All posts tagged party

That time, you sold your soul to the devil? Yeah, that.

by tealou on July 27, 2008 in Kid LOLs with 2 Comments

As many of you may know, I have not been your traditional, um, mother. It’s not that I deliberately go out of my way to cause trouble with other parents, or to be indifferent to the needs of my children, but, well… you know… I never much went for all that over-mothering and over-consuming nonsense. I love my kids, of course, but you would never find me in the middle of a room of mothers, sipping coffee and bignoting about my children, or even worse, the brand of pram I own. It’s just… not my style.

Which is why I have surprised myself by starting to organise a birthday party for Mina’s 7th birthday, coming up. It’s never really been my bag (remember last year’s cake disasters here and here), so I am both excited and nervous about the prospect of actually making an effort. And before you ask, no I will not be making the cake this year (although I am tempted to attempt one purely for the benefit of the blog – my cake disasters seem to be quite highly anticipated!).

So anyway, I am doing something that is completely weird to me, hiring a hall, organising a “Daisy Rock star” party that Mina requested – because she’s getting a Daisy Rock for her birthday, and she’s uber-obsessed with them… so… here we are.

It is such a balance though, teetering that line between going overboard and over-indulgent with the party, and wanting to give Mina a great party. Mina came to me about 2 weeks ago, with a pile of sketches, telling me how she wanted her invitations to look, how she wanted to the cake to look, what colours, who to invite, etc etc… if she was paying me she’d be a great client (or the client from hell, I am not entirely sure!).

Anyway, so here I am, trying to plan a party when I have no inclination or experience… simultaneously balking at the excess of the party and being at least a little excited about organising it.

I gotta get out of the middle class-ness quick smart, I think it might be eating my soul ;)

That obligatory Blog Action Day post…

by tealou on October 16, 2007 in Uncategorized with 2 Comments

I committed to posting for Blog Action Day, so here goes!

I actually had quite a hard time thinking about something to write. So instead I will write a few paragraphs on a couple of things.

Observation 1. The Greens.

As many of my long time readers will know, I have spent a good part of my formative years as an activist, as a policy officer, and have tried to find a way to use my life to make an impact on other people. I have to admit, though, that in the past 2 years, I have become so jaded and unmoved by anything remotely political, that I am embarrassed to say, has turned into apathy.

There were a couple of reasons for this, but the main reason I became disinterested in Politics and activism was because I got burned out by political parties. I would love to sit here, all airy fairy and say “VOTE GREEN” ( I happen to know the Greens’ Senate Candidate and he is a wonderful, committed and intelligent guy who deserves to win), but I cannot in good conscience encourage anyone to elect a party that never actually gets anything done.

I joined the Greens in the wave of the “NO WAR!” Campaign. I never thought I would join another political party, but somehow I found myself inspired by the movement and became active in the party pretty quickly. I even had a stint as Policy Convenor. I made some amazing friends, too. But the party itself is dysfunctional, allowing for continual meeting hijacking, backbiting, temper tantrums and gossip. What I found intolerable about the party was that the party’s dysfunction was the elephant in the room — that stood there whilst people grinned through their teeth at each other, then went off and did their own thing (like the very immature dumping of manure outside a Minister’s pavement).

I guess with a pending election, I have a dilemma about how to vote. I genuinely adore the candidate, but the candidate represents the party. When I resigned from the Greens, I swore that I could not in good conscience vote for a party that would wilfully ignore such dysfunction and allow hissy fits and other toddler-like behaviour to continue… but… the candidate is someone I respect. What would you do?

Observation 2. A White American man says it, and everyone listens

Has David Suzuki ever won a Nobel Peace Prize? I ask this question not because I necessarily dislike Al Gore, but because I did find it surprising that he took a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts against global warming.

David Suzuki has been a tireless campaigner for environmental activism, and has been seen at the forefront of just about every climate change campaign there is. Yet, he has not been honoured with a Nobel Prize (it’s worth noting that in some years, they don’t even give them out!).

I understand that its not about who said it first and often, who said it the loudest, but I certainly find it interesting that Al Gore, with the backing of Hollywood, speaks, and everyone is suddenly listening. He’s not to blame, but I think it is symptomatic of a society that accepts the opinions of a rich white man, and a handful of Hollywood celebrities, over a distinguished and widely respected environmental scientist who has been talking about global warming since the 70′s.

It is great to see people becoming more globally aware, but I do wonder if it is out of a sense of fashion, rather than a genuine concern for the world around us, that motivates people. I just hope it doesn’t go out of fashion before it’s too late.

3. Environmentally friendly design

Not long ago Justine Ungaro shared a link with me called Blackle and I have been using it as my Google homepage. I have been thinking about carbon-neitralising my business — after all, as a self employed person I am in a unique position to actually enforce changes.

Freelance Switch has a great post on how Designers can be more environmentally friendly, and I plan on implementing quite a few of those. I also plan on riding with Mina to school in the mornings rather than drive. I am also going to go from eating less meat to cutting it out altogether (I eat meat once a fortnight at the moment max, but I see no reason why I can’t just cut it out).

So, there you have it. I cobbled together soething for Blog Action Day. Not brilliant, but hey… I did it.

:)