Nail polish… I’ve been a bit addicted to it lately… painting my nails at least every 3 days!!!! I started a nail tumblr feel free to follow me over there

Larping… I was in an awesome Victorian LARP last weekend I have one next weekend and another in November!!! WOOT!

Sewing… I have heaps of things to get through! hopefully this weekend will be all sewing all the time!

My Hair… It’s so long it’s Bra Strap length at it’s longest!

and finally Wreck My Journal being on it’s way!!!!

(sorry this is incredibly short I wanted to get this out there and done before I forgot AGAIN! :-p )

I on the other hand am sitting in the couch snuggled into a quilt. I’m starting to unpack my warm woolen summers, and favorite knits. Out come the simple summer boots and the useless* umbrellas. I’m staring grumpily at the grey, cold, rain thinking about all the summer things I miss. It’s autumn.

When I lived in Michigan I loved autumn, the smell, colour changes, and the slow transition to crisp snow. In Wellington it just gets cold and wet. Trees have leaves one week and none the next. Instead of slowly introducing you to cold weather Wellington autumn slowly sneaks up on you and suddenly one day you were wearing tank tops and shorts the next your bundled up in 4 or more layers.

At first I hated it, but now I have adjusted to it. It just means more indoor hobbies. Autumn has become less about playing in leaves and more about knitting, spinning and cooking.

And nothing makes autumn more bearable than jarring/canning, especially when it’s your favorite.  I remember every autumn I would look forward to two things, both from my grandmother. Her homemade delicious pumpkin pie and apple butter.  Being gluten intolerant and living in New Zealand make the pumpkin pie nearly impossible for me to make. The apple butter is a different story completely!

Note: apple butter does not contain any actual butter or dairy. The name apple butter comes from it’s smooth butter like texture.

This past Saturday I got down to work with 2kg of delicious granny smith apples and everything I needed and got down to work.  I was using this recipe with a few minor changes; I left out the lemon items and added a touch more clove.  The thing about apple butter is it takes hours and HOURS of work, I spent at least 3 hours alone just stirring. It’s all worth it in the end.

Sorry I couldn't help taking a wee bite or two first.

There are very few redeeming features to Wellington autumn, but making jams, jellys and apple butter is right near the top

*the umbrellas are useless due to the constant high force wind that we have here in wellington!

Even now as a young newly-wed trying to live on one salary while waiting for immigration to decide if I can work and live in NZ for another two years I find myself looking forward to it. I know we won’t be going out to dinner and I won’t be doing a day of luxury, all manicures in this house are DIY. Part of what excites me is that this is my first birthday with my husband and I’m actually rather looking forward to being 30 (I’m only turning 29 this year). Every birthday I have now is a reminder that I’ve spent another year with my amazing husband.

I did make myself something a bit special for my birthday I tatted myself a dragon! Now I’m not a huge fan of dragons, and I know there are some amazing patterns for dragons out there, but this guy was too adorable. He reminded me a lot of Pete’s dragon a childhood favourite film. So I introduce to you Brookie’s dragon!

He’s Martha Ess’s paprika pattern done in navy DMC perle 8 with silver lined beads(whichare a bit too big but oh well)  I then permanently stiffened him with gel acrylic(same stuff they put on nails) to use as a bookmark thus why he has a super long tail. I will definitely be making more of these in the future!

P.S. thanks for all the well wishes, I’m still absolutely pathetically sick sleeping most of the day.

It’s weird looking back now it seems like so much has been happening i don’t know where to begin or what I should talk about, maybe I’ve gotten a bit rusty as blogger, I feel rusty.

I can’t believe it’s 2010, 10 years since I was in high school come thus June,  8 years since I transitioned come this July, 2.5 years since I moved to New Zealand to live with my husband. I still remember the feeling of being unsure of where I was going, getting lost often, and in general being confused about my surroundings.  Wellington is so big that there are still parts of it I have never seen and parts that confuse me, unlike the relatively small San Francisco I used to live in.  Still doesn’t feel like home, and I still miss San Francisco at times, but things will change. A New year, a new decade, it seems like just last year we were all panicking about Y2K, or in shock over 9-11. It’s amazing looking back at how much I have changed in these past 10 years.

One thing that new years always bring along with them are resolutions, I haven’t made any resolutions so much as a few goals. and in the effort to help me stick to them I guess I shall share them with you.

1. become a bit more fit and healthy(if this helps me lose weight than so be it)

2. Expand my business to the best of my potential

3. Finish at least 12 items this year(after realizing last year I completed one super simple scarf and shawl and that’s it ALL year)

That’s it just a few simple goals, nothing to earth shattering. I like to think I’m doing good I’m eating healthier and participating in the Couch 2 5k challenge even though i am a bit stuck right now… I’m plotting and scheming business plans. I have finished one item already this year that’s my wedding shawl( yes it was 3.5 months late what you wanna make of it?)

In general I think life is good, and although I am busy it’s a good busy I’m enjoying it! I have so many plans for the next year I hope some of them pan out. and with those thoughts I would like at say, I’m thinking of starting an online crafting magazine, if you are at all interested in submitting a project  or article or review please let me know via email Zine AT brooklynnemichelle DOT com

It was really fascinating as  he talked though the history about how as the faiths changed our view and outlook on world changed. I sat back and just listened as Llyod explained about how the ancients polytheism  meant that they saw the earth as part of them. They respected everything part of natures in order not to cause offense to the god that was in charge of that item. They also believed that the gods walked among them, Because of all of these things we were connected to the planet all of it’s cycles and storms. As we slowly moved to monotheism from 200 CE to 1000 CE(which was the begining of a dark ages) our thought processes with from a living earth in which we were connected to, to a inanimate object that was the domain of satan and thus doomed. It was from this period on to the late nineteenth century that we created this idea that the earth didn’t matter, that it wasn’t important and thus no sins could be made against it.

I think what astounded me the most was that Llyod is a 90 year old minister and theologian and was saying Christianity kinda got it all wrong on this level and we need to be more like the Ancient Greeks and Romans. I believe he is on to something there and was very fascinated to hear what he had to say. He wasn’t saying we should all whorship 18 Gods and Goddess, but instead that perhaps God wasn’t to just be whorshipped in a church.

One of the best ways we can do the work of God and obey God is to take care of the earth he built. It is our responsibilty as the so called dominant species to make sure the earth is in good condition and well managed. Making sure to keep the air as clean as possible and that animals are protected when we need them. We cannot sit back and let more and more species become extinct. Just because we are the dominant species does not make us the most important one. There is a possibilty that many “Evangelical Christians” are too self centered to even contemplate. The possibility that if we don’t protect the earth and continue to help it thrive and thus respect the work of God that he very well may feel the need to have us removed for it’s own protection. That seems to be the path that we are headed to that one day the earth may reach a place that it cannot sustain human life and thus we may die off, leaving the world to the “lower species” again.