| Posted by Lou | The time is 8.44pm here in London UK |

Following on from Bel, here are seven things about me - put together with the assistance of the scanning function I just found on my printer.


1. I was an extremely cute toddler, in a sort of embarrassing fat-red-cheeks kind of way. Here is me with my older (by 6 years) sister and (by 4 years) brother to illustrate this fact:




2. During my cute toddler-hood I had a small swatch of fabric I called "nigh-nighs", which fulfilled the function of a comfort blanket. I recollect that occasionally it would "go in the wash" and come out brand new - ie my mum would throw it out and cut a new square of fabric. Here is a piccie of me in a stunning outfit out on the farm, nigh-nighs clutched in my hand while I played a ball game:



I also recollect that I would turn up in their bedroom in the middle of the night crying because I had lost nigh-nighs. Nigh-nighs would usually be in my hand when I did this, and if not mum or dad would have to come and check my bed to recover nigh-nighs and avoid disaster.


3. I think I had given up nigh-nighs by the time I reached school, but I was still quite clingy at age 5 and had a lot of trouble being left by myself. Perhaps it was that I was so mortified by being in a Catholic primary school with a horrible green uniform (I still don't wear green):



I went from Catholic primary school to Catholic high school, but thankfully my parents stopped making us go to church every Sunday when I was about 10. I am now an atheist and will only go into a church for either a wedding or a funeral.


4. Being Catholic my family has some funny quirks associated with death, such as that when I arrived for my Grandma's funeral I found Grandma in the corner of the living room in her coffin (which was open). We carried on as normal around her for a couple of days before she was closed up. Then after the funeral when all the non-family well-wishers had gone home we had a "dress up like Grandma" competition in which all my cousins and I dressed up in her clothes and did a fashion show for my parents, aunts, uncles and my brother and sister. The winner was a younger male cousin who chose her bright pink dressing-gown for his outfit, but I think it was widely agreed that I was the one who actually looked scarily like her:




5. My cousins and I grew up in and around Grandma and Grandad's house at the farm, and for someone who has absolutely terrible medium-term memory I clearly remember a lot of it (including nigh-nighs). For example, I remember much of my fourth birthday - it was held at Grandma's and was shared with my cousin who turned two just a few days before mine. We got given matching little necklaces by someone, and I cried because my balloon burst and there were no more with faces drawn on them so I had to have this plain one:




6. For my sixth birthday I got a kitten. We called it Chachi, as my farm cousins had a gosling called Fonzy and a lamb called Joni. Chachi was the smartest, bestest cat the world has ever known. Evidence to support this: I once saw him hunting birds in the backyard and realised he was inching himself forwards to the birds whilst looking to the side as if he was uninterested. He also used to come up behind me on the couch and tap my shoulder to get my attention. He was also exceptionally cute:

He suffered a blood clot in 2000 which paralysed his back legs. Mum and Dad had to take him to the vet to be put down. He was just 14-years-old, which is too young for a good cat to go. I still miss him and have still never had another pet and don't know if I ever could love another animal as much as Chachi.


7. Whilst nothing ever quite reached the excitement of being given a kitten, at uni we did make really big fusses for birthdays and were very creative cake-bakers. A particular highlight was when Cara and I made our flatmate Peter a "cum cake", which was planned to be an ejaculating penis. It didn't quite work out:





I would like to pass this challenge on to the lovely Vidya, Ms Lotte, and - if he ever happens to read this - Logman.

| Posted by Bel | The time is 9.43am here in Wellington NZ |

The rules of the game are thus: 

All ye who are tagged as stylish bloggers have to spill seven interesting beans about yourselves before passing the baton of nomination on to seven others. 

The world becomes a marginally happier, more knowledgeable place, blog friendships are developed and sealed and everyone gets a unicorn.

Well not quite, but it’s a bit of fun at least, right?

Hah! Unicorn. That reminds me of Webstock. I was chatting with someone in the coffee queue and said how I didn't know anyone there. She goes, "Yeah me neither really. Well, I know one person. They're wearing a tee-shirt of unicorns fucking."

Annnnnyyyyway. Onto spilling the beans...

1. I've been in the running for a style award for decades now. Here's me in 1991:
   
   It's Zsa Zsa Gabor meets Blossom. Those tissues are so you can wipe away your tears of awe. The lidded bucket next to it is, if I recall, our compost bin.
   
2. That cute little kitty I am holding there died last week, a grumpy and deaf old man cat aged 20 years. He survived being horrifically (horrifically) attacked by a neighbour's dog last Christmas and had many more days of lazing on the driveway, hissing at other toms, and yeowling for food. RIP Zippy! May your cushion be forever in a sunny spot.
3. I have never broken a bone or had a filling.
4. I blog every week about shopping and style on another website. Sometimes I really love it and the creative people I get to meet; other times I feel like a shallow, vacuous version of Carrie Bradshaw. Yes. Like Carrie Bradshaw, except actually more shallow and vacuous. Sigh.
5. I'm wearing my boots this week so I guess that means it's officially autumn.
6. This is my favourite song right now:
7. Our car is FFFFFFUUUU and we will be eating red beans and rice for the next three months. 

Well, it's tricky choosing people to pass on this Stylish Blogger Award because most of the blogs I read (with their fabulously stylish authors) have already been tagged by MeganWegan, who tagged Lou and I, or by QoT! But here are a couple more of whom I'd like to see their answers:

First is Leanne of Whaipainga. Her blog is all about grassroots goodness and having been on the receiving end of her crafty creations, I can vouch for her greenthumbs!

Also, the verbose, vibrant and vivacious Anna who can be found on her posterous blog and also on twitter.