Pinkerton Manor

Lately I’ve been thinking and reading a lot about eating healthier.  I’ve lost muscle mass, put on weight and my arthritis has flared up since I moved back to Brisbane and I think it has a lot to do with changes in my eating habits.  I’ve been a vegetarian for over ten years, but I’ve never really put much thought into a healthy vegetarian diet – I just replaced meat with meat alternatives and that was about it.

Lately though, I’ve been thinking more and more about what I should (and shouldn’t) be eating.  The most helpful resource I’ve found so far is The Vegetarian Society’s V-Healthy website.  I’ve also been reading up a little on ‘super foods’ and I’m finding that a lot of them are foods that I love and eat a fair bit anyway.  Yay me!

So, today for lunch I had wholemeal toast with hommus (which I now know is a whole protein) and tomato (high in lycopene) and a handful of dried apricots (an excellent source of Vitamin A).  Right now I’m enjoying a cup of tea with honey to stave off my sweet tooth cravings.  And dinner will be a vegetable and bean curry with brown rice (to which I’m adding a little barley and lentil mix).

And my outfit kind of matched my lunch!

Cardigan – Colorado, dress – Ice, leggings – Big W, scarf – thrifted, espadrilles - Target.

It’s my birthday soon.  I will be 25 years old.  I have no idea how this happened.  I swear I was only 22 like the other day!  So, I’ve been thinking about things I might like as gifts.  Usuaully I just reply with ‘iunno’ whenever I get asked for gift suggestions for myself, but since I’ll be crossing the dreaded threshold into ‘mid to late twenties’ territory I thought I should do the mature thing and have a little think about it.  And since there are some pretty neat things on my little list I thought I’d post it here for all to see.

• Silicon bakeware – I haven’t done any baking since I’ve been back in Brisbane, partly because Matt threw out all my bent up old bakeware while I was away and partly because our kitchen is hot enough in summer without the oven on, but I’m aching to make delicious baked goods.
• Tights from We Love Colors – I’m particularly hankering after teal, gold, rust, olive green, emerald, spruce green, hunter green (can you tell I like green?) and navy.
• A chunky cardigan – I’ve been on the lookout for a cream/ecru/off white, chunky, slightly oversized cardigan for a while now.  My main problem is that I want natural fibre and most of the ones I find and like have at least some synthetic content.  There’s actually a few I’m watching on eBay at the moment but I’m pretty fussy about the feel (knits should be soft, people!), so I’m not sure I want to buy online.
• One of Alicia Lynn Carrier’s 10 Dollar Drawings – I’ve been reading her amazing food blog Bread and Honey for a while now and then found out about her equally amazing art.  Soooo pretty!
• A ring from Forkometry – I love these!  Such a great way of repurposing old cutlery and very beautiful too.
• My name on a necklace – Possibly a bit lame, possibly a bit bling, definitely been done before.  But I still kind of want one.  I think all caps in silver would suit me best, but the acrylic heart and initial pendant is a little bit retro and cool too.
• A Lomo or Holga camera – Or some other old school analogue camera.  I miss film.
• T Shirts from TopatoCo – Specifically this one and this one, both by Kate Beaton.  I don’t really need more t shirts, but they make me giggle!
• Socks! – Not something you would expect to be on a list of gifts someone wants for their birthday, but I want some thigh high/over the knee woollen socks.

And that’s my list.  For further inspiration, I’ll be sending family and friends to my hearts (which, frankly, they should look at anyway because I heart some awesome stuff!).  Now, if someone asks, I can just refer them to this post.  Problem solved!

Today I am channelling my inner domestic goddess and getting some household chores done.  Washing, dishes, cleaning and tidying are all on the agenda, but I may need to duck out later to pick up a few things for dinner tonight (and possibly a sweet reward for myself!).  I’ve also decided that I need to go through all my clothes (again) and assess my wardrobe situation.  I’ve got a few bags of clothes and things that I need to list on eBay already, but I’m thinking I might end up adding to that.

I chose a few simple pieces to layer today, but not too heavy since it’s still warm here in Brisbane.  The top I bought on clearance at Kmart, shorts are thrifted, 3/4 leggings from a discount outlet and the scarf was a gift from Matt’s mum.  I had a go at academichic’s ‘pretzel tie’ and absolutely love the way it looks with this scarf.  I’m so excited that they’re having a ‘scarf month’ this month and can’t wait to see more.

And now I’m off to clean the stove!

So, I neglected the blog a little. Sorry, blog.

What have I been up to? Well, I’m currently knitting a scarf, getting back into drawing and painting, looking for a new job, plucking up the courage to post outfits over at wardrobe_remix, putting the finishing touches on a goldfish plushie for a friend, falling in love with a few newly discovered blogs (bread & honey, The Uniform Project, mimilove), redesigning the blog and drinking Lady Grey tea.

So, now that I’ve made the blog a bit prettier I’ll try real hard to update semi-regularly. Promise.

Ack, it snuck up on me!

I’m nowhere near finished my clothespeg people ornaments, I’m rushing to finish the gifts I’m crafting and my tree looks kind of lame.

I don’t do tinsel, so this year I thought I’d give pearls a go.  I think it leaves the tree a little bare.  I think I might make some simple tartan bows to bulk it out a little.  It doesn’t help that it’s home this year is behind the television on account of we’re still not finished unpacking.  Whoops.  With all the late afternoon storms we’ve been getting the angel does look pretty awesome against the windows.

One thing I haven’t let slip this year is the food.  Last year I made One Crafty Mumma’s Easy peasy no bake apricot balls with huge success and Lord Adlington made Gingerbread’s Blissful Chocolate Balls with rum and they lived up to their name (except the ones he put rum soaked pineapple in the middle of), so they’re both on the list.  I’ve also fallen in love with the idea of making Bûche de Noël and Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without trifle (incorporating lots and lots of cheap sherry).

And at the very least, my desktop is pretty and festive thanks to Vladstudio’s Where Snowflakes Are Born.

Back in 2007 my friend Steve drew a few sketches of what he named Demonio Llama.  So, for Christmas this year I made him a felt Demonio Llama.  I used The Shishi Girl’s Alpaca pattern and gave him red faceted bead eyes.

I still have to post it to him, so I hope he’s not reading this.