We went to an Indian festival by the Torrens river last weekend - lots of yummy food, interesting performances and most important of all (for me-hehe) Henna! I had to wait for a while to get the design done on my hand but it was worth it. The woman did a beautiful job! Its so peaceful when you get henna on your hand because of the aromatic smells and you kind of focus on how the artist is drawing it on your hand and forget about everything else. This inspired me to research what actually goes into the henna paste.. and believe it or not, you can put just lemon juice.. or a whole lot of stuff like, coke, sweets.. etc.. you name it! Interesting...

So here's a couple of pics of it:

Before: (the paste was all dried but still stuck on my hand)


After: (the next day)



I have also heard from an art gallery who is interested to have me exhibit at their gallery for SALA (south australia living artist) festival! So I'm pretty stoked! It will be a joint exhibition of all women (apparently.. but i guess it could change.) exhibiting works in different mediums.
I'm going to meet the gallery owner this Saturday,  and check out the space there. Its in Bowden, which is an up and coming suburb, especially thriving on art and culture. 
Lots of artists have studios there which is good news  :) Funnily enough, one of the houses
Phil and I considered purchasing was in Bowden!

I have finally managed to get a few of my paintings up on Flickr.com, so here's the link: www.flickr.com/photos/7375691@N02

It was my birthday on Tuesday and I have finally left the 18-25 age group and jumped into the 26-30(something) age group! Mum and me went and found a really nice restaurant to have lunch 
- in Willunga - a bit of a drive but the food was well worth it. 
They brought the food out in the order that they think you should taste it. 
Later on got together with the extended family to celebrate both Anita (my cousin) and my bday together which was pretty cool :)

Also went out for a dinner with some friends on sat night at Ky chow- and headed to La Boheme later on- love that bar- so frenchy, so chic ;P I am trying to get my art work to exhibit there, because I love the atmosphere there! (though they got pretty bad lighting)!

I'll post some photos up since I haven't done that for a while :) Though, they are not in any particular order...



Phil is in love with his PSP :)



Ira with Mylana at my bday dinner :) (she was soo well behaved!)



Phil pulling a face of some sort!


Karl and Mr. Big smiles


Note: the knife's position :)

Phil and I were back in NZ for his Omi's funeral, it was a very sad and emotional farewell but still a great send-off. It was also good to see his family and friends again, albeit the circumstances. We managed to get to the art gallery this time, but the gallery with most of the contemporary art in it was closed because they were getting ready for the Auckland Triennial, which I would have loved to see! Still, I got to see some amazing works, especially interesting was a live installation we came across on the street!

Hayley looking 'interesting' in a mirror at the Space Centre (forgot what the place was really called) at One Tree Hill Park.

Dani, Hayley and I came across some aliens as well ...

Phil decided to experiment with a new look ...

And so did Brendan!




We caught Preston having a bath as well!


And... Preston's mum-Belinda! (she knits very cool stuff) :)

The live installation we came across ...

Kristy was quite a pro at pouring the sake :)

And ... for some more final beers before flying back to Adelaide the next morning.

I forgot to add at the start that it was chinese new years eve the night before we flew off to NZ. We had a pretty giant banquet here.. including lobster- YUM.. and then also went to the temple to check out the lion dances - their crazy kung fu, and the fire works that was just let off at the car park across the road! It was packed there and it was a wicked atmosphere with monks chanting and loud drums beating! Lots of incense in the air... And of course, Phil and I got some red packets! :) That night we also saw the Moting Vultures, they played excellently on that exceptionally hot night at the Jetty Road Hotel! Well done guys! Check out Phil's blog for a video of Phil on the theremin!


Heres a couple of pics from Ben's farewell BBQ too...

Ben and Bianca :)

Salad talk ...

I've been slack, no excuses.. its already February! I have been working a couple a days a week at Michel's Patisserie (my uncles shop) for a while now, I tell you, all those cakes and pastries are very tempting! I didn't think I'd go back to working that fast (I mean its only a few days a week..) but the money sure helps with the art supplies. The art is going well, slowly but steadily... one of these days I'll get around to posting a pic or two of my work and face public scrutiny! Working with acrylics, then with oils.. thought I'd stick to oils, but now am considering going back to acrylics again..just trying different things out on canvas I guess.

I've also got a small freelance job for Nature Foundation SA, which is pretty cool, they are a not for profit organisation protecting native endangered animals and restoring agricultural land to native bushland. Am pretty busy with that, then comes along an ad I saw for a casual/freelance graphic designer at a publishing firm producing various trade mag titles. It pretty much suits me to a T, so I applied for it. I sent the application at around midnight and amazingly I got a call back in early arvo the next day to come in for an interview! Suddenly its a mad rush to get my portfolio done; the visuals done for the Nature Foundation!!! My poor painting has taken a back seat ... am feeling a bit bad about it actually because I really want to spend more time doing it. But a casual graphic design job would really be ideal and also the freelancing helps. (House renos and art = $$$)

On another note, Caroline my friend whos been living in Nanjing, China for a while now has come back to visit! Unfortunatley, her husband couldn't come back as well, as they're getting ready for the big move to beijing- pretty exciting stuff.

And, Ben, if you're reading this, IM GOING TO REALLY MISS YOU! But I will come and visit in melb and check out your tres luxurious apartment in the Melbourne docklands!

Oh yeh and had a great time at the BDO and after party! Thx RIO!

Happy new year! Phil and I spent a few days over Christmas time in Melbourne with my mum and Kevin. They had an xmas do for Kevin's family and so we helped to prepare for it... its not unlike my mum to overcook, over order etc when it comes to food, so lucky phil and I were able to help my mum with the cooking and preparations as she decided to make so many dishes.

Visited crown casino, city, brunswick st.. watched Volver.. FANTASTIC spanish movie starring penelope cruz.. and drank a lot of chai latte.. mmm.

It was so cold over there, that we had to put the heater on and wear jumpers and jeans. There was even snow on christmas day not too far from where we were but we didn't find out till we were back in Adelaide! Driving back was not much of a drama, as phil gave me a car tuner adaptor thingy for my ipod and so we had plenty of tunes to listen to on the way back. I also got introduce to the game of "car cricket" hehe.

When back in Adelaide, the weather became increasingly hot, today is 40 degrees!!! So it feels like we've had summer then winter then summer again. Bizarre.

New years was a pretty low key event, we decided at last minute to brave the crowds and catch the tram down to glenelg to watch the fireworks at the beach there. Just before midnight we even got to witness a drunken couple fight very loudly on the beach making a big spectacle of themselves ending up with the girl sobbing by herself just before the countdown and then think they made up after the fireworks were over. Hmm.

Next day, phil and I went to a adelaide vs melbourne cricket game at the adelaide oval. It was an interesting game with 8000 ppl attending, not too bad for a local crowd. We lost but that was not without some funny things happening like three fielders went to catch the ball (a real easy one to catch) and then all three thinking the other will catch it so the ball ended up falling on the ground between the three of them. Sad but funny :)

I gotta admit, its much better watching it in person without the drone of the commentator.. that ALWAYS puts me to sleep.. :)

Arrived home yesterday morning ... feeling quite weary from the flight! Poor phil had to go back to work as well! Adding to that it was 35 degrees when the weather report was only 24 degrees! How way out can you get??

The wedding was fantastic on saturday and we had wonderful weather for it. It was held a 45 min drive from Kaitaia ( which was about 4 hours drive north of auckland). There was a clearing/valley bit among all the huge trees and even a river as well. A gazebo was put up for the wedding handmade by Greg (phils bro) and his dad. Bride-dani was gorgeous and the little flower girls and their daughter were in gorgeous little fairy dresses! Phils speech was great..although he felt over prepared, it was lovely and quite funny. There was even a bonfire towards the end of the night when it got a teeny bit chilly. We had yummy seafood and two pigs on the spit!

On the way back to Auckland on the last day, Phils mum drove us around to the scenic 90 mile beach, their old properties, and through some very cute and picturesque towns and places. Had more seafood for lunch.. yum yum!

Brendan made us a pork roast that night too.. how sweet :) Phil got his crazy japanese nitendo ds game featuring an all male cheer squad, (you play as one of the cheerleaders) and was very impresed with it. Dan bought it for him in japan.. so everything is in japanese, which makes for a lot of laughs!

Now Im back it seems really weird that I don't have to rush in the morning or around lunch time to go back to work. It is a really, really strange feeling. I'll get over it but its the first time in my life that I'm not working or studying. There IS plenty to do around the house atm though, lots of cleaning, and making the place neater.. and unpacking, oh its really not my forte. When we moved here, to the new place in black forest we put all our clothes into the suitcase and hadn't fully unpacked it until we needed it again for the trip to NZ we just went on!

Wellington:





A house made of shipping containers!


Some wide screen guitar hero action at Phil's friends place in Wellington as well!




Phil and Kristy (his sis) at a cute surfie cafe at lyall's bay ( i think thats where we were!) its stunning there!




Kaitaia: (Hayley and Cody-Phil's niece and newphew posing for camera) cuties :)










Kristy and I didn't try too hard to catch the bouquet..hehe




Photos from the drive from kaitaia back to auckland. Stunning landscapes!!

We are now in Auckland, flew in yesterday, weather is kinda cloudy not as sunny as wellington, also not as cold though.On the last day we were there we went up a cable car up the mountain side and that was very kewl... they had a museum of the old cable cars there too so it was all very educational! Went out for a great chinese meal with brendan, phils friend, very authentic - impressed :) Bit of shopping here and there and met up with some of phils ex workmates who worked on top of a huge tower, so I could see fantastic views for free for a while too! Gonna see another one of his friends tonite and their super cute baby so that should be good and then more friends tomorrow.. it seems to be friends-shopping-friends-shopping.. and etc. Tho i have been good and havent bought much at all. Am keeping in mind of my no income situation atm. :(
Friday we'll drive up to kaitaia, 4 hour drive up, so will be good to see some country side. Been in the city most times. But still a pretty green city! And then the wedding on saturday.. wont be long till we come back as well! And phil has yet to write up a speech as hes the best man at the wedding!!!

Once again, if ur reading this -ben- thanx for getting the mail for us!!!:)

So.. its our last day in Wellington today, i have a wee bit of time to type something... we visited the museum Te Papa yesterday, it was fantastic! Also saw some of phils friends last night and they made us a nice dinner, we even got to play guitar hero 2 .. so there was a bit of rocking going on last night even though the people that had us over had a 5 month old baby sleeping!

Have taken lots of pictures and its going to take a while to sort through them when I get back home. Only today did i think about my ex co workers back at work, on deadline and thought "ahhh" how relieving it is not to be in their position right now!!

Got some really nice NZ jade as well and some bone pendents at a special shop that phils mum took us to. They had so many beautiful carved pieces there and it was nice to know that the prices weren't jacked up and the a lot of the money actually went back to the carvers unlike other places like museum shops where the original creators of the pendents got hardly anything back for their work.

Wellington actually reminds me a bit of adelaide in the smallness of the city but of course the weather is completely different. We've had really good weather though since we've been here apart from the first day. Quite sunny!
So it will be perfect weather to go on the cable cars today!

Anyway were flying up to auckland this arvo and the place were staying at won't have internet so i will be post-less for a while :) But ill sure be taking a zillion pictures!

ciao for now!

WELLINGTON

its ours 2nd day here now, its a very pretty city with four seasons in one day! We landed in a very turbulent way due to the gusty wind! Our plane was basically lobsided and it looked like one of the wings were going to scrape on the ground while the other one was still in the air just before we landed. My stomach was doing flips as I've and it was all quite exciting. But after this experience ill know what to expect if I landed in Wellington again. It is VERY windy here!! And seeing so much rain on the first day we arrived was a welcome sight after the very dry environment of Adelaide. Yesterday we got up real early to go to phils aunty and uncle's house to watch a 9am game of rugby NZ vs France. NZ beat them by heaps and his aunty and uncle cooked a big buffet breakfast for all of us. There was other ppl there as well and the only one french guy so maybe he was feeling a bit strange? As, of course everyone was going for NZ. I really had no idea what was going on so I just enjoyed the brekky :)

Got to see an christmas parade in the city and phil got really sunburnt on his face. I had a little bit too. The sun is a bit different here, apparently they have little or no ozone layer above nz (its where the hole is?) and the sun penetrates in a burning way. Its still kinda cool and breezy so that fools you into thinking its not going to do anything, but looking a phils face now i can say its pretty full on. I think in oz its so hot everywhere that youre really aware of the getting burnt so you are conciously avoiding it..

I will continue later, were being picked up.

Time has sure flown! We've been at our new place for around a month now and I've only got a few more days left of work at SALife. Training a new person while we're on deadline is extremely hectic and a bit frustrating... especially leading up to the giant Christmas issue of the mag. Sad that Im leaving as I've been working at that office for nearly three years now but also glad. After initial doubts that Im making the right decision, I am now over the whole thing and wish to start a fresh. Its a relief and my poor RSI'd shoulder would thank me for it.

It will benefit me greatly creatively to have more time to devote to art, so Im looking forward to some reflection, inspiration then creation. Phil has been very encouraging about it, hes great! :)

On another creative note, this time food related; while surfing the web I came across a way of roasting chicken in a weird but wonderful way. Its the beer can up the chickens bum way. Anyone who has tried this will agree that it makes the chicken yummier! Apparently you can do this by grilling, and also to any time of bird, not just chicken! :) So, one slow but creative Saturday, we decided to experiment with this new way of roasting.

And ... it was a success!!!!



Doesn't look the most appetising BUT it WAS!!! So I recommend everyone try it! You can get the recipe by just doing a search on the words "beer can chicken" on the net. A zillion recipes will probably pop up. You don't have to use beer either, could be lemonade, as long as its in a can I guess. Stick the herbs in the half full can and the aromatic steam will absorb into the chicken while its roasting. Keeps it moist and apparently the beer makes the skin more crispy!

A few more days and Phil and I are off to NZ. This time I'll get to see more and go to his bro's wedding which will be very sweet :) My camera should get a better work out this time than the last NZ whirlwind trip :)

We have been at our new place in Blackforest for just over a week now and it's finally starting to feel like home even though it's really messy right now! (and probably will be for a while!) Im glad the cleaning up of the north adelaide place is all over now. Few things to note about the new place, our electric water system is quite small, so phil and i have had to take shorter showers, I found this out the hard way on the first day with having to take a cold shower in the morning! Our washing machine getting a good work out with us using it nearly every day! So much for the water restriction for SA! Got the air con all serviced ready for the long hot summer ahead and we did some DIY with the entertainment unit, had to reduce the size of that to fit it in under the stairs. Bit of work, but worth it in the end! It fits perfectly now.

Not long now and I finish up work, still hasn't really kicked in, but we're interviewing some newbies soon, so when I start training them, Im sure it will sink in that I will shortly be no longer working full time. My supervisor asks me daily (being a bit of a stirrer) if I had changed my mind, that I can still stay and work there...but I've made my decision and am going to stick with it. Difficult decision but very liberating. :P

Can't wait to go away with phil to NZ, will be quite fun and interesting to be there for a longer time and meet more ppl and see more things! Will be fun at the wedding too! :)
We might go to Melbourne for christmas hollies, my step dads family is having their Chrissy do at his and mum's house. If we go, we will drive there.. mmm 8 hours of butt numbing adventure! hehe! But it will be good to get around melbourne and see things easier, though it will be the holiday period and lots of things maybe closed. We'll see what happens.. Melbournes a pretty city and would be good to go with Phil there to see what he thinks.

anyway
ciao...

BIG day yesterday! Phil and I are now home owners and I have resigned from my job. Big step, as it was quite comfy there.. but perhaps too comfy? And after a bit of a break Im going to persue my art. For a while now I have been waying up my options.. I have been so proud to be part of a magazine from the start and so happy that it is so successful today, but I feel strongly its time for a change. Breaking the news to my boss over the phone was not easy, he was at first a bit shocked and thought i had perhaps got a job with a competitor; I explained my shoulder was hurting (from RSI.. ) and I want to give it a break, and I really love my art so I want to give that a go and persue it professionally. He got nicer and nicer about it on the phone... maybe he was worried about my RSI??? anyhow it ended good and then I had to go and tell my supervisor-the creative director and the rest of the crew. It was hard but i had to get to the point, i got a bit emotional even.. bit teary but jason was good about it. Everyone was being so nice but really didnt want me to go.. but everyone understands it happens... I had given six weeks notice so its ample time.. I could do this because I wasn't going to another job and I think they appreciated this. Soo.. got some champagne from work and actually got some wine from the real estate agent- when she gave us the keys... got some interesting tips/facts from her too.

Apparently a few years ago, Stormy Summers (one of adelaides oldest and most famous madames) lived across the road.. making the then tenant move out immediately. It was supposed to be a private residence but this tenant could see people going in and out of the house all the time. Its assuring to know Stormy Summers have moved out since then! :)

Got some quotes for an alarm system to be installed. Prices are interestingly varied. Andrea came with us on our first trip to our new place.. ooo a special moment :) Had some beers at the Ediburugh later on with andrea, jindou and adrian, nice pub!!!! We went out later on as well wtih jindou but were feeling shagged! It had been a crazy, long day with ups and downs. Well mostly ups really, AND it was the chinese mid-autumn festival! No mooncakes for us tho.. but it was the full moon, so I did expect more of an emotional day.

More cleaning and getting ready to move out of nth adelaide and move into blackforest! I guess its all part of the fun! THen not long after that were flying to NZ again for phils bro's wedding.
Will get to meet the rest of phils family.. and go up to where he grew up.. it will be fun :)

ciao for now!

sat night we ended up at the kava hut after some pool... While phil and jindou were drinking catnip tea, I attempted roll catnip cigarettes very unsucessfully. Atmosphere was very chilled with bongo and digeridoo players doing their stuff ...













What is jindou really thinking? 

i love henna! this was done by a very talented artist called humna, she does body art, canvas and ceramics.
Andrea got me a bowl she decorated with henna for my birthday back in march.. a treasure :)

Some more pics from my trip to melbourne with mum and janelle...oh and joannes in there as well, she joined us when we went to the cuckoo german restaurant on our last night. I got incredibly embarrassed when i was pulled on stage to yodel. OMG im just not made for public appearances, let alone Yodelling, but i did give it my best shot :)