Winter is like Birthday Spectacular around here. And birthday’s in my world require costumes, well any day can be costume day, but birthday’s even more so.

So when Miss Five turned Six in June, we had a big Sailor Moon party, complete with a couple of Tuxedo Masks.  The amazing costumes for the girls were specially made to order by Violet Le Beaux with only a week’s notice and were the highlight of the day. We have an awful lot of Moon Tiara Magic around here!

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Miss 6 and Miss almost 3, playing musical statues with “Tuxedo Mask”.

Then after those festivities, if having one creative type in a family isn’t enough, both our dogs have birthday’s too! (This makes FOUR Leo’s in one house!)

The tradition is that each year both puppies get lots of dog treats and new coats as their birthday’s are right in the middle of winter. Even though they are pretty fluffy, having overnight lows of zero degrees is enough to see icicles appear on their noses. Given that I’m letting them sleep inside at the moment, I chose a couple of lighter weight, jersey material coats with a super cute factor.

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Both the little jackets are from Shique Pooch, a local online dogwear store.  I love that I can just machine wash these as Miss Lola has a habit of following rabbits wherever they go, muddy or not!

Then in just another two weeks, my tiny little Miss 2 turns 3! I’m off sorting out a ‘big bed’ for her and then getting ready for even more parties in August when the Mr and I will also increase our fabulous quotiant by another year.

But one of the big reasons for the birthday post today is to say this..

A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little bro today, who is living all the way on other side of the world.

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Happy Birthday “Fernando!”

After a month of illnesses at our place, everyone seems finally to be back on deck. A little tired and worse for wear in some respects, but all the better for the unexpected time together. So with the previously house bound in mind, we headed out the other weekend for Anzac Day on a family picnic.  The weather is just holding off, with sunny days, but chilly winds reminding you to make the most of it while you can.

We packed the basket, filled the thermos with hot tea, grabbed some extra layers to keep warm and a bottle or two of cider to keep the chill at bay. Way back in the day, family picnics were the norm when it came to weekend entertainment. When I was growing up, the whole extended family would meet in a park with baskets and bikes in tow, while Nana filled the blankets with all manner of home made slices, cakes and tea.  I have very strong memories of my Grandmother standing in the middle of the park in her apron, handing out golden Anzac Biscuits from a large tin. Some even had that soft, squishy texture of goodies baked that morning and hastily packed away for the day. I would then spend the day eating egg salad sandwiches under the shade of a large tree, reading with only ants for company until I was compelled to risk the safety of my knees on a little blue bicycle.

These are the sorts of things I’d like for my girls to remember. Not childhood memories filled only with Saturday morning cartoons, but the sorts of adventures they had themselves, exploring, eating, experiencing.

Miss Five in her Tram Conductor’s best

My lovely friend Mistress C.

Outfit Details

Pink Angora Cardigan – Made by Mum circa 1980

Pink knit top – Retrospect’d clothing

High waisted plaid pants – Retrospect’d clothing

Shoes – Keds

Snood – eBay

Flowers – by me

Cherry hairclip worn as brooch – My Little Rockabilly

Bag and scarf – Vintage

Some Daily Outfits give me more challenges than most – especially when children and roller skating are involved! I was invited to take Miss Five on her first skating expedition this week along with a group of mothers and children from her school.  She was SUPER excited about going, wondering if she was supposed to win a gold medal and jump off big stuff! Me, well I used to be a big skater, going a few times a week and carving up the floor…. but that was a very long time ago.  I still had the old skates out away in the cupboard, but the have only been out on the rink about once or twice in the last eleven years.  This presented a whole new wardrobe challenge – just what does one wear when rollerskating with a bunch of five year old children??

I had to think long and hard on this one as my first instincts were to go with some of the outfits I last wore and break out the whole Olivia Newton John in Xanadu tpe of look.  But just in case that may cause the other mothers to shield their children from this crazy woman I decided to go with something a little less theatrical.  There was no way I was going to wear my workout gear for this ,as for me, workout gear belongs only in the gym so I had to think of the next best thing.

After a bit of a rummage around in the depths of the wardrobe I came up with an outfit that I haven’t worn in a while – it was one of my last pregnancy staples!  I have this great skull print jersey dress that has an open, cross over back that I used to wear backwards while I was pregnant with Miss 2. I’d throw this over yoga pants for casual days and it did the trick.  So it was the perfect thing to be both cute and comfortable whilst skating too.

Outfit Details:

Skull Print Dress – Episode    Tank Top – Portmans

Cropped Yogo Pants – Puma   Pewter Ballet Flats – U.B.H

Hair Bow -Bought so long ago I can’t remember!

Skates – Check your local skate store!

Of course it turned out that none of the other parents intended to skate and I ended up the only one over 3 foot tall on the rink!

Today’s Daily Outfit is a special guest appearance by Miss Five.

Styled and directed by Miss Five….

Outfit Details:

Dress & Cardigan – Target

Shoes – Grosby

Mask – Costume shop

Necklace – Candy

Today’s daily outfit was for meetings, lunch and generally gadding about in bookstores. The dress is a gorgeous early 1960’s, late 1950’s piece in a cotton waffle weave fabric.  I feel in love with it the minute I saw it at the Love Vintage Show earlier this year and had to have it… even though at the time I couldn’t even get the zip done up. *cough* Perhaps I’d been to lunch too many times that week. Anyway, it hung around in the wardrobe for a while but I could only wear it when corseted down, that is until today! Yay!  Cause let’s face it, corsets might look dead sexy but I tell you, trying to get down and play lego in them is hell and not advisable.  Heels on the other hand (foot?) are do-able. They just need to be cute AND sturdy to work.

Outfit Details

Dress – Vintage circa 1959

Shoes – Paragon dept. store Bangkok

Earrings – Vintage

Gorgeous Baby – Miss 2

I love my vintage and I love my things a little extra fancy, but it is critically important that I can still do everything I need to without fear of dirt, damage or puncturing a rib. And that is why I take a leaf from the book of women of the past to make it work.

The secret? An apron!

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