Housewife.

I've been a bit out of character lately... baking cakes and cookies and nice things, tidying my beautiful house and drinking copious amounts of peach tea out of cute tea cups. Maybe I'm channelling my inner Betty Draper (can't wait for the new series of Mad Men!











It's pretty easy to feel domesticated in such a beautiful house as mine. Friday our house looked picture-perfect, all Autumn sun and warmth. My housemate and I sat outside on our deck eating treats and drinking tea all day... ahh.

This Saturday.

Come see a fantastic local Ballarat band introduce some new songs, and play some older favourites from their first album. Escape from the cold, and into a cosy venue for drinks, tunes and nice times.


Karova Lounge, Saturday May 23

X's & O's hit the hometown stage for a night with more introductions than a speed-dating event.

We've got a stack of new songs that we would like you to get to know. And we hope you like them, because we plan on recording them soon. Then you can take them home to meet your parents.

On the outside, the songs will be pleasant to your folks. They'll be courteous with the right amount of please and thank you, but deep down, under the surface, they won't give a damn if they are liked or not. Because they know that they're good songs and that they should be enjoyed for what they are...Good songs. And to hell with them if they can't see that.

So come on down to Karova Lounge, Saturday May 23. Entry is $7.

I'm looking forward to seeing my friends on the Karova stage again (they're playing with Pony Up! at Karova on the 14th of June, too, if you miss this gig). Hope they get a bit of local support, seems like a lot of Ballarat people - especialy the younger crowds - are skipping the entry fee and coming to gigs after 12 to catch the last part for free, or waiting until the DJ is playing, rather than supporting local live music. Disappointing, a trend that I hope isn't going to continue...

Top 10.

Things I like, from a variety of places.
Most are from blogs listed to the right of this page.

Red Wine Tuesdays.

Red Wine Tuesdays started as a group of my friends and I all working hospitality hours, and only getting to see each other on weeknights where everyone else was busy, and nothing was on that we could all do together. They have evolved into some of the best nights I've spent with a great group of girlfriends - and guy mates now - some messy, some quiet, some with 3 friends huddled in an empty apartment with a bottle of wine to share and new tunes to listen to, some a big picnic up at the lake ending in playing on the swings all night.









Our latest - and the first for a long time - was last night, a great reunion of friends, some epic dancing and most of all a great chance for us all to make the effort to keep at least one night free for friends. It became quite large... a lot more people must like the idea of Tuesday night sessions!






Yes, it may be irresponsible. Sure, it's not great for Wednesday mornings at work. But hopefully Red Wine Tuesdays will keep going, and keep gaining new members and friends for lovely times over a bottle (or two) of wine.

Inside.

My head really doesn't make sense at the moment.

Weekend of Warmth.

Well, I didn't end up Grooving the Moo. As much as the lineup was kick-arse (and Okkervil River are disappointing to pass by...), I had a lovely weekend tucked away in sleepy Talbot, eating lovely things, watching funny things, and relaxing. Oh, and a bit of designing too.

Thaw Four is off to the printers tomorrow! And what a mission this issue has been to finish. Not only are things always frantic in Thaw World, but Rohan and Kim (Editor and Creative Director of the mag, and the general brains/organisers/founders/creatives behind the whole publication) are in the midst of renovating their new house, and moving out of their old one. You can read about their adventures in home beautifying and stress management here.

So, Thaw Four, I think, is our best effort yet. A lot more content, lovely pictures thanks to the talented Teagan for our Grunge-Chic Fashion shoot, and a new, cleaner layout thanks to me having a lot of spare time lately. I even took up writing a little bit for this issue, along with the usual grapho and illustration work. Hopefully the proofs will come back from the printers tip-top!






You can still buy our Autumn issue from our Ballarat retails until June 1st, or of course at our online store - where you can pre-order our Winter wonder, or buy a subscription for the next year of Thaw for only $12! I'm turning into such a salesperson - or spammer!

Apart from turning into a publicist for the mag and overwhelming myself with designmania, I also managed to catch the Talbot Farmer's Market this morning, traipsing around stalls with my boyfriend who happens to live in this little town, and buying delicious fudge (mmm rocky road!), olives, fresh bread, cupcakes and some dodgy old CDs for $2 each. I resisted from buying quite a few hats - I'll have to save up my pennies for next time!

To top off our Sunday afternoon, we had a great all-day breaky at Europa, and caught the new Star Trek movie. I really enjoyed this film - and I don't think it was geeky at all! *cough cough*. Well, maybe a little bit. But it was fun, action-filled and very enjoyable.

While waiting for the movies to start, we walked straight into an advertisement for VB being filmed on Lydiard and Sturt Streets. Seemed like most of the town was being shut down, and that a large majority of Ballaratians were in costume and on camera!

I took a couple of sneaky snaps, of some of our friends being "farmers with their hands up cows" and "tall poppies", on their way to the pub for a hard-earned cold VB. Matter of fact... no, I'm not a massive VB drinker. But still, will be looking forward to seeing this one on my TV screen sometime - my bet is on footy finals!





Thanks Herald Sun website for the last one!

And rounding off a weekend with last minute Thaw bits and pieces, getting her all dolled up and ready to go the the printers tomorrow. How exciting! Bring on Issue 5!

Things...

.... that I am most proud of in my life :



Being one of two organisers for a two-day mini-music event in Ballarat, to raise money for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal. Such a massive task, and I probably took on far too much, but it all worked out in the end - with a lot of help from others. And we raised a lot of money, which was the main point.



Getting up to the fourth issue of Thaw Magazine... from a basic idea between a few friends, to an actual, real, printed magazine - that actually sells copies - this is one project that I don't care at all about the money, it's all about how wonderful a project it is that I have put together, with Rohan and Kim - and a lot of contributers. Go to the Thaw website on the side of this page for more info, or if you want to contribute - we're always after creative people from Ballarat!



My wonderful family, and the awesome relationship that I have with them. I am very blessed and totally lucky to have such wonderful people in my life.