December 31, 2008

Welcome, welcome 2009.

Normally i'm one of the people saying 'oh, new year's, it's so overrated'. This year i wasn't expecting terribly much.

Today, the first day of the year, i got out of bed three times and went back to bed twice.

Eventually i had a shower and decided to wear my pjs all day.

I ate breakfast at 2.30pm.

Last night i was surrounded by old friends, some new ones, and had the absolute time of my life. We talked, we danced, we drank.

Hence the difficulty with getting out of bed and eating on the first day of the year.


Thanks to all those who have been reading over the past year. You're all wonderful, and I hope the New Year brings you plenty of fun, and lots of crafting goodness.

So welcome, welcome 2009: i'm ready for ya.

December 30, 2008

What, another post? In one day?! Goodness me.

Having spent the majority of today either cleaning or browsing the net, i figured i may as well drop by here too.

So, fetching are finished. The Alpaca silk is so delicious and completely worth it. Please ignore the lack of a cable cast-on. This knitter is too lazy to teach herself how to do it. Now to put them in the post to wing their way to Paris. Today it was meant to be a whole 1 degree outside. Think she may need them.
And i've added a million gazillion new blogs to my google blog reader. The theme seems to be: London. There is also the wee discovery that is the awesomeness of podcasts (yes, yes so late on that wagon), particularly those of Radio New Zealand.

Most of the blogs have also been added cos they're pretty. Post-US election a colleague and I discussed if it was inappropriate to have crushes on President-elect Obama. Damn, too bad i hadn't even been born in 1980.

Hmm, not sure that I really need to remember yet another log in and password, but i'm seriously thinking about joining this site. 

I'm not sure i'm ready for tomorrow to be the last day of the year. Perhaps if i do the whole 'what do i want to achieve in 09' thing i'll feel better about it. maybe.

December 29, 2008

The only reason i'm writing this is because i'm procrastinating from cleaning. Bleugh, cleaning. And it's too hot. 
The hedgehog that has moved into my parents' backyard. We fed him salmon for dinner. mmm salmon

How about some gratuitous photos of animals and flowers to liven things up? Taken with my pretty new cybershot that FITS IN MY HANDBAG! can you tell that excites me? I am still in love with the Canon S2IS, but it's such a pain to carry around all the time. And it's a bit embarrassing that even though it's only about 3 years old, it has fewer megapixels than the Cybershot (5 compared to 7.2). Plus it's little enough to fit one of the many many large iPod covers still lying around, so it looks even prettier.
Thinking about London (only two months to go!) has got me thinking about cameras. As in, which ones to take. 
The Cybershot will go in my bag, but will it be too much to take the S2IS too? And then there's the Polaroid which i don't want to let go but hardly ever use, and i'd really like to take my Dad's 1984 Canon SLR (no D in that, it's all 35mm film) for its second OE. 

Four cameras really would be a bit overkill, and no doubt when i get there and earn squillions (haha) i'll want to pick up some serious camera fun in the way of a Canon EOS once i've figured out how to keep from being mugged while i walk around with it.

To finish: an interesting post on a blog i don't usually read. I think all her points are completely valid - and then the comments remind why on some sites i don't bother reading all that toxic hot air. When i was employed by a certain someone comments used to make me angry and upset, and then i read an article somewhere (can't remember) that had a whole pile of stats about blog readers  and commenters. Instead of going into loads of detail, basically it made me feel better. And taught me to just ignore the nasty ones. Obviously on all the lovely crafty blogs around, rarely is anyone nasty.

December 23, 2008

ah. Christmas Eve. And it's raining. What a freaking surprise.

What with my brain needing some stimulus due to the no work thing, i finally went to a place that sold the Listener on a Monday and bought it. Usually i don't see it til Sunday when there really is not much point.

But what a cracker this week's is!

The editorial is fantastic. It opens: 'Since when has genuine happiness been dependant on money?' I like it. My year, as previously mentioned, has been full of challenges. Lots of them were not so good, and seem to overshadow all the fantastic challenges. But at the end of it, I am happy. Maybe next post can be about all the good things from this year. hmm, could be a long one.

Then there was yesterday's Dom Post article in the World section about young women in Asia (if i remember right) not being allowed to go to school in favour of their brothers. Goodness, that makes me sad. Typically, i can't find it on the Dom Post website. What does that say? It was almost a whole page article, and yet it isn't important enough to make it to their site. Boo.

Oh, also in the Listener is a fascinating piece about Jane Austen. I came across this
a few days ago and meant to link to it through here, but the lovely Louise beat me to it.

While watching trashy Christmas tv i'm working my way through fetching in the wonderful, wonderful, lush alpaca silk i bought from South Seas Knitting. Though i think i should get in the habit of actually counting - i'm onto glove number two and am struggling to get the number of rows between cables the same. woops.

Right, so that was a whole lot of randomness. Merry Christmas everyone, i'll try and keep up with the very regular posting in the New Year - but can't guarantee i'll be sober enough until oh, about January 3.

Tash xx

December 21, 2008

how awesome is this?

thanks to this lovely blog.


I have had a wonderful day.

Christmas really is more about the memories and the company one keeps than the presents, isn't it?


December 19, 2008

I am having a very distracted day. 

But, i also have crafting excitement!

The wonderful Sue who organises Craft2.0 asked me a few weeks ago if i would like to host a craft, coffee and cupcakes workshop at the New Dowse at the end of January. 

Of course i said yes!

So, to see what we'll be making, go here and to book, go here.

And now, instead of attending any one of the four functions i have been kindly invited to tonight, i'm going to sit at home, knit and watch DVDs.

December 18, 2008

Obviously, the TAWAs were fun. 

Now i have to spend an entire day cleaning the house, thinking about Christmas, and stressing about the fact it is now not even a week away. Where on earth has December gone?

So to procrastinate from thinking about said Christmas, it's photo time.

There has been a noticable increase in graffiti of all kinds around Wellington over the past few months, including some very clever 'paste-ups'. Being a lady of leisure means that I have the, er, leisure, to walk round town, find and photograph the work of some mysterious peeps.

And now for a little bit of Christmas:


must.maintain.one.blog.per.day

slightly drunken. 

Had wonderful night at TAWAs (otherwise known as the Wellingtonista Awards), wearing ridiculous silk skirt that once upon a time was my 6th form ball dress. 

just for fun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN8HwUxFouM


December 16, 2008

lady of leisureness

I just realised I won't be near a computer again for the rest of the day, so had to do my daily post now. When pretty much all i've done since the last one is knit and sew. but mainly sleep.

what i want to know - who stole summer? where has it gone?

For those who think a lady of leisure does nothing more than sleep in, mooch around, and then go to bed again, today's schedule looks like this:

up at 7.30am (ugh yuck)

pack stuff to go from coffee to gym to drinks (read: bag lady for the day)

start some knitting so i have something to show for myself at coffee

8.55am - blog

9am - leave house

10am - coffee (to teach a guy how to knit. never met the guy. feels like a really weird blind date. more on that later)

post coffee - mooch round town and maybe do some much needed christmas browsing, which will probably lead to purchasing of presents for self

12.15pm - spin class

2pm - drinks

4pm - train to Khandallah for further drinks and christmas festivities



ohh ok. it's a tough life.

December 15, 2008

too many ideas for a title


let me try and grab just a few thoughts dashing around my head...

Nikki: i am absolutely up for some man picking.

As she recently blogged -how do you blog abut relationships? The boy has now been officially not the boy for about 4 months. After 3 years, i surprised even myself at how well i've dealt with it. hmm, the strangeness of life.

I've just returned home to a dinner of burritos from the Maiden addresses of a friend and some other new MPs. My goodness, it was inspiring. I have recently turned from the 'i'm not a feminist but...' mantra to the 'this is what a frigging feminist looks like' club. It is so fantastic to see so many vibrant, intelligent women sitting on the government benches. And finally, finally, there are MPs whom i feel i can personally relate to. I can look at the left line-up and say, yes, i feel they absolutely represent me. Too bad they're in opposition.

Speaking of yesterday's need for an ego-boost, apparently i'm interesting. I'll let you know how it goes after tomorrow. In the meantime - yes, Sue i'm about to go and do some work for you. Another wee project yet to be unveiled. It seems so many things are happening so very quickly and i'm trying to catch my breath. It is all thanks to wonderful people such as Sue - you are awesome my dear. mwahs!

December 14, 2008

on the bus, on the way home from spinning, i realised what it was that i was missing.

a good old fashioned ego-boost.

I've now been unemployed for just over 4 weeks. The lack of mental stimulus is driving me round the bend, so i'm reading Michael King's Penguin History of NZ. As i'm not so fussed with flora and fauna and such, i began from the political bits. it's fascinating! Makes me want to go back to 5th form history classes.

But that doesn't quite hit the spot. Couldn't figure out why. Until the bus trip. The major thing missing when not working is any sense of achievement. I don't feel like i'm working towards anything, more meandering aimlessly with my eye on some vague blur in the distance. I haven't overcome any major challenge, i haven't had any serious deadlines, there hasn't been any opportunity to give myself a quiet pat on the back for a job well done even if noone else noticed. 

With sewing and knitting i'm so self-critical i never feel completely satisfied with a project once it's done. 

So, not quite sure how to fix this one. I figure recognising it is the first step.

December 13, 2008


and now, for a little music (i never said the daily posts would be substantial):

right, so apparently that isn't working today. So i'll just link instead. As i make afghans, do washing, tidy the flat and ponder walking down to Lyall Bay in this glorious, glorious sunshine.

oh and tip of the day - Lindauer is on special at Pak'N Save for only $7.88 a bottle! yuss! I might've bought 4.

December 12, 2008

an epic post. oh yeah.

(the 'love, me' bit is there because for some reason i was thinking about Meredith's speech to Derek about how he should pick her over Addison when  i was embroidering ...)


right, so clearly this life of leisure has not resulted in an increase in blog posts. So i shall do the WHOLE two past weeks of my life via bullet-pointing:
  • i turned 25. i rather like the number, and hope it will be better than 24 
  • i fell UP the stairs at my party and got an awesome bruise on my knee
  • one of my old friends who had just got back from the UK came to my party (yay!)
  • i sat in the sunshine
  • i started going to spinning classes (as in biking). they're amazing.
  • i completed an entire game of indoor netball without feeling remotely puffed, just hot.
  • i sewed
  • i burned my finger on a bowl i was taking out of the microwave. Said bowl says 'microwave safe' on its bottom. my ass
  • i went out and got fabulously drunk with the awesome people from the Wellingtonista. They are cool.
  • i sold the car (yuss! more life of leisureness for me)
  • i had the best cupcake ever from Tempt at Smith the Grocer
  • i missed out on the last of the cheap one way tickets to london so am stuck here til march still. i was hoping to change it to beginning of feb. oh well
  • i got addicted to Parliament TV. like a crack whore, only with politics
  • i was in a car accident. i banged my head, got a bruise on my arm, climbed out of my dad's car and people stood around looking at me to make it all better. for once, just for once, i wanted not to be the person who takes control of a situation. but i did, and turning around to see the brother of a good friend right next me when i needed someone, and giving him a giant hug, somehow got me through the waiting for police bit. There are several parts i distinctly remember - like staring at this other person heading straight for me and knowing that there was no way of avoiding IT from happening. For legal reasons i probably shouldn't say more. i'm a safe driver is probably the best way of putting it.
And now i'm thinking i could either get all morose and grumpy about how crap the past year has been (like i have been the past couple of days) or i could make frigging lemonade. I pick lemonade. 

This coming week sees me having coffees, going to spinning, sewing, knitting, tidying, and starting to think about Christmas. I haven't begun my Christmas shopping, and i'm thinking i might just not. In my old age i'm getting a bit anti-materialistic and so i'm going to attempt to make all my presents. 

In order to not feel so slack on the web front, i'm going to try and post everyday til Christmas. oooer, now there's a challenge...