Cool Shit Monday: Hibernation

Sorry to be banging on about the Olympics a lot lately.  If it makes you feel hopeful, at least it finished today so I can't bang on about it that much longer.  I've had a few Top Mum moments as a result of two solid weeks of TV watching.  Edie now points at any screen-like objects in a room and says "On?  On?".  She also says "YAAAAY!" and claps her hands a lot from all the cheering she's heard.  I think a bit of TV cold turkey is now required for my wee girl.

This week I decided to pay one last homage to my fortnight of Olympic sloth by providing you with some cool shit that will see you through some serious park-arsing.

Firstly, a bit of Olympic geekery (is that a word?  If it wasn't before, it is now and I think I like it).  This cool little video is about historical data.  I can see the glaze dropping across your eyelids already but WAIT!  This is historical data that's interesting.  Or at least I think it is.  Pretty statistics are always fun.  Thanks New York Times.

When you are sat on your chuff, the staple food item (you can't lose 30mins of quality viewing with a trip to the supermarket) is toast.  But that doesn't mean your toast can't be pretty.  This awesome toaster reminds me of the toasty pie machine we had as a kid.  It hardly qualified as a machine actually.  It had a hinge so it did have moving parts, but basically it was just two big cast iron plates that you squashed the bread between.  No, I'm not 80 years old, it's just that we didn't get an electronic toasty pie maker til I was about 15 because, well, we just didn't.  That machine made the edges nice and crunchy which is really the best bit of toasty pies.  I don't think this one looks like a crunch edge kinda toaster, but it well and truly makes up for it with pretty.

by Minale Maeda

On the off chance you get board of your viewing, having a good board game handy is always wise.  I think people are divided into those who have positive associations with board games - family bonding, holidays, student marathons - that type of thing; and those who don't - family arguments, enforced 'fun times', really sucking at playing, and other afflictions.  I LOVE board games.  I am intrigued by this game.  It looks like it could be a sneaky winner: a game that sounds a wee bit stale, but might cause just the right level of competitive fervour.  Plus it's a bit retro so if it turns out to be crap, it'll make a nice object for the games room.  The added extra British quirkiness is very in theme with the Olympics too so extra points for me.

From www.notonthehighstreet.com

And finally a blobbing aparatus (I've been watching too much gymnastics.  The artistic kind, not the weird rhythmic kind).  A couch just doesn't cut it.  Phil & I like to make forts.  Making forts is not just for 8 year olds.  Big kids can make a choice fort too.  Big blankets, lots of couch cushions and pillows, possibly a bean bag or two, and Robert's your mother's brother.  But this is the blobber to end all blobbers.  I'd happily add this to my fort paraphenalia.

A human taco

Remind anyone else of the old Toffee Pops ad with the lips couch

CSM: Drinks are on me

I seem to have found a lot of cool shit recently that is drink-related.  I'm not a big alcy, in case you were worried, but I do partake every so often.  Also there's something about not being able to drink for an extended period of time (pregnancy/breastfeeding not abstinence by self-discipline) that makes you appreciate the chance to have a refreshing beverage.  It's not just alcohol either.  Caffeine has a renewed focus in my life and now I know I'm not wiring my baby and keeping her up all hours, I'm back on the java like there's no tomorrow.  I actually think what you miss is the rituals surrounding these drinks.  The drinks on a Friday at the local or the Saturday night house party, the G & Ts on the deck relaxing in the sun, the second coffee following a leisurely Sunday brunch.  It's the associations with these things which are so much more precious for their scarcity.  First world problems right there.  Anyway, here are some beverage-related things that are pretty freakin' cool.

You've all heard some saying that warns you not to mix beer and harder alcohols.  Personally, I think feeling rough after combining the two is more to do with the fact that you reached the stage where you wanted to move from beer to hard liquor.  Several beers are usually required to make you want to drink things called "Afterburner" and "Slippery Nipple".  Well this glass flies in the face of all that advice and blatantly encourages you to move from beer to shot and back again.  Although if you try to do both at the same time you may have some issues.  That would be your cue to stop drinking I'd think.

And here's a wine glass for my musically inclined vino lovers.  I can see some awesome party anthems being attempted with these after a couple of drinks.  I can also see them swiftly losing their tunefulness as the drinks continue to be consumed.  But it could be fun for a few minutes.  If you've had a rough week, you might want to opt to play the B flat - 2.5 standard drinks to get to that pitch.

And while we're on the theme of cool vessels, here's one for the coffee lovers.  Your short black and your biscotti in one.  You have to like a bit of sugar with your coffee though because the inside of the cup is a patented sugar coating.  Probably not a good collectable investment but as a quick drink with a snack?  I think I like it.

And if you manage to acquire these fabulous vessels, you will obviously need somewhere fabulous to keep them.  Society Social is the place to go.  A business made with love (always the best kind of business) from a lady who was over being dull so she decided she wanted to make life as beautiful as she knew it could be.  They have fabulous furniture and knick knacks, some vintage, some new, but all utterly wonderful.  She has a particular penchant for bar carts which are the ultimate in great home accessories if you ask me.  Which you didn't but you've read it now so there you go.  I was particularly taken by the photo of the bar cart with in front of the blackboard which read "Hold onto your Highballs".  Puerile humour rarely fails to amuse me.  But this cart is my pick.  Table tennis bats and ping pong balls are surely the pinnacle in bar cart accessories.  Vodka, smarties and ping pong - a match made in heaven.

It's Monday, have a wee tipple people.



Thanks to Design Crush for introducing me to today's drinking vessels.  Always inspirational.

Cool Shit Monday: Kiddy Kool

Not all of you have kids so I have avoided putting too many child-related items into CSM.  Just the odd sprinkle here and there.  But the reality is, I do have a kid and so I can't help but find cool shit that is kiddy-centric.  So today I am indulging the mummy shopaholic in me and showing you some Kiddy Kool.  If you don't have a kid, you could just peruse the items, appreciate their cuteness, then purge them from your memory as useless trinkets.  Or perhaps you could use some of this on pets or sprogs of people you know.  If you do have sprogs, prepare to get your wallets ready and your 'awww' faces prepped.

Lou Clifton is a Dunedin lass who has been designing and making children's shoes for several years under the banner, Lou's Shoes.  She has always made totally fantastic shoes but she recently took a break from her children's line to go to Australia and develop her shoemaking skills.  She went and worked with a variety of bespoke shoemakers and came home to Dunedin with an adult shoe range in her sights.  I'm not sure if she's released the big people shoes yet, but she has released a new line of kiddies shoes and they are to. die. for.  If the adults shoes are anywhere near as cool as her baby shoes, I'll be looking at some serious shoe-debt.  In the mean time, I am just trying to decide what shoes need to make it into Edie's wardrobe.

I think these Pierrot ones will be on the shopping list

Another lovely Dunedin lady showing her talents is Rachel Owen.  After Rachel had her son, she asked her mother to teach her all her crafty secrets.  She passed over quilting, decided knitting wasn't for her, but crochet was just her cup of tea and away she went.  Once she'd crocheted entire wardrobes of clothes for her own child, she decided it was probably time to share the love and started to sell her creations.  And so Kid Lidz was born.  Edie was lucky enough to be given one such creation for her first birthday - an owl hat - and we get so many comments about it.  And you no-kiddy people are in luck.  She makes them in big people sizes too...

Edie jazzed to have an owl on her head.

Well this is turning into a Dunedin love-fest as I'm now about to rave on about Helen Riley-Duddin who is the brains behind Tinch Design.  She designs restickable wallscapes for kidlets (and big people too).  Now this idea is not new.  When I went to decorate Edie's room before she arrived, I found a bizillion cute wall stickies I could have put on her wall.  In the end, I chose two different designs that were not Helen's work.  They're cute.  I like them.  But Helen's are cool so I was stoked when Harriet gave us one after Edie was born. What makes them different?  She uses upcycled textiles (mainly wallpaper and fabric) to make them so they just look... funky.  Helen describes them as "half way between play and art" and the lady knows what she is talking about.  Plus on a practical note, they are restickable.  Really.  Not like those stickers that stuck ok at first but after you moved them, seemed to attract fluff from your carpet, your cat, and the back of the refrigerator, and have started to peel off the wall.  But if you were still worried about the fluff, you can get magnetic backing instead.  You'd happily have them on the walls of your house, unlike massive Dora or Spiderman decals that I would begrudgingly accept if Edie really wanted them and they would certainly not appear in any non-kiddy-zone room.  They have become my new 'go to gift'.

Edie's wallscape.  Edie points to it and says, "hooo! hooo!"

And just to prove this isn't all about Dunedin, here is one of my favourite online kiddy stores - Frugi.  There is so much to love about this stuff.  It's organic, it's ethical, it's made with cloth nappy bums in mind (they're fat and therefore can be tricky to fit into normal trousers in case you were wondering), and it's totally cute.  The people are awesome too, which helps.  They have such a cool wee community going (they call it Planet Frugi) and they truly seem to 'get it' - they are in touch with their customers who they treat more like friends than dollar signs, and they truly love their product.  They do ship to New Zealand (postage is usually around 12 pound) so there's no stopping you.  Or at least there's no stopping me as Phil can attest to.  But Edie clearly needs cute stuff to match her own cuteness.

So there you have it peeps - some of the kiddy stuff I've been fixating on.  The list is long however so I may need to slip the odd bit of kiddy kool into other posts but I'm sure you'll forgive me.  After all, we'd all like a wolf t-shirt and white leather pom pom boots at heart.

PS.  You can get the Tinch designs and Kid Lidz at Miracle (of this post) but I wrote about them because I think they're truly cool, not to be a cheer leader for that business.  It is, however, no coincidence that Miracle stocks cool shit.

Cool Shit Monday: Outdoor Adventures

It's still cold.  I feel like I will be saying this for many, many months to come and it's boring.  It's like I'm in some Groundhog Day as a poor retail assistant whose only opening gambit with a customer is to discuss the weather.  I'm not sure why I insist on torturing myself by putting up things that remind me of summer when we are so far away from it.  But a bit of escapism never hurt anyone.  As long as you wake up before 'delusional', you'll be fine.  So come with me on a camping adventure!  I know some people hate camping, but here is some seriously cool shit that even the most anti-outdoor person would have to covet on some level.

You might be in the cold and rain, the person in the tent beside you might snore like a chainsaw, and the ants might have got into your Fruit Bursts, but these amazing Field Candy tents will make it all ok because you will be the coolest kid in the campground.  How could you be sad about being snuggled up inside a tent that looks like corduroy and has buttons??  YOU COULDN'T, I TELL YOU!

 

When I was a kid, cooking marshmallows over a bonfire ranked right up there with the best activities ever.  It was one of the pinnacles of childhood - fire + lollies = hullo!  We used to occasionally try smooshing the marshies between SuperWines but I was mostly just into pulling the charred outter of the marshy off with my teeth, then sucking the melted centre off the stick (trying to avoid bark etc).  I knew about smores from American TV shows but never fully appreciated their awesomeness until some American friends of mine made them for me with the proper ingredients - Graham Crackers, Jumbo White Marshmallows, and delicious chocolate (I prefer dark chocolate).  Food combo magic.  These ones below use homemade marshmallow which sounds pretty great to me.  Just make sure you don't get chocolatey fingers on your lovely quilty tent.

From Jenny Steffens Hobick

Sensible footwear.  There's a phrase that makes my lip curl distastefully.  Thankfully, Native shoes are sensible AND stylish.  Check out their hiking boots below.  I can't tell you that much about them as apparently they are so cool they don't need to give you product information, you should just be grateful to buy such coolness.  I do know that they're made of some special stuff that moulds to your foot.  Sounds gross but I'm sure it's useful.  I had a wander through their website and they have some seriously awesome casual shoes but these ones fit my theme best.  I feel like I'd want one of each colour to show them to best effect.  It's a shame I don't have 5 feet.  Not really actually.  I don't need five feet, no need to be greedy.  I'll just take the black ones.

Sleeping bags are not usually described as 'sexy' or 'hot' so when I heard about these I was dubious.  But I am now on board the Sexy Hotness Sleeping Bag bandwagon.  Especially after I saw the photo of the dude taking a leak against the tree in his SH bag.  They're not the highest rated sleeping bags (in terms of temperature) but they brag that they don't need it as they get 'cosy' once you're inside.  You can zip multiple bags together, or just unzip around the erogenous zone for... easy access.  The purple version also sports a karma sutra lining.  Love it.  You'll also have noticed that you use the middle zippers so you can walk around in your SH Bag instead of having to do the potato sack race hop.  It's all good news really.

So it's not exactly Glamping, but it is fun.  Get your smore on people and get ready for a camping adventure.

PS.  Friday's Frock post is still coming.  The weekend went a little differently than I had planned...

Cool Shit Monday

A few randoms this week: stuff I want to share and not force into a cheesy theme like I do sometimes.  Cheesy themes are well and good but I don't feel like one just now.  Things don't have to match all the time, only most of the time.

These digitally printed tops are about the coolest thing I've seen in some time.  The colours are fantastic, I love the boat neckline, and the idea itself is just so freaking... cool.  I can't decide which one I like best.

I think this is so cute!  Lauren, the lady it behind Mixie Studio, created this in order to streamline her grocery shopping so she didn't spend time going back and forth for stuff she'd forgotten.  She thought out the layout of her supermarket then created divisions in her shopping list to match so that she would collect her groceries in order.  Then she posted it on her blog and made it downloadable so you too can shop with precision.  Love it!

I don't have an iPhone.  Phil does.  If I'm a good girl he lets me look at it sometimes.  But I'm not allowed to look too long and I'm certainly not allowed to touch it.  OK I'm joking but he does love it.  The best news for me is that my phone is about to fossilise completely.  The phone company is forcing it into retirement, it's such a hunk of junk.  It almost has an analogue clock face it's that old.  And when my prehistoric phone is finally put to rest, I get Phil's hand-me-down iPhone.  In anticipation of this joyous event, I have already purchased a pretty iPhone cover but I did so before I found this site.  I love the cover I bought but I may have to start a collection because there's so much coolness here.

I went to see Taieri Musical Society's production of Jesus Christ Superstar on Saturday night.  It was a bit of treat as Phil and I got to leave Edie with a baby sitter and go crazy (if your definition of crazy is to go to Mosgiel to see a musical).  We knew quite a few of the performers in the show which always adds another dimension to the experience as you get to cheer on your mates.  I wanted to let you know about one particularly amazing friend who did a top job.  If you've somehow managed to have your head in a bucket for most of your life and you don't know the story of Jesus' final days on earth, then let me tell you that Mary Magdalene plays a small but key role in that story.  In the musical, Mary is the only female lead role and gets to sing a couple of songs that are really well known but actually, it's a pretty crap role.  I think this is because all the men on stage are dealing with serious inner turmoil and there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth.  As a performer, the dudes of the show are able to get stuck in and peacock around, parading their singing and acting chops.  Poor Mary is left to be the foil for all the madness.  She's the calming influence, the moderate.  And it sucks to be that wet blanket when all you want to do is scream and jump up and down like everyone else.  So when you get a young, passionate, and fiery girl taking on such a roll, you've gotta feel for her.  But boy howdy did Kylie Price take that calm, serene, Mary and play her with the maturity of a seasoned pro.  And I'm not really surprised as Kylie is a seasoned pro.  Fresh off a win at the Gold Guitars, Kylie is a singer with serious credentials.  She is not one of those 'pop stars in the making' that simply look pretty and can (sort of) carry a tune, she is an incredible singer, songwriter, and guitarist, and all-round musician.  On top of this, she has a brain (praise the lord!  A young artist doing well who actually deserves their success).  Earlier this year Kylie released her first single on iTunes and you should check it out.  I hope we'll be hearing a lot more about Kylie Price in the years to come.  Cool doesn't even begin to describe her.

Cool Shit Monday: Childhood Fantasies

image: thefrenchpear via all the pretty pretties

I saw this tree house the other day and had one of those Swiss Family Robinson flashbacks.  No, I don't mean a flashback to the time I was stranded on a desert island with my family (that's a whole other story...), I mean to watching that quaint 60s Disney movie of the book where they build that incredible home.  When I was a kid, that totally seemed like the sweetest place anyone could ever hope to live.  There's something about a system of levers and pulleys to help run a household in completely unnecessary yet totally cool way that just floats my boat.  I think it's the lingering impression left by those awesome sequences in Sesame St where they show you things like the processes at a peanut butter factory.  Anyway, a tree house (a fancy one) still seems like a pretty cool idea.  So here are some other cool things that I might either put in my tree house or appeal the child in me.

And all the animals were their friends.  Aww...

You've probably seen this staircase.  It's been doing the rounds on Pinterest and facey.  But it would be a treat in my tree house.  I once did a school project when I was 8 in which I had to come up with a creative way to get to and from school.  I had to walk up and down a couple of hills so I decided that I would like to take a gondola (the aerial kind, not the boating kind) to the top of the hills, and a hydro slide down.  I still like this idea (yes, yes, I know there are many logical reasons why it would actually be crap) and this staircase puts me in mind of it.

I think it was my 7th birthday party where I had the Sweet Shop cake.  If you grew up in New Zealand or Australia, you know THE BOOK of birthday cakes that every home seemed to have.  I'm pretty sure it was a Woman's Weekly number.  I spent hours poring over that book, planning which cake I would have for an upcoming imaginary party.  There is a classic photo of me leaning on the table in front of the sweet cake and I look so stoked (in the same photo, one of my party friends is throwing a wobbly - also quite funny).  As soon as I saw this site and their beautiful creations, I was put in mind of that cake.  I don't know which of all these beautiful set ups I want.  I may just spend hours poring over them creating imaginary parties...

Bunks: a dorky hassle when you have to live in the same room in your brother because your big sister brings home an exchange student who stays for the better part of the year (clearly one of my life experiences), or the perfect excuse to share the fun and avoid sleep (remember that as a kid you didn't want to sleep.  Oh how things change)?  With these kick-arse bunks, there is no doubt it's the latter.  There are so many amazing kids beds out there to choose from I had trouble picking ones to show you.

Wonderland beds

Source: d'Home interiors

I think it's a compulsory that my childhood fantasy tree house has a cool reading room.  And it's very handy that Kid's Republic Bookstore in Beijing has created something pretty darn close to perfection.  I want to go here.  Now.  I wish to curl up on/in one of these shelves and read Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton.

I miss the limitless, logic-defying ideas of childhood!  Who wouldn't prefer a Swiss Family Robinson-style stranding to the Tom Hanks grown-ups version?  The rope swings and friendly elephants beat a bloodied volleyball and rampant facial hair any day.