the silvery, silvery city bank lights.

Day 13- Favorite childhood book – Fairies from A to Z by Adreienne Keith

It's just funny because I'm pretty sure this is the first book I bought in Auckland. And I'm here now. I used to put out the fairy box and watch for hours and hours for the fairies to finally appear in our backyard-

 lol jks

 Tamora Pierce’s Lioness Rampant is clearly what I meant to write about in the first place.

This cover is demented. It makes me want to projectile vomit a little. However, as it is Easter Sunday, I am at Home #2 (aka Auckland, NZ) and not Home #1. Thus, completely lack bookshelf to take photos of childhood favourites with. I'll post it when I get home so you can fully appreciate the repulsive, androgynous cover that this is.

Digressing - this book is what inspired me to take up fencing when I was 14. It didn't last for long, but it certainly makes you want to be bigger and better than the average book freak. As patronising as this sounds, it has great messages for teens and kids, and the plot is seriously kick-ass.

13. A Song With A Great Drum Rhythm - Broken Social Scene's KC Accidental.

If they had played this at Splendour, I would have died happy. It's a tempestuous mix: screaming of city lights, yellow cabs streaking past in the hope that they'll make that red light, of alley cats and hip cats and hipsters wearing fake ray bans at midnight. It makes you feel alive. 

Exhilarating. Like this, kind of.

View from Mt Eden, Auckland.

What you can't see: the gigantic crater beneath my feet, as I'm standing on the precipice. It's got nothing on Pompeii (Pompeii hisses and smokes at you, like some irate cat) but is still sizeable in its own right. If anything, it's the best view of Auckland, and $30 cheaper than Sky Tower (The harbour isn't anything much to look at, anyway). I'm pretty sure it's the penultimate spot to snog if you were so inclined, and kind of reminds me of Castle Hill at home. The difference is that this is Auckland, so instead of 70% humidity and 27 degree weather in Winter, every inhalation is marked by crisp, cool, wintery air. The cheek-reddening kind. With bronze, tarnished leaves scattered across the ground and everything. When the fam leaves and I have a bit more licence to escape the house, I'll capture it on my delicious 5mp iPhone Camera.

More, you ask? 

Stolen moments inside a faery circle in Davenport, NZ

Gypsy Carnival at Onewa, beachside. 

In case you haven't realised by now, Easter means family reunions. Specifically, my family, and our friends, uncles, dogs, great aunt's lounge chairs, INCREDIBLE AMOUNTS OF TEA AND FOOD OH MY GOD IF I EAT ANY MORE I WILL PUKE. PROJECTILE. VOMIT. SERIOUSLY I AM SICK OF EATING. Drinking, if you're a guy, because we have ridiculous amounts of Glenfiddich and nothing else, thanks, uncles.

the best $8.79 I have ever spent.

I went in for eggs and bread (feeding 13 people is not fun) hot cross buns and came out with this... love how NZ prolifically produces Cider, and then proceeds to sell it at ridiculously low prices. Took one of these babies (the Bulmers, naturally, despite its Irish Heritage) home, planning on drinking it tonight before my cousin's Anniversary Party thing. Super keen.

didn't anybody tell you how to gracefully disappear in a room?

Day 12- A book so emotionally draining you couldn’t complete it or had to set aside for a bit: Atonement by Ian McEwan

 I did something different with this book - something I regret doing wholeheartedly, but cannot apologise to myself for. I read the first three chapters or so of this before watching the movie. I.e the book was NOT finished at the time of movie watching.

If you haven't seen the movie, I can sum it up in about 2 lines: Keira Knightley is bitchy, sexually frustrated and pompous, James McAvoy is infuriatingly naive and resilient... and there's a whole bunch of beautiful cinematography.

You simply have to look at the before and after shots (stolen from google) to see why it took me 6 months to get back to this.

does he not look all of 18 and adorably untrained in the ways of the world?

add in a bit of heartbreak and you get worry lines... oh noes.

dirt and a beard automatically adds another 10 years. + furrowed brow = his soul has aged.

I knew what was going to happen. Apart from my amazing predictive abilities regarding the plot, I had see it first-hand and cried for an hour despite Keira Knightley's inability to act. Even she couldn't ruin the absolute desolation this inspires. Finished it eventually, and it's completely worth it. 

Day 12 - A Song That Ends Too Quickly: Maps & Compasses by Goodnight Owl

Ernest Ellis, the excessively talented Australian artist, made all the more awesome because he worked at a bottleo on the weekends whilst recording his first album-

(Loveless)

- kindly linked shared these guys on Facebook a while ago. Luckily, all their songs were available on Tripe J unearthed, so I was able to grab a few of them. I don't think I've been back on the site since then, but it's still pretty amazing. It's partially because of them we have such a decent up-and-coming music scene in Australia - they discovered some of our more famous names, such as Art vs. Science, and so on.  I almost think I could survive on Aussie music alone, because we do have so much brilliant talent, and also because they're more likely to tour closer to home. Which is nice. SUPER NICE. 

Oh! Annika and I went shopping the other day in the aftermath of a truly terrible week, so here's a couple of photos to entertain yourselves with. Some of them are vaguely inspired by the '30s and 40's... some of them by our inherent Man-repelling nature.