Another Item I cannot buy!

I love this jacket. I was with my MIL and I took her to Anthropologie. She needs an entire new wardrobe of clothes. She had never shopped at Anthropologie before (?!) - usually shops at Ann Taylor Loft and Macy's. My MIL was amazed at the beauty of the clothes (and cost). Here's a jacket I tried on that looked amazing on, and fit me perfectly! Alas, no, I'm not buying it. Of course. Maybe in 6 months it will go on sale?! It looks like one of those pieces that is not everyone's taste. It is however completely my style. And maybe if its still there when my Mum visits in February, she'll love it and take pity on her daughter. Heheh. I love my Mum! And miss her greatly.

Voluntarily tagged.

This was a "if you haven't been tagged"... And I haven't done this before. So here goes:-


8 Things I Am Passionate About (in no particular order)
1. My husband and closest friends
2. Tea with scones
3. the beach
4. Style. (Not fashion in particular)
5. Classical music
6. Europe/european style
7. Art
8. Relaxing with my friends at the beach and laughing until we're crying

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die (in no particular order)
1. do a roadtrip around Australia in a campervan.
2. Visit Paris for a good amount of time with my husband
3. Live in New Zealand for 6 months to a year
4. Get to know myself better. I'm still figuring it out. I'm young, give me a break:)
5. Be true to myself
6. Read the entire bible. And understand it better/study it more. Hey, I'm being honest here:)
7. Live reasonably close to all my family at one time, including my friends Miss R, Smith & Smith, Miss M and Q&A.
8. Go snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef
9. (because I can) - go to New York with Miss R.

8 Things I Say Often (in no particular order)
1. Gotcha!
2. No worries
3. How're ya going?
4. She'll be right
5. Yeah, I reckon
6. Now you're talking turkey
7. Whatever (said "whateva")
8. At the end of the day...

8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over (in no particular order)
1. No Surprises, Radiohead
2. The drugs don't work, The Verve
3. Don't Dream its Over, Crowded House
4. Across the Universe, The Beatles
5. I want you, Elvis Costello
6. I wanna be sedated, The Ramones
7. Djoba Djoba, Gypsy Kings
8. If I ever leave this world alive, Flogging Molly

8 Things That Attract Me to My Best Friends (in no particular order)
1. Sincerity
2. Ability to laugh at themselves
3. Humour!!! Laughing at everything and anything. Sense of humour is a big goer in our inner circle.
4. My friends are all kind and generous people.
5. Having similar interests! Most of my friends are pretty stylish kids - although its not the most important thing to them. We all love having a good time and doing weird wacky things together. We all seem to have a big love of music. Often playing instruments together, or seeing bands together. We all love curry! And a good coffee!
6. They're all go-getters and love life. All of my friends have travelled the world.
7. Its a mutual admiration society. I admire my friends for who they are as people. They're people with strong values.
8. They're all damn good looking.

The long & winding road

I've had a hectic and somewhat sad last week. Hence my lack of writing. My little brother has had some major family problems, which sadden a sister the other side of the world. I haven't felt like writing or sharing much. Anyway! Its a new week:)

At the moment I'm reading "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran which I'm enjoying immensely. This is a very well written novel which I'm totally engrossed in. I feel totally caught up in the story and as if I'm somehow related to Oskar - or am a friend of his.

Today, as we all know, its voting day. It is CRAZY here in the States. I think Americans have really fought for their rights here. They are big into politics. Living in America is such a change to living in a country like Australia. I once read in a Bill Bryson novel that in Australia the Priminister could walk down the main street in a city and people wouldn't care too much. Its such a different culture. I constantly feel surprised about the rallying for Prop 8/11 etc, politics is all that is on the tv & radio - and people talking about politics constantly. People even asking me who I'm voting for?! Its just different. Which I respect. You can't move to another country and not expect there to be some major differences. Politics is a big deal here!

So ya wanna Texturize?!

The last few days I have been stressing over nothing. Recently I have noticed my hair feeling “thinner”. The last couple of days I was thinking about how that could be. How could it suddenly feel softer and not as thick. I’ve always had very thick, wavy hair.

I went through every possible cause: hormones, change in diet.
Nothing drastic has changed.

At 11pm I text my hairdresser (and friend) and told her the situation. She said that hairdressers “texturize” hair and it makes it thinner. The last year hairdressers have been “texturizing” my hair. I’ve finally found a hairdresser I like, but have been through a few. I also have not been using hot tools to style my hair, in an effort to reduce split ends. And haven’t dyed my hair in about 4 months. I’m going through the painful task of growing my hair out to its natural colour, which no-one has seen in over a decade. Dark blond. I’ve had variations of browns over the years. Its coming right through now and looking very light! It looks fine, but I’m sure I’ll need to start pinning my hair all back for a while. All these things, my hairdresser said, contribute to it being shinier, softer and not as thick.

So I’m feeling a lot better about my hair. I have always liked my hair, I admit it. Its thick, shiny and although I often get bad hair days – if I give it some time, it behaves easily. There’s something about ourselves we all like. For me, its my hair. And I would be devastated if it started falling out. I’ll just have to tell hairdressers to stop texturizing!!!

Salsa!

The weekend was lovely. Sunny with a little chill in the air. Saturday my friends A & D and I walked the dog through the back streets of a cute neighborhood nearby. That night we went out for dinner then hung out with friends. The next day my husband was in a bad mood. Egh. I hate that on the weekend. But I can't complain, it doesn't happen too often. And I understood why. Nothing was going his way that day. The odds were against him:) But that afternoon we went to the yoghurt shop together, got some fun yoghurt and ate it as we walked by the beach. That night we went over to a new friend's house for dinner. They invited us and another couple. We ate pasta, all got along splendidly and later went salsa dancing.

Any of you reading this who know my husband know he doesn't like to dance. Well, we did the lesson and then danced. He had a long island iced tea first to loosen up. We were cracking up laughing on the dance floor. We had such a good time laughing at each other. After my friends were saying "where were you guys, we know you were on the dance floor, but couldn't see you". Well, that was on purpose. We didn't want to be seen! There were so many good dancers out that evening!

What I have learned about bright tights...

I love bright tights, tights with busy patterns. Tights are one of the delightful things about the cooler weather that get me excited for the months ahead.

I know I mentioned already that I'm wearing my yellow, mustardy tights. Along with navy vintage grandpa sweater, black flat ballet shoes and shortish black pleated skirt.

At lunch, I'm walking around, book in one hand, satchel on the arm. I got so many looks and stares at my tights it was funny. I came to realise, you have to be pretty confident to wear/pull off a pair of tights like these. I admit, I felt a little smug walking around... receiving looks for my bold number. People weren't looking at "me" - it was the tights they were looking at.

Usually to work I'll wear a teeshirt, jeans and running shoes. But once in a while I like to wear something that expresses who I am and what I actually "like" (as opposed to cold, hard comfort). A couple of weeks ago I walked past starbucks and this young wippersnapper of a guy says to me "lady... i like your style". I turned around to see a young man in his late teens. I felt like saying "thanks sonny jim. I'm about a decade older than you, but am thankful for the appreciation".

I live in the kind of place where everyone wears the same thing. Its either all out comfort or the usual wedge shoes/tight jeans with diamonte's and tight tank top. Wearing things a little different style-wise gets the locals raising their furry little eyebrows.

Amen.

For Winter..

Sweater Dresses. I am not sure what shape would be flattering... something with a waist probably. What do you think of this one? ok? or a bit blah?