A laugh and a half

After having a few fairly intense past weeks on both home and work fronts (this year continues to surprise me), it was nice to let my hair down this weekend celebrating one of my uni friend’s birthdays at the The Comic’s Lounge in North Melbourne last night. Ten of us met there queuing on the stairs to get in where we had a booked table (thankfully in the middle not at the front) and where they do a good pub line up of fish and chips, pizza and chicken parmigiana etc. which most of us ordered before the fun began.

Kloke oversized shirt

We were treated to a warm up act by the host and then three sets of performances by six different comics which had us laughing at our tables. It’s been a long time between drinks for performers and the venue itself came close to shutting for good over the pandemic. Gold passes to see unlimited shows for a year are $70 each and some of the comedians were spruiking their wares at the end – if you can support them, I can highly recommend for a great night out.

Saarde natural/nutmeg towels

It’s been super cold and lucky you if you have headed to the mountains this long weekend to enjoy the bumper snow that’s fallen. Our house is our holiday, beach house and investment property all wrapped into one at the moment so we won’t be going anywhere for a while! Given the dark, it’s been great to see a number of inspiring-sounding indoor experiences including Bruce Monro’s light installation From Sunrise Road from 25 June at Heide in Bulleen, The Picasso Century at the NGV and Light: Works from Tate’s Collection at ACMI which both started last Thursday and Vincent van Gogh currently showing at digital art gallery The Lume Melbourne.

Frankie4 sneakers

While we’ve now found our forever home, I still enjoying looking at houses and this showstopper in Merton Street Ivanhoe has caught my eye as well as the quiet charm of these two houses in Valentine and Green Streets in Ivanhoe. The former looks like the home of a creative couple and I love the parkland access of the latter. Not all houses have to be obvious to be attractive in much the same way as people.

Bared ballet flats

If you’re a fan of Angus and Celeste, their sale is currently on and while I’ve not had the budget to indulge – I love this oversized shirt with green detailing from Kloke (above first image) as well as some of the middle eastern-inspired homewares from Saarde. While I have returned to wearing platform or block heeled shoes (no higher than 6cm), most women in the city are still wearing flats and they are a lot more comfy! I’ve got my eye on these Frankie 4 sneakers and Bared work flats for summer. Stay warm peeps.

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The guilty feminist

It’s the hugely popular comedy podcast that a number of my friends and colleagues listen to and it’s being recorded live at The Thornbury Theatre on Saturday night if you’re interested in going. They’ve had some big names in the past and for a media and marketing person like me – it’s been interesting to witness the exponential rise of podcasts in Australia and globally over the past few years. In many ways, I think they’ve taken the place of live radio and are a more intimate channel for communication given it’s voices you are listening to.

Speaking of women, tickets are on sale for the Banyule Women in Business lunch (above) with KeepCup co-founder Abigail Forsyth at the Rosanna Golf Club on Friday 22 March and they were down to their last 24 tickets when I booked yesterday! There are still tables of 10 available if you’re interested in hosting a group and it’s a great networking opportunity if you are a local business owner. Mr Rosanna and I both know Abigail’s brother and co-owner Jamie whom we last ran into, of all places, at the airport on our return flight home from Athens last year. I believe they are now looking into takeaway plastic containers with a similar eye and I applaud them for tackling the issue from an environmental perspective – single use plastic items are a scourge.

If you are a home-based business, Banyule Council is actually running a business networking survey if you’ve got a spare 5 – 10 minutes to submit your response (and go into the draw to win a gift voucher or iPad mini). It can get lonely working on your own and as a past freelancer, I used to look forward to my client visits for that very reason as well as the opportunity to meet other like-minded people in small businesses who are often the lifeblood of local communities like ours.

A few other things to mention today – Mr Rosanna and I are now on the hunt for a mid-century armchair and if you’ve got a piece you’re interested in re-upholstering, then Carlo’s Upholstery in Thornbury was recommended to us by Philip Syber from Contemporary Vintage. I’ve not bought any clothes for a while but I’ve been enjoying looking at some of Kloke’s new season arrivals (images pictured above and below from Kloke website) and they are having a studio sample sale tomorrow in Collingwood.

Finally, This is not a drill sustainable furniture show featuring pieces from some of the Banyule Art Collection opened at Hatch Contemporary Art Space yesterday and would be a good one to visit if you’re in Ivanhoe. I did take my new team in for lunch at Pinkie on Tuesday but didn’t get a chance to pop my head in.