Bee's Blog: July 2016

Saturday, July 30, 2016

TWENTY || Years of Birthdays {and the conclusion of this series}

So I had this brilliant idea to find a photo of me on every single one of my birthdays, and scan and post them on {for} my 20th this year. I think I actually started uploading late last year. For more recent years it wasn't too hard to find the photos (although some years there aren't any very good ones :P), but for the years before we had a digital camera, I haven't managed to find everything I was looking for. Apparently we've lost a lot of photos because they were stored in the garage which had a leaky roof for a long time :'( We may have a couple more in albums, which I'll consider uploading and adding to this post if we find them soonish. In the meantime, though, I'm not going to abandon the whole post because of the years I'm missing.

This will be my last post for this month, so it is also the conclusion to my series TWENTY. My birthday month is coming to an end; the celebrations are over; ~~I no longer have to think about my response when someone asks my age~~.

I didn't feel any different as a 20-year-old on July 2nd than I did the day before when I was 19 (surprise, surprise), but I know I've grown since this time last year. No doubt the coming year will present new experiences and challenges, and this time next year I'll look back and see how much I've changed.

Thanks so much to everyone who has sent me cards, gifts, and wishes, or followed along for this series! :) July is just about over, but stick around in August for more posts on the blog -- my work schedule is pretty busy but hopefully I can make time to carry out my plans for this spot on the web ;)

: : Day 1 : :

: : 1st birthday : :

Jump a few years since we're missing the photos between here . . .

: : 8th birthday : :
{Yes, I scanned this out of an old journal}

: : 9th birthday : :

: : 10th birthday : :

: : 11th birthday : :

: : 12th birthday : :

: : 13th Birthday : :

: : 14th Birthday : :

: : 15th Birthday : :

: : 16th Birthday : :

: : 17th Birthday : :

: : 18th Birthday : :

: : 19th Birthday : :

: : 20th Birthday : :

Thursday, July 28, 2016

TWENTY || Strange Musical Instruments

So music is a pretty big part of my life and I mainly work with fairly regular instruments. Experimenting with different materials and playing with sound are good things to do too, though! Here are twenty not-so-standard instruments. I had fun researching these and I hope you enjoy looking through! :) How many did you already know about?

1: Octobass

2: Sheng

A modified version playing the Mario theme song is here

3: Wintergaten

I couldn't find an image, but here's a YouTube vid for it

4: Serpent

5: Hydraulophone

This is a pretty good video of it in action.

6: Zeusaphone

~~See~~ (hear) it here

7: Nyckelharpa

8: Holophonor

9: Hardingfele

10: Lur

11: Singing Ringing Tree

12: Jew's Harp

13: Crwth

14: Glass Harmonica

15: Erhu

16: Ocarina

An ancient wind instrument, the ocarina has between 4 and 12 holes,
and can be made of plastic, wood, ceramic, metal, glass, or bone.
We actually bought a ceramic one for Mum after seeing Aussie Mike Jackson perform for our homeschool group :)

17: Cimbalom

18: Balalaika

A Russian, plucked string instrument

19: Pikasso Guitar

20: Vegetable Orchestra

Lol I don't even know what to think of this ;P
Se here and here

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

TWENTY || Stores I Love

So some of these are definite retail stores, and others I've possibly taken a little more liberty with. All are options for when you have money that really needs spending, though ;P Hopefully there's an idea or two here for you, whether you're a committed shopaholic or someone who just wants to know the best place to get what you want so you don't have to shop around!

Pagani -- I could probably save myself a fair bit of money through staff discounts if I worked there ;P
Book Depository -- because NZ$ and free postage is always a win
Nando's -- love their food
Kmart -- glad someone knows how to do cheap, and most products are reasonable quality
KBB Music -- love their customer service; usually visit their Epsom store (since it's the head office and largest store)
Reveal Candles -- amazing scented candle PLUS a ring, why not?!
Pascoes -- I'm not really sure why, but I've bought most of my SS jewellery from here
Muffin Break -- currently my fav place to buy coffee
Valleygirl -- I heard they've gone into receivership :O Nooooo!!
CD Baby -- postage seems to be pretty decent, and they stock albums I can't find in NZ
Fishpond
Manna Christian Bookstore -- for every time I need a gift and don't know what to get ;P
Vistaprint -- because personalised cards, address labels, stamps . . .
Robert Harris -- which is really my grandad's fault ;P
Christianbook -- for when NZ companies don't stock the movies you want to see. It's a good idea to do a bulk order though; postage makes small orders unfeasible
Typo -- which seems to have taken over the popularity Smiggle once had
Mirrou -- the latest and greatest, apparently
Bed, Bath & Beyond -- I initially went because I needed a gift and they had sales on, so I thought I'd check before going to Briscoes. I'm not sure whether it's the clearance stickers or gifty items that pose the greatest threat . . .
ICE -- which hasn't come to NZ as far as I know :/
Stampin' Up! -- Because having cardstock, ink, ribbon, designer paper, and various other embellishments where the colours match perfectly is always a good idea. And the stamps are pretty awesome. Still disappointed they didn't restock En Francais in the current catalog.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

TWENTY || Unusual Animals You Didn't Know Existed

Most of you who have been following for a while probably know that I love animals; some, your standard house pets, others, not so much.I thought it might be fun to go hunting and find some more unusual animals that you might not know of. Some are pretty cute, and others, well, aren't so much!