happy baby

My dearest, sweetest little boy xxx

doodle-oodle

I got a shock last night when I turned over the page of my sketch book and it was the last page...its always a good feeling for that to happen because then I can look back at the whole book and it serves as kind of a visual diary of my past few months...I realise I draw a lot of drawings of a crying baby so now I need to draw some happy days (of which there are many), I just dont write about them. I think you heard enough of my driving experiences......

my time will come

A while back I talked about a day to forget here

Not two months later, I find myself in the same position. This time though, a planned two hour trip turned into a 5 hour disaster due to heavy Easter traffic, major road works and accidents. The poor baby, the poor Mum and poor sister who innocently volunteered to help.....it was a truly forgettable day........two days ago, only just recovering from the incident, I received ANOTHER $215 fine and 3 demerit points bringing my total of fines in two months to $430 and 6 demerit points. What a cruel and savage world to punish me like this. I have clean driving record for almost 20 years, yes, that long and now this.

I have a plan to seek justice. In 3 years, when these demerit points will be erased (and the baby has grown up.....but he is not coming on this drive), I will hire the most recent model of this car I will return to those places where I received these fines and not only will I spin tyres and burn rubber, I will take it from 0 to 100 in 4 seconds. When I receive my fines in the mail after that day I will feel like I truly deserve it.

rain

Finally it rained, yay!!!

ode to the poisoned oyster

There you sat amongst the others, looking shiny, delicious and cooked just so.
I plucked you from the group all covered in ginger, spring onion and pepper and bit down hard.
What funk came from your tiny body, enough to make me spit you out and rinse my mouth with wine.
I accidentally swallowed a small morsel of you and sat, waiting.
15 minutes passed and nothing....my thoughts focussed firmly on the worry of passing this potential poison onto my son via breast milk....oh my goodness, how can I resolve this?
30 min pass...eventually 1 hour......nothing..............nothing, nothing.
I am so grateful poisoned oyster, thank you for keeping me well.

ritual

This morning's coffee ritual was shared with warm sunshine, until all of a sudden I felt large raindrops falling on me. It is rare and quite beautiful to witness any rain at all, let alone a sparkling sun shower. Moments later, the grey rain clouds rolled in and have hung around all day, no rain yet.

nice

Just taking some time out this morning with the boy and the pooch to sit in the sun and enjoy being not in a hurry.

autumn walk walk

I saw some nice things while out walking on the weekend. The weather was very nice, with the slight chill in the afternoon that means soon it will be winter. I am enjoying the cool autumn after such a long and hot summer.

shop luck

I was very happy to see this featured in the Craft Queensland newsletter. It is excting enough to have my cards in stock at the gorgeous shop.

coat

Sometimes you just have to say enough is enough, even when you see the most lovely coat in the world....

internationalised

This photo is just playing around with a fabulous camera lent to us by an American friend who lives in Japan, who visited us with his Malaysian girlfriend. The day before we were visited by a couple who live in China, the boy part of the couple was born in Hong Kong, the girl in China. We were earlier visted by a friend who lives in Sydeny but just got back from an amazing adventure for a year in the Philippines. We ate food to match the diversity, including fish and chips (one there for England), Thai flavoured mussels, Vietnamese salad, Italian pasta, Malaysian style curry fish with belachan vege, yum cha, good wine, very good wine, and flied lice to end the weekend. I feel very lucky to have such variety of language, culture, values, accents, stories and personalities as part of my life and especially happy to share these influences on our boy.

loveliness

I used to live in Carlton when I was a poor student, I never drank coffee, and probably just as well. Brunetti's has been in Carlton for a hundred years or so it seems, and many times as a poor student, I walked past the windows of coffee drinkers, talking, thinking or reading. Returning to Carlton no longer a poor student, I can now go in and order a coffee to fulfil what has become quite a habit. Only yesterday did I fully comprehend the loveliness of what many have been enjoying for years. Good, actually great coffee, super lovely sweets and a warm cozy place to talk, think or read. The visit was enhanced by the company of my dear friend, a Sydneysider, who said that this cafe was definantly a "Melbourne experience".

growing up

As you can see, the lovely little boy is growing up so fast. Now it seems I have less time to do anything other than take care of him and the dreaded housework. It is a most rewarding job, night sleeps are getting a bit longer, he is moving, talking, laughing and smiling. As I approach my 34th year, I feel so happy and content to be his mother and teacher, birthdays are a bit more meaningful now, even though I keep on forgetting my own.....
Funny and lovely comments are often exchanged with strangers. The latest memorable one is "He is so cute, he looks 95% like his father"...ahum, ok, it might be true?! No matter what, he will always have my blood type, and isn't what is on the inside that counts the most ? :P

impress your friends

If you have 10 minutes and food processor, you can make this easy eggplant and olive dip to take to your next party (or just to share at home...). Ingredients are, eggplant, kalamata olives (with no pips), garlic, salt and pepper - you can judge for your needs the amount of each ingredient you require. Simply slice and steam the eggplant for about 5 mins, crush and saute the garlic. Once the eggplant has cooled down, remove the skin with a spoon and put the soft insides into the food processor bowl, add the garlic and olives and salt and pepper to taste and whizzzz. I think adding a small pinch of chilli or and handful of fresh coriander would also work well. Serve with some nice turkish bread and you're ready to go to the party!! It is so quick and easy and healthy and delicious, you cant go wrong!!

illustration friday - fortune

cute couple

I love finger puppets and these happen to strike me as the cutest couple. I did not make either of them but happily play with them.

a bit tired

This is me in the middle of the night, but, even though I am tired, I know it will not last. I sleep next to our little boy for some of the night so both of us can get some rest. Feeling his small breath and movements makes me feel very happy and content.

emma

What a super cute book featured above. Here are more details about the author Emma Magenta. I hoped she had her own website so I could further indulge in looking at her very cute drawings but alas, no website to be found. I love the colour combination of pink and red and notice that her little girl wears striped red socks, just like mine. It also has a very honest story I'm sure everyone can relate to, about making much too much out of underserving relationships.

I often look at this book just to enjoy the simple and spacious drawings.

sticky stickers

Its been a while since I posted so I thought I would add a little photo of something I have been working on. The above ladybugs are stickers/wall/furniture decals which I have been making. I am working on a few different designs and will post photos as they become resolved. In the meantime I have also been to visit the wonderful Sydney (and my lovely friend who lives there). I love going to Sydney as it has a whole different feeling to Melbourne. It also hosts the best Korean and Japanese restaurants, both which I endulged severely!! I am also still working on a set of pompoms to re-invogirate an old scarf, sadly I have made only 2, very poor effort. I have an upcoming holiday planned and part of the plan is to make at least 20 pompoms!!! They are so simple to do and remind me of my primary school days.

recurring colours

One might think 8 purple and pink tops might be enough for anyone, but there is something about the colour that no matter what, I keep buying these colours. It also happens with shoes. You might think I'm out there spending up big bucks on things, but really I shop with a small budget but just keep on going for the same things. I am very stongly drawn to these colours and have been for years, those who know me have not often seen me without red lipstick (except for those awful days of morning sickness). There are all kinds of theories about colours and people and personalities. In ancient China and Japan, purple was for royals only. The commoners had to wear grey and indigo died fabrics, but those cheeky ones sewed those illicit colored fabrics to the insides of their clothes for people to catch just a glimpse. You could get into a lot of trouble for wearing the wrong colours. Even today in Thailand people wear yellow, the royal colour, to support their beloved royal family. A book called "Kimono - fashioning culture" by Lisa Dalby the same lady who wrote Geisha, is an amazing and intricate explanation of colours and clothes in Japan. An even better exploration of the meaning of colours throughout history is "Colour-Travels through a paintbox" by Victoria Findlay. It is an in depth colour by colour (including purple and red) analysis and explanation about significance, meanings and applications through time. It is a truly enjoyable read.