I was originally going to share a Florence and The Machine song but while watching Florence videos I found one of her going record shopping and, long story short, in it she recommended a band called the Sian Alice Group. There was a link to a video from them which I ended up watching. And now here we are!
Close To The Ground by Sian Alice Group
Yellow was my favourite colour as a child, then it was purple, and then for a while there it was black. Now I love many colours, the whole spectrum, really and everything in between. But I still have my favourites: yellow, purple, blue, grey, green. Yellow, in particular, of late. I think it might be my summer colour.
Have a lovely Sunday, everyone, and a brilliant new week! 
Despite my awful last Friday I am doing pretty well. I’ve actually surprised myself by how well I’ve been coping with it all – it could have been really easy for that stress to combine with the exam stress I was already feeling and then make things 100 times worse. I’m so fortunate to been able to recover many of the notes that were stolen, plus my statistics lecturer gave me a spare lecture manual she had, which means I wont have to be near a computer every time I need to study for statistics. All my other lecturers and tutors have been super-awesome and helpful, too.
I’ve been at university since 8am and I’m not leaving for another hour, but late afternoon is not a good time for me to get any decent study done (I’m a morning studier, for sure!) so I’m using the time to catch up on less important tasks. Like making a daily planner! I am totally lost without my planner. I tried to buy a cheap 2010 one but of course there are hardly any around and the university bookshop certainly doesn’t have any – it’s all 2011 ones now, obviously. So, I had to make a quick page design up and printed some out yesterday. It’s not at all ideal, but it’ll do until the end of the year! lol
Anyway, I hope you are all having a fabulous week so far and continue to do so! ♥
Today after uni I went to the mall with one of my sisters and my niece. I just took my purse and phone in with me. We were gone half an hour. Her car was broken into and my bag was taken, along with my sister’s wallet from the glove compartment which she had left in there after having taken a card out of it (she never carries a bag with her).
I keep running over in my head how everything aligned so perfectly for those bastards/that bastard. My sister usually never parks where we did park (under cover) and I usually NEVER leave my bag in the car. But today we ended up parked there, and my bag was so heavy with books that I just didn’t want to carry it around. So, I left it. In plain sight. So stupidly.
I can’t help but feel so guilty because the likelihood of them/the person breaking in and looking in the glove compartment had my bag not been there, is so much slimmer. She lost over a hundred in cash, which was meant to pay for my nephews’s swimming lessons. I know I shouldn’t blame myself for the revolting behaviour of other people, but if I had chosen a different action things would be different.
I feel violated. My planner has been taken with important dates in it, birthdays, etc. They know my cellphone number from the inside cover of my university books, my name.
My university books. My NOTES. My French book with notes in the margins, my big notebook with information sheets and notes from all my classes. My statistics lecture workbook with EVERYTHING from that class in it. Fortunately the stats department are nice and have the entire workbook online, with all filled-in notes, however that doesn’t get back the notes I’ve put in there of my own thoughts on things, extra explanations, whatever. That is gone.
My USB memory stick with uni files on it, including my last assignment which I had not saved elsewhere, with personal photos of my family. Another gross violation.
Nothing much else was in there, just some headphones (2 pairs actually; one set specifically for my phone), my sunglasses, some lip glosses, a nicely expensive scientific calculator, a gadget called a Quizdom Clicker for polls taken during stats class (hired from uni), my craft journal and a pen, then my pencil case. Ok there was a lot more, and it all adds up. But nothing of any GREAT sentimental value. It is replaceable. My planner and my notes are not. Or, not so much anyway. My pocket mirror with Marlene Dietrich on it is not replaceable either.
I’m so thankful my netbook was safely at home. I’m so grateful I took my wallet and phone. But I am heartbroken for my sister. I know people shouldn’t leave valuables in cars – I usually never do; but leaving YOUR belongings in YOUR car should NEVER mean it is okay for ANYONE to help themselves to it. It astounds me how much society has changed in, what, 50-odd years? People used to leave everything in their car and have it unlocked! Now if you leave ANYTHING in there your potential for being stolen from increases immensely.
Whoever did it, I hope they suffer. I hope they cut themselves on the window and I hope they get infected and then get sepsis and die from it. Or that karma one day comes back and bites them on their arse. Lose their hands maybe, get brain damage. I don’t know, don’t care what, I just want to them to know what it’s like to have their privacy violated. And maybe then some.
I’m so angry. But ours was not the only stuff taken; another car was broken into very shortly before or after my sister’s was, on the other side of the mall. So although security cameras aren’t placed where we had parked, there are cameras by where the other car was parked, and it is HIGHLY likely it was the same person/people who did both. They may have scored $150 cash off my sister, but all they got from me was statistical equations and a French textbook. Fuckers. They’ll probably dump it somewhere. It would be nice to get it back, but I very much doubt I will. They can resell some of it. Make money of MY things. Ugh!
And my new blue bag. I really liked that bag. 
I mean, all up, I guess they would have taken around $200 worth of stuff from me (including my lunch box with some cling film from my sandwich in it!), but the dumb fucks left my umbrella which is actually worth about $40 dollars.
NOT a great Friday after all. No one should ever go through stuff like this. Why can’t people just be kind to each other, be honest in their life, not steal from others?
It’s been ages since my last update on this project. I kind of forget about it and every so often look through the list to find I’ve completed stuff. I have just under one year left, so I should probably get onto actively completing tasks! Anyway, here’s one I’ve done since my last update.
Start university and complete first year.
I did indeed! I started university in July ’09 and completed my first year in July of 2010. It was a bit rocky towards the end of that second semester but overall it was a pretty decent first year. I’m really proud of this accomplishment because it was a huge deal for me to go to uni; to make that choice. Just finally settling on something to study was major; before that I really didn’t know what I wanted to do.
Start a tradition.
My boyfriend and I have monthiversaries. Some people say its silly to celebrate every month you’re with someone, but I say poo to that! For us, it’s a big deal. This relationship is the longest either of us have had and it’s special, each month, to just recognise on the 27th that it’s one more month with each other. One more month of us. We generally don’t do gifts, but we often go to a movie, or out for dinner. Even after our 12 months anniversary this month, I want to keep monthiversaries up. They’ve become pretty special.
Sort through all of my belongings, sell, donate or give away what I don’t want, and use what I keep.
Earlier this year I did a pretty big sort-out of stuff and sold a fair bit of it on TradeMe. I could probably do with having another sort out though!
Sort and label all my old journals and store them in an old suitcase.
They are all nicely stored in vintage suitcase now, safely tucked away for reading in the future.
Learn French.
At the end of this semester I will have completed Stage I French at uni! I don’t plan on taking anymore French papers for now, but I may take it up again later.
Buy a great piece of retro/vintage or antique furniture.
Back in August I bought a fantastic old oak writing desk. She is my pride and joy purchase and has been absolutely brilliant to study on! My little office in a compact space!
Today I was reading Elsie’s wonderful blog and she did a post on ten of her funny habits and guilty pleasures. She encouraged others to share so I though why not? 
1. A guilty pleasure of mine is indulging in food when I don’t really need it or could swap whatever it is for something healthier. I have been terrible with this lately. I have a sweet tooth, what can I say. And a chips tooth (is there such a thing as a chips tooth? Chipped tooth, yes, but Twisties tooth, maybe not.)
2. When I wash dishes by hand, I have an order in which different types of dishes must be washed. I start with cutlery, then go on to cups, then I do plates and bowls, then chopping boards (unless it had meat on it) and other serving dishes. Last are the pots and pans or dishes food was cooked in. And if the water gets too dirty I have to let it out and restart because it grosses me out.
3. I am a bed neat-freak. I like my bed to be made a particular way and I like it to be made every morning, though not ‘from scratch’, i.e. everything taken off and put back on. I just sort of right all the sheet and blankets and make sure everything is tucked in and neat, then stack the pillows.
4. Home and Away, the Australian soap based at the beach. I was addicted to it at various points during my childhood, then shunned it during my teens, then found it again last year and was all over it like a bad rash. I don’t get to watch it very often these days, but damn do I enjoy it when I do. Especially Angelo, which, incidentally, is the only reason I watch the Australian X-Factor, because the guy who plays Angelo hosts it. I don’t care about the singers. Except Natalie Imbruglia who is HOT. Oh my God, is she gorgeous.
5. I am terribly clumsy and at any given time have at least one bruise, and generally I don’t remember how I got them.
6. Buying craft supplies is a serious guilty pleasure!
7. With meals, if there are several different dishes on my plate, I tend to eat each separately, rather than mixing together like loads of people I know do. They get a bit of salad and a bit of something else. I usually can’t do that.
8. Celebrity gossip magazines and blogs. Sooo much more interesting than the gossip about that lady so-and-so knows and what she got up to last weekend.
9. My Starbucks purchases vary according to season. Summer = green tea frappeccino; winter = hot chocolate or some variation of hot chocolate. Ocassionally I order a coffee, but that usually only when they have a limited time flavour, like at Christmas when they do the nutmeg one and stuff.
10. I prefer socks with cute patterns on them, rather than plain ones. It makes me feel that bit happier knowing their are sparkly cupcakes on my feet!
What are ten of your funny habits and guilty pleasures?
It’s been ages since I did a Music Monday! Here’s an old favourite of mine.
Got an old photo or scrapbook album that could do with some updating? Found a cheap album somewhere that isn’t very pretty? Well, here is a DIY project for you!
You will need:
- 1 ugly photo or scrapbook album.
- 2 sheets of pretty paper. Each should be big enough to cover one side of your album, with 2cm overhang on all sides.
- 2 sheets of paper in a complimenting shade. They should measure 2cm LESS than the width and height of your album covers (you want a 1cm margin of pretty paper on the inside covers).
- a cutting mat or surface on which to trim your paper sheets.
- a ruler longer than your album.
- craft knife.
- adhesive of your choice (I used a glue stick).
Step 1 ) Take your album apart. For my finished album, I chose to discard the cardboard for the spine and the paper wrapped around each end of the album pages.
Step 2) Take one sheet of pretty paper and the front cover of your album. Place the paper right-side-down and put the front cover on top, also right-side-down. Try to get the cover as centred as you can. You can do this using your ruler and by marking the paper accordingly, but I just go by eye.
Step 3) Lightly fold each edge of the paper over the cover – this was used as my guide when gluing the cover onto the paper. If you choose to mark during Step 2, you can skip this step.
Step 4) Put adhesive on the entire right-side of the cover. Use your folded edges/markings as a guide to place your cover onto the paper. Turn over and smooth the paper using the edge of your ruler, ensuring any air bubbles are removed. Turn over.
As many of you know, one of my favourite things in the whole entire world is crafting. I always feel a bit lost and unproductive if I don’t have a project on the go! Recently I found myself in a head-space that was incredibly bogged down with school work and I was forgetting to allow myself time to do things I really love, just for me and just because. I was so restless and fidgety – for days – and it did not stop until I started with some new projects.
Lesson learned: don’t forget to do the just-for-fun stuff! It decreases stress and generally makes life better.
Project 1: turn a boring wooden clipboard from the dollar store into something pretty. Or alternatively called: doodle on a boring wooden clipboard and see what happens. (Clearly it is unfinished, so I will post another photo when it’s been totally covered.)
Project 2: crochet! I have lots of left over yarn around so I was looking for crochet projects that are small, quick and fun. Low and behold my discovery of amigurumi (how did I not know about it before!?!), which lead to me finding this owl pattern. It is hands-down one of the easiest things to make and super-quick which is very handy for time-strapped people. I call it the small creative fix, a bit like a coffee fix only more productive! Well, that is assuming you take your coffee fixes as I do: leisurely and sitting down doing NADA.
As I mentioned in my last post, I have some projects in the development stage, but they are on hold until after university adjourns for the year (holy-moley, only 5 more weeks!), after which I will have a bit more time to get these ideas into the doing stages. I’ll also be looking for work for the summer, which is my top priority (groan, being an adult is sometimes so very inconvenient, sheesh!).
Anyway, today I had half an hour to spare before my first morning class so I whiled it away in an art shop on Symonds St. Probably not the wisest of ideas because art shops make me go all whimsical and then I get excited about creating things; lots of things; things in ABUNDANCE, and then I want to buy stuff. Today I walked away with a new pen (er yes, very exciting), a pack of plain Moleskine pocket journals and a fabulous Moleskine 2011 weekly planner! I’m most excited about the planner. I love organisers and I take it upon myself to find The Best Planner Ever each year. Generally I do a fairly good job of it but I’ve come to the conclusion that a smaller one would be better for next year. Carrying an A5 lump around everywhere is a bit of a pain. I was thinking of going all out and getting a kikki.k one, with little emoticons to record your mood(s) for the day, and stickers and blah-blah, but then I saw the Moleskine and was all “Oooh, shiny!” Except that I wanted black but they didn’t have one in the page layout I like. However, the sky didn’t fall on my head because the guy at the shop gave me a discount on the red one – ten dollars off! – to match the price of the black one with the different layout. It made my morning.
As for the little journals, so far I have plans for one, as you can see. It’s a craft journal to record ideas, completed projects, whatever. What I would really adore is to get a Fuji Instax camera so then I can take dinky wee instant photos of my completed projects and stick ‘em in the journal. Sadly, Instax cameras do not come cheap and seem to rarely come secondhand (which I suppose is good because if loads of people were reselling them then it might suggest they suck).
Do you like journals? You know, paper ones? What do you like to use your journal(s) for? Do share!
Eeek, it’s been a while!
Life is pretty good at the moment, though very busy. It’s major assignment time for uni so that’s my main focus, though it’s hard because I have all these craft project ideas running through my head almost constantly. I haven’t made anything in probably about a month or so and you can tell; I seem to get rally restless and distracted when I don’t have a wee project on the go.
Three of my ideas relate to Christmas gifts so I can’t really go into detail here as people may see it who should not! But I can share with you plans for making a tote bag for summer and starting a family tree scrapbook. I’m still looking for fabric for the tote – I want something pretty but inexpensive! Preferably with gray, yellow and blue incorporated. For the scrapbook, I’m still in the very early stages and I’ve never scrapbooked before so I’m trying to figure out what I need based on what I want to do. You can get some pretty things cheaply from department stores, which is nice. I looked online at supplies and was shocked by how expensive they can be! Especially albums.
Here are some links I’ve been loving this week:
Making a Duvet Cover @ Design*Sponge
This house @ Design*Sponge
Handmade Swedish Teddies
Icon Finder
I shall leave you with a photo of the swag I bought from SourpussClothing.com! Super-fabulous store, I highly recommend them.
