The Time I WON $600 of Melissa Shoes!

A while back I entered Melissa Australia's Facebook competition and during our holiday, I got an email from the LOVELY Simone saying I'd won $600 worth of Melissa Shoes.

GET. OUT. OF. TOWN.

If you know me well, you know that these are my ALLTIME favourite brand of shoes, in fact, they're probably the only brand of shoe I buy repeatably! I wear them ALL the time, and all year round, and now, you can probably just should call me Melissa Darling! AND, can I tell you:

IT'S HARD TO CHOOSE TWO PAIRS OF MELISSA SHOES, let alone try finding SIX hundred dollars worth. Yup, I probably took 2 weeks of UMMing and AHHHing over it. (Simone was a bit worried she hadn't heard from me in a while! But it was HARD.)

Ok, so I finally found a selection that suited my colours (at the moment!) and style and also the practicality of being a new mama (ie why I chose so many flats!)

Peach III in Red - bright, comfortable and like walking on air!

Vivienne Westwood Divine in Red - light & sassy with the VW stamp on the toe

Vivienne Westwood Lady Dragon Bow in Black & White - freaking amazing!

Moon Dust in Mushroom - Just what I need this winter, bring on the rain!

Julia Petit Dreaming in Red Faux Snakeskin - more flattie sassiness!

Aranha Hits in Orange & Black - Perfectly cute sandles? Why not!

SO EXCITED AND AMAZED! It feels like an instant wardrobe makeover, and I'm having fun trying out my new & old style with my new shoes! Right now (I just looked at Melissa's webpage for those links above, and now wished I'd got an Ultragirl High as well!) there's a sale on the online site! ARGH! Which shoes would you choose?

Thank you SO much Melissa Australia & M Dreams for my new shoes! STILL can't believe it!

A Large Appetite

I thought once Baby Darling started eating food along with his breastmilk, my appetite would wane... but it hasn't! I'm still hungry at mealtimes, and in need of carbs (sometimes eating double what Husbie would eat) and I needn't remind you that I'm only 4 eleven and Husbie is 5 eleven. UM YEH!

But, luckily, as I'm so busy moving around with Baby Darling, keeping him happy (hello new life as a children's entertainer!) & babywearing him; I haven't lumped on the weight, it's all kind of stayed the same. AND, it's still a good reminder to eat healthy, right? But I'm also pleased that I'm back into yoga again too!

We ate a LOT in Park Slope, Brooklyn - LOVED the little eateries, and cafes, and bagel shops! Lots of people have asked us, since we returned to Melbs, if we could find good food... but we could - in most places - if we planned ahead! I was kinda expecting lots of heavy foods (you know, burgers & chips - Americana style) but even some of the modern diners had VERY healthy delish options! We loved a place called R&D in Santa Monica and lots more!

(I'm not sure I've EVER loved food more as a pregnant & breastfeeding person!)

Happy Monday! (I'm excited because I've got all my Melissa Shoes, and took photos this weekend! YAY can't wait to show you what I chose!)

Testing Baby Trousers

Happy Weekend!

Before we went away on our USA trip I made Baby Darling a couple of pairs of trousers, from stretch fabric, so I guess they're more like leggings! This fabric is leftover from last year's stretch pregz fash dress and what I wore on my last day of work!

For these trousers, I lay down a pair of Bonds baby trousers (that had no middle seam, just the side seams and around the inner legs) and cut out two pieces that look like very tall bridges... then sewed the sides, and inner legs, and cut little pieces for the ankles & the waistband, but just used elastic on the waistband. Very easy and very quick... it only uses up half a metre of fabric (maybe less) as well. Baby Darling's legs have gotten a little longer, so these are great with such skinny ankle bits as they stay down... a lot of the baggier trousers we have just creep up when he's moving around!

What are you doing for the weekend? It's a fantastic sunshiney few days for us here in Melbourne... but very cold in the mornings and night. Tonight our Mother's Group has planned a night out at our new local pub! Very exciting! I have spent the last few days expressing milk for Baby Darling, so I'm looking forward to it!

xoxo

What I Wore: 11 degrees

One day we were in New York, it was 11 degrees. (AKA 51 degrees F). It was the most vivid weather forecast I'd seen (well, Melbourne can be a bit diverse too) as the following week was mid 30s!

But that Saturday in Manhattan (we were lunching at Beauty & Essex in the Lower East Side) I dressed for the cold as best as I could (with & without Baby Darling) and my NYC pose above is in ode to Nick Wooster, the snazziest chappy I've seen around. We walked past Katz Deli and smugly turned our collars up as the tourists waited in a very long line around the corner, and met our friends (Brooklyn locals who are official 'foodies') pretending we knew how cold it could get in NYC.

I *am* wearing a black mini skirt, but my Melbourne Black creates an illusion for you! And these are my first official fashion sneakers, on sale approx $60 in San Diego and they are a re-release of a limited style and also came with gold laces. I love gold right now! (I know *nothing* about sneakers, kicks or joggers, and especially don't know what to wear them with, but they are COMFY!)

Since I've been back in Melbourne living up my Mamalyf, I've been wearing my sneakers nonstop! They're the best! Who'd have thought? Another fashion backflip!

WOO

Aren't I living on the edge!?

xoxo

What I Wore: Trousers (AKA Leggings)

There's a lotta ill will toward leggings. I'm sure you've heard 'Where's Your Skirt?' around a few years ago, when lots a fashion peeps started wearing leggings and close fitting (on occasion, sheer) tights and maybe stockings without dresses or tops long enough or skirts to cover their bums. And as a NON-trouser wearer, I wouldn't dream of wearing leggings, or tights without skirts and dresses. I needed coverage (and amplified roundness please - I have a flat bum usually) because I didn't want to show my front bum or my back bum!

BUT then I had a baby.

And leggings are by far the easiest, non-thinking and fun part of my wardrobe right now. I call myself Sporty Posh Spice (because it's sometimes a bit of a mix!), but I could just be plain old Mummy Spice. I don't know if I'll wear them further than our breastfeeding days, but for now I'm not going to hide my snazzy 'trousers'. These are my favourites: artpants above (in the Upper East Side of Manhattan), graphic artpants below (in our Hotel in San Fran) and my new Humbug legs (bought from H&M in LA and worn here in Park Slope, Brooklyn).

I have a pattern (cut from an op shopped pair of leggings) and have just made one plain purple pair (haven't blogged them yet) ... that were ok, but I need to work on the elastic band waistline. So if I get more groovy stretch fabric, I'll certainly try to make another pair.

For most of my stylish existence (perhaps only 10 years now, I wasn't too pleased with my fash before I could sew) these leggings are the biggest backflip fashion I've ever made/done... have you loathed leggings or loved them sick?

Have you done a fashion backflip? Sworn you'd never try something, and then backflipped into it with glee (like me!?) ??

xoxo

Mama Lyf: 9 Months x 2

It's a great milestone for me right now: 9 Months In & 9 Months Out.

Baby Darling has been outside the same time as inside, this weekend. There's all the feelings bubbling around this and it's a milestone for me, more than him. Back when he was born, I said to myself I bet it'll take another 9 months for my body to feel like mine again ... or as close to 'normal'... as pregnancy is ever expanding and your body is boiling with blood and hormones and just 'growth' stuff.

Sometimes I remember bits of the pregnancy, but it really isn't a familiar feeling now. I can't remember being so hot and itchy (I had to take a shower as soon as I got home from work, as I felt itchy from the clothing all day) and I can't remember the flutters or kicks as clearly. What a freaking strange thing to feel from the inside! I love it now when my pregnant friend grabs my hand to feel her unborn child's kicks. WHOA.

These last 9 months, of having a real life baby human, to look at, to hold, to care for, has really been amazing, and again... it's all the things: you feel or don't feel, it's our lives but new lives. We do the same things but with tears of disbelief and more often laughter in our eyes. Simple things are sometimes so amplified with importance and the second later, that feeling is gone. Sometimes, I hear my inner voice telling me all these things and I just have no time to write my voice down... if I did I'd be writing mountains and rivers and lakes full of my emotions and happiness and sadness and joy in every detail - all the crazed things. Nine months has been a blur, but it also feels like 10 years of knowing someone squeezed into this time.

I often wondered while pregnant, how do you automatically love someone you just meet, when you have a baby. We didn't know if Baby Darling was a boy or girl, but I mostly wondered 'Who are you?' and 'How will I love you?'... and the love or care it isn't automatic... it isn't straight away. For me, there was a HUGE fascination and wonderment at a FREAKING new tiny human being. And it was the growing and learning about life and humanity together that I knew him... and adored and liked and then loved him. People say to you 'You know your baby best', and I was like 'Do I?'... and maybe now I'm looking back at 9 months and yep, I did and I do.

On the physical side (and I'm a practical person a lot of the time, so the physical and being it touch with my body is practical for me. I love the science or biology of this time), I set a goal that I'd hope to 'feel' my body return to the normal at 9 months. And around 7 months I felt my hips return or shift... they expanded a lot to help Baby Darling grow... and now, my back feels good, my tailbone feels good, my legs and arms feel good (um, he's totally plateaued at 10 kilograms - yay!) ... and I have a feeling I'm loving myself sick again! What a great little body I have! I don't care if my boobs are different or my tummy is a bit floppy, what do they say? Marks of motherhood, and I own that completely!

Thanks for reading my philosophies & ramblings!
x

What I Wore: Short Shorts in the USA

YAY, now that we're back from holidays, I thought I'd document (for me, mostly, but you can squizz!) what I wore comfortably overseas because WA-HEY it's totally different to the things I'd wear day to day here at home before Baby Darling was born. AND for the first time a lot of it is NOT handmade (but unavoidable really; no time, no sewing mojo - AKA SEWJO), so this is an era of change for me style-wise and I guess.. I'M OK with it. What can I do? Conjur up an extra 2 days a week for sewing? NOT spend time with my big bundle of joy? Nup, when I need clothes, I buy them. More often than not at the Goodwill, but sometimes at the Factory Outlet in LA.

So, short shorts. These denim beauties are actually about 8 years old, I bought them for some reason ... and they're probably from Target and could be from the kids section. They were VERY good to wear walking around sightseeing because you can sit around in any old fashion and sometimes when you are wrestling a baby and wearing a mini dress... you get the idea!

And I probably don't need to add that I wear 2 pieces now (instead of the staple dress, all in one wear!) because I'm still nursing. (I say "nursing" now instead of breastfeeding because that's what they say in the States - LOL) EASY ACCESS. I've noticed that Baby Darling is starting to need milk less during the day, maybe he's distracted or just growing (he's 9 months tomorrow) so in terms of day wear fashion, I could probably start wearing dresses again. Maybe by the end of the year, I'll be frolicking around in my frocks again? Who knows!

Anyways, short shorts are a total WIN for travelling in the USA!

Today's photos are (from top to bottom): on the streets of the darling Park Slope in Brooklyn, New York! I bought the baggy tshirt from a vintage shop in Santa Monica. And sitting on a lovely set of seaside apartments in San Diego (I think it was Mission Beach maybe? Pacific Beach?) after a big walk along the waterfront. I adored the manicured gardens in California, just gorgeous!

x

Happy Weekend!

FTW: Melissa Shoes!

Guess what happened while I was on YAY-CAY (AKA Vay-Cay, AKA Vacation)? I won $600 worth of Melissa shoes, via Melissa Australia! WHAT!? I KNOW!

My Dad has lots of luck with competitions and maybe now that luck is mine, especially considering these are my all time fave sustainable & ethical shoe company! I couldn't believe it when I saw the email, I was like 'IS THIS FOR REAL?'!

I'm off to pick them up this morning, because in other news, their factory is only a few block from my house! WHAT!?!

Happy Friday! x

Post Travelling Blues

Two weeks ago I was in Central Park! Baby Darling was having a play and roll around on the grass, and I was checking if I had a coldsore (by taking a photo, of course)... Husbie was watching Star Trek down in Lincoln Centre.

I love filling up my head with new places, new maps and names of streets and local lingo... so I do make a good traveller and have always been proud to navigate new cities (even before iphones were around, it was a breeze)... so we only went the wrong way once around Bleeker (I think it was) subway! I love my sense of direction!

Now that we're back, and it's winter here in Melbourne, things are a little boring and grey. I amused myself last week in stocking up on all the best flat whites in the west of Melbs, just to relish in what was maybe the worst part of America. I just don't get the drip coffee or pour coffee, as black percolated stuff isn't for me, so it was rare to find a flat white and we settled for some OK cafe lattes around the place! Of course, coffee is very personal so for my tastes, the best flat white in California was at The Refinery, and in Brooklyn as we stayed in Park Slope, we were a bit obsessed by Parco up on 7th! So there was good coffee, but we just had to dig around and find it.

I honestly can't remember what I was going to write to you about today, but as I'm sitting here drinking my own morning coffee, I got completely sidetracked! And now Baby Darling is calling!

Love to you, xoxo

Sad Goodbye

I did want to say like LCD Soundsystem "New York, I love you, but you're bringing me down", but I just don't feel like it is a place that would bring me down right now! There's no 'but' to my love for New York, and America in general, right now!

We're back in Melbourne, Australia now, have been for most of the week, and it's been a bit jet laggy in parts. Especially for our babe, who has been super excited at 2am or 3am through the past week, STILL. "New York, I love you, but you've created a monster"... a GORGEOUS monster with giggles in the wee hours is not that bad!

Anyways, we loved travelling and especially travelling with a baby, I've got a few posts up my sleeve... as I have noticed a huge style change for me (I've got SNEAKERS/AKA KICKS now), so I'm sure you're all DYING to find out what I wore in the last few days of holidays!

Wishing you well, and can't wait to flick over bloglovin soon, maybe tomorrow?! Happy Long Weekend to you if you get it!

xoxo