Viciously, she sleeps

Wow, I have been in London for a few days now and it is completely surreal. In some ways it feels like I never left, and yet my friends have so many stories of the stuff we missed out on :-(
Off to Croatia tomorrow, VERY early but very excited! Hopefully might be able to post from some internet cafe or something, but I'm not getting my hopes up. But of course I will have heaps of fabulous photos to show everyone when I get back!
I am incredibly jetlagged as I write this and have a headache along with occasional sea-sickness (what the?)!

Sorry for the lack of photos but I forgot to take any when I saw all my friends, I was a bit overwhelmed!

Down on the farm…

House-sitting again, which includes quite a few animals to sit as well. I must say, I have been known to be a bit of a prissy princess when it comes to getting my hands dirty, but I have really warmed to having animals in my life! What’s a bit of dirt when you’re having fun, and is it the end of the world if you need to wash you hands a bit more than usual? We took a few photos with Powder Puff the adorable bunny and with a bunch of funny laydee chooks, one of which is called Burt! Some of the photos turned out quite nicely in the setting sunlight, but we couldn’t take any more as we did have to feed them too!!

Headband: Accessorize; Tee: Comic Relief; Cardy: Urban Outfitters; Jeans: Kate Moss for Topshop; Belt: Wes'.

Capsule Wardrobe

As the 21st August draws nearer, I start to think about packing. Maybe that should be panic about packing. Of course, in the past 2 years I have had to pack my entire life & move it halfway around the world twice already so I should be a pro, right?

I like to approach it like I’m a designer creating a capsule collection from my archives. It has to distil the essence of me, in a suitcase. Sometimes you might find you learn a lot about yourself & your style. I may have forgotten that item even existed for the past 2 years, but it does serve an essential purpose in a wider context, I swear!

I really should have brought less with me, seeing as I have worn the same outfit pretty much everyday for 4 months. Plus, this time I need to take summer clothes with me, which I haven’t needed since December 2007! Wish me luck!
Made a collage of a few things I couldn’t live without…

My Josh Goot silver trench; My tan brogues I wear every second day; My Carrie dress - a vintage one my sister bought for about 20 bucks but reminds me of Miss Bradshaw; Primark shirt dress that must have a cost-per-wear ratio in the negative by now; Marc Jacobs (that I think might be Marc Fakeobs); Morine Comte Morant top I got on sale from ASOS just in time to wear once before leaving London :-)

Adios muchachos!

So I found out a week ago, but now it’s official – I have, in my hand, our Visas for the UK that have so far taken 4 months to get!!
I can’t believe it, we’re heading back to London! Yay! I feel like I won the lottery! I have missed my friends so much, I can’t wait to see them again, hopefully I do not smother them to death with too many hugs!
To top it all off, we can also go on our Croatia sailing tour which has been in the works since January!! (Bikini body not quite ready, hopefully can get away with a caftan for a whole week).
Of course I have not only missed my friends, but the whole life we had there. We have so much fun, get up to a healthy amount of mischief, travel, and the fashion. Oh, the fashion. I’m really looking forward to blogging from an “Australian girl in London” angle, and I hope you enjoy it too! There are so many interesting, creative exhibitions, collaborations, projects and the like going on all the time, I will be able to share it all with you.
I’m so ready to leave Aus, which is no real reflection on the place, just the fact that I haven’t worked in so long which means no money, and I think I have had enough quiet nights in to last a lifetime. Am definitely thinking about freighting my sewing machine over, though, so I can keep up with my newly acquired hobby. The next week is going to be frantic! We fly A380 on Friday!!!

Lookbook.nu and Weardrobe.com

As if I didn’t have enough on my plate with blogging, sewing, packing and tying up all the loose ends associated with moving back across the globe, I have joined a couple more fashion sites so I can spend even more time shooting photos to upload onto them! They are both great sites. For Lookbook I had to be invited, so was very excited when one of the lovely ladies from the Sportsgirl forum offered to invite me! Thanks to Demetria, who also has a blog you should check out here. I have only posted one look to each site so far, but if I get a good response I guess I might get into it more! We’ll see…here is my Lookbook page and here is my Weardrobe one.

9 years and counting!

We are not very big on celebrating our anniversary. Most of the time we don’t even remember when it is. But this year, this year would have to be different, right? See, for our visa application I’ve had to collate all the proof of our relationship’s existence, write statements about how we met and what things we have in common, find photographs of us together, and I even found a calendar from the year 2000 to get my dates right. I did all this over the past 4 months. Our anniversary was about 3 weeks ago. And we forgot again. We really do love each other, I swear!!

This pic is one we took on our travels early last year, in Vienna. It was especially good gelato that required documenting.

Well, Marilyn is really a Joan

Ahh Mad Men. I watched it non-stop on the flight home, and I'm really hoping they will have season two for me on the way back to London. Fascinating show for many reasons, but I am particularly in love with the girls and their dresses. Especially Joan. I love how she looks like she is sewn into them. On Election Night one of the junior boys surmises “You can’t sit down in that dress!”, when she proceeds to not only sit, but to gracefully sink to the ground with all the poise of a dancer with her ankles crossed just so, and not so much as a sharp intake of breath. See, everything is effortless for Joan. She is the perfect picture of a woman as a woman should be. Well, you know, in freaky 1960 TV land.

Style-wise, though, I think I am a Betty. I would honestly wear every fabulous outfit she wears. I probably wouldn't even feel the need to mix it up to modernise it, literal is just fine in this case.

But you know what? I sometimes even like the dresses Peggy wears. As a character I think she is supposed to be a bit of a dag. I guess in the 1960s even the dags were far more polished than what we get away with nowadays. The inspiration for my Vintage Vogue dress becomes apparent, huh? I want nothing at the moment if it isn't waisted.

bmibaby!

I know, I just did a cutesy puppy post last week, but I swear the cutesy baby post is actually for the outfit I am wearing in it! I forgot to take any photos of me by myself :-P (though the bub is very cute! He is Mylan and he just got that stage where all of a sudden a baby is interesting and can smile and stuff).

This is my most favourite skirt suit (okay, pretty sure it's my only skirt suit) that I bought from Topshop just before I left London in March. I have actually had heaps of wear out of it in Aus. Both pieces look fab on their own, but I really like wearing it together, it's just the right side of too much, you know? The skirt has the cutest bow on the bum! Will have to take a photo of that too one day. Oh, and this bow tie necklace is also a current favourite from my beloved Sportsgirl that unlike the Reece heels, gets lots of wear.

Man my hair misses Vanessa! Why does my hairdresser always have to live on the opposite side of the world to where I am? 4 months and counting since I last had my hair cut.

Jacket, skirt: Topshop; T-shirt: H&M; Necklace: Sportsgirl.

Fab new market finds and Max Brenner is next door!

I haven't spent alot of time in Sydney this visit (a bit too expensive on zero income) but I did have time to rediscover Paddington markets one Saturday. Wow, they are not like I remember! There were so many great stalls with really well-made pieces from up-and-coming local designers. I was especially excited when I came upon the Kylie Hawkes stall. I fell in love with her entire collection! She is definitely going places, this girl, and I just had to share these pics with you from her own website.

Also there was another standout stall with gorgeous shirt dresses, but I didn't catch the name of the designer! Any regulars might know - it was in the back, along the wall of the hall? Oooh and a gorgeous jewellery stall right at the front near the street that was so busy I could barely see the merch! Anyway...will be a long time before I get back there, I hope they all do well!

DIY Galaxy

I bought this fabric a few weeks ago. It is a galaxy-themed quilting fabric that I think is intended for little kids’ bedspreads. It reminded me of the latest Antipodium and Josh Goot collections. Anyway, I sat on it for awhile, mulling over the possibilities and finally settled on a gathered-waist full skirt. I’d also love to make a dress out of it but it’s a bit too expensive.

A gathered skirt is pretty quick and easy to make. I didn’t use a pattern for this skirt, just followed some basic instructions from my Complete Idiot’s Guide to Sewing book. First you just cut two rectangles out of your folded fabric. The big rectangle is for the actual skirt part. You can make this as wide and long as you want. The skinnier rectangle is for the waistband. It should measure your waist circumference plus a couple of inches for seams and overlap for the hook and eye. I interfaced the waistband bit, minus seams.

Then you sew up the ends of the skirt to make the side seam, putting the zip in at the top of the seam. Zippers can be tricky but they should have instructions on the packet.

Next you sew two straight lines of wide stitching along the top, and pull the bobbin threads to gather the fabric. Compare it to the waistband as you do it so you get it to the right length.

Then you just sew the right side of the waistband to the skirt, close to the other line of stitching.

Sew the ends of the waistband together and turn the right way out. Then sew the inside of the waistband in by hand.

Sew a hook and eye closure on to the ends of the waistband. I hate doing these and always have trouble lining them up! Basically I hate doing anything I can’t use my machine for!

Hem the skirt at whatever length you like. I usually just do a 1cm hem with my machine as I can’t be bothered doing a blind hem by hand and I think the machine ones look fine.

Ta-dah! I’m loving wearing high-waist skirts with either bodysuits or loose tees tucked in. Opaques are mandatory for me now, I hate wearing bare legs, probably because I haven’t had a summer in almost 2 years! (I don’t count English summers when they only last 2 days). I wore this outfit to the supermarket in Orange today and got so many stares. You'd think they'd never seen someone wearing a purple beret and a galaxy skirt before!

Beret: Jendi, a present from my mum (bought in Berry - true story!); T-shirt: H&M; Cardy: Urban Outfitters; Skirt: me!; Boots: Topshop; Belt: vintage.

You come at the king, you best not miss

I know I’m not gonna be the first person to say this, and I know I’m not a critic who can wax lyrical about subtle nuances, but The Wire really is the best TV show ever made. It is like they have watched every other TV series and figured out how to make it better in every way. It blurs the distinction between good and evil like never before. Its character development is like nothing you have ever experienced. You feel compassion for people you hate, you want to adopt street kids that don’t even exist, and you will thank God that you don’t have to live your life like this.
Thanks to the recession (it had to work in our favour sooner or later) JB Hifi was having a ridiculous sale & we picked up seasons 2, 3 & 4 for less than half price. Trouble is we’re so addicted we stayed up ‘til all hours every night watching episode after episode until they were all gone! There is a big Wire-shaped hole in our lives that only Season 5 can fill. Obtaining it is our new life purpose. ps. Have you overseas people seen Underbelly? Season 1 is a must!

I am totally in love with Omar (yes, I know he’s gay, it just adds to the mystique).

Motorcycle boots

More ankle boots!! I have always been in love with those ridiculous Balenciaga boots Mary-Kate Olsen was wearing a few years ago (you know I don’t mean ridiculous in a bad way). She wore them everywhere and I marveled at how one could fit such an out-there piece into an ‘everyday’ wardrobe. Well, accepting that it takes some trends years to make it Down Under, Aussie label Maurie and Eve have finally made a replica pair. Yay! They are fab and actually look like they would be really comfortable (my main hurdle to wearing heels in MY everyday wardrobe). Of course, I am completely broke at the moment, so I will have to consign these boots to the list of missed purchases I will kick myself about for years to come. If you do have a spare $220 they are apparently available at Tuchuzy @ Bondi, Paris Texas in Surry Hills and mycatwalk.com.

Gestuz Lovin'

This is one of my most favourite wardrobe items at the moment. It is by European label, Gestuz, and just seems to be appropriate for every occasion. It’s very easy to layer and swings from winter to summer effortlessly! I got it from ASOS early this year when it was still winter in London. I just couldn’t get a good photo of me in it, not for want of trying, so this is the ASOS one, obviously. I also like a lot of their other stuff, especially the big batwing sleeve white shirt, but alas I was too slow and it sold out! Hmm, maybe they will read this & send me one as a thank you for the free publicity?

My new boyfriend, Ralph

We recently spent a little while house-sitting for some friends in the Blue Mountains. They have the most adorable pup, Ralph! We both just fell in love and seriously considered doing a spot of dog-napping! He took us for walkies every day and he just craves attention which suited Wes perfectly. I think it may have been the first time in history that a dog got sick of patting before the human. Here is a photo of my two favourite boys…

Plus, his owners broke the news that he will soon have a new playmate! (No, not another dog. A baby, duh!) Congratulations Steve and Nicky!!! We would be more than willing to take Ralphie off your hands if they don’t get along.

Vaseline Vexation

You might think I am a bit OCD for saying this, but just look at what my mum did to my lip balm! She asked me if she could use it one day and she mooshed a big hole in the middle that goes right down to the bottom! Doesn’t everybody know the lip balm code? You don’t gouge! You dab! At the time I just let it go, but now the outrage has been stewing...

The Wizard Jacket

I had a whole post planned about this jacket and how it was a bit ‘out there’ and I didn’t know if I’d ever wear it outside of the house. But yesterday I just got up and had an urge to wear it! I was going to the Big Smoke for the day, so that’s probably why I felt a bit more daring. Did I mention we were going to the city to put the finishing touches on our visa application?! Here we go…now we wait.
The jacket is my first ever purchase from Etsy, so I was very excited about that. I usually find the site a bit overwhelming but found this great store called edwardvintage via a link from CatwalkQueen (R.I.P.). They have lots of nice things, very reasonably priced, too, but something about this piece caught my eye. We are calling it The Wizard Jacket. It's definately growing on me.

Jacket: edwardvintage @ Etsy; Singlet: Gap; Tights: Target; Shoes: Topshop; Necklace: my collection (code for I can't remember).