Business Time

Andrew Gonzalez' Unio Mystica

I've been able to complete a bunch of missions today - yuss! It has been an amazing week full of beautiful things.

♠ Working on branding for Pennyroyal

♠ Wearing a couple of PR rings out and about and joyously thwacking them against random hard surfaces to test durability

♠ I feel really positive about the decision I made to leave Tech - my body is thanking me in small ways already

♠ The specialist appointment I had on Wednesday was a total success; I am booked in for investigative keyhole surgery in mid-October. Having my own private room with an ensuite will be wonderful, though I am still thankful that it will only be an overnight stay!

♠ Baking more cupcakes! Ever since the SPCA fundraiser I have become obsessed

♠ Communal Outrageous Fortune viewing on Tuesday night, complete with mind-blowing (seriously, so delicious) fruit cheese and a whole lot of dark chocolate

Pennyroyal is kicking in to gear; I have sold my first piece already! I am starting this business with calm focus, positive intent and a whole lotta love.

♥,

To The Stars

Every now and then I wander around the HubbleSite gallery and reinvigorate myself via the beauty and strength of this crazy vast space we occupy.



Truly awesome.

♥,

Making Things is Awesome

Os Gémeos and Blu do beautiful things in Lisbon. Via Ffffound

It has been an amazing week. The most gorgeous selection of cameos and vintage cabochons are one their way to Pennyroyal HQ. I can really sink my teeth into producing the range when they arrive. Exciting beyond belief!

Hell yes...

♠ Seasonal vegetable curry from Khana Kharzana (sp?). Vegan; cheap; delicious

♠ Being accepting of change

♠ Craving chocolate, then remembering about an uneaten Aero. Victory!

♠ The Wire. If you haven't seen it yet, obtain a copy somehow...

♠ Milo. Back with a vengence

♠ Going out for Japanese food with Cam, Paul and Maia; Hede is rad when it's not super-busy. Inari, teriyaki fish, inappropriate Rosé. Good times ♥

♠ Being able to walk to the library on a sunny, warm, glittering Sunday

♠ Having a bunch of new books to read: The Tao of Now (Josh Baran), God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (Kurt Vonnegut), Sixteen Shades of Crazy (Rachel Trezise) and The Unit (Ninni Holmqvist). Awesome! I'm also reading, after having had it sitting on my bookshelf for years, Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Excellent

♠ Making a double batch of cupcakes (orange and blueberry; blue orange-flavoured icing and sprinkles ♥) and eating until I had them coming out of my ears


Shoe design by Kobi Levi! Via Ffffound

See also:


Postcard Set Kitties by Gemmabear. Via Ffffound

Through which I found the truly genius:


Pugs not Drugs tee by Gemmabear. Via Ffffound

Every single item in her shop brings a smile to my face :-D

♥,

No More Fashion Tech / Kristen Ferrell

Coco Rocha by Solve Sundsbo, via Ffffound

On Friday afternoon I downloaded Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, TLC, Divinyls, Lady Gaga, The Runaways, Veruca Salt, Roxette, Salt 'n Pepa. It was a ladyfest at work on Saturday!

Cool things that happened last week...

♠ One of the girls at Tech asked if she could do a tarot reading for me; I'd never had one done before, it was a really rewarding experience. I felt super-positive afterwards ♥

♠ Penny-the-kitten being fitted with a suave leopard print collar and becoming hilariously unhappy about it

♠ Assessment day at Tech went so well; Friday was also speech day (!), mine was about goth fashion, muahaha. I walked out of the building after class with a light heart and lucid head. So sweet

♠ A bunch of confirmation emails waiting in my inbox relating to various purchases of ring findings for my range. Exiting times!

Onwards...

For the last five weeks or so, I've been having post-surgery troubles. I've had to take a bunch of days off of class; too many days, as it turns out. Boo! The class schedule is too tight, from now until the end of course, for me to make up what I've missed so far (let alone the odd day that I'd likely have to miss during the next little while).

On one hand it is disappointing and frustrating as all hell. I busted my ass sooo hard to get into Pattern Design and now the same problem that held me back in Garment Tech has ruined my hope of graduating from this course. Yesterday I came home from Tech and had a big cry and moped around a little.

On the other hand, after having thought about things and gained perspective, ever since Cam came back from Sydney, asking if I want to move over there with him next year, my path moved away from Fashion Tech and towards SIT.

Unlike Tech, SIT's Applied Fashion Diploma starts patternmaking from scratch, so everything I have learned and would have learned is bonus knowledge (which I was stoked about, but it isn't essential).

It is tempting to keep going to class despite not being able to graduate. I am not going to.

Three things:

♠ Charm my way into full time work (+ Saturdays at Cosmic, keepin' it real) in order to start save save saving $$$ for relocating to Sydney
♠ Release my range of rings successfully
♠ Obtain patternmaking tools and do what I can with what I've learned so far

By full time work I actually mean '30 hours, 4 days a week'. That'd be IDEAL.

Hah, good luck lady.

After scouring a few websites I've rounded up a whole bunch of jobs to apply for and tomorrow aim to prepare an irresistable CV to wave in front of prospective employers. I'd love to get another job that inspires and delights me as much as working at Cosmic Corner does, but am not holding my breath. Cosmic's right up there when it comes to sweet places to work.



Dentures Cupcake by Kristen Ferrell

I have one of Kristen's t-shirts, a severed-finger print, it is morbidly wonderful. She is one cool cat, and one of the people whose work and kick-ass attitude inspired me to grab hold of my dreams. Buy her cupcakes!

"Every day the choice is presented to us, to live up to the spirit that is in us, or deny it."
Henry Miller

The plan is to take it as easy as I have to until my abdomen is back up and running, hopefully only a week or two, then land a job that will help me fast-track to Sydney.

Everything happens for a reason!

♥,

Cupcake Day

Lee Friedlander self-portrait; Westport, Connecticut 1968. Via Ffffound

Cosmic on Cuba St had a cupcake fundraiser for the SPCA this past weekend. Technically, Cupcake Day is supposed to be today, but Ish decided to do it during a busier time so we could entice more people with sweet treats!

Ish and I held down the fort during the day on Saturday, it was lots of fun. We made an awesome, irresistable display. There were SO MANY CUPCAKES, the smell of sugary-sweet baked goods was making us salivate allll day.

I was late for work due to running a last minute icing-and-sprinkles gauntlet :-p As far as lateness for work goes, though, icing cakes for the animals must be up there in the top 5 best excuses. Photos to come!

Fundraising-baking has given me a little cupcake fever. Yesterday afternoon I made a double batch of chocolate (with chocolate icing squiggles, chocolate sprinkles and a peppermint Poppit on top) and orange (with orange icing and candy sprinkles, half with blueberries as well); we've been reaping the delicious rewards ever since. There are three left, soon to be two... YUM ♥

Up, up...

♠ Using the time I have to spend away from class due to post-surgery pain productively and steadily working on the range of rings

♠ Knowing that everything will work out in the end

♠ Eating lots of cupcakes

♠ Leggings; pants-free ftw

♠ The weather getting warmer; Wellington is such a tease sometimes

♠ Discovering that the company Tech gets it's patternmaking equipment from has an online store - best find in ages!

♠ Ordering a whole bunch of ring shanks - exciting times ♥



Facebook Should Stop Censoring Marijuana Legalization Campaign Ads - They sure should. | "Twenty years ago today, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 became law. " 28/08/10 at No Right Turn. | Don’t pine for our clean green brand, stop GE! - This "brand NZ" crap is nonsense, the Greens should stay right away from it. But I love them for having an anti-GE stance. History is slowly proving the hippies right, after all.| From Adding Noughts in Vain: How Hard Would Dramatic Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions Really Be? "...the sooner big business stops paying lobbyists to derail change and starts paying engineers to work out how to solve the problem, the better."

♥,

Back to Bed

via Ffffound

It's been a while! The last X amount of time has been wonderful; lots of ideas and action. Zero motivation to blog, however. I have jotted down a couple of things along the way:

"The weekend was awesome. Work; long lunch with Cam and Shell; Matty P's birthday gig at his place, dancing to new No Love Lost songs and Kyuss covers, talking smack and smiling a lot; Sunday in bed with Big Bang Theory, kittens and amazing company."

"An incredible time of late!"

The prospect of moving to Sydney next year has required a COMPLETE overhaul of near-future plans, which rather than being frightening has left me feeling exhilerated and so psyched about the possibilities! All of a sudden I could be doing the rest of my fashion upskilling and business start-up somewhere BIG. One step at a time and before you know it...


via Ffffound
Happinesses:

♠ Planning for my range of rings! I'm so excited about this project :-D

♠ Stayin' positive despite the soreness

♠ Moving to Sydney next year with Cam ♥

♠ Getting more work done on my sleeve (yay home studio)

♠ Sexy new lingerie from Bendon. The changing rooms in the Lambton Quay store make it even more of a pleasure to be in there

♠ Having super-blonde hair again; just need to lift a little more of the yellow-tone near the roots!

♠ Zazzy sour candy stripes; 60 cents, let the good times roll

♠ Moving out of our flat and into somewhere awesome (if we can find someone to take over the lease - fingers crossed!)

♠ The Wire. Cam and I are total converts; we're 2/3 way through season four right now and it is just so good

♠ Having an industrial sewing machine at home. Yuss!!! I'm still getting used to its idiosyncracies, but with a little more practice time I'll be able to sew up a storm at home. As soon as I am physically able to operate the machine again :-p

♠ Cheese pizza. KEEN AS

♠ Cupcake Day tomorrow (Saturday 28th) at Cosmic Corner! We are raising money for the SPCA - come buy some treats!

♠ Tramadol. Currently preventing me from being completely useless

Afghan elections: Record number of women stand for parliament - "Despite everyday prejudice and Taliban death threats a record number of female candidates are standing in September polls." - Amazing, brave women. Good luck to them in their struggle. | Columbia and Venezuela make peace | WikiLeaks preparing to release more Afghan files - "He gave no specific timeframe for their release, but he said that his organisation was about halfway through 15,000 or so secret files previously held back from publication. " Wikileaks is doing excellent work, long may it continue!| Sow crates could be in our past if Green Bill gets support

Lots of good things happen and are happening, but you wouldn't think so by reading almost any given news source. It's not all bad out there! People and communities are doing amazing, life-giving things every day.

via Ffffound

♥,

Damn You, MoreFM

Batgirl Will Save Us by Gaetan Henrioux. Via Ffffound

Yusss:

♠ Having my face licked right off by the friendliest of kittens

♠ My amazing mum ran a half-marathon last Sunday. Isn't that just so damn cool? I am extremely proud of her

♠ A kete full of mandarins, apples, oranges and kiwifruit; winter cold begone!

♠ Goverment confirms mining backdown. YES!!!

♠ Henry Rollins and William Shatner

♠ Happy, productive days despite extreme tiredness

♠ Making a draft, block and pattern for a skirt this week ♥

♠ Feeling centred and more focussed than ever

♠ Kitchen-time. When I'm in the mood for it, making food is one of my favourite things (and when I'm not in the mood for it, you just watch me laze on down the road to get fish n chips three nights a week). Tonight involved vege stir fried rice and bluberry-orange muffins. YUM. So satisfying

Gutted that I'm not at all keen on 85% of M.I.A's new album! Arular and Kala are solidly awesome A thru Z, so I had high hopes. The only two tracks on Maya that grab hold for me are 'Born Free' and 'Meds and Feds' (which is amazing).

Trawling mp3boo is definitely worthwhile. Along with a whole bunch of sweet albums, there is many a bonus laugh to be had. This amuses me on many levels: A Bullet for Pretty Boy; as does this: Leaves' Eyes; and this: Blood on the Dance Floor (!).

Unable to sleep due to excitement about a certain someone arriving home tomorrowday! Instead, I am combining the following elements: Hot chocolate + muffin + kitten + hot water bottle.

Via Ffffound

♥,

Little Victories

Illustration by Bohumil Stepan for The Green Mare by Marcel Aymé (1966). Via A Journey Round My Skull

Yum:

♠ Patternmaking being AMAZING. Our first project is making a quilt; it is going to be my nana-blanket :-D

♠ A productive Sunday afternoon filtering and photoshopping my way to a few logo designs for the soon-to-be Etsy store - I love how they've come together!

♠ Beginning to make a list of rad things to do next time I'm in Melbourne

♠ 7 Days (TV3, Friday night. Do it!). Taking the piss out of politicians, the media, celebrities, each other and everyone else. ♥ Dai Henwood

♠ Outrageous Fortune being back! Mulled wine, bread&cheese, sweet company and one of the best shows ever makes for an awesome Tuesday night

♠ Lauryn Hill (Fugees - Some Seek Stardom). Lady, I love you

♠ Making film-festival-going plans

♠ Making heaps of pasta for dinner; leftovers for lunch tomorrow, yussss

♠ Night-time candy missions

♠ Cam coming home this Thursday :-D So excited!!!

♠ The cup of tea I'm gonna make after I hit "Publish"

Yoga! I almost flaked, by way of "if, when I check my phone, it's 4.56pm, I'll go." I checked my phone. Upon looking at the screen, the time flicked over from 4.55 to 4.56.

So off I went.

It was brutal, but worthy. Bikram has been an incredible lesson in being in the moment. It's time to find somewhere else to yoga, though. That was my lesson on Wednesday. I want to take the focus I've learned and pour it into a practice that is more energy-focussed. 4.55 to 4.56. I'm looking at checking out Myoga or Yoga Sangha next week. Yoga Sangha has koha entry, which is awesome.



Sweet poster, ay? Finally saw the Outsiders! They rule. Lungs were rad as well. I hung out with the illustrious Kelvin, drank snakebite and Tui, and danced around a whole lot. It was lots of fun and being out&about made me think that I need to have more weekend gig adventures. Happy next Saturday - that's the plan!

White Hot Truth: The Manifesto of Encouragement. This is awesome - go read! ♥ | Greenpeace's 10 Simple Ways to Use Less Oil | Show Studio's Object Fetish hones in on a jaw-dropping pair of Alexander McQueen shoes (via Haute Macabre, one of my favourite blogs in the world) | Buried archeological treasure found at ground zero - "It's probably one of the last things excavators were planning on unearthing at Ground Zero: an 18th century ship." | Sex Pistols, 'posh boys' Cameron and Clegg, and those butter ads - "Ahead of PiL's UK tour, frontman John Lydon scratches his nuts and surveys the pop-cultural landscape..."



♥,

Exercise!

An amazing photo from Ivan Monge. Look at that hair! And everything!

This rain right now is lovely.

I am looking forward to getting back in to yoga next week. My muscles and bones are yearning for it. After considering all other options, I have decided to take the plunge and go right back to Bikram, taking it super-easy at first while my body readjusts to the heat and the postures, some of which are likely to be beyond me for a while yet! Bikram is really challenging but it makes me feel so fucking amazing that I don't even want to try anything else.

It will be an intense week, for sure! Patternmaking starts Monday, which is so damn exciting. Yoga will definitely help keep my energy levels up. You know what would also help? Halting my current takeaways-and-junk-food obsession. I'm going to try be smart, but goddamn I love candy. And curry. Brooklyn is dangerous. I'm budgeting for a week's worth of healthy low-key bought lunches to take the pressure off of sorting my shit out in the kitchen.

Next nine on the playlist:
♠ Overwhelmed, Beneath Me - Black Tape for a Blue Girl
♠ Blood Section - Swans
♠ Dress - PJ Harvey
♠ Hey Pretty - Poe
♠ Love Theme from Twin Peaks - Angelo Badalamenti
♠ The Turn - M.I.A
♠ For Tammy Rae - Bikini Kill
♠ Dirty Business - Dresden Dolls
♠ Cowboys - Portishead

Via Sarah Wilson: Lily Allen searches for meaning... and the doubters hate on her -

"A lot of my life is very vacuous. It doesn’t have a lot of substance and I guess I feel it’s a bit pointless. And, yes, coming here makes me feel I can put my fame to good use. I’m not pretending to know everything and I don’t understand this as well as I should, but I’m here to get my head around it."

Lily is just awesome. I would love to take her for coffee.

Work today was rad; a new epic playlist which made the world seem fresh, casual happy conversations with Cuba St locals, smooth energy, super-hot vege Roti Chanai from Satay Palace for lunch ($6.80 ♥), laughing with Ish, wearing my old clothes refashioned into cool new things, being grateful.

People have been smiling all over the place today!

Right now I am going to snuggle into bed and fall asleep thinking about Cam cuddling me and missing him and wishing him happy adventures.

It has been a good day. Motivation is a can of worms.

♥,

Lovecats

Frankie the big-cat is becoming fast friends with Penny the lil-cat. It is truly gorgeous. These two make me smile so often.

♥

Next five tracks on my playlist:

♠ Do You Believe In Life After Thugs? - Astronautalis & DJ Fishr Pryce (this track is 3:25 of jaw-dropping, booty-shaking goodness)

♠ My People - Erykah Badu

♠ Sheena's In a Goth Gang - The Cramps

♠ I Don't Mind - Buzzcocks

♠ Sredni Vashtar - Faith & the Muse (this track will forever be associated with Cabaret Nocturne - a goth club in Melbourne - for me, and the NIN after party a handful of years ago. It was the track playing as Lorna, Mark and I walked in and I remember being so goddamn excited to be there; it was an amazing night and part of an epic adventure!)

♥,

Up Up Away

The Welcome Parade by Girltripped

Even though the last little while has been rough, there are still lots of good things happening.

♠ Being spoiled rotten by a certain amazing boy on my birthday, who even secretly assembled a candy-choc-whizz icecream cake complete with twenty-six candles!

♠ Even though my party didn't go to plan, I think it was still good to have a Thing for my birthday. Can't win 'em all

♠ We have a new kitten! Her name is Penny, she rules. Frankie the cat is starting to like her, it is the cutest ever

♠ As long as I keep breathing deep and staying focussed, I should still be able to pass my course. Graduation is next week!

♠ The universe sorting things out; positive focus

♠ Eating lots of yummy, warm food

♠ Being in bed reading while rain is pouring down outside

♠ The sun shining so crisp and bright this morning

♠ Arranging more beautiful, interesting pictures on my wall


Forgotten Fairytales by Zhang Jingna

My shoulder bag now contains the bare essentials:
Moleskine notebooks x 2 (one for plotting business, the other for lifestuff)
Wallet
YSL makeup bag (strawberry chapstick, concealer, mascara, Lush's 'helping hands' cream, pencil & pencil sharpener, mini-ruler, comb, lipstick, eyeshadow)
Technological bits & bobs (cellphone, lil' flash drive, mp3 player & spare battery)
Passport
Keys
Glue stick and scissors
Cosmic Corner crew laminate
Little purse with 'My Rosary' in gold letters on the front (from the Catholic shop in central Melbourne, which is fucking awesome; containing trinkets from trips to New Plymouth & Kaikoura (♥) - goldstone, amethyst, beach pebbles and a little twig)
Coin purse (pounamu pendant, change for the bus)
Rubber spiders x 2

Israel bows to pressure and agrees to ease Gaza blockade | Controversial atheism campaign to hit billboards - "The ads - which read "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" - created a storm when they ran on buses in the United Kingdom last year." It'll be awesome to see these around town! | Invisibility cloaks and how to use them | Immortal avatars: Back up your brain and neverdie - "My first step on the road to immortality is to use Lifenaut's website to create a basic visual interface with which others, hopefully including my descendants, can interact." | Scientists to map Ozzy Osbourne's genetic code to find out why he is still alive | What is it with Iceland? - "The WikiLeaks advised proposal to build an international “new media haven” in Iceland, with the world’s strongest press and whistleblower protection laws, and a “Nobel” prize for Freedom of Expression, has unaminously passed the Icelandic Parliament."


The Sun is also a Star by Rad-ix

Right now I am going to make hot chocolate and listen to some sweet tunes.

"Every day the choice is presented to us, to live up to the spirit that is in us, or deny it." - Henry Miller

♥,

Sunday

Psychedelic Eye by Countess Grotesque

Yussss:

♠ Planning my first birthday party in thirteen years! Exciting!

♠ After loving 'The Score' for years, finally hearing the Fugees' 1994 release 'Blunted on Reality'. It is pretty much A to Z amazing

♠ Arriving home to find that my boyfriend has done my laundry (!!!)

♠ Candles every night

♠ Working in a place that is capable of lifting my spirits when I arrive there straight after an intense, frustrating day at Tech. How many people arrive at work and get uplifted? My job is really great

♠ Dans Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip's album 'The Logic of Chance', which makes me want to jump around like a happy mad thing!

♠ Today being a wonderful lazy, rainy Sunday

♠ Reading about Dr. Fred Alan Wolf's yoga-physics

♠ Bright purple wigs

♠ EPs presented vivid-scrawled and wrapped in brown paper, hastily sealed with 'don't crush' warning stickers. Thanks, Tiger's Eye. I'm super-lazy about seeking out new music these days, so it's awesome when it gets plonked on the counter at work

♠ Cadbury hot chocolate

♠ Delicious, soft merino layered over lacy slips (winter is so sexy)

Greens see red over Key - Great to read fighting-words coming from the Greens that are being well-publicised. (See also: Goverment mining plans wound back - Greens) | Obama Wants to Roll Back Oil Tax Breaks and Invest in Clean Energy - "In a speech earlier today at Carnegie Mellon University, US President Barack Obama urged Congress to roll back “billions of dollars in tax breaks” for oil companies and begin to look at ways to significantly increase investment in clean energy alternatives." Woah. | Botticelli's love drug - "A new discovery suggests that Botticelli's masterpiece Venus and Mars shows the effects of a hallucinogenic plant – but is the real drug the painting itself?" | UN talks back conference on nuclear-free Middle East | Heart of the Tuhoe Nation - The final sentence pretty much sums it all up: "I just can't believe they think they can look after the place better than we can." The accompanying photo, of the Whakatane river winding its' way through Te Urewera, is amazing; what a beautiful place. | Sweet success for Kit Kat campaign - "The new policy commits Nestlé to identify and exclude companies from its supply chain that own or manage 'high risk plantations or farms linked to deforestation'."

Despite a few course-related stresses, which I'm working on being down with, everything is great. Today I begun investigating alternate yoga classes - the heat and intense stretching of Bikram will be a little beyond me for a month or two yet, methinks! - since I'm beginning to get some of my flexibility back, it's time to get back into the swing of yoga. Yoga is soul food, I miss it!

At the moment, classes at Gaura Yoga on Vivian Street are looking great (only $14 for a casual class which is followed by a yummy vegan dinner, and all equipment is provided!), though Yoga in Daily Life looks like a beautiful space and has $10 casual classes, and Myoga sounds like it would be an invigorating, spiritual practice. Perhaps I'll check out all three!

Rest of the day:
♠ Wheel of Time, #5
♠ Late lunch of vegan lentil stew and cheesy mashed potatoes, yummm
♠ Make time for sewing
♠ Rumi
♠ Another foot tattoo! This time I'm getting an illustration of Willie Wonka by Quentin Blake on my left foot, to be friends with the Matilda I have on my right
♠ Brownies
♠ Conscious awareness <333


Winter memorie by Eszter Vály

Braaaains

Submissions flock in on mining scheme - "More than 33,000 submissions have been received..." Awesome that so much activism is happening around this issue. HEAPS of people are pissed off at the government right now, eh? | Saudi woman beats up virtue cop - Awesome! | McQueen's right-hand woman inherits his empire | Australia launches court action over whaling - "Australia will initiate action in the International Court of Justice, seeking to prevent Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean..."



By Iv Solyaev, via Coilhouse

Track of the week: Alien Sex Fiend - Boneshaker Baby. Hell yes!!! Ms Fiend is totally one of my secret girlfriends. I'd almost forgotten about this track. Goth bands try to be as mind-boggling and cool as these two and fail at first synth.



Nik Fiend and Mrs Fiend (aka Alien Sex Fiend). FTW.

90s one hit wonders recently downloaded and being loved to lil bits: Citizen Kane - Better Days, Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta, The Lemonheads - Mrs. Robinson, Blind Melon - No Rain, Butthole Surfers - Pepper, Marcy Playground - Sex and Candy, Wheatus - Teenage Dirt Bag, 4 Non Blondes - What's Up?, New Radicals - You Get What You Give

I shall spare you the '90s Dance Hits' track list... ;-)

I'm on a mad nostalgia buzz with music lately.

Course is going well, going well. I'm trying to pour all of my energy and focus in to the work I'm doing at any given moment. It seems to be paying off, the tutors tell me that I'm on track to get through all the work I need to before the course ends. There is only four weeks to go so it's going to be pretty full on, but I'm super-motivated and thinking positive-actions. Yay! Patternmaking will be so amazing, I can't wait!

Enjoying: Researching Rosemary Kennedy, the T2 Blog, the Surf Canyon Firefox add-on (so good), Lost Not Lonely Hundreds and Thousands wedges (!!!), rediscovering Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, candlelight every morning, kitten bestowing cuddles upon thee, homecooking (DIY is so satisfying!), Snow Showers body wash from Lush (it smells like orange sherbert, yummm).

Small Steps

Via Myry2009

Just when I thought I was back up running, my body yells slow down. Two steps forward, a half step back. Considering three weeks ago I was struggling to get out of bed by myself, that's not too bad, really!

Monday-Tuesday. Work experience.

Work experience has been intense, frustrating, eye-opening and great so far. Diving in after having over a month lost in the illness-surgery-recovery triangle, I can do far less than I thought I would be able to. Both physically, because I am still healing, and skill-wise, because I have missed so much practice while away. It has been a challenge to accept that my sewing skills aren't up to scratch, and fully focus forward on the things that I can do well and really help out Janet with.

This week we began photographing/editing some of her collection, which was awesome - most of my day involved putting outfits on a dressform, positioning lights and taking photos at various angles - and I also did some handsewing, and brainstorming around different fun ways to add fur accents to a couple of coats. The entire workspace is a treasure trove of fabric and recycled goodies. Working in such a creative, unique environment with someone who is so completely dedicated to her work and her vision and her ethics is incredible. Hard as I have found it so far, it is also goddamn exciting!

Wednesday. Phew.

Today I am supposed to be at Tech, however the aforementioned telling off I am receiving from my body is keeping me home. Even though it is frustrating being physically incapable of working on what I need to, and time is running out for me to squeeze in everything required to pass my course, and be accepted for the July intake of Tech's patternmaking course, I am trying to be patient, stay positive and give my body the downtime it asks for.

Everything happens for a reason and I have found a hundred silver linings to this cloud already. I REFUSE to let anything wear me down low. I'm up! Even in bed with a hot water bottle over my belly.

A handful of low-physical, productive projects for the day:
+ Mend Paul's jeans (handsewing ftw)
+ Continue industry research (am currently reading Form, Fit & Fashion which has been awesomely useful so far)
+ Continue business plotting
+ Find a coupla yummy-sounding recipes to trial this week, possibly including apple crumble (yummmmm)

Airlines use plastic cutlery up to 10 times - Well done, Air NZ and Qantas, that's some sensible shit right there. If a product can be cleaned thoroughly and safely reused again, airlines (and every other entity, including ourselves) should be applauded for doing so, right? It seems absolutely crazy to me that anyone would have a problem with this.

Mysterious ball lightening may be a hallucination | Maiden voyage for first true space sail - "If all goes to plan, it will be the first spacecraft fully propelled by sunlight." Awesome!

Sunday

Via Haute Macabre. Apparently these are from a 2009 Italian Vogue spread. Amazing, beautiful images!

Tomorrow I am back at course. I've been out of action since work experience began, so it's all very exciting. Monday and Tuesday I'll be helping out Janet Dunn in her workroom, and Wednesday through Friday in class starting to get back up to speed with everything.

Japan's Brainwave Initiative: Mind-Reading Robots by 2020 - "While the U.S. Army actively pursues “thought helmets” that might someday lead to secure mind-to-mind communication between soldiers, the Japanese are going after the consumer market. The aim is to produce BMI technology to change TV channels or to use mobile phones to send text messages composed by thought alone."



Medicina Rossa by Alberto Seveso, via Sweet Station. Click through to Sweet Station for larger pics! This is so captivating, I love it.

Mother's Day today. I took the train out to the Hutt to hang out with mum and dad and my brother for the afternoon. Wellington harbour makes me smile every time, it's a sweet ride for someone who isn't a regular commuter! It was a fun visit, we drank tea, ate lots of caramel slice and sifted through a bunch of old clothes while the boys watched sport on TV. Courtesy of my amazing mother, I now have an overlocker on loan! And a press! And a bunch of clothes to rip up and throw back together! Exclamation marks! It's going to be so great to have a little workspace at home with everything I need.

Enjoying: Wellington Wall Street, lacey things, hot chocolate with lots of milk, binging on episodes of American Dad, being almost-100% after three weeks of recovery from surgery (:-D!!!), sleeves-over-knuckles, world maps, waking up in time to see the sunrise

Wednesday

John Stewart's punching bag, Fox News - I adore John Stewart! | Why robots? - "Wouldn’t a machine possessing Consciousness be more interested in collapsing the wave-function with its thoughts? Wouldn’t the machine be more interested in… magic?" This made me smile. | 'Holy grail' of cancer vaccines one step closer | Trent Reznor starts new band with wife - Called 'How to Destroy Angels', apparently. I'm intrigued to see where he goes with this!

Stencil by C215

Today's playlist includes Bikini Kill, Dead Kennedys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the White Stripes, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Le Tigre, Zombina and the Skeletones, Kyuss, Siouxsie and the Banshees, M.I.A, the Doors, Diverse, Gorillaz, Dilated Peoples, Marilyn Manson, Ol' Dirty Bastard, the Fugees, Astronautalis, the Horrors, RJD2, Yak Ballz, Blue Sky Black Death & Jean Grae, Tool, Nirvana and Babes in Toyland.

If you haven't heard Zombina and the Skeletones, I recommend that you remedy the situation immediately.

Saturday

Happy J-Day!

Two weeks home from hospital and I'm still not back at course or work yet, but am trying not to take it all too seriously and start moping. Can't force my body to heal, I've just got to chill out and be patient. Having said that, goddamn! I can't wait to be able to move freely again.

I have been reading, watching, resting, plotting. A little cooking. Chocolate cupcakes, and banana cake with lemon icing. Sharing baked goods with friends is one of my favourite things. Mmm, baked goods.

One of these days, I'm going to buy a second-hand record player and have a sweet-treats & vinyl dress-up party. I shall add that to the List.

Music yesterday, pottering: M.I.A, Eels, Amy Winehouse, Dilated Peoples, Dead Kennedys.

Do you have any idea how goddamn fucking amazing Eels are?

Music today, lazing: Raindrops, distant traffic.

Been planning big, it's all very exciting!

Huge protest says no to mining on conservation land - "An estimated 50,000 marchers joined one of the biggest protests in Auckland for decades today, to give the Government a firm message to stay away from mining on conservation land." Rad, that's even bigger than the anti-GE protests were.

101 Quick Meals - Vegan, so healthy for humans and kind on other creatures! This is awesome. I like cooking, but am also lazy.