Last Post 2009

Oooohh, that sounds awfully final doesn't it? I suppose it is though, saying goodbye to a year that was insanely similar to a rollercoaster ride and saying hello to another decade which I know will be worlds different from my last 10 years.

The past decade has been incredible. All my years of highschool were survived from 1999-2004, university from 2005-2008 and married in that last year of uni on the 5th of July. 2009 was that first year of teaching and marriage that will never be surpassed in its levels of anxiety and elation and now, hello to the rest of my life! Those milestones have been passed, but hopefully there are many more to come.

I love getting all retrospective, don't you? Although never without a twinge of sadness, as I get nostalgic at the best times, let alone on such an occasion as the end of a decade.

It's surprised me how many friends I have made and lost in this past year, as I've always been adamant that the friends I had, I would keep forever. How naive! It's also surprised me how grown-up I can be if I have to, and how much people can change.

It's also the first year I've become fearless ( to me ) in my style and clothing choices and as husband always remarks when seeing old photos "Oh wow, back when you dressed normal." :)

2009 was the year that I cemented who I am and who I want to be, the year of reckoning in so many ways. So adieu, aufwiedersen and bonjour 2010!

throw your hands in the air

I say throw your hands in the air as it's officially party season! Friday night was our work Christmas party which was an all-round great night. It was made even better when my gorgeous husband rocked up (he was DJ-ing at a Carols night) with my birthday present! I finally have a proper camera to document my life and make this blogging gig so much easier....no more having to upload to facebook first and then saving photos. ha!

Already getting a bit excited and taking photos of me mid-getting ready

The laughing man on the right is my husband. It is quite a feat to get him in any photos, let alone laughing!
Colleague and I


Oh my gosh! My new shoes! I desperately needed some new heels to complement all my vintage dresses, and I was determined to find some on my birthday. I really wanted them to be brand new, as all of the shoes I've bought at op-shops fall apart after one week. These babies were waiting for me at Wittner on Acland St, and on the sale rack too. I hesitantly asked the assistant "You wouldn't have any bigger sizes would you?", knowing that usually, if shoes are on sale, sizes are limited. But she brought out my perfect size and they were mine for like, $55 !! The platform keeps them modern, but the straps and peep-toe are perfect for my vintage look. I was over the moon! I love when you set out for a particular item and you find it...

The shoes in action. The dress is a TAV design from the Cook Islands, from husband's mother as a gift.
Getting ready for our church Christmas carols....
Love the Peter Pan-esque collar on this blouse.

Sepia, Black & White, Colour

I desperately needed some shoes to match all my vintage-inspired dresses, something that evoked a 40's-50's feel....these babies from the Salvos hit the spot, not to mention another brand new pair I found at Wittner for $50! I was so surprised that what I set out to find, I found!

A lovely friend said this looked very '40's film noir'. Made my day.

Life of Pi

Winner of the Man Book Prize you say? Seven million copies sold, you say? I say, I must read! If only purely out of curiosity, to experience for myself what others have deemed so worthy of such acclaim. I am 13 pages in, and so far, the style and perhaps genre reminds me of Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Speaking of books, Nikki Gemmell is one amazing writer. I picked up her book, flicking through it absent-mindedly at Borders, and I had to walk to a seat with my eyes never leaving the page.

The way she says things just resonates with me in a really unexpected but strangely satisfying way. Her sentences almost make me gasp and I feel like that's the way I would have said it, if I ever had a chance. Or, that's the way I wish I would have said it, if only I could write.

Finally!

Finally, the photos from the Leaders dinner are uploaded. Basically, photos of the people that I spend a lot of time with on the youth leadership team, who I love dearly. Oh, and gratuitous shoe-love pics thrown in.

Summer lovin'

Ordered this dress on Thursday and it arrived on Sunday! So cool! Wore it with another online buy, my black suede patchwork fringed vest. Red lippie (of course) and nude eyes, no eyeliner AT ALL! I'm slowly getting used to wearing less and less eyeliner.

Birthday Dinner

No words

I's been trying to upload some pics since last night but it is just not working for me!
I was hoping this post would have no words to contrast with the overabundance of them last time, but alas, it was not to be. As soon as it's working, pics will be up :)

Interview Me: 5 Questions

I am so excited! The wonderful poet Chris at amisinterpretedwave.blogspot.com has decided to interview me with 5 questions and I love me some questions :)
I have this secret; I love filling out forms, questionnaires, surveys and the like. Weird I know. Anyway. Onto the questions!

1. You are extremely well-read and knowledgeable for someone your age, why is that?
Why thank-you madam :) I guess it would go all the way back to my childhood. I came from Romania with my mum at a very young age, and so I grew up speaking Romanian as my first language, not English. Once at school, I desperately wanted to learn every word possible in this 'English' and so I set about doing just that. I figured books were my way in to the world and once I realised this, the reading corner became my sanctuary. When I didn't understand, I would read. When I was confused, I would read. Perhaps because of that, I have this insatiable appetite for words, books, thoughts, ideas and knowledge that I can't explain (or maybe just did). Just like that, I was hooked and I can't imagine being any other way!


2. You love to op shop. If you became richer than you ever needed to, would you still frequent op-shops as much as you do and why would that be so?

Hell yeah! I would frequent them more than I do at the moment, knowing that no piece of beautiful clothing would be left behind due to lack of monetary funds. I started op-shopping purely out of necessity through my uni days, but it quickly evolved into something I loved. Even now, perusing through shopping centre clothes racks leaves me cold, as each item is duplicated to infinity. But not so with op-shops. Every imaginable piece of clothing/accessory can be found there, from delicate ladies gloves to real fur coats in top condition. Come to think of it, if I had more money, I could gorge myself on real vintage stores, the ones that stock authentic 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's clothes that I could never afford. Our stuff these days just can't compare to the glamour of the bygone days.

3. Which person has had the greatest impact on your personal style, and how was the impact effected?
It would be too hard to pinpoint one particular person, but there are a few blogs that really fanned the flame of my curiosity in the fashion world. One of the first ever blogs I stumbled across was skylarkandson.blogspot.com. She's a 30-something mum who is fearless with her clothing choices. Also fashionhayley.com, a Melbourne girl, made me realise that what I wear can be an extension of my personality.
But above all, the best blog for inspiration is Scott Schumann's The Sartorialist. Images from around the world that are just incredible and always make me push the envelope.


4. If you didn't teach, what would be your chosen profession and why?
Interesting question. If you'd asked me a year ago, I could have rattled off a myriad list of professions. But coming to the end of my first year of teaching, I simply cannot fathom doing anything else. I really love it so much. Although....that could be a lie. Eventually, I would love to be a lecturer/tutor at a higher education facility, maybe university and I have this crazy dream of lecturing/tutoring at Bible college. The history of the Gospels, the validity of their eyewitness accounts just fascinates me and I would love to do that eventually.


5. Who is your all time favourite designer and what do you find inspiring about his/ her work?
At the risk of sounding like a bleating sheep following the fashion crowd, I would have to say Chanel & Dior. The timelessness of their pieces and the way their designs are slaves to the female form and not the other way round is just lovely.

2 hearts are beating together.....

Finally, a photo to accompany the post! Hello images-made-up-of-coloured-pixels!

I haven't included any photos for a while as my beloved iPhone got stolen, which made do as my camera for a while there. As such, I absolutely cannot wait for Christmas as my #1 request is a digital camera! Yay! I can be a real blogger then, all proper-like and what-not.

Until then, please accept my meagre offerings in terms of photos dear blogger friends.

This rare and precious photo is courtesy of a friend who invited me along to her friend's 25th. It was a very interesting party, seeing as all the 'peeps' work with my friend at Channel Ten and provided for some curious conversations.

Not to mention the costumes! It was a themed party, and the theme was "Any #1 hit from any year going back to 1984". Yes, I know, quite a mouthful for a theme. Quite an eclectic selection too, from Madonna to Stevie Wonder to Aqua.

Here are some of the outfits I was privy to:

-Cher. The one from the video for "If I Could Turn Back Time". Yes, the Cher with the mesh & lycra bodysuit. The girl was game and had the body to rock it!

-Spice Girls. Scary Spice was a very hairy Lebanese guy with a boob tube.

-Britney, Gwen Stefani & Barbie made for a room full of blondes.

-Silverchair. The guy was literally wearing a silver chair. With straps.

-Lady Gaga. Another brave girl, this one wearing a lace body suit with nothing but underwear beneath! (with some amazing Marc Jacobs platform heels.)

-Guy With a Red Cape.

And I went as the cover of Kylie Minogue's single, '2 Hearts'. She has this amazing eye makeup and thought I would try to emulate it :) Hour and a half later, and voila! I think I kinda look scary so I apologise for frightening any kiddies around.

But imagine my dismay when some sheila rocks up as '2 Hearts' as well. Only with a jar containing two lamb hearts. Real ones. Ugh. Ha. Ha.

Amendment: Do you think I was close? The makeup I mean :)

To Write Love on Her Arms

This incredible organisation just blows my mind. Amongst all the pain and all the heartache, there exists this: light, hope and above all, love.

Here's how TWLOHA all began and it is worthy of a whole post, the true story of one amazing girl. These are not my words, but the words of one guy who said "That's enough, it has to stop."

Pedro the Lion is loud in the speakers and the city waits just outside our open windows. She sits and sings, cross-legged in the passenger seat, her pretty voice hiding in the volume. Music is a safe place and Pedro is her favourite. It hits me that she won't see this skyline for several weeks, and we will be without her. I lean forward, knowing this will be written, and I ask what she'd say if her story had an audience. She smiles. "Tell them to look up. Tell them to remember the stars."

I would rather write her a song, because songs don't wait to resolve, and because songs mean so much to her. Stories wait for endings, but songs are brave things bold enough to sing when all they know is darkness. These words, like most words, will be written next to midnight, between hurricane and harbor, as both claim to save her.

Renee is 19. When I meet her, cocaine is fresh in her system. She hasn't slept in 36 hours and she won't for another 24. It is a familiar blur of coke, pot, pills and alcohol. She has agreed to meet us, to listen and to let us pray. We ask Renee to come with us, to leave this broken night. She says she'll go to rehab tomorrow, that she isn't ready now. It is too great a change. We pray and say goodbye and it is hard to leave without her.

She has known such great pain; haunted dreams as a child, the near-constant presence of evil ever since. She has felt the touch of awful naked men, battled depression and addiction, and attempted suicide. Her arms remember razor blades, fifty scars that speak of self-inflicted wounds. Six hours after I meet her, she is feeling trapped, two groups of "friends" offering opposite ideas. Everyone is asleep. The sun is rising. She drinks long from a bottle of liquor, takes a razor blade from the table and locks herself in the bathroom. She cuts herself, using the blade to write "FUCK UP" large across her left forearm.

The nurse at the treatment center finds the wound several hours later. The center has no detox, names her too great a risk, and does not accept her. For the next five days, she is ours to love. We become her hospital and the possibility of healing fills our living room with life. It is unspoken and there are only a few of us, but we will be her church, the body of Christ coming alive to meet her needs, to write love on her arms.

She is full of contrast, more alive and closer to death than anyone I've known, like a Johnny Cash song or some theatre star. She owns attitude and humor beyond her 19 years, and when she tells me her story, she is humble and quiet and kind, shaped by the pain of a hundred lifetimes. I sit privileged but breaking as she shares. Her life has been so dark yet there is some soft hope in her words, and on consecutive evenings, I watch the prettiest girls in the room tell her that she's beautiful. I think it's God reminding her.

I've never walked this road, but I decide that if we're going to run a five-day rehab, it is going to be the coolest in the country. It is going to be rock and roll. We start with the basics; lots of fun, too much Starbucks and way too many cigarettes.

Would anyone mind?

Do you think anyone would mind if I showed them all a video about Jesus?
Do you think anyone would shift uncomfortably in their seats? Do you think anyone would stand up and walk away? Do you think anyone's heart would start beating faster and faster and their face redden?

I do. Because mine certainly does when a video is shown mocking, teasing, insulting the man/god who I revere, who epitomised love.
And yet. That's okay. No, not only is it 'okay' and acceptable but encouraged, promoted and rewarded. The culture of this day says "If you want to be admired, seen as intelligent and cultured and open-minded, all you need to do is voice your opinion and add to the crowd's clamor that Jesus-followers are stupid, ignorant, blind and bigoted."


Where's the tolerance then? Where's the need to 'respect everyone's opinions?' Where's the open-mindedness then? Oh sorry. I forgot. That's only for Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Mormons, Scientologists, Atheists, Agnostics, Jews (or maybe not, poor souls), and so on and so forth.
Somehow, I don't think anyone would dare show a video mocking Mohammad or the Muslim faith. And rightly so, because no-one's faith should be, but mocking Jesus? Oh please. That's old news.


I know this blog is usually about all things fashion, but I just had to get this out, or else some poor colleague will unknowingly be on the receiving end of my frustration.

No-one has to agree, or believe me, or even nod politely. All that's needed is a little reciprocal respect.

Rights versus responsibilities

So, I think God is trying to tell me something. I mean, I'd have to be really thick to not realise that by now, as I've done the same dumb, stupid, irresponsible thing twice now, with some serious consequences. Serious for me, perhaps not so serious for others.
And I'm slowly finding out that trusting anyone and everyone is a terrible idea, and as much as people are funny, or exciting to hang around, they are not trustworthy people.
Who'da thought huh?

It really sucks though, because I try to be trustworthy, and I don't understand why others don't at least try.
I mean, I have failed plenty of times and quite spectacularly too, but I like to think that I try.

Anyways, I am beginning to realise that my rights decrease as my responsibilities increase, and I'm finding that I'm ok with that. It was just the realising that's tough. Like Paul says in Corinthians, be careful that the exercise of your freedom isn't a stumbling block to others. I may have the freedom to do all things, but if I want to be true to my calling, I must remember 'others first'. I could always throw the towel in, but it's worth so much more than that!

Poems of a 17 Year Old Girl

flippant remarks about the poverty of the soul
languid indifference sliding into a metal bowl
but the bowl refuses to feed
instead prolonging their need
absurdity becomes a commodity
insanity now a luxury

eyes clouded by belabored breath
joy noiselessly ripped away
life drops
love pours
into a vacuum
hopelessly black, devoid of red
no more green
Chaos is King of all
Random is his Queen
their offspring;
Wither, Waste, Weep.

How does the warrior not tremble before eternal insentience?
For him-is laughter inconsequential?
the trumpet slices the air, harbinger of death
the rape of the soul endured
leaping over anguish, deferred grief burns savagely
does she weep for him? how? when does she find the time?
or does time stop, only to have itself stolen from those who need it most?
where does yesterday live? where does that whispered joke or secret smile find meaning?
is there a doorway they pass through, only to have it vanish, forbidden?
childhood taken hostage by the wrist, icy fingers refusing to unfurl, cutting deep
conversations existing only in the mists of memory, embraces and promises drawing reason from wistful sighs

Real

Real picture from the 1920's......I love how normal these girls look. Vintage pictures usually have the the super-stylised, quintessential flapper girls, or 1940's sirens who look impeccable and as a result, quite 'unreal.' But these girls look like the ones you might see at the bus stop, or working at the deli or just hanging out with friends.

This picture reminded me of The Crucible.

Another authentic photo from the 40's. It was called 'Pleasantville'.

Jessica Rabbit! I love that hair....if my sister's hair wasn't red, mine would be in a heartbeat. Love how it's off to the side with that gorgeous kick at the front.

I want, I want, I want

I want my hair this color! I am so close, but that's not good enough anymore...

Cough Cough

Blerghhhh! I have been sick now for about 5 days and boy oh boy, does it suck! It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it really hits me. I've always had problems with my throat/tonsils and invariably, that's where it always begins. I've gone through 2 boxes of tissues and almost a whole packet of antibiotics. Worst timing, as I was about to begin some good stuff with my Year 7 and Year 10 students....lot of working waiting for me!
Oh, and top it all off, we got robbed :( I know, I know......really horrible. It's hard to understand the feeling of disgust and of being violated until it's happened to you. I was at work and hubby called asking where his laptop was and then we both realised what had happened.
A list of the items:
• Hubby's laptop - full of thousands (upwards of 10,000) of songs he uses for DJ gigs, poems, lyrics, recorded tracks, mixtapes, demo tracks, photos, memories, all of my wedding folder etc - GONE!
• The external hard-drive - Hubbby backed all of the above onto this to insure again losing it all in case the computer crashed. Didn't think it would get stolen, thus negating it's usefulness!
• His Nike high-tops. I know! How pathetic! Let's hope they're nowhere near a size 13-14 shoe.
• Playstation 3 that belonged to hubby's brother. He's in the Cook Islands at the moment, so he was a bit gutted.
• Portable Playstation (PSP).....it was hidden behind a desk and stacks of CD's. Very strange that they found it.

The weirdest part of it all is that brother-in-law's Mac was sitting on his desk and was untouched! It's not working at the moment and the only reason you would leave it behind is if you knew that.....so police think it's someone we know. Ugh.
Anyways, on a brighter note, I got a new car! Wooooo hooooooooo!! Old one had a cracked windscreen ( the whole width of the glass), hand-brake wasn't working, side mirror gone, etc. My new beautiful Holden Vectra goes like a dream! I love the colour too, not quite gold, not quite silver.

the ramblings of remember orbeli

So. Blank (virtual) page before me. I never realised how the act of writing can fill one with such a sense of power. No wonder so many of us love to write.The white expanse of the page or screen, completely empty until symbol by symbol, we fill it with meaning. It can be heady stuff.

I don't really know why I wrote this post. So much of what I want to say can't be said, as, in today's society, most of what I believe and cherish and value is considered utter foolishness. That's okay, that's not what bothers me. What bothers me oftentimes is not that I will be seen as a 'freak' or as 'odd' (because He said that would happen) but it's just that I know what will ensue. What usually ensues is a barrage of comments birthed out of ignorance, designed to denigrate and mock and sometimes, to be brutally honest, I just can't be bothered defending myself. Because that's always what it comes down to. It frustrates me to no end when people who consider themselves open-minded, liberal and free-thinking behave in the exact opposite manner. It's as if they don't stop to think that perhaps what the majority of society says is the norm is in fact ridiculous.

End rant. Meanwhile, I want creme brulee ice-cream!!!

Nineteen Eighty Four...or thereabouts

So for the past two Saturdays I have been gettin' down to the sounds of the 80's, courtesy of not one, but two (!) 80's themed birthday parties. The first was my brothers 21st and the second a friend's 80's hip hop party last night.

Life is too short to not be enjoyed thoroughly, so both parties saw me on the dancefloor for hours at a time!

Hubby DJ'ed at both parties as he now has his own speakers and gear and although I might be slightly biased, he is so good! He knows just how to work a crowd and knows when it's time to change up the songs or keep it going.

On another note, I am SUCH a bad blogger. I am terrible! I think it's because of my tendency to psych myself out of doing things by making them bigger and harder to do in my head. I kinda think to myself "Well, if I'm not going to do it properly, I might as well not update now as it will just be a boring update." Sorry.