in the mood for love

 

 

In the Mood for Love, dir. Wong Kar-wai, 2000.

I can't believe it took me so long to see this film. The storytelling is so spare and minimal, the visuals so lush and rich. Not to mention the gorgeous clothes! Stunning.

street style: maria

If you're wondering why this young lady is wearing a jacket and tights in summer, it's because I took these photos a shamefully long time ago (October?) and I'm very sorry. This is the adorable Maria, who insisted on hiding her face. She was at Cafe Myriade, an awesome board game cafe in Northbridge, Perth. I was very taken with her colour combination of bright pink tights, orange quilted jacket, pink and yellow shorts and bright blue Real Monsters t-shirt. My favourite style note at the moment is bright colours, preferably a little bit clashing, and she made my eyes happy.

 

Oh, and did I mention Yo Gabba Gabba sneakers?!? What an awesome lady!

street style: perrie

Today I took my first proper street style photo, ie someone who isn't one of my mates! Turns out that well-dressed people are actually very intimidating to approach, and asking complete strangers if you can take their photo is really hard. But when I saw this girl's outfit I took the chance!

 

And guess what: she turned out to be a total sweetie!

I love everything about Perrie's look: the rad white lightning dress, the cute white handbag, the single red earring. She even had beautiful bakelite-style bracelets!

To me, this is the best side of style and clothing: having fun putting together an outfit, and wearing it with confidence and panache. Bravo!

pretty colours

Just some recent photos: books arranged according to colour in the window of the New Edition bookstore on William St; cables on the floor at work; a Sesame Street record; and a meat pie in pea soup. (It's an Australian thing, and no, I didn't eat it, I just made it for my husband.)

little things

Powwow by Gene Davis, 1969

I am less than a month away from turning Very Old, and one of the few advantages to advanced age is knowing all the secrets of life. So I'm about to drop some piping-hot wisdom on you suckers:

The secret of being happy is to recognise your happiness. 

Being generally happy in your life is not about the moments of joy or ecstasy or excitement, it's about recognising that quiet satisfaction, fulfillment and peace are the elements of day-to-day happiness.

I've been thinking about this lately, and realising that my moments of happiness are mostly supremely dorky. But without them, my life would be a grey canvas with occasional riotous splodges of colour; with them, it's a textured map of different shades. Day to day life isn't about birthdays and holidays and making out, it's about getting on the bus and having coffee and making spreadsheets. So the secret to a happy life is to recognise the things in your daily routine that bring you tiny joy.

Like I said, my list is pretty dorky:

• Putting a new desktop picture on my computer
• Hearing the French girl at the coffee cart call me 'honey' in her adorable accent
• When my public transport card gets low and then automatically updates up to $50 (no idea why this makes me feel so satisfied)
• Arranging my bottles of nail polish before choosing a colour
• A freshly cleaned-out handbag free of receipts and lolly wrappers
• Turning over the calendar to a new month and seeing a new Matthew Scott illustration
• Cleaning up my work desk so that all the papers are in piles, notebooks stacked and pens in penholders
• Seeing a new window display at the bookshop on my walk from the bus stop 
• Getting home and putting on my comfy pants to signal that I am chillaxing now
• Getting home and putting on my pyjamas because I am chillaxing too hard even for comfy pants, I am chillaxing SO FUCKING HARD RIGHT NOW
• Making a list

What are the stupid things that make you happy?