This corner of the Earth

Today while kicking it around Melbs I heard good ol' Jamiroquai busting out of the crackly shopping centre speakers singing "this corner of the earth". The lyrics made me think of MY little corner of the Earth here in Melbourne. Quite a fitting description as we are tucked quite far down in the southern hemisphere. For your viewing pleasure pictures of my home follow. Unlike the song I wouldn't say that this corner of the Earth is like me in many ways unless you consider me uncoordinated and peeling just like our many wallpapers!!!

Finger lickin muffin makin good, real good

Over here at the Motel Mont Albert or Mont Albert Mansion (that description might be a stretch for my 2 bedroom unit) I have been anxiously preparing for the arrival of 3 of my besties from Perth!!! In anticipation and excitement for this weekend's guests I have been a baking... yum yum! Yes, me and the hummingbird bakery cook book have been reunited and are at it again.

Already on the menu - spinach & cheese muffins & for the sweet tooth banana & cinnamon muffins. Now while the savoury muffins sort of look like some sort of mud pie I made as a child I guarantee that they taste gooooood AND if you're not convinced maybe you should come here and try it for yourself ;-)

Balls!!!

I often said to people that I had to sell my vital organs affording to live in London for 5 years. For those of you who may not be aware I therefore moved back to the land downunder and here I am.

My first stop was my hometown Perth - drenched in sunshine, beaches, mining companies, isolation and fortunately, in February - art!

Determined to live a cultured life despite the ease of arty London being so far away the Perth International Arts Festival, The Perth Fringe Festival AND the International Film Festival along with the sunshine nurtured & settled my wanderlust. Among many shows including Poland's "The Table" & France's beautiful dancing acrobat "Raoul" every day somewhere around Perth you could stumble upon Kurt Perschke's "RedBall Project".

"What?" you might say.

Yes, every day there was a giant inflated red ball that could be found wedged in alley-ways, stuck in door ways or, in my case, shoved under the bus shelter or floating in a fountain. I found it hilarious where this random ball would not so subtly appear. It was at times inappropriate and invasive like a loud dinner guest chewing with their mouth open. At the same time it was just quiet and innocent going about its own day to day business.

So enamored & charmed was I by the giant red ball that on the last day I hunted it down and actually touched it!!!

Photographic evidence follows...

FLIPPIN MINT MATE

Anyone who knows me knows that I frequently burst out with the old phrase "MINT" every now and then when something is GOOD and by every now and then I kinda mean every hour - haha!

So here I was reading a blog called "MINT" and the following quote by Ira Glass had been posted...

"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through".

— Ira Glass

SOOOOOO TRUE!!! As a creative soul and appreciator of all things creative those words ring so true!!! Being one's own worse critic can really make you your own worst enemy. So my resolution is to just keep on working through it!

I felt Ira's quote was MINT... Flippin MINT in fact therefore the choice to post it in mint... innit!

You've failed me miserably

I was blog surfing as per usual and found this image entitled "We have failed eachother miserably" by Christine Young. Haha. When it comes to me and umbrellas, although I live in London and it frequently rains I don't bother with them for the very reason as depicted in the above picture - they fail me!

If they manage not to break then I'm stuck with this wet thing - like a dirty tissue - why do I want to carry that around?

I think a more appropriate title would be "You've failed me miserably" and by 'you' I mean the umbrella!!!

Kelli Murray

So basically... earlier in the year while I was an enthusiastic bridesmaid for the lovely Misty Moo I was busy scouring bridal and wedding blogs etc in search of inspiration etc... So on Green Wedding Shoes I saw this super cool, funky wedding and was enamoured by the craft and detail in this wedding...


It looked super cool and I admit that I am partial to blunt fringes and head bands so this wedding was off to a good start!!!

Then I saw the following accessories that each of the bridesmaids wore and were made by the Bride's cousin I think...

I love neutral/ warm colours so I was sold on these accessories - sign me up now - I want them all!!!

But it was the following picture of "the bride" which got me hook, line and sinker...

Turns out the wedding I was stalking and admiring was that of illustrator / designer / artist - Kelli Murray and now she's my favourite!

Obvo I had to check out more and I was happy with the artistic inspiration I found - Get in!!! I've been following her work for about 8 months now and I've seen lots of Kelli's work that I love not to mention the super cool events she gets involved in through her work. I shall post more of her work in future posts for you to also admire but in the mean while... bon appetit!

Le Concert

Yesterday, armed with new found freedom and a 40% off movie voucher I decided to go to the movies. I didn't really have anything I particularly wanted to see but was tempted by a movie that was made by the same people who produced Juno and Little Miss Sunshine but watched the trailer and soon moved on from that! I then took the chance on watching the trailer for Le Concert. I thought it was going to be a bit serious and heavy but then I watched the trailer and realised it was driven by strong characters and was quite light hearted with that nice artistic twist.


So off I went to the afternoon showing. I wandered into the cinema to find a whole bunch of senior citizens and me in the cinema.

Believe it or not I was considering on telling them to sssshhhhh!!! Seniors these days!!!

If you're patient enough for subtitles or happen to know Russian and French I highly recommend the tale of a russian orchestra that comes together after 30 years to perform in Paris - go for it!!!!!

If nothing else you will be left with a new found appreciation for Tchaikovsky. I don't have any Tchaikovsy here so I've settled for Chopin.

Click here to watch the trailer