Dear Internets,

How has christmas treated you? The shoe fairy has been very kind to me and I shall share with you my little shoe boxes of joy in the next post. Have you got a favourite gift you recieved this year? My least favourite has got to be the extra bit of weight festive good has given me. Poo to you festive food and christmassy beverages!

The house needs cleaning up but I seem to be going out non stop. I love an adventure as much as the next girl but gah, I'm sooooooooo tired! Yesterday was spent keeping a positive attitude despite the continuous rain despite it being summer holidays. J and I went for a bush walk in one of the national parks. We climbed on rocks near the water sipped chai  at a random cafe, found a waterfall and capped off the extremly long day catching up with a friend.

Do you see this divine sticky rice budding with coconut cream and mango?? It looks like a rose with mint leaves and it tasted wonderful!

No plans have been made for me this new years, which is unusual. Ideally, I'd like to spend it with my J and a bottle of sparkling white wine on lovely green grass or on the beach, star gazing. The novelty of fireworks has escaped me but I do get a little sad when I miss the count down, so i'd have to have a TV or radio near by.

What is your ideal New Years?

♥ pixelhazard
Looks at the stars, look
how they shine for you!

Dear Internets,

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is enjoying their little break! I am looking forward to seeing all your christmas prezzies and showing you mine + every year at christmas time, I get to enjoy a traditional south indian breakfast of appam and beef stew. Yum Yum Yum. Here's a recipe you can try if it has intrigued you sufficiently. They are wonderfully soft witha  hint of coconut flavour in the middle, and crispy on the edges.

Appam Recipe

Rice – 1 cup (soaked for at least 4 hrs to make good appam)

Cooked rice – 2 tbsp

Scraped coconut – ½

Yeast

Sugar

Salt - As reqd

Method

1)grind soaked rice, coconut and cooked rice to form batter
You can use water or coconut milk. The batter should not be too watery.

2)Add yeast and sugar to warm water and dissolve.
3)Add this to the batter for appam and keep for about 6 hrs.
4)Just before making appam, add salt and little sugar.

You can serve appam with milk or coconut poured on top of it with sugur.
Serve appam hot.


Oh my mouth is watering, I'm off!

♥ pixelhazard
sends you good vibes

Dear Internets,

Put your hands up if you think Tilda Swinton is win? Ok so I got bored to death by her performance in Orlando, but that may have something to do with the fact that I watched it a million times in my final year while I studied postmodernism. She does however have a seemingly plain yet somehow amazing androgenous face. Her role as ice queen in the chronicles of Narnia and support role in the curious case of Benjamin Button were both rather socially detached but it works so well for her.

Then I saw these pictures and was wow'd even more.

[found @ coute que coute]

If this is future fashion, hook me up!

p.s. Sorry for the "then why don't you marry her?"-esque post. Fortunately I don't have an obsessive personality so you don't get too many of them

♥ pixelhazard
would rather be shopping

Dear Internets,

Camp : adj

1. effeminate; affected in mannerisms, dress, etc


Sure thats probably the closest actual definition of camp that  holds true but I suppose it would be more accurate to say that I spent my weekend at youth camp, rather than camping. There were no tents but plenty of mozzies and aforemention affected mannerisms. The closest we got to complete wilderness was canoeing in a presumably artificial lake and going for a dip stacking it in the ocean. I was surprised to find that even the boulders in the centre of the site were fake, but in the end who really cares because we had fun!

12 people piled into a budget flight late friday night and, through the kidness of our hosts, made it to the camp grounds where we refused to sleep. When we unwillingly gave in to our heavy eyelids, the cold weather made us realise bunk beds would be rendered unnecessary and each bed had to be occupied by 2 girls.

Lesson One: Even though the boys did not employ this heat sharing method, man love was abundant

Lesson Two: Stacks on is not a victimless crime. The last man to stand up is usually the victim

Throughout the weekend I met new people and learnt about being a leader or follower and appreciated that it is good to be both and that they are not mutually exclusive.

Lesson Three: Give people markers and a white board and they will get competitive

Lesson Four: Good food becomes a priority after you experience apricot chicken and burnt rice. It didn't stop the consumption of too many fast food chicken nuggets in the middle of the night though.

The camp organisers did an aces job and did I mention they were pure awesome too? They even drove us, at possibly illegal speeds, to the airport and put up with cancelled flights. Good old budget airlines. At least everyone was put on a flight that served food. After all that commotion I was starving.

Well, it's back to life now. I wonder if any of those lessons will be applicable in other aspects of my life, lol

What did you kids get up to on the weekend?

♥ pixelhazard
back in the real world

Dear Internets,

Despite the summer season, finding clothes to make you look fruity is exceptionally difficult, or so I discovered when I bumped into a school friend the other day. I ended up joining her on an trek to find something for a fruit themed birthday party she was attending. That's when I discovered that no one seemed to be embracing the bright yellows and red that summer is typically known for. There goes the banana or strawberry plan out the window. Instead we were faced with a sea of floral and coral. The only fruit I can think of that involves coral tones is guava, and I'm afraid if she dressed up like a guava, people might make R rated guesses on what she's supposed to be.

I do have to admit, that aside form the dress up difficulties , i'm loving the corals, soft pinks and girly florals. To think, I used to hate pink. How do you feel about the colour? Perhaps these pics will change alter any negative impressions.

[So fash'on]

[the swelle life]

[vi.sualize]

[weheartit]

soo....?

♥ pixelhazard
has turned into a chocolate
monster for today only

Dear Internets,

The Finders Keepers, definately a keeper! As promised it was a winding slightly overwhelming labyrinth of hand made goodies that made my sister and I run around in a tizzy for a few hours. We scored a glorious secret squirrel sequins dress that would make any girl jealous, keepcups, a tote bag emblazoned with a gnome, some vintage earrings and a few other lovely bits and pieces. We even dressed up like fools and had a polaroid taken. I was so happy with the resultant photos that I have made it my new banner. The old one ws much loved but I hope the new one does not dissapoint.

Anyway, after all that running around, little sis, sarahteaa, and I were exhausted, so we retired to eveleigh markets which was a hop, skip and a jump away (quite literally) to score fresh apples, some sort of heavenly soft chocolate covered baked good, and blood orange juice

The works on display on the day:

[akina]

[akina]

{?}

The food energised us for another hour which was spent in newtown shopping for buttons and a vast myriad of other random objects

Did anyone else get some(20%) christmas shopping done on the weekend?

♥ pixelhazard

should really get back to work

Dear Internets,

[1]

It's a proud moment knowing that the 'follow me' button on your blog has been pressed by a stranger for the very first time, despite how stalker cult like the term follower seems.That being said, I'm starting to get a little annoyed with the begging pleas by bloggers disguised as a comment on someone else's blog. Can you spell shameless self promotion? Perhaps I've overthinking it but it just seems somewhat discourteous.

On to other things, I'm going to The Finders Keepers to buy me some happy and perhaps some christmas gifts too! If you are around carriage works today or tomorrow, and you have some spare time, I would definately recommend a jaunt. It can be a little pricey but the stalls are manned by happy people who hand craft their products. Their works are usually rather pretty and unique too. I can't wait for the weekend to begin!

♥ pixelhazard
is finally getting over this cold

Dear Internets,

I've spent an entire day at home trying to recouperate only to realise that resting is really really boring. I've made chicken pie and there is beef stew in the slow cooker, which will be ready by dinner time. I have watched every tv show and surfed countless hours on the internet...my eyes are officially square.

1. [Made by White(brooch) - $40.00]

2. [Lush soaps- $24.95]

3. [designs by natalia plates - $15]

4. [chrysdesignsjewelry ring- $13.00]

5. [Matthew Bomer or maybe Neal Caffrey without risk of jail time ]

Maybe I should go paint something...hmm no place to put another canvas. Back to the drawing board. Here's my previous effort for my sisters room:

♥ pixelhazard

is saving up for therapy

Dear Internets,

Today is the first day of summer and I have a raw throat, congested nose and a horrible cough. I'm inclined to blame the full moon, since it' already blamed for changing tides and the existance of ware wolves. The least the moon can do to apologise is to bring me Micheal Buble! I promise to hug him and love him and feed him and take him for walk! Who am I kidding, that's not going to happen

Everyone else is putting their winter clothes away and i'm playing dress up in the safety of the indoors because of my coughing and sneezing frenzies. Feeling sorry for me yet?

I'm fairly certain the best remedy is piping hot food....so I made a banana almond pudding with strawberry jam. Hey, if i don't get to enjoy summer, I'm eating like it's winter!

Back to daydreams of the buble...

♥ pixelhazard
coughing and sneezing