Carla Gypsygirl's Blurty

The Love Files
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In the office I share with Hana the Fashion Designer, we have heaps of fashion magazines that we don't read. So part of my job lately has been to flip through them all and tear out inspirational pictures for our upcoming ranges. It has been an utterly splendid way to pass the time. I tend to forget that I'm working- especially when I get distracted and start reading the articles.

When I am doing this lovely task, I have two piles that grow before me on my desk: things that my company will love, and things that I love. So I have gathered a wonderful pile of photos, articles, illustrations and typography examples. There's black-and-white rock chick photos shoots, articles about musicians I like, colourful dresses, polka-dotted things...a whole magpie collection of things that have grabbed my attention and inspired me.

Using these magazine tear-outs, I have started a journal I call "The Love Files". It's an A4 purple art diary, and inside it, I glue all the pictures I tore out. Sometimes I write down what exactly I like about the picture (eg. "Love this graphic- cute and strong, with a faint whiff of Christmas about it"). It gives me a lot of pleasure to flick through The Love Files, and surprisingly, it is relaxing and comforting to put it together. It's nice to remind myself of things that I like, and why I live in a certain way.

But there are some things that I just can't find in "Vogue" magazine, but I love all the same. So here is a list of my latest loves.

BEN FOLDS
"Here's a tip," my 18-year-old rock star brother said, "When you're with your boyfriend, you shouldn't say you love so many things." Derrick said this as soon as I declared, "I love Ben Folds!" I checked with Geoff, though, and he says he doesn't mind that I love Ben Folds (and gelato, ballet shoes, Autumn and anything with stars on it). After many years of devotion to Ben Folds Five and then Ben Folds on his lonesome, I finally trekked out to see Ben Folds perform live. And oh, it was most glorious. Even before I went to see him, I was having fun. It was a bit of a reunion of Carla's Crazy Friends. In my frenzy to buy a tour t-shirt before the show began (white with a picture of tulips on it- very nice), I found myself wandering around the dancefloor section of the Enmore Theatre, desperately trying to find Geoff and Sonya. But then, who should turn around and lock eyes with me, but my friend CRAZY PAUL, from my Grace Bros/Myer days! Crazy Paul, wearing a black felt bowler hat! Crazy Paul, who used to practice saying with me, "Do you have a Fly Buys card?" in funny voices and accents! I hadn't seen him for about 2 years, and it was lovely to know that he was as nutty as ever. And then (and then!) who should tap me on the shoulder, but my good friend Niccola Vera Von Woof, and her lovely boyfriend Charlie! They'd arrived fresh from "Discovery after Dark", which Niccola designed a very swanky logo for. Niccola and Charlie were dressed up and looked utterly charming. "We shared an elevator with Bob Carr," Charlie told us. Geoff asked if they had spoken to him, and Charlie answered enthusiastically, "No, but we smelt his breath!" Niccola and Paul got on like a house on fire. As the Ben Folds punters pressed in closer, Paul amused us all by declaring loudly, "In crowds, I get really claustrophobic...I spin around, and I get dizzy, and I faint..."

But back to the concert. Ben Folds strode onto the stage looking, as Sonya described, "like a massive geek". He wears thick-rimmed glasses now, which is very cute. But his geekiness and under-dog attitude is one of the reasons why I love him. You can judge for yourself in the illustration above. Ben Folds opened with a cover of The Cure's "Inbetween Days", which was very cute and sweet. He played a lot of the hits. "Brick" sounded even more personal and saddening live, and "Evaporated" was lyrically stronger. "Army" involved a lot of audience participation- we all had to pretend to be trumpets. One of the great things about seeing Ben Folds live is that his lyrics are very witty, so the crowd giggled a lot. His cover of a Nelly/Snoop Dogg song was also hilarious. But, lyrics and goofiness aside, the man is a genious- he plays the piano like he's got four hands, and even indulged in some electric guitar for us at the end of "Rockin' the Suburbs". No wonder there were so many people singing the lyrics at the tops of their lungs (I knew nearly all the songs- cool), and two girls AND a guy passed out! After the concert, Niccola said to me, "I love him even more, now- he's just so sweet."

MY NEW PHONE
Until last Thursday night, I had never bought a mobile phone in my life. People had always given me their old ones. But, with my cute, purple and quite ancient Nokia dying a slow and sad death, I closed my eyes and stepped into a Vodaphone store for a nice, shiny silvery new phone. And now I can't stop touching it. Instead of trying to educate myself by reading Chekov on the bus home, I find myself eagerly looking at the pictures in my phone, and marvelling at how the buttons press so silently. Another bohemian bites the dust.

COOKING
In my ever-present desire for independence and excitement in life, I woke up one morning and decided that I was going to become the best-ever cook in the world, ever. So yesterday, I braved the local Woolies in my quest for the best ingredients that this suburb has to offer. But my goodness, it is so cut-throat out there. Once, I was at the top of the 8 Items or Less queue, and my very nice boyfriend happened to call me. I was chatting away pleasantly on my mobile, when the woman behind me said, "For goodness sake," in a really huffy voice, and shoved past me and took my place at the next free register! Once I arrived home from the gauntlet, I made: 1 pizza (anchovies, olives, basil and mozzarella cheese), 1 big portion of pasta sauce, 1 boiled sweet potato and 1 container of chopped carrot sticks. I am a healthy (and exhausted) force to be reckoned with.

Live large, take lots of photos and be nice, my friends. And remember: it is good and healthy to be zany. Probably more healthy than carrot sticks, even.