Diaries news

Tonic Design: Brisbane PARK(ing) Day 2008

Brisvegas lads and ladies - if you are looking for something random yet happy to do on a sunny Friday, tomorrow, this may just be one of the most wonderful prospects around. Grab your friends and make your mark in a temporary park(ing) spot. All over the city, businesses and organisations are claiming kerbside parking spots as their own in an effort to highlight just how fab and necessary open spaces are for our urban playgrounds. Visit the website for downloadable maps. Still can't find a spot? Drive around the block one more time!

Now the first inklings of spring are here it’s finally time to head to the beach, laze about in the grass and generally embrace idleness. But while we’ve been sipping lattes in the sun, the crafty kids at COFA have been hard at work. The fruit of their toils will be available for your purchasing pleasure this Saturday 19 and include handmade artworks, original paintings, photography, jewellery, accessories, greeting cards, T-shirts and all manner of delightful things. There are also exhibitions, studio tours, drinks and eats for the hungry and tunes for the musically famished.

When: SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 19, gates open at 10 am

Where: COFA, UNSW (Corner Oxford St & Greens Rd, Paddington)

Girls Night in, the next best thing to going out.  Get together for a Girls Night In during October, and have heaps of fun and raise funds to help Cancer Council in their quest to defeat women’s cancers. The idea is as a group you all donate the money you’d have spent on a big night out having a night in instead. 

So whether you and your friends are foodies? Movie buffs? Shopaholics? Love a singsong? Or do you just fancy some time to catch-up? Whatever your idea of a good night is, get together for Girls Night In during October and have heaps of fun. Get started and register your Girls Night In right now at http://girlsnightin.com.au/.

 

 

There’s something about the end of the winter woolly season that brings a smile to my face. Obviously bikini season is right around the corner and I’m whipping out the Ray Bans and denim cut offs quicker than a kid who just scored a sold out ticket to Parklife, but the start of September always brings a smile to my face. The lovely people at David Jones know how to brighten up the bustling urban jungle of Sydney, and it’s not just the latest from Alannah Hill, Wayne Cooper and Sass Bide that send me all giddy. Whether you’re a flower person or not (I for one, am a self-confessed Valentines Day scrooge. And don’t even get me started on anniversaries!), you’re going to feel like Dorothy stepping into a field of poppies when you enter the David Jones doors on Elizabeth street. This year’s theme is dedicated to an Australian flavour of floral arrangements. Our very own native flora has taken over the window displays and the inside of David Jones from the 1st to the 13th September. There’s complimentary guided tours too, led by horticultural experts who’ll take you through the thousands of banksias, lilies, and Eucalyptus macrocarpa.

Dust off your chef's cat (err hat) for the RSPCA's Cupcake Day. Its on Monday 17th August and whether you want to be an RSPCA Cupcake cook or a RSPCA Cupcake eater - all you have to do is register to recieve you cupcake kit  ... Woof to that!

From June 18-21 Sydney-siders can come out of hibernation and into St Mary’s Cathedral Forecourt for the The Sydney Winter Festival, featuring the first outdoor ice rink in the CBD since 1959.

Fellow word-lovers, I know I can’t possibly be alone in hating on unnecessary corporate jargon and doublespeak. While we acknowledge that there is a time and place for technical terms and diplomatic language, I know there must be plenty of you out there who are bored to tears and resentful at being fed long-winded BS when a simple and concise explanation will do. (Somebody, please tell me, exactly what is the difference between the words “use� and “utilise�? Exactly what justifies using a three-syllable-word where a three-letter-word would suffice?) I know there must be others who would have also kicked out a flatmate for answering the question “So, what ya up to on Saturday?� with “I have an engagement with an acquaintance in the morning, and then I have some unoccupied time in my schedule during the afternoon that I think I’ll utilise for some personal administrative duties� instead of “Oh, just having coffee with a mate in the morning then catching up on some stuff at home�.

So to those kindred spirits, don’t you just want to rub the feet of the folks at Access Economics, for so eloquently summing up the federal budget’s current position (thankyou, Global Financial Crisis) as “buggered�. Sure, it’s a bit crass, and those with economics degrees might crave something a little bit more stylish, but for the rest of us laypeople it pretty much sums up everything we need to know using, to borrow from Maude Lebowski, “the parlance of our times�.