losing a button: a basket case & lots of flowers

Boo hoo! I lost the middle button of my left shoe yesterday.

I know it happened during my cycle to work in the morning. I decided not to use my new bike basket (it makes the bike rattle and I was told this weekend that cycling like that was a bit silly and dangerous, oops!). Therefore, I kept my (too heavy) bag hanging from the left handlebar. I'm sure that's what knocked the button off the shoe as I remember the bag hitting me a couple of times.

On my way back home I kept my eyes peeled in a vain attempt to spot it on the road somewhere (nine hours later, wishful bloody thinking!) or somewhere amidst the grass in the park. I am a fool, I know, but stranger things have happened.

Well, this may just be the perfect opportunity to put into practice my soon-to-be-acquired sewing skills. My born-organiser-good-at-bringing-people-together friend, Ms. Thang M, has convinced a bunch of us to enrol in an all-day sewing workshop next month. I'd been thinking about doing something on that line myself forever so I jumped at the (perfect) chance.

I have attempted the odd stint at needle holding in the past (mainly brooches and the odd accessory on a top) but I tend to be slothful by nature so this will give me the much needed kick on the old butt to get going.

Every cloud has a silver lining, right? New buttons on not-so-new (and a bit knackered but much loved) shoes is as good a start as any!

And now for something completely different. These are the beautiful flowers we got our friends M & W, who had us over for dinner on Saturday. I also got myself some (even though I already had some red tulips at home) as they were gorgeous. Couldn't resist them (not only am I slothful, but also envious by nature).

We were extremely late (and I don't mean fashionably late, I mean nearing rude late...) but we had pretty flowers with us... af if!

And here's a quick snap (mobile photo in more than one way) of the two-wheeled flower bearer.

la ninja bloguera

cajón desastre

The first bit of the title is basically a play on words.
"Cajón de sastre" could translate as hotchpotch, jumble, confused heap of stuff and things. However, it literally means tailor's drawer or box. i.e. the little chest where an old-school tailor would have kept ribbons, buttons, oddments, bits and bobs, trinkets... This and that basically.
To me, "cajón de sastre" perfectly describes this little, humble and messy virtual space of mine (within the immensity and iniquity that the Internet is.)

"cajón de sastre" can also be used in Spanish when referring to someone fighting (à la pell-mell) a vast array of chaotic and confused ideas in their head or imagination.
Rather appropriate for this ninja.

Tweaking it a little bit you get "cajón desastre", a very simple pun achieved by pushing "de" and "sastre" together and forming, instead, "desastre", which (yes, I know you've already guessed) means disaster.
Even more appropriate.

where is that ninja?

One fine morning, at work, while coming back from the kitchen and holding a cup of coffee, the Italian-Dutch colleague sitting across from me at the time tells me "M just came over and asked ¿Dónde está esta niña?, which I have obviously translated as Where is that ninja? "
Obviously.

It made me laugh no end and I thought it'd be an ideal name to use here (both colleagues involved in the minting of the name gave me the thumbs up so here we are.)
Oh yeah, and we work/ed with languages and obviously love this Babel-like linguistic nonsense (at least I know I do.)

who is that ninja?

I haven't gotten that far yet plus I'm not sure what I want to write on this one either. I reckon I shall sit on it for a bit...

Oh yeah. I ramble. Often.

Note: In real Spanish "¿dónde está esta niña?" obviously means "where is that girl?". Well... Obviously.

ever so slightly apathetic sunday

I wanted to actually write a proper post today (have a few things drafted) but I feel too lazy and not that very inspired at all. So instead, the plan is tidying up and sorting stuff out (aka faffing about the house not doing much at all in the end).

So, rather than a proper written post then, and before I put on my domestic hat, I thought I'd give the people of the Internets... well nothing new, really! As, come to think of it, both videos shown below have been taken from the Internets in the first place!!!
Oh well, "She giveth and She taketh" (I always think of the Internet as female, me. Mother Earth, Mother Internet... that sort of thing)!

Right, here's some stuff that makes me giggle:
Morph & Darth,
strawberry shortcakes & hot Italian pasta,
fantastic animations in plasticine & fantastic animations in Lego,
gobbledygook & executive transvestite soliloquy,
Aardman Studios & Eddie Izzard!



Morph's Card Trick
I couldn't embed the short here, so I'm afraid you have to click on the link for this one.

Here some clever clogs has recreated bits of Eddie Izzard's stand-ups in Lego; you can find them all featured on youtube. They vary in quality and you may not enjoy them if you're used to watching the real thing on stage. I love this one though!!!

I hate...

...loud shoes with their clickity clack!

(silly shoes + vigorous strut + certain body mass = irksome)

a-ranting & a-moaning
-a no-longer-new weekly series that will captivate the hearts of young and old alike-

the gruesome "morbidity" of the amaretto

They look pretty healthy to me, though!

Mi scusi, ragazze! Babel strikes again. :)

bad polka dot, bad!

Bag Girl Polka Dot is the real title this pretty print goes by. I immediately took to it visually but it really made me giggle too, not only due to its delightful quirkiness but basically 'cos I misread the title. (I hope the artist doesn't mind... As if anyone ever read this! Ha!)

Polka Dot is the nickname of sorts (or rather, battle name) my mate
E got after a rather interesting (for lack of a better word) and rascally night in London a couple of years ago. It started both because she was wearing a fab red & white polka dot dress but also because she had a namesake in our little gang and no-one knew which E we were referring to. (To be perfectly honest, at one point none of us really knew what in sweet baby jay jay's name we were talking about, let alone whom we were talking to).

The thing is that when I first saw the print this morning I mistakenly read Bad Girl Polka Dot (dyslexia? Freudian slip of da mind?) and immediately thought of sending it to E. Bad Polka Dot. Bad, very bad girl!!

Ai, nena, ho he pogut evitar. M'ha fet somriure aquest matí i ho havia de posar aquí! ; ) Potser una idea pel teu cumple?

I hate...

...passive aggressive behaviour paired with

victimisation response both triggered by

unrealistic self-deceptive expectations!

(all unconscious (aka denial) making dialogue all the more difficult!)

a-ranting & a-moaning
-a new-ish weekly series that will captivate the hearts of young and old alike-

boo! so that's what "scary waste" is, then...

bugger me!

Just when I thought things couldn't possibly get any worse...It was apparently not enough having to dodge bloody ant-like traffic wardens in shiny suits (why so shiny? why?) every morning, no.

Now, and adding to the ongoing saga of perilous cycling adventures, a menacing-looking giant red bug, also of the family Formicidae, has been spotted along the way too!
Bugger me, indeed!