Gardening stories

One day, I want my own space to grow plants. A small strip of ground or a few windowsills because I can't manage a large area. I've tried that with dismaying results before. But it's something I've always wanted to do, and a few gardening stories today has reignited this interest.

It started with a gardening doodle by Andre Jordan from A beautiful revoltion. One of the comments left below linked to the story of how a rock garden was built: shaped by hand from a mass of rubble over the course of two years. As an added bonus, I also found out that cultivating a wildflower meadow takes three years.

Two things I'm taking a way from this:
(1) Diligence will rule. (Jon Acuff strikes home again!)
(2) Instead of waiting for beauty to come into your life, cultivate it instead.

Here's to a good weekend.

Photo credit: Matthew Stinson

Up till today,

this week has been a awful week. The weather is dreary, gloomy and depressing. Work has been difficult, several people have really tested my patience, the house hunt has yielded one heart-break already and I'm feeling bloated and distinctly premenstrual. I wish that I was making the last part up but I'm not; the boyfriend will probably vouch for that.

Also, all the mess in my life is really bugging me, from the thousands of unclassified, unorganised mail in both my Outlook and gmail to the clutter in my room of more Things I Want To Try And Do than there is SPACE and TIME and WILLPOWER for.

But notice that my title says "up till today", which is deliberately done because I'm leaving some room over the next three days for things to improve. Does that make me an optimistic person?

Etsy love: felt figurines

Little love blue, found via Fuzzy baby bunny on Dooce. Just look at the details!

Much more at her Flickr set.

Her sister runs Winsome Hollow and is as equally talented:

Continue ooohing over at her Flickr set.

Lastly, this wee little fella called Ted from manOmine is just begging to be squeezed.

Hug me!

Jon Acuffs on Provs 12:16

"A fool shows his annoyance at once,
but a prudent man overlooks an insult."

I'm not good at responding with an attitude of love when annoyed, so Insults really spoke to me. My first instinct is to get back.

"But that’s what a fool does. A fool responds at once....A prudent person realizes that an instant response to an insult is probably going to be emotion driven, if not flat out designed for revenge."

Sigh. I need to memorise this verse and work on living it out.

This sofa is almost perfect

From World Market: "With the sides up it's a sofa. Fold one side down to form a chaise lounge. Put both sides down and it becomes a bed."

I don't like sofas that are too deep (uncomfortable when you lean back while siting) or with armrests that are too high (uncomfortable if you sleep on the sofa and use the armrest as a pillow). I'd like my sofa to look versatile too - not too formal to curl up on with a book and not to slouchy for people to visit and have drinks and good conversation.

The fact that this has three different configurations is a huge plus. Only thing is white cushion covers are a dirt magnet. But that's easily changed.

Cheat list

The past month and a half has had several noteworthy events, ones that I've meant to review or commemorate with a blog post. But you know what? A list is easier. Uhuh.

1. Helped to shoot and edit a short film titled Your son, Xavier with Fergs.
2. Finally read Elie Wiesel's Night. It's sat on my shelf for over a year.
3. Spent the Thaipusam weekend at the Avilion, PD. By far the best family holiday I can remember.
4. Watched Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. I love it so much, I owe it a review. Soon.
5. Booked tics to Krabi for FIVE days, first week of April!
6. Started house-hunting. Scary yet thrilling experience.
7. Got free tics to Puteri Gunung Ledang on Sunday. I loved it!
8. Bought tic to Sunburst cos Coldplay was rumoured to feature. Sadly, it's been dispelled so I sold my tic.
9. Finally watched Juno yesterday. Yes, I'm slow.

It's satisfying to see so much down so early on in the year.

On an related note about lists, I realise that I need some way to store the many links that I come across and like enough to want to revisit. Toyed with the idea of a Tumblr blog but I don't want two separate blogs so for now, I'll be sticking them all here. Get ready for the avalanche.

10 reasons why Fergus is a pretentious yuppie even though he refuses to admit it

I started this post last October but never finished it because it lacked a final, irrefutable piece of proof. Lo, #10 has come up (literally, since he drove it up from Muar) and filled the empty space.

1. He owns a Mac
2. He used to drive a two-door sports car
3. He drinks coffee cos it looks cool
4. He uses a Moleskin dairy
5. He buys books according to the hipness of their covers6. He had a bachelor pad in Tropicana for three years
7. He attends SIB
8. He lived overseas for four and-a-half years
9. He owns a tailored suit with his name embroidered on the inside10. He now drives a BMW