definatalie.com

It’s hard to escape some of the more cringe-inducing messages in the lead up to Valentine’s Day in the western world. It’s a day that was created to fete early Christian martyrs (yes, plural – Valentine was a popular name for martyrs!) for things that people forgot about long ago, and for reasons of sacrifice rather than actual kissy-kissy romance. Early Pagans held a fertility celebration called Lupercalia in February and it’s thought that the creation of the Valentine holiday was an attempt to Christianise Pagan celebrations (remind you of Christmas?) As time went on the myths and practices surrounding Valentine’s Day became more romantic and were intended to celebrate the romantic love between a man and a woman. People exchanged cards with ribbon and lace, and eventually some entrepreneurial sort came up with the idea of mass manufacturing these trinkets. And you know the rest.

There’s a lot to disagree with when it comes to Valentine’s Day. It’s a Christian tradition celebrating hetero-normative love bastardised from Pagan celebration, basically. For years I was a single girl wondering about love and Valentine’s was always a day that mocked my inability to find a partner. To find a little joy I would make cards for my friends, drawing and gluing to show my appreciation and love for the people around me. Some years I would take time out to spoil myself, with home-made facials and manicures. When I started going out with Nick it didn’t really seem important that he shower me with gifts, so we never really made a big deal out of the day and preferred to spend it with friends. I really appreciate this new tradition we’ve created and feel like it’s a lot more enriching than selfishly squirreling our love away (though if you’re a parent it’s probably a good time to score some time to yourselves!)

SOME LOVELY THINGS TO DO
For yourself and others

❥ Paint your nails a crazy colour. Or red. Or any colour, really. (Photo by lauren the zebra)
❥ Give yourself a face mask and put used tea bags on your eyes (I have no idea if it reduces puffy eyes effectively, but it feels nice!)
❥ Make cupcakes for your friends.
❥ Have a picnic in the park and nap in the sun (good if you’re Australian, maybe not so good if it’s still frosty in your part of the world!)

❥ Nibble your jam sandwich into the shape of a heart (I used to do this all the time) or you could buy a proper cutter (they don’t sell the above one anymore though!)
❥ Book a date with a new friend.
❥ Doodle sweet things on cards and give them to your family and friends.
❥ Take a grandparent out to the movies.

❥ Stand in front of the mirror and practice cute poses. Do not leave until you have smiled at yourself.
❥ Write yourself a Valentine and put it in a book (so you or someone else can find it years later).
❥ THROW OUT YOUR SCALES.
❥ If you live with someone and their scales are in the bathroom, blu-tac a positive message over the display.
❥ Do absolutely nothing all day.

If you’ve got any body-positive all-inclusive plans for Valentine’s Day let me know in the comments!

What makes you happy? – shot on 5DMKII from Jon Rawlinson on Vimeo.

@thedesignfiles posted a link to one of Jon Rawlinson’s short films, Kuroshio Sea (which is also awesome, check it out) and being the curious cat that I am I clicked onto the next video which posed the question, “What makes you happy?”

A few years ago now, I used to have a VW Beetle, and I would ponder the question of happiness a lot as I drove late at night. Back then, my list of things that made me happy included:

• A full tank of petrol
• A full packet of ciggies (sigh, oh the past!)
• Driving home after a lovely night with my friends
• Singing songs really loud (my Beetle didn’t have a radio!)
• Driving the bug

Right now, I have a very bland sort of car and while it’s very reliable and doesn’t strand me on scary motorways in the middle of the night (with no mobile phone credit, I had to flag down a stranger!) it doesn’t really give me any happiness. I absolutely hated breaking down all the time in Poberty Jane (my bug) but driving it was thrilling and engaging. In a new car there doesn’t seem to be any kind of engagement or thrill (unless you buy something really fast, fancy and expensive!)

So, the things that make me happy must surely have shifted. I met and married Nick since those times, and I have embarked on a career as a graphic artist and designer. So let’s revisit the happy list, yeah?

Things that make me happy, 2009

• Solving a design problem
• Laughing with my family and friends
• Emptying my pencil sharpener
• Absent-minded doodling
• Stimulating conversation
• Seeing new places and exploring them by foot (like waterfalls!)
• Writing something that reflects how I feel as accurately and succinctly as possible
• Learning new things
• Collaborating with people
• Making beautiful food
• Expressing myself through personal styling (I hate to use the term “fashion” since styling one’s identity extends beyond that!)
• Meeting people I connect with
• Cracking jokes that people laugh at

I guess I could go on and on… and I feel pretty grateful for that! What makes you happy?

I’m not sure I’ve ever done a survey meme here before, but I’m in the mood for some light, brainless content after sourcing all those florals over the last few days! This one word survey is from Pip, who got it from Hazelnuts, who got it from PetalPlum, who got it from Bits of Sunshine, who got it from Leah!

1. Where is your mobile phone? There
2. Your hair? Blonde
3. Your mother? Cute
4. Your father? Smart
5. Your favourite food? Savoury
6. Your dream last night? Forgotten
7. Your favourite drink? Teamilk
8. Your dream/goal? Expert
9. What room are you in? Office
10. Your hobby? Creating
11. Your fear? Loss
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Content
13. Where were you last night? Here
14. Something that you aren’t? Neat
15. Muffins? Cheese
16. Wish list item? DSLR!
17. Where did you grow up? Brisbane
18. Last thing you did? Clean
19. What are you wearing? Dress
20. Your TV? On
21. Your pet? Gone
22. Friends? Smart
23. Your life? Excellent
24. Your mood? Productive
25. Missing someone? Nope
26. Vehicle? White
27. Something you’re not wearing? Pants
28. Your favorite store? Markets
29. Your favorite color? Red
30. When was the last time you laughed? Morning
31. Last time you cried? Friday
32. Your best friend? Everyone
33. One place that I go to over and over? Bed
34. One person who emails me regularly? Nick
35. Favorite place to eat? Out

• This tea cup from Vandalized Vintage. I have been saying for about a year that everyone better watch out once I get a display cabinet, because I’m going to start a tea cup collection so hard that everyone is just going to be left behind, sobbing. My Nana is going to sell me her GORGEOUS display cabinet, the display cabinet from my childhood (!) so I can finally get my tea cup collecting dream off the ground. She also gave me a beautiful hand painted saucer that her sister gave her, so it’s officially my first piece. But there will be more and many, including some vandalised pieces! Yeah!

• Doodling helps your memory! I have always been picked on by teachers, lecturers and meeting facilitators for absent mindedly doodling my way through conversations and meetings. I always argued that I was actually listening, and that doodling helped me absorb it all and VOILA now science has proven me right. In your face, naysayers!

• My iMac. I don’t know when it’s going to stop being awesome. Probably never. You’ll just have to deal with it. I should name it, but it doesn’t really have a personality or a gender just yet. My old computer’s name was Leila (but Nick spelt it Liela, woops) as we had a Futurama theme going on with our network. I think we need a new theme! (Do other nerd households do this?!)

• My “Everything’s Okay” drawing for rand rand renfrow renfrow’s zine might be going on the cover. Exciting! I made a zine once, and then I lost interest. This one will be sold in Austin and Houston around South By Southwest time, so if you’re in the region track it down. I hope he sends me one because I don’t have enough for a bus fare to Texas :/

• The State Library of Queensland are on flickr and they are uploading all these awesome vintage photographs. I like knowing about where I come from, but Brisbane seems to have a sordid and buried history so you really have to dig for information. For example, I just found out about The Battle of Brisbane the other day and I was stunned that I never knew about it before!!

• I don’t want to alarm anyone, but over 100 people think my drawings are tops. I didn’t think more than 30 people would join up, CRAZY!