Art & All Things Wes Anderson

Being fans of all things Wes Anderson, we recently went to an art exhibit at the Pretoria Arts Association by a local artist, Wayne Vivier. The exhibit was called: "Out of the life aquatic with Steve Zissou".

The artist painted a beautiful version of the Belafonte, which can be seen at Wayne Vivier's site.

An article on Tilda Swinton (of "Moonrise Kingdom") putting herself on display as living art at the New York Museum of Modern Art piqued my interest.

Full article and more pics at Daily Mail.

Here follows my favourite song from "Moonrise Kingdom": Benjamin Britten's "Cuckoo!". It is hauntingly beautiful. It was recently used to excellent effect in an episode of "Bunheads", choreographed as a gorgeous solo for Jeanine Mason.

*New Year*

"Oh, father of the four winds, fill my sails, 

across the sea of years with no provision but an open face, 

along the straits of fear..."

- Kashmir, Led Zeppelin.

The calendar tells me it's 2013 but my brain has not caught up with that fact just yet. I keep referring to 2013 as being "next year". As Kenan Thompson would sing on SNL in his Deandre Cole skits:

"Ooooh Weee.....Waddup with that?"

2012 was an unusually unusual and interesting year in many respects.

I was back at my old alma mater as an undergrad (again) learning both French and German simultaneously, being taught instead of being the teacher, handing in assignments and writing exams.
 
Travelling to Iceland/Paris/Belgium/Netherlands.

Adopting two fantastic dogs from shelters and training/rehabilitating them.

Discovering delightful Haenertsburg in Limpopo.

Shopping for universities for my post-graduate studies in linguistics.

Applying for jobs, going for interviews and accepting a teaching post.

Discovering more food intolerances to add to my list of allergies.

And the like.

Both interesting and unusual indeed.

2013 has all the signs of being an equally interesting and unusual year.

A shiny new job.

A shiny new university.

A shiny new post-grad course load.

Ooooh Weee!

Things I am particularly looking forward to this year are:

• getting back into teaching English, especially now that I have a deeper grasp of more complex grammatical concepts;
• understanding the dynamics of second language acquisition (and having classrooms full of research subjects);
• playing the piano as part of my day job (although I can't say I am looking forward to having to practise scales again);
• travelling with my bu; 
• having a car with tinted windows and air con (!); and
• exploring new places.

 Things that freak the heck out of me this year are:

• getting back into teaching (noise, marking, germs, politics, early mornings, etc.);
• actually doing post-grad research;
• playing the piano as part of my day job (two words: stage fright!); and
• exploring new places that are in, like, weird places.

Funny thing that. The duality of things. 

Of course, at the beginning of any fresh new year, one always has wishes for the year. So I would like to throw mine out there into the universe...from my lips to God's ears, so to speak. 

Apart from the unspoken prayers that are always there (health, safety, prosperity), this year I wish for the continuance of 3 L's....

Love. Laughter. Ladybugs*.

* Seen the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun"? Ladybugs are a metaphor for good things :)

Happy 2013!

Just in case you needed reminding...

Trays...

...should NOT be eaten!

Enjoy your weekend!

It's a love - hate kinda thing...

Green smoothie. You are my friend.

Those are the words I mumble to myself when I stare into the green depths of my glass when I am about to down a green smoothie concoction and I have NO IDEA what it will taste like (this time).

For such is the nature of the beast: the taste is different EVERY TIME.

Since I usually eat a rather large amount of salad, vegetables, fruit and nuts on a daily basis, I tend to only drink green smoothies when I am feeling "rough around the edges" from too much indulgence in things like cream (oh home made ice-cream, you delicious fiend...) or dark chocolate (an ongoing frenemy indeed).

When Simeon sees a glass of green heading towards him, he tends to silently sigh, take a sip and say something like:

"Hmmm...earthy."

And this from a man who can eat an ENTIRE family size green salad with NO dressing OR carbs OR little tasty bits of things that MOST humans require to make a GIANT green salad palatable (he uses salt....yes, JUST salt).

But moving on (since that doesn't really HELP my point), THIS PARTICULAR GREEN SMOOTHIE turned out REALLY well. Like I could drink this on a daily basis if I WANTED (or, like, HAD) to.

Why a green smoothie recipe in this season of blessed indulgence and yummy things like Christmas mince pies?

Because (if I am anything to go by) it is often the season of OVER indulgence and EXCESSIVE EATage of yummy things, hey.

Green smoothie. YOU - ARE - MY - FRIEND!

Ingredients:

• 1 green apple
• 2 handfuls of kale or baby spinach
• 1 third of a large cucumber (with the peel on)
• 1 ripe banana (tweak the sweetness with more bananas if you wish)
• 1 teaspoon of protein powder (I use raw rice protein powder)
• 1 good pinch of cinnamon powder

Method:

1. Put all the ingredients in a blender.
2. Fill to about half way of the height of the ingredients with cold filtered water.
3. Zhoesh well till smooth and creamy.
4. This makes about 6 cups of smoothie.

I went to a craft store and...

Craft stores that sell rubber stamps are to me what catnip is to a kitteh!

Plus, they are way cheaper than buying wooden stamps!

• Picked me up a lighthouse and some mistletoe for my stamp collection.

• The cheap and cheerful boxes are for storing pretty bitties like postage stamps and stampy stamps.

• Gold stars are fun and Christmasy for decorating brown paper wrapped gifts...

• ...As is white satin ribbon (R20 for 20 metres from Osmans fabrics).

•  The pretty pre-made Christmas postage tags are from Spar.

Need insipration for decoration and creation?

 *Heart* this UK Mag!

Sim made me a cuppa, and I indulged in one of my favourite old-fashioned(ish) activities...writing snail mail.

This time of year, it can only be one thing - Christmas cards for geographically scattered family members!

I highly recommend finding someone's latitude and longitude, and brightening their post box!

Even if it's a veritable stranger in the form of a long-lost friend or an out-of-touch family member, I like to think that the holidays give you a reprieve which allows you to say:

'Thinking of you. Happy 2013!'

Epic Pigeon Holes

Don't you just love a good bargain?

There was a silent auction recently at Simeon's workplace where we managed to nab an AWESOME piece of (2nd-/3rd-/4th-/?-hand) solid wood furniture for a REALLY EXCELLENT price which has been PURRRFECT for organising my craft room (or our so-called "pottering room") into its neat 50-pigeon-holed glory!

Here are the BEFORE and AFTER shots:

I just *HEART* functional spaces so much (and being able to find little fiddly things quickly too!)

As the AFRIKAANS saying goes:
'n Plek vir alles en alles op sy plek!
(A place for everything and everything on its place!)

My French Fairy Tale

As part of my final semester marks for my university beginner's French course, I created this little stop motion animation.

What fun it turned out to be doing something I have never done before and using language skills I didn't have in January!

La Princesse de l'Épée [The Princess of the Sword]
P.S. You'll need sound...

"Oh no you di'n't!"

Is criticism ever a good thing?

I have never been a fan of the term "constructive criticism". Criticism is criticism, and when you're on the receiving end of it, it usually hurts. Like being hen-pecked by a thousand tiny chickens or being pruned in your moer-in like a bonsai tree with no root space.

However, I do appreciate what Olabode Anise says about the topic on the website Tiny Buddha today. There are quite a few poignant statements he makes about the subject in his article: Constructive criticism is a sign of your potential.

One of my favourites:

It is so easy to internalize everything someone tells you, and that is perhaps the biggest mistake that could be made. At that point, what someone has said is holding more weight than what you believe about yourself. No one’s words should ever be so powerful that you begin to doubt who you believe you are as a person.

And just for fun, here's a link to Urban Dictionary's take on the phrase:

"Oh No You Didn't!"

:-)

Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" A Capella

I think it's Fabtastic!

Father's Day: Gifts for a Coffee Lover

Simeon and I have been travelling around Iceland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands over the past month; arriving back in South Africa just in time for my first semester university exams. We're slowly getting back into the routine of home again.

I thought I'd share the gift we put together for my Dad - a real liker of quality coffee and milk chocolate!

1 - Take an empty tissue box...

2 - Sim used a carpet knife to cut the top off...

3 - Insert a brown paper bag...

4 - Fold the edges of the paper bag down until it covers the box...

5 - Pick out some lovely flavoured chocolates...

6 - And some great quality coffee...

7 - Tie string around the gift box, attach a card & insert tissue paper into the box...

8 - Put the jars of coffee in first & arrange the chocolate around them...

9 - Happy Father's Day!