things I love thursday

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Things I Love Thursday 22/6/2017

This past month has flown by.  Since the beginning of June, I took a little holiday from work, caught up with loads of friends and celebrated my 31st birthday.  There have been so many things that I’ve felt proud of and grateful for.

This week I love:

  • My friends.  I got so many messages of love and celebration on my birthday and each one brought an ear-to-ear smile to my face.
  • Michael Jackson.  David and I watched This Is It together and it was amazing.  I am a huge Michael Jackson fan and it breaks my heart that he didn’t get to perform his final masterpiece at least once.  I found the rehearsal footage breathtaking, and it’s hard to imagine what the final show would have been like.
  • Putting my cupcake hat on Rupert, David’s cat.  He purred like a maniac and wore the hat for a full half hour before he fell asleep and it toppled off his head.
  • Poking around vintage markets on chilly afternoons.
  • Bean burritos
  • Vegan vanilla cupcakes that look like they were pooped out by a unicorn.

Helloooo! Awesome birthday pin from my brother. #mrsdoubtfire #pins #birthday #geekery

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  • My new Mrs Doubtfire pin from my brother.  I am slowly building quite a collection of cute enamel pins, and this is the newest addition to my hoard.
  • Watching the Top 1000 Songs of the 80’s countdown on Foxtel and taking bets on what would be number 1. ( I lost.  I voted Thriller, which was edged out by Living on a Prayer)
  • Kate Lister’s website Whores of Yore.  Kate is a sexual historian who explores the history of sexual practices, language and culture.  Her website is fascinating and funny as well as highly educational.
  • My new heated throw blanket.
  • Watching my cats wriggle on the floor after their dinner each night.
  • The smells of winter mornings: wood smoke, frost and wet grass
  • Booja Booja chocolate salted caramel truffles.  And also the name Booja Booja, which is really fun to say.
  • Skins.  Various friends over the years have urged me to watch this show and I’ve never listened.  Now that I’ve started, I can see why they thought I would love it.
  • The Time Traveller’s Wife.  I’m not usually into romance stories, but this one is so clever and thought-provoking.  Dr Who fans who enjoy the romance between The Doctor and River Song should give this book a whirl.
  • Gloves

What do you love this fine Thursday?

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Things I love Thursday 25/5/2017

It’s been an awfully long time since I did a Things I Love Thursday post, and there are just so many things that are making me smile this week.  I’m ready to jump on in and share the happy!

I love:

  • Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.  I just finished reading this book and it was excellent.  Sure, it’s in the young adult category, but that doesn’t lessen the awesomeness of this book.  In addition to being deliciously geeky, it deals with some really heavy issues like anxiety, bipolar disorder, dysfunctional families and navigating first relationships.  I truly enjoyed it.

Homemade sweet potato gnocchi with creamy mushroom sauce. #dinner #vegan #Italian #foodstagram #pastafrenzy

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  • This sweet potato gnocchi I made for dinner on Sunday night.  I have made ricotta gnocchi before, but potato gnocchi just seemed too fiddly and difficult. I was so wrong.  It was much simpler than I expected and the sweet potato was a fun twist.  The sauce was also out of this world. It was the yummiest, creamiest pasta sauce I’ve made since I went vegan.  If you want to give it a try, this is the recipe I used.
  • Sharing my yoga mat with Mr Ringo, who thinks that yoga time is the perfect opportunity to steal kisses and smoosh his whiskers against my toes.
  • Celebrating my Dad’s 60th birthday with a low-key family dinner.
  • Warm socks and nightshirts.
  • Wes Anderson movie marathons
  • Watching American Pie with my long-distance love over Netflix and chatting on Skype about the horrendous plot holes and questionable fashion choices.
  • Good Mythical Morning.  This show has been one of my favourites for about a year now.  This week I watched this episode, featuring Mayim Bialik and nearly peed myself with laughter.

  • Nude lipstick.  I was always heartily bored by nude shades, but lately I’ve been drawn to them.  I found a gorgeous matte pinky nude by Lipstick Queen that I’m smitten with and I’ve been wearing it non-stop.
  • Rearranging my kitchen. I’ve switched around all my cupboards, moving the stuff I use most often into the spaces closest to the sink and countertop and lesser-used items into the far side of the room. It is so much more convenient and putting the dishes away takes a lot less time now.
  • Master of None.  This show is massively underrated.  It is funny, thought-provoking and full of heart.

  • This rad enamel pin.  I bought one for myself a few weeks ago and it finally arrived!  It has all the elements I love: it’s pink, it’s adorable, it’s sassy and it references Grease!
  • Chimichangas.  I had my first one last week and it was a revelation.  I can understand what Deadpool is so worked up about.

Took myself to the salon for a big chop. I feel like the sleekest fox in town. #hair #bob #sideshave #selfcare

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  • Getting my hair cut.  I had about eight inches cut off my hair last week and it feels so much better now. I hadn’t really noticed how long my hair was getting, but I did see that it was due for a trim.  Once I was in the salon chair, I just wanted the hairdresser to keep cutting and cutting.  I love my swingy new ‘do.
  • Finally, this magnificent post called You Should Have Asked by Emma.  It so perfectly describes a phenomenon that I’ve been trying to put into words for years. It’s about the idea that in so many heterosexual households, the woman is the person who manages the house. Like, not just doing the housework, but undertaking the role of Project Manager for the entire home. And that this has a detrimental impact on mental health, self worth, relationships and family structure.  I’ve been in this situation, and it was this mental load and my partner’s refusal to take some of it off my shoulders that began to erode my longest relationship.  It’s hugely damaging and difficult to talk about, so I was exceptionally excited to find this cartoon that so wonderfully expresses these ideas.

What do you love this week?

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Things I love Thursday 9/2/2017

Welcome to another Things I Love Thursday.  In my opinion, Thursday is the perfect day to take stock of the things I’m grateful for and that bring me joy.  By the time Thursday rolls around, I’m beginning to lose momentum from the long week behind me and I’m usually truly ready for the weekend.  Taking the time to think about the good things from the past week really gives me a chance to look at things with fresh eyes.

 

This week I love:

  • Playing with the Macro settings on my camera.  I found this rad beetle-exoskeleton thingy that had been abandoned by it’s owner on the bark of the huge tree in my backyard.  I had a wonderful time photographing it.

 

 

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  • My awesome boyfriend who rescued me from an enormous spider that was crawling across the bedhead at 4am last weekend.  We both hate spiders, so very very much.  And the fact that he was willing to stay in the room with the spider to make sure I was out safely and calmly meant the world to me.
  • Rain storms to break the oppressive summer heat.
  • Making veggie pies for dinner that taste amazing and look way fancier than they actually are.
  • Iced coffee
  • Starting work on my first knitted jumper.  It’s going to be super chunky and TARDIS blue.
  • Singing along to Blink 182 in the car and reminiscing about my teen years.
  • Saving Mr Banks
  • The new fennec fox kit who was born at Taronga Zoo last month.  This little dude is crazy cute and so energetic!
  • Finding a book I’ve been dying to read and a big ball of Noro silk yarn at a trash and treasure market.  I spent the princely sum of $3.
  • Watching a bunch of Lucy Worsley’s documentaries on Youtube.  In particular I’ve been enjoying History’s Biggest Fibs and also Fit to Rule.  Lucy is so lovely and makes history sound so cheeky and magical.
  • Dexter.  I’m finally getting around to watching this after so many years and I’m really enjoying it.

What do you love this week?

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Things I Love Thursday 5/1/2017

Happy Thursday gorgeous-face!  I hope that the first week of 2017 was smashing and that you’ve got lots to be smiling about.  Because I sure do!  Here we go…

This week I love:

  • Grill’d.  I have been a fan of their burgers for years, but this past week they won me over completely.  I called into Grill’d at Southern Cross Station to grab some dinner on New Years Eve.  I chose the Field of Dreams burger, minus the cheese and mayo, and sat down to wait for it.  While I was waiting, one of the chefs approached me and asked if I was vegan.  She had noticed my docket and wanted to check because the pesto on the burger also had parmesan cheese on it.  She made a bunch of vegan-friendly suggestions and together we build the most delicious burger on the planet.  I was so appreciative of her assistance.  As a new vegan, it can be hard to know what to order in restaurants and so it was awesome to have someone help me out.
  • Rogue One.  Wowza, I was not prepared for the amazingness of that film.  David and I went to see it last week (on the same day that Carrie Fisher’s passing was announced.  *sob!*) and I was blown away.  It was crazy good.
  • Kitty head-boops
  • American Horror Story: Hotel.  I’ve been blazing through this series and I’m enjoying it a great deal.  I’m addicted to Gaga’s glamorous costumes and the art deco styling of the Hotel Cortez is making me drool.  The story is pretty good so far, and reminds me more of season one in the way it’s been jumping around in time.  I plan to finish it off over the next day or so.
  • Yarn shopping.
  • My herb garden.  I’ve got three plants growing strong, and I can’t wait for them to get big enough for me to start using them in my cooking.
  • Frozen cola slurpees
  • Raspberries
  • Crop tops
  • Throwing away a stack of threadbare bed sheets and frayed towels.  I no longer need to fight my way into my linen cupboard every time I need something.
  • Cool breezes through the open windows of an evening.

What do you love this week?

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Things I love Thursday 29/12/2016

It’s the last Things I love Thursday for the year.  So let’s make it a really good one.

 

This week I love:

Missed this girl like crazy. #benallaishot

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  • This dude.  Honestly, so many things have changed in the past year, and so many of them flow back to David.  I’ve made a tonne of new friends through him, he’s encouraged me to start going to gigs and exploring new music and he’s given me some incredible experiences.  Most of all though, I feel utterly blessed to have his love.  He is the kindest, most hilarious, sweetest person on the planet, and I feel like we are totally on the same page. I never have to pretend to be cooler or smarter or better, because I know that he loves me just as I am.  He’s fantastic.
  • Crop tops and shorts.   The perfect around-the-house summer ensemble
  • Three weeks of work
  • Spending Boxing Day decluttering.  I usually go shopping on Boxing Day, but this year I’m trying to live a more minimalist, mindful life.  So instead, I spent the day cleaning out my fridge and DVD collection.  It was brutal, but I made so much space and got rid of things that were weighing me down

 

  • This incredible Harry Potter soup cauldron that I got from my brother for Christmas. I have been looking at soup mugs in the op shop for a long while, but I never found one that I really loved.  I eat a lot of soup in the cooler months, so this baby is going to get a lot of use.
  • True Blood.  I’m revisiting the series and finding it even better than I remember.
  • Playing with my little cousins on Christmas day.  Eve and Olivia are just the sunniest, sweetest kids and I had an absolute blast looking at their new toys from Santa, chasing them through the sprinkler and making pictures with them.
  • Additionally, the mermaid tail sleeping bags my cousins got for Christmas from Santa.  Mr Kringle, if you’re reading this, I’d love one in a grown-up size for next year’s gift.
  • Floor sleeping.  It’s been crazy hot lately, and I’ve been sleeping camped out on my loungeroom floor in front of the air conditioner.  It’s actually surprisingly comfortable on the floor and I’m tempted to start doing it more often even when it’s not face-meltingly humid.

Elefennick has been pilfered by Ringo. #thief #ginger #zootopia #toottoot

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– My Zootopia Fennick stuffie that David bought for me.  The only way he could be better is if he made an adorable “Toot toot!” sound like in the movie.

 

  • Finding Dory.  Darn that movie was hilarious.  I had very low expectations, but I should not have been so doubtful.

What are you loving this week?

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Things I love Thursday 20/10/2016

I am overflowing with joy this week.  Although I’ve been really busy, there are so many wonderful things filling up my days and I just can’t hold in my happiness.

This week I love:

  • Mr Selfridge.  I started watching this show a few weeks ago and I’ve blown through three seasons.  I love it for the vintage fashions and the way it highlights how much shopping has changed in the last century.  By far my favourite character is Miss Mardell.  I can’t get enough of her.  She’s tough and ballsy while still being romantic and kind.  Single and childless, she’s still one of the most successful characters in the show and manages to turn the stereotype of the lonely old spinster onto it’s head.
  • Having a song written for me.  My boyfriend, David, and I celebrated our six month anniversary last week.  He is just the bees knees and he makes me so happy.  He wrote this song about me, and I was crazy excited to have a song with the word “shit” in the title dedicated to me.

  • Mr Ringo.  My poor little man has been very unwell with a urinary tract infection but he is all better now.  We had to take an emergency trip to the vet which was very frightening, but our new vet was exceptional with my anxious little dude and he’s now fighting fit again.
  • Roses, geraniums and daffodils, which are all popping up in my garden.

Stocking my drawer with hand crocheted dish cloths. #crochet #dishcloths #eco #green #craft

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  • Working on some handmade cotton dishcloths.
  • Decluttering.  I’m on a real minimalism kick, which has meant doing some ruthless clearing out of drawers and cupboards.  I have gotten rid of bags and bags of items that I don’t use, and I’m doing quite well with resisting buying more items to fill the space I’m creating.
  • The Conjuring.  I watched it last week and it was so scary!  If you like creepy stories of hauntings that re based on true stories, this could be one for you to check out.

Scored this adorable cardi at the op shop on the weekend. #thrifting #cardigan #outfit #hearts

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  • Sweater clips.  I’ve never gotten into them before now, but I was gifted this awesome Erstwilder set for my birthday.  This new (to me) cardigan was the perfect companion to my lipstick-and-mirror clips and I now can’t get enough of them.
  • Dark nail polish.
  • Finding PG Tips teabags in the import section at the supermarket.
  • Leaving work at the end of the day with my desk completely clear of paperwork.
  • Dr Pepper and 90’s slasher flicks.

What do you love this week?

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Things I Love Thursday 28/7/2016

Thursday is here again, so it’s time to lay down a list of the things that are bringing light into my life this week.  It’s been pretty mental over in my neck of the woods, as work has been uber busy and I’ve felt like I’m drowning in paperwork a lot of the time.  Being so occupied has worn me out a bit, and made me even more grateful for the glimmers of awesomeness that have speckled my week.

She's in training for the cat olympics #catstagram #calico #gymnastics

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This week, I love:

  • Dragging a blanket and some pillows onto the loungeroom floor for snuggle time with my dude.
  • The new 50’s style diner that has opened up two blocks from my house.  I took myself for a dinner date the other night and had the most exquisite bacon burger.
  • Getting an awesome performance review and a pay rise.  Go me!
  • Horrible Histories.  I know it’s meant for kidlets, but I’m really enjoying the silly humour and awesome songs. And I’m learning so much!

Spent the evening colouring on front of the heater. #colouring #bright #babushka #cute

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  • Colouring with the new pencils I got for my birthday.
  • Knitting socks.  I’ve currently got four different pairs on the go, and I keep finding more yarn that I want to turn into cozy socks for my friends, myself and also my shop.
  • Looking forward to punk rock gigs.
  • Waking up wedged in between Jelly and Ringo as they try to snuggle close to me to share my warmth.
  • Rainy weekends at home alone. I’ve been very social lately, which is awesome, but it’s so nice to have some quite time to indulge my introverted nature.
  • Tina Horne’s podcast Why Are People Into That?  Tina takes an in-depth look at a variety of fetishes and sexual practices and delves into what makes them so appealing to the people who are into them.  It’s a fascinating listen.
  • My new lube. I bought a bottle of Sliquid Sassy lube, and it is gosh-darn amazing.  It’s designed for anal play, and while I do use it for that, it’s also great to use for other sexy exploits.  It’s so slippery, it lasts for ages and it is kind to my lady parts.
  • Hanging with my friend Tom, eating weird cheeses and chatting about books.
  • Big, giant, sweet cups of coffee.
  • Waking up to the sound of rain.
  • Fuzzy jumpers.

What do you love this week?