On the bandwagon...

I joined the bloglovin' community.

About time, huh.

To follow my blog with bloglovin', click on this link or the "follow my blog with bloglovin' "section on the left.

Also please let me know in the comments section if you want me to follow your blog, or link you :)

"sunset at sorrento"

Weekend shenanigans (and more snoodisms)

(long post, you have been warned)

Thanks for all the feedback on the last post. I got quite a few new book recommendations and will definitely be looking into them. I also got a few recommendations that are favourites of mine but that I had completely forgotten as I listed books off the top of my head (so thank you once again :). Also, I'm humbled by all your comments on my photography. I've been an avid photography enthusiast for ages and it's a passive hobby of mine. I'm saving money for a Canon Rebel XTI but thus far have relied on good light and just what feels right. I cannot wait to invest in a decent camera and take my hobby to new obsessive limits (probably :)

Antoine of florilège d'esthète meanwhile informed me that he had forwarded the following blog award on to me. Antoine's blog is a delight and his posts are intelligent and a must-read. Thank you Antoine, it is a pleasure to be awarded this :)

This past weekend comprised of gift shopping, coffee drinking, Gracie's birthday celebrations, Ellie's and my discussions about shoes, shopping and other randomness, overdosing on delicious punch and the inevitable tipsy-ness (although Charlie was more drunk than the rest of us....were you drinking beforehand??!!), catching up with friends I hadn't seen in a while and meeting new ones, unveiling the snood and convincing Charlie and my mother that they needed one like they needed air, staging a photoshoot featuring Stuart (photos to come) and more caffeine intake. Fun times.

the yellow ball = the side effects of severe storms!

my max shop leather jacket, I love her so...

happy birthday Gracie! (check out the pimpin' gold jacket Charlie has on :)

"but...that's what he said..."

gold jacket love.....

.....we all want a piece of it

smooth operator a.k.a the bug

"don't you dare....MINE!!!"

the birthday girl shimmying

wrecking shots, its what I do best :)

if I found these in a size 5.5, I'd buy them in a heartbeat...

....and Ellie agrees with me!

I just watched Camille's video on shredding tees (yes it's a little late but hey better late than never, right) and am committed to shredding a tee....let's see how that goes given my shorter-than-short attention span. Results to follow....???

1st outfit: top, myer. jeans, random shop in melbourne. shoes, colin stuart. jacket, vintage. necklace and cuff, diva.

2nd outfit: dress, vintage. jacket, max shop. boots, DIY rubi. necklace, gift from holland.

Snood (and Core Book Collections)

I bought a 'snood' today. I picked it up, saw the "how to wear" tag attached to it and headed straight to the counter. Thank you Valley Girl, for fulfilling my MK Olsen snood desires. In case you are wondering, a snood is a scarf-hood hybrid and the one I got is geniusly warm and beyond fashionable. Love. Will have to photograph.

p.s. How f*cking awesome is the word snood? I proceeded to irritate the bejesus out of my sister on our train ride home by inserting 'snood' into every sentence I spoke. For example, "This train driver is a snoodlum...what's with the jerking?" or "what should we have for dinner, salmonsnood...?". I swear she may have threatened to clobber me me with her huge and funky umbrella. Such is life :)

Apart from my fabulous snood and the fact that snood is good, I thought I would do me a favour and follow up on this post with what I believe to be the core book collection. Of course, this is only what I can remember now off the top of my head and the complete idealistic collection is a lot longer and would realistically take up one of the two walls of my floor-to-ceiling library.

Of course.

So without further ado (and more snoodalicious talk), lets get into it....

Dracula - Bram Stoker

Breath - Tim Winton**

Under a Tin-Grey Sari - Wayne Ashton

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide - Robert Louis Stevenson

The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy

Falling Man - Don Delillo

Down Under - Bill Bryson (and anything else Bryson if we're being honest)

I'm Not Scared - Niccolo Ammanati

Lord of the Flies - William Golding

Long Walk to Freedom - Nelson Mandela

Sixty Lights - Gail Jones

Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie

Midnights Children - Salman Rushdie (love, love, LOVE this book!)

The Story of the Cannibal Woman - Maryse Conde

Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned - Anne Rice

The Vampire Lestat - Anne Rice

Caucasia - Danzy Senna

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey

Underworld - Don Delillo (need to buy)

Winged Creatures - Roy Freirich

The Language of Threads - Gail Tsukiyama

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami

The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

Selected Stories - Anton Chekhov

The Alchymist's Cat, The Oaken Throne, Thomas - Robin Jarvis

The Harry Potter series - J.K.Rowling

The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Red Dragon - Thomas Harris

Paradise - Abdulrazak Gurnah

The Drowned and the Saved - Primo Levi

The Hungry Tide - Amitav Ghosh

The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Lullaby - Chuck Palahniuk

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

Shade - Neil Jordan

Cosmopolis - Don Delillo

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Papillon - Henri Charriere

Waiting - Ha Jin

Desertion - Abdulrazak Gurnah

Apologies for such a long list. I thought it would be an interesting observation to come back to this list (which is just the tip of the iceberg) in a few months or a year and add to it or see whether the above still hold favour.

I'd love to hear your suggestions too...anything to add to my collection and to awaken my ignorance....

For those that have read to the end...here's gratification in the form of some pretty pictures (taken by moi)

**Please read, Tim Winton is a literary genius!

She's crazy

Or atleast you'll think so when you see the next shot (with the sunnies).

Just some of my recent purchases. Included in this "purchase" index is a new laptop (the last one finally wheezed its last breaths and while it is still technically functional, it crashes more often than I can blink....can anyone say upgrade?!!), a Romance Was Born dress (yay, I've finally got my hands on a showpiece from this brilliant designer duo), leather platform mary janes (for Aud $40, I kid you not) and a brilliant oversized sheer sweater by One Teaspooon (love!).

The sunnies make me look nutso but I couldn't help but buy them (a little while back). Also scored an Alice McCall chain top that functions as a dress and can be worn about 15 different ways (and counting). All of this was bought during the sales, love the sales, and the laptop was purchased using our Prime Minister's bonus payment. Excellent work, Smithers.

Mwah hah hah, its okay, laugh....I'm here all day, tips in the hat please :)

The above is what I meant by crazy speak. The glasses, they're nuts. They make me do bad thing....okay, maybe not. Lol.

Hope you are all having a fab week!

1st outfit: sweater, one teaspoon. skirt, cotton on. shoes, orbit. necklace, diva. ring, markets.

2nd outfit: dress, supre. shoes, tristan blair. sunnies, ice. jewellery, various.

New toys....

Quick update....

My old laptop has been giving me problems and at the end of the week just crashed. I manned (womanned?) up and bought me a new baby (plus a portable hard drive, just so I'm covered :)...she's sooo pretty...and will have everything up and running soon. Fingers crossed.

I have not deserted you....I promise to comment on all your fabulous blogs soon.

Thank you for the love!

Anika

xx

Esber, RAFW
(source: vogue.com.au)

Tag (core book collection to come)

The gorgeous Eden of Chic in the Tropics (she of the incredible style, fab blog and the bestie who designs one offs for her) tagged me to answer the questionnaire; 20 of my favourite things.

My favourite things...........

(whilst listening to a random selection of music. I'll list it as we go)

1. colour: In the moment, pewter. On a more permanent basis, I'd have to go with blue...from azure to turquoise to navy, I'm there.
land locked blues - Bright Eyes

2. desert: I love this Indian rice pudding but hardly ever get a chance to sample it. On a more regular basis, freshly baked banana bread with butter spread over it is heaven.
stairway to heaven - Jimi Hendrix

3. smell: Coconut scented body oil/moisturiser. I go nuts for this stuff. Coconut always invokes memories of my youth, laying on the beach as you sweltered in the hot sun and the sound of the ocean and reggae music provided the idyll background.

4. flower: The intricacy and architecture of orchids (not to mention the subtle colours) gets me. On the other hand, the bareness and clean lines of cactus' is pretty cool.

5. animal: Iguana. I goddamn want one. I've investigated the possibility of buying one here in Perth, Australia. I will probably need to hunt down a specialist exotic pet store and pay more than a few hundred for one. It's worth it though. Iguanas are ridiculously loyal and my ideal pet. Beautiful, beautiful creatures.

6. month: I do like December for what it symbolises....Christmas, the end of the year and opportunity to leap into the next, and holidays.

7. beverage: I always shock people (mainly bartenders) when I request Guinness. I adore Guinness, its the ultimate in choice. Rich, dark and bitter creamy perfection. I prefer the imported stuff from Ireland too...Aussie Guinness is a tad too bitter and not dark enough.
oh my god - Kaiser Chiefs

8. shoes: I cannot pick...can I?!?!! I adore THE Balenciaga harness boots from 2006. I adore AlOT more shoes but I think these have that uber cool, nonchalent rockstar thing going on and are equal parts fashion and function....LOVE!!!
angel of music - the phantom of the opera soundtrack (Andrew Lloyd Webber)

9. snack: butter on toast/home made guacamole or salsa on toast. Nothing beats the salsa and guacamole Stuart and I make...key ingredients: garlic and some chilli. Yum!
beautiful place (I think?) - Claire Hollingsworth

10. song: I love Whiskey In The Jar by Metallica, the prostitute song by Claire Hollingsworth, Polly by Nirvana, Queen (generally)....I have to stop somewhere...there are too many!

11. book: Breath by Tim Winton. I recommend everyone read this book. Tim is beyond articulate and writes with brilliant wit, drawing emotion perfectly :)
white unicorn - Wolfmother

12. fruit: I adore lychees, hard to get here in Australia but when I lived in Kenya my dad working for Air France (the shipping side of things) and all the spare boxes of lychees that got imported from Mauritius would graciously get given to Dad and he'd bring them home. We could and did eat boxes at a go!

13. hairstyle: I love my current hairstyle...have had it for too long but I adore the whole straight bangs and borderline wavy looooong hair.

14. piece of clothing: Hmm, how do I narrow this down? A fabulous fitting pair of jeans, killer leather jacket, sheer tee, floral/studded corset, feather stole/headpiece and I will now stop.



15. stores to shop: sportsgirl, supre (cheapest and best fitting jeans = love!), david jones for sass n bide, witchery.
mellow yellow - Donovan Frankenreiter

16. season: There is nothing better than summer (the hotter the better). It's a good thing I like it too, living in Perth :)



17. hobby: reading and building up my classic book collection. My ultimate dream is a floor to ceiling bookshelf spanning an entire wall (or two) with all the classics and great reads....a haven. Which I will make sure I build towards.



18. things to collect: I collect books and classic and rare vintage clothing (by choice) and shoes (it just happens :)
little boy man - Katie Noonan

19. movie: Wow....Donnie Darko/Snatch/Fight Club/Hard Candy/American Beauty....too many....cannot pick one!

20. restaurant: I adore Little Creatures and the Swan Brewery restaurant. Both divine, both amazing restaurants with great ambience, food and views.
wicked game - Chris Isaak

I nominate whomever wants to do this tag....go on, do it...if you have time to waste :)

Have a lovely weekend too!

Studding, studding, studding...

I decided to wear my not-yet-completed DIY project, the boots, out a few days back. While studding, I had to chop the fringe from the front of the boots so that the studs were visible. I like it so far but am not sure whether to keep going or stop as currently is. I've got the thumbs up on the studding (and the 'yeah, stop studding') from my sister and Stuart. What do you guys think? Does it need more studs? Should I go stud crazy and do the whole front of the boots?

In other news, the coffee shop I visit more often than what one would call 'regularly' now has a fantastic musician who puts on a one-man show every Wednesday evening for a couple of hours (he sings and plays the guitar). Will just have to chill out at Tiger Tiger on Wednesdays after work from now on, obviously :) The guy is a brilliant muso; he has a low, husky voice and is fantastic on the guitar.

How's everyone's week going?

I just recently decided to put more effort into my blog/follow other blogs (I used to just know the ones I checked and would pull up the sites each time, now I can link direct :)/have a 'follow me' segment and potentially, but not definitely, get into bloglovin'. Hmmm, we'll just have to see. Follow me? Also, let me know if you would like to exchange links :)

tee, killababe from live. jeans, supre. cardigan, vintage. boots, DIY rubi. necklace, gift from holland. rings; markets, diva, sportsgirl.

to a t....

...my version of casual.

Probably the most comfortable combination of items in my wardrobe. The soft tee, the jeans and the biker-esque boots from ASOS. Winner combo. Add a leather jacket, perfectly worn in, and I'm good to go. Particularly with the nasty weather we've been having of late.

I suppose winter had to get here at some stage.

I've been talking about wolf tee for a while now but have only seen over-glammed up versions everywhere. I was looking for a simplified print tee version. I finally found it. In the mens section of Cotton On, no less :)

tee, cotton on men. jeans, supre. boots, asos. clutch, modified ebay purchase. necklace, diva.

Witchery Wants Wishlist

I received notification a few days back that I was Look 368 on the fabulous Look 10 blog. Thank you kindly folks! And once I figure out how to get the proper version to copy onto my page, it shall be done :)

Meanwhile, I've been browsing the Witchery website in lieu of its fabulous sale...

Some goodies I discovered on my happy internet search trail (sale or otherwise)....

Contrast Edge Cardi, now $99.95 (a perfect nod to 'mod')

(Goddamit, I want you) Ruffle Sleeve Cardigan, $129.95

Embellished Cropped Jacket, now $249.95 (easily stud-ible but still equally easy on the eye)

(Is it wrong that I love this) Paisley Fringe Skirt, $199.95

Muppet Bubble Bag, now $149.95 (currently obsessed with all things pewter/silver)

Witchery are famous for their leather products and I have a tan Witchery bag that stands the true quality bag test (the softest leather, indulgent sizing and painfully chic). Witchery offer shipping to a whole range of countries, so if you like what you see....its easy as clickity click. Yes, it was lame. No, I am no affiliated with Witchery in any way :)

Enjoy browsing folks and have a lovely weekend.

Eye of the tiger

I thrifted a pair of knee-high grunge combat boots a little while ago and have been waiting for a cold enough day to wear them.

Sunday was it.

I opted for comfort for my coffee date with Stuart, where we spent the better part of an hour debating human right to sex-change operations and whether, hypothetically speaking, if you had the choice you would re-configure your brain to permit you to act the sex you are or have a sex-change operation i.e. 'mind over body' or 'body over mind'.

We both picked 'body over mind' i.e. having the sex-change operation if we had to pick one. On the basis that it is a human right to be able to have a prerogative with regards to what you choose to believe/support/wear and how you feel as an individual being, regardless of whether or not it fits into that neat "normal" category. We also discussed the involvement of governments in making legal standing orders about sex-change operations or (once again, hypothetically speaking) a "brain" operation, which led to the whole "invasion of human rights in the grossest way" conversation.

Very interesting topic in my opinion.

What do you guys think???

...had to have this one for the lion hair effect...

mens sweater, vintage. denim-look leggings, valleygirl. boots, vintage. necklace, diva. cuff, present. hair, who the hell knows.

I love........

......the sound of rain on a tin roof......

.........thick cut hot chips.............

lucas pawpaw lip balm

the sense of accomplishment when you achieve something you set out to do

a fan-effin-tastic coffee

my ever growing collection of literature

....being a grown up

(although it does scare me shitless sometimes).....

.....the thrill of a good run, followed by breakfast......

scorching sunshine that frazzles your hairline

........a great fanfiction story (embarassing confession time alert :)............

the unadulterated joy of children

debates with Stuart about the rights of human beings to sex changes

(and other such topics)

........coming across a bargain on something you have coveted for awhile.......

What was that last one, you ask???

This jacket that I had been coveting for quite a while on the maxshop website.

Original price, Aus $399.

the sleeves look big, but the fabulous tailor I go to can sort that out no problem

Bearing in mind recent purchases, I decided to pass on the jacket (in all its soft, drapey goodness) until and unless it came down to half price. A few weeks back, it was on sale for $299. Was tempted, but I resisted.

Logged onto the website yesterday and they are having a 50% sale. Which includes my jacket (oh hell yeah, I've perved on it so many times it might as well be mine :).

Score, for $199.

Cannot wait!

What do YOU love?

post-edit: and I abso-fuckin-lutely LOVE the smell of the ocean :)

Terminator Slash Leggings

I'm such a slacker I actually bought a pair of (what would be) D.I.Y. slashed leggings from Supre.

Still, there's something to be said about store-bought slashed leggings that cost next to nothing; the slashes are precision cut saving me the hassle of measuring out where to cut the leggings and cost only $20 Aus (which is what I would have paid for the leggings whole).

Worn to watch Terminator Salvation. A movie I thought I'd be muchly bewildered and disappointed in given I have no clue what the whole Terminator deal is. But factoring in Christian Bale (one of my favourite actors), relative newbie Sam Worthington who blows Bale out of the water in the movie (he of 'Blue Heelers' and 'Love My Way' fame) and a more than decent story plot, this movie is actually one to watch. Nice. And confession time, I was actually sniffling at the end. Why? Highlight below for the story giveaway....don't say you weren't warned...

He is the key to keeping Bale alive in the end, graciously giving his heart to him and terminating his own life, leaving Bale and Rees and the Resistance with the realisation that what makes humans human is our unpredicitability and essentially, our hearts.

this time around, I remembered to take a photo of the back of the tunic....

tunic, sportsgirl. leggings, supre. boots, frye. leather jacket, vintage. bag, louis vuitton. necklace, live. ring, diva.

Jodphurs, not just for jockeys

These navy jodphurs were the score of the century.

Found at an annual Red Cross charity sale at the showgrounds.

Its hard to see in the pictures, but they feature tight-knit clashing panels of blue elastane-d material....gorgeous.

Not much to be had in the way of designer gear at the charity sale, but we did show up at 11am (and they had opened at 8.30am, with all the Perth models/socialites showing up then to steal some designer bargains).

Still, I did manage to get my hands on a pair of gorgeous Zambesi sheer pants which I adore to bits. Soon to come on this blog. And yes, in the manner of Susie from Style Bubble folks. The way she wears sheer pants is 'sheer' genius ;)

Love New Zealand designers too, they rock. Hard.

jacket, bag and jodphurs, vintage. tee, live. shoes, rubi. watch, markets.