Now that I’ve listed mine, it’s time for you to list yours.  Once you’ve listed your 10 random things link back here so we can all learn something new about the wonderful people out there on the internet.

Music Monday is a little late today, but with good reason.  I’ve been waiting to hear about my father’s surgery and now I have I feel like the world can keep once again start to spin on it’s axis.

So, because I love you all for your support, well wishes and general awesomeness this Music Monday is for you, my friends – both in the real world and the even realer world of the internet!

I was so excited about the arrival of this little lady.  (And I still am!)  It totally blows my mind to think that M has her own child now.  It’s so wonderful.

When they did the scan that would have allowed them to know the sex of the baby little Amber had her legs crossed (ever the lady) and so the radiographer couldn’t confirm the sex.  It’s been a waiting game to find out and now that we all know for sure I’ve decided it’s time to do some baby inspired spending to celebrate the arrival.

Here’s the top 6 items that are on my current shopping list for little Amber…

1.  Chunky Monkey Crochet Beanie – Winter is well and truly here in Canberra so every child should have a beanie and this one is just too cute!  I love the bright pink colour and the nice white flower.  I’d love to crochet one myself, but at the rate I’m going Amber would be graduating her Masters by the time I was done!

2.  The Virginia – How adorable are these booties!  So sweet and they look warm enough to deal with the below zero weather being thrown our way at the moment.

3.  Buddha Baby Bodysuit & Old School Microscope Baby Bodysuit -  I love these screen printed images.  Amber’s Grandma is in Thailand so the Buddha seems appropriate and I can just tell she’s going to be a genius so it’d be nice for her to get her first microscope when she’s still in nappies!

4.  Hand Painted Wooden Letters – These are so bright and cheerful.  I’m a big fan of having the child’s name in some form in their room and these would be perfect.

5.  Reversible Pinafore Dress -  I had the great pleasure of talking to Sarah from Madi and Me while I was at the Handmade Markets on the weekend and she’s as wonderful as the items she sells.  She wooed me into her stall with her gnome cushions, but then had me over the barrel when it came to her fabulous clothes and quilts.  Unfortunately at the time we still weren’t sure what sex the baby was so I didn’t purchase anything.  However, now that Miss Amber has made her arrival I’m going to be ordering up one of the reversible dress and bloomers sets.  They are just so special!  Sarah was telling me that the pattern is one that her Grandmother used to make for her Mother to wear when she was a baby.  Gotta love a family tradition!

6.  Etch A Sketch T-Shirt - What better way to immortalize this awesome childrens toy than with this funky shirt.  The message is simple but true.  Love it!

I was singing this song while we were all standing in line in between our assessment tasks. I’d like to say I was as good, if not better, than Jensen but that would be a big fat lie.

I had an awesome night tonight, despite not having skated for five weeks and never having done jumps before.  I passed the endurance part of my test – 20 laps of the track in under 5 minutes.  Everything after that was gravy.

If I pass my white star I’ll start training with the league on Sunday, and then it’ll be training twice a week.  Rock on!

Right now however, I stink and need to get some sleep.

1. Storm brewing, Central Queensland, 2. Karumba beach flower, 3. Termite Mounds, 4. Prairie Horizon, 5. Day7: Normanton -> Karumba (78km), 6. Sunset at Karumba, Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, Australia., 7. Queensland Bottle Tree, 8. Tattersall Hotel, 9. Mount Isa, 10. Mount Isa Sunset 4, 11. Australie, Mount Isa to Longreach, 12. Mount Isa Lightning Storm, 13. Mount Isa Mine 14. Not available 15. Not available16. Not available

This week we’re on holiday, in fact as you read this I’m probably some where on the highway in Outback Queensland.  We flew to Mount Isa on the weekend and now we’re headed to Karumba on a week long camping and fishing adventure.  In fact, I won’t even have a laptop with me so I cleverly prepared this Flickr Fave in advance as I didn’t want to miss out on playing while on holidays.  So if you’d like to see more Flickr Faves head on over to Artmind.  While you do that I’m going back to using the CB radio in Ma and Pa’s 4wd inappropriately. *over and out*

1. Wren’s Nest Studio 2. Bornagain Books 3. Made by Plushka 4. Alison Jackson Jewellery 5. Prim and Pretty

Today Miss Alivicwil and I got up bright and early and headed into Shop Handmade‘s Grand Opening.  I’ve been quietly anticipating the opening of this store.  Being the sucker for handmade that I am I couldn’t wait to get in there and see amazing products up close and personal; and it didn’t disappoint.

The shop space is light and airy and full of wonderful displays. The staff are amazingly helpful and full of smiles which just makes the shopping experience even more enjoyable.  It’s a great space.

Photos courtesy of Shop Handmade

The store was still in party mode from the opening night event that was held on Thursday night.  There was even a selection of delectable handmade goodies from pARTy cakes.  I was dying to have a shop handmade cookie and it was bliss.  It literally sparkled.  I’m seriously considering putting in an order of my own.  Totally yum!  Alivicwil got to realize her dream of having Persian Fairy Floss, or as one of the lovely ladies compared it to ‘camel hair’.  (In consistency *not* taste!)

Alivicwil and I both purchased ourselves little treats.  I picked up two delightful buttons from Made by Plushka – a little hedgehog and a squirrel.  If I wasn’t on a shoestring budget I totally would have gone nuts in there.  In fact, I’m already planning my return trip.

So if you’re in Canberra and looking for something special head into Shop Handmade, you won’t be disappointed!

Shop Handmade is located on City Walk in Canberra’s CBD, Allara St on the corner opposite The Canberra Center.

]]> http://www.gnomeangel.com/friday-fancies-shop-handmade/feed/ 3 http://www.gnomeangel.com/flickr-faves-derby-love/ http://www.gnomeangel.com/flickr-faves-derby-love/#comments Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:23:40 +0000 gnomeangel http://www.gnomeangel.com/?p=1786 1. Roller Skates lined up for a mile at our local elementary school gym, 2. 1954 Roller Skating Guide, 3. Department of Public Hurts versus Green Mountain Roller Derby Dames-106, 4. Radioactive Happiness!, 5. Big Laugh 6. Roller Skating! 010:365

There are some days when I think I’m going to die from an overdose of satisfaction. ~Salvador Dali.

Last night was my third training night for CRDL Freshmeat.   I got lucky and had an hour of warm up skating before training.  Normally there’s basketball training for school kids on the courts before our training session, but not last night.  It was brilliant.  It gave me a chance to get my skate legs happening and spend some time talking with some of the other Freshies.

I also managed to have a pretty good stack prior to training.  It was great.  This will sound weird but I was glad to get the fall out of the way.  Falling is something we all have fears about, so it was great to get it out of the way and realise that it wasn’t going to be a huge deal if you fall over.  I fell, I bounced back.

The session had it’s highs and lows.  I managed to achieve a few little victories that showed me I was improving.  I managed to hold ‘derby stance’ longer, I did a knee touch fall perfectly, managed to get a handle on T-stops and answered some pop quiz questions correctly.

Again the numbers of Freshmeat made it hard at times to work on the techniques they were teaching.  At times it felt like some of the trainers were more concerned with catching up with each other than helping out the learners.  I even saw one trainer laugh rather nastily when a Freshie took a dive, which is just not cool. Luckily there are way more wonderful things about it all then negative.

We were lucky enough to have Smarty Pants back for another training session which was awesome.  She has amazing skills and such a crazy kick ass attitude.  She has a great way of translating techniques into a variety of ways for people to try and understand how to implement it.

It was the first time at training that we really got a chance to mix with the other Freshies.  I haven’t laughed so hard in ages.  At one stage I thought I was going to spit my mouth guard out from laughing so hard.

I left training on a high and was amused to find myself thinking about driving home like it was on a derby track.  I actually went to put my feet in the t-stop formation instead of touching the brakes at one stage.  When I got home I was absolutely bubbling.  Poor HUBBY had to listen to me go on and on about how wonderful training was and how much fun I was having.  It was such a great feeling.  I haven’t had that in a long time.  I can’t wait for next week!

♦♦♦♦♦

If you’d like to see other flickr faves sans the life story check out ArtMind.

Today’s Music Monday is dedicated to Miss M who has so graciously lent me Ashes to Ashes.  I loved and devoured Life on Mars and have been wanting to see this series for a long time.  It hasn’t disappointed.  I managed to watch the first series on the weekend and I’m hoping to finish the second series this week.

In true BBC tradition it’s well written, superbly cast and totally addictive.  Oh, and the soundtrack is brilliant.

Image source: Girl Silhouette Tags by PaperKilpDesign, Electric Firefly Design, Paperdolls Print by Munieca, Light Purple Button Earrings by Crafted For You, Gifts Created and Red Berry Design.

Alivicwil and I took some time this morning to head out into wilds of Canberra and check out the Handmade Markets.  I’ve been wanting to check out the markets for a long time now and I’ve just never managed to make it to them, until today.

It’s the perfect autumn day to be wondering about looking at beautiful items.  Its just a shame that I tried to park my car on a fully grown tree and scratched up the side of my car.  But as I said to Alivicwil “it’ll buff out“.

I was really excited to be able to see Munieca‘s work up close and personal in Paper Klip Design’s store.  (I featured Munieca‘s earrings in my first Friday Fancies of 2010.)  They didn’t disappoint; just as lovely in person as online.

I managed to splurge a little on some wonderful fabric from Posie Patchwork.  I don’t know what I’m going to do with it, but I’ll save it for something special.  I also purchased some cute little pastel blue duckling earrings from Crafted for You.  Alivicwil managed to find the perfect earrings from Crafted for You that matched her watch.  It was uncanny.

There were so many wonderful things for sale, I wish I wasn’t so broke.  I loved the offerings from Red Berry Design, Electronic Firefly and Gifts Created.  I’m just going to have to save my pretty pennies and see them at the next Handmade Markets.

1. gnome – This one is a no brainer in some ways and yet in others it’s surprising.  My gnome “fetish” was well over a decade ago and yet I still have this link to gnomes.  It’s one that I propigate through my own choices, but it still amazes me that these little guys keep coming up in my life.  Sometimes the gnome thing is really random and then at other times it seems apt.  I’m sure when I move on to the next stage in my adventure a gnome will adorn my body’s final resting place.  I just hope it’s a tasteful one, like this one, and not some $2 Crazy Clark’s job!

2. Colored Pens #8,- I love stationery.  I’m a mad pen collector.  I might not drink coffee, but I have a coffee mug collection that grows just to house all the pens I acquire.  I love notepads, blank paper, wrapping paper, envelopes, cards, stickers and the list goes on and on.  There’s nothing more thrilling than a fresh notebook.  That first beautifully empty page.  I love the beginning of a school year when school supplies litter all the shops.  I love stationery!

3. Groovy Rainbow Cupcake,- Food.  I’ve had a constant battle with food.  I love to bake and I love to eat.  Two things that have not been conducive to a healthy lifestyle.  My relationship with food is changing and evolving and I want to be able to still have fun with my food and enjoy my life through my enjoyment of food.

4. star dust and rainbows. 156:365, – I love rainbows.  I love colour.  Lots of colour.  Bold colour.  I also love Converse Chuck Taylor shoes and mad socks.  Rainbows are happy.  I love to be happy.  Happiness is a state that I want to be in for the largest chunk of my life.   I love this image.

5. Tattoo pioeuvre 9,- Much to the misunderstood amusement of my friends and family I love tattoo’s.  I have four.  Two rather large and prominently placed and two smaller pieces.  I will get more.  I love them on other people (when they’re done well); regardless of their age, race, size or subject matter.  To me they’re like a living canvas.  I love the images that people chose to carry with them.  The stories behind them.  The technique that is used to make them.  I love them.  I will continue to think that people that have them are beautiful in their own way, and that the tattoo doesn’t distract from that.  I don’t regret mine, and I hope that those that get tattoo’s don’t regret theirs either.

6. I Want To Read: cover,- I’m a bookworm.  I love a good book.  Although I suspect what I consider to be “good” is not to everyone’s taste.  I love getting lost in a book.  I love the sense of accomplishment when I finish a book.  I love listening to people read from books.  I love going to bookstores and wondering the story picking up and caressing various books.  I’m a bibliophile and proud of it!

7. Girl Painting a Rainbow,- First off, I love the name of this image.  It sounds like it should be a Rollingstone’s song.  I love being creative.  I love to take objects and re-purposing  them.  I love the imagination.  I love seeing what others come up with.  I love the design revolution that’s happening now.  I love spending hours looking online at what people have created and how they incorporate the design trends and their own quirky style into their homes.  I love getting my hands dirty in the creative process.

8. A-Maze-Ing Laughter, – A day without laughter is like a day without sun.  It’s not right.  I can’t get enough of laughing.  I love to laugh; I love to make others laugh.  I love hearing a child just cracking up with their own laughter.  I love watching other people laugh.  I love infectious laughter that flows from one person to another.  I love a good joke.  I love a smartarse comment.  I love a witty insight.  A good pun.  I love a fart joke.  I want to laugh.  I believe our bodies were built for laughter.  I believe laughter is the sound of love.  I want to see this sculpture in person!

9. Macro Game Piece Monday – I’m an online gamer.  I’m addicted to playing an online game.  I love it.  I love playing board games and card games with my friends.  I love strategy and I love the escapism.  I love games.  I love nothing more then a good meal, great company and a few rounds of various games as a good night in.  I love trivia nights.  I love competition.  I love playing.

I loved this task so much it inspired a redesign of my blog theme where I chose photo’s from my life that I have taken that I feel represent all the great things in my life.  (With the exception of friends and family because I didn’t want to use their images without permission.)  I also realised that I used ‘love’ a lot in this task and I think it’s reflective of where I am at the moment.  I’m loving life.  Are you loving your life?

♣♣♣♣♣♣

Wanna see more wonderful self portraits?  Or maybe you want to submit your own.  Head on over to Artmind where Ms Misty is hosting the Flickr Fave party.  Happy St Patrick’s Day!