The Fashion parade was part of the Under the Blue Moon Festival, a celebration of all things ‘darkly beautiful’ which took place from 27th September to 6th October this year. I’m disappointed I’m only now finding out about this event, I would have loved to have gone to the fashion show. I find the culture utterly fascinating, and the fashions are quite amazing. All that corsetry and lace, I think its beautiful.

"The audience can enter the world of the fascinating, fetishistic and fiery, the romantic and risqué, subversive and sexy" says Liz Evanov, producer. "It will be a true morph of alternative fashion and performance where fashion comes alive on the catwalk in a way not seen before in Sydney… burlesque divas and piratical fiends are all part of the viewing pleasure."

Images from:news.com.au photo gallery.

Blue Day 2008 are calling for those active in the social media space to contribute to depression and anxiety awareness. You can follow BlueDay2008 on Twitter or become a fan of their Facebook page.

Here is my personal story…

I’ve always been an insomniac. I go through periods where 3-4 hours of sleep a night is the best I can manage. I’ve seen many doctors about it, and all they ever did wasprescribe a course of sleeping pills and send me on my (not so merry) way. In December 2006 I had another onset of insomnia, I saw a local doctor several times over a period of 2-3 months, she kept asking if I had any ‘worries’ on my mind, to which I responded no. She prescribed increasingly strong sleeping pills, none of which helped. After 3 months of very little sleep I was despairing. I felt terrible, I couldn’t sleep, I didn’t want to be around anyone, I couldn’t see myself ever feeling good again. I sought a second opinion and was instantly diagnosed with severe GAD (Generalised Anxiety Disorder) and depression (triggered by the anxiety). I felt so releived to know there was actually something wrong with me, and that something could be done about it. I was prescribed Lexapro and this had an almost immediate impact on me. But the first step in getting better was the feeling that the doctor actually understood me and wanted to help, I finally had HOPE.

A common misconception in relation to anxiety is that it means you are worried about something. The doctor I first saw kept asking me if I was worried about something, and the fact was, I wasn’t. I’d had a bad 12 months leading up to my diagnosis, and there were a lot of things floating around in my head. For me, anxiety means my brain rarely switches off, it means I over-think things that rationally I know don’t need to be over-thought, but there’s a trigger in my brain that stops me from turning these thoughts off. It’s unfortunate that there are many health care professionals out there who lack an understanding of an illness that affects so many people.

There are so many misconceptions about depression. One that bugs me is when people think being depressed is being sad. WRONG! It is a CLINICAL CONDITION, it goes so far beyond being sad, it means you lose all hope and motivation, you think you are worth nothing. It’s not something that you can just ‘snap out of’ its something that you need help to manage. And it can be managed, with medication and/or counselling. Depression doesn’t mean you can’t function effectively within society. If I didn’t tell you I’m an anxiety and depression sufferer, you’d never guess – I’m hopelessly optimistic and I’m almost always smiling or laughing (except for when I’m daydreaming and staring off into space).

Depression affects us all, if you think you don’t know somebody who suffers from depression or a related illness, you’re most likely wrong.

Depression and those I love. In my life I have known:
A wonderful person who took their own life.
A post traumatic stress disorder sufferer who went undiagnosed for over 20 years.
A post natal depression & anxiety sufferer who went undiagnosed for 7 years.
A friend who tried to take her life, and thankfully did not succeed.
A friend’s son who was diagnosed with anxiety and can now function as a regular school-going kid.
And many others.

This skirt is my favourite of the bunch…

These two are very close seconds…

The skirt is much lighter than in the picture, ‘pinker’ you might say.

See more of my lovely eBay buys here.

The reason I was checking out Novo’s website, is that I strolled past one of their Sydney stores a few days ago and saw the latest from Giselle Bundchen’s Ipanema range, named G2B.

I already have one pair of Ipanema thongs, this is them…

They’re really comfy, as well as being cuter than your standard Havianas.

The one’s that caught my eye in Novo the other day were these fab little orange sandals, like the jelly shoes I used to wear when I was eight.

I just love these, so very cute! They also had these…

…which I much prefer in pink, but no pink pictures to be found. And last but not least, these very nice little purple numbers…

I’ve decided exercising in the mornings is easiest, and it gives me so much more energy to fight the day too. I’m not going to start swimming for another 2 weeks or so at this stage, I definitely need to build my fitness up before I attempt that, as it really is hard work (hence it being so good for you).

Wish me luck as my quest continues!

As you can see from this photo, I had on red shoes, a red top, red jacket and what you can’t see is the red bangle I also wore. Look closer and you’ll see that I’m also wearing a garnet ring. In terms of jewellery I wear either garnets set in silver or rubies set in gold – both, yep you guessed it, red stones!

I love the colour red, its just so fabulous! I have many red things in my wardrobe, but above all things, I love red shoes
My latest and greatest pair of red shoes are my patent leather Mary Janes, I’ve searched high and low for a pair of shoes just like this for over two years, and it’s such a victory to have found them. They’re magical, just like Dorothy’s!

Here are a few more of my favourite red shoes (this is by no means an indication of my entire collection of red shoes, let alone my entire collection of shoes!)

Dior Watch

Isn’t it just divine? Perhaps you’d like to buy it for me for a Christmas present, it’s only $25,750 ;o)

I’m not overweight, not by any means. I was always the girl everyone hated, the girl who couldn’t gain weight if she tried. But that changed a few years ago, it must be part of the aging process… POOH! About 4 years ago I put on weight for the first time in my life, and it freaked me out, so I stopped having KFC for lunch everyday, joined the gym and became a lot more concerned with what I put into my body. I lost the few kilos I’d gained and kept it off for about 2 years. I even dropped a couple more kilos to become the thinnest I’d ever been. I wasn’t unhealthily skinny, I was just enjoying working out so much that I spent an hour and a half in the gym five days a week. Being pear-shaped I was pretty damn happy to fit into size 9 jeans (I wouldn’t even dream of fitting into size 8!).

At the beginning of last year, I was in a new full time job, recently diagnosed with depression & anxiety and had just commenced part time study for the first time. Needless to say, the exercise regime went out the window. I just couldn’t keep it up. It’s now been 18 months since I went to the gym regularly. I weigh more than I ever have in my life. I’m not unhappy with my weight, I’d just love to be able to fit back into some of my favourite clothes again! Trust me, losing weight is a lesser challenge than having to re-fit my whole wardrbobe!!

So what’s the plan now? I’m giving myself a slow start so that I don’t demotivate myself. This week I start eating healthy. Ham &  low-fat cheese or turkey & avocado toasties for lunch, fruit for snacks, stir fries and healthy pasta for dinner. I’m not a breakfast person, but trying to have a protein shake of a morning to get the metabolism going. For dessert its fruit with vanilla yoghurt or Kellogs Complete Muesli with low fat greek yoghurt (sometimes that can be breakfast too, I could live on yoghurt & muesli… NOM NOM NOM!) None of that is hard to eat, its all food I really enjoy. Coming into summer there’s going to be a lot more yummy fruit too, nectarines are my favourite!

I’ll be starting slowly on the exercise too, I really enjoy exercising at home on fit balls, with hand weights and exercise DVDs. I tried pumping up my fit balls yesterday, but couldn’t find the plugs… DOH! I went online and ordered some plugs as well as a mini trampoline. The hope is that I’ll be able to spend about an hour 6 days a week doing something active, and mostly it can be in front of the TV. I’d also like to re-learn how to swim, its great exercise and I enjoy it. It’s easy to get discouraged though because it works out every muscle in your body, so it really hurts, and its so hard to swim 50 metres when you’re first getting into it. I’ll also be doing a pilates DVD twice a week, I love pilates, it makes me feel so good and it hurts in all the right places – butt, things & tummy.

Wish me luck, and watch this space for updates!

What’s going to be hot this spring?

• Floral & retro prints
• Fluoro & bright colours
• Maxi or mini dresses
• Gladiator style shoes

What will I be wearing this Spring?

I try to have a good mix of classic pieces in my wardrobe, and I think Spring is the season for mixing & matching. You need to layer carefully, because you never can tell how warm or cool it might be. In spring I’m a big fan of skirts with boots. I also love retro 70s style, so I’ll be looking for a few nice paisley numbers. Since I love the retro look, I love a maxi dress, I have a couple from last summer, and will be teaming them up with cute little cardis.

What will adorn my feet this spring? Anything and everything, I am a shoe girl after all ;o) However I adore the Gladiator trend, I am in LOVE with Sachi’s Bondage and also like the cute gladiator flats. I’m not quite sure about the knee high gladiators though, will keep an eye out for them on the streets and see how they fare. I’ll also be getting back into the peep toes, and combining them with some fishnets or going bare (weather permitting).

What will you be wearing as the weather warms up?

I thought for my first blog post I’d introduce myself and my hopes for this blog.

I’m Joolliee, or Joolz. I live in Sydney’s Inner West and work in Digital PR in the CBD. I love where I live and I love my job. My greatest joy in life comes from spending time with my best friend Becca, niece Rhiannan and nephew Liam(I’m sure they’ll all rate the occasional mention). I also enjoy live music, movies, reading and football (soccer… Go Sydney FC!!).

One of my greatest passions in life (or is it a downfall?) is fashion. I love shopping and I love shoes. It’s unfortunate that I live in a small apartment with a small wardrobe, but don’t worry I find a way to make it work ;o)

Bearing all of that in mind, I think this blog will mostly centre around fashion, shopping and shoes… with the occasional book, movie or gig review, and of course associated comments on the fashions involved.

I hope you’ll join me on my journey in blogging, I think I’ll enjoy it, and I hope you will too.

Jx