Aussie Curves: Second hand...

HI LOVELY ONES!! *Waves with utmost enthusiasm* I feel like its been forever since I've done an Aussie Curves post and I've been missing it dearly! This week's challenge is second hand...HOLLA! lol. 90% of my wardrobe is now made up of thrifted, DIY and borrowed clothes that I LOVE! I guess my wardrobe transitioned this way over the last 4 years from: being a poor uni student, losing some weight, getting more creative with outfit choices and showing off my love for creativity in clothing. I find true individuality in pieces I thrift or as us Aussies call it...opshopping. No one else will be wearing what you have on, it's the best and cheapest insurance policy because we all know how much you would die inside a little if you showed up to an event wearing the same thing as someone else there! So there you have it, my little spiel on why I love second hand goodness!

These pics are totally throwback material from my graduation banquet in 2011! I have absolutely no way of pulling off a shoot this week because I somehow managed to sprain my knee and hinder my walking/standing ability as of late lol. so this event came to mind because the dress I wore this night has been one of my most fave finds to date! Anyway I'll let the pics roll and explain a little later...

What I wore: Floral sheer dress, Savlo's $1/ tan skinny belt, sister's closet/ Tan heels, $30, Target like 6 seasons ago/ Flower ring, Diva $5, 4 seasons back.

Raneece, Emma & Sister Mele x

With Nigel x

My beauties Charmaine & Lossy x

We sourced the jars from local thrift stores, found pebbles at a local beach and collected sticks and scrap material to make the table settings. The only thing we did buy was the goldfish lol.

We spent many hours in our dorm lounge room that we dubbed LoF (Lounge of Fun) cutting, sewing and painting these banners for the night!

With Tys, Jennifer & Rhi <3 

Bust that move! lol.

Clown time with the sister.

With Tegan, Jenny & Rhi...forever love these ladies x

My main x

I am friends with some of the most talented women I know. Friends Rhi & Emma designed and illustrated these personalised award for the night with water colour pencils!

The best closeup OOTN shot I could find. LOVE this dress! My sister found this at our local Salvo's on the "Fancy Dress" rack for ONE DOLLAR! I think it was someone's paint smock or something because there are random paint marks on it that are totally unnoticeable! On the rack it seriously looked like a "dodgy-old-woman-who-wears-no-bra-sack" if you know what I mean lol. but on was so lovely! 

So basically my friends Rhi & Tegan put their hands up for the Grad committee on the condition that myself and my main Jenny helped out...HELLS YES we thought...we love having creative control! Now the only problem was we had zero budget to work with from our Uni. Cool yeah, no. So after meetings with the Student Services Coordinator we agreed that any money we raised he would match it so on we went with numerous fundraising events to get a bit of dosh. It was a vision of ours to share the brilliance of thrifting and our love for second hand things through decorating the event with op-shopped and hand made things and this was the result! It was the best fun and we got loads of compliments and it was so nice to know we did it all at a fraction of the cost!

Its funny...I used to LOATHE second hand clothes because my parents managed a St Vincent DePaul's  so my whole childhood I was dressed in thrifted clothes. The horror of being in year 7 when every surf brand is the jam and all you want is a bloody "Billabong" jumper but all you have are the "cool" Supre jumpers with  Australian animals on them. KML...fast forward 10 years and here I am, an avid op-shopper with basically a whole wardrobe made up of second hand pieces. Life :)

Long story short...YAY for second hand anything! What do you think?

Big Love xx

Ball buster...

My sister calls me a ball buster...She does this because I'm the one that is constantly policing things (or telling everyone what to do is what she says lol) that are going on in the house to make sure things don't get left undone. That makes me sound so boring...I'm not though I promise, haha. If you don't know me I love spending most of my time being ridiculous. I get in trouble a lot for making random noises, talking jibberish and making fun out of boring situations. I guess this all comes from being an Early Childhood Teacher. Being dull is such a drag so I'm always making a noise or sparking conversation in the "awkward silence". This is me MOST of the time but when it comes down to business and things need to get done I become what my sister calls the "enforcer" and just make sure that what needs to be done is done. SO SUE ME...hahaha :)

This brings me to the point that I'm trying to make. My sister calls me the ball buster when it comes to that sort of stuff but something I think she doesn't know is the way she busts my bloody balls when it comes to a part of my life I loooooove but somehow ALWAYS manage to put on the back burner and something she has become quite proficient in keeping regularly on top of...THIS BLOGGING BUSINESS!! LOL. She started a blog a couple of years back (Falala Mele) and its super cool...check out her stuff. Her blog inspired me to start my own and I am yet to get it to a place where I'm happily cruising but I'm getting there...I hope. ANYWAYS, she constantly reminds me & encourages me to put new stuff up on here and I'm constantly forgetting/running out of time/being lazy when the opportunity presents itself so LONG story short I am finally sharing some photos of our (my sis, niece & cuz) last trip to Melbourne City with our lovely ladies.

I looooooove when we get together because we all have such a different, cool and eclectic sense of style that I only really notice when I look back at pics and it just make my insides smile! lol. So this one is for you all but especially for my sister who I thank for the inspiration to share style, fashion, ideas, beauty and confidence.

OOTD:

Cardigan/Thrifted $5 Salvo's, Oversized black tee/Kmart $5, Tights/Kmart $8/ Sneakers/ Converse Hi-tops $30, Rucksack $8

My niece Lee (in the beanie) is a budding fashion designer aspiring to make it to MFI in the near future. This was her first sighting lol.

Clownin' :)

Love heart clip on earrings thrifted from MS op-shop $2

with Tali :)

we finally found our tram stop...haha

Love to you Miss Rates...haha :)