Goodbye, 2012


This year was the first year in quite a while where I felt like it was a really, really good year. I've had so many opportunities, met so many amazing people, and had so much fun! Here's a little bit of what I got up to...

♥ I got a job at Pigeonhole!
I'm not totally sure my boss remembers but I applied for a position at Pigeonhole about two and a half years ago, fumbled my way through the interview, and didn't get the job. Well, this year I got a casual job, which then turned into a full time job, which THEN turned into a manager position! I love my little store so much and I have met so many awesome people through my job. It really is like working with a big family.

♥ ...and celebrated their fifth birthday!
This was such a ridiculously fun night! Even vomiting the second I got out of my taxi home was totally worth it.

♥ I had my year anniversary with Aidan (and we moved in together!)
It is so nice to be able to spend every day with such a lovely, hilarious person.

♥ I took part in the Perth Fashion Festival's Restyle project...
This was definitely a highlight of the year. How many times do you get to partake in a photoshoot where you wear this amazing chillies and flowers headpiece and a beautiful vintage dress? Let's not mention the impossibly high heels that I literally could not walk in. Thanks so much to Renee for allowing me to take part in this!

♥ ...and walked on the runway!
Again, something I was incredibly lucky to get to do. I do kind of wish I hadn't scared myself into this way too relaxed, chilled out state where I put my outfits together at 11pm the night before, and actually managed to look up while I was strutting my stuff, but it was still a lot of fun.

♥ AND I got to go to some more amazing PFF shows.
I went to the Student Runway and the Designer Capsule shows and they were incredible! I was really so thankful for the opportunity.

♥ I turned 23!
I really wish I'd done more for my birthday this year. I went for a lovely dinner with my family but I didn't really celebrate it otherwise. So now I'm ALWAYS going to have at least one day where I demand everyone's attention and accept free drinks and gifts. TREAT YO SELF. But on the bright side, I did get this pretty sweet bike from Aidan.

♥ I dyed my hair purple.
I really wanted to write some kind of "How to care for your coloured hair" post but... I GOT NUTHIN'. My hair was so dry and brittle after I'd dyed it a couple of times and while I'd really like to dye my hair again in the future, I'll definitely take better care of it! CONDITION YO TRESSES, GURL!

♥ I went to Blues & Roots, Regina Spektor, Elton John, Ben Folds Five, Sigur Ros, Groovin' the Moo... phew!

♥ Ate some delicious food and actually started to cook stuff! 
And was pretty good at it (most of the time. Last week I tried to make a pasta salad and it turned out to be feta with a teeny bit of pepperoni, pasta and basil and... well... I don't really want to talk about it).

♥ Oh, and I bought a burger jumper. Obviously one of life's important events, you know how it is.

So thanks for reading Gin in a Teacup this year and see you in 2013!
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Tara
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2012 In Outfits






Hey guys! I thought I'd share some of my favourite outfits from the past year. I think this year I really came into my own, style-wise. I embraced prints wholeheartedly, even if they were a little bit ridiculous (burger print jumper, anyone?). I also had the opportunity to put together a lot of op-shop based outfits for the Restyle challenge, which was a lot of fun and reminded me that op shops are actually a pretty great place to pick up some new outfits. 

I also tried to expand my vintage wardrobe and found some pretty awesome Etsy sellers - Bohemian Bisoux and my old favourite (but recently renamed) Exile Vintage were the source of many a purchase! I really hope I can keep building up my vintage collection because they really are my favourite clothes to wear. 

If you're interested, you can see more outfit recaps for 2010 and 2011. Thanks for indulging my love of clothes for yet another year!

{p.s very sorry for how quiet it's been around these parts lately! Working full time in retail over Christmas kicked my ass and I've had no time to post, though I do have a few special posts to go up before the year's over! Thanks for sticking with me x}
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Tara
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Los Pollos Hermanos


Hey again! It's weird, I didn't stick very closely to the rules during the Black Out Challenge, but now that it's officially over I've gone back to my usual colourful outfits. I think last week I had a pretty stressful week and I just felt like dressing in more subdued colours. I don't know. Either way, I really wanted to wear this shirt my sister gave me as an early Christmas present. At first when I opened it I was like "Um... thanks," and then she was all "Don't you recognise it from Breaking Bad?" and then I got it and it's one of my new favourite shirts. And my second Breaking Bad shirt. What? I didn't realise I liked the show so much. I kept the bird theme running with my seagull print skirt and my pheasant printed headscarf.




Los Pollos Hernanos tee // My Girl Gwendoline skirt // Kmart flats // Op-shop scarf // Pigeonhole stacked rings



Excuse my gappy fringe! It needs a trim. And to be washed... hence the headscarf.

So I wore this for a brunch date with my sister (last time I'll see her before she goes to the UK for a month! Sob) and then we checked out Dangerfield's t-shirt sale. I bought a few (six) but some of them were presents (for me). I ended up with a True Romance one, one with Bruce Springsteen on it (!!! BE STILL MY HEART), one featuring a guy demonstrating hip hop dance moves, and one with my favourite singer who looks like a piece of bacon, Iggy Pop. And then two for Aidan which may end up working their way into my wardrobe. And they were all ten bucks! WHAT?! HOLD ME BACK!!

I'm ridiculously pumped because I have today and tomorrow off work! I worked Thursday through to Monday and so Tuesday and Wednesday are like my weekend... my head's spinning a bit BUT I'm off to Stephen Merchant tonight! He's like a tall sexy tree.


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Tara
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Christmas Jams


Hello again! Since it's the first of December I thought I'd share my favourite Christmas songs with you. I've put a lot of work into perfecting my Christmas playlist, since I'll be listening to it eight hours a day five days a week, but these songs are my top picks. 



If you've been reading for a while you know how I feel about Bruce Springsteen (he's called The Boss for a reason. BOSS OF MY HEART) and so it's only right that this song is first on the list. I will warn you it has comes with Tara's Patented Ladyboner Warning. I have only ever heard live versions but who cares? And on a sidenote, how much does that picture crack you up?! Maybe it's just me. 



I mostly listen to 1950s and 60s girl groups and so this song is a perfect Christmas song to me. Christmas? Heartbreak? Girl group harmonies? Sold. And can we please just talk about that red coat Darlene is wearing above? DIVA.



YOU KNOW I had to include this song. What else is there to say about it? It's not Christmas until I hear a bit of Mimi wailing on the radio. I refuse to believe anyone can not dance around when they hear this song.



Last time I went to the record fair I bought an Elvis Presley Christmas album and it is basically the raddest thing ever. I downloaded this song from a random '100 Greatest Christmas Songs' album last year and then DELETED IT by accident and have been trying to remember what it was for the past year. I only found it by googling 'Elvis Presley Christmas Cadillac' and SUCCESS!



I can't remember if Bob Dylan put out a whole Christmas album or just this song but it's so creepy and amazing at the same time. A gravel-voiced Bobby D trying to get in the holiday spirit? It's hilarious. But be warned, the first time I listened to it I looked like this: O_______O, which incidentally my reaction when searching for a Bob Dylan Christmas photo. So many photos of Bob with Santa hats photoshopped on. Is this a thing now?



One of my favourite Christmas songs ever. I have heard covers from Kylie Minogue (AWFUL, it tries so hard to be sexy that I just get embarrassed) and Michael Buble (I do have a soft spot for Boobs so he gets a pass) but nothing can measure up to this original. Let's not forget about the real meaning of Christmas - expensive presents (I kid).



So this is a fairly untraditional Christmas song but it gets thrashed by me for the month of December (except by December I mean all year round). It feels like such a traditional Irish song but features a couple calling each other "cheap slut on junk" and scumbags and maggots and even with all that, it's just so lovely. It also features one of my favourite lines in a song ever:

"You kept my dreams from me/When I first found you"

"I kept them with me babe/I put them with my own
Can't face it all alone/I built my dreams around you"

Well, there's my Christmas 2012 playlist! What songs did I miss out? Don't say 'Silver Bells' or 'The Christmas Song' as they are two of my most hated Christmas songs.
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Tara
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I'm a freelance writer who blogs about Perth (my old home), Paris (my new home), fashion, food, and everything else that takes my fancy. Have a look around and enjoy!