13/100 Songs

Posted at 1:00 pm by & filed under Music, Film & Books.

While looking for an appropriate video for this post I listened to this song on YouTube so many times. But I never tire of it. Since 2009 it is been one of my absolute all-time favourites and every single time it plays I have to sing along, and be in the moment with the song.

Some songs take you on a journey, they’re not just great to listen to, they intertwine themselves with your mind, carrying you away to a different time and setting. Sometimes the journey is different every time you listen to the song, other times it is the same or similar. Skinny Love takes me on a similar journey every time, but I can’t really explain what that journey is. I wish I could put into words what I feel and see in my mind, but whenever I try to I just fail miserably. I guess this is one journey that is not meant to be shared. Maybe you have to figure out your own song-journey with Skinny Love.

I went with this video because I love the intimacy of the performance and how you can see the audience enjoying ev-er-y second. They are so incredibly lucky to be a part of such a small gig and I am completely and totally envious! Emerald green with it, in fact, busting our all over the place with bright greenness and blinding people all over the world.

I’m not exaggerating.

13. Skinny Love by Bon Iver

FYI, Birdy does a great cover of this song.
FYIA (for your information also), Justin Vernon, Bon Iver frontman, shares my birthday! You see, the epicness of his music and my love for it is fate, because obviously he’s awesome if we share the same birthday. Everything makes sense now. No, I do not have a celebricrush on him (I am probably fibbing right now).

Weekly Goals / 2

Posted at 10:29 am by & filed under DIY, Mind & Body.

weekly-goals
Image made using some pretty downloads from PuglyPixel.

weekly-goals_last-week

It did not go so great, actually, which is disappointing. I had one of those weeks where I ended up getting busy doing a million other things instead.

I did continue sanding my dresser and it’s almost ready for the stain. The drawer fronts are all sanded and have the undercoat on. I’m really excited about this project, I think the dresser is going to look so good when it’s finished! Also, I have only one coat of varnish left to do on the stool and corkboard frame, so while I didn’t do any exercise (unless helping the boyfriend move counts) I did get some of my goals almost complete.

weekly-goals_this-week
  1. Eat one piece of fruit a day. I want to train myself to replace my sugar cravings for chocolate and cakes with cravings for fruit.
  2. Find some great yarn for kids moccasins. I have plans to crochet some moccasins for my nephew, but I need to look through my yarn to see if I have the supplies or if I’ll need to stock up.
  3. Organise my craft supplies properly. I have just under two weeks until university starts again and I want all my craft supplies organised and in their proper place by then. Labelled, also, which means I need to recharge the batteries and get a new role of label tap for my labeller.

Here’s to a better week! xx

Commenting Issues

Posted at 1:32 am by & filed under WrongDecade News.

Earlier tonight my lovely friend Lisa let me know that the comments on the blog weren’t working. When I had a look, it turns out the comments and form weren’t even there! I have no idea how that happened, but I think I’ve got it pretty much fixed now.

Fingers crossed, anyway.

If you happen to notice any issues with commenting, you can email me using the contact form or send to sj.granger37[at]gmail[dot]com. Alternatively you can DM me on Twitter if we’re followers. :) I would be ever so grateful for the heads-up! I mean, I would even bake you cookies.

xo

Pretty Things

Posted at 6:23 pm by & filed under Pretty Things.

Image Source,Photobucket Uploader Firefox Extension
1. Turquoise walls and turquoise blue in general. It’s my fave. 

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos
2. The stunning home of Hans Ubbink. I wish, wish I lived there.

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos
3. Yes, this kid counts as a pretty (cute) thing person! I mean, how can you not have at least a mild squeal over the adorable?

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos
4. Audrey Hepburn with her pet deer, Ip.

Image Source,Photobucket Uploader Firefox Extension
5. Zoe and Morgan fox ring. I am in love with this, and basically everything else of theirs. Even better is that they are partly based here in New Zealand.

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos
6. Black chandelier? Yes, thanks, I will.

Image Source
7. Kristen Stewart. I love her face and I love her style.

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos
8. Dream pants! Seriously, I have been looking for something similar for ages and no luck for affordable or nice. :(

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos
9. Totally in love with this photo, and the bathing suit.

Image Source,Photobucket Uploader Firefox Extension
10. Painted owl rocks, the perfect way to use rocks. Unfortunately I do not have an original source for these. If you know who these cute rocks belong to, drop me a line.

Now for dinner! xo

Wednesday buddy time

Posted at 11:00 pm by & filed under Daily Life, Photography.

On Wednesdays my mum looks after my 17-month-old nephew, Tyler. Today I finally got to spend all day with them, now that classes and exams are over. Here’s some photos of what we got up to.

Vacuum dude

Tyler does housework

Telling me off

Car crash

Cuddles

Story time while lying on Auntie Sam

More story

Candy

Getting in mischief

Totally knows he's getting into mischief

Doing it anyway even though he knows he'll get in trouble

Mischief is clearly fun

Ha!

Cool dude

G’night! xo

12/100 Songs

Posted at 1:00 pm by & filed under Music, Film & Books.

This was a childhood favourite that my dad would regularly play on his acoustic guitar for me, typically in an effort to get me to sleep. I loved it when he would play guitar for me, but he’d pretty much have to put on a three-hour-long concert before I finally went to sleep.

Dad playing guitar are definitely some of my siblings’ and my favourite memories. :)

This video is a bit ridiculous but amusing anyway (and honestly better than many others I watched on my search for the best one!).

12. Yellow Submarine by The Beatles

Weekly Goals / 1

Posted at 7:00 pm by & filed under Inspiration.

weekly-goals
Image made using some pretty downloads from PuglyPixel.

As I mentioned earlier today, now that 8 weeks to a better me is over I have 10 goals I set for that project which I haven’t accomplished. I don’t really want to just stop now, leaving these 10 to hang in ‘what if?’ limbo. That would not be very nice for those goals, would it? Exactly – no! So I’m starting a new regular feature of making weekly goals in order to make the last 10 feel better about themselves (it’s not them, it’s me; honestly). Also, it’ll probably be good for me to continue the habit of making goals each week, especially ones that aren’t related to boring stuff like school.

Basically how this is going to work is that I will pick at least one of my remaining 10 goals, and add one or two new ones. While I would love to have a theme each week, like we did with the 8 weeks project, I don’t think that will be very realistic for me. I think I would end up repeating a lot of them! Plus there are some areas of interest which would be really difficult to do at certain times (i.e., cannot overhaul closet in the middle of study break, that would be dumb). Thus, my goals will be theme-less, for the most part.

Additionally, these are the kinds of things that should be able to be accomplished in one week. If I don’t complete a goal, it will go back into the pile to be used again at a later time.

So, what am I planning on doing this week? Well, I aim to…

  1. Workout x3. I have been feeling really bummed about my weight lately and the only way I’m going to kick the extra kilos and feel better is if I just start somewhere. This week I want to try my Jillian Michaels DVD!
  2. Finish sanding my dresser and get staining/painting it. Yesterday I began sanding off the old stain. It’s hard work but I’m incredibly thankful for an electric sander! If only there weren’t so many fiddly bits…
  3. Finish varnishing my stool and corkboard frame. The undercoat of varnish is on to seal the surface, and tomorrow I get to do the first proper coats. Exciting! Shiny! (Really shiny, actually.)

If you want to do this too, feel free to grab the image above and share your link in a comment. I would love to see what you’re doing. :)

8 weeks to a better me: Final report

Posted at 1:14 pm by & filed under Mind & Body.

8 weeks to a better me
Image from Sometimes Sweet

Well, it’s officially over; 8 weeks to a better me has come to an end. I’m going to finish with a progress report of the second 4 weeks, to go with the one I did half-way through.

In week five it was all about loving life and having fun! I aimed to do something fun, just for myself; document my days in a journal, focussing only on the good things that happened, the beautiful things I found and did; and laugh. Unfortunately I didn’t get either of the first two done, but I did manage to laugh despite university stress making light-hearted moments hard to come by.

If you read my first progress report, you’ll know I was keeping score between myself and ‘procrastination’. I ended with 8, procrastination with 4. Including week five this brings it too…
Sam – 9; procrastination – 6.

Weeks six was ‘Home Sweet Home’, a.k.a., making your home/bedroom/whatever right you. I aimed to make a virtual bedroom inspiration board; organise my craft supplies more; and find some new picture frames. Using Pinterest (one of the most brilliant sites ever) I created and added to a bedroom pin board. I also managed to organise my crafts a little bit more (but I still have a lot do); and unfortunately I had/I’m still having bum luck on picking up nice frames. Boo!

Sam – 11; procrastination/lack of decent picture frames – 7.

Week seven was all about cultivating our personal style. I aimed to think about my personal style, to see if I could really define it; make a list of a few of my favourite kinds of outfits; and contemplate selling some of my shoes, to make room for quality pairs that will last a long time. I thought about my style and decided that being eclectic is okay with me, that I don’t need to define my style as anything in particular. I also thought about selling some of my shoes but decided against it. I am not ready to part with some pairs just yet! I didn’t get around to making a list of favourite outfits though.

Sam – 13; procrastination – 8;

Week eight, the very last week, was about awakening our creative sides, something that is very dear to my heart. If I can’t be creative I go nuts. Anyway, I aimed to spend about 5 minutes per day with my craft journal – did not do; find some great yarn – did not do this either; and make a list of supplies needed for DIY projects – sort of did this. When I say ‘make a list’ I literally mean write it down, not think about it briefly while mentally escaping from studying. However, that is what I did, so it sort of counts. Especially because on Saturday I went to the DIY store and actually picked up all the things on my mental list and did not screw it up.

Therefore, Sam – 14; procrastination – 10. Technically I beat procrastination. Insert happy jig dance here.

This still leaves me with 10 incomplete goals though! Frankly, I am not okay with that, so I will continue to make weekly goals, using the 10 remaining and perhaps adding some new ones every-so-often. I’ll be making a brand new post all about it, later today!

If you did 8 weeks to a better me, how did you get on? What did you love? What was hard for you? Have you learned anything new about how you handle goals? I would love you hear about your experience! :)

xo

Saturday

Posted at 9:52 pm by & filed under Daily Life.

Josh and I woke up late. It was the day after my last exam and I was finally free for three weeks! No stress, no deadlines, no classes, no buses. Hurrah! We lazed around for awhile then went out for breakfast. This is where I apologise for the crappy cell phone quality photos.

I’d been wanting to try out a new cafe a couple of suburbs away, one that sells only desserts. A cafe for desserts. Yeah, I know. I died, too.

Our table pigs
We sat at table 3 and used our cool chunky number as a prop.

Big cute smile :3
I was going for the cute cartoon smile.

<3/hearts
Josh was romanticising me with a heart. He hates having photos taken, so this was literally as good as I could get.

Teacup stack
This adorable cafe is called Quirk and is situation on Picton Street in Howick, East Auckland. I grew up around the area so I am pretty fond of Howick’s little village atmosphere, cute cafes, antique shops, and sea views.

Upcycled felt totes
Quirk was selling these adorable upcycled felt totes.

Citrus tart
Josh had a citrus tart with cream and strawberry sauce.

Hotcakes
I had hotcakes with maple syrup, vanilla ice cream, and cream.

Cookies and cream cupcake
We shared a cookies and cream cupcake…

Cappuccino
…and we both had cappuccinos with cinnamon on top.

Our food and drinks were pretty yummy, and the cafe was so cute!

After that we took a look in a couple of the antique stores nearby, both falling for at least a few items each. Mine were jewellery, surprise-surprise! When am I not going gaga over jewellery? Probably when I’m going gaga over shoes, I guess.

Antique antlers

Cute classes

Andy Warhol quote

Wooden moose head
(I really, really want something like this, but in white.)

Sleeping baby

Typewriter

Old photos

Pink drawers

Bits and bobs

We also stopped by the local music store so Josh could try out amps and so I could swoon over blue guitars.

Blue guitars

Vintage-looking amps

Cute amp

The.End. xo

frankie

Posted at 9:25 pm by & filed under Music, Film & Books.

It’s not often I buy magazines these days. When I was a teenager, every month I would look forward to each new issue of my favourites. It’s been a long time since I have read a magazine that I have adored from cover to cover and that isn’t just pretty photos of expensive interiors. I haven’t read a Cosmopolitan or similar since I was desperate in a waiting room earlier this year, and it took me all of a minute to give up because being told that I need to spice up my sex life with something-or-other because they have unlocked the ‘mystery of men’, or that my eyelashes are not long enough, just does not fly with me.

There are those mags like Mindfood, which I can enjoy. They generally contain interesting, intelligent articles, but I’m not 35 or older. I cannot relate to the audience in which those magazines are primarily targeted. I do not have a family, I do not have my own home, I do not have a need for anti-ageing serums. I need to read something that is designed for and written by people of my generation. I especially want women writers who do not come across as ditzy fools, slaves to unrealistic female ideals. I need intelligence, wit, creativity, decent taste, and something that, when I open it up to flick through I think “Oooh, these are my people!” A moment in which I feel like I’ve found a bit of home between the pages.

Last week I had some down-time from exam study. After treating myself to my first ever spa pedicure (man, I wanted to fall asleep so badly during it), I went to the book store. And I found It. The one.

Frankie magazine

I found frankie, in all its pale gray, non-gloss, thick paged glory. I picked it up and read the subtitle “Do. Make. Look. Listen. Say. Think”, a little rush went through my body. Carefully I opened the front cover and peeked inside. I looked further, skimmed a couple of articles, glanced at beautiful photography. These are my people. This is my magazine. Finally, I have found a magazine that I know will be amazing every issue, that will be relevant to my life. I didn’t put frankie back.

I spent the next three days slowly savouring every little detail. I learned new things, felt engaged with all the content, died many times over stunning pictures and cute things, and laughed a lot.

I cannot wait for the next issue.