RIP Nemo

Nemo died this morning.

I think Geoff was more sad than I was -- I've seen them come and go......its up to Sushi and Red to re-populate the elongated vase they live in and hopefully have a few more friends in a few months. Slim chance.....

Perhaps the fame of being on my t-shirt design was too overwhelming for him and he decided to off himself by tangling his little fins and fishie neck into the fake plant that takes up 15% of their water space.

Or perhaps fish just never were meant to be famous....although, there was Wanda. Wanda had a whole movie named after her. Wonder how she offed herself.

Line Fish

Nemo, Sushi and Red are my only pets...my goldfish and I have been trying to get together

a) some personal work
b) a project involving my beloved fish
c) a kick-ass t-shirt design....

I will be entering this design into next month's competition on http://www.springleap.com/ - I am really looking forward to putting work forward for myself instead of clients the whole time :)

Most often at a restaurant there's the 'line fish of the day' - I've even promoted 'line fish' even though I cannot eat fish so had no idea what it tasted like. I've always liked looking at fish though...they are increadibly graceful and beautiful as they swim and their fins and tails move with and through the water...

We have the most beautiful view of the harbour from our balcony...fishing boats coming and going with their 'catch of the day'.

I've always felt a bit sorry for fish. I especially don't like the sport of spear-fishing because I feel that it is unfair on the fish. If they bite on the bait off the end of a fishing rod line, there is less chance that the 'right fish' will bite as well as that I feel the fish has a choice in a strange way -- like a chicken being hit by a car - unlucky to have chosen to cross at that moment.....Shark catching without throwing back is the roadkill of the sea. So sad. Such a waste.

Anyhow: This design is called 'Line Fish' --- it could also make a really cool print! I look forward to posting further designs really soon :)

Anne Boleyn

I got email from one of my dearest friends yesterday with this one-liner:
'...you look like Anne Boleyn in the Tudors... look her up!'
So, as anybody would, I popped onto Google Images and found her (image on the left)....
I know that often people do not have a realistic view of oneself...one might see oneself as 30% fatter....rate oneself as more beautiful / less attractive than someone else...
More than being pale skinned with brown hair -- and all the usual features (nose, 2 eyes, 1 mouth), I know that I do not look like this person....

I sent a bunch of question marks with a link to this picture and got back: 'Ha ha ha, no. The TV series called the Tudors.'

Now THAT's more like a compliment! :)

Friends...

Geoff's cactus, which we saved a number of times from certain death, has been flowering for the first time in years.....definately worth the wait!

I'm feeling rather low. Even thought I'm feeling exhausted, I don't really think it is sleep depravation....not really sure why these things creep up on me for no apparent reason. After effects of the procrastination dragon? Who knows.....

Geoff announced that the fish were awake this morning - ' O'FISH'ALY ' :)

I thought I'd introduce them to this blog:


I make a half-hearted attempt to slay that dragon...fight the urge to climb into bed and sleep the day away in bliss of dream-land's adventures...but it is a beautiful day.

Settling In

We have been in our new flat for about 3 weeks now....what an amazing place! It is finally starting to take shape and we are finally starting to feel like we belong in it.

I have been working and sick and working and then finally we decided to go to my Mom and Dad for the weekend to really chill out and be looked after and do an amazing visit (as always) and get fed WAY too much by my Mom....

Parents are great. It is so amazing to know that these 2 amazing people are thinking of me all the time....looking forward to every second they spend with me...talk on the phone with me...LOVE what I do... These 2 wonderful people, (that my siblings and I refer to as 'the parental unit') are living their lives and loving one another after so many years of marriage :)

They just bought a C-Kayak.....we went with them to take it on its 'maiden voyage' as they refered to it as...we met them at Little Brak River (where we spent most Christmas holidays with loads of family -- waterskiing....playing...covering ourselves from head to toe with river mud while the parents drove the boats and fished and the grandparent generation got sozzled on G&T's....what fun!)

The have a red version of the one above....what a fun thing to do together! ...and so they enter into a new era of activities :)

Because its been work work work I have not been finding time to look for as many cool things as I did a few weeks back....some stand-out items are as follows:

....Lovely stitches to incorporate into Miss Molly goodies....I need to get a book of these... or find a website that has lots of step-by-step examples :)

...here is a nice idea for lighting solutions for our new place......make my own instead of stressing about where to find the perfect thing!!!

And here are a couple of fun site links to bookmark:
http://www.naughtysecretaryclub.com
http://www.pieofthemonthclub.org/

And a great resource for great links:
http://www.supernaturale.com

New Home

My Love and I are in our new home...the movers came on Tuesday and moved everything down the road to the new flat. Its not the first time I've moved house to just up the road...Finally today (Sat) we have 2 rooms that are functional: Kitchen and Bathroom.....and what a nice bathroom it is! Lovely old fashioned bath...I've rolled my white towels into my white-washed shelves and taken out loads of Body Shop goodies given to me on numerous birthdays and Christmas' and popped them into our over-the-bath activity device for fun times in the bath. SO exciting to get in and decide what to use :)

It has been FREEZING cold and windy since we moved in....the odd lovely moment when the wind does a brief calm-down is so nice....we have sun streaming in all windows in the morning....so beautiful. So warming for the house and for the spirit.

On Wednesday I was having tea on our new balcony and a rainbow started appearing from the lighthouse and spread its way right across the sky to form a complete bow...Rainbows always make me think of Sunday School so long ago....when Noah had been on the ark with all the animals for 40 days and 40 nights and it stopped raining, a rainbow appeared to remind him that God loved him. It was so appropriate in my head-space - such a sign of hope and new beginning that I was quite touched this beautiful symbol - assuring me that everything is going to be fine.

Yesterday and today, 3 whales played and splashed so close to the surfers right off the reef that our balcony overlooks. Welcome back to the sea-dwelling giants!

Geoff and I had our first night cooking at home last night...I made a soy mince, lentil and Mexican Tomato mix pie...he poured us each a glass of wine and we sat -- on too-high chairs and a pick-nick table, 2 candles and a bunch of boxes -- in our lounge....after which we put a mattress on the floor, got out my mini TV and video machine and watched 'Me, Myself and Irene' snuggled under the duvet. What bliss to be with my Love in our new home :)

.....
And other than that I have just been feeling sensitive and truly exhausted after the moving and work piling in and stresses of painting and packing and moving and unpacking and sorting and deadlines and the cold that goes with Winter.

I was reminded with such clarity today about how precious our soul-mate is. No matter how grumpy and bad tempered one gets: quiet, deep consideration for one's partner is imperative to maintain. A lasting, loving relationship with Geoff is the most precious thing I have in my life. We want to go into forever laughing together, crying together...a sanctuary for one another. I love him so much. I love our new home and us together in it.

-- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x -- x --

APRONS!!!

Yay! I got the pictures of the Mosaic Works aprons off Geoff's camera....sadly I didn't get either of the kiddies Lolita ones I made but hopefully they'll send a pic or 2 through....

Moving Again

I have been so busy and therefore so quiet on my blog.....I have been thinking so much about writing here but I never get the chance to log in and give my full attention!

12 Aprons got delivered yesterday to Mosaic Works after having a seriously "D'oh!" (said Homer style) moment with the lovely girl who owns the place..... well, lets just say I gave her a very un-censored crit on her terrible website......which was not actually her website as dumbass me had typed the wrong address in.......and of course she gave me a hug in the end thinking 'what a bitch' and I phoned her 2 weeks later to confirm apron delivery.....popped onto the (correct) website and to my amazement it was BEAUTIFUL! So of course I said "your website is GORGEOUS!" and she said..."its been like that for a year". I won't put down the first one but http://www.mosaicworks.co.za/ is really beautiful and everybody clearly knew what they were talking about when they said it is a lovely site. *sigh*

So as luck would have it, I went and forgot one of the aprons at home as well....(see picture)...Geoff keeps running away with his camera with the rest of the pictures on so I will post them at a later stage...I must say: I think they came out really well...now to keep up with demand......

Sandy always has interesting links on her Gtalk text line thingie....today she has a link to 'Damien's Blog' which is really cool.............here's a sample:
Oh! To give myself moments to be creative like this...................

Speaking of which: I had a long dream about the Mosaic design I want to put together for our new, completely unfurnished chipped-tile kitchen!! The walls are painted...the floor paint is drying...and TUESDAY is moving day! YAY! although not yay for the packing but we'll get this place sorted out (hopefully) before Tuesday so we can make a nice seamless move up the road to our new pozzie with lots of space to play in! (not to mention the view!)........Will have to post a 'before' (current flat) and 'after' (new flat) view pic...So the count-down begins.......hopefully we can get everything ready on time.....


I also had these thoughts about cool things that Miss Molly can make...and one of my ideas has been really pretty eye-masks....and then I found one online just now at Coco Ribbon...

So watch http://www.missmolly.co.za/ 's catalogue page!.....we may even pop them in one of our 'Cracker Jane' party crackers......

....and in other news....I'm glad we're not moving here:

'Tourist'
(isn't she adorable!!)

SOCKS!!!!

I have been sick for the past few days.
Not really really sick...just a head cold. but still. It has not stopped raining. Work is POURING in as well and I'm not complaining but I am finally feeling as if I want to be well again...perhaps enjoy the puddles.

Some people are just not good at emailing. I need to learn to accept this fact.

I also need to learn that matching socks are not the most important thing in the world. The truth is that I feel really really sad for socks that get seperated from their partner. I also feel terrible for the person who gave me the socks because the lone-sock will never get worn. Not on its own.
I started off with 8 socks. One wash later I only have 5.

What to do?

Do I buy them some new friends and mix-and-match matching socks?
Do I try and go against my fashion senses and wear un-matching socks?
Do I buy 50 socks that all look the same...pink for me and black for Geoff and not worry about matching socks ever again??

Who knows what the solution is.

The big Q

Having a change of surname is not a fun task.

Why is it that wherever we go we are subject to Queue's?

Why is it that there are not more bank people who know how to shift from station to station depending on the need. Do they only learn how to work at one post? People who work in banks seem to have a lot of breaks and I always see them walking off with their handbag, JUST before I am going to be next in line. It is a cruel joke of the universe. It would be nice if someone could please enlighten me on this matter so that I can reduce my frustrations and be more patient.

I usually have to go to customer services (internet banking doesn't cover this one). That is where one always gets to be in the shortest queue with the longest waiting time. Or the longest queue with an even longer waiting time. And they only usually have 2 consultants. The ratio is, on average, 5 customers waiting to every 1 consultant. The foreign exchange lady does nothing but file her nails and smile at the waiting queue every now and then. I can't quite figure out if she feels sorry for us or whether she's laughing because she's not going to do anything about it and gets to file her nails instead..

I would find it really hard being stared at expectantly by the entire queue whilst trying to do my job (if I was a bank customer services consultant)...each person in the queue wondering --
'will it be customer services consultant number one....or will it be customer services consultant number two?'
Or perhaps, part of their training is 'Module 28: Ignoring the Queue'.

I had to wait in 2 queues in the bank. Two. They went and gave me a world cup soccor bank card with my maiden name emblasoned on the front when I specifically requested a silver card with my married name. I made her cut it up. Now I have to do it again. ....

• I spent 45 mins on the phone for this 2 months ago and stood in a queue for about 3/4 hour to give them my marriage certificate.
  
• I just got my new ID book. I had to queue 3 times for that....(Application, Temp. collection, ID collection).
• (I still have to go and change my Passport.)
• Spent an hour in the traffic department queue for my new driver's licence card with my shiney new surname...(I have to go back and queue to collect it).
• This is the bullet point for all the ones I've forgotten about. There are bound to be some.
  
• Now I have the task of changing everything to my married name.
  

I must say in defense of my new name that it is a lot simpler than my maiden name was. In the end, I get to have a new signature and a name that, I am proud to think, sounds like a movie star's. It sounds famous. I really like it...

I am confident that when my name has earned its keep, I will feel that all the queue'ing will have been totally worth it.

I look forward to that day.

DHC

It is common knowledge to most people that the rules of general etiquette and DHC (Decent Human Consideration) include:

If you would like someone to come to your party:

• Invite them a few days in advance. Better planning could save you a lot of disappointment.
• PHONE them so that you can speak with them and get an immediate answer if you require knowledge of their attendance right away.
• Respect that people may already be engaged in plans for that evening (even if they planned not to do anything specific) so the longer in advance you can invite them, the better.

If someone does not turn up to your impromptu party:

• You have no right to be angry at those who didn't turn up if you only gave them 1 hour's notice.
• Waking people up by ringing their doorbell and screaming profanities into their speaker phone at 2.15am is not acceptable.
• Sms'ing profanities about other people's supposed lack of DHC at 2.30am is also not acceptable. You are the one who is lacking in DHC.

Apology

• It is better not to say anything. It is, however, important to apologise in the right way if you feel you need to say anything at all. Which you probably do so:
  Keep it short.
  Do not embelish with reasoning.
• It is not acceptable to apologise in such a way that you defend your actions.
  You were wrong. People were sleeping. You were drunk.
• Remember that you cannot place expectations on other people. Disappointment is your own problem which you must deal with in your own time.
• Friendship and respect are earned - not to be taken for granted.
  Turning up drunk on someone's doorstep at 2.15am does not earn you any respect or a desire from others to be your friend.
• Remember to apologise to other people at the party who's night you spoiled with all the talk of those who did not turn up.....
  ....especially if it is your daughter and your impromptu party was arranged as her farewell. It is only your fault if nobody turned up.
  Take a second to imagine how your daughter must have felt....
  'Fare thee well to London lucky lass and be thee rid of thine mother's serpentine tongue.'

There.
I've vented.
It is finished.
I am going to put it behind me and try not to pity this poor woman..

We do not have a TV.

Geoff and I went to a meeting today. The lady we were speaking with asked us if we have DSTV or MNET.

We told her we dont have a TV.

She literally started at us for a few seconds in sheer disbelief.....Does not compute..... Eyes wide. I could feel the cogs in her brain clicking over - trying to process the possibility of someone actually not watching TV. ....Does not compute.....It was like all her favorite shows were flicking brain numbing vibes through her cranium while she contemplated the fact that we were not watching them. We would miss the Friday night Movie tonight. Late night ETV perhaps?? ....Does not compute.....

She then muttered something inaudible about her disbelief before saying 'I have never met someone who doesn't have a TV.' and THEN she said (total confusion in her voice) ' What do you do? '

OK. We were in Durbanville. Not that there's anything 'wrong' with living on the wrong side of the 'boerewors curtain'. Lets face it. There is a different mentality thing going on on that side......

To quote my ex-boss: 'When you drive into Bellville / Durbanville after work you have to have your ear-muffs on because the sound of '7de Laan' is blaring so loudly from all the houses that you could go deaf if you do not take preventative measures'....'and on weekends you have to drive with your fog-lights on to be able to see the road through all the braai-smoke'! (and this, coming from someone who LIVES in Bellville).

So back to our lady. We just smiled at her. She said 'Do you talk...or read? What do you do?'

What does one answer? Nothing would seem better to a TV addict than curling up with a cup of hot chocolate and zoning out on 'whatever's on'.

The truth is, we're probably a bit addicted to the internet. There. I said it. Geoff and I often talk about the merits of Computers vs TV. Truth is, we don't feel we need a TV. We watch our movies on DVD, in bed, on the laptop. We Google all sorts of fantabulous things that we want to learn and know.....we cook together...clean the flat together.....eat and talk and walk and sit on the balcony with a guitar (Geoff) and my bad singing voice (me) if I feel inspired to deafen the neighbours.

It is a wonderful life. I love my life. No TV neccessary.

Miss Molly Cookies and Bookmarks

Miss Molly is doing all kinds of interesting things!

On the left is a bookmark designed for a law-firm...

Shells and I also baked cookies in the shape of a house and put tags on the top of them......how satisfying to have another job well done!

Rita's 60th High Tea Miss Molly Cookies

Today is a lady called 'Rita''s 60th Birthday High Tea organised by her daughter...

Phase 1:

Invitations were hand-delivered to her with an individual, custom-made Miss Molly lime green sparkle cookie with 'Rita's 60th' written on the top in white.

Phase 2:

Jars of cookies and a heart-shaped casing for each lady attending -- with a little 'thank you' tag...

Happy to say that all went really well and Shelley and I are very proud these cookies!

We trust that they are being enjoyed as I type :)

Nooks and Cranies

My sister and I went to a mosaic class on Wednesday night. I must admit I had no idea what to expect but I was very pleasantly surprised at the lightness of the workshop...It was organised by IDEAS magazine and the lovely person, Jaqui from MosaicWorks led the class. See my first ever mosaic above (Not finished. Believe me, we tried! Started off all perfectionistically and got more and more random as time was running out!)

What is it about 'Nooks and Crannies' which is so totally hilarious. Or is it just an 'in-joke' between T'Neal and I ??

Geoff's comment:
'Well done, my LOVE! ....(a moment's pause)...It looks like scarey eyes.'
My comment:
No comment. I must say I agree but I hadn't noticed it till he pointed out the blaringly obvious truth. It will look more like a butterfly once the body is in.

I hope.

Fingers full of crumbs

Finally I have a picture of my totally amazingly delicious breakfast rusks! (recipe in a previous post).

All I can say is: YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM!!!!

I added lots of sunflower seeds.....tons of raisins....poppy seeds and oat bran. They came out totally chewy and crunchy all at the same time. I am chuffed. Totally chuffed. And the best is that they take hardly any effort to put together!

I must admit that I forgot to put the raisins in and they had been in the oven 2 mins already when I realised. Can't not have raisins!

SO I put the raisins in and stirred it around a bit to get them all covered in the peanut butter flavoured batter before baking them for the hour they needed.

As a result, I got a section which stuck to the bottom! What fun to sit in front of my laptop with a cup of tea and fingers full of seedy peanutbutter crumbs to eat out of the baking dish.

YUM!

Word of the Day: Crestfallen

http://www.dictionary.com/
crest·fall·en
–adjective
1. dejected; dispirited; discouraged.
2. having a drooping crest or head.

Although the first one is more appropriate for the context of my last post, I think I would like to imagine, literally and in cartoon form, the second one.

—Related forms
crest·fall·en·ly, adverb
crest·fall·en·ness, noun

"They crestfallenly wondered what on EARTH had happened to create such gross physical disfigurement as crestfallenness"

"The crestfallenness of the kingdom gave way to new definitions of what should be considered beautiful: 'Your head droop compliments the shape of your face so exquisitely' ".

Its all sick. I know.

For more correct, non-cartoon imagining inducing information, one of the best sites on the internet is http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

You can even play hangman! I just won "megalomania".

meg·a·lo·ma·ni·a
n.
1. A psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence.
2. An obsession with grandiose or extravagant things or actions.

Is the universe is trying to tell me something?

Monday Madness anyone?

Sandy's Gmail one-liner text for today says "Monday Madness anyone?" which I took to mean that today is Monday and she's having a crazy day..anyone for tennis?
The truth is, I'm ignoring it completely and adding entries into my blog..pretending I can't see it and therefore, it can't find me...

Good on Sandy for advertising group get-togethers in such a passive way. No Facebook invitations announcing to all your friends and aquaintences that you actually arrange your social life...No smsing your whole address book and waiting for replies from all who may have a moment in their busy day to respond...phonecalls seem to be a bit of a thing of the past. Unless its an important thing where you want the person to feel honored that you've actually PHONED them to invite them and spent less than 23c in the effort because you really don't want them to say no. The down-side of course is that perhaps nobody will respond. Sandy's a goer though. Lots of fun. Not much chance of that.

As Monday would have it, I'm wrong: Monday Madness refers to Jamica Me Crazy's Monday night R29 meals which I'm so up for if my 'Sex and the City' movie night falls through....or I could just stay at home and watch "The Family Guy". IF I finally go and have the bath that's run and waiting for me so that I can get on with my design work for the day so that I will actually be free tonight.

Crown me procrastination queen.
I denounce my thrown.
The kingdom is crestfallen (whatever that means).
I bath in water instead of milk.
I go out into the world with clothes on intead of staying home in my pj's. *sigh* Another day, another blogger (entry).

In the spirit of the title of this post, I found this website:

http://mondaymadness.com/

Kamersvol Geskenke

Wow...it is amazing to be preparing for events in October....almost at the winter solstice and this year seems like a giant's blink (because the world, of course, is a giant's dream and we're all the characters of his imagination)

T'Neal and I went to Stellenbosch this morning. Of course I didn't pay attention to the location -- only the directions...so we ended up going through Stellenbosch...far far and almost all the way to Franschoek -- got there 10 mins later than we were supposed to, only to discover that the only conference taking place was a men's conference --- NOT a meeting of girlie creative creations! Can you imagine us walk in asking "Who do we show our cookies to?" hahaha!

So we drove the 30kms BACK to Stellenbosch to Bosman's Crossing to find all the ladies busy with their 'knip en plak' session...set up our table with our stock....and they LOVED it! :) PHEW!

Production time...

Lots to do in the next couple of months. I can't believe we have to prepare for Christmas already. That's worse than hearing 'Jingle Bells' blaring over the loudspeakers in Pick'nPay in September.

Serious Weather

Yup...still miserable on my side of the world...grey grey grey...and what's more is I have a list of stuff to do today that's not funny.

I went to the wrong gallery yesterday....discovered that fabric printing might be a little more affordable than I previously thought. I'm so excited I can barely restrain myself from designing and getting all the ideas out of my head and into Illustrator!

So I will be off and launch myself into the day with as much zeal as I can muster.