summer survival – heaven in a glass

Hello again! I didn't mean to disappear for so long, and it is good to be back.

I am doing something very exciting tomorrow, something I have been looking forward to for months, and I look forward to sharing it, too! But first, here is a little something that has been getting me through the past week or so. As you know, I am not a fan of Melbourne's summer, and we're now at that time of year when it really starts to bite. Which also means... we are almost at the end of it! Almost!

This isn't a dress or shoes or anything vintage related, but it really is delicious! It has made my buying an 11kg watermelon worth while. Yep, 11kg. No, I don't know why, either. What can I say... summer fries my brain! I'm pretty sure it means I have done enough weight lifting to last me until June!


Fresh watermelon, fresh ginger, honey and freshly plucked mint leaves, and ice too, all into the blender.


Be warned: this is a messy business. I recommend wearing an apron. Bonus points if you match your apron to your vintage sun dress, as I did. Double the bonus points if you remember to put the apron on before you splash watermelon juice onto your vintage sun dress, as I did not.


And... enjoy!

gingham and bikes and cats and summer

dress :: asos.com

sandals :: sportsgirl, years ago; yep, the ones I am in the process of trying to replace

As promised, here is yesterday, part two. Me and some friends (thanks heaps, guys) had a bit of evening fun. My kind of evening, really: bikes, friends, cats and then a splash of gin at the pub!

I feel like this post touches on a couple of other things, too. One is how hard it is, especially when taking photos of yourself, not to pose, or try and show your good side. There is a hilarious moment on some telly advert for something or other where a young woman promises to not make the same pouty-posey face for every photo taken of her. I'm all for it!

The second thing is the wearing over and over again of clothes. I said I'd get lots of wear out of this dress and it's true! I like to buy things I know I will get a lot of use out of, weather they are vintage, op shopped, or fast fashion items. But this is something for another post... for now, let's enjoy summer evening and friendly kitty cats!

red and pink vintage dress and red shoes, on the go!

vintage dress, joanne mercer shoes

Hello! This is what I wore this morning when I attended – and spoke at! – a seminar held by the beauty directory this morning. I was super chuffed to be involved; I learned so much from the PR perspective, and I hope I was able to give a good insight into the blogger's view too. I was nervous beforehand – public speaking?! – but I actually really enjoyed it!

Of course, I meant to take pictures of me actually wearing this, but it's hot today and the first thing I did when I got home was to peel everything off – oh, for a car with air conditioning!

And now I am about to run back out the door for today's next project: I am doing something special for CycleStyle! It's always a bit nerve-wracking going into things like this – what will the light be like? will I get the shots I want? - but then that's part of the excitement, too.

And I will take a pic of me in this afternoon's outfit; well, I did have to get dressed again! Two outfits in one day? That's Melbourne's weather for you!

your questions, my answers, and some nice prints, too

Hello, and Happy Monday to you! I hope you've had great weekends.

I had a couple of questions today in the comments and I thought I'd answer them straight away! I have a whole pile of things I have promised to do for you, and I am getting to them one at a time. There is a (long promised) hair tutorial, a post on vintage and pale skin, sharing your tips on dealing with stress, sharing the things that you love when you introduced yourselves…and more! Here are those questions and answers to get us started.

‪Harlow Darling‬ asked:

This is a random question, but you are the only blogger I know that owns a Bernie Dexter dress, and I was wondering if you had any advice on how to clean it? The tags always say "dry clean only" but of course this isn't always true with many garments, so I just thought you might be able to help me out as you seem to have had your Eiffel Tower dress for a while :)
Thanks :) :) :)

I agree about the dry clean only thing not always being true! I wash my Bernie Dexter Eiffel Tower print dress by popping it in the washing machine along with everything else... I've never had any colour run or shrinking issues etc! I probably washed it by hand on its own the first time, which I think is always a good idea with anything new... good luck! And here's to avoiding dry cleaning!




‪Zoë Yule‬ said...

I have been meaning to ask if you have any tips for shopping on Modcloth?! I'm wary of sizing and fit over the interwebs, but gah! it's hard to resist that site! Especially with the exchange rate where it is... I'd love to hear any wisdom born of experience you might have to share!

I've got two dresses and one pair of shoes from Modcloth, and one of those dresses was by another brand. I've found they are true to size – no vanity sizing with these two! – and would personally go for the larger size if I was deliberating between two – as I almost always am. The shoes were a US7, and I usually take a US6.5 – and these 7's were way too big, so I think from now on I would go down a size with Modcloth's own-brand shoes. The customer reviews they have often include sizing thoughts, too, so I hope that helps!

I have been a bit of a bad blogger of late, but I haven't forgotten my promises! Have a wonderful Monday and I will be back tomorrow! x

Sponsored video: Merino Wool, No Finer Feeling

Sponsored video: Merino Wool, No Finer Feeling

Whaaaaat? Why am I wearing wool in summer? After so many – so many – hot days, Melbourne finally gave us a bit of relief and gave us a surprisingly cool one. Phew!

When Merino Wool asked me to style a sponsored blog post recently, my first thought was yes, ok, I’d be happy to… but it’s summer here and, well, not exactly wool time. On the other hand, I genuinely love natural fibres and Merino wool is a particular favourite, so let’s see what we can do… and then the weather helped out. Splendid!

Long before I started wearing vintage, I was a bit of a fabric snob. Even way back in my mid teens, I would search op shops for pure silks, cottons and wools. I have since learnt to live with polyester – what would I do without my ‘70’s and ‘80’s pussy bow blouses? – but superior fabrics still win out for me. If I could have those blouses in silks… yes please!





And now I have been wearing clothing from the 1930’s, ‘40’s and ‘50’s, this fabric snobbery of mine has increased. I can’t help it; after you wear the beautiful things from those decades, it is hard to enjoy more modern man made offerings!

So, for this cooler day, I wore my pure wool jumper with a silk camisole underneath, and a linen skirt. This jumper is a favourite find of mine – good wool jumpers are hard to come by! I have had this one for a few years now, and it is lasting so well. Soft, durable and light weight enough for these in-between days, I am more than happy to sing my praises for Merino wool. Now, please take a look at this video and enjoy some more woolly goodness! Autumn is just around the corner, after all… and we will need to laaaa-aaayer up! Ahem... ;)

glitter and getting ready for a night out

I went to a party last night and was having a thing for glitter. I ended up not wearing the glittery shoes as they simply aren't the silver and coral Miu Miu boots I want so badly but I liked their glitter ball light scattering presence all the same. I wore a teal vintage dress with little sparkly stones on it.

bird dress

dress :: c/o modcloth

socks :: vintage deadstock

shoes :: old, from sportsgirl (and I really need some new platform sandals! You know, for winter. Yeah.)

It has finally cooled down enough for me to wear my bird dress by Traffic People from Modcloth. When I was choosing this dress, I swung between loving it and being a bit unsure – the colour, I don't usually wear wraps, and so on. When it arrived and I tried it on for the first time I was chuffed. Everything about it is perfect! My favourite bit is the piping detail at the neckline. I will be wearing my birdies a lot this Autumn.