CHIPSTAGRAM: VIVID EDITION

I got a new phone! The Samsung Galaxy Note, yes, it's GINORMOUS. When I was talking to a sales rep on the phone, he asked me why I wanted this device, and I was like "um, because it's huge?" He said that was fair enough, although I could tell he thought I was a weirdo. Anyway, it's very exciting because I am finally free of Apple's evil grip. I'm not the kind of person who constantly wants to get a new phone and with my iphone people were always surprised that I had such an "old" model - but it was less than 3 years old! I had my old Sony Ericsson brick for at least 5 years and it was still going strong until it was smashed with a hammer. I plan to keep this phone until it falls apart.



Thank Cthulu, Instagram is Android compatible. The Vivid festival in on in Sydney now, which means pretty light projections and displays all over the city. I didn't even get to see the projections on the sails until my third night of work - this year is creative, but not as visually appealing as in previous years.



Working at the Bennelong Bowlo bar besides Brigitta (tee hee alliteration). I dressed in my little old lady Chipster gear for the occasion. No, those glasses aren't prescription - YES, I'm one of those people. I actually require prescription glasses and I never wear them. That's why I'm such a road hazard.





The Customs House is the star of Vivid this year, it's so awesome, with it's game-like animation. And these customised rickshaws are beautiful, I love seeing them floating through the Quay.



Okay, I'm a marketing student and despite knowing all the evil tricks behind packaging and advertising I STILL FALL FOR IT. I bought this overpriced bottle of apple juice because a) "organic" and b) pretty, minimalist packaging. I'm such a sucker.

Rob's dad makes the prettiest, tastiest food. I love his Hasselback potatoes and his meringue. 

GIRL TALK

Uni is getting a little hectic, work is about to get insane (Vivid Festival = 2am shifts at work), my camera is broken and my phone screen smashed. Everything is working against me, in terms of regular blogging. But blogging is so much fun! So I've decided to compile this post of random, girly things.

 

I finally decided to use the old masking tape trick for french tip-style nail polish. I have never been a regular old french manicure type of girl though. My nail polish collection is everything my wardrobe isn't - neon, colourful, and glittery. For these black and clear nails, I was inspired by Anna from D16 - who I absolutely ADORE. Her love of black, white and grey design, punctuated by little pops of neon is starting to rub off on me, as illustrated by the next two photos:

  

This colour actually looks a little more orange in real life, and a lot more neon and eye-catching. I painted them for work in the hope that some fashion forward customer will love them and tip me. I will also be wearing hipster plastic lens-ed glasses and a button-up, embroidered white collared shirt - with a scalloped collar - and then my Chipster work transformation will be complete!

I was super happy with my makeup this day so I took a quick (blurry!) instagram of it (I'm cuddling my puppy pillowpet!). I just bought some gel pot eyeliner and a red lip liner. The gel eyeliner is okay (it's the Maybelline one - I only ever buy supermarket makeup), but the lip liner is AMAH-ZING (it was like $10 from Priceline, I think it's Australis?). How have I lived this long without lip liner? It stays on so long and it's so much easier to apply than lipstick - I always colour outside the lines with lipstick. My earrings are neon yellow studs which are super cute and one of the only neon items I own - I think I need more!

Is everyone watching Mad Men? I don't really like Megan, but I am loving her costuming. She has the best outfits on the show. Also, you can not call yourself a real fan of Mad Men if you are not reading TLo's recaps (the style recaps are the shiznit).

Anyway, this is my favourite outfit she has worn on the show, from a couple of episodes ago. I would SO wear this right this second right now. LOOK AT THAT COAT (also, that apartment, I would die for a mid-century apartment with a sunken living area).

Screencaps by Tom and Lorenzo

CHIPSTAGRAM: BIRTHDAY EDITION

Hooray for birthdays! I'm twenty-two, and if I was the kind of person who made "things to do by twenty-two" lists, then I would be very depressed right now. Luckily I'm not, so I'm not! || I spent the night before having cocktails at The Baxter Inn, like a classy motherfucker. It's a funky little place, perfect for a chipster night out- a prohibition-era speakeasy style whiskey bar, and bartenders with moustaches -  MOUSTACHES (I'm not sure why their website is so ugly, it's probably ironic, too ironic for me to comprehend).

 

  
More gifts from Rob, the most excellent boyfriend, a gentleman and a scholar.

These Coralie Bickford-Smith hardcovers are the loveliest and immediately after he gave me this set I started re-reading P&P, which I have read at least six times already (I read it aloud to Rob and he promptly fell asleep - hilarious). I know the old adage is never judge a book by its cover, but dammit I can't help it. The only reason I've never read The Road, for instance, is that I haven't been able to find a copy that has the cover artwork I want, they all have the movie tie-in cover. Don't get me started on movie tie-in book covers, why do publishers do this and why does Keira Knightley seem to appear in all the film adaptations of novels I want to read? I'm sick of seeing her face on book covers. 

 

Brig's brought me back this souvenir from New York (*hair flick*), I like to imagine that Leslie Knope personally oversaw the production of this water bottle and proudly carries one of her own with her wherever she goes. Leslie Knope is my spirit animal. || The beaded collar is from Rob's mum, who reads this blog (HI SALLY) and gave me a perfectly chipster gift. YES, my blog is finally getting me awesome free stuff. 

 

Robbie setting up our birthday picnic. || My name on a bus on my birthday! Serendipitous. 

 

Food porn! Dinner with Rob at Our Place. That honeycomb cheesecake with vanilla ice cream and lemon curd was so delicious. I am drooling right now thinking about it. 

And dinner with my mum & brother at Twelve Spices. My mother, who is not normally supportive of my alcohol consumption, bought me a lychee mojito - there is something about lychee that makes it divinely cocktail-worthy. Anyway, she only bought it for me because I learnt to ask for booze in Chinese and she was consequently very proud of me (it wasn't even covered in my classes, I specifically looked up how to say it, so now I can say "my hobby is drinking alcohol" in Mandarin, which I am sure will be a very useful phrase to me, one day).

Happy birthmonth to me, xo Jess. 

CHIPNIC BASKET

 

You might not be aware of this, fair reader, but there is a long-held blogger tradition of bragging. One might even suggest that the whole business of blogging is built on bragging. I mention this as a sort of disclaimer for this post, because I am about to gloat big time and y'all need to prepare yourselves for the approaching envy attack.

 

It was my birthday on Saturday and my mister surprised me with this picnic basket and rug set. I know, it's wonderful isn't it. Look at the belted plates! The twist clasp! The striped lining! IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!



It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, so I demanded that we use my gifts immediately (I demanded a lot of things that day).

 

To wit: I demanded that we have brie with lunch. I fucking love brie. Why is it so delicious? What sorcery is this?



Rob knows me so well. He always gets me slightly unconventional gifts - like hoisery and books, and he always puts heaps of thought into them. This is seriously the most gorgeous picnic basket I've ever seen. I'm looking forward to some snuggly Autumn picnics in the coming months.

More birthday bragging to come in the next couple of days! xo

P.S. "Chipnic" - get it? God, I'm good.

AROUND THE WORLD

 

Currently, there is a very distinct "travel" theme in my room right now. I have accumulated a modest little collection of maps and travel-related decorative items. Secretly (or perhaps not so secretly), I hope that I don't get a job immediately after graduating so I can take some time off and travel the world. I never did do the whole gap year thing - I wanted to get through my five years of undergrad study as quickly as possible. But travelling is so important when you're young! Sometimes I feel a little sad knowing that I probably can't visit all the places I want to see in my lifetime.

 

This is a flight map Rob gave me of the Greater Sydney area (and beyond).

Rob also gave me this sketchbook a couple of years ago when I went on an overseas trip with my family.

This is my favourite map, it's a tea towel! When I bought it, it came with a spool of red thread and you are supposed to sew your travel path to indicate where you have been.