^ a photo of this morning in Newcastle, by my friend Josh.

It's 8am, probably my earliest blog to date. A delicious, dreary-skied, wet, cold Summer morning. C is still asleep. We're going camera shopping today - just something small and inexpensive. Probably hundreds of photos to come. You've been warned.
Today's outgoing;



^ Travelling to miss Milly.


^ A 'Decorated Envie' swap to Denmark.


^ A repurposed record cover envelope to lovely Julie.

I wrote out this simple list for a penpal as she requested it and thought I'd share;

And a little drawing I did of all the things I did on a particular day (I have an interesting life...);

I have nothing to say except that I adore this video;

^ 'Tulip fields just outside Alkmaar, North-Holland, Netherlands. Must be at least one colour of your liking ;-)' by Allard One, (via Kind Over Matter).

Today there was no mail and money that should have arrived, but was hindered by the public holiday, never showed and therefore our planned outing to buy a camera didn't eventuate. Minor disappointment all round. I did however receive one of the sweetest packages ever in the mail yesterday, so really no mail for a week would be a fair exchange. When I do purchase the aforementioned camera I'll show you its amazing contents. I spent most of the day trying to copy episode after episode of 'One Tree Hill' for my sister, as she borrowed the whole season from a friend and as a Christmas present I'm going to copy it all and burn the discs for her. With approximately 22 episodes per season, and 7 seasons all up, I'm going to be up for... *does simple maths in head, fails*... lots of discs! I'll have to buy a whole spool. What a nice seester* I am. As well as this I started writing a long letter, had an extended nap and watched as C tidied up our yard, *yawn* such a big, busy day.

*I've picked up this spelling from Micaela.

Internet gems I am enjoying today:

♡ Gin In A Teacup is one of my favourite blogs at the moment and she's doing a very cute giveaway you should take a peek at.

♡ I really like Skine Art, quite inspiring. Lots of spreads of peoples Moleskines;

^ This page by Lady Orlando.

♡ Enjoy things Obama related? Do you like Super Mario? Then you will love SUPER OBAMA WORLD!


^ from Phlocks. Boy, I wish I was a 1950's housewife.

♡ No Time Wasters : A guy who places ridiculous ads in the classifieds.


♡ Speech Accent Archive : I found this website sometime ago and it never fails to amuse me. You click on a particular continent, country and then a particular region and listen to various accents from those places, and even submit your own accent. I really want to do it, even though I don't think a Novacastrian accent is particularly different to anywhere else in Aus.

♡ Readable Book of Hotel Bedcovers : @ Dornob.


♡ And this couch that can be rearranged into various shapes;

+ this roll-up frying pan + this bath mat made from real moss.

♡ "Replacing world landmarks with cheap souvenirs";


♡ World Beard and Moustache Championships. I think C should probably enter when his beard gets a little longer;


Hope everyone rings in the New Year with a bang (for me that will probably mean at home, watching Six Feet Under)!

^ +.

Listening to: Jesus the Mexican Boy - Iron & Wine.
Drinking: Hot chocolate x 2.
Eating: Partially cooked banana bread (I hate cooking failures).

I just got back from a very pleasant day (and night) trip to visit my family in Dungog and catch up with my friend Timmy, who is up from over the border for a few weeks. I came home lugging a whole lot more stuff than I had brought with me, a beautiful hand-made fine silk wall hanging from my Nana amongst other things, and my mum gave me a hilarious crockery teapot shaped night light for our hallway. I am now feeling plagued by vertigo and what feels like the beginnings of a stomach bug. Ick. Without any prior thought about it, I asked my sister to cut my hair last night and now it's about a third of its previous length. Short! It was so long beforehand, the longest it had been since I was a kid. A new haircut for the new year I guess. Change is good. I took it out when I got home and waited for C to notice (he's usually super observant), but after thirty seconds I had to just tell him. We're having pasta with vegetarian mince bolognese (TVP) for dinner for the hundredth time in the last few weeks, I keep asking for C to cook it for me every night. So delish.

I've been ever so slowly catching up on replying to the influx of letters received while I was away. My first hand-drawn airmail envelope is travelling to lovely miss Mary of Bowling Green, KY;






^ And this makeshift postcard I made out of cardboard and pen is going out to the postmaster of The Art of the Postcard, a great little blog. It actually took around an hour to make.

Received;

This gorgeous vintage postcard arrived in my mail box last week from Algeria and it's very sweet;



And another lovely little card from Lauren (she spoils me with mail);




^I love the stamp smothered envelope, especially the 'P.S. Write Soon' stamp.

Letter writing aficionados might already be familiar with it, but I just came across and signed up for the next round of the Penpal Party organised by Susie of BoyGirlParty, looks like fun! (Thanks for the heads up Robyn).

Also, I'd really like to buy this tool set for C from V&A. He'd love them;



I've been downloading some interesting mixes from Mixtape Madness of late (not the Christmas mixes so much though), and I love submitting things to the Mixshare Livejournal Community.

A friend pointed out to me the line up for this years Bluesfest and it looks pretty damn fine (esp. The Swell Season, Buena Vista Social Club, Angus & Julia Stone & The Avett Brothers), but not at the exorbitant price. C and I are going to try see The Avett Brothers at their Sydney side-show;



Hope everyone is ready and looking forward to twenty ten! I can't believe the two thousands have passed and I can't imagine what this past decade will be remembered for - what music, what fashions, what events, what celebrities? What do we call the new decade? The tens? The teens? Fill me in?

I just came to the realisation that I may have extreme number dyslexia. I can't even say my own phone number right. Perhaps that's why I was so horrible at maths in high school.
Now to get back to Six Feet Under.