November: day 8

Someone planted a poppy in front of our building. It's in a funny spot -  a narrow, stoney strip of garden behind where our rubbish bins are parked - but it's pretty. 

November: day 7

Got my hair did today. I went bright purple all over about two months ago, but today I went back to black on the sides and a darker purple on top.  I like it. (Those are shadows under my eyes not massive dark circles, although I do look how I feel...)

Just after I took this photo a woman came up to me gushing about how "awesome" my hair is and told her 20-something daughter she should get something like it instead of her straight, natural brown hair. Hahaha. (Poor daughter though.) Having random people on the street comment on your hair happens when you go with a bright colour. 

I got my hair done at Razor Dolls on Chapel Street in Windsor, which is not your usual hair salon. All the hairdressers are pretty out there - lots of tattoos (including one facial tatt), ear gauges, piercings, and crazy hair dos. My hairdresser has bright pink, platinum blonde and yellow dreadlocks. I just want to sit and stare at all of them. 

Mirror, mirror

I took a photo of our new mirror today before I sat down on the couch and couldn't get up again (actually, when I got home today I went straight to bed for a nap for a few hours). 

We liked the really ornate mirrors, but we ended up buying a contemporary style since the rest of our decor is modern.  You can't really see it, but it has a nice bevelled edge on the glass.  

I need to rethink the mantelpiece decoration so the bottom of the frame is visible. If the mirror were hung higher we wouldn't be able to see much in it besides the ceiling (and the bare lightbulb, which needs a new light fitting). 

Our Ends are our Beginnings

The other picture the handyman hung for me was this print I bought from the site Section6. It's called Our Ends are our Beginnings by Paradisiac Picture. I love it - the dramatic golden sky, the deep blue ocean and the Parisian-looking city on the sea floor, but also the possibility of feeling as if you're sinking to the bottom, but something new 

This is a bit strange, but sometimes when I'm near the sea or watching a documentary about it, I think how terrifying it would be to fall into the deepest depths of the ocean, and I get a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach like mild panic or claustrophobia, and that's what I initially feel when I look at this. She's falling to the bottom of the sea! But she will be saved! 

(Sorry about the formatting, it's misbehaving and I'm too tired to fix it.)

November: day 5

The rain hits the city (again)

We had some crazy weather in Melbourne today. Even a (thankfully wimpy) tornado! The photo of the CBD above (excuse the dirty windows and reflections) was taken a short time after the tornado moved through the northern suburbs. We got a pretty decent downpour. I love it when it rains, but isn't cold (mostly when I'm under cover). It was sunny again when I went out for lunch and when I walked home. Crazy, but convenient!

Luke and I bought a mirror to go over our mantelpiece a while back and today a handyman came to hang it up. I found him through Airtasker and he did the job (as well as hanging two other pictures) for half the price as the guys recommended by the mirror shop. Wooh!  (I was going to take photos of the mirror to show you, but now I can't be bothered getting off the couch. Another day.) 

The place we bought the mirror at - Mirror Mirror on Hoddle Street - is pretty awesome even if you aren't looking to buy one. It's wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling mirrors - little ones, gigantic ones, sleek modern ones and super ornate ones, and some gorgeous art deco ones. (My absolute favourite was a huge art deco fan-shaped mirror, but it was waaaaay too expensive and too big anyway.) The shop is all so sparkly and shiny and silvery and golden. And you can check your hair looks OK whenever you want. 

Me in the mirror shop

Nine years ago today...

I've lived in my beloved South Yarra flat for nine years today. Nine years! It's the longest I've lived anywhere in my adult life. In some ways it feels as if the time has passed quickly, but when I think about all that's happened in that time - I've had four jobs and four relationships (counting the current ones); I lost my dad (four years ago next April); plus I finally went overseas and I've been again since then. 

This flat - our fabulous sunny flat, so close to the city and the Botanic gardens, with its lovely views and free heating - has been one of the few constants in my life and one of the key sources of my happiness over the years. I love this flat. I love living here. 

I found this on Pinterest today: 

I've clearly been unconsciously abiding by this rule. For Christmas I bought TJ - the boy who loves The Octopuppy - a book called The Boring Book. It's about something else I love - words.  

Three working days until holidays...

Relief and vicarious happy dance

I recently started to worry (for reasons I won't bother explaining) that we were going to be turfed out of our flat so it could be renovated. I was poised to be devastated at having to  leave my home of the past 8 1/2 years - I really would be devastated! I love this place. I never want to leave! This flat and this location are a major source of contentment for me. Sure, I'd be happy elsewhere eventually too, but it just wouldn't be the same. 

But, good news! We don't have to move! I'm so relieved!  

In lieu of a happy dance, I bring you a video of Tom Jones dancing up a storm in 1968. I'm incapable of watching it without laughing my head off, and I'm not easily moved to fits of  laughter. Wait for the dancing at around the 1:17 mark. Hil-AIR-ious. 

 

On a mission

Grey

Today my mission was to defy the cold and dreary weather to head to the Fitzroy Nursery on Brunswick Street to buy some baby's tears so I can finally plant up my terrarium. Thankfully my mission was accomplished (the buying bit, not the planting), which made the cold and damp slightly more bearable. I got two little pots of baby's tears, and a faux mossy rock. 

Johnston Street, Fitzroy

I saw a man walking along Johnston Street who is surely the coolest of all the cool dudes in  Melbourne - black Fedora, dark sunglasses, sideburns, black pinstriped trousers and a long, black cloak. At first I thought it was Jack White. Jack will be doing shows in Melbourne in a few weeks, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility...

Is that Mr T in the front window/terrarium of The 

Magic Lantern on Brunswick Street? I do believe it is

I walked from Fitzroy back into the city and by the time I got there I was chilled to the bone, and my back and hips were aching. I stopped for a hot chocolate, which warmed me up from the inside out, before hopping on a tram for home.  I got home just before the rain started to get heavier. Good timing, me.

I know I've said this before, but I am so in love with my flat. When I'm out in the cold, the anticipation of coming home to a warm flat keeps me going. I've lived here for more than seven years now (the longest I've lived anywhere since I was 15) and I hope I never have to leave.

Snack

I spotted quite a few old signs on my wanderings. 

 King William Street, Fitzroy

J Barnes Clothing Manufacturer, Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy

 J Barnes Clothing Manufacturer continued

 Austral L.P.G and Petrol, Nicholson Street 

 AWS Knives - WH Blakely Pty Ltd - 

Little Lonsdale Street in the city

Westmore Crystal - Little Lonsdale Street 

Speaking of old signs, I came across this ace Coke sign on Pinterest. Not sure where it is - probably somewhere in America.

Delicious and refreshing

And look what remains of this chimney on Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy. The building has been renovated (the bit far left is new). Maybe they ran out of DIY enthusiasm, or they just liked it better this way.

I saw a poster on Brunswick Street for a band called the Perch Creek Family Jugband. 'That sounds like something I'd like', I thought. I looked them up when I got home and indeed, I do like them. I seem to have a knack for digging up music I like based solely on the name of a band or the way they look on their promo posters. I love me some harmonica and banjo. Yeehaw. They also have one of the more interesting band bios I've read.

Here's a video:

Home holiday, spider house, tasty

My flatmate is moving out in a month and I've decided to have a short break from sharing. I can't wait! I LOVE living alone. I could afford to continue living here alone, but it's an insane amount of money to shell out in rent every week. It would mean curtailing my lifestyle and savings, which I don't want to do. I'll just have a little holiday at home for a month or two before looking for a new flattie.

There's a house on my street that has a large spider web in the front yard with a large spider in it (and a smaller spider). I'm glad the people who live there have left it where it is. I look at it every time I walk past (while trying not to look as if I'm perving in their front window).

I made a tasty salad during the week with spinach, baby beetroot, fetta, toasted walnuts and mandarine segments. I'm going to make it again this week with lamb sirloin. Yummmm.

Happy happy joy joy

Happy happy joy joy #1

There was a letter in the mail box from my real estate agent when I got home tonight. The sight of it made my heart pound. You see, my lease expires in less than two months and I've been preparing myself to get a notice to vacate so the new owners can redevelop the building.

Fortunately before I opened it I twigged that a notice to vacate would have been sent by registered post so the poundy heart stopped. I opened it and -YAYS! They're putting new carpet in the stairwell in January!

No, I'm not especially thrilled about new carpet - the expenditure on new floor coverings means they won't be redeveloping any time soon and I get to stay! Hurrah! *happy dance*

My flatmate (who's now back from her trip) told me last night she's going to look for a place of her own when the lease is up. If we had to vacate, I would have done the same, but I love living here so much that I'd prefer to stay and get a new flatmate.

This is such a relief. I've lived here for five years - hard to believe it's now the longest I've lived anywhere since I left home in 1992 - and for probably three of those five years I've been living with the possibility of vacating so the owners can redevelop.

Of course there is always the possibility they will still redevelop in the future, but you'd think after spending money to carpet three flights of stairs, they won't be doing it for at least a couple of years. It's not like the existing carpet is a safety hazard or horrendously worn out.

Hopefully when the time comes to find a new flatmate it will be as effortless as it was last time, and the new flattie will be as good as Anna.

Happy happy joy joy #2

I have got a whole three weeks off work, starting on Christmas Eve. I'm SO hanging out for it. I haven't had a full week off work all year (mostly because I've been trying to save my annual leave). Not that I've been working hard or anything. I'm not burnt out...just sort of drained by the boredom. 

My office closes on 24 December and re-opens on January 11 so everyone has to take that time off, but I'm taking a couple of extra days.

I'm going to visit my mother in New South Wales for about 10 days over the Christmas-New Year period and then the rest of the time I will be having a staycation in Melbourne, which, as many of you might recall, I love to do. I get almost as excited by that as the prospect of having a proper holiday.  

I'm already compiling a list of things to do with my time off...

Champagne and Reefer

Can't recall if I've posted this video already, but I love the song so much I'm gonna do it again. This is from the Rolling Stones concert doco Shine a Light - the Stones featuring special guest Buddy Guy.

Love the blues. Love Buddy Guy's enormous voice and his guitar work. Love the harmonica. It gives me goosebumps.

Moon watching, leaf watching

The past three nights as I have been lying on my couch watching (you guessed it) Angel, the moon has appeared in the corner of my loungeroom window, big and yellow and full, and slowly arced its way across the night sky. I've been watching the man in the moon almost as much as my TV screen, and he's been looking back at me.

Last night the moon drifted in and out of light cloud. It was a little spooky, but awesome, and also quite a fitting backdrop (OK, sidedrop) to my DVD viewing since Angel is a creature of the night and the show has taken a darker, more dramatic turn in series two.

I like that I can lie on my couch and gaze at the moon. It's one of the many things I love about where I live.

Leafwatch

The leaf on my deiffenbachia is all but unfurled now. Yay. And what's more, another tiny shoot has appeared (just in front of the stem). Double yay. I definitely haven't killed it. Phew.