Channeling Charlie Brown

Hello everyone, Jenna here again with another DIY post! I don't know about you guys, but I just love Charlie Brown. Most people were Snoopy fans, but Charlie was always my favourite. It wasn't until recently, however, that I really noticed what Charlie Brown was wearing, he's actually pretty stylin'. I have been seeing that zig zag pattern (also know as chevron) from his shirt everywhere lately, from greeting cards to furniture and I am in love!


So, I found a metal tray at the thrift store for $3 and decided I was going to spice it up Charlie Brown style. So with some spray paint and my favourite wood look drawer liner mactac I made a fun summer tray!

What you need:

• a tray of some description
• a bit of sandpaper
• spray paint (2 colours)
• wood drawer liner (or mactac, even masking tape would work!)
  

Steps:

1. Use the sandpaper to rough up the tray a bit to make it easier for the spray paint to stick
2. Spray paint the tray your first colour
3. Cut your mactac out in the chevron patter (I found a clipart picture of it, printed it off, and then traced it onto cardboard to use as a template to trace onto the mactac)
4. Place the cut outs of the pattern evenly on the tray
5. Spray paint your second colour
6. Peel off the mactac and enjoy!
   

And here's the final product, isn't it so much better that that boring metal tray, and how fun would it be to put out for a summer BBQ! Until next time everyone!

I got 99 Problems...

I love Triple J radio in Oz. They play amazing songs, have heaps of interviews and are just an all around awesome listening experience. They also have bands do covers of great songs. This is my favourite:

Speaking of MoMA...

Genius.

Portrait of a Postman

I just love this painting. I'm not sure why, though. It's something about the green background and the navy coat, I think. I'm not a huge fan of prints, but one day this this will make an appearance on my walls. Until then, I'll just have to go visit it in New York...

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

I wrote this about 2 years ago:



Not enough people know about this show and I’m afraid it’s going to have Arrested Development syndrome (you know, it’s gets HUGE once it’s cancelled!) I don’t want to talk it up too much, but it’s hilarious. It’s not that easy to find online and it’s nearly impossible to find on TV in Canada (try Showcase) but if you can find it—watch it! The DVD's are readily available at most DVD stores for about $20 (and that's 2 seasons)

Check out the vid below!


Well it's still kicking and I still love it!

A little soul searching

I stumbled upon these 50 questions to ponder:

1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?
3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?
4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
7. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
11. You’re having lunch with three people you respect and admire.  They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend.  The criticism is distasteful and unjustified.  What do you do?
12. If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
13. Would you break the law to save a loved one?
14. Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
15. What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
16. How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?
17. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What's holding you back?  
18. Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
19. If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?
20. Do you push the elevator button more than once?  Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?
21. Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?
22. Why are you, you?
23. Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?
24. Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?
25. What are you most grateful for?
26. Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
27. Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?
28. Has your greatest fear ever come true?
29. Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset?  Does it really matter now?
30. What is your happiest childhood memory?  What makes it so special?
31. At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?
32. If not now, then when?
33. If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?
34. Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever?
35. Why do religions that support love cause so many wars?
36. Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
37. If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?
38. Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?
39. Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?
40. When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?
41. If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
42. Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?
43. What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
44. When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
45. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
46. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
47. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
48. What do you love?  Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
49. In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday?  What about the day before that?  Or the day before that?
50. Decisions are being made right now.  The question is:  Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?

Hmm...

I (heart) Surfers Paradise

I took this picture the first week I was here... 8am and no one was around. Perfect Surfers morning.

DIY postcard clothes line!

Hello again! Jenna here with a quick DIY tutorial for those of you who, like me, have friends living all over the world sending you awesome postcards! I love my postcards but was getting sick of them being covered up by magnets and just looking messy on the fridge. So with a few items from the dollar store and about 15 minutes, I wipped up a cute and easy postcard clothes line :)

My messy looking fridge!


What you need:

• postcards from your favourite people
• clothes pins
• ribbon
• white paint
• paint brush

I found it much easier to paint the clothes pins by cutting off the top of a used tissue box (it beats getting paint all over your hands)


The finished product - just use 2 thumbtacks to hang the ribbon in place.


My new postcard clothes line hanging up by the front door :)

p.s. this would also work great with photos!

Welcome to Good Burger, Home of the Good Burger Can I take your orrrder.

Nickelodeon in the '90's was pure gold- I especially loved Good Burger . I remember renting this movie at the variety store so many times I could have probably bought it ten times over! It's probably pretty awful and I'm not sure I'd feel the same way about it now, but have a look anyway...

Do you remember?:



Welcome to Good Burger, Home of the Good Burger Can I take your orrrder?

Playing with light...

Not too much to say today- just a picture to share.

Sometimes I've got my head in the clouds

What better place than Surfers Paradise?

You should be listening to...

Phoenix!

They have heaps of great songs including Lizsomania, Long Distance Call & Summer Days. And I love them!

Bondi Beach

A few months ago (where did that time go?) my friend Syd flew from Canada to spend 5 super fun days in Oz. We did Adelaide then headed to Sydney for some good times. Of course, we had to go to Bondi Beach (Bondi Rescue anyone?)

It's no Surfers but it'll do! 

Superficial.

This was outside a shoe store in Bondi:

 Pretty accurate!

Preface: "Jack"

I posted a picture a few days ago: "Jack" but didn't explain who Jack was or where this Jack came from. So here's the preface of  the "Jack" story:

Things seem to happen on a whim in this country. A little bit like my life over the past year- Gallivanting around Europe, coming to Australia. It keeps it exciting. So last weekend I got the invite (self invite?) to Bluesfest in Byron Bay (about 45ish minutes up the road into New South Wales) where Jack Johnson and his Brushfire Record friends were playing.

I saw him a few years ago in Oro, Ontario and loved it. So when this opportunity arose, I decided to bite the money bullet and just go for it. Turns out it was a fantastic day of live Blues-y, Reggae, Beachy- music and some of the best concert food I have ever had: Vegetarian options (heaps!), Tom's suggestion of the best organic dark chocolate filled doughnuts (and I mean these kick Tim Horton's donut butt), and everything you can think of: Jambalaya, Sushi, Pies... so so good!

The music was fantastic: We caught Buena Visa Social Club, Zennith, Donovan, Newton Faulkner, These amazing brothers who's name escapes me at the moment and Jack Johnson. We even managed to be close to the stage for Jack. Can't be that!

And that explains "Jack".

 and in case you were wondering, Jack used to be bald but now he is not!

Moustache Mania!

Well hello blog world, its Jenna here! S has graciously allowed me to guest blog on here with some fun DIY projects. S and I go way back to highschool, we’ve also worked together as pro shelf stockers/cashiers, and still keep in touch despite her new home being on the other side of the world.

I am writing you with a DIY project I made for my youngest brother who is moving into his first apartment with some friends in May. I really really love moustaches and have been seeing them everywhere.

But, if you’re like me you don’t want to spend a lot of money on buying one mug ($10 a ubran outfitters - yikes!) you can make your own with just some dollar store mugs and a bottle of ceramic paint! Here’s how:

What you need:

· Dollar store mugs

· ceramic paint (go to the Michaels website to get 40% off)

· paint brush

· Mactac (I used some leftover wood look sticky drawer liner which worked great)

· Moustache template (I got mine here http://images.tvnz.co.nz/tvnz_images/tvone/programmes/good_morning_2008/other/mo_templates.pdf)

Steps:

· Print off the moustache template and choose the moustache that you want to paint

· Cut it out of the template and trace it onto the Mactac and cut it out

· This is where it gets tricky, if you’re a perfectionist you can measure to make sure the moustache is stuck on straight or if you’re like me you can just eyeball it – you will need to play with the placement a little bit and make sure that it is stuck in all places to avoid the paint running

· Time to paint! One coat is best...I found out the hard way that if there is too much paint it will come off in the dishwasher...sigh...

· Pull off the template as soon as you’re done painting, if you leave it on too long it will peel off the paint with it when you take it off (again learned the hard way...)

· If the paint does bleed under your sticky template just use your fingernail to scrape it off, or if you’re not happy with the placement you can just wash the paint off with soapy water and start over again

· Now just follow the paints directions and bake for the allotted time to make it dishwasher safe!

Well, now you are the proud new owner of a cheap moustache mug! Enjoy!

Below are is a photo of the one’s I made for my brother, with my Mom doing dishes in the back of course :)

If there are any questions or if something is not clear post a comment and I will get back to you!

Until nex time bloggers!

Currumbin Rock Pools

Photo of the day: Currumbin, Queensland

A few weeks ago I took a little trip with a bunch of friends to Currumbin rock pools. These are just down the road from where were all living! Pretty amazing. I didn't jump in, but you can (and nearly everyone else did) or slide down the waterfall (haha yeah right)... such a fun afternoon!

Song of the day

UPDATE: The video is actually clips from the Korean movie My Sassy Girl . I think I need to get my hands on this with English subtitles...

I'm not sure what's happening in this video.  It's for a Korea movie I've never heard of, but the song is great!



Cute, eh?

Jack

Everybody loved it! Captain Cook loved it!

A truly fantastic depiction of the Gold Coast:



What's not to love?

Have you seen: Bell Book and Candle?

Bell Book and Candle has been one of my favourite movie for quite some time. It's enchanting and cute and it's one of those movies you can watch over and over and still love.



There's something so perfect about old movies especially those that star James Stewart, Kim Novak and Jack Lemmon. And this one takes place in New York City back in the late '50's. I would have loved to have seen the City back then...

Next time it's a rainy day at your looking for something to watch, give this one a go!

When in Bath...

Last night was a massive party. Needless to say, none of those pictures will be making it to this blog!

So instead, I'm pulling out a picture from the recent past for the photo of the day.


Behold, Bath.

I love the cobble stone streets, the cute shops and most important:  the beetle!