A quiet weekend

This weekend was super quiet because I ended up with an eye infection. I'm not entirely sure how this happened. I've wore contact lenses since I was about 16 and I have only had one other eye infection before, but at that time I had a really bad cold. This time I just noted my eye was irrated a little on Friday afternoon and by Saturday I was at the optician being told I cannot wear my contact lenses for a week and I have to take two kind of eye drops.

I really hate wearing my glasses - I just find them so annoying compared to contact lenses. Plus it doesn't help they need to be updated and so they aren't as strong as my contacts.

But all these eye related problems meant that all of our weekend plans were cancelled.

However we did go out for lunch right after my visit to the optician - to a little Mexican place on left bank arcade and it was so awesome. The food is so amazing and not overpriced - I loved the decor too.

One of the great things about this restaurant was the mini shrine with a whole bunch of handmade jewellery you could purchase. I really loved this purple skull earrings - maybe I can pick up a pair next time I'm there because I am finally going to get paid this week!

Wellington Anniversary Day

Last Monday was Wellington Anniversary day and despite a rainy start the sun did shine in the afternoon.

We decided to head to the waterfront and check out the birdman competition (which should have been on Saturday but the weather was bad).

It was kind of fun to watch, but a little disappointing - I kind of thought people would make some crazy contraptions that could possibly fly. Instead it was mostly just people jumping into the Wellington harbour wearing silly costumes.



There were also some bands playing outside the front of Te Papa as part of the birdman festival. We watched this band called "summer suite"- it was nice just to hang out in the sun and listen to some free music.Here's a few more photos from the harbour on Wellington anniversary.

My Little Brothers 21st

This weekend Rich and I spent the weekend in Taranaki for my youngest brother Jake's 21st party.

Before we headed to my parents place we had some brunch in New Plymouth - I had these amazing corn fritters.Here's some views from the cafe where we had our brunch - this river used to be under the footpath and road. It was only in recent times the council decided to uncover it and make it into a public space - I like it much better this way.
Here's a picture of me with my "little" brother the day after his 21st.

Unusual Stuffie Swap

Here's another swap I completed recently, the unusual stuffie swap on craftster. The purpose of the swap is pretty obvious - make a strange softie based on your partners themes.

My partner had the theme vampire/gothic and so I made her this little guy - Buncula! He's based on a book I read when I was a kid of the same name.

I really like this guy - it was kind of hard to say goodbye. But my partner really loves him, so he has gone to a good home.

Matchbox Swap

I recently took part in an extremely simple craft swap - a matchbox swap. All you have to do is decorate a matchbox and fill it with tiny goodies (craft related) and sent it off to your partner.

For this swap I actually had a partner which was in New Zealand which saved a whole lot on postage.

She loves her Pullip doll, so I decided to go the ultra kawaii cute with a Hello Kitty matchbox.

Heres a quick shot of some of the things inside the box - its full of cutesy little things.

Badges are awesome

I love reading blogs as well as writing my own - I love reading blogs by all kinds of people - movie, music, art, craft and of course fashion,

One fashion blog I have a crush on is An Exercise in Trivial Pursuits: A life lived in wasted fashion. Chloe is fabulous - she wears the most amazing dresses, has adorable shoes and her accessories are kitsch-tastic.

Recently she had a giveaway and all you had to do was leave a comment on her blog and she would send you some badges. These are the badges she sent me - I especially love the "indie-vidual" one.

Here comes the Wellington weather....

Earlier this week, the weather was telling us that some fairly major storms were due to hit nearly all of New Zealand - but that didn't stop us from going for an evening walk.

On our waterfront we have a "writers walk" where different New Zealand authors are quoted in stone. I really love these. I need more photo's of them.
These two photos were taken on the Wellington city to sea bridge, moments after the rain came pouring down. We were sheltering and deciding how long to wait until we tried to escape the rain. Then the rain became worse and worse and worse and we had to make a run for it.


At least misty days make for great photos - the storm didn't turn into much of a storm (at least in Wellington) and the next day it was summer again. Nice.

Photo Chop Volume III

On Thursday I visited an exhibition at Thistle Hall - it was a bit different from other exhibitions I have visited lately.

The exhibition was called "Photo Chop" (opposed to photo shop) and was a collage exhibition - which was a whole bunch of fun and bought back memories of sticking stuff on paper during primary school.

The best part of the exhibition was the DIY table - where you could make your own collage. Everything was provided - scissors, stanely knife, glue, board and a selection of magazines and books.


I can never resist a chance to create something new - so I found an ancient National Geographic amongs the books and magazines and decided to get to work. This particular magazine featured some kind of Taoist (I think) Gods - they reminded me of living in Taipei where random religous festivals with people dresses as Gods seemed to bust out at any time. I don't think the photo really does the images any justice - they really are pretty awesome.

Some cool stuff I saw in Newtown

I started my new job today and I am exhausted! I think it will take me a while to get used to working a forty hour week again.

Last week I wasn't working but Rich and most of my friends were so I spent a lot of time hanging around Wellington - here's some cool stuff I saw in Newtown.

Wooden bedside tables - I like the skull one. He's pretty amazing.I love street art and I thought this wolf was pretty amazing - I have to say I really missed Wellington's street art when I was living overseas.
These creepy looking dolls were in the window of a store called "reincarnate" which I thought must have been some scary bogan store. It is a little bogan but it also has all kinds of second hand loveliness and the folk that own it also revamp old clothes into something new and more awesome.I took this photo inside the changing room of a fabulous op shop in Newtown called "Oppourtunity for Animals". I seriously love these stores (there is one in Kilbirnie as well) as they are everything an op shop should be, they sell crazily cheap stuff that no one wants any more for a cause close to my heart. This trip I bought a purple animal print dress.

Wellington Summer Festival - X-Ray Katz

During the summer in Wellington there are so many free things to do - its pretty awesome. One of my favourite things are the free music performances in the Wellington Botanical Gardens.

A band will play for free in the evening and everyone will head along with their picnic rugs, snacks and wine and enjoy the show.

Last Saturday we went along to our first free summer show, we saw a band called the "X-Ray Katz" who played a whole bunch of old style rock and roll and rockabilly tracks. The even had the quiffs and the shirts to show their rockabilly spirit which was pretty cool.

There were a lot of the people at the show - including a whole bunch of people at the front showing off their rock and roll dancing skills.




After the show - Rich and I went to check out the lights in the gardens, which didn't seem as impressive as other years. We still aren't sure if this is because we missed some of the lights, they aren't all up or after living in the neon of asia for over a year lights need to be really huge to impress us now. Maybe they would have looked better if it was darker.

Smelling Hello Kitty Sickly Sweet

I was pretty excited when I bought these Hello Kitty body spray's yesterday - they are pretty darn cute. One smells like melon and the other bubblegum. Yes that's right - bubblegum!

Other than my kitty scented body spray nothing too much to report - I am super excited about finally starting my new job tommorrow.

New Year........New You - Part two

Here's a few more of the journal entries I have created for my New Year....New You journalling course. I've been finding the course easier as I go - I've stopped over thinking each day and I think this makes my journal entries better.

DAY FIVE - A new season

The prompt for day five was a season for a change and the challenge was to use masking tape and write on it - this was a kind of fail for me as we didn't have any masking tape! So I just kind of did my own thing. This page is alright - but I'm not loving it!

DAY SIX - One Step...


The prompt for Day six was write about something you have done towards reaching your goals, one of my goals was writing more thank you cards and letters. This week I wrote some thank you cards and a letter to my friend Dani in Korea. The challenge was to use a sewing machine - sadly I don't have one (it's high up the "to buy" list when I get paid though) so I just hand sewed the card it - that wasn't easy.

DAY SEVEN - Your Mantra
The prompt for day seven was to create a one word mantra - I chose make as I want to make, make and make more this year. Clothes, food, gifts - whatever I can. I love to make stuff but I was pretty limited when I was travelling. The challenge was to use a different kind of font - so I wrote in crayon. I also used this day of the dead skull patch my friend Vany made for me - I like it a whole lot.

DAY EIGHT - Dirty Dozen Challenge
For Day eight you needed to use a list of a dozen words in your post - here they are:

* challenge

* new

* hope

* find

* try

* accomplish

* journal

* unleash

* empowered

* moment

* remember

* sure

The challenge was to create a whole page around these 12 words - I was much happier with this page than previous pages. I kept it simple. It looks good.

DAY NINE: A quote

The prompt for day nine was to choose a quote that speaks to you - I chose a quote from the Crafty Chica who is pretty much my craft idol. I thought this quote was pretty appropriate and works well with my "Make" mantra. The challenge for this page was to use as much colour as possible - I chose this rainbow heart and it has glitter on it as the Crafty Chica is all about glitter!

DAY TEN: The thankful page
The prompt for day ten was to make a page of all the things you are thankful for - the big things and the little things. The challenge for today was instead of making a list, try something new. I choose doodling and I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I really liked how this page turned out - again I didn't think too much - I just did it.

DAY ELEVEN - Growth
Day eleven is my favourite page so far! The prompt was quite simple - create a page which included what growth means to you right now. The challenge was to use at least five different elements on the page - I used a piece of writing paper (girl and monkey), old wrapping paper (blue), sticker (pink poka dots), rhinestones and gel pens. It all came together so well - I am super happy with this one.

DAY TWELVE: Self Portrait
The prompt for today was to use an image of you (photo, sketch, etc..) as the central point and then write around the image how you see yourself. The challenge for this day was just to make the prompt work! The photo is taken with my instax camera and instant film last year outside the Hello Kitty Cafe in Hongdae in Seoul.

DAY THIRTEEN - Hope
The challenge for day thirteen was all about hope - what you're hoping for in the future. I thought hope is a pretty powerful world so I thought I'd let it stand alone. The challenge for today was to fill in any white space - so I went a little crazy with my gel pens.

DAY FOURTEEN - Today....
This prompt was a little easier - simply document what you did today. I included the tag from the red cross as Rich and I went to Kilbirnie to visit Nankz who volunteers at the second hand store there.

DAY FIFTEEN - Free Choice!
Day fifteen was free choice - which actually freaked me out a bit as I love structure. But I did an ode to craft and I think it looks pretty good.

DAY SIXTEEN - Needs and wants
The prompt for day 16 was to list your needs and wants right now - I don't have a lot of either but I do NEED a sewing machine or at least want one (I still put it on the need list though!). The challenge was to use a page from another book or journal on the page - I actually cut up a Blythe postcard instead.

That's all for this set of journal posts - but there will be more to come very soon.