the cutest thing

so today (or rather, yesterday) i witnessed something funny, something weird, something nice and something awesome!

i was on the bus, minding my own bees wax when this guy gets on.
he was one of those big, gruff guys you could imagine spitting on the pavement and shouting obscenities at young girls when they walk past.

as he walked past a young mother at the front of the bus, he sat down opposite them and looked at them.

and all of a sudden he started making baby faces at her tiny child. you know the whole goo goo thing that people do. mainly weird people. and mothers.
yes, baby faces.

it was the cutest thing and i felt so bad for thinking he was one of those douches.
it made my day.


love love

eva-made week: the end

so this brings us to the close of eva-made week.

i hope you enjoyed!!

and now for one last photo

this isn't a great photo, but it's just such a beautiful memory-trigger.
we only spent one day in venice, and that one day, the weather decided to turn for worse and create snow. how that is bad i have no idea.

i was so excited i started skipping.

all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

eva-made week: gondolas

the one thing i recommend everyone do at least once in their life is to visit venice.
it's such a unique and beautiful city.

each time you walk down the same path, it's a different experience. every nook and cranny has little wonders, whether it's the quaint terraces and petite balcony gardens or the ultra-modern stores including a ferrari store, containing the only car i saw in venice!

the gondolas are something that i've never seen before, their lengthy flat-bottomed exteriors.
i'm pretty sure this photo is of a luxury one, coz i did find some pretty crappier ones when i was there.

but seriously
go to venice


all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

eva-made week: piazza san marco

this is the night view of the aforementioned piazza san marco.
yum.

something about this photo, maybe that i captured someone making their way across it showing their movement? i could never have done that with my ol' point-and-shoot


love love

all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

eva-made week: venice-made lights

these bright lights lit up the way from our hotel to the ponte rialto.
we arrived after dark and this is still the strongest memory from that night.



all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

eva-made week: pretty walkways

so the story goes like this
- hey eva, remember the start of the italian job
e: i LOVE that race scene
- we're here..
e: OMGOSH WE ARE. WE'RE IN VENICE!!!!
- anyway, you know the part where he buys the necklace..
e: yeah...
- well, that's where we are. it's called st. mark's square.
um, eva, are you okay?
e: DUDE, DON'T YOU RECOGNISE MY OMG-THIS-IS-SO-EXCITING DANCE?


this photo is of a walkway next to the basilica cattedrale patriachale di san marco (the big famous church in the aforementioned st mark's square)

all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

i'm pretty sure i have a thing for light, coz what's striking about this photo is the curves on the ceiling and the shadows they create.
or maybe i'm just influenced by my latest uni assessment.
either way,



love love

eva-made week: venice at night

aaaaah slr love and shutter-length-decision-ability love.




all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

eva-made accidents: advice

yesterday, i took off my shoes to get onto a chair in my tutorial. on the way down, my brain decided to tell my foot to head directly for the tack waiting next to my shoe. my foot obeyed. i now have a hole in my foot and the everlasting image of that tack through my skin. fml

i will never do it again.
taking off my shoes, not letting my foot listen to my brain. THAT would a cause of concern



love love

eva-made week: and then came venice

what else is there to say?

all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

eva-made week: milano centrale

the beautiful hall at the train station in milan.

unfortunately i only have ankle-spraining memories of this place. (not me, family member)



all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

eva-made week: cathedrale sky view

this is taken atop the duomo cathedrale.i am just in love with the structure and the lines and the colours and sigh.....

all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

eva-made week: galleria

galleria vittorio emmanuelle II
old architecture love

p.s. sorry about the posting gap in eva-made week - i had my first uni assignment due and that evidently calls for stressing. :)


all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

eva-made week: italian style

and now to go back to holiday photos.

we spent a couple of days in italy after our skiing trip.

i LOVE it

and so first we hit up milan.
this is taken from the ascent of the duomo di milano.


all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

eva-made week: burger

this is an old photo custom order for a friend who loves maccas.
this was also the first time i worked with white clay.
so this is when i learnt that white clay never stays white. the hard way.

but it still looked right.

eva-made week: choc orange muffin

what's with my obsession for recreating chocolate things?
i don't even eat the real ones!


my first attempt at canes (tubes of something, in this case orange slices.) i was pretty happy.

eva-made week: c is for cookie

yummmm!
this even looks appetising to me
even with the whole don't-like-chocolate-thing

this was my first cookie. or the first one that i let other people see. (the others were so terrible no-one else ever saw them)

took me about an hour to perfect the texture. to get that perfect, messy, just baked texture.

eva-made week: pink cupcakes

and now for edible subjects.
although i maintain snow is edible. but that's a different story.

these are made with polymer clay and each one is no larger than 2cm high.
some of these look a bit wonky because i have never made clay things during summer before (i started last year in autumn) and the heat made them all soft and hard to work with..

also note the crisp focus on the middle one. have to thank nikon for that :)

love love

eva-made week: snowy sunsets

the reward for a hard day's ski is the beautiful sunseti think i have some kind of obsession with the lines that skis form on the slopes. it's like a natural order. especially the beautiful dusk-esque light playing over them. love

and at the end of the day you can hang up your gloves
and let your hands freeze as you take photos of the sun setting. which ironically means it's freeeezing

all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

eva-made week: narnia

HAH.
i wish.

i just love this view and the snow covered lampost is narnia-esque



all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

eva-made week: the view from my skis

to continue with my ski trip photos..

at the end of a long day, i take more and more breaks.
not to mention photo breaks.

on one such occasion i just noted how the sun was skimming over the crumbled snow and decided that i had to have a photo. but i didn't have my camera!

so the next day i made sure to find a beautiful patch of skiied-on snow and voila, this photo was made


all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

eva-made week: blurry snow

all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

aaah the joys of an slr and manual focus.
the view from our holiday house, at about 9am. that's when you first see the sun coming up over the mountain.

and on some days, such as this one, there is a layer of fog. we're high enough to be above it. it's an amazing view - being above the fog layer. when it covers a larger area you feel like you live in the clouds..

:)
love love

eva-made week: snow and sky love

there is a funny story behind this photo.
i was skiing on a fairly flat slope. ie. i had to push with my stocks for about 10 minutes. i got really tired, stopped, turned around and saw this view.

i love it because it's so simple, yet so beautiful.
and the sky is just an amazing colour.

this is the best weather for skiing.

all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

eva-made accidents: this actually happened to me

yesterday, i learnt to be extra careful when brushing teeth because i poked myself in the eye with my toothbrush and spent an hour washing out the toothpaste. fml

yes, this actually happened to me.
i was brushing my teeth and reached up with my free hand to do something to my hair (the shock wiped my short term memory as well) and knocked the brush and all of a sudden my eye was stinging.

yes, i tooth-brushed my eye.

and it stung. like hell. i couldn't open my eye for a while.
then i used black tea (don't ask me, ask my mother) to wash out the tooth paste and then washed it out with water. then i went to sleep and when i woke up, i'd forgotten it had happened.

one week of eva-made

hello there!

i am devoting an entire week to showing off my skillz by posting about the things i create.

to start off (and continue on the holidays photos...)

all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

love love

mental gymnastics

something i love about europe is the extremely reliable, extremely on-time train system.

but on my recent trip to the french part of switzerland, my brain was put through some mental gymnastics. (and it fell and hurt its wrist)

i took a train from a train station where everything was written in french and around me everyone spoke french. my train ride lasted a mere twenty-two minutes and when i got off, the language of choice was swiss german.

it's just so amazing that, within one country and one short train trip [the equivalent of my ride to uni] the language spoken can change! my brain exploded and i also made a fool of myself, speaking french instead of schwiizerduetsch to the wrong people.


the funny thing is, you can speak the wrong language to someone and there's a good chance they'll understand you anyway. that's how the education system of switzerland rolls.

virtual whiteout

how do you explain the concept of the delete key to someone who doesn't use a computer?
i have posed this question to many acquaintances and the answer was mostly the same -
'it gets rid of what you have'

i can see how thsi would work - but only because i use a computer. and the delete key.
i think it would be much harder because someone who doesn't use a computer doesn't get the idea of virtual memory and hard drives, right?

what do youse think?


p.s. if anyone asks, the other name for a delete key is virtual whiteout

baked deliciousness

okay. see on the right side there. where it says i'm a wannabe jewellery-maker? i'm kind of a jewellery-maker, so it should really say wannabe successful jewellery-maker.

here is a sample of my things.

















i make them out of polymer clay.
this is a custom-made one for my friend who wanted a whole lotta baked deliciousness on her wrist.

kathryn carpenter

don't get your
knickers in a knot.
nothing is resolved
and it just makes
you walk funny.

shadows

so for uni i've been looking at light and spaces and shadows etc and look what i found!
love this cheeky pic :)this girl is amazing
her name is kumi yamashita and she's an artist and here are some picked works of hers that deal with shadows.

amazing
i just admire people who can create realistic faces, mainly because that's a skill i don't have

again, so beautiful

can't see it very well, but these are all sheets of paper that are crinkly on one side. the shadows just add a touch of face onto the side. wowweeee

using newspaper to cover themselves from the rain :)

found via frozenly

gotta love the interwebs

this is a most hilarious website called Not Always Right
where people send in snippets of things that happened to them whilst at work, dealing with customers. there are people who work in retail, call centres, fast foot places, corporate companies even museums and libraries!

i just love this site because it really rings true to me (is that even the way that saying is said?) becaue I have worked in jobs that require serving customers, and although mostly there were good experiences there were some moments that i would consider putting up on the site.

this one is an older one that i just loved.

D'ohpe
retail - florida, USA
customer: "Why was my return denied?"
me: "Ma'am, the system is showing us that you have recently made a lot of returns without a receipt. When this happens, corporate flags your ID and you can't make any non-receipt returns for a while. It's to prevent theft."
customer: "I'm not stealing. In fact, I have a lot of money. My boyfriend is a street pharmacist and he has a lot of money."
me: "A what, ma'am?"
customer: "A street pharmacist! He sells dope."
me: "That is more information than I want to know ma'am. You have a good day."


funny that, i've never heard it called a street pharmacist.
sounds mildly legal.

cool stairs!

i highly approve of these stairs

so, for my birthday, can i please have a slide next to my stairs?

found via minor details

portuguese architecture

this house is absolutely stunning
visually, it just captures your eye, especially the first picture because the lights inside the house compliment the dusk. plus, the amazing suspended structure on the left side. sigh.
aaand i have a thing for bungalows.just check out the underneath view of the suspended side - imagine the planning it took to get this right. and still looking so beautiful. did i mention this is over a river? the cevado river to be exact.

pretty bathroom. pretty morning light. pretty stones.

i think what i love so much about this is the usually not-so-nice but in-this-case-nice cement exterior. it just sits in front of the natural surroundings but doesn't impede too much, if that makes sense.

looooove the bath.

inside outside architecture. bring nature inside. love it
love the use of windows to use natural light = minimise lighting = minimise carbon footprint = extra love from eva. and nature-loving; no trees were cut in the making. despite the fact that the house is situated in a national park. awesome!

aaaaand i love this last photo. its just. so cool.
and especially hwo it shows the overhanging part of the house. it reminds me of a long match box. anyone?

found via trendir

herzog & de meuron

i was told to check out this great blog.
and i am so glad i did

i found out that my very favourite country (second only to australia of course) boasts the ownership of this fabulous architecture company, herzog & de meuron. (no better links found, sorry!)

not only did they create the bird's nest stadium (um, hells yeah!) they are exponentially cooler for creating this beautiful baby...

the vitra haus!

so i couldn't find any better photos anywhere, these are off thecoolhunter.com.au, the aforementioned amazing blog.im not exactly sure where this is, but i'm assuming the middle, under all the protective outer layers haha. love the look of the wood.

beautiful white spaces to show off chairs. :)


ah drool.
when i build my own house (not with my hands, with the hands of a skilled worker) so more like, when i get my own house built - i want something like this. something that's different, that stands out. and is swiss designed, dur.

and habits again

It is not a bad idea to get into the habit of writing down one's thoughts. It saves one having to bother anyone else with them.

- isabel colegate

Habit is a habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.

- mark twain

oh. my. gosh.

so this just in.

i know what i'm getting for my birthday.

i call it the brilliance of modern technology, others may call it muggle crap.

the long awaited .. wand remote control
you pretty much learn the 13 different commands it knows, such as flick upwards and big swish, then program certain things to it.

the best part is, if you have anything that uses a remote you can program it.
i just need to acquire remote-control lights and i'm set. forever.

saying the spells is optional.

it even comes with a faux-dragonskin box and diagram instructions.

via the ever-awesome iwoot

numero duo

here is another picture taken on my holidays.all images property of eva @ lekorkboard.blogspot.com 2010

at the end of a great day, heading down the mountain for the last time watching the sunset is the most beautiful part of the day. i may or may not have an obsession with the sun, and the majority of my photos are of beautiful landscapes that feature the sun.

i especially love this photo because of the way the sun skims over the foreground slopes and gives them a beautiful creamy complexion. yes, i did refer to snow having skin.

but the main reason i love this photo is because of what it reminds me of
1. switzerland, my (other) homeland
2. my holidays and the great times we had
3. skiing, a passionate hobby
4. beautiful, natural landscapes

love love

italian architecture

so browsing trendir this fine morning, i stumbled upon this lovely beauty

maybe it's the snow and straight lines combo - there's something about smooth plain lines against a natural backdrop that i just adore - but i saw this and gasped in amazed-ness.

just check out the swirly red thing. is it a chair? is it a sculpture?
i must have one
snow! i miss it :(

beautiful ballet and magnificent music

polina seminova and herbert grönemeyer combination.
it's called letzter tag (last day)

everytime i watch this i get the shivers, because i think it's just an amazing video.
i also love the lyrics of the song. and i love her dancing. i love every single teensy bit of it.
THIS much.

habits. they die hard.

Okay, I have something to confess.
I actually love getting up in the morning. Yes, I know.
I love being able to accomplish things before breakfast. I love the sunrise and the morning light it creates. I love feeling as though my days are really as long as summer days.
My point being, when I was at school, getting up at 6.30am was not an issue for me. I didn't care that I had to do it.

But then I finished school and had free time (yay) and I was allowed to sleep in. And of course I did, who doesn't? But a tiny bit ofme was still bothered coz I felt like I was wasting the morning.

I now think it was just about the routine. The fact that all my life except for holidays and weekends and the before I started school, was the same. Get up, get ready, eat, go to school. Every. Single. Day. I'm one of those people who finds what they like and sticks to it. And I guess, I stuck to it. For thirteen long years.

But now I sometimes get worried that I'm becoming too attached to something. So I do my crazy thing and I change certain routines. Right now, my favourite is wiping all the songs off my iPod and starting again. To freak myself out and cleanse my ears - I only put the songs back that I remember having on there and that I actually listened to.


And now for some wise words from Fyodor Dostoesvky:
"The second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half."


Okay, now don't go all crazy on me and throw me out the window, but along with enjoying getting up early,
I also don't like chocolate.
There. I said it.

found it!

so i may or may not have spent the past six years searching for this song after hearing the da-da-da part of it.
but finally, success!




and it was totally worth it.

karen kaiser clark

life is change.
growth is optional.
choose wisely.

chair love

oh look how graceful and lady-like this chair is!