Not Feeling Well Today

It's been a loooooong few days. Boston has kept us up all day and all night. I don't like the person I become when I haven't rested! We're hardly functioning really. What's worse is that I've had a sore throat all week as well. The throat sighs!Random.

On a proud Mummy note though, my six year old won player of the day at touch rugby today. That means he gets a free meal at Cobb n Co. I remember when my brother played rugby, I swear all you got was a coke haha.

Virtual Reality

*Disclaimer - the links lead to artistically posed nudes. Please do not click if you find nudity offensive or are under 18.

Now, that being said. Oh my gosh, how cool is this idea? I came across this virtual pose site today and think the idea behind it is so clever! The models can be rotated 360 degrees, pretty much the next best thing to working with an actual person.

Photo courtesy of fineartamerica.

Now Twittering

I was fighting this sooo hard but at the insistence of my husband I have now joined twitter. He just sent me a message saying "I bet you in two weeks you're addicted to this".... He's probably right haha. However, I need some people to follow so if you're on twitter, add me so I can find you!

Join me here on http://twitter.com/chavahkinloch.

Well Obviously...

I just came across this quote. It made me chuckle because I feel this way all the time.

Sometimes I'm confused by what I think is really obvious. But what I think is really obvious obviously isn't obvious...”
-Michael Stipe-

Remember This Post?

Shhhhh....it's a secret well, it's almost time for the big reveal. I'm so excited! I'm tempted to let it all out tonight but I'll zip it until I know I'm really ready.

I can tell you however that in the next couple of weeks I will be doing a giveaway. Last year we did a Random Act of Kindness giveaway during the holiday season and I really enjoyed the stories that got sent in. So this year, I'm doing it again. Keep reading this blog to find out more details. In the meantime get your thinking caps on about what you can do as your random act so you can enter.

Now, I MUST complete the giveaway for my 3 readers that took place earlier in the year. Ive been so slack but I really wanted my homemade gift to be good. That's the only reason it's taken so long. Don't think I've forgotten about you, I haven't :)

Also, welcome to my new followers, so glad you decided to join us. You're in for a treat.

That's it for now, it's been a loooong few days and my body and brain are really feeling it. Time to rest.

What Are You Doing at Home??

When there are some great exhibitions happening at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery at the moment! I went out with my hubby for lunch the other day and we drove past the museum when I mentioned we hadn't been there in a while. So when our original plans were cancelled today, we decided it would be a fun place to take the kids for a rainy afternoon. I'm so glad we did!

First off we went to A Touch of Gold. It's an exhibit by the Weavers Guild. Gorgeous shawls for the ladies are on show. I noticed there were quite a few sales too! Well done.

Then we headed to the most amazing exhibition I've seen in a while. PLEASE, go check out Chris Meder's Hatched - Metals meet Animalia. It is just so impressive. That guy has TALENT! He's a young sculptor from Dunedin and has turned junk into absolute funk.


The next display is of Southland Floods: 25 year Anniversary. It's hard to believe that half this city was once immersed under water. The photos are amazing, there's one shot of my husbands workplace, his office in fact. The place the men are standing in the photo is where his desk sits now. My children were fascinated by the airport shots. They could hardly believe that even the planes were half under water. If you live in Southland, they have maps up to show you whether your street was flooded or not. Mine wasn't, that brings some quiet comfort.
Last but by no means least we saw Len Castle: Mountain to the Sea. Oh. My. Gosh. STUNNING. His works are made of ceramics, the exhibit also includes photography and poetry. If I were to learn how to create ceramics, this is the man I would want to learn from. He grew up in Westmere, Auckland and says his inspiration is drawn from the beach and volcanoes that have surrounded him during his years. His use of colour and texture is truly impressive with the works looking organic and natural yet super chic and unique. There is a case with an extremely large blue bowl in it that I am coveting. Oh how I wish I had a few thousand dollars spare for a big blue bowl lol.

So if you're a local, I suggest you try to make the time to fit in a quick visit to the Southland Museum and Art Gallery. It's worth the effort!

Here's a Better Shot

I was eager to share last night so I snapped my shots then but paintings photograph so much better in natural light so I made sure to do that today. You can see a little more detail now.

Help Me Name This Painting

Here's something a little different. I decided to just play, experiment and enjoy myself with this piece. It was fun! This is a real mixed media piece of art. Made from acrylics, pastel, permanent marker, sand, transfers and paper on canvas. What I love about this painting is that it looks good no matter which way you hang it. I didn't intend for it to end up that way but I was painting it upside down & sideways as well as the regular way and it just. works. However you decide to look at it. Not sure what this painting is destined for, probably just my dining room for now lol.

So help me pick a name for it! Your options are:

1. Oriental Dreaming
2. Only in my Dreams
3. Disoriented Daydream
4. Suggest your own

I'll let you know the end result.

Right way up

Turned to the right

Upside down.

Turned to the left.

BOO!

It just felt like I was on a roll haha.

Bagging Bargains

My little Boston bun is now 3 months old. He's approaching the end of having to share a room with us and will be moving in to his very own nursery for the next year or two. Next year is going to be pretty busy for us and the one thing I want to get done before all the chaos invades life is my little boys room. I'm still trying to find the perfect colour for the one wall that won't be white. I'm tossing up between an intense blue or a light grey.

I feel bad for the kid. My older children have managed to get hold of our bag of baby toys and they've gone walk about. So unless I want my infant to play with little fiddly transformers or hot wheels, I have to start from scratch. Not ideal when you're frugal. We run a pretty strict budget in our household, you kind of have to! We have $100 a fortnight to spend on anything we want, yep that's all for 6 people. To some that may be a lot and to others not much at all. That includes any eating out, clothes, outings, toys etc. We could have a lot more but you don't get ahead by spending all the money you have so we do things bit by bit. 8-9 years ago it was $30 a fortnight for 2 adults and then along came a baby. That was usually spent on ordering in pizza for a big Friday night in lol.

I've stunned quite a lot of people by telling them I shop at places like habitat for humanity and the dump. I must not give off a scent that's assoociated with those places or something lol. I am a total bargain shopper. I scour the 2nd hand stores allll the time. I don't buy all the time, just go searching for some little treasures, lodge the piece and place in the back of my mind and then buy it when the time is right. It's like my weekend routine now. I know the store hours and which salespeople will give you the best deals lol.

Anyway, I have started picking up some goodies that will take Bostons nursery from drab to fab on a budget. Here's what we've got so far:

The Funny Way My Brain Works

I've spent the past 1/2 an hour learning Kanji, basic symbols in Japanese. I can now recognise numbers 1 through 10 and about 10-15 simple colours and phrases. What I wanted to share was the way I've managed to memorise them. This is honest to goodness how I memorise things. If this is how your mind works too, let me know!

'To go out' oh ok so that symbol is kind of messy, loose, like a woman going out..

'Mountain' that one looks like a pen*s. That ones easy to remember. (don't want my blog to get blocked by anyone!)

'Moon, month' looks like a calendar.

'Blue' looks like a cluttered Christmas tree.

'Sound' looks like a tidy Christmas tree.

'Earth' looks like the symbol for a pound.

'Power' looks like a less fancy N, unlike 'Nine' which is a fancy N

and 'Water' reminds me of the initials JK, like Harry Potter.

and thats how you learn how to read Japanese, Chavah style.

Can you tell which ones these are?

Feeling Inspired

I've had a lot of inspiration this weekend. On Saturday I worked at City Gallery, Invercargill where I got to sell a piece. It gave me such a rush to be interacting with adults again lol. I'm happy I get to stay home though. It was as though I'd never stopped working in the 'real world'. I got the signs out, lights on, booklets printed, pitched invitations to an opening night later that evening, answered phones and talked to everyone about the art. I also sketched some pictures of a friends baby bump later that night at home after seeing them and getting the overwhelming urge to draw more pregnant women. They're just so gorgeous! This morning I began painting a new piece with my 3 y/o sitting beside me 'helping' (chatting away touching the brushes I wasn't using). It's nice to be creating again. I think I'm finding my flow again. Yay!

Here are the sketches:

I Just Discovered

This Blog. I love this! I'm always happy to see a proclaimation of love. I get all giddy when I see couples walking down the road hand in hand. Heaven forbid I see someone cuddle or sneak in a peck. It makes my heart a-fllutter. Please. No making out sessions though. No one wants to see that. I recently had an experience walking into the supermarket where a an elderly couple were having a full on pash session in their disabled parking spot with 'Walk This Way' blaring so loud you couldn't help but look to see what was going on. Totally ruined that song for me. I think I'm scarred for life.

There were a lot of murals to choose from to use as the pic for this post but I went with this one because as women, I know we are often far too hard on ourselves. Sometimes we need to stop and remember how our husbands, partners, mothers, friends... see us.

It's the Simple Things

That bring me joy. Like a 7 year old little girl rushing in to ask me to help her put on a freshly made daisy ring. I love being a Mum.

Latest Painting

'Emergence' is my latest painting. I created it to give as a gift for my cousin.

My Whirlwind Weekend

On Monday we returned from a whirlwind of a trip to Auckland for my cousins wedding. It was beautiful, just as she was and I cried far more than I thought I would. I was just SO happy to see ALL of my family. Four generations! Nana, Mum, Uncles & Aunts, Brother & Cousins, Nephews and Nieces. It was chaotic bliss. LOVED IT.
We spent the night in Queenstown on Wednesday, staying at a different hotel. This one was really good, affordable, tidy, ensuite, buffet breakfast. My only issue is that we all had to share one room. I barely survived the night haha. I got 32 minutes of sleep that night. Woo hoo....

Thursday we headed up to Auckland on the plane. Great easy trip, no tears, everyone behaved. We picked up our rental car that I lovingly nicknamed Kermit aka Kremit. We were ready for lunch after that so where did we go? Where else but WENDYYYYS. Then off to eastern beach to let the kids out for a run around. We then headed over to Fresh Gallery in Otara to check out a friends Exhibiton, which by the way was fantastic. You can view his blog here.

I don't even remember Friday, it was such a blur. I know I found a Pagani outlet store and bought a dress for $15 though lol. I spent the evening helping out where I could, stitching bridesmaids dresses, buying ribbon and helping my Mum with the flowers for the wedding.

The wedding on Saturday was great. Everyone loved it and Rob and Sita looked fantastic.

Sunday was full of family get togethers. We all slept as long as we could then headed out to see both sides of the family.

Monday was hometime!

So as you see, it really was a whirlwind of a trip. THANKFULLY on Tuesday, Bossman put himself back into his regular routine and we settled back into life. Still trying to recover though. I don't think anyone slept for a week!