I'm Doing The Usual

 Hello & Welcome to The Same Stuff.
I am now on Holidays. For two weeks. And not a moment too soon. I started to feel The Mask slowly slipping down my face & knew that if I had to do one more day it would completely come off.
Quelle Horreur!
So, what am I doing on Hols? Cruising the Meditteranean?
Of course not. I'm Doing The Usual:

* Eating Instant Oats in the bath for breakfast before trotting down the road to get a Latte whilst listening on my iPhone to Something Shameful like Boyzone singing 'I Gave it All Away' when I really should be listening to Regina Specktor  .
* Visiting my favourite-in-the world-thrift shop, BednobsEtc.
*Thinking about Food. Buying it. Eating it.
*Wearing Playclothes.
*Intensely studying the literally hundreds of Street Photographs taken outside the recent Milan/New York & London Fashion Collections that are featured in the online version of New York Magazine. I totally recommend you do it particularly if you have a few hours or perhaps a Whole Day to Kill. Looking at image after image of Fashion People wearing clashing digital prints & towering inferno heels was almost, but not quite, A Zen Experience.
One thing I did notice was that just about everybody was carrying an oversized clutch that looked like a colourful envelope. Clearly, that's the New Thing.
Well, it won't be The New Thing for Moi. I don't like clutches. They're way too much work & too fussy. And how can you schlepp a whole load of groceries if you've got to clutch on to your clutch at the same time? I suppose Fashion People don't have to worry about schlepping groceries.
I can't imagine any of them really seriously eating anything. Maybe a canape. Or a lemon.
Anyway, I loved the photographs & in fact I've posted my favourite one at the top.
Somehow or other, it Spoke to Me.

Here's another thing I've been doing on hols  - taking photographs of the TV. It's one of my Favourite Pastimes. Or is it a Hobby? Or a Passion?
I can't tell. Perhaps all three rolled into one.
The picture above is of course of Bette Davis playing  Queen Elizabeth 1.  You couldn't really imagine Queen Bess carrying an over-sized clutch, could you?
I do love how Bette insisted on wearing that white make up because that's what they wore in those days & she was a Stickler for Authenticity. I recently discovered when reading up about Elizabethan Women that the white make up was lead based so everyone got v. sick & perhaps died from wearing it.

Cup Cakes just Won't Go Away. And why should they? They're so Adorable & versatile.
Look look above at this this gaggle of Graduating Cupcakes made by a v. talented student in Year 7 in honour of our Year 12 Girls finishing school in preparation for their final exams, the HSC.
Apparently the mortar boards are After Dinner Mints & the tassle, or whatever it is, is a Snake held in place by an appropriately named sweet called A Smartie.

Here I am with two of my favourite ever Year 12 students - George & Cee on their last day of school. They didn't usually come to school dressed in this way, but the Officially Sanctioned theme for the day was YOLO. . I'm not sure what they're wearing has to do with Only Living Once.
Perhaps they are in pyjamas. Or maybe George is in a Prison Outfit. And Cee is a Tiger without the Scary Head.
Oh, now I get it.

 Lunch Update.
I've been faithfully bringing my lunch to school every day for quite some time now & I seem Slightly Addicted to it. I'm always trying to think of  delicate little things to bring to create the Illusion that I'm at a fancy lunch or perhaps a Cocktail Party  nibbling Canapes just like I imagine Those Fashion People do.
Last week, Harris Farm Markets where I faithfully shop in Potts Point had a special on with Strawberries & Camembert. I couldn't resist.

 If you look closely, you can see that I'm demonstrating how to eat a Strawberry & a Slice of Camembert as if it were a canape.
Note I am wearing a rather ostentatious piece of bling that I bought at Diva. 

 I continued the Strawberry Theme into my usual Sunday Nite Dinner. For the last what feels like Five Hundred Years, I've been baking the same old chocolate cake recipe that my mother had tucked inside her well-worn copy of The Commonsense Cookery Book which I don't think she ever used.
The recipe is completely foolproof.
1 cup self-raising flour;
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa. Who uses cocoa nowadays? Its so quaint.
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
3 tablespoons melted butter poured onto the ingredients.
You hardly have to beat it because the melted butter dissolves the sugar. Shove it in the oven on 180 for about 40 minutes & when you stick a knife into it & it comes out clean, you're done.
Find your own icing recipe as my icing always falls off the cake.
I do like Strawberry Decoration. They're so festive which reminds me that v. soon we'll be seeing the First Sign of Impending Xmas in a Mall Near you. It's scary.
BTW, I'm spending Xmas in California. Can't wait to drink Lattes at Starbucks with Holiday Flavouring.

 Time to hop into bed & listen on my iPhone to my favourite Buddhist, Pema Chodron tell me how to finally Stop Suffering before I drop off to sleep.
But before I do, I must Show & Tell.
Look above. They are Louis Vuitton bangles that I surreptitiously photographed at the LV store at Bondi Westfield last friday. Not content with photographing them, I actually went inside & boldly asked an assistant if I could see & perhaps touch them. I even inquired the price.
 V. v. expensive. Like out of the question expensive.

 Now look above. The Lovely Lady who I mentioned last blog post sent me this Large Gaggle of LV & Chanel bangles which has gone a Long Way to temporarily reducing My Suffering Levels.
Thank you.