In bloom



 

 I start to get yearnings at this time of year.

Yearning to feel the sun on bare arms and legs.

Yearning to hear cicada's trill at night outside my window.

Yearning to smell the heady perfumes of all the flowers blooming.

Yearning to taste watermelon and mangoes.

Soon I tell myself. Soon.

Early this past week in Melbourne it has been a perfect little taste of Spring with us enjoying  beautiful mild days with blue skies overhead.

But yesterday, just to prove I am still in Melbourne, it was grey, raining and dreary.

But after the gorgeous weather I couldn't let that lovely Spring feeling go, and so to rebel, decided to wear a particularly Spring outfit. I even went bare legged (le gasp!) despite the almost blinding paleness of my legs.

I bought this skirt from my local Vinnies and thought the shades of apricot and peach just lovely, but having bought it months ago just never felt the weather right for it.

And yesterday the weather still wasn't right, but oh well, I'm a crazy gal living on the edge!

 

 

 

 

 The skirt  soooo reminds me of a grandma's floral couch. All it needs is a plastic slip cover to be complete!

I think the pattern is blooming lovely (do you see what I did there!) and love the circle skirt cut.

And with my op shopped apricot top I felt very Spring like.

I think what really made me wear this ensemble was that one of my new to me $3 handbags (that may or may not be made from an old tea towel!) matched perfectly with the skirt.

 

 

Matchy matchy heaven!

I am beginning to see other glimpses of Spring, even in my ramshackle unloved garden. (I am NOT a gardener. In fact I despise gardening with all my heart. I would rather stab myself in the eye than have to weed, and cultivate and whatever else you might do in a garden. Yet I would love to have a beautiful garden. I just don't want to have to make it beautiful myself!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Blooming beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunshine on my window makes me happy like I should be.

 

Glorious, glorious sunshine, and flowers blooming.

It is enough to make a person feel bloody happy!

 

 

 

Today there were blue skies and warmth and a delicious Spring zip in the air.

 

 

There were bees buzzing in my little  blooming trees.

(Sometimes buzzing a little too close for my liking! Away with you little Barry bee's!)

 

 

 

Its enough to make a girl leap and twirl in the sunshine.

Another instant dose of happy was to be had in the form of a sign hanging in one of my local op shops this morning stating, " All hand bags $ 3".

Bloody brilliant!

And so I had to buy some of those lovely $3 bags.

(Have I mentioned before that I have a little "problem" with hand bags?)

 

 

 

 

Oh, how I adore those funky retro handles!

The above bag is just beautifully handmade of the plushest teal velvet with some very handy compartments inside, and I think may be my new work hand bag. (Am I the only person to seem to need more crap when I am at work? )

 

 

So much room to fill with.....junk!

I also recently picked up these divine shoes for the Little Miss and have a severe case of shoe envy.

 

 

Aren't they adorable? Every gal needs silver shoes!

And the best thing about them is that the Little Miss calls them her "tap shoes" and so does not merely walk when wearing them. Oh no. She has to dance when she wears them!

So how could today not be fantastic?

Perfect Spring sunshine, a bounty of bags, and a wee lady that prances and flutters around in her sweet silver shoes.

 

Outfit details - all  op shopped and ebayed except my Dangerfield black skirt.

 

What is making your day?

 

Thanks to Spiderbait for my post title!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



All dressed up and nowhere to go.

 

As you can imagine, I do like a good night out.

Hitting the city, all dolled up, with good pals, is the best tonic for a tiring and dreary week.

A few "refreshments" and a pumping dance floor to groove my cares away was very much needed.

I'd even bitten the bullet and gotten my haircut on Friday.( Look, a fringe!)

 

 

(I know, I know! Nothing too crazy, but still it took all my courage to even get this done!)

So, on Saturday I'd donned my new to me non-vintage dress from the Waverley Antique Bazaar (ironic huh?), my pretty tights with the seams and bows and the sweetest little

op shopped red cane bag.

 

 

And there I was, all plucked and primped, fragrant with Poeme and anticipation, ready to hit the town, when I got the call no gal wants to get.

Sorry! Night out is cancelled!

Bugger! Bugger! Bugger!

And a wee tear rolled down my heavily made up cheek!

Oh, how I had wanted to dance with wild abandon!

Oh, how I had wanted to gas bag and catch up with friends!

Oh, how I had wanted to laugh and giggle and snicker!

And so the pretty, twirly frock came off.

The warpaint came off.

The PJ's were changed into.

And the bag of Maltesers was broken out.

The night wasn't a complete disaster because I finally got to watch some of the horror films I'd been dying to watch. All four of them! Back to back!

And I did have a great day today celebrating Fathers Day with my wonderful Dad and gorgeous hubby, but still, I mourn for the night out that could have been and all the hi-jinks that

were missed out on.

It was lucky that I had snapped these pics of my ensemble before the night fell apart.

 

 

Until next time little frock.......

Does anyone else have any sad tales of nights out that never were?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Weekend celebrations

So much to celebrate!

 My kids have finally recovered, there are no more horrendous bodily functions scaring the hell out of me, the early morning football matches are finished so last weekend was already looking pretty bloody fantastic.

We also celebrated the Little Misses birthday with lunch out with the family and a plethora of pink.

I was very careful not to match with her but as she had insisted on it being a "pink party' there was an abundance of pink to be seen.

 

 

 

 

A pink cake of course!

 

 

It was divine with cream cheese icing and completely bad for my healthy eating plan, but bugger it, it was gooooood!

 

 

Soooo many presents! (So little space to store them all!)

I reveled in my op shopped outfit and was reminded of how much I love this pink vintage

summer dress.

 

 

Not long now little frock - soon we will romp and gambol in the summer sunshine. Soon!

My new to me beige nana shoes were beautifully comfortable and complimented repeatedly, but unfortunately the old rubber tips of the heels began to crumble and a trip to the cobbler is necessary to see the old girls through.

We are very lucky to have been able to enjoy a wonderful weekend as the Little Miss suffered an allergic reaction to something she had eaten on Friday night and sported a very inflated and sore looking top lip.

 

 

Ouch! The little trooper said it didn't really hurt much and the next morning she was back to normal, but it scared me silly and we will have to watch specific foods in the future.

 

 

What have you been celebrating lately?

 

 

 

 



By George!

I had a spare moment to pop down to Savers by myself ( a very rare occurrence) yesterday afternoon and being able to concentrate unfettered  on the job at hand, walked away laden with goodies.

Amongst my treasures was  a gorgeous green cardigan, a lovely black angora mix cardigan, a vintage black Sandra Dee hat, the coolest beige Nana heels and a little piece of Melbourne's history.

 

I discovered my humble 1980's piece of Georges history in this sweet 50's style frock with gorgeous colours of aqua, hot pink, orange, blue and black creating a cool tartan pattern.

And did I mention the ruffles!

 

 

Dainty little ruffles decorate the sleeves and peter pan collar and add some girly charm.

It is kind of prairie chic meets highland belle.

 

 

 

It did sport some very 1980's elbow length sleeves that severely offended my delicate sensibilities so had to be hacked off and shortened.

 

Georges was always a brand synonymous with quality  and this dress is beautifully made, and now, with it's updated sleeves, is ready to be road tested and taken out for some fun.

 

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Georges was a Melbourne institution from the 1880's all the way through to 1995, when it unfortunately closed it's Collins Street store after  115 years of business.

 

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Georges was founded in 1880 by two brothers, Harley and Willie George, and thanks to the gold rush,  Melbourne was reputedly one of the wealthiest cities in the world.

 

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Georges, situated on the "Paris end of Collins Street", became the fashionable place to shop, a mecca of good taste and class, where the service was impeccable and only the finest wares were sold.

 

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The store was founded on the simple motto, "Quod facimus, Valde facimus" or "What we do, we do well", and indeed for over the 100 years they excelled and became a Melbourne icon and assisted with the exclusive status of Collins Street.

 

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Although Georges closed it's doors in 1995 its legacy continues with the beautiful building now housing other high end stores.

I was chatting with a lovely elderly lady from my work who was sharing some great shopping tales about Georges and told me that she picked many of her wedding gifts including her china (which survived all of her married life!) from Georges.

 

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  I just love looking at this beautiful illustrations of some of the items sold advertised in the Georges catalogue.

I adore my new to me Georges frock for its cute details but even more because it represents a great quality Melbourne brand, unfortunately now gone.

Are there any brands that you particularly treasure?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Trying times

I have been having a trying time lately.

Not "trying my patience", like my kids are fighting like two feral beasts and work demands leave me with eye twitches and facial tics (although those things are true!), but more that lately I have really been trying to do certain things.

I am trying to relearn how to knit so I can one day actually complete a piece I could wear.

 

 

This is my practise piece which may turn out to be a knitted hair bow. Maybe!

I am trying to finish all of my mending and sewing instead of buying more clothes.

 

 

It is ridiculous amazing how many pieces of clothing I have accumulated that just need a 'tweak' for them to be great . I bought a skirt aged ago that had modesty issues (ie it just reached to the bottom of my butt. WTF clothing manufactures! A prerequisite of clothing should be that it covers all of our lady bits!) and I have sewn an extra panel at the bottom to make it more wearable.

I am trying to capture the pink clouds in the mornings.

 

 

 

I am trying to get my head around the fact that I am a student again. Yes, I am furthering my education and extending my knowledge and all of that incredible exciting  academic stuff. Only by correspondence mind you, but I am proud of myself for signing up and now have to remember how to swat and write essays. Now to find the time.... Hmmmmmm.

I am trying to wear some more daring colours.

 

 

For a girl who only used to wear black, all black, all the time, it is a little shift in thinking, but I am loving colours at the moment . And they are making me so happy. So my exploration of

 colours continues.

I am trying to eat less and exercise more. I don't want to get into a body image debate but I am all about being comfortable in my skin and being happy with how I look. I admit that I am often guilty of looking at you gorgeous ladies in blog land and comparing my body to yours and feeling not so happy. But I am really trying to just be comfortable with who I am and what I look like and blogging has helped hugely with my self confidence. (I never used to let people take photo's of me!) And I keep reminding myself that we are all unique, and we are all beautiful. Because I don't know if you have noticed, that we are all different. Our bodies are different, our faces are different, our tastes are different, our views are different, our experiences are different, our lives are different.  You get the drift. So when I say that I want to watch what I eat (because I am a prime example of the emotional/bored eater) and get fit and healthy, in no way am I passing judgement on others, I am simply saying that I know my body (we're tight you know, we're pals. Real close - except that time when it embarrassed me sooo much. There was that noise, and then that smell. Ugh!), and at the moment it is heavier than it should be. Not heaps, but enough. So I am trying to say yes to exercise and no to the cakes at work. Say no to the kids treats. Say no to my beloved chai lattes.

So I am trying.

What have you been trying to do lately?