don don, iced lattes and skewers!

What a lovely day. My friend Dave took me to this cheap Japanese restaurant in South Melbourne and we had chicken teriyaki for only $6! And it was amazingly good! The place was called Don Don. Dave says, when one don isn't enough! Isn't he funny... :)

Second part of the day was spent looking for St Ali! Damn Melbourne and its alleyways that hide away all the good coffee! Anyway, we stumbled upon it in the end and got 2 iced lattes (no icecream, too poor for that shit). Photos courtesy of Dave, except the one of the 2 lattes. All me! All in all, good atmosphere, nice coffee. Cakes looked good too, maybe next time. Tick!

Then we wandered over to a kitchen warehouse! I've started a wish list.

1. sugar bag holder

2. a great grater

3. strawberry cutter

4. giant piping bag

And the list goes on...

"Which is the sieve for me??"

In the end all we bought was a skewer...

My idee fixe(s): pumpkin coloured houses
loose leaf chai
autumn leaves
turkish shisha

a few of my favourite things

Every time I walk past a cafe and hear French music pumping out their speakers, I cringe a little. A little hypocritical perhaps as I listen to French cafe music, Edith Piaf, Bridgitte Bardot and the Amelie soundtrack all the time! Maybe it's just a dislike of people discovering your favourite things. Oh well...

Here is a homage to a few of my favourite (French) things!

Art nouveau/art deco anything!

The little sparrow, Edith Piaf.

The most beautiful bottle of champagne ever created. When/if I ever get married this is the only thing I will be drinking on my wedding day. Then I am going to keep all the bottles and turn them into vases!

Van Gogh and Matisse :) Looking at their paintings always make me very happy. Knowing Van Gogh's story makes me very sad.

Macarons! One word. Yum! Three words. Hard to make!

Miss Pandora. What a style queen! An example of French fashion coming into the 21st century.

Not techically French I know, but I consider him honourary as his partner of many years is French (and a Chanel model)!

Paris sera toujours Paris...

I found this amazing blog about a month ago.

Portraits of people met in the streets of Paris...

Although staying slim enough to remain this chic must prove difficult in the land of champagne, croissants and macarons!

Chocolate, men, coffee...some things are better rich.

I don't even remember the name of this coffee shop, it's on Lygon Street, but had such a laugh 'styling' the photo with Soph I thought I'd share. What do you think Dan? Is that where you would have placed the spoon? hahaha

xoxo

After waiting for what seemed like forever, episode 13 of gossip girl has finally aired! Concerning this episode I have only two comments.

Omg, Nate is such a dreamboat. I know I'm a dork, but when Serena walked in and saw him sitting on the couch...

And secondly, Jenny's gorgeous dress/earrings/hair/makeup! Stole the show (after Nate of course). Sequined dress by Andrew Gn.

That is all.

I want to ride my bicycle!

How amazing are bikes??

Good for the environment, cheap and make you look totally European chic if you have a cool retro one. No padded bike pants allowed!

I want a baby blue one with a basket and ribbons on the handlebars just like Agyness. Might skip the cigarette though...

I enjoyed this next picture immensely. Ahh to be Parisian...

My idee fixe(s): The Wonder Years (but yes Andrew, only the episodes with Winnie)
Hot cross buns with fruit!!
Finding the perfect song on your ipod to compliment your day :)

fashion fades, only style remains the same...

On Sunday night I headed off to the French Film Festival to see Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (not to be mistaken for Audrey Tautou's Coco Chanel). What an amazing movie! Although Doreen and I both agreed that you had to be a lover of classical music or fashion for it to really move you, I think most people in the audience enjoyed it. The first part of the movie portrayed events that happened on the premiere night of Rite of Spring. I was on the verge of tears a few times as the music and images in the opening part of the film were so powerful. I wanted to shout 'you fools!' at the audience in the movie.

The rest centered around Chanel and Stravinsky's affair and briefly touched on the making of 'Chanel no. 5'. We laughed when the audience gasped at the first mention of 'Chanel no. 5' but no one batted an eyelid when Diaghilev or Nijinsky were mentioned! It's only smelly water...

The picture below is a photograph of Chanel, Stravinsky and friends. Stravinsky is the man looking directly at the photographer with his hand over his mouth and Chanel is looking at the man at the front of the picture. The actor who played Stravinsky was much more handsome...

I road tested another cafe today that is actually in my suburb! Tom Phat, on Sydney Road in Brunswick, is a gorgeous cafe that specialises in Thai-style food. Service was great and my coffee was really smooth and creamy. There was a lovely atmosphere and I loved the asian inspired mural on the wall. We only grabbed a couple of coffees, but I'll definately be making a trip back to try some of the food :)

My idee fixe(s): Art deco (still)
Wearing bright red lipstick on a rainy day
1920's inspired cloches

when it rains it pours

Everything comes to a standstill in Melbourne when there's a storm! Which was fair enough in this case as Elizabeth St. had become a river. There was hail too which was fun...and chairs and bikes floating down the street. Perhaps the Victorian government might want to fix up their drainage!

I liked the title of this next pic. "It's only hail!"
My modern day picture of Melbourne's CBD after hail is not quite as picturesque.

On another note, it was a beautiful day of crisp blue skies before this weather event. Being a bit obssessed with an app on my iphone called Beanhunter (which lets you know the best coffee shops/cafes around the place) I suggested we start a coffee pilgrimage. So Sammie took me to this gorgeous cafe in Union Lane called Jungle Juice Bar, one of her favourites. It's your typical 'hole in the wall' sort of establishment. They have all the classics but also offer them with various twists. I had the Saigon, a double shot espresso with condensed milk and hot water on the side. Menus were cased in pre-loved 'little golden books' which was a cute touch. Big tick.

post numero uno

I think I've caught caught the blog bug! I've been so inspired by the most beautiful images and words in so many that I decided I wanted to share beautiful things too! And also to rave on about numerous things :)

Starting with...my obsession with Miss Pandora. She's so geeky and hot! Plus she's French.

I love the way she actually smiles in photos. A smile is a very underrated thing.

Also on my obsession with tea cups (which have been all left behind in Brisbane to my great despair) I stumbled upon this most gorgeous art deco tea cup!

However, unless I want to eat baked beans for a week this little beauty will never be mine :(

My idee fixe(s): Block colour
Dragging yourself out of bed for a 8am lecture & seeing hot air balloons
Art deco anything
Geeky glasses
Friends that catch the same tram home as you