HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!!

It's Sarah's 18th Birthday today - yay, another v. short 18 year to join me. I hope you had a good day Sarah, enjoy all those dvds of Nip and Tuck :)

Hmmm, today I have officially dusted my room, all ready to go overseas, I actually enjoy dusting my room sometimes (I know - odd), it can be almost meditative, I always end up sitting down on the floor and reading some random book or diary that I spot. I have also been attempting some calligraphy for a Christmas present for Nana, the outcome is okay , but not perfect by a long way - I attempted some angels but they look a bit blobby - sigh... the quest for perfection continues.

I am continuing my travel agency role - focusing on Barcelona apartments and Granada - it's so hard to find anything in Granada.
(by the way - the photo isn't mine, just some random one off the internet)
Anyway - look at the time - I must to bed.

Oh no, I've already broken the cycle of blogging! nooooooooo... oh well. The reason was that yesterday my Dad roped me into some slave labour to find apartments in Frnace and Spain for our trip (they have to be both very cheap and very nice, a difficult combination). You would be amazed how difficult and drawnout it is to try to find reasonable apartments and hotels - especially in Córdoba for some reason - no apartments to be seen. So last night I staggered off to bed at midnight after doing hours of research - ask me anything about accomadation in Barcelona, Córdoba, Granada!!

Pheww, apart from this exhausting research I also went shopping today at Northland to look for either a summer dress/sandles/tops for schoolies or (at the other extreme) warm tops and jeans for winter in France. Was not hugely successful on noth front, however I bought some havianas and saw some nice jeans (still deliberating as they were slightly too small). Hmm... I have to organise food for schoolies because I am going on Friday morning, I have to pack for Europe before I go as well. The book my parents gave me, Italian Joy is so beautiful, Ilove it - it makes me want to travel and wear beautiful clothes and take photos of everything - it strikes me as unfair, however, that someone living in Paris or Florence have a lot more photographic opportunities than me living in outer surburban Melbourne.

I will leave you with a random photo I took in Montpellier last year of a tree - well, I like it.

Currently Reading: Jingo (by - you guessed it - Terry Pratchett), Italian Joy and PARIS (a book of photos - okay it's not teccccchnically reading but meh)

I am sooooooo tired... I think all that vce exam stress and worry is catching up on me - I feel so lethargic, possibly also due to lack of exercise for months! I went to the Eltham festival today with Laura, it has expanded a lot, there are millions more stalls. I bought a latin/english dictionary, I have aways wanted one to work out all those latin quotations, and a copy of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (in French) - that will be a challenge, probably won't get very far! I also bought the cutest top, a singlet which is all pink and red with flowers - a bit gypsy.
While I was there I decided to release a bookcrossing book that Emma's friend found on the train - "The Buddha of Suburbia" (you can see it on my bookshelf: http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/angua ). I left it on a bench outside the library, near an old woman with yellow roses. Bonne Chance book! This afternoon I attempted some more calligraphy, quite nice but I keep slanting the writing in different directions - not so good.

The photo is of my breakfast yesterday - cinnamon toast and tea because I was feeling romantic :)

Currently Reading: Hogfather (continued) and Italian Joy

Today I continued my laziness in the morning and then had a schoolies meeting at Caitlyns in the afternoon - the most organised meeting ever! Caitlyn even had a agenda. Turns out I will be cooking stir fry on Wednesday with Sarah, Heidi and Megan - well that will be interesting. On other news I finished reading Thud! I didn't really enjoy it at the start, it was a bit self-conscious, but by the end it was back to normal with my beloved Vimes shouting "WHERE'S MY COW?". You'll have to read it to know what I'm talking about :) I also decided to make a clean start in my room so I gathered all my old school books and millions of pieces of paper and deposited them in the garage for long term storage.

Tonight we had a family dinner at my Nana's house - sort of a Christmas dinner as we are going away to France and Spain for Christmas (I will be in Seville for Christmas with flamenco and Mosques - I hope it snows... but that's probably not likely). I took this photo today at Nana's house, I love the way it is over-exposed. Tomorrow my goal is to create some cds for France and Spain and to do some calligraphy - I wonder if I will?

By the way - I found this line in a poem called Street Corner by Brenda Hillman: "hearing the peppermint noise of sparrows landing like spare dreams"- it is so perfect, so fresh, like a haiku you can hear and taste and see the moment all at once.

Reading: In between books (shock/horror!) - feel I should read something other than Terry Pratchett, perhaps "Reading Lolita in Tehran".

I've been rather lazy today... I read Thud! all morning in bed, then I went to have my last singing lesson with Lesley :( Which also meant I couldn't go to morning tea with my friends oooooooohh... I went shopping briefly at good old Greensborough Plaza - wow, I haven't been there for ages, it has changed so much! The shops there come and go so quickly, blink and miss them (oh I love clichés). There I bought some paint, a very nice brush and some paper because I'm going to have another stab at calligraphy for Christmas. I really should be cutting my own quills and using gold leaf, or if you get really down to the basic level, hunting animals and drying their hides for vellum (okay maybe not, especially for an almost vegetarian - paper is good). Hmmm, so the rest of the day I have been reading this random old book on writing and illumination that I bought from an old book stall - just made me feel more like an amateur - Like the chinese calligraphy book that said you must draw horizontal lines for a month until you are ready to progress to vertical lines... hmm I decided to spend about 20 minutes and the end product probably reflected that.

The photo is of an apricot rose in my garden, isn't it simply darling...

Currenty Reading: Thud! (still) and "Writing & Illuminating & Lettering"

How joyous is it, the day after exams. I keep on feeling that I should be doing something important, and then I realise It's all over - this means that I often walk around with a huge grin on my face as I realise EXAMS ARE OVER - I am free!!!!!This morning I read in bed, something I haven't done for a loooooooooong time. Heaven, especially as it was a beautiful day. I cooked an omelette for lunch and in the afternoon I went to Volumes for an afternoon tea with Judy (my uni history teacher), Joel and Brendan.

Now I am juist sitting in my room treasuring this feeling of lightness, emptiness... I feel just like the woman in this photo of a print I have in my room La Vierge aux Rochers by Leonardo De Vinci.

Currently Reading: Thud by Terry Pratchett (newest book)

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! Exams are over!!! I am the happiest person on earth. Wow, I cannot believe it, so long, so many worries. French was actually very nice, almost relaxing... In celebration I ran around the house, listened to loud music, ate an apricot and started reading a book I have been waiting for. Tomorrow I think I will release a book for bookcrossing to celebrate. Tonight my parents gave me a surprise (and it WAS a surprise!), two books (hehe), they are gorgeous. This is a photo of one of the books with some chocolates. Oh Paris here I come.
On other news Australia just got into the World Cup (yayness - had a very brief patriotic moment).

Goodluck all you chinese people with your exams- bonne chance mes amis!

Today has been a very odd day, I feel as if I have finished all my exams but I still have French tomorrow. I haven't done anything very constructive... read Tintin, went over some verbs and vocab and watched Roman Holiday with french dubbing. I love that film, it is so old and romantic, and Audrey Hepburn is wonderful.

Ooh did you see the IR protest today? 200,000 people in Melbourne! I wish I went, I love protests; they make me feel so hopeful.

Currently reading: Hogsfather by Terry Pratchett and Tintin et Les Picaros (I'm re-reading all the discworld series, about 30 books at the moment).

HELLO WORLD!
(well just Heidi really...) I can see this blog thing is going to o really well, my last blog was a week ago! Well, anyway, I have just done my second last exam......history! How exciting, just like normal - half the multiple choice questions didn't make sense (even though it was open book). But now I only have one, French. Oh how I am longing for that moment - pens down stop writing, then I will be free! Well, free for a little while until I do 5 YEARS OF UNI. Mais meh, oh well, life goes on. At the moment I am looking forward to Paris, I want to go and see an opera in one of the old opera theatres there, they are so gorgeous (oh I sound like Daisy). You can have standing room only for 5 euros - hehe standing room for a five hour opera, sounds like fun to me. Tomorrow will be a completely French day, french films, french news, Tintin (hehe - I love Tintin).

I've decided that the day after my last exam (Wednesday) I will start a challenge, to take a photo every day and put it on the internet (although this may not be possible in France - see what I can do) - so it is like a photo blog. Also (again when I've finished exams) I want to work out how to change this layout and background and things. All for another day.
I haven't taken a photo today (and I haven't officially started my 'photo a day' anyway), so this is an old one I took in France.

Currently reading: Feet of Clay (Terry Pratchett)

Okay, testing, testing one two three...
Wow, my very own blog, how exciting. In this blog I propose to write about things that matter (and my anger at John Howard) and things that don't (like the flowers on my winter rose) - however I will probably merely end up talking about that ordinary every day stuff. I am addicted to reading and am a rather sporadic member of bookcrossing, so I will share those exploits with you. Other things I love: spaghetti, films (esp. Amelie), old things, rain, dadaism, photography and dreaming.

I have almost, almost finished year 12 (whewww - it's that close) and afterwards will go to schoolies with friends then overseas to France and Spain. Unless I've given up on blogging by then I should be putting photos and things up.