I keep these bookmarked

• http://www.pointerpointer.com/

• http://thisissand.com/

• http://www.staggeringbeauty.com/ 

I couldn't pick just one so here is a small selection for your interactive viewing pleasure!

Illegible scribbles

Patterns, not done by myself

I'm told this represents the chaos of life

Signature for authenticity

'You can play Just Dance, it's like karaoke for your body'

'A spear is a knife tied to a pole'

'Half and half lips' - idea for checkerboard lipstick

'When in doubt, pannenkoeken'

'Boxes are the poor man's bananas' [Mario Kart]

'Rotary phones voice chat, Skype and LoL'

'Expensive sounding sounds'

L'orange Montreal

clickclick

I've slowly become a fan of Martin Parr's photography, it feels like there's such an honesty in his work with geniune subjects and bright colours playing up this idea. Whilst reading through his 'Suited and Booted' series the description of one photo in particular caught me.

http://www.martinparr.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/LON57920.jpg 


From his website:

Salaryman, Tokyo (2000)
Japan’s salarymen are well known for being hard workers and enthusiastic drinkers and socialisers. Here, one takes a well-earned nap in the spring sunshine of the city. The Japanese are skilled at falling asleep anywhere and programming their waking to resume duties.

My gap year is coming to an end and though I have been keeping myself busy with one thing or another it has been much more chilled than being in education. The first sentence of that description, I feel will ring true when I start university, it may well be a shock to the system getting back into a routine with more rigorous work however I am determinded to do all I can. As well as enjoy myself of course. In addition I too am also blessed/cursed with being able to fall asleep anywhere; I'm still deciding whether it's a good thing or not.

The good and the bad

This is, or would have been, the independent bookshop for me to visit however when I turned up during the opening hours it looked absolutely dead both inside and out. Perhaps it may have closed down, books were left abandoned on the windowsill. I don't know and it's a great shame that I didn't get to see inside.


 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnv5iKB2hl4
On a better note, this link above takes you to a talk by Roman Mars on flag design. It's one of my favourite TED talks; no matter how many times I watch it I'm  always left with a creative itch, as well as a renewed appreciation for flags of course.

Adventures in Suffolk - Ipswich Museum

 

One of the first things to greet you in this museum is a great big woolly mammoth with an impressive set of tusks; I would say that this sets the general tone for the rest of your visit as the museum is comprised of local history and the natural world amongst other things. The amount of exhibits is quite staggering really; the building looks smaller on the outside so I was not expecting all too much however it definitely delivered. There were interactive bits and pieces as one would expect which were welcome breaks as I began to drag my feet every so often. I was impressed with the number of bird specimens on display as well as the detail to the environment they perched in; from vegetation to water it was very convincing and made me want to buy the materials to play around with. From the visit I’d say I’ve gained a new appreciation for my home town, turns out I didn’t know as much of its history as I thought and so it was an enlightening experience.

Adventures in Suffolk - Woodbridge Tide Mill

This is was a really pleasant visit and I’m glad I got the chance to see it. Ideally when the tides are high enough the waterwheel will turn the machinery and mill grain to produce flour; this is where the title ‘living museum’ comes into play. Unfortunately I didn’t consider this at all before visiting and so the only noise was from creaky floorboards. Still, it was very interesting to see and learn about this piece of history. I was particularly fond of the rustic feel of the building, exposed chipped beams and traditional machinery; on top of that there was a stunning view of the River Deben at low tide. I could find no fault with this place until it came to the challenge of finding the paper mice; with names like Neil, Mac and Stan, scattered around the building. Designed for kids I thought it would be easy to find all 12 of them. How wrong I was.

Adventures in Suffolk - Framlingham Castle

Thankfully it was a beautiful day when I visited so spirits were high from the get go. The ruins of the castle are an absolutely stunning sight as you first walk through the arch; it does a good job of making you feel small. I must say I was quite fond of seeing the buildings for the information centre and cafe within the castle walls, almost to replicate where original buildings would have stood. Having caught up on the history of Framlingham Castle, as well as learned about the role of Norfolk and Suffolk during its heyday, I headed up to the wall walk. Climbing the tiniest and most spiral of staircases was a little challenge but very worth it upon reaching the top. You were able to walk the entire perimeter of the castle and were greeted by the beautiful sights of rolling fields and clustered woodlands from up there; granted I may have thought slightly differently if it was raining.

If you liked it then you should have put a ring pull on it

There are little things that we don’t stop to ponder in life. The Ring Pull is one of them. Just think if they didn’t exist; how on Earth could we guzzle a cold can of pop or beer. We’d still be using churchkeys. I didn’t know what that was before Google politely informed me. It’s not limited to delicious beverages either, how much easier is food to access with these marvelous things. No need to strain with a can opener, your tomato soup or pineapple chunks are merely a yank away. Something I had always accepted was after opening a can of drink and slotting in a straw, your drinking implement inevitably rose out like a whale coming up for air. I learned the solution recently in spinning the ring pull around to the opening and using it like a leash. I was dumbfounded that I hadn’t noticed such a thing before. The effectiveness of ring pulls doesn’t stop once you’ve polished off that non branded fizzy liquid either, creatives out there have found a way to recycle an oddly shaped piece of metal into accessories you either love or hate; granted you have several hundred of them at hand.

These guys are pretty nifty too

• http://seokim.tumblr.com/

Seo Kim has a very cute illustrative style, the first I found of her work were some comics based on the relationship between cat and owner; I related with this immediately and found them absolutely loveable.
This summer she has been producing illustrations to promote the new Adventure Time episodes on TV, quite simple pencil drawings with limited detail but they work brilliantly in keeping with the show.

• http://design-seeds.com/ 

This is a great site if you like colours, I enjoy seeing the comparisons between the colours in nature and how they are matched up with samples as if in a DIY store.

• http://www.blog.finelittleday.com/ 

  Feminine, whimsical and down to earth. Once again a very cute blog that is pleasant to idly scroll through.

• http://printpattern.blogspot.co.uk/

If you're one for patterns this is the place, pretty and light colours that make me feel happy looking at them. I also want all of the notebooks...