We have been about a month in the thinking, planning, designing and making. This has been my occupation in my evenings and weekends. Inspired by Tim Burtons film “The Corpse Bride”. Mostly this design was an act of self indulgence…

What to expect from her in the next month or so:

• An “about me and contact” link at the top
• A shop! It will start on etsy then i will have my own. Mostly my photography, but i would like to sell website “stuff” eventually.
• A resources area for links to other sites divided up by categories ect.
• Wallpapers and free photo downloads
• A few more tweaks on the design.
• many more links, in “Link Love” she needs beefing up!

In the mean time let me know your thoughts. Not sure if I like the blue anymore. But I NEVER like my designs after i have finished them. So I tend to ignore myself.

Dearest bloggity readers,

OK no posts and an excuse. The business is flourishing I have lots of work lined up, I am even having to turn people away, exclaiming “I can start your project maybe in two months, but right now the days are full” I think this is a good place to be in.

Because of this I will soon have a bunch of sites that were designed by me, while running my own business, which makes me feel pretty darn proud. Also pretty darn panicy about my current websites slap job (done in a day I think). SO along with my days being filled with work for clients, my nights and weekend have been busy on my own site. A site i can promote to some galleries ect. I have also decided since i make no bones about being freelance and when people sign up for work they sign up to work with me, that I will combine the sites I originally had separate. quentindemanson.com and simoneqdm.com will both go to the new website.

I hope to have the new website live in the next few weeks. Then i will get my life back, well the life thats not behind a cute little laptop playing with wordpress….

Toodles!

For a website I am working on using Joomla and Virtuemart I needed Tabs in the product details area. Here is what i found and it worked with very little hassle. 

1. Install and activate these plugins:

Magic tabs

In magic tabs  plugin manager select the default mode to be “ID” and save.

Scriptgrator

Just activate

2. In your product description have you content divided like so:

{magictabs mode=manually}
TAB 01::Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetuer nec eu magna consequat volutpat. Ut porttitor purus hendrerit nibh id sit id ultrices eu netus. Et eros cursus Sed sit adipiscing Vivamus ut magna Nulla nibh.
||||
TAB 02::Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetuer nec eu magna consequat volutpat. Ut porttitor purus hendrerit nibh id sit id ultrices eu netus. Et eros cursus Sed sit adipiscing Vivamus ut magna Nulla nibh.
||||
TAB 03::Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetuer nec eu magna consequat volutpat. Ut porttitor purus hendrerit nibh id sit id ultrices eu netus. Et eros cursus Sed sit adipiscing Vivamus ut magna Nulla nibh.
{/magictabs}

tabs in joomla virtuemart

 
Viola! I will start blogging on my website adventures now and then I have decided. Really getting into the cool jobs now, so would like to share what i find for those that may find it useful.

Wordpress upgrade: check
Server shift: check (now on a server in the US, off the super duper secure one that blocks countries!)
New design designed: half a check
Shop research: half a check
More coming. Next post will be about the requested piccy of my silly knitted french press/coffee plunger cozy.

One morning Kylie and I got up far too early to visit the infamous fish markets. We arrived, got lost by  following a man in gumboots, then a man with a flax bag. We eventually, after walking around a vege market, found some people selling fish. We never made it to the big auction hall, because being silly buggers we did not enter via the main entrance, where the map supposedly was. Instead we walking around chaotic, busy, bustly noisy, fishy warehouses dodging fast moving R2D2 carts swaying between amusement and nervous irritation for not bringing the guide book. All and all the crazy little visit was alot of fun, but by the end self preservation made me demand coffee and breakfast, or the lack thereof  was going to make me stumble and get run over by R2D2… so we left for breakfast in a quieter part of town.

    

Hope everyone has a fabulous easter break!

My little sister Cara is visiting Christchurch at the moment. She currently lives and works in London, in England, the home of our descendants, as in… Mum and Dad.

She requested that we tramp the Able Tasman and stay in Torrent Bay to relive our childhood memories. For ten years our family went and stayed in a timeshare in Torrent Bay for two weeks, once a year. Before the divorce, before we established our independence and before reality sunk in. Back when nothing really mattered…. O the days!

My memories are of a house with no electricity, run on gas. Reading, going on long walks by myself, pizza, monopoly, pictionary, old creaky spring beds, swimming, exploring and discovering my then new love of the outdoors, cross stitch (my then craft of choice), dolphins, water skiing, possums, rats, birds and the LONG car journey and Cara vomiting…. in the car, in a restaurant, on the side of the road and then some (car sick).

So we set off from our mums house in Murchison in the car, to park at Marahau and walk into Torrent, to stay two nights. I did not organise the whole Able Tasman walk because I did not think Cara would like the 5 day walk. Besides we had one full sized pack and a day pack between us. I did not like the idea of tramping all the food and tent for five days… Oi!

Some pessimist told Cara it may not be as she remembers, but it was, hardly a thing changed. Only a few more houses and a few more people, but not that much. We swam, we collected coquilles and pippies for dinner, we luxuriated in the sunshine and played cards and Cara got exposed to many lovely outdoorsy boys (she is now a convert… we will get her to stay in NZ soon me thinks! Although, tramping, not so much for her apparently). The outing, in all, was wonderful, sunny, warm and full of happy memories. We then had a big bust up on the way home, but what is a trip with a sister without a bust up? All made up now, as per usual! [I uploaded lots more piccies into flickr]

What makes Valentines OK when your boy is away? A beautiful bunch of flowers and a card that says “Wish i was there with you”… any decent slightly hormonal girl would burst into tears, so i did, whilst scolding myself for being completely ridiculous.

Warning: Looks can be deceiving, this baby is rich and delish!

Its time to share the yummy choccy cake that has been in my family for quite awhile. I think mum tasted it in a restaurant and asked the chef politely for the recipe (..mum is this right?) Anyways, it doesn’t matter how we got it, its now a tradition. Infact, I now associate it with good food and family, so much that even a superior chocolate cake, to me, cannot compare! Do not think this is not a REALLY good chocolate cake though. Because its quite divinely yummy, rich, gooey and quite agreeable. I tend to have to practice it in the same oven a couple of times before it is right. It requires, just the right amount of cooking for the best texture. But even not quite right texture is very very yum yum.

Runny Chocolate Cake (as dubbed by my family)

• 7 oz good quality dark chocolate
• 7 oz of butter
• 4 eggs
• 7oz sugar
• 1tsp vanilla essence
• 1 cup of flour (or ground almonds)
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1 packet of Slivered Almonds (we have little packs here) or any sort of nut that will go with chocolate cake

-Melt the butter and chocolate together on a low heat.
-Mix sugar and eggs together until they make a pale yellow colour.
-While sugar and egg mixture still beating, pour in the melted chocolate and butter mixture.
-Add vanilla essense.
-Stop using mixing machine and manually stir in: Flour, baking powder and almonds.
-Pour mixture into a removable base cake tin (medium size)
-Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 15 mins (give or take 5 mins depending on oven)
-refrigerate to set before serving. (or not, depends if you want it to oooze over peoples plates)

Serve with fruity icecream or yogurt.

See the other videos on the making of it, like the teny tiny sweaters HAND KNITTED. Seriously. I think this movie would get close to ten on the knitwear scale…

I just find these movies so beautiful to watch and so much fun. Knitwear scale? Always up there!

YIPPEEEEEE skipy. Fun fun fun.. brought up on star trek. SO EXCITED.