with love and swallow

2011-09-19T20:57:00.000-04:00

I've got so many blog drafts sitting here, un-finished, that I haven't had a chance to get around to posting.
One says "soz I'm a super bad blogger! Here's all my excuses and a bunch of the stuff I've been doing for Fashion Week at work!", another is a goodbye to With Love and Swallow for good, another is a plug for my new blog and another is blank except for a picture of Reese's Pieces. I'm not sure where I was going with that one...

Since my buddy Anton arrived in New York a month ago (he is very brilliant and got a scholarship to NYU, which is pretty amazing), all of my non-work time has been taken up with play-dates with him—walking everywhere, eating a lot, seeing bands and comedy shows, eating some more and listening to him sing songs about how my face makes him want to vomit.

We're moving out of our sublet tomorrow (the place I've been staying in for the past eight weeks) and while Anton's at school late tonight, I'm taking this chance to catch you up on my shenanigans! I've got a pumpkin beer, a bag of peanut butter M&M's and Beyoncé's/Destiny's Child's back catalogues playing on shuffle. I'm more than ready.

*************

I survived Hurricane Irene (obvz) with the help of Parks and Recreation and a lot of take-out Chinese food. The day after, I took Nicolette's recommendation and went to see Midnight in Paris at the Nitehawk. The week after I did a triple movie trip, seeing Our Idiot Brother, Crazy Stupid Love and Higher Ground in the course of five days. In between that, I also headed to Williamsburg Waterfront to make my 14 year old dreams come true and hear Bright Eyes play Lover I Don't Have to Love during their incredible set. Anton and I got patriotic and bought drinks from a stand simply called "Australian wines" (regions, shmegions!), next to which Patrick Dempsey was standing. Local celeb, y'all! I went to Society of Illustrators to see their great exhibition of the images that have accompanied Rolling Stone's album reviews for over forty years. We ended the long weekend with a BBQ at a friend's place in Clinton Hill and fell in love with the neighborhood!

The following week was the start of fashion week. My first show was on Tuesday, right after the IFB Conference (where I saw Susie and Nadia and Ari Seth). I went to the ODILON by Stacey Clark show in Chelsea, and made a video.

As I was leaving, I finally met Meagan, which was incredz exciting! I had to run off to Nolita, to end my day with a cup of wine and memories of Melbourne in the new Aesop store they're just opened there.

The next day I made a video at Porter Grey's morning presentation and at JF & Son's bizarre and very fun runway show that night. It was Fashion's Night Out and, after being unable to spot Spike Jonze at the Opening Ceremony carnival around the corner from my office, I ate some ramen in Greenwich and went home. I'm happy with my decisions. On Friday night I shot Andrew Buckler's menswear show on Gansevoort St then headed to Logan Neitzel's presentation in Chinatown (seeing a sign on a nondescript door saying "RODARTE: 4TH FLOOR" on the way). I had interviewed Logan a few weeks earlier and shot some pictures in his studio, and you can see the results here. That weekend, I busied myself at Loden Dager's menswear show (where Ryan Murphy and Artie from Glee stood feet away from me) and shooting backstage at HONOR's exceptional show, where I brushed past Rose McGowan (Courtney Shane! Tatum! Paige Halliwell!) and Malin Ackerman.

On Tuesday I got to see a press preview of Stephen Jones' exhibition Hats: an Anthology at the Bard Gallery, before seeing a German swimwear designer's runway show. After work, I struggled getting changed in the cubicles in my office's shared bathroom before going to The Ace Hotel for Tavi and Ari Seth Cohen's Advanced Style party. I've never been more excited to be at a party full of "fashion people"—probably because the party was a celebration of style and personality, rather than seasonal trends. We ate cake and drank (a lot) and I spent the night talking with Meagan and ogling old ladies' amazingness. It was a really wonderful night and the perfect way to wind down fashion week. Afterwards, I had Anton take pictures of my outfit for my new blog, Poor Little Fatty (plug!), which is where I'll be posting more regularly.

After getting up early the next day for NOMIA's Spring runway show at Lincoln Center, my first ever fashion week was over! I celebrated by going to see Tanner Hall and eating my weight in Raisinets.

I rounded out my week by getting a kick in my feminist pants at Warsaw in Greenpoint, where I saw No Bra, Grass Widow and the Raincoats play! They were all incredible and gave me both a great end to the week and an uplifting end to this blog post.

New York in an Instant

2011-08-21T09:45:00.000-04:00

1 wearing my Khloe Kardash scarf to disguise greezay hair / 2 eating Chinese food and watching Screan / 3 Very Brady Sally Hansen nail stickers til death / 4 a birthday party that took over an entire block in my neighbourhood / 5 Saint Bill / 6 the coffee table book situation at my friend's cousin's apartment on Bond St / 7 things people leave out on the sidewalk / 8 IFC playing clips of Fred Armisen AKA heaven / 9 Getting Ellie addicted to Instagram / 10 Work trip to IKEA / 11 All I was concerned with / 12 Using Instagram fx to make it look like I'm watching Twin Peaks at the movies (rather than on my laptop, in bed, alone, at 9pm on a Friday) / 13 Postcards to Australia.

All Shorts and No Bike

2011-08-20T15:04:00.001-04:00

Something I discovered recently: finding bike shorts is really tough. I had searched for a pair back home to no avail, but assumed I'd be able to find them easily in New York (a place where wearing them is necessary for me in summer, what with all the walking and schvitzing and dress-wearing. This place is a hive for chub rub!).
The closest I came was a pair of grey microfibre leggings from KMart that I hacked into shorts with my hair scissors (only the best for me), which were pretty cute, especially when I wore them under red dresses for a bit of contrast.
Eventually, I found some on OneStopPlus. Diving head-first, I got this style in black, pink and purple—I figure there's no point hiding the fact that I'm wearing them, so I may as well get cute ones! Not wanting them to be too small, I bought them using my correct measurements, and they're a little loose. Once I locate a sewing machine in this city, I'll be able to fix them quick enough, but for now I'm just wearing them as is.

dress from ASOS / belt from Torrid / shorts from OneStopPlus / socks from Gorman / t-bars from Parthenon Shoes in Melbz (THEY'RE BROKE SOMEONE GET ME NEW ONES PLEEEEEASE!) / vintage swatch from eBay / blue polish by Sally Hansen, purple polish from Urban Outfitters

Today I took my time getting up, watching Twin Peaks, having a long, cold shower, doing laundry and getting breakfast (at midday) from Second Stop. Then I headed into the city to get a few things from Grand Central to put in Anton's welcome-to-New-York package (countdown: 26 hours until his arrival!). On Monday I went to see a movie at a theatre in Times Square, and caught my breath when I got out of the subway and saw all the lights and noises I'd seen so many times in the movies. The same thing happened at Grand Central; it's such a beautiful building and I'm going to make sure I don't take it for granted, no matter how long I end up staying here.

What I Look Like in NYC: A Vanity Project Realized Through PhotoBooth

2011-08-09T20:39:00.000-04:00

After coming off 20 hours worth of flights.

Eatin' Pop Tarts

Eatin' watermelon

Eatin' cinnamon popcorn

Eatin' cereal

Hydrating

Eatin' Jimmy Fallon (LOL I WISH)

Eatin' Nutella & Go

sexting

Eatin' red velvet cake

work

eatin' cereal take 2

Crawl in bed with your telephone

2011-08-07T19:34:00.000-04:00

This post is brought to you by this song.

I wore:

dress: onestopplus.com / belt: torrid / swatch: ebay

I bought:
the shoes I've been coveting for MONTHS! Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony Na-Na Biscuit Slingbacks for half price! They're sold out online but not in the Howard St store! Considering the length and girth of my feet, I'm so psyched on how comfortable these are. No wearing-in or blister-guards required!

Also from OC: the I'm Here flipbook (how could I resist!?) and 'Davy' by Coconut Records. While I was browsing in the store I may or may not have manhandled this, this and this, and clutched my chest while looking at these. A girl saw me getting a little emotional over them, and we talked about Rodarte for a while, before she offered to help me try these on. Being 5"10' and of considerable heft, I refused, lest I break them and have to pay for them. I can live with my decisions...

I bought some things from the Lomo store on my way to Washington Square Park, which I need to keep to myself so Greta's surprise isn't spoiled!

An Arnold Palmer from my favourite local bakery. This was the last of 5 iced drinks I bought throughout my 4 hour adventure. New York's hot, y'all!

Summer in the city

2011-08-07T09:37:00.000-04:00

This installment of "memorial pictures of Jim" features:

Jim as a Harlem Globetrotter.

Top 10 things that happened in the first week of August

Finishing my first week at work
The Brooklyn Star. Get the $6 apple cider, biscuits, mac & cheese, kale and chocolate pecan pie.
Buying cheesy tourist postcards to send home
Cooking dinner for myself with real food in a real kitchen
My first visit to UCB to see Abbi from Broad City's last solo show in NYC
Drinking this at Union Pool
Salvatore, the skeezy proprietor of San Marco Pizzeria on Lorimer. Nikol, Marie and I went there last night for one slice, and ended up staying to drink the free beer Sal gave us as he yelled at other customers, made pizza fresh for us and smoked while he worked.
The lobby of the Ace Hotel.
The hand rolls from this place. Officially the best sushi I've ever eaten.
My local bagel place and go-to iced coffe + brownie place.

Working Class Laydee

2011-07-30T13:52:00.000-04:00

I had a wardrobe dilemma this morning. I was going to look at an apartment and, normally for something like this, I would dress as conservatively as possible to make myself look like a responsible rent-payer. This time, though, I was looking at an apartment in a building of artists and creatives whose super is a sculptor. DIL. EMMA.

To compromise, I wore a vaguely "responsible" ensemble and played with fun accessories.

top: Savers / skirt: City Chic (chopped off from a dress) / watch: Swatch from eBay / bag: Opening Ceremony / socks: Happy Socks from Gorman / shoes: thrifted.

Show me all your most personal possessions

2011-07-30T00:00:00.000-04:00

I've never done a "what's in your bag?" post before, but have always wanted to. I got home tonight and emptied the contents of my bag onto my bed to clean it out (something I like doing every night), and figured now—when I'm hauling a ridiculous assortment of things around the city with me—was as good a time as any!

What everything looked like, post-tip.

The bags: a Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony bag I bought today (the Na-Na slingbacks are next on my list!), and the leather patchwork bag I originally took with me, that I then carried inside the new one.

My wallet is from Urban Originals and is big enough to fit all my cards and other shit. After using a tiny glo-mesh one for 4 years, this is a huge deal. I got it on sale from a boutique in Bundaberg.

Sennhauser headphones, iPhone, iPhone headphones, iPod. Yes, it's ridiculous to have both, but I've started using my iPod again because I miss having 70% of my music with me instead of only 20% of it. Also, I use my Googs maps so much on my phone that I need to save its battery as much as possible!

Sunglasses were $10 from my hometown's Sunday market. My glasses are Jasper Conran from SpecSavers (something I didn't mention to the Washington Post's fashion editor when she complimented me on them).

Miscellanea. Umbrella (useful today!), parliaments + lighter with snakeskin case + matches from Colette, fan (ESSENTIAL), Metrocard, keys, watch, fringe comb, pencil case from Karli to carry pens, hand sanitizer, band aids, deodorant, pens, blah blah blah.

The book I'm reading + the journal I'm keeping during my trip + the ticket to the UCB show I went to tonight.

Stuff I bought today: purple liquid liner and nail polish remover from Sephora + leftovers from OC.

Snacks I forgot I had (UNTIL NOW! NOM NOM NOM): pretzel m&ms and an apple fritter from Starbucks.

I Can Live Through This, I Can Live Through Worse

2011-07-28T14:48:00.002-04:00

Each of these posts will have something Jim-related in them, to both remind me of my old buddy and to give him credit for giving me the idea. This is a picture Greta took of us at my going-away party at the Birmi in Melbourne. Jim is serenading me. Note: this was before I had to say goodbye to him and cried like a big fat loser.

Top 10 Things About Tuesday and Wednesday

Only losing my sense of direction four times (three of them in the middle of Manhattan). I can handle paying ridic data usage rates if it means I am never without Google Maps!
Getting asked for directions on Bedford Ave. It should be mentioned that this was during the non-Manhattan time I got lost.
Getting Aesop samples (incl one of my regular cleanser) from my boss. I was finally able to wash my hair and feel clean.
Finally meeting Alia and Nikol at Bar Matchless on Tuesday night. Alia used to work at Portable here, and Nikol was an awesome regular contributor to the site. Nikol took me to Khim's on our way home and I took far too long buying milk, cereal and fruit because of how overwhelming US brands are.
Catching my first subway (five of them, in fact!) without issue.
Getting my luggage on Wednesday morning! It came 45 minutes after I called the delivery company and I managed to haul my 30kg suitcase up the steep steps to my sublet. I'm so happy and clean and comfortable now that I'm dressed in my own clothes and surrounded by my stuff!
Meeting up with Dave—Anu and Maddi's friend from Melbourne—and eating vegetarian japanese food at Redbowl and taking iced coffees down to the Williamsburg Waterfront to look over the river at the city and talk about comedy.
Getting a little lost on the way home and stumbling upon Jimmy's Diner and taking home a Williamsburger (beef patty with two potato latkes and apple sauce) and sweet potato fries.
Meeting Anna* and going to Gowanus to the Sassy Tribute Night at Littlefield. Supercute! performed and there was an IRL 'Ask a Boy' and Elizabeth talked about Sassy fash and Marisa led a panel of Sassy ladies and Janeane Garofalo (AKA HEATHER FUCKING MOONEY AKA MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER FROM MY FAVOURITE MOVIE) judged a dude talent show and Ira Glass interviewed Tavi about her magazine project. I also got like 30% off a special cocktail for checking in on Foursquare and Anna took me to get my first New York slice afterwards. I know, right? Perfect.
Finding my way home. The G train wasn't running on our return trip, and after Anna got off at her stop I had to work shit out by myself. It took me twice as long because I got off too early and had to wait for another train. During that wait I saw my first subway rat and got a little homesick, but when I changed to the L at Union Square, there was a man singing "tha Chicago bluez" on the platform. It was almost 1am and it was the pick-me-up I needed to make me feel better about how unfamiliar everything is here.

*while I was waiting for her on Manhattan Ave I heard a dude say, "nice Mary-Janes, girl!" I thanked him for appreciating my frilly sock/school shoe combo, and noticed his teardrop tattoos and the garbage bag slung over his shoulder. Filled with body parts, perhaps, but game recognise game.

I have problems with my sleep

2011-07-26T15:02:00.002-04:00

My buddy Jim (you know who I'm talking about by now, right? Jim? This guy? Ol' Jimmy Skins!) suggested that I make Letterman-style Top 10 lists while I'm here in New York (did I mention that? I'm here!). I arrived last night, about 28 hours after leaving Australia. Here are...

The Top 10 Things About My Trip So Far

Not sitting next to anyone during all 3 flights. I was especially glad of this during the connection from LA to NYC, when I got a row to myself and could watch the descent into my new city (as Karli suggested I do).
Plane food. QANTAS does plane food like no other. Beef and chorizo hot pot, snacks brought to me 2 minutes after realising I needed some, three breakfasts in different time zones...
Free booze. Not wanting to dehydrate myself, I mostly had water and tea during my 21 hours in the air. I had white wine on the Sydney-LA leg to calm myself down (I was rushed through customs being told my flight had closed, when in fact it hadn't started boarding yet. Phew!) and a very strong celebratory drink before landing in NYC.
Using American money. My first purchase with green paper money was a mountain dew, a copy of Vogue and some Mentos from Maria at Crews of California in LAX.
Not having to carry many bags. The only good thing to come out of your bags being left behind is that you don't have to haul them through the airport. That is the only good thing about this though. I have greasy hair, a smelly body, limited underwear, 1 pair of shoes and no adapters to connect my laptop to American outlets. I'm also wearing someone else's dress.
Arriving at my sublet to a clean bed in front of a window with a fan on. New York gets hot in summer, did you hear?

Using a toilet made for human-sized things. I had never used a plane toilet before my Sydney-LA flight. I've used them 4 times now, and do not enjoy doing so. I'd rather poo out a window, thank you very much.
Keeping a diary. I've not done this since leaving my teens, but as per the suggestion/demand of my stepmum to write down what I did/saw/ate to show her, I updated my journal a lot during the flight and I'm really digging doing it again.
Nicolette! Not long after arriving, Nicolette and I tweeted each other to arrange a quick dinner date. She and Austin took me to Pop's for a burger, before showing me around Bedford Ave. She also heard about my luggage dilemma and brought me some clothes to tide me over. The sweetest!
Being here. It's been months of planning and alternating between being excited, pensive and outright scared, but I'm so happy I've done it!

I got up this morning and headed to Cafe Colette for breakfast, before catching my first subway into Manhattan. I sorted out my US phone situation before heading to Flatiron to see the office where I'll be working, come Monday.

It's all happening.

An Ending, Of Sorts

2011-06-30T00:39:00.000-04:00

This was easily the best-dressed I've been in a really long time (and, by extension, the best I've felt). My amazing friend Maddi gave me this skirt as a gift for helping her get started with her new online vintage store (it's still in its very early stages, but you can peek at the stuff she's selling here), knowing I had been lusting after it since first noticing the print among a rack of stuff.

It was probably a size 8 when she gave it to me, but after taking out the zipper and lining, it fit my waist perfectly. It still needs a new waistband and fresh zip, but it was good enough to wear out on Tuesday night to see Bridesmaids (for the 3rd time) and eat at Chin Chin as a final goodbye date with Anton (before we start platonically dating each other in a new city...).

skirt: Madeleine's Dresser / dress (worn as a top): Supre / necklace: Miller's / necklace (worn as a bracelet): ASOS Curve / clogs: Funkis

I couldn't let this post go up without mentioning that today marks the 3rd birthday of With Love and Swallow. It was three years ago that little Brodie, who had only lived in Melbourne for four months, decided to start sharing her every thought, movement (social and bowel), story and outfit with the Internet. The first post on here is super embarrassing but has remained there for posterity.

When I started this blog I didn't really have a clear focus for what it would be, and it's served as a kind of diary of my life here in Melbourne since then. It chronicles the friends I made, the music and movies I liked and the degree I got. It was never meant to appeal to anyone outside my friends (and even some of them would probably question if they see any point to it at all!), but I'm really glad it has.

Since starting this blog I've moved house three times and preparing to do so again right now, this time to facilitate my upcoming move to New York City. It's a huge new phase in my life, and one that I'm equally excited and terrified about. I've not yet decided if With Love and Swallow will transition from "a blog by a girl in Melbourne" to "a blog by a girl in NYC", if I'll start afresh elsewhere, or if I'll give the blogging thing a rest for a while/indefinitely (I have pros and cons relating to each option). Whatever I decide, any relevant links to new places to follow my inane bullshit will be posted here.

In the meantime, it's going to be pretty quiet around here for the next few weeks, but you can keep track of my movements (again, both social and bowel) on Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr, Foodspotting and Instagram.

Leiderhosen.

Are you a bug?

2011-06-29T06:19:00.001-04:00

After coming out of my visa meeting in a really good mood (hooray!), I needed to treat myself by spending my money on something other than food and public transport.

While walking past Dangerfield in the city, I saw a t-shirt in the window that had J-Biebz and Usher on the front and, considering how many (hundreds of) times I’ve watched this, I really wanted it on my body. I went in the store and the Ush/Biebz one was way too small, as was the one with this picture, so I got a Bill Murray one instead. Good compromise, I think.

shirt: Dangerfield / skirt and coat: Savers

Note my lack of shoes/trying to make anything in these pictures look nice. Packing is annoying, y'all.

Oh, and just in case you thought that I worked really hard, allow me to show you how Flavia and I spent some time at work when I wore this:

see also: this.

Judge Fudge

2011-06-29T05:39:00.001-04:00

Desperate to wear my Happy Socks for the first time, I effectively built an all-black outfit to ensure maximum attention on my feet. I'm not sure if it worked in terms of "good outfit", but in regards to "good use of socks", I think it was a success.

dress from Evans / socks from Gorman / shoes from Parthenon Shoes

Sunday Morning

2011-06-25T22:57:00.001-04:00

This morning I headed to Fitzroy to meet up with my amazing friend Roberta and have breakfast at Slowpoke. Bert had a spicy pumpkin soup, I had an egg sandwich with chili jam and goat's cheese (instead of jamon. Eating Animals is really affecting me). Both were fantastic. There are lots of cute boys there too. You should go!

I was pretty tired when I got up to get ready to go, so I opted for comfort over cuteness, and ended up wearing this:

dress: savers / jumper: Dan Murphy's staff jumper / scarf: gift from my old housemate / belt: ASOS Curve / boots: thrifted.

After breakfast I wandered down Brunswick St, enjoying the sunshine and my second-last weekend in Melbourne. I had a look in FAT, remembering someone telling me they stocked Happy Socks. They didn't have any, so I kept walking and ended up in Gorman. They were having a big sale, and after telling myself I didn't need a pair of beautiful low camel boots or a big printed shoulder bag (despite it being half price), I found these:

sparkly Gorman socks: $15 / Inca Happy Socks: $16.95
I was so psyched.
Also important to today's super positive mindset are the first season of Pregnant in Heels and these:

Things You Should Do On The Internet

2011-06-25T02:02:00.000-04:00

Read my Interview with MIRANDA EFFING JULY on Portable

Watch the Best of Jimmy Fallon on this Weird Russian Website

Listen to SmodCast Radio

Watch Variety Shac Shorts

Fan Ham Alert on Facebook!

June in Pictures

2011-06-25T02:01:00.000-04:00

My final month in this incredible city, in images.

Blue skies on one side, storms on the other. CLASSIK MELBZ

Making a zine and watching Don't Need You. #stereotype

Drinking hot spiced apple cider at Rooftop & beers at Lounge with Iasha.

Foggy Fitzroy morning.

Shooting a very special video with Maddi.

Stalkin' kitty.

My local bus puppy.

Trip to the zoo with Iash. Her wack pose came as a result of her yelling, "Quick! Take it! People are coming!"

Brown bear Brodie, Mufasa, giraffe feeding time, Babar, creepy dead jaguar in the gift shop, silverback gorilla fight.

Pumpin' Friday night in.

Litter? Situation art? Who knows.

Solstice celebration at Fed Square, that Anton and I stumbled upon after watching Meek's Cutoff at ACMI.

Jim and Lucy were among a bunch of my friends who I palmed my stuff onto.

Editing and eating cheesecake with Maddi.

Kenny, one of my interns at Portable, on the train to the country for our work retreat.

Portable team!

Eames corner at the Boyd Baker House, where we spent two days eating, drinking, dancing and working in front of a fire.

Getting my visa!

Iash and I, celebrating my visa with a pitcher of Gin Gardens at Madame Brussel's.

Lunch at Birdman Eating with Flavia.

top five must-haves

2011-06-24T21:54:00.001-04:00

Bianca tagged me in her five must-haves post and I've finally got around to posting mine (read: finally finished my housework and decided I should blog rather than watching more old SNL episodes)

in my kitchen:
bircher muesli
crunchy coated peanuts
vege shepherd's pie + lentil burgers
avocado (ALWAYS)
jelly bellys

in my closet:
10 dresses selected to tide me over while the others get packed
leather t-bars
woolen scarves
patchwork leather bag
leopard coat

in my bag:
glomesh purse
iPhone 4
Eating Animals
paw paw ointment
grapefruit breath mints (which are kind of gross)

on my tv:
season 36 of SNL
season 2 of The OC
cycle 16 of ANTM
season 3 of The L Word
Masterchef

in my speakers:
The Lonely Island
Bon Iver
Beastie Boys
Matt and Kim
Eagle and the Worm

in my google reader:
Fat Aus
Nadia Aboulhosn
Love Again
Cupcake's Clothes
L A T T E R S T Y L E

The Billow

2011-05-31T02:20:00.003-04:00

I always said that I wasn't interested in traditional fashion blogs that just pulled images from runways and analysed trends, but I'm kind of eating my words right now. After polishing off the May issue of Harper's (that my landlord gave me and I kept next to the toilet to read in short increments—TMI?), not to mention filtering through the dozens of fashion blogs and films I look at at work every day, there's one trend I really can't ignore.
It is that of the billowy maxi dress and it ticks all the boxes: it's lightweight and airy, it's perfect for summer but doesn't require me to shave my legs and it doesn't need to be worn with heels or an excessive amount of accessories. It's perfect.

Of course the Jil Sander ones are the pinnacle of billowy goodness:

but at upwards of $2600, that's not going to happen any time soon.

A spread in the magazine featured Rick Owens' version of the dress:

which played down the colour and playfulness of Raf Simons', but has a neckline I'm more into.

ASOS Curve currently have an affordable version of the dress, colourblocked to be a little more in line with the Jil Sander ones, but with straps similar to those of the Rick Owens one. It's also got huge pockets, which is a big plus from me.

While it's only $95, it's still out of my saving-to-live-in-NYC-in-a-little-over-a-month(-holy-crap-that's-so-soon) budget.

Combined, these three examples give me the elements to sew the perfect wearable summer sack: a vibrant fabric + a soft, gathered neckline + pockets big enough to carry the iPad I don't own in.

Shipping my sewing machine to NYC might end up costing as much as the Jil Sander ones though...

nights and weekends

2011-05-22T08:35:00.000-04:00

This has been one of the most wholesome/boring weekends I've had in some time. And for someone whose idea of a busy night involves 3 hours spent outside of the house, that's saying something.

On Saturday I wore my kitty sweater from ASOS Curve, a skirt from City Chic (that I hacked off from a dress), my FAVOURITE TIGHTS EVER (of which I bought the last 4 pairs for $4 less than normal. They're being cleared out of supermarkets everywhere and I spent over 3 hours getting them. Worth it) and my new T-bars. After throwing my worn, smelly ones out over Christmas, it's so nice to have a new pair of the greatest shoes ever.

I spent the day doing housey stuff and sewing this skirt that I bought on Friday and wore on Sunday:

Dress (formerly an ankle-length, baggy situation. I altered it into this while watching The September Issue) from Savers, jacket from Evans (feat. a very bad alteration to shorten it. Thanks, safety pins!), belt from ASOS Curve, lipstick by Lipstick Queen.

I wore this to spend the day listening to talk about making $$ from YouTube, then seeing a private Andrew Keoghan show at the Cullen, feat. fancy mini hamburgers and free-flowing vino.

Style Icon: Amber Holt

2011-05-20T05:47:00.000-04:00

I didn't think it would be my jam at all, but I got really into Parenthood recently. I watched both seasons over the course of 4 days and am now itching for more wholesome family stories feat. my favourite female protagonist of all time (Lorelai Gilmore, what whaaat!) and my favourite young actress of right now. That person is Mae Whitman and, post-Mayonegg, post-most-perfect-nerd-sidekick-in-Spring-Breakdown, she plays Amber Holt in Parenthood.

The series begins with her smoking and rebelling and sporting some really questionable hair with very clichéd "bad girl" clothes. As it progresses, though, she starts wearing chunky glasses, bright red lipstick and excellent vintage floral prints. It's really good. It's so good, in fact, that I re-watched all of season 1 to screencap her outfits after doing the same for season 2 as I watched it.

Click each image to see a gallery of more on my Flickr.

Nothing said "rebel yoof" quite like flannel and ripped black denim.

Look at her, listening to music, wearing boots. RECLINING. Ugh, so bad.

That tie-dyed notebook tells you she's from California.

SADDLE SHOES 4EVA

Don't even get me STARTED on her grandmother. Bonnie Bedelia, you amazing va-va-voman.

Halloween frat party, Amber-stylez

Possibly her greatest fashion achievement: going from librarian chic to baseball stylez effortlessly

Is that Enid Coleslaw? No, It's AMBER HOLT WITH A CANDY NECKLACE ON, Y'ALL

Move over, Hattie. No-one cares.

How that teacher wanted to date her mother over this, I will never know.

Casual blazer situation, coloured top and YELLOW EYELINER. I need to lie down.

"BRB, going to a kewl concert."

Blanket Fantastic.

Oh, she plays ukelele and guitar and sings and writes songs too, didn't I mention that?

Angry-at-her-friends, Freddie-Kruger chic

Can I plz go back to school so I can wear this every day!?

College interview, Amber style

What's that? You're complimenting my leopard thermos mug and holographic ballet slippers? Oh, you.

Your face is even cuter than that pom pom sweater

Baddest bitch in t0wN

The perfect-ness of this is exhausting.

Don't fix anything. It's perfect. You're perfect.

anonymous public transport love letter #12

2011-05-20T05:14:00.000-04:00

You got on the tram on Royal Parade as I was on my way to Sydney Rd, and caught my eye immediately. You had a little baby fro a la Donald Glover and were wearing amazing-fitted jeans and a letterman jacket. The combination (along with your pretty face) were enough to make me look past/accept your polo shirt, which was buttoned right up to the top.

You walked to and fro on the spot, looking for an empty seat. You were unable to sit on the one next to me because of a baby pram blocking the path.

I literally gasped out loud when you helped the pram's owner lower the baby gently to the ground as she got off the tram. My ovaries flipped around and I was embarrassed at how little a man-boy has to do to make me want them to impregnate me.

I was really sad when you got off a few stops later, but because of how many other babes got off at the same stop, I made a mental note to spend more time around that part of Brunswick.

play all the records in the hit parade

2011-05-16T12:22:00.000-04:00

I broke my no-shopping rule this weekend while away on a trip to Torquay with a few friends. On the way back to Melbourne on Sunday, we stopped in Geelong for lunch and spent a few hours browsing the Mill's Markets, an incredible three-storey vintage mega store.

Just quickly, here are a few instagram shots I took while I was there.

I would've hated myself forever if I left this place empty-handed, so I settled on a vintage polyester dress and new patchwork leather bag to replace the one I got in early 2009 that I've worn to the point of breaking.

It's incredible how good having one new item of clothing on my back makes me feel. I felt super hot today, I'ma just put it out there...

vintage dress + bag from Mill's Market / belt from ASOS Curve / necklace from Natalie Perkins / shoes from Savers

I wore this ensemble to work (minus the make-up and with flats instead of heels), then tarted myself up for a trip to the movies to see Barney's Version with Anton. Worth it.

I'll Be Your Mirror

2011-05-11T03:31:00.000-04:00

I've been stuck in a serious wardrobe rut lately. I'm pretty comfortable blaming it on my self-imposed ban on clothes shopping—online or otherwise—while I'm saving, but despite doing this to myself, I'm still grumpy about recycling the same two or three (hundred) staple outfits every day.

Today it was freezing cold, which gave me the opportunity to both rework old items with layers AND pull out the most incredible winter coat imaginable.

I bought this vintage dress from Retrostar after I first moved to Melbourne, and wore it on my first night out in the city (with heels and no stockings or coat. What was I!?). It's getting pretty worn now, so I layered a top (from Supré) over it and fished out my old faithful thrifted belt to pop over the top. Tights are super warm wool ones from a supermarket, and the shoes are from Savers. The coat's also from there, and is easily the greatest thrift find I've ever made. My lipstick is from Lipstick Queen and the necklace arrived yesterday from the incrediballs Natalie Perkins.

Wearing this combo made me stand out a little (to say the least), all the more when I met up with my lady pal Maddi to work on her website and wander down Smith St looking like two super sassy broads.

da kewlest sale in town

2011-05-07T20:26:00.000-04:00

After begging for attendance, I'm happy to report the laneway sale was a success! Only three of us set up our stuff to sell, and we all went home with heavier pockets than we started with. If you missed out, we're planning a second one in the same location (take the 19 tram towards Coburg and jump off at stop #25. Walk down Stewart St for about 20 metres until you get to Curtis Place—the laneway opposite the carwash) on Saturday the 28th May. There'll be even more stuff with more sellers and (hopefully) more customers. And just so you can adjust your budget accordingly: of everything we sold, only 2 or 3 things went for more than $5.

This is what it looked like at the start of the day:

And this is what it/Hannah looked like at about 1:30pm:

What did I look like, you ask? Oh, you.

Please keep in mind that these pictures were taken after laneway sale-ing for 6 hours and drinking for 6 hours during and post-sale.

Dress from Savers/necklace and belt (unseen) from

ASOS/jacket from Evans/shoes from Betts

The sweater I'm wearing under the jacket was originally in my pile of things to sell, but when the weather got frosty, I had to put it on. It reminded me of how warm the uniforms for liquor stores you worked at when you're 18 and have just moved to Melbourne are!

houndin'

2011-05-04T02:56:00.000-04:00

This is what I wore to work today. It was super appropz for the cray-cray weather we've been having. Warm 'n' that.

Pardon my post-work un-made-ep face! Dress from Torrid, thrifted jacket, vintage Swatch watch from eBay, tights from Woolworths, thrifted shoes, ring from City Chic.

That pile of crapola on my floor is the result of an hour of closet-cleansing last night, in which I intended to remove the dresses I might not need when I move to NYC and instead removed EVERYTHING I either didn't want, didn't wear or could potentially make money from.
I had to distance myself from every single item. Usually my culls are limited by thoughts of, "Oh, but it was expensive" or "I wore this during [insert significant event here]" or "But I only bought it last month!" But not this time.
(almost) EVERYTHING MUST GO!

I'll be taking the good stuff to this on Saturday morning, so please come down and say hello and don't judge me if I look bad and buy my stuff! I'll love you forevz/for most of Saturday at least.

And after that I'll be selling the good stuff here and donating the rest to Savers! I really hate listing stuff online and then sending it out, so plz don't make me do it! Buy any good stuff on Saturday to avoid seeing it marked up at Savers and knowing you could've bought it straight from me for less dollar$.
Have I convinced you yet? Did I get the job?

Gertie: a Meowlbum.

2011-04-28T09:55:00.000-04:00

Australians had a five-day weekend over Easter, and this meant a lot of play time. I filled most of my days with activities, getting sick and episodes of Parenthood, but when plans fell through on the last two days I rediscovered my old pal the sewing machine and whipped up a skirt inspired by one I saw a girl wearing on the street a week earlier.

I took an old red skirt that I never wore but still didn't want to sell/donate, and cut 90% of the length off. I then gathered up some of my favourite patterned offcuts (mostly the top-halves of dresses I turned into skirts) and sewed salvage-able pieces into thick strips and those strips into a skirt. Because the top layer was already a skirt to begin with, I didn't need to do any zippering or elasticising. It took about 2 hours all up and was super easy and fun. I'm so psyched with the results.

I reignited one of those failed plans and wore this ensemble out to have a belated birthday lunch with my gal pal Maddi. I managed to spill soy sauce all over it by the lunch's end.

This is effectively what the aforementioned stranger was wearing with her skirt, only she had bright red velour pumps, no badges on her denim jacket (which was shorter and tighter like I wish mine was!) and a tan belt + gold chain (both of which I have coming my way thanks to the recent ASOS sale). It was srsly the best outfit I've ever seen. It was so simple and classy but still fun, and could work in pretty much any situation.

jacket from Evans, top from Target
(I also wore my purple Vans because comfort wins out over classiness any day)

The weird blue tinge to these photos is thanks to the weather we've been having lately. I wrote Gertie's name on my foggy bedroom windows this morning and decided it's what her first album cover would look like.

Style Icon: Carmen Ferrera

2011-04-21T10:22:00.000-04:00

Carmen Ferrera (who, for those who don't know, was played by Sara Rue—aka the 20th Century's fat gal role model—on Popular) is a woman after my own heart. While her sheer cardigan and vinyl lilac satchel combo haven't yet been a part of the 90s resurgence, that skirt and those platform mary-janes most definitely have.

Carmen was often a bit too woe-is-me, personality-wise, for me, but there's no denying her excellent use of both wispy fringe and chunky streaks. Not to mention her cargo mini skirt.

Speaking of her hair, can we just quickly revisit this:

In Carmen's school anniversary fantasy, she's a sassy bitch who pairs mini skirt-boots-power suit combos with leopard print totes. Enough said.

Brooke might be the cheerleading, prom queen beauty in this show, but Carmen looked so fine in the episode where she came close to being date-raped at a frat party. This cap was taken pre-that, obvz.

Curly hair feat. a plastic flower, red lipstick, low-cut black top. She is the redheaded me.

Carmen eating a banana. Because I can.

Carmen Ferrera's greatest sartorial moment. The perfect 90s teenage girl high school outfit. I WANT TO BE YOU, SARA RUE.

Like the time I got stuck in Temple Grandin's hug-o-machine at the Golden Globes party!

2011-04-15T07:46:00.001-04:00

Anyone who's logged onto Tumblr or has looked at a blog in the last few months has seen this dress more times than you can imagine. ASOS sells it in both their Curve and straight sized ranges. I first saw Bronny wearing it when we hung out. Sabrina's also got one, as does Bessie.
I've worn mine a few times, and have found it to be pretty versatile (adoi, Brodie, it's a black dress).

Here are a couple of recent combinations:

I wore it to a BBQ to welcome my pal Lucy home from a year in London. The hand over my face is for your benefit; I took this picture after being at work all day and drinking a bottle of wine with dinner. Yikes.

I'm wearing it here with some generic black tights, shoes and a jacket from Evans, my Flamingo Cupcake necklace, Rimmel nail polish and a brooch Iasha made. She and Lucy have one too. It's like a three-way friendship bracelet in brooch form. You wouldn't get it...

I also wore it last night to see Scream 4 (and you know how I felt about that...), a place where my Sid Prescott necklace is most appreciated. Here's I'm wearing it with a red leather jacket I picked up at a vintage clearance sale, Lipstick Queen lip colour and some shoes I got from Savers.

I'm kind of obsessed with them at the moment, and wear them around the house constantly to break them in (confession: I wore them with this outfit to the end of my street before running back and putting my Vans on. Comfort > cuteness). I've decided my 21st year will be one in which I learn to walk in heels.

In that same ASOS package (the last one I am allowing myself to buy before I move!) I got this dress, which I've worn on the daily since I got it a month ago. Last weekend I wore it to a wedding! Fun!

I wore it here with tights from WeLoveColors, a thrifted belt and clogs form Funkis.

Also, I just noticed this is only my 30th post of the year. That's pretty shitty. I'm sorry! This blog has been put on the backburner since I fully embraced Tumblr, but it will always be the place I put my misguided and ill-informed ramblings that don't really form a cohesive image of myself...

My thoughts on Scre4m (AKA y4wn). SPOILERS! HEAPS OF THEM!

2011-04-15T03:47:00.000-04:00

The opening bait-and-switch of film-within-a-film-within-a-film worked well at first: we see a weak Ghostface slashing (no running, one stab per victim. Yawn. I looked, horrified, to my friend—That's it!?) , before pulling away to reveal our Hitchcock homage in the form of blonde heroines Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell watching that. It's a relief, but one which doesn't last long, as it repeats itself and we slowly realise that the third set of female victims (Brittany Robertson, who unfortunately bites it first and we are left with Aimee "I'm acting? Whaaat?" Teegarden) are the ones who will set the story in motion. There's not much we haven't seen before when it comes to Ghosty chasing terrified teenage girls around beautiful homes, but as soon as Teegarden's Jenny Randall pushed the button on her automatic garage door, the film had, in part, already lost me. Really? Garage door death? That is like Virgin Suicides 2 beginning with a girl trampolining onto a spiked fence. It stops being an homage or self-referential when it becomes boring and obvious.
And don't even get me started on the state of the surviving characters! Oh, too late.
Before she "goes rogue", Gale is just a vessel for exposition ("where's Gale?" "She's at home writing fiction" *Meanwhile, at home* "I HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA WHAT TO WRITE!") who's embodying the "career gals can't ever have it all" cliché. Dewey, who has always been the moral compass of the films, has been reduced to a caricature of himself here; he's more Doofy and Barney Fife-ish than the reliable and brave Deputy he was in years gone. He is a minor character, not dissimilar to the Sheriff in Scream, who is unable to understand what's going on and seemingly has no idea how to be either a police officer or film character. Also, his limp has disappeared. DEWEY HAS NO LIMP. If this had been a DVD, I'd have turned it off as soon as I saw him strolling around town with ease. And Sid. SIDNEY. Sidney ended the trilogy finally feeling secure and safe. She reappears 11 years later with no mention of Detective Kincaid and no memory of her life in the hills with her dog and her job offering counsel to abused women, but with a new haircut, a book outlining all her shit and a press tour to go with it. This from the woman who didn't want to relive her anguish on Diane Sawyer's show? The beauty in the Sidney character is that, with each film, she became more and more affected by the events of the previous ones. Here she might know how to defend herself a little better, but the attitudes and actions of her character here are a disservice to what that character was a decade ago.
One of the most frustrating things about Scream 4 is the identity and motives (or lack thereof) the killer. Early on, Sid gets a call from Ghostface saying he's not going to kill her, but is instead going to kill everyone around her so she can just suffer and watch it all go down. He says he's doing it all because of the way Woodsboro is seen after the events of the original trilogy, because of the way she left the place.
My issues with this are threefold. Firstly, it removes all suspense from the film if you are secure in the knowledge that Sid is safe (at least until the final act); half the action from the first three take place during Sidney's chase scenes (which also give bloodthirsty audiences the action they desire without increasing the body count too much), and when you know the killer's not really after her, you're just left waiting to see which of the two-dimensional, superlative other characters will die first. Secondly, the "motive" here gives some indication of how poorly this film was seen in relation to the first three. When Roman revealed in Scream 3 that he orchestrated everything—from Cotton's framing to the deaths of Stab 3's actors—it made sense. To reboot the franchise meant that Kevin Williamson needed to create a ridiculous and unbelievable motive for Ghostface 2.0 and that's exactly what it felt like. Which brings me to point #3: Jill Roberts AKA the new Roman/Billy hybrid. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!? She's pissed at Sidney because Sid was almost murdered multiple times and she's grown up in "the shadow" of the cousin she never met? She wants to be the famous victim? I don't know which of these motives Williamson ended up sticking with, because it wasn't clear. One thing that was clear, though , was that he all but abandoned the "you left this town a mess" motive early on. Jill didn't give a shit about that when she was stabbin' errybody up in there. On top of all that, the performance of Emma Roberts in this role was not appropriate considering her role. It's as though, after playing innocent Jill for 50 pages, they decided she was the killer and gave her those script pages. It didn't work.
One of the most exciting things about the original trilogy were that they took place in the world we lived in. The characters were three-dimensional, had relationships with each other and knew their movie trivia. In Scream 4, girls who are effectively on house arrest sit around watching Shaun of the Dead and LOLing about boiz before ALMOST BEING CUT OPEN (speaking of which—the state of the room and Olivia's body after she was killed was ridiculous and insulting), while a couple of the characters are film geeks who spend the entire movie name-dropping movie titles and talking about how the killer is referencing the Stab movies (get it, audience? They're really the Scream movies! This is so clever you guys!!!1!)...except when he isn't and he's referencing them by not referencing them. Sometimes when a snake tries so hard to be a smart-arse and eat its own tail, it chokes and dies.
This review has been largely negative, but that's simply because, as a fan of the original trilogy, it read to me as a tacked on, lazy and unnecessary addition. Some of the things I liked, however, were the red herrings of suspected killers, particularly Marley Shelton's Deputy Hicks (I never before noticed how psychotically opposite-looking Shelton's eyes are) and Mary McDonnell's Kate Roberts (she's Maureen's sister and resents what the town's become! She's got scars from all the shit that's gone down! Her nephew caused everything and now his half-sister's back in town re-opening old wounds! In other words: SHE HAS A FUCKING MOTIVE); the return to form of Courteney Cox's Gale Riley (nee. Weathers), who can still deliver a catty line like no other. I also really dug Hayden Panetierre's and Alison Brie's characters, and thought those ladies were sassy, funny and bitchy in equal measure.
One final note: I'd really be interested in seeing what Williamson and Wes Craven could've come up with here without any studio involvement.

I'm in the back of a bush like Gavin Rossdale's drummer

2011-04-07T00:04:00.000-04:00

Hi! This is just a super quick post to let y'all know I'm alive. I just have super slow internets right now and am taking a free minute while I'm alone at work
(Srsly! Look! No-one else is here:

I'm so lonely, etc.)
to direct you to this page of my Tumblr, where I'm selling some clothes! You should buy them!

Also, dear Bianca recently asked me to guest post on her blog while she was away. And I did! Read my bullshittery here.

Also, did you see recently Tavi wore a shirt/posted about a zine I sent her? Well, she did. read that here.

One final also: I just got one of those weird publicity emails from Ben and Jerry's today, asking me to tell my readers about free scoop day. Normally I ignore that kind of thing, but ice cream is my jam 4 lyf and free ice cream is something I can only dream of! Go to Ben and Jerry's Australian stores (someone wanna drive me to Chadstone?) on April 12th to gorge yourselves.

You're welcome.

i call her red

2011-03-31T03:49:00.001-04:00

You know those times when you buy one thing and you forget how you could have possibly arranged an outfit without it? Everything else you own starts to pale in comparison and you have to do washing every second day so you can continue wearing it?
This cycle occurs in my wardrobe/house/head every time I buy something new, and only ends when I get something else. This week, it's been brought on by the purchase of a simple top.

It's red, has little lace sleeves and was only $29 from City Chic. It doesn't look like much, but it's made me instantly re-assess the years of wearing black versions of the same top. Black is boring, red is fun!

On Monday, I wore it like this to work. The belt, skirt and brogues are all thrifted. The earrings are from Diva and the Sid Prescott necklace is from Tanya's etsy shop.

On Tuesday, I had to look responsible and worthy of being a passport-holder, so I went caszh and tucked it into City Chic jeans, added a belt from Torrid and Vans from Hype.

On Wednesday, I paired it with black tights and my floral shorts (from Torrid), before changing into my high-waisted jeans and clogs (seen here) for a trip to the US Consulate (the staff at which, in case you were wondering, are incredibly unhelpful!)

For reference, the title of this post comes from this:

Which I've listen to more times than I have worn this top (if you can imagine)...

Style Icon: Elena Fox

2011-03-18T10:33:00.001-04:00

A few months ago, while trawling through music blogs at work, I came across clips from Pavement's appearance on Ace of Cakes. The gist of the episode was that, after one of their reunion shows, Duff and his cake-making pals (almost all of whom are pierced/tattooed, therefore making them an edgy and cool pastry gang) presented the band with a horse-shaped cake they had constructed and hand-painted.

While I can't find the exact videos (nor can I find, in the depths of my work computer, the excessive amounts of screen-caps I took while watching them), I did find these, which reminded me of the instant and lasting impression the lady who did all the painting on the cake had on me.

Her name is Elena Fox, and she's one saucy mama.

As well as being a sassy, tattooed cake lady, Elena has a more-than-enviable fringe situation, a fondness for that underrated gap-toothed-plus-red-lipstick combo, and a band called Squaaks, who are not awful:

You can't see it perfectly in the Pavement picture above, but when she took the cake to the band, she wore a baby pink minidress to do it. It was, essentially, the perfect summer dress. It demanded to be paired with rollerskates and a big wad of bubblegum and a bottomless cup of milkshakes. It was that good.
Elena actually kind of looks like she should work at some modern, punk reimagining of a 50s diner where sassy broads like her waitress on rollerskates.

Instead she does stuff like this:

While wearing stuff like this:

What is that— a cat-printed tapestry waistcoat!? It's bizarre and incredible and perfect my my new, all-time (or at least until someone else comes along) style icon.

all that's on my mind

2011-03-15T02:11:00.000-04:00

a little of this

a tiny smidge of this

and a lot of this.

I'm counting down the days until I leave Australian spring for American fall!

cre8ing f@shun

2011-03-08T23:39:00.000-05:00

This is just a short post to share my favourite thing I wore last week. It began really simply with my go-to combo of tights + black top + high-waisted skirt

top from Target
skirt from Savers
brogues from Evans
jewellery from City ChicWith the early onset of Melbourne's winter, it then called for some warm accessorising. After I was done adding to the initial outfit, I realised I had (shudder) created (shudder) fashion.

I was reaallly into stacking this scarf (which I stole/was a gift from my old housemate and is pinned with a Diva brooch) and it made me totz excited for actual winter, when I can bundle myself up like this everyday.

gilmovies part ix

2011-03-07T21:37:00.000-05:00

caddyshack
dir. harold ramis, 1980

pro:

Bill Murray: babe
Chevy Chase: babe
Rodney Dangerfield doing his "hey, how are ya"s in the club: hilarious

con:

what the shit was everything else? I feel like turning this off after an hour (in which NOTHING HAPPENED except unconnected events featuring people I don't know/care about) makes me a bad fan of comedy/Liz Lemon, but it's the troof.
did not like.

77 down, 186 to go.
what's this all about?

mama mia? mama youa?

2011-03-05T09:52:00.000-05:00

I just got home from a very traditional "dinner-and-a-movie" date with my platonic life partner, and thought I might shake things up a bit by posting about an outfit/evening while it's still relevant. Don't thank me, I'm really only fulfilling my duties as someone with an account on a free web-publishing platform...

We went into the city to grab dinner at Mamasita, AKA that place everyone in Melbourne is raving about, except the people who CBF waiting in line on a narrow staircase to drink Sangria at a place that doesn't take reservations. We waited and, luckily, it was worth it. It was super busy so we sat at the bar. Anton ordered us both micheladas, but I was expecting a plain old beer and didn't dig the tobasco in my beverage, so I passed on it. We shared a plate of fish tacos (incred) and the mushroom quesadilla (GUD!) for appetisers (we are so fancy, you guys!) and the chickpea patties (amaze) and pork with walnut cream (my favourite!) for mains. Then we JUST GOT CRAZY and had the fried banana (not my thing but Anton loved it) and sweet corn ice cream cone with caramelised popcorn (AMAZAZAZAZING!) for dessert. It was the fanciest dinner I've ever had in Melbz, but definitely worth it. Order the fish tacos and sweet corn ice cream if you're flying solo and you've got yourself a Brodie Lancaster-approved meal for under $25.

To veer off-topic (but not really) for a minute: this is what I covered my bod with for the occasion. My dress code to myself was "fancy without sacrificing sass" and I think I did okay.

I'm not sure what this face/stance is, but I think it's something along the lines of "I put make-up on for once and am now srsly running late, also my new housemate is walking in the door and will probs catch me taking mirror portraits like this is 2005/MySpace"

Dress - Avenue (via my American pal Hannah who helped me elude the "no international shipping" rule there)
Funkis clogs - Xmas gift from Karli
Bag - Hong Kong souvenir gift from my other sister
Ring - City Chic
Necklace - Miller's post-Xmas sale

After dinner we went to see Hall Pass. Have you heard much about it? Have you heard it's good?
If so, you've been lied to. I want you to remember whoever told you it was worth spending $15 and two hours on, and erase them from your life. Forever. It is a movie that if offensive to so many people, it's unbelievable that such smart actors, whose work I usually adore so much, could make me hate myself/a film so much. It's racist, sexist and reads like a checklist of misogynistic comedy stereotypes. Do not see it (soz Jason Sudeikis/Jenna Fischer/Owen "you're okay when you're working with Wes Anderson" Wilson/Joy Behar— you all disappointed me).

fatshion february

2011-02-28T07:04:00.000-05:00

Like many fatty internetty girls, this month I took part in Fa(t)shion February. While I cheated a little by not documenting my outfit every day, I put in a decent effort and got close to half the month covered.
Here's a rundown of how it went. Some of the images are from Tumblr, while some are making their web debut here (HA!).
04/02
ASOS Curve sequin dress (a birthday gift from my sisters) at Hairspray

09/02
still super psyched on my tattoo. top from Bonds, skirt from Retrostar sale, pretzel hair clip a birthday gift from Jim, necklace a birthday gift from Roberta

11/02
day:top from suzanne grae, skirt from Savers, Vans from eBay, necklace a birthday gift from Iasha

night:dress from Evans, necklace a gift from Lucy, bag from Arthur Daly's tights from WeLoveColors, shoes from a thrift store, Bronny from Fat-Aus.

12/02dress from JIBRI on etsy, Vans from Hype, cardigan from Savers
13/02
top from Bonds, jeans from ASOS Curve, belt from Torrid, heart clip thing from Savers, dicky poses courtest of my tripod-using attempts
14/02
dress and shoes from Savers, Courtney Love necklace from etsy

15/02
dress from Savers, Vans from eBay, Sidney Prescott necklace from etsy

18/02
top from Bonds, jeans from City Chic, Vans and necklaces from eBay

19/02
bathing suit + skirt from Savers

25/02
day:dress from ASOS Curve, shoes from Evans, necklace from Miller's

night:Sidney Prescott necklace from etsy, top from Target, skirt from Avenue, blogs from Funkis (a Xmas gift from my sister)
28/02

dress from Torrid, tights from WeLoveColors (substituted at the last minute for Vans from Hype), Sidney Prescott necklace, vest from Savers, jacket from Evans.

anonymous public transport love letter #11

2011-02-28T00:43:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've ogled anyone on the bus or tram, so I hope you feel special, mystery man. After waiting so long for my bus home from work, I was expecting a ride home with my nose buried in my book. Your presence across the aisle from me, however, meant that I would be required to regularly peer up from my book to "check" the "stops" out the "window" you were sitting next to. You had a beard (my favourite) and were wearing a tan cord jacket, scuffed black leather boots, and had a worn leather bag at your feet. You were obvz not enjoying your bus ride home.
When you pressed the button to get off (at the stop before mine. COME OVER SOMETIME OR SOMETHING), I noticed both your skinny face (which I don't dig) and the old flower brooch pinned to the sleeve of your coat. To some this might say, "gay," but to me it said, "dreamboat who would probably want to come op-shopping with me."

savers date

2011-02-26T05:50:00.000-05:00

Considering I'm only now getting around to posting a few pictures from two weekends ago, I could be in the running for the Worst Blogger Eva award. The event I'm posting about, though, was a meet up with two of my favourite Melbourne lady fatshion bloggers, so I think that makes it/me less shit.
Two Saturdays ago I went to Savers and for a quick bite/drink with Bronny (who I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time a couple of nights earlier) and Sabrina (who, FYI, was my first ever Melbourne friend on MySpace (SHHH DON'T TELL ANYONE IT'S EMBARRASSING!) when I lived at home).
It was hot and I was sleepy/exhausted, so I threw on a little summery business in the 15 minutes I had to spare before running out to meet them. Bonds tee from an outlet storeSkirt - altered from a dress - from a Retrostar warehouse saleVans and Swatch from eBayZebra charm necklace from a friend

I picked up a ridiculous amount of stuff, as usual, and was left lugging a comically oversized bag of my purchases home.

Here's a little preview:

Left image: noughts and crosses skirt (a size 12 that I altered and wore in this video), yarn and crochet hooks, carved wooden picture frame, black leather heels, My Stepmother Is An Alien VHS, green dress that's for sale with a bunch of other stuff here (PLEASE BUY IT ALL THIS THRIFTING HAS LEFT ME PO')Right image: black pencil skirt (also for sale on etsy), monochromatic dress with a crochet collar, African safari print skirt, pineapple print bathing suit (as seen here, and yes, I DID buy a bathing suit from a second-hand store. It's less gross than it may seem), Yellow Submarine-esque skirt (which I'm giving free to the person who buys the floral shorts in my etsy store!), red corduroy dress.

Without doubt, that red cord dress was the star of this haul. When I picked it up, it was a shapeless sack, two sizes too big for me. It was only $7, though, and I could see some potential in it. After taking in the sides about 4 inches and running some elastic through the front, it's become my new favourite dress. I think I've worn it at least 5 times in the two weeks since I bought it.

Before and after:

(excuse that whole head situation)

The other great find was the black and white dress. While it fit okay, it was a little tight, a little long, and a little gapey around the jug region. I took a couple of inches off the bottom and added them to the side seams (including the sleeves, which were also a bit tight), and it now fits like a dream. As well as these pictures, I'm wearing the dress here and here (AM I PROMOTING THIS THING ENOUGH!?).

Before and after:

(gapey)(not gapey!)
So, in summary: Bronny and Sabrina are the best, I am selling a bunch of stuff on etsy (that you should buy), I'm making comedy videos every week (and I'd love you to watch/like them), I have medium-okay skills on a sewing machine, I'm bad at posting blogs on time and I am a big dumb idiot for not buying the $13 Miu Miu heels at Savers on this day (especially since they fit my huge feet) (despite the fact they looked like something Carrie would've worn circa SATC season one).

badge maintenance

2011-02-21T09:43:00.000-05:00

When it comes to accessorizing, I'm from the school of thought that states that you can either go under or over, and there is nothing in between. Some days I'll wear one piece of jewellery (usually just my watch), while on others I will have something shiny on my ears, neck and digits. Same goes for badge (or button, depending on where you're from!) -wearing. When it comes to affixing them to something, I feel like they're best kept under three (like I used to do when I would alternate my Ramones badges with my homemade (via eBay) Seth Cohen ones on the collar of my school uniform during 2004) or over 10, and there's little room for anything in the middle.

Today I went just over 10, and worked some brooch action in amongst the buttons to make my denim jacket a little more fun.

dress from savers (altered with my own two hands)
jacket from evans
clogs from funkis
necklace from etsy
dumb face courtesy of me faffing about taking these pictures when I should be on my way to work

Now, watch as I attempt to go back in time and remember where all this shit came from...

Clockwise from top left:
Ramones "Wanted" from aforementioned year 9 eBay addiction, "Dave's not here, man" from Karli, portrait brooch from Diva, deer button from Pannikin on etsy, "Equal Rights Now" from a gay marriage protest, boobie/viking lady from Sticky zine fair, Sofia from Philos-o-face, gondola pin from a thrift store, "I watched this handsome motherfucker win at the Birmingham" from the Birmi circa 2008, pashing couple from a surf store when I was 15-ish, The Good China pin from one of their shows, "Anarchy keeps up young and in love" from the same surf store, felt fox from work pals.
Phew!

zine fair

2011-02-19T23:54:00.001-05:00

Better late than never! Last Saturday I got up early, ignoring the multiple beers and few hours sleep in my system, to grab brunch with Anton at The Mess Hall. I got delicio corn fritters with chive cream, avocado and cherry tomatoes.

Afterwards, we went to The Paperback to get a present for Patsy's birthday, then to the Degraves St subway for the annual Sticky zine fair. Having only ever bought zines from blogs, specialty sites and Bird in the Hand before, I was super excited to have everything right in front of me, and went a little overboard with my purchases. The first table we saw when we walked in was piled with feminist zines made/sold by an American lady, ffs!

When I got home, I laid out my haul and Gertie was really into it.

I hung out in the gardens for a couple of hours after that, before Patsy and her pals arrived for picnic birthday celebr8tions. I listened to Bikini Kill, finished reading Lesley Arfin's book and ogled my zines. Better late on the 90s reminiscing train than never!

It was the perfect summer day for being outside and taking wanky photos of sunsets on your way home.

And, this wouldn't be a self-absorbed post by Brodie Lancaster without showing what I had on my back!

dress: JIBRI on etsy (and altered upwards of 6 times until it fit semi-okay...)
cardigan: savers
felt fox brooch: a gift from work folk for my birthday
shoes: hype on Bridge Rd
Also part of this outfit was the little treat I bought myself a couple of weeks earlier....Ta Da!

just like zeus

2011-02-18T09:42:00.001-05:00

I received the nicest email today from a reader named Suzan who told me how much she digs my blog, which made me feel super happy and pleased that someone (apart from myself) is benefiting from my weekends spent sewing up the hemlines of skirts I bought at Savers and re-watching the Scream trilogy while not wearing pants. It also made me determined to focus as much attention to this blog as I do my Tumblr which, like it has for many bloggers of late, has become my preferred platform for sharing Jersey Shore screencaps.

I've got a few posts lined up for the next couple of weeks, but first, onto important matters: WHAT I WORE TO WORK YESTERDAY!

diggin' myself so hard right now

perfect jeans from City Chictop from Bonds outlet storesocks from EvansVans + vintage Swatch + plastic charm necklace from eBaybag from an op shop

When I put on my jeans and black t-shirt I felt boring as hell. I was comfortable, sure, but I would've been embarrassed leaving my house in an outfit so bland, so I had to inject colour into it with every single accessory. My socks were pink and purple with Christmas puddings on them, the necklace is obvz my fave and the bag...can we just talk about the bag for a second?

I found it the day before at an Epilepsy op shop near my house for $2. $2 for a big, clean, soft shoulder bag with total "I went on a holiday in Jamaica but the only time I left my resort was to go to the gift shop and buy this" vibes. It's comfy to carry and big enough to carry all my shit, which on this day included my planner, lady business, lunch, the new issue of Frankie and a little (read: bulging at the seams) parcel for one Ms. Gevinson. It really is the bag of all bags (which means I'll forget I own it in a month).

Also on my camera when I loaded this lot into Flickr were shots from the making of Gay Boyfriend Episode 2. For those who aren't my Facebook friends/Tumblr followers (Hi Suzan!), Gay Boyfriend is the new web series my pal Anton and I have been working on for the past month or so under the moniker Ham Alert. We've only made two videos but we can already see our progress/eye for LOL. Here's our valentine's day special video:

Gay Boyfriend: Valentine's Day - watch more funny videos

If you liked it, I'd really appreesh if you could vote it funny here. If you hated it, don't do anything. Just go. Go now, please.

The other set of photos on my cammy were from a fashiony trip I took at work today. Australian label Arnsdorf launched their concept store this afternoon in Fitzroy and I got to go along for a sneak peek to take some photos. Not only are the clothes ridiculously cheap for a S/S 10 collection, but the space is also a design wonder.

Suss out more of my pictures/werdz here. The sale runs until Sunday evening, so Melbourners who didn't spend their grocery money on a pair of ill-fitting vintage leather sandals on the way back from the sale (whoops) should mos def go and have a look, if only to see the crystal graphic prints IRL!

galentine's day

2011-02-14T18:27:00.000-05:00

Last night, rather than watching movies where women cry over the men they're not dating, I had a group of my best lady friends over for a pot luck dinner, drinks and valentine's desserts. It was the inaugural, Leslie Knope-inspired Galentine's Day.

Two days before, I made meringues and chocolate sponge cake, and on the day I just had to whip a shitload of cream, do some fancy stuff with berries and make some simple savoury stuff from Nigella's Feast cookbook.

All the ladies brought delicious bis and pieces to contribute, and we stuffed ourselves...before getting started on dessert. I wore something appropriately festive and sassy.

Dress: altered from the $7 corduroy sack I bought at Savers the day before (before and after shots forthcoming!)Shoes: SaversSwatch: eBayNecklace: Courtney from etsy

brodie's bedroom

2011-02-03T22:53:00.001-05:00

alterations

2011-02-02T00:21:00.000-05:00

dress from ASOS Curveclogs from Funkisnail polish by Revlon (it smells like berries)haircut by Biba on Gertrude St

final work outfit
-clogs+thrifted brogues+ garage sale leather patchwork bag+ lipstick queen lipstick+plastic charm necklace from eBay

the week I became a woman

2011-01-31T06:29:00.001-05:00

Tuesday: Anton and I shot the first episode of our new web comedy series. It'll be up here soon. In the meantime, I'd love if you voted "Funny" for our longer film!
Friday: over-dressed for a late showing of The Kings's Speech. Dress from Autograph, clogs from Funkis
21st birthday cupcakesBefore:
During:

After:
Way after:
What happens when you make beetroot dip for a party
My dream dress. Strangely, not conducive to sitting or picniccing.
Fancy dress collection.
Post-birthday present haul. Entire box of CDs courtesy of Paul

a weekend: in outfits

2011-01-22T23:11:00.001-05:00

(similar to a saturday: in meals, only longer and more self indulgent)

friday at workdress from Evanssatchel from Sportsgirlring from City Chicshoes from SaversLipstick Queen lipstick, as per Elizabeth's recommendation (she's totz right- it's perfect).

friday night at chicken and beer (good food, gross toilets)dress from Feathersjacket from Evansring from City ChicIasha's and my drunk faces from the 3L keg of beer

saturday night picnic in Edinburgh gardenstop from Suzanne Graeskirt from Savers Vans from eBayearrings from Diva
Sunday morning grocery shopping, coffee date and video shop visit with my housematedress from Saversbelt from Victoria St op shopsandals from Evansface/hair/demeanor from the previous three events.

A Fat Girl's Guide To Shopping Online

2011-01-19T20:28:00.001-05:00

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the plus-size retailers online, just the ones with which I've had enough experience to comment on.

1. ASOS Curve

range: Excellent. I have always, without fail, found multiple things in the range that I adore. I regularly check back in on their new items and have a slight obsession with their clearance items (such good stuff! so cheap!). I've recently got a lot of new things from there that I haven't featured on the blog...yet.

price: Great. Their sale stuff is a real goldmine, and even the full-priced stuff is all decently priced. I recently bought a pair of jeans, some trousers, a fancy dress and a comfortable jersey dress for a total of 70 pounds. I'd recommend singing up to their newsletter. It not only tells you when new stuff comes in, but it often includes discount codes, exclusive sales and free shipping.

sizing: Very accurate. This in an area in which I'm lucky; despite being a fatty, my body's fairly well proportioned and often my bust, waist and hip measurements align with garment sizes perfectly. I've never received anything from ASOS that didn't fit really well.

delivery: Excellent. I've never waited more than two weeks for a parcel. The longest I had to wait was for my most recent order, which was a part of a post-Christmas sale (ie super busy timez!). Delivery prices are reasonable, as well.

quality: Fantastic. I'm running out of synonyms for "great", but the quality of all the clothes I've bought from ASOS has been top-notch, bro.

2. Evans

range: Good. I find I have to dig through a lot of frumpy items and stuff my grandma might not like, but when I do find a good item, it's generally really good.

price: Decent. They often have sales (again- sign up for the newsletter!), but I've found the website to be incredibly annoying during these times. Right now, for example, a lot of items from the latest Beth Ditto collection are on sale, but when you click an item, you're told it's totally out of stock. It's totz unhelpful. Having said that, I've scored some really good items there on sale (my high-waisted jeans for 20 pounds, sandals for 10 pounds, etc.).

sizing: Hit and miss. I haven't had an issue with the clothes sizing, but the shoes sizing is not very accurate. For example, I'm generally an Australian womens size 11, which translates to a Euro size 42 usually. The Evans sizing chart says this is a 10 in their range (or the equivalent of a Euro 44). I trusted them, and ordered two pairs of shoes in size 10. Both were ridiculously big, and I had to send them back. I recently bought two pairs of size 9s, which fit great (but are supposed to be the equivalent of an AUS 8).

delivery: Unpredictable. Evans says international delivery takes 5-9 business days. The first package I ordered took almost 3 months to arrive. The next parcel arrived in 7 weeks, and the third order arrived in just 5 days (inc. weekends). I wouldn't order something today if you want to be wearing it next weekend.

quality: Good. I've found their denim and shoes to be of really good qualities, as well as the more sturdy pieces (like my cream lace dress). The lighter items (like the twill harem pants and the floral dress from the Beth collection) lost their shape a little after just one wash/wear.

3. City Chic

+ these two dresses

range: Decent. While I appreciate City Chic providing evening wear options for fat girls, I'm personally not such a fan of diamante-encrusted denim and silk, which they do a lot of. They often have really cute dresses, and their denim range is really good. I got the perfect pair of jeans there (my dark denim, skinny leg, high-waisted ones) and am a big fan of their jewellery made for big hands. I love that they sell things like mini-skirts and corset-like tops (aka things us fatties "shouldn't" wear) and their accessories range is great.

price: Expensive. While my jeans, at $90, were reasonable, the two dresses I linked to above were the same amount. Right now they've got a new range of retro/rockabilly style items. There are plenty of cute items, but $130 for a basic dress and $70 for a cardigan is ridiculous, in my opinion. Their sale items are not too different either- their current clearance items include a $70 maxi dress. I don't buy clothes from there unless I really love them.

sizing: Great. As I've said, my jeans from there fit like a dream, as does the jewellery I've bought (I usually have trouble with fixed-size rings and bangles). The dresses fit nicely, but the sizing can be confusing. While, for fat girls, being able to buy a size XS (their equivalent of a 14) and having a size L fall off you feels awesome, I'm more a fan of numbered sizes, as it generally means fewers trips back and forth from the change rooms.

delivery: I've never actually purchased anything from their online store, so I can't comment on this (if you have, please share in the comments!), but the staff at the Bourke St store are brilliant if you're shopping in-store. There's nothing better than buying plus-size clothes from fellow well-dressed fat girls, and I've often taken part in huge love-ins in the store, where compliments are thrown around between staff and other customers.

quality: Great. The dresses and jeans I've bought are still going strong after countless washes, as is the jewellery.

4. Torrid

range: Good. If you can look past the "Team Edward"/"Jacob" t-shirts, there is some really, really cute stuff in there. As well as the two dresses above, I got three belts and a pair of shorts from there.

price: Great. I bought everything when they were having a major sale (I think it's good to buy cheaper items the first time you try a new store, that way you can test the experience without throwing all your benjaminz away), and got shorts for $5 and dresses for under $15.

sizing: Okay. I'm not a fan of their 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 sizing system. I had to measure myself in inches to find my double-digit size, then convert that into single digits. It seemed a little unnecessary and the size equivalents vary from item to item. The belts I got were too big (the elastic one less so than fized-size ones), as was the pair of shorts. They are elasticised and my mother and I can both fit in them comfortably. At the same time.

delivery: Excellent. I ordered everything late one week and the parcel arrived on my doorstep at 7am the following Monday.

quality: Fantastic. I've worn the cheesecloth dress more times than I can count, and it's still going strong. The belts are very sturdy, and the white dress hasn't lost its structure after a few washes.

5. ModCloth

range: With the exceptions of their swimwear, I've found the clothes on ModCloth to cater to the lower end of the fatty spectrum. If you're a couple inches smaller than me all over, you'd probably find some super cute pieces for your next Mad Men-themed party. I've spent a lot more time lusting over/purchasing from their homewares range, which is excellent.

price: Average. I paid $90 for each of the swimsuits above, though I'm sure most girls (fat or not) will agree that they'd be willing to pay anything for good jeans and swimmers.

sizing: Good. As I mentioned, the clothes that go into plus-sizes are a smidge too small for me, but there are plenty there. The bathers I got fit perfectly everywhere (including their length, which is awesome for tall girls) but the bust. I said earlier that my junk is pretty proportionate, but I've never had anything fit so loose over my jugs before. I would need to take both pairs of bathers in at least two inches to have them fit my top-half properly.

delivery: Excellent. Fast and reasonably priced.

quality: Okay. I haven't worn the velour bathers in water (and don't think I will- they're heavy enough as it is) so they're holding up really well, but the polka dot ones, which I've worn and washed a lot more, are starting to wear out after only a few months. The plastic "boning" in the side seams is falling out and will need a sturdy repair job.

I hope the hundreds of dollars I've spent online shopping has been of some help. Let me know if you've had similar or opposing experiences with any of these places, or if you know of some other retailers you think I should check out!

birthday wishlist

2011-01-19T08:07:00.000-05:00

Next weekend I turn 21 and will officially be a big grown-up. To mark the occasion, I've compiled a list of the big girl things I'd buy for myself/would love to open on the big day. Considering most of them are products of my obsession with the Opening Ceremony store, though, I don't expect too much!

The #1 item on my list forever and ever amen is this amazing sequinned number from ASOS Curve. I've had it saved on my bookmarks bar for months waiting for it to go on sale. It hasn't happened yet (boo!) but seeing Nicolette wearing it on New Year's made me want it even more!

Copies of The Virgin Suicides, Adaptation and Tell Them Anything You Want: a Portrait of Maurice Sendak on DVD to complete my respective Sofia and Spike collections.

Chloe Sevs x Bass for Opening Ceremony loafers. When I drafted this list a few days ago, these were down from $180 to $80 and my size was still available. They're now $51 and sold out in all but one (HUGE) size. Ballz.

Velvet Jazzies or Striped Corte Jazz Oxfords from Osborn.

The glass cat brooch and glass siamese cat necklace from Brooke's etsy store.

Public Access: Ricky Powell Photographs 1985 - 2005 (suuuuper cheap from Amazon!).

Mike Perry's Lost Show poster.

Chloe Sevigny x Barton Perreira for OC Black Jackie glasses and Candy glasses

C-Sevs x NaNa for OC Biscuit slingback

Doc Martens for OC Lily velcro sandal clogs in white pony hair (neigh!)

Rodarte x Fashion's Night Out for OC Notebook and Rebekah Miles t-shirt

Happy Socks boxset

John Paul Gaultier for OC mariniere boots

Rodarte t-shirt from OC

Set of 3 Spike Jonze flip books from I'm Here. Ugh.

And finally, the pièce de résistance, the item that would make me happier than anything else, ever (I'm materialistic, whatcanisay?) a poster of Somewhere from a limited run of 100 signed by Sofia. I can't even deal.

I also really really want some kind of crochet kit, but would settle for some hooks, wool and lessons. Happy birthday to me!

a post with more than just pictures of outfits

2011-01-18T02:36:00.005-05:00

You might remember me mentioning a few weeks ago that I spent my New Years Eve at Pyramid Rock festival. Anyone who follows me on Twitter would have noticed that I didn't particularly enjoy my time at the festival. I didn't think any more of my tweets over those three days (which you can read at the bottom of this post), until I came home on Monday to the following email.

Hey Brodie,
I hope that you’re well.
My name is ------ --------- (some folk call me ----), I’m the publicist for Pyramid Rock Festival. This email has nothing to do with my role in the festival; it’s a personal opinion from someone that happens to have had the pleasure of knowing, and working with, the organisers over a five year period.
I’ve been intrinsically involved with independent music in Australia for over 30 years and over that time have met many thousands of people involved in the music “industry”. The folk who run Pyramid are not, and have never been “the worst”. Far from it, they are actually good “organisers”, and in fact, they are one of the nicest, most caring groups of people I have ever dealt with in my time doing this. Far better than so many of the indie hipsters we worship at the alter of…
I too was disappointed that there were so few people for BTS* and Lightspeed Champion (and a couple of others). Life is like that sometimes. But just as much, I’m glad that we don’t all like the same kind of music or think alike, or all prefer the red and green M&M’s that are released each Christmas...that’d be a boring way to live out our lives I think….unless we were all South Sydney Rabbitohs supporters and then there would be no war!
I first heard BTS when you were four years old. You obviously like them; me too...just as obviously they turned out not to be a “good fit” for Pyramid, neither did a few other bands. As a fan, that disappointed me too, but there was nothing wrong with what and how it was “organised”.
I get that you didn’t dig the festival, and that’s your prerogative, but casting such negative, and I believe unwarranted opinions on people you don’t know just seems a bit daft to me.
Thanks for listening and happy to chat anytime, so feel free to get in touch if you’re so inclined.
Best regards,
----

*BTS = Built to Spill.

When I first got this I was surprised and kind of amused at the effect my tweets had been. The more I read, though, the more infuriated and insulted I became, particularly at the suggestions that I am an "indie hipster" worshipper who spends her time smearing the festival organisers' personal reputations and isn't worthy of an opinion on Built to Spill because they formed when I was an infant. I tossed up whether or not to reply for the past 24 hours, and finally decided that if I didn't I would be annoyed at myself for letting this display of unprofessionalism pass by without response. Below is the reply I just sent.

Hi ------,

I have to say I'm very surprised to hear from you 3 weeks after the festival in response to (what I can only assume were) my Tweets.

To first introduce yourself as the festival's publicist means your personal opinion about the event is largely irrelevent; you are writing as a representative of, and someone who has a vested interest in, the festival, and your personal opinion is then inseparable from your professional one.

While I appreciate your defending the organisers (or "organisers", as you say, though I'm not quite sure why you felt the need to use inverted commas, as it is suggestive of their lack of organisational skills), it was really unnecessary. I never once commented on the festival organisers' abilities, nor on their personalities

My comments on the crowds for Lightspeed Champion and Built to Spill were based on the fact that these are great artists who deserved bigger crowds, but the responses to their sets were consequences of many things. Not only did they perform in the middle of a very hot day, but their fit on the festival line-up was not, in my opinion, an appropriate one. If I believed this opinion would have the effect it had on you and your company, I might have contacted you directly. As I have no standing or sway in the music business, though, I assumed that my opinion - as one punter out of several thousand - would not have an impact on the way the festival operates or is seen. The fact that you sought me out to defend the festival, though, does little else but give the opinion that it needs defending. It is clearly a very successful festival; thousands of people paid money to be there (as I'm sure they do every year), it had some great bands on the line-up and the vast majority of punters seemed to be enjoying themselves. I would hope that you are contacting every single person who's given you feedback in a similar way to that in which you've contacted me, though, as otherwise this is hugely unprofessional and not representative of someone who has "been intrinsically involved with independent music in Australia for over 30 years".

You might have found my comments on the festival to be "daft", which is the opinion I also have on the email you sent me. I find your contacting me out of nowhere to be ridiculous and extremely inappropriate. Perhaps instead of writing condescending emails to punters of a festival, you could ask for suggestions to help it become more enjoyable. If you had done that, I would have suggested more on-site drinking water, a display of the line-up visible somewhere other than on entry to the stage area, better organised parking (and fewer traffic directors more occupied with drinking tinnies and flirting with girls than doing their jobs), lighting in the campsite and eco toilets, amongst other things.

I believe, as an eco-conscious, feminist punter of the festival, that I am justified in being insulted when I see a two-feet-deep pit dug out of the ground in front of a male-occupied campsite whose residents proudly refer to it as the "Bitch Trap" and intend on flashing girls who fall into it, or visibly intoxicated teenage girls being dragged around the campsite at 5pm on the first day of the festival being told to "suck on it" by men they pass.

While I may not have responded positively to N.E.R.D.'s sexist and misogynistic lyrics, I happened to very much enjoy sets by Urthboy, Jebediah, Shout Out Louds, Horrorshow, Mystery Jets, Arrested Development and Little Red, so I may not be as much of a stick in the mud or as likely to worship at the alter of indie hipsters, as you call it.

While my Twitter feed is followed by over 350 people, it is not in any way significant and I am hesitant to even say I have an audience online. I am not a representative of any major media organisation, nor did I write a defamatory review of the festival. In saying that, I'm sure you will agree that there are far more important things you could be doing with your time than contacting a person who was only four when you first heard Built to Spill.

Regards,

Brodie Lancaster.

I'm interested to know what you think. Do you think I was/am in the wrong, or you agree that the email I received was uncalled for?

For posterity's sake, these are the tweets I sent during the course of the festival.

Game to play at #pyramidrock: count how many southern cross tatts, pairs of heels and denim cutoffs we see.30 Dec
"it's better to be black than gay, cos you don't have to tell your parents!" #pyramidrock http://twitpic.com/3l2yxp30 Dec
#pyramidrock is one big date-rape charge waiting to happen. VIP tent is the only salvation.30 Dec
I'm not fond of girls accosting me to demand how I got in the VIP bar, asking if Miley's there & demanding I bring @horrorshowcrew to them.30 Dec
@urthboy kiiiiiillllin. #pyramidrock http://twitpic.com/3l5hpb30 Dec
Need bed/less bogans in sombreros. #pyramidrock30 Dec
#pyramidrock is actually the worst festival ever. Forget the hostile security and awful patrons: THERE IS NO FRESH DRINKING WATER ANYWHERE!31 Dec
@tom_cowie The heat is not nearly as bad as the company I'm keeping at #pyramidrock!31 Dec
Best #pyramidrock moment= seeing the security guards visibly confused when Lightspeed Champion finishes his set in the (tiny) crowd.31 Dec
Future of the Left's Kim Gordon-esque bassist has been a #pyramidrock highlight. She and her espadrilles.31 Dec
Built To Spill= amazing. The crowd= less than. I'm ready for bed now, #pyramidrock. My bed in Melbourne.31 Dec
Just bumped into Pharrell backstage. #pyramidrock, you're not so bad after all. Except that you are.31 Dec
See you later, #pyramidrock. You were truly awful. http://twitpic.com/3lq19n1 Jan

a love affair with denim

2011-01-17T17:54:00.001-05:00

I'm in love. I met them last Friday and have seen them multiple times already. We go on long walks and have well and truly gotten to know each other. They hold my bottom firm and almost touch my boobs- but not quite.

They are super high-waisted jeans.

The first day, I wore them with a thrifted top and Evans sandals that would make Zana Bayne proud. Unfortch it got hot out and I had to change before I went on my brunch date, but as soon as I got home and sat in front of the fan, they came back on.

I tagged along on Anton's date on Sunday night to see 2001: A Space Odyssey at the Astor and paired the jeans with a thrifted white top and my Funkis clogs in what is easily my favourite outfit of the year so far (or possibly ever). I'm also proud to say the initial stumbles and slow-walking the extra inch on these clogs induced have disappeared and I was practically running across Chapel St in them (not really).

I'm not embarrassed to admit that I reworked the exact same ensemble on Monday for work. It was a little cold when I left in the morning so I added a thrifted corduroy jacket, the addition of which distracted me from the situation on top of my head. I also wore my thrifted brogues with my Christmas pudding socks from Evans.

I'm also not embarrassed to say that I just bought another pair of the jeans. They're from Beth Ditto's most recent collection at Evans, which came out a while ago meaning the jeans are now only £20. The pair I've been wearing are a little too big, so now I will have a pair that fits properly. As I'm sure most other fat girls could relate, this first pair I ordered was a "safety" size up, as when it comes to fitted denim a little bigger is better than a little too small. Click the link below to buy your own pair. TWINZ!

clog hopping

2011-01-13T23:20:00.001-05:00

This outfit got significantly affected by the effed up weather in Melbourne at the moment*. It started as just my new jersey dress from ASOS and clogs. Then I realised the sheer dress wasn't totz appropz for work, so I threw the closest skirt on over the top. By the time I had set off for the tram, I realised the clog/wet roads combo wasn't going to work, so I replaced my clogs for sneakers. All class.
I wore this to work, then to meet Iash at the cafe our friend Matt opened a few months ago (if you're near North Melbourne train station, I suggest you stop by!), then to Bebida for dinner and a drink.
dress (worn as a top) on sale from ASOSthrifted skirtclogs from Funkis (I actually wore purple Vans)necklace on sale from Millers

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I was a little more brave on Thursday, and stuck it out with both tights and stockings in the hot, sticky, rainy weather. The one pro of wet and humid days is being able to stack a headful of curls up on top of my head, but the con is not being self-destructive enough to wear anything more than a light dress.
dress from Torridtights from colesclogs from FunkisSofia Coppola badge from Lenko
I went out for lunch with a couple of interns from work, after which I headed into the city to see Burlesque with Anton's little brother. It was absolutely ridiculous and so bad and fun. We got pancakes for dinner and talked about X-tina until the wee hours. Jealous?

*I might complain about the weather in Melbourne, but it's nothing compared to what's going on in Queensland (aka my home state). You can donate to the flood appeal here.

breaking the rules

2011-01-10T23:29:00.000-05:00

This outfit is all about doing the things we're, sartorially, not "supposed to". Fat girls, I'm sure you've heard, shouldn't wear horizontal stripes or pants (especially ones that emphasise their thighs and bottoms). This top is one of my favourites, though, and one I was excited to wear with my new pants that arrived in the mail yesterday. So fuk da rulez! I'm bad.

top with embellished shoulders (that, I've learned, wreaks havoc with airport security and warrants a pat-down) from Evansdark grey peg cord trousers from ASOS Curvebelt from Torridbag from Arthur Daly'sshoes from an outlet store at Harbourtownring from City Chicvintage Swatch from eBay

clove

2011-01-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

("Clove" is, for the record, a sassy little pun I invented to describe my clog love. Not so catchy.)

top from targetskirt from savers, sequins by metights from colesclogs from funkisfringe trim by me
I wore this to Savers with Iash, then to the Retreat to get a drink, to the Empire to get lunch...then into the city to meet Patsy and Andrew for wine by the river, then to By Korea to do Korean BBQ, then to Carlton Club for another drink. Needless to say, I wore these clogs in good.

sketchy

2011-01-08T20:04:00.003-05:00

Unless you're like me and read all your blogs through an RSS, you might've noticed the widget in my sidebar for the 2011 Sketchbook Project, run by the Brooklyn-based Arthouse Co-op.
Back in July, I ordered two sketchbooks to contribute to the project, one for me and one for Iasha as an early birthday present (a really early one- her birthday is in December). I chose a theme for each book - mine was "First thing in the morning, last thing at night" and Iash's was "It'll be fun, I swear!" - and started filling its pages with a combination of stories, journal entries, lyrics and drawings. It was the collages I made for about half of the book's pages that I'm most proud of, though. I spent hours every weekend trawling through my folders of clippings and pictures for my favourite ones to create different themed pages, and now that the sketchbook's totally finished and ready to be posted off, I've hauled my scanner out to show you a little bit of what I did!

Please excuse the shadowy scans; as I filled more of the book it quadrupled in width and got harder to scan properly.

The title page was the first one I filled, with a sticker from Bianca and an image featuring a typewriter, which became a reccuring theme.
One of my most blatantly feminine pages, this one features a fold-out origami crane made from a Metcard.
Two of my favourite quotes from 2010: "Hurt people hurt people" from the movie Greenberg and "Sometimes you've got to be a c-u-n-t," which Anton told me when I was having a bit of a rough time last year, but didn't want to change the situation for fear of making someone mad at me.
A combination of long images, including the anatomy of a dog, some lomography pictures and some money my dad brought back from Abu Dhabi.
One of the collages I'm most happy with, this one features a sticker from an Ikea purchase, a Blythe postcard from Laura and an image of a plate with "Mutant" painted on it, from a frankie feature a few years ago. I don't remember the artist's name, but I loved the plates so much I ended up cutting them out and keeping them all this time, and used a lot of them in this book.
These pages are a little eclectic and don't really have a theme, but they feature an illustration of Lost in Translation (again, from frankie), another place, some "home hints" from an old copy of Women's Weekly and a painting of a volcano I found when I moved into my new house.

My favourite collage in the book, and the first one I did. Feat: Atticus Finch, Bethany Cosentino's kitty, the Watchmen smiley face badge, my library receipt from hiring Marisa Meltzer's book on Riot Grrrl.

A pretty simple collage, featuring one of my favourite images from 2010: Sia in a big, furry pink suit.
This was one of the last pages to be complete, and features a postcard I carried in my diary for most of last year. When I went back and looked at it, I recognised it straight away as one of Natalie's.
Another very feminine entry, this one features a clipping of the first Barbie, another typewriter and a sticker I saved from a letter Karli wrote me last year.
I had a determined (*aniticipatory shudder*) vintage-y feel in mind when I was creating these pages, using an old ad for a Polaroid camera and a drawing of a cigarette carton from an old Adbusters magazine.
Obvz not a collage, these pages feature the lyrics of Wil Wagner's When I Was A Boy I Thought I Was A Fish, which I also featured on my blog here.
Another plate appearance, this time with a shot from Pretty in Pink, a sketch from Bust and some packaging from ModCloth stationary purchases.
Easily one of my favourite features in the book: this theme is pretty straight forward.

While my Sketchbook won't be the most professional one in the tour by a long shot, I'm proud of it as an accurate representation of who I am and what I'm interested in. It's too late to sign up for this year's tour (which sees all the books travel through libraries in the United States), but you should definitely do it later in this year to be part of the 2012 one. Provided the world's not, you know, ending.

hungry like the leopard

2011-01-06T22:24:00.002-05:00

It's been a long time between posts, and for that I offer my humblest apologies, while also telling you to suck it up.

It's been unseasonably chilly in Melbourne this summer (although, it is Melbourne, so nothing is really "unseasonable" here), but yesterday was a nice, hot day which meant constructing an outfit without layers or tights: a challenge for me.

Iash and I had been to Savers the day before, where I picked up a bunch of stuff, including two synthetic (read: unbreathable and a bad choice for weather that makes your fingernails sweat) tops. This white one is my favourite, and when I wore it with rolled-up sleeves and a scarf in my hair (to disguise its unwashed-ness) I was very Rosie the Riveter.

scarf: op shop on Bridge Rd
top & skirt: saversbelt: op shop on Victoria St shoes: funkisThe only non-thrifted thing here are my shoes, which I've been wearing non-stop since my sister gave them to me for Xmas. Being close to 5"11' for the better part of my life, I've never been one for heels and as such I was the mayor of Stumbletown when I first put these on. The more I wear them, the more easy they become to wear/walk in, and they just so prettttyyyyyy...as you can see from this lovely picture I took of them the day I got them.

Also at Savers, I spent the best $25 of my life on the best thing I've ever bought from anywhere ever.

Just your average faux-leopard coat, right? WRONG!

BACK LEOPARD! I'm toying with the idea of sewing tiny, gold sequins onto its eyes, or possibly getting some tiny fairy lights to stick in there so I can make him light up. And with that image in your minds, I bid you adios bros.

2010 Retrospective

2011-01-02T17:54:00.002-05:00

It may be January 3rd, but I feel a little off-kilter not doing some kind of end-of-year summary, so I finally succumbed.

2010 was easily the busiest and most exciting year of my life thus far.
I turned 20, got two wonderful jobs while still studying, spent four months in the black hole that is a bad share house, finally got to show my mum the sights of Melbourne, graduated university, went to two music festivals (one amazing, one the blergst), marched to save live music in Melbourne, curated an online film festival (and made contacts with a slew of people I really admire in the process) and made a short film with one of my best friends that we're both ridonkulously proud of.

I also spent a lot of time listening to music and going to gigs, watching movies and tv and reading.

Best Albums of 2010

Best Coast Crazy For You
Spit Syndicate Exile
Mark Ronson & The Business INTL Record Collection
Andy Bull The Phantom Pains EP
Girl Talk All Day
Morning Benders Big Echo
Wavves King of the Beach
Darwin Deez Darwin Deez
Hole Live Through This*
The Lonely Island Incredibad*

*neither of which were released in 2010, but both of which were important soundtracks for my year.

Best Gigs of 2010

El Guincho at Meredith
Grizzly Jim Lawrie's first band show/Jim's birthday/Lucy's going away party at the Birmi
Andy Bull at Northcote Social Club
Urthboy at Pyramid Rock
Toot Toot Toots at the Birmi

Best Films of 2010

Somewhere, Sofia Coppola
Please Give, Nicole Holofcener
Kick-Ass, Matthew Vaughn
Greenberg, Noah Baumbach
Exit Through The Gift Shop, Banksy

Best TV Shows

Saturday Night Live (especially the Bryan Cranston and Scarlett Johansson episodes)
30 Rock
Bored to Death
Eastbound and Down
infoMania

It's alive!

2010-12-29T06:59:00.000-05:00

Hi!

I'm alive, despite spending the last 9 days in this. Apologies for the lack of updates, but all I had internet-wise was my iPhone (as a result, my twitter feed got regularly updated with often-delirious tweets). I'm kind of afraid to think of how much will be backed up in my RSS feed, but I will get around to commenting in the new year, as I'm heading off to Pyramid Rock tomorrow morning. I hope you all had a rad festive season (did you, Channnakkkan girl?) and break all your resolutions by the time I get home.
While I go and fall into a chemically-processed-fried-rice-induced slumber, allow me to leave you with the image that's gotten me through the last week.

sneaky

2010-12-18T19:04:00.000-05:00

My apologies for not posting much lately, it's been a super busy week and I've barely had time for sleep, let alone bloggin and da interweb.
In the last week (since getting back from Meredith) I've spent time with visiting family, worked a lot, graduated university, celebrated my best friend's 21st birthday (twice) and done a lot of preparation for the yearly pilgrimage to my hometown of Bundaberg for Christmas. I've also worn some clothes. Let's take a little peek into that, shall we?

My dad and stepmum had a few hours before their flight home yesterday, so we went to Docklands to do some outlet shopping. Basically the only times I do any shopping in malls (read: not op-shops/online) is when family visits, as it's never a top priority for me at other times. Here I'm psyched after trying on that amazing purple dress you see hanging there, and I'm wearing:

dress from ASOS Curve
jacket from Evans
necklace from New Zealand
belt from an op-shop
tights from we love colors<
socks from a Bonds outlet
shoes from Evans
ring from City Chic

I'm not normally a socks-with-tights kind of girl, but these brogues from Evans are really loose on me, and since I can't return them for a better fit (they're out of stock!), I've got to pad them up!

i can't even

2010-12-12T03:00:00.001-05:00

This outfit marks a first for me (and something I'm not particularly proud of): wearing everything from the same place. Gasp! I was on my way out to meet Patsy and Flavia and was wearing my lace dress from Evans when a couple of big (srsly delayed) parcels arrived on my doorstep. They were also from Evans.
So wos a gal 2 do? Wear it all and play with her camera's self-timer. Duh.

dress, jacket and shoes from Evanstights from we love colorsbag + strap from op-shops

A Glimpse Into My Soul (OR A Collection Of The Images That Constantly Rotate As The Desktop Image Of My Work Computer) PART III

2010-12-11T02:46:00.000-05:00

1 alia and ellen in bust ; 2 lesley argh-fin ; 3 beth by steven klein; 4 my childhood is validated; 5 a shot from the spike feature in vice's film issue that's not on my bedroom wall; 6 lost in translation vs john kacere; 7 pam and jim's mad men audition didn't go as planned; 8 j-slate; 9 olympia le-tan for opening ceremony; 10 vote 1 the herd; 11 woody and scar-jo; 12 best slumber party ever; 13 steve, ricky and the picture that appears in every hip melbourne bar; 14 enid illustration; 15 spike and gandolfini in my favourite picture ever; 16 tattoospiration; 17 schneider and deschanel in all the real girls; 18 michael stipe for the selby; 19 one more alia for good luck;

From the Redwood forest

2010-12-09T22:31:00.002-05:00

Full disclosure: I'm writing this post in the past. Oooooohhhh! A Christmas Carol and shit, right?
I've got to be up at 3am tomorrow (the day I'm posting this) to finish packing and start the trip to Meredith! I'm super excited about spending the weekend drenched to the bone with limited shower facilities, wearing k3wT f3sT!vaL cL0tH3z adapted for the weather. In the spirit of trying to look pretty, here's a little ensemble I put together for work last week. It was certainly an experiment...

dress arrived at my door from Torrid (along with this one)top from Mink Pink outlet (details in this post)tights from we love colorsshoes and blazer from an op-shop

candy stripin'

2010-12-07T22:24:00.000-05:00

1.
2.
3.
4.dress from torridcoat from eBaysofia badge from lenkotights from we love colorsthrifted bootsmess from the laundry

things i learned today:

2010-12-03T19:50:00.024-05:00

A Mink Pink size 14 goes a surprisingly long way.

I was doing some Christmas shopping on Bridge Rd and popped into a Mink Pink clearance store where the Paddington Coat Factory used to be*. I ended up getting a few things as gifts and a couple for myself.

As well as a black lace crop top with a side tie and elbow-length elasticised sleeves, I picked up this maxi dress. I was super into maxi dresses a couple of years ago, but in the time since then and now I've gotten more comfortable showing more of my body and less keen on wearing drapey sacks. The structure of this one, though, makes it an exception to the rule.

Please excuse the hair/bra strap/general dishevelment here; behind those curtains is a dreary, wet day that's wreaking havoc on my usually flawless appearance.I threw on my vintage plastic charm necklace (from eBay) just to jazz up this outfit a little.

*I'm really going to miss Paddington Coat Factory this summer. As Patsy and I discovered a few weeks ago, people trying to sell coats realize that nobody wants to buy one when they're sweaty, so the air-conditioning in that place was always beyond amazing. L8r, PCF.

a day in the life

2010-11-30T23:23:00.002-05:00

It's rare that I get any time to myself on my scheduled days off work anymore. On top of my regular job, I've been doing some freelance work lately. It's awesome, but it leaves little time to hang out with myself.

Today I relished the chance to spend the day alone.

I got up and finished watching An Idiot Abroad, before getting ready to go get some fresh fruit and veg for my solo dinner feast.

Thanks to all the support and encouragement I got from you lovely bitches and bros, I worked up the confidence to wear my high-waisted jeans the way they were meant to be worn.

Excuse the ridiculous faces/awkward stances here. I'm trying to change up the old mirror outfit shots lately, and I can't find a good location to rest my camera on self-timer outside of the ramshackle end of the house. I wonder how long I can keep this up before I cave and get a tripod?t-shirt: Bonds outlet store on Smith St (SO COMFORTABLE YOU GUISE)jeans: city chicbelt: torridI was also wearing white sandals from Target and "pop star" lip colour from Gorgeous cosmetics, neither of which you can really see.
When I came home I started watching Cycle 13 of ANTM while I got dinner and dessert ready. Both of these meals come from Dani's blog, which I've recently become obsessed with.
For dinner I made satay noodles with ginger tofu (my first time cooking tofu!). It's got okra and cucumber in it, the first of which I had never heard of/seen/eaten before, the second of which I'd never ever thought to include in a stir-fry. It was so, so tasy and surprisingly filling.
For dessert I made her raspberry and coconut cheesecake and OH MY GOD. I had never made a cheesecake before and never used gelatin in a recipe, but this turned out great as well. I used fewer raspberries (them's expensiiiive!) and far more melted chocolate than necessary, but my gosh was it good. I will dream about this tonight.
This day has been all about chilling, watermelon Mentos Blast gum, burst water hydrants, listening to multiple Glee soundtracks in the sun and not caring about getting cat hair on your black t-shirt when it's time for kitty kuddles.

mew mew

2010-11-29T21:50:00.003-05:00

This outfit made me feel like a camp counsellor. It's so all-American and a lot more casual than I'm used to.

shirt: ASOS Curvejeans and bangle: City Chicswatch: eBayshoes: Vans from Hypecat: Gertie

thrashdance

2010-11-27T20:56:00.001-05:00

On Friday night my housemate Steve's band played a gig at the Bendigo Hotel. It was also Steve's birthday and I figured I'd better go considering I'd never seen them play before.

A parcel from ASOS had arrived a couple of days earlier. It included a new dress and I was super excited to wear it out. I purchased it and, seriously, like 5 minutes later I saw this post from Fash-H and now I look like a total copy-bloggy-cat. CARRYING ON!

speaking of cats, Gertie couldn't resist coming in to see what I was doing in my room
You can see some little white heels behind me in the picture on the right. I was originally going to wear them, but when I showed Steve my outfit he kept hinting that my Vans were a better choice. I never wear heels so it was going to be a big deal for me, but I'm glad I went with the sneakers in the end. No matter how much I resented Steve telling me what to wear, I was glad to be able to move around comfortably at a grimy punk show.
dress: ASOS Curvetights: welovecolors.combag, strap and belt: thriftedshoes: eBayring: city chic

A Glimpse Into My Soul (OR A Collection Of The Images That Constantly Rotate As The Desktop Image Of My Work Computer) PART II

2010-11-26T16:54:00.000-05:00

1 fred and carrie, aka thunderant in "closed" ; 2 m-ron and lady bunny in v magazine ; 3 arrested development cast by gavin bond ; 4 on the set of scott pilgrim ; 5 alia being the greatest ever in ryan rickett's top that! for rachel antonoff; 6 et and steve ; 7 kathleen hanna's vag costume ; 8 andy not being intimidated by martha ; 9 i don't know how tina and steve came to hang out with dlb at the oscars, but i'm glad they did ; 10 c-lo ; 11 the carious incarnations of william miller ; 12 kristen as frida ; 13 paul rudd on celebrity polaroids ; 14 from the wtwta cover of little white lies ; 15 charlyne yi on a bucking bronco ; 16 spike jonze in the first episode of todd margaret ; 17 tina and alice ; 18 HOW CAN ANYONE NOT LOVE JENNY SLATE ; 19 snl cast by gavin bond part 1 ; 20 part 2

The F Word

2010-11-20T22:12:00.001-05:00

Let me preface this post by saying it's taken me quite some time to write it and get everything I want to say out in the right way. I've drafted and deleted it, written and rewritten it. I've decided it's been too emotional, too angry, too vague. I've listed every example of injustice I could remember in an attempt to prove a point, before realising I didn't really need to prove anything.

Ever since I was a kid, I've been bigger than everyone else (I've been the height I am now, 5"10', since I was 11 years old, so that should give some indication...) and I've heard every word used to describe my body in words that were supposed to be comforting; chubby, big-boned, curvy, bigger. I've also had the word fat thrown at me in attempts to insult and hurt me more often than any other.

It's only been recently (as in, the last 2 - 4 months) that I've been able to embrace the word and its connotations as a way to describe my body in a way that I'm comfortable with, and I genuinely have a series of bloggers to thank for that. Being able to see beautiful, fat, smart, healthy and fashionable women like Bronny, Nicolette, Sakina, Jay and Gabi embracing both their bodies and the word expected to insult them has been so empowering. It's no coincidence, either, that I've been reading both these ladies' blogs and ones by fat acceptance advocates (like Definatalie and Shapely Prose) and feminists (like Miss World and Kathleen Hanna). This is the main reason why my blog has recently slowly started featuring more and more outfit posts, something I would not have been as comfortable doing on such a regular basis even 6 months ago when ideas about flattering my body and ensuring I do my best to make it look like something it's not were still the centre of my attention. I will still often stand or hold my body in a way that I think makes it look smaller, but that's the result of two decades' worth of thinking that's the way I should look in photographs, and I'm not going to be able to change that overnight when wearing sleeveless tops and bare legs in public is still a big step.

When I was 11 years old my teacher singled me out in a class discussion to say, "girls like me and Brodie are never going to look like supermodels." I don't recall the context of the discussion, but I remember vividly the way it made me feel. I was confused as to how she could possibly know this, and saddened to hear someone else making a decision like that about my body and what it could be. Nine years later, I can appreciate her honesty and the fact that, perhaps she meant it in a positive way; I won't ever look like a supermodel, but there's no reason I should want to.

I am smart, creative, funny, passionate, motivated and fat. And, as my homegirl J.K. Rowling says, there are many worse things I could be.

I don't want to break this streak of new-found confidence by throwing myself a pity party, but if you're thinking of speaking out against fat acceptance, you should read over this just to see all the things you might not have ever realised you take for granted as an "average-sized" person.

A Glimpse Into My Soul (OR A Collection Of The Images That Constantly Rotate As The Desktop Image Of My Work Computer) PART I

2010-11-20T03:16:00.002-05:00

1 lesley arfin and chloe sevigny on vay-cay.; 2 m-ron; 3 jenny slate aka my favourite lady forever right now; 4 best gals evz; 5 isabella rossellini at the artist is present; 6 from hedi slimane's i love usa; 7 charlyne yi representing my very existence; 8 from the first year of the uniform project; 9 zoe kazan aka my gal; 10 dawn tan's plush food project; 11 i cannot not swoon watching this morning benders video; 12 dylan not cheesin' and grinnin'; 13 k-pow. in a image titled "man in girl's room"; 14 martha stewart with a giant weiner. an image that appeared when searching for "corin tucker band" WHAAAT!?; 15 cass bird's fashion film for sophomore aka where my lesley arfin obsession started; 16 i bet gaga and yoko just talked about art. lol; 17 michael cera's list of films everyone should see (mayj points for rushmore, WHAS, rear window and PTA); 18 the best "first day of school" picture i've ever seen; 19 the only good thing to come from fashion's night out; 20 from tare lugnt

Shut the door.

2010-11-18T18:32:00.000-05:00

The other item I got in my first parcel from Evans were these twill animal print high-waisted harem pants. Mouthful, riiiite? I ordered them so long ago (Evans, I love ya, ya great, but cha gotta work on dat international shipping girrrrl) that I luckily got over my trepidation of the possible cameltoe situation they could cause that I had when I clicked "buy". I want to wear them pretty much everywhere, but I've found it hard to find a good top to match with them. Anything too loose (like t-shirts or baggy singlets) make me look weirdly balanced, and my go-to long-sleeve black scoop-neck tops make me look like I'm wearing pajamas. What would you recommend?

Note: I realise this outfit makes me look like I've dressed up as a member of Vampire Weekend for Halloween.

Bonds singlet
Evans pants
Vans shoesThrifted pearls
Coat- a gift

Sidenote: I was helping my friend/old work-mate Ashleigh and her boyfriend Jonathon on a shoot a couple of weeks ago* and we needed yellow items to stand out in monochromatic spaces. She brought along this jacket, and gave it to me after the shoot. She's since gone to America to live for a year, so it looked a little like "Sure, I'll take it so you don't have to pack/sell it, but I don't really want it." I saw Jonathon when I was wearing this, and I had to emphasise how much I genuinely love it! I'm so sad about summer creeping up because it means I have to wait 6 months to wear it again! It's corduroy with little flannel panels at the sleeves. So effin' cute!

*this is the result.

When I say "Ooga-booga", you Ooga-booga!

2010-11-17T06:48:00.001-05:00

After finishing uni a few weeks ago, I've been finishing up my final production project*. Last night we had a showcase night, where Anton and I won an award for "lateral thinking in Documentary Filmmaking" (ie- not really doing as we were told to). I got a bit dressed up for the occasion.

dress from evans (it finally arrived!
tights from we love colors
shoes and pearls from an op shop

I should note that I took these pictures after I got home, hence my falling-out hair and glasses-wearing (Anton and I were the MCs for the event, and had to read from a script. If I have to look at anything more than a foot in front of me I become Squinty McSmoosh-Face).

*this is it, by the way.

explorARTion from Brodie Lancaster on Vimeo.

Unsolicited advice on matters I'm nowhere near qualified to comment on.

2010-11-15T06:12:00.001-05:00

You all read Patsy's blog by now, so there's no need for me to preface this post with anything. As part of her quest to live and love more like the imitable Blanche Deveraux, she gives advice on love, dating and advice as part of her Q&A column, Ask Blanche.

As the wise Dan Savage (aka My Spirit Animal) says, the only thing that makes someone qualified to give advice is that someone asks them for it. People regularly ask Blanche (by way of Patsy) for romantic help, and she once noted some quality advice I gave after a boozy evening out. It was inevitable that I would contribute my ramblings (drunk or otherwise) to Ask Blanche, so this past weekend we conducted an impromptu advice-giving session. I provided the house, computer, camera and giant genital sculptures (created for this, my pride and joy). Patsy provided the wine, strawberries and questions. We got drunk and talked about vag for about three hours.

This is the result. Me occasionally looking like Thumbman and genuinely taking in Patsy's advice (look at my face at 5:30-ish. That's revelation.). We cut 35 minutes out of it, so our renditions of Sean Paul songs and an ingenious mash-up of Pon De Replay and Single Ladies lie on the cutting room floor, as is the occasional C-bomb. Soz.
(I should warn you: if you're opposed to seeing white girls singing and dancing to Rihanna, Beyonce, Sean Paul and Scribe, or offended by repeated use/gesturing of the word "wristie", you might not want to watch. Also, WHO ARE YOU!?)

dazed

2010-11-13T07:07:00.001-05:00

This crazy cat lady action figure has nothing to do with anything. It's just amazing.

I posted this quite some time ago, and the ever-enigmatic Z has taken to using his responses to its questions at different times to judge how this old life business is going. It's a pretty good indicator of where you're at, if you ask me. I'm not re-posting it for that. I've just got too many half-finished blog drafts I can't complete and a guilty conscience stemming from the lack of actual written content on here lately. Soz.

What are you wearing now?
My pajamas. Pink, white and black leopard print flanelette pants and a grey singlet. SEXY! It's 9:30pm on a Saturday. I'm the coolest person I know.

What’s the last thing you read/are currently reading?
I'm up to the 2000s chapters in Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. It's really fantastic.

Do you nap a lot?
Nope. I rarely sleep in, either. I slept 'til 11 this morning and felt guilty about all the time I had wasted. I'm a bit rough on myself. I WOULDN'T BE IF YOU WEREN'T SO STUPID.

What’s your current obsession/addiction?
America's Next Top Model (Team Kayla!), this song, making friendship bracelets, making tempura vegetables and coffee macarons.

Which item from your closet are you wearing most lately?
Since it arrived, I try to wear my tie-dye dress as often as possible. It needs to be ironed, though, which is an issue for me. Basically every day when I get home I shower and put on one of my full-piece swimsuits from ModCloth. Eet eez so hot!

What's for dinner?
I made tempura onion, potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, capsicum and zucchini for Patsy, Steve and I. We didn't have any white rice to have with it, so we ordered some in, as well as cashew chicken and vege spring rolls.

What was the last thing you bought?
Dinner.

What are you listening to right now?
The song I mentioned earlier/the EP it's on.

What time do you usually get up?
My alarm's set for 7am three days a week.

What is your most challenging goal right now?
To find a nice middle ground between saving money and having a social life/good summer break.

Say something to the person who tagged you:
You're me! You're doing okay, buddy.

If you could have a house–totally paid for, fully furnished–anywhere in the world, where would you want it to be?
One here, one in New York City.

Favourite vacation spot?
I don't vacation nearly enough! In anticipation of this summer, I'm going to say Lorne, Meredith and Brunswick Heads.

What is your favorite item of clothing?
My floral dress and both my pink sequin jacket and silver sequin top. All second-hand. Win!

Favourite pair of shoes you keep going back to over and over, even though your closet is overflowing with a zillion others.
Brown boots, blue Vans, black brogues, shiny T-bars (RIP).

What is your favourite item of jewellery?
My Sofia Coppola badge, floral bangle, Swatch.

Name one thing that you cannot live without?
There's honestly nothing that's not obvious (food, water, air) or embarrassing (phone, computer), so I'll say entertainment. BORING.

What was the last movie that you saw?
I watched some of this with Steve, but I couldn't follow it/wasn't interested. I last watched Psycho.

What's your favourite movie (You can only name one title, it doesn't have to be your ultimate favourite but just the first one that pops into your head)?
Top 5 = Adaptation, American Splendor, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and All the Real Girls.

What is your favourite weather, and why?
Cool enough for tights, warm enough for short/no sleeves. No rain, sunshine and cool breezes. Melbourne's been getting close lately...

snuggy

2010-11-12T00:33:00.000-05:00

I threw this onto my unwashed body to trudge to the post office to pick up about 15 back issues of Bust.

hat - a gift from Hannah
coat - a gift from Ashleigh

bag - Arthur Daly's
dress - savers
belt - op shop
shoes - payless

They were more like... introductory kisses.

2010-11-10T05:12:00.001-05:00

I did not get any introductory kisses in this ensemblé (pronounced on-som-blergh), but I did get a sense of smug satisfaction knowing that Angela Chase would've been proud of it/wanted to be my friend when she was 15.

Even though I rarely dress for anything other than the weather and how comfortable I am, I realised when I threw this together on Friday how influenced I am by what I'm reading, watching and listening to. Duh, right?

HHHNNNNNNGGGGGGGG

I had been watching My So-Called Life for a few days and, after watching the episode where Angela goes to Rayanne's party (the party) in her "party outfit" (plaits in her hair, a tie-dyed shirt and denim shorts), I was even more excited to receive my new tie-dye dress in the mail. Tie-dye is soooo summer.

jacket - thriftedfloral barette - thriftedswatch - ebay dress - ebaybackpack - thriftedboots - thrifteddumb face - all mine
This is my official summer festival dress. Buy a ticket from me and gimme some moneyz?

best thing to ever be a thing ever

2010-11-03T06:16:00.000-04:00

I normally avoid posts like this, but this is just too exciting to not mention: Patsy and I (and Iash and Anton who haven't bought their tickets- YET) are going to see this man next Easter here.

You know how much I love Bob, right? I wrote this after a particularly exciting Documentary Studies class last year, and sang the title of this post all day on my birthday this year. Also, Hurricane was my second ever favourite song (after American Pie, both of which run for 8:36...what?). I don't trust anyone who doesn't listen to Dylan.

To top it all off, when I Googled the image to use in this post (using the keywords "bob dylan" and "sexy" (not a joke)), this appeared. FATE.

I need to go eat an ice cream sandwich and lie down...

It's Impossible To Look Cool When You Drink Alone At A Rooftop Bar. Trust Me.

2010-10-28T23:07:00.013-04:00

(bedroom mirror = ridonkulously dusty)

top: target
skirt: Savers
belt: thrift
scarf: Camberwell market
tights: welovecolors
shoes: thrift
bag: ARTHUR DALEY'S! It's vinyl, the perfect size/shape/strap-length and was $13!

here's a close-up from the first day I got it. It's srsly the best thing evz.

Fish, Chips and Ginger Beer

2010-10-28T00:06:00.004-04:00

This skirt = my new favourite anything ever

top: target
belt: thrift
skirt: camberwell market
tights: welovecolors
shoes: thrift
bag/strap: thrift
watch: swatch from ebay
bangle: city chic
lipstick: PopStar from Gorgeous

Furniture Shopping

2010-10-26T06:44:00.000-04:00

(I'm not normally a fan of fastening cardigans or jackets- it makes me look super boxy and awkward, but it was the only way to control the jugs situation in this dress!)

dress: Savers/altered
cardigan: Retrostartights: welovecolorsshoes: thrift

A Scale, a Mirror and These Indifferent Clocks

2010-10-25T06:29:00.001-04:00

Bianca posted about the PO Box Clock a few days ago (a new project from the guy who did the Human Calendar and Human Clock) and I immediately decided to get crafty and contribute something myself. The project basically asks you to select a time from the drop-down menu here, create a postcard displaying that time, and send it to ol' Mr Clock in Portland. Once they're all collected, there'll be a different image displayed each minute.

I went straight for 11:11 (what can I say? I'm a former emo Something Corporate fan), but it was already snapped up, so I settled on 11:13- my two favourite numbers!

I had just spent hours organising all my clippings and collage pictures into folders, so I dug around for some straight-ish lines, small circles and curved shapes. This is what I ended up with.

11:13, featuring Alfred Hitchcock, Mia Wallace, Jack Donaghy, Marion Crane, Amy Sedaris and Scott Pilgrim.

this is worse than when you wore your shorts to work

2010-10-24T00:28:00.002-04:00

I know that, when summer eventually arrives, I'll lie on my bed, fanning myself and watching the Scream trilogy, willing the weather to cool down and cursing each degree it rises.
For now, though, I get to be all excited about the impending warm weather and claiming certain things to be "so summer!"

I use the phrase "summa jamz" more often than anyone should (mostly when talking about this song), I'm planning the summer road trip to end anything (ever), I've decided my "summer drink" will involve cucumber and elderflower cordial (all cordials are so summer!) and I'm already mentally planning variations of rice paper rolls to eat 24/7 for those humid months.

I'm also getting used to wearing shorts. As a girl with big hips/thighs (that touch each other when I walk! so weird! (not really, though)), I've always had a love/hate relationship with shorts (Love: how casual and comfortable and perfect they are for almost every place/time. Hate: how I could never find any good ones that made me feel good wearing them).
I've recently been testing out 2 different pairs (with tights. Baby steps) and I'm pretty happy/in love with both.

These ones are from Savers and I bought them thinking they were a skirt. They fit perfectly on my waist and hang loose over my hips. The worst thing about these is the weird crotch situation which has me on camel-toe alert at all times. I'm "model(o)ling" them here with a pair of heels, which is for show only: heels are not your friend if you're 5"10, uncoordinated and the owner of poorly treated feet that take revenge on you/your back every day.

Also seen here is my new favourite hair-do, which is so summer it hurts! I've worn my hair in a messy braid for agezzzz and this is just a little variation on that: two braids that have been slept in and pinned together. Totz easy.

I'm a really big fan of how, in capturing my hair properly (in the mirror/using self-timer) I was transported back to 2005 and the ol' everyone-take-photos-for-MySpace-as-though-you-don't-know-a-photo-is-being-taken-even-though-you're-the-one-taking-it school of photography.

The other shorts I've been testing out is this pair from ASOS Curve. I'm no stranger to internet shopping, but buying clothes online (especially when they're from overseas) still makes me a little nervous. Luckily ASOS is true to the size guide it posts and these shorts arrived and fit like a dream.

They're super comfy and sit looser if they're tugged down a smidge, while hoisting them up will make them tight and short (obvz).

I'm a big fan of them with this floral singlet, which was originally a dress that was too short and tight on me, so I sliced it off and added some extra width on the sides. Hours and hours of hand-stitching later, this is was I got.

Say it with me: summa, summa, summatimez!

gilmovies part viii

2010-10-23T08:53:00.000-04:00

misery
dir. rob reiner, 1990

pro:

Lauren Bacall. Sexy as HELL!
Who knew Rob "acclaimed director of When Harry Met Sally" Reiner could be so effing great at building tension like this!? Not I! The first time Paul left the room was like the perfect "She's coming back! Go back where you were or you're gonna get it so hard and shit!" moment.
The way this confined space never once felt stifling or worn; anytime the action moved back to New York or into the town, I was waiting to get back to this loco-sauce situation.
The "dinner date".
The foot scene, obvz.
Paul, the match and the typewriter. THAT'S ALL I'MA SAY! I watched the end of this alone at night, and I was cheering for him. F'realz.

con:

Richard Farnsworth. Dude was bad at the old acting thing by 1990.
The restaurant scene at the end. Had so much potential to be way scarier.

76 down, 187 to go.
what's this all about?

how many stories?

2010-10-22T09:14:00.000-04:00

Steve's friend wrangled us free tickets to the last day of the Tim Burton exhibition at ACMI. He was stoked to see the Batmobile. I got as close as possible to Christopher Walken's cape from Sleepy Hollow.

My best attempt at colour-coordinating the dresses/skirts side of my wardrobe.

Couch cat squeeze.

Jane Lane and a prop I made for my short film / watching Misery alone late at night = bad idea.

End of a two-hour falafel making afternoon.

Working galz lunch date with Ash and Flavia at Vegie Bar. I had the green drink. It was festy.

I finally visited Ross' new house. He was excited.

Iash was there too.

He got really psyched about us calling each other on Face Time and holding our phone screens together.

Of Montreal album art = best I've ever seen. EVER.

Pictures of young Lorne Michaels / Steve Martin and Dan Ackroyd in the book I'm reading.

This afternoon, Steve and I went to the beach. We got lost and it took ages. The sun disappeared when we were there and the water was icy cold (srsly, like daggers in my skin. At one stage I said how much I wished I had "a water jumper"). But it was a pretty rad spring evening.

This weekend I'm going to a strawberry festival, a craft market and an engagement party. Waddup, social life? I haven't seen you in a few months.

educ8ion = ova

2010-10-16T02:52:00.003-04:00

Yesterday marked a pretty special day for me, as I went to University for my last class ever! I've got an essay to write and a final cut of a short film to finish, but other than that, I've now got a degree. Totz rad!

To celebrate, some of my uni babez met up before that final class to have sneaky, naughty beers in the privacy of the editing suites (purchasing drinks that early in the morning is harder than it should've been). Before one of our tutors arrived and spoiled the fun. It was a total "the grumpy, old Dean's come to break up the frat party/kegger" moment.

After that, we headed to a bar near uni called Miss Libertine's, which was a nice little reminder of one of our first ever uni parties that was held there. The only photographic evidence I have of this is a creepy photo of the back of some people's heads;

a selection of shots from the embarrassingly long photoshoot Anton did with Iash and I (I got bored fast...and burped a little);

and a promotional picture I snapped for my sister.

After that, we trudged through the rain to Lounge, where we settled in for some hours (the exact number of which I couldn't say...). There were some dorky, sweet "I love youse guys"-style speeches, a few tears and much discussion about the upcoming 5umMa 0f L0v3.

(Yes, that is everyone's favourite blogger Patsy you see! She may have graduated last year but any kind of uni-pal-hangouts would be lacking without her. She's our token old lady friend.)

By the time we left Lounge, we were in desperate need of some stomach-lining sustenance and that meant a trip to get dumplings. The Dumpling house was, of course, super busy, as was its cheap imitation, so we settled on Shanghai Noodle House. We ordered a buttload of food and didn't leave anything behind. We da bezt.

A big apology to the Allan Ginsberg lookalike who the waitstaff shoved to a back table to accommodate our group. SOZ, A.G.!

It was after this that we moved on to our final and greatest location. After mentioning to Anton at dinner that I had never done karaoke before, he and Matt insisted we go to Charlton's and sing with all the suburban mums on their hens' nights and d-bags with no idea where to go out in the city. After some initial hesitance, we settled into a routine in which we sang and danced along with everyone's karaoke choices (which may be a karaoke faux-pas...) before getting up to do our own (Leave (Get Out) by JoJo and the Glee cast's version of Don't Stop Believin' (aka my dream). I almost cried when I saw they didn't have Janis' Mercedez Benz- my voice was so strained by that time that I would've done da bezt Janis!).

I also saw my dream man (think a combination of BJ Novak and Peter Dinklage with some added height, facial hair and mega smilez), but scrotummed out of doing more than smiling like a creep and referring to him as "my husband" all night. This is the point where anyone who thought I was cool begins to think differently. I understand.

We danced together for a good 4 hours straight and it was the biggest damn love-in known to man.

Getting into/accepting my place in this University course was the excuse for moving to Melbourne (which is not to say that, now it's over, I'll be going back to my hometown!) so it was kind of the first thing I had in this city (before a job or friends or housemates or any idea about life/anything) so, as much as I'm super psyched to have a degree and all these amazing budz, I'm pretty sadsiez knowing it's all over.

BUT LOOK HOW FUN WE IZ!

working class

2010-10-05T09:20:00.001-04:00

I got my photo taken by Melbourne Street Fashion while I was at the markets on Sunday. With the amount I was schvitzing after schlepping all over the market (oy, with the yiddish already!), I was honestly surprised that anyone would want a record of what I looked like (oy, with the self-deprecation already!)...especially when Maddi was with me- that girl had women chasing her down as we strolled between stalls to alert her to vintage markets and whatnot. She fine.

The process of being photographed in public was a strange one- while at first I wasn't as embarrassed as I expected to be, the shame came steadily as it took about 5 minutes to take a photo and as I'd stand there while the photographer would get ready, a barrage of people would wander by (seriously, wander, like snails wearing cargo pants). At one stage a woman and her enormous dog just wandered back and forth in front of me. Also, after the picture was taken a girl with orange skin and her bum cheeks peeking out the bottom of her shorts glared at the photographer, then at me, before saying, "Um, like, what the FUCK is this!?"
i wore
green dress from savers
belt from Maddi's store
tights from we love colors
shoes from a local op shop
jaguar wayfarers from paola loves to shop
sofia coppola badge from philosoface via lenko
swatch from ebay

sprung!

2010-10-03T02:16:00.001-04:00

Summer's coming hard and fast (hehe) here in Melbourne. To make good use of the weather, Maddi and I ventured East this morning to spend the day at Camberwell market. When we got back to my house, I did a little photo-documenting of our haul.
(excuse my shortness- it's still hot and I'm getting sleepy)

Maddi scored with a couple of floral dresses and a great, mod shift dress that she got for $35 (its original price was $349)

I look a little hunchbacked here, but this dress is super cute, but a bit tight. I'm really keen to throw it on over bathers this summer though.

I grabbed this horizontal stripey number. I tried it on with stockings and jeans, and I'm not sure which (if either) works better.

I also grabbed this top, which might make me re-think my "never tuck tops into your tight jeans, brodie" rule.

I'm probably most happy with this purchase: a little leopard-print skirt. A wardrobe staple.

A cute pink silk scarf for a few bones

I also got some non-clothes:

Some ancient issues of Life, chosen from a pile of hundreds

Wee fron twou!

again, a great old magazine from a huge collection of other 70s movie magazines

A complete, working Dymo labeler + different font/size wheels and spare tape. score!

a saturday: in meals

2010-10-02T02:32:00.000-04:00

breakfast:

wholemeal toast with a chorizo omelette.
fry 1/2 a chorizo in a little oil. add 3/4 of a tomato (the other 1/4 has all the seeds and juices) and 1/4 a brown onion, diced finely. whisk 3 eggs. once tomato and onion are soft and chorizo is brown, add the eggs to the pan. add salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons of roughly chopped parsley. fold the omelette in half and let it cook through and brown on both sides. serve with hot, buttered toast and an iced coffee

lunch:

vegetarian chili fries
throw a tray of oven-bake fries into the oven. fry 1/4 spanish onion, sliced into small pieces, in a little oil. add a diced tomato and 1/2 cup frozen mixed veges and a can of 3 bean mix (rinsed thoroughly). add 1&1/2 cups salsa or taco sauce (leftover from last weekend's grand final snack-fest) and a little chili sauce. let simmer until fries cook. serve with a processed cheese slice on top of the chips. slop some chili on top, sprinkle some fresh, chopped coriander and a squeeze of lime juice. add a dollop of sour cream. serve with season 5 of daria.

dinner:

leftover falafel wrap
on a soft pita bread, spread some lettuce, homemade tabouleh substitute (heaps of finely chopped parsley, a little finely shopped red onion and tomato), tomato, red onion, cucumber, chili sauce, a big dollop of homemade tzatziki (mix one part sour cream with 3 parts natural yogurt. add 1tsp sugar, 2 tsp minced garlic, salt and papper and 1/2 a grated cucumber. delish!) and some cold leftover falafels (the packet mix kind- the ones i made from scratch a few weeks ago took about 11 times longer). serve with season 2 of project runway australia.

dessert:

lazy sundae
toast 2 frozen waffles. in a bowl, combine some vanilla ice cream, crumbled up pieces of perfect brownies, macadamia nuts and choc chips. serve while thinking of andy samberg.

this food-fest was inspired by working class foodies and not eating out in new york

a tiger can't change its spots

2010-09-30T05:08:00.000-04:00

dress from savers 50% off daycardigan from an op shop in my hometownbelt from maddi's op shopshoes from a local op shopbag from secret savers + strap from maddi's shop

sob

2010-09-29T07:30:00.000-04:00

Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

I came across this at work a couple of months ago, and after watching it I sobbed at my desk for a good 20 minutes or so. I just spent ages trying to find it again, and I srsly hope it makes you happy and hysterically sad all at once. I'ma go cry now.

breaking out your stitch

2010-09-27T19:52:00.001-04:00

During my late-night trip to Savers on Friday night, I picked up a loose-ish, floral printed housedress/mimi-muumuu. I loved it for its print, which is so bright and summa, summa summatimez. The top part fitted weird and it looked a bit spazzy when I tried it on at home, so I started cutting away at the chest/sleeve part of it, with the intention of making it into a skirt. Once it was just a long tube of fabric, I slipped it on over my head to see how the skirt would fit, when I realised it would look pretty kewt as a dress.
I grabbed my scissors, a needle and thread and the excess fabric, lined up a few episodes of Saturday Night Live and started hand-stitching hems and straps, measuring everything loosely and marking spots on the dress with needles (not even pins- needless to say I jabbed myself a good few times).

I sewed in the last stitches last night (while watching Amy Poehler's recent episode hosting SNL) and this is what it ended up as.

(again, not too good at self-timer/taking pictures of myself late at night after hours of sewing)
I'm pretty stoked with it, especially with my little white heels I bought months ago but haven't worn yet. I guess I'll just have to learn to wear heels now.
I also took the chance to suss out my new jaguar wayfarers from Paola Loves to Shop. My girl Bronny has a giveaway of some Paola sunglasses (which you can enter here), and I used her discount code to get these and the reflective lens wayfarers. They're a totz reasonable price and arrived really quickly- highly recommended!

sgt. pepper

2010-09-27T19:13:00.000-04:00

pardon my face; i'm still not too good at using my camera's timer (particularly when it comes to focus it. yikes!) or asking someone else to take pictures of me, for me.
jacket from saversnecklace from ebaytop from targetskirt from saversbelt from maddi's op shopshoes from a local op shopbroom from my laundry

"ahoy there, matey! i've got no leg!"

2010-09-26T07:39:00.000-04:00

So yesterday was the AFL Grand Final. I've only lived in Melbourne two-and-a-bit years, so I don't really get this city's obsession with the sport. I also don't like sport. So, while my housemate and his friends watched the game in my lounge room, I watched a bunch of Saturday Night Live episodes, sewed a couple of dresses (which aren't quite finished yet- I'll post pictures as soon as they are!) and did a bunch of spring cleaning.

Excuse the hair-ibleness of this photo.
I picked up this dress from Savers the night before. On our way to dinner on Sydney Rd, Anton and I noticed Savers was still open (at 8pm), so we had a wander through the empty store and I ended up leaving with a skirt, two books and three dresses.
This was one of the dresses, which i cut off to a wearable length. Those are my current favourite welovecolors tights.

While I hung out some washing and pottered around in the sunshine (the first great, sunny day in weeks!), I took some wanky pictures of all the floral shit in my backyard. Considering I live only 20-ish minutes from the middle of the city, it's pretty rad seeing all this n4tUr3 (I totally understand if seeing pictures of flowers bores you: I'm the same. Which begs the question: why am I doing this?).

(okay, so these technically aren't in my yard, but come on- fir trees? rad.)

It's also hard rubbish time in my suburb, meaning all the rich people throw out heaps of good stuff and each day, on my walk to and from work/uni, I have a vicious internal struggle about what to take home from the side of the street. On my way out the other day, I saw a lovely, floral armchair in pretty good condition at the end of my street. I texted Steve to ask if, on his way home, he could drag it in for me. He didn't. The next day I asked if it was still out there, he told me he didn't know where it was, and for me to go onto the patio and point to where I saw it.

The trickster had already hauled it in and left it on the patio for me. Good housemate.

I really love the fabric cover, and its presence has already made a less-than-comfy section of the house more inviting. Gertie's not too sure about it, though.

ode to backpacks

2010-09-25T18:49:00.002-04:00

I found you today, hanging from a post outside a second-hand store. There were others the same size and shape as you, but none as pretty. Like a boy asking the pretty girl to dance and leaving all the fuglies tapping their feet sadly from their seats, I picked you over them.

I wanted to make sure you weren't lonely or having a hard time adjusting to your new home in my wardrobe, so I made sure to introduce you to your new friends straight away.

It's like the cast of a sitcom in there now: there's you- the young, naive, all-natural one (the Phoebe, if you will); there's the straight-laced, leather and silver leader of the group. She's pretty hard-working, but it's starting to show (don't tell her this, but she's going to need a trip to the doctor soon); there's the rough father figure of the group. He used to be in the army and is now a little saggy. I rescued him from a POW camp even worse than the one in which I found you; and there's the ex-skater who's now a regular in the Mardi Gras. Boy, has he got some stories to tell you!

I hope you like it here.

RAD!

2010-09-23T05:21:00.001-04:00

I'm just taking a few minutes out from my intense Glee-watching to remind you that I'm selling some bits and pieces from my wardrobe. Lots of the photos don't do them justice- they're all really great items. I'll be taking the post down in a week and selling a few items to vintage stores, some on ebay and some will go to op shops. I'm getting seriouz about this trip, so every penny (or item you want to swap) will help!

In short,
BUY MY SHIT!