Miss Burlesque Australia Final

Saturday night we headed to Newtown's Enmore Theatre to be entertained by a bevy of burlesque beauties at the Miss Burlesque Australia Final. Our compare for the night Mr Cam Hot August Knight kicked off the show with an energetic flash dance. While Cam caught his breath the gown pagent commenced. The girls all looked stunning in their gowns.

The classic section of the night came first. There was just two performance competing in this section. Sapphire Snow and Danica Lee treated us to two beautiful classic performances.

After a short break the neo-burlesque section kicked of with a multiple of performances including a fiery cigarette girl, a tassle twirling genie, a grass smoking gardener, a fawn, a mickey mouse club gone bad and many more fantastic performances.

The last section of the night was the unique talent section Strawberry Siren wowed us with some fantastic gymnastic balancing, Sina King wowed us with her dress changing illusions, Kelly Ann Dolls dance moves stunned us, Strawberry Siren's

With such a lot of burlesque talent to chose from the judges would have had a hard job on their hands but the winners of the night were Miss Sina King who's 'green' gardening and magical dress changing routines won her the title of Miss Burlesque Australia 2011. First runner up was the pocket rocket herself Miss Kelly Ann Doll who's high energy dance routines certainly earned her this title. The stunning Miss Strawberry Siren who performed as a red hot cigarette girl and performed an incredible balancing routine style bagged herself the title of second runner up.

For all those who did not get to the final heres a snippet of what you missed.

How to Continue Your Holiday After You Get Home

The hubby and I are now back from our holiday in beautiful sunny Fiji and back to the real world with a bump. With this in mind we have been thinking about ways to make our holiday last even when we get home.

1. Make a CD or playlist of the music that you listened to on holiday. Listening to this will transport you back to your holiday.

2. Print and hang up your pictures of the holiday or even better have some put onto canvas. That way when you look at them you will remember the good memories of the trip.

3. Place holiday souvenirs around the home or better still have a shadow box or display of all your holiday mementos

4. Get the recipes for your favorite holiday food and drink and cook up a holiday feast.

5. Throw a themed party with the theme being whatever country your holiday was. Get people to dress in the countries traditional dress or their favorite holiday outfit. Serve up food and drinks from the country and play the music that you listened to on your holiday.

6. Give back to the country that you visited by looking for charities that are helping in that area.

7. Buy some flowers that you saw blooming in your holiday destination.

8. Think of the smells that remind you of your holiday and get some perfume or air freshener that reminds you of holidays.

What Emma Did - 26th June 2011

This week I have been:

♥ Taking an all day cruise around some beautiful islands in Fiji and enjoying a gorgeous BBQ on the boat

♥ Doing a jungle cruise in the mangroves around our resort

♥ Trying scuba diving but ultimately not being able to do it!

♥ Taking in some Fijian culture while watching a fire walking and kava ceremony

♥ Having a wedding reception party hosted by our gorgeous UN girlies

♥ Heading into Newtown to go to the Miss Burlesque Australia final (I'll do a post at some point this week!)

♥ Booking tickets for next weeks Good Food Show

♥ Buying a new Metropol Personal Filofax to put some planning into The Life Overhaul

Daily Outfit: What I Wore to Miss Burlesque Australia Final

Here's what I wore to the fabulous Miss Burlesque Australia finals. The dress is one I ordered from eBay in March unfortunately it didn't arrive for two months when it was much colder so I've yet to wear it.Blue Cherry Dress - eBay (I don't think the seller is on eBay anymore!)

Red cardigan - SES

Lady Dragon Cherry Shoes - Vivienne Westwood for Melissa

Red Hair Rose - Bexterity

The Life Overhaul - Update 25th June 2011

Well dear readers we're back from Fiji and I've managed to tick off the first item from my list - I tried scuba diving! I have to report that unfortunately its just not for me. I simply could not get over the feeling of claustrophobia that I get underwater. I'm told by experienced divers that some people just can't get over that feeling. Having said that I am proud of myself for actually giving it a go which is something that I may not have done a few months ago. I'll leave you this piccy of the hubby who is much more of a fish in water than yours truly.

Daily Outfit: The Fiji Edition

Heres a few more snaps from our holiday. These ones are from the day after our wedding when we had a hard day of lounging by the pool planned!
Playsuit - Retro Vixens

Hair Flower - Bexterity

Red Spot Thongs - Rubi Shoes

and here's a quick snap in my new Jantzen vamp swimsuit which I just love!!!

Wedding Snaps

Hello dear readers I'm back from beautiful Fiji and after 6 years together we are now officially Mr and Mrs Powick! Here's a piccy of our beautiful wedding day. I'll give you more info about the holiday but for now here's a snap of the very happy couple!

Links of Love

Well dear readers I'm off to Fiji to get married!! I'll be back posting in a couple of weeks but for now here are some fab sites to keep you busy:

♥ Look what they've done with the water cube from the Bejing Olympics – I soo want to go here

♥ These caravans are so remiscent of the 1950s ones – I want one!

♥ Christians Diors Spring 2011 collection harks back to a 1950s style – Just gorgeous

♥ Could you make it as a 1940's housewife and if you could, heres the daily routine of a 1940's housewife. Why not learn to cook like a 1940s housewife while your at it. For more housewifery see how rosie the riverter measures upp against the modern housewife and for some housewife frivolry check out the housewife tarot

♥ Check out the Burlesque Hall of Fame's website – A must visit if your in La La Land

♥ Check out these wartime publications from the Minsitry of Food, these Tips for Tough Times from the Imperial War Museum and these make do and mend leaflets

♥ Love Elgrens Pin ups? Chek out the full list here

♥ Mad Men is still not back but if you want to rock joans bombshell beehive hairstyle check out this tutorial from Lisa Freemont Street -

♥ More on hair check out this easy hair roll tutorial for a simple vintage inspired look -

♥ Following the wedding theme – how about a bridal shower 1940s style or some 1940s wedding fashion or check out this actual wedding video from the 40s

♥ Boardwalk Empires finished for now but check out the trailer for the upcoming second season

♥ and finally swoon over these gorgeous shots from my vintage vogue

Emma aime in the Kitchen: Staffordshire Oatcakes

I have loved Staffordshire Oatcakes ever since I had them at my Aunty's in Stoke as a child. This recipe is from breadsecrets blog:

Ingredients:

8 oz/225g fine oatmeal (if you can only find medium oatmeal or porridge oats, blitz them in a food processor for a couple of minutes - you should be able to get them through a sieve with only a little bran residue at the end. Tip the residue in as well.)
4 oz/112g wholemeal flour
4 oz/112g plain flour (called “all purpose” in the US. Don’t use strong bread flour)
15 fl oz/430g skimmed or semi skimmed milk
15 fl oz/430g water
1 teaspoon “easy blend” dried yeast
1 teaspoon salt
Vegetable oil for frying

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a large jug or bowl. You can use an electric whisk to get the lumps out. Cover with cling film/plastic wrap, and leave at room temperature for at least two hours. The flavour will improve if you leave the batter covered in the fridge overnight.

You should now have a bubbly, runny batter, more or less the same consistency as normal pancake/crepe batter but grainy because of the oatmeal. From here on, you’re just making pancakes. A good pan is really important - you can find a non-stick crepe pan cheaply at many supermarkets or kitchen shops (mine only cost 7 UKP; I bought two so I can cook two at once), or a “tava” from an Asian supermarket is also ideal. Oil the pan lightly and heat it until you see smoke coming off - it must be good and hot. Wipe the oil over the pan using a wad of paper towel, so the whole pan surface is coated with a thin layer of oil.

Pour in a ladleful of batter and quickly tilt the pan around so it is covered with batter. Cook until the top has solidified and is darker and very slightly translucent, then loosen with a spatula and toss. You can flip the oatcake with a spatula if you like, but they do break sometimes, so it’s worth learning to toss them properly.

What Emma Did - 12th June 2011

This week I have been:

♥ Finishing my packing for Fiji

♥ Taking literally hundreds of books to my local book exchange so I can get some new ones to take on holiday with me

♥ Getting my eyebrows waxed for the first time in ages and being surprised by how little it hurt!

♥ Having my hair cut and finally getting rid of the last remnants of a bad perm

♥ Going out for a fab hens night in Newtown with my gorgeous UN girlies!

♥ Making oat cakes (a recipe will follow)

My Hens Night (and what I wore)

Dress - Elise Cherry Print Dress from Birdsnest.com.au

Boots - Kmart

Skivvy - ???

Friday night the Un girlies whisked me off to the city for my hens night. I've yet to see the photos of the night but once I have a copy I will post some and give you a low down of what we got up to. For now here is what I wore. Friday was rather chillsome and rainy so I layered the dress I planned to wear with a skivy underneath and tights. The dress itself was a wedding / early birthday pressie from the hubby's mum and I just love it! As for my hair well I've just had it cut so I decided to wear it down and straight for a change.

The Life Overhaul - Update 10th June 2011

I am soo excited (and a little nervous) to report that I have booked a pin up shoot with the lovely Bex of Bexterity.

Bex offers a fab Teaser Package with Professional PinUp Perfect Makeup, Voluptuous Vintage Hairstyling, PinUp Posing, Coaching & Guidance throughout the shoot, Use of all props, clothing & accessories, 1 themes/scene changes/clothing changes and 3 final edited web images that I have booked.

I've yet to set a date but as soon as I do I'll let you all know!

What Emma Did - 5th June 2011

This week I have been:

♥ Booking tickets for the final of Miss Burlesque Australia

♥ Getting very wet in the disgusting weather on Monday

♥ Going into the city and getting our bridging visa B so we can travel to Fiji

♥ Obsessively checking the weather in Nadi

♥ Receiving some wedding gifts - we got a gorgeous vase from the hubby's mum so now he has no excuse not to buy me flowers!

♥ Going out for a gorgeous breakfast by the sea at Alley Break

♥ Getting to the pub early to see the UN girlies and scuppering their planning session for my hens night

The Life Overhaul - Update 4th June 2011

Hello my darling vintage darlings! Its been a bit quiet on the blogging front for the last few days as the hubby and I have been super busy preparing for our holiday and wedding/honeymoon but I just wanted to update you to let you know that despite some semi-bad but mostly annoying news when it comes to our visa application I haven't been slacking with The Life Overhaul infact its just the opposite. I have already booked myself onto a Learn to love your sewing machine course for when I get back from Fiji and the hubby and I found this keyboard relatively cheap on-line. The hubby is pretty enthusiastic about teaching me to read music and play keyboard in fact I didn't want to hassle him too much about teaching me as he is a very busy man but he brought it up so we're going to purchase it when we get our tax back at the end of June. I'm also using my tax money to book a course of driving lessons so as soon as we get back from Fiji I plan to book in for my theory test and to get my L's!

I'll be back tomorrow for my round-up of the week with this weeks 'What Emma Did'