dear uncle.....

Hello Unc,

How are you? It feels like forever since I have last spoken to you. What have you been up to this past year? In the last 365 days so much has changed. Where do I start?

Ummmmm I guess you'd be glad to know that I'm not teaching in Western Australia anymore....I know you missed me so much when I was gone so I'm a lot closer to home now. It's weird because I got offered a job out at Young when I was over in America on holidays....Oh yeah and America was the bomb! I can't wait to go back to Nashville so I can drown myself in country music....Yeah I know you'd love it there.....have you heard any good country songs lately? Or how about you tell me some old school country songs and I will download them for you.

What else? You should see Khie now.....he is such a little rat bag....He runs around sticking up his finger at people and swearing in his little husky voice....and you should see his curls.....and they way he runs like a little tank..... he looks so much like Masi aye....and he is like best buddies with him.

Oh and Uncle....you'll never guess what.....Khie is a big brother now!!! Mia Rose....she's the prettiest lil thing ever.....terrible cute fat legs and they all call her Possum....I know you'd like that.....she's always awake at night and she has the cutest brown eyes ever! I can't wait until you meet her.

Oh yeah and Skep is over at the moment. He came home to visit you too.

Mum and Dad are still the same.....just getting older....Dad is still blarring his Gaither DVD's all the time.....I wreckon you'd like the Nashville one he's got on rotation at the moment.

Oh yeah and Pulu is getting ready to graduate......can you believe she is going to be a teacher as well? She has her interviews on Tuesday...so don't forget to wish her luck. She'd love it if you could call her.

And as for you other God-daughter; Lisapeta is still the same. She bloody lost her licence again for drink driving....I know she never learns right! She isn't with Paul anymore and I think it's a good thing cause she is trying to figure her own shit out....but hopefully she'll get back on track and stay there....

Yeah Masi has a really good paying job now.....Still driving trucks but making some more money now so don't forget to hit him up for a loan when you see him next cause you'll know he's good for it then.

The family in Sydney are good....Same old really.....Nuki was mucking up a little bit but I think he's settled down now....they just got back from New Zealand cause Cuz launched his niuean CD over there.

And you wouldn't believe how mellow Aunty is these days. I swear you probably wouldn't even recognise her now. I mean she looks the same.....she is just so quiet now. You probably wouldn't know what to do with her. I think she just misses you so much. You know its not the same without seeing you in the lounge room or hearing your voice. She probably misses making you your black tea in your  favourite cup. I think she also misses nagging you about the phonebill as well as the drives to town and back in your Ford.

I swear everyone misses you so much....Wreck Bay is still the same....I think the bush misses you too.......misses you wondering around and bringing all those palagi tourists in to visit.

Well Uncle, I wish I could stay and chat longer.
I think about you everyday.
I wish I could see you and give you a hug but for now I'll just have to settle with this letter.



I hope you are okay.

Love you forever,

Melly High xo

melbourne

So a fortnight ago my sister and her besties (yes I was the blues guy) piled in our car to take the 6 hour road trip down to Melbourne to visit Mr. Marando. We were crazy enough to leave at 2am in the morning as we were waiting for our other friend to make it passed the road blocked bridge at Kangaroo Valley and we managed to drive through the night to arrive the next day in the chilly capital.

I don't know some of you might think that 6 hours is a bit of a trek but I think we are used to it making the 5 hour drive to college so often and on the plus side a return trip to Melbourne only cost each of us a few hours driving + $50 petrol money.

Both Kate (also a teacher) and I needed to escape the job just for the weekend and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to visit and see what all the fuss is about. The markets were like any old markets...but I did enjoy the lovely shops and restaurants in the side streets of the city. So many places I need to get back to!!

What I wore: Top from Opshop 50cents (I got a whole bag for $6 and I fit a whole bunch of stuff in it). Plain black tights $8, necklace from Forever 21, side bag $1 and Nike kicks that I got in Cali for $45. My sister and I played swapsies and she wore my shoes and put my black boots on for dinner.

Beautiful breakfast made by Micheal.

We also managed to catch a show....Rock of Ages.....seriously it was just so light hearted and funny. Some people might turn up their nose at it because its not deep...but like I always say....I'm no snob....I FREAKING LOVED IT!!! It featured so many of our (my sister and I) favourite Supernatural songs!!!! YEW!! Anyways I wanted to be a hero and wear a dress because I was so sick of covering up.....anyways I got a cold from it.....Thanks to my sisters miraculous chicken soup...I was all better in 3 days.

We also ate LOTS at the Crown Casino buffet!!! The dessert was just delicious!
We were also lucky enough to catch up with one of our sisters from college who has taken up her first year out teaching in Melbourne....Next time Lolo we will stay longer!! Sorry my postings may seem so uneventful lately....I haven't had much time to sit down and do as much as I would like....I'm always trying to catch up with everyone...ever since I returned back from America I have only had one weekend home.....so please accept my apologies.

As for the clothes.....I didn't really have anything exciting to wear and I am really sick of boring winter clothes, so both my sister and I wore my bright floral jackets I picked up in Nowra at an Opshop for $2 each. I love the shoulder detailing on the jacket my sister wore.....I chickened out and wore my trusty chucks because I knew we were going to be walking all over the city......Hope you are all well......and thanks for reading.

Big Love,

Falala Mele xo

deep dish & blues

So just a quick post from the OOTD when I was is Chicago. We went to try some of Chicago's famous deep dish pizza. From memory I think we went to Gino's East.  The pizza was different but I still liked it. After feeding our faces we went to Buddy Guy's Blues Lounge and that place was freaking AHMAZING!!! Packed out with blues lovers and a guaranteed good time.

 How much do you love my friend Emma's dress and hair! It was the first time she tried this "do" and I have to say that it looks fabulous!

 We were obsessed with the walls.....we enjoyed scribbling all over it.

 
Top: Best and Less, Tights: Kmart, Boots: Target, Earrings: Equip

home

Okay so being home isn't all that bad.....aside from the freezing cold weather and new job (argghhhh I kinda hate the full time gig....no I'm gonna be honest and I say I would much rather have the money to go where I want and do what I want without the job) its pretty damn wonderful that I can escape on the weekends and meet up with my beloved sisters and friends.
Even though its a 3.5 hour drive to get back to Sydney.....the time flew....... sharing conversations about the new job and plans for future travel and business ventures.....it was enough to make me forget that I was only 1 week into a 2 term full time job. So at 9:30pm we (Niva, Sia and Pulu) met for coffee and spent the next three hours talking and laughing about everything and nothing.

We had enough time to share some pics from the holiday and then  we managed to get a few hours sleep before getting up early to make our eyelash appointment (fake eyelashes are the best! all you need is some bronzer and you're good to go!) and then jumped on train to get to city to meet up with Jadey to have some lunch (heartbroken that we couldn't stay for her party....but I had to get back for work >,< ).

I wanted to be warm and comfortable so I wore my yellow converse shoes ($25) that I picked up in California. Basic black tights ($7), my sisters scarf from Forever 21 ($8) and old floral shirt that I have also worn here previously as well as my jacket from Kmart ($19 I think) worn here.....I basically have a few favourite things that I just love to wear....so I wear them.

Happy 21st Birthday Jadey (center)

So we ate and we were merry......Ain't no place like home.


Big Love,

Falala Mele xo

grand central park

so I know its in all the movies and television shows...but I had no idea how big grand central park is!!! Its freaking amazing......I managed to make my way down to the park twice but it still wasn't enough time to explore....I plan to leave two whole days next time to just wander around the park and watch New York pass me by. The first day we only had like an hour and a half free before we went inside the Met....we waited in line to see the Alexander McQueen show...Savage Beauty was worth the nearly 2 hour wait although I wish it wasn't so damn crowded and full of the type of people who say "oh his stuff looks like Lady Gaga" buuuuuut even though it kinda killed my life....I'm no pretend snob and I think its wonderful that his beautiful pieces can be appreciated or at least seen by people from all walks of life.

But yes, back to the park...it was sunny, filled with people and squirrels...(okay so it might be boring to you Americans but its so exciting for us Australians....I guess its how you guys would be if you saw a kangaroo) so we were feeding the squirrels nuts until we got told off by a crazy lady...she told us homeless people try to eat them and we shouldn't feed them..... but I also tried a hot dog.....I just had to....like I said before I'm a total tourist and I even acted out the scene in brown sugar when Taye Diggs munches down on one and says "shoot I love these bad boys".....its just one of the many scenes from new york that was imprinted in my mind before I had even arrived so it made it so much more fun to relive it all for real.... HA HA HA HA some would say lame.....but I don't care!

So even though I had wonderful ideas of looking beautiful everyday wearing my common sense and need for fashion to be comfortable and practical meant that I was yet again in my converse shoes....I had a lot of walking to do. I wore my vintage skirt that had been longer and too small around the waist but I just cut the waist and hemmed it lower and it fit nicely...YAY!!! The skirt was $2 and I love how it moves. I swear people do not know how to make clothes fit now....I also have a matching top but its too much to wear all together so I wore the top another night.....I found so many wonderful pieces at this remote outback opshop. Seriously the majority of my suitcase was made up of opshop finds that cost less then $20 all together! I paired it with my white loose top from Kmart because I wanted to feel pretty and girly...but cool and comfortable also.