I’ve had a rather embarrassing song stuck in my head for the last couple of days. It’s Barry White, and ‘Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe’.
Why is it always guilty musical pleasures that get stuck in your head, and not something legitimately cool? This, and other mysteries, I will have to ponder further and get back to you. For now, though, in an attempt to exorcise the disco classic from my brain, here’s some things I Can’t Get Enough of, Babe.
Layered Tights: It’s so close to warm weather here in Canberra, I’m loathe to buy new pantyhose, which means that I’m wearing tights that ought to have been retired to light duties three weeks ago. The nifty solution? Layering lace or mesh tights over a pair of opaques. The lace or mesh overlay obscures the worst of the holes, and the interplay of colourful tights peeking through black lace is a nifty way of dressing up an otherwise plain ‘teaching day’ outfit.
Bananas: Bananas, I’ve missed you. Luckily, you have finally come down to something I can (just) justify - $8.99 per kilo at my local grocers!
The Panics: Now, this is the kind of music I wish would stick in my head a little more than tacktastic disco. Their latest album is rocking my world particularly hard right now.
Crazy Cat Names: It’s a family tradition that cats get slightly whacky names. My brother’s cat’s full title is Jethro Francis Patrick Anthony Margret (he’s a special boy). If things go as well as I hope they will, I may find myself adopting a cat for myself in the next little while. Which means it’s time to work on whacky cat names. Current favorites are Ferdinand, Henrietta, Vincent, Dwight or Bettina. Or possibly all of them at once. Thoughts?
‘The Tudors’, Specifically the Duke of Suffolk and His Amazing Beard: Mimi Goss leant me her DVDs of all four seasons of The Tudors. It’s seriously addictive television. Particularly when Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, grows a beard in Season Four. Google pictures to understand why. I promise it’s worth it.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Leaps of Faith
Shopping for clothes online is a leap of faith. So much could go wrong – wrong colour, wrong size, just wrong . Yet so much could go right, too – beautiful clothes delivered to your door, colours and cuts not available in Australia, the ‘ahhhh’ moment when you unwrap an airmail parcel.
I’ve got it wrong, badly wrong, in the past, but when a leap of faith pays off like it did for me last week, all past online disappointments fade away.
Back in early July (JULY!!!!!!) after months of emailing each other links to dresses we liked, Zsuzannah Verona and I bit the bullet and agreed to order some dresses from a US company called Shabby Apple (this blog has no paid posts, folks, so as in the past when I’ve recommended something to you, it’s done without any financial inducement on my part. So it’s with my hand on my heart that I can strongly recommend plugging ‘Shabby Apple’ into Google and checking out their website for some seriously gorgeous dresses).
I waited, and hoped, and waited, and hoped. I sent some polite emails, and got a US postal service tracking number, so I could log my parcel’s journey, which, at times, felt painfully slow, especially as I wasn’t yet sure if my leap of faith would pay off. Would all this waiting be worthwhile, or would I wind up disappointed and dissatisfied after weeks (months!) of longing for something of which I’d had only the most intangible of glimpses.
After a two day hold up at my comically mismanaged local post office, the USPS box was in my hot little hand. So excited was I to see if my leap of faith had paid off, I opened the parcel while waiting at the traffic lights on my way into work.
Oh my, how the faithful are rewarded!
Zsuzannah and my dresses were fantastic. Amazing. Beautiful. True to the pictures and fit descriptions. Better than I could ever have imagined, and all the better for a leap of blind faith - and a six to eight week wait.
I’ve got it wrong, badly wrong, in the past, but when a leap of faith pays off like it did for me last week, all past online disappointments fade away.
Back in early July (JULY!!!!!!) after months of emailing each other links to dresses we liked, Zsuzannah Verona and I bit the bullet and agreed to order some dresses from a US company called Shabby Apple (this blog has no paid posts, folks, so as in the past when I’ve recommended something to you, it’s done without any financial inducement on my part. So it’s with my hand on my heart that I can strongly recommend plugging ‘Shabby Apple’ into Google and checking out their website for some seriously gorgeous dresses).
I waited, and hoped, and waited, and hoped. I sent some polite emails, and got a US postal service tracking number, so I could log my parcel’s journey, which, at times, felt painfully slow, especially as I wasn’t yet sure if my leap of faith would pay off. Would all this waiting be worthwhile, or would I wind up disappointed and dissatisfied after weeks (months!) of longing for something of which I’d had only the most intangible of glimpses.
After a two day hold up at my comically mismanaged local post office, the USPS box was in my hot little hand. So excited was I to see if my leap of faith had paid off, I opened the parcel while waiting at the traffic lights on my way into work.
Oh my, how the faithful are rewarded!
Zsuzannah and my dresses were fantastic. Amazing. Beautiful. True to the pictures and fit descriptions. Better than I could ever have imagined, and all the better for a leap of blind faith - and a six to eight week wait.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
People Watching
People watching. One of my favorite things, and one of the greatest activities being a sociologist legitimates. It’s fortunate that my office has a window that overlooks one of the main campus thoroughfares, so all I have to do is turn my head to the right to get my people watching fix as I sit at my computer. Otherwise, I’d have to invent excuses to go downstairs multiple times a day (perhaps in the lead up to swimsuit season, this might not be a bad thing…)
There are certain groups and types of people I find particularly fascinating to watch. People alone in crowds or cafes, and whether they are comfortable being alone, or if they have props like phones or books or laptops to make themselves look less isolated. Parents and children, too, are always good to watch, especially how different people talk to their children. Lovers, of course, are people watching Mecca, although lately I’ve felt increasing urges to drive pencils through the eyes of those engaging in all-too-public displays of affection. I think that says more about me than about the lovers.
My favorite group of people to watch, though, is friends. There’s nothing as heartening on a cold winter’s day as watching a pair of friends chatting and gesturing wildly on the grassy common in Union Court. Or having serious consipirital chats in cafes, looking over each other’s shoulders to catch eavesdroppers like myself with a glare.
Better yet are the friends who unintentionally mimic each other. Case in point, Amity Merryweather and Beatrice Spencer, when I caught up for coffee with them yesterday, were wearing sartorial variations on a theme – pink tops with a black animal print graphics and jeans. They both looked fierce, and didn’t realize that they were unintentional wardrobe twins until I pointed it out. And then they laughed, in unison, as true friends do.
It’s so lovely watching these pairs of friends because it’s a pleasant reminder that I’ve been blessed with so many of my own. I see mirrored in the people I watch my own crazy hand movements, code languages, and meaningful looks exchanged with my nearest and dearest. A pleasant reminder of all that is shared, spoken and unspoken, with those we love.
There are certain groups and types of people I find particularly fascinating to watch. People alone in crowds or cafes, and whether they are comfortable being alone, or if they have props like phones or books or laptops to make themselves look less isolated. Parents and children, too, are always good to watch, especially how different people talk to their children. Lovers, of course, are people watching Mecca, although lately I’ve felt increasing urges to drive pencils through the eyes of those engaging in all-too-public displays of affection. I think that says more about me than about the lovers.
My favorite group of people to watch, though, is friends. There’s nothing as heartening on a cold winter’s day as watching a pair of friends chatting and gesturing wildly on the grassy common in Union Court. Or having serious consipirital chats in cafes, looking over each other’s shoulders to catch eavesdroppers like myself with a glare.
Better yet are the friends who unintentionally mimic each other. Case in point, Amity Merryweather and Beatrice Spencer, when I caught up for coffee with them yesterday, were wearing sartorial variations on a theme – pink tops with a black animal print graphics and jeans. They both looked fierce, and didn’t realize that they were unintentional wardrobe twins until I pointed it out. And then they laughed, in unison, as true friends do.
It’s so lovely watching these pairs of friends because it’s a pleasant reminder that I’ve been blessed with so many of my own. I see mirrored in the people I watch my own crazy hand movements, code languages, and meaningful looks exchanged with my nearest and dearest. A pleasant reminder of all that is shared, spoken and unspoken, with those we love.
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