Long Time!

Hi there!! Long time no talk! This has been the longest I’ve gone without blogging since I first started. I even missed my 3 year blogger-versary which was at the end of July (check out my first post if you want a giggle!). Life has been full on for the past few months and I realised I couldn’t keep burning the candle at both ends, so having a little break from blogging was much needed. But I’m back and ready to get into the swing of things again.

These pictures were taken at my engagement party a few weeks ago. That was just one of the things keeping me exceptionally busy. My fiancée and I also bought a house and moved, we travelled down south to scout for wedding venues, had friends from over east come and stay with us and we’ve just got back from 10 days camping near Coral Bay. So yeah, things have been full on, but wonderful.

Our engagement party was so much fun. A blurr of friends and family and champagne and lovely moments that we’ll remember forever… such a cliché but it’s all true! Now on to my outfit (which is what you’re all here for right?!), I loved it so much. Although I have a number of dresses that I could have worn, I decided I wanted to look a bit ‘bridal’ (haha), so after seeing this Lover dress in David Jones I knew I HAD TO HAVE IT. Unfortunately the $700 price tag was way beyond my reach, so I set about trying to track it down on eBay. Which I did! For not even a tenth of the price too. I was stoked! It fit like a glove and was the perfect thing to wear. I teamed it with some patent black brogues (which are awesome but sadly didn’t make any of the pics) and some glitzy earrings.

Thanks for sticking around (and coming back) after my un-planned hiatus! Next week is National Op Shop Week so you know I’ll be getting on board with that!

Dress: Lover the Label, eBay

Shoes: Wittner

Earrings: Save the Children Mosman Park, $3

Photos: With U Photography (thanks Darek and Aggi!!)

Life Recently

OK so I think it’s safe to say that June 2016 has been a KILLER month. In the best possible way! So many big things have been happening, I feel like in four weeks I’ve suddenly become a grown up (and at 28 years old it’s probably about time). I find myself driving to work every morning with a stupid grin on my face as I think about all the wonderful things that are falling in to place. I know this is all a bit soppy, but dang as if I’m not going to savour every single moment!

So aside from feeling all gooey inside, here’s what else I’ve been up to:

Eating: a lot… probably should calm down a little on the carb consumption

Drinking: mucho coffee!

Wearing: a lot of colour to combat the exceptionally cold winter mornings

Buying: a vintage peacock chair! After a very arduous search I finally found one on gumtree that didn’t cost the Earth

Dreaming: of EVERYTHING. Engagement party, decorating, wedding, travel… ahhh!

Avoiding: paperwork, my life admin is getting a little out of control

Watching: Always Sunny in Philadelphia, my current go-to for good giggle

Reading: nothing right now… binge-scrolling through Pinterest probs doesn’t count right?
Doing: lots of fun puppy walks, Blue is obsessed with leaping and racing through the bush so I'm on the hunt for dog friendly bush walking tracks, Noble Falls is one of our favs!

Aside from all the awesome stuff, my baby brother has skipped town and moved to London. It’s so exciting for him, but very bittersweet for me. He’s one of my favourite people in the whole world so while I’m super pumped he’s finally having a Big Adventure, I selfishly wish he’d stuck around Perth just a little longer (or you know, forever).  

If it’s even possible July and August are going to be just as fun as June. We’re weekending down south, celebrating our engagement with a big party, camping up north, swimming with whale sharks (!!!!) and sneaking off for a girl’s trip to Bali. Sounds great right?!

P.S The last image on the right is an epic aerial shot of Shark Bay by the guys at Salty Wings, I desperately want one of their prints to hang in my house (hint hint anyone who needs to buy me a present!) 

Life Recently

So you’ve probably noticed things have been a little quiet around the blog of late. While I can promise you I’ve still been getting dressed and op shopping, I’m truly struggling to snap outfit pictures. It’s a combination of my new job which starts half an hour earlier and my new puppy, who demands all my free time which has made getting out to take outfit snaps super hard. I’m honestly not sure what the solution is, but it’s definitely something I’m working on because I’m not ready to give up blogging just yet, I still need somewhere to blab about my super op shop finds!

So with that in mind I’ve got a different Life Recently for you this month…

 1. A few new thrifted treasures from a church garage sale

2. My city looking particularly beautiful on a particularly dreary day

3. Baby girl Blue is getting SO BIG, I want her to stay a puppy forever!

4. What I haul around in my bag all day… yes 3 pairs of sunnies are necessary

5. My spotless house after hiring professional cleaners… such an indulgence

6. The pups had a bit too much fun on my Aunt and Uncles bush property

7. Thrifted a pot and a baby succulent for my besties birthday, op shop prezzies are the best!

8. The Bindaring Red Cross sale is almost upon us! It’s my favourite place to treasure hunt!

9. Spent some quality time with my family over the Easter long weekend and loved every moment of it

10. I got my beloved KW shades resized to fit my giant head, so they no longer give me headaches when I wear them for longer then a few minutes (hooray!)

I'll be back next week with some real outfit posts and also some more info on the Bindaring Red Cross Sale, which is only 3 weekends away!! (Check out their website if you want the goss now).

As always, thanks for hanging in there and always coming back to read my (rather intermittent) posts. You're awesome!

Life Recently

Just like I say every month… I CAN’T BELIEVE it’s the end of March already. I sound like a broken record, but I’m sure you all feel the same way too. This month has been particularly good because Luke and I bought home our very own little fur baby! Insert ONE MILLION heart eye emojis! We adopted a 14 week old Red Heeler cross from the RSPCA and named her Blue. She is just the cutest thing ever!  We’ve had a number of sleepless nights and a few tears when she ate one of my favourite brooches, but we are now falling into a fun routine of play dates, walks, training and LOTS of cuddles. This is our first pet and while I was terrified for the first week that we’d accidently kill her (like I’ve done with all my plants) I now feel quietly confident that we have this ‘puppy ownership’ thing in the bag. Plus having a living, breathing, nipping reminder to go for a daily walk is very helpful!

 

The rest of my month has involved…

 

Eating biscuits, my new work place seems to have a never ending supply of bickies… seriously dangerous!

Drinking G&Ts

Wearing my denim jacket and Fendi cross body bag, both fairly new purchases which I am loving 

Buying shoes… I went on an eBay spree and got some fab Missoni wedges and pair of lace up Free People booties. Oops.

Lusting after a holiday!

Watching House reruns in bed with red wine and popcorn. Serious guilty pleasure stuff right there!

Reading blogs blogs blogs, trying to get my Autumn/Winter style game sorted.

Dreaming of the Easter long weekend! Two months into my new job and I need some down time to let my brain switch off

Playing with my baby girl Blue

 

So that’s my month! What have you been up to lately?

Have a happy Easter!!

 

Life Recently

Goodness gracious it’s the end of February and the end of Summer! My start to the year has been super busy and I have to apologise because my blogging has seriously fallen by the way side. I love blogging, but over the past few months it has felt really hard and as I’ve always dreaded, it turned into a bit of a chore rather than a fun hobby. I’m working hard to get back into some kind of routine where outfit shoots just happen naturally, but with starting a new job and having several jam packed weekends in a row, I just haven’t been able to get into a groove. It’s definitely something I’m working on! Thanks for hanging in there!

Here’s what I have been up to this month… 

Eating far too much ice cream for my own good

Drinking water! February has been SO hot in Perth, I’ve been taking a bottle with me everywhere I go

Wearing my gold birks, definitely one of my best purchases in 2015 

Buying a brown felt hat and a red fur collar… not only are they the first purchases I’ve made with my new job’s pay cheque, but they are the first non-second hand items I’ve bought in over a year!! Crazy!

Lusting after some Acne Pistol boots, they’ve been on my lust list for yonks and I’m nearly ready to shell out and invest in a pair…nearly. 

Watching Fargo, it’s pretty gripping and has definitely sucked me in.

Reading Harry Potter… for the zillionth time. It’s my annual new year tradition!

Playing so much volleyball, at this time of year the beach and indoor seasons cross over and I am doing double training, which basically means I’m exhausted and sore all the time.  

Dreaming of being able to wear my new faux fur coat… I do love coat season! 

So March is going to be a fun one, I’m starting to settle in to my new job and feel a bit more grounded in my everyday life. Our house is feeling more and more homely, as I continue to find bits and pieces to decorate it. Our garden is a disaster though, I’ve spent a fortune on plants and have managed to kill every single one of them, including some succulents… which I swear aren’t meant to die. Clearly I don't have a green thumb! So my Autumn project is to get our tiny yard organised and looking pretty. It can’t be that hard right?? (famous last words!)

Hola 2016!

HOLA! Welcome to 2016 In The Dress Up Box! I know I’m a bit behind and I honestly have no excuses to offer you. I just needed a little break from blogging to re-jig my mind and get pumped for a fun (stylish) year ahead. Some big things have been happening in these first few weeks of the year, I finally got my mortgage sorted and am now a real home owner (and consequentially seriously broke!), I also bought a new car and… (drum role please)… I got a new job! So I guess those are the excuses I offer for my blogging hiatus. Here’s what else I have been up to lately…

 

Cooking a lot of BBQs! I got my little outdoor area organised over the Chrissy break, complete with macramé plant hangers and a nifty new Barbie

Drinking champagne (I’m still in a celebratory mood!)

Wearing striped t-shirts, I picked up a fantastic Bassike one from Good Sammies for 25 cents!!

Buying a fab vintage peasant dress, I can’t wait to wear it with boots and a wool hat in autumn

Lusting over an outdoor rug… such a boring thing to want, but I really really do!

Watching The Office, I churned through the entire series over the holidays and fell in love with it all over again

Reading Fear and Clothing, SUCH an interesting book about personal style and what it can tell you about a person

Doing a lot of decorating, I’ve gone home-décor mad!

Dreaming of my next holiday of course. Nothing booked yet but I’m thinking Mauritius, Exmouth or Japan (or all three!)

 

On top of all that I also went to Bali for a family wedding, hosted some girlfriends from Queensland for a week of touristy fun, camped for a few nights at Rotto, did a TON of op shopping, cooking, eating and beach lazing. It was a pretty great silly season. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break and start to the new year. I finish up in my job next week and then have a bit of time off before starting my new role. I plan to dedicate that time to getting my blog sorted for the year ahead and creating some great new content. I've got lots of cool ideas swilling around at the back of my mind so I just need to organize my thoughts and start blogging! Have a fun weekend (I'm cruising down south for a beach volley comp!)

 

Life Recently

This month has been eventful, but also excellent! The two big things dominating my November was my thyroid operation (more on that later) and the big move into my very first home. Both fairly epic events for your average 28 year old, but they certainly made for an interesting month. After TWO YEARS of waiting and slowly getting more and more excited and then more and more impatient Luke and I finally got our mitts on the keys to our brand new home. Everything is still in disarray and I can’t find half my shoes and we still have no internet, but it truly is awesome. I can’t actually believe it all belongs to me. Every time I bang a nail into the wall to hang another piece of art I feel a bit rebellious, then I remember that I OWN THAT WALL! It’s pretty great.

Here’s what else has been going on…

Eating the Natural Confectionary Company’s strawberry and cream lollies… my friend Caity passed her addiction on to me

Drinking Water! It's gettin' hot in hurrrr!

Cooking anything easy! I miss my mum’s home cooking so much, being an adult again is HARD!

Watching Orange is the New Black, my friend lent me her netflix account while I was bed bound and boy did I get addicted!
Buying myself a few sneaky get-well-soon presents in the form of shoes and sunnies (of course!)

Wearing many scarves! I actually had a lot of fun covering up my operation wound with a variety of vintage silk lovelies!

Reading the Royal We, written by my fav celebrity gossip bloggers from Go Fug Yourself

Avoiding the scales. I got into the bad habit of weighing myself daily while my thyroid was misbehaving and now I’m trying to stop because it’s totally pointless and does nothing for my self esteem

Needing some money please… having a mortgage is quite the ball buster!

Ok so on to my operation… for those interested please read on (for those not, please enjoy my insta snaps!), my thyroid operation went really well. I was absolutely terrified on the day of the op and the last thing I remember thinking before the general anaesthetic hit was ‘OMG he’s going to slice my throat open’ but a second later (or so it seemed) I was being wheeled into the ICU for recovery. My surgeon said everything went perfectly and then showed me a rather revolting picture of a 6cm scoop of flesh, which was apparently the tumour they removed from me. I had a bad reaction to the pain killers they gave me, so spent a rather uncomfortable night in the ICU, but once I was back home I started to feel much better.

My scar sits right on my collar bone and is about 8cm long, it’s surprisingly neat and apparently it should fade to nothing within about 18 months, so I’m really pleased. It took me about 10 days to fully recover from the general anaesthetic, I was seriously dazed for a while there! I saw my surgeon a few weeks ago who confirmed the tumour was benign (HOORAY!) and gave me the go-ahead to start playing volleyball again (HOORAY again!). I’m just so relieved it’s all over and I don’t have to worry about it anymore. In a years’ time I’ll have a few tests to make sure what remains of my thyroid is functioning properly, but other than that I’m basically cured! Thanks again for all the love and thoughts I’ve been getting over the past few weeks and months. I’ve been shocked but delighted to hear from so many others who have gone through similar procedures, apparently thyroid issues aren’t as uncommon as I thought!

Life Recently

Ok so we are officially heading in to the festive season. Suddenly the Christmas decorations which have been on sale in Kmart, Myer, David Jones and Target for the past 6 weeks don’t feel ridiculous they feel appropriate, hoorah! I couldn’t be happier, I LOVE this time of year and I’ve had a wonderful October as well. There have been many celebrations this month with various friends getting engaged, getting married, buying houses and pets, including Luke and I (the house part not the pet unfortunately). There has been so much happening, but it’s all been so so fun! Here’s what I’ve been up to recently…
 

 

Eating avo and vegemite on toast. Every. Single. Morning.

Drinking far too much champagne, with engagements, hens nights, bridal showers and an actual wedding, I think I’ve drunk my body weight (and then some) in bubbles this month!

Cooking BBQs baby! Tis the season and all

Watching the IT Crowd, it’s my current go-to show when I need a giggle. Moss and Roy get me every time
Buying DIY supplies, we should be moving into our new home ANY DAY NOW, so I’m getting crafty with home decorations!

Wearing all my favourite frocks, I’ve been doing the Frocktober challenge and wearing a dress every day this month!

Reading trashy mags, I need to get back into a book series because I’m spending way too much money on NW and OK. Any recommendations?

Avoiding dwelling on my operation, one day left of having a scar-free neck, EEK!
Browsing Pinterest for DIY Christmas gift ideas, less than two months to go and I’m determined to get on top of things ASAP

Needing a de-tox, October has been a seriously boozy month!

 

Personally I’ve been gearing myself up for my big thyroid operation, which is happening tomorrow. I’ve only been in hospital once before and that was to have my wisdom teeth out, so I’m slightly anxious about it but I’m also confident it will all be OK. My surgeon assures me that I’m strong and healthy and fighting fit, so recovering isn’t going to be an issue and the surgery is very straight forward. I should only be in hospital for one night and then I’ll be back home where my boyfriend can wait on me hand and foot (I’m quite excited about that bit haha). I have a few blog posts scheduled for next week, but after that I’ll just have to play it by ear. I’m going to have a big scar on my neck so I don’t know how I’m going to feel about outfit shoots. But we’ll see, god knows I love bragging about my op shop finds so I probably won’t stay away for too long! Thanks for all your well wishes and kind words, it’s truly amazing!