CAT'S URINE GLOWS - Fun Fact Friday

WELCOME! to another edition of Fun FACT FRIDAY!

Begin:

 

Woohoo - you can take a look at the theatre here

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uncopyrightable indeed.

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Ok, who is going to test?

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I HAVE NO CAT. TWEET ME YOUR PICTURES!!!

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What clever (and obnoxious) creatures!

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I shall remember that the next time I am in the jaws of a crocodile.

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Also, I was told this by my gran a long time ago - that in old time watch shops, all the watches were stopped at the ten to two position or the 10:10 - because this gives the impression of an open "smile"

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no wonder they have to crawl.

What do you call a man with no shins?
Tony!

Ba-dum-bum-tssh.

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I played Monopoly a lot with my little-brother when we were growing up - I was always the banker (as older siblings are) and often gave myself a few extra dollars under the table for a job well done. I should be in government.

Also - Did you always fight about who was the dog? We did. 

I won.

And an iron? Really?

Nobody wants to be an iron.

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They were also probably stoned.

LOL! tee hee  - am so funny.

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In other life-changing news, I have sent off some "things" to be printed in preparation for the Blogcademy that I'm attending next week - I am using Moo Print - which I have used before and have been very happy with - so am holding thumbs that everything arrives in time! Can't wait to show you!

I've also received some awesome pics from the Mickey Mouse drawing tutorial I posted the other day - I'm going to post them all up on indieBerries with links to the drawer's blog/site/twitter account - so tweet me your Mickey Mouse drawings! (@indieBerries) or post them on the indieBerries Facebook Page

And other conversations this morning - 

Me: Oh yeah - you've got your work mate drinks this evening!

Husband: Yep!

Me: Why are you taking a bag to work?

Husband: It's just some jeans and another casual shirt.

Me: So, you're not going in your work shirt then?

Husband: No - last time I got jagermeister all over it.

Me: Oh... so it's that kind of work drinks. Got it.

Happy Friday Everyone - viva la weekend!

Quick! Learn to draw Mickey Mouse

The in-laws are over in London for a bit so we spent the long weekend having picnics in the park, lazy pub lunches and watching ALL the sport. I was in charge of pudding on Friday evening - and I produced a spectacular mess of a recipe that my mom sent me - which included a tin of pineapple that was too small, a packet of tennis biscuits - which do not occur in England and I bought a carton of cream which does not beat. It was not great and the family did not "love" it. But, they love me - so they told me they did anyway. Bless them.

Tonight I am cooking for the whole clan.

Yes

You heard that correctly.
Say a prayer.

Anyway with that said, there is not much time to dilly-dally on this blog today - so instead I've decided to show you a quick and easy way to draw Mickey Mouse. I learnt this in Disney World, USA when I was a tiny fry - my brother was getting very irritated because he wanted to go and queue up for the rollercoasters and all - but I kept going round and round in the drawing class with the "amazing electronic screen and pen!"-  Eventually the man who was running the drawing class came over to me to tell me that I had literally participated in every character drawing class they offered and perhaps I should move onto another "fun activity". All I really wanted to do was draw all the Mickey Mouse characters though and after I told him that he suggested that maybe one day I could come and work at Walt Disney World and draw EVERYTHING, EVERY DAY. 

His teenage self was probably being slightly sarcastic at my tiny young fry self - but I will have you know - after university I really honestly did open up application forms to work at Disney World as a drawing/entertainer Mouseketeer or whatever they were called. Due to the heavy visa restrictions (ie: USA won't give you a visa without a job, Disney World won't give you a job without a visa etc) The only option available to me was to work in the "safari land" of Disney World as a seller of stuffed lion-toys. Which isn't really the same as being a drawing Mouseketeer.

{After I was snubbed by Disney Land, I then went to look at Pixar at their internship programs - and I was totally sucked-in by their epic FREE CEREAL BAR, but unfortunately they also tend to prefer US graduates into their programs and back then there were all kinds of visa complications for a South African. We spent hours on the phone to America trying to find any kind of loophole. Alas. I cried a little bit. But who knows - THERE IS STILL TIME and maybe one day I will convince husband that we should move to Disney World and become Mouseketeers! He would look good in ears.}

Anyway I digress - here are the easy instructions for drawing Mickey Mouse!

Get your pen and paper out!

STEP ONE: draw a circle. SO EASY HUH!

STEP TWO: Make guides in your circle. Like a curved cross. Still so easy! I told you!

STEP THREE: Where the cross meets, draw an open C shape


STEP FOUR: Draw another circle sitting directly on top of the first circle. It should be slightly smaller than the main circle you drew.


STEP FIVE: Draw another circle - you can line up the base of that circle with the one side of the guide line.

STEP SIX: Mid way through the C shape you drew - make a curved line down and up to almost meet the end of the C shape. Close it off with a parenthesis ) shape.


STEP SEVEN: On either side of the vertical guide draw an oval shape. They should both be similar sizes and they should both be sitting on the same horizontal guide. Let them both touch the vertical guide.

STEP EIGHT: From the edge of the circle follow the curve of the eyes you have just made and make a "rough M" type shape to touch the horizontal guide on the right side of the right eye - then continue round to make another curve which will form the cheek and touch the circle at the bottom.

STEP NINE: Make a second line in the mouth you have drawn and make an M shape to complete the tongue.


STEP NINE: Draw an oval shape sitting on the end of the C.


STEP TEN: Draw two oval shapes to make the pupils - remember that what ever is behind the "c" nose will not be able to be seen. {If you prefer you could even draw the full oval shape and then erase the unnecessary parts at a later stage}

STEP TEN: Remove the guides and any other unnecessary pieces.

STEP ELEVEN: Colour in your Mickey Mouse - leaving some whites in the eyes and the nose to show light reflections -

If you do attempt to draw a very quick Mickey - 

please tweet me a snap of your pic! ( @indieberries )

or post it on the indieberries Facebook Page

I would love to see.

If I get enough, who knows - I may make a Mickey Montage!

(Then I will probably also choreograph myself a matching dance routine and send it in to Disney World as my audition tape.)

Now, if you'll excuse me, 

I'll be in the kitchen - burning the house down.

* ps - if you liked this post - you could also try this one on drawing a dog.

Fun FACTS Friday

Another edition of Fun Facts Friday - to get your weekend started - 

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If you keep a goldfish in a dark room,

it will eventually go pale

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It's totally legit - 

I even googled it.

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How cute?!

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The Guinness Book of World Records 

holds the record for being the book most 

often stolen from public libraries in the United States

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The colder the room you sleep in,

the more likely you are to have a bad dream

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They are too top heavy and their feet are too small 

to support their weight moving backwards.

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According to a recent study, women's tears have been 

biologically proven to reduce testosterone levels and arousal in men.

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I got a message from my big little brother about the fun fact that I posted two weeks ago:

"If you spell out consecutive numbers, you will have to get to one thousand before you get to the letter A"

- which is true if you consider the numbers only as numbers ie: one hundred ninety four but if you take into account the "and" in numbers such as "one hundred (and) ninety four" it will include an A.

He has told me however - that in a similar way - 

"If you spell out consecutive numbers, you will have to get to one Billion before you get to the letter B"

So. there you go!

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Happy Friday ya'll

Hope you have a fab weekend planned and if you're in the Uk

hope you are taking full advantage of the extra day of weekend!

Busy.

So things are very busy all up in here.

I'm currently working on several big (and little) projects simultaneously - so thought I would share some behind the scenes shots of my life that is suddenly very full with "things".

In preparation for the Blogcademy which I'll be attending in London next month - I have decided to get on it and start jotting some ideas down for business plans and models, the structure of indieBerries as a brand and company, my personal and professional objectives and various other little bits and pieces so that by the time I go the Blogcademy I already have a clear direction of where I want to be - so that the Blogcademy Gals can show me the steps I need to take to get there.

I feel that if I rock up at the Blogcademy with no clear direction of where I want to be and what I want to achieve, I will be overwhelmed with inspiration and bombarded with ALL the new exciting things I could do that I will get caught up in an "I-MUST-DO-ALL-THE-THINGS" and my head will explode.

which would be an AWFUL shame, because I had so many things planned for September.

So anyway I have been working on formulating some business plans and goals lately - 

(coffee || essential)

My life has really been hindered by the fact that I am a perfectionist. You see this "business plan" mind map that you see above? Yeah. I nearly had to re-do the whole thing because I decided after I started that I didn't like the red pen I used at the beginning. And it's just a mind map.

I recently read on Gala's blog that 

"Perfection is procrastination"

Which is exactly true and exactly my problem. 

I'm working on it.

(read: looking those two red paragraphs in the eye and cringing, but resisting the urge to start the whole thing over again)

 
I am also currently working on designing the new indieBerries website, which I am hoping to launch soon - although there is a still a bunch of work which needs to be done. (If all goes to plan - there will be an awesome new website/design indieBerries partnership that you can look forward to hearing about soon.)




I have been working on some freelance stuff - some different logo and corporate identity designs as well as wedding stationery and an exciting kids book illustration project.

(above: Muku & Ishi - they're twins - can you tell?)

Apart from that I am also in progress with some personal projects (which are, of course, the first things to slide off the table when other stuff comes in). I have a whole host of personal projects including a quirky published "date-book", fun stationery and other random things that are currently on the go. As well as this, I need to get some indieBerries business cards and postcards designed and printed before the Blogcademy and i am also trying to keep indieBerries blog from trailing off under the mountain of these other things.

Oh yes,

I also have a husband and a life.

So basically - I am feeling rather "duck on the water" it's when you see those quirky quackers just gliding along the water as if everything is hunky dory but they are swimming like crazy below the surface just to keep going - that's kinda me right now 

except I'd say I'm more of the elegant-swan-furiously-scratching-rat-legs variety.

     

That was a weak attempt at a haha

I think I lost my humour somewhere around 2am last night.

lol

ANYWAY

If you are interested in seeing some of the material I have been using to formulate some of the more "businessy" things - you can check out the Etsy Guide to "Writing a creative business plan in under an hour" - Caroline Cummings suggests you look at your business plan as if it has the restraints of twitter - sum up your objectives and purpose in 140 characters or less. Basically, the elevator pitch.

This workshop on the Key Person of Influence offers different workshops and books on becoming the key figure in your field. The success stories are really inspiring - the first guy is a South African gym instructor who reworked his pitch from being "a gym instructor" to being a "12 week life transformation" coach and has completely re-defined his business.

And Jess Lively talks here about managing big projects that are running concurrently and how to keep yourself sane whilst doing it. She does have a full time project manager to keep her on track (yeah, I'd like one of those - will be paid in brownies {shop bought}) Jess mentions something which she calls the 'heartbeat' method for keeping things running smoothly. Def worth a read for most freelancers.

That's all I have time for on indieBerries for today

and yes,

I am still in my pyjamas.