Obviously serving up Spanish fare, Olé’s interior is perky beyond perky – when you first enter the store, you are almost instantaneously greeted by a cheerful server with a cheery smile. A huge assortment of tables of various sizes are available – and the venue seats up to 170 hungry foodies. Typically open-planned, I was concerned that I would be nippy in our chilly historically-cold-Autumn weather – and again, proven wrong. A huge number of heaters are plotted around the eatery – and the waiters and waitresses do a surprisingly good job at manoeuvring around them.

We unfortunately decided to visit Olé while we were both hand-in-hand with slight colds, so we didn’t indulge in their extensive drinks list – which includes a massive variety of Spanish sherries, wines, sangria, beers and ciders. The bar glowed at us enticingly but we managed to restrain ourselves and kept to gulps of chilled water between bites of deliciousness. And, just on a personal note – I absolutely love sangria. Put some sangria in front of my face and I will drink all of that up. No pretence, what-so-ever. Be sure, once I do manage to get my olfactory sense in working order once again, I will return to DRINK IT ALL.

Thinking in terms of Peasant sizes, we decided that we would order four items from the tapas menu and a single item from the Ración menu to fill our gullets – since we didn’t have any alcohol in our tanks to soak up the holes in our culinary expectations. This appeared to be a mistake on our part, since the serving sizes are much more generous than it’s tapas competitor – we were left with a sense of Oops and Oh Well, We Paid For It, Stop Eating The Bread.

To kick the evening off we ordered the Patatas Bravas ($6.00) – basically crisped spiced potatoes – now me and the boyo absolutely adore potatoes in all of their forms – and when this plate came out piled with our spuddy friends, we squealed with delight. Unfortunately, they didn’t have as much kick as we thought they would – the potatoes were not spicy (well, in our terms) and the salsa a little too runny, turning our once crisp potatoes into less crisp versions of themselves – slightly upsetting on our part – but still tasty – just not as tasty as we would of expected.

Next came a literal ball of bread – thinking that we hadn’t actually ordered much, we decided to fill up on bread (Pan y Aceite de Oliva – $8.00) and Ole’s special extra virgin olive oil. What we were expected was a few slices of bread. What we received was a ball of bread with a large dagger-like device poking out of it for us to dissemble it in any which way we saw fit. Combined with the fruity house extra virgin olive oil, it went well with everything on our menu – particularly for sopping up the left over sauce from our patatas. It left us covered with crumbs for the whole evening, but it was absolutely worth it.

We went on to order the Calamares y Chanquetes ($9.00)- crisp calamari and whitebait with aioli – being fans of both calamari (and oddly enough, whitebait) I eagerly pointed out this to my boyo and with gusto, it arrived at our table, complete with a generous wedge of lemon to satiate our need for tang. The calamari was tender and perfectly cooked – just chewy enough to let you know it was a bit of squid, but soft enough so it didn’t leave us chewing like cows and a nasty plod of cud. The whitebait was less impressive – congealed in a nasty amount of batter, some of the whitebait ended up looking like multi-eyeballed lumps of snot. Not very attractive – and it mainly tasted of flour and oil.

We always must order jamón – no matter where we are or what other things we may be consuming, if jamón is on the menu, we wil purchase it and gobble it up with aplomb. Our first pick, the Jamón Serrano had run out, so we went for the slightly more expensive PALETA Iberico de Bellota ($18.00) – an acorn fed iberian ham, which was being toted to us as “rich and nutty”. Yes, it was certainly rich – but it also had an overpowering waxy taste to it. It was served up with two slices of bread – bringing our total bread accumulation to scary new heights. We hadn’t even reached our Ración item yet and we were erring on sickly full.

Our main (or Ración, I should say) was a trio of grilled chicken, capsicum and onion skewers on a bed of saffron pilaf – on the menu, it’s known as rochetas de Pollo ($19.00). It arrived on the table and we were overwhelmed by the smell. The chicken was succulent, perfectly cooked and bursting with flavour. Generously soaked in lemon, and melting in the nearly-camaelised red onion and super-soft capsicum slices, we died and went to heaven. And then we got to the saffron pilaf – in one word: AMAZING. In several? Fragrant with a slightly coconutty essence to it, it wasn’t exactly bursting with saffron flavour, but you could tell it had been dosed with it. I have a penchant for coconutty rice. It has much to do with my Malaysian heritage and the fact that my mum no longer cooks it because it’s “too fatty”. She may have a point, but man, do I miss it.

Our night was also highlighted by a waitress bringing out several cupcakes absolutely bedecked with candles as a celebratory birthday offering to the fellow sitting at the table next to ours. The entire platter arrived as a fireball and was blown out to cheers of hilarity and protest (the wife was being smothered by billows of smoke). He was 55. I’m not certain if there were 55 candles embedded in those three cupcakes, but it sure looked like it!

Our total bill brought us up just under $60 – and to us that’s a fairly reasonable price – we were stuffed to the hilt and $30/head for a dinner at South Bank is acceptable. Keep in mind, we hadn’t indulged in our inherent alcoholic streaks, so we were saved by our colds to some extent.

Now, I don’t know if this seems a bit odd to you, but it certainly does for me – Olé also serves up breakfast, daily. I’ve never known a tapas place to do a breakfast menu, but there you go. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t give it a try, though – and after having a sticky-beak at the menu, I’m impressed. I mean they have a dish called “Huevo y jamón” – consisting of poached eggs, freshly shaved jamón, spinach and homemade hash brown for the wonderful bargain-basement price of $18. I mean, it has JAMON in it. I can see my fiance salivating right now. How intense it that? Also, with such reasonable prices for the Southbank area, it’s hard to argue with as a wishlist breakfast destination.

Ole Restaurant
Shop B12 Little Stanley St
South Brisbane
Ph 07 3846 1201
Open 7 days, breakfast, lunch and dinner
www.olerestaurant.com.au

Yes, here I’m singing the praises of a cream today. I’ve been reducing to a whimpering female cream-worshipper. It’s been a long time since I’ve found a product that makes me superbly happy. L’Occitane’s Almond Milk Concentrate - as it’s title proclaims – it’s almond milk – and it is indeed a concentrate. And it also smells like awesome. But, not really like almonds.

I got my first taste of this cream in one of those tiny little sample sachets that you get in a pile of random  testers that somehow sprout from your cosmetics shelf like mushrooms on left over bread. Desperate for some form of hydration on my parched face, I tore it open with my teeth and smothered it liberally all over my flakey visage, over my legs and arms. I awoke the next morning practically glowing, smelling like sunshine, spewing rainbows and unicorns*.

I have to admit to not actually reading the packet with much interest when in my fervour, so I had no idea that it was actually a firming cream as well. So, it appears my face is now…firmer? I’m not quite certain if it’s firmer, but it’s certainly much softer, not shedding and this formulation has completely obliterated my pimples. Most thick creams cause me to break-out in a swam of pustles – but not this cream – with absolutely no left-over greasiness, my face has become a canvas of loveliness, without the gruelsome aftermath of many other treatments on the market.

Using my discovery skills, I’ve found out why this is so – L’Occitane’s Almond Milk Concentrate is free from all those yucky things that make skin scream - it has no synthetic colorants, formol or formaldehyde, animal ingredients, phtalates, triclosan, BHA or BHT. Fabulous.

Rich in almond oil and almond milk, this body cream nourishes and softens the skin. The blend of silicium and almond proteins, which are similar to collagen, effectively fights skin slackening by restoring skin’s support tissue. The light, creamy texture melts into the skin without leaving a greasy residue. Skin feels satiny-smooth and is enveloped in a fresh and delicate fragrance.

The downside? It errs on the pricey side. Each sturdy bottle is packed in with 200mL of cream…for $59AUD. Ouch. But, as it seems a very small amount goes a long way, we’ll see if it manages to last me through the bulk of winter. And, if it doesn’t, I’ll start assailing unsuspecting international travellers into picking it up for me, duty free.

* Last point is not factually correct.

 This weekend I had the amazing opportunity to go and see/enjoy/singallofthesongs Florence + the Machine in concert at what is commonly known as the Riverstage. For the purposes of this blog, it will now be known as The Hyper Green – as every bit of lawn in the place came up a fluorescent green on camera. Yes, that’s right – FLUORESCENT GREEN. I swear, if I had claimed a tuft, I could of smeared all over my university reports.

Our little spot on the green – we left the younger ones to claim stage-side moshin’-spots. I’m far too old to try that.

I kind of hate that I didn’t pay the extra to get actual tickets – print-outs are just not the same.

After bumbling through work, I managed to gather my mind together, roll myself into a warm-ish outfit and after a quick stop-off to pick up both friends (Tim + Fi) and a few cheeseburgers from MacDonald’s (we picked up the cheeseburgers from MacDonald’s…not our friends), we were on our way.

We managed to pluck a little parking spot just off Southbank’s Goodwill Bridge, and after a brisk and extremely cold stroll/hop (it was that cold), we were at the concert grounds, ready to roll – passed through the gates with flying colours and managed not to have anything conficated. I was a little concerned about the camera – but I shouldn’t of been. So many pre-teens were at this event, it would of been a Feat of God to prevent photography. In my fear, I neglected to bring my EP-1, and instead Nan’s Fuji X-10 tagged along with us. I severely regret this – as the X-10′s zoom is limited, shaky and very…how do I say this? Electronic? As someone who is used to a bit of weight in her camera, it made me a little uncomfortable. Well, that could of been the fact that I had sat on a lump of wet dirt – but either way, uncomfortable.

“I want my music to sound like throwing yourself out of a tree, or off a tall building, or as if you’re being sucked down into the ocean and you can’t breathe. It’s something overwhelming and all-encompassing that fills you up, and you’re either going to explode with it, or you’re just going to disappear.”

- Florence Welch.

We managed to gain a little plot of land on a hill (too old to wait near the stage), Tim managed to obtain a plate of “Malaysian” chow (which he seemed to enjoy, so it must of been half-decent) and we all bought bottles of $4 water, hunkered down on our drop sheet and waited. After a bit, I decided I really needed to get some things from the gig store – and with a face full of concentration, Nan and I braved the endless sea of feet and picnic blankets to return to the merchandise booth – I managed to score a Ceremonials Logo Tee and the Florence + the Machine Logo TEEAAAACCCCUUUUUP!

That’s right, a freaking tea-cup. I managed to score the very last one at the store – and when I say Very Last – I actually mean the display one. Suffice to say, I was psyched. I am also a little broke right now, but it was TOTALLY WORTH IT.

I quote only out of laziness:

While there were seven members of the band on stage (and two backup singers who more than held their own against her imposing voice throughout the night), all eyes were on Welch and her unmissable mane of long red hair as she either bounded or glided across the stage.

Wearing what appeared to be a black lace and velvet jumpsuit and draped in a black and white cape trimmed with gold – she started the night with Only If For A Night and What the Water Gave Me (both from Ceremonials) before turning to old favourites Cosmic Love and breakout hit, the cover You’ve Got the Love.

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/

But by far, my favourite song of the night? Was No Light No Light – which she only sang after we had chanted her same for the encore – and yes, she went to town on a large silver-sparkled drum, the sky filled up with flashing light and I sincerely hoped that there were no epilesy-suffers in the audience.

Well, Kimbra absolutely kicked all forms of buttock last night – her intense, pumped performance had everyone bouncing along to her addictive tunes – and she also sang out tracks from her newly revised Vows album (which I have obtained in the Australian Tour Edition album) – including Warrior and Come Into My Head.

Propped up on the balcony at an odd angle, we had a fairly odd point of perspective to work with, but at least there weren’t super tall people in front of us – the downside? We had a pair of loud blondes taking photos with their iPhones AND FLASH behind our heads – they SHOUTED AT EACH OTHER OVER THE TOP OF KIMBRA. Seriously, if you’re going to do that, just leave and go chat outside. Ugh. Another less-than-kosher interruption was provided group of friends, towing along their short friend asks if their friend can slip in in front of me, as she’s so short. I felt like telling them that maybe they should of thought of that earlier, and possibly NOT BE LATE- but let their short friend in anyway – next thing I know, her 6ft girlfriend also decides to “slip in”. Pain, agony and foot stomping ensues. Etiquette at gigs, people, figure it out or stay out.

Beside all of this drama, the gig was absolutely stunning – also, no bans on photography or video, which was both a great thing and not so great thing – I’ve always wanted the opportunity to snag photos at a concert (all the gigs I’ve gone to in the past haven’t allowed it). The downside? Phones in the face. Lucky we were propped up on the balcony because it wasn’t really a big issue at all – but  I sincerely felt sorry for the poor sods down on the floor – all you would be able to see would be a score of glowing phone screens and a tad bit of Kimbra’s face between it all. But, I have to admit, I’ve experienced worse crowds before, and apart from the strange few that insisted on using flash (ugh), the crowd was fairly well-behaved.

Anyway, besides all of my complaints, the concert exceeded by expectations – the sound at the Tivoli was amazing – with stunning acoustics and her skilled band backing her up (oh my gosh, they were fantastic) – her voice soared over her adoring masses (us)! She also managed to slip in an outfit change – as you can see here – from Silver Puffball and Grandmother’s Quilt-Making Scraps Coat to Epic-Red Hot-Mess Tutu. A woman of many skills.

FINALE SONG: Cameo Lover, with a metric load of coloured confetti.

All the photos were taken with my tiny (and trusty) EP-1 and my Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6 Lumix G Vario MEGA OIS Zoom micro four thirds lens – a lens I highly recommend for anyone with an Olympus or Panasonic micro four thirds unit and a penchant for taking epic zoom shots – and yes, at full extent the f-stop chokes up to 5.6 – yes, I was shooting at a concert with it.

Call it skill.

Or insanity. 

I even managed to score a little video for you all! EXCITED, MUCH?

Now I can’t spend a minute
Now I can’t steal the time
I’ve lost all my friends like money
I’ve lost all my men to the sky

Can’t keep your loving from my mind
It’s worth more than gold, crystals and pride
Ready to shake these stars from me

But I can’t withdraw your heart from mine
No, I can’t withdraw your heart from mine
No, I can’t withdraw your heart from mine

Just a little pointer – if you do wish to use my pictures, be sure to e-mail me or leave a comment and add a little prompt to me – that would be lovely. I can also send you hi-res photos if you so wish. E-mails can be flicked to iamjayjayne (a) gmail.com. YUP YUP. OH YES, so this is Musical May, because I’m off to see Florence + the Machine next Saturday with my lovelies – PSYCHED – yeah, get ready for even more photos kids. I’m on a roll.

* Even after three years of industrious usage, I’m still not going to leave my EP-1 and I prefer it over our Nikon D90 any day.

So, here’s some news – I have (thanks to my dear Fiona F), scored some tickets to KIMBRA. FREAKING KIMBRA, LIVE. LIKE, REALLY. I’ve been notified that the tickets to this gig have sold-out. So, I’m absolutely jiggling around in causing major jelly. I also should probably lay off the caffine for a bit. And the alliteration as well.

I will be heading out there tonight with my dear girlgirl Kathy – meanwhile we must both find something to munch on, as well as find, the dreaded P-word – Parking. /SHUDDER. Now parking in the Valley is like a mini-jackpot, where the jackpot is a parking spot and the opportunity for your vehicle to be peed-on by an overly enthusiastic beer-glugger. It being a weekday, the likelihood of urinary expulsion on one’s vehicle is greatly lowered, so there’s something to sigh in relief about. But this is little relief to me – a woman of little faith in the human race, rich in a thick dosage of sarcasm and brain-batteringly-bad* parallel-parking skills. WATCH ME BATTER ALL OF THE CARS!

PERTH, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 25: Kimbra performs on stage during the Parklife 2011 music festival, on September 25, 2011 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Matt Jelonek/Getty Images) 2011 Matt Jelonek

© 2011 Chris Phelps

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – FEBRUARY 29: Kimbra performs on stage at Shepherds Bush Empire on February 29, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Joseph Okpako/WireImage) 2012 Joseph Okpako

Another metaphysical-terror that I am currently experiencing is the “WHAT DO I WEAR” connumdrum. A typically female futile pursuit, dressing for comfort as well as warmth and with a healthy dose of style will be a difficult task. What the sod is there to wear in my wardrobe that will make sure I will also not die of hypothermia? What the sod is there to wear in my wardrobe that will not make me look like a mad cat-lady? Clearly, the leg-warmers are not an option (maybe). The anthem of “Where are all of my flat shoes?” will be heard house-wide as I stare listlessly into a wardrobe packed with flat shoes.

Augh, in any case, for those poor (suckers) who couldn’t get tickets, here’s a little taste of what you’ll be missing out on. Because I’m a sadist. Now it’s time for me to get psyched for Kimbra. Yeaaaahhh.

*ALLITERATION!

I’ve just realised that I haven’t yet shared the many pictures that I managed to accrue from my explorations in organising a little get-together with a few friends for our engagement party celebrations. How remiss of me! So, for those who are unfamiliar with Brisbane, it was held at the Continental Cafe, which despite it’s name, manages to serve up much more than just coffee and cake – although it does do a mean coffee and cake. Continental Cafe’s byline is noted as: “17 years of late lunches” so as you can probably tell, there is much ado with feasting and eating till you’re stuffed at this location.

The restaurant has a cute french provincial feel to it – think massive tapestries alongside rustic chandeliers and exposed beams – so a cosy little place to share in hearty food. The nice people at Continental also typed up and printed us some custom menus – although they got a little enthusiastic with their exclamation marks, resulting in: “Nan & Jane Engaged !!”

My pretty people: Fi (my sister) and Steve, Cliff and Jasper, a cute Vivi holding my one of my hand-stamped wedding favours (and a peace sign, courtesy of Jen).

These were the little favour bags that I spent the previous morning making – out of large lunch bags (cut down to small ones), some Ikea twine I picked up years before and the adorable Kikki.K stamp kit I received from Thomas – they were a hit and every bit of candy was consumed with fervour.

As much as we would of loved to invite ALL OF THE PEOPLE, we were constrained by the size of the place – we tried to keep our numbers down. We managed to squeeze seventeen of us into the restaurant’s back room, which turned out to be a pleasant number. Time between courses was spent eating sweets and joking about (oh and photo-spamming).

A few more of our lovelies: Joe and Kathy, Clifford Face and the ever-beautiful Jess Jess!

My dearest Kathy (and Joe) also bought us the sweetest engagement gift all the way from Taiwan! That’s right, little fluffy, alpaca bride and groom set! The girl alpaca is cotton-candy pink decked out with pears and a tiny little taira and veil while the man alpaca is actually a little stouter around the neck and legs and is proudly sporting a skinny tie! She’s insisted we incorporate them into the ceremony (I’m thinking that the rings can be attached to them somehow)!

Now on to the NOMS – which I think everyone wants to hear about more than everything else – the menu was quite decadent – and filled with all forms of intensely delicious and incredibly heavy food – quintessential European fare mixed with a handful of eclectic and seasonal meals – feel free to salivate.

Chilli-salt cuttlefish, wild rocket leaf salad, sesame dressing.

Risotto aux fruits de mer, roast tomato & garlic, local prawns,fish, mussels.

Spaghetti, prawns, baby spinach, smoked bacon, chilli, lemon.

Vincotto glazed turkey breast, sage and onion stuffing, peach and green bean salad, raw cranberry sauce.

Roasted vine-ripened tomatoes, put lentil ragout, chick peas, grilled haloumi.

A spoonful of Parisian fairy floss.

Sicilian cassata, marzipan coated sponge, liqueur, candied fruit.

And that was only a handful of the dishes that were available – so as you can see, pretty much everyone was happily stuffed by the end of the night (well, at least I hope they were)! To top everything off, we decided to indulge in some group photography – mind you the first shot was supposed to be “normal” and the second shot was supposed to be “like a boss”. Um, I’m not sure if we got it right or not – but at least we tried!

For my own engagement shindig, I pulled together a few ideas, hours of Photoshop time and a shaky colour scheme to create a little invitation, utilising the lovely people at Vistaprint. It was only a trial printage, but it managed to help me get a gist of how the system works, the prices and the quality of the print – which wasn’t half bad.

See, not too shabby for a first effort at this thing – managed to get me some pretty fonts, and see the TINY LITTLE ALPACA? Yes, I managed to add a tiny little alpaca. Pretty awesome sauce!

So I’m planning to follow this very adorable little DIY tutorial from A Practical Wedding – time for me to get busy, once again, with Photoshop and plenty of blood, sweat and tears, to add to it all.

The Oops I Really Care Way

This morning, we posted the APW theory that really nice invitations have two elements, with everything else being extra: good design and good paper. If you’re using an APW printable invite sponsor, I’m pretty sure you’ve already got good design in the bag. But perhaps you also want good paper, and you want to print at home. Well, here is the thing. People will tell you this can’t be done. But it can. We did it. David and I printed part of our wedding invitations on our home printer, using 100% cotton paper. And they looked so good that I wondered why I’d also effed around with Gocco (well, actually, I did that because it was fun). So it can be done, and here are my tips:

• Order a design that isn’t super ink heavy. Don’t make me say that again.
• Order 100% cotton paper. Go somewhere with a heavy duty paper cutter to cut your paper down to size. Normally you can go to a Kinkos, or other print shop, offer to pay to use the printer cutter, and have them offer to just let you use it. Score.
• Cut extra paper because your printer will inevitably eat some of them, leaving you yelling profanities if you didn’t cut enough.
• Get a cheap-o paper cutter for your house, to handle the part when you inevitably didn’t cut enough. These work well, and will come in handy for years to come.
• Buy envelopes in a complementary color.
• Buy extra printer ink, because your printer will inevitably run out of color at the most inopportune time.
• Go home, sit by the printer, feed your lovely cotton paper. Curse loudly as the printer yells at you about the paper. Tell the printer who is boss. Admire how professional your invitations look, and think about how cheap they are, and realize how little skill this took on your part.
• Fin.

Read more: http://apracticalwedding.com/2011/04/how-to-print-your-own-wedding-invitations/#ixzz1sUBq1Ix4.

Now to accrue some ideas – here are a few that I’ve been eyeing off – and yes, I’ve noticed that they’re all pretty different from each other – but i’m planning to mish-mash ideas into a delicious soup of…er…invitations? One thing I’m certain of, though, and that is I’ll be using heavy weight (cotton/linen) paper. Oh yes. Yes indeed.

RAVISHING SCRIPT, PRETTY IDEAS: Swooshy calligraphy, simple, but modern. [ LINK ]

SIMPLE, ON AMAZING PAPER: The contrast colours are truly amazing. Customisable with a matching RSVP card. [ LINK ]

ILLUSTRATED, WATER COLOUR: Hand drawn wedding invitation, a sweet and simple watercolor invitation set. Personalised to perfection – but so pricey and impossible to create oneself (unless you’re particularly handy ay drawing). [ LINK ]

DIY, PRINTABLE: Instantly downloadable from Etsy, cheap and complete with invitation, RSVP and info card all together in one pack. Oh my. [ LINK ]

SELF INKING, ADDRESS STAMPS: Custom calligraphy style self inking address stamp – fabulous for the lazy people like me who hate writing my address over and over again. [ LINK ]

AIR MAIL, THE LOVELY THINGS IN THE MAIL: This has all the hallmarks of a lovely vintage invite – all the way down to the bakers twine (or which can be put together so easily, as well). [ LINK ]

CARNIVAL WEDDING, ALL OF THE COLOURS: A printable suite pre-created – but this colour scheme is so lovely and perky. Love the perky! But maybe it’s a little…too perky? [ LINK ]

Yeah, so here’s to me scratching my head and cracking my knuckles in front of my trusty Mac and Photoshop (I’ve finally managed to re-install it). I’ve got so many ideas bustling around and not enough presence of mind to calm down and start prodding buttock. More ideas and inspiration to follow (and any other little suggestions are eagerly accepted)!

The trip to New York was an education in it’s itself. Never have I been on a flight this long before – consider me, completely wiped out – absolutely exhausted, and for some inexplicable reason, my knit weave sweater unravelled and turned into a pile of beige yarn. Much like half-cooked Maggi noodles. Highly unappealing, not at all appetising. The whole apparel item gave me a haggard, homeless-bum look to my travel get-up. But not in a good way.

So after shipping off to Taiwan, then on to Osaka and then finally to New York – we arrived in the great land of the US – where the incoming Customs scan was practically non-existant and when released into the arrivals lounge, were almost instantaneously approached by a scammer asking us if we needed “transport anywheerrre” (rolling the “r’s” here) and, when he realized we understood English, he backed off right away. Also, security were eyeballing him. Also, a few seconds later, an announcement came over the PA system warning travellers not to accept such offers of apparent “generosity”. Go figure.

The trip into the Big Apple from JFK contained me ooh-ing and ahh-ing in semi-conciousness at the architecture styles of the US of A – apparently, eves on houses aren’t a thing for a large number of residential plots in the US? The houses appeared in uniform rows, only discernable by their paintwork (and possibly a discreetly placed property number) – the roads presented themselves beautifully, but most showed no form of sewerage gutter, the majority of trees were still recovering from Winter’s howl and waving at the blue sky with empty fronds. But the most astonishing thing? The huge, expanses of clean, uniform cemetery plots of the Cedar Grove Cemetery that seem to stretch as far as the eye could see, when we headed past Queens and into the belly of Manhattan.

For me, oogling from the back seat of a 4-wheel-drive taxi, the whole experience was not only mind-blowing, but also surreal – we travelled over bridges, in communter tunnels and were spat out in Brooklyn – the land of massive converted warehouses, imposing fume stacks and a ferociously devout community of Hasidic Jewish families living alongside a growing generation of skeptical hipsters – bristling in their skinny jeans and sullen expressions.

Hitting Manhattan, we were warmly greeted by hordes of drunk St. Patrick’s Day revelers – clad head to toe in green, their garish outfits – decked with shot necklaces, jangly shamrocks and flashing bobbly shamrocks donned upon headbands – our cabbie swore fluently as he attempted to wrangle his way around the inebriated masses – all of whom were practically dribbling down the sidewalks. If anything, the police force looked bewhildered with the sheer force of alcohol-induced frivolity that orbited them. The police horses appeared amusingly unfussed.

Then our cabbie hit a green-clad, beer swelling, buzz-cut-sporting, jay-walking pedestrian.

And swore again.

Baby, welcome to New York.

On just our second day in the Big Apple, we took our first subway trip downtown (okay, so, it was still Midtown, but slightly more downtown than Broadway, at least) to B&H. When reading up on this camera-mega-store in my trusty Lonely Planet handbook, they called the shop “an experience it itself”. I thought they were exaggerating for the sake of explanatory spice, but my, was I wrong. This store is not just absolutely massive, it is also crowded and bustling with black-clad (and knowledgeable) Hasidic Jewish salesmen. When you select an item, it gets bucketed and cranked up and overhead on a crazily intricate conveyor system to the purchase area – where you must once again, queue. The entire process is all very reminiscent of cattle prodding – but more orderly, and possibly with less faeces involved.

THE UN-BOXING: even the box is pretty. Decked it out in bubble wrap to keep it whole on our trip back down under.

For those who have been living in a pond, here’s the sell-spiel from the good people at Lomography.com -

Its legendary Minitar 1 lens gives you the same radiantly coloured and shadowy vignetted images as the original, while taking your Lomographic experience to soaring heights with cool new features like the multiple exposure switch, enhanced ASA settings and a cable- release- enabled button for long time exposures.

Adorable film canisters.

• Minitar 1 32/2.8 lens – yielding the same radiant colors, the knockout contrast, the edge vignetting, the powerful multi-coating and sometimes surprising results.
• Apertures: 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16
• Shutter speeds: 1/500 to unlimited (via auto-exposure)
• Multiple Exposure switch
• Expanded film ASA/ISO setting to 1600
• “Front grooves” which open up the world of image experimentation through LC-A+ customized accessories.
• Cable release and tripod thread

Just a pointer – the Lomography.com website has the LC-A+ retailing for $280.00 – I bought mine from B&H for a measly $229.99 + New York’s sales tax (+$20) – and includes: Lomo LC-A+ Camera, Cable Release, Lomographiere hardcover book, Two 35mm Film Rolls, 3 1.5V Batteries, Wrist Strap and the LOMO LC-A Book.

But okay, lets move away from all of these crazy specs and have a look at some pictures – my scanner is a bit loopy, so these images don’t exactly show off the true sharpness of the images – and for some strange reason, the second set that I developed in Oz came out FAR TOO SHARP. Ugh. Also, it’s important to note that the first roll of film was blown after the teeth of the loading spool munched up the notches in the film – the film didn’t progress and ALL of the images were lost. SUPER SAD PANDA. But, moving on from my innate depression, here are some highlights and I’ve put the rest in a handy album so your brains don’t explode from the image overload.

A) LIGHT POST: Bedecked with stickers in soho. B) LOVE ME: A building in lower China Town seeks appreciation and affection. C) SIGHTS WITH ASSISTANCE: From the heights of the Empire State Building. D) HOPE: Is found everywhere, at a small memorial/shrine at the foot of one of The High Line entrances on West 20th Street. E) ASTONISHING DISPLAYS OF LIGHT: And beauty in the Natural History Museum. F) POSTER BRIGHT: soho and noho, the home of lovely posters and hispter hangouts.

So it’s been a while since … well, I’ve been lurking the Internet. I would love to blame “being busy”, “planning wedding things” or “travel”, but the plain, and somewhat glaringly pathetic truth is – I’ve been reading Hunger Games (yes, all three books, not just the lousy Movie Tie In). But, saying this, I have been out and about, I recently returned from my holiday in New York (awesome) and Taiwan (awesome), I have fainted in a major shopping centre and have subsequently relieved myself of my breakfast in a food court (not very awesome), I have spent the large part of a day in hospital (very not awesome at all) and have performed okay, albeit deliriously neurotic, in a job interview (not sure about the level of awesomeness, but it credits an allllllriiiiggghttt). So I guess I can actually hide behind the mysterious curtain of “busy”.

Now I would love to go right ahead and plunge into the awesomeness of my holiday in New York (and all of the wacky things going on around me), but I don’t feel like I’ve actually finished capping off my trip to Beijing – in that way, I have to come clean and apologise for being a lazy sod. Also, to apologise, for soon I plan to confuse you all with my convoluted timeline of photographs and memories. Yes, I’m going to Do An Evil and mix up my posts from Beijing with those from New York. I know, I know, you hate me.

Before I do start assailing you all with all forms of mental torture, just a few website updates:

• The winner of the giveaway, Cindii, has recieved her giveaway things! Hooray!
• I will be updating more frequently due to the sheer number of blog posts and crazy things I have to share with you all (we’ve all heard this before, but work with me here folks, it might just come to fruition).
• I will be trying my hand at a few more arty-type things, so stay tuned for my adventures in Craft.
• Wedding-orientated posts will become a more frequent apparition. I know right. Be scared. Be very scared.