PROJECT 365: February - Days 1 to 7

Monday 1 February 2010

 

 Me & Jakey making silly faces. First time Jake has stayed on his lonesome without his sisters.

Tuesday 2 February 2010

 

 My favourite sleepwear brand. Love the decorative bags (that's Peter's dog on the front). I've also been lucky enough to interview the man himself while at uni.

           

The first pic is some street art in Crossley Street, Melbourne, on the way out of Gingerboy. The second is the stage ready for Florence + the Machine, second gig of the year.

 Thursday 4 February 2010

  

 7 Ages of Rock - Great doco.

 Friday 5 February 2010

 My new toy.

Saturday 8 February 2010

  

Walking St Kilda to Beacon Cove, the sight of three cruise ships docked at Port Melbourne. This happens every weekend.

Sunday 7 February 2010

 

A day trip to Geelong saw us stumble across the Geelong 70.3. This was taken after the event, one the 1200 or so bikes, and crowds, had cleared.

PROJECT 365: January - Days 27 to 31

Wednesday 27 January 2010

 

My current read and probably one of the best novels in existence. Gregory David Roberts borders on genius, and the philosophy and thoughts on people, love, nature and the universe in the pages of this book stay with you long after the page has been read. And whats more, it couldn't be more true.

Thursday 29 January 2010

 

My first gig of 2010. A great show played at the hot box (Festival Hall). Also my first gig review for the year, the first of many.

Friday 29 January 2010

I have, along with two friends, committed myself to a run taking place in March for charity, and since I'm feeling so motivated have made note of every major run in Melbourne for the calendar year, most of which I intend on entering.These here are my cool new Asics purchased this day, and the rest of my running outfit is all sorted too (and colour co-ordinated of course).

Saturday 30 January 2010 

  

A very hot 35 degrees saw a friend and myself at a farewell BBQ at Chelsea Beach. No matter what is wrong in your world, you can pretty much bet that sitting on the beach and listening to the water will push all troubles out of your mind.

Sunday 31 January 2010

 

 Another hot 35-ish day spent shopping at the vintage stores down in Fitzroy - the best place for ANYTHING vintage.

PROJECT 365: January - Days 20 to 26

Wednesday 20 January 2010

 

 Day 3 of the Australian Open. Luckily at work I 'live' in the area of the office which houses the only flat screen plasma which had only channel 9 (cricket) tuned to it. I tuned this baby myself (without help from IT thanks) and had the company of the open the rest of the week.

(Yes, that is Buddah's head on the table...long story).

 Thursday 21 January 2010

 

One of the walls in my room which displays some of my favourite shots I've taken in my travels: Venice, Paris, Oxford, Positano, Bath, London, Stonehenge, Buckingham Palace, and the Whitsundays.

 Friday 22 January 2010

 

A random shot of my travel stuff. When traveling I always keep a journal to record places I have been, seen and people met. Full of some fantastic memories this one.

 Saturday 23 January 2010

 

Day 6 of the Open and I am in attendance! This game was Serena Williams (pictured), playing Carla Suarez Navarro. They day's plays also included Victoria Azarenka, Novak Djokovic, Denis Istomin, and even old Pat Cash on the show courts training.

 Sunday 24 January 2010

 

Today started with an invigorating walk from Beacon Cove to St Kilda's Acland Street, where myself and a friend enjoyed brunch at Rococo. An hour each way! This here is Luna Park in St Kilda and the Palais where I have seen the likes of Eskimo Joe and French & Saunders.

 Monday 25 January 2010

  

A bit of a slow news day, so I played around with some arty, take-from-it-whatever-meaning-you-like shots...

 Tuesday 26 January 2010

  

Australia Day!! Enjoyed an Aussie day picnic not far from the Big Day Out fun and games. Also day 9 and the quarter finals of the Australian Open. My best friend and I saw Rafa Nadal bow out due to injury after two sets lost against Andy Murray.

PROJECT 365: January - Days 12 to 19

Tuesday 12 January 2010

My sweet, sweet bi-monthly delivery which combines two of my three favourite things - food and travel. And the Mediterranean isusue no less!

Wednesday 13 January 2010

A picture of one of the family of maggies that visit me every morning and every evening. This one's picking at some bread left out for them, which may explain the winged family's constant visits. This was taken very early AM.

Thursday 14 January 2010

One of the favourite corners of my house - my book shelf. Classics, travel, Harry Potter, journo/media guides, love them all. The top shelf there contains my collection of antique books, for which I will need another bookshelf to house them in soon enough.

Friday 15 January 2010

Meet Dante and Polly (left to right). My brother's 'kids' of the Beagle kind, who I 'babysat' in their inner-city house recently. Very good listeners, very good guard dogs, and of course very cute.

Saturday 16 January 2010

A familiar house, situated in one of my favourite parts of the city.

Sunday 17 January 2010

The most sensical no standing sign I have ever come across!

This was the most overly decked out car in my beloved Geelong Cats colours, parked in the middle of Lygon Street, Melbourne - stopped me in my tracks.

Monday 18 January 2010

Another of my favouritest corners of my house; the place on which sits my lovely perfumes, costume jewelery, scarves, photos, lippies and every other girlie thing.

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Me, in the midst of planning my next trip.

Project 365 requires a photo of myself to be taken once a month in order to document how I have changed over the year. So far, not much.

PROJECT 365: January - Days 1 to 11

Well what a week it has been, the first for 2010.

The first 11 days have been full of strange, funny and unforgettable happenings, now all recorded on camera. Each picture is worth a thousand words, but I will limit this so as not to bore you and give away too many secrets!

Friday 1 January 2010

This is mine and two friends' ponchos/picnic rug laid out on the couch of a hotel room to dry after they did the duty of keeping us dry...well, they tried. NYE was spent relaxing then dancing the night away at a festival at a winery in the Yarra Valley. At 9:30pm the heavens opened up and didn't let up! But we kept on dancing until midnight, with beautiful views of lightening crack across the Yarra ranges.

An interesting trip back to the city in the wee hours ensued via coach.

  

Saturday 2 January 2010   

The second day of the year saw a trip into one of my favorite parts of my city to check out some of the not-terribly-affordable-unless-you-can-save-your-pay-for-a-month-boutiques. Little did we know we'd make a new friend.

We had a long chat with the owner of one of the boutiques we popped into to see Alex Perry's latest. During conversation we assisted this person in making a decision on a major project of theirs. Yep, good deed for the day! The afternoon ended, of course, with a latte in a cute little Italian cafe.

Saturday 3 January 2010

  

A second trip into the Yarra Valley in as many days, and a lovely, posh 4 course lunch, a Christmas present tfor the folks.A perfect end to the first weekend of the year.

Monday 4 January 2010

For me, this is a sign of Summer.  Iced espresso (made every summer), with homemade shortbread (made every Christmas).

Tuesday 5 January 2010

The lovely, juicy, sweet apricots the tree in the backyard produces every summer - usually just after

New Year. The tree used to yield so much fruit that my mother used to make jam with the fruit no one could fit into their stomachs.

Another sign that summer is here!

Wednesday 6 January 2010

 Once a week I go walking with workmates along the Maribyrnong River. While I walk everyday, its nice to have a change of sceanery, and this area is like a slice of the bush in the middle of the big smoke.

Nothing but yiu, the birds, wildlife and ridiculous amount of flys.

Thursday 7 January 2010 

Not much of a picture really, but there's a funny story to it. This tree sits behind the fence in a paddock. Apparently my Dad had stood in the backyard, binoculars in hand, looking at a gold glittering thingie which appeared to be stuck in the tree.What it turned out to be was a new red, waxy leaf reflectingthe sun and making it look like a lovely, expensive, gold necklace was hanging from the tree.

However it did provide hours of fun....

Friday 8 January 2010

Today saw a visit from a family friend Joe Rouse (far right), who has been living and working in Peru the last 3 years. This was his first trip back to Australia since leaving. Absolutely fascinating listening to his stories on living among the communities there. Has made up my mind to definitely visit South America very soon.

Saturday 9 January 2010

Today was the first of the next few days of hot hot weather - around 35 degrees celsius. The afternoon was spent lazying around, while the evening was spent in Carlton, Melbourne's Italian precinct,with a friend.
Enjoyed a movie, dinner (at a vegetarian restuarant mind!), and coffee and cake at Brunetti. Brunetti is as close to an authentic Italian cafe/pasticceria outside of Italy itself!

Me, I had the giant Ammaretto biscuit...mmmmmm scrummy!

Sunday 10 January 2010

Jan Jun surf beach on Victoria's surf coast. A trip with friends via V-Line train to Geelong, then coach onto Torquay saw us get off at the wrong bus stop. So we disembarked at Jan Juc, and walked about 30 minutes until we hit the water. Lunch at the pub, before some relaxing and swimming on the golden sand and warm, blue water. A perfect way to spend a pleasant 34 degree day in Melbourne.

Monday 11 January 2010

Admittedly, not a very good, clear picture, however if you squint you should be able to see the mercury has climbed to 44 degrees! The hottest day since Black Saturday, and the first hottest day of the summer.

PROJECT 365: "...Photographs Could Reach Eternity Through The Moment” - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Thursday 31/12/09

I have made some resolutions for 2010 as we all do, but I intend sticking to mine. I have decided to undertake a challenging, possibly arduous and maybe a life changing task - Project 365.

They say that our lives flash before our eyes, and where do the years go, well I intend to slow it down by taking one photograph every day for the next 365 days.

I wish now this is something I had decided to undertake a year ago; 2009 has been a year with more highs than lows, I have traveled, left my comfort zone on many occasions, and attempted to live each day to its fullest since returning from my travels in 2008. It has been a good year and intend on making 2010 even better if that is possible!

By no means is this an original idea, I have already discovered other bloggers had the same undertaking in mind for 2010, but I think it a fantastic way to capture 'a year in the life of'. I intend to visually record what I have experienced, people I have met, places I have been, things I have seen, tasted, and smelt in 2010. I want to look back on this project one year from today and smile at the experiences and achievements the year ahead has brought.

And so it starts, Project 365 - 2010: My life in pictures.

"...Actions & Words, They Don't Always Say What They Mean" - Screaming Jets

www.time.com/.../article/o,9171,1659772,00.html

Maybe I am not in the right frame of mind to be writing this post, but after a long period of writers block the answer to the above statement just hit, previously eluding me in its meaning (or what I perceive it to mean; after all the meaning of art is in the eye of the beholder, or listener in this case, despite what the artist intended). 

Supposing it could work both ways; the actions or words of someone trying to hide something for instance, be it sinister or completely innocent, may mean for the rest of us that they don't care, are nonchalant, or they think little of something of great importance. However this might not be what they are wanting to SAY. Confused?

Now supposing the other way, someone's actions or words doing the complete opposite. They are an open book, tell you maybe too much and simply appear to be of complete moral standing. Do these actions say what they mean? Usually yes, but we are curious beings and as they say, you never REALLY know someone. Two words: Tiger Woods.

Seeing other people's sagas unfold over the last few weeks have made me think about this, and the conclusion I have come to is...truth. Good old fashioned truth. Don't withhold your thoughts, if something is bothering you tell someone, don't pretend everything is fine. And on the other hand if you want someone to know something, whatever it is, tell them. Don't be nonchalant. You don't know how long they'll be around and you don't know if you'll get hit by a bus when you leave the house. Don't assume the worst in someone right away, give them the benefit of the doubt; but at the same time simply tread carefully.

Won't someone lend me a helping hand!

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1659772,00.html

"I Am A Weapon Of Massive Consumption" - Lily Allen

But it's not our fault, it's how we're programmed to function?

Consumerism has lately seemed to reach its peak. We're told we are not perfectly beautiful until we purchase three types of mineral and translucent make-up powder, we haven't cooked a decent meal until we buy a Tefal by Jamie Oliver crockery set, and we have a ridiculously disorganised life without an iPhone...and we buy them (or those material girls and boys among us).

The advertising execs are rubbing their hands with glee at our complete reliance on the latest technology, beauty products, and kitchen gadgets among other sometimes useless things. But it wasn't until a few months ago that the world went topsy-turvey, and had me thinking that maybe I, and few others, was the only being left with some sort of sanity, when I witnessed the most bizarre product being advertised on my television...

...the Snuggy.

"What a brilliant idea!" I actually heard people say, and "Isn't that clever!". Huh? Have I suddenly stepped into an alternate universe? Since when has wearing a backless blanket with sleeves at your son/daughter's soccer game been a good idea? So good that even high fives are required to show your enthusiasm? This is consumerism gone completely mad, MAD I tells ya! I would LOVE to see the SWOT analysis and marketing brief for this product. But obviously people the world over are buying them or they wouldn't be advertised twenty seven times a day.

One other disturbing infomercial product which gives me the shivers is the indoor herb/flower/vegetable growing contraption that doesn't need sunlight thanks to built-in 'grow lights' (sun simulator),and 'micro processor' and that controls nutrient intake. I don't know if I am alone here, but I wouldn't put so much as a cherry tomato in my mouth that has been grown by a sun simulator and 'micro processor'. But otherwise, an ingenius product.

Wonder what the genius advertisers will peddle to us next...

"Does My Face Look Boverred?" - Lauren Cooper

www.dailymail.co.uk

I put the 'pro' in procrastination.

I have always been aware of this somewhere at the back of my mind, but only recently admitted it out loud to myself after some coaxing by another party. In saying this I am not lazy and I don't consciously put things off because I want to avoid them. It could have something to do with the fact that if I don't write something down, I generally don't remember to do it (excluding birthday and other important dates).

But I think it's mainly because we always have (or think we have) something better to do or spend my time on. Yes I could ring the bank to get my credit limit sorted out finally, instead of complaining about it, but in order to do it I need to sit on the phone for 20 odd minutes of my life listening to bad hold music while waiting for 'the next available operator'....I can live with my current credit limit really. I could make a 'voluntary re-payment' towards my HECS, sorry, 'HELP' debt, but seeing as its a statement I received and not an invoice, it can wait a little longer and I can use the cash to pay for real live bills that are actually due.

Okay, so this basically shows that I am avoiding certain things by putting them off, but for non-lazy reasons! They all get done in the end and the only person I hurt, if anyone, is myself if I don't do them.

Call me a travel geek but something I usually find very fun, apart from the actually traveling, is planning a trip. Researching hotels, finding the cheapest flight on the best airline (very satisfying when you do find one), researching new cities, figuring out how to get from A to X and how many pounds/euros all this will cost. This was my life for several months before last years' big OS trip, and forward planning paid off nicely. This time around (leaving in 3 months) I find myself putting off the task. Not because I don't want to, more because I have done it before so surely I can wing it somewhat this time? Plus I have that HELP statement that needs finalising...

The real reason I think is, not only am I indecisive in general, I'm worried that all this careful planning will lead to a great trip, but nothing compared to the last adventure...I know, how silly and sentimental.

Whatever the reason, this is all procrastination and I am damn good at it. If you want to learn I can teach you my bad habits, but right now I have things to put off...

"It Has Become Appallingly Obvious That Our Technology Has Exceeded Our Humanity" - Albert Einstein

www.weblogs.baltimoresun.com

If you've started with the voice twittering, verbalising online abbreviations, or telling your friends you'll catch up with them later on Facebook, then we have a problem.

It seems we are almost becoming socio-phobes and feel more comfortable conducting our socialising online...a bit sad and scary isn't it.

Far be it for me to critisise the social networking sites - I do use them - but don't let it consume my life as much as it bloody well tries to. I'm sure anyone with a Facebook or twitter account however will admit that it can be hard to give the twitts and status swinging a miss for more than a few days. We like to let people know what's going on in our lives, let's face it...we're show offs and nosy beings:

Jane Twitt: is livin' it up in Tahiti / is eating expensive imported chocolate with 90% cocoa hand made by Belgian monks / is waiting for the limo to arrive while watching her money mote being cleaned.
There is even the presence of websites dedicated to sharing status updates should you so choose to use them...crazy!

Then there is the new set of manners that surrounds facebooking/myspacing/twittering...which in my opinion borders on ridiculousness at times. Here are some that I have been informed about:

- Don't ignore friend requests (but are we supposed to add people we really don't know or haven't seem since grade 2?)
- Don't ignore messages
- Don't post photos/messges that not everyone is supposed to see
- Don't talk about work/boss/colleagues
- Don't, for heavens sake, log on when you are supposed to be home sick

And my own personal 'don't' - don't spend your life online, log off, walk outside and breath some fresh air...I will do the same now :p