Snapshots of a day off

Now its no surprise to those that know me that I always seem to be working. However my best friend Mikii and I actually managed to plan and execute a full day off together. Not bad since we live in different states, and the last time we actually had 24 hours off together in the same state was about a year ago. So just to prove we actually did it I thought I'd post some of the pics from our much needed day off.

We started the day at Zappa, a great little coffee shop in South Melbourne where the coffee is wonderful and the staff are even better.

Not to mention they have the same sense of humor as us, so it was a major plus. Once we were full of coffee, juice and the best bacon and egg sandwich I've ever had it was time to hit the road. First stop was to chapel street for some much needed window shopping which was were I found these.....

Now if I can only convince my boss that this is ok as our dress standards say black or white trainers. In my opinion it works, and the Hello Kitty feature just helps to express that we are fun and approachable. Well we'll see how that argument goes down. So from Chapel it was time to stroll down Greville street one of the best side streets in Prahran where you can find almost anything thats a bit left of centre.

So once Mikii was loaded up with quiet a few vinyl records it was time to hit my all time fav retro inspired stores. ROUTE 66!!! Now I was only going to look but when I stumbled upon a sample dress suit for $100 that fit, well there was no way it wasn't coming home; and as Mikii said "if you don't buy it I'm buying it for you!!!" And what do you know it ended up coming home. Not to mentioned so did a few other gems as we found a couple of great presents for people we know. I will post the shots of what we got in a few days.
Next we hit Chapel Street Bazzar one of the best places to find weird, old, funky and pretty much anything you could ever want. Mikii picked up a few more records and I found a great Keith Wessner print. No its no surprise that I jumped at the chance to pick up a Wessner to add to my slowly growing collection, in fact it was hard for us to leave with only 1 find each....talk about restraint. Ok so maybe the rumble in our tummy's had a little something to do with it.

So we rested our little feet while having Yum Cha and a Fruit tingle ice tea. Its a hard life but someone has to do it. What can I say I'm addicted to their duck pancakes.

Then on the way to the car with had to stop in and have a look at what can only be described as 'Guidowear'. As much as I would of loved to see Mikii wearing a screen printed shirt covered in bling he passed on the shirts and we headed to our next destination.

Now Mikii and I are no stranger to Ackland Street but we do love finding new street art, which is why I just had to post this great shot. I adore the melbourne street art scene as its always changing and you never know what you will find. Not to mention having just introduced my new friend MrC (Mikii's bf) to what treasures we have in Melbourne it has really refreshed me.

And of course we had to stop and have trampoline icecream to refresh ourselves before our biggest treat of the day. A full 1 hour massage from Sole sisters. As Mikii and I both work in jobs that require us to be on our feet for 10 hours plus per day we figured this was practically a business expense. So full of ice cream we relaxed......

Once we were fully relaxed and in all honesty we were so relaxed the two of us had trouble forming sentences, which was so funny. To finish the day off we had just one more coffee on Ackland St and then headed home to get changed for dinner and a VIP shopping night.

I know what your all thinking..."how do you guys do it?" well the simple truth is "some one has too". So for all the doubters that we actually take time off, now you have proof.

Coffee and Music

I recently caught up with one of my favorite local artist for coffee and see what was on the musical cards. I’ve featured Barry Michael before, but a quick recap for those of you who don’t know him. Local boy with amazing talent with music that spans the genres of rock, pop, folk, blues, soul and even a little bit country. You can find his music on itunes and his videos on youtube. All are locally produced by Barry and have that great raw feel with brilliant quality.

So the main question I was interested in was finding out what his latest project was. Barry is currently working with Queensland artists Robert & Shauna Kendall on a series of relaxation and meditation cd’s and clips. You can view their work on youtube.com via Barry’s site . Apart for his normal music you will find the clips for Petals of the Heart from the album Peaceful Mind Healthy Body - Deep Alpha Relaxation" It is the music only, edited from 30 min' to 10 min (to fit YouTube). Available on ITunes and from mymeditationspace.com. It is really different area for Barry’s music career but the combination of spoken word and music is fantastic. I high suggest having a listen, chill out and regroup with this CD after a long stressful day.

I am still always a little star struck when I catch up with Barry as I’ve been listening to his music since I was a little girl and admit I know all the words to all his songs. So it was really great to talk about his work and inspiration for his music. Thanks Barry and the gang in Abbey road for afternoon tea!

St Kilda art, food, writing what more can a gal ask for.

Melbourne can be the most amazing blend of fashion/styles/thoughts and people in general. This week I made my to one of my favorite streets, Acland in St Kilda. I have always had a soft spot for St Kilda/Elwood/Balaclava as they were always this great blend of artist/boho/hobo/trendy and yet they all seemed to mix without any problem. So this week with pen and paper in hand I headed to my fav street for some writing, photos and of course yummy food.

So with my little rockabilly dress it was time to wander and work up and appetite. It can be a bit weird to have chain store next to a independent trader next to a restaurant, yet it seems to be the best way you can describe Acland with its mix of styles both in trader and customer.
What did I write you may ask? Yes a little for this blog but a lot more for me. That was until an author friend of mine turned up with yet another crisis in their latest project. It was funny to have a discussion about their ever growing book (currently in edit #3) when my current writing style is this sharp short blog. Needless to say the fact that they turned up with laptop in hand trying to edit while discussing it made me laugh more than a little. Thankfully there came a break and a dinner, so for a moment the editing had to stop.
Maybe next time I won’t answer my phone when I’m out.
Who am I kidding of course I will ;)

*The Swell Season*

For anyone out there who has seen ONCE you will already understand why I adore The Swell Season.

I first discovered Glen and Marketa in the independent 2007 Irish film ONCE about struggling artists, which slowly won the hearts of audiences worldwide. Within this feature the music was a bigger cast member than any actor and I needless to say fell in love with the lyrics; and about 10 minutes after watching the film was in the car heading to JB HiFi in search of the soundtrack. Now most people would know their song which won the Oscar for Best Original Song, Falling Slowly. However it is songs like The Hill and Leave that always leave me week at the knees. I admit in my weaker (and only one in the house moments) I have belted out these songs via the Xbox/sing-star.
I think the biggest thing for me about this group is the raw passion that flows thru the music. We all know I love my raw music (Ani Difranco, Amanda Palmer for example), to me singers may be the best in the world but if the passion can be heard in the lyrics and performance then that’s all I need to connect”

So when I heard they were in town it was a quick jump online for tickets. Then drive on down to on of my favorite suburbs, St Kilda for dinner at KL and over to the Palais to sit back and enjoy the wave of music wash over me. Sadly as the only way to get there on time was to go straight from work I ended up ending a rather soulful concert as a bit rockabilly. Oh well….some times you just gotta dance to the beat of your own drum.

Wish you were all here!