Corsair Bay

I've had a few days off my 60-hour week for Christmas, and have thoroughly enjoyed doing nothing. We don't get much into the traditional festivities in our household; just lots of beer, lots of lying around in the shade and lots of barbeques. Today Will and I decided we should probably do something vaguely useful with ourselves, so hopped in the car to traverse the tunnel to visit a favourite swimming spot. It was a little crowded due to today being one of the warmest days of the year, but beautiful nevertheless.







(Wearing a 1950s swimsuit from Margot's mum's dress-up box, thrifted skirt, thrifted leather backpack, sunglasses from a market in Hanoi, Trademe t-bars and boater that was a gift)

Can you tell how much I love this skirt? I wear it far too often, definitely the best 50 cents I've spent in recent years. I managed to cram a picnic and sunscreen and all the necessary supplies into my roomy leather backpack, although we tragically forgot the beers :( you can't win 'em all huh. Also, our family have a horrible hereditary trait whereby we have ginormous heads, and can't fit most hats. In fact, for my brother's graduation a fortnight ago, they had to custom-order him one that was huge enough to stay on. Thankfully I've figured out the perfect ribbon system to keep my boater on despite the ocean breeze, but I learned my lesson the hard way through losing it over the side of a bus in Singapore once.

I guess because of my insane work schedule this will be my last blog post for this year. 2011 has been pretty shit in a lot of ways, but I feel super optimistic about next year and everything it has to offer me. I wanna say thanks to all the amazing ladies I've had the privilege to meet through the medium of blogging- Ayesha, Camelia, Helga and Laurel. I hope Wellington has such an awesome network of badass bloggers, because I'm sure gonna miss you guys. Thanks so much to everyone who's left us comments and supported our little blog this year, and even though next year we'll be updating from different sides of the Strait, I've made a resolution to put more time and effort into blogging. So I'll see you all then.

Summer holiday

I'm leaving tomorrow to go on holiday for just over a week and have acquired some lovely (but cheap and cheerful!)  additions to my summer holiday suitcase.

flat platforms - Number One shoes, $40 on sale

sandals - Rubi shoes, $10 on sale

 

retro-print playsuit - Glassons, $25 on sale                              tie-dyed raw silk top - a school fair, 50c

flowy bow singlet - Valleygirl, $30

silky-feel boxer shorts - Valleygirl, $16 on sale

Merry Christmas to all our followers!

Teenage bedroom

A few photos of my rearranged and reorganized bedroom and a few new acquisitions. I am developing a strong love for the colour orange. I have recently acquired a new 50mm lens so expect photos of summer adventures and such soon!

DIY: clothes rack

My father and I recently built this freestanding clothes rack, and it was relatively easy and only took about half a day! We made it using some spare wood, castor wheels, nails, paint and and an old curtain rod.

There are 4 parts:

the base - this piece should be quite wide. It goes across the bottom of the rack.

the support-y balance-y bits - 2 pieces that help balance the rack, attached sideways to the base piece. The four castor wheels are attached to these.

the sides - 2 thinner pieces that go up the sides and hold the rod.

the rod - a metal or wooden thin (preferably cylindrical, but it doesn't really matter) piece that goes along the top and the clothes hang from it.

We cut the wood and rod into the right length first (the rack is about 1.5 x 1.75m, but you can alter this to suit you) and my father drilled a hole for the rod at the top of the piece at each end using a drill bit a little bigger than the rod (the layers of paint add a few millimeters).

 step one: sanding

You have to do A LOT of this. Make sure to get the edges nice and smooth.

 

 step two: attach all the wood pieces together

Use a drill and nails. My father did this part (so essentially he built it, not me). Make it strong and stuff.

 step three: paint it (optional)

I used two coats of primer and then a creamy colour.

step four: attach the castor wheels

then slide in the rod and then you're done!

 

skirt & shirt - thrifted

dress - Glassons

piano bag from China

Use this tutorial as a basic guideline to building your own clothes rack and have fun!

As I mentioned in my last post, I had the absolute pleasure of styling a little shoot in the beautiful weather on Saturday for Johanna Macdonald, and I had so much fun doing it. I sort of just stuffed my backpack with misc clothes and it all came together nicely, and Rebecca was so much fun too. She sorta reminds me of Florence Welch crossed with someone from a Mucha print, giving us lots of inspiration for future photo adventures. I love dressing up pretty girls; I wish I could make a career out of it, but I guess every blogger does. Sigh, onto the pictures.


(Behind the scenes!)






Photography: Johanna Macdonald Photography
Model: Rebecca D @ Portfolio
Styling: Georgia Rose~~~

Feel free to share them anywhere, as long as they're appropriately credited!

Cartography

Today I last-minute-styled a little photoshoot for Johanna Macdonald, the results of which will be posted here in due time. However, Jo was also kind enough to take some outfit photos for me in my amazing map-print dress made by Ella from my last post.





(Wearing a dress made by Ella, Goldenponies shoes, Datter arrow necklace and a thrifted belt)

Amazing right? Jo is so talented, I feel so privileged to get to work with her.

Mega-blog!

Ah, sorry for not blogging properly for so long. I've been super busy- I finished uni exams without too much stress, then hopped a plane to Wellington to go see my new fella and take a little road trip around the North Island with some of his friends. I didn't get a chance to take many photos, but rest assured it was a beautiful trip with plenty of beaches, beer and de Beauvoir.





(This is said fella. His name's Jack.)

Then I got back, and got back to the monotony of full-time work. I've had the same job making jewellery since I was 13, and am beginning to get a little sick of it. But thankfully I have the amazing local bloggers Helga and Brodie to make my life a little more exciting. Yesterday we jumped in the car (after some bubbly to take the edge off) and perused a few local thrift stores in search of gold. I didn't buy anything due to my laughable attempt to downsize, but Helga and Brodie scored some gems. We had to stop on the way for some photos, of course.







I was wearing a 1950s bird-print dress from Etsy, which there are better pictures of at Helga's blog. It's so, so nice to hang out with other ladies who understand the ins and outs of blogging and don't think it's weird when I say suggest we stop the car in some abandoned stockyards for a little photoshoot. They are two of the loveliest and most stylish ladies I've had the pleasure to meet lately, and I had such a riot with them.

Aaaaand now for a proper outfit post. Phew.



(Wearing a dress made by Ella, a belt from Margot, shoes from Emporium Vintage, bag from Two Squirrels Vintage, and ancient, peeling sunglasses from a market in Hanoi)

So remember how me and Christie and Margot had a garage sale the other week? I met a girl named Ella there, who seems to be my kindred spirit in weirdo novelty prints. Much to my good luck she's moving to Paris soon (!), so is trying to downsize her wardrobe. From her I've acquired two amazing dresses that she's made herself from craft fabrics- this one, featuring a girl watering her garden on the bodice and a floral skirt, and a map-print one that is just as beautiful. To punish myself for getting two new dresses, I added another four from my own wardrobe into my 'to sell' pile, which is growing massiver by the day. If anyone wants to come and pick through it, you're welcome to!

Oh, and I also had the pleasure of meeting Ayesha who runs Love Vintage at a party the other night, she was adorable and a total sweetheart too.