All Deliberate Speed

I am rather enjoying the look of life being captured through my new SLR and 50mm lens (It's a Canon 1100D, which I got from Jessops) I am an absolute sucker for a small depth of field, with most of the subject matter looking all dreamy and out of focus. One thing I can do on this SLR which I couldn't do on my last one is record footage. So I am looking forward to experimenting with that too.

(Another good thing, it's as light as a feather)

I started off last weekend by popping over to see my Mum and Dad's mutual friend Adele, who was holding an art show in her lovely house in Dullatur, which is just outside Glasgow. My trip made complete with some christmas themed cupcakes. Her house has the most amazing view out the back, and feels so far out in the countryside despite only being 20 minutes away from the city. This is where I start to feel like a proper grown up and think about where I'd like to settle to buy a house and have a family of my own. I just don't think I could do it in a massive, bustling city. I'd always want to be that little bit out, not too far away from everything leafy and green.

My three little pigs, out having a wander and a munch together. The three of them finally get on without nipping or moaning (Dougal was a new member to the family this year) Dexter also just likes to sit by and watch them. Almost like he is the leader of the pack! I like to think that I am the boss of this mini zoo, but in reality these boys have got me well under their thumbs (or paws...)

Pictures above are my current reads - the launch issue of Things & Ink, and Mermaids 101 by Doreen Virtue. Things & Ink is a new magazine 'embracing female tattoo culture' and is like no other tattoo orientated magazine I have ever read. Fashion, beauty, photography, great interviews and just lots of other nice bits and bobs thrown in. It will only be out quarterly, and costs £10 an issue.

Mermaids 101 was sent to me by the publishers of my good friend Kyle's book (Hay House, the worlds leading Mind, Body and Spirit publisher) Given my recent mermaid pinup tattoo, I have been fascinated about them for quite a while now so I am looking forward to reading more about the history and magical stories surrounding them.
Something else really nice which I stumbled across lately, was the newest project of One Good Atom. They are a charity project who choose a guest artist every few months to create a set of limited edition prints and tshirts. 100% of the profits go to the artists chosen charity, and in this case Alan Kerr (who is actually a graduate of Glasgow School of Art!) chose Mind, who are a mental health charity. Having a long history of panic attacks and anxiety, I know how important it is to have someone to talk to about your experiences. The likes of depression and anxiety are as much of an illness as anything else you would see your doctor for. Despite all the times I told myself (and will sometimes still tell myself) that it is 'just' my personality. There is still such a HUGE stigma surrounding mental health. But I could really relate to this artwork, and the tagline on O.G.A's website is just brilliant - 'It's not going to change the world, but it is one good atom'

Once I saw that the print was available in tshirt form, that got me all over the internet looking for other cool tshirts with interesting illustrations or graphics. Procrastination at its best my friends. Why do your christmas shopping or tidy the house when you can just do lots of other random things to keep you distracted, until it is too late to do anything else with your day? Because it's great fun, that's why! With Lazy Oaf and Drop Dead normally emptying my bank account, I found this belter from Collective (who also work regularly with different illustrators and photographers)

Creepy/awesome xray teddy? I like! I should really say something fashion-y about classic white tshirts, or the use of ethical sources for cotton... but there is just something about xray photography that is beyond cool. I would like to send lots of things through an xray machine, just to sit behind and have a wee look.

Despite wandering the depths of the internet when I should be hoovering my room or painting my horribly chipped nails, I was just kidding and I actually have been extremely organised when it comes to getting ready for a christmas (For one MASSIVE reason which I can't actually write on here until after the 25th...) I have been taking part in all things festive, including putting together an outfit for under £100 MoneySupermarket.com's Festive Fashion Finds. The main picture doesn't show the gorgeous detail in my playsuit very well, but I have more pictures and I am going to post the whole thing in detail this week.

 In true christmas tradition I am also taking part in their Secret Santa Challenge, and have been paired with Helen from The Lovecats Inc. We were all given £25 to buy our presents, and I actually had never came across Helen's blog before this challenge. So what started off as a bit of research and crash course 'getting to know you' by reading through her posts, ended up as a full on stalker-fest as I just could not stop reading! Haha which I am actually quite glad about. Because she seems like such a nice girl and a pretty cool kid, who also shares my love of tattoos, full fringes, and cake. Naturally, I already want to be her best pal, and so many ideas for pressies started to spring to mind when I was reading. She'll be issuing a restraining order once she reads this but HELEN I HOPE YOU LIKE YOUR PRESENT(S)! I can't reveal what I got her just yet (of course) but we will both be posting about it again once receiving our pressies, which will be before december 31st. All I can say is that I love Lush Boxes and Thorntons Christmas Santa's as much as the next person... but they are an absolute cop out for a Secret Santa present! (Especially when you know your work colleague/book club companion/insert group member here more than a blogger you have never met before) I think it's the perfect chance to have fun and be imaginative. So that's what I tried to do. I have really enjoyed the first part of challenge, and hopefully it will pay off and Helen likes it too. The pressure is on as the second part involves judges at MoneySupermarket picking a winner and runners up for the most original, thoughtful and creative gifts. So we'll see what happens once everyone's parcels are revealed and I'll keep you updated.

A final thing before I head to bed - I had a lovely day out last week with a certain talented miss that I met at the Next event at the Blythswood. Ashley Baxter is one awesome girl, I was looking forward to hanging out with her again, and it turns out that we have a lot of things and friends in common. Ashley takes the lovely sort of dreamy photos that I mentioned at the start of this post, so when she asked if we could go explore Glasgow and she would take some pictures of my squishy wee face, I was happy to partake :) In between talking about boys, food, and condensed versions of our life stories, she took some smashing wee photographs. I shall blush and leave you with a few, but you can see the rest on Ashleys blog here.