Real VS Unreal Australians

Australia is going semi-mad, or Canberra at least. Yesterday we hosted the ‘Real Australians Convoy of No Confidence’. About 180 trucks came to Canberra from around Australia to protest and demand an election. Although there was some media hype about how it would affect the traffic, there were no delays- in fact, traffic was lighter than usual as people stayed home or carpooled/biked/walked.

Photo credit: some random news site who really won't care that I have used their photo.

 While the ‘Real Australians’ hooted their horns (I heard them when I went outside of the office building to get my morning coffee), the ‘Unreal Australians’ engaged in a counter protest. The ‘Unreal Australians’ were all on bikes:

Photo credit: The Riot Act

So while some people protested, the rest of us got on with our boring little lives. My day at work was particularly busy.

In other news, I have been awarded the Versatile Blogger award by Em from Vintage Sweetheart. Thanks Em – my first blog award, and a cute idea. I haven’t been blogging properly for very long (only a few weeks) and only have 5 followers so far- but hey, I started with NONE!

 The way this award works is as follows...

After accepting the Versatile Blogger Award, the blogger must:

1. Thank the person who gave the award and link back to them in your post.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass this award along to 15 recently discovered blogs.

Seven things about me:

1. I'm always super busy: working fulltime, whilst studying and looking after a 3 year old.
2. I have been living in Canberra since January, and I have concluded that it is more a town than a city.
3. I love travelling and have in my life been to almost every continent.
4. I'd love to travel to China, Japan and South Korea. And somewhere I can relax by the pool sipping cocktails (Bali or Thailand would work!)
5. I love op shopping, online shopping and general bargain hunting.
6. We may be getting a kitten soon!
7. I am a real sweet tooth, and cannot resist chocolate and lollies.

15 recently discovered blogs that I'm passing the award to:

1. Cool by Association
2. My Life in the Country
3. Motherhood Career Fashion
4. My Life Less Ordinary
5. Rose Petals in the Rain
6. Skylark and Son
7. Suitcase Full of Dreams
8. Sydney Shop Girl
9. The Secret Lives of Op Shops
10. Tune into Radio Carly
11. Rambling-e
12. The Cat Hag

I don't have 15 favourite blogs yet!!!
 
Let me just say, if anyone doesn't want to continue this I would totally understand- for seasoned bloggers, I'm sure there are plenty of these things floating around which might get annoying and clog up a blog. But I thought I'd give it a shot, because at the very least this is a list of my favourite blogs at the moment and a shout out to those bloggers :-)

Things I like about Canberra

Daddy got Bub (who is coughing, argh... just waiting for it to wake her up tonight) ready for her ballet lesson this morning. He came in asking me if 'that's all she needs'. All I can say is, at least he makes an effort... and he's so cute. The leotard was on back to front, her stockings had been put on over the leotard, and she was missing her ballet shoes.

I am feeling very uninspired at the moment, by everything. Being in Canberra still gets me down, as all of my friends and family are all the way in Perth. I am going back to visit in 2 weeks time, but it seems like 2 weeks too long! 2 weeks of work to get through until then...

I have made some friends here through work but more often than not, it seems that everyone goes to their respective 'real homes' in Sydney or Melbourne every weekend, and hardly anyone is left in Canberra. Obviously that's not possible with Perth - by the time you factor in airport waiting time etc, it's a 5-7 hour travel time each way. Not to mention the $600 (if you book early) pricetag on Qantas' direct flight.

Instead of complaining, I have decided to make a list of things I like about Canberra...

Things I like about Canberra:

1* The abundance of government jobs, which offer such excellent conditions and work-life balance. This is after all what brought me here in the first place.
2* The lack of traffic on my way to work. I live in the Southside, I wouldn't be saying the same if I lived in the North and had to brave Northbourne Ave peak hour traffic every day.
3* The days where it's biting cold, but then the sun comes out and it's not so bad.
4*Good quality fresh fruit most of the time.
5* Hot chocolates at Max Brenner
6* Being able to drive to work and park, for free!
7* Sunsets over the lake.
8* The beautiful colours of leaves in Autumn.

9* Laksa at Asian noodle house.
10* The fact that it's only an hour flight to Melbourne, my favourite Aussie shopping city.
11* Aldi bargains and chocolate. We don't have it in Perth.
12* The abundant bird life here, especially the male fairy wren which is just so pretty

Topshop is closer to opening in Oz - locations announced

Two years ago, we had confirmation that Topshop would be coming to Australia. Now we even know where the bricks and mortar locations will be!

MELBOURNE:
The all-new Topshop will be located in Melbourne’s Jam Factory complex and will encompass 1,300 square meters and will also offer the menswear label Topman.


SYDNEY:
The iconic Gowings building on the corner of George and Market Street will house Topshop, which is certainly a sartorial step-up from its previous tenant, Supre.


And there's more- a host of online retailers have announced that they are opening dedicated Aussie websites. ASOS is the latest to make this announcement - I just hope their prices are as good as the UK webbie. Amazon will apparently be shipping here within the next year or two as well.

The problem with Asos is returns. I had a nightmare experience getting my money back from them when they sent me an incorrect item - it took just under six months! But that warrants a post of its own, and it's likely that one day when I'm wanting to rant about customer service in general I will tell you all about it.

Bargain Acquisitions 101 and a Lovely Prize

Today is shaping up to be a good day. It started off badly because I woke up with a splitting headache which I feared would turn into a migraine. I have only had a migraine once in my life, and like this headache, it was due to going off the pill (ie, a hormonal thing). I lay there for an hour, then dragged myself out of bed and downed 2 Panedine with some milk. It has taken about 3 hours of resting, but the headache is just a dull ache now instead of the full blown migraine I was afraid was coming on. So, I am home from work, Bub is at daycare and the day is mine. I *could* go into work now but that option is not particularly appealing. This morning Bub was having a meltdown, and Daddy dealt with it. I was snuggled in my warm bed (albeit in pain and wishing I wasn't awake).

Things are going well on the 'acquiring lovely/beautiful/useful things' front. First of all, I won the giveaway in Sydney Shop Girl's blog! The parcel arrived yesterday, and it's a lovely skincare set from La Clinica (with a cute Kikki K shopping list thrown in for good measure - this will come in handy):

Thank you so much SSG, I can't wait to trial the products!!! :-)

Some Ebay purchases also arrived this morning, and I'm thrilled with them. This gorgeous pearl and dove necklace was $3.50 and these brand new, leather Diana Ferrari loafers were $23:

Bargain acquisitions 100%. Now the reason I probably woke with the headache (apart from going off the pill), is that I was up until 2am+ last night. The reason? Online shopping, duh. I spent about $80 AUD on the Dorothy Perkins website, and acquired the following:

And for good measure, I threw a few extra items into my shopping basket (included in the $80AUD):

For those who are unfamiliar with Dorothy Perkins, it's a UK high street chain and it tends to be pretty good quality. At the moment, they have a large sale section and then an additional 20% off the marked prices is taken off at checkout. They ship to Australia at a flat rate of 10.50 pounds (approx $16). Run, don't walk fellow bargain chasers!

You will also notice that my blog layout has undergone some changes-- ahhh to have the day off work ;-)

Cupcakes for RSPCA

Monday was cupcake day for the RSPCA. I didn't bake but lots of others at work did. I had to take some photos of the gorgeous contributions. Of course I bought some! Lots of fun for a good cause:

I went to the ballet last night, to see Don Quixote at Canberra Theatre. It was a show by the Dancers Company, the region touring group of the Australian Ballet. Ballet is my favourite type of dance. It's so graceful and beautiful...

This morning is not going well. (1) I have a headache (2) the fire at our fireplace went out this morning and I am the only one who will be home this evening/tonight, so I have to get it started again (which I'm useless at) (3) Bub was being difficult, wouldn't get dressed and then on the way to daycare she (a) jumped in a muddy puddle and splashed my stockings and dry clean only skirt and (b) wiped her nose on the sleeve of my coat. Let's hope things get better, I need a coffee!!!

Fash and Treasure

Yesterday I went to Fash and Treasure, a 2^nd hand, local designer and vintage market held monthly in Canberra. I’ve got to admit, it used to be better when it was held every 3 months instead of monthly. This is the 1^st time I’ve been since it started being every month and it was ½ the size of when it was less often, maybe even smaller. It had hardly any independent fashion and jewellery designers selling their wares, which was disappointing. What it didn’t lack were heaps of vintage stalls with stunning clothing. Unfortunately, although beautiful, the cheapest vintage dresses were around $40. I saw vintage cardigans for $145, and other similarly annoying prices. I don’t like wearing vintage that has cost a bomb, it doesn’t feel right. I prefer the bargain hunt and thrill of wearing a cheap but amazing dress. These ‘hand picked’ thrift shops are so overpriced in Australia. In the US (or LA where I was anyway), they are more expensive than traditional op shops but still pretty reasonable.

I did manage to score an amazing coat, that wasn’t vintage or 2^nd hand. It was a sample, brand new with tags. The brand is Uttam, which is a funky London streetwear label which I really like. To find such a cheap and gorgeous coat in Canberra, well… I feel lucky:

Uttam coat, $50. Love the embroidery and fabrics used!

Feeling inspired to find some real vintage bargains, I headed to my local op shops. As usual, I was sorely disappointed. I did manage to find a cute little tray to store things on for a measly 30c! Shabby chic, eat your heart out:

I can’t wait to go back to Perth and go op shopping at my favourite haunts there- I have said before and will say again that Perth op shops are so much cheaper and have SO MUCH better stock than Canberra ones. I could do a weekend op shopping trip to Sydney- what are the op shops like there?

A random quiz

A. Age. Twenties

B. Bed size. Double, but always one size up for the doona

C. Chore you hate: Washing and drying bed linen and remaking beds, so time consuming and annoying

D. Day: Saturday, the start of the weekend

E. Essential start to your day: Coffee

F. Favourite colour: Purple to look at, black to wear (because it’s slimming)

G. Gold or Silver: White gold

H. Height. Shortish

I. Instruments: None currently, used to play the saxophone but I really sucked.

J. Job title: Policy analyst. Officially a lawyer, swanning it in the public service

K. Kids: One, if you count the little miss I am live-in nanny to

 L. Live: Canberra

M. Movie. Hm that’s a hard one- I honestly don’t have a favourite, I don’t really like watching things more than once, ever

N. Nicknames: Can't really say

O. Overnight hospital stays: None yet, but I’ll be staying in at least overnight for my hip operation

P. Pet peeve: Lazy people, incompetent people

Q. Quote from a movie: I’m gonna go with sitcom because I can’t remember any movie quotes. Dwight Shrute in the Office: “My girlfriend and I broke up recently. And I must say, I am relieved. Gives me a chance to sow my wild oats. In the Schrute family, we have a tradition, where when the male has sex with another woman, he is rewarded with a bag of wild oats left on his doorstep by his parents. You can use these oats to make oatmeal, bread, whatever you want. I don't care—they’re your oats.”

R. Right or left handed: Right handed

S. Siblings: Two

T. Time you wake up: As late as I can on weekends. On weekdays, my alarm goes off at 6:40am and I snooze it until about 7:30am.

U. Underwear: is overpriced in Australia… most of mine I bought in the UK

 V. Vegetables you dislike: Celery

W. What makes you run late: Laziness, inability to wake up

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Several fingers, wrist, ankle x 2, hip. Such a problem child.

Y. Yummy food you make: Pretty much nothing, unless it comes out of an ice cream tub and gets something added to the top (that’s ‘making’, right?)

Z. Zoo: I miss my doggie L