Tiara King's Blog: Jewel Divas Style, page 77

BOOK STYLE: The Golden Key and Junky Joke Book

I’ve been writing for what seems like forever. I wrote my first novel in 2006, my second in 2008, my third in 2010, my fourth in 2013 along with four non-fiction books. 

I first self-published book two and three in 2011 and my first in 2013, the rest in 2014. But I didn’t realise that I had already self-published many a year ago.

When I was 12 and in year 7 at primary school  I did two books, The Golden Key and the Junky Joke Book.

The Golden Key was a school project where we teamed up with someone else and wrote and illustrated a book for the school library. I wrote it, another kid illustrated it and we put it together and made a book.

My first foray into publishing.

I was a huge fan of 80s pop group Pseudo Echo at the time and had a mad crush on the drummer, so he featured in the book. Because we didn’t get to keep it, I made myself another one years later.

The Junky Joke Book was a computer based joke book we made up on the old Apple computers way back in 1986 when not much was done on pcs.

It’s all done with pixels, I think, and we just coloured them in later as well as drew in what we couldn’t do on the pc. I ended up keeping it. Not sure how, but figured my hard work was not going to anyone else. There are more pages but these were the best ones. I’ve also blanked out the names of the other authors.

 

MY STYLE: WHAT I WORE

OUTFIT
TOP: Kmart sequin tank for $15
PANTS: Millers snakeskin summer for $18
SHOES: Spendless Shoes, new, for $30
JEWELLERY: Chain store earrings, butterfly ring and silver bangle, everything else from eBay.

FASHION STYLE: ‘On Trend’, a phrase that needs to go!

On Trend, a phrase that needs to be removed from the vocabulary. Along with Luxe, Boho Luxe (bohemian luxury), must-have, investment, the new black, effortless (which we know it never is), juxtaposition and I could go on.

I have heard it way too many times this year with not only magazines, style sites, stylists, people in general, not to mention interior designers use it as well.

Whatever happened to the days of dressing how we wanted, decorating how we wanted, buying what we wanted?

Sure, what we buy may not always suit us, but if we have a fair idea of what we do look good in it’s a fair bet we have a wardrobe full of good stuff, stuff that we LIKE, stuff that we WANT.

NOT what we were told we NEED because it was “on trend” at the moment.

For years people, as in some stylists, have rebelled against trends because they are ridiculously quick fads that blast through our stratosphere, luring us into buying them because celebrities are being seen out and about with then.

Hammer pants, fluro, leg warmers…

Many have criticised trends as they come, claiming we shouldn’t wear it and they wouldn’t be caught dead in the said atrocity and yet here we are with the phrase, “on trend”.

I don’t care if something is “current” this season or this year, I will wear what I like, buy what I like and decorate my house with what I like. It all comes down to my budget, my favourite colours and not buying something simply because someone else has bought it and is marvelling at how fabulous it is.

I am my own person. I love certain colours over others, certain things over others. I will not buy it because it is currently “trendy” and in store.

Hell, they say everything comes back around every 15-20 years and bubble and ra-ra skirts, jelly sandals, fluro have all proved it, and just over the last few years.

What happened in the 80s was fantastic and shouldn’t stay in the 80s, but just because many of us have been there and done that, doesn’t mean we will go back and do it again simply because a new generation has declared it new, or a designer has resurrected it from the pit of nostalgia or the “vintage” section of an old op shop.

On trend doesn’t work with me. Trends come and go with such speed that there is no point wasting money following one. I’m not saying don’t get an accessory or piece of jewellery or two in the “trend”, or buying the latest jar to drink out of, although geez, what happened to drinking out of actual glasses? I’m saying the phrase needs to stop being used because really, who are the “experts” telling us what is and isn’t “on trend”.

And if we don’t like what’s currently “on trend” we’re not going to buy it anyway. Just leave us all in peace to buy what we like, when we like and at our own speed, not insist that it’s a “must have” because it’s sooooo “on trend” and we must rush out and buy it just to stick it in the back of the cupboard. Really, how many people have bought the latest “on trend” article simply to shove it to the back of the wardrobe never to be seen again (foldable and store away gym equipment). This is why trends should not be followed and people should stop telling us we need it because it’s “on trend”.

“On trend” or not, I’m over the phrase.

TODAY’S LIFESTYLE: My crap side fence still hasn’t been fixed and now it’s just dangerous

This is the side fence to our property. Of course the property wasn’t like this when we moved in 20 years ago this month. No, the previous tenant had a garden all around the back and the previous neighbours (we’ve had two more since) built their shed as the fence.

Over the years the garden has been removed for so many things. The trees were dropping gum everywhere, the garden had to come down for the neighbours at the back to get a new fence, and now, it’s our turn to get a new fence.

As you can see we had a palm tree growing, turned out to be four of them, essentially keeping what was left of the old fence up.

But in order to replace the fence the trees had to come down and this is what we had left. Crap!

The tree loppers poisoned the stumps and then we had to wait two weeks for the stump guy to come and remove them. In the meantime, the fence started falling down in the high winds we’ve had.

And with another high wind the fence went flying. I rang the Housing Trust maintenance department up on the Sunday to see whether someone could come and at least remove the big sheets of metal and she gave me some answer. The next day I received a call that the quote was going through for the fence (three months after asking for a new one). I don’t care if the quote was going through (that’s when the Housing Trust puts in a quote for something and the neighbour will have to pay half as he owns the house next door), I just wanted the metal removed. She was quite rude and told me I’d have to ring up maintenance again.

So I rang up the maintenance department and she was rude as well. Sadly, I think both of them were in their 20s and didn’t comprehend that they need to actually let people finish what they’re saying before talking over them and being rude bitches. So I had to do something myself since no one was coming to remove the metal. All we have is a brick.

A week later, over a long weekend, we had another high wind, and once again, they went flying across the yard. Our car is parked just to the side and we could have had slashed tyres or busted windows.

They don’t care. They left our bathroom unfinished (another long story) and never bothered coming back to fix the back step, finish the original fence or any of the other things they should have done.

So this is what we have until it’s done. Bet they wouldn’t like having to pay for any damage it causes.

BUSINESS STYLE: Brand new business cards

As I’ve mentioned previously I set up the new website under my name, tiaraking.com.au and knew that I would need to do some new business cards as well.

Back to VistaPrint I went with an image in mind and this is what I found. 

A Tiara!

Throwing in the blue background and the pink writing it was perfect, and I agonised over what to write on the front and back. The description needed to cover both of my businesses and tell people what I am and what I do. Hopefully I’ve come up with the right magic potion.

I added in a pen and small notepad as well, getting two of each with the sale they’re always having.

I just need to hand them out more.

HEALTH & BEAUTY STYLE: Taylor Swift and Katy Perry joins the perfume family.

Over the years I never really wore perfume. I always went for Impulse body sprays, inexpensive sprays and discount store perfumes. 4711, Ice, the two I loved most, as most perfumes were priced out of my range.

But over the last couple of years perfumes have been dropping in price and with companies possibly realising they were pricing themselves out of a massive selling market, they reduced the prices and took on more celebrities to sell their wares.

Two of those celebrities being Taylor Swift and Katy Perry. Sworn enemies in real life, but not on my cupboard.

Last year I bought Taylor’s Wonderstruck perfume roller and it was really nice, so when my local Priceline store decided to reduce the bottles to $22 each, I went in for Enchanted Wonderstruck, and two days later decided to grab the original as well.

For $22 each, more than half the price, I couldn’t leave either of them there. So welcome to the family, Taylor Swift. And I love the charms on the bottles.

After bringing home Katy’s Purr and Killer Queen in the last year, I decided to also get Royal Revolution. Priceline had it at $29.40 for the 50ml on sale, so I had to grab that too. I like it and it smells like Sarsparilla soft drink. It’s not like Queen, but it’s nice in its own way.

Welcome to the perfume collection Taylor and Katy and please, play nice!

MY STYLE: WHAT I WORE

OUTFIT #1
TOP: $4 from Goodwill many years ago
PANTS: $18 from Millers, new.
SHOES: Rivers, old
JEWELLERY: Lovisa earrings, ebay bangles

OUTFIT #2
TOP: $5 from Kmart
JEWELLERY: Colette earrings, Lovisa bracelets

OUTFIT #3
TOP: Best & Less for $7
SHOES: Spendless Shoes for $30
JEWELLERY: Jewel Divas KITSCHY KAWAII necklace, Ebay earrings and bracelets, Lovisa bracelet stack, Colette ring (right hand), Diva ring (left hand)

FASHION STYLE: Millers Spring Fashions and accessories

I LOVE Millers clothes.

I’ve been buying them for well over fifteen years now and I’m still buying them. As of now I have about 80 pieces. Not only are they stylish, colourful and cool, they are incredibly inexpensive.

I’ve posted many in MY PERSONAL COLLECTION posts with the last bargains being funky tops, black summer pants, a Chanel style bolero and a black and white cardigan.

I’m currently in spring summer mode, buying pants for the hot summer ahead. And of course one must have tops to match. I’ll be checking these out tomorrow when I go back to my local shopping centre.

The current spring tops are $20, the pants $30 and the sandals are $30 – $40.

Get in to your local Millers and see what they have for sale, as they’re always on sale, now.

 

 

TODAY’S LIFESTYLE: RSL Art Union Draw 320

There’s a new RSL Art Union Draw and this time it’s for 3 apartments in 3 different states and cities. Visit their website here for more details and videos of the locations.

Each apartment is small, high up in a high rise building and all have fabulous views of their city as well as gyms and pools.

This is Brisbane.

This is Melbourne, in the state of Victoria. I LOVE!!!!!! the peacock print.

And this is Sydney in New South Wales. I love the mirrored bird wall decorations.

So don’t forget to get on over to their website and purchase tickets. The more you purchase the more chance of winning and you also get the book value in gold as well. International buyers are welcome too.

BUSINESS STYLE: When there’s something strange… in your pc… who you gonna call? Geeks2U

Four years ago this October my Acer computer decided to drop dead from exhaustion right in the middle of me transferring data to a disc and then transferring that to my two new Sony Vaios that I had just recently bought. 

I thank God for those two pcs, of which I am currently working on, because everything would have been over. As it was, the system failure that the Acer was having was a big one and after googling it I knew it was going to cost money. And at the time, I didn’t realise how much else it was going to cost.

So I left it as I had so much other work to do. I was writing books and getting my business on track and thought, “if I don’t touch it it will be okay’. I thought that for four years, and was I wrong.

Finally having a month where I could pay for my Acer to be fixed and data saved, I also needed the Vaios checked for overcrowding and dysfunction. My budget was $300 total, for three pcs, unless the Acer was going to take all of that with its check up and data recovery.

So after four years of phone book checking and googling, I chose Geeks2U.com.au. They come to your home when you have the time, they charge per half hour with a one hour minimum and they recover data as well as fix every other pc bug known to man, and for all pcs including iPads.

I called up, booked an appointment after handing over my details including those of my three pcs and their issues, and waited for my techie, Lawrence, to arrive two days later. I set all three up the night before with their mouses and cords and plugged them into a power board.

The next day he arrived at the allotted time, was nice and polite and got straight to work. He asked lots of questions and so did I. He cleaned up my pink Vaio while sorting out my Acer and after giving that a thorough going over declared it dead. There is no way to fix it, no way to boot it up and start again. He advised that there was no point fixing it and said I may as well recycle it at the local recycle rubbish tip.

After four years of waiting to get it fixed so I could get all the pictures I had taken of my Nancy Drew collection back, it was dead. DEAD, DEAD, DEAD! All that was left was the hard drive which he removed for me and said if I ever wanted to get the data recovered it would need a professional and up to $1500, if not more. Money I just don’t have even though I have my hard drive.

So after all this time my collection is gone. It was sad, especially when he told me that it was like a car that dies from not using it. If I had just started it every now and then it might have been recovered. But I was scared to in case I stuffed it up royally.

Bugger!

My two Vaios were cleaned out and sped up and they’re working nicely now. But alas, now I need to find a place for my Acer to go to pc heaven.

So if you’re in Australia and need your pc looked at ring Geeks2U.com.au. They will come at the convenient time for you including night time. They are nice and polite, will answer any questions you have and let you know if it needs extra help or time. In total my appointment took two hours, which I knew it might, and at $79 per half hour it cost me $316 plus tax, so $319 and change in total. Not bad when my budget had been $300. Just a pity I waited four bloody years to do it.

I keep leaving things and putting them aside because there are other things more important and that need doing first, and yet every time something happens and I end up regretting it and then telling myself “don’t wait next time”. And then next time I end up waiting. It’s a bad habit I’m trying to break.

Here’s the Geeks2U ad. I saw them on tv and heard about them on the radio, which is why I chose them, because they kept advertising to let us know they were still around when so many had gone out of business.

Click here to view the embedded video.