ONLY IF YOU HAVE THE UNFROSTED KIND

today was a super chilled out day at work. kane and i spent an inordinate amount of time talking about cartoons from when we were little and watching their theme songs on youtube. it made me all warm in the belly remembering how excited i used to be watching them. not that much has changed really, except that now i get all giddy over animations instead of cartoons. a huge hats off to everyone at pixar studios, your movies are simply wonderful, its like giving my inner child an icecream every time i watch them.
the usual lunch run proved to be especially fruitful, with kane and i returning to work with some particularly delicious pop tarts (and some not so special blueberry and pomegranate liquorice, sounded amazing though).

the packets are open because we swapped some,
were nice like that.

and to top it off, in afew hours mick will be heading to the airport to pick up our friend byron whos coming over to hang out on our miniature foldout couch for the weekend. really looking forward to my day off tomorrow. aaaaaaaand, when i went out the back of work i saw a rainbow!

sunshine after the rain

i cant wait for summer to come back.
kitty xx

ME & MR NEBBERCRACKER

fridays are my day off, the only day off the week that i stay in bed longer than my boyfriend, and today i was even more of a bed bum than usual. i  answered and made my early morning passport related calls from the safety of my pillowy landscape and only stumbled out of bed to get my laptop, brush my teeth and jump right back in.
obviously, i did eventually get out of bed, i did pilates on the living room floor, watched monster house, ate breakfast for lunch, cleaned the house, avoided the folding and had a shower. i threw on a floral dress whipped my hair into a pony tail (with a ribbon of course) and greeted the day at 330pm.

mr nebbercracker - steve buscemi - totally awesome

jenny - a prep school girl who knows her way around a sling shot - nice

also i finally have almost everything i need for my british passport interview. i feel like i have my families whole life in documents on my desk right now. special thanks to my super mama bear who still saves the day from perth, i would have completely lost my cool if she wasnt figuratively holding my hand. i cant wait to get the interview over so i can get all the documents back to their rightful owners. im completely paranoid that ill spill tea on them or one will just spontaneously combust whilst in my care and it will be all my fault.

kitty xx

ETERNALLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION

late last night, and in the very wee hours of this morning i updated my website. it is much less in shambles than before, but still very much under construction. none the less you should check out the renovations on my internet life here at kittydearest.com.
i have also near finished my business cards, i just need my dear boyfriends photoshop skills to make a template to send away to the printers and its all systems go. if i dont knock these cards out soon im going to get sick of the artwork i made for it and 86 the whole darn lot.
getting things done feels great, but getting things almost done feels frustrating.
so heres a picture of my work desk, i think this is what my brain would look like if it was on the outside.

please note - my work tea collection, my bunny figurines from germany
and my woody & buzz laptop wallpaper

im off to work on my british passport application so if i have no hair in the next photo i post of me its because i tore it all out doing this wretched thing. 

dont leave things to the last minute. honestly.
kitty xx

THE UPSIDE OF STRANGER DANGER

another very chilly day in the studio, and being quiet i spent it huddled up at my desk in the office working on afew sketches next to the electric heater, sipping endless cups of peppermint tea. i have now near completed the book and tea related sketch for cheerleader bethie, pat on the back for me. i was really keen to work from referance for bethies sketch to get the perspective right, and finding little on the internet kane and i devised an improptu photoshoot in our office. which really meant kane and i trying desperately to balance my moleskin diary, a batman dvd and a birds reference book on my head in front of the laptop camera. this went surprisingly well, adding the teacup on the top of the stack was a little more challenging but no bunnykins tea related items were hurt in the making of this sketch.

beth came in to get her delightful bird, flower, envelope, heart tattoo finished from the also delightful kane berry, and so i got to show her the sketch today. i am very pleased to report that she loves it and we will be starting (and hopefully finishing) the tattoo in afew weeks time.

during beths visit the studio had another visitor, our resident cookie lady! this wonderful woman drops by sporadically with a basket full of edible treats, namely, you guessed it, cookies! (but also lollies and chocolates some other less important items). the first time she came i found it almost odd and it had the childhood "stranger danger, dont take candy from strangers" ringing in my head. i now have it on good authority that shes not a psychopath and the cookies are safe. not to matter as this is now the second time ive met her, making her no longer a stranger, and me longer in danger. sound logic.

lucky for me, the raisin cookies were scrumptious.

kitty xx

THE ART OF THE SUNDAY

sundays are by far my favourite day of the week, sundays are the days that i get to spend with my charming beau mick and explore melbourne which still feels so new. this sunday we slept in far longer than usual, not venturing out of bed until the day hit pm. we savoured a leisurely "breakfast" in our pyjamas and made it out of the house by the crack of 2pm.
we visited the art of the brick exhibition in federation square, which showcases the sculptures of nathan sawaya made entirely of lego. it was very endearing in its youthful medium choice and the massive dinosaur skeleton was pretty darn impressive.

we had an early dinner at mo vida next door, a spanish tapas bar known for a rather exotic menu, including oreja and lengua (which is pigs ear and ox tongue). now normally i would turn my nose up and dismiss both of these, but on this very adventurous sunday i tried the ox tongue which was served with char grilled chorizo and chick peas and im not going to lie, it was actually rather tasty but getting past the pre conceptions was definitely a battle.

then (yes still more adventure) we hit our local cinema to watch the new transformers movie is 3D and delight in a dessert of ben and jerrys icecream. this choice will be deeply regretted by those whose bellies arent best pals with dairy. in my opinion the movie was a sizeable bust, but mick won me a toystory alien from the skill tester at the cinemas so a win all round. the claaaaaaw!

kitty xx

MY FINGERS ARE LIKE ICEY POLES

today at work (and by today i mean yesterday as its now 2am) was surprisingly busy, i barely had time for a cup of tea throughout the day which is completely appalling. the better part of the day was spent in the tattoo area at work, which is for the most part, teeth chatteringly cold. the only saving grace is the ageing pot belly fire on the far side of the room, when one of the lads is cordial enough to light it. but today just seemed to have that bitter chill in the air that left me willing the infallible warmer to really put its back into it.
i knew today was going to be that particular kind of cold from the minute i stepped out the door and trekked the entire six and a half minutes to work. the coolness of the air felt sharp in my sinuses and the light fog gave the eerie feeling that the day was much earlier than it actually was. lucky i finally warmed my insides at the close of the day with a nip (maybe a wee bit more than a nip) of red wine and a quick car dance party.
i meant to take a photo of the ornate key that i tattooed today on a lovely fashion design student, but alas i forgot as my brain was frozen along with my extremities. so heres something i made instead.

A3 mixed media on 300gsm archers watercolour paper

the traveling classy gent craigy lee is now the owner of this piece. check out his stuff at craigylee.com.

sleepy time
kitty xx

(VITAMIN) D DAY

if the sound of the garbage truck and the knowledge that the bins werent out hadnt startled me awake this morning i might have missed the splendid sunny melbourne morning. but as it happened, i didnt. after running afew mindless errands with my charming boyfriend and indulging in a romantic boost juice breakfast on the go, i set out on an expedition.
with my trusty satchel laden with provisions, a beatles only soundtrack and a childlike sense of wonder i was determined to soak in as much sunshine as possible.

contents: drink bottle from the musical wicked, glomesh purse, headphones for dreamy beatles tunes, blue ribbon film camera, fuji natura classica film camera (borrowed from kane berry), pens pencil and moleskin diary with extra paper for my inner most thoughts, the book im currently reading books v. cigarettes by george orwell, spectacles for seeing, the last peanut butter lindt ball and my lovely lavender cardigan just in case the weather turns sinister, it is melbourne after all.

upon my strolls today i was looking for the smaller joys in life, i saw one adorable old lady reading on her porch, two sweet hearts enjoying a river side picnic, children crossing the road holding hands, tradesmen singing while they worked and countless people alone with their dogs. i stopped to watch a bee hum about a lavender patch, i spied on a waddling duck across the river, i contemplated the ripples in the river and made shapes out of the clouds.
i am continuously surprised at the difference the sunshine makes to my entire outlook on life. today i breathed a little deeper, i walked a little slower and a felt a little lighter, things that had been troubling me throughout the week seemed to melt away with the sun.

"just living is not enough.
one must have sunshine, freedom,
and a little flower."
hans christian anderson

the guy knew his stuff
kitty xx

YOU CHARMED THE LIFEGUARD

i have decided that i need to listen all of the new and rediscovered music on my computer giving each a fair chance to win my heart. so from this morning i will be playing each album in its entirety once, and once only, no skipping and no replaying, working backwards alphabetically from z to a. so far im almost up to v. at this rate i might be done by the end of the week if i give up movies, books and listening to people when they talk to me. top pick from "songs that i never should have let out of my top 25 most played on my itunes side bar im sorry could you ever forgive me" is........(drumroll if you please)....

other points of note concerning today include, i got a delivery! a brown cardboard box full of joy, namely supplies for work, buuuuut every time i get a delivery it feels like a present, which then makes me think of christmas. i cant waaaaait for christmas, prepare for an onslaught of childish christmas recipes and obnoxious photos of my house looking like santa himself vomited christmas all over it.
i also sketched this slr camera for a new client alex.

i hope she likes it and that she doesnt want it the size of a post-it

kitty xx

DR PEPPER & DOCUMENTARIES

today, being an uneventful day at work led to various shenanigans at work, some of which involved a toy polaroid camera, a deep sea divers helmet, a can of dr pepper and my esteemed colleague mister kane berry.

sometimes i look like a disoriented librarian

i also gained hours of joy by raiding mister berrys hard drive for new music (thankyou so much). i have now doubled my itunes library causing my dear laptop to have an aneurysm and slow to a glacial pace, which is why i am sitting at work after hours typing on the vintage pc waiting for all the files to copy. i also rummaged through my own meager itunes library in the spirit of sharing and caring, along the way i rediscovered oodles of old music that is already worming its back back into my heart and my favourites playlist.  the documentary kymatica was amoungst the sea of lost media files, this documentary is completely amazing and if you havent seen you im going to have to insist that you stop everything immediately and go and do so (im pretty sure you can watch it in parts on youtube). go. now.

we share a very small office

well what are you waiting for, go watch it. you can thank me later.
now if youll excuse me i have a few days worth of music to listen too...

kitty xx

THE BLUE IS FOR YOU, THE RED IS FOR ME

currently in our house we possess one not so friendly but particularly wobbly oven, whom im convinced is  out to get me and so i refuse to use it. unfortunately i enjoy baking, which leaves me in quite a pickle, but never fear, rum balls (affectionately nic named rumbles) are here, no baking required!
so tonight armed with a glass of red wine and simon and garfunkel i made rumbles till my hearts content, which was substantially more than i had intended. the fridge is now choc-o-block with both classic rumbles made with blue label johnny walker and straight edge friendly pg rated rum balls.

RUMBLES

(recipe care of my favourite cheerleader bethie wolf)

ingredients

1xpacket of sweet biscuits (marie or arrowroot)

1xcup of desiccated coconut

1x395g tin of condensed milk

2xtablespoons cocoa powder (i like more ^_^)

4xtablespoons rum/baileys/any other alcohol (i like more again)

* extra coconut for rolling

directions

1.break biscuits in half and place in food processor, blending until biscuits are crushed

2.combine ingredients together in a bowl and mix

3.spoon mixture into damp hands and roll into rumbles

4.roll balls in coconut and store in the fridge until they set

5.enjoy!

then spend forever trying to get rumble mixture out of your nails and coconut off everything you never touched.

get your rumble on

kitty xx

ONCE UPON A TIME...

there was an empty blog. but not for long.

ive been saying that im going to start a blog for what seems like forever, and the day has finally arrived. on this surprisingly sunny winters day, a rarity that i should be outside enjoying i made a blog. it has taken me all morning, 3 cups of tea and 1 computer restart (thankyou old laptop, i love you but your really getting on).

i shall be filling this space with the ever exciting times and tribulations of one yours truly. 

stay tuned folks.

kitty xx