Happy Birthday Cake

Family legend has it that this (slightly Koonsian) kitty cat vase was delivered to my mother with flowers in it when I was born. It has stayed with me ever since.


Blue silk eighties top - $4 garage sale
Senso suede fringed sandals - $40 Max's Shoes sale last summer
Black linen hammerish/haremish pants - $20 (reduced from $99) Bardot sale
Resin mirrored chunky bangle - $5 Diva sale

That's what I wore yesterday for my birthday yum cha lunch - and it seems wholly appropriate for this post which is one of those Ritual-Display-of-Gifts-and-Sales-Bargains kind of posts wherein we celebrate the decadent and corrupt capitalist system/imminent decline and fall of western civilisation/commercialisation of Christmas etc etc. It is appropriate because it contains not one but two of my Boxing Day bargains, both bought with my Christmas and/or Birthday money.


I think I'll go back and see if there are any more of these left, I think two or three would be even better than one.

This resin bangle has a most satisfying heft to it, and the mirror is all safely under the surface where I can't lose or break it - and most importantly the little dude can't eat it. Unlike the indian bracelets with little bits of mirror stuck on them which somehow fell into his playpen when he was a teething nine month old, the gnawing of which prompted me to make an embarrassingly hysterical call to the Poisons Hotline. Poor Poisons Hotline people, can you imagine the demented calls they get from crazed new parents? I salute them for being able to reassure me that all would be fine, without once bursting into laughter at any point during the call - no mean feat, I'm sure.



This is an awkwardly angled photo of the excellent buttoned leg bits of my new linen pants. I'm especially pleased with these because I dragged out my sewing machine and took them in at the bottoms and made them rather more Hammerish and rather less Carrotish. This is them the day before, prior to alteration and very much in full carrot mode:



I actually bought two pairs of black pants on Boxing Day, from the same shop for the same price (although the second pair were reduced from $130 instead). Two pairs of very similar black pants would seem like a fairly dopey purchase but the second pair are satin and have a sort of tuxedo trouser (well a mutant hammerish tuxedo trouser anyway) tailored styling thing going on and are a nice subtle black satin into the bargain. Which means I'll wear them when the summer ends, unlike the linen ones which will be withdrawn from circulation once the weather gets cooler. See? Method to my madness!



How many times in the history of your magazine reading career have you read some kind of "Packing for Vacation" article which advocates the wearing of swimsuits as an extra item of proper clothing? I will wager it is many. And how many of you have ever actually gone out to a restaurant, cocktail bar or any other civilised grown-up type of place with a swimsuit on as part of your outfit? Bonus points if you teamed it with some kind of artfully draped sarong and heels (as usually also recommended in those very same articles). Throwing shorts on over the top to walk down to the corner shop or back from the beach categorically doesn't count, nor does anything done under the age of twenty or for Halloween.



I am a former surfie chick, an old beach bunny, and have lived in beachside tourist towns for large chunks of my life - yet until yesterday when I took these photos of my new Tigerlily swimsuit ($99 reduced from $189.95 and bought with birthday/christmas money as well) I have never worn my swimwear out and about with heels and statement accessories etc as though it was designed for anything more than lounging and splashing around beach or pool. I am almost prepared to call bullshit on the whole concept - unless you lot provide me with some evidence to the contrary, of course.





The detail on this suit, and the old school ruching and shirring make it a little bit more clothes-like than the average bit of swimwear, but still it's a just a small stretch of lycra unforgiving of tummy rolls and after dinner gut expansion, and (this is crucial) it DOESN'T HAVE SNAPS IN THE CROTCH. Can you imagine trying to struggle out of this thing in order to go to toilet (while drunk, in a tiny nightclub bathroom cubicle). No dignity would be left intact, that's one thing I know.


Here's me trying to look like a disco diva who thinks dignity is highly overrated.

My other big Boxing Day sales bargain (again purchased with my very gratefully received christmas/birthday money) was a new Mimco wallet. My old one was starting to look just a tiny bit worn around the edges so I felt it was time to retire it on at least a part-time basis. I like this new one so much, apart from the fact that it was $60 reduced from $190, it's made from lovely soft tan leather, and I know it will wear in really well. The buckle detail is rather deco too, and it's lined with the same subtly metallic deep purple that's piped on the front there. Yum!



I used to be a bit hopeless with cash gifts, I'd end up spending them on phone bills or things for the little dude, but I've got much better in recent times and take a lot of pleasure from being able to go out and find some lovely bits and pieces which I wouldn't normally buy for myself. The fact that the big sales fall neatly between Christmas day and my birthday is also rather handy...



I do get lots of lovely actual gifts (you know the kind which come wrapped in paper and ribbons rather than in an envelope or cheque), I'm quite partial to the quirky little surprise presents in particular. One of my favourites this year (and they were all favourites really) was this nutty giant plastic onion-shaped onion storer which is either utterly pointless and another sign of the corrupt decadence of western civilisation or a piece of everyday household genius. I'm definitely leaning towards the latter as we always have at least one partially chopped red onion hanging around in our fridge in desperate need of containment and making everything smell oniony. Love it!



A little gift that I'm always so happy to receive is hand soaps (also known as guest soaps). I am terribly set against liquid soap, I do understand why everyone loves it (hygiene, less soapy bits stuck everywhere etc) but I love those little mini baby soaps so much and they have been almost entirely displaced by the encroaching tide of liquid soap. These beautiful italian red poppy soaps come in wonderful packaging, smell divine, look adorable and were sent all the way from Scotland by my mother - all of which makes them extra special. Not too special for washing my hands with though!



And so ends the sale shopping, gift receiving and gift displaying consumerist orgy for another year. I've heartily enjoyed it but I think it's time to get back to my roots and do some hardcore op-shopping just as soon as I can. I can hear those crowded racks of polyester nastiness calling me to come and rifle through them, and so I will - just as soon as I can muster up any shopping mojo whatsoever!

xx
Skye
PS. I think this speaks for itself (needs sound):

Holiday Special

Yeojin Bae for Target silk frock - $11.25 on clearance
Senso suede fringed sandals - $40 Max's Shoes sale


That's the little canvas that hangs above our bed, thoroughly schmaltzy but words we live by nonetheless.

Today I'm just a little bit in love with my new camera. I wasn't supposed to get it until Christmas Day but due to the other crappy one conking out once and for all yesterday, Christmas came a wee bit early for me this year. It's a dear little thing, and I think we are going to be very good friends - once I get to know its quirks and work out how to get it to do what I want, as opposed to what it thinks is best!



Look at me frowning away, that's because I wasn't sure whether the self-timer was working on my new camera - I have a whole series of me all cranky-faced with consternation trying to work out if the little clicky noises meant Photo Being Taken or Focus Being Focused (or whatever). I bought this dress almost a year ago - it represents my one and only foray into the world of designer/chainstore collaborations. I still don't really know how I feel about it (and tend to treat it as a dress suitable for chores and errands rather than garden parties and other soirees), although it's a pretty little frock with a sort of thirties-meets-eighties mix of feminine and futuristic, and such a nice print:



The thing is that I have a bit of a prejudice against the Designers for Target ranges - I've been trying to work out where it stems from and I have come up with the following:

1. Seeing (from a safe voyeuristic distance) the hideous and humiliating behaviour of people scrabbling for the Stella McCartney for Target range like a bunch of mad banshees.
2. The almost universally poor fabric quality (Josh Goot, I'm looking at you).
3. The fact that nicer, more flattering chainstore items are always available for similar or lower prices.
4. The fact that shopping in Target is kind of depressing as a retail experience (I'm sure the reason no one has been buying Collette Dinnigan lingerie is that they can't cope with the fluorescent lighting in the hideous Target change rooms).
5. I rarely buy stuff just because of the label, so racks of cheaply made ugly clothing (Zac Posen range comes to mind) are not going to get my heart racing just because it has a designer's name on it.
6. There's always some little detail which gives the game away - with this Yeojin Bae dress it was the belt which came with it. It had some horrible little wooden beads on it and they were all falling off well before the dresses made it to the clearance racks. I use this belt off my eighties silk skirt/dress instead:





I'm only basing my opinions on Australian stuff though, so by all means set the record straight if designer/high street collaborations overseas are a more thrilling proposition!



This my other Yeojin Bae for Target silk dress (also $11.25 off the clearance rack), but I actually wear it as a nightie/thing to throw on when the little dude drags me out of bed at 5am. It's a really thin unlined silk charmeuse, it's a totally bordello shade of pink, it's cut on the bias and it just seems thoroughly unfit for public wearing to me. For swanning around the boudoir pretending to be Alexis Carrington, however, it is the shiznit.



The sleeve detail is a bit glamorous and thirties-ish, but don't I look here like I'm just about to get in a fight with some chick who's made the mistake of stepping onto my turf?



There is a somewhat random element to this post because it's a bit of a conflation of yesterday's post (foiled by camera malfunction) and my Christmas post for tomorrow (which is happening today because we're on the road tomorrow). So now I'm going to take a sharp U turn away from the mean streets and straight into the sweet icing sugar snow drifts of Santaland.


Behold the angel on the top of our tree, made by a very clever friend of mine!

I am feeling very smug and pleased with myself because I have (in the manner of a grown-up and mature lady of the house) made a christmas cake this year. It's not one of those proper ones which takes four days to make and a metric tonne of dried fruit and which can last for fifteen years wrapped in foil in the back of the cupboard, but I'm rather impressed with it anyway.



My mother-in-law gave me the recipe, which is the modified version of one she got from a friend, who lifted it from who knows where. It's probably an old standard known the world over, but it's yummy, moist and insanely easy to make so I'm going to give you the goods. If you're a fruit cake lover (and I know the world is divided into those who are for, and those who are very much against), then I highly recommend you give it a go!

1kg mixed fruit
Optional - 1.5 cups chopped nuts (I used macadamias, but anything will do)
2 cups orange juice
1 tablespoon brandy (plus more brandy to pour over the cake when it comes out of the oven)
2 cups self-raising flour
blanched almonds

Soak dried fruit (and nuts if you are including them) in juice and brandy overnight. Pre heat oven to 130 degrees Celsius. Sift flour into soaked fruit and mix well. Put into large lined baking tin and top with blanched almonds. Bake for two hours in the bottom of your oven. Remove, pour brandy over and then leave to cool. Put into container or wrap in foil. Keep for two to three days before cutting.



And with that I bid you a fond farewell as tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we are hitting the road with a hyper-excited little dude and about three million parcels in tow...


Please consider this a "Happy Holidays" if that's the way you roll.

xx
Skye

PS.This is a page ripped out of Spanish Architectural Digest (sorry Auntie Rob, couldn't resist the terrible temptation to tear) which also hangs on our bedroom wall:

Which way should I jump?

Cotton voile floral dress (shortened) - $5 Surry Hills Markets
Mollini grey patent leather shoes - $20 op-shop (never worn)



I haven't worn heels around during the day since we headed north, every day I look at them but the sun shines, and the beach beckons and the high shoes stay restless in the cupboard - until today that is. I wanted a pair of these Chloe knock-offs for the longest time (well really I wanted the Chloes but that was never going to happen), so when I saw them all shiny and new in a local op-shop I bought them - despite that $20 price tag. They are pleasingly high (I'm sure I'm at least 5"6 in them, don't laugh), and seemed sufficiently girly for this fluffy, floaty, floral curtainy frock.


I have the calves of a mountain goat, one of my few true capricorn traits.

That super chintzy print (seriously, it wouldn't look amiss in my mother-in-law's front room) makes it almost impossible to see the details of this dress. The collar/flutter sleeve thing is two lovely tiers and it falls in the prettiest way, coming down to a point in the front.



The print itself is also ill-served by my fiendish camera (I'm getting a new hopefully non-fiendish one for christmas, hurrah!), the colours are much deeper and more vibrant if you are looking at them with your actual eyes while the dress is on my actual person in the actual room with you - scary as that prospect might sound.



I hacked off a massive swathe of fabric to get the length I wanted, and I must admit I was tempted to make a matching scrunchy with the excess (as I would have back in 1985 when chintzy rose prints were in some kind of fashion). Are scrunchies back in yet? Have the cool youths started wearing them on their wrists and sumo buns and whatnot? If they aren't now, then I predict it is mere minutes until they are - or maybe they've already come and gone again while I remained happily oblivious!


Washed silk eighties jumpsuit - $5 op-shop
Tan leather gladiators - $40 Sportsgirl sale

So the floral curtain frock was what I wore this morning for some festive season hijinks, but for the afternoon (spent watching my husband mow our jungle-type backyard, folding laundry, and looking after a sick little dude) I got back to my current default wardrobe setting. It's silk, it's purple and pink, it's got some crazy dye job going on, it's a jumpsuit, I feel really good in it. Sound familiar? This thing is like the ultimate Skylark garment-of-the-moment!



The photos are ultra terrible, so you'll have to trust me that it's actually kind of sexy in a warped way - and it's got all that kooky eighties styling with the double stitching and mysterious flaps and so on, which is supposed to convey that you could maybe actually jump out of a plane in it and live to tell the tale over a campari and soda on the patio! In fact, in this jumpsuit I think you could actually parachute directly onto the patio, while holding a campari and not spill a drop.


Truly horrific photo where all colours are insanely incorrect and that triangle of my chest looks like it's made out of jaundiced sandpaper.

I'll be pretty glad to see the back of this camera come December 25 - it has strange ways of distorting colour which defy in-camera correction (and I'm too time-poor to Photoshop the scariness away). Some snarky commenter over on Flickr pointed out that I had green legs in one of my photos, which was sadly correct - although I'm not exactly sure what they thought they might achieve by pointing it out to me...



Updated to add this almighty piece of colour correction magic from the one and only ENC, who has managed to get that terrible photo up there to look almost exactly the way it should (which is quite a feat considering the whole Pacific Ocean stands between her and the actual jumpsuit):



xx
Skye
PS. I ordered this Andy Warhol "inspired" (read: ripped off) t-shirt for the little dude the day before I found the jumpsuit. Seems like there was some kind of pink/blue/purple pop art yearning in my soul for a couple of days which demanded satisfaction - much like the little dude demands "BANANAS PLEASE MUMMY" with hugs and menaces at 5am each morning.

Red and Green and In Between

Leopard print One Teaspoon strapless swimsuit - $30 (new) ebay
Sarong - $1 op-shop
Green leopard eighties pleated skirt (worn as dress) - $5 Bondi markets


The leopard spots are rimmed in gold for extra eighties-ness

We flew back from Melbourne this morning (after a long weekend celebrating the "Festival of Dave", aka my father-in-law's 70th birthday) and almost the first thing I did was throw my swimsuit on, grab my trusty beach bag:



and bolt for the beach. Melbourne may have cool bars, great op-shops, a thriving arts scene and endlessly-fascinating-to-the-little-dude trams, but for a summer lover like me the weather was abominable. After four drizzly days of grey clouds and shivering in the cold I was super happy to feel the sun on my face and the salt on my skin again.



We only live a block from the beach so technically I can get away with just wearing a sarong over my swimsuit (the One Block Rule is an unwritten law of coastal life, frequently broken by english backpackers and sleazy middle-aged men in budgie smugglers), but since that block includes all the local shops I tend to do little errands on my way to and from the water. I might pick up a mango from the fruit shop for the little dude, or some stamps at the post office, maybe a greeting card from the gift shop or batteries for my camera - and when I go into shops I really feel like I should be wearing actual clothes. So I have a little collection of clothes-like things which I throw on for my trips to the beach. This green leopard pleated skirt/dress is chief among them:


Yes, I'm auditioning for a Ramones tribute band.

With a belt it almost passes for an actual dress, and without a belt my torso reaches new heights of oblongitude in it, but the wearing of a belt to the beach (along with statement jewellery, elaborate make-up, heels, and clothing with complex fastening mechanisms) defeats the purpose entirely. I like things which are loose, flowy, and can be pulled off and thrown on the sand in the blink of an eye. Things like the Gonk Suit:



So named because I wore it all the time when I was pregnant and gonk-shaped* with just my little flipper feet poking out the bottom of my mu mu. It's the prettiest gonk suit of all time, with it's fluttery butterfly sleeves and almost handkerchief hemline and it feels lovely to wear (even when lumbering around with the little dude on board). Of course, it too looks better with a belt, but that's just not the point!



I'm almost inclined to wear the Gonk Suit on christmas day, it is rather festive with its red and white print:



Or perhaps I should go with this little number as featured on the front of the Dimmey's catalogue, after all "Christmas never looked so good"!





What do you reckon?



*For anyone in any doubt as to what a gonk might be:


xx
Skye
PS. What do you call the garment you wear to swim in? I call them swimmers or swimsuits (and the male version is budgie smugglers), but people also say bathing costume, swimming costume, bathers, togs, cossies and I'm sure a bazillion other variants. What's yours?
PPS. A HUGE congratulations to my little sister and her boy on their engagement this weekend just past - very exciting!

Chainstore Chicken & Disco Duck

Kenji pink marble dyed silk top - $20 (was $70) Myer sale
Bardot silk ombre dyed hammerish pants - $32 (were $130)
Sportsgirl black leather lace up platform heels - $40 (were $130)



Now I think it's safe to say that if you've been hanging around here for a while then you'll know that at least 85% of what I wear (with the notable exception of those five pairs of Sportsgirl sandals) is op-shopped, or something I've made, or a gift of some kind, or from garage sales, sample sales, markets or ebay. Once or twice a year though, I do go on little chain store shopping sprees - most especially when the post christmas sales are on. This year, with retail downturns and impending world financial doom etc the sales have started pre-christmas instead, and like a kind of small shopping vulture I swooped down and snaffled up some chain store goodies.



For the sake of this post, I'm going to leave aside all issues of ethics, sweatshops, exclusivity and the pitfalls of shopping in homogenous chains vs small retailers - and just say that occasionally it's nice to be able to go into shops and just buy something nice without having to hunt it down, and without anyone else ever having worn it. Sometimes it's just fun to have a fistful of carrier bags from shiny mall emporiums to swing along with me.


Thoroughly unrepentent!

This top, pants and shoes combo is absolutely my favouritest of favourite things to wear at the moment. I'm not sure what it is precisely - maybe the coolness of the silk, maybe the cut of the pants, maybe the heels of extra-highness:



I just feel fabulous in this outfit, like some kind of sexy ninja lady, and (warning: claptrap ahead) I feel exactly like myself in it. Almost as though if I could distill the essentials of what I like about myself and where I'm at in my life right now and the place I live and the things I do, all into an outfit - then this is what it would look like. Which is slightly bizarre considering the component parts all came from brands aimed squarely at teenage girls and I'm an old married lady on the cusp of turning 37...


Bardot black silk charmeuse jumpsuit - $29.95 (was $129.95)

Probably the black silk jumpsuits should be left to the teenage girls, but I felt like such a happy little duckling when I tried this on that I bought it anyway. It's all very disco inferno, especially with heels and accessories, but with flat sandals and a big breezy scarf it's actually quite fit to be seen in the bright light of day. I'm quite tempted to sew a big floppy ruffle around the top, I'll have to see how I go with it first though because I do quite like it in its more streamlined Studio 54 incarnation.


Watch out, she's going to eat your brains (and has flippers for feet)

The last thing to leap off the sale racks and into my willing waiting hands was this little summer silk jersey frock from Sportsgirl ($32 reduced from $150). It's far prettier in person with the loveliest swishy godet skirt and shoulder ties and exactly the kind of big floppy ruffle I envision for the jumpsuit:



There is one common thread tying this little bundle of stuff together, you might have picked it already - they're all (except for the shoes) made from silk. Just like K-Line and her passionate relationship with cashmere, I have a long and abiding love affair with silk. I went to my wardrobe this afternoon and counted twenty six separate silk garments (not including scarves or lingerie) hanging on the rack, which is a very substantial proportion. Even if I'm shopping in cheap(ish) and cheerful chainstores then I want the fabric to feel good - no cut-price polyester for me in my old age (except for the occasional vintagey bit of course)!



Isn't the fabric pretty - the print is allegedly "vintage" although heaven only knows what that actually means - those harlequin patterns are still really appealing to me. Even the wrapping paper I found at Crazy Clark's is (in my deranged-by-retail-insanity mind at least) rather miu miu harlequin inspired:



There is absolutely nothing miu miu inspired at all about these christmas earrings:


No makeup, wearing my dressing gown etc

that the little dude shoplifted from Target the other day (although Miuccia is pretty well capable of anything, so you never know what might happen if she saw them). He's getting to be quite the criminal mastermind, he also nicked a bottle of some weird nail hardener stuff from Price Attack that same day. It was made in the Czech Republic and has "CONTAINS FORMALDEHYDE" written on the box in big scary letters. Not quite as scary as the earrings though!


He loves this elf costume now, maybe not when this photo appears at his 21st birthday party...



This is the kind of cuteness which distracts me from taking my blog photos, and also stops store security from suspecting he has a stroller full of stolen loot!

xx
Skye

Sumo Salad

First things first - the wedding was as sweet and lovely as a perfect afternoon daydream, and surely there is no better way to spend a summer saturday afternoon than sipping Pimm's and nibbling on pink coconut ice on the lawn. There is arguably no better way to spend a sunny summer saturday morning than wandering around a vintage market (in this case Surry Hills Markets) with friends, having a good old rummage and pillage among the racks.



In the olden days (even say five years ago) Surry Hills markets was still pretty cheap, but since the vintage explosion the prices have rocketed sky high. I was astonished to find things priced over $100 in some cases - and we're talking eighties stuff! Most things were in the $40-$65 range, which still seemed pretty steep considering the average price range back in the day was more like $2-$8. I felt like such an old timer, grumbling away about the good old days. I did come away with a bag of stuff though, all ferreted out of huge "Everything Here $5" mounds scattered here and there around the markets.



I was wearing my Battle Elephants dress and I think its crazy colour and pattern overload affected the part of my brain which controls shopping because everything I bought was bright and, well, busy. Exhibit A is that little floral dress ($5) which is about three times brighter than it looks here. Unfortunately a combination of overcast day and TERRIBLE camera mean everything looks a little bit flat and dull compared to reality.





Exhibit B (also $5) is even brighter in real life than Exhibit A, an intense eighties print which skirts the edges of fluro without ever crossing the line.



I love the print on this so much that it's hanging on my bedroom wall right now. Once again the photos do no justice (oh the frustration!)





You may have noticed another pair of new sandals, and I have to admit that yes, I have succumbed once again to the lures of the Sportsgirl sale table. These suede studded beasts were reduced from $100 to $24, and since I had been eyeing them off for months I felt only a twinge of guilt at buying them. I really do have to stop now though, the sandal situation is getting a trifle embarrassing.



Exhibit C - Floppy high-waisted shorts in one of those prints which you shouldn't look at for too long because you'll start to hallucinate. I recklessly teamed them with the floral top here because it was the first thing to hand when I opened my shirt drawer (and I was in a slightly contrary mood), but they really work better with something a bit less reminiscent of a TV test pattern. Belt would be good too!



The shorts don't really work with Exhibit D - an eighties silk tank ($5) printed with diary entries.





Irresistibly kooky (although infuriatingly incomplete, I want to know what happened after he found the letters hidden in her lingerie drawer, dammit!)



Last but not least were these green wooden earrings (you guessed it, $5) which partially satisfied my hankering for giant disc shaped earrings. Once again, the colour is a little brighter and sort of softer in the flesh (or in the wood as the case may be).



There's another dress too, but it requires some shortening before it makes an appearance. It too was five dollars! All of these prints, patterns and clashing colours reminded me of my favourite bag of all time. I bought it from a garage sale about six or seven years ago (for a dollar) and I think it might have been a nappy bag originally so it's extremely capacious (is that a word that anyone ever said out loud?) and I never get tired of looking at it in all its patchwork magnificence.






Now I really, really need to go to bed - and I think my hair needs to be released from sumo bun captivity before it mutinies, so goodnight or good morning or good afternoon wherever you may be!

xx
Skye
PS. For those who were wondering, I ended up wearing the pink orchids (despite their distant second place in my poll), because when it came right down to it the blue birds, dress and shoes was just too much blue to be borne. When I saw all the hydrangeas dotted around the wedding garden in various shades of pinky purpley wonderfulness I was so glad I had my own pink flowers to wear.

The Giant Peach

Peachy coral silk top - 50cents op-shop
Black washed silk skirt - $7.50 Myer clearance rack
Elke Kramer Skylark necklace - $50 sample sale
Sportsgirl tan/snake leather sandals - $24 on sale


I know I said no more sandals, but these ones snuck in somehow (and maybe another pair too). Oops!

Peachy colours are my favourite.

This is a very big call for me to make, but it is decidedly so. The whole spectrum, from palest nude to fluorescent coral makes me happy, happy, happy. It is no coincidence that my wedding dress was pale peach - and that my big bridezilla (loathsome but sadly apt term) moment was when the peach flavoured personalised candy (I know, I know - but it was so ridiculous and cute I couldn't resist) turned out the colour of urine instead of well, peach. Poor candy maker guy had to make a whole new sackful in the right non-uriney shade, matched to a silk scarf I provided as a colour reference. Because if there's one thing I am, it's very well supplied with peachy scarves:





After I took these photos I found another three or four scarves from the peach family - it's like the endlessly multiplying tan bag fiasco all over again (and let's not speak of the ever-expanding sandal army)!



This top is pretty but (especially if ironed) it's quite feminine and ladylike in a slightly fussy old lady kind of way. Sometimes I'm in that sort of mood, but since I'm not today I think the black helps give it a bit of edge. Actually I like all peachy/nude shades with black - it's one of the sexiest combinations in my very slim book of sexy colour combinations.



Do you have a favourite colour (or family of colours) which you cannot resist? Is there a shade which catches your eye time and again, or is your never-fail secret weapon?

xx
Skye
PS. I'm flying off for the wedding today, with bluebirds and orchids both packed in my bag - I'm going to wait til the last minute to make a decision, because I think that my mood on the day is going to be the only deciding factor I can find between them!
PPS. You know, I think this book probably helped push me down the peachy path...

A Bluebird on my Shoulder

This little poem was one of the readings in my own wedding.

This weekend I'm flying off to Sydney as fast as my little wings can carry me for the wedding of my cousin and his lovely girl. The dress code is "garden party" (which is very apt as it will be a fabulous party in a secret garden) and I think that calls for the wearing of something frivoulous and fanciful on my head. I have a big black silk rose and a pink silk peony which have done good and faithful service for the last several weddings I've been to, but neither of them proved quite right when plonked on my head with with my blue silk Zimmermann frock and silly blue shoes. After a flurry of frantic activity to rustle up a more suitable bit of head-adorning frippery, I came up with the following options, which I present you with here for your perusal (and poll voting prowess).



I had a hankering for little blue birds of happiness on my head, so my first acquisitions were these vintage feather milinery trim birds from ebay (originally from pre-war Japan according to the seller, but I do tend to take such claims with a grain of salt).



They are just haphazardly clipped into my hair here, they'd need to be wired to a comb or pinned in properly if I were to wear them to any event where there is a very strong probability of dancing...



I keep umming and ahing over these bluebirds - perhaps they are a little bit spiky looking for the rest of the ensemble? Maybe there's just too much blue (and I know I'm asking for the old "Skye's blue today!" routine from any number of male relatives as the night progresses and the drunkishness levels rise)? Maybe they're just a tiny bit too tiny for my big head?



My blue bird yearning led me to option number two as well, this little fellow from etsy (who arrived with three feathered friends in other pretty spring colours who are now nesting on our christmas tree).



Now clearly he's adorable, but wearing him on my head definitely pushes the whimsy boat waaaaaay out there - even for an event which will be full to the brim with a very whimsical crowd, ie. my family, (you didn't really think I got this way by accident did you?)



There's a very fine line between being cute and whimsical in the spirit of the occasion, and looking foolish in a way which draws undue attention on a day which belongs very much to two other people. I suspect this little birdy might be joining the rest of his flock on the christmas tree instead of dipping his beak in the wedding champagne - unless, perhaps, there's an overwhelming response in his favour here.



But I do love him so!



Rummaging around the "Take a further 20% off already reduced items" sale rack at Sportsgirl the other day I came upon this pink beaded orchid fascinator/headpiece and I was quite smitten with it (not to mention the $8 price tag)



The pink doesn't really match the little winks of pink in the dress print, but I think it's ok - tell me if it's not though, please!



I've looked all over the place for another option and short of spending vast sums on an etsy gamble I've not seen anything else which I like much at all. Lots of oversized roses, and big feathery things which look like bits of Big Bird, and not much else to be found. Which brings me to option number four.



I thought of making something myself from my stash of silk flowers, wiring a bunch of these little artificial blossoms (50cents from the op-shop down the road) to a comb or a headband to create a modest and girlish headpiece of suitably small dimensions to fit in my carry-on-only baggage. An awareness that the results of my handiwork will fall far short of matching the picture in my head has so far stopped me but there's still time to break out the florist tape and the hot glue gun, so if you think that's the way I should go then let me know!

Right, that's all the options for your review, now go on and vote up a storm on my first ever poll (I'm such a proud parent)!

xx
Skye
PS. Someone asked for photos of our christmas decorations - here's the only couple of pictures which turned out ok (our crappy camera made everything else look like Christmas in the Twilight Zone). This is the starfish star on our beach shack front door:

Navy Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Blazers (and any other kind of suit-ish kind of structured jacket) and I have a fairly difficult relationship - that is to say, I don't like them and they don't like me and so I just about never buy them or wear them. They never fit my narrow shoulders, and if they do then they don't fit the rest of me, and my already oblong torso seems to get even more blockish and brick-shaped when there's a blazer about. So regardless of their ubiquity in the blogosphere I have stayed more or less away, until for some unfathomable reason I picked up this nineties navy linen jacket off the one dollar rack at my new (and somewhat less than stellar) local op-shop.



I think I was feeling a nostalgic fondness for a little unstructured/deconstructed navy linen suit jacket which I owned back in the mid-nineties, that's about all I can think of to explain my lapse (of course the one dollar factor can't be ignored either). Still, I put it on and push up the sleeves and think that maybe there's something going for it - and then I change my mind again and shove it back into the back of the wardrobe. Which is, of course, where you lot come in and tell me - should it stay or should it go?



Stay?
- Are the nineties back yet?
- Kind of a nautical vibe which is quite appropriate here in the land of marinas, canals, man-made lakes and white shoes.
- Simple, minimal cut theoretically equals timeless classic.
- Cool and crisp navy linen can (perhaps) toughen up my girly outfits without making me hot and bothered in the summer heat.



Go?
- Since I was already a fully-fledged adult in the nineties, I do worry that people won't think I'm on the nineties revival bandwagon, they'll just think I've never moved on from the glory days of my youth.


This is what I'd be wearing if I was still clinging desperately to my glory days.

- Blazers and structured jackets are played out, dude.
- Don't I sort of look like I should be renting you a hire car at the airport, or maybe on the microphone at the front of a tour bus pointing out the sights to a bus load of half asleep retirees?
- Eh.

So once again I ask the eternal question - should it stay or should it go (and if I'm looking for nineties "vintage" should I ditch the navy linen and just go straight to the harlequin catsuit department)? Your opinions are required!

xx
Skye
PS. I had some grand plans for my post today - including about a million photos and my very first poll - but I put up christmas decorations instead of blogging so now I only have time for this. The poll and the pictures and all of that folderol will have to wait for another day...