So on actual Valentine’s Day I celebrated me, by being lazy and doing what I like, because I was here all on my lonesome. It was nice enough, but a day with my man-friend was better. Matt got home from work on Friday, so we celebrated our love on Saturday. We’re not a lovey-dovey romantic couple, I don’t expect roses, chocolates or a blue box from Tiffany’s, all I want is a day with my boy all to myself, and a tasty dinner to eat at the table, rather than in front of the TV.

In the morning we went to a farmers market and bought a pile of fruit and vegies for our fridge. We went early, so it wasn’t too busy, and I felt relaxed and happy, despite being surrounded by people.

Our tradition on special occasions is for Matt to make dinner, and for me to make dessert. Matt made an Indian feast, with three different dishes, plus flat bread on the side.

I picked a bouquet from the garden, mostly leaves because our garden is quite lacking is the flower department, but it still looked lovely, especially with the water dyed red. I even dug out some candles and put on a dress and jewellery.

Zelda was very perplexed by our odd behaviour, particularly the eating at the table. I really want to try to eat one meal a week at the table, it’s nice to look at Matt while we eat, rather than us both staring at the TV.

I spent all day making dessert, it had so many steps and layers and waiting for things to cool, but it was worth it! I made another pie from Vegan Pie In The Sky, the Boston cream pie. It was so delicious! I cannot gush enough about how much I love this cookbook!

After dinner we wanted to watch a romantic movie which wasn’t too serious. We picked Coming To America, it was the first time in a while I’d watched it and it was a funny and romantic as I remembered, the perfect ending to a lovely Valentine’s!

How was your weekend? I hope it was full of love and tasty food.  

My favourite colour on a cat is grey, I think that’s fairly obvious, given the colouring of my kitty offspring. But I do have a clear second favourite, and that is the calico. I know that the terminology differs from country to country, so you might call them a tortoiseshell-and-white. I do think that tortoiseshells are also gorgeous, but something about the white with patches of ginger and black gets me every time.

We’ve had one calico foster kitten, named Dorothy. We had several calls as soon as she was listed for adoption, so I know I’m not alone in this love of the calico kitty!

Isn’t she stunning? I would have loved to have kept her! I’m fairly sure that our next cat will be a calico, not any time soon though, 3 is enough!

The special thing about both calico and tortoiseshells is that they are almost always girls! Coat colour in cats is determined by the X chromosome, and which colour is expressed is completely random! The only way a male can be a calico is if he has XXY chromosomes, which is not normal, and he would probably be sterile.

Dorothy’s sister, Pippi, was also a special girl. She is what would generally be called a tortoiseshell. And just quietly, I would have really loved to keep her too! That’s the danger of fostering kittens!

They were two of the sweetest cats I’ve ever known, and there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that being friendly and a little bit odd is a common trait of calico and tortoiseshell cats.

In the end they both found wonderful homes with an older cat to play with, and lovely people who adored them from the moment they met them. Lucky girls!

Is there a calico cat in your life? Do you find them to be exceptionally delightful?

Do you see him? Sneaky.

And a bonus sunbeam.

I hope you had/are having a lovely Thursday!

Five years ago I hopped on plane and moved to the other side of the country to live with a boy I didn’t know, because I felt like there was nothing else I could do. I ran away, and I couldn’t be more happy that I did.

Yes, that boy was Matt. I moved here as his housemate, I actually had my eye on one of his friends when I first arrived!

Happy Anniversary Perth! I love you, and am so happy that I found you.

Today is actually Anna Howard Shaw Day. If you get that reference then I changed my mind, Valentine’s is back on and I’m marrying you.

I spent today loving myself. Which is really hard for me to even type, if I’m completely honest. Self love is something completely foreign to me, and it’s hard for me to find reasons why I deserve it. The little voice at the back of my head is well versed in the words that hurt me. But today, in honour of Anna Howard Shaw, I am trying my best to love myself for who I am.

I watched some of my favourite movies, including Lars And The Real Girl (if you haven’t seen it, you must immediately!) and ate some chocolate and popcorn, because I deserve Ryan Gosling and chocolate and popcorn, preferably all together.

I painted my nails pretty colours, because I deserve to think my finger tips are pretty.

And I made myself a pizza for dinner and pudding for dessert, because on special occasions, I deserve that too.

If you’re lucky enough to have a man or a lady in your life today, then cuddle up close with them and whisper sweet-nothing in their ear.

If it’s just you today, then snuggle up with a cat, or a blanket, or a man pillow and whisper those things to yourself, because you deserve it too.

xox

I know a lot of crafty/artsy folk read my blog, so I hope this interests some of you, plus it would totally make my little brother’s day! 

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Hi! I’m a Hypotheticus and I need your help!

I’m a hypothetical organism who lives in cyberspace, called a Hypotheticus. I need your help so that I can grow and adapt to new places, make a large family and move to new places all over the web. So if you’re looking for a fun little distraction, please lend a hand. How can you do it? Easy!

Instructions:

1.       Copy this post to any suitable place on the web, whether it’s your own personal blog, DeviantArt, Tumblr, Facebook etc.

2.       Copy my picture and edit it a little bit in an image editor of your choice! Change whatever you like about me, to help me adapt to new environments, or to look really cool or cute! But don’t change me so much that I am unrecognizable from my previous form! Oh, and ALWAYS remember to save the image as a .PNG!

3.       Put in the new image to your copy of this post, replacing the old one.

4.       Your new post is sort of like my baby. Give it a new name and change or rewrite its description to better suit it. The description can be as brief and succinct or long and complex as you wish.

5.       Copy the website address you got me from and include it with the description of my baby, and paste my baby’s address in the comments section with me (If the website I’m on has a comments section). We like to keep in touch with our family!

6.       If you followed these steps you just helped me evolve into a lovely new Hypotheticus, thank you!

7.       To see the very first Hypotheticus, visit www.hypotheticus.weebly.com

Here is the information about myself personally:

Name: Giraffeticus

My picture:

I forgot to plan something for Feline Friday this week. I’ve been super stressed about things that don’t really need that much stressing about, like going home for a few weeks, and finishing crocheting my gifts for when I go home, and if the cats will be ok without me, even though I don’t leave for nearly 3 weeks. It’s not worth the energy, but it’s in my nature to worry about such things.

So this week you’re not getting a lot of words. You’re getting kittens instead. Photos from when we went and saw Maisie before we chose which one Maisie was. Enjoy!

I wish I could say that I could tell which one of those little faces belonged to my big Maisie-Moo, but I don’t.

But I do know that I picked the right one.

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Isn’t this photo beautiful? It’s probably my favourite Holga photo that I’ve taken. The black corners are so pronounced (it’s unedited), and the glow around the lighthouse is ethereal.

I took these photos on Christmas Eve at the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse. It’s at the most south-westerly point of Australia, and, as you will see below, it looks out to where the India and Southern Oceans meet. You can pay to have a tour inside it and climb to the top, but that sounded like work, so Matt and I paid our $5 to just look around the grounds outside.

I love it when Holga comes on adventures with me, where should I take her next?!

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Flying

I love flying on clear days over land, trying to capture the fine texture of the mountains, the shadows of the clouds, and patchwork fields. I was lucky enough to fly across the USA, with clear weather from LA to Houston. The most amazing thing on this flight was the desert combined with snowy mountain peaks. We don’t have that in Australia.

Glorious Day

I have an east facing window in my second story bedroom, and I leave the blind open at night. I see a lot of sunrises. I love to watch the sunrise, it reminds me that the world is turning, and the day feels full of possibilities when you watch it begin. So on my first morning in Miami I got up early, because I knew I was in for a sight I’d never seen; the sunrise over the Atlantic (or the Straits of Florida, if you want to be technical). It was a particularly breathtaking sunrise, with the sun rising spectacularly through successive banks of cloud. I was at Lummus Park Beach.

Squirrel!

I was sitting in Bayfront Park, Miami, writing about my day so far. Went to the Ichimura Miami-Japan Garden, Miami Botanic Garden, Jungle Island Zoo and on the Miami metromover, when – Squirrel! I was so excited to see my first squirrel; I dropped what I was doing and went over near the squirrel. I took photos of it sitting in a palm tree – which doesn’t seem like where a squirrel should be. It soon came down from the tree and came quite close to me, on the rocks by the ocean – which seems even less like where a squirrel should be.

Across the Sea

I am a very down to earth person, so I was kind of out of my element on a cruise ship sailing across the sea. But I was fascinated to watch the interplay of light, air and water. The way the waves rise up and the wind sprays the water off the top, creating the white peaks. The way the sun makes rainbows in the spray if you catch it at the right angle. The way the clouds reflect on the water. The way the clouds shadow the path of the sun on the water.

Island in the Sun

Cozumel Island is like paradise. I suppose most tropical islands are. It is a flat little island, covered with jungle and an abundance of wildlife, and surrounded by the beautiful blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. I visited the ruins of a Maya temple to the Goddess Ixchel, the most ancient structures I’ve ever seen. By about 1000 years. The tour guide talked a lot about the Maya calendar and the end of the world. Apparently, we’re going to be okay. I have that on the authority of a May descendent. The most exciting thing for me were the Cozumel Emerald Hummingbirds, they were delightful, and some super cute raccoons. The beach was beautiful, and I saw a lot of different fish without even going in the water.

Everglades

I enjoyed the opportunity to visit the unique environment of the everglades. It’s pretty damp there. There are a lot of alligators. I had a chat with a vulture and some alligators about life at the top of the food chain. We agreed that we like that we aren’t likely to be eaten, and also that the everglades are quite damp.

Weezer

The reason for my trip was, of course, as a unique opportunity to see Weezer. They played as the boat left the port in Miami, playing some of their biggest hits, followed by the Blue Album in its entirety. It was a great fun show. At their other show, in the indoor theatre, Weezer played some rare songs and Pinkerton in its entirety. It was amazing to hear all the songs off the early albums. When a band releases eight albums before you see them live, you don’t expect to hear the early songs. To hear them all is fantastic, though I hope to see them again to hear more of their recent songs! It was cool to listen to the songs in order, especially Pinkerton because of the way the songs all together tell a story. However, it does rather take away the element of surprise; of ‘what song will they play next?’

Of the other bands on board, I loved Dinosaur Jr., J. Mascis and Sebadoh, and Lou Barlow is my new favourite person. The artists were very generous with their time, especially our hosts Weezer, who spent four hours posing for photos with EVERY SINGLE GUEST. In that time, they would have posed for more photos than I have in my whole life, by a long way. Thanks to Weezer for the amazing Weezer Cruise (Also Sixthman, the organisers, and Carnival Cruiselines).

And my favourite part of cruising? Towel Creations! A nice surprise every night, and I was like, how do they make them? Then I bought a book on how to make them.

Please say thanks to Lucie for putting together this post for me/you!

I was so excited to find the Jane Fonda workout record, I downloaded on of her workouts last year and I do it when I feel like laughing, seriously, the clothes and hair just kill me! But when Matt took it out to play when we got home, disaster! There was something else inside! Oh well, the cover is still fabulous.

In the past I’ve also come home with stained pillowcases and books with chunks missing. I really should check these things in the store! Have you had any op-shopping disasters?