Teddy Bear's Picnic (Sans Bears)

A while ago I made a new product for my Turning Trixie market offerings. It's a little picnic set which includes a bottle bag, two placemats that have a handy little pocket and loop for your cutlery and napkin, and some dandy mismatched cutlery. The two that I've made so far are from an old curtain, and it's all just a bit cute.

On the market day I had a bottle of wine as part of the display - I went all classy. I was going to take some new photos today of the sets to put on here, but I've run out of class (wine) so I'm just going to stick with the market pics.

{Photo by Naomi}

And after you're done picnicking, the placemats handily roll up and can be carried in the drinks bag. See the handiness! See the multi-functioning item!

{Photo by Naomi}

I also went on a little op-shopping trip the other day, and I scored. SCORED. There are some days when you just happen to be sitting somewhere, playing with your fringe and wondering if maybe you should part it on the other side, and suddenly you're struck with the overwhelming need to go to a particular op-shop.

Sometimes it doesn't pan out. Sometimes you drive hell for leather to that op-shop, only to find stained 80's clothing, hundreds of white shirt buttons, the ubiquitous Kamahl records, and hostile volunteers who just won't smile, however damned hard you try.
But sometimes it DOES work out. And they're the days that make that instinct worth following. The days that, for example, you spend the princely sum of $23.50, and walk away with 4 dresses, a cardigan, a jumper, a piece of fabric, 2 doilies and 6 tablecloths.

Suffice it to say, I'm a pretty happy, tablecloth-laden kid.

Adventureland

PLEASE NOTE: This blog post is not related to the movie of the same name. Adventureland, the movie, sucked. I wish to have no affiliation with it. The end.

Hanging out at City Park

Last weekend, the boy and I went to Launceston to take advantage of some el cheapo hotel rooms that I scored through work (have I mentioned how much I love working in tourism??).

I've not done much exploring in Launceston. I've driven through it, past it, and (I now realise) judged it purely on first impressions. I didn't like it. It looks grey, and busy (in comparison to the fair old town of Burnie), and I couldn't understand the appeal.

I do now. Launceston has brilliant cafes, a park with monkeys in it, a couple of fab vintage clothes shops, fantastic old buildings, a park with monkeys in it, a lovely cobblestone-type mall, and a park with monkeys in it.

Monkeys. In a park. Monkeys.

D and I drove up there after work on Friday night, and generally lived it up in the snazzy hotel room. We ordered room service, I locked his wallet and phone in the room safe while he was out of the room, and we pretended that we were rich and that this lifestyle was normal. We know how to have a good time.

On Saturday we got up early and explored. Oh, the exploring. We went to one of the best cafes that I've ever been to for breakfast (Fresh). Fresh is totally organic, and has a lot of vegetarian options (otherwise known as hippy food). It was tasty, it was funky, it was just fantabulous.

Fresh

Armchairs on the pavement outside Fresh

Chai latte *nom nom nom*

From there we went vintage clothes shopping, and I finally got to visit Nanna's. I've been wanting to visit Nanna's ever since I first saw Bianca from Goodnight Little Spoon talk about it, and it's everything that I thought it would be. Awesome clothes, chicks wearing kerchiefs serving up old-school milkshakes, laminate tables and vintage teacups - I didn't want to leave. And once they played The Smiths on their stereo, neither did D. Really, if you go to Launceston, go to Nanna's. Do it.

Drawer of fabulousness at Nanna's

Awesome decor

One of the few moments where I stopped squealing

We spent the afternoon wandering. I finally cracked under the pressure and got an i-Phone. We had a picnic in the park, and visited the monkeys. We went to the Queen Victoria Museum. We walked until my tootsies requested that we stop. We managed to fit in so much goodness, it was amazing that neither one of us imploded from a happiness overload.

My favourite portrait at the museum

On Saturday night, we made our way into town to grab some dinner from an Indian restaurant, and avail ourselves to a few beverages from a local barkeep. While we were sitting at the pub, Bianca rode past on her pink bike. I'll admit to being a bit excited. D missed the whole thing, because he was facing away from the window, and all he knew was that one moment I was sitting on the seat next to him, and then I was suddenly standing with my face smooshed against the window, talking about how cute her bike is.

And THEN (this story will end really soon, I promise) we drove down the Evandale and checked out the markets. Another thing that I can highly recommend. We didn't have much time, so we kind of just did a sweep of the area, and had very targeted browses (D - records, me - craft stuff) and then reconvened for more wandering.

Rusty old Vespa at Evandale

So, by and large, a radtacular time was had by all. All two of us. Just goes to show that you can't accurately judge a place from the drivers seat.

Girl + Boy

The Little Things

Things that bug me:

• People who don’t adhere to some level of mobile phone etiquette. For example, people who answer the phone in the bathroom. Uncool.

• When I realise that it’s my turn to do the washing up.

• A scratch on my favourite CD.

• The moment when I accidentally iron my hand instead of a piece of fabric.

• Having to unpick buttonholes.

Things that don’t bug me:

• The lust-worthiness of this site that I stumbled across the other night. I want one of everything in the Retro Chic range. And two of some of the other stuff.

• Days when I go op-shopping with the intention of picking up some photo frames, and come home with a typewriter.
  

• Actually thinking of an idea for a Mother’s Day present BEFORE Mother’s Day. Win.

• The anticipation before another Made With Love market (this Saturday, 7^th May *shameless plug*). I love dreaming up new outfit ideas for our dress-ups, I dig coming up with ideas for new stock, and let’s face it – it’s just a bloody fun day.

It Was Love At First Sight

No, really, it was. The moment I laid eyes on her, I knew that she was the one. All thoughts of witty repartee and casual conversation flew from my head. My eyes glazed, my heart started beating faster, and I may have even drooled a little bit. Not the most impressive of responses, but I just know that she felt it too. She sat there waiting for me to come to her, and I was drawn across the room. She’s quirky, comfortable to be around and a little worn around the edges, but I know I can do right by her. I knew that I couldn’t leave without her – if I left there was a chance that I’d never see her again.

So I paid my $3.50 and walked out of Vinnies with a massive grin on my face.

I’m going to be doing some minor alterations on this – taking it up, and removing at least part of the bodice insert - but otherwise she’s just perfect *sigh*

PS. I'm no good with these fashion photo shoot things, so a cheesy grin is what you get. Don't judge me.

Mummy's Girl

Today Susie and I went op-shopping in an attempt to restock my diminished craft supplies from the markets, and I happened upon what appeared to be a very cool old beauty case in good nick. Upon further inspection, my opinion changed from very cool to unbelievably freaking awesome. Inside the case is an old Sunbeam hair-dryer, complete with rollers and little hair cap that the dryer plugs into. I enquired about the price of said item, and once I heard that it was going for a whopping $5, I tried not to wet myself, controlled my hyperventilating, and told the nice lady behind the counter that I believed I would be buying it.

When I got home I plugged it in for shits and giggles, half expecting it not to work. But of course – it’s perfect. It works like a beauty. I plan to be eventually sending this along to my darling mother to add to her eclectic collection of vintage and collectable goodies. My Mum collects pretty much everything, so it’s easy to pick up little bits and pieces for her on my little shopping ventures.

This blog post was inevitable at some point – I want to wax lyrical about my Mum. Everybody who knows me knows that I’m massively a Mummy’s girl, a fact which I am quite happy to admit. And the reason for this is quite simple – she’s the bombski. 

My Mum, among other things, is strong, smart, beautiful, protective of her kids, a good cook, and funny as hell. She’s always willing to listen, will laugh with you, cry with you, and will offer to take out a contract on anybody who hurts you. There’s still one guy I knew who will not be lucky if he crosses paths with her. Which I totally dig. My Mum may come across as softly spoken and kind of timid, but she’s got fire in her belly, and occasionally lets a swear word slip (which delights me no end). She talks to our pets, thinks that it makes perfect sense to collect old knitting needles, debates the pronunciation of the word “segue”, and likes to do a bit of crafting. She’s even picked up on some of the Gen Y lingo, and refers to people as tools.

She’s also very reliable. I know that I can rely on her in times of need. Like the time that I was studying full-time, and working part-time, and came down with the flu. She came over to my place with a food care package containing curried lentils, veggies, and all of my favourites. She even included some pastries for dessert.

I can rely on her to laugh – even at traumatic experiences, when the only thing you CAN do is laugh. Last year I went on a particularly horrific date with a professional snake handler (that’s actually not a euphemism). The date started off with Thai food, moved onto catching a brown snake in the bush (which was then captured in a hessian bag and sat behind my seat in the car), and ended with trying to find frogs in the dark, in another part of the bush. I was wearing thongs and a skirt, and not exactly well-attired for the whole intrepid explorer thing. Needless to say, it was not love at first sight (it was more like “Holy f*** that SNAKE’SBITINGYOURF******LEG!!!”). However, I knew that if nothing else it was a great story (rivaled only by the date that took me to a graveyard) and that my Mum would see the humour in it. She did. Most other people were absolutely horrified, looked at me strangely, then walked away. Mum, on other hand, had a good belly laugh with me. 

Moving has been hard for me with not being able to see my Mum. I miss our debriefings over coffee, showing off our latest op shop finds, and just being my mother’s daughter. We still catch up over the telephone every few days though, and there have been a few care packages sent between us. I like to think that one day she’ll move down here too, and we’ll wrought our own special kind of Mackey havoc on Tassie. But even if she doesn’t, she is still the bee’s knees, the cat’s meow, in my eyes an absolute rock star, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.