Our Weekend in Pictures 28/5/2011

Our weekend in pictures 

I died my hair (henna)

My mama came to visit 

we played pick up sticks

and went to the veggie fayre

we also watched 'A Very Long Engagement' - I cried

I miss my family very much and wish they lived closer

note - the house I am standing in front of is in Stokes Croft, its the house I was born in 25 years ago

the first two pics are of the communal gardens where I live

xoxo 

National Veggie Week

Its National Vegetarian Week this week and it’s another reason why I love living in a city like Bristol at a time like this.


'In the run up to Europe’s biggest veggie event in Bristol this weekend VegfestUK Fringe week aims to bring together leading health stores, campaigners, groups and individuals in Bristol to raise the profile of the veggie/vegan lifestyle across the city, with a series of events in the week beginning May 21st, right through to the main event outdoors in the Amphitheatre on May 27th – 29th . VegfestUK Bristol Fringe week coincides with National Vegetarian Week, organised by The Vegetarian Society. ' -vegfestuk
Everyday this week there will be free talks at the Polish Club and free cooking lessons at Cafe Kino.


As a born and raised vegetarian I feel pretty passionate about the subject but my attitude is that you are intelligent enough to make your own decisions and your own moral choices. If anyone is actually genuinely interested in learning more about the reasons I am vegetarian then I am happy to oblige.
Often I find people's reaction to finding out I'm a vegetarian fairly hostile or condescending. I wouldn’t dream of teasing someone about what they had chosen to order on the menu so I find it bizarre to still get this reaction in the modern world. I could just as easy turn around and mention something a lot more horrible about the meat choice they had chosen but frankly I'm not that rude. In fact I don’t even mention the fact I am vegetarian unless asked and have never tried to enforce my views on anyone.


As I child having an occasional school meal the veggie option would actually be a pot of grated cheese (at first I was thrilled about this, I was a child and was pretty happy with just cheese for my lunch). Society has changed so much since then and there lots more veggie options when eating out. Attitudes towards animal cruelty have changed massively too, people are more aware of factory farming and the cruelty involved in processes like Veal and Foie Gras for at start. But there is still a huge amount of cruelty involved in the meat industry.


If you are a meat eater and are curious about being a vegetarian or simply just want to eat a little healthier for a week then check out websites like this for some ideas :)
And just to be a little more patronising, here are some good reasons to be veggie (I am not preaching but these are some of the reasons I feel passionately about the subject).


'Meat contains absolutely nothing - no proteins, vitamins or minerals - that the human body cannot obtain perfectly happily from a vegetarian diet.' - Its a total myth that vegetarians do not get the vitamins they need.


'If we eat the plants we grow instead of feeding them to animals, the world's food shortage will disappear virtually overnight. Remember that 100 acres of land will produce enough beef for 20 people but enough wheat to feed 240 people.'


'cheaper life insurance - scientific studies have shown that meat eaters suffer from a great deal more diseases including some forms of cancer and most notoriously heart disease - there is a reason our life insurance is cheaper!'


And that’s not even going into the moral reasons; animals suffer all sorts of terrible cruelty in the aid of producing meat. If you want to learn more about these there are lots of video evidence on websites such as PETA showing abhorrent cruelty, but it is not for the faint hearted..

Enjoy veggie week and go make yourself something yummy! xoxo

Tea and Crayons in Digital Artist Magazine!

This month us Tea and Crayons ladies were honored to be asked to be interviewed by Digital Arts Magazine. We spoke about how they work, there benefits and how to go about starting one. I'm so glad I am part of such a talented team of illustrators. We email about once a day even if its just to talk rubbish!

Here are some sneak peeks, but pop along to your local WHSmiths to grab a copy!

Tea and Crayons Mail Outs

first five promo packs sent out today, fingers crossed we get some lovely responses! xoxo

Full Steam Ahead

Over the weekend the lovely Abby came to Bristol to visit me (the first tea and crayons lady I have met in 'real life'!)and we had lots of fun. I just had to show Abby one of my favourite gallery's in my home city, the Here gallery :) There were lots of zines and postcards from some of our favorite artists and gave us lots of ideas for future Tea and Crayons publications!
We also got to see the Tom Frost and Teresa Murfin exhibition which was stunning! Here are some pics:

we also attended a focus group for Hels and Emily's new magazine venture which was very interesting (and I got to eat a scone) then we went for drinks and pizza and bumped into the lovely Avril (who I had not met before) bit of a twitter meet up! We were back by 10.30 and caught the last of Eurovision, ha! xoxo

Acupuncture

aww thanks for all the lovely comments about my baby brothers illustrations, they are great arnt they :)

source

Recently I have been feeling a bit under the weather, its basically given me zero energy to do anything, including blogging. This makes me so sad as I love writing on my blog and hearing from you guys. I'm not on Facebook very often these days so I think my blog is a way my friends overseas know I am alive and well! I got an email the other day asking where I was as I hadn't been on the Internet for a while! (little do they know if they saw my twitter stream, I am alive and well and tweeting rubbish 24/7).
Anyway I went for acupuncture on Friday and I have to say it is pretty amazing, I had never had it before and really had no idea of the sensation. I kind of felt like when the needles were in I had this zing of energy all along my veins and bursting out of my finger tips! Saturday and Sunday I felt 10 times better and now its wearing off a bit, I'm going for two more sessions though and would highly recommend it for lots of different ailments.

Tea and Crayons have been working hard sending out our promo packs (of which I am sending my first 20 this week). We have a compertition over on our blog to win a promo pack too so go take a peek!

Thats all for now folks, speak soon xoxo

Madog's Caricatures

I thought I would share a few pictures my little brother did of other members of our family. He is such a fantastic artist; obviously you won’t know what my parents and little sister look like..but they are actually very accurate!

mum

dad

serin
He is ten..I predict big things and am not too big say he is A LOT better at drawing then I was at that age!

I'm not dead

I'm just kinda being lazy 

The cats and i are usually tucked in bed by 9pm these days, well today it was 6.30 but we did watch some things on catch up. There once was a time when Tom and I used to be out all hours and papped in Nightlife magazine...OK only twice but still! Ahh but that was when I was a young 23 year old ;)

haw haw

Anyway I thought I would pop and say hi, I miss you! And to show you the presents my boyfriend thrifted for me, preeety good haul, well done Tom!

I had to sneak a picture of Rockie in (although he wasn't a present) he looks a bit miffed he doesn't have a gifts though doesn't he! Happy Wednesday! xoxo