Posts Tagged ‘good things’
simplicity
sometimes the simplest things are the best.
1. above, a perfectly simple lunch at nikau cafe in civic square. grilled halloumi, perfectly ripe tomatoes dressed with a faint sprinkling of oregano and a goodly pinch of salt. a squeeze of lemon, a slice of grilled bread. damn, it was good.
2. via the mighty boon, an important question: is moleskine going too far with their new offerings? their iOS app certainly sounds pretty rubbish. i used to be a die-hard moleskine devotee but lately i’ve been craving something new. again, the key might be keeping it simple. note to self offers elegantly designed notebooks, made in NZ and with a perfectly small range. i’m going to order some.
3. mondegreen is getting a lot of noise for bringing pamela love’s jewellery to NZ, but for me their dresses are the real draw. considered, clean, lovely materials. i can’t decide between the bambina in seal grey and the ma belle. now that the weather is turning decidedly autumnal in wellington (read: horizontal rain and 120kph winds the other day) sweatshirt dresses are an extremely good move.
4. a sunny day, a walk along the waterfront with my two loves. coke zero in a glass bottle as a treat, sitting in the shade and watching the leaves against the sky.
the lust list
the autumn/winter collections are in store, coincidentally at a time when i have (a) hardly any money to spend and (b) a need to equip myself with a slightly more corporate wardrobe than i’ve been rocking this past few years. (i did say slightly. there will be no navy suits for *this* bunny, unless martin margiela makes a deconstructed one).
so instead of spending actual money, i present you with things i would buy if i could, thus indulging my magpie-like eye for the sparkly and new (ooh, a shiny penny!) here are three things i really, really want at this point in time.
exhibit one: the dress
the karen walker bunting dress. isn’t it beautiful? the rockstar actually picked this one out of a magazine, believe it or not. there is something about colourful prints on a dark background that men really like, it seems. and i like it too. although it isn’t exactly an autumn dress, it looks so fresh among all the nude colours and ditsy florals — or big shoulders and studding — that it feels like i’ve been looking at for ever :-/ i think with a base layer, thick tights and boots, this would transition through a wellington winter just fine.
exhibit two: the accessorything
this belt harness hybrid from kate sylvester is calling me and i may have to succumb. i love the dark brown, the raw edges of the leather, the solid hardware. it stops it all from looking too dominatrix-y for everyday wear, which is often a problem with these harnesses, i think. this would look equally fabulous over a blouse and skirt as it does over this divine oversized coat. and the socks and shoes! i die. thinking about it, there is something a tiny bit reminiscent of an old-style girl guide uniform about it, which is probably why it appeals. the rest of my guide uniform was pretty horbz, but i loved the belt. wish i still had it.
(also, snaps to kate for the fabulous lipstick .. and for always, always having great gothy-post-punky music playing in her stores. she rules.)
exhibit three: the totally lush and rich scent
well, i ask you: if you could smell like daphne guinness, why would you not? according to the fabulous review on now smell this (my favourite perfume blog) daphne has notes of bitter orange, incense, saffron, rose centifolia, tunisian jasmine, tuberose, iris, patchouli, oud, amber and vanilla. it is produced by comme des garçons, who consistently make some of the most interesting fragrances around. i sprayed it on a card at mecca cosmetica, sniffed it joyously and put it in my bag. for the rest of the day, every time i opened my bag i was assailed by this rich, heavy, spicy scent .. oh my gosh, just gorgeous. i want this. it is the kind of perfume that turns heads .. like ms guinness herself, of course.
anyway. that’s just a little of what’s been rocking my socks. for now, i shall lust on ..
(images from karenwalker.com, katesylvester.com, doverstreetmarket.com)
in watermelon sugar
things i am really into today:
- watermelon juice. a brazilian delicacy and best made now in NZ while the watermelon is still fairly cheap, locally grown and plentiful. here’s my recipe: cut a quarter watermelon into large chunks .. seeds in (you can remove the seeds if you like, of course, but brazilian healthy types believe they’re good for the circulation. and also i am lazy). put into blender. add filtered water until it reaches 750ml on the side of the blender. (less water makes for a thicker juice, but it will be more like a smoothie and not so much like a suco brasileiro). blend. add a decent drizzle of honey (i usually add a two-count of squeezable arataki). blend again. pass through a sieve to get rid of the seed residue. serve. accept compliments.
- the men’s section in vintage stores. i scored a wonderful men’s dress shirt yesterday at fin in newtown. the whole front and cuffs is made of this fine honeycomb-weave cotton, and it was precisely the right size for me. another great score: men’s oxford bags from savemart in upper hutt. think laterally about men’s vintage: wide waists can be cinched, long sleeves or legs can be rolled (and in fact often look better that way). if the fabric is good and the drape works, you will look elegant. (yes, i need to do an outfit post. i will, i promise.)
- wednesday nights on tv3! new zealand’s hottest home baker (grayson, i love you! i so want you to win!) followed by project runway. you know, i am not sure this ever made it onto the main networks in the UK .. it was always buried away on some obscure satellite channel .. so i had never seen it. oh my god, best show ever. [edited: dayum, it's actually thursday nights! pox! but i have already set the mysky box, hehe]
- cute iphone apps! my current favourite is one called 30 kittens per second. cute and bonkers. and i’m kind of tempted by this. if only because the first line of the description made me LOL, as i believe the kids are saying these days. ”Does your iPhone need more kittens? We understand.”
these vagabond shoes
by the time you read this (isn’t scheduled publishing grand?) i will be on a plane on the way to brazil. i don’t think i will be taking these shoes, as they are not quite brazil-style, really. brazil does not encourage dressing like a parisian schoolgirl, in thick black tights and short black skirts; it is more colourful, more fluid, more relaxed.
things i am looking forward to, in no particular order:
- watermelon smoothies, made with ice and a dash of sweetener
- shopping for melissa shoes, possibly several pairs
- sun-warmed skin, hair going lighter at the ends
- seeing the rockstar in his natural habitat (heh)
- showing my parents around my adopted home (well, one of them) and watching them fall in love with it just like i did
- learning how to cook more brazilian dishes, with a view to a possible project (!!! very exciting)
- seeing my friends! gorgeous television presenter friend, dashing superstar lecturer friend, hopefully even the bbcbrasil posse at our favourite rio-style bar in são paulo (yeah, i know, contradiction much?)
- seeing my brazilian family! gosh, i’ve missed them so much
- just being in brazil, the one place on this beautiful blue planet where i feel properly at ease ..
- .. with the rockstar, the one person who could make it even more special.
oh me, oh my. it’s like the two halves of my life .. the dislocation between which has caused me so much disquiet .. are finally coming together and becoming one. it’s the strangest and yet the most natural thing.
anyway. posts will be forthcoming, just as soon as i figure out a good place to post *from*. there is a lot i want to say about brazilian fashion, about globalisation of style and how brazil seems to firmly resist it .. and, of course, about my beloved melissa shoes. i’m already dead keen to buy a pair of the vivienne westwood lady dragons .. because, well, come *on*, i resisted when i was in rio in april and i’ve regretted it many times since .. but would i be brave enough to buy the scent? we shall see .. xoxo
shallowness
enough moody black and white! let’s get with some shallow.
1. i think i need this jacket. isn’t it just the most gorgeous thing? (yes, those are tails it has. swoon.) i would wear them with the towering cos wedge booties that i’ve been coveting. you know, in that parallel reality where i wasn’t about to move hemispheres and where i’m extremely rich. (photo from beyond the valley, natch)
2. there was a funfair near me this weekend and i took my new camera for a walk there. ooh, sparkly.
(you can see more here, if you’d like to).
3. today i smell of this layered with this. either i smell cool and autumnal, or like a head-shop hippie who’s wandered into a russian orthodox church. i like to think the former.
4. how exciting, there is a yayoi kusama exhibition happening in wellington right now! and i’m going to be there in less than a month!
5. lovely blogs: orangette, le blog de sushi and luxirare. (of course i had to mention luxirare. are you kidding?)
you ain’t goin’ out like that
well yes, as a matter of fact, i am. minidressthing, karen walker runaway; tie-dye circle scarf, AA; grey leggings, uniqlo; boots, solea. hair, 100% gen-u-wine bedhead. yep, i did get a bit of stink-eye for wearing a minidress on my local high street, but .. *shrug*.
good things:
1. frozen pão de queijo. this is the brand i get, from my local budgens — heaven in your freezer.
2. waking the dead .. and the post-mortems with my pal emily at work the next day.
3. the xx! amazing dreamy music.
4. sore tummy muscles from hooping
5. my new camera, the amazing panasonic lx-3. man, it is sick, and i am totally in love with it.
oh, and the rockstar. he is, was and always will be an extremely good thing. i’m sticking around for a few more days in london to finish a big project but i miss him and those days will drag. drag. draaaaaaag.
when the sandwiches are wicked ..
.. and they know you at the mac store ..
i went to launceston in cornwall and stayed in a b&b. for work, obv. english people, explain something to me. carpet in bathrooms. seriously, what is the deal?
things that are great:
1. maybelline mineral makeup. quite miraculous.
2. roast chicken made the quick way, boned and butterflied a la this method. YES I SUBSCRIBE TO GWYNNIE PALTROW’S NEWSLETTER THING WHAT OF IT. her recipes rock and the chicken was divoon.
3. this amazing mixtape which i found via the rather fabulous agent lover. seriously, it’s really good. it might be titled winter solstice mixtape, but it sounds pretty good in the middle of a london summer, too.
4. skype dates with my boy. i miss him so much.
5. this book, which i’m devouring at the moment. leaving aside the chavez hype, it’s an intelligent (though fiercely leftie) analysis of generations of plunder in latin america — definitely food for thought.
xoxo, jetlag girl.
