Art. Life. Science.

End of days

2012-01-30T16:03:00.000-08:00

Why is it that when you move, your last day always feels like an end of days scenario? Here I am, packed and waiting for my taxi to collect me and take me to the airport for the flight, and I still feel like it's not real. I can't even imagine what my life will be like over the next few weeks, months, or years. I'm standing at a precipice looking into a great yawning void of the Unknown. Surreal.

I said goodbye to L this morning, and my mum, as they left for work. I blinked back a few tears because by god I'm going to miss them. L is joining me in two months. Not long, but long enough to feel sad about it.

Yet every time I feel a little scared about moving I remind myself that the alternative is to stay in the same place forever. I must have gypsy blood in me because that scares me more than the unknown ever could. Let the adventure begin!

Marking time

2012-01-19T22:03:00.000-08:00

I haven't updated my blog lately because I'm sure you don't want to hear about my application forms and shopping for a sleeping bag. I know. Snore! My camera is broken (I almost cried when I found this out in Byron Bay - of all places!) so I don't even have any interesting photos to share. Maybe I'll get better at whipping out my iPhone so I can at least give my Loyal Readers something to look at!

During the last few weeks I've been sorting out the last few odds and ends before the big move to Melbourne to start med school. Things have been cray-cray. I've been running around like a headless chook with all manner of forms and identification, but I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm feeling a little discombobulated, L and I are staying at Mum's place until I move down, and it's really weird not having a home.

I'll be flying down on the 31st of January and staying with our dear friends H and T until L joins me. This Saturday I'll be saying goodbye to all my friends and 10 years of living in Brisbane at a local bar. Everything is slowly coming together but it still feels really surreal that I'll be leaving L and Brisbane behind me (L is joining me two months later). Maybe it will sink in when I'm there.

Things that grind my gears...again.

2011-12-28T21:54:00.000-08:00

People whining about the price of bananas. For the love of god...Last time I scanned a single banana at the checkout it was $1.50. Less than chocolate bar or whatever vices frequently find their way into our shopping trolleys. They're a fantastic source of natural energy, fibre, and a swag of vitamin B's. I simply don't buy the hysteria that people can't afford bananas any more. Put back the packet of chips and get a banana instead! Seriously!

/rant.

How ironic...

2011-12-21T03:28:00.000-08:00

...To declare a hiatus over, then not post for nearly a month. Truth be told, I've hardly had time to think.

L and I are right in the middle of coordinating our move to Melbourne in January. Our conversations are now about storage units and budgets and his parents coming to help us pack. New years eve will be packing tape and boxes rather than champers and auld lang syne. It's surreal, I've been in brisbane for 10 years and the notion that I'm about to trade sunshine snd balmy nights for thermals and 4-seasons-in-a-day still feels fanciful and distant. And its stressful. Ive found myself waking early, grinding my teeth, to robotically don the workout gear and burn off my anxiety on the treadmill. What's worse is the realisation that i won't have a job, or collect a pay packet, for four. years.

Four years!!!

Ugh.

But, somehow, people make it through.

I guess this also means this blog will take a bit of turn. Looking back, it certainly has evolved. It started as a project to encouragement to communicate about the things I love, art and science. Yet as I changed, do did my interests. An injury saw me unable to paint, and sick in my heart about science, and my hobbies had to evolve with my physiology. Enter amateur photos and talk about chronic illness, medical school entry, personal doubts.

As the year closes, I can see another evolution in the horizon. I can feel the questions permeating my bones. How will little old me cope with medical school? What kind of doctor will I be, and will i still have time for my art?

Part of me is acutely aware of the convenience of moving away. I'm running, as I tend to do, from my dead end career, my bullying old bosses, the intolerable boredom and intolerable heat, my friends that I've grown apart from, my own failings, disappointments, and struggles.

I'm going back to the place where I first saw snow, chased seagulls, shivered in wet swimmers eating an icecream with a friend. The place that holds vague memories of chestnuts, wild blackberries (they're a weed), and open fires. I'm going home.

Forgive me for being trite, but every ending is a new beginning. Are you beginning anew in 2012?

I now declare this hiatus over!

2011-11-30T00:05:00.000-08:00

Hello lovelies! It took me a little while to get back to good health and to start thinking about things other than my tummy again, but I'm fine now. Better than fine! I have some news to share with you too...

1. I now am in possession of a place in the Uni of Melbourne MD program (read: med school) for next year! When I say "possession" I truly mean it, after how hard I worked it will have to be pried out of my cold, dead hands for me to ever give it up. I'm absolutely thrilled, it's the Uni I really wanted and L really wants to move to Melbourne. One of my old skool best friends H has also informed me that she's moving down next year as well. Winner!

2. I'm typing this from my brand spanking new macbook air. Are you as excited as I am? Probably not, but I have to say it is a spectacular machine. I've never used the words "boom chica wow-wow" to describe a computer before, but there is a first time for everything.

3. I've sold the painting that I've affectionately come to call Mr Owl (not it's real title, FYI). This included a sizeable commission that went to the RSPCA. I have no idea where he went but hopefully he has gone to a good home.

So all in all, it's been a pretty great month. Now I've got my new computer and I'm finishing up at work, I'd like to think there is no excuse for infrequent posting. We'll see how this pans out, it's important that you know I have the best of intentions.

The ordeal.

2011-10-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

I'm back here, slowly getting my energy back, after a crazy couple of weeks that I would like to eventually forget. I don't know what to blog about in the midst of my recovery. I am a firm believer of truth telling so I'm going to tell you about my last two weeks in a bid to expel the trauma of the memory and move on. If you're concerned my ordeal will be an overshare, please move along to other posts. For the rest of you, thank you for going through this with me.

A few weeks ago I started getting really bad stomach pains. Like, really bad. It was after hours so we went to emergency department where I waited for 3 hours, canula jammed in my wrist seeping blood all over my hand, to see the only doctor rostered on. In the end we left, as there were still 4 people ahead of me to see the doctor after 3 hours and I was starting to wonder if it really was that serious. They told me that it's probably just gastro and to wait it out, and ripped out my canula at the front desk.

So I (not-so-merrily) went on my way and dragged myself, hopped up on codeine, into work the next day, having being convinced by the hospital that I just needed a spoonful of cement to harden up. I was OK at the beginning, then started to feel very, very ill. I drove myself to my GP and knew I was actualy sick when she queried whether I had a preferred hospital, and if someone could drive me.

We made our way to a different hospital emergency where they took one look at me and admitted me within minutes. Fast forward 10 hours, which are a blurr of lying in a morphine-induced haze, uncontrollable vomitting, with my mum and L taking shifts sitting with me. I was wheeled hither and thither, my abdomen poked by half a dozen people until I dry-retched on my own, struggling to stay upright, in my wait for theatre. They opened me up and I had a ruptured ovarian cyst, that had burst into my abdomen and started infecting my appendix.

I woke to more dry-retching, exhausted, and a cool cloth being gently wiped over my face. I could hear the nurse saying my name. Some mumbling, then she told the wardsman that they "better get her back because the family has been waiting ages." It was 2am when they wheeled me past my family into the wards. I still couldn't open my eyes properly and I just remember faces and lights whirling past, a lift, and then more vomitting and noises that sounded like an animals death-throes. I was vaguely aware it was me making them but I couldn't stop.

The nurse informed me I had problems with my lady parts, yet would not tell me if I still had my appendix, or my ovaries. I had to wait for the surgeon to tell me in the morning. She finally settled me and L went home at about 3am when I started dozing. A restless nights sleep, where the nurses wouldn't come for hours when I buzzed them to go to the toilet. 6am saw me buzzing and buzzing, and finally I ripped off the monitors, painfully climbed over the guards at the side of the bed (I couldn't push them down), and went to the bathroom, crying in pain, on my own. The nurse turned up 30 mins later.

An hour later surgeon came with his supervisor, and informed me that the only thing they removed was my appendix. Relief. Although I couldn't focus on what they were saying as I was still disorientated. Then shock when they told me they're discharging me after lunch. I still couldn't eat, had blurred vision, and felt like I was in danger of losing any stomach contents I had left. I thought they were joking until the papers came and they told me to leave. I told the doctor I could barely see and I couldn't eat, and she just ignored me and signed the papers, then told me to take panadol if it hurts.

My family brought me home and I slept and slept. Then tried to eat, when I promptly started vomiting again. Back to emergency where I stayed all night, trying every anti-emetic (anti-vomiting) drug under the sun to no effect. They found a bed for me and I was finally, slowly, allowed to recover on a ward where the nurses came when buzzed and they were all really kind.

I returned home for second time after a couple of days, only then to be struck down with a bad cold that one of my doctors had obviously given me. I remembered him sniffling, coughing then handing me a pen so I could sign the consent forms for the operation.

Thankfully, it's finally over. I'm now back at work, after a week of recovery, and feeling stronger every day. I'm trying not to ask myself whether I want to be part of this system where patients are not triaged appropriately, where nurses don't care, and doctors turf patients on the streets, half-blind, hours after operating on them.

Then I remembered the saintly emergency nurse, K, whose cooing of "poor thing" and "sweetie" when she was checking up on me made me feel like I was cared for, making sure I had enough pain medication and lobbying passionately on my behalf to get me into a ward. She stroked my hair while I was vomitting and made jokes with the others nurses to cheer me up. The nutty Irish nurse M who called me "Lamb" and talked at lengths about the benefits of Cutifilm also helped me stay sane in the chaos. Lastly, I was calmed the young doctor A, a year older than me, who told me that she wants a family and was gentle and kind when putting in my canula. So I'm trying to tell myself that I should use the experience to make me a better, more compassionate, doctor. There are amazing people working in hospitals, and I don't think I would have survived my ordeal without them. I just hope the system doesn't break me.

2011-09-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

Ahh readers I'm losing the will to blog. The last month has seen me fall ill with afflictions, the vapours, and similar Victorian-esque illnessness. Things are not good, I'm having some rather trying times at the moment, including having half my body scanned for a tumor that could be hiding somewhere. I'm no stranger to being ill - over the last half dozen years I've become one of those people that just gets sick a lot and have to be careful to take vitamins, exercise, and eat well. However, sitting in hospital corridors in open-backed gowns, worrying, being herded from imaging machine to imaging machine, wishing my partner was there to hold my hand and joking with the technicians to calm my nerves is not something I am used to.

Yet, when things get like this there is nothing you can do to change it, so I say you may as well continue on with a positive attitude. I really enjoyed the hospital staff, they have been incredible. I'm especially grateful to the young slightly awkward guy who was looking after me during my CT scan, who, on catching sight of my owl ring, launched into a story about his friend who loves owls and how he dragged them around Venice on a Contiki tour searching for the perfect Murano glass owl.

I'm OK, so don't fret. I'm still walking around and trying to maintain daily life while we figure out what is happening with me. I'm the only person I know who has successfully bamboozled an Endocrinologist. Seriously, my life is like an episode of House right now!

On a lighter note - I'll be at the Valley Fiesta incarnation of the Suitcase Rummage on Saturday (10am-4pm, Winn Street) selling some of my most popular ones, I really hope to see some readers there. I don't mind if you just want to browse, or chat without buying, it's just nice being outside in the fresh air and having the chance to meet interesting people so make sure you throw an "ahoy" my way. Fingers crossed it doesn't rain!

Absence

2011-09-13T15:17:00.001-07:00

I hope it makes the heart grow fonder...

I haven't written in a while, I'm suffering some slightly concerning health problems. Between the specialist visits, tests (MRI, CT, bloodwork, ultrasound, what next?!), trying to prepare for my Uni of Melbourne interview, and WORK, (phew!) I'm only barely hanging in there. Not good, but I'm sure I'll live.

In the meantime I just wanted to say a huuuuge thank you to all the lovely people that came up for a chat at the Suitcase Rummage two weeks ago. Even if you don't buy anything, your feedback is hugely valuable and much appreciated.

I'll be at an art and craft market in Manly (Qld) this weekend so if you're in that neck of the woods come and say hello!

I have also just submitted some work to the RSPCA group exhibition again, they'll be at the Blue Room Cinema in Rosalie from this Saturday until November. Feel free to take a look, last time the works were of a high standard and reasonably priced.

Lastly, I'm going to have a fire-sale on my art soon as I'll be moving at the beginning of next year and can't take it all with me. Please contact me if you've seen anything that you'd like to buy, they'll be priced up to $250 (but mostly a lot cheaper). It's sad to let them go but I need to fund my hobby. More information on this soon.

I hope you are all well xox

Get ready to rummage my suitcase!

2011-09-01T02:56:00.000-07:00

Hey there, don't know about all of you but I've been sick with a nasty flu for weeks! I know you think I've been doing something so exciting that I haven't had time to blog, but the reality of the situation is far less glamorous and involves me groaning on the couch, bad hair, blearily watching Skins and demanding tea.

BUT time marches on and and all that, so while I was comatose an interview offer came for University of Melbourne. Hoorah! Just quietly, I'd much rather move to Melbourne, the cost of rent in Sydney makes me want to curl up into fetal position and quietly weep. We'll see how it goes.

In other news - it's Suitcase Rummage time again (already? I know, how time flies!). Below are some photos that I took during our recent trip to Stanthorpe, some of the landscapes will be for sale in the Rummage so if you see anything you like be sure to come along!

Here's L's horses trying to eat the bits of hay from the back of the ute

They're called Prancer and Storm. When they see us walking down the driveway towards the sheds they go and stand in the spot where they usually get fed - they're certainly not silly. L's dad uses them for rounding up cattle because he's old skool and they can go all sorts of places that quad bikes can't.

There's lots of really interesting trees on L's family's property. They're an endless source of inspiration!

I always thought I was a rather city-fied person, I love the urban environment. I relish things like good coffee and visiting art galleries. However, every time I visit Stanthorpe I'm struck by the stillness, the unadulterated wildness of the place. I love the harsh, stark, drama of the landscapes. It's almost like you can sense the millions of years of secrets within the stillness.

Sometimes, I don't think it would be so bad to be sent out to the bush to practice medicine. I could definitely deal with this evening view as I sipped my cuppa on the veranda.

What do you prefer? Are you a city person or do you love the open landscapes in the country?

Confessions

2011-08-16T16:33:00.000-07:00

1. I am working on a public holiday.
2. I have utilised the "top knot" as a work hairstyle more times that I'd care to admit. Including today.
3. I am testing out some Estee Lauder frosty blue eyeshadow today, as due to aforementioned public holiday no one will be at work. If it looks horrible I can pretend it never happened.
4. I am drinking a short black in order to put rockets in my shoes so I get my work done faster, hopefully allowing me some lunchtime shopping at Lorna Jane.
5. The baby animals are my favourite part of the Ekka (Brisbane Exhibition Show for the Un-brisbanites). I've been known to insist we go to the petting zoo first thing at 9am so the animals aren't stuffed too full and still want to eat from your hand.

Jane Eyre and other news

2011-08-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.

I joined a new gym with fancy ipod connecty things on the treadmills and TV screens on all the equipment. I know, the future is now! It's much fancier than my old gym that felt they had to move from being next door to my apartment to a hugely inconvenient location on the other side of the suburb. It's called Snap Fitness for anyone that is interested in watching a lot of TV while running.

L and I also went to see the new Jane Eyre movie. Now I'm not exactly a purist (*cough*haven'treadthebook*cough*) but to my philistinian senses it was simply breathtaking. The cinematography was amazing, and it had all the beautiful broken tradegy that I love in my movies and books. I just love the stark drama of the landscapes, and the cold dark creeky houses. It's definitely worth a look, it has the girl that played Alice in the new Alice in Wonderland movie, and Judi Dench who is always incredible.

L enjoyed it, even though it wasn't exactly his genre of choice he said "I can still appreciate a really good movie". So there you go, it even has the boyfriend stamp of approval. I'm paying for it dearly tonight though, we got some free tickets to see Conan the Barbarian...I have a feeling I may not enjoy this as much as Jane Eyre, but you never know!

I also checked out the Chandler markets to see if this looked like a good place to sell my photos. It didn't. Sorry to say I wasn't hugely impressed. If anyone knows any other art and craft markets in Southeast Queensland, please let me know.

How was your weekend? Has anyone else seen Jane Eyre?

The results are in...

2011-08-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

Suitcase rummage was a hit! I turned a tidy profit through the sale of my photographs and received some really positive feedback. Thank you to all the people that bought photographs, I didn't meet anyone that confessed to reading this blog but I suspect that some of you were too shy to identify your lovely selves :)

I'm looking to ramp things up over the next few months. I have some new stunning and dramatic pictures from Stanthorpe that I'm currently processing, and I'm going to investigate different frame sizes and matboards. There's an excellent framer in my suburb that I plan to visit to check out the options.

So, thank you again for your support and generous photo-purchasing!

Stanthorpe series and suitcase rummage day!

2011-08-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, today is the suitcase rummage!! Make sure you come along with plenty of change to splurge (ha!) on some bargains.

I'll be there with my photographs and hope to see some of you there rifling through the vintage and handmade merchandise.

I've uploaded my Stanthorpe series. L's property out past Stanthorpe (in Amosfield) is an endless source of inspiration to me. I've never seen such a dramatic landscape, the clouds sit low to the sky creating a nice kind of claustrophobia, and the granite rock juts out haphazardly from the earth. There are some dead trees that dominate the skyline on L's property that look like sentinels or twisted hands. These photographs were taken a couple of years ago but I took some more a couple of weeks ago, I'm hoping to have them processed and at the next suitcase rummage.

Stanthorpe Tree

Stanthorpe Plow

Ain't nuthin' sweeter...

2011-08-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

...than hard work paying off. Excuse my absence of late, the last few months have been a blur of twisted anxiety and distraction while I wait to hear about offers for med next year.

It turns out I managed to fight my way through 1500 applicants and secure an interview at University of Sydney. Then I managed to somehow differentiate myself from the other 480 interviewees and USyd must have seen something in me vaguely resembling the beginnings of a doctor, because last Friday my offer came through securing me one of the 240-odd places.

Small miracle.

I'm so relieved, to say the least. I am in a great position of now waiting to see if offers come through from the other Uni's I applied for that operate on a preferencing system (it's just like QTAC if you can remember that far back!). Whatever happens, I'll be studying to be a doctor next year, where is another problem that can wait, as after what I've been through I really don't mind.

I love the mix of elation and crippling fear that these life changes bring. I'm happy to be moving on and I finally feel strong enough, and healthy enough, to cope with whatever comes my way.

West End Wall Art - Melbourne Series

2011-07-24T00:38:00.000-07:00

Hellooo,

There is a good reason behind my silence over the last couple of weeks, I promise you. After the moderate success during the Suitcase Rummage, I've started to produce some more art, mostly photography, under the label West End Wall Art. Art is so expensive and unattainable for a lot of people, so the aim is to produce affordable and original art for people's homes.

I'll be taking my work along to the next Suitcase Rummage, on Saturday August 7th at Reddacliff Place in Brisbane CBD (in front of the Casino). Come along and check it out, there's some beautiful and quirky hand made and second had stuff for sale. If you spot me make sure you come and say hi!

For the non-Brisbane residents I'll be featuring a series in the next few posts. If you like any of them, shoot me an email because I'd be happy to make some sales before market day. They're $12 a pop for a 5x7cm print, including a basic black or white frame, and you'd just need to cover the postage. All these photographs are 100% original and taken by me, and each series has a story.

This is my Melbourne series in colour:

I shouldn't play favourites, but I have to admit that I have a real soft spot for this series. My mum lived next door to this house on Acland Street in St Kilda, I always used to walk past and wonder who lived there, and what their life was like. The top picture is a view from her apartment balcony. I love the grit and drama of St Kilda. These pictures remind me of living in Melbourne as a kid, and I always think of hot chips with sauce on chilly afternoons, slate floors, ferns and bellbirds in the hills, mountain ash trees, the dinosaur skeletons at the museum (when it was in that grand old building), and chasing seagulls outside Luna Park. I also have a series of these in black and white, which I'll post another day.

I welcome any feedback, and hope to see you at the market!

Exhibition: Animals in Society

2011-07-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

Hey blog readers,

This week has been absolutely hectic. I've been on a whirlwind trip to Sydney for an interview at Sydney medical school, which thankfully seemed to go well, and in the meantime I've been madly trying to keep up with work and have time for cooking at home, exercise and my hobbies to boot. If that wasn't enough, I also have a photography project and am re-teaching myself to knit. Life is hard sometimes!

I've had some paintings accepted for an exhibition run by the RSPCA entitled "Animals in Society". It's currently running at the Ship Inn in Southbank, so if you're around the traps take a look, and if you're in the market for some new art you can rest easy because 1/3 of proceeds are going to the RSPCA. I've submitted my owl and my ant painting (which is now framed), and I think they're going to be located upstairs if you want to check them out. The quality of the work in the exhibition looks amazing, and there are some artists from as far as Melbourne, so hopefully it will be a good show.

I'm starting some volunteer work with refugee families next week, through the incredible St Vincent de Paul Refugee Tutoring and Community Support program. I'm really excited about it but freaking out a little about my time management. It's important to me so I will just have to make it work. Are you guys tuning in to ABC tonight for the Q and A special on the refugee issue, including the documentary entitled "Leaky Boat"? I think it will be interesting viewing, hopefully it wont end in me yelling profanities at the TV and storming out, as is the general rule when I watch Q and A.

Do you ever feel that there is just not enough time in the day? How do you manage to have a live outside work?

Things that give me a twitch in my eye #2

2011-06-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

If you enjoy listening to other people's self-indulgent rants, by all means - read on!

In no particular order:

1. Gluten-free flour. No. Just no.

2. 40-50-something women at work who make life hard before they'll do their job. I am against having to promise people kidneys and lease out my womb before people want do what they're paid to do.

3. Rice milk. It should be illegal to call it milk.

4. Long blacks. I'm sorry, it's just not a proper coffee. Go hard with an espresso or wimp out with milk like I do (see related item 3), but don't get stuck in "long black no man's land".

5. People that don't care about Important Shit. Like refugee issues (highly topical thanks to SBS), homelessness, poverty, and all the awful crap that happens around the world. You can practically see these people mentally caressing their ipad, all the while spouting some nonsense argument so they're not inconvenienced by having to care.

Honourable mention goes to people that use an espresso machine to put a shot of coffee in their cup, then fill the rest with cold milk from the fridge and heat it in the microwave. ARgh!

As you can tell I have had an ~~horrible~~ excitement filled week. What was your week like?

Is this art?

2011-06-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

Image from www.abc.net.au

I'm sure most of you have heard about Aelita Andre from Melbourne, the four year-old painting prodigy who opened her first solo exhibition in New York earlier this month. I can't decide whether I like this or not. On one hand, it's interesting to see what happens when innocence meets paint, how a four year-old communicates her view and experience in colour. On the other hand, her parents prepare the canvas for her (they're both artists) and she is obviously influenced by them, which is unavoidable really.

Her paintings are dishing out a pretty fortune, with one collector paying $24,000. She's also been compared to the famous Jackson Pollock!

So that leaves me with the following questions: is it really art, or the splashings of a toddler? Is it really hers, or is it a reflection of her parents? If it is art, what is it saying? And what does it say about the laboured art projects of adults? Are they any less valid? Or was art never meant to be too cerebral?

What do you think? I'm still not sure...

Waking up...

2011-06-21T17:11:00.000-07:00

Having chronic pain is like being trapped in a bad dream, where you are expected to do all the daily tasks you know you can do but your body doesn't cooperate. And you are in constant white-hot searing agony.

When the pain goes away, it's like waking up. The air is fresher, you hear the birds again, and life without pain is like a beautiful dawn. I'm slowly weaning myself off the painkillers again (I have to be careful not to get addicted) and life feels good. Precarious, but good.

I went for a walk for the first time in a week last night, camera in hand, and shot some things around the neighbourhood. I'll upload them soon. Also stay tuned for more of the Project Suitcase Rummage paintings, they're coming along nicely.

Living where I live, I'm constantly reminded how lucky I am. I felt OK to go for a run this morning and passed some homeless people sleeping near the William Jolly bridge. There was a row of five of them, with woolly blankets tucked around them and over their heads so they looked like parcels, or tartan coccoons in a row. Jogging further there was another couple of people trying to fight the dawn, with blankets laid over them like sheets over dead bodies in a morgue. From the size, I think one of them was a child. It was 5oC in my suburb last night.

A couple of scruffy bearded guys were chatting on milk crates near the footpath, drinking cans of coke. I wanted to go up and say hi, ask if I could take their picture, buy them brekky, and ask about their life. Maybe write something down that they want to say, give them a voice, and show it in an exhibition so that the rich people searching for paintings for their lounge room see what they really should be seeing, instead of the pretty pictures of fruit. I'm too chicken though. I have seen the drunks and the mentally ill wandering around the suburb, asking for change and yelling swearwords to the sky. I know that an act of kindness would be worth the risk, but like most people I guess I'm too afraid. Maybe one day I'll find the courage.

Setbacks

2011-06-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

I've been doing so well with my shoulder injury over the last six months, but I've had a re-injury that has come as a bit of a blow. It's heartbreaking. I got used to being able to do things again - to walk around and carry a bag without my back hurting, to run and lift weights and dance around without constant worry. I had my life back, almost.

Now, after a random exercise in a personal training session proved too much, the searing pain is back. I find myself on the lounge, paralysed by the intensity of it. A quarter of my body is again out of action. I can't think because I feel like I have a metal skewer inserted into the part where my skull meets my neck, a little on the right of my spine, to protrude into my brain. I can't sleep, and when I do I wake with a start and need to rub the pins and needles from my arm, lying sleepless in bed again.

I have prescription opiates but they do nothing. Rubs, tinctures, massage, physio, heat packs all provide but a little relief. I wander around, half aware of what I'm doing, mumbling things that people have to ask me to repeat. There is nothing that eats away at a person quite like chronic pain.

This is what happens when you listen to the Beatles and have a paintbrush in your hand...

2011-06-12T20:50:00.001-07:00

My mum and I have a new joint art initiative, aptly called Project Suitcase Rummage. It is what it sounds, we're painting some small pictures to sell for reasonable prices at Brisbane's next Suitcase Rummage. The aim is to give people access to affordable original art for their homes.

So I got to work today, with the Beatles blaring (it is a Beatle-y kind of day today), and here are my first pictures:

For some reason the picture of the owl came out at an angle, making look like he's got a bit of a lean going on, the original looks better.

We're hoping to keep the cost below $20 for framed pictures so they are affordable for the sort of bargain-hunters that frequent this market. I'm going to hash out some more and hopefully I'll have a respectable collection by the beginning of July, in time for the next one.

It feels good to have a project.

Sundays that are like Saturdays, Sort of.

2011-06-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Monday is a public holiday in Brisbane so, while today is Sunday, it doesn't have a normal Sunday feel. It feels weird, like a day jammed into the middle of a weekend. I'm not worried about going back into work but I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do with the day. This resulted in me sleeping in, feeling disoriented, and being grumpy for the rest of the day.

I trotted over the Victoria bridge to return some shoes, and pottered around in the city for a while.

I love the walk between my apartment and the city, especially across this bridge.

Today, there was a brass band playing at Southbank and the music was lifted on the wind as I was walking over. Someone had let go of a red balloon and it was floating into the clouds.

Can you see it?

Surreal weekends

2011-06-12T05:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of the Surrealist "Poetry of Dreams" exhibition in Brisbane. I've been super excited about this for ages, it's probably one of my favourite art movements and I just love the crazy no-rules attitude of the surrealists, especially for the time (pre/post world war 2).

The first day was great, there were guided talks as always, a lecture by the Assistant Curator at the Pompidou in France, and even Tripod were there. I'm still trying to figure out how they fit into the whole surreal thing, but I guess absurdity is pretty close.

The photo is a bit dark due to weather + old iphone + shooting directly into the light. It's them I promise.

There were neon quotes on Dadaism and Surrealism everywhere. I like the philosophy but I think I would be too afraid to completely embrace it in my life. I'm not entirely sure anyone is supposed to fully embrace it, it seems like part and parcel of the confusion and, well, hypocrisy of Surrealism. The one in this shot says

"Leave everything
Leave Dada
Leave your wife, leave your mistress
Leave your hopes and fears.
Drop your kids in the middle of nowhere.
Leave the substance for the shadow
Leave behind, if need be, your comfortable
life and promising future.
Take to the highways."

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't having trouble with my art practice. I'm suffering time constraints, problems with motivation, and when I do get motivated, I hate what I produce or I can never bear to sign my name and put is aside, finished. Coming to this exhibition was like coming home. I remembered that perfection is not the answer, it's OK to colour outside the lines, to break the rules, and to be a little weird. You can paint a beautiful picture, full of technical brilliance and the lines all in the right places, but I'm still not convinced it's art. To me, art is about baring your soul on your canvas. An artist can show someone what they see, but for me it's more meaningful to be shown how they feel, what is inside their head. Often art is looking out, via a canvas, through someone else's eyes. Surrealism is looking in, via the canvas, and seeing the artist laid bare.

I bought a magnet, of one of Victor Brauner's works, so I can put it on the fridge and try not to forget what kind of artist I am. And I bought a season pass to the exhibition.

J vs the balloons

2011-06-12T05:20:00.000-07:00

Things have been quiet on the J front for a while now. P is still sharing a place with her and (miraculously) hasn't died in his sleep in a fire, yet I was wondering how long it would take before we heard another story...

P arrived home to find J blowing up balloons in the lounge room. P goes about his business for a bit, and eventually J casually asks "Um...hey P do you know why they're not floating?". P is stunned. "It's because they're filled with air, not helium". J thinks about this for a while before asking "If I tied a bit of string to them, do you think they'd float?"

I"ll just let you mull over that one for a while.

Letter to a stranger...

2011-06-09T17:23:00.000-07:00

To the middle aged man at a bus stop wearing one of those propeller hats this morning,

I'm not sure if it has anything to do with being one suburb away from a large mental health wing, but I don't care, you are great. Please continue living your life as you see fit, including the wearing of propeller hats, and thus brightening everyone's day.

Love,

Skek

Artist jailed for depicting Zimbabwe's massacres

2011-05-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

Image from solidaritypeacetrust.org

Last year, artist Owen Maseko's exhibition was shut down by police in the Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo, less that 24 hours after it had opened. His artworks depict some of the atrocitities commited in the early years of President Robert Mugabi's rule, which included killing and torturing thousands of the Ndebele minority.

Masako's charges include insulting the President, which, if convicted, could mean 24 years behind bars. He defends his art by stating that "Those atrocities, you can't talk openly about them in Zimbabwe, so my exhibition kind of made this issue come out and people began to talk about the exhibition," (Source: ABC news).

Mr Mugabi has acknowledged the massacres were an act of madness, yet has not taken responsibility. Bulawayo National Gallery curator Vote Thebe was hopeful that the exhibition would catalyse a healing process, saying "It wasn't a way of pointing fingers but it was a way of making sure that people are aware that such things happened."

Let's hope that justice prevails in Zimbabwe, and Owen Maseko is allowed his freedom.

Life's simple pleasures

2011-05-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

I'm staying at my mum's place looking after Ziggy Stardust at the moment. I love getting up early when the air is still crisp, and going for a walk with my best fur-buddy by my side.

As we trailed along the banks of the Brisbane river, I saw a man in ragged clothes sitting at a picnic table, with a long (but neatly trimmed) beard. I assume he was homeless, as he had a shopping trolley full of belongings (clothes bags, a large umbrella, and miscellaneous items) by his side. As I approached, I noticed something rather unexpected. He had spread a bedsheet out over the table as a makeshift tablecloth, popped a flower clipped from a garden in an empty wine bottle, and was eating his brekky from a porcelain bowl. As I approached he smiled and gave me a small nod, then gazed out to the sun sparkling on the water to watched a small boat chug past.

I felt a strange mix of sorrow and warmth. This man had obviously come accross hard times, but he was taking refuge in some simple pleasures. Fresh flowers, beautiful scenery, and a little bit of luxury. It really reminded me that no matter how bad things get (and being homeless is pretty bad), you can always be kind to yourself and there is always pleasure to be found in the simple things.

Paul Milburn: The loss of a great artist

2011-05-19T16:34:00.000-07:00

I awoke this morning to receive the shocking news that an art teacher I studied from at Brisbane Institute of Art has passed away. It happened a while ago, while I was on holiday, which is worse in some ways because I would have liked to attend the funeral. It feels surreal, as I haven't seen him around BIA since the end of last year, so in my mind he's still very much alive and well.

Paul Milburn "Self Portrait"

He was an Australian landscape and abstract artist, with a very unique style who resided in Queensland. Please take the time to browse his gallery and view his beautiful work which encompasses photographs, prints, bush landscape scenes, nudes, abstracts, and digital art. He painted a lot of Brisbane landscapes. Here is one of his landscapes of an iconic West End bridge (where I live) and another landscape from the Paddington/Red Hill area. He managed to capture the bright ethereal queensland light perfectly.

Paul Milburn "Beneath the Bridge" and "Urban Scape 3"

Our studio group, Circular Views, was born from a group that painted under his guidance. I think every single person was very much influenced by him in some way or another. He taught me the technique of Grisaille, how to paint from a live model, and how to prepare a canvas. He also tried to teach me about abstraction but that is one concept I don't think I will ever properly grasp!

His tuition was invaluable and he will be missed by many people.

Paul Milburn "Hemmant Reserve"

All images sourced from Paul Milburn's "Red Bubble" gallery at redbubble.com.

Carrick and Fox: studies in light

2011-05-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

The Mac is on the fritz so I am having to figure out a new way to resize all my holiday snaps for blogging. Sadly our PC does not have Adobe Photoshop (*sob*), but L has promised to fiddle around and find a solution. Don't worry though, I do have other things to talk about in the meantime.

Mothers Day this year saw me pay a visit to my dear Mum and give her some pearl earrings I bought from a small floating fishing village in Vietnam.

We then went to the Carrick and Fox impressionist exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery and I have to say that it was breathtaking. I have not, for a long time, seen such magical capture of light in a painting.

The English Ethyl Carrick Fox and the Australian-born E Phillips Fox were a husband and wife painting team that worked in the impressionist style. Most of their works in the exhibition were from about 1880ish to the early 1900's. They studied in Paris and traveled the world, painting as they went (jealous!).

Here you can see one of Ethyl's paintings of a French Flower Market. I love the dappled light coming through the leaves that features in a lot of her paintings.

French Flower Market, Ethyl Carrick Fox

E Phillips Fox also used this dappled light in a lot of his paintings. The majority of his figures in the exhibition were in shadow, with the light featuring around them.

He loves me not, E Phillips Fox

Carrick was definitely more modern in her interpretation of the landscapes, while Fox was technically brilliant, but they both shared an appreciation of the way light behaves and colour.

Apparently Fox set up one of the first art schools in Melbourne for Women. Go Fox!

The exhibition is showing at the Queensland Art Gallery until the 7th of August

The great indochine fiasco

2011-04-26T04:00:00.000-07:00

Xin chao from Vietnam! I've been here over a week and it's been...well...interesting. Like any international holiday there have been plenty of highs and lows, all to be recounted in due time when I can upload photos (I'm up to 700 so far, brace yourselves!).

Hanoi has been a bit of a struggle. It's so difficult to get around with half the population either eating on the footpaths or driving/parking their motorbikes on the footpaths. This doesn't leave much room for disoriented tourists to blunder through. Seriously, those bikes pop out from everywhere: alleys, markets, shops, hotel lobbies, houses...the Vietnamese drive them anywhere they will fit. It's also proving impossible to locate shops a second time, even when we mark them on a map. I swear they change this city around while we sleep, Dark City style, just to confuse tourists.

Yet it's all been worth it to witness the stunning beauty of SaPa, near the Chinese border. The ethnic minorities are so beautiful and have a wicked sense of humor. We met the black h'mong and the red Dzao, and they were both such lovely, friendly, and welcoming people.

I wish I could say the same for the rest of vietnam but so far the people we have met in Hanoi have often been less than welcoming, and sometimes downright rude! Such a stark contrast to the land of smiles, Thailand. If it weren't for a few amazing people (especially our hotel concierge Ms Tran) then I think I would be under the impression that the Vietnamese would much prefer it if all foreigners packed up and went home!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter! I watched the evening mass at St Josephs cathedral in Hanoi on good friday, caught the overnight train to SaPa, then spent Easter Sunday on a trek through the mountains. It certainly was a different Easter! What did you do?

singapoooooorre!

2011-04-16T22:07:00.000-07:00

Hey there!

L and I are living it up in Singapore, eating and shopping ourselves stupid before we head on to Vietnam. We are lucky enough to be staying with friends on the 43rd floor of a building near the docks, who have been absolutely glorious and have taken us to all the best local eateries. L is now obsessed with the Muslim breakfast pancakes and ginger tea, and the local Chinese food we have eaten has been a veritable taste sensation. I can't upload pics yet but hope to soon.

I hope everyone else is having a wonderful Easter break. What are your plans? Family? Holidays? Mini breaks?

Owls and other news

2011-04-08T20:09:00.000-07:00

Remember this owl painting? I think I have finally finished him, maybe give or take a few minor brushstrokes (I like to come back to a painting after a week and review it before I put the final glaze on). Here he is in his owlish glory:

"Prey". Mixed media on canvas (April 2011)

I realised that I had said I was going to do this one using the grisaille technique, but I find my paintings seem to develop a life of their own and it's almost like the artwork is directing me, rather than me directing the artwork. I ended up getting stuck into the feathers with a dry brush, as I realised it was going to be difficult to create the owls plumage with glazes. Towards the end I made some definitions with an acrylic pen and then got heavy-handed with a charcoal stick to create some earthy textures.

I'm not entirely happy with the eye on the left but other than that he is pretty much finished. Helpful tip: feathers are HARD!

Phew. Time for a cup of tea.

Yum yum!

naughty pants!

2011-04-07T17:51:00.000-07:00

Wow I've been a naughty pants!

I somewhere between recovering from the cerebral assault that was GAMSAT and getting back into a new routine, blog posting fell by the wayside. Don't worry, I am feeling in good health and will be chewing your ear off with many stories soon!

My journey back to good health has been up and down since starting work this year. Yet March heralded my return to "feeling normal" again. You know, that elusive feeling of coming home from work and NOT feeling like the day's activities have left you lobotomised? That's what I've been chasing over the last four years.

I think things plateaued a bit this year, but I reached another turning point after I started personal training sessions last month. I was running a few km's on the treadmill before, but I can't believe how my fitness and endurance improved after having my ass kicked in the gym. It's even improved my mental clarity. I think I'm converted!

Returning to normal is like waking up from a deep sleep. Finally, I can make it to my art studio sessions. I finished a painting last night for the first time in...six months? Maybe more...? Photos will be coming once it's signed and lacquered.

I'm cooking again. Not collapsing on the lounge after chopping a carrot is truly an awesome achievement for me, and it feels good that I can finally give L a break. I'm currently working my way through some new recipes, so be sure to check in as I'll be posting my success stories (and any epic failures, for amusement's sake).

My health seems like a fragile bird egg in my hand, any sudden movements and it will be crushed. It's frighteningly delicate at the moment, but getting better every day now.

What do you do for exercise? Do you find it gives you more energy to face the day's challenges?

Angry birds

2011-03-22T17:05:00.000-07:00

I'm one angry bird at the moment. I'm sitting GAMSAT again (seemed like a good idea at the time, how wrong I was! Ha!), and I think stress + study + full time work makes me quite a horror. I had this *great* idea that even though I have a score that should get me into at least most of the uni's in Australia without a problem, it would be somehow better for me if I tried to improve on this score. Wrong!

Case and point:
I flipped out this morning when I parked at work, because a car was so big I couldn't get my door open, and I had to drive into another park. For a moment, I was Bernard from Blackbooks.

This is me.

Image from http://www.channel4.com/assets/programmes/images/black-books

I went on this big ranty internal monologue about how people with big cars hogging all the room should just feck off. In my defense, I think three GAMSAT exams in the space of one year while working full time are three too many, really.

Do you constantly bite off more than you can chew?

Natural cold remedy

2011-03-16T16:54:00.000-07:00

After my veritable incoherent ramblings in my last post I decided my time would be better spent figuring out how to make honey lemon tea for my cold. It's surprisingly easy, even for someone in the worst virus-induced stupor. Here's how:

Honey lemon tea
Squeeze one lemon and add juice to a mug. Poor in boiling water and add honey go taste.

More is more when it comes to the honey, it's a fantastic antibacterial agent. I added about 3.5 teaspoons.

In all seriousness this remedy really works. I was much better the following morning and my sore throat was completely gone. Plus it's quite tasty!

What are your natural cold remedies? Soup? Raw garlic? Foot spas?

Quietly dying at my desk...

2011-03-14T23:13:00.000-07:00

I'm sick sick. I think I got a cold from L's teenage bro. We took him shopping on the weekend and now his mum says he has a sore throat. Godddaaammmitt E keep your germs to yo'self!

So that's why I'm quietly dying at my desk. I miraculously finished all my work and now I am just waiting for 4:15 to clock around (thank you 1 hour of flexitime!!) so I can go home and have someone make a fuss of me. I'm thinking cool washcloth compresses, chicken soup, bedsocks, and maybe some sort of foot massage with peppermint lotion. I don't know where that last one came from but by golly it sounds nice now I've typed it out!

When I was a kid, my Pseudo-Dad* used to make me a hot lemon drink with heaps of honey. It was freakin' A-Mazing, and instantly forced sore throat germs into death throes. Does anyone have a recipe? Email me, I will love you forever. I would call him but he's on a road trip. Pretty sure it's just a billion lemons, hot water, and a billion honey but I want to get the proportions right. If I turn the kitchen into a slop-bucket like I did for The Great Pesto Debacle of '11 (more on this later) then L will be really mad. Like madder than the time I had to tell them that I thought I downloaded a virus onto the computer because I was searching "dirty hippy" in google images.

*Pseudo Dad (noun): as my dad left me and my mum when I was young, it was necessary to adopt a Pseudo-Dad. This is G, who lived with us for 7 years and fulfilled all Dad-ly duties. He is a legend in the kitchen!

The Great Pesto Debacle of '11
Did you know there is more than one kind of basil? I didn't. I went marketeering on Saturday and there were some really great bunches of basil in two piles. I asked Market Dude what the difference was: one was bitter (crap) and an Australian variety and one was sweeter and a Vietnamese variety. I thought a sweeter one would be best for pesto (as in, normal basil) so I bought what I THOUGHT was the good one.

L was dubious about my Pesto Making Abilities so my very culinary reputation was resting on me being able to pull this off. L is a clean-freak and eyed my activities suspiciously as I pulled leaves hither and thither and stick-blended the crap outta that pesto. I tasted it and OH NO something was wrong! It wasted like I had added equal proportions of fennel and rocket instead of basil! Pretty sure somewhere between the revelation that there were two kinds of basil, Market Dude's instructions, and the two piles I had picked up the wrong one.

L insisted that after the mess I made in the kitchen it was worth persevering. We mixed it through the pasta and ate some. I almost gagged after one bite - that shit was WRONG! L sat glumly eating his pasta until I forced him to stop, admitted culinary defeat, and we ordered Grill'd instead.

The perfect day

2011-03-12T15:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had what can only be described as The Perfect Day. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera to capture any of the Perfection but I'll just have to weave some word poetry instead.

In the morning I picked up my mum and we grabbed our nanna trolleys for some marketeering. I bought lots of yummy fresh fruit and veg (as well as some thrifted clothes...shhh!) and we stopped for bacon and egg rolls where I chanced upon an old friend who had brekky with us.

Then it was time to meet L (who does enjoy a sleep in) for coffee at Blackstar as per our usual weekend schedule. There we saw they were doing a flood benefit that night, and they'd just announced the secret headline as Wolfmother. We thought, why not? It's $20 and goes to a good cause.

Later that day I met up with an old family friend who is visiting from Switzerland and we had a bit of a laugh over at mum's house, then I met up with L and a friend at the gig.

Half the street outside the coffee shop was closed off and it was a perfect balmy evening. We chilled out drinking coffee and listening to some of the other bands before going to Little Malaysia for dinner. I had never been there before but I was pleasantly surprised that it was serving all the authentic food that I have been craving ever since our first visit to Singapore! Even those strong coffees made with the condensed milk (I LOVE those but L hates them!).

L had been telling us all night he was going to win the fundraising raffle so we made sure we went back to the gig just in time for the raffle to be drawn - L won! We ended up with over a thousand bucks worth of credit and products from local businesses! L gave me all the girly things, I can't wait to shop up a storm with all that store credit!!

Wolfmother came on and after a lousy performance due to sound issues at the Big Day Out several years ago I wasn't expecting too much. How wrong I was! This was just about the best outdoor gig I have ever been to - the sound was perfect, the band were amazing, and the crowd had a really great vibe!

What an amazing day. I can't believe how lucky we are to live in a suburb with such a great community spirit. I wonder how much they raised for the floods...

Have you ever had one of those perfect days? What were you doing?

Edit: found a photo that a friend snapped, here they are:

Photo stolen from Callum's facebook page. Thanks Callum!

Green house tip #2: Allergy safe room deodorising

2011-03-06T17:56:00.000-08:00

Due to the popularity of my Green Cleaning post, I thought I'd add some more green household tips as I think of/discover them. L discovered this next one while researching allergy safe room deodorisers. I'm an allergy child (bees, cats, dust, yeast, grass!) and we figured the less irritating chemicals we spray around the home the better!

How to make a natural room deodoriser:
Grab a tinted spritzer bottle (you can find these at many health food stores, supermarkets, and pharmacies. Try Terry White chemist or Vita Life health food stores). You'll also need some vodka (any brand) and a selection of your favourite essential oils.

Fill the spritzer bottle with vodka and then add desired amount of essential oil(s). I like Bergamot as it's uplifting and fresh, it's great for the kitchen and living spaces. The amount of essential oil you will need will vary according to the quality of the oil and the particular oil you use. I use about 25 drops of Bergamot oil per 100mL of vodka, the best way to figure it out is to add 5 drops at a time to the vodka, spritz it and sniff it to see if you can detect the scent in the air.

You may want to try Lavender or Rose oil, these are lovely for the bedroom as they are very soothing scents. If you have any other great essential oil combinations let me know, I'm always keen to try something new!

Fieldtrip

2011-03-05T16:41:00.000-08:00

Hola!

I've been a lazy blogger but I promise it's for a worthy cause. Work required me to go out into the field and take some water samples, so on Wednesday we made a trip to the Mt Crosby water treatment plant. This is the plant supplying your drinking water if you live in Brisbane or the surrounding areas. My job is to test this water on live cells to make sure it doesn't produce any bad reactions, so you can rest assured that we're looking after you and making sure the water is safe.

Mt Crosby

(Image stolen from http://www.seqwater.com.au/public/sites/default/files/userfiles/image/landers_shute3.jpg)

I can't say it was a pretty sight after the flooding, an entire riverbank can collapsed and the raging torrent of water that passed through in January is still evident in the bent trees and dishevelled earth lining the river. It looks like a giant bulldozer has come through and gone crazy carving out the banks along the lenth of the river. The plant is still fully operational and the staff have been working like crazy to ensure the water treatment has not been affected by the recent flooding.

In short, the trip was Hot, and Tiring as we had to carry many kilos of glass sample bottles (I have such a sore back!), but very Interesting to see how the water is treated and the stages it goes through before it's released into the drinking supply.

I have to say, since starting in Environmental Science it's become increasingly obvious that this is not a Sexy Field. When I informed people that I had a job in Medical Science, I got lots of "wow that's interesting" or "are you curing cancer?" 's but now I just get blank stares, or "ooohhhh" 's followed by topic changes. In most people's minds I think I may have inadvertently gone from this:

Ohh-Ahh!

To this:

Ohhh dear.

Obviously the indignant cries of green being the new black mean nothing to most people. Saving the earth is rather un-sexy.

Do people think your job is sexy? What makes a sexy job I wonder. Feel free to post your thoughts below.

...and the dust has settled

2011-02-23T16:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all the kind messages about my Dad. I have word that he is fine. He was eating in a restaurant when it happened. He managed to push another guy into a structurally sound corner where they waited while the debris and rubble fell around them, then climbed out with the other diners. Crazy stuff. Luckily he's OK, he's pretty tough.

Sending hopeful thoughts to anyone else waiting on news from friends and loved ones. Emails are only now being sent so try not to think the worst just yet.

Earthquake in Christchurch

2011-02-22T16:29:00.000-08:00

I'm sure by now everyone has heard about the 6.3 earthquake that hit Christchurch. It's supposed to be worse than the one that hit in September as it was in the middle of the day and most people were out and about, or at work.

My Dad is currently working in Christchurch, and I'm still waiting to hear from him. I met up with him last November and he told me stories about the eerie calm after the quake in last year. There was even a picture of him in the paper of him and his buddies at his local pub afterwards, I was glad to see he had his priorities in order (he does enjoy a bevy).

I'm currently waiting for an SMS from him, while trying not to look at the pictures of the rubble or scan the news stories for his name.

Do you know anyone in Christchurch? Have you managed to confirm that they are OK? My best wishes go out to all waiting to hear from family and friends.

How to: be a lean green cleaning machine!

2011-02-19T01:06:00.000-08:00

I am all about the clean house but have been trying to find cost effective ways to use eau naturale cleaning products that don't harm us or the environment.

The Great Enjo Glove Experiment of 2010 did not pan out as I expected (don't listen to the hype, it's just a glorified sponge that you wear on your hand), and I ended up just spreading around the grime in my bathroom after gliding straight over the soap scum. No good. Since then I've been trialing and adapting the best way to naturally clean my house.

You lied to me!

Here are my fool proof tips for eco-cleaning and I swear it works better than any would-strip-paint-given-half-the-chance industrial cleaner.

How to clean a bathtub:

You'll need
- Bicarb soda
- Earth choice dishwashing liquid (or similar)
- Spray bottle filled with white vinegar.

Sprinkle the bicarb soda around the tub, paying attention to those areas that accumulate grime and soap scum. Then squirt a small amount of detergent over the top. Get a cloth/sponge and rub an area of the tub so the bicarb and detergent make a paste. Spray with vinegar until the bicarb "hisses" and watch the soap scum lift off like magic while you rub. It's amazing I swear. Go around the tub doing this and then just rinse away with water.

If you like, you can make the bicarb paste prior to this in a container and just dip the sponge in instead. Whatever floats your boat!

Give it a go, it's amazing. I used to hate scrubbing the bottom of the tub but now it's done in 10 mins and my biceps are spared.

How to clean a stained kitchen sink:

We I do a lot of cooking and the sink can get pretty grubby. You know what I mean, those brown marks on the stainless steel that you can never get off...I was going to post a picture but was too embarrassed...A dirty sink seems as personal and abhorrent as posting a picture of my underwear. This sink is sourced from the internet to demonstrate my point.

Argghh!!

Image from http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3vSHcMmkuxM/TUQ4RWrjnpI/AAAAAAAAAvw/UD1a2RxNmuM/s1600/Dirty+Sink.jpg

You'll need
- Bicarb soda
- a lemon cut in half

Sprinkle the bicarb soda over the sink and then grab the lemon and start rubbing the sink with it, cut side down. It will hiss and fizz with the bicarb and the marks will just lift off. Then rinse. Viola! You'll be left with a sparkling sink and the lovely smell of fresh lemon lingering in your kitchen.

Just quietly, the lemon half is a perfect size to jam into the plug hole. If you sprinkle some bicarb in and rotate the lemon in the plughole it will lift up the hard to reach brown muck that accumulates in there.

How to clean glass:

You'll need
- A spray bottle full of vinegar (sensing a theme here?)
- Paper towel.

Spray on the vinegar, wipe off with paper towel. That's it!

That's all I can think of for the moment. How do you clean your house? Are you an eco-germ-warrior or do you Easyoffbam that crap into oblivion? Please share your tips below.

Valentines Day preparations

2011-02-13T01:04:00.000-08:00

I thought I was being a sneaky sausage by baking some cookies for Valentines Day while L was out...until he came home and caught me in the act! He didn't see what I was baking, only that I was making something. Hopefully he is still surprised when I thrust THESE under his nose tomorrow:

Vanilla biscuits with passionfruit glace filling

Yummy yummy!

They look a bit raggedy in that second shot (ok, so it may have been a hurried first attempt) but I ate one that fell apart when I was filling them with icing, and they are amazing! Want to copy? Here's how:

You'll need:
- 1 cup self raising flour
- 1 cup plain flour
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 125g butter
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 1/4 cup icing sugar
- 2 tablespoons passionfruit pulp

Then do this:
- Preheat oven to 160oC. Blend together the butter, and sugar until well combined. Blend in egg and vanilla essence. Fold in flour to make a dough.
- Turn dough out and roll into 5mm thick slab. Cut with your choice of cookie cutters and pop in the oven for 10-15 mins or until slightly golden
- While bickies are cooling, pop the icing sugar and passionfruit pulp into a bowl and stir it over a pot of boiling water until it's glossy. Slap it on a biscuit and jam another one on top.

Easy peasy! The only problem is making it through the icing procedure without eating them all.

I hope L likes them. What are your plans for Valentines Day? Any sneaking around or covert operations?

Goin' to Nam!

2011-02-08T16:46:00.000-08:00

Hello there! I'm all a-buzz as L and I booked a holiday to Vietnam last night. Cue all my immature jokes about having to handle a lot of Dong, will L have enough Dong, etc. He wasn't joining in the puns and when I asked why, he said it was too easy and he didn't want to grab the "low hanging fruit"...it took both of us a second to realise what he said before more chortling and gaffaws ensued.

We're going here first:


Singapore!

Image from http://www.intercambio-es.com/singapore/intercambio_singapore.jpg

Don't you just love the clean efficiency of Singapore? L and I were there overnight 2 years ago for Chinese New Year and it was magic. This time we're staying a couple of days to visit a friend, and hoping to purchase some technology. I'm already dreaming about the Indian breakfast roti's and steamboat for dinner.

Then we're going here:


Hanoi from the Sofitel

Image from http://www.travelblissful.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/hanoi-from-the-sofitel-neil-ta.jpg

Then on to here:


Sapa in the fog

Image from http://www.easysapatravel.com/images/News/sapafoggy.jpg

Where I can't wait to test my cardio fitness on these mountains:

Image from http://vietnamphoenixtour.com/images/news/sapa-vietnam.jpg

Then we'll head to the coast:

Halong Bay

Image from http://www.golfsaigon.com/Pictures/halong_bay_6.jpg

With a final stop in Ho Chi Minh before going back to Australia. L wants to see the Mekong delta so we'll make sure we squeeze that in.


Mekong delta

Image from http://www.mekong-travel.net/images/Tintuc/canthoquay.jpg_2282742008_2_S_1.jpg

With all this holiday talk I am being what can only be described as Highly Unproductive. We had such a hilarious/magical time in Thailand (gem scams, motorbikes, and temples oh my!) that I cannot wait to be back in Southeast Asia. My palate is sensing Vietnamese food is imminent and, judging by the mad food cravings I'm getting, is already preparing itself for chili and lemongrass goodness.

Where are you planning on going next? A trip somewhere local or a country further afield?

How to make a dog bed from recycled materials and other Sunday tales/tails

2011-02-05T21:17:00.000-08:00

The other day I was browsing through the craft books at my local bookshop, the Avid Reader, and chanced upon a great book called The Crafty Minx that shows you how to re-use vintage fabric. One of the projects was a dog bed made from plaited lengths of fabic, which were stitched into a circular mat. It didn't look that hard so I decided to give it a go.

I picked up a king sized sheet from my local thrift store and got to cutting it up. Hint: If you can find one with vertical stripes it makes cutting it into strips a lot easier. The strips were probably about 12-15cm wide.

You then just plait these together, working new strips in when needed. You'll end up with a long raggedy rope of material. Then you arrange it in a circular pattern and stitch it together with some wool.

Here is the finished product:

I decided it could be a bit bigger so I made an edge from an old flannel sheet that L and I were going to throw away. Not bad for an afternoon's work, if I do say so myself.

The real test was going to be whether it was good enough for Ziggy's refined tastes...

Success!

To celebrate we completed the usual West End ritual and took him to Blackstar for a coffee (for us, not the dog. He got Schmackos).

It was so hot we opted for the locally brewed coldpressed coffees that are sweetened with maple syrup. I don't know why it looks like L has 3 legs in this picture, I think those are his arms in the middle there.

Australia Day

2011-01-26T01:02:00.000-08:00

We met some friends at JC Slaughter falls for the time-honoured tradition of BBQing on Australia Day. The following pretty much describes our day: gym, Blackstar coffee, burgers, lay on a picnic rug, ran around, went crazy with Ziggy in the creek, ate some more, talked about snakes, went home.

It was a nice, laid back day. I am pretty over drinking beer in the sun and the inevitable Bad Things that come along with this, so we kept it simple and low-key this year. I think I'm getting old.

I also think I'm getting nerdier, tomorrow L and I are going to the city to play board games. Not scrabble or whatever, nerdy ones. It's part of a social thing that we've started doing and I am both ashamed and simultaneously proud to admit that I have played the Battlestar Galactica board game.

What did you do for Australia Day?

Dear spammer...

2011-01-26T00:38:00.000-08:00

Stop it.

The end.

Stylish Blogger Award

2011-01-17T23:54:00.000-08:00

Hi there!

I've just been nominated for a The Stylish Blogger Award by the lovely E at Partner of a FIFO, thanks E! The idea is to share 7 things about myself and then pass the award on to 15 bloggers I enjoy reading.

1. I am obsessed with food and would eat myself to death given half the chance, yet given this I have a surprisingly small recipe collection.

Sammich!

Cooking used to remind me of work a LOT so I got out of the habit of making anything remotely housewife-worthy. It was all about the tins and instant sauces. You'd be surprised how much a science experiment is like making a meal, you're basically just following instructions, adding ingredients, and hoping it looks respectable at the end. I used to love to cook so my new year's resolution was so stop whining and start cooking again.

So far in my awesome-always-asked-to-cook repertoire I have Banana muffins with lemon frosting, slow cooked spaghetti bolognese (traditional italian style), apricot chicken, Lindt chocolate mousse, thai beef salad, rice salad, potato salad with bacon and home made dressing, moroccan beef with cous cous and minted yoghurt, spaghetti carbonara.

Failed experiments/recipes include some corn bread muffins that were a bit bland, a coconut and passionfruit cake that literally hemorraged butter when we cut it, and a some strange tasting geen veggie curry.

A 75% success rate is not too bad, if I do say so myself.

2. I am forgetful. I have a dent in my car that I haven't fixed for 1.5 years, even though my mum gave me an IOU for it for Christmas (2009...!).

Artist's impression of my dent

3. I am an amateur photographer. Very amateur.

Image from http://www.funny-games.biz/images/pictures/1912-noob-photographer.jpg

4. I have a poor tolerance for ignorance. It's a problem. Especially in the workplace.

I developed a twitch in my eye when during my last weeks at my old job my boss failed to convert micrometres squared into centimetres squared. She did not understand that as it was SQUARED the conversion factor was also SQUARED, even when I explained it with a diagram. Fair enough for the average Joe, but in this case my inner dialogue was all like "WHAT THE HELL?!!!! YOU ARE A SCIENTIST AND EARN TWICE WHAT I DO. WHY DO I NEED TO EXPLAIN THIS TO YOU?!!!"

Usually I stay silent, but if I'm shooting you a murderous stare and a vein is pulsating in my forehead, probably best to trawl what you just said for errors.

5.My boyfriend was most put out when he tried to teach me how to shoot and I was a better shot than him. In his grandfather's words "You betta watch this one!"

Image from http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee137/lionandmagicboy/BettyDraper.jpg

6. I love delta blues, and my favourite blues artists (among many) are Skip James, Muddy waters, and a Brisbane local Mojo Webb. Catch him down at the Boundary Hotel in West End, I think he's often there on Sunday evenings.

7. I used to love books, and was always a voracious reader, but haven't managed to finish a book since I finishing my thesis about 5 years ago. I think I had my love of books scienced the hell outta me. I'd love to finish one really soon, I will keep trying. I like to think that when the right book comes along, it won't be a struggle.

I'm passing this award on to:

...and I know that's not 15 but I'm tired and hungry. I'll add more in later if I can.

I'm OK :)

2011-01-14T18:54:00.000-08:00

I'm OK, we lost power for over 48 hours so I was out of contact, but we are fine. The concern and compassion that people in Brisbane and from interstate are showing in this time is so touching. Thank you for all your concern and messages. I have a full update and some photos from my suburb coming soon.

Queensland flood update - West End

2011-01-11T19:41:00.000-08:00

Hello, we're still OK, thank you to everyone for the kind messages. It's stressful and I spent most of the night waking up to the sounds of helicopters and sirens, but we are better off than a lot of other people. The most upsetting site so far has been seeing people fleeing in their cars this morning with their animals and whatever possessions they can strap to their cars.

Here are some updated pictures from my suburb:

two blocks from our place

Southbank, three blocks from our place

Melbourne street, about 10 metres from our apartment

Just remember to be careful and don't stray into flood water unless you have to, the power is still on in a lot of places and the water could be live.

Qld floods

2011-01-10T23:43:00.000-08:00

Hello readers, as most of you know I'm in West End so feeling a bit nervous about the rising flood waters. Our apartment will likely be fine but we may be cut off and/or evacuated. My mum and dog are also closer to the river and will probably have to leave some time today, hopefully we can camp out in my apartment until it all blows over.

The shops are chaotic, people are grabbing items like water, tinned food, and matches and shoving them in their trolleys. It was so nerve wracking trying to pick up food for the next couple of days.

We went down to the river and had a look and I just can't believe how high the water has risen, and the fact that it's going to get much, much worse. If anyone has had their home threatened or has had to evacuate, I am wishing you all the best and please be careful.

The road, and the park where I normally walk the dog. the river is usually well past those little stumps you can see just sticking out of the water.

Those signs are on the walking track beside the river, where I usually jog!

There were lots of people biking around, why?!

This is the street that is one block from my mum's house. Very worried about her home.

Stay safe everyone!

3 Things you didn't know about me

2011-01-05T00:57:00.000-08:00

Tonight I'm slow cooking a spag bol and settling down with a Barossa Valley Shiraz (courtesy of my ex-boss for Christmas! Some may or may not have ended up in the bolognese...). It smells awesome but still has about 1.5 hours left to go. Boo.

In the meantime, here are 3 things you didn't know about me. Unless you already know me, in which case: hi friend!

1. I save those little stocking sockette things they give you when you try on shoes, and wear them later with my winter boots. Brisbane is too hot for thick socks + boots so they're great. I wish I had one of those big packets that stores like David Jones have, as I'm always losing them and having go back to pilfer more.

2. I make the best pancakes and banana muffins in the world.

3. The celebrity and/or character that is most like me is Liz Lemon from 30 Rock. I too am socially awkward, am "adequate" looking, and wish for a ham setting on my microwave.


Image from http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2009/05/30_rock_the_sims.jpg

On losing weight

2011-01-04T21:16:00.000-08:00

Since the clock struck 12:01 am on the first of January my inbox has been a veritable spam-a-thon of unhelpful weight loss tips. I skim read some of them as like most people, I'd be happy to rid myself of a few kilos, but the advice really gave me a twitch in my eye. I'm not pointing any fingers *cough-Primped-cough* but some of the tips were down right ridiculous.

Apparently to be svelte and desired-by-all I need to cut out ALL alcohol, carbs, sugars, and vegetables such as potato and corn (what the what?!). You are also supposed to embark on interval training during this time. Now I'm not sure what floats YOUR boat but if I was so go gung-ho on this routine it would make for a very unhappy January (and a very unhappy L, who would likely bare the brunt of my mood swings and sugar cravings).

This is the only hot tip anyone needs- if calories in > calories out then you are going to put on weight. It's that simple. Yes, you can stuff your face full of quinoa and tofu and still get fat, contrary to what some of these "experts" who write this rubbish would have you believe. Also, here's a newsflash - drinking a tablespoon vinegar in water is bad for your teeth, I don't care how much it "detoxes".

I know what I'm going to be doing for January. It's the same thing I the rest of the year - try to eat 5 serves of veggies and two of fruit per day, exercise as much as I can, and watch the junk food and portion sizes.

/rant.

Oh dear...

2011-01-03T16:44:00.000-08:00

I went to my faithful hairdresser today who commented that a LOT of my hair is falling out. Dammit. This has been happening sporadically all year and I chalked it down to being sick and having iron problems, and thought it would fix itself when I got better again and stopped dying my hair. Evidently not.

The funny thing about chronic illness is that you are always paranoid it's going to come back. The last thing you want is to be back there, struggling to get to work, exercise, eat properly, and have some sort of meaningful relationship with your significant other. So the minute any symptoms so much as hint that you are not 100% you tend to freak out. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried that I'm heading downhill again, I've been exhausted since Christmas and this is just the nail in the paranoia coffin.

This means another trip to the doctor, keep your fingers crossed for me.

Image from http://assets.babycenter.com/ims/2008/03mar/20080327/april_2008_hair_new_mamma21.jpg

Shooting the Pauls Milk factory

2011-01-03T01:23:00.000-08:00

Hello! I've decided ~~to learn to use my camera~~ not to be a n00b and shoot in auto mode all the time, so today my Nikon and I strolled down to the Pauls Milk factory in my neighbourhood and went crazy photography-style.

The sky was overcast so it was quite difficult getting the lighting right. These were all shot in aperture priority mode.

Pauls milk factory

Being a creative suburb, there is some interesting street art around the traps. I never noticed it but there is some on the factory.

I love street art, partly because it's so transient. You could see it one day and it could be covered in a coat of paint the next.

I'd love to get some feedback :)

(Please respect my intellectual property by not reproducing these without my permission, Cheers.)

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T18:47:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

I have only just discovered Clear iT online for cheap Alannah Hill. I was a bit naughty as they had free shipping yesterday. Look what I bought:


Alannah Hill "See right through you" tights $10

...and in again cream. Naughty!

"Write me a song" scarf $20...

...and "It's a lady date" belt $14

A year in retrospect - Farewell 2010!

2010-12-30T22:33:00.000-08:00

I can't say 2010 has been the best year of my life, but it's certainly presented me with some valuable lessons. Here are the things I have learned:

1. I will never again stay working in a job I hate. Ever. I'd rather be rubbing two sticks together for warmth and eating raw onions for every meal than do that again.

2. The people in your workplace are just as important as the job you have. Nice people make mundane jobs great!

3. Never underestimate your skills, everyone has a special set of skills. For example: L's skills are reading people. It's amazing, he knows everyone's deal as soon as he meets them. I think my skill is recognising the unique or beautiful in every day things.

4. Animals make the world a better place. They're always happy to cheer you up and just be your companion, and all they ask in return is a safe and happy home. If you can't get a pet, maybe try walking a neighbour's dog? Then everyone wins :)

5. Life is complicated. Illness and other events beyond your control can sometimes throw your plans askew, and that's OK because we all get there in the end.

I have some resolutions for next year, and am hoping I will feel more in control that I have in this past year:

1. Paint more, and learn to use my camera. I'm hoping to get together a body of work to sell!

2. Look after myself. The usual stuff like regular exercise, more home cooked meals, more fruit and veggies

3. Save, save, save!

4. Have fun and not take things too seriously!

Have a great New Years Eve everyone!

I need to offload some art!

2010-12-30T00:52:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, I've just had a look in my art supplied cupboard and almost had a coronary arrest. I've been happily painting away and have and not putting any effort into actually selling my work, and as such my paintings are threatening to take over my (tiny) apartment.

I really have to part with some of them so I'll be offering them on this blog, and if there are no takers then I'll be auctioning them on ebay. Please note I've added my email into my contact information, so please feel free to ask me any questions.

"Electrofruit"
Mixed media (acrylic and charcoal) on canvas. I'm asking $100 plus postage. It measures approx 60 x 50cm and has been sealed with a quality sealant. It comes ready to hang and the stretcher bars are light so it will be easy to find 3M hooks to support it.

I'm happy to send more photos, or arrange pickup if you are in the Brisbane area.

For those of you that navigate here directly from Vogue, I'm working on having a new blog/esty/homepage with my artworks for sale, so I can put back my link to this blog on the forum (linky + selling = ban). In the meantime, hopefully it's not too much to ask that you add me to something like google reader or your blogger homepage until it's sorted :)

On Anti Aging

2010-12-29T23:38:00.000-08:00

(I apologise in advance for the following repeated use of "science" as a verb...)

The onset of summer and the inevitable frolicking in the sun often brings with it skin aging anxieties, as we all know what horrors the sun can inflict on our delicate faces. This post contains the tips and tricks I've picked up over the last couple of years to ensure that I am getting the best out of the products that I buy. On the other hand, if you've already heard this a thousand times on all your skincare blogs and forums then stick around for a good ol' skincare yarn and post a comment at the end, I'm always interested if you have a favourite product or routine.

What can we do to stop the clock?
As far as my science knowledge extends, the best (over the counter) anti-aging skincare is still a good dose of antioxidants and sun protection. Unfortunately, this is often easier said than done if you are like me and have ~~sensitive~~ psychotic skin. Throw into the mix the unfortunate disparity in the protection offered by different sunscreens and you have one seriously big dilemma.

Sunscreens
Luckily we can science our way out of this one. First up, lets talk sunscreens. Unfortunately, all sunscreens are not created equal, but there are ways of ensuring your sunscreen offers the appropriate level of UVB and UVA protection. The CIBA sunscreen simulator is a great way of testing how the ingredients listed on the back of the sunscreen packaging perform. You can sign up and start using it for free here. Keep in mind it's not perfect, as you need to ensure you are adding an adequate layer of the product to protect your skin.

Secondly, try to find one that offers a high level of protection. In Australia, our sunscreen labeling laws mean that we can only label up to SPF 30, and sunscreens offering a higher level of protection are labeled SPF 30+. If you want to know exactly what protection you are getting from a product that is also marketed overseas, just check out the international website. For example, the below Neutrogena product is marketed in the United States as both SPF 80 and SPF 100, so can be sure you're getting a decent level of protection*.

*Note: This tip is just FYI. Past SPF 30 protection the differences in the amount of protection are pretty negligible, as SPF 30 should protect you from up to 98% of the UV rays.

My favourite sunscreens

Image from http://www.beautyheaven.com.au/product_images/22005/neutrogenaultrasheer.jpg

This Neutrogena sunscreen is suited for normal to oily skin as it can be quite drying due to the micronised silica powder. Great news if you live in a humid climate and want to avoid shiny summer sunscreen-face, or if you tend to get clogged pores as this produce is non-comedogenic. It retails for around $15 last time I checked, but keep in mind it's a fairly small tube.

Image from http://www.getprice.com.au/images/uploadimg/1345/350_378257.jpg

I also recommend the spray version for the body. It's a lot lighter and less greasy than cream versions and it smells kind of sweet and powdery. Plus I'm lazy and it's really easy to apply.


Image from http://www.rescu.com.au/images/blogs/beauty/Summer%20Loving%20Guide/TrueSolutions1.jpg

As mentioned previously, I'm pretty lazy with beauty routines so any two-in-one product that does what it's supposed to is already miles ahead in my book. This True Solutions sunscreen is probably my favourite product, as it's a moisturiser combining SPF 30+ protection that is fragrance free. It's from the same company that makes MD Formulations, Priori, and Bare Escentuals so it's got some serious cred. It retails for $60 but it's worth every cent as it lasts a while. They also have a tinted version that I'm desperate to test.

If you're like me and enjoy a good tint in your sunscreen/moisturiser, give Hissyfit a whirl. It's all natural, Australian made, water resistant, and tests great on the CIBA sunscreen simulator. Last time I checked it was around $35 for a small tube, and is best used in place of tinted moisturiser. Those with dry skin or living in non-humid climes may find they need to layer a light lotion underneath as it contains zinc, which can be drying.

But what about antioxidants?
Antioxidants have been getting a lot of air time over the last few years, so I probably don't have to tell them that they aid in sun protection by "neutralising" the damaging free radicals caused by pollution and UV rays. If this is new to you, just imagine that the antioxidants are pacman (or pacgirl, whatever floats your boat) and they eat up all the bad things that damage your skin.

My favourite antioxidant products
Antioxidants can embroil you in a world of trouble if you have sensitive skin. Vitamin E and C are fantastic for improving skin tone, but can be quite irritating for some people. You also have to watch the supplementary ingredients in these products, and ensure they are non-irritating.

If I had to pick a brand offering the best mix of antioxidant products, I'd have to say Estee Lauder are pretty safe. They've got a great range of products containing good doses of antioxidants, just make sure that they are packaged so as not to allow the product to come in contact with light or air, which both destroy the antioxidants.

Image from http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRA_U71ca8bVuTr3RkAkk7oLeX4OAlBSwljzgOaQMKcSVe6BE98Ww

My preferred antioxidant product is actually this light moisturising lotion, "Hydrationist" by Estee Lauder. It's great for dry/dehydrated but acne prone skin as it's non-comedogenic but forms a moisturising barrier over the skin. I apply this and follow with true solutions when my skin needs extra moisture, I also use it as a night cream in summer. It's about $80 from memory.

Image from http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HIFtv7d8FJc/TNN4nx5bi5I/AAAAAAAAAfA/i-TU3xPyTes/s320/1N9T_311x311.jpg

For those of you wanting an all-in-one, I suggest the Daywear Plus from Estee Lauder. Paula Begoun gives this product the thumbs up, and I find it works really well as a primer as well. I'd suggest it for normal or slightly dry/slightly oily skin. It might spell trouble if you have a problem with fragrance though. It's about $80 as well.

If you prefer a serum, this one is amazing. It doesn't come cheap at $105 per 30mL (eeek!) but you can be sure you're getting a buttload of antioxidants.

*Phew* So that's pretty much all I've managed to science up over the last few years on anti-aging. I hope some of it is helpful!

P.S. If anyone needs some motivation to protect your skin from the sun, I find this picture of Lindsay Lohan always has me reaching for the sunscreen:

Image from http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTAXJXW10zo3t_dp13oKDvGl7nL33sEkK9Q8XyA6re7i9atUH1Nvg

What sunscreen or antioxidant products are people loving? Post yours below!

Christmas montage

2010-12-28T22:26:00.000-08:00

I've been (practically) without internet whilst staying at Mum's house, her internet "speed" is reminiscent of my highschool days spent dealing with dialup. Seriously frustrating.

So here's the Christmas run-down:

On Christmas eve we decorated the tree and basked in it's faux-pine glory. I know, we were a bit late but life just got in the way! It was nice doing it the night before though, it made it feel a bit more special.

I love Christmas trees, my favourite Christmas activity is tucking up on the couch watching bad Christmas movies (National Lampoon anyone?) with the warm glow of the christmas lights softly lighting the lounge room. I love these reflective glass baubles. They're from Target, which, incidently, is great for Christmas decorations.

Then my second favourite activity - stacking it with presents!

I introduced Ziggy to his Santa hat, which he hates with a thousand furies. It lasted about 0.1 of a second on his head before he figured out how to fling it off.

"Why you do this?"

Then it was time for me, mum, and Ziggy to call it a night.

We woke early Christmas morning and started the tradition of playing mum's awful Christmas carols CD she's had for a thousand years, and opening presents over coffee.

Ziggy got into the spirit of things, he didn't need much encouragement to start tearing into the presents he'd been eyeing off the night before.

*Sigh* They always prefer the packaging...

Since I've been feeling better and have more energy, I've been inspired to put more effort into cooking. I did a simple Christmas lunch for the first time in my life! It feels so great to be able to accomplish something as simple as a basic three course meal. This would have been well out of my reach a year ago, I think I have a new appreciation for the simple things.

Here is my easy three course Christmas lunch that ANYONE can make. I was trying to keep it light and healthy as mum and I agreed not to go overboard this year.

Entree: Prawn cocktails with home made cocktail sauce:

Main: Thai beef salad

Dessert: Lindt dark chocolate mousse

Ok maybe this wasn't really fitting into the whole "light and healthy" part, but it sure was delicious!

All these recipes are from a new edition of the commonsense books, called "Commonsense Cooking" that I purchased from my local bookstore The Avid Reader (best bookshop, go there, you won't be disappointed!). All the recipes are super easy and it compiles everything you've ever wanted to learn how to cook but have been too embarassed to ask about because, well, it's easy.

For Christmas I was lucky enough to receive some photography books (hopefully it will improve my blog photos), some baking stuff (muffin trays, silicon spatula, cute little purple ramekins), and the creme de la creme, a Kenwood K-mix! It's kind of like a mixing/processing station:

The best thing about it is that it stores neatly on the little tray and takes up about the same amount of bench space as a toaster. Brilliant!

Coming up I'm going to put my science hat on for some skincare reviews and there'll be a small trinket going out to a reader for my Happy New Year's giveaway.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas! xox

Updates

2010-12-09T18:21:00.000-08:00

Hello again interwebbers, I've been a bit naughty and not posted in a few weeks. I think it's just that time of year - things amping up at work and going crazy before the break, organising a new job, rampant desire for holidays, christmas shopping...where does one find time to blog?

Last night L and I went to U2 at Suncorp stadium with a few people from work, after being offered bargain basement tickets. It was really quite good, I'm not a mad U2 fan but I enjoyed it and the atmosphere was great.

Here's Bono prancing:

And the weird alien stage thingy they had. It was pretty excessive but spectacular nevertheless. As you can see, we were pretty far back and relied on the screens most of the time.

Weird alien thingy all lit up:

More alien thingy with Bono:

More Bono:

The screens came down towards the end of the show and made this cool funnel thing over the stage:

Bono was doing the usual strutting in leather pants and sunnies, and talking about Amnesty International. It was a good show, if a little (painfully) Bono-esque at times. Thanks to Elena for the awesome photos!

It's my last day at work right now! This afternoon L and I will be driving up to this place for the weekend to meet Ziggy and mum:

Image courtesy of http://www.peregian-beach.com.au/images/peregian.jpg

I can't wait to whip out my bikini (if it's not raaaaaaining!), but I'm going to make a concerted effort to fake tan first as I'm all wintery and wobbly at the moment.

I'm taking my brand spanking new Nikon DSLR that was so cheap I practically stole it from the JB Hifi sale on Wednesday night. Seriously, $500 for a decent entry level DSLR is pretty insane! Lets keep our fingers crossed it doesn't come back sandy.

Image from http://nikonrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/pic_001-1.jpg

Hopefully it will help improve the quality of my blog photos and help me with my painting muses...If I figure out how to operate it on anything but "auto"! I'm freaking out about things like lenses, UV filters, tripods...there seems to be no end to the things you need!

Moffatdale art retreat

2010-11-28T16:08:00.000-08:00

I've spent the weekend at a winery with some members of our art group. I know, life is hard. It's called Clovely Estate and it's in Moffatdale, west of the Sunshine coast. The wines are really tasty (try them if you can find them) and we'll be having an exhibition at their cellar door in Red Hill some time in March with the work inspired from the trip. Here's a snappy-snap I took on my iphone, I haven't uploaded the better photos from the camera yet:

We all took heaps of photos and had a go at painting en plein air, which is much harder than you'd think. If you can keep the sticks and ants off your canvas you're doing well.

The building on the left is the cellar door that happened to open while were were staying in the cottage. I came back with half a dozen wines.

Here's my work in progress (in progress being the operative part of that sentence). I'm not nearly happy with it yet but it's coming along.
The moon came out while I was painting on Saturday morning, so I quickly chucked it in, I think it makes the scene look ethereal. I had nightmares the night before and I think it came out in my painting, as it looks quite ghostly and ominous compared to the actual scene in the first photo!

Not bad for my first foray into oil paints, I have to admit. The background is almost done, the mid and foreground obviously need a lot more work. I took lots of closeups of the vines so I could put a row right in the foreground of the painting.

It was really great to go away with the group, we had lots of fun. I hope everyone else had a lovely weekend!

Hello readers!

2010-11-25T19:22:00.000-08:00

Don't panic, I'm not dead in my home with cats circling me and mewing. I've been unable to post as a month ago I was told that my contract at work would not be renewed (no surprises there) so I've been madly applying for any job that is within my capacity.

I have tentatively accepted a new position and next year I will be waving goodbye to medical science and hello to environmental science! It may be time to break open the patchouli and learn the bongo's. Although, I am having an ethical dilemma - in order to save the environment I need to drive my car 30mins to my place of employment instead of taking the bus, is anyone else feeling the irony here?

The other good news is that I sat the GAMSAT in Melbourne in September and just got my score back - and I scored in the top 5% of the candidates that sat the exam! The lame part is that I need to wait another year before I can reapply. So let that be a lesson to all of you: have your iron levels checked before sitting any major exams or better yet, before using your brain for anything important!

I'll be trotting off to an art retreat at a winery this weekend (I know, it's a hard life) but stay tuned for more. I'm back for keeps!

Well I picked a good day to walk home.

2010-10-27T22:07:00.000-07:00

This is the rain pelting down on our office window right now.

Unfortunately, I picked today to walk to the city and catch the bus to work instead of driving.

Oh dear. I wish I had some galoshes.

Brisbane is notorious for flooding as we often get about a years worth of rain in several hours. The joys of Southeast Queensland. Although I have to say, when it's hot and humid and rains like this, it's super-fun to release the inner 5 year old and run outside in your clothes.

On my way home from the gym

2010-10-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

Crossing the Victoria bridge...

Watching the city start to light up...

And finding my way home...

Housemate offense # 10 billion or so - the dealbreaker

2010-10-26T04:04:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've had any material for a J update, but finally housemates P and C have broken their (very restrained) silence.

The dealbreaker commenced way back when P purchased a new microwave. I'm sure by now you are no strangers to tales of J's culinary incompitence, and the purchase of this item spurred the microwave incident. A couple of weeks ago, we find out that in addition to the above incident, J has managed to smash the microwave plate. How you manage to smash an item that should remain within the appliance when you are using it simply defies logic. I suggested that perhaps she was cleaning it, which caused P to double over laughing.

So faced with a brand new but smashed up appliance, P promptly goes mental. He informs her that she has to replace it, all the while knowing that they are hugely expensive and that J has negatory money (despite her ever increasing collection of many occularly offensive knicknacks from discount stores that have been finding their way into common areas).

J then has a party, and after her catterwauling about the terrible condition of the carpet, manages to damage it more by bathing it in cheap wine and vodka cruisers over a 24 hour period.

The boys were not happy with this display of idiotic behaviour and staged a housemate intervention. Basically they asked her to leave. She refused. Apparently she has "every right to be there" and they "can't make her leave". Oh dear.

Her boyfriend got all in their business about it as well, as if he had some sort of say in it all.

That was about 6 weeks ago and she's still there.

Never fear, we have an inkling of hope. A brief crack of light in the darkness that is J's lunacy. Her and her boyfriend are apparently splitsville, after he suspected her of cheating. An accusation, that P assures us, is "very likely". Hopefully without her dopey muscle-bound halfwit present she will leave without further argument. Hopefully...

Who else is enjoying this lovely warm weather?

2010-10-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

It seems spring has finally sprung, or rather summer has sprung in Brissy, which really only has two seasons (Stinking Hot and Less-Hot-But-Still-Muggy-And-Windy-Too). Check out this gorgeous day.

That great big silly spire thingy that you can see from my balcony is Stefan's Skyneedle/phallus, yes as in Stefan the hairdresser with the rainbow logo. It lights up at night and shoots spotlights through unwitting residents windows, and undulates rainbow colours according to what the weather is doing. It's actually quite nice to watch from my balcony but it's a bit of a local joke. There was a fire in it a couple of years ago. Only in Brisbane.

I am recovering from what has been a very trying year and with the warmer weather my energy seems to be returning. Cue nesting instinct and home improvements! Yesterday L and I went to Bunnings to snap up an outdoor bistro setting for the insane price of $59. I know! That's what I said! Here it is in all it's bistro glory:

I have no idea what makes it a bisto setting as opposed to a normal outdoor breakfast setting.

I also popped down to the markets to pick up some new plants for the balcony. It needed some colour so I grabbed these:

The one of the left is a violet but I have no idea what the others are. They are thriving. It's such a novelty, at our previous apartment the balcony suffered the wrath of full Brisbane sun, so anything I tried to grow had the bejesus burnt out of it. Even aloe vera struggled.

I also grabbed some herbs, which should be quite happy at our new apartment:

As you can see my aloe is much happier here, and is so big it's falling out of it's pot! Next weekend will be a Re-potting Bonanza!

It's 27oC here, is anyone else sweltering?

The Saturday Ritual

2010-10-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

This morning we headed to Blackstar, our favourite Saturday coffee haunt, with my mum and Master Ziggy.

We demolished the coffee before I could even take a photo. Yes, it's seriously that good!

Ziggy was feeling pretty naughty, it was blowing up a gale here in Brisbane and it makes him go a little nuts. He inappropriately harassed the people at the next table over for a while (they loved it), tried to eat some pigeons, then took shelter under a chair.

He would very much like a Blackstar coffee of his own.

Good luck wrestling that coffee from L, Ziggy!

Thank goodness for Saturdays, what is everyone else doing today?

It's official

2010-10-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

I suppose I can call myself an artist now, as I've sold my first work of art (a photograph) to a stranger. All the other work I've sold has always been to friends who I've always assumed were just being kind and supportive! I'm always surprised at the ones that sell, I thought if any sell it would be the photograph of the house I posted earlier, but it was actually this one that I took in Stanthorpe when visiting L's family.

L really loves this photo, when we first got together he was telling me about growing up in Stanthorpe and said that the thing he loved most about the landscape is that the clouds sit really low due to the altitude. After my first visit I understood what he was talking about, it really is like you can almost touch the sky there. I haven't seen anything like it in Australia, and I think this photograph really captures it. Please excuse the watermark, one can't be too careful these days.

My shoulder injury is improving a lot, my new physio is a magician and has been able to pound me into a state of near-normalcy! I started feeling like I may be able to paint again, so I took myself off to our art group last Thursday to give it a whirl. I found an awesome picture of an owl online (copyright free, never fear) and this is my next work in progress:

It's in monochrome now because I'm going to do an underpainting, then layer glazes over the top. This is a technique called Grisaille or Glazing, which I have played around with before. It takes a long time but it gives a lovely opalescent sheen to the acrylic paints, which can sometimes look a little flat. I want to try to communicate what it would be like to be faced with a bird of prey, as if you were the shrew or rodent that it had marked for a meal.

Happy weekend everyone, what has everyone else got planned? Me? I'm gonna do a whole lotta nothin', which at the moment is my idea of the perfect weekend :)

Sydneh

2010-10-13T02:51:00.000-07:00

Sooo, I spent the weekend in Sydney (Sydneh). As you know. There was some good, some bad. Here is the good:

Or it could also be viewed as "the bad" I guess. I'm not sure what's wrong with me, probably a mix of too much bier (explanation to follow) and gosh-darnit being proud of mah bowlin'. Yes...that is my ball veering way off to the right hand side there...

My lovely friend K kindly babysat L and I, taking us to lawn bowls at Manly followed by Bavarian food and Bavarian bier (explained).

The next day she took us to the Opera Bar where we saw a seagull poop on a pizza that people were getting ready to eat. Sad.

On the bright side, while I was away I sold one of my photographs in my art exhibition! Yay! I'll post it soon (I'm using L's computer on the sly, shhh!)

And the winner is...

2010-10-12T03:43:00.000-07:00

Cass!!

You were (very democratically) drawn from the hat...actually it was a shoe because I couldn't find a hat. But I promise it was a nice one!

You don't have any contact details that I can figure out how to access, so leave a comment on this post with your email. I won't publish it I just need to know where to send your bronzer :)

kill me now...

2010-10-10T22:12:00.000-07:00

The more I think about my med school interview the worse I feel. There are about five thousand things I wish I had have said. I rehearsed and prepared for so long and I just feel like my performance was sub par due to nerves and exhaustion. Is this normal for an interview? I haven't had on in years so maybe I have forgotten.

I can't even eat, I just feel physically ill that there is a possibility I may have to wait another year. I suspect this is the delayed shock of the entire weekend hitting me at once. Hopefully this will wear off over the next couple of days.

I had such a wonderful time in Sydney. One of my friends showed me around and introduced me to her friends down there. They were so kind and welcoming that coming back here just makes me feel rotten, it really opened my eyes to how hard it is in my office and how nasty the other girls in the office are to me every day. They refuse to say hello, deliberately exclude me from lunch, and talk about/organise social events with each other right in front of me as if I'm not even there. Never an invite of course. This happens every single day. I didn't realise how insidious it was until I had a chance to spend some time away from it.

At least I learned one thing: even if I don't get in this year I need to get the feck out of here.

Blog giveaway ends today!

2010-10-10T16:43:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else got Mondayitis?

Anyway. This is a reminder that the blog giveaway finishes tonight! If you want to win the travel Nars Laguna bronzer then just become a follower and leave a comment on the post below. Easy peasy.

Please excuse my word salad, I had a massive weekend in Sydney (some good, some bad) and my brain is no longer functioning. I was down there for my Med School interview at Notre Dame. I fell in love with the campus (I'm a sucker for classic architecture) and the people were all really lovely. Unfortunately, the hotel I was staying at (Sebel Surry Hills) had such terrible beds that I only got 3 hours sleep the night before! I went in to the interview completely wrecked, stressed, and completely fueled by adrenaline. I don't think I did as well as if I'd been completely rested but hopefully it was enough to get me a place.

I'll post back tomorrow/late tonight with the winner of the blog giveaway. I might also post something that isn't a garbled collection of words.

First blog giveaway

2010-10-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

To celebrate a great weekend I am giving away a travel sized NARS Laguna bronzer*:

(image from http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing?.out=jpg&size=l&tid=13910585)

All you need to do is become a follower and comment on this blog post, and I will pick a winner in a week. Easy!

*Please note, the product is not full sized.

Friday's successes

2010-10-03T17:02:00.000-07:00

Friday, the opening night of our exhibiton "Beyond the Horizon" was a smashing success. We've sold over 10% of our work in the first weekend, which is really very good.

Our match-the-painting-to-the-painter competition was a raging success as well, and the lucky winner walked off with 3 bottles of Clovelly Estate wine, yum!

We weren't sure whether to have them for sale because it was a bit of fun, but put prices on anyway. We sold three of them!

Here's some of Cathy Bevis' work, she sold a good eight of her paintings. Yay Cathy!

Colin Peile also sold quite a few paintings.

Vicky Woodhead and Julia Jackson sold one each of theirs, and I sold one of mine (although it sold before the exhibition). Here is my first sale, "jensen":

My iphone doesn't really do anyones work justice, but I forgot to take my camera in when I was manning the sales desk on the weekend.

It was a really great night, we had a massive turn out and everyone gave really positive feedback about the show. It's running until Sunday so if you're around the traps check it out at Gallery NONA, 41 Grafton St Windsor.

Sneak peek and freebies to come!

2010-09-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd give you a sneak peak of one of my photographs that I'll be hanging on Friday. It's a snappy-snap I took at St Kilda a few years back on a rare, gloriously perfect day. Some locals may recognise this house on Acland St:

(People who distribute this photo without my permission WILL be hunted down).

There's also some semi-abstract photography and an acrylic on paper work. Don't forget to come along to opening night this Friday at Brisbane Institute of Art for some art-gazing and wine! Have a look for me and feel free to come and say hello, there will probably be a picture of me on my artists bio so I shouldn't be too hard to track down.

/shameless plug

OK, and as mentioned in the title I have some blog giveaways in the works, the first of which will be posted on the weekend. Keep reading for your chance to win some stuff.

Exhibition update

2010-09-27T18:35:00.000-07:00

Opening night is on Friday and I'm starting to get pretty excited! I am putting in a lot of photos as I haven't been able to paint for several months, due to a shoulder injury.

All are welcome, if you want to see some gorgeous paintings, photographs, and cards come along to Brisbane Institute of Art, 41 Grafton St Windsor. The exhibition opens on Friday at 6pm, check the BIA website for opening times over the weekend and the following week.

Don't forget to check out work by the other artists in the group here, and have a look at the newly added bios and photos (just click on the paintings).

Edited to add: check us out on the BIA art blog here!

Blog tag!

2010-09-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

I have been tagged by The girl with a thousand thoughts to answer 7 questions. Thank goodness, there has been so much going on at the moment I have not had the time to put together a cohesive post. I will remedy this soon, I promise :)

The questions...

1. What were your favourite books as a child?

Just one: The Velvetine Rabbit. I used to cry at the part when the little boy had to throw out his beloved rabbit, it broke my heart. I lost my own stuffed bunny (called Rennie) at the beach one night, when we were on holiday at Philip Island. My lovely mum went back and searched up and down the beach with a torch but couldn't find him.

2. What's the most impressive thing you can cook, or your signature/staple dish?

Hardly impressive, but my signature dish is pancakes. Everyone loves my pancakes! Sometimes I add apple or banana. Yum! Now I want pancakes...

3. Name one place in the world you've always wanted to go to and why.

Paris, I've always been a romantic but I just haven't made it there yet. I love art (obviously!) and beautiful things. I love the language too.

4. Tell a secret that very few people know.

I sing in my car. Loudly. Not along to the radio either, just a solo on my own :D

5. What are your favourite TV shows?

Right now I'm watching Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Gossip girl (I love a bit of trash), Dexter, Love my way. I also love the Sopranos, and pretty much any British comedy (right now it's the IT crowd)

6. Who did you vote for in the most recent Federal Election? Why?

I never vote and tell ;)

7. List a (or several) charities you support (can be financially or mentally).

I am rather unorthadox in my support. Last year I was part of a dance performance for Oxfam, we raised enough money to build a school in Vietnam. This year I signed up to be part of a flashmob for the same charity but I was sick - devastated, it's my dream to be in a flashmob! When I was a kid I volunteered for a community radio station, it was so much fun! I also do doorknock appeals for the Red Cross and the Leukemia foundation. I've also been trying to organise to get to my local Red Cross store so I can do some weekend work, but I haven't made it yet :(

Beyond the horizon

2010-09-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, the art group I paint with is having an exhibition called "Beyond the horizon". Opening night is 6pm - 9pm, Friday 1st October 2010, at gallery NONA, Brisbane Institute of Art, 41 Grafton St, Windsor. Feel free to come along and have a look at our stuff, or if you just want to stalk me I'll be there.

Edited to add something I totally meant to post. Duurrrr...It seems I am turning into a flaky artist. Here is the link to our website-in-progress for the Beyond Horizons exhibition. There should be more paintings added soon, and some of the paintings will even get titles.

Too many shoes

2010-08-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

I have too many shoes. Really, it's a problem. They're coming out of my ears and I have nowhere to store them.

Here our shoes near the door, notice mine are thrown haphazardly around the traps while Mr. Skek's are stored neatly on the two bottom shelves. Don't worry, those boots on the bottom shelf with the kitten heel are mine. I always infiltrate his storage areas.

B.I. (Before Ikea)

See those brogues on the second shelf? If I could marry them I would. Sorry Mr Skek.

A.I. (Anno Ikea, or After Ikea)

Here are some more shoes.

If I married my brogues, then those patent leather Guess heels on the top shelf right there would be my naughty mistress.

I have a problem.

The uncertainty of next year...and more about J

2010-08-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

Seems just as I thought I'd dizzily climbed off the rollercoaster that is graduate med entry, I am pushed back on for another whip around the theme park. I've been offered an interview at Notre Dame, Sydney. I'm over the moon! It's a great University with a wonderful ethos, but if I get a place I will have to move, which is complicated. Life is rarely straightforward, and even if you get what you desperately want there are always caveats and strings attached. Sometimes I wish I was a kid again, life was so much simpler!

In other news, here is the update you've all been waiting for: J exploded the oven. Apparently she had some bits of foil floating around in there (her culinary incompetence has already been established) that made contact with the element and shorted out the whole thing. There was a house meeting, angry words were exchanged. She's still (by some miracle) allowed to live there.

Saturday

2010-08-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

Market Day! Ziggy love the markets, here he is getting excited when I tell him where we are going.

The only thing Ziggy loves more than a trip to the markets is his chew bone!

Poor old Ziggy got a little harassed by a couple of kids. He's shy as he was mistreated as a puppy, so he doesn't like strangers lunging at him or patting him on the top of his head. I'm constantly amazed at the number of kids that will run up to a strange dog and start grabbing and pulling at them with their parents looking on with vacant smiles. Adults are seldom any better, Ziggy was running scared from some children and a man lunged at him and tried to pat him even though the poor dog was cowering and running. Poor little Ziggy didn't know where to turn so I had to come to the rescue and scoop him up. Luckily, Ziggy is more likely to run away than to bite anyone, but please, if you want to pat a strange dog ask the owner's permission first. Some dogs need to be introduced to people in a controlled fashion.

We bought some yummy fruit and veg, including strawberries and a swanky acid free pineapple. I know what I'll be having for dessert tonight! We picked up some fresh flowers, I'm not sure what these pink ones are but the yellow ones are jonquils. They are beautifully fragrant and always remind me of spring time.

I bumped into a friend, who informed me that jonquils symbolise death in France. Interesting.

short but sweet

2010-08-14T01:32:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I'm laid up sick today, I caught the blasted Ekka flu! For those non-brisbane residents, our annual show (the Exhibition Show or "Ekka") is held smack bang in flu season. Yep, that's right, millions of people, children, and animals in a confined area during flu season for an entire 10 days. Brilliant idea Brisbane. It's no surprise that this veritable sneeze factory is a cesspool of disease.

I stayed right away from Ekka last year, which was held conveniently during the swine flu pandemic. But lousy-immune-system-be-damned I love the cheese of Ekka and I couldn't stay away for another year. I love the lame shows in the big dusty arena, I love the "best rooster" ribbons and the scary turkeys sticking their heads out of cages pecking at wayward children. I love the weird poodle-people showing their dogs with their strange fluro real-estate-agents suits and coiffed hair. I love the terrible show food, and the rides, and the carni's who spruke unwinnable games to you. I love that if I won one of those blasted giant stuffed toys, I wouldn't even want it and would probably end up giving it to Vinnies. I love showbags even though I can never finish all that chocolate.

There. I said it. I love Ekka.

The only other person brave enough to admit their Ekka fetish to me has been my doctor. Apparently, when he went he saw a lady and her dog dancing to MC hammer. I can't believe I missed it!

I hope everyone is having a great Saturday. Things have been quiet on the J front, but I am sure she's only a burnt hashbrown away from another incident. Stay tuned.

On the dangers of antibiotics*

2010-08-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

I am a skeptic. I enjoy the perks of western medicine and I have never been one to scoff at antibiotics. However, I am writing this while battling my monthly wave of crippling fatigue. It's not as bad as the illnesses that have robbed me of a decent quality of life over the last four years, but it's hard nevertheless. Here is my cautionary tale:

Several years ago, when I was 23, I was having some trouble with recurrent upper respiratory tract infections. I was going through a stressful time after having broken up with a long term boyfriend. I was miserable, alone, and nursing a broken heart. I stopped eating a little, I couldn't help it, I was so forlorn I had lost my appetite. I lost weight, I had trouble getting up in the mornings for months, and it's no surprise that eventually I become sick with a bad cough.

I went to the doctor, who prescribed antibiotics. My chest cleared up and I went back to work. Then a couple of months later I was sick again, this time worse. I would have coughing fits. I returned to the doctos, and left with another course of antibiotics.

This continued for a year. I would become sick, see another doctor for a second opinion, desperately hoping they may get it right with the antibiotics. I'd recover for a short time, then be back in square one with a cough and feeling desperately fatigued. Finally, a doctor identified it as pneumonia, and I had my hands on the correct antibiotics. I recovered, and everything was fine for a while...

Six months later, the gastrointestinal onslaught began. I would wake up one day and be unable to stop vomiting for several days, and every time we would have to call in a doctor to get an injection to make it stop. This happened every couple of months. I saw a specialist, I was probed and prodded, and eventually was told there was nothing wrong with me.

After a while it seemed to settle, and the vomiting stopped. However, I was constantly fatigued and had trouble getting out of bed in the morning. I was always ill with a cold or a flu, it was like my immune system had given up. I saw an immunologist, who told me there was nothing wrong with me, and to take panadol when I was feeling ill. PANADOL. It was a huge blow to me and I felt like giving up many times, I had lost my will to keep battling through it. All I wanted was some peace and I didn't care how I got it. I became horribly depressed, yet still faught through the recurrent illnesses, my bosses disapproval at my constant sick leave, and my friends not understanding why I was always cancelling on them.

Then the upper respiratory tract infections began again late last year. This time tonsilitis, followed by a round of glandular fever. I had memory problems, my hair thinned out and it started breaking off. I had been sick for 3.5 years at this stage.

Finally, and thankfully, the doctor who tested me for glandular fever identified an iron problem. He went back through my records, and found low iron in all my blood tests. The illness I experienced 4 years ago had completely depleted my iron stores, and the antibiotics had destroyed my intestinal flora so I was unable to absorb more. Iron is vitally important for a capable immune system, and without the iron I had been rendered vulnerable to anything and everything that crossed my path.

I am now in treatment for my iron malabsorption, which involves monthly painful injections of iron that leaves permanent bruise-like "tattoos" on my skin, yet it is preferable to the 4 years of hell that I went through. I immediately picked up and have only had 1 flu in the last 3 months, a record for me, and it is flu season after all.

I still get very tired, and I still have a long way to go before my immune system is fully functional again. I now have a strict regime of vitamins and supplements, gentle exercise, and a non-negotiable bed time. I still miss out on social events, and I even missed out on entry to medicine as I was too fatigued to succeed in the exam. Yet I am happy that I have finally reached the turning point.

I am not looking for sympathy or pity in telling you this story. I desperately want people to realise how delicate the balance of health is, and how easily it can be thrown off-kilter by medications that we take automatically, without thinking about the consequences. It's no secret that antibiotics are over-prescribed, and we all know how vulnerable this leaves us to problems with antibiotic resistance. Yet I think people forget to consider how these drugs can really affect our ability to stay healthy.

I urge anyone who is sick to really consider whether they need antibiotics, and to do your research on how affective they are in treating your particular illness. Often, antibiotics will only decrease the time spent sick by a day or two. Please consider this next time you are in the doctors office, I would not wish the last four years of my life on my worst enemy.

Image from: http://thegirlcanwrite.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/pills.jpg

*Disclaimer: this is in no way intended to create hysteria or fear over the use of antibiotics. They are important in modern health care and without them we would be in dire straights. I simply urge caution in the use of antibiotics as every drug we take comes at a biological expense, something which is often forgotten.

The hot oil incident and new horizons

2010-07-31T02:56:00.000-07:00

The new horizon I'm talking about is the latest project that my art group is undertaking. For our next exhibition we've each taken a piece of a Brisbane cityscape, and we're going to paint our own portion with the horizon on a canvas and connect them next to each other on an entire wall. There is a mix of canvas sizes and we all paint in different styles (we even have an abstract artist in our midst) so the finished result should be quite interesting. Stay with me for updated photos, I've never painted a city before but I'm going to give it my best shot.

Now for the update you are all really here for - The hot oil incident: Last week P returned home to find the house smokey and smelling like burnt snack again. As it turns out, J was in the kitchen "making hashbrowns". J making hashbrowns = filling a saucepan with oil and turning the heat to max, dropping the hashbrowns in and fishing them out with non-hot-oil-safe cooking impliments (think plastic). J was having a lot of trouble fishing them out (probably because she was using a saucepan) and by the time she got them out they were charred to oblivion. She ate them anyway.

Following this incident, P educated J on the dangers of hot oil. This obviously did not sink in because today, there was another hot oil incident.

Image from: http://consumerist.com/images/consumerist/2009/09/hash_brown.jpg

The candle incident

2010-07-28T02:42:00.000-07:00

I've lost track of how many housemate offenses J has committed so I am just going to swing right into this one.

P arrived home to find a plethora of lit candles in the loungeroom. On tables, on the floor, near fabric...J and her boyfriend were nowhere to be found.

As it turns out, J and her boyfriend had left to see a movie and left them burning in an empty house.

Image from http://ecojustice.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/20070727_sbcfire_house_fire3.jpg

The microwave incident

2010-07-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

The saga continues...

Housemate incident #7 (aka "The Microwave incident"): P bought a brand spanking new microwave, and left it unattended in the apartment while he had coffee with us. Upon returning home, he was greeted with the smell of burnt salty snack in the stairwell. He ran upstairs and flung open the door. The apartment was enveloped in billows of smoke. He ran to the microwave and it was completely black inside. J had been making popcorn.

P kindly educates J in microwave usage, but she doesn't understand how to punch the buttons for the required time and complains that it's stupid and needs a dial. J forces her boyfriend to use the microwave for her all weekend.

Several days later, J had one of those Uncle Ben's instant rice packets. She popped it into the microwave and went to her room. Several minutes later, almighty bang reverberated through the apartment and P ran into the kitchen. The packet had exploded. J comes out of her room and tuts "It's just my rice packet, they ALWAYS do that". P explains to her that you have to cut the bag open before microwaving, and shows her the instructions.

P now regrets offering to supply the house with a microwave.

Collini out

2010-07-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

Kathleen Turner's doppelganger works in my building. You know the lady I'm talking about, she played "Collini" on Californication. She was saying goodbye to someone this morning and I kept expecting her to say "Collini out".

Image from www.wow-tube.ru/index.php?key=californication

The screwdriver incident

2010-07-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

Ok so most of you are familiar with the housemate of horror, J, who replaced us when we left our last sharehouse. Here is the next installment.

Housemate offense #6 (AKA "the screwdriver incident") : J is assembling her bed in her room, which arrived flatpacked. She comes into P's room (L's brother).

J: I need one of those THINGS.
P: What things?
J: One of those things...for putting together furniture.
P: I don't know what you're talking about.
J: (catches sight of a screwdriver set on P's shelf) There!! One of those!
P: A screwdriver?
J: Yeah one of those things.
P: What type do you need?
J: What? There's more than one type?

things that give me a twitch in my eye

2010-07-25T19:09:00.000-07:00

Spending 30 mins lined up at the overcrowded hospital coffee cart, to hear people in front of me ordering a quarter shot skinny cappucino.

Go hard or go home.

And then there were...four?!

2010-07-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

Housemate offense #5: Moving the boyfriend in. When L and I popped over to pick up our "filthy pot plants" J and her boyfriend were cosied up all over the lounge watching a passive aggressively loud movie. J said nothing to us the whole time we were there, but laughed maniacally at everything happening in the movie. I don't think it was a comedy.

J's boyfriend has been making himself at home. He has spent every night since she's moved in there, and has been in the bathroom every time one of the boys needs to shower before work. About mid-week, his stuff managed to unpack itself and take residence on the bathroom sink.

He's also started backing J up with her damands regarding the condition of the property.

The boys have a pretty good counter-strike lined up. To prevent her hostile takeover of the lounge they are moving the TV (owned by one of them) back into a bedroom. Hopefully they'll get bored and move out. Either that or one day she may find her keys no longer fit and her furniture is in the pool.

War, huh, what is it good for?

2010-07-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

Taking over a house, apparently.

Housemate offense #4: L's mum drives 3 hours to visit and takes us all out for coffee. J is home on her own for the first time since she moved in. When the boys return to the apartment things have changed a little. The furniture is rearranged, no biggie. They move out on to the balcony and are faced with total household carnage. All the cutlery has been removed from the kitchen drawers and dumped into a pile, along with most of the items on the balcony and bits and pieces that were lying around the loungeroom. J informs them that they need to dispose of this "rubbish". The pile includes a handmade family quilt that was a gift from L's mum, that J threw on to the grubby patio tiles. When quizzed about this J replied "I thought it was garbage". L's mum is furious, and as she is storming out of the apartment to take refuge at our place J asks her to remind L and I to "remove our filthy plants".

Returning from the dead

2010-07-20T16:56:00.000-07:00

For the first time in a few years I have some art on public display. I have not produced anything I have been happy with since I became ill about 4 years ago, but I guess the point is that they are hanging somewhere.

The paintings are produced by the Thursday Art group, which is an untutored studio group of diverse artists in Brisbane. If you are trundling past the Clovely Estate Red Hill Cellar Door (210 Musgrave Rd, Red Hill) take a peak through the window, or if you happen to have a function booked there make sure you take a look at the paintings. Our paintings will be on rotation every 2 months (if they like our work). They are open from 11am to 7pm Wednesday to Friday and 11am to 6pm Saturday and Sunday. We had a chance to sample one of their reds (I think it was a cab sav...) while were were hanging our pieces and by golly it's good wine!

Here are some grainy horrible photos of us hanging our works. The ones being hung here are mine (don't worry that's not me, that's a guy. Not to say he looks bad, but you know, it would be pretty bad if I looked like a dude). The ones to the left of mine are my mum's.

These are some of the other works produced by members of the group

Housemate offense #3

2010-07-19T16:36:00.000-07:00

The saga from the last post continues.

J was unpacking her things on the weekend, and noticed that there were a fair few 3M hooks I'd left around the place. She asked the boys if it would be OK if she "hung a painting" on a hook in the loungeroom. They said it was fine, so J returned from her room with a large frame housing a collage of several photographs and gave it pride of place in the lounge. The photographs are closeups of her and her boyfriend making out and writhing over one another.

I seriously did not believe this until I saw it. It's rather vomit-worthy, and not something that should be displayed in a common living area. This marked the begining of J's hostile takeover of the common area.

Picture from http://www.stardustmovies.com/gallery_film/(050109205607)lord-of-war-5.jpg

And so it begins...

2010-07-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

I am one of these people that fervently believes that there are no ends, only new beginnings. With every death there is the birth of something new.

And so, with the death of our sharehouse when L and I moved on to a new cosy apartment just for us, a horrible monster was born.

I should really start from the beginning. L and I were sharing with a friend in a 3 bedroom apartment, but decided that it was high time we stopped inflicting "coupledom" on our dear single friend and moved into our own apartment. L and I were in charge of finding a replacement housemate for ourselves, L's brother took a room and we advertised the other room.

The usual parade of freaks and misfits traipsed through the aparment until we met J. She seemed sweet, normal, laid back, she was desperate for the room and said she liked the place, and she could move in the day after we were moving out. The boys liked her so we offered the room to her the next day.

The problems started the day she moved in.

Housemate offense #1: Her mattress had been in storage and apparently it taken some water damage. She moved it in and was most distressed about the moisture stain on it. She hired a steam cleaner and while it cleaned the mattress it didn't remove the stain. She refused to sleep on it for the first week of her taking over the lease from us. She contacted L and I and asked us to continue paying the rent even though we'd moved out, as she "wasn't sleeping there".

Housemate offense #2: J complained for the entire week about the condition of the place, especially the carpets in her room. We were perplexed, she'd seen the place and liked it. In fact, she was desperate for it. She had hired a steam cleaner for her mattress and had it at her disposal when her room was still vacant. Furthermore, we had given the place a really good clean when we left. Nevertheless, being the nice people we are we agreed to talk to her about it. She never showed up, instead just sent us a message 4 hours later saying she had to work and asking what we were "doing about the cleaning arrangements". It was 10pm, and we'd waited for her for hours. We ignored it.

We should really have seen this as a warning of what was to come, I already have a backlog of more insane rants and demands. The sheer volume of crazy this girl is emitting is off the charts!

Leave those kids alone

2010-07-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit slack with updating my blog as we've just moved into a new apartment and have no phone/internet (don't get me started on the carnival of incompetence that is Telstra. Apparently our apartment does not exist). While sharing an apartment can be great, L and I are really happy to finally have our very own place. It looks like a bomb has hit it, there are boxes everywhere so we will be busy unpacking, sorting, and no doubt decluttering this weekend.

In the meantime, I stumbled accross this article in google reader this morning. I certainly hope they're all saying their Hail Mary's.

Moving and mini jumpers

2010-07-04T17:41:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. L and I have signed a lease on a new apartment, just for us! It's close to the city so we will be able to walk/bus pretty much everywhere. We spend the weekend packing and decluttering Faux Fuchsia style. I've lived in the same apartment for 7 years so I'm not going to lie to you, it got ugly. Don't worry, the hard work paid off and we are now clutter-free and ready to move the things we actually use into our new apartment this weekend.

While I was decluttering I found a mini jumper that I knitted a few years ago for our aging doggy, as she was getting cold at night. Unfortunately I mis-measured the size of her legs and it didn't fit her. HOWEVER it just happens to be the perfect size for little Ziggy!

He looks utterly ridiculous but he loaths the cold and refuses to go outside, so it's functional (I promise!)

Dogs supposedly can't see colour, which is probably a good thing because he chewed through his lead at puppy school and we had to buy him a new one, which is also purple, so he is starting to look a bit like a girl.

A snapshot of our new PM

2010-06-24T17:22:00.000-07:00

Whether you were a Rudd fan or not, it was a historical day for Australia when Julia Gillard was sworn in as Australia's first female prime minister yesterday. Yet what does this swap in leadership mean for Labour party policy and the upcoming election?

Image courtesy of brisbanetimes.com.au

Many of you following the internet censorship debate will be familiar Stephen Conroy, the communications minister and villain du jour who is touting this ridiculous scheme. Rumour has it that Gillard will favour Kate Lundy for the role, hopefully putting an end to what can only be described as an looming human rights disaster.

It should not be forgotten that Julia Gillard was backed by the right faction of Labour, and is thus there are questions about her "toughening up" on immigration policy. In an interview with Kerry O'Brian last night she skirted around the topic saying that she understands the public's anxieties. I personally got the sense that she will be forced to take a hard line on the issue, but there is talk that she will need to be careful to keep the Green's happy. Keep your eyes peeled for reporting on this topic up to the election, but it's unlikely that much will be divulged.

Gillard confirmed the election will still be called this year, so Labour will have to work fast to makeover their image. It will be interesting to see how it plays out between her and Abbott, as their rivalry often attracted attention while she was the shadow minister for health.

As far as an emission trading scheme goes, the very topic that cost Kevin some of his approval ratings, Labour will revise their policy and no doubt make some promises before the election. However, we are likely to see any real action until well after the election with Gillard promising to "prosecute the case" afresh after elected.

And lastly, the mining debacle. Gillard has called an advertising truce with the mining companies and in her interview with Kerry O'Brian Gillard stated that she is opening the table for negotiations. I guess we can only wait and see how that pans out.

In the meantime, spare a thought for poor Kev. He was the first PM to say sorry to the stolen generation, he ratified Kyoto, and navigated our country reasonably unscathed through the global economic crisis. Although Labour will undoubtably make him a scapegoat for bad policy, he was a solid leader at the beginning of his term and I hope he will be remembered as such.

Just let go...

2010-06-15T22:11:00.000-07:00

Alice came to a fork in the road. "Which road do I take?" she asked.
"Where do you want to go?" responded the Cheshire cat.
"I don't know," Alice answered.
"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Image from http://verdoux.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/alice-in-wonderland-1966-iii.jpg

Soldering on

2010-06-13T18:21:00.000-07:00

Today things move so quickly, we are taught to push through and soldier on through the tough times in our jobs, our living situations, or our personal relationships. Modern medicine has made us reliant on the quick fix. We no longer take sick leave from work if we have a cold, we are almost expected to pop some cold and flu meds and keep going. Pressing through illness at work is now a badge of honour.

I have had some health struggles that have forced me to slow down and take stock. I've realised that today, with longer hours, more monetary stresses, and more responsibility, it's harder than ever to take good care of ourselves. Inspired by my own issues, as well as the ladies on vogue forums, I have decided to take control of my life and really be mindful about how I am treating myself. Here are some ideas:

Home spa sessions. They are a great way to relax and are 100% free! I take a hot bath and read a trashy magazine. Then I will use a face mask, give myself a mani and a pedi, and slather on some scented moisturiser. Here are some ideas for face masks.

Curbing negative thoughts. If one creeps into my mind I yell 'stop' (in my head) and think of something that brings me happiness.

Spend time around animals if you can. They have such a beautiful, forgiving, and gentle nature, and being around them is calming. If they can love you unconditionally surely you can do the same for yourself.

Gentle exercise. I am a perfectionist and struggle with this one, with me it's all or nothing! I will get inspired and start running before I can walk (literally), and it usually ends up with me wearing myself out. Now I walk gently with my dog, and try to remember to breath deeply. Even gentle stretching is relaxing and beneficial.

You get out what you put in. Yes it's the obvious one that we all hate hearing about - diet. It's one of those things that we know has a huge effect on our heath and wellbeing, but it's so easy to become complacent about it. A good idea is to start by substituting naughty foods with not-as-naughty ones, Black and Greens organic chocolate is great, and if you like dark chocolate you can indulge and know that you are getting a good dose of antioxidants. Or try banana and yoghurt. Even baking your own cakes is better than buying the processed rubbish at the supermarket, and it can be really rewarding and fun too! There are some really great recipes for all sorts of yummy home made treats and feasts at www.taste.com.au. Trying a new recipe is a challenge and good way to increase your cooking repertoire.

Remember that relaxation is not optional, it's necessary! You can't argue with thousands of years of evolution, recharging and getting adequate sleep is biologically essential for the correct functioning all our physiological processes. Get an early night! Try a meditation or yoga class.

Drink water, 8 glasses or 2 L. Don't go overboard, just make sure you get enough, it's important for cellular metabolism.

It's incredibly what effect even one or two of the above can have on your mood and sense of well being. Please take some time to thank your body and relax, you owe it to yourself.