In A Whirlwind

In the past few weeks I've been crafty...

I've done a Made With Love market...

I've been on a road trip to Hobart with the boy and his kidlets (via Tasmazia)...

I've flown to Sydney...

I've had a good hair day (whilst wearing my latest op-shop triumph)...

I've caught up with my friends...

I went to some cool markets...

I've communed with animals...

I've spent some quality time at my Mum's place...

And I hung out with one of my favourite little families, who just welcomed their new addition during the week...

So now I'm home. Halfway through a seven day work week, planning Christmas presents to make, and finally writing a blog post.

It's months like this that make me realise that I'm actually a pretty lucky chick.

Adventureland

PLEASE NOTE: This blog post is not related to the movie of the same name. Adventureland, the movie, sucked. I wish to have no affiliation with it. The end.

Hanging out at City Park

Last weekend, the boy and I went to Launceston to take advantage of some el cheapo hotel rooms that I scored through work (have I mentioned how much I love working in tourism??).

I've not done much exploring in Launceston. I've driven through it, past it, and (I now realise) judged it purely on first impressions. I didn't like it. It looks grey, and busy (in comparison to the fair old town of Burnie), and I couldn't understand the appeal.

I do now. Launceston has brilliant cafes, a park with monkeys in it, a couple of fab vintage clothes shops, fantastic old buildings, a park with monkeys in it, a lovely cobblestone-type mall, and a park with monkeys in it.

Monkeys. In a park. Monkeys.

D and I drove up there after work on Friday night, and generally lived it up in the snazzy hotel room. We ordered room service, I locked his wallet and phone in the room safe while he was out of the room, and we pretended that we were rich and that this lifestyle was normal. We know how to have a good time.

On Saturday we got up early and explored. Oh, the exploring. We went to one of the best cafes that I've ever been to for breakfast (Fresh). Fresh is totally organic, and has a lot of vegetarian options (otherwise known as hippy food). It was tasty, it was funky, it was just fantabulous.

Fresh

Armchairs on the pavement outside Fresh

Chai latte *nom nom nom*

From there we went vintage clothes shopping, and I finally got to visit Nanna's. I've been wanting to visit Nanna's ever since I first saw Bianca from Goodnight Little Spoon talk about it, and it's everything that I thought it would be. Awesome clothes, chicks wearing kerchiefs serving up old-school milkshakes, laminate tables and vintage teacups - I didn't want to leave. And once they played The Smiths on their stereo, neither did D. Really, if you go to Launceston, go to Nanna's. Do it.

Drawer of fabulousness at Nanna's

Awesome decor

One of the few moments where I stopped squealing

We spent the afternoon wandering. I finally cracked under the pressure and got an i-Phone. We had a picnic in the park, and visited the monkeys. We went to the Queen Victoria Museum. We walked until my tootsies requested that we stop. We managed to fit in so much goodness, it was amazing that neither one of us imploded from a happiness overload.

My favourite portrait at the museum

On Saturday night, we made our way into town to grab some dinner from an Indian restaurant, and avail ourselves to a few beverages from a local barkeep. While we were sitting at the pub, Bianca rode past on her pink bike. I'll admit to being a bit excited. D missed the whole thing, because he was facing away from the window, and all he knew was that one moment I was sitting on the seat next to him, and then I was suddenly standing with my face smooshed against the window, talking about how cute her bike is.

And THEN (this story will end really soon, I promise) we drove down the Evandale and checked out the markets. Another thing that I can highly recommend. We didn't have much time, so we kind of just did a sweep of the area, and had very targeted browses (D - records, me - craft stuff) and then reconvened for more wandering.

Rusty old Vespa at Evandale

So, by and large, a radtacular time was had by all. All two of us. Just goes to show that you can't accurately judge a place from the drivers seat.

Girl + Boy

Be Still My Bleeding Heart

This will be my first soapbox blog post. It’s something that’s close to my bleeding heart – animal welfare. I’ve always been very fond of animals – to the point that I’m quite convinced that I’ll end up as a crazy cat lady. And in my more maudlin moments, I imagine a Bridget Jones-esque scenario involving me dying alone in an apartment and being eaten by cats, as opposed to Alsatians.

For a while now I’ve been volunteering at the RSPCA in Burnie, which only has small animals like cats, rabbits and guinea pigs. It’s actually a lot of fun for the most part. I help clean out the cages and in the meantime get lots of cuddles from animals. My motivation for helping them out wasn’t completely selfless though. My own cat still lives in NSW, and I miss her terribly. Her name is Torrance, but is more often known as Fatty. She has a very changeable temperament, drools far too much, and is known to seek revenge when she is cranky. But I love her – drool and all. So the RSPCA gives me time to chill with cats and get some quality animal hugging time in.

But as much as I enjoy working there, it can be pretty upsetting as well. I’m quite the sensitive young lady, and just can’t believe how some people treat their animals. And I haven’t even seen any of the abuse cases yet – I’ve only come across plain and simple stupidity.

There are lots of reasons why the RSPCA ends up with these animals, but the bottom line is that these little critters are just waiting for somebody to take them home to a loving and caring environment.

One fellow in particular has really gotten his rarely used claws into my heart (and his fur all over my black t-shirt). His name is Mouse, he’s 3 years old, and he’s blind. Mouse is just the coolest guy. His blindness doesn’t seem to bother him or intimidate him. As soon as his cage is opened, Mouse strolls out into the corridor to check things out. He loves exploring, and always comes back to have a quick rub up against your legs just to check out what you’re doing. He’s brave, friendly, and loves a good cuddle.

I’m really worried about him though. People come into the shelter wanting to pick kittens, or at the very least, an animal without an impediment. And especially coming into kitten season – Mouse is going to be overlooked. What I don’t think people see is that he’s actually pretty independent, and looks out for himself.

Basically, what I wanted to say in this post is that if you’re going to be getting an animal at any point, please consider getting it from a shelter, and don’t discount animals just because of their age. Breeders are always going to manage to sell their animals, but some animals sit in shelters for months, without a home to go to. As for the older animals – they have just as much personality as the babies, require less training (in the case of cats, they’re already house-trained), and have a lot going for them.

*climb off soapbox*