The Abandoned Cross-stitch, the best cake ever, and ancient history

 

 

Yay finally! The Abandoned Cross-stitch clutches are in MiuAndUmi! What a relief to get the ideas out of my noggin and into the shop. Now I can stop obsessing over them! I went through a brief phase of - shall we say - intense interest? Scouring op-shops, sewing until all hours, generally being a terrible wife and mother (oh, the shame). Meh, you know I don't care. I'm like the honey badger.

 



 



Say hello to the best cake ever. (According to the newly 8-year-old PomPom.) It was an epic production, wherein I displayed all the emotions a human is capable of, and possibly discovered a few new ones. It took. All. Day. But was worth it because of the delicious love I got in return. And ahem - Instagram/Facebook kudos which I lapped up like the shameless praise whore I really am.

Would you like to see me giving it out indiscriminately on Instagram? I'm melanieshmelanie.

 

 

Terrible photo quality, I know, and I just love that I managed to capture the one corner of the kitchen where the tiles are still waiting for their grout... But none of that matters, because...

 

 





PINATA CAKE!!!!!!!!!

 



 

Did I mention that I also made rainbow cupcakes and threw a little party at the playground? Yeah.

 



 

 

Pink lemonade! I sugared the kids up real nice. Parties are fun, aren't they?

 

Oh, and while I think of it...

 



 

A good birthday for me. Not for the horse.

 

So May is now a fading memory, and I'm no longer able to say "but it's my birthday month" when I want to get my own way. I raised $200.60 for Kiss Goodbye to MS and feel proud of my contribution. I even made a celebratory collage. Impressed? I know I am.

 

 



Kissing it goodbye

 

 

The first 8 days of May!

I'm wearing red every day of May to raise funds and awareness for Kiss Goodbye to MS, and donating 100% of my sales from Miu & Umi to this important cause. If you see something you'd like in the shop, know that with your purchase comes support for amazing research that could see more effective treatments and most importantly, a cure for Multiple Sclerosis.

Last month I was truly saddened by news of the death of Divinyls' lead singer Chrissy Amphlett, who lost her battle with breast cancer and MS. Ms Amphlett lived in our neighbourhood when we were kids, and Kirsty and I would stalk her in the supermarket, starstruck to see her shopping for groceries in her huge black suglasses. Growing up, we both loved her incredible fuck-you aura of rock posturing, appreciating that in Australian rock, chicks like her were supremely rare. She was tough and unapologetic and outrageously sexy, and probably could've taught young musicians a thing or two.

Kirsty's blog post on MS! The Musical talks about Chrissy Amphlett and MS, and affords a glimpse of her daily physical and emotional struggle. But somehow she still manages to be good-looking, hilarious and cool as shit? What's with that? She's pretty much the most mathematical person I know.

So, it's getting cooler and you know what that means... crochet, baby! I'm smashing out a bunch of heart garlands at the moment, and dreaming of big booty blankets and all the other cool stuff that can eventuate when hook meets yarn. If you'd like to order a garland, or have ideas for different colours, lengths, what have you, PLEASE let me know. That would be cool.

In other news - it's my birthday! Yay! Cue trumpets, confetti and balloons! Man, I'm getting so old, but I still feel like a spazzy teenager. What's with that?

I've already shared a giant Hershey Kiss with the kids (actually I nibbled the nub off the top, then the kids put their hands on it, and I know what they do with their little hands, ewwww, so the rest of the chocolate is now theirs. Too much knowledge is a burden.) But the best bit is that Cam gave me a frickin OVERLOCKERRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Words can't express how much I've yearned for this. I'm practically beside myself! Now I have to learn how to make underwear, and t-shirts, and all kinds of crazy stuff. Omigod you guys.

Just awesome. Thank you Chrissy Amphlett.

Space Cadet

So, I'm not expecting a call from NASA anytime soon, but I am, without a doubt, an honest-to-goodness space cadet. With the many thrills of May (the birthday month in my family), my birthday party at Ya Ya Bar, a computer on the fritz and a huge sausage sizzle for the Kiss Goodbye to MS appeal, it's been a blur.

I completely forgot that I had an article published in *bespoke* zine. Who forgets something like that??? And then I found a mention of my article on Her Library Adventures, a blog I really admire, so I ran around in circles for about two days, then forgot about that too! I think it may be time to focus on some memory exercises...

These are just a few images from the last month...

a walk around the lakes on the way to school on my birthday,

the gorgeous balloons I bought to match my party dress,

the absolutely gorgeous A Skulk of Foxes clock given to me by the absolutely gorgeous Buzzstop crew,

playing in the leaves,

the wildly overgrown view from my verandah, which I love even though I'm sure the neighbours are tutting in disapproval.

Make a wish while you can...it's your birthday

Yay! It's my birthday! Woohoo!

Verbs are doing words

Preparing - Myself mentally and fiscally for May, the month in which nearly everyone I know was born. Birthdays up the ying-yang, and Mother's Day too. Oh my god, I'm having palpitations just thinking about it. AND I'm turning thirty-mumble as well! Birthdays make me a little nuts...

Finished - 'The Psychopath Test' by Jon Ronson. What a great book, jammed with facts and yet so unputdownable. This is an honest exploration of a delicate subject, with the nervy Ronson tangling with psychopaths in jail and in the upper echelons of the corporate world, meeting with the therapists who thought (in the 60's - of course) using LSD and primal regression could cure incarcerated psychopaths.

Did it work? You'll have to read the book and find out...

Interestingly though, looking at the traits and behaviours that mark a psychopath, I'm realising that in my life, I've come across a few. With an estimated 1% of the population scoring high on the test, you probably have as well!

 

Dancing - To The Sonics, who just rip it up so loud. The kids and I went nuts to a Sonics playlist yesterday, jumping around the loungeroom like a bunch of kooks.

'Have Love, Will Travel' is pretty awesome when The Black Keys do it, but these guys are amazing.



Obsess much?

Typewriter clutch purse from octopurse on Etsy

Sooooo my birthday is coming up pretty soon and I's just suggesting to the universe at large that it consider for one second that this bag will actually, literally make my life complete.



A quick mention about the sale in my shop - if you use the discount code KISSES000 you'll get 20% off everything, which is nice. Aussie shoppers still have 3 more days to take advantage of the sale before my mailing cut off... then Valentine's Day is upon us!



Beanie FAIL and some un-natural cupcakes

Oh well, I guess I had to be wrong at some point.
The beanie ended up felting beautifully, but it's just too big and slightly fluted. I'm thinking it will make a fairly decent cloche-style hat for moi! Way to turn a FAIL into a WIN!
Photos to follow...

In other news, it's been birthday season, again. Vanilla cupcakes, a princess cake, a pavlova, all as requested by the children. There've been a few misty eyed moments and a battle for ownership of the remote control helicopter. Some of the best perks of being a parent are playing with the toys (it's called 'making sure it works'!) and watching all the latest Pixar movies without looking like a weirdo at the cinema.

Oh, and the love!