A Fresh Outlook

Hey blog friends,

Look time since I have been on here. Things have been a bit too busy to keep up with it all. However with summer here and longer days life it feeling great.

I have been catching up on a it of holiday reading and listening with my new favourite albums being Best Coast - brilliant fun summer tunes.

The other new band that I discovered on The Active Listener music blog which I really love are Kontiki Suite- beautiful vocals and big spacious guitar sounds.

I have also been reading Grace Coddington's autobiogaphy.

What are you listening to and reading this holiday?
xxxx The Bricoleur

Summer Storms and Pirate Ships

Over the recent holiday break I visited my parents about 3 hours drive away on the beautiful and isolated coast. I read my book in the hammock, ate delicious local delicacies of seafood, cheeses and wine, the weather was unusual with wonderful sun and then the moodiest grey stormy skies.
My father used to be a fisherman and he told me of a boat that I had visited about 6 months ago which he used to fish off and was originally Jacques Cousteau's first research vessel, 'Physalie', is now anchored about an hour away from my home and has been turned into a pirate cafe. Wonderful!

Latest Stylings

I have recently started a new job teaching dance full time! I absolutely love it but have found dressing for it quite difficult. I enjoy dressing up and love clothes so the restrictions have made me be a little more creative in my style.

Kowtow clothing have been great. An ethically produced New Zealand label. They are stocked in a great local shop Trouble and Fox which I couldn't be without in a small town.

On my wish list is Chronicles of Never

And another great Australian label Bassike

Head bands are practical as well

Channel a little Brigitte Bardot in Come Dance with Me

Lover's collection A Dance for One 

                               Bon Iver - Towers (Official Music Video) from Bon Iver on Vimeo.

Japanese Adventures

Sorry for my massive blogging break! Things have been so hectic but I am back online now and very happy to be. My trip to Japan was insane, incredible and life-changing. Many stories...
A few memories to share, biking through alleyways of red lanterns at twilight with my scarf around my face to fight out the cold, tiny dogs in clothing everywhere, cooking pancakes with a carnival man at a festival, walking two hours up to the most beautiful temple in the forest in Kyoto, going to an 8 seater sushi bar where no one spoke any English but we managed and had the best meal of my life with 9 plates stacked high, singing Bonnie Tyler 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' at karaoke.

Coming-of Age Ceremony Hundreds of Kimono

Dotonbori festival

Osaka Dotonbori Night Markets

Downtown Shinsaibashi Osaka

Cool girls dressed in Kimono, Nara, Japan

Fox Shrine, Kyoto

America mura graffiti

Arashiyama Bamboo Shrines

Japan in Winter

Oh I am so very excited! I leave in a few days to visit Japan for the first time. It will be winter so I am hoping for snow. Too late for blossoms so I will just have to imagine it. See you soon with amazing adventure stories! xx

I want to learn or watch ikebana (Japanese flower arranging).

Visit at least one temple.

Hopefully see a geisha and snow (at the same time would be awesome!)

Visit this cute cafe Hattifnatt in Tokyo.

Favorite Ladies

Three of my favorite ladies of all time; Bianca Jagger, Brigitte Bardot and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Timeless style and sassiness.