This is the good stuff

Sometimes you just want to be told what to get. Making decisions about lip balms and bags and stationary gets too much and sometimes all you want is a recommendation of something tried, tested and adored by someone you know. As a friend of the people, I am eager to serve and have therefore compiled a list of all my favourite bits, bobs and products that I use religiously in my day to day life.

Lip Balm: Coconut Revolution Original Coconut Lip Balm $8.95

Backpack: Herschel Pop Quiz in black $110

Purse: Status Anxiety Dakota in Sky Blue $75

Notebook: A sentence a day black Kikki K notebook $24.95

Pen: Delfonics Wooden Ballpoint Mini Pen in Red $11.95

BB cream: Garnier Oil Free BB cream in light $12.39

Eyebrow shaping kit: Benefit Cosmetics Brow Zings in medium $55

Make-up remover: Virgin Coconut oil (this varies in price so as long as it ticks the boxes of being virgin, unrefined and organic, any will do ! You can use the same type of coconut oil on your body as you do in your cooking)

Yoga: Hot and power yoga at Yoga Flame in Moonee Ponds $19 casual concession (discount class package deals available).

Milkshake: The salted caramel shake at 8Bit in Footscray $6.50

-Beth

'What's in my Bag?' Series: Christine.

Wherever I go, I always have some sort of bag with me - whether it's my backpack for uni, my canvas bag for work, or a handbag for anything else, there's a range of things that remain constant and get swapped in and out of all of them, and here they are!

Kikki.K Large Leather Personal Planner: this is by far my most go-to item and the one thing that I cannot live without! My planner is filled with to-do lists, my uni notebook, sticky notes, page markers, cute quote stickers and of course, a weekly view diary set out on the inside so I can write everything coming up in the next few weeks. Could not recommend these enough! :)

Pen Purse: the long purse-looking-thing on the side is in fact my main pencil case! I found it in Japan last year at a department store called 'Loft' (which my sister and I loved!) It has an open/close function like a purse, but is long enough to store all pens and pencils! Such a cute idea!

Wallet: my large orange wallet stores all of my loose change, receipts and has many compartments and card-slots so I can store everything neatly.

Keys: I'm always driving places so definitely need these! Plus I get to show off my cute little Gorman watermelon key chain that I got for free for signing up to their emails.. so cute! :)

Dove Deo: just because.

Soap and Glory Spray Moisturiser: I love carrying this around, especially when I am rushing in the morning to get ready! This moisturiser is perfect for on-the-go and also makes you smell super sweet!

Re-User Water Bottle: to keep hydrated! :)

Phone: always handy.

Business Cards: because you never know when exciting opportunities may arise :)

I would love to see what the inside of some of your handbags looks like! If you have any cute set-ups or bits you would like to rave about hashtag #inmybagmosaik so we can share and see what you pack!

- Christine

Aidan's Online Oddities: Reddit 101

Have you ever wondered where Facebook gets all those funny posts from? All those memes about Netflix and chill? News about extraordinary people living around the world? Chances are those posts originated from Reddit.

Reddit has long been a part of my everyday living and if you’ve never heard of it I can only describe it as a massive forum of ideas, pictures and individuals from all over the globe contributing to all sorts of different communities through different ‘sub-reddits’. Think of Reddit as an umbrella in which all matter of interesting topics fall under that anyone can contribute to.

Now to the good stuff. No matter what your interests, Reddit probably has it. Game of thrones fan? /r/gameofthrones. Into Hip-Hop music? /r/hiphopheads. Love beautiful pictures taken in all sorts of amazing places? /r/earthporn. This is a speck of what can be found on reddit and the rabbit hole goes so much further than you think. There is literally an entire sub-reddit for “Fiveheads” (foreheads that seem to have a 1-up on everyone else's).

I’ll let you in on some of my favourite sub-reddits.

/r/Melbourne – All things Melbourne. From great restaurant recommendations to news and going-ons within and around the city.

/r/AskReddit – Stories from other redditors on a particular topic. Asking anything from: “What is the best show or series on TV right now?” to: “Did a student ever offer you sex to pass a class? If yes how did you react and what were the further consequences?”. You can get some hilarious and crazy stories with this one.

/r/WTF – This one is self-explanatory. I just watched a leopard jump out of a roof and chase the roof repairman.

But by far the best thing about Reddit is that it is controlled by the users. Users determine if a post is worthy by giving it an ‘upvote’. If they never want that post seen again, they give it a ‘downvote’. The more upvotes, the greater the chance people will see it.

I strongly recommend reddit to anyone and everyone because it literally is for anyone and everyone. Create an account at Reddit.com and if you like it, get the chrome/firefox extension “Reddit Enhancement Suite”. It makes viewing and navigating the website a tonne easier. Thanks for attending Reddit 101. You’re first task is to find a sub-reddit you love. (Spoiler: It’s not that hard).

- Aidan

Why Not Take a Class?!

"What would you like for your birthday?" my sister asked me.

My inner monologue when asking myself this question was:
C: 'I already have everything I need/want' (we're so lucky!)
'What is something that would be cool to have?'
'A skill?'
'A skill would be pretty cool!'
So I asked if I could attend a brush-script lettering class which was something I've wanted to do for ages!

I booked straight into a one-day brush-script lettering class at Old School New School in Abbotsford. On the day I was so excited! I wore all of my 'crafty human' clothes including my new polka-dot Gorman raincoat that I bought myself with a Gorman voucher I received for my birthday.

Abbotsford was absolutely beautiful and as soon as I parked my car, the atmosphere was incredible as there was a farmers market going on just next door to the typography school that I was attending. Veronica (our teacher) welcomed us all with an unlimited amount of tea, cakes and biscuits and we were quickly settled into the gorgeous exposed-brick studio.

We initially started learning how to use our brush-script pens, learning how to control upper and downward strokes, where to make lines ascend and descend to, how to grid our letters so they appear even and structured... I had honestly never thought that there was such focus and timing put into these amazing signs and hand-lettering techniques, but I loved every minute of it!

The whole day flew by so fast and it was so therapeutic focusing on every single stroke I was putting down on the page (as well as having some goodies from the Convent Bakery to satisfy my hunger)... and I honestly can not fault one second of the whole day. Veronica our teacher made the day so enjoyable, giving us useful tips, doing live examples of lettering, teaching us how to personalise our lettering and also by playing a little bit of Barbara Streissand to lighten up the mood (loved it!). 

If there's one thing I would recommend, it's to ask for a class for your birthday. I have another three to look forward to in the next few months including: a weaving class in October, a two-day handmade holiday class in November and a cooking class at the South Melbourne market too. I cannot wait for all of these and there's nothing better than learning a skill to take on-board with you forever!

Old School New School also offer 5 day classes that teach brush-script lettering, copperplate calligraphy, fraktur and broad pen lettering, you can do most of these as one-day classes too. Check out their website to find out more:

http://newschoolfordesignandtypography.com/learning/

-Christine

La Onda De Elia y Elizabeth.

Elia y Elizabeth (Elia and Elizabeth) were a Columbian sister duo in the 1970s. The music of the two sisters were reordered with a well known music arranger in Latin America Jimmy Salcedo. The sounds of Elia y Elizabeth were quite underrated and hidden from the pop music history of Latin America in the 1970s. Their sound is a unique combination of soft 70's pop with Latin American folk. Their album and recordings are historic of representing the possibilities and discovering of the recording studio. The duo compile beautiful and fine melodies, in corporation with Spanish lyrics which are inspired by the idea of youthful thinking, expressing mysteries of life, love, nature and their country, their recordings lay a historic ground into the exploration of music and sound in their time.

I found the duo on Sound Cloud as I was fishing though a profile and without any background knowledge on the artists, the sounds soon made me feel as if I was in a summery place looking over bushland with a view of the ocean.  This was soothing to me, enabling me to escape for a while from the cold bitter weather that Melbourne is currently experiencing. The soft voices of both Elia and Elizabeth are so harmonious and combine beautifully with the music, holding together a moment in time and the sounds of classic pop in the 1970s.

Although I am not fluent or really know much Spanish, from translating the lyrics I grew fond of the historical aspect that is brought together when you read or listen to their songs. The lyrics definitely do stand their place in time, and tell us of a view of Spain's cultural and social aspects from a youthful and somewhat juvenile perspective. For instance, their song Descripcion meaning Description is a true perspective of a teenage girl's imagination in lust and adoration for someone. Drawing their lyrics back to describing the landscape and scenery of Colombia they use this scenery to portray the beauty they see in a certain loved one or significant other. Conjuring the love and passion for a person and their land, insight into a perspective of a young girl growing up in 1970's Latin America is found. 

Overall their  album La Onda De Elia y Elizabeth is great to listen to in the car, at a park, by the beach, at home, anywhere calm really, and is definitely worth a listen to so you can form your own interpretations and feelings towards where the recording of Elia y Elizabeth can take you. 

You can listen to the La Onda De Elia y Elizabeth in full on Spotify

-Isabella