What do you keep on your bedside table? You always look fab but are you nice to your clothes and follow -directions (eg, Dry clean only, Hand wash, iron inside out) or does everything get put in the washing machine? What was your favorite toy as a child and do you still have it?

On my bedside I always have Lucas’ Pawpaw Ointment, my Iphone, a ridiculous stack of books and magazines, a notebook and pen and a dish full of random jewellery that I have just taken off. In terms of clothes I generally throw everything into the wash. When I lived with Mamma Smaggle she was the queen of fixing my stuff ups but I live hours away from her so I’m having to learn to do it myself. I find that clothing manufacturers are always way too cautious with washing instructions. You can be a little more brutal than they say. My favourite toy as a child was a tea-stained rabbit that I called Tea Leaf. I still have her now, she’s in Melbourne with Roomy Smaggle taking care of her until I get back.

What is your personal definition of glamour? How can one inject glamour into the everyday?

I think you need to dress beautifully and surround yourself with pretty things. You don’t have to spend a lot of money but make sure you have a wallet that you love, a gorgeous mug to drink your coffee from, delicious cotton sheets on your bed and yummy hand soap in your bathroom. Also, fake it till you make it. Think like a glamourous person and the behaviors will follow. Perhaps you might paint your nails every Sunday night? Or start wearing Chanel No.5? Or lipstick during the day? Stand up tall, dress like a queen and be divine. That’s glamour. Oh and be kind. There is nothing more graceful than good manners and kindness.

So, it’s a typical deserted island situation – what CD, book, and movie would you take?

CD – The Complete Symphonic Recording of Les Miserables. Book – The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde. Movie – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Brilliant. Actually can exchange the Oscar Wilde for a subscription to Vogue?

If you had to leave three things in a time capsule to sum up who you are for future generations (well, they’d totally want to know about you!) what would they be?

A theatre program. A Vogue magazine. A pair of pliers. Oh and some lip gloss.

I was wondering about your healthy eating habits. Where did it come from? How do you stick to it? (with the exception of your nighttime forays into cheese and wine) Any favorite standby meals?

The healthy eating comes from the fact that I have really, really bad genes. Digestively I mean. My family is gorgeous we just all have… erm… girth problems. So basically I’ve been on a diet since I was twelve. I have to stick to it or I put my health at risk. It’s as simple as that. I also like feeling healthy and my day is so much better when I exercise and watch what I eat. I’m not the smallest I’ve ever been at the moment but I’m not doing too badly. I just have to keep an eye on it. A typical day of eating for me consists of…

Breakfast – Soy milk smoothie with banana and protein powder or fruit

Snack – Carrot sticks and an apple

Lunch – Big salad with tuna

Snack – Green smoothie or vegetable juice or sultanas and almonds

Dinner – If I’m cooking it will be a lentil soup, fish and vegetables or steamed greens and tofu. I often eat out though which is a bit of a problem. I never buy junk food but if it’s in front of me I will eat it. All of it. I also love Chilli Con Carne and San Choy Bow. I like high protein, low carb dinners although I can’t always manage that. I try to be perfect as often as I can and make sensible choices so that I can drink wine and eat cheese on a Friday without doing too much damage. Holidays are hard because when you’re doing it every night that’s where the trouble starts.

I’m currently studying to become a librarian. As much as I love books and I love to read, I feel like I might not be making the right decision. Did you experience anything similar in your life, and are you happy with the choices you have made?

Honestly, I was so miserable in my first year of teaching that I thought I had made a huge mistake and wasted four years getting a degree that I would never use. Turns out, I just hadn’t found my niche in the profession. You need to love your workplace. If you have specific training your tasks will be very similar no matter where you work. It’s who is standing next to you that makes the difference. That could mean you have a work mate who brightens your day with a smile, it could mean you have an incredible boss that inspires and supports you or it could mean that you meet someone who changes the way you think about your profession and has you dreaming about doing extraordinary things. I’ve always found that it’s not so much that you’ve taken the wrong road you’ve just turned a little earlier than you should have. Or a little later. Think about the times when you’ve been happiest in your study and chase those scenarios. You just have to find your place. Also, no one says you have to be what you trained to be. If you really hate it, get out… but give it a red hot go first.

Whats your name? It is a depressing Sunday. you wake up and all you can think of is it’s work tomorrow. At this point, you know Carrie Bradshaw would be running down the street in high heels, fresh flowers in one hand, large coffee and new magazines in the other. She’s so cool. What do you do? where do you start? Go.

My real name is Carly. I tried to keep that private for a while but magazines wanted to print my real name so I had to let go of that. Well considering that it’s Sunday I would get up off my sad bum, chuck on some high heels and lippy and do as the Bradshaw does. Awesome. Also… you are aware that Carrie is fictional right? It’s a lovely fantasy but the creators of Sex and the City (a show I adore!) can’t honestly think that we believe that Carrie supports herself on ONE small newspaper column a week? Not only supports herself but manages to buy $400 pairs of shoes every week? Seriously? No one has a life like that with out someone else supporting them. It’s just not logical. Who says you can’t be cool like her anyway? Wear gorgeous clothes to work and be a proud and happy contributing member of this amazing human race. If you’re miserable in your job and for some reason you can’t leave then you have to make it your duty to be so fabulous outside of 9 to 5 that it totally makes up for it. After work buy a stack of fashion magazines and some takeaway food and spend the evening on the couch in your gorgeous P.Js. Carry a tiny clutch bag with only your lipgloss and some cash and go out for cocktails with your girlfriends. Do a yoga class before work. Wear a big flower somewhere on your outfit everyday. Unfortunately, unless your parents are loaded and generous, you marry a millionaire or you win the lottery you are never going to be rich with out working freaking hard to get there. And if you’re a business woman living in New York who has enough money to buy Jimmy Choos and live in an apartment where the bathtub is not in the kitchen I can tell you right now you will so not have enough time to be flapping around buying flowers and coffee. So deal with it… and lead the life you want in every spare second that you have. Live everyday with purpose and don’t let life just happen to you. Experience it.

If you have the time and interest to share any more info about green/black/white tea, we’d love to learn where you buy yours and what kinds you like.

Roomy Smaggle is the tea queen! We buy a lot of tea from Asian supermarkets and store them in Japanese tea caddies. From what she’s taught me you generally only have milk in black tea and that’s only if you prefer it. We have brown rice tea which look like brown rice bubbles and it’s amazing for your digestion. We have chamomile tea before bed and peppermint tea before dinner. She likes jasmine tea but I find it quite bitter. White tea is amazing. It’s so cleansing and delicious but it’s crazy expensive. I love T2 Earl Grey tea bags and peppermint  T2 tea bags but that’s just because I’m lazy. Roomy is a purest loose leaf kind of gal.

Do you and Mr Smaggle do the long distance thing? How do you keep it ticking over?!

Yes we do the long distance thing. He lives in Canberra and I live in Melbourne. Here are the reasons why it works for us -

* We are both very independent people and we are both very busy so even when we were in the same city we weren’t joined at the hip.

* We talk on the phone every night before bed. No exceptions. It sounds silly but we actually tell each about our whole day so we don’t miss out on anything.

* We see each other every two weeks. Occasionally if he has to go away or I’ve got something on it will be three weeks but it’s rarely longer than that.

* I come back to Canberra every holidays. I’ve just been here for two months and having those big periods of time together is really important.

* There’s an end in sight. My course is for two years and I’m halfway through. I have no intention of living away from him unless it’s absolutely necessary. I can’t imagine being a long distance relationship with an open ended finish date.

* I have a reason to be away from him. I didn’t just move for the hell of it.

* I have an amazing support network in Melbourne. I would have left long ago if it weren’t for them.

* It’s important to also acknowledge why you are doing the long distance thing. I get really sad sometimes because basically I adore Mr Smaggle and it’s pretty crap when he’s not around but I love my course and I’m loving with Roomy Smaggle and experiencing ’single’ life in Melbourne. Conversely Mr Smaggle is loving  living in his bachelor pad with his brother. Although we are very committed to each other we are being sensible and experiencing everything you should experience in your twenties before we end up with two cats and a vegie garden.

After reading your answers (you’re a doll, and a good person, to boot!) to everyone’s great questions, I want to know, if for some vastly unfathomable reason you ever move to the middle of West Texas, will you be my best friend?

It’s so bizarre that you say that because I have a weird blog thing going on where people always say that I remind of them of their best friend… but in answer to your question… of course! I like my tea with little bit of milk and I’ll bake the scones! You like 90210 right?

You and Mr Smaggle seem to have such a wonderful, loving relationship. The way you write about him is quite heart-warming. My questions is: how did you and Mr Smaggle meet? And how do you maintain your beautiful relationship, especially long-distance?

The ‘Where did we meet?’ question is answered here. Not quite sure how to answer your question on how we keep that alive though. It’s just a no brainer with us. We just really adore each other and the good stuff in our relationship comes from wanting to make the other person happy. We are also very silly, we laugh all the time and send each other stupid text messages and stuff. It truly think it’s the little things that count like last night my feet were freezing when Mr Smaggle came to bed and he actually got out of bed, got some socks and put them on my feet. Part of the secret is also me acknowledging that that was flipping awesome and then doing something lovely in return like making him fresh juice in the morning. We are a really good team and we love to work together too. We share similar goals. At the end of the day though I just think that he’s awesome and that makes me want to do lovely things for him and spend time with him. Plus he is like, totally dreamy.

My questions are: how did you learn to be photographable like you are? Did your ability to pose so you look good and interesting every time come from acting?

How do know I am photogenic? I could just be naturally, really, really, ridiculously good looking. Actually it’s very astute of you to figure that out – I’m one the few people in the world who actually looks better in photos than in real life. Maybe it has a little to do with the acting thing. You only have to appear in the newspaper once with four chins before you start training yourself to look good in photos. I also take around 20 to 40 photos every time I do an outfit shot.  I can say though that the biggest issue with people looking bad in photos is that they are afraid of the camera. You need to sit up, smile and look that camera right in it’s face. If I don’t I always end up looking like hunchback hermit.

And what kind of reading material is always at home on your bedside table/under the bed/in your bag?

I love high fashion magazines like Fashion Trend, Oyster, Russh and I.D. I also love Frankie, Vogue and UK Elle. I’m really not a fiction girl. I love reading about serial killers, murderers and true crime. I also read a lot of cookbooks and books about nutrition and health. I’m also a sucker for a good tragic biography. And craft books… I LOVE craft books.

What are your favorite materials to make jewelry out of and what are some of the most unusual? What jewelry project are you most proud of yourself for making? Also, do you have a “favorite” outfit? Like the kind that ALWAYS makes you feel good?

I love working with wood and leather and recently I’ve been experimenting with mesh oranges bags and rubber gloves. The piece I’m most proud of is a peyote stitch black strap bracelet I made for Mr Smaggle years ago. It’s thousands of tiny uniform beads stitched together to make a bracelet. It’s awesome. If I can find it I’ll take a photo. I don’t really have a favourite outfit but clear skin and something that makes me look really skinny generally makes me feel pretty tops.

If you could tell your teen self one thing, what would it be? Also, what’s your favourite baking recipe?

If I could I’d tell my teen self that your life doesn’t start until you leave school. Also, that it won’t affect your future in any way shape or form if you score less 80% on a test. Oh and that guy that you’ve got a massive crush on? Yeah. He’ll grow up to be a total douche and will possibly try to pick you up in a bar, not realising who you are. When you reject him, that’s the sign that you belong to yourself now for the first time since school. Same goes when you see the class bitch in a club and you don’t take any of her crap. Favourite baking recipe would be the choc chip cookie recipe on the back of Nestle choc chips packets. I’m serious. That recipe is the bomb. Only I always triple the amount of choc chips. I figure if you’re going to do cellulite, you do it well. My favourite no bake recipe is here.

Don’t forget that asking ends at midnight tonight and tomorrow will be the last answers post. Thank god. Who is ready for me to write about something else?

Oh and the Smaggle packs are done! I’m holding the loot in the photo…

You get a Smaggle made ring, a spearmint lipgloss, some of my favourite chocolate and tea.

There are three packs to be given away to three readers! It’s not a competition just a wee little thanks to the people who contribute to Smaggle everyday. Everyone who asked a question in the original post goes into the draw and if you want to enter (but didn’t have a question to ask) just comment below. It’s all about the love people. All about the love. Commenting technically ends at midnight tonight but if you get in before I wake up tomorrow that’s fine too… and also very vague… so get in quick to be safe!

Love you all!

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

Double the daily style today! Lady wears…

* Vintage dress *insert smug smile*

* Shoes from Nine West

* Mens watch from Fossil

* Earrings from Girlprops

Browny wears…

* Top from Review

* Skirt from French Connection

* Shoes from Miz Mooz New York

* Sunglasses from Morrissey

* Earrings from Gorman House markets

* Bangle from China

Browny has been looking pretty sharp this week so I might just include her in a few daily outfit shots… you don’t mind do you?

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

Image from Once Wed Via Breaking Curfew

* Americans have too many bridesmaids. I’m planning a wedding with my bestie this year (hers, not mine) and through my research I’ve discovered that the majority of American weddings have around nine or ten attendants. Australian weddings barely stretch to four most of the time. Is this an unfair assumption? Can I get a survey going? Have you had or been a part of a wedding? Where are you from and how many attendants were there?

* I feel really smug wearing vintage dresses.

* Design Sponge is single handedly the biggest time suck I’ve ever experienced. I’ve been renovating imaginary houses and throwing fictitious garden parties all day.

* Generally speaking, I hate being cat called or wolf whistled at but this morning a young man called ‘Hello gorgeous!’ as he drove past in his van. It’s the first time in my life I’ve ever been flattered by that kind of attention. It was all in the tone. He wasn’t lascivious or disrespectful he was appreciative. And I think that’s lovely!

* I will never say yes to ‘recommended’ extras that the mechanic tries to get me to agree to without first calling Mr Smaggle. I have no interest/confidence in making those decisions at all.

* The smell food is often SO MUCH BETTER than the taste.

* I read somewhere that by making key phrases of your blog post bold makes it easier for your readers to scan and therefore more people take in the information. I’m testing whether this is true or whether it’s just really irritating.

What about you angel?

Anything to share?

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

Lady and Mr Smaggle on a motorbike from Lady Smaggle on Vimeo.

Lady loves…

* Spending Christmas day drinking wine with my aunty and uncle in their swanky Sydney terrace apartment, playing board games and laughing.

* Eating ham, prawns and chicken on Boxing Day with Daddy Smaggle’s family watching DVDs and eating my body weight in home made Rocky Road ice cream.

* Long car drives eating snacks and singing too loudly. 

* Riding the motorbike with Mr Smaggle on his family’s farm. See video. I am enjoying myself I swear.

* Eating chocolates and drinking coffee on misty Sunday afternoons.

* Mr Smaggle’s mum buying me gorgeous presents from her trip to Paris.

* Doing a three day liver cleanse. I have been drinking vegetable juice and eating salads all day. I feel amazing. 

* Going to the coast for New Year’s Eve. Can’t wait. 

* Having days off to plan, ponder, read and write. 

* Planning to hit up the sales. I’m going to buy a watch, a blender and some pretty summer frocks. 

What about you pie face? Anything lovely to share? How was your Christmas day?

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

Went to sleep at midnight and woke up at midday. Half the day was pleasantly wasted and it was totally worth it. Spent the afternoon Christmas shopping and sipping an iced soy latte. This evening I’m making chilli con carne for dinner and a muesli slice for Mr Smaggle. I horrified both Mr Smaggle and Mr Squiggle (his brother) by telling them that I’ve never seen Terminator so they are making me watch it tonight. I’ll let you know what I think…

* Skirt from Chin Chin

* Top from Country Road

* Shoes from Funkis

* Necklace from Mr Smaggle from MOMA in N.Y

 How was your weekend petal? Did you do anything exciting?

Oh and again I’m sorry to my Squiz card winners. Apparently they are having issues with their promotional email thing and will be sending the winners their vouchers as soon as this is fixed. 

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

Smaggle – What do you want? from Lady Smaggle on Vimeo.

Click on the video above and answer my questions for a new and improved Smaggle. 

Who are you? What do you want?

Lets make Smaggle more about you! 

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

Etsy

Lady loves…

* Dates with Mamma Smaggle.

* Cruising around the city driving Mr Smaggle’s convertible. Although, bizarrely, I find it really difficult to drive an automatic. My foot keeps searching for the clutch. 

* Soy yogurt. 

* Curb Your Enthusiasm. Best. Show. Ever.  

* My first ever list being on The Secret Society of List Addicts. It’s a list of things that should be awesome but actually aren’t. Please add to it! 

* My Vera Wang DIY being featured on page 32 of the December Australian Cleo magazine. Do buy it and laugh at my giant foot and tiny midget hands. Also it comes with a free One Teaspoon watch! What have you got to lose?

* Working on a new plan for Smaggle… stay tuned! 

Lady loathes…

* SEINFELD REUNION – Curb Your Enthusiasm. Screw you Channel 9! Season 7 of Curb Your Enthusiasm is NOT a Seinfeld reunion show. Stop showing random episodes of the season that happen to have Jerry Seinfeld in them. People who haven’t seen the past 7 seasons don’t understand what the frick is going on and people who HAVE seen the past 7 seasons hate you. Hate to burst your little corporate bubble but there is not actually going to be a Seinfeld reunion. The show is just about them making one. We will never see it! Mwah ha ha ha ha ha! 

* Stifling hot weather. I literally cannot think. 

* Sixteen year old shop assistants that call me ‘babe’. I will hurt you. 

What about you love? Anything to share?

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

Image

Just a little note to say that I have finally updated my blogroll. Big apologies to Yes and Yes and Style Symmetry who I should have added months ago. If I could give you a muffin, I would. Also apologies to (Into) The Fray and Fashion Hayley who have been awaiting link updates. All fixed now!

So I am again sending out the offer for a link exchange but here are the rules…

1. Your blog must be style, fashion, design, photography or lifestyle based. And not lame.

2. You must update at least once monthly or I’ll delete your arse. Seriously. I just did it like twenty times. Well, all except for Style Bytes. Sob! 

3. A link back is very polite. Also mandatory. If I visit your blog in a few months time and you haven’t added me back… well… there’s not really a lot I can do about that. So… just do it okay?

So chuck your link in the comments and we can be blogroll buddies! Sa-weeet! 

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

P.S I tried to add everyone who requested in this post but some of the links were bad. Sorry…

I very, very rarely wear jeans. I just feel strange in them. Like I’m pretending to be someone that I’m not. So dresses and tights are my equivalent of jeans and a t-shirt… 

* Dress from Big W in Canberra

* Tights from Big W in Canberra

* Boots from Nine West

* Cardigan from Harem on Brunswick St 

* Scarf from Dotti

The weather is revolting right now so the photo is a little sleepy and misty… but I kinda like it. Off to the gym with Co-Dependent Smaggle and then watching Beauty and the Geek. We are very addicted. 

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

I’m going to try to post more outfit shots of my ‘everyday’ wardrobe. This is what I wear when I don’t mind getting dirty. Like today… I know I LOOK clean but I am covered in apple juice, mud and about a thousand wet sneezes… yummy. 

* Dress from Cowboys and Angels (RIP – sob!) in Canberra

* Tights from Big W

* Boots from Redpath in Canberra

* Cardigan from Giodanno

* Obi belt – thrifted

* Leather jacket from Target in Canberra

* Scarf – present from my gorgeous girls Na and Sar – they gave it to me a month ago and I swear I wear it everyday. It’s black and it says awesome words like ‘theatre’, ‘opera’ and ‘carnival’ in massive white letters. Love. 

* Sunglasses from Itrip Iskip in Canberra. They are Le Specs. 

* Beret from Ebay. 

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx