Baby Blue

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Baby Blue to my family and my garage...

He likes being zippy, hugging corners, and playing albums by artists such as Seeker Lover Keeper and Hey Marseilles via his clever bluetooth connection.

Apparently, smoke grenades will also fit nicely into his cup-holders, and he'll do just fine if I'm being chased around a shopping complex by baddies in a Corvette. Good to know.

Dot points of happiness

A few things that are making me smile (and not able to sleep due to my excitement) lately:

• My Dance Husband gets here next week.
• This is my last weekend in London. Next weekend I'm in Durham, UK, the weekend after I go to Oxford. After that it's Bulgaria, then Paris, then home!
• I'm going swing dancing next weekend... AND I have a dress for the movie premiere night that was on sale, and will double as my long-coveted black day maxi dress!
• I now own this ski jacket and salopettes:

• I got the above ski outfit for only £40!
• I now know that the fancy name for "ski pants" is "salopettes".
• His Travel Romance moves into our new house next week, and I'll be there just a month later.
• His Travel Romance booked my ticket home recently, and I get to fly in an A380 via an afternoon in Perth catching up with everyone I miss so dearly!

Wonderful darling, just wonderful

When I woke up this morning I was so excited to see some sneak peak photos from a friend's photoshoot up on facebook!

The gorgeously vivacious Miss In Wonderland has, for the last few months, been developing herself a little empire of hats, hair pieces, accessories, and all things gorgeous, which you can check out at either her Made It store, or on Etsy. She is incredibly talented and I can't even begin to tell you how freaking proud I am of her for giving up her job of five years and following her dream to create and design.

Ashliegh puts in such a lot of care and love to her creations and you can certainly tell - I can't wait until I have one (two, three....) of my very own to start wearing around London town! After all, you never know want Santa may get me... Especially if Santa is going back to Perth before meeting me in New York... Ahem... ;-)

So, this photoshoot, shot by the ever-so-talented Dabs (yet another gorgeous Perth lady pursuing her dream!), looks oh-so-amazing! The models are gorgeous, the photos are absolutely stunning, the hats and accessories are to die for and, well, I'll just let them speak for themselves!

Snap

This last week of mine in Perth is certainly proving to be a hectic one!

Dinner out practically every night, mad lunch hours spent shopping for last minute travel necessities, and trying to put together the perfect plane outfit (ie a combination of "I'm so comfy I could be a marshmallow!" and "Phoar! I'm a stylish little vixen who did nay just spend the last 24 hours traveling on a plane!"), and nary enough sleep to support it all.

To fix this, I have decided to paint my fingernails red. I believe this will help immensely.

I also decided to buy myself an entry level SLR.

Photo Source

I actually wasn't going to buy myself an SLR. After much thought and discussion with my dear Yak, we had actually decided that due to financial constraints, and for the ease of travel, a Nikon Coolpix P100 would be the best option. However, when I went to price compare on Monday, the first shop I went into had my little Sony on mega-sale. He was the only one of his kind left, and so they were selling him at a ridiculously cheap price - less than cost - just to get him out the door. I didn't snap him up straight away - like a good little shopper I visited other stores, and even had a lengthy discussion at a completely different shop about the pro's and con's of the Nikon Vs the Sony. In the end, the value my little Sony presented was just too good to be true - plus the fact that it's an SLR which I so desperately wanted! So, in the end, Sony Alpha 230 + memory card + camera bag + UV filter for less than half the retail price of the Sony originally and for less than what I was going to spend on a lesser camera = epic win for me!!

Now, if only I had a free night on which to learn how to use it...

A Quick Catch Up In Pieces

The last few nights have really been quite cold here. Not as cold as it gets where I'm going obviously, but cold enough for me to proudly adorn my body with a combination of track pants, thick jumpers, and fluffy socks... It's a hot look, let me tell you!

This weekend His Travel Romance and I are off on a mini-break to the Margaret River region for three beautiful nights of relaxation, food, wine, and together time. Always fans of boutique-style accommodation and B&B's, we were recommended Hilltop Studios as a fabulous place to stay - the place looks amazing and the scenery reminds me a little of the bushland from our stay at the Southern Ocean Lodge last year so I can't begin to tell you how much I'm looking forward to it. HTR and I haven't actually had a holiday together all year, and we're about to be separated for at least six months due to his work and my travel commitments, so that makes this weekend extra special.

A little while ago I decided I needed to purchase a new handbag. More specifically, a new handbag that could be the official travel handbag for the amazing adventures of Her Travel Romance, which would be big enough to give me some extra packing room for my flights, would also be able to cope with carrying my macbook around, AND which would still look stylish on the streets of New York and London... The other day I found the perfect bag! A big, brown, soft, and gorgeous leather bag by Marcs which has carry handles and a shoulder strap for the convenience of choice and which also, happily, matches my new travel document wallet from Tusk!

(My apologies for the sub-par phone photo - it really doesn't do them justice...)

It's one month and five days until I leave Australia. 28 days until my last day at work. Not that I'm counting... US dollars purchased? Check. US dollars and 2x passports packed into new travel document wallet? Check. New travel document wallet packed into new travel handbag? Check! Waiting for the Aussie dollar to climb up against the British pound again? Check.

I realised the other day that I haven't done any knitting for quite some time... Annie decided to help me catch up.

Sunday night we had Annie's kitty-sitter over to check out the house that will be her home for five months, and most importantly, to meet the beautiful little fluff-chop. We ended up serving a delicious roast chicken with Yorkeshire puddings and gravy, minted peas, and roasted carrots and royal blue potatoes, and I made my first ever bread and butter pudding for dessert. The pudding was just amazing, and so simple! If you're interested in the recipe, it's right here. Kitty-sitter's boyfriend has already requested that we leave a copy of this out on the kitchen bench so she can make it for him at least once a week whilst she's here!

Quick blog catch up: check!

Mail From Latvia #2

With only four more sleeps until my birthday, I thought I should whip out the second of my vintage dresses from Latvia! Any excuse is a good excuse...

Vintage dress, bow tights from Alannah Hill, shoes by Zola from Zomp, belt from Veronika Maine, cardi from Sportsgirl, Burberry watch and Pandora bracelet.

I love these shoes. Love, love, love. I've had them for over a year now, and I just love how they're a boot, but they're not! And I also admit that I fell ever so slightly more in love with them after I saw Serena wearing something similar on Gossip Girl! And the dress? I love it too! I was told I look like a nanna when I wore this outfit. I take that as a compliment!

Mail From Latvia

Today my three lovely vintage dresses finally arrived from Beta Boutique!

I say finally not because Beta was tardy with posting, but because Australia Post's online tracking system wasn't working. Having checked the web site every other day for the last two weeks, I actually called AusPost this afternoon to ask if they could see where my parcel was because I was concerned that it still hadn't appeared to have arrived in the country. I was informed my dresses had arrived in Sydney on 4 April but they couldn't tell me why they were still in Sydney or when I would receive them. With much disappointment I hung up the phone and plodded home, only to be greeted with a big, squishy, yellow parcel from the post office! Huzzah!

So here we have my new vintage dress, purple flower brooch from Diva, black belt that has been with me for so long I can't remember where it came from, gold leaf bangle from the Guildford Farmers Markets, black Falke stockings gifted from the gorgeous CW, and purple shoes from I Love Billy.

My first official outfit post... How'd I do?

Vintage Lovlies

Earlier this week, my Assistant Director of Operation Save As Much Money As Possible (Op OSAMMAP) severely reprimanded me for my accidental purchase of three lovely vintage dresses from Beta Boutique, which I found via a certain little Gypsy (whom I blame completely by the way)...

I just love the colours in this gorgeous afternoon dress from the 50's. I think that wherever I wear this little lovely, I shall be fluid and graceful, and with my hair pinned up with wisps dancing around my face, and with warming tights and a cardigan, and some beautiful creamy boots, I shall look cool, yet warm on the autumnal streets of London, and people shall whisper, "who is that lovely girl who channels Zooey Deschanel?"

If I ever have enough of the 50's, I can then move on into the 70's, with this lovely white and tan, rose printed, skirt pleated lovely...

It doesn't look like something so special from further back, but if you come a little closer, dear friends, you will see what it was about this dress that reached out and stole my paypal login details...

I think the floral pattern on this dress is just divine, and with the subtle colours, it will do very nicely for those days when I feel like staying neutral. And, with warming tights and a cardigan, and some beautiful creamy boots, I shall look vintagey-warm on the autumnal streets of London, and people shall whisper, "who is that lovely girl who channels cinnamon chai lattes?"

Finally, we reach the 80's, with a dress with a story.

Beta tells me that in 1986 her Godmother managed to get herself from the USSR to the German Democratic Republic and, if that wasn't feat enough, she then managed to buy herself this very, very dark navy blue dress.

If that story wasn't enough to get me into these layers, the fact that the dress is dark navy (a current absolute favourite of mine that I've been finding very hard to find lately) sealed the deal. I just have images of this dress with a fabulous red belt cinched around the waist, and quite possibly a pair of warming tights and a cardigan, teemed with a pair of beautiful creamy boots. I shall look boho-warm on the autumnal streets of London, and people shall whisper, "who is that lovely girl who channels truth, beauty, freedom, and love?"

Citizenship And A Skirt

So, time was tripping merrily along, getting rather close to stumbling over the two week mark since I last heard about my application for British Citizenship. I will admit that our heroine was starting to get a little antsy about being contacted to attend her citizenship ceremony and was starting to pen polite but enquiring emails to Canberra in her head... Happily however, a friendly little email popped into my hotmail account this morning after I got to work and I joyously danced around in my chair, thrilled with the knowledge that I will be taking the Oath of British Citizenship on Thursday 4 March! Tea and scones anyone?

To celebrate, I tripped merrily along to Wheels & Dollbaby in King Street and splurged a little* on a fabulous new ballet skirt, teeming with layer upon beautiful layer of soft, buttery, french nude tulle.

* ok, maybe I splurged more than a little... But one has to look fabulous to live with the Queen!

Charcoal And Vintage Jewellery

Yesterday was the final class of my first drawing couse for the year. For three afternoons over the last three weekends I have had an absolute ball learning different techniques with charcoal, erasers, and conte crayon, from Ryan Nazzari. Ryan, who has exhibited at a range of places around Perth, from Little Creatures to The Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (an example of his artwork is blogged here), is such a fun instructor, full of encouragement and random surprises - I will certainly be keeping an eye out for any future classes he may be running.

Many of our drawings were shared efforts - with a neighbour, or indeed the whole class putting charcoal to your paper before you came back to finish it off. Our focus yesterday was on drawing with emotion - working in pairs, we had to fill our half of the paper with happy or sad marks. We roamed the classroom, making happy or sad marks on everyone's paper, before returning to our own page, cutting it in half, and working with whichever emotion we were left with. Eventually, we were given a picture of a clown, which we were to work into our creation.

Today was much less productive, however I did get down to the 'peachiest retro fleamarket ever' at Sugar Blue Burlesque! The gorgeous Ash was hosting her first market stall there and by all accounts made a killing selling lovely household goodies and clothing from her wonderland. For my part, I wandered around exploring the gorgeous dresses of yesteryear and, other than making off with half of Ashliegh's stall myself, I spied a pretty little something from the lovely ladies at Vintage Splendour that I just had to have.

Every girl needs a lovely piece of vintage costume jewellery after all...

The Letter H

Today, happiness comes via hydrangeas...

A beautiful arrangement of hydrangeas, green carnations, and pale pink spray roses, which I bought for myself a few days ago to sit on my desk to make me less grumpy at work.

Heels...

Gorgeous new thick-heeled sandals that I snapped up for half price (yes, that is exactly what I say they cost... dollar figures are not required), and a beautiful collection of wooden and brass bangles that I thought would match them perfectly.

And Him...

Who only grumbled ever so slightly at the purchasing of the above sources of happiness. xx

Languidness Abounds

It is well into the lunch hour and I find myself still lazing in bed, my hair tied up messily in plaits, my nightdress and the bed sheets enjoying thoroughly their prolonged employment, and little Miss Muffin Head taking full advantage of the situation by dozing quietly by my feet.

That's not to say today hasn't been productive.

On my beloved Etsy I found three beautiful pieces that I just had to have. Making it's way to me from Tasmania is a beautiful feather brooch made out of Tasmanian Myrtle by That Vintage. Love! I can't wait to sit on a rug under a shady tree on a hill top, feeling breezy and drinking champagne with my new feather brooch pinned to my summer frock.

With a much shorter journey to make, I am also looking forward to receiving a gorgeous snowy owl necklace, along with the much coveted Vice brooch, both made by local Perth artist Osier. I first spotted the Vice brooch on Frankie a wee while ago and have been debating whether to treat myself ever since. The owl I fell in love with today and it just seemed wrong not to buy it since the brooch was already coming to me anyway, and would have been so incredibly lonesome all on its own...

This lazy Sunday has also allowed me to enjoy the rare but joyous opportunity of meandering slowly through a world of creatively inspirational blogs. There really are some amazingly talented women out there, so to browse through their ideas and creations is both soothing and exciting!

One (of my two) resolutions for 2010 is to be more creative. I am creating HTR so that I can write, I have enrolled in a series of short courses run by the Fremantle Arts Centre so that I can learn how to draw, and I also have a photographic project in the wings which I'm calling '12noon Saturday'. There's nothing much to say about it now, but I'm sure I'll bring it up again later in the year.

For now though, I will go back to contemplating whether today would be best spent entirely in bed, or if I should perhaps move to the lounge.