Outside Enjoyment

Last night we went to see a movie (The September Issue) at the Sydney Outdoor Cinema. It was such an experience.

I didn't take the photo above as never bring my super duper camera anywhere.I found it on-line to show you the view of Sydney that you have at the cinema, the actual screen is placed in the water.

It's open during the summer, at Mrs Maquaries Point, and from there you look out over the Harbour bridge and the Opera house. It's such a beautiful location. I'm a huge fan of the harbour views in Sydney, I think it must be one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Last night was perfect, the weather wasn't perfect so it was possible to get last minute tickets to the show, and since the sun wasn't out all the time it was not stinking hot. It was warm with a very light breeze.

Mrs Maquaries point is next to the botanical garden so you get a a wonderful mix of scents from from the salty water and tropical plants.

It was truly and experience and the movie was good as well.

How many Tulips

My sister said in her comment to the previous post, do you think one can do something to make yourself feel more at home. Sometimes just having a tidy house and buying a bunch of tulips makes a home feel nicer. How many tulips do you need to feel at home.

Well, I think probably a whole field of them. I think there are always things that you can do to feel at home quicker, get your house sorted so you feel like you have some roots. Don't live out of a suitcase for years. Buy furniture, put some pictures or something on the walls. All of those things I never really did in London.

Bake. Everything gets homlier when you bake.

If in doubt, buy tulips, failing that, how about frangipanies

No going back now

When we bought our flights to move to Sydney we bought a couple of around the world tickets, at the time we put the return dates at a date that felt impossibly far away. That date is today, today at 9 PM my return leg to London is leaving Sydney and I am very unlikely to be on that flight. If nothing else I would have to go home and pack now and I really don't have the time.

Mr T has already used his return leg, as he went back in August to sort out his last pieces of paper work, whereas mine is still here, being a want not waste not kind of person it feels like such a waste to let a good flight go to waste. I tried to re-book it for later in the year, sort of push it forward. But they would only let me re-book it until the 8 of May. I wont be going anywhere near Europe before then so it would feel even more waste full to pay 75 pounds in a re-booking fee for a flight I'm not going to take then either.

When we set the return leg dates it felt that by then I would know if the life down here suits me. I find that I am not able to say that yet. I don't know. I thought, as I have moved to other countries before that I would settle in much faster then I have. But I still feel very unsettled, in both good and bad ways. It feels like I have ample opportunity to do things different here, healthier, more active more vegetable based (have I told you about the vegetables here, they are great, Australian produce craps all over what they call veg in London).

But I hadn't counted on how much the time difference between Europe and Australia effects your everyday life. Being unable to pick up the phone and just chat to my sisters at nights after work drives me nuts. Having to pre-book all phone calls really puts a dampener on things. Particularly since everyone that I know are busy people. No one has unlimited time to sit and wait for me to be able to call. (phh having their own life to live, it's not right, I'm telling you)

Looking at the prices of flights as well really get's your hair standing up. Being used to cheap flights from London to anywhere (300 pounds to New York anyone), and looking at the equivalent. really shows you why people don't fly overseas that often. It's 2000 dollars to fly to the Big Apple. That is a lot of money.

So for now, I'm staying here and tonight I will be making some earrings.

Australia Day

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Tomorrow is Australia Day, and we have the day off. It's the national day of Australia and it commemorates the first fleets arrival at Sydney Cove on the 26 January 1788. Today apparently is Sicki Day, they have calculated that half a million people have chucked sickies today to make it a long weekend.

Watching the morning "news" it seemed that people can not decide if chucking a sickkie is very Australian or Un-Australian. I use the term "news" loosely as the main news they showed this morning was if Brad and Angelina had broken up or not.

The last thing one wants to be on Australia Day is un-Australian. So I reckon I better eat some lamb.

My first Etsy Sale

Today I had my first Etsy sale and it's so very exiting I decided to show you my first pieces travels on the way to it's new home in the US

Then the lid of the box comes on, I did put a little bit of tissue paper on top of the earrings to make sure they didn't get shaken around in the box during the trip on the plane.

Then one hast to choose ribbon from the huge collection of ribbons I have. I think the teal ribbon I bought in Thailand will be good for this box.


And finally, ribbon on, cards attached and bow tied...

Just waiting to get on a flight to it's new home in America..

Even more listings and new Drawers

I've spent this evening listing even more things in my webshop at etsy. I now just need to make sure to direct people to my shop.

So I guess the main question on my mind is how do one do that. The internet it this huge pool of stuff and how does ones thing doesn't get drowned in teenage angst blogs or people who want to chat about cats.

Search for that, chatrooms about cats. There are far more of them then could ever be nessesary.
People who likes cats seem to really like cats, like obsessively like cats.
Then again I can spend hours browsing websites about crafty things.


Speaking of which my new chest of drawers are finished as well....here you go.

From this:


To this:
The first unveiling of my blue and white drawers.


Check out the handles. I made them myself of silver coloured ribbon. That is my favourite part.

Finaly Listed Things in my Etsy Shop

I finally got around to listing my jewellery in my shop on etsy.



So if you have time you can go and check it out. I have only listed rings so far and here are some examples of what is there.



If you could have a look at the different price levels and let me know if you think I'm over or underpricing. Such things are hard to judge.


Any feedback would be much appreciated.


Let me know which ones you like and would buy and which ones you think less off. I'm not going to hold against anyone. I will just make sure to think about before I give it to you for your birthday.


Thank you

A new me

I'm not a good shopper, I tend to feel really bad when I go shopping for clothes, I don't like spending money, I think everything is always to expensive (no matter how cheap) and I normally end up standing in the changing rooms feeling untrendy and old. My main issue is that I'm feeling that be able to improve my wardrobe I would have to buy so much new stuff that no amount of money would cover it. I never just need the one new top as an addition to my wardrobe. I need a whole new wardrobe.

Actually I do, I have trousers I wear to work that I bought when I went to university. That is almost 10 years ago. I have a handbag that is almost as old as my youngest sister, I have not bought a new skirt for work wear since 2007. I think I might need a wardrobe update.

So tomorrow is D day. Or S day as I'm going to call it. I have a list of things that I need, like I walked my shoes through the sole, this is after the shoe guy no longer will fix the sole cause it's not worth it. I still wear these shoes, when it rains, my shoes overflows due to the holes in the soles.

So tomorrow my cards are going to bleed from the trashing through the machines in the shops.

By the way H&M got back to me saying that Australia was an interesting market for them. But there are currently no plans for a store here. Dohhh.... well I'm just going to have to be converted to Sports Girl or some other local high street chain with cheap and cheerful clothing. But I'm telling you H&M would do a killing here, it would be slaughter.

Spicy Thursday

I have had the biggest yearning ever for really spicy food in the last couple of days, the type of yearning that makes you dream of red chilies in your breakfast porridge. So I decided to ignore the lunch I brought in today and go and buy a spicy noodle soup. Once i got it, well it was not so spicy. So I went back, grabbed the chili flake paste they have on the counter and doused the soup in it. Who...was it spicy now. My lips are on fire, Fire I tell you. I'm quenching it with biscuits at the moment.

I have been given homework to get my stuff on Etsy sorted. With a time limit of 1 hour to choose the photographs. I tend to become a bit obsessive with things that I do and perfectionistic so. This way I procrastinate actually doing something that is a little scary. I have to remember that done is better then perfect or as some say perfect is the enemy of done. Unfortunately there are some spanners in my plan for this. The first is, I have meetings until 8.30 PM tonight and I have to paint my drawers in one my layer of blue as in the last layer the blue pigment had not mixed correctly and there are some splotches of darker pigment in the paint that has dried. This has proved that trying new paint brands are not always a good thing and really Dulux is so far the best paint I've ever tried. This time I bought British Paint (the brand is called that) and it really hasn't performed to the standard that I would want.

But I will try my best to get stuff up there, I will make sure I don't spent to much time faffing and over thinking. I will just sort the photos out, and write the descriptions and not think to much if the text is great. I will just make sure it's correctly spelt and that will have to be it. Enough is enough, sometime you just have to do it and stop worrying so much.

Scatty

I'm a bit scatty at the moment, I'm finding it hard to concentrate. My mind is flying all over the place, everywhere except where it is suppose to be. I keep forgetting things I'm suppose to do, to the level where I have to write on a Post It note what I'm currently working on so that I can look up at it in case I forget. Currently it says Algo 8.

I'm trying to get a lot of things done at the same time, with a to-do list, but they are all waiting for input from someone else or final testing. This is the most stressful thing I know. I know I have things to do, I just can't remember what it is. I think one thing is to buy a chilli. And my Post It note say Algo 8, so that would be another thing. But then, I can no longer remember.

So I try to make a list of things to get done this week, you know work and play things. But once I get past finish drawers, well after that I can no longer remember. So I go to the toilet because when I'm in there I normally remember what it is I'm suppose to be doing. It's my secret "find what I'm doing place", it also sometimes work for "find what you looking for" place. If you lost your keys, maybe going in the bathroom will make you remember where you put them. So I remember, but for some reason have time to forget before I'm back at my desk.

Only pointless information floats around in by consciousness, the dentist who says that sugar free chewing gum is your best dental insurance, but how does that work with the stomach, if you eat more gum you have to eat more indigestion medicine, is indigestion medicine good for the teeth. Maybe they should knock those together, indigestion medicine that is good for your teeth or chewing gum that is good for the stomach. But indigestion medicine taste like chalk, could you really sell chalk flavoured gum, maybe that will be trendy. And then all the top chefs will start looking for chalk textured things to serve, I know some red wine that makes your mouth feel like it's full of chalk....

See how it works, it's very tiring to try to reel this thinking in to focus on Algo 8.

Definition of Growing up

I think this speaks for itself

My bid for humanity.

I don't do much for my fellow man,unfortunately. I give up seats on the buss if you look like you need it and I don't push in (often anyway) in lines but I don't give money to homeless and I very rarely give money to charity. I'm the most common form of charity giver, I give if bullied into it at Christmas.

But today I did something that i think will benefit all Australians. I sent an email to H&M and ZARA and asked them if they would consider opening a store in Sydney. I know if you left them to themselves they would never do it and if they did they would do it in Melbourne, why should Melbourne benefit from even more stores that do not exist in Sydney. I hope they will get back to me to inform me that they are considering doing so such that I and all fellow Australians will be able to buy good design of decent quality to a price that is better then what is currently offered on the market.

It's not that Australia doesn't have good shops, it's just that they are rather expensive for what you get. Being used to London fashion where you can get very decent fashion from a very wide range of high street shops in all different price levels (from Primark with their 2 pound singlets to your little more pricey Karen Millen and Jigsaw). But the shops that I miss the most is ZARA and H&M so I thought I would prompt them to get into gear and come here and sell me some trousers.

Let's see if and when they respond.

Frustrations

I think the most common place where people feed their frustrations are work. Or driving it seems. But back to the thing we do so many hours of every day. We get frustrated at work even at the most smooth running work places there are ample opportunities to get frustrated.

That is why software development is so interesting, it does not matter how good you build a system there are always something that someone will get frustrated by, actually the better the system is, the more automatic the more people get frustrated by the fact that the buttons aren't perfectly aligned or the fact that they have to call someone to get something sorted.

The problem that I see in this is not the frustration in the work place, I mean you must have something to do during the hours that you are there, why not be angry with the printer, that is something worthwhile to put energy in, because the printer really cares about what you think about it.

The problem is when we bring them home, we get home and we are already angry, tired and frustrated. We tend to not see that someone tidied really nicely in the living room, started dinner or have an interesting tale to tell, we are so angry with such and such in the other department who just doesn't do it right.

I guess the aim of the game should be to be able to refocus before you get home, to be able to divide your live into pockets and not let things from the different pockets interfere with each other. What I mean is that once you are home then you're home and your not thinking about work and when at work your mind is fully at work. It's the opposite of mufti tasking, it's mono tasking. I'm doing this one thing now and all my attention is on that. Or living in the now as some people who would use a more spiritual vocabulary. I'll think of it as mono tasking, it's easier, smells less of incense.

So I shall practice this now, instead of being frustrated I will go home and paint my chest of drawers.

Things to keep me occupied.

The month before Christmas was quite busy and overwhelming for me so I never got around to making a lot of things and I need to make things to be happy, so I've been catching up lately. Just before Mr T's parents arrived in Sydney I finished these last 3 jewellery pieces. The pink tourmaline ring is my birthday present that I made for me. I fell in love with the colour.

I keep the stones with great cuts and colour for things I make for others. But this colour I couldn't pass up. It makes me happy every time I look at it. So girly and yet so ferocious.



To keep me occupied in the next coming weeks I have bought this old chest of drawers that I'm refurbishing. I bought them on ebay for 80 dollars and I've been sanding like a mad woman to get all the horrible bees wax off. This chest is going to be white and blue.

No one would have thought that hu!! Me having something white and blue.

The other pendants are ideas I've been working on, we will see.



I have decided what I think yet.

What do you think?

2010

We have been having a very quiet and relaxing time here in Sydney for Christmas and New Years. The weather has been mainly overcast with some really crazy rain showers. I feel a little sorry for people who would have gone to Sydney for Christmas holidays as it hasn't shown itself from it's most beautiful side. I has been good for me thought as I have been able to really get into my new obsession. Cross stitch. My sister gave me a cross stitch pattern for Charismas pattern that I have already finished. Once I finished that one I quickly went out and purchased a new one with new thread. It's going to be a huge flower.

instead of resolutions for 2010 I've been thinking of things that I will want to do less and more off. I want to do less complaining, worrying and feeling guilty and I want to do more laughing, loving of people and learning of things. To achieve this I will make a plan to achieve this, I'm already obsessively recording sitcoms but I will include more comedy shows and movies and people that makes me laugh. In regards to the loving, I reckon I'll figure that one out on my own and learning. Well we received a Trivial Pursuit for Christmas present so I reckon it will be put to use.

When it comes to the complaining, worrying and guilt they are all things that are interlinked. I often worry about things that I can't control and feel guilty about things that aren't within my ability to fix. When I'm failing at controlling everything and everyone that makes me complain. So I reckon if I start to remove one of these things I think I could probably get rid of all three of them. So please if you hear me complaining about something tell me to stop talking and think about what I just said. So for today, no complaints. No more complaints for me today. That will be my resolution for today the 4 of January. I will report tomorrow how that went.