As promised, here's a second preview photo from the upcoming set. Two more weeks, and you get to see the rest of it.




And of course, happy Topless Tuesday from Moses and I. You can blame him for the lack of a nipple, as he would sit no closer to my nude self. It was either a nipple or a cat, and the cat always wins. It's science, google it.

My little brother graduated last Friday after a few long years of working and studying. Needless to say, I'm so very proud of him. He's a physiotherapist, and though he's currently unemployed, the future seems just a bit brighter at the moment.
I couldn't be there in person, but thanks to smart phones and Skype, I was present in a way.



My mom and my dad were there too, which was nerve-wrecking. My dad decided to bring his girlfriend along, which enraged my mom. Mom can't stand her, even though they had never officially met. It makes no sense, and it makes me angry that she's acting like a jealous 16-year-old, but there was nothing I could say in the days prior to the graduation that would calm her down. Mom promised she would behave and dad introduced them to each other. Funnily enough, my mom kind of likes her now. Or tolerates her, I'm not sure. My dad's girlfriend made him offer my mom a ride home, and even though she declined, that made her warm up to her. She then phoned my dad yesterday after realising she never said 'bye' to his girlfriend, asked to speak to her and apologised. They've agreed they'll rectify it next time they see each other.
I can't even tell you how much that means to me. Just to think that we might have an actual family gathering without drama and with everyone there makes me so happy. Before this we all had to meet separately, because my mom refused to be in the same room with my dad's girlfriend, which sucks, because I really like the woman. We'll see if the truce holds, but I'd like to believe that my mom can indeed act like an adult. I swear that parents go through their teenage years again at some point, and the kids have to be the responsible, reasonable ones this time round.

I'm starting a new countdown today in addition to my holiday countdown (by the way, Croatia -50 days).
In 3 weeks' time my new set 'Summer Dew' is out, which means it's time for some previews. But, I intend to torture you just a bit, and get you all excited. Or at least I like to think you'll get excited, so bear with me and pretend if you must.

I'll post one photo each Tuesday, until you get to see the whole thing on July 02. Anyway, here's the first little peak at 'Summer Dew'.



Hope you're all having a great week.

If you ever wondered how long take to deliver a package from America to South Africa, the answer is at least six months.

I finally got my Christmas present from jweb! It was lost late last year, spent a few months in whatever place lost packages live (probably next to socks and lighters) and came back to him a few weeks ago. Due to a serious case of awesomeness, he sent it to me again. The Chronicle of the Black Company arrived yesterday, and I'm already hooked.

Thank you, almost not completely useless South African Postal Service, the gods of snail mail and most of all - jweb! I'm already enjoying them immensely.

I'll leave you with a short video a friend took earlier this week. It's not much, just me grinning like an idiot 'cause I had no idea if he's taking a photo or a video or just pulling my leg.

As much as I love books and reading, I admit they aren't always good for me. When I run across a particularly good one, I tend to forget about everyone and everything else and just read. I sleep and I eat, go to work and all that, but every minute of my free time is reserved for my newest addiction. The latest one was Fever series by Karen Marie Moaning. I've read them before, but I almost forgot how good they are. There are 5 books altogether, and it took me less than 10 days to finish them all. I guess I can now go back to my life, or at least try reading something shitty that won't have me tuning out completely.

I did drag my ass out of the flat this weekend, though, but only because of Lumo. She was puppy shopping, and as I can't have a dog, I have to live through them. Totally worth it! Just look at this little cutie pie.



Breakfast and some book shopping was in order at the local SPCA, though this kitty cat has made eating harder than usual.



She apparently decided that my lap is pretty comfy, so I had to eat around her. I tried sharing, in hopes I'll manage to bribe her off my lap, but she was not interested. Not even in bacon!

Hope your weekend was good, and the week ahead will be even better.

Holidays, I need bloody holidays! Seriously, I'm starting a countdown till the day I leave for my month long holiday in Croatia.
I literally daydream of sitting on the terrace in the shade of birch trees, enjoying the sound of absolutely nothing. Okay, an occasional bird chirp shall be allowed, but I don't want to hear phones, cars, nothing.
I'm not a city girl, never was and never will be. I tolerate the concrete jungle, but I'll never love it.

So, - 67 days!

In other news, I yet again have nothing. This week felt way too short, and I haven't had time to do half the things I wanted to. I worked, and then I worked some more and all of a sudden it's Sunday evening and I have to go back to work tomorrow. This adulthood thing sucks!

But between all the boring things I had to do, I did manage to have a bit of fun too. I visited Lumo in her new place earlier today, and I got to snuggle her kitten. That sounds weird, doesn't it.
I'm sure you'll be disappointed to learn that I'm talking about an actual baby cat. Here, I even have photos to prove it.



Oh, and I got a letter from R3X. It started as a joke and a dare, and then a month or two later, I got a letter from America - in Croatian.



So thank you R3X for the effort, for making me laugh and your general awesomeness.

I've got nothing, so let's just do a random what's-Arroia-doing-at-the-moment dump.

I'm still recovering from a nasty cold, but I am happy to report that I feel almost human again. I still resemble Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, so you shall see no photos of me for another few days. You're welcome.

I've been reading a lot, as per usual, and have finished a pretty cool series of steampunk novels called Vampire Empire. Well, I thought it was cool until the end of the last book, which was horrible. It's one of those where you feel like the writers ran out of ideas, paper, time or all three, and just threw a bunch on nonsense on the last few pages. Plus, it was a little bit too innocent for my taste. I'm sorry, but I require at least one steamy love scene per book. I have now moved onto Rhiannon's Law series, which look pretty promising despite slightly confusing writing. I predict a lot of hot, vampire sex and that's just the way I like it.

Before I forget, I have to say thank you to Lumo for getting me hooked on Lost Girl. It's rather silly and girlish, but so much fun. Think of it as a supernatural soap opera with a pinch of mystery, a whole lot of good humour and a great soundtrack. Oh, and have I mentioned amazing love (sex) scenes?

And last but not least, a bit of my own soundtrack that I've been playing recently.

It was about time to get a friend for my owl. Wonderful and incredibly talented Arethusa from Ink and Oil, slapped her Virgin Mary design on my foot…



…got busy.



…and after about an hour and a half of work, this is what we got. Obviously, I couldn't be happier.





I'm always a bit paranoid when getting a tattoo of something with a face, because we've all seen plenty of disasters on the Interwebs. I'm no tattoo artist, but I'm guessing they're easy to mess up. One wrong shadow and you end up having a tattoo of a swamp monster instead of your kid. But nope, Arethusa has done a damn fine job. If you ever come to Durban, and you feel like a tattoo, Ink and Oil is the place to go.

Now that I've finally found a local artist that I'd like to call 'mine', there's a whole lot more work coming. I've got a Fallout thigh piece, as well as a sleeve in mind, and I cannot wait for us to start working on those.

Sorry for being a bit quiet last week. The site was giving me all sorts of trouble, and it was just easier to stay away than shake my laptop like a neanderthal every time a comment wouldn't post.

Happy topless Tuesday!



This photo is from an awesome steampunk shoot I did with Geoff Goldswain sometime last year. I never got to see all the photos, because he had a nasty bike accident just after it, but he has recovered and I'll go collect the images soon.

In other news, I became an aunt again.
He's a wrinkly little thing, but as cute as newborns get. His name is Noah, and he's a big, healhty boy (3.6kg). I totally plan on being the favourite aunty yet again.

Oh, and I made some new friends recently. This little guy decided that there's no better place to be, and the pet shop owner had to pry him off me. I either need to change my shampoo or start advertising as a parrot whisperer.



The surprise I mentioned in the last blog isn't much of a surprise, but there's a new set coming. It's still a long way off, so I won't post any previews just yet, but here's a sneak peak at the cover and the date.



Until then, there's Ravenous.

I kept postponing the new blog, because I wanted to surprise you with something I know you'll love, but it's taking a bit longer than I thought it would. Let's hope I'll get to share it soon. Until then, you get this random blog about nothing.

Hell, I don't really have much to tell you. Nothing's new, except me stressing out at work and thus being a bit quieter on here than usual. But that too shall pass, or at least I hope it will. I've been drowning myself in books, because that's the only distraction that works at the moment.

Other than that, I've been watching Vikings and the new season of Game of Thrones. I love them both, I just wish I were patient enough to wait until both series are finished for this season, so I can watch them in a matter of days instead of waiting a week in between. But no, I have to have them as soon as they're available.

And talking about Vikings... Ragnar - holy shitballs!!!
I like my men dark and beardless, but I'd tap this in a matter of seconds (and no, I'm not talking about how long it would last).