Hand made

About three weeks ago I started unpicking a very old jersey skater skirt I had never worn.
It disappeared underneath my office desk until last night, when I decided that watching all episodes of "Arrow" in one hit isn't going to make me feel fulfilled once I hit the bed at night.

I have been dreaming of this white Zara skort number but unfortunately there isn't a Zara in Brisbane yet and they don't ship internationally.
So what can one do, when one cannot have what one's heart desires?

CRAPPY DIYS por vida or something.

Now I have to stress that my sewing skills and more so my tailoring skills are rusty, the latter being non-existant and that I used a PU skirt as a helpful tool for pattern making, which is about the most wrongest (grammar aaah) fabric you could choose to make a pattern for a jersey skirt.

So here's what I did in a few simple steps:

1) Completely unpick your original garment: I unpicked the waistband, zipper and all the different parts of the skirt.
2) Stencil your end product - I didn't make a proper pattern because of lack of utensils/patience but this helped a great deal. Still if you have the time please please do up a proper pattern first!
3) Cut out all elements of your end product - leaving 1 - 2 cm in order to neatly sew it in at the end
4) Sloppily hand sew all pieces first - trust me when I say that unless you are a master tailor, you cannot skip this time-consuming and boring task. Actually, both my grandmas are master tailors and still hand sew everything first. Good things take time
5) Machine sew all parts and unpick the other thread - the one you used when hand sewing everything
6) Try on the product and take a selfie, the post on instagram

The whole process made me realise how dependant my generation is on instant gratification. I struggled with finishing this project, because the reward of seeing the end product was hours and hours away. It's time for me to move away from "Buy it now", "takeaway" and "sale ends soon" I think.

New in

It was when I had put enough money into my savings account, to buy two return flights to Austria, that I felt like treating myself to a new wardrobe addition. Man, I saved money like it was going out of fashion. And then, just 10 minutes after paying for this baby, I get an $ 800 insurance bill. I know what you're thinking. Life's a beach.

Main motivation to buy this asymmetric printed skirt was a leather top that already existed in my closet and a Tegan and Sara concert on Tuesday. I needed something nice to wear. Let me rephrase. I wanted something nice to wear. Anyway, as much as I like the skirt I feel as though I am exploring unsafe waters with a body con ultrashort number. I can flash people in a maxi dress. Imagine what a mini skirt will inevitable lead to.

Skirt from Latin Clothing company. Excuse the changing room photo.

BOW DOWN

Watch "Beyonce New H&M Commercial Featuring New Song 'Standing On The Sun'!" on YouTube

Queen Beyonce, killing it in her curvacious goodness. That green/turquoise high waisted bikini is to die for. The printed dress she is wearing while rolling around in the water will definitely be purchased. And the peacock chair is an addition to my non-existant veranda I have been scanning ebay for years now. Pretty simple:
I want to live in this commercial!

Pony

Limecrime lipstick. Anime hair buns. Lumpy space princess representing. I need to get a life.

Shine a light

Johnossi - Execution song - YouTube
This song played in my head while I showered this morning.
I don't know what happened to Johnossi.
But what I know is that I liked their album very much. Enough to have it shipped to Australia when I moved.

Whatever happened to Swedish music?
The investigation is about to start. I shall keep you posted.

Coheed and Cambria @ Tivoli Brisbane

Live! Tonight! SOLD OUT! (almost)

Yeah boy, it was certainly time for some high quality live music for me. With their albums on repeat during our last overseas trip, Dan kind of got me into Coheed. 'The Armory Wars" novels did the rest. It's funny because at age 16 I walked away from one of their shows at an Austrian music festival. I didn't quite get it then, but 7 years later I was fan-girlying when I got to meet them.

The band is based on and around a series of science fiction novels, written by singer Claudio Sanchez. Each album is based on one whole story. Some of these novels are pretty hard to get, being out of print with no sign of a re-release anytime soon, which makes the whole concept even more awesome.

With their latest album (The Afterman), we got the opportunity to purchase a special edition pack, including the latest novel as well as a VIP pass for their concerts. I was pretty excited to meet them before the gig. Word got around that we would hear a song played by one or several of the band members before the show, but the volume of people who had acquired these VIP passess was overwhelming for both the venue and the band. They decided to cancel the song and turn it into a meet and greet instead. There was a cluster of people excitedly yet patiently waiting by the back entrance of the Tivoli, socialising and not socialising, reading over their novels they brought in to get them signed, dancing, discussing previous gigs they had been to, favourite albums... It was a place on this Earth ball I felt very comfortable at.

Needless to say the whole meet and greet process was very structured. One photo, taken by the tour manager, one signature from each band member per fan. If you talked for too long security would ask you to move on. Yeah, the venue was running behind big time. But with around 100 people lining up behind us I didn't really feel like wasting too much time anyway. Every kid of the Coheed family should have a go after all. So what was the band like? Very polite, semi-chatty, speak "professional". It's always a surreal experience for me to meet people who are blessed with creativity. I catch myself staring at them, mesmerized by how a person that is physically not much different from me can have such a distinctive mind, an infinite source of talent right there in their brain cavity. It's an exciting encounter, no matter what particular human I meet, no matter what they are gifted with.

Moving onto the concert and Circa Survive played a solid 9 - song opener show. I am a bit confused as to why the singer kept spitting on himself, a mystery I shall never solve. At least his voice was awesome and he thanked the audience after every song. Charm balls.
But Coheed, man... They were so there. The fans were mesmerized and at times the biggest spectacle happened in front of the stage, rather than on it. Seas of hands clapping to the beat, mosh pits forming amongst the crowd, chiors joining Claudio sing the chorus, it was truly a united crowd unlike anything I have witnessed in a long time. All musicians on stage showed gratitude for the support they received from their audience and rewarded us with not just a grande set, but also two songs for their encore. I was deaf at that stage so I can't go into detail much it seemed the Tivoli was shaking from excitement.

I have a lot of respect for bands who cherish their audience this much, who stay grounded and modest and earn the respect of their fans through years of consistent gratitude, quality shows and solid album releases. It's the only way to build a fan base as diverse and passionate as CaC can look at now. There is no stereotypical Coheed fan. The twenty or so people we interacted with before the show were all kinds of kids. Fashion blogger girls, hardcore lovers, hipster boys, punks, goths and sun tanned tradies. Pensioners, teachers, mums and dads. In an industry were pissing off your target audience is and always has been a big "No-no", Coheed and Cambria have made their beds well and proper, without conforming to record label policies and music critics' expectations.

If you get a chance to catch them live, jump at it!
Otherwise watch some of their live sets online and I will guarantee you will be entertained by Claudio's amazing yet disturbingly voluminous mane that tends to unfold over his head and covers his face, turning him into what I like to call a 'human mushroom'.

All the pretty fingers

I can't believe I just got sucked into watching "The Voice" for the last 45 minutes. No, what really makes me sad is that I have nothing better to do on a Saturday night than watch reality TV. Am I really one of these people?
To my defense I almost became a deaf person after last night's concert. Will let you know who I saw in tomorrow's post. It was awesome though, but fuck it was loud. And I mean really fucking loud. Probably the loudest concert I have been to in my life.

But moving on to prettier things.
I have just discovered the magic of caviar manicure and glitter manicure.
It's a very strange and unsettling thing for me to know something is on top of my nail, in 3d and all. I feel so incredibly tempted to pick the little balls off. I should work on my OCD.
The glitter one is cool too, except it leaves glitter EVERYWHERE!

I bought these kits from Cosmetics Plus for $ 8 each. Pretty much the best deal you can get. Or you could just buy black nailpolish and order glitter off ebay in bulk. Honestly I don't think it matters what type of glitter you use, as long as you can dip your nail into it.

Seeing as I am trying to save money at the moment and didn't buy my lunch/eat out at all this week, I had a bit of spending money left over ( $ 16 for the only impulse buy during a whole pay period  is pretty good, don't you think) and these manicure sets really awoke my curiosity, as opposed to most beauty products on le marche.
I still had a Colette voucher from my birthday thanks to a very dear friend so I ducked in there on my lunch break today and found some very cute and inexpensive love heart rings.

Oh man, there is this enormous feeling of content and achievement that has accompanied me all week. Cooking good food and going to work energised, seeing live music and having conversations with strangers and laughing with my hilarious husband... Life was very good to me this week, without me investing valuable travel money in a new wardrobe addition (that red cloak though!!!)

Tonight I say Adieu with a big fat heart full of gratitude and a feeling of adult responsibility, that, for a change, actually feels pretty good.

On nostalgia and music festivals

It's that time of the year again where I have to actively watch my spending, because homesickness and travel bug are my steady companion. I am really looking forward to going overseas and I want to smash work so hard my bosses won't have a choice but to grant me a few weeks off by the time this year hits August.

With Asos doing their best to trick me into spending (mainly with this red blazer/coat or more a textured beautification cloak), I frequently have to slap my own wrists and close browsers in order to keep my savings account healthy.

But it is H&M dropping its festival attire that makes my heart skip a few beats. Just reading the subject line created a feeling of happy nostalgia in my belly - memories connected to the festival season and the inevitable scanning of H&M before departure to find the most exciting yet comfortable and sweat resistant outfit for a three day mud fest. I know I just talked about how superficial Coachella seems to be, that it's more fashion week than music festival and I still support that point of view, seeing as back in the day it was all about the music, not about street style photography. We wore band shirts, man and we took photos of the band, not each other. Yes, we bought new clothes beforehand but that was mostly because we worked hard all year (or sat through school, like me), just to experience those three days of awesomeness and hey, we just wanted to dress up for it. It. Not someone else's dslr.

Anyway since I am feeling happy thoughts I thought I should treat you to my TOP 5 festival and concert moments (although I might not even re-call some of the most awesome ones. Will definitely raid my computer for photos back in Austria next time I am home):

# 5:

ARCTIC MONKEYS AT FREQUENCY FESTIVAL 2006
The masses were overwhelming, girls screaming and pushing everywhere, I ended up fainting in the midst of the fandom and a security guard pulled me out. For about half a song I had a perfect view on Alex Tuner's pimple-scarred face (it was 2006 after all), then security dragged me out of the conveniently empty walkway between the two wave breakers (what is this called? Please help).
I wore probably dangerously unflattering grey pin stripe bermudas and a light pink tank top with polka dots (true story)

# 4

MANDO DIAO AND THE KILLERS AT NOVA ROCK 2007
Noone hear gives a shit about Mando Diao but in Europe they were big, bigger than the universe and who could blame their fan community - they were good looking Swedish boys with great accents and Beatle-esque pop songs. Maybe youtube them some time. The Killers need no introduction. They just dropped Bones. The concert was pretty good. I was very drunk and with the best people in the world, we danced on, muddy fields to 'Somebody told me'. I think I wore a striped top and white midlength lace skirt. Ugh....

# 3:

IAMX AT POSTHOF LINZ 2009
One word: HOT
I don't know what it is about Chris Corner, but I felt the same awkward attraction I did when I once saw Marilyn Manson live. Skinny metrosexual boys in crazy eye make up thrusting at their guitars. My strange addiction. I wore hooker boots and a knitted long-sleeved black dress and felt in awe of the blonde Cornell-version at the merch stand and remember buying a square button just to be able to talk to him. Lol. Oh youth.

# 2:

EAGLES OF DEATH METAL AT FREQUENCY FESTIVAL 2007 & 2008
This might seem like the biggest lie to you but Jesse Hughes blew me kisses on both of these shows. I know, right. I have witnesses if you don't believe me. He also threw up on stage during the first concert but kept on going in his tight as jeans. Because the crowd was amazing. Never felt more part of a big sweaty family than at these two shows. I do not recall in which awful threads I clothed myself for these shows.

# 1:
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE ON EVERY OF THE FOUR OCCASSIONS I GOT TO SEE THEM
During my first festival ever I saw Oasis, Foo Fighters, Incubus (they had just dropped Megalomaniac and were still good back then) and many more big names, but Queens of the Stone Age fucking rocked the show. I saw them again two years later, twice that year actually. It was balls crazy amazing. The last time I saw them they toured their newest record (Era Vulgaris in 2008) and a friend and I jumped on a train to Vienna with a bottle of Captain Morgans Rum and plenty of red lipstick. The show was fantastic, it included some well known and loved lessons on concert crowd etiquette (LOTS of swearing and name calling, great stuff). We ended up missing our last train home end found ourselves in a dingy cafe in which drugs were dealt and hookers were booked. Great times.
Can you imagine how excited I am for their new record? Six more weeks. Until then I shall feed off the single they just released.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-90obSa1Az4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Hiya

Oh Jesus, what a crazy week and a half.
I was so lonely on day three of my business trip I danced through Woolworths and sang to Jamiroquai's "Little L". Old ladies shook their heads at me, which was sufficient human interaction to prevent my heart from turning into stone.

I got bitten by a mosquito all night long, I scratched my body like a dirty hobo all day long and then went on the craziest plane ride of my life. Safe to say I was convinced I wouldn't make it to Brisbane. I already rehearsed a 'sole survivor of horrific plane crash' speech to sensationalist media in my head. I held onto the book I tried to read so hard I sweated through the top page. No jokes. I did make it home in the end. Sweaty. With legs shaking, making it hard to go down a set of stairs. Feeling very spent. I called Dan straight after the flight and found a quiet corner where I could shamelessly swear my heart out while he just laughed at me. Oh man. Life's not fair. But it sure is entertaining.

Anyways, now that I am alive and frolicking through the Queen's land with the sun shining and all I thought I should stop by here. Cough. Cough. How is everyone?
What are you wearing, eating, reading at the moment???
I am currently making my way through 'WULTHERING HEIGHTS', a classic I really quite enjoy, not just because it's one of the very few classics by a female author but also because the story is intriguing from page one and doesn't need to 'warm up'. Give it a shot if you haven't yet. I also bought some clothes and took a photo of them. Woahhhh. For details check out the old instagram.

And I also celebrated my husband's 30th birthday this weekend. It was a deluxe food, drink and pleasure edition of a birthday weekend, I tell you that much. Dan and I are both physically and mentally exhausted after that much fun!!!
Thanks to everyone who made it happen!!!

Coachella is on at the moment and I am a bit disappointed/disgusted at the fact that none of the people I follow on instagram seem to have seen a band play. I now know what they are wearing, but god knows who they're looking forward to see??? Better question is do they even know that it's a music festival, or have all the fashion and beauty brands taken over the stages already, with their watered down vodka based beverages and low fat canapes? I mean...seems like every brand has a tent or a party there. No thanks. Coachella is now officially the first task I ever crossed off my bucket list because of disguts rather than successful completion. Now only to figure out which is the second best US music festival and plan out the road trip.

Good night dreamers xx

Fashion week vs high street week

I lied. There is no such thing as high street week. I made it up.
To be fair every week is high street week. Something something. Sad tired talk.

I enjoyed fashion week photos, some ladies I envy, some I laugh at. You know. Such is life. Some girls just try too hard, hey.
I am very intruiged to say the least, by this particular UNIF pinafore leather dress a mystery lady is wearing below. Sold out goodness, kind of reminds me of the leather aprons butchers usually wear. Kind of creepy. Kind of cool. Thin straps and all.

Collection favourite so far must be aje. I mean. Powdery colours. Delicate texturing. What else do you need? All photos are via their instagram account @_aje_ and asos.
Check them out yo.

Wishlist

Quite frankly drooling over the marvellous selection of garments, footwear and accessories currently available for purchase on ASOS aka the best clothing store on this earth. I wonder how lovely these twill dungarees would look on a curvacious buttock. I guess I will have to order to find out. Good for me I forgot my asos password and their "reset password" option is currently not working. Otherwise I would have spent my life savings. I already had a $ 75 cart, its content being nothing but pinky rings. I didn't even get to the clothing or shoe section yet. Oh dear...
Happy drooling friends.

10 reasons March was AWESOME!

Hurray hurray!
With the past 31 days being as good as they were March is gonna be a tough month to beat in terms of (yes here comes the most horrific and grammatically incorrect noun of the 21st century) AWESOMENESS! April needs to watch its back! 
I am feeling a wee bit sorry for my friends and family back home at the moment. As much as I am looking forward to the cold here, 6 months of winter are enough for them. Time for some spring blossoms and warm feelings to surface!! I always loved seeing the first flowers breaking through the snow, the first few bumble bees coming to life and people's moods lifting once spring hit town. Long winter takes their toll on people's psyche, I swear. It helps to either buy a sauna (best piece of furniture ever) or do as my parents did and head off to the South of France for sun ray-soaking and insanity-prevention.

Aaaannnd drumrooooollllll

Here are ten reasons March was awesome

1) IT'S MY BIRTHDAY, IT'S STILL MY BIRTHDAY
Of course I celebrated my much dreaded 23rd birthday and it turned out to be amazing. Dan and I went on a micro-holiday full of good food, sunshine and relaxation. We chilled by the heated pool, munched away on peanut butter cups and explored the main streets of Noosa. I was showered with birthday messages from friends all over the globe. And of course PRESENTS! I got massage vouchers from Dan, the most thoughtful gift! I always complain about tension in my neck and shoulders and I am also a very peculiar specimen in that I enjoy massages so much I get goose bumps just watching a YouTube video of someone getting one! Yeah....

2) I went exploring
Noosa Heads is yet another beautiful place on this Earth ball and I cannot wait to go back! The beaches and beautiful rain forest are worth re-visiting and charming Hastings Street with its little cafes, restaurants and boutiques is a total gem. Oh Wanderlust, you've got me again!

3) TV awesomeness
I don't care what anyone says but selective TV watching can't be all bad. This month I watched the second season of 'GIRLS' and I will never ever be able to clean my ears with a cotton bud again without accompanied by an overwhelming feeling of nausea. (AND THE CRACKING NOISE??? UGH!!!!)
I kept watching 'The Walking Dead', a season that turned out to be extremely entertaining and un-crowd-pleasing (grammar police?) with main characters dying or turning and heroes going loco. It will be very interesting to see where the next season is going to go. The concept of continuously defending one's existence in a world of complete hopelessness is extremely intriguing to me. I sometimes wonder why they don't just let the zombies do their thing with the world being in ruins and all... I also wonder when one of the deers the zombies brunch on in the forests is going to turn and go absolutely BERSERK! YOU DON'T MESS WITH A ZOMBIE DEER, MAN!

4) I read "This is a call"
....and felt inspired and in awe of Dave Grohl's creative mind. I chewed up the book in 48 hrs. It's admittedly an easy read, written by an experienced music journalist, but if you're expecting a major ego-polisher of a book, beware! It's a very universal piece of writing, giving insights into DC's and Seattle's music history from the 60ies and 70ies onwards to Scream, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Them Crooked Vultures and all the other stuff Mister Grohl was involved in! For all you hopeless Kurt Cobain fans (guilty pleasure) there's a massive chapter dedicated to him specifically. I particularly enjoyed the part where various people who worked with him point out how apparent his mental health and drug problems were before...uhm...the fame.
Read it now!

5) I started Rushfit again
..and I sure as hell threw up my afternoon tea afterwards. Let's face it, exercise gets awesome as soon as you're done with it for the day. But it has to be done and one major benefit I gain is good, reviving sleep which, one tells me, is essential for living happily. Or just living, in that matter. Doing my 100th squat as we speak (not). Haha. Boned.

6) I registered my Blog on bloglovin
Please feel free to click the button picturing a female with a (1) visible breast nipple exposed on the bottom of this page. I am friends now with bloglovin, I still miss the good old google reader though but honestly, the layout and categorization and easy handling make it much more user-friendly than Google reader, especially when blogging from a phone or tablet. Follow me on bloglovin, friends! "desperate mumbling"

7) App-tastico
I finally (!!!) got the official "Blogger" - app on my phone and tablet. I don't know why I bothered opening my browser, typing in the address, then logging in before I could actually start writing for that long!!!! Upon reflection this sentence just made me look extremely lazy. Still I wonder how many minutes of my life I could have used for other, hyper-important things had I only bothered to install this app earlier.
I also got myself the bloglovin app for lunch break entertainment purposes, which also doubles up as an efficient distraction from buying and then consuming copious amounts of sour squirms.

8) I fell in love with Impressionism
...and France - once again!! It didn't help to know my parents spent Easter on the Cote d'Azur. Amazing, right? Admittedly it's a recurring love I've had since first looking trough art books in primary school. I watched a documentary on SBS last week on impressionists, which also included a mini-guide to Paris and was as informative as the paintings are beautiful. I found a website off which you can order high quality prints of your favourite artist's masterpieces. They're pricey but better than a $ 25 crappy TYPO canvas. And again here's proof, TV is not the devil so long as you choose your programs wisely, mute the ads and don't watch re-runs!!!!

9) Sew awesome
My in-laws gave me a sewing machine and an over locker for my birthday (very spoiled!) so I am already altering garments to practice. There is a variety of structured designer garments I would love to recreate, so hopefully my tailoring skills will show sooner or later. Can't be all hopeless with both my Nanas being tailors for a living.
This is one of the beautiful clothing items I shall soon call my own (but only by paying a tiny percentage of it's retail price)

via fashiontoast

10) Essentials
I got into relaxation techniques after having a pretty eye-opening conversation with my massage therapist on my birthday weekend. I bought essential oils like they're going out of fashion and been lighting up every room with scented candles after work to relax and come down from a busy and stressful day. It is quite amazing how much more you get out of your body if you give it a chance to actively rest.




5 songs I was addicted to in March

• Justin Timberlake - That girl
• Vampire Weekend - Diane Young
• The Rubens - Don't ever wanna be found
• Delphic - Baiya
• Flight Facilities - Crave you

HOW DID MARCH TREAT YOU GUYS????

Lonelymess

Feeling very much like being in Detroit rather than Mack-to-tha-ay at the moment. I got a lift from a staff member's mum last night (I rock!) because I was too scared to walk half a mile or so. Then someone stole a car next to the hotel. Phew.
I always have to remind myself that I slept at a bus stop on two occassions (once in Coffs Harbour, once in Cairns) but roaming the streets of Mackay city by myself at 10 pm was too much to take.
SO YEAH
Yesterday was great fun. I flashed about 200 people at the airport because my backpack got friction frisky with my polyester dress. Which is cool. I flashed more people without the help of a backpack before. Awkward was the encounter with a homeless looking lady who came over to tell me that everyone had seen my bum. It was double awkward because I thought she was going to ask me for,money. Whoops. My bad!
I did a 12 hr shift which encluded overhearing school girls calling each other sluts and my junior telling me she gets called a slut on a daily basis, even though she never even had sex. Maybe it's time we acknowledged that 'slut' is not a suitable universal cuss word tailored to every female that walks the planet. In fact it's unsuitable for all females. All humans. I found it extremely confronting to hear these things and kind of sorry for the younger generations. I was never called a slut until I hit the age of 16 or 17 (of course without even engaging in crazy amounts ofintercourse, not that that's a criteria), but these girls and boys are 12, 13 years old. Imagine the pressure and personal conflict?!!!!
I shall go spread the holy word now. Until then. Bye.

MAN DOWN

Bear with me guys as I am trying to revive my computer. It seems to always die when I am most excited about writing!!! Hope everyone had a great Easter. I myself held a baby (didn't cry! Score!), ate a lot, read a lot and slept a lot.

I also bought this dress from Dotti, because I have been a wee bit obsessed with the idea of pairing it with knee socks, sky high chunky ankle boots, leather jacket and a fedora. I could also add pearls to its Nana-esque top half.

Phew, how many outfit components can you name? Geez, it's getting cold! Wearing a fuzzy old bear cardigan as we speak! INDOORS! LIKE FORREALSEEEES.