nebo peklo

Twinkie and Burrito

At very short notice (funds permitting!), Me and Gareth are going to California for a 2 week holiday in April!

To say I am excited is an understatement...I am beaming :)

My good friends are leaving Glasgow next week to live with family in CA for 3 months and then they will travel to Italy to work on an organic farm.  They had joked about us coming to visit them when they are in CA and we kept them to their word and at the moment we are frantically saving our £ to pay for flights to San Francisco.

Andy grew up in CA and has promised to show us the sites (our visit is too late for the 'testicle festival' - not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing hehe)

Planned itinerary (excuse myself in advance for my poor knowledge of geography!) -

1.  We will arrive after a 15 hour journey (Glasgow to San Francisco via Amsterdam) to stay in Carmel for a few days (the first day will be spent staring at a wall until the jetlag wears off).  Gareth has fantasies that he will step off the plane looking like Hunter S Thompson, but I imagine that the reality will be somewhat different

2.  Then up to San Francisco for 2 days - anyone have any recommendations - shops/galleries?

3.  We leave San Francisco for a road trip!! 

4.   A huge long drive heading North - First stop is Portland Oregon.  Again any recommendations would be much appreciated.

5.  I might be getting the order of the locations on our trip mixed up but we will be making stops to visit -

6.  ...and stay a night in the Timberline Lodge.  We are huge fans of the film 'The Shining' and I shall be making a special Wendy Carlos CD for this part of the journey

7.  ...and a visit to Astoria, Oregon to remember another childhood favourite film - 'The Goonies'

8.  Then we travel onwards up to Seattle stopping to visit where Twin Peaks was filled - Snoqualmie.  Cue Angelo Badalamenti soundtrack...

9.  Ending the trip with a visit to Vancouver...phew!

Loads and loads of driving to get to these places but we are hoping to cram it all into 2 weeks (madness but it will be worth it!)

I always have such a romanticised view of the US, I suppose partly due to the dominance of American Cinema in my childhood (and adulthood).  Hence my excitement at visiting the locations of films - Stepping inside the TV?
It will be great to see and experience the 'reality' and have an adventure with my friends. 

Some things I know I must do seem to revolve around eating food!? 

• Eat a twinkie (I know they are supposed to be disgusting but I have wanted one for about 20 years now!) 
• Eat a burrito! 
• Eat slice of cherry pie and a drink a 'damn fine cup of coffee!'
• Seafood in SF

Any ideas or recommendations welcome :)

323 in inbox

It was longer than I thought...

Tonight I have internet access back and normal(ish) service resumes.  I have missed reading everyones blogs that I could never imagine that I can catch up on what I have missed out on, but I am looking forward to checking in on them this week.  Thanks for all your well wishes in my absence!

delay and apologies

Sorry to everyone that is still waiting on a gocco print from me.  I ordered a batch of cardboard envelopes weeks ago and they STILL haven't turned up.  Having not sent out orders is stressing me out.  I have emailed the seller of the envelopes twice to no response!?

Update - all prints have been sent! expect to get one in the mail this week

quick break...

I am going to be having a break from posting for the next week or two.  Will be postponing the '3 drawings a week' too until maybe the week after next.  Feeling a bit swamped by my to-do list!  If you would like to contact me I can be reached by email or you can leave a comment here.  Due to my internet addiction, no doubt I won't be able to stay away from flickr or your blogs over the break!

I have also updated the shop with the yellow ochre drawings, and there are also gocco bird prints still available if anyone is interested.

Thanks :)

Tagged

Have been enjoying reading other's "4 things", so thought I would give it a go!  I tag anyone else who wants to try it :)

four jobs i've had (in order) -
1.    Checkout girl in Safeway
2.    Multimedia Designer (doing biology illustrations and animations – was good fun looking back on it, but made the foolish decision to give it up to move to London)
3.    2 weeks spent printing woodblocks onto fabric for a well known fashion designer
4.    Office Administrator at New Scotland Yard (!?) in London

four movies i could watch over and over (had to pick 6 instead) -
1.    Time Bandits
2.    À bout de soufflé
3.    Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
4.    Monster in a box (Spalding Gray)
5.    Midnight Cowboy
6.    All the Superman films

four places i've lived -
1.    Glasgow, Scotland UK
2.    Galashiels, Scotland UK
3.    London, England UK
4.    ?

four TV shows i love -
1.    Six feet under
2.    Curb your enthusiasm
3.    Wonder Woman
4.    Sunset Beach

four places i've vacationed -
1.    New York
2.    Barcelona
3.    Amsterdam
4.    Basel, Switzerland

four of my favorite dishes -
1.    Anything Italian
2.    Chilli Chicken Ramen from Wagamama
3.    Hot buttered toast
4.    Traditional Scottish Mince and tatties

four sites i visit daily (I visit about 40 a day, so I am keeping this brief)
1.    Flickr
2.    Ebay
3.    Typepad
4.    Online Banking

four places i'd rather be right now –
1.    Working overtime in my imaginary design job
2.    Basel, Switzerland to visit my best friend
3.    In US to visit my online friends
4.    Japan

EDIT...oops

Sorry for posting in haste yesterday that I would be moving blog...

After investigating other blog providers, i've decided to stay put with Typepad and just upgrade my account (and maybe a redesign)

Thanks to everyone who has emailed me and sorry for the false start

:)

...back

Feeling better! Thanks to everyone who left a kind and encouraging comment on my very down post last week...

I can appreciate beauty again without it intimidating me...

Instead i'm inspired by what I have found online and excited about new projects that I have on my list...

blue and red...

Do you ever find two colours together that you love so much you only want to be surrounded and wear these colours?

Light blue and red has been surrounding me recently...

Lovely Ronni Kappos earrings that my best friend bought me for my 30th birthday! Perfect

My pouch and sewing set that Alison made me for the swap.  It is gorgeous work, so delicate and the colour choice is perfect.  Thank you Alison I love it all.  Had to borrow a photo of your from Flickr to show here until I can get decent light to photograph it here.  Will update the photo here in a few days.

Eley Kishimoto new season fashion for Spring Summer 2006.  Eley Kishimoto is one of my favourite designers - I love the prints, colours and shape of the clothes.  Gorgeous!  You can see the full range here

Upwards...

Phew after 2 weeks break from the internet, celebrating Christmas and the rocky experience of turning 30 {the start of a new decade}

I feel ready for 2006 and look forward to a new year

Thanks for visiting here over the past year and wishing you all the best for 2006!

Nebo Peklo - why we blog

At last I can contribute to Lisa's idea of documenting why we blog -

I used to paint pictures of folder paper...

And I have always loved the paper fortune tellers that kids make.  These are universal games across the world and are also known as Cootie Catchers…and in Slovakia they are called ‘Nebo Peklo’.  I loved the name so picked it for the site.  Months later I found out Nebo Peklo means ‘Heaven Hell’! (This made me love the name even more!).  Not sure how others would pronounce it but in my head I say ‘N-eah-bo P-eah-klo’ = eah sounds like ‘yeah’.

Why I started it: Previously I lived in London with Gareth for 15 months and experienced some strange on/off depression (related to living in London) which led me to feel like I was losing my self and wiped out any creativity or motivation I had.  Last Christmas we decided to move back to Glasgow and this was due to take place at the end of January.  We celebrated our last Christmas in London and on January the 2nd I received a phone call from a family member which turned my world upside down.  This was the start of the year which I can safely say has been the worst so far (in terms of bad luck).  A week later still shaken from my bad news I returned to work and came home to find out that someone had kicked our front door into two pieces and had stolen (amongst other things) our new Christmas presents, jewellery, the watch I bought Gareth for his 30th birthday and my ibook!!

I never returned to work and moved back to Glasgow 2 weeks before we were due to leave. 

Thankfully the only thing we had insured was my ibook.  So in the months I spent back in Glasgow looking for a new job I started my blog.  I originally started it as a means of bookmarking websites and designers that I liked and wanted to use the website as a visual lookbook.  Then people started to comment on the site and I began corresponding with likeminded people from other parts of the world.  And maybe it’s a bit cheesy to say, but I consider them my friends now, people I trust and respect.  I can’t measure the encouragement I have received from visitors to Nebo Peklo and how it has motivated me and inspired me.  I love to visit my favourite blogs and get moody when I don’t get the chance to sit down and visit them all.  I have discovered so many new artists and designers by visiting my favourite blogs and have been so inpired by the personal work others create and have enjoyed watching  people’s work develop over the months.

My website is an important part of my life now and the connections to other people it has enabled me to make, has given me back my enthusiasm, creativity, motivation, trust.