I have this terrible habit of keeping my favourite posts “unread” in Google Reader for weeks at a time.  I always mean to come back and share them with the world, but for some reason I just never get around to doing it.  My newest resolution is to stop being such a selfish blogger and share more of the beautiful things that I discover on my online travels!

I hope you enjoy these little gems.

Kellie from 74 Lime Lane is sharing a printable “thank you” card in a couple of different colourways.  They’re stylish, they’re pretty, and they’re free!

The lovely Pip Lincolne shared a link to a DIY wooden washi tape dispenser.  So cute, and really practical too.  Although, I’m really not sure that there is a dispenser in the world big enough for my collection…

Lou from sunny + scout shared this photo of her gorgeous new vintage table that she found at The Vintage Shed on the Mornington Peninsula.  I keep reading about this magical place, and I think Tim and I really need to take a quick trip there soon to see what treasures we can find!  So in love with Lou’s new hall table.

Natalie Malik is a creative journal artist who has generously created a blog full of free prompts and inspiration for summer.  The course is finished now, but the timing is still great for us Aussies who are just getting ready for summer to begin!

Her main blog is Awkward & Beautiful, and documents her artful life.  So much inspiration here, and it makes me crave my poor neglected journal more than ever.

Just one more for tonight – a delicious looking recipe for Liz’s Luscious Lemon Cake from the very stylish Salvation Jane.  I was so excited to discover this blog over the weekend, and to discover that Jane Hall kicks butt in real life as well as on Neighbours!

What treasures have you found online lately?  I’d love to know!

Don’t forget – this Sunday is Mothers Day!

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably left things to the last minute. That’s why I thought some of you might appreciate this sweet little downloadable card created by Erin of Perfect Sentiment!

Those of us who still speak the Queen’s English will have to get a little creative with the “O” in “Mom”, but it’s a small price to pay for a cute little freebie.

Go and tell Erin how fantastic she is for sharing!

This is the latest offering from Hark, a Vagrant. Kate Beaton is so weird sometimes, I love it…

Helloooooo Friday!

I’d like to give my thanks to a special group of horses who will spend this weekend running around in circles for our financial gain. I love that this occasion is responsible for my four-day weekend; there’s really nothing more Aussie than taking the day off work to gamble!

I won’t be hitting the racecourse this weekend, but I did participate fully in our Melbourne Cup themed day at work. I signed up for the sweeps, enjoyed my complimentary lunch, and – at the last minute – decorated a hat from items I found in my office. My creation was made from a straw hat I found on top of a bookshelf, a feather quill pen, and about 40 company lanyards. With these materials I put together a humble homage to the Australian cork hat, the beauty of which cannot be adequately explained with mere words. Or pictures. Trust me.

And I came in 2nd place! I even managed to talk the 1st place-getter into swapping prizes with me, so it was kind of like winning the competition without having to go to all that effort.

It’s pretty good being me today.

Fake tan levels have been extremely high on Melbourne trams this week, so I feel certain that plenty of people will be heading out to the track this weekend. If you’re one of them, make sure you plan ahead and pack the essentials. Don’t leave home without your form guide, oversized sunglasses and several copies of the Official Spring Racing Carnival Tramp Bingo Scorecard, care of Agony Uncle Adrian Fernand’s I Do Believe I Came With a Hat.

Use this scorecard (PDF available at the original source) to track the tramps, and determine which of your friends is will be first to make five-in-a-row. Categories include:

• Novelty Nineties neckwear
• Visible control underwear
• Champagne with a straw
• Shirt collar worn outside lapels

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… and plenty of other tramp-like traits. (It’s nice to see that male fashions feature just as heavily on this scorechart as the ladies!)

Have a fantastic weekend, whatever you’re doing!

I get pretty excited whenever I receive my email from Missy Confidential, alerting me to the latest sales in my city.  I tend not to go out of my way to go to the physical stores, but their online sales section makes me weak at the knees.  See, I wasn’t kidding when I said that online shopping has changed my life!

Today’s edition introduced me to a jewellery store that I hadn’t seen before - Oye Modern. It features pieces from emerging and independent designers, and a lot of their stuff is fun and quirky.

Love these headphone pieces, especially!

Headphone Ring, Darkcloud Silver – also available in a pendant.

The more I dig around this site, the better it gets. Here are a few more of my favs:

Cute, right? I usually wear classic (boring) pieces, but these really appeal to me.

Right now they’re offering free worldwide shipping, for a limited time.

The other day I wrote about the 30 presents I bought for Tim’s birthday this year, and that I found most of his presents online. A bunch of my coworkers were amazed that I knew where to find some of that stuff, and some were even a bit shocked that I was comfortable using my credit card online to pay for it.

It made me realise how much online shopping has transformed the way I shop, and how many people are yet to embrace this modern-day advancement!

Some of my favourite US-based stores still don’t deliver to Australia (are you listening, Urban Outfitters? Anthropologie?), and others charge far too much to ship here (American Eagle, I’m looking RIGHT at you).

This post focuses on Australian and NZ online stores. Later on I’ll write about the many US stores who have taken the time to calculate the true cost of shipping to Australia.

Here it is – enjoy!

#1: FISHPOND – Books, music, movies and games
Fishpond.com.au is Australia’s answer to Amazon, providing an enormous range of books, music, movies and games to the Australasian region at the best possible price. Fishpond guarantees that its prices are lower than Amazon’s, and as they are based in NZ they don’t have to charge GST. How good is that?

#2: PETER’S OF KENSINGTON – Homewares, Cookware, Glassware, Collectables (etc)
Peter’s of Kensington is a Sydney institution, and in 2000 they launched the online branch of their store. I’ve bought a mountain of great stuff from Peter’s – everything from my coffee machine, to my Global knives and my incredible Jamie Oliver Tefal frypan. I’ve spent a lot of money there, but the savings are so massive that it’s all been worth it.

They stock major brands, making it easy to “window shop” at a physical store if you ever want to see the item before purchasing it, and shipping is lightening fast and very inexpensive.

(Plus, I actually look forward to my weekly email full of specials!)

#3: COLES ONLINE – Groceries
You might be surprised to see a grocery store on my list, but Coles Online is the reason that I was able to survive in Melbourne without a car for as long as I did. I’ve never been good at buying a carry-bag of groceries every few days, preferring to do one major shop every couple of weeks, and discovering Coles was the answer to all my prayers.

Now that I have a car, Coles is no longer my supermarket of choice. However, there is no denying that they do online groceries better than anybody else in the market right now. I’m sure that shopping this way helped me to save money too, as it was simple to sort items by unit price and identify which brand was the best value. Better still, they regularly throw in a bag of sample products – one week it was three cartons of rice milk, another time it was a couple of big bags of dog food.

#4: BISCOTE – Womens clothing
Biscote is a store that I have purchased from many, many times. I find their range of clothing to be really inconsistent, and much of it doesn’t interest me, but I’ve found it to be really good for basics.

You can’t argue with their prices, or the reasonable shipping costs, and that’s what brings me back time after time. I’ve bought a couple of great winter coats for under $30, and several marino wool knits for work that are Country Road quality (at a fraction of the price). I only wish that they would update their range more regularly, as about half of the items in their store were there 18 months ago when I first discovered it!

Their returns policy is fantastic, shipping is as fast as it gets, and I’ve found the customer service to be impeccable. Just take your time and pick through their offerings, and you’ll find some terrific gear. Their Hawthorn store feels more like an office, but it is worth dropping in there for more bargains if you live in Melbourne.

#5: RED BALLOON DAYS – Experiences, gifts
Red Balloon Days is a place you want to know about, if you want to find a gift that’s out of the ordinary. They specialise in “experiences” like hot air ballooning, rally car driving, spa packages and getaways. They also have an interesting range of gift boxes.

It’s always best to compare their prices with other sites like Wishlist.com.au

That’s Noice is another great resource for Aussies, as they regularly review websites and products that cater to the Australian market.

What’s your secret Aussie shopping obsession? Give me your tips!

Ross Horsley, author of My First Dictionary describes himself as “timid librarian by day… frenzied fan of gory slasher movies by night!”. His dictionary for depressives has been a source of constant amusement over the past few weeks, and I hope he never runs out of words to define.

Read more about the creator of this magnificant project at No Juan Here.

Meet the Brockintons from ashley brockinton on Vimeo.

This has to be one of the sweetest advertisements out there, and stands alone as a great little short film. Sam and Ashley are photographers, and if I was looking for somebody to photograph my event this video would be enough to sign me up!

If you’re interested in knowing more about them, check out their wedding and portrait portfolio sites. They make very pretty pictures.

Put your face on and visit Figure 1.

• Polyvore is my new favourite way to waste time. You can use their editor to pull together images and create a ‘style board’ of stuff you love. It’s strangely addictive, and I imagine it would be awesome inspiration for a special event like a wedding.

Polyvore is a free, easy-to-use web-based application for mixing and matching images from anywhere on the web. It is also a vibrant community of creative and stylish people.

Polyvore lets you create sets composed of individual images using an easy to use, drag and drop editor. After you have created a set, you can publish and share it with your friends and the Polyvore community.

• Danny Katz explains how Masterchef is ruining peoples’ lives

See what you’ve done to me, Masterchef? I’m watching your show every night of the week and now all I think about is food preparation and food design and food names. I’ve been walking around the house mumbling “tarte tatin” over and over again since Episode 13. I haven’t been so obsessed with a food name since Geoff Jansz whipped out a cock-a-leekie on What’s Cooking. And stuff you, Masterchef, for making me flabby: all the weight I lost earlier this year watching The Biggest Loser in the same time slot I’ve put back on again chewing blocks of butter washed down with a pail of olive oil because that’s all anyone cooks with on this show. In Episode 11, George poured olive oil into a chocolate mousse then topped it with pouring cream.

• In other food related news, here are five things you didn’t know you could eat (or four, in my case!)
• An important new initiative has just kicked off, as many Australians will already know. Operation Kerplonk is targeting households with crap wine, and aims to replace them with a bottle of Fifth Leg. On 7/7/09, Australians will be required to dump their crap wine at designated drop zones. There are also rewards for dobbing in offenders.
  
  You can read more about Operation Kerplonk at their website, including a very informative video and details of dropzones in your area. Penalties apply for missing the date!




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