the beginning

I've been working for a year as a physio

Finally getting back into art and it feels seriously good

I have so many plans, so many ideas, it's like I've overcome the point of starting over the last few weeks - i always tripped on beginnings, then once begun on finishing what i started. 

Finished two pieces i began years ago and have carried with me since, the circling sharks, and the mountains beyond the lake landscape. 

I've started learning to use medium with oil paints, picked up some gesso and fast drying medium which can mix with my water soluble oils and got started. 

I booked myself a weeks holiday and didn't go traveling at all, i just started creating. 

I've been looking into creating prints of my work and selling them for a little over the making cost. Also grand plans of themed works based on issues that tear up my heart to think about. Deforestation, working conditions for tea pickers of Assam, woman's refuge, and protecting animals like elephants are a few - donating any profits i make would feel nice.

I have overcome my fear of needles, being tattooed and learning how to hand poke tattoo over the last few months. Also preparing to learn dry needling for physiotherapy by feeling it on myself.

I have been tramping more, being out there in the wilderness with the fiercely fresh wind, stinging cold of streams, and dripping heat of the sun and I feel strong.

This is a beginning
I look forwards to the story

Sarah

Farmer's market fun

Farmers market was amazing, everyone was so friendly! I tried pear jam, fennel sausage, and my first savoury crepe full of roast pumpkin, feta, salad and love. Everything was perfect - there were so many pears that i think i have around 3kg now, shall wait for them to ripen a little more then roast them with cinnamon and nuts to top my Greek yogurt, or make a toasted sandwich with brie, Rose's raspberry jam and roasted pears. The only sweet toasted sandwich I've had before was the equivalent of a schmore so this could be really good. I also got an enormous leek - leek and potato soup anyone? The brightly coloured tents just made me so happy. I had a little hangover from the dress up party the night before and woke up strangely early for a Saturday at 8am, it had just been raining so the air was fresh and i loved the hour round trip as it cleared my head. Luckily i remembered to wash off the lightning bolt on my face from the night before as i had been running around dressed as a super hero, that would have looked most unusual.

Later that day we had Alex's birthday party, all of my vegan chocolate cupcakes had already vanished but at least i know he got one. They were really good! I had four hahahaha
Here's the recipe from Pastry affair's blog http://www.pastryaffair.com/blog/vegan-chocolate-cupcakes.html

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

Yields 12 cupcakes

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes 
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
3/4 cup granulated sugar 
3 tablespoons cocoa powder 
2 teaspoons espresso powder 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1 teaspoon vinegar 
1/4 cup vegetable oil 
1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Line a cupcake pan with baking cups.In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the vanilla extract, vinegar, oil, and water. Using a spatula, mix the batter until smooth.Divide batter evenly between 12 baking cups (about 3/4 full). Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from baking pan and allow to cool to room temperature.

Whipped Chocolate Glaze 
170g semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped (use dairy-free to keep vegan)
1/2 cup coconut milk (or heavy cream, for non-vegans)

Place chopped chocolate into a mixing bowl. Set aside.On medium-high heat, bring coconut milk to a boil, stirring occasionally to prevent the milk from scorching. Pour milk over the chocolate, making sure that the milk covers the chocolate. Allow to sit for several minutes before stirring until smooth. Allow frosting to rest on the counter until it cools down and thickens to a pipe-able consistency (anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes).Beat the frosting for several minutes until it incorporates air and feels lighter. Place frosting in a pastry bag (or plastic bag with the corner cut out) and pipe frosting onto the cooled cupcakes.

My cupcakes didn't survive long enough for a photo so this is from the recipe's website ;)

The party was fun, we stayed up talking all night and the boys danced - many of us had fluffy hats on and we finished all the jelly shots. 

Just made chocolate cake in a mug and ate it with boysenberry ripple ice cream, it disappeared a little too quick i feel. Kathryn said she was going to send the blood orange tea leaves for me this week, should be interesting to try out - maybe i shall take a little flask into uni every day.

At the moment i am about to paint my nails a deep deep purple, put on my Daisy perfume and fluffy hat to make me feel better and then make the 5 minute walk through the gardens to the study center to study the rest of my night away. At least i know that something good is on the way... mum surprised me by saying she is sending a care package today which is giving me waves of good feeling and then when i told Ryan how exciting care packages are he said he was going to send me one too as i am clearly stressed... so i think the post is full of sugar for me at the moment, more trouble.

Coffee and Modaks love, and a birthday checklist

Today i pretended i was studying (alright i did a little) and had a salted caramel and chocolate slice from Modaks Espresso house which is till one of my favourite places - reminds me of home, everyone says its a piece of Wellington lost in Dunedin so <3 It has vegan and vegetarian food and amazing smoothies and coffee.... oh coffee i love you
Lets just say its known for its fries and wedges ;)
My nice camera's hidden away in Wellington for safety this year but i have borrowed images from other people to show Modaks:

 

I went there because yesterday I was out searching for cafes with Kathyrn who was down for Otago open day and was shouting me lunch, we decided on Modaks and shared the most amazing vegetarian nachos and cajun chips with sauces. She works at a farmer's market in Queenstown and knows a lovely lady who makes blood orange tea and is going to send me some to sip during exam time. She's one of a few people i know who drink their coffee short and black with lemon which i appreciate, most people i know are long black or milky kids - I am a latte girl myself and i love it but if i ever own my own coffee machine i will definitely experiment more. Its always extremely exciting when you arrive at a friends house and they have one x
Anyway, I saw the slice in the window and knew i would be coming back tomorrow just to brighten my day.
So it happens that post-slice i feel a little sick, very belly conscious and having even more trouble concentrating on study than earlier! Not such a bright day. I'm wrapped up in bed under my mink blanket in my onesie typing to clear my head a little and then i shall try again - only 6.21pm so.... long time till the test tomorrow!
May have some tea
Maybe some dinner too
We have pretty much empty cupboards at the moment in the flat though so... i'm looking forwards to exploring the farmers market on Saturday, I've never been there so i'm rather excited.

There's a BYO for 2nd and 3rd years on Friday but i'm a bit undecided if i shall go, i hope my pretty new dress will have arrived but with my luck these days...
Basically my life at the moment is entirely surrounded by wanting food, keeping warm, studying for final exams in three weeks, and trying to reassure my mum i'm not sick/broken.

I am craving every food there ever was, oh no
This was the latest day of crazy fun for a friend's 18th, there have been days since that but i really enjoyed the madness - it was a hot mess:

Need 18th birthday crazy checklist sash ideas? Or you could do a t-shirt but.... i'm impressed she finished x
5 minutes to midnight and they were all checked off! <3 she is wild

Teetering

My first year in a flat
So much freedom, so much that goes wrong, so behind on lectures
Oh dear

Made the most amazing breakfast a few days ago, it lit up the rest of my day
How does this sound? Cinnamon roasted pears, almonds, and cashews with Greek yogurt
It makes me so very happy i might even forget how terrifying my morning was and how badly wrong the rest of my day has been.
Its simple and quick: 1 pear cut into 1 inch slices, handful of almonds and cashews in the oven and sprinkle with cinnamon - oven at about 150-200 degrees C, its all fine so long as you keep watch and don't burn anything :) I burnt my tongue today, still can't taste anything... yes my day really is going so well.
Once its ready and slightly browned put it in a bowl on top of a mound of greek yogurt. So many flavours, so little time. Pears are on special at the moment so i think i shall go get some more as this actually makes my morning worth it.

Something nice happened on Monday too - a boy in my class gave me his coffee card fully completed with a free coffee on it, i'd told him what my day was going to be like and he just gave it to me! So kind... i get very clingy to that sort of thing as i feel like I've really earned my free one by the end of a card but he said he had a friend at that coffee shop who gave him free size upgrades so... he wins really but it still made me really happy.

One of my flatmates keeps using the dryer so unnecessarily - why not just hang it up outside to dry?? Its getting really cold now and we haven't even used our heat pump yet so i wish he wouldn't then maybe that extra chunk of the power bill could go towards other things! Being the only girl in my flat though... i don't want to be the flat mum/complain about everything all the time.
I got a mink blanket though, and polar fleece sheets, and wear my onesie and ugg boots around at night in the flat (shameless), and wear my puffer jacket and polyprops (thermals) to bed... how am i still cold.
Two of my flatmates went and got onesies today from bed bath and beyond so this could get quite amusing as Harry is the biggest in a purple one, then Mia is next tallest in a green one (not a flat mate but she is always here), then Caitlin has a yellow one (another friend) and she is next tallest after that, and i have red homemade one and am by far the smallest. How are we so like telly tubbies and it wasn't planned.

I was hoping to catch a plane home for a weekend trip to see my family, Harriet and Ryan but it seems Air New Zealand hates me - there was a mothers day special on with affordable flights for every combination except Wellington-Dunedin. I miss Harriet - i want to see her as much as possible so this is killing me as i didn't get to see her in the holidays as she didn't realise i only had a weeks holiday home. Have been talking to Ryan most days which is nice. Family misses me <3
But Hat i want to see the most, so much it's almost painful... here's her blog: http://myexperienceofwalkingthedog.blogspot.co.nz/ Lets just say her most recent update says "I never thought i'd be happy being told i only have six months left to live..." I need to see her.
I always talk to her when i am unhappy or worried so maybe i will later tonight but i never want to be the boring friend who is always having a wah about something not very important.

My friend Kate just found out today she has been chosen to go to Canada for a year next year; fuck i'm going to miss her.
I've somehow broken myself (when do i not?) but its been getting worse - feels like a foot strain but i couldn't walk home today i was in too much pain. It hurts now and i'm not even putting weight on it. Worst physio ever? My future - can't even fix myself
I burnt my tongue on the most underwhelming curry I've ever had that i bought just to make me feel better and was instead thoroughly disappointed with.
Hit my shin on my wooden bedframe getting out of bed early this morning - yes i still have lectures 8am and 9am every day and i think i will go to the farmers market tomorrow so.... early early
Went to hand in my clinical sheet and got told i'd done it wrong and forgotten to do some others so try again.
I have a crazy headache that i have had since i opened my eyes today.
I almost cried in my lab today because i didn't understand anything that the demonstrator said, the headache did not help x

There's what i'm not going to complain to Hat about, i would rather tell her about the nicer things

Tea and movies

Leaf tea has been going down a treat at home, my dad really likes the Mango, mum really likes the Strawberry champagne and I really like all of them - particularly in little cups from a teapot. 

The Hobbit is showing as of now and I cannot wait to see it! There are rarely movies i really want to see at the movies now but this is one of them, i watched the making of blog video which can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfX1PYv1FEY

It's so exciting! It will be interesting to see the difference in film quality from the way of filming they talked about using. I'm also so glad that they filmed it here in New Zealand... It wouldn't have been the same with that other director, probably would have made me feel a bit sick and sad with what it could have been. Very little movies make me excited.... this/these three are one of them as it's going to be SOOO GOOOD...

We've been having movie nights.... I'm sure i had strange dreams last night

Making tea....

I've made two tumblr blogs too, one as a photo diary and another for all the lovely things I find

http://sarahlatchem.tumblr.com/
http://itstruckachord.tumblr.com/

They're both quite lovely :) 

Imagine / Diane Sagnier

DIANE SAGNIER
She is a French photographer of the blog D-Birds and the Monkey Toads
Her beautiful pictures full of the love of a free-seeming life make you imagine....

IMAGINE

I wish to dye the very tips of my hair red, though i may let it seep up a little in the well know dip-dye styling. My hair is full of the summer sun, tips lighting and strands strangely pale against the rest. I wish for my autumn coloured hair to feel the heat of the red on its ends, my vague Scottish heritage which shines through the brown in the sunlight to always be there. I'm going to dye it red by the end of summer. That will be fun.
I wish to roll down grassy hills or stairs faster and faster but not get hurt at the bottom
I wish to start a garden of tulips in the soil around my house that will not welcome them and the wind of wellington which will destroy them before the even bloom, but i want to try anyway in a nook of the house and see if they can bloom.
I wish to run into the sea in my clothes, having spent the night drinking wine inside by the heat of a fire with friends and to feel the sudden madness of the sea outside the tipsy swirl of my head.
I wish to lie in the sun on the grass or the sand and for my skin to glow a caramel gold instead of marsh-mellow pink. I am already tan this year from Melbourne, this hardly ever happens and is exciting.
I wish to eat ice-cream with other things mixed in like brownie, Ferraro rocher, nerds, skittles, pebbles... the possibilities are endlessly delicious
I wish to go to a concert..... I've never been to one before, even at 18 most people I know have been to one and said it was amazing.

http://dianesagnier.blogspot.co.nz/

http://dianesagnier.blogspot.co.nz/

Her photographs make me feel and imagine what i could go out and do.... so i will
Off I go!

Daydream Lily

Liss Winnel is the writer of DAYDREAM LILY, and she is a joy. Sharing art, design, homely things on her widely-covering blog of all things creative.
http://www.daydreamlily.com

Herself

Her sister, Bec Winnel is an artist.

She shares all sorts of art, like this by The Black Apple
cute <3

and scones.... :)
http://www.daydreamlily.com