The Velvet Bow

White Elephant Secondhand and Vintage Sale

Regan: dress $14, ankle boots $15, sunglasses $10, bag $10

Lucy: blouse $10, skirt $8

Regan: bolero $12, skirt $7, boots $15, top $2, bag $10, belt $6

Lucy: dress $14, bag $10, sunglasses $12

Regan: blouse $7, skirt $6, bag $12, Docs $30

Lucy: blouse $7, skirt $10

Regan: dress $15, clutch $5

Lucy: dress $20, bag $16

Regan: dress $15, jumper $8, bag $8, Docs $30

Lucy: blouse $4, skirt $10, bag $8, sunglasses $20

Regan: dress $15, cardigan $12

Lucy: top $7, skirt $10, belt $6

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Here it is Perth folks, the second White Elephant Secondhand and Vintage Sale! The last one we had back in August 2010 sold out within the hour, so this time we have a bigger space, more stock and more fun things planned!

We have collected hundreds upon hundreds of vintage and great quality second hand clothes and accessories at BARGAIN prices- think op-shop prices before they got expensive. Each item is hand picked and many have barely been worn, and it is breaking our hearts to let these amazing pieces go. BUT EVERYTHING MUST GO!!!

Prices range between $2 and $30 with most items under $10!!! Check out the above photos for a snapshot of whats on offer. Dresses, skirts, blouses, jackets and coats, shorts, scarves, accessories, sunglasses, shoes, bags and jewellery will be on offer for next to nothing. Like last time, there will be special pieces including Doc Martens, Alannah Hill items and one of a kind vintage frocks.

• Saturday 4 February
• 12pm - 2pm (but we recommend queuing early to get the best stuff)
• Subiaco Community Centre, 203 Bagot Road Subiaco
• Gold coin entry
• Cash only

First five in line will receive a $10 voucher to spend on the day. RSVP to the Facebook event for giveaways and info in the lead up to sale day. Less than two weeks to go!

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Southwest France: Biarritz

Biarritz lies at the very bottom-left corner of France, less than 30km from the Spanish border. It’s a luxe seaside town favoured by the rich and powerful of Europe who flock by the droves in the summer months for a bit of sand, sea and sun. Unfortunately for us we were just days away from winter when we visited, and despite the sun shining brightly it was rather cold! Still, I really enjoyed exploring the seaside areas of this old city - bridges carved from rock leading into the sea, lookouts aplenty, crumbling stone boat pens, hydrangea-lined pathways, little chateaus perched atop rocky outcrops, ice-cream huts, exposed reefs and giant discarded anchors. I was even enchanted by the nautical design metal rubbish bins, I’ve never seen such pretty ones in my life!

Everything about this place screams upper class. As we got in so early in the morning we got to witness a team of professionals actually rake all the sand on the beach and hose down the already-clean promenade. Hedges were trimmed to perfection and paintwork was bright and fresh on everything. Rich old ladies were taking little dogs for morning walks and passersby were always elegantly dressed. And this was in the off season - I can barely imagine what the place is like in the summer months! We didn’t get time to visit the famous Hotel du Palais or the museum of the sea, but I thoroughly enjoyed what Biarritz had to show us and I look forward to going back one day if I ever have lots of money to splash around!

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Zaragoza, San Sebastian and Saint-Jean-de-Luz

After leaving Barcelona we took a road that ran practically parallel to the Pyrenees that border France and Spain. Our next port of call was Zaragoza, the capital of the province of Aragorn and one of Spain’s largest cities. Despite being home to one of the largest churches in the world, there wasn’t much else to see here besides a portion of the Roman wall and cool fountain. We spent the night in Zaragoza after the long drive through Northern Spain, and left early the following morning just as soon as we’d taken a quick walk around the main square.

Cue another long drive, this time up to the west coast of Spain through lots of tunnels and mountain passes. We emerged in the idyllic town of San Sebastian, a short hop away from the French border. San Sebastian could have jumped right off the front of a postcard with its pretty promenade hugging a calm beach, old Spanish buildings and giant statue of Jesus atop a hill. We only stopped long enough for some paella and a few photos before jumping back on the road and onto Bayonne for the night. Now we were officially back in France - the final leg in our journey!

The following morning was spent in Biarritz which I’ll dedicate the next entry to. For now though I’ll skip over it to the last stop before home, the town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Another beachside fishing town, Saint-Jean-de-Luz sure had a lot of character. White buildings were framed with shutters, roofs and beams in bright colours like cobalt blue and brick red. Little squares opened up at the ends of lanes with bistros and gnarled, leafless trees. And artisan chocolate shops were everywhere! Alas, once the shops re-opened after closing for a few hours over lunch it was time for us to get back on the road so we quickly grabbed some millefeuille and marzipan for a rather messy car trip back to Festalemps.

1. Zaragoza: a pop of colour on a grey day
2. Zaragoza: Marc and me by the Roman wall
3. Zaragoza: Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, one of the largest churches in the world
4. San Sebastian: postcard perfect
5. San Sebastian: a carousel
6. San Sebastian: Playa de la Concha
7. San Sebastian: huge statue of Jesus on Monte Urgull
8. San Sebastian: benches on the promenade
9. Saint-Jean-de-Luz: blue shutters
10. Saint-Jean-de-Luz: Harbour
11. Saint-Jean-de-Luz: on of many squares with gnarled trees
12. Saint-Jean-de-Luz: chocolate babushkas!
13. Saint-Jean-de-Luz: pretty door
14. Saint-Jean-de-Luz: Maison Louis XIV
15. Saint-Jean-de-Luz: red shutters this time

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Face Facts Design Competition

I know a lot of you out there are budding designers and even more of you can’t resist a great competition, so make sure you get your designs up by 29th February. Not only is it a great platform for you to get your work out but the Face Facts campaign also promotes positive messages to our youth. Entries will be based on public votes and I’ll be sure to keep you updated on the winners. Good luck!

To find out more, visit the Face Facts website.

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The Road to Spain: Barcelona Day Three

We had to be out of Barcelona by midday on our last day, so we had planned an ambitious morning ticking off the last few sites we were desperate to do before leaving. First stop was Parc Güell just in time for opening. Alas many other people must have had the same idea as there was already a decent crowd! Parc Güell is another of Gaudi’s creations - a sprawling modernista garden on the edge of Barcelona full of mosaic creatures, undulating structures and the very house Gaudi spent his final years in. We only checked out the very start of the park before we had to move on, loitering for a photo at the famous rainbow lizard and marvelling over crooked furniture at the Gaudi museum.

Then it was back to the heart of Barcelona for the thickest Spanish hot chocolate with churros (long donuts) followed by a peek inside La Catedral. The reason I wanted to see this church was solely due to the live geese who have lived in the cloister since medieval times. It was a pretty wacky site to see these birds in the middle of such a place! The final place on our bucket list was the Mercat de la Boqueria, Barcelona’s big and bustling fresh produce market. The stalls were bursting with mushrooms the size of my head, pungent seafood, confectionary in all manner of shapes, the brightest fruit and vegetables, cured legs of ham, and bundles of dried chillies. I must say though my favourite thing on offer was the curious pre-made fresh juices - I had raspberry and coconut while Marc tried blackberry and banana. These markets are full of Spanish flair and are definitely one of the top things to see if you ever visit. I probably would have bought a million things I couldn’t eat just for the great presentation if it wasn’t already time again to jump back into the car on to our next destination!

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The Road to Spain: Barcelona Day Two

On our second day in Barclona we planned a whirlwind trip from one end of the city to the other, mostly by foot. From our hotel we passed through the Parc de la Ciutadella to the port before taking a stoll by the beach. Then we caught a cable car across the water up to Montjuïc, a hill with sweeping views over the city. Montjuïc was the site of the 1992 Olympics and we were able to visit the well kept stadium as well as peeking into the area that held the diving events. While the latter seemed to be falling into a derelict state after years of unuse, its location on the edge of the hill would have provided a real spectacle in its heyday. Nearby we stumbled upon a 10-strong group of stray cats dotted in trees and lazing in grass and I just about had a fit of excitement. It looked like someone had been feeding them as I saw a little food bowl hidden under a stone bench so I imagine they were all rather happy!

After rushing past the other points of note in the area we headed back into the centre for an amazing Spanish vegetarian buffet lunch. Then there was a walk down the colourful La Rambla - a long street full of buskers, streetside paella cafes, tiny cacti stalls, gelato and all sorts of crazy characters - before moving on to the gothic quarter. We saw Roman ruins, super old churches, typical Catalonian buildings and medieval Royal quarters. I don’t think I have ever done so much in a day but at the end I felt very efficient to have done about a week’s worth of sight-seeing in about ten hours!

1. Yachts in the port
2. Arc de Triomf
3. On the promenade of Barcelonata beach
4. Cable car across the port to Montjuïc
5. The magic fountain
6. Barcelona sky line
7. Olympic Park
8. Homenatge a La Barceloneta Sculpture
9. Some appealing graffiti at the port
10. View from Montjuïc
11. Where they held the Olympic diving, now becoming derelict
12. Looking out over Avinguda Maria Cristina
13. Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya
14. At the beach again
15. Giant cat sculpture on Rambla del Raval
16. Cacti on La Rambla

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The Road to Spain: Barcelona Day One

We spent a whirlwind three days in Barcelona as part of our French-Spanish road trip, committed to see as much as of the city as we could pack in. Day one began with a bus trip around the main sights which afforded good views but didn’t give many opportunity for photos. Still, I quickly fell in love with Barcelona from what I saw. It’s the architecture that really makes the city, largely the work of the revered Antoni Gaudi. His “modernista” style of architecture is absolutely enchanting, and made all the more better by the fact that most of his buildings are over 100 years old. These wacky structures look weird enough today, but just imagine how they would have seemed when they were built!

Even if you’ve never been to Barcelona you may still have heard of the Sagrada Familia - the great unfinished church that has been 120 years in the making and still won’t be finished for a few more decades. We visited the church in the afternoon, and once again I don’t think my photos do justice to its beauty. On one side you have the original facade built a century ago and then on the flip side is a facade only recently completed. This fusion of old and new made the church such a marvel. I’d recommend googling the place to see more of it.

Afterward we walked back to our hotel through intricately-tiled streets, past great modernista apartment buildings. And this leads me to probably my favorite sight of the whole trip - Casa Batlló. This 100 year-old apartment block glitters and shimmers in rainbow colours, with its scaled roof and skull-like balconies giving of a reptilian quality. Again, I think you should google this place to see it in detail!

I could waffle on about Gaudi and the architecture of Barcelona forever, but I’ll leave it there for now - until my next Barcelona post that is!

1. La Sagrada Familia - nativity facade
2. Incredible ceiling inside the church
3. Marc in front of the old school for the worker’s children
4. Cranes around the massive church
5. Branch-like ceiling
6. In front of the nativity facade (dating back to the late 1800’s)
7. A modernista tiled balcony
8. “Block of Discord” featuring Casa Batlló
9. Mosaic bench
10. The dragon-like roof of Casa Batlló
11. Casa Milà
12. Pavement tiles by Gaudi

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A Map Of Sorts

Now that we’re a few days into the new year I’ve begun to get a feel for what it’s going to be all about. There are a few things that will inevitably happen, for example finishing university for good, and then there are the things that I have decided will come true. Rather than making resolutions per se, my list for 2012 is more like a map of goals to guide me through the next year. If the wind sweeps me on a different course and I don’t end up doing any of these things then I am ok with that, but I always like to have some ideas in sight that I can work towards. And you probably know by now that I love a good list!

I’ll be checking in momentarily to give you updates on how I am trucking along with some of these things, while others may not be fully realised until the year is out. In any case, I am so excited to see what the coming months bring and can’t wait to start on some projects.

• Hold another big secondhand sale (update: we have a venue booked for 4th Feb!)
• Do at least two work experience placements
• Learn to play the ukelele
• Buy fresh flowers every week
• Never miss a swing dancing class again
• Finish university
• Plan our move to Sydney for Jan next year
• Completely revamp this blog
• Save for another international holiday at the end of the year (we’re thinking Greece, Turkey and the islands)
• Learn to let go
• Buy more investment items of clothing and cull my wardrobe
• Learn more about my camera and post-processing
• Focus on leading a healthy lifestyle
• Write more, read more

And ultimately, 2012 is going to be all about being happy, fresh and inspired.

Also, do you like my shiny new diary? I picked it up when I was in Paris, instantly drawn to the gold embossing and all-French writing. It has the perfect layout for fitting lots into days and lots of cute little drawings.

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