Dining Out: Temporada, Civic, Canberra.

A week ago today, on their opening night no less, I was lucky enough to have dinner at Temporada with my best friend. We had no meal plans for the evening and were seeing Wolf Creek 2 at 9:20 at Palace Electric, so on a whim after reading HerCanberra’s tweets and sneak peek at the new restaurant; we decided to try our luck and see if we could be seated for a meal.

FashFest 2014: Face of FashFest 2014 officially announced

There has been quite a bit of buzz about who the face of FashFest 2014 would be, and I have to say that from the mere glimpses that the FashFest team were releasing across their social media platforms, I was genuinely intrigued to see who would be the face that launched the event this year.

On Tuesday this week the mystery was cleared up, and Canberra's own Belinda Riding was announced as the face of this year's event.

Credits: Belinda Riding on location at the award-winning Canberra Airport  Designer: Karen Lee of Karen Lee (sold at Assemblage Project) Hair: Wayne Friend, Form Makeup: Karen Mathias, M:Artisty Styling: Fashfest

Daily Outfit: Too many patterns

"There is no quicker way to ruin your image than to clutter yourself with too many patterns. You automatically draw the eye away from your face and call attention to your clothes. If you are very clever you may come up with some good pattern combinations, but they will look better on the hanger than under your face."

Colour for men - Carole Jackson with Kalia Lulow - Little Hill Press, 1985.

Daily Outfit: Monday morning Zegna

Ermenglido Zegna's clothes are beautifully tailored and cut from the finest cloth, literally; so it's not exactly a label I ever saw myself pairing with ratty looking jeans for a busy Monday morning. Zegna's is one of those labels that I always assumed that I would never actually own or wear. Not because I didn't want to, but because the clothes the label produces are so luxe and so incredibly out of my price range. 

So you can imagine my shock, and my skepticism, at finding this 'Zegna' blazer in a local Op Shop a little while ago. Surely no one in Canberra is passing a pure wool Zegna blazer over to the Salvos?

Daily Outfit: FashFest 2014 Model Casting at East Hotel, Kingston

Today I headed to East Hotel in Kingston for the Model Casting for FashFest 2014, Canberra's key fashion event. I mentioned on Twitter yesterday that I had no idea what to wear, and that I really didn't want to wind up looking like some creepy hanger-on or worse, some lech who'd just wandered in off the street.

FashFest 2014: Model Casting at East Hotel, Kingston

I didn't really know what to expect at the Model Casting for FashFest 2014, other than it was being held in a Hotel and that a record-breaking 140+ hopefuls had signed up to strut their stuff for a chance to walk in the clothes of Canberra's designers at this year's FashFest event.

Weekend Adventures: The Royal Canberra Show

Today I made my annual pilgrimage to the Royal Canberra Show.

I love the crazy carnival atmosphere of the Canberra Show, everything from the noise, the sights, the smells; right through to the queasy sick feeling you get watching people hurtle around on the rides or from the masses of deep fried carnival fare consumed. Going to the Show is something that I treat myself to and refuse to feel guilty about. It is one day a year where I do not ask myself how many calories are in something, whether I really need to eat that, or whether I probably shouldn't buy that.

Daily Outfit: Clashing colours beget clashing personalities

Clashing colours, patterns or textures is not something that I am a big supporter of generally. There is a reason that the word 'Clashing' is used instead of say, contrasting, or competing, or even different. A clash is something violent and jarring, something that is frightening and disruptive and not something that you generally should aspire to. I know that this flies in the face of many contemporary trendsetter's personal looks, but we're not all meant to look like Susie Bubble.

Dining Out: A. Baker, New Acton precinct, Canberra

A. Baker has received a lot of negative press since opening in the New Acton dining precinct in late 2013, and I must confess that my first experience dining there was not ideal. From reading every available review I could find, the majority of people weighing in seemed to feel like the food was impressive, but that the service was severely lacking. I have to concede that this mirrors my own first dining experience with A. Baker in late 2013.

However on Monday last week my friend was visiting from Sydney and had not yet tried A. Baker; so I found myself returning and giving Canberra's latest problem child of dining a second chance.

And I am so pleased that I did.

Daily Outfit: Never Pay Retail

It amazes me sometimes just how little I actually buy first hand or full-price. I never pay retail. Well, at least not often.

Daily Outfit: Life with a restricted wardrobe

About 12 months ago now I decided to place some serious restrictions on my personal wardrobe and style. This was a decision that I made for multiple reasons, from the fact that I spend five days a week in an office environment through to the fact that I’ve always admired the restraint of Bloggers like Alicia, Lucinda and Nadia; but have never had the wherewithal to commit to just one colour.

The restriction that has affected me the most by far is culling all but three colours from my wardrobe.

Daily Outfit: vintage Hardy Amies tie

This Hardy Amies tie was one of the very first accessories that I ever purchased second-hand. I bought it back in High School, during my senior years, when my pique at living in a small country town surrounded by homophobic rednecks had started to channel itself into dressing, well, in hindsight, rather like some sort of alternative news reader. It was not a good look, all mismatched slacks and shirts with polyester ties; but though I didn't know it at the time, this necktie was a sound investment.

Daily Outfit: Navy and orange feature

I'm featuring this navy and orange necktie that I bought vintage from Etsy, as I literally built today's ensemble around the desire to wear the tie. I love the colours orange and navy together, and with white, they comprise the trio of colours I am limiting my wardrobe to. My holy trinity, if you will.

Daily Outfit: Work to dinner outfit change

I had to make a quick outfit change between work and dinner tonight, which got me thinking about just how versatile my wardrobe is or isn’t.

For example, the burnt-orange chinos I wore today. Statistically speaking, I think you would find that most people view chinos as a fairly casual garment. As I have mentioned before I have a sort of mullet aesthetic to dressing myself: business up top (shirt and tie) party below (jeans, chinos or shorts).

Dining Out: Penny University, Kingston, Canberra

There have been a raft of new restaurants opening up across Canberra in the past twelve-months; and living as I do now in the wilds of Belconnen, I wasn't even aware that half of them existed.

This was the case with Penny University. I discovered it through reviews on Tara and Rachi's Blogs, and then fatefully a dear friend visited this weekend and the opportunity to check it out presented. I did not, however, foresee that I would be at Penny University twice in under 24-hours!

Daily Outfit: Casual Friday means shorts and tie

Shorts for Casual Friday continues while the weather is still warm enough to do so, and no one has told me I’m offending them with my blindingly white legs!

Daily Outfit: Cool blues for warmer days

Things are heating up again here in Canberra, and it looks like our two days of respite coolness will give way to a warm weekend. I've enjoyed the opportunity to sleep under the covers again and to go so far as wearing boots to work yesterday; but it seems as though that will be shortly lived for now as we head back into the high thirties next week.

50 things I did in the past 500 days:

There was a meme floating about the ether of the interwebs a little while ago called 50 in 500 – and it essentially challenged people to do 50 things in 500 days. I was going to do it, but like many other projects of mine, it fell by the wayside when something shiny distracted me.

However, I thought I’d get back in the saddle of Blogging by sharing with you 50 things that I did accomplish in the past 500 days, to give you an idea of some of the things that I have been up to in my hiatus.

1.     Travelled overseas for the first time in my life, to Japan for eight days with my boyfriend.

Daily Outfit: Orange is my new Black!

I've never worn as much orange as I have in the past 18 months! I used to be convinced that as a colour it made me look washed out and drawn, and that it was to be avoided at all costs. Then one day I just said "To hell with it! I love the colour orange!" and in all honesty I haven't looked back.

Daily Outfit: Versace for a Monday

As I’ve mentioned here before, I feel like the way that I dress on a Monday will directly influence the way the rest of that week plays out. It’s a little superstitious and silly, but at the same time I’m both superstitious and silly, so it makes sense to me.

Dining Out: 86, Braddon, Canberra

As you've no doubt gauged from my Rubenesque figure; I freaking love food.

A key passion of mine is fine dining, not just having dinner at a restaurant, but the whole palaver of silver service, crisply presented wait-staff, and food that could easily be mistaken for some sort of post-modern floral arrangement.