More Happy Makers

At work the other day we were talking about Youtube Therapy.
It's when you need a pick me up (or a good cry) and go down a rabbithole of uplifting video clips, and everyone has their own favourite flavour of therapy video. The girls at work were all big on surprise proposal videos, and I can see why they work. They're full of people making big, romantic gestures towards the one they love, and it's happy couples agreeing to spend the rest of their lives together. That's pretty infectious stuff, no doubt.
My personal favourite though? Kids getting ponies for Christmas/birthdays. Oh my god does that get the waterworks going like nothing else. I've seen lovely videos where kids or grown ups get puppies or kittens for Christmas, but because my own childhood was so full of my horses and ponies and my parents going out of their way constantly to give me access to animals and make that a special part of my growing up, it's the girls and ponies that get me right in the feels!

Worth noting though, if anyone is planning to recreate a surprise like this, responsible pet ownership comes first. It's one thing for a parent to surprise a child, knowing already that the animal will fit into the household and that they can comfortably afford the expense and time associated with owning an animal. Especially in the case of these horses, often they are horses the child has been leasing or riding in lessons for a while before he's purchased by the parents. If there is any doubt at all that the person you're surprising might not be up for a 10-20 year pet owning commitment, don't do it. Animal shelters are full of unwanted 'gifts' after the holiday season so it's not something to be taken lightly.

That said, for anyone needing a little Youtube therapy of the "surprise animal" kind, this is for you.

 

Eaten By Cheetas

Now that me and my little sister are all grown up and earning our own money, my mum has taken to giving us 'experience' gifts rather than 'stuff' gifts. for birthday and Christmas. Last Christmas my little sister got a sky diving gift voucher, and knowing me as well as she does, my mum skipped the jumping out of planes caper and instead got me a double pass to MEET A CHEETAH!

She actually rang R before she got it for me, because she wanted to make sure he was comfortable going with me so I wouldn't have to go to Canberra on my own.

It was actually really surreal walking into a cage with a pair of huge wildcats. It poured the entire day so instead of sitting out in the open with the cheetahs, we all huddled in under their little shelter while they napped.

So without further delay, here are some adorable cheetah photos full of adorableness.

10 Bedspreads for Modern, Minimal rooms (that are available in Australia!)

Maybe it's because the weather is cooling, maybe it's because life is getting so hectic that I'm needing the apartment to be a real sanctuary, or maybe it's just because I'm fickle and need things to be constantly changing to be satisfied. Whatever the reason, no corner of my apartment is safe from my desire to revamp. I've already posted about my itch to overhaul my office, and I'm mentioned in passing the dire state of the balcony. Now that the bedroom is calling to me so strongly after an epic days juggling, I'm noticing that it's not as cute as it could be.

I've always had bedrooms that erred on the side of dark and moody, eclectic, cluttered and inspiring...but that was when I lived in share housing or my parents place, and my room had to be able to function as everything. I studied in it, relaxed in it, had sleep over parties in it, trashed it every Wednesday night in a 'lets meet up and get ready at mine before we go out' gathering and I wanted it to feel like a cocoon of me stuff.

When we first moved into our current place, we ditched a lot of our starter furniture, and kept things pretty sparse. I kind of loved how empty our bedroom looked with fresh white walls and nothing but the bed and bedsides. I swapped the old bedsides for the replica Noguchi Origami tables in the photo above after a few months, and this BJORNLOKA bedding has been an awesome place holder - matching with the floor to ceiling grey curtains and keeping the stark, minimal look. My only issue with it is that it's not a really white white like it looks in the picture. It's actually a sort of bone white or off-white, so when you pair it with nice white sheets and pillows like I've tried to do since, it ends up looking yellowish and dirty by contrast. Wouldn't be a problem if you used Ikea sheets to match and break it up a bit from any white walls, but in our place, it bugs me.

SO. Here are my pics for replacements that would work to complement or contrast an otherwise white, minimalist room. Prices are straight off each product's website at the time of posting, but may vary between locations of over time so double check if you find a favourite!

1. William Quilt Cover in Black, From Freedom Furniture $77.00

Fresh white keeps things calming and relaxing, while the fine black grid lines add some texture. Would look great paired with a chunky grey knit blanket and a few extra plain white pillows so it doesn't look too much like a maths grid book.

2. Aura Bedspread in Orange from Domayne Furniture $199.00

This reversible bedspread is orange on white on one side for a small pop of colour, or white on orange on the other for big impact. I like the idea of small doses of bright colours to bring some warmth to simple rooms. If you like the bold side of this bedspread more, you might like to check out the rest of Domayne furniture's range. Lots of heavily saturated primary colours and large scale patterns.

3.FARGLAV Quilt cover set from Ikea, $69-$119 depending on size (prices based on Ikea Tempe)

People tend to have a bit of a love hate relationship with Ikea bed linen (I've already mentioned my aversion to the 'white' in some of their designs, but they are a really good, really well priced option. Ikea bedspreads start at like $14.95 for single bed quilt sets, so if you're looking for an update on a budget, or something for a kids room that can get trashed and replaced as often as it needs to be, they really are the way to go. If you actually go into a store, you will feel a difference in the fabrics at each price point, and basically, you get a good deal but you also get what you pay for. At the lower end of the price scale, the fabrics are thinner, rougher to the touch and probably a little more prone to tears after a while. Up above the $49.95 price range you actually will find nice cotton, soft weave and probably longer wearing fabric. Plus unusual textile patterns and colours that carry through all their products so you can match furniture and decor easily.

4. Aura Crosses Quilt Set from Adairs $199.00

This set comes in "Jade" (top image) and "Aquamarine" (bottom image), and I'm actually pretty torn between both. I really like both colour ways, and the styling with white walls behind both images is stunning. Now, $199 is probably more than I'd pay for one of these, not because they aren't beautiful, but because I have commitment issues that manifest in my home instead of my relationship. These bedspreads are really bold in a white room, and they do somewhat dictate what else you add to the room - too much 'stuff' and they make it look seriously crowded, not enough texture and they dominate without looking grounded. If this is your top pick, take some cues from the styling - add lots of neutral texture to ground it, and be wary of too much contrasting colour if you want to retain it's freshness.

5. Marie Claire Rochelle Bedspread via Linen House. $189.95

At a glance this looks like soft greys, but on closer inspection, it's actually very very soft pastels. It's neutral enough that it isn't going to dictate the rest of your decor, interesting enough on the eye to be a feature in a very white room without taking over, and best of all it's got these pretty, subtle colours that you can draw from in the rest of your decor. Take a cue from the styling here and draw out the soft yellow with a brighter stool and sorbet tone cushion, or draw out the blues and greys with steely accents and richer blues, or bring out the lavender tones with pops of royal purple or deep pink. I like how many possibilities this one has (see aforementioned commitment phobia), and that it could be swapped out with plain white or grey bedding and the decor you use will still work.

6. Anthropology 'Creature Hideaway' Quilt Cover $169-$225 plus shipping

Anthropology bedding is something special. It's a bit more expensive than the other options here, and you do need to factor in the cost of shipping (anthropologie ship from the US to Australia, cost varying) but in my opinion, it's worthwhile for something a bit more special. The tricks, I think, to pulling off florals and mixed colours without it looking too busy or dated are to have the same neutral base colour as the major neutral in your room, and to keep the pattern a bit offbeat. For example, because my walls, ceilings and bedside tables are quite stark whites, this quilt cover with plenty of stark white as the background colour will keep that airy looks. Similarly, if you have a soft grey as your neutral or wall colour, a doona with large swathes of a similar shade will keep any pattern it has from looking too busy. I also avoid traditional, repeating patterns, and I don't much like symmetry in florals or nature inspired prints. I think symmetry is fine in geometric prints, or stripe or spotted prints, but you will never find a flowering shrub where the flowers and leaves repeat to an exact grid, so I think it looks cheesy when they do in bedding fabric. This quilt cover by anthropology is a large scale design, with lots of white space, a mixture of subtle colours and richer ones and it's asymmetrical...all the things I love!

7. Brighton Belle by Morgan & Finch $89.95-$159.95

This looks a bit more traditional than I would normally like, but that is mostly because it's styled like that with all those perfectly squared pillows. Does a bed made this precisely really look that inviting to anyone? Anyway, subjective taste in styling aside, this white bedding features a very finely printed city-scape across the front. This feels to me like a more subtle (maybe more grown-up?) version of the NYC skyline or subway map printed bedding I thought was The Coolest Ever when I was a teenager, and while I feel like that look isn't for me any more, maybe this toned down version could find a place in my new bedroom? To work in my space (and maybe yours) I'd be ditching the red sheets, pillows and cushions, getting rid of the European pillow in the back and pairing the cover with plain white or charcoal grey sheets and pillows, and I'd want it to share a room with plants or fresh flowers, just so I didn't feel like I was walking in off a grey city street and into another one.

Hiccups Folklandia Bedlinen $109.95 at Myer.

And now for something a little more playful. This gorgeous muted woodland bedding is just right for adding a bit of warmth and playfulness to a Scandinavian influenced room. Perfect for inspiring lovely dreams in a kids room, and comforting and sweet for the young at heart. Available in single or double sizes.

Lucia Quilt Cover by Bambury $55.97-$90.97 at Izzz.com

This quilt cover reminds me a bit of the handmade quilts my grandmother made us all when we were little. Mine had these same colours and lots of intricate little triangles of different fabrics. This quilt cover is the perfect throwback to gorgeous handmade quilts when the quilt look just isn't quite right for the space.

Duvet Cover Botanical Fine Art Photography from $164.15 on Etsy.com

And now for something special. This Etsy store sells doona covers, cushions and shower curtains with incredible photos like this printed on them. If you're looking for something totally unique, she also does custom orders. Did you ever pick dandelions like these out of grassy fields and make wishes on them? This cover looks like a recipe for lovely nostalgic dreams. This is on the top of my wishlist, along with a couple of gorgeous botanical cushions for my lounge.

Happy Makers

I'm someone who, after a string of very sad experiences a few years ago, developed some pretty poor coping strategies. I tend to get knocked down way more easily than I used to and it tales me longer to drag myself out of a low mood. I've developed this ineffective strategy of completely retreating from life when it gets a bit rough. I cocoon myself at home, with lots comforting (read: heavy and greasy) food, wear baggy, ugly clothes, avoid socializing and switch my brain off by watching mindless, trashy TV. Which would be fine if this was a very occasional pity party in an otherwise healthy lifestyle, but in my case it's an every-weekend and some weekdays coping thing. And it's doing me no favours. I've come to realize recently that there will always be stressors in my life - either big or small - and that I need to develop better ways to pick myself, dust myself off and keep it moving.

So I've made a few changes lately and I'm looking for little slices of happiness to replace the safety blankets I'm letting go of. So maybe this will be a bit of a weekly thing? Though next time lets skip the back (sob)story and get straight to the good stuff.

And so, this week's happy makers:

These goats riding ponies

Sunday brunch at Hoochie Mamma Cafe with a very gorgeous friend. Photo from Kid Size Living  because the food was so yummy I didn't think to capture it for hipster Instagram posterity. 

 This pretty warehouse graffiti on a rainy day

 These foals playing in a damn

 This obscene re-arrangement of files in Ikea. 

 This little unicorn, made by a 3D printer while my mum's preschoolers watched on in amazement. Technology is kind of cool sometimes.

 Philomena, who belongs to my recently resigned boss, and who came to work with him sometimes. Look at that wee face!

 This baby sister who is allllll the way on the other side of the world having the adventure of a lifetime.

 This wee bird, that taught me I can make something lovely all by myself if I put my mind to it.

These pretty notebooks and pens from Target and my lovely new office (which I will post on at some point). The little gold globe is from the Oxfam shop, pens, jar and to-do list from Kikki.K. Nail polish by Sally Hansen and bangles from Lovisa Jewellery.

 Manicures from the last few weeks (plus one throwback from last year). Orange, pink with glitter and very dark blue are all by OPI, mauve is by Sally Hansen (see link above) and the candy-wraps are by Elegant Tough

This apartment full of flowers. Despite working all week at a florist, I still spent by Saturday morning at the flower markets, buying up cheap bunches of roses and then spent the afternoon filling vases with them. on the left, a vintage crystal jug gifted by my grandmother, on the right, blue bud vases from Ikea, and the straightener next to them is a limited edition GHD straightener.

This blast from the past. Napoleon and Lafayette from The Aristocats - which is an awesomely underrated movie. I don't know why there is a bloodhound and a basset hound living in the French countryside with deep Southern American accents, but they're adorable. 

So have you smiled at all? It certainly cheered me up

If you need a little more prettiness to get you through the week ahead, there's more on my Pinterest.

Faith

Last night, on the eve of our immigration interview, I had a strange dream.

I found myself, with R, on a rooftop surrounded by floodwaters. But the strange thing was, I felt safe. I had faith we would be rescued, and we would be fine. 

Now I've never considered myself religious, but in this dream, I was completely at peace and had this overwhelming sense that everything was going to be fine. I woke up feeling truly positive for the first time in weeks. I'm just not ready to write this off as 'just a dream' right now. I'm going to have a little faith,

Add caption

Image here.

The Fear

Sitting in my blog post drafts are a couple of cheery little posts - a round up of gorgeous bedding I'm lusting after for our bedroom, a post about pretty urban balcony gardens, a kind-of-successful attempt at jollof rice and a proper post about our weekend with the cheetahs.

But they all feel too frivolous and carefree to post at the moment.

In less than three days time, R and I have an interview with immigration so they can decide whether or not to allow him to stay in this country, with me. I'm a bit at a loss as to how to explain how it feels to be staring down the barrel of a major life change, and having so little control of the outcome.

 If you've read other posts or know us at all, you'll be somewhat aware of the fact that I consider him my rock. It's an indescribable comfort to have someone who is 100% on your side, who has your back no matter what and wants to see you succeed and be the very best you can be. I've felt safer and more capable with his support than I have in years, or maybe ever. I'm not exactly fearless, but I'm not crippled by anxiety and I'm actually passionately planning a future...and I'm planning it with R.

And we've gotten over roadblocks before. Most notably the miscarriage, but since we've been together R has also had the business he worked for collapse, I've been bullied out of one work place and made redundant from another. We've sometimes struggled financially...at one point we were living off my tiny $590 a week income, in an apartment that was costing us $450 a week in rent, plus running my car so I could get to work and back and R could job hunt. We got really good at shopping at Aldi and making passably tasty meals using Mi Goreng noodles. In fact, when we found out we were pregnant, we had no washing machine and were getting by with a tiny second hand bar fridge that I bought for $30 at Vinnies.

This time though, there's a chance it won't just be a roadblock. This time I have a sick feeling in my stomach that we might be careening towards a sheer drop and I have no idea whats down there. I've never prayed before but I find myself trying to bargain with the universe to just let me keep him here, I'll do whatever it takes. I'm looking for signs or good luck charms everywhere. I was browsing nail polish today and reading the names of the colour printed on the bottom, searching for one that might comfort me. I turned over one called "Vacation Time". What did that mean? That the visa would get a approved and we'd finally be booking a holiday? Or did that mean it would be rejected and my 'vacation' would actually be flights back to Ghana to avoid us being separated? Or, are the names of random nail polishes in K Mart completely arbitrary and my brain is just so overwhelmed by this that it's inventing creative coping mechanisms?

The truth is, I'm terrified. I can't even begin to contemplate a life that is suddenly without him here. I can't get my head around how we would rewrite our future plans if he weren't allowed to stay, or how I could carry on my share of the plans on my own. Or how he could on his own. I can't imagine living in this apartment we've shared, driving the car we bought together, using the laptop, the TV, the couch that he bought knowing he was so far away.

I still can't think through what we'll do if the answer is no. It's too big and too depressing and too scary to contemplate. A no wouldn't mean the end of us, but it would mean the end of our dream future. The thought of having to raise my future children far away from my family here because he wasn't allowed to stay makes me tear up. The thought of starting all over again somewhere else after all the battles we've already thought makes me dizzy. We can't do it. I don't want to.

So that's it. He has to be able to stay, because I need him to stay.
I need him.

How I Get Anything Done...despite being a massive procrastinator. Plus some pretty photos.

I am, by nature, a massive procrastinator. In the past I have easily spent entire days doing nothing at all of note - watching trashy TV, shopping for real estate in opposite corners of the world (I've picked out a nice apartment in New Orleans, and a horse ranch in Vermont for when I'm really rich), and flicking through magazines without really reading them.

I'm not totally useless of course, I've always worked or studied and done well at what I was doing. I had to drag myself out of bed grumbling, but I would go work really hard and had enough work ethic to make sure everything I needed to do was done. Then I'd come home and do nothing again. I got by seeming productive with the occasional manic cleaning or organizing or shopping binge where I'd race around all day and get a million things done, and R would come home to a spotless house, new dinnerware and a three course meal, or our home office entirely re-arranged and re-organised. More often than not though, I'd get inspired and my motivation would last about 2 hours - fine for cleaning because that's plenty of time to work through our little apartment properly. But not so good for other things. It took me two weeks of to do the three coats of paint on the ugly built-ins in our office.

This year, by necessity of not wanting to compromise my money and work less hours, nor take a lighter uni course load, I've finally had to grow up. I've learnt that for me, there are a few things that keep me on track and stop me collapsing on the couch at the end of the day having not accomplished anything beyond earning my salary.

1. Keep the momentum.
 For me, if I stop moving when I get home, that's it. Nothing else will get done. That's why I go straight from work to the gym, so I can't sit down and lose motivation in between. Then from the gym, as soon as I get home I avoid that comfy sectional like the plague! I try to plan dinners that are either already prepped, or don't need much prep, and that can be popped in the oven or on a low heat on the stove and left alone for long enough for me to run up and shower and do a super speedy tidy up, or sort and put on a load of washing, or pull up a uni lecture recording to listen to, or a chapter that needs reading. Basically I don't sit down until all those things are done, because if I do sit down to check my email or something, the momentum will go and it will be so much harder to get up and keep going.

2. Make the most of waiting time.
 This is related to the above, but I find that the more 'idle' time I have where I'm stuck waiting for something or in transit or whatever, the more likely I am to get bored and lose motivation. I find I have to keep busy from the time I get up to the time I sit down at the end of the day. The worst time for me is the traffic on the commute home. I find it frustrating because it seems like such dead time, where I wish I could be getting something else done, but multitasking while driving is mostly a really bad idea. My solution is one of two things. I either put on really really good music that will perk me back up again before I get to the gym. Or I play something educational. It sounds super lame, but MIT offer hours of lecture recordings from amazing professors. For next week I have a lecture by Noam Chomsky, celebrating 50 years of linguistics studies at MIT, which of course makes me feel like I'm doing uni work and being productive. If you google it, theres also lots of free language learning audio books you can download too. If you catch a train or bus you can just load it onto your mp3 or phone, if you drive a newer car you can load the files to an MP3 or thumb drive and use the USB connection. If your car doesn't have that, invest in a couple of rewrittable CDs and burn a few new lectures each week, or rotate your music often enough that you don't get bored.

3. Find a positive to focus on.
 For me, I can do things like cleaning or laundry with less grumbling if I focus on the fact that whatever I do now, I don't have to do on the weekend. It's like, on a Tuesday night, I'm already worn out, what difference does it make if I get more worn out before bed time. But on a Saturday morning, the less I have to do to keep on top of everything, the more time I have to do something fun or relaxing. Some little tasks have their own gratification too. Like taking the time to do a hair treatment means I have hot hair by the weekend. Going to the gym leaves me with enough of an endorphin rush mostly that I get a little more done post workout. Some (though definitely not all) of the uni work I have are actual tasks that I can work through and finish, and I love being able to cross something off my to do list once and for all. Repeated or ongoing tasks are sometimes the hardest because they never truly go away (I'm looking at you, laundry!) but actual uni assignments are my jam because I will at some point be able to finish, save and submit them, and then they're gone from my mental to-do list forever. That, for me, is enough of a little psychological reward in itself to keep me going.

And now, on a much less productive note, a sample of photos from my neglectful period of non-blog-updating.

Two minute hot nails...these are just those sticky nail adhesives you can get at Priceline. And they're my new best friend since I'm trying to save and don't get manicures anymore. You can find them yourself here.

My little blue bubble car. I finally traded in the Celica just before Christmas, and bought this shiny little thing off the showroom. It's way easier to park, way cheaper to run and isn't threatening to fall apart at the axles like the Celica was. I'll miss Juanita and her far superior acceleration and pretty curves, but having a new car is fun! Car is from these guys and the details of this baby can be found here. This colour is Blue Candy.

We've been taking lovely little weekends away. This was a drive from Sydney to Thrirroul through the National Park and over the Sea Cliff Bridge. Check in here to plan your trip, especially if the weather is a bit iffy because they do close access to parts of the National Park and the bridge occasionally when the weather is nasty.

Kittenyface is still his usual goofy self. He's taken quite a shine to this replica Isamu Noguchi Origami table from Life Interiors. If you're ever looking at Matt Blatt replicas, these guys are worth checking out too. If you're Sydney based they have a showroom about five minutes from Matt Blatt Alexandria, in Lachlan Street, Waterloo. It's a bit tricky to find because it's set back behind another building, but their prices are sometimes slightly cheaper for very very similar replicas, their service has been much better in my experience.

This was our Valentines day! I swear I will write a proper post about this at some point, but I cannot recommend the Meet-a-Cheeta experience at National Zoo, Canberra. It was pouring rain all day and the photos feature us in very unattractive rain ponchos, but the cheetas were beautiful and the staff were really lovely.

Rainy day roses in a front garden in Chatswood. 

The view from my new office, with storm clouds rolling in. After Roses Only was sold and my department ceased to exist (sadface) I took a job processing invoices and all kinds of brain hurting numbersy stuff for a wine distributor. Numbersy stuff comes pretty unnaturally to me, but the level of accuracy and attention to detail this job demands is probably exactly what I need to counteract my natural flakiness.