31ST DECEMBER, 2011 ♥

Bon Année!

Happy New Year's Eve! I cannot believe 2012 will be upon us in a mere three hours (for me, at least - I'm in Paris!). I feel so behind the times at the moment, all my friends at home in Australia welcomed in the new year hours ago, and I'm still stuck in tired old 2011! ;)

Obviously this blog has been out of action as of late - I am ten weeks into my great European adventure and haven't had the time to update. So far, I've visited England, Scotland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Denmark and France - each place filled with wonders, challenges, old & new friends, incredible food, exclusive fashion, ancient cities and more. The down side of this is a lot of below-average hostel accommodation, various minor injuries and extreme missing of my boyfriend, friends and home life at times. I've certainly learned a lot about myself and the direction I want for my life in 2012, which is really exciting!

At the moment I'm in Paris, where I spent a lovely Christmas, and counting down the days (eight!) until I finally see my boyfriend again (he's coming over from Australia to travel with me). In the meantime I have this beautiful city to keep me inspired - I could truly live here one day, I feel at home here and the people are so sophisticated and quintessentially European.

Here is a small selection of pictures I've taken along my travels so far, in my wintery (albeit still snow-less) wonderland:



Swans in Hyde Park, London.



Christmas market in Riga, Latvia.



Harbour in Copenhagen, Denmark.



Sightseeing in Paris.

I don't usually make a big deal over New Years at all, but this time around I'm so excited for new beginnings and possibilities. :)

Happy 2012, wherever you are!

- C x

17TH OCTOBER, 2011 ♥

Sk8r Grl.

My boy and I both had the day free for the first time in a while, so we went out for brunch and then walked around the city for a couple of hours. I've never really done an 'outfit post' before so I'm a little bit nervous about it, but here I am in my new red dress!


Dress: Irving Baby (vintage), Belt: Clothes Line Saga, Tights: ASOS, Boots: thrifted, Necklace: gift, Bracelets: Cat Hammill. Bag: from somewhere in Melbourne!

Somewhere along the way during our wanderings, my boyfriend bought a skateboard on a whim! Apparently I am dating an 8-year-old. However, after teasing him for about half an hour, he gave me a skateboard lesson which was really quite fun! I am probably wearing the most inappropriate attire possible, apart from maybe a ballroom gown, but I didn't have any major accidents so was rather proud of myself.



- C x

14TH OCTOBER, 2011 ♥

Snippets.

I feel like I'm living on borrowed time. In two and a half weeks I'll be ten thousand miles away in London, doing god knows what! I haven't had time to update amidst working and organising like a crazy-lady, but here's some snapshots depicting some of my activities over the past few weeks.


Dinner and ice cream at the beach with two dear friends.



Working and acting in my friend's three day music video shoot.



Saw the lovely and talented Kimbra perform live.



Sold a lot of my unwanted pre-loved clothes at a vintage market.



Adelaide Zombie Walk 2011! I was a prom queen zombie.



Snapped one of my favourite pieces of street art in my city.


And, in unrelated fashion matters, I am really admiring this Lanvin dress right now. This white and bluestone floral print on black is so striking, simple and chic. Emma Stone's milky white skin, pink lip and minimal accessories could not be more perfect with this ensemble! I have been staring at this picture in awe for about a month on my desktop wallpaper, so thought I would share:



I have a thousand things to do and no time. Have a good weekend!

- C x

21ST SEPTEMBER, 2011 ♥

Mad Men & Lovely Ladies.

Salutations! Total blog-neglecting again I know, I've been working so much in the lead up to my trip and also been busy partying and making videos and shiz.

One party I attended was my lovely friend Elise's 21st - the night was Mad Men themed! I was so excited to dress up all 1960s secretary style for this, and it ended up being a super fun and glamorous evening. Everyone looked so positively appealing that I wanted to buy them! Or some other completely stupid advertising related reference.

My friend Chelsea who is a talented photographer and dress maker (view her photography page, Tangerine Photography here) actually made a dress based on a design from Mad Men, which I was able to borrow for the evening. I had so much fun wearing it, I still can't believe she made it herself! It was so beautiful sewn, and made of such lovely thick floral fabric. Even though I am about 60 cup-sizes too small to be Christina Hendricks, I certainly felt just as stylish wearing Chelsea's creation! I also used about half a bottle of hair spray putting my hair up in a quiff (I used this youtube tutorial), and teamed my outfit with white vintage heels, my gold rope necklace and earrings, and my navy Rochas handbag.

Here are a few pictures and descriptions of Elise's mighty grand celebratory affair:


Me with my boyfriend (me borrowing Elise's fab cats-eye glasses!) - he wore his new grey suit jacket with black trimming, a black skinny tie, dress pants and glasses, and he quiffed his hair too!


With Elise, the beautiful birthday girl! She found her dress at Red Ruby Vintage, it was gorgeous black and white polka dots with vintage lace! She was a truly marvelous host :)


With Annie and her amazing polka dot dress she obtained from Hot Couture.


A dapper advertising executive, Mr George, and three of his ditzy office ladies!


Elise's amazing decorations! She had covered the walls with old records and hilarious 60s advertisements, I believe this was one of them:



- C x

4TH SEPTEMBER, 2011 ♥

Greetings, Spring.

It's September; Spring has arrived at last! I have happily said goodbye to Winter, and now looking forward to blossoms, floaty dresses, picnics, fresh spring air and most of all, not wearing a coat everywhere. I went out last night in just a dress for the first time in a while, it felt amazing. Spring weather and sun truly makes me a happier and brighter person.

However, this weather will be short lived for me. I really haven't had the greatest year, for various reasons; so about a week ago I made the decision to go to Europe. I leave in eight weeks! This will mean leaving my job, boyfriend, friends, family and spring - I will be venturing off into a European winter by myself, on a one-way ticket. I'm extremely excited and nervous, but think it will be good for me.

I'm listening to Fionn Regan at the moment, he makes beautiful music.




- C x

28TH AUGUST, 2011 ♥

In these shoes?
I don't think so.

So, it is Sunday night and I am curled up in bed sick, after a weekend of drinking far too much and eating not enough, which doubtfully aided my recovery at all. How stupid.

To remedy this: Net-A-Porter browsing! (And pretending I have a wallet that is sufficiently equipped to fulfill this practice!) Anyone who chooses to wear these amazing YSL 'Opyum' suede pointed pumps with patent leather toe would have to be quite the very opposite of stupid:

I love the high quality of Net-A-Porter images; the fuzzy suede on these shoes makes me want to touch them, whilst smiling in a contented manner. I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel as though the concept of "colour-blocking" is announced as a 'key trend' about four thousand times a season by designers, fashion writers, buyers, brands, stores and just about everyone else in the fashion universe. I feel as though it must be ones of these things: "Well, our first idea turned out to be a disaster, what should we fall back on this season?? OH OH I KNOW, WE'LL DO COLOUR-BLOCKING AGAIN!"
Hopefully my point is made. I think the only way colour-blocking really looks good is when the entire outfit EXCEPT the bright coloured item is black/white/grey/neutral. Then the colour has it's chance to be the centerpiece of the outfit, instead of clashing with a bunch of other colours or looking like a Piet Mondrian painting. Therefore, the way Net-A-Porter styled these pumps made me love them even more:

- C x

16TH AUGUST, 2011 ♥

Tea, please!

Tea drinkers: is your daily, supermarket-bought English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Oolong or Green tea not enough to satisfy your tea-loving tastebuds? Are they becoming repetitive and flavourless? (I should probably join a tea advertising agency :P.) But even if you still love your usual cuppa, once you step into gourmet tea house T2, suddenly everything they stock will move from 'luxury' to 'essential' for your kitchen cupboard!



(image from T2tea.com)

This amazing boutique tea store has just opened in my hometown of Adelaide, in our trendy East end shopping district of Rundle St. According to their website, T2 "provide a tantalizing, sensory retail experience unlike any other, where you are encouraged to taste our teas, browse for tea wares and learn about the delicate art of brewing developed over many centuries." My boyfriend and I first paid a visit the other day and were so overwhelmed by the atmosphere, flavours, colours and helpful staff that we spend almost $90 on tea and tea accessories!

There are about 180 varieties of gourmet tea to choose from, available in just about every flavour you can imagine. Customers can taste hot tea in the store, smell sample pots of different flavours while viewing the ingredients, and the staff are happy to help out with flavor recommendations, gift wrapping and information about the tea flavours and origins. T2 also offer a range of beautiful china sets, tea pots, canisters, other tea accessories and storage methods. I used to visit the Melbourne store to bring back presents for friends, but now I urge all my fellow Adelaideans to pay our very own Rundle St store a visit; prepare to spend more time and money inside than you first think! Overseas tea lovers can order tea here from the lovely T2 website. The store is set up so creatively that I couldn't help taking the following pictures, sorry about the somewhat shitty phone-camera quality.
































My boyfriend bought me a box of 'Citrus Punch' tea as a present, and we boiled a pot for his brand new T2 glass tea pot, omnomnom tea!




- C x