The Misadventures of Miss Manship

You said it, Lewis!

2011-08-20T11:52:00.000+08:00

Since last we spoke...

2011-08-14T21:40:00.000+08:00

After having a quick read over my blog this afternoon, I am appalled at how long it's been since I wrote a blogpost with actual words! My last 'proper' blog post was written in November and a LOT has changed since then! Since November the 6th, 2011:

One new job, one magazine internship, one graduate diploma of education and one Wednesday night bible study have been started

Four weeks and eight distributed days have been spent on prac, seventy-four lesson plans have been written and one play about three little piggies has been performed

Two exams have been written and far too many assignments have been cried over

One chilly Saturday morning was spent horse-riding and one sweet sixteenth has been celebrated, as well as two Christmases in July and one mexican fiesta, which wasn't really a celebration but really an excuse to eat nachos and wear ponchos.

An embarrassing amount of Beverly Hills 90210 episodes have been watched and far too many karaoke Thursdays have been spent at Paddy Malone's.

Nine reviews have been published, one book festival has been covered, three authors have been interviewed and one extremely uncomfortable hob-nobbing writers event has been attended

One Bruno Mars concert has been attended as well as one James Blunt, one Belle and Sebastian, one The Apprentice and (nearly) one Chris Brown.

One MacBook Pro has been purchased, as well as one box set of The Office (English version, of course), one pair of pirate boots and one nifty little fire pit which will be toasting many marshmellows in the last few weeks of dreary winter weather.

A measly nine books have been read, including The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which reminded me how infinite it feels to be young and One Day, which reminded me of how finite youth really is.

New friends have been made, some friends have left and many have been sorely missed but family have been a dependable constant.

That's about all I can think of for now. I promise to be better at keeping in touch.

Lots of love,
Miss Manship
xxx

In case you were wondering why I don't live in Africa anymore...

2011-03-08T11:03:00.000+08:00

Manic Monday

2011-03-07T12:20:00.000+08:00

Can you guess where I spent the past forty-five minutes of a very manic Monday morning? It's only my first week back at uni and it's nothing but rush, rush, rush!! Eek!! :-(

A feast of words

2011-03-07T00:25:00.001+08:00

Media Pass!!

Gillo's Bookshelf

Joanne Harris (Chocolat) & Jeff Lindsay (Dexter)

A jumble of words

Just a few of the guest authors

One of my fav books 'The Lollipop Shoes' signed by Joanne Harris

'Dexter in the Dark' signed by Jeff Lindsay

New books!!

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places." ~~ Roald Dahl

Youthless

2011-02-18T22:10:00.000+08:00

Anyone free in Perth this Sunday should head down to the Bird from 2pm onwards for youthless, a youth arts showcase exhibiting our local talent! Free entry and amazing art, clothes and music!

Song of the Week - Love! Love! Love!

2011-02-15T19:45:00.000+08:00

Book Review - Atonement by Ian McEwan

2011-02-10T13:14:00.000+08:00

I’ve always wanted to like Ian McEwan’s novels with their bleak brilliance and unorthodox subject matter. I love black humour and gothic novels but the books that I’ve read of McEwan’s in the past have never been relatable to me with their bizarre characters and unbelievable circumstances. In Atonement, I finally got a glimpse of the eloquence of McEwan’s writing with how convincingly he portrayed the self-obsessive preoccupation of a thirteen-year old girl. So much of the novel lies in the belief in Briony’s romantic dreaminess and heightened self-awareness that if her character were not believable, the entire story would fall to pieces.

Although McEwan is known for impeccable timing and flawlessly paced writing, I found the story dragged during the war years of part two and was difficult to trudge through after the intensity of part one. Even though part two was well researched and very detailed, it seemed to ramble on aimlessly for pages at a time in contrast to part one where every moment was very obviously leading up to a dramatic event.

Despite the lacklustre mid-section of the novel, I can’t help but admire any man whose writing leaves me gloomy and melancholic for days afterwards. While the main events of the novel take place in the English summer, this is not a light, sunny read to flick through in a deck chair with a cocktail in hand. This is a book for reading by candlelight in the bath on dark, brooding winters nights. I’ve had mixed feelings about Ian McEwan in the past after reading The Cement Garden and First Love, Last Rites, but Atonement completely won me over with it’s compassion, contriteness and despair.

http://colosoul.com.au/atonement.php

Song of the Week - Barry White!

2011-02-09T22:34:00.000+08:00

In honour of my aunty Lisa's special birthday last Saturday and for the girls at work who I know are just dying for me to play this to them just one more time...

Foolish

2011-01-28T11:19:00.000+08:00

Song of the week - Eliza Doolittle - Pack Up

2011-01-27T15:27:00.000+08:00

I needed a little quirky randomness this week and the only songstress who can give me that right now is Eliza Doolittle. This song reminds me of driving in the rain, jangly bangles and sparkly cider fizzing up my nose.

From Paris with a Colosoul Amount of Love

2011-01-22T16:19:00.000+08:00

I have recently started working for a new Perth-based magazine called 'Colosoul'. I absolutely love it and am so lucky to be writing about what I love: travel and books. Here is my very first travel review on Paris called 'From Paris With Love'. Hope you enjoy!

xxx

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE

LOCATION

The city of Paris lies in the north-centre of France and lines the Seine River on both sides for a length of approximately eight miles. Paris is the transportation hub of France and hosts six major railroad passenger stations with lines of the national railroad system fanning out in all directions from Central Paris.

HOW TO GET THERE
Air France flies daily to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris from Perth via Singapore.

Prices start at around $1,400 for a return economy flight.

ACCOMMODATION
The city of Paris is separated into twenty districts called arrondissements. Each arrondissement has its own unique culture and flavour and it’s entirely up to you whether you prefer the lively, jovial festival atmosphere of the Latin Quarter, the quaint romantic charm of Montmartre or the trendy hipster culture of Le Marais. Before arranging accommodation in Paris, first work out which area best suits your holiday plans and from there seek out accommodation that matches your needs and taste. Wherever you plan on staying, you are guaranteed a wide assortment of accommodation options ranging from the cheapest of hostels to the most glamorous of hotels.

TOP THINGS TO DO

For the Art Lover

The Louvre

Paris is home to more than 170 museums so whatever your taste in art, you are guaranteed to find something that will appeal to your artistic temperament. Most recently portrayed in Dan Brown’s ‘The Da Vinci Code’, The Louvre is the world’s most famous museum and boasts an unrivalled collection of over sixty thousand accumulated riches that spans thousands of years. This ‘museum among museums’, which once housed the kings of France, is now a centre of learning and enlightenment and is a recognised authority in art, history and culture.

For the Romantic Soul

The Eiffel Tower
More than any other landmark in the world, the Eiffel Tower is the symbolic representation of the romance capital of the world. Built for the 1889 World Exposition by Gustave Eiffel, the iron tower boasts two impressive restaurants and observation decks on the first and second lever. At night, the tower puts on an impressive show of glittering lights from dusk until 2am, the illuminated icon of the City of Lights.

For the Bohemian

Montmartre

The name ‘Montmartre’ comes from the name ‘Mont des Martyrs’ which means ‘Mountain of the Martyrs’ because it is here that the first martyrs of Paris were decapitated by the Romans in 250 A.D. Steeped in a history of religious persecution and pilgrimage, this part of Paris has a reputation for non-conformity and it is perhaps because of this rebellious past that Montmartre became a refuge for Parisian artists and was the home of the impressionists at the end of the 19th century. Today, Montmartre boasts a thriving artist community and tourists can observe artists at work around the area of the Sacre Coeur church and buy their paintings.

For the Traveller on a Budget

The Seine River

Paris is undoubtedly one of the most expensive cities in the world but that doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune to experience the vibrancy of Parisian life. Paris was made for people watching and there is no better way to soak up the ambiance of the city than to take a stroll along the Seine River. Here is where you will see the true heart of Paris, with blushing lovers walking hand in hand, businessmen riding bicycles with baskets holding briefcases and baguettes, and buskers playing can-can tunes on rusty accordions for a few euros.

For the Fashionista

The Champs Elysees

No self-respecting fashionista can justify a trip to Paris without taking a stroll down the Champs Elysees, one of the most famous avenues in the world for upmarket shopping. Running for two kilometres, the avenue is lined with theatres, bistros, restaurants and luxury boutiques and ends at the Arc de Triomphe, the monument built by Napoleon Bonaparte to glorify his victories.

For the Literature Lover

Cathedral of Notre Dame

What lover of the written word has not longed to clap eyes on the inspiration for Victor Hugo’s famous novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame? French for ‘Our Lady of Paris’, Notre Dame de Paris is a Catholic cathedral and is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in all of Europe. The cathedral is free to the public and for a small fee visitors can climb to the Towers of Notre-Dame which offer a panoramic view of the city.

For the Time-Pressed Globetrotter

Open-Top Double Decker Bus Tour

For those who want to get the most out of Paris in the shortest amount of time, an open-top double decker bus tour is the way to go. Not only is this a good way to take in all the major tourist attractions of the city, it’s also a good way to get oriented with the city. One or two day passes can be purchased which allow unlimited bus access and the buses drive by over 50 major sites around Paris.

Colosoul Newest Independent Youth Magazine Perth Western Australia Reviews Lifestyle Travel - From Paris with Love

Six Impossible Things

2010-11-10T21:37:00.000+08:00

2010-11-10T20:17:00.001+08:00

Follow my blog with bloglovin

Judging books by their covers

2010-11-06T14:18:00.000+08:00

How is it that I never have money for phone bills and petrol but always manage to scrape my last few dollars together for new books? These pretty young things were just calling my name on the shelves of Angus and Robertsons, practically free with my staff discount. Practically ;-)

I'm sad to say I'm one of those silly, shallow people guilty of judging books by their covers. I can’t help it, I just love stories wrapped up in pretty jackets! I would rather spend the extra dollars on a luxuriously embossed cover and textured pages than buy the cheaper Penguin version printed on dull toilet paper (again, where do all these extra dollars magically appear from??). And if I see a book that I already own in a prettier version than the one I already have, it’s a pretty big temptation not to buy it again (which is where my collection of Alice in Wonderland books comes from).

I tried to resist buying A Life in Frocks. I really did. I knew it wasn't the type of book that I like to read and would be one of those forgettable stories that you read and then when a friend asks you what it was like, you can’t remember a thing about it. But after catching my eye for the third time on my meandering around the biography section, I finally succumbed to the inevitable and bought the blasted book!

As suspected, I am about three-quarters of the way through the novel and still don’t really understand what the book is supposed to be about. There was however one section of the book which did strike a cord with me which was when the author wrote of how clothes have the ability to transport us and how certain pieces of clothing not only hold so many memories but say something so essential about the kind of person that we are.

Now, along with being a book hoarder (or bibliophile as a certain someone called me the other day ;-), I am also a major clothes horse! Until recently, my wardrobe was bursting at the seams with clothes that I can't, won't or shouldn't wear anymore and it was only after reading an article in Frankie about reducing our carbon footprints that I was persuaded to go green and donate my unwearable clothes to the less fortunate. As I sorted through my wardrobe, I couldn't pick up a single item of clothing without being reminded of a funny story that accompanied it, a memory of where I was the last time I wore it or the occasion that I bought it for. Here are some of my most memorable items of clothing and the stories that go with them. I would love to hear some of yours!

THE KILT

In the same way that the scribbled, stitched and stretched pair of jeans in ‘The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants’ tell a hundred tales of love, loss and travel, my wee Scottish kilt was with me from start to finish on one of the biggest adventures of my life. I bought it at a tartan shop on the Royal Mile when I arrived in Edinburgh in the summer of 2008 and I wore it for the first time to a Ceiledh, where I twirled for hours with sweaty dance partners and drank so much Irn-Bru that my tongue was stained orange. I wore it when I went to Belgium where I ate countless waffles and walked all around the entire town of Brugge with a sprained ankle. I wore it on my first date with Jakob, a Swedish hipster who worked at the Elephant House where I went to write and gave me free lattes and elephant-shaped shortbread biscuits. I wore it during the coldest winter of my life, with German leg-warmers and thick, woollen tights. I wore it with a red beret and a souvineur shirt that read ‘Resident of the Berlin Psychiatric Ward’ in the most culturally clashing outfit imagineable. Putting on my kilt is the equivilant of opening a suitcase full of travel journals and photographs. Every fibre of that tartan fabric screams to me of adventure and mischief and unquenchable wanderlust.

THE PLATFORM TRAINERS

As a twelve year old, I was desperately in love with the Spice Girls. It wasn’t enough that I knew all the songs and dance moves, owned all the memorabilia and had a shrine to them on my bedroom wall; I wanted to BE one of them. As much as it pains me to admit, the red hair that I now sport originates from a time when I was imitating Ginger Spice. So when I saw those gleaming white platform trainers just like the ones that Baby Spice wore in the window of Truworths, I just had to have them. I think up until then my mom had been picking and buying my clothes which made the trainers feel even more grown-up and slightly naughty when I bought them with my own pocket money. They gave me the much needed confidence (and the much needed height!) that I sorely lacked when my family moved from Johannesburg to a tiny seaside town in the Western Cape where I didn’t know a single soul. They came to a sorry end after only a few months of owning them when my spiteful little pooch decided to get her revenge for being left home alone for too long and gobbled them up, laces and all. Maybe she wasn't such a fan of girl power.

THE RED TRENCHCOAT

My red jacket was my signature piece of clothing until I lost it last spring on an unfortunate night out at Lulu’s. It was bought while I was doing my journalism studies at university and became affectionately known as the ‘Lois Lane’ jacket among my friends and writing pals. This coat made me feel like a writer and made me want to work in a busy, bustling newsroom writing thrilling expose’s and doing investigative reporting in black-rimmed spectacles and starched white blouses with the collars popped up. This coat was not made for any wilting wall flower because everywhere I went, I became known as ‘The Girl in the Red Coat’ especially if I wore my matching red beret and clear acrylic umbrella with the cheeky red trim. I think the coat was the equivalent of a tracking device for my friends because they looked even more distraught than me when they found out that my precious coat was no more and all wondered how they would ever find me in a crowd now.

THE PURPLE WIG

Could there be a more frivolous thing to buy than a purple wig? Probably the most pointless of my travel purchases, I bought this on holiday in Sydney at the Paddy markets and spend a very entertaining evening wearing it on our apartment balcony, yelling to people passing by, 'Deal or no deal!!' It did come in handy when I had a 1920's night to go to last year...but that's about it really.

Lots of love,

Miss Manship

xxx

You say good-bye and I say hello....

2010-10-05T17:17:00.000+08:00

Hello, you!
It’s been a while, I know. I’m an appalling blogger, what can I say. Goodness and mercy have rained down on me in the past few months and I have neglected my writing duties. My apologies! Here is a brief update on what’s been going on during the past few months of my absence:

I went to America!
A lifelong dream of mine came to fruition a few months ago and I was lucky enough to touchdown in the United States of America! I can’t even begin to list all the things I experienced, all the wonderful people I met and all the sights I saw in my three week trip. Here are a few things that I will never forget:

Blueberry picking in Henderson

Jack's Creek church of Christ

Line dancing at the Wild Horse Saloon

Endless bandhero!

One night in Philly with the best roommate ever!

A day in Memphis

Falls Creek Falls

I went back to university
After struggling to get a job in my studied profession and suffering in retail, I decided to bite the bullet and do my graduate diploma of education. It is one intense year of studying but at the end of it, I will be able to teach, travel and terrorize little children. Well, maybe not the last one ;-) I am actually fairly happy to be back at university. I love being surrounded by an environment of learning and creating and besides, I quite missed the freaky folk at the Mount Lawley campus.

I’m surrounded by babies!
Not my own, of course. Spring really does seem to be the season of new life because everyone around me is having babies! We have just welcomed two adorable little babies into our extended family, born one day apart. Jacob Daniel Sanderson is my cousin Joanne’s beautiful baby boy (yes, named after the Twilight character) and is the first great-grandchild on my mom’s side of the family. The second baby is a lovely little girl born to my mom’s cousin named Emily. Baby booties and miniature dungarees were flown swiftly over to the UK and many tears were shed over the distance that feels so much greater in times like these. It’s hard being on the other side of the globe for special family occasions.
As well as these two human additions to our family, we have also been blessed with two animal babies as well. My sister’s guinea pig Rogue gave birth to the two most adorable little babies affectionately named The Giblets. They are absolutely gorgeous and I’m besotted with these two little menaces. It’s love, I tell you!

Bill

Sooky

I road-tripped down south
Now I am usually the first person to moan about Perth being the most boring place on earth. So I was pleasantly surprised when some girlfriends and I took a trip down south to Busselton/Margaret River and had ourselves a grand old time! Busselton is a charming little country town that is so swamped in vineyards that it wouldn’t surprise me if the rivers started running red from all the wine produced in this region. We spent the weekend trying out the local produce (cheese, fudge, chocolate…and maybe a wee tipple) and all came away a few kilos heavier in weight and a whole lot lighter in pocket!

Canal Rocks

Not chocoholics at all! ;-)

Winery in Margaret River

Darling, you are the only exception....

2010-10-02T17:57:00.000+08:00

My new love!

2010-09-27T23:30:00.000+08:00

Travel Tuesdays with a B-udiful Texan Traveller!

2010-02-16T21:57:00.000+08:00

Normally, when I have a guest blogger writing on Travel Tuesdays I like to do a little introduction about the marvellous misadventurous traveller who has offered to share their tales on my blog. However, I think that Bryttany's profile is far more eloquent than anything than I could ever write about her or her lovely blog and so without further delay....

To Interlaken We Go ... With a Leap of Faith!

The summer after my junior year in college, I was 21...full of life and adventure! One of my best girl friends and I took a tour of Europe that summer; thus, covering 7 countries and some islands. Oh the stories we have to tell! It was a summer of living, eating different foods, drinking an abundance of vino, laughing, learning, and Bien Sur...some shopping! Anywho, once we had arrived in Switzerland ...next thing we know we were signing up for Canyoning and Skydiving out of a helicopter. Then came the "If you die Voucher, it's not our fault." The what?!?! Wait, who - when?!?! What on earth was I signing up for?
Okay, they ran the credit card and cheered us on...there was no turning back! Good Lord, I knew I couldn't call Mommy & Daddy now and tell them what I had just signed up for! So, the next day we went canyoning. This is a sport (if you call it that) in the canyons of Interlaken, Switzerland. The water is 36F, you are wearing two wetsuits, foot-booties, helmets, harnesses, etc. You are jumping off cliffs, repelling around canyons, and doing back flips down waterfalls. Okay, my adrenaline is going...maybe I can do the skydiving?!?!?

The third morning in Interlaken, was THE morning I was going to take the Eiger Jump (13,026 ft). I couldn't eat or drink due to the fear of yakin' it up as I jumped out of helicopter. Not only was I taking a leap of faith by skydiving, but this was my first trip in a helicopter! Let's just say after fast pitter-patter heart beats, sweaty palms, and chittering jaws, my skydiving instructor literally had to push me off the ledge of the heli as I was a frozen little lady! After 50 seconds of free fall, and then a joyous ride looking out onto the city of Interlaken...I was in heaven! It was worth all the nerves and crazy thoughts...it was the best ride of my life! I highly recommend anyone traveling to Europe, to visit Interlaken. The city is perfectly clean and beautiful, and the adventurous sports are out of this world!

Travel...because there is so much more in the world for one to see, hear, taste, and feel.

"b.free"
Love, Queen B
http://www.thebfreeblog.com/

To my sweet, sixteen-year old self

2010-02-07T13:06:00.000+08:00

In December, I was hunting down some last minute Christmas presants in my local shopping center and found this gorgeous little gift book in Collins *please excuse tacky nail polish. It was christmassy red and I was attempting to be festive*. It's called 'Dear Me' and is a collection of letters from famous British personalities to their former sixteen-year old selves. The letters ranged from the humourous anecdotes of Jon Ronson and Peter Kay to the expected coming-out advice of Elton John to the pretentious name-dropping of Joan Collins. The letters were absolutely priceless and I started thinking about my teenage years and what advice I would possibly give if I were able to time travel back to my sixteen-year old self.

I turned sixteen in the year of the millenium. I celebrated my sweet sixteenth in a security enclosed complex in Johanessburg, South Africa (which before the war in Afganistan was named as the most dangerous city in the world) and ended the year in Perth, Western Australia (most isolated city in the world. Seriously). A huge year of extremes and I did not adjust well to the sleepy way of coastal living or to the culture shock I was not expecting to experience in a city that has more South Africans than any I've ever encountered.

At sixteen, I was shy, homesick, lonely and self-conscious. I did not like who I was or the kind of life that I had but had no idea how to go about changing these things. I wasted so many opportunites because of my shyness and struggled so hard to fit into the Australian lifestyle and culture. So if I could magically turn the clock back and whisper a quiet word in the ear of my sixteen-year old self, I would say:

Battle it out for the next few years because your twenties will be beautiful. You will try things you never imagined and learn things about yourself that will thrill, frighten and mystify you. You will meet people who will inspire you and astound you and even a few who will truly disgust you but it will all add to the collection of mischievous misadventures you will be known for having. Take hip-hop classes because you will regret not doing so in years to come. Piano lessons also. Cherish every single moment you spend with your brother and take every opportunity to strengthen your relationship with him. You have no idea how precious this will be in years to come. Don't waste time on fair-weather friends because they will only disappoint you and in time you will make amazing friends who will value you and love you the way that real friends should. In fact, your circle of friends will be positively international! Respect yourself and show respect to those around you, even if they don't deserve it because in doing so, you will become a much better person for it. Love God and your family above all else because you have no idea how much you are going to need them in the years to come.

And if, in 2007 you are on your way home from Dubai and a blue-eyed man from Bolton offers to carry your overweight shoulder bag for you, run! Run, run away as fast as your sparkly ballet-slippered feet will carry you and don't look back!

Speaking of time travel, what a weird coincidence it is that Book #5 on my list is 'The Time Traveler's Wife' by Audrey Niffenegger. This was another one of the books that I took with me to Bali and I'll admit that I came back to my hotel room a little earlier some nights just so I could have a little bit of extra reading time with this book.

The story is about a guy who develops a disorder which causes him to time-travel against his will at any given time to any place he has every visited. The condition gets worse as he gets older and he struggles to maintain the facade of having a normal life while trying to force his body to stay in the present.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of time travel stories. Back to the Future did nothing for me and I never choose 'time travel' when asked what my imaginary superpower I would be if I had the option (teleporting, if you must know). So I was thrilled to find that the heart of this novel is an old-fashioned love story that had me sobbing quietly underneath my hotel bedsheets in the early hours of the morning.

I have a real love/hate relationship with books like this. I devour them with such gusto and finish them in a few days but then am left feeling quite deflated and lost once I've turned the final page. I adore great romance novels but I always feel so melancholy afterwards, wondering if such sincere love really does exist.

What do you think?

Lots of love!
xxx

A Great, Big Glob of Blog Lady Lovin'

2010-01-30T02:26:00.000+08:00

In my previous post, I mentioned that I had been nominated for a GLOB award by Amanda from La Blondie Peruana. However, I was so excited about Travel Tuesdays that I forgot to nominate all of my favourite female bloggers!! I adore each one of these lovely lady bloggers and I highly recommend you check out their blogs. And girls, don't forget to pass on this award to all of your own favourite lady bloggers.

And the nominees are.....

Simple Truths from a Creative Liar Alana is one of my co-workers/fellow book fiends and is the person who motivated me to start a blog. So there would be no record of Miss Manship's misadventures around the world if it weren't for Miss Alana here! Not only is she one of my dear friends but she is also a fantastically talented writer and I am in awe of her ability to write about an everyday situation with such elegance and creativity.

La Blondie Peruana Amanda was one of the first ladies on my list of GLOB nominees, not because she very sweetly nominated ME for this award but firstly because she is one of my beloved contributors to my new blogging venture Travel Tuesdays. She wrote a hilarious re-enactment of her airport antics in Canada and you can read the full story here or go to her blog to check out all her Peruvian missionary misadventures.

Lady Tells All is a classy, sassy lady blogger who says it like it is because as she states in her byline, 'Without the bitter, the sweet aint as sweet'. Smart, witty and always adorable, her blog is one I always begin reading with anticipation of greatness. Not once does she disappoint. Her post The Post-Relationship Friendship is a particular favourite of mine.

Everyday Adventures (of me in the city) Jessica is a 30-something blogger who writes about her random antics around the city of Chicago. Her writing is fresh and funky with lots of gorgeous photos of all her adventures. And she loves purses! How could you not heart a blogger who loves purses!

Sarahbration Whenever I see that Sarah has added a new update, her blog is always the first that my mouse clicks on. Her posts are creatively insightful and always well-written (could be due to the fact that she's a reporter...) My only complaint is that I want more posts! I gobble them up for too quickly!

Confessions of a Twenty Something Year Old Cheryl's blog was one of the first that I followed when I started blogging and she always seems to be able to come up with interesting, thoughtful post that have me tittering to myself at my computer screen. Her writing is sharp as a tack, witty, poignant, intelligent and always, always relatable. *Cheryl has been nominated to be February's featured blogger for website 20 Something Bloggers. If you agree with me and think Cheryl should win, send her some sugar and vote for her here*

Kind of That Girl I've only recently discovered Alexandra's blog but basically, any girl who is willing dance around with a lampshade on her head or sing at the top of her lungs in the car at a stoplight is ok with me! I really love her style of writing and this NYE post is just a teeny morsel of her flair for the creative.

Austenprose A daily celebration of the brilliance of Jane Austen's writing??? Yes, please!!

*********

I also realised the other day that I've been absolutely horrible in keeping track of the books that I've read for the 50 Book Challenge. I've read about ten since I last reviewed but I'm far too ~~lazy~~ tired at the moment to write about them all so I'll have to review more of them in my next post.

Book #4 ~ Austenland by Shannon Hale. This book was recommended to me by my favourite roommate Jen, who shares my love of Austen and the Tudors and knows my taste impeccably so I knew before the first page that I would love it. The story is about a young woman from New York whose aunt bequeaths to her a trip to an exclusive resort in England catering to the Austen-obsessed. Full of romantic romps through misty moors, saucy scandal in a Pemberley paradise and is, to quote Jen's exact recommendation, 'as delicious and indulgent as strawberries and double cream on a hot summers day' and scrumptious right to the last page!

That's all from me tonight, I'm afraid. It's almost 2:30 in the morning and my eyes are starting to glaze over from the glare of the computer screen. I hope any Australian bloggers reading this had a fantastic Australia Day on Tuesday.

Lots of love!
xxx

Travel Tuesday with 'The Blonde Peruvian'

2010-01-27T21:29:00.000+08:00

One of the best things about having guest bloggers is that I get to meet fascinating bloggers from all over the globe and be the first person in the blogging world to read about their mischievious misadventures. And occasionally be bribed by them ;-) Amanda from La Blondie Peruana tried sweetening me up so that I would let her guestpost on Travel Tuesdays for me by nominating me for a GLOB award. Unbeknown to her, I was gonna let her anyways! Haha, I'm just kidding. I am so honoured to have Amanda guest-blogging for me, I would have given HER an award just for the privilege!

**********

First of all, 'Muchos Gracias' to Rachel for having me! I am so excited to be a guest blogger! I don't really know the rules (if there are any) since this is my first time to GB but I've heard about this several times now and finally decided to jump in on the fun.

Well, the challenge was to blog about my greatest travel misadventure and all the mischief I got into along the way. I've done quite a bit of traveling but, besides my honeymoon, I haven't been anywhere outside of the USA...until now!

In 2008, my husband went on a mission trip to Lima, Peru and we had no idea how this one event would forever change our lives. The next year began our adventure to move to Peru as missionaries. Shaun, the hubby, left in October 2009 and I stayed in the states to finish working and tie up a few loose ends.

On December 2, 2009 I boarded a flight to my final destination: Peru. You've all heard the song, "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" and if you're anything like me you sing it to yourself whenever you travel. Well, this time the lyrics were true because, "I don't know when I'll be back again." For now our timeline is one year but we don't have a returning date yet and it's always a possibility that God could call us to be here for longer...Who knows??

Thus begins my biggest "Misadventure" to date. My day started out fairly normal: A 6:45am flight to Houston, TX where I had a 2 hour layover before boarding my connecting flight to Canada...*Insert screeching halt sound effect here* If you know anything about world geography, you should have pieced it together by now. From Texas, to Canada, to Peru?? Anyone with common sense would raise an eyebrow to that itinerary. What was Continental thinking?! So I boarded the flight from Texas to Canada, all the while contemplating if a walk straight to Peru would be shorter. (I still think yes.) At the same time, I was excited to visit yet another country even though I was slightly disappointed that my first time in Canada would be nothing more than a quick glance through the window before jumping on my flight to Peru. Oh well.

As we descended into Canada the pilot announced that our flight attendant would be passing out our customs forms to complete that we had to take with us through customs before picking up our bags. Hmmm...Before I boarded my first flight, I had asked about the process for going into another country for a layover and had been assured that because it was only a layover, my bags would be flown to my final destination. So, as the flight attendant handed me a form, I declined and informed her that I wouldn't need one. She smiled politely and assured me that I would if I wanted to get into the airport. I asked her the same question and she said that everyone coming in or out of the country would have to go through customs and baggage.

*siiiiiigh*

As I walked off the plane I decided my first trip to Canada was going to be a great one, despite the unexpected turn of events. I followed the crowd through the double doors and on the other side were 2 halls where everyone spilt. I looked up, no signs. I looked down, no signs. I turned around to go back through the double doors and ask what I was supposed to do, but of course the doors were one way and were already locked. So, I took the hall to the left and asked the first person I saw...who replied in French. I should have expected this, but my very American mindset told me everyone speaks English in Canada. I had to ask 3 different people and finally someone told me (in English) I had gone down the wrong hall. "Turn around, take the hall to the right and that is baggage claim, then proceed to customs." After thanking them, I took the hall to the right and waited for my bags.

As no less than 5 able-bodied men watched, I chased each of my bags down and hauled them off the belt. Now, in a perfect world, one of the men would have helped me or my husband would have been with me and I wouldn't have had to haul a backpack, carryon and 4 oversized/overweight suitcases by myself. But remember, this is a story of "misadventures"! Keeping an eye on my bags, I ran to grab the nearest luggage cart, only to find it was much too small for my 300 (thats 3-0-0) pounds of luggage. I spent the next 10 minutes balancing the bags perfectly onto the cart, so I could push it myself (since obviously everyone else was too busy standing around in amusement to help). I got 3 of the 4 suitcases and my carryon onto the cart. My backpack was on my back and the other suitcase was awkwardly dragging behind me as I followed the signs to customs.

As I approached customs the two agents working, stopped mid-conversation to watch me half drag/half push myself and my luggage into the room. (At this point, I literally started to feel like a one woman circus and seriously considered charging people to watch my act.) It wasn't until I had come to a complete stop before someone asked if I could use any help. "No, thanks" I said as nicely as I could through my desperate gasps for air. I explained that I had no idea what I was doing, and after they interrogated me about where I was going with 300 pounds of luggage, directed me through another double door to the right, to drop off my luggage. (I have no doubt they were talking about me after I left.) Through the doors and to the right was another desk...that stood unmanned. I looked for someone, then I looked for a bell or something to get someones attention...Nothing. So I stood there, making the most of my time by catching my breath. All of the sudden I heard a voice come from somewhere. "I'm sorry?" I asked and the voice replied, "Where are you going with all of that luggage, young lady?" I peered around my luggage as a very short (but very cute) old man appeared from behind the desk. I handed him my ticket and he made a face. He then proceeded to tell me that I was running very late, and if I left my luggage with him it would not make it to my flight in time, therefore it would be late to Peru. He then explained that I needed to follow the hall to the SECOND set of elevators and to go to the 4th floor where I had to take Train 1 to Terminal E where I would then check-in (again?!) and leave my luggage at the check-in counter.

As I repeated these directions to myself, I ran (as fast as you can run pushing 300lbs of luggage) to the second set of elevators. As the doors opened I quickly realized that these elevators were not made for someone carrying luggage, but I wheeled myself inside praying the elevator would not get stuck from the weight. I pushed "4" and rode to the Train station. As the elevator came to a stop I waited for the door to open. I then heard the wall behind me open up...Oh joy. I then proceeded to back off the elevator into a room with 2 trains, I noticed that neither we labeled "Train 1"...or "Train anything" for that matter. I stood there trying to figure it out and a man walked up to me and asked which was "Train 2", as I explained that I had no idea if I was even in the right place, we had a nice conversation, before the trains arrived. We figured out which was which and parted ways. I chose the train car in the back because no one was in it- and I didn't want to crowd anyone with my luggage. As the sign flashed "Doors closing in 5..4..3.." I ran across the room and slid into the car right before the doors closed. A voice inside the car said, "For your safety please sit down and hold on." I was already situated with my luggage, so I opted to stand, and held the nearest bar. All of the sudden the train shot forward and my cart flew to the opposite side of the train car throwing myself and my luggage all over the place. I hit the floor on my hands and knees as pain shot through me. I looked up to see the sign flashing "Terminal E in 1 min 20 seconds." By this time I was laughing hysterically as I literally crawled through the car to each piece of my luggage and used my feet to kick it all to one side. I laid out on the floor to keep everything in one place until the car came to a stop. As the doors flew open I jumped to my feet and started throwing each bag out the door one by one. I know I looked insane, but I didn't have time to think about it or care!

As the doors closed behind me, I began collecting my luggage and again balanced each piece onto the cart. I composed myself and found the check-in counter. As I walked up, a lady grabbed my arm and directed me to a line that was empty. She then inquired about where I was going and when I told her Peru, she literally pushed me to the front of the line. I explained to the lady at the counter what the man downstairs had said, and as she placed my first bag on the scale, informed me it would be extra for an overweight bag. I then explained that my bags were already paid for and I was told they would fly all the way to Peru, but apparently somewhere there had been a miscommunication. She was pretty rude about it and said that if I wanted my bags to be on my flight, I needed to pay and go because I was already late for boarding. By this time, I lost it. I started sobbing uncontrollably, and tried to explain everything I had been through, AND I had been traveling ALL day and just wanted to get to my husband who SHOULD be with me, I NEVER travel alone and my bags were very heavy...I sounded like a 3 year old trying to plead my case about why I should get another cookie or something. About this time, a manager came by saying that anyone who was going to Peru needed to board NOW and she waved him over. He was also rude and seemed extremely annoyed but because I was short on time, he waved me through to security, informing me that next time I would have to pay (Like he would remember my face or something?!)
As I approached the long line at security there was a woman in front of me who started up a conversation, and when I told her I was going to Peru, she said, "Doesn't that board, like...now?" She told me to go to the "Elite' line and explain that I needed to get through, but I was forced back into line to wait. The woman in front of me wouldn't hear of it and let me in front of her...then she started protesting for me and telling everyone else in front of me to let me through. Everyone was so sweet and understanding and as I got through security I turned around to thank everyone and they were all smiling and waving. The woman was shouting, "RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN! DONT MISS YOUR FLIGHT! HAVE FUN IN PERU!" I was laughing so hard because it literally felt like I was in a cheesy movie! I made it to my gate with a few minutes to spare and even had time to take a few deep breaths before boarding my final flight to Peru.

I don't know when I will fly again, but my hope is that this experience was enough of an adventure that any other time I fly will be a breeze. Granted, being an American living in Peru- I have no doubts that the next year will be filled with "Mishaps" of every kind. Feel free to join me in these "Misadventures" at La Blondie Peruana.

Thanks again Rachel!

Two-Facebookers and Drama Queens

2010-01-22T14:47:00.001+08:00

I am not a fan of drama queens.  On my recent trip to Bali, I bought the TV series 'Privileged' and if anyone hasn't watched it, the show is about a Yale graduate named Megan Smith who goes to work as a private tutor for a sickeningly wealthy Palm Beach family.  Megan has major family issues (father who is a drunk, mother who abandoned her as a child) and the show is basically just the 'woe is me' whinings of this girl who pulls everyone she comes into contact with into her family dramas and has not a thought for what's happening in the lives of the people around her. Obviously, the show is fictitious and the scenarios acted out are scripted by very well-paid writers but the attitude of the main character rings so true to a few people I know that I can't help raising my hackles in distaste every time she goes off on a rampage about her latest dilemma.

Now, I loooove facebook. It's almost unhealthy how much time I devote to commenting on all 120 pictures of a friend's wedding or sitting with my finger on the refresh button on my home page in case a new comment has been made on my profile (quite sad, I know).  But one thing I do not love is the amount of attention-seeking status updates that pop into my news feed on a regular basis. Facebook statuses such as 'Daisy May can't believe it' or 'Martha Mutton doesn't know what to do'. What can't you believe, Daisy May? Do about what, Martha Mutton? And why do you post these dramatic tantalising teasers that bring my misbehaved, nosy-parker self racing to the surface!

What is even worse about these drama queens is that rarely do they ever clarify what they were refering to, even when directly asked.

'What do you mean, Kelly Katwell, that you want to crawl up in a ball and die?'

*no response*

'What can't you take anymore, Donna Day?'

*crickets chirping in the background*

              By the way, I don't actually have facebook friends named Kelly Katwell and Donna Day.
              I'm not too sure why all the made-up names I came up with either have the same first letter
              or sound like they belong to a Southern hill-billy. Maybe I've just been hearing too much
             about True Blood at work :-p

I'm not aiming this at anyone in particular or meaning to cause offense to anyone. It's just really, really annoying when people post comments like these that are obviously going to make people wonder what's going on but then get upset when friends ask what's wrong.

Another minor grievance that I have with this world of electronic communication we find ourselves in (now that I'm firmly sat on my high horse) is how easily misinterpretable information can be. My sense of humour is questionable at the best of times and without facial expression and tone of voice, I somehow manage to land myself in a great, big pot of bother without having the faintest clue why.

In the same way that it's easy to cause offense through electronic communication, it's also just as easy to take offense. Faceless communication allows cowards to make their grievances known without the reprecussions of a verbal confrontation. A face-to-face discussion demands a solution, a resolution to a problem. Whether it's a heated debate, an agreement to recognise each other's differences or a tearful apology, it generally brings some sort of conclusion to the matter. Social networks allow problems to go unresolved, simply by applying the 'Block friend' option. Not very brave and definitely not cool.

And I'd just like to end this mini rant of mine by saying one small thing: I am not a mind reader. If I have offended you or said something to hurt you but am still smiling and being nice to you, then most likely I am unaware that you are upset. If you are upset, please tell me so that I can apologise. But please don't be nice to my face and then call me every name under the sun behind my back. Be a grown-up and give me the chance to tell my side of the story. It might not be as bad as you think :-)

An Adventurous Train Ride on Travel Tuesday

2010-01-12T20:26:00.006+08:00

I am so pleased to welcome my very first contributor to Travel Tuesdays!Canadian blogger The Adventurer has very generously agreed to sprinkle my blog with some of her writing charm and guest post for me about her travels in Europe. Thanks so much for the post, Erin! If anyone else would like to guest post on Travel Tuesdays for The Misadventures of Miss Manship, please email me at mizzmanship@hotmail.com.

Lots of love!
xxx

Five Mother Hens & A Foreign Baby Chick

My first time getting on a train in Italy I was stuffed in a carriage for six, filled beyond capacity with angry Italian men who yelled...a lot. Oh, and that one shy little Italian girl. So in actuality we were OVER stuffed. Beyond belief. This story however...has no problems with seating. Or sweaty, angry Italian men.

I was on my way to Genoa and happened to be in a train carriage made up entirely of women. Where I was by FAR the youngest. Due to my last Italian train adventure...I was relieved to see this and quietly took my seat, smiling at the woman across from me. As I sat there quietly, the women around me transformed until they were COMPLETELY like mother hens. So sweet and caring and clucking over me...especially once they figured out that I didn't speak Italian!

Now, you have to understand that none of them really SPOKE English, but they'd been trying to share some of the MOST delicious homemade treats with me...and trying to talk with me...and they were so cute that I think that I automatically fell a little bit in love with them. In the 'I had a really bad week and need someone to take care of me' kind of way.

Now, as we were sitting there and I was trying to be polite and not eat ALL of their WAY too delicious food..they started clucking amongst themselves about something. Being a foreigner, I was (mostly) oblivious...because well, the lack of understanding the Italian language thing sort of lets you tune out.

But then, I realized that they were directing their rapid Italian at ME...and I got a little concerned. Especially when they started yelling and pointing and acting a little too much like the Italian men I had encountered on the train the last time I was in Italy. I was worried - what had I done? Had I eaten too much? Too little? Something not intended for me? Oh jeeze - what had I got myself into. Why oh WHY didn't I listen mother about not taking food from strangers. Hadn't I got it through my thick skull that mothers know everything and are ALWAYS RIGHT?!

But then they used a word I could understand! SUCCESS! They were talking about my BILLETO! Peeeeeeeerfect! I hadn't upset them all! There were no problems of too much or too little. All was good...no worries here! - Except...wait. ...What about my ticket now?! And suddenly I got MORE concerned...the train was about to leave and they were having a very heated discussion about my ticket. Enter me starting to lose my cool a little as I became terrified that there was something wrong with my ticket.

So I was pretty confused...and on the brink of freaking out when the one who speaks the MOST English (aka...none --> very little) out of the group tried to translate...And no word of a lie...she just started yelling: "OBLITERATE! OBLITERATE!" And the others...following her lead were like "SI! SI! OBLITERATE! OBLITERATE!" So of course...I'm all like WHAT THE?!?!? And I'm SO confused and have NO idea what they're talking about...except now I'm pretty sure that all Italians are NUTS and there is no way they're going to convince me to OBLITERATE my ticket. No matter HOW good their little balls of pastry heaven are.

The youngest of the Hens pulls out her ticket, points and goes “Obliterate...ticketo!" (because of COURSE, you must add an O or an A to the end of EVERY word...duh.) I take a deep breath. And breathe a sigh of relief. Then I calmly pull out my ticket...and show my dear little hens that YES, I have indeed validated my ticket. Happy now that all was taken care of - they continued on their merry way, clucking amongst themselves in their beautiful Italian all the while stuffing me full of the most delicious pastries I've ever encountered.

Perfect-O!

Happy Hogmanay (or New Years, for the non-Scots...)

2010-01-07T16:36:00.003+08:00

A very happy new year to all and welcome to the start of 2010! I hope that everyone's NYE was filled with much madness, magic and mayhem. It was after all the end of the noughties and should have been celebrated as such. Maybe not millenium style but still enough sparkle to put the Dorothy shoes to shame! I know that I'm ridiculously late in my new-year well-wishings but I think that there should be a small grace period to give people the chance to gather their writing wits after the fun and festivities of the Christmas season. Besides, one of my resolutions is to start doing things in my own time and in light of this resolution, I think it's perfectly acceptable for me to be writing my new year post on the seventh of January! ;-)

I'm not normally a resolutions kinda person. I never do them and I rarely remember what I resolved to do anyways. I think that 'Learn French' has been on my New Year Resolutions list for about five years now and still the only French I know is 'Au Revoir' and 'Viola!'. I am however starting a blog resolution though. I've decided to start a travel feature on my blog, seeing as this originally started off being a travel blog. 'Travel Tuesdays' will start next week and am looking for some guest bloggers! I want stories about all your misadventures and all the mischief that you got up to along the way!

As this is a New Years post, it seems fitting that the first misadventurous travel tale should be about New Years Eve. Last year, I celebrated Hogmanay in Edinburgh. I spent Christmas week in Manchester with family and had to take a train back to Edinburgh on the day of New Years Eve as that was the only available train ride between Christmas and New Years. I think that every single person in Britain decided to descend on Edinburgh that day because despite having paid for a seat, I had to stand in the hall by the stinking toilets for most of the three and a half hour journey. Then when we finally arrived at Waverley train station after major delays, all the taxis had to be redirected away from the train station due to the street party on Princes street and so I had to walk all the way to the nearest taxi rank, carrying a bulging suitcase, two duffel bags and a backpack.

The plan was to have a relaxing afternoon before the madness of the night began. Some holiday banter with my flatmate, unpack my stuff and take my time getting ready. Maybe have a little nap. Instead it was a sandwich on the run, throw on the cleanest dress in my wardrobe and leg it down to the local pub before my friends took a taxi to the street party we were going to. Banging through the door of the pub in a great, big tangle of handbag straps and ankle boot laces, I practically fell into the arms of none other than The Rat.

Most girls are familiar with the behaviour of The Rat. One guy who manages to make you feel like the most beautiful, attractive girl in the room by lavishing you with honeyed words and rapt attention. He then manages to make you feel like a complete fool when you come back from the bathroom to find he's left without a word or doesn't call you when he says he will the next day. My Rat was a guy I met the first night I arrived in Edinburgh and is not someone I would wish to see the new year in with. Unfortunately, he still had my number and this brief meeting at the pub sparked off an evening of one-sided phone calls and text messages.

On top of this, I managed to leave my coat at home and arrived at the street festival in a very thin, off-the-shoulder dress and stiletto ankle boots. I think that the temperature by that time was in the negative degrees and my poor Southern-Hemisphere adapted body has never felt cold like it before. I was freezing to death, almost crippled by my new stiletto boots and somehow managed to get separated from my group of friends within the first half hour.

By the time midnight struck, I was jammed in the middle of a mosh-pit, ignoring The Rat's constant phone calls and desperately dodging a New Years kiss from a Kiwi rugby player with cauliflower ears while masses of sweaty emo teenagers bounced on my toes. I couldn't even be bothered to sing Auld blimin' Lang Syne and ended the evening crying my eyes out in my bathtub and pouring boiling hot water over my legs because my toes had turned blue and I couldn't feel them anymore. Happy Hogmanay everyone! I hear Paulo Nutini was playing at the street party but I honestly couldn't tell you.

What are your most miserable NYE memories?

Lots of love!
xxx

There's a world outside your window

2009-12-30T15:06:00.000+08:00

Christmas is my favourite time of year. I grew up in a family that celebrated the season with gusto, belting out joyful carols from the beginning of December and leaving stockings hanging by fireplaces for as long as possible in January. Christmas for me means noisy family get-togethers, far too many mince pies and giggling under duvets late on Christmas eve.

With so much happiness during the festive season, it's easy to forget that not everyone is having such a happy holiday. One person who is having a particularly trying Yuletide is Brandy from 20 something bloggers. She didn't ask me to post this, or even send me this. I saw it on one of her reader's blogs sarah-bration and re-posted it here. Brandy, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your 'hot awesome dude'. I pray that a little Christmas miracle comes your way.

xxx
--

My name is Brandy. And I have a blog.

And a plea.

I use my blog to showcase the crazy I meet everyday, share the stories of the kids I teach and document my love for tequila, dairy products and the abdominal muscles of Ryan Reynolds. Rarely do I talk about personal issues on my blog- as personal as the dude that I adore (who I actually met through my blog- single ladies, let that be a very good reason to blog, the possibility of meeting someone as wonderful as my man), but I need your help. And it involves my dude.

He’s a guy who made math comics for my class, so they would love learning about addition. He’s the kinda guy who sends my friends gift cards when they are having hard times, who remembers every story I ever told him, who was the first person I celebrated with when I got a teaching job. He’s the guy who sent flowers to me at school- dozens of my favourite pink roses just because he loves me. He’s a guy who has spent a year patiently explaining (and re-explaining) everything there is to know about football during the important games when silence is preferred. He’s made me word puzzles and comics and stayed up late playing Scrabble with me (even though I beat him almost every time). He’s listened to me cry about school and family and jobs. He is everything I never knew I needed and everything I always knew I wanted.

The holidays have hit us hard. He’s recently been told he may have something called multiple myeloma- an incurable cancer, that gives a person an average of five years of continued life. Though this news has came as a shock, he continues to be exactly who has always been- spending his time worrying about me, rather than worrying about himself. He’s the most selfless individual I know- (he stayed late on Christmas Eve to work, so his co-workers could leave early) and a post like this would never be something that he would promote or encourage but when I’m overwhelmed and feeling helpless, the blogging community has always given me tremendous support and comfort, two things I desperately need at this time.

As I write this, the future is uncertain and we aren’t sure what’s happening. He’ll need to see an oncologist soon, to verify what’s going on in his body. My hope is that everyone who reads this think positive thoughts and if you are a person who prays, could you add him to your list? (You can refer to him as ‘brandy’s hot awesome dude’). If you don’t pray, please keep him in your heart.This cancer is only a possibility and I believe that the prayers and positive thoughts of people can make sure it never becomes a reality.

I want to give a big thank you to the blog owner who scraped their original blog plans and graciously put this up. My goal is to get as many people as possible to see and read this post. If you are reading this and want to help, copy and paste my plea into your blog or send a link through twitter, so more people can keep him in their thoughts. I would be so very grateful (even more grateful than I am to my friend who first showed me the picture of Ryan Reynolds on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. If you haven’t seen it, google it. You. Are. Welcome).

I realize this all sounds dramatic, a Lifetime movie in the making- but this is life. Right now. And I’m throwing away any hint of ego and am humbly asking for you to pray or think kind thoughts. If you are able to pass this on, thank you and if you know anything regarding MM- please email me (my email is on my blog). This isn’t a call for sympathy or a plea for pity. It’s just one girl hoping you can think positive thoughts for the person she adores. If my current heartache provides you with anything, let it be with the reminder that life is short, love is unbending and no one knows what could happen next. Maybe it is silly, but I really do believe that positive thoughts can make a huge difference. Thank you for reading this and if you haven’t already? Please tell someone you love them today.

I did.

The Year of Wonders

2009-12-29T21:01:00.000+08:00

In light of the coming new year and the end of the noughties (but not my naughties...mwahaha!), here is a bit of a review of the past year. Full of madness and mayhem, mischief and magic, this past year has been one of my most memorable yet and instead of doing a boring, dot-point recap of events, here instead is my year in facebook statuses...most definitely need to spend less time on the fbook! :-)

* Happy Hogmanay, Edinburgh!
* overwhelmed by the aftermath of a rip-roaring, didgeridooing Aussie day flat party!
* just had a peppermint crisp muffin and a rooibos latte at the Zulu lounge....yebo goggo!!!
* fighting to resist the charms of warm, Parisian nights, twinkling Eiffel Tower lights and the soft calling of the river Seine...
* "Some people think I'm bonkers. But I just think I'm free!"
* did some meeean gangsta rapping last night!
* had Jonathan Rhys Meyer appear in a dream last night - is there no end to his talents??
* can't stop dreaming about Henry VIII....but why am I always having my head chopped off???
* leaving Edinburgh on a wet, rainy summers day :-(
* makes all the Highland coos go 'moooooooo!'
* lost in Austen....please nobody try to find me! :-)
* reading 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'......hmm
* just heard someone refer to me as 'Rach, the sassy one'!! Is that a compliment???
* likes to dress to match her sister. Yay cowboy shirts and fluffy ugg booties! :-)
* has a renewed interest in Dubliners :-)
* running around like a clown on purpose
* did some fine Irish jigging at Paddy Hannahs last night...cos that's what peep-toe heels are made for! :-)
* wants to do something really memorable for graduation....like pulling out a magic wand after receiving my degree and shouting 'Expecto Patronus!!'
* wants to hold your hand in Strawberry Fields forever
* In quite a Shakespearean mood tonight...'The Tempest' to be precise
* ululating for the Bokkes!! Woo-hoo, got a feeling that tonights gonna be a good night :-)
* finally got my wish to dress up as a pirate. Many children were scared and lots of timbers were shivered! Yo-ho-ho, it's a pirate's life for me!
* trying to put together a beach volleyball team :-) Any takers??
* just bought the cutest pair of leopard-print swimming shorts for Bali.....despite what you may think...not tacky at all!! Hehe! :-)
* so much for the Bali diet...that home-made mango ice-cream was just CRYING to be eaten!! *eat me! eat me......*
* has a cracking headache from my caffeine detox....proof enough for me that coffee and chocolate ARE good for you!! :-)
* is so happy to have my boetie home from Malaysia...but not too impressed about the lack of presants, mister!!! :-)
* has a job interview on Friday...eek!!
* going to watch 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'. Yay, I love weird stuff! :-D
* needs a lock for her sock drawer after catching Rich with a pair of mine on his big feet trying to sneak out without me seeing. Oi!!
* writing the next Christmas Carol....move over, Dickens!! :-D
* I adore pepperoni passion kisses....why, they are my favourite kind, Miss Foxy Kurowski :-D
* wondering at the bittersweetness of having so many friends all over the world that, no matter where I am, I always miss someone...
* was just suggested 'Wonder Woman' by facebook as 'people you may know' based on common fields...sounds about right :-D
* 'For Sale: Baby Shoes: Never Used'. Bravo, Hemingway, master of the 6-word story
* so, so pleased that my baby sis got baptised at Burns Beach yesterday.....not so pleased that on that same beach an hour later, a swimmers warning was issued due to a tiger shark feeding frenzy on a baby humpback whale :-s
* I really like the word 'lush'. I think that shall be included in my next piece of writing :-)
* leaving on a jetplane to Bali in six sleeps :-)
* back in the land of English-speaking tv, drinkable tap water and beachside livin'......hello, Perth! :-)
* only wants world peace for christmas....but some Irregular Choice heels would be very nice too, Santa ♥
* has had 'Endless Love' stuck in my head for a solid week...thanks a lot, Glee!!
* 'my first love...you're every breath that I take'...........over and over and over.....gah!
* building my own house today....my gingerbread house, that is :-) * had a customer at work who felt the need to explain to me who Nelson Mandela is.
* was asked yesterday if I knew if Roald Dahl would be bringing out a new book in time for Christmas *sigh*
*would like a non-alcoholic candy cane please :-)
* Since when is La Roux an 'electro goddess'?? I always thought she looked more like the white witch of Narnia myself...
* My Christmas blog! :-) Merry christmas week, everyone! http://rachmanship.blogspot.com/2009/12/dear-santa.html
*Guess they give Elvis Presleys as christmas presants in Texas. That's what it's got on my snazzy Christmas card anyways! Thanks, Amy! ♥
*Wants words with Santa about this set of drums he brought for Bex.....so long, silent nights!

Dear Santa...

2009-12-19T10:30:00.000+08:00

Dear Santa,

I have been exceptionally good this year. There may have been one or two unavoidable mishaps, particularly in the Edinburgh part of the year. Granted, I probably shouldn't have thrown my shoe at Jackson when he called me awful names at work. And I probably shouldn't have hit Evil Bob over the head with my handbag for teasing me about my red hair *I did receive payback for that one, by the way so I don't think that it should count, Santa. I broke my drivers license in the process and had to carry my passport around with me for six months until I returned home to Perth*. All in all though, I have been very, very good. Here is a little list of things that would make my christmas:

1. A plane ticket to somewhere exotic. Anywhere will do really. Somewhere tropical, like Fiji or the Maldives. Or a European winter wonderland, maybe Switzerland or Russia. I can't bear to be cooped up in one place for too long so pretty please Santa! With sugar and whipped cream on top!

2. A 'Wicked' dayplanner. 2008 and 2009 were a flurry of new experiences for me, from moving to Scotland, camping in Alpine climates and learning to didgeridoo (not very well, I might add). I intend to make 2010 even better. Plus, I am a social butterfly and with all of the parties, dates and events I have planned for the new year, I absolutely must have a day planner! Besides, I'm obsessed with stripey socks and who wears them better than the Wicked Witch? ;-)

3. A Nigella Lawson cookbook. A domestic goddess, I am not. Even after a year of living on my own, the best meal that I can come up with if I absolutely must cook is sausage and mash. I despise cooking and I'm definitely not very good at it so if there is one person in the world who can inspire me to broaden my culinary horizons, it is Miss Lawson. But be warned: I may begin using adjectives for my food like luscious, succulent and 'scrummy yummy'.

4. Jonathan Rhys Meyers. If you could possible arrange for him to be underneath my tree on Christmas morning or even just get him to deliver my presants, I would be very, very much obliged. It's not that I don't love you, Santa. I'm just a fool for an Irish accent ;-)

5. At the risk of sounding like a Miss Universe candidate, I really would like world peace for Christmas, Santa. I realise that you probably can't manage this in one Christmas Eve but even if you were able to relieve just one person's suffering this Christmas, that would be very nice. I feel mighty selfish sometimes enjoying all the merriments of the season when there are people in the world who are suffering and alone at Christmas.
Lots of love and gingerbread kisses,
Rach xxx

P.S. If you happen to receive a letter from a Miss J. Kurowski from Philadelpia, I promise that there were no signs saying I couldn't climb that tree!

Reading is good for your brain

2009-11-05T22:01:00.000+08:00

Ok, so that last post was really blergh and I am sooo tempted to delete. But I'm not going to!

I am doing the NaNoWriMo thing this year! For anyone who doesn't know what that is, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to start and finish a novel in exactly one month. Yikes!! 50, 000 words in one month! This is going to put my procrastinating to the test!! :-) I've thought through some ideas and I'm writing on this idea that I had when I was studying but never had the time *too lazy* to do anything with. I'm not gonna say too much because I am EXTREMELY particular about people reading or knowing too much about what I'm writing until it's polished and finished. Borderline pedantic, really. All I'll say is that the title of it will be 'The Wind Chasers'.

I have also just finished two books for my 50 Book Challenge and am half-way through another so that brings me to a total of three and a half books (one being Twilight, so I'm not really sure if that counts). Book #2 was 'Remarkable Creatures' by one of my favourite writers, Tracy Chevalier. The story is about the life of Mary Anning, the famous British fossil hunter. Seeing as this is the woman who wrote 'Girl with a Pearl Earring', I was expecting greatness. I was disappointed. The book was bland, lifeless and really 'unremarkable'. I have been waiting months for this book to come out and have been checking her website regularly to see if there were any updates. While discussing the book on her website, she comments that her one challenge will be to 'make fossils sexy'. Well, I hate to say this Ms Chevalier but it just wasn't achieved. Two stars for this and only because it's obvious that there was an immense amount of research here.

Book #3 was 'A Voice in the Wind' by Francine Rivers. I cheated a little bit on this one as I've read it before but I love it so much that I wanted it to be in my book challenge anyways! The book is part of a trilogy called 'The Mark of the Lion' series and it's about the persecution of the First-Century christians. The story focuses on the life of a Jewish slave girl whose family are killed in the destruction of Rome in A.D. 70 (I think!). It's absolutely brilliant and there are so many tidbits of information that I never knew about the era that are just so interesting! This is actually the book that got me interested in historical fiction and after reading it five times, I still never get sick of it.

I'm so sorry that I have been so slack with updating this blog lately. I don't even have the excuse of being too busy or anything like that as I've had nothing but time on my hands for a while now! I do, however, keep my dailybooth quite current so if anyone would like to check that out from time to time, the addy is:

http://dailybooth.com/rachmanship

Hope everyone is having a fantastic day! If anyone has any book recommendations for me for my 50 Book Challenge, please leave me a comment!

Toodles!
xxx

sigh

2009-10-14T01:38:00.001+08:00

Today, I was determined to write a complete blog in one sitting. Normally, I have three or four blogs that I work on at a time and add and edit bits and pieces until I feel it's ready to publish. Not only could I not complete one whole post in a sitting, I couldn't write anything! My mojo is completely off today :-( Grrr!!

Will try again tomorrow...

Toodles!
xxx

8 True Things

2009-10-05T20:42:00.001+08:00

A week or so ago, I was tagged to do the 50 Books Challenge. 50 books in a year! Easy peasy man! :-) I'm gonna make an effort to review all the books that I read for this little challenge so by......21st September of next year, I should have read and commented on 50 books.

So the first book that I finished (and I'm cringing writing this) is 'Breaking Dawn' by Stephanie Meyer. I read the others a few months ago and just didn't get into them so didn't bother reading the last one. However, I got bullied into reading the final one and, I have to say, it wasn't that bad. The writing is atrocious and it's a killer anti-climax ending but the storyline is pretty more-ish, I have to say!

I'm not in much of a writing mood today, so I'm gonna steal a little '8 things' quiz thing from Fras (check out his blog, it's good reading!).

8 Things I look forward to

1) Spending Christmas this year with my family in Australia! :-)
2) Starting my post-grad at Murdoch. Finally, my brain will be in function again!
3) Spending nine glorious days in the beautiful Bali sun. Bliss!
4) Summer this year! I'm normally more of a cool weather person but after about two years of living in Narnia, I'm looking forward to being warm for a change.
5) Celebrating New Years in Sydney with my Edinburgh pals. Yay!
6) Going for dinner on Saturday with my good friend, Cheresy (,")
7) Having a Quinton Tarantino film night with Ash
8) Many more travel adventures!

8 Things I did yesterday (in order)

1) Had left-over chicken for breakfast
2) Listened to some toe-tapping 80's tunes
3) Worked for a measly three hours
4) Played with my new phone (sooo cute and pink!)
5) Wrapped Ashley's birthday presant (which is about 2 weeks late)
6) Took way too many stupid pictures of myself for daily booth
7) Washed my car for the first time in three months (poor Agatha!)
8) Danced my socks off :-)

8 Things I wish I could do

1) Fly :-)
2) Have my own creativity button. Push 'on' and churn out amazing writing everytime
3) Play guitar
4) Speak French and Italian
5) Travel whenever I want
6) See all the people in my life that I miss so much
7) Get my revenge on all the people in my life who annoy me! Mwahahaha! (kidding, kidding...)
8) Get my dream job of being a travel writer

8 Movies I love right now

1) Amelie
2) Virgin Suicides
3) Braveheart
4) Legends of the Fall
5) The Other Boleyn Girl
6) Stepmom
7) Across the Universe
8) Troy

*Now Fraser's last list was was '8 Albums I currently adore' but I'm much more a book kinda girl so mine will be '8 Books I cannot live without!*

1) Bible
2) Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
3) Voice in the Wind - Francine Rivers
4) 'Chocolat' and 'The Lollipop Shoes' by Joanne Harris
5) 'Girl with the Pearl Earring' - Tracy Chevalier
6) 'The Bell Jar' - Sylvia Plath
7) 'Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
8) 'The Virgin Suicides' - Jeffrey Eugenides (loved both the book and movie)

Miss Manship and the Bible of Dreams

2009-09-17T16:44:00.002+08:00

When I was in my final year of uni, I took a psychology/writing unit called 'Writing Therapy'. The purpose of the class was to examine the therapeutic benefits of writing and to discern whether writing can be a help or a hinderance in some situations (using writers such as Plath and Sexton...was the outlet of writing a delaying of the inevitable or could it have been the cause of them taking their lives?). Anyways, one of the exercises for the class was to put a pen and paper right next to your bed and start writing the minute you open your eyes in the morning. Apparently, because you are still in a semi-dreamlike state when you first awake, you are likely to be more in touch with your subconscious. The idea interested me a lot and so I started setting my alarm five minute earlier in the morning and writing down my dreams. Once I started writing down the dreams, they started getting more and more vivid. Every night my dreams were getting stranger and stranger and I was enjoying capturing them on paper so much that I was even setting my alarm to go off in the middle of the night so that I could write down more of my dreams. Slightly obsessive, I know but some of the material that I was getting for my writing was unbelievable. I would get up in the morning with notes from the night before (usually stuck to my face or written on my arm) and have no recollection of the dreams themselves. I have notebooks full of these dreams and not I want to start recording them on my blog but I don't really want them to get in the way of my regular blog so I've set up a separate blog purely for the purpose of recording some of my more elaborate dreams. It's just an experiment at the moment but if anyone is interested in having a squiz, the address is

http://missmanshipandthebibleofdreams.blogspot.com/

Sweet dreams (,")

Marmalade Musings

2009-09-14T20:12:00.002+08:00

*Dream from the eve of September 10, 2009*

In this particularly vivid dream (not too long after watching 'Coraline' by the way), I had a bit of an Alice in Wonderland moment and stepped through my bedroom door into a nightclub. It was a bit of a 'Jazzbar' type club, three levels underground and quite cosy. The weirdest part of the dream (not the fact that I had a club connected to my bedroom, of course) was that everything in the club was orange. It was called 'Zest' and absolutely everything in the room was a shade of orange. Coloured lampshades threw a tangerine glare on the faces of the club-goers (who were all Scottish redheads apart from two 'Bugsy Malone' white rabbits sat at the bar, mixing gin and tonics with carrot stick stirrers). There were baskets of orange tic-tacs on pumpkin-patterned tablecloths and big, orange thought bubbles floating above people's heads, popping every now and then and dousing the thinker in a citrusy spray. Coldplay's 'Yellow' and Simply Red were playing over the soundsystem.

It was almost like being trapped in that Beatle song...

Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies

What does this all mean?? I don't even like orange...

Untitled Piece of Prose

2009-09-10T20:05:00.000+08:00

*AUTHOR UNKNOWN*

I stood on a grassy embankment,
And at my feet a precipice broke sure down to infinite space.
I looked but saw no bottom, only cloud shapes, black and furiously coiled.
A great shadow shrouded hollows and unfathomable depths,
I drew back, dizzy at the depth.

Then I saw forms moving single file along the grass
They were making for the edge
I saw a woman with a child, holding onto her dress
She was on the very verge

Then I saw that she was blind
she lifted her foot for the next step
It trod air
She was over and the child with her
and, oh the cry as they went over

And then I saw more streams of people,
Flowing from all quarters
All were blind, totally blind, all making straight for the precipice edge
There were shrieks as they suddently felt themselves falling
And tossing up of helpless arms
Catching, clutching at empty air

But some went over quietly and fell without a word

I wondered with a wonder that was simple agony why no-one stopped them at the edge
I couldn't
I was glued to the ground
I couldn't call, though I strained and tried
Only a whisper would come

And then I saw along the edge
There were centuries set at intervals
But the intervals were far too great
There were wide, unguarded gaps between them and over these gaps people fell in their blindness
Quite unwarned

And the green grass seemed blood-red to me
And the gulf yawned like the mouth of hell

Then I saw a picture of peace
A group of people sitting under some trees with their backs towards the gulf
They were making daisy chains

Sometimes when a piercing shriek cut through the quiet air and reached them
It disturbed them and they thought it a rather vulgar noise
And if one of their number started up and wanted to go and do something to help,
The all the others would pull that one down

'Why should you get so excited about it?
You must wait for a definite call to go,
You haven't finished your daisy chain yet
It would be really quite selfish,' they said, 'to leave us to finish the work by ourselves.'

There was another group
It was made up of people whose great desire was to get more centuries out
But they found that very few wanted to go
And sometimes there were no centuries set for a mile on the edge

Once a girl stood alone in her place
Waving people back
But her mother and relations called and reminded her that her time was up
And she mustn't break the rules
And being tired and needing a change, she had to go and rest for awhile

But no-one was set to guard her gap,
And over and over the people fell
Like a waterfall of souls

Once a boy caught a tuft of grass at the very brink of the gulf
He climbed convulsively and he called
But no-one seemed to hear

Then the roots of the grass gave way
And with a cry, the boy went over
With two hands still holding tight to the torn-off bunch of grass

And the girl who longed to be back at the gap
Thought she heard the young boy cry and she sprang up, wanting to go
But they reproved her, reminding her that no-one is really necessary anywhere
The gap will be well-taken care of

And they sang a hymn,
And then, through the hymn, came another sound
A sound like a million broken hearts,
Wrung out in one fearful sob,
And a horror and great darkness was upon me,
For I knew what it was,
It was the cry of blood

Reminiscing of a summer past

2009-08-23T19:25:00.000+08:00

After my recent jaunt of being a penniless traveller, I am slightly overwhelmed with the amount of clutter I have accumulated in my room. A major clear-out is in progress and between the stacks of sheet music and pressed flowers, I found this note. It's dated a few days after my return from my trip to Scotland in 2007, my first ever trip away from home and was scribbled in the wee hours of one of my jet-lag induced sleepless nights.

'I am missing Edinburgh. I miss cold, stone buildings and misty meadows and twenty different shades of lush green. I miss the buzz of learning and laughing and singing. Excitement and pleasure and feeling as though I have never been happier than at this very moment. I miss Carly and Liza, Amir and Tashi, Roxanne and Will and my Spanish senoritas. I miss feeling dumb and inspired and light and slightly beautiful. Also, the lovely sensation of belonging. I miss Japanese tourism, pillaging, dancing and discovering.

I miss being the Pied Piper and the lone Australian. I miss being Red. I miss being a mystery. Life without chores and T.V. and my cellphone (but not facebook...that I could not live without). I miss early morning lectures and frosty nights and terrible cafeteria food. I miss grumpy old ladies and blistered ankles and broken glasses.

I miss defiant graffiti!

I miss sparkly red Dorothy shoes and terrible pick-up lines and even worse poetry scribbled in the sleepy aftermath of a beautiful dream. I miss having beautiful dreams. I miss the colourful Indian shops, cluttered second-hand bookshops and classy vintage stores.

Like that place where you bought your kilt from.

I miss being able to get away with wearing pink snakeskin ballet slippers and shiny blue tap shoes. Roald Dahl coffee mugs and C.S. Lewis biographies. Being defiant and cheeky and indulged enough to get away with it. I miss sharing secrets and wicked whispers in dirty pubs and trendy coffee shops and having my grammar corrected. Persian and Hebrew, Spanish and Gaelic. I miss feeling alive.'

The Weird and Wonderful folk of Edinburgh!

2009-08-22T22:36:00.001+08:00

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in one of my favourite coffee shops along Nicholson street. I was in one of the booths facing the street and was thoroughly intrigued with the people I saw passing. Nowhere in the world have I loved people-watching as much as I have in Edinburgh. Old Town especially seems to have an abundance of people who simply like being a bit quirky and off-beat. These are just a few of the people that I saw during the course of two hours and three regular lattes:

~ A young woman of about twenty appears in the window of the second-storey flat above Tescoes directly opposite me. It is possibly one of the busiest places on Nicholson street, yet she doesn't seem to realise this as she throws the curtains open with gusto, wearing nothing more than a pale blue T-shirt that reads 'Little Miss Naughty'.

~ A 'Kirstyn Knowles' look-alike (maybe even her!). She has dark auburn hair worn down over her shoulders with bright turquoise eyeshadow. But her most distinguishing feature! A pair of apple-green stripey 'Wizard of Oz' tights. If she had been carrying an electric guitar in her hands, she would not have looked at all out of place.

~ During the course of the morning, a black jacket is dropped on the pavement. This presents a fascinating dilemma! Will someone pick it up and keep it? Put it on a bench to stop it from getting dirty and stepped on? Ignore it and blatantly step on it? The young student who looks like she will become a nurse or a vet such her innocent eyes and kind face dodges it like a dog poop in her path. The grandad with the cuddly jumper and jelly belly actually stopped and stood on it for a while. It turned out to be a tattoed hobo with one massive dreadlock running down his back that picked the jacket up and folded it neatly onto the bus bench for the owner to find.

~ The strangest little woman just walked past! She must have been well into her sixties with white, white hair and a pin-striped business suit. However, underneath the jacket, she had on a pink and silver ruffled satin blouse with a matching bag. Not pretty, lacey satin that could look quite feminine underneath a suit jacket. The kind of cheap, trashy blouse that you would buy in less reputable shops. The frosted pink eyeshadow painted up to the pencilled eyebrows and letterbox red lipstick added the finishing touches to the whole ensemble.

*Why are there so many people walking around with guitars here?*

~ I take it back! I have now seen the strangest woman in Edinburgh! She is a tiny, hunched-over lady supported by what looks to be her daughter or maybe her carer. She is wearing a midnight blue velvet cloak that could quite easily be mistaken for a magician's cape. Perhaps she is in the theatre? Sticking out from the hem of her cloak are the thinnest, spindliest legs I have ever seen. And I don't mean 'lolli-pop lady' thin - I mean 'where the heck are your bones' thin. You might think that she would be wearing comfortable, flat leather granny shoes. Her frailty might excuse her wearing slippers even. No, this little lady had on nothing short of the sparkliest, brightest, cherry-red stilletoes I have ever seen.

~ A genuinely pretty girl is walking along by herself. Every detail of her is perfect, matching, clean and crease-free. Her hair and make-up are immaculate. She obviously puts a lot of care into her appearance. Either that or she is extremely meticulous. Her eyes are glued to the pavement as she walks along with her arms wrapped tightly around herself. She peeks out from under her fringe and, seeing someone glance in her direction, blushes terribly and walks faster.

*Scratch what I previously said. Edinburgh is just plain full of weirdos. Some guy just walked past, stopped dead in his tracks in front of me, stared intently for a good thirty seconds and then yelled 'nice laptop! with two thumbs up! Haha!*

~ I love the boldness of this one girl dashing down the street in the rain! Her outfit clashes horribly but she certainly makes a statement! She is wearing a red trenchcoat with flat red pumps. Underneath, she has on a royal blue dress with little red hearts all over it. Finally - the killer detail and the cause of the outfit clash - royal blue tights!

Good Morning, Midnight

2009-03-16T02:12:00.000+08:00

Good Morning, Midnight!
I'm coming home.
Day got tired of me-
How could I of him?
Sunshine was a sweet place,
I liked to stay-
But morn didn't want me - now-
So good night, day!
-Emily Dickensen

Breathe Slow

2009-03-13T04:22:00.000+08:00

I just received the best news I have heard all week. A friend of mine from SUISS has just offered to let me stay with her when I go to Paris next month. Which means that I can go to Paris and actually afford it!! I am absolutely thrilled! Not only will this save me a bundle of money, I will also get to see my lovely friend Eugenia and get a true Parisian's guide to the city. Plus, Eugenia is a girl after my own heart and has an insatiable desire for anything sweet and chocolatey so I guarantee that my bags will be bulging with delectable French treats when I return to Edinburgh.

I have had an absolutely horrific week so this tidbit of good news is like manna for my spirit right now. I won't go into details (mainly because I don't want to give certain pesky busy-body trouble-makers any more brain time than is absolutely necessary)but the gist of it is that work has been a nightmare these past couple of weeks due to people inventing fairy stories because of the sheer boredom that comes from working in a brain-dead job. Unfortunately, I work in an environment where gossip spreads like wildfire and Chinese whispers are the daily special.

My mom's homing device must have been kicking in all the way from Perth because I was having the absolute worst day ever when she gave me a call yesterday. It's the strangest thing ever, she always knows exactly when I need to talk to her. Maybe she really does have me bugged....I just needed to rant. And rant and rant and rant. And then my dad got on the phone and I ranted some more. I felt a million times better and I was actually able to laugh about it afterwards. My dad is really good at helping me see the ridiculousness of a situation :-) I also got a very sweet email from my favourite ex-roomie Jen so I was completely topped up on my love meter. Thanks family and Jen! Mmmmmmwah!

Now I think it's time to do some Paris research. Any suggestions?

Au revoir!
xxx

Specimen hands

2009-03-12T05:40:00.000+08:00

There are some hands whose past you don’t want to know
Hands that wound the clock above the fire
That exchanged rings under a crucified and Caucasian Christ
That reached into cabinets containing bottles of laudanum then fell by
Sides in a groggy narcotic daze
Hands that buried a secret in a paddock behind a church
That arranged stones just-so, then wiped their owner’s mouth.

Graeme miles

2009-03-08T05:38:00.000+08:00

*..but you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle made for two...*

ThInGs I lEaRnEd In ThE bUrGh

2008-10-20T18:30:00.000+08:00

I like my own company. I am very happy toddling around town on my lonesome and sitting in coffee shops for hours on end, writing and drinking some java. HOWEVER, I like having the OPTION to spend time with other people.

I really like my meat medium-rare! Why have I only just discovered this now??

I need to be surrounded by positive, creative people. This is not just a fancy or a preference. This is a bare essential for a happy, healthy Rach.

I kinda like living in tidy cleanness *Was that you gasping in shock all the way from Australia, Mom?* After staying with absolutely lovely but ridiculously messy friends, I love having my own place, my own space and for it to be not too crazy messy. Wow, never thought I would own up to that confession!

Scottish guys are no different from Australian guys. They just have nicer accents.

Kilts are cool! :-)

I do not like spending hard earned money on rent and bills!! No matter how cute my wee flat is or how cosy the central heating is. What a waste :-s

Snow does not taste half bad but it's not so great for falling on. It's not as soft as it looks!

The expression 'What's the craic' has nothing to do with drugs or bottoms.

Ah dinne ken, hen! <3

Off of the Terrace and into the Gardens...

2008-10-15T04:24:00.001+08:00

This weekend, I moved out of my room in Glengyle Terrace into my friend Jackson's flat in Polwarth Gardens. My stay at the 'Hotel Glengyle' as my landlady liked to call it was not exactly pleasant so I was not too upset about leaving. I will miss my beautiful little room though with its views of the Meadows and comfy double bed.

Here are some pics of my old place...

My happy red front door

...up three sets of stairs to my second front door

Laundry :-) It made me laugh every time I had to hang up my clothes to dry. The washing lines were strapped up on the ceiling and whenever we needed them, we had to unhook these ropes on the wall like on a ship. I felt like a pirate :-)

I had a fireplace!

My measly wardrobe

Packing again :-p I should have a degree in packing!

A Bow-Tie???

2008-10-09T05:07:00.000+08:00

Dear diary,

Today I had to wear a bow-tie....

Not one like this...

....or this....

...but like this...

...so of course, I was like this...

...but hopefully on pay day, I'll be like this!

...so it will all be worth it in the end

:-)

The Edinburgh List

2008-10-04T06:14:00.001+08:00

It dawned on me recently that my time here in Edinburgh is not actually as boundless as I seem to think that it is. In fact, I have less than two measley months in this city that I have loved since the moment I set foot in it. I thought it might be prudent to write up a list of things I would like to do while I'm here so that I don't go home with regrets yet again. So here goes:

~Do the literary pub crawl
~Check out Why Not, Tigerlilies, Opal Lounge, Liquid Rooms and Medina (for old times sake)
~Eat at the Hard Rock cafe
~Go see Mary and Dougie
~Visit the church in Glasgow and East Kilbride
~Watch some Euro cinema at the Cameo
~Spend a day reading in the Meadows in the softest grass I have felt since South Africa
~Climb Arthur's Seat
~Go hiking in Glencoe
~Visit the castle
~Write at least one Scottish poem or short story
~See the snow in the highlands

Also very open to suggestions ;-)

The Blue Wallpaper

2008-09-27T03:40:00.000+08:00

*Post written last week but forgot to publish. Silly billy*

In my second year of uni, I studied a short story for one of my lit classes called 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The story is brilliantly disturbing, not only because of the content, but because the story emerged from the writer's own experience. The story is about a woman diagnosed with nervous depression and confined to a locked nursery in order to recuperate. She has no visitors and is forbidden from any form of mental stimulation. A series of journal entries documents her descent into madness and the last entry finds her creeping along the walls, completely obsessed with the wallpaper and the women she imagines are trapped behind it.

This sickness has turned me into the creeping lady.

Except the walls that I've been slinking about are not the buttercup-patterned walls of Gilman's story. They are instead the blue walls of facebook. By now, I know every picture, every photo comment and every updated status of all 254 of my facebook friends. I am going insane.

*List of Things Accomplished During my Confinement*

~Watched : The complete first season of The Tudors
Miss Potter
Marie Antoinette
Half of A Very Long Engagement
Amelie
Snippets of Virgin Suicides
Atonement
The Beginning of Thirteen (awful, awful!)

~Read: 'How I live Now' by Meg Rosoff
'Grace Notes' by Bernard McLaverty
All of Liesl Jobson's flash fiction again. Just because she's amazing.
Ron Jonson's columns for The Guardian
Annabel Crabb's columns for The Sydney Morning Herald
Various friend's blogs

~Talked extensively to my lovely mom
~Took far too many moody self-portraits with my camera which I then deleted in sheer embarassment
~Scrolled through all 150 text messages on my phone and whittled the list down to 63 of my favourite ones
~A variety of equally ridiculous leg exercises to prevent bed sores
~Updated my travel journal and blog
~Painted my nails and then smudged them so had to take the whole lot off and start again
~Counted the midge bites on my legs from walking through the Meadows
~Modelled my beret to see which poise was most becoming (I had it right the first time...silly billy)
~Straightened my hair
~Drew the tattoos that I pretend I will get someday...
~Composed an entire poem and then proceeded to fall asleep and forget the whole thing

And now I am back to creeping the walls...

HaPpInEsS iS sPaRkLy RuBy SlIpPeRs

2008-09-26T06:34:00.000+08:00

Wednesday Night Fever

2008-09-25T08:08:00.001+08:00

I think that we all knew that the whole ‘transferring eight weeks worth of notes’ thing was not going to work out. Sorry to disappoint, Alana. I just write way too much to be able to copy everything onto my blog.

Excuses over, I’m feeling slightly disillusioned with this travelling life right now. I’m sick with the flu, lying in a strange bed with wet towels over me to cool my skin. Every position that I lie in feels uncomfortable and my throat feels like it’s been walloped with a cricket bat. After lying in bed for two days in the same clothes and not being able to shower, I feel gross! And I have a lovely bruise on my thigh from attempting to stand up, losing my balance and cracking into my night stand. Basically, I just need someone to come look after me.

These are the details that you don’t think about when planning an overseas escapade. Planned on making a trip to London, for sure! Thought about fitting in France somewhere along the lines. Didn’t scribble down ‘sickness’ on my list of things to do though. Actually, there are quite a few things that I didn’t think would bother me while travelling. One of them is living out of a suitcase. I’m so tired of wearing the same clothes! It sounds so stupid but I’m a firm believer in variety being the spice of life. In fact, it’s probably my life statement and so you can understand my frustration in opening my suitcase every morning and going, “Should I wear the butterfly dress or the tartan skirt today”. Every day. It’s just crushing my artistic temperament. :-)

This sounds ridiculously frivolous. I really don’t worry about things like this. I normally have no worries resigning myself to only being able to afford the cheap and cheerful shampoos instead of the ones that make my hair smell like hot chocolate and marshmallows. It’s having all this time to think that is making me discontent. Lying in a bed for two days straight will do that to a person.

One of the things that I have realised in my fevered contemplations over the past couple of days is that some of my expectations for this trip have been stopping me from enjoying it as it’s been. Instead of loving the fact that I’m on this amazing adventure and living in one of the cities that I love most in the world, I’ve been agonising over things that are completely out of my control. No more. Starting tomorrow, I fully intend to squeeze every last indulgent pleasure that I can out of Edinburgh. I’ve made a lot of sacrifices to have this opportunity. I’ve worked two jobs for the past year, one of which I despised. I’m missing out on my graduation ceremony, a friend’s wedding and another friend’s twenty-first birthday gala to be here. I am now completely resigned to enjoying every last morsel of this trip.

Tomorrow I’m going to spend the day reading in the Meadows with a punnet of raspberries :-)

A Travel Blogger, I Am Not!

2008-08-25T03:49:00.001+08:00

Hmpf! I have to say that I am the absolute worst travel blogger in the history of travel bloggers! Before my trip, I set up a blog to document my travels and post all my pictures for friends and family to see. Much easier than repeating the same news! HOWEVER! I am sooo lazy and it is my eighth week away from home and I still have only one draft half done! Luckily, I have been very good with my travel journal and have been keeping track of all my activities with my trusty pen and paper. So now instead of doing bullet-points of what I've been up to, I'm just going to transfer my travel journal onto my blog. (,")

Well....I arrived in Manchester on the 20th of June to drama, drama, drama. It is a long, boring story but basically, I left everything until the last minute (as usual) and some ill-timed problems meant that I ended up leaving the country with $10 in my purse and two bank cards that were out of order. Who does that? Boards a plane to the other side of the world with $10 cash. So Manchester was about three days of stress and bellyache trying to sort my funds out.

I left for Dublin the Sunday after I arrived. I actually nearly cancelled the whole trip because I was so stressed out with the money situation and my bad planning. I'm so glad that I didn't though. I flew to Dublin on one of the windiest days possible. My mom would have hated it! This tiny plane was being blown all over the place and I was just praying that I would get there in one piece. I was so happy when I heard the wheels touch down on the tarmac and see the seatbelt sign turn off. I just wanted to get off that plane!

It took me about an hour to get to the B&B from the airport. It was actually a lot nicer than I thought it would be, considering how cheap it was. Carly was already there and what a joyful reunion it was!! Hugs, smiles and lots and lots of laughs. I love you, Carly!

After exchanging some stories and meeting Kathleen, Carly’s European travelling buddy, we left the hotel to get some lunch because we were all starving at this point. We somehow managed to end up eating at the unfriendliest pub in the Temple Bar district. The food was great though and we sat there for hours chatting as we had sooo much to catch up on. Poor Kathleen had to endure so many hours and hours of SUISS reenactments and 'Do you remember when so and so....'. She put up with it like a champion though, I must say. Good on ya, Kathleen! :-)

We went back to the hotel with the intention of resting before going out for the evening but every one of us was asleep before eleven. I didn’t even take my contacts out. So much for seeing the Dublin nightlife!