| Posted by Lou | The time is 5.51pm here in London UK |

What the fuck is the point of electric hand driers that don't actually dry your hands? All they provide is a limp gust of lukewarm air that would take days, if not years, to actually dry anything. They're just a big fat waste of the world's resources. Bring back hand towels!




(A caution to Wellingtonians: The Apartment bar has the ultimate combination of limp hand driers ("hand ticklers" is perhaps a more accurate term (actually I'm not even sure that there's enough gust to tickle)) and towels that are stuck behind glass, just to provide that extra slap in the face as you wipe your hands on your dress on your way out.)

| Posted by Lou | The time is 12.42pm here in London UK |

This is an action point for that universal pet peeve of going to make a lovely cup of tea... and realising you don't have any milk.

Or! Rolling out of bed on a Saturday morning and deciding to make some lovely spontaneous crepes... and realising you don't have any milk.

Both of these have happened to me in the last 12 hours and what did I do dear readers? Did I cry? Curse the universe?

No, I did not.

I opened my freezer and got out the little ice-cube bag that I keep filled with little blocks of milk, and I lived happily ever after.

The end.

| Posted by Lou | The time is 11.26am here in London UK |

Do you know what really gets on my tits? When I'm in a Thai restaurant and I order a lovely dish and they send it out with one big sprig of coriander sitting on top.



I love coriander and always end up having to pick it up with my fingers, delicately pick off bits of leaf, and spread it across my whole dish.

Would it be so hard for them to chop it up a little in the kitchen? It's there for flavour, not decoration.

Okay so some people don't like coriander, in which case they should ask for no coriander. Or if concerned the restaurant could put it on the side.

I would just like to eat a lovely Thai noodle dish without having to first look like a complete idiot by picking my coriander into little pieces.



Tangent:
I was googling for the image to accompany this and discovered that coriander is also known as cilantro. I was cooking a Vietnamese noodle soup the other day and could not for the life of me find cilantro in the supermarket and realised I didn't actually know what it was. Luckily being a coriander lover I was putting it onto the dish anyway.

| Posted by Bel | The time is 2.27pm here in Wellington NZ |

I just sent this email:

Subject: Soy milk in the chiller section at New World Metro Willis Street

Hi there Richard

I hope you are the right person to contact regarding this. It is a pet peeve of mine that there is no soy milk in the chiller section at New World Metro Willis Street. There is a huge range of various other dairy products! It's most impressive if not overwhelming. I would love to think that you could also find room to store soy milk at a cool temperature. I think that this would be appreciated by the general public as well as by myself who hates having to eat my cereal with gross warm milk when I've just bought it from your supermarket.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you,
Best wishes,

Bel

I will keep you posted on any further developments.

| Posted by Bel | The time is 10.16am here in Wellington NZ |

Just had her second child. Yeowzers.

From NPR: Legendary Actress Elizabeth Taylor Has Died

• Audio and transcript with clips from movie
• Slideshow

Fortunately for Liz, she aged into the era of Photoshopping.

The New York Times obituary: Elizabeth Taylor, Lifelong Screen Star, Dies at 79

• Slideshow
• Snazzy interactive timeline!
• Lots of links to other great NYT articles
• Obit is four pages long and crammed with details and quotes
• Also: the obit writer died six years ago. HAWKWARD.

My necklace? This old thing?

Rotten Tomatoes: A list - and the Tomato Rating - of all Elizabeth Taylor's films

Apparently she did some others too? In black and white?

Richard Burton was the love of Liz's life. A lot of the time he was a total herk off to her, but you can read on the Peculiar Beauty blog as he describes her in his own words.

Read up on them just to hear about the diamond he gave her if nothing else.

The Telegraph obituary: Elizabeth Taylor: famous like no-one else
Plus yet another gorgeous slideshow from them too, focussing on Liz as a style icon.

Need we say more?

Do you want to bliss out on photos of NOT JUST Liz, but also James Dean and Dennis Hopper? Feast your eyes on this photographic celebration of Giant by The Selvedge Yard, which is about as long as the movie itself.

Love this. That's her on the mag cover too.

And of course there is paydirt over at LIFE.

• Unpublished Pics Many of her as a teen - and with our man, Monty, Lou!
• Elizabeth Taylor's Many Hats God bless the person who compiled this
• Wedding Photos How can there be only 13 photos in this slidehow??
• LIFE magazine covers No one has appeared more times than her

| Posted by Bel | The time is 8.46am here in Wellington NZ |

Why is there never soy milk in the chiller section of the supermarket?

There is like a BILLION different types of dairy products, including cow milk in every possible incarnation from full milk bursting at the seams with cream, to organic with extra vitamins added and every gram of fat zapped out.

Yoghurt has become an industry of its own in recent years. No longer do we just have strawberry Fresh N Fruity slowly going tepid in kids' lunchboxes, the varieties are now seemingly ENDLESS and eye-booglingly exotic. There is even available a yoghurt specifically for men [trigger warning: for utterly inane sexism].

And yet if - SAY! - you were someone who enjoyed eating a bowl of cereal at your desk in the morning, and consuming the breastmilk of another mammal not only made you feel queasy at the thought, but also wreaked havoc on your sinuses, you are PLAIN OUTTA LUCK. Because your only option is to buy boxed soy milk off the shelf.

And then it is all warm and gross and you have to wait, like, ages before you can have your cereal! Unlike all those selfish Fonterra-loving milk guzzlers who swan by, pick up their glistening and beaded bottles, and waltz on to an instanteously delicious (and correctly temperatured) meal.

| Posted by Lou | The time is 4.40pm here in London UK |

It turns out I am actually very good at being unemployed. In fact, it turns out I'm a little bit too good at being unemployed.

For example, it is 4.41pm and I have not had a single moment of being bored today, yet this is all I have done:

• slept in
• checked email, twitter, facebook
• checked job ads
• sighed over lack of appealing jobs
• gone to the supermarket
• made lunch
• sorted out some crap for an upcoming holiday
• sent my bank another angry message
• emailed a recruitment agent
• blogged a pet peeve

Amazing how it can all be spread out to fill in a whole day.

But yes, underneath it all I am bored bored bored.



It turns out all those times I was moaning about my job and questioning whether I was doing the right kind of thing and dreaming about all the things I would do if I had the money and time, I hadn't considered the key facts:

1. Everybody needs to earn money in order to live.
2. Earning more than average is a great way to afford awesome holidays and save up for the future.
3. There are very few (if any) fulfilling jobs out there for the taking.
4. Going to work every weekday provides a lovely little structure to one's life so that they can better appreciate their spare time.
5. Working somewhere social has excellent benefits in terms of drinking buddies.

Not to get me wrong - my old workplace was specifically very badly treating me and I had many legitimate reasons to be deeply dissatisfied. However, the job itself is something I would happily have back again right now if those problems were resolved.

Fancy that, huh? Years of thinking I'm a sell-out blah blah blah, and it turns out I really was doing the best thing I could be doing.

(In case you're wondering, my old boss has specifically told me he would talk to me about coming to work with him in his new workplace, but he shares an Assistant with his CEO and 2 others so there isn't a job to talk to me about.)

Perhaps this is benefitted by the cathartic moment I have had that goes along the lines of (to quote from an email I sent Bel after arriving back in London):
I WANT TO MOVE BACK TO NEW ZEALAND.



Okay so I feel like that every time I visit New Zealand. But this time it's different. Maybe? (I do have to consider that I have come back to job hunting, and there was that earthquake that emotionally fucked-up each and every New Zealander throughout the world.)

It is also benefited by 2.5 weeks of job-hunting that have made me realise how slim the pickings are out there at the moment. (Meanwhile several awesome jobs in film are available in Wellington right now that I'm pretty sure I'd have a decent chance of getting.)

So pretty much right now I'm hoping a job will come up that will combine the right industry with the right pay so that I can get through the next 18 months (I want to experience the Olympics (even though I think they'll cause a horrendous transport meltdown)) or 36 months (if I decide I do want that UK passport).

And realistically, "right industry" and "right pay" pretty much mean "working as an Executive Assistant". And I swear I'm not going to complain about it when it happens. (Maybe?)

| Posted by Lou | The time is 4.32pm here in London UK |

I really fucking hate advertisements that spout meaningless statistics. Like, not just that the statistics are dumb, but that they actually literally mean nothing.

It actually made me develop a twitch to be standing on a tube platform the other day surrounded by posters declaring:

"Londoners are 30% more likely to [fucking hate meaningless statistics?]!"*

30% more likely than who??!?!!!



*In case you care about the specifics, it was something like "possess smart phones" and was an ad for The New Statesman.

| Posted by Lou | The time is 12.11am here in London UK |

It seems I haven't mentioned any films since gushing about Oscar!Winning! The King's Speech. To get through them with speed I'm limiting myself to one sentence for synopsis, one sentence for what I thought of it...


The Social Network
A super nerd codes some website you might have heard of, then bickers over ownership, intellectual property and money in court with some rich twins. I genuinely think this film is going to fade into meh-ville with the passing of time, and I'm not just saying that because I took a sleeping tablet halfway through (I was on a plane, FYI).


Black Swan
A ballerina pushes her body and mind to the limit as she battles against an over-involved mother, creepy director, and free-spirited rival in a quest for perfection. Normally I hate films that blur the lines of what is real, but I thought this one brilliantly set a real foundation and then layered it with just the right amount of fantasy, ambiguity, genre elements, dance, themes, beauty, ugly beneath the beauty, creepiness... and basically I loved it.



True Grit
A good ol' Western with a twist in that the person seeking revenge is a girl. I thought this was really good, but was disappointed as I wanted it to be great - for me it didn't have enough Coen magic to really capture my attention.


The Fighter
A boxer has to deal with a whole lot of family shit and one hell of a set of sisters in his quest to be a champion. Whilst the previews for this film made it seem like just another dumb boxing film, it is actually really, really great and contains the best acting performance of a looong time (Christian Bale).


Animal Kingdom
A boy finds himself drawn into the fold of a helluva fucked up family crime ring. This film is the best thing I have seen on the big screen in a really long time and you are missing out if you don't do everything necessary to see it: I laughed, I cried, I gasped, I loved it.



The Town
A bank robbing gang hit a complication when their ring-leader falls for a potential witness. Whilst this is theoretically a good film, I watched it on the same day I saw Animal Kingdom and it just couldn't compete (and I thought Ben Affleck was a bit shite on the acting side of things, but a competent director).


Due Date
A kinda weird situation evolves in which a guy has to get in a car with a random weird dude and drive across country to get home in time for his wife's birth. I didn't think it was all that funny and wasn't able to fully showcase RDJ's supreme charisma, but it wasn't bad.


Get Him to the Greek
A record company pleb is given the task of getting a druggie pop star to the Greek on time. I didn't really like the film but sort of wanted to shag Russell Brand big-time.



Love and Other Drugs
A drug sales rep falls for a girl suffering from a degenerative disease, and they get it on a lot. I expected more Jake G nudity from what I had heard (maybe it was edited for the plane?), but it was actually better than advance word had led me to expect.


Fair Game
A CIA operative and her husband find themselves being targeted for revenge by their own government when he speaks out against the WMD lies. Whilst as an individual film it won't set your world on fire, it is very watchable and I hope is just one of a landslide of films that will emerge capturing the many and varied ways in which the Bush regime and their buddies (I'm talking to you Blair) fucked over the whole world as they lied their way to war.

| Posted by Lou | The time is 4.30pm here in London UK |

I just had a flick through last year's blogging endeavours "30 Days of Me" and "30 Days Till 30" and thought it might be time for some updates:

The camera, aka my Diana F+

It seems I never posted any pics from my attempts at getting the hang of the Diana F+. I took two rolls of film - one of the trip I did around the time of my 30th, and the other at my birthday party. Some of the photos were pretty okay, some were middling, and others were pretty shite. But I learned some important lessons:

1) ALWAYS check the settings before taking a photo. (I accidentally took several day pics on the night setting and thus blew them out entirely.)

2) For nighttime/ indoor shots the camera must be perfectly still.

Basic things, but ones that needed to be demonstrated before being really driven into my head. I have another film from my recent trip that just needs finished off before developing that I'm hoping will have corrected a lot of my mistakes.

I shall intersperse some pics throughout this post to give you sampling of what came out.

This is one that blew out due to my forgetting to customise the settings. I do like it though - it is of a crane at the Grand Canyon that was involved in the guano mining business, and for me the blow out just enhances the surrealism I felt the place, machinery, and story of guano mining held.

My hobby, aka learning to play the ukulele

I finally got my ukulele tuned properly, and suddenly it all started to come together - I genuinely feel like I might be getting the swing of it. But also I now know that I will never be a great player... as much as I love music and have an affinity for it, I lack the natural musical talent that enables people to just fire away and create lovely sounds. (One suspects this when they find themself unable to tune the strings correctly.)

This doesn't bother me too much though - I can read music so just need to commit chords and notes to memory then buy myself a song book.

This is an attempt at capturing motion with a long exposure. I think that aspect is okay (I was a bit drunk and highly amused by how huge Cara's cocktail was so came up with this cheers idea on the spur of the moment - all things considered it is a decent result), but I'm not happy with the framing and background.

Au naturale, aka decreasing use of commercial cleaning products

As I sit here gazing around at my filthy, filthy floors I can testify that I am certainly sticking to my oath not to slather my floors in bleach and chemicals. Unfortunately my vinegar bottle is unopenable (in fact, in Glasgow there is a friend receiving physio for an injury sustained trying to open it for me...), so I haven't cleaned them with a natural product either. (I say unfortunately, but really it's fortunate to have the excuse.)

The other day I realised that my skin had become wintry again, and so without vodka improvised a natural yoghurt & whiskey face mask which worked just as good, if not better, than the vodka version. I own a grand total of zero commercial washes (for face or body), currently making do with handmade green tea and manuka honey soaps.

My recycling and rubbish volumes have increased due to being at home more often, but I figure that this is good as it's better than the large volume of waste associated with workplace eating. (Oh the guilt of nipping out to buy a sandwich that is all packaged up in a plastic container.)

This is one of the shots that turned out best in terms of colour and clarity. I took it with the lomo because, again, I felt it was a somewhat surrealist location (Joshua Trees in the desert). I wish I'd also tried doing one with the flash on and a dark coloured gel over it to try and add a colour splash to the mix.

New habits, aka doing more exercise

This is something I am constantly nagging myself about - I still find it so difficult to feel motivated to do anything more than walking. But! With so much spare time at my disposal I've been sticking to a reasonable level of activity. And I learned whilst in New Zealand that Wii Fit is something I would enjoy doing, so I think I'll try and find a more appropriate flat (ie one that doesn't have a thin squeaky floor) in July and set myself up to do that. In the meantime it's power walking and pilates.

This is my fave from the indoor shots - it definitely came out best in terms of framing and composition (I would love to say that the bird wall in the background was thought through, but it is mostly fluke), and the blur works with Martin's hilarious facial expression. (He was being Strawberry Fields.) A lot of the party pics are a lot more blurred, and didn't quite hit the mark with the framing - though I'm yet to figure out how to gain a higher level of accuracy so this might always be a hit and miss endeavour.

| 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. 

| Posted by Lou | The time is 5.32pm here in London UK |

I previously discussed my dislike [insert thumb-down button here] of Peter Travers' comments on The Social Network, and my like [thumb-up!] of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's response to him.

Travers actually wrote an open letter response to Gordon-Levitt in which he says:

What's "defining" about The Social Network is the way it shows a generation losing touch with its humanity. The satire in Sorkin's script isn't aimed at what you call the "cool kids," the "creative, non-narcissistic" users of the Internet who don't use "friend" as a verb. They are in the minority. Who's the majority? Go to any multiplex to see a movie — I just came back from Sundance — and you'll see a lightshow of iPhones and Blackberrys at every performance. Not before or after the movie, but during. The guy next to me (from your generation) was checking his e-mail and updating his Facebook status. No apology. No shame. He just shot me a look. Like I wasn't there. Like the audience wasn't there. Like it was just him and a glowing screen.

Overall I find the response to be without substance or merit - arseholes who use their iPhones and Blackberries in cinemas have always been arseholes and always will be arseholes - and barely gave it a second thought. But then 22nd February 2011 happened. And I couldn't help but think of this idea that Facebook is endemic of a generation losing their humanity.

The Earthquake hit, the mobile phone system imploded, and everybody in New Zealand and New Zealanders around the world were left wondering if the multiple people they knew in Christchurch were okay. (Not to forget the people less familiar with New Zealand geography just wondering if their Kiwi friends were okay.)

How did we find out? Through Facebook.

(My sister rang my mum and told her that my aunt, uncle and cousin were okay. Mum was perplexed and asked how she knew. "[cousin] posted it on Facebook". (Mum is always perplexed that the Facebooking members of our extended family always know everything first.))

How did I tell my many international friends messaging/ emailing/ texting to see if I was okay that I was in fact okay? Through Facebook.

How did people pass on the immediate and urgent message that mobile phones were not to be used in order to keep the system open for emergencies? Through Facebook.

How did an army of thousands - thousands - of student volunteers come together to create an invaluable work-force? Through Facebook.

How did people provide and find information on who and how to donate towards earthquake relief? Through Facebook.

So forgive me if for a second time I'm accusing you of talking shit Peter Travers, but every time I hear someone say that Facebook is making people "inhumane" I'm going to think of those few days in February where it became an oasis of humanity in the face of great tragedy for New Zealand.

| Posted by Lou | The time is 7.15pm here in London UK |

Every time I visit the US of A I'm left with the same three questions:

1. Why is there a gap down the sides of the door of every single tolet cubicle? For serious, there is. I don't get it. I thought the desire to defecate in privacy was a universal human trait.

2. Why oh why do Americans not have electric jugs? (aka the humble kettle) I know it isn't a huge tea-drinking culture, but it is a convenience culture and nothing is more convenient than instantly boiled water.

3. What do Americans have against salt 'n' vinegar? In a country absolutely drowning in packaged processed snack foods, it seems insane that the greatest of all flavours be so seldom found.

| Posted by Bel | The time is the morning here in Wellington NZ |


Thursday 27 January 2011 at 09.40

I got this mug for Secret Santa last year at my old work.


Friday 28 January 2011 at 08.29

I took this photo for Heather.


Saturday 29 January 2011

I had just got my eyebrows threaded for the first time.


Sunday 30 January 2011

This is not the morning. DECEITFUL LIES AND BETRAYAL.


Monday 31 January 2011 at 08.39

I look like a pinhead. I often feel like a pinhead.


Tuesday 1 February 2011 at 08.38

That's my swipe card. This is the first job where I've had a swipe card.


Wednesday 2 February 2011 at 08.17

Muffin from Clark's. It had huge chunks of feta in it. HUGE.


Thursday 3 February 2011 at 09.20

Huh? What? Sparkly nail polish, who me?


Friday 4 February 2011 at 08.59

Trying to show off my Peruvian glass bead bracelet.


Saturday 5 February

That headband stayed in my hair for about 2 seconds longer and then it kept creeping back and falling off which ANNOYED me greatly.


Sunday 6 February

I look like this pretty much 89% of the weekend.


Monday 7 February at 09.14

My hair goes sideways as much as it goes downwards and that's the way I like it.


Tuesday 8 February at 09.10

Goodness. How terrifying.


Wednesday 9 February at 08.17

Been in the job a month, so thought I would start busting out the oversize earrings and ridiculous headscarves. I really should have waited until after 90 days, huh.


Thursday 10 February

Team away day. For some reason this evoked a canine baring pose.


Friday 11 February at 07.57

Yellow nail polish (horrid, gluey stuff which I binned immediately after battling on the last coat) and new ring from Lou.


Saturday 12 February at 10.36

At Lou's sister's place.


Sunday 13 February at 08.51

In Martinborough! Just woke up and fresh as a daisy. That has been stood on by a cowpat-encrusted gumboot.


Monday 14 February at 08.22

Trying to show off my beloved necklace. I of course managed to cut off half of it.


Tuesday 15 February at 08.10

Bahahahahaaa passport photo!


Wednesday 16 February at 09.13

Yes, my hair is now long enough for a side plait. Wow.


Thursday 17 February at 08.21

These earrings were a 'farewell present' from colleagues at a job where I was made redundant. I didn't wear them for years because of the negative connotations. I'm glad I did keep them!


Friday 18 February at 08.56

I got three different unsolicited compliments on my hair this day. Go figure.


Saturday 19 February

Freshly touched up hair.


Sunday 20 February

Is this the only one where I am smiling with my teeth? Do I secretly hate my teeth? Weird.


Monday 21 February at 08.27

I almost always now pair this dress with a red cardigan. Here your retinas have been spared.


Tuesday 22 February at 08.26

WGTN printing press necklace. Chickenwire shirt.


Wednesday 23 February at 10.31

Uh. Yeah. Hi.


Thursday 24 February at 08.13

Leopard print does this to me.


Friday 25 February at 09.00

Pretty but scared?