My Etsy shop window

Friday 26 September 2008

90 years of Henning Koppel

In 2008 Georg Jensen celebrates the 90 years anniversary of the great master of form by launching a range of the very best of Danish Design.
Henning Koppel pitcherWhen I was studying for my silversmith qualification, I wrote an essay about Henning Koppel who was one of the designers working with well known Danish designer Georg Jensen.
Koppel not only designed striking organic style jewellery but also fantastically elegant and modern hollowware and cutlery. It was those pieces of his work that really inspired me at the time and had I been doing a full time course I would have spent a lot of time hammering and shaping metal in this vain.

Here are some things I did spend my time hammering and shaping...

Jane Gallagher: silver balls

Thursday 18 September 2008

Misheard lyrics

If you ever feel like a good hearty laugh, you should look up some misheard lyrics.
My wrong/made-up lyrics have always been somewhat of a running joke in our house as I just love singing. To anything - right or wrong. So if it's not exactly clear what they're saying I'll just pick the closest sounding word whether it makes sense or not. A good example would be "We're Austin Music" i.e. "Lost in Music" by Sister Sledge. I guess there's no excuse for that one though considering it's the title of the bloody song!

You can't really be blamed though when listening, for example, to Pearl Jam. Eddie Vedder is a big giant mumbler (albeit a lovely one) so I think anything goes in that case. As proven hilariously by some of the ones listed on amiright.com such as:

Ham apple pies
actual lyric

I'm still alive

The Beatles...

She's a big teaser
She took Miss Hathaway there
actual lyric
She's a big teaser
She took me half the way there

Led Zeppelin...

Got a hole in my glove
actual lyric
Gotta whole lotta love

The Eagles...

Decpition paint on ice
actual lyric
The pink champagne on ice

I had too heavy at my cycle gym
actual lyric
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim

HOURS of fun

Wednesday 17 September 2008

It's nearly new camera time!

Ever since I got my first mobile phone it's been renewal time at Christmas. That meant I got a free toy for myself every year whilst braving the crowded streets doing my Christmas shopping.

Since they start incorporating cameras however, I've been growing more and more impatient as the year progresses, eager to get my mits on a better and better camera each year.
So I couldn't wait till the bitter end of my last contract to come up to upgrade my (by then) ancient 1.3 megapixel camera (V600i) to a 3.2 one (V800i) and so I forfeited my Christmas toy for last year and got in to a much longer term contract.

In fact the new contract felt it was going to end so far away in the future that I told myself never to think about upgrading again as I'd only disappoint myself at having been so impatient last time.
But it just occured to me last week that SURELY it's now been ages enough, so I checked and found out I can upgrade again as from the end of next month! woohoo! I'll be able to dump my now shite 3.2 megapixel camera for a massive 5 megapixel one.

But this is the best part... by then, the guy in the shop reckoned there should be an 8 megapixel camera available!

hallelujah

Monday 15 September 2008

A lovely afternoon in Bristol

Oli and I have had a lovely afternoon stroll around the docks this afternoon.
Luckily that lurgy has just turned in to a cold so I am well and the weather is good (it's been raining here AAAAAAALL summer) and a slow wander in beautiful surroundings was just what the doctor ordered.
To top it off there was even a busking jazz trumpeter playing whilst I sat and enjoyed a coffee :)

Bristol city centre docks
What a lovely start to the week.
Tomorrow, Oli has his first set of jabs!

Friday 12 September 2008

Another lurgy

Since the last month of my pregnacy, my body has been through the mill but has still yet to come out the other side. Just when I think I'm back up to par another ailment rudely slaps me round the face. I completely expected to be knocked about whilst I was pregnant and expected a recovery period but it feels like I'm the sticky fly paper to all the bugs that are within a square metre of me.

I felt like logging these ailments as I'm starting to loose track so consider this my illness diary (I'll understand if you don't want to read it).

When i was about 6 weeks off my due date I noticed a lump in one of my breasts which grew and became red over a couple of weeks. It all pointed to being milk related, being that I was pregnant and so close to the due date, so the doctor put me on antibiotics thinking it could be Mastitis (something you only normally get once you start breast feeding).
The main priority was to have a working breast so I could feed the baby, so after the pills didn't work the doctor wanted me to see a breast specialist before the baby arrived. However the NHS being what it is meant that the soonest (even after the doctor put in an urgent referal) I could get an appointment was for two weeks time which actually took me three days PAST my due date. Monday 14th July. However that turned out to be the day that my midwife sent me to the hospital with preeclampsia so I missed the appointment.

The preeclampsia then became the big issue. Because of this, the birth became a worry for the hospital and once they got my blood tests back and saw I had 'abnormal' readings they were more worried. The put me in a high dependency room where I had fantastic care from some wonderful women. They induced me as quickly as they could and checked my blood pressure every hour (even through the night) and had me on all sorts of drips as well as a catheter. I was on pills to keep the blood pressure down, I was on a drip to stop those pills from making me fit, I was on an inducement drip and had two monitors on the baby. I couldn't get off the bed basically. I then I started getting contractions.

In brief, they hurt. A lot. The Tens machine was crap. The gas and air was good but then became less so!

After the inducement stopped progressing (even through all that pain? go figure) they wanted to whack the drip right up (essentially turning it to 11) so gave me an epidural. This then started making the baby unhappy so they decided a cesarean would be the best option being that we needed to get the baby out as quickly as possible whilst keeping my blood pressure down.

So that's how Oli made his way in to the world. Luckily a very healthy boy.

The problem with the breast lump then raised it's head again because it's location meant that Oli was physically unable to feed from that breast. So I decided to express the milk which then made the lump angry and created a very nasty absess which then needed urgent minor surgery. All of this happened before my rearranged appointment, but lets not discuss the NHS right now!
So to cut an already long story short I have only been feeding Oli from one breast so you can imagine how my breasts look - like a before and after!

ANYWAY since then the smallest of ailments seem to have hit me really hard. From ongoing embarrassing things that I won't mention, to things like a ripped nail that became infected and started tracking up my arm, to a sore throat that got so bad I couldn't swallow. Every other week it's been something else. I'm not sure if it's because of general rundown-ness and then lack of sleep for my body to recouperate, or whether the amount of pills I've been on has made my body even weaker.
For somebody that's never normally ill though it's a horrible shock. Especially when you need all the energy you can get to look after your new baby.

Hopefully, my current lurgy is on it's way out in time for a nice weekend with my new family.

UPDATE: Turns out I had Mastitis.

Sunday 7 September 2008

Vanity

I'm wearing my old jeans! 7 and a half weeks after Oli was born and I'm wearing my pre pregnancy jeans! As Jimmy Savile would say... "How's about that then?"

After being the same size since the age of about 12 (I still wear the belt from my Brownies uniform for crying out load), it's was a very strange experience during pregnancy to watch my face getting fat and my clothes gradually getting smaller and smaller. Even the sleeves! And my shoes.

I can't believe it. That means that my thighs (that had grown to rub together) and ass have now returned to their former state.

It is a slightly early celebration though as the jeans are actually hipsters and sit below the tummy bulge that is still there :)

Thursday 4 September 2008

Wooden knobs

I came across this great idea a couple of months ago via a series of internet coincidences.

Firstly I was on Camilla Engman's blog and had to stop at this picture to admire 'The Dots'.

Camilla Engman
I was then reading Skinny laMinx's blog and followed a link to a shop in London called twentytwentyone only to find them for sale on there!

The Dots
A bargain at only £89.00!

Tuesday 2 September 2008

Gift goodness for Oli

Look what my blog buddy over at Modern Classics very generously sent Oli as a welcome gift!

Elephant print
Nursery Rhyme BookplatesThank you Jaimee!

You can visit Jaimee's Etsy shop Modern Classics: Kids here >