Chasing the sunshine...

Earlier in December I was lucky enough to hop a quick plane ride to LA... and boy was I pleasantly surprised!! I was aware that winter barely happens over in ol' California but I wasn't at all prepared for the love in which I fell with this often (internationally) under appreciated city. I had heard about LA's penchant for false friendlyness and what have you and thus went into the trip with my guard up and preconceptions safely in place. However I have to say that the people I met there are some of the most interesting, welcoming, hospitable and genuinely enjoyable bunch of boys and girls I have met in a while - aside from my own flock of interesting, welcoming, hospitable and genuinely enjoyable friends in Melbourne xox.

Champas in a can + straw = thirst quenching AND classy!

Personal tour Guide and A+ host Shannon on her birthday! (img. http://toashessaysso.wordpress.com)

During my four days between Las Vegas and LA the bf and I were treated to a personal tour of all things delicious and worthy of purchase. M Cafe on Melrose is 100% the yummiest place on the planet, on par with Real Food Daily on La Cienega Boulevard and Wasteland (quality vintage shop also on Melrose) offered up some pretty epic spending ops. We had vegan friendly gelato and 20inch faux meat sandwichs and I even managed to win $180 from 25c on an old school slot machine which spewed out a copious amount of coins on my first try!! Unfortunately for my gambling career, that is where my luck began and ended. 

Wasteland

M Cafe - Melrose (img. http://toashessaysso.wordpress.com)

(img. http://toashessaysso.wordpress.com)

Getty Museum gardens (img. http://toashessaysso.wordpress.com)

Getty Museum (img. http://toashessaysso.wordpress.com)

Art in the Getty Museum (img. http://toashessaysso.wordpress.com)

Sunset from the Getty Museum (img. http://toashessaysso.wordpress.com)

Capriotti's 20inch sandwich = YUM!

With all the eating that we did it seemed more than appropriate to take a leisurely walk through Runyon Canyon on our final day... Admittedly I was hoping for a celebrity sighting of The Hills variety but was instead left to marvel at the miniature stature of the guy from 8 Rules of Dating My Teenage Daughter while trying not to squeal over every cute dog that wandered past. Despite the rather obvious layer of smog that covered the city, the view from the top was really quite beautiful. While admiring the view I resolved my self to the idea that I would one day live in LA and thus be standing atop that canyon regularly. Here's hoping....

Anticipating the after to my before...

Before I get into anything I feel the odd desire to say Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to my 3 followers!!! (I am aware that those sayings are somewhat backwards - I like them better this way!)I genuinely hope that everyone enjoyed copious amounts of festive fun!!

Moving on... This year I have decided to participate in the Leukemia Foundations World's Greatest Shave's 'Shave for a Cure' event. In all honesty I have wanted to shave my head for years. Not for any particular reason; mostly just to see what I look like and how it feels to have very little hair to do anything to in the mornings. If the sudden to desire to donate to this extraordinarily important event washes over you please visit my page on the Leukemia Foundation's website: http://my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/amoye?SID=138873&Lang=en-CA and GIVE ME YOUR MONEY!!!! I am hoping to raise at least $5,000 so many donations are required. I am also hoping to have a little head shaving event of my own where whoever is interested can come along, have a beverage and watch the spectacle that will be me loosing an awful lot of hair! Until then.... here are some fun facts care of the Leukemia Foundation website.... 

Did you know?
- Every hour of every day, at least one person in Australia is diagnosed with leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma.
- Every two hours, someone loses their life to blood cancer.
- $26 can provide emotional support to help someone overcome the shock of being diagnosed
- $40 can help improve treatments and find cures by funding a PhD student's laboratory costs for a day
- $57 can support patients who are too ill to drive by providing a day's transport to and from treatment
- $80 can give a regional family who've had to move closer to treatment, a place to call home for a night

For more information about the Leukaemia Foundation visit their website: http://www.leukaemia.org.au
 

Violence might just be the answer...

I few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending an evening at the Mod Club... Big space, wooden floors and a square of mats with two pillows strategically popped up in the middle with PILLOW FIGHT LEAGUE printed on them... Despite the size of the venue, the event itself was quite intimate. I was, to my apprehension, little more than than 1m from the action. At one point I was barely spared a few bruises of my own as Eva Destruction flew dangerously close to where I was seated. Honestly, I am more of a Roller Derby fan but seeing as I have yet to see such a bout in person Pillow Fight League is definitely the next best thing. I have to admit, however, that there was a hint of tacky, over-acting but for reasons unknown it didn't bother me. Must have been the lack of silicon and the utter hilarity of some genuine humor on the part of the fighters. Fingers crossed I'll be attending the championship fight on December 4th because I definitely haven't had my fix just yet...

Capturing something...

Although I don't love what I have done, I'm going to post to photos from my first and second Art Direction for Photography assignments. My teacher genuinely disliked the accessories shoot which I understand to a degree but without much guidance and little positive reinforcement I was sort of left in the dark when it came to this assignment. I shouldn't whinge and suck it up and take responsibility for its lack-luster-ness but it's one of those days and, well, I feel like being a sook...

 Thoughts?...

Scouting for Boys??

I have an American Boy Scout shirt that I picked up from Episode on Sydney Road earlier in the year and, just quietly, I love it!! It's totally random but I have a crush on khaki and the shirt reminds me of old mate Brett so it holds a near pole position in my wardrobe. Anyway, I was just trawling through my bloglovin' list and came across this... I admit I'm reading the title of the first few books the wrong way but other than that the covers are v cute!

Images via Scout&CATALOGUE BLOG

One Day on a Sunday...

Tonight, crazy eyes set in a little earlier than usual and, as crazy eyes has a tendency to do, they have rendered me unable to communicate through words. However I feel the need to post something so as a trade off, here are some yummy pics to kill the craving...

Hannah's birthday present!

 

Illustrator and Comic Artist - Alex Boake

Clyde

Picked myself up a disposable camera... I don't hate it

Roaming during Nuit Blanche

Art at Nuit Blanche

Downtown - Queen St W

View in the sewing room...

Old photo picked up in a vintage store...

Sunday in Kensington Market...

For the Good

Seven days ago my boyfriend went into a plexiglass box... For the following 5 days and 4 nights, that is exactly where he remained. As well as being a magician, motivational speaker and - to my nail-biting, edge of seat kind of distress - an escape artist, he is also a social activist. If I wasn't so busy basking in his radiating goodness I'd probably be feeling pretty crap about my lack of skills and goodwill. Anyway, on Sunday the 31st of October (Halloween for the aussie's who could care less about the day) - and, just quietly, to my internal but no less ear piercing YIPEE! - he came out of the box. But not after raising over 18,000 pounds of food for the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto for a cause called 'Halloween for Hunger' - an annual food drive initiative run by non-profit organization Free the Children. It was the most extraordinary thing to watch the overflowing and uncensored kindness of all the people who donated to the cause! If I were feeling at all cynical about the world last week, the enormity of those donations would have instantly changed my mind. Mostly, however, I am just so f-ing proud of bf - aka Scott Hammell - for not giving up when it was 6 degrees max during the day and god knows what at night and for being willing to answer the bazillion questions that passers by had for him all the while with the most genuine smile! He is most definitely a better person than I and a lot of people I know.

More pics of the final day and the mountain of donations to come...