My Dad, Kev, got a tattoo.

My Dad has often talked about getting a tattoo. He's a thoughtful man and has been deliberate in picking the design. He got some Chinese characters that say China Rose which is a nod to the time that Mum and Dad spent in China (the first two characters are Zhong Guo which is China in Chinese) and also my Mum's chinese name Mei Gui (Rose).

I was very pleased to be his enabler and help to organise to make the thought a reality. So I went to a few tattoo places and I found this guy Pat in Box Hill who has been tattooing for a long time, 23 years, and I went and met him and he was really genuine and hilarious (unintentionally) and so I organised for him to do Dad's tatt. He was a bit suss on the chinese characters and wanted to make sure that we were very confident that it did actually say what we thought. I was a bit concerned about that too but got a few different sources at my work to check it for correct meaning and all was well. Dad picked a font that he liked from some that I got off the net. I love the interwebs it was really easy to get fantastic chinese fonts even to download them from Chinese language sites.

The actual tatt was very fast and Dad was very cool and didn't even say that it hurt all that much. Below is a close up of the characters. I think that it's a very bold and meaningful tattoo that my Dad will love for the rest of his life and it was a pleasure to be involved in the getting of it.



There are times in your life when you realise that something you take for granted like a feeling that has always been there but should really be cherished and when I was with my father this visit I cherished the hell out of him. I was very conscious of how much I love him and I wanted to not let that just be a passive emotion because he's my Dad and of course you love your Dad but a real decisive and powerful memory that I can draw on forever. I also got Matt to take some fantastic huggy pics as follows.



Photos of me and my Dad.

The Last Sunday Book Club

So Ange did a great thing... we used to have a book group. I found it a bit hard to get along as much as I would like to but it was a group of women who although probably quite similar in education and upbringing could not be more different in hobbies, interests and lifestyles. We each brought a book that had interested us and talked about it. Sometimes we had a rough theme but for me the joy was just spending some time with a group of intelligent, opinionated and loving women that I could talk about the world with.

Some of us have moved away and I'm not sure if Sunday night was working for us but we've gone digital and I think it is absolutely the best idea! since I'm already digital especially in the way that I enjoy literature these days.

If you're reading this and you're interested you can read my post which I think is our inaugral book review you can check us out at The Last Sunday Book Group and read my post about Ancestor by Scott Sigler.

Mwah ^o^

My Geek Matt :)

This is my adorable geek Matt :) and the Space Invader wallallure removeable wall stickers in the background. His headset has all kinds of shit all over it because he built his own track ir (infrared) system which means that he can look left and right when he's playing games and the view on the screen changes. For those of you who aren't insane geeks you won't understand and that's ok .... i still love you.

Knitting: Too Girlie for Dad

Here's the cabled beanie that I made for Dad that I thought was a bit to girlie. I've made him a manly man replacement, no spoilers I'm not posting pictures of it until I one of it on his head.

This beanie ended up being gifted to a girl at my work whose name is Brea ,she admired it and then found herself the owner. She came back the next day to tell me how clever it was and how much she liked it so I think it has found a nice new home.

Theres No Place Like Home

Check out my new sexy red velvet shoes that I got for summer for only $9.95 with my $20 voucher that I got the last time I brought shoes at Rubi which I'll admit is a shoe store for 12 year olds but it makes me happy. They make me want to do one of two things, click my heels together and go there's no place like home or dye my hair black, get a blunt fringe, start wearing a lot of scarves, side ponytails and red lipstick. I'll probably just wear them though :)

Gardens of Delight

Spring has sprung with a vengeance and Melbourne is full of breathtaking
surprises everywhere I turn.

The garden around our house is full of exciting little surprises every day. Matt and I don't want to get the lawn mowed because we don't want to kill any of the pretty flowers that are coming sprouting from the lawn (they're freesias I think. We also have Calla Lillies and the gardens around have nerines, daffodils, early cheer and jonquils. There are bulbs that I can't name in our front beds that look a little bit like kangaroo paws but came up so quickly.

Our vegetable garden has gone crazy and the peas grew so big that they toppled over their support in some strong wind. We harvest herbs on a daily basis and the garden provides all our leafy greens for salads and sandwiches.

We are very proud to present our first broccoli and are keeping our fingers crossed that we get it before any bugs find it and eat it! Our sugar snap peas and broad beans are covered in flowers and soon we'll have them coming out our ears.

Life is good:)

Non Birthday Gift Birthday Gifts

With my new years resolution to get everyone a handmade gift but not necessarily on time I'm doing not so bad. Working on a tapestry for my Mum (no photos included until I'm done and it's posted because it's a secret.


This is the Giles bag that I sent to Judy (with cute happy fruit lining). This was my first cable work and it was a great project, although the double threaded wool was pretty adventurous.

For the girls I had done a kitten hat each :P They're so cute I wish I could wear them but they make Matt and I look like a stack hat wearing window lickers. Photo attached to prove my theory. I'm going to make them other gifts as well. That was just the first one for the year.



Only yesterday at Stitch and Bitch I finished Peter's present. It's the Jacques Cousteau beanie and I got Matt to model it for my ravelry notebook. He's so cute that I started another one for him in greenyblue patons Jet.


I'm planning to make the Koolhaas for John, designed by the very cool hip and happening Jared Flood. You can check out his blog on my list to the right, he goes by the name Brooklyn Tweed.

Snow Day

Last night I heard on the news that it might snow in Mt Dandenong. Snow! Seriously! and Mt Dandenong is all of about 40 mins drive from my house. At the tender age of 31 never having seen snow the tempation was too much to resist and Matt and I packed my knitting and some fruit in a basket and we were on our way. To be honest I was sceptical and I didn't think that we were going to see anything and then voila, sleety rain, and then... wafting, drifting, wonderful, magical snow! floating towards our windscreen. We pulled in at the first park that we came to which was a footy ground and we frolicked :).

Below is us frolicking :)