Mister postman, look and see!

Have I told you lately how much I love mail? Well, guess what? I love mail so, so much. I got a huge parcel this week from the wonderful Meghan from The Perfect Compilation Tape all the way from Chicago as part of the the Colour Me Happy swap! Awwwww, my heart is all full of squishyness and I am gonna show you why!L-R (1.) I always think it's funny when foreign post offices stamp things with "first class" because I am pretty sure there is no second class for mail right? I am pretty sure Australia Post doesn't have "classes" .. I mean we have things like premium expresss, but thats different. I dunno. (2.) This cool and colourful book is all about birthdates and colours! Mine tells me I am sparkly! Teehee, yes sometimes I am and that's the way I like it (3.) How adorable are these postcards? They are stitched! They are photographs of vintage kitchenware! I love them so much! (4.) A green screen printed polaroid print! Makes my heart flutter!
L-R (1.) Polaroid pins! Red owls! Floral hair clip! Awwwww! (2.) More polaroid goodness! It's a polaroid album with gaps for photos and little questions about the photos, cute! I cannot wait to fill this up! (3.) More stitched postcard love! (4.) This is an old book that had been re-binded and filled with blank sheets and I am going to use it as my running journal!

Thankyou so much Meghan, it was all so thoughtful and exciting!

P.S I am taking part in Miss Biancas music swap!
Are you? DO ITTTTTT. Best idea everrrrrrrr!
Because really, music + mail = perfection! ♥

P.P.S If any one wants to be a penpal of mine please email me!
I love new penpals and I always write back and ummm I am pretty awesome?
fallandthesunshines(at)hotmail(dot)com

Things I Love Thursday

♥ My boyfriend!!!, last Friday, burritos, Mew, napping whilst listening to Coldplay on the couch, traffic light kisses, the truth, Ewoks, "cha-chinggggg!", sending little parcels to the army, fireplaces at 7am on Sundays, breakfast invites, butterflies in my tummy, nacho nacho night, when he brings me cupcakes, my new queen size bed!, tellling Mum about my boyf, dancing on Toorak St, when customers tell me I am gorgeous (in a non-creepy way), having someone who has faith in me, homeware interviews, not sleeping, perfecting my Mr Robot dance moves at work, Vietnamese crepe faces, whispers, seeing Band of Horses!, Moss, being invited to England (!) and New Zealand (!), reading blog posts about mail, dreaming about future mail art, getting amazing parcels from Chicago!, phone calls when I am on my lunch break, Dad chats, certain Iphone apps, this coffee date!, kissing in the rain, napping in his car, matching tattoos and many many other things!

Don't think, just try and sleep

"I like being able to shout, but I wish I could be quiet
When I'm quiet people think I'm sad and usually I am"
Nasher

I may have been blogger-verse quiet but that is because I have been busy ..not because I am sad! Guess what? I have a boyfriend nowwwwww! And some other things that have been keeping me occupied too! And I am seeing Kate Nash twice next week. Twice! In my lifetime! That is all ♥

Things I Love Thursday

♥ Sore cheeks from smiling so much, running!, Dark Was The Night compilation, skipping work because of "swollen ankle" but really for Pancakes and the cinema, The Kooks playing on the stereo at Grill'd, nutella pizza, supportive smses at 7am, seeing my first Victorian sunrise, seeing my first ever flock of BATS!, forehead kisses, showers at work, the view from Glenferrie station, applying for cupcake jobs, making decisions, stationary departments, dinner with my Victorian phanau, this band called Surrogate, wagging work for hanging out with the boy, laundry day, wrapping up parcels with string, going to the post office, my name in the newspaper for my run!, Runners World magazine, breakfast dates, smses that tell you he is counting down the day til he's sees you next, more Kate Nash tickets!, still getting some Centrelink loving, lentil curry soup, Pancake Parlour for post-run debrief/cuddles, when I think I see the editor of Frankie out in public, finding old camping books from the 1930's at work, Old Gold raspberry chocolate & so many other things!

Curious Tuesday 010

G'day! This weeks Curious Tuesday is courtesy of being a busy bee, waking up at 6am and of course, Gala.

1. What is your very best beauty tip? Smile, drink lots of water and get lots of fresh air? Or failing that, take flax seed capsules and use Bio Oil?

2. Who is your arch-nemesis? I don't know! There are unfortunately lots of people that could be contenders though but I try not to think about them.

3. What are the three things you need to do in order to feel sane? Run, drink water regularly and listen to music at all times.

4. What is the strangest food you have ever eaten? I ate whale when I was in Japan.. but I didn't know that's what is was at the time and my friend didn't tell me til much later and then I was so upset! Most things in Japan were pretty strange.. like Natto. Owwwwwwww, Natto is such a painful and putrid dish.

5. What is one thing in your wardrobe which makes you feel invincible? My new Salomon running shorts! They are black and so so light and comfy. Total win.

We could re-claim the Olympics

Guess what I did yesterday? I ran in my first ever running race! 10km in fact! I was going to do the 5km but really my daily run is already 5.6km so I thought I would give the longer one a shot and it was so.much.fun! I got hardly any stitches and I only choked at the water stop once, success. It was over too soon though, I just wanted to keep running! There was so many people so I was dodging fellow runners the whole way but it was so pretty to run around the Yarra at 9am on a Sunday winter morning.. no joke, that is my idea of fun! I can't wait for the next race in August and then maybe I will do a half marathon in October if I am ready for it. It was a bit of a lonely day though especially crossing to line to see no one and then I had to go to work in the afternoon to see slim to none customers.. but skipping work for pancakes today made up for that ♥

A map leading to my heart (part 1)

Some of the ways to melt my heart include but are not limited to the following..
♥ Make me a mixtape and/or mix cd of your favourite songs
♥ Send me a letter in the post
♥ Make me a music playlist to play especially for when you drive me around in your car
♥ Take me for walks around pretty lakes in the winter sun
♥ Wish me goodluck several times when you know I am nervous about my race
♥ Run towards me when you pick me up from the train station
♥ Introduce me to your friends and family
♥ Offer to take me to see the snow
♥ Wish me good luck and mean it
♥ Be prepared to skip church to watch me run in my first race
♥ Surprise roadtrips
♥ Call me more than you sms me
♥ Let me eat the big half of the slice of the Mars Bar cake
♥ Be a gentleman and open doors for me
♥ Tell me you like my outfit
♥ Tell me about your favourite bands
♥ Listen to my favourite bands
♥ Invite me to see Band of Horses even though you don't really know them but you think I do
♥ Be softly spoken
♥ Let me eat half your Subway footlong sub
♥ Make plans to see me 4 times in one week
♥ Make plans to see me 4 times in one day
♥ Hold my hand
♥ Quote lines from the IT Crowd
♥ Point out all the cute dogs at the park to me that you think I would like
♥ Send me cute smses about British television shows
♥ Drive me home while the sun is setting over the valley
♥ Tell me you would take me anywhere

ETC!

Things I Love Thursday

♥ First dates, being driven home listening to Copeland, seeing grown men in suits carrying presents wrapped in bright ribbons and paper, entering my first ever 10km race, Super Mario GP on land, sleepovers, boys that make music playlists especially for a car ride with me, caramel hot chocolates, winter sun, butterflies in my tummy, phone calls just to say hi, late night smses from home that say just "love you", mix cds in the mail from my favourite penpal, cover versions of Maps, Italian ballads, colour co-ordination extravaganza at work, making plans, when the bus driver is playing Gyroscope, it being so sunny that I don't need to wear a coat for the first time in weeks, Bonds galaxy themed undies, phonecalls from home about storms and chocolate stashes, dancing to Jay-Z at work, phonecalls, voicemails, hunting down Italian dessert, Miss Seltmann in velour, seeing bffs holding hands while teaching each other how to skateboard, The Birmingham, holding hands, pesto on my pizzas, seeing Kate Nash's name up in lights as an upcoming show, pro con lists, working in Hawthorn, kisses in the carpark and homemade bircher muesli.

"The Grey Man" by Copeland from One Small Instrument Pictures on Vimeo.

101 Project: June 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

I really didn't consciously do anything for my 101 project at all for June.. good thing I have like 2 years to go!? Plus it is already half way through this month now and still done zilch! Yikes! I been busy moving states, dating boys, cooking soups and shiz ok!

2. Do monthly 101 Project update on blog
Done

8. Move out of home
Technically, yes! Most of my stuff is still over in WA which I may or may not pick up but in the meantime, I have moved out of home and have no intentions of moving back there.

10. Get new sunglasses that have sun protection
They were cheap as faux Ray Bans but they are so much more UV rated and darker than my silly 2 bucks Primark ones with no glare control. Squinty no mores!

15. Learn how to make a video on computer from holiday
I have self taught myself to make an epic masterpiece of my trip to Europe, Japan and NZ. It basically just full of screenshots from out the side of trains with rice paddies rushing past and shaky footage of some mountains but it has a awesome soundtrack and I think I will finish it soon.. all 30 minutes of it :/

16. Take one photo of myself a month
Oui

29. Have a monthly face mask
Only just! I should do it much more often, sorry face.

78. Get a plant for my room
I did! From our lovely mad Plant Man down the road. I got a fern and the living room got a whole jungle worth of greenery.

82. Find 10 new bands to love (3/10)
I am in love with Sally Seltmann

96. Read at least 1 novel a month
Yessss, but only one! Neon Pilgrim by Lisa Dempster. It is a story about a girl from Melbourne who does the henro michi pilgrimage in Japan and I love it! She is a vegan and very courageous and I am so keen to do this walk now.

Imma versatile blogger!

Guess whattttttttt, I won a "versatile blogger" award from the super duper wonderful Monster Girl! Awwww thanks a gazillion! This lovely girl from QLD is so funny and cute and writes hilarious and wise things and I wish we lived in the same state because then we could eat Grill'd vegan burgers and go roller skating together and watch Star Wars together and quote Daria sometimes too maybe. If she didn't give me the award I would be giving her one but alas I cannot! Plus then the also very very awesome Gemma from moth meets flame gave me one too, awwww shucks!

4 Rules go along with this award:

Rule 1: Thank the person who gave you this award.

THANKS MONSTER GIRL & GEM!

Rule 2: Share 7 things about yourself.

1. I don't own a single Apple product.. no Ipod or Iphone at all! & yet I manage to listen to music on the train with my (now extinct) Creative Zen, I know sounds lame but it works like a treat even after 3+ years! Plus, I know Iphone are full of all sorts o handy things but really, I just think it takes you away from reality and I like reality.. as opposed to a phone screen.. make sense? Not really.

2. I don't understand why people don't walk on escalators, I am pretty sure they were invented so you could move faster not so you could stop moving for a minute. I am not normally in a rush or all that impatient I swear, I just like to move!

3. I have been to Germany 4 times over the past 6 years mainly because I love everything about it but also because my step-grandma lives there and I would love to live there one day.

4. My surname is French (but my family is actually Dutch) and no one can EVER pronounce it correctly and I can not wait to get married and change it. Or I could just move to Europe where they embrace and appreciate the accent.

5. I don't have my drivers licence. I have a WA learners permit that I really should get transferred over to a VIC one but really, I just hate driving and I am quite frankly, terrified. I have driven before, had numerous lessons and also.. crashed. Plane tickets are where I prefer to put my money towards rather than automobiles and petrol but yes, one day I will!

6. I have had a super mega case of wanderlust for the past 5 years but now, the only place I wish to visit is really New Zealand (fingers crossed for next year to live there foreverrrrrr in the mountains maybe!) and Tasmania (in October for hiking adventures with my Kiwi bestie) other than that, I'm good! But ask me in 5 minutes and i will probably change my mind and tell you I'm going to Kenya or something

7. I kissed the Blarney Stone in Ireland and that is meant to make you eloquent.. I think it made me way less eloquent so now I just mumble a whole heap and rant about some ridiculous things or sometimes i just don't talk at all.. that isn't very eloquent now is it! Such is life.

Rule 3: Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic.

♥ Courtney from Kid vs City! Such a sweet girl from Chicago and I love hearing of her adventures and we are now real life penpals!
♥ Jess from the beat my heart skips! I love NZ bloggers and this lovely girl has just started a 365 photo challenge (with Tillie!) which I think is tops, posts about pretty mail and veggie foods!
♥ Chelsey from Always Learning! This girl is so funny and I love reading about what she gets up to in America! She is also a paper journaller and a Hanson fan too!
♥ Megan from Time After Tea! This girl is all sorts of awesome and posts about pretty mail too and if I ever go to Canberra I want to have afternoon tea with her!

I cannot name 15 blogs.. I don't read all that many blogs hey and the other people I would give the award to have either already gotten it or are bigger than tina so it's just these top 4 bloggers from me! Sowee.

Rule 4: Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

MMMMKAY.

I've got nostalgic pavements

As you may know, I recently moved out of my wonderfully decorated room in sunny old Perth and I am now in a lovely unit in Melbourne but alas.. I have not so much of "me" to decorate my room as it all back home still. That was until a lovely lady by the name of Chrissy sent me the goods to make my own doilie garland as part of the Simply Delightful package swap! Awwwww yeah, the one on the right is my room (the left one being the main inspiration)! I have hung it from my ceiling light and attached the string to my curtain rods and I love love love it! It is so pretty when the afternoon sun leaks through them and I realised they actually look like snowflakes at night time.. I love snowflakes! The whole package was just so freaking lovely.. it was from my favourite place, New Zealand so I was stoked to find Pineapple Lumps inside (no chance of a photo, they were in my tummy pretty quickly..) and there was also some sweet as hairclips, an adorable scarf and a cute letter. It really was simply delightful :) Thanks Chrissy & Tillie too for hosting swaps ♥

Things I Love Thursday

♥ Houses that have central heating, parties with cookie platters, outer city streets that have black & white photobooths, appearing offline all of the time, ravioli with butter sauce, Americana parties with beer pong and flip cup, macaroni, Jo Bros, my patent brogues, The Boss teacups for 50c, Flight of the Concords on Sunday mornings, a week without work, pro Melbourne attitudes, smses from home about 2004 bootlegs, Hawaiian cocktail bars, vegan roti balls, good intentions, writing love letters to friends near and far, finally turning on my electric heater is my room, San Churros dates, cinnamon something dulce something hot chocolate, day trips to Healesville, being a member of two different libraries (double the books! =140 books!), dumpster diving resulting in vintage suitcase #4, when I went for a run and a boy was running towards me wearing one of those panda beanies with the long ears.. it was cute and so so funny (I imagined he really was a panda..), a payday at last!, listening to the Cure for hours on end, talking to really cute boys about The Cure (and Korn..), writing this list every week, lentil burgers, boxes of berries in the freezer, my new Glenburnie running track and looking forward to seeing Sally Seltmann on Saturday!

Curious Tuesday 009

This weeks is brought to you by my 8th consecutive day of no work despite actually having a job now and sitting in my room til midday with my electrical heater, eating blueberry porridge and of course, Gala Darling ♥















1. What was your first kiss experience? I think I was in year 9 so maybe I was 14 years old and it was with a boy in my bathroom as part as a truth or dare. It was slobbery and pretty gross.
2. If you could work for — & learn from — anyone, who would it be & why? I want to play tambourine in Kate Nash's band (so she will take me thrifting and to dance parties in our spare time) or be Gyroscope's official photographer (because they have great stage presence and are also top blokes and quite fetching) or be Kurt Halseys personal chef (not that I am a super vegan foodie but I am sure he knows some delightful recipes to teach me when he is not drawing or painting and I am his muse, haha) or work for Frankie magazine (I could write articles about the different soy milks on the market and about how to decorate your room like a champion without actually getting any blue tack on the walls)..? Yeah all them!
3. Have you ever taken a Myers-Briggs test? (If not, do it here, it’s quick & easy!) What was your result? Do you think it was accurate? (Also, TypeLogic is a great resource for finding out more information about your type.) This test reminds me of a test I had to do once for a job interview.. I haaaaaaaaaaate these things. But according to these dudes I am "ENFP".. I don't understand why or what it all meanssss?? I don't like being 50/50 intro and extro-verted, boooo. And why can't I be 100% feeling!

Extraverted (E) 50%	Introverted (I) 50%
Intuitive (N) 55%	Sensing (S) 45%
Feeling (F) 80%	Thinking (T) 20%
Perceiving (P) 68%	Judging (J) 32%

4. What is your favourite thing about your best friend? She is hilarious in a way that only we find funny, well other people laugh but not as much as we do.
5. What makes you happiest? Fresh air! I love driving with windows down in cars and even in buses too in winter I open the window (much to the dismay of other passengers..) I love fresh air when I am running, I love fresh air when I am hiking, I love ocean air any time all the time. I remember when I was landlocked in Canada for about 5 months and then when I saw the ocean at last and it really felt like a drug and I felt like I was a fish returing home! Fresh air FTW! They should bottle it and sell it because I would buy it but then I guess it wouldn't be fresh fresh, hrmmm. I miss the ocean right now btw, I haven't been near it for over a month, gasp!

I like compassion and thoughtful gifts

HAPPY 23RD BIRTHDAY KATE NASH! ♥
Miss Nash is my number one girl crush and in less than one month I get to see her live in concert for the first time ever! I have been thinking that I want to have a Kate Nash themed party, maybe for my birthday next year except that I only know of one person in the whole country that also likes her, hrmmm. Well anyway, the menu would comprise of pumpkin soup for entree, cheese on toast and bbq food for main and a million flavours of cake and strawberries for dessert. It would be at a park near the beach at sunset and then we would catch a train to dance at a disco til way past midnight and then we would come home and watch CSI and drink tea! And the dress code would be polka dots, florals and/or skeleton suits. Aww yeah!























Ohhhhhh & I just found this video from a photo shoot from a magazine called BlackBook which is incidentally from the same wonderful magazine that Laura sent me a few weeks ago because Kate Nash was in it and the reasons this video is awesome is because.. it features polaroids and bowling alleys and I am going bowling on Friday night with a boy! Seeeeeeeee..

Also because..

"Your world.. you can make it good. Find the people that make you feel good, be inspired, listen to music that makes you feel happy, go and swim with dolphins! Make your world good and then everything else is just like.. you kind of fight it with some kind of family that you've made of happiness" ♥

Send me a postcard, tell me a story

A few months ago I participated in my first ever package swap, The Package Project and I cannot wait to do more! For example the lovely Tillie is hosting a photo swap! I've joined have you?! So anyway, my package project partner was the lovely Nawal from Dubai! I have only ever been to Dubai airport for a stopover so it is really cool to discover all sorts of things about her country and see what kind of things we have in common.. which turns out was a fair bit:) I have never even met or spoken a person from Dubai so it was really interesting for me:) Thanks Nawal!





















Isn't it all adorable! I had never seen Middle Eastern stamps so I was pretty excited and the brown paper parcel was so pretty after I had pulled and tugged it out of my letter box. I really love the script they use for writing so Nawal sent me some postcards too for my collection. The first picture is of a cute little pouch from Apiary from America to put all the little nick nacks from my camp kit. In case you don't know, I much prefer camping and hiking over shopping and fashion so Nawal made me my own "camp kit" ..






















This is only a few of the items inside. Super cute wooden cutlery set "for when using your hands just doesn't do it anymore", a mixtape notebook "for when a song/lyric or thought comes into your head", a needle and tread kit "might come in handy" and mini candy burger "for when all you crave is a burger"! Awwwww! Also inside was some floral fabric, earring with leaves on them, a pocket mirror from Muji!, origami, cute Swedish matches, felt animal, bandaids, a button and a very sweet letter and all sorts of little notes all through and wow it was such an adorable idea and so thoughful

♥ P.S I got a new camera yesterday.. still trying to figure it out but it's macro setting kinda bites the big one. I couldn't believe how many choices for bloody digital cameras there are!

Things I Love Thursday

♥ When the burger joint has Frankie magazine available to read, seeing the ocean at last!, my first roller skating training session, first roller skating injuries, walking home in the rain, cute smses from boys about Star Wars and chocolate, quitting shitty jobs!, browsing skating stores for roller skates, hanging up my lace doilies from my roof with wooden pegs and lace string!, Morrocan lamb flavoured anything, realising that Tilly and the Wall are on the new She & Him record!, smuggling in homemade cookies into the casino bar to eat with Baileys on ice, Melbourne at night, packages from Nottingham!, tickets in the mail from The Corner, my new massive atlas from the 1970's, my new curtain (a map of Victoria), getting hired back at my old favourite job with casual hours, talking to farmers, head to toe merino clothing ensembles, Star Wars themed hardcore bands, bird themed metal bands that wear bird masks, getting okonomiyaki at every available opportunity, vegan chocolate raspberry cookies made from this recipe, ginger stuble, holding hands along the river, reading MX magazine on the train home, The IT Crowd

Believe in kissing

“Cherish your solitude. Take trains by yourself to places you have never been. Sleep out alone under the stars. Learn how to drive a stick shift. Go so far away that you stop being afraid of not coming back. Say no when you don’t want to do something. Say yes if your instincts are strong, even if everyone around you disagrees. Decide whether you want to be liked or admired. Decide if fitting in is more important than finding out what you’re doing here. Believe in kissing.”

♥ Eve Ensler

(from here)