Arcade Fire. Whoah.

Over a week ago, Rob and I had the pleasure of seeing Canadian 10-piece Arcade Fire perform at the Forum Theatre.
It was mindblowingly wonderful.
I abandoned my tall-ish gig companions and made for the front of the stage and it was an all-in worship.
They opened with Wake Up (from Funeral) and it was a singfest from the get-go.
The only disappointment (from Rob) was the absence of My Body Is A Cage from the setlist (being incredibly picky here) and that our Ari couldn't see them perform. He would have LOVED it.
I on the other hand rate it as one of my favourite gigs ever, right up there with Radiohead and Cold Chisel (both at Festy Hall). It was superb. I'm extremely sad that I didn't go and see them the night after - and that they probably won't be back again for ages...

New neighbourhood

Maintaining the spirit of "Life with the Little Prince of Collingwood", we have shifted from Thornbury to Preston, but still refuse to change the blog's name.
Preston is wonderful, for many reasons:
1. It reminds us so much of Collingwood (which we adored). High St, Preston, is a curious mix of pawn shops, Vietnamese bakeries and curious $2 shops I call "Super Terrific Happy Shops". It's jut a little bit dodgy. It has absolutely no airs or graces. Rather like us, really.
2. The neighbourhood is friendly. Admittedly, we had terrific neighbours in Thornbury, who we will stay in touch with. But after less than a month in our new home we have already been greeted by our neighbours and feel welcome.
3. We live across the road from a primary school. And rather than the bank-of-cars hell I imagined it to be twice a day, it's turned out to be a delightful feature. We love the strange dance-y pop music played just before the school bell three times a day, and adore the sound of children playing at recess and lunch time.
4. We have a HUGE backyard. Big enough for a swing set, a clothesline, a cubby house, a vegie patch and still have room for a smallish backyard cricket match. It's awesome.
5. Preston market is close... and ace.
6. It is the first home that is ours. It's cool and quirky with lots of interesting features - like a pull-down ladder to the roof, evaporative cooling (who knew such a thing was so wonderful?), a bungalow and (gasp) a dishwasher.
7. Ari loves our house. He has had no problem adjusting to a new house and loves his new bedroom.
8. We are still close enough to all our usual haunts - Pizza Meine Liebe, Aunty Lauren's house, Northcote Plaza, Cozzella Bros.
9. Northland is close. Sounds Kath and Kim-ish, I know - and it is - but while it used to be handy to have cafes, restaurants and pubs on your doorstep, when you become a parent it's even handier to have Bunnings, Myer, JB HiFi, Safeway, KMart and a cinema close by. I know, we're all grown-up and boring.

Big Boy

Ari has grown up a lot in the past month.
He now:
1. Attends 3yo kinder three days a week. So far, he varies widely between loving school or hating it. But we are told this is quite normal and may persist for weeks, even months. He looks so very cute in his uniform (pics to follow in later post).
2. Sleeps in a big boy bed. We bought it from a bed shop in Thornbury and decked it out with a space themed doona cover. I think it looks quite spiffy (pics also to follow later).

Woe is the modern home sewer

I have been taking sewing lessons for a decent amount of time. This is not to say I can zippily whip up a frock for the races, pair of trousers for Ari or even a tea cosy.
Sewing is hard. Bloody hard.
Much harder than it looks. A lot like parenting then.
I was inspired by endless re-viewings of the fantastic US reality show, Project Runway (news to fans: Tim Gunn is rumoured to be coming to Oz for the Logies - oh, why aren't I an entertainment journo anymore?).
If those contestants could whip up couture garments in a day, why couldn't I?
Well, because they obviously have years of training and practise and I imagine most of them don't have jobs and three-year-olds, so have a lot more time to devote to the craft than my paltry two hours a week.
But I digress.
Sewing - though hard - is ace. The satisfaction of wearing a garment of one's own making is immense. I've even made garments (well garment) for others. It's a great feeling.
But finding modern, funky patterns for anything resembling an item of clothing in, say, an InStyle or Shop Til You Drop is incredibly hard.
I don't have hours to sit at the pattern books at Clegs - surely there's to got be a nifty website where you can just order something. Apparently not.
Tonight I entered "funky" and "sewing patterns" into Google, only to have this image (see above).
I was truly horrified.
So it's back to Clegs I go for longer hours spent wading through the endless pages of 80s-esque Melanie Griffith in Working Girl style garments for something resembling attractive workwear.
Sigh.