7

Okay, I need to come up with seven things about myself that are interesting, as dear Megs from Box of Tricks has tagged me. She is having her baby today (!), so, you know, it's the least I can do ;-)




1) I married my French boyfriend when I was 22, and we broke up a year later. We're still married - we just haven't gotten around to organising the end of it, yet.

2) I am petrified of spider wasps. You know the big, black ones with bright orange wings that like to drag huntsman spiders around? I have nightmares that I am the huntsman spider, and that I end my days paralysed and eaten from the inside by spider wasp larvae.

3) I have had postnatal depression for about six months now, and I'm bumbling my way through various avenues to (hopefully) find a way to fix it. I'm extremely grateful that, as awful as it can get sometimes, it hasn't affected the way I feel about my little girl. And I probably won't write much more about it here - blogging is a bit of an escape, a 'happy place', if you will. But I'm also becoming more comfortable with being open about it.

4) Speaking of that little sprite, I thought I might clarify, just in case: Baboushka is her nickname. Aussie rhyming-slang and all that. I wouldn't really be so mean as to rob her of her youth by giving her the russian word for 'grandmother' as her name ;-)

5) I love clothes. I could even go as far as to say that I'm obsessed. Sometimes, when I'm having a cup of tea and reading blogs late at night, I'll put on one of my favourite op-shop scores - a sequinned 50s shell top, a vintage silk kimono - and just sit and feel generally excited.

6) Actually, maybe it's more the op-shop thing that I'm obsessed with. The clothes part is always good, but I feel the same about my thrifted teapots that will never serve any purpose other than to look beautiful. When I'm not wearing inappropriately glamourous clothes in front of the computer late at night, you'll find me taking photos of the aforementioned teapots, or composing love poems to Grindley sandwich plates.

7) The place that you won't find me late at night is in bed, asleep. It doesn't matter how early I wake up, I find I really have to force myself to go to bed. There's something about the witching hour that fills me with creativity and motivation. It's kind of annoying, but better to have it at midnight than not to have it at all :-)

Ahh, I won't tag anyone in particular, I'm very non-committal when it comes to tagging! But please tag yourself if you are so inclined!

La Cigale

Sorry for the intermission! I blame yuletide and its accompanying craziness. We had about a hundred things on before December 25th and everything, coupled with faltering technology, not to mention thwarting the plans of possibly the cheekiest baby on the planet (lucky she's also one of the sweetest ;-)), has meant that, you know, I've been a big lame-O.

However, I did remember to take that photo. Here it is:


Baboushka and I went down to Jervis Bay that weekend for some q-time with my dad, who'd been away in Adelaide. We had a lovely weekend, despite both of us being under the weather. Poor little Babs had a nasty ear infection (which I didn't know about until I took her to the doctor the next week) and managed to soldier on regardless.

These were the runners-up for the Point + Shoot activity:




Peas in a pod, those two ;-)

Point + Shoot

One of my favourite bloggers, Chantelle of the brilliant fat mum slim, has had the inspired idea to make a game she's called 'Point + Shoot'. This Sunday (6th December) is the day to take photos, many or just one, of whatever you happen to be doing that day, and then post about it on Monday. I'll be down at Jervis Bay, hanging out with Baboushka and my dad, sewing bags with my mum and hopefully getting some swimming lessons in.

I tried to get started on a similar, slightly more ambitious project a few months back. The plan was to take a photo every day, of anything at all, and post it up at my Flickr account. It was flawed from the beginning, as I was posting the photos in chunks (having the time each day to transfer photos from the camera, resize them and then upload them was not very realistic). Then our computer kicked the bucket, and all the photos I'd been taking so diligently each day are currently stored elsewhere. The idea of finding them and continuing with my little project gave me a bit of a brain hernia, so I abandoned it. Ah, blithe abandonement. Where would I be without you?


Anyhoo, back to whatever vague sort of post I was stringing together. Ah, yes. My ill-fated photo project and this weekend. I can actually make a not-so-tenuous link between the two! Above is one of my 'Photo-A-Day' photos of (a very small percentage of) the material I'll take with me to make into shoulder bags, using Amy Butler's 'Birdie Sling' pattern. I am eagerly excited to be finally making my way through the acres of material I've been amassing over the last year or so, while my mind has been bubbling away with sewing ideas that I haven't had time to realise. Never mind that I haven't touched a sewing machine since high school. I figure, the more hideous the result, the better the blog fodder ;-)

The Penguins of Madagascar

I'm sorry for the slackness! I remember marvelling at how much my baby took up my time when she was a tiny little newborn. How little I knew. Now she's getting about with alarming speed, intense curiosity and a determination to test out EVERYTHING by shoving it in her mouth. Including her entire fist. Anyways...

What better way to find the motivation to blog than to do one of these tagging larks? I stumbled across this one over at Lovely Laurel's Ooh La La Vintage. Check out her radical red boots (and the rest of her fabulous wardobe!).

1.Where is your phone? Floating somewhere in the ether.
2.Your hair? Gloriously short. Probably not short enough.
3.Your Mother? Pottering around her boatshed.
4.Your Father? On his flight home after 5 weeks away. Very much looking forward to seeing him!
5.Your favourite food? Soup.
6.Your dream last night? About a mythical fellow blogger who was a former magazine editor who had a change of heart and became a 'mommy blogger' and swapped her Louboutins for tracksuit pants. Sounds like a lame movie.
7.Your favourite drink? Earl Grey.
8.Your dream/goal? To live overseas, get my PhD, have a happy daughter :-)
9.What room are you in? The room with the computer, the wardrobes and the too many toys.
10.Your hobbie? Baking, drawing, reading, swimming.
11.Your fear? Being reincarnated as a huntsman spider and ending my days in the lair of a parasitic wasp.
(12. is missing)
13.Where were you last night? At home, watching Twin Peaks and eating chocolate-covered almonds.
14.Something that you’re not? A skilled mathematician.
15.Muffins? Rhubarb.
16.Wishlist item? See future post.
17.Where did you grow up? The south coast of NSW.
18.Last thing you did? Had breakfast with my little lady.
19.What are you wearing? Jeans and an old grey t-shirt.
20.Your TV? Has been playing Twin Peaks a little obsessively the last few days.
21.Your pets? A kitty named Daisy.
22.Friends? Mostly scattered across the globe. I miss them enormously.
23.Your life? No complaints :-)
24.Your mood? Jubilant.
25.Missing someone? See 22.
26.Vehicle? A pram.
27.Something you’re not wearing? Glasses (to my chagrin).
28.Your favourite store? The Auburn St Antique Centre.
29. Your Favourite colour? Turquoise
30.When was the last time you laughed? This morning.
31.The last time you cried? Tuesday.
32.Your best friend? Is in Spain.
33.One place that I go to over and over? The Uni, even though I'm not currently enrolled. Nice coffee and comfy chairs in the library :-)
34.Facebook? It happens.
35.Favourite place to eat? Bento in town or Fireworks Cafe in Austinmer.

Anyone who would like to be, consider yourself tagged!

Flickr

Sorry for the slack posting, my dears - it would appear that I've been two-timing my blog with Flickr. Oh, new and innovative ways to lure me to the computer ;-)

I'm going to attempt to juggle the two. Along with chasing after Baboushka - even though she hasn't yet mastered crawling, she gets around quite well. The other day I left the room and returned, only to discover that she'd manoeuvred herself backwards and under the sofa. Bad mummy.

She's also taken to making her way over to the bookcase and taking books out, and we had a bit of carnage yesterday. She ripped her first page out (a milestone?) of 'The Monster at the End of This Book', one of my own childhood favourites. Luckily this book managed to avoid the same fate:

What the heck is with this wind?

I am beginning to wish that our toilet wasn't outside. One of my favourite stories of my grandmother's involves a particularly windy day, and her elderly father having the outside dunny literally blow off him, mid-...er, ablutions. I'm trying not to think of waterfalls.

My two lovebugs have got the right idea - they've been snuggled up and asleep since 6:30pm (4 hours ago). Leaving me to peruse the Intermanets uninterrupted, a rare bliss indeed. The Explorer socks are out in force, I had oatmeal for dinner, I discovered that B52's tickets are $100 (d'oh) and I've fallen for these two blogs:


The Little House By The Sea


and Thrift Candy.
Oh, to be in a floral dress in a sun-filled, un-windy garden.

Speaking of wind, I just had a thought: I wonder if the French words vent (wind) and ventre (stomach) are etymologically related? Because, the stomach is part of the digestive system, and when one has 'wind'...ah, you know what I'm getting at.

Question: how does one find the time to both maintain a blog while reading the blogs of other people?

I think I've found my answer: by writing about the other blogs! Some days I'll go from blog to blog and end up at a particularly great one, and not remember where I started or know how I got there...

Anyways, here's one I managed to stumble upon: The Catskill Kiwi. I love how she combines gorgeous photos with rad-looking recipes. The Brown Sugar Cookie recipe looks particularly enchanting.

(Image from The Catskill Kiwi)

Rollip, Rollip!

Thanks to Cristy of in a garden...somewhere, I have now discovered Rollip. I adore the old-school look of Polaroid pictures, and I've always been tempted to buy a Polaroid camera but haven't been able to find the film for it.

So, naturally, as soon as I read Cristy's post, I rushed as fast as my little fingers could type over to Rollip's website and started playing. I predict many, many more hours of Polaroid-ising my photos for fun. I had a go at trying out the different effects using a few of our Brisbane snaps:





And speaking of Cristy, if you haven't already discovered her blog, do yourself a favour and get over there! The segments on her gorgeous girl Lily's lunchboxes are particularly amazing. I wish my lunches were that good ;-)

Muchas gracias, amigas!

Here is a big umbrella thank you to everyone who commented on my post-before-last :-) And to everyone who has ever commented, in fact. You're all marvellous and your kind thoughts and words were vivid reminder of what is probably the best part of blogging, the feeling of having had the good fortune to join a community of multi-faceted, multi-talented and downright lovely individuals.

Thank you!

PS: I was also very interested (and relieved) to see people's thoughts of the Rachel Cooke article. I'm glad I'm not the only one whose nerves it touched, or who found the idea that new mothers are selfish twits to be an unfair generalisation on her part. Vive les mamans (et les maman-sympathisers)!

Acapulco-style

After some deliberation (philosophising is a rare pleasure these days...), I decided that my newly lukewarm attitude to blogging was not, as previously gathered, a result of a lack of inspiration. Not that my life is ragingly interesting, but there is plenty to be grateful for (and a cute baby to photograph).

Nope, it's pure, beige-coloured apathy. I started getting a niggling feeling that posting little segments of my life for public viewing was, well, a wee bit wanky. I felt like maybe I needed more coherence, or a little gimmick, or one of those weekly segments that I enjoy on other blogs (give me segmented anything. Terry's Chocolate Oranges rock my world), to validate any further broadcasts from my neck of the woods. I made the unfortunate discovery that life in the Land of Blog can sometimes get nasty - this one in particular was a bit of a slap in the face - not to mention I was starting to question whether or not I was entirely comfortable having photos of lil' Baboushka floating around on the interweb (other skittish parents not helping).

All of this made me want to pull the covers over my head and put my blog to rest. I thought about going cold-turkey and quitting blogland for good. The computer lay dark and dusty for weeks. (That is a total lie - I verge into OCD territory with my regular Googling of the weather forecast.) But I didn't want to give up reading the wonderful stuff out there that I've so enjoyed over the year.

So I've decided to just dive back in, Acapulco-style, and not give it so much thought in future. To be honest, I don't really give a flip what anyone thinks of my blog. I started it for myself, as a light-hearted, amateur, not-particularly in-depth journalistic exercise in posterity. No reason to change it, really...I'll just try to keep posting as regularly as my almost-mobile offspring allows ;-)

I can't live without...

Wonderful, dear Amanda of L-Plates recently had the inspired idea to do a 'Things I Can't Live Without' weekly segment, and last week I was up! Go and check out Amanda's blog, and, in case you're interested, have a geeze at the things I deem necessary to keep my sanity in check ;-)

Amanda, you rock, your family is the sweetest, I adore reading your blog and I'm so glad to have had the pleasure of meeting you...virtually, at least ;-)

Oooh, an award!

Wow! Lovely Angel from Vintage Angel has given me a blog award! Thank you, Angel :-) There are a couple of rules that go with it:





* Copy the logo and place it on my own blog
* Link it back to the person who gave it to me
* Pass it on to five fellow bloggers (I'm living dangerously and giving eight)
* List 10 things about myself

I would like to pass this award on to some of my absolute favourite bloggers:

Ballarat Vintage Style
boatshedchic
Hippie on the Inside
fat mum slim
K.Line
L-Plates
MLF
Vintage Stories


1) My obsession with all things 1920's gives me the distinct feeling of having been born 80 years too late;


2) I drink tea every day, without fail;

3) I've been an artist's model for three years now and it's one of my favourite jobs so far;

4) I don't play any instruments but I'm quite the whistler;

5) My pet hates include systemic functional grammar, leaf blowers and people who litter;

6) I'd quite like a reptilian pet, like a carpet python or an iguana;


7) Current obsessions include travelling all over Europe under the guise of it being a 'linguistic pilgrimage';

8) I wish my hair was naturally curly and red;


9) If I had to name something I collect, I'd say vintage silk scarves. But it's not a very big collection;

10) I have about 100 courses/diplomas/classes/etc that I want to do 'one day'. Maybe I not-so-subconsciously miss being a full-time student and am trying to find a way to keep living the dream...

Personal Style Challenge - Version LBD

Ella has come up with a new spin on the Polyvore Personal Style Challenge - the Little Black Dress version!

Personal Style Challenge - LBD by iris_rouge featuring Chanel jewelry

When it comes to the Little Black Dress, I'd splash out and go for something unashamedly sexy, while still maintaining a bit of old-school glamour. For me this means tousled, come-hither hair, liquid liner, a tight-but-not-too-short dress and some ridiculously gorgeous, green-feathered shoes.

Speaking of the hair, I'm not really one for Vogue but have you seen this editorial with Aussie model Abbey Lee Kershaw?


Pencil skirts and cute tees as retro Riviera chic? Wow. I officially miss summer..

Well, we're pretty much famous

Who could have guessed that an idle bit of sartorial time-occupying could have grown, mushroom-like, into the Polyvore Personal Style Challenge?! Lovely, gorgeous Mademoiselle Lady Finger has just informed me that we even made it onto Polyvore's blog! There are over 100 sets, that's pretty darned exciting.

MLF Challenge by acatofimpossiblecolour featuring Prada sunglasses

Speaking of travel jealousy! Lucky Cat of Impossible Colour's cute outfit for a Parisian sojourn ;-)

It's amazing (and heartening! Thank goodness for individuality) to see how much variation there is between people's choices. To everyone who has played, will play or is playing, thank you!

Top+Jeans+Flats

Mademoiselle Lady Finger recently wrote a great post (an essay, even!) on personal style. One of her ruminations stuck out: "If I asked you to slip on a pair of jeans, a simple top, a pair of flat shoes, and any accessories you liked, what would you come up with? No doubt you'd come out looking vastly different to the next person, but how?"

I want to see this put into practice! So I'm going over to Polyvore to pick my outfit...

Top+Jeans+Flats by iris_rouge on Polyvore.com

(okay, yes, this was really just an excuse to play on Polyvore)

...and here it is! Well, this is what I'd choose if I had 20 minutes and an unlimited budget..

I'm a wee bit shy about tagging people with something new, so anyone who wants in on this little social experiment, be tagged!

Everyday everybody

As someone who gets a kick out of seeing their own name in the phone book, I am delighted to have been featured on Chantelle's wonderful blog, fat mum slim!

Her Everyday Everybody interview idea is a great one, don't you think? Thank you for having me, Chantelle!

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Amanda of L-Plates!

The rules: 1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own. 2. Tag eight other people.

What is your current obsession?
Becoming a librarian. I find black-rimmed glasses, topknots and pencil skirts ridiculously sexy. (A wise reason indeed when considering a career move.)

What are you wearing today?
Umm… a hand-me-down Aran jumper from my dad, black vintage broomstick skirt, Explorer socks, tan cowboy boots (men’s, naturally), and the usual topknot-with-bits-flying-everywhere (due to curious little hands pulling it).

What’s for dinner?
Risotto with roast pumpkin, English spinach and goat’s cheese (see below).

What’s the last thing you bought?
Cheese! A trip to the Highlands in not complete without a visit to The Cheese Store in Bowral. I got some St Agur blue, half a log of Soignon chèvre, and a wedge of Brie.

What are you listening to right now?
Siouxsie and the Banshees, cockatoos in the gum trees out the back, the hum of the computer.

What are you reading at the moment?
Love in the Time of Cholera, Mother Tongue, The Weather Makers, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues. And my favourite blogs, of course!

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
I’d go to France, to the little village I lived in a few years ago, the sweetly named Chevreuse. It would be during the village brocante, with the main street closed to traffic, and I’d spend the time nabbing old velvet curtains and vintage posters, while eating a slice of tarte Tatin and swigging a glass of Jurançon.

Which language do you want to learn?
I’ve always wanted to learn a minority language, like Quechua or Breton or Basque. More practically, I’d love to get better at Spanish and German.

What do you love most about where you currently live?
Wollongong drives me nuts – I keep leaving, only to find myself back here. However, I do love the escarpment and the old bush tracks that crisscross it, and the proximity to the South Coast. But the best thing about living here is that I live in the same neighbourhood as my dad and two of my brothers.

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
My emerald green brocade formal gown. It was $60 from an antique shop and the lovely lady who sold it to me threw in a pair of handmade earrings as well! How lovely.

Describe your personal style?
Disheveled, boot-wearing, vintage-loving geek.

If you had $300 now, what would you spend it on?
I’d head to Net-a-Porter or The Outnet and splurge on a beautiful dress for special occasions. This Anna Sui, or this one by Diane von Furstenberg, or this Acne dress, or this one or this one from Antik Batik...

What are you going to do after this?
Make a cup of tea and check on the little one.

What are your favorite films?
Anything with subtitles. Movies always seem that much more interesting when they happen in a foreign language.

Whose work/designs are you inspired by?
I'll have to copy Amanda and say Surrealism. When I was younger, I was distraught that the Surrealists had already been and gone – I’ve always thought I was born 80 years too late. I also love William Morris and the Pre-Raph pack, Roy Lichtenstein and the Bauhaus.

Do you collect anything?
Books. I've just started collecting the Penguin Classics. And vintage silk scarves. And I have more teacups than I ever actually use.

What makes you follow a blog?
Humour, eloquence and ladies in cute clothes.

Do you like to comment on blogs or just lurk?
I try to comment as much as I can – I’m ridiculously happy when someone comments on my own blog, so I like to pass that happy feeling along :-)

What’s one thing you dream of doing?
Living overseas, in lots of different places. So that a) I can practice the languages I know and learn new ones, and b) to give Baboushka an appreciation of the wider world.

What is your biggest regret?
I’m not really one for regret, although when my husband and I broke up a few years ago, I wish I had been better behaved, more diplomatic and generally nicer about the whole thing.

What's the one place you'd like to visit before you die?
The one place?!? Mean question. It’d have to be either the Yucatán, to explore relics of pre-Columbian civilizations; northern India and Nepal, to visit Buddha’s stomping ground; or Tanzania, to see Rift Valley and the Ngorongoro. Or Scotland, to traipse the moors with Braveheart-type music playing in my head.

I'm going to tag:

apricot tea
Anemone
boatshedchic
K.Line
Skylark and Son
Strawberry Koi
Vegan and Vintage
Vintage Stories

Gargh!

I seem to have misplaced my blogging mojo. Add to that a weekend spent (where else!) down at Jervis Bay, and you have a serious lack of posts! Something that I shall remedy right now.

In the meantime, here is Baboushka's current favourite YouTube clip:

Dammit I can't embed the thing here. So click here.

Handy in case you have a baby/small child who needs settling and favours both the Jazz Age and French house.

8 Things

'Cos I like these tagging larks (especially during the last, energy-sapping feed of the night). Thanks to le parapluie deteste la pluie!

8 things I'm looking forward to:
1) going to sleep
2) having afternoon tea with my dad tomorrow
3) buying some yarn to start my first afghan blanket
4) getting my new boots soled
5) Baboushka’s first word
6) teaching Baboushka to swim next summer
7) my post-grad studies
8) living overseas


8 things I did yesterday:
1) had a shower
2) hung out washing
3) walked to beach with Baboushka to meet friends
4) discovered friends meant pub with same name as beach
5) nearly throttled hip-but-daft kid who took 30 minutes to put bircher muesli in tub and hand it over, but thought patient thoughts and smiled sweetly instead
6) went to pub and spewed forth massive bitchkrieg re: hip-but-daft kids in customer service these days
7) felt like old crone re: phrase ‘kids these days’; ordered a Fire Engine to feel young again
8) enjoyed rest of afternoon with friends


8 things I wish I could do:
1) speak Portuguese
2) speak Russian
3) speak Arabic
4) play the piano like Tori Amos
5) breathe underwater
6) knit amazing things
7) tame lions
8) join a circus with my lion-taming skills


8 things I watched recently:
1) At the Movies (re-run)
2) SBS World News
3) Madmen
4) 30 Rock
5) Tony vs Paul on Youtube (for the 100th time)
6) Doubt
7) The Duchess
8) The Reader

Tag yourselves if you're so inclined, friends!

I had vague plans for a spot of late night vacuuming

But instead I am nabbing Lina from Deer Hunter's Google fun quiz-type thing.


1. Your age on your next birthday


2. Your favourite colour


3. Your middle name


4. The last meal you ate


5. Your bad habit


6. Your favourite fruit/vegetable


7. Your favourite animal


8. The town you live in


9. The most useful thing in your house


10. The name of your pet


11. Your most recent purchase


12. Something that makes you happy


13. Your first name


14. Your last name


Anyone who so desires, consider yourself tagged!