Once upon a time there was a little girl who simply loved shoes. She loved high heeled shoes and flat shoes, sensible shoes and silly shoes. In fact, she thought all shoes were beautiful.
Then one day while out shopping, the most beautiful pair of shoes called out to her from the nearby shoe shop shelf.
“Hello little girl who loves shoes,” said the black shiny shoes (for everybody in the land knew that this was the little girl who simply loved shoes). Well, the little girl fell instantly in love with the black shiny shoes but alas she didn’t have a special occasion to wear them to and so couldn’t take them home with her, so she spoke kindly to the shoes,
“Oh, sweet little shoes, you truly are the most beautiful shoes I’ve ever seen, but I have no special place to wear you. The only way I can take you home is if the Shoe Fairy grants me a wish – if only I had a fancy-dancy ball to wear you to, then I would bring you home and wear you to the ball and we would dance, and we would be so very happy!”
That afternoon, when the little girl checked the letterbox, what should she find but a pink and silver envelope and in that envelope was a shiny pink and silver invitation to a fancy-dancy ball. The shoe fairy had granted the little girl her wish!!


The little girl was so happy, she rushed back to tell all her other shoes she would be bringing a new shoe friend over to meet them. So the little girl got into her shiny little car and drove back to the shops as fast as she could (without speeding of course, because that would be silly and dangerous and really not necessary). And there they were – her black shiny shoes with the most beautiful satin ribbon – waiting for her.
The little girl was so happy at being able to buy those beautiful shiny black shoes, that she celebrated by buying a new shiny red dress with the most beautiful shiny red satin ribbon. And they lived happily ever after.
And as she lay down to sleep after the fancy-dancy ball, the happy little girl who simply loved shoes was heard to whisper, “thank you Shoe Fairy, I love you Shoe Fairy,” which made the Shoe Fairy smile.

wall art print available online from RedBubble

Mineral Make-up - so what does it all mean?

These last few days while ironing in front of the tv - there's a lot of ironing to be done you see - I notice that every second advert on tv seems to be for mineral make-up.  So what it is?  Why is it different?  Do I really need it?  Will it get my ironing done any faster and more efficiently?  Will it resist our Australian summers without sliding off my face?  And what if I get caught in the rain - will it form brown sludge marks as it drips off my nose and chin?  Does it stain clothes?  How do you remove it?  What happens to the powder that doesn't stick to your face, will it fall on my shoulders like brown dandruff? Will it create more housework as I try and dust all the powder away? And for those of us lucky to have wrinkles - does this mineral make-up fall into our  creases (laugh lines, actually...) so that our faces look like a topographical map?  I'm really not convinced it's the answer to my make-up prayers, this mineral make-up thing...especially since I have to send away 3 easy payments of upteen dollars, plus postage and handling of course, and then I get all these "free" products to try, lucky me...  Well, the jury's out on this mineral make-up fad.  I haven't come across anyone who wears it or who has tried it.  Laura Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie seems to wear it, but I'm not sure that's enough endorsement for me.

"Pucker" by Josiem. This image kindly reproduced here with permission from the artist.  Visit Josiem here to view her work at RedBubble.

When love goes wrong...

...you take your life into your own hands!  Well, so it seems when you view this photograph.

It's actually a staged shot taken by Melbourne based photographer "Alexander Edwards", in collaboration with "Dallas Ashton", a visual effects artist.  Simple in it's composition and while being effective, complete with humourous title.  It makes you think - gosh, some people take their morning coffee very seriously indeed! 

Edwards has an exhibition at the moment of his work entitled, "Touch Me Series".  A simple, elegant and very moving portrayal of human feelings and thoughts expressed in the most touching ways.  To find out more about Edwards' work, click here.

Valentine's Day - What does it really mean?

Are we only meant to show our love for our loved ones on 14th February? What about the rest of the year? Maybe it's the one day of the year we remind ourselves to show our love, not take it for granted or forget about it. Why do so many people mistakenly think that love will take care of itself, when in fact, it's the hardest thing to do each and everyday. It takes a lot of strength and courage to put ourselves out there and show our love, especially when things don't go smoothly. What happens in the long term if love isn't shown everyday? Well, it withers and disappears and you wonder if it ever was there to begin with.

"Reach Her with Your Heart" By Scott Ruhs - kindly used here with Scott's permission. See more of the Scott Ruhs photographic art gallery here.