Saturday, July 27, 2013

Trips to the Show

Yesterday we took a family outing to the Royal Darwin Show. It was my third time going to the small country like show and it always brings back some funny memories. 
My first visit to the show was also my first date with Matt but I'll come back to that story in a bit. The second time we went to the show was the year I was pregnant with Rupert. I can recall Matt and I talking about how much more exciting it would be when we could bring our kids to the show. The dirty pens with ugly farm animals, the ginormous pumpkins, and the cheap worthless show bags would suddenly spark amazement in a small child's eyes. Well, two babies later we made our third trip to the show as parents but, before I tell you about how yesterday went let’s rewind back six years to 2007, my first visit to the Darwin Show.

In February 2007 I moved to Darwin and shortly afterwards met Matt through church and Uni events. We became friends. By about June/July our 'friendship' started to spark and before I knew it Matt was driving me to the Royal Darwin Show. 
I was feeling pretty good about this 'outing' to the show together and I made sure I was looking my best. I wore my long flowing hair out and had even purchased a new white top to wear. Little did I know about how much of a dust bowl this Darwin Show was, I was to soon find out it didn't even compare to the Sydney Royal Easter Show!
Back then I liked rides so, we bought some drinks and the adventure began. No food and one bottle of coke down we took to our third ride known as the 'Hurricane'. Big mistake! 
My mobile phone flew out of my bag, hitting Matt's head on its way to Timbuktu. I then began to feel very dizzy and light headed that I was soon leaning on Matt and could not compose myself. Matt was probably feeling a little bewildered by my sudden affection that had him squished to the side of the cart. Affection was not the intention, I felt as though I was dying and eventually I couldn't hold it in any longer. I vomited. And much vomit I vomited. As the Hurricane is still spinning in full motion my failed attempt to vomit over the outside of the cart resulted in the vomit flying back smack into my face, through my lovely long hair (that I wore out), onto my nice new white top, down my jeans and only just missing the people in the cart behind us! A lost phone, vomit all over me and barely able to walk, this was not going well. We headed for the toilets to get cleaned up but it got worse, we bumped into some friends of Matt's and with a face plastered in vomit I was introduced to them as his friend. Not cool and I've never been on another ride since!

Anyway we dated, became engaged and are now married; it didn't turn out too badly in the end. 

So, back to yesterdays visit to the show. It wasn't quite as great as I expected it to be, it seemed that Rupert was still just that bit too young to appreciate the animals and performances. He was fascinated at times and he did get to pat a baby chicken but was otherwise mostly restless and unhappy being stuck in the stroller. And when we had him out of the stroller he wanted to run among the crowds. It was was nice to be out on a family outing nonetheless and, we did get to enter some worthwhile competitions... fingers crossed!

Till next time... J x




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Saturday, July 20, 2013

Nanna - at My Age - in Her Day

It's been a little while since my last post and I was wondering what to blog about but, after a party we attended last night I was inspired to write about it. 

One of my dearest friends Siobhan whom I like to refer to as my 'sister-friend' (she's also my brother in-laws girlfriend) recently turned 21 and hosted a “Vintage Old Hollywood Glamour” party last night.
We were informed to dress for the occasion, encouraged to dress to the nines with no holding back! I may not have had to spend a cent on props for my costume and look but I did my best to look authentic of the glamorous bygone days of  the 1950's. 

The birthday girl and I.
As I did my hair up in pin curls yesterday morning, my thoughts strayed to my Nanna Bamford and what it was like for her - at my age - in her day! What did she do to prep for a fancy night out? Did she pin curl her hair too? What length would her dress have been and did she slip on a pair of elbow length gloves? My Nanna Kartawidjaja also comes to mind. It’s been said that I look a lot like her when she was young so, I've been turning the unit upside down desperately trying to find a small USB containing black and white photos of my grandparents when they were young, back in the 1940 - 1950's. I've had no success finding it so unfortunately I can't share them with you. I will however, share some photos of last night’s party.


So, here's how I got my look. 
In the morning I washed my hair and put it up in pin curls whilst still damp. If you've never pin curled before you can find out how here. It requires many bobby pins or flat prong clips and is a little fiddly but not too difficult. The brush out is the scariest part but also the easiest and, depending on how you brush the curls depends on the look you get.

In the afternoon when both boys were snoozing, I decided to put on my makeup. Doing make up isn't something I find difficult but using liquid eyeliner however, is quite the challenge! I generally only wear pencil eyeliner on the top inside of my eyelid, it gives subtle definition without looking heavy or making my eyes look smaller. But for those more special and fancy occasions I do bring out the liquid and, what I find best and easiest to use is Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Liner. It's more of a pen rather than a brush you have to dip in liquid. You'll all probably agree that the hardest part is getting that flick right so here's a good tutorial on 1950's make up which not only demonstrates the eye makeup but on getting the complete look..

Rupert taking on the role of photo bomber.
Now for the dress. It's not a dress that I've been overly fond of but I think I bought it for about $50 from "Noni B" when I was working there a few years back. I wore it to a friends wedding. It turned out to be perfect for last night’s occasion. The hemline sits at the traditional 1950's mid calf length, before dresses started to crop up to the knee. 
The heels were from "Forever New", bought for a wedding last year. They are what I'd call a 1950's "Spectator" style shoe/heel. They have a white toe so I thought I'd wear white elbow length gloves to tie it all together. The gloves used to belong to my grandmother, a little bit of special. 
I wanted my hair and makeup to be the outstanding feature of my look so I tried not to overdo it with accessories or by adding too many accents and colours. 
In my hair I placed an all-black flower and a simple but stunning necklace around my neck. I payed $4 for it from "Collete Hayman", it too was bought for a previous wedding. Around my waist was a thin black belt with a small silver buckle which tied in with the necklace.


So that was my look now, let’s talk party. When I get invited to fancy dress parties with a theme I often wonder how "themed" they will actually be. You kind of don't want to go all out if the host and others are only partly rising to the occasion but, knowing this birthday girl quite well, I knew it would be great! And if none of the other attendees were going all out she most certainly would be! 


The venue far exceeded my expectations! I'm not sure what I expected really?! I expected guests to be dressed in vintage glamour but never gave much thought to how the venue would look. Well, it looked amazing! As you entered the back yard through the carport you walked a red carpet that glowed with a row of tea lights either side and, when you got to the back yard it had been transformed into a stunning vintage styled restaurant/bar/club. There were small cafe tables set up with these simple but ever so effective table centers.  There were bench seats with with fairy lights draping from the trees and if it weren't for the Hollywood sign on the back fence, I'd say it felt a lot like Paris When it Sizzles! The music playing was iconic to the era and glancing around the yard to the back of the house there sat a screen playing "Breakfast at Tiffany's". I could have sworn it felt like I was sitting in a romantic restaurant with Audrey Hepburn across the table. 
The food was delicious and the guests looked vintage and glamorous.

Siobhan and Stuart (Matt's brother)
The birthday girl and also the star of the night looked stunningly gorgeous! Siobhan sported a very glamorous vintage dress which, by the way, she purchased from a vintage store in Germany! Can't get much more authentic than that! I didn't examine it but it looked like red shot taffeta or satin with a beautiful black lace overlay which sparkled with black sequins. Siobhan’s hair was very sleek and very 1950’s; it had an element of Dita von Teese. She wore sweet pearls around her neck (maybe there’s a story behind those?) and shiny black elbow length gloves with an eye-catching diamante bracelet. Her shoes were black peep toes. She looked incredible!


There were some lovely speeches and a video taking us through Siobhan’s 21 years on earth... and then... we hit the expiry time. That time when little babies are crying, falling over, getting irritable and well, ready for bed!

A lovely night had.   





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