Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Art Love...

I just want to devote a bit of blog space to my current artist obsession: Linda Solovic. She works with papers, pencils, etc and creates the MOST beautiful collages/mixed media pieces ever...


Linda's website
Linda's etsy


It's only right to post some pictures. She inspires me so very much - every time I look at her work, I'm just itching to give it a go myself!!


Pop Posies Dahlia

Sheila the Bird
Pop Posie Mum

Julia the Bird

Pop Posie Daisy

*sigh* I could post pics of every print in her store. It's just so gorgeous. *sigh*

Sunday, July 27, 2008

LEON is a felon of looooove...

You know what I'm talking about if you clicky here:

And now the Jurys have their very own little Felon of Love!!!


Welcome to the family, Leon!!!!

The spoodle x cavalier puppy is adjusting well, although the little guy keeps sneaking up on us and getting tangled in our feet as we go about our day-to-day lives. Also, he is a noisy little crier at night, and poops in his bed. But he's kinda adorable, so... I guess we'll hold onto this one..!!

Hot!!

These images brought to you by my HOT new phone, the Nokia N95.

HOT couple...

My HOT Mum...

HOT sister #1...

HOT sister #2...

HOT cookies...

My COOL Dad... (On no count is it OK to say your Dad's HOT)

HOT sister #1's COOL boyfriend... (Again, not OK to call your sister's boyfriend HOT)

HOT buttons...

Hooray for super-easy data transfers and of course, 5MP camera phones!!!!
I would like to point out that a fair number of my photo subjects found the flash more powerful than they predicted... I think it's obvious which ones....!!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Waiting...

Just as my 3-4 blog readers have been waiting a long while for a new post, so too am I waiting now! We've done everything we can for the house-purchasing process, and now? We have to wait until the government catches up with us. But hey, I've learnt even more about house purchasing!
Settlement agent. You need one to finalise your sale and they cost a looooooot of money.
And all the random fees? To name a few: Registration Fee ($138), Title Searches ($33.75), Water Corporation Enquiry ($36.40), Approximate Local Authority Enquiry Fee ($65.00! Whatever the heck that is...), Land tax enquiry fee ($30.00), Clause 42 Enquiry Fee ($25.00), Approximate Landgate fees ($20.00 and only just introduced at the beginning of July, lucky us!!)... not to mention the fact that despite we're paying the settlement agent a big sum, we also have to cover phone use, photocopying, postage, etc (and we've got an email agreement with them anyway). Whew. Hello extra costs adding up quickly!!
Also, sellers don't have to account for their missing keys!? That makes me mad. The current owners of our house don't know where all the keys are. They've never lived there themselves, and were renting it out. I'm pretty sure we'd be stupid if, before moving in, we didn't replace all the locks and keys now. Pooh. Hello to another extra cost.
So I'm still excitedly awaiting the day when this is all finalised, but dang me! It's a bit of a headspin!
Anyway, I promise next time I'll post some cute cute pictures of what I've been up to... I'm hoping to track down a Nokia N95 tonight, and if I do, I will buy it and it will be my love! And I'll take photos with it (my digi camera is too temperamental!!)

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Etsy Christmasinjuly Time...


For those Etsy shoppers out there, this is the month to get into Christmas, oh yes!
Big W has started their Christmas layby.
K-Mart is selling Christmas trees.
And from July 20-31, over 200 Etsy shops are offering sales on Christmas stock! Get in super-duper early, and you'll save money (plus you won't have to think so much about Christmas at the end of the year!)
To make reduced stock easy to find, Etsy sellers will be tagging items with " christmasinjuly" (yep, one word) so you can do a tag search, type that in, and ALL the Christmas sales will be at your finertips.

*Sigh* I love Etsy for being Christmassy soooo early!! Yay Christmas!!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

This is how home ownership goes...

We made our offer!!! For the interest of those who read my blog, I am writing out a list of every little detail that I learnt last night, so here it goes... For record's sake, we're able to buy thanks to the government's Keystart Scheme, so the list will reflect this...

THE PROCESS OF OWNING A HOUSE, THE KEYSTART WAY:
  1. You visit a lot of houses - never settle for the first or second one you see, you need to know what's out there (We visited 2 in Gosnells, then 6 in Parmelia)
  2. When you find that special place, you visit it 2-3 times, with parents in tow (this is for you first-home-owners). Parents know more than you do about houses. Also, the agent won't like the idea of you making an offer after only having seen the place once.
  3. After gaining parent approval, you and your partner go away and discuss it for 24 hours. It doesn't matter if you have, prior to visiting the house for the 3rd time, worked out a secret code to tell each other you want to make an offer right there on the spot. So don't bother.
  4. You make an offer and wait to see if it's accepted.
  5. If the offer is not accepted, discuss between the two of you, then return to point 4. If the offer is accepted, you wait for the government to approve. This can take anywhere from 1.5 weeks to 1 month.
  6. If the government don't like the house, return to point 1. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. If the government do like the house, then and only then is your offer safe. Until the government sign off on their bit, anyone can make an offer on 'your house' and even if their offer is less than yours, if it's accepted by the vendor, case closed. Go back to point 1.
  7. If the government signs off, and if nobody else makes an offer (whew!) you have a month to get your finance sorted out. If you don't at least try to get your finance sorted out YOU CAN BE SUED BY THE VENDOR. So making an offer is no joke!!
  8. Once finance is settled, an inspection is carried out. All electrical appliances must be in working order, and a white ant/termite certificate must be provided. If the termite inspection finds termites or termite damage, the vendor must pay for it all to be fixed. If they can't afford it, guess what? Return to point 1, again!
  9. Congratulations if you make it to point 9. This is settlement. I think settlement is roughly a month.
  10. Now, and ONLY NOW, is the house yours to move into.
So, by golly gosh, it's a process and a half. I'm so glad we got going when we did, especially if there are any problems. Currently we're at point 4... hoping to progress to point 5 sometime in the next day or so.... So yeah, there's a long road ahead. Whew!!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Eeep

Tonight at 6.15 it begins. The incredibly terrifying journey of home ownership (and the fun process which leads up to it) will be happening for Chris and me. It's a mixture of emotions right now. I'm wigging out over the fact that in a couple of months, we'll *officially* be making payments on a house. I'm terrified that, now we've found the house of our dreams, someone's going to make another offer before the government signs off on their end of the deal (we'll lose preference, even if the second offer is lower than ours...) I'm excited to the point of bursting over the idea of moving our stockpiles of stuff into an actual house, and decorating it, and cooking in it, and gardening, and making it ours. And then there's another part of me that just feels really weird.
There are big steps in life that change your reality, and this is one of them. Another perspective on the fact that come December 6, I'm marrying Chris. The wedding is falling into place, and now the future is too. It just makes me so happy! I'm kind of growing up, and it's spinning me out, but that's OK. It makes me smile to think that 2.5 years ago I was just a girl: working at a pie shop, terribly in love with a boy who I never dreamt would feel the same, convinced that I'd never find someone to marry and start a family with, and unable to see any future in terms of a career. Life has changed, and I'd love to see 2.5-year-ago Klara's reaction at seeing what's been going on!!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Oh Giselle!!

Enchanted... That's how I feel when I watch the movie Enchanted... It makes me wish that I had the ability to throw my head back, flutter my hands and turn life into a musical so powerful that even the nearby fauna want to join in! Yep, that's what I want in life.
*Sigh* I love this movie sooooo very much. Giselle's dresses, her hair, the music, the dancing, the cute little Morgan girl, the fact that it so closely resembles the good-heartedness of the Disney movies I grew up with... Have to say though, that I'm not one to swoon every time Patrick Dempsey enters the scene!

In other news, I've been-a-creating and a pirate bunny and some little white ghosties will be entering the store soon... Still not a sale to my name, but I'm loving the creating process so much I don't mind... yet...!!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!


The man brought me this surprise yesterday! Woohoo! I've been trying to get my hands on a Wii Fit for weeks, but according to Harvey Norman, there's a "national shortage". I had my name down at JB, Myer have been telling me "call tomorrow, we may have it" and I did, 3 times. Big W won't have them until mid August. It seemed all hope of laying my hands on one any time soon was lost. But apparently not, when you have a fiance as wonderful as mine!!!


This is soooo much fun, and my legs are caning today. Surprisingly, my favourite activity so far (I haven't unlocked very many, so I haven't got a lot to compare to) is the jogging!! It's silly, because it's jogging on the spot, like on a treadmill. But you have to focus so much on the screen that you don't think as much about the jogging. You follow a little man through a park, and all your family members' miis wave at you and run along with you. So cute. So fun. I'm officially addicted.

Also, proud moment. I have the best balance out of everyone in my family :) and I'm really good at controlling my centre of gravity. Not so exciting is the fact that after weighing in, my Mii's appearance became very chubby! That was embarrassing but oh well. It's a great game. I love love love it!!!