Amelie's Kitchen

As you already know I adore Amelie. I love the style of the film and her vintage style apartment in Paris. The whole idea is quite romantic. I've been experimenting with Polyvore today for the first time so in the future I can bring you my own sets as well as than linking other peoples in my blog.

So here is Amelie's Kitchen:

Amelie's Kitchen by emmerv on Polyvore.com

I wanted to add a few other items that were perfect for the set but unfortunately Polyvore clipper would not let me clip them so here they are:

This 1950's kitchen dining table is $250 at Know Your Products

These pair of danish side chairs from the 1960's are also from Know Your Products and are $360

Happy Polyvore-ing dear readers ... x

Emma aime ... Audrey Hepburn

I was at a loss of things to do today. The hubby had worked one job straight after the other last night and subsequently spent the day in the land of nod and today's temp was soring around 41 degrees so I decided not to go out and risk being burnt to a crisp (cursed 'English rose' complexion!)

Having nothing to do I flicked on the TV to find a wonderful documentary on the divine Audrey Hepburn whom I simply adore. The documentary was entitled "The Magic of Audrey" and chronicled her life from her hard childhood in WWII through her dazzling acting career, her work as a UNICEF ambassador, right up to her death of cancer at her home in Switzerland in 1993.

Audrey is a real inspiration to me. In the time of he blond bombshell she was a breathe of fresh air in Hollywood with her elfin figure. She never acted like a diva like other Hollywood lading ladies and always conducted herself with grace and humility.

Audrey was a great style icon. She was aware of her body shape and knew exactly how to dress to flat her figure. She never tried to change to fit the Hollywood blond bombshell image and instead paved the way with her individual look. Whilst filming Sabrina she was sent to the young, up and coming designer Givenchy. Audrey picked out the clothes from the film and become a lifelong friend and muse for Givenchy. The outfits Audrey picked are iconic today. We only have to look at shows like Gossip Girl to see that Audrey's influence is still prevalent today.

Audrey was a fantastic actor. Not only did she play the fun, kooky characters like Holly Golightly but she showed people she was a diverse actress with serious role in films like War and Peace and The Nun's Story. She subsequently received many awards and honors for her roles.

Audrey lived through many hardships in her childhood but never complained although her first dreams of becoming a dancing were dashed due to her height and the affects of malnourishment during the war years. Audrey was always thankful to those who showed her charity in those hard war years and took time to give back to those who helped her by becoming a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Children's Fund. After her death, Audrey's sons Sean and Luca set up the Audrey Hepburn's Children Fund to continue her work.
Audrey saw a good few personal tragedies in her adult life as well. She suffered two miscarriages, the first in 1955 and the second in 1959 whilst filming The Unforgiven, when she fell and broke four vertebrae which subsequently led to the miscarriage. Despite this Audrey kept a cheerful outlook and when she had her two children Sean and Luca she took many years out from acting and devoted herself fully to being a mother.
Audrey was truly a remarkable lady. I would love to have had the opportunity to meet her but alas like most of my idol this will never be. Instead I draw inspiration from her on how to conduct myself and live my life. Audrey is associated with the poem "Time Tested Beauty Tips" by Sam Levenson so I will leave you with that today:

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; Never throw out anybody.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

Emma aime ... Amelie

Amelie is one of my favourite movies ever! I just adore Audrey Tautou!

Chic and Charming has a brilliant blog on everything you will need to live like Amelie but here are some extra items that they did not mention that you may need in order to live the Fabulous life of Amelie Poulin:

Amelie's accessories:
Some lovely french perfume. I love the scent of L'Occitanes Eau des 4 Relnes. It comes in this gorgeous vintage style bottle and at $49.99 its very reasonable.

This gorgeous vintage travel case is similar to the one Amelie carries when she is leaving home and heading for Montmartre. This travel case is being sold by Back Thenish Vintage on Etsy. Get it here.

For rainy days in Paris try this cute red and white dot umbrella similar to the one Amelie has You can get yours at dotcomgiftshop.com for only £14.95

I hope you like my selection and as I just cant get enough of this movie I will most likely bring you more blogs about it in the near future. In the meantime why not watch Amelie for yourself?

She'll Change Your Life dear readers ... x

35 Questions

These have been passed on to me by the lovely Gingeyginge, so here goes:

1.Where is your phone? Bag
2.Your hair? Black
3.Your Mother? Beautiful
4.Your Father? Strong
5.Your favourite food? Roast
6.Your dream last night? Forgotten
7.Your favourite drink? Vodka
8.Your dream/goal? Happiness
9.What room are you in? Living room
10.Your hobby? Reading
11.Your fear? Loss
13.Where were you last night? Home
14.Something that your not? Loud
15.Muffins? Nope
16.Wish list item? Camera
17.Where did you grow up? England
18.Last thing you did? This
19.What are you wearing? Nothing!
20.Your TV? Off
21.Your pets? None :o(
22.Friends? Special
23.Your life? Good
24.Your mood? Sleepy
25.Missing someone? Family
26.Vehicle? Jaguar
27.Something your not wearing? Anything!
28.Your favourite store? Vintage
29.Your Favourite colour? Red
30.When was the last time you laughed? Now
31.The last time you cried? Yesterday
32.Your best friend? Hubby
33.One place that I go to over and over? Beach
34.Facebook? Unfortunately
35.Favourite place to eat? Prague

I will post about who I am passing this onto soon!

Our first award!!!

I'm delighted to receive this Lemonade Stand award from Gingeyginge over at The Adventures of Gingeginge especially since my blog is still relatively new so its just nice to know someone actually reads it let alone like it enough to give me an award!

As per the rules of the award I will:
* Put the lemonade logo on your blog or within your post.
* Nominate at least 10 blogs.
* Link the nominees within your post
* Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
* Link to the person from whom you received this award.

And so without further ado my nominees are:
* Super Kawaii Mama
* Diary of a Vintage Girl
* Mermaid in a Manhole
* Gatsby and Me
* The Retro Housewife
* Housewifery
* My 50's Year
* Retro Housewife and the Ladies who Lunch

I know that's only eight but I'm very selective about the blogs I chose to follow. These are the best of the best as far as I'm concerned but why don't you check them out for yourselves?

Happy reading dear readers ... x

My Perfect Vintage Christmas

Thinking about my perfect vintage Christmas for SKM's Christmas competition, it occurred to me that living in a recession the best time to concentrate on would be World War II to create a perfect vintage Christmas on a budget.

Christmas Dinner:
During the war basic foodstuff were rationed. The wartime housewife had to be resourceful in finding substitutes for ingredients. Good Housekeeping and The Ministry of Information gave out helpful information and handy recipes for Christmas dinner. Wartime Christmas recipes can be found here.

Presents:
Gifts were difficult to obtain so people made gifts. This is something that I'm doing this year. Nowadays people rush around the shops madly at Christmas blindly grabbing gifts. I want to put more time, thought and effort into my gifts to actually make something that people want/need. I feel this makes Christmas alot more personal.

Entertainment:
People made their own entertainment in the war. Families got together and played board and card games. Pantomimes and plays and singing carols were common. Why not look for your local "Carols in the Park" service as a free way to get into the Christmas spirit.

Decorations:

People made decorations from whatever as available. Paper chains were made to make the house more Christmasy. A small artificial tree that could be transported easily to the bomb shelter was beneficial. Why not make your own decorations for some personal Christmas cheer?

Family:
With men away fighting and many children evacuated, families were often separated at Christmastime. However people rallied with friends and neighbours and extended a hand to people less fortunate in order to show Christmas spirit.

Which makes me think that the most important thing about a vintage Christmas was making the most of what you had and spending time with the people that you love around you.

Merry Christmas dear readers ... x

Vintage by the Sea

The hubby and I took a stroll down to the Cronulla Masonic Lodge today to attend the first Vintage by the Sea shabby chic market. The market is organised by Rose Robin and Le Dee La Chic and supports NSW Down Syndrome Association.

There was a whole array of vintage goodies for sale from fashion, jewellry and crafts to homewear, garden furniture and collectables. Although I had my eye on a few goodies like a gorgous bodoir chair just like this one on Ebay, for sale at a great price of $95 and a beautiful mirror I resisted the urge to splurge. Due to the great sucess of this market the Vintage by the Sea market will be held every third Sunday of the month. The next one is 20th December.

See you there dear readers ... x

Hair Saga Part 2

Just an update on my hair saga. I had my appointment on Thursday and I'm pretty happy with it. The hairdresser cut my fringe in a U-shape Bettie Page style bang and gave me useful tips on how to dry it so it keeps the shape. She then cut my hair and although she didnt cut it in a U shape at the back like the diagram suggests she did layer it through which means it holds the curl alot better.

Normally I curl my hair in hot rollers spraying it with setting lotion as I go and then leave it until the rollers are cold. When I used to do this the curl would drop and my hair would be straight within about 20 minutes. Now it seems to hold the curl pretty much all day so I'm really happy about that.

I got some pictures to show you. Excuse the terrible shots and me looking awfull these are before I've made up my face in the morning so I look pretty scary!

This is not as tight curls as I would have liked as I only have large hot rollers. I really should invest in some hot sticks. They make a great curl. When I have some time to spare (two or three hours lol!) I will pin curl it and post the results. I've not had great results with pincurling before though because my hair is sooo thick and it takes forever.

This is after I brushed it out a bit. You can't tell from my awful photography but its kind of a pageboy style.

Overall I'm pretty happy but I think it might have turned out better if it was shaped properly at the bottom.

How do you like it dear readers? ... x

Dear Santa...

This year please bring me:

*Gorgeous vintage inspired underwear - I especially like Wonderbra Satine Teese in red or a What Katie Did Glamour Longline Bra and Underbust Girdle

* An Anna Sui black beauty tray to keep my dressing table tidy
* A cute retro style hip flask so I don't have to keep pinching my hubby's one* A new camera so I don't keep taking such awful pictures for my blog.

Ive had my eye on the Samsung ST550 with its screen on the front for self portraits. At initial look it seems ideal for me to take outfit pics for my blog but when I really thought about it I figured that if I wanted to do self take full figure outfit shot then I would need the camera a bit far away to be able to see the little screen on the front clearly.

What do you want in your stocking dear readers? ... x

My Hair Saga

I'm having a slight hair dilema at the moment. It seems there are no vintage hairdressers in Australia (or at least I can't find any). It seems I am not the only one with this problem as fellow blogger Super Kawaii Mama has blogged about exactly the same thing.

I'm looking to get the long length style from the 1940's hairtyle book by Daniela Turudich. I'm envisioning something Rita Hayworth-esque with a Bettie Page fringe. I went to my local hairdressers and spoke to one hairdresser and gave her the cutting diagram that my mum (who trained as a hairdresser) assured me any decent hairdresser should understand and somen photos of the style. The hairdresser could not make any sense of the cutting diagram and when I showed her the picture and explained that the hair is cut in a U shape at the back she assured me it is cut straight and just set into a U shape even though the cutting diagram shows 0therwise. So I am slightly dubious about getting my hair cut.
However my hair is getting ridiculously long being as I grows about half an inch a month so I figure if it doesn't turn out right it really wont take long to grow out and my search for a hairdresser will continue. My appointments on Thursday so I will blog results after then.

Wish me luck dear readers ... x

Emma aime ... Ladybug shoes

Ive been inspired by these adorable shoes for sale by em and sprout on Etsy recently and decided to have a go a making my own. All I did was get some pumps and colour them with permanent markers then add the googly eyes!

What do you think dear readers? ... x

Celebrating Beltane the Oz Way! Part 2

I've been reading over the last part of this post and it made me reconsider my comments on how a country traditionally celebrates the changing seasons and how we should use "local" customs.

It didn't occur to me before now that some of the traditions that I saw as being British actually didn't originate there. An example of this is the maypole dance, it was an ancient Germanic tradition. It probably came to the UK with the Saxons.

So we can see that as groups of people move and migrate they take certain cultural traditions with them.

This picture shows boys and girls dancing the maypole in Adelaide in 1906 so it is safe to assume that this tradition certainly came over to Australia with the early migrants. This is probably much the case with other traditions such as Morris dancing.

However I'm not sure how many of these traditions are carried on today and I'm sure that if they are carried on that they are used in mayday or Easter celebrations which for us pagans fall at the wrong time of year!

In my next post on this subject I will be researching how the aboriginal people celebrate the turning of the wheel of the year.

However if any readers can help me with more information on this subject please comment or message me! I would especially like to know if the maypole and Morris dancing is still around today in Australia.

I look forward to hearing from you dear readers ... x

Sculptures by Sea ... Part 2

Here are more pictures from Sculptures by Sea yesterday.

I adore these shoes entitled "step by step, inch by inch ..... towards precipice" by BAM (Brenner & Medwell). The catalogue states that "The sand shoes reflect our existence, soft worn centres hidden beneath hard exteriors. At any moment we may find ourself at a precipice." but to me this piece reminds me of all the steps I have taken in life and the "shoes" I have disregarded.

It looks like mother nature added her own sculpture to the exhibition.

Whilst at Sculptures by Sea we noticed this cryptic message in the sky. There was more to it but it had already dissapated. So if anyone knows whats going on in Bondi on November 28th let me know!

Sculptures by Sea

Alejandro Propato - arte de las playas

The hubby and I hopped on the bus to Bondi today to attend the 13th anual Sculptures by Sea. It was a gloriously sunny day and the exhibits were all fab. I had a particular funny moment when the hubby squatted down besides a sign on a grassy knoll to eat his lunch. It was then I realised that the sign was the fist sculpture and actually stated "Secret to eternal youth 2km ->" with the arrow pointing at my hubby stuffing his face with steak sarnie! I wish I'd got a piccy of it.

The sculpture trail was packed with people enjoying the unique and varied sculptures by artists from all over the world.

My favourite sculpture was Seden Blackwood's "irinami" the hubby opted for Phil Price's "morpheus"
We got a little lost on the trail but luckily this handy sign helped us out.
And while we were checking out some of the sculptures this one was staring right back.It seems the hills really do have eyes!

Sculptures by Sea is on until 15th November between Bondi and Tamarama beaches. Go and check out the fabulous work of these artists for yourself.

Have a artsy time dear readers ... x