Giertta Jewellery - A million tiny sparkling choices

Best of Days

2011-11-24T14:09:00.003+11:00

Astely Clarke Hayli Rings
I had my big Birthday weekend. It was surely a big weekend, I felt very celebrated and special (not in the short bus way though).

I got my pancake breakfast, I got to go over the Harbor in the helicopter, I got some great photos of the sea fog that came in, it looks like I’m on top of the clouds, but it’s actually sea fog and I got to have nice drinks and dinner with lovely friends, and I got to not get off the couch on the Sunday.

I got some lovely presents, I got great scarfs and clutch bags from my girlfriends, and spa days/or lunch and finally I got the lovely lovely ring set on the picture above from D.

He has proven to be exceptionally good at presents, a very important feature in any man I reckon. It's from one of my favorite jewellery stores Astley Clarke, and these rings are from a designer called Robindira Unsworth.

I love these rings, and have loved them for a long time, I love them so much I have a colour print out off them on the "inspiration" board above my work desk. I think possibly that is where he might have got the idea. He was being well sneaky about finding out my ring size and everything. I was very surprised, and even better. IT WAS WRAPPED REALLY NICELY, in teal and silver paper. I was so chuffed.

I had a great birthday indeed.

Technology bringing us together

2011-11-18T11:30:00.004+11:00

Today it’s my Birthday, I will celebrate it in full effort and style tomorrow. Events that are included are blueberry pancake eating, helicopter flying, eating of good food with friends and drinking of (probably to much) wine.

My mum sent me an email today, with her singing our family’s standard happy birthday song, which is a different song from the “normal standard” happy birthday song. It made me very happy and teary eyed, as things like that does to you. It was really nice to get it, it made me feel much closer to her then if she just would have called and sung it. I will not show it here, as I’m sure she did not intend to become a internet birthday singing star, even though it sounded nice.

And that is when I realised, for being not very interested in gadgets, not a great user of them, not owning an Iphone, or Ipad or any of those things (except the office standard issue of blackberry, that I use to much to read my emails late at night or on the weekend, hence working when I really shouldn’t), technology has still made my life a better one.

Example one, Skype, Skype makes it possible for me to have a somewhat normal relationship with my family that is so far away, it allows me to show them things that I’ve made, what my home looks like, what I look like. It makes it possible for me to have an hour long conversation with my sister if she has time, without having to take into account the cost of a long distance phone call. I can see my nieces being cheeky, not just hear them, I can see what my mum and dad looks like when I talk to them.

Last year in particular Skype was a god send, the hours and hours of skyping I did with my friend M in New York where priceless and probably saved me from going to a very dark place at a time of my life that was pretty rough,

So, to follow up on that. I’ve been complaining about book prices since I arrive in Australia, which has meant I buy and read far fewer books then I used to. I also no longer commute to work so that is another reason, but price is the main one. So to counteract it, for my birthday I bought myself a Kindle, and I’m looking forward to getting back to reading some proper books, some crap books and pretty much everything in between at half the price I would buy them in the book store.

ohh, and I had a haircut, and dyed my hair back into a "natural" colour instead of the super white bleached colour...not sure how it looks. I think it looks gray. D thinks it's "gorgeous", but then he says that about most things. He is good like that.

Just got myself some of these

2011-11-03T18:12:00.002+11:00

And that means I passed my driving test. I can now drive unsupervised in my car. I now have a proper drivers license. Which makes me very very happy.

And made me drive home from the RTA very very badly indeed

Novemeber 1

2011-11-01T16:09:00.003+11:00

Today is my hearing date, for the divorce. It feels really strange that to get married one has to by law attend the event, (in some cases you can send a representative, you know, if you don’t like crowds, fancy clothing or cake) but when you get divorced you don’t have to. That seems strange to me.

So of course I did a little bit of googling, as you can see from the above picture. It’s a real one, a real company. No kidding. There are civil ceremony officiants that specialises in divorce ceremonies. I guess that works in a way, in a strange way I can understand that. People like ceremonies most of the time, we might not like funerals, but many find them comforting.

There are companies that are specialising in divorce parties, that seem a little callous. Maybe that is most appropriate if a divorce is acrimonious, as in a “hahhahaha good riddance” kind of way. (What favours would one choose for a divorce party, broken heart chocolates, a tote bag, lip balm with snazzy wording, I’m not sure what would be appropriate. Probably cup cakes, you don’t seem to be able to go wrong with cup cakes.)

But when it’s just a quiet fizzle, with periods of anger and resentment ending with a “To be honest, probably a good idea”, I’m not sure IF you are suppose to mark that and if so, HOW you are suppose to do so.

I have been thinking about it, quite a bit lately because I’ve stopped sleeping again. Not cause of the hearing and all, due to totally different concerns. But as I’ve been awake, you know, I might as well have think about things.

Other friends that I have that have gone through the same thing in the last couple of years, have bought something, like something substantial to mark the occasion, like jewellery or you know, something fairly expensive. That seems fair. But I wonder if I would look at that piece of jewellery as a positive precious thing, or if I would end up looking at it as a representation of failure.

I can’t get over the fact that I think of the divorce as somewhat of a failure. I’m not saying that everyone else has to think so, and most people are telling me that I’m wrong. But I don’t think I am. I don’t think failing at things is always bad, it just means that next time, and you’ll work harder at not failing at the same time. You are more aware, you are able to look at the thing you didn’t succeed at the first time, analyse them and decide when/what went wrong and then improve on it.

So maybe I would buy something, as a sign of willingness to improve in the future.

It could possibly be a cup cake.

(it's also Melbourne cup day, and I can't have a boozy lunch with a silly hat on my head, because I have meetings all night, and that is not right)

2011-10-26T17:09:00.001+11:00

Again, I’ve been absent. Very much absent. I’ve not really kept up contact with many in any form. It’s poor form I know, the only excuse is that it got a bit much for while.

To many things to do, to many sad things happened, the person I wrote about previously who was ill passed away, that knocked me about for a bit. There where more things, other things in conjunction and it just got so much I went with the old
“If in doubt, observe radio silence”.

It’s better now, much more better, I’ve been focusing on driving a lot, unfortunately I didn’t pass my first test, cause I was trying to fix a kerb side stop, he made me stop in front of someone’s driveway, and I thought it was a trick, so I reversed back and apparently didn’t head check enough, that in combination with 3 others times of not head checking enough unfortunately pushed me over the limits of how many fails you’re allowed. So I’ll do it again, and I do right next time, head checking like nobody’s business. I went driving last night, I was head checking so much I over head checked and got dizzy. Got to find a middle ground, even amongst the head checks.

Other than that, my favorite day of the year is coming, and this year I’m buying myself a sewing machine. I will wrap it and get very surprised when I open it. I probably will say, “Ohh a sewing machine, how surprising”. Why am I buying a sewing machine.

Well, I’ve gotten into sewing again; so far I’ve made 3 cushion covers for the couch, and I want to make a Quilt. I know quilting is proper hard work. So before I start, I will make a couple of coasters by hand, to see if I will hate it 20 min in.

Want know why I want to make a quilt. It’s all due to this blogger.

That quilt is plainly awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, so as I have no friends who quilt really, I figured, I’ll try it out myself. Probably not anything equally ambitious. Just something a little less, big and scary. And one day, when I’m big girl, I too can make a “Harry Quilt” that is awesome.

Drama-Orama

2011-09-30T15:29:00.001+10:00

This week has introduced a lot of drama, some work related (something that happens in every work place), some very personal (lovely people getting sicker), finally getting he divorce papers into the courts (that has taken such a long time, as the Australian rules about this are weird), diss agreement with tax agencies (Yes, they are probably right, but I still don’t like the bill they’ve landed me with) etc etc etc…

So what have done with every single minute that I’ve had to spare; I have been stalking online fabric stores, of course.

My obsession has moved on from Eggs, which was good, because they started making me feel a little vobbly, with a hard shell to fabric. Lovely, brightly coloured, happy patterned fabric.

The reason I’m obsessing about it is that I have a wall panel planned for above my sofa, and it will be covered in fabric. I didn’t know there where so many fantastic fabric prints out there in the world.

Other then that, I have calculated so far in my life I have spent 45.8 days putting on mascara, realised that Hayfever is either proof that god has a weird sense of humour or possibly we (as in humans) are just the vehicle for DNA and not pretty useful, and finally that I really need to buy a new bed. One too many 4.30 am re-construction missions when for some reasons the slats decides to fall out the bottom.

So that is the week in full, drama, fabric and broken bed slats.

The weekend will be quiet, driving, buying Styrofoam, then going to the opera house to watch something disgusting about food and then more driving. That is it

The one benefit with tooth extraction

2011-09-19T18:05:00.004+10:00

18 months ago I bought fabric to make pillow cases for my "Throw Pillows" for my couch. For 18 months these huge 25 inch square pillows have had some random white and blue pillow covers.

Finally on Sunday night, as I was trying to distract myself from the pain in my non longer there tooth, I hand sewed one pillow case, this one, it's pink on side and bright yellow on the other, it even has a bright yellow zipper.

I was hand sewing it ( I don't have a sewing machine anymore), while sitting on the couch, waiting for D to come home from work, watching a documentary called MEGA FACTORIES, about IKEA. Isn't that a nice 1950's view for ya! When D came home said my stitches where very even ( he might have had to be prompted to say that, but still, my grandmother would have been proud)

Did I mention the fabric is from IKEA. I love IKEA.

Pain and I don’t agree at all

2011-09-19T14:24:00.002+10:00

In general I have a very high pain threshold, for everything except tooth ache. It’s the one thing I can’t deal with. The pain makes me panic.

This means I don’t like going to the dentist, this also then means that I really need to go to the dentist more often, and I only really go when I really really have to. Unfortunately I seem to be born with bad quality teeth, because I take better care of my teeth then most people I know. I brush and I floss and I do all the things they say I should, but I still have more trouble with my teeth then your average.

For example, 3 months ago I broke my tooth. I didn’t chip it, or you know snag it. No the thing broke in half, all the way down to the root of the tooth.

Now how could that have happened, well my uncle the dentist who is the first dentist that doesn’t scare the living daylight out of me has explained, that the dentist that I had in London had done a bad job on a big filling at the tooth so instead of working as a filling it was working as a wedge, prying the tooth apart little by little.

So, 3 months ago I ate a cracker, and the tooth came a part, actually split apart,, from a cracker, so I had a emergency patch job, until my uncle the dentist came back from holiday and I go and have it looked at. And what did he say, well the tooth had to come out.

And so it did this Saturday and I’m not a happy camper. He told me that on day two it would be more painful then day one, so I said fine. I can handle that, and you know what. NO I can’t, I can’t handle it, pain in my mouth/teeth makes me panic. All I’m doing right now is sitting waiting for another 15 minutes so I can take another lot of painkillers. The actual pain if left unattended makes me nauseous and aggressive.

This is not a good state to be in when at work. But I am afraid that if stand up and walk out, I might round kick someone that tries to talk to me.

And my lord that was one ugly tooth, even my uncle the dentist said so; he said I’m very happy that tooth is not in your mouth, because it’s one ugly tooth. An ugly tooth with delicate roots, which apparently it’s not a good thing for teeth.

I have named it Ruth the Tooth, it lives with Barney now, they can be ugly together.

Need new Rhino Skin

2011-09-15T17:22:00.003+10:00

Sometimes things just pile up; it just ends up being so much sadness and pain that it feels like you have had your skin peeled of the body. Normally I’m pretty tough and can roll with the best of them; Rhino skin is truly needed when you do what I do.

At the moment, amongst all the great things that are happening there is overwhelming sadness in relation to someone who I love very very much, who is very sick. And it doesn’t matter how much I hope and pray that he will get better, he is still very sick and it doesn’t feel like it is progressing in the right direction. I hope that it will, that the information I will receive in the coming week will be more jubilant and more in the frame of “they where wrong all along, there is nothing wrong that a bit of vitamin C can’t fix”.

It gets more awkward and weird as it ends up being mixed up in the divorce, it’s a little like, this is a person who I have known for such a long time and hold very dear, but as with all divorces things gets split up, and you can’t take other people family members and make them yours however much you’d want to. Maybe I’m being silly, but I feel very lonely in my sadness, as no one that I know now, knows him.

So, it’s little like I have no skin, and in this particular case my sadness has no purpose. I can’t fix it, and I really can’t help, in the way that I could have had we not been getting divorced.

Time is just swirling past

2011-09-12T15:18:00.001+10:00

Another weekend passed in a speedy haze, one minute is Friday afternoon and you think you are going to get so many things done over the next 48 hours and then suddenly you realise its Sunday night and many of your plans have failed yet again.

I used to be so controlled with my time, so organised, so structured; I have memories of feeling that I had to much time, that I got everything done (with the result of always being exhausted), and I’ve just realised that by being a little more chilled out, I also have to accept that with the comfort of not being continuously running about doing “stuff” I don’t get as much done.

This weekend is no different, I feel like I’ve done nothing. The main thing I did was eat, socialise and then I did some driving.

The Driving, well on Saturday I had a lesson with my instructor, he said I was good enough to book my test, I think I took that to heart too much because I went driving with D on Sunday and scared the living daylight out of him. I missed 3 stop signs and had to slam on the break because I didn’t see the red light turn.

I blame it on the principle of driving where you will be going, the first thing my teacher Peter said was, when you do you learning driving go where you think you will be going once you have your license. To often people do their learning driving in very safe, known streets. That wont help you when you get your license.

He said to go where other P-platers will go, like McDonalds drive thru; He then looked at me, muttered a little about maybe I was to old for that but the super market or the beach might be more appropriate for me. I then had to tell him about the last time I went to the McDonalds drive thru..(i.e. the giving of finger to lady hassling me in the car park when I stalled the car).I’m unlikely to go back.

Anyway, we drove to Bondi beach, on a Sunday, that was probably a sub optimal decision. Driving at Bondi is horrible, and it’s really really bad on Sundays. People milling about, not looking where they are going just randomly jumping out into traffic, pretty scary place for a learner driver. But that is just excuses for me driving badly and without concentration; D was not a happy passenger. I will have to tidy the up the driving, otherwise there will be no license, and Kurt (the car) and I will not be able to drive happily ever after.

Ridiculously happy

2011-09-02T13:53:00.001+10:00

This last week I’ve been giddy, jumpy and hysterically happy. It’s a very strange sensation, it’s like I can’t really contain the general cheerfulness under my skin, it jumps out as face wide grins to the least suspecting passers by. I’m sure I’ve scared people; they don’t really know what hit them. I know my staff thinks I’m a little more weird then normal, but as one of them said “not in a bad way”.

It’s not that I’m normally a happy person, I am mainly rather cheerful, but this sort of general giddiness is not what I’m used to. It’s the same feeling that one has when you look forward to something specific that is going to be great, except there isn’t any particular event on the calendar right now.

I’m not complaining about it, I think it’s great. I’m just not used to it, and I’m a little scarred off it, in the way that you know that one day, if it’s gone, you will have known how great it was, and then you will know what you are missing out on.

In other news:
One of the girls in my office has a very pretty dress today. I will tell her.
Tonight I’m catching up with a really great group of girls that I got to know very well in the last year, and I’m going to eat souvlaki.
Tomorrow I’m going to see my friend R and her son that is now 1 year old.
On Sunday I’m going to learn to reverse park.

In reference to previous post aboutobsession I have now realised what the new subject is, it's Eggs, not as a subject of interest, but as a subject of eating. I can't get enough of boiled eggs. It's almost as bad as the "year of the tuna" which led to not being able to eat any more tuna ever, so let's hope I get over it quicker this time.

Visan: Re tattoo – Reckon it would be a little chavvy to have a sonnet about obsessions about monkeys as tattoo..but you know, maybe it would become “THE” new fashion, Angelina eat your heart out, check out how my poem rhymes gallus besom with m

Spring Clean

2011-09-01T11:12:00.001+10:00

Today, the 1 of September is the first day of spring. Spring people, Spring is here, it’s coming, bring on the asparagus.

I have a strong urge to spring clean, to tidy and sort out, during the winter I haven’t much enjoyed staying at home. My flat has been cold, and not very friendly feeling, I’ve been really trying not to spend much time there. I think that will have to change as this spring is coming.

I have been thinking about sorting, cleaning, tidying out all my things. Last year when I moved out of the last flat, it was just aiming to get out as fast as possible, get out, get out, get out, so I never had a look at the things that I packed.

I have so many things in my cupboards and drawers that I don’t use, like or think are beautiful. I don’t know for the life of me why I have them. But I do, and now they are all going to have to find new places to live.

I will try not to overwhelm myself with this, as I normally do, by pulling everything out, and trying to sort it, and then getting tired and frustrated and unable to throw anything. This time I will do it slowly and in bits, I’ll start cupboard by cupboard in the kitchen and move from there.

I have been obsessively reading Martha Stewart's (cause I love her) cleaning, tidy and organisation tips, I’m so geared up to do this that I’m almost panting. I just hope that the energy will not disappear before I start. That has happened before.

I also have a great plan for the poem my lovely friend M gave me for my 30:th birthday, a great plan I tell you…..

Obsessive or nerd gene!

2011-08-29T16:28:00.000+10:00

I have a full on nerd gene, I will on occasion find a subject to which I become obsessively interested, such that I want to know everything about the subject, I want to read all the books, look at all the pictures, see all exhibits etc. I become a rather dull person at such occasions as I mainly want to talk and think about this super duper really interesting subject that I love. I truly enjoy it, but I’m not sure that others might.

Now this doesn’t happen often, last time it occurred it was gemstones, which ties neatly into my interest in jewellery, and I ended up doing a two year FGA qualification and is now a qualified gemmologist.

Now I love gemstones, but the interest has vaned a little bit in the last couple of years, I still love looking at them, working with them, reading about them, but I don’t obsessively read everything I can find about them in the way that I used to.

I’m kind of feeling that a new nerd subject is coming on, I’m just not sure what it might be yet, maybe wood work, maybe physics, it would be awesome if it was maths, but that is unlikely.

And I was wondering, what if stalkers are people with a nerd gene whose obsession becomes another person and not a subject. That thought is a little scary. I think I will stop thinking that, before that is the thing that becomes the great new interest, and I would turn into a stalker of stalkers.

Don’t want that, no good.

Holidays with Family and Friends

2011-08-25T14:14:00.001+10:00

So I went on holiday, to Sweden and to London. To Sweden to see family and went to London to go to a wedding. Both parts of the trip where great, in their own separate ways, they also put a lot off things in perspective.

Mainly in regards to location, I’ve been thinking a lot this last year about where I should live and why. I live in Australia, which is a lovely place; I have nice friends and job I really enjoy. I have been thinking that I should be moving back to Europe where I have nice friends and family, but obviously not this job that I have here.

It was lovely being back in London, my first thought on the first night when I met up with friends was, “jeezz what I’m doing, why aren’t I back here”. Then the second day when it was pissing down rain and I was stuck on the tube getting from Victoria to Westminster I was thinking “Ahh this is why I’m not here”.

It was a great weekend to be back in London, it felt a little like the last weekend before everything change. I have been talking to my close friend M (how I miss her when I live here in OZ) through the year about the fact that life moves on for everyone and that people move and change and social life change over time. But that is hard to see when you not amongst it on a daily basis.

Also moving back would not just be slotting back into where I was, because I’m not. I was never lonely in London because I wasn’t on my own. I would be, if I moved back now.

Moving back to Sweden would be even more different. It would be moving back to something that I should feel comfortable with but actually feel very uncomfortable with, I feel like I’m always missing the social clues, I don’t know the TV programs, or the writers or the whatever. I’ve missed the last 10 years, cause I haven’t been there for the last 10 years. Actually I haven’t lived in Stockholm since 1997.

And then there is the thing about the people that I have here, D for example. It would be very sad to leave him. Because he is nice and I like him. So for now, I’m staying here, and then we’ll see.

Maybe if I stop fretting about it, the answer to it all will come in time.

Happiness

2011-06-02T21:18:00.003+10:00

I saw a friend of mine on Tuesday night and she told me I looked so very happy. I hadn't thought about it much lately, I guess that is a first sing that you are.
And I guess I am, I'm really happy.

I have some rough weeks, bad news and hard work, we've (my team and I) worked hard to push something forward and we kind of got it there, at least a start. Not finished, not even close to finished, but a start. It made me very happy, exited and wanting to share it, that is when I realized, when you've known someone for 10 years, telling them that you have done something good doesn't come across as bragging.

But when the people you know are new friends telling them that you've done something good can come across as smug and bragging, and you know annoying. And that is sad, cause sometimes you just want a couple of gold stars.

Well I'm gonna celebrate by nothing reading my work email before bed and have some mint slices.

Then soo calm - now so phhhhh

2011-06-01T12:22:00.001+10:00

I went away for the weekend to Kangaroo Valley, which as you can see is an absolutely stunning part of New South Wales.

Normally when I go away I get freaked out if I don’t do much, but this time I did nothing. I slept, ate, read one book and made a roast dinner and that was pretty much it.

When I got home, I was very relaxed and chilled out after a couple of weeks of pretty hard going stuff, bad news and too many hours in the office.

But now, only two and half days later, I’m back to feeling like pressing the “f*ck it button” and scoot of to a beach in Fiji.

Maybe it’s just because it’s now winter, winter in June. How up side down is that anyway.

Oscillation

2011-05-17T14:29:00.003+10:00

So I went on holiday, which was great. Saw touristy things in NY that I haven’t seen before (I have yet to see the statue of liberty, but you know hey, I have to save something for if/when I go back). I also went to Washington DC and got surprised with how small the White House really is, also how close you can get to it.

I would have assumed that you’d have to be a couple of kilometers away from it, but no, it’s just a couple of hundred meters and you can get that view that you got from the White House TV series (which I liked very much if I could get it subtitled, they all spoke to fast).

After the holiday I have been oscillating between being very happy and being sad and confused and weirded out and all the gray shades in-between. For someone who mainly does black or white, gray is so very uncomfortable.

It was very sad to leave my NY friend but also very happy to come back to Sydney and my friend/s here, and that confuses the hell out of me. It would be easier if it wasn’t so conflicting.

The only conclusion I can draw is, I’m unlikely to stay in Sydney for any prolonged period of time (mum we are talking in years here, not months, i.e. do not expect me home for Christmas). But I can’t see myself celebrating Christmas 2014 here. However, I have absolutely no idea of where I want to go. I’m quite sure I’m done with London, I can’t see Sweden working out as I’ve been away for about 10 years, I’m not really feeling a strong attachment to any location that I would like to go to, San Fran, sure, NY, yeah why not, Frankfurt, Mumbai, Hong Kong…not in a million years..

So, I guess I will find out in time where it all takes me.

(btw – Patty Fudge, did pick your spelling mistake and it makes me feel better knowing that I’m not the only one that wont make it into the enclave)

So unbelievably tired

2011-04-19T10:57:00.001+10:00

I have allowed myself to get to the state when I’m overtired, so unbelievably overtired. This is not a good state to be in, it’s the state when you overreact, when your attitude goes to “Mate, I’m just surviving right now, so I’m can’t be bothered with these issues”. It’s when I go into the state off concreting.

I call it concreting because all I do is walk straight forward and look into the concrete, using as little energy as possible, not noticing my surroundings and not looking at the bright autumn sun or the vividly blue sky.

It’s also at this stage when you don’t become a good friend, sister, daughter, workmate or partner as you only really have energy enough to get up, brush your teeth and go to work and sit there and try to do the job that you need to do.

All I can say, thank god I’m going on holiday tomorrow.

Diets and such

2011-04-06T19:54:00.002+10:00

Lately or in the last 9 months or so my weight has steadily been inching upwards. Not in huge numbers but slowly, slowly got it self to a number that I’m not happy with.

I was whinging about it the other day to a friend and he said, well considering all that has happened in the last few months maybe it’s not so strange, and I kind of thought Yes, but for how long can I use that excuse.

I know exactly what has happened, I’m not cooking dinner like I used to, I’m not eating in the same controlled fashion that I used to, I allow myself toasties and biscuits to make up for not eating dinner. I don’t bring lunch work, I socialise much more then I used to with the extra alcohol and the extra crap food that I wouldn’t have eaten previously.

Now the issue with all this is that knowing myself very well in regards to weight gain, if I don’t nip this in the bud pretty quickly, I will get to what I perceive is my “critical number” and that number will push me into doing something, and that something will most likely be something silly. I will indulge in old restrictive eating behaviours and exercise too much, too hard and I will hurt myself again, I reckon to major hip surgeries should be enough even for me.

So my plan is to try to get a handle on it prior to going mental. So I’m looking for inspiration to get me eating better again, eating better but not crazily restrictive.

Thinking health more then kcal I guess. And that is hard for me, so I did some looking around, and I saw the LCHF diet, I thought that looked interesting. And I realised that is pretty much exactly how I used to eat, excluding most dairy products except cheese.

The only problems with all these low carbohydrate eating plans for me are breakfast; I like porridge for breakfast, with berries and almonds.

So I’ll do my own version. Good old fashioned eating habits. So I’ll go to the super market, buy myself some eggs, make an omelette instead of sandwich for dinner and then go home and throw out all the biscuits that are loitering around my flat.

Those biscuits are well known for loitering around my house. I love them and they love me, but not in the right way. More in the love handle way. So in the bin they go. I will replace them with chocolate.

Events that has occurred

2011-04-05T19:52:00.003+10:00

A lot of events have occurred since I wrote anything last time. I will list and comment and hopefully get back to writing a little more after this huge update post.

Since I wrote last I have done these things:

Music festival – I went to the Good Vibes Festival, which was great fun, wet and rainy but not cold. Once I had committed to being wet and ugly I had the best time bopping about to Miike Snow.

Had a date
Had a work do
Then a driving lesson, and went flying in a helicopter again and then a few days of drama, which thought me:
Sometimes I am not a nice person.
Some people’s ability for forgiveness is astounding.
Other people’s anger is hard to understand.
The fact that I have friends that I can talk to about things in annoying detail is fantastic.

Then a friend of mine moved back to the UK, which highlighted the fact that all this moving around in different countries allows you to make and loose fantastic friends in very short time.

We had a big work do which was interesting, I saw one of Sydney 24 hour pubs, which was a scary sight.

I went to a concert with Mark Ronson, he as not as good as expected but had Miike Snow as a surprise act so I was a very happy customer anyway, that night I met the cutest 20 year old gay couple planning their wedding. They made me very happy, they thought I was 25. That made me even happier.

Then I had yet another leaving do, which was sad, but the week up I got catch up with my friend R that I haven’t seen in a long time cause as she has had a baby and I’ve been a pretty shit friend in not going for a visit. So that will have to change.

I had a book club event, without talking about the book we where suppose to have read, which was nice as I hadn’t read the book. Then I did some driving, over the harbour bridge.

Then I had a more confusing times in regards to marriage and divorce and spent a fortune in getting to be registered as the owner of my car, and then paying for all those really dull car payments, rego, insurance, tires and other boring expenses.
The marriage and divorce bit was far more painful and confusing then I had expected. I thought I had all that clear in my head, but apparently some people found that they needed to add a little more pain and confusion to the mix.

The week after that we had a big night out with all the girls, which led to dancing around at the opera bar until my feet bled, which was probably exactly what was needed at that point.

A couple of days later I did some more driving, all the way up to the blue mountains, where I saw 2 traffic accident and gave the finger to a lady that hassled me in the McDonalds parking space for stalling the car when I was trying to get out.

So it seems that I will turn out to be an expressive driver. My driving instructor was most impressed with the fact that not only was I giving the finger to a driver in a SUV in the western suburbs, which easily can be led to you getting shot in the head, but I also lent forward to make sure she could see it properly through the tinted windows.

After that I’ve helped a friend move house and watched a live game of AFL, which was entertaining.

Events coming up are:
Weekend in the Hunter Valley on a wine tour with 10 friends
Cracker Night Sydney Comedy Festival Gala night
10 days in New York
and more stand up comedy.

So all in all very eventful times, the last two months has had pretty much every drama one could expect of a lifetime. So let’s hope it calms down a little bit. It seems that I have had the Chinese curse come true, “Hope you live in interesting times”

The health project is not going well

Busy bee

2011-02-14T09:55:00.003+11:00

Last week was an extremely eventful week. There where so many fun things happened that now I’m all funned out.
I went to the Opera house twice, once to watch theatre and once to watch opera. I realised I really liked Carmen, however I do think that the subtitling of opera does take some of the beauty out of it. It’s good to know what the stories are about, but I found it hard to focus on the singing and read at the same time.

Then it was big night out for comp day on Wednesday, with the side effect of loosing my phone in a cab. Then the rest of the week to me to see a lot of music at the Good Vibrations music festival. My high light was watching Miike Snow.

However Ludacris did put on a great show, so did Eryka Badu, Kelis and the other bands we watched did alright as well. The only let down was Ting Tings, but then that could have to do with that by then it was raining very hard and their stage had no cover.

All an all, I left the festival, soaked through and covered in mud. As one should I assume
Sunday took me for a nice Sunday lunch in Randwick and ended with a Burlesque show in the city. It was entertaining, for sure, and you got to give a lot of credit to the girls. It takes some guts to do what they do. Unlikely that it will be something that I would get myself into. I do not have that kind of confidence.

Today is Valentines day, and my exiting date night will include, taking out the bins, cleaning the shower screens in the bathroom and vacuuming the living room floor. Might make a night of it and throw in a bit of grocery shopping and a load of laundry.
The saddest thing, this is actually making me pretty happy. My flat is a mess and I’m looking forward to putting the music up loud and dance around with my hover.

Life architect

2011-02-08T16:51:00.000+11:00

I for the first time in my life have no plans, no goals and no real direction. I’m finding this thrilling and scary at the same time. I am the kind of person who always have had a 10 year plan, I’m going to study this, then work here then do that, do this etc.

Now that is not to say that the plans have always come together, been what I expected or lead me where I thought I would end up. But there has always been a plan, normally a 10 year one.

Now there is no plan, whatsoever, no long term plan at least. There are short term plans, like this weekend I’m going to a music festival and a dance performance and a lunch. But no long term plans, no future idea of where I’m going to go, work with, live with, city to live in.

This is an unbelievable uncomfortable situation for me, who is not a natural “take-the-day-as-it-comes” kind person. Carpe Diem my ass. This is not my normal habitat. But I think for now, making plans to fix, sort out, get on would more then likely lead to ending up in a very wrong place. So for now, I’m making 10 minute plans. Plans for today, eat something before going for a 3 hour opera at the opera house.

I’m going the distance, I’m going for speed.

2011-02-04T11:15:00.000+11:00

Well that is how it felt when I was doing my first driving lesson since I was 16. When I was 16 I did do a few driving sessions with my dad. But since then, all I’ve done is practicing parking.

So I did 30 minutes in a parking lot figuring out how to use the clutch and changing gears using my left hand, and then out on the streets at the breakneck speed of 70 km/hour. It was pretty exiting.

There are things that I’m not very good at yet, such as getting off at green lights. I stalled the car so bad I missed at least 3 green light sessions. Got really flustered cause there where cars behind etc. I was really scared that they would start honking, not cause of the honking but that I would get really angry, jump out of the car and run over and start yelling at them. That won’t happen; I’ll make sure of it. But you know, it’s in my personality to do that.

I also went to my PT for the first time yesterday and today there is so much pain. Good pain, no joint pain, but still pain. Tomorrow I’m suppose do to the Great Urban run, it’s a 5 hour orienteering/running/quiz event that you do in teams. It will be good, except it’s going to be 38-42 degrees in Sydney. I reckon there are going to have to be a lot of water drunk, and not a lot of beer drunk tonight. Probably a good thing all in all.

M.I.A

2011-02-03T12:00:00.002+11:00

I have not been writing for a while. For many reasons, mainly time constraints but also disinterest and a general feeling of not wanting to.

So since I wrote the last time a lot of things have happened, Christmas and New Years came and went, with the pleasure and the pain that they brought with them. I had a lovely time on both occasions, but not without a fair bit of sadness that I tried my best to ignore and shovel down. Christmas was particularly hard, but I was lucky in having my dad here and also having places to be and people to see.
The picture above is from the fireworks over Darling Harbour, that you could see from my balcony. Look to the left and you see the outline of my dad.

Then I went bridge climbing and took a helicopter ride over the harbour. That was pretty awesome. I’m a great lover of the Sydney harbour and it doesn’t get much better then seeing it from a helicopter. The picture above is from that Event. The helicopter flyer is my mate. Pretty good thing to have a friend who can fly the helicopter, I guess.

Since then I had some more friends visiting from Europe which was lovely.

I also have been working stupid hours and got myself my learner’s license. So I can now take Kurt (the car) out for a drive as long as I have fully licensed driver supervising me in the car. I’m having my first lesson today, with my mate the helicopter flyer, indeed a brave soul considering I get aggressive and rude when I’m trying to learn new things.

PH11, has taken a really bad turn, no weight loss, cut down on the disco dancing and drinking mainly cause I have no people in the house, the smoking is going so so.
But as my sister says, failure is not an issue as long as you pick yourself up and try again. So I’ll have to do it again, do it right. First session with a personal trainer today. Maybe that will get my arse in the gear.

PH-11

2010-12-20T16:23:00.000+11:00

I have decided that January 2011 will be the kick off time for my new Project Health 2011. Why is this, well the main reason is that I’m feeling very unhealthy. I have had so much fun in the last couple of months, so much fun; which can be seen on the increase of waistline that I have and the fact that my stomach ulcer has come back in full force.

I can’t blame it all on the fact that I have had great visitors in my flat since early October even if I would want that. It does come down to the fact that I have eaten to much, drunken to much and smoked far to much.

Now it has been lovely to do this, but I am starting to see the side effects of this hedonistic couple of months that I have been having.

All the dresses and skirts I bought in New York in August are too tight in the waist.
My attention span is really bad.
I have much less energy then I normally have.
My skin is getting prickly and I have got breakouts again. Wrinkles and pimples in combination. Not fair at all.

As I’m a all or nothing person I will try to do this as a project, but my aim is
1. Not to let it take over my life.
2. Not get injured from the increased training.

These are things that I have never been able to do. Ever. I normally get far to into it, cutting out all socialising and focus only on eating well and training hard. Rendering my personal life a bit dull and also about 4 months in I will have got myself injured again.

So I will not do it that way this time.
I have made a project plan, I have divided the time from January to April into stage 1.
In stage 1 I will stop smoking, I will eat more vegetarian food and get back into regular exercise.

In stages, not all at once.

If I would do it all in once, then one is very likely to fail. So first step is, stop smoking, stop drinking for January and go to one yoga class a week.

This is my plan, or Project Health 2011, or PH-11 as I will refer to it.

Membrane

2010-12-08T10:20:00.001+11:00

the kind of armour I would like
I have not been writing for a while. I have been very busy as I have had guests in my flat since the second week of October and will continue to do so until the first week of January. It has been lovely to have so many people come and see me. But it has also lead to much sadness as I have to see them leave. My friends who are staying at the moment are leaving on Friday and Sunday, and my dad arrives on Monday. So it will be a weekend of mixed emotions.

At the moment I feel like my shell is getting very membrane like and I let things in and out to easy. I like it better when it's like armour, I know that might not make me the cuddliest person in the world, but there are plenty of pandas to take that role. Anyway, in regards to my armour, my friend pointed out last night that why don't I just let myself feel the way I feel and remove all the strategies of avoiding feelings I don't like.

That seems like a terrifying way of life, to much emotion, to much drama. I don't do drama. But I guess that is what people mean with live in the now and all incense that stuff.

I have had such a fun fun fun time in the last few months. To much fun, I feel my energy is depleted, in combination with hyperness. Unenergetic hyper me, Isn't my dad a lucky guy who will get to hang out with that person for a month. Really hyper but can't be bothered doing anything anymore. Let's hope he is jetlagged the first couple of days so I get a decent amount of sleep.
I feel a need to centre and kind of quiet down. I have started a plan for 2011, for a more sustainable way of living. However much fun I have had I also know that what I'm doing at the moment is so scatty and un-organised it kills all creativity I have, all extra energy and a lot of the feeling of caring for others. And that is not a good thing.

1 Year anniversary

2010-11-16T14:35:00.001+11:00

Today it’s a year ago that I started working in my current organisation.
It is one year since I was convinced that I was going to be fired within two weeks. I seem to have survived for longer than that, I’m pretty chuffed about that.

Anniversaries of all sorts are interesting occasions as they make you think about what has been happening since this time last year. By God has a lot of things happened. I was reading back in my blog post from the first day last year. I was so scared and uncomfortable. Now I’m not scared, I’m still uncomfortable sometimes but that is mainly because my role has changed to be a very different from what I have done before. I enjoy that very much. But it is still challenging.

Separating or getting divorced is obviously the biggest change in 2010. I’m still pretty surprised about that one. I never saw that one coming. That knocked my sense of control of my live to the curb. Funnily a friend pointed out to me last night that I have more control of my own life now then I have ever had before as I can make decisions only for me. No one else has to be involved in the process at all.

How come I feel that I’m standing in the middle and things are just happening around me at record breaking speed then?

Family in town

2010-10-26T22:11:00.002+11:00

I have my mum and sister in town, which is so lovely. They have been here for about 10 days so I have been kept busy with socializing and hanging out. This week I have a holiday so I can really get to spend some time with them.

We have been to the beach today, yesterday we had crap weather so we went to buy me some fab balcony furniture. Once they arrive I will be able to have people come over and enjoy my fabulous view for a drink and meal cooked by someone else on my huge bbq.

Having people for a visit is real nice, they are the first in a long long list of people that are visiting this Australian spring and summer. I will not have the flat to myself for any extended period of time until mid January. As I haven't lived on my own for very long I'm finding it surprisingly easy and nice to have people around...it's almost like old times.

killed the keys

2010-10-16T00:47:00.001+11:00

After my run on Tuesday, I was very tired, and my arms went funny and I spilled water on my laptop. That lead to three letters dying on my laptop. The funny thing is, these where important letters....at least one of them where in everyone of my user ids or pwd for just about anything. And my admin id...

hence I've not been able to log in to my computer until now when my keys have dried out...

Running

2010-10-12T20:20:00.002+11:00

Home run 20101012
Find more Runs in Kirribilli,

I found a really cool lite site where you can map your runs...this route I ran today, 6.3 km and I ran it in 37 minutes. So not a great time. But it's improving. I ran 5 km on Saturday morning in 40 minutes. But then again I had been sick for almost two weeks.

I'm better now, and i'm running again. Only problem I have right now is cramp in the food from dehydration. Can you rehydrate with beer?

Singapore

2010-10-03T23:54:00.002+11:00

I'm in Singapore, which is lovely, hot and humid. Unfortunately i'm still ill. I think the stomach flu/food poisoning I got last weekend has pushed my stomach ulcer to rear it's ugly head. The continuous nausea is driving me nuts. I feel sick when I don't eat and even worse when I do eat. Which is so very sad as Singapore has great food, particularly great seafood which the thought off eating is making retch.

Singapore as most of you know is pretty much one huge shopping center. So I've done my best, but have come up pretty flat. Did buy a pretty dress and some shoes, and undies, as they do have M&S here. Can't fault old M&S for undies.

Tomorrow my training start, and I was soo exited about this training and I soo wish I was in a better shape for it, I know it's going to be very intense. Hence it would have been great if I was in tip top order. But I guess I'll just have to fake it till I make it.

This last week has been pretty rough as I've been ill and I quickly realized that I'm in a country where I have no family and no old friends. No old friends that you can call and go, -I'm sooo sick can you go and get me some soup, please. It was rather disturbing and embarrassing to have to ask A to help me get some food. Which to his credit he did, twice, which was very kind. It's always hard to ask for help, especially under these circumstances.

Well, I guess I'm just feeling a little sorry for myself today, so I'm gonna go and crash out in my humongous hotel bed. You could fit 8 people in there and have spare room.

sunshine coast

2010-10-01T20:39:00.007+10:00

Last weekend I went on holiday with my friends, for a long weekend up to maloolooba. Believe me when I tell you, it's quite a special place. The tattoo ink to free skin ratio is very low. Don't get me wrong. I like tattoos as much as the next person, but tattooing "Property Off" and then the name your missus/mister is a little less then classy in my mind.

The weekend was awesome, included lots of foul language on my part, some people in the group got chucked out from the club for wearing red maybe orange thongs (flip flops).

I even got to see the Big Pineapple. There seems to be a thing here in Australia, for places that aren't really famous for anything to just build whatever they have lots of in that area really big. And then people will go and see it. Just like we went to see the pretty small Big Pineapple. Next weekend I'm going to see the Big Merino. That is not a joke. I will take pictures to prove it. Here is the start of the "Big Adventure". I give you "The Big Pinapple".

I ended up getting really sick however at the end, ate some morton bay bugs and spent all together 3 days vomiting.

The exitement is back - at least a little

2010-09-20T17:05:00.004+10:00

Natasha Collis line for Astley Clarke
I spent a little time today at lunch checking out Astely Clarkes website, which is my most favourite jewellery store in the whole wide world.

I have not been wanting to make anything for a very long time, I felt uncomfortable and just plainly haven't wanted to sit down and do it...

Then today something happened, I was checking out Natasha Collis line for Astley clarke and my fingers started to itch. Not itch to try to make things that looks like hers, she makes amazing in a totally different style from me. But they where itching to make things for me, things that I like to make, for me.

So I guess maybe it's time to unpack that part of the flat, that part of my life.

Check out the view

2010-09-11T10:03:00.003+10:00

This is my view when I woke up on Friday morning. The fog was so heavy you couldn't see anything.

This however is the view from my balcony this Saturday morning, not half bad hu! I'm loving the boats.

Photo wall

2010-09-08T21:53:00.002+10:00

This is the start of my "photo wall", to be honest I lived in London for 10 years and did not put one picture up on the wall. Now I have put up 14 in one night.

My living room. I will take a photo of the view from my balcony during the weekend when there is daylight.

1.46%

2010-09-08T16:10:00.000+10:00

Maybe it's OK that things aren't all totally lined up and sorted yet.

It's only been 1.46% of time relative to time spent together.

Other things that are 1.46% according to Google.
The current CD rate from GigantBank.com if you invest $2500 is 1.46%
As of August the 23 the return rate of Canada’s provincial bonds for the month.
On Oct 27 2009 Japanese shares fell 1.46%
On Oct 14 2009 India's annual inflation rate was forecast to have risen 1.46% in the first week of October.

So I am not alone, a whole bunch of random totally unconnected things are also 1.46%.

Sorting it out

2010-09-07T15:06:00.002+10:00

I’m getting sorted, slowly. All those things that I’ve never bothered with before, like electricity and gas providers, redirection of mail (which is currently going through my friend), changing my address, my beneficiaries and my will. I’m getting it sorted. I feel pretty adult and organised. Like when you attend a meeting with typed up notes of what you are going to say.

I’m also getting my “photo wall” sorted. I have had a bunch of photographs printed in 6*7 format and I’ve bought a stack of white frames at IKEA. I’m going to put them all up on the wall tonight. I have already laid it out how I want them to be set up now I just need to start measuring to make sure that they are all level and straight.

I will make the wall such that I can add photographs as I go along. The first bunch is mainly family and my friends in from London. As I take more photos from my stay here in Australia they will probably be printed and put up as well. I’m thinking there might be a few from the long weekend I’m doing on the Sunshine Coast later in September. I will have to go back to IKEA and buy new frames, use up that 50 dollar IKEA voucher I won at the Swedish national day lunch raffle.

So, slowly I’m getting there. Getting sorted.

Flatlining

2010-09-06T20:58:00.003+10:00

I had a nice weekend, but for some reason today things just got really flat.
Really sad and hard in a way, I guess it doesn't help that work was a little rough and a nice 12 hour day at that.

Any tips for anti-flat activities would be much appreciated. So far I've only got new haircut and signing up for the gym on the list.

I know nothing

2010-09-03T12:26:00.002+10:00

It is funny, I've not lived full time in Stockholm since January 1997, but I still read the local newspapers online. I still read the DN Pa stan which is the weekend magazine, I guess I do it to feel not so far away when I speak to my family, so I know a little bit about what is happening in their surroundings. I'm sure they do not read the Sydney Morning Herald to keep up with mine. But that is OK, it's a bad paper anyway.

So DN (the newspaper) often has something called Stockholms testet, which is like an online test about what is happening in the city, questions about museums, displays, politics and all other things that has been in the news for the last week.

I always do the test. For fun...

Today was the first day I didn't get a single answer right...
Not one.

That was surprisingly sad.

When spell checker won’t help

2010-09-02T15:40:00.003+10:00

Sent an email today signing off with Retards instead of Regards.

To my boss...

New Flat

2010-09-02T15:40:00.001+10:00

I’ve been in my flat for over a week and I love it. I really love my flat, probably the second time in my life where I live somewhere where I want to invite people just to show it. It’s such a nice flat, with two big locks, and the bedroom is a nook behind 1 extra door so I feel very safe and home. I feel at home. That is a strange but lovely feeling.

I have gotten everything up, I have got my photos printed and I will put some on the wall.

The walk to work across the harbour bridge in the morning is more then amazing. I have found the best point to take photos of the opera house. I will bring the good camera out in the next couple of weeks and take some photos.

I can lie in my bed on the morning and look at the turquoise water of the harbour and watch the sail boats float around.

And it’s tidy and when it isn’t. It’s my mess.

When I can’t sleep I can just turn all the lights on and faff about for a little while longer.

The only strange thing is cooking for one. I eat a lot of toasties, so many that I probably will start to look like one. One more thing that isn’t optimal with my flat. There is no real good supermarket close by, there is a supermarket but it’s not good. Hence the toasties.

dinner

2010-08-25T18:01:00.001+10:00

Having a cup of tea and anzac biscuits for dinner today. Simply cause I can. Last time I lived on my own I ate ice cream for dinner for a year.

I remember it fondly.

New whereabouts

2010-08-23T19:17:00.003+10:00

I'm in my new flat and it's lovely. Very girly for being me, but comfortable and has the most amazing view. I will as soon as I get it all sorted take photos and post.

I blatantly stole this photo from the Internet. But it shows the view a couple of minutes walk from my house. My view is in the other direction, over Lavender bay and all the sail boats.

I moved in on Saturday and Saturday night I went out for some food with friends. I underestimated how tired I got from the move. 3 Drinks and I was all over the shop and went home. On Sunday morning I woke up and did not recognize my surroundings (as the flat is new) and I remebered I'd been out for drinks and I nearly jumped off the balcony thinking I'd done something incredible stupid. Then I remembered this is my new house, I live here...and felt much better and went back to sleep.

Last night

2010-08-19T23:02:00.003+10:00

It's my last night in current flat, I move out on Saturday, but tomorrow night I'm suppose to be out at a work dinner.

It's quite a weird feeling seeing all my things in boxes, all my clothes stacked up in the hall way ready for an 8 am start on Saturday.

It's weird because I moved into this flat about a year ago, and this was just gonna be somewhere we lived until we bought something, with big plans for the joint future. And that is all different now, and that feels weird. At this point I can't say good or bad, all I can say is that it feels bad.

For all the shit things, there are going to be good things by leaving this apartment. I will not live next terrible smelling food neighbours. And that will be great...

So last night here...new beginnings and all that.

Dancing queen

2010-08-18T09:50:00.002+10:00

Went salsa dancing last night, I am in no form a great dancer on club dance floor and I'm not a big fan really. But I love all types of couple dancing, waltz, foxtrot, salsa what have you I'm there. I think it's because there are rules, there are actual steps that you are suppose to take. I can do that. 1,2,3,4 and to the side then I'm golden.

The place that we went to looked like normal city bar on a Tuesday, plenty of suits standing around grabbing their drinks and bragging about their profits and commiserating their losses. Then about at ten to eight in the evening all these girls in nice dresses and danceable shoes started to trickle in. I didn't pay that much attention as I was hanging out with new friend San and learning more about her super glamorous job. At eight they had a little step session, explaining the basic steps it seemed, we missed out on that cause we where busy loosening up by drinking a little wine.

And then all of a sudden the whole floor exploded with all these couples who where such great great great dancers. It was such a joy to see. All these people really having the greatest time on a Tuesday night in the middle of the CBD. So I danced a little, with a few people which was so much fun, no matter that my legs and feet and arms where all going in the wrong direction most of the time.

So I'm going to find myself a proper dance class and learn this for real. I am after all my fathers daughter. Focused dancing overbite and all.

View 3 min walk from my house

2010-08-17T14:38:00.004+10:00

View Larger Map

What do you people reckon? nice view hu? This is the view when I walk 3 minutes out of my new flat. Not bad if I may say so myself. The opera house and palm trees. One can not complain. You have to press the view larger map link to for it not to be blurry. Once I move in I will post proper pictures.

NEW YORK

2010-08-12T20:42:00.003+10:00

So many funny stories to tell.

Had the best holiday off my life. Much thanks to my best friend Mon who talked me into going.

Fun fun fun

2010-07-14T20:20:00.002+10:00

I've been complaining about being bored lately and having no fun. I have decided to work against this self pity by going to the Comedy Store in Sydney next week. I booked tickets today, which made me feel very constructive.

I bought Tickets for Will Andersson, he is rather big Australian comedian. I hope he is funny. He looks kinda funny on facebook.

When I lived in London I used to go to the Up the Creek which is a totally dingy great comedy club in east London. I love stand up comedy, good comedy, bad standup makes you feel like you want sink into the ground and that just for the audience. Imagine being the actual act.

Anyway. I think guy ought to be good. He is apparently famous. That must count for something.

Free for all

2010-07-12T20:09:00.002+10:00

Today when I was on my way home on the buss the charging machine was broken so the trip was free. The old lady who was sitting in the seat behind the driver was so exited about these news that she progressed to point out to every single passenger that stepped on the buss from then onwards that "it's free, isn't that great, I think it amazing".

She did that for all aprox 40 passengers that came on to the buss on the way home.

I wish I could get that exited about getting a 1.60 dollar fare for free.

Winter is a downer. I think gettting that exited over small things, It must be the best life skill ever.

I'm now going to passively go and watch sit coms on TV to cheer me up.

brrrrr - square

2010-07-01T20:22:00.003+10:00

My sister told me I'm not allowed to talk about that it is cold, as it's not really cold. I guess it kinda is if you are up in the mountains. A couple of funny things though, about the cold.
1. It's colder inside then outside. Peoples houses are like fridges, that they insist to sit in.
2. People are complaining about how long it has been this cold. I think maybe 3 weeks. And it's really only really cold when the sky is bright bright blue.
3. Its not that cold. But it is windy.

The stone above I bought to replace the stone I snapped the corner off. I hope they will like it. You never know with these things. I have to redo the setting a little bit. It's now to big, the stone is 1/2 a mm smaller in width. It's funny what a difference 1/2 mm makes. 1/2 mm is huge deal if you are a brain surgeon as well.

Or an eye surgeon. Maybe not so important if you just cut people in the leg.

Other than that. Life is good. The weekend will be quiet after the huge hallaballo that was on last Saturday. And I have gone against all my rules and bought low fat ice cream. I will sit in my fridge appartment and eat my low fat ice cream. And I will Love IT

Coldest Day

2010-06-30T21:16:00.003+10:00

Today it was the coldest day since 1949 in Sydney. It was -5 in penrith this morning. Was still 16 degrees in the city at midday..

I'm not complaining. But i'm rahter cold as they don't know how to insulate houses here. It seems that when they put insulation in houses 16 year olds die. Not very good. They should send their old midnight oil leaders to sweden to learn about tripple glassed windows. Very toasty.

Somehow I can't get the reallt cute picture of eskimos I had lined up to load

so Imagine really cute enuits at the top of the page please

Long time, nothing written.

2010-06-28T20:24:00.003+10:00

It's not due to lack of things happening that I haven't written anything. It's the total opposite. To much things in one go and I became very overwhelmed. Some great things. My new role was finally announced, which made telling people what I do a lot easier, you know when you no longer just some random person wandering into the department asking what people are doing but actually also can tell them why I'm there. I'm very exited about this new role it's quite different from what I've done before so that is scary, which means I'm not sleeping much at the moment. But that is timed perfectly you see cause no one else is sleeping either due to the world cup games being showed at 11.30 at night through to 4.30 in the morning.

We had a great weekend with midsummer party in the apartment. We made tons of food and I tried to cure salmon above, a picture above (that is not the salmon I cured that is just a picture of cured salmon that I've stolen of the Internet). As always with parties there are some things that occurs the day after like how did the conversation about people with both aspengers and toureetes start, why is the floor in the toilet covered with pie crumbs and what happened to the candles in the hallway. All and all a great night really.

Other not so great things. The ring with the giant square stone is now a giant square stone with a cracked corner. I had just finished setting the stone and I was going to level it out, and I cracked the corner. So that was a bit shit. I have been trying to replace it, I have been at 5 gemstone stores in Sydney trying to find a princess cut moonstone to no avail. Moonstones are very rarely faceted as the beauty of the stone is shown best as a cabochon and they are also soft and scratch easily so a faceted stone shows wear much easier. I did however find some really nice checkerboard cut chalcedony that I know have in a little bag that I can poke at and go...ohhh pretty.

Anyway. I'm still looking for the moonstone. Secondly, I found that the second ring that I fabricated and had cast in gold, they casted it in the wrong colour of gold. It was casted in white gold. So I had to ask them to re-cast it and I have to wait until the end of the week.

And I'm running out of time I've realised. There are only so many hours in the day and I don't have time to make as much jewellery as I did before. I think it is because I really like my job. So I spend so much more time and energy there so I don't have that much left over when I get home at night.

Earrings

2010-06-17T20:47:00.002+10:00

I'm working away in my little studio. The rings for the giant square stone is finished and I'm having it cast in gold this week. I'm quite exited to see how it's going to come out. It should be finished by wednesday and then all I should have to do is set the stone. The reason I have fabricated the ring in Silver to then later have it cast in solid gold is that fabricating in gold is very expensive. As you have to file so much material away.

The above earrings is for Mr T:s niece. They are white topaz ones, I hope she will like them. She wanted small ones, but they looked so ugly as studs so I made them into solid wire earrings.
I'm gonna upload them to facebook let her have a say.

Other than that, My new job as a boss for many people is proving to be interesting and exiting and a little scary all at the same time. Not much sleep I will have for a while methinks

The Red Jacket

2010-06-15T20:43:00.003+10:00

Little Ms M pointed out in her comment that my jacket has been around for a while. It's not even the half truth. I bought that jacket in a Second hand shop when I was student in 1998. I often pair it up with a mulberry handbag I got given as a present in I think 1989.

The reason why I have so much old stuff, is that 1. I don't enjoy shopping very much and 2. I get really attached to my things.

I reckon the price per wear for the red jacket is probably so low that the jacket is actually paying me now,

New Face Decorations

2010-06-13T18:06:00.004+10:00

I have glasses. Not all the time, everyday, but when I read or work in front of the computer I wear glasses. As I never really wear them that much I have always bought very simple non-offensive frames that you don't pay much attention to nor pay much money for (Specsaves here I come)

These are my second best ones. The thing is that they are maroon....I'm not sure about maroon.

Anyway, as my sight is getting a little worse I now need new glasses. And I will need to wear more often. Hence I need to have a look for new frames that looks good and "enhance" my style if you like.

I want to get architect style glasses. You know the type, where you can tell from a long distance that this person is Scandinavian. I call them Scandinavian architect glasses. So Mr T and I walked into the city yesterday to have a look. It wasn't a good idea, by the time we got there we where both tired and grumpy. And of course I did not find any that I liked. I spent most of the time getting frustrated that I could not find anything, the people in the shop was unbelievable unhelpful and I ended up getting furious at the frog looking lady working in the shop and Mr T at the same time.

Hence we left without new glasses. But I do have some photos. So I need a little help. Which of all these glasses are the best ones. Or should I keep looking.
These ones above are my favourite ones. Mr T thinks they are to dark for my complexion and makes me look like I'm an angry librarian. I do not see why that is a problem. Maybe when I go to the library in the future they will treat me nicer and stop giving me fines all the time.
These are Mr T:s favourites. He thinks they make me look very intelligent. I think they look very much like the goggles I wear when I polish. The frames are also red. And my face get's red anyway easily, so they will blend in. But not in a good way.

These ones I like as well, except on the sides they have huge rhinestone D&G sign. And I'm not that big a fan of Dolce & Gabbana to start with, and I hate big logos. And I kind of think that If I'm going to walk around with advertising on my face I would like to get paid, not pay for it.

I like these ones the least. They make me look funny.

Hands and Other things

2010-06-07T18:52:00.002+10:00

I have found out that the issue with my hand is inflammation in the tendons. This is good news. However right now I need to rest my hand and take anti-inflammatory medicin. So I will take a little rest from making jewellery. Or I will make less. I will fill the orders I have, and then not do some more for a while.

So I've been thinking about what I will do then with my spare energy. I was thinking I'd buy a sewing machine. First I was thinking I would just fix up my website. But then I realised resting my hand should mean no unnecessary typing as it is the typing that has been getting me into trouble. So no typing. But sewing should be alright, maybe.

So I was thinking, as I find that clothes in Australia are either very expensive or very ugly, I will have to learn to sew nice clothes. So you can expect me to look a little funny for a while until I get a hang of how the sewing machine works. Once I got one that is. I have a tendency to buy very colourfull fabrics and keep them in piles in my room. So I guess I'll just start with them. Expect to see me in a green stripy dress with a gigantic red flower on..or maybe a bright yellow pair of trousers with dandelions. Or hot pink with grey leaves. Those are the fabric I own at the moment. I never really buy fabric with a plan of what to make. I just buy them if I love the colour. My most favourite one is a Turquise sari fabric heavily embroided with gold...I wonder what I could make of that..

Other then that when they checked out the hand they found that I had some issues with discs poking out in the spine. Behind the shoulder blade. Which makes sense as I've had pain there for years. I just thought it was sitting with a bad posture. However after double checking with the super doctor (my auntie), she says it's fine to go running but stay away from the weights.

So that is good. Cause I don't like weights. But I like running.

Swedish National Day celebration

2010-06-06T17:31:00.003+10:00

For the first time in my life I have celebrated Swedish National day, at the Svenska Klubben in Sydney. It's a Swedish club in Sydney, there is a number of different clubs and organisations for Swedes and other Scandinavians in Sydney.

The event started with flag raising and singing of the national anthem, followed by traditional folk dancing (pictured above) and finishing of with a really good smorgas bord lunch. And there was a raffle, and even better than that, I won a price. A present voucher for IKEA. No I'm not kidding.

I thought the event was very nice, the food was lovely, I did feel a bit silly with flag raising and national anthem singing, but the great food made up for that.
I have never been much for formalised nationalism, in my 10 years in London I never attended a Swedish group event or even have any swedish friends really. Somehow it feels more important here. Maybe it's because I'm so much further away now.

Anyway, the food was great.

Australia vs Denmark 1-0 in the Friendly

2010-06-02T08:43:00.001+10:00

Australia did beat the Danes, more beat then mash I guess. I'm not sure it was the actual Danish team, it seemed to be some kind of Danish/Polish contingent. But it was a friendly. And they played better then they did against New Zeeland last week.

I'm going to have to have a think about who I want to win. But I do think it would be fantastic if Nigeria won...But then again, Salsa Fotball from south america is so very entertaining. Even if they cheat and throw themselves on the floor every 5 minutes.

Italy...NOOOOO, any team but Italy I think..

World Cup Songs

2010-06-01T20:08:00.004+10:00

My sister put this one on her her blog, It's South Africas world cup 2010 song. It's not the official Fifa song, the official Fifa song is sung by Shakira which makes no sense as she is from Colombia and not really a good representative of Afrika at all. And it's not a good song either. I prefer this one, eventhought it's sponsored by Coca Cola who I'm brought up to belive is evil.

So while I was going throught and looking for the world cup 2010 songs, (englands was awfull, truly awfull), I was looking for Swedens. Then I remembered that Sweden didn't qualify, which is shocking. Mr T very exitedly pointed out that it made Australia a better fotball nation as they qualified.

Have you ever heard such a thing. They don't even call it by it's right name. It's fotball people, fotball...

They even call their team the Socceroos...

Shocking...

As sweden didn't qualify I will have to suport the Socceroos with all I've got. I hope they mash the Danes...(It's a friendly, but still no excuse not to mash the Danes)

Ulrika

2010-05-31T20:20:00.000+10:00

This design is named after it's owner. It's now finished and on it's way to it's new home. It's a little more floral then I usually do it, but I like it. The stones are blue topaz briollettes. Very light coloured and sparkly.

Happy Australia-versary

2010-05-28T17:11:00.003+10:00

Today it's exactly one year since we arrived in Australia. One year, it has gone really fast as it always does.

There are a lot of things that have been better then expected this year. There are also a few things that has been harder then I expected.

I found that fitting in has been harder, I found that people are much more offended by swearing then in London. I have a terrible habit of swearing and it seems to equally offend and amuse people. A little like swearing kids are funny, but not something that one should encourage.

I found finding a job unsettling, but that has so far led to a much better place then I thought would have been possible. More stress full, but better.

I found that making friends when you are older is harder. We have been lucky that Mr T had some friends from before or we would have been very lonely. Especially since our life in London was so very friends involved.

I have found that where I live affects me more that I thought. The general feeling here is more positive, people seem more positive, being outside is not just possible it's actively encouraged. I don't "concrete" so much.

The things here that I do daily that really adds happiness to my life is:

The coffee is really great - I love coffee, can't drink much off it. So i try to get the best cup for the single cup I can drink a day.

I eat a lot fruit, I really like fruit. The quality of the fruit in Australia surpasses any fruit I've had anywhere else. Also they tend to do fruit in seasons, so you can't eat out of season crap fruit.

I live really conveniently located, from the shops, from work, from beaches. It's not the most charming flat. Our last flat in London was much more beautiful but It's more convenient.

I believe the things that we do everyday affect us more then we think. I would do 35 minute commute every day in London, on a over crowded train where I often had to stand with my face in someones armpit. Here it's a 20 min buss ride, or a 45 min walk. That makes my life a little better every day.

So all in all, an eventfull year, a truly eventfull year.

80 men in Sequinned Dresses

2010-05-24T20:21:00.003+10:00

We spent the weekend in the Blue Mountains, which is the mountainous area about 2 hours west - north west of Sydney. It's an area that looks very much like the Grand Canyon except covered with eucalyptus trees.

You can see in the photo (where I do my weird tilting my head and squint pose) how beautiful the views are. There are these views all over the place. This is just one of the look outs up there.

I have been up in the mountains 3 times. Each time I end up borrowing clothes from my 5 foot 1 inch great auntie because I'm so cold. It is so much colder up there then down here in the City. You forget between each time how freaking freezing it is..

Most of the towns in the mountains are rather small and cute and you know small towns. Hence you don't expect to go into a bar and see 80 men dressed up in full on sequinned ball gowns that is for sure.

We went to an old hotel in the little town of Katomba for a drink before dinner, as I entered the bar I was struck that there was a lot of very tall females in there. Which in itself is not strange, Australian women are rather tall. At 5.7" I often feel short here.

But then I have a closer look and all the tall females are actually there for a Transgender formal dance. Except for the Ladies(men) in their ball gowns there was some Men(women) dressed in their formal dinner suits. But the Ladies(men) stood out more in their dresses mainly due to the bright colours and the amount of work these ladies had put into their outfits.

The variety of styles was huge. There was some that looked like they stepped just of Dancing with the Stars,all sparkly and chiffony, and some with full on taffeta ball gowns and one girl in a very very very short lemon yellow hardly butt-skimming dress.

I was thinking all the other ladies in there would think she was the slut, cause she was wearing such a short dress.

Anyway, the night was young when we left them but they all seemed to have a good time. The reason I was so surprised was it was a very unexpected place to walk in on 80 men dressed in sequins.

Other than that.

I have learned to re-wire old school porcelain fuses.

We have had a wedding invitation that was sent to us taken by quarantine as the paper that the invitation was written on had straw in it.

And Mr T is happy to report that Chilli Chicken soup and Raspberry bagel work together well as a flavour combination.

Proof of concept

2010-05-20T20:38:00.000+10:00

My Cousin is getting a PHD. Wich is kind of cool, she will be a doctor that helps people. Hence a doctor with a PHD. I used to work in a team where I was the only one that didn't have a phd. They where all doctors that didn't help people as their Phd's where all in maths.

Anyway I digress. I got asked by my dad to make a present. Hence DAD this is the begining of the idea. I wil make a flower shaped lariat pendant. With the little blue briolette topaz that you can see in the picture. With matching earings.

Do you think it's a good idea. Or you want me to go back to the drawing board..???

The ring for the big stone is getting there. I will just have to go and have it cast in gold. That will have to happen next week.

So im slowly working my way throught my to-do list.

Very slowly. That is the problem when I only have 1 hour each night to do it after work.

I figured it out

2010-05-19T15:04:00.001+10:00

Lately it has been getting a little colder, and little wetter and a lot dark. And I've felt like something is missing. Like I'm waiting for something fun, cheerfull and more festive. It just struck me what it is. It's Christmas. I'm used to a long and dark winter that is broken up with a bright shiny festive point. I think that is we are so obsessive about Christmas, it's the brightest thing that happens in winter. And in northern europe the winter is long.

Here the autumn/winter is very short, it's not that cold in Sydney. However there are places in Australia that get's really cold (not like -25 but your know enought for fake snow). But it's dark and there is no festive element with added holiday. And that is what I'm missing. I'm a huge fan of christmas, it's my favourite holiday. Mainly cause of the Christmas crafting and the food and the cookies. Big fan of the cookies, and the festivitites. That breaks up the long and dreary winter. But here there is no such thing. No special winter cookies or holidays or festivities.
Maybe that is what I need to do, invite a bunch of people for winter festivities. I reckon a roast or a casserole would be a good thing to serve, some red wine, lots of warm and festive food.

I shall have to think about this one, there are some problems with this plan.
1. A plate broke , so we only have 5.
2. We don't have that much room. It wuold be very cramped. But maybe we don't invite so many people. Only like 5 or so, that could be a good reason to buy new plates.

Maybe I trick mr T to go to IKEA so I can buy plates.

Maybe Midsummer...maybe we can do a a winter midsummer festivitity..
I shall have to have a think

Working away

2010-05-16T18:14:00.005+10:00

A lot of exiting things have happened in the last few days. I sold the above ring in my Etsy shop and I finally figured out how to make a good setting for the big moonstone order I have.

This stone has caused a lot of problems. The stone is big, 12 mm square and the end result of the ring will be made in gold. Gold is expensive, hence making this ring in gold would be a bad idea. I would have ended up filling away a small fortune. My plan is to make the ring in Silver and then make a casting model of it and have the ring cast in gold. That way I don't waste any extra gold and the client aren't spending money on metal that ends up on my floor.

More things are in the works for my other Job. Which are also exiting but I can't talk about that yet. So I will keep quiet and go and make a band for the big moonstone ring..

6 Hour Winge

2010-05-12T21:18:00.003+10:00

I have been working on a setting for a ring. A setting for a very big square stone. And it is driving me crazy. I have spent 6 hours on it so far. And all I have to show for it so far is a square with some pointy bits sticking out in really weird directions.

The problem when you are working on a new style, something that you have never done before and no one you know has done before is that you kind of work things out as you go along. This is time consuming, and I don't have that much time.

But today after 3 hours I thought out a much better way to do it. Using round wire instead of square wire. So tomorrow I start again.

Do it again, Do it right is my motto. But now, crap tv, cup of tea and a cookie

The above view is from where I went running at lunch today. Perfect running weather. 19 degrees, chilly wind and bright blue skies. You can't fault it.

Energy - Smenergy - Bubbles

2010-05-11T20:19:00.001+10:00

I have been lacking in energy in the last few weeks. I normally have to much energy, to the level where I can be a bit annoying to some, I have been informed on occasion.

But these last few weeks I have been really tired and not very creative. And far to emotional really to work on any new ideas. The necklace above is a prototype for a new Design. I do like the bubble concept and the benefit of making a prototype is not just that I get to be the owner of new jewellery but also that I can figure out that works and what doesn't during the production.

For this necklace when I make another one I will make the bubbles in round silver wire and maybe wire that is 1.1 or 1.2 mm instead of square wire as it tends to twist. I mark out clearer where the solder joins are going to be. And I will make the setting for the stone higher then the other "Bubbles". For prototype I made the setting for the tourmaline about the same height as the other bubbles and that makes it very very hard to set.

Back to the tired, the problem with being tired when you work on a new design is that you can get very upset when it doesn't work out the way you planned. Instead of looking at it as an opportunity to work out how to make the piece the best way you focus on your result not being perfect. And perfect has always been very important for me. I think I have to learn that for prototypes "good" is good enough. Or Perfect is the enemy of done...

Anyway. In regards to the tired. I think my body is just so surprised that the days are getting shorter but it's May. Maybe it will get better if I eat more watermelon. Watermelon solves a lot of problems I found. I also saw at the cricket that it makes a rather fetching hat here it is modelled by a cat. But if you imagine a row of drunk aussies yelling "HOWZAT" you get what I'm talking about.

Other than that. I've been wanting to make a B'day card for my sister. But can't decide about a design. So I was thinking I'll do it themed on 34. But then I found that rule number 34 on the Internet is "if it exist, there are porn about it". And I don't think I can do a B'day card on porn for family. So I have to come up with a new one. Maybe "Dancing Shoes"

Bondi to Bronte

2010-05-09T16:40:00.000+10:00

This weekend has come with the most amazing weather. Which you can see in the picture. It's 25 degrees and bright blue skies. I'm not wearing a scarf cause it's cold but because I don't want to burn my chest as I'm only wearing spf 30.

Today we went for a walk along the beach side walk to from Bondi beach to Bronte beach. It's one of the most popular beach walks in Sydney I think. I like it cause it's by the beach and the possibility to stare on the perfect people with the surgically enhanced body structures is big. It's a place where a lot of beatifull people go to run. I like it. I however don't run there. I just watch others do it.

However I did go for my first longer distance run in 2.5 years and it seems that the hip could hack it. It wasn't a long run or fast. But it was in a continous incline, 4.5 km in 30 min. So not to bad for being the first go in a long time.

My plan is to be able to run the city to surf run that is on every year in June/July, it's 14 km. I'm not planning to run it this year. But next year, that way I will have a goal for my physio. Cause belive me, if you need to do 150 double knee bends, and 50 single kneebends every day you do need a goal.

So that is it. City to Surf 2011.

Professor David Harvey – my new crush

2010-05-06T19:04:00.000+10:00

David Harvey - The Enigma of Capital - Kings College from swpUkTv on Vimeo.

I'm watching BBC world news interviewing Professor David Harvey about the future of capitalism. He has quite a few interesting point about our need to think about alternatives to capitalism as endless growth is no longer a possibility.
Now I don't totally agree with Prof Harvey on all his points, I think he painting a very bleak picture for our future. But his main point that continuous growth of 3% of our economy is unsustainable, financially, politically and ecologically.
But more importantly, I really like the way he talks and explains things plainly. I always find that the smartest people are the people able to explain complex issues with very few simple words. If you can say something like ...a Credit Default Swap works just like an insurance..
Then people understand what that is, everyone knows what insurance is, you give someone a little bit of money often and if something goes wrong that someone are suppose to give you lots of money. However they often find a way for you not get any of it without giving them more beforehand.
Anyway, I will know have to go and get some of Prof. David Harveys book such that I can decide whether he is right or wrong (in my opinion) and not just get charmed by his fuzzy Santa Beard and softy softy eyes. I have a tendency to dislike Marx and Engel and so I might be a little hard to convince.
If anyone want to see how Economics Santa Looks and sound here he is talking about the Enigma of Capital

Super Week

2010-05-04T19:08:00.004+10:00

I have been quite busy filling orders lately, which is really nice. I've been working on these sterling silver pendants with freshwater pearls.

I have realised I really like pearls. I never used to, maybe is a sign that i'm getting more mature. I think they look so nice on the skin. So I made this one for me. The benefit of being the maker is that you can do that.

I have also been working on this bubble pendant. It's just a prototype, and it's not finished. The 4 ring from the right will have a pink tourmaline set in it.

Tommorow I start on the ring with the huge square stone. I think I will make the ring in silver and then cast it in gold. Gold is so expensive that it's far most cost efective to cast it so you don't end up paying for all the metal that you file off.

Other then that, i'm quite exhausted and feel that my observation skills of my surroudings have gone. It's like I have just the level of energy to work and make jewellery. All other things becomes superflous.

Other super things. This week is Super Weeek in this household. I'm trying to negotiate the australian pension system that is called Superannuation. By law have to invest my money in funds. I don't like funds. Mainly cause I don't trust fund managers and I don't trust their statements. They are trying to fob me off with long words for simple calculation. And the difference in the level of return from the funds between using the different calculations can be huge.

So I don't like them. But I have to have a Super wheter I like or not so I will choose one that I think are the most safe and most likely to be guaranteeed by the government when it all turns pearshaped later on. So to make this experiance nicer I have named SUPER WEEK. And I will give myself a treat (the above pearl pendant) when it's all over.

Not Much

2010-04-26T17:44:00.000+10:00

I have not been writing much lately, unfortunately I've not really found anything interesting to say.

We spent the weekend up north in the heat, it was still so hot that I feel slightly wozzy at time and the humidity makes my hair all flat. The trip lead to a big dip in the bucket of gemstones and bunch of new orders. Which is nice. There is one amazing ametrine, which I hope I will be able to make something interesting out off for Mr T:s niece, there is a whole load of lovely zircons, some white topaz and a big deep red/orange stone that i think might be something like a citrine that is quite interesting but I will have to do some more testing and get back to you about what it actually are. The light pink stone is called YAG (Yttrium aluminium garnet ) that is a synthetic stone. It used be used a lot as diamond stimulants, but since cubic zirconia was "invented" is not as popular as it's not as cheap to fabricate.

Other orders I will finish this week are these 5 different pendants that has been ordered. And another two rings with very big stones. So I reckon I'm going have to get cracking on this making jewellery bizz..

Rope 2

2010-04-13T19:27:00.002+10:00

I just want to say first of all that I read all comments and I love them. So please keep commenting.

My sister explained in the comments what the rope is for and why you need to have it in your car. The rope is for being able to help to tow another car or to tie down things in the car, like if you buy something really big and can't close the boot.

That is also the reason why you need to have two types of rope, as you should use a cotton fibre rope as it is less likely to scratch the paint but if it's raining the rope gets wet and it's very hard to untie any knots that you tied. Therefore you also need a plastic rope.

I have also been further informed that you need a blanket, rags and a good knife as even the most precious rope sometimes must be cut off.

So that is next on the list from bunnings.

Except for thinking about all the exiting things I will have in the car I have also been listing some new jewellery in my web shop and now I'm gonna go off and practice reticulation. Which is just a fancy word for heating things until they almost melts and dropping them in acid. I do this cause it's fun and way safer then the streets of South East Sydney.

On tour with Kurt

2010-04-12T11:51:00.000+10:00

Kurt, Mr T and I went out this weekend. It was good, somehow being able to just jump in the car and drive to beach makes me less panicky about having to spend all day there. As I'm born and brought up in Northern Europe I have a dedication to the sun that Australians don't have, when the sun is out, I have to be in it. There is something in my soul that makes me feel very jumpy, uncomfortable and aggressive when it's sunny and I'm indoors. It's OK if it's a workday, as you have to do your job and for most of us that work is done indoors.

However if it's the weekend and it's sunny I get stressed just by waking up and not being in the sun. That behaviour is quite a hazard here, first off all there is a lot more sun and the sun is so much stronger that I quickly turn a bright lobster red even thought I'm wearing a solid Spf 30 everytime I leave my house. So I'm trying to learn a new sun behaviour, which is hard as the sun worshipping has been passed down through generations in my family.

I notice a small changes, slowly, I don't want to be on the beach or sitting in the sun during the hottest hours of the day, I prefer this autumn sun we have been having to the bright harsh and hot summer sun. Sitting on the beach this weekend has been truly marvellous, the sun has been soft and kind and a light breeze was been flowing. We brought a cool bag with lunch and everything. Very organised. Having Kurt makes everything so much easier. We even went to the hardware store to buy rope.

The rope that goes in the car. Not everyone knows about the rope that goes in the car as they haven't attended Martins Car school or Martins Onion Chopping school or the slightly more advanced Martins Iron School. But basically what you learn in Martins Car school is
1. You have to have 2 types of rope in the car at all times. One plastic, one natural fibre
2. How to get a drivers licences.

Now as you all know I haven't progressed to level 2 with the actual license, but I now own not 2 but 3 different types of rope that is kept in the car.

Say hello to the new member of our family.

2010-04-08T20:40:00.005+10:00

Calm down mum, it's just a car, no little people have been made but we have bought a car.

It's a Volkswagen and I have named it Kurt. Or Kurre for short if you want.

This is the first car I have ever owned. It feels very strange and mature, well considering I don't have a drivers licence yet I wont be driving it anywhere right now. But once I get my learners license I will drive it, very slowly, very delicately in the crazy Sydney traffic. It has all the airbags you can get. So I reckon I'll be alright.

I have also been working on this custom made ring for a customer here in Australia. It's a London Blue Topaz, set in a chunky claw setting. I'm sending it off tommorow to it's new home.

Easter

2010-04-06T18:19:00.003+10:00

This Easter was very quiet as we didn't do any huge family lunch with family Olympics that normally ends up in A DISCUSSION about wheter the points for the dart should we weighted or not. As if they are no weighted and you have a person in your team that is good at darts you are more likely to win. And winning is what matters.

So we didn't have that, which was both sad and good. No discussion but also none of the nice Easter food and no awesome Swedish Easter eggs. Our eggs are made of paper and filled with sweeties and sometimes if you are lucky money and presents. Here the eggs are made of chocolate and there are only so much chocolate you can eat. Approx one chocolate egg a day, if it's a Cherry Ripe egg. I would suggest buying them on the Monday as they are half price then but still full price tasty.

As the Easter was quiet I was able to finish this ring, that I have had as a custom order for one of mother in law T:s friend. It's a 9 ct gold ring with a huge, I'm talking MASSIVE faceted moonstone. Moonstones are not often faceted as they are quite a soft stone so I was a bit concerned when I was setting the stone that it could get damaged.

But it's done and dusted now and I'm bringing it with me when we go up for Anzac day in the end of April.

Unfortunately I seem to have picked up some form of bug today as I'm knackered and have spent the afternoon sleeping. I will take it very easy tonight and hopefully I will return to full strenght tomorrow and work on the other custom rings that is on my order list.

Fishy Legs

2010-03-30T18:46:00.000+11:00

Today is raining and anticipating that it would get a little colder at night when the sun set and that I would have to be here a little later today I packed a pair of tights in my bag. The same bag that I use to carry my lunch, my lunch that was fish soup. My lunch that has leaked a little bit in the bag.

So the question is now, is it going to be better to have cold legs when I go home or have legs that smell like fish.

I think I'm going for warmth. I might get a seat on the buss as well with my fishy legs.

One of those days

2010-03-29T20:39:00.002+11:00

You know one of those days where everything you touch breaks, everything just goes pear shaped. Dropped stones, cut yourself while cooking, everything just builds to huge mountains of frustrations. I've had one of those this evening when I was trying to set some stones. So I give up...I snapped 7 leaves and 2 stones and my tooth hurts. I'm gonna go and watch project runway and eat Anzac biscuits instead.

Here is a pair of earrings I made earlier. I like the ear wires. They are good..the wrapping, well maybe I need to do some more practice.

Pitch

2010-03-24T12:55:00.003+11:00

I have not been posting much lately as I have not been producing much lately as all I seem to have done is work things.

I did however sneak 10 minutes today at lunch to read this very interesting article about designing products that stick written by Megan Auman who designs and creates a range of different products, one of them being jewellery.

The first thing mentioned is how to work an "high level pitch" about your product. The basic statement of what you want your product to say and be. It gives you tips on how to achieve this.

I have such a problem with these kind of things. How can I make a high level pitch about my jewellery. What do I want it to say, communicate etc. I can't think like that. I feel stupid. I don't know what I want my jewellery to communicate, except that I want people to like it and think that the craftsmanship is good. Craftsmanship is probably the most important and good design...

how do you high level pitch that...

"Something that is well made and looks good", not so high level and not really a good pitch at all.

Round Kicking

2010-03-18T20:35:00.004+11:00

They say that sometimes your greatest strength is your greatest weakness and for me that is so very true. I take things that I do very seriously, work and fun included. When I do things I like to think that I do them very passionately and I take great responsibility in the result.

At work this is good most of the time, except when I take things far to seriously and find it hard to focus on other things than just work.

This is my greatest strength but also my greatest weakness. In my free time the same rule prevails as I proved when I round kicked the clothes rack on the weekend because I wasn't able to wrap a present as nice as I wanted to be able to. (I told you I take things seriously).

I will now have to buy a new clothes rack as well as maybe rethink my serious strategy and mix up a little fun within it. As for this weekend I'm off to the country for a conference and who knows maybe my round kicking skills will be usefull in the team building events.

One of those weeks

2010-03-14T10:12:00.003+11:00

I has been a very busy and slightly confusing week, a lot of things has happened and I've not got a lot of stuff done except work. The work week culminating with me going with my boss to a gig in proper feral pub in Balmain. The music was good, Even I could tell that technically the guys who where playing (the name I can't remember) where very good. They had a hugely loyal fan base, it was some kind of 10 year reunion thing happening. The music was some kind of blues rock, I had to leave after a while, once I had heard one to many songs about sad women and driving cars I was out.

There where so much singing about driving in a car. I find these old men bands quite disturbing. It's all songs about leaving, being left and driving. Not very environmental at all, if you ask me.

Fun things I entered into a advertising space competition last week, and I won some add space at another blog which was really cool. Here is the link to my entry.

you can see my little add square that is at the top on this entry to the right, half way down the page. I think I'm going to have to ask someone I know who is good at design to help me make a professional looking ad.

I'm working on a ring for Mr T:s mothers friend, the ring is all but finished. All that is left is setting the stone. But I'm not gonna have time to do that until 2 weeks from now. Next weekend I have an conference with work. I have to go to out of the city and participate in team building activities. I don't know. There will be bugs there, I'm really not keen on bugs.

Music musings

2010-03-10T19:17:00.004+11:00

I've got around to list two new things in my webshop this week. I was going to try to list something every day but I got very busy on Monday night with work dinner and such things.

Tonight Mr T put on a music channel on TV while cooking and I realised it such a long time since I've been watching music videos. I love music videos, I actually really like music. Eventhough I have quite appaling taste according to some.

But I realised I lost music in my daily life since I stopped going to the gym. I don't have a radio, spotify doesn't work here and I just haven't got around to focus on it. I hardly ever update my Ipod if it's not songs suitable for running.

Good music makes you really happy, I had totally forgot that. How scary is that.
Good music and good coffe qualify as things under 3 dollars that make you really happy. But now a band came on the tv which was rubbish that makes me remeber that shit music is enraging. Tricky business this music malarky.

To-Do

2010-03-07T16:53:00.002+11:00

Last weekend I went to the library and borrowed another batch of books and I found a book by a very entertaining author calledMike Gayle with the Title the To-Do list. I didn't at the time that the book was a non fiction book as I didn't read the back of it. I choose cause it fit the colour theme of the week (white cover) and I recognised the name.

Mike Gayle has written loads of books, they are good books, entertaining books. If you want books for entertainment you can not fault them.

The To-Do list is a non fiction book about when he made a To-Do list of 1277 items that he needed to get done to become a fully fledged adult and the year that he took do it. The items differs from sorting out junk drawers to loosing weight and making a family tree.

I am myself a list maker, I make lists for everything, shopping lists, food lists, training lists, things I want lists, birthday present lists for me that I want, birthday present lists for what to buy for others, send card lists, activity lists etc etc...if anything that is to be done is not on my list, it will not get done. Ever. Hence the list, and the ticking of items.

I start every Saturday (most often Friday afternoon) a list of things that I want to get done this weekend. And this weekend on my list there was
1.Finish all photographs of jewellery
2.Edit photographs - you can see I have done this as I've added them to this post.
3.Write Item Descriptions for web shop.
4.Buy groceries
5.Recycle
6.Buy a treat, Jeans...
7.Make earrings

So far I've ticket everything except 5 and 7.

So in fitting with this list making theme, I was thinking maybe I should make a master list. One big list of all those things that I want to do, finish off or start. And keep that list handy,

I think I will investigate if you can put a to do list on the blog, That will go on my list of things to do on Monday lunch time.

Perfect – when done is better then perfect

2010-03-04T13:25:00.003+11:00

I have a tendency to want things to be just perfect. This causes some issues since wanting things to be perfect has a way of making things take a lot longer. Take yesterday for example, I was going to photograph all the new jewellery I have made so I can list them in my webshop. So far I’ve taken 600 photographs, there are only 7designs and I haven’t photographed the last 3 pendants yet. That is 600 times I thought that the photos I took weren’t good enough.

Now I understand that this is a few to many photos of each thing. I get that, but I just really want to take photographs. Or more like it, I want the photos to be perfect, I want them to look like they are taken by a professional. Completely ignoring the fact that I am not a professional photographer, I do not have a photo studio (just a little home made light box), I do not have a graphic design degree or a proper photo editing software program. But still I want my photos to look like they would fit in on the sites of the famous jewellery houses.

I guess the problem is not that I want it to be perfect per se. The problem is that the requirement leads to procrastination. It took me about a year to get the first lot of photographs up. I think I probably took a couple of thousands photos that I’ve discarded but not deleted (thank good for the 1 terabyte of external memory my dad bought me a couple of years ago)

So I have to have a new strategy, the old one doesn’t work. It takes to long to get things put up in the shop, and if it’s not in the shop I guess I can’t really sell them hu!.

So I’m giving myself 1 more hour to take the rest of the photos, and then another 2 hours to edit, crop and white balance them. Then I give myself another 2 hours on Saturday to write the descriptions.
And I also decided that I have to decide that it’s ok that I’m not a perfect photographer and maybe instead look for a friend who are.

I will have to see that DONE is better then perfect sometimes.

Other more exiting news. I sold another Pendant. This one, and that made me a very happy bunny.

I also decided that I will give first time buyers a voucher for 10% of their next purchase as a swag. I have even made lite vouchers I send in the parcels. They are very sweet

Remember Green

2010-03-02T20:40:00.003+11:00

Remember this green wax mould that I made for my first wax carving class. Well it looks like this now. It's all grown up and made of silver now.
And it got a sister ring, that I actually prefer to the first one. This one was actually just me trying out filing straight lines in wax. The technique is quite different as wax is so very much softer it's hard to get sharp edges. But here you go, one ring full of edges.
Here they are together. They are both rather solid pieces, and I haven't decided if I want to polish them all shiny or leave this course texture they come in when they come out of the casting. I think the matt finish kind of makes them a little different.
I wont be making many things this week. I have developed really bad RSI in my right arm/wrist so I can't use it properly. Everytime I try to grip anything it feels like someone is pouring hot fire inside my right arm. So this week the arm will rest and I will focus on photographing the things I made. I far better quality then the above photos I hope.

Humans in Jewellery - How to get there

2010-02-26T10:36:00.000+11:00

I read this fantastic article about using humans in your product photography, and I must admit to saying that photography is my least liked part of making and selling jewellery. I'm not that good a photographer, I do however have a great camera. I find photography frustrating as I have a view in my mind how it should all look and then they come out looking all different.

I also find the lighting settings hard and remembering that all little dust specs shows up in macro photography even harder. It is funny because I used to really like photography, I have stacks of photos from when I used to be a part of the photo class in grade 7-9 in school. I loved the dark room, the making, the fixing and they playing around with all the different solvents and see what effects you could get by mixing them wrong, quite funny ones I tell you.

The article is about using people in your jewellery photography, and I like the idea of that. However here in Sydney I know very few ladies who would go for a photo session where the result would end up on the Internet and more importantly they are very busy ladies, they are running families, growing families, running offices and running the world, they stand in court and argue cases and cook dinner for 5. So the likelihood that they would have a substantial amount of time (and I think it would take a substantial amount of time) to waste to let me photograph them (again I'm not a great photographer so I would probably take a while) is pretty slim.

Unfortunately I have none of my very attractive sisters here to bully into a photosession and the only one I could think off that would be available is my sisters very pretty friend who is here as a student for a couple of months.

So Lilla Syster Visan Fisan, do you think if I asked S she would be OK with that?? Or do you think she would think I'm a crazy woman trying to take her picture and put them on the internet and pass myself of as her on a dating site or something equally crazy. I would pay her in dinner and a necklace maybe or cash as she is a student she probably likes cash? Do you think that would be fair??? I know I could probably not call in more favours as she was so nice to help to set up for the wedding and all and refused to take money for that.

Cheer myself up with some more listings in my shop

2010-02-25T21:03:00.003+11:00

I've been experimenting with a new design and it's not coming together as I want. So I decided instead of making myself crazy angry and start throwing my things around me I shall go and do something usefull instead. So I listed two new pieces in my
webshop.

I find it very frustrating when my desings don't work out. Basically what I'm trying to do is a shape a bit like a bluebell made up of 3 separate leafs made very similar to the leafs in the pendant above. But a tiny one. And I think it's the "tiny" bit that is causing the problems. You just can tiny pieces of wire in anywhich shape that you want.

I started making another bluebell shaped piece in my waxcarving class. It looks more like ghost that one. So so far I have 2 melted wire versions and a ghost. Not much luck for the bluebells so far

Part human Part reptile

2010-02-25T14:59:00.003+11:00

I am often to cold or to hot. I'm rarely a good temperature.I deal with both extremes equally badly. I think I'm part lizard as I'm very much attracted to hot stony surfaces to sit on and warm up in the morning. Once I get warm it's almost impossible to cool down. That is why the aircon at work really argues with me, when it's warm outside it's like a fridge inside. When it's cold outside they turn the office into a baking office.

Other news. I've been trying to price up 3 rings to be made in Ct yellow gold. I have found that there are very few sellers of 9 Ct yellow gold in Sydney. They have to get even the most basic material ordered in before they tell you a price, even on the most common things like wire and sheet. I would understand if I was asking for something very different like octagonal setting for a bezel, which they by the way have in 18 Ct white gold.

It seems 18 Ct white gold is the thing to be in Sydney, most shops don't carry much gold jewellery, it seems that the Australian market is only interested in white metals. I personally don't understand why. I love yellow gold. I love the colour, it's so much gentler to all colours and textures. It's softer and less harsh and as I get older i think it's far more flattering for the skin. But it seems that is only me.

It also never fails to surprise me how expensive gold is, even at 9 Ct.

I have also found this Swedish design blog), written in English that is my new huge addiction.

Excitement

2010-02-22T16:34:00.000+11:00

A lot of good things has happened. The weekend was fantastically sunny and I visited two new beaches I have not seen before. Balmoral and Nelson Park. Both where beautiful. Lying on the beach and having a swim in the salty water makes me feel like I'm on holiday so the weekend felt very long and relaxing. The fact that I binge ate ice cream all weekend probably help with a general feeling of sugar induced happiness.

And this morning when I logged into my etsy shop that I had ignored all weekend, I found I had sold the earrings that are pictured above. They are going to a new home in the US tomorrow first thing tomorrow. I'm very exited about that.

The Winter Olympics 2010

2010-02-18T12:45:00.000+11:00

I'm obsessively watching the Olympics all day every day. I actually think we are on a better time difference over here then Europe. When I wake up the morning the athletes are working hard there in their afternoon the day before in Vancouver. We also have 8 TV screen surrounding me in the office and they are all showing some form of sport or news.

What I find interesting is that Australian television focus on the more modern sports in the Olympics such as snowboarding and snowboard cross, whereas as far as I can remember last time I watched the winter Olympics in Sweden they focused heavily on Cross country skiing, Biathlon and Slalom. I guess that is because Australia might not have good cross country skiers but they do have a 8 decent snowboarders and mogul (puckel pist) skiers where as Sweden only has the one participant in Snowboarding.

We do however seem to do really well in Curling. I actually really like Curling, once I got it all explained to me by a physics professor a couple of years ago (must have been 1998). Apparently as a curling player you need to take into account how many people are there to watch the event as the ice will react to the assembled heat in the hall and melt at different rates. Hence they need to brush the ice at different speeds. I think that sounds quite funny. Not many other events are physically affected by the number of viewers. I wonder if there are certain teams that are better at different viewer numbers, like Canada being better when the arena is half full whereas the current world champions Britain might be better at a full arena. Also how do you train for this. Do you to be able to practice with high speed melting ice force buss loads of people into the arena to simulate the competition environment. What people could you force, maybe it could be a way for the government to create jobs for people,as the unemployment number in some countries are rising. You know, during the curling preseason I work as a arena heater, like a seasonal job. Maybe something for back packers in Canada to think about.

But then again, it's probably cheaper just to get a whole bunch of electric heaters.

You know this white one...

2010-02-16T20:59:00.003+11:00

It looks like this now...

And I have been expirimenting with some little more squirly detailing.

And this one is also a new little experiment.
Of course now I have to wear all these new rings, to test out my new designs. You know to make sure they uphold the quality requirements that I have. So these ones I get to keep myself. It's not that I am a jewellery hoarder at all...It's quality controll not selfishness. I promise.

I stand corrected

2010-02-16T19:10:00.002+11:00

Corrections in regards to the previous post. The Swedish chef does not say Obi-Dobi according to Mr T.

And they guy who sit next to me is in now way of form unintelligent, he is actually really nice and knows a lot of good food places around the office. Invaluable in a workmate I think.

Obi-Dobi-Do....The legacy of the Swedish Chef

2010-02-16T16:19:00.001+11:00

If you are Swedish and you live outside of Sweden you will at some point be greeted with the words "Obi-dobi-hofte-flode, the fjords, the fjords", this can be confusing until you hear about the Swedish Chef. The muppets where never really that popular in Sweden when I was little. The first time I heard those very famous words I was very confused. I had no idea what the person was talking about. But apparently the Swedish Chef, IKEA and Abba is our eternal legacy, it could be worse I guess none of those are mass murderers or inventors of huge pyramid schemes.

I have often wondered where the obi-dobi comes from, I get the comments about the Fjords, but I guess I would say that is bigger thing for Norway then for Sweden. Then again the guy who sits next to me at work states that Norway and Sweden is the same thing. He asked me the other day why I stopped correcting him and I said I just assumed that he was stupid and uneducated and since I had corrected him at least 10 times I have concluded that he is so unintelligent he is unable to learn new things. I reckon I could teach a class in how to "make friends and influence people"/

But I think I have figured it out, where the Obi-Dobi comes from. I think it's from the counting rhyme Ole-Dole-Doff, which is the same as Eeny, meeny, miny mo. Now Ole dole doff seems to really stick in peoples mind. I know several people who can say not much else in any other language but they can recite the whole counting rhyme.

So to spread the knowledge about Swedish counting rhymes, here it goes.

Ole Dole Doff,
Kinke Lane Koff,
Koffe Lane,
Binke Bane,
Ole Dole Doff,
Ärtan Pärtan Piff Paff Puff,
Här fick du en knuff

Valentines

2010-02-14T18:51:00.004+11:00

Today it's valentines day, international day of soppiness and over priced red flowers. More importantly thought it's the 10 year anniversary of mine and Mr T:s first date. At the time I wasn't really aware that it was valentines day when he asked me if I wanted to for a beer at the Old White Bear in Hampstead in London.

Anyway, to celebrate this momentous occasion Mr T had planned a very nice dinner at one of harbour cruises last night. It was really great, for many many reason. First of all it's always really nice if someone else plans a surprise for you and takes you out. Secondly I really love the harbour and enjoy the water. Thirdly this particular cruise had so many many wonderful weird people on it that I have material for laughter for weeks.

To start with they had a dinner “band” that was playing and singing love ballads of course, it was complete with a Chinese Diana Ross. In full electric blue out cat suit, emblazoned with a range of different rhinestones attached at the halter-neck as well as at the huge bell bottoms of the trousers, the outfit was complete with a giant permed afro. She sang her hearth out alternating with trying to speak like an American in the mid-song banter, but with a heavy Chinese- Australian accent.

We also had a strange porny couple next to us, you know the type of couple where you wonder where in the world they would have met as they are so different. Then you remember on-line world of war craft, I can just imagine what their avatars would be.. Anyway, he looked like a very quiet, early balding, insisting on longer hair engineer, the type of guy that attend KTH in Sweden and never really have spoken to girls per se. Hence have a lot of strange ideas about how girls should be and are.

And she was, dyed bright red haired, huge bosom, kind of kinky looking. And Jesus they had either just met or they where giving the rest of the world value for money. You know the the type off couple, the ones that uploads their own home made porn on YouTube. Anyway, they where sitting next to us and she was taking probably 100 sexy pose photos of her, her and him and just him. Then a few glasses in to their wine bottle she starts sucking and licking his fingers, and all I can think about is whether he would have washed his hands when he went to the bathroom. Anyway, they where weird and very external in their enjoyment of each other and quite loud, so I didn't need to eavesdrop to know as much about their lovemaking as I do today.

We also had a table with single girls, who where up point dancing when Chinese Diana Ross sang “I will survive”. Which is a funny song to have at a “love cruise” being the ultimate break up f*ck off song. In addition we also had a table of Japanese business men who stole Chinese Diana Ross'es mike and decided it was karaoke time.

I must say I really enjoyed this harbour cruise. The food was good and the entertainment around us was priceless.

ps. I stole the picture from the cruise company website, cause again I didn't bring a camera...ds.

Weathers

2010-02-12T15:48:00.001+11:00

The weather here is a little more crazy then I'm used to. It's more an event. It's not really something that just kind of happens around you and most of the time it's very similar. Like in London. It's funny I actually know a lot of people in London who say they like London weather as it's so different every day. I can't really see the difference in 9 months of drizzle and overcast. But then again, You do not get the same level of excitement among the population when it's nice. In London when the first proper summer weather comes along the whole place is buzzing.

Yesterday Melbourne was flooded. As you can see in the pictures. These are from the City Centre. Can you see how much rain fell, in one day. They say this rain is moving towards Sydney.

Currently it's 37.7 degrees outside and it's crazy humid. It's that type of heat that just drags you in, your enveloped by the heat and the stickiness. I'm not used to it at all. People here do seem to take it in it's stride. Just stay indoors. You can feel that a huge thunderstorm is building. They say the rain is coming after 7 tonight. I hope I will have time to get home before it hits. Someone has set up a meeting for 5 o'clock on a Friday afternoon, 5 PM on a Friday. That is after beer o'clock, like asking that no-one is going to pay attention to what you are saying. .

The importance of easy info

2010-02-11T14:27:00.001+11:00

Yesterday something very nice happened which brought to my mind the importance of having easily available information. I was stopping by the little candy shop next to the office on my way to work in the morning, (yes candy for breakfast, that is what being an adult is all about, being allowed to decide yourself what is good for you to eat. Sometimes that is ice cream for dinner or candy for breakfast. In my defence, it was just a little candy and I had been eating my porridge before it. So it was more like an early mid morning snack. But I digress).

Anyway, I was standing in the little shop and this girl who was in there as well said to me - I like your necklace, where did you get it? So I got to proudly answer, I made myself. So she asked if I made a lot of jewellery and if I had a card. Which I of course didn't. I have been thinking for a while to sort out some kind of business cards, but I haven't' got around to it.

This event pointed out to me how important it is to have your shop info easily available. Well mainly because I had to dig through my entire bag to find a piece of paper and a pen to write my webadress on which meant I dropped my wallet on the floor and it subsequently distributed all my cash and cards all over the shop floor. So my next goal is to get some business cards sorted.

I think I'm going to go with moo cards, they have little mini cards and you can upload your photographs and design your own card. I think that is what I will be doing tonight when Mr T is studying. First I was planning to make cards myself, but then with Moo cards you can print on both sides of the card, so I could have a big photo on the front and all the contact details at the back. I think it would look really nice and professional.

Lilla Moln

2010-02-09T21:02:00.004+11:00

I used to call my younger sister boyfriend “Lilla Moln”, (Little Cloud in English), not because he is little, he is actually very very tall. But he has this fluffy curly hair and this very soft but powerful energy about him. It sounds very strange, but if he wasn't him I think he would make a really god cloud.

Anyway, at my wax carving class yesterday I really tried to step out of what I normally do, to do something a little more organic. The process of wax carving is so very different from the process that I normally go through when I make something. The above ring is my first attempt. It's green as it's made of wax. The ring will be cast from this wax model, and then the wax will melt and be no more.

It's starting with a big block and you remove material,whereas when I make jewellery, I normally go about it the other way. You can see the above picture what the piece that you start with looks like. Then you keep filing and sawing until it's what you want it to be.

I wanted to make a ring that was like a little cloud, a little like my younger sisters boyfriend, soft and strong and the same time. I don't think I really got there. The part of my personality that wants things to be straight and even came out in full force halfway through and started to make it less cloudy and more hexagonal..

and those who have seen Mr T:s wedding ring that I spent weeks swearing over they can see that these two look very similar. So now I know, I really should have done this course before I made that ring. I made that one in metal from scratch and it took forever to get all sides evenish, and straight. Particularly since I didn't want to hammer it in shape. So I filed, and filed and then I filed some more. As you can see the ring is well worn. He never takes it off, hence the scrathches.

Underneath is an example of something else I've been working on, the ring is still white from the acid and the stone is not set, it's just to show you kind of the shape of it all. But it will be a chunky claw set topaz ring on a delicate band. This is more my comfort zone. And i'm kind of stepping out of it at this course. So well see how it will end up.

Happiness or anger...Pick one

2010-02-08T16:48:00.001+11:00

happiness, I'm reading a book about it, I'm reading a daily blog about it (it's a great blog actually), still it eludes me as a concept. I'm married to a naturally positive person, which is great for me, unfortunately for him he is married to someone not always so positive. So I'm strategically working towards being better at that. So far I from the instructions I have been reading it takes planning, amendment of natural negative tendencies and ability for gratefulness to be happy.

I'm still at the planning stages. The author of the book I'm reading (Dr Timothy Sharp) talks about planning what you want out of your life. Which seems that people don't do. Well at least I've never done that.

It's not that I'm unhappy, it's just I have a tendency to see things from it's worst side, plan for total failure at all times and has some perfectionist tendencies in the way that I'm never pleased with my achievements. I once got 100% correct answers on an exam at uni (and I was the only one in the class that got 100%) and I still wasn't happy with how I performed.

So the plan is to be a little easier going, a little more planning for exiting events instead of a continues worst case scenarios planning and that way hopefully a little more fun.

My first plan was to do a course that I haven't done before. So tonight I do my first lesson in Wax Carving. We'll see how it goes.

My aim is not to be angry that I am not the best at my first attempt. If I can do that, I have come a long way.

Proof of concept

2010-02-04T21:00:00.001+11:00

So these are the types of pendants I've been working on lately. They are not close to fished, they need to be polished and they stones need to be set properly. But this is their basic shape. This is my version of a medallion or talisman if you like. No hairy chests in site.

The big one is a tourmalinated quartz stone. It's basically a clear quartz with many lines of black tourmaline crystal inclusion. That is what gives it those black lines through the stones.

I love these types of gems, with big beautiful statement making inclusions. So different from your average stone and you wont find two stones that are the same.

I made some simple pearl ones as well, I have a thing for pearls right now.

The type of pendant is very simple, it's straight up and down, No fuss. Pretty much quite a lot just like I am.

And here is a photo showing the condensation on the outside of the windows to our flat this morning. In London we would have condensation on the inside of the windows every morning in the winter as it was so cold outside and warm inside. Here we instead have the condensation on the outside of the windows as it's so cold inside (air con I love you) and so hot and humid on the outside.

lets reignite our love for 1970:s style pornstar looks

2010-02-03T17:56:00.002+11:00

on my wedding day I received a pendant from one of my sisters, it's gold coloured and circular with a big paste stone in the centre. Like a medallion, on the day itself I had sown the pendant into my handbag, but now I often wear it with a gold chain I got from my grandmother when I turned 15. I often wear it when I feel like I need a little more protection. Days when I am a little low. It's quite a heavy piece and it feels substantial in your hand. It's the type of jewellery that you feel would save you from a bullet if it could.

I am very attached to all my jewellery pieces, I remember who gave me them and when. They all mean something to me and they all fit different moods, I tend to wear jewellery more based on moods then outfits. And this particular pendant is my i need some extra padding today mood necklace.

So what I have been thinking and working on lately are pendants as medallions, but not in that 1970:s hairy chested pornstar kind of medallion. More a substantial shape to be able to hold on to when the going get's rough. They have to be substantial but not overwhelming, they have to be sleek and shiny as all my things are, not hippyish or frilly. Not that I don't appreciate hippyish style jewellery, I just can't make it. It's not in my design language if you like. When I try it looks silly and contrived. So I find it's better to stick to your natural affinity, with the risk of sounding pretentious, your own voice.

Anyway. I will put some pictures up later today or tomorrow to show where I've gotten with my medallion ideas, it's going slow. I guess its a step on my super hero jewellery idea I started thinking off about a year ago.

I would love to hear what people think about medallions. Is it something that we can resurrect as a design piece or are they so horribly attached to leather skinned hairy chested men that we can't see past their previous incarnations into a bright new future for them.

The Picture above of course has nothing to do with my pendant or any of the jewellery I've been working on, but it is a medallion and that had to be good enough.

My day was not as bad as this guys

2010-02-02T19:38:00.003+11:00

I have had quite a frustrating day, I have been able to un-scientificly prove yet again that all men that have a specific name that I hate, are true arses. I don't know if they are such when they are born and their parents just happen to name them this particularly awful name, or if by giving them this name the parents are dooming them to become truly arsy people.

Anyway, then I was sent this. It happened this afternoon on Australian Live TV. It's viral already here. Channel 7 news is one of the biggest news shows in Australia, at this particular news how this guy is being interviewed about the un-expected non rise in interest rates. Have a look at what the analyst behind him is doing...

It's funny hu. I bet he was quite surprised when he found that everyone that watches the live news in Australia saw him checking out the naked ladies at work.

What ever will his mum say...