Materials: PVC vs Leather

I wouldn't wear a pleather jacket. I tried (bought one on a whim and a dare) but I couldn't.

I would love to sink into one of these inflatable PVC chesterfield sofas by Blofield, though. Yes, inflatable. The kit comes with an electric pump.

Will look great in the smoky den or on the sprawling lawn that we don't have just yet.

Snapshots Of A Wedding On A Beautiful Spring Day

Now that I'm nearly rid of my two-day hangover, my memory and my ability to form proper sentences are coming back slowly. Here's what I remember:-

Likkle Girls




















These two real little girls were the first to catch my eye when we walked into the Herb Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens where the ceremony was held.

How cute are their identical made-to-measure dresses in my favourite colours of Spring?! Look at the matching plaid flats and polka-dot bows in their hair! Adorable. And will be breaking hearts very soon.

The Bride and Groom




















Her dress was very simple but utterly gorgeous. Can't remember the name of the designer, though.

Sunglasses of the Day
I saw them from a mile away! Of course they had to be Cutler and Gross, one of my favourite makers of eyewear. But thrifted for AU$1! In some country NSW op shop!

Playing "Pass The Funky Sunglasses" while waiting for the ferry at the Man O' War Jetty by the Sydney Opera House to take us across the harbour to Fort Denison where the reception is held.

Fort Denison
My maiden visit to this historic landmark. This photo was taken from one end of the island and the round tower is the other end- yes, it's that small.

Looking back at the mainland and the setting sun.

Interesting bit of fact in the Fort's tiny museum.

Pwetty Ladies
The little girls in the first photo years later? I asked these lovely ladies if they had called each other to colour-coordinate their wardrobe. "No, we have been friends for so long that we have an inkling of what the other is going to wear," one of them said. Awww...best friends forever.

The Only Chinky Chick In The Village





















The Western flapper look didn't materialise due to the lack of the right dress so I looked East and got inspired by Taisho Chic. I brought Spring with the blue of the vintage kimono and the green of the shoes that matched the colours of the hydrangeas on the bag.

Food!
Very delicious canapes that went very fast.

And a lovely dinner by Tailored Events Catering starting with this roasted tomato and feta tart with red onion jam followed by pan roasted kingfish (or golden ale braised beef cheeks) and a trio of dessert canapes - lemon meringue tartlet, berry fool, honeycomb semi freddo on almond biscuit - and tasty chunks of the beautiful wedding cake.

Sick Bay





















For those who needed a bit of a lie-down after too much happy-bubbly and dancing. I was good...I waited until I got home into my own bed, way way past bedtime and missed the Dank Street Festival that I've been looking so forward to the next day.

I Am Not Preggers

And I never will be. I'm not a hater of ankle biters. I don't mind them if they can hold back wailing at the top of their lungs non-stop in public places and as long as they didn't pop out of me. I'd rather have a dog. A French bulldog.

But I unknowingly bought some maternity wear for myself yesterday! And I thought I've seen modern preggers fashion - things that make you look normal even when a huge bowling-ball-in-a-bag is attached to the front of you - in all its guises! With pals like Mrs Bunny and Mommy Noinoi already members of the Yummy Mummy club.

They were on a rack at a tiny designers' warehouse sale, next to racks of clothes for "regular" people by other local labels like Cohen et Sabine, Shona Joy, Shakuhachi and Bowie. You, too, wouldn't have thought these Mishka'n'Milka pieces were for ladies-with-child if you were me. I didn't know until I Googled them when I got home.

When I picked up this Cheek To Cheek Cape in poppy red, I thought, "Oooh, a floaty lightweight cape for Spring/Summer." Concealing milk-laden breasts and protruding tummy didn't even cross my mind.

And with these pleated and cuffed Starry Eyed Stripe Shorts? All I could think of was, "Yippee! Another stripey pair to add to my Likkle-Girl-Goes-to-The-Hamptons-and-Revisits-Brideshead Summer repertoire."

The cute paperbag waist should have been a dead giveaway but everyone wears them nowadays - pregnant of not.

Would I have bought them if I had known they were made for mummies-to-be? Hell yeah! Why stop at raiding the kiddies' and men's department?

It's Hard Being A "Personal Shopper"

The "personal shopping" relationship between Poochie and I is a reciprocal one. Besides the lists of specific items that we send each other, she'll buy me things that she knows I'll definitely like without first consulting me and I'd do the same with things that I know are "oh-so-her". We have fun.

Two weeks ago, we were discussing totes, in particular, a tartan one that she saw in a shop in Singapore. The size and shape were not ideal and to be honest, I thought I was nearing the tail-end of my fixation so we decided not to buy it.



This morning, while doing my usual lap of the Crown Street secondhand stores, I picked this up in the Puf 'n' Stuff sale store (a few doors down from the actual shop), bought it for Poochie and promptly texted her the news. It's the perfect size and it folds so cutely into a clutch.

She said I should keep it but I told her it's hers because I wouldn't have bought it for myself as it has too much black for my liking. However, a few shops later, the bag, which I had to use to carry my rather unexpected loot, started to grow on me, black handles and trim and all.

Thou shalt not get attached to buys intended for "clients" - I broke that rule today. To punish me, Poochie has set me a new task. She wants a vintage animal print tote. See, we have fun.

Puf''n' Stuff Vintage Clothing
227 Crown Street
Surry Hills
Sydney

Window Shopping At 5.30am

Pretty things that jolt the sleepy-head out of me on my half-hour walk to work every morning...

Format Furniture - Two huge windows filled with highly covetable, if money was no object, things for the home.

The left window last week...

...the same window this week. Loving the mint green two-seater and the matching lampshade (hidden behind the stripey one).

Had me thinking...will the same animal print, florals and stripes work in one outfit as well as they work in this "room"?





















Chee Soon & Fitzgerald - Where I go for my Marimekko fix. Also great for gifts and fun homeware. And they have the most courteous of shop assistants in the whole of Sydney - real polite, not of the fawning variety, whether you're buying a Pantone mug or getting your sofa re-upholstered in Finnish fabric.





















B Paper 2 - A cute little fancy paper and stationery shop. I always look forward to changes in their window display. How cool are these tea towels with digital prints of kitchen utensils?!

In The Playground: Playing Tag

The Top Bird of Top Birds over at Wee Birdy - a London-based shopping blog that is as lovely as the Top Birdie herself - has popped my tag-cherry. Being Asian and traditional (when it suits me), I would have insisted she marry me, if she weren't a girl.

1. Four places I go to over and over (There are just too many so I'm going to narrow them down to places that are within a 30-minute's walk from where we live):
aPaddy's Fruit and Veg Market - We're there every weekend with our nanna shopping trolley to stock up on juicing fruits and greens. A huge selection of fresh but cheap goodness.
aSurry Hills Market - The first Saturday of every month on Shannon Reserve at the corner of Foveaux and Crown Streets. My favourite flea market in the whole of Sydney!
aThe op shops and secondhand stores in Surry Hills - They are all within walking distance of each other (I usually do all of them in one go) so I've grouped them.
aPitt Street Mall and surrounds - The two major Australian departmental stores - David Jones and Myer, local designers' boutiques in the heritage-listed Strand Arcade, chain stores, Lincraft (haberdashery) and the very evil JB Hi-Fi (music store), Kinokuniya Books and Incu boutique in The Galeries Victoria down the road...just a few of the shopping attractions.

2. Four people who email me regularly:
aPoochie, my "personal shopper" in Singapore - We're on MSN daily (better than emails!) discussing purchases of what we have termed "UTTs" - Unnecessary Thing-things.
aBen - With music-related news.
aGervy - Planning our next eat&play-date which usually involves a long drawn game of email ping-pong because our social calendars are quite frequently not in-sync.
aMommy Noinoi - Very recently with shopping lists for fashion-y things available here but not in Singapore.

3. Four places I would rather be right now:
aSnooping around in Bill Drummond's head
aWorking in Ferran Adria 's kitchen-laboratory
aExploring Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto's Japan
aBeing useful on the set of a Wong Kar Wai film

4. Four of my favourite places to eat (Again, simply too many! So here are my neighbourhood-centric old favourites):

aBistrode

aBodega

aChat Thai

aTsukasa

5. Four people I'm tagging (Girls and a boy from different bits of The Playground who will hopefully play with me):

aGervy at Gervorama ( Sydney, Australia)

aChou at Balance (NYC, USA)

aJin at Jin6655321 (Virginia, USA)

aMr Wong at The Sunday Best (British Columbia, Canada)

6. Four TV shows I watch over and over:

aThe West Wing

aArrested Development - Jason Bateman is HOT! HOT! HOT!

(That's it. Those are the only two that we've watched marathon-style on DVDs, from the first season to the last. But to make up a list of four, I'll include two "TV Shows I Would Like To Watch Over And Over Soon")

aHouse - Oh, Hugh, I love you!

a(*Edit: Boston Legal! Bye bye, 30 Rock)

7. Four Cheeky Things I Did This Week (Not a category from the original meme and I don't know if it's kosher to add one just because I feel like it but let's have fun! People that I've tagged: please feel free to add an additional question before you pass this on. Tee hee hee):

aAdding #7 to this tag

aEating too much sugar-glazed puff pastry with vanilla mascarpone

aSmoked too many cigarettes

aTelling a workmate that the songs on his iPod all sound like they are entries at the Eurovision Song Contest

Cuprocking - A New Disposable (Street)Art Form

I saw my first piece on the wall of the bar at Oxford Art Factory in April this year while waiting in line to see The Raveonettes play. Disposable plastic cups stuck into wire-mesh fencing to create geometric patterns. Simple but effective. How clever, I thought!

I didn't know who the artist was then and only found out recently that his name is Andy Uprock, after his work was featured in a Mooks ad with a link to his blog.

He "is a Sydney based artist whose work includes transforming streetscapes into large floating cup installations. The method and practice of his work runs parallel to the culture of graffiti and he titles this movement Cuprocking."

This is one of his recent pieces Life is Movement, Rhythm is Direction along William Street near King's Cross. Sadly, it was taken down by the city council only three days after it was created. I wonder why - it's not offensive and it gives the old fence a new lease of life - but the council workers must have been happy that it was easy to remove, unlike spray paint.

I'll be "stalking" his blog for I'd love to see his next on-the-street piece up-close, before his plastic-cup art gets disposed off.

Humility Is So Goddamn Attractive In A Man

This is Ferran Adria - the man who had chefs all around the world experimenting with and serving flavoured "soil" and "foam" to diners. His restaurant, elBulli, is the winner of the Best Restaurant in the World title four times in the last seven years, the last three were consecutive - a restaurant in Spain which is only open for six months each year, with 2,000,000 requests for 8,000 places annually.

The other six are spent in his kitchen-laboratory with his team, artfully "deconstructing" food and presenting it in new and totally unexpected ways on elBulli's thirty-something course degustation menu the following year. A meal that will guarantee a massive head-fuck, an assault to all your senses, in a very good way.






















Like his take on the traditional dish of cured ham and melon - Melon with Ham 2005. Tiny cantaloupe-flavoured spheres suspended in a cold jamón ibérico consomme. The essential flavours of the dish are still present except you consume it in a different way.

It's every food-lover's dream to dine at elBulli one day. Assuming you beat the long wait-list, it's not a cheap meal - an air ticket to Spain and incidentals on top of the €200 meal (not including matching wines from their amazing cellar). The next best thing, I suppose, while waiting, is to go see the man talk about his love for food and I did on Friday evening, along with 1067 others (I think most of Sydney's kitchens shut down that night just so the chefs could attend), at the majestic State Theatre, held in conjuction with the 11th Annual Good Food Month and the launch of his new book, A Day at elBulli, a 2.5kg and 528-page look behind the scenes at the famed restaurant.






















Ferran Adria spoke in Spanish, peppering his slideshow and video presentation with gems of anecdotes, and kudos to the seamless interpreting, I felt like I understood his native tongue.

By the end of the evening, I was as much in love with the man as his philosophy on food. In a world full of "rockstar" chefs and "rockstar" everything-else, it warms my heart to see a man who is at the toppest top of his game yet so modest about his achievements. Ferran Adria and my other huge chef-crush, Tetsuya Wakuda (who personally took us on a tour of his kitchen and art collection when we dined at his restaurant four years ago) are not textbook good-looking men but man, do they ooze "SEXY" with their humility. And their food, of course.

Seeing the man behind those wonders of molecular gastronomy has made me want to eat at elBulli even more than ever. If I stop buying frivolous things from now on, I might just make it there for my 40th, that is, if we're able to get a table.

Raiding The Kiddie's Department Again

My mommy would approve. She still loves her not-so-little girl in real likkle girls' dresses.

This one would remind her of my kindergarten days. The nuns said we could wear anything as long as it was in gingham. Mom had fun buying the checked fabrics in all colours and getting her tailor to make me cute little dresses in all permutation she could think of.

I was sold the moment I saw the gigantic corsage(!) near the hem but even in the largest kiddie size, the dress is a tad too short so it'll be worn as a flowy calf-length skirt with a thick smocked waistband (what would be the bodice on a 14-year-old).

My mom can't sew (but boy, can she cook!). Her sister, my aunt, is the crafty one. When I was little, she used to make me these beautiful dresses with the most intricate of smocking.

Both of them would love me this drop-waist dress in eyelet embroidery cotton in my favourite green.

The kids sure have it good these days. So many pwetty dresses that can be bought off the racks! And adults who refuses to grow up get to reap the benefits.

Yesterday's News

Laneway Festival, our favouritest ever, sent out their line-up for 2009 yesterday.

I didn't have to scroll too far down to get chills down my spine, goosebumps all over and feel like I was about to have a heart attack while dialing the boyfriend's number to swear and shout unintelligibly down the phone!

A very much calmer, shorter and less filthy version of the phonecall, "Guess who's playing at Laneway next year?! Stereolab! Stereolab! Can't you believe it?!"

First this, now this! I love Summer in Sydney!

Life Spoofing Art (A "The West Wing" Plug)

I am pretty apolitical but I love The West Wing to bits (and was happy to discover that some people I really like love it too).

Watching Sarah Palin and her Republican circus on the news lately is like watching a spoof of the multi-award winning series.

To compare and contrast, you can order the complete box set (the original, not the piss-take) from here and here. Your friendly neighbourhood video store, if it's worth its salt, should have the whole series for hire, if you're not ready to commit.

Also funny is Tina Fey (30 Rock rocks!) doing a brilliant art-imitating-life version of the lady who could scarily be America's next Vice President.

Secondhand Buy Of The Century

Definitely. In my books. Well, until I find the next best buy.

I wore a lot of rompersuits, jumpsuits and dungarees in the 80s - I blame it on the second British Invasion. Of late, I've been drawn to adult onesies again (wish I kept those early ones), starting with this boilersuit and the various thrift store scores on the recent roadtrip down the coast from Brisbane.

So you can imagine the internal squeals of delight (I was alone) when I picked up this piece of ruffly-puffy goodness at U-Turn on Wednesday. If Elvis was a girl, it would be his daywear - tiny floral print, ruffles down the front, exaggerated shoulders further enhanced by dinosaur osteoderm-like ruffles on the poufy leg-of-lamb sleeves and more poufy action with the just-below-the-knees cuffed knickerbockers-style bottom. Quite a celebration of the fashion glossary!

The only drawback that's stopping me from wearing it right away is the sheerness of the polyester. I think with age comes a sense of increased modesty - I wouldn't think twice about wearing see-through things (in good taste, of course) when I was younger but I'm now quite a fuddy-duddy, judging from the number of slips, both new and vintage, that I have bought in recent years to wear with dresses that show my underthings the moment I step into the light.

I was thinking a cute one-piece cami knickers would do the trick but as Poochie, the Personal Shopper, cleverly pointed out to me, going to the little girl's room in a jumpsuit is already hard enough and I want to add to that by wearing another onesie underneath? Now I also wish I kept my late 80s Donna Karan bodysuits with those snap buttons at the crotch. Damn.

If I can't find suitable undergarments soon, I might cut the jumpsuit into halves, dump the bottom and wear the top bit as a pretty blouse with an elasticated waist. What a waste, I know, but better than having it hang in the closet and hiding its over-the-top glory, right?

Wish I Was A Boy

Think I might have found a dress to wear to the wedding. It's not what I had in mind initially but its beige 100% silkiness with the right amount of pretty lace will do for now - I'm bored shopping for it already.

Boys always have it easy, don't they? A sharp suit, a crispy shirt, a tasteful "statement" tie, a nice watch, some clever cuff links, good shoes with matching socks and they are done.

I'm seriously considering going to a bespoke tailor and getting a suit made for such occasions. Too late for this upcoming one but for future use, a proper "boyfriend" suit in my size, none of that girly nipped-in waist nonsense. Then I'd be able to wear all the cool op shop ties that I've amassed like this latest silk handmade number with its funny art deco print. Meanwhile, the boyfriend can borrow it.

Happy John Peel Day

So, to get rid of this song-on-repeat-mode in my head at work on Tuesday, I had to replace it with something else. I always seem to have a tune in my head - sometimes I hear it the moment it starts, sometimes I don't realise it's there until it's half-played or in its last verse. It's good to have an internal iPod, I think. The battery doesn't die on you and eardrums-damage is minimised.

Anyway, I rushed home to put the replacement on the stereo and checked my email while it played on repeat. In my inbox were tons of mail from my pal Ben re: John Peel Day.

Ben, a musician, cites John Peel, the late BBC radio disc jockey as his greatest influence. While I didn't listen to his shows as religiously as Ben did, I think John Peel also had a hand in shaping the me that I am today for I believe that the music that I have listened to and am listening to, whether via his programme or from the trickle-down effect (this man was an early adopter!), opened doors to worlds that I would not have otherwise discovered. I would think, dress, act, and just be a very different person today if I had listened to and got stuck with Top 40 fodder in the 80s, my formative years, instead of exploring and fortunately finding the "alternative" genre. The thought of having bands like REO Speedwagon and Chicago as fashion influences instead of say, The Jesus and Mary Chain or Sonic Youth is very scary.

I wish I was in Singapore today as Ben's band, Etc, will be playing a tribute gig tonight at the Prince of Wales. Since I can't, I have to make do with listening to this superb internet radio show by our pal, Unpopular Culture, or to as many archived Peel Sessions as I have time for.

Meet Mel And Viv

These arrived today. That familiar bubble-gummy smell. Mmmm... And how cute are the toe grooves.

Alright, I'm crap. I caved in. Not too bad considering I held back for nearly six months before I did the naughty. But not that naughty to keep both pairs!

Well, I would if I could but you see, I'm usually a size 38 but have always been a 39 with Melissa's. However, of late, my feet can't decide if they are bigger or smaller with these plastic shoes and that made mail-ordering these Vivienne Westwood ones just a little difficult. The green pair was available only in 39 while the beige ones were only in 38. I thought I should buy both (savings on postage) since I couldn't decide between the two colours, do a Cinderella and return the pair that doesn't fit.

The beige pair is going back, sadly.

Bruises

...are those ugly black and blue marks. Also a cute love song (it is one!) by Chairlift currently getting a lot of attention via those iPod ads. Also very stuck in my head. You know the one in which the girl sings about trying to do handstands and headstands for, I assume, someone that she has sort of a crush on, and ends up falling (over, and in love) and bruised?

What you don't hear on the few-minute ad is his sweet response, "I grabbed some frozen strawberries so I could ice your bruise-y knees/But frozen things they all unfreeze and now I taste like/All those frozen strawberries I used to chill your bruise-y knees..." If only he had this adorable loveheart-print Original Retro Ice Bag...

...or this one with added hugs and kisses.

This Is For You, Gervy

My gorgeous pal Gervy over at Gervorama, in an email yesterday, said, "Saw your post on Ladytron...I don't even know who they are."

But it really doesn't matter because there is so much that she knows that I only have very vague ideas of, far more important things that make one a useful human being, things like the current social, economic and geo-political climate of the world we live in, or on the other end of the spectrum, the history of important people and places. And how to use make-up like a pro!

Most of the things occupying my headspace (and this blog), while they are super life-enhancing (maybe only to me), they are also seriously useless, only good for scoring points in the popular culture segment, if there's one, at a pub quiz night, if I'm lucky.

So, Gervy, here you go, if you are interested, another piece of just-released trivia sent last night by a pal that I so miss, Hitting Planes, from London (via Singapore) whose head is also filled with information that won't save the world. I was so excited by the news that I had broken sleep.

All Tomorrow's Parties is coming to Sydney in January! Curated by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds! Meaning they get to pick the bands that will play with them at the festival on...guess where?!...Cockatoo Island which I so so love and have said that it would make the best venue for fun fun things.

I've been wanting to go to a All Tomorrow's Parties party since I read about them and November 10, the day the tickets go on sale, is already marked on the calendar and everything else with one.

First Agyness Deyn, Now Yoda

Exactly two months ago, I spotted Aggy at the bus stop in front of the huge window at work.





















Today, I looked out and saw the Jedi Master waiting for his ride!

The force that draws these hilarious lookalikes to the bus stop is indeed growing stronger.