IF I ever have a baby

I am copying every single feature in this nursery from Heather Armstrong's blog! I love the cheery, not-too-sweet color palate, the wallpaper, the crib, and every bit of artwork. So, so, so cute!

Design love

Here's a link to the most fabulous wallpaper and other treats.

bathroom porn

love this bathroom!

note the dual showers built into the ceiling...

Face. Melty.

Click on the picture and prepare to melt your face.

happy friday!

Giddy up it's Friday! Have a great weekend!

How about a little Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke for your face?

This is a song from one of my favorite bands, Dead Can Dance. I was introduced to this band by my friend Carlos when we were seniors in highschool. This was when I was very into the Pixies and Jane's Addiction right before I started raving full time in the early 90's. I miss the days of lighting a candle in my room and feeling so achey. Here is I Can See Now and Rakim for you to bliss out to.

Best of the Worst Album Covers!

This is eerily similar to how I spent my sixteenth birthday only I had a cigarette too.

I think they're really dressed in sour cream. Kate's favorite treat!

I could look at these all day.

one thing I always get asked...

as an Australian is 'do you really have big spiders everywhere in Australia?' here is the answer:

This is a huntsman spider I came across the other day on the shower screen at my Dad's place as I was just about to get in the shower... he's about the size of your palm although this poor guy is missing a leg.

These spiders are not deadly, but if bitten can make you a bit sick. These guys are good to have around as they eat the mosquitos and other bugs, but I prefer not to shower with them though.

This one however, is a funnel web spider (that my Dad just randomly has sitting on his bookshelf in a jar - as you do...) and these are not the type of spider you want to come across - they are quite scary and they raise up their front legs to warn you that they mean business.

Funnel webs are one of the 3 most deadliest spiders in the world and have sharp fangs that can bite through fingernails and shoes even... eewk! My Dad came across this one while digging in his yard so put him in a jar to donate to the local university where they milk them for their venom - what a fun job... not!

gotta love functional design

when handed this strange looking bottle of wine on my flight back from Australia I had to look twice... but really it is quite an ingenious design.

the glass is attached to the lid of the wine bottlewhich you screw off (corks are so 2004 in Australian wine circles)

now you have a neat little glass with the lid at the bottom of itall you have to do is pour and drink

:)

is this real life???

I arrived back in California this morning and am trying my best to stay awake until tonight, so I can trick my body out of the jetlag... It all feels a little bit surreal to be back home again.

Reminds me of this great video which you may have seen before - hilarious!

happy friday

Hope you run into Friday with all the gusto you can muster!

PS. miss you Coop.

More Unusual Art

Unfortunately, I can't remember where I found this painting of a moose fighting a giant jacalope. If you know who the artist is please let us know so we can give them credit.

Naked Obama with Unicorns

It's exactly what it sounds like. I like the one where Obama's fixing his rocket ship....

Cool video from Buenos Aires

Cody sent me this cool graffitti video. Check it out.

Sweatier and smellier

I'm sad because I haven't been posting any blogs lately and even though Kate is 100 million miles away on another planet (Australia) she has managed to post tons of pictures and stories. In my defense, the reason I haven't posted anything is because I somehow caught pneumonia last week and have just now recovered enough to get back on the computer. I hadn't actually realized I was deathly ill until I went to the doctor on Thursday after about 4 days of chills, fever, and complete exhaustion. I was walking around with severe dehydration and a 101.2 fever and actually asked "can I go back to work?" after being tested for swine flu and then informed I had walking pneumonia. What dedication! Cody took very good care of me and told me yesterday that I looked "a lot" better. When asked how bad I had been looking he described me as looking pretty gross and smelling even worse due to the buckets of sick sweat pouring off my body and head. Sadly, this was a disease that made me suffer, but didn't make me lose any weight. On Sunday I mustered enough energy to leave the house for about 90 minutes to visit the Campbell Farmer's Market in search of healthy fresh fruits and vegetables. Prior to my illness I had been on Atkins for about 10 days and also did not lose weight, but did develop sweet, sweet meat breath, so I'm off that and on to more normal foods again. Anyway, here are some pictures from the farmer's market where I plan to go next week because of the amazing number of vendors and the great variety of fruits, vegetables, and other delicious specialty foods. In my opinion, this farmer's market is way better than the one in Los Gatos. Yes, we're back to blurry pictures, but that's only because I was delirious at the time I took these. Oh, and we've now decided almost 100% against getting a new puppy after Gino tried to murder the most adorable 3 month old English bulldog ever invented. He became jealous when I was petting this little cutie and then he tried to bite his face off - I was mad a Gino for the rest of the day and don't think he's nice enough for a new friend in the house. :(

where the wild things are...

We all went to the Featherdale Wildlife Park the other day where I got to hold this ferocious beast - a 14 week old dingo pup. She was SO cute, cuddly and playful.

I also tried to face a long time fear of mine of snakes...

I held this little 2 year old olive python for about 2 minutes... eeewk!

I heart Sydney

Here's a photo I took of the Opera House from the Manly Ferry when coming back into Circular Quay the other night, was hard to get a good shot, but you get the idea.

happy friday!

umm WOW! is all I can say...

yes, we eat kangaroos

The Australian Prime Minister has been in the news this week, being called a "Camel Serial Killer" hope nobody tells them about the kangaroo meat I found in the meat isle of the supermarket...My personal favourite - the Kanga Banga

Steve Irwin lives on...

look what I found in the local shopping centre the other day...crikey!

here I am

here's a photo from my dad's place which is beautiful but a little way out of the way and I have been feeling totally at a loss without internet... is that sad or what? but this morning I finally figured out his internet card and I am back in business! I have been having a great time catching up with my family and rediscovering Sydney!

Sheet mulching

Me raking the hard-packed soil
Our stacks of chicken manure and compost

Gino decided a pile of poo was a wonderful place to relax Cody covering the newspaper with compost

This Sunday Cody and I worked in the yard and started our sheet mulching project. I was going to use cardboard, but ended up using newspapers instead. We picked up several bags of chicken manure (I was going to start with the horse manure I could have gotten for free from Destyn, but was worried I'd end up spreading a bunch of unwanted seeds into the yard) then laid out layers of paper over the top and covered as much as possible with organic compost. I ran out of compost and have to do the rest this weekend, but it turned out ok I think. I got a bunch of vegetable seeds to plant once the yard is ready and am hoping it's not too late to try to start them. When we re-do the kitchen I'm planning to include a composter so I can make my own homemade compost.