Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Craft Club in the anarchy of my flat

I've got all the craft club girls coming over tonight and the flat is so like a bombsite! I guess they will all understand the dilemma's of moving - after they are gone I'm going to pack up the table & chairs as well.

Things are looking a bit brighter on the box front at least - we had almost filled all the boxes Celia had help me get - but Jess and Andrew are coming over tonight to drop off further boxes - phew!! Hope we don't fill these up as quickly as the last lot - haven't even started on our bedroom yet.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Happy Birthday Suze!

It's my friend Suze's birthday today - hope you have a great day in Htown girl:D

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Cuba Street Carnival

This weekend was the Cuba Street Carnival - and man was it ever BUSY in town - we went to check out the markets briefly on Saturday afternoon which was ok - but to be honest most of the stalls were pretty naff (not nearly enough crafty stall and too many stall selling borning stuff like t-shirts and sunglasses) and it was so busy you felt like you could hardly move - but on the upside Rich managed to buy a shirt for Celia and Simon's wedding and I was able to buy a very cute dress from Illicit - it's not really the typical dress that you'd wear to a wedding but then I'm not your typical kind of girl.

On Saturday night we went to Mariella's place and a few drinks as the lovely Jo was visiting from Hamilton - it was so fantastic to catch up with her and also get an invite to her and Andre's wedding in April over at Papamoa (Which I am really looking forward too - haven't been to Papamoa beach in years). Jo's cousin also came over to join us and Donna as well for a few drinks and laughs.

We all decided to go and check out the Cuba Street Carnival later on in the evening - although I acutally couldn't see all of the floats because there were so many people there. But Rich did give me a running commentary of everything that was going on and the floats I did see were pretty amazing (like the stilt walkers - who were awesome!). Rich did manage to take some very cool photo's of the parade though - and here they are for your viewing pleasure - it's had to see them well on here as they are so small but I think they're awesome:)







After the markets - Rich and I just headed back to Mariella's flat and hung out with Mariella and Jo till the wee hours whilst they drank some decidedly dodgy Pina Colada from the bag - whilst Rich and I had a cup of tea - hummm....maybe Jo is right....I have become a nana! But then I didn't want to be hungover for packing today!

Incidentally on the packing note - a big big thanks to Celia for taking me along with her on her Saturday morning shopping and helping me pick up some boxes to begin the whole packing up the flat process.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Yes....we have a new home!

A lot of people out there know this already but for those who I haven't told already I thought I'd share our news - we have now found a new flat!

It's still in Kelburn (well Kelburn or Highbury depending on who you ask) and it's one of 3 - it's the downstairs flat but unlike our current downstairs flat this baby gets HEAPS of sun on it's great big deck which looks out on all of Aro Valley - nice:) Plus this one has 2 bedrooms instead of 1 so we will have an extra room to put all our stuff - which will be fantastic as it's hard having only one room - and as a real bonus - this place has an oven that actually works!

But everything seems to have happened very fast - we are moving in next Saturday at 11am - Rich was able to sort out a moving truck this morning.

So today we've been doing a bit of cleaning and organising but the real work will start tommorrow as Celia's taking me out to Pak n' Save on a mission to get some boxes.....and Mariella has decided to help us by helping us take some boxes of stuff over to the new place during the week before we officially begin our tenancy on next Saturday.

In the coming week we will be paying off the remainder of the bond and signing the tenancy agreement and picking up the keys for the new place - and then it's all on!

I'm really looking forward to moving into our new place - I'm especially looking forward to more space and the big deck - but I am SO not looking forward to moving. I've moved so many times already so it's so not exciting or interesting anymore - I'll just have the thought of Bailey's in the sunshine on our big new deck to keep me going!

Anyone for Tennis

I'm always surprised at where inequality between men and women appears in the world - and I had never before considered the inequality between men and women in sport - mostly because I'm not a sport fan - I mean I train to keep healthy and keep my weight down by the number of sporting events I've watched in my life could be counted on one hand!

Anyways when I was watching the news last night an article appeared that said women tennis players have only just NOW recieved equal pay to their male counterparts - which whilst it is good they are recieving equal pay - it seems pathetic that they had to wait so long to recieve equal pay.

Rich told me I best not look in the disparity between what male and female professional golfers get paid or I would be very very annoyed.


Women to receive equal pay at Wimbledon NZPA Friday, 23 February 2007


Reuters


LONDON: Wimbledon will pay women and men equal prize money for the first time at this year's grass-court tennis grand slam, All England Club chairman Tim Phillips said overnight.
The tournament broke with its tradition to join the Australian and US Opens in paying equal prize money across the board in all events and in all stages of competition.

"This year the committee decided unanimously that the time was right to move to equal prize money and bring to a close a long progression," Phillips told a news conference.

Prize money for the 2007 Championships will be announced in April.

Wimbledon, which dates back to 1877, went "open" in 1968 but had been criticised since then for maintaining a discrepancy in the prize money offered to its male and female competitors.

Last year Roger Federer earned £655,000 ($NZ1,838,854) for winning the men's title while women's champion Amelie Mauresmo took home £625,000.

"It's definitely a victory for women in general. I said it was a matter of time, and it was," Mauresmo said in Dubai.

"I think most of the people agreed it's not a matter of how long we (women) spend on the court. The men are always going to play longer because they play best of five sets. It's just a matter of being equal."

The All England Club had previously defended its stand by highlighting that women contested best-of-three-set matches while the men played best-of-five.

Wimbledon club chief executive Ian Ritchie said: "We do listen to what everybody says to us. We consult with the various people involved and we've had discussions with the WTA, the ATP and with other partners involved in the game.

"The key thing to stress is that we're an independent group of people on the committee who make up their own mind at the time that we feel is appropriate and we feel this is the right time."

The French Open introduced equal pay for their men's and women's singles champions in 2006 but remain the only major tournament not to offer the same prize money throughout the rounds.

Wimbledon's decision to offer women parity was welcomed by the WTA tour and players alike.
"This is an historic and defining moment for women in the sport of tennis, and a significant step forward for the equality of women in our society," WTA Tour chief executive Larry Scott said in a statement.

Venus Williams, a former triple champion at Wimbledon, added: "The greatest tennis tournament in the world has reached an even greater height today. I applaud today's decision by Wimbledon, which recognises the value of women's tennis."

The battle for equal pay for women's tennis had become a perennial topic at Wimbledon.
Last year, Scott blasted Wimbledon for a "Victorian era view" while Britain's Sports Minister Tessa Jowell had written to Phillips urging him to end the disparity.

Even British Prime Minister Tony Blair weighed into the debate when he backed the equal pay campaign in parliament during the 2006 championships.

"When Wimbledon pioneered Open tennis in 1968, the ladies singles champion Billie Jean King got 750 pounds and Rod Laver got 2000 pounds," Phillips said.

"So the ladies champion got 37.5 per cent of the money that the men's champion got. By stages, that has moved up until in 2006 when Mauresmo won, the precise relativity was 95.4 per cent."
King, who changed the face of women's sport by campaigning for equal rights, said: "This news has been a long time coming and I am thrilled Wimbledon has joined the club of grand slam events offering equal prize money for men and women.

"Wimbledon is one of the most respected events in all of sports and now with women and men paid on an equal scale, it demonstrates to the rest of the world that this is the right thing to do for the sport, the tournament and the world."

Phillips said 55 per cent of Wimbledon's spectators are women so he hoped the prize upgrade would resonate with them. Ritchie said the new move would not affect ticket pricing.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Our Night at Craftwerk

Last Thursday Rich and I were selling our wares at Craftwerk - here's some photo's from our evening out!

This is a photo of our Craftwerk stall - complete with balloons!


Just a couple of photo's of the wares on our table - it was a VERY colourful stall!

80's style electric pink guitar - I can't even tell you how stoked the girl who bought this one was.
mmmmm...ice cream!
Here's a love robot(the theme of Craftwork was Robot's can't love)
Paint the whole world with a RAINBOW! (Thanks to Mella for buying one of these designs)

A supercool Mofire Cross-stitch we had on our table - created by Rich
It's a fishtank that you can take anywhere with you!

A couple of examples of Mofire Cross-stitch patches
A Mofire Xylphone - this wee creation was purchased by Donna:)

Friday, February 16, 2007

Craftwerk Success!

We had a really great night at Craftwerk last night - I've taken some photos of the stall but I am yet to upload them - will do so this weekened to show the world.

We made some good pingers last night - more than I have ever made at markets before which was fantastic - it will help our savings account and we still have plenty of Fimo's left over to take back to Triangle to sell.

During the course of the night we were also asked to apply for another craft market that one of the art galleries in town is having in a couple of weeks and we also got some free tickets to the Craftwerk after party tonight - wicked:)

Also like to say a big thanks to Ross, Mella and Donna and Lee for coming to pay us a visit and also buying a few things from our stall - thanks guys - you all ROCK!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Today's the big day!


That's the reason why I am up at such an ungodly hour (ok I am quite often up at this hour to go to the gym but being up at this hour to go to work just seems wrong!). Anyways the big day is of course our first ever stall at Craftwerk - I'm really looking forward to it but unfortunatly due to the fact I have zero leave so I can't take a half day I have to be at work at 7am so I can leave at 4pm to do Craftwerk type stuff. The Craftwerk people have advised we need to be there at least an hour early to set up (because people usually start arriving at 4:30 and not 5:00 when the thing actually starts!). Rich is leaving work to do the set up - but I have to get some more money for the float and also pick up the fimo's Kat has left at Triangle on my way down to Southern Cross. But it should be a fun night out (lots of bands on at the gig!) and hopefully we should make a few pingers for all our hard work.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Monday, February 12, 2007

Also on the wedding theme - I just couldn't help myself in regard to this website!

So whilst having a look on the interweb I came across a website called -

http://www.uglydress.com/index.html

Which is an "archive on the worlds ugliest bridesmaid dresses" - here's a few of my fav's from the website!!



Apparently this sexy wee number is actually a wedding frock - not a bridesmaid dress - Hello Kitty anyone?





Wow - pretty in pink - just like a princess! NOT!! There is nothing GOOD about this dress - shape, colour, style all bad and WTF is with those bows?



Just to prove - guys make horrible fashion mistakes when it comes to weddings as well...




This one reminds me of a dolly varden cake I had once when I was a kid!

Bridesmaids...

I'm home sick today with my summer bug:( So I have been on the internet and readin Bust magazine a bit. Anyways - whilst reading Bust I came over an article dealing with the history of bridesmaids and weddings in general.

Seen as I've been a bridesmaid twice, and I am going to be bridesmaid twice more in the next couple of years so I thought I'd share these interesting bridesmaid/wedding facts with the world

"In early Roman times, a woman who was about to be married would first have to make a pilgrimage from her village to that of her bethrothed. The journey was often long and dangerous: it was not uncommon for the procession to be attacked by dowry stealing thugs or jilted suitors hoping to kidnap the bride. Bu th this single woman had little to fear for she had her bridesmaids: a group of armed, unmarried women who protected her from her attackers"

"After the ancient Greeks and Romans, something odd happened:bridesmaids almost completely disappeared from Western history for the next 1,500 years."

"There are a few mentions of bridesmaids in other cultures during this time, scattered in the backs of early anthropology journals. Bridesmaids in 17th Century China would stay the wedding night in the bride's new home, and then visit her bedroom the next morning to make syre she had been treated well during the consummation. The Kanuri tribe in Africa had a simmilar practice. In 18th-century Russia, the groom would come and visit his future with and her friends at the brides family home. The bride's parents would welcome him with tea and drinks, but the bridesmaids, ever-protective of their friend, would taut and yell at him until he left."

"And then came the Victorians, who decided to market the whole damn thing. Up until the 19th Century in America, weddings were casual affairs, planned less than a week in advance. Then, beginning in the 1930's and progessing through the civil war, they underwent a transformation. Merchants, whose production abilities grew during the industrial revolution, recognised an untapped market. They began promoting the "traditional" wedding"

"19th Century shopkeers decided that white dresses and dinner receptions were necessary aspects of respectable weddings"

"To flaunt their social position, parents started purchasing cakes and flower bouquets rather than making them at home. Wedding salons, in which a bride could buy her gown rather than wear an old dress or sew a newone herself, became increasing popular"

" Along with the progression towards elaborate pageantry came another notion: The bride needed help. Lots of it. She needed someone to help her pick her dress, choose the cake, pen the invitations. And so the modern bridesmaid was born"

Sunday, February 11, 2007

A summer bug

Well it appears that I have been unfortunate enough to catch a summer bug - not feeling too good - in fact I sleep on and off till about 1pm today and then went back for an afternoon nap.

Typical this happening on a week when I have bookclub, craftclub and Craftwerk as well as a million and one things to do at work:( Perhaps an early night tonight will clear it up - fingers crossed it's perhaps a 24 hour thing?

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Celia's Hens night

Well last night was Celia's hens night and it was a doozy....I think pretty much everyone had a great time and the bright pink Stephen Fleming Pinata I made for her went down a treat!

The trip to town was also pretty fun - with Celia completing a whole bevvy of tasks from singing Karoke at K Bar to completing the Courtney Street Bungy.

Here's a couple of photos - although Katrina was the official photograper on the night so I am hoping to get some more photos from her to post here.

Celia with her hot date for the night - OMG it REALLY is Stephen Fleming!


Me, Celia and Stephen

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Craftwerk gets a plug on Campbell Live!!

Just finished watching John Campbell -were they had a segment on the "nana arts" - interviewed a whole bunch of crafty people from Wellington on "nana Sunday" and gave Craftwerk a HUGE plug....hummm....maybe we should make a few more fimo's? May be a big crowd!!

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

WORLD officially SUCKS!!

Thin models a fuss over nothing - designer By ROBYN McLEAN and Reuters - The Dominion Post Friday, 2 February 2007

Top New Zealand fashion designer Denise L'Estrange-Corbet is fed up with mounting international concern at thin fashion models - telling critics to get over it.

An online ACNielsen survey of 25,000 people in 45 countries, issued yesterday before the start of the international fashion season, reveals the rising backlash against thin models is a worldwide issue.

New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and Australia were the most critical of the fashion industry, with as many as 94 per cent of those polled believing models were too thin.

But L'Estrange-Corbet, owner of top Kiwi label World, said the debate was old hat. She had no plans to use bigger models just to be politically correct.

"The whole point of being a fashion model is to be thin," she said.
"The job of a model is to make clothes look amazing. The thinner you are the more fabulous you look - that's not going to change.

"When I'm paying them to model my clothes, that's what I'm paying for.

"I'm paying for them to keep themselves thin, but not stupidly thin."

L'Estrange-Corbet said designers should not be expected to apologise for wanting to sell clothes.

"I'm not going to come out and say 'It's got to change' because it's not going to change. The thin girls sell the clothes."

The survey also found a link between perceptions of thinness among women and a country's quality of life.

Concern at thin models has prompted the Italian Government to combine with the fashion industry to fight anorexia.

A code of conduct requires models to show medical proof they do not suffer from eating disorders and calls for bigger sizes to be added to fashion collections.

What a stunner of a DAY!!

In fact we've been having some real stunning days - enough in fact for Rich to get quite burnt over the weekend - I managed to get my nose burnt too...

Today is Waitangi Day and although it's nice to day off - it's a wee bit weird as well....because I went to work yesterday and I am going into work tommorrow and for the rest of the week as well - just feels a bit odd but who am I to complain about a 4 day week!!

I spent most of today hanging with Rich and also finishing off my wee craft project for Celia's Hen's night - but can't spill full details of the project here yet in case Celia's decides to check out my blog in the interim!! But full details of the project will follow sometime in the near future;)

I'm off to spend the rest of the afternoon with Kat shortly though - but I'm waiting for an auction on trade me to finish before I leave....yes...I am LAME...

Anyhose - I'm off to kill time in other ways whilst waiting for my auction to finish....perhaps next time I shall have something more exciting to write!

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Looking for a new home...

Rich and I have finally decided it is time to look for a new flat - as our wee flat here is getting a bit more than we can take...no room for crafts and very hard to keep tidy!

So the time has come to look for a new place - which is kinda fun in some ways but a total drag in others!!

So far we have seen three properties - one in Kelburn and two in Newtown. So far the Kelburn property with it's beautiful deck is the winner...but it was a bit of a mess when we went to see it so waiting to hear back from the property manager so we can see it in tidier condition. But there was another couple viewing it that were far pushier than us so maybe they have already snatched it from under our noses.

So our current project is to find a new place, with two bedrooms and so space...hopefully it shouldn't take too long?

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Subversive Cross-Stitch!!

I've made a fair bit of subversive cross-stitch now - although I haven't actually made any that I have kept for myself!! I really should make some for ME - but it's a fun gift to give and most of my friends seem stoked with their subversive cross-stitch(hopefully they weren't just being nice to spare my feelings!).

I figured if I was going to give away all my creations - at least I should keep some photographic evidence of the things I have made.

So here's some photo's of some recent cross-stitch - one has already been given away and the other too shall be in the mail in the next few weeks as well....maybe it's coming to your house? You'll just have to wait and see:)




Thank you Jade!!

I arrived home today after some Saturday type adventures (visiting Kat at Triangle, visiting Te Papa and having lunch on the waterfront) to find a lovely parcel from my friend Jade in Sydney which contained a DVD and a necklace with little stars and little skulls (she knows me so well!!) on it!!

The best thing is that the necklace perfectly matches the skull earrings that I bought off trade me that arrived today!

Thanks so much grrl:)

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Congrats Jo & Chris

I recieved an e-mail from my long time friend Jo yesterday to let me know that she got engaged to her boyfriend Chris on Sunday.

CONGRATS YOU TWO:D