~ Curious Charlie ~

A Market and Italian Picnic @ Thursday, December 27, 2012

Saturday 22nd December

With all the days off and events lately its been feeling like the weekend, and feels like Saturday was at least a full 7 days ago, that or my perception of time has once again gone a bit strange. On Saturday we were going to go for an early picnic dinner and then to the Opera.

I finally got a chance to bring my DSLR for city xmas pictures.

Unfortunately the lines at the Myer windows were crazy, with all those prams and kids! I'll try again after Christmas. But we did stop by and battle the crowds to get to the door, to get...

Samples from Biotherm & Florabotanica.

I do intend to try them one day, but I'm a bit hesitant to, as I'm one of those people who are allergic to a lot of things, including eye shadow/liners/MU and organic skincare like creams by A'kin. One day I'll have the courage to take up the Pan 50 Project... Does anyone else collect samples?

Next I went to the Sisters' Market at QV, they have vendors who mainly sell handmade stuff, there'll always be one or two who buy jewellery from china and try to pass it off as their own, like Equip/Diva/Colette (though Colette is the only one who claims they designed it).

Pompom Rug! I've seen this online, but never in real life before.

It is possible that after a while the dry cleaning cost exceeds cost of the rug.

Robyn's Parliament of Owl

This lady makes amazing owls out of random things.

Unfortunately this was the only decent picture I got, she also does necklaces.

Pebble Rings by Stef Collections

The lovely couple that runs this stall are very good at styling their goods.

I like their pebble necklaces, hand drawn pictures on pebbles.

They come in silver or gold (the leaf/chain) and are $28.

Recently Stef Collections had a competition (random draw) and I won a $30 voucher. Which was perfect timing, as every year near our anniversary (Lucy (cute little fluffy white bunny rabbit) & Me) I buy something bunny themed.

With the voucher I picked the bunny necklace in silver (leaf/chain).

It's a very long chain 36"+, and goes almost to my stomach. I prefer something shorter, but the advantage with this length is that you can easier temporarily shorten it using a small safety pin.

Felt Hairpins, a complimentary gift.

Stef also make things out of felt, as well as pebble art. Like connectable nklaces/bracelets, hair pins, earrings and home deco bowls and table centerpieces. They don't make their own felt though, as it's quite time consuming, and not practical. I've made felt before, don't exactly remember the process and all, but it involved bubble wrap and water in spray bottles, it was fun.

I had the pleasure of meeting the multi-talented Yuyuen and Tanjung (creative directors of Stef Collection). Tanjung recognizes me from a past market event, though I'm not sure if it's me or the accent. :P

Yuyuen says her name means colourful, which is just like her work and creativity. I asked what inspired them to start this hobby (they both work full-time), and she said as architects their projects take years to compete and they wanted to create something that had instant results. I also enquired about the name of their stall, as I thought her name was Stef, and she said it's a re-branding, a short form for 'shop twen-ty five' which is the original company that they started out with.

If you're into felt, wear earrings and happen to be in town do check out their stall at the market (they have more stuff in stores than online). They have some lovely felt earrings, around $10. Sorry didn't get pictures, I was running late for dinner.

Next stop, Melbourne Central to pick up something and to take the train to South Yarra.

On the way to the park, we came across a fountain, near Soda Rock.

We had a picnic (as the resturant said they were full when we tried to book, oddly there was only a couple people there...) at the park. *regrets not taking a picture of the park* Amazingly there were no bugs around, or crickets.

Take-away from Versachi's

(R-L) Meatballs, Pizza, Focaccia, Seafood, Tiramisu

Emily had Meatballs & Spaghetti 19.50, which she said was very good. Jas had the most photogenic thing we ordered, the Mediterranean Chicken Pizza 18.50, he said it was average. That's how you get out of doing a review. :P Jas & I had the Garlic & Cheese Focaccia 8.50, which is really just a pizza. I really like it and would recommend it. Unlike my Marinara Spaghetti with Olive Oil & Garlic Sauce 22.50 which was just average.

The tiramisu was nice (bottom right corner), for something that was frozen and made by Aurora Foods. It however is not worth 5.50. A few other places we've been to like Panned Pizza and Crust Pizza also offer it. Don't get it, go to a dessert place instead.

Oh and if you're wondering why it was such a disappointment it was because of our expectations. As they said they said they were an award winning establishment, yeah sure, if they awarded it themselves. Nothing special here. There are much better places in the area.

Gift Exchange with Emily

Book box! Vintage novety cupcake candle, Disney stickers,

- filler -, red 2013 slim handbag diary and vintage mint flower.

This year we decided to do budgeted gift exchanges, with Emily it was $20 and $50 with Jas. Emily was suppose to be $10, but I went over budget, as the thing I wanted to get her was $10 and then I felt it wasn't enough, and then I bought her two other things and ended up spending around $25, over-budget, while she went under (I changed it about a wk before the date).

I like the book box the most as I've always wanted one but never seen the one. This one even comes with a vintage clock. Not sure what I'm going to store in it yet. I also liked the mint flower, even though it was a bit Plain Jane I saw potential *upcoming crafty monday project.*

Jas got me a candle, Marseille by Glasshouse, which I absolutely love!

And something that wasn't on the list (though this scent was), but I still like it, L'Occitane's Cherry Blossom EDT, it's a light & simple perfume, no layers, just cherry blossom. Being very light you'll have to refresh it throughout the day. It's perfect for summer, and I'm wearing it quite often at the moment.

Sitting around watching me take a billion pictures isn't that exciting, and so I didn't get the shot for these two things, on the day.

Afterwards we went back to the city. We were going to go to the Opera, but because Versachi's was almost an hour late with our orders everything else was delayed. And so we missed the opera, but it was ok. Back in the city though being almost 9pm there was still large crowds loittering around Bourke St, even though all the shops were closed. It was a warm summer's night with lots of children up way past their bedtime. :P

The town hall did a great light show, but I failed to get any decent pictures, as I couldn't hold the camera still, not even for 1/4 of a second. Next time I'm bringing the tripod. Night shots aren't my thing.

Here's the setting of a shoot I did for a competition, that I didn't end up winning...

That's not flash, it's street lamp, a very bright street lamp.