My Bloggable Day

Shocking Pink and What to Wear to the Races?

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Bec

And I mean shocking.

I look tired… and pink

It’s freezing, we’re five weeks out from the races and it feels like everyone is already talking about what they are planning to wear. Hats and fascinators have appeared in all the shops, pop up fashion events have started to… pop up and you can hear imminent clothes tantrums about to erupt all over town.

On Saturday night I headed to a VIP Style Night for Echo Fashions on the Field. Echo is a local store who run the Fashions on the Field competition during the spring racing week here in Kalgoorlie. And the competition is fierce. Impressively fierce for a country race meet. So they held a night to show off their races gear and give people some hints if they are planning on entering.

Having moved house that day I found a bunch of dresses I had forgotten existed I threw on a neon number I bought in Bali last year and went along. For someone who doesn’t really embrace a lot of colour I certainly felt quite bright, especially when I added a pink fascinator to the mix. Turns out there is such thing as too much pink. So that means I still have four outfits to plan… back to the drawing board.

Do you go to the races? What do you wear?

(thanks to Paul for taking this photo!)

Posted in Fashion | Tagged Fascinator, Kalgoorlie, Kalgoorlie Cup, Races, Spring Racing | 2 Comments

Digging and Dealing

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Bec

Last week was mayhem with the annual Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum on in Kalgoorlie for three days. The conference finishes with a gala dinner on the Wednesday night and is lots of fun, has great food and pretty great entertainment.

My friend Em is really talented with applying makeup (unlike me) so she very kindly came over and applied a dramatic look to my eyes. Being so inept with eyeshadow, I never usually wear it, so it was fun to try something different. You can read all about how Em worked her magic on Em’s blog here.

You’ll have to excuse my grainy photos. I wore the Petra Vanessie lace dress I bought last year after modelling it in a fashion show.

Housemate Bec and I

When we arrived at the marquee (which is magically transformed from a conference hall with booths to a dinner venue in three short hours) we found our designated media table and sipped 2004 Moet.

Cheers

Bec and Jordan

Out of nowhere a Freddie Mercury lookalike appeared on the stage singing ‘We Are the Champions’ for no particular reason?! Who are the champions? The mining industry? Anyway he was pretty fabulous and very spot on, and then with a final blast of fireworks he disppeared and was never mentioned again…

Hey Freddie

We then had a message from Tony:

The Australian Prime Minister… No comment.

Entree was an Asian Tasting Plate with peking duck, BBQ pork steam bun, sesame salmon and a prawn dumpling with wasabi mayo.

Entree

After entree we were wowed with a magic show by magician Tim Ellis. Who did crazy unbelievable things like this:

Sideways levitating assistant!

And the classic ‘have a $50 note disappear and turn up inside a banana’ gag. Bizarre. But amazing!

Grainy selfie.

Then onto main course, fillet of beef wellington, broccolini, grilled mini roma tomato, fondant potato and red wine jus.

It was unbelievably good.

For a meal that had to be reproduced for 1400 patrons (that’s seriously how many people attend this dinner, it’s crazy!) it was delicious.

After that a bunch of mining companies won awards. I did actually take notice because Northern Star won the Dealers award and that’s the company my boyfriend works for… But I won’t bore you with the details.

Dessert was pretty good, at this point we had mostly left our tables and were off mingling. I couldn’t tell what anything was but according to the menu we had miniature desserts served on tiffany stands: saffron poached pears and frangipane tarts, maple chocolate creams with strawberries and honeycomb, potted vanilla milk with quince and hazelnuts and orange and ginger yogurt cake with Turkish delight.

That small ramekin on the left has the chocolate maple thing in it, yummy.

The evening ended (as most good evenings do) with cheese.

Jindi double cream brie, Emmental Swiss and ‘Shadows of Blue’ (wankiest name for cheese ever? probably)

Another whirlwind Diggers and Dealers over in a flash! If you want to see what 24 hours of the madness looks like, check out the story I did here.

Sorry for the retrospective blogging, I spent all weekend moving house, what a dream! Glad it’s done though. How was your weekend?

Posted in Misc | Tagged Conference, Diggers and Dealers, dinner | 2 Comments

Birthday: 26

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Bec

It was my birthday on Monday. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so spoilt in my life. 26 is going to be a good year!

The celebrations started on Sunday, after a sluggish start thanks to the Double Denim and Joggers party. I had some friends over for pizza and punch, it was really low key and relaxing, which was just what I was hoping for.

I had planned to have Mosco Mules but oddly, no one was craving vodka. So we had virgin Mules with ginger beer, mint, lime, and sugar syrup.

I made my Oreo Cheesecake again.

And my housemate Bec whipped up a bunch of her delicious pizzas.

Lauren and Em got me this gorgeous crown ring:

#royal

Bec and Claire got me these earrings, a really gorgeous beaded top from Zara, a bangle and have booked high tea (which hilariously, comes with a side of tarot reading!) for when we are in Bali in October.

Monday was my actual birthday and it was also day one of Diggers and Dealers, a massive annual mining conference here in Kalgoorlie. It goes for three days and is probably the most hectic (and most fun) time of the year.

So on Monday morning a bunch of us went off to catch the keynote address in the media room (they have this amazing room with wifi, a live stream of all the presentations, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea set up for journalists, amazing) and when I got back there was a bunch of flowers and a box of Lindt on my desk.

I was very surprised. They were from my boyfriend, Andrew. We are heading to Karinjini National Park next month for my birthday/a getaway, I can’t wait.

Pretty.

I’m not really accustomed to receiving flowers at work, or anywhere. My colleague Bec (who is also the aforementioned housemate) went through a period of receiving flowers from her boyfriend Scotty all the time last year, and I remember looking hopefully at the delivery person every single time. They were never for me!

But that wasn’t the case on Monday.

Before the excitement of the first bunch wore off, Lauren and Em very sweetly turned up with a bouquet.

Stunning. And hand delivered. Amazing.

I then went back to conference HQ and amidst all the action I got a call from a delivery person trying to drop off flowers. “You already delivered them!” I said. But no, it was another bunch. This time from my gorgeous Mum.

So at this point my desk looked like a florist. Or like a roadside memorial site.

ALL THE FLOWERS!

After a busy day, Bec and I got ready and headed to a cocktail party hosted by one of the conference exhibitors and took part in a round of blind wine tastings. Despite the pompous older gentlemen in our group being certain they could discern the Cab Sav from the Cab Merlot our group failed miserably.

At 8pm I went to have dinner with my fellow birthday twin Dave, as well as Lauren, Anthea, Scott and Andrew. We went to an Italian place called Danny’s that was packed with conference delegates.

I had bruschetta for entree.

Topped with delicious goats cheese

Followed by beef cheek gnocchi.

Mmmm cheeky.

And sticky date pudding for dessert. There was cheesecake on the menu, but I’m (slowly) learning that there is such thing as too much cheesecake.

Exhausted, I collapsed into bed at midnight a year older. I think 26 might be my best year yet.

Thanks to everyone who made it special.

Posted in Food, Misc | Tagged 26, Birthday | 2 Comments

Double denim and joggers

Posted on August 7, 2014 by Bec

It’s safe to say we aren’t yet at risk of running out of fresh costume party ideas here in Kalgoorlie. Last Saturday night we donned as much denim as possible, threw on some joggers (hello comfort) and made for the house of Mike and Jordan.

The abundance of denim led quickly to adopting a series of ridiculous poses. Starting with the boys and their ASOS womens’ jeggings.

Crotch-tastic!

WTF = Why the face?

Kadn is convinced he has the best derriere in the group.

I think Claire is a fierce contender though. Especially with foot-long fly jeans.

Said joggers:

All the colours of the rainbow.

Scotty was robbed of the title of Best Dressed (but definitely took out the lesser known title of ‘most effeminate’):

The train driver’s hat and neck tie. Seriously.

The comfortable footwear was really conducive to dancing, which started well before inebriation at about 8:30pm. I don’t think I’ve danced so much or so hard in my entire life.

Mike’s face (far left)

Thanks to the headband my moves adopted an 80s aerobics instructor vibe.

I even managed to get some Destiny’s Child and Ginuine past Kadn aka the Playlist Nazi.

Much dancing. Much debauchery. And we ended up in town like a denim Mafia of insane dancers unleashed on the Gold Bar d-floor. Good times.

Less good times the next morning.

Posted in Misc | Tagged Double Denim, Joggers, Kalgoorlie, Party | Leave a comment

Friday Links

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Bec

The chandelier in my new living room

Check out that fancy chandelier! The new house is full of ’em. My friends Jordan, Kadn and Andrew and I had a curry picnic on camping chairs and a card table in the new living room last night. I can’t wait to move in!

Here are some links to things I enjoyed this week:

1900s to 1970s: Women in photo booths A long line of photo booth loving gals came before me!

From public toilet to private home Wow. Kind of gross. Kind of amazing.

Farmers who grow cocoa beans taste chocolate for the first time This will make your heart sing. Those smiles. I love how surprised they are that it tastes so sweet.

Amazing sticker DIY I wish I had the time and patience for this, it looks amazing. Like it should be in a modern art gallery… Which I guess isn’t saying much, considering the tripe that ends up in modern art galleries…

Q & A with the costume designer on HBO’s Girls I forgot how much I love Girls. And that I had yet to watch the last three episodes of the third season?! I fixed that! How could Adam turn into such a brat?! I thought I loved him…

What are you up to this weekend? I have a double denim and joggers party on Saturday night, followed by some early birthday fun on Sunday (ahead of my birthday on Monday) and a week of conferencing next week.

Also, I think this may be my 400th blog post?! Lucky 400! Wooo.

Posted in Misc | Tagged Friday Fun, Internet, Links, Links I Love | 3 Comments

Paying for stuff in gold

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Bec

So, for those who don’t know, Kalgoorlie is and has been centred around gold mining since an Irishman named Paddy found the stuff near here back in 1893. For well over a century this place has been known as the Wild West and upon hearing ‘Kalgoorlie’ many people think of rough miners, prostitutes and our topless barmaids known as skimpies.

But these days, Kalgoorlie is more than that and many people have worked hard to try and shirk the Wild West image.

In October, Kalgoorlie will host the biennial Regional Arts Australia Summit. Artists and people in the arts will come from all over the country for a big four day conference. It’s going to be a massive injection of culture and colour. I managed to score a spot in the Young Reference Group for the Summit, so along with doing a few projects of our own, we will speak on panels (scary!), take workshops and try to provide some meaningful input from a Gen Y perspective.

Now, not to confuse things, but before that all happens in October, a massive annual mining conference known as Diggers and Dealers will take place next week. As a bit of nod to Kalgoorlie’s association with gold, Rydges Kalgoorlie has decided to accept payment from its conference guests in the form of gold. So a couple of nights with dinner thrown in will cost you a nugget or five in gold (depending on the size).

The Arts Summit team decided to jump onboard and have a lunch at Rydges and pay with nuggets.

About $300 worth of gold wedged into a cupcake

We started with a tasting plate.

Before moving onto mains. I had a chicken parmigiana because, well, we are in Kalgoorlie after all. Long live pub meals.

The Kalgoorlie-based team members from left to right: First Nations Creative Producer Gary Cooper, Chair of Country Arts WA Kate Fielding, Artistic Direction Ben Fox, me awkwardly holding the cupcake, Creative Producer Owen Hinton and Lisa Van Oyen:

I will have plenty of Arts Summit stuff to share soon. A very busy second half to 2014 is fast approaching!

Posted in Art | Tagged Kalgoorlie, Regional Arts Australia Summit | 7 Comments

Things my father told me

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Bec

My Dad (left) probably back when he was learning about making a good cup of tea

“One day, we’ll be able to fax ourselves overseas so we won’t need airports anymore.”

“Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” Ad nauseam.

“I may have already told you this…” before telling a story I’ve heard at least twice.

“Now don’t you lose that.”

“I can’t find the passports” every five minutes, on every overseas holiday ever.

“This is the only thing I learnt at uni” while showing me how to squeeze excess water from a teabag using a spoon and the teabag string. He studied economics and law.

“Guard it with your life” when I told him I was taking my iPad overseas.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeee okbye.” At the end of every phone conversation.

“……….(angry silence)………..” whenever Carlton lose.

“You’re very precious to me.”

Posted in Misc | Tagged Family, Father | 2 Comments

Travel Tuesday: Henley on Thames

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Bec

I’m home sick today with a cold and a headache that won’t stop thump-thump-thumping despite the painkillers I throw at it. I pretty much slept the entire day, waking only when my windows started rattling loudly. I thought it was an earthquake but there is nothing on the Geoscience Australia website… So I’m going to pretend I’m soaking up sunshine with a cider outside a pub in Henley, a picturesque town in Oxfordshire famous for the Henley Royal Regatta.

I visited in May 2012 and it was sweltering. Accustomed to visiting relatives in England in the winter, the heat really threw me.

The best way to see Henley, is from the water. Grab a boat of some description (we opted for row), a boater hat and hit the Thames. You will pass adorable looking houses that occupy prime Regatta watching real estate and no doubt cost an arm and leg.

I’ll take the one with the rooftop courtyard

Seriously, how much would one of these set you back?

The ducks probably have the best views of all though.

Henley Bridge, built in 1786

Adorable

When you get hungry, find a pub you like the look of:

The Angel on the Bridge

Park your boat (or convertable Mercedes):

And enjoy a traditional pub meal:

Peas with fish and chips? Brits are outrageous!

With a cold beverage:

And maybe an ice cream too:

When you’re done all that’s left to do is pick what colour boat you will have when you move there.

Blue or blue?

And what colour front door.

I’d love to go back for the Regatta one year. Have you been?

Posted in Travel | Tagged England, Henley on Thames, Travel, Travel Tuesday, United Kingdom | 1 Comment

Things that made Monday a little easier

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Bec

Not having to pick out something to wear:

Black and white stripes all the way.

The ban has lifted.

Knowing there was banana bread to go home to:

Called ‘bread’ because it sounds healthier than ‘cake’? Probably.

This view on my afternoon walk:

A whole lot of nothing.

How was your Monday?

Posted in Misc | Tagged Monday | Leave a comment

Black and white clothing ban: Thursday and Friday

Posted on July 27, 2014 by Bec

These were the final two outfits before I re-embraced monochrome dressing with absurd excitement on Friday night.

Thursday

The ‘Stifler’s Mom’ shirt

Friday

“We done yet?”

I’ve since worn black and white stripes all weekend. It was kind of fun to wear things I wouldn’t usually wear, but most of the time it made me feel a bit too bright and self conscious of appearing clown-like. Long live the comfort zone I say.

How was your weekend? Mine was mostly spent at my local amateur theatre club helping change sets backstage. I also went out for breakfast (yesterday), lunch (today), went on a nice big walk in the sunshine and I’ve just pulled a fresh loaf of banana bread out of the oven. The house smells delicious. Lets hope the working week is swift and pleasant.

(Thanks to my friend and fellow blogger Em for these pics xx)

Posted in Fashion | Tagged Fashion, Outfit of the day, style | 2 Comments