measured words

clever husband

catjohnstone — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 04:27:43 +0000

From this….

…

…to this!!!

list

catjohnstone — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 07:07:49 +0000

I like lists. Usually not of this variety. But this I liked. This I agreed with. This inspired, affirmed and challenged.

Instructions For Life…

1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

2. Memorize your favourite poem.

3. Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have, or sleep all you want.

4. When you say, “I love you”, mean it.

5. When you say, “I’m sorry”, look the person in the eye.

6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

7. Believe in love at first sight.

8. Never laugh at anyone’s dreams. People who don’t have dreams don’t have much.

9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.

10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

11. Don’t judge people by their relatives.

12. Talk slowly but think quickly.

13. When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and ask, “Why do you want to know?”

14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

15. Call your mum often.

16. Say “bless you” when you hear someone sneeze.

17. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

18. Remember the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions.

19. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

20. When you realise you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

21. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.

22. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

23. Spend some time alone.

24. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

25. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

26. Read more books and watch less TV.

27. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll get to enjoy it a second time.

28. Trust in honesty but lock your car.

29. A loving atmosphere in your home is so important. Do all you can to create a tranquil harmonious home.

30. In disagreements with loved ones, deal with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.

31. Read between the lines.

32. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.

33. Be gentle with the earth.

34. Never interrupt when you are being flattered.

35. Mind your own business.

36. Don’t trust a man/woman who doesn’t close his/her eyes when you kiss.

37. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.

38. If you make or have a lot of money, put it to use helping others while you are living. That is wealth’s greatest satisfaction.

39. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck.

40. Learn the rules, then break some.

41. Remember that the best relationship is one where your love for each other is greater than your need for each other.

42. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

43. Remember that your character is your destiny.

44. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

(originally from here)

new blog love

catjohnstone — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 11:17:00 +0000

It’s that awful time of year isn’t it? Virus’ flying around left, right and centre. I actually glared at a man who coughed without covering his mouth in the shopping centre the other day. Shudder. Bubba and I have been knocked out for the last week with some strange and exhausting virus, but we are on the improve now. While I have been taking it easy I have discovered a couple of new blogs that I am enjoying at the moment. Thought I would share them with you.

Meet Me At Mikes. Based in Melbourne, fun, creative, and very sweet.

City Girl Rides. A lovely little blog about a lovely lady who rides her bike! (and she just came back from cycling in France, so the photos are amazing)

French Essence. French books, French films, French food and the most beautiful photos.

tdf update

catjohnstone — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 05:17:57 +0000

Tonight is the last ‘race stage’ of the Tour this year. It is a time trial and my favourite, Andy Schleck, is not a good time trialist. I have fully embraced the new Luxembourg team Leopard Trek as my own, and currently they have riders holding first and second place in the GC (General Classification). But if they don’t make good time tonight….

The last few nights have been extraordinary as the riders have raced through the Alps. One of my favourite moments was seeing Eddie Merckx (a 5 times Tour winner and all round lovely man) yelling encouragement to Andy Schleck as he struggled up Galibier (2645 metres above sea level). And to see it work. That a few words of encouragement helped Schleck kick it up another notch and he won the stage and made it to the top of the GC. Amazing. Just amazing.

I am still loving CrayonFire’s illustrations of the Tour. It is becoming very hard to choose which one I like the most. I am waiting to see what the stage up Galibier looks like, I’m sure it will be fabulous.

choice just got easier

catjohnstone — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:16:09 +0000

Found these,

love them,

want them all.

Find them and love them at Crayonfire.

tdf update

catjohnstone — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 13:11:27 +0000

So glad the rest day is tomorrow. I need a rest day. There is only so many late nights yelling at Leopard Trek to ‘just go’ that I can handle.

choices

catjohnstone — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 13:05:48 +0000

For the first time in 6 years we finally have a picture hook in our bedroom. It’s a long and boring story why we haven’t until now, and why we suddenly have one, so I won’t bother going into details. But the exciting thing is, is that now I get to buy a print for our room. Oh the choices! What to do? What to do?

I have been looking at paintings of Italy, quotes from Gibran, movie posters and illustrations of quaint French streets. I’ve looked at black and white, and I’ve looked at colour.

So I need your help – obviously! I am open to all suggestions. If you have any favourite prints, artists, quotes, illustrators, photos (etc!), that you would like to share, I would be massively appreciative.

Here are a few that I like.

Matte Stephens (on Etsy)

Bold and Noble (on Etsy)

Mr PS (on Etsy)

Hubby would love this!

tour 2011

catjohnstone — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 08:01:53 +0000

And just a quick note that the Tour De France is on again. These 10pm – 2am nights are hard work. But oh the joy of the Tour. It is not just the fact that it is France or that is elite athleticism or my favourite sportsman (oh, Jens), but it is snuggling on the couch with a glass of vino and my beloved. Bliss.

(and it is also healthy competition between friends who think that their fantasy tour team is better than yours….)

Leopard Trek (in all their glory!)

mint green

catjohnstone — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 07:51:27 +0000

I love the colour mint green. So much so that I got married in it. And I have now spent way too much time this afternoon looking up mint green ‘things’ on Pinterest. But I also discovered this very fun things called a ‘Color Palette Generator‘ which lets you input a picture and it generates a list of the colours and shades found in that picture.

Let me demonstrate.

Take picture you love, like the one below (found on Pinterest, of course).

Pop the URL of the picture into the generator – and hello – lots of lovely colours you love. Best to read the full instructions on the site, but if I can do it, you can do it. I also worked out how to take a ‘screengrab’ as well. Feeling very tech savvy at the moment!

words

catjohnstone — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 08:34:59 +0000

Our 5-year-old sensation is currently learning how to read. What an amazing, profound, fascinating process to be apart of. It makes me acutely aware of the power of words and that at their very base they are, simply, the tools of communication.