A Melbourne Shakespeare tale

Well I have finally finished my degree! Well to be technical I haven't passed yet so I can't be certain that it is all over, but fingers crossed right? My last exam was on Monday and it was the hardest of the three, passable though I think. I've been a busy little girl for the rest of the week trying to catch up with my socialising and shopping before I head back to ye olde hometown next week for a few days with the parents.

I thought I'd share with you this polaroid I took last week sometime. I've been wanting to take a polaroid of this house ever since I got my camera, and every day I walk past it on my way to and from uni and I make up little stories about it in my head. You see directly opposite this big old mansion sits another big old mansion. In my head they were built by warring neighbours back in the olde days (I'm not good with era's) who were trying to outdo each other, a bit Romeo and Juliet style.

And in true Shakespearean tradition there were star crossed lovers who would each sit in their bell towers, with their candle flickering, staring out across the gardens and the street to the person in the other tower. Who knows maybe they even did some kind of wacky light signals with their candles? I'm sure it's possible. Maybe they ran away and eloped, or maybe the girl was married off to some rich kid in Canterbury.

So there you go, a little peek into the silliness that is in my head as I walk by these houses everyday with my head skyward, wondering what the insides of these very pretty old houses look like.

I'll be back to regular programming now so I will be back sharing all my wonderful discoveries and insightful philosphising that has been going on over the last few weeks, aren't you just so excited?

Cuteness overload

Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

Now I know you've probably seen this little french girl all over the blogs by now, but could she be any cuter?! Look at those eyes! Gah, jealously. I'm so teaching my kids french (after I learn french..) so they can be this cute.

Make me happy

I've been feeling a tad melodramatic lately, in case you haven't noticed. So before this turned into another poor-me-I'm-so-displaced-in-life post I decided to kick that thought process in the guts and instead contribute to Mike's week of happy (very late), if only for a day. So in no particular order, 50 things that make me happy:

1. playing with light
2. silver watches
3. chopsticks
4. polaroids
5. bright nail polish
6. white bedsheets and floral pillow covers
7. business cards
8. wooden tea trays
9. brunch
10. gin rummy
11. Leffe Blonde
12. decluttering
13. recluttering
14. 'testing" the cookie dough/cake batter
15. list-making
16. gift-wrap
17. gingerbread houses
18. summer nights
19. hot air balloons
20. pink champagne
21. handbound notebooks
22. bbqs
23. homemade lemonade
24. lying on the grass
25. giggling children
26. secret santa
27. circus tents
28. etsy mail
29. rainbow crotchet throw rugs
30. bright eyes (I'd forgotten how much I adore this video)
31. 4pm naps
32. tropical cocktails
33. wanderlust
34. big old houses with bell towers
35. sending postcards 'just because'
36. epiphanies
37. cookbooks with beautiful pictures
38. cardigan weather
39. fish and chips
40. disposable cameras
41. ceiling fans
42. the silent study floor of my uni library
43. red lentil soup
44. warm turkish bread with spinach dip
45. pie charts
46. swedish christmas ornaments
47. frozen raspberries and grapes
48. laundromats
49. calendars
50. 'summer' by Josh Pyke

I put my pants on both legs at a time

does anyone else watch this and just think 'ultimate wedgie'?

Quarter-life crisis, take 2

Do you ever feel like this? I sometimes feel like I need to expect less so I don't feel dissapointed when I'm 80 and looking back on my life.

This is.. my favourite quote

I'm not sure if we're meant to use actual quotes by famous people or something like that for this week's theme. To be honest I haven't actually been to the post of the blog of the person who came up with this week's theme. I'm in the last stages of finishing my report which is due tomorrow at 8pm and I'm going a little batty.

So to honour this, I've used a 'quote' from issue four of Mankind Mag. For some reason just looking at this picture (by Nicole Parks fyi) made me go 'oh yeah', as if it wasn't completely obvious. So often I sit at my computer staring at a blank screen so scared of writing something completely crap and unsubmittable that I continue staring at the blank screen and don't write anything for hours. This little quote just tell me 'just write SOMETHING anything, then at least you're thinking about it and you're haflway there'.

I wrote this quote on a bit of paper and it now sits above my laptop, with my 'keep calm and carry on' postcard and another quote that I love:

'There is no greater tragedy than doing nothing, for fear of doing too little'.

I found this quote back in VCE when I was having similar problems with my work, I'm such a perfectionist that I always expect the best from myself and when I feel I can't do my best I just do nothing, which is only selling myself short. These quotes keep my going and push me over the edge more often than not. Hopefully you find them useful too.

Etsy love

I love these so much it hurts a little bit. Unfortunately my budget simply does not stretch to $55 US a print :( Aren't they just absolutely adorable though?


I don't know if it's the whole working at Ikea thing or what, but I seem to have a soft spot for Nordic looking stuff at the moment. Doesn't help that one of my other favourite shops is Kikki K. The Swedes are taking over! And I'm quite happy for them to.


So instead of sending myself broke I settled with this equally gorgeous gocco print by LittlestFlower which I bought after less than 2 minutes of deliberation. Possibly an all-time record for me, I generally mull over purchases for a good 2-3 days before hitting that 'purchase' button. But for $9 including the frame, I'd be stupid not to.

Before I die..

I love this site. It's funny seeing how some people say really frivolous things while others take the deep road.

Personally, before I die I want to experience reckless, out of control, all consuming love. No matter how soul-shattering and blinding it is, I wanna give it a go. Because as a Piscean I'm predisposed to be a bit of a sucker for romantic punishment.

I would have said 'find contentment' or 'be happy' or something similar to the one in the photo above. Which I also want of course, but I'm a bit stuck on this love thing for the moment.

What about you? What do you want to do before you die?

This is.. a recipe I would like to share

 

You'll have to excuse me for not writing this up myself or taking real photos of the batch I made, things are a little crazy here with the report you see. Hence why this is super late, although that's not really so unusual for me.

Either way, click on the pic above to see the proper size version of it so you can read it. It is probably my favourite soup recipe ever right now, and I am kicking myself (and Delicious) for having not found it when it was actually winter and I could eat it without raising a sweat. I made my first batch of this on Friday when the cold weather kicked in for the weekend (you have to love Melbourne weather like that) and I ate it for every meal until yesterday lunch time. And even though I ate it for every meal for 4 days, I found myself wanting to make another batch straight away. Too bad the old Melbourne weather had decided to kick back into Spring by then so it will just have to wait.

Trust me though, it is awesome. I added a bit more chillii to mine to give it even more of a kick and I ate it with lemon juice squeezed over the top. Yum. For anyone over the other side of the world who might happen upon my little blog, make this your soup recipe of the coming season, you won't regret it!

Relief

I don't usually get much into politics, but there is something amazing about Obama that actually gives me hope for America and the world once again.