this little piggie went to market

YESS WE CAN!

winning

after a long hiatus i'm out of hibernation and refreshed with innovative ideas and new stories to tell.  for example, last week i went on that trip to vietnam.

we ate dog.  we drank moonshine with marinating cockroaches inside.  we splashed out on a private tour guide, personal driver and an automobile (if you've been to vietnam you'll understand how the latter is perhaps the most indulgent luxury) and journeyed to a mountain-top lake in a national park of the far northern highlands.

we saw uncle ho's embalmed body.  you're not allowed to photograph it.  you'll just have to take my word for it; he's aging well.

we started drinking local beer by noon each day and kicked on until at least 10 pm (midnight darwin time.  very extreme).  we visited mediocre museums and feigned inquisitive interest (but we were drunk so we probably weren't as convincing as we thought). we sat on plastic stools that could have fit inside a dollhouse and ate pho at roadside vendors.  we drank at bia hois and met wine brokers and stock brokers and listened to stories about what its like to grow up in vietnam. 

we observed capitalism in its purest form and indulged in tailor-made goodies, wooden instruments and counterfeit dvds that don't play properly.  for the first time in my life, i treated myself to a stint in a five star french colonial hotel on the banks of a river including gourmet breakfast, room service dessert, lobby cocktails and four hours being pampered by three staff at the spa.

we woke up too early and couldn't sleep on the planes.  we drank water from the tap, had ice in our drinks, forgot to take our malaria tablets and didn't suffer too many consequences.  we didn't miss our phones or our regular internet access or facebook or even this blog.

we accidentally dropped our camera and bought a used [stolen] camera that had been fixed up [barely works] to document our trip and map out our blurry memories for years and decades and eons to come.

we had the time of our lives.  we spent more than one hour together, just the two of us, for the first time in a very, very long time.

we made ourselves tired and we were very pleased to arrive home.

home.

30 is the new 30

happy birthday to you

happy birthday to you

happy birthday dear alex

happy birthday to you

(and many more)

yess please

this just in: this month's happy yess markets at brownsmart is so on.  come join us sunday 28 november from 2-6 pm for more market madness.  to get us through until then, here are some more highlights from last month: happy-yess-fashion, haircuts and halloween, oh my!

i love lamp loves happy yess markets

thanks to all our fellow marketeers, shopoholics, happy yessers, flatmates and everyone in between who came out to the inaugural market day yesterday afternoon.  it was a great success--more pictures will be up soon.

i love lamp sends out a special gracias to miss sammy--wouldn't have/couldn't have pulled it off without ya, darlin'!

how to: i love playing dress-up

rule 1: find an excuse to clothes-swap regularly.  this weekend, one of our friends is going to new york and one of us is going to melbourne for a snazzy wedding.

rule 2: make a night of it.  make sure your wine is chilled and ready to serve, your dinner menu is new and out of the ordinary, and the stereo is set the band your partner doesn't usually let you listen to.

rule 3: get the kids involved.  make some score cards ala australia's next top model--rate your favourite outfits and invite the kiddies to score (and dress-up!) too.

 

rule 4: girls just wanna have fun. be slightly loud, tell stories that make everyone giggle, dance around a little, splurge and let yourself have that cheeky ciggie, and stay up too late on a school night.

rule 5: ride your bike.  eliminate the issue of finding a sober driver, but make sure to have your helmets handy.  get your heart pumpin with a lovely ride home with your friends through late-night deserted streets.

rule 6: chronicle your occasion.  photograph your borrowed items in action like crazy.  because photographs are as central to special occasions and travel as souveniers and hangovers -- but also because its nice to give your friends the pleasure of seeing where their clothes have traveled and how you styled them.

 

rule 7: rinse and repeat. clothes-swapping never loses its appeal.  everything old can become new again with fresh eyes and fresh ideas.

 

rule 8: come shop with i love lamp. we play dress up too.  i  wanna annoy you readers more than the shitty advertising that interrupts your free iphone aps (honestly, dishing out the $1.19 for the full version of angry birds will change your life.)  non-stop, shameless plugging is the name of our game--yes, come shop i love lamp at our happy yess market stall the last sunday of every month.

"you look really great today."

what a loaded comment.  when colleagues really take the time to remark on how you great you look in your dress today--like they reiterate it so many times and nearly everyone in the office agrees and makes sure they're really driving the point home--it's almost like they're suggesting how shit you look in all your other outfits.

it's like those days when everyone keeps asking you if you're tired/stressed/sick/having bad allergies/hungover but you got a full nine hours sleep, ate a healthy breakkie, got in a quick run, put on a full face of make up and feel fabulous in your outfit. 

they're basically saying, 'hype up the bronzer cuz you lookin like shit.'

it's like those people who go head over heels on the few occasions a decade that i straighten my otherwise super curly hair, and they repeat over and over how much better it looks styled that way.  thanks, colleagues, but i dont have three hours a day, monster biceps or a self-loathing-enough personality to warrant that much effort.  boo hoo.

i hate to out her in the public sphere, but boston had a similar show-stopping moment at work recently in this mint button-front safari number, paired with 30s-style t-strap heels and dangly earrings.  i mean, it is amazing.

but that's not to discount her other outfits; one of the reasons i teamed up with boston in i love lamp was because i'm one of her biggest sartorial fans--her creativity and vision in turning otherwise cast-out, lifeless op-shop finds into fashionable gold is inspiring.  this look lived up to the expectation--and elicited oohs and ahhs, gasps and squiels, accolades and appreciation from every onlooker the whole day.

lucky for you, dear readers, she was only taking the dress for a spin. 

made in sydney so it was locally produced, too.  find it at the Happy Yess Markets beginning Sunday 31 October and make it your staple piece sure to stand out from the usual nine-to-five-wardrobe.

when everything old is new again

who ever thought that 90s fashion would make a comeback? i was a teenager in the 90s and it was uninspiring to say the least. think Elaine from Seinfeld. conservative and daggy--not really a look i thought the runways would re-hash. but no one ever loves the era that they were lumped with. i was jealous of the 80s-flair that my sisters were able to express themselves in. i was too young to create my own style then.

all those bright colours, the awkward shapes, everything bizarre. the 80s had movement and pizazz. although stylish for the time, i felt drab in my op shop UCLA t-shirt, ripped Levi's and beat up converse. where did the fluro leg warmers and outrageous tutus go?

 

okay the 90s weren't all bad. i have to admit that i have been waiting to sport a double denim combination again with confidence. darwin is a bit too hot to go all out in knits and leather but i love lamp has been on the look-out for some stylish threads from yesteryear. we want to help bring your wardrobe back to the beat of Vanilla Ice.

after getting back into a high-waisted pant I don’t know why I was dreading the resurgence of this quickly forgotten fashionable era. dressed in a pair purple chinos matched with a loose fitting white blouse I was impressed with the new sense of freedom I felt when bending over.   hips are out people, its time to bring back the waistline.

watch out Darwin. there will be more ladies on the bend.

come to i love lamp 31 October at the Happy Yess Markets. Fo Real.