My month without a phone... IS OVER!

Ever wondered what it would be like to unplug? To not be contactable by phone? WELL I have been for the last month by accidentally dropping my phone (while not totally sober) and killing it. Just wouldn't turn back on. At first I was worried about work not being able to contact me AND not having an alarm to wake me up to be places on time, but  I just got used to it. It really hasn't been that bad. When you think about it, people have you at the tap of a button and you MUST answer or reply or the person contacting you either A. thinks you're ignorant or B. are dead. Your reputation is CONSTANTLY at stake. It can just get annoying. Like having someone poke you... again... and again... and while most of the time it's fine, sometimes it's nice to be unreachable. 

It is, however, just super inconvenient in todays society. If you go out to party or to work you can be away from home for loooooooong periods of time - and who knows what could have happened in that time that you need to know about! OR having something super exciting to tell somebody that you can't - nothing worse than bursting at the seams with anticipation! OR, the worst, being stuck somewhere and not being able to get somebody to help you.

So even though I've kind of enjoyed not having a phone, I am all for getting myself back into the social system - by purchasing the most amazing phone in the whole wide world (according to me)!! I used to work in a phone store so know a thing or two about phones and decided on the Samsung Galaxy S2 in white (because white phones are prettier :P). To be honest all I wanted was a reliable white phone with an amazing camera with a flash and social networking abilities - the galaxy is perfect for all my needs PLUS it has all the cool apps and swype texting (sooo much fun!). NOW I CAN DO STYLE SHOTS!! YAY!! I should have my pretty new phone in a few days :D

Never doubt your worth

A well-known speaker started off his seminar holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it...?" Still the hands went up in the air. "Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air. "My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE. You are special-Don't EVER forget it."

This is so true and it has made my day :)

Age Cannot Wither Her

Throughout the ages there have been interesting and wonderful people come and gone, though none so fabulous as the Marchesa Luisa Casati - tall & svelte with flaming red hair and piercing green eyes always adorned with layers of black kohl. Born 23 January 1881 to wealthy parents of notability in Milan, there was none in a better position to have any and all they wanted as the Marchesa.

To be as wealthy as an heiress is to have a great power, a power which can be used any which way the beholder pleases. It was art, beauty and opulence which pleased the Marchesa and lavish with it she was. She never spared expenses on outrageous parties and finely crafted fashions and paid many artists to capture her in all her fabulous glory. She wanted to be a living work of art and that she truly was if anybody could ever be. One of my personal favourite things about the Marchesa is the fact that she used to be waited on by nude attendants gilded in goldleaf, get around with two leopards on leashes with diamond studded collars and at one point owned a python which she used to wear around her neck and shoulders as if it were just another piece of jewellery.

Her story (unsurprisingly I suppose) ended in poverty, which I don't think takes away from her glamour, it really just reinforces it and adds a touch of vain tragedy - how utterly fabulous. She spent and spent and lavished all her monies on the arts & beauty not caring where it would leave her, as long as she was surrounded by the beautiful. *sigh*

More info @ wikipedia

Official website

Dream On

One night I was walking home from the train station and had the most vivid waking dream. It was of what appeared to me as a "star lady" I suppose you could say. She was almost glowing, surrounded by the night sky and the stars, I think she was "wearing" some flowing gown and she was running towards me with her arms stretched reaching to me, trying to say something without saying a word. I still think of it sometimes, not really sure what it meant (if it meant anything at all) and last night I did again and sort of wrote a poem about it.

"Came forth she did to me through the fabric of the night,

Reaching to me with her hands, arms stretched forth,

Running like the breath of wind in a laudanum dream motion,

Shown only by the faint gleam of the stars and the heavens,

Speaking to me without moving lips, without the utterance of word,

Her gown like a sheer curtain, whispering in a night's breeze."

I've been writing poetry for a long time, since childhood but haven't really written anything solid since I left highschool. This dream (whatever it was) it seems was the perfect inspiration :) I guess it all started with the Dr. Seuss books mum read to me as a small child, books I still have and refuse to part with.

Committing to the ink asylum

1.P22 Cezanne
2. Santos Dumont
3.Cabaletta
4.Achilles

One of these vertically down my spine... which font? I like them all!

For  a while now I've been wanting to get a tattoo but I didn't want to be one of those girls who got something like a flower "because it was pretty" or a band/movie tattoo "because they're my favourite" or some cliche quote - I wanted something that meant a lot to me or a poignant reminder while being classic, poetic and arty. I found (or discovered rather) just the perfect thing.

My mother told me something about the passing of my youngest brother, something that happened to her just after he'd passed. As somebody who is just generally interested in everything (like myself) she'd read (or heard) that on the third day after somebody dies the soul leaves the body. She told me that for the first two days after he'd died she felt as though he hadn't gone and that he was still here. On the third day, however, she stepped outside and looked at the sky and it was filled with birds, then, she said, she felt as though he'd finally passed and after so much suffering he was at peace, free.

There was the first part down - something that meant so much to me. I worded it as follows "On the third day the sky filled with thousands of birds then his soul was free." I also wanted something to do with my Scottish heritage so I decided to get it translated into Scottish Gaelic. I did a lot of research and internet scouring but finally found somebody who knew what they were talking about and the translation is as follows "Air an treas latha, lìon an t-adhar le mìltean de dh'eòin agus bha anam air a shaoradh".

The only thing left to do now is pick a font! THIS is the tricky part. I love the look of handwriting and cursive scripts but I also love the idea of going that one step further with the heritage thing and having it in a Gaelic/Celtic font... hmm... decisions decisions... 

j'aime la nuit

This is a set I made on Polyvore BECAUSE I can't stop dreaming about the ASOS black unitard featured above. It's only $55, has an amazing horizontal slash back and it's just an amazing piece to accessorise!! Not to mention it would be totally glamourous for winter clubbing - DON'T HOLD ME BACK!! I'll be purchasing this bad boy in the very VERY near future, until then however I shall dream on.

the back^^^

On A Rock Mission

Aqua Aura Quartz Earrings & Ring Set

It all started with Princess Polly. Here I was bored and surfing my fav. online stores when I saw clear quartz point studs which hung like icicles from the ear from the Erin Wasson "Low Luv" range, which was being stocked at Princess Polly. I was all ready to click and drain my account when I saw that they were $90. Pfft. I'm sorry, I know in the scheme of the world and prices that's really not a lot to ask and at another time of my life when I wasn't a poor TAFE student I would not have even blinked and bought them. Also, however, now that I am studying fashion I have a much better idea of the real worth of retail product AND $90 for cut rocks glued to brass is a GD RIP OFF. TO THE MAX. I get that the wholesaler has to mark up X amount to make money and that the retailers have to mark up approximately another 100% to make money but $90? FOR TWO ROCKS? Like the kind of rocks you can dig up in the bush with a stick... not happening. 

SO, determined to have earrings as close as possible I went on a scoping mission to see what was out there in the big bad world. I thought of even making them myself (even though I'd never done it before but I'm still keen to have a go). On my "travels" I stumbled across a bluish quartz which immediately caught my eye and I  liked it so much more than the clear. Turns out quartz can be... "infused" I suppose you could say, with other minerals which in turn reacts chemically and creates a new colour on the quartz. The blue is achieved with "infusing" it with gold (I can't remember the method exactly, kinda just skimmed over it in excitement). I decided I HAD to have a pair just like the Erin Wasson ones but in this blue, known as "Aqua Aura"(description below). I found a lovely lady on Etsy to customise me a pair and even make me a ring too!! I AM TOO EXCITED!! That's the set in the pic, I should get them soon!! YAY!!

This whole mission has made me want to dabble a bit in crystal & raw material jewellery making, would be a bit of fun experimentation which if I suppose if any of it is good enough maybe I could sell. Yay for extra income (which will probably go straaaaight back into paying TAFE fees haaaa). Strange I didn't want to try sooner, I was absolutely obsessed with rocks as a child.

This is just one description I found for "Aqua Aura" Quartz:

~Can Enhance Intuition & Communication
~Attracts Wealth & Success
~Boosts Immune System
~Will Balance Emotions 

One Door Closes... Another One Opens!!!

ASAHI PENTAX K1000 35mm SLR FILM CAMERA.

My camera obsession isn't slowing... I think I may have to start attending AA meetings but for cameras!! I'm besotted, it's a little weird!! 

The digital camera I got from a friend for my 21st birthday back in April decided to just... die. About 2 weeks ago, for absolutely no good reason. Dead. Just like that. I'm a little devo about it so I thought I'd celebrate it's passing slash buy myself a Christmas present with buying a new camera!! But this time a real SLR not just point, shoot, edit-to-make-look-good & upload. Takes all the magic out of photography this digital business, not to mention the amazing lighting & film effects you just don't get (naturally at least) with digital. I'd love to eventually still get a DSLR just for ease of use and convenience but while I'm a poor TAFE student film is the way!! I love film anyway!! This wont be my first one!! 

I did my research to find out what would be a good, sturdy option, then hit up ebay as obviously lame camera stores generally don't sell decent SLR's, and if they did it wouldn't be on the cheap! So I found... the ASAHI PENTAX K1000 35mm SLR FILM CAMERA!!!Some were really cheap - like $30 but then they'd not been tested and/or had dings etc etc which is only to be expected I guess, they've been in production since the 1970s ('76 - '97)!! However, I wanted something in the best condition as possible and feel I did pretty well for $100. THE BIGGEST SPLURGE I'VE HAD SINCE... TAX TIME!! *sigh* It should be in my hot little hands any day now, the only thing left to do is buy it a pretty case, some filters, a fish eye lense (thank you ebay) and of course FILM!!

Yay a new lease on photo-taking life!! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Extra info for Pentax K1000

She's Got Me Wrapped Around Her Little Finger

A little something I did for my illustration assignment at TAFE. This was the computer illustrating component of illustration using - wait for it - ILLUSTRATOR!! And photoshop. This wasn't one of the main pieces I did, I was just mucking around and happened to really like it :)

Art Inspring Art

The original.

1/4 way progress of replication.

A bit further...

After 12 hours of acrylic layering.

Stage 1.

The mess I made in the progress.

Wallah!! She lives!! My own :)

This is what I did for Illustration at TAFE. The assignment was to pick a Fashion Illustrator, research them, pick one of their pictures, replicate that picture in the same medium to learn their style (that’s the theory), then create a picture of your own in the style of the illustrator. I picked Richard Gray and his picture “Plans For A Woman”. Richard Gray is ridiculously talented and imaginative and I’m a big fan of his work. I called mine “I May Be A Rusty But I Haven’t Lost My Touch”. I HATED working at such a small scale but I really enjoyed the challenge, it also would have been impossible to transport huge canvases to TAFE on public transport safely = NIGHTMARE. I’m definitely no Richard Gray but I think I did alright.