Frocks on the run

This is a post I have been pondering for quite some time.
Well to be honest, since November last year when I slipped over to the dark side for a moment and ACCIDENTLY took an awesome magazine, Good from an Organic Cafe in New Zealand.
It had an article titled The beginners guide to bike chic that has kept me thinking.

I could run in this!

N.B. I need you to know that I have kept the magazine so if I ever return to that Cafe in Wellington, I can return it to it's rightful owners.
Back on Track

This last year I have been growing into and experimenting with some new hobbies and interests while I have been at home.
Interests being; all things vintage, vintage inspired (excluding cars), photography and textiles
Hobbies being; knitting, gardening, sewing, baking and blogging
These hobbies and interests don't really get much of an outing away from the house apart from online as I am a total homie and like to stay in my safe little cubby, my only cause to venture out is for a run.

I have collected albums full of vintage inspired or vintage bikes that I would like to be riding but honestly the only time I really break the comfort zone is to go out is to exercise with my beloved dog.

To add the laid out elements of this post up (there is a thread through all this, really, stay with me),if I'm sewing up a storm of skirts or dresses, knitting a lovely jumper or scarf for example the only way they are going to get an airing in public is probably while I'm on a run. Silly you might say?
 I'm thinking not so.

The Good article Beginners Guide to Bike Chic, written by Sophie Barclay, tells of the birthing of the Slow bike movement that is taking New Zealand Female commuters by storm and the growing flocks of cycling clubs forming under the banner of Frocks on Bikes that have regular meetings and rides through New Zealand, with the expectation there will be no lycra or fashionless getups in sight.

Here are some very useful tips from the article I think could easily apply to running in my new
Slow run movement or Frocks on the run club.

1. For classy wear look no further than your existing wardrobe for that 50's inspired frock, comfy pair of jeans or powersuit. Simply wear what is suitable for your intended destination.
2. Choose style over speed so you arrive at your destination cool and fresh
3. Baskets and bags are another must. They look great, hold your shopping and can be easily personalised with flowers, patches and ribbons
4. Ditch the high-vis vest and smother yourself with lights. They come in various colours so you can accessorise while keeping safe at nightand can conveniently clip off and fit in your handbag.

Are you in? I think I have just the outfit for tomorrow. Ooh this makes running a whole lot more exciting, I think I'm a bit nervous. Seriously. You wanna?

As an added extra (this is a bit like a commercial break). I saw an animation I had to share with you from Mikey Please. When you have a spare 7-8 mins check it out. Total love and a must see!!!
K xxx
Here is the linky
Mikey Please - Eagleman Stag

A stiil from The Eagleman Stag by Mikey Please

10 Things I do that revive me to live another day

I had a moment, well a few moments today, when even my body was telling me that my mind had had enough.  It really wasn't the most pleasant feeling and I'm sure I am not the first person on Earth to feel like this.


 I grabbed the dog and went for a run down at the river in the sun. It gave me a break and a bit of exercise all scientifically proven to be good for mental health and that is probably no news to you but it prompted my post today.

Smetimes it is the breaks that keep me going . It was all still there when I came home plus now I had to sort out a battle with one very grubby dog and a hose but that short break provided me some relief , some fun watching my dog play in the dirt and a new entry point into my day.

Here is my list of 10 things I have tried and tested that I do to give myself a break. Time wise  there are short and long things to adapt to what the day deals me

1 Always on Cup and Saucer's agenda - Sit down and have a Cup of tea, preferably herbal.
Some days there is alot of tea going down at my house

2 Turn off all screens/ radios/ noise makers (kids?) in the house and listen to the quiet for 10 mins,

3 Fix myself a nutritious snack

4 Go outside for a swim/ walk/ play some basketball or downball with my son

5 Pat and play with the dog

6 Start a house project I have been wanting to do but just haven't been able to do

7 Play some music and sew/ knit or draw

8 Make a cake or try a recipe I haven't tried before.
Tip: Make sure it doesn't have obscure ingredients that are going to send me around the twist  trying to find in back lane shops I have never been to

9 Meditate or just breathe

10 Surf the net and look up things I like,knitting, crochet, other blogs, art, funnies or Pinterest

What do you do when you have one of these days?

Do you have anything to add to the list that I could try? I'm sure you do...

Oh I'm going to slip in one more because we are about to do this one - go to the library, make that 11.
Oh and snuggle with my Mr Cup and Saucer, how did I miss that one? Make that 12...Oh hang on I think there's more...

K xx

I'm out and I forgot to tell you......eek!

It has come to my attention that I may not have mentioned that I am in fact out of hospital and back home with my beautiful family (and our new addition Rebel - woof!).

My sincerest apologies for missing this!
While I was re-adapting back into home life I took a blogoliday and thought I had psychically let all of my blog readers know that I had come home. Obviously the subliminal transfer of information  into other peoples brains from my own is not one of my talents.

I also need to add photos  to my blog of the yarn bombing that took place while I was there.
AND I need to send out the sincerest of thanks to my fellow yarn bombers for their contributions and also the amazing amount of wool I was sent by Cup and Saucer followers to achieve this.

There was knitting and crochet going on everywhere.
Special thanks to my new cyber friend Sally who sent me yarn all the way from US of A!!!!
AND also to my love you longtime friend Natasha who sent me wool she had spun herself!!!
 It really did make me realise that I'm not just talking to myself when I blog, there are actually people in my laptop that are reading these words.

 'Shy blush here'

I have not stopped knitting, in fact I think it has strengthened my passion for wool and textiles in general. I'm slowly building myself together a little each day.
Knitting will be a stayer in my life for sure.
You'll be happy to know that baking is making a comeback too and I have a Fig, Date and Almond cake on this weeks horizon.

Are you interested?

Judith Scott, You inspire me

I haven't been abloggin' much as it's all feeling a but jumbled.

I'm really not sure which way I want to go. I thought a bit of time off would resolve some directional issues with where it's all going.I think it might be a case of blogging my way through it instead. Please, enjoy the ride I'm sure it will be sporadic and entertaining.

I think to say this is a food blog is probably not really true. To say this is a blog about mental health and my personal experience would be true but thankfully not a comprehensive overview of everything I post and and also it would not good for all of us. To be diving into my scrambled head every post, we would all up in the same place as me.I wouldn't be lonely but that would be kinda selfish and medically expensive for you.

While I am in I dunno land I thought I would show you some things that intrigue and inspire me..

Starting with this post.

It started with a pin from Pinterest (above) and then a few more clicks and here I was in the world of Judith Scott. Sadly she has passed away now, she was deaf and had Down Syndrome and was often referred to as an 'outsider artist'- for art newbies that means her art had not really been influenced by cultural, institutional and surrounding persuasions.

Her work is generall untitled, her life an amazing story. I love her compulsion and although these are photos I can imagine the tactility of this work. Is tactility a word?

More here http://www.hidden-worlds.com/judithscott/

and here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA4I6Q0x60s

K

A story about love

Aha! You had gone for snooze hadn't you?
 and now I have surprised you, you might have even woken up with a short snore?

Just when you thought I had turned into a fully automated messager that sporadically posted funnies into Facebook land from Cup and Saucer's Facebook page.

Here I AM! For real.

I have reappeared from the cupboard of blog blankety blank and found my fingers -one finger is surgically glued from a pumpkin chopping mishap, but nine fingers are being compliant and actually typing.

GOTCHA Interest Back Now?

well...to be honest (which is the only thing I know how to be - this not always handy by the way!)
I have been just behind the screen pacing through events and missed occasions and feelings that I cannot resolve into English (my only language, well besides art, and maybe music).
 I cannot write and do justice them.

Is this now a Paradox?
The following is a story about love.
Paradox is a word I have been tentatively using in conversation lately, you know, trying it out in safe waters before adding it to my actual accepted vocab, this is to make sure I understand the context in which I can use the word before I use it out in the big wide world. It avoids any major language faux pas (oops that's another tentative qualifier there).
Does anyone else on Earth do this by the way?

A prose piece about love, by Karen

My awesome immediate and also extensive and forever expanding family, our dog, my beautiful friends, chocolate, Vanuatu, the beach, textiles (a new love!), porridge, Eddie Vedder Ukulele songs, New Zealand, running, baking, Madame Flavour's spicy chai tea, our house, our neighbours, listening to my ears ring, Dumbo Feather Magazine, Pinterest, early nights, Radio National, iTunes shopping, buying books, jeans, soft woollen anything, blogging, fresh organic fruit and vegetables, making minimal waste, sandals, drawing, the Waifs, 2XU compression socks and hot showers.

In that order

Feel free to make your own prose piece about love in the comments if you feel inspired.

K xxxx

Thursday - Photo-love and being entirely bonkers

image credit disassociatedpress.com

SORRY! No Wordless Wednesday from me.

Let me tell you about today, Thursday instead. I bet you are busting to know!

I've made some notes! Here they are, to start with..



1. I am completely unimpressed with Facebook timeline on my iPhone and decided this as soon as I got up and looked at it. 

2. I looked at the dog this morning. He had got up out of bed walked to the kitchen, and sat on the couch and went back to sleep. I was GREEN with envy.



3. Later in the morning I read this quote from Alice in Wonderland and my day improved as I now could consider myself one of the best people.





4 In the afternoon I checked Instagram and all these people I don't know had liked my photo I took of the woollen rugs on the line yesterday. Happiness. Never knock a love stamp on a photo.

5 My day could've really ended up like this if I was in a parallel world. In my real world I knitted,went for a run, listened to music and hung out with the dog to try and rid myself of screaming anxiety. Rebel and I ate banana chips together in the sun

This last photo is a found one, it looks so GOOD though! It's like watching James Dean smoke a cigarette.You know it's not really like it looks but WOW you could just go and do that.

So...in summary

Things I am unhappy about: Facebook on my iPhone, that I had to get out of bed and stay out of it AND that I couldn't slip into a parallel world of risk taking, frivolity, drinking and timelessness and just do what I did today at the same time so no one missed me or noticed my incredibly bad, indulgent and immature behaviour

Things I am happy about: a bit of photo love and that I'm Bonkers.

The End

`

Full circle in the search for wisdom

 A quote about wisdom offered up by Dick Bruna.

"If you put very few things on a page, you leave lots of room for the imagination."

This morning I looked in the mirror and thought Oh My God I look like my old Primary School Librarian, I could just about travel back in time and be stamping my Year 3 Dick Bruna book borrow with the same smile.