Butter and Buntings Handmade Dress Swap

Hi.

Have you heard about the Butter and Buntings Handmade Dress Swap? 

Click the link to find out more if you fancy joining in.

(and please don't be put-off if you're a beginner sewer like me - there are lots of lovely straight and easy frocks to sew and wear that just require a seam or two)*

I'm thinking something like this**

vintage Simplicity, 1967 (thanks Tania)

would look lovely on just about any body.

A-line and honkin' big patch pockets! You like?

I hope my swap partner will.

If you join in it could be you!

(which might not necessarily be a good thing ;) Promise to do my best though)

x 

* or four.

** but then again I might run up something completely different. I'm loving that loose, relaxed, voluminous Japanese aesthetic - frocks you can "wear with freedom", a lot at the moment...

  

More of me bunging pictures up just to keep my hand in round here...

I've wanted to show-off my beautiful peachy Sonia Rykiel frock since I found it in an op-shop last year. I had one little problemo though, and that was getting a photo of me wearing it where I didn't look:

miserable
scary
on something
like I had a stick shoved up my ar**
  "  a rabbit caught in the headlights
etc. (you get the gist)

I've decided to go with what I've got (well the best (ahem!) of a very bad bunch anyway) because when it comes to posing the harder I try the worse 'they' get (seriously I don't know what's wrong with me??? What am I going to do when if the girlies get married? I'll completely wreck their wedding photos and they'll hate me! I'm just useless in front of the camera - there's NO denying it!)

Anyroad "beggers can't be choosers", Sonia deserves an airing. Especially a five dollar Sonia! (although I paid for alterations I'd still call that a screaming bargain wouldn't you?) Just remember to look at the frock not the dork wearing it.

Poetry in motion???

This is one of my better snaps

Hang on, scratch that, this one's much better!

Mouth like a cat's bum. Told ya!

If only I had the grace and charm of this beautiful and inspirational woman

image via

Eileen Kramer

(did you catch her doco last night on Compass? Must watch viewing!)

Hopefully one day I will...

a girl can only dream.

(especially one like me)

x

 
   


  

Hi.

(Obviously) I haven't been here for quite a while, but if I try to explain the reasons behind my absence (all of them as boring as bat sh** anyway) I'll give up before I get started.
So I'm just going to...get started!
If I come up with a half-way decent post of (almost) any description I'll be happy and if I don't...well, you'll never ever know, will you? That's the beauty of this gig. Ha!

You wouldn't believe how many times I've begun this post!
Deciding to take my blog out of the too hard basket was easy. Finding the words and actually doing it? Harder than it looks.

Didn't I just say I was going to get started?

Seriously!

Here goes... 

nothing?!

Prepare to be underwhelmed.

After that sucky intro please forgive me if I just bung a few photos up. These were taken on the Labour Day long weekend (last weekend here in the West cause we like to do things differently here!) in Bunbury (home of the awesome Marlston Hill Lookout Tower.  Remember?). 

We stayed at the Lighthouse Inn, built in 1976.

Although parts of it have been renovated we stayed in an original - apart from a lick of paint and a few new tacky prints hanging on the walls, retro-ish room. The bathroom had a feature tile which I got very excited about 

the other tiles aren't too shabby either. 

(my best friend at the time had these in purple in her bathroom)

I was 14 in 1979! That year we all wore 150th Anniversary pins (stylised swans) on the lapels of our blazers to school. We thought we were pretty bloody special which is completely lame, but quite sweet too when I (you?) think about it.

1979, such a long time ago, but it feels like yesterday really...

Granite feature walls are a big deal at the Lighthouse Inn. I think they are gorgeous.

Speaking of granite walls, check out this baby!

These steps lead up to a completely under-utilised viewing deck

it would be a spectacular place to sip a drinky-poo or two! That's the direction I'd be heading in if I was the owner...

More granite just outside our hotel room.
(and me posing losering. Same big dag I was in '79 - back when I thought lapel pins were the shizz)

This was the view from our room

Honestly, open the sliding glass door, cross that little road and you're there! In heaven (again).

Lighthouse Inn even has it's very own, mini lighthouse!

Cute eh?

And now for something completely different architecture-wise

(this is just one of many awesome buildings in Bunbury that had us oohing and ahhing. Click this link to St Boniface Cathedral - it had us (me) drooling too)

This is the entrance to Darkroom Concept.

Located in the former Lyric Theatre on Victoria Street, Darkroom Concept is a shop that (to quote their website) doesn't sell anything "lame or wanky"!

Nothing for me then! 

The Lyric Theatre was built in 1905 but remodelled in 1937 - which accounts for its beautiful art deco facade.

I was a bit iffy about going inside because I knew it was going to be one of those places where I'd feel just like I did at fourteen (awkward, uncomfortable and here's that word again, daggy!).

I'm so glad I manned up, got over myself and went inside because it was amazing. 

Anth reckons these signs aren't original (I was too much of a chicken to ask!) but even if they're not, I still think they're lovely.

It was very hard not too. Loiter.

Another really bad photo of me to add to the archives to end. Sour puss? More like "quick Anth, take a photo before they see!" (they were very nice actually)

Fin until next time. If there is a next time...and thanks for reading. I know the photos aren't the best and the writing is lousy. I aim to improve as I go along.  x

p.s. do you like my Oroton handbag? I found it on the side of the road during our council verge collection last year! The beautiful things people throw away! Crazy!

 

Holiday Snaps

Here are some pics from our recent Summer hols holiday in Albany.

a bit like an old-fashioned slideshow at the rellies - and probably just as boring. You've been warned.

Albany is a 4.5 hour drive South of Perth. 416 "clicks" to be precise. It is the oldest permanently settled town in Western Australia and my idea of heaven. It ticks all my holiday boxes (and my non-holiday boxes too). There's only one bad thing about a holiday in Albany and that's knowing it's a holiday and not a more permanent arrangement.

I could go on and on (and on!) about why I love Albany so much, but this is meant to be a slideshow not a word fest so I'll shut-up and get on with it.

Here I am in heaven on Middleton Beach,

(showing a bit too much leg, me thinks...)

and here's Anth in heaven on Middleton Beach

(wearing a pair of boardies I made from an old barkcloth curtain).

Here I am with a new doggy friend I.H.O.M.B.(!)

(sadly our own little pooch, the Jedster, isn't quite up to the 6 km return walk from Middleton Beach to Emu Point these days. His heart is willing but those little old legs of his just aren't up to it anymore. Sniff!)

Here is the house we stayed in while we were there

a 60's brick veneer - pity about the render, but it had a cool front door

and drawers full of vintage board games, including Anthony's childhood fave

(needless to say I whipped his sorry board-game-playing arse!)

Grand old buildings (practically ancient by Australian standards) are everywhere in Albany, like the Courthouse (1895-96) - check out its arched doorway

isn't it magnificent?! Imagine the hard yakka that went into its construction...and there are two of them! One slightly smaller than the other, both constructed of Albany granite.

and St John's Anglican Church 

consecrated in 1848 (the oldest consecrated church in Western Australia), just to give you a couple of examples, but as much as I respect these beautiful old buildings (and I do, I really do) you know what really get's me going architecture-wise don't you???

Yep! Buildings like this one

Modernist beach shack  - a few doors down from 'our' place.

There are heaps of them in Albany! From humble fibro beach shacks to places you'd need to part with serious dollars to own - Albany is chokkas with Modernist architecture! Breeze blocks, skillion roofs, flat roofs, wrought iron screen doors and house names, concrete swans aplenty! Every time we're there we find new houses to covet/lust over. Do I need to continue? 
  
(did I mention I was in heaven already?)

Feast your eyes on these beauties!

(just a smidge of what I could've taken - my photo taking got a bit ridic actually - my demands to "stop the car!" started to wear thin pretty quickly. 'They' wanted to stop the car and throw me out of it! A ten minute walk to the beach took 45 - you know what I mean...
My photos are not that crash-hot either - this year I need to get a proper camera and...learn how to use it!)

I love the concrete structure that supports the front stairs.

And this one,

this one is for sale!

Here's a photo from it's real estate listing

which you should definitely check out. The views, et al!
...and while you're there, you must (please, I insist!) check out this listing too.

Okay well I think it's (high!) time I called a halt to the proceedings - it's been a very long post.
You'll be relieved to know I'm saving the awesome John. A. Barnsbey Brutalist Lookout Tower for another time ;)
(actually it deserves a post of its own - you know how I feel about Brutalist lookout towers, don't you?!)

Thanks so much for reading

I really appreciate it x

p.s. here are a couple of links you might find interesting/useful:

http://www.amazingalbany.com.au/

http://www.stayz.com.au/accommodation/wa/great-southern/albany/163216
This is where we stayed. Clean, comfy and pet friendly! Not easy to find here in W.A. I'm talking pet friendly here - not clean and comfy ;)

    

Love and Other Catastrophes

These photos (and coincidentally the stills on our telly) tell a story, so I'll let them do (most of) the talking.

p.s. it's a little bit sad - keep your tissues handy ;)

All is good in my little world. The house is clean and sparkling (I'm a Virgo - I love clean and sparkling) Annie (Betty Hutton) and Frank (Howard Keel)* are in love. I'm happy.

Storm clouds gathering...

An omen of dastardly things to come???

Oh Annie! I'm about to feel your pain! 

If I knew this was going to be our last few minutes together, I would've held you closer and said goodbye properly...

Noooooooo!!!

Bye bye Bitossi. Sob! Bye bye blue rimini! Sniff!

A memento of carefree, happier days

R.I.P.

We had ten good years together. I loved you!

* Annie Get Your Gun 1950