dot!, hugs, sleeping in until 10am, almond croissants from the new French bakery next door (holey moley, they are incredible), boys that like Regina Spektor, planning my day around the Ellen show, searching Ebay for cassettes and lastly but not least.. letting-them-go!

Curious Tuesday 003

Curious Tuesday 003! This week bought to you by Wednesday, boys with lisps, the 80's and of course, Gala Darling.

1. Who is your #1 crush? Well, I thought about this all day and I was actually stumped because at the moment I have no real crush on anyone which is devastating I know because crushes are awesome and the best kind of distraction and I love having someone to think about. But if any, it's always Seth Cohen, but he's not real.

2. Have you ever tried online dating? How did it go? Any tips? Yes, erghhh. Chatted to a few boys.. some sounded ok, actually went on a cute date with one boy but then it all went shit soon after. Long story! Tips would be, talk to the person and ask lots of questions, get to know them a bit before you give them your phone number and don't be afraid to be fussy.

3. Are you sentimental? Do you keep the things other people give you? Absolutely! I do delete smses pretty hastily however. If a relationship/friendship goes bad I will either bury all evidence of photos, letters etc deep in a box so I never find it or depending how how bad it is, throw it all out because I just want the good memories.

4. As a child, what were your primary interests? I was a pretty sporty kid.. I did surf club, teeball, netball and loved running. I was a girl guide, then a cub scout and loved going camping (still do!) I was obsessed with fairies and was convinced they existed in my backyard. I think I had one Barbie but preferred to play Lego and Transformers more. I loved watching Inspector Gadget, Captain Planet, Video Hits, Rugrats. Every birthday party I went to for at least 3 years straight was a Spice Girls dress up party. I also loved playing building forts out of pillows and couches, making mixtapes off the radio and jumping on the trampoline. I remember my brother and I used to play Micheal Jackson's Dangerous alot, plus I had a crush on Johnny Farnham? Yikes!

5. What are your top 3 guilty pleasures?

Crappy TV. Eg: Masterchef Australia, The Hills.

Staying in my pajamas all day on my days off work. I once went 48 hours straight in them!

Coffee. I'm trying to give up 100% but sometimes work buys it for me so I say "YESSSSS"

Face-tox

As part of my 101 Project one of the tasks is.. no Facebook for 7 days (Facetox!). I have actually gone over 7 days without Facebook or internet before whilst travelling/hiking but this is different, this is the real world when things like complete and utter boredum get in the way. And curiosity. So, here is my week without the beast known as Facebook..

Day 1: Every morning before work I usually check my Facebook and emails, but today I did not! I tried to actually block the site in case I get desperate but couldn't figure it out so I just deleted it from my favorites. I felt stupidly liberated. At work I told a co-worker that I would send them a link for something but now that will have to wait a week until I do log back on.

Day 2: I'm fine!

Day 3/4/5: I had to help out Dad with his FB to explain how to post on peoples walls but apart from that, zilch FB. I forgot to unsubscribe from email notifications so I keep getting them but not opening them. I did however get a message from a boy crush from years ago but I haven't opened it yet. I am pretty sure it says "Hey, where in the world are you now? Blaa blaa blaa" or maybe it says "Hey, I know I blew my chance years ago and I'm sorry I didn't have the guts to tell you how much I liked you, I would love to catch up if you're in town etc" Suspense that will have to wait until Wednesday!

Day 6: On my days off or when I am killing time on the internet, Facebook has always been there. Not this week. I have actually found that I am pretty much spending the same amount of time on the internet as usual but I guess this way I am not stalking that stupid boy that semi-dumped me nor do I see what my old pals are upto. But I will eventually.. in 2 days (I have in the meantime come to the conclusion that the boy will be deleted from my friends list asap) One of my favourite new bloggers, The New Me wrote this epic post about how to ruin your morning thanks to FB. Soooooo true.

Day 7: I can technically go back onto FB in under an hour but I am going to go to go bed instead. I am still very curious to see what old boy crush has to say to me after a few months of no contact.. we'll see in the morning! I think it has been quite nice without FB.. I still got the email notifications but didn't read them but really, I only got like 3 in the past week, woo!

Day 8: Back on the 'book! The old boy crush said in his message to me.. "How are you? I'm good. How is work? Are you a fan of the band Midlake? Looks like they're playing a gig at Capitol this winter and I was wondering if you'd be interested in seeing them? I've heard they're great live." Blaa blaa blaa. Firstly no, I am not a fan of Midlake. I've heard of them but thats all. This boy is actually the one who introduced me to The Shins like 5 years ago and they then became one of my favourite bands so yeah, he has pretty good taste. Secondly, was that an invitation for a date? After how many years dude!? Gahhhhh! Thirdly, I am leaving the state in 3 weeks so slim to none chance of us becoming pals again. BA-BOWWW. So apart from that whole boy business, I still think Facebook is lame and I quite liked not having it in my daily life, but it's so addictive when it is around. & yes, that other dirtbag of a boy from the past few months has been "removed".

Sunny beds and verbal waste.

Assignment #50: Take a flash photo under your bed
If you squint really hard you can see my snowboard bag.. and that's about all.













Assignment #37: Write down a recent arguement.
Me: "ugh, everything in the pantry is full of weevels and going stale and why is everything in the fridge going off!?"
Mother: "well theres not much I can do about that.."
Me: "well maybe if you didn't buy so much food we don't eat so the food doesn't have time to go stale and if we just eat what is there and not waste so much food"
Mother: "I DON'T WASTE FOOD"
Me: "yes, you do!"

Assignment #27: Take a photo of the sun
Perth, Australia. Sunday 16th May 2010 at 10:55am

Things I Love Thursday

♥ Making super cute homemade greeting cards for friends and family, going for my first real run in 3 weeks (!), winter chill, pain au chocolat from next door at work, my bookcase all filled up, planning my south west trip, Juno on tv, starting the morning listening to Regina and eating English muffins with earl grey tea, raindrops on our tin roof, homemade lavendar spray, finally finding the world of running blogs, realising he was just not that into me, making my bed everyday, homemade vegetarian pizza, perskindol, cointreau and cloudy apple juice, Medicare refunds, pink wrapped packages via the UK from Ebay, plastering Yvon Chouinard quotes on the window at work, Melbourne in 4 weeks!

♥ This film clip by Ben Lee..

It's not a planet, it's our home!

This worries me somewhat

I dont know how more people haven´t got mental health problems
Thinking is one of the most stressful things I've ever come across
And not being able to articulate what I want to say drives me crazy
I think I should try and read more books and learn some new words
My sister used to read the dictionary, I'm going to start with that
I'd like to travel, I want to see India and the pyramids
A whale and that race with all the bicycles in France
I'm not sure about rivers, they scare me, but I love swimming, I'm good at it
And when I swim I think about numbers and count the laps

♥ Kate Nash: Don't you want to share the guilt?

A form of nostalgia

I love Miranda July. Everything she does is magic to me and she is very inspirational. I am doing some of the "assignments" from her website as part of my 101 Project and this is my first.. Give advice to yourself in the past. It's occured to me that I could give myself so much advice, seriously, I could just go on and on and on. I really just love advice in general, for example New Resolution has some gems, here are some nice jpgs too plus of course the almighty Sunscreen Song which I should listen to at least daily.

Advice to myself at age 18.

• Don't spend over $100 dollars on a haircut in Melbourne just because it was the last place open. Haircuts are not that important and it wasn't even a good hair cut, in fact, it looked pretty rediculous
  
• Keep in touch with A & I because they are great girls and just because you live on other sides of the country it is good to have people who share common interests with you
• Don't get jealous or sad because your best friend isn't as close to you as she used to be. You can still be friends with her and it isn't all or nothing. She is a great friend to have so hold onto her.
  
• Always remember how great it was to see Dashboard Confessional play for the first time and how you rang K.A for her favourite song and how she still remembers it fondly.
  
• Actually move into that cute house in Melbourne and don't buy a one way ticket home instead.
• Don't worry about dropping out of Tafe. You know it wasn't right for you and you will eventually realise what you want to study eventually.
  
• Keep listening to the radio otherwise you will just keep listening to the same old bands
  
• Don't dye your hair jet black. Don't dye your hair in general.
  
• Appreciate the times when you and your friends would hang out on weekends and go to all ages shows and have picnics and make mixtapes for each other because this won't happen much in the future because we will all be too busy working, seeing boyfriends, studying, getting pregnant, moving away etc.
  
• Call your Aunty & Uncle when you are in Melbourne because you know they live there and they would love to see you.
• Learn to drive a car! Don't let Mum or Dad be responsible for this actually happening, they are never going to get sensible cars to drive in so the only way to do this is to get your own car and don't even let them give you lessons, it will just make you loathe it more.

P.S I wrote this last night and couldn't stop thinking about it and it pretty much kept me up all night thinking. I think it's good to think about and remember the tough times you went through even though it still kinda hurts when you think about some parts. It also made me realise alot of the past 6 years just all blur together in one big confusing mess. I just have to figure out how to move past all this, and uhhh, get a life. Plus watching Suddenly 30 doesn't help the equation either.

I'm sticking with you

I am pretty fond of using pegs as room decorations and as useful, non permanent wall fixtures. The walls in my room have no hooks at all so my walls are littered with plain wooden pegs with blu tack on the back hanging up concert tickets, necklaces, poems, photos, bus timetables, lists and also somedays not on walls.. to pin my hair up. In my new place I want to have a long line with coloured pegs holding up photos and I think it's a cute way to display pretty dresses and blouses too.














Part of my room!
1 x Tegan & Sara ticket
3 x Gyroscope tickets
3 x Wil Anderson tickets
keyring from Belgium
polaroid.
I would upload more but I simply do not understand Blogspot.
The photo uploading is so hard making it look decent. Any tips?

Here are some other images with pegs for home decorating found on Tumlbr :)

Don't you want to share the guilt?

It took me 1 hour and 40 minutes just to get home from work tonight so when I finally got home I locked myself in my room with my bottle of Tanqueray and watched the Dawsons Creek series finale and cried alot the whole way through and then I ate a toastie and read some blogs and now, I feel ok. That is what it takes these days to get me happy. I am so sick of this :(






















I should remember this more often

Things I Love Thursday

Meeting old friends for pre-work drinks in underground bars, quitting my job (!), getting stitches out, Frankie magazine in the waiting room at the hospital, hanging out with my old boss & new baby, discovering new amamamamazing blogs such as: Glossary! and Missed Connections, finally getting to talk to my sis on webcam.. for 6 hours straight, dreaming up vegetarian recipes to make in Melbourne, pear and ricotta bagels from Tiger Tiger (worth me being 15 minutes late for work, yes!), ordering books on Ebay from Wales, when people reccommend songs for me to listen, Daniel Sanders silent protest on national tv, sending actual airmail envelopes overseas, planning cupboard painting nights, when hospitals smell like peaches, the Mimic feature on Msn.. so hilarious, planning Zooey & Scrabble nights, planning date night for SATC 2 in gold class, finally seeing full SATC 2 preview on the big screen, polenta, Wednesday night tv, the hallways at work smelling HONEY BREAD wafting through from the new patiserrie next door, finding the good lettuce in the garden, counting down to 5 weeks, finally wearing my patent oxfords, getting dressed up for dinner, when the city smells like campfire in a good way, getting all my photos developed and album ready!

This song! I listened to it alot when I was in New Zealand & it really makes my heart ache but in a good way. I remember driving home to my friends farm along the coast and listening to this band alot and reminds me of a certain Kiwi boy too. This is actually an acoustic version but I'm glad there is still mr harmonica in it. There is also the album version here with a lovely film clip.

Curious Tuesday 002

Curious Tuesday 002! I was really looking forward to this all week! I love love love Q & A's! Original post from Gala Darling

1. What are you most excited for RIGHT NOW? A few little things but the big one is.. moving to Melbourne next month!

2. Who is your style icon? What inspires your look? Kate Nash I think more than anyone. She wears delightful floral and/or vintage dresses, is a freckley ginger, is not a rake, doesn't tan like a Oompa Loompa and everynow and then she doesn't wear dresses but skeleton suits or something and still impresses me. Although really, I don't dress like her on a daily basis, in fact I get dressed up and out of my jeans and tshirts seriously like 2-3 times a year. I just wear whatever is comfortable and I don't really care if anyone thinks it is "bang on trend" or whatever.

3. If you could have dinner with anyone, alive or dead, who would you invite? I have no idea. I am quite keen to meet my future husband! But really, I would just want my best friends and closest family. And raspberries with every meal.

4. What did you dress up as for your first Halloween? We don't celebrate Halloween here much at all, but I do have photos of me as Freddy Kruger (or as a dirty hobo..) when I was like 7 years old. I think that was the first and last Halloween costume I actually wore.

5. What are you improving? Trying to improve my food control. Eg, portion sizes and trying to eat only when I am hungry as opposed to binge eating shitty food when I am angry/sad/bored etc. Trying!

It's not a fan letter, it's complicated

I can't think of too many Aussie rom-coms so when I heard of I Love You Too being released I was pretty excited because to me, there is no genre as good as sweet romantic films with some laughs and the fact that it is an Australian movie just makes it all the more better. I was lucky enough to see it last night and I really loved it. It was weird seeing so many Aussie TV actors on the big screen but the story was really good with parts of absolute heartbreak but also wonderful warm fuzzie heart butterfly parts too. It was full of such good pearls of wisdom (mainly all from Peter Dinklage) for example, "text messages ruin relationships" or something to that effect. Yes, I fully agree. It wasn't even too bogan like some Aussie films are. I guess I really liked it because there was the whole long distance issue in it, the having to growing up and do adult things subject and I guess getting some guts to say how you really feel. Hearts on the line type of thing. I wish my real life was like that. Hearts wide open ♥

101 Project : April update

Inspired by the Day Zero Project!

Start : 11th March 2010 Finish : 7th December 2012

Italic = in process of completing Bold = completed

My full 101 in 1000 Days list here

2. Do monthly 101 Project update on blog (2/32)

7. Find someone
Cryptic, I know. Found! April 3rd 2010!

9. Buy a laptop
I am now the proud owner of a Dell Studio with a Mike Ming skin, pretty fancy and wonderful. Love it! Oh, and backlit keyboard! Amazing.

16. Take one photo of myself a month (2/32)
Apart from webcam shots, I haven't used my camera since I was in New Zealand in February. I was contemplating starting the 365 photos project where you take a photo everyday for a year but I had tried that before and lasted 2 weeks.. it's tough! And it would quite honestly turn into a photo of my dog everyday. But maybe one day I would like to try it again.

18. Do not smoke
I caved. But, it is only temporarily, for one tough day only! When I say do not smoke, I mean, don't be a smoker. I know every cigarette you smoke is doing you damage and it is the worst thing in general to do especially as I want to be a runner but sitting on a kerb with my sister at midnight drinking slurpees and smoking cigarettes is one of my favourite activities. Also my sis is a pretty full on smoker so when I move in with her I am going to try really hard to not make it a habit. Stay tuned.

20. See dermotologist
Done.

24. Paint nails once a month (2/32)
Pastel pink shimmer again.

69. Watch Adventureland
Yes! It was ok. Not brilliant but still a nice coming of age film.

70. Watch Flashdance
Not impressed at all. I could only watch 40 minutes.

72. Watch Julia & Julia with Mum
Finally! It was actually alot of fun, we drank Baileys and ate chocolate and she even stayed awake for the whole film and we both really enjoyed it :)

82. Find 10 new bands to love (1/10)
Two Door Cinema Club!
One of the boys at work played them one night and I really liked them, despite all the synths and hype.

87. Learn how to say hello in 10 different languages.
Lets see what I already know.. Aussie: G'day, Kiwi: Kia ora, French: Bonjour, German: Guten Tag, Japanese: Konichiwa. Hawiaan: Aloha, Mexican: Hola. New ones.. Swahili/Masai: Jambo!, Czech: Ahoj! Noongah: Barttaning harro, Lithuanian: Labas, Nepalese: Namaste, Inuit: Kutaa, Hebrew: Shalom.

96. Read at least 1 novel a month
This month; What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami (which I didn't like as much as his other books but it was still nice to read about running) & The Good Body by Eve Ensler (some of the women in this book made me feel kind of angry because of what they put themselves though to please others, but I guess it made me feel glad that I am not like that) Back from Africa by Corinne Hofmann (I finally finished the third book in her trilogy. This woman is amazing and I love her tales)

The damage in your heart

Never trust a boy who likes listening to Lady Gaga more than Weezer.
Also never trust a boy who doesn't even know a single Weezer song and then when you play one for them, they still prefer Lady Gaga.
Honestly, what did I expect! Lesson learnt!