top ten pictures from the week ~ 31 august 11

Hey, it's spring tomorrow...in my hemisphere anyway. That's good isn't it?

I know that not all the images  I choose each week will be everyone's cuppa...americans, that's short for cup of tea...one of your countrymen asked me what it meant once :)

naturally there'll be some you like more than others, and some you might even turn your nose up at, and that's ok too

do you want to know why I choose what I do?

It's really incredibly simple. I heard that muffled "possibly a bit like you" comment, don't think I didn't :)

I only choose rooms  that I would want to spend more than two minutes in (although occasionally there'll be a flower picture or two if one strikes me as being very beautiful)

or something completely random...

Just say that if the rooms I show you here were in a display home or a house for sale for instance

people would be trying to kick me out when the open inspection was over because I'd want to linger, longer...

or if it was your house and I was visiting you'd be looking at your watch and thinking to yourself 'when is she going to go home!'

And I'd be ignoring you because I wanted to stay in your lovely room. So if any of these are yours you'd better not invite me over.

...and sometimes I just choose the same type of pictures without even knowing it, like the time they were all dining rooms. Who knew! Someone did; they told me. I liked that :)

images in order seen on a perfect gray; econest; design is mine; little french nest; brabourne farm; beautifulism; from the right bank; design chic; fryd + design; the new victorian ruralist

I went to ballarat...

Hi there friends. I've been a bit absent I know, but I've been popping in and out of bloggy world whenever there's been a chance. I wouldn't want you to think it's been complete neglect. No, not at all.

One of the reasons for my absence was a lovely four day break in Ballarat. Although to be precise it was one day driving there, two days in situ and another day getting home. It's a long way between Canberra and Ballarat, it is indeed!

We went for the Foto Biennale. Richard was having his portfolio reviewed so I went along for the ride...and yes, he got some great feedback and encouragement to carry on. Yes, very pleased about that :)

But oh the irony, here we were in a lovely town for a photo festival and I hardly took any snaps. This meagre offering is it I'm afraid. 

Oh well. Next time. And maybe I'll show you some of my favourite works from the 72 exhibitions in another post. Yes I will. Hold me to that. There was some very fine stuff and it's definitely worth looking at. 

top ten pictures from the week ~ 25 august 11

It's ludicrous...

[seen on small space style]

here it is...Thursday, again

[seen on luxe + lillies]

and I haven't posted anything since this time last week

[by janis nicolay pinecone camp]

how did that happen I hear you ask

[seen on the bottom of the ironing basket]

well...it's like this

[seen on my favorite and my best]

I've been away

[seen on the diversion project]

in Ballarat to be precise

[seen on my first little place]

for the photo biennale

[seen on this pretty space]

it was good...you should go

[seen on abigail ahern]

I'll try to be better with the whole posting frequency thing next week

[adore home seen on decorology]

provided I get my creative writing assignment in on time that is. What's that? I haven't told you about my course. Maybe next week :)

top ten pictures from the week ~ 18 august 11

It pains me to tell you this...

seen on honey 'n fizz

but I will anyway

seen on gingerella

the top ten was hard work this week...

seen on wish you were here

I had to persevere and keep looking, looking...I was disappointed it took so long to put together, but what can you do?

seen on the style files

just go with what you've got...which is good, don't get me wrong, but it was  hard to find...it's usually a breeze. Well, breeze-ish.

seen on the design files

I don't think the fact that I've been difficult to please or my patience threshold is low has got anything to do with a lack of sugar. No, I won't hear of it!

seen on my pear tree house

it's only been three days and I suspect there's so much kicking around in my body it's going to take a lot longer than that for withdrawal nastiness to kick in!

seen on greige

but...reading this post by Jane from My Pear Tree House certainly made up for a dearth of pretty pictures. Please go and read it if you haven't already. A wonderful attitude and quite a lot of wisdom waits for you there.

things could get ugly...

I finished reading this book last night...

It's probably fair to say that I have a sugar addiction. My waistline certainly thinks so. And it's probably also fair to say that if you're a sane person, one major self imposed challenge at a time is more than enough...

Ha! How long have you known me? As if I'd stop at one! So quitting sugar starts today, and like I said it could get ugly. So enjoy the pretty $8 tulips from Woollies while I'm still in a good mood. 

And for those of you who've been asking for the vampire slayer, here she is...always alert, never alarmed :)

soul food friday ~ what labels do you give yourself?

Are you new to soul food fridays? It's where I get all philosophical on you. Buckle up and come along for the ride. And welcome.

here

Ever since I came back from Bali I've been writing. Short stories, random thoughts in pretty notebooks, ideas that inconveniently float into my mind while I'm in the shower, the first sentence of something or other that's yet to fully reveal itself. 

I said in this post that I'd found what I wanted to do. And what I want, more than I think I've wanted many things in my life, is to write. And yet, even though I'm writing, even though I'm more determined about this than a lifetime of other things I've tried, I still can't offer myself the label 'writer'. Not even after having coffee with a friend the other day who told me that at least 90% of my job is writing. Which is true. But it's not the right sort of writing if you know what I mean.

here

So I did the only sensible thing. I started to write about my reluctance to tattoo writer on my forehead. Here's a snippet from a piece I'm working on...

     I paint. But this doesn’t make me an artist. I garden. I plant and I prune and I dig but I’m hardly a gardener. I cook but I don't call myself a cook, much less a chef.  I take photos and some of them turn out quite well. I’ve managed to capture some lovely things through my camera but do I call myself a photographer? Do you call me that? Do you call me any of these things? No. And neither do I. Because I'm not paid to cook, garden or take photos. 

     This is why, although I write, I can’t name myself writer. I can't meet someone new, shake their hand and in response to the inevitable 'what do you do?' can't bring myself to say 'I write'. It’s a label that won’t stick. It slides easily off and away like the sticker on a jam jar that's been soaking in the sink for just the right amount of time.

It's fear isn't it? And now I think about it, most of the labels I've given myself don't earn me a living, apart from my business of course. I don't get paid to be a mum, partner, reader, rambler, friend. Of course I don't. In fact I'm usually the one doling out the dollars! But I do all these things, happily and willingly. I am all of these things. We do stuff we aren't paid for, lots of it, all the time. We do it because it's worthwhile, because we have to, because these things give us pleasure and hope and add meaning to our lives. Why should 'writer' be any different? 

... I've tried so many things. Tried, failed or just got bored. My failures laugh quietly at me from the corners of my home, stashed in cupboards, shoved under beds. Half done paintings, incomplete quilts, balls of yarn artfully resting in a wicker basket under an antique desk, with its barley twist legs and beautiful brass handles. Unfinished tapestries on wooden frames are shoved away at the end of this long brown desk I’m writing at now. Flung one day between it and the window they wag their bright woolly fingers at me. Psych degrees started and abandoned. Not just once, not even twice, but three times and that's it, you're out. And I wonder whether this thing called writing will end up stashed in a cupboard or somewhere on a forgotten thumb drive.

So, dear bloggy people, as my first step, over there in the about me section, I've snuck in 'writer' along with those other things I know I am. I can say it to you here in the safety of this blogging community. I know you'll get it. And even if you don't it doesn't matter, it still feels good. I'm keeping it.
Are you a bit like me? 
What are the labels that you'd love to shout out loud to the world but can't bring yourself to do just yet? 

top ten pictures from the week ~ 10 Aug 11

Hello there. Wednesday again!

by jane brocket

I have no idea how that happens.

seen on 16 house

You know how it goes: you're counting down the thursday and friday minutes

seen on i suwanee

the ones that never seem to go quickly enough

seen on from the right bank

and before you know it, bam, Wednesday has come around again

by old brand new: this picture just cracks me up

And don't talk to me about weekends.

seen on wicker and stitch

so much promise and so little achieved

by pia jane bijkerk how magnificent is that picture

although that's probably a good thing

seen on desire to inspire

down time

seen on the nesting place

quiet time

seen on this pretty space

me time

seen on with two cats

I will complain no more. Not till Monday anyway :)
Did you get your census form done ok last night? I did mine online. You?