'Tis the time of year where literally everyone wants your money, but it's always better to try and shop locally. The Big Design Market made that pretty easy for everyone in Melbourne over the weekend by bringing together some of the best designers for you to splurge on. Here are some of my favourites. 

Ben & Jerry's Open Air Cinema

♫ Listening // Husky - I'm Not Coming Back

Ben & Jerry's officially launched their Summer 2014 Open Air Cinema series at St Kilda Beach in Melbourne this weekend. With a cocktail in one hand and an ice cream in the other, we settled down under the warm summer sun and soaked it up until the stars were out and it was movie time.

Pho24 on the Upper West Side

I've been a bit of a foodie this month, which is fine with me. It's also Melbourne Good Food Month so there definitely isn't a shortage of delicious food to chow down on. This time we were at Vietnamese street-food style restaurant Pho24.

Eureka Climb 2014

If you're unaware, the Eureka Tower is the tallest building in Australia and the Eureka Climb is, well, just that. A stair climb to the top!

New Shanghai Night Noodle Market Preview

If you're from Melbourne you're probably equally as excited as I am that the Night Noodle Market is returning. New Shanghai are debuting at the NNM this year and invited us down to their restaurant for a sneak preview!

Glass Merchants

The best places are the ones you stumble upon completely by accident. I was drawn to the exterior of Glass Merchants by of the amazing street art, but ended up staying for the incredible interior!

Finders Keepers '14

The Finders Keepers Market is truly a paradise for a cactus-loving hipster like myself. It's your one-stop-shop for the best of the best up and coming Australian designers. With a range of products from homewares to jewellery to clothing, you know you'll find something you'll completely fall in love with.

Little Lost Land

I've traveled past Little Lost Land so many times on the tram but I've never been inside... until today! Little Lost Land is an adorable vintage-inspired boutique located in the Melbourne suburb of Balaclava (opposite the train station) that stocks a range of Melbourne-designed pieces. 

Mixtape // Spring Melodies

It's officially daylight savings time in the Land Down Under, which means the sun is shining and summer is officially upon us! Here's a couple of tunes to celebrate the warmer months.

Listen Out Festival 2014

This is the second year in a row that I've worked at Listen Out festival and I always have a great time. It's such a chilled day and with great live music playing in the background, what more could you ask for?

After Store

I recently made a list of all the cool homewares stores in Melbourne so I could visit them (yes, we're bringing out the homewares obsession again), and After Store was top of the list.

Olive Eyes

It's well and truly spring now, however the last few remnants of of winter are holding on. Here's what I wore on a colder spring day shopping in the city. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather so I can get out of these jeans!

Birthday Lunch at Ponyfish Island

If there's one place in Melbourne that I've been dying to go to but never have, it's Ponyfish Island. Located literally on the Yarra River under the Southbank Footbridge, this bar has got to be one of the most unique watering holes in Melbourne.

Craft Victoria Pop Up Shop

Craft Victoria have just launched their very own pop up shop at the Melbourne Town Hall packed with all sorts of goodies!

Off To The Races

It's not very often that I go to the races. In fact, I think this is only the third time in my whole life that I've been. My cousin, being the amazing career woman that she is, got given tickets to the young members area through her work and invited me to come along. 

#LiveBeautifully Lacoste Emporium Launch

Lacoste have never really been a brand that has particularly caught my eye, but hot damn I am loving their Spring/Summer 2014 collection!

City Hideaway

QV Melbourne are at it again with their new city oasis QV Hideaway.

South Village Trading

Over the past couple of weeks my obsession for homewares has reared it's head again, so when I discovered South Village Trading, my heart skipped a beat.

Lights, Camera, Action! at The Backlot Studios

I love that I can still find quirky and unique places in Melbourne even though I've lived here all my life. We were invited down to The Backlot Studios, just outside the Melbourne CBD, to be introduced to a British crisp company that are newly launching in Australia called Tyrrell's Crisps. Of course we couldn't just eat chips, as delicious as they are, that wouldn't be much fun on a night out. So The Backlot Studios put on the British classic Bridget Jones' Diary for us to giggle at whilst chowing down on potato chips.

Reimagine Emporium By Baz Luhrmann

When Baz Luhrmann invites you to a party, you know it's going to be good. However the Emporium Melbourne Official Launch was more than I ever could've imagined! Entering you're transformed into a world of wonder with glimpses of the movies we all know and love, as well as reimagining all that makes Melbourne so special and unique. I feel so lucky to have been given an invite to such a breath-taking and whimsical event!

Detours Melbourne Launch // Trunk Bar

What's that?

Melbourne has been voted the World's Most Liveable City for the fourth year in a row?!

I guess you should probably get your butts down here already!

Kate Spade Emporium Melbourne

Finally Australia has it's very first Kate Spade New York store and, well, it's beautiful. Kate Spade has probably been my favourite accessories designer for the past couple of years now but I can never bring myself to spend that much money online without having a play with the product first. So having this brand new store at Emporium Melbourne means my bank account is going to take a massive blow.

Australia's First Cat Cafe!

I really dislike the idea of being a dog or a cat person. I’ve always grown up with dogs, however being a person of the Internet, cats are also an obsession. So when I heard that Melbourne was finally going to be opening our very own cat cafe, I climbed aboard that bandwagon as fast as I could. Only days after launching the Indiegogo campaign, they had my money, and only 3 weeks after they opened, there I was at their doorstep. Frankly I’m surprised that it took me a whole 3 weeks!

Dear Self, Just Go! {Closed}

The Big Blog Exchange is on again this year and String Of Events is striving for one of those coveted 16 places! If you're unfamiliar with The Big Blog Exchanged, it's basically a world-wide competition where 16 lucky winners get the trip of a lifetime and exchange blogs and countries with another winner for an amazing blog adventure! 

Sydney Streets

Over the weekend I was up in Sydney for an event I've been working on called Stadium Stomp, and because we're such an awesome team, we basically had the day before the event off to explore the sights. After our morning trip to Bondi, we headed back into the city to roam the streets and see what we could find. I went to Sydney last year and did every touristy thing imaginable so I wasn't too fussed with what we did. We ended up walking down to Circular Quay and then back to Hyde Park. Here are some of the snaps I took along the way...

Saturday Morning Bondi

I can only remember going to Bondi once in my life and I probably would've been about 3, so this was basically my first trip there. Memories before the age of 5 don't count. I dragged everyone out of bed at about 8:30am so we could go explore. Because what's the point of being somewhere different if you're not out and about.

Rummaging Through The Fitzroy Market

I think it's safe to say that Melbourne loves markets. But they can't be just any old market, they have to have a bit of a hipster edge to them. The Fitzroy Market is no different. I s'pose being in Fitzroy you wouldn't expect anything less. If you're unfamiliar with the area, Fitzroy is kind of like the Camden of Melbourne, minus the canal. I always find that the markets on the Fitzroy side of Melbourne are a bit more affordable than the one's on the other side of the river.

Third Wing South Yarra

South Yarra has got to be in my top 3 favourite Melbourne suburbs. I would give anything to live in one of the old town houses. It's also filled with shopping gems like this little store around the corner from the famous Chapel Street shopping district. Third Wing houses a gorgeous array of multicultural homewares, jewellery and accessories from local and international designers. When you step into this treasure trove, you're immersed in everything from New York street art, Moroccan homewares and hand carved African pieces, amongst gorgeous bohemian jewellery and quirky gifts.

Time To Wander

After Work Parma at Honey, South Melbourne

So lately my life has been pretty much consumed by work, which is fine for me, but not particularly fine for my blog. I'm currently working 2 jobs, which take up about 6 days a week, so having a life outside of that is a bit difficult. However after work the other night, my friend and I decided to give Honey Bar's $12 Parma Tuesdays a go. Let's just say there's 0 regrets here.

Eat Street Markets Brisbane

Following on from my last post at Mecca Bah, my friend suggested we head to the Eat Street Markets, which has apparently becoming something of an institution in Brisbane. I'm definitely not one to turn down the offer of shopping, so we jumped in the car and headed over 30mins before it was meant to close.

Mecca Bah Emporium Brisbane

Whilst in Brisbane I didn't get much free time, but when I did, the first thing I did was catch up with my oldest friend. We met when were 5 on our first day at school, and now 17 years later, we're still good friends. I told her that I'd have a night off to go have dinner and that she needs to find a cool, hipster place for me to blog about. She didn't let me down, but because I'm the worst blogger ever, I forgot my DSLR camera and was left using my new iPhone (first world problems).

Brisbane Bound

Over the weekend I flew to Brisbane for work. I love being able to say that. I've been working on an event called Stadium Stomp and our first installment for the year was in Brisbane. However I will be doing a full blog post on that this week. We were only in Brisbane for about 5 days and got half a day free to go explore the city. We were staying at the Marriott Hotel so we were super close to the CBD, Queen Street Mall and Brisbane River.

Emporium Melbourne Urban Kitchen Launch

Last week Emporium Melbourne officially launched their new downstairs food-court, the Urban Kitchen. The word food-court doesn't give you particularly high expectations of the food because you generally associate it with McDonalds and KFC. However being the Emporium, you'll find only the best street-food style eateries here.

A Glass And Some Class With Ferrari

If you had've told me two years ago when I started this blog that I'd get invited to a schmancy party hosted by Ferrari, I would've laughed. Even now it was a bit of a pinch-yourself moment. Ferrari have just launched their new California model, the California T, so in the spirit of the West Coast, we got dressed up and drank champagne. Before the car rolled in, we got to see an exclusive sneak peak of of the Australian designer Camilla's new range, which is also in celebration of her 10 year anniversary. Enjoy :)

Mixtape // 15 Best Road Trip Songs

I've been working a lot lately and I'm just starting to get sick too, so a social life is off the table at the moment. I couldn't, however, not put up a blog post this week, so I thought I'd just piggyback off the fact that I went on a road trip a couple of weeks ago and share my top road trip songs... enjoy!

If you haven't seen my road trip posts, click here.

1. Dakota - Stereophonics

Winter Tropics

Winter has set in here in Melbourne but that doesn't mean you can stay in bed for the next three months. As tempting as that sounds. Located in the centre of Melbourne, QV have created an amazing Summery Tropical Retreat for you to hide away from the cold Winter weather! Last week they launched this little oasis with a spectacular opening night featuring Polynesian musicians and dancers, delicious tropical cocktails and nibbles and tempting chocolates.

Bail Out

So last weekend I was working at a very unique event held at possibly the coolest venue in town, the Old Melbourne Gaol (jail). The Bail Out is a fundraising event for the not-for-profit organisation Whitelion who provide mentoring and outreach programs to at risk youth. As part of the work experience I'm currently doing, I was able to assist on the night, but of course managed to sneak away for 5 minutes to get some photobooth photos done with my 2 best friends. Don't worry though, I wasn't taking photos whilst I was working, I handed that job over to these nutters ↑

Playing With Australian Animals @ Great Ocean Ecolodge // #RoadTripMelbourne

Ever since I was a child I've been obsessed and fascinated with small furry Australian animals, to the point where my Dad still buys me a chocolate Easter Bilby instead of a chocolate bunny for Easter. So it's probably easy to see how I fell completely in love with the Conservation Ecology Centre and the work the wonderful people there are doing.

Exploring The Grampians // #RoadTripMelbourne

Finally we were allowed a sleep in... until 8am. But it was enough to recharge before a day of exploring the beautiful Grampians. Our fabulous tour guide for the day was Eda Williamson of Grampians Eco Tours. I don't think we could've asked for a better tour guide as she knew the local area like the back of her hand. Because of the reoccurring bush fires in this area there are dirt roads that lead off all over the place like veins on the Earth, and without a guide, it's very easy to get lost.

Tower Hill Reserve & Brambuk Aboriginal Centre // #RoadTripMelbourne

Day 3 of #RoadTripMelbourne began at a gorgeous shabby chic cafe on the Warrnambool waterfront called Pavilion Cafe & Bar. As we were munching on our breakfast, we watched horses being lead through the ocean (I assume this is for training, I’m not really sure) and went for a short wander down the piers outside the cafe and then hit the road.

Otway Treetop Adventure & the 12 Apostles // #RoadTripMelbourne

Day two of #RoadTripMelbourne picked up where we left off last time, in Apollo Bay. Once again we were up very early and on the road, heading towards the Otway National Park Treetop Adventure and Zip Line. Unfortunately when we arrived, we found out we didn’t have a booking for the zip line, but we could still go for a wonder through the trees.

Surf World & The Great Ocean Road // #RoadTripMelbourne

I started the day bright and early, well, dark and early, at 5.45am, when the sun was still struggling to rise, and made my way into the city to meet Marta. To my surprise, when I got there I found out that one of the lovely ladies who helped organise this whole trip, Marina, was also coming with us. We left Melbourne and started to head towards the sun, surf and sand!

Blogger Dinner at Charcoal Lane

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you probably know by now that I'm going on an awesome road trip down the Great Ocean Road with an Italian blogger called Marta (Blog di Viaggi). I was contacted a couple of weeks ago by Tourism Victoria asking me if I wanted to accompany her on this trip and, well, I'd be stupid to say no!

St Kilda Film Festival GIVEAWAY {closed}

The St Kilda Film Festival is only a couple of weeks away and so I thought I'd give away a double pass to my favourite event, SoundKILDA! SoundKILDA is Australia’s only dedicated music video competition that celebrates and screens music videos the way they should be – loud and large on the big screen. The St Kilda Film Festival is back again at Melbourne's iconic cinema The Astor Theatre. 

TopArts // Class Of 2013

Each year some of the most talented art students from high schools across Victoria are selected to showcase their work at the National Gallery of Victoria in an exhibition called TopArts. I've been once before this visit, and that was for the year when I graduated to see a couple of pieces that students from my year level had in the exhibition. This year featured a wide range of different mediums including photography, charcoal drawings, digital photo manipulation, video and paintings of all sorts. I went along to check it out and here are some of my favourite pieces...

Pony Gold at Southset Gallery

If you don't follow the blog Pony Gold, you're definitely missing out. A couple of days ago, without even knowing she was based in Australia, I saw on the blog that Rachel Urquhar, the artist behind the blog, is having an exhibition in Melbourne. Melbourne seems to have an endless supply of hidden gems, and in the rabbit warren that is the south/eastern industrial area, we found the Southset Gallery. The Southset Gallery showcases a range of Americana, Mexican and Bohemian artwork from Australian artists and designers.

Chuckle Park

Who doesn't love a good hipster cafe? They always look amazing and have the best food! Chuckle Park, in the Melbourne CBD, is easily one of the best hipster cafes in this fine city. Before this visit, I'd only had drinks here, but I kept seeing a Pulled Pork and Coleslaw salad burger on the menu which sounded pretty much like the best thing ever! So of course, on this visit, where I actually got the sit down and have a meal, I got this incredible looking and tasting melt-in-your-mouth burger.

She's Electric

♫ Listening // Lana Del Rey - West Coast

2014 Instagram Adventures

♫ Listening // Chet Faker & Flume - Drop The Game

@marlee_stringofevents

Dion Lee x Move Store GIVEAWAY {closed}

Move @ The Emporium

I was invited to an opening event for a store at the Emporium that I'd never heard of before. I looked on the website, seemed kinda cool, but I really didn't know what to expect. It wasn't until I actually got there that I could appreciate how awesome it is! Move Store takes the functionality of electronics and the aesthetics of fashion and fuses them together to create a genius hybrid that's irresistible. They've recently teamed up with the brilliant Aussie fashion blogger Jasmin Howell of Friend In Fashion to show that technology can be just as much of a fashion accessory as a bag or jewellery.