Friday, December 17, 2010

whangamata

oh, i love a happy ending! i have been sitting here watching 80's classic, 'some kind of wonderful'. and it sure is.

last weekend we were invited to whangamata by great friends who have a family apartment right on the dunes. boy did we appreciate the escape from auckland. especially coming into this holiday season. 

as much as i am hanging out for a white christmas, i really love our summery christmas goodness. although, as i type it is raining. but that just means one less afternoon of watering the gardens.



































Monday, December 06, 2010

ruth phipps, artist.

hi hi hi
i hope this post finds you all well and beginning to indulge in this lovely christmas season. i can personally guarantee that our house is bedecked and besparkled and most of all, betwinkled. i really don't know any other inanimate object that can make me happier than twinkling lights.

to get some rest in preparation for this mad season we are off to whangamata beach for the weekend with friends. delightful. but before we head off (mark is waiting patiently, watching cricket) i have to show these paintings!

for quite some time now i have been raving on at hubby about how our favourite nz-queen-elect, ruth phipps, is actually the most phenomenal artist. really really. then we were honored to be invited to the opening night of her exhibition, which was done in collaboration with other clever clogs kiwi artists.

i love artists. i really do. i think the sun shines out of the bottom of a person who can create something that makes you stop and stare and feel richer just for looking. i know my photos do NOT do ruths art pieces any justice, so i have taken these from her website! ha. they are too good for my lack of camera skills to slay them.

ruths paintings are based on the concept of linen, precious heirlooms passed down from mother to daughter. to convey this she used oil on linen.

what i really enjoyed about these pieces, and you will see what i mean, is how perfectly ruth conveyed the different folds of fabric in the paintings. sensational!!! seeing these works in person was actually quite spiritual. i don't say that lightly. being in bed is a big thing to me, with both trying to get to sleep and trying to wake up being something my dna didnt gear me to do so well. seeing these peaceful paintings focused on bed linen was cathartic.

now, i will let them speak for themselves.
love love love!


'emerge'
'envelop'
'solace'
'sustain'
'swathe'

see...told you so. beautiful.

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

a weekend away

hello faithful friends. its been a while since my last confession. we have been away the past couple weekends, one for a beak, one for a wedding up north. excuses, excuses.

a couple weekends ago was labour weekend, a long weekend. mark started a new job yesterday and wasn't able to take a break in between. so i booked a bach just out of piha (west coast of auckland, beautiful black-sand paradise).

it has been in their family since 1922, and they have kept it pretty much as it was. the property, that is. the interior of the bach is newly painted, decorated with kiwiana and surrounded by stunning native bush.


the house is not on the beach, about a 10 minute drive, but set up in the waitakere ranges overlooking lion rock at piha beach, seen above. stunning.


we were completely surrounded by stunning native bush. so peaceful. the thing i most love about native kiwi bush is the native birds that live in it. all day i listened to tui's and riroriro. is there anywhere in the world that has birds like us? they just cant be beaten.


we went into the piha township to get coffee and to make the most of their once-yearly labour day market. that was my highlight, its safe to say.


the family had built a swimming hole, slide and picnic area about 10 minutes into the bush. we found this incredible hut next to that. can't you imagine it in the 50's?!



this amazing totara tree was outside the front of the house, and i'm not certain what used to be at the top of ladder but it is now where you go to get cellphone coverage. we were not that brave.


we had nights reading by the fire, making scones and bread from scratch, watching dvd's and sleeping. it was pure bliss. a favourite part was having some friends come stay and other friends come visit for a day in the bush trails. it was truly a weekend of bliss. 


we have decided this summer is to be the summer of weekend getaways. what a difference a couple nights out of the city makes.

bring on the kiwi summer.


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

feeding my spirit

i have been stuck in something of a creative rut lately. i have a few orders that are behind and try as i might, i really struggled to get anything done that i was happy with. stitch, unpick, stitch, unpick.

i met up with an incredibly creative friend, lovely stacy, who gave me some great advice. feed my spirit. put aside what i was stuck on and focus on feeding my spirit. genius! so i have been. the photo above, rangitoto island, was part of that. mark and i went for a few lovely early evening walks. how amazing is the auckland waterfront? we really don't make enough use of it, considering we live 3 minutes from it.

i also took on a creative project. i found a foot stool at an op-shop, and decided to recover it. here is the 'before'...
i had made a baby blanket for my exhibition that i didn't quite get finished. it was the perfect size for my foot stool...what do you think?
stacy was bloody well right - putting my work projects aside and being spontaneously creative was brilliant. i feel like my 'tank' has been filled up some more. corny, yes. true though. thanks stace. legend. by the way, the foot stool i made, but that fab cushion is by stacy.

in fact, i have been able to work further on my orders. phew. and on top of that, i have made a few plans for future projects. secret squirrel though. but in the meantime, i stitch stitch stitch away. i know i'm not doing 'tips for success' anymore, but if i was, it would be a carbon copy of stacy's advice.

so, until next time...kia kaha. stand strong.

Friday, October 01, 2010

warning: contains badass-ness


its 3.33 am. mark is asleep. the cats are asleep. there is no sleep for this brighteyed one (me) tonight. and i have been on a detox all week. i'm not feeling grumpy though, in fact, i feel pretty good. but it's because of i have two heaters on, a glass of whiskey to my right, and a head full of bad bad swear words to keep me happy.

in my hour and a half of trying to get to sleep tonight, i had the opportunity to reflect on comfort 'food'. i'm not really a sweet tooth kind of girl and i'm not really a shopping therapist kind anymore either. no. my comfort-seeking usually revolves around a good glass of whiskey - sigh - and harry potter, my ridiculously adorable cats and getting bad people in trouble. and swearing.

yes, i said swearing. big, fat, offensive swear words.

today mark and i celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary in style - surrounded by swearing, hilarious swearing. about a billion months ago i emailed our favourite show (7days) about tickets, and after so much postponement on their behalf, we went to the show tonight. we had the best fricken seats in the world. middle of the front row. (7days is a weekly news show, hosted by comedian jeremy corbett, with one t, two t's? and two competing groups of 3 comedians.

my absolute delight in what some refer to as 'cuss words' became obvious to me as i realised i was actually crestfallen when corbs (aforementioned funny host) said that they were going to try to cut back on bad language. actually, my thoughts were 'well, what's the point then?' and 'why would they do that?!'.

but, i was not disappointed. there were about 4,000,170 swear words - really bad ones - and i was happy. so so happy. i was so happy in fact, that a total stranger turned to me at half time and said genuinely, "your laugh is lovely" and when mark and i, and about 20 people sitting around us stared slack jawed at her she clarified "so...hmmm...distinctive".

so you can tsk tsk all you like. but when you are awake at a million o'clock in the morning, and you mistake the local Tui singing out as a badly behaved car alarm, what will be keeping you warm?

Thursday, September 23, 2010

bit of a change...


hello lovely readers

i have a bit of a change to announce, but before i do, don't you l.o.v.e. this cool card that stacy made for mark?! i like it a heck of a lot. i want to claim it for my own devices, but mark intends to keep it. damn it.
in fact, the 'pow' factor of the card is very...timely. it is time i was honest with the world - i bit off more than i could chew, new zealand.
who knew? some say i jump in the deep end, some say less polite things. i just said i wanted to make blanket statements in to something huge...and i needed a blog to keep me accountable. now, i say, i still want to make blanket statements bloody enormous, but perhaps not in the next few months. and also, i really enjoy blogging about things both related and unrelated to making a stunning-grassroots-company-successful-whilst-being-blogged-about.
i cannot take credit for these clear thoughts. they come from a team i call my 'inspiring inspirators' (behind their backs only):
John Brown Rose - when life threw her a pack of cards and said 'pick-up 52' she said, 'i have decided that completing one task a day at the moment is what is realistic and i'm fine with it'. how flipping good is that, especially when there is so much we feel like we could be doing.
Dee - who found new exciting direction in her blog journey that energised her. that's what i wanna do! sorry deedee, i am copy-catting. again.
Alisha - who does jolly well at taking massive (Read: MASSIVE) changes in her stride and learning something brilliant in the process: new scheduling, finding sources to write from that i personally find freedom in, a wicked tomato timekeeper and expressing perfectly what we all want to say about life's 'Surprise!' factors.
Stacy - my friend in shining armour and hot accessories. in her lovely 'stroke the shoulder, stroke the shoulder, kick the ass' manner, suggested that i take a step back in a few areas so that i could maintain some sanity. love you raceylaceystacy. that was the clincher really wasn't it? mark thanks you for your guidance!

so yep, onwards and upwards! for those of you who are following me simply because i promised to make your business successful by feeding you the crumbs from my blog...i apologise.  like dee, i am loving blogging about creativity, recording life as it is, making the most of moments. that is really the thing isn't it - blogging makes me cherish more than i did. and to record it. and in the words of pat douglas, 'make memories'. on that note, i bid thee goodnight and thank you for the time you take out of very busy lives to read my humble (mostly) thoughts. one million kisses to you, from me, the lemon meringue girl. x

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

paris je t'aime

it's true - paris, i love you!

its funny - my experience has been that people either love it or hate it. i sincerely loooove paris. it is divine. here are just a few pics from our four days there. a close friend and i, mari, fell in love with this beautiful city the minute we got off the eurostar. what is not to love? i'm sure i will be blogging again about this place - i know its off topic - but really, i felt like i had misspent half my life not having discovered paris earlier.

there was not one square inch of the place that didn't inspire me. the architecture is ridiculous, so breathtaking. i had to keep stopping mari, saying 'i just need to stop and absorb it all'. her patience was appreciated! and the people - looove them! so friendly, laid back, elegant. and the language....sigh...what a language. 


ah, paris.

time to sign off. i have many orders to fill, which is a great great thing.

Day: 118
Lesson: Holidays and their subsequent photos are rather distracting.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

More than words

Hi Lovelies,
Holiday theme number 2 - signage. I love font as art. Here are a few pics of some pretty signs i've stumbled across.