love this shot, it is part of Aiko Machida’s portfolio.

I’m so distracted today. My procrastination is at it’s worst on a Monday. As you can see from the below post, it doesn’t take much for me to stroll off the day’s jobs. I have a floor plan on my kitchen table that must be finished and sent off asap but I can’t seem to stay focused. And I blame y’all! No, not at all, I do take full responsibility. But this post I will try to make my last distraction for the day. So on with it already…

Those of you who may have been reading my blog from the beginning (and I have just been informed there is at least one person, thank you loyal reader!), you may recall my post about ‘spilt milk’ – to be short, on one of my recent travels i took soy milk with me so i could have it in my tea along the journey and it spilt all through my handbag. i know, don’t question me please, i just do these things.

anyway, while i’ve been able to wash my handbag, the milk also went all through my leather wallet and is now a stiff crusty board and is rather revolting. well, it was kind of revolting to start with as it was well over 10 years old and was falling to pieces from overuse.

ironically, i am a bit of a perfectionist and the REASON i haven’t bought a new wallet is because all these years i simply haven’t found one i like! and that fits my rigid requirements. so with all you knowledgable creative souls out there, i thought maybe you might be able to lead me in the right direction, what do you think? my preferences for a wallet are that it be…

handmade

preferably from vintage/reused fabric

STYLISH and sophisticated (i love handmade but not a fan of crafty, girly patterns etc)

has a coin pocket

has a bank notes pocket

and sections for credit cards

that’s it, is that asking too much in a wallet? I’d be so happy if it came from one of you or one of your fave etsy stores so if you can recommend someone I’d be very grateful. I will be a good customer and I will spread the word on the designer to my clients and readers. Thanks everyone!

Like a paper boat on this windy sea.
Battered and bruised from the to-ing and fro-ing.
Drenched in the drops that be tears and not rain.
I’ve lost sight of the shore, unwillingly.

All this, yes.
But having lost the shore I am now awake.
And with wide clear eyes I find myself,
Warm and nurtured,
In this world of wonder I only ever dreamed about.
It’s this world where wandering hearts come lost to become found.

poem and sketch by Pia Jane Bijkerk. Inspired by an emotional moment, and perhaps a little influenced by Robinson Crusoe.

little oliver has got the idea for this week!

“GRUB” is aussie lingo for ‘food’ and for this week, I have a very unique menu designed by an incredibly humble talent…

When I first spotted her in the blogosphere a few days ago, I was captivated by her ‘mistake’ cookie that she baked. The photograph (as seen below) alone was fit for a magazine and I thought wow, if that beautiful cookie was a mistake, what are her successes?! And not only had she managed to produce something beautiful with this humble creation, she had just sent me straight back to my childhood growing up in Australia, when amongst iced vovos and spacefood sticks, my favourite snack was what us kids called ‘pillows’: fruit filled (store-bought) biscuits in the shape of little pillows….

So without further delay, may I present you the delightful momo hosking, vegan home cook extraordinaire. Originally from Japan, Momo now lives in Australia with her husband and beautiful boy Oliver. When you have a wander through her blog Kurashi, you will notice an incredible peacefulness, a calmness that comes from her unique culture and background. I have had a love affair with Japanese style and cooking for some time, and Momo epitomises everything I adore about Japan and has made me fall in love even deeper. I asked her if she might like to come and cook in the (blog)house kitchen for a little while and she indulged me and said yes. She has cooked up a storm with my favourite food for this week’s celebrations: cookies. So make your way to the kitchen, say hi and cook up a batch of your own momo cookies, you will not be disappointed – beautiful ingredients, beautiful images. Enjoy…

I was tagged a while back by the lovely Lisa at Blush, and I am a bit of a shy one (aren’t we all, us bloggers?!) and was a bit nervous to participate. However, in celebration of my upcoming birthday, i have finally plucked up the courage to reveal a few silly facts about me, here we go…

1. I’m impatient. Perhaps you’ve already noticed? And not only is it one of my most annoying qualities to those close to me, it drives me mad too.

2. I love my toes. It would not be surprising to my family to see my feet up near my face while I scrutinize them and give them a top pedicure.

3. I hate flying. I mean, if I had my own pair of wings i’d love it. If I have to fly on a small plane I nearly always faint en route. And as a child I vomited every flight. That’s alot of vomiting since we flew back and forth to Australia every 6 months.

4. My Mum is my best friend. She is my star and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be born from her.

5. I love to be on boats. I love being surround by water and everything about the water gives me that ‘home’ feeling.

6. I always wished I was black. Ever since I was a tiny little creature, i was disappointed to look in the mirror and see my freckly white skin.

7. I have a ‘flat nose’ because I am part Indonesian. When my mother told me as a child that I had the Indonesian ‘flat nose’ I literally thought I had no nose and I was always worried of what this might mean for my future. I looked at other Indonesian people and they all seemed to have a nice, substantial nose to me, so I didnt understand why mine would be ‘flat’. Needless to say, I do have a nose and it is not ‘flat’. Just not quite the same sort of nose other people have.

Agh, there you go, not as scary as i thought it would be and I hope you have enjoyed learning these things about me and that they are not too boring. I hope I have entertained you somewhat!

Coming up next: someone special is about to start cooking in the kitchen, and it is going to be miam! (‘miam’ is french for ‘yum’)(oh i forgot i was supposed to be aussie this week, so um, i should say maybe something like, ‘bonza!’)

UPDATE: I totally left out the part of this blog tag to tag back. Sorry about that, I am so new at this. So here are my seven taggees:

KerryAnne from 3 Continent Family
Felicity from All Things Bright and Beautiful
Nyla from Cherry Coloured
Mary-Laure from Aurea
Marie from Là
Uncle Beefy from The Bedlam of Beefy
Barb from MayDecemberHome

I hope they don’t mind being tagged but I’d love to find out more about them. If you guys don’t want to play no worries, I will not be offended. It is a bit scary and I already feel I have said too much about myself, and since there are no comments here I feel like running into my shell and never coming out. px

beaut image from John White’s rippa collection

Well folks, this is it. In one week’s time , on January 26th it will be Australia Day. And what does that mean? It means fireworks, it means ‘snags on the barbie’, and plenty of ‘grog’. It means celebrating a beautiful country, with a beautiful people of colour, diversity and multiple cultures. Yep, Australia Day means alot to me. A real lot. A real rippa rollin’ lolly pollin’ lot. Because, well, it means something else too…

And what’s more…

Oh yes sir-ee bob. I have only one week left of my twenties, and I want to kick on outta this decade with some noise people… LET’S ROCK THIS BLOGOSPHERE LIKE IT’S NEVER ROCKED BEFORE!

I actually have no idea how to do that, I just thought I’d mention it.

I’ve come up with a few fabbo posts though that I’ll be divulging all in good time. And in celebration of entering my thirdfourth!(argh!) decade, and since I am so far away from my ‘homeland’ and moreover, my family, I thought I’d take this opportunity to celebrate my aussieness. So, for this week you will be drowned with aussie lingo. You may not understand a word of it but that’s going to be all the more fun, we are going to bring the (blog)house down with our Aussie Aussie Aussie -oi oi oi-ness. I’d also like you to practice your Aussie accents this week, with all your friends. French Boy has already started, and in a gorgeous French accent he has almost perfected ‘you beauty mate!’ which cracks me up and makes me very proud. According to French Boy, I don’t have a very Australian accent as it seems the combination of my multi-cultured ancestry and living abroad for a large part of my life has interferred with that. So this week I too will be putting on the thickest Aussie accent possible. There will be no beating around the bush with my pansy international accent this week. Not at all, i’m going out with my dillybag amongst the jarrah and i’m gonna yabber while I yakka, aaaaaall daaaaaaay looooooong.

So enjoy it here in the (blog)house, have a dingo’s breakfast (immediate translation: a piss, a scratch and a good look around), and let’s party!!!

PS. self-indulgent random facts coming up next.
PPS. all suggestions on how to rock the blogosphere for a week are welcomed.
PPS all aussie lingo in comments appreciated as I actually don’t know much, i have to look it up in a book. i know, i’m really a poor excuse for an aussie, but who’s judging, it’s my bloody birthday so stuff ya!