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…

Movies and Sewing

I have just been on a bit of shopping spree in Myer’s DVD section…

Image from Blog.VintageMoviePoster.co.uk

Image from Meredy.com

Image from ImpAwards.com

Image from WesterlyLibrary.org

I’ve have seen most of these movies numerous times (probably on day-time TV on a Sunday) but was yet to own a copy so seeing as they were going out for $10 each I stocked up.

With the weather being pretty miserable at the moment and most of my cash going towards paying for my driving lessons (should finally get my license by the end of the month) and starting burlesque classes next week I figure I had to spend money to save money. By spending money on movies I will stay in on the weekend and save money that I would otherwise be spending if I were out and about. I love my logic…

I will tell you more about the burlesque classes once I get started but at this stage I’ve got at least one of my girl friends coming with me so even if my “dancing” is beyond disgraceful it should be a laugh.

I have to apologize for my lack of blogging recently, I have not been feeling my best and have been flat out at work… which means I haven’t really done anything note worthy (or even watched anything noteworthy). I did go to a party on the weekend though so I should have an outfit post for sometime soon, although my self photography skills are still not up to par.

I will try and get back into the “3 a week” blogging habit shortly, and with my next project I am sure I will a lot to say. Once I get my license out of the way I am planning on learning how to sew…

The idea of being able to make my own clothes from vintage patterns just sounds perfect to me so I want to give it a whirl. I have a friend who works at Spotlight so when the machine she said was the best for beginners was on sale I went in and picked one up. This was roughly 3 months ago. It has since sat there in our spare room, lonely, still in its box mocking me…

It’s a Brother BM2600.

Image from here.

When I was in Spotlight picking it up, I was full of inspiration so I got some patterns too. Of course I was drawn to the retro patterns and all of them were quite nice, but not getting to ahead of my self I picked the easy ones.

Image from here.

Image from here.

Image from here.

I have no idea how this little adventure will go, but I am sure it will be an interesting one. I will be sure to keep you update once I get started.

If you’ve got any tips for beginners would be really appreciated. Oh, and keep your fingers crossed for me for my license test.

Rock n Roll Rendezvous

Obviously the Rock n Roll Rendezvous is first and foremost a car show, with cars from the 70s and older all being slung together in one big mish mash time warp car park. Now I will preface this with the statement that I am not really a car person. I know what they are, I know what they do, I know some are prettier then others and I appreciate that, but beyond this I really don’t know my whatcha-ma-call-its from my do-hickeys. This might seem like a weird statement considering the photos that will follow but it’s true… The photos below are taken from a purely aesthetic point of view, and more importantly my point and click view. I do not know what year these were made and I probably couldn’t name them but I do appreciate that they are amazing to look at and I love that old world feel you get from just picturing what it would’ve been like when this was all that was available. That said, I hope you enjoy.

My outfit: Skirt - Valleygirl, Shoes - Wittner, Top - Revival by Dangerfield, Scarf - eBay.

This was my favourite one, I just LOVE this colour blue.

As much as I do enjoy checking out all the beautiful cars I mainly went to check out the bands and do some shopping. My mum bought a wonderful dress from a lovely Adelaide woman off eBay not long ago. Unfortunately the dress was a little on the big side so mum contacted her to see if it could be exchanged. Jane (the seller) happily exchanged the dress and in the post bag included a card with information about her website. Well that was it, the second I laid eyes on this website I knew my next few pay cheques may as well be void. There was so much nice stuff :) After drooling over a few things my mum then informed me that Betty Jane Boutique would be holding a stall at the Rock n Roll Rendezvous.

As soon I heard this I went through the site again with pen and paper in hand and wrote down the main items I would like to try on… I emailed the list to Betty Jane Boutique to see if she could possibly bring the items so I could try them on at the Rock n Roll Rendezvous. She was more then happy to oblige. When I arrived I tried on everything and did pretty well, with only 2 things being too big and 2 things she didn’t currently have in stock at the time (I will just have to order them from her website instead now). Here are some pictures of the things I did buy. Note, these pics are from the Betty Jane Boutique website. I have not taken any yet as I haven’t had a chance to wear any of it. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for them in future posts though.

Sailor pants

Denim dungarees
Glamour dress

Spanish dancer skirt

Sugar skulls bag

This is only a taste of some of the wonderful stuff Betty Jane Boutique stocks, with new stock coming in all the time. Brands include: Stop Staring, Lux De Ville, Miss Hussy, etc. There is even some vintage finds too. She is based in South Australia, and from the looks of the Upcoming Events tab on her site, attends lots of different things where you can go and check out her stock.

Unfortunately I don’t have a single picture of any of the bands and did not even have a chance to get my dance on while I was there. After snapping photos of the cars and after my little shopping spree we headed over the dance floor only to find that it was almost impossible to make it through. There was so many people dancing and crowded around the outside of the dance floor, and over all the grassy space near the food stalls that it was difficult to even get close enough to take a picture. When I did finally manage to get close enough (which was miles away) to snap a half decent picture, I was right behind a big tree and couldn’t see a darn thing. Sorry guys, I will have to try harder next year.

100 eBay Purchases!

Today is quite a milestone in my life… I have made it to 100 feedback on eBay!

And when I say 100 I mean 100 people have left feedback for me after I have bought something from them. Although I had hopes to sell things online I have yet to actually do so… so every single digit of my feedback score is something I have bought.

Now, I can’t quite take credit for all of it as my mum and I shared an account until her eBay addictiveness took over and she created her own, but I most certainly made quite an effort toward it. Unfortunately eBay doesn’t keep track of you purchases after they are 90 days old so I can not see what the first thing I purchased was… but I vaguely remember it being a dress with pumpkins printed on it (which was worn so often that I literally wore a hole in it!).

Since I do not have a credit card eBay is about the only place I can shop online since I can pay via bank deposit. This can be quite a problem as I often find things on other sites that I would kill to have but alas can not buy. However, the lack of credit card has probably worked in my favor in the long run though I suppose… otherwise I foresee a wardrobe full of pretty dresses BUT an amazing amount of debt.

There have been so many wonderful things I have bought off eBay… some of which I probably wouldn’t even remember until I saw them. I love eBay for making things that are too find so easy to get. From my saddle shoes to TV series that were not released in Australia… it is a goldmine of hard to find stuff.

Although I can not purchase things with PayPal and therefore can not buy anything from overseas I still do OK just buying things from Australia… there are some wonderful vintage sellers and sewers who make petticoats and rock n roll skirts. I must say though, from when I first made my foray in the world of eBay compared to now there is a lot less quality vintage. I’m not sure if this is simply because it has all been snatched up and there isn’t as much out there or because people have simply stopped listing it… but either way it is rather disappointing.

I haven’t gotten any clothing or shoes on eBay for a while but I still find a way to spend my money hehe. My 100th purchase on eBay for instance was “The James Dean Story” by Ronald Martinetti. It is second hand but still in good reading condition and for $11 including postage I couldn’t resist. I have been looking for a good James Dean biography for a while and haven’t had much luck at all so it was quite a good find if you ask me.

I will do a post of some of my past eBay finds shortly but for now here are a few things I am constantly watching but am yet to splurge and buy…

I just think this is too cute… I certainly wouldn’t mind walking into my garden and seeing Bambi and his Mummy reunited :)

You can find this here.

The Real Bettie Page: The Truth about the Queen of Pinups.

You can find it here.

Mad Men – Season 3.

You can find it here.

Vintage Fair & Kustom Kulture

Ground floor goodness

This stall had some lovely winter coats and hats

Me and my new blouse

Well, I have finally had a chance to catch my breath after a whirlwind weekend. There was so much on that I was keen to go to but only so little time. I did manage to make it to two out of three things though, which isn’t a bad effort. As I mentioned last week the 2010 Way We Wear Vintage Fair and Kustom Kulture was on from Friday to Sunday and the Lindy Charm School for Girls was in Adelaide on the Saturday.

Unfortunately I didn’t make it to the Lindy Charm School day, but I did however ware out my wallet at the vintage fair and make a brief appearance at Kustom Kulture.

I went to the vintage fair on Friday night, the first night it was open. I wasn’t sure what to expect as this was the first year I have actually been able to make it. It was great, everyone there was lovely and I managed to find quite a few goodies. I usually go to these and simply rummage through things looking for anything I like, however its getting to the stage where my wardrobe is at maximum capacity so I decided I needed a game plan.

As I mainly look for 50s type fashion I am a big fan of full or A line skirt and petticoats and I have built up quite a collection. As lovely as they are, they tend to be light weight material and easily blow up when there is a slight wind. This usually isn’t a problem on weekend as I can simply hold it down, but I find that when I am walking to work in the city it gets extremely windy and I usually have my hands full… this does become a problem. After many frustrating days struggling to carry things and hide my knickers from passers by I decided I should stick to pencil skirts and wiggle dresses for work.

As such, my game plan at the fair was to look for clothes that I could wear to work (tighter fitting, pencil skirts, wiggle dresses etc). I was also on the look out for a black belt (my favourite one broke a week ago :) and a bullet bra as I can not seem to find one anywhere.

Overall I didn’t stray too far from my plan really which I was quite impressed about. I didn’t find a black belt or a bullet bra though… so instead got a few different accessories I simply couldn’t leave behind.

Here’s what I got…

This dress is cute on its own... but the ensemble made it a must have

I love this powder blue colour

the coat was in fantastic condition, even the lace on the lining

this is made from quite thick velvet, should be good for winter



its actually much closer to this colour, but the flash made it look redder in the above pic

this dress was the exception from the game plan, but I couldnt leave it behind :)

i mean, really... look at these pearl buttons ♥

classic black and white

should go with anything...



especially these shoes

i didnt buy these shoes at the vintage fair, i had bought them earlier in the week.

They are called "Leilah" from Wittner.

this dress is very 80s (shoulder pads and all!), but i loved the colour and the peplum skirt

the back is very low too, and it has a choker neckline

again, with the pearl buttons... thought this would be nice for work though


this hat isnt vintage, but its vintage style. there is something dramatic about a grey hate that i just ♥


this bag reminds me of lollies or something, there is definatly a childhood flashback here...

and this one, although probably not very practical reminds me of summer :)

and lastly... you can never have to many cinch belts

I didnt buy this dress. To my despair it was too small in the bust and I couldnt bring myself to buy it and alter it. I left it for someone else to crush on.

The pictures really dont do it any justice, the colour is stunning.

I especially adored the capey parts at the back.

As for Kustom Kulture, I must say i was slightly disappointed. From the looks of the flyer and the information I found on the net it looked to be an amazing weekend full of music, burlesque, stalls etc. The website even said " a nostalgia weekend for the whole family" and "daytime events run on Saturday and Sunday". The flyer that I had didn’t have any times on it so I took a bit of a guess and headed there on Saturday arvo hoping to get some stall hopping in then listen to soak up some of the music.

Unfortunately I arrived just as the Hotrod and Kustom showdown was ending and none of the bands started for a few hours. Having a birthday party on the opposite side of town later that evening I decided to take a few snaps and leave.

I did find a flyer when I was there that had times for certain things and much more info then the flyer I originally had. I did plan to head back on the Sunday and give it another shot with my new found information but lets just say it was a good birthday on Saturday night and I didn’t make it.

I haven’t given up on it and will definitely make sure I make it there again next year but if anyone else arrived at the time I did, I dare say they would be disappointed too. I am sure the night sessions were amazing and I am shattered I couldn’t hang around but for a "weekend of nostalgia for the whole family" you would think there would be more going on in the afternoon/evening.

*sigh* I suppose there is always next year :)

Here are a few of the pics I managed to snap before we left... I'm not really a car girl but they are just so pretty...