*Today is the Grey Lynn Festival, but the skies are grey and it looks like rain...

*Luckily, I'm popping over to a friend's house that is right next to the park.

*I toasted a croissant full of brie for breakfast this morning.

*Plunger coffee is also very good right now.

*My stepmum dropped off a giant box of strawberries from the market.

*Last night we had a sleepover and watched this:

A League of Their Own is amazing.

the littlest birds sing the prettiest songs

The Be Good Tanyas - The Littlest Birds

This song reminds of adventuring around Wellington in the summertime,
baking wild blackberry pies in négligés with the classic sip 'n grin team at Mein Street.

WHERE ARE THE ARMS MAN

IT'S LIKE RAIN ON YOUR WEDDING DAY/IT'S LIKE A FREE RIDE WHEN YOU'VE ALREADY PAID/ IT'S THE GOOD ADVICE THAT YOU JUST DIDN'T TAKE/WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT...IT FIGURES

One of the beautiful things about my work is that on occasion we are gifted with organic, handmade icecream. At the moment we have strawberry, double chocolate, vanilla and golden syrup flavour. The latter is heaven, especially at 3.30pm on a Tuesday.

The sun came out today after a weekend of huge rain. To celebrate I'm taking the next couple of days off work and doing a mini road trip to a friend's beach house.

This is great because I've not been out of Melbourne (except on a plane) since I moved here. I have no idea where it is we're even going. I'm listening to Beach House in honor of the spontanious trip and considering buying paperbacks and sandals on my lunch break.

the felice brothers

I like this which is not suprising.

you know we like shoes

I foolishly went on Etsy today in search of some brown platform-y heels in a Phoebe Philo for Celine vein:


I found these ones, which are vintage Ralph Lauren, and selling for $290 US. I don't have $290 US. If you do, buy them here. I'll glower at you over the Internet.

Then I found these ones. I dig the wooden heel and the general woody vibe of these shoes. Plus they are really, really old. But still, they look a bit chunky and I have these tiny chicken legs and would probably look like a child in them. They're pretty cheap - $35 US - and are here if you want 'em. They have a smaller heel than is normal these days also, which I quite like. Regardless, I moved on.


The shoes I wound up buying (foolishly: both my sisters' birthdays are in December, and there's Christmas and a trip to Melbourne to save for) are pictured below. They have cork heels and are very different to the Celine ones that inspired the search in the first place. Including shipping they still came in under NZ $100 which is really quite good - or so I will keep chanting to myself until they arrive.

Oh god I hope they fit.

As an aside: I've been totally into the whole clog thing that is happening at the moment but for the life of me cannot find any look like they would actually be flattering. Any ideas? Or is it just not a look for the chicken legged among us?

It doesn't help that Auckland is a shoe-desert full of crocs and shops telling me to buy strappy citrus coloured heels. DON'T THEY KNOW THAT I ONLY BUY BLACK, TAN or BROWN SHOES? Hence I go running to the Internet to "browse", and wind up spending money on forty year old shoes with chips in the heels that will probably fall apart within twenty minutes of putting them on. But the idea of stomping around Melbourne in them in the heat of summer is somehow totally irresistible...

its a sloth bonanza

2010 Pirelli Calendar by Terry Richardson - finally bringing the magestic Sloth and beautiful women together. I have so much respect for anyone who works live Sloths into their art. Giggle.

PS. Joseph Gordon Levitt on SNL! Let's chant: JGL! JGL! WHOOP!

joy!

I just found out that Alice Euphemia is getting the Lonely Hearts Club lingerie line, Lonely. Hoo-rah! I've been looking forward to this day for some time, since my last visit to LHC's store in Auckland was fruitless (turned out I was a month early). Those of you in Melbourne - apparently it'll be in store from the first week of December... Joy!

Also, just in case you missed all the other times I've mentioned this, you can find LHC clothes at Somebuddy Loves You on Smith St and Trimapee on Johnston in Fitzroy, and I imagine a few other places around. They're awesome and I can't sing their praises more.

arthur

George has always been my favourite Beatle.

They were all pretty cute, though.

physical

This week I've been riding everywhere! And the 5 day challenge I set myself at bikram yoga is almost finished. I've not had a drop of wine (or beer, or gin, or anything else alcoholic for that matter) and my resolve not to touch a burger hasn't been broken... Hopefully I can think of a healthy way to reward myself next week, that doesn't involve bingeing on anything, and will have made up, at least in part, for the 10 days of absolute rubbish I ate whilst back in NZ (monkey fists not withstanding of course).

please see that her hair hangs long/it rolls and flows all down her breast

A friend, who I always thought was naturally raven haired, has dyed her crowning glory back to its original striking, vibrant red.

Its a brave move. She's separated herself from the pack of girls with befringed, long, straight, dark hair and come out of the rabbit hole that almost mythical thing: a ridiculously georgous girl with thick, long, ginger hair.

Apparently the gene that makes hair red is reccessive, so there are less natural red-heads on the street these days. Less than 2% of people in the world are ginger. Accordingly,girls with pre-rahapahelite hair always seem quite special and have an extra spark of sensuality,or something. I was incredibly suprised when I found out my friend had been dying her red hair dark brown - why give up such an amazing genetic gift?

Anyway. I've always had really, really dark brown hair. People often think its black. Dying it any other colour, like red or blonde, has never been an option. I'm of slavic stock and my colouring will only tolerate slight variations on the brown - I can go a little bit darker and, in fact, have currently got frosted tips (by which I mean, the ends of my hair have been lightened a wee bit)- but could never even consider going red, or blonde or any other colour for that matter.

our parents are awesome

How lovely are these pictures from my parents were awesome? There are the usual ridiculous and embarassing photos on there but also a whole lot of really nice sixties and seventies snapshots, with long hair and beads and soft lighting galore. Han's parents wouldn't look out of place on this site, my mother's outrageous magenta hair circa 1985 might even fit in too...

capes and bouffants

I saved these pictures a while ago when I had intentions of writing posts on both of these topics, the posts never eventuated and now it's warm and I still have short(ish) hair.

hey, stranger

Wow, it's been a little while huh?

The last two weeks:

I flew back to NZ at rather short notice and spent a really nice week with family who I haven't seen in ages. Then spent a really nice few days with Han, In Person, and both of us forgot entirely about the internet. Now, I've returned home to Melbourne and slowly but surely fallen back into pace.

Here are some nice pictures (all from fffound and weheartit) and I'll try to write something readable soon!

where can I get a hat like that?

More David Hamilton. I want to go to the beach.
Photos from here
and here

the canyon

I want to dress like this, all the time. It's hard to do, though. You need that "effortless" thing that these 70's babes exude.
I'm definitely not effortless.

It makes me want to go to Woodstock

As the child of what may be the biggest Crosby Stills and Nash fan of all time, I was forced by my father to read a book called Hotel California a few years ago. It chronicles "The True-Life Adventures of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Mitchell, Taylor, Browne, Ronstadt, Geffen, the Eagles, and Their Many Friends" and was written by Barney Hoskyns. Its largely set in Laurel Canyon, which sounds like an interesting and amazing place to have been in the late sixties and early seventies.

In the canyon things like this would happen: here is Eric Clapton hearing Joni Mitchell for the first time, with David Crosby looking on.

I'm currently re-reading the book, and it has totally reinvigorated my love for late 60's and early 70s singer-songwriters...I don't care if it's cheesy! Suite Judy Blue Eyes is probably going to always make me giggle and I'm probably going to wind up like Emma Thompson in Love Actually and say things like "Joni Mitchell taught your cold English wife how to feel" when I'm older.


Also, this book (or, more fittingly, the photos in this book) has called to my attention the fact that a lot of these people were extremely attractive. See JD Souther, above. He's not overly famous, but from what I gather, he wrote a lot of pretty songs. Look at him! And below, he's wearing the best jacket I've ever seen. Jackson Browne is on right, also looking adorable and Deadwood-esque.

Hoskyns pretty much sums it up - he says (and this isn't an exact quote) that they all looked like "Jesus after a couple of weeks on the coast"*. I guess that's my type.

Here's JD Souther.



*Apart from David Crosby

Woodstock photos from here by Shelley Rusten.

electric flesh-arrows...traversing the body. a rainbow of colours strikes the eyelids*

With Summer JUST AROUND THE CORNER I am considering ditching my usually all black attire for a more summery, vibrant, patterned and outrageous look. At least for a couple months. I am in love with Marc Jacobs' crazy patterns (top) and Luella's splashes of coral and lemon (above), but on my dentally depleted budget I think I'll keep an eye out in Melbourne for Karen Walker, Lonely Hearts' new collection** (it's still mosly black but with some nice yellow surprises) and try to figure out a way to get Miss Crabb over here.

Karen WalkerLonely Hearts

Miss Crabb

For something a little closer to home, I will be avoiding the massive Claude Maus sale*** this weekend and try working Gorman, PAM or some of Alpha 60's new lavender and champaigney hues into the wardrobe (I'm terrible at finding pictures of PAM stuff online and seem to be having as much trouble with Alpha 60 now, so you'll just have to trust me. Both Gorman below).

*The title comes from a raunchy quote from Anais Nin that I love; "Electric flesh-arrows...traversing the body. A rainbow of colours strikes the eyelids. A foam of music falls over the ears."

**You can find Lonely Hearts at SomeBuddy Loves you on Smith Street and Milk Shoppe Gang on Johnston Street, both in Fitzroy. They're also stocked elsewhere but nowhere I can remember the name of right this second... Feel free to help out here.

***80% off for those who are still feeling monochromatic, it's on Fri/Sat/Sun at the Carlton Hotel and Studios on Bourke - and that was actually a lie, I won't be avoiding it.

UPDATE: I just re-read this and realised I make it sound as though KW, Lonely Hearts and Miss Crabb are cheap, they're not, sorry. But still more affordable than Marc and Luella I think......