The Jury's Out...

... Mrs Donovan is in the house!!!

So, I'm pretty much the laziest BUT I'm finally back, haunting the walls of my blog, ready to ramble. But first, (despite it being almost a month ago) I want to talk about my wedding...

You know how it sounds incredibly cliche to refer to any momentous occasion as 'the greatest day in my life'? Well. It literally was THE greatest day in my life.

The build-up was horrible. The pits. I pretty much didn't sleep the whole week beforehand. I stressed myself, my family, and my friends with the volume of stuff I had left to the last minute. I disliked my make-up trial. I was belittled by older women who thought it was funny that I would stress about something so trivial as a wedding. I cut my leg shaving at 4 in the morning on th day of the wedding. Yes, I shed blood in a sting-y, plentiful way, 12 hours before walking down the aisle. I had family issues, and in fact guest list issues as a whole. I had weekly nightmares of the wedding turning out horridly. In a bizarre twist, both my engagement ring and my wedding ring simply wouldn't fit on my finger the week of the wedding (the ladies in the jewellery shop looked horrified when I tried them on upon picking them up - and told me to come back next week to get them re-sized. It was that bad). Driving to the venue, I was on the verge of vomiting from the nerves, and upon getting out of the bridal car, I burst into tears and did not stop when I would have liked to.

But.

The moment that I saw Mr Christopher waiting there for me, grinning at me as I sobbed my way down that aisle, holding my Dad's hand, I knew the day would be perfect.

It was perfect because Chris cried during his vows (and made countless numbers of ladies cry too!!)

It was perfect because the sun was shining its brightest, at the end of a cold, rainy week.

It was perfect because I was surrounded and supported by my 4 best friends in he universe (and they all matched in little purple fairy dresses!!)

It was perfect because we were married by a man who I met on the first day I ever went to youth group, who has seen a huge chunk of my personal journey, who was even my boss at one point, and who I have nothing but lots of love and respect for!

It was perfect because there were paper lanterns and rose petals - Kirstin did the most amazing set-up job ever!

It was perfect because moments like a train blasting you out of audibility right before you start your vows, is what makes a wedding.

It was perfect because we definitely had the most adorable flower girl ever!!!

It was perfect because the only emotion I experienced all day was sheer, pure, unstoppable joy!

It was perfect because at the end of the day I drove off in a heavily 'decorated' Rav4 with the man who I am now going to spend the rest of my life with!!!

The couple of weeks after the wedding, I pretty much lived on Facebook, waiting for folks' albums to go up of the wedding, and what an amaing surprise - so many people took photos!! (The photo up the top was taken by Jared &/or Tenille).

So. Greatest day of my life. And they're not kidding when they warn you that it flies by and ends before you know it!!

People wonder whether it's weird to be married, to be living with a man, to go on holiday with a man, to be a wife. I'm floored by just how normal it all feels. I've been waiting for the moment where it actually hits, that life is suddenly 'different', and after 3 weeks of waiting, I've decided that if this moment hasn't hit yet, it's not going to. Everything feels normal. We may be living under the same roof now, but it's in a house that I've been painting and working on for the last two months, and is incredibly familiar. We may be living together now, but we haven't changed as people - he's still Chris, I'm still Klara. Bizarre, in a completely un-bizarre way. So there you go.

But anyway, enough rabbiting from me. I just felt as though my first post as a married woman should be significantly large. I will point out that now I'm uncertain what to do with my blog. See, I'm not Klara Jury any more, and therefore klarajury.blogspot.com is not all that fitting!! Will keep you posted on that issue...

I Love These Ones...

... Officially my favourites of the Skunkboy Creatures. I think...? Heck. It's so hard to choose a favourite! But looooook at these most wonderful little ones:



Gallop the Horse: he's covered in buttons! He's grey like a Grandpa-cardigan!! Ooo, and on his other side:


A love heart! Because he loves you!!!


Next in the line of favourites:


Abernathy the unicorn: Am I not the hugest fan of unicorns????
And look:


He has a rainbow on him!! With a little rain cloud!!

Oh my my my... I'm so smitten with these two!!!
I just don't think my heart will be content until I have my very own Skunkboy Creature... Little tree-ornament owl arrived on Friday, and she helps, but she's just so little, my craving will not be satisfied. *sigh*

Shelby Healey...

Haven't done one of these plugs in a little while...
Today I was trying to get inspiration for our wedding menus and bombonierre, and Etsy'd the word Love Heart... some very cute stuff, but I found a Heart-able artist called Shelbey Healey!!


This is so cool! And re-affirming, once again, my absolute love of collage and mixed media!!!

House Things That Make Me Smile...

Our mug/glass cupboard... so super cute and colourful!!!!

Wet tea-towels, hanging on the line.

Our couches. Oh, our couches. *Heavenly sigh*

And in other news, guess what colour we painted the master bedroom today??

(Kat)

(Steph-o)

(Me!)

(Token bum/arm shot!!)

So Much Excitement...!!!

Life has taken a crazy, wonderful turn this week, with 2 of the most fantastic, perfect-for-each-other people on the planet getting engaged!!!!!! So CONGRATULATIONS KAT AND ANDREW!!!! It's not very often I have the opportunity to get this happy and giddy for someone!!!

In other news, Skunkboy Creatures has turned 4 of her adorable creations into Christmas tree ornaments!
I've been hanging out for a Skunkboy Creatures toy FOR EVER but have held off. I still would like one, someday, but for now this little one will tide me over! Yay!!

Brain-Mush

This evening, my mind seems to be filled with endless thoughts. I've heard the best way to stop thinking about a thought that's bugging you, is to write it down. So here goes...

1. I am so so so jealous of anyone who's my age and can build a house already. House fixer-upping is not actually fun at all. It's great to have a place, but it's my dream to be able to move into a place and not freak out that the shower's going to be scungey, or the toilet's going to be stained and disgusting, or the window sills aren't going to be sealed. *Sigh*

2. (Thanks Hatti for this one): In 5 weeks, I will be the woman of a house. I will no longer be living in the room I've slept in for the last 18 years, or enjoying the company of the family I have always belonged to. I'll be all 'grown up', cooking every night and living in a space that's half-mine! This is really exciting, but maybe a little more terrifying than I'd anticipated, now that it's so close (to clarify, I definitely don't have cold feet!! I just haven't ever experienced an adventure like this!)

3. I wonder why it has taken me 5 years since finishing high school to get my butt back into creative gear? I've always pined to draw, paint, sew, etc... so why the heck did it take me so long to just buy a sketch book and start trying it out? In high school I worked solidly during every private study period, doing things I should not have been doing, but which kept me alive and excited... drawing, creating stories, cartooning... And for the last 5 years the evidence of this has hung on my wardrobe door as a weird tribute to my finest moments in study period. Why did I stop?

4. I have a pretty cool name. Klara Kamilla. When I was a kid, I hated my middle name. It's my Grandma's name (not why I hated it, I just thought it was old-fashioned and embarrassing!!) But now I really like my name. It's unique :)

5. There are some things I do not tell anyone, for all kinds of reasons. I wonder if they really matter that much? Sure, some things are secrets for a reason, but some things I hold onto are a bit silly!!

6. I'm pining for a large pack of connector-pen/textas. I just discovered this artist, and I actually can't stand to look at her work. It's incredibly crude, and ugly, and very in-your-face, which I'm sure is her aim, so fair enough. But the cool thing about her is that she does a lot of colouring-in with connector pens!! So now I want to :)

7. House-painting is such a painful, slow process. Ergh. We're still working on the first room we started on! It's a little dis-heartening, although last weekend we were able to unwrap one couch and put it against a finished wall, along with a new end table & lamp from Ikea. That little corner of our living room honestly keeps me going. It looks so picture perfect! So I can't wait to see the rest of the room hopefully very soon.

8. Money is not as stretchy as it should be, especially when you have a shiny new mortgage to adjust to, and a wedding.

9. Not everyone you know makes sense. Different people are different. Sometimes I feel like me and my close friends are the only sane people on the planet! But I'm pretty sure everyone feels like that once in a while :)

10. Assignments suck, and I'm so over uni. Lucky it's about to be the Summer break, but I still have a semi-long haul before then (at least classes are over).

Umm... Duct Tape Rocks!!

So there's this brand opf Duct Tape, Duck, and each year they give out a scholarship to kids who create their prom outifts out of duct tape. Some of these entries are mindblowing!!!
Go here to check out the entries... Way cool!!

Damn You, Elsie Flannigan!!

I *love* Elsie Flannigan's blog, A Beautiful Mess. For those who don't know, Elsie's an independent artist from Missouri who used to have her own scrapbooking brand which they even sold in my local scrapbooking store. She's 25 and lives like a real artist. Her art is all very cute and girly, not exactly my taste, but her blog and photos are killer and I am well addicted.
This week she posted up an interview of sorts, where she and 3 other artistic-types basically talk about the highs, lows, beginnings and ends of their lifestyles and jobs. The blog post is titled Things I Wish I Had Known and if you, like me, are pining to just let loose and be an artist (in any way, shape or form) this article is a very dangerous read!!! It's very long and wordy, but if you can get through the whole thing, you may well find your little heart pining to live like Elsie does. I'm not talking about the little bits that make up her life, but the essence of it itself - creating. Elsie has all this time to create, and experiment, and do little projects, and dream.
If I could have anything in the world, I'd ask for that (provided I get to keep Chris too, of course! He's the real love of my life...)
I will be an artist. Sometime, somehow. It may not necessarily be my full-time job, but I just have to create. Because there's so much inspiration out there, so much romance and beauty in my life, and I do nothing with it. *Sigh*

Well That's Embarrassing...

LOL. So barring 3 items, every listing in my Etsy shop seems to have expired today. Admittedly I've put zero effort into the store itself since setting it up, although I've been doing plenty of crafting on the side!!!!
Rather than admit defeat, I will say I have bigger plans for the store next year when life settles down again :)

My Christmas List...

It might only be October, but how can I be blamed for being excited about Christmas??? I'm surrounded by it everywhere I go!!! It's everywhere at the shops, the weather feels Christmassy (ie HOT), all plans are going ahead for our Carols in the Park event at work. I can't escape! Not that I want to... So I thought to tide myself over, I'd make a list of the little things that, to me, make Christmas...

1. Hot weather: I realised the other day that I love Summer because it constantly reminds me of Christmas. However, come New Years Day, I kinda hate Summer! It completely loses its charm!
2. Christmas Decorations at the shops: Especially Myer. They have the most beautiful Christmas display *happy sigh*
3. Our new Christmas Tree, Chester: Having mentioned Myer, I figured I'd have to confess that on Sunday I fell for the charm of Myer's Christmas display, combined with their 20% off Christmas Trimmings Sale and... impulsively bought a 6-foot Christmas Tree. I've named him Chester.
4. Home-baked Shortbread Cookies: My Mum always makes piles of yummy shortbread cookies, all cut out with Christmas cookie cutters. Unlike any other baked good produced in our house, which usually disappears with 8 hours, there are so many of these cookies that they literally last us till after the New Year!!
5. Baguely (no idea how to spell it): It's a Hungarian loafy cake which you put aside a whole day for, and bake in bulk quantities. We make both poppy seed and walnut varities. We don't do it every year, because it's soooo time consuming, but on the years we do, it just feels extra Christmassy!!
6. Christmas Wrapping Paper: It's just so wonderful to look at a pile of freshly-wrapped gifts, decked out in bells and reindeer!!
7. Christmas Music: I can't wait to pop some Christmas CDs in the player at work :)
8. Tarhogna (again, who knows how to spell it?): A Hungarian side-dish which basically consists of tiny little 'balls' or even 'seeds' of pasta mixed up with onions and olive oil and I'm not sure what else... It's soooo yummy!! We only ever have it at Christmas time, and it's worth the wait!
9. Decorating: I'm especially excited about decorating this year because it'll be my first Christmas living away from home!! It means that I have a new space to work with, new decorations (although nowhere near the quantity I've grown accustomed to!) and I can keep my tree up just as long as I want! (Right Chris?)
10. Christmas break: Our office is closing from December 25 - January 5, which gives me 10 days to just hang out and enjoy a freaking good break!! Hopefully my spunky new husband will get a good Christmas break too :)

New Look..

Ooops!! Forgot to mention in my previous post, I've bitten the bullet and made myself a handy-dandy banner.
I made it up this morning, and am pretty happy with it, at least for now....

The Birds

I loooove the avian trend. At first I was skeptical, and I can't quite place why, but since then I have fully embraced it. Birds are so pretty and you can do so much.
All day yesterday, my brain was filling up with ideas. There was way too much creative juice happening, and I couldn't quite keep up. I'm now trying my hand at creating a 2009 Planner, as well as a handful of notebooks and a Christmas Organiser for my store, and possibly Made On The Left coming up in November (Eeep! Will I ever have enough stuff???)
Last night I finally drew and coloured up a bird I've been dreaming of for quite some time. I'd done a make-shift little drawing at work, and was pining to put it on paper. So I finally did!!

It has not scanned nicely at all, but basically I'll be cutting the little guy right off the page, and sticking him onto a digitally-created background, maybe stick a few buttons on... I'm hoping this project works out, and am regretting scanning that pic in now as it just does not do him justice!!
In my head, little pictures are starting to swirl... Russian dolls, tea-cups, ghosts, reindeer... Ach! My priorities are way-skewed at the moment, as I still haven't even made my wedding invitations. What to do??

"Ohhhhh.... Mmmmm....Mmm... Mmohhh..."

Nothing suss - my title there is a direct quote from the wonderful man that I'm marrying, and I promised him I'd quote him word for word. Those noises (and plenty more) erupted from him as we ate dessert on our special surprise date night last night. But more on that later...
Basically, with me going to Melbourne today (in a few short hours! Yay!) Chris wanted to treat me to a very special dinner. He'd been planning to take me to this place for aaaages but couldn't get bookings for the times we were free. Well, he struck gold and managed to get a booking for us last night. Where did take me?
C Restaurant!
Here's a picture of the restaurant:

And here's a picture of the stunning view we experienced as we dined:

(I can't take credit for the pics, you can find them at the C Restaurant website or WA tourism sites)

As you eat, you're slooooowly revolving around, giving you a 360 scope of the entire city. Wow. Wow. Wow. I could hardly take my eyes off the view the entire time.
And the whole experience? Well, we had a REAL FRENCH WAITER who was snooty to boot, and combed (yes, combed) our table between courses. I had a cocktail (so chic!) and the food itself was... insane. So they come out with our mains and I think "Typical fancy restaurant. You pay through the nose for tiny portions". It may have been a tiny portion, but the food was SO RICH, I was pretty darn full by the end of the meal! I had the gnochi, Chris had the beef and we were pretty smitten.
One thing I loved about it is that, you know in the movies, when people go out for dinner at fancy places and say "I'll have the beef, she'll have the fish."??? THIS IS ONE OF THOSE PLACES! Most restaurants have a big selection of beef dishes, or fish dishes, so you have to be specific. But we literally got to use the words "I'll have the beef", because there was one beef dish. Very glamorous!! Heh.
The finest part of the evening was dessert though. Ohhhh boy. We both ordered Chocolate Moelleux (we were upfront with our waiter, and explained we weren't even going to try and pronounce it, and he rolled it off his tongue probably just to rub it in, hehehe. It's "Mollay" for the record, like "Ole!" with 'M' at the start) We received a plate with green pistachio icecream, the plumpest, juiciest mascerated strawberries (Oh wow in itself!) and this Chocolate cakey-looking thing. Take a forkful of cake and this avalanche of muddy chocolate goo starts flowing out. Oh my word. I think that was the very most wonderful form of chocolate I've ever experienced in my life. Hence Chris's very vocal appreciation.

All in all I had the most AMAZING night! Seriously, it was so good. I can't believe it, but I've sold my soul to the world of fancy, pay-through-the-nose dining. *Squeak*

Merry Christmas!!

Fun fact of the day... there are only 80 days left till Christmas Eve!!!
Thanks to the clan of 'secret-surprise-planning' bridesmaids out in the kitchen, I've been sent to my room for the first time since I was 6 years old, and to distract myself I've opened iTunes and am bopping along to Christmas music. Yay! I've actually been pining for Christmas alllll dayyyy for some reason so this is a perfect way to wind down :)

A Heartfelt Letter...

To the person who got into our wireless network, downloaded 8GB in 2 days, exceeded our download limit and had our account shaped until next month:
Thank you kindly for doing us this favour. We so enjoy internet that crawls along like a snail, and crashes every 5 minutes when we try to load a page with pictures on it. We are especially thankful that you've done this for us at the time when 2 of us are working fervently on numerous uni assignments.
Email? Who needs to check that reguarly anyway? If a group you're doing an assignment with are SOOOOO desperate to send you bits of their work that you are compiling, heck, it's practically just as easy for them to print it off and send it through snail mail, especially since this would be quicker than waiting for your email to load up. Thank you for helping us to remember the value of this.
Oh, and don't worry about cutting off our main source of information. News, events, searches... we actually find it very soothing to be able to meditate as we watch pages load a pixel at a time.
As for the ability to open numerous websites in new tabs: thank you for disabling this annoying feature of our web browser. It really gets a bit distracting having to flick between tabs to view several pages at once. It's nice to know that these days, if I do happen to click "Open in new tab", luckily for me, nothing is capable of loading with such a slow internet speed. Things are much more simplified.
You have brought us much pleasure. Enjoy your 8GB of new porn... it's clearly all you've got going for you.
Yours sincerely,
Klara

They May Be Horrible...

But hot-dang, those shakes are actually working!!!
This week I lost 3.6kg... that's 7.9lb if an American happens to chance by this blog :)
So I'm pretty happy, and suddenly I have a renewed like for the shakes (I won't say love - no matter how great the results, at the end of the day they're packets of insanely sweet powder, mixed with cold water, and they will never replace a good savoury meal.)

But yay!

I finally went and tried on the wedding dress yesterday. I was pretty freaking scared, to be honest. I never got to try it on in my size - they pretty much just measure you and choose a size, then someone in a factory makes it. So there was no guarantee of a good, flattering fit... but it was perfect!!!! Yay!!!
I'm a very happy bride :D

Shake It!!

I just want to tell anyone who's reading that meal-replace shake diets are possibly the evry worst kind!!
Since Saturday, I've had nothing but shakes, yoghurt & fruit right up until dinner time each day. At dinner, I'm allowed a little bit of meat and some vegetables. In the last 5 days, I have discovered the following:
- Life is not full and good without savoury food
- Many, many different shake flavours are available - but at least half of them will trigger your gag reflex
- Dill pickles are life-savers when you crave savoury-ness
- When you can't eat bread, pasta or cheese (3 of my favourite things) you think about them, lots
- It hurts your soul when you make dinner, almost cry in anticipation of some solid food... and
discover that your new recipe is foul, and there's nothing left in the fridge that you're allowed to eat!!
- Food smells freakin' amazing. Even toast.

I'm not looking for a pity-party, because this is all self-inflicted and I can quit whenever I want to... but I just want to complain for a bit :-P
One good thing is I haven't even slightly craved chocolate, so if nothing else perhaps this horrible diet will help me shake that addiction. But I really, really want savoury food. I slipped and had a piece of pepperoni pizza the other day... Oh.my.goodness. Yum!
Anyway, enough of that. This bride is in a last-ditch effort to get smaller, so thinking about all the yummy food out there just won't do!!!




*Sigh*

Itching!!!

I'm sooo itching to get back into drawing/painting of some description!!! I've dreamed up all these little birds which I would LOVE to be able to put on paper and splash some colour onto. But alas, I'm at work... Isn't that always when inspiration hits hardest???

One person who I am laying some blame on for awakening my desire to draw is Kate Lightfoot at Scarlettcat!! Her work always makes me pine for drawing/sketching/colouring - basically any pencil-to-paper action.

I love to see an artist who adores coloured pencils, and I've been a huge fan of Katie's work ever since I discovered it about a year ago...
She also has a blog where she posts her sketches - I love to see her work gradually take shape.
NOW I WANT TO DRAWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!

The Dream Team...

OK, so I swear the intention of this blog is to keep giving out updates on my life of art & craft... but at the moment, sadly, I haven't made time for much art & craft at all!!! What I HAVE been spending PLENTY of time on is... *drumroll*... our house! (Big surprise there...)

I've been yearning to get started with the big paint job (we eventually want to do every wall in the house, eek!!) and finally today we got started... with a HUGE amount of support and effort from some very cool cats. I warned them that I'd be blogging about them, so here you go...

How could I list anyone else before I list my wonderful Mum??? Not only did she pick up AND pay for pizzas for the whole crew, she also set herself about the kitchen, cleaning dirty shelves and washing all the kitchen-y bits and pieces we got for our engagement party!!!! I now have a fully-stocked glass & mug cupboard (it looks so so SO good, I meant to take a pic but I forgot...) and there are cookie sheets, muffin pans, baking trays and all kinds of goodies drying off around the room (we don't currently have clean tea-towels, oops!!) However, I do believe her finest achievement of the day was the magic she worked on our little saucepan. Chris decided to cook chilli for breakfast with one of our new saucepans, and on its maiden voyage of good cookin', the little thing was left on the stove to boil, and forgotten once people started to arrive. There was smoke, a slight burnt taste throughout the chilli, and a very black, ruined saucepan at the end! Mum spent a good part of the afternoon boiling water in it, scrubbing it, and even taking it home and treating it with stainless steel cleaner of some description... and what we have left is a just-like-new little saucepan which I probably would have thrown out, had my Mum not shown me what to do... Yay Mum!!!

Member #2 of the Dream Team would be my sister Nahn, who copped more paint than anybody else in the whole house... for some reason we just can't seem to grow out of the thrill of wiping a big wet paintbrush down someone's leg/arm/back/neck/toenail... and poor old Nahn was so covered in paint by the end!! We'll call the pic above a "progress pic"...

Ahhh, little sister Steph. This dedicated year-12-munchkin came over straight from a maths revision course to help us out... wearing only jeans, a singlet and a recent camp jumper. Oh dear!! Fortunately, with a little encouragement from the rest of us, she was able to don a spare T-shirt that Chris had brought... and therefore it didn't matter how messy she got!! Ironically, all the paint ended up on her nice dark jeans anyway, and not a speck on the shirt as far as I know... Steph also gets props because although she arrived late, she went through the clean-up process with us!! (We were scrubbing & mopping paint off the floor for a good while)

Good ol' Mac (who's Nahn's boyfriend) showed up with Nahn not too long into the day. It should be noted that Nahn and Mac are about the most willing, helpful, wonderful people. I'm pretty sure they've helped us with every step of this big process - whether it's been coming with us to pick up obscure pieces of furniture and appliances from various houses, putting in a huge amount of effort towards our engagement party, painting, all kinds of things!! Mac even tried his hand at contacting shelves today, and he did a damn good job - even taking on the most horrible, cramped little corner cupboard which I'm pretty sure no one else would've volunteered for in a million years. Of course, he also painted up a storm and even contributed some of his Dad's brushes and rollers to the cause.

Brad here was the first to arrive and got straight into it - he got to do fun things like applying masking tape to alllll the skirting boards & powerpoints, as well as applying a sealant around the cracks around the ceiling and windows, before painting could even commence. He was also one of the last to leave, so you can be sure he worked damn hard, and even gave us the impression he was enjoying himself!!!

Miss Kat put in a TON of elbow-grease, committing herself to ensuring that by the time she left, every shelf and drawer in the house WOULD BE CONTACTED!! The poor chicken didn't even get a chance to drag a brush across the wall, she was so committed to her contacting job. She did amazingly. And it's thanks to her huge efforts that I can now use any cupboard/shelf/drawer I want to, whenever I darn-well feel like it!! She even cleaned the cupboards out as well as she could (chipboard is horrible, horrible stuff). Damn thorough job, she did!

I just had to end with Pottsey, so that I could finish this post with that fab picture!!!! Although it looks as though he doesn't know what to do with a paint brush (it's white and drips... it must be something that slightly resembles icecream, surely!!), he actually stole the show as the painting master today. He knows stuff about painting, which we're so grateful for because we've never done it in our lives!!! So, hooray for Pottsey!! Also, he made a notable joke about a lemon today. I didn't say it was a good joke, I said it was notable ;)

The very much honourable mention goes to my Dad. I didn't think to take a picture when he was working yesterday, but the last couple of times he's been over he's replaced every powerpoint in the house, changing them all from 1-switch to 2-switch plates. Yay!! I don't know why anyone would opt for 1-switch in the first place, but whoever built the house obviously did. Luckily, my electrician Dad was able to save the day and set things right :) Yay!!!!

CJ also popped by today, and I didn't manage to get a pic of him but he helped us with some painting in the afternoon! Plus, he brought a large amount of food with him! Yay!

Amazingly, Chris and I managed to evade my camera so I have nothing to show of us in all our painted glory. All I can say is that after Nahn, I was probably the most painted person in the house. I had paint alllll over my feet, from sitting on the drop cloth... Also, both arms were covered and I even got a bit in my hair! Ergh!

By the end of the day, we had primed the lounge room, main bedroom, and front entrance. Whew!!! Here's one pic I took of the primer on the walls:

That's the 'reading room' section in the lounge room (I'm kind of dividing the room into 2 sections with a couple of dangly curtains, which I'm so excited about!) Can't wait till we're ready to put colours on!!!

10.30

Well!! This has been a week of eventful mornings! I feel like a lot has been achieved every day this week, and very oddly, everything seems to have been achieved at 10.30am!!
Wednesday, 10.30: Carpets cleaned
Thursday, 10.30: Couches delivered
Friday, 10.30: Uni group assignment work (this will be an achievement when it's done!!)
Saturday, 10.30: Gift registry at Myer (yes, we get to use those fun little scan-ny devices! Yippee!)

Who knows what Sunday, 10.30 will bring???
(on a sidenote, why is it so hard to find a picture of a clock displaying "10.30"??? I wanted a cute little picture to go alongside my post, but alas!!)

Cleaning Cupboard!!

I spent a good part of this weekend working on the house with Mr Chris and various other helpers: Dad, Mum, Steph, James, and Chris's housemate Jayne even came to help us out!! Whew! We have barely a thing to show for it, although we can now say with confidence that we can finally meet the standards for Contents insurance! Yay!
There are so many things up in the air - shelves need contacting, holes need filling, walls need sanding & sugar-soaping (and obviously painting). The house looks like one huge tradies' camp-site! (See Figure A below for an example...)


One thing that is completely done though? My lovely laundry cleaning cupboard!!



And this here makes me alllll giddy:

That, lovely blog-reader/s, is my Mum sitting on the world's SWEETEST Day-Bed at IKEA!! I soooo badly want this... but maybe in a couple of pay checks' time perhaps?

In other news my parents are away in Mandurah for the next few days, so it's 3 girls and a dog fending for themselves this week! Should be some fun times ahead...

12 Weeks...

In 12 weeks our lives will be changing so very much!!! *clap clap*

Home Owners!!!

Chris and I are home owners!! Yep it's been about 22 hours since the keys were handed over (but who's checking, really?) and we're celebrating tonight with a big family dinner at the new house. A big family dinner of... pizza. Yum!
So as a pre-home-owner, I started going a bit nuts over furniture. Look at what I bought...

Window seat! I picked this up at Thingz House and it looks boring as all get-out in the picture, I'll give it that. But in real life it's very beautiful, and a little vintagey... perfectly designed for lazy afternoons, sitting by the window with a good book. My heart leaps at the idea of this... mostly because in 12 weeks, I'll actually be able to do this, just sit in my house, potter around, make things look nice, read all day. (What? You're not going to work in the weeks after your wedding? More on that further down the page...)

Mmmmm... Couches. Soft, squidgy, wonderful couches! This is a picture of the display model at Harvey Norman - our actual couches will look like this, but in a lovely chocolate brown colour, named "Raisin". (Ugly name to call a colour, but whatever...) These couches are like heaven to sit on, and as soon as we have contents insurance, we'll be able to order these babies in. Yay! So happy. I look forward to sitting in them often.

Unfortunately I can't put in any more pictures, but I'll girly-squeal about our bedroom set for a little while. We've got a beautiful bed on layby, with a matching chest of drawers and 2 bedside tables. Oh my. They're so beautiful. I love love love them! Now all we need is a matress... and another $1,900... and they'll be making for a wonderful night's sleep. Oh yes.

Now, here I'm going to yelp and carry on about how very much I'm looking forward to December!! So I get married December 6, and I'm taking the couple of days before that off from work, for last minute preparations and stuff. So, my leave starts Thursday the 4th. We'll be on our honeymoon until a weekend a couple of weeks later - so I'll be back at work Monday 22nd December, just in time to work 3 days and then go on Christmas leave. We're closing up the office the whole week after Christmas, so I don't go back to work until Monday, January 5. Um, yay?!?!?! That means I only work 6 days in December. Which is why I'll be reading books by windows and such....

Believe it or not...

... I am still crafting!!!
I've just been so caught up with all the house stuff at the moment, but the lovely Miss Kirstin kicked me up the bum and got me crafting again yesterday. Yay!!!
I'm trying to see if I can get enough gear together for Made On The Left - a craft stall coming up in Mid-November. So I went a bit nuts and cut out 14 patterns yesterday - I picked 7 designs, and did them in 2s. My craft table's looking a bit like Noah's Ark!!

After cutting them all out (the easy part!) I set to work... and I can proudly say that 4.5 new toys are designed, put together, and ready for stuffing. Yay!!!

I'm really excited about a new turn that my work's gradually taking. Aside from the usual uber-decoratedness of my work, I've worked some more artistic concepts into a couple of pieces... I'll have to show soon!!

In other news, if there was anyone out there wondering what I would look like in a Gladiator helmet, this is for you...


Yeh. My man likes his women burly!! *snort*

And see that behind me? That's a deflated bouncy castle. Time: midnight. On Friday night, I was trying to help Chris set up some gear for filming (he's in charge of the creative side of the upcoming Gladiators Jump promo).
First we had to pick up the 2,000,000kg inflatable device from the church building, and the weather looked like this:

Yes, that is the carpark, flooded, in the midst of a downpour. Sweet. We had to sit out the rain before we could take the trailer out, so we did. 30 odd minutes later, we took off for our destination (luckily just around the corner!) and I did some manly work, helping Chris move all 2,000,000kg of plastic and rubber out of the trailer and onto a waiting trolley. Then we set it up, I learnt stuff about tying up the random flappy bits at the sides ("as if you're pulling up a pony tail"), and he inflated it! Anyone ever bounced on their own personal bouncy castle at 1 in the morning? I have!!! Wish I'd taken pics, but meh. Needless to say, I felt like the coolest kid in town.
So it was a long night. But the bouncy castle (and Gladiator helmet) made it alllll goooood!!!

Sealbi Lee

Aren't these pictures beautifully haunting??

Now this is a girl who can use her watercolours... So beautiful!!
You can check out her blog here. She doesn't seem to have an Etsy, or I'd link to that too.
Thanks so much to Penguin & Fish for pointing her out!!!

The A-Z Of First Home Ownership

With home ownership at our fingertips, I’ve chosen today as a time of reflection. A fun way to do this is with a A-Z list of the journey. Whew! Without giving anything else away, here it goes…

A – Agents. MAKE SURE you find yourself an agent that you really like. Our agent Brett rocked – he was good fun, and made me look forward to house-hunting a LOT!!

B – Broker. Mortgage broker, that is, and a good one at that. They make finance as easy as possible. Our mortgage broker, Leteisha, is very cool and never made me feel stupid, with all the dumb questions I asked along the way!! She knows stuff.

C – Council rates. Who knew it could be so expensive just to live in a suburb?? Once a year you pay the council a hefty amount, and it covers things like rubbish trucks, vandalism in the community, road works, and other random things that your suburb requires. So I can see the point of them, but they’re going to be a pain!!

D – Documents. For a while there, we were getting 2 – 3 packages of paperwork each week. Our hands grew tired of signing, our eyes grew tired of reading, and our brains grew tired of processing information. Be prepared!!

E – Elderly people. For some reason, some of the best, cheapest houses are over-55 villas. If you’re house-hunting on the internet, before falling in love with anything read up on it in the description, and make sure it’s not an over-55 villa. You’ll save yourself a lot of disappointment! (Unless you’re elderly yourself).

F – Finance approval. You need payslips, group certificates, bank statements and all kinds of other junk to get your finance approved. A huuuuge pain!!!

G – Grants. We qualified easily for the $7,000 First Home-Owners Grant, and after settlement we’re applying for a $2,000 REBA rebate. Any extra money helps, so do your research!

H – House hunting. Look at heaps of houses before you pick one. It’s fun, gives you a great idea of what you can get for your money, and it’s important to see the good, the bad and the ugly. Plus, you want to know that the house you put an offer on is definitely right for you!

I – Inspections. Lots of them. Keystart did a value inspection, someone else did another generic inspection, there was a white-ant inspection, my Dad did an inspection, and last week we did our final inspection. If there’s something wrong with the house, make sure it’s found BEFORE settlement – or it’s your problem to fix, and your bill to foot!!!

J – Junk. Don’t bring all your junk with you when you move. Moving is the very best opportunity to be ruthless. Don’t try and convince yourself that, just because you have to squeeze something into the top of your wardrobe in your current dwellings, you’ll certainly find a good place for it in the new home. You won’t. If it’s squeezed into the top of your wardrobe, you can obviously do without it.

K – Keystart. Their shared-equity scheme is the one and only reason we could afford to buy at all. They own 30% of the house, which means we’re only paying off the mortgage on 70% of it, until we can afford to buy more off them J

L – Look and Listen. Do your research. Check up on how various suburbs have been gaining/decreasing in value. Decide what you need in a house, and what would be nice. Listen to your friends, and their experiences (especially those that are 20+ years older than you!) The more knowledge you gain, the more you’re benefited in the long (and short) run.

M – Money. Don’t ever think that you have more than you do. Based on our earnings, Keystart would have allowed us to purchase a house up to $375,000 in value. The house we purchased, we got for $284,000 and I can tell you that we’re going to be scraping by some months. On top of mortgage payments, there are tons of other costs – insurance, rates, bills, maintenance & improvements to name a few. Then there’s the cost of plain ol’ living. So don’t take out a mortgage that’s going to ruin you!!

N – New. Not only will the house be new for you, but it’s possible you’ll be in a whole new community, with new people. Get involved, embrace it. I can’t wait to find my place in our new little neighbourhood!

O – Offer. Here’s my take on making an offer – you offer 5,000-10,000 less than the owners want. They counter your offer, asking for 5,000-10,000 more. You counter their offer, upping your original offer by about 3,000. They counter yours, lowering theirs about 3,000. This goes on for a while until someone makes that golden offer that everyone’s “happy” with. I’m quite sure that the agent just bounces the buyer and the seller off each other for a while. It’s a tricky game.

P – Parents. They know stuff, so listen to them – whether it’s about rising damp, money, first home ownership tips… they might sound like they’re worrying too much at times, but it’s probably for a good reason!!

Q – Questions. Ask lots and lots of questions. First home ownership is a huge deal – you don’t want to sign up if you’re even remotely uninformed!

R – Rising damp. It’s sneaky, and if it wasn’t for my Dad’s cleverness we could well have signed up for a place without a care in the world. Rising damp occurs when water gets into the walls. Tell-tale signs are bubbling paint, rusty doorframes and cracks. It looks like a small, easy-to-fix thing. $10,000 later, you might reconsider. Watch out. Dad picked up on it in one house I was keen on, and that ended that!!

S – Settlement Agent. They’re expensive but essential, unfortunately. They make the purchase legal, and they do all the hard work with rates enquiries and stuff. Our settlement agent is pretty good, but I wish I’d know our friend Mike does settlements, before I signed up for this agent!!

T – Time. It can take a while. We found our place at the end of June, made our offer in early July. With inspections, negotiations and finance approval to sort out, we just had to sit and wait. Finally, we get the keys this Wednesday, September 10. Patience is a virtue. You will most likely learn all about it when going for your first home!

U – Ugliness. Sometimes you have to accept ugliness in your first home. Like floral carpets, or bright green bench tops. Suck it up. If the house is fine other than the daggy, peeling wall paper, you’ve got yourself a great deal! You can always change the way it looks, so focus on functionality.

V – Vendors. They are the ones selling their house to you. You learn their names, you inherit the bits of junk they don’t want to take with them – yet you never actually meet face-to-face. Weird.

W – Walls. They’re more expensive to paint than I realized. That’s pretty much it.

X – Xcitement (sorry, X is such a pathetic letter to start a word with!) These are exciting times – once you can see over the pile of paperwork, once those keys are in your hand, things will start to get freakin’ exciting!!!! Enjoy yourself, and don’t lose sight of the fact that this is your VERY FIRST HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Y – Yonder. You’re going to live yonder if you’re anything like us and can’t afford to live where you grew up. The cheapest houses are typically not where your church, workplace, family & friends are – so be prepared to up your travel costs!!!

Z – Zoo. Do not convert your new home to a zoo, as you need lots of licenses, as well as 20 zillion times more space than your block can offer.

Do Yourself A Favour...

...and check out this fantastic gallery I found with best-friend-Kat's-Mum Cheryl, while we were bored (I mean... working hard....) at the office today!!!

Click here!

Basically, some very clever people have been competing to create the weirdest, whackiest cross-breed - using images of 2 different animals!
A few of my faves....

Brought us a chuckle at the end of a fairly run-of-the-mill boring Thursday!!

OK, so now I REALLY want to go outside...

*pout* Today is absolutely stunning!!! And here I am, stuck behind my desk, just looking at it. But I can't touch it, smell it, taste it or... hear it? I just want to pull out a beach towel, lounge by the pool and drift in and out of a music-induced unconsciousness while working on my tan. This bride-to-be wants to be majorly brown by December 6, and that's not something that happens over the Spring without some serious dedication!!
Gah! Despite the fact that my heart is being tugged by every little ray of sunshine that dances through this enormous office window, I'm in a really good mood! I believe there are a number of contributing factors:
1. Chris cuddled me to sleep last night before he left my house :) So lovely!
2. I'm back home! Love house-sitting to pieces, but it's also a good feeling getting back home and catching up with the sisters and parents
3. Leon is the most adorable little chap, and now I'm home I see a lot more of him. He's learnt how to sit AND stay!!
4. I'm working 9-4.30 days at the moment, as opposed to my usual 8.30-5.30 days. Uni mini-breaks are wonderful!!
5. I'm really looking forward to seeing little-sister Steph performing her original monologue at school tonight. She's used a concept I threw at her as a joke - and apparently she's done darn well with it!
6. Only 3 hours left for my work day - perhaps I can still enjoy a teeny bit of sunshine after all?

Pining...

Today is a day for pining. Not in a bad way, so perhaps I used the wrong word. But all these things are just welling up inside me and sometimes I feel like I could burst! Maybe I'm more just really really really really really REALLY looking forward to some things. And here are the objects of my pining desire:

- Summer. It might be Winter for another half month, but today is just so gorgeous that Hatti and I are dropping everything and going out for lunch in the sun with some friends

- House. Settlement is going to be around September 10 and I'm burning to just get into our house and start painting, gardening, and putting things where they need to go!!! Last night I dreamt that we went in for the first time. So cool!!

- Wedding. Of course!! I'm really looking forward to being Mrs Donovan, a wife... Yay!! I'm still a bit nervous about the day though, just because there's so much to do still *sigh*

- Uni break. I know semester only just started back a few weeks ago, but I'm ready for the holidays again ;)

- Melbourne. Eeeeek!!! Kat, Hatti and I are packing our bags and heading over to Melbourne in October for the 'last hurrah' as 3 single girls. I've never done a big trip with them before, so it's pretty much going to rock...!! Plus I get to see Miss Julz again - it's been nearly a year since the last time, I believe.

- Thailand. That's our honeymoon destination. I've never been in a different country to my parents before, and I've never been on holiday just with Chris (obviously, being a good Christian girl and all...) I anticipate it's going to be very very sweet!

- Collage. Children's writer/illustrator Jeanie Baker has reaffirmed my love of collage with her amazingly stunning book 'Belonging'. She's a collage queen!!

Etsy Mini?

CALL TO ETSY SHOP OWNERS/BLOGGERS OUT THERE!!!
I'm trying to work out how to get my Etsy mini to show up down the side of my blog.
"Huh?" You might say. "You already have an Etsy mini.
Well the truth is, it's not real. It's a print screen of my Etsy mini, with a hyperlink. But I really would like the real thing, I just can't fiure out where to paste the HTML code!
I know, I'm a bit technologically screwed up which is why I'm marrying an IT guy. But anyway. Can someone help me? Pretty please? :D

Well hey there little guy....

Just a quickie - a big ol' "hello!" from Leon.
Ahhhh. What a cutie!!

An Offer...

See that??? Do you see it?? "UNDER CONTRACT / UNDER OFFER"...?? Yep. That's us :)
Our offer and acceptance have been signed by the housing authority people, thus making our offer officially official!!! Not long to go now... Eeeek! So very, very excited....!!

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*

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....!!

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!!)

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!!

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!!

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!!

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...!!

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!!!

Google-rific!

Because I can....

1. Type in "[your name] needs" in the Google search:
Klara needs to be spelled Clara. (Um, no it doesn't!)

2: Type in "[your name] looks like" in Google search
Klara looks like an old-fashioned toy

3: Type in "[your name] does" in Google:
Klara does not dispute that the partnership assets were set at fair market value at the time of dissolution (LOL)

4: Type in "[your name] hates" in Google search:
Klara hates it, and she's always trying to find out bad things about Gilmore Girls

5: Type in "[your name] goes" or "..has gone" in Google search :
Klara goes back to Tanzania to live with the wagogo tribe, singing playing the thumb piano

6: Type in "[your name] loves" in Google search:
Klara loves baby Adolf. Wiping his behind is a “dalliance.” She wiped him so carefully that his eyes gleamed. He discovered heaven. (UGH!!!!!)

7: Type in "[your name] eats" in Google search:
Klara eats broccoli. Klara eats peas.

8: Type in "[your name] has" in Google search:
Klara has an infectious obsession with bees and also happens to share the same source of genetic material as me

9: Type in"[your name] works" in Google
Klara works in a children's shelter in Brooklyn

10: Type in"[your name] lives" in Google search
Klara lives in north of Sweden on a big farm with her Mum and writes lyrics

11. Type in"[your name] likes" in google search
Klara likes to talks to Barni at noon time when it is quiet in the midst of chaos. Sometimes she even puts him in her palm and gently caress his ugly skin with tender words. Barni needs more than that.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Makes me laugh :D :D :D :D

Treasury!!

I'm over the mooooon right now - Laurent the Ugly Bunny was picked out for an Etsy treasury last night!!



Thanks HEAPS to bonghivestiti for giving me this chance, and for letting me know I was in there too! Yay!


For those who don't know what a treasury is, it's a hand-picked selection of items which have something in common, (in this case, everything's PINK) and are displayed as a kind of promo on the site for a few days. Some treasuries make the Etsy front page, but they can all be found by clicking on the Treasury feature in Etsy.

More exciting news: I have been working on a new design... an owl! The owls should be hitting the shop soon, along with some more little fuzzies I've been working on lately.

Oh! And the first ever Button Factory toy officially found a new home over the weekend - a black and pink whale is now in the possession of Miss Emily, who had her 18th on Saturday night!

So everything's exciting in life. This week I'm sending a special 'manly'(ish) owl to Steve in the army, courtesy of the lovely Kat.

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

House Hunters!

Today Chris and I did a marathon house-hunt, viewing a total of FOUR houses in a space of 45 minutes!! Whew! We raced around Orelia and Parmelia (I love the fact that these neighbouring suburbs rhyme...) and *think* we found what we're looking for, in house #2... Mum and Dad are having a walk-through with me sometime soon but we're in love...!!

The photo doesn't do it justice, but lookie anyway!!

I just can't wait to find our special place, and bit by bit MOVE IN!! We have stockpiles of wonderful things just waiting for a new home (I think our dining setting is getting rather cold out in the car-port!)

Fuzzy Little Guys...

When you're sick at home, your options are limited. When you're sick at home for just one day... then another... then another... your limited options become more limited. I've TV'd it up a step too far, I've read enough to make my eyeballs bleed, my head is now aching every time it touches a pillow, my Facebook is quite eventless, Christian Forums is boring me, and there's no way I'm cleaning my room when I'm in this state! So I've been Etsying, and upon doing so have discovered THE CUTEST teddy bears ever encountered... You can find them at knitting dreams. I'm a fan of little things, and these dudes are about 10cm tall. I so want to buy one... Can you see why??

It's all so cute I just burst :D The coolest part about these little guys is that their little arms, legs and ears are KNITTED! I urge you to check out the store NOW!!

From the Sick Bed...

So I'm officially a big ol' misery guts. I am now 3 work-days away from the end of financial year and with so very much extra work to do, it seems only fitting that I would (despite my prediction that there would be NO disease in my body this year) find myself coughing up more lungs than I knew I had, developing aches in all my important parts, and therefore be spending these precious last few days at home in bed. Yes. Great.

Even if I take a turn for the worse, tomorrow the offices of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church WILL see me make a return. There's so very much to do, lots to enter in MYOB. *sigh* It's times like these (well, most days at work lately but that's a whole other kettle of fish) that I feel utterly useless, a huge let-down. I like my job as assistant book-keeper but I apparently suck at it. So who knows what the future holds for me and finances?

However, depressing stuff aside, I did manage to list a few new items in my Etsy store. I've had a little stockpile building up, and decided it was high-time I stuck them in there. So I hauled them out, along with my camera, and attempted some photos. However, without the fine skills that miss Kat possesses, I found I wasn't even able to use most of the photos! So, some items remain unlisted, and those that I did choose to list will still need to be re-photographed *cough* Kat? *cough*

So here are the somewhat dodgily photographed latest additions to the store that is Buttonfactory.

Candice, the pretty white whale (she's already been hearted by someone! Yay!)

Flowery fridge magnets - even I can appreciate the cuteness of these, and I don't always enjoy my own work...

And last but not least, the much-anticipated (by me!) Miniature Whale Pack!!

I loved making these, and there's something very satisfying about holding a handful of them.

Creations who failed to make the listing were a little blue dog and a black whale - but I'm sure if they weren't inanimate (hooray for double negatives!) they would be bursting to get listed.

Oh and while we're talking about the store, I reduced all the prices! Yeah. I just have to remember that when you're trying to sell one of these babies, labour time means barely anything. Ah well. Good thing I love the creation process so much ;)

Just One Of Those Days...

.... can I go home now?

Why I Love Ramekins (and why you should too...)

1. They are soooo very cute

2. Ramekin-crafted breakfasts are YUM - slop in an egg, a bit of capsicum, couple of shallots and some grated cheese, slam it in the oven... Baked egg!! Delicious and healthy!

3. You could plant flowers in them

4. They come in sets!

5. You can store tiny things in them - I'm using my favourite ramekins for keeping little buttons and magnets and things in. Yay!

6. They are cheap at op-shops! (The ones above cost me 50c a pop)

7. Cute gifts :)

8. It is my belief that a girl can NEVER have too many ramekins, what with all their fabulous functions!

9. They come in many different shapes and sizes

10. The name. Ramekin. It's a little bit exotic-sounding, considering it's used to describe a small oven-proof pot/bowl/thing.

Yeah. Now that I have infected you with ramekin-joy, tell me you're going to go buy a set today!!

Reasons To Be A Bit Pleased...

1. I AM OFFICIALLY AN ETSY STORE OWNER!!!!

My online store can be found at http://www.buttonfactory.etsy.com/

I'm finally selling these little guys...

It took aaaages to set up, but yay! I'm online! The exciting bit is that I've already had people 'hearting' the store, and a couple of the items - particularly Laurent the bunny. Imagine that. Yay!

2. I BOUGHT WEDDING SHOES

I'd been hoping to eventually find some I Love Billy shoes (my favourite brand) that I could wear for my impending nuptials - and today, on my first venture, within 7 minutes of walking into the store, I FOUND THEM! Whew! If only every part of the wedding planning process were this easy...

3. IT'S FRIDAY

Friday is my new favourite day of the week as I am a free little lady, to do as I wish. In the last couple of weeks, my Fridays have seen me:

- go to the hairdresser

- have McDonalds for lunch

- get a parking ticket

- visit lovely Sara and her daughter Princess Ella

- go to the movies

- go shopping

etc etc. Quite clearly, Fridays rock. Tonight, being Friday night, means that my friends are not free to hang out as they're either out being social, or youth leaders. Giving me some quality Klara Time. Tonight I'll be making more miniature whales - my dream is to list a bulk-pack of miniature whales SOON!!

4. I'M IN LOVE

Yep, today the top story in Klara Jury's life was "I love my Christopher". But then, that wasn't exactly news was it? ;)