Making Friends With The Neighbours

Sarah, over at gypsy jacket hand-makes gorgeous and fun one-piece swimmers and surfboard covers. She is going away for a few months (to Noosa and New Zealand no less!), so is having a sale.  To find out more, check out her site for details, but leave some swimmers for me!!

I have been a big fan of the blog, Tenpiggiesover for some time now. The posts by Alex Swanson about the surfing lives of him and his friends are fun and interesting and they make my rainy Brisbane days when I have been too long from the sea. Now one of his surfing compadres, Erica, has begun her own tumblr called  Semesters by the sea , so I can find even more images to keep me stoked online. Like these, for example; The images I find on this site (and Tenpiggiesover ) are far from glamourising surfing or wave-riding, but rather celebrate it along with all the things that surround it like boards, friends, surf checking, cars, joking around and trips away. These are things about surfing that I love too, and which are the things I miss when I think of my friends down south. I miss the post-surf coffee, the time spent deciding where to go, the hours spent talking shit and those spent making plans for trips to breaks up and down the coast. And I guess this is the parti...

Some days, when I look around the various blogs and websites that I like to check, there are certain images, ideas or videos that seem to be the flavour of the day. For example, this week on design blogs, everyone is posting about 'cabins'. Yes - log cabins. In forests. I know, weird. And kind of boring at this end of the week. But surf blogs are not immune to such 'consistencies' either, and on surf blogs today, pretty much all you will find is this video, All I've Found by Greenough. I've seen it in so many places that it's almost hard to locate the original online source (FYI. It's here at Kordury.tv ). But, if you haven't managed to stumble across it already today, and in the spirit of this being a blog about surfing then... here you go! All I've Found (George Greenough) - Sea Movies from www.KORDUROY.tv on Vimeo .

My friend Katie recently posted this clip on my Facebook wall with the accompanying message: If people could be music videos, you would be this one xxx And I'm happy to admit that if I could be a music video I would, indeed, choose to be this one. (Especially if it meant I got to rock those white and navy, red-belted swimmers!)

For some men, being a father to daughters is quite a burden. Some never quite seem to find their feet, insisting on remaining blind to the fact that one day their little girls will become women. Which they will. But I recently read this section of a letter from F.Scott Fitzgerald to his 11 year-old daughter , which suggests a father who is confident, open-minded and loving, willing his daughter to embrace the world and the life that is waiting for her. Clearly, he's still not entirely stoked about the potential 'boys' bit of all that, but otherwise, I think he seems pretty good about it all. (via Lists of Note ) Things to worry about: Worry about courage Worry about cleanliness Worry about efficiency Worry about horsemanship Things not to worry about: Don’t worry about popular opinion Don’t worry about dolls Don’t worry about the past Don’t worry about the future Don’t worry about growing up Don’t worry about anybody getting ahead of you Don’t worry about triumph Don’t worr...

WCT shortboard surfers, Rebecca Woods and Amee Donohoe , have taken on the daunting but wonderful task of organising and running a new surf event for women, The RA Girls Surf Show . This event will be running from 20-22nd January on Copcabana/McMaster's Beach on the Central Coast of NSW, so if you're in the vicinity head along. The Brian Hilton RA Show aims to inspire, encourage and enable females to take on the world in a safe and fun environment. It also has aligned with environmental organisation Take 3 to bring awareness to preserving our amazing Ocean environment and protecting it from the many plastics and pollutants which enter our waterways. Take three for the Sea! The RA Girls Surf Show with over $15 000 worth of cash (one of the only female events to offer cash in Australia) and ... aims to encourage more females to get a taste of the lifestyle that has provided them with the careers and opportunities they have enjoyed over the last decade. The event will also provi...