i exist

 And I like things:

My giant velvet polka dot dress from Twenty Seven Names

Wearing said dress with a ridiculous cardigan covered in mini pom poms, burgundy tights, or a skin coloured slip

Smokey quartz everything

99 Problems, my new local* with the nicest proprietors ever

The fact that I am going to see Bone Thugs N Harmony next week

The wonderful, amazing trip I just got back from in little ole New Zealand, and all the babes I got to see naked in the ocean after two of our beautiful pals tied the knot

In fact, everything about that day, except the sweat during the ceremony, and the entire missing outfit

Hanging out with my granny

Hanging out with my friends' babies

Being home

The Asos package that just arrived

This lovely distraction (select journey)**

Winter's approach,

and my acceptance of it.

Thanks for your time

xL

* it is, dangerously close to my house 

** found via Lolita, thanks!

*** both of the autumney wintery photos are from Le Portillon, my new favourite

oh jeez where have you been

In the weeks/months since I posted anything (regularly) on this blog not a lot has happened, but I've had a pretty nice time. Han visited and we ate out every single day, every single meal. The highlight being a meal of cheese, mozzarella to be precise. Three fist sized balls of mozzarella and then two ginormous pizzas covered in the stuff, along with mushrooms and a few other things, which I couldn't get through but Han put in a stand-out effort and so we managed to leave almost empty plates. A bottle of dusky pink rose on the side and a montenegro to follow. It's a digestive so the whole point is it helps you digest the mountians of cheese you just consumed. In the rain on a little table outside under a tree. With a waiter who seemed abrupt, gruff even, but loved us actually because we are two young ladies dressed nice for a saturday night. A taxi and a cocktail roumored to revive corpses. Not us though, too full of cheese and wine and more cheese we ended it all with a midnight chai and a balmy stroll home and the next day Han went home to New Zealand.

I moved house, finally, it's small and delightful. I went to the Shout Out Louds, Beach House and Andrew WK. The night Andrew WK played was definitely the best night out I have had in forever. I got a cold on the hottest day, I went to the pools, a lot, I didn't cook a meal probably this whole time. I got my hair cut. It's not 'short' any more, more what could be considered 'shoulder length' (it's actually a tiny bit past my shoulders though, just so you know). I thought about posting something on this blog. I went outside and read in the sun. I drowned in hundreds of pages of watercolour. I made new friends. I hung out with girls, so many girls, all the time, this is new for me. I booked a trip back home in March (5 weeks Han!!) and I searched for shoes that would please everybody. I thought about posting something on the blog. Our friend's baby was born. It rained, torrentially, and flooded. Not as badly as in Queensland but it's still been pretty crazy. My housemate's car floated down the street. Not outside our house though, at her parents', in the suburbs. I made marmalade. You can try some at a cafe in Collingwood where our friend works, it's delicious I think (I haven't had any since we put it in the jars but it was pretty marmaladey, so if you're into that sort of thing then it's probably still delicious).

l'été

It feels as though the past couple of weeks have been the coldest of the winter so far. I've been walking to work wrapped head to toe and breathing little clouds but still I am quite certain spring is close. The magnolia trees are flowering, all the different varieties, and the flower shops are filled with hyacinths, jonquils, early cheer and fresias. I'm so ready for this change in seasons I've almost skipped forward a few months and am already anticipating the summer. I intend for this one to be filled with countryside picnics, river swims, beach roadtrips and sleeping in the sun. Nothing out of the ordinary really.

There must something in the air at the moment because I have been repeatedly, pleasantly, surprised with news and possibilities over the last 24 hours. My whole self is filled with anticipation and excitement. This optimism could be applied to anything right now, even the prospect of a far off summer on a freezing Melbourne night.


These photos come from Wild at Heart, Lolita and Heart in a Cage...

i've got soft skin

Its going to be a grey and rainy weekend in Auckland, and this is a nice song to listen to while watching rain roll down your windowpane.
This weekend is going to be a bit of a melancholic marathon, though. There's Black Rebel Motorcycle Club tonight, and on Sunday I'm going to Sherlock Jnr and One Week at the Civic, which are old Buster Keaton films accompanied live by the Auckland Philharmonia. I would love to see The Red Shoes, but considering I have exactly $46.78 in my bank account, I doubt that will happen. Hopefully Saturday will be spent curled up on the couch eating something delicious.
Anyway. Have a lovely weekend. Sorry for the Han-centric week!

in the snow

Auckland's winter just doesn't cut it. I want a Russian winter again. One with snow, bare trees, inconvenience and romance.

The bottom photo is mine, the other is a we heart it one that I lost the name of, sorry.

you and me and rain on the roof

I love it when this happens: I'm in bed, happily tipsy and about to fall asleep to the sound of rain on the roof.

she wakes up every day with good intentions but ends up eating cakes

This afternoon is grey in a right in between Summer and Winter kind of way. I've decided (once again) not to go to yoga tonight, but to eat something comforting and find something un-productive to do in the warmth of my home. I've been enjoying the drawings and polaroids of Mina Fina, whose name I love and who I discovered after googling the quote which has now been reappropriated as the title of this post. I've been thinking lately about this song called Jamelia, by Caribou, the beginning of which I don't especially like but then the second half makes me really happy. I'm listening to it right now and it's nice.

winter woolies

Summer is officially over. Melbourne welcomed the first days of Autumn with an annoying yet aptly-timed cool change and I’ve actually found myself digging out my old favourite Lonely Hearts coat (old being the operative word here).

There are plenty of people around getting excited about Winter; coats, layers, boots and general coziness, but I personally am hoping that Summer will overstay its welcome and I can cling to my sunhats and bare legs just a little longer. Tomorrow's supposed to be warm again so it's not an entirely unfounded hope.

I’m a sucker for texture and while fur coats are ALL OVER the runways at the moment, faux and for real, I much prefer the chunky knits which tend to be an AW staple. A few good cardigans, pull-overs and socks, layered with a leather bomber or a wool coat. An extension on the current neutral-tones with some charcoal, darker browns and greens mixed in. Winter’s not looking so bad after all.

Dolce and Gabbana grey love

Topshop Unique. If there's one thing I buy this season it will be cable knit thigh highs.

Rag and Bone

Rebecca Taylor

Juilen MacDonald

the rains have come

And none too soon, Auckland has been unbearbly hot and humid for the past week. And yes, I know that Melbourne gets ridiculously hot.
But last week we approached 100% humidity, which is the point at which your sweat can not dry on your body to cool you down. So this makes you feel much hotter - Gross, huh?
So a toast to today's very typical Auckland forecast: showers which will grow heavier, a maximum of 26 degrees, 87% humidity, with thunder and lightning in the afternoon. Sweet relief.

UPDATE: We are now at 95% humidity. What a bitch.

Picture from David Urbanke.

i didn't bring a jacket to work today

In the last 5 minutes it got very dark and started pouring. Before that there was a lot of lightning, which was exciting but now I'm far less excited and mostly just Bummed Out. Besides the fact that soon I'll be walking home through this, I was hoping to DO THINGS tonight. I have friends, one of whom has just arrived in Melbourne after years of being in a different country from me. I also wanted to buy a cd (I heard that people still do that sometimes).

My gosh, when did this blog turn into nag-ville?

The pictures are not of stormy Melbourne right now, but are by another of my new favourite photographers Jeff Luker.

kiss here

There are days in early Summer here when stepping outside is like opening an oven door too quickly - hot air rushes at my face and blows my hair up in a parody of an old magazine cover. A stencil on the pavement on the corner says in pink, 'kiss here'. Dust and grit blows into my eyes, people push through the air, wading in melted marshmallow, or soup, or towels warm from the dryer. The sky is grey, clouds sitting low and thick in my lungs - it's like breathing cotton.

Walking up the street for lunch I smell first Chinese food, then chocolate, croissants, nailpolish and laundry in quick succession. Thick, dense rain starts to fall, slow and exaggerated. Everything's replaced by that sweet, savoury, nostalgic scent of wet, hot concrete. Sometimes on days like this you'll see steam rising from the road. Within moments the fat, lazy rain is replaced by little fists, opening to slap the sidewalk faster and faster. The streets empty, doorways and shop awnings crowded, and then as quick as it began the rain is over.

There's a brand of perfume, or 'scent library', called Demeter, which makes fragrances with names like Celery, Clean Windows, Paint, and Pipe Tobacco. They have one called New Zealand which I remember smelling not dissimilar to the Moss, Earthworm, and Dirt flavours. If they bottled the smell of these hot wet days it would be called December in Melbourne, or Walking Past a Subway Entrance After a Long Absence (a completely separate experience but a memory that days like this always evoke). It would be a combination of some perfumes they've already got; Thunderstorm, Laundromat, Humidor and Rain, though they'd have to mix in some concrete, sweat and sunshine to get it just right.

extreme weather warnings

This morning the Victorian Police sent me a text message, though I don't recall giving them my phone number. I've deleted it now but it warned of extreme winds, high temperatures, and of course fire danger. Tonight I was sent home early from work and as I walked, my hair whipped my face and grit filled my eyes. Tonight instead of the smokey haze I've almost grown used to the atmosphere is clouded with dust.

It's difficult to describe, even as someone who grew up in Wellington – this is different. It's hot, and thick, and quiet outside. I imagine not too dissimilar to the afternoon in Kansas before Dorothy woke up under a house.

I must say, when I'm not trying to read a newspaper or carry an umbrella I quite like the wind. Maybe it's the Wellington connection, but something in me just wants to be outside. As far as I know there is no risk of lightning so I am thinking of finding a park to stand in, or lye in, where I can be quiet and still and let the sky move around me.