The Happy Book

Hello lovelies,

So, I was feeling a little down today because my cat still isn't home from hospital. Apparently he's all better, but they just can't get him to eat. Boo. Long story short, rather than wallow in my misery, I decided to do something I've been meaning to do for a while now - start a "Happy Book". A few months ago I went through a really bad patch where I spent most of my time crying or laying in bed. Ultimately, I spoke to a psychologist and decided to come up with ideas/ways to get better, and if possible, to never end up in that situation again. One of these ideas was the Happy Book. Basically, I want to fill it up full of things that make me smile. I plan to add a few more pages every week, and then put it aside to flip through whenever I start feeling sad. At the moment it looks a little like a cross between a teenagers journal and a lookbook. Which is exactly what I was going for, of course.

The front cover - I got these Emily The Strange name stickers free from an awesome magazine (which has since gone out of business) back in my early teens. Leopard print notebook was $2.99 from Crazy Clarks.

Page One, how exciting. Crazy dog picture was cut from the same awesome-but-out-of-business mag that the name stickers came from. Heart Quotes are:
"The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you but yourself." - Rita Mae Brown
"The opposite of bravery is not cowardice, but conformity." - Robert Anthony

Page 2 & 3, as you may have noticed, are all about friendship. L - R (over both pages) from the top: My friend J & I in Grade 2, J & I in approx. Grade 11, J & I heading off to Grade 7 camp. S & I (Ghostbusters T-shirt) on the beach in Surfers Paradise in Grade 9, a group of us (me with long frizzy black hair), J & I at Stradbroke Island for Grade 9 camp, J, S & I approximately Grade 11 again. Heart Quotes are:
"What is a friend? A single soul in two bodies." - Aristotle
"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." - Mother Teresa
"Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together." - Woodrow Wilson
"We are all angels with only one wing - we can only fly by emracing each other." - Anon
"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light." - Helen Keller

Page 4 & 5, pictures from Dolly, Girlfriend & Grazia Magazines. Sunflower card, 3 for $1.00 at my local random shop. Heart quotes are:
"I change my mind so much, I need two boyfriends and a girlfriend." - Pink
"Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months." - Oscar Wilde

Pages 6 & 7. For those who aren't aware, I have a major crush on Scarlett Johansson. I would, for serious, marry that woman. The Boyfriend doesn't seem to mind too much. Scarlett Quote: "I want to be part of the history of film-making - I would like to accomplish something more than looking pretty in a gown." Pictures from Cosmopolitan, Dolly and Grazia. Heart Quotes are:
"If we do not plant knowledge when we are young, it will give us no shade when we are old." - Lord Chesterfield
"There is a level of cowardice lower than the conformist - the fashionable nonconformist." - Ayn Rand.

Pages 8 & 9, background art is Punks In Love by Ash Santilla, from the band 67 Special. Pictures from Dolly, Girlfriend and Cosmo. Heart Quotes are:
"Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow." - Doug Finebough
"Above all, remember that the most important thing you can take anywhere is not a Gucci bag or French-cut jeans: It's an open mind." - Gail Rubin Benery

Pages 9 & 10, pictures from Dolly, Girlfriend, Grazia, Cosmo. "Hope" card is another 3 for $1 dealio. Heart quotes are:
"After the game is over, the king and the pawn go into the same box." - Italian Proverb
"You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind." - Unknown Author
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." - Albert Einstein
"In the hope of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers blossoming at their feet." - Albert Schweitzer

Pages 11 & 12, pictures from Grazia, Cosmo & Dolly. The note is from Countess Von Belfry - my favourite eBay seller, when I last bought a corset from her. She makes amazing clothes, and I'm always ecstatic when I know I have a parcel coming from her. The "Hervey Bay At Night"postcard reminds me of one Summer when my friends roadtripped up to see me in Hervey Bay. One of them couldn't make it, so we were going to send them a postcard. I found that one, which is exactly as it appears - just a black card. It never actually got sent, so now I just giggle about it. Heart Quotes are:
"They can because they think they can." - Virgil
"If you would create something, you must be something." - Johann Wolfgang
"You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are continually flowing on." - Heraclitus
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatama Ghandi

That's all for the moment! I'm not sure whether my Happy Book concept will keep me from being depressed again, but it sure took my mind off my poor cat. And it does make me happy to look at it, and add to it. Time will tell for the rest!

Until next time, xo.

Things I Love Thursday!

• The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks -this blog is frigging hilarious. It's the new love of my life. If The Boyfriend is reading this, I'm not serious, you're still the love of my life. But this blog is pretty damn funny. It's basically a collection of signs/other things with "unnecessary" quotation marks. Full of lolz.
  


• Bright green folders to keep my Uni notes in - people look at me like I'm crazy carrying them around. Or maybe they were already looking at me like that?
  


• Newfound creativity - I have about three DIY clothing projects currently in the works, and a few more in the "ideas" phase. I think it may have something to do with getting my sewing machine back.


• This epic Skelanimals hoodie (look down). That's frigging right, one step better than cat ears - it has pointy bat ears, and frigging BAT WINGS under the arms. Plus, I got it for half price. Yay $20 crazy bat hoodie!

• Long showers - Well, longer than the two minute water restriction showers we used to have. Particularly involving facial scrub, shaving my legs, a reconstructive hair masque and moisturiser. It's enough to make any tomboy feel slightly female.



• Talking to old friends, making new friends and not being a complete social failure.
  


• Celebrating The Boyfriend's birthday earlier this week - we bought him a huge Lego set that he'd been wanting and he was so excited to put it together. Even though, the silly boy waited all day until I got home from work to put it together so that I could watch his happiness. I felt suitably loved.

Hotel Universe by abraxaslove

Apologies for the relatively short TILT list, I'm a little preoccupied and very overtired. The Boyfriend and I spent most of the night at the animal hospital last night with one of our cats. Good news is, it appears he's going to be ok - but it is costing us an absolute fortune. Still, as long as my little furry friend gets himself better it's well worth the cost. However, I think I'm going to have another nap now.

Until next time, xo.

Calvin Harris + Katy Perry + Dizzee Rascal

Listening to "Ready for the Weekend" on repeat as I studied for my economics midterm put me in a no-nonsense Calvin Harris mood. (That said, I'm more or less in a perpetual Calvin Harris mood.) So when I realized that I hadn't yet posted his remix of Katy Perry's "Waking Up in Vegas," my fingers went to tapping and typing. Love Katy (the above picture is one of my favorite things on the face of the earth), love Calvin, and the combination almost made me weep with joy.



But of course two C.H. tracks in a row simply isn't enough. Thus, "Holiday." Dizzee and Calvin did a great job on "Dance Wiv Me," and I might like this cut even more (maybe, just maybe). The cut didn't really make a strong impression on me the first time I heard it, but it's since become a favorite. So good, blah, blah, blah. Check it:



"And I'll never let your belly get empty - even when your belly's full you're still sexy."

EDIT: Second video got removed. Replaced it, but it's mad quiet. Deal with it - turn up your volume.

EDIT 2: O.K. Looks like we're gonna have to wait a second to get a video with the latter track. Sorry, kids.

What I Wore Today, Volume Nine

Hello lovelies,

Well, University semester has officially started again - and I gotta say, I'm really not feeling it this time around. However, it does offer me good opportunities to wear cool outfits, as I get to leave the house much more often, yay. So, here is what I wore to go to the doctor, run some errands and will be wearing to my lectures tonight. I was feeling rather dull, so cue sparkles, a unicorn and just a little bit of nerd.

Outfit Rundown:

Silver Button-up Top: Lifeline Warehouse (Westco), $2
Long Sleeve Shirt: Kmart, 2 for $18
Jeans: Kmart, $30
Unicorn Pin: Hervey Bay Markets, present from Mummy Dearest
"Broken Image" Necklace: Broken Image pendant from Think Geek , $19.99, chain crafted by The Boyfriend

So, this semester I'm going to be learning about psychological research, applied psychology, infant development and crazy things in social psychology. I'm also thinking of taking up a hip-hop dance class, and a yoga class at the University gym. Plus, generally being fabulous. If there's anyone out there also studying, what does your semester look like?

Until next time, xo.

Calvin Harris - "Ready for the Weekend"

My love for Calvin Harris was well-documented the pages of the old Panda Toes. The illest girl in the history of the universe - Erika - and I interviewed the dude before he was too big to deal with such lowly blogs, I reviewed I Created Disco (and in retrospect seem to have given it too low a score), put it in my Top 10 of 2007, etc. Blah, blah, blah. But when the great .mp3 swipe of 2009 hit our pages, all history of Dumfries love was lost.

But Panda Toes version two may or may not be even stronger than was version one. Similarly, Calvin may or may not be killin' it in an even bigger way on album number two than he did on album number one. "I'm Not Alone" was an absolute monster, and I thus had high expectations for "Ready for the Weekend." Yet upon hearing the latter jam for the first time I was underwhelmed (to put it mildly). I've since realized that I was a moron. This song is enormous, infectious, delicious. The album of the same name will be as well.



P.S. Beautiful girls + simple colors. That is all.

P.P.S. Blogger won't let me add pics right now. Bummer. I'll get on that later.

What I Wore Today, Volume Eight

Hello there again,

I got a little bored and decided to take outfit pictures again, even though all I did today was blog, surf the internet, do some pilates (that wasn't even in this outfit) and leave the house for half an hour to take lunch to The Boyfriend. People looked at me a little wierd at The Boyfriend's work. What, you've never seen someone wear a skull-covered headscarf to a Service Station before? Pfft.

Outfit Rundown

Scarf: Grab Accessories, $5
Dice Necklace: Emily the Strange $4.95, destroyed and reborn courtesy of The Boyfriend

Singlet: Trade Secret (Living Doll), $6.95

Belt: Jay Jays, 2 for $15

Jeans: Kmart, $30

Until next time, xo.

The Perfect Body

Hello lovelies,

How do you feel about your body? Working in the retail end of fashion, and particularly when manning the fitting rooms I hear alot of talk from women about what is wrong with their bodies. "I could never wear that - I have such ginormous thunder thighs", and "I wish I had a body like yours" seem to feature heavily when shopping with friends. Once, in a past retail job I even had a young girl burst into tears in the changing rooms because the (Australian) Size 6 was too small for her - she felt like she'd failed at life because the tag on her jeans would have to say Size 8. Women spend lots of time talking about "the perfect body" - and of course, all the life opportunities that will come flooding in the door when you finally attain this bodily perfection. I hear my friends talk about all the things they will be able to wear when they lose ten kilos, and watch people around me suffer on terrible diets that allow them to have a cube of cheese every three days as a reward for their food work. I think that every woman I know spends a large portion of their time worrying about how much they weigh, what they look like and the size of their boobs, nose, teeth, toes, etc. It's perfectly routine to hear about your co-workers botox/liposuction/nose job/radical weight loss plan.

I have to wonder, why all the hate?

I don't deny that I've been there. It's taken a long time to change my disordered eating habits, and to quash the negative self-talk. I still catch it every now and then - before I can stop it, some negative comment about the size of my thighs pops into my head. When I was in my early teens, I used to hang a Britney Spears poster over my bed. I'd tell myself I wasn't allowed any more chocolate until I had abs like those, and I'd do hundreds of crunches every night before I went to sleep. I used to tell myself how much better things would be when I had a body like that. Boys would like me, I'd have confidence, I'd be able to wear sexy clothes and the world would lay at my feet. Then I'd file away every negative comment someone made about me, and repeat in my head until I believed it - I'd cry myself to sleep, then binge-eat to make myself feel better. Looking back now, I can't believe it took me so long to realise that the perfect body for me is the one I already have. Maybe I'm not that Size 6 supermodel that I always wanted to be back then, but I'm happy, healthy and (at least some) people think I'm damn sexy.


People come in all shapes, sizes and appearances - and for some of us, no matter what we do we are never going to be that thin. Just like some of us will never be a DD cup, look like Scarlett Johansson or have muscles like Madonna. The most important thing for us to do is learn to be happy in the skin we're in. Don't try and force your body into a shape that it can't possibly fit - you're only going to end up unhappy and unhealthy. Most of all, any results you see in your body from using radical measures, such as crash dieting, probably won't last. I mean, you're not only going to eat celery sticks for the rest of your life right? You've got to consider your emotional health as well - cosmetic surgery, for example, will only change your appearance. It won't change any issues or hang-ups you already have. If you don't feel you are being as healthy as you would like to be, you can change that - there are plenty of ways to live a healthier life. A healthier diet makes me feel happier, and have more energy. I've also recently started doing yoga, pilates and dance classes, because I really enjoy them and they help de-stress me. The big change is, I'm not trying to lose weight anymore - I'm just trying to feel better within myself. And I get so much more enjoyment out of these activities, and life in general this way.

Unfortunately, no matter what you do people are always going to hate on you - just like they hated on the sexy Beth Ditto for posing naked on the cover of NME magazine. So I say do away with societies rules - why should you cover up, hide away or be any less fabulous than you truly are just because someone else doesn't think you're quite right? Try doing the things you want to do for a change, and don't make excuses to anyone for being exactly the way you are. Here's a brilliant quote that I love about what people should wear:

"No one “should” wear anything, except for something that makes them happy. Just
because you think you’re too young, old, skinny or big, that doesn’t have
anything to do with what you wear. Curvy girls don’t have to dress to
de-emphasise their shape, just like girls with little boobs don’t have to dust
bronzer on their chest in an elaborate pattern so they can create the illusion
of big breastisses. The whole concept is ridiculous. What is beautiful to me is
not necessarily beautiful to you, & vice versa. Different things appeal to
different people, & that’s wonderful! Who wants a homogenised society?"
Sourced from iCing: What Should I Wear

The only person you need to impress is you baby! So instead of living by someone else's rules about fashion, style, and life, make up your own. Sometimes I long to grab the girls in my fitting rooms, complaining about their bodies, shake them by the shoulders and yell "but you're beautiful exactly the way that you are!". But I know that me saying this wouldn't make a lick of difference to how they feel about themselves, because they believe they are fat, hideous, and unlovable. However, if you are looking to make a positive change in your attitude towards your body, I can offer a few tips that worked for me. They may not work for you, but if I can help one other person, that's better than nothing.

• Cut the negative self-talk - There's plenty of other people in the world looking to put others down, so why do it to yourself? Whenever you catch yourself looking in the mirror and saying something negative about your body, stop the thought. Then think about something that you like about your body. I sometimes stick messages up on my mirror to help me think positively, such as "You're looking hot today baby!" or "Let's see that beautiful smile!" Cheesy maybe, but it stops my negative thoughts right in their tracks.
  For further info: Stop Negative Self-Talk: Five Ways to Build Confidence and Happiness
  For something positive to stick on your mirror: A Reminder
  
  
• Ditch people who make you feel like crap - You know who I'm talking about. The friend who talks relentlessly about weight loss and being fat, despite being the tiniest person known to man. The boyfriend who sees you eating a single cracker, and grabs at your stomach saying "Haven't you already eaten enough today?". If you don't want to get rid of these people completely, then talk to them first about the way they make you feel when they make comments about your appearance or weight. If they don't change their attitude or just don't care, then they're not worth it.
  For more info: How To Ditch a Friend and How to Distance Yourself from a Negative Friend.
  
  
• Do things that make you happy - If you hate running or cycling, why do it just because it burns lots of calories? Take up bellydancing, or jazz ballet, or capoeira if that's what takes your fancy. Fact is, everyone feels better if they have some kind of physical activity going on in their life, and it's good for you. But that doesn't mean you have to do stuff that you hate. If you're stuck for ideas, check out your local community centre, such as PCYC, because they usually have a range of classes on offer for affordable prices, meaning you could try a few before settling on one. This applies to other things as well, not just exercise. If you feel better when you have your nails done, or great hair, then put aside some time and/or money to maintain those things. It's all about you, so do the things you like, and the things that make you feel good about yourself.
  
  
• Be more assertive and confident - no one can make you feel like crap unless you let them right? Being assertive isn't about being aggressive or selfish, it is simply being able to say what we want or need, and protect ourselves from things we don't want, without hurting others. Assertive people communicate openly, honestly and directly - they don't let people jerk them around. But they're also not malicious or mean to people. Being assertive means not letting people get away with not respecting you, and your needs, and helps you to be more confident. The good news is, if you aren't naturally a confident or assertive person you can learn these skills. These things take time, and practice - they aren't skills that evolve overnight. Personally, I think the best way to cultivate confidence is to fake it - walk with your head held high, shoulders back and with a confident stride. It will make you feel more confident, which in turn will make you act more assertively.
  For more info: 10 Ways To Instantly Build Self-Confidence
  A good, to the point article about assertiveness: How To Be More Assertive.
  Advice from a confident, assertive person: How To Be Confident & How To Be More Assertive.
  

And don't forget lovelies: the perfect body for you is the one that you have. Guaranteed there are a whole lot of people out there who will love your body exactly as it is - so why not be one of them? To finish off, just for fun, you should watch this video. The woman in it is awesome, and everything she says is completely true.

A Fat Rant - Joy Nash (See the sequels here and here)

As a sidenote, here are a few links you may want to check out if you feel you, or anyone around you has an extremely unhealthy relationship with food and/or their body image:

Healthy Eating Tips - for tips on what kind of eating is healthy.
Health Insite: Eating Disorders - information about Anorexia Nervosa and Bulima Nervosa.
The Butterfly Foundation - dedicated to the prevention and treatment of eating disorders.
Reach Out: BDD - information about Body Dysmorphic Disorder, and if you look around on the site they have good information about Eating Disorders, Depression and Anxiety.
Beyond Blue - The Australian National Depression Initiative.

Until next time, xo.

What I Wore Today, Volume Seven

Hello lovelies,

It's yet another outfit post. This outfit carried me through a rather enjoyable day - hanging out with a new friend, eating roast pork sandwiches & hot chips and wandering through the toy section of department stores looking for toys that say "Try Me". The ones that make noises are the most fun, haha. Plus, I found the most amazing Barbie doll ever: Barbie as the Wicked Witch of the West from Wizard of Oz.

Outfit Rundown

Button Beret/Beanie: Trade Secret, $16.99

T-shirt: QPAC Cats Performance, $35

Jeans: Ebay (Emily the Strange), $16 including postage
S-T-R-A-N-G-E necklace (only seen in one shot): Emily the Strange necklace $4.95, dismantled and recrafted by The Boyfriend. Here's a better shot:

Gosh, I love having a crafty man to make me cool things. He makes the chains from scratch. He starts with straight/spooled lengths of wire, and make it into coils, then cuts each coil into individual rings. Then he personally weaves and closes each and every ring in that baby. No wonder I feel so loved!

Until next time, xo.

Josh Goes to Camp Bisco, Madness Ensues

So my last travels had me stuck on a boat in an uncomfortable sea of hair gel and steroids - my next adventure put me smack dab in the middle of a drug-fueled carnival of horrors. Trade Heinekens for horse tranquilizers and hot 30-somethings with plastic surgery for angry wookies that haven't showered in weeks - throw them in a knee-deep mud bath in central New York for a weekend and sprinkle some good music over it....that about sums it up.

There are few festival experiences where I've been truly blown away by the tenacity and idiosyncrasy of my fellow attendees - Burning Man was one, this was the second. That said, I had fun, and despite having contracted one or more bacterial infections through my mud-covered feet, I saw some great music. I arrived late Thursday after the first of several monsoons decimated the festival grounds, but managed to catch the tail end of a wonky left-field-dub set from Flying Lotus. He pulled a pleasant trip down memory lane to his Adult Swim days with a sample from the always-awesome Steve Brule. If you don't know what I'm talking about here, you don't spend enough time on the internetz.

Moving on - my good friends at Red Bull (ok, just kidding, I work for them now) hooked me up with some VIP bracelets and each night the VIP tent was packed with a festival performer. Thursday night I watched Ben Silver and Bethany Lokken of omni-genre DJ crew Orchard Lounge rock a Michael Jackson tribute set while Allen Aucoin of the Disco Biscuits absolutely raged it on drums. I'm awaiting a sync'd up recording of this set, but for now check this little video bit from the occasion (followed, rather unceremoniously, with a short clip from the late-night DFA Disco Tent set that James Murphy and Pat Mahoney (of LCD Soundsystem) played).

The other photos aren't in chronological order - the Disco Biscuits played a Tractorbeam vs. The Perfume set (where they mix vocal-less versions of their songs with fully re-imagined covers of their own songs), lots of crazy people wore lots of crazy things, AC Slater and Kill the Noise brought the fidget-step to the hippie masses, and Somali-Canadian rapper K'Naan made me believe in hip-hop again - but I'll save that for another post. For those that are confused about the first photo in this post - that's Frank McElroy of Dr. Dog on the left and Marc Brownstein from the Biscuits on the right.

Orchard Lounge

Kill the Noise

Brownie during Tractorbeam vs. The Perfume

DFA Disco Tent

Josh Goes to Toronto, Hilarity Ensues

I guess Greg's the only one who noticed I've been missing lately - I've been here and there and figure I owe ya'll some stories from my travels. First up in this post, July 1st, I made my way to sunny Toronto to celebrate Canada Day with my main man, house legend (and all-around awesome dude) Hatiras. You may know him from his ragga-tinged crossover hit, Spaced Invaders, that blew up in the early 00's, or from some of his newer bangers that rage the Beatport top-10 on the reg. Either way, his fiance let me know they were celebrating Canada's independence on a mother-effing boat and I jumped at the opportunity to drink legally and call it work. I'm not going to downplay the immense fun I had that day (or the bomber set he rocked), but I'm going to let the photos do the talking as to what kind of upstanding Toronto-ans came out. Props to my stand-in and party-captain, Angel, who made sure we got the sexiest of the sexy people in front of the lens.

Every single morning, I wake up and thank the good lord I didn't end up a club promoter.

Drake + Fabolous

Everybody. Loves. Drake. And quite frankly, I just don't get it. I'm into the dude's singing, but his rapping just doesn't do it for me. And though I could understand a dude with his skill set racking up a sizable fan base, I never expected him to hit number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Seriously.

But enough with the hate. Dude just teamed up with Fabolous for his "Throw it in the Bag" remix. And, well, it's hot. Maybe I just like the original. Maybe it's Drake's bit that really does it for me. Honestly, I dunno. What I do know is that I'm well into this here track. Check it:

DIY Madness + Seeing Double

Hello there beautiful world!

Well, over the weekend I finally got my sewing machine back from the repair shop and I'm way too excited to be sewing with a machine again. My first order of business was to finish off a scarf that I'd been painstakingly handsewing (it was rather depressing that I'd spent hours and hours on this thing, and with the machine it only took an hour to finish). Pictures!

Alrighty, here's the rundown - the scarf is basically patchwork. I call it the Rockstar Scarf, not because a rockstar would wear it, but because it has rockstars on it. An Ozzy Osbourne t-shirt, and a Rolling Stones t-shirt met their doom in order to become this awesome scarf. I followed the directions from Generation T by Megan Nicolay, and the whole thing was fairly simple to make. At least once I had my sewing machine back. I'm very proud of it, and ecstatic to have my little sewing machine back in working order. Watch this space; I'm sure there will be much more DIY madness to come, probably with tutorials. I'm not going to post a tutorial for this one, as it's not my work, so I'm not going to splash it around everywhere when the owner of the idea is trying to make money from it. It seems pretty much every DIYer of the t-shirt reconstruction breed has this book anyway, so it shouldn't be hard to find a copy to borrow!

Onto the next order of business! I've decided that as the newest addition to my little blog here I'm going to post about ways that I save money on quality clothing - or more specifically, the times when I find an exact brand name item for significantly less than the cost from the brand itself, or exclusive brand stores. As much as I'm not that big on brand names myself, I know some people are, and I want to get it out there that sometimes you don't need to pay as much as you think! Often if you just do some smart shopping you can find the same items for as much as half the brand retail price. You just have to know where to look. Just check out exhibit A:

This t-shirt is by an Australian brand called One Teaspoon. It's actually one of my favourite brands - they seem to know how to keep things young and hip, without making you look like you aren't old enough to be out on your own. Although this one appears not to be on the One Teaspoon website anymore, you can pick it up here for $59.95 (plus postage). Or you can trot into Trade Secret like I did, and pick it up for $29.95. Normally I wouldn't even splash out this much cash on a t-shirt, but it is quite good quality, and that's half price. At Trade Secret you can also get this t-shirt for $29.95 (online price $59.95), and this oversized t-shirt for $34.95 (online price $69.95). Plus, if you're lucky enough, a few of the other styles have been marked down to $18.86, but they're only in limited sizes. Ah, how I love clothing that I can actually afford to buy. If you're hungry for bargains, don't despair - I do this alot, and since I love to hear the sound of my own voice (or hear the clicking of my own keyboard) it's guaranteed my bargain purchases will end up documented here.

Until next time, xo.

Juan Maclean + Surkin + A Bemused Frog

A few months ago, Josh Stansfield (hey Josh, where you at?) posted up Surkin's remix of the Juan Maclean's "One Day." The song, in case you can't remember, is friggin' incredible. The video, on the other hand, isn't even a video - it was just a picture. Not acceptable for such a fine piece of music.

Thus, my friend Jeremy Teicher - a.k.a. A Bemused Frog - went out and did up a nice little video for the cut. This is a remarkable summer jam, and dude whipped up a serious summer vibe for his flick. Countless hours of deliberation and filming, a few thousand still shots, and days upon days of editing later and a music video had been made. Check it out, show A.B.F. some love, and please re-post like crazy.



P.S. Come meet A Bemused Frog this Saturday in Brooklyn. He'll be chillin' at the Last Exit bar (where I'll also be DJing with ex-Panda Toes contributor Dan Kagan - DJing MySpace page).

A Dose of Style

Hello hello,

I've been trawling the interwebs, and I've picked out my personal favourite outfits worn by celebrities (mainly because I know they won't sue me) for the week. Here we go!

1. Peaches Geldof - I'm not usually a big fan of jumpsuits/onesies, but I love this one. It reminds me of bloomers. Peaches looks really cute, but also like she might decide to kick my ass in a few minutes time.

2. Vanessa Hudgens - Funnily enough, I'm not usually a big fan of Vanessa Hudgens either. She usually looks far too polished and generic for my liking, but I'm a fan of this particular outfit. Messy hair, ripped jeans, cool t-shirt & aviators - I like, very much.

3. Erin Wasson - Face it, this chick always looks cool, I would probably marry her just to get access to her wardrobe (if I would actually fit into any of the clothes inside) And, the only bad thing about the "shredded jeans" trend is that it spawned the "shredded tights" trend. Those tights are nasty - especially when people wear them as pants. But that's a whole other topic.

Pictures sourced from Grazia Magazine.

Until next time, xo.

At the Drive-In + Grindin Top 15

Every once in a while you sit down to do some work, put on headphones, and realize that half of the music you listen to sounds exactly the same. And then you think to yourself, "Self, why do I do this to my ears? Why don't I give them something new - something exciting - to listen to?" This happened to me not but thirty minutes ago. It was not a good feeling.

Luckily, the crisis was soon resolved. Instead of looking for something new and invigorating, I took a trip back in time. About five years back in time, that is. To a time when I listened almost exclusively to At the Drive-In. It was a good time, a blessed time. And here I am sitting in the library realizing that A.T.D.I. was an incredible band and Relationship of Command is still one of my favorite albums to cruise to. Remarkable.



On a less high school note, check out Grindin's Top 15 for July. Ill songs, none of which can top "Party Time."

1. F.L.Y – "Party Time"
2. Lemonade – "Big Weekend (L-Vis 1990 Remix)"
3. Joy Orbison – "Hyph Mngo"
4. Egyptrixx – "Just Say Really (Bok Bok Remix)"
5. Riton & Primary 1 – "Who’s There?"
6. Holy Ghost – "I Will Come Back"
7. Mariah Carey – "Obsessed"
8. Crystal Fighters – "Xtatic Truth (Renaissance Man Remix)"
9. Rampage – "Lovin You Is Easy"
10. Boy 8-Bit – "Wolfen"
11. Silvio Ecomo & Chuckie – "Moombah (AfroJack Remix)"
12. R1 Ryders – "Rubberband"
13. MJ Cole – "Gotta Have It (Feat. Digga) (MJ’s Funky Dubb)"
14. Rye Rye – "Bang (Feat. M.I.A) (Buraka Carnival Remix by Buraka Som Sistema)"
15. Momma’s Boy – "Give It Up"

What I Wore Today, Volume Six

Hello lovelies!

It's another outfit post, yay. I went to see the musical Cats with my Mum at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre yesterday, which was amazing by the way. The best part was the "cats" going through the audience at the end of intermission, and one of them letting a little boy pat her like she was a real cat. It was so cute! I don't mean to belittle the performers by saying that was the best bit either, it just really made me smile to see someone getting so into their character. Everyone in the show was brilliant, and one of the dancers was only 16 (he played Pouncival, for anyone who knows Cats)! My Mum and I also had a trawl through the Southbank Markets while we were there, and I know where I'm going on my next spending spree!

Anyway, I forgot to take photos of my Cats outfit, so here is my Cats-inspired outfit. You can't really see, because of the crappy light and my crappy camera, but the green and grey in the hat match the green and grey in the tights, and the cat on my t-shirt is green as well. Yay for matching colours. I'm in love with the dress I'm wearing under the t-shirt too. It has a huge pocket, which I call my pouch. It's probably going to become a regular part of my festival wear, because that pocket is so huge I'll never have to bring a bag.

Outfit Rundown

T-shirt: QPAC, $35

Dress (worn under): Jay Jays, $20

Tights: Target, $12.99

Boots: Kmart (Grosby), $30

Haha, I tried to do the whiskers, but it didn't turn out so well.

Until next time, xo.

Reclaiming Your Wardrobe!

Hello lovelies,

This afternoon I'd finally had enough, and I decided it was time to get my wardrobe back into working order. This is what my wardrobe was looking like to begin with. Yup, just like that. With everything all crushed in, and everywhere. If you look closely, you'll notice that there's even a couple of pillow cases jammed in there, along with a novelty flower The Boyfriend bought me back when we first started dating. Something had to be done! *cue action music*

So, with the help of this fantastic guide to wardrobe taming, and a $29.95 hanging cupboard organiser, I got to work. I pulled everything out of my wardrobe, and dumped it onto my bed. And I mean everything - shirts, pants, jumpers, tops, hats, scarves, belts, tights, skirts, dresses, etc. Then, I sorted everything into piles of "things I wear" and "things I don't wear". My main tip for this stage is - be ruthless. Sure, you might love the idea of that turquoise kaftan, but if you bought it a year ago, and it's still sitting in your cupboard with the tags on, then it's a "thing I don't wear". I then organised my "things I wear" pile into different types of items (eg. t-shirts, skirts), and my "things I don't wear" pile into things that need mending, things that don't look/fit right, and things that I don't know what to wear with.

Time to start reorganising! I'm starting with my "things I wear" pile. I whip out my $29.95 hanging cupboard thingy, and stick it in there. Ah, how clean my wardrobe looks with no clothes in it! (Note, I decided to leave the novelty flower, because it makes me smile every time I go to get dressed!) I sort my t-shirts into piles of dark shirts with graphics, bright colours with graphics, light colours with graphics and plain t-shirts. Then I fold 'em, and put them into the shelves on the hangy thing. I decide the big space at the top is the best place to put hats, and scarves, tights & various accessories make their way into the drawer. (I also took pictures of the things I put in the drawer so I can stick them on the front and always remember what's in there, but I can't put them up yet as I have no coloured printer ink!) Everything else from the "things I wear" pile gets hung up, and put neatly back into the closet.

Now, since I'm feeling positive after handling the pile of things I wear, it's time to start on the "things I don't" piles. The things that need mending get taken to my sewing room, and I decide that I'm going to get rid of all the things that don't look/fit right. Which just leaves me with the "what the hell do I wear with this?" pile. Since I'm trying to do this all in one night, I don't really have time to do what my guide suggests - wear one of these items each day and then take notes on how I feel, if I can imagine wearing the item with other things, and whether there is something else that could make the item more wearable. So instead, I pick up each item in turn and ask 2 questions: "can I think of at least three other things in my wardrobe that this would go with?" and "Is there any way I can change it to make it go with more items?" If the answer is yes to at least one of these questions, I hold onto it. If I come up with two no's, then it's bye bye baby. I'm being particularly ruthless this time, and cutting free a few choice items that have been hanging around in my wardrobe because of nostaligia (eg. a top my boyfriend really likes that is now too big for me to wear), because they were such a good buy (cue, ill-fitting jeans for $10) and because I "keep meaning to wear them" ( if you haven't taken the tags off after a year sister, you ain't gonna!). Check out my huge "to get rid of" pile.

I feel like I'm on the home stretch now! One more thing I do is throw out all my old wire hangers - I'm new to this, and have only just learnt how horrible they are for clothes. Then it's just organising the things I have deemed worthy to remain in my wardrobe, and hanging them back into my, now extremely alluring closet. I do take the time here to do something my guide suggests - identify trends/patterns in my buying habits. The main thins I notice here (and they're really not so secret) is that I own far more pairs of pants than dresses, and far more t-shirts than pretty much anything else in my wardrobe. I also own lots of crazy hats, especially knitted ones. I don't think there's really anything too wrong with this - I do however make a mental note to stop buying up on t-shirts before I end up with one for every day of the year. I also buy lots of dark colours, but that's really just down to personal preference, and the fact that I think I look better in them. And with this final flourish, my quest for a clean wardrobe is complete. I can rest again, happy in the knowledge that it's going to be far easier for me to pick a kick-ass outfit in the next few days.

I know that clearing your wardrobe seems like alot of work (and it is!), but there are so many good reasons to give your wardrobe a proper clean out. First of all, you can find everything easily again, which makes getting dressed in the mornings much quicker! I find also, that cleaning out my wardrobe, getting rid of things I don't like/don't look right/don't fit actually makes me wear nicer outfits, because I have a clear mental inventory of what is actually in my wardrobe. Just after a clean out is when all my best ideas for new outfits come to me! Taking control of your wardrobe will also (hopefully) give you a sense of accomplishment, and just plain make you feel good. Plus, if you're savvy, you can sell the things you don't wear on eBay and make a bit of extra moolah to help pay the bills, buy a nice dinner or just go towards your next shopping trip. Anyway, if looking at my nice organised wardrobe isn't inspiration enough, then I don't know what is. You can do it!

Until next time, xo.

Blaqstarr + Diplo + Jack Beats

O.K. Let's pretend for a second that y'all aren't blog fiends that snatch up thousands of .mp3s per day (most of which you never play more than once). And since y'all are normal, law-abiding citizens, you've been waiting patiently to cop the enormous Jack Beats remix of Blaqstarr and Diplo's "Get Off." Well, your time has come - head on over to the Mad Decent blog for a grip of links to places you can drop some cash for some high-quality audio.

Seriously. Go buy this joint. I've seen the sort of kids that request "LoveGame" while "Poker Face" is playing get a bit crazy to this. Just. So. Massive. No more words. Watch the video, spend a measly couple of bucks, feel good about yourself:



P.S. "LoveGame" is on point, but we'll get to that later.

Things I Love Thursday #2

• Thank God You're Here - an Australian TV show where they take performers, and thrust them through a door into a scenario that they have no idea about, where they then have to keep the scene going.
• Optimism - anyone needing a healthy does should check out this article on How To Be Happy. Better yet, download it as a podcast and listen to it on your way to work.
• Finding the nice Grosby knee-high boots I'd been coveting had been marked down to half-price.
• The Host by Stephenie Meyer - read an excerpt here.
• Being called into work - it tells me I'm doing my job well, and I'm always happy to know that!
• That I'm getting my sewing machine back tomorrow - get ready for some creativity world!
• My shirt that I thought said "A good boy is hard to find" - I then realised it actually said "A hard boy is good to find", and now I like it even better.
  


The Dreamer by zeligue



• Watching The Boyfriend sleep. It might be creepy, but he looks so content and unworried and that rarely happens while people are awake.
• Sitting on the train, watching the scenery fly past you.
• Polyvore, Chictopia and 2o-Something Bloggers.
• Reorganising my wardrobe, reworking things that once didn't work and trying on lots of new outfits.
• Mid-afternoon make-out sessions.
• Graffiti - I don't know why people think it makes the city look dirty. I think it makes it more interesting.
• "For Dummies" exercise DVD's.
• Visits from my wonderful parents - my Mum and I are going to see Cats at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Yay!
  
  
  This picture was taken at a peace demonstration in Budapest. It makes me happy.

Until next time, xo.

What I Wore Today, Volume Five

Hello hello,

It's been a while since I posted an outfit, so here's what I wore to hang out at my friend's brand new place (which is completely amazing, and makes me wish I had more money to spend on rent) & eat copious quantities of Thai food for dinner. Unfortunately, I'm a messy eater and now have to wash satay sauce off these pants. Boo.

Outfit Rundown:

"Cute is Dead" T-shirt: Hit 'N' Run (Emily the Strange), $10.00

Cardigan: Trade Secret (Living Doll), $29.95

Pants: Trade Secret (Senses), $29.95

Shoes: Payless Shoes, $24.99

Chainmaille bracelets: made by The Boyfriend

Speaking of chainmaille, if you're interested in purchasing some The Boyfriend has just begun selling it. Even if you don't want to buy, I'd be interested in hearing some feedback - I'm doing the marketing for him, and I'd love to know what could be improved.

Until next time, xo.