My sister’s four-month-old puppy, Chopper, is currently having a very ferocious barking session at a bumble bee, bless him!

Anyway, I haven’t really done a “life update” in awhile, so that is what this post is, I suppose. Not that there is really anything overly interesting to report on, except that I’m going to be 21 tomorrow. But, nevertheless, I should be able to ramble on for a couple of paragraphs about stuff. *

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had been struggling with anxiety and depression, and I’m pleased to say I am making great progress on both of those issues. It’s a great relief to be getting back to my normal self and to also be taking an active role in getting to the bottom of my anxiety. It can be incredibly crippling at it’s worst, as anyone who’s experienced it will know, and I’m a firm believer in being self-aware and working on my issues instead of letting them get the better of me.

With the depression lessening and cooler weather setting in, I’ve found my interest in crafts has come back. I’ve started a new project: a teddy bear for one of my grandmothers. She loves teddy bears and I’ve been commissioned to make her one (by my mum), so I have something that is (usually) relaxing to do. A friend of mine asked if I could take photos of the process, which I have been doing, so look out in the near future for a post. I’ll probably do progress posts instead of one big post as there might be a lot of images!

In other news, my obsession with the 1930s, 40s and 50s is back in full-force, in particular the 50s. I keep trawling TradeMe in the hopes of finding a brilliant vintage dress, but no luck thus far — the sizing is usually wrong on anything I find myself drawn to, so unless I can be sure to drop two dress sizes soon, there is no point in buying them. I refuse to buy anything I won’t or can’t use (except for the hair brush that came with the vintage brush and mirror set I got a few years ago**). Well, usually, anyway. I don’t know what I’d do with the copies of Punch magazine, from the 1930s, that I saw in an antique store today, apart from looking at them repeatedly. Is that a valid enough reason to go back and get them, do you think?

*Smilies. I must find some nice ones to replace the default WordPress smilies. Can you recommend some designs?
**Second-hand hair doesn’t appeal to me…

I have loved this song since I was a kid, so yeah. Thought I’d share, I guess!

Last night I had my birthday dinner with family, even though my actual birthday in on Thursday. One of my sister’s and her son are away at school camp this week so I had an early celebration so they could attend.

We went a local restaurant that was mostly good — a few meals were not so great, but the majority were good. The restaurant were very accommodating to my vegan needs and created a lovely coconut cream and sundried tomato risotto with a divine balsamic vinegar reduction. My mum baked and decorated a vegan chocolate cake for me, which we took to dinner.

The surprises were a beautiful card that everyone wrote it and four A4 sheets of collaged photos of me, from newborn to the present! It was great to see old photos I’d not seen in years and they were obviously a good talking point, too.

Last night was just what I wanted and I can’t think of better way to celebrate my 21^st than that.

I took some photos as well. I will make some of those viewable only to friends and family later in the week, so take a look now if you are not already friends with me on Flickr.

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

1. Grab your current read.
2. Let the book fall open to a random page.
3. Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
4. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!Please avoid spoilers!

“To be sure, my dear mother, your anxiety — I was unlucky there.”
“What is the matter?” asked her ladyship in the heavy tone of one half roused, “I was not asleep.”
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Watch for 0:25. I’m excited like that!

Why?

Because last night I got my 21^st birthday present, a Nikon D60 dSLR camera!! My Dad found a great deal on TradeMe for a two-month-old camera that also came with the 55-200mm lens (the camera’s default lens is 18-55mm) and a three year transferable warranty. I’m so unbelievably stoked right now, you have no idea.

I’m a total novice when it comes to cameras and taking decent photos, but it’s something I’m incredibly interested in and my love of other people’s photographs has slowly grown to the point where I want to learn for myself. And I’m sure everyone I know will see me coming and think “Oh, God, here comes Flashy McFlashFlash” while rubbing their eyes.

So, so exciting!

I recommend you watch in high quality or go to this site and watch.

I discovered The American Dollar last night when StumbleUpon sent me to the Aurgasm music blog. This song is, I think, absolutely beautiful, as is the video.

The America Dollar’s MySpace

I’m house-sitting for my sister (the one that lives half a kilometre away on the same farm as me) until Tuesday so I’ve been making the most of having access to a bath tub and decent oven. Last night I finally got to try out my Lush bubble bar and the verdict is 4/5 stars! I would have like there to be more bubbles, but perhaps that was my own fault for not putting it in the water right from when I first started filling the tub. But, whatever, I’m just happy to have had a nice, hot bath (all that was missing was a really good novel).

Right now I’m baking an apple and feijoa crumble for dessert tonight. It’s filling the house with delightful smells and I’m really looking forward to trying it. I’ve never made a crumble before so I hope I did everything right and it tastes as good as I want it to.

I couldn’t post this yesterday because my site was down, so here it is today. I adore this song and the video contains lots of great photos from the 1940s!

Well, curse auto-bidding on TradeMe! I really, really want this dress I’ve been bidding on but someone else has now put on an auto-bid, so my winning it is basically impossible. Insert tears, whaling, whinging and stomping here.

It’s the best retro dress I’ve seen in ages, that should fit me, and I so desperately wanted it. God!

I went out with Mum and one of my sisters this morning as they needed to do Easter shopping. Some chocolate eggs for an Easter egg hunt for the kids tomorrow and little presents from Mum. I found some bins of cheap DVDs and CDs, buy one get one free. So, I got Frankenstein, Gaslight and The Departed, plus a Gene Vincent CD. At least I think it’s Gene Vincent because my memory is failing slightly.

DVDs for $2.79? HELLZ YEAH!

I just watched Gaslight and now I’m totally in love with Ingrid Bergman and Joseph Cotton. She’s stunning and he is shockingly handsome. I quite enjoyed the movie, too. Good story.

I’ve been bidding on a dress and a shirt on TradeMe, so I hope I win them, but mainly I want the dress.