DIY Love

In my cruisin around the internet today, I came across this easy peasy diy from pinkshirtsandcarwrecks.

A laptop riser made from wooden doorstops and some pretty tape. Simple as that.


Go here to get the low-down.

Spring has Sprung...

The first day of September has heralded the arrival of Spring in Brisbane. I even spotted the first frangipani flowers of the season this morning on my drive to work.

I've always loved this time of year, with its crisp mornings and warm afternoons and that certain "clean" smell in the air.

Spring means that soon the jacaranda trees will be in bloom and who doesn't love that splash of pale purple that brightens your view. There's a certain hill near my office where you stand looking back at the city and the valley between is dotted with many splotches of purple.

Spring means the return of shorts, with pale winter-white legs everywhere welcoming the sun's rays for the first time in a long time. Having dropped a few dress sizes since I last wore shorts, I get to go shopping for cute new ones (yay) or perhaps whip up a few pairs on my sewing machine.

Spring means the days are getting increasingly longer, so I will get to leave work before the sun disappears for the day and have more time in the afternoon to do, well, anything.

What do you love about spring?

A stranger in these parts...

At the moment, it is Council Collection week in my neighbourhood. Essentially, it is Council's way of trying to get people to clean up around their house and yards and throw away rubbish.

So people go around their house collecting items they no longer need/want/use (no matter whether they're broken or not), haul them out to the kerb and leave them there until the Council truck comes around to collect. However, what usually happens is once items have been left on the kerbs, the scanvengers emerge to take items that may not be broken or could be of use in their household (this is why my Dad calls Council Collection week, Re-distribution of the Wealth week).

I am as guilty as the next person of scavenging, once collecting an awesome wardrobe and this time around I scored two wooden chairs that I'll sand back and paint.

And scavenging during Council Collection week is not the best part. The best part is seeing the weird and wonderful things that people have in their houses. For example, on Sunday, my boyfriend and I came home to find that someone was throwing out a 70's style bed head, complete with built in radio and lights. It was gone the next day, so I guess somebody else thought it was pretty cool too.

I didn't think anything would top that, but, when I arrived home from work last night, I saw this perched upon a discarded box...


A mannequin!! As in, "Level 3 - Men's Wear" department store mannequin.
Where does one get a mannequin from? What does one need with a mannequin?

What is the strangest thing you have seen discarded on the side of the road?

You are being watched...

Spotted today as I got out of my car at the bank...

Wingardium Leviosa

Sometimes I wish I was a wizard like Harry Potter and could cast the "Impervius" charm on my glasses so that I don't have to clean them every couple of hours throughout the day.



Seriously, how do they get so smudgy and dusty in just a few hours? Does anyone else have this problem?

I'll bet Harry does...

Calm amongst Chaos...

A cup of cinnamon and apple tea plus a sesame snap...

A calming influence amongst the chaos of my desk at work today
(and something that will get me by until home time)

Surfin' Safari...

Wow... It's been a long time... Where has this year gone already?

Oh well, we all know that time marches on regardless of how busy we are and before we know it, we wake up one day and it's almost June.
Anyway, this past weekend, my boyfriend and I took a little jaunt south to the Gold Coast. His parents have just relocated there, then taken off on an American adventure and said that we and his sister can use the house while they're away. This weekend was our turn.

We arrived around 3pm and took a walk down to the beach. Since it was a beautiful, sunny day, I thought I would take some photos. Pull out my camera and battery dead. Nooooo!
So I whipped out the iPhone and began happily snapping away.


Now, the iPhone does not have the great camera. But, I do have this awesome app called Hipstamatic which takes photos ala the awesome plastic cameras of old. Some of them turned out great. I would truly recommend the Hipstamatic app to any photographic enthusiast iPhone users.

Taken with the Jon S lens on Kodot Verichrome film




Taken with the Kaimal Mark II lens on Ina's 1969 film

The last three remind me of photos my dad has of his family on holidays at the Gold Coast during the 1960s.