roll on out.

the fact that i can now roll out of bed and do nothing to my hair (provided i did something with it the day before, like wash it) and have it look moderately lovely is a big plus. (and by moderately lovely i mean "good - messy" as in what some may call "tousled and sexy".. which is a farce, and a facade name created to avoid a more realistic response such as - "that girl clearly does not own a brush!")

it is especially good for those early rises like this morning. I am not used to getting up at 7am. sad.

as i did get up at 6am for a good solid year once.
so am surely capable.

all the same.
pleased i went with the chop.

and don't ask me what my hand is doing in the right photograph.. i didn't even realise i was doing that. odd.

-kate attack.

be still little one

for all that we can control,
and for all that we cannot.
with every step, and whim and cry,
i try not to fumble, not to stop.

my shoe soles have been repaired;
"that's five pound fifty dear wee lass"
take no mind of all that is vulgur in this world,
no mind for all that is crass.

In trembling fears and raging fits
i dance upon my bed,
trying not to make a meal
of all the emotion being force-fed.

the quiet moments, the thoughts of still,
that ebb and flow and pass,
caught of light on finger-tips
and protected from the past.

be still little one, be still little soul,
little mind, little feet, little mass.
sit on your bed and practice your catch,
and take no mind of all that is vulgur in this world,
no mind for all that is crass.

- photography by Sally Mann.

- poetry by myself, © 21st July 2010.

J'adore Paris

well, not much more I can say other than Paris stole my innards and has ahold of them good and well now.
I adore everything about that city; the bicycles, the front facing seating of cafes on the street walks of nearly every block, the well dressed manner of parisians, the beautiful trees that seem to line every street, the cobbled stones, the shuttered windows adorned with brightly lit flowers in window boxes, the morning espresso's and pastries, the fact that a french lady told me i had lovely skin tone and was beautiful (that was almost the highlight of my weekend - skin tone??!!), drinking a beer on a corner cafe adjacent to a canal (that had a little green iron bridge that reminded me of scenes of Amelie skimming stones) and on my last day - visiting the 'Opera National de Paris' - the national opera house. Attended a tour, and it was soo unbelievably interesting and wonderous, at one point I almost cried - ridiculous and easily emotionally moved me!!

Here's a bunch of sights that stole my eyes attention and are still rolling through my head like a romantic slideshow of 'une ville tres belle'

view from my hotel room.

 

 le petit-dejeuner

my favourite post boxes ever, YELLOW!

dans Le Musee de Louvre

my future hubbie (just need to master his language!)

'omellete avec fromage et champignons!'

 Une Jardin dans Paris

'Opera National de Paris' - hall of mirrors, inspired by that of the one in Versaille.

And yes, i did see and visit Le Tour D'eiffel, twice, but both times I did not have my camera avec moi,

so no pictures... besides, let us be honest - everyone know's what it looks like.

C'est ca!

Au revoir.

Hair today, gone tomorrow!

Last day, evening and night my hair will be this long for a wee while. It is getting the chop tomorrow.
Any protestors hold your tongue, lest any or all of you would like a snippet of my hair sent to you in an envelope in the post... and it is truthful to say; once hair is no longer attached to the head, it loses all appeal.

-katie joy merrrrrrryweather.




p.s i love over used puns and my star-stricken nighty.

Great Greta Guides me through the night.

So, I finally have my blue guitar back.. Paul and I (mainly Paul) re-pegged her last night.
She's in tune now and I spent a solid 2 hours with her this eve... I got home from work today with very sore feet, and after whipping up some tasty pasta thought; maybe I'll head to bed early.. but instead I picked up Greta and strummed til my finger-tips turned black. I even practiced with a metronome and everything!

Then I thought I should take some pictures of her and I as I have no pictures of the wee lass who made the long journey with me all the way over from New Zealand.. and also of me because I very well may have my hair chopped off this week if the hairdresser I contacted can fit me in and it is so clean and curly tonight that I feel I may miss it slightly, but definitely would still like a change...

..besides it always grows back (and pretty super quick too).

- sleepy time now, midnight has struck. And yes, I managed to yet again produce a photo whereby I look like a complete dork, and then post it.

Dead Beats vs Sweet Treats

So, I am at home a lot at the moment (alot, alot) and have decided not to be a dead beat and whittle away the hours wasting my time with television or anything else silly such as that... (although i admit, i have been watching a little bit, wimbledon and all) and so, I have been experimenting in the kitchen just a tad..

Yesterday, after whipping up a batch of potato fritters to eat with the red-bean, tomato, chilli, oregano salsa that I had made the night before, I toasted some musli in organic honey and then endeavoured to create some mini deserts.
I came up with these...
... honey oat and nut, apple and strawberry tarts...  - obviously i need a MUCH better name for them so if anyone has any suitable suggestions throw them my way.

place a base of toasted honey nut musli in the bottom of the tin, then cover with finely sliced apple.

then cut up some strawberries and make a jam puree by boiling them in just a little water with honey or sugar. Dollop the puree on top, then spread over the apple, like so;

Find a pastry recipe, and make some pastry to cover the tarts with... I didn't have all the ingredients for a short crust pastry so consquently just made one up, loosely based around it. I was quite afraid that it would indeed fail, but luckily it turned out just swell.

I put a special 'L' on top of one of them for my flatmate Lucy but couldn't be bothered using the remains of the pastry to decorate the others.. so now am left with a ridiculously small amount of pastry wrapped up and sitting on the top shelf in my fridge. Simply eating the dough is tempting.. but surely I shan't be doing that!!

O yes! I nearly forgot; I am going in to learn some of the ropes in my new job on Thursday - SKIRT Boutique in High Bridge Lane in Newcastle.. YAY a job where I can dress up pretty and chat to people, convincing them to spend money on pretty things, hehehe, I am o' so, so eager.

-katie j

Just me and the Chicks for tea.

Another night in, alone! Ha, surprise surprise... So i thought i'd break out a can of chick pea's and whip up a batch of capsicum, chilli, chick-pea fritters for company. They worked out surprisingly well (well mostly all of them) for one of my 'wing-it' dishes.

ingredients:
- chick peas, drained, peeled and roughly mashed
- finely chopped capsicum
- half an onion, finely chopped
- 1 to 2 cloves of garlic
- heaped teaspoon of chilli flakes (or one finely sliced and de-seeded chilli)
- 1 egg, beaten
- dash of rock salt
- dash of pepper
- tablespoon of plain flour
- any other veg you like - finely sliced - i added one large flat mushroom

stir, then make little bundles, place into a gridle pan and squish down with a fork. Just make sure you don't cook 'em on too high a heat, and put some tasty olive oil in the pan first to make them nice and crsipy around the edges.

 those sad ones on the left are ones who didn't quite hold together when i went to turn them, mind you i was utilising a wooden spoon and a cheese slice to do so as i am sans whatever those things are called you use to flip burgers... anyone??

here's my hot date for the evening, all dressed up and on a plate - served with some salad greens, cherry toms and sweet chilli sauce.

i love how the evening sun makes my juice look magical, like one of my neice's 'my little ponies' - GA HA HA.

my leftover fritters for later.. later being maybe now, as i only had two, and am a closet fatty.

might be starting a new (and yes 3rd) job soon, but i may be able to drop 1 of the the 2 i currently have,

I must be a 'part-time work magnet' which has it's plusses and minuses, but hey, i might as well focus on the positives eh!

I mean heck, what's the point on dwelling on the downers.

I am all for the shiny happy thoughts in life.

-katie joy

diorama Dreams..

what to do on a day off (when unfortunately at present you generally have days off for half of the week) when you don't want to do anything that involves spending money???

Oo oo oo, I KNOW, I KNOW!!!
make a dreamy diorama out of whatever you can find lying around your home and hey presto, this is what one might get...

The lovely clay letters were gifted to me from my boss at 'Magnolia' in Wellington back home in New Zealand. She brought them back with her from Paris from what i can only assume to be a lovely little french stationary store .. everything else i cut out of free magazines, the lid I painted white then used felt-tip pink and yellow pens to construct a candy stripe... O SO FREAKING GIRLY.... not to mention supremely geeky,but hey, I already knew I was terrible at pretending to be a tough, cool, foreigner. It is a lost cause.

Might be going to Paris for a weekend in a couple of weeks. It will be my first truely foreign experience should it go ahead.. as so far I have strayed only to Union Jack-i-fied counties.

-katie-who-needs-more-work-as-she-is-somewhat-bored-some-of-time.