The War of the Roses

I am really excited about The War of the Roses that's now showing in Sydney. Performed in 2 parts, actors from the Sydney Theatre Company will present 4 condensed acts from Shakespeare's history plays that promises to be dramatic and gory (nice!). And the fact that Cate Blanchett's starring in it makes it all the more worth seeing. I'll tell you all about it, I promise!
The war of the roses William Shakespeare theatre Cate Blanchett history plays Sydney Theatre Company

Feeling blue

I was feeling a bit blue yesterday, so I thought it appropriate to take some photos to match my mood.
Blue accessories, thongs and clothes hanger
blue photography

Eric and Stu

I sent Stu out to buy a present for our friend's baby boy, but he came back with a toy for himself. He even gave it a name. They've been bonding ever since.

Here's Eric the dinosaur and his favourite friend Stu.

watching TV

Eric is affectionate

and so is Stu

Eric is a wee bit clingy, don't you think?

Wish I knew

how to make mess as beautiful as this:I'm in a strange wishy mood today. Wishing I was cleverer, taller, prettier, richer, more talented. Wishing to be anywhere but here. It's not real good. Let's just hope it passes.

Picture via here.

beautiful mess wish flowers

Wish I was clever enough...

to create something as beautiful as this: Part paper collage, part drawing and altogether one great work of art. I am loving this by Squiggle of Button and Squiggle.

paper collage drawing art

Play me, I'm yours

As part of the Sydney Festival, 30 street pianos such as this will be populating the streets of Sydney for Luke Jerram's public piano project. I spotted this one outside the Museum of Contemporary Art.The idea is to provide public pianos, invite everyone and anyone to play; the street's filled with music and strangers connect! I was about to play a tune myself but this lady beat me to it. Didn't stop me from enjoying her music though.

Neat idea, don't you think?

Read more about the public piano project here.

Sydney Festival 2009 street piano Luke Jerram public piano project

It's Strongbow Season

This new ad by Strongbow features a girl building her neighbours and herself an apple cider tree, creating an urban orchard. Cute visuals combined with old school electronic music makes one very clever ad that makes me smile. Have a looksee:

advertisement apple cider Strongbow urban orchard

The Rocks Market

Spent most of my long weekend at the Rocks Markets.Located under the Harbour Bridge, it's no wonder many Sydneysiders diss it as being too touristy. But, I find that if you look beyond the postcards and souvenirs, The Rocks markets offers a whole lot of handmade goodies and is a wonderful display of local talent. These are some of my favourite stalls.

A treasure trove of handmade jewellery, made with imported Czech glass from Creatively Belle.

Paris-inspired jewellery and dainty trinkets made from vintage and modern beads from Missy.

Dresses, camisoles and more, made with the softest of silk by Ruby Kate.

Oh, and I bought a hat from here:

How did you spend your weekend?

The Rocks Market long weekend shopping jewellery Australian designers trinkets silk dresses hat handmade

Only in Australia

...can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.

Only in Australia ... do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a DIET coke.

Only in Australia ... do banks leave both doors open and chain the pens to the counters

Only in Australia .... do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars on the drive and lock our junk and cheap lawn mower in the garage.

Only in Australia ... do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to talk to in the first place.

Being Australian is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then travelling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV.

Happy Australia Day! Be back on Tuesday...

Happy Australia Day

Hot and muggy

Whoever said Sydney was in for a cool summer was obviously lying. Sydney is hot. Unbearably hot, in fact. The blazing sun seems to just pierce through my skin, the westerly blows dusty scorching winds and temperatures have soared to as high as 40 degrees celsius.

I feel restless and bothered and so very lethargic, I spent a good part of last night tossing and turning, wiping the sweat off my face, my arms my neck. My plants are parched. At times like this, I wish I was:

eating this

doing this. via here.

back there. Jungfrau, Switzerland

How do you cope with the heat?
hot summer heat

Ghosts

Before you read: Writings on the wall is a series of short stories I wrote throughout the years of growing up. Some are linked, some are not, some are completely random and some are fictional. But all of them contain a little bit of me. Here is one such story from my childhood.

------

“There are ghosts in the dark,” Susan said.
I looked around but saw nothing.

“Do you see anything?” I asked.
“No.”

We were at a huge bungalow in Changi Village. My dad rented it for a week and Susan was there with us. We were facing the sea while the adults stood metres behind us, talking in low voices. The smell of barbeque still lingered in the air.

Susan held my hand and said gently, “Don’t be afraid.”

------

Later that night I asked my mom if ghosts existed. She threw me a quizzical look.

“Susan said there are ghosts in the dark,” I said.
My mom smiled.

“Darling, the only ghosts are in your head,” she answered. “They only exist if you believe them to, understand?”

I didn’t but nodded anyway.

“Do you want to sleep with Susan tonight?” she asked.

“Yes.”

-------

A tall headless figure stood in the dark waters. I hid behind the window, hoping it didn’t see me. Susan was beside me, sleeping soundly. I wanted to wake her up and tell her, but I didn’t want to create attention either. “It” will know.

I looked up and it was gone. My heart raced and I felt cold. Suddenly a dark figure jumped out from below the window and I screamed.

Both Susan and I woke up at that instant. I started crying and said, “Headless man.” She started crying too and my parents caming rushing in.

“Ghosts,” Susan told them in between tears.
“Nightmare,” I corrected her, then continued crying.

Both of us slept with my parents that night.

-----

Note: Did you know? Susan was my first and only (human) friend when I was five. Read about how we first met here.

Childhood Writings Memories

Animal index

Found this today:

Isn't it the cutest and most brillant way to index your books and folders? If you can read Japanese (I can't), you can get your animal index here.
Bookends Animal index

Wallpaper revival

It happened last Saturday- Stu and I were in Ralph Lauren, picking out a pair of shorts for him. Then I noticed the wallpaper in their fitting room. Bold green and white stripes running lengthways down the wall, to match the lone green chair in the corner. Simple perfection.

So I've decided. When Stu and I get our own place, it'll have wallpaper. Stu said yes (phew!), so I started looking.

I am loving these from Trove

Wallpaper Interior design Trove

Feathers in her hair

I think SJP started it when she matched her wedding gown with bright blue feathers in Sex and the City movie. Now it seems more and more people are putting feathers in their hair, and why not? Feathers are fun, dramatic, glamourous. So put a feather in your hair, yes?

Be dramatic with this design from which goose.Go glamourous with peacock feathersOr try these toned down everyday options from VieModerne

Feathers Hair accessories Sarah Jessica Parker

Psst! Did you hear?

Maggie Gyllenhaal can sing. Very very well indeed. I'm in love with her voice- sultry, tender, moving. Hear this talented lady sing in this clip from Happy Endings.


Maggie Gyllenhaal Happy Endings

Geek Chic

You know that geek is chic when Peaches starts donning a pair of nerdy glasses. So grab those glasses and unleash your inner geek.
Nerd glasses Fashion Geek chic Peaches Geldof

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose

I cannot think of a better way to encapsulate the beauty of roses than in print, that's why I'm in love with these prints from lifelovepaper. The softness, the colors, the borders and the slight vintage feel...it reminds me of romance and all things nice.
roses prints lifelovepaper Rose is a rose is a rose

Happy 100th Blog post!

Can you believe it? This blog is 100 post old.

Taking the time out to say thanks, thanks, thanks. For reading, visiting, commenting.

Happy 100th post and cheers to more posting!

100th post

Walk in the back lane

Yesterday, Stu and I took a walk in the back lanes of my neighbourhood. Guess what we saw?Who knew the humble backlane had sights to behold? Red and blue doors against brick walls, handpainted numbers and signs, purple frames and a wild turkey in an abandoned tyre.

Photography Back Lanes