Alicia Keys and John Legend

Ruth and I have been waiting for today for a long time. We bought tickets to see Alicia Keys and John Legend in concert at the Perth Arena a few months back, and we've been eagerly counting down to our chance to see these two amazing singers bare their hearts and souls through their music and lyrics. 

John Legend was the starting act for Alicia Key's Girl On Fire show, and I can say without a doubt that she chose an amazing artist to start the night off. John was amazing. His voice is like the smoothest sound to ever hit your ears. He is an amazing voice and an equally amazing performer. He worked the crowd and was not afraid to show off his dance moves and instrumental genius. 

I was already a big John Legend fan, so to hear all my favourites being sung made my excitement levels sky rocket through the roof. If you haven't already given your ears the pleasure of listening to John Legend, I suggest you start today and go out and get his albums. That dreamy voice of his will take you somewhere you wish you'd never have to leave. 

Now, if you thought I was a big John Legend fan, don't even get me started on how much I love Alicia Keys. I have loved her everything for as long as I can remember. Her voice, her music, her beauty, her curves and booty, and even her acting too! She's an incredible artist and an incredible woman. Her words and songs empower me so much and I love what a great role model she is. Ruth and I were talking about how she just stays so true to herself and her music and never really gives into the negativity of the media. 

All this love that I have for her, was multiplied a thousand-fold tonight at the concert. It was amazing!!!! I was on this massive high the whole night. She was just incredible. I was so happy because she played so many of my favourite songs.

What I loved about the concert was that it didn't have to be visually extravagant and spectacular in order for it to be good. It was her talent that really carried the show. From start to end, she just poured out her heart to the crowd. There was even this tough looking guy sitting in front of us who cried during two of her songs. Making a grown man cry. Now, that's a woman with power :P

The Alicia Keys concert will forever be one of my favourites :)

 

I loved her performance of her song No One. She got everyone to lift up their phones. The arena was filled with all the phone lights and it was such a beautiful sight :)

The Retro Rumble

Another market was on the agenda today. This time, it was the OnWilliam Retro Rumble held at Russell Square in Northbridge. Today's market was probably one of the best I've been to. Not just because of the cool things for sale, but the experience itself was great. My friend and I took the time to have a chat to most of the stall vendors and ended up hearing a lot of their background stories and had plenty of laughs in between. 

Such a beautiful day for some market fun.

Since when was there a park at Russell Square?

Normally I'll just post up photos of everything I saw, but because some of the sellers had such interesting stories behind their items, I thought I might do a bit of show and tell. 

One of the first stalls we went to was for The 100 Loyal Faces Project, run by a lovely lady named Peta Santoro. Peta is in the dog photography business and uses a lot of the images to make products such as calendars, cards, canvases and she even had home-made doggie treats for sale. Too cute. Peta isn't in this business just for herself. No, no. What I liked about The 100 Loyal Faces Project (aside from the gorgeous name of the foundation) was that profits from the sales go towards FOUR different animal organisations. I think it's so lovely that Peta is passionate about so many different organisations that she contributes to as many as she can. Sometimes you can't pick and choose, so you have to have them all... and this is a wonderful example of just that. Check out more of Peta and her amazing work at www.100loyalfaces.com.

I love the quirkiness and bizarreness of things for sale at markets. For example, I found this brooch of the real life lab mouse experiment where they grew a human ear on the poor thing. It kind of creeps me out, but at the end of the day my opinion doesn't matter because people like to express their own ideas and creative genius in their own way. And that's what I like to see :)

One of my favourite stalls from today was from Enid Twiglet, an embroidery artist. Yes, she was a total artist! She stitches her own design and then together with her hubby scans them and put them onto products such as glassware, jewellery, wood, plates and heaps more. These two cute gingers (Enid and her husband that is) are quite the team. She does all the embroidering and he turns it into other amazing items. He stitched together wallets, carved out and made cool pencil boxes, and that's just to name a few. My friend and I loved all the embroidery she did of various body parts, and when we asked her about it, she said that each one was relevant to something that had happened to her. For example, she had pneumonia once and thereafter became quite intrigued by lungs. Another piece of embroidery was of a rib which she had done because she broke hers, and she had done a coccyx because her back always gives her problems. I loved hearing about the little stories behind everything. You'll never know if you don't ask!

There is honestly so much that I could ramble on about but I will make special mention of a cool craft called wet felting. We saw a bunch of stuffed felt toys, but upon closer examination we noticed that there was no continuous seam line around the toy. I was so perplexed as to how the shape was made! we asked the lady who had made the toys and she explained to us the process of using a fluffy/fibrous type of material called merino wool/roving. The roving is soaked with water and a bit of soap. This process is done a few times with layers added on top. Then the wet felt can be placed on a mould. In this case, the lady made moulds in the shape of things like dogs, dinosaurs and other animals. The felt is then placed onto the mould and left to dry. She then stuffed them with some fluff and hey presto, super cute toys! My favourite was the shrimp :)

Here are some of the other cools things we saw for sale :)

We saw a few dresses with comic designs on them!

These are rings which are made from cross sections of wood with pictures of animals hand-painted onto them. Check out www.astoryof.com

See more of these cool pixel key chains from Pixel Closet.

When it comes to market food, I'm generally pretty lucky with finding a vegan option. Today was definitely another success story. There was a food cart called La Cucaracha which sold banh mi (which technically is Vietnamese) and some Mexican drinks. I was so happy to see that they had a veg option which substituted beans in for the pork. I got them to hold the mayo, and there you have it, a delicious Vietnamese-Mexican fusion. I also got the horchata which is an authentic Mexican drink. It can be made from a few different ingredients such as ground almonds, barley, sesame or rice. This one was made from rice. It was fresh with a bit of a sweetness to it. A nice accompaniment to the Mexican banh mi :)

There were also quite a few popsicle stalls around the square which was great for a nice sunny day like today (although it did end up raining a bit later in the afternoon). By far the best popsicle flavour I saw was the salted coconut and mango. Unfortunately it was not vegan, but I am determined to make my own version one day. 

From start to finish, the day out at the markets was pure awesome. Mark it in your diary for next year. But in all honesty, any event can be an awesome one. It pays to show interest in other people and what they are passionate about :)

Abseil for PMH

I heard about an amazing fundraising event called Abseil for PMH earlier this year and knew pretty much straight away that it was something I had to do. Not only do I support the work of Princess Margaret Hospital, but I am also willing to do just about anything for a bit of adventure and thrill seeking. 

Abseil for PMH involved abseiling 125m down the side of the Woodside Plaza in the Perth CBD. The first step to getting involved was to register and make a donation of $100. The next compulsory step is to fundraise $500 before being able to make the descent down Woodside. 

About a month ago, I went to a meet and greet event for the PMH abseil and got a look at some of the amazing rooms within the hospital. The event was held in the Megazone on level 7 of the hospital. I'd never been there before, and when I saw the rooms I was so impressed. It is a recreation and leisure area free for all patients, family and friends. There are a lot of different things to do in the various rooms in this area and it offers a fun enviroment for those who need a break from the wards. After seeing such a wonderful space for patients to relax in, I felt an even stronger motivation to offer my help to the hospital. I think I felt this way because I knew that no matter where my contributions went, it would be spent on something good for these kids; whether it be for medical equipment, money for research or funds to buy new game consoles for the Megazone, it would all be worth it if it meant that someone's stay in PMH would be better. 

All of the money raised for the Abseil for PMH will be going towards funding the Ear-Nose-Throat (ENT) Fellowship. It's a great thing to support :)

The abseil today was amazing. I have done some abseiling for school camps, but nothing has ever come close to descending 125m off the side of a building. Standing on the edge of the building and leaning back was the scariest part. I confess that I did look down and even though I wanted to be brave, it freaked me out a little. One hundred and twenty five metres is a long way from the ground. They sent us up in groups of 4 abseilers, and one of the girls I was talking to said that this abseil was scarier than the two skydives that she has done. I guess it's because you don't have much time to be scared when you skydive. They kind of just push you out, whereas with the abseil, you have to rely on your own feet to get you to the bottom.

I was very lucky and had my friends and family come out to support my abseil. I could hear them cheering me on as I came closer to the ground. 

I'm filled with such an overwhelming feeling of gratitude right now as I type up this blog post. Not only do I have such wonderful people in my life, but my life itself is wonderful. Not because I have all the things that I want, but because everything that I already have is enough.

I will finish off my post tonight by letting you know that there is still time to donate. Donations will be accepted up until Sunday the 8th of December. Please, if you haven't done your good deed for the month of November and you'd like to help out the kids at PMH, please hop onto my fundraising page and make a contribution to better the lives of the kids who may need the help of the ENT fellowship. Any contribution big or small is still an amazing effort :)

https://abseilforpmh2013.everydayhero.com/au/theresa

I'm on the far right. There was a photographer at the top who was taking snaps. They told us to let go of the rope, hence my arms are spread wide haha

My amazing support crew:

City of Perth Christmas Lights Event in Forrest Place

My friends and I were supposed to go to the Twilight Hawkers Market tonight, but it was cancelled due to the City of Perth Christmas Lights Event. We've never been to this before so we decided to go along and watch the entertainment. There was a huge stage and runway set up and rows and rows of seats were set up for the audience. I've never seen so many people in Forrest Chase before!

It was a lovely family event. There were youth performances and an appearance from Santa and Fat Cat. They lit up the large Christmas tree in Forrest Place and had a beautiful Christmas animation projected onto the side of the side of the Commonwealth Bank. 

I really enjoyed seeing all the kids out with Christmas in their hearts. Very cute. I loved seeing the kids wave to Santa and I walked past one family who were posing for a photo and said "one..two...three...Santa" instead of the usual 1, 2, 3 cheese. 

Christmas time makes me feel super cheerful, but knowing that December 25th is fast approaching makes me realise how fast this year has gone. I kind of want to hang on to all my memories of this year, but at the same time I'm ready for what next year has install. 

After the Christmas show, my friend Nhi took me to 140 William street to have a look at the street art up on the building walls. The project is called 140 Art. Check it out the next time you're in the city!