Just would like to applaud this website: Shoe Metro. I just bought a pair of Keen boots for a very reasonable price, they took all of 3 days to get to me and they fit perfectly. Postage was approximately $35 (to Australia). They have a  wide range of good quality brands with a variety of sizes (limited depending on the shoe). Being size 6.5-7 is a good thing in the shoe world.

After a long period of buying cheap shoes I have worked out that it is not worth my while, so am endeavoring to change. It is both better on the wallet in the long run and better for sustainability.

So the Keens are super.

The problem is, now I’m eyeing off these ones.

Or in red. I can’t decide. They are both lovely. And if I buy another pair now Geoff will get angry They’re only $20 each! Pity that postage isn’t free or I would be there!

Geoff and I were talking the other day about how since we got married 2 and a half years ago we have:

• Lived in three different houses
• Moved from the East to the North (of Melbourne)
• Geoff has had 3 jobs (Including a career change)
• I have had 3 jobs (plus freelancing)
• I have completed my uni degree
• Geoff has been on teaching intensive and has also done some additional study at Tabor
• Two family weddings
• Two family funerals
• Overseas trip to the Solomons
• Three churches (YVV, Ranges, Missio Dei)

Not all these things have been bad, infact on the whole they’ve been a step in a direction toward the better. But we are fairly tired and are both looking forward to some kind of vague stability for a while.

So here we are. Perhaps we’ll have a holiday in New Zealand later in the year, but besides that we’re probably staying put even if you try to drag us. Lets think about actually living for a while.

I will share how I’ve recovered the lovely footstool shortly… I have a second one ready to go.

Dear Friends,

2009 is just about up, as I stop to reflect on what the year has been I thought I’d deviate from the usual blog post and use the rapidly aging art of email, while indulging the use of the universally accepted pdf.

2009 has seen Geoff and I through our second year of marriage – which despite popular opinion is not the most difficult. Marriage is excellent, I would recommend it to most. It requires much of self, but is rewarding and fun!

As we wind up the year we’ve managed to sneak in some truly interesting last minute changes. Late in the year Geoff decided that a career in IT was not so fulfilling and investigated what it would take to become a teacher. He discovered an initiative called Teach For Australia, (Which is in it’s pilot year), applied, got through their rigorous interview process and is now in the middle of a 6 week intensive before he is placed in a Secondary School (Mill Park Secondary) to teach IT and hopefully eventually Maths at the start of 2010 school year. This means that we’ve had to make the move from the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne to the North.

The week before Christmas we moved to suburb called ____, the area is perhaps not as pretty as out East but the house we are in is a winner. We are renting off Geoff’s parents which makes life much easier (and means I can put pictures on the wall!) it also has the added bonus of air-con and a dishwasher. Being about an hour from where we were means that we will have to find a new church community as Ranges Vineyard in Olinda is sadly too far. We have some contacts out this way but have yet to investigate!

2009 has seen me graduate from my Communication Design degree. (Graduate Exhibition photo to the left). It was a ripper last year at uni, I really enjoyed myself and made a few new lovely friends. I am now in the process of finding a ‘real’ job while temporarily freelancing.

Other enjoyable things in 2009 have been:

-    My sister Hannah getting engaged to Daniel Nixon
-    Starting a bookclub (Penguin Classics!)
-    Further involvement in Soul Survivor Melbourne
-    ‘Friends for Dinner’ (The appalling name we’ve given to a small group of us who meet up fortnightly to chat about God and life over dinner and with wine of course)
-    Some great holidays and times with friends
-    Being a bridesmaid for my friend Samantha
-    Discovering Terry Pratchett novels (My life is complete)

As I look back to the first blog post I wrote in January about ‘Idealutions and Resolutions’ it seems like I’ve made very reasonable progress with most of what I’d intended. I am surprised. The year, although rife with highlights has felt somewhat slow, there has been a rather large murky endpoint to it all which has overshadowed things at times despite being simultaneously exciting and intriguing.

We would appreciate prayer as we launch into so many new things. As we find and start new jobs, settle in to a totally different suburb, make new
friends and find a new community.

Farewell 2009, we hope yours was as good, we would love to hear from you.

Love Bec & Geoff

Tim recorded it for Amanda who couldn’t come. Perhaps I’ll ask him to shoot it my way and if it’s not too embarrassing I might share. Maybe.

I haven’t eaten it for years, so when I saw the recipe for pineapple upsidedown cake on the Parsley Thief, I had to make it. Very easy although the cake itself is quite low and I had to use pecans because I forgot to buy walnuts. I also made the vanilla sauce and can’t wait to eat both together. I’ve never cooked with vanilla bean before and I now understand why it’s worth the extra expense.

Oh glory!

The spider, dropping down from twig,
Unfolds a plan of her devising,
A thin premeditated rig
To use in rising.

And all that journey down through space,
In cool descent and loyal hearted,
She spins a ladder to the place
From where she started.

Thus I, gone forth as spiders do
In spider’s web a truth discerning,
Attach one silken thread to you
For my returning.

-E. B. White

Yesterday I had my last class at uni. Five years since school, three years in Communication Design. I hung around yesterday for a late lecture as a honorary last visit and it came with satisfying closure.

1. 1. Observe your world
2. 2. Communicate with your world
3. 3. Persuade your world in a positive way

As there was a comment about the pipe-smoking bunny, it seems only right to pull an illustration from the same book. This illustration is by by Adam Kilian and comes from Anna Kamienska‘s Zajeczy Palac. The book is entirely in Polish (I think?) and features quite a few styles (I like it so much that it’s going to get more than one turn). This ship is my favourite. I think it’s a folk tale or a poetry book. Adam Kilian is best known for his involvement with Polish theatre and puppetry.

“I am incapable of defining his art,” young designer Dorota Kolodynska said of Adam Kilian. “It combines the sophistication of an exceptional artist with the nobly naive sensitivity of a child. Adults savor its artistic excellence, while its magical colors and forms enchant children. And yet, his art is hardly superficial. Instead of offering routine forms, it stimulates viewers’ sensitivities through intentional ambiguities. It operates like theatre of the imagination.” (“Gazeta Wyborcza – Stoleczna,” 13 February 2003)

Cue: Illustration Friday.

On Fridays you can expect to find up here a post about a book illustration/s. It might be a kids book, or a cover of a favourite novel… The few to the left are just a teaser.