Wow, life got busy and rudely kept me away.
How neat is this print by Sara Olmos? Find it in her shop here.
Add a frame and you have a cute and clever piece of art to give to ‘the boyfriend’ or ‘the girlfriend’ (or more grown up version etc) in your life. Sweet.
I have a confession.
I have long harboured secret dreams of being a rockstar, and once or twice, lip synced in the mirror to Howling Bells. Cos they are so totally rad. Everyone at a Howling Bells show a) LOVES their music, and b) either wants to be, or be with, Juanita Stein (it wasn’t an accident she was called the sexiest woman in rock a few years ago) or the rest of the band. I don’t want to discredit the band’s phenomenal talent by talking about superficial things like attractiveness. This is just fact.
They are a fine looking band – one of those rare occurences where a band looks as incredi as they sound.
Sadly, they do not seem to have gained the popularity in Australia that their music deserves. They should be HUGE. Hopefully this changes with their new album The Loudest Engine. It was recorded in September 2010, after the band had explored around America, and was produced/recorded in the Nevada desert by Mark Stoermer from The Killers (it was always going to be amazing, right?). The 60′s psychedelia on this album is divine. I have loved every single one of their previous records and never get tired of playing them. This record is no different. The Loudest Engine is brimming with haunting moody songs, laced with Juanita Stein’s gorgeous vocals.
I was in university when Waikiki featured on The Secret Life of Us Soundtracks (1 & 2, wow, blast from the past) and it was love at first listen. The more grown-up name of Howling Bells went along nicely with the shift in their sound, but they have always had the “play it like a gazillion times and never get sick of it” aspect to their music. Love. It.
They are touring through Europe at the moment with my hands down most favourite band ever, Elbow (another band sadly under appreciated here in Australia. Ah, Guy Garvey – Charm Central).
Howling Bells hit Australia’s shores again in a couple of weeks and I just cannot wait to catch them in Brisbane. They are truly mesmerising to watch and listen to live. Get your tickets soon, they are sure to sell out super quickly.
Find The Loudest Engine here.
Find tickets to their Brisbane show here, or go here for a full list of their tour dates.
Visit them on the interweb here, here, here & here.
Watch their latest single Into the Sky off The Loudest Engine below, or here (for mobile readers).
C-razy, but nice.
one / two / three / four / five / six / seven / eight / nine / ten / eleven / twelve .
Colour blocking as a trend – I just cannot seem to pull it off.
When I have tried to do it myself, I just end up looking like someone who doesn’t own a mirror, or like someone who lets themselves be dressed by a 4 year old. Yikes.
So, I was super excited when I stumbled onto the amazing Boo & Boo Factory jewellery by Christina Anton. How gorgeous are the shapes and colours? Her range of earrings and necklaces are definitely a beautiful way for me to jump onto the colour blocking bandwagon. I need a few of these in my collection.
What Christina says of her story:
“ I graduated with an architecture degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and I now attend the Southern California Institute of Architecture for my masters. I am an artist at heart, constantly exploring and expressing myself through other disciplines. I love mixing patterns, prints, colour and form. Boo and Boo Factory is how I can experiment with what I’ve learned in science, parametric design, nature and of course, architecture. I like to play with different forms and create unique and eclectic compositions with leather. I also love combining different styles such as native, urban graffiti, 60′s mod and a little bit of a Barbarella Clock Work Orange futuristic space feel. I absolutely love vintage art drawings and diagrams of plants, cells, animals and other organisms. I also love anatomy and taxidermy. I am inspired by anything from vertebrae, plant cells, biomimicry to abandoned factories and urban wastelands. Places where people wouldn’t normally find beauty unless you really look. “
How rad. I love this lady, and her art. Bookmark Boo & Boo Factory Etsy store? Tick!
I love these, so crafty chic.
If you get the urge you can even DIY it with Delilah Devine’s gorgeous necklace kits (with three patterns to choose from). Rainy day fun. Think of the bragging potential when you get complimented on your rad-licious new necklace – “yeah, I just whipped this up last night”
So Martha Stewart cool.
I spotted these beautiful LemLem scarves strolling/shopping down James Street in New Farm today. I had heard about this collection, but they are truly captivating in person.
This is a design house with heart, started by the multi-talented Liya Kebede – supermodel, actress & World Health Organisation Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health. She started LemLem in 2007 to provide employment for traditional weavers from her homeland Ethiopia after she discovered that they were losing their jobs due to decrease in local demand for their goods.
These are all handmade in Ethiopia in natural cotton. I just love the mix of natural tones with pops of fluoro in their current collection of scarves – and the light material means it can traverse the seasons as a beautiful accessory.
Photos from We Are Handsome‘s “The Memoir” & “The Vintage” collections, photographer Sebastian Kriete.
I am going absolutely bananas over swimsuits by We Are Handsome (Aussie designers Indhra Chagoury & Jeremy Somers). These just look so luxe, and could easily go from beach to bar by just adding a pair of skinny jeans.
Okay, so maybe I was a little swayed by the photos of Rihanna in a custom We Are Handsome one piece whilst holidaying in Barbados this year. She looked amazingly fine in their inky print.
I am totally getting myself one of these, but how to choose?
I love this film clip, yes I do. I challenge you to watch it and not feel all bursting with the happy by the end.
I know Coldplay are like, SO, mainstream now. But I still really really love them. I fell in love standing in cold mud at the Splendour in the Grass festival in 2003 listening to Chris Martin sing songs off A Rush of Blood to the Head, and Parachutes – and I have been in love ever since.
Mylo Xyloto is Coldplay’s fifth album, a concept album apparently. Wikipedia tells me that a concept album is an album that is unified by a theme, which can be narrative, lyrical, compositional or instrumental. According to the band, Mylo Xyloto is a love story with a happy ending about two characters named, you guessed it, Mylo & Xyloto. Yay, a movie in my headphones.
I saw them perform a few of their new songs at Splendour in the Grass this year – love love love. I awoke in the campsite the day Coldplay were due to play, uncomfortable and sore, to the sound of Chris Martin doing the sound check and singing Every Teardrop is a Waterfall – I got a tad over excited. It was like a genuine Coldplay alarm clock for the whole campsite, so cool.
They would be making a squillion dollars these days – so it makes me so happy that they can still make such a fun & silly film clip (I can’t see Kanye or Bono in an elephant suit, can you?). I went to a jungle party dressed in a tiger suit recently and it was FUN. I can only imagine doing a film clip as an elephant would be that much fun (or more, probably).
But ahh, Chris Martin can ride a unicycle?! I am so jelly, is there anything this man cannot do????
Paradise – Coldplay (off Mylo Xyloto – it is AMAZing, check it out on iTunes, go on, you know you want to).
Click here to watch if you’re viewing on a mobile.
I love my iPhone. Actually, I am obsessed with it. I feel naked without it.
But I am tired of all the iphone cases for sale at the moment. They are either too chunky, or too glitzy, or too tacky.
Casetagram lets you create customised iphone cases from your Instagram photos. They currently have free international shipping too. I am beyond excited thinking about all the cases I want to order. I have accrued a scary amount of photos of random everyday moments just by having my iPhone on hand all the time. Lots to choose from when creating my very own iPhone case art.
Also Christmas is just around the corner. Wouldn’t these make the most incredi Christmas gifts this year?
Happy Halloween!
Some children walked past the house earlier tonight shouting “trick-or-treat!!!”
I had a horrifying moment where I realised that all we had in the house was a bag of skittles that I opened yesterday. Eep.
Halloween isn’t huge in Australia, but I did manage to go trick or treating a few times as a kid, and I learnt a thing or two.
You never remember the houses that give you the amazing lollies.
You always remember the houses that give you the lame stuff.
I still remember the house that gave me the already opened block of cooking chocolate.
This was an hugely disappointing offering to a nine year old. Firstly because I knew from experience cooking chocolate tasted bitter. Secondly because Mum took it off me the minute she laid eyes on it amongst my trick-or-treat haul, citing possible poisoning by ‘bad people’, so I didn’t even get to test out if I had developed a new found love of bitter chocolate.
I glare at that house every time I drive past it. I am sure the couple living there are very nice people, but all I remember is that opened block of cooking chocolate.
Anyway, in other Halloween related activities, how great is this bat-in-flight necklace from Handy Maiden (aka Danielle Pedersen)?? Sweet.
I think the seagull would look super cute at the beach as the weather warms up, and Natalie Portman made swans hip and stuff, right?
So.
New trend.
Slipper loafers.
Apparently we are all going to be wearing them. I am talking about, “looks like Grandpa’s from Kmart” kind of shoes. Except more sparkly and in more rad colours.
I am teetering on the fence with this one. I saw these feature in some of the autumn collections on a few online stores I frequent (their autumn, our spring, yeah?), and then again when I was wandering through my local shopping centre this week. But I just don’t know.
Part of me, the part which “yippeeees” with delight at the latest and greatest craze, kind of loves this, and is urging me to go and purchase the bright blue pair I saw during my shopping stroll.
The other part of me is picturing an Emperor’s New Clothes kind of scenario – where I am blissfully strolling the streets in my way cool slipper loafers, the coolest new shoe there is, and everyone is whispering and laughing at me, until some plucky kid proclaims “Ah, why are you wearing your grandpa’s old slippers???”
Who am I kidding? I love a new craze.
I am getting tired of ballet flats anyway, and this means I can (kind of) wear pyjamas in public.
Um, amazing.
