Pinkerton Manor

So, my AS has been flaring up like a mofo lately. Last week we traveled to the Sunshine Coast for a few days to see family. Three and a half hours on public transport to get there, two nights on a lumpy futon and two and a half hours on public transport to get back. My spine hates me. But we had a good time. Had afternoon tea with my grandma (who sent us home with some lemon curd – yum!), hung with Matt’s sister, saw my sister and my dad and even fit in a little thrifting sojourn.

And on Saturday we had a little bbq gathering for Matt’s birthday which was lovely. I’ve been taking photos with my ten year old Pentax 35mm camera lately and snapped a few at the bbq too. Can’t wait to get them developed.  Sunday was all day in bed with horrible, horrible back pain and Monday was mostly filled with gentle movement, Nigella and gingerbread cookies. Tuesday was much the same and then today I ventured out into the world for sushi with Matt.

Oh, and did I mention I started a tumblr blog? No? Well, I did! It’s called Pinkerton Manor(ish) and I’ve  been posting all kinds of random thoughts, inspiration and exciting and amusing things. Ch-check it out!  It does carry a NSFW warning though (I occasionally post nakedness and related things).

Next post I will show you the awesome belt that I thrifted for a dollar and how it is totally perfect for my nautical top.  And some other stuff.  Yay!

I haven’t really been posting much lately and I would love to be able to say it’s because I’ve been busy, but actually the opposite is true.  I haven’t really been doing (or wearing) anything worth posting about.  I’ve been unemployed for four months and ran out out of money (which I saved in Canberra) a little while back.  My days at the moment are filled with job hunting, household chores and trying to figure out my university applications.  And a bit of moping for good measure.  So, I’ve kind of been in a bit of a funk about the whole lack of job/lack of money thing.

I’ve been to a couple of interviews so far, but no dice.  It seems to have been small things that have been the problem.  The last interview I went to was going really well until they asked if I was a student.  The position was for a casual retail assistant, 12-15 hours per week, but they wanted someone with ‘full availability’.  So, my applying for university was a problem for them.  It made me glad that they didn’t go ahead and offer me the position anyway because it probably would have been a bunch of 3 hour lunch cover shifts and the expectation that I would drop everything to fill shifts at a moments notice.  But I have another interview tomorrow (following on from a phone interview yesterday), so it’s not all bad.  And at the very least, the other interviews have been good practice.

I would have posted my interview outfits on here, but I usually change into them just before leaving the house so I don’t spill things on them.  And then I’m usually so keen to change into something more casual when I get home that it doesn’t even cross my mind to take a photo.  I will try to remember tomorrow though because I managed to dig out a plaid skirt I thrifted years ago and it is awesome.  I was actually planning on cutting it up, but now I’m really glad I didn’t because god knows what I was thinking!

Anyway, outfit post tomorrow (hopefully) and I’ve also drafted a post about my experience with the contraceptive implant.  When I started this blog it was meant to be my craft blog and then I got really interested in fashion blogging and I changed tack, but now I’ve kind of realised that for me to remain interested and enthusiastic it needs to reflect who I am as a person.  So, in the future I’ll be posting more about issues that are important to me.  And I’m totally going to make a new header image soon too.

I’ve also been playing with Poladroid a fair bit too haha.

Lately I’ve been thinking and reading a lot about eating healthier.  I’ve lost muscle mass, put on weight and my arthritis has flared up since I moved back to Brisbane and I think it has a lot to do with changes in my eating habits.  I’ve been a vegetarian for over ten years, but I’ve never really put much thought into a healthy vegetarian diet – I just replaced meat with meat alternatives and that was about it.

Lately though, I’ve been thinking more and more about what I should (and shouldn’t) be eating.  The most helpful resource I’ve found so far is The Vegetarian Society’s V-Healthy website.  I’ve also been reading up a little on ‘super foods’ and I’m finding that a lot of them are foods that I love and eat a fair bit anyway.  Yay me!

So, today for lunch I had wholemeal toast with hommus (which I now know is a whole protein) and tomato (high in lycopene) and a handful of dried apricots (an excellent source of Vitamin A).  Right now I’m enjoying a cup of tea with honey to stave off my sweet tooth cravings.  And dinner will be a vegetable and bean curry with brown rice (to which I’m adding a little barley and lentil mix).

And my outfit kind of matched my lunch!

Cardigan – Colorado, dress – Ice, leggings – Big W, scarf – thrifted, espadrilles - Target.

Wednesday was the first day that’s really felt like Autumn so far (although we seem to be back to summery weather again now), so I decided to spend the afternoon relaxing and taking a stroll.  It was even cool enough to wear my new cotton cardigan, which by the way is so awesome and comfortable.

Happy Easter!

This is where I spent the Saturday before my birthday.

It’s the Tamborine Mountain Botanical Gardens.  Matt surprised me by hiring a car and driving us down there for the day.  It was lovely!  Unfortunately, I didn’t get any good photos.  Matt bought me a Holga pinhole camera for my birthday, but it turns out I suck at using it pretty hard.  We drove around, visited a local brewery, looked in the cuckoo clock shop, walked through the gardens, sat in the gardens eating cheese and crackers and tried to go to a lookout (it started raining so we turned back.. it then stopped raining when we got back to the car!).  On the way back to Brisbane we stopped and had McDonalds at a service centre thing.  Romantic.  We finished the day off with a night time view of Brisbane from Mount Coot-tha.  It was an amazing day.  Matt is the best!

And this is me on my actual birthday on Sunday.  Matt took me for a pancake breakfast before he had to go to work and afterwards I met up with my friend Kristy.  I bought myself a birthday present of a camera tripod and then Kristy and I had tea where Matt works.  After that we went to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens to take photos.  I’m really disappointed that all my Holga photos are no good.  I think if I’m going to have another try I’ll need to buy a shutter release cable (even with the tripod the photos were blurry just from me holding the shutter open), but I kind of think I’m too impatient for a pinhole camera (which explains why most of the photos were underexposed).

And now I’m 25.

It’s my birthday soon.  I will be 25 years old.  I have no idea how this happened.  I swear I was only 22 like the other day!  So, I’ve been thinking about things I might like as gifts.  Usuaully I just reply with ‘iunno’ whenever I get asked for gift suggestions for myself, but since I’ll be crossing the dreaded threshold into ‘mid to late twenties’ territory I thought I should do the mature thing and have a little think about it.  And since there are some pretty neat things on my little list I thought I’d post it here for all to see.

• Silicon bakeware – I haven’t done any baking since I’ve been back in Brisbane, partly because Matt threw out all my bent up old bakeware while I was away and partly because our kitchen is hot enough in summer without the oven on, but I’m aching to make delicious baked goods.
• Tights from We Love Colors – I’m particularly hankering after teal, gold, rust, olive green, emerald, spruce green, hunter green (can you tell I like green?) and navy.
• A chunky cardigan – I’ve been on the lookout for a cream/ecru/off white, chunky, slightly oversized cardigan for a while now.  My main problem is that I want natural fibre and most of the ones I find and like have at least some synthetic content.  There’s actually a few I’m watching on eBay at the moment but I’m pretty fussy about the feel (knits should be soft, people!), so I’m not sure I want to buy online.
• One of Alicia Lynn Carrier’s 10 Dollar Drawings – I’ve been reading her amazing food blog Bread and Honey for a while now and then found out about her equally amazing art.  Soooo pretty!
• A ring from Forkometry – I love these!  Such a great way of repurposing old cutlery and very beautiful too.
• My name on a necklace – Possibly a bit lame, possibly a bit bling, definitely been done before.  But I still kind of want one.  I think all caps in silver would suit me best, but the acrylic heart and initial pendant is a little bit retro and cool too.
• A Lomo or Holga camera – Or some other old school analogue camera.  I miss film.
• T Shirts from TopatoCo – Specifically this one and this one, both by Kate Beaton.  I don’t really need more t shirts, but they make me giggle!
• Socks! – Not something you would expect to be on a list of gifts someone wants for their birthday, but I want some thigh high/over the knee woollen socks.

And that’s my list.  For further inspiration, I’ll be sending family and friends to my hearts (which, frankly, they should look at anyway because I heart some awesome stuff!).  Now, if someone asks, I can just refer them to this post.  Problem solved!

Wednesday is Farmers Market day in Brisbane city and today I went along with my camera.  I love going to markets.  I’ll go along to fresh food markets, street markets, flea markets… any kind of market really.  I just love the atmosphere.  Today, though, it was all about lovely fresh food.  I went with a couple of friends, Dan and Tash.  Tash is a chef and food blogger and I absolutely adore her enthusiasm for all things edible.  On her advice, I walked away with three delicously plump vanilla pods which smell incredible.  And I took a whole bunch of photos.  Enjoy!

And what better way to end a day at the markets than with a delicious iced tea.

It’s sooooo hot today!  Weatherzone tells me the current temperature in Brisbane is 30.6°C with 69% humidity, making it feel like 36.3°C.  I love that Weatherzone has the ‘feels like’ temperature, it makes me feel like my whinging about the heat is somehow more justified.  Apparently there’s a slight chance of a storm this afternoon, but we’re still expecting a low of 26°C overnight.  And that’s not until 3am!

Thankfully, Matt has been keeping us well supplied with iced tea.  At the moment it’s black tea with mandarin and it’s rather delicious and very refreshing.  I love having a boyfriend who works in a tea shop.  Since he started working there we have slowly accumulated a collection of different flavours and varieties and I’ve learned a lot about tea too.  For example, rooibos is not actually from a tea plant, but rather a legume.  Crazy stuff, huh?

I’m sure I’ll post further about tea, but for now here’s what I wore today.  The skirt and top are both thrifted, the necklace was a gift, as was the lotus hairclip and the sandals are from Big W.  I’ve been wearing the sandals a lot this summer because they’re nice and cool and no fuss to put on.  In fact, I’ve worn them so much that I’ve actually developed sandal tan.  How embarrassing!

I really should start putting sunscreen on my feet.  Right now, though, I need some more iced tea before I melt.

To make up for my lack of posts of late, I have a little story to tell.  And above is what I wore today.  I managed to con Matt into taking my photo since I still don’t have a tripod.  He’s not as artistic with his photography as Louie, but at least he gets my entire body in the shot.  Tshirt from some outlet store at DFO Canberra, denim shorts I cut down from a pair of old jeans, shoes from Big W and scarf from Tree of Life.  Now on to the story.

I recently slipped up on my resolution to only buy second hand or hand made.  I bought a cheap singlet from Big W.  It’s actually quite a nice little top (see below) and I’ve worn it a bunch of times already, but it’s nothing outstanding.  In fact, the reason I bought it actually has nothing to do with what it looks like.  I bought it because I got self conscious and didn’t feel comfortable in what I was wearing at the time.  Pretty lame, yeah?

It gets quite hot and humid here during summer, so I walked out the door wearing a denim skirt and a large scarf styled as a halter over a bikini top.  I love the versatility of scarves and I’ve worn them like this before.  The scarf in question (see above) is big enough that it covered me from neck to waist on the front, leaving my shoulders exposed and just a little bit of lower back peeking out if I sat down, but after about an hour of being out and about I suddenly felt incredibly self conscious.  With a two hours to go before meeting a friend, I panicked and bought the cheapest top I could lay my hands on.

It’s very rare that I will feel uncomfortable in what I’m wearing like that, but the few times it has happened it seems to have hit me quite hard.  After some quiet reflection over an iced chocolate the next day, I realised that the way I felt had pretty much nothing to do with clothes.  I was already feeling a bit shit that day and although I felt ‘safer’ once I was wearing a conventional top I still didn’t feel great the rest of the day.  I guess, in a way, my new top will serve as a rather pretty reminder that I make my style because my style shouldn’t make me.

Holy crap, it’s nearly next year already!  Tomorrow will be the last day of 2009 and I’ll be jetting back to Brisbane.  I meant to post a phone sock tutorial before the year ended, but my camera batteries died so it will have to wait.  For now though, let’s talk about new years resolutions.  I’ve never really liked new years resolutions since every time I make them I inevitably don’t stick to them or they become irrelevant or I forget what they were.  So, for 2010 I am calling them goals.  And here they are.

• Get my learner driver licence
• Go back to uni or study of some kind
• Look after myself better, eat healthier and relax more
• ‘Second hand or hand made’

I’d better explain the last one.  I buy a lot of clothes and fashion related things and this year a lot of those purchases have been from shitty chain stores or discount outlets.  Sure they’re cheap and fun and sometimes I get some excellent stuff, but I’ve decided that in 2010 it has to be ‘second hand or hand made’.  I’m also going to shop local as much as I can.  From buying my fruit and veg from the local farmers market to supporting local designers and craftspeople.  And I’ll be blogging about it all the way; featuring Australian designers, artists, craftspeople and purveyors of fine wares and calling for suggestions too.  I’ve yet to decide what I will do if I slip and buy something from K-mart, but I’m open to suggestions for that as well.

See you next year!