Last night, my Mum in Law, Chris, taught me how to crochet. I had intended to learn knitting before this winter was out, and while there is still time to learn that art, I am all about the hook at the moment!
Once she got me going, my cup of tea went cold, but my hands stayed warm. I could have sat on the big sofa all night, in front of the fire, Pippa, the little dog, curled beside me and my hands working away at this ever growing disc of cream coloured wool, materialising in my hand.
I got home and did some more, then I got on the train this morning and did more again! Then lunch time, I went and bought a cuppa at the cafe downstairs from work, and sat in the sun and crocheted some more! I am addicted! I love it! I am not quite sure what I am making, it is looking more like a beanie with every treble I do, althought I had hoped for more of a beret! But the world is my oyster!
I can't wait to be 70!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Product Review - Lindt Excellence with a Touch of Sea Salt
With a touch of what? Salt? In Chocolate? That ain't right!
Is what I thought when I saw this on the shelf last week. Curiosity bubbled away in me for a few days until today, when I took the plunge and bought a block.
First bite: couldn't taste salt, nope, just chocolate, dark chocolate, bittersweet, good quality chocolate...chew chew chew, swallow......oo! Salt! Hello!
Second bite: Chocolate, chocolate, saltiness, chocolate, chocolate.
And so on until the last bite (can I just say here that I only had one square? How's that for self control!).
So as you can see, the dominant flavour in this unusual concept, is chocolate. The salt is not overpowering or particularly thirst inducing. I find in some dark chocolates (in particular, anything over 70%) I get a bit of saltiness anyway, so this one wasn't particularly controversial tasting to me.
I would recommend it to anyone who likes dark chocolate and feels like a little teeny bit of difference (emphasis on teeny - the salt is only 3%).
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Creative AND organised!
This was my project for this afternoon. I bought some nice fabric (you can't really see it in much detail) with a light pattern and covered the cork part of the pin board with it, then suck little pins in and hung all my finery on it.
I deliberated for some time over the fabric. I love strong colours, in particular reds (which you can probably see from my jewellery!) but I figured a simple light tone would be a great back drop as the jewellery has provided all the colour and texture. I think it looks artistic as well as being practicle!
Monday, July 19, 2010
This made me smile and nod...
This cartoon my Michael Leunig perfectly illustrates my opinion on life and work!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
A Writing Enthusiasts Paradise!
Today at lunch time, I went to this shop - www.kikki-k.com Oh.My.Gosh! It was wonderful. Where do I start!? One of the first books I came across when I walked in was called "Lists", and it is just that, a book with a whole lot of empty lists. My partner will attest to my fetish for lists; shopping lists, daily to do lists, weekly, mothly, yearly to do lists, lists of books I've read, lists of books I want to read! My up and coming list will be all the things I want to buy from this shop!
So what did I buy today? This! www.kikki-k.com/shop/product/365-days/I have many journals at home, half filled, blank, all with good intentions! My plan for this journal is to document my creative pursuits and write, draw or stick whatever I have done in a day that is creative. I am going to aim to live creativley for a full 365 days and document it. Hopefully, by the end of that, it will be habit and being creative won't be an effort. I know it shouldn't be and effort, but when daily life, work, shopping, cooking, cleaning, commuting all gets in the way, it is difficult. I am going to work out ways to fit creativity into all of these elements of my life (like popping out to write in my lunch break the other day) or look at them as creative pursuits, rather than chores that I am bound by, cooking, after all is an art!
My dream for the life of this journal is to fill it with picutres, photo's, quotes, recipes and dreams! I can't wait to read it next year when it is complete!
So what did I buy today? This! www.kikki-k.com/shop/product/365-days/I have many journals at home, half filled, blank, all with good intentions! My plan for this journal is to document my creative pursuits and write, draw or stick whatever I have done in a day that is creative. I am going to aim to live creativley for a full 365 days and document it. Hopefully, by the end of that, it will be habit and being creative won't be an effort. I know it shouldn't be and effort, but when daily life, work, shopping, cooking, cleaning, commuting all gets in the way, it is difficult. I am going to work out ways to fit creativity into all of these elements of my life (like popping out to write in my lunch break the other day) or look at them as creative pursuits, rather than chores that I am bound by, cooking, after all is an art!
My dream for the life of this journal is to fill it with picutres, photo's, quotes, recipes and dreams! I can't wait to read it next year when it is complete!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Thirty Minutes of Inspiration
I bought this book the other day and it is inspiring me to write! Today, at lunch time, I took this book and my 'scratch pad' down to a cafe on the ground floor of my building. I ordered a chai and then I did some of the exercises set out in the book. Once I had finished that, I decided to just write exactly what I saw. It was extremely liberating, just writing, with no purpose, no goal, no deadline, just letting my pen glide across the page and my vision pour out through my words.
I am loving letting creativity trickle into the cracks and crevices of my life!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
What Defines Us?
What is one of the first questions we ask people when we first meet them? Chances are, after formal introductions of how you turned out to be at the same party or in the same queue, the conversation inevitably turns to "And what do you do?" The immediate response is to tell the person what you get paid for. After all, money makes the world go round, so shouldn't our paid employment be what defines us?
I don't think so. People are so much more than their job. I remember feeling really peeved once when telling someone how much my partner enjoys reading science books. The person asked me what he did for a job and when I told her that he was a tradesman, she laughed and said "So why is he interested in science?!" This person had automatically pigeon holed him in a certain way on account of his 9 to 5 occupation.
My job as an admin officer in a Government Department is so far from who I am. My two main interests are photography and creative writing. Up until now, I have been too frightened to call myself either a photographer or a creative writer, but why on earth shouldn't I identify myself as these things? They are the activities that make me happy, that give my life meaning. I may not be a professional at either of them and hey, I may not be overly accomplished in either of them, but they are things I 'do'. Sure, I spend most of my time at my 'day job', and there is a fair chance that I will possibly never make a living out of writing or photography, but why shouldn't I own them as part of my identity?
I admire people who do what they love for a job. I was talking to someone tonight who's face lights up when she talks about the work she does. She's driven by her passion for the subject and has never mentioned (to me) how much money it is going to make her or anything like that, she simply loves her work. Another person I was talking to the other day, hourly paid, no sick leave or annual leave entitlements, who said to me, even if he could have those entitlements, he wouldn't trade his job for anything, because quite simply, he loves his work.
Finding the ultimate dream job that combines passion with a regular pay cheque is hard, but making your passion the focus of your life, rather than an afterthought, is a worthwhile pursuit! I am working on doing this myself right now. I am spending my spare time reading, writing, going out and taking pictures ad being true to who I am and what I do. I have banned myself from checking my work emails at home or thinking about work when I am not there. I am focusing on who I am, not what I do for money.
Next time someone asks you what you do, are you going to tell them who's payroll you are on, or are you going to tell them who you are?
I don't think so. People are so much more than their job. I remember feeling really peeved once when telling someone how much my partner enjoys reading science books. The person asked me what he did for a job and when I told her that he was a tradesman, she laughed and said "So why is he interested in science?!" This person had automatically pigeon holed him in a certain way on account of his 9 to 5 occupation.
My job as an admin officer in a Government Department is so far from who I am. My two main interests are photography and creative writing. Up until now, I have been too frightened to call myself either a photographer or a creative writer, but why on earth shouldn't I identify myself as these things? They are the activities that make me happy, that give my life meaning. I may not be a professional at either of them and hey, I may not be overly accomplished in either of them, but they are things I 'do'. Sure, I spend most of my time at my 'day job', and there is a fair chance that I will possibly never make a living out of writing or photography, but why shouldn't I own them as part of my identity?
I admire people who do what they love for a job. I was talking to someone tonight who's face lights up when she talks about the work she does. She's driven by her passion for the subject and has never mentioned (to me) how much money it is going to make her or anything like that, she simply loves her work. Another person I was talking to the other day, hourly paid, no sick leave or annual leave entitlements, who said to me, even if he could have those entitlements, he wouldn't trade his job for anything, because quite simply, he loves his work.
Finding the ultimate dream job that combines passion with a regular pay cheque is hard, but making your passion the focus of your life, rather than an afterthought, is a worthwhile pursuit! I am working on doing this myself right now. I am spending my spare time reading, writing, going out and taking pictures ad being true to who I am and what I do. I have banned myself from checking my work emails at home or thinking about work when I am not there. I am focusing on who I am, not what I do for money.
Next time someone asks you what you do, are you going to tell them who's payroll you are on, or are you going to tell them who you are?
Thursday, July 1, 2010
The New Direction
It's been close to three weeks since I had the brilliant idea to enroll in a Diploma of Journalism. I admitted at the time that it seemed impulsive, yet somehow convinced myself that I had been thinking about it for a while, I was ready to study again and it would be a great career, combining one of my greatest loves, writing, with a career. An exciting career!
So why did the wheels fall of this sensible although slightly impulsive desicion? The answer came to me whilst pondering it on my morning stroll from the train to the office. It was a desicion based in my head and not my heart. It sounds airy fairy, I know, but that is what it came down to. I was so busy weighing up the financial outcomes, the job opportunities and the social status that I forgot to remind myself that I wouldn't have freedom in the things that I wrote about. I would be writing to strict deadlines, I would be competing against 21 year old guns with honours degrees, clawing their way to the top and taking no prisoners.
I am a creative writer. I love making up stories, embelishing facts (which is quite different to lying!) and creating images with words. One of the best pieces I ever wrote was my year 4 project on Ned Kelly. My overall mark was a C-. Not a brilliant start, but I can guarantee the teacher marking it would have had tears of laughter rolling down her face. Here is an exerpt (spelling errors left in, just for kicks):
.Ned was sort of good looking for a bush ranger. Specking of good looking peopl, sometimes I look at my boyfriend and think yuk! Ok, lets go on to Ned again. My brother thincks that he was good becaus he fought with the rich pepol WOW! How nice of him. I hate my brother. Ned wore a metal suit. It was black with a big helmet with an eye peas, hay thats handy. I don't know if he had a horse. Mum and Dad sayd he wold have one. I thort that he was an escapeed convict. No, he wasn't. His mum and dad came across as convicts. He was about 25 when he dide so he wasn't a mean old bushranger at all, he was more of a mean yonge bushranger. I was going to call him a little rascal but he's not little enough, but I'll call him a young man.
As you can see, I was not only a wordsmith, but an artiste to boot!
I would like it to be known that I have an excellent relationship with my brother these days and as for the boyfriend, well, things clearly didn't work out between me and the ugly sod, but I hold no ill feelings and wish him well....whoever he was!
As you can see, poetic licence and freedom of opinion are both qualities that I value in my writing projects and I intend to hone these skills to a more polite level than displayed above. There is a few courses I am looking into to help to perfect my art. I am also persuing photography as a hobby/potential income earner. I am over aspiring for things that are sensible, stable and socially normal. I am old enough to be jaded about the corporate big wheel but young enough to follow my dreams.
So from here, I am not quite sure what the next step is, how big or how risky it will be or how successful it will be, but I am excited to see where my heart will take me. I plan to document that journey here.
So why did the wheels fall of this sensible although slightly impulsive desicion? The answer came to me whilst pondering it on my morning stroll from the train to the office. It was a desicion based in my head and not my heart. It sounds airy fairy, I know, but that is what it came down to. I was so busy weighing up the financial outcomes, the job opportunities and the social status that I forgot to remind myself that I wouldn't have freedom in the things that I wrote about. I would be writing to strict deadlines, I would be competing against 21 year old guns with honours degrees, clawing their way to the top and taking no prisoners.
I am a creative writer. I love making up stories, embelishing facts (which is quite different to lying!) and creating images with words. One of the best pieces I ever wrote was my year 4 project on Ned Kelly. My overall mark was a C-. Not a brilliant start, but I can guarantee the teacher marking it would have had tears of laughter rolling down her face. Here is an exerpt (spelling errors left in, just for kicks):
.Ned was sort of good looking for a bush ranger. Specking of good looking peopl, sometimes I look at my boyfriend and think yuk! Ok, lets go on to Ned again. My brother thincks that he was good becaus he fought with the rich pepol WOW! How nice of him. I hate my brother. Ned wore a metal suit. It was black with a big helmet with an eye peas, hay thats handy. I don't know if he had a horse. Mum and Dad sayd he wold have one. I thort that he was an escapeed convict. No, he wasn't. His mum and dad came across as convicts. He was about 25 when he dide so he wasn't a mean old bushranger at all, he was more of a mean yonge bushranger. I was going to call him a little rascal but he's not little enough, but I'll call him a young man.
As you can see, I was not only a wordsmith, but an artiste to boot!
I would like it to be known that I have an excellent relationship with my brother these days and as for the boyfriend, well, things clearly didn't work out between me and the ugly sod, but I hold no ill feelings and wish him well....whoever he was!
As you can see, poetic licence and freedom of opinion are both qualities that I value in my writing projects and I intend to hone these skills to a more polite level than displayed above. There is a few courses I am looking into to help to perfect my art. I am also persuing photography as a hobby/potential income earner. I am over aspiring for things that are sensible, stable and socially normal. I am old enough to be jaded about the corporate big wheel but young enough to follow my dreams.
So from here, I am not quite sure what the next step is, how big or how risky it will be or how successful it will be, but I am excited to see where my heart will take me. I plan to document that journey here.
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