what death taught me this week

I attended a funeral yesterday.
I went to offer my support to a good friend from high school who I hadn't seen in maybe a decade.
Funerals seem to rip the band-aid off my own slowly healing wound of loss. It hurt but I'm sincerely glad I went.

I came away with two gifts

1. The friends you make as a teenager are the best you are likely to have. Reconnect with these friends, they are precious. These friends knew you when your heart was open, before you were bitter. Very rarely do people you meet post teenage years 'get' you. If you meet someone who you feel is one of your tribe; tell them so.
2. Never miss an opportunity to let someone know how you feel about them. Compliment them. Wear your best silk dress for a coffee date. Don't save anything for a special occasion. Stop looking at the floor. Notice everything. Smile with your eyes and be generous with your humour. Make an effort. This stuff makes a difference to people and it could be that a small gesture lifts them up from a world of pain.

bad jeans amnesia

Most mornings I put on a pair of jeans. They are comfortable, practical and anything will co ordinate with them, more or less....
I get dressed in the dark and a black tee shirt and jeans are my uniform.
Easy. Done. Dressed.

In the evening I take a look at myself in a full length mirror and am disappointed to see that the jeans are just wrong! Not long enough, too tapered, not low enough. Or so mumsy bootcut.

But you know what? The next morning I still put on the same pair of jeans which I deemed wrong only hours before.

I saw this post about photographing the outfit you're wearing everyday for evaluation purposes (not to show off how college-cute you are, although some of those blogs are great too. some.) and it occurred to me that I should be doing this. To get some perspective.
I appreciate plays on proportion, interestingly balanced outfits, volume and slenderness, angular versus drapey.....but it hardly ever translates to what I myself wear.



from indigo&alison via dear ada

I love colour, but like a painter who looks longingly at her rainbow colour palette but continues to use black and white, I want to experiment with silhouette and texture before I think about experimenting with colour.
Please note that I am not a painter. In fact I held my breathe the whole way through the mandatory painting classes at uni.

Maybe jeans are not the answer to my Perfect uniform question, I wonder?

These pants- "The Sherman" might be the answer to every single question I have ever asked.
Including What shall I make for dinner? and Is there really a God?

Smith Jacket, Rib Sleeve Shirt, The Sherman Therese Rawsthorne

I could put this outfit on while its dark and not be baffled by my choice in the light of the day; I reckon.

i blame masterchef

I've had my absolute fill of cooking shows on tv. even the good ones.
I feel my youth seeping out of me as I watch people preparing food;
life passing me by as some one performs a task for an audience, following a recipe in real time.
It is base and boring.
we all know that meat must rest and eggplant must sweat.
I cant stand it any longer!
On top of all that tedium, every meal now must be a feast for the senses!
A production of extraordinary proportions!
New! Exciting! An excursion to far off lands!

I say blergh to that...

B R Myers wrote an awesome article which really made me turn a corner with all this Food-as-Entertainment stuff. He says that putting aside the Food Books liberates you; so I am turning off the food shows, slamming shut the recipe books and adjusting my awareness of food down to a simple
Food is Fuel level.
Do you really want to watch someone chopping onions on tv? Is that good viewing? I have a much better idea. How about someone eating an onion?

marina abramovic 

the onion 1996

any of this performance artist's work would be great to see of an evening on regular tv...Endurance Art, weeknights at 6pm. You'd watch it, wouldn't you?

now is the winter of my discontent

A few posts ago, i renounced knitwear and declared that i wanted a really great jacket...Well, i can tell you now; ask the universe and duck for cover!
Since then, I have collected several jackets.
A light handmade coral jacket, sweet and bright
A dark burgundy cotton velvet blazer with navy lining, a little bit goth
A black linen blend 50s style wrap jacket, sophisticated
A red wool double breasted coat, magnificent in its drama
A teal blue velvet jacket with a great big portrait collar

mostly discovered at the charity shop, one given, all apparently "so me"

but....none of them are quite right. I didn't really choose any of them. They didn't really choose me either, these jackets and I just fell together in a sort of lets-be-acquaintances kind of way.

That's the nature of my clothing. What i should do is plan and save for a major purchase such as a jacket, to be sure it's really love.
This Rick Owens Jacket; I love. At least for this week....

Fitted Leather Jacket

undercover mother

i drove past a hoon-like car today stopped by the side of the road, shiny and black with dark tinted windows, tradesman's bogan stickers all over the back; pride for something or other proclaimed. but it was an undercover cop stopping an actual hoon tradie bogan for speeding i guess.
i like the cop's approach.
dont wear your uniform, wear some one elses.
i might just throw away my mum uniform....be a
Music Teacher, Painter, Train Driver or Mechanic.
so here is my wish list of new uniforms; i could wear these forever.

Confezioni Crosby