Major eyes baby.

I love this dramatic look and think that Kate looks AMAZING. It doesn’t hurt that I watched her Graham Norton Show appearance in the weekend either – I know that we’d be friends if we ran in the same circles.

Get all the details on how to recreate this look at The Beauty Department. You weren’t expecting me to have all the answers on this one were you!?

 

Simply lovely.

I love this room. It’s a great example of how you can achieve warmth and personality in a modern room with white walls and neutral everything else. The light repetition of the green makes for a fresh space. How lovely would it be to walk into this at the end of every day?

Photo by Tom Street-Porter via whitewebb.com

Finally, some new wheels.

Oh my goodness. I can’t believe how long ago I last posted, but at the same time I can’t believe that this is my 24^th post. I’ve never been a disciplined person, so it really is to be expected that posts will be sporadic (to say the least). But I really have a great excuse this time, I’ve been working on my resolutions.

In an effort to both grow up and live like an adult and to accept that I don’t have a superstar budget I finally bought a new car. I know it sounds like this one may contradict the rockstar part, but no. I’ve been procrastinating (so this also works on #1) about getting a new car for years. The problem is that I’d held onto my old car so long that it was now crap. So I was faced with the dilemma of any new car being better with what I had but also wanting my dream car that I could conceivably stretch the budget to afford. But when in reality I’d be happy with anything in comparison to the slumming of the old car, I just couldn’t justify the price of the dream car. So you see how this relates to accepting that I’m not a superstar.

I instead got an ex-demo Euro hatch that I have to say I am really enjoying. I’ve always been drawn to cars that some might call ugly – I prefer to categorise them as polarising. For example, if I could live with a 3 door car I’d totally drive a Volvo C30. I like the styling but I can accept that some people think the back is weird and ugly.

Now I think that my car looks smart, but I can see that the design might be polarising. For me this was a mature compromise. It’s still a fun car to me. But I got it as an ex-demo of a model that was about to be superseded so it was a REALLY good price. Basically if I choose to change cars in two years I should get what I paid as a trade-in amount. So maybe in a few years I can have the dream car because my base level expectations will have already been raised by this car and I will appreciate the jump again to the dream car.

This is my new baby…

It’s a black Citroen C4 and I got her on Valentine's day - so it's love (for now). A nice balance of style and practicality - how adult is that?!

There's a whole other reason while my posting has been non-existant and I'll let you know about that soon.

(Sources: Volvo images from Volvo, Citroen image from Citroen)

Aussie Day.

There are so many wonderful things about living in Australia and being Australian. Yeah, we go a little nuts when someone like Oprah visits, but I like to think that our excitable nature is endearing – she certainly seemed to love us back!

I love that we’re so honest, our national day is simply called ‘Australia Day’, it’s like ‘Us Day’. There isn’t a big story about why we commemorate this day, just that we know how good we’ve got it and we take a day to celebrate this. (And I love that we’ve timed it for the middle of summer, but a nice distance from New Year’s.)

I’m not doing anything particularly special today for Australia Day, which I do feel a little bit guilty about. Friends were going to throw a BBQ but that fell through for some reason. Instead I’m sitting at home, researching outdoor sheds online with the radio blaring the Triple J Hottest 100 – so I am indulging in an Australian tradition of sorts.

I didn’t vote in this year’s countdown. I used to be a dedicated Triple J listener in my younger years, but there was a time when I felt that it all got a little heavy and depressing and I strayed over to commercial radio. In the last few years though I have found myself drifting back more and more, and today the tunes feel really great. In fact, I think I’ll be playing my Hottest 100 CDs over the next few days I’m enjoying it that much.

Oh my goodness the sky is so blue here, the sun is out! If I was a little firmer and not so fair this weather would definitely motivate me to hit the beach!

I hope that everyone well, and that Aussies especially are enjoying our special day in their own way.

Source: ‘Beach Crew’ shot Australia Day 2010 at Curl Curl, available from Aquabumps.

Needed: one new bag.

So I need a new handbag. I need a lot of things actually, new sunglasses among them. But bag wise I’ve had my current everyday bag for over a year now, and when I bought this one it was more that I came across a good deal in an acceptable style and colour at a time that I really needed to replace my previous bag.

This time I would like something that still suits my overall subtle style but is still very much special, and makes me sing on the inside when I take a good look at it. But as per the resolutions I have to accept that I’m not a rockstar and not spend like I am.

So what’s the solution? Maybe an Etsy purchase? Or The Outnet? The leading real world contenders are…

Valhalla from Etsy $327AUD (love the picture holding it but, but maybe more fun in the blue?)

Sara Berman from The Outnet £160

That’s right, I’m not ready to give up the big bag. It’s just so handy, even though I am tempted way too often to carry more stuff that I will ever need. The other night I took a clutch instead of ol’ reliable out for a casual dinner because I just couldn’t face lugging the weight of my everyday bag!

If I was going for a rockstar bag I might consider one of these (all from net-a-porter)…

Marni £750

Alexander Wang £635

Reed Krakoff £750

Stella McCartney £635

Shopping:

1. Valhalla
2. Sara Berman
3. Marni
4. Alexander Wang

5. Reed Krakoff
6. Stella McCartney

A new year with purpose.

Obviously I’m not a serious blogger, because if I was I’d be keeping to a more regular posting schedule. I expect any readers that may pop by also read a regular roster of other blogs – I know that I do! Lots of blogs have posted their goals for the new year, some citing this is because resolutions have a negative aspect them. Whatever, I can argue it either way, show me the positive goal and I can show you the actual resolution. I’m old fashioned sometimes, I do resolutions.

#1 Live with more purpose / stop procrastinating

#2 Take better care of myself / eat better & exercise (the classic)

#3 Grow up & start acting like the adult that I am

#4 Accept that I’m not a superstar & can’t afford to live like one – but can still do it with style

These are the major overarching resolutions; there are lots of littler ones that sit underneath each of them. I’m trying to use these to put things into action. So far I’m making good progress on numbers three and four.

Source: Same Hill Different Day, Paul Octavious