Sewing Adventures - Pink Sleep Shorts

 It took me a concerted effort to conjure up the motivation for this next project. Last month I managed to get myself to my local Spotlight store to buy the elastic I needed. An error was made at the cutting table, I thought I asked for 1 meter plus 5 cm, but apparently I asked for 1.5m so I now have 45 cm of expensive elastic I have no use for. The error discouraged me, so I left making the shorts undone for another month. It was disheartening that I had made an error. Maybe I was too tired, and I really didn't want to screw up the cutting of the material if I went ahead to make the shorts. Sewing is not like crochet, where if you make a mistake you just unravel the yarn and you have the material unphased to use again. When you cut material there is no going back!

It reminds me of why I don't like to cook. Just a few weeks ago I felt confident enough to cook a dish I used to make a lot, sausages in tomato with zucchini and onion. But the sausages were over cooked and the onions were under cooked. I was so sure I had cooked them long enough, but that wasn't the case. The onions were so bad, I threw the left overs into the compost, and that's saying a lot because I always prefer to eat left overs and not waste them! Not wasting food is one of the simplest things we can do, for the environment as well as for the household budget.  David usually does the cooking in our house, because he is so damn good at it, my guess his success rate is well over 90%, when the chance of success when I cook is considerably lower. The fear of failure is real, and it can be crippling, so much so that stuff doesn't get done, or like the cooking, it gets passed onto my husband.

I have a lot of material in my stash. I don't know what I was thinking to buy so much. Well I do, it happened when I first became unemployed. I fancied with all this new time I would get into crafting, and I did with crochet, but not so much with sewing. I just haven't had as much success with it, and I really worry about making mistakes with the cutting. As it was with these pink sleep shorts, I made them very big, because when I cut them I was very careful not to make a mistake, and too big is better than too small! I have needed some more sleep shorts for the summer, but when I looked into buying something I just couldn't decide because I didn't really like what I could find. So I made these, and I am triumphant! Another task completed when trying to fight a low mood! Huzzah!

homemade sleep shorts

One Way to Fight a Low Mood

 Last month I had a few days of low mood. I call it that out of respect to people who really suffer with depression, but it was real, none-the-less. I had to really think long and hard about any activity that could possibly help me feel like I was productive, in any way at all! I think the main problem is my days are pretty uneventful and I struggle to find productive things to do, so I don't feel like I'm wasting my time on this Earth! So one thing I tried was fool around with some black felt tip pens and pastel colours. Here are some images I came up with...

This did help a little, in that I spent a day doing something different to what I normally do. But the next day is the same all over again, and I have to find something else to do!

Review of Lite n Easy

 Firstly I will say I absolutely loved being on Lite n Easy! The food was great, always fresh and lots of variety. I really enjoyed being told what to eat and looked forward to every day to see what I would be eating. I ate a little something every 2 hours over a 10 hour period so I was never famished, its really helped me adjust my appetite and learn more about portion sizes. I chose the 1500 calories per day option and was on it for 7 weeks in total and lost 2 kilograms in weight.

Flexible

Lite n Easy is very flexible, and it has no contracts which is fabulous. I was able to choose 5 lunches for each week for the 1st couple of weeks, then I went with the full 7 days with breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

Choice

There is a lot of choice with the evening dinners, and for Spring they have just added a 3rd choice for lunches so you can now choose vegetarian meals. This was a big bonus for me as when I joined I could not go vegetarian every day, but now you can. It would be great if you could choose which fruits you can eat, as you can clearly substitute fruits. I was given a lot of oranges which I didn't eat but substituted with apples or strawberries.

There are heaps of choices for vegetarians like these yummy frozen dinners that can be heated in the oven.

Variety

The menu is on a 4 week rotation, with lots of choices so you never get sick of eating the same thing. Every now and again you even get a little cake, like double choc cake, walnut and date loaf, appple and banana bread and the delightful orange with chocolate chip cake. The little cakes are definately on the small side but you can really savour them and they are all you need! 

The little cakes are delightful!

Some food is Frozen

Heating the frozen food in the microwave was okay, but I found that heating the frozen dinners in the oven was much more preferable. For the first dinner I didn't realise you could heat it in the oven and microwaved the tortellini, but when I had it again on another night, heating it in the oven it was much better. I found I needed to heat the dinners in the oven for 55 minutes for it to be hot enough, instead of the recommended 40 minutes.

Price

Everything is individually packaged (so there is a lot of plastic) but you are paying for the convenience. I could feed myself each week for a fraction of the price, but I still really appreciate going on it as I have learnt so much in a short time. My budget just doesn't allow me to be on it all the time which is disappointing, but I will find the funds for next time I go on it.

Concluding Thoughts

  I'm hoping to continue losing weight (I have about 20kg to lose!) by mimicking the diet, but intend to get Lite n Easy again when I need to reset my appetite. If I find the diet I design is not working I will definately get Lite n Easy again.

Blood Rose Solar System

My friend Kate from highschool posted this mandala today, she has so many lovely hand-made cards on her page. I've had a few wonky days the last few days, but seeing this mandala helps reassure me all is right with the world.

A beautiful mandala of balance and peace by Kate.

The Cat on the Hat

What a strange day I had yesterday. It was completely wierd, I just can't explain it.

I impulsively bought this cat badge from a hand-made market in Darwin in late 1996.

In 1996 when I was insane, I went to a hand-made market fair that in my delusion I thought was the "real" psychic expo, not the other one that was on in town on the same day. I impulsively bought this badge that I saw. My memory of the day was so strange, it was as if people recognised me, like I was like famous or something! Bwhuahuaahua, so hilarious.

"True Love is not self-destructive"

Anyway, at one point I wrote a fevered message on the back of it. But this message was very clear. It simply says "True Love is not self- destructive". I've kept it handy, this badge, I don't know why. I put it on my hat today. Lol what a Crazy Girl in a Crazy World, am I.

New Year's Candle

It's come to that time of year again to reflect on the past year's goals and make new ones! Last year my goals were to simply get healthy and do some reading. Well I had an operation on my compressed ulnar nerve and it went ok although half of my left hand is still numb, but there is a slight increase in the strength of the hand so I can crochet. In 2014 I also joined a gym! But I didn't do any reading!

New Year's Candle

This year my goals are to keep going to the gym and get fit. I also need to keep busy, by doing crochet, gardening, baking and blogging about it. Keeping busy and active is good for my mind, sitting around doing nothing is very depressing. Getting out and about by the going to the gym and going to the weekly local craft group can only be a good thing.

Also, I thought I might make crochet cosies for these citronella candles I bought for a family dinner we have coming up. I'll post the free pattern soon. I'm also making some more drink coasters for the dinner table setting which can be for up to 14 people, I will post about that soon as well!

Flowering Chives

With the onset of Spring, there's some flowering going on in our garden! Here are some flowering chives, the delicate flowers are hard to capture in a photo, but I took this shot in the morning light so hopefully it does it justice! These chives were looking a bit sad until my husband fertilised them with dynamic lifter and seaweed solution, then they really perked up! They are perfect to add some flavour to these low FODMAP meals we are currently eating, you can't have garlic or onion so chives are a great substitute.

these chives have delicate flowers

Rice and Egg Cakes

We found the recipe for these rice cakes on taste.com, we made them without the chicken. We're trialling the low FODMAP diet at the moment to see if that will help with our symptoms, apparently its good but we have to be on it for a few weeks. Already its proving to be very difficult to find things we can eat especially if I'm to go vegetarian, as you can't eat legumes! Hopefully we won't have to be on this diet for very long!

these rice cakes were suitable for a low FODMAP diet

the recipe made 12 tasty rice and egg cakes

Ham and Risoni Salad for one

I had a go at making some yummy lunch for myself on a day when Thomas was at day care. I really have to think hard for things to do when he isn't here otherwise the day goes so very slowly and its quite depressing! Making a yummy lunch gave me something to look forward to and broke up the day. There is only so much cleaning and baking one can do! I had almost all of the ingredients for this ham and risoni salad recipe that I found on taste.com.au, but I didn't have the corn, so I substituted them for sundried tomatoes.


I didn't have corn so I used sundried tomatoes instead for this yummy ham and risoni salad

I am thinking of joining a gym to get me out of the house more. I think it will do wonders for desensitising my anxiety for going out, especially when on my own. So I am hopping on our exercise bike more often, because I'm hoping I will get a little bit more fit before joining the gym! I don't want to waste money on gym membership if I'm not fit enough to do the classes I want to do! Well those are my hopes anyway. It certainly is quite hard to chip away at anxiety, but I will get there!

Hairy Legs Club

I heard about the Hairy Legs Club on tumblr via the news a few weeks ago and I love the idea of sharing photos that help challenge accepted social norms. Why Do we shave our legs? What is wrong with hairy legs on women? I think the Hairy Legs Club is really inspiring! So here is a photo of my hairy legs! I've been waxing since 1988 so I have big bald patches, and I only wax in the summer. Why wax my legs in the winter when all I wear is long pants? And its winter here now in Australia. Luckily where I live in Brisbane we have very mild winters, so I can sit outside in the sun and work on my vitamin D deficiency. Here I am sitting outside, I painted my toe nails especially for the occasion!


my submission to the Hairy Legs Club!

Nothing Wrong with You

This evening I'm having another 'issue' with a particularly rude person that occasionally appears in my life. Do you have one of those? Thankfully I've managed to keep my exposure to this horrid individual to a bare minimum, unfortunately I'm unable to rule it out completely! I made this quote to help myself remember that when this person is so Very Rude to me, it shouldn't shake my self-concept. It really is Their problem, not mine!

there's nothing wrong with you!

What Needs Pruning?

I made this quote while thinking of my mother-in-law Freya and a dilemma she is having. I drew the picture years ago, its a chalk pastel, it stands for "love".

what needs pruning?

This is about the hard times I've been through, times that forced me to make some really tough decisions when I had no other choice but to change. I was unhappy and tired of hearing myself complain about the way things were, I knew I was the only person that could fix and change my life. Change is never easy, but sometimes that aching tooth just needs to be pulled! Or that tree needs to be pruned! Whichever way you look at it, sometimes our lives are so full, its like a dinner plate with way too much food on it. You need to scrap some off to see what you have left and find out what you really, really want to keep, when forced to make the toughest of decisions. Picture and words by me! (lol)

After Hours - Who You Gonna Call?

I just used this after hours medical service for the first time, and I can not believe I didn't know about this sooner!

free magnet from my G.P.

We were given a magnet at our local G.P. when our son was sick on a Friday, it was for an after hours doctor who does house calls. I never knew such a service existed that we could access! It's amazing how much help you get when you have a child. Luckily we didn't need to use the service then because our son got better, but we just used it for the first time on the weekend. It was Saturday afternoon and I knew I would be in a lot of discomfort by that night and into Sunday if I didn't get a script for some antibiotics. I really didn't want a stranger to come to my house, but I started to feel desperate and decided to give this a try.

When we rang, we had to become members of the 'Family Care Friendly Society' so we would then be bulk billed. This membership was just under $45 for the year, and covers everyone who lives in our house for 12 months. Membership means that every doctor's visit for the next year will be bulk billed, which I think is a fabulous deal. I gratefully agreed to pay, as I was expecting the call out fee to be well over one hundred dollars just for the one visit! So these doctors are not in it for the money, and are working to keep people out of crowded and busy hospital emergency rooms. We were told the doctor would come within 3 hours, but they came after an hour and a half. When the doctor came, she was lovely of course and the job was done in a very timely manner.

What a great service. I just wish I knew about it earlier, and that I didn't have to suffer through many nights, weekends and days in discomfort waiting for an appointment to see a daytime G.P.

My New Year's Resolutions

Last year, I didn't have any resolutions, other than to survive my first year as a mum! The previous year my goal was to learn more about crochet, to try and learn how to read patterns. Well I did that, and my baby son is doing very well now too, so now its time to think of a new goal for the new year!

my collection of fine coloured crochet thread

My goal for 2012 is to use up as much of the yarn that has accumulated around here as possible! I hope to make lots of useful items for friends and family, and perhaps try and sell some things on ebay. I really must try very hard not to buy any more yarn! I'm sure I have a lifetime's supply here already!

My other goal is to sell a lot of other things on ebay, things that we don't need or use and no longer have room to store. Our flat is pretty small and its made to feel smaller than it is with all the clutter. My goal for this year is to stream line my house, ready for a possible house move at the end of next year.

Of course, my other goal for the year is to be a good mum! I want to get Thomas into music lessons, and to take him swimming more. And we need to do some more socialising, too!

I think it's useful to start the new year with a new goal, something that is achievable, and something that you will enjoy doing. A feeling of accomplishment is important as we look back over our past year, especially for people like myself who don't work at a job. Even if you don't achieve everything you set out to, it's good to celebrate the gains you have made, even the smallest ones.

What are your new year's resolutions?

How to have A Low Stress First Birthday Party

I did a little research before organising my son's first birthday party and I must say I'm really surprised at the level of pressure out there to perform when organising this event, when personally I find that very unnecessary!

Themes? Seriously? You don't need that. For goodness sake, talk about stressing yourself out when you don't need to! I just strung up a couple of balloons with some recycled ribbon! Prettily printed invitations sent in the snail mail? Come on! Just email your friends, easy! Thankyou bags? Maaaybbeeee, if you really want to, but doesn't that make it all a bit too formal? I'd rather have a relaxed affair where the mums and babies can have a good time. Well, I hope my friends had a good time at our party. We just had it at the pool area of my gated commuity, where there was plenty of space. I could have invited more people, several did say they wanted to come. But I was worried about the weather forecast which predicted rain, then we would have to all cram into my small house, which would have been ok, but not as nice. Luckily, it didn't rain. But I do think it's nicer to have smaller gatherings, then I can relax too, and get to chat to everybody. If I had everyone over on the same day, it would have been far too rushed and hectic, and I would have worried about neglecting some of my guests. It was far nicer, for example, to have my brother and family visit on the previous Sunday so we could hang out as a family without a bunch of people they didn't know.

One dilemma I did have was the question of gifts. If you read my blog, you might know I'm not really keen on our tradition of gift giving. But I don't want to be a kill joy either, nor do I want to offend my friends and family. So I did some research on this topic and discovered in some forums, that some people have quite a passionate opinion on this. I would have preferred to have said in the email 'please, don't bring gifts' but in my experience, that never works and some people always bring gifts anyway, no matter what you say. I found some people find it really sad and it takes the fun out of it for them. I also read that it was polite etiquette not to mention gifts at all, that to say 'no gifts please' implies that people should bring gifts, which some people think is rude!

My husband was home from work on holidays, so we decided we would put some nice nibblies on for the grown ups, and I decided not to mention gifts at all. That way, if people wanted to bring gifts, it was up to them if they wanted to, and at least we put on some food as a thankyou. I do think that if people bring gifts, they shouldn't have to bring food as well. It's not that hard to put on a bit of food. My husband baked some pesto and sweet chilli scrolls, marinated chicken wings and rosewater biscuits which were very popular. I made up a fruit platter and some dips with crackers. To further reduce stress, I tried to open gifts as guests arrived. This way there would not be a big parade of gifts everyone has to sit and watch, which I don't like. Unfortunately, I didn't quite manage it as three mums arrived at the same time when we were busy, so we opened their gifts after we did the cake ritual.

The fun thing is, I now have presents to make for 5 more babies as they all turn one soon, because Thomas was the eldest in our mothers group!

Our Potted Garden, Spring Update 2011

Every spring I like to do an update on our potted garden, to look back and see what has survived the winter. Each year, we're learning which plants are worth investing effort so we get as much enjoyment out of our garden as we put in. Here's a link to last year's update. During last summer, our baby son arrived 2 months early and I was also very ill, so our garden was severely neglected. But some plants really hung in there and have perked up after some recent tender care. The pumpkin and chamomile didn't survive the winter though, and a new addition that's been a success so far is the capsicum!

BASIL
I still have the three bushes of all-year-round basil. The eldest just doesn't seem to want to give up, I keep removing the flowers, it keeps going on. Last summer the basil was very neglected and ended up very scrawny. I pruned it harshly, and now the three bushes are looking much better, even the eldest is still producing fragrant leaves. This is a surprise, as it must be 3 years old by now. The second season of sweet basil that the landlord Rose gave me finally died, but David's father gave us some basil seeds planted in a pot when they last came to visit. These are now sprouted and David has planted the biggest of these into pots, we now have several new sweet basil plants for this season.

CAPSICUM
We collected some seeds from some capsicums and planted them in some pots. The strongest of the seedlings were planted into bigger pots, three to a pot. Now they are growing  fruit for our cooking! David keeps up the seaweed fertiliser on these, as with all the other flowering plants, to encourage them to keep fruiting and stay healthy.

CHILLIES
We've discovered to keep the chillies really happy, they simply need to be re-potted into new compost rich pots every year. We had several 2 and 3 year old plants that were looking terribly miserable and sure to die, we replanted half of them and they have done amazingly in a very short time. There are 3 very small 2 year old plants left that are in desperate need of a re-pot, which we hope to do this weekend. Even when they are scrawny, they still keep producing the red fruit so we always have some for our cooking. David's father gave us a new variety of chilli plant, which now has its own large pot and is doing exceptionally well and is full of white flowers.

CHIVES
When the garden was being neglected, the chives suffered from a terrible case of a pest infestation, we think they were tiny black aphids. David had to spray them several times with pyrethrum until now they finally have perked up to their former happy selves. The problem though is that I'm guessing its because of that they haven't flowered this year. Hopefully they will flower next season so we don't loose our crop. David's father has also given us some new chives, so we should be ok.

LAVENDER
After I pruned it last year, it has grown back and is flowering nicely, but now has some more branches growing in odd directions. It looks like it needs another prune, but I'll wait till after the summer to do that. No cuttings of this bush have ever taken, so I still have just the one plant which is now 3 years old.

MINT
The mint was not happy at all after last summer, we lost the lemon balm and also the peppermint that was in the same pot. Luckily I had some peppermint in another pot and that is going fine. The mint looked awful, so we bought a special pot for it, a self watering one, because it really wants to be in the sun but also to be kept moist. Now the mint is doing great! These mints all used to be in hanging pots, as well as the strawberry, but we've given up on the hanging pots. They were the kind that has a coconut fibre lining which turned out be way too dry, all the moisture just seeped right out. The lining has been thrown into the garden for the birds, in case they want to use it to line their nests like they did last spring, and the metal cases are stored in the garage. Maybe one day we'll live somewhere where they'll come in handy.

PARSLEY
I don't know what to do with our parsley! Its become very thin, with just a few individual plants, it doesn't seem to be reproducing. It was supposed to flower and seed, which it has never done, and some of it is now 3 years old. David's father has given us some new parsley so hopefully that will grow a bit better. Its so sparse at the moment that we can hardly use it in our cooking.

OREGANO AND MARJORAM
I still only have the two plants, one of each. They are looking very modest, but at least they survived last summer! They are now out in the sun with the rest of the plants. We've put all our pots where they can get rain, so no more pots under the roof. The oregano and marjoram are still in the same small pots on the shelf, which is now by the fence where they can get some sun.

DWARF LIME TREE
David's mum helped him prune the lime tree when she visited us in the summer. This spring, it has sprouted shoots all over, even in the bare section that's persisted all this time. Last season we did get a few more limes than the 3 we got the year before, and these got used in David's cooking, mainly his spaghetti and meatballs. We lightly top dressed it again this winter, as we were just not brave enough to prune the root ball. Looks like it is doing fine without us doing that!

ROSEMARY
The rosemary is doing so well that I decided to invest in two new big pots for them. These plants seem very tough and managed the major neglect just fine! They were just kept in the sun the whole time, had good drainage, and didn't complain at all.

ROCKET
Our amazing crop of rocket seeded in the winter, and we just finished collecting the last of the seeds. We have many, many seeds from the rocket now, it did so well. Now we don't have to always wait for the rocket to flower and can keep up new crops for eating. I'm looking forward to making some salads, instead of just having rocket on sandwiches.

TOM's GARDEN
When David's dad visited us, he brought with him many seedlings from his home in Stanthorpe where he grows his own food. He also made a special planter box for Thomas with all sorts of plants in it, like beetroot and broccoli. There is lettuce and spinach, which we eat and there is plenty for us, as well as David has used the shallots in his cooking. Its busting with plants right now, and is a great addition to our potted garden.

Colourful Scrap Rug for a Toddler

This rug started off as a pile of scraps given to me by my mother last year, and is now the second rug like this I've done. I'm hoping it will be a useful rug for Thomas.

I really enjoy making these rugs. The material is not expensive, you can pick it up at op shops or find it in your own craft cupboard, and it's satisfying to turn balls of left over yarn into something that can actually be used. I enjoyed making the first one so much I called it a 'therapy rug'! There's no pattern to the colours, the only rule is whenever I change yarn it's a different colour to the last. It's therapeutic because there is no stress at all about the design, it just comes down to a decision at the moment it's time to pick a new colour.  And the idea of these rugs is to use up all of that left over yarn, that's why there are not finished rows, rather they run into each other like spirals until the yarn runs out. Then I choose a contrasting colour to continue. This way there are no little bits left over at all.  That's why this is much better than making a rug out of small granny squares sewn together. And I find sewing all those squares together at the end very tedious! For this rug, I used a 4.5mm hook, so not too small so it doesn't take too long.

The first thing to do is sort the balls of left over yarn according to size. The very smallest ball of yarn is the one you want to start with, next choose a contrasting colour that looks to be amongst the smallest of the balls left. I've even resorting to weighing the balls on a small kitchen scale! This way you get the spiral effect. I'm rather proud how this one turned out, the pattern is quite nice considering there was little planning in it. It's good to know I have something useful to do with all those annoying left over balls of yarn!

Rose's Rocking Chair

It was pure chance that I came to meet this special rocking chair, which Rose has kindly lent to us for a couple of months.

I was pushing Thomas in the pram past Rose's unit when she called out to me as it had been a month or so since she had seen Thomas. I asked if she wanted to hold him, and as it was especially windy that day, she invited me inside. While we were chatting this rocking chair caught my eye and I exclaimed 'Oh! you have a rocking chair, where did you get it? We've been looking to buy one.'

The chair is 34 years old and had been used when Rose's daughter Halley was a baby, and Halley had recently returned it after using it for a few months for her 8 month old son Harry. Rose offered to lend it to us while Thomas is little, but I said I was afraid to break it as it's so special. But Rose insisted it was alright, saying it was a cheap old chair that doesn't get used much, but I think this chair is very special. I've been using David's computer chair to rock Thomas to sleep but it's just awful, developing a horrible high pitched squeak as it's just not meant to be rocked.

It was a special set of circumstances that found me inside Rose's house and the recipient of such a generous loan. I've been asking David since before Thomas was born to help find a rocking chair, we found some on ebay but they weren't right.  But I was really worrying about breaking the rocking chair though, and after I imagined some worst case scenarios in my head, I was then able to tell myself 'the amount of useful worry is now done'. No good can come from worrying more, there is a limit to the amount of useful worry. It was a moment like an epiphany that went off in my head and I was finally able to stop the worry. That was new. And all because of a rocking chair and a windy day.

My 39th Birthday

Last Sunday was my 39th Birthday, and David baked a wonderful meal to share with my parents who came to visit.

David made pumpkin soup, this time without the chilli, a roast chicken dinner and this amazing classic baked cheesecake with a passion fruit top! As always, his cooking was fabulously perfect and a wonderful birthday gift.

Mum and I talked a lot about crochet and she brought me a big bunch of wool. She also gave me a great transparent bag which will be perfect for crochet projects.
We had a lovely, relaxed day and watched Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp. I can't help but think that my next birthday will be very, very different!

<3 <3 <3

Seeing Pink

Throughout my life, I've owned several pairs of rose-coloured glasses. What started off as a performance costume item become something of a 'statement'! This is my post for this week's Pink Saturday which is hosted by Beverly @ How Sweet the Sound.

The first pair of pink sunglasses I bought cost me $10 I think, and it was an impulse buy. It was during a period of time that I was collecting brightly coloured items to add to the performance costumes for my children's entertainment group called the 'Tootee Fwoots'. My business was often employed to provide family entertainment, mostly by the city councils in Darwin and Palmerston for 'Fun in the Park' days and events, and sometimes by the shopping centres and sports clubs for their family days.

One day, my normal pair of sunnies broke, and I couldn't bare to go out into the daylight without a pair, especially in Darwin after I'd had a late night! I did have this pair of rose-coloured glasses, so chucked them on. I loved how they made the bright cloudless blue sky a pretty shade of lavender, and decided I should make a statement! During the day I was working as an early childhood teacher, so I needed to stay positive and chipper and these glasses were just the ticket!

Eventually, my first pair of pink glasses broke, but I kept one of the pink lenses as a memento. It now lives in my small blue trinket box where tiny special memories are collected. After I bought the first pair and fell in love with them, I tended to buy any cheap pink glasses I came across. I think the pink ones here with the thick plastic frames might have only cost me $5! I still have these two pairs left, but I don't wear them any more. But I think it's important to remember that period of my life, when I was free and brash. Some people thought I was a bit strange for wearing pink sunglasses, but plenty more people understood what I was saying, that it was a tongue-poke at a silly world that took itself too seriously.

Now, I think back to the time when I used to wear pink sunnies. It was a good time, but there does come a point when we must take off our rose-coloured glasses to look at the world and accept it for what it is. I am learning to sit with it, look at it, not to buy into it, not to argue with it, for the world is as it is. But sometimes, seeing the Pink is not a bad thing either, and good to keep in mind, to come back to and remember.

Be sure to check out pretty pinks @ Pink Saturday.

<3 <3 <3