Bright nails.

Rimmel Sky High with matte topcoat. It's a dark aqua, slightly greener than this photo but nice and bright. I particularly like bright coloured nails because I often wear brown and grey, esp my winter clothes. Rimmel 60 seconds range has nice colours and a flat brush, so it's about the best you can get in the $5 range, the formula dries very thin though so it looks a lot classier with a good topcoat to protect it and smooth it out.

Katoomba on a Saturday.

Decided to do a day-trip like Bowral. It was harder because 4 of us and trackwork. I think these work better with 2 people and no trackwork.

Knew there was trackwork from Blacktown but decided to go anyway, because the date worked and the weather was good. Public transport was not at its best though. By the time I got back home I felt permanently bus-sick. I'll be glad if I never have to see Blacktown station again too.

But we enjoyed Katoomba. Brunch and shops and a frappe and home again. We found a little "amiable guinea-pig" but didn't buy it, we just said hello. I bought some yarn for my tapestry. The Anglicare op shop was excellent but we didn't end up buying anything. We enjoyed a shop with a lot of paisley shirts. We enjoyed the hat shop. Basically it was nice to be there not for a conference and just be lady tourists.

Excellent frappe. I taught my new friend how to crochet on the coach home. The thing I forgot about learning crochet is that the stitches aren't hard, holding the wool and the hook is hard. You feel like such a baby, that you can't control a piece of wool and a big needle with your normally sensible hands. It's as hard as driving manual or braiding your own hair for the first time.

 

 Was so exhausted and bus-sick I had porridge for dinner and spent Sunday with TV and tapestry.

Braces.

Not sure when I'll get robot wires, it wont even be in 3 weeks, which is my next appointment. The 9 months haven't started yet, so we're looking at a 50/50 chance I'll still have them when I turn 30 next March. My eyelid is twitching.

Telling myself: be thankful it's free treatment from now on. Be thankful my orthodontist is nice and the office is close to work. Be thankful I don't have anything else going on that I would really want no braces for, like wedding photos. Be thankful that I don't notice them most of the time, they rarely hurt or bother me.

Randwick Avocado Festival.

What a beautiful harvest day.

I got up a bit early and got a batch of bread happening, a load of washing on, and ate porridge. First porridge for the winter. Caught up on The Following. Baked bread, and then walked to E's house. Enjoyed seeing families from Cathedral days. Enjoyed painting my nails while the men cut avocados off the tree and the kids ran around picking them up.

This is my bread. Mmmm. E did home made sausage rolls.

This is the harvest at about 500. Each plastic bag contains 20.

The climber throws to the catchers.

Total harvest was 616! And then we finished the afternoon with E's cake made of layers of cream and crepes. Nom nom nom, as the young people say when something is delicious.

I took a bag of 20, and gave 7 away to different friends I met as I walked home. It was a lovely day. So full I didn't have dinner, just yoghurt and cookies. I was kind of disappointed that I had to go back to work on Friday. But, I cheered up when I went to bed (at 8.30pm) because I was sleeping on clean sheets on a weeknight!

Favourite music at the moment.

Yes, I am interested in other things than nail polish. My latest muso to plug is Jon Bryant. He's on Spotify, but his new album is unfortunately NOT on iTunes in Aus. But, he sells on bandcamp so I shall be buying it there soon. When my ipod is fixed.


This live version is quite nice, but it's very different from the album version which I love, it's just that I look for performances on youtube—otherwise you might as well just go and listen on bandcamp. The song is about being ready to die today. I also like Evening Sun. I like lots of them.

What grown-ups really do.

I went to bed at 8.15 last night. No joke. I think I fell asleep by 9. There was nothing on TV and I was too tired to read or anything, so I went to bed. Why not, I say!

Layering nail polish.

Trying out some effects. Putting a pink shimmery nail polish over an orangy brown.

Tapestry.

It's underway. I sorted the colours. I've started stitching. It's quite hard on the fingers, and I need good light to pick the right colour for each section. I think it's already half done though. So I aim to mostly finish it by the end of the year. I took these photos at night, so they are yellow.

Opi the it colour.

Like organic egg yolk. It seemed too orange at first, but after a day I think it had faded back to the warm yellow I was expecting. It probably took that long to dry properly, because I put at least 4 coats on, the polish was thick but the colour was thin, if that makes sense. It is always harder to get light colours up to bottle colour.

New nail polish.

The front 4. Sequin red, rose pink, copper brown, warm yellow. New to my collection. Ooooh soooo pretty. A little bit darker in real life, the yellow is like golden egg-yolk, right on the border of orange and yellow. These are the most expensive bottles I own. At Myer, the OPI range is $20 each. However, these were on sale on ozsale for $10 each, and also can be bought cheaper in America - so ask a travelling friend to pick things up for you, or find a way to ship them. Nail polish can attract a dangerous goods fee. I'm probably going to stick to local bargains from now on. Well, I'm probably not going to buy any more.

I'm particularly excited about the burnt orange and yellow ones. They will warm my fingers up in autumn and winter. I'm not so much of a pink person but they can look just so nice and pretty, without making a statement, so pink is an important part of a collection. The red is a bit scary. It's so deeply scarlet, with gold shimmers in it. Looks very glam. Not really me but I think it might be worth a try, and again, what is a nail polish collection without a bold red?

One thing I want to try is masking. I can't find my flower craft punch, but I'd like to try punching a shape out of masking tape, sticking it on my nail, and painting. Example of very simple nail masking… http://hellomissong.com/tag/masking-tape-uses/

A final note: they are on sale again right at this moment, and I am RESISTING! Even though I really NEED some green, a nice forest green and maybe a cool teal or aqua. UNLESS anyone else wants to order some and we can split postage. But I don't want to twist anybody's arm.

New shoes, new project.

I had a stay at home pottering weekend. I could have done dvds all weekend, but I did Jillian, and made myself read North and South out in the park. Because it was such nice weather. Good little me. I bought a pair of shoes as well. Black mary janes. I've been looking for new shoes for work, which I can put orthotics in, and potentially even walk to work in. They tick the first 2 boxes, I'm just going to break them in for a bit before I try the walk to work. I'm trying to walk to work every morning. Also, the shoes are in the sweet spot of not too pretty/shiny/fragile and not too sporty/casual/chunky. The satisfaction of shoes well bought.

On Sunday I had a quick music meeting in the middle of the afternoon, and then some time to fill so I went to EG shops to buy tapestry needles. Sussan had thick coloured tights on sale, so I did some more shopping. It were an expensive weekend, but I only bought things on my list.

Tapestry is my next thing. Grandma gave me one she started, it's a Frederick McCubbin painting I like. It's quite huge and only a quarter done. I did a few stitches last night, and it's surprisingly hard work. The needle and wool are fat and slow so it's hard to pull through the weave, compared to cross stitch.

Just keep walking, just keep walking, just keep walking, walking, walking.

Today, Thursday, I did my 3rd walk. Was feeling a little bit tired this morning and thought of taking a day off… the long walks are catching up with me, and I had bible study last night… but I was already out of bed, so why waste the morning. These autumn mornings are perfect, except when they rain and you forget your keys. Other than that anomaly, I think I'll try and walk every morning. Don't need a jumper, and don't get sweaty. And the lower angle of the winter sun is very pretty through dewy grass and the beginning of autumn leaves.

It's strange that the more I do the walk, the length of the walk feels less epic. I thought a 1.5 hour walk was too much to do every day, but it's really fine once you get used to it. Also, 90 minutes sounds shorter than 1.5 hours.

Something from the soundtrack of my life at the moment:

http://www.last.fm/music/Matt+Corby/_/Light+Home

One of those mornings.

Had a fail day. Woke up early, good. Ready to walk to work (as part of my walk to work every day this week challenge) and it starts to rain. Really rain. I would walk in a sprinkle, but not a drenching. Ruination of my challenge. So change of plans, change of equipment. From backpack to handbag, from joggers to water-proof boots; and armed with an umbrella I walked to the bus stop, because at least if I get to work early I can get home early and do Jillian.

At the bus stop I got the nasty feeling that in changing bags twice this morning my keys were not in the bag I had with me. So I was locked out of the house. Too annoying to go home and wake up my housemate to let me in and find the keys, so I texted her to leave some keys in the letterbox and got on the bus.

At 7.55am I walked out of the elevator, saw the office door, and realised that without keys I was also locked out of the office. And on the one day of the week when normal early starters weren't there early. So I had an hour to wait. I decided I deserved a hot chocolate at this point so went to the cafe over the road and listened to my audiobook. And went to Coles and bought nuts. Perri perri flavour = super hot, so not very nice. Spicy pudding flavour = tastes like pudding, personally I don't like pudding flavoured nuts. So that was a bit of a fail for me, but a win for the coworkers who are enjoying eating pudding-flavoured or mouth-burning nuts.

I'm going to paint my nails tonight, and my OPI should arrive soon, so I'm one polish away from exciting new polishes.

How great was Miranda S3E2!! I might rewatch it tonight as well.

It is finished.

Bit late for Easter, but this is the song I want to share.

http://bifrost.bandcamp.com/track/it-is-finished

When God's own begotten Son

heav'd His final sigh;

everything was fully done, 

hearken to His cry:

It is finished, finished!

What more could He ever do?

Nothing either great or small, 

nothing can you claim;

Jesus died and paid it all;

only plead His name.

It is finished, finished!

What more could we ever do?

Lay your deadly doing down, 

down at Jesus' feet;

Stand in Him and Him alone,

gloriously complete. 

It is finished, finished!

What more could we ever do?

There the robber, there the priest,

Gathered 'round they stand,

reaping now that blessed promise

nailed in to His hands:

It is finished, finished!

What more could He ever do?

Bowral day.

It was hard not to have a nice long weekend, with such weather. It was good weather for cleaning and washing, so I did some of that. I enjoyed morning church on Good Friday. Had the most fabulous swim on Saturday morning, and had lunch in the park with a friend. Had a ladies lunch with excellent home cooked food on Monday in Ashfield, with nail painting and Miranda for entertainment. I am now wearing purple Butter London nail polish, and I'm not sure about it... But that's the fun of nails!

The centrepiece of the weekend was Sunday, when E and I caught a train to Bowral for the day. I had to get a 6.40am bus for the 7.28 train, which took almost 3 hours to get up there with a bit of a connection wait at Campbeltown. So we arrived hungry and it was a little cold, so we rushed straight to the elephant boy cafe and had tea and shared a slice of cake. That's what it's all about.

Then we went to the bag and scarf shop, where I almost bought a bag and a scarf. We went to the earring shop Kish, where I did buy 6 pairs of earrings, but some are for gifts... It's my favourite earring shop. I am still wearing a pair from when I lived there 6 years ago, almost every day. The have so many earrings. 4 of these tables.

Then we went to some antique shops and I bought a brass box to keep nail polish in. E almost bought a dressing table. I almost bought another bag. Then we had a really nice cheap lunch, in an organic bakery... $6 pie for me, it had big strips of steak. I should make pie. Here is the pie with the brass box.

But after that I didn't have as much energy, and the shops were hot and I just wanted to sit down outside. So eventually I sat on a husband bench and read while E browsed nail polish, she found quite the bargains! 2 bottles of Butter London polish for $10 each! Then we found D who drove up for the afternoon, had a little walk, went to a last cafe for an iced chocolate, which revived me like it was a magical potion, so that's the power of sugar I suppose. Then we drove back to her place in Sydney which was very fast, and got the train and bus home from there in time to watch Doctor Who. What a night of TV Sunday is now! Doctor Who, Elementary, Mentalist, Miranda, not to mention Call The Midwife and Downton Abby which can't fit on my list unfortunately.