A Special Birthday Brunch at The Armchair Collective

A Food Diary: A Special Birthday Brunch at The Armchair Collective

What a lucky birthday girl am I! For my 26th Birthday recently, my close friend Betty packed me into the car and we mini-road-tripped up to Mona Vale in Sydney to visit The Armchair Collective. Betty said she had three places in mind to surprise me for my birthday (she is a passionate foodie after all) and she settled on this one, the sweetest of them all.
Not only was the food was delicious (Mushroom bruschetta, Smoked trout on bagel, and thick chips with mayonnaise) they had a quirky shop full of candles, pillows, vintage chairs and tables, books and bags. I could've spent all afternoon in there browsing the shop, basking in the sunlight and giggling with Betty as we discussed our lives the only way friends could. I felt like I could've been in countryside France or in the valleys of Italy having one of those long day lunches. But I was very aware we were in a very special part of Sydney, and I am willing to share it to the world. Thanking Betty so much for making my birthday so enjoyable and for introducing me to The Armchair Collective.

A Campaign: Lonely Kids Club Autumn Winter 2013

A Campaign: Lonely Kids Club Autumn Winter 2013

I love a good quality t-shirt. As I was browsing the Lonely Kids Club online store, many solid, simple prints and drawings caught my eye. I could tell those t-shirts were unique and could be a staple in my wardrobe forever. So I'm happy to present the latest campaign from the Lonely Kids Club.
Based entirely in Sydney, Warwick the designer, owner and inspirer spends the time to make sure each t-shirt and garment is of great quality and fits his philosophy. 

About Lonely Kids Club (taken from the website): "We choose unique and interesting artists to collaborate with for each range, to keep things fresh and unique. Each range begins as a broad concept and through the design process organically transpires into a theme. We also try restricting the amount of colours we use in each range, as we believe in simplicity as well as the theory that restrictions lead to further creativity"

Officially launched in the early months of 2011, Lonely Kids Club will definitely be here to stay, with every clothing item being inspired by a short story about a personal experience. And each product is mailed out with a personal message and a unique drawing, courtesy of Warwick; creating sentimental gifts for every lonely kid out there. 

A New Hair Chapter: Chocolate Brown blunt hair with Bangs

Introducing: My new Chocolate Brown blunt hair with Bangs (coloured by Illusions Hairdressers, Wetherill Park)
Wearing: Maiden Love Shorts (thanks to Maiden Love); Coussinet Spire Necklace (thanks to Coussinet); H&M Parker; Cali & Cale Wedges (c/o Undergroup Showroom)

Although I've already got a couple of photos up of my new Chocolate Brown hair (note the very blunt cut) on the blog, I realised I haven't introduced it formally to my readers.
After a year and a half of Balayage hair, I decided, after a few months of no maintenance and touch ups that my blonde hair was starting to look ratty. Split ends started to appear half way down my hair, my ends were dry, my blonde hair was untoned. And to be honest - my hair can sometimes reflect my life and where it was going at that moment; I didn't maintain my life so I didn't maintain my hair.
And I've had some drastic changes to my life - people coming and going; my friend getting married, my reflection of my hopes of getting married surfaced, my heart being put down on the chopping board to be exposed etc etc has led me to just start a new Hair Chapter in my life. Sounds so corny but its true.
And girls always need new Hair Chapters to represent a new direction or fresh start. So I went down to Illusions and dyed my balayage to a rich Chocolate Brown (I stressed no reds or warm browns, I wanted a 'cooler' brown), widened my bangs/fringe and cut about 7CM off my length to get a blunt look at the ends.
Some people say I look younger, some people say I look more mature. I did it to refresh myself and my life. My girlfriends know how I feel - my close friend dyed her hair to mark her moving away to Korea and starting hew new job. My other friend always changes his hair for job interviews. I have another one who cut off most of her hair when she and her boyfriend broke up. So this is definitely not an unfamiliar concept for girls and boys.

So on all these notes, I want to stress that although I have been sad and painfully honest and looking suicidal in my last posts... that in truth, I am much happier now. So much happier. I found that expressing my sadness through my blogposts, ironically, made me not want to cry in real life. I haven't cried. I felt weird because I usually spend my nights doing just that.
My close friend (bless her) has tried to let me to cry, has encouraged it, has endorsed it; but my body just doesn't want to. Maybe it's a sign that I'm stronger than I think and that maybe I've just matured. Or maybe I just be crazy and have been bottling it up and soon  explode one day. But we shall see what happens in the month of May. It isn't over yet....