Tails’ Blography

My Christmas gift from my fiance this year was two GelaSkins, one for my HTC Desire Z and one for my Kindle 3 (now known as Kindle Keyboard since the new Kindles came out).

Happily I logged on to GelaSkins.com and browsed the many, many skin options available by so many talented artists. I eventually decided that, for my Kindle, I needed a darker colour one, as the light colours just didnt quite match with the grey background of the original Kindle cover.
And of course, I love nature and photography, so who better to go with as an Artist but National Geographic! Right, so I’d narrowed down the choice (the fiance had grown board by this point so it was just me now haha) of artist, now I just needed to pick a design.

It was a tough choice between the Baobab Silhouette and The Orion Nebula…the colours of the Baobab just pulled and tugged at me, and made me imagine sitting somewhere under the beautiful African sky reading my Kindle as dusk fell all around me (until the light became too dim to read haha). But the contrast of the bright pink colour around the keyboard bugged me. So I looked to the Orion Nebula. Immediately my mind was drawn to Pern, one of my favourite series of novels as I’ve mentioned before. Plus, if I look up into the night sky outside my house, I can see Orion and his Belt on many an oft occasion.

And the contrast by the keyboard wasnt too noticable and it didnt bug me. Done and done.

We ordered it on the 28th, and sadly had to pick “snailmail” for $3.95. I just couldnt justify spending $19.95 on P&P when the Kindle skin itself was $17.95 lol. But, I sat back to wait, and on on Jan 2 I got an email to say my order had been shipped, and on the 20th it arrived! (However, Murphy and his Law entourage decided to show his face and the Post Office was closed so I couldnt collect it til today).

So as soon as I got home, I whipped it open and ooh’d and ahh’d at the pretty colours (and the most beautiful Gizmo who I made custom for my cellphone from my own photo of course!). Of course I had to take before (, during) and after photos of the skin before applying it to my Kindle, so I present to you the transformation of my Amazon Kindle 3 to my Amazon “Orion Nebula” Kindle 3:

Before, front

GelaSkin!

Skinned!

Close up

Back

I didnt upload a photo of it, but the texture of the gelaskin is a crosshatch pattern which makes it seem more sturdy and stretch resistant while applying, and you can reapply it a few times before it loses its stickiness and becomes unusable.

All in all, I’m very happy with my Kindle’s new makeover, and for anyone wondering if its worth it to spend the dough, I highly recommend GelaSkins

So this weekend is going to be pretty busy for me, but also nice and relaxing. Got Skyrim so going to install and play that this weekend, heard its quite good. Actually, it was likened to crack by two clients of mine because its really addictive. I’m a fan of role-playing games, so I’m keen to see what all the hype is about with this game. I havent played Oblivion which was the game before this one, but apparently they dont need to be played sequentially.

Then, the Kenaf rat bedding I ordered should be here by now, so I’ll be collecting that at the post office tomorrow. Then its off to drop off the photos from my latest wedding for print, and then to Tygervalley to get my sister’s Christmas gift. Cant tell you what it is, as I’m not sure if she follows my blog, but I can tell you its super cute, and I ordered one for myself as well! If it wasnt so expensive, I’d order more, but they’re limited edition so the price is a little steep.

Then, lastly, its off to see my best friend who I havent seen in AGES! Could almost be months, easily. Her work hours and mine dont match up, so we rarely get to see each other. It’ll be nice to see her again, and her rats, and fish, and kitty. We also decided to do Thanksgiving again next year, for the first time since her sister’s death, which is nice. Even though I’m not American, I miss celebrating Thanksgiving. I’ll handle the turkey side, since she’s vegetarian of course. It’ll be nice, myself and her and our respective partners. And by Thanksgiving next year, it’ll be 4 months until my wedding!

On the wedding front, nothing really has been done, but I have booked an appointment to view Zevenwacht, which looks like a pretty stunning venue. They’re on the higher side of our budget, but if they’re worth it, we’ll make a plan.

Going to PE this Christmas, so going to miss my family, but at least M will be able to see his family, which is just as important to me. Going to try and also pop through to EL as well to see some friends of mine who I havent seen in ages, but they’ll also be in CT early this Dec so all is not lost if we dont see them during Christmas. They recently bought a house, so it would have been nice to see it along with them, but we’d have to borrow the in laws’ car to drive the 3 hr drive, and they dont really seem keen to lend it to us, which sucks, but I guess its their call.

So, thats about it from my side. Will check in probably next week.

Oh, one last thing. One of my hard drives crashed. Yes, its horrible to even type it. All my design items were on there. I am one sad puppy and I literally mourned for a day. Didnt get out of bed and I just slept. M is going to try and work some magic, but for now, I’m screwed.

Hmm, I cant end on that bad note, so I’ll mention I’m going to a girls night with some colleagues in a fortnight. We’re doing all you can eat sushi and chinese. I think its going to be fun, and it’ll be the third time we’re trying to organise it, so here’s hoping it actually pans out this time haha.

I’ve been a fan of Roxette since at least 1993, when I was in Std 2. I remember my best friend at the time, Bernadette and I used to listen to their songs over and over. They came to South Africa when I was 15 (I think) and I wasnt able to go see them, and the next time they were hear was earlier this year in May. I was broke after having to pay for Gizmo’s vet bills, and was truly heartbroken not to be able to see their concert.

I’ve actually never been to a concert before. My mom went to Michael Jackson, my sister went to Whitney Houston and I think Smashing Pumpkins, but I have never been to a concert before. Ever. So when I found out Roxette was coming back to South Africa next year in June, I promptly booked a ticket! Golden Circle! Yes, just one. I am rockin’ it solo.

I dont know anyone else who likes them enough to spend R480 on a GCircle ticket, so I’m going alone, but its ok, I’m one of those people who will pretty much chat to anyone haha and I’m sure I’ll still have a great time. The next concert I’m waiting for: Hanson. Yes, I love them too! And one day they’ll visit our beautiful city. And I’ll be there, probably alone again haha!

I won this prize at work for having the highest Logitech sales for the week. It’s a small prize, but its cute and I always appreciate prizes, no matter how little they may be. And this one’s really useful too, considering we’re wanting to go camping next year!

Why are the titles of my posts always the most complicated to think of? I always struggle for a title, although that shouldnt be unusual. I remember reading somewhere once that the title of a book was always the last thing to be decided on.

Hmm. Anyway.

I’m thinking of baking more cookies this weekend. Chocolate cookies, mmm. But I cant decide how I’m going to decorate them. Any thoughts and ideas would be appreciated, nudge nudge. I was thinking Angry Birds, but I need to find a wider array of tips to use to do any details.

Had to delete a bit of this post as I typed this up yesterday (or was it the day before that?) but never got around to finishing it. So where to continue? Fiance bought MW3 and played it all of the night before last, and he seems to like it which is great. I was doing a website for my dad’s friend and its finally finished, along with photos I was editing for the wedding I shot in Oct, so I finally have free time in the evenings again to relax. Its wearing me out working all day and then still having to focus and work in the evenings as well as make dinner etc.

Got home this evening and what did I see? A gardened garden!! Turns out, my mother came in during the day with her gardener and cleaned out our garden so its looking lovely now!!! A little sparce, but nothing really grows in my garden anyway, but its all weed free and trimmed!! And my tomato plant that sprouted itself has been propped up with a twig (taken from the cuttings of the overgrown hedge haha) and there are SO many tomatoes growing!!

(pics taken with my cellphone)

So many full bags!

My tomato plant in the front

So awesome! Of course we’ll reimburse her for the gardener, and I’ll buy her something really nice or give her a voucher to buy herself something of her choice. It was such a lovely surprise to come home to after a long day at work. <3

I really have learnt so much from my mother during my years, and really, without the amazing and strong woman she is, I wouldnt be half the woman I am today. I’m so blessed to have her in my life to guide and love me, no matter what.