bethrealistic

I'm Beth, 18 years old, and have lived in the amazing and ever-changing city of Sydney, in Australia, all my life.

I love travelling, and am looking forward to going to the UK and Italy in 2010 and 2011 - I'm studying Italian and get to spend 2011 living in the country!

I go to uni full time as a Fashion and Textile Design student. I would love to meet fellow design students or designers, and I'm always interested in finding out about new design.

I'm relatively new to swap-bot but have already started swapping, and love it! I've participated in a number of swaps over at the LiveJournal community postalpop, so I have a good track record despite being a "newbie".

Favourite crafts are sewing, knitting, crewel embroidery, collage, photomontage (both handmade and photoshopped), journal making, card making, stationery making.

Favourite colours are black, charcoal, white/cream, bronze, pale gold, beige/tan, pale pink, rust red, deep turquoise, brownish-grey.

My favourite things to do are baking, sewing, swimming, eating, watching movies, reading, writing letters, listening to music, playing music, playing with my dogs.

My favourite objects/things are trees, coffee, hair, books (old and new), movies, storage solutions, rain, dogs, icecream, pictures of birds, song covers, pretty clothes, vintage/retro clothes & fabrics, Five Hundred, lipgloss, television, music, the internet.

I don't like candles, tea, cats, scrapbooking, people who walk really slowly, bananas, kawaii, real birds.

Adam and the Ants, Angus & Julia Stone, The Avalanches, The B-52's, Badly Drawn Boy, The Beatles, Belle & Sebastian, Ben Folds, Ben Kweller, Bjork, Bloc Party, Bob Dylan, Bridezilla, Bright Eyes, Broken Social Scene, Camille, The Church, The Cranberries, Crowded House, The Cure, Dave Brubeck, David Bowie, The Decemberists, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Dire Straits, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Eels, Elliot Smith, Emiliana Torrini, Eskimo Joe, Feist, Fiona Apple, Fourplay, Frank Sinatra, Guillemots, Hot Hot Heat, Imogen Heap, Interpol, Jeff Buckley, Jem, Jimi Hendrix, The John Butler Trio, Josh Pyke, Joy Division, The Killers, Lior, Magnet, Moby, The Mountain Goats, Muse, New Order, Nick Cave, Nick Drake, Oasis, The Panics, The Pixies, The Postal Service, The Presets, R.E.M., Radiohead, Ray Charles, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Regina Spektor, Rilo Kiley, The Rolling Stones, Rusted Root, Sarah Blasko, The Shins, The Stranglers, The Strokes, Van Morrison, The White Stripes, The Whitlams, The Who, Yann Tiersen, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Zero 7

American Beauty, Donnie Darko, Brick, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Pieces of April, Pirates of the Caribbean, Amelie, Moulin Rouge, Finding Nemo, Little Miss Sunshine, Marie Antoinette, Labyrinth, Catch Me If You Can, Aladdin, Romeo + Juliet, Pride & Prejudice, Bride & Prejudice, Beauty & The Beast, Juno, The Family Stone

Spicks & Specks, Futurama, Scrubs, The Glass House, Doctor Who, Grey's Anatomy, Johnathan Creek, Black Books, Love My Way, Prison Break, House, Gilmore Girls, Supernatural, Veronica Mars, NCIS

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card, The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood, Life of Pi - Yann Martel, the Alice in Wonderland books - Lewis Carroll, the Harry Potter books - J. K. Rowling, Atonement - Ian McEwan, The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith

I am also in love with the Australian magazine "frankie".

In Australia there are certain items that can't be received by me in the post due to quarantine rules.

Please don't include the following items in swaps as they will be seized by quarantine and destroyed!

• seeds or other plant materials (pressed leaves etc.)
• shells
• soil & sand
• tea with fruit pieces
• incense
• dried/pressed flowers
• raw nuts/seeds
• any animal products such as raw hide, feathers, teeth, bones etc.
• any wooden items

Recently my rating has been lowered due to a swap I sent but that wasn't received by my partner, in a swap I was the coordinator for.

My partner gave me a rating of 1 without first making contact to check if I'd sent the swap. I messaged her asking why she hadn't got in touch before rating, but she became very defensive and angry. I told her that I would send her a new swap, as I assumed the package had gotten lost (like some other mail I'd sent to the US recently) but she asked me not to contact her any more.

I don't see a way I can get out of this situation without further angering the other swapper, unless the lost package somehow miraculously reappears.

So for now, it seems I'm stuck with a low rating. I ask coordinators to please consider this before kicking me from swaps! =)