Diary of a Burlesque Beginner - Update

As I have been saying in several un-burlesque related posts recently, I have an update on the classes. So, here it is:

Week four and five were kind of write off as one I was too sick to go to and the other was cancelled. I was looking forward to week six to get back into the groove of things and then I had a message from the instructor and one of the girls I was going with.

The friend of mine who was originally coming was sick for a couple of weeks and missed 2 lessons. After this she was off interstate and spent the next week packing so she couldn’t make that one either. After this she decided that she had missed too much of it and wouldn’t be able to catch up, so there was no point going. This is a pity as we did enjoy the classes, but as she was also my ride it really put a spanner in the works. On a normal work day I catch the train home no problem, it takes roughly 50-60 minutes depending on if it is express but as the lessons don’t finish until 7:30 and I wouldn’t get to the train station until 8ish and then would have to wait for a train I wouldn’t get home until 9-9:30ish (I realize I sound like a sook but I get up at 6 so I try to go to bed early, oh and my train line doesn’t feel remotely safe at night time). This would’ve sucked but it would’ve been manageable (hey, it was only one night a week).

This was of course until Adelaide Metro decided it would be fun to completely stuff me around and re-do the train line. I now have to catch a bus and a train (no buses go out to where I live) which takes an hour and a half. Not only do I now need to be up at 5:30am I wouldn’t get home until 10-10:30 if I caught the train after the lessons. This would’ve meant I would really have to commit if I wanted to keep going and although the last lesson I went to wasn’t exactly puppies and rainbows I was keen to keep going and finish out the class. Plus another friend of mine was still going with me.

After carting my shoes and change of clothes around with me on the train and bus and with a redbull ready in the fridge I was ready to get back on the horse (or chair, rather). Then at around lunch time that day I got a message from the instructor. She wanted to know if me and the girls (my two friends) were coming tonight. I explained that one friend will no longer be coming and that the other in un-contactable (long story, basically phone breakage) but I would be there but may have to leave early depending on the new train timetable. She then went on to say that there was currently only one other girl who was still attending and that she was now moving the other class. Conclusion: the class I was attending is now redundant. Now, as much as I was disappointed I must admit it was kind of a relief as well. I have be assured I will be notified when she is starting a new class and hopefully I will be able to attend. My other friend who was still keen is interested in attending again so we will definitely be looking into it.

So, unfortunately for the time being Diary of a Burlesque Beginner is on hiatus. It’s not over, in fact… now I’ve had a bit of a teaser maybe next time I’ll be slightly more coordinated hehe.

But on a more optimistic note, I finally got my P’s the other week (not really excited about the driving, more excited that I don’t have to get up on the weekends for driving lessons!) which means I can finally start my sewing lessons. I had looked into some lessons around my area and found a teacher who came to your house for 2 hours a lesson, but considering I have literally never touched a sewing machine this could be rather daunting. Luckily for me, a family friend was looking for something to do during the weekend and mentioned that she used to sew her own clothes! She kindly offered to give me some basic lessons and get me going before I start anything more difficult. I am hoping to do a similar thing as the Diary of a Burlesque Beginner for the sewing lessons… thinking about calling it something along the lines of “Sew la ti da” or “sew far”, what do you think?



I would also like to point out a wonderful site I came across today, called The Graphics Fairy. The border around the first image and the sewing machine are both from her site. She has over 1,200 free Clip Art images, that you can use for craft projects, collage, DIY, scrapbooking etc! She has been adding vintage image downloads every day since 2007. Definitely worth checking out. Oh, and she also another site called The Background Fairy where she has some free blogger backgrounds to pretty up your blog.

Anyhoo, ciao for now…

The end of my teenage-hood

My 20th birthday shindig was on Saturday night (my actually birthday isnt until next week) and I finally got to wear the lovely blue dress I mentioned in my post “Why my Mother is amazing…”. The night was hit mostly, the bands were fantastic and it was so good to catch up with everyone. A few things did go awry but nothing I cant forgive eventually…

We arrived early and got in a few cocktails before everyone rocked up and sat at the back on one long couch which was great because everyone could fit. Two of my best friends who previously did not get along had sorted everything out and they were both there, along with other great friends who I don’t see nearly enough. As always with a group outing a few people went missing and some drunken words were uttered but all in all a fairly good night. I didn’t expect everything to go to plan but I was very disappointed when one my best mates took off several times with another friend of hers and then didn’t re-surface until the rest of us had already arrived home.

There were two friends of mine who have let me down on several occasions whom, if they didn’t show would pretty much be written off in my friendship book (I know that sounds harsh but I don’t have time for wasters) but my best mate I did not expect to leave. Luckily, one the two who I wasn’t counting on turning up did :) The other messaged me last minute with some lame excuse and I haven’t even bothered to text back. Short of some amazing transformation where she actually makes an effort with their friends, I don’t believe I need to.

When I changed schools in year 10 I really learnt a lot about who my real friends are… people really show their true colours when they actually have to make an effort to stay in touch. Friendship is a two way street, if I have to make all the effort and have none returned I will eventually just give up. I am more then happy to help people out and always make time for people I care about, but when I realize that its just being taken advantage off I am less then forgiving. Time is something you can never get back, and I choose to spend my time with people I respect and care about. If you do not respect me and can not be a friend then you are wasting my time. My time, that I could be spending with people who actually care, REAL friends.

Anyway, at the moment I am less then impressed with a few people who really made me question our friendships… but I am overly impressed with the people who proved theirs. I have an amazing group of friends, who even though we don’t see each other all that often made the effort to come and see me on my birthday and enjoy a few drink and some good laughs. I am soooo thankful for them. They really made my night... On this more cheery note ill stop whining and fill you in on the rest of my night.

Drinks = fantastic. The barman at The Cavern was a real nice guy. I had so many different cocktails I can’t even remember, but I did try a shot called a “B52” which (besides the fact I don’t generally do shots and it had baileys in it which I am not keen on) was actually quite nice. I also had another drink that tasted just like a strawberry milkshake. The bands = amazing. Although I bought the Lucky Seven CD at their album launch a while back I didn’t get to hang around and see them play. I have had the album on repeat on my iPod since that night and was definitely not disappointed when I saw them, not only did they do some songs from the CD they also did Americano which I love too! And BONUS one of the guys actually commented on my dress and said my outfit was “impeccable”… Pretty sure that dress paid for it self right at that moment :) hehe. I did also get up the nerve to speak to the singer and tell him how wonderful I thought they were hehe. He was very nice and even wished me happy birthday. The other band of the night was The Saucermen, whom I had heard of but had not heard any of their music. They were fantastic too, and played some great rockabilly tunes including (my now favourite song of theirs for future reference) “the Ghost of Johnny Cash” which you can check out here.

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A "B52" shot - Image from Your-LifestyleOnline.com
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Lucky Seven - Image from LuckySevenSwing.com

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The Saucermen - Image from Reverbnation.com
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My dress as I think I’ve mentioned before did end up costing a bit more then expected, and then even more when I had to have the waist taken in… so when I was out I was slightly on edge about spilling anything on it. I managed to go the whole night at The Cavern with no spillage and made it to the Cranka… then my first drink there I had one sip taken from it before I wore it. One of the girls rushed me to the ladies and we soaked the dress and under the lighting in there we seemed to get it all off. I haven’t had the guts to look at the dress since I took it off that night and asked my Mum to take it to the dry cleaner for me as I do not know what I will do if its un-fixable :(

So please, send me all your dry cleaning luck in hopes it will be OK :)

And, without further a due here are some pictures from the night...
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My morning...

Well, my day had turned to absolute crap before 7:00am. I commute to work as I live roughly an hour away… Lucky for me a family friend also commutes with me and more often then not he will drive us to the station. All was well, I was even running on time… went out the front and he was waiting. I got in the car. We weren’t even out the drive way and I saw a spider in the middle of the dash. The spider wasn’t overly large, probably about 4cm in diameter, but if you ask me that is not overly small either, and besides if it looks furry I WILL scream. So after a loud shriek he grabbed a tissue and squished it…

Or so we thought. Still totally jumpy from this close encounter I was of course still looking at the dash, while he kept driving. Next thing, there is me screaming again that it isn’t dead, its still there. Now its on his side of the dash so he slows down again and he squishes it. I should take this moment to inform you all that, when I leave in the morning it is still dark outside so this spider wasn’t easily visible especially when the interior light in this particular car is broken. So each time I am screaming and pointing, I can see the spider but he can’t. Anyhoo all is good; its been squished (again) but… nope its back on my side of the dash moving quickly even closer to me. Yep, you guessed it, there’s me screaming again. “Pull over pull over coz its coming closer to me! Its still there! Pull over! Pull over!”

With a brains on his shoulder and not being a screaming girly mess, he pulls over. I am immediately out of the car. He squishes it. For real this time. It is no longer ANYWHERE on the dash. After doing my ridiculous “there is spiders on me” dance I get back in the car. Except before I have even shut the door one drops from the roof right in front of my face! If I breathed in it would’ve been sucked to my nose! So no sooner had I gotten back in the car, did I bounce straight back out! But, feeling triumphant that the dash spider is dead he has gone on driving. Not fast obviously as he had just started…. But still. Exiting a moving car = not a good idea. Realizing that I am no longer in the vehicle and that I am screaming, yet again he squishes the second spider… after some convincing I get back in the car huddled into a ball so I take up less room and therefore in my mind set at the time am less likely to have another spider near me.

The drive from my house to the station would be roughly 10 minutes, this morning it felt like FOREVER. When we did finally arrive I could not get out of the car quick enough, and when I did… it was pouring with rain so I had to run. Get to the seats at the station and look at my foot which is now actually hurting. My “sockings” are ripped and bloody, and my foot is cut. I rush to the deli and buy some band aids and cover the wound and toss my sockings in the bin. I check out my pants and they look fine. Escaped injury for the most part. My foot may be a little worse for the wear on the weekend but its not too bad. Untill…

I get to work and decide to check out my knee which is now hurting too. My pants were fine, no rips what so ever. My knee is a different story. A nice gouge and graze. As I pull my pant leg up, I can feel a wound as it is sticking to the inside of my pants. Doing this, of course made it bleed which it had apparently been doing the whole way to work anyway. So I now have a nasty knee that looks like I was pushed over in the play ground which will not exactly be flattering with my dress on the weekend. Those stupid spiders (its still disputed how many there were, but there was at least two) didn’t even touch me and yet they managed to injure me and ruin my weekend. This may sound completely silly but to be honest, for a minute there I thought I was actually having a nightmare and wasn’t really in the car. It seemed like there was a never ending supply of spiders, and then when I thought the dash spiders (all of them, or one Houdini one) were dead bam roof spider… IN MY FACE. Definite nightmare material when you are petrified of spiders.

To make matters worse, I spilt my coffee on my white shirt on the way into the office and I think I am the only one who has ever needed first aid on the whole floor. The only one who has ever needed it, AND has needed twice in the past 6 months… both for injuries outside of work which generally occur due to my clumsiness or stupid accidents. So, the first aid officer kindly bandaged me up and my knee looked a little better once it was cleaned, still not super attractive but better… *sigh*

I did manage to find some large plasters for my knee which are paler then usual bandaids (which quite frankly are so far from my skin colour it amazes me) so hopefully it won't be too noticeable on Saturday under my stockings. Hopefully my day can only get better from here… Oh I have an update on the Diary of Burlesque beginner coming up too, I promise.

Why my Mother is amazing...

Stop Staring Sultry Turquoise Dress

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I awoke this morning to find I had in fact won the dress I was drooling over yesterday…However it had nothing to do with my lucky four leaf clover under my pillow or wearing my Mums lucky ring (I have mentioned I am superstitious right?). As the listing for the dress was obviously set up for those in the US it finished at 2:30am South Australian time. Before I went to bed I put in a pretty high bid and went to sleep hoping for the best. I considered getting up at 2:20 just to check it, but as I now need to be up at 5:30am to get to work on time I thought it best not to if I wanted to function the next day…

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So when I did get up at 5:30am I went straight to the computer to see if I had won, which would either make or break my day. I walked into the office to see a note and some money on the desk… My Mum had gotten up at 2:20am and placed another bid so that I didn’t miss out. Not only had she gotten up at 2:20am, she had gotten up at 2:20am on her BIRTHDAY. The note told me of how she had set her alarm, gotten up, saw I had been outbid and increased the bid in the last seconds to make sure I won. Not only that, she had left some cash on the desk (money she had planned to spend on my upcoming birthday) to go toward the now rather expensive price of the dress (it was in US dollars). It also went on to say that she hoped I wasn’t mad, as I spend lots of money of shoes too (I loved that bit hehe) and that she could see I didn’t want to miss out.

So this post goes out to my AMAZING mother. Happy Birthday day Mum!

I now await the dress in the mail and hope it looks half as nice on me as it does in the picture. It would certainly want to considering I paid nearly double to DaddyOs.com price just so I could one that was already in Australia and therefore would arrive on time. I am thinking teaming it with a little black hat and black driving style gloves (and black heels of course), what do you think?

Diary of a Burlesque Beginner - Week Five

Last nights burlesque class was CANCLLED. The lovely Miss Kitty Kemble (the teacher) was unfortunately not well and wasn’t able to find a replacement teacher for the night. For those of you who are die hard Diary of a Burlesque beginner fans (haha), do not fret… although I have no new moves to explain poorly or any uncoordinated comments to make for this week I am sure that Miss Kitty Kemble will make sure we make up for the class which means there is another two classes to come.

I will make sure I stay healthy so I don’t miss anymore…

Anyhoo since I have your attention... on a completely unrelated note, please wish me happy thoughts and lots of luck. I have fallen in love with a dress on DaddyOs.com and would really love to wear it to a do I am going to to celebrate my 20th Birthday. Although some don’t consider the 20th much of a milestone, I think it is a big deal that I am coming to end of my teenage-hood and as such, I want to celebrate accordingly.

Luckily for me, the lovely Lucky Seven are playing on the 19th June at the Cavern and although the 19th isn’t my actual birthday it is certainly close enough. This made my decision of where to go and what to do very simple, and all that was left is what to wear…

Which brings me back to the dress I found on DaddyOs.com, unfortunately as they are US based and I need the dress here by the 18th June I really need to purchase it this week (or today preferably) to have it here in time. Stressing out and unable to call the help line due to the time difference I googled away and found the dress in Australia on eBay. Just one. Ending tomorrow.

It’s the right size and colour. It’s the exact same dress but it’s much closer (geographically). Only problem is… it’s not buy it now. I have to bid to win it. I really want this dress… so please… if you have some luck to spare within the next 13 hours send it my way.

As I am kind of superstitious when it comes to eBay items, I will have to post a picture of the dress after I win it. But for now, here are some of my other favorites from the DaddyOs.com site.

Stop Staring Veronica Bow Dress

Stop Staring French Navy Dress


Stop Staring Leopard Martini Dress

With these dresses being my second choices, I know you can just imagine the one I picked is just darling.

Oh also, I have been VERY slack with outfit posts as I never tend to get a picture of myself before I go out. There are plenty of picture when I am out but they are generally all from the waist up with other people. So, I have been thinking that as I am spending the upcoming long weekend in (and going bowling :) ) I was thinking that I might do my hair and make up and seriously just play dress up and take some pics. This way ill have a backlog of outfit posts for you and any I wear to something will just be bonus. Thoughts? Is this a good idea or is it “cheating”? I suppose they would be more, clothes posts then an outfit for a specific event/outing…

Vintage hand-me-downs

Since I began collecting/wearing vintage in my early/mid-teens I have had a lot of enthusiasm and support from those around me. My Mum often comes home from a day out with a wonderful dress she spotted at a country op-shop or a vintage store she just happened to duck into and my friends even have a few pieces in their wardrobes now from shopping trips with me. Something I have noticed a lot more since more people notice my style is the wonderful things that come out of the woodwork.

Clothes, jewelry, bags, shoes, hats it doesn’t matter… Some people have vintage pieces in the back of their wardrobe, hidden in their spare room or even in a box in their garage just collecting dust. Often it is something they have forgotten, and seeing vintage style simply jolts it back into their memory. It suddenly occurs to them that something that they no longer use, had forgotten about or wouldn’t have considered is sitting in garage when it could be bring joy to someone who cherishes that kind of thing.

People who know me often mention things they have at home that were passed onto them that I would probably like or even things they have picked up at op-shops for a fancy dress once. I have received many a glomesh purse from Family and Friends. It occurred to me that while I’m always over-joyed when I am given a new vintage goodie, the people who are giving are also happy that something perhaps their Nan or Mother once used it being used again and often comment on how “that’s what they would’ve wanted”.

I think vintage hand-me-downs is a win win situation, where something seemingly worthless to one can be a treasure to someone else. It does make me wonder though, how many people have wonderful vintage goodies stashed in their wardrobes, spare rooms, garages, attics etc that are just waiting for a new lease on life?

Have you ever been gifted any vintage goodies? Do people often tell you about things they have collecting dust at home and get shocked by your enthusiastic reaction?

Well, I was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of some vintage goodies just the other night…I was at a family friend’s house for dinner and she gestured to a pile of stuff she had been going through on the table. Her Mother had recently passed and she was sorting through her belongings… Everything had sticky notes on it saying who it had belonged to as some of it had belonged to her Mothers Mother.

She directed me to a pile that was kindly sticky noted “Nanny’s this” and “Nanny’s that” etc and said to have a look and I could keep anything I liked as she and her family had already sorted through everything and taken all the things they wanted. As she put it “I can’t keep everything and I would rather it go to someone who will use it or wear it and Mum would’ve preferred it that way”.

There was some lovely gold jewelry that her grandmother had painted and some other bits and pieces in zip lock bags. They were pretty but as I wear silver, white gold of costume jewelry I turned my attention to the rest of the pile…

I then came across a old Remington shaver box filled with costume jewelry that had belonged to her Nanny. It had several brooches, some screw on earrings (which is handy since my ear piercings closed years ago) and the odd necklace. All of it beautiful and well looked after…here are few pics of some of them:

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Again, please excuse photo quality... these were taken on my mobile as my non-quality-photo-taking-anyway camera was flat...

There is also very cute marcasite brooch and screw on earrings, but the photos did not come up very well at all...

A week or so earlier this lovely Family Friend had come to my house for dinner and had kindly given me two other lovely vintage pieces. A cute little glomesh coin purse and a glomesh compact that has never been used. Oh and a cat statue! :)

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I should be off to burlesque tonight and have a new installment of “Diary of Burlesque Beginner” for you sometime later this week, however I have been up since 5:30am this morning (thanks to the trains being stopped I have to be up that early to be at work by 9am!) so if I make it till the end of the day I will be even more uncoordinated lol. Perhaps I should invest in a bejeweled crash helmet to wear? hehe

Diary of a Burlesque Beginner - Week Four

Well dolls, this post will be rather short one as my cold is still lingering and I didn’t make it to last nights class. I had hoped to go and even carted my change of clothes and heels into work so I could head there afterward but after a horrible nights sleep and breathing in the fresh winter air I really didn’t feel up to it. I figured rather then go and simply not enjoy myself (or even possibly make the others girls sick) I was better to give it a miss and renew my enthusiasm next week.

Send in the nurse...

Image from: DiamondsAndDolls.com

I believe we would have been continuing the chair routine and practicing… Lord knows I really could’ve done with the practice but with a fuzzy cold ridden head I would have more likely become frustrated and gotten over it rather quickly. I am going to have to try and get some practice in before next week; but as all the chairs at my house are either antique or just plain old (I mean, squeaky old) my last attempt ended promptly as I would prefer to keep the chair and my skull in tact should the old chair decide to give out.

If any of you are interested in the music we use at the classes though (besides Fever and Big Spender) you can download it from iTunes for I think $16.99. It’s called “How to Strip (Out of Print, Digital Only)”. It has 21 tracks by the Sonny Lester Orchestra that are a great listen even if you aren’t getting your burlesque on. I listened to it while I was getting ready to go out the other week and it was great. It really makes you feel sexy and puts a swing in your step. You can find details here, or just search on iTunes.

Image from iTunes

Fingers crossed I’m feeling better for next week…