2010, The Year That Was.

Well the year is almost over ...

2010. Gone! Already? Sheesh that was fast. Then again have you ever heard anyone moan about how slow a year was?

All in all I'm pretty happy with how the past year has unfolded. I'm please to share with you that I achieved some pretty important milestones.

• In April I got my driver's licence and I could finally drive my little broom broom as much as I wanted, whenever I pleased. Having a licence to wheel has changed my life dramatically, for the better of course!



• I completed my Certificate IV of Fashion Design ... almost. In three weeks time I will complete the last 3 assessments I missed due to my surgery.




I appeared on my first magazine cover! Issue 123 of Cruzin Magazine. I'm the first girl to be featured on the cover in 10 years. And with a sexy model A Ford. Now that's pretty special!

This issue is still out now and is nationally distributed in all good newsagents & online. So go buy a copy and support Australian hot rod, custom and classic car culture.




• In a matter of weeks I completed a huge painting. Not only that but it was my first full blown attempt at painting both a car and the likeness of a real person (the beautiful India Rose).
  
  This painting was a huge deal as it was my greatest and most ambitious work yet. I was extremely proud of the outcome and the whole experience finally gave me the confidence in my own work that I have been lacking all these years. I sold the original and broke even (another first) and I'm looking forward to making some prints.





• My sister give birth! In mid September little Chloe arrived into the world. Ok so her milestone not mine, but none the less it was a new and exciting thing to become an aunt.




• Ambassador for DimitySO. Getting to be a part of the DimitySo campaign was an amazing experience. From popping up in huge mainstream magazines to gracing billboards in the streets of Sydney and Auckland!
  
  The best part of the entire experience was the wonderful bra and brief sets I recieved. For the first time in my life I had bras in my correct size. It is also the first time I've ever had good quality lingerie. My old cheapo bras would have stretch out long ago but one year on these babies are still going strong. Counting Petals and Pepper Dream were the styles I wore the most.
  
  
  
  
  Also:
  
  • I got my hair bleached blonde for the first time
  
  
  • 5 new tattoos were inked into my arm
  .
  
  • I was in attendance at 2 weddings

Best wishes to all my friends, family and readers for the New Year. And for the New Year 'bah humbugs' this one goes out to you.



Cheers!

Cruise to Ferry Road Diner

Cool cars are for driving cruising so we will think of any good excuse to take them out for a run. Such as a friendly group trip down to the 'not so local' diner. Why the heck not? Riding in cars to get some noms is a darn good combination.



This all happened a while back and it was my first outing after the worst of my wisdom tooth surgery recovery. Matt's front guards of the tank were away on holidays for rust repairs so we scammed a lift in Bundy's car. His XM falcon came with the unexpected perk of a personal lap warmer, Sanchez the english bull terrier.


About 15 of us crammed into 3 cars and off we were off! Sanchez made sure we stayed cozy when the chilly winds came at us through the window on highway.





I had no idea where this joint was but it felt like it took a long time to get there. It wasn't really but when you're hungry a few k's feels like one hundred miles. But then we finally arrived at Ferry Road Diner! The good thing about this place is that there was plenty of parking out front for the old rides.

Nom time!

After scamming some of Rhea & Chuck's nachos I discovered that they were the best I'd ever had. Sweet chilli sauce on nachos, who'd have thought that would be SO good!? I ordered a hot dog but it was no where near as good as it should of been, given I had to dissect it to accomodate my sore mouth. It's just not the same. But all was forgiven with an ice-cream sundae complete with chopped nuts, a corinthian wafer and maraschino cherry! It tasted so good and my poor swollen mouth squealed with joy.

Heaven!



Another thing I should mention is that they stock Wimmer's soda in the most beautiful vintage style glass bottles. Their traditional creaming soda flavour about 10× better than the ubiquitous Boylan 'Creme' Soda that's imported from America. Wimmer's is a home grown Queensland company. So if you're ever faced with the choice you know which one to go for!

If you fancy a nibble yourself, here's their site:
www.ferryroaddiner.com.au

Hopefully we'll cruise back down sometime soon for more gritz now that my mouth is ship shape again. I'll be the one zeroing in on the nachos.

Gettin' Organized. It's easy!

Does it take you about 10 minutes longer to find something that you should?
Does a messy environment around you stress you out without you realising?

I know it does for me. After a year of full-time study and medical dramas I was left with living quarters the resembled a war zone. Looking around I decided that a good portion of the problem was that I just had too much stuff.

And thus I enacted phase 1:
"If you don't use it or don't love it, toss it!"
but not necessarily straight into the bin. That's wasteful!

I made three piles:
- Trash
- The not sure / maybe pile
- Things to sell or give away

If you are having trouble choosing which clothes have to go, turn all the coat hangers in your wardrobe the wrong way around. Come back in 3 - 6 months. Taking seasonal items into consideration, note which garments you did not wear. Now get rid of them!

Ahh. That's better. So much less clutter. But the job's not over yet. I took some valuable advice from the Zen Habits blog. The most valuable thing I learned was this. DON'T SAVE STUFF!. What's the point of 'saving' something if it just sits around gathering dust. For example:

- Quit saving the special watercolour paper. Paint on it!
- Quit saving a piece of clothing for a special event once a year. Just wear it!
- Quit avoiding putting on your favourite shoes for fear of scuffing them.
... ugh, what was the point of buying them? Put them on, go out and look hot!

Next I set about organizing myself by getting a time planner from Kikki.K.



The wonderful things about these diarys is the ring binder which allows for movement and insertion of pages and inserts. A flap in the back allows a pad so my diary is going to double as an A5 sketch pad that will always be on me.
Debden & Filofax offer similar systems.

Remember. Clutter is the enemy!

On and ending note, sheesh! Where has the last few weeks gone? Blink and you will miss it. I think I'd better organize my blogging some more and do a bit of catching up. I'm only just discovered that you can queue blog posts so I'll have to implement this when I'm busy. Stay tuned!

Sweet treats to gift your sweetheart this Christmas

Giftmas is on the horizon. We know this because there is no longer anything half decent to watch on TV!

I'm sure you are all racking your brains for gift ideas. It's not the easiest thing to do when you're looking for something a little different or alternative. But guess what? I LOVE compiling wishlists. But not just for myself, I like making lists of things I think my nearest and dearest would love.



For the Kittens:


Pin-Up Luggage Tags from Pretty in Pink
What girl wouldn't love one of these cute lowbrow art pin-ups to jazz up her bags and help identify her luggage easily at the airport. All these luggage tags are so cute that I find it hard to choose which one I like best.


Retrofuturist Opaque Lipstick at Lime Crime
Let me start off by saying that this is my favourite lipstick ever! It is the most perfect pin-up red, lasts ages, smells divine and feels good on my lips. Any 50's enthusiast or rockabilly girl would be mad not to love it. The only con is that everyone I've shown it to in person thinks I'm trying to show them some kind of a mini vibrator :(



For the Cats:


Hawleywoods Gift Set from Hawleywoods
When it comes to guys who like to pomp or slick their hair, I don't know a guy who doesn't love Layrite. I even have some tub myself as it's perfect for smoothing flyaways when styling up dos. The annoying thing is my boyfriend keeps gouging huge scoops out of my tub. I'd buy him the 9kg tub if the postage wasn't so furping expensive.



Large Tiki Soap scented with Bay Rum from Sailor Mouth Soaps
How cute are these guys? And yet they look and smell manly enough for your guy. I've seen this girl's beautiful handmade soaps around Brisbane here a few times and have been meaning to get some. If you want soap in time for christmas you've got 4 days to order.

And just for fun!


Skel-A-Flamingo Featherless Friend from How Cool
Hee hee! How cool are these. I'm loving this rather macabre take on the traditional kitschy pink garden flamingoes. Put these on my wishlist please :D

FYI I'm not affilated with any of the companies that make this stuff. This is just a list of stuff that appeals to me and I think would appeal to others. Enjoy and happy gifting.

Note: I found the first image in this post on tumblr. If anyone knows who created it please let me know as I would love to credit/check out their other work.