*some favorite photos of 2009

I've been taking this last day of a decade to go through some photos I've taken the last year...

These are from our NZ trip in March... They are all from the Holga, too. I decided that was the only camera I was going to bring, and it was liberating!

I'm sure I'll have more as the day goes on...
xo

*yay!! new buttons on Etsy!!

I must say... I had a blast making these. I sat at my desk in my office, decided to blast some good tunes (I was having a Jeremy Enigk/The Fire Theft/Sunny Day Real Estate kind of day.(not long until i get to see them play!!! :) and just went to it. Ahhh liberating!

Anyway. There are still a few more I have to put up in the next day or so. And a few new photographic prints as well... Can you tell I'm loving my holiday???

Go check out Etsy for more buttons and photos... :)

xo

*more soon to be on etsy...

xo

*soon to be on Etsy!!

Some fancy new multi layered fabric buttons I've been working on!! Love these!!
xo

*finally. on holiday...

I hope everyone had a beautiful Christmas! I've chatted with the family back home, and yes, I am jealous they had a white Christmas - Jacob and I had our first Christmas alone... with Timmy of course! It was lovely!

My stay-cation started with a new van Hulst Christmas eve tradition... Tandoori Chicken that Jacob marinated for 2 days and popped on the BBQ. Very nice! We decorated our mini-tree and watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (one of the 2 best Christmas movies ever, only tied with A Christmas Story). We were also visited by the Christmas Huntsman... Bahhh!!!(Apologizes for the iPhone pics on this one... )

And sweet little Timmy fell asleep waiting for Santa....

Christmas morning is for sleeping in. But saw my xmas pressie from Jacob. Yay!!! New big canvases! And some adorable artwork he mastered on the plastic covering. I almost don't want to use them and ruin his artwork!! I crocheted him a neck warmer with some nice merino wool and some sweet old vintage US Navy sailor buttons I had. I'm going to make myself one. I love it!

We had a few soy flat whites, a few mimosas with super freshly squeezed orange juice (thanks to Jenny's xmas gift from about 10 years ago, yes, my fancy 1950's orange juice maker..), a couple crossiants with my homemade cherry plum jam.. and then Jacob went nuts in the kitchen... Eggs with Gravalax and onions and chili. Oh goodness - Yum!!!

They rest of the day we lounged, went for a walk around the park with Timmy. Then came back to make dinner, Bugs!!!! I made some potato salad and peach salsa. Yes, we basically just pigged out all day!
 

Yum!!!

I spent some time later in the day with my camera around the house. The light was perfect and I couldn't resist.

 

Jacob scored heaps of fruit from a friend... Fruit salad, stewed applesauce, and the cherry plums from the tree in the front yard...

 We played Rummy on Xmas Eve - proof I won!

Timmy's new hobby. Chewing books. Ugh.

 

And my catching up on the crochet projects. Including Jacob's xmas gift.

Anyway. Back to doing some domesticness that is catching up on laundry and grey-watering the garden.
xo

*timmy

I just realised I haven't posted in ages!!! Yikes!!!!

The last couple weeks, our lil Timmy had a few issues. My *lovely* Jacob fed him a rather large lamb bone. Timmy, instead of burying it like he normally does, ate the entire thing in one shot. Yeah. Poor thing couldn't poo for days. I had to take him to the vet on Monday morning... then a couple Xray's and tests later - they saw what was blocking his insides. The bone had compacted in his system and created these massive stones that weren't budging. They were going to have to operate on his if they didn't come out after a couple days. Ugh!!! I was so stressed out. Later that day he was able to push out two of the blockages, but there was still one that evenutally came out 3 days later.

So no operations, thank goodness. Now he's mostly back to normal. Poor lil nugget.

As you can see.. this was taken a few days ago, but he is his happy mischievous self again. :)

I've officially started my vacation countdown... 5 more days until I have a week off! I'm so excited!!! I can't wait to have the time to complete half done projects I have.

On the list :

• Finished my two Granny Square blankets.
• Make heaps more buttons for Etsy.
  
• Finish my latest painting I've been trying to get to.
• Replant the chamomile into the garden.
• Quit smoking.
  
• Maybe a little detoxing is in order as well.
• Draw.
• Finish my website. 
• Bake something.
  

Ok. Yeah. I may not get everything done... but I'm hopeful!
xo

*gone missing

Missing the hometown heaps lately.
Miss my family and my lovely lovely friends back in the US...
See you soon I hope!!
xo

*MixTape Zine!!!

Woohoooo!!!

I received my new issue this week! Thanks Justine!!!
I love the new design, size - very very cool stuff! There is a great piece on some crafty tattoos. Makes me want to finish my half sleeve!!!

And yes, my ad :D
xo

*what's hot & not

Aida reminded me today - one month until Christmas. Yikes!!! I supposed I should start thinking about gifts and what not.. I'm such a bad Aunt!

Hotties -

Starting a new painting on the weekend. My goal is to finish it by this weekend. I don't have much time during the week to do these types of things, but I love painting again....

The WIP.

Not the best shot of it, I took it with my iPhone this morning. The star/fireflies are actually pieces of paper from the hole puncher in my office. This is what happens when you wake up at 6am on a Saturday morning and listen to Andrew Bird while you paint :)

Tonight, a bunch of us are going to the RocKwiz Christmas Show!! More proof it's getting to the holiday season I guess. So excited though! I saw one Christmas show they did and Liam Finn played - woohooo!

It's Thanksgiving back in the States on Thursday!! I'm missing the family and the friends and the fact I will not be stuffing my face with turkey again this year, but I may make a pumkpin pie this week to celebrate! Yum!!!!!!!!!!

Also, this Friday -

I made her some buttons to sell of some pieces... :) Anywho. See you there!!


Notties -

This week or so we've had a homeless man staying on the bench across from work. My desk faces the window, which in turn faces said bench. He's harmless and seems nice enough, but it's a sad state when the police come and try to offer help and he doesn't say a word. They eventually fight him to the ground and pin him to the pavement with one knee on his chest, another on his throat.
It's hard to say whether or not I understand how this would feel, either as the man on the ground or as a police officer. It's just a horrible thing to see. But good news, he's back on his bench reading the same magazine he's been reading all week.

Yeah, back to Thanksgiving. REALLY missing the family. Love you all! Enjoy the festivities!!!! Happy Thanks!!! *and remember - Mom - Trip the Fan!!!*

xo

*oh a week or so ago...

I've been slack at writing this week... Yikes! Sorry!

Well, a few things here and there have been going on. Mostly stuck at work - short staffed and stressed out. It's not the way I personally like to spend my time, but someone has to feed Timmy :)

Last night we headed out to the see the Women's Circus.

Our gorgeous friend, Erin, is a tumbler. Back flip Queen actually! It was a really good show! I have my favorite part still playing in my mind - think syncronized swimming meets flying - it was lovely! It was nice to learn a little more about the entire conception of the Circus as well. I'm really tempted to start training with them. I need to get back to beeing more physical and flexible. I think I need more than yoga.

The show is at the Living Museum of the West, Pipemakers Park on the Maribyrnong River from Thursday 19 November to Sunday 6 December.

Check it out if you can, and give your love to these amazing women! And cheer on Erin in all her backflip glory!

Another cool things this week - I'm borrowing a button maker from D&E. Love it! I've started making buttons made of fabrics and old maps and old drawings and actually will be making the buttons Aida will be selling at her show - which opens this Friday! Don't forget!!!

Some buttons :

Anywho, the Etsy shop has these, I will  be making more over the next few days - any requests, let me know!

Ok I'm off to start dinner and possibly finish a painting while listening to Andrew Bird or Sufjan Stevens... Ahh, good night planned!!
xo

*what's hot & not - the heat wave version

Yay! It's Wednesday! Almost the weekend, right??

Hotness :

Besides the heatwave we are having... I'm not sure if it's a plus or a minus yet.

Picking up on old projects : The Cork Board
I've been wanting to finish this for sometime.
My husband rocks at commonsense sometimes.. "Cut the bubbly corks in half with a utility knife..." he says. "Genius!" I say. But I still need at least twice as many to make it the size I want, looks like I have a lot of vino consuming to do!

Slowly expanding my sewing knowledge :
Ok. The zipper thing is STILL doing my head in... And lining??? Gah! I'm going to take a class soon at the Thread Den, ahh the basics. I am happy with the colours though. :)
That's pretty hot..

Feeding my addiction for True Blood : 
Yes. I love my library. I finally started reading the Sookie Stackhouse books that True Blood is based on. I'm really loving it! MUST.... READ....... MORE!!

I'm such a chick sometimes!


Not so hot:

Ok, yes the heat.
34C is a little too warm for me in November - December yes, but not yet! (94F degrees for reference) Apparently it'll cool down to 23C (74F) next week if we're lucky.

Husband's falling off their bicycles.
Last week, Jacob came home with roadburn on his arm, hand, and leg, a bruised hip and a bruised ego. He's all good, but it's also scary to hear that news nonetheless.

Melbourne's graffiti laws.
How is that people get harrased, arrested and detained when working on a comissioned piece on private property is beyond me. Evil.

Also, I know it's Veteran's Day back home and Remembrance Day here.... but it's also a few important people's birthdays!!

Happy 13th Birthday to my gorgeous and beautiful niece, Nikki! I'm missing her heaps right now!
and..
Happy Birthday to the one and only Dunc!!! You boys are finally catching up in age!!
xo

*a weekend away...

By chance, we were able to take a day and a half away from the homestead here in Melbourne. We stayed with Nance and Dave at the Chestnut House in Hepburn Springs out in country Vic. It was Timmy's first weekend away (it's pet friendly!!! yay!!!) and his first long car ride. Well, an hour and a half outside the city can be long for our lil Nugget.

Yes, we got a little lost. Nothing major though. Saw some beautiful country side!

The house was so beautiful. I could spend the rest of my days there. It was so peaceful and gardens were so lush! It didn't feel like Australia at all!

Jacob and Dave - probably comparing the differences between Australia and New Zealand. Again ;)

See!! Lush!!!

We went for a quick wander about the town. Small, cute, sort of red-neck in a good way! :) We found a great little gallery called Wolf at the Door. I wanted one of everything. I loved the smaller paintings and some of the handmades. They were super nice!!

Dinner! All good except the mosquitos. Ugh!! After dinner we hung out in the Cinema Room and watched Coraline on the wide screen. Ahhh, Tim Burton, popcorn, wine and good peeps!! Happiness.

The next morning, we had a visitor. Gorgeous much!?

Thanks Claire and Daniel and Nance and dave for letting us stay the night!!!! Have a good rest of the week there!!!
xo

*garden update

Last night's earwig mission was quite good! Only about ten of them versus the thirty plus every other night. I think the cooler air has been helping. Everything seems to be going well though, growing ok and making progress. The passionfruit has quite a few flowers going on it. I've never seen passionfruit flowers until about 3 weeks ago - they are so cool! Very alien.

And the beans/peas are doing awesome!! Jacob's been sneaking them when he's out in the garden... Yum!

xo

*surfing and photography - Ryan Heywood

Hey kids!

Back quite a while ago now, I organised a print for a client. I love his work and thought I'd give him a lil shout out ...

His name is Ryan Heywood. I read/look/dream about the photos he posts on his blog all too often. Very very cool stuff. Check it out....

Good Times!!
xo

*what's hot & not

Yes, another Wednesday What's Hot and Not via the lovely Loobylu...

So Hot :

Timmy is Free Range! Since we've had him, he's been staying in the laundry room when we are not home. The last couple weeks though, we've been trialing him out and about in the house. He's been a champ! He's only gotten into a few things, but I just have to remember not to leave my wool anywhere in the house at Timmy level. Sometimes, Timmy thinks he's a cat and decides to go after balls of yarn. What a nugget!

Redesigning the website!!! *evhCreative.com.au {Portrait Photography} None of the other links work yet, but let me know what you think! I'm digging it. I'm in the process of setting up the children's portfolio, but it's so hard to narrow down all the cuties I've photographed in the past!

Melbourne Cup Day - The two horses that were randomally chosen for me did not win, but it was a good day off to hang out with friends. Thanks to Claire and Daniel for hosting a yummy BBQ down south of the Yarra.

Crocheting - I'm still working on my two massive Granny Square blankets. I've finally started putting the grey and green one together in strips. Of course, what I thought was a decent sized blanket, has now turned into a bedspread size blanket (thanks Jacob :P), which means more and more Granny Squares to go.

Starting to plan my stacation over Christmas break - All I want is sunshine and books!

The temperature. 30+ degrees C this week?? Ouch. But bring it on! I'm in some serious need of vitamin D :)




Not So Hot :

Earwigs. We've been battling them for what seems like ages now. Jacob goes out into the garden before bed to have at them, knocking them off the passionfruit plants and into a bucket of water. Anyone know any good way of getting rid of them?? They are killing off almost everything in the veggie patch as well! Yuck!

My shoulder. Yesterday morning, after sitting on my computer for about 20 minutes, redesigning my site, I sat up nice and tall and decided to stretch. Bad idea. I finally made it to lay down on the bed, but then couldn't get up. Ugh. All of the muscles from between my shoulder blades up through my neck haven't loosened yet. Thank goodness I have my Osteo tomorrow night.

xo

*happy halloween!

It's finally Halloween!! Not that we celebrate it much here in Australia, especially like we used to back in the States, but that's ok. Yesterday I saw quite a few kids dressed up with capes and green scary faces walking to the Primary School next door... There is hope yet!!

Last weekend we had the 1st Annual Pumpkin Carving Party - good times! Jacob, Duncan and I went early to the Vic Markets to find any orange pumpkins we could... $35 and $20 later, we had two. We then vowed to never spend that much on pumpkins again, save the seeds and grow our own for next year. I excited to find two pumpkins, but the cost of them was quite a buzz kill. 

My Martha Stewart Decor. They turned out ok. The Pumpkin was a little to on the large size - but the cat and owl came out as good as I could have expected! Yay for glue guns!!

Let the carving begin!!!

Jacob and Erin

Pumpkin Guts!! Ewwww!

Tim and Bryan

And finally!!! The Finished Pumpkins!! Bad spirits - Be Gone!!

Erin and Jay's pumpkins

Bryan's and my pumpkins

Bootsy Pumpkin by Duncan and another by Erin

Jacob and Erin's

Julie and Jo's lovely anime lady ;)

Tim's 12kg grey pumpkin. Even without the guts, it's still heavy as!!

Happy Halloween!!!

xo