Lou Lou

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Dress: Anthea Crawford textured pique

Wedges: Novo suede & rattan

Bag: Gift, vinyl (from Louise's recent trip to China)

Cuff: Gone Dotti gold & semi-precious stone

Ring: Gone Dotti gold & semi-precious stone

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Spent a wonderful Sunday evening celebrating Louise's birthday with dinner at Midam Korean BBQ followed by the cutting of the pink-iced sponge cake & opening of the pink-&-silver-wrapped presents back home. 

For such an occasion, I donned a brightly patterned dress from Anthea Crawford in a stretchy, textured pique fabric with unusual square neckline & asymmetrical waist pleating. The print's white background was a striking - if unconventional - choice for evening, although it worked for the balmy Queensland summer weather, drawing attention to the stylised vintage botanical drawings covering it. 

To "anchor" such a statement dress in a firm fabric, chunky suede wedges with rattan heels & leather ankle straps were chosen, as well as a bright yellow bag to pick up on the stunning colour of one of the butterflies depicted - a Clouded Sulphur or Colias Philodice.

www.butterflyhouse.wordpress.com 

Jewellery was kept simple & distinctive - a thick, gold cuff with semi-precious stone set horizontally & matching oversized ring with said stone set vertically for visual interest. 

Want more?

Scroll down for more snippets from the evening...

Lipstick "selfie" before dinner...

Cooking our own meats...

Chopsticks at the ready...

Enjoying a selection of popular Korean side dishes...

Fun with family & friends... Birthday Girl in yellow...

Testing whether this particular present-wrapping accoutrement would work as a hair accessory... 

Yummy pink-iced sponge cake, made by Mum...

Happy Birthday Lou Lou!

Wishing you a year ahead filled with 

joy, love & laughter.

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Still want more?

Well, here are a few final outfit pictures from the day.

Same dress; different accessories. Sometimes it's hard to choose. 

I know, I know, first world problem, right?

Regardless, here are the aforementioned snaps - a little preview into my "self-styling" process...

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Dress: Anthea Crawford textured pique

Wedges: Novo suede & rattan

Bag: Vintage, 1960s rattan (from Hawaii)

Cuff: Vintage, tribal silver & semi-precious stone

Arm Band: Tree of Life silver

Ring: Tree of Life silver

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Clearly, I was thinking that the small, circular rattan handbag would match the heels on the awesome Novo wedges & that this would give the look a slightly "tribal" vibe, hence the silver arm band, vintage tribal cuff with orange semi-precious stones - to match another of the depicted butterflies, the Viceroy Monarch- as well as the oversized silver butterfly ring that I found my local Tree of Life store.

www.gardenswithwings.com 

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Absolutely 8th Street

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Dress: City Chic scuba

Wedges: Soft Soul @ Myer patent & straw

Bag: Gift (from Louise) leather

Hinged Bangle: Adorne gold

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Finally getting around to posting the pictures from my trip to the shops with Louise last week, delayed due to some minor teething problems/technical difficulties with my brand-spanking-new phone, responsible for the slight change in pictures size that you will notice if you scroll through this blog post. 

But I digress.

After purchasing said phone, we made our way to 8th Street for some delicious multi-cultural fare. Situated in the "downstairs food court" at Westfield Garden City (pretty sure that's NOT the technical term) it is fashioned on a traditional Asian street market - complete with hanging birdcages & glowing red lanterns - offering Chinese, Japanese, Korean & Malaysian options among other things. We decided on spring rolls, noodles & fried pork buns, washed down with tapioca-ball-filled milk tea. 

Keep scrolling for photographic proof, including a particularly cute one of Louise & I taking the first "selfie" (or "group shot," I guess) on my new phone...

But enough about the yummy food & sparkling company; let's talk fashion...

I've clearly dipped a toe into the water with regards to this whole luxe-athlete trend that has been going on for some time & shows no signs of abating, donning a sporty scuba-fabric print dress with cut-away back detail, exposed gold zipper & asymmetrical hemline. 

A pair of patent wedges with straw heels & a yellow handbag with black piping added to the "energetic" look while the jewellery was kept to a (bare) minimum - a chunky gold hinged bangle all that was required. 

And just to finish, a few more pictures of the craziness that is post-renovation Garden City... Here we are in the rustic-themed "Market Zone" where the majority of grocery items, fruit & vegetables & gardening products can be found, as well as a large number of florist shops. Certainly makes shopping just that little bit more interesting. 

Still here? Oh, before you go, just a note about the title of this post: 

Does anyone else remember that annoying earwig of a song - that I secretly loved - called "Accidently Kelly Street" by that one-hit-wonder band, Frente, that was pretty much played anytime, anywhere for months back in 1993? I heard it for the first time in years (!) on that Smooth music channel just before I settled in to write this blog post, so it seemed oddly appropriate... Here are the lyrics to the chorus for those of you who wish to be humming it for the next week. Read them if you dare.

Accidently Kelly Street 

Where friends & strangers 

Sometimes meet

Accidently Kelly Street

 I never thought

Life could be so sweet

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