A new years play on words

Happy not so New Year! I'm doing well in 2014 I'm only a month and a half late.

Have you had a great start to 2014? Did you have a great new years? We spent ours travelling between friends and family visiting 3 different places to make sure we saw those we loved one last time in the year that was 2013. It was tiring but really nice too. The year seems to have continued in the same vein hence my neglect here.

I also made a new years resolution this year, nothing too grand, ambitious or complicated just one word

A simple word to mean a lot of things and nothing too serious at the same time.

A reminder to allow my boys as much play as possible, to join in as much play as possible with them but also to take time out with my partner and have fun together - just us - which doesn't happen often enough. It's a word I will place at the forefront of my mind to remember to experiment, participate and find the fun side of life - so simple but so powerful for me right now.

Happy belated 2014 everyone I hope you also get to play all year - whatever that means for you.

Found Friday

Found Friday (on a Sunday of course)


It seems my little techno holiday had an impact on my technical abilities as I typed this post Friday and it disappeared. Oh well!


I have enjoyed my break - time to rebalance my virtual and physical lives - something I hope to continue. I have tried to invest the time in my little people one outside and one breaking out soon. 
Today's FF is all about finding space - the metaphorical space I found by having a self imposed social media break of 3 weeks and an actual physical one.


We recently started off our reno in a most unglamorous but necessary way by replacing the leaking asbestos roof on our garage. Hum drum as it was it gave us an opportunity to do what we fully intended on moving in 18 moths ago - setting up the garage as 1/2 storage 1/2 create space. It never happened then as the boxes and furniture, and my finds if I'm really honest, just kept piling in. Now we have reorganized, consolidated and shuffled to have a 2/3 storage 1/3 create space scenario - better than nothing!


There is now a corner of the new 'create space' which is the new home of Find and Dandy - still very much in unpack and organize mode itself but now my finds can have a temporary home, other than my desk or dining room table, as they await their permanent home or their Dandy do over. 


I can't wait to set it up properly and get creative. It will also double as an extra space for rainy day craft projects and generally getting little people out of the house - perfect new space much needed in out tiny - soon to become teeny - little home.

Here is the still to be dandy-ied "find parking station".

Found Friday

Time together and patterns in rock pools - great day to find yourself at the beach.

Absent ponderings

Hi!

What is that all I have to say after all this time - I don't write, I don't post - I disappear without so much as a postcard?

Yeah - sorry!

Hopefully some of you have been kept up to date with my ramblings and rovings over at Facebook or Instagram - I haven't dropped off the planet completely I have just been a bit creativity and energy deficient - something I hope to make up for in the coming days/weeks/months. I'm back!

So where have I been?

Well nowhere really just here in a different way - my main excuse, and I don't really have any other good ones, is that I haven't been feeling that well for a lot of the months of January, February and March but don't feel sorry for me - it has been the best kind of unwell. Un-wellness caused by the best kind of joy and blessing. I am delighted to say another little person is growing inside me and was making me delightedly tired and perpetually sea sick. I am now feeling on land and with some spark again as I reach half way in this growing journey - we hope to welcome our little 'beannut' (who is now called that in absence of any better name) in late August.

Here is a little pic that sums up my thoughts. It is an instagram pic I posted a few weeks back when I was tagged by the lovely Heather of  Ollie and Ruby to post up a #hopestagram. A hopestagram is a picture that captures your hopes. Here is my pic and the words that went with it

"My biggest hope this year is that this little person growing inside me is as healthy happy and lovely as their brother to be, that I find somewhere the time to be the best mummy possible to them both, oh and that this day in day out motion sickness feeling goes soon."

Well we are part of the way there. Now my hope is to not leave it so long before I post again.

A circus interlude

I would love to say I am running away with the circus but I am not sure you can do that twice in your life, that's another story and by no means literal. No, the circus reference has more to do with how life feels right now - a tight rope act while juggling and trying to pull rabbits out of hats.

The real story is I am taking a little break from posting here for a month or a little longer - not that I have been terribly consistent of late - to focus on the final push to the end of the year with design assignments piled high and half finished on my desk. I hope to emerge with a big "Ta Da!" at the end but that remains to be seen.

Wish me luck (or do you say break a leg) I hope to catch the bar at the other end as I swing through the air.

Not quite finding Friday

I know i have missed Found Friday again and I swear it was going to turn into Sourced Sunday but the last few weeks have given me a walloping and i just needed some days off from everything except my boys - with a trip to the Steam Museum Open Day yesterday and today being a nice day for a family mini bushwalk and a trip to the beach it has been just what I needed. I will be back on deck next week I promise as I do have some lovely finds I would like to share with you. I hope your weekend was leisurely and sunny too.

Finding Dandy

Hi There - I have been a little quiet here of late so just an update - I know I skipped Found Friday last week and I am sorry - I had great finds just no time to snap them and get it all together.

No time - seems to be the status quo lately.

I would love to say I am off Finding Dandy because I have never before in my life been so brimming with ideas and so short on time to execute them. This is what I wish I was doing with my time right now. In reality I am doing assignments, have started a new job and we are nursing the household through (hopefully) the last of the winter lurgies.

I may not be here much for the next few weeks so apologies in advance.

I will still be doing the odd little snippet on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram so you may catch me there. I am going to try really hard to find the time to find that dandy which can only result in me having so much more to show you when I'm back. Let's hope the ideas keep coming in the night.

Scissors - Cut and paste up

The last of my scissor snippets are these cute little wall decals from The Wall Sticker Company

They are by Grace Lee and include scissors - along with the other kitchen related items

I think I like them so much because they remind me of some of my recent less than perfect sketches of domestic items for a class exercise. I have done these and am quite happy with them in their imperfect oddity. I was intimidated by drawing, and I still am a little, but having to sketch for class is freeing that up and I figure now why not just give it a try - I draw what I see, mess and imperfections and all and while I will never be an illustrator extraordinaire these might just make it to my kitchen wall along with Grace Lee's.

And as the director says - 'Cut' - that's it for scissors - a full run down of scissors and the three Roshambo (Rock, Paper, Scissors) weeks to come.

Scissors - She cuts it fine

I could hardly do a week of scissors and not mention hairdressers - but not just any - my big sis.

Hairdressers are oft undervalued artisans. There is a lot of technique and artistry that goes into being a hairdresser, not to mention science and business skill. I think most women feel much better with the perfect do - and it doesn't just happen.

For my sister it was definitely a calling - just check this picture out - I think she was only about 5 here - styling my other sisters hair.

She always knew she wanted to and could do it - and she does - cut it fine that is, and colour and style. 

I was hoping to show you a selection of my favourite styles she has given me over the years but haven't managed to dig those up but they've included a favourite nineties do - a short cut with a blonde fringe ala Suze Demarchi of the Baby Animals - below

If you ever find yourself in the NSW Northern Rivers in need of a seriously good snip (and a tint, highlight, foil and style) - I can recommend, without bias, an artist I know - KulaByTara - look her up - she's been practicing a long time.

Found Friday

So I have been a little slack this week with posting here. I have two very good excuses I promise - one fun and one not so fun. I have also managed to do some cute finding - dollhouse furniture in need of a refurb (see the little reno for which plans are still being approved - by me) and some linens. I promise to take some pics of these and get them up early next week but my not so fun excuse, my assignments, are keeping me too busy right now so I will make this short and sweet.

Now to my fun excuse - finding a long time friendship unchanged. I have had a very special visitor this week, my long time friend Trish who is in the country briefly from China where she lives and works. It was great to catch up and get reacquainted after a few years of seeing eachother - or talking for that matter because even though she is one of my dearest friends life is just like that.  As it happens I am fortunate to have a handful of these friendships with friends that live overseas or interstate who I see or speak with very seldom but with whom nothing changes. We manage to pick up right where we left off. Nothing fundamental has changed in the friendship just the details of life and it is great to fill eachother in.

We have a mutual love of op shopping that goes back to high school and while I won't admit to how long that is let's just say we were joking about the need to do something fabulous or at least notorious before a significant school reunion next year.

Here she is in a great puffy sleeved 80's navy print blouse, one of the finds from our trip to the local Op Shop together.

I picked it up off the rack for her and while she wasn't sure at first she now likes it and I think it is absolutely fabulous on her. So I would like to take this opportunity to give thanks for my friends - near and far - who never change in the right ways while changing all the same.

Found Friday

This week's finds Top 3

• A foxy new collection of images
• Finding out good news
• Many ways to procrastinate

A foxy new collection of images
I have always loved imagery of foxes. I know that they are not native and indeed are a general bad ass pest in Australia but gosh they are cute. I started a new board on Pinterest to collect the most foxy finds I could find - 'What a Fox'. Here is a favourite to get you feeling foxy too. This foxy lampshades is from Radiance a UK based 'glowing light and craft boutique'.

While checking out their products I also found another fabulous designer - House of Chintz - these beautifully layered lampshades
are to die for.

Finding out good news
My very talented partner Craig was named one of Capture Magazines 2012 Top Emerging Photographers in the Advertising Category. You can check out the winning shots in the latest issue of the magazine or via his website craigproudford.com as part of his Wish series and while you're there check out his other beautiful shots. While I love them all an all time personal favourite for me is the ninety K's series - so named because I was driving and was on my P's and could only travel at 90 K's. They are painterly and dreamy. I couldn't be more proud.

Many ways to procrastinate
I have several assignments due in the next 2 weeks and subsequently I have found many many opportunities to procrastinate including much pinning on Pinterest - yes even more that my prolific norm (see this week's find #1) - an appropriate favourite pin this week.

One of the main reasons for the procrastination, apart from it being the usual order of things with me, is that I have been feeling a little inadequate. I have been comparing myself to others and coming up short and have been avoiding even starting for fear of not liking the results. Nothing like a deadline fast approaching to snap you out of that. So today I tried to remember why I am studying interior decoration and design in the first place. BECAUSE I FIND IT FUN. I am not the best at what I am tackling currently and don't expect to be - hand rendering interiors and materials - but I am OK at it and I can get it done. I just have to have fun with it (and remember that it the real world there are computers too).

I remembered today some unsolicited advice a psychic gave me many many years ago (I knew she was a psychic because even though I was just her waitress she knew way too much about me). She told me to 'Have fun and the money will follow'. Insert anything you are seeking here - Love, career progression, friendship. If you forget to find the joy on the way what is the point in arriving.

Here are some of my (unfinished) fun scribblings from today. Now enough procrastinating with writing this post and back to it.

Found Friday

This week gave us Anzac Day - a little mid week bonus day feeling like a weekend. I had great plans of baking Anzac cookies but an unexpected late night followed by an early morning wake up for the dawn service quashed my ambitions. I did however have some spirit of adventure. What we found this week? A new place to explore as a family, and my little man found a new place to run and run and run - there is nothing he loves more. We went for a walk along Avon and Nepean Dams and a stroll around the picnic grounds and while it felt like we had arrived at the whole of winter in one afternoon gusting at us it was pretty and quiet and we had a great time. Finding time together - the best find of all. (Thanks Craig for the pics)

 

 

Pac-Man Serendipity

Today was one of those days. Not for any particular reason, it just was. I am not absolutely fond of my long drive to class at Enmore Design Centre on a Monday morning - an hour and a half there and an hour and half back - mostly parked or crawling forward but I do usually enjoy the opportunity it gives me to just be me - not a mum, not a student, not a domestic goddess (ha). I put on my, my music really loud and sing along really loudly and do that strange driving a car dance where you shake your head and tap along on the steering wheel - you know the one - dance like nobody but the guy in the ute in front looking in his rear view is watching!

But today was different. I was full of negative self talk and self doubt. I did enjoy the release of Florence and the Machine full volume and a good cry but as I was doing this I was also thinking how I was not being a good enough mum, student, friend, partner - insert any number of things here - and 3 hours is a long time to indulge this kind of thinking. It did however lead me to another thought - how negative self talk is like a little Pac-Man in your head eating a path through all your good thoughts and self confidence. It was a metaphor I was enjoying exploring in my mind (as I am want to do) when a little white hatchback driven by a P Plater overtook me on the left - mostly because I was diving too slowly as I daydreamed and should really have gotten over. No word of a lie this is what they had stuck to their bumper bar

I instantly smiled, then laughed and realised if I was going to indulge this metaphor then how could I possibly be scared of these thoughts when they were so cute and colourful, besides they are a game and to start again all you need to do is reboot. Reboot - on top of tomorrows to do list, and I might not be so hard on myself as I work through the rest of the items.