WHAT A WEEK! I sure could use a holiday….

As you know my absenteeism this week was a result of some crazy days at work and the inevitable December cram to get everything done before Christmas. The long days are nothing a glass of wine won’t fix, but come December 26, I’m thinking some sun, sand and surf will be more up my alley.

As a regular coastal dweller during the summer months (with thanks to those whose holiday houses I invade), there are a few things that are essential to any girls beach bag – sunscreen and a good book; the perfect swimsuit (one pieces are ok!), plenty of water and sunglasses.

A little Prada perhaps? Prada sunglasses as OPSM $370

Given my recent laser eye surgery, I am certainly looking forward to the Summer of 2012 where I will finally get to go shopping for AMAZING sunglasses, and not just the $2 shop kind that I seem to lose or break on a regular basis just because I don’t seem to value them.

I look forward to trying on frames, colours and styles; finding something Jackie O-esque and vintage; perhaps a pair with wow factor for when I need to make a splash.

OPSM have a great range of sunnies in store (not just the kind that you put corrective lenses in!) including Chanel, Prada and DKNY and this summer, they are bring the styles to you.

The Sunshine Tour is hitting twelve locations and bringing hundreds of styles to the people, letting them be tried and tested out of the back of a custom ice cream van. The team will take your pic in some hot specs, upload the shots to facebook and if you get the most likes – wait for it – you get to be the face of their summer campaign!

The van will be in Melbourne town, at Southbank, on December 9 from 11.30am til 3.30pm, just waiting for all of you to head on down and give them a go. The weather will be a perfect 32 degrees and you know you need sunnies in that kind of sunshine!

Check out the video below to see what all the fuss is about and I’ll see you at the van (or the beach)!

The saying ‘too much of a good thing’ has never made sense to me. How can you possibly have too much of a good thing?

I think this time of year forces you to take stock of all the good things in your life and count your blessings – of which I have many.

I have a wonderful family; amazing parents, two fantastic brothers, a gorgeous sister in law and the most darling niece.

I have brilliant friends; friends from primary school, high school, past jobs, current jobs, twitter and general travels.

I can be out every single night with people who love me; or I can be at an event meeting brand new people who all bring something to my life.

It doesn’t take much to see how lucky I am.

(Image thanks to Bill Frymire http://www.billfrymire.com/blog/)

Last week a friend lost her job – I am lucky to have one.

I read about people who have nowhere to spend Christmas – I am lucky to have many places to be.

Yesterday I bought Christmas gifts for the special people in my life – I am lucky that I have special people to buy for.

I have a passion that I get to indulge in every day – and I am lucky that I have people who want to share it with me.

You guys. Who read these posts, look at these pictures, laugh at my (bad) jokes and come back day after day to see what is new.

But somewhere between the family, and the friends, and the events, the job, the blogging and all the rest, my lucky life needs a little rest.

Sometimes all the excitement and activity gets to be too much and I need to take a minute to step back to be able to appreciate it all – let alone to be able to function as a human being and give 100% at all those things.

So that’s what I am going to do this week.

You can still find my pearls of wisdom on Twitter and Facebook and I’ll look forward to seeing you in a week or so.

Stay safe stylistas.

xxx

The party season continued this week with the launch of Ansell NEON at Strike QV on Monday. Yes, those are condoms.

Regular readers of this blog will appreciate I have no need for condoms (yes, I am really THAT single) but I’m not one to turn down a party so I recruited some fabulous single friends and off we went.

Strike is a bowling alley (for those not living close) and judging by the tightness of my muscles on Tuesday, I estimate it’s been about 20 years since I last went to a lane. Some muscles just were not meant to bend that way.

Relationship expert Emma Merkas, Dan Smith and me

My Saturday sleep in til noon proved that perhaps not as I was already running late for an appointment at Paris ’99, a salon in Elwood stocking high end designer goods, mostly once loved or never been worn.

Named after the first time owner Yahav visited Paris in 1999 with his grandparents, the store has connections with fashionistas in Europe who have a taste for highend designer wares they may only wear once or twice – or never.

Dresses with tags on adorn the racks, together with Valentino, Chloe, Luca & Luca, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry and more, all in perfect condition and at up to 90% off the original price. One amazing gold Vionnet dress still holds the price tag from Barneys New York – there are four figures and the first number is a 9…

Aforementioned amazing gold dress… Vionnet gold sunray pleat halter top; silk, viscose, polyamide mix, sz French 40 (Aus 10)

Yahav puts on a lovely spread of champagne (in gorgeous vintage glasses), tea, cake and cheese whilst encouraging you to try on anything you like – his motto? ‘You touch it, you try it!’

Gorgeous pink Valentino leather jacket. This one is definately on my Christmas list…

There are shoes and sunglasses too, and fashion books to peruse while your friends play dress ups. The entire experience is a lovely way to spend an afternoon and I can’t wait to come back when my bank starts getting my accounts right (I can’t imagine I spent all of it so they MUST have lost it somewhere along the way, right?)

Two and a half hours at Paris 99 before cruising across the city to attend a friends 30th birthday celebrations (one drink only!) and then back in the car and back across town to finally see the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part One.

Four massive days, but I can indeed say how fabulous they have all been. It seems a shame to have to sleep and I lament the fact that I missed other events to make the ones I did get to – it is just not possible to get to them all.

I can only imagine if this is what the lead up to Christmas is like, I had best start taking my vitamins. Less than a month til the big day (and a well earned rest!).

We resume our story on Thursday morning, dawning hazy, but by 6pm, all was well in the world and I headed to the launch of the Melbourne French Festival at Como House.

A celebration of all things fabulous and French – my personal favourites being champagne and macaroons – the sun shone on the gardens as we toasted the forthcoming festival. Paris2 Provence ran Friday to Sunday and while the rain fell most of the weekend, the French spirit would not be dampened.

Just hanging out with the boys…

A short trip down Chapel Street took us to our next destination, the Social Diary Christmas Party at Hoo Haa Bar. Having scored a plus one invite from a fabulous friend, I discovered Social Diary was THE party to be at, spotting people I knew left, right and centre.

The Gorgeous cosmetics girls touched up our make up and the boys from Topless Events showered us with drinks (and posed willingly for countless photos with desperate ladies. They had no shirts on. Don’t judge me). The party was fantastic and it was well into the night before I decided it was time for bed.

Just hanging with the girls… L – R: Erica, me, Angela, Pip and Emily.
Image thanks to J-Dawgworld.com

Friday rolled around and I felt like I had been on the go for weeks, rather than just three days. When the 5pm bell sounded, I almost dreaded it all starting again but one glass of wine at Gingerboy and I was back on track.

Dinner at the Imperial hotel (because Gingerboy was full, however, highly recommend as they have a brilliant gluten free menu) before my first visit to the Palace for the Boy & Bear concert. Not being a huge fan of the band – simple because I didn’t know that much of their work – I am now hooked; their rendition of Crowded House’s ‘Fall at your Feet’ giving me goosebumps.

As I wandered home after midnight again I had to wonder if I can keep this up til Christmas.…..

A funny thing happens after several nights in a row on the town. Your ability to fall asleep at a normal hour creeps towards the wee hours and try as you might, nights become your awake time while mornings are a time to dread.

Tonight will be the fourth night in a row I have stayed up past midnight, however tonight is the first one I am doing without the support of sparkly drinks. If this is what the lead up to Christmas is like, I’m going to need to stock up on supplies.

Arts Centre, Melbourne, from the Melbourne Town Hall. Pic on Instagram by me

This blog post covers a few events and by the time I finished writing it, the text was rather long, so in order to shorten it (and add more pics), I have split it into three (just like Back to the Future and Lord of the Rings) and you will be able to follow the story Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Enjoy!

~

The fun and games kicked off on Wednesday night (after a little long weekend getaway with Miss J to get sufficient R & R for the silly season) at Fashion Torque’s first birthday party, an exclusive invitation only soiree at the Melbourne Town Hall.

Philip and Jenny get the party started

Philip Boon and Jenny Bannisters’ live chat show is still just a baby but has come in leaps and bounds since kicking off twelve months ago. With a dresscode of ‘colourful cocktail’, Melbourne fashionistas shed their black cloaks (well, for the most part) and shone in pinks, purples, orange and blues.

Melbourne Spring Fashion Week producer Dean Drieberg performed a stunning rendition of Madonna’s Vogue (complete with custom rap lyrics) and was definitely a highlight of the evening.

Dean belts out Vogue…

Phillip and Jenny took us on a trip down memory lane with panellists from the year, talking fashion journalism, androgyny and the online juggernaut, among others, and we laughed and nodded in agreement remembering the shows from throughout the year.

There was of course champagne and canapés and plenty of happy snaps taken on the night and after the formalities were done, we headed on to The Carlton to continue the celebrations.

Rina (Take 2 Markets), me, Cecylia and Sally (Styled by Sally) rock colour

Congratulations to Phillip and Jenny for twelve wonderful months – may you continue on to bigger and better things in 2012!

Pop by tomorrow to hear about the Social Diary Christmas Party and more!

Thanks to Kellie Dene for images

Style Note: My outfit – skirt by Syndicate, top from Vinnies op shop, bag from eBay and necklace by Pigeonhole

NUFFNANG PRODUCT TALK

There is a truth universally acknowledged that you should never work with children or animals.

Whilst I am VERY fond of my niece, I can’t imagine ever wanting to work with her in any kind of modelling or acting capacity and I have a new found respect for any commercial showing children playing placidly with a toy. This little one DOES NOT SIT STILL!

Last week, Nuffnang kindly sent over the Fisher Price 1-2-3 Crawl Along Snail for Miss Ella to play with, and I excitedly produced the toy at our weekly family dinner. Miss Ella, aged 15 months, sits right in the middle of the recommended age bracket for the toy (3-36 months) and waited impatiently for me to unpackage the new goods.

As a first time Aunty, I get a kick out of buying toys that make noise for my niece – I realise one day this will probably come back to bite me, but I kind of think that’s part of the job. The Crawl Along Snail has two volume settings – one (loud) for fun aunts when playing with baby, and the other (softer) for weary mums when baby needs to entertain herself.

Miss Ella didn’t quite get that you could push the Crawl Along snail (although I had a lot of fun showing her) but she did enjoy spinning it on the spot. The lightup face was also a draw card (personally, I liked this too, especially when the lights and music would spontaneously go off on their own while we were having dinner, think it’s from the vibrations on the floor. Kooky though!)

Nana had a little too much fun with the toy as well, announcing that the Crawl Along Snail could live at her house. Miss Ella’s mum was pleased to have a toy that entertained baby all by itself. I also like the mirror – we all know I am a little bit vain!!

The pictures don’t really do our playtime justice: like I said, trying to photograph a tenacious 15 month old is anything but easy. As soon as I’d get a good angle, she would move and the pic would be blurry, or I’d get the back of her head!

A great Christmas present for the little one in your life! 
Fisher Price 1-2-3 Crawl Along Snail RRP $16.00

Apparently, the best things in life are free. While I don’t believe this all of the time (I mean, they just won’t let you walk out of Tiffany & Co without paying) there is simplicity in this saying – and I like the sentiment.

Last week I attended a breakfast for work where one of the girls organising the event was wearing an AMAZING corporate style dress (think CUE) in a smashing shade of hot pink.

With all the colour blocking going on in the world – and this being 7am on a Wednesday morning in Melbourne where black is tradition – this dress was a sight for sore eyes. A vision.

Following the breakfast, I received an email asking for feedback and to complete a survey – so I told the truth. The breakfast was great, informative and well planned: but what I really wanted to know was where the girl in pink got her dress! The girl in pink emailed me back – I’d made her day.

The best things in life are compliments and they are free, and so easy to give.

This is the Jackpot Dress. It will make your day too. In cobalt or fuscia (but I like it in fuscia).

Dress at Sheike, where there are plenty more showstopping dresses for all your work, play or Christmas activities.

THIS JUST IN: Britney is back – AGAIN
Christie Whelan will be performing this sell out show from January 18 – 29, (Wed-Sun) 7.30pm
Visit Chapel off Chapel for your tickets!

~

Original Post: 7 October 2010

Tonight I headed to Chapel off Chapel (where Live at the Chapel is recorded, it’s like a little piece of history!) to see Britney Spears: The Cabaret. While you will remember I went to Brit’s concert late last year, and enjoyed it, this cabaret is pretty much more awesome, and ALL the singing is live!

Attending with my cousin, Mrs L (author of Secret Life of a Chef’s Wife), who personally knows the talented Christie Whelan, we laughed and nearly cried throughout the fabulous performance. I am posting the info from the Stonnington/Chapel off Chapel website here so you can run out and buy your tickets ASAP – I don’t want you to all miss out on this clever, witty and poignant show.

Hit Me Baby One More Time …. In Melbourne!
Luckiest Productions presents
Britney Spears:The Cabaret
Starring Christie Whelan

Christie Whelan IS Britney Spears; young, talented and gorgeous – with one notable difference – Christie Whelan is intentionally hilarious’ Magda Szubanski

Following a highly acclaimed sell out season in 2009 at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and Raval in Sydney, Britney Spears: The Cabaret is coming to Melbourne for a limited season at Chapel Off Chapel.

Performed by Christie Whelan, and written for Christie by award winning writer/ director Dean Bryant, Britney Spears: The Cabaret is a satirical and realistic look at the perils of fame and is described as ‘adroitly scripted, ‘hilarious’ and ‘bittersweet’.

Dubbed one of Australia’s hottest rising stars, Whelan plays Britney who shows us life through her eyes. Hilariously funny and at times exceptionally sad. Under the musical direction of Mathew Frank, Britney’s greatest hits are transformed into cabaret songs, seamlessly intertwined into the fabric of her life.

Writer/Director Dean Bryant and Musical Director Mathew Frank won the Green Room for Best New Musical this year for Once We Lived Here, which starred Whelan. Bryant’s recent cabaret work includes his Sydney Opera House shows Newley Discovered (starring Hugh Sheridan) and I’m Every Woman (starring Hairspray’s Trevor Ashley). Frank was Musical Director at the Melbourne Theatre Company’s The Drowsy Chaperone earlier this year.

‘Hilariously sad and sadly hilarious an eye opening journey into the existence of one of the most successful commercial bodies on earth…’ Sydney Morning Herald

‘.An unmissable tale of growing up too fast with all eyes on you, performed by a young girl who should be a star in her own right. No lip-synching here – Christie Whelan is the realstar ‘ The Advertiser

‘The production still has the edginess and rawness of a Fringe show – but a polished, accomplished and clever one. I was so impressed; I went home, shaved my head, lost my kids, snogged Madonna and got out of a limo wearing no knickers….’  Adelaide Theatre Guide

Don’t miss your opportunity to see what all the fuss is about.

Venue: The Loft at Chapel off Chapel
Dates: 6 – 24 October
Time: Wednesday-Sunday 7:30pm, Friday 22 @ 3:00pm
Tickets: $35 Full, $30 Concession (+Transaction Fee)
BUY NOW

With just six weeks to go until Christmas, it’s probably time to start thinking about what to put under the tree for your man on the big day.

“Harvey” featuring golden leaves on a Navy base

Socks and undies are a traditional choice and Australian brand Todd and Terry are well known for their striking original designs, bold use of colors, and amazing fit – all things your man will love.

“Ben” with Green and Blue tones

Here are just a couple of shots from their latest collection worn by model Fabio Garcia – as much a Christmas present suggestion as an early Christmas present for you.

“Brad” with Orange tones

And since we are on the topic of near nude men, my sister in law sent me this clever YouTube clip promoting self checks for breast cancer (trust me on the near nude men bit). This post could be the most educational/most enjoyable three minutes of your day.

Todd and Terry available online now at toddandterry.com Photography by Kemuel Valdes.