Loch McNess

(and yes, that's the real name of the lake in Yanchep National Park that we visited today!)

We took our friend from Mexico to Yanchep National Park for a typical Aussie summer bbq today. And it was a complete success given we had 'snags' on the bbq (sausages), and saw koalas and kangaroos. All the reqs, right ;). We're now going to make potato and carrot soup and wind down for Monday.

I also have to apologise for neglecting the blog somewhat....I'm currently covering a team mate's work whilst he's on leave (which equals A LOT more work!), showing our friend from Mexico around Perth, and playing with my new Canon rebel XSi 450D (yay!). I promise to make it up to you with more blog posts.

I also have a huge favour to ask....do any of you know where I can find a pair of red Chloe doc ankle boots in size 36.5/37/38 (like in the following pic)? Anyone willing to sell theirs? I'll be forever indebted to you :D

pc: fashiontoast

tank, supre. skirt, vintage. shoes, gift from India. cardigan, portmans. cuff, city beach. ring, markets.

I am a complex being, a mass of thrumming organisms...

"I myself have never been able to figure out precisely what feminism is. I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat."

(On Beauty, Zadie Smith)

Project PEP

Jenny from Jimmy Choo emailed me about a campaign being run to raise awareness and funds for AIDS victims, and the associated online photo competition.

What a great campaign.

Coming from a country that is afflicted by AIDS (Kenya) and having seen first hand what poverty denies these poor human beings as well as the devastating impacts on the many children left orphaned, I'm all for projects like this. It would mean the world to me if you embraced it too :)

Jimmy Choo and Elton John AIDS Foundation have launched a photo competition to support the launch of Project PEP, a charity collection that donates 25% of sales to the Simelela Rape Centre in South Africa. The money goes towards providing the HIV-preventative treatment PEP (which must be taken within 72 hours of exposure to HIV) and counselling to victims of rape in South Africa, which has the highest count of rape in the world.

"We are women helping women and we are proud to continue our collaboration with the compelling and urgent initiatives of the Elton John AIDS Foundation and to provide a voice for under-privileged women in South Africa. We are excited to launch this social media campaign which we believe is a fun, light-hearted way to make people aware of a very serious subject." - Tamara Mellon, Founder & President, Jimmy Choo.

Get Involved:

Raise awareness and funds for AIDS victims:

1. Enter the online photo competion:

Upload a photo based on the theme 'You, Your Shoes, and 72'. The grand prize is the ultimate Jimmy Choo VIP experience - the winner will be invited to spend a day of luxury at the Jimmy Choo HQ and choose 7 pairs of shoes and 2 handbags to keep. There's also over 100 exclusive Jimmy Choo prizes to be won. Bring awareness to the plight in the meanwhile.

Visit Project PEP for more details or to enter the competition.

2. Indulge and donate:

Buy fab Jimmy Choo products here and 25% of sales, guaranteed, will be donated to the Simelela. Fashion, function and a good cause...there's nothing better.

3. Donate, donate, donate:

Or head to http://www.jimmychoo72.com/donate to directly donate an amount of your choosing to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

I like to think that if we all put our heads together, we can make a difference.

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." - Anne Frank

Shake your tailfeather....

A friend's coming over from Mexico and will be staying with us, so the weekend has been spent pretty much cleaning. Our guest room hosts all my spare "rubbish" i.e. clothes, accessories, shoes, vintage, etc.....and so I had to clean it all out/compartmentalise/rationalise. I'm buggered from cleaning! Can I get a weekend to recover from my weekend?!?! Here's where I iterate that lovely concept of the 4-day working week. Which I could arrange with work, but would need to work much longer hours for.....hmmm.....

I wore this dress out, and some random guy came up to me and asked why it was so loose fitting. He then proceeded to give me styling advice. About wearing a belt to cinch it in. Etcetera. Really.....how very metrosexual of you buddy. Aren't you just supposed to enjoy the view? I kid. Point taken. Although after a few long island iced teas....not quite sure there was a point, or what it was ;)

p.s. I've recently discovered the brilliance that is Sportsgirl's matte nailpolish. I'm wearing a turquoise blue here. Yours for $7.95. I've since bought a matte mint green, and a matte coral. Who knew I was capable of such girlie-ness?!?!

Did we have a good weekend? And please don't say it involved cleaning. I'm banning that word. Seriously. In all seriousness though, how did you spend the weekend?

dress, vintage. shoes, camilla and marc. rings, diva and asos.

public service announcements....

1. Thigh high boots:

I've searched high and low for the perfect thigh-high leather boots.....I have abnormally skinny legs for my body and as a result most of the thigh-high boots out there just gape around my legs. Its especially bad with "skinny" shaft thigh-highs (woah, does that read completely perverted or is it just me?!!?) because they do this wierd bunching thing around my legs. AND lets not get into the whole "is it skanky if you're wearing hooker boots with really high heels?" moral fashion dilemma. In my opinion, if you're going to wear thigh-high boots and short tunics/shorts/skirts/other, its best if the boots are flat. So with that in mind, I've been searching. For the past 3-4 seasons....with no luck. And finally, I have acquired the perfect pair and they have made the ardous journey over rough seas (or maybe just in a plane, but still...) and are in my possession. The boots in question? These babies:

pc: ninemsn

Since I first spotted them coming down the runway, worn by Freja and paired with the paperbag-waisted leather shorts, I've drooled over this pair by Chloé. What's not to love about this cuffable thigh-high version, with leather straps to be criss-crossed across the shaft for the perfect dishevelled look!! And its my duty to tell you that these babies are softer than soft and are about the most comfy things I've ever worn on my feet. Welll worth the investment. Mmmmm. Now where can I get me a pair of coloured paper-bag waisted leather shorts?

2. Win with MyCatwalk:

MyCatwalk (click on link) has teamed up with Maurie and Eve, whom I've discussed here and here, to offer one lucky person a chance to win $1000 worth of fab Maurie and Eve gear. Maurie and Eve are always on-trend, avant garde and brilliant....and if you win, you get to join a stylist (no names revealed yet) in Sydney and have your wardrobe planned for the season, jam packed with Maurie and Eve products. Oooh. All you have to do is spend $250 at mycatwalk.com.au to be entered into the draw. This one suits the Aussies, but even if you're not an Aussie there's no reason not to check out Maurie and Eve for brilliant Christmas buys (I promise I get no commission from this, I just love Maurie and Eve that much :)

pc: my catwalk

3. Ridiculous platform shoes:

I've recently been drooling over a number of shoes, all of which have one thing in common: a ridiculous platform heel. I say the more ridiculous the platform height, the better. So should it be the Ashish platform wedges (in black....because zebra is a little too trash-glam for my liking) or the Aggie metal insert heel boot, or even these or these or these? Any other suggestions as to how to satisfy this crazy platform kick I'm on?

pc: topshop

What are you craving of late?

Summer whites....

.....and boat shoes!

Spent Sunday bumming around the house, doing laundry, catching with a girlfriend for coffee at a beach-side cafe (thank you, summer!), consuming even more caffeine avec Stuart at the boat harbour, karaokeing our little hearts out in the heat of my run-down old toyota to the fab sounds on the radio (Mix 94.5, if you have to know ;), and generally getting more brown....and it's only the beginning of summer.

p.s. gotta love the bath slipper-like white slip-ons ;)

white pocket tee, supre. shorts, cotton on. flats, sportsgirl. cardigan, portmans. bag, vintage. necklace, diva. cuff, city beach. rings; sportsgirl, markets, vintage.

The circus comes to town

You may have noticed (or not) my absence from the world wide web. Brought on by using our bandwidth allowance way too quickly. Time to upgrade, me thinks. I feel slightly out of it but have been suitably distracted by a crazy busy workload (yes, I have brought work home this weekend), birthday shenanigans and catching up with friends....

....so I shall have to pick up the pace and get right back into the swing of things. And remember to take some outfit snaps. I'm also in the process of choosing a new digital SLR camera (preferably Canon) courtesy of a massive collaborative birthday present from family and friends, so any suggestions/recommendations would be highly appreciated.

In the meanwhile here are some snaps from the Circus themed party I threw to celebrate my birthday. Good times. The bunny won the "best outfit" prize. Granted. And the feather falsies were bought about 6 months ago and I planned to add them to the outfit regardless. Mission accomplished.

Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes! Have a lovely week :)

DIY star-studded one piece, vintage. jacket, witchery. whip and hat, costume shop. false eyelashes, ebay. boots, asos.

We interrupt regular scheduling to bring you.....

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. It's actually my birthday today, but I went out to dinner with friends on Friday and had a 'Circus' themed party on Saturday night (so much fun). It's been a crazy busy weekend, in a good way, so have been away from the computer for a while. A good thing! I still promise to leave you all love on your blogs. In the meanwhile, the gorgeous and fabulously style-savvy Sweety P awarded me this, with a set of questions to answer (and lord knows, I love these):

Where's your cell phone: bed side table

Your hair: straight-ish/curly-ish depending on the weather

Your mother: a sweetheart

Your father: hilarious (stand up comedy-worthy)

Favourite food: biltong

Last night: I recovered from the party on Saturday night

Favourite drink: Guinness

What room are you (in): my bedroom

Hobby: photography

Fear: would it be cliched to say I try not to be afraid of anything?!?!

Where were you last night: At home

Something that you aren't: high maintenance

Muffins (huh??!): bran honey and banana ones from Muffin Break. Mmmm.

Wish list item: a house (it's near impossible to buy one in Perth, dammit)

Where did you grow up: Kenya, Africa

What are you wearing: tee, shorts, tennis shoes and my hooker hat...kidding. About the tennis shoes ;)

Your pets: (I used to have a turtle, a dog and 5 cats)

Friends: crazy and amazing...

Something you're not wearing: sunglasses, and a hooker hat

Favourite store: Billie & Rose

Favourite colour: turquoise

Last time you laughed: A few minutes ago, at the cheesiness of True Blood. I do love it though :)

Your best friend: Stuart and my sister

Place you go over and over: Melbourne. The Brisbane bar. Voyage Kitchen. The beach

Person who emails you regularly: people telling me I've won the British lottery. Score!!!???!

Favourite place to eat: a restaurant at Hillary's Boat Harbour that has just disappeared. Boo.

If you are not familiar with Sweety P's work, get there now! Thanks, hun :). I'd like to pass this award to:

Stiletto Stetico

Style Porn

Dream Sequins

Syd Vicious Lives

The Sydney Girl

It's Unbeweavable

Janetteria

Tapas promenade...

Fun times with friends when we headed out for tapas to celebrate my (shhh.....26th) birthday....

I piled on the accessories as the night wore on.....one of the necklaces is a gift from my best friend Katherine (in the first pic). The jeans meanwhile are a recent acquisition and fit like a glove....love. We all sat around in the garden and basked in the warmth of a typical Aussie summer evening. We shared a beer (or 10!) and overindulged in the delicious food on offer, discussing everything under the sun. Here's to good friends and more of life!

p.s. thank you all so much for the wonderful comments, you guys are the best. I promise to leave you all some love in the next few days :)

sheer tee, supre. leather jacket, miss selfridge. jeans, dr. denim. shoes, ysl tribute. cuff, city beach.