Mid Century Home Interior. Photo from Java 1888 on Flickr

As my internet has been shaped today (note to self – get a better plan!), this is a good opportunity to share with you one of the tags I’ve recently been asked to do by my lovely friend Hammie.  These often consist of useless and uninteresting information, but most of the questions here are things I’ve been asked by you all over time, so this kills two birds with one stone. Have fun reading all this nonsense, and I’ll be back with outfits, tutorials and other bandwidth busting stuff tomorrow.

What is your current obsession? Mid century homes done on a grand scale.  The decor, architecture and general lifestyles of those that lived in them.  I feel I should be swanning around at my own cocktail party, cigarette in hand, entertaining the local intelligentsia.

Good coffee place? My kitchen bench. I have trouble justifying $4 on a cup of coffee when I can save those pennies for my next Must Have find. Besides which, I am very particular about my brew and find that 9 times out of 10 it is burnt and I have to send it back. This either results in a long discussion about how to make a decent cup of coffee or the gamble that my new one may contain some extra ingredients. Such is the plight of living in the suburbs.

Do you nap a lot? If only.  With two children naps don’t really work for me.  Even then, when I do get the opportunity I generally lie there awake feeling guilty about being unproductive or planning new things for the blog in my head.  I get by on the “early to bed, early to rise”, philosophy.

Who was the last person you hugged? Miss Four.  Crying her eyes out that Mama says killing people on Sonic the Hedgehog is not really the best choice of entertainment for a Four year old with an over active imagination and highly developed sense of paranoia.

What’s for dinner? Good question. Usually whatever inspiration strikes around the remaining ingredients in the fridge.  Let’s see… today it looks like a tofu stir fry of some sort.

What was the last thing you bought? A fabulous fitted hounds tooth, high waisted skirt from Cue.  It has some beautifully piped seams and a stunning ridged bow on the back, obi style.  Oh and some hot cross buns, which I shall not eat for fear of not fitting into said skirt.

What are you listening to right now? The sounds of a magic wand being waved amongst middle eastern music, as Miss Four fights off evil pixies to save the Princess Jasmine.

What is your cure all for a bad day? Some Doris Day, a fresh G & T and a sneaky cigar.

What’s on your bedside table? A fire engine red, vintage rotary phone. Duck egg blue satin lamp shade with crystal base. My copy of ” The Secret History of the Pink Carnation.” And a happy face in the dust.

Say something to the person/s who tagged you. Hammie, can you please come back and live here in Australia? I promise to take you thrift shopping on a monthly basis, repair your technology woes and swap poo stories to make you laugh.

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you want it to be? It would be on a cliff side in Las Vegas, looking out over the strip. Close enough to get to everything, but far enough away to avoid the curious masses.  It would have floor to ceiling one way glass, a sunken living room and an entire dressing room outfitted by a designer with Ikea style sense of genius for storage. Possibly also a zoo..It would over course, have to have a teleporter to ensure instantaneous travel the world over to keep my family close to me.

Favourite vacation spot? To date, Tokyo Japan, my Disneyland for adults.  The home of the cute, the neat, the clean and orderly, the insanely bizarre.

Name the things you can’t live without. Inspiration, friends, sunlight and imagination.

What is your favourite tea flavour? Either a top quality Earl Grey or Japanese Sen Cha.

What would you like to get rid of? The need to ever earn money and still be able to live a fabulous and decadent life.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? The home of a dying Hollywood heroin (a la Joan Crawford) who’d want to give me her entire estate including her clothing and jewellery collection.

What did you want to become as a child? A Spy. Then a journalist, then Indiana Jones, then a Spy again.

What do you miss? My pre motherhood boobs. I know I put them somewhere and with the size they were you wouldn’t think I’d misplace something like that.

What are you reading right now? “The Secret History of the Pink Carnation.” A fictional account of the life of a great spy, in the tradition of the Scarlett Pimpernel.  Just perfect. Mystery, intrigue, tightly laced bodices and men in breeches. The good stuff.

What’s your favourite brand of jeans? I really don’t wear jeans.  As you know I recently bought a pair for occasions of denim induced emergency, but honestly they feel like a bit of a costume to me these day. When I did wear jeans some time ago, my favorites were Australia’s Sass and Bide’s Rabbit Boy style jean.  They had a 6cm fly and super wide legs. I loved they way the legs walked independently to mine.

What designer piece of clothing would you most like to own (new or vintage)? The very first commercial piece made by Charles Worth for the House of Worth. No doubt beautiful, but I could retire on that baby.

What is the guilty secret lurking in your wardrobe? A pair of 12 year old jodhpurs that take the place of track pants when I am very sick or very tired. The best $20 I ever spent.

If you could go back in time and talk to your 17 year old self, what would you say?

Skip the dodgey boyfriends and follow your dreams no matter how mad they might be. If you want a cool dress and a big party, just have one, don’t get married.