Elouise Quigan - Haslett Street Books

I was an 18 year old on the benefit. I’d crashed out of school with 4 school cert subjects, and living away from home. I was applying for any admin job I could, and sent myself on a computer course to certify skills I already had.
I needed a leg up, a hand from up the ladder, not a push backwards.

Jobseeker: Parents earning more than $65k must support 18-19yo children First announced at the Budget, the government had not decided where to draw the line at the time.

Some job-search “highlights” from an 18yo of my acquaintance:

- applied for f/t retail job, was “interviewed” via AI/video 🤯, didn’t get job

- applied for p/t retail job, was one of 3000, didn’t get job

- got short-term gig shilling vapes in malls (required own transport + lots of driving)

Grim.

Similar to holes?

Those radios, they weren’t made out of heads either.

LOVE

Two beautiful rainbow lorikeets close up in a tree - I think it’s some kind of eucalypt. They have blue heads and red beaks, and orange yellow red chests. They’re side eyeing the camera

Getting scoped out by some locals today

'Put your clocks forward for the summer' - Noj Toobad

Seeing Snoop perform “still Dre” with a didgeridoo in the back at the afl grand final is absolutely the reason I moved to Melbourne #afl #catslions #footy

“What are we having for tea?” Asks the 7 year old
“Ratatouille”
“Whaaaat? I don’t want to eat a rat and a tūī?!”

He
Was
Horrified.

Maybe I should rename to “Bird of the year for dinner”

Absolutely f*!# this noise. I did a clinical trial for the RSV vaccine while pregnant 8 years ago to help stop the huge amounts of babies hospitalised for it - this is awful, and dangerous, and will absolutely inflame dropping vaccination numbers. This is absolutely awful.

A picture of legs! With orange and black trainers, and socks - the socks are black with basketballs on them. You can see a peep of grey jeans. The feet are standing on a concrete pavement

Kitted up for the #breakers game today

7 year old gems: “why are there spring onions, and no summer or autumn or winter onions?”

A handmade, ceramic vase, with a few sparsely added freesias that are bright yellow. It’s sitting on a table mat that sort of looks like a star. Blurry in the background you can see four small white ceramic houses, that are different t iconic New Zealand houses, a villa, a state house, a stucco house and a bungalow. They have candle lights in the so it looks like someone is home

Needed a bit of sunshine today. Very much missing my garden full of freesias and daffs and tulips

Gorgeous golden wattle flowers - they’re like little puffballs of golden sunshine on sage coloured serrated leaves

Even the local trees are supporting the hawks today
#HawksCats #AFL #Footy

Violet Moon 紫月 A petit gâteau inspired by Mid Autumn’s quiet glow. Jasmine green tea mousse surrounds a refreshing pomelo & grapefruit compote, layered with sunflower seed crumble and chiffon sponge. Delicate, f...

Oh my goodness I have to share these utterly delightful looking and delicious sounding mooncakes from my favourite bakery!! Jasmine Green Tea, Pomelo & Grapefruit sounds right up my alley

shop.leyeahllow.com.au/products/vio...

This is so interesting - I often forget I was born in Singapore and my mum and dad chose kiwi citizenship for me, can’t imagine not being able to pass that on to my little people (kids born in nz, now live in Aus, likely another stop somewhere before they leave high school).

A merino felt banner with 8 enamel pins of New Zealand native birds on it.

Screenprinted teeshirt flat lay of two unisex t-shirts with native birds on them.

A flat lay of colourful cartoon native birds stickers

Hey #BOTY #Kikorangi, just a reminder from Peppy that I have a LOT of native bird enamel pins and sticker designs...while I may not have EVERY bird, I do give a portion of profits to Trees That Count every month.

Snag some goodies, support a local artist, and celebrate birds! pepperraccoon.com

But I love all the birds. They're all my birds of the year.

A derpy looking kookaburra standing on a fence. Behind him is the most gorgeous flowering cherry tree, with pale pink flowers

This hilarious kookaburra just tried to steal a chip out of my 7 year olds mouth, and then came back and stole a chip off my 6 year olds’ plate. Wowsers.

Imagine putting this on eBay - “good condition, worn once”

TIL you can buy the afl guernseys from games - I have so many questions!! Are they washed????? auctions.officialmemorabilia.com.au/iSynApp/allA...

I gave up - I was creating stop motion stories with Sylvanian family characters, and I just couldn’t afford the costs to get the content out there let alone sell books. It’s HARD. I have loads of unsold books and just get so depressed about it. Being an introvert does not help!!

Selfie of me, grey blonde hair, lemon yellow t shirt with a multi colour shiny hawk on it. “Hawks” is written on it in rainbow metallic colours.

Definitely from Melbourne now - wearing footy team kit day after a big win 💛💛💛

A pale blue oodie with black cats on rumpled on the floor which is part wood and part rug. You and Just see a tiny glimpse of an orange paw peeking out.

Oodies make the best cat beds.

Blurgh I love a homemade stovetop hot chocolate - but the skin that forms? Yuck yuck yuck.

Trump, Nash, Marokopa - thinking of all the survivors of a lot of things today ❤️

I hope their journey to heal is taken as slow as it needs to be, with privacy, and support and patience. I hope their families get access to as much therapy and support and everyone is given as much grace as they need.
I’m so glad they’ve all been found. ❤️

Don’t know why but we made up the phrase “toastie pie” about being all snugged up and warm in our wee fam. I just hope those wee kids are toastie pie, and having a couple of treats, and feel safe. I can’t imagine how frightened and worried and anxious they must be. They’ll be in shock.

I have thought of them so often over the years. I hope they’re found safe.

Fondue! Delicious melted drippy cheese, with a long metal fork. It has a chunk of bread with drippy cheese on it. It’s sitting in a red pot on a black stand, with a burner underneath. On the left, a pale green plate with bread chunks and on the right chopped up potatoes

Dinner last night, cheese for days.