Hi there! Apologies for the unexpected radio silence around these parts. Life got busy and complicated but now I'm ready to resume my normal regimen of semi-sporadic, aimless posts. Hooray!
My friend Jaine gave me this sweet vintage dress out of the blue one day and it is now on high rotation in my wardrobe (and by wardrobe I mean floordrobe). Over the last few months I have started to foster much closer, meaningful relationships with female friends and I can't overstate how refreshing and important that has been for me. It is ridiculously sweet to go out for coffee dates with ladies I like and then receive texts from them later saying how much they enjoyed our hang outs. During and after high school most of my close friends were male and I was often hesitant to form close female friendships (having been spurned in a close friendship long ago). Having fun, clever, supportive lady friends is the best.
I probably don't need to tell you that red is my favourite colour or that I refuse to wear it sparingly. Wearing it is a pick-me-up on days when I'm feeling lacklustre. Last week I was walking in the city (not wearing red however) and an old man stopped me to thank me for looking like a "Summer's day". It definitely caught me off guard and was one of the nicest compliments I've ever received.
My mum is staying with me for the next week and then Theo and I are spending a little over a week in NSW with family. In the meantime, I am up to my ears in really fun freelance work. I really need to work on scheduling out my life better because I flounder when it comes to time management. I know it's a skill developed over time and I'll get there eventually. I need to befriend early mornings and make better use of my Filofax.
Life is good at the moment. I hope you're feeling the same way.
I went to my sweet friend Ella's baby shower today and wore this new dress. I put it on layby a month or two ago and I'm a little bit in love with it. It's by Dear Creatures (and is on sale on their website at the moment). The baby shower was lovely (and the food was amazing) and I'm very excited to meet her new little girl in a few weeks.
I'm house sitting at the moment, but stopped by my apartment to tidy it up for my rental inspection tomorrow. I am looking forward to getting back to it in a little while, now that a friend has lent me her fridge and washing machine and the internet is being connected. I'll feel like a real person again!
Nice things lately:
+ My work colleagues making me feel special when I had to work on my birthday this week (and enforcing that I wear a big, pink 'Birthday Girl' badge).
+ Mint Slice biscuits.
+ Lunch dates and afternoon teas with lovely friends.
+ Being given a cute hand-me-down dress from a sweet friend.
+ Finishing up some fun commissions (lots of pet portraits!).
+ Raw, vegan cheezecake shared with Theo.
+ Reading in bed.
+ Listening to lots of Radio National (I'm an old person).
+ Daily fur brushing sessions with the cat I'm minding; Harry the British Blue (so soft!).
C is in Melbourne for four days seeing Belle & Sebastian (my sister and I went halves in buying him surprise tickets - they're one of his favourite bands), so it has just been me and Theo at home. Funnily enough, it's the first time C has ever been away from Theo and the first time I've had Theo on my own for an extended period of time. Theo and I are having a lovely time together and I'm so enjoying this time, wherein I have no other responsibilities except the care of my boy - no multitasking.
Today we went out for coffee with my friend Isis at Inside Cafe (I'm so sorry to the people who work there for Theo's rambunctious table manners - sugar and milk everywhere!). Afterwards we went to the chemist because Theo has had what I thought were lots of little bites all over him and they've been causing him a lot of grief, especially at night, but the chemist seemed pretty sure that it is chickenpox! It was a bit of a surprise and I've since gathered up supplies of things to bathe him in and slather over him to hopefully make him a bit more comfortable. Everyone keeps telling me that it's better that he gets it over and done with early.
Also, my whole outfit except for my shoes and brooch was thrifted. I think it's nice when that happens! Theo's clothes are hand-me-downs from his cousins.
Today I met my friend Isis for lunch and Theo, C and I spent some time in Princes Square (one of our favourite Launceston parks). Theo is at that stage where he'll only put up with so much time being cooped up in his pram, so we've been trying to find more spots in the city where he can get down and play. There's one great cafe with an enclosed play area (Flip) that we go to and the library, but the parks have been pretty damp lately and not conducive for an exploring, crawling baby. But we threw caution to the wind and just let him roam today and get muddy knees - he doesn't care about them, so why should I?
He became obsessed with the fountain and forced me to let him dip his hands in it over and over again, despite the water being totally freezing. I've been wanting to take him to the indoor swimming centre for a long time and he seems pretty interested in water at the moment, so maybe it's a good time.
I wasn't feeling very photogenic so C told me to spin around in circles, ha.
I was in Hobart last fortnight to attend a singing workshop with one of my favourite singers, Clare Bowditch (and everyone from the workshop got to sing with her on stage at her concert that night!). The first concert I ever went to was a Clare Bowditch concert when I was 15, so it was a bit of a teenage dream to attend a workshop with her. A totally lovely coincidence was that Mem (who I have been friends with online for some time) was at the workshop too and we got to meet properly and she kindly let me hang out with she and her lovely cat Jellyfish between the workshop and the concert. Anyway, this is really just a long way of telling you that I was in Hobart for a few days and Dangerfield (which unfortunately Launceston doesn't have) had a big sale and I got 5 dresses, including this one, and I got my cute heart shaped bag for free.
I've been going for walks into the city a lot lately to take photos for a drawing project for uni. I only have two subjects left until I graduate and it feels so weird to be so close to the end. When I first started uni back in 2009 I didn't really know what I wanted to do or when I would finish, so it's nice to see the finish line. I'm really excited to get started on my drawing project, stay tuned.
I also wanted to say a big thank you for the kind emails I've received since my last post - I'm still in the process of responding to them, but reading them has really helped me in the last few days.
+ Shoes: Melissa. Bag: Dangerfield. Coat: Target. Dress: Dangerfield/Revival. Cardigan: Thrifted.
