JOURNAL
documenting
&
discovering joyful things
Favourite things - Christmas gift guides
I don't want to be alarmist, but there are less than five weeks left until Christmas. *Insert horrified yell here.* If I have to even consider another one of those repackaged-to-look-vintage pointless office nicknacks and ye olde board games that they stack in dump bins around the entrances of department stores as gifts for the hard-to-buy-for friend, I may cry. So, as much for my sake as yours, I've gathered together today what I think are the best five gift guides floating around the Internet. In these you'll find unique, one-of-a-kind and affordable gifts, as well as gifts you can make and gifts you can bake, PLUS some discount codes. 1. Good stuff
Pip Lincoln's (of Meet Me at Mike's) fabulous 'good stuff' guide is out again, and it's chock full, with 125 pages of things to make and things to make and things to read.
2. IHOD holiday gift guide
Anna from In Honor of Design (IHOD) has scoured the Internet for affordable gift options and handmade ideas, and includes exclusive discount codes in her 2012 holiday gift guide.
3. For book lovers
This is a cute list of the season's best gifts for book lovers from Design Mom. It will be particularly useful if those book lovers are also foodies, crafters, teenagers, parents, little ones or artists.
4. Hip and handmade
Get your craft on with the girls from Craft Pack's digital book, A Hip, Handmade Holiday. It costs just $10 to download, and includes more than 18 projects and 100 printable stickers, patterns, gift tags and more.
5. Affordable art
Recently I published a little post about 20x200, a wonderful and ever-changing collection of affordable art for the masses. They've put together a little guide with art for everyone on your list, from geeks to wanderers, and sports fans to fashionistas.
ps. Here are some more great gift lists from Etsy:
* 25 gifts under $25 * Editor's picks * Gifts for difficult dads
Aaaaaaand more lists of five favourite things.
The herb and spice merchant
I met a girl in a spice store the other day and she was from New York. At one point she even lived on Thompson and Spring, like me. She probably patted my dog! (Everyone did.)
So of course we got chatting about how much we loved it and how much we missed it and yet how Melbourne had become a kind of panacea for all that homesickness.
“I think Melbourne has all the good bits of New York,” the girl announced, and I surprised myself by agreeing.
“The amazing food, and restaurants hidden down secret laneways,” I said.
“The awesome live music scene,” she said. “And I walk everywhere here, just like I did in New York.”
“Oh yeah!” I said, “And it’s mostly flat like New York.”
And on we went. And on and on and on. And so I discovered that I really did love this city, and that perhaps I had found somewhere to call “home” at last, something I’d yearned for, ever since I left New York.
“Melbourne is really similar to New York except that it’s-- it’s--” the girl said, and she flailed in the air with her hands to find a way to finish her sentence.
“Less concentrated?” I prompted, and she said, “Exactly!” I had found a kindred spirit.
The girl managed the best smelling store I had ever come across, anywhere. You know in the cartoons when a character smells something really good and follows the delectable aroma, nose in the air, for several blocks before finally discovering the source? That was me, following my nose through the door of this store.
Inside were more than 200 different hand-ground, hand-mixed herbs, spices, and blends, and it was nose heaven. Without intending to spend a cent, I left after 20 minutes with $70 worth of tea, spices, cupcake wrappers and paper straws in my bag, alongside a booklet outlining cooking classes that I totally plan to take.
I was half way to the post office before I managed to give myself a shake and think, “What just happened?”
The name of the store is completely unpronounceable: say “Gewurzhaus Herb & Spice Merchants” three times quickly if you dare. But it is a happy place.
Melbourne peeps: do you want to join me for cooking classes? I’m dead keen on the yum cha and ‘From Persia with love’ classes, but open to the others too. They all look great. Send me an email if you’re up for it.
Made in Melbourne (Etsy!)
Melbourne is a city famous for high fashion, hidden restaurants down tiny laneways, pop-up markets, art, literature and live music. At times it seems like every other person in Melbourne has a creative project on the go, and I just love the energy here.
In such a creative city, it stands to reason that we would be well represented on that online hub of all things creative, clever and quirky: Etsy. So I’ve hunted around and brought you 20 of the best Etsy items, made or found right here.
Oh, and never fear! There are no bad hats, boxy shirts or dodgy downloads on this list. This is the Etsy that does my city proud: 20 of the most stylish, most creative and most take-home-able items from Melbourne’s top craft and vintage makers and curators.
Enjoy!
Elsewhere
Have you seen the latest collection from Fleur and Dot? If you have a little girl (or know one), you should check it out. I'm all over this on English Muse this week.
And also, PARENTAL GUIDANCE HAS TAKEN OVER MY LIFE. I'm not kidding. It's so frustrating, but kind of sweet. That's on iVillage. Has this ever happened to you too?
The magic lantern
Roll up, roll up. Great wonders will appear before your very eyes. What phantasm is this? Behold, the conjurings of the magic lantern, seen here in my post on The English Muse this week (hint: they do it with mirrors).
And in other news, have you seen these dance blooms yet? Stunning, oui?
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/30126264 w=525&h=295]
Dynamic Blooms from Tell No One on Vimeo.
Today
Exploring Nicholson Village while it is still cold, holding hands and holding coffee, squinting into the parallel sun. Toy stores with hand-made and hand-painted wooden bicycles, puzzles, little upholstered toddler armchairs made by an old man in his shed on the coast. A bookstore just for children: pop-up books, cut-out books, glorious collections of classics.
Then it is our dear friends from Sydney, Aaron and Jutta, well-met in Carlton Gardens. To me, "You're so big it's hard to hug you now!" And to Mr B, "You look positively svelte by comparison." The instant chatter of good friends with months of sharing to pack into mere hours. Aaron and I lag behind. I am footsore with pregnancy, and he limps after having just finished the Oxfam Trailwalk at 6am. I am astounded he is upright.
Outside the the historic Carlton Exhibition buildings, the lineup for the Taco Truck snakes around corners, but we head straight inside to browse the Finders Keepers markets and marvel in all the crafty talent. We buy some hand-painted gift-cards, a three-tiered cake-stand made from old records, and little grey winter pantaloons for the baby, spotted in ladybird red.
Back into the sunshine, which is high and hot and glorious now despite the calendar insisting it is mid autumn, we enter the happy, eclectic bustle of Brunswick Street. Italian paperies, an old-fashioned puppet workshop, vintage clothing, milliners, outlets for emerging artists, and pubs, cafes and restaurants that spill out into the sun-drenched street.
We take the back streets to Min Lokal for a late lunch of grilled haloumi on radish and chat potatoes, Moroccan spiced baked beans with labna and dukkah, and crispy pork-belly over caramelised apple salad.
Then we hug and kiss again. "I can hardly reach you," they insist as I awkwardly try to bend forward, past my own belly and into their arms. We part ways but I am not as sad as usual because I will see them again next week when I head up to Sydney for a brief visit of my own. Mr B and I walk hand in hand back up Brunswick Street, looking in all the shop windows. A drunk man sitting on a park bench enjoying a brown-bottle beverage from a time-honoured paper bag yells at me: "You're pregnant!" then dissolves into gales of laughter.
Home as the sun begins to set, it surprises me how early it sleeps these days. Mr B heads into the bedroom for a little rest and the dog follows, eager steal a nap on the bed since I always tell him no. I rest my aching feet on the couch and read a couple more chapters of The Harp in the South before starting on the roast butternut squash soup that will be our dinner.
How was your Saturday?
All photos are from Finders Keepers today. I must remember to take my camera out more often, but I was too busy having a good time.
The case of the nesting bonanza
I don't have a regular 'favourite things Friday' post for you today. Nor did I come even close to getting through the mountain of work on my desk.
Something happened this morning, and I don't know how to explain it except to say that I guess my body released a massive hit of hormones around about breakfast time, because all of a sudden I started nesting in the biggest possible way.
I mean, I made to-do lists of things I needed to finish before baby arrived (everything from finishing off commissioned work to cooking and freezing meals). I emailed my friends in Sydney to tell them I'd be up for one last pre-baby visit, next weekend.
I made shopping lists of everything I needed to buy before baby arrived, from car-carriers and bassinettes to socks and onesies.
I called my mum: "Will I need this one or that one? How long before baby gets too big for that?"
Then I hit the Internet. First Mothercare, then Babies R Us, and finally Etsy where I made the sweet little vintage and handmade 'wish list' collection below. It was a veritable nesting bonanza.
I promise to do my best to return this blog to normal next week. And in the meantime, have a wonderful weekend!
Nesting, locally
I came across this wonderful letterpress Illustrated A to Z of Melbourne today, by Benjamin Puckering, and couldn't resist buying it for the baby.
As Baby B grows up, so many of these items will become familiar symbols of home to our little one. Like, "T is for tram" and "V is for Victoria State Library" and "F is for Flinders Street Station." Isn't it adorable?
(I took the photo on the right on Instagram a couple of weeks back. When I saw Benjamin's design I had a "Woah!" moment. It's even the same number.)
To market, to market
This morning we decided it was well and truly time to stock the 'fridge with fresh fruit and vegetables, after a fortnight of eating junk and takeout during the packing, moving out and moving in.
First stop was the Queen Victoria Market, early before the crowds and heat could gain a stronghold. Next, we headed across to the Farmers' Markets in the idyllic setting of the Collingwood Children's Farm. It was glorious.
(Yet again, I forgot to bring my fabulous new camera. Thank goodness for Instagram, but I really do need to get into a proper camera-carrying habit since Mr B was so generous at Christmas.)