Ball time

Tonight's the night the gangsters and their molls (and burlesque girls and swing dancers and rockabilly guys and gals) come out to play! My outfit is ready to go. My girly beauty rituals are 80 per cent complete. I can't wait.

It's been a hot day in Melbourne, which should make for a pleasantly balmy evening.

I got the finishing touch for my outfit today - a red Olga Berg clutch purse to compliment my red pout. It was only $30 too. I'm such a bargain hunter... Luckily it's big enough to hold my camera, which means I will hopefully have some photos to show you tomorrow.

Stay tuned...

The verdict

I'm so glad I posted my blog early last night because I didn't get home until very close to midnight. Phew!

The symphony was great, especially the Haydn and Cherubini pieces - MUCH more melodic than last time, and none of that plinky-plonky percussive filler stuff. It was pleasing to the ear and also to the eye. I like watching all the violin bows moving in unison and everyone leaning forward to turn the pages of their music at the same time.

I failed in my efforts to be more high brow though (that was asking too much of myself). I couldn't help smiling at the conductor's paroxysms, but at least he was mostly obscured by pianos during the Haydn piece.

I met my Twitter friend Trevor, who is a musician himself, at Fed Square before the symphony and we had a bite to eat and a chat (particularly about music) as the sun sank lower in the sky. After the show we got a coffee and cake at Southgate (yes, diet fail).

Real-life Trevor was pretty much the same as Twitter Trevor, only quite a bit younger and much more into progressive rock music than I would have expected for a guy who plays the flute! But I like to be surprised by people (in a good way).

I've met five of my Twitter friends now.

To the symphony! Again!

Close up of the Arts Centre

I had never been to the symphony until 17 October 2009, and tonight I'm going again for the second time in three weeks.

You might recall last time I was a little underwhelmed by the modern composition, but tonight I will be seeing classical works - Mozart, Haydn and a piece by Cherubini that has only recently been discovered and never before performed in Australia. I'm looking forward to it. Not that I'm a connoisseur of classical music by any means. (Tonight I will try to be more high brow and not laugh at the conductor or the cymbal clanger/gongist.)

I will also be going to the new Melbourne Recital Centre for the first time and meeting one of my Twitter friends, Trevor, who is visiting Melbourne from interstate. It's always nice meeting online friends in the real world.

Tree, short week and vintage vamp

I discovered a beautiful tree today. I'd walked past it a few times before, but I never really noticed it. It's growing in the Rockley Gardens on Toorak Road. I love Golden Elms.

My favourite one is just near my flat, at the intersection of Punt Road and Alexandra Avenue. It's huuuuuuuuuuuuuge. You can easily stand up under the canopy and if you do that on a sunny day, it has a beautiful golden-green glow.

I have walked heaps on my five-day long weekend - 64.2 kms over the past seven days (excluding today's total of 8.44kms). I think that's a new weekly record (not that I actually keep such records).

Back to work tomorrow, but at least my working week will only be two days long. Ace!

I bought a red lipstick to wear to the Gangster's Ball on Saturday night. I'm really glamming it up big time! Totally working the vintage/vampy look (or attempting to). I rarely wear lipstick normally or lip gloss even - usually just a bit of Paw Paw Ointment or Burt's Bees honey lipbalm when needed.

I'm not entirely sure about the red lippy. I did get advice on which shade would suit my colouring and I think it does suit. I guess I'm just not used to wearing such vivid lip colour. I feel a bit like a kid playing dress ups. It's fun. I'm half-tempted to glam up my day-to-day look now...

I think I've decided on my outfit - a figure-hugging satin, strapless cocktail dress with a fishtail hem and silver beading and embroidery, long black gloves, micro fishnets and my new sandals.

Cup Day, mix tape and Melbourne love

It was a big day in Melbourne today with the running of the Melbourne Cup, the pinnacle of the Spring Racing Carnival. I'm not interested in the event itself, but I enjoy the atmosphere and it's great for people watching. Lots of young men in their best suits and women all glammed up. Plenty of women looking like trashbags too, but that's all part of the people-watching fun.


Mix tape

A couple of weeks ago I lamented on Twitter that it had been ages since anyone had made me a mix tape (to use the language of the olden days) and one of my lovely Twitter followers offered to make one for me! How ace is that? I told you Twitter was good, didn't I?

Kim has put together a three-CD set of music for my listening pleasure. I feel quite spoilt. It went into the mail today and I can't wait to get it - both to listen to it and perhaps discover some new music, but also to enjoy the rare pleasure of getting something in the mail besides bills and junk.

I've had a few nice things in the mail lately for a change. Last week my friend Gillian sent me a letter - a proper, old-fashioned handwritten letter on nice writing paper (can't remember the last time I got one of those!) and also a postcard from her holiday in NSW.


Reminiscing

I feel quite nostalgic about the pleasures of receiving handwritten letters in the mail. I had several overseas pen pals when I was a kid, and as I didn't live close to my school friends, on school holidays we kept in touch by writing epic letters to each other. I used to love riding my bike through the paddock to our mailbox to collect the mail.

I grew up on a farm in south-west Victoria. We had a 25 gallon drum painted white and mounted on a pole for a mailbox and it occasionally had huntsman spiders living in it, but they didn't deter me. Our postie drove a car and used to also deliver milk and bread. If we wanted to post a letter, we just put it in the mailbox with the money for postage. Seems like another world...

I like the idea of sending handwritten letters to my friends, but I know it's not going to happen. I can't even keep on top of my emails. Sigh.


South Wharf

Have any of you Melbourne people been to the new South Wharf precinct lately? I went today to collect something from a friend who works at the Hilton and the area is taking shape quite nicely. The new boardwalk is great and you can actually smell the timber. I love that new(ish) footbridge too(above).

It's amazing to think how much Melbourne has changed in the past 15 years. I feel like I've seen the place blossom from a pimply-faced, sullen teen into a pretty young woman. When I came to Melbourne in 1992 the south side of the river was a wasteland of rail yards and old industrial sites and the docks were a no-go zone. The city's back was turned on the river, but now it gazes out across the waterways. Sure, Melbourne will never be as visually spectacular as Sydney, but I love it.

PS I didn't make it to the Wagons gig last night after all. Too tired and too head hurty. I'll have to post my triumphant 'I went to a gig alone!" blog another time.

A day off

I forgot to mention I'm in the midst of a 5-day long weekend. Yay for days off work!

Unfortunately today hasn't been a very gleeful day. I woke up with a migraine and I lost my phone last night and I've had a frustrating and fruitless time today trying to track it down and sort out a new one.

My search for an outfit for the Gangster's Ball next weekend was more fruitful. I found a cute dress for only $20 - that's less than the black satin gloves I got to go with it. Noice. Remind me to take some photos for you next weekend when I'm all tizzied up.

I was meant to stalk...er, I mean see Wagons perform tonight at the Northcote Social Club, but I don't know if I'm up to it. They don't come on stage until 11.20 and I'm tired and headachy still. I was even going to go on my own. My usual gig buddy couldn't come, so I thought I would force myself to get over my aversion to going to pub gigs solo, and triumphantly blog tomorrow about how independent I am. It would be even more of a challenge without my mobile phone to fiddle with...

I'll see how I feel in an hour's time. Maybe if I watch this Wagons video it will rev me up to leave the house tonight. (Sorry, couldn't get video to fit properly.)

I'm NaBloPoMo-ing!

Today is Day One of National Blog Posting Month, which means I'm going to be posting a blog every day for the next 30 days. Not sure how I'm going to go, but I'd better get cracking because it's 11.35 pm. How embarrassing to not even make it one day!

I hope I don't bore you all to tears... It's one of the things on my 101 Things to Do before I'm 40 (participating in NaBloPoM, not boring people) so even if I do bore you, I get to cross something off my list.

So, gleeful stuff that happened today...I bought myself a new pair of shoes - marked down from $200 to $60. Sweet. A pair of black satiny, beaded sandals that fasten with ribbons. They're purdy and they're comfy. I bought them to wear to the Gangster's Ball next weekend.

Tonight I went to see It might Get Loud, a doco on Jack White (of my fave band The White Stripes, among others), U2's The Edge and Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin. Lots of awesome guitar playing (funny that) and lots of old live footage, historical information and insight into what makes them tick.

Also, I'm a bit in love with Jack White, even though he's kooky....or because he's kooky? I'm not sure. Either way, I think he's hot.

Here's one of my favourite White Stripes songs: