Here is what I wore for running around the city, drinking coffee, trying to get into closed galleries and grocery shopping.

* Jeans from Jag
* Shoes from Nine West
* Top from Maxine’s
* Cardigan from Country Road
* Coin necklace from my grandfather
* Wheelie Bin necklace from Tae
* Earrings from Girlprops

And thank you so much to everyone who responded to my What’s Your Almost Name? post. I’m really enjoying reading your descriptions of your other selves. Please pass it around, I would love to hear your friends’ responses too!

Love Carly

xxx

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One of my favourite blogs of all time is 1000 Awesome Things. It’s just like an injection of sunshine with every post. One that really made me smile was this post Your Almost Name. The name that your parents almost called you.

I love the idea that your parents had a little bit of choice in who you were going to be by naming you what they did.

My almost name is Phoebe. I love my actual name, Carly, very much. It definitely suits me… but I think I could have been a pretty amazing Phoebe.

I would have been less loud if I was Phoebe. More polite. I think she would have played a musical instrument. She might have played soccer. She would have liked dogs and would have been a vet or a nurse. She would have been kinder than me, more sensitive. She’d volunteer in third world countries and she would have loved cake.

Carly is brave though. And she is never afraid to speak her mind. No one ever thinks that Carly is dull. Carly is funny, she’s creative and she’s rational. She’s a hard worker. She’s ambitious and she never, ever lies.

My parents thought about it and they chose Carly. That’s pretty awesome isn’t it?

What about you? What’s your almost name? And who would he/she have been?

Love Carly

xxx

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* Make a big pot of cleansing green tea? Drink it lying on the floor and chatting to your girlfriends?

* Get a fringe cut? Long and thick? Have it brush your eyebrows like a silk curtain so you can peek out from behind it?

* Make maxi dresses your signature clothing item? Wear wooly grey tights and cropped cardigans with them in winter? Long beaded necklaces and chunky clogs in summer?

* Order a sambucca on ice?

* Wrap a scarf around your head? Throw on some giant sunglasses? Cherry coloured lipstick? Wind down the windows and go driving without a destination?

* Smile?

* Make gifts for the little babies in your life? Hand sewn bibs? Little embroidered baby booties? A tiny teddy bear?

* Order Chinese food? Eat it straight from the containers? On a picnic blanket in your own backyard?

* Try navy instead of black? Forrest green? Dark grey? Rethink the basics?

* Floss your teeth? Twice a day?

Love

Lady Smaggle

xxx

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I’ve had countless readers ask me to photograph my jewellery that’s made by Roomy Smaggle. This talented spark has just launched her website and online shop so fans of her work need fret no more  - Tae Schmeisser.

Wheelie Bin Necklace. Seen here. Here. And here.

Matchstick necklace. I have the earrings of this series and they have fast become my daily staple.

Unspoken necklace. This piece is beautiful. You unroll the parchment and write a secret message inside.

Tae is offering my readers a 30% discount on her pieces. Just head over to the shop and type ‘smaggle‘ as the code word. Discount available until 31st July 2010.

Her work is stunning. The design process is beyond painful (for me I mean, I spend months every year drowning in Moleskines), and her hand skills are meticulous. Get your piece of the Tae Pie while you can… she’s smokin’.

Love Lady

xxx

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I’m not twenty one anymore, a sad fact that my alcoholism won’t seem to get on board with. This means that when I have a night out on the town it often takes days for me to recover. I feel, after much research and practice, that I have the perfect formula for fast hang over recovery. The plan is three-fold.

BEFORE

* Eat food. Something healthy and in the form of good carbohydrates. Like grainy bread, porridge or brown rice. Sushi is a pretty perfect pre-drinking meal.

* Drink water. Lots of it.

* Have a Berocca or similar water dissolvable vitamin B supplement.

DURING

* Drink water. Lots of it.

* Try to stick to one drink. I used to think this was an urban drinking myth but after years of self testing I’ve come to realise there’s merit to this rule.

* If you choose to drink spirits go easy on sugary mixers. You don’t need a sugar hangover on top of the alcohol one.

* If you’re having a lengthy drinking session, try to have an hour break with no alcohol. Have a mineral water, go for a walk, have a dance. It makes such difference.

* Do not go to bed drunk. This is really difficult to achieve sometimes but if you can get to at least a semi-sober state before you collapse into bed you will have a better sleep and wake up feeling refreshed and less like someone ground your brains.

* Before bed, have as much water as you can physically drink and another a Berocca.

AFTER

* Drink water. Again, as much as you can handle. Ridiculous amounts. Your body needs it, I promise.

* Have another Berocca and some electrolyte powder. You can buy it at the chemist and it’s generally used for severe dehydration after sickness but it’s a miracle for hangovers as it completely re-hydrates you.

* Eat carefully. Try fresh fruit and vegetables, pure juice and some wholegrain toast. A banana smoothie is also fantastic as bananas are full of potassium which is fantastic for hangovers. Try this recipe -

250 mls low fat milk

2 bananas

1 tblsp honey

cinnamon

nutmeg

handfull of ice

Throw all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

* Try to get moving. I find hangovers are so much worse if you give in to them. Go for coffee, do a gentle gym session, clean the house.

* This is a very, very unofficial suggestion because I liken sports drinks to cyanide but if you’re desperate try a blue Powerade. Only blue. And only in emergencies.

Have happy hangovers!

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

P.S I recently got sent the book Fit, Healthy and Intoxicated by one of my favourite readers and it’s hilarious. A must read for hardened drinkers.

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The delicious Sarah Von is offering my gorgeous readers a set of her new karma cards! All you have to do to enter is visit the lady herself over at Yes and Yes and then leave a comment on my post telling us where you would leave your karma cards…

I think I’d punch a wee hole in mine and tie them to trees…

You have until Friday to enter! I’m too confused to do the whole time zone thing so if it’s Friday where you are then you can enter… but don’t cheat. This is a karma competition after all…

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

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Lady loves…

* Sunday afternoons spent with my favourite girl on Brunswick Street, cafe hopping for hours.

* Pale tights. White, cream, pale pink… it’s all about pale tights this winter.

* The arrival of cold weather. I love snuggling down in my bed under layers of heavy blankets with a hot water bottle. Sigh!

* Crawling home yesterday and feeling utterly wretched only to have Roomy Smaggle make me a pot of special Japanese feel good tea. I love her.

* Plucking my eyebrows. Virgos love that clean face thing.

* Alec Baldwin. I’m having a serious 30 Rock addiction right now and it’s all about Alec. Although, after Team America I have major problems not saying ‘Arec Baldren’.

* Learning gem setting. I’m utterly rubbish at it but it’s oddly therapeutic.

* Buying plants. I have a plan to turn my house into a jungle.

Lady loathes…

* Chrysanthemums and the tacky florists that insist on pimping them every Mother’s Day. ‘I love you Mum. Here’s a bouquet of mucus coloured blossoms that look like tissues!’. Note to said tacky florists, writing ‘ChrysantheMUMS!’ is not clever. It makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

* How clumsy I am. I spilled vegetable juice on the floor, stabbed myself with a file, tripped over the lounge room rug and burnt 50% of the hair off my left arm…. today. That’s why I’m always shocked whenever a misguided person calls me graceful.

* Finally having my own bookshelf, placing all my Frankie magazines in a row and realising I’m missing number 33. If anyone isn’t anal retentive like I am and has a spare Frankie number 33 lying around… I love you long time!

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

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Having a slow day… we got the morning off school because we had a fundraising jewellery auction last night. I was delighted that someone other than Co-Dependant Smaggle bid on my piece. Three people in fact. The girl that won them put them on straight away… it was pretty cool.

* Red tights from Myer
* Dress from Tree of Life
* Doc Marten shoes from DFO
* Men’s watch from Fossil
* Necklace by Roomy Smaggle

Off to the workshop for the afternoon and then having a studio warming dinner for Roomy.

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

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My question to you is… do you torture yourself in heels everyday because you are self conscious about being short? Or do you clomp around in flats everyday so you don’t appear like a giant? Is height really a legitimate body quirk to get hung up over?

This is a rather personal question because at 5′8, I’m unusually tall and I do sometimes find myself avoiding wearing heels because I don’t want to look like a big foot. Which is ridiculous because being tall isn’t unattractive. Neither is being short. It’s just come to my attention recently that this is rather an odd thing to be uncomfortable with… especially seeing as it’s the one thing about your body that you can do nothing about.

What do you think?

Please let us know your height as well. I have a feeling the extreme gals will have a bit to say about this matter…

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

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Why don’t you take your sketch book to a quaint little cafe? One with couches? Chandeliers? Typewriters on every table? Order a cappucino every hour? Throw your extra change in the tip jar to pay for the days rent at the best table? Walk home in the rain? With a polka dot umbrella?

Love Lady Smaggle

Xxx

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