I don't write many lists these days, but here's one I drew for fun. I'm going to try to post an illustrated list every week for a couple of weeks.



This is where I'm sitting today, at my kitchen table, procrastinating while I should be doing drawing for uni (which I'm really looking forward to, but keep avoiding for some reason). My studio is too cold and messy at the moment and the kitchen table has lots of nice light.



Tell me something you know.

Today I met my friend Isis for lunch and Theo, C and I spent some time in Princes Square (one of our favourite Launceston parks). Theo is at that stage where he'll only put up with so much time being cooped up in his pram, so we've been trying to find more spots in the city where he can get down and play. There's one great cafe with an enclosed play area (Flip) that we go to and the library, but the parks have been pretty damp lately and not conducive for an exploring, crawling baby. But we threw caution to the wind and just let him roam today and get muddy knees - he doesn't care about them, so why should I?




He became obsessed with the fountain and forced me to let him dip his hands in it over and over again, despite the water being totally freezing. I've been wanting to take him to the indoor swimming centre for a long time and he seems pretty interested in water at the moment, so maybe it's a good time.


I wasn't feeling very photogenic so C told me to spin around in circles, ha.



I was in Hobart last fortnight to attend a singing workshop with one of my favourite singers, Clare Bowditch (and everyone from the workshop got to sing with her on stage at her concert that night!). The first concert I ever went to was a Clare Bowditch concert when I was 15, so it was a bit of a teenage dream to attend a workshop with her. A totally lovely coincidence was that Mem (who I have been friends with online for some time) was at the workshop too and we got to meet properly and she kindly let me hang out with she and her lovely cat Jellyfish between the workshop and the concert. Anyway, this is really just a long way of telling you that I was in Hobart for a few days and Dangerfield (which unfortunately Launceston doesn't have) had a big sale and I got 5 dresses, including this one, and I got my cute heart shaped bag for free.






I've been going for walks into the city a lot lately to take photos for a drawing project for uni. I only have two subjects left until I graduate and it feels so weird to be so close to the end. When I first started uni back in 2009 I didn't really know what I wanted to do or when I would finish, so it's nice to see the finish line. I'm really excited to get started on my drawing project, stay tuned.

I also wanted to say a big thank you for the kind emails I've received since my last post - I'm still in the process of responding to them, but reading them has really helped me in the last few days.

+ Shoes: Melissa. Bag: Dangerfield. Coat: Target. Dress: Dangerfield/Revival. Cardigan: Thrifted.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to share much information about this here, but I didn't want to not talk about it. I think in some ways for me it's like marking a place in time and moving on from that point.

Earlier this week I had a miscarriage. Unlike Theo, we planned for this pregnancy. We were just at the end of first trimester and feeling pretty excited and had started telling friends and family. On Wednesday things weren't feeling right, so I saw my doctor so that he could tell me what to expect when (if) I did miscarry (but he wasn't much help because he kept reassuring me that it would be fine). I woke up at 2am on Thursday morning because one of our cats was knocking at the door to be let in. If he hadn't have woken me up I may have just miscarried entirely while I was asleep and not known until morning because I was in no pain.

I had to spend some time in hospital due to excessive bleeding and I had the loveliest older male emergency nurse named Adam who made my time there 110% better than it would have been (I'd love to write him a note to thank him for his loveliness and jokes and fantastic bedside manner). I had some horrible procedures but received fantastic care and headed home feeling okay. The day after I got home from hospital though my whole body was in so much pain, I couldn't turn my head in bed, let alone get out of it. I called one of the nurses I'd had and she said I should definitely come back into emergency. When I did go in (in extreme pain) I had a terrible experience with a male triage nurse basically telling me I was a hypochondriac and yelling at me for dropping my cup of water (I haven't decided yet if I'll write the angry letter to the hospital that's in my head).

I'm feeling a lot better a couple of days on and while at the time I felt pretty pragmatic about the whole thing, I am feeling pretty down at the moment but I know it'll get better. I'm feeling a bit uneasy about the inevitable conversations I still have to have with people who knew I was pregnant, but I'm heading back to uni and work this coming week and I feel really good about that.

And I know we'll have another child sometime.

Here are five things that made me smile over the past few days:
+ My gorgeous emergency nurse Adam who called me "Queen B".
+ Theodore took his first, single, solitary step! (He knew I needed that joy)
+ I saw several dogs in jackets, they always make me happy.
+ I bought some pretty new plants for my kitchen windowsill.
+ Going for a drive to the Evandale Markets and seeing snow on the mountains.

I've turned off comments on this post. I guess I just want this post to sit here by itself, for myself. If you do feel like you need to talk to me, you are welcome to send me an email. Thank you, as always, for reading my blog, I appreciate your support. I hope to be back soon.

Ps. If you've bought one of my zines, they're ready and will be in the post early next week.

Have you ever bought (or been given) a lovely book and you think to yourself "I can't wait to read that, I'll save it for when I've got enough time to enjoy it" and you're still waiting for that time? Well, times that by 100 and that's my bookshelf. So, in an effort to curb this behaviour, I thought I'd start a little series in which I sort of review/talk about some of the lovely (mostly visual) books I own - forcing myself to get them off their shelves and enjoy their contents and hopefully introducing you to some books you might find lovely too.

The first book I wanted to share is Hello, NY! by Julia Rothman who is one of my favourite illustrators. She has lived in New York City for her whole life, and understandably, has quite a lot of observations, hidden treasures, details, facts, stories and experiences to share from her favourite place in the world.




The book is a visual feast, full of gorgeous illustrations in Rothman's trademark style, colourful and hand-drawn - part tour guide, part memoir. She takes you from her childhood neighbourhood in City Island to the Tugboat Graveyard to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Lower East Side Troll Museum to some of the 'lesser-recognised, under-appreciated buildings of Manhattan' to Grand Central Station and everywhere in between, sharing details, observations and stories.





The book is a lovely homage to New York City and has given me a good dose of 'fernweh' as well as a lot of inspiration for my uni project. I'd love to get my hands on some of her other books. I read a quote I really liked by Julia in this Grain Edit interview that said "I love art that looks like it's for children, but it's for adults" - I feel the same way!




I find Julia extremely inspiring because I think her versatile catalog of work shows just how many roles illustrators can play - she designs wallpaper, book covers, images for use in online and print media articles, wearables, objects, patterns, textiles and lot of other bits and pieces. Obviously I'm a big fan!