AppTastic!

I have been a mac gal since '81 so its but no stretch of the imagination I have an iPhone.  It may sound cliche but my iPhone is more than a phone its....everything to me.  It lets me keep in touch, entertains me when I get bored on train rides, knows my fav songs and even guides me when I'm lost.

With all this in mind I thought I'd share a few of my current favorite apps in no particular order

Make Up For Ever Professional

Looking for hints, tips or inspiration?  Then this might be the app for you.  Not only can u find new styles you would like to try it also includes little videos so you can see exactly what to do.  It may not be the bible for beauty but it does offer a bit more fun and holds your hand when you want to experiment with new looks.

Public Transport Victoria

If you live in melbourne this is a must; especially as it covers trams, trains and buses.  This has come in very handy while out on adventures as you can plan your journey including any walking that may need to be done.  You also have access to maps so you can see what bus or train line your on.  Another great feature is the next 5 function for trams, a perfect to see which trams are coming and if they are useful to you.  Overall for a free app its really great.

Draw Something

Most likely you have already heard or even played this app.  I picked it up for 99c on a bargain weekend and it has been a good time killer.  Only downside is waiting for your friends to respond with their drawings.  It will make you laugh and at times wonder what goes on in your friends mind when their drawing.  

Guitar Hero

If you ever played the game on your gaming console you will already understand why you can loose hours of your life playing this.  Sadly there are only a few songs that come with the base package however its enough to get you playing.  For me its also a great chance to hear songs I may not have heard before.    

Guidebook

Yet another free app which I actually needed to download a few weekends ago, as opposed to my "this looks cool" app downloading.  Why I needed this you may be asking; simply it was my guide to the recent Supanova event I attended.  This was the best thing I have ever had when going to an event as it included a full day by day schedule which I could then specify what items I was attending.  As well as maps, information about the sessions, transport and pretty much everything you could need to attend.  I really hope more conventions use the application here in Aus as it really helped me navigate all seminars, photos and shopping.

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.

on the road again

I'm on the road again....
15 hours in airport terminals
5 days
4 flights
2 delayed flights

Hence the short sharp post

Fun on the road

Ok so I'm finally back on my home soil after a very busy week at the C.S.A.N.Z conference and yes a much needed glass of champers was had at the end. It can often be a strange life on the road and yes I did wake up a few times at 3 am and wonder what town I was in. Thankfully the crew that I was working with also had the same moments during the week. It may have been 7 days of work filled with long hours, midnight shopping trips to the supermarket and confusing the locals, but there was time for fun. So I thought I'd post a couple of snapshots from the week that was.

As you can see its not all glamor on the road, sometimes you get to wake up in the dark and wear this stunning number. LOL. Yep that's me in my 'high vis' vest before we headed to the convention centre to 'bump' in. At least I blended in with the teams of stand builders even if I was the only girl there. A big shout out to the Infocus crew and the Image3D crew for there help, smiles and laughs.

But yes we did get a chance to make ourselves beautiful. Another big thanks to Mikii and Lele for the laughs and for making the best coffee and hot chocolates to keep us all going.

Because I promised I'd mention it on the site here are a few quotes to make you smile *sorry to everyone else reading*

"not my favourite"
"only forks WTF"
"Friends or lovers"
"He knows boats"
"Adam and holdfastbay"

Now back to some form of reality until the next trip, and a quick reminder to all of you who have to work far from home. Enjoy your down time, remember to smile and always have a laugh as you'd be surprised just how much better your day can be when you do.

Road Trip

Well I'm on the road again. This time heading to Adelaide or Radelaide as my buddy Raf calls it. So this does mean that Mikii and I are trapped in a Van heading on the 8 hour trip today. However the upside is we get time to talk, stop in Ballarat and of course see some of the strange sides that the rural community has to offer.

First stop was the home town of my buddy AK, Ballarat. I have mostly known this town because of childhood trips to the Gold Fields with family. For those of you who don't know Ballarat was the heart of the gold rush country and the Eureka Stockade 1854 which is considered to be a defining moment in Australian History. So during its boom time 1851 and the late 1860s there were some stunning town centre and homestead built, many of which still stand today.


So of course we had to stop for a much needed snack and hot chocolate, and a chance to stretch our legs.

MMMMM Cofffee! Then it was time to hit the road again with the plan to get to adelaide before nightfall.

But we did have to stop when we saw this......

The Giant Koala! Don't quiet know what Australia loves about building gaint things (re: big pinapple, big prawn, big merino sheep) but while on the road it was a welcomed WTF moment, which did give us many giggles for the rest of the trip.


Then a few hours later, 6 to be exact we made it to Adelaide. Settled into our apartment and went in search of dinner. We ended up down by the water (the edge of the Great australian bite) and feasted on indian. I would post photos but lets just say after 9 hours in a van this little doll looked a little less polished than I'd like.

Travel Tunes

Surprise Surprise I'm on the road again. So instead of talking about packing I thought I'd talk about music to travel with.

In this modern world of MP3 players and alike its great to have so much music at your fingertips and usually be able to make the whole trip with out the batteries dying on you.


Personally I have 2 playlists for my travels - 'to' which is all happy bouncy stuff and often tailored to have a vibe of the trip i.e rockabilly for wintersun & 'from' which is a bit slower usually to help me chill out after a full on weekend.

Currently my 'To' list includes (in no order)
Hurt Feelings - Flight of the Concords
The Rain - Horrorshow
Bang Bang - Nancy Sinatra
Fever - Peggy Lee
Why don't you do right - Peggy Lee
A huge collection of Amanda Palmer and Ani Difranco's works
Children - Robert Miles
Lingering Dad - Tripod
Ivory Tower - Tripos
Arrivals Gate - Ani Difranco

I find music can really change your mood and when I travel its also good to help me get in the right mindset. So next time you hop a flight make yourself a playlist.

Wintersun

Just in case you forgot (which I doubt as I’ve been going on about it for days) you can find all the lovely ladies this weekend at Wintersun at 2pm. Come and celebrate fashion, fun and fantastic hot rods. As we speak I’m doing my hair, make up and praying for a little bit more warmth as I will be in my swimmers in a few hours. Please come and say hi to us all today and tomorrow.

Happy Wintersun!!!!!

Wintersun here I come

I’m finally here, well yes I did arrive yesterday but who cares I’m here. Today is a catch up with Kendiedoll for pedicures and LOTS of tea and cake. Maybe a bit of shopping????? Possibly a trip to see SJ at That Shop and the gals at Kitten DÁmour, some one better take my wallet off me for good measure. Then tonight I’ll be catching up with Mikii who flew into town this weekend and hopefully PlatinumDoll for drinks.

The hotel is super cool and loving the fact I’m surrounded by so many people who are also here for Wintersun. Which means its rockabilly fashion everywhere, I think I must be in heaven. Must dash those cakes won’t eat them selves.

Have a look at these great articles about wintersun if you want t see what we are all up to.

P.S

Just a quick addition....
Thought I'd show you all what a doll at 5am looks like as she heads to the airport.

Decided to opt for my Kitten D'amour Sailor Tee with red pencil skirt, navy heels and shell necklace. I adore this top as its super cute and so comfy!!!!!!! Great for air travel.

Kisses

back at the airport

Surprise, surprise I’m back at the airport….ok so not really a surprise but this time its not the crack of dawn or the middle of the night which is a big thing for me as that’s when I’m usually here.

As always I have my routine pretty much sorted these days. Checked in yesterday, bags finally packed and locked down, parked at my favorite parking spot and ordered my coffee. Plus have a few good pieces of reading material in hand to make the flight faster. So all that’s left to do is relax at the airport lounge and get ready for a week of fun and fashion.

I do love flying Virginblue if for no other reason than seeing which cute pinup is on my plane, so here are a couple of the girls I managed to snap before jumping on board.

In 3 hours I’ll be all checked in the hotel and ready to have fun. Watch out GC Tikidoll is coming!!!

One more sleep

One more sleep and I’m there. If you can’t tell I’m super excited which has created 2 problems. 1) What am I going to wear and 2) Can’t sleep too excited! Both major issues due to my early flight and the fact that after the move I can’t seem to find anything!!!!!!!!

So it’s late at night and I’m trying to find what I need/want. And of course there are so many things to consider….weather, locations, how many outfits do I actually need and of course the biggest thing – how do I fit that many shoes in the bag.

So far the plan looks like this

5 dinners, 3 performances, 5 lunches, lots of catch ups, shopping and hopefully a little sun bathing

At least the washing is being done, and I think I know what I want just actually have to fit it all in.

See all you QLD dolls tomorrow

Pinup on the road

With the lastest trip almost behind me I've again been thinking about travel and the luggage we use. Especially as I am trying to pack light however this has meant that my make up and heels seem to be taking up the most room.

I have just invested, although be it only a small amount, in a heavy duty beauty case for the road. As it was getting too hard to try an jam in all my eyelash cases, brushes, potions and powders. Right now its more a stop gap to see if I need to keep up with this level of equipment on jobs of if i need to scale up or down. I've even seen ones the same size as my suitcase, oh to have that much makeup for gigs. As you can see from the shot above its not the most visually stunning, but does handle plane travel well. Plus all that I"d been looking at all seemed like normal road cases with a handle. That was until I saw Hiedeo Wakamatsu's case, and yes its in the same pattern as my favorite suitcase.

I'd love to see inside this one, but as pretty as it is I wonder if its really just a normal hollow beauty case, because what I need is multi layer, multi compartment cases for all the bits and pieces.

Speaking of bits and pieces, while packing the kit on thursday night i discovered I will not need to buy eyelash glue for years as I found 27 tubes/bottles of the stuff. Guess it shows just how many set of false eyelashes i buy. Which brings me to a spoiler for a future entry. To continue with my declutter your life sections I will be looking at de-cluttering your makeup. So brace yourselfs ladies its time to clean out that make up case.....*insert scary music here*

Ok off to my flight luv and bat those lashes ladies

What state am I in? What sky am i under?

Thankfully I’m still awake and actually not doing to bad after flying back on the red eye very late last night. Yep that’s right I touched Victorian soil just before midnight which means this little pixie climbed into bed in search of teddy and sweet dreams at about 1am.

This does mean this week depending on occasions I’m attending I can share with you some of my new divine finds from while I was up north. On this trip I was only blessed with 5 hours shopping (one short trip sat morning and the other Monday morning) due to public holidays and other engagements. However I did still get to visit my absolute favorite store Kitten D’amour on the Gold Coast and lets just say the suitcase was a little heavier on the way home. But really who can resist limited edition pieces that look this stunning and for some reason limited time frames do seem to mean the really good stuff jumps out at you more.

So what did I walk away with……2 dresses, a pencil skirt, 2 shirts, 1 cute little top and a FREE pair of jeans. And as always I’m smitten with the store and the service but more on that later. I’m off to have a nap and dream of shoes.

Super Cute .....gimmie

I am having a major desire to hit the airport and jump a flight to Japan, it could just be the fact I’m spending a lot of time in hotels and airports in Australia that the desire to trade tickets and go off into the wild is distracting. Or it could just be the fact that I saw the coolest suitcase yesterday.

Now strangely this was not the first time I’ve come across this suitcase, I originally saw it a few months ago when Super Kawaii Mama featured it, so it was trippy to see it walking through the airport. If you have no clue what I’m on about I’m talking about the super cute Hideo Wakamatsu cherry suitcase.

So this has got me also thinking again about Hime Gyaru. I love bad girl retro and and trying to find a way to test the waters with hime garu and maybe even see if they can combine so now it to hit the net for some inspiration and hopefully a super cute outfit. Especially since sat night is meant to be a doll inspired party. Fingers crossed.