Best bloody giveaway win ever

When I found out I'd won, I was so excited I almost left a wet patch on the couch. The giveaway was to celebrate jezburrows.com, the website of designer and illustrator Jez Burrows (no shit). I have loved his blog, Woods, ever since I bought his Pocket Town print, and now he has a whole website. His work has been in the NY Times magazine, Monocle and Time (amongst others) if that's the sort of thing that impresses you.

The prize came in a giant tube from Edinburgh. My sister picked it up from the post office for me on Christmas Eve and brought it along on Christmas Day when I met my family after work. Don't tell my family but I was more excited about opening that tube than their Christmas presents. My Dad was full of curiosity. "Intriguing," he said, "A package from Scotland." (PS my dad is originally Scottish.) Contents of the tube? A zine by Sing Statistics, this little lovely, a poster (in the blurry photo below) and a giant print:

Anyway, I was super-excited. "What are you going to do with that?" asked my Dad as I unpacked the tube. (PS my dad is into those paintings of outback scenes with a guy sitting outside a bush shack, heating up a billy.)

Check out the website, blog and flickr. Buy this and this, make this your screensaver and your life will be better.  (Trust me, I'm a doctor.)

Romance makes me feel this way

Roses are red and
Violets are blue and I think
I'm gonna vomit.

Whose great idea was this?

Lease available:
Stone-throwers need not apply.
Naturalists may.

photo via Apartment Therapy

This study stuff is hard work

Eyes: they're still burning
Head: it's silently throbbing
Sleep: it evades me

My work day

The strangest patient
Washes hair in toilet, then
Walks around in nude

Don't feed the pigeons...unless they're wearing ties

If pigeons wore ties
They may be more welcome at
Social gatherings

One of my favourite local stores, Pigeonhole, is having a sale. Don't you love their font? And the little pigeon in a tie? I wandered down there on my lunch break today to pick up little gifts for friends far away. Pigeonhole have some really cute homewares, Korean stationery and jewellery (and clothes and cameras and bicycles...) The sale is at their online store too.

Paper Whistle

Last week I was very excited to receive these prints I ordered from Paper Whistle. Despite the postie's best efforts to squash and rip them, they arrived intact. I found some temporary frames for them and am yet to decide where to hang them. As always, the prints look much better in real life than in my shabby photo. I especially like the illustration in the middle, Secret Source, as it reminds me of my mother in the 1980s (in photos where she is holding me as a baby). Of course, she did not have coloured rays emanating from her forehead. The prints I bought are all from the Dark Crystal series. Brandi Strickland, the artist, sent me some emails when I was having problems placing my order and also sent me a polite little note with my prints. She seems to be a real sweetie, as well as a talent! Go to the Paper Whistle site to have a better look at her work and maybe sign up for her blog and buy something at the store, so you can be like me.

By the way, if you're wondering how my wall o' photos is looking, I bought some frames in the post-Christmas sales and am busy adding prints I've acquired in recent months.

Prints are about to eat the fridge.

Here's a gap left after a print mysteriously fell off the wall for the second time, trying to squash my little Christmas tree. Good thing it missed the liquor!

New Years Peeve

Yesterday sucked, and not just because my masseur had an erection (and he was not even hot). Places were closed (even my post office) when I wanted them to be open, even though it was not a public holiday. I fell asleep at 8pm and then woke ludicrously early this morning but still managed to be late for work. I suffered the terrible headaches, backaches and gastrointestinal symptoms that come with being female and having a monthly overload of prostaglandins. I was shirty with my sister and with Little Sarah when they were just trying to be nice to me. I will therefore try to let out some of my negativity by writing a haiku to myself, and try to be marshmallows, rainbows and cupcakes for the rest of the year (or at least day).

Fucking dumbarse bitch
You should pull your finger out
Stop being so lame!