1. Cardigan weather
I’m so super happy that it’s finally started to cool down enough to wear a cardigan and, dare I say, a coat! I love cold weather so it’s always a delight to be able to wear so many different things. My wardrobe is about 80% full of “I can only wear that when it’s cooler” clothes. Also, for the first time in about 4 years I have bought jeans and worn them, yay! Topshop Jamie jeans live up to the hype, buy some.

2. Sprocket Rocket
I got my new Sprocket Rocket some time ago and in the usual fashion I haven’t yet finished the film but I’m super excited to see the results. I’m only a couple frames off finishing so I’m going to force myself to do that this week and then I’ll share the results when I have them.

3. Another Man
Raising my expectations of how men should dress even more so that no-one stands a chance. Why don’t I read mens fashion magazines more often?

4. Sotheby’s Institute of Art – London
They aren’t just a favourite, I love Sotheby’s. I’ve been accepted to study this September in London and to say I am excited would be a gross understatement. I have been talking about doing the Art & Business course for about 3 years, and talking like I had already been accepted. The two weeks between my phone interview and finding out if I got in was the hardest time ever! As the days dragged on I got more and more worried so finding out I was accepted just made me ridiculously happy, at 4am as well!

5. Lonely Planet London guide
In my whirlwind of planning for London (flights and first 2 weeks accommodation booked!) I thought I should read up on the city that I’ve been in love with for so long. I really like this guide and even though I already ripped the pull out map (twice, hopeless), I’m keen to dive in as soon as I arrive.

6. L’Oréal Paris Colour Caresse Shine Stain in 102 Romy (& 300 Juliet)
I’ve had an aversion to anything glossy on my lips since I was an ignorant teenager trying out makeup on the recommendation of friends who really didn’t know what they were doing, so when I tried these I was a bit worried I would hate them with a passion. Wrong! They don’t glue my lips together and I love these colours, Romy is great for an everyday pinky/nude lip and Juliet is an easy red that doesn’t take all the fuss lipsticks usually do.

7. Maybelline New York Colour Tattoo 24hr eyeshadow in 25 Bad to the Bronze
When I say my morning makeup routine takes 5 minutes don’t be wowed. It’s out of laziness that is takes such a small amount of time and I never really bothered with much other than foundation, concealer, blush and mascara until I got onto these little pots of joy. Super easy to apply I just quickly dab some on my lids and it looks like I’ve put in a few minutes extra into my routine as opposed to the 30 seconds it actually takes me. Hurray for laziness!

8. Covergirl Clump Crusher mascara in black brown
I didn’t mean to buy this in black brown but I’m glad I chose to ignore the packaging and ended up with this. This is perfect for everyday naturally long looking lashes and is great for work because as much as I love my lashes looking super long and black thats not the best look when you aren’t trying to seduce customers into buying things, just casually persuading them will do.

With 4 months to go until my move to London I’m on a pretty official (but flexible) spending ban but I’m sure I’ll have enough to share in more monthly favourites!

Here are the blouses I got and I’ll shoot the rest of the clothes & shoes I bought and post them during the week.

I put a roll of 35mm film into my Kodak Brownie 127 maybe a year before I got it developed, I can’t even remember it was just so long. I am ridiculously lazy when it comes to finishing rolls of film and this is definitely no exception. I just wanted to see if the thing even worked but of course it took me months of having it in my handbag to actually take some shots. Then I crawled into my wardrobe in the dead of night to remove the film (having placed the 35mm film in the camera with tissue holding the canister steady and winding onto the 127 spool) and kept the film on my desk for a while just to make sure I had built up the suspense long enough.
Here are the long overdue results, showing crazy light leaks, strange blurriness and overlapping frames coming from bad internet advice saying advancing 1.5 turns was enough…it wasn’t.

Creepy mannequin shadow, nice colours.Indescribable foliage. I cannot remember enough to figure out what it is because I took it so long ago.The city and bad film cutting technique.The back of my brothers head in a park?Fremantle street.Fremantle light on the street.

I might try this camera again, maybe spend less time taking the photos and more time winding the film on but I’m glad to have experimented anyway!

We went to two op shops in Denmark. They are convenitely located on opposing corners so first we went to the Red Cross which is in a cute little church. There was heaps of stock and heaps of people which made it a but difficult to navigate. I didn’t pick anything up in here but it’s always worth looking!
Across the road is the Mustard Seed Anglican Op Shop which I liked because they had cute homemade signs. Inside the racks aren’t completely full but a nice range. Prices are set and set cheap, I picked up a dress for $3.50 and most things were around this price or lower. It really feels like a good old fashioned op shop, the signs, the prices and especially the range of preserves for sale.
This dress fits perfectly and with most of my finds I will be shortening it to make it easier to wear.
The infamous Walpole op shop. I had dreamt of visiting this place ever since Hannah told me of the riches that lied within. Literally some sheds and a house stuck together there is so much in there you could spend all 3 hours they are open rummaging around. There was a price list at the front but I paid $10 for 6 things so it’s basically made up when you take it to the counter. I would recommend taking small change just because it’s nice to have the right amount when they don’t have much of a float. And seeing as everything is so cheap you wont need to take much anyway!
I found 2 scarves (no surprise there), a big cream chunky cable knit jumper, a big denim jacket, a floral skirt and a dress that I am going to practice my altering skills on.
So after all that we had sufficient! So many op shops in such a small space of time made the trip to Southbound a glorious one and if I had the time I would go down there and do it all again!
Remember to look at the Perth Op Shop Map to see all the op shops I visited on this trip and some closer ones for you city folk.

The first op shop we visited was Good Sammy’s. We were just cruising into Albany when we spotted it up ahead and when you have a car full of people who all love to op shop it was a no brainer so we quickly pulled over and navigated the tiny car park to get in on the action.
The store was big and had plenty of racks of stock like most Good Sammy’s. I got two scarves and a blue chain print blouse so I was pretty happy with our chance encounter with this op shop.
After we had the best New Years ever (I’m attempting to be sarcastic here) we went to the other op-shops we had found out about. First was Vinnies where they had mostly newer stock but a great table full of scarves, all for under $3 so I got 3.
Then we ventured a little further up the road to go to the Australian Red Cross. This was a great little treasure trove where I couldn’t seem to open my eyes so luckily Christina was there and found me two great dresses (and a pile of stuff for herself).
This is a nice pinafore dress, I’ll have to wear a top underneath as it is open down the sides to the hips and I will also take it up as it can look quite matronly at this length. The other dress I got is this floral one which I performed impromptu alterations on when we got to Pemberton. I cut off 9 inches and bound the hem together with some magical tape but now I am home I will sew it properly.
When we were in Red Cross we let the ladies know we were trying to go to as many op shops as possible and they told us about the info point having a list but also told us that just across the road around the corner there was the RSPCA op shop. It was a minutes walk so we were glad she let us know because we hadn’t seen it when we drove into Red Cross. I got a jumper and saw their cute and fat shop cat, Oscar. Very cheap prices in this shop and plenty to look at.
Last stop in Albany was at St John’s op shop which is next to the pretty Anglican church on York St. The ladies were lovely and there was plenty to look through but I didn’t find anything. They had more scarves but I had enough already so I had to pass.
We did find a gem in this shop that we unfortuantely had to leave behind, this epic cat portrait. So shiny!
We really wanted to go to the Activ op shop because we had heard good things about it, and although they had a sign saying they would be open on the 2nd of January they were still closed so we went away heartbroken. If you have the chance then go there and find things we can only dream of.
All of my reviews are up on the Perth Op Shop Map so have a look if you haven’t already!