a warped view

I have trouble picking my favourite singers or bands, my all time favourite albums and songs, there is just too much I love. So I thought I'd share my favourite three songs by one of my favourite Australian singers. I think she's a pretty awesome person too and absolutely delightful to talk to if you're ever lucky enough to meet her. 1. Peccadilloes (2008, The Moon Looked On)   This song has always been one of my favourites, theres just something about it. Perhaps its been the little girl in me, who after being hurt and betrayed so many times in the past, is still looking for that someone to tell all my peccadilloes to. If you're outside looking in and you see me inside waving, could you place your fat lips on the window glass? And I will blow a short hot breath and draw my secrets into it. All my peccadilloes, only you will know. You're standing in the snow. You're laughing like you love me. You build your snow man dough and I pretend I can...

Last week I was lucky enough to see preview screenings of both Django Unchained and Lincoln. Both films deal with similar subject matters (slavery, racism, civil rights etc etc) and are set only 6ish years apart. Of course being that one is Tarantino and one is Spielberg they were always going to be vastly different films. I've always been a big Tarantino fan so I was excited for Django for months before seeing it. With Lincoln however I was definitely undecided and if I hadn't received free tickets I may not have paid to see it in the cinema. Surprisingly, while I very much enjoyed Django it was less than I'd hoped and despite my hesitation, Lincoln was more. I'm probably more of an old school Tarantino fan, the pre Kill Bill stuff is my favourite. I enjoyed Inglorious Basterds, it had some absolutely divine moments but it wasn't Reservoir Dogs and it wasn't Pulp Fiction and Django is very much the same. Maybe I'm just being too hipster about the whole th...

Today I am grateful for Lovely dreams Being woken up with kisses Homemade lemonade Good timing Patience ( a rareity for me) Gentlemen who still have manners Free time My kindle Dinner time inspiration even though it's not very inspiring All the amazing people I have in my life right now

Growing up in Darwin we always had very laid back routines. In my early years my mum, dad, nanna and grandad worked in a family business and so there were long days spent at work with dinner time often being after 7 or 8pm. This kind of laid back attitude to dinner time continued through my childhood and into my teenage years. This meant that I would regularly get to bed quite a lot later than other kids. It was a shock to us when we moved to Perth in my 16th year and discovered that the weirdo southerners would sometimes eat dinner at 5:30 or 6. Ridiculous! I don't know if it's because of this laid back start to life but I have never really had a time that was my bedtime, even as an adult. I have a time that I know should probably be my bedtime but it comes and goes with little notice most nights. I'm also what is generally classified as a night owl, the later at night, the more productive I feel. I can often be found on my computer until 2 or 3am. Sometimes this is b...

Today I am sharing my three favourite books from my childhood 1. Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge   Written by Mem Fox, Illustrated by Julie Vivas This book is the heartwarming story of a little boy with four names who lives next door to an old people's home. His favourite person of all is Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper because she has four names just like him.  Wilfrid overhears his parents talking about Miss Nancy losing her memory and being the curious and caring child that he is, Wilfrid wants to understand what memory is so he can help Miss Nancy find her lost one. The rest of the book involves Wilfrid asking grown ups (mostly the residents of the old people's home) what memory is and then finding things of his own that match the descriptions. He then presents the "memories" to Miss Nancy and she shares with him the stories of her life. The final page of the book says She bounced the football to Wilfred Gordon and remembered the day she had me...

So I wasn't going to write a blog post today. I haven't really felt like writing about my mental health the last couple of weeks, the words just haven't flowed. I've been doing reasonably well and I never want to write about things when they are going well. I'm all about the doom and gloom. Then all of a sudden, BOOM! A series of small events and I'm on the edge of tears and feeling like shit. This week I got into a hated discussion with someone on twitter. This person has said a few things in recent weeks that have really gotten to me and I've been contemplating unfollowing them but was worried about hurting their feelings as I don't hate them or anything, I just don't see the world the same way as them. Or maybe they just purposely write things on twitter to cause shit and I always seem to be the one who bites. In any case I got into a disagreement with them this week which ended with them telling me they were blocking me. After weeks of worrying...

Things I'm grateful for today 1. Free movies tickets to Django Unchained last night 2. That I have a friend as wonderful as Ben who picks me up when I feel down and tells me I can when I think I can't 3. CT (as per the above) 4. The #hsp 5. That I have children who are intelligent and articulate enough to stand up for themselves 6. That I am fortunate enough to have Millicent, Sean, Jess, Caleb, Mia and Paige in my life 7. That I'm having dinner with three amazing women that I admire and adore tonight 8. That I'm meeting one of the above three women IRL for the first time tonight 9. That my 6 year old thinks I'm a great singer even though I'm really not 10. Music. It helps me feel happy, sad or angry, it helps me change my mood or indulge it, it makes life better. What are you grateful for today? Edit: I'm also grateful for the RAC man who came and changed our tire after we got a flat on the freeway of all places an...

It's a time in our lives that most of us will never forget, even if we want to. It is that time between leaving our childhoods behind and not quite being adults yet. For some of us it was hell, for some of us it was the best years of our lives, but for all of us it helps define who we are. For this list I didn't just want movies where the kids where of high school age, I wanted movies set in high schools, where high school is the centre of everything that happens in the movie. This meant a lot of otherwise awesome movies didn't make the cut. I surprised myself a little when I'd finished compiling my list and saw that all the movies I'd chosen are from before 1990. I guess they just don't make 'em like they used to. Here are my picks on the Top 3 High School Movies 1. Dead Poets Society (1989) While this is a male dominated movie I think us gals can relate to the themes and issues discussed; finding your own identity, establishing your personal...

More than just a bout of the blues, depression isn't a weakness, nor is it something that you can simply "snap out" of. Depression is a chronic illness that usually requires long-term treatment, like diabetes or high blood pressure.  Depression ranges in seriousness from mild, temporary episodes of sadness to severe, persistent depression. Doctors use the term "clinical depression" to describe the more severe form of depression also known as "major depression" or "major depressive disorder." According to the World Health Organization (WHO), depression is one of the most disabling disorders in the world. It affects nearly 121 million people worldwide. Roughly 25% of women and 10% of men will experience depression at some point in their lifetime. Depression that goes untreated can lead to social, professional, financial and personal difficulties including academic, career and financial difficulties.  At its worst, depres...

Growing up I was a victim of the Hollywood / Disney disease. I was indoctrinated to believe that girls were delicate princesses that needed to be rescued by handsome, dashing, sword wielding princes (or sometimes not princes, but still heroic, good looking men). Even intelligent, capable, courageous woman would ultimately still need rescuing at some point. Of course this rescuing would lead to true love, romance and happily ever after, which is, of course, every woman's dream come true. Also part of the indoctrination. Generations of girls, brainwashed to believe that our lives should be engineered around finding that one man, that Prince Charming to rescue us from our dreary lives (cause let's be honest, not many of us are being held captive by dragons). Despite knowing how silly the whole thing is, how unrealistic and misogynistic, the heart still secretly hopes for that happily ever after. However in recent years my view of that happily ever after has changed. After bei...

Things I am grateful for Tomorrow we celebrate my mum's 60th birthday and I am so grateful that she is still alive, in my life, my best friend, a wonderful nanna to my kids, there for me when I need her and someone that I respect and enjoy spending time with. While our genetic family might sometimes let us down, we have an amazing group of chosen family that are amazing people and I love them more than anything. Even though I might not see some of them very often, my life is full of wonderful people that make me happy. I own many beautiful, awesome brooches Now that the HSP and I have passports, he has become very interested in cheap overseas airfares We have almost completely finished the back to school shopping and no one died Even though we have no airconditioner at the moment, when it is hot we have access to a car with aircon and can go to places that have aircon. Lots of families don't have this. Music. It fills me with bliss. Someone cared and was thoughtful e...

Or you could have, if you wanted to. Every now and then I get in a mail sending mood and I'm in one right now! If you'd like to receive a piece of mail that isn't demanding money or trying to sell you something or other boring things then please send your postal address to its.me.tif@gmail.com and I shall make your letterbox dreams come true.* Happy Sunday *this promise assumes that your letterbox dreams involve receiving mail from me and not that your letterbox dreams involve a nun, three midgets and a snake... Or any other weird, less specific things...

So along with 52Blogs, Ive also put my hand up to take part in Fifty Two Brekkies this year. You can find out all about Fifty Two Brekkies over here and if you want to join in I believe you are still able to do so. The basic premise is that a variety of bloggers eat breakfast on a Saturday and then blog about it. There's no minimum word count and it can be a breakfast you cooked yourself, one someone else cooked for you, or one you had while you were out and about being fabulous. I for one intend to eat and blog about several breakfasts from my favourite place to eat, The Precinct in Victoria Park (WA)! There will be plenty of homecooked breakfasts as well though. However due to my occasionally stereotypical ADHD nature I wasn't paying enough attention and missed the part where I was supposed to start TODAY! Silly me! I didn't have a "proper" breakfast this morning but the first thing I ate was roasted chickpeas. They are my new favourite thing and so very ...

Quite often, when trying to explain my depression to people I use the phrase "my depression voice" or the "irrational voice" to describe the constant critic that lives in my head. Occasionally I wonder if people are going to take that to mean that I hear voices Beautiful Mind style or that I might start conducting a fight club with myself or talking to a giant rabbit. I can promise you that none of those thing are true, or are going to come true... well I might start talking to Frank but it's unlikely. However the truth is that I do deal with a constant voice in my head. The depression voice is always there, sometimes whispering quietly, sometimes screaming at me until I break. The depression voice is that arsehole that is constantly telling me that I'm not capable, that I'm worthless, that people don't like me. It's the voice that stops me from leaving my house, its the voice that looks in the mirror and tells me how ugly and unlovable I am...

Our first Threesome Thursday is inspired by the fact that earlier this week I watched Finding Nemo with the gorgeous @shellzii to help cheer her up. When I say I watched it with her, she was at her house and I was at my house and we tweeted our favourite lines and moments to each other. I'm sure everyone else found it very annoying ;) So here are my top 3 Pixar Partnerships 1. Dory & Marlin (Finding Nemo) The relationship that builds between these two is so incredibly beautiful. Its a platonic friendship that is so innocent and pure and brings out the absolute best in both of them. I am slightly biased towards this pair up because Dory is my spirit animal! Here are some of the top moments of the film followed by one of the saddest moments of any film ever, it breaks my heart every time. "No. No, you can't... STOP. Please don't go away. Please? No one's ever stuck with me for so long before. And if you leave... if you leave... I just, I rememb...

Do you remember this poem from when you were young? Mondays child is fair of face, Tuesdays child is full of grace, Wednesdays child is full of woe, Thursdays child has far to go, Fridays child is loving and giving, Saturdays child works hard for his living, And the child that is born on the Sabbath day Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay. This poem has always pissed me off a little because you see, I was born on a Wednesday. As a youngster I was adamant that this poem was quite frankly full of shit. I was a perfectly happy child, my face was fairish, I had a small amount of grace, I was both loving AND giving. Why did all those other days get awesome things and I was stuck with woe? *kicks dirt with toe* But now I'm older I see that this was really just some sort of scary prediction about my depression. I mean what else could it be?! (What do you mean there's no meaning at all and someone just made it up a really long time ago when people still said g...

Sometime ago there was a regular thing on Tuesdays where we all posted ten things we were grateful for that day. I haven't done it for a while and thought it was probably time for more gratitude so Tuesdays will now be known as Ten Tuesday and will be full of thanks. Feel free to join in in the comments section, on your own blog (put the link in the comments so we can all read), share on twitter with the hash tag #10tuesday or jot them down in a notebook (so bespoke!) I am grateful that... 1. I am surrounded by people I love and that love me 2. this year I might finally figure out what I want to be when I grow up 3. I have been given the opportunity to go on an amazing adventure 4. people believe in me 5. big splashes of rain just fell on my head 6. I have an overseas holiday to count down to 7. I had a lovely dinner with my family tonight 8. I have both Bahen & Co. and Gabriel chocolates hidden away in my house for when I need them 9. I have people that I can talk ...

Have you ever been at a party and heard someone refer to cake as a guilty pleasure? It's usually said by someone who is trying desperately to justify their consumption of sugary goodness to others and, more importantly, themselves. It's also usually said with a nervous giggle and a hope that maybe no one really noticed that I was having my second piece anyway. Of course it's not only said about cake, but about various things that people want to enjoy but feel, for some reason or another, they shouldn't be enjoying. I don't really understand it myself. If I feel like eating a piece of cake I'm going to eat a goddamn piece of cake and none of your judging or sly, disapproving glances and whispered remarks about my waist line are going to stop me. On a whole though the human race seems quite preoccupied with justifying ourselves to people who we usually don't even like. The phrase "guilty pleasure" is in itself a strange concept. If something prov...

So the dashing and debonair @londonjustin from the twitters (and also from over here ) has started a new initiative this year titled 52 Blogs. Which can be found over here and is described as "a simple blogging challenge to occupy your time". The challenges will, knowing Justin, be quite random in their theming so expect the unexpected. I've decided to participate because I'm hoping it will push me to blog at least once a week on a regular basis.  This year is going to be pretty full on for me and I think having a regular outlet / distraction for myself will be good. All 52 Blogs related posts will be tagged accordingly and there are plenty of other people participating if you're looking for something to read (they're listed on the 52 Blogs site).

While surfing my way around the interwebs last night I was reminded of one of my favourite movie scenes from the 1996 movie Fear . After watching all 16 seconds of it several times I realised that I seem to have a bit of an obsession with creepymen in movies or scenes containing psychos!. So here, in no particular order are my top five psycho starring movie scenes... 1. Fear (1996) starring the super creepy and very sexy Mark Wahlberg as boyfriend turned extremely persistent stalker (click here for a longer version that explains more of what is going on) 2. The Shinning (1980) starring the wonderful Jack Nicholson as tormented and haunted Jack Torrance. Wendy, darling, light of my life... 3. Pulp Fiction (1994) this scene with Samuel L Jackson has to be everyone's favourite right? Say what again! 4. Con Air (1997) the always amazing Steve Buscemi is delightfully creepy in this film as serial killer Garland Greene (also known as the Marietta Mangler). There is...