Look what I found!

I love Frankie magazine. It has just the right measure of quirkiness and originality for yours truly.

I just saw on Facebook that they have have quite a few new wallpapers that are available to download - and they're lovely!

Here is the link - http://www.frankie.com.au/wallpapers

Maybe you'll find one you like!

The one above is my favourite.


xx

My bargain bag!

What a beauty!

I saw this bag a while ago, but at $595 - I could not justify buying it - no matter how I tried to talk myself into it.

So, my search for a new everyday handbag - that was big enough for random baby stuff when called for, continued. And continued...
I can't believe how many vinyl bags are out there priced at $150 or more!! And how few nice and vaguely affordable leather bags there are!

But today, while wandering past an Oroton store, I noticed that 'my bag' was on sale. Reduced from $595 to $295!! Now THAT I could justify!

So the Oroton Fortuna Hobo bag in black now lives at my house!!

Can't believe how excited I am about my bargain!! (and how many exclamation marks I have used in this post).

Hope you are having a lovely weekend.


xx

Something funny.

Very exciting 'Festival of Dangerous Ideas' update!

In October, Sd and I went to the Festival of Dangerous Ideas at the Sydney Opera House.
I posted about it here.
We really enjoyed it and will definitely go again next year.

Anyway, I just got an email from the Opera House ( a close personal friend of mine) and some of the most popular lectures are now available to be viewed online.
These are the lectures you can see;

Christopher Hitchens: Religion Poisons Everything

Cardinal George Pell - Without God We Are Nothing

IQ2 Debate: Democracy Is Not For Everyone

Soapbox Final: Public Speaking Competition

Baroness Susan Greenfield: Does Online Networking Harm Children's Brains?

Keyser Trad: Polygamy Is Good For Australia

If you have time, I would recommend watching them.
Particulary the Soapbox Final winner. She was bloody fantastic!

You can go here to see them.

Enjoy!! (and let me know what you think)

xx

That Girl.

More reminiscing.
I used to get up every morning at 5.30am when I was in primary school to watch this old TV show. It was on Channel 7 and I LOVED it.
More specifically, I loved Ann Marie. That was her( That Girl's) name.
I thought it was fantastic that her surname was Marie. So feminine. So lovely.
I wanted to be like her VERY BADLY.
I especially wanted her clothes and her hair. I would still love her clothes!! They were superb!
Could probably live without the hair though.
Ann Marie remains one of my style icons. If you want 'put together late 60's - early 70's chic' - look no further than Ann Marie. She was breath-taking.

Even though I watched episode after episode, I never really got how kitsch and corny the show was. It looked quite realistic to me! I just guessed that in the 60's and 70's that's how things were! In case you've never heard of this TV show ( ie; in case you didn't spend the best part of the early 80's getting up and making your way to the TV at 5.30am), it was similar to The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Single girl living in the big city ( New York in fact) - loving life.
Very inspiring to a 9 year old indeed!!
Ann Marie was a bit disaster prone, had a grumpy father and always tried her hardest. She was a bit like me - even at 9! Although at that age, clearly I was nowhere near NYC and I didn't have a devoted boyfriend called Donald either. Bummer.
There was always hope for the future though!
I have seriously considered naming a future baby girl of mine 'Marlo' - after Marlo Thomas who played Ann Marie.We'll have to wait and see....

Here are the opening credits; just imagine a small girl sitting in the dark about 10 cms away from the TV screen with the volume turned down so I didn't wake anyone up, totally and utterly in awe of 'That Girl'.

Sigh.

xx

Musical interlude #2.

Good afternoon!

I have wanted to post this for ages.

I am a huge Mia Farrow fan. Isn't she exquisite?

I have watched her in just about everything she's ever done, except 'Rosemary's Baby'. I don't/can't do horror movies...but I'm sure she's superb in that as well!!

When I was little, maybe about 4 or 5, I watched this TV movie - Peter Pan - and I adored it.
It was made in 1976 ( when Mia was 31 ) and she played Peter. It had a huge impact on me and I have never forgotten it.
Unfortunately, as far as I know, it isn't available on DVD, so I have to be happy with many many visits to Youtube for the time being.


Enjoy!!


xx

A small pleasure for a Wednesday morning.

Morning all!

Sd( my lovely husband) is a big fan of pear and raspberry bread. I can usually take or leave anything of the sweet persuasion , however I must say that I also am partial to a slice or two of this bread! It's quite spectacular!

Sd and I decided to make some on the weekend and after finding a relatively healthy recipe, we set to work finding the ingredients.

Um, sadly I was unaware of the cost of fresh raspberries!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my Lord, they're expensive.
I wanted to buy two punnets and after finding out that would cost me $22.00 - I decided to go with plan B.
This is where the small pleasure comes in.
I found some frozen organic rasperries. The brand is Viking Organic. $6.99 for 300g.
I got them at the local grocer. Nowhere fancy!
I am not a fan of frozen fruit generally speaking BUT these are divine!!!!
They were beautiful in the bread and they are beautiful on their own.
They thaw quickly and are still firm and normal raspberry consistency.
Can you tell I'm impressed!!?
These will be in my freezer from now on, pear and raspberry bread or not!


xx

Let's talk about something very dear to my heart . Concealer .

I'm not really a make-up person as such, however, I can't tell you how much I love my concealer.
I wont bang on about the merits of concealer for too long I promise.
Just a few quick points;

* Liquid concealer is the way to go. If you have dry skin or heaven forbid, are 'older', ie; have any fine lines, then you can't go wrong with the liquid option.
If you have skin like a baby's bum then, by all means, choose whatever type you like!

* Always choose a concealer SLIGHTLY lighter than the skin tone ON YOUR FACE (not your hand). I have found that it blends much better.

* My brand of choice is , hands down , YSL Touche Eclat concealer. It lasts for ages, a little bit goes a long way, and the results are very impressive - on any redness, pigmentation or dark circles under your eyes.
I am the lucky owner of all three of these at various times.
Sometimes all three at once! Lovely!

* My motivation for writing this post is my latest discovery.
I wanted to buy another liquid concealer as a back-up for my rather pricey concealer of choice. I chose the new 'Maybelline Instant Age-Rewind Double Face Perfector'.
Once I got over the ridiculous name (!) and used it - I was VERY impressed.
This concealer is about an 1/8th of the price of the YSL one and although it is not quite as good, for the price, the results are awesome.
That is the second time I have used that word in my life and Lovelies, I really really mean it.
The tube has a highlighter at one end and the concealer at the other.
In a clunkier way, it achieves what the YSL one combines into one liquid.

If you are a concealer person, run, don't walk and go get yourself some. Give it a try.

You wont be disappointed!


Got anything you would like to extol the virtues of?
Let me know!


xx

Little shop of dreams come true.

As I've mentioned, we moved last month. We now live about 10 minutes away from our old house and although it's not been a big change, we are having a lovely time exploring our new suburb and finding all its treasures.
We get our coffee most mornings from Black Star bakery on Australia St, in Newtown. On my way to Black Star that very first time I found , drum roll please , the shop of my dreams.
If it is possible to actually find a perfect representation of my aesthetic - then - this is it.

It's a little shop called 'Newspaper Taxi' and to describe what lies inside, in a word?
Wonderful.

I won't go on, because it's better if you click on the link and see it for yourself. In all it's glory!!


Enjoy! Happy weekend!

xx

Sweet sweet music.

Yesterday afternoon I was doing a spot of lying in bed watching TV, and I happened on a documentary on the Ovation channel about a 13 year old Canadian jazz singer called Nikki Yanofsky.
It was such a beautiful film because her passion for music and singing (as opposed to a passion for attention and fame that seems so prevalent these days ) was so abundantly clear. She is one talented young lady! Nikki is actually 15 now and her career has well and truly begun. In the documentary, her first time in the recording studio was filmed and it was bliss to watch. Her voice is unique and she has cultivated a love for jazz music all on her own at such a young age. Her inspirations are Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Stevie Wonder and Christina Aguilera.
Her parents are featured briefly in the film and they are obviously very proud but at the same time quite bemused as to how Nikki has become such a force of nature. Again, so nice to see 'non - stage parents', as opposed to the Lohans and Cyrus' of this world.
If you like jazz music and you love to see one of those rare creatures - a prodigy - you will be in awe of Nikki. A real and natural young girl, bursting with true talent.
Aaaah, sooo refreshing!!!
So exciting!!!

xx

My most beautiful shoes in the world.

I first saw these little treasures on Saturday.
It was love at first sight. I had palpitations, my breathing was laboured. I had a rush of endorphins.
I think my sister, who I was shopping with, thought I was having some kind of turn.
After she witnessed the spiritual connection between the shoes and I, she told me to buy them. But I refused.
No, I was not going to jump into anything.
Even though they were on sale. Even though they were my size. No, I was going to be strong, mature, and I was going to remember that Alannah Hill shoes were not necessities.
Even if we were meant to be.
I walked away. There were no tears - I'm tough.


So, two days later, after obsessing over what life would be like without them , I went back to get my shoes.
We both bought shoes today , Sd bought running shoes - they were nice enough - but I bought the most beautiful shoes in the world.
We're in a relationship now , the shoes and I. We're very close.

xx

Decisions, decisions.

I decided that it was time for a change to the seat covers of our dining suite. It's quite the unique table and chairs. It used to be my grandma's and despite the fact that I am unaware of anyone under average height from her side of the family, she had the table lowered for some reason so it is a little bit squashy on the legs for most men and some ladies too. Not what you are after at a dinner party really.
I keep meaning to do something about it but it's one of those things I haven't got around to yet. In the last 12 years. Must look into it...
Anyway, the chairs. So I decided that I wanted the four chairs to have different covers that don't match but complement each other. Sounds lovely dosen't it!
I went to Spotlight this morning with my sister ( who is not a fan of any kind of shopping ) to choose the fabrics. It was hard hard hard.
I was so confused by the end, I kind of got what I wanted but not quite. The pink fabric isn't 100% right but out of the 4000 pink fabrics I looked at it was by far the best one. I'm also not sure about the blue and white stripe. I like it alot, but not sure if it works with all the others.
Sd hasn't seen them yet. Not sure what reaction I'll get. I'm guessing he will be as bemused as me. Or he might want to discreetly put them in the bin. We'll see.
If you've got any pointers - point away!!

xx

ps. the photo isn't that good because I took it in 4pm light but I hope you get the idea.

Wow.

I just want to say straight off that I stole this photo from The Sartorialist - one of my most favourite of favourite blogs.

I absolutely love this picture.

I love what this lovely lady is wearing, I love how comfortable in her own skin and her own style she is , and I love the beautiful day that surrounds her.

Love.Love.Love.

xx

I will be showing you some of my finds this weekend!

One of the things I had planned to do on this blog was to show you all the clothes I buy at markets and other special places here and there.

I have gotten a bit sidetracked since I started posting though .

So, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to announce that this weekend I will be doing a few posts starring some of my favourite acquisitions. I'll tell you where I got them too.

I plan to have one of those weekends where I don't really leave the house much at all - so plenty of time to take lots and lots of photos for you!

xx