I found this via Pip's blog Meet Me At Mikes & I thought it was way too cute not to share! Have a happy New Year's Eve, everybody, and I'll see you in 2012! I have a feeling it's going to be a pretty swell year.

So, 2011 was quite a big year for me with some crazy, rollercoaster ups and downs. I had some not so great moments and definitely a shitty start to the year, but since then things have gotten much better and I've finished 2011 in a very wonderful way! Now this recap is quite long (and not very fashion-y) so I don't blame you for skipping out now!

In January, I had quite a bad start to the year. My granddad died, not too long after my nan had passed away, and my boyfriend at the time broke up with me about a week later. I'm not going to lie, it kind of sucked, especially for someone going through depression, like I was at the time. It also didn't help that my ex-boyfriend handled things in a really douchey way. So if blogging was a bit sparse this year, then that is probably why! I'm not telling you that to get sympathy or anything, but if anyone reading is going through it then I want them to know how important it is to get professional help, because it really helped me. Also surround yourself with wonderful friends - my best friends Renae, Richenda, the Chloes, Emma and Trish were fantastic around this time (and still are, obviously).


Luckily, it was not long after that I started my work experience at Xpress. I got to work with one of my favourite bloggers, Emma, and I had such a good time. It was really special to hear the editor say that I was the best work experience student they'd ever had! I even stayed on for a while after my internship "officially" ended, and now I'm a contributor for them and couldn't be happier that I'm doing a job that I love and getting paid for it!


It was on one of these reviews for Xpress that I met my boyfriend Aidan! Well, it's kind of an embarrassing story (for me). We had gone to uni together for four years but never really spoken. And then out of the blue I invited him to be my plus one to an Audrey Tatou movie and we've been together ever since. Woo!


I also...
♥ dyed my hair red... then bayalage... then blue tipped... then with a Bettie Page fringe... and now pink tipped ♥ went to a lot of amazing shows like Papa Vs Pretty, The Painkillers, Hungry Kids of Hungary, Andy Bull, and more ♥ moved out of my apartment in South Perth and moved into my grandparent's old house ♥ met many amazing Perth bloggers ♥ made many lovely new friends ♥ turned 22 ♥ hosted Boxing Day at my house for my family ♥ learned to cook ♥ went out to Mexican food for my birthday ♥ went to Rottnest ♥ tried to use my DSLR camera more ♥ became incredibly happy again!

So thank you all so much for reading this year and hopefully next year will be bigger & better for all of us! This is my last "big" post for 2011 (I have one lined up for tomorrow) so I'll see you all in 2012!

x

Oh and I do have to say happy birthday to my gorgeous mama! Happy birthday mum!

Hello hello! I had a wonderful Christmas day with my mum's side of the family. We went to my uncle's beautiful house and had a MASSIVE feast of turkey (with two kinds of stuffings), ham, these delicious salads, and Christmas pudding. It was amazing! Even more fun was getting to see my cousins, uncles and aunties, especially my aunt, uncle and cousin who had flown in from Melbourne. It was gorgeous weather (not too hot!), and I got to spend the afternoon playing with my adorable godson, his brother and their new lightsabers, which were mainly used for "killing girls and girl germs".

It's Christmas Eve! For some reason, this year I'm overexcited about the holidays and am so looking forward to spending Christmas with my family. Even though I am exhausted from work and missing my boyfriend, who is in Melbourne until New Year's, I can't wait to have a couple of days to just relax and enjoy spending time with the people I love.

So until I get around to posting my Christmas outfits and other photos, I'll leave you with this photo of me and my sister. I don't know exactly when it was taken... maybe when I was about seven? We do not continue to wear matching dresses, you'll be pleased to know. But my mum made us these dresses and I remember being totally IN LOVE with mine. I adored anything super girly and poofy and princess-like (so, not much has changed!).

Merry Christmas, you guys! Thanks so much for reading my blog and all your love and support this year. Hopefully you'll all still be reading next year and still having a ball!

x

Last night I caught up with my lovely friend Lisa and we decided to go to The Moon for dinner (after seeing that the Mexican place we really wanted to go to was completely packed. Boo!). After a delicious dinner of fries, aioli, and chicken and bacon pizza, we went for a walk through Northbridge and took some photos of Christmassy things.



This was an amazing Christmas tree made out of old bike parts and some cute handmade stars. They were actually made out of the Coles 'Down down, prices are down' hands - we thought that this was a much better use for them.




Do you remember a while ago I showed you a little sneak peek of this amazing dress? Well, this is it in its entirety! It's definitely one of my all-time favourite dresses. It has a beautiful shape, I love the print (hamburgers and hot dogs and popcorn, oh my!), and it has pockets! I've been wearing it on a pretty much weekly basis. It reminds me of the scene in Grease where Danny sings "Sandy" at the drive-in movies and there's an ad for the candy bar playing behind him... with dancing hotdogs and icecreams!

And from these photos, you might be able to see that I got my nose pierced! My boyfriend's sister and one of her best friends were going, and I've always wanted to pierce my nose, so I decided to tag along with them. And to answer the inevitable question, yes, it was very VERY painful! I don't know if I'll keep it in for long, because I'm not sure it's really "me", but at least I got it done.

And then we saw camels! And a partridge in a pear tree!

There were many (many!) more photos, but I'll save them for another post, and just leave you with this quote that was outside the public library. I thought it was very sweet.

This has been my busiest month of the year BY FAR, so I apologise for letting my blog posts slide! Obviously retail work gets a lot more hectic around Christmas, and my work for Xpress has been getting crazy busy as well - not that I'm complaining in the slightest, I adore both jobs! Even my job at Sussan, which includes putting up with crazy Christmas customers. People get a bit insane (and rude) around this time of year.

I know that December 21st is a bit late to be doing Christmas wishlists - and to be honest, my family already got my wishlist a long time ago - but I thought I would show you guys what I've been lusting over for the past month or so (and perhaps send a helpful hint in my boyfriend's direction). So, here goes...



1. Trashy Diva Luscious Libations dress, $137.99 from Modcloth
2. Irregular Choice Sundae Best heels, $149.99 from Modcloth
3. Fujufilm Instax Camera, $85 from Officeworks
4. Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Lady Dragon VIII heels in nude, $202.80 from ASOS
5. ASOS PURR heels in cat print, $126.75 from ASOS
6. World's Smallest Lookbook necklace in 70s,, $34.99 from Modcloth
7. What's the Story, Winston? necklace, $19.99 from Modcloth
8. Glowing Out For Pizza string lights, $29.99 from Modcloth
9. Gala Curious Eternal Ties pendant in Lilac, $99 (on sale!) from The Dreamery
10. Drown Dross ring, $79 from Alegorie

I don't ask for much, do I? If Santa could also give me the sudden ability (and desire) to do yoga everyday, turn down all the awful food-court meals I've been eating while working and help me manage my time more wisely, I would be just as happy...

Now I am off to catch up with the always lovely Lisa Grace for dinner at a new Mexican place... so hopefully (hopefully!) there should be photos to follow!

x

So I got some new floors in my kitchen and dining room, and I thought that before I moved my furniture in it would be fun to take some photos! To be honest, I'm pretty tempted to not put any furniture back in and just reserve the place for retro dance parties...



Sorry to wear this dress again so soon after it's last outfit post, but it was perfect for the thirty degree heat in Perth today! It's made out of cotton (as opposed to polyester, like most of my vintage dresses - including the one in the last post, which is why the pictures turned out so awful, I was so hot and gross!) and is so comfortable for the insane heat. Besides, I think it's a happy dress. It certainly made people smile all day!



You can't really see it in the photos but my pink hair is still going strong! It isn't as bright since I washed it, but a fresh coat of Manic Panic should do the trick. I don't know, I kind of like the frosty pink as opposed to UBER BRIGHT.



Well, now I am off to watch the Steve Buscemi/Black Keys episode of Saturday Night Live. I am too excited! I don't know where they got the GENIUS idea to cast both of them in one episode but I'm pretty sure it's a dream come true for me?! Ahhh!

And I suppose I had better put my furniture back in my dining room and kitchen. Boo! Maybe I'll just turn it into a retro diner and run around in this dress serving burgers and shakes. Hey, a girl can dream!

HELLO! I literally just got home from the hairdresser and ran outside again to take these shots - that's how excited I am about my new hair! I finally got my act together and booked another appointment with the wonderful Bee, and I had missed her so much! Since the last time I saw her, she's moved into a whole HOUSE (as opposed to a room upstairs from some artists), which also has beautiful Little Gracie clothes everywhere! I was in heaven.

Anyway one morning last week I woke up and thought, "I miss having coloured hair." Usually I take ages and agonise over what to do with my hair, but this week I just chose not to think it through so much and decided to go pink! I'm in love. Apparently it will fade better than the blue as well.






Since I was pretty sure I'd be coming home with pink-tinged locks, I thought that this vintage dress would match perfectly. I got it from Winifred & Bance during their closing down sale (boo hoo!). It was half price. It is awesome... though the polyester's not great for such a hot day!


I thought the dress lent itself to some Twiggy-esque jumpings shots... how wrong I was! How do people do it and still manage to look good in outfit shots?! This is one of about fifteen jumping shots I tried and in most of them I look extremely derpy.

Well I know this is a super-short post but I have to run and get some stuff done before Xzibit tonight (I'm reviewing it!). I hope you all have fabulous Fridays!

x

Hello hello! I thought I would just pop in and say hello, even though I have had barely any time to breathe this week, let alone post! I've been balancing my part-time job at Sussan (which is where the gray tee is from, in case you were wondering - it's so comfortable) with helping out at Xpress a couple of days a week for the next couple of weeks and doing all my regular reviews and stories. So it's been pretty busy!

Amidst all the hubbub, my wonderful boyfriend managed to set up my IKEA desk, so now I have my own little home office (which shares space with the Man Cave of the house) so now I can blog from my little desk AND I have an excuse to buy office-y things, like this ridiculous rose pen from Typo. Oh how professional I feel signing off important documents with this.

Anyway I'm sorry things have been a bit quiet here, but things are going great and I am super excited about the holiday season and 2012! I hope all you readers have been having similarly fantastic weeks. '

x

{please ignore the falling-down poster in the background... my house is going through a bit of a moving-around stage at the moment! I will be sure to share many a photo when it's done, though!}

I seem to have amassed quite the collection of brooches, even though I rarely wear them in outfit posts. They've been bought, gifted or handed down to me over the years and even though they don't get the attention (and wear) they deserve, I love them all dearly. It's funny how many memories and sentiments can get attached to inanimate objects, isn't it?

Hello! My River Island apple dress finally arrived, and I've been dying to take photos in it all week. However, I didn't get a chance until today, so the dress' debut will have to be going grocery shopping for eggs and cat food. Whee!

When this dress arrived, I tried it on immediately (of course) and was a little underwhelmed with what I saw. The waist wasn't defined, I couldn't even do up the middle hook and eye clasp and it was just, well, unflattering. After a night spent moping around, I tried it on the next day with a different (better, and much more expensive) bra and it fit perfectly! Hooray!

So I had a lot of fun getting dolled up for these pictures... I have to confess, I don't usually lounge around my garden looking wistfully at lanterns and climbing on ladders! I put these Typo lanterns up over the past couple of days; some of my family are coming around for Christmas and so I've been getting a bit overexcited with ideas for decorating! Can you guys recommend any good DIY blogs?

x