High School Muck Up Style

It's Victorian high school final examination time.  All the final year students are sitting their first exam this morning; English.

Last week, when I was in the Melbourne CBD, I saw groups of students dressed up for their traditional ‘muck up’ day.

They loved having their pictures taken!  I loved their costumes!

STREET STYLE #1 MELBOURNE CBD

Melbourne Australia is renowned for its fashion and penchant for black.  

Yes, we Melbournains are fond of black, but it is what we do with it that counts.  

On a beautiful day in the CBD there were people wearing...

black boots...

 black jackets and pants...

and all black....

and they all reflected what a beautiful day it was.

LAST DAY OF HIGH SCHOOL BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

I went to a High School Graduation Ceremony this week.  The several of the girls at the school rewrote the words to the much loved Bohemian Rhapsody.

I thought for a laugh I would share the new lyrics with you.
 
Many thanks to Nat and her poet crew from Mentone Girls Grammar School for the new lyrics.

To be sung to the tune of Bohemian Rhapsody (of course!)

DECOR IDEAS #3:2012

Sometimes the simpler something is, the more appealing it can be.

Rag rugs take me way back to my school days where we learned to ‘weave’ in art classes.  Everyone had to make a small sampler rag rug.  

I was not impressed with the placemat-sized rag rug I made out of old brown pantyhose. 

So ... I never liked rag rugs until I saw this one. 

I have previously posted about the creativity of the designers at the Ghanda store in Torquay, Victoria.  

They took 4 rag rugs, sewed them together and tied extra ribbons and bows on it to personalise it as a 'shag rag'.  It looked just beautiful.  It has inspired me to revisit the whole weaving thing.

I also love the decor in this florist on Bay St in Sandringham, Victoria.  Wall art combined with box shelving/frames. 

It would make great outdoor room art ..... with a rag rug on the floor!

Point Lonsdale and Point Addis, Victoria

How beautifully does the roof of this life saving club at Point Lonsdale on the Victorian Bellarine Peninsula mimic the surf?

Walking around this area is just gorgeous, The surf (and surfers- cute),  views of cliffs,nearby Port Philip Bay, lighthouses, rock platforms.  It takes you far away.

Another beautiful view, this time from the Point Addis Aboriginal trail, near Anglesea Victoria.  

I love going to my 'sea change' as often as I can.  There is something about the local wild beauty that is good for my psyche.  I breathe it in and feel released and inspired to be all I can be.

(Not to mention all the walking being good for me in other ways!)

MY FASHION MAKE OVER

Last week I read several  books on self makeovers! 

Why?  Rut Rut Rut!

Not in the spiritual sense; (more on that another time). It is more about finding what you want to ‘look’ like (which, in hindsight, is a pretty self absorbed thing to do, ahhh well!).

‘Gala Darling’ (on her blog) suggested a book called ‘Style Statement by Carrie McCarthy’ which provides step by step instructions to find what your personal style could be, and how to achieve it.  I read the bare-bones of the book on Amazon (Amazon gives a preview).

Carrie asks you to choose words that ‘fit you’.  The first word you choose is your 80% word (the one you are closest to already) and the second word is your 20% word (the one you want to be more like).

There were lists of words to choose from, such as: princess, stylish, earthy, glam, diva, sparkle, etc.

If you couldn't find a word to suit, you go out and find one that does fit ... using dictionary meanings to discover if you identify with that word. 

Gala Darlings words were ‘eccentric pop’.

My words literally hit me when I read them:

I am a ‘CHERISHED BOHEMIAN’ (with a side order of feminine). 

Cherished is the love of the preloved, the sentimental and the delicately beautiful: objects that are good for the soul. So many of my belongings are in this category!  Cherished is my 80% word.   

Bohemian is to be a bit out of the ordinary, disregarding conventional standards of behaviour, a bit eccentric. This is my 20% word. 

I qualified these with feminine.  

I then found Brenda Kinsels ‘Fashion Make over, 30 days to Diva Style’ in the local library.  

Brenda does a similar ‘word association’ to Style Statement and then goes through her rules for changing. Below are the rules I chose to follow.

1.     Look at what you have in your wardrobe and decide if it fits your style words. 

I found that 70% of clothes I owned were in dark colours – lots of black – safe and easy to wear. Thus the ‘rut rut rut’. 

2.    Throw out anything that doesn't fit you properly, is tatty, hasn't been worn for years or doesn't suit the style words.

Done: major HALVING of the wardrobe and shoes! Tough.

3.    Throw out anything that is not in a flattering colour.

This was really tough.  I held every remaining item against myself in the mirror to see if it suited my colouring. I had to be truthful to myself.

The remaining black items stayed because I can dress them up with coloured jackets or scarves or similar, but some lovely thing were relegated to the ‘to go’ pile.

I also chose a colour palette/s in Brenda’s book. These are my ideal colours to wear.

My cherished colours

My bohemian colours

4.    Don’t save clothes for special occasions, everyday is a special occasion.

I am soooooooo guilty of this: my thoughts revolve around.... I can’t wear the gorgeous rose coloured cardigan, save it for special times, the cream fur jacket, black cotton dress, taupe lace top, white jeans, jade satin espadrilles etc.  Well, I am working my way through all of them as everyday wear. And I feel fabulous (and overdressed but hey......)

Adding this rule too: If you have natural colouring that is high contrast (for example black hair and pale skin, or pale, pale blonde  hair and brown skin) you can get away with wearing bright, high contrast clothes such as black with white,tomato red or lime green etc. If you have natural colouring that is low contrast you need to have lower contrast clothes (I have olive skin, mid brown hair and eyes - very monochromatic.  My big fashion mistake would be wearing citrus or 'pop' (sky blue , hot pink) colours.  These clothes went out in the clean up.)

I am working my way through my style rut!

CANE SUGAR FREE BANANA BREAD AND APRICOT PRESERVE

A couple of days  ago I posted my recipe for sugar free fruit bread.  

A few posts behind that, I wrote about my sugar free and salt free breakfasts, including my bread and cream cheese recipes.

Now, today, yet another secret recipe is leaving my den ... my super easy, sugar free banana bread recipe.

Shhhh .... don't let everyone know it.  Just enjoy it yourself with cream cheese, tahini, peanut butter, whatever! 

Or, you can spread it with my sugar free dried apricot preserve........ my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Enjoy.

Cane-Sugar Free Banana Bread 

• 3 big bananas, ripe (you can freeze peeled bananas if you have a bunch of over ripe ones.  When you defrost them they they are super mushy!)
• 1 3/4 cup of wholemeal self raising flour
• 2/3 cup of raisins (you can puree the raisins to distribute the sweetness using a blending stick or food processor, or leave them whole) 
• 90 ml of grape seed oil (I use grape seed because it has a higher heat point tolerance than olive oil!)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp heaped cinnamon 
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/2 cup of almond meal (this is basically just ground almonds)

Heat oven to 190 - 210 degrees C.  
Line a loaf tin with baking paper.  
Put all ingredients into a bowl, use a potato masher or blending stick or anything else you want to use to mix it all together.

Bung it in the loaf tin
Cook for 30 to 40 minutes.  (After 30 minutes test it with a skewer! Leave it a bit longer if it is not quite ready).

Apricot Preserve

1 packet (about 300g) of dried apricots (I use the brown coloured, un-sulfured type) 
2 apples, roughly chopped
zest and juice of one lemon

Put apricots and apples in a saucepan and cover with water.  
Simmer on low for about 15-20 minutes until the apricots are mushy.  Add the lemon zest and juice, stir,  and simmer for another 5 minutes or so until it is thick.
Remove from heat and allow to cool. 

I kept some in the fridge for a week in a jar, froze some in another container and froze some in ice cube trays for individual portions.  

It is also yummy for dessert on yoghurt,  sprinkled with toasted nuts!

DECOR IDEAS #2: 2012. BRANCHES

Branches are a great way to hide things you don’t want people to see.

You can hide a rusty wire barrier on a first floor balcony with branches, and make it look stylish and earthy (also a cheap way of doing it too!), like on this beach house in Phillip Island, Victoria.

Or, instead of a curtain, you can dress a window with a branch ‘blind’,  like in this florist window in Parkes, New South Wales.  

CANE SUGAR FREE, FAT FREE FRUIT BREAD: GUARANTEED YUMMY!

Shhhhhhhh ...... As promised in an earlier post, this is the first of my secret recipes. 

This is for the easiest fruit bread recipe in the world, and also as promised, guaranteed yummy.

There is a vegan and a vegetarian version that I have written below.  I adapted it from a recipe I found online and it has worked every time, no matter how I experiment with it.

It is quite a heavy and dense loaf; the vegetarian version is a bit lighter in texture, but both are awesome.

You can use any dried fruit you like; use only one type or mix and match.

My favourites are raisins, dates, figs and apricots.  I have also tried prunes, apples and currents.  The fruit is up to you.

After the loaf is cool, I slice it up, wrap the slices in kitchen paper, pop them in a big snap lock bag and freeze them.  Then when I want a slice I just toast it, spread it with either peanut butter or tahini, and gobble it up with a nice cuppa tea.

Decide whether you are going to chop the fruit into smaller bits or leave whole.  I am lazy, I leave them whole. 

VEGETARIAN SUGAR FREE FRUIT LOAF: (the 'less dense' version)

The day before:

Soak ½ kg (1 lb) of dried fruit in 1 cup fresh orange juice overnight

Next day:

lightly grease a loaf tin

set the oven for 180 degrees C.

Ingredients:

Stir into the ½ kg fruit/OJ mix

1 cup whey (I use whey from making cream cheese, but you can use butter milk or extra orange juice)

1 heaped tsp cinnamon

1 heaped tsp mixed spice powder  

2 cups wholemeal (or white) self raising flour

Mix together, place in the loaf tin, and cook for 1 hour on 180 degrees C.  Then lower oven to 160 degrees C for an extra half hour, or until cooked.  Stick a skewer in after the first extra 15 minutes, as cooking time will depend on your oven.  If it starts to get a bit too brown, place a brown paper bag over the top of the cake to protect it.

VEGAN SUPER DENSE SUGAR FREE FRUIT LOAF:(the 'more dense' version)

The day before:

Soak 1kg (2 lbs) of fruit in 2 cups of fresh orange juice overnight

Next day:

lightly grease a loaf tin

set the oven for 180 degrees C.

Ingredients:

Stir into the 1 kg fruit/OJ mix

1 heaped tsp cinnamon

1 heaped tsp mixed spice powder  

2 cups wholemeal (or white) self raising flour

Mix together, place in the loaf tin, and cook for 1 hour on 180 degrees C.  Then lower oven to 160 degrees C for an extra half hour, or until cooked.  Stick a skewer in after the first extra 15 minutes, as cooking time will depend on your oven.  If it starts to get a bit too brown, place a brown paper bag over the top of the cake to protect it (ha, a bit of deja vu!)

CANE SUGAR FREE CHRISTMAS CAKE:

If you want to make a Christmas-type cake, substitute ½ cup of brandy for ½ cup of the liquid and add ½ cup of nuts instead of ½ a cup of the fruit.

That is all there is to it.  Hope you like it.

Buying second hand books online

I was told about a fantastic on-line site run by the Brotherhood of St Lawrence (the charity organisation).  It is called ‘Brotherhood books’. 

It has all the books that are donated to all the Brotherhoods online, and you can order and buy them.  Best of all, if you buy 3 or more; the freight is free! (only in Australia I think, but they will send overseas).   The descriptor tells you the condition of each book before you buy it.

I have been buying books on Amazon because it is cheaper than book stores (sorry real stores!) but the freight is usually the downer – almost what the books cost to purchase.  I have just bought 7 books (6 novels and 1 info type book) from the Brotherhood for $45, with no freight. 

This to me is almost 100% a win/win. 

First, I get a deal.

Second, the Brotherhood make money.

Third, I am recycling used books rather than buying new.

If you love books like me, take a look at the site!

DECOR IDEAS I FOUND ON MY WANDERS #1 (2012)

This is the first in a semi-regular post of things I see on my travels.  I love the ideas. 

Hope you get some inspiration from these too. 

I love the Ghanda* clothing store in Torquay, Victoria.  Apart from the graphics printed on the clothes (so gorgeous and kitch) their store has innovative and interesting decor ideas.  This GHANDA sign is made of nails with string wound around the nails.  I remember doing something similar to this in craft class at school, and I love this idea.  A sign for the front door would be great in this!

 (*I will post pics of Ghanda clothing soon, but you can Google their online shop.)

Outside 'the Dunes' cafe in Ocean Grove Victoria they have hand drawn a sign on a recycled piece of timber, and displayed it on an easel made of drift wood.   I would love to construct a similar easel and display a painting or print of an ocean-scape on it.  

This was also in a cafe, 'Replete' in Hawthorn Victoria.  In the 'ladies room' no less.

Very simple drawings, done on textured paper and simply framed.  It was very effective in the small space.  

Lots of parents frame the art of their children; the naive simplicity is enchanting.  

More to come!

borrowed post random acts of kindness

Been away remote for work for a while, so I have been unable to post anything new.

Until I get my posting 'mojo' back I thought I would share with you this post borrowed from 'fatmumslim'.

Random acts of kindness.

OCTOBER 2, 2012 BY FATMUMSLIM 51 COMMENTS FAT MUM SLIM

In 1994 I was into Boyz 2 Men, Mariah Carey, writing letters to my friends {even though they were sitting right next to me in class}, shoes with really thick soles and random acts of kindness.

I joined a random acts of kindness group. I don’t remember much about it, just that I’d do acts of kindness, jot them down and send them to a organisation somewhere in Sydney. I loved it. There were special sheets to fill out, and at one point I ran out so I asked my Dad if he could take one to work with him to photocopy it a few times.

I think he thought I was a little mad. “What is this?” he asked.

I tried to explain, but I went bright red and got flustered. “Can I please just get 8 copies?” I requested and headed to my room.

I can’t remember what happened, but I think I turned 15, got interested in boys, shopping, starting my first job and the random acts of kindness fell to the wayside. Sure, I still helped little old ladies when I could but I didn’t have time to go out of my way for it.

I read in Cosmo once that the greatest act of kindness you can ever do is to do something that no one ever knows you did. Confused? Did you ever catch that episode of Friends when Phoebe wants to do something for someone but she wants it to be a completely selfless act of kindness. Everything she did made her feel good, so it wasn’t selfless. She was getting a high in return for the good act. Cosmo magazine suggested that we should one day pay for someone’s parking fine. We should take it from their car and pay it for them, without them ever knowing they had one.

I couldn’t do it. I like the high that comes with doing something good.

Last night I read about a woman that spent her birthday doing 38 acts of kindness. What an awesome way to spend your birthday. Read about it here.

Since moving to the Country I’ve been witness to many a miracle. Things like this never seem to happen in the City. When a car breaks down in Sydney, no one seems to stop. I’ve often asked Hubby, “Can we stop and help?” He’s not savvy with cars or mechanicals and always says, “What can we do? We don’t know how to do anything? We’d stop other people stopping.”

I think it would just be nice to have someone to talk to, really.

The other day the lights turned red and we were stopped at the traffic lights. In the middle lane one man’s car broke down. I wanted to stop and help, but I had Lacey in the back seat and no idea what to do… and he didn’t look like he wanted to talk. As the light turned green I slowly drove off and then the miracle happened. The cars behind me stopped. One lady with a car full of kids pulled her car up on the sidewalk and jumped out. All of the people got together and pushed that man’s car into a side street and out of the way. It was a modern day miracle.

Next time, I promised myself. It’s a promise I’ll keep.