What I did This Weekend:

I made this fort on Saturday so I could read in it and watch dvds. It is so happy and fun. Feel so much like a kid crawling on my knees to get inside. Good times.

I watched "Up In The Air"

and "Away We Go" - which was really funny.

My sister and I may have snorted watching this one.

Also

-Drove home my folks place for Father's Day

- Got my brother's birthday present. (Peter Alexander Pjs.)

- Read the Saturday Newspaper

- Finished reading "The History Of Love" by Nicole Krauss. (Highly Recommended.)

Some things I like:

Life has been too busy for blogging recently. Here are a few things I love that I have discovered over the past few months:

Pretty jewelry by Tamar on etsy. This necklace is called blushing necklace. I would love this one!!

Time Gone By Dress by Anthropologie I could sooo wear this to a 1940s party I have next weekend.

These Yellow Seychelles sandals. (The bottom pair.) Which I saw on Oh Hello Friend.

And these sik lil puppies (Missy Elliot's design for Adidas.). I haven't seen Step Up 3D but secretly want to. I can imagine myself crumping in these bad boys.

Perhaps I could wear a few of these as a combo?

I Like: Ghost Patrol

A few years ago I saw a documentary on Ghost Patrol. He does some amazing work which has a real whimsical vibe. The doco showed him putting his art works up in the streets around Melbourne. I love artists who share their art with their community.

The Smell Of My New Jumper

I bought a new bonds sloppy joe.

It looks like this only blue.

& only I don't look like that.

:-O

Anyhow. It smells sooo nice. After a year of only buying second hand clothes, I have really come to appreciate the smell of newness. (But am sticking to secondhand as much as I can.)

I am wearing it now with Ugg boots cos it is rainy and cold, and I wanted a snuggly jumper.

10 Things I'm Thankful for:

So I this is what the first half of my Monday (Queens Birthday Holiday) has looked like :-)

Here are a few things I am thankful for today:

1. Getting up at 4am to watch the Socceroos lose to Germany.

(Not thankful for the losing part, but the fun-ness of watching early games with friends.)

2. My Cosy Bed.

3. 11:30 brekky of crumpets with strawberries and honey, and a cup of English brekky tea.

4. Listening to Mumford & Sons, Imogen Heap, Jose Gonzalez & KT Tunstall and everyone else I love with my ipod on random.

5. My big comfy chair. It is very good for reading books & newspapers. And for facebooking. hehe

6. Knowing that Coldplay are in the studio again. ooh my heart is singing.

7. It isn't raining. After weeks of raining, it does me good to see the sun shining.

8. Clothes drying on the clothesline. (Yep I am thankful for these little things.)

9. Yummy new shampoo that makes my hair smell delicious

10. I am making Pad Thai for Dinner. Mmm.

What is in my bag?

Ok so it has been yonks since i blogged. Sometimes life is too busy eh? So I am taking the easy option to get back into the swing. Here are the contents of my handbag today:

Apple

Keys

Chanel Lipstick sampler :-) thanks lil old chanel lady.

Business cards

Blush

ipod nano

watch (from an op shop)

Lucas' Pawpaw lip balm

Owl Brooch

Phone

Maybelline lipgloss

wallet

kikki k pens

polaroid and instax pics

Alice Diary

Camera

Extra mints

earphones

re-useable shopping bag

CO Bigelow merlot mint gloss

Clinique Baby Kiss lip stick

Sunnies

Tin of bobby-pins and elastics

hanky

moleskine notebook

other notebook (I can never have too many books in my hand bag.)

There we go. Doneskies.

I'm off.

Today I am going interstate for work for a week to train new staff.

Here are 2 things I am taking with me:

My "Keep Cup" - so I don't have to use paper cups when I get a takeaway coffee.

I like having the time to read when I travel! I am taking this new book.

I also write when I am on the plane. So I thought that today I would share something that I wrote while at an airport a year ago. There was an elderly man sitting near me at the cafe. He was the inspiration for this.

--------------------

1-3-09

"You're supposed to think before you open your mouth.

You're supposed to think before you open your bloody mouth.

Don't you know?

Did nobody teach you that you can't open your mouth

and say any stupid thing?"

He repeats this over and over.

He doesn't appear to have any companions.

He sits alone at the airport cafeteria drinking a coffee.

So I sit here and wonder.

Does he have Tourette's syndrome - is this a tic?

Or does he have dementia?

Were these spoken to him in his childhood by his mother or father or teacher perhaps?

I wonder if they would have spoken differently if they knew their words would bury themselves

so deeply in his brain that he'd spend the last years of his life repeating them.

Do you think he got the point?

_________

Hmmm I hope it doesn't seem depressing. I was just really impacted by the compulsiveness with which he repeated this phrase, and it made me sad that these words were the ones so planted in his brain. We can all have the power to encourage people and bring life to them with our words don't we?

Well I am off for the week. Ciao.

I saw:

So there are a few music peeps on my list to see live. Last year I ticked off coldplay. To be honest, I don't think they can be beat. They were incredible. Last Friday I ticked off Mr Johnny Mayer. I really do love his music. But he didn't play a few of my fav songs which made me a bid of a sad. (Belief, and Clarity for starters.) But he was still good. His back up vocalists had some great moves that I am hoping to bring out some time at a party, and there was a sick drum solo.

Still on my "To See Live" list are Adele and Mumford & Sons.

I Want to Make A Patchwork Quilt

Mmhm It is true. I have been eyeing off cute ones on blog pictures for ages.

Here are some pics of cute patchwork quilts. (Mmm 2/3 have babies in them... I think that adds to the cuteness of these quilts.)

This one comes from Ruby at Cakies. How cute is baby Soul?

This one is from the bedroom of Kara Haupt of "I Just Might Explode" I love it's jaggedness.

I can't remember where this one is from... maybe You Are My Fave or A Cup Of Jo?

I have been looking for one on ebay and in op-shops, but have had no luck. THEN i thought to myself.... why don't I make one? Yeow! So I am going to be hunting and thrifting 2nd hand material for a while. I already have a nice creamy yellow bit that was an old curtain I think. NB. I cannot sew. So this is a bit of a mission for me. My sister has a sewing machine, so I am hoping to be able to borrow it to get a feel for it.

Today I spoke to at the meeting of a bunch of old ladies at "Prime Time" (hehe cute name)... they are all knitters, crocheters and patchworkers and are making blankets for local and international use in refuges, orphanages and other places where people might be cold and need a blanket to cuddle. I want to be like that when I am old. So I figure I had better start practicing now.

I Saw:

I went and saw "The Blind Side" on Saturday with a friend. It was a really incredible movie. I knew it was going to be... I cried watching the trailer on my computer.. eek. Not really a movie tears person. The fact that it is based on a true story makes it sooo much better. I love movies that inspire us to be more generous, open and trusting.

You should definitely see it.

Rebound books in Melbourne make bookmarks from old book spines, and note books from the covers and pages. I have one of these bookmarks. It is so friendly. Currently I am reading "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" for my book club, and my bookmark greets me each time I open it.

Rebound Books

I am also waiting on my copy of "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" to arrive. My book club is doing 2 books each month, and I am hoping to make it through both.

Just quietly.. if you are ever purchasing books, I have found the book depository to be the cheapest. No postage costs!!! Yeow!

Today I:

After a crazy hectic week which included working for 2 different jobs, 2 days off sick, and driving around a camera man for 3 days for a youth conference, I woke up this morning knowing I still had an assessment that needed finishing as it is due today.Yuk. So I pumped myself up by dressing in a new skirt and knee-high stockings I bought last weekend.

I am so into knee-highs at the moment. After completing the assessment, I rewarded myself by going out for my favourite salad... warm veggies (rocket, beet root, pumpkin, chickpeas, pistachios, and haloumi) from The Depot. Yum.

Then I took some photos of a circus tent with a few of my cameras.

Now I am going to read my book club book and finish a few little card books I have been working on. Will post pics of them when they are done.

It's Been a While.

It has been a while since I have blogged. Real life has been busy.... Here are some things that I am loving and looking forward to for Autumn:

Baking weather... it is now cool enough for me to not mind having the oven on. So i am loving being able to bake again.

Doona Weather: Yay for blankets and snuggly cosyness.

Book reading time: I am loving being a part of a book club and getting into fiction. I wish I had a library like this one!

These clothes are from J Crew. I wish I had these outfits. Though I am not sure when exactly I would wear them, as they don't really suit working with children and teenagers. But in my imagination... i wear stuff like this every day.

(eek I have not credited the pics... sorry I can't remember where they are from.. the blogs I follow most likely.. but there is a loooong list.)

2 Weeks ago I sent of my package for the Happy Package Exchange. This is how mine looked once they were wrapped.

Old Street Directory

This one is wrapped in one of my favourite poems which i typed up on my typewriter.

This one is done with an old sewing pattern.

An old map (this is the sea part :-)

I wrapped all the little packages in a copy i made of some of my vintage black and white photographs. The girl I had loved old photos, so i hope she gets to re-use it.

It was so fun and satisfying to wrap all these tiny pressies up.

Fav: Show

Our tv blew up thanks to a power surge a month or two ago.... so no tv for me.... but yay for Bones episodes on my computer! Seriously... this probably is my favourite show. I love the conversations between Booth and Bones. Agh and the nerds, they are funny. What is not to love really?!

Good Music

I just heard of these guys: THE MORNING BENDERS, after seeing a clip of theirs on Frankie Magazine's blog. Their song "Excuses" is just glorious. I have linked to the clip below. Shall be an interesting album. (And what a pretty cover!)

Excuses by The Morning Benders

Pretty Picture

By Ruthi

This is me on a fort I built with some friends yesterday. We used driftwood and rocks at the beach. I was a lot of fun. We followed it with a nice picnic. Mm. I am off to QLD for a week of lectures. Toodles.

MADE IN AUSTRALIA

Last year I went a whole year without buying any new clothes (underwear excluded). I bought second-hand clothes from op-shops and e-bay. My main motivation for this was to be more ethical in my clothing choices, that I would not be throwing money toward companies who have their clothes made in China or India where workers do not receive fair pay for their work.

Anyhow... that year is over, and having broken my clothes shopping habits, my goal now is to continue buying second hand clothes, and when buying new clothes, to buy fair-trade or Australian made clothing.

There are some really lovely clothing companies who make their entire line in Australia.

These include:

Secret Squirrel

Morrison

Rodeo Show

Skin and Threads

(I bought one of their T-shirts from a local store the other day and it is comfeeeee!)

There are also some companies which make large amounts of their line in Australia (so you would have to check on the item's tag)

Metallicus

Cue

Baku

I am on the lookout for more Australian made clothing.

I Love:

Yes it is sad and somewhat childish. But pineapple lollies are the yummiest. I am so into them right now. Yum!

3 Things - That made this arvo super.

3 Things that made this arvo just lovely:

1. The latest issue of Frankie Magazine came out today and I am looking through it while...

2. Eating Jatz with Mercy Valley Crumbly Pickled Onion Cheese mmmm yum and...

3. Listening to my favourite boys on radio: Hamish & Andy. They crack me up.