Bloggy!

I feel as if I should be punished for neglecting you. You're like a beautiful plant yet I am inconsistent with your nurturing. So many things have happened, yet so little, everything is a hurricane.  I went ahead and aged, turned into an adult. Yes, I am now 18, a legal human being. We sipped and gulped drinks and danced upon tables and skateboards into the wee hours and woke covered in bruises and lumps and infused with some new memories.

I also got a job, which is handy money wise although it's a little too busy for my liking, full days two days a week and I am finding it difficult as hell and the Dragon lady who acts oh-so-nicely sometimes is actually as cold as ice and just expects the world from me in such short amounts of time. There is only so much filing and typing and archiving and doing ALL of the slave duties I can handle. She is already showing her evil side and seems to think I can just dismiss my uni work for her work, which I'm sorry, is not going to happen. I do want to quit, but would that be careless of me? I need to live life.

I am stuck in a rut, and I would very much like to get out.
But this blog is not for my depressing outbursts, so I shall settle this and post some glorious things that will hopefully brighten up your day as much as they do mine.

Milan Street style

For some reason during Fashion Week my favourite street style snaps are nearly always from the streets of Milan.
 Don't get me wrong; There are amazing outfits being paraded around the streets of every Fashion Week. Milan just seems to stand out the most to me.
This post is a little late considering Fashion Week was last month but it's never to late to look at amazing clothes, ever.

 I'm loving the patterns and bold colours of late.

Natuka Karkashadze makes this tartan print look super classy.

 Julia Sarr-Jamois looking fun and fresh mixing patterns/texture. Loving her glasses and hair!

Hanne Gaby Odiele enjoying an ice-cream, and looking quirky but amazing as usual.

So bright and bold! Loving the colour combination here

 Neutral colours teamed with brights and neons. Love.

They were just a few of my favourite snaps from Milan Fashion Week last month. All photographs were taken by Phil Oh and are taken from Vogue.
Sorry this post is rather rushed, I just needed to share these with you and now it's time for me to get some work done and be productive. Much love, xx

Overdosing on literary subjects.

Today I bought a laptop with the scholarship money centrelink gave me for studying at University.
It was rather delightful this-morning, casually tapping my pin number into the atm and pressing a few buttons only to see a figure of one thousand and several hundred dollars staring back it me in shining, white digits.
It would have been more enjoyable if it had have been staying there, but nevertheless I needed a laptop oh-so-badly and now I have one, and I'm most certainly  not complaining. I still have quite a bit left, after purchasing the laptop, and Microsoft office and the warranty doo-dads I ended up spending $920 all up.
And to be perfectly and somewhat embarrassingly honest with you, I was actually shaking after I spent such a large amount of money. I think I went into a little bit of shock, but now I'm here with my newest baby and I'm mighty fine,  apart from the horrendous flu I have and the tiny but insanely irritating pimple I have forming on my chin.

I typed up three study sheets for the next 14 weeks of my uni work. I'm going to print them out tomorrow and stick them on the wall by my bed, just so I can stare at them and use them as a fuel for future anxiety attacks. I kid, I kid. I do need them, and they will help me very much so. I'm enjoying the uni course so far, and what it has to offer although it has taken many hour upon hour to figure everything out, and I think I've nearly figured it all out, I just need to buy one more textbook and a selection of other books I need for one particular unit.
I've even already done task 1 for week 1, which was only a small paragraph but in reality it is a rather large achievement for me. When I was in my senior years at High School I feel into an awful habit of not doing assignments or work because I was scared, and I would become so stressed that no matter how many times I read the assignment sheet, thought about, tried to start it, and so on, I would freeze up and not be able to process anything and I would never finish the task. It was only after the due date was gone, and I didn't have to worry about making up another excuse as to why I hadn't completed it, that I could actually make sense of it all.  So this year, I aim to not do that at all. I most certainly will not do it, because this work involves a rather large debt at the end and could potentially be the beginning of my future life career. I hope so, anyway.

I think I'll stop this nonsensical rambling now and go and make myself a nice hot, milky Chai tea to get me all drowsy and ready for sleep. Tomorrow, I have things to do. Like read my first lot of readings, continue to be involved in my online classes, start drafting Assignment one and all the other jazz I have lined up in my real world, like food shopping, getting film developed and purchasing a new printer to print of my study plans. Goodnight whitechalkandpaper, we will meet again soon.

The Last Hurrah

Tai Snaith, an independant artist, writer, curator and producer paid respect to her ageing horse, Nazif, by directing this super sweet 'fashion shoot' and collaborated with photographer Jo Duck to produce an uber cute collection of dress-up photographs showing Nazif dressed in his creative new attire. The collection is called 'The Last Hurrah' and Tai describes it as a 'celebration of him before he dies.'
Tai created four looks for Nazif that reflect parts of his personality, which she says are fun, mystical, free spirited and relaxed.

You really can't deny that this is cute, guys. Just look at him! Everything about this is so lovely.



Nostalgia.

As the sun was starting to set
I photographed myself outside in the light
I let the mud run between my toes
I let flowers fall into my hair
I stared into the evening sky and I thought of everything
That ever made me happy...
I thought of the Summer nights when I was a child
I thought of sunburn, cicadas, dirty feet
Polka dot skirts, Vegemite sandwhiches
Trampolines with water on them, running nude under sprinklers
Laughing, living, without caring about what tomorrow would bring.

Oh, my.

This is basically what my Summer has looked like. For the last two months, and a bit.

Yes, there has been the odd sunny day, but for the most part, it's been grey, cloudy, and raining.

The most utterly dismal Summer I have ever encountered. Probably the coldest, too. Don't get me wrong, we've had some stinking hot days because of the humidity after rain, but for instance, right now it's 20 degrees and I'm an oversized t-shirt and pyjama pants. Summer here is usually anywhere between 30-40 degrees on a good day. Sometimes even higher.

For someone who really enjoys Summer, and who has been looking forward to the scorching hot days, beaches, ice-cream, even the sunburn and mozzie bites, it's down right depressing.

So I figure, I need something to keep me occupied. This will sound really sad, but it's true. I have pretty much spent the last two months sitting around the house doing absolutely nothing  blogging.

I'm an excellent procrastonator also, and I've found even easier to not do anything I'm supposed to be doing and just be lazy instead. And fat and depressed and confused and dead.I've come up with five things I think I should learn/attempt this year.

1.

Make some cushions.

I have a few pillows that get thrown onto my bed when it's made, but none of them really go together.
I am also rather bored with my  bedroom and I think this year I should tidy it all out and fix it up a little. Cushions always add a little something to bedrooms, and I think I shall find some bright/patterned pretty fabric and make some cushions for my bed. Cushions are super easy to make, so this project will be fun AND easy.  Oh, and that super cute sheep pillow ^ is from here.

2.
Make more cupcakes!

I have this book and it is just so lovely. 500 different cupcake recipes. Sweet, savoury, diet, you name it.
I used to make cupcakes all the time and now I barely make anything, so I'm thinking I really, really need to start trying out some of the different recipes. Without making myself double in size, ha, ha. No, but seriously who doesn't love homemade cupcakes? A pretty, and tasty way to waste my time.

3.
Learn to Knit again.

Letting my inner granny come out here, or should I call it 'trendy craft girl'. lol.
When I was younger my mum tought me how to knit and I would spend morning after morning in bed with her knitting rows and rows to make little blankets for my toys. I've completely forgotton how to knit so I think I should teach myself again. Maybe one day I'll be able to knit a whole double layered woolen beanie in two hours like my grandma. Or even a cute cardigan.

4.
Paint some paintings, for my room.


I'm using this painting as an example because I am certainly not going to go out of my way and attempt to paint a portrait or a reaslitic landscape or anything out of my talents reach. I did art, yes, I can paint better than some people, yes, but I am not highly skilled and abstract or expressionist works are much more my cup of tea. One day when I'm feeling highly motivated (I need to work on that) I will create some sort of paintings to go in my room. Most likely a triptych that fits in together. I need to work out colour schemes and things like that too.

5.
Learn to cook some delicious dinners.


Okay, so cooking is obviously a basic skill that is benificial to every human.
And I most certainly do have basic cooking skills but I want to learn some fancy, really yummy recipes, just so I can say I can cook them. And actually cook them. And eat them. haha.
Mother is going to start me a cookbook soon which we will fill with my favourite recipes and I will collect some off my Grandma as she literally (and I mean literally) has Hundreds of cookbooks. She is the best cook I know. And it's nice when people enjoy your cooking, it really is.

Natalie Joos.

Natalie Joos is a fashion consultant and casting agent. You can read more about her career here.

And if it really tickles your fancy you can check out her blog here. Or watch and interview with her HERE.

Not only is she a highly esteemed and successful woman, she has an amazing, effortless sense of fashion and puts a large majority of her outfits together using vintage pieces.

She seems to be one of those people who can just put together an outfit, and no matter what she's wearing will pull it off in a way someone like me, could never manage.

Playing with patterns and contrasting colours

Vintage, bright and folk like

Looking tres chic in nude and teal

Mixing textures and patterns, super sweet

Working eye popping pink

Colour blocking with bold knits and Prada sandals