Random vinyl pick

Another great Australian song (I have a lot of these in my collecton!) by a great band, Hunters and Collectors.

When this single was released, my best friend and I were living in a caravan (our first home away from our family homes) and thought that it had to have been made just for us!  (Although, we actually wanted to live in our little red and white caravan, with red upholstery and red curtains.)

We had only just started on a band-following journey that was to last for the next ten years! Our bands of choice: Hunters and Collectors and Crowded House. We saw those bands live over and over, bought all their records, CDs, tapes, videos, back catalogue from different countres, you name it, we were obsessed! Whenever they played in WA we went to the soundchecks and basically followed them around. We weren't aiming to be groupies, we just wanted to be their friends. The Hunters were pretty kind to us; they always put us on their door list for their gigs so it was free to get in. We thought they were musical geniuses (well they were!), and this song is from the peak of their popularity.

I love the vid, they look so slick, compared to their rough and ready early days. They always incorporate Austalian icons in their videos, such as the lawnmower in this one. If you listen carefully, the beautiful harmony in the chorus is sung by Neil Finn. Sends chills up my spine even now. Love it!

I just have to...

I can't bear it -  have to post and read some blogs, and leave some comments. I can feel myself falling out of the loop... Just one hour, that's all I'll allow myself (and hence, admitting to my computer nerdy addiction to the net that I usually have! )

Besides, I ordered a collage and some brooches from Sophie Isobel Designs and I wanted to show you what I did with the brooches. Sophie keeps a pretty blog here.

I put one of them on my camera bag - now making it much easier to find in the depths of my handbag - cute!

And I fed some ribbon through The Queen of Hearts brooch and glued the ribbon to a notebook I am going to use as a journal. I love hearts, and the Queen of Hearts' black and red costume. I think I will even dress up as her for Bookweek this year. 

Now I have to find the courage to write in the journal - my handwriting is not gorgeous, and I'm nervous about wanting to erase the things I write when I read them back. But I've been following Sophie's other blog, The Journal Keepers and they are inspiring me to take that step. Do you keep a journal?

Madly Working Away...

I know I've been missing in action the last few days, (and I was so proud of myself for posting every day for a moment there) but now I am absolutely swamped in typing up checklists, assessments and comments for school reports.

You won't see much of me for a couple of weeks, I might just lurk around your blogs when I get a few moments for a break!

I quite like the room we have set up as an office (although I wish it was MUCH bigger), but this picture caught my eye when I was looking around for writing inspiration. Mmm, wouldn't mind being cuddled up here, writing my reports (gotta love the beams!)

(image from michaelpollan.com)

See you when I can!
Wendy xxx

What to Wear Wednesday

I'm enjoying mucking around with polyvore, finding similar items to the ones I own and making combinations. The following combo is something like what I wore today, except the brown in my outfit was less taupe, and more chocolatey.

Serious Autumn by Wendy Sice featuring Jimmy Choo bags

Items in this set:
PHILOSOPHY DI ALBERTA FERRETTI 12110741 0555/BLACK COTTON TOP, 265 GBP
Long Linen Skirt: Clothing, $60
Nell lace-up boot w/ back zip, $625
Sky large studded suede bag, $2,295
Twisted Mixed Bead Necklace - Women's Clothing and Apparel - Chic..., $29

Sometimes I forget items that I've paired together that worked well, so now I have these polyvore collections to remind me!

Now...what to wear tomorrow...?

My Place and Yours - Yellow

After walking around and around the house trying to find some yellow, I dragged these things out of hiding:

Chicken Dance Elmo!!

And for your entertainment, you can even see him do his little song and dance (which is actually pretty painful after listening to it for about ten years!! You may find it cute on a first listen though, especially if you have littlies that might watch too.)



I also found some craft ribbon:

One of Jack's Lego creations:

And one of my notebooks, from one of my favourite blogging artists, The Black Apple

You will find more bursts of yellow over at Hello Owl's blog!

Random Vinyl Pick

I've selected a great Australian song from the 80s today. I do so love the Australian bands from the 80s, and the Models were always a lot of fun. I'm surprised I never saw them live in the ten years I constantly went to gigs and concerts. It looks like someone went to the Kimberleys in the north of Western Australia to take the photo for this picture sleeve - red dirt and scrubby trees for miles!

If you look carefully at the clip, yoú might see Wendy Matthews (popular Aussie singer) who started out back up singing for these guys when she was dating singer/guitarist Sean Kelly (the one with his hair tied back.) In this song, James Freud sings, and he is just so cool. A sweet, hypnotic melody. The keyboard at the beginning and the sax at the end are just brilliant!

My Creative Space - The Mad Hatter

After my long-winded efforts at using acrylics to paint my Alice in Wonderland drawings, I decided that I'm really not that good at it, because I kept making mistakes! Soooo, I decided to go computerised and am now colouring my characters in Photoshop. MUCH easier, once I got the hang of it, and I'm loving the way the Mad Hatter turned out!

I haven't printed it out yet, because I ran out of ink printing out all my photos from Broome, but I will be doing that sometime on the weekend. Stay tuned for more Wonderland characters in the following weeks!

Wishlist Wednesday - Camera Case

Every time I go to get my camera out of my black work bag, it takes me FOREVER to find it because, wait for it, it's black. I can't even see the thing! So, I've been on a mission tonight, looking for the perfect digital camera case. It's been tricky, because it has to be the right size, padded, with pretty, bright material. I also wanted to buy it from etsy, to support the handmade movement! After much fussing, I found these gorgeous things:

They are listed as coin purses, but they are just the right size for a digital camera. I found them at sewnsational.

If you have the same camera finding dilemma as me, or just want to get stylish, pop on over and check out their lovely goods!

What to wear, what to wear?

I was just doing the ironing, and working out what to wear tomorrow. Autumn is tricky, because it's cold in the morning, and then warm in the afternoon. It's too warm for boots, but is it cold enough for tights? Well I popped over to polyvore to create a version of the outfit I've chosen for tomorrow.

Pink and Preppy by Wendy Sice featuring Vivienne Westwood Shoes pumps

Items in this set:
Jaeger Cap Sleeve Jersey Top, Schiaparelli Pink, S, 40 GBP
Aritzia Black Cable Cardigan Sweater
Beacon of Style Skirt-Mod Retro Indie Clothing & Vintage Clothes, $40
Mary Jane 0201 Black Shoe, 355 GBP

These pieces are more glamorous than the ones I'm going to wear, but the idea is the same (and my shoes are not so high!)

It will be 24 degrees in Perth tomorrow, so I'll be wearing tights too!

Check out polyvore to create one of your outfits for this week. It's fun!

My Space and Yours - Make me proud

Over at Hello Owl, the My Place and Yours meme this week is to show something in our home that makes us proud. I have chosen this artwork created with pastels that my son made last year in year 6.

Seeing this reassures me that the art teachers at our school are teaching the children about the great artists of history, including the wonderful Picasso. Jack captured the spirit of Picasso so well that I couldn't help but be proud, and his artwork has pride of place in the study, where I can see it every day when I blog!

Pop over to Hello Owl to see some other things that make people proud!

Retro Vinyl Pick

After a sleepy Mothers Day, featuring breakfast in bed (banana and maple syrup pancakes, yum!) and afternoon tea with my Mum (pecan and custard cake, oh, my gawsh!) I've sat down to share my random vinyl pick of the week, Like Flames by Berlin.

Another band with a rocking female singer. Love this song, great to sing along with. I love the video too, and, other than the mullets, it hasn't dated that much.

Lady Gaga was surely copying singer, Terri Nunn, when she had this look:

Apparently, the band have been playing some concerts recently, and she still looks pretty amazing.

I wonder how her voice is holding out.

Family Connections

My sister Kristie has just started her own blog, Neapolitan Skies, and I am so excited!! I think blogs are a lovely way to communicate, even with family.

In her first post she shares some photos of her lovely baby, Lily, and one of them reminded me of my son Jack around the same age.

Lily:

Jack:

Same head shape and hair line, basically. Both uber cute!

My Creative Space

For four weeks I've been preparing and helping the children at school to create these little gifts for their Mums for Mothers Day. This week alone we made about 120 cupcakes! So my creative space has involved cutting paper and felt, sorting sequins, folding boxes, tying bows, and baking!

The cupcake on its own is a magnet!

And inside the box is one of these yummy vanilla cupcakes!

I got the recipe from here:



The inspiration and craft supplies for these gifts (including the mini patty pans and lolly hearts) were all from the brilliant Clever Patch. Have a Happy Mothers Day!

My Place and Yours

This week's My Place and Yours topic from Hello Owl is to show your favourite place in your home. I had to really think about this: was it to be the spot I most like to look at, be creative in, or relax in? I chose the latter, because, really, relaxing is the best thing ever! So here is my favourite relaxing spot in our house:

It is a joke in our house that this couch in front of the tv is know as The Danger Zone, because almost anyone who sits in that corner nods off to sleep (namely me, or my husband, or my Dad!) And when we're not having a nap we're watching our favourite shows and movies on Foxtel, or just having a fun old time!
LOVE this spot!

Pop over to Hello Owl to see some more favourite spots, find some other gorgeous blogs, or even add your own My Place and Yours link.

Random Vinyl Pick

I thought it was time to take another random selection out of my vinyl archives, and was so pleased to choose this one!

While it's a bit heavy rock, I LOVE this song, because the chorus has such a great melody and you can have a good holler when you sing along. (I'm pretty sure this is actually my sister's record, and I only got into this song from hearing her sing along to it as well!)

The vid doesn't really do the song justice, because you want to just see Pat sing, but it's a good little story.

It wasn't  until I looked up the video, that I even realised Ashley Tisdale did a version of this song. I love Ashley, but it's not very good. And some other chick, Helen Schneider, released it originally, but she's just a bit weird!

Anyways, have a look at the vid, see if you remember this song, and see if you can stop yourself from singing along.