wandering around, looking at stuff

so, it's my birthday in a couple of months....

Sadly, my tastes (limited edition) far exceed my budget (tightarse) and I often fall in passionate needy love with something I see on the internet only to realise it would cost me waaayy more than I'm prepared to spend (usually about $10). There is a history of winning the lottery in my family though so, despite never buying a ticket in my life, I like to prepare for my turn by keeping pictures of things that take my fancy. That way, when my ship comes in, I'll be ready to go shopping with none of this hand wringing, what-to-do-worries that lottery winners always have in tv documentaries. Below are some chairs I would very much like to own, sorry for the lack of accreditation but I can't remember where I got them from.

The chairs above are Kartelle Mademoiselle. Though I don't think expensive plastic chairs and dogs go together all that well, I have been thinking about covering my kitchen table with fabric like the blue one and then lacquering it to protect it. It can't look worse than scratched up formica with a big hole in the top.

Hand painted Eames shell chair. I wish I could draw this well, or that there was more furniture with pictures.

This couch looks so, so comfortable and I really like how you could use them together as a double/day bed or separately.

I would never actually buy something like this as it would be ruined in about five seconds. It sure is nice to look at though.

teh cuteness

Ludo is allowed to sleep on my bed (by allowed, I got tired of waking up twenty times a night to kick him off and gave in), however is supposed to stay at the end of the bed. Usually he takes advantage of my being asleep to sneak up and lie next to me. I don't really mind however the other night I rolled over in bed and felt something wet. I jumped out of the bed in horror and turned on the light to discover I had been lying next to a regurgitated pile of Lucky Dog. That's right - dog vomit. In my bed. Doesn't look so cute now, does he?

Grrr, I'm a tough and manly working dog. Pa-fetic.

He may be cute now but that's NOTHING compared to puppy Ludo. Look at his mad acting skillz, here playing the babby jebus.

i love sweets!

This is whats in my hallway this week. The vase (I think thats what it is but you're guess is as good as mine) I got in Thailand a few years ago. I like it because it reminds me of an internal organ, or perhaps some kind of sea creature.

I really regret I only bought one of these trays in Japan. Cram Cream is an oddly named but very cool brand. I think it's Korean, will have to ask one of the lovely ladies from work. One of my Korean colleagues is going home for a visit and has promised to bring me a bag of Swimmer and Artbox stuff. Yay for Ara!

This print was bought for Patto's birthday last year but I think I love it more than he does. Well, I did choose it. It's from Outre, on Elizabeth Street, which is fast becoming our go-to gift place. So many things there I want! So don't have the money to buy them all! Waaaaahhhhh, life sucks. I 've been wondering if it's a 3D image for a while. Need to get me some some glasses and check it out...

PS. Sorry these photo's are UG-LY. It's pretty dark in the hallway and I hate using flash. Or a tripod, even though taking these well was far beyond my abailities.

living in japan

The bathroom in our second apartment, in Yoshinocho. Everything you've heard about Japanese living standards is true btw, this apartment was about a 1/4 the size of a one bedroom place in Australia. The bathroom is more like a waterproof pod than a room and with no natural light or ventilation used to get nice and mouldy. Everything in the apartment is plastic - doors, walls, floor EVERYTHING - as normal (ie. not on materialicious) Japanese architecture is designed to have a very short lifespan of around 10 to 15 years.

The view from the Yoshinocho "kitchen". Of our two apartments in Japan, this one was BY FAR the best despite being by far the smallest as it had a. transparent windows and b. a private outdoor area (a balcony). It was also in downtown Yokohama so I could walk to work and there were a lot of restaurants and shops nearby. Also a 'soaplands', which was interesting, especially how I was constantly mistaken for a hooker and followed home by salarymen telling me to "get into my car". Um, ok. Why not!

The exterior of our first apartment in Fujisawa, featuring the beautiful archiectural details and sympathetic use of material that Japan is so famous for. That's our bedroom window which, like all windows in the apartment, has opaque textured glass so that you can't see outside. Not suffocating or depressing at all.

The loungeroom in Fujisawa. This room actually felt warm and fairly welcoming due to the tatami mat flooring. The big dark spot in the bottom left corner is where the boyfiend melted the floor when ironing clothes on it. He has done this in every single place we've ever lived in and is suprised each time.

I really wish I had taken more photos.

kle!

Matty8080 is selling this AWESOME print on Etsy for $6 - if only you could get an actual mask for Nik!

Kle be, I think these horsies were meant for you - Emerson Merrick is selling them, also on Etsy, for $23 American.

newish paintings

bored

same but different

So I managed to score a centerpiece from my friend Tun's wedding and in an effort to find somewhere to put it, ended up rearranging the whole loungeroom at 11pm on a Sunday night.

That blurry brown bit in the bottom left corner? The dog just heard someone open the fridge door, possibly to get treats for him. and is zooming off to investigate.

This little yellow, black and white arrangement would like much better if we had grey walls. Stupid rental.

I got this very un-unique African souvenir for the bargain price of $1. Her face is actually really well carved but the dark wood made it hard to see so I painted her red. She freaks the boyfiend out.

My first bookshelf - taken from work during renovations and our faux Eames lounger. Hypothetically this is my reading corner but is more often used for dumping bags and coats on. I know there is a lot of bitching on shelter sites about colour coding your bookshelves but it looks so. much. better.

I love this lemon box and rescued it from work to keep all our cds in. We never listen to them but boyfiend insists on keeping them so I had to hide them somewhere.

kensington

I found a bunch of photos of our last place on the portable hard drive. I don't think there was a straight line in the whole house.

bathroom window

When we moved in, this window was covered by a cheap, plastic, dusty and stained venetian blind. I took it down so we could see the very nice leadlighting at the top of the window. Sure, our neighbours could look at us in the shower any time they want but they only seem to use that side of the house to keep their bins in. We never see them anyway so whats a bit of nudity between neighbours?

chocolaty goodness

I very, very rarely wear jewellery however people (notably my parents) looove to give it to me. I keep it all in various little tins inside an awesome old Cadbury's Chocolate box. Why don't they make stuff like this more? Don't suppliers realise people like me will buy products they hate if the packaging is cool? I don't like Nutella at all but when they briefly supplied it in cool polka dot glasses, I bought four and took them to my friend's place to be eaten then returned. The only reason I buy Moconna (sic?) instant coffee over any other brand? The jars.

pfaffing around town

I lurve hand painted signs very, very muchly.

magazines as architectural feature

Well, maybe not a feature but I couldn't think of a better word. I have a bunch of old magazines (Frankie, Wallpaper, years of Ikea catalogues etc) that I can't bear to get rid of but didn't know where to put. I also have a deep shelf above the 'fireplace' (actually a gas heater) that needed something BIG to go on top. So I used my brain and came up with this solution - a paper pediment. Sorry about the idiot in the photo below.

this and that