"Life, what is it?"

Meme Day - Day 6 & 7

2009-12-12T22:34:59Z

~~Day 01 → Your favorite song~~
~~Day 02 → Your favorite movie~~
~~Day 03 → Your favorite television program~~
~~Day 04 → Your favorite book~~
~~Day 05 → Your favorite quote~~
Day 06 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 07 → A photo that makes you happy
Day 08 → A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 → A photo you took
Day 10 → A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 → A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 → A fictional book
Day 14 → A non-fictional book
Day 15 → A fanfic
Day 16 → A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 → An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 → A talent of yours
Day 20 → A hobbie of yours
Day 21 → A recipe
Day 22 → A website
Day 23 → A YouTube video
Day 24 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25 → Your day, in great detail
Day 26 → Your week, in great detail
Day 27 → This month, in great detail
Day 28 → This year, in great detail
Day 29 → Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 → Whatever tickles your fancy

Busy over the weekend, and look what happens fall behind in this meme.

Day 6 - What ever tickles my fancy. Mmmmm
Hot chocolate !!!
Day 7 - There are way to many photos that make me smile, but here's one. H ended up being on stage during Spamalot here in Melbourne. He was sitting on 'The Chair'.

Market this Saturday!!!

2009-11-24T02:15:41Z

I have a stall at this market. So looking forward to it. As I said on Twitter, I really enjoy being in a room full of creative people. One can feel the creative energy floating about everywhere. That may sound weird, but it's the best way I can describe it. Also glad to see that my stall is next to Fab from 'Little Cooties', we have become fellow craft friends. This will be my last market for the year, next year I plan to really apply for more markets and try and complete a few more goals.

My biggest dream would be:- If I had some spare change :-) I would set up a craft / paper shop, stock all my friends products in it and others, with of course a little craft/paper bookshop on the side with a nice cafe to complete it. Locations I would choose, Chapel St, Brunswick St or the City. Does anyone have spare change? ;-)

I'm also looking forward to just visiting all the other markets that either Karen karenandmichael, Jennie vestalvagrant and Margaret missmargaret will be at. I miss just visiting the markets and enjoying looking at everyone's products and having a chat.

Addicted to Money

2009-11-05T11:01:37Z

Just watched part 1 of the 3 part series called 'Addicted to Money: Who Killed the Economy'.

Fascinating show, I loved the following quotes

'what liberates you also enslaves you'

Of course he was referring to money. Also reminds me of my favourite line in the 'The Verb' song 'Bitter Sweet Symphony'
'Trying to make ends meet , you're a slave to money then you die.'

'lifestyle porn'

Liked this, referring to wanting all material items etc etc.

Credit is from the Latin word 'Credo', meaning 'to trust' or 'I believe'

This meaning, I did not know. I actually find the meaning a little scary.

At the end of the episode I said to my husband, all I can think of is that cult science fiction film 'They Live'.

Party Report

2009-11-01T06:48:24Z

Last night we went to Andreas birthday party which had a Halloween theme. Driving on the way to his place we saw the odd crowd walking around in costume. I feel Halloween is defiantly crawling into the Australian culture. Which I personally don't mind because I love the decorations and costumes.

The party was lovely and there were many assortment of costumes, ranging from witches, devils, injured person with bullet marks in his head. I said to Tim, he really needs to get that looked at and offered my husband (a vet) could help with the stitching. ;-)

At one point in the night I went and watched 'Hello Kitty' with the kids. Bad but cute cartoon. I had never seen the show, so I just had to have a look. When I told N that my 9 year old son liked Hello Kitty, you should have seen her face expression. It was absolutely classic. It was a combination of sheer shock and surprise. Yes 9 year old boys can like cute things too.

I was so glad that Andreas liked his presents and he didn't have them. I always have that fear when giving books, especially when they are on a particular theme.

It was a great night and I hope Andreas enjoyed himself.

I was a teenager last night, but today I'm feeling my age.........

2009-10-25T07:13:42Z

Errrr I'm so tired and was a little seedy this morning when I was in the car when we had to go to H's clinic to check on animals. But now I'm a little bit more human.

Last night enjoyed a packed full 40th Birthday party for Trudi chocolatetrudi . The theme was 1980s. I decided to go as Cyndi Lauper , so all I needed to do was hire some full skirts from Eltham's costume hire place and make up the rest. Had fun making my hair a little wild and almost used a whole can of red hair spray. Our poor dog kept sneezing while I was doing my hair.

We arrived around 8.30pm to the sound of much chattering and 80's music. Ahhh memory lane. Trudi went as Madonna in 'Desperately Seeking Susan'. She made her jacket which was fantastic, she did an excellent job. There was a vast collection of costumes, Devo, V, Ghostbusters, Fraggle Rock, New Romantics and many padded shoulders and leg warmers etc.

Trudi had professional bar tenders at her party. They whipped up cocktails so quickly and professionally. The young man behind the bar said, "who are you dressed up as"? I said, "Cyndi Lauper". He said, "who?". Ahhhhhh I explained and said to him you must be early 20's. He said yes, I said, "I'm old enough to be your mother". I groaned and left with my margarita.

To end the night, was a great rubiks cube chocolate cake. Yumo. I took seconds.

I hope Trudi had an excellent time. Look forward to seeing an end product from that knitting book Trudi. ;-)

Northside Makers Market

2009-10-11T08:04:15Z

Boy I'm tired from yesterday, and if I'm tired, I would hate to think how tired the organisers are www.northsidemakers.com

The day started off well. Karen (Cosmic Cat Creations) karenandmichael and I met up at around 8.20am. They had asked for volunteers to help set up, so of course we roped our selves in. Our job was to set up two chairs for each stallholder and label them. Thank goodness I brought my glasses.

Anyway, set up went fine. I was really happy with my new layout of my table. One thing I have noticed and have read about on other blogs. Is to add height for your products. It tends to get the customers attention and of course makes ones table a little more interesting. To add height I purchased an old magazine rack from a Salvos op shop a few days ago. I was happy with the find, because I wanted a better way to show off my gift wrap. It did the trick to a certain extent, you couldn't see the gift wrap on the other side. Will have to think a little more for future displays.

Overall the day was great. Great weather, really nice vibe, lovely and cute location. Love the stage and court yard. Overall the organisers did an excellent job and should be proud. My only regret, I really couldn't browse for ages, every visit for a stall was a flying visit.

Note: For more pics go to www.pivx.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday Marita!!!

2009-10-07T03:27:01Z

Happy Birthday Marita msvda

Hope you had fantastic day!

See ya Saturday!

Lv Beky

Crochet and Skateboarding.

2009-09-29T07:08:35Z

Mr. Chip and I went to one of his fav skateboard parks to do a little scooting (YMCA Skateboard Park on the banks of the Yarra River). As you can see I filled my time with crochet. :-) It was wonderful to sit in the sun and hopefully get some Vitamin D into me.

While I was crocheting I had a young guy ask me what I was doing, I explained. He stated that he knew how to knit. Surprised me, a young guy with a skateboard knows how to knit! It proves don't judge a person by their looks.

Royal Melbourne Show

2009-09-22T08:05:48Z

I must admit I am not a fan of the Royal Melbourne Show, loud and expensive. So as you can guess I have been putting it off to take Callum to the show.

We parked at Flemington racecourse and lined up for 1/2 hour to purchase entry tickets. Next time I will buy them through Ticketeck.

Callum was extremely excited once he saw the rides. He went on many while I stood and watched. Rides are not my thing, as he always says, "he is the daredevil in the family". Even if I wanted to go on them, I really cant because of my high blood pressure.

We watched the Bush Games, checked out the art & craft area for me and saw Jen's tram cushion. She won second place! Yeah Jen!!!!

Later we went into the 'Taste Experience'. Callum saw his first celebrity, Chris from Masterchef, so you can guess he was amazed. Yes Chris was wearing the hat!

Overall a great day, I just faded that last 1/2 hour, the noise was just too much for me. I'm getting old. ;-)

Callum located on the 1st floor deck.

Jen's wonderful tram cushion, won second prize!

My son is somewhere up there.

Happy Birthday Paul!

2009-09-12T23:59:05Z

Happy Birthday Paul! paul_ewins

May the day be filled with hugs, love, more whisky, inspiration, chocolate cake, pecan pie and a good book.

Lv Beky

Made In Thornbury market - no longer a market virgin

2009-09-06T06:50:29Z

Great day yesterday, see my full report and photos on my blog www.pivx.blogspot.com .

I received a lovely comment from my stall neighbour Fab at 'Little Cooties' www.littlecooties.blogspot.com She asked if I was a graphic designer, I said no I haven't done a professional course, I am self taught. She felt I had an eye and there was a style there. That was really nice. Found out later she used to be a graphic designer for MX Newspaper, wow.

Great day and a big thank you to Jan, H, Callum, Margaret, Jay, Jennie, Karen, Maria, Donna, Kathy for all your support with the business.

Money for Jam

2009-09-02T11:03:41Z

Just watched 'Money for Jam' on the box. I was quite happy with myself, after reading on their show that the average household spends $281 on weekly groceries. I'm pleased to say that our average bill is $150 to $200.

I remember once bumping into a mother from Callums school at the supermarket. She couldn't believe what was in our trolley was to feed us for a week. She didn't think there was enough there. When I told her our budget was around $150.00 she was shocked. I just try to keep the shopping under control. Having said that, it has been hard seeing food prices keep going up.

Mad Men Season 3

2009-08-12T08:03:00Z

I'm going a little 'Mad Men' crazy on the net at the moment seeing Season 3 is due to be released in the states soon. Here are some lovely pics, to just drool over costumes etc.

I remember once reading that the costume designer thought the costumes for 'Joan Holloway' were her crowning glory

Read an interview with the costume designer, Janie Bryant
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/07/LVQ51939RK.DTL

PINK Concert

2009-08-03T07:05:30Z

Back in February mum rang me up and said, we are going to the PINK concert. What!!!!?? She had purchased two tickets for us to see PINK. I was very surprised, one - mum bought me a ticket and two I had no idea my mum was a big PINK fan.

Well it's August and we ventured to the Rod Laver Arena. I must admit I am not a PINK fan, I do like her music, but unfortunatly in the last month or so Fox FM Radio has played Pink's music to death. To the point I was tired of hearing her, thus I would change the station. Luckly last night changed all that.

Supporting act was Nevermore, great support act and so nice to hear their hits. PINK didn't start until 9.30pm. She played most of her hits, a few cover versions of 'Touch Myself' - Divinyls, Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen and a Led Zeppelin number as well. Her version of 'I Touch Myself' was of course very sexy, with her lying down with hands coming through the couch touching her. At one point I thought she was going to do a Madonna style of 'Like a Virgin'. I must say the version of Bohemian Rhapsody was amazing and I would almost put it on equal par to Queen's which I heard live back in the 80's.

The set design - 'Fun House' styles, one of the best set designs I have seen at a concert. Lots of light, colour, two slides and large clowns at one point. The costumes were great. Assortment of kinki fetish, circus and burlesque styles. I had to chuckle seeing all the cute women bouncing up and down on a bed having a pillow fight. :-) Not only amazing costumes but amazing trapeze acts by the dancers and PINK! Had no idea she can do proper trapeze work.

Freaky thing for the evening. Bumped into two people from the Star Wars Fan Club, and ended up sitting next to a family I know from Mr. Chip's school. How freaky is that!

Great night, overall I would put the concert in my top 10 favourite concerts.

Sisters Market, Risotto and Meteors

2009-08-02T02:19:09Z

Yesterday mum jmrt and I went to the Sisters Market to check out the wonderful stalls and see missmargaret . Once again so many wonderful goodies and talented people. Noticed this time however there were a few men behind the stalls, unusual but good. I ended up buying a wonderful wrap around skirt with the remaining of my birthday money (thanks in-laws).

Then we checked out Olive Grove, which I have heard so much about from missmargaret. Mum ended up buying a beautiful piece of artwork. Then off to fill our belly's with the best risotto, filled with chicken, avocado, garlic and shallots! Mmm just wants some now.

Last night Mr. Chip stayed at my mums, so had some quality time with the hubby watching an episode of 'Mad Men and then a B Grade TV movie 'Meteor'. So ace, it's the kind of one you watch and heckle. Enjoyed watching the end of the world while eating cheeses, pate, dips and drinking red wine.

Tonight going to see 'Pink' with mum. Certainly a hectic weekend.

20 Cheesiest Pick-up lines to use on graphic designers

2009-07-28T10:21:44Z

Got this via Facebook etc.

20 Cheesiest Pick-up Lines to Use on Graphic Designers

Posted Thursday, 23 July 2009 by Peter Alexander in Design, Entertainment, Photoshop

If you’re looking to romance a graphic designer, we can help. Here are some ice-breakers cheesier than Cheez Whiz guaranteed to help you find someone to love, to hold and to go halfers on a new copy of Photoshop CS4 with you.

I wish I had an Eyedropper to capture the color of your eyes.
Has anybody ever told you that your teeth have perfect kerning?
If you were a logo, it would be for a really premium brand.
I’m just like a global nav; I love to be on top.
Come back to my place and I’ll show you a really naughty way to fill up some negative space.
Would you like to lorem ipsum dolor sit on my lap?
If I went to a stock photography site and typed in the keyword: “sexy”, I bet there’d be a picture of you.
I couldn’t help but notice your eye path went right to my smudge stick.
If I hit Shift + [ will it increase the hardness of your brush?
Just looking at you from across the bar, I could tell you display high Brightness and Vibrance, and have multiple Layers.
You look perfectly put together. Do you display this well in IE?
I like my fonts sans-serif, and you sans-pants.
If you bring the tool, I’ll bring the color palette.
I dig your look and feel.
If you like what you see now, wait’ll you look below the fold.
Let’s “Skip Intro” and just go find a hotel room right now.
When I serve you breakfast in bed tomorrow, would you like your coffee with cream and sugar, or do you prefer it #000?
Do you want to touch my Bézier curves?
What if I told you the fly on my legs opens quicker than a 500kb JPEG file?
Mind if I take you for a usability test?

The costume that got away

2009-07-27T03:54:47Z

Check out how I tried to make a costume for my birthday party on my other blog www.pivx.blogspot.com/

The Birthday Party - The Day After

2009-07-19T08:25:27Z

I'm going to make this post a little short, I'm a little fragile after my 40th birthday party.
I was so happy how the party went. I thank every single person who came, it means so much to me, you are all very special friends.
Here are two photo's for now, more to come later.

Me with my husband H. He is dressed as Rolf Harris

After the party I had some quiet time in my pj's and read my 1968 Womens Day Mag
(Thank you M & A)

Archery

2009-07-13T12:35:02Z

Well Mr. Chip had his first archery lesson tonight, 2 hours for $15.00. Pretty good price I thought. He enjoyed himself and wasn't too bad, but he showed he was nervous, he wouldn't stop talking. Lets hope next weeks lesson is a bit quieter.

I didn't participate this week, hopefully doing that next week with H. While sitting there, my mind began to wander in it's typical way. Those bow's are amazing weapons. This is where my brain went weird. Bows - weapons - oh they will be handy if there is an apocalypse. See brain goes weird, when I sit and do nothing. Kicking myself for not bringing a book to read.

Happy Birthday Sarah!!!!!!!

2009-07-11T04:02:51Z

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sarah! smuffster

Skateboard Park / Ian Hewitson / St. Kilda

2009-07-07T10:10:57Z

Today Mr.Chip and myself drove into the city, what a glorious day it was too. Our first stop was the huge skateboard park on the banks of the Yarra River. Chip had fun scooting around for an hour while I read T's book in the sunshine. Bliss!

Then it was off to the beach to have another scoot and have lunch. While walking along the foreshore, we saw celebrity chef Ian Hewitson (from Huey's Cooking Adventures' ) cooking away while being filmed. Of course it was all being filmed next to the prestigious restaurant 'Donovans' Mr. Chip was very happy, seeing he watches Huey' show nearly every afternoon. So after our celebrity watching we walked down the St.Kilda pier and had the best hot chocolates and comfort food. Yeah.

Barbie, Transformers and Craft

2009-07-06T02:35:01Z

This weekend my son Mr. Chip went off to Echuca with my mum, so I did a few activities.

Firstly visited the Barbie expo at Federation Square with Deb and Jen. I'm not a collector, but seeing I had Barbies when I was young I thought it was be interesting to see the expo to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Barbie. Overall it wasn't bad, one saw an assortment of Babies ranging from the 1970's to now. Not as much vintage as I had hoped. I guess the highlight for me was seeing the Barbie Townhouse. I used to have one, so seeing a Barbie Townhouse in a glass cabinet was very amusing and brought the memories flooding back. My big disappointment was that one could not take photos. Photos could only be taken in the merchandise area. To look back it, if I had known it was going to be like what it was, I probably wouldn't have gone. For more info on the expo go to www.barbie.com.au
It ends on the 12th of July

Saturday night, finally got around to seeing 'Transformers'. I was in the mood for a fast action flick with lots of robots fighting. And I got what I wanted. I really enjoyed the film, but I preferred the first one, it had more heart and soul. Hubby and I just admired the work involved with the lightening, compositing, roto, modeling, animators etc etc of the CGI. Amazing work.

Sunday, H and I went to a craft market to visit missmargaret , yes that's right, you read correctly. H went to a craft market. I wanted him to see Margaret's Konstant Koas stall and see what else the craft market had in stall. I asked him what he thought. My husband said in his dry sense of humor, "the sixties are not dead, it's alive and well in that hall". If you know H's humor you will understand his dry humor. I bought a few goodies, check out the photo on www.pivx.blogspot.com Oh H also stated that it wasn't his cup of tea, because there was no computer keyboard in site. Mmmmm He such a dag, but extrememly supportive of my blooming craft interest.

Crossing the Ditch - Book out Now!

2009-07-01T03:03:17Z

Remember the boys who kayaked from Australia to New Zealand? Well the book is now out. I for one will buying a copy. :-)

Text from the Media Release.

We're super excited to announce that our book Crossing the Ditch has just been released! It's hitting shelves right round Australia and New Zealand as we speak. Grab a signed copy from our website or any good bookstore today!

James absolutely loved writing Crossing the Ditch! It's not only about the journey, but also the years leading up to the crossing and the huge transformation that Jonesy and he went through in getting there. It's a brutally honest account that not only delves into all the ugly stuff but more importantly provides an insight to the reader of "why?"

“Our journey across the Tasman was frightening at times. Sharks tearing at our hull, 30-foot waves crashing over our kayak, and the possibility that the stern of the boat might be ripped away; these were all very real fears. Who were we to take on the Tasman Sea? But the little kid inside me screamed, ‘Have a go, ya mug.’” — James Castrission

All copies ordered on www.crossingtheditch.com.au will be signed. Yahoo!!

"This is the gripping and inspirational account of two ordinary blokes deciding to shake off their slack city ways, climb out of their fat comfortable ruts, and use their brains, their brawn and their sheer awe-inspiring courage to turn themselves into modern-day supermen and double-handedly prove that The Age of Adventure is not over!" — Peter FitzSimons

Eureka Skydeck & The Edge

2009-06-30T09:59:29Z

Mr. Chip received a free child's pass for the Eureka Skydeck when he registered for the MS Readathon. So I promised him we would venture to the tower during the school holidays. Well today was the day.

Took the train in, lunch at Southgate and then walked to the Eureka Tower. Got into the lift, that was an adventure in it's self! The lift travels 9 meters every second, and boy did I feel it. I took note not to look at the level indicator, but couldn't block out the lift narrator blaring out statistics about the lift and the tower. Groan.

We arrived at the 88 floor. Wow what a view, the photo's will speak for themselves. Mr. Chip wanted to do 'The Edge', yes we had to pay extra for that. I was (as a mother) very reluctant to let him go, but it's times like these you just have to let that umbilical cord stretch that little bit longer. So I let him go on 'The Edge'. He loved it. However I was scared for my baby, and also nervous for me. In order to get some photo's I had to go outside on the observation deck, bloody hell it was windy, but I did it. Coming down in the lift was better, however everyone in the lift had their ears popping.

Anyway the whole trip was worth it, yes I spent a lot but we had a great time.

Mr. Chip in 'The Edge'

Busy Week

2009-06-25T06:19:25Z

This week feels like it has been going for awhile. Monday Mr. Chip was in a Chess Tournament, he seemed to enjoy it but was a little cranky that he didn't win.

Also during the week I have been listening to 1960's and 1970's music, getting a feel to what I should play at my birthday party. One thing I have found interesting, is listening to the songs and thinking, 'oh that was sung by such and such in the 80's!' Well, here I thought those bands were singing original songs, but no they were cover versions. Also sent out more invites for my party. Seeing I do a lot of contact with e-mail, it just made realise that I don't have everyone's address. I guess sign of the times.

Did some work for my boss this week. It's so cool being able to say that. :-)

Tonight we have some of the crew and cast coming back to our place to redo a shot. Thankfully we don't have to be quiet for this shot.

Also planning to go quickly to Sydney to see my Aunty and her husbands new son. So looking forward to that.