Music for the Mood #2

Just a little post to sum up the mood of the moment. I stayed at Uni far too late last night to hand in an assignment at 10pm and take the hour long trip home. Today I'm recovering with my favourite blanket and some slow cute tunes...
p.s. I featured the photography of Chelsea Jade from Watercolours earlier on the blog click here to see the post.
p.p.s Watercolours played live at the Ruby boutique NZFW11 show to set the mood there as well. So talented.

Flaxen bag + Print. feature

A couple of days ago I won this awesome Gorilla bag by Flaxen NZ through a competition with the young NZ magazine Print.

Words & Images by Marie-Claire

 To say thanks I wrote a piece for Print which they featured on their blog! It's below...

Hi print. readers! I'm Marie-Claire, a 5 ft 3" soon to be graduate with a mass of ideas and a love of print. magazine. This morning I received this crazily cool Flaxen bag in the mail courtesy of print. so this is a huge big thank you post! While I was thinking of what to write for this post I read about Nicole and Jack's story; their drive, determination, and the setbacks involved with trying to make their dream a reality (in the form of a magazine). This got me thinking about the things that hold us back in life, which I'm attempting to lump into a basket called "practicalities".

While chatting with my best friend a few weeks ago about our inability to manage our time the way we want, we drew a diagram to try and solve the problem. It turned out to be one large circle labelled “what I want to do” squished by another large circle on top labelled “what I have to do”. I feel that the practicalities of life take up too much time and limit our ability to do what we really want. So for many of us we only truly live through little treasures, such as lovely magazines and gorgeous gifts.

This is why I find print. mag and Flaxen so inspirational. Somehow the creators behind both of these treasures seem to have held on to their hope and re-organised their life diagrams to fit in doing what they want. For those of us who haven’t made the leap of faith yet I say embrace the cheeky treasures of life and use them to inspire us to also move forward. If there’s something you are dreaming of doing start today, or at least plan to start it soon.

And if your idea ever seems silly or impractical remember this Flaxen bag in all its wild nature and remember that someone will always love it.

Print. blog feature
Print. facebook
Flaxen

The best blonde

I saw the makeover episode of Australia's Next Top Model yesterday and now I'm itching to have Simone's hair! I adore the white blonde colour. It reminds me of the makeover New Zealand model Gina Morrissey had recently. Not quite the same colour, and two very different looking girls, but for both I think it gives a softness and an edge to their look.

Simone from Australia's Next Top Model 2011

Gina Morrissey from Red 11 - Photo by Hayley Bayliff

p.s. I find ANTM not quite as painful as NZNTM to watch...although the Aussie host Sarah is far too sweet for tv! Seriously, she's like Miss Honey from Matilda!

Skin & Threads - SS11

For whatever reason colour is visually stimulating and looking at it makes our other senses jealous. This is my idea of the secret behind the big colour trend. Not so secret anymore :) Check out Skin & Threads for more. And maybe match your loud clothes to your loud furniture like so:

Couldn't resist :) 

Michelle Williams / Marilyn Monroe

These are my favourite shots from the Michelle Williams Vogue shoot. I think the second shot is gorgeous and understate. How brave is she to take on the role of Miss Monroe!

Falling for furniture #1

I'm falling for furniture pretty hard at the moment. If its possible, then its happening, and stranger things have always happened. These arm chairs are from French Furniture Direct. I think the red (ish) one is my fave but really I wouldn't mind any of these!

Music to clear the Monday Mood

Such an awesome song! Love how she just lets loose. 6 Week countdown to the end of Uni!

Pop Up Circus + Sven Valentine

We caught Sven on Darby St in Auckland on Thursday pulling a big crowd to show off his crazy circus antics. Fire, acrobatics, unicycling, juggling, and generally making people laugh are all part of Sven's act. I had a chat to him after the show and turns out he is a circus clown at the children's hospital and also teaches his trade at a drop in centre in Otahu. What a guy!

Excuse the bad photo quality :)

Breakfast week

 Finally got a sit down breakfast which meant reading vice and getting to use my birthday tea pot/cup. It is so cute and the cup is enormous which I love! Art Week brochures are hot off the press so I'll be distributing some today and maybe (finally) starting some Uni work :/ If you want to know anything about Auckland Art week ... check it out: Art Week Auckland

Sunday bests

 I'm a little obsessed with this Joon & Jung Pillow Blanket. I hope to own it one day when I live in my loft apartment with 3/4 walls, huge windows and cold floors. It would be perfect for Sunday afternoon naps in the sun :)

And here's a tune for Sunday too. I've never heard of Miami Horror before and don't particularly like their other songs but this one is nice for Sunday :) I sense a bit of m83 influence creeping into it as well which makes it ten billion times better than their other tunes. I love Sundays :)

Falling for Bettina Krieg

Reading this interview by Freunde von Freunden has contributed to my art crush for Bettina Krieg. I would love to have some of her work! It's the kind of art that would never get old on you because there is so much detail to discover and mull over. Bettina is definitely an inspiration :)

Photographic inspiration

thank goodness for colour