Little Ladies.

If you asked me about a year ago if I collected anything, my reply would probably have been something along the lines of "Nope...I don't see the point!" Having a collection of inanimate objects seemed pointless to me because I was of the opinion that if it didn't have a use, it didn't have a place in my room...no matter how pretty the items were (note that I clearly was in denial about my excessive collection of Pokemon, Digimon and Dragonball Z cards which I just couldn't throw away!).

These days however, though I'm more of a minimalist now than ever before, I find myself working hard to find the space to display the little trinkets and toys that give me a little smile when I look at them. Though I wouldn't honestly call them "collections" because I've just started, they still manage to multiply now and then, so I'm sure it won't be long before I have a proper little gathering of pretty things :3!

With the exception of my dolls (who I'd love to display, but their resin would get damaged) my rule about having and maintaining a collection is to always think "would this look cute on a shelf, or more like crap on a shelf?"

I guess it's weird for me, who has always had her stuff confined to one bedroom, to be thinking about whether or not the things I own now will look good on awesome Ikea shelving units in my future apartment in Japan/New Zealand/Amsterdam/Florida...right? I might be a little crazy, but thinking this way helps keep my collections under control - if I can't picture it fitting in with my mind-apartment decor, I don't buy it.

I've mentioned Momiji dolls in a post not too long ago and honestly freaked out when I found a store here that stocked them. They're small, brightly coloured and kind of exactly what I want on my future Ikea bookshelves ;)

Here's my collection so far!

[L-R: Astrid, Eve, Cutie and Stella!]

Astrid and Stella are my favourites...probably because they're from the Hello Kitty collection! I've seen two more little ladies I want to get my hands on but I've promised myself that I can only get them if I get all my work done...

I need to bribe myself sometimes! Don't judge me ;D!

xo

P.S. I still haven't gotten rid of all my trading cards. I love them too much D:

Sweet Stuff Saturday #4

I've been really enjoying getting back into the swing of things this week ^___^ I've missed so many awesome posts from my favourite bloggers and it's really nice to catch up with everyone.

I've been getting motivated again with the help of my Pinterest account too! After what...like...four months of trying to sign up, I finally managed to grab an invite and I've been going a little mental. So many pretty things on this internet place ;)

Reading until I go blind!

The title is a complete exaggeration, but when I read for an extended period of time, the vision in my left eye goes really dark, like a little eye-light has been turned off inside my head. Not sure why this happens as opticians tell me that my sight is 20:20 but hey! I'm not going to stop reading anytime soon, so I might as well just get on with things ;)

Last year, for the most part, was a sad and light year for my bookshelves as I fell out of love with slotting in little bursts of frantic reading during work or curling up at the end of the day with a well-read favourite. It wasn't that I didn't love to read anymore, I just felt like I had too much to do (deluded mind-set of a girl who in actual fact had very little to do and was instead watching an obscene amount of You-tube!) and that book reading was a treat I couldn't indulge in just yet.

Luckily, The Hunger Games came along and made me realise that I was literally suffering from lack of plot-twists, character development and new words. I'm going to be honest and admit that my spelling went so down-hill I really thought I was losing brain power.

These are the dark and scary consequences of not reading a book for...like...four months. BEWARE!

Source: blogs.babble.com via Elvis on Pinterest

Hehe ;)

In light of these scary events, one of my little goals for this amazing-to-be year is to read as many books as humanly possible...so I'm setting a goal of One Hundred Books! I think that's pretty achievable...finish one book every three days or so? Easy!

Well, no. But I'm going to try my best!

Having said that, I've only read three books so far this year, which isn't a great start! But I've finally finished off all my physical copies of books that I own and from now on I'll be reading on my Kindle Fire!

Reading exclusively on the Kindle will be a little odd at the beginning...I did read Peter Pan before New Years last year on it and though I read much more quickly (I don't know what it is, but it is way faster!) than I would have with a hard copy of the book, I keenly missed the feel of pages and the smell of a good book (oh yes, I'm one of those people! Can someone make an "Eau de Book" perfume please!?). I think I will still cave in and buy physical copies of books, though I'll control myself and buy ones I really love! No more impulse buys that end up disappointing me...

I'm really excited to have a goal that I have complete control over - I know I can do it and it's really good having a goal that won't let anyone down if I mess up some how.

To keep me motivated, I'm going to keep a running list and mini-review running on the Nerd Love page of my blog - I've neglected it so much and it's time for an update! Because of my Kindle, I'll also be updating my thoughts on a book through Twitter with quotes and excerpts, which I think is such a cool feature  >w< !
Now and then I'd also like to do more in-depth reviews of books that stand out to me, whether for good or bad reasons - writing reviews helps me figure out how I felt about a book and I love hearing what other people think about my opinions on a book they've read. In case you hadn't noticed, I am a huge nerd who would love nothing more than a heated discussion about the underlying plot points of a good book...

Hello to the people reading this and thinking "Wow, she doesn't get out much does she?!" Hope you can join in on my book challenge ;D

If you have any book recommendations, please let me know in the comments or by Twitter! I'll give most genres a go, but I really love fantasy books...you may have noticed ;)

xo!

A Love Letter to Fog.

Let me tell you something...

I love bad weather.

Sure, I'd probably prefer to watch the rain beat down from inside my room, but there's something about being caught in a storm or getting an extreme "wind-swept and interesting" make over from some ice cold winds - it's almost as though we can run for shelter, run away from the unpleasantness of wet clothes and cold noses but every now and then nature will just throw something unexpected our way. It's like a little reminder that we can't control everything...and we shouldn't try to either.

Life is full of little surprises.

Fog is definitely my favourite little uncontrollable element of weather...there's just something so dramatic and inescapable about it that I can't help but fall in love with. It's this atmospheric blanket that falls over everything, muffling the sounds of the world and making it peaceful. It can make the most everyday scene become instantly romanticized and mysterious...

...or blot out the light so that your favourite sunlit forest walks become cold and uninviting. To be honest, I'd just as likely run into this kind of foggy landscape as any other. It really does something to my imagination, kicking it into overdrive and telling me that fog rolls in to hide the magical and mystical, even if it is a little scary. When I think of fog, I think of long skirts, bare feet and an inquisitive mind, running into the unknown as the fog smothers the path behind and ahead.

I have this irresistible urge to walk into a thick forest filled with roiling fog and keep going, as though if I walk far enough I'll come to the edge of the blanket of grey. I guess fog and woods are generally featured in horror films with skinny blondes scrambling through the undergrowth trying in vain to escape the fog-hidden murderer…but it makes me feel safe and like there’s something amazing to be seen before the sun burns the fog away.

I love the way fog retreats from open spaces as the sun gets higher, as though there's a door closing ever-so-slowly on a world only accessible on foggy mornings...

I think it would be amazing to get lost for a while and just wander, soaking in what could easily be things I've seen every day but that have now taken on a new life in the filtered, hazy light. That is probably my favourite thing about fog. It has this amazing, goose-bump-inducing ability to transform everything into something that just seems that little bit...wrong. Like taking a photo, then putting a filter over it; it's the same scene, but there's something so slightly different, something out of the ordinary and almost other-worldly about the trees or roads or even people that loom up suddenly as you walk along.

It's a big creative dream of mine to catch a dawn fog in my city long enough to get a photoshoot out of it. I'm in a sea-side city but our climate doesn't really gift me so much as a light mist...but I still keep hoping. It's happened before (Christmas Day, two years ago...yes, I remember!), but then again, it's so unpredictable. I guess I'll just have to be ready to snap photos at the slightest hint of swirling grey amongst the trees ;)

Do you like fog?

xo!

Credits [❤❤❤❤❤]

Tagged!

I love getting tagged!! I used to do all these little "quiz"-type posts on my LiveJournal years ago and it was always fun to think about things I mightn't have an answer to yet. I always learn something about myself that was in my head somewhere but wasn't something I'd ever given a thought to before, so it's really interesting and fun :D

I was tagged by the beautiful Miss Laura to do the "11 things Meme" that has been making its way through the blogs of the internet, so here I go!

The Rules of the Game

1. You must post these rules.

2. Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.

3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.

4. You have to choose 11 people to tag and link them on the post.

5. No tag backs and you legitimately have to tag 11 people. (I will struggle with this as I don't really know 11 blogging people D: )

11 Random Facts About Me

 

1. I'm allergic to oranges! I get really bad hives if I even touch one...but they're so tasty!

 

2. I have three tattoos, two stars (one at either end of my collarbone) that I got for my eighteenth birthday and a silhouette of a sitting cat on the back of my neck that I got when I had to move back in with my parents and re-home my kitties :( !

 

3. I'm a huge Monty Python fan.

 

4. I really hate any sort of cake, cupcake or bun...most bakery things to be honest! I don't know why!

 

5. My left knee seems to be cursed. When I was two, I tripped over a garden rake and the spikes went into my knee. When I was eight, I went over the handlebars of my bike and the metal end of the handle went into my knee in almost exactly the same spot - my dad had to pull it out! Then when I was fourteen, I tripped (pattern here?) over the power cable of my PlayStation One (awww yeah!) and fell knee-first onto the corner of a wooden toy box, chipping my kneecap and making about a third of it permanently numb...my right knee is perfectly fine xD

 

6. I used to watch nothing but anime and I'm still a moderator on an anime forum ;D (NERD!)

 

7. My memory is atrocious - I'd have a hard time recalling what I did two hours ago.

 

8. I write fiction. My biggest dream is to be published!

 

9. I love kids and want to have about twenty million of them when I'm older.

 

10. When I was in primary school the only thing I ever got sent to the principal for was turning up late to class because I was playing Pokemon cards at lunch and didn't hear the bell!

 

11. I haaaaate the feeling of lotion or creams or anything greasy on my hands...it's like nails on a chalkboard!

 

11 Questions from Laura!

1. What is your earliest childhood memory?

 It honestly varies depending on when I'm asked this, but right now my earliest memory is walking around the mountainside at night with my dad, watching him throw pebbles in the air to attract little bats out of hiding.

2. Did you ever eat or drink anything in the store and paid for it later, instead of the other way around?

Yes! It really bugs me when people do this at my workplace, but I do admit that I munch on grapes when I'm grocery shopping with my mum sometimes.

 

3. If you could have any animal as a pet, what would it be?

An elephant or a sloth!

 

4. What would the title of your biography be called?

Diary of a Wimpy Girl ;P

 

5. If you could be anyone else for one day, who would you pick?

I'd pick someone incredibly rich and powerful so that I could give money to places and people that need it and then return to being myself, knowing that I was able to help in a small way!

 

6. Do you have any party tricks up your sleeve?

I have a few "scary" ones that I usually pull out at Halloween to freak my friends out.

 

7. Are you a sweet or savory type?

Sweet...it's my greatest weakness.

 

8. Growing up did you have a special item you were really attached too?

My stuffed Pikachu toy that I got from my best friend on my tenth birthday. He looks exactly like Pikachu (unlike some of the really weird mutations you find these days lol!) and he still sleeps in my bed with me. 

 

9. Are you good at remembering your dreams?

No, but every now and then I'll have one that really affects me and I can remember it for years as though it actually happened.

 

10. Do you breath air in, out or both ways when you whistle?

Out! I didn't know people breathed in to whistle too until a few months ago. Mind blowing ;P

 

11. Do you give names to inanimate objects you own?

No, but I do give them personalities and feel really genuinely guilty if I "mistreat" them in anyway. When I was younger, I had a few stuffed toys on my bed and if in the morning a few had fallen on the floor, I'd scoop them all up and tuck them into my bed before I went to school, making sure they were comfortable and knew how sorry I was. I also still feel really bad if I'm shopping and spot something that has been moved out of its section, or something that is the last thing in a section...I'm very weird!

 

11 Questions from Me!

 

1. What's your theme song?

2. What's your favourite thing about yourself and why?

3. Who do you look up to in the blogging world?

4. If aliens landed on earth and asked you to show them the wonders of the Earth, where would you take them first?

5. What's your favourite memory from the past year?

6. What resolution have you completed so far, if any?

7. What's your worst bad habit?

8. If you could be fluent in any language, what would it be?

9. How would you describe yourself?

10. If you could time travel, when would you go first?

11. What do you want from life?

 

 There we go! And I tag Ren, Suki, Andrea, Kaatje, Benvon, Kira, Xhanthi, Daphne, Carla, Jatsu & Navci!

 

xo!

Sweet Stuff Saturday #3

Please excuse my absence from...like...everything. I'll be back soon. In the meantime, here are some pretty things!

And the winner is...

Hey everyone! Just popping by to announce the winner of my Paperchase giveaway! Thank you to all who entered and took the time to have some extra entries too ^_^ I love your faces, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by here <3!

I used Random.org to generate a number for me and here is the result!

Congratulations to...

Lily from Laughter in the Dark!

Those cute prizes are all yours ^__^ Send an email to laterdaysimmie[at]yahoo[dot]com with your address!

xo!


P.S. I love giveaways...people who wouldn't normally comment do so and I get to check out awesome new blogs and Flickrs! Please check out Lilys lovely blog...her photograhpy is wonderful <3 And don't be a lurker! Leave a comment, or if you're shy, send me an email!