Archive for ‘shopping’

June 29th, 2010

Have you met the Joneses?

JJ and I are fairly far removed from being le family Jones. We try not to keep up. But there is the Dyson vacuum incident, which I won’t go into. 

But when I’m alone, the Jonesing gets a tad loud. 

Like the other day, I was rather blue, so I went to that great bastion of fashion in the West, Highpoint Shopping centre. Having skipped breakfast, I hopped into Gloria Jean’s for a coffee and a spinach and ricotta pastry surrounded by the most delightful ladies and their children. As I have mentioned before, I LOVE children. BUT, on this day, what with me being blue and all that, the last thing I needed was a youngster kicking a soccer ball around the cafe. 

Sure, World Cup fever is abound and who the hell am I to deter a future David Beckham or Harry Kewell. 

David Beckham - Can kick a soccerball around a cafe any time. Can also take off his shirt whenever he likes, thanks.

Harry Kewell - See "David Beckham"

 But the kid was neither and, really, it’s a freaking cafe! 

The mother did try her best to deter him. 

Boy: (sound effect) kick kick kick 

Mummy: Darling, I don’t think you should be kicking that around in here. 

(Mummy goes back to latte and conversation) 

Boy (looking around): Oh, it’s ok. 

Mummy looks over at boy kick kick kicking. 

Mummy: (sound effect) birds chirping 

(Mummy goes back to latte and conversation) 

Boy: (sound effect) kick kick kick KICK KICK KICK KICK FREAKING KICK 

But anyway, it was the day after the Australian Coup (as I will henceforth refer to the day that Julia Gillard toppled Kevin Rudd). See, I’m supposed to be happy that a childless sister is now our PM. But I LOVED Kev, so it’s bittersweet and it will take some time for me to recover. 

So there I was, reading The Age when over at a window seat, I copped an eyeful of a man, a little unwashed and rather creative looking, tapping away silently on a teensy weensy little laptop. 

OH! I verily squealed. I wants me one of them – Precious. 

Now, I belong to the Faith school of want/get/have. Remember Faith, the dark murdering slayer that came into being after Buffy died. 

Faith - the bad slayer who got what she wanted.

Faith taught Buffy that slayers  could have whatever they want, whenever they want. Slayers and me! 

So off I went to JB, pointed at the prettiest little thing, directed JJ to the payment machine with the plastic payment thing and voila. Want. Get. Have. 

My new little Asus EEE

I can slip it into my bag and it weighs less than my wallet 

Your email:

 

CategoryAround town, Betty babbles on, babies, shopping | Comment4 Comments »

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May 31st, 2010

I know you’ve already got me a birthday present, but…

A wise American once said:

“Don’t be fooled by the rocks that I got
I’m still, I’m still [Betty on a box]

Used to have a little, now I have a lot
No matter where I go, I know where I came from (from the Bronx!)”

Well, Sunshine via West Footscray, via a tree-free village in Sicily.

Those who know me, know that I’m a simple girl.

I don’t go for the big brands. I don’t wear Chanel cosmetics, I go for Napoleon.

And I’m vitually free ofgourmet bling – there’s some Kenneth Cole bling*, Victoria Mason bling* and that (now broken) necklace I got from the world’s biggest jewellery store when JJ and I got lost near Chiang Mai that time – bling* yes, but alas, no-name bling*.

Geez, I do like a pretty piece of jewellery though.

So what’s a girl to do?

It’s Dior.

AND it’s a bouquet of flowers with a teeny lady bug and butterfly (Dior Milly la Floret amethyst ring)

And bunnies (Dior bunny ring)

And Memento Mori (Dior Memento Mori ring)

 At around £8000 apiece, they are unlikely additions to the jewellery tree so… here’s something a little loser to home, and priced lower than the kitchen renovation, with thanks to the delightfully gorgeous taxidermist/jeweller, Julia DeVille (yep, that’s a real animal bone).

Julia DeVille onyx and bone brooch

 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
* Yes, yes, I still use the word Bling. Whatever.

CategoryBetty babbles on, shopping | Comment1 Comment »

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May 17th, 2010

I like to shop online

Hold the presses! I know, right? I’m the only one.

I can’t believe that I’ve become an avid internet shopper. I mean, what about the sensual experience that you can only get from walking into a shop, trying something on, squishing the new wool, smelling the pure leather, sliding your fingers across the surface of a porcelain plate or noticing the resin drips on the surface of a painting.

Well there’s still a place for that but the veritable enormity of products online means that the world is not just your oyster, it’s your clam, your very own pharmacy and art gallery all at your fingertips.

Sometimes both at once. Take this example. I’ve been looking for an interesting spice rack to go in my new kitchen and discovered this:

 

But they don’t ship to Australia! So I decided to get creative. Who knew you can buy real test tubes on the interwebs? WHO KNEW?

I mean, I know you can get anything, but test tubes?

And then I discovered all this other stuff I seriously didn’t know I needed. 
  

CategoryAround town, Betty babbles on, culcha, food, shopping | CommentNo Comments »

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May 16th, 2010

A birthday pressie. And it’s not even my birthday!

So for weeks now, JJ has been teasing me about how he’s got me the best birthday present ever and how he’s completely outdone himself. Now, I happen to find that hard to believe because, well, here’s a very short list of the birthday presents I’ve received from him over the years:

  • Shopping trip to Penang. I know. It’s pretty freaking extravagant , but seriously, it’s just that we have no kids. And anyway, I saved us SO much money buying fashion in Asia.
  • Red and black cord coat from Dizingof
  • A necklace from William Griffiths not too dissimilar to this one (except mine has a heart instead of a gun!)

So he’s pretty good, right?

Well, I have to say that all that stuff is pretty ordinary compared to this year’s pressie on a number of fronts. I mean, he ACTUALLY managed to keep it a secret, and even managed to get Momo and Tim to keep it secret.

When Momo was in town recently after her superstar jaunt to the Australian Fashion Festival, I yelled at her thus:

“Tell me what he freaking got me for my birthday.”
To which she replied:
“No”

 I don’t care for surprises, just like I don’t like to know what I’m having for dinner. There have been many disapproving conversations with JJ that have gone something like this:

JJ: What do you want for dinner?
Me: Oh I dunno, can’t you just decide?
JJ: How about macadamia chicken?
Me: Really? Can it get any more caloric?
JJ: Asian noodle soup with silverbeet?
Me: Silverbeet, hey? Hmm, sounds boring.
JJ: [Big annoyed sigh] Steak and salad.
Me: Hmmm…
JJ: Forget it. I’m just going to make something and you’ll love it.

It’s true. I mostly do love it.

I prefer a surprise when I don’t know I’m getting one. By all means, surprise me, just don’t let me know about it because it’ll drive me crazy!

But it was all worth it this year because BEHOLD!

JJ COMISSIONED A PIECE OF ART BY ONE OF MY FAVOURITE ARTISTS, CHRISTINA GORDON. You may have noticed a link to her artwork on this site. She’s glorious and talented and I love her and I love this! Its called “Yoyo and Peaches perform“. How clever of her to know that Peaches would be the one jumping through the hoop while Yoyo cowers… THANK YOU JJ AND THANK YOU CHRISTINA.

Yoyo and Peaches perform
Oh yeah, my birthday’s in a few weeks… He couldn’t keep it a secret that long.

CategoryBetty babbles on, art, culcha, shopping | Comment1 Comment »

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May 9th, 2010

I’ve got a new toy

It’s true, it does take me a while to cotton on to things. So, I only just joined Facebook (and subsequently left it) a few months ago. I may recently have said something like:

Me: Hey, are you on Facebook? It’s really cool, huh?
The rest of the world: Um, yeah, right.

So anyway, here’s my new toy. Isn’t she beautiful! Her name is Helga, the Holga.

I’ve already crossed to the wrong side of the railway tracks and photographed the silos, as well as Momo’s beautiful kidneys – not on the wrong side of the tracks.

Yeeha! I am going to take some spectacular shots of neighbourhood.

CategoryBetty babbles on, art, culcha, shopping | CommentNo Comments »

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March 23rd, 2010

When 4711 was perfume and vintage was just old

I went to a vintage shop in Daylesford recently. It was a cross between a lovely frock shop, Mexican curio cantina and antique dealer with just enough of a dash of dodgy earth-mother-fisherman-pants-flouncy baby-doll dresses. But anyway, in the back room, I discovered the costmetics area, complete with vintage perfumes. 

    Years ago, when Frank and I used to sell our old stuff at the Camberwell Market (and Frank would make a killing from offloading designer work samples) I’d wander around to see what the other stall holders were selling and there was always someone who had a cosmetic basket filled with half-used jars of Oil of Ulan and empty Charlie perfume bottles. Who the hell buys that stuff? It seemed like they just grabbed everything they could see in that last minute dash out the door at five in the morning. 

So I wasn’t at all surprised to see that little area in the back room with its curious little bottles and jars. In fact, I was totally delighted by it. And there was that familiar cylindrical bottle with the blue and gold label. 

It was half full of yellow liquid. Sure, it could have been toxic but i felt driven to do what I did next. I picked it up. I removed the lid and then… I spritzed. Because you don’t spray 4711, you spritz. 

    Talk about a serious whack to the nostrils! Was it the alcohol? Was it the passage of time? Was it just the fragrance itself? There are a few fragrances that bring me back to a certain time: 
  • Felce Azzurra talc in a sachet 
  • Impulse “perfume”
  • Pino Silvestre cologne

And 4711. 

    I swear I only spritzed once but as I walked back into the main area of the shop the “fragrance” lingered longer than I would have liked, or imagined. 

It certainly turned more heads than an Impulse ad.

CategoryAround town, Betty babbles on, shopping | Comment2 Comments »

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