Sydney Escapades!

I love Sydney.

We bought bikes to get around, but unfortunately I am very good at losing our bike lights! Which meant we had to form the bike light train, one light on the front bike and one light on the back bike.  That is, until the boyfriend's bike got stolen.  Then I had all the lights!

That's not to say that I don't miss home.

The boyfriend has an interesting way of dealing with my occasional homesickness.  

Which, actually kind of works!

Thailand, Baby!

My next adventure is here! I've left Australia for Thailand and I am loving it already!  I'll have to play catchup with some of the Australia drawings I've not yet posted here, but for now, here are my first impressions of Thailand.  The plan is to stay in Chiang Mai for one month and then, who knows were we'll go!

14 hours on a train and we have finally arrived in Chiang Mai.  

Here is an obligatory ‘I’m-On-A-Really-Long-Train-Ride Picture’.

Surprisingly, it seems that everywhere in Thailand has wireless internet! 

Which means the boyfriend is as ever, constantly on some sort of internet device…





Yum! Fried frogs - taste like fishy bacon.

Aus-Job Search

I've been here ten months now and I've had 5 jobs and 6 job interviews.

This first interview didn't quite work out as expected, ending up in some guys basement with a load of poor foreign students looking for cash:

This was my second job, working the mail merge send outs at a call centre.  I am VERY good at putting letters in envelopes.  I am not the nicest person when they come back as 'return to senders'.

Mini Sketchbook

So, I've been in Sydney for near about 6 months now... and I guess my drawing has been neglected.

Here's some of the few pictures I've drawn in my travelling tiny tiny sketchbook.

Hipster hats at one of my favourite pubs. 

Checking in at Tio's Cerveceria

The Maccabees playing Maitland Groovin The Moo Festival.

Festival sunshine and beer.

Festival aftermath.

Stolen!

So this year didn't start so well... my last week in the UK and I stupidly had my bag stolen.  Luckily I didn't lose anything valuable, I reckon the thief probably got a bit of a surprise with my handbag full of random junk (like my purse with just a plastic dinosaur and some change in it!).  I didn't realise quite how attached I was to all that random stuff until someone just took it all from me.  I like to think that maybe it all found a good home, maybe they DID post the postcard with the stamp on it - but I'm also pretty sure it's in a bin in somewhere in Victoria station.

Fox & Wren 2011

This was my best friend's Christmas present for this year.  As part of our workshops we've been given the names Fox and Wren - which I rather like, especially as my friend Rachel has some very foxy hair.

It took me ages to complete, mainly because Rachel started a job at my work and I couldn't do any more lunch time sewing!  At least I managed to finish the most important part, the fox.  The rest of it is a bit scrappy and unfinished but I hope you like it Rachel!  A little something to commemorate our hard year together :)

Time and the Way We Travel

I'm going to be doing The Sketchbook Project!  (Thanks to a certain person for telling me about it!) I got my sketchbook in the post this week all the way from Brooklyn!  I know, I know - this whole project thing sounds a bit gimmicky.  Sometimes in life you just need a bit of gimmicky.  Paying 20 quid for a substandard sketchbook is a fair bit, but I think it'll be a motivating factor in making me fill it up!  I need to have it done by April next year so pleeeeenty of time, right? I chose 'time and the way we travel' for my theme - which really does seem quite apt as in the next year I'm going to be doing a fair bit of travelling, and, oh yeah, I'm going to move country for a year.  But more on that later! Just focussing on getting the next few weeks out of the way first.  Anyone else out there doing the project??