As promised…
This is my current fav vintage dress, with new spring blossoms on our ornamental cherry tree in the background. I never understood the point of ornamental cherry trees, they’re just like normal cherry trees except you don’t get any cherries. Anyway, the dress is a 1950s original from Tete a’ Tete. It’s in fabulous condition and there is virtually no wear under the arms (the main problem with vintage dresses – the old deodorants eventually ate holes in the fabric). Now that it’s warm enough, I’m wearing it as often as I can get away with it!
To add to my adoration of this dress, I managed to acquire my first poofy 1950s petticoat to wear under it last week. It is so gorgeous, and it has floral flocking overlaid on the netting, which you can’t even buy any more… *sighs of delight*. Every time I wear this outfit I get comments from complete strangers, and since I’ve had the petticoat I’ve been flashing it to anyone that shows a passing interest. Joy!
From the Depths I Come!
My site meter tells me that I have some visitors coming by, but I can’t imagine why. This blog died almost as soon as it began. However, I have finally found the cord that connects my camera to the computer and I have an awful lot of catching up to do!
So far this weekend has been the most girly weekend I have ever had. And surprisingly, I am really liking it! It started last night, when three of my spunky girlfriends came over to eat home made pizza (the home made wholemeal base and tomatoey vegetabley sauce totally cancels out the fatty cheesy topping w extra camembert… mmm) and make our own cosmetics! Unfortunately I forgot to take photos, but here are a couple of recipes:
Almond Cleansing Scrub (all skin types)
2T sweet almond oil
4T very finely ground almonds
3t apple cider vinegar
4 drops of lavender or palmarosa essential oil
Mix all ingredients together and store in a cool place in a clean, airtight container. To use, mix a small amount with water to form a smooth paste, as use as for any other cleanser.
Rose Moisturising Cream
2T jojoba oil
2T almond oil
1T grated beeswax
400IU Vitamin E
60ml rosewater
5 drops rose essential oil
3 drops grapefruit seed extract
Warm the jojoba oil, almond oil and beeswax in a pot until the wax melts. Add the vitamin E. Warm the rosewater over a low heat. When the liquids are lukewarm, slowly pour the rosewater into the oil, beating steadily until cool, thick and smooth. Stir in the rose essential oil and grapefruit seed extract. Spoon into a clean jar and cool completely before covering, then store in a cool place. Use this rich cream sparingly.
Then today I met another couple of friends in town to celebrate their birthdays ( 1 day apart). I’ve known Steph since we were 7, and we lived across the road from each other until we were 13, and then we went to the same high school and were in the same group of friends… yeah, so we go way back. As we’ve grown older we’ve turned out very different and we hang out with different kinds of people, but we’re like family. No matter how long it’s been since we’ve seen each other, we just fall into the same patterns and expect to keep in touch for the rest of our lives. Ray moved to our town when she was 15 and came to our high school, so she ended up in our group of friends as well, and then we both went to the same University, lived in the same Hall of Residence, and even got put in the same building and on the same floor. Again, we ended up in the same group of friends. So this was quite a sisterhood.
We were going to one of my favourite haunts, a Cupcake Parlour that has a fabulous 1950s feel with floral wall paper, swing music and they serve their tea in delicate floral china cups with matching saucers and cake plates. Obviously, I had to dress up (I’ll share some photos of my fav vintage outfit tomorrow or Monday).
I gave them each a carved soapstone container (from Trade Aid) of the almond cleansing scrub I had made the night before. I was hoping to give them bottles of toner and moisturiser as well, but I ran out of time…
I fully recommend the passionfruit lovelies, followed by the chocolate boysenberry cupcakes.
Next, we went next door to the cheesemonger, and perved at the mountains of fancy cheeses…
Then we headed to my all-time favourite vintage shop, Tete a Tete (you will hear a lot about this shop), and tried on the most beautiful clothes from the 1930s-1960s. Photos to follow.
So yes. Extreme amounts of girliness, and even a hint of ladies-who-lunch snobbishness with the number of visits to boutique places and clothing purchases… but a strong appreciation of good food, recycling vintage gems and supporting small local alternative businesses isn’t too snobbish of us… is it?
Gotta go now, daylight saving starts tonight (joy!) and we’re trying to change our sleeping patterns for the better.
xx
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.
-Albert Einstein
Super-Natural Muffins!
As well as good food, one of my interests is super-natural foods – trying to cook using as many natural plant foods as you can. I made these hearty fig and oatbran muffins last night from a Piko Wholefoods recipe.
1 ½ cups bran flakes or other flakes
½ cup apple juice
1 egg
½ cup milk
1 cup apple juice concentrate or ¾ cup apple juice
3T olive oil
1 large banana – mashed
¾ cup figs – finely chopped
3T honey
1 ½ cups oat flour or whole wheat flour
½ cup rolled oats
1t cinnamon
1 ½ t baking soda
2t baking powder
Combine the bran flakes in a large bowl with the apple juice, moistening the flakes evenly.
Add the egg, milk, apple juice concentrate, oil, banana, figs and honey and mix well.
In a small bowl combine the flour, rolled oats, cinnamon, baking soda and baking powder.
Add to the bran mixture and mix well.
Bake at 180°C / 350°F for 20 minutes or till done.
I’ve changed the amount of honey from 2 tablespoons to 3, because I think they could do with a little more sweetness. They may even want more? I didn’t have apple juice or concentrate to hand, so I faked it by grating granny smith apples finely and squeezing out the juice for the first measure, then I just added the entire grated apples for the second measure. In all, the 14 muffins I made contained 4 apples, 1 banana and the figs!
Impressive!
This blog has been in existence for only a few days (and only a few posts) and yet Weltkind has nominated it for Blog Day 2008. OK, so he (she?) did a random search so it’s not exactly a top blog recommendation, but it’s still a little surprising and gives me a few warm fuzzies. I still haven’t told anyone about this blog, and wasn’t expecting to until I had a few more posts and had stretched my creative wings a little more.
I wouldn’t usually do this kind of thing, but since I’ve been tagged it feels a bit rude not to.
So here are my 5 recommendations:
NZ: an aspiring author and fashionista. I know this cat in real life, and she’s well worth recommending 
USA: A recently discovered blog of the art of the art and times of Leah Picken Kolidas. I loves it.
3. Tehran Walls
Iran: Seen last week on Bloggers ‘notable blogs’ section, so it’s probably already getting plenty of traffic. Oh well, I thought it was fabulous. Iranian grafitti art for social change.
4. Ran Prieur
USA: A very interesting site about all that’s wrong with society and some interesting thought and practical experiments to try and rectify it. It’s a bit dominated by US politics at the mo, but I love his essays on civilisation and alternate ways of life.
NZ: I’ve linked to the blog because that’s what I’m meant to be recommending here… but the entire website is fantastic. It’s inspiring to read about the practical details of Matt and Waveney’s challenge to live for an entire year and only use one standard issue rubbish bag.
Fragments
This morning
The sun kissed my forehead in the kitchen.
Spring is coming.
Namaste
Namaste means “I honour the Divine in you”.
When I first became a Christian I became so aware of this – aware of the Divine Spark in myself and in others for the first time. It did wonders for my self esteem and for my love of everyone that crossed my path, no matter how different they were from me, or how prickly! I celebrated individuality and the goodness that runs through all of us, of the Divine leading us on to be the best that we can be. Getting to know a person for who they truly were, to share with them, trust them and love them was such a joy.
Then something went a bit wrong. I encountered a whole lot of different groups of people all at once. I encountered people who were bitchy and seemed to enjoy nothing better than belittling those around them and backstabbing their ‘friends’. They had conversations about their sexual pursuits, their experiences with various intoxicating substances, and how much they hated X for stupid reason Y. I felt like a complete outsider and decided to try and opt out of the hierarchy by minding my own business and being nice to everybody – The same strategy I tried in high school. It worked about as well as it did in high school too. I came to be seen as an easy target since I refused to bite back, and anyone in need of a quick ego boost took great pleasure in treating me like dirt. At the same time I began to make the difficult student-to-professional transition, and encountered another group of people. This group were incredibly intelligent, confident and successful. They conversed in ideas and sharp wit rather than casual conversation directed at understanding anothers story and building a relationship. Many were very critical of others and their ideas, and tended to give approval only to others like themselves. I will say at this point that I know many professional people who are not like this, but there were a substantial number I was thrown alongside who were.
The net result was that I lost my confidence and self esteem, which I have always had trouble shoring up anyway. I felt that I couldn’t contribute to any conversations – in the first case I couldn’t talk about those kind of subjects and didn’t want to be led down the track of becoming like those people in order to gain their acceptance, so I remained isolated. With the second group I lost confidence in my ability to be a high-performance conversationalist and only say things that were incredibly intelligent and witty. I also picked up the very trait that disturbed me about this group – along with my attempts to become more professional, I began to reduce people to their ideas and critique them. In my isolation and pain I put up walls around myself and wouldn’t let people get too close. I went into survival mode, being nice but not myself, afraid of letting others see the real me in case they rejected it.
I smothered the Divine Spark in myself and failed to see it in others.
Now I am beginning to see where I went wrong and am trying to become more like I was in the beginning. I am trying not to care so much what others think of me, and trying to have the courage to be myself. I began to see the Light in others and love them for it, and I am beginning to receive the confidence to unveil my own.
Lord, please help me to honour the Divine in others, even if they don’t.
New Beginnings
A new blog for a new beginning.
In the interest of small beginnings, this blog will be a tentative unfurling of my thoughts, inspirations, creativity and spirituality.
