Perth


Am enjoying Easter Weekend in Perth this year so look forward to more pictures of the lovely Sunny city :)

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Thursday, April 5, 2012

Shoes


Shoes

I've never been a girl who was obsessed with high heels but if these were affordable, I'd be obsessed in a minute!
THEY ARE SLIDE SHOES!?!?! WHAT MORE CAN I SAY? :)

The shoes are designed by Israeli footwear designer Kobi Levi, who sees shoes as sculptures rather than as ordinary footwear.
I found them over here: My Modern Met




I'm away for the next week so see you soon xoxo
Manda

Friday, March 30, 2012

It's Official


It's Official

For years I didn't know which Hogwarts House I belong to - but today I finally realised it is Hufflepuff :) Both Pottermore and this online Sorting Hat agreed:
The sorting hat says that I belong in Hufflepuff!

Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot, and treat them just the same."
Hufflepuff students are friendly, fair-minded, modest, and hard-working. A well-known member was Cedric Diggory, who represented Hogwarts in the most recent Triwizard Tournament.
 

Take the most scientific Harry Potter Quiz ever created.
Get Sorted Now! 

The reason why I finally decided today is because I was accepted into the Beta Program over at: http://www.myhogwarts.co.uk/ 

This is their description of themselves:
myHogwarts is an incredible experience coming to Harry Potter fans worldwide in June 2012.
It allows you to connect with your friends, meet new fans and fully immerse yourself in the wizarding world.
Our goal for myHogwarts is to take many of the "fictional" and magical elements of the Harry Potter books and bring them to a digital reality, allowing you to put yourself into the story as much as possible.
Writers, graphic designers, programmers, educators, illustrators, organizations, fansites, musicians, organizers and others have all come together to volunteer -- to combine their skills in order to create the perfect experience.
myHogwarts is a platform for people of all age groups to discuss all things Potter: ages 13 to 113.

So far, I have already been put in a dorm, which is quite cool. Am quite happy to be among the first 15,000 let in especially as I was chosen at random to join! Woooot! 

When I was sorted into Hufflepuff for Pottermore, I found out all this new information about Hufflepuff:

Congratulations! I’m Prefect Gabriel Truman, and I’m delighted to welcome you to HUFFLEPUFF HOUSE. Our emblem is the badger, an animal that is often underestimated, because it lives quietly until attacked, but which, when provoked, can fight off animals much larger than itself, including wolves. Our house colours are yellow and black, and our common room lies one floor below the ground, on the same corridor as the kitchens.
Now, there are a few things you should know about Hufflepuff house. First of all, let’s deal with a perennial myth about the place, which is that we’re the least clever house. WRONG. Hufflepuff is certainly the least boastful house, but we’ve produced just as many brilliant witches and wizards as any other. Want proof? Look up Grogan Stump, one of the most popular Ministers for Magic of all time. He was a Hufflepuff – as were the successful Ministers Artemesia Lufkin and Dugald McPhail. Then there’s the world authority on magical creatures, Newt Scamander; Bridget Wenlock, the famous thirteenth-century Arithmancer who first discovered the magical properties of the number seven, and Hengist of Woodcroft, who founded the all-wizarding village of Hogsmeade, which lies very near Hogwarts School. Hufflepuffs all.
So, as you can see, we’ve produced more than our fair share of powerful, brilliant and daring witches and wizards, but, just because we don’t shout about it, we don’t get the credit we deserve. Ravenclaws, in particular, assume that any outstanding achiever must have come from their house. I got into big trouble during my third year for duelling a Ravenclaw prefect who insisted that Bridget Wenlock had come from his house, not mine. I should have got a week of detentions, but Professor Sprout let me off with a warning and a box of coconut ice.
Hufflepuffs are trustworthy and loyal. We don’t shoot our mouths off, but cross us at your peril; like our emblem, the badger, we will protect ourselves, our friends and our families against all-comers. Nobody intimidates us.
However, it’s true that Hufflepuff is a bit lacking in one area. We’ve produced the fewest Dark wizards of any house in this school. Of course, you’d expect Slytherin to churn out evil-doers, seeing as they’ve never heard of fair play and prefer cheating over hard work any day, but even Gryffindor (the house we get on best with) has produced a few dodgy characters.
What else do you need to know? Oh yes, the entrance to the common room is concealed in a stack of large barrels in a nook on the right hand side of the kitchen corridor. Tap the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, in the rhythm of ‘Helga Hufflepuff’, and the lid will swing open. We are the only house at Hogwarts that also has a repelling device for would-be intruders. If the wrong lid is tapped, or if the rhythm of the tapping is wrong, the illegal entrant is doused in vinegar.
You will hear other houses boast of their security arrangements, but it so happens that in more than a thousand years, the Hufflepuff common room and dormitories have never been seen by outsiders. Like badgers, we know exactly how to lie low – and how to defend ourselves.
Once you’ve opened the barrel, crawl inside and along the passageway behind it, and you will emerge into the cosiest common room of them all. It is round and earthy and low-ceilinged; it always feels sunny, and its circular windows have a view of rippling grass and dandelions.
There is a lot of burnished copper about the place, and many plants, which either hang from the ceiling or sit on the windowsills. Our Head of house, Professor Pomona Sprout, is Head of Herbology, and she brings the most interesting specimens (some of which dance and talk) to decorate our room – one reason why Hufflepuffs are often very good at Herbology. Our overstuffed sofas and chairs are upholstered in yellow and black, and our dormitories are reached through round doors in the walls of the common room. Copper lamps cast a warm light over our four-posters, all of which are covered in patchwork quilts, and copper bed warmers hang on the walls, should you have cold feet.
Our house ghost is the friendliest of them all: the Fat Friar. You’ll recognise him easily enough; he’s plump and wears monk’s robes, and he’s very helpful if you get lost or are in any kind of trouble.
I think that’s nearly everything. I must say, I hope some of you are good Quidditch players. Hufflepuff hasn’t done as well as I’d like in the Quidditch tournament lately.
You should sleep comfortably. We’re protected from storms and wind down in our dormitories; we never have the disturbed nights those in the towers sometimes experience.
And once again: congratulations on becoming a member of the friendliest, most decent and most tenacious house of them all.

 

Also exciting thing is: I will be starting to play quidditch as of Monday!!! :)

Okay Harry Potter ramble over :)

Keep an eye out in the next few days for a blog post about my recipe for a yummy Banana Cake!

Manda

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Hunger Games


Hunger Games


By now, most fans of the books have seen the movie, and I hope they all liked like I did, and most of us know what the movie poster looks like. Especially here in Melbourne, it seems to be on every bus stop!
I feel that this poster really represents the tone of the movie - ominous. But what if the movie had been marketed and directed differently? Then perhaps we would have seen the below posters on every bus stop. These were designed over at Entertainment Weekly. I have chosen my favourites below :)

If the movie had been directed by Christopher Nolan, we might have seen this:
My favourite thing about this one is: Brunette Actress as Katniss, demonstrating how sterotypically male are Nolan's films?
 This is Alfred Hitchcock's version of the Hunger Games. This is probably my favourite (im)poster.

 Ahhh Michael Bay, possibly even more sexist than Nolan. Why would one bother seeing a film that has a fully clothed female at all times? Because they wouldn't right? I do like the little twist of the title - the Rise of the Tributes.

One thing to notice in all these posters is their casting of Haymitch. This one has Steve Buscemi, which would be interesting, but not at all correct.

Oh Peter Jackson. I do love how they sneak Orlando Bloom in here and that he would play Katniss!!!! And of course, since it is a Peter Jackson film, there must be Andy Serkis in it. I actually think he wouldn't be a half bad Haymitch, but I always see Andy Serkis as his gay character in 13 Going on 30 whenever he is on film, because every other time, it is just image capture!

 This is one is for the imagining of the Hunger Games if it was directed by Roger Corman, of Little Shop of Horrors fame. I liked this one because of the comic book look.
 Obviously this is Woody Allen's. Because his humour is often dark, it is interesting how it claims Hunger Games will be a comedy. And look who is playing Haymitch? Woody Allen! So so so wrong :P
This is one of my favourites in the way they play with the style of a Nancy Meyers film. Alec Baldwin as Haymitch would make a hilarious SNL skit. But would make a terrible movie!
 This one cracks me up. Directed by Garry Marshall, it is a direct reference to New Years Eve. The tagline makes me laugh, I'm not going to lie. Hector as Haymitch wouldn't be horrible but I just think of him as his role in Princess Diaries!
And then last but not least is a Disney version. I could see it being made into a Disney/Pixar movie and being depicted as very different from the books. It would be simialr to how they have used many other fairy tale stories and deviated quite strongly from the original source material. I do like the casting of Haymitch here with John Ratzenberger, seeing as there cannot be a Pixar movie without him these days!

So there you go, a little (im)poster work! Just a way to celebrate the success of the Hunger Games movie

Manda

Monday, March 26, 2012

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner


Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Okay this isn't a post about a yummy Chicken Dinner but it is still about winning!

My Mr Men & Little Miss Cross Stitching project raised 21 pounds for Sport Relief! Yay!!!!! I also purchased something very pretty:
It is a beautiful flower brooch that was handmade with Cath Kidston and Laura Ashley fabrics by a lady called Louise Howe. I bought it for 26 pounds, which is roughly $40 Aussie dollars.

Cannot wait to get in the mail!

In the meantime, these are the things I'm loving online at the moment:

1.) Laceaffair.com
I found this website last night and am already in love with several dresses and a bag!

2.) Instagram



So I don't have an iPhone - shock horror :P - but I have an iPod Touch and I'm loving messing around with Instagram!

Here are my shots:
http://statigr.am/viewer.php#/user/26296345/

3.) Draw Something! 
So I know everyone and everyone and their mother are playing this right now but I'm obsessed right now.

Sadly not my drawing :)

4.) 52 Suburbs Around the World
I love my travel blogs that I follow and this mixes my favourite things together - Photography and Travel!
Here is the description by the author/photographer:
I’m Louise Hawson and in 2012, I’m going to explore and photograph the ‘unfamous’ side of some of the world’s most famous cities – their suburbs – and share what I discover in weekly posts on this blog. My eight year old daughter, Coco, will be coming along for the ride, as will you I hope, in a virtual, vicarious kind of way.

5.) Hunger Games!
I saw the movie yesterday and I really liked it. I'm not one for writing movie reviews, or reading them for that matter. But I really like the subtle touches, such as Prim tucking in her duck tail when her name is drawn at the reaping. It was a very well made movie, so I believe it stands on it's own, seperate from the book series.
I am a relative new comer to the series - having only read the books this past January, so even though the events of the books were fresh in my memory, there were not many major parts I felt that were left out of the movie.
You should go see the movie if you like movies and/or if you like the books :)

Ciao,
Manda

Monday, March 19, 2012

Cross-Stitching


Cross-Stitching

As mentioned, I have a growing love for cross-stitching. Emma and I became obsessed before Christmas last year and made everyone in our family a cross-stitch card. I'm still making them today because they are the perfect thing to do while watching tv or a movie. There is nothing I quite like as much as curling up in front of my tv/laptop for a marathon of a tv show. At the moment, it is usually either Cougar Town or Happy Endings (depending on which hard drive is plugged in at the time). But I digress. 

The reason for this post is that I have gotten involved with Scarlett Curtis, of Teen Granny fame, has organised what she is calling Knit Relief! It is associated with Sport Relief (the bi-annual charity to Comic Relief) and I have donated an item to be bid on :)

And I just checked and 4 people have already bid on my item! Yay! This is the listing for my item - here.
What I am offering is a cross-stitched pattern of your favourite Mr Men or Little Miss character :) I'm so excited to do it as I will be making my own pattern for it :) Here is an example of Mr Bounce:
But I want to use this post to show some of my other work :) One of my best ones is a present for a friend whose birthday is this week so I don't want to put it up just yet as it is a surprise :)

I should start by saying: my favourite site for cross-stitch patterns is crossmenot.blogspot.com.
Her patterns are so easy to do and most come with the DMC thread colours already picked out. Most of them are small and very manageable for they are easy to finish - which I find is the hardest thing to do with many craft projects. So most of my patterns come from her - however, I will be making my own patterns for Knit Relief which is really exciting because I have been practicing (though no finished works yet).

One unfortunate thing is, though, that we did not take a photo of all of the ones we did for Christmas cards. I have a few still, but I have to go find them in the Christmas box. One day :) In the meantime, this is what I have in terms of Christmas ones:
 This is the only photo I have of a Christmas one I made and it is an adorable Santa hat, in the card that I gave it in. This one was very quick to do.

 Emma actually made this one and she made it for my Nana. The dog's ribbon used sparkly green DMC thread which made it even more festive. My Nana loves any type of dog cards, as she is a huge dog lover, so we thought this one was very approraite. I have since lost the link to this pattern - but if I find it again, I will link it here.

These are the other ones we made and here are their links:

Probably the best thing I have made so far is this:

I made this for my boss's baby daughter for Christmas and it is on a bib. The pattern was for a chain of elephants and I chose the rainbow colours and took creative license and designed the baby elephant myself as there wasn't quite enough room for an adult elephant but I think it is the winning feature of the bib. I choose to write her name in Pink because she is a gorgeous little girl. Then there are my initials in the bottom right hand corner :) I'm very proud of this one because it is a usable product of my creative obsession. This was done using a pattern my mum bought before I was born. Hence - no online version! My boss loved the bib so much but she is too afraid to use it but it was worn on Christmas day I was informed and now it occupies a position of honour - Pippa's favourite teddy bear wears it sitting on a chair in her room!

 My other favourite piece of cross-stitching is my Tardis! I used a pattern I found online for a iphone case: over here.  I'm quite proud of it and haven't decided what to do with it just yet - any ideas? I cross stitched this pattern while on holiday in Tasmania - I had a lot of fun doing this while sitting around our camping table talking. This was cross-stitched by a beach, by a mountain, in a house, in a hotel, in a car and in a tent. A labour of love :)

This is my other claim to fame (well not really). This is my beautiful Babushka doll that I made for my best friend Emily's 21st last December. It took two weeks of cross-stitching every night for several house while watching seasons 1-5 of the Office, US version. She loved it so it was worth every minute. I found the pattern here on Cross Me Not but can't seem to find it at the moment.

My current project are my cupcakes! I want to make a couple of different colours. The above one is finished and the below will be the same except a yellow and white wrapper instead of sea foam and white. Suggestions for the next one? I hope to sell these at a market :) Here is the pattern: Nom

So I hope you enjoyed seeing my work so far and that you are inspired to go bid on my Mr Men and Little Miss Cross stitch because, for as Scarlett says (the amounts are in pounds because the charity is British):

£5 - could buy new clothes for a child living or working on the streets of Nepal.

£10 - could give expert advice and guidance to a person living with dementia in the UK, and their carer, to improve their quality of life. 

£50 - could feed 100 vulnerable street children in India for one whole day.

Here is a list of all the other items up for sale - there are some truly amazing things such as knitted rain clouds, octopuses, aprons, socks, necklaces, tardises, knitted animals, badges, tea cosys, pillows, kermit the frogs, & knitted milk cartons. You can find them all here.

So I know this was a loooooooooonnnnggggg post but hope you enjoyed!

Manda xoxo

p.s. like the new background?


Sunday, March 18, 2012

Cidery


Cidery

These are my photos from Day 1 in Tasmania. While Maree & I napped in the back of the car, the boys stopped the car here - a tiny town that consisted of this pub. so we did exactly what the sign says - enjoyed our cider on tap even if Maree tried to not pay - by accident! It was nice being able to all have a drink as Chris is off his P plates (first 3/4 years of driving).

Location: Weldborough Pub, Weldborough
Where the hell is that?: on the way between Launceston and St. Helens.
What: a quiet little pub that is a good break from a day of driving for a very nice range of cider, which I personally love.

<3

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Manda is a 23 year old little girl who takes jumping photos when no one’s looking. She enjoys Anzac cookie dough way too much and wishes she could go back to the days when collecting stickers was cool. She lives in Melbourne, where not every Aussie puts a shrimp on the barbie. Read more of her words over at http://www.amandasummons.com/blog

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