Short Takes

BondingOriginally uploaded by Alejandra Darling

I just adore Blythe Dolls, so I thought I’d share some of my favourite sets on flickr featuring them. Decor8, Mrs Piggy (just one set of many adorable ones), J*me, Alejandra Darling.

I still have a cold. I also have laryngitis, which is great for the dog and  Kaidin because they can do whatever they want and I can’t yell at them. I’m not appreciating having to have warm lemon and honey drinks when it’s 34 degrees outside!

I went to an old school friend’s wedding on Saturday. It was very nice, but I had to try hard not to sniffle near the video camera. It was a perfect day for a wedding – sunny sky, shady trees, an island in the middle of a lake – but unfortunately, my camera didn’t like it and kept washing out the backgrounds.

You may kiss the bride – Mr and Mrs White

Jess and I after the ceremony.

Living Nature is a NZ cosmetics company I just found. I use their mascara and it’s excellent. I’m slowly going to replace all my makeup with there products.

This post at The iCing Bowl made me think about what I put on my skin and in the comments there are some good suggests for natural and homemade products. All Natural beauty has some great recipes that I’m going to have to try out tonight while Adam is at work and won’t get freaked out by me running around with egg in my hair and banana on my face.

You may have noticed the button I added so people can join my e-group, A Pagan Way. It’s simply a group for Pagan people to come together and learn from the different paths we are on.

Finally, A Field Journal is the blog about the creative process behind the Natural Historie products from Etsy. It’s very gorgeous and soft and whimsical.

Short Takes

Best Article Ever on skin care from the NY Times – especially the last paragraph!

Paper Menagerie certainly indulges my love for all things stationery and scribbles related.

Harmony Forest makes me dream of peace and relaxation – if only we could afford a holiday sometime soon.

Image from stayz.com.au

I recently got sent a whole heap of books from Bookmooch and have one novel to send to the USA. Bookmooch is such a great idea and it’s free – all you pay is the cost of the postage.

And finally, Thats Headley is a gorgeous jewelry site with lots of other good ’stuff’. Go and check it out and remember that my birthday is coming up soon. I don’t have the patience for wire and beading jewelry, but these pieces are fantastic and very, very beyond the square. the Etsy site for Thats Headly is here.

Short Takes

It is a full moon tonight. Watch out for werwolves!

Kevin Rudd is now the Australian Prime Minister. Congratulations to him and the Labor Party. The Greens did get a good number of votes too, especially in my electorate, which is a very good thing.

I am in love with this Japanese Chiyogami paper from Monograms Fine Papers. I can’t wait to start making and printing my own paper, but I could easily be talked into buying some of this to decorate candles with when I head up here next week to buy some supplies – it’s divine! This picture is from abitblue, who makes absolutely gorgeous art out of different papers. I’m hideously jelaous of her talent.

I heart Cutex Nail Recovery – my normally chipped and broken nails are actually long enough for a manicure next week when I go for my massage at Spoilt Rotten (Chloe is an angel I swear – if you are ever near Mandurah you must go and see her).

How to Build Intimacy in Any Relationship over at Think Simple. Be Decisive is certainly a new habit that I will be starting with Adam (hehe Tina’s man is also called Adam). I am really working at the moment on listening and paying attention to other people – actually putting down my book or the computer and making it so whoever wants my attention feels like they are the most important thing in my life. It makes everyone feel so much more appreciated and usually takes less time than going ‘Uh huh. Yep. Uh huh…. what did you say again?’ when I am only paying half attention. The Intimacy post goes a few steps further, focusing on what the speaker experinced that day.

Finally, Happy Thanksgiving to anyone who celebrated it this weekend – here in Australia we don’t have Thanksgiving, but I still like to take a moment this weekend to recognise everything I’m thankful for – here is an abbreviated version of my list: I’m thankful for my family and friends, especially those I haven’t seen for a long time, but who still make time for phone calls and impromptu visits, for the wonderful people in my community who are part of freecycle and the wonderful things that I have recieved, for my pets who snuggle me on cold nights, for my health and the continued health of my little family, for my new job and for Adam getting more hours so we can start saving for our land, for everyone who reads and comments and encourages me with this new blog and for everyone and everything that has made a diffence in my life, positive or negative, because that has helped me become the wonderful person that I am today.