A year older

I turned a year older yesterday. With a big art history presentation, and explaining to do ( since I missed my mid-semester review ) I thought I was going to have a bad birthday. But Darren was really awesome! He managed to turn my entire gloomy day around!

He sent me off to school in the morning and 'made his way to work'. He was all dressed nicely for work, with nice shoes and a top that matched my little birthday outfit. And guess what? He did not go to work at all! Instead, he went all around Melbourne looking for a nice necklace for me. He stood outside Meet me at Mikes for a good 2 hours because he knew they stocked one of my favourite necklaces. But I think the shop only opens at noon or something so he gave up and went to to all the other crafty shops I love. In the end, he bought me a sweet sterling silver necklace from Corky. It has a little bird in a cage and it makes the nicest 'clinking' sound when I wear it. I love it to bits!

Then, like as if he hasn't done enough, he bought me this huge bouquet and went home to make me a tiramisu birthday cake! He deserves such a big pat on the back!

We went ice skating today at the new Ice House and it was lots of fun. I think it was so fun because I can't skate or blade at all. So for two whole hours, the side barrier was sort of my best friend. Haha. I was such a chicken!
Back to work tomorrow and lots of good food to paint! Since I've declared a 'birthday holiday' and stopped painting for two days straight! Haha. Wish me luck!

Preparing for Winter

After last week's glorious warm weather, the cold is here again. And I am all prepared for it. I bought myself new stockings from the Myer mid-season sale. And got myself a hand knitted kelly green cowl scarf too. All for less than $25! Oh and a nice new copy of Frankie too. With such nice colours, cute stuff to read, and nice warm toasted crumpets with honey, butter and strawberries, what's not to love about the colder weather?

Do you prefer the cold or the heat? I personally prefer the cold. Haha.

Weekend Adventures

I was a little lazy to lug my heavy camera around town, especially when I've been having neck and shoulder aches these days. So only two tiny photos from the weekend. We made pancakes, lots of pancakes in different shades and sizes. Topped them with lots of fruits and honey and glorious good butter. Oh and with a cup of nice cold banana honey smoothie too! Darren and I love pancakes. So it was such a nice way to spend our morning. To add to the niceness, I received a sweet package from a friend. It was really great to hear from her.

Alright, time for some reading then to bed. A wee bit tired after walking around so much the past three days. Goodnighty!

Nice Mail

This cute little parcel arrived in the mail the other day and I've been happily enjoying it's contents. Thank you Jen for sending me stuff that made me smile!

Thank you all of you for such nice replies about my bicycle and my fear of cycling. My boyfriend loves cycling so I feel bad when I let my phobia of getting into a bike accident, get in the way of things. Such a nice warm day today. Maybe I will cycle to the post office and to school.

Little Annie's first visit

Cycled around the South today, mainly to Spotlight for some fabric. For those of you who don't know, I am a really lousy cyclist. I admit I don't have much guts when it comes to cycling out on the roads. I generally don't do very well when I know that a car is about to turn left and I'm on the left trying to go straight. I chicken out when cars overtake. Anyway, I decided to cycle today and thank god I am alive. Haha. ( Yes, I am that chicken! ) And I think it must be because of the few incidents like when my tyres got stuck in the tram tracks, near-mishap incident with a taxi, when I lost control and almost went straight into the Yarra river!... Haha. Anyway, I brought my little bicycle ( I call her Little Annie ) to my studio after Spotlight. And I think she loves it there. Lots of sunlight, pots of plants, and bits of art to look at. And my friends like her too. They tell her that she's a pretty neat bike! Haha.

PS: In case you're wondering what's that marshmallow thing hanging on the wall, oh and that fat-free sewing bit too. That's going to be made into a beanbag of sorts. Yes. A marshmallow beanbag. Haha. I know, my love for food and packaging can get kind of obsessive at times.

So yes, that's my studio there. Thanks for dropping by! Hope you are well.

Weekend Adventures: Sunday

It was a delightfully warm day. I got plenty of sleep and my throat felt much better. Power went out on our street though, so I did a bit of walking around our block, while Darren made calls for help. It was nice enough to wear my flip flops and have my jeans folded up so my ankles could get some sun. We then ventured to East Brunswick, mainly to 120 Cafe for some good honest wholesome brunch. I'm in love with the banana smoothie I ordered and have been trying to recreate it at home. So far, not much luck!

Anyway, I've got 4 of my paintings hung at 120 cafe. They'll be on display for about a month and are priced at $150 ( for the glitter text ones ) $80 ( for the non-glittered piece ) and $40 ( for the small piece ). In any case if you would like to purchase them, do feel free to contact me via email, or call the cafe directly. And yes, they are really rather affordable! I've love to never have to part with them but unfortunately, space is precious for a renter like me and I need the money to buy myself a second hand sewing machine!

PS: You should try to pop by the cafe. The food's yummy!

PPS: I've been taking too many photos! But yes, I'll update you on my giant food book project in my next post! And for those of you who asked, I use a Nikon D90 and very rarely do I ever edit my photos. These photos were all unedited!

Weekend Adventures: Saturday

Nothing much, just plenty of good food and my very first driving lesson! And no, actually it's not Mr bean's driving school, but my boyfriend Darren's driving school. I'm his 1st and probably only pupil. And so far so good. I had my first lesson. It went on for about an hour and a half. I now know how to drive in a straight turn, make turns, go in circles. But only on first gear. So far so good. Anyway, lots of good food, my first driving lesson and then I went home and fell sick. Haha, but still, it was a nice fun Saturday.

Afternoon in Fitzroy

I've always loved Fitzroy for it's pops of colour, cute crafty-type shops, cafes, vintage bicycles, and the list goes on. So I was more than happy when I found out that for yesterday's class, we were going to be visiting 3 artists studios, all located in different parts of Fitzroy. In my head before class, I planned a little walk-around trip after class, in hope of finding cute dresses such as this one here. I contemplated bringing my heavy camera out but decided to in the end just because I thought it would be nice to take my 50mm lens out again for a day. So these shots were what came out from my little walk-around trip.

Unfortunately, I didn't find any cute dresses I could afford. Those I found were like $300..$200.. way too much for a student like me. Oh well, but I did bump into nice people such as Pip, and got free yummy pizzas and lemonade for dinner. (PS: The place is awesome! I fell in love with it's clever-ness. Recycling bins built out of wood and toilets made out of MDF boards?! ) And we ended our day by popping by 120 Cafe in East Brunswick, to hang 4 of my paintings. I'll tell you more after I pop by this weekend to take some photos and enjoy some breakfast treats. Too late and dark last night to do so! But yes, my paintings, such as this one here, are all $150 and below!

Alright, time for a quick shower, brekkie then it's off to school. See you soonish! Have a great weekend! : )

ten things

As seen on Pip's cute blog... here are ten tiny things you might not already know about me.

1. I don't really like potato chips and fries
2. I am so bad at Math. I still count with my fingers!
3. I am a huge classic Disney fan.
4. I am a really slow reader.
5. I don't like lamb, mutton.
6. I love going to movies alone early in the morning.
7. I am not exactly a coffee person.
8. I used to teach little children fun crafty-type art, before coming to Melbourne.
9. I often imagine I can fly, just like Peter Pan
10 . I love good ole' plain kiddy animal biscuits. They're my favourite snack!

So many 'I's in one post! Feels weird. But yup, so now you can say that you know me just a little bit better!

Bits of my morning

2 glasses of strawberry, banana and orange smoothie, a bowl of cereal with yoghurt, and bits of paper. I've got so much work to do. But all I want to do is go out, ride on my bicycle, cycle around in the South, and just lie on warm grassy patches to read my book. But for now, I have to finish my breakfast, then work on my art history writing. Oh bummer!

Poofy puffy skirt

At least that's what I'd like to call my new Brkich skirt. Took this photo in the morning, just before putting on some cute red tights and my favourite oxfords. I wore the skirt the whole of yesterday so it's kind of crumpled but I still like how it's still cute and poofy. I keep telling Darren how I think I look like a cream puff.

Anyway, if you came down for Craft Hatch on Saturday and bought my stuff, thank you! It was so nice meeting you all and finally putting a face to your name! If you wanted to come down but didn't, it's alright, thank you still! I sold enough to buy myself a new skirt! The rest of the money will be kept in my bank, for use on rainy days! (eg. on days I need to buy more nice paper for my giant food book project )

Art sale tomorrow!

Lots of original art pieces and sketches going for $10, $8, $15.. Some are framed nicely and are ready to hang! Brooches like the ones above, art prints, zines, hand bound note books.. Some are thicker with plenty of beautiful cream paper, perfect as a recipe book! Please come say hi and buy my art. I will be at the City Library tomorrow from 11am to 4pm! It would be nice to have some money so I can go buy myself some nice paper for my Giant food book project. And perhaps a little cup of honeycomb ice cream too.

You know where to find me : ) See you tomorrow!

Several drawing photos

So far, the theme song of my life seems to be this one here. But I think this version here is kind of more appropriate in my current situation. ( So glad Masterchef is coming back on screen soon! ) I think about food all day and night. I sing that song all day long while drawing, reading food essays. Maybe I'm going crazy. But you see, painting my meals and every single thing I eat can be quite tough! Especially when you have a boyfriend who loves 'tricking' you into trying bits of food and then going ' oops! You have to draw it now! ' Haha. Still fun though.

Oh and I'm part of Craft Victoria's April Craft Hatch. I will be selling my prints, handbound books, zines and brooches this Saturday at the City library! 11-4pm so come along, say hi!