How hilarious is this?

I almost wet myself laughing. Man i hope the food on my flights to London aren't so bad. And my in-flight entertainment better frigging work.

I'm running out of weeks to count down before i leave. I'm down to four and a smidge. I've been ticking things off my list. Today: apply for some jobs and attempt to open a UK bank account. 

I've been in denial of the list though. Instead, i've been procrastinating by inhaling all the Stephanie Plum books. Between me and my mum, we have every single one. 

Don't judge me. They're lurid and bright but they are such good books. I judged my mum when i first saw them lying around on the floor...until i randomly picked one up, read a few pages, and was hooked. 

Obviously now I want to be a bounty hunter. I'll take the Morelli and pass on the bad hair, thanks.

My mum and I used to regularly have conversations about who would play whom should they decide to make movies out of them. The female version of James Bond, i think they should do it. Or at least make a series for tv version. When i first started reading them, i couldn't for the life of me think who would play Lula. For some reason, the casting of Lula is more crucial than the casting of Stephanie. Now, i'm tossing up between Queen Latifah and the woman who plays Dr Bailey on Grey's Anatomy. Or even Missy Elliot. I think Bailey is the winner though. It would be a very different role to the one on Grey's, but she does that 'don't mess with me 'tude' so well.

and then there's the dilemma of Stephanie. She can't be too hot, or too perfect, and needs to be able to act a bit frazzled. Might have to think on that one a bit longer.

I think we came up with Colin Farrell for Morelli. 

hmmm. Time to go start on Seven Up, methinks.

Thank you for all your comments about the doily tree grumpiness. Makes me feel a bit less of a baddie!

Speaking of trees, I had the honour of attending a friend's wedding yetserday. 

The Wairarapa, as always, was about 5 degrees hotter than Wellington, and by the time I got to the wedding bus, i was more than a little uncomfortable. It was somewhat a relief to find the other girls waving at their underarms and flapping their dresses around in order to get something like respite. We all made noises about the poor boys, in their shirts, black pants and black shoes.

The wedding was absolutely wonderful. Protected by the shade of the trees at the Pounui Homestead (on Western Lake road, and the most fantastic venue EVER), the bride looked stunning. The groom looked perfectly comfortable with no tie and no waistcoat - a look i'm totally advocating. It's hot. And you don't have to worry about putting your bridesmaids in, say pink, and then convincing the boys to wear same for their waistcoats or ties. It's win-win.

Anyway, one can't complain about sitting in the sunshine, your champagne glass being routinely topped up, eating gorgeous vege food (the newlyweds are vegetarian, so the whole reception was too) enjoying watching some rather scrumptious boys, and having a good old dance. 

I could quite happily live in the place I stayed, too. On going up to my room I found bookshelves positively groaning under the weight of - glorious, glorious art history books. I didn't want to leave. The host, Sylvia, was an absolute darling, and picked me up and dropped me off from the train station due to the fact that Greytown has no buses on the weekends. 

Not so happy about being back in the real world. 

inspiration

One of the great bonuses of long weekends is the amount of time available to do anything you want. I spent all day yesterday thinking that today would be back to the office, and it was great reminding myself that oh no, I still have one whole day left!

So yesterday was spent having lunch with my Mum and at the library doing some much needed research. The old design habits are slowly returning - I'd forgotten how much i loved looking through books just for their pictures. It is fascinating what can jump-start the old imagination machine...I have in my possession for 4 weeks: a book on instructional design (hilarious!), one on Japanese design and a source book of flower, leaf and tree designs. All it took were three completely unrelated things to pop up randomly in relatively close succession for the next project to evolve...so i have yet one more creative project on my plate. Who needs work?! I could happily grow into a groove in the couch and knit, sew, draw, read and dream all day... 

oooh...the next post is number 100! Which will probably be Wednesday...drop by for a give away!

great ephemera

I realised that i totally forgot one crucial magazine from the magazine post, and it is one that i see many times a day. Is not magazine lives on our kitchen wall. We bought this double A0 poster magazine in Melbourne last year. A group of aussies get together, write and draw some stuff, get it printed and paste it up alongside band posters and advertisements on the street. You can also buy your very own copy from a book shop that i forget the name of. I love its simplicity and its massiveness. If anyone is keen to help me set up an NZ (or wellington at least) version, let me know. I'd be fully keen.


aaaandd...i bought the readymade book! woohoo for Borders - i got back to work from my lunchbreak yesterday to find a nice wee surprise of a '40% off any book' voucher in my email. So as soon as i finished work I bought it for my hot little hands. Very happy. Only problem is that whilst in borders, i also discovered that i really want Jamie Oliver's new cookbook that includes how he grows his own vegies, which is also $55, and another craft book that's around the same price. Why is it that all the books i want right now are $50? Top of my list is still Bend the Rules Sewing (which Borders doesn't stock). All in time...

this is cool. i went for a bike ride this morning- a nice long one where at one point i was struggling so bad against the wind a snail passed me on the road. Hehe.

And last but not least are my sweet new vegies. We have a minute section at the flat so it's all about pots. I literally just planted them, despite the wind's attempts to blow me and the plants away. I've always been adamant that i don't 'do' gardening, so this is one big experiment. We have cocktail tomoatoes, beetroot, mixed brassicas and mixed lettuces. I just checked on the worms too and they have eaten SO much this past week and have had loads of babies. Which is a relief as i was getting a tad worried. Woohoo for new hobbies! (yes, i am still crafting.)