So much is happening in my world at the moment, and it is all good. This week I had my first catwalk show in about ten years (!) as I start getting myself together to make some serious headway into the world of alternative and vintage modeling. There is much to be done on developing the portfolio and building the new website, but it is all very exciting. Yesterday’s show saw me strutting my stuff with some of Melbourne’s fiercest faces (and I mean that literally) at the Bizarre Music Festival.

In my quest for eternal youth, I’ve choosen not to drink raw eggs for breakfast and have regular colonics. Instead I have opted for Burlesque classes! Under the tutelage of the divine Rodney, whose physique hums with skill, passion and a generous dose of pizazz, I should get those glutes toned in no time. I generally spend my time at the gym on the treadmill or lifting weights, avoiding group classes at all costs. I hate aerobics or anything in which I am yelled at while turning purple. But this class is a whole new kind of fun. Dancing to everything from the Pussycat Dolls to the Chicago soundtrack, while bumping and grinding with a Nana or two; this excercise is the most fun I’ve had in ages! (Cybill and others looking for the solution to their fitness problems look no further.)

Late 1960′s Candy Pink dress

Modern blouse – 1940′s vintage styling

The mornings here are freezing. The kind of mornings where you get an ice cream headache just by letting your ears peak out of the covers. The upside of the chill is that it is indicative of a clear sky ahead, and thus, lunch time sunshine. Tuesdays tend to be my most challenging days style wise, as I start the day by taking Miss 4 to swimming lessons where the environmental conditions are on a par with an afternoon in Jamaica. Hot and humid, irregardless of the frost forming on the windows.

I’m feeling a familiar sensation today. The urge to tidy that proceeds the urge to purge – my wardrobe that is. While tidying my studio I came across my ever growing pile of things to put on Ebay. I used to do this quite often but I probably haven’t listed anything in the last 12 months, and so the box is overflowing. How does this happen? How can I have so many things, almost the equivalent size of my current wardrobe, in this state of storage?

I have a shameful secret. My wardrobe has a consumption disorder, I call it my bulimic wardrobe. I binge, then I purge. It’s the vintage dress that is so cute, but will never fit. The stunning pants bought in a hurry and not tried on. The Ebay purchases where I neglected to check the measurements and not just the sizes. So if I can get my act together and photograph all this loot in the next week or so, there may be some cute pieces looking for their chance to hit the town. I’ll keep you posted.

Firstly, let me apologize for today’s rushed pictures. The colour and detail is somewhat lost here. It was a mad rush to get to kinder this morning. I’d like to get some better outfit shots with these shoes, but I just had to show you these lovelies. After my blue shoe obsession, these are one of the pairs I purchased on Ebay and they are a perfect fit. I am so please as it all worked out much more economically that I initially thought, particularly if I take into account the cost of petrol here at present and the time I would have taken to drive around and find something similar.

I actually had a day to spend to myself today. So I took the opportunity to book myself into the hairdresser as my visits tend to be marathon events. After 4 hours and the perfect colour (finally – thank you Brad!), I headed off happy to tackle a little shopping before my child free day came to an abrupt end. When you have a rare five hours to yourself, they go all to quickly.

I am about to spend the next week as a sole parent while the Mr. gallivants around in Thailand, hanging out at the pool and drinking Mai Tai’s. He says it is a conference but I know better. *wink* But that is good news for you all, as I plan to occupy my time tackling many of the requests I’ve received for specific posts and concocting all sorts of surprises to come. And perhaps I’ll start tomorrow with a Bloody Mary, just to share in that vacation spirit.

One of the things you will learn about me is I am obsessed with decorating, and then re-decorating. I work room to room and then once I have finished I am likely to be inspired all over again. We moved house just over twelve months ago, and as I was heavily pregnant at the time, I didn’t do much in the way of decorating. So I have been living in a passable, but fairly nana-ish environment for the better part of a year. As I slowly work on the Master bedroom, (I spent today re-painting furniture in a kind of Gothic Burlesque theme), I am busy thinking about how I would like to redo my kitchen. After seeing these very cute photos from Johanni, (you really must check out her photo stream. She has THE MOST amazing personal retro style) I am all inspired to paint my cabinetry in the same blue as her walls, and inject a little humor to the room.

So of course, off I went to the treasure trove that is the internet, looking for inspiration and lovely things to fill my kitchen with. So this weeks Swanky Panky is a little kitsch for the kitchen.

When things get a little too hot to handle, this trivet from The Vintage Kitchen should do the trick.

The tiles I have in the kitchen are a fairly non offensive cream colour, but I’m not so keen on the feature tile. It is very Australiana, a galah hanging from a gum leaf branch. (My fellow Australians will understand this cringe) So I was thinking of having them re-sprayed, but it costs a lot and may look quite shabby, so I am instead thinking of covering them with something like these decals.

I am not really into reproduction canisters and things (so over done!), but I do have some of those multi coloured Nally ones, just like my great grandmother had. Come to think of it, they could have been hers as I bought them from her local op shop, (although Great Nana dies many years ago). When I came across this vintage one on EbayI thought it was perfect for storing all chocolate and other treats in. A perfect reminder of what will happen to my arse should I choose to indulge.

And while I’m doing all this, I could recover the kitchen chairs too. I think that this Dick and Jane fabric from Repro Depot would work particularly well on those guests that go secretly ferreting for the cooking sherry after dinner.

** Re: Dressing your age from yesterday – I am going to track down some photos of my at about 19 for comparison. That should be interesting. **

I am a bit ticked off with Ebay these days. While I still enjoy trawling around for whatever takes my fancy at the oddest of hours, Ebay are changing their set up here in Australia. Where we used to be able to list and pay for items with direct bank deposit, Ebay are about to make all listings PayPal only! Quite the monopoly.

While their argument is that it makes it safer for buyers and sellers alike, it will certainly eat into many sellers profits with PayPal fees on top of their listing fees. Sadly, this means that many wonderful sellers are planning to close their shops. And while I debated boycotting Ebay, it doesn’t appear that it will make much difference. Petitions have been signed and appeals made, but Ebay have chosen to go ahead with their plan. So this has changed the way I shop.

While my preference was always to buy from Australian sellers rather than messing around transferring funds to my PayPal account, now that I have no choice, I am opening up to looking at more international items. (Fair enough, the postage can sting, but there are much better vintage options in the US than here.)

Anyway, the whole point of this is that in all my shopping around I have found a fabulous Ebay vintage store that I just had to share for today’s Swanky Panky. Violetville Vintage has a wonderful, quality collection of vintage clothing that dates mainly from the 1930′s – 1960′s. They take amazing photographs of the outfits and are excellent at describing their items. I love it when people know how to properly list vintage clothes! Each of their pieces are vetted for quality and gorgeousness; so you are sure to find something you will adore.