Days that end in y

Dear Blogger,

I have been looking forward to this moment all week. It's Thursday afternoon and I got to finish work early so I get home when it's still light outside. I have a nice glass of icey raspberry soda and our internet is back to it's normal speed so I can finally catch up on reading some blogs in peace and quiet. I am rostered to work tomorrow but I feel like I need a "mental health day" off. Also, there are (hopefully) hundreds of jobs online waiting for me to apply for. Work is causing me all sorts of grief lately and blogs are one of the little things that are keeping me sane these days. Thank goodness for wonderful blogs :)

Some other things making me happy this week..
-Ryan (always!)
-Registering for Oxfam Trailwalker (100km hike in 48 hours, wooo!)
-Possibly doing a admin/business scholarship
-Getting tickets to see Bright Eyes next week
-Seeing my bestie next week!
-My wedding dress getting all pretty and altered

xo Sharni

25 while I'm 25!

So, when I started this blog I planned to do the whole 101 things in 1001 Days thing.. well I have done a fair bit from my list but alot of them don't interest me anymore so I am not too into it now. I think 1001 days is such a long time and 101 things is so many things! Sheez! So, back in April I turned 25 and I know that was months ago but whatever, I make the rules. So here is my new list.. 25 things to do when I am 25 before I am 26 on April 14! And also just because I love lists.

1. Run a half marathon
2. List 100 things that make me happy
3. Build a sandcastle
4. Hike & camp overnight
5. Make a herb box
6. Get a crazy manicure
7. Get & use a birthday date book
8. Get my drivers lisence
9. Get a full time job that I like
10. Finish my 365 Day Project!
11. Take a whole roll of film with my SLR
12. Go ice skating
13. Go to a food festival
14. Watch a roller derby match
15. Go to a Zumba class
16. Wear false eyelashes
17. Make homemade marshmallows
18. Go to a hot yoga class
19. Go to a pick your own fruit farm.
20. Put $1000 into my home saver account
21. Sell something on Etsy
22. Watch a football game with my uncle- done
23. Use a underwater camera
24. Do 40 Hour Famine - done
25. Sponsor a child.

The burning house.

Have you heard of the website The Burning House? I love it because you see what it really important to people plus I love the whole "whats in my bag" thing too so this is similar. When I started taking photos of what I would take if my house was burning down it started off with 5 items.. which then ended up being 9 items when I had finished. What would you take if your house was burning down?

• Wedding dress! (I only got it last week!)
• My 3 Kurt Halsey books.
• Signed Gyroscope CD (plus their vinyl record but that's at home in Perth..)
  
• Engagement ring
• Small stack of special Polaroids
• Passport
• Bible
• My iPhone
  
• Moleskine daily planner (I am lost without it even for a few hours)
  

Collection: cassettes

I thought I would share my wee collection of cassette themed things I have. I actually have a fair bit more back home so this is just what I have here in Melbourne. When I was little I would spend my afternoons when I got home from school making mixes dubbed off the radio and then listen to them all night, then when I was old enough to buy CD's I would make mixes for family car trips. I didn't start making mix tapes for friends til high school. My friends and I would make each other ones every couple of months and I still treasure that collection back home so much (never ever throwing out), I have at least 15 I think. I can't wait til I get my own car.. because then I can pump out my mix tapes again! P.S How good is Picnik for photo editing? So good!
1. My old battered coin purse that I take everywhere.
2. I have a cassette pillow! It is tiny and when I first saw it I couldn't believe someone would make a pillow so small! It is the size of a novel.
3. Mooks tshirt.. pretty sure this was the first ever white shirt I ever purchased.
4. Hair tie purse. I got it somewhere in Manchester years ago.
5. Months ago I participated in a package swap and my lovely partner Noella made me this! I was so impressed! It's a little notebook bound to the cassette. Amazing!
6. iPhone case! It is a rubbery old thing and isn't the most protective but I love it!
7. Engagement ring! My most favourite thing in the world! <3
8. My BFF have me this so long ago. It has been all over the world with me, I keep bobby pins and such inside.
9. Real cassettes I found on the side of the road. I am thinking of using them to decorate the Christmas tree this year.

This is my engagement ring! My fiance had it custom made by my favourite jeweller, Victoria Mason right here in Melbourne. Months in the making! She is such a lovely lady and I have been buying her stuff for a few years and I am in awe of it every time I see it on my hand. She even blogged about it here which I think is pretty amazing to see how it all came together.

Keep calm and something something

So you probaly wouldn't know and I'm probaly not going to tell you why but I have been having a bit of a rough time lately. But, I am trying to find ways to keep my chin up. Ways that don't involve buying blouses from Sportsgirl or dvd boxsets of Gilmore Girls. I want this to be a positive blog, well, really.. I just want to be happy. Here are some of the ways I am trying to avoid floods of tears..

-Decorating envelopes! And making my own stationary! I get into a big papery mess on my bed and it takes a few good hours but I love making that kind of thing for my penpals

-Ticking things off my to do list. Most days it is longer than it should be because I write things like "get up" and "eat breakfast".. just in case I forget but I still get the perk of ticking it off my list

-Smsing my boyf mis-heard Flight of the Concords lyrics

-Making my own muesli out of brazil nuts, cinnamon, pepitas, oats, flax and sultanas. OM NOM NOM

-Going for walks to my hidden park and trying to out quack the ducks

-Plastering my walls with Hold Steady lyrics "we gotta stay postive" etc

-Catching trains for 30+ minutes just so I can read my book in silence with a nice view

-Hacking apart magazines simply for nice typography and patterns.

-Listening to Huddle Formation by The Go! Team. So effing good!


That's all I really have. It is working somewhat but at the end of the day I am still feeling pretty bummed about things. Any tips? xoxo

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!

M is for Melbourne

So I have landed in the wonderful place is Melbourne! I finally unpacked my bags yesterday.. turns out I packed FOUR dresses? I only wear dresses like once a year and yet.. there is 4 in my cupboard, awesome. The neighborhood is very cute and there is a place just down the road that sells dessert pizza, I can walk to the train station, the houses are just lovely, the streets are all tree lined the way Melbourne streets generally are and I have the best housies ever. Right now I am googling Melbourne roller derbys and wondering what my roller girl name could be? Shamwow? Shazzmataz? Sham slam? LOLOLOL.

Things to do someday soon:
♥ Join the local library! I love libraries but I have nothing with my new address yet so I can only browse. Well, just you wait! And there is like 3 libraries close to our place!
♥ Find a running track. I did actully go running today.. in Melbourne.. in winter! And it was good but it was just around the streets and a small park. I am gonna miss my coastal runs back home.
♥ Doctors. Again. Always.
♥ Get some winter supplies. Such as an umbrella and some slippers.
♥ Apply for a plethora of jobs.
♥ Maybe buy a bicycle!
♥ Tidy my room. Woops, it is so messy already.
♥ Try not sit at home all day on the computer. Maybe next week I will go to some art galleries and eat some okonomiyaki in the city? Yeah I will.
♥ Make something colourful for my room! Maybe some flags, origami mobile or pom pom danglers?
♥ Get my learners permit changed over to a Victorian one.
♥ Buy a camera. I have nothing to document my early days in the east becuase I lost mine on Sunday in Perth. Silly!

P.S Who loves journalling? I do! Who loves challenges? I do! Janel from the wonderful Running with Scissors is running an awesome 30 Day Journal Challenge starting on Monday. Cannot wait to fill my pretty new Moleskine up :)