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I can't stop rearranging furniture. Right now, my apartment is divided up into zones. Pretty and neat? Yep, that's the living room and kitchen. Okay? That's the bedroom. Disaster? That's J's office.

Did an Ikea trip and finally found all of those things that I never knew I needed. Special white jars with wooden lids for teabags and everything? Definitely. Approximately sixty dollars on cacti alone? Certainly. Blissful new sheepskin that is ostensibly for decoration but really a replacement for the one that I refused to part with and that remained with me from cot to first apartment? Sure. Whatever, the house is looking excellent.

This new quilt cover changed the entire bedroom. The previous black and grey geometric cover was very dark and really drew the eye. New black and white quilt cover is wonderful. The crystals and that cacti moved out into the living room before long. 

Hello, friends. 

Oh, what? That? That solid maple midcentury extendable table, you mean? Right. That one that I found on the side of the road? Just checking. It weighs a ton, it's in almost perfect original condition (save a few superficial scratches on one edge and a terrible attempt by a previous owner to add a black ombré detail to the edge. Why did you do that?). I was driving past on my way to an op shop when I spotted my new table friend upended on the footpath. My neighbourhood has been doing the footpath collections lately. After screeching to a halt and determining that yes, it is solid wood and yes, it is in almost perfect original condition I waited around for almost twenty minutes to see if anyone was coming back to claim it. Nope. Nothing. It was mine. Thanks to the toolbox in my car, the legs came off and fit in the car. The top didn't. Heartbroken wasn't even the word.

Then the guy in the ute pulled up. After making polite conversation (he was doing a talk at the church building next door) he offered to drive the table top to my house. And he did, as soon as he was done with his talk. Stranger danger? What? I wanted that table. I got that table.  And we all lived happily ever after and only complained about American thrifters always finding incredible things very quietly every few days.

Bliss.

Vibrantly ridiculous.

I feel like I need to start by saying that I've never been quite so excited about a season's wardrobe as I have been about my Spring/Summer one for this year. I've added a few colours and patterns to my base of black/white neutrals, and some incredible statement jewellery. I feel like my style direction for this season isn't really anything more complicated than vibrantly ridiculous. I've been really happy with the pieces that ASOS Curve have recently released; lots of colour and interesting textures. However, I'm a little disappointed in the special ASOS Australia line so far, in terms of their Curve offerings. So far I've only seen a few Curve designs in the entire promotion. Having said that, they've been updating regularly and, of course, I've been very happy with the main line. 

The palette.  Amazing sequins (multicolour pastels with a few strong shades give an overall shade of mauve/purple) and digital prints. This particular botanic print shirt is incredible. Slightly sheer, it's a feature... without wearing you. 

New, perfect necklace. Wore it yesterday to a total of seven "not now/I'm busy" jokes from strangers. Success? I love it. I think I grabbed one of the last ones, it was limited release (from ASOS, of course).

My shirt finally arrived. It's even better than I had hoped it would be. It feels a bit odd to wear in the sense that I wear a statement necklace almost every day and I couldn't with this shirt. I like the baggy, masculine cut of the shirt. I find I quite like wearing tailored or masculine cuts. I have a pronounced hourglass figure and I find sometimes I look exaggeratedly feminine (far more than I like) when I wear girly cuts, fabrics or colours so it's a nice balance. Plus, it's a pain to have things taken in at the waist all of the time. 

Ridiculous new shoes. Ridiculous because I can't actually walk in high heels. Oops. Practice, right?

Another view of the skirt. It's quite difficult to get an accurate representation of the colours - they're either darkened or very bleached out. Either way, it's fantastic to wear.

I've got a few peplum tops (black and olive green) that I love, and I'm looking for some tapered black harem pants for work. Since I haven't found a single pair that I like, I'm considering buying some fabric and making my own. Yikes. High waist, tapered fitted leg to skinny ankle. Shouldn't be too difficult. Having said that, I am the girl who sewed over her own finger in grade eight Home Economics.

Poor fingers.

Wearing the pants.

Caught more trains today (four, can you believe it?) than I have in the past three years (exciting). If a 20 minute train trip wasn't a 30 minute walk away, and the equivalent bus trip took longer than the usual 13 minutes door-to-door, I'd maybe think about perhaps considering it. Maybe. I love you, trains! It's like you glide through dioramas of old times or something.

Breakfast this morning. There may be a day where I don't order the 'gringo' baked eggs. It wasn't today, anyway. Maple bacon and spiced avocado on the side? Oh whatever, no big deal. YES. My coffee with a thick layer of condensed milk under coffee and ice cubes and I nearly wept. Happy days, you guys. That's pretty much everything I've ever truly loved trapped in a jar right there. Still driving across town to get to Lady Marmalade. Still worth it.

Today I was also a lady that wore trousers. Trousers, for the first time since I could choose my own clothes several years. I made sure I kept it nice and subtle, to ease myself into trouser-wearing.

Ha.

Prints! Prints and more prints (and a long-desired Domino necklace from Sportsgirl). Besides the lace pants I got from ASOS, I picked up some fantastic geometric and weird floral ones, too. I had to adjust all of them, I have a smaller waist and skinny ankles so I need to take them in at the top and end of the legs.

I'm a convert, though. They're all comfortable, practical and wearable. No worries about wind and skirts! How exciting are trousers? Idea: the Exciting Printed Trouser Fan Club. Vice President? Totally this guy:

"Heeeeeeeeeeey, sexy lady!"

Manicured.

         

I painted my nails and now I'm writing a blog post mentioning the fact that I painted my nails. Talk about Gen Why, am I right? I've been feeling inspired by the works of Alexander Calder lately, so I gave myself a ManiCalder. A MobileCure? My ridiculous manicure has an even more ridiculous name. Ridiculous.

I've also been thinking about clocks. I have been thinking about clocks a lot. I seem to periodically obsess over watches and clocks without ever making any kind of formal, ticky commitment. I am the Clooney of the clock world. However, there have been a few lately that I've considered seeing more of. You know, every day. Every day because it is on a wall in my house.

The bare wall.

The Pugg

For some reason, I have this involuntary reaction of BUY! whenever I see the Pugg at Ikea. I want to say that I feel like it has something of an industrial, on-a-factory-wall-in-1963 vibe. I do. Interestingly, I am also getting an institutional, feel-like-I'm-back-at-school-waiting-for-3pm vibe. 

The Epoch

I recently saw this when I was looking for the bowl for the cacti. I liked it, I picked it up, I wrinkled my nose, I put it back. I just don't know. I can't decide. I can't even decide if I want a clock. It's not you, clocks. It's me. (Actually, maybe it is you. Why can I not find the clock?)

Fancy.

Speaking of Ikea, I keep trying to rationalise my desire, my need, to go to and buy about twelve of these little spice jars. I walk past them every single time I go and I don't think I'll be able to resist next time. I'd like to have matching jars to put our tea, coffee and sugar in. I'm sure that must be one of the Fifteen Million Habits of Super Efficient, Stylish Adults.

I know, I know. The cacti are taking over everything.

Oh, you guys. Stop it. Just stop it. Cacti are such flirts. Look at them. Look at them practically glowing with good health and sunlight.

Finally: I'm going on a mini-break this weekend, too (fancy). Hopefully I will maybe stop thinking about clocks and cacti and instead maybe find some amazing perfect teak MCM bedside tables that are really cheap in an op shop in Toowoomba or whatever. Hahaha. Oh, hopes. You so funny and so never going to happen. HahahahahahaHA. Yeah, wish me luck.

Cabin fever.

Even Smudge the cat is hiding from the weather. Sleeping? What? Shut up.

It has been the most despicably rainy weekend. Autumn and winter are by far my favourite seasons. Normally, this is a time of fantastic crispness borne of from winds that (finally) chase away the awful humidity and heavy clouds that haunt the city for, oh, most of the year. Raininess feels oppressive and heavy and nothing like the fast moving clearness that is the best part of these seasons. Ugh, summer. You have far outstayed your welcome. You witch.

I've been stuck inside, hiding from the dementors the rain and general cantankerousness of the clouds, and it pretty much means that I have been doing some strange sort of nesting. I've been buying plants. 

... Lots of plants. 

Just going to stretch a perfect little leg out of this here bowl, 'kay?

Look at you, you bowl of architectural spiky perfection. I've gone a little bit mental for cacti recently. It's probably because they are just so welcoming and friendly looking am I right you guys. After years of being a florist and a rose specialist, I'm really excited to be surrounded by an entirely different kind of spiky fabulousness. My recent, somewhat brutal, phase of everything must be pared back and minimal and bold and graphic and in all probability either black, mustard, white, grey or brown is showing no sign of letting up and I love it. I feel a lot calmer when I have less visible stuff.

Honestly, that bowl of cacti and the credenza are my two favourite things right now and the bowl (so simple! such lovely clean lines!) is sitting on the credenza and I just love it so much because it's so perfect and they could almost be best friends or something.

I even have a little baby cactus in a glass next to my bed. I've got so many in the house now I'm worried that they'll mutiny. It'll be something like waking up every morning and having baby cactus an inch closer to my face and then BAM. 

Also, that lump of citrine makes me so happy. Apparently, or so the rock shop lady told me, citrine is superheated amethyst. My younger sister loved amethyst when she was a little girl, and I love it solely for that reason. Not being a cool-toned colour fan, I love that there is something that is the same but different and also my favourite colour. 

It's not just plants, though. Nothing is safe from my weather-enforced nesting. I bought these ridiculous moccasin-type shoes and the black thread that held of the shoe together broke. On the first wear. I mean, I'm pretty used to this stuff. Ladies with size twelve feet, do you hear me? You totally do. Even so, this irked me. I patched them back together with some bold orange ribbon because I felt like putting my feet in the naughty corner. The naughty neon corner. That'll sure teach 'em. Ridiculous.