this little piggie went to market

YESS WE CAN!

we stand corrected

bad news, amigos. the market gods don't love lamp.  at least not like we do.

the happy yess markets scheduled for sunday 28 november have been cancelled.  we've stopped crying long enough to let our lovely lampers know. 

please help happy yess spread the word--if ya see any posters around town, feel free to take 'em down (might make cool paper airplanes? wallpaper for your bedroom?) 

we'll be back at ya with a rescheduled date (hopefully for december), otherwise we'll see ya in the new year.

might have to organise some renegade markets at another venue?  stay tuned.

xx i love lamp

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'!

"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.

let the music play

is it normal to want to perform? did everyone jump out behind curtains dancing to ABBA in front of their parents friends? is it strange to put your hand up at work to present a power point in front of 100 people just so you can stand up on a stage? to hold attention of the masses, all eyes on you, under the spotlight, name in lights!! – or is it just me?

some people like to play an instrument. i like to perform an instrument. fly along a piano like Billy Joel, wail on riff like Eric Clapton, belt it out like Van the Man and throw down a sax solo like Michael Bolton? i have a musical performance part of my soul that is desperate to express itself in any shape or form.

i began with the piano. everyone in my family got piano lessons as soon as they were old enough to have metal cutlery at the dinner table. my parents are not particularly musical nor did they have insight into the amazing things musical training can do to a developing mind – it’s just that we had a piano.

my first teacher was a 90-year-old spinster called Miss Dowe. she was old when my sister was taught by her 10 years earlier, by this stage she was ancient. I didn’t learn much with Miss Dowe. i don’t know what was more distracting: her whiskers that were longer than her actual hair, the suffocating smell of death mixed with mothballs or the dribble that would ooze out of her mouth onto my hands as she leaned over to read the music. it was customary for Miss Dowe to finish the lesson by force-feeding me stale sponge cake. it made me suspicious of the word ‘cake’ which I thought Miss Dowe used rather loosely.

if not traumatised enough from this early experience the piano was still in my house taunting me. i needed to get up on that chair and show the world what I had. i feel sorry for my relatives that were subjected to these performances. my grandma once said ‘that was interesting’. that’s the best compliment I got on the piano.

once I left my parents' house I realised that the piano isn’t a great travelling companion – it was like a gateway drug, setting the scene for new musical experiences. i started dabbling in all kinds of instruments, whatever I could get my hands on. guitars were accessible but expensive. horn instruments usually featured as rusted antiques. the tambourine was a drunken fall-back to dancing and although drumming things were fun I have no rhythm.

i was stuck. my soul was yearning for melodic release. what should I do? where do I begin?

i was saved. a few drinks at a mate’s place and he casually mentions that he bought his second ukulele. what’s that again? isn’t it like a kids toy? why do you need two? isn’t it a mini-Hawaiian guitar? what do you do with it? do you play? show me.   

he pulls them out. one is shaped like a pineapple. that’s funny I think. i like funny. the second was made out of a heavier wood, had a matte finish and a clear resonating sound that made my ears prick up. i picked it up and held it in my hands. it felt good. he taught me a few chords and we jammed together for a while. four hours went by in a whisper.

my next encounter with a ukulele was my first weekend in Darwin. it was a Thursday night and I piled into a tiny club that was jammed full of people. this place was called ‘Happy Yess’ and my mate Matt was playing his first gig with a group called The Dukes. i didn’t know what to expect. You never do with Matt.

i stood there with the crowd eagerly awaiting for the show to begin. then it began. in the words of Napoleon Dynamite it was… ‘incredible’. nine people crammed on a stage all banging their hearts out on ukuleles; what more could you ask for in a live gig? i had to be a part of this. i had found my calling.


since joining The Dukes I have never felt so well rounded. i sing, i play and most importantly i perform. it is a thrill like no other when someone hands you a pass that says ‘Artist’ and guides you ‘back stage’ – which could just be a tarp and a port-a-loo but it's back there baby. then you step up on some kind of raised platform and turn to face your people. to me, that’s truly living.

so go on. get out there and live. whatever makes your soul shine, just do it. AND most importantly shop at i love lamp on the last Sunday of every month at Happy Yess Markets.


Aroooooooooooooooooooooo!!

you can love lamp, too

exciting news to share, amigos!

i love lamp is spreading its vintage and secondhand love all over darwin at the new happy yess monthly sunday markets! that's right; darwin will finally have a locally-focused, creative outlet at which to share wholesome crafty things, trash and treasure, and amateur arts and crafts.  the sunday market (held 2-6pm on the last sunday of every month, rain or shine) will be a great place for everyone to get their skills on. 

yours truly is gearing up to sell vintage and pre-loved clothes, accessories, homewares and giftables sourced from across the globe (from costa rica to washington, d.c. to sydney to darwin and beyond.)  be among the first to indulge in what is sure to be a cruisey, lazy afternoon of fun and games at the only dedicated original music joint in town.  click here for details and directions to the historic brownsmart theatre. 

first market 31 october.  tell your friends.  get on it.