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Archive Category: Clothes
Stupid Camberwell
Monday, 18 November 2002
Oh, I think I must have done something bad….bought too many clothes in my lifetime or something. My market day sucked :o( I thought it was going to be lots of fun :o( Wah. I got up at 4:30am and made myself a flask of tea to take (that would be a thermos for you Scott) as well as taking a little esky (um…a cooler…or….a car fridge?) with the essential 33 degree day supplies of tangelos and water. Packed the car, drove to market. Spent 15 minutes trying to manoeuvre the tank into an impossibly small gap in between my neighbouring stall holders….Then I made the horrid realisation…I had too much stuff!!!! I hired a clothes rack, set up my card table and distributed clothes in boxes, on the ground (on a sheet) and on the car. Then sat back and sipped tea in what I hoped was a cosmopolitan manner….absolutely surrounded by my sins of excess.
Eeyore Eeyore
Monday, 25 November 2002
The Monday Mope Not a good response from optometrist; laser surgery has enabled me to see like a raptor, but my eyes are suffering from lack of lubrication :o( I have to go back in a week… my eyes are getting grazed from lack of moisture. I am now in possession of lubricating drops and gel! Naturally, retail therapy became a necessity. My new shoes are…. not startingly lascivious, but super comfy…(please ignore that I typed that, it is a very old/sensible person’s thing to say. The guy in the shop was very helpful - I was torn between the more glamourous pair and the practical pair… “Ohhhh,” I sigh, viewing my feet in practical sandals from every possible angle. ‘They’re just not very exciting.”
“Depends what you want them for, love,” responds shoe seller guy in a Zen-like manner.
“Well, they need to survive the beach, a music festival, camping, um…”
I look beseechingly at him in the hope that he will take the decision from me. No girl really wants to have to take on the decision to buy sensible shoes. Do they? He’d gone. I saw him spouting wisdom at a German tourist. I put on the more frivolous pair and walked around the shop, imagining I was stumbling around at the Meredith Music Festival, weaving around tent pegs and evil remants of Hare Krishna food. The decision became simpler. Fifty sensible dollars later I
was driving away from the temptations of Chapel Street towards museli at FeedBack (one of my three currently acceptable cafes….)
Eye Droppings
Wednesday, 27 November 2002
Crocodile tears. Keep tipping false tears into my eyes…apparently dry eyes are a fairly normal result of laser surgery…or so the interent leads me to believe…I see…I do! Now I know I have little sad abrasions on my eyes I feel bad for them and try to keep them wet and happy -it’s kind of like looking after a tadpole in a drought. Poor house. It is gone. I think I’ll go and throw all
the photos I took of it’s interior away so I don’t ever stumble upon them. I’m sure Lorraine is right and there are better ones out there - but there are aren’t many other places as nice as Toogoom that I have tripped over recently…if ever.
Studying is trundling along - I am 500 words from being up to date. The stuff I wrote last night was such a crock I can hardly believe it, but I have decided to feed them what they want and then hassle them about it later (after they’ve marked me). All this crap about semiotics, sight and
perception (which did not go down well with me as you may imagine) and virtual worlds and the making of computer games… I just fail to see how any of this is relevant. I have a secret belief that the tutor in question just had a paper she’d written hanging around and thought she’d slot it in somewhere. God. I can’t suffer alone, here’s a bit of it: By the end of this module you will have
explored:
- how the eye makes sense of what it sees;
- how the mind makes sense of what we see;
- how we construct meaning from what we see;
- the implications of these issues for making effective computer games
Guess what my course is?
Writing. I’m trying to write a crime novel. Oh yes, extremely relevant. On another point - I have been saved from buying scary Wittner shoes to be worn at wedding of Goth. Lisa came over last night to collect her DVD’s that I stole from her ages ago and I modelled my two pairs of strappy black sandals for her and she approved both as appropriate…[big sigh of relief]…I have had enough shoe trauma for one week….(mainly due to the fact that ’slides are in’ this ’season’ and so if you want summer shoes with an ankle strap you’ll have better luck fossicking through your attic…which Australian houses don’t have…so….you wouldn’t have any luck at all….say hello to thongs…
Belt Up
Monday, 28 July 2003
I forgot to mention that I also got given a belt by a guy at a garage sale a couple of streets away. It’s a scout belt and it says ‘Be Prepared’ (although you can’t read it in the picture). OK. That’s it, I can prevaricate no longer. Today is my stupid weather report deadline and I must away….
Why Is It So?
Saturday, 11 October 2003
There are several things I do that annoy M to distraction (compared to the at least ten things he does that leave me grinding my teeth to gum level - inability to actually clean dishes when washing them being right up there). One thing is my refusal to walk into any pub merely to use the toilet. There is something unassuming about a bloke walking into a bar populated by mostly blokes and heading to the loo - a girl walking into a bar full of blokes generally (or in my case) is begging not to be noticed, but it seems that even if you’re a two-bagger who hasn’t washed for weeks, you won’t only get noticed but you’ll get comments along with it. Thus, I can be hopping cross legged down the street of, say, Maryborough, and unless I can see the appropriate bathroom door across a relatively uncrowded room from where I stand, tautly, on the outside footpath, I do not go. This drive M insane - he screams; ‘Just go! Just GO! No one’s going to care….’
Which isn’t quite true - I will care. And even as a puny child my mother used to remark on my excellent bladder control.
The other thing that sends him nuts, which happened today, is my extreme dislike of yelling a question at people out while I’m driving by. He tries to get me to do this, because I’m usually closest to the pavement, being in the passenger seat (why is it that guys always have to drive? Oh….the being in control of life, the universe and everything thing…it momentarily slipped my mind). Sometimes, if we need directions or something, it’s no problem, but other times *deep inward breath* it is just too much for me and my shrinking violet sensibilities. Like today. We’re on our way home, but are trying to hunt down the last garage sale of the day - M sees some people standing out the front of their house and their lawn is covered with kayaks, bits of cars, and other outdoorsy paraphernalia - it is completely obvious to me that all they have going on is a messy front garden, but M is insistent.
“Ask them! Ask them if the garage sale is still on!”
“It’s not a garage sale M, it’s their front garden.”
“Just ask….why can’t you just ask?” He is getting impatient.
My knuckles begin to whiten.
“Because it’s just like me leaning out of the car and telling them that they’re a pack of messy bastards…”
M sighs more than audibly, visibly calls on the gods of self-control and jumps from the van.
“Hey mate,” he carols, “is this the garage sale?”
I melt into a slump and try to fit underneath the dashboard. Sometimes I’d rather be wrong.
Shoes
Tuesday, 9 March 2004
Super pointy shoes peeking out the bottom of bootcut trousers. It baffled me on the tram this morning, three times, and it baffles me still. It just doesn’t look right. Maybe it’s just me.
Dreamcoat
Friday, 11 June 2004
One of many conversations on Brunswick Street last night.
Girl calls boy on mobile phone.
“A terrible thing happened!”
Boy heaves sigh and prepares himself for the worst.
“What? What’s happened? Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” sighs the girl, “but…”
“..but??!” urges the boy.
“But I’ve found this amazing coat…and it’s amazingly expensive, but I have to have it.”
“Oh no,” says boy, sarcastically, “you’re right! That is terrible!”
Girl pouts as a tram goes past. The boy relents.
“OK, so how good is this coat? Is it just really really good? Or do you love it?”
“I love it!” shrieks the girl, “I would throw out all my other coats just to have it. And…they’re all in storage and I’m freezing.”
“OK,” says the boy, “we can probably live on rice for a little bit longer.”
Girl jumps with a combination of guilt and glee. Thanks the boy for being astoundingly forward thinking. Meets her friend. They go and check out the wonderful coat. On seeing it again, it’s lost some of the magic. Her friend says it’s good, but not that good. They leave the coat. Girl is curiously relieved. Cold. But relieved.
Muu Muu Shoes
Sunday, 18 July 2004
Back on the subject of M’s feet - the dilapidated sandals were so past it that he had to cut off all the straps except the main ones that go from one side of the foot to the other, just below the toes. I’m not sure why - because I’ve googled it and I’m wrong - but they immediately made me think of what Homer would wear to match his mu-mu. And thus they have become mu-mu shoes. It only took two days of me calling them mu-mu shoes for M to develop a complex that was larger than the one about his feet and go out and buy some thongs. Ones that actually fit. Thank you Homer.
I Love My Leather Jacket(s)
Tuesday, 25 January 2005
(The title is a reference to The Chills track of the same name….)
My first leather jacket was one I bought from my friend Kirsty’s brother. It was a biking jacket, and way too big. Then, about five years later, I bought a leather jacket that was about $150 [gasp] at the urging of my friend Kathy. It was a thinner, more tailored design. Sometime during all of this I flogged my original leather jacket to some guy who wanted it, and stumbled on another ‘motorbike’ styled one that was quite small (i.e. it fitted) and laboriously made a lining for it out of an old flannel shirt. About three years ago, I was in Savers in Footscray and found another leather jacket. It was a little bit big, less snug, but more of a classic style, with a belt. It was cool. As there was a 50% sale the next day, I hid it, and hared back in the morning, getting it for a paltry $12.50 - could it get any better? Yes.
Today M and I truced long enough for a trip to the Tip Shop. I have never found any good clothes there before. But today I found two old leather jackets. Both proper leather. Stiff with age and lack of use. One is a very cool ‘girl style’ riding jacket - which is the one I like the most - so does M. The other is more of a short ‘trench coat’ style. I will post a picture of them once I’ve cleaned them up a bit. Dubbin? Or are there better things for restoring leather?
In the Bag!
Tuesday, 1 February 2005
My new bag. Hand sewn and crocheted by the lovely Rie. It arrived in the post this morning…[swoon] I don’t know how she finds the time.
Also in the bag were some books from my book donor 
Entombed by Linda Fairstein (which I know is schlock, but I very much enjoy) and something called Retribution by someone called Jilliane Hoffman. As well as these, this morning is beautifully overcast and I have actually managed a cup of tea without dissolving into a pool of my own perspiration. Thank you for the care package D & R! Can’t think how much beer I must owe you now…
Weather or not
Tuesday, 8 March 2005
How does one pack a small bag for an eleven day trip, when the weather at ones destination reads as follows:
Tuesday
Chance of a shower this afternoon. A mostly cloudy day with a light to moderate westerly wind tending south to southwesterly.
Current Temperature: 18 C
Forecast Max: 20Wednesday
Morning shower possible then fine.
Min: 13CMax: 20CThursday
Fine.
Min: 12C Max: 22CFriday
Fine.
Min: 13C Max: 29CSaturday, Sunday and Monday
Fine. Generally warm.
It looks like I’ll be bringing two bags [sigh] - if only I knew where my shoes that aren’t sandals were. I last saw them before we moved here 18 months ago. I have a feeling that they’ve ended up in South Gippsland. Bugger.
The Dress Disaster of 2005
Sunday, 24 April 2005
The other day when M began (began…) working on the Humber, I was trying to help, and retrieved trimming and radio housing from the boot. To do this, I removed the three bags of clothes that I store in there. I sewed the bags from an old op-shop doona cover, having learnt from sad experience that clothes stored in plastic, rot. Ten years worth of dresses and work clothes were safe in these bags. It can be legitimately stated that I have too many dresses. Most of them have not been worn more than twice. However, as I was sorting through them, I counted only three that had been bought new; the rest were secondhand. But still good! So why, why, why did I leave them on the ground in the shed near the boot? It rained like Noah for two days before M found the bags, gently steaming. I did seven lots of hand washing and three machine loads. Naturally, since I hung everything on the clothesline, it has barely stopped long enough between rainstorms for anything to dry. Frocking up in Melbourne is beginning not to be an option!
Jeans
Tuesday, 26 April 2005
How many pairs of jeans does a person need? Is it a defence to say that the person in question always had trouble finding jeans that hit her feet, and so has begun hoarding every pair? So many jeans cannot possibly all go to Melbourne, so a jeans fashion parade was held. M was judge. Three out of the six pairs that I shimmied in and out of got 8/10 or more. So now there are three sad pairs of jeans, neatly folded, in my little wardrobe. They will not roam to Melbourne. Ack! I have to get up at 4.30am!!
Triangle Bikinis
Saturday, 26 November 2005
I don’t know how many of you have undergone the bather-shopping torment yet. But, as people offered to take me along on their bather shopping expedition, I wasn’t going to say no. Change room mirrors don’t lie, but friends do. Which is why you should shop with them. We headed for Geelong. RipCurl, Billabong - all that stuff. Millions upon millions of scary, tie-up-at-the-edges triangle bikinis. There were two pairs of bikinis in the whole of Torquay that weren’t of triangular design. I bought one of them. Cate bought the other. PY bought shorts. Then we all went and ate fish and chips on the beach and drank beer to maximise our curves… Yah!
Vintage Fashion Astrology…
Tuesday, 7 March 2006
Taurus
april 21 - may 20
Taurus shops for life… no trendy splurges for you, unh uh. You are attracted to the biggest names in fashion only if they can back it up with solid quality and timeless design. Michael Kors, old school Yves Saint Laurent and a bevy of Halston cashmere coats are proof positive that you have always known how to spend your money wisely.
Designers who share your sign :
Pierre Balmain
Halston
Issey Miyake
Mariano Fortuny
Jean-Paul Gaultier
Christian Lacroix…sweety…sweety…sweety
You can find your Vintage Fashion Astrology here. I know you want to ;-P
Happy Birthday Mr H
Sunday, 4 June 2006
A fine afternoon was had with spectacular cake, naked dancing four year olds and presents all round. And beer.
The luck of the vague
Saturday, 4 August 2007
Because I have a seemingly ongoing case of PartyPie brain, I forgot to go into work yesterday and pick up a file I need to work on at home. Well. I forgot until we got to Dandenong just on rush hour, and the thought of driving back to Hampton was just too dire. M was my driving companion on our computer excursion yesterday, and he chauffered me into work today, and I gratefully offered to take him to the French bakery in Black Rock and ply him with non-Tooradin coffee and croissants. (In the event, he had a croissant and was so enamoured with my truly sublime escargot, that he got one for himself - a far safer option than trying to snaffle more from me.)
The reward for my vagueness? A foray into the op-shop near my work. An op-shop that has offered me little of late, athough it does have a lot of stuff for guys who are willing to search with intent (i.e. not many, and definitely not M). However. I walked in, saw the shoe section, and there they were. The t-bar style Doc Martens that I’ve coveted for years, but never had. For FIVE DOLLARS. Thank you. Mine.
[They’re cherry - this pic was taken with my phone. Apologies for quality etc. etc.]
