Wish List no. 1,309,547

Here's a few bits and pieces that will hopefully be found lying around our new apartment sooner, rather than, later.

1. Tanystropheus toy dinosaur from http://www.dinotoyblog.com
2. Thomas Paul Octopus pillow from http://www.designpublic.com
3. Sydney Opera House Lego set from the Opera House shop
4. Postcarden Botanical by Another Studio at http://matchcarden.com/
5. Fish Home from Urban Outfitters
6. Kitchen Bull by Toro Legno on Etsy 

Palette a plenty

When I was younger I worked in the warehouse of my grandfather's business. There were lots of forklifts, oversized rolls of glad wrap, bikini clad centrefold babes and palettes. So many palettes. That's where I'm claiming that my palette obsession came from. 

French by Design is an incredible blog that recently featured a few flicks of palette beds. So I'm thinking about a little more DIY. Note the magazine stack, relevant!

There's also a funky little restaurant in Surry Hills, Orto Trading, where I've never eaten but constantly admire for their décor. They have old signs as tabletops, lots of exposed brick and once loved furniture, but the crème de la crème for me is the graded palette stack with cute (bolted down) pot plants in wine buckets and glass jar candle holders. Very cool vibe, I guess I really should stop in!

I hope I don't become a 'gonna'... you know, I'm 'gonna' do it, (and then I never do?!). When (not if) I start building up a storm I promise there will be photos of the how, where and when of it.

Bloglovin update

Bloglovin... apparently it's a must.

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We have a love shack

We finally received approval for a new apartment! I'm so super excited. Big ups to my Mum for helping us out with the application side of things and the main man for doing the inspection.

Here are a few things that have me inspired and more excited than ever to make our house a home.

This is definitely a piece that has me excited to get DIY-ing ASAP. RealLiving featured a 'how to guide' in their May Makeover issue and I'm very excited to get it started. I love the industrial cool feel it gives off.

    

A little colour and pattern is always welcome in my world. I'm loving this IKEA textile.

                                           

 I love magazines, I'm always perusing the newsagency, trying not to walk out with armfuls of print. It doesn't always work. It's so hard for me to get rid of any of them and I'm definitely not a page cutter. Apartment Therapy have a few ideas on how to use magazines as furniture. I'm thinking that a goldfish might replace the pot plant in our version.

I love bookshelf displays, both of us have quite a number of toys and 'dodads' as well as some great photos that we want to display. The more personalised these displays the more homely the feel. In our version, there will be a lot more colour injected.

A little history

 Recently Sydney celebrated the 80th birthday of our beloved and iconic "Coat Hanger". At the same time, my family celebrated the 81st birthday of our beloved Grandfather. The four girl cousins, myself included, went and cooked dinner for him and my Grandma, pizzas and caeser salad and yummy chocolate pot desserts. Many laughs were had and after a good sleep the two eldest, myself and Ellen, started digging through some old photographs and found some absolute gems.

Enjoy as we did, a little bit of family history!

My Grandfather on the right and a friend from the big band

My Grandfather playing lead trumpet at the dance hall

My Grandfather's type writer exhibition, a couple of type writers he still owns

The Jazz Band playing cricket

Country Comforts

I surround myself with note books and writing pads and pens and pencils. I always have one or more (of each) in my bag, and the notes section on my phone is just about to explode with my thoughts and musings.

I'm pretty careless with them, considering these are my daily creations that are yet to be edited for worldly consumption. Though I am always following my Grandma's Golden Rule;

"Never put something in writing if you wouldn't want others to read it"

I guess this carelessness became evident when today, reading through an old notebook that wasn't quite full, I came across a note from someone special.

Let me give you some context.

This individual was... or rather is, a very dear friend, with whom I loved to spend time with. However this individual lives in the country, which makes constant contact rather troublesome.
For my 21st birthday this beautiful human spoilt me rotten, treated me like a princess and didn't let one moment go without ensuring I was thoroughly enjoying myself. Not only did he come all the way to Sydney for the party, he gave to me what will always be my prized possession, a Ben Frost print, (swoon). He also took me to Brisbane for the weekend and bought us tickets to Laneway Festival so I could see my future wife, (Florence) perform.

And this is where the note must have been written, in Brisbane.

This notebook has a little saying in every corner, all of which are somehow related to 'passion'. On this particular page is an Ella Fitzgerald quote;

"Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can ever go wrong"

And on this page he has written;

"Hey Teig. Don't know if you will ever read this but I just wanted you to know that me personally think you are the most exciting and beautiful person I have ever had the pleasure of having in my soon to be thirty years on this earth. And I am a better person for it. The quote at the bottom of this page sums up a lot of what you should do. Always and forever your country boy xoxo

P.s. remember to stick to your guns no matter what. If you ever need a friend or shoulder I'm there for you always"

He also drew me a little picture, something which he wouldn't do when I asked him previously that weekend.

So...

Thank you. For showing me love eternally, even when our paths have diverged. 

Such a spanner

There’s one song which brings out the secret singer/songwriter/rock star in me. Well actually there is one CD that does it to a certain extent but in particular “Little Sister” by Jewel makes me belt out chords that I didn’t know I had in me.

I remember being in a guitar lesson learning to play that song. My guitar teacher’s name was Kim, he always wore acid wash jeans and a leather jacket, his hair was perpetually greasy and he called me Spanner which I thought was super fucking awesome. I would bring in a CD, he would listen to a song and show me the chords at the same time, first or at most on the second play. I loved it, that half an hour was what got me through entire weeks. 

So we were playing Little Sister along to the CD, I was strumming my little 15 year old heart out and he was plucking away like a pro, it was fantastic. I was so into it, I had my eyes shut and my little gimic sway on, feeling like I was a lot more talented that I must have sounded. Then I started singing. I had never sung like that in front of anyone, let alone my music teacher whose opinion of my ability I highly regarded. I realized that I had stopped strumming and I was literally belting out the lyrics, once I realized that I opened my eyes and I at first was super embarrassed. I can’t sing to save my life but when I do sing as if I’m the most talented individual in the universe. EVER. 

So he tells me to keep going, to strum, or to sing, or try and do both, and I do. I just sorta go with it. The song itself is really short, so we hit repeat. Repeat. Repeat. 

For about 15 minutes it was this same song over and over and I was just singing. Hard.

It was the best 15 minutes of my life.