Eryn With A Y

3 Reasons Why Dining Alone is Great

Dining alone doesn’t mean you have no friends. Take it from me. I’ve got plenty of friends*, and I dine alone as a choice.

I started dining alone when I was doing a photography course in the city. I’d drive from work straight into town and have just under an hour to feed myself. I could have simply brought a sandwich and scoffed it while hiding in the car, but pre- planning food is not a skill I’m known for.

The first time I ate alone was a bit daunting, I was worried that people were looking and me, I was worried I’d be bored, and I thought I’d feel like a total loser. But I was pleasantly surprised! Eating alone is awesome, and here’s why:

1. You can order what you want! You can eat the whole share plate if you want to and there’s no one there to judge. Get the mac and cheese, order an extra side, have a glass of wine. Your skinny friend/ spouse/ mother isn’t sitting across from you silently judging.
2. You can concentrate on the food. I always find that I concentrate less on the food when I’m talking.  You have to split your concentration between whatever is being said, and chewing. When eating alone, you can consider each bite and taste the flavours so much easier.
3. You can take the time to unwind. There’s no need to listen to other people whining about how their day was. Or how sick their kid is. Or any number of things that sometimes you just don’t want to listen to. Simply be in your own mind, work through any issues of the day and prepare yourself for the next.

I rediscovered the pleasure of eating alone when I signed up for another course recently, so I was prompted to write this post. If you’re thinking of taking me up on my advice, here are three places I’ve successfully solo-dined at recently in the Northbridge area:

1. Bivouac: There’s a cool area at the back of the restaurant that looks over the bar and makes you feel like you’re in the action, but also gives privacy to read or write.
2. Lot 20: Tuck yourself away under the stairs or along the windows and listen to the lively chatter of your fellow diners while you contemplate life.
3. Shadow: Underneath The Alex Hotel, the lighting in Shadow is perfect for the lone diner. Understated and moody, you can retreat into the depths of your booth and practically disappear.

 So why not try the solo dine? Remember, the only person who’s paying attention is yourself.

 * I have 6 friends.

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My Top 5 Travel Tips: Don't Make My Mistakes

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My Top 5 Travel Tips: Don't Make My Mistakes

I’m sure you’ve heard all those practical travel tips. Roll your socks. Photocopy your passport. Register with DFAT.

Anyone can throw those out there and look like they know something about travelling. Whether they’ve experienced them or not is another question.

Here are my top travel tips, from someone who has lived through them and made all the smelly, dirty and painful mistakes.

P.S. This post is part of your entry to the Virgin Australia/ Pro Blogger competition. Let’s hope my tips stand out from the crowd, and the  judges are amused by my jokes…

1: Take a Wheeled Bag.

Backpacking? Don’t get all nostalgic and take an actual backpack. They will bring you nothing but pain.

You’re probably going to book accommodation close to train stations when you travel, and because you’re cheap, don’t speak the language, or you’re going to walk from the train station to the accommodation. Easy, right?

Except… you’ll take a wrong turn or two. Or the map will only show some of the streets you need to get there. Or it will negate to mention the six lanes of train tracks that you have to leap over on the way to your digs.

You’ll end up dreading each time you have to heft the bag onto your shoulders and begin to divest yourself of articles of clothing throughout Europe in an attempt to bring your shoulders back into line.

You will also break your neck trying to shove your bags into the luggage section on trains, and then spend the rest of the trip giving evil looks to all those smug travellers who have wonderful, maneuverable, wheeled bags.

2. Don’t Take Your Third Wheel.

Always wanted to travel with friends? Think again.

No matter how well you get along with a person in social situations, taking them on holiday with you breaks down barriers that will test your friendship.

You’ll find out things you really don’t need to know about, like their choice of underwear, habits of bodily function and irritating personal quirks (and in my case, the disturbing coverage of hair on dangly bits).

It’s much easier to tell your partner to nut up, put on a scarf and come and look at six museums with you than it is to convince a friend who would rather just sit in the pub.

3. No Magnets, Please.

Let’s face it, people want souvenirs as much as you want to spend your cash on them. And if you’ve been silly and ignored my advice not to bring a backpack, that extra weight subtly working on your scoliosis is your own fault.

For the people who claim they would LOVE a magnet, tea towel, spoon or snow globe, they’re either lying or you’ll be enabling their hoarding tendencies.

Either way it will end up in the bin eventually, the only thing that will differ is the amount of tears shed when it is chucked.

4. Change Envelopes. Use Them.

If your airline offers those ‘change for a cause’ envelopes on the return flight, dig out all your spare change and turn them in.

You’re probably not going back to that country, and even if you are, you don’t want to travel with $10 in change taking up valuable space in your hand luggage.

Take it from someone who managed to collect over 60 pennies from walkways in Europe. Those things are just going to sit in the back of a cupboard taking up space and gather dust until you throw them out with the magnets.

5. Pringles… They’re Everywhere.

I’m pretty sure it’s not because they’re a delicious treat. They’re actually really good at extending the range of your capability to access unprotected Wi-Fi. Get popping!

 

If you want to read more of my travel posts, check out my World Nomad page here.

And, if you want some practical advice on packing for travel, check out my friend Robyn’s blog post on exactly that here!

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Craft Supply Stores in Perth

As a craft blogger, I spend so much of my weekends crafternoon-ing at home so I can get my weekly posts created and shot. Working full time, I’ve also developed a habit of getting supplies on the way home and from places that I’m familiar with.

Plus, I’m getting fat. I’m putting on the podge sitting on my couch in front of the TV with some biscuits and a hot glue gun.

So, I’ve decided to get off my… couch and start looking into some other places to find craft supplies in Perth.

I did some Googling (on the couch one night), and I’ve come up with a short list of places to check out (here on a Pinterest board). But surely there have to be some more craft stores/ suppliers out there that sell to the public and maybe don’t utilise the internet and social media as well as they should?

I’m heading to the Craft and Quilt Fair this weekend too to try to search out some more suppliers.

Can you add to my list? I’m less interested in fabric/ beading/ paper craft specialty stores, unless they have a selection of other crafts too.

• Materialise in Nedlands
• Edart in Midland
• The Handcrafters House in Midland
• Galaxy Beads in Morley
• Butterfly Day in Morley
• Collins Craft in Balcatta
• The Bead Company in Osborne Park
• La La Design in Leederville
• Hu Kendall & Co in Perth
• Jacksons Drawing Supplies in Perth and Inglewood
• Benjamin’s Beads in Inglewood
• Lincraft in Whitfords (I know this is a bigger brand, but there’s only one in Perth)

I’ll also start a list of online stores and list out the big brand retailers on the site soon too. I’m on a mission!

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D-I-Wine: Banksy Inspired Wall Art DIY With British Paints Retouch

I love urban art. I love coming across little pockets of beauty in the urban landscape. My love affair started when I was travelling Europe. There are so many little pockets in each city, from Belgium to Belfast. My hus-bang and I would make a competition of looking for the Space Invader in each city we visited (I usually won, being the more observant and more competitive one). Did you know Perth has its very own Space Invader? If you haven’t seen it, it’s on a bridge over a very busy city road…

Perth has been following suit with the Form project, and some other cool little initiatives from people who own big, blank walls throughout the city. Have you taken a walk around Leederville? Or down Beaufort Street? Go a little bit more residential and there’s art as far as Rockingham and Bunbury.

My own little urban art project I refer to as ‘urban lite’. There are some awesome spray paint colours available at The Butcher Shop, but having used spray paint in a community project before, I wanted to use something a little more forgiving for my own indoor wall.

British Paints have this awesome product called ‘Retouch’. It’s designed to be used to re-paint nicks in walls in the average house, and it only costs $9.95 at Bunnings, but what it can also be used for is ‘urban lite street art’!

After much deliberation, I decided to make a Banksy- inspired piece. Have you seen his panda? I’m not as enamoured of panda’s as I am of squirrels, so that was my animal of choice. And, for my witty stab at ‘the man’, I’ve chosen to go with ‘Do or D-I-Y’ as my catch call.

I’ve made a video of the project here, with my customary glass of wine and laugh inducing moments.

A couple of things about using Retouch:

Don’t shake the can, man! There’s a big warning label on the box, but I wasn’t able to help myself and gave it a good old shake, so I had to go and buy another one.

When the can gets cold, it stops working. Don’t panic. The atomiser just needs to warm up again. Stop and wait, then go again.

British Paints Retouch ($9.95, avialable at Bunnings), black paint, stencil paper, pencil, pencil, scalpel, cutting mat, tape.

Approx $30 with all new paint.

2 hours.

If you’re coming from the video and wanting to know how I made my stencil, read on...

I’m not the best at drawing squirrels freehand, so I took an image from the internet and stuck a hot glue gun on it, then put that next to my text, then printed it out.

Stick the print out on a window with good lighting, and tape the stencil paper over the top. Trace the outline of the image onto the stencil paper.

This is where your imagination comes in.  I looked back and forth from the Banksy panda while I drew the lines on my squirrel. I used jagged lines on the tail to show the fluffiness of the fur, and took liberties with the hot glue gun because you can’t have too many fine details in a stencil before losing the intent of the image.

Use your scalpel to cut out the positive space in the image (the stuff you want to have coloured).

Watch my video for the rest of the tutorial! I promise, it’s amusing!

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Emily Muco Inspired Headpiece feat. Where The Styled Things Are

I have a tongue in cheek poster on the wall in my office, given to me by my extremely respectful workmates. I was undertaking a crochet class at the time, and I came back to work the morning after the first class to find this taped to my monitor:

So I kept it. I’m proud of who I am. I go to a coffee shop and do nanna crafts with friends. You wanna go?

I didn’t think so.

Since starting the blog I’ve learned some cool stuff and met some amazing people. I’ve even done some things I never thought I’d do, like attending a cooking class and making a YouTube video.

And I’ve made some amazing friends. Don’t laugh, I’ve got a crochet hook in my bag and I’m not afraid to use it.

One of those friends, Adelle from Where The Styled Things Are, gave me the idea for this project. She’s the nice-girl of the fashion blogging world. She’s always ready to share, with never a bad word to say about anyone.

She’s the creator of the Pretty Little Package project, aimed at stamping out online bullying, and she runs the Perth WA Bloggers Facebook page in an effort to unite Perth bloggers together.

See, she’s so nice. I sometimes wonder why she’s friends with me?

She saw my pom poms on another project and said to me, ‘You should put them in a headband, like Emily Muco!’.

And I said ‘Ok, but you have to model them!’

And a collaboration was born! Check out Adelle's corresponsing post here, where she looks very pretty and talks about how awesome I am.

1 plastic headband with a design cut into it (makes it easier to secure the pom poms), flowers (mine were from Spotlight), assorted sized pom poms in two colours, scissors.

Approx. $15

 Under 2 hours.

I used the pom pom creating method I tested in ‘Forking Pom Poms’ and made an assortment of pom poms in green (to imitate the leaves) and pink (to match the flowers). I trimmed the green ones lower than the pink so they didn’t overwhelm the flowers.

Arrange the flowers and pom poms along the headband, eyeball where you think things will look best and then photograph so you don’t forget where they go!

Wind the stalks of the flowers through the design of the headband, making sure that there’s nothing hanging below to poke the wearer in the head.

Weave the tails of the pom poms through the design of the headband and tie off with a double knot then trim short.

Love Your City

We all know that Perth gets a bad rap when it comes to being ‘boring’ and ‘quiet’.

Well boo to that.

If you’re one of those people that moan about how quiet our city is, then you’re doing it wrong.

I’ve written in the past about thriftiness (not to be confused with cheap arsedness) and the myth of inspiration.  I think it transcends well into this debate.

Thrifty people are some of the happiest people out there. They seek experiences on their search for happiness, they make connections with people, and they choose activity as a reward instead of purchase.

Inspiration is another kettle of fish. Fools wait for the inspiration to come. Smarties just take that first step no matter what their state of mind to produce results.

So instead of jumping on the bandwagon, get off your butts to seek out experiences. Don’t wait for them to fall into your lap.

This weekend I participated in a free city walk as a part of Open House Perth. I found out about it from a friend who I made in my blogging circles (pictured).

I also went to a free DIY workshop and make some cool earrings. I found out about it because I subscribe to the mailing list of every shopping centre in Perth.

Next weekend I’m going to a woodworking class. I found out about through a Google search. I wanted to learn a skill, so I took the first step and typed in a search term.

But you don’t want to hear about my weekend plans. Here are some tips for filling that calendar:

1.    
Join VIP lists, especially shopping centres because they’re forever hosting free events. Believe me, I’m one of those people working behind the scenes to offer great experiences to encourage people into our malls. A quick scroll of the communications is enough to see if there’s anything interesting going on and then you can delete it.

2.    
Follow bloggers. They’re always doing something interesting in the search for content and there's some pretty talented bloggers in Perth.

3.    
Make a list of things you want to do and then start knocking them off your list, budget depending.

4.    
Don’t be a twat. No one is going to invite you anywhere if you’re always whinging about how crap their city is.

Rocking DIY Fascinator Workshops

I taught 10 people over two days how to make their own fascinators at Rockingham Shopping Centre last week. I never thought I’d get so much joy out of teaching a class.

I think my enjoyment had a lot to do with the fact that everyone was looking up to me like I was an expert! I’m just a girl who picked up a needle and thread and sewed some stuff together in my mind.

Did you know that the fear of public speaking is called ‘glossophobia’? It’s a very sexy name; sounds like it should refer to the fear of sticky lip gloss instead of talking in front of people.

They reckon that around 75% of people experience anxiety when talking in front of crowds. Not me. I refer to glossophobes as ‘sissies’. Sorry to the 3 in 4 sissies out there reading this.

So, give me an audience and I will perform. Give me a microphone, and you’d better watch out!

I’m still floating on the residual high and considering pimping myself out for other DIY Classes. Anyone interested?

It’s a thing apparently. Enex 100 and Forest Chase are doing it now too, hosting a workshop by Simone Heng of DIYnamic Style. I'm sooooo going, can’t wait to be on the other side of the mic, learning how someone else does it.

Maybe I’ll see you there?

Some of the results:

Decor: Market Finds

I love going to markets and thrift stores, but I'm really picky. Something inside me just won't let me make a purchase unless I absolutely know that something is right for me.

That's why I was pleasantly surprised when I stopped by the Busselton Markets on a recent trip down south and found TWO really cool items!

The salt and pepper shakers cost $5. With the amount of time that would have gone into slicing all the wood and putting it together, I felt like I was cheating someone with the price!

The pot trivets were hidden away in a corner underneath a bowl. I got a flash of the teal and pink combination and just had to have them!

Photographed together here, they look great together with the woody tones. The saucer is from a vintage French tea set that my dad got me.

Here’s one last photo of the trivet in action in my lounge. The black candlesticks on the right were another thrift shop find in a Wanneroo store. So cool and very me!

What are your thrift store bargains?

(The Busselton Markets are open on the first, third and fifth weekend of each month, and are located right on the foreshore).

Photography: Coffee Table Book Idea

I’m going to share with you my idea for a coffee table book, but don’t tell anyone, ok?

Once again, I have to thank my mum for this brilliant idea. She was always coming up with ideas for coffee table books. My personal favourite was ‘Beach Bums’, which was to consist of photos of people’s butt cracks on the beach. Arty- like and tasteful, of course (Once again, don’t tell anyone, ok?).

I like the idea of taking the mundane and making it into something interesting. Probably because I’m not really that motivated to go out and ‘do stuff’ and I feel incredibly awkward with a camera in public.

So what I do is take shots of shoes that are left behind.

Keep an eye out, you’ll see a bunch now that I’ve mentioned it. (I work in a shopping centre, so there’s always plenty of shoes left behind in car parks. I don’t know why.)

This pair I found on the street near my house, so I grabbed the camera and ran out to take a photo. You’ve got to be on the ball when taking photos of lost shoes. You never know if their owners will be back again to collect them, or if you’ll be going past the spot again to grab a shot.

This means that the lighting isn’t always desirable. With the washed out look of the shoes, I wanted to make the light in the photo look more sun drenched and golden than the light in the original photo.

So I put it into Photoshop and adjusted the photo filter (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Photo Filter, making sure colour is set to none, mode is normal and opacity is 100%), playing round with the dials until I had a look I wanted.

Then I put a vignette around the photo (find out how to do that in a previous post), darkening the tone of the photo and leaving the midpoint in place.

Before:

After:

Neat, right? What do you think? Do you have any photos of shoes you'd like to share? :)

The People in the Neighbourhood

I love to walk my dog. It’s how I relax at the end of the day (pre glass of wine), and it’s when I get most of my non- work thinking done. I brainstorm about things that I’m going to do while I walk the pooch. I also love watching dog on her walks, bouncing around, sniffing things and having the time of her life. It makes me feel happy.   It’s for this reason that I’m out 5-6 times per week and I come across the same people all the time. We own the street, man. I have the special nicknames for all the regulars and I wonder if they have their own name for me…

 

Let’s break down my list of the regulars that are out in the street doing their thing.

Bike Woman Sometimes I’ll see her more than once in a walk as she laps me. Bike Woman gets on her bike and just goes around and around the street. She’s super skinny and always wears a helmet, which I respect. After about a year I saw her walking with her family in the park, which made me glad because I did wonder if she was a lonely biker lady who lived at home with seven cats.

Running Dad and Son I see these guys daily around 5.30pm. The dad wears a shirt that says ‘athletics’, which makes me think he’s a teacher. The son looks like he’s about 18, maybe in uni. They run along, one in front of the other, and then switch. We live on the same street, and we know this because after lapping each other for about a year we passed each other going into our houses.Once I was driving into my driveway and they saw me as they ran by. I felt a little awkward that they saw me in my work persona It’s for this reason that I’m out 5-6 times per week and I come across the same people all the time. We own the street, man. I have the special nicknames for all the regulars and I wonder if they have their own name for me…

Angry Man/ Cool Dog   There’s this sixty year old dude that doesn’t merely walk down the street. He stalks, taking up the whole pathway as if he’s saying ‘This is my piece of ground!’I got that vibe off him right from the start. That and an air of extreme disapproval.I’m not sure why he disapproves of me, because he’s the one walking his dog off a lead. The cool dog, that saunters along, sniffing stuff and never straying more than three feet from him. She’s obviously the relaxed one in the relationship.Every time I walk past him I silently think ‘Oh shit’ and avert my eyes. I once made the mistake of trying to make eye contact and smile. Only once.

Beer Swilling Woman Seriously. She has a can of beer. Sometimes she wears shoes. She kind of meanders along while her little white poodle backs up onto everything and poops. Needless to say she doesn’t pick it up. She just doesn’t give a shit, unlike her dog. I admire her spunk, but I’m glad she doesn’t walk past my house.

Wierd Man With Spitz   The dog’s name is Lottie. I avoid her owner so I don’t get stuck in a conversation with him. I’m pretty sure he lets the dog ‘escape’ her leash and run over to other dogs just so he can start a conversation. I spend a lot of time on my phone when I see him coming.

The Phantom Pooper My nemesis. I’ve never met this person and their dog, but I see evidence everywhere. They must walk in the dead of night so no one can see the dog drop their business on the lawn of everyone in the neighborhood.The dog does very large turds, which kind of makes me glad because my dog is small and does small turds (which I pick up), but I can’t be mistaken for the Phantom Pooper even though we walk our dogs at the same frequency.I sometimes imagine getting poop bags and attaching them to little signs saying ‘Pick up your dog’s poop, you cretin’, then placing them at every one of the drop zones. I doubt they’d get the point though, since they seem to be going to such lengths to avoid having to pick up after their dog.And that’s the extent of them, for now! Until the next one moves into the neighborhood anyway!