Print-On-Print + Ice Cream

In the cute printed sundress - Ms Carpet

In the the cute printed cup - my double-scoop of Breakfast of Champions (chunks of buttery croissant + jam in a tangy yoghurt gelato) and Salted Caramel + White Chocolate from Messina

Only four of those cups were ours. We (Ms Carpet, Meeps, the boyfriend and I) couldn't have eaten that much ice cream after many cheeky afternoon drinkie-poos and a huge seafood meal at the very cute Sea Cow. We haven't been in a long time and made up for our absence by ordering almost everything they had on the menu. The food is still as good as we remember. Yay!

Best Seats In The House

The boyfriend saw my arrangement of the happy eggs (very rare to find so many of them in one box!) and said, "What's playing in Fridge Theatre?" Haha.

Let's Talk Caramel Corn (Part VIII)

Two new flavours from Caramel Corn's range of 40th(!!!) Anniversary specials!

Almond Caramel - their already-caramel-y corn puffs coated with a layer of golden almond-flavoured caramel. Caramel-on-caramel = PHWOAR!

And Milk Caramel - same idea as the the almond one but not as exciting. Still good, though. Eaten like cereal in a bowl of milk.

And a new copycat (pun not intended) version we found in the neighbouring aisle of non-Japanese (made in China/Hong Kong/Taiwan) junk food...

Hello Kitty Caramel Corn! I had a feeling that it's not going to measure up to the original but the sucker for cute packaging (and Hello Kitty) that I am bought it anyway. I was right. Haha.

Paste-Up Surprise

Between our sushi lunch on Liverpool Street and post-meal macaron treats on Alberta Street, we discovered these! It's been a while since we've spotted street art that excites.

Some quick Googling when we got home yielded this. (Hello, Penelope Cain! We love your Mr Fox!)

We're going on a treasure hunt soon armed with the map. Yay!

Netty McNet

I swear I didn't wake up this morning and went, "Oooh! I feel like wearing loads of netty holey things all at once."

The op-shopped-very-long-ago crocheted shorts were a conscious decision because it's a shorts-wearing kind of day and I've finally found some girly boxer shorts of the right length, cut and colour to wear under (I'm not one to do flash-my-knickers-on-purpose-sexy. It's not even sexy in my books). The bag and the shoes were already out, having been used just yesterday.

Blouse - French Connection, Crocheted Shorts - secondhand H&M, Shoes - Campana Brothers for Melissa, Bag - op shop

No, I didn't wear a netty holey top.

Horny Green Mango

Which got "fixed" to go into a salad with this contraption that Ms Carpet brought back from Vietnam for me.

It was the first time that I've used it and man, it was sharper than it looks and I think it comes close to my Microplane on the "Best Kitchen Tools Ever Invented" list. A useful souvenir/gift-for-pals to take home if you're ever in Vietnam!

It's On!

Like Donkey Kong!

The boyfriend's current favourite op-shopped t-shirt. I like it too.

I wonder if the Johnny's Bananas ape in Entourage was modelled after Kong.

This Week In The "S" Section Of Our CD Collection

Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore split after 27 years of marriage. Sad sad news. The first thought that popped up in my head was: "If they are not going to grow old together...Kim knitting booties for her grandchildren in her rocking chair on their porch with Thurston next to her re-reading old copies of music magazines...is there hope for the rest of us?"

My pal Ben had this to say: "If Kim and Thurston can't make it...? Pfft. Don't be silly. Look at the millions that do. Having their creamcakes in their cardies, admiring pics of their great grandchildren, walking along the beach, winking as they pass an ad for alcopops and and then shagging each other senseless and loving every moment of all of it." OK.

The Stone Roses are back! Ms Carpet sent me a text the moment she heard and I squealed like I've never squealed before! With a bit of welling eyes thrown in. Fuck! This girl, many years ago, on her way home from the record shop on a crowded bus, this brand-new record in her bag and the cassette version in her Walkman (she bought both because she couldn't wait to get home to the turntable)...this girl who had her mind blown at the first note might get a chance to see this band play "live" finally! Wow.

Yes, it's been a rollercoaster-ride-of-a-week in the "S" section. In music. And in my head. Woo.

Dumpling Weekend

Saturday. A late lunch of fish 'n' chips and prawn dumplings in a chilli soy sauce at the quaint little Mohr Fish just around the corner.

Sunday. Fried green curried prawn mousseline, gai yaang chicken and prawn dumpling noodles at the latest addition to our beloved Chat Thai chain in the new-ish (but boring) Westfield Mall on Pitt Street.

It's a hard life when you love dumplings but do not eat porky-pig meat, the stuff that most dumplings are made of. On occasions when dumpling craving strikes and I'm not in the mood to make some from scratch, I'm so happy that I've got these places to eat at!

Blue Eyes

Sometimes, I think, when I go on a lot about something (the colour blue, in this case), I kind of will strange cosmic forces to work in my favour?

I wasn't looking for a pair of blue sunglasses. I already have a pair. Or any sunnies. I have too many of them that I don't wear enough of. And what did I find when I popped into my "secret" neighbourhood op shop last weekend, after a whole week of "Blue! Blue! Blue!"? This navy blue-rimmed and light blue-lensed pair of Colab Eyewear x Perks & Mini "Eyes" sunglasses from their 2007's (I think) limited run. #78 of 1000. Without the crazy "eye" stickers but brand-new, hang tag still attached, in protective plastic bag. For 10 bucks! And I'm one step closer to looking like Iris Apfel, the old lady I want to be when I grow up!

Maybe the cosmic forces or Op Shopping Goddess are rewarding me for being good at the Perks & Mini clothing sale I went to two weekends ago where I left without buying the four cute things I tried on. Not one! It's Buy-Nothing-New Month, remember?

Yes, about the Month. I'm not doing too well. I haven't bought "big" things but these sunnies and two magazines - the latest Lula and one of those Japanese mooks (they call them that but I prefer cata-zine = catalogue + magazine) featuring A.P.C - still count as new things. Bah.

Mexico → Melbourne → Singapore → Sydney

Another old blue thing. A very well-travelled one!

The boyfriend op-shopped this vintage Mexican hand-embroidered (how cute are the lovebirds!) chambray top for his mother when he was in university in Melbourne years ago. Way before we met.

She found it too big when he gave it to her in Singapore and never wore it. He passed it on to me soon after we met because he thought it was my "kind of thing". Chambray + embroidery! How right he was! (He scored quite a few points there!)

We brought it to Sydney and this is the first time that I've worn it because I, too, found it too big years ago. But not anymore. My preference for the silhouette/shape/cut of clothes has changed over time, I guess.

Blue Sack

There was of course a lot of squealing and gasping-for-air when I first saw the sack-like denim looks from Stella McCartney's Spring/Summer 2011 show on style.com last October. I've never been into that whole capsule wardrobe thing but if I'm ever forced to downsize, these pieces, for denim- and chambray-mad me, would be it! In a dream world, that is, where money grows on trees in the vast backyard of my heritage-listed house in the country.

So I sought solace in this b store dress (a very lucky find at their local PR company's sample sale a few months before the Stella McCartney show) which, I think, wouldn't break the flow if thrown into the mix on that runway. It's really quite an amazing dress. So simple in construction - two gigantic squares of a soft light wool-blend fabric sewn together with slits for the neck and arms - yet so...umm...multifaceted(?) when worn. I get a different dress each time I wear it depending on how I loop and tie the long length of fabric sash. Putting it on again last week made me feel like D-I-Y-ing one, in linen, maybe, with some hand-stencilled happy print of my own. A new project. Yay!

Another Dose Of Blue

A wall washed in blue by the lightbulbs lining the awning of a pub in Chinatown where Ms Carpet and I had a couple of post-dinner cheeky drinkie-poos.

"Now, where's that vein?!" we joked.

Also, is it just me or do back alleys in Chinatowns in cities that I've been to all have the same look and feel? I like back alleys.

Double The (Denim) Trouble

You should have seen my excited finger-pointing-at-denim-jacket action when Ms Carpet and I spotted each other across the busy road. Wahahahahahaha!

We've unintentionally worn similar things many times before on our girly play-dates but I've never had photo-evidence because we were always too busy having fun. This denim jacket + navy blue-printed thing combo was too good a psychic coincidence to not document!

A Bumper Dose Of Blue

This is not another silly "Weyhey, Chambray!" or "Where Are You, Navy Blue?!"-type thing. It's just that my recent out-comes-the-Summer-things-and-in-goes-the-Winter-woollies storage swap has unearthed a lot of blue things that I've missed wearing and I'm making up for lost time. Plus I haven't had much time or energy of late to indulge in my usual waffling-on so here comes one big blue post...

1. Mat Rockin'
Denim Jacket & Printed Indian Cotton Pants- secondhand from op shops, White T-shirt - Country Road, Shoes - Connie-wonnies
Mat = short for the very common Malay names "Ahmad" or "Muhammad". A Malay male. Rocker = pretty self-explanatory. Mat Rockers = Malay males in Singapore who love rock music and the lifestyle associated with it. And we love our Mat Rocker pals! And how their sartorial choices are influenced by what members of the rock/metal band-of-the moment are wearing. The boyfriend laughed when he saw me in this get-up because he thought it was very late 80s/early 90s Mat Rock gear. The skinny denim jacket and the printed pants. All that's missing is a band t-shirt and a pair of white hi-tops.

2. Vertical & Horizontal Stripe-in'
Stripey Shirt Dress & Asymmetric-hem Slip - Lover, Stripey Espadrille Wedges - Zara
I always forget that I have these cute old (but new-looking) Zara wedges. This Summer, I'm going to try wear them more.

3. Bus-conductin'
Shirt - A.P.C shirtdress worn as shirt, Denim Cut-Offs - good ol' favourite cut from secondhand jeans, Belt - the boyfriend's, Shoes - Connie-wonnies
Nothing makes me feel more like a bus conductor than a starchy blue shirt with epaulettes.

4. Fat & Thin Stripe-in'
Stripey T - The Academy Brand, Pinstriped Pants - Esprit Factory Outlet, Shoes - Connie-wonnies
The local menswear label that made this super-soft stripey T-shirt has long been a favourite of the boyfriend's for cute shirts and shorts. And I think it'll become mine too with this very satisfactory first purchase.

5. Bus-conductin' (again)
Shirt - Country Road (the boyfriend's) - Skirt - Zara, Shoes - Connie-wonnies
My dream job, perhaps? If the position has not been made obselete.