Invisible

Up until this week I've been posting like nobody's reading (because I'm pretty sure they weren't). I guess it's like dancing like nobody's watching, (although if you've seen me dance, that may not be such a good thing). As sweet supportive Pia mentioned, my blog is only a baby so your comments are very much appreciated. I popped up here, here, and here and nearly fell off my chair when I saw myself here - so a huge thank you to Lucy @ Design Files / Pia @ pia jane bijkerk / Kit @ That Unreliable Girl & Katie @ Katiecrackernuts. What a wonderful week and thank you for the warm welcome to the blogosphere, it appears I'm no longer invisible.

Tag

Homework time

I was tagged by the extraordinarily talented Natsumi Nishizumi...So, here are the rules:

Step 1: Respond & Rework - Answer the questions on your own blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, add one more question of your own.

Step 2: Tag-eight other un-tagged people.

What are you wearing now? Black Bonds singlet & undies.

What is the title of the best book you've ever read? The Bronze Horseman - it's unforgettable.

Who was the last person you hugged? My darling friend Soph.

Which item from your closet are you wearing most lately? Black silk tie front shorts have been my summer uniform.

What's for dinner? Japanese with my favourite girls.

What was the last thing you bought? Magnum icecream. Oink!

What are you listening to right now? The sound of silence (and the gentle whir of my laptop).

If you could have any super power, what would it be? To heal suffering.

What is your favorite weather, and why? Bright beautiful sunshine. It gets me out of bed, puts me in a good mood and motivates me to go for a run and a swim, the salt and sand do wonders for the soul & I love summer nights, just wearing a little dress to dinner or eating around the pool in wet cossies and a towel - bliss.

What time do you usually get up? 8.10am. My alarm is set for 7.50am. I am late for work everyday.

What is your most challenging goal right now? Waking up early enough to get to the laundromat before work - I seriously need to pick up my washing...am very quickly running out of clothing.

Say something to the person who tagged you: Your artworks are little pieces of refined perfection.

If you could have a house-totally paid for, fully furnished-anywhere in the world, where you want it to be? Where else but Paris?

Favorite vacation spot? Noosa for always and Greece for now, until I discover the next.

Name the things you cannot live without: The beautiful friendships I have with each member of my immediate family, colour, words, wonder, travel, books and the gift of sight.

What movies can you watch over and over? Notting Hill, Shakespeare in Love, Sex & The City.

What is your favorite tea flavor? I love Bushells tea w/ milk.

What are your daily rituals? A large skim latte is the first thing to pass my lips of a morning (well second after my toothbrush) and every night when I get home I take off my watch and ring/s and slide open my balcony doors.

So, I tag...a field journal, the red thread, newspaper taxi, freshly found, morning by foley, little thoughts, {frolic}, katiecrackernuts.

Stylist's Home

cool blues & soft greys / fresh & dried flowers.

The house of stylist & writer Hilary Robertson is one of my favourites. It's a south London flat but it looks Parisian to me (hence the loving of it).

It's funny how your tastes change over time. I bought Hilary's book many years ago for the sari strewn beds and brightly draped day beds. Now an aged mirror being the only colour in an otherwise white room is my idea of desk heaven. Hilary did her first piece for Vogue Living this month and they say she has a blog on the way...stay tuned.

Images: rows 1 & 2 from Living etc. and row 3 from Boudoir by Hilary Robertson.

Parma Lilac

Earthy subdued neutrals and natural materials.

Linen & felt, wood & stone, wool & porcelain petals.

Calming, pure & beautiful.

Parma Lilac is a divine appointment only shop near Portobello Road in London, where 'parma' means 'mauve' in French (not ham in Italian, te he). I am totally besotted with this perspex hanging system and as a collector of white ceramics & lover of cool lights the merging of the two equals absolute delight.

Images from Parma Lilac. See the owners house here.

Freida + Oscar

I caught Slumdog Millionaire on the last day it was showing. I must say, I wasn't prepared for the torture at the start of the movie, but the way they answered every question with a past experience was extremly clever. Hardship, colour, violence, love, betrayal and cruelty peppered the movie but the absolute standout was the stunning Mumbai-based model Freida Pinto. When she looked up, wearing that orange sari at the train station and smiled, that was the moment beauty, hope and dreams coverged at their finding each other. I left thinking how a beautiful girl at the end of the story heals all life's ills up until that point. I couldn't help but wonder whose story I'll be at the end of.

Image from Freida Pinto.

House of Sorbet

Designer Janie Jackson's ice cream hued home drips in pistachio, strawberry, vanilla and lemon pastels. She is also the owner of the beautiful Notting Hill store, Parma Lilac. More on that soon.

Images 1-4 from Vogue Living (Dec/Jan '00) via Sensual Living and image 5 from Sensual Living by Claire Lloyd.

Truth or Dare

In Australia prostate cancer kills as many men as breastcancer does women. To take part in the Cancer Council's Daredallion Week (March 2 to 6), register at Daredallion challenge and dare yourself or someone else to do something ourageous and help raise awareness for men's cancers. p.s. this Bondi Beach helium balloon man didn't get very far.

Images by Aquabumps via The Cool Hunter.

With Yellow in Mind

This is the first bloom from my tiny balcony garden. Ironically the rose is named "Midas Touch," which when it comes to gardening is something I certainly don't have - so the thanks must go to heavens for all the recent rains.

The effect on the way I see things since spending the week with yellow in mind has been amazing. It seems as if everything is yellow - has it always been or is it just that I am conscious of it? A swarm of dark suits crosses a city street and a single lemon cardigan screams for my attention. A tart shell is yellow as is the corn puree under the scallops, the butter on the bread and the single rose in my garden. Hmm, yellow, you were never a favourite but now I love you.

Hello Yellow

1. Image by Debi Treloar via Simply Grove / my bed by concrete & honey. 2. Image of teatowels from La Cerise Sur Le Gateau via Laissezfaire via Haute Design. 3. Images from Prue Ruscoe's portfolio at The Names Agency / Lynsey Fryers' portfolio at Sue Southam Management. 4. & 5. Images from Lynsey Fryers' portfolio at Sue Southam Management. 6. Images by Sam McAdam / Lynsey Fryers' portfolio at Sue Southam Management.

p.s. if anyone would like to know the makers of any of the products featured in any pics on this blog, just leave a comment and I'll reply with the brand and where to buy it.

Yellow Week

I sat down with a cuppa to do a little bit of blogging and was struck by this combo which serendipitiously suits House on Hill Road's yellow week.

am loving:
chemistry bottle vase
green tea w/ jasmine (even though it's yellow)
365 - my diary that gives no indication of day or date, however I can tell you it's the 48th day of the year
my beautiful black lace dress

Hope you're day is full and bright.

Wishlist

These are the beautiful things that I've been dreaming about recently. My loyalty to Witchery is a laughing matter amongst my friends - it accounts for (quite) a large proportion of my wardrobe.

1: Eros chair by Kartell

2, 3 & 4: Witchery's new range (as well as top image)

5: Pinch Design stools by Russell Pinch

Images from corresponding websites as per links above.

The Society Inc.

slept in til 12
went out and collected:
2 pots for my jasmine
a pink sea urchin
tiny blue fan
porcelain feather
piri piri starfish
cream linen cushion w/ white skull applique
chemistry bottle
more credit card debt

window display / painted floor boards at The Society Inc.

invitation to The Society Inc.'s 'Tradewinds opening / little purchases on a page of piri piri starfish

shelves / drawers the colours of the sea

porcelain feathers / purchases all wrapped up

All images by concrete & honey.

Wherefore Art Thou Romeo?

I want to brave love, one that makes me weak in the knees
I want a crazy, crazy love
One that makes me come undone at the seams'
Cause I'm tired of all these pilgrims, these puritans, these thieves
Of all these unbelieverswho whittle love down at the knees
Let these swift roads destroy themselves
Let the world fall into its sleep
For we shall be left standing
To face what's left of concrete and honey

Kiss the flame
Let's run with the hunted, the untamed
Kiss the flame
Embrace the faceless, the unnamed
Kiss the flame

There are nightmares on the sidewalks
There are jokes on TV
There are people selling thoughtlessness with such casualty
But wherefore art thou Romeo where have all the brave men gone
Show me one man who know his own heart
To him I shall belong
Kiss the flame

Image of Paola Kudacki and James Penfold from The Selby. The clever 'Kiwi living in France', aka Mary from l'antipodeuse asked me why I called my blog Concrete & Honey, this was my answer: There are 2 reasons: 1) "inspiration is everywhere" was taken; and 2) they are my favourite lyrics from a Jewel song 'Kiss the Flame'. But it's kind of meant to reflect the inspiration I get from living inner city.

It's Raining Rabbits

amongst the clouds / bad things happen to good people

Last night I dreamt

This is Fifi Lapin in a cloudy mood walking through the rain. I know how she feels, the skies won't stop crying here either and I'm already missing the summer that hasn't even passed.

Drawings and prints available here.

Survival of the Fittest

I was so impressed with Google's header image and just as surprised by my knowing it was something to do with Charles Darwin. It turns out it was the 200th anniversary of his birth. Call me a geek (please) but I love biology and Darwin's theories just seem to make perfect logical sense to me. My admiration for this naturalist is shared with none other than the super talented stylist Sibella Court. More on her soon, I'll be heading to her wondedrful store on Saturday.

Akira

happy / thirsty work

feeling cheeky

a better angle / coy

The beautiful work of Akira's Printemps Été 2009 collection. Am loving the smiley, cheeky, fresh, bright poses, bright pink shoes and sweet headpieces.

Images from Akira / Photography by Stephen Ward.

It's Not Me It's You

via

Walking to work today and what do I see? A huge version of Lily Allen's new album cover hanging in the window of the local music store. I love Lily laying in the lovely L. Oh, if only I could sit in a 'N' wearing a fascinator and a pink frock. I love her style.

Lily does Amelie via

Watch her gorgeous gelato coloured video clip - great dress, lots of cakes, beautifully wrapped oversized gifts, pastel balloons and dancing in an amazing castle.

Peonies for Mum

With the tragic loss of lives, loved ones and homes burning through our nation, the feelings of despair and distress for those that have lost everything surface and we are reminded that the beauty of existence can not be taken for granted.

***

After flicking through this issue in a newsagency a few months ago, I told my mum about the woman who had always dreamt of growing peonies and how in retirement her dream had bloomed into reality. Mum said she'd love to read her story and I've been wishing I'd bought it for her ever since - so imagine my joy in finding it here.

Image from Country Style (Nov '08) of Hannah & Peter Logan's House in Mudgee and Country Style (Jan '09) of Marilyn Pidgeon's peony farm in Armidale.

Black Confetti

These last few days have been some of the darkest in Australia's history. Whole Victorian towns have been wiped out by bush fires and fresh fires are still burning. People have lost their mothers, their children, their fathers, their pets. Hundreds of lives have been lost by those who stayed to protect their houses and those that couldn't escape. Cars full of escaping families have been found burned and as hard as the firefighters and volunteers battle the flames, the winds continue to whip them them through the land causing them to spread and join. Hospital burns units are heaving and survivors are left with only the singed clothes on their backs, but the sickest thing of all is that they were deliberately lit...and now, the looters have shown up to scavenge what little of others' meager posessions are left.

***

I chose paper on paper to represent the 700 homes, 130 lives and many thousands of trees that have been scorched and felled. The tiny black dots represent transformed trees burnt to ashes, the pink being the human spirit that shines through and the remainder are the mess, the grief and the missing that surrounds them. If I lost my family and the safety of my world, if I had to rummage through other peoples donated clothes and sleep in a tent city and have not even a single pair of clean undies to my name...I wonder if I wouldn't just cry and cry. So the word I wrote was 'sad' and the last pic is but 'a smattering of hope' - because that's all there is when nothing else is left.