I try to take the twins to the beach as often as I can. I want them to not only have good memories of a childhood at the beach, but I also want them to feel safe and confident there, both on the sand and in the water.

I love playing in the sand with them and I do enjoy having messy play without having to clean up at home afterwards. I love how they can run and run without me having to run after them every 5 seconds and turn them around the way I have to at the moment at the parks, and I love that when we cut loose at the beach most of the time we are not in anyone’s way. I also love that it allows for some nappy free time (as I pop them in swimming togs).

I love how 99% of things they find on the beach they can pick up and hold without me having to take it off them (like I often have to do in parks when they find icky things like rubbish/lighters). On the beach most things they find and decide to cart around are shells, leaves, rocks, branches (aka treasure).

Now that they are getting a bit older they are also starting to make little friends each beach visit which is über cute. They are not so keen on sitting and building sandcastles yet but do enjoy some little games like:

• Go-Go-Stop
• Running races
• Pirate treasure
• Clean up Australia
• Playing in rockpools
• Pretending to be seagulls/turtles/fish

Both hubby and I are decent swimmers, but if we take the twins in the water we always do so between the flags – you would be stupid not to. We also always watch the beach for a few minutes before we head down to see if waves/tides are surging to help pick the safest patch of beach to play on.

Linking in with Essentially Jess for I Blog on Tuesdays.

Their favourite thing to do at the moment is colour-in. Miss1 with highlighters and Mr1 with a biro. Usually on paper, but often on the walls and each other when I duck out to bang on the washing. Note to self: don’t give 1 year olds highlighters and biros.

Some of the cutest toys in their toy room are old school toys that have made their way into the collection via various means.
This one was my older brothers and Mr1 adores it.

They both love the knitted dolls hand-made by their adopted grandmother Alfalfa next door.


And this little bunny was mine when I was a beb. Miss1 has well and truly claimed this one and a huge fight ensues if Mr1 even looks in its direction.

MarMar gave the twins a box of my old dolls for Christmas just gone. This is their favourite doll from the box. I can remember getting given this doll from my mumsa and dadsa and loving her hard at the time, however now, to be honest she really gives me the creeps and whenever I clean up the toy room I put her face down (hello Chucky?!). She looks like I gave her a few too many perms out of household cleaners or something. They both love her a lot however – beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

My sista from another mista N has an old troll doll collection that rivals mine below.

I think when the twins are old enough we will give them the collection as a gift. I don’t think that time is now however given both twins cried while watching a snippet of Ice Age last week. Troll dolls are not the most gorgeous of dolls are they. It is funny how some things take off (remember those ‘snap’ bracelets made out of blinds – WTF).

Anyway, to finish up, I leave you with this YouTube clip – Top 50 best cartoons of the 80s. Note: it goes for 13 minutes but is all kinds of rad.
My top 5 votes go to:

•  #48
• #37
• #30
• #21
• #16

(Can you tell I had brothers?! My Barbie dolls often pashed on with Voltron and Star Wars figurines).

With a special mention to #47 still being on the teev today – go Pingu.

Parks usually only have one baby swing. We often have WW3, WW4 and WW5 in the space of 5 minutes as the twins try to deal with this fact. As a result I find myself always trying to direct their attention away from the coveted swing to the other areas of the park.

This week I took some of their toys from home down to the park to try to get them interested in playing away from the swings. It worked and they happily played ‘Fruit Shop’ for a good hour, even making some little friends along the way.
Miss1 was in charge of the till and Mr1 would only let me buy certain veg, but they both seemed to have a lot of fun. I had fun talking like Con the Fruiterer all afternoon anyway.


I think next time I will take down some actual vegetables instead of the plastic toy veg and see how they go with that.

Neither of them even looked in the direction of the swing too – success

We are at a hotel overlooking the sea, and it’s been a wonderful vacation. I haven’t needed ocean sounds on my Ambience app to fall asleep. Most mornings, at home, I wake up remembering a dream about the sea. For three days, the roar of high tide has woken me up instead. Lovely.

Little Bud showing off her teething necklace

You can buy them online or in your local health food shop. Just make sure to buy from a reputable company to ensure the product is of good quality. It works on the basis that the heat of the skin allows oils to be released from the amber and this provides pain relief as an anti-inflammatory. Here’s some more info on how the amber works.

I was worried at first re risk of choking but they are closed tightly and tucked under their vest. Bud Jnr doesn’t even know it’s there! And it looks a little bit gorgeous too Not to mention the fact that I am putting less chemicals into my kids to relieve pain and also then spending less and throwing out less packaging. And I have a happy baby – it’s all good.

Just be mindful of them and check they are closed properly on a regular basis!

I’m so excited. Grey hair, white hair is an accomplishment to me. It means that I am aging, and that I’ve made it long enough to go grey. I’ve achieved so much. I’m here!

It is difficult to describe how deep his songs touch my heart. Everything makes sense in a wider point of view. It is not about a love between a couple but a love with God. Then the Love happens to everybody. Thank you very much little angel. Absolutely amazing rhythms!!

Pages 10-11 are “How to Go to Sleep” for (hypo)mania, and “How to Stay Awake” for depression, below.

Now, I’ll follow the advice in my kit and go to bed.

“Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people.”
— Carl Jung

Meanwhile, I work on the pocket-sized survival kits. The first image is of the covers, with mania on top, depression below. Second image is page 2 of each, which are the same text. Third is pages 14 & 15, mania on top, depression below again:

Greetings from the Sea of Cortez. While it may be a little chillier than usual, I am making excellent use of my time away by sleeping, reading, reapplying sunblock and eating some more. I have also been thinking about the latest things I’ve been into and thought I would share…

New York Collections for Fall
Yes, Fall, but you know the drill by now. From my iPad, I didn’t see much that knocked my socks off, but Narcisco Rodriguez, Proenza Schouler, The Row, Marc Jacobs and Oscar de la Renta presented some of my favorite things. Check them out at nymag.com for a little inspiration and please note those shoes at Proenza: low heeled and to die for.

K. Jacques Sandals
This little obsession started last summer and it is only growing with my new “hippie” pair that I’ve been wearing with my more bohemian coverups…

I have even been wearing some gold jewelry with the look. A little outside my comfort zone, but only for like five seconds. Yay.

Monarchy
The band. I discovered them on Nowness, and find that while they aren’t as interesting as Goldfrapp, they are great to run to.

The Eye Has To Travel
Goodness, just watch it and get sucked into the fairy tale that Dianna Vreeland created and lived in. Sad to say that she could never be today, at least not in magazines. But maybe in some other way…here is hoping.

And that is all I have for today. Happy weekend!

xx

I’m only human, I watch stories on TV
They give me an ending when an ending’s all I need

Fancy your name in lights?  Not going to make it to Broadway anytime soon?  Well then how about some of these Alphabet Lights by Out There interiors.  Not for those on a thrifty budget at £345 each..  so initials / short words only we feel!

The rules of this award are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you
2. Add the “One Lovely Blog Award” image to your post.
3. Share 7 things about you.
4. Pass the award on to seven nominees
5. Include this set of rules
6. Inform your nominees by posting a comment on their blogs. 

The person that nominated me, the lovely and super-sweet Divine Rush (I thank you SO, SOOO much, girly!), chose to explain why she chose those certain bloggers. And I though ‘Hey, that sounds like a perfectly delightful idea to me.’ So I’m going to do it too!

BUT BEFORE WE BEGIN, here are seven things about me:

1. I looooove any lip product that smells and tastes nice.

2. I can’t stand people that smack their food when they chew…blegghhh.

3. My first high-end eyeshadow was “Sunkissed” by the Sephora Collection, which is sadly discontinued now. But I loved it back then!

4. Blue, purple and pink are my favorite colors. But I also really like green! I just like colors. :}

5. If I had to choose one food to live off of, it would be soup. Or pasta. Or bread. MMmm carbs.

6. I love writing dorky poems and making up fun words, or pulling weird faces!

7. Blogging is one of my favorite pastimes.

BAM. Now onto the nominees! 

Painted Lady. She is such an elegant blog, that I loooove to read. If you want info on all things beauty, check her out pronto! She’s such a sweet, gracious beauty, with great insights!

Pearls and Paris. God, I love her blog! She’s so trendy and “with-it”, and she has the cutest daily inspirations! Her voice totally engages her readers, and she has a lot of great stuff on…well…everything! Beauty, music, news, shopping, travel, humor, ect.

Aavicenna. She is the QUEEN, you guys. The queen of scents! The connoisseur! Her blogs are mostly scent reviews: thorough, honest-to-god, SUPER-descriptive scent reviews. Thinking about buying a scent but you aren’t sure? Stop by and check her out!

Beauty Nerd Marisha. I think I first started following Marisha when we had just entered the whole blogging world. When we first started. When we were little blossoms! AND NOW, she’s grown so much! She’s witty, engaging, hilariously helpful, and just a joy to read! When you read her posts, it’s like you’re chatting with a best friend, gossiping and quipping about girls and their “foundation masks” or brown lipstick and why you think it’s amazing. Just..love ya, Marisha! I hope I get your autograph before you’re famous and all ;}

The Beauty Cloud. This girl makes amazing reviews on makeup!!! I also love how she shares new trends or fashion pieces; it’s like having a narrator inside a fashion mag!

Janine Russell. She is just a phenomenal writer. She is wise, and ambitious, and smart, and funny, and really pretty on top of that. She stands up for what’s right, and I totally respect her. You go, girl!

Rockin’ Around The Frock. Even though I am a bit new to her blog, I am totally a fan. She’s like the glam, chic, sophisticated older sister I always wanted. She has this sort of style that I adore, and posts the best things on fashion and beauty. I’d say she posts a healthy mix of both. And she’s funny too. Really funny. Like “fall-out-of-my-chair-laughing-about-Brittany-Spear’s-denim-dress-and-choking-on-my-soda” funny. I love her quips.

And that’s it guys! Thanks so much. <3 Peace out!

The most romantic thing hubby has ever done for me was custom build me a mountain bike back in 2009. The bike’s name is Harry and she likes to get dirty. She is a Santa Cruz frame with blah blah blah* accessories which means meh to me but hubby gets excited about. I love this bike, but for different reasons to why he loves it. I love it because he built it for me from scratch… (and that it has pink handle bars and pedals).

I’m not so good at washing her after rides, but she magically is always clean the next time I go for a ride, so I am guessing hubby looks after that for me too.
To me that is love. And the fact he never mentions that he does it. Double love.

We don’t really celebrate Valentines day as a couple. Even before kids we never really did anything spesh. This year post-kids will likely be the same. Maybe tomorrow I will cut the kids apple up in shapes of hearts (which will probably just end up looking like badly cut apple wedges).

I did get a few little V day pieces** for some of my mates at work. I like to leave little pieces** on their desks. I have an awesome friend at work and we are like this when we get together for meetings:

(Source: Hallmark card).
This was her piece:

I also have another gorgeous sista-friend at work who I met on our first day of 5-month-old-baby daycare drop-offs. The two of us often have versions of this conversation below in the daycare carpark before work:
(insert crying)
“Do I look like I have been crying”
(insert sweet white lie) ”No mate you look amazing”
“Let’s go get a coffee before work”
We take turns at each role depending on shiz going on.  She has a big big week this week so I dropped off this ‘piece’ for her, disguised as a V day gift but really just a good excuse to try to make her smile at the tack:

Happy V day!

* he has told me 100 times but I never remember.
** ‘piece’ or ‘pieces’ is what my kids (Mr1 and Miss1) call anything they don’t know the word for that they see on the bench and want… “mummy piece there me”… or “mummy my piece”… So far ‘piece’ has meant: water bottle, orange, your necklace, toy cars, tomatoes, iPad, roll of toilet paper, reading glasses, and scissors.

I used to get on the ocean for a ski paddle about 4 times a week, and even managed to paddle up to 7 months pregnant with the twins. Which was so much fun but so very awkward and I think caused hubby to get a few grey hairs even before Team Destructo arrived 2 months later.

You can’t see it too well, but this was me catching some small bumps with my not-so-small 7 months preggers twin bump.

Today I took our Olympus under-water camera tucked down my togs and headed off around the points. Made it off the beach (which is my biggest nervy zone – I have eaten sand too many times to count) and headed out. Now, I normally cringe up when people start talking about wonderment/spirituality/universal beauty/activating almonds etc., but the ocean is freaking magic. It is a happy place for me and despite a few hairy days out there, it always has been.

Today was one of those days where the rain had come and gone so the water was dark and the sky grey.


I was having a lovely time until I started paddling blue bottles on to me. They wrapped around my paddle and with each stroke I flicked them on to my legs. Blue bottles don’t really hurt, they are just a bit of a pinch sting, and while beautiful with a gorgeous dark blue colour to look at, are quite annoying to paddle through. So after an hour I turned around and headed back to shore, back to hubby and the twins, and back to a hot coffee.

Have a great weekend doing things you love.
I am going to do an @ home pedi tonight in OPI M34 ‘into the night’ renamed ‘damn blue bottles’. A lovely gift from a lovely friend for Christmas. Yes another wild Saturday night!

* as slow as a grandma turtle is the current preferred pace.

Following my earlier post about Valentines, this week I have been taking lots of new pictures of new (and some old) products ready for our new Website Project..  and thought I would share some of our LOVE party details.. from Chevron Straws and Tape to Paper Balls, Streamers, and of course Hearts…  just in case you are thinking of having a little do x

http://fora.tv/2007/11/14/Photography_and_Contemporary_Performance_Art

This is a link to a panel discussion on the relationship of photography and performance art, featuring RoseLee Goldberg, Babette Mangolte, Vanessa Beecroft, and of course, Marina Abramovic.  I think that this is a really great discussion of the topic, despite the fact that some of the the concerns don’t get fully addressed.  It focuses (photo pun!) mostly on the larger more central concerns of photography as documentation, such as the idea that photo compresses something that is time based and ephemeral into a single static moment, the fact that the photographer should at all times be a representative of the truth, and of course the question of when and how documentation becomes a work of art in it’s own right.  It’s difficult to clearly delineate these issues as they all become muddled together, one tying into the next, and feeding back out of another, however.

Personally, I think I struggle the most with the first concept, the fact that photography can never capture the entire scope of the performance.  The best that it can hope to do, is to give a good sense of how the performance looked, an impression of what happened where and in relation to whom.  It can never capture the “vibe” of the experience, or the dynamic between viewers/participants and the artist.  And yet, at the same time, the photographs exist as a type of proof that the event happened for galleries, press, or of course in our current situation, act as evidence for our next studio visit.  But, aside from proof, why must these images be created?  I go back and forth on this hourly…

Very early in the video, RoseLee Goldberg makes the point that often times people are told that “You have to be there (at the performance), to understand.”  Her response is that, well, she wasn’t at the Battle of Waterloo, or any other number of historical events, but she can still appreciate their significance.  In her view, experiencing performance via photography is legitimate.  I however, am not so convinced on this logic (Isn’t the saying that history is written by the victors?).  These “documentary” images of a performance are not the objective records we believe them to be.  Photographs can easily be misleading or even misused after the fact, leading to interpretation or opinions that may not be in line with what the artist intended.  In fact, you can have a terrible performance, or even one that never actually took place, evidenced beautifully in a still photograph.  Then, even if the images captured reflect, at least, the essence of what the artist was going through, they are very carefully edited and circulated by the artist themselves, there by controlling the interpretation of the work.  Chris Burden always had his performances documented, but culled the documentation down into one or two photographs that were then used to represent that piece of work for perpetuity.  Babette Mangolte also points out that art historians tend to follow a similar behavior pattern in their realm of research.  Instead of looking for many images from the same performance, the habit of art historians is to viewing only published documentation, thus narrowing the field through which the work is encountered.

All of this leads me to wonder exactly how right it is to “experience” a performance via photography.  Photography lies.  It always has, and will continue to, be it through the medium itself, or those who make use of/study it.  I think our society is more in love with the idea of a beautiful image than we are with the truth.  Marina Abramovic makes a wonderful point when she says that art historians typically only concern themselves with the still photo because it aestheticizes the performance in to  one single thing.  In essence, it that image becomes one single, easily digestible tidbit, which can easily come to stand in for the piece in it’s entirety.  Which is where we cross into the territory of the documentation become a work in it’s own right…

This is another aspect of this discussion for which I don’t have a really good answer.  While most of the art we look at is viewed through documentation, performance art is almost exclusively viewed this way.  Because of the fact works are often only performed once, or done for a specific place, or the artist has passed, the only way we can access those pieces is through their documentation.  So when galleries or museums wish to show a piece of work which no longer actually exists, what is there to do but use the documentation, making it an art work in it’s own right?   Finally, there is the need to take into consideration the idea of photography itself as a performance.  In this respect, Cindy Sherman could be creating a performance every single time she creates one of her images.  Think also of the Yves Kline image, Leap into the Void, a composited image of an event that never truly took place.

Some things I had never considered, that this panel brought up, was the concept of the importance of sound to a performance and it’s documentation, and the idea of “collaboration” with a photographer.  The idea of sound I think is a truly crucial one that photography has no hopes of addressing.  All performances have some type of sound associated with them, even if it is only the ambient sound of movement, or of the space itself.  That has an impact on the way a performance is perceived, and that is not captured in a photography.  When we look at photographic documentation of a performance, we cannot get even a sense of what the space sounded like, and so we lose that important information for our interpretation.  Lastly, in the panel, the question is raised as to how the artist relates to and works with the photographer.  Oddly enough, this thought had never crossed my mind.  But it makes sense, if you’re attempting to capture your performance, the relationship to the person documenting it becomes something of a collaboration.  You have to understand them, and they you…  There’s a necessity for being on the same page.  However, this then raises the question of creative rights.  Does the work belong to the photographer, do the images belong to the artist?

It’s murky water my friends.

Valentines Day is on the horizon … and we are all set for a celebration filled with love!  (Any excuse for a knees up really.. and a day filled with flowers, gifts and scoffing chocolates is alright with us!)

As you may or may not know, we have been partners with Not On The High Street since 2008…  we launched the first ‘personalised print’ on their site that same year…  and the fab merchandising team have placed us front and centre for their Valentines campaign with the cutest of photos featuring our various sized heart balloons and a delicious dog, which completely steals the show!

We (obviously) think our balloons make a fab alternative to flowers – and you can get yours here>>