Sunday 23 March 2014

Gingham pants, good friends and deadly microbes


Blouse, pants, cardigan and bag are all thrifted | Shoes are Naot | Cherries are c/o Sarsparilly

Look at me, wearing pants! What an unusual sight to see. I found these gingham pants at that "buy per kilo" op shop I visited the other day (whose name I am very selfishly withholding lest all the trendy Sydney kids descend upon the place and take all the good stuff), as well as this cardigan! I paired this with some dress-brogues and cherries, and my house-purse for good measure. Oh, and an old man decided to stand across the other side of the road and gawp at me the entire time that I was taking photos. Next time that happens, I'm going to stare right back at the person until they walk away. People can be so rude when you're doing something so "unusual" as standing on the street taking photos of yourself, goodness.

So something very exciting happened last week - I convinced my good friend Katie to start blogging (and I even designed her blog for her)! This means I finally have someone (who doesn't currently live in Japan) who'll take photos with me in awkward public places - which means less awkward-looking-selfies-because-I'm-being-stared-at-on-the-street, woo hoo! - AND she's also super cute and wears the coolest stuff so I'm too excited to take photos, make things and chat about blogging together! While we do have (somewhat) different styles, our outfits usually complement each other - we usually match on the whole red hair/red lips thing, and are both partial to a dressing like a 1950s pin up model now and again!
Anyway, you may have seen me plugging her new blog all over social media (I'm too excited to have a blog friend who lives just around the corner!) BUT if you haven't had a read yet, you should go and check out her blog, Buddle & Squeak, and say hi!
Oh and can you believe these photos were taken on an iPhone (and unedited??) I might as well go and throw my super-fancy SLR in the bin now. Yikes.
Also, thank you all so much for your feedback on this post when I was thinking of changing my blog's name to "The Pin & Needle Collective". Well, I've decided to keep the Pineneeedle Collective as is! Sure, I might not have liked the name when I first started blogging, but it's come to be representative of this whole space right here, which is a fact I definitely can't ignore! So, I've decided to stop being embarrassed when people ask me what my blog is called, and embrace The Pineneedle Collective as a name! *woo*

So because I'm in a creative mood right now (and also wanting to learn how to embroider), check out these sciencey microbrial cross-stitches!
Alicia Watkins from Etsy makes these amazingly nerdy & cute cross-stitches of various microbes and diseases (and that's probably the first time plasmodium, the parasite that causes malaria, has ever been called "cute"). I'm smitten. Particularly with the two cross-stitches below!
Although these two guys here can cause some pretty deadly illnesses, they are also two of the most important microbes to science, and I work with them in the lab all the time. 

E. coli loves to grow everywhere and is super versatile, and so they are the microbe of choice for molecular biologists. By using E. coli, you can clone lengths of DNA, make biofuels, and make important proteins for medical purposes (to name a few applications)! For example many brands of insulin (used by people with diabetes) are made inside an E. coli cell! 

Bacteriophage, on the other hand, are viruses - and they're able to latch onto bacterial cells such as E. coli using those long green "legs" you can see in the cross-stitch above, inject their own DNA, and take over the cell, often hijacking it to make thousands more copies of itself... then ungraciously bursting the cell into pieces. What a badass! However just like E. coli they've revolutionized biotechnology, and are extensively used in research laboratories for things like cloning DNA. And because they're such great bacteria-killers, they're also used to help "sanitise" foods such as cheeses, meat and poultry.

I hope that you've all had a lovely weekend so far!







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13 comments:

  1. Eeep! As a Biotech/Microbiology major I loooove those cross-stitches. ^_^

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  2. You look lovely!
    Have an amazing day :)
    http://sheseeksvictoria.wordpress.com

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  3. I feel weird telling people my blog name too! I always think people will be judging it somehow but really, who cares? I like your blog name! It's cute and so are you.
    Anyway, these pants were an awesome find! They're adorable! Especially paired with your red cardigan. Such a cute outfit. I'll definitely be checking out your friend's new blog too!

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  4. No way were those photos taken on an iPhone! That's crazy talk! The camera is the only thing that leans me towards an iPhone.

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  5. Cute, cute! Love the pants <3 Alex


    tobebeautifulingodseyes.blogspot.com

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  6. She is cute and you are cute and TOGETHER EVERYONE IS CUTE.

    Kirsten | kirstenlearns.com

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  7. Yay, I'm glad you have a photoshoot buddy! I have a lot of respect for the brave souls that go out and take their own pictures with a tripod out in public :) Still working up the courage to do that. Looking forward to your future shoots--I've been a silent follower for a while (so, hi!) but definitely a fan of the Pineneedle name.

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  8. you are seriously the cutest and I'm putting up your interview asap!! Probably tomorrow or today! I will e-mail you. You the best!!!

    love, polly
    pollybland.com

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  9. I adore this outfit! Your cardigan is gorgeous.

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  10. It's great to have someone to take photos with. My sister helps me out with mine sometimes for outside shoots and we get weird looks all the time but when we're together we can laugh about it. Even if you stare they'll probably not care and keep staring. It has happened to me a ton of times lol. I just don't get some people, so I don't bother anymore :D

    P.S. LOVE THE PANTS! Wear them all the time!

    http://chamomiledealer.blogspot.com.tr/

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  11. My goodness you are adorable! Love your style

    Tiffany Ima
    Style Honestly

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  12. You are too adorable in pants. We can see why you keep that store's name a secret :D

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  13. Hi Annika, you are so beautiful! I am a scientist too, for a while taught microbiology labs so I can appreciate your post.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a message! I read every single one. Don't forget to check back for a reply if you leave a question! ♥

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