Scents & Sensibility.

Do you have a “signature scent”? I am currently perfume shopping, online & “blind” – that is, scent un-sniffed. That means I have only three things to go on, memory, online reviews &, probably the most unpredictable of clues, the perfume bottle.

I have no perfume at all at the moment. I was given “Red Door” for Christmas by the Mother in Law – she was under this misguided impression that I liked it & wanted to smell like a nursing home. I did try it, hoping perhaps that it would go through some sort of magnificent metamorphosis on my skin, but to no avail. I smelt just as I assumed I would smell, like I was on my way to bingo after stopping off at the Doctor to whinge about my latest ailment & how my grown up children never call me.

I used to have a signature scent – I guess simply be default of not having one since I could still claim it; Hypnotic Poison by Christian Dior. It was the first proper perfume I ever had, given to my for Valentines Day when my darling was still romantic. I cringed at the bottle – to me it’s not at all pretty, & was unsure of the strong heady smell upon opening, but on my skin… wow. I felt like a beautiful Disney Villain. An enchantress. It’s an amazing scent & I replaced that bottle many times before venturing over (probably due to economy or opportunity) to Anna Sui – apparently so forgettable that I couldn’t even venture a description for you now. Then, somehow, I wound up in the world of niche perfume oils by way of The Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.

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With scents inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Halloween & generally Gothic themes, BPAL is not your usual perfume. I was, as I am prone to get, obsessed for a while, with obtaining tiny little “imps” of oil – 1ml vials that could cost anywhere from $2 re-sold to… well, to prices I will not tell you I was willing to pay. Just when I was at my most BPAL obsessed, I became pregnant with Punk & with the change in hormones came either a change in my skin chemistry or the way I smelt the oils because suddenly I could barely stand any of it. In an impulsive fit, similar to the one that saw me get rid of my beloved collection of Frankie magazines, I sold off most of my BPAL & resigned myself to smelling of nothing but deodorant & baby puke for the rest of my days.

But now, I have a hankering from some pretty scents. I want something fun to wear out when I’m in Sydney with my besties for my Birthday dinner & I want something light for the days soon approaching when the sun is out & the air is warm & I certainly want some Hypnotic Poison, if I can find it cheap enough, so I am trawling online resources like basenotes.net for reviews of scents & decanters like The Perfumed Court & The Posh Peasant for samples of things that sound intriguing. I must have a sample of Bvlgari Black – I can simply not get my head around a scent involving rubber & still smelling good.

…& I *may* have already ordered something purely for the bottle. Even if it smells terrible – these are TOO cute to pass up.

Oh Joan.

If you’ve been anywhere near my Twitter feed in the last few weeks you’ll know that I am absolutely INFATUATED with Joan Holloway of Mad Men. Not the actress who plays her mind, although I’m sure Christina Hendricks is as lovely as she is beautiful, but, like I prefer Captain Jack Sparrow to Johnny Depp (…not that I’d say no!), I would rather chat to Joan by the photocopier than spy Christina hurrying out of Starbucks.

There is a lot to love about Joan; her impeccable style & charisma, her way with an piano accordion, her formidable undergarments… I think we all – especially those of us with “curves” (I am optimistically embracing “curves” in lieu of “lumps” or “bumps” – I can but wish I had “curves” like Joan…) – could benefit from a little Joan Holloway in our everyday lives.

60’s inspired gold-tone pen necklace from 1928.

The Joanie Dress from Pin Up Girl Clothing.

Vintage Sunburst brooch from Etsy.

Seamed stay-ups from Agent Provocateur.

I wonder what I’d look like with red hair…..?

Retail Therapy.

Yesterday we were in town for some veggie buying & sushi eating when I remembered about Borders closing down. We moseyed over & found the cupboard almost bare as they are in their last days, with everything at least 60% off & even the fixtures for sale.

I was sad that they were closing but cannot deny that my heart beat a little faster in anticipation of snagging a bargain… if only there were something decent left to buy!

There was. For me anyway. On a table at the front were these gems, usually $19.95 but reduced to just $3 each. I had one once but that was many moves ago – now I have the whole sassy set three. When linking I just saw there are two more! Doh!

I high-tailed it to the craft section but it was decimated. The only craft book left, without a word of a lie, was a knitting book for men (as in, Men; Knit stuff! as opposed to Men; Knit things for them!). Dejected I set about circling the store’s scant remains, hoping to come across something, anything, I could herald as a bargain… (…lucky I don’t get out to shopping centres much these days, any spare cash at all burns a hole in my pocket, especially when there is a sale on – I am a retailer’s dream….)

Cook books – gone.

Gardening books – gone.

Kid’s books – super gone.

Dvds – gone.

Cds – gone.

I ended up at the front of the store again in front of a bunch of Young Adult books. I saw something pink & floral, something that I thought had “…for girls of slender Mums…” as the subtitle, & I picked it up anyway.

Bingo.

A quirky & cute craft book, with skirts, bags & dresses to make! The title, in actuality, is Lovely Things to Make for Girls of Slender Means, which is me to a tee (…just as well it was about money & not girth…).

Truth be told, I bought it without really looking at it, so excited was I to find any kind of decent looking craft book at all, but when I got home I perused it more & even googled it; then I found that my bloggy mate Jennie had reviewed it! She’s done a much more thorough job than I would ever do, so go there if you’d like to know more, but I was doubly chuffed to find that someone who’s sewing skills are much better than mine thought my bargain book was a good’un too!

Paper Giants

 

The story of Ita Buttrose, Kerry Packer, Jack Thompson stripping off & the birth of Cleo?

Did you watch it? Did you love it? I watched it. I loved it. Except for Ita’s lisp. I could have done without that… but everything else was great. If you missed it you can watch it here.

If you did watch it & you did love it, you may, like me, be coveting all things 70s? Asher Keddie’s wardrobe as Ita was a-ma-zing; & if I ever get the chance to frolic in the ABC’s props department I will be in seventh heaven – the sets were so very accurate right down to the biscuit tins!

Let’s shop the 70s, shall we?

First we need some wheels…

…then some heels…

Some funky shades;

A velvet dress!

Kitchen ware…

…not forgetting the fondue set…

…and a nice phone for making important calls to the office.

Oh I could go on… and I very well may.

Mmmhmmm. Uhuh!

Goodies, goodies, goodies!

Sometimes I forget to share some opshop goodies with you because I end up posting about something else, and I’m not quite sure if there is an etiquette to posting about recent oppy finds – how recent is recent? Is last week too long ago…? Do you really care what I picked up three weeks ago Tuesday?!

I’ve included one of these lost items in my recent treasures for your perusal, because it may very well be my favourite find so far this year.

Yesterday we had a brief fossick in the local oppies before lunch, and found some lovely things, a gorgeous BRIGHT ORANGE enamel pot $3, some sweet enamel cups that will be perfect for tea when camping $1, some elephant planters that I was considering painting but their cuteness has grown on me $2 & a massive pile of books I actually want to read that came in the form of a $5 bag worth.

The red party-ware was a weekend find when, dismayed with the dismal offerings at the Garage Sales, we went for a morning shop at the only oppy that’s open on Saturday. (Speaking of Saturday – Punky and I had the BEST time last Saturday, we did the garage sale rounds, had hotcakes & banana bread [ …and chai…] at MickeyD’s, went to the park, went to the oppy, had a yummy lunch & went to the pool for the afternoon… so much fun & one tuckered out little Punk…!)

Now for the little something I found a few weeks ago at an oppy about 30 mins away, for $2.

Isn’t it divine?! On the bottom it says ‘Thermo Top’ (It is a thermal jug) ‘Made In Western Germany’ & I can’t find out anything else about it – except that I love it to pieces. There is a method to my madness with regard to all the red kitchenware, I have big plans for our kitchen renovations, whenever they may be, and red kitschy goodness will feature throughout.

What manner of treasures have you unearthed lately? I’d love to hear about them, so would everyone hanging out with Sophie this week for Flea Market Finds!

Christmas Shopping & Then Some….

I am pretty sure that most of my Christmas shopping is now complete… I hope so anyway – it remains to be seen whether everything I’ve ordered from Etsy arrives in time to be posted off to everyone…!

While shopping for others, I inevitably found things that I myself just COULD NOT live without, and had no choice but to buy for myself; I know Mr Handmade-hater isn’t going to be getting me any lovely Etsy goodies, and Santa is awfully busy this time of year….

My most exciting purchase has been these boots on Sunday – Oh I can’t wait for them to get here! They were SUCH a bargain too - $45 US with free shipping. Free Shipping! From America! Gotta love that.

I was also checking my mailbox hourly for this & was finally rewarded yesterday afternoon!

I bought it along with some other gifties from this shop (I super highly massively recommend – everything came packaged beautifully & professionally & she customised it all & had it shipped out very fast, & she obviously has a grand sense of humour!) – I have been wearing it since I opened the envelope – it has a pleasant tinnie jangle when I move & it makes me smile every time I look at it. It’s a quote from Salad Fingers – probably the creepiest cartoon I have ever seen. Episode one not so much, but from there…. *shiver* It’s funny in that “it’s really weird & I don’t quite know why I like it” kind of way.

 

Seems I’ve been on a bit of a spending spree – Don’t tell you know who! Look at this very happy mail I also got yesterday on the way out to the Post Office;

Every issue of thaw zine & a sweet little handmade Chrissie ornament! I’ve as yet only had a chance to flick through but I can see some quality reading in my future. I was compelled to purchase these… and a subscription… because Jodie’s daughter is the cover girl on the latest issue & she was nice enough to tell us all about it. It’s cool because it’s based in Ballarat which is not all that far from here (we had an opshopping excursion there a wee while ago) & is new & fresh & interesting. It’s got cute “if only I were 18 again & all pretty & waif like” fashion spreads in it too.

 

It’s also cool because lovely Jodie had an adorable softie, Rocket the elephant (look at his braces!), up for grabs if you bought a copy of the latest issue – and I won him! I’m going to keep him for Le Punk’s birthday, she will adore him!

Why yes. As a matter of fact I have been Opshopping.

Again.

Thanks for noticing.

• Black Samsonite suitcase, MOST EXCELLENT condition, WITH KEYS....! $3. Sorry about the shouting, but this was the exciting find. The other oppy has crudalicious ones without the keys for $5. When I asked how much this was & the lady said $3 I paid for it immediately lest someone else come running out to tell her off.....
• Set of 4 vintage yellow glasses (I don't know what happens to them but we seem to never have any glasses, no matter how many I buy. Spoons are the same. Sporks though... sporks I have more of than will fit in the drawer....!) 50 cents each.
• GORGEOUS wee white candle holders, I love these. I'm not usually one for candles, or candle holders, but these are very pretty & they felt lovely when I picked them up so I just had to buy them. $1 each.
• Little owl toothpick holder. I have little plans for him.... 50 cents.
• 2 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books. Just because they were there. 10 cents each.

Op Shop Goodies....

Right. So. Yesterday, I got straight out of bed & got dressed - let me tell you just how weird that felt... I never do that. I tumble out of bed & shmooze over to the heater, turn it on full blast & watch cartoons with Le Punk for 5 minutes while the room heats up, then toddle into the kitchen to make coffee & toast.

Some days, I don't even make it out of my PJs.

But yesterday, to steal a line from Charlie & Lola's Lola; "I absolutely positively did." And it made a massive, surprising difference to how I felt. I felt like "Okay - what now?!" with energy & zest, as opposed to "Ugh... what now??" ....does that make sense to anybody else...?

Since it was The Boy's day off, I left he & Le Punk to have their cherished Father Daughter time & took of down the street on my bike to peruse the oppies.

Unfortunately, upon my return, my sink no longer sparkled, but my disappointment was offset by the goodies I found;




So, we have a blue Pyrex dish with scalloped edges, an ADORABLE handmade blue panelled half apron with pockets, a teacup (to make a pincushion out of... more on that later...), some books I was surprised to find (our oppies are goldmines of Sidney Sheldon & Jackie Collins, but not much else...), including 'The complete self sufficiency handbook" for The Boy, and this gorgeous little set;




How CUTE! As much as I want to keep the sweet oven mitt & pot holder for myself, I've decided to put them away to go with Punky's birthday kitchen - two less things I have to make, and probably much cuter than I could do anywho.

Also, this footstool, a whopping $2, and old case, with keys & all, also $2;




You may be wondering about that thing behind the case & stool... well... that was another purchase, but I'm doing a little sumpin sumpin with it that should be ready later today, so I'll show you then! ;)

Thursday Road Trip; Sushi & Camels....

We ventured out of our town today on a mini-road trip, pretty much exclusively to have sushi for lunch. It is a sad state of affairs, but our town does nae have sushi, and yeah, I know I can make it, but I've tried & pretty much failed at that, and it's just not the same.

Punky loves sushi. From when she first started on solids she's had sushi, and I'm pretty sure she's missed it as much as I have since our move to no-sushi-land, so today was greatly enjoyed by all (..but especially by Le Punk!).

After a massive sushi pig out & a spot of window shopping in the shopping centre we were off again, and Punky was ready for a nap....

A quick stop in at a massive hardware store (The Boy needed potting mix & I needed spray paint... lovely, lovely, cherry red spray paint....) & we headed home. Deciding on an alternate route to the usual however was a lovely variation... The road has been christened "The Horse Poo Highway" by locals because every second property has bags of the stuff piled up in their driveway with signs saying "$1.50 A BAG!". I know that doesn't sound like a particularly scenic route... but it is actually, lots of farms & green acres, but the unexpectedly delightful thing we came across was....

Camels!!! Cute & different they may be, but as I discovered when I wound down the window for some pics... they also smell very (very) bad...!

Tiring Tuesday.

I am tired & my back is sore & although I've got a fair bit done today in the cooking & crafting stakes, I'm too tired to even think about finding my camera, taking photos, plugging the camera in to the computer, uploading the photos & yadda yadda yadda.

Instead I've been vegging out in front of the computer while Punky & her Daddy contemplate ice cream in front of the heater.

I am desperately awaiting two Japanese felt food pattern books at the moment, I've put a cute little wooden kitchen away for Punky's birthday & intend to make a lot of yummy things for it between now & early next year, but in the meantime I have found some delicious food inspired delights on Etsy;