We did it!

What does one say about eloping?

(Photo courtesy of Ferrettography)

We had the perfect setting and day - Queensland turned on the sunshine and blue skies, the resort provided a perfect backdrop, our celebrant provided an intimate service for exchanging vows and rings, and our visual historian photographer gave us momento shots and a fun morning of picture taking.

I really just want to thank Stuart for the privilege of being his wife ....

The pictures are the closest I could ever get to recording the event ... words don't cut it ...

Eloping to the Gold Coast

We're off for now ... I reckon this is a good enough reason not to be blogging for awhile!

(Yes I'm taking TWO journals with me!)

Favourite Artist

Here is my latest aquisition from my favourite artist - Isabella.

Birthday Journals

I need to clarify something for friends and family ...

It doesn't matter how many journals/blank books/pens/things to decorate journals with that I have. It is never enough.

Therefore being given a gift of one of the above IS the perfect gift at all times!

Here's my latest aquisition ... a birthday present from Clare - THANKS CLARE!

Writing Implements

My New Century Notebook research is currently looking at the implements people use to write thei diary with. The usual things are like pens, pencils, crayons, coloured felt tip pens or other drawing implements and also the good old computer of course for Bloggers!

My research is also taking me up some strange pathways however ... like what do people write on ... other than notebooks. I've had lots of feedback about writing on old notebooks, napkins from restaurants and the back of tickets etc ... But there are some weird and whacky things people write on too (I'm leaving the whakiest for the book by the way!) ..

Any stories out there abou twhat you write your diary notes on????

A Diary for the Day

Hey if you are interested in diary writing (and why else would you be here?) ... then I have found a little treat for you.

First I must say I am a little peeved I didn't know about the Keep a Diary for a Day project run by the UK National trust for their project 'History in the Making'.

However having got over that (!) the project was run for 17 October 2006. The idea was that people in the UK would record their day (in a diary or on a blog). What a fantastic present to tomorrow's historians ans sociologists.

Here' the link to a BBC interview, which while it is advertising the project, is a really interesting interview about diary writing. I really enjoyed it.

Who do you trust your diary to?

Imagine being able to read the diary of one of the Jacobite's who plotted the 1715 rebellion ... the plotting, the reality of the underground battling, the fears and the motivation to rebel.

Imagine reading it written in the hand of someone who was actually there ....

Imagine having this diary bequeathed to you. Having in your hands, not only the story of the rebellion, a piece of history, but also the story of your ancestors long forgotten.

Imagine honouring the diary so much that you donate it to a library to care for it and preserve it for generations to come. Not any library. The British Library no less. Despite its worth being a five figure sum ... imagine donating it for posterity.

Imagine how you would feel when you went to visit the diary, only to find that it had been ruined. Oil spilt across it, the leather cover cut off, and most of its contents totally illegible.

Not happy I imagine.

It wasn't even a diary from my collection and I feel really sad ... and cranky ...

Here's the story from the Times if you want to read the original.

While we are talking postcards ...

Some of you will know blogging duchess Anji (!) ... and even if you don't ... she has a really lovely site about postcards - she is an expert and buys and sells as well as collects.

Check her site out at Time and Oft - it is like going to a post card museum.

Serendipity

After writing yesterday's post about Post Cards I went to my Post Office Box, only to find a post card from my god daughter Isabella from France.

Here it is ... a picture of a pirate ship, with the skull and cross bone flag and all.

I love the Island with the palm tree, but I especially love her drawing of the Australian flag.

Thanks Isabella. If you double-click on the picture you can make it bigger. You are a fantastic artist.

FreePostcards

Not sure if the phenomenon is anywhere else ... but all the best cafes and movie theatres have free postcards these days. In a rack, with advertising on them SOMEWHERE, but many are really cool and the advertising is no more than a line on the back. For those that have heaps of verbiage on them, they are often still worth picking up for the picture on the front.

These picture postcards are really handy for quick notes to a friend to say thanks .... bloggers are probably amongst the worst when it comes to sending hand written notes, and people love getting things in the "real mail".

I also use them as bookmarks, for covering books and boxes, decorating and just plain note taking ...

Look out for some near you! Of course if you're crafty, hand made ones are really cool too. Here's a great web site where I found this book.

Pepys ' Diary On-Line

Historians, writers, readers, students of literature will probably all know of Samuel Pepys - his famous diaries about life in London in the 17th Century were published and are now often referred to as 'the' journal to demonstrate that journals/diaries are a significant form of literature.

I love the internet ... having a 17th Century Diary
at my fingertips? WOW.

Now while I know this might not excite ALL of you ... it's worth sharing that the full version of Pepys Diary is not only available on line, but Phil Gyford has it set up so you can do amazing things with it ... like read a diary entry for today's date (every day!) and search it for topics.

Journals for Everything!

Since I started my research on journals and journal writing (including blogs), I heave learnt so many uses for the many beautiful notebooks I own!

As a self confessed addict, the answer to the "what do you want for ... (eg mother's day!)" question ... is always a notebook or journal. I'm kinda past the standard kind of thing and do like something a bit arty or different these days ... but then the resurgence of journal writing has seen many stationers design some really beautiful mass produced ones as well ...

The thing that never ceases to surprise me is what people use their journals and diaries for ... I learnt yet another new one yesterday

... no longer do we write of the Bridget Jones' style of "Dear Diary , today I ...."

(tho many people still do that of course) ... it is more a shift to notebooks and recording handy things as well as thoughts and feelings ... I have at least eight on the go at a time, and most writers I know do seem to have an extraordinary collection of the things ...

So what do you do with yours?

My Elmo!

Mother's Day is on its way ... and I just wanted to say how great it is to be Mum!

Happy Mother's Day (for Sunday) to All the Mummy Bloggers!

I love my two kids like nothing else on earth ... and hey why wouldn't I when my ADULT daughter gives me an Elmo as a present? Life couldn't be any better could it? He sits on my desk reminding me to have fun ... and when the puppies are getting bored sitting around with me in my office? I turn him on to do the "Birdie Dance" and love to watch the dog's inquisitive reactions ...

And then of course I get back to my work ...

How Many of Me Could The World Handle?

Need an excuse to dabble and procrastinate on the net for a minute?

Try this :-) Means nothing of course. Not even sure why I did it. Beats "goggling myself" I suppose!

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Shhhhhhhhhhhh! Listen

A client asked me the other day ... "What do you think is the most important gift we have as humans?"

I believe it is the ability to listen.

Whatever it is you are hearing today ... really listen. Whether it is your own thoughts, the voice of a tired friend, a stressed child, or a loving spouse ... whether it is a song, or sounds of nature ... whether it is silence or din.

Really listen.

It changes everything.

Technorati Authority

Good old Technorati are shaking it all up again! No seriously, this is an interesting one. For those of you with a blog registered with Technorati (and if you aren't then you should ...)... Technorati no longer has that "blogs that link here" status for member, but rather an 'authority' status. It is pretty much worked out the same way, but relies more on currency of links. Here's the link to a description of the new authority thingy ....

The implications? All the more reason to link to each other when you are interested in someone else's blog

... keep the blogging conversations active ...

surely it was one of the things that brought you to blogging in the first place?

One for the Mommy Bloggers

There's a new Q & A at the e-zine for mums motherinc. I pitched the idea, name and all, to the editor at motherinc ages ago and now they have it set up for Mums looking at returning to the workforce which is fantastic. I'm the first guest advisor so check it out ... there's lots of other useful resources for parents on the site too.

Top 100 Aussie Blogs! (And I'm # 50!)

Isn't it great that a country with 20 million people can produce such great blogs!

Check out Meg's Dipping into the Blogland blog with the unending job she has created for herself of listing Australia's top 100 blogs ... what a job! good on you Meg!

Hey I was happy to see that last week I was ranked number 50!

I mean how cool is that ... lots of great Aussie blogs to check out and heaps from over here in WA as well.

"Australian's all let us rejoice ..."

Long Table Lunch

I was invited to the Celebration of Women Long Table Lunch yesterday ... the invitation came from the lovely Debbie, Managing Director of Aurenda and her team of injury management specialist... and what a great day it turned out to be. We are finally getting some rain here in WA which is fantastic, and the downpour didn't affect the fun atmosphere created by the organising team. 850 women (well there were a couple of brave guys) attended the lunch which has been designed to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Foundation of Western Australia and commemorate courageous Western Australian women who have sadly lost their battles with breast cancer.

There were auctions, raffles, great music by Our Generation, fun comperes, respectful commemoration and some serious fund raising going on - and a collection of WA Women getting together to have fun while supporting such a worthy cause.

I think it's a shame that we have to fund raise for something like this ... but there you go, the support by Perth's business community was outstanding ...

What a lovely way to start the week ...

Journal Circa 1939

I have this lovely piece of art in my hands ... an old journal from 1939. I usually only collect journals with some writing in them, but this one is so lovely ... a hardbound book with a partial leather binding ... it's an executive journal, from England.

I love that journals (even blank ones) seem to record some of the most ordinary parts of our day.

And to be honest, the best parts of most days are the ordinary ... aren't they?

Here are are some interesting facts from April 27 1939 ... It was the 117th day of the year ... and there were 248 more to go until 1940 ... It was Thursday ... The sun was expected to rise in London at 0542 and set at 2015 - with lighting being up at 2115 (hmmmm what did people do for that hour in between one must ask?). It also says "High water London Bridge 8.16am and 8.38pm" .... anyone got more than an educated guess as to why that information was important? What is very quaint ... is the saying for the day (don't forget that this is an 'executive's diary'):

"What a slow and gloomy affair the day's shopping would be if the housewife could not believe a word she was told".

More later ... when I stop giggling.