I may be slow off the mark with this one, but I only just saw the jelly bean music video for Kina Grannis' song In Your Arms yesterday.

I love her voice, her exceptionally pretty face and the way she, and her music, reminds me of Jewel way back in her Pieces of You days.

But oh my god, the director Greg Jardin just blew me away.

Have a look at what he did with 288,000 jelly beans and 2,460 frames over 2 years.

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I don't listen to Triple J unless I'm forced to. And these days I'm forced to, well, every day.

I think someone must have come up with a universal law that binds all graphic designers to only listen to Triple J. Or they're stripped of their qualifications. And have their fixies confiscated.

Since the design department sits outside my office, I have to tune it out or shut my door. Which makes me look very anti-social.

Being totally uncool, I only heard Bertie Blackman's version of Peek a Boo a few weeks ago.

And was instantly transported back to the 1980s, dancing around my bedroom and wearing out a Siouxsie and the Banshees mix tape listening to Peek a Boo ad infinitum.

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Oh, how I wish I could love OPI Mod About You.

But I don't. I hate it.

It looks like pink liquid paper, and makes me feel like white trash wearing it.

Like I should be wearing white jeans over a black g-string, too.

That and it chipped inside of 24 hours (if you look closely you can see the patch job on my little finger).

Straight to the naughty corner with you!

Actually, the colour is so Wendy James from Transvision Vamp's lipstick in I Want Your Love.

Which is totally mod of course, so this polish is aptly named.

Except Wendy James was hot in this video.

And so was this song.

Trip down memory lane to 1989?

xx Kiki

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Excuse my lazy brain… I seriously couldn't think of anything better to describe today's activities.

I definitely couldn't think of anything worse.

Mr K's been working weekends a lot lately and today was the first chance we've had in a while to go out for breakfast, which is one of our favourite weekend activities.

We like to try new places, and I'd read about a new cafe in Prahran in the Melbourne Agenda newsletter called Is It Cafe, so we headed to Greville Street to find it.

Except I couldn't remember its name.

So, we ended up at Babble instead. And I looked out the window and saw Is It Cafe across the road.

But we'd already ordered, and the poached eggs were runny and the coffee was good, so it wasn't a bad move.

And they were kind enough to let me take my leftover baked beans home in a coffee cup! I thought that was rather cute… and very accommodating.

I absentmindedly lifted it to my lips while walking around afterward… funny how the brain only half operates sometimes

I love their pretty duck egg blue takeaway cups.

Did you know Babble have a list you can put yourself on to get a free dinner on your birthday? So drop in, have a yummy brekky and put yourself on the list.

***

After breakfast, I saw a gorgeous boutique, A Shop Called Milton, with the cutest cat on the front counter (which was sitting so still that I thought it was taxidermy for a second…) and of course had to go in for a pat.

And saw the most adorable bouquet of flowers by The Flower Girl (whose fabrics I'm totally in love with too…)

It's so prettily vintage-looking with white daisies and red carnations, and I knew I had the perfect vase for it… a vintage milk glass vase my sister bought for me.

Isn't it just gorgeous?

And yes, that's parsley and rosemary in the posy. These truly look like I wandered out into the garden and plucked them myself. If I actually had a flower and herb garden.

But, it's an idea for the future, for when I do

***

So then I suggested we head a couple of hundred metres down the road to the Prahran market, where Mr K's never visited before. I just knew he'd love it, especially all the amazing cooking related stuff at The Essential Ingredient.

Where we picked up some Italian truffles on sale. From $37 down to $15. For two.

Mr K's going to put these in an omlette. Apparently they taste like mushrooms. But better. Y'know… being fungus and all.

I know it sounds extravagant, but if you think about it, it wouldn't be unusual to pay around $15 for an omlette at a cafe. Without truffles.

So, will be interesting to see what it's like.

I also picked up a teeny tiny little bottle of Italian soda, called Sanbitter, for a wee $1.95.

Boy, bitter wasn't wrong. This stuff is…. strange. I can't even really put my finger on the flavour.

Maybe like a blend of chinotto and very bitter grapefruit?

I gave it to Mr K to sip, and from his (prolonged) spluttering and gagging, and conviction that I was trying to poison him (I didn't think it was that bitter… sooky la la), I would say it's an…. acquired taste

But the bottle's cute. I like to use these little soda bottles for bud vases. They look lovely on window sills.

And the other thing I bought at The Essential Ingredient was this nifty teapot spout cleaner.

Not because I have a teapot to clean (I use teabags or teaball thingys), but because I cannot stand dirty drain holes.

Now, Mr K is horrified that I'm going to post photos of our dirty sink drain, but I assured him that we're definitely not the only one to have them. Because they're almost impossible to clean!

Without one of these.

Okay, so yucky, icky, embarrassing drain before.

A bit of bleach and teapot spout cleaner… and nice, shiny, proud-as-punch drain after

You have to get one. I'm pretty sure you could get them at most kitchen supply stores. If you care about drains like me, of course. I'm sure many people could think of few things less important than cleaning kitchen drains!

I get a kick out of it though. I'm one of those strange people who goes to sleep with a smile on her face because the kitchen sink is clean.

***

Unfortunately, by the time we dragged ourselves away from The Essential Ingredient, the market part was almost all packed up.

We should have gone there first, and The Essential Ingredient afterward, since it closes later.

We did have time to pick up the world's cutest bananas though. With the world's most adorable name.

These are Monkey Bananas.

The shopkeeper said they'll ripen and go yellow in 2-3 days. How much do you want to eat these itsy bitsy bananas??

I look forward to visiting again because it's honestly the best market in Melbourne for very high quality, wide variety of produce for very reasonable prices.

I also loved the jazz trio in the quad who performed Bing Crosby's feelgood hit, Accentuate the Positive.

You cannot not smile from ear to ear hearing this…

It was the highlight of my day

xx Kiki

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On Saturday I took advantage of the Melbourne sunshine and decided to get some much needed Vitamin D by doing my nails outside on the front doorstep.

I took off my socks and rolled up my pants and sleeves, just like my mother tells me, to get maximum exposure, because I'm worryingly low on Vitamin D after a very prolonged illness.

Anyway, I chose this Jessica Palladium polish that I've had in my stash for a while and, to be honest, kind of regretted buying.

It looks kind of greenish in the bottle, but I'd read another blogger raving about it and it was only $4 so I thought, what the hell?…

Wow! Shield your eyes… looking at Palladium is like looking directly into the sun.

This is the first Jessica polish I've tried, and now I get it. This stuff applies like an absolute dream. It might well be the easiest to apply nailpolish I've ever used.

This was a pretty thin formula, though, as you can see by the visible nail line. And that was four coats. But I'd be willing to try more from this brand, just to see if the formula's consistently good in application.

However, although I love gold in a nailpolish, it simply breaks my heart that my skin tone is just wrong for a full gold manicure.

Although it's not strictly a gold… it's more silvery. Maybe half silver, half gold? Although apparently palladium is similar to platinum. This is what it looks like…

Stunning. I want.

So, You know who Jessica Palladium reminds me of?

Boney M.

It's totally disco. Palladium is exactly the kind of nailpolish that would have looked amazing with their fabulous outfits and gorgeous skin.

Seriously, who doesn't love Boney M?

"Sunny! One so true… I love youuuuuu…"

Crank up your speakers cos you're going to want to dance to these disco babes. I wanna know if you can listen to Boney M and not feel like dancing

Ah memories… Boney M are part of the soundtrack to my childhood!

Oh, and how stunning is that black dress with the gold star bursts on it in that vid?? I want it so, so badly.

"Brown girl in the ring… tra la la la la…"

xx Kiki

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By the time it gets to 5pm on a Friday, my brain's begun the switch into weekend mode and started to fuzz out, like a radio losing reception…

My thoughts begin  drifting towards images of sleepy lie-ins, poached egg and baked bean breakfast at Las Chicas and, hopefully, lining up with the masses to see Inception. And away from words and the ability to string them together intelligently.

So today's post is just a random collection of Kiki Chaos, hastily pulled together before weekend brain kicks in completely.

First up… puppies!

But not just your run-of-the-mill maltese terrier, spoodle/cavoodle/labradoodle or half-breeds you usually see at the puppy-mill fronts (ie. pet shops).

These were Chinese Crested puppies, which I've never seen in the flesh before.

They're such funny looking creatures… like little wrinkled old men! (Apologies for the picture quality. It's so hard to take good photos through windows)

And this is what these little darlings will grow up to look like.

Eeep!

But they're positively gorgeous in comparison to their equivalent feline cousins.

Aaargh!

Holy moly. Someone call an exorcist.

So, apparently, owning either of these breeds requires bulk purchases of sunscreen because, yep, these hairless fellas are very susceptible to sunburn and skin cancer.

Poor things. I hope they're natural breeds and not the result of some narcissistic breeding program

***

Speaking of scary, I came across these mugs in an opshop today.

Imagine getting up in the night for a drink and opening the cupboard to see these staring at you.

Does anybody actually like clowns?

They're terrifying.

***

So, you know those free Avantcards you get in cafes and other places when you're out and about?

I picked up one the other day and just haven't been able to throw it away because I think it's so beautifully designed.

Another bad photo. But I just love how the little dots of light shimmer through her hair and glow in a halo haze around her head.

Don't you think it's stunning?

The card is advertising her single, Lights… you can listen to her music here if you're curious.

***

Okay, the fuzzies are closing in, so I'll finish up with a pic I took this afternoon.

You know that saying to stop and smell the roses? Well, in winter it could be to stop and appreciate the beauty of raindrops on blades of grass

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

xx Kiki

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