Monday, March 21, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
The Grosvenor Project
About three weeks ago I moved house, into my first share house in 4 years. I'm still in the 6050 though! It was quite an adjustment going from my old place, a tiny two bedroom apartment on the third floor right next to Beaufort street, to this big house. There is so. much. space. in this house. My room is enormous, with high ceilings, long sash windows and a mantlepiece- and i love it.
I'm a little apprehensive still about the concept of being back in a sharehouse after living alone or with a boyfriend for a while... but my housemates, C and K, are total babes so it should be ok.
One thing we all have in common is we can all cook and it became very apparent when we moved in - we have so much kitchen stuff! Pretty much anything we could need for any recipe we have; hand blenders, cast iron grills, rose shaped cake moulds, a bundt tin, bread maker, huge soup pots, millions of plates and bowls. We even had to store some wine and champagne glasses in the laundry because of space issues! I feel that all of this is a good sign.
I'll post some pics of the house and my room soon, when I get time to take some. With uni being back I'm a bit preoccupied - I'm determined to stay on top of all of my readings this semester!
I'm a little apprehensive still about the concept of being back in a sharehouse after living alone or with a boyfriend for a while... but my housemates, C and K, are total babes so it should be ok.
One thing we all have in common is we can all cook and it became very apparent when we moved in - we have so much kitchen stuff! Pretty much anything we could need for any recipe we have; hand blenders, cast iron grills, rose shaped cake moulds, a bundt tin, bread maker, huge soup pots, millions of plates and bowls. We even had to store some wine and champagne glasses in the laundry because of space issues! I feel that all of this is a good sign.
I'll post some pics of the house and my room soon, when I get time to take some. With uni being back I'm a bit preoccupied - I'm determined to stay on top of all of my readings this semester!
Monday, July 12, 2010
GIOVANNA
Giovanna Battaglia is too chic for words. Such good use of colour, so well considered. She always looks professional and put together.
photos: jakandjil, the sartorialist.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Gill Spills Dud Rudd
This is a bit outside the usual realm of this blog (that is, Beyonce clips and home-cooking) but today is an important day and one I feel strongly about so here we are. This morning Kevin Rudd, once the most popular PM in Australian history, stood aside as Prime Minister rather than face a leadership ballot. His deputy, Julia Gillard, will take on the prime ministership from today. She is Australia's first female Prime Minister. What remains to be seen is whether this controversial leadership spill will be able to do what it is aiming to do, and that is to bring home the election for Labor.
As proud as I am for her, I would not want to be in Gillard's position right now.
Kevin Rudd is the only PM in australian history to have been rolled by his party before the end of his first term. Imagine the humiliation for the Labor party if Julia Gillard was the historic first female PM, only to be beaten by Tony Abbott at the polls. It would be one step forward and two steps back, and it is a valid fear. She was elected this morning in the caucus room, and not by the people. Although for many of us she provides a real and powerful alternative to the previous options for leader, in that she is not a heavily Christian family man with conservative social values getting in the way of everything, there are plenty for whom that is not important enough. She may win back the lady voters, yes, but there are plenty of people who still feel let down by the ETS backdown, the Mining Super Tax (and its advertising) and the insulation scandal. These people may continue to oppose the party, regardless of its leader.
What Gillard has now is a great opportunity to use this early position as PM. She has some time now, while she is popular and enjoys a mostly favourable press, to show Australia that she intends to continue to do what she has been doing. If she can continue to focus more on acheiving results than pandering to the news cycle, whilst still capably dealing with media when neccessary, she should be able to go strongly into the election. If she can avoid the mistakes of Kevin Rudd: backing down on critical issues on which Labor was elected, bottlenecking progress by micromanaging, and being generally strange and awkward with the press, she should by rights be a very formidable challenge for Abbott and the Liberals.
In terms of the media relationship; Gillard has always seemed a more genuine and authentic personality than Rudd. While he has tried to bloke it up for the cameras with numerous embarrassing consequences such as the now famous "fair shake of the sauce bottle", Julia has shown humour, wit and patience in her dealings with even the most trying interviewers. She has a slightly stiff, formal way about her, but after all, she is a politician. Politicians should be smart, and I for one am much more interested in what smart people say than how many colloquialisms they use while saying it. And still, somehow she has always come off the much more relatable one anyway.
Gillard still has a bit of a fight to overcome the prejudice about a woman running the country. Personally I have no doubt she will continue to hold herself well in the face of criticism. She has, at times, had to put up with more than is fair. In her interview with Australian Story in 2006, she said she felt that the fact that her older sister dropped out of university to have kids while she powered on and stayed de facto and childless would never have been an issue were she a man. This was utterly heartbreaking to me, and seemed to show that the country's attitudes, the often pointed criticisms she has faced, do have an impact on her. She is right. It should be completely irrelevant.
She will have a powerful effect on young women like myself, women who are educated and in no hurry to marry and leave the workforce. I breathed a sigh of relief today, for once again a feel I am represented in a major party. Both Rudd and Abbott have brought their personal conservatism into what are, in my opinion, totally irrelevant areas (the Bill Henson "debate", wherein Rudd profoundly declared his disgust over an art exhibition he hadn't even seen, was a low point). Also, Abbott's declaration that his daughter's virginity is a "precious gift" still makes me nauseous. Here now, we have a woman who has taken control of her own life, worked incredibly hard and become very successful by doing so. She does not have children, but that is a decision she apparently made as young as 18. The childlessness issue always confuses and angers me because I am sure she would be damned (in certain circles) if she did, and damned (as she has been) if she didnt.
Gillard has said herself she did not feel she wanted to have children because she is so focused and single minded. She wanted to focus her life on the law and politics. This is a consequence of a direct decision she made, which can not be said of male ministers who always have the option to have their wives have the babies while they have the career. Indeed this is practically a requirement for political life in this and many other countries. That is not to say that a female with children shouldn't be able to be PM. But Gillard has made her decisions. She does not measure herself by her children, or her husband's succcess or her sexual attractiveness. She has carved out a great career for herself, and now, a place in the history books. The ALP have measured her on her merits and made her their leader, and in time, hopefully, Australia will do the same.
Perhaps the ALP will take advantage of some of this momemtum (and the fact that they are up against Abbott) and address issues concerning women in Australia in the lead up to the election. I am well aware that they also might choose not to do this for exactly the reason that while Australia might elect a woman as PM, they might be more reluctant about an unmarried, childless, woman pushing a whole bunch of socially liberal ideas. We as a country seem to have lost the taste for socially liberal ideas. Gillard needs to somehow walk a line where women voters trust she will attend to our concerns, while also taking on the big-boy election issues such as the mining tax and the ETS.
While it is a great day to be a young woman in this country, it is one which means the beginning of a tough and interesting lead in to what will surely be a fascinating election. Although I am proud today, I will be prouder when I know that there's a woman in the top job because we, the people of Australia, truly believe she is the best one for the job.
As proud as I am for her, I would not want to be in Gillard's position right now.
Kevin Rudd is the only PM in australian history to have been rolled by his party before the end of his first term. Imagine the humiliation for the Labor party if Julia Gillard was the historic first female PM, only to be beaten by Tony Abbott at the polls. It would be one step forward and two steps back, and it is a valid fear. She was elected this morning in the caucus room, and not by the people. Although for many of us she provides a real and powerful alternative to the previous options for leader, in that she is not a heavily Christian family man with conservative social values getting in the way of everything, there are plenty for whom that is not important enough. She may win back the lady voters, yes, but there are plenty of people who still feel let down by the ETS backdown, the Mining Super Tax (and its advertising) and the insulation scandal. These people may continue to oppose the party, regardless of its leader.
What Gillard has now is a great opportunity to use this early position as PM. She has some time now, while she is popular and enjoys a mostly favourable press, to show Australia that she intends to continue to do what she has been doing. If she can continue to focus more on acheiving results than pandering to the news cycle, whilst still capably dealing with media when neccessary, she should be able to go strongly into the election. If she can avoid the mistakes of Kevin Rudd: backing down on critical issues on which Labor was elected, bottlenecking progress by micromanaging, and being generally strange and awkward with the press, she should by rights be a very formidable challenge for Abbott and the Liberals.
In terms of the media relationship; Gillard has always seemed a more genuine and authentic personality than Rudd. While he has tried to bloke it up for the cameras with numerous embarrassing consequences such as the now famous "fair shake of the sauce bottle", Julia has shown humour, wit and patience in her dealings with even the most trying interviewers. She has a slightly stiff, formal way about her, but after all, she is a politician. Politicians should be smart, and I for one am much more interested in what smart people say than how many colloquialisms they use while saying it. And still, somehow she has always come off the much more relatable one anyway.
Gillard still has a bit of a fight to overcome the prejudice about a woman running the country. Personally I have no doubt she will continue to hold herself well in the face of criticism. She has, at times, had to put up with more than is fair. In her interview with Australian Story in 2006, she said she felt that the fact that her older sister dropped out of university to have kids while she powered on and stayed de facto and childless would never have been an issue were she a man. This was utterly heartbreaking to me, and seemed to show that the country's attitudes, the often pointed criticisms she has faced, do have an impact on her. She is right. It should be completely irrelevant.
She will have a powerful effect on young women like myself, women who are educated and in no hurry to marry and leave the workforce. I breathed a sigh of relief today, for once again a feel I am represented in a major party. Both Rudd and Abbott have brought their personal conservatism into what are, in my opinion, totally irrelevant areas (the Bill Henson "debate", wherein Rudd profoundly declared his disgust over an art exhibition he hadn't even seen, was a low point). Also, Abbott's declaration that his daughter's virginity is a "precious gift" still makes me nauseous. Here now, we have a woman who has taken control of her own life, worked incredibly hard and become very successful by doing so. She does not have children, but that is a decision she apparently made as young as 18. The childlessness issue always confuses and angers me because I am sure she would be damned (in certain circles) if she did, and damned (as she has been) if she didnt.
Gillard has said herself she did not feel she wanted to have children because she is so focused and single minded. She wanted to focus her life on the law and politics. This is a consequence of a direct decision she made, which can not be said of male ministers who always have the option to have their wives have the babies while they have the career. Indeed this is practically a requirement for political life in this and many other countries. That is not to say that a female with children shouldn't be able to be PM. But Gillard has made her decisions. She does not measure herself by her children, or her husband's succcess or her sexual attractiveness. She has carved out a great career for herself, and now, a place in the history books. The ALP have measured her on her merits and made her their leader, and in time, hopefully, Australia will do the same.
Perhaps the ALP will take advantage of some of this momemtum (and the fact that they are up against Abbott) and address issues concerning women in Australia in the lead up to the election. I am well aware that they also might choose not to do this for exactly the reason that while Australia might elect a woman as PM, they might be more reluctant about an unmarried, childless, woman pushing a whole bunch of socially liberal ideas. We as a country seem to have lost the taste for socially liberal ideas. Gillard needs to somehow walk a line where women voters trust she will attend to our concerns, while also taking on the big-boy election issues such as the mining tax and the ETS.
While it is a great day to be a young woman in this country, it is one which means the beginning of a tough and interesting lead in to what will surely be a fascinating election. Although I am proud today, I will be prouder when I know that there's a woman in the top job because we, the people of Australia, truly believe she is the best one for the job.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Apartment inspiration
I don't usually like modern bedrooms that much (mainly because I know I'd never have a chance in hell of keeping it clean), but this one is so warm and lovely. Love the painted "bedhead" with the shelf above it.
As if i didn't already wish i had a white, light, modern NY apartment. this place is just perfect.
pics from apartment therapy
Monday, May 10, 2010
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