My little collection of Christmas presents. Benni Hemm Hemm Cd from Karl – Can’t decide what I love more the artwork in the CD or the songs – modern Icelandic Folk with some Led Zep/Guns N’ Roses influence.
It was a very nice night 🙂 and now I am in the final stages of switching over emails etc, before in a couple of minutes Mum and I head off onto the open road on day 1 of our 3 day trip to reach Tasmania. See you sometime 🙂
Hope everyone has a nice and enjoyable Christmas with heaps of fextive cheer 🙂
Pabbi is currently speaking to Karl, Mum is mashing the spuds, Matthew is helping with something and I am hear, sorting things out for when we leave in the morning.
We are about to sit down to Christmas Eve Dinner with all the traditional Icelandic trimmings, then after the washing up is done, we will gather round the tree to exchange the presents. 🙂
This Christmas Card is one we recieved from friends of Mum’s but I just love it so it shall be my card to you all 🙂
A week? or who knows how long ago, I had a super fun day with Andrea, where we spent next to nothing on great finds and spent a lot of time laughing, the shower cap on Gertrude to the left is one such find. I am the coolest kid in town because without a doubt I do have the coolest shower cap 🙂
I could bitch and moan about how life is at the moment but I am not going to do that, because we all know we hear enough of that in real life, so why carry it on here? So I’ll have a moan about Christmas instead.
My family all know that I normally full of the Christmas spirit, begging that we get the tree a day earlier this year, when can we start eating all the extra-special Christmas biscuits (coming soon to a blog near you), pouring over the yearly family updates we get from far-flung family and friends, thinking up the perfect presents, going nuttso over *Fine European* ornaments.
This year it hasn’t started happening yet, feeling bit scroogish here, so in an attempt to banish that evil spirit, I am making all sorts of cute yet primitive ornaments (also coming to a blog near your) to adorn the tree when we get it next week. I am going to haul myself down to the shops tomorrow to absorb some cheer and find those presents.
Christmas is in less than ten days.
Eleven days till Mum and I hit the road.
So much to do before then.
ohh and I almost forgot the best thing 🙂
Mum and I went into give blood the other day and I wanted to get the whole 470ml of blood out of me this time unlike the two times before so, you know I drank 4L of water between getting up at 4:25am for work and the appointment at 2:15pm. Well the blood was gushing out of me so fast I almost burst the little holding bag that that get the first dregs in. Seven and a bit minutes later, I had donated the whole 470ml! Go Helen! We won’t go into details about what happened afterwards but to say, Helen gets a bit faint headed after offering herself to the vampire… And GO MUM for having her 50th whole blood donation that day as well!
As I have said before I hate giving blood, the copious amounts of water, the faint-headedness bits and all the rest but just knowing that slight discomfort it gives me is less than that of the up to three other people who need my B+ blood.
That almost puts the Christmas hat on me, so with ten days till Christmas, I challenge no ask you to take a couple of hours out of your time and give the gift of blood to some strangers this season.
Well actually all the Asian Studies girls bar me finished this year and we all passed our subjects with flying colours, I got two credits and two distinctions 🙂
So Andrea had a happening shin dig at her place on saturday night. Drinks, Pizza, old friends, new friends, Midori and Kiwi fruit, cameras and of course who could not forget Mr Berg 🙂 Go check out the photos
The party was the best I think I have ever gone too, small space, lots of talk, lots of drink, lots of laughs 🙂 Love ya Andie 🙂
Helen in all her craftiness is slowly making gifts to be given out and Andrea’s was the first to be completed so she got hers last night. The bag is made from denim and Japanese cotton, the pattern is based on Amy Butler’s Nappy Bag but a whole lot smaller and less pockets.
I also learnt how to free motion machine quilt on this bag, I used something like 3 or 4 bobbins doing the quilting on both sides of the bag.
Like most young Australians who listen or have listened to Triple J, I have always known who Ben Lee was but I didn’t really know him till last night. Before Awake is the New Sleep was released and he scooped the Arias, he was just the young Sydney guy, out in the background doing his own thing, who released his first solo album when he was what 16/17?, went out with Claire Danes for ages, got his start with the likes of Sonic Youth and the Beastie Boys. Sure his 1999 album Breathing Tornados was a huge success and Cigarettes Will Kill You is one song we can all sing/hum, but Awake is the New Sleep changed all that, all of a sudden he was everywhere and on all the radio stations and even though I didn’t real know his songs, I was so proud of him and his band for surprising us all. So like any new discovery/re-discovery, I headed back to the beginnings and started listening to the early stuff and wondered why I had not started earlier, I have known who is was since what 1998 but it took me to 2005 to actually start getting into him. I don’t know. Perhaps it is the swing I am noticing in my tastes to music for which the focus is the vocals not how loud or fast the lead guitarist can play.
But back to the actual point of the story, so last night two of my bestest buds (Andrea and Same) who previously didn’t know each other but are chumming it up now and I met at The Arena to see Ben Lee, Sparkadia and a solo artist who I can’t recall the name of. Both the support acts were fantastic and then came Ben and the band :), for what was to be one night of a big sing-a-long, Patience from The Grates popping in for a song, lots of happiness and pure fun, chatting about songs, playing songs from all the records and lots of flowers 🙂 ( I thought they were fake but when I got one at the end I noticed how real my daisy is, which is currently in a flower press 🙂 because that my friend will be one hell of a scrapbook page).
As a final little act, I can solemnly say that I have never acted like a boy crazy adolescent girl in my life before but it is safe to say last night that changed, I swear he is getting cuter and cuter as he gets older and it has to be noted, we do share the same birthday albeit seven years apart 🙂
15 hours later, I can assure you that we still have big grins plastered on our faces 🙂
Christmas is coming and that means full steam ahead on all creations, the bummer is that most/all of the people I am making gifts for read this thing, so I can’t exactly post photos of them till they get them which isn’t for ages yet 🙁
However I can say that my back is sore from the amount of free motion machine quilting I have done in the last day or so, the person who gets this present is very lucky because if it wasn’t Christmas I would be keeping it myself! Full of blood, sweat and tears I tell you well actually full of 3 bobbins of thread! Thanks for Mum for showing me how to do free motion quilting.
Yesterday I also posted Jökull’s quilt so as long as the ship sails smoothly, he should see it in three to four months. I even wrote Jökull the Glacier Boy on the shipping label 🙂
Exams finished 1 week ago and I am already going stir crazy! Only 3 and a bit months left of summer holidays. ugg. I am already lined up to make Matthew three new pairs of pyjamas and to clean the kitchen and living room (paid work) so maybe it won’t be too bad. On Sunday I am going to see Ben Lee at the Zoo with Sam and Andrea 🙂 so that will be good, happy days. 🙂
Like most young Australians who listen or have listened to 
