The Sounds of Silence

And my final lot of posts from the beautiful house around the corner. I upgraded from my lost voice, now I have two ear infections. So from vocal silence to near-audial silence. You'll have to excuse my lack of makeup too.

Anyhoo, this is my new 1940s dress from my spending spree. It fits perfectly and it's so comfortable. AND... J loves it! Hallelujah, I'm going to have to buy more slimline dresses. (His main complaint is that I tend to dress more like a cutesy 1950s teenager than a sexy 1950s woman.)

P.S. Does everyone else just love rayon as much as I do? So comfortable and it hangs so nicely.

1940s dress - wildfellhallvintage 

shoes - out of shot, damnit! purple polkadot wedges if you use your imagination!

Silence is golden

Silence is golden... well, for some it is! I've lost my voice. Apparently catching J's cold wasn't enough, I had to go and lose my voice too. Today I finally felt up to leaving the house in something other than a t-shirt and trackpants, so I guess that is progress.

I cannot believe the weather we're experiencing at the moment. It's still winter here, yet we have been blessed with warm, sunny days that I never want to stop. I sat and read some of the novel I've currently reading on the front porch of my neighbour's house while I was there feeding the elusive cat.

Also, I don't normally blog pictures of bathrooms, but this one is different. My neighbour's house only has an outhouse (that's an outside loo, fyi), but as my neighbour had a fall one night on her way to said outhouse, her doctor has requested they install a bathroom inside the house... and they are refusing! I don't know... I'd like the convenience of a nice warm bathroom on a rainy winter's night.

1940s dress - TMHL

apron - Spotlight

shoes - Airflex

belt - eBay

The Practical Handywoman

Ever wanted to know how to plaster a wall or successfully join two pieces of wood? Thankfully a new book at work answers all these questions and more. Pity there aren't more pictures though (unless you like wood join diagrams.)

While the cat's away, the mice will play

My elderly neighbours are frequent jetsetters, and when they're away, they enlist me to feed their cat. Despite feeding the little blighter for around a month over the past year, I have never seen him. Talk about elusive. As their property is so beautiful, I asked if I could take a few sets of outfit photos there this time round.

Their property is the same age as ours - established in the 1850s. The original bluestone house is incoporated into the newer weatherboard extension, and the gardens are so divine. They even have an old bluestone mill, river frontage and an airport! (My neighbour flies a little two-seater plane.) I have serious house envy.

dress - HinterlandVintage 

belt - eBay

bracelet - a gift from a workmate who travelled to South Africa

headband - Diva

heels - Forever 21
(broken nail - courtesy of ripping out fences on Sunday)

Spending spree

Old habits die hard, I guess. To cheer myself up after my study-induced stress-o-rama, I decided to give my credit card a bit of a flog. Here are snippets of what I bought (so as not to spoil the outfit post when they arrive, of course):

1940s rayon dress

1950s house dress

1970s check shirtwaist

6-12 month old pinafore (a gift for a girlfriend)

candy striped party straws and twine

This weekend is the Ballarat Vintage-A-Fair, and I am thinking if it is a nice sunny day, I might talk J into a leisurely drive there in the freshly-running FC. Knowing my luck it'll be a miserable, rainy day. (Dang, just checked the BoM and they are forecasting partly cloudy with a top of 14 degrees... brrrr. Trust Ballarat to hog all the wintry weather. )

Topsy turvy

My life is in a bit of a hole at the moment. I have been hating study for a while now, and while I am usually quite good at bottling things up, this time the bubble burst. I have taken a year of 'leave of absence' and I'll reassess this time next year whether to continue my IT grad dip or not. Truth be told, I doubt I'll continue.

I was hoping that the stress would just wash away when I submitted my leave application, but it hasn't. I have a horrible headache and I feel sick to my stomach. Life is too short to be stressed about something so unimportant as study. So... let's focus on the good things in life, shall we?

kittens (source)

love (and/or candy) (source)

tea (source)

music (source)

the bush (source)

and of course, vintage! (source)

I promise to do a better post when I'm feeling physically and emotionally better. I'm off to take my doctor's advice, and have some tea and cheesecake. Yes, seriously, he prescribed panadol, a nanna nap, some cheesecake, and a trip to the movies with friends. Awww! Best medical advice ever.

Date me

Can any vintage furniture aficionados take a guess at the age of these two ladies? I really wish I knew more about furniture. Both are on eBay, and both sellers have dated them - correctly or incorrectly, I'm hoping you ladies and gents can help me confirm!

Numero uno...

And the second...

The second one is by "Moderntone Furniture". Brand unknown for the first one. And in case you couldn't tell, I'm in the market for a cocktail bar or sideboard!

Saturday - a picture journey

Boy, did I have a jam-packed Saturday. I love when you're expecting a rainy, miserable weekend, only to be surprised by glorious sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. So I made the most of it. Here is the picture story of my Saturday.

I rode to the nearest town to buy organic veggies and freshly baked bread at the farmers' market.



I stopped to admire our property (and rest for a while, because the hill is a killer!)



My little town was once beautiful, but it's being ruined slowly. The old town hall used to be lovely, until they painted it grey and installed fake grass.



The old train station is now a B&B. Sadly, trains don't stop here any more - actually, I don't think any passenger trains run on this line these days.



Mary had a nibble on my bike tyres.



J and I then drove down to Queenscliff for an afternoon of bike riding. We pedalled from the pier to halfway to Drysdale, along the Rail Trail.





The steam train chuffed past us at one point, and the driver tooted the horn and scared the bejeesus out of me, the cheeky devil.



We took a pitstop.



We swung by the Queenscliff train station for a gander.



And a photo op.



They really appreciate their history down there. This sign is so old it has a four digit phone number.



I have no idea what "chains" and "links" are in measurements.



I'd love to live in Queenscliff, but alas, it is definitely out of our price range.



We came home, exhausted but happy, and I snuggled up in bed with a book, and kitty spent ages attacking my origami geisha bookmark.



The end.