Industrial Chic

Oooh delicious industrial things in houses. A trend of which I will never tire. I would give up most of my possessions to own those printers trays. Ok. All my possessions.

Typography Sets

What a great idea - a set of letterpress letters all packaged up and ready to go. Very cute.

Vintage Books

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Some lovely vintage books - the first one encompasses so much possibility and excitement - what a cover!

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Cosy bedroom

Does this bedroom just look perfectly cosy and perfect? And the pillowcases! So wonderful!

The Uniform Project

The Uniform Project is where Sheena Matheiken has pledged to wear one dress (eeep!) for a whole 365 days "as an exercise in sustainable fashion" and to raise money for poverty-stricken school kids in India.
So, this woman has amazingly excellent motives and politics - and she also happens to look ridiculously wonderful in all of these shots! I wonder if a uniform could be a very handy way to stop wardrobe dilemmas? I love the way the uniform (she has seven, by the way, so she can stay clean!) is reversible and has deep pockets. Sigh. Pockets are amazing.

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Save FBI Radio Cookbook Zine

This is very exciting. For those of you who live outside of Sydney, there is a small, community radio station called FBI which is facing funding cuts and possible extinction.

In order to raise some funds, they have put together a beautiful PDF cookbook zine, which you can download and give a small donation in exchange.

I have downloaded it, and it is really delightful. As the zine says, you could even try imaginative ideas to raise money: hold a dinner party using recipes from the zine and have people donate, or spend a night in with the zine and donate what you would have spent on dinner. All excellent ideas.

Have a look here for the links to download and donate!

Bookish Fun

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I was having a chat the other night to my lovely friend Natasha, and we were bemoaning the lack of really good 'book chat' in our lives. She was looking for a course to attend where she could study literature, but didn't want to enrol in an university course due to cost and time commitments.

So, I thought I'd gather all my favourite bookish resources together if you're interested in having more high-quality book time in your lives. Please feel free to add any you find interesting in the comments, and I'll update it.

If you're keen to have a study experience, you must have a look at Yale Open University's courses. Yale provide audio, video and written transcripts of a few of their first year courses, and they are so wonderful. I'm halfway through listening to The American Novel Since 1945 and it's excellent: the lecturer is so articulate and insightful. A mindblowingly great free resource.

If that's a bit hardcore, you might like to listen to Slate's Audio Book Club. I like to pretend the critics and I are sitting at a coffee table and chatting - they are just so personable and deliciously clever. I've already raved about KCRW's Bookworm before - it's a must-listen.

Lastly, I have also really enjoyed this podcast on creative writing - it's really helping so far.

I usually try to buy my books second-hand or on eBay. But when I can't find them or they're new, I go to Book Depository. I am a new but fervent convert - they have free shipping anywhere in the world and are quicker and cheaper than Amazon. Yippeee!

By the way, my Every Day in May today might well be some creative writing. I'll see how I go!

Fruit and Vegies Say 'Yay'!

These fruit and vegie bags are the cutest alternative to small plastic bags that I've seen. I am a dedicated 'take my own non-plastic bags to the supermarket' kinda gal, but I always cringe at my own hypocrisy when it comes to using small plastic bags for multiple things.

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Teacup Bonanza

I spent Sunday wandering around trying to find my grandpa a birthday present. He's a hard man to shop for, so I first went to the Sydney Antique Centre to hunt around for something special. I didn't find anything for him there, but ended up finding some incredible teacups - Australian Westminster Fine China, but at $290 for six, I had to say no. Despite their price, I kept circling back to them, admiring their sweet pastel hues and cheeky saucers.
Onwards I went to the Mitchell Road Design Gallery where I bought Grandpa the above carafe - I think he'll like it. But could you imagine my surprise when I found THE EXACT SAME set of six teacups at a cool $65?! I couldn't believe it - it felt incredibly lucky and so I caved. I know, I know, I've been trying to cut spending like everyone else, but this just felt too good.
Oh yes, gentle reader. I am now the proud owner of six deliciously non-matchy cups with asymmetric saucers. I can't wait to offer my guests a delicate little cup of tea, perhaps with a little biscotti?

DIY candle tutorial

I love this tutorial and need to accumulate (!!) more tins in order to give it a go.

Quelle Dressing Table!

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That's all, really. I am coveting a place to prettify that doesn't look like it comes from a boudoir. Even the word 'boudoir' sounds bad.

Labels for Download

Some truly beautiful labels for download here from Poppytalk.

I Wish My House Looked Like...

...this one. I am looking for little pieces of inspiration to use in my apartment and I wish I could just cut and paste this one. I am a bit disheartened by our couch and ottoman, which should have been here last week and still seems nowhere near the warehouse. Sadly, we are still couchless and it feels like we are living in a restaurant! (No lounging - just sitting properly at dining chairs..) Anyway, photos to come when it arrives, so in the meantime enjoy these!

The Mission District, San Francisco

Spent the day yesterday wandering around the Mission district of San Francisco, which for Sydneysiders is a bit like if Newtown and Glebe had an op-shop lovechild. In other words, it's lovely! Above is the steel (?) desk I coveted (with a strange spiky thing which I didn't covet) in a fabulous shop called X21 .
The shop was full of oddities like these lights, which looked more like extras from Wall-E than electrical fixtures.

Next stop was 826 Valencia St, where Dave Eggers famously has a pirate supply store, where a pirate in need can buy such necessities as peg leg oil, treasure cleaner, gold dragoon coins and notebooks galore. In the back of the shop, they teach (all for free) young kids and high school students English and writing skills. It made me want to start up a similar project in Sydney next year - I'll keep you posted!
This sign was for a cane shop, but I thought inadvertently hilarious. It looks rather threatening, no?!

By the way, I am posting lots more photos over at our travel blog, if you're interested!