Friday, November 5, 2010

THE BLACKMAN.

HELLO. 23



last saturday was (most likely) my favourite day of 2010.

But the story actually begins on Friday. ..

I woke up at 6:34 to my shrill-like alarm...( i know this because i never set my alarm for right on 6:30..i like to think i have those few extra minutes for slumbering purposes.) I reluctantly got ready for another day at the local high-school (where i work 2.5 days a week) and sat down at my dresser (also doubling as my computer desk) and switched on my computer. 7.45. Damn. I have to leave soon. Oh well, five more minutes. Facebook. American Apparel. Facebook. Should I check my emails?? 8:05. Shit. I'm going to be late. Gmail. Spam. Crap. Spam.. ..WAIT. What is this?!! Art series group?!! I've WON what?!!

I"VE FUCKING WON...!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So i was dancing around my bedroom, half dressed, making high-pitched squeals that could be compared to that of a deranged piglet, when a serious thought occurred to me.
WAIT. The email said Saturday. THIS SATURDAY. .............T-O-M-O-R-R-O-W. !!

Oh God.

During the next five minutes i thought up a rather convincing, mental list of all the reasons why i simply could not go on the impromptu adventure.
And then; like as if i had been programmed by some fate-driven, robotic apparition from the future ...i started dialing a number.

.......Sange? It's Emma. I can't believe it, but i think I'm coming to see you tomorrow.

So that was it. i was going.
I asked my friend Alyssa in a moment of complete spontaneity to come along and she straight-forwardly, obliged.

Off to Melbourne the next day, early flight..(8:30...eek!!) and arrived all wide-eyed (and a bit off the planet) yet ready for the exciting day to unfold. :)

Soon after we arrived we were met by my extremely LOVELY friend Sange and her bf, Feb.


We drove to the city, chatting and feeding off an indescribable energy that seemed to be surging through us all simultaneously.

So we wandered down a few streets and then found ourselves at this adorable, European-esque, lane-way that resembled something from a independent, french film.
We had lunch and chatted and had ourselves a glorious time. However, i could not help the small, niggling feeling that made it difficult to contain my anticipation about the next few hours.




After lunch, the rain was well and truly pouring, but we still managed to get a quick look at the city and some of the shops. It was all a bit drool-worthy, really.
We checked out the new Stella McCartney range at Target, it was apparently supposed to be a big deal, but i was a little bit appalled at the un-ignorable, mass-produced aspect to the whole set up. It was frankly a bit disappointing. Next, we went to Dangerfield and Sportsgirl, and then Sange showed us her favourite, japanese shop, Pink. There were so many things I could have splurged on, it was a bit unbelievable...but i implemented my self-control and just bought some earrings.
The rest of the time was spent taking photos of graffiti and advising Lys not to buy some plastic, novelty (yet hilarious) fruit, key-chains. LOL.





Two o'clock rolled around, which meant checking into the hotel.
We drove to St Kilda in the bucketing down rain, and finally found the place thanks to Feb's handy GPS. We got out of the car and nearly drowned!! It had been raining so much and the water in the gutter was past my ankle and now I had my very own puddle in the bottom of my doc marten. We had to leap across a large pool of water to get to the right side of the road. We got across with a few strategic strides and bounded up the stairs into the entrance way of the hotel. I was overwhelmed with happiness by just the entrance way. The Foyer wall was filled with an array of Charles Blackman works.
I could have stood there all day looking at them. AHHHHMAZING.

We got to our room and nearly died. It was beautiful. The whole place was.
It was so new and sooooo pretty. It was roughly themed around Alice in Wonderland (a collection of works done by Blackman in the 50's.) There were adorable details all around the hotel, perspex rabbits on the skirting boards, throne-like chairs, an etched alice on our glass, bathroom door, and a melting coat rack.



Then we took some more photos in our room and said our goodbyes to Sange and Feb.
We spent the next hour in our fabulous room and got ready to meet Bertie.
I was slightly shitting myself. HAHA.

At 5pm, we went down to meet Liz (one of the Art Series Repz) and she was incredibly nice. We then went back upstairs to meet Bertie in her own room. We stood in the hall way for a few minutes and we heard some music coming from inside.
When she opened the door I tried so hard not to be a fan. I wanted to scream and wave and freak, but instead i stood there, possibly smiling and being extremely subdued... inside the fan fireworks were going off in a big way.

After a few minutes, my worries seemed to take a back seat. It was all so composed and Bertie was lovely. We talked a bit about her new album, where we all came from and the blog she had been recording since the beginning of her stay at the hotel.
i found myself glancing around the room during the conversation.
There were delectable, little tea-cups set at the table, a variety of musical instruments strewn thoughtfully around the room, quirky, plush creatures, books, sketches and an interesting and varied, selection of art prints. Not to mention a rad glass skull head jar. ;)
After awhile we drank our tea, then champagne. We recorded the blog with Bertie which turned out to be soooo in-sync with my taste it was too funny.


Here is the video we recorded during our visit.




The rest of the evening was quite amazing too. We had a FREE dinner at this swish, italian restaurant called CLASSICO, which meant more champagne. (UH OH)
Feeling rather tiddly after dinner, avoiding more rain and then quickly getting on the bus with Bertie and Co to arrive at the Forum Theater to see the v.talented, Kimbra.

Highlights included: (with pictures:D)

-Lys trying to paint her nails on the bus, practically in the dark. LOL



-KIMBRA in general;


-The surprise performance by Sparkadia, "MAAAAARRRRYYYY, i don't know what to doooo" HAHA!!
-Waking around the Forum with Bertie and co and meeting some her band;
-Getting a bit sloshed and knowing that we had a return transport back to the hotel;
-Having tequila shots at the (somewhat) private bar upstairs at the Forum;
-Going to Cherry bar on Halloween-eve;
-Seeing all the crazy folk at the Cherry bar - including Marylin Manson look-alikes, trannies in gum boots and an assortment of strange characters in wigs and nylons.



(sourced from http://www.nodiscount.com.au/blog/2010/02/ch-ch-ch-cherry-bar-2/)

-Walking around after the show and seeing more of Melbourne;
-Having Chinese at 1am and eating yummy fried ice cream!!
- Bertie's generosity and general loveliness the entire evening!! :)









The next morning was extremely BLEEEHH, but was topped with the yummiest french toast and omlette at a fancy, french restaurant...another part of the prize!!
And then back on the plane and home again!! whew!!

I had such a wonderful time. I didn't think it was possible to have a good birthday celebration without something fucking up but i think i just experienced something marvelous beyond words or feeling. i feel so incredibly lucky and i seriously will remember that weekend forever.

MM



(all photos by me. ..unless stated otherwise)

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Bertie and Sarah and Clare OH MY



HULLOTHERE . ..
I have been meaning to write for several days now but I have been extremely busy for a change. I have had some delightful things occur in the last week or so and i am so happy to share them with you. I have to say I am feeling really humbled by it all.

The most recent, (and the most exciting thus far) is winning a trip to Melbourne to meet Miss Bertie Blackman. !! :0 :0 :0
She even made a video of what the prize was...


I haven't been to Victoria since I was nine so I am very much looking forward to it (not to mention that i absolutely ADORE Bertie's music and was so very inspired after seeing her in August '09.) Another AHHHMAZING thing about it is seeing Little Red and Kimbra (my new favourite) ...Copy and Paste in new window!!.....www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHV04eSGzAA
at the Forum5 theater tomorrow night!! Drool worthy much?!!!

I will definitely keep you posted about what goes down in Melbourne. I have been so excited today there are times where i have forgotten to breathe. HA HA.

Another LOVELY occurrence was winning the YOUR PART competition to meet the WONDEFUL Miss Clare Bowditch last Friday at the NLC in Newcastle. I was terribly nervous about it all but quite honestly, there was nothing to be worried about. i thought she would be nice, but she exceeded all my expectations, above and beyond. Clare was (and is) such a beautiful heart and she was so incredibly kind. After meeting her and her charming band members I was on cloud nine...and it made me love her and her music so much more. She was so incredibly genuine and down to earth. I feel so so lucky to have had that experience.
Here is a pic of her and I before the show...i think i was sweating profusely at this moment...i was flabbergasted, to say the least.



Anooooother (tremendously) GOOD experience was going to Sarah Blasko's gig at good ol' Tamworth Capitol theater. I was introduced the creative whimsy of Seja as well as witnessing one of the most moving performances by Miss Blasko herself.

I will add some more pics later but here are some I managed to take before some lady started harassing me about taking photos with flash.







Well I am off to pack for my next musical adventure. ;)

I am reaching a total new level of nerves right now but i think my current rush of adrenaline is over-taking every logical thought or feeling about this new-fangled experience. It is probably a good thing i have only known about winning the competition for a short time because I feel a bit overwhelmed with the excitement of it all. Let's see if I can actually sleep a wink tonight. !!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

theCUTEST.



...Otters hold hands when they sleep so they don't drift away.


Via Zeruda
http://zerudaswonderland.blogspot.com

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

FEATURE: Falala Mele

My next blog feature is one of my best friend's blogs . ... introducing:
FALALA MELE!!

"This is how I do it. .fashion.fun.friendship. best of both worlds. half australian and half niuean (a little pretty island in the south pacific). love to sing n get pretty. big gurls can do it better."

- Taken from FalalaMele.blogspot.com





Mele's blog is filled with beautiful photos of her friends and family, keeping readers up to date on her life and interests. Mele also posts pics of outfits that she has personally styled as well as clothing that she has designed and hand sewn herself!!


For more of this v.talented ladeeeey, visit her blog:

http://falalamele.blogspot.com

Monday, October 4, 2010

FEATURE: MessyCarla

Hihihi.
I have just finished updating my new blog list. There are some really GREEEAAATT blogs out there, particularly fashion ones...i spend waaay too much of my time sifting through them and visiting corresponding web pages.

SooOOoo.


I thought I might dedicate a post or two to some blogs that I have been following for the last few months.

This feature is about the one and only 'Messy Carla'





Messy Carla - Fashion blog in a size 16



From one red head to another;


I thought Messy Carla would be a perfect first feature because it is one of the first blogs I followed when I stumbled upon this crazy, bloggin' scene.

Carla reviews the most loveliest of things - everything from hair products to footwear...and posts pics of cute accessories and clothes from a range of different online stores; including ASOS, River Island, Topshop and New Look.
She also regularly posts pics of her own purchases as well as her very own outfit posts.

This is ideal for me because after shopping in London last year I have been (a tad bit) addicted to European online shopping, sooooo it is wonderful to be able to visit Carla's page and see all the newest products and clothing available in the U.K.

Also, I can not express how GREAT it is to see a blog promoting something larger than a size 10. ..!! :D