Five for Friday

The Greatest Wedding Photo in the World. No joke. This is the sort of photo I'd like to have taken.

Ten new species in pictures.

Duet for leaves and turntable.

Ten recipes for Cauliflower. Because I have soft spot of albino cousin of broccoli.

The kit to cure heart break. Wish I'd had this last year. 

This is the story about the time I got second-hand Facebook stalked

This is the story about the time I got second-hand Facebook stalked.

It was my joint birthday party and I was with a bunch of friends at Alfred and Constance. It was about 8pm at night and we were surrounded by a crowd of people celebrating hen’s nights, 30^th birthdays and Saturday nights. A girl I had never met before came up to me while I was talking to a guy friend. She was in a pretty cotton dress with a crown of flowers and a badge that screamed ‘BRIDE’. The conversation went something like this:

Bride-to-be: Hi. Is he single?

Me: No.

Bride-to-be: Are you single?

Me: No. But he is. (point to single male friend)

Bride-to-be: Wait – I know you. Did you used to date Jim*?

Me: Urm…yes.

Bride to be: You’re Sarah*!

Me: No, Sarah is his sister. He wouldn’t date Sarah. I’m B.

Slightly worrying bride-to-be: Ah, ok, sorry. Jim’s sort of potentially dating a friend of mine.

Me: Yes, he is my ex. Definitely ex. 

Bride-to-be with no concept of social boundaries: I’d love to hear the back-story behind that!

… expectant, eager face stares into horrified, ‘can’t believe you just asked me that’ face …

Me: NO.

Friend next to me chimes in: You see, it’s B’s birthday, she really doesn’t want to talk about her ex.

Bride-to-be with no concept of social boundaries: Oh, ok. It’s my hen’s night tonight.

Expectant pause.

Me: It’s my birthday.

Bride-to-be with no concept of social boundaries: Ok, bye.

*stony silence

I was in shock from that conversation for quite a while. Let’s get a few things clear:

This girl, whom I had never met before, recognised me from Facebook photos of me with my ex-boyfriend. That’s how many photos of the two of us she looked at, presumably while ‘researching’ him as a potential date for her friend. I got second-hand Facebook stalked.

Secondly, having met me, this girl thought it was the perfect opportunity to do a bit of first-hand investigating and find out about my relationship and break-up with Ex, presumably for any juicy details or dark secrets, like if he cheated on me (which he did not).

Why, in any god’s name, would she think that I would discuss the private matters of my most recent and painful break up with a complete stranger whom I met at a bar while celebrating my birthday? She genuinely looked so expectant and excited when she wanted to hear ‘the back story’, anticipating that I was about to spill everything.

I’ve had a lot of people say strange things to me and I have had a lot of very odd conversations. I am not usually stumped for something to say, but a loud and indignant ‘NO’ was the only word I could manage in this situation. I’m sure if I had been more forthcoming, there would have been subsequent questions and a full-on grilling session would have ensued.

If I met the ex of someone I or a friend was dating, it would never cross my mind to ask them about their break-up. Would you? Would you question the ex to find out if someone is good enough to date your friend? 

Dear Bride-to-be, I don’t know who you were but you might want to tone it down when you’re out in public. You were creepy. I hope you had a fun night after the scaring innocent people incident. 


*fake names 

Five for Friday no. 48

Great re-interpretation of '50 Shades of Grey' into '10 sex tips'. Very funny.

Because I know you've always wanted a foldable version of yourself. 

The worst boyfriends of TV and film.

 When you really think about it ... he doesn't normally hang around for a second date.

Year in Review time! YAY!

The Atlantic's The Year in Photos. 

and...

What I call as my favourite year-in-review- for 2012: the 40 most influential corgis of 2012. You're welcome.

A quote for the day

Sonja Sones, Stop Pretending.

This quotes makes me think of when you've just met someone you really like. You're maybe going on those first few dates. Every time they touch you, find a reason to touch you, or you edge closer to holding hands or kissing, the feeling is electric and seductive and the feel of their skin on yours stays for long after the moment has passed.

That may be a long way away from the original intention, but that's what these few lines say to me. 

Found on A Sea of Quotes.

The walk of shame

I spotted this photo on Modern Hepburn and it instantly made me think of walks of shame. Though it is a beautiful photo, to me it is kind of a walk-of-sham nightmare. Waking up somewhere and either having to bolt as quickly as possible or else having lost your clothes into the night and so wrapping a sheet around yourself and going out into the world before too many people can wake up and see you.

We’ve all done a walk of shame or two, correct? If you haven’t, you’ve missed out. As far as I am concerned, the walk of shame isn’t shameful at all. In my experience, it is the final step in a spectacular night out. 

The modern love letter

It struck me the other day that text messages are the modern day equivalent of love letters. In decades past you waited by the mailbox for a letter. Then it was the phone call. I spent a significant amount of time in my late high school years willing the phone to ring. Now it’s the text message that we eagerly await to send us sweet, flirty messages that make us melt.

We all know that feeling, when you’ve just met someone you like and are waiting to be asked out. You try to pretend you’re not doing it, but you carry your phone with you, waiting for the *beep. Or those first few weeks of a romance when you can’t stop grinning uncontrollably and the object of your fancy seems to be living inside your mind. You wait for those text messages and when they arrive, your heart thumps, your stomach contracts and as you read the flirty words a smile stretches right across your face ‘til your cheeks hurt. 

It’s WONDERFUL!

Those text conversations that are flirty and make you fizz all over have become and integral part of modern relationships. When you’re too scared to call someone or you’re just thinking about them and want to share, you text. Occasionally you call. In fact, I think when you’re asking someone out for the first time, you really should do it in person or in a proper phone call, at least. After that first call though, it tends to be the text messagesthat fire in rapid succession between you.  

Some people will think this is strange I know, but I take the time to write out my favourite text messages onto a doc, print it and save it somewhere.  I’m also one of those people who actually gets photos Printed and in an album. So I’m clearly old fashioned. 

The thing is, reading back over text messages reminds me of the first time I received it and how it made me feel. Scrolling through a conversation I remember not just the warm fuzzies but the boy and the time we spent together, sometimes years ago. It has the same effect as if I could pull a letter out of a drawer and read what was written to me by the boy I loved when I was 18.

"Sooo.. Did you actually start to miss me??..to be honest.. I did..:-) :-* it felt VERY good to have you near!! Hugs and KISSES!!" 
-Holiday romance 

What is that if not a love letter for a digital age?

I think we all of us keep messages on our phones – our favourite messages that we can’t delete. Writing them out, I’m going that one step further to preserving the memories. 

When you change phones or SIM cards, your messages disappear. It doesn’t matter that you kept them for years – they are all of a sudden GONE and they’re not coming back. So I write them out from time to time so that when I can no longer scroll through them, I can dig them out of my box of letters and cards and relive the magic all over again.

So I say that texts are the modern equivalent of love letters. Letter-writing is apparently making a come back, as are many old-fashioned ways in the current backlash against our overly digital world. For most of us though, we’re not going to go out and buy nice paper and envelopes and dedicate our feelings in a loving epistle. We will however make someone’s day with 50 characters and ‘send’:

‘Thinking about you all day. Can’t wait to see you.’

Five for Friday no.17

14 couples who got married at NYC City Hall. What I love about this is the diversity of couple but of course, they all look so very happy.

Later note: this slideshow gets updated every so often with new couples. All of them are beautiful and happy. If I were to get married - this would be the way!

Ok, here's a random one: Austrian Alpacas shaved for the spring. Cute and amusing!

Undress Brisbane have launched their new website. Undress Brisbane is all about sustainable fashion and building awareness amongst designers and consumers.

The Design Museum in London opened a Christian Louboutin 20 year retrospective on Tuesday. One of those times I REALLY wish I still lived in London so I could go!

Ty-pug-raphy. Yeah. Full alphabet here.