Photography

So. . . I've decided to embark on a new venture and start a Diploma of Professional Photography. I found a course through the Photography Institute online. It's a self paced course that should take between 24 weeks and a year.

At the very least it will give me lots of knowledge on cameras and photography skills in order to help me with my hobby. Hopefully it will help me to establish myself as a photographer. Perhaps as a Wedding Photographer, freelance photographer or Photojournalist?! Who knows. At least it will help me to find direction.

Christmas Presents

I know it's early but I've started my christmas present shopping. I've started collecting bits and pieces as I find them and I'm pretty sure that I know what I'm getting for most people.

I had a great idea for my brothers present (who I usually find really difficult to shop for). So I jumped on the idea and it arrived on my doorstep today. I'm so excited because it's fabulous and so much better than I had imagined and I really, really wanna give it to him NOW! But, I can't :( 

And I can't show it to Mum, Dad or Lee because I'm thinking of getting something similar for them. And not because I can't be bothered to think of something good for them, but because this is such a great gift.

Now I just need JP to come home so he can see it and revel in my excitement over how awesome it is. . . .

"City of Ember", "The City of Lost Children", "Click" & "Cloudy with a chance of Meat Balls"

"The City of Ember" is a recent edition to my top 10 movies. I think it's brilliant, it's quirky and it's very well done. 

When the world was facing distruction (from radiation or meteor's or something of the sort) Ember was build deep in the centre of the earth. The mayor was given a box to pass down until 200 years had passed at which time it would open giving instructions on how to leave Ember and get to the surface. Only problem is that the box was lost when the seventh mayor died suddenly. Meanwhile the city is starting to fall apart. One teenager has a desire to fix the city and one has a desire to discover what is beyond it. They discover the box and try to decipher the instructions together.

The two stars of this movie are unknown actors - Harry Treadaway and Saoirse Ronan (who went on to be the star of "The Lovely Bones"). They are supported by Bill Murray, Tim Robbins and Mary Kay Place. They are all well established and brilliant actors that do a fantastic job, but really support the young cast to shine.

This wonderful movie not only gives you an idea of what the future may possibly come to, but shows that there is always hope that humanity will survive. We are very resourceful after all. I love that the main characters just know that there must be more to life in their dark city and perservere to find it.

The movie is fun and it's quirky. I really enjoy watching it again and again. I always feel excited when they make it to the end. I don't really know what else to say about it to express how much I love this movie - like I said, it's in my fave top ten. Just watch it, you won't be dissapointed.

"The City of Lost Children" is a french movie and yes that's with  french subtitles. This is one of JP's fave movies and he uses it as his 'test' movie for any potential new girlfriend. If she is willing to watch it with him then they get points and if they like it then they get major brownie points. Good news for RC is that she liked it and so she got to stay.

Krank is an evil scientist that can not dream. He kidnaps children to steal their dreams. Meanwhile One has is looking for his lost little brother. With the help of the young Miette he searches for his brother, rescues the children and stops Krank from stealing childrens dreams.

I've seen this movie before (I assume it was JP that showed it to me and not as a girlfriend test) so it made a lot more sense to me this time around. Subtitled movies always remind me of how often I watch a movie while doing something else. I can't do anything else when I have to read the words on the screen while watching the movie.

I didn't recognise any of the actors in this movie and contemplated not even mentioning who was in it. However, I looked it up online and discovered that I actually know one of the actors - Ron Perlman. Daniel Emilfork stars as Krank and Judith Vittet stars as the gorgeous Miette. Neither of whom I've seen before. They are both french actors and based on their bios I found online have only done French cinema and TV.

This movie takes a lot of concentration and a second time watching definetly helped me to understand it better. I'm not sure that it's really a movie that I would generally watch for entertainment value. And I'm not saying that because of the subtitles. I found the movie to be a little slow in terms of plot and a not the most captivating storytelling. I'd recommend it to people that like foreign films and something a bit different. For someone more mainstream like me you can give it a miss in my eyes. Sorry JP!

"Click" is another Adam Sandler movie. I don't think it's his best, but I like him and he generally does pretty funny movies.

Kate Beckinsale, Jennifer Coolidge, Christopher Walkin, Henry Winkler and David Hasselhoff star alongside Sandlers normal group of actor friends that star in his movies - Rob Schnieder and Sean Astin. Kate is of course beautiful and ok as his long suffering wife. Christopher Walkin is fabulous as he always is, while David Hasselhoff is just plain annoying. 

Michael Newman is a 'typical' american - trying to juggle a young family, a lovely wife and a burgeoning architect career. At Bed, Bath and Beyond he gets given a universal remote. He discovers that it not only works on his appliances but on his life as well. He uses it to fast forward through illness, skips to his next promotion and in the process misses his entire life. 

This movie is a no brainer, just good entertainment value for a ridiculous Sunday afternoon relaxing around the house. In saying that though, it lacks a little substance. It's almost too far fetched and therefore not at all believable. For me to enjoy a movie I have to at least believe something in it I've discovered.

It's not Adam Sandlers finest movies but it's ok. It's amusing so that makes it all ok in the end. Should you watch it? Sure why not. You won't be missing anything if you don't and your life won't be changed if you do, but you may at least be a little amused for a few hours.

Did I mention that to finish the "C"s in this project (starting with "Click") we watch 5 Heather movies, 2 JP movies, 5 Heather movies, 2 JP movies, 2 Heather movies . . . hehehehe.

"Cloudy with a chance of Meat Balls" is a relatively new movie to my collection. The movie is based on the popular children's book - which I've never read but now I really want too.

Flint Lockwood is an inventor on the island of Swallow Falls. Swallow Falls is famous for sardines but the world has realised that sardines are gross and the island is loosing it's revenue. Flint invents a machine that turns water into food. A fortuidous accident has the machine shoot into the clouds and Flint discovers he can make it rain food. It would seem that the towns troubles may be over.

Flint Lockwood is voiced by Bill Hader. His love interest is voiced by the Anna Faris, James Caan voices the father of Flint and Mr T voices the hilarious cop. Neil Patrick Harris and Benjamin Bratt also make appearances in smaller roles. They are a very eclectic group of actors who make a great ensemble cast.

I love the stupidity of this movie. Raining food is so ridiculous and yet it's so much fun to watch! The movie has it's own little love story going on between the inventor and the reporter sent to cover the breaking story. He woos her by raining jello, collecting it all up and making a giant jello mansion to bounce around in. My faveourite has got to be the giant icecream storm that's just like a snow storm, only sweet.

There are lots of hidden messages in this movie. Eg: excess food is bad for you. Too much wastage is dangerous for you and for the environment. Sardines are gross. But the movie really is just so much fun to watch. Who doesn't want to imagine a world where you hold out your plate and catch breakfast?! haha.

I think you should watch it - it's a fun children's movie. You'll enjoy it. Trust me!

I still have to review "Clueless", "Cocktail" and "Con Air" and then I'm all caught up. Next up to watch is "Conan the Barbarian" and "Conan the Destroyer" - two of JP's movies obviously. They are just so boy sounding!

Visit to A&E

After exactly 29 years and 6 months I broke my no-hospital streak. I have never been treated in hospital or stayed over night (apart from when I was born and I think that doesn't count).

Last night JP MADE me go to the hospital. How? He told my mother on me!

Ever since Saturday night I've had this really bad stich like paint in my left size. It comes and goes and neurofen is definetly my best friend to kill it off for a while. It's kinda like sharp pain that stabs me in the side for a while. Breathing deeply and coughing aches. I think the defining symptom for JP was that I started crying before taking more neurofen.

Mum came up and took me to A&E at Kenepuru. We had to wait about 40 minutes but it was kinda nice to have some time to catch up with mum after not seeing her for a few weeks. She showed me her holiday pictures and told me all about her holidays.

The nurse wanted a urine sample, but I'd just peed while I was waiting, do had to drink a lot of water and do a little jiggly pee dance.

Turns out that I have a bladder infection and it's likely that it's affecting my kidneys and that's what's making my side so sore. When we left I went to pay and the lady behind the counter that had 'checked me in' asked me for the third time if I had a community services card. I said "No, but I have a Whitcoulls card, would that work" and she didn't find me funny! how rude. Mum did tho and had to stop herself from laughing.

So I've got some antibiotics and need to go get my prescription filled this afternoon. I'm glad that I have a possible diagnosis. If it's not the bladder infection then it could be respitory and hayfever related, so will have to go back to the doctors. I've taken the day off work to give myself a chance to get some rest and hopefully kill off this infection.

Lee's Artwork

Lee has been spending the last three years working towards a degree in creative technologies, majoring in visual arts. She finishes this year and is currently in the final few weeks of her big end-of-year exhibition. She's a painter focusing on processing painting. You can read more about it on her blog http://paintingcollaboration.blogspot.com/

This afternoon I met her at uni to photograph her work. I've been keeping up with her blog and admiring the photos of her work she's put up. I've been wanting to put my macro lens to work on her artwork, making her artwork part of my artwork.

I used the macro lens to focus up close on the patterns made by the spilt paint. Lee uses the spilt paint skins in other works. I found the patterns beautiful!

The first layer of paint has cracked, forming valleys for the varnish.

This is wet paint.

Varnish bubbles have dried in the work.

More cracked paint

This part looks like the paint and varnish were poured together and the varnish has sealed in the wet paint. I have no idea how Lee did this actually.

More cracked paint and varnish bubbles.

I loved the little varnish bubbles!

I liked the paint crack that the varnish had filled.

More paint and varnish mixes.

These are more macro shots of the dried paint skins that Lee has used to make their own artwork.

Lee uses both paint and varnish skins.

I liked the way the light bounced off the varnish skins.

I used Lee's engagement ring to show scale. But they also made for fun and interesting backgrounds for the ring. Anyone can shoot their ring on a flower, but how many people use art and paint skins to showcase their ring?!

While Lee works on her computer I took some not-so-macro shots to show the works in actual size. Although, it's hard to really get a good idea of how big the works are without standing beside them yourself.

The piece that she introduced to me as "Big Woody".

Paint cracks and varnish.

This (and the one below) is work in progress. While I was there Lee poured on another layer of varnish. We discovered that the room must have a slight tilt in one direction because the varnish all ran off to the right. It was also really interesting to watch the varnish spread over time. It started off as a star pattern and spread out into a more circular pattern.

A work in progress. This is the wet paint I photographed earlier. Lee pours the paint into the frame and waits for it to dry. There is no canvas to speak of, the paint is it's own canvas. The spilt paint to the right is the paint skin that I was fascinated with. Lee is hoping to be able to peel the paint skin off with the finished product so that it can be part of the work. Fingers crossed!

More macro work of the paint skin.

Exciting plans

This weekend I have lots of plans, but I'm most excited about going to Lee's studio at Uni tomorrow to help her photograph her artwork and her engagement ring. Very cool.

I'm also considering doing a diploma in professional photography. I found an online course that is selfpaced which looks really interesting. Will need to do a bit of research to see what else is out there, but I'm excited about it.

I have lots of chores to do this weekend - mostly weeding, car washing and housework. Not overly exciting, but it'll be good to have a nice, clean home again.

Mum's coming home this weekend too. I've put my order in for duty free booze - yay! And it will be nice to have Mum home again.

JP made the worlds best Moist Coffee Cake. It was one of those cakes that with every mouthful you moan. It was soo delicious! There is still some left in the fridge - wahoo! And I've put in an order for one to take to my team shared lunch on Monday. yum yum.

Nail Polish

When I was a teenager I used to paint my nails all the time, but in recent years I haven't painted them at all. The other day I saw a woman (probably in her late 20's) with her fingernails painted black and it reminded me of all those years I painted mine. I think I stopped  painting them because it took so long to do - paint, dry and try NOT to get them smudged.
So, I got out the purple polish and painted them while watching a movie with JP. They 'dried' for the whole movie and looked cool. That is until I woke up the next morning and they were all smudged :(
The next day at work my workmate told me about a nail polish that sets in 50secs. Yeah Right! I've had one minute setting nail polish before and it didn't work. But I'm willing to try anything once and found myself down at the local New World supermarket purchasing some Maybelline Express Finish. In Black - because that's all they had.
And, it works! I swear, you paint on a coat and it's dry in 50 secs. Then another coat and it's dry in another 50 secs! Not just 'dry' but hard to the touch! I'm loving it. So now, how many colours do I really need to buy?! Lots of course! And my fingernails haven't been their natural colour since.

Chicken Liver Pate recipe

Here's my Chicken Liver Pate reciept - just for you CR! It's a reciepe that my Mum used make a lot and has turned in to a family favourite. You can tell it's a family recipe because it has quantities such as "splash" "handful" and "knob". All quantities are relative, so adapt it how you like. And if you try it with duck livers instead of chicken livers made sure you follow step number 7 precisely. Good luck!

250gm chicken livers
2 rashers bacon
2 onions
splash brandy (that's a technical term)
splash sherry
1/4 tsp salt
100mls cream
handful of parsley
knob of butter

1. Soak the chicken livers in brandy and salt.
2. Cook the chicken livers with the chopped onions and bacon. Add oil if needed.
3. When cooked, take it off the heat and add butter, sherry and cream.
4. Stir until butter is melted.
5. Add chopped parsley.
6. Blend.
7. Invite me around to sample your finished pate.

Happy Birthday ES!

hello my fans. Turns out there are more of you reading my blog than I thought. It was pointed out to me last night that I've been a bit slack on posts this month - apologies. No real reason really, but I reckon I've been doing this long enough now to know I'll keep going with it. Oh and sorry TC, I have several more movies to review before I'm all caught up :)

Last Night was ES 30th birthday celebrations. We started out at Eclipse but had to move on becasue the place was closing for a private function. We eventually made to Taste of Korea (some of you will remember Turners on Willis St - it's in that old building). I've never had Korean food before I don't think, so I was intrigued about what we might get. I like to try new foods and I like all other asian foods so thought it couldn't be all bad. We got a set menu that they cooked on the BBQ in the middle of the table. I think Fujiyama down the road does it with a bit more grace, but this was fun too and tasty!

After dinner came the private Karaoke room. I don't think it really needs to be said but I'm not the worlds biggest karaoke fan so I wasn't to fussed on this part. But apparently when it's a group of good friends and I've had several beers I'm all for the singing! Go figure. Needless to say I woke up this morning with a sore throat. No headache, but a definite sore throat.

I'm a little intrigued to see what photos came out of the night - I do recall TC and I taking about 77 on ES camera because we just couldn't get the angle right. And I recall correctly several people were taking videos of the singing. Eek!

Rahzoo

I had potatoe & bacon salad, chicken salad and a maple walnut slice from Rahzoo for lunch. YUM-MY! Rahzoo is on Waring Taylor Street in the city and when I worked on Featherston St it was my faveourite place to eat. Their salads are amazing! You have to get in before 12pm otherwise all the salads are gone. Since working in Newtown for 3 years and now on Hutt Rd getting to Rahzoo is near to impossible. Mainly because it's so difficult to get a park around there! But today TB and I got a park and I bought my faves for lunch and it was sooooooooooooo good! I'll have to make sure I try and get there more often.

"Chicken Run" & "Children of Men"

"Chicken Run" was the second chicken related movie in a row and they were completely different from each other. Well not completely different I guess, they are both animated. "Chicken Run" was made by the same people that brought you "Wallace and Grommit".

The chickens at the Tweedy's Chicken Farm in England are plotting their escape. Ginger is the ring leader and has some great plans, but it's not until Rocky arrives that a plausible plan comes together. Why not just fly out of the farm? Rocky works on training the hens to fly so they can escape before the Tweedy's new chicken pie machine is ready for production.

Mel Gibson voices Rocky, the only American character in the movie. Some great British actors lend their voices to the project - Jane Harrocks, Julia Salawha and Miranda Richardson.

I always wanted to like this movie a lot more than I do. It almost feels like somethings missing. Ginger is great, as is Mr Tweedy. The Rats though do give standout performances and almost steal the show from the hens.

After watching this you may be inclined to become vegeterian. The coops and farming of the chickens really make you question the treatment of chickens and animals. And then there's the chicken pie machine which paints a grim picture of food. Of course it's not nearly as dramatic in real life as it makes out in the movie, but you do start to think about it.

The chickens are funny, the story is both romantic and a real hero story all at the same time. In my opinion it's good for kiddies and probably enough for a one-time movie for adults. Good luck to those adults that have children that want to watch it over and over again.

"Children of Men" was the next one in the project. JP showed this to me once before and I enjoyed it. But this time I think I understood it a lot more because I had seen it once before.

It's 2027 and the worlds youngest person is 18 years old. The human race is no longer able to have children. Theo is a former activist recruited by his ex-wife to smuggle a young woman out of the country and to a special group that will help her raise her unborn child and possibly save the human race. They face revolt from the group that's supposed to be helping them and the need to break in to a prison in order to reach their destination.

Clive Owen plays Theo. He's a good actor that plays well against Julianne Moore, Michael Caine and the unkown Clare-Hope Ashitey. Julianne Moore and Michael Caine are seasoned actors and do very well at making their supporting charaters stand out on their own. A realtively unknown (at the time) Clive Owen does very well at portraying a cynical, hardened by life, man, tasked with ferrying the hope for the future to safety. Clare-Hope Ashitey plays the young pregnant woman and does a good job at showing her characters different sides. While she's a hardened and experienced woman, she's also very naive about her situation (with no babies being born it isn't deemed relevant to teach woman about pregnancy and what to expect).

"Children of Men" is based on the book "The Children of Men" by P.D. James. The premise of the movie and the main characters are the only similarities. In the book it's men that are infirtile and there is no pregnant woman to escort to safety, and yet this is the whole movie. I really enjoyed the movie, so I'm glad I haven't read the book. If I had read the book I'm sure I would be disappointed by the movie, as I usually am.

Film students would be fascinated by the styles used to film it - the single shot action scenes create a hightened sense of drama. The movie lends itself to great discussion about the possibility of infertility of the human race. Could this possibly happen? What would happen if it did? The movie makes it seem even more plausible by not actually attempting to explain why the woman are infertile or why this one young woman has been able to become pregnant after so many years.

I think you should watch it. Make sure you have you are concentrating - it's not one you can just put on in the background while you do the ironing. You may need to watch it more than once to understand it, but you'll be pleased you did. I am, it's a goodie.

Next? : I still need to review "City of Ember", "The City of Lost Children", "Click" and "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs". Next to watch is "Clueless" - a classic 90's teenage chick flick.

"Chicago" & "Chicken Little"

Finally! A musical! "Chicago" is my all time favourite musical stage production. When I was 14yrs old I joined Dad backstage at the Wellington Hospital Repitory Theatre production of "Chicago" and so started my love of musicals, theatre and "Chicago". I've seen it performed in Wellington many times and on the West End when I was in London two years ago. When I heard that they were doing a movie version of the show I was a little dubious. How were they possibly going to transform this very theatrical show into a movie?

"Chicago" is set in 1920 Chicago (strangely enough). Jazz singer Velma Kelly has been put in prison for killing her sister and husband, and Roxie Hart is a wannabe jazz singer that's just killed her lover. In prison Roxie is envious of Velma's fame and goes out of her way to get in good with the warden. The warden gets her the best lawyer in town Billy Flynn. Roxie and Velma vie for Billy and the media's attention in a hopes of getting out of prison and keeping their fame. Roxie is such a wannabe jazz singer that she views conversations and episodes of her life as songs and performances.

In this 2002 production Renee Zellewegger stars as Roxie Hart, Catherine Zeta Jones stars as Velma Kelly and Richard Gere stars as Billy Flynn. All the actors not only act, but sing as well. Many movie makers will pick great actors and dub over them with better singers. In this production the singing is such a big part of  the movie that it would have been tragic had they done this. It would have cheapened the production. But they didn't, they found great actors that are also fantastic singers. Both Renee Zellewegger and Catherine Zeta-Jones do fantastic jobs at portraying guilty killers who are great performers. They are very talented at drawing you in to their world. Richard Gere is great as Billy and who knew he could sing like that?!

Taye Diggs makes a cameo appearance as the MC and piano player. It's a very small part, but he's very very handsome and I love him. Queen Latifah stars as Mama Warden and John C. Reilly stars as Amos Hart. These actors, like the three main leads, both act and sing very well. They give fantastic supporting performances.

I prefer a real stage production usually - it's more powerful and enticing. But each production is different. Different set, actors, direction etc etc. At least with the movie I have it available to watch any time and I know what the production is like. 

I suggest you watch it unless you dislike musicals. JP hates musical and was caught texting and fiddling throughout the whole movie. After awhile I just blocked him out so that I could sit and enjoy it. I love it so I'm glad we got to watch it, but I can understand that it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Next was "Chicken Little". A Walt Disney made picture based on the fable "The Sky is Falling". Chicken Little is a very small chicken who sent his town into panic when he claimed that a piece of the sky fell and hit him in the head. Ridiculed by everyone including his father he is scared to tell them when it happens again a year later. That is until him and his best friends find themselves face to face with an alien spacecraft. When they try to tell the town it takes off and leaves behind one of it's babies. Now it's up to Chicken Little to save the baby, and save the town from impending alien attack. Chicken Little has some great little friends including Fish, Abby Mallard (Ugly Duckling) and Runt of the Litter.

This was another animation of mine. This was a Walt Disney movie but not in collaboration with Pixar. But you probably don't need me to rant on about the wonders of Pixar again. The quality of the movie is good, but not fantastic.

Characters are voiced by Garry Marshall, Steve Zahn, Patrick Stewart, Joan Cusack and Zack Braff as Chicken Little. Patrick Warbuton lends his voice to yet another animated character. He certainly has a distinctive voice.

I'm struggling to find things to say about this movie. I think that's because it's a short, sweet movie that's great for kids but doesn't really hold anything for adults. You watch it and then forget it again pretty quickly. I wouldn't have any worries with showing this to kids, but I don't really have any deep desire to watch it again.

If you're looking for something light to watch - perhaps you're sick at home and need a no-brainer movie to watch - this is the one for you. Have fun!

There are more reviews to come - Chicken Run, Children of Men, City of Ember, The City of Lost Children and Click. We are definetly on a movie watching run, I just have to keep up with the reviews!

Peppermint Additiction

so yeah we're going down
what are you saying?
all of these things are making up
i can't type
everybody knows
do you think i'm nice
it can't be
every day
all the right things in the right places
everybody knows
everybody knows
yeah we're going down
it don't matter what you say

dance
 dance


dance
 dance
 dance

dancing in the kitchen
totallly totally tttoooallklay awesome


perppeerminnnty addddddiction tyr it
only i f JP makes it


lk drunie oop[s drunjky

classic hits party mix id \\\\\\ is the vbsest
lovvve ut


pepperminet --   doooo it sd,mnfalsdkjf;laskdnf,.. . . .YES I AM!

JP always threatens to tickle me until I wee. Now that we have a wii, the phrase has taken on new meaning. He really can tickle me until I wii.

Jumbled thoughts on the Christchurch Earthquake

Next week at work we are holding a fundraising week to raise money to be given to our Christchurch Offices, for them to distribute or use for their families and educators however they feel it is needed. Personally I don't generally give donations to charities or causes. Not because I don't want to but, more because I don't know where the money is actually going. But in this case we know exactly where it's going, it's a fathomable cause.

At each PlaySchool we'll have a special activity that our Families and Educators can participate in for a donation. We'll have a raffle going as well and we'll try to encourage as many people as possible to donate. We're also going to have lots of large paper and art supplies so kids and adults alike can contribute their thoughts and well wishers to their counterparts in Christchurch.

I don't know many people in Christchurch - just one old school friend and two people from the Christchurch office of my work. I used to go down their a couple of times in the school holidays to stay with my Aunt. But she moved back to Welly when I was a teenager. So I don't have an attachment or connection to Christchurch really. I do feel a little guilty that it's always been presumed that Welly would get the big earthquake (and it still will I assume) and not Christchurch - they didn't even know that faultline excisted!

Anyway. . . Hearing the stories about some of the Families and Educators and even the staff is emotional. Two staff and 13 Home Educators have to have their houses demolished. Can you imagine having your house demolished? I'd be gutted. Our coach is a Welly girl living in Chch. Her daughters are traumatised - won't be without each other, won't sleep at night, won't go down the end of the house where they were when it happened, getting angry quickly. It just goes on.

Here's a good site to check out http://www.geonet.org.nz/ Under the recent earthquake section it lists the date, time and magnitude of every earthquake around the country. It also has an article about how since 1970 Chch had had 3 moderate earthquakes (moderate being 5.0 or higher). Since Saturday they've had 26!

At http://www.stuff.co.nz/ is a interesting clip that has a speeding clock that goes from 4am on Saturday until the present time. It counts off the big quake and then all the aftershocks. It takes a good 10 minutes to go through the clock and you'll be shocked at how many aftershocks there are - easily 300 by now. And it could go on for weeks. How traumatising.

Meanwhile, who has their earthquake/emergency kit ready at home and work?! We do, but it needs a damn good overhall. At work we went out and bought a lot of stuff, which was hard because everywhere is selling out of things so fast. I've never seen so many people buying large bottles of water so quickly!

The weekend ahead

Our internet is on the 'go slow' at the moment so this is going to be a short blog. Tonight JP and have eaten leftovers and watched two movies - Chicago and Chicken Little. Reviews to come soon (probably when internet feels like working again). In the meantime I have a busy weekend ahead. Tomorrow I need to buy a birthday present for PS, try on a dress that Lee saw at a shop in town, catch up with the girls. Then on Sunday I'm going for Yum Char with PS and co for his birthday celebrations. I'll also need to do my chores and I want to do some photography it's a nice day, perhaps some painting, some reading and some journaling for work. When will I possibly find the time to do all this?! Oh and some nice sleepins would be nice too.

Handbags vs Men

Women carry handbags. Men don't. Notice the difference?

I can not leave the house without my handbag. Generally I have in my handbag - cell phone, keys, wallet, camera, a hair tie, lip balm, concealer, moistureiser, tampons, tissues and sunglasses. At a push I will take just keys, wallet and phone. But that's if only necessary. You never know what you're going to need and when, and I really hate to need something and not have it. A hair tie is usually the biggest thing I miss out and really really need.

Meanwhile, Men can leave the house with no bag at all. Just a key (that's ONE key) a small wallet and a cell phone in their pocket. That's all they need, or could possibly need. Do they know they won't need more than that? Do they assume that if they need anything else they can find it or buy it? Do they just not care?

I envy that men don't need handbags to carry all their crap, or that they survive on being so minimalistic .

And don't get me started on overnight bags or luggage for a trip. Men take hardly anything at all. A backpack will do for a long weekend while I'll take a trolley bag. Going for longer? A guy will take a pack, or perhaps a medium suitcase while I'll take the largest suitcase I can find.

It's the same mentality - Women need an outfit for every possible occasion and every weather possibility, multiple shoes, lots of makeup, hair products etc, etc, etc, etc. While men need a change of clothes and that's it.

My flatmate went out for the evening to 'boys night'. Knowing I was home, he took his cell phone and that was it. His girlfriend rang, asking him to come over because she's sick so he got one of the boys to drop him off. The next day he accompanies her to the hospital with only the clothes he was wearing the day before and his cell phone. And he survived the day. It can't have been easy, but doable. Could you have done it?! Probably. So, now I'm thinking - we don't need all this guff that we carry around with us. OR - always take your handbag wherever you go!