Too Tired for Titles!

I feel exhausted today! It's 6:30 pm and I'm feeling quite ready for bed. I honestly can't wait until I can go to sleep.

I've spent the past week (almost) unpacking, shifting and organising a whole big pile of my junk that has finally been sent up from NSW. I kind of didn't intend to stay here long term so I left loads of my stuff down there when I came up, but recently I finally bit the bullet and decided to bring it all up here and begin the tedious process of sorting it all out. A vast majority of the stuff is stowed away in a nearby self-storage facility and I've been steadily working my way through it, but some of the things I've found have made their way here, and as a result my house is a mess! A real proper mess. There are books and clothes and sheets and toys everywhere I look. I can't cope with clutter, it drives me batty, so my top priority is trying to find places for everything. I'm fighting an uphill battle I'm afraid and some tough decisions must be made as to what stays and what goes. Traditionally I've been quite the hoarder but I'm trying very hard to let things go, so wish me luck with that!

Today I had to do some shopping and take Ava to the vet to be desexed, microchipped and vaccinated. Everything went swimmingly though I brought her home and she immediately started chewing on the stitches! I had to take her right back to the vet to be fitted for a cone of shame and make sure she hadn't done any damage. She's quite unimpressed with the cone, but she's eating and drinking and playing and seems in good sorts.

I wore my blue spotty dress with a red belt and cardigan because it seemed like a bright colours sort of day. You may have seen it here before styled a little more neutrally.

Sorry the pic is blurry! It was a blurry picture sort of day too I suppose. My camera was having a little tantrum and wouldn't play nicely.

ALIA National Conference Rant

If any of you were reading my blog back in October of last year, you would have seen my post about the ALIA (Australian Library and Information Association) Top End Symposium, which I had the absolute pleasure of attending. Having had such an amazing time at the "local" conference, I was super excited to read about the National Conference occurring in September of this year. That is until I saw the cost. The student concession price is $650! Plus there are additional fees to attend the dinner and breakfast workshops to the tune of $305. So if I wished to attend all of the events (and I would) it would cost a total of $955.

I'd would LOVE to be able to attend. As a student looking to enter the industry, there is simply so much for me to learn, and to be able to be at the cutting edge of what's happening in libraries is really something that should be encouraged and facilitated. Having tickets cost almost $1000 would obviously be pretty prohibitive for a lot of people, but particularly students who are typically on tight budgets. And on top of the cost of attendance, many people would have travel and accommodation costs to worry about. As a student, its simply out of reach for me. And that is most unfortunate in my opinion. Students should be at the forefront of new learning opportunities, they haven't been in the industry so long that they're jaded or daunted by change. Students coming in fresh, unafraid of bold ideas will be the innovators and groundbreakers of tomorrow. To deny them these sorts of opportunities is to potentially deny the industry invaluable perspective and infinite possibility.

I sent an email to the events team in hopes that some sponsored positions may be available, and received a reply saying there will be no sponsored positions, but I may wish to consider a single day registration "are a bit more affordable at $565 per day". To quote my best friend's reaction when I told her "genius". I'm not sure if there are any other avenues to pursue, but at this point being able to go seems out of the question, which is more than a little disappointing.

Hope you're all well!

Strictly the Necessities

The other night I had a sudden desperate urge to watch Roman Holiday, which I didn't have on DVD! I decided it was absolutely imperative to go out the next day to buy it. And buy it I did! Along with several other things I decided were essential to my life at that point.

Shopping haul!

I bought an Audrey Hepburn box set on sale and a Marilyn Monroe set that was also reduced. Fourteen movies between the two sets, loads of special features, plus a disc dedicated to Audrey's influence on the fashion world. Woot!!!

I also found this brand of makeup I'd never heard of, W7. All of their products were $5 each at the pharmacy, AND they had an offer where you get a free eyeliner pencil with any purchase over $15. So I bought two eyeshadow palettes in natural shades (one with lots of shimmer and the "Naked Nudes" pallete with less), and an eyebrow pencil in a blondey-brown shade. I got a free black eyeliner with my purchase, which I honestly probably won't even use, I rarely use pencil or crayon, but hey, it was free! Also pictured here is an Essence brand nail polish which I bought at Target. Such a pretty colour, I don't think the photo does it justice. I'm such a huge fan of Essence. Their products are consistently quite good and so cheap!

By the time I got around to photographing the eyeliners and eyebrow pencil, Ava was pretty ready for me to move my crap and get the hell out of (what she suddenly decided was) her spot, so I forgot to include close up shots of the two pencils. They're pretty stock standard pencils though, so you're not really missing out on anything special.

So, AWESOME shopping trip for me! I've spent the week watching childhood favourites and becoming acquainted with a few that I hadn't previously seen. I've been watching a lot of them with my kids too, hopefully I can spread the love on to the next generation. Both sets were definitely worthwhile purchases!

How about you, have you had any great purchases lately?

Super Cool Nail Art

Okay, okay. So I know I said my book nerd-ishness was going to be just that one day. But then I found these! Nail art inspired by classic children's books, how cool is that! And its nail art, so it doesn't really count as being too bookish, right? In case you don't feel like clicking through to the article, I saved my three favourites to post here for you guys: The Lorax, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Horton Hears a Who.

The nails are the work of nail artist just_alexis, have a look at her Instagram! It has loads of examples of her amazing work. Not only does she have some really cool ideas, they're beautifully executed! And its definitely not limited to literary themes! She has a bit of everything, including lots of different movie nail art. I love love love her Disney movie themes!

I've saved some of my very very favourites (so hard to choose!) to share, but I strongly encourage you to check her out. There are so many other cool designs!

School Struggles

I had a pretty wretched start to my week! I've been so looking forward to classes starting up on Tuesday. I've spent much of the uni break being a bit of a hermit and looking forward to being back with my friends and having a regular schedule and purpose each day. Then I found out on Monday that I can't do the diploma classes due to financial issues. I'd been expecting to be covered by HECS (which is like our Australian version of a government student loan type thing) based on the information I was given at the end of last year, only to find that my course isn't eligible! And because I didn't plan on studying elsewhere, I missed the application deadlines for all of the traditional universities so I was unable to enroll in a Bachelor degree through them. I spent the morning a bit of a mess searching online for options and making phone calls. I found a university that has the course I need and I can apply for mid-year acceptance, which I will be pursuing. In the meantime I've enrolled in Open Universities Australia to do a few units toward a Bachelor so that I'm not sitting idle for months. I already feel like I've lost my routine and discipline and its only been 8 weeks. Imagine me after 6 months! Being enrolled in an entirely external course with classmates I'll never see and lecturers I won't know isn't the same. I really enjoyed actually attending classes and had a great relationship with the people there, but at least I'm still working toward the goal! And I'm trying to see the positive side too, by going straight into a bachelor it will save me a bit of time off the total length of my education, and by studying externally it opens up my options in terms of where I live and work and all of those sorts of things. Hopefully this all turns out for the best, wish me luck!

In WAY SUPER DOOPER BETTER NEWS:

I have a kitty!!!!

Ava

She came to me as a foster kitty through a local rescue group. Honestly I had every intention of caring for her only until a permanent home could be found, but she was just far too sweet and I didn't want to let her go. Her name is Ava and she's so beautiful. She falls asleep with me at night and wakes up with me in the morning and entertains me with her crazy kitty antics throughout the day. Its lovely to have constant purry furry company and I'm so glad she's staying!

Happy Valentines, Everyone!

Marvelous Manuscripts

This article showed up on my Facebook feed about a 16th century book made of 6 different volumes bound together into a single item. The book is owned by the National Library of Sweden. I went browsing their Tumblr account and found some absolutely gorgeous old books and I seriously just had to share them.

1. Embroidered cloth binding: This is probably my favourite item they've got on display on their tumblr. Not only is the spine (pictured here) beautifully embroidered but the entire cover is. In addition the page edges are etched and coloured and look simply amazing. The gallery for this book is here.

2. Papier mache and plaster binding: This book is a 19th century creation imitating a medieval style of binding. Its very detailed and incredible really even given its slightly more modern creation. More images of this book here.

3. Filigree silver binding: This binding is seriously awesome. The book is from the 1690's and the craftsmanship is kind of epic. I think the result is gorgeous. More pictures here.

4. Blind-tooled binding: Blind-tooling as I understand is like a method of stamping or branding, a heated metal tool is used to press designs into the leather binding. This item is from the mid 16th century and is really beautiful. More pictures here

5. Codex Gigas: Its not all about the outside being beautiful! An unbelievable amount of effort went into making the insides beautiful too. This is a photo of one of the pages of the Codex Gigas, a European text of unknown age, although it is known to predate 1295, which is the first record of it changing hands. Texts like this overwhelm me. Its mindblowing to think about all the ways in which the world has changed, all the people lived and died and ages passed by, while this book continues to survive. Its just amazing. There are more photos of this book here and more information about it here.

I know this post is a little bit on the special interest side, but I'm hoping everyone can get on board with appreciating the time and effort that went into producing books back then. It wasn't like today where machines print everything quick as a flash. Back then hours and months and years of work were required to produce one single manuscript, and you can really see the blood, sweat and tears that went into every item. They're awesome... and I mean that in the annotative sense of 'inspiring awe'. I would strongly encourage everyone to have a squiz through the National Library of Sweden's Tumblr or you can find out more about their collections on their website.

Sunday Spotlight: Florals

I thought it would be fun to do a post on a particular thing that I'm into, whether its a style or a particular store or whatever. I've been LOVING floral print lately. Its one of those things that I was never really into when I was younger, maybe I was just never presented with the right options. But suddenly the world is full of gorgeous floral prints in pretty pastels and bold brights in every conceivable colour combination... say that ten times fast!
So my various online shopping (mostly window shopping, boo!) searches have led me to a lot of floral items, dresses, bags, jewelery and even homewares. I thought the I'd do a collage with some of my favourite things I've come across recently.

I love love LOVE the quilt cover set from Modcloth (which I shared on my Facebook page already) and the blue Lindybop dress, they're absolutely gorgeous and I've realised my life cannot be complete without them lol. Although the quilt set is a bit out of my price range, I'll definitely be trying to acquire the dress in the near future.

Again I'm having some issues with broken images when I post the collage here from Polyvore, so I've just attached a picture of it and included a link below if you'd like to check out the original and get more information about the individual items!

http://www.polyvore.com/floral/set?id=112790555

So, obviously I have a bit of a crush on floral, even my new blog theme couldn't escape a bit of floral action! Do you have a favourite trend, pattern or style at the moment? Feel free to share!

Three A.M.

Woops! I may have stayed up a tad too late. But you know how sometimes you just get in a mindset for getting something done? I decided my blog desperately needed a makeover, and through a series of mishaps only I could manage, I somehow made the process take all night. Ah well, these things happen. I'm pretty happy with the result though! What do you think?

Also, you may have noticed the new link on the sidebar stating that I'm now on Facebook. I hear that's where all the cool kids hang out! There's obviously not a whole lot there at the moment given its brand spanking new, but I will definitely be working on that!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fairytales-and-Following-Trails/453010014800096

Well, I think I'm suitably exhausted for one night... morning... period of wakefulness. I shall be retiring to my bed post haste. I hope everyone enjoys my new blog layout as much as I do. Have a lovely day!

Twirly Dress Tuesday

Because, you know, everybody loves a little alliteration.

This is another from the last Modcloth order I received. I've worn it several times but haven't gotten around to photographing it. As with all my Hell Bunny dresses, its lovely to wear, and I do love a dress with pockets!

I'm so extremely tired today. I think I need an afternoon coffee before the kids get home from school else there may be bloodshed!  I'm trying to avoid napping because that will mean I stay up all night and I really need to try and normalize my sleep schedule. I'm always terrible during holidays, it only takes me a few days before I'm going to bed at 5 or 6am and waking up at midday! Once classes start again my sleep will be sorted out, but I'd rather become diurnal again beforehand so I don't have to sit through classes half asleep.

I spent some time yesterday making a floor plan of my bedroom with separate bits of paper for each of my pieces of furniture. I was trying to work out the best layout to maximize space. With my Mo Bird coming back to me I need to find somewhere to put his cage, and my bedroom is rather small. It took some shuffling but I think I've worked out the best way to put everything. I'm in no desperate rush to move things yet though. His cage should be here in about two and a half weeks, so I'll worry about it a little closer to then. I'm looking forward to it though. Along with his cage will be coming all of my other stuff I left in NSW when I came up here. Sorting it out is going to be a MASSIVE job, but I'll be glad to have a proper bed and more shelves and storage stuff for the house!

Bye Bye Baby!

So today is a happy day, but also a sad one. My baby sister is moving interstate to start university. I'm really happy for her and I'm sure she'll love her new city, but I'll also miss her terribly!

To farewell our darling girl, we went out for a family dinner together, our parents, my kiddies and our two other sisters. We went to a lovely little Thai restaurant I'd never even heard of in the city. It was all outdoor seating on a large covered balcony, fortunately the night wasn't very hot and was quite windy so we got a good breeze to keep us cool. The seating arrangement was on cushions around a low table, which was actually really comfortable and the atmosphere was very cozy and intimate despite being a fairly busy night.

Everything felt normal, like any other dinner together, until it came time to say goodbye. Its strange saying goodbye to her and not knowing when I'll see her next, knowing she's not going to live nearby anymore and I won't have infinite chances to spend time with her now. And I'll be honest, I've done my share of crying tonight!

It was a lovely night though and I'm so happy we all got to spend it together.

Decor

Since we moved into this house I've been trying to do everything I can to perfect my bedroom. Its a small space but I think I've done a pretty good job of decorating it so far, though there's still a lot more I want to do! I realised that its been a long time since I had my own space to decorate however I pleased, I've always been sharing with someone or had constraints of existing furniture and paint jobs to work around. This room was a blank canvas and I've really been enjoying putting my mark on it. However budgetary constraints mean that for all the window shopping I do, I can't purchase most of the things I'd like to. I recently bought a couple of canvas prints on sale from Typo, but they have about a million other things I'd like to get. I've never really had pictures hanging on walls but I'm really into the idea of buying several and making a big collage on one wall.

I made a set on Polyvore of some of the things on my wishlist, but for some reason its just displaying a bunch of broken images when I share it on here as I normally would, so instead I'll post the image with a link to the page if you'd like more information about the items.

Collage available here <http://www.polyvore.com/typo_decor/set?id=111337563>

The kiddlings went back to school today. They've been on school holidays as long as we've been in this house so the quiet of a child-free home was something new! I don't have terribly long to bask in the peace though, as my own classes will be starting again in less than 2 weeks now. I still have to go into the uni to sort out which units I'll be enrolling in and all that jazz, but that shouldn't be too difficult. I'm looking forward to resuming study, but I'm also a little nervous because I'm onto the diploma level classes now which are harder and have a much higher workload or so I've been told. Hopefully I can keep up without falling on my face!

Dawn

I'm really NOT a morning person... at all. Getting me to wake up early is akin to drawing blood from a stone, except with more grumpiness. However every now and then I end up neglecting sleep entirely and staying up all night. I kind of love those nights because when morning comes I can actually appreciate the sights and sounds that make it such a cool time of day. This morning I happened to be in my living room reading when the sun started creeping up over the horizon. I had quite a nice view toward the sunrise from my balcony, and decided to take a few photos of it as well as the birds that were hanging around nearby and the general outlook over the neighbourhood. My suburb is brand new and still developing so there's a lot of empty lots and open space, also a lot of mud and construction equipment, but I think its beautiful all the same.

I'm not sure what kind of bird that is in the top right, some kind of kingfisher or something? There are loads of corellas that hang about but they were all either slightly too far away or moved too much, and some rainbow lorikeets which were far too quick, so I didn't get any good pictures of them unfortunately. Maybe some other day!

Happy Monday!

Today I've spent much of my day on the phone getting quotes to have my birdie transported up here. I have a pet alexandrine, his name is Mozart (Mo for short) who has been living with my ex for quite some time! Ex was kind enough to look after him for me while I found a suitable place to live up here where I could have him. So now that I'm finally settled in to a permanent place, I'm trying to make arrangements to have him sent! I can't wait to get him back. I've missed him so much, I feel like part of my family is missing, so I'm looking forward to having him with me again.

Me with his royal derpface in May 2012

So awhile back I discovered the fun to be had making collages over at Polyvore. I haven't made one in awhile but I did promise last time I posted one that the next one would NOT be full on only Modcloth items, so I decided to deliver on that. This one has bits and bobs from all over the place. The dress itself is Lindybop and the accessories are from here, there and everywhere!

Red Dress with Black and Gold by alyzaria featuring button jewelry

Hell Bunny!

I'm now onto book five of the Song of Ice and Fire series. I'm finally past what I've seen in the tv show for most of the characters, the only thing I can think of which hasn't been covered in the books so far is Theon's abduction, so maybe I'm going to read about that soon, or maybe its one of those things subject to artistic liberty in the tv series. I'm sure I'll find out! Its taken me three weeks to get this far so I'm a little worried about being able to complete the series before classes start in February, but I'll keep going and hope for lazy days in for the remainder of my holiday!

I haven't been going out much lately, budgetary restrictions keep me from doing much recreationally and school hasn't started back yet so I don't have classes to drag me out of the house. I did have a bit of a girls night in last night though. My best friend came over and my son was out with his dad so only my daughters were here. We watched As Told by Ginger, played a bit of Taboo and ate lots of snacks. It was a nice night, should do that sort of thing more often!

I've been loving my new dresses. They're all Hell Bunny, which is just such a great brand. They're not exactly cheap but the quality and design is worth it. If I could I'd buy 100 of their dresses and skirts without hesitation. They're definitely one of my favourite brands ever. Yesterday I wore their Leona dress which I absolutely adore. Its just gorgeous, like all their dresses, the print is beautiful, the skirt is full and voluminous and the fit is amazing. Their sizes go from XS to 4XL so they cater to a wide range of body types. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before that I can't find a website for them, but they do have a Facebook page where you can check out their most recent lines, and a google search is sure to bring up retailers that service your area if you'd like to own some of their clothing.

 

Peaches and Cream

I had a family birthday dinner to attend and I was dying to wear my new skirt. Its soooooooooooo (infinity) beautiful. The fabric feels gorgeous and silky and has just the right weight to it where it flutters in the breeze but won't blow away completely, and its such pretty colours. I wish I could buy 20 copies of it for when this one eventually wears out or gets damaged. My outfit made me think of peaches and cream and I felt equally delicate and delicious :D

So one of my favourite models Tess Munster (blog here and facebook page here) will be coming to Australia and doing makeup classes in Sydney and Melbourne. CURSE LIVING IN DARWIN!!! I'd have loved the chance to meet her. Nothing exciting ever happens here, its too far out of the way so whenever bands or plays or shows of whatever kind are touring they rarely come here. One day I'll get out of this damn town lol.

Baaaaaaaaack

Merry christmas! Happy new year! All that holiday nonsense! Yes, yes, I know I'm late. How was everyone's holiday season? Hope you all had a good time with friends and family wherever you are.

I've been busy moving house. I'm much happier here. The house is brand new and just feels so fresh and full opportunity.  I love my new room. It's small but I was able to get some new furniture and get some of my stuff out of storage to make it pretty. You may have noticed I'm a biiiiiiiit of a girly girl, but I'm also an overgrown child so I have stuffed toys and ponies and all the pretties that were in storage while I was living at the old place. It's very bright and airy, even at night, and I'm loving being in ultra-super-girl-mode.

I also FINALLY got my latest order from Modcloth. I ordered it back in November and it took aaaaaages getting here. I'm super happy with it though, my favourite order to date I'd say! I just picked them up yesterday afternoon and I can't wait to wear them. Everything fits really well and feels so nice on. I LOVE THEM ALL!!! The big question is: which do I wear first?! :)

So I hope everyone has had a great holiday period and that everyone is doing well now that the season's craziness is dying down. I've been super busy but now that the move is sorted out I can relax and enjoy the remainder of my holiday before going back to school in February. I'm looking forward to classes starting again, but at the same time I'm quite enjoying reading all night and sleeping half the day at the moment!

My favourite gift I received for christmas was a box set of the Song of Ice and Fire books. I've wanted to read them since I saw the first season of Game of Thrones but I never got around to buying myself the books and had loads of others to keep me occupied anyway. But now that I have them I'm addicted. I haven't had time to read them until last week, but I'm almost finished the second book and will probably be starting the third later today. I found the first book to be pretty faithful to the series as per my memory, but I feel like the second book has exercised a little more artistic liberty, although its possible I'm mis-remembering the series. I plan on watching it again though to refresh my memory. I'm looking forward to getting to the fourth book and beyond, I'm desperate to know what happens to some of the characters, although I'm equally terrified because these books do have a certain reputation! I'm sure everyone I'm most interested in will wind up dead far sooner than I'd like lol!

Hope everyone is well!

Fun With Collages

My daughter has been rather sick. She has a throat infection and as a result has been miserable and clingy for a couple of days, which has put a bit of a damper on my christmas shopping plans! But nevermind, the important thing is keeping her as comfortable as possible while she recovers. Because of her illness I haven't really left the house and certainly haven't bothered getting dressed up to take my own photos, so I offer another collage up to please the blog gods.

I didn't really have a theme in mind when I started, I just chose a dress I liked and added in some accessories I would wear with it. All of the items I chose are from Modcloth. Their sale is almost over so have a look if you haven't already! Even though I've placed an order and really can't afford to buy anything more, I can't help but to look through all the sale stuff (and the non sale stuff) and pine!

Peach, Cream and Gold by alyzaria featuring flat shoes

               

By the way I'm really enjoying making these collages. I've wondered for ages how I could make magazine style collages easily and found that Polyvore has exactly the tool I need. Its really easy to use and I've been having lots of fun compiling lists of items to use in later collages. Next time I make one I'll try not to use exclusively Modcloth items lol. I swear its not nearly the only place I shop, I've just spent a lot of time browsing the last couple of days for myself and for my best friend. I love making wishlists for her, even though she rarely likes the things I choose! I often wish that I could force her to wear some of the things I pick out for her, I'm sure she'd look great! But she's very particular about the things she wears, which is obviously totally understandable. Maybe one day though I'll pick a dress and she'll decide its perfect and buy it and love it forever and ever. Hey, a girl can dream!