"Bring it, Ludwig" said John James Preston.

The Scene from SATC that made me (and a million other women) fall in love with love letters again

So, it may be so last year (or 3 centuries ago) but I don't care. The words of Beethoven always resound in my mind when I watch the SATC movie or read his (now) infamous letter/s:

..You - my life - my All - farewell.

Oh, go on loving me - never doubt 

the faithfullest heart 

Of your beloved

L

Ever thine

Ever mine

Ever ours.

This letter is actually the last of a series of three, which were found among a pile of papers after his death and addressed to his "Immortal Beloved" (Love Letters of Great Men, Ursula Doyle).

Extracts from some other hot letters:

Henry VIII to Anne of Boleyn:

My heart and I surrender themsevles

into your hands,

and we supplicate to be commended

to your good graces, 

and that by absence your affections

may not be diminished to us,

For that would be to augment our pain, 

which would be a great pity,

since absence gives enough,

and more than I ever thought could be felt. 

Well, sadly he did eventually think more could be felt as he beheaded her...

Napolean Bonaparte to Josephine de Beauharnais (1796):

13 November

I do not love thee any more;

On the contrary, I detest thee.

Thou art horrid, very awkward,

Very stupid, a very

Cinderella.

circa, early December

I have not spent a day without 

Loving you;

I have not spent a night without embracing you;

I have not so much

as drunk one cup of tea without cursing

the pride and ambition which force me to remain 

apart from he moving spirit

Of my life.

In the midst of my duties,

whether I am at the head of the 

army or inspecting the camps,

My beloved Josephine stand alone in my heart,

occupies my mind, 

fills my thoughts.

Charles Darwin to Emma Wedgwood (1839)

Excuse this much egotism,

- I give it to you because I think you

will humanise me,

And soon teach me there is

greater happiness than buidling

theories and accumulating facts

in silence and Solitude.

My dearest Emma, 

I earnestly pray, you may

never regreat the great, 

and I will add very good,

deed, you are to perform

on the Tuesday: my own dear

future wife, 

God bless you...

I hate to wake you up to say "goodbye".

 

 

 

  

 

Fur Part 1: Faux fur, faux me?

So, wearing real fur is fully non-PC (at least in New Zealand you would rarely find someone strutting around in a fur piece) and most people can agree that wearing the fur off an animals back is hands down unethical, immoral, a bit freaky and quite frankly just MEAN!.. But... have you ever actually worn a real fur coat? They are amazingly comfortable, snuggly and warm, particularly out in the -38 degree celcius Harbin winter. However, in saying that, I don't think I could ever wear it anywhere else...unless I died and came back as Anna Wintour...(or someone similar).

Source: The Clothes Horse

 

As most of you know I'm moving to the other side of the world soon, to Norge (Norway). And am pretty excited to soon be living in Europe! Do you think I can get away with wearing one in Norge? Or should I go faux....?

Souce: olsensanonymous 

I have to admit, I quite love the mix of timeless elegance with modern chic...a fur coat/jacket, leggings and boots is so easy to put together and you simply can't go wrong with the look (until someone throws an egg or tomato at you, ala Samatha Jones - Sex and the City movie), (also see below September 29 post).   

AND I LOVE Kate Moss's new Autumn-Winter collection for Topshop which includes a range of faux fur jackets...

  

Source: Kate Moss for Topshop

Hot. 

So, last night I happen to find quite a nice black faux fur jacket in Mummy's wardrobe, I try it on, it fits, it reminds me Ashley's white fur jacket (see above) as it has lines down it too (not quite as nice though funnily enough) but then I go and find that because faux fur is faux, it is therefore made from mainly polyester and nylon - and completely flammable (eek, should someone throw a ciggie or a fire-ball at me).  It also plays on my trying-to-be-environmentally-friendly-mind that nylon creates GHGs (green house gas) and polyester is made from petrochemicals...Furthermore, faux fur doesn't degrade.... well not for at least 600 years according to America's Fur Commission (that's right, Fur Commission!!). 

So, I'm a bit torn. I'd feel more comfortable in faux than real fur (unless I was in Russia or China) but then again, why care so much about what other people think? And if I do go faux, it has its demerits...and "saving an animal" would traded for "polluting our environment", or, I could just do without either altogether?...but either/or, that would be faux me.

So, you think you know International Humanitarian Rights Law?

Bring it on! (by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

Recycling some old things

 Thailand

 

Vietnam

 

 

 

China

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Photographs from my trip to Asia, November-Feburary 2005

Cigarettes will kill you

but sometimes I wish I was a smoker...

This is me, circa July 2008, at a dress-up party. I wasn't really planning on smoking but am not really one to pass up the opportunity to go all out at a dress-up party either...

Sometimes I wish I was a smoker, not because I like nicotine or want lung cancer, but because there are some situations/circumstances that only smokers can really get away with purely by virtue of being a smoker (and (probably) also due to societal norms):

- you can sit at a cafe by yourself with a ciggie in your hand and not look like a loner/loser/Nigel-No-Mates

I love this scene of Soshanna (Mélanie Laurent) at the cafe - Inglourious Basterds.

- you can take breaks at work, when you like, and how often you like without being questioned and without loosing any annual leave (!!!)

 

- you can interrupt awkard social situations (eg, bad date, boring party, someone passing gas) by going outside and not have to pull out your cell phone to look like your outside doing something ligitimate

- you can stand out on the street and people watch without looking too creepy or voyeuristic because hey - you're smoking, what else are you going to do?

- you can suppress your hunger and similarly you therefore have an excuse for gaining weight when you "quit smoking"

 

- you have an excuse to start talking to almost anyone and everyone - "excuse me, do you have a lighter?"

- you get instant entry into the "cool smokers area" (inside and outside) at places worldwide: parties, gigs, cafes, student places, weddings, night clubs, church gatherings etc...

- there are breaks dedicated to you during lectures that are more than 1 hr long (wtf?)

But, despite saying all that...

 

Seriously.

I am Eloise I am six

"Eloise"
by Kay Thompson and illustrated by Hilary Knight.

My favourite childhood book.

(Next to "Black Sambo" (which my mum had to read to me in Chinese as I didn't know any English when we first came to NZ...) anyhoo).

The book is written in the first person and narrated by Eloise herself, it doesn't contain any fullstops so when you read it aloud it's just like Eloise talking, or ranting, rather. Furthermore, it's full of amazing, cute and imaginative illustrations of Eloise's antics and vivid imagination. So, it may contain a few more words than desired by most children but it gets away with it because the words provide such entertainment whilst you get totally aborbed by the lively drawings - they are simple yet consuming.

So, here are some extracts from my fav book -

"Nanny is my nurse she wears tissue paper in her dress and you can hear it she is english and has 8 hairpins made out of bones she says that's all she needs in this life for Lord's sake Nanny says she would rawther I didn't talk talk talk all the time she always says everything 3 times like Eloise you cawn't cawn't cawn't sometimes I hit her on the ankle with a tassel she is my mostly companion..."

"I have a dog that looks like a cat his name is Weenie sometimes I put sunglasses on him then I have to scratch his back with a wire hanger I have a turtle his name is Skipperdee he eats raisins and wears sneakers The Plaza is the only hotel in New York that will allow you to have a turtle..."

"Here's what I like to do

Make things up

Here's what I hate

Peter Rabbit

Here's what I can do

Chew gum

Write

Spell

Stand on my head for the longest amount of time

Stand on my toes

Get dizzy and fall down

Make a terrible face

And here's the thing of it

Most of the time I'm on the telephone..."

Bitchin Stitches

Source: Art Today and Craft:

I think these images speak for themselves.

"Yarn bombing" - giving graffiti artists around the world a run for their... "street cred"? Materials?....?

And when I say "world", I mean world, as in it has even hit the likes of Breaker Bay, Wellington, NZ! Serious. My colleague got her mailbox "hit" with it, I will post a pic if I can get my hands on one, Julia?!

It does make me wonder whether, if at all, the trees find it a bit suffocating... I suppose so long as it doesn't block the photosynthesis then everythings all groovy? 

I must give my dear fabulous friend Helen all the credit here for bringing my attention to this wicked phenonmenon. Keep a look out for it at a neighbour near you!

ps - bless the pink tank!

sheenasaysfugyou

Besides the title of this post being completely and utterly fabulous, it also happens to be the virtual space of another awesome blogster: my virtual sister from another mister (if you will).

We are both blogspotter bloggers, of similar age, and both have asian parentals and grew up in Aotearoa!She is currently living overseas and I am very soon to be moving overseas :) (6 weeks and 2 days...)

Fascinating? I know! Not only that, but her last blog was on me, bless!!

So heres to Sheena, her awesome blog (full of cool pics which make me nostalgic for fun times & spicy noodles in asia) and her willingness to say "fug you"  http://www.sheenasaysfugyou.blogspot.com

Fug you too!  :) xox

Flavour of the month

"She is vanilla. It's completely not offensive and if served you'd eat it. But you'd never choose it."

Who's your vanilla?