thinking, thinking…
May 22nd, 2012 § 3 Comments
There is no better place to be in the autumn than on our side landing soaking up the morning sun.
I like to sit out there with a cup of tea to warm my bare legs and to coax the cats to leave whatever nests they’ve made inside and get some fresh air.
It’s all well and good until the dogs realise that the people and the cats (their favourites!) are sitting outside, and throw a dog party on the stairs: tails wagging and thumping against the railing, lots of panting and whining, and Molly’s persistent attempts to entice someone into throwing the ball for her.
This display of canine enthusiasm does not please Oliver.
If you can sneak outside without the dogs noticing, the side landing is also an excellent place to have a think.
I have been thinking and planning a lot lately, which is making it difficult to stay grounded and to maintain the things right in front of me. The pursuit of growth and betterness sometimes means that you have to leave a few things behind.
So, I’ll let you in on a little secret: wabiblog is on its last legs. I have been blogging here for the last two-and-a-half years, and while I am proud of how far I have come in terms of my style and content, there’s a great underbelly of heavy, flaky writing and uncategorisable posts that I now need to leave behind.
I have, lately, been letting some of my bitterness and anxiety seep into my writing here. I don’t believe in masking one’s true self, and it appears that the blogging community, too, is starting to tire of the pretence of perfection that pervades much of our work. Did you catch any of the things I’m afraid to tell you series? So, no, I don’t believe in masking or concealing the self, but I do believe in being able to look back over my own work without thinking “Yuk.” Creative outlets should be liberating, not binding. And lately I have not felt that my writing has been cathartic, but indulgent and sluggish and inhibiting.
There are things that I would still like to address as I blog: chronic illness, the darker days we all experience, the complexities of relationships. But I would like to lift my game. I would like for the content to be inspiring, not worrying or saddening. That’s not my purpose, and it’s not my true personality.
Sometimes I find myself posting something just to have posted something. I keep a gruelling writing schedule, but I could certainly be more engaged and organised. My new rule is that I will not upload a post until I am 100% happy with it. Writing is my life now, and this is the standard to which I must hold myself.
I have been planning this change for a while. I am approaching my 750th post here (!), but I have been tinkering with something in the background.
I hope to be able to share it with you soon.
blog tour tuesday: greedy girl.
May 1st, 2012 § Leave a Comment
This blog, greedy girl, was one of the first blogs that inspired me to create my own through its classy, minimalistic design and spot-on curation of pretty finds. Several years later, it’s still a firm favourite.
Curated by Caroline Duke — a newspaper designer and self-confessed “greedy girl” — this space is full of wonderful things from all around the place, particularly shoes and frocks and lovely homewares. Le sigh.
Personally, I can’t resist a good colour-themed roundup collage.
That’s a thing, right?
For more taste-making fabulousness, follow Caroline’s pinterest boards or hop on the twitter train.
best of the blogs: april.
April 30th, 2012 § 5 Comments
Every time I arrive at the end of another month, I wonder how it could possibly have come around again so quickly.
I’m feeling quite angsty this month, too aware of how little I’ve got done compared to how much I wanted to get done at the outset. But you can’t reclaim lost time, can you?
Maybe if I share a couple of my goals here, I’ll be able to stick to them more successfully.
1. I’m hoping to get my head around WordPress.org and put my HTML & CSS know-how into practice. There are some website- and blog-related things that I’ve been planning for a number of months, but progress has been slow.
2. Although I feel as though I’m getting better at messing around in Adobe programs little by little, I’d love to master some new techniques and skills by the end of May. I get very frustrated when I can’t translate what’s going on in my head onto the screen in the way that I can onto paper.
3. And on a less tangible and more personal note, I want to feel more confident — in general, and in regards to my work. When I receive contact from a prospective client, my first response is always panic. I feel the blood drain out of my face, and the words “I can’t do it,” form in my mind. This freelance gig is enormously overwhelming and frightening sometimes. I wonder at what point I’ll cease feeling like a novice and start feeling like an experienced, capable professional. I want my first response to a query to be curiosity and enthusiasm rather than self doubt. Any tips?
Meanwhile, I’m glad that I am surrounded by so much inspiration every day. I have made it a rule now that I only follow sites and blogs that consistently excite and encourage me. I have felt guilty slashing a couple of feeds out of my reader. But when you spend as much time as I do on the computer and in and out of the folds of the Internet, it’s easy to become avalanched beneath a mountain of content and begin to lose your way. Being loyal to quality content streamlines the time I spend reading and browsing, and also motivates me to lift my game.
So. It’s the last day of April; here are my picks for the month just past:
FASHION
// Oooh, this is my favourite colour.
// Jackie O’s wedding to JFK as captured by a LIFE photographer. Jackie’s dress was perfection.
// Does anybody in my realm of actual real person reality know how to do fishtail braids? They’re so pretty, but I cannot for the life of me work them out.
DESIGN
//I found the process behind jane reaction’s identity design for the farmers shop fascinating and inspiring.
//Breanna Rose (formerly of Moxie) has a a new identity and website, and I like it a lot.
// If I’m courageous enough, I might try Ez’s seamless pattern tutorial. I definitely know I’ll be using these free photoshop arrow brushes.
// Check out this gorgeous stop motion ad that Bri and co made for blogshop.
FOOD
// This fluffy raspberry mousse is pink and amazing. I wonder if I could make a version without packet jelly mix.
// Sprouted grains have so many health benefits. I like the look of this sprouted granola recipe. (I really struggle with breakfast. Do you?)
// There’s rather a lot of sugar in these peanut butter banana choc-chip cookies, but I bet they are incredible. They look incredible.
// These are an elegant take on the coconut macaroon — yum.
// No-knead focaccia. I’m always excited by bread recipes with “no-knead” in the title.
// Handmade vanilla slice is one of the best things ever. With passionfruit — maybe even a tiny bit better.
TECHNOLOGY
// This iPad app looks quite amazing.
FUN
// Nat the Fat Rat is a swell singer, not to mention her mad ukelele skills!
// For list-making and organisational nerds like me, this free weekly planner looks like fun.
// How to travel with children and make yourself popular at the same time. It might even be possible!
blog tour tuesday: humble bean.
April 17th, 2012 § 2 Comments
I’m excited to be able to point you in the direction of humble bean today, one of my favourite food blogs.
Cleanly designed and home to a collection of contemporary Japanese recipes, this blog is a hub of inspiration and tantalising photographs.
{Top to bottom: fried gyoza, clear mushroom soup, and matcha latté}
I love Japanese food. To me, it feels so fresh and nourishing to eat. I don’t often (try to) cook in its style at home, however. I can now make agedashi tofu and chicken karaage, but I’d like to expand my repertoire. Beyond two dishes, you know.
The humble bean blog seems like an excellent place to start. Oishii! (おいしい)
unraveled design.
April 9th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
I discovered graphic artist Lindsay Martin Whitehead — called unraveled design — via Pinterest (a pin from the lovely yaz trollope) and love her typographical works featuring positive messages and quotations.
View her portfolio.
blog tour tuesday: hungry and frozen.
April 3rd, 2012 § 2 Comments
All jokes aside about our “frinds in the frudge” or “fush and chups”, I’m a huge fan of our neighbours across that narrow stretch of Tasman Sea — New Zealand. And from NZ’s fine shores hails Laura Vincent, author of hungry and frozen, one of my favourite food blogs.
I love this blog because it’s slightly left of centre. The post titles are always intriguing (are they song lyrics?), the recipes inventive and often gorgeously retro, and the photographs homey and sweet. Laura’s writing usually makes me laugh, which is — quite honestly — my favourite thing to do. Smirk. Giggle. Belly laugh.
If you’re more musically in-the-know than I am (not difficult — I do have Ice Ice, Baby in my iTunes library after all), you’ll no doubt appreciate the Music Lately notes at the bottom of each post. If I included such information in my entries, you’d see entire weeks of my playing the same song sixteen times a day — “I was not magnificent,” as Bon Iver would say.
If you like the sound of banana cake with golden syrup icing and cinder toffee (not “hokey-pokey”?), then I’m sure you will get along well with this blog.
best of the blogs: march.
April 2nd, 2012 § Leave a Comment
So, March happened.
If my calculations are correct (they often aren’t), this means that we are a quarter of the way through 2012. That’s one piece of the pie all gobbled up and gone already.
March was a good month. I’ve begun swimming with two of my best friends each week. I finally got my business cards printed. My nephew turned two, happily and healthily. I picked up some enjoyable work. And I’ve made a few important decisions.
Another great thing about March was biting the bullet and buying a slightly pre-loved iPad (so little or carefully used, I should say “pre-liked” instead). I love it. This month, instead of using my e-mail application to sort and save posts from my RSS feed, I’ve started using Reeder to star my favourite entries. And so this month’s Best of the Blogs is brought to you by the letter R and, I suppose, the number 3 (for March!).
// I love the colours in this print.
// Zoë Foster always makes me laugh, but her recent compilation of inappropriately punctuated signage almost undid me.
// Ballet dancers from Staatsballett Berlin filmed at 1000 frames per second will take your breath away.
// Ace idea — parties in a box.
// Blogmilk‘s posts about blogging are always informative. This one about the structure of a healthy blog is particularly helpful for me at the moment and some projects I’ve got up my sleeve.
// The antipodean envy begins again with this recipe for mango icecream. (“Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone?”)
// I want to go to this clean, white hotel in Paris.
// This orange almond breakfast muesli might be just what I need to pep up my mornings.
// As a writer, discussion about SEO sometimes rub me up the wrong way because I believe that content is key. This biz ladies article gives an excellent summary of what SEO means and what you should actually focus on.
// I’ve heard of black-bean brownies, but cannellini-bean bundt cake…? Intrigue.
// Like The Civil Wars? How about the civil wars do michael jackson?!
// It seems stupid to get crazy over coffee cups, but these mugs with coloured bottoms are everything I love in design.
// Maybe I wouldn’t hate flying so much if my mother had packed me one of these on all those interminable flights of my childhood.
// I was blown away by this photoshop makeover.
// St Patrick’s Day is long gone, but CHECK OUT these cakes that look like potatoes!
// Now that my hair has acquired a little bit of length, I’m going to splurge on a proper, good haircut. These short styles are all cute.
// Lastly, I wish I were better at gardening…
versatile blogger award.
March 15th, 2012 § 3 Comments
I just wanted to give a little shout-out to the lovely moving in time for nominating me as a versatile blogger. It means so much to me that even one person regularly reads this blog — no exaggeration there. Thanks for dropping by and making the world a little smaller day by day.
I know that the award comes with some instructions. I don’t usually participate in memes, but I thought I’d bend my rules for a moment and at least deliver part of what is expected of me.
I’m going to quickly nominate just five bloggers who, to me, fit the “versatile” bill just so. The reason I don’t particularly like to compile a blog list is because I read hundreds of blogs, each of them for different reasons. I think that they are all wonderful in their own right, and I feel uncomfortable naming some rather than others. But here’s my pick for right this minute, this afternoon, this week:
1. dream.delight.inspire — all of this and more
2. hungry & frozen — writes with humour and cooks creatively
3. miss moss — subtitled “a compendium of radness” and I can’t think of a better description
4. sarah wilson — anything to do with living, really
5. what possessed me — unfailingly good writing about unexpected stuff
The meme also asks for seven little-known facts about me. I’m not even sure I can come up with seven, being quite “out” as a person already. But I’ll have a go. Hmmm…
1./ I drink on average one standard alcoholic drink every year. This has never been an overt struggle for me: I’ve never liked the taste!
2./ I can sing. I’m not a diva like my mother, but I can hold a tune. I would have to be drunk to ever sing comfortably in front of other people, though. See my point above to gage for the likelihood of this happening.
3./ I have loads of grey/white hairs and I touch up the roots of my natural near-black tresses every three to four weeks. I’m not even 28. I feel ripped off. THANKS, GENETICS.
4./ I have been on dozens and dozens and dozens of flights over my lifetime but I still get nervous about flying. Every. Single. Time.
5./ I can’t light a fire.
6./ My favourite computer game growing up was Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure.
7./ I used to be afraid of most of my cousins. Ha.
socially awkward penguin.
March 6th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
My sister sent me a link to this hilarious tumblr the other night, which is basically an illustrated version of my life.
Is it a sign of social awkwardness that I spent an hour here on Sunday evening laughing out loud to a meme?
Sarah and I both love the ones where the response is totally inappropriate for the greeting or question. Haven’t you ever replied, “You too!” by accident/habit when somebody has wished you a Happy Birthday or Bon Voyage? I have answered the phone and introduced myself as the wrong person on several occasions. Uhm. Some of my most awkward moments have been so mortifying that I cannot share them publicly. But it’s good to know that these painful little moments seem to be universal.
Phew.
So be warned: click through to this site at your own peril. It’s a is a terrific time-waster… and you may find yourself laughing raucously in an empty room, which is, you know… awkward.
best of the blogs: february.
February 29th, 2012 § 2 Comments
Happy 29th of February!
This month’s Best of the Blogs is brought to you by a sneaky extra leap-year day.
Where did the time go? Why do people start saying that after they turn 25? Does time, indeed, go faster?
I’ve learnt a few things this month:
1. I have excellent friends. I have friends who make me laugh even at the worst of times, and friends with whom I can always be myself. They forgive me my incessant chatter and endless questions (my nickname should be “Gestapo”) and do not laugh when they see me in my swimming togs or attempting some variety of “breast-stroke”.
2. The heart has infinite space inside. One love never replaces another: you just make more room for the new.
3. My life is a medley of Gotye songs.
4. Letting go is a long process. It’s an unclenching, an unwrenching finger by finger.
5. A cat locked out on a deck in the rain can yowl for hours.
But onwards and upwards to the bloggy stuff…
// hallo heaute’s Montagsmammut (Monday Mammoth) sums me up most mornings. Is it me, or do some things just sound cuter in German?
// Rodarte’s theme for NYFW: Australian Outback! Look here, here, and here to see how Nars pulled it off. Also, this is what a hair and make-up test for a major show looks like.
// The venus project re-imagines classic paintings with contemporary body shapes — very interesting.
// Noémie’s post about no-knead bread prompted me to renew the habit.
// These are some valuable blogging lessons.
// Need a little push to go after your dreams? Ez’s call-to-action cards are pretty and practical.
// I can’t get over this incredible map made from songs.
// Inspiration: ten images of snail mail.
// I’m not usually a fan of cheesecake, but I made this raspberry and rosewater cheesecake on the weekend, and it was gorgeous.
// I’ve been admiring the packaging from our paper shop — natural papers and ink stamps.
// This mulberry campaign seems like a throwback to the soft sculpture of the Pop Art movement (Google Claes Oldenburg’s work for a reference).
// Rachel has generously compiled a bounty of inspirational quotes to last you for weeks or months.
// 44 weeks of words — see for yourself.
// Looking for textures for a website layout? These are subtle and oh-so-chic.
// Sarah Wilson offers 27 tips for better food photography.
// And last — but certainly not least — I love that British Royal Mail has released these roald dahl stamps (with Quentin Blake’s illustrations, naturally). Which is your favourite Dahl book? I can’t pick, but The BFG might be it.
What did you love in February?
What did you learn?
