Personal Gallery

Is your house/room like a gallery? Full of large prints and paintings on hooks, and curious figurines? It should be. In fact, I've got just the place for you to get your next large print to add to your collection - pretty cheaply. And, what's more it'll be a positive influence on your life.

So, where do you get it? From workisnotajob. Here: http://society6.com/workisnotajob/Commitment_Print

Well, that one is my favourite anyway. You can click 'home' and visit a hundred more.

Enjoy your wonderful days everyone, and be all you can be.

Go Do

What is it you'd really like to do right now?

Take your bloody tie off?
Kiss that girl in the supermarket?
Tell your father you love him?
Have the courage to wear that top?
Pop a bottle of expensive champagne?
Write a soppy love letter?
Go overseas on your own?
Throw a house party for a few hundred neighbors?
Learn sign language?
Build a permaculture garden?
Have a pet rabbit?

I'm sure there are hundreds of unfulfilled dreams rolling around in that marvelous head of yours. But they are just that. Unfulfilled. Why do we let so much of our life go by without requiting some of these ideals? They'd make us happier. Surely we owe ourselves that.

So, in order to actually get myself motivated enough to go and actually do these things, I've got a new motto that I'm trying on for size: 'go do'.

It's simple, yet it encapsulates the very essence of living up to that spirit that is within us - like my previous post highlighted. It's that which makes us happy.

So, write yourself a list of 5 things you'd like to 'go do' and just go and do them (when you've got the opportunity to of course, but no excuses).

You'll be happier for it.

Print Fantastic

Ryan Berkley is a genius. I was looking for a new image of a white rabbit to put under my side heading "Follow me... like you'd follow a white rabbit." As I was doing so, I came across this wonderful website called made590 (which you can all have a look at in a minute). It's full of curiosities and strangeness - as well as foresty prints and wonderful t-shirts. The whole thing reminded me a lot of the Faraway Tree to be honest. The main reason why it grabbed my attention though were these prints by Ryan Berkley. They are simply amazing. At only $38 dollars a print you'd be crazy not to get yourself one. Or three.

So, here is a sample of some of my favourites.

Now you can go have a look at the website here: http://www.made590.com.au/ryan-horned-owl-print.html

Let's Commit

We all have this amazing human spirit that we're born with that yearns to be free and happy. It drives us to help strangers and connect to our friends. We hold our arms out to children, rub the backs of those that are feeling low, laugh 'til we cry, cry 'til we laugh, and feel better when the sun is out. It's who we are. 

But how often do we really live up to this spirit? It tells us we're born to achieve something big. That life is an adventure, and when life gives us lemons we make lemonade - or put a slice in some gin. This spirit cries out inside us as an inner child, one that wants to run through a field in bright sunlight streaming a jumbled disarray of balloons and feathers behind you. To throw paint at walls and to hug rabbits. 

Let's live up to that person inside us. 

Commit. 

I have. 

Tuesday Afternoon Reading Club

So. It's Tuesday. The weather here in Springtime Melbourne is 22 o Celsius and sunny. Quite a nice day considering the pugnaciously stormy and cold weather of late. I've decided to make the most of the afternoon and have a little reading session out in the sun this afternoon.

Which made me think of this painting and the warm, imaginative scene it portrays.

This is exactly what I'd love to do today. Sit atop a high, grassy hill surrounded by imaginary creatures that only I could see, reading an exciting book. The warm spring breeze in my hair. The sunshine on my face. That's what I plan to do this afternoon.

If the weather permits it, I hope you get to have a quiet read in the sun too.

Good Morning Monday

Turquoise Window World by Suzanne Edminster, 24″ x 24″, acrylic on canvas.

Today it is Monday. Yep, Monday. The dreaded Mondayitis is only being kept at bay due to my injection of hot coffee and good tunes (Heavy Feather by The Holidays if you must know). How's your Monday? Great? Good? Okay? Not so hot? Well, here are a few thoughts to get your week off to a good start. 

1. "Set a goal, write it down, and release the outcome. Small steps make a big difference." - Cheryl Richardson. 

This is unbelievably true. I have it written down on a post-it note on my desk at work. Writing your goals and affirmations down on paper and actually reading them helps you reach them. Your brain feels as if it has begun actioning the goal or idea and the rest happens systematically and smoothly. Of course, you do have to actually do the work. But sometimes a task can feel too big and becomes daunting. Don't let it be that way. Take small steps at a time, slowly chipping away at it, and soon enough you'll have released the outcome. 

2. "Unstress with a friend. It's ever so rewarding." - HiVita vitamin supplement commercial. 

I'm sure you've experienced just how accurate this is. When you're feeling a little worried or stressed, going to friend or sipping a green tea in the sun with your bestie can work wonders. Of course, you might be at work. Or school. Or uni. Or on the moon. But you can always send a text and get one back and that's almost the same thing. So, hang out via text for a while this morning and 'unstress'. It's "ever so rewarding". 

3. "Love is the greatest miracle cure. Loving ourselves works miracles in our lives." - Louise L. Hay

Stop putting yourself down for a minute and just be happy being you. We constantly tell ourselves so many negative things - and Mondays seem to bring out the worst in us. 'You look terrible.' 'I hate my job.' 'Get a better job, you hack.' 'You're always late.' 'You're so disorganised.' 'What the hell is going on with your hair?' We all do it. It's human nature. But instead of keeping us grounded and humble it sometimes runs us into the ground and we feel pretty low. Yep. So today, when you start saying something negative to yourself, stop, and say the opposite. 'You look great.' 'You doing a good job.' 'You're in the right place at the right time.' 'Things are looking up.' 'Your hair will be ok.' Try it today and I promise miracles will happen.  

Alice in Waterland

Elena Kalis is amazing.

As a modern, multimedia photographer, she's managed to adapt the age-loved story of Alice in Wonderland into a waterscape of wonder and childhood innocence. Her models are in a body of water, perhaps a pool, and they enact various scenes from the story - including the follow-up novel Through the Looking Glass.

Kalis' photos capture the essence of what it means to be young and full of wonder. The water is also a great springboard for the dreamlike settings, bubbles, ripples and soft lighting. See what you think.

I'm sure you'll start thinking about your own childhood and the wonder you felt every day.

Kalis also has a collection called Underwater Carousel and you can see her short film based on it, just below.

20,000 Hits! That's Pretty Much a Diamond Jubilee

So because of you, my wonderful blog-readers, we've reached 20,000 hits! Hopefully that means that I've inadvertently made someone smile or become a little more 'curiouser' than usual about life's inquisitiveness. 20,000 times over. Hell yes. 

Thanks to all of you wonderful readers and clickers from around the globe. 

You make my day. 

Van She - Idea of Happiness

What's your idea of happiness?

Love? Sunshine on your face? Strange adventures? Midnight swims? Rambling conversations with your best friends? Listening to MGMT whilst driving down to the beach with your windows down?

Van She is the Electro-Pop love child of Matt Van Schie and Tomek Archer and they're from Sydney, Australia. A wonderfully sunny and happy city to begin with. When they originally came out their label introduced them this way: " A new band from Sydney fresh on ideas, fresher than Falvor Flav, fresh like coriander, fresher than the Fresh Prince, fresher than fresh eggs." Yep. They're pretty fresh.

So, their new album is now out too - and I personally much prefer this one. It's newer and has much more atmosphere than their debut album 'V'. My favourite track is their title track 'Idea of Happiness'.

Check it out. Get happy.

Two Door Cinema Club - Beacon

The wait is over. Two Door Cinema Club, one of the best new bands emerging out of the last few years, has finally released its new album. Yes, a new album. I know you've been shuffling your iPod restlessly, hoping something you haven't actually given a proper listen to will come on to entertain you. It might. But if that doesn't work out for you - this will.

Like their last album, it's full of fun, busy and multi-layered tracks. It has a similar tempo, yet interestingly has a few slower songs that are equally as addictive. The electro drums are perfectly teamed up with the intricate guitar strokes and the overall effect is energizing.

I haven't had enough time to fully grasp the meaning of the lyrics, but my initial feelings are that of love found rather than lost, and a sense of forced growing up. But I'll deal more with that later.

Until next time, do yourselves a wonderful favour and get it soon.

Afternoon Recovery Kit

It's 2:03 PM and you're starting to feel a little tired. What do you do? When I hit my mid afternoon mental brick wall I crack out the afternoon recovery kit:

1. Find a new catalogue or magazine.

This allows me to plan some new purchases (which is the next best thing to actually getting some new stuff) and also shows me ways of putting things together. It is also a great distraction from actual work. Although it's perhaps not as kind on your bank account. My new favourite catalogue is the Country Road and Witchery Man W.Manual - which you can see online here: http://www.countryroad.com.au/  (Country Road) and here: http://www.witchery.com.au/w-manual.html.

And here's the Country Road Spring Collection film. It might distract you just that little bit more.



2. A mug of coffee.

It's literally amazing how good this can make you feel. Caffeine is a drug, I hear from dubious sources, however I'm not convinced. I like to think of it as an elixir. Just the other week I read an article about how scientists are attempting to remove some sort of enzyme from coffee beans that can fight cancer. In fact it mentioned that having one coffee a day can help prevent cancer altogether. How about that? So, get yourself a nice mug (this one is from Freedom) and make yourself a coffee - or as I've been doing more recently bring your mug with you down the street and get a nice barista to fill it up.

3. Get online and discover something amazing.

My afternoon discovery today was the trailer for Moonshine Kingdom. Such an amazing looking film. I'm taking my girlfriend to see it this weekend and I'll write up a review for you all when I return. Here's the trailer for your own perusal and discovery.



Anyway. There's my afternoon recovery kit. I hope yours is just as boringly fun.