Monday, December 28, 2009

I'm leaving on a jet plane........



I got some very sad news from home and now i am awaiting my e ticket so i can get on a plane on Wednesday to fly back home. It is 24 hours door to door, and no, i am not one of the people who enjoys flying. Shorts trips ? Not a problem. Long flights nooooooooooooooo !!!!

I am flying Virgin Atlantic instead of qantas (and never have before) and from everything i have heard they are supposed to be a fabulous airline. I have 2 books, my pillow ( the one they give you on the international flights is the size of a sanitary napkin )a big blanket that folds up to this size of a matchbox, Nintendo d.s and candy. I have also packed my eye mask, ear plugs and snoozin pills. I am packed and ready to go. Just wish i was returning under happier circumstances. I wear my most comfortable clothes on such a flight: jeans, long sleeved t, and old rayon coat, i travel in comfort not in style......
So it begs the question how do you travel ???

See you all when i get back to the USA

xoxox

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Have yourself a merry little Christmas !


Here's wishing you all a wonderful Christmas !

I hope you get what is on your Christmas list and then some !

My Christmas day will begin with a well deserved sleep in ( yep retail @ Christmas is a bitch), then open presents, followed by a big lunch & a huge pavlova ( mmmmmmm) then relax.......

Ho Ho Ho xxx

Sunday, December 20, 2009

R.I.P Miss Curly




Our beautiful Miss Curly, sister of Moe & Larry has passed away unexpectedly.
Her happy smiling beautiful face will be sadly missed.
She will be missed by everyone who loved her, especially by my daughter Lula who had an incredible bond with her.
My heart breaks.

Mademoiselle Marie Blanco Hendrickx



Ooh la la !
Yesterday i received this amazing print from Marie Blaco Hendrickx in France just in time for Christmas. Now i must decide how it should be framed.
I had fallen in love this a while back, then out of the blue i get a message saying the print is mine. I am incredibly thankful.

Merci beaucoup Marie !
You may see her work at
www.mijnschatje.fr



Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Du Wop Private Red Lipstick



Today my Du Wop Private red lipstick arrived !
This is the blurb from Sephora.....
What it is:
A unique, color-changing lipstick that morphs to each woman's personal, private red.
What it does:
Private Red's formula adapts to each person's unique chemistry and will adjust accordingly, providing the perfect red shade that complements each person's coloring. The silky lipstick goes on smooth and the rich pigment leaves behind a slight stain so lips stay red.
What else you need to know:
Private Red is more than just the perfect red lipstick, it moisturizes lips with Castor seed oil.
I REALLY like it, it went on a dark red then changed to a fabulous day red. The other nice thing is that it is not drying and stays on really well. I am very pleased with this one. So let's see, the current count of red lipsticks, is um well,
too embarrassed to say.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Sew and sew







After discussing my love of 1940's pants with Miss Inky i have decided to put the thimble back on again.
The first garment i made, as a teenager in school, was a lovely pale blue Hawaiian print dress, it took me the whole semester to complete this project.From the cutting out stage, and then sewing it all together, only to find that i had cut it out upside down and all my beautiful hula maids were standing on their heads.
Suffice to say i didn't get to model my handiwork on the stage at the Year 7 assembly.
Fast forward many many years and i decide to ask my Gal Friday to teach me and my friend Pussy Le Claw how to make Capri's. Surely it cannot be too difficult ? I have, after all, previously mastered a dress. What was i thinking ??? I don't think we ever finished those Capri pants but we sure had a fun time and this was way before "stitch & bitch" nights even had a name !
So here i am again attempting to sew another pair of pants.
I realise the first thing i must do before i even begin is i must squish my impatience and learn perseverance. I see a cute pattern on Ebay and want the finished garment NOW. I don't care to wait. But now i am not only re-learning to sew, i am learning PATIENCE !
So this being said here is the pattern. I am armed with an email "sewing 101" from Miss Inky and she will act as my mentor.
This is the pattern i will be using at Miss Inky's suggestion. I am yet to buy the fabric, but am thinking denim.
Soooo, if you want to sew a pair of pants and join me on this quest please jump on in
I will keep you updated and post pics as i go.
Wish me luck and
May The Paws Be With Me



Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Dance With a Stranger




This movie would have one of my favourite films of all time. It stared Miranda Richardson and Rupert Everett.
It is based on the true story of Ruth Ellis the last woman to be executed in England in 1955 at Holloway Prison.
She was 28 years old.
Her story is a tragic one and am sure if she commited this crime today the outcome would be a very different one.


The following was written by Lynda Osborne ~ The Life and Execution of Ruth Ellis in Criminals/Outlaws.
At the age of 17, she became pregnant, having embarked on a love affair with a French-Canadian soldier, but like so many girls of that time, Ruth discovered her lover was married with a family in Canada.







On 15 September 1945, Ruth gave birth to a baby boy, Andre Clare, (Andy). In order to support her son, she found a job as a model for a camera club. This included posing nude for the club members, which was quite scandalous for the time. From here Ruth found a job as a nightclub manageress.

While working at the nightclub Ruth fell pregnant but terminated the pregnancy before the end of the first trimester. And it was also here that she met her husband-to-be, a dentist by the name of George Ellis.

From an early stage the relationship was tempestuous. Like Ruth's father, George was a heavy drinker. He eventually admitted himself into Warlington Park Hospital, Surrey to be treated for alcoholism. From here he found work as a dentist in Southampton, and in spite of the volatile nature of their relationship, the couple were married on 8 November, 1950. But the marriage continued to deteriorate. Ruth left her husband on a number of occasions but always returned and it wasn't long before the police were called to deal with their domestic disputes.

The following May, George lost his job, but found work in Cornwall. This time Ruth didn't follow immediately, but discovering she was pregnant, she decided to give the relationship another go.

Once again George was drinking heavily and decided to re-admit himself into hospital. Even though he was undergoing treatment, Ruth began to suspect her husband was conducting improper relationships with staff and patients and as a result of her suspicions violent rows ensued. After one such row George's psychiatrist, Dr. Rees intervened and prescribed the distraught Ruth a course of sedatives. She was to remain under his care until she was charged with murder; her medication just one of the mitigating factors not brought up at her trail.

On 2 October, 1951 Ruth gave birth to a daughter in Dulwich hospital, London but the arrival of the baby did little to save the marriage as soon after George filed for divorce.

By now Ruth was very much a part of the London nightclub scene but she was a doting mother and, with two children to support, she found a job managing a drinking establishment called the 'Little Club'. Here she met David Blakely, a man who was to have disastrous consequences on her life.

In spite of her affair with Blakely, Ruth was also seeing another man, Desmond Cussen. Together they would spy on Blakely whom she suspected of being unfaithful.

Ruth fell pregnant for the fourth time but miscarried, allegedly following a blow to the stomach during a row with David Blakely.

Ruth was convinced of her lover's unfaithfulness. She was driven to Hampstead to confront him by Desmond Cussen just 10 days after the loss of her unborn child. Together they waited outside the Magdala public house, South Hill Park, for Blakely to leave.

Seeing Blakely leave the pub, Ruth called out to him, but he ignored her, a mistake which was to cost him his life. With a .38 revolver Ruth fired, hitting her lover with her second shot, and as he fell to the ground, she stood over him and fired the remaining bullets into his prostrate body. She was arrested by Alan Thompson, an off-duty policeman, the smoking gun still in her hand.

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Monday, November 30, 2009

So in love

Although she was busy "partaking" in armed hold ups between 1931 and 1934, Bonnie,from her beret down to her cute shoes, always managed to look ever so stylish !
It is still heavily debated whether she actually was a part of the robberies, whether or not she ever fired a gun, or whether she was just so in love that she went simply out of devotion to her boyfriend.I prefer to believe she was young and in love.
Bonnie Parker was 19 when she first met Clyde Barrow in January 1930 at a friend's house. Cylde had dropped by to visit a friend where Bonnie was staying while she was out of work. Bonnie was in the kitchen making hot cocoa when Clyde walked in, they took one look at each other and both were instantly smitten. They became inseparable.She remained a loyal and devoted girlfriend as they carried out their crime spree and awaited the violent deaths they knew would follow.
Bonnie Parker gained a reputation as a cigar-smoking gun toting gangsters moll. This grew out of a gag snapshot found by police and then released to the press. She was in fact just a gal next door type who loved her boyfriend and loved chain smoking Camel cigarettes.
On May 23 1934 she and Cylde were gunned down by police on a desolate stretch of road near their Bienville Parish, Louisiana hideout.
Bonnie was only 23 years old.





Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Memento Mori

I have only ever seen one memento mori photo in real life (found at a yard sale) and i was enthralled.
These photos were taken by a photographer who specialised in these types of images, and often advertised under the banner of "Post mortem Photographer"

Photography became more affordable during the middle 1800's & although more families could afford the high fee's they were still, however, a huge financial sacrifice for most.
The majority of folk back then did not have access to a camera let alone a photographer so when a loved one died they would hire the services of this special photographer, often calling for them when a loved one was close to death, so as to have a permanent reminder of their dear departed loved ones.
During the second half of the 1800's the infant mortality rate was very high, and many babies and small children would die before a photo could be taken of them, also many young women died during childbirth and disease was known to take whole families.
Sometimes these photo's would have the subjects eye's open,
depict mother and child, (one or the other or both departed)siblings, sometimes only the face would be captured, they could be laying down looking like they were asleep or sitting up in a rocking chair.
If you are reading this Lula or Hud i suggest you start saving now for my very own
momento mori photo,and no, i don't think you can take me to Walmart to have it taken either.
One website i like http://www.thanatos.net/



















Saturday, November 14, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY BELLE !

Today is my daughters birthday,
I cannot believe how fast she has grown up, and yes it really does only feel like yesterday......
She was a beautiful baby, a funny little monkey and is now a gorgeous, smart, talented and very creative young woman, who is off to Paris & beyond next week.
**Take a peek at her blog
http://oliveandzipper.blogspot.com/
Happy Birthday Lula Belle & Bon Voyage
xoxoxox



Thursday, November 12, 2009

The Makeup Player




I think i need this !
It is part cosmetic train case, part media player and speaker system !
You can plug in your iPhone or iPod Touch to watch Stila how-to videos to get glamoured up. You can also play your favourite tunes through this too. And it comes with a bunch of fabulous Stila product, including the revolutionary NEW One Step Makeup Foundation!


The Makeup Player includes:
the Makeup Player
One Step Foundation
Eye Shadow Trio
Lip Glaze
Convertible Color
#7 Eye Shadow Brush
beautytube DVD & instruction card

Makeup, Education and Empowerment all-in-one.
And the best bit, its only $ 69.90 thru the stila website
http://www.stilabeautytube.com/about.asp

Friday, November 6, 2009

Hey there Little Red Riding Hood....


I love her !

Random Things

 
Posted by Picasa

Just a few things that have caught my eye this week !

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Turbans


*above pic from swingfashionista.com

When i think of turbans i think of men sitting cross legged wearing a bejewelled turban and charming snakes out of a woven cane basket,
that said, i also think of Carmen Miranda. Which leaves me thinking is to hard to pull off
the the whole turban look ? Will it look like i have washed my hair and have it up in knot on my head or will i look like i am simply having a bad hair day and have my bad hair covered or will i look glamourous like a 1940's movie star....so many questions i know !
Will this turban at Forever 21 make me look like one of the above glamour queens ?
I guess for $5.80 it is worth a shot
and if it doesnt work out guess what i can be for Halloween next year ??



Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Bad Gals


I love looking at pictures and images of real women of the 30's. 40's and 50's. I really enjoy
looking at their clothes, shoes, hair, purses,everything. These are photo's from old LA newspapers. The woman above gave false testimony at the trial of ex-madam Brenda Allen in 1949 Los Angeles.
These two are mother & daughter and are the neigbours of the "Horror House " case.
How cool are the daughters bangs ?



This gal was freed after explaining why she was wearing Marine uniform trousers after drinking party in Los Angeles 1948. I love her pants .How cool does this gal look ? This was taken in L.A in 1948 after a dope raid at a party
that this LA model was attending. LOVE her shoes. If i could look like her everyday i would be happy.
if by chance you know where i can buy her shoes pleeeeeeeeease let me know !!!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

BOO !

Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat !




We had a fab Halloween.
I love all the little kids who come trick or treating
They love our house as it's always decorated and we have a fog machine and Halloween music and the spooky ghost "floating" across the yard
It's my favourite holiday of the year !!!
PS Happy Wedding Anniversary Mr & Mrs Inky in California xxxx

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Toadstools





















Everywhere i look i see toadstools.

Is it just me ?

I was in Target and came across the Smurfs Toadstool House in the toy section. I wanted to buy it, just because it was a toadstool, luckily common sense prevailed. So when i got home i started thinking how cute a toadstool beret would be. Or a toadstool brooch or toadstool socks, a quick look on Etsy yielded results from a store called The Tiny Toadstool !





This beret is the bee's knee's !!!

Now i want a Toadstool House for me to live in, but i would have to move to Turkey






Or i could always build my own.......