Ailyex vs. Dogboyo

biro and coloured pencil, 2006

Ah, the sun is out and everything feels lighter and fresher round here. Plus, Gala’s iTC is giving me a real boost. All together now, Aaaahhh . . .

biro and coloured pencil - 2006 perhaps

Still loving rediscovering the sketchbooks. This is from one of my university books but I don’t even remember drawing it. She looks a little like Harley Quinn, but after realising that the Joker will never love her enough, non?

Packing up for the move isn’t going very fast, specifically because I insist on looking lovingly at all my sketchbooks, no matter how messy.

Instead of my weekly resolutions, here are my aims for Gala’s iCiNG Transformation Challenge - where everyone has to take the next month as an opportunity for change. I don’t plan on becoming a whole new person or anything, but I hereby pledge to:

Practice yoga twice a week in between classes
I do practice occasionally, but without consistency, it has little effect, so I’m going all out in order to be very bendy!
Eat healthily every day
It seems that eating healthily is my weekly resolution every week. Hopefully if I do it every day for a month, it’ll become second nature. Cue salads for packed lunches, no eating after 9pm, less carbs and lots of fruit and veg.
Do a detox week
For me this means no meat, dairy, caffeine or junk food. They’re all thing I know aren’t good for me (esp. dairy which screws up my skin) but it just seems too hard to cut out. This is going to be way hard, but totally worth it to see what effect it has on me - will my skin really clear up like the doctor says? Will I be bouncing off the ceiling with energy? Will I be tired all the time? We shall see, we shall see . . .
De-clutter and throw stuff out
What with moving house, this is my chance to stream-line my stuff, eBay as much as possible and have a wardrobe that contains only wearable things.
Think positively about myself every day
Something that should come naturally but sadly, doesn’t. For me this includes not comparing myself to my friends, stepping away from negative people and taking the time to enjoy my life and the lovely people I share it with.

Here’s to a good month! x

Any kind of sketching is still hurting my wrist, but hey, it feels worse not to. For this week my resolutions are . . .

Turn off the TV
There’s not a whole load of shows that I watch, and yet the telly always seems to be on in the background. So apart from films and stuff, I’m going to make a real effort to turn it off and do something that I really want to do.
Start clearing up for when we move house
It’ll be so cool to get rid of stuff . . .
Make an effort to wear fun things
Guaranteed to perk up my day, even if it’s just a massive pair of earrings and I look silly (^-^)

Happy Monday! x

:: top from Topshop :: skirt, boots and tights from Primark :: scarf from Lokaah :: bandage from Tesco :: necklaces from Topshop and charity shops ::

I wore this out for a friend’s birthday/party yesterday, after yet another week of physical fuck-ups. My resolutions to play my ukulele and sort my old clothes out were squashed when I managed to fall over in the middle of the road, and am still sporting a wrist support tubigrip thingumyjig. But the sun is finally out, so perhaps I’ll have a non-broken week after all.

:: Smoothie it up
What can I say, smoothies and fruit make me happy, so this week I pledge to make all kinds of deliciousness in the blender.

:: Learn a new song
Having bought picks for my uke (like someone who actually plays an instrument!!), experimented with wonky finger-picking and watched many YouTube how-to vids, I’m really yearning to learn some more songs - Somewhere Over the Rainbow would be cool, John Butler Trio’s Groovin’ Slowly would be wonderful. Even if I butcher them it’ll still be funnage. Now all I need is a musical friend to transpose them for me . . .

:: Give away my unwanted clothes
You know those massive blue bags you use to carry entire bedroom suites home from Ikea in? Well I have one full of clothes I’ll never wear again. Some are just not my style, some eminently unlovely. Hopefully I can find some of them nicer homes via freecycle or what’syoursismine. The very least I can do is Oxfam them.

Have a wonderful week!

Photocredit: 1. Sunrise Clouds over Torrelit (not an HDR), 2. Call of the Raven (formerly Nature’s Special Effects), 3. Morning Glory Pool, 4. Sanctuary Upshot Saint Mary’s Studley Royal, Yorkshire UK, 5. Organ staircase Saint Mary’s Studley Royal, Yorkshire UK, 6. A murder of crows, 7. Reverse Energy, 8. Clouds of Fire v2 / Nubes de fuego v2, 9. Golden Clouds

loving brights at the moment . . .

‘Tis Sunday, so ’tis time for my Weekly Resolutions . . . I did fairly well on last week’s, although 2 and a 1/2 days off sick played havoc with uke practice and eating right. I did alter one of my skirts - a black denim mini that was too big, passed on from a friend. But it still needs a little tweaking before I wear it out. Anyhoo, to this week’s resolutions -

:: New Positivity
This week’s been a bit meh, so I’m promising myself I’ll get up early, focus on the people and things that matter and not get bogged down in negativity. As long as I keep on track, and take time to practice my uke, draw and enjoy myself, it should all be much better.
:: Finish another skirt
I think I’ll tackle this one next. It’s super fun to wear but it’s also too big, so I reckon a higher waist might be just what the doctor ordered.
:: Be healthy
Yup, all the usual - proper food, lots of water, yoga and fresh air. I’m sure I’ll feel muchos better by next week. x

Today, after an all night Guitar Hero/Gran Turismo session with friends, Jan and I ventured out to Camden Market to enjoy a spot of sunshine. Seeing the damage from the fire was quite sad really, but the sun was out and the perfect tonic to our bleary-eyed selves. We feasted on Wagamama noodles and I alloted myself £10 with which to find treats. Here’s what I got:

The shades were from a generic Camden stall. I like their Back to the Future styling, although I might have to go back for a Ray-Ban Wayfarer-style pair in tomato red . . . The bone earrings and scarf are both from Lokaah, a cheap import shop in the Stables Market where I get far too many of my everyday earrings and bangles - guarantee, if there’s a hippy/trendy/Indian-style scarf in Topshop etc. they’ll have the exact same one in Lokaah for £2. Speaking of Back to the Future styling, when Jan and I were watching Back to the Future II recently, I couldn’t help but think that Maison Martin Margiela must have watched said film before creating their wonderful L’Incognito sunglasses, especially the mirror ones. To illustrate - the designer version:

Doc Brown’s version:

To me, that makes them all the more ridiculous and covetable. If only I had an inexaustable bank account and the ability not to sit on all my sunglasses . . .

As there had been very little sleep the night before, I wrapped up in two of my favourite everyday scarves and my new shades.

Red pashmina & sunglasses - random Camden stalls [the former bought 2 years ago, the former, today]
Khaki scarf, black bone earrings & wooden bracelets - Lokaah, a cheap import shop in Camden
Skinny jeans - New Look
Black cardigan & green canvas flats - Topshop
Grey tee - H&M

All in all I had a wicked hangover day with the Mr. and my temperature seems to have normalised. Here’s hoping for a great week ahead . . . x

As promised, here’s the Purl Bee hat I mentioned in Things I love Thursday. I finished it on said Thursday, the 1st of what is now 2 days off sick [not fun]. Thankfully it’s nice and cosy, so it’s been keeping me warm whilst I ride out my not-quite-’flu- just-ridiculously-high-temperature illness.

It’s the Purl Bee’s Rochefort Chapeau pattern and I’m rather pleased with it. I’m a bit of a wonky knitter but this is a great little basic hat pattern and a great introduction to stripy knitting in the round. Previously when I’ve knitted anything with stripes it has involved lots of cutting and tying of yarn, so the Purl Bee’s little Tute was most helpful.

I used half Debbie Bliss Cashmerino (the dark teal) and half charity shop wool (the black) - which sounds horrid but actually ended up being really soft in a Half Luxury/Half Budget sort of way. I already had both, so yay for the budget crafting! I’d really like to make another hat like this - red and white stripes would be just too cute - so I feel the weekend will somehow include a hunt for red yarn . . .

Right now I’m crawling back under the covers with a cup of tea. Happy Weekend y’all!