Tuesday Tabs. #13

I was in a pretty good mood, until I had to refund a silly woman on eBay because the Post Office hadn't delivered her item and I'd lost proof of postage. That issue was ruining my Paypal which I needed to use to fork out a further £59 on the referencing fee for our flat in Newbury. So I'm nearly £80 with literally nothing to show for it, and I was actually doing amazingly well with money up until about five minutes ago. I suppose a long-winded complaint to Royal Mail should mean I at least get some of my missing money back.

Otherwise, everything is going okay, much better than last week. I'm still majorly bummed-out about the job situation but that isn't going to change until I actually have a job so there's nothing much I can really do. I'm hoping it might be easier to get a job near Newbury when I'm actually in Newbury, it sound ridiculous that a recruiter would be instantly put off by my postcode because if I get in on time I don't see it as much of an issue, but I've had responses to the contrary so I suppose I'm wrong.

If everything goes according to plan, Moon and I will be moved out two weekends from now, which is very exciting, and weird. We're going to Ikea on Saturday and I'm quite excited. I've been scouting out nice textiles and thinking about things like mirrors, bins and towel racks.

Yesterday's Easter family gathering was lovely, but I have more to share about that later, I don't want to post too much all at once, like I did on Sunday.
I haven't set that many personal goals for this week, I inadvertently managed to stay up until gone 3AM last night sewing, so I think it's time I get back to some list-making as I'm sure there are plenty of things that need to be done.

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Anorak Kissing Rabbits Bath Linen, £4-£35, Heal's
I spied these in Heal's this afternoon and I was very tempted by the hand-towel although honestly I'd want the whole set. I just think the pattern may be a bit girly for Moon and we need to make decisions like that together. I'm sure the novelty would wear off too, however cute the colours and print are, I would really like them though.

(via Interior Porn/House of Turquoise)

Red or Dead Mountain Boots, £78, Schuh
I'm putting myself on a shoe and clothes ban for the foreseeable future, as it's a slight waste of money when I have to think about rent, bills and nice things for my home. I'd also like to afford to be able to have days out too. I have so many clothes anyway that I must have an infinite amount of outfit combinations, keeping up posts like this and posting for inspiration rather than 'must buy' might help out a bit. I have been thinking about cowboy boots for a while, these are nice but I'm a bit mistrusting of Red or Dead, having spent £75 on a pair of boots a few years ago, only for the them to break in just two months.


Pearl Lace Midi Skirt, £25, ASOS
This isn't that different from other skirts I have, but the colour is lovely.
The ASOS sale started today, maybe not the best day to begin a shop-fast but if I can resist ASOS, everything else should be a breeze.


Elephant-print Playsuit, £17.50, ASOS
I'm not really a playsuit person but the cut of the back and print of this one are adorable


This looks good.


'The Lorax Dinner Makeover'
I don't know much about Dr Seuss' 'The Lorax' but I know this pasta looks nice. Not sure about the blue Alfredo sauce though. A link to the recipe can be found here.

(via Tiny Tangerines)

In preparation for my upcoming Ikea trip, I stumbled across the Ikea iPad app, and it's amazing. It's basically everything an app should be, and it's so nice. I'll be sad when I have to settle for a regular catalogue once I no longer have access to the iPad.

(via Recovering Lazyholic)

Thanks to that silly EDF 'dancing poo' advert, I've had this song stuck in my head all week!

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Link Love: ♥

I'm on Pinterest — I finally caved, and I suppose it is a pretty great idea. I'm going to use it for what it was intended for, but I'm hoping it doesn't make posts like these redundant, this is still my blog after all. If you have any neat recipes or craft pins, that's what I'm there for and I'd love to see them! Interiors are also, naturally, appreciated.

House of Turquoise — A blog that showcases some of the best of turquoise interiors? What could be better, such a good pitstop for dreaming about my future home. It's not just about things being turquoise though (aqua and mint are also prominent), separate from the colours, the homes themselves also provide a great deal of inspiration.

Screenshots of Despair — A pretty bleak Tumblr looking at how lonely technology can be.

The Dainty Squid: Weekly Nail #8 — Very pretty nail art from Kaylah at The Dainty Squid, they're like eggs or rocks. There's also an interesting quip about whether people who paint their nails different colours are indecisive or even unemployable, I'm undecided.

Noble Pig: Pepperoni Pizza Puffs — These look incredible and will be the first recipe in my new, more permanent recipe notebook, I can't wait to try them out.

Fossil Cookies — A really cool decorating technique for cookies using plastic toy dinosaurs. Where was this recipe when I was growing up, I would have had a field day.

DIY Daisy Nail Art — Simple tutorial from Gem Fatale to make cute daisy nail art. I've been thinking about this for a while but couldn't get my head around a layout.

101 Most Useful Websites — Definitely a few here worth a bookmark.

The Second Hand Home Challenge — After only a little bit of creeping on Jen from 'A Little Bird Told Me's blog I came across the second-hand home challenge she gave herself last year. This was a pretty great find for me as I know we won't be able to buy brand new everything. Although there are some great tips for finding second-hand items, generally in terms of how to make a home I thought it was a great post. So many good storage ideas and storage is my favourite.

Great Logos with Hidden Meanings

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I'm off to structure my life. Have a good rest-of Tuesday. ♥

Film #8

In which Ruth lets you know that she's keeping a film diary this year and that the eight film she's seen is the American remake of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'.




The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, 2011. Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer. (Dir. David Fincher)
So, I think that this is a first for me, I can't remember the last time I watched a re-make having not previously seen the original film and I had a major case of the skeptics about this one. This uncertainty was not just because it was a re-make a film that is less than five years old, but also because it was an adaptation of a book that is less than ten years old, I am a bit overwhelmed by the lack of original material within the film industry, since when do you write books to make films?

However, saying all that, I am just little ol' me after all, this film was a bloody cracker. Perhaps I was also unsure because although I am a fan of many of David Fincher's films, I have not enjoyed his most recent previous efforts, The Social Network or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, they just weren't my cup of tea.
However, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, contains the key elements that fundamentally make up a good film; stunning visuals, brilliant casting and a great soundtrack.
I have not read the book either, but have heard that both versions, despite already being well-received, vary greatly from the original story.

For most of the film, there are two separate narratives, seeing disgraced journalist, Mikael Blomkvist (Craig) working towards uncovering a forty-year family secret of wealthy entrepreneur Henrik Vanger (Plummer) and troubled, highly intelligent ward of the state, Lisbeth Salander (Mara) struggle with money and her newly instated power-mad social worker. The two come together due to a Lisbeth's work as a private investigator and her involvement vetting Mikael before he began work for Henrik. The film is a thrill and delight to watch, with twists and action throughout.

Mara is excellent as Lisbeth, and committed entirely to the role by getting real piercings specifically for this character. A very different role to those she had done previously; Mara made her debut as a teen victim in the 2010 re-make of A Nightmare of Elm Street, hardly empowering. Lisbeth is incredibly different, anti-social and aggressive, but some how vulnerable and sexy, added to her genius, she is, in my opinion, a perfect (if there is such a thing) female lead. Daniel Craig also adds a depth to this film and very much not James Bond, which is brilliant, I read he even put on weight to make sure we remember he's an actor, in case we forgot...




I loved it and would recommend to anyone, maybe the trailer doesn't give enough away but something about it didn't inspire me to see it, but I'm glad I did, it's probably my favourite film I've seen so far this year.

If it had been bad, at least Moon and I wouldn't have paid to see it, thanks to the Cineworld voucher my Gran got him for Christmas. It's a weird place, Cineworld, at least the Crawley one is, the biggest building yet practically all balcony with everything hidden in the walls.

Anyway, get on this film if you can, I'm usually right about this kind of thing.

Misc.

Yesterday, my new favourite film magazine, Little White Lies held a Twitter competition to win a beaut gold foil-block print of The Tree of Life by illustrator, Joe Wilson and I won one! I should definitely get round to watching The Tree of Life now, it's been on my 'films to watch list' for ages.
So, long story short, this should be making it's way to me pretty soon:

(via Church Of London on Flickr)

In other news, I have been persuaded to abandon creating a website from scratch once more due to an invite to join DPG.com. I already know a few photographers that use it and it has a really simple and easy-to-upload-and-maintain system, as well as being fairly customisable it seems like it could be right up my street. So when I have the time that's what I'll be working towards, if my domain name stops giving me minor grievance.

I also thought I would take the time to share these photos with you from the dribs and drabs that I've taken in the last few days, like I mentioned in my previous post I haven't been snapping that much, but I thought that here was as good a place as any to put them.



I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the squirrels that live down The Cut, it must be such a stressful lifestyle, living practically on a railway line and being so small.
Here is what my nails look like, I used this tutorial for the Picasso/Motel-inspired onces. I did have that design on each nail but I got a bit fidgety. Emma, the girl who does the nail art tutorials on the Motel Rocks blog also posts some really neat designs on her own blog, a great blog to visit for nail-art envy.


I start the internship tomorrow, I'm surprisingly calm, I've spent nearly all day playing The Sims 3... really.