Choccy sampling, calf-patting and PM chatting

Well! I had a great day today. I emerged from under my doona at about 9.00 am and set out for the Organic Expo in Carlton at around 11.30. The wind was cold, but the sun was shining.

Passing through Fitzroy Gardens on the way to the Organic Expo

A brief stop in the grounds of St Patrick's Cathedral

As I approached the Carlton Gardens, I saw that the fountain in front of the Royal Exhibition Building was in full flow and sparkling in the sun, a sight that gladdened my heart.

The Hochgurtel Fountain

Wow. I'd forgotten how stupendous the interior of the Exhibition Building is. I spent as much time looking up as I did sampling organic food (mostly chocolate, but also tea, cordial, vegetable chips, relish, nuts and goji berries) and skincare.

I also patted a calf in the mini farmyard set up to entertain the youngsters (not that I've never touched a calf before - I've seen them being born). The kids with their tiny little horns were really cute (the goat kind, not the human kind.)

I loved the Bert's Bees beeswax products and bought myself a lip gloss and a pack of miniature hand, nail and footcare products in tiny little pots and tins.

A close up of the ceiling

I was also really impressed with a product called Onya Weigh, which is a little pouch containing 5 reuseable nylon drawstring tulle bags to use instead of plastic bags when buying fruit and vegies. I bought one of those.

I had planned to go to the Pompeii exhibition, but I was too weighed down with goodies, so I just popped into the gift shop for a quick look. I bought myself a copy of Melbourne: Then and Now, a book of photos of how Melbourne buildings and landmarks used to look and how they look now.

Then I headed for Brunetti's for a hot chocolate pit stop.

One of several pairs of sneakers suspended from power lines in Pelham Street, Carlton

Waiting for my Italian hot chocolate at Brunetti on Faraday Street, Carlton

I dropped into Readings bookshop for a browse. And who should I see there, but Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. I knew he was in the area because I'd heard someone point out his car parked beside the shop. I was looking at some books and then I looked up and he was standing right beside me. As I was taken by surprise, I just said, "Oh, hello. I didn't realise I was standing right next to you." Yep, inane. He just smiled. (After I got home I realised I had smudges of hot chocolate on either side of my mouth. Inane and grubby! How embarrassing!)

The PM's visit was very low key. A few people approached him and he chatted with them briefly. He posed for a photo. He bought a pile of books and then left. Half the customers in the shop probably had no idea he was even in there. Still, he's not Barack Obama.

A bad photo, but I didn't want to be too obvious!

After buying a book (Ethical Eating by Angela Crocombe) and texting a bunch of people to tell them I'd just talked to Kevin Rudd, I walked back into the city and caught the tram home, very, very weary after covering about 12kms.

It was getting dark - the sky was a deep blue and a smiley moon was hanging over the city. A gleeful end to a gleeful day.

Waiting for my tram

The new soccer and rugby stadium is looking good

Crossing the Yarra

Oooh! Oooh!

Cheeky bird in Botanic Gardens

Don't you love it when you randomly stumble across cool stuff on the internet that makes you go, "Oooh! Oooh!"? I do. It's not only finding the cool stuff that is pleasing - it's discovering it completely by chance. Doubly gleeful.

You may recall that I am compiling a list of 101 Things to Do Before I'm 40. I poached the idea from a someone on listography.com, who had posted her list of 101 Things to Do in 1001 Days but I gave it a little twist of my own. (I get 1281 days and counting....). I didn't give much thought to where she got the idea or if it was her idea, but I liked it.

On Twitter this morning I got a new follower and when I looked at her updates, I saw she'd posted a link to her own list of 101 Things to Do in 1001 Days. I went, "Oooh! Oooh!" and clicked the link, where I found her list but also a link to the site Day Zero, which is where the idea originated. People can join up and post their own list.

Not only am I pleased to learn of the provenance of the 101 Things list, I'm going to ransack the hell out of those lists for inspiration! You see, I'm only up to about 70 things and I'm struggling a little. Compiling the list is a project in itself!

Day Zero also has links to some other interesting, fun and worthwhile projects, including:

* Learning to Love You More, which is the idea of artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher.

"Participants accept an assignment, complete it by following the simple but specific instructions, send in the required report (photograph, text, video, etc), and see their work posted on-line. Like a recipe, meditation practice, or familiar song, the prescriptive nature of these assignments is intended to guide people towards their own experience."

* Gimme your Stuff, a cultural exchange project blog "where you can swap items of significance to your area with items from others around the world. A conduit for many an international cuisine to change hands. A place where you can trade a newspaper from South Africa, or a CD from Finland. A place where we take no responsibility for anything anyone else does. A place where we are changing the world with other people’s stuff".

* 365 Day Flickr Group, which is a Flickr community of nearly 12,000 people who post a self-portrait every day for 365 days.

* Post Secret, which is a blog that publishes the secrets of anonymous people who send them in on the back of a postcard.

Anyone feeling inspired? Have you stumbled across any cool sites by chance recently?

Serendipity, ducks and dumplings

I often seem to discover things by chance, which is perhaps even more exciting than finding something that you have been searching for.

Today I found a song. I recently watched Juno on DVD and fell in love with the soundtrack, particularly the quirky, folksy ditties of Kimya Dawson. I've been listening to it constantly on my iPod for about two weeks.

Curious about the rest of her work, I looked her up on MySpace and ba-bing! She sings a song about being a speck of dust inside a giant's eye, which I'd heard on the radio ages ago but missed the title and artist. Attempts to track it down via Google were also fruitless.

But now I know! And I found out totally by accident! It's called I like Giants. It's simple but profound.

Ducks and dumplings

I saw a pair of ducks on the river this morning, swimming single file and bobbing their heads as if they were dancing to music I couldn't hear.

Tonight I'm having dumplings with a friend I haven't seen in ages.

Have you recently discovered something wonderful by chance? Is stumbling across something unexpected more exciting than finding what you were looking for? What's on high rotation on your MP3/CD player?