There and Back Again

 I've been utterly loving my geeky Threadless T-Shirt since I got it. Designed by Reagan H Lee, the comfy baby tee features a tube map of JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth. Yups, the land of Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves and hot Ranger dudes. (Yes that's a copy of The Hobbit Or There And Back Again)

How to make flat shoes more comfortable

Flats I love. Man I do love ankle details, huh? =P

"What you talking about, you nutter? Flats ARE comfortable!" I hear you cry. 

No I haven't been smoking anything odd... much. But the notion that flats are always comfy is a false one. While most of those featured here are pricier flats, and therefore tend to have support, padding, and a teenie tiny heel, the cheapie ones you can buy at Vincci and Cotton On seldom come with anything other than a hard, flat, flimsy sole. And it's these you need to beware of because they provide little cushioning and no support.

Plus, I don't know about you, but I find my foot rides too low in these unpadded numbers and the back tends to give me a blister around my ankle from the friction generated as my foot bends and flexes. Not fun. 

So I made a small investment that has made all the difference to me:

Nancy Drew Necklace

Did you read Nancy Drew books as a kid? I devoured them. My school library had a shelf-full (and little else) and I went through it, end to end. So I was delighted when I found this gorgeous copy (mine are all long gone) of a book from the original collecton that i hadn't read. 

And you know what? It's really not that bad a read. 

The necklace was something I cobbled together in tribute to Nancy Drew with a pretty mini magnifying glass I found in Daiso and a long chain necklace I had lying around. I can't take credit for it though as it was inspired by this ancient Catwalk Queen post which now has no pics and I'm left with this tiny lousy image I dredged up: 

In Blue at The Bee

Met the girls at The Bee for brunch and it descended into the usual free-for-all gossip, food and insanity fest as we drove the waiters mad. We also devoured The Last Polka's ice cream (which is served there) like starving locusts (despite having brunched thoroughly beforehand). I can recommend the nutella, horlicks, and of course, Guinness flavours. Mmmm....

The paper cups are all that's left of The Last Polka Ice Cream.... 

In no particular order, (cos frankly, getting all the blogger links in is tough enough) the table holds Eevon, Beetrice, Rinnah, ToughCookie, PrettyBeautiful, Connie, ParisB, Yet Mee, and Yani.

Zara Fall / Winter 2010 is out to get me

I don't always fall for Zara's collections, but this Fall / Winter one is MADE for me. I swear. 

I fell in love with this dress enough to WANT to shell out the RM279 they're charging for it. *gasp*- that's saying a lot for someone who usually buys RM15 garments! But guess what? The smallest size they had in store was S and it seems, I'm an XS. Darnnit. 

Even worse, they have even more stuff I adore... for higher prices. 

Walking my babies

Thank goodness for neighbourhood security as it allows me to walk the beagles at night when it's cool and quiet. Believe me, quite's important when you're walking two hefty critters who want to chase everything and befriend everyone. 

Also, nighttime can be surprisingly pretty. 

When I get fed up with their incessant pulling, I tie them together and abandon them. They usually start following me looking very very worried. 

Comfy Casual

Beagles have a sixth sense for food

 I am completely addicted to this boyfriend shirt. I'd LIVE in it if I could (I'm wearing it here too in fact). It's comfy, cool, casual and somehow (in my head) impossibly chic. It's sexy without being slutty. Always a wonderful compromise.

Yes, this shot was inspired by these pics. She has strawberries and a hat, I have beagles and strawberries on my mug.

Getting that Lanvin ♥ H&M ankle

 I gotta be honest, while I adore H&M and think that their inspiration of bringing the designers to the masses is brilliant, I'm just not digging their Lanvin collection.

Even the shoes are leaving me largely "meh". I'm about wearability and most of this collection while fashion forward isn't wearable. If you're not a 6" tall emaciated model you look like a frumpy cupcake in most of these.

But I DO like the ankle ribbon look on the shoes (just not leopard print. I know some ladies love it, but it ain't for me). Then I thought, why not try this trick?:

Head for headbands

I've never really looked good in hairbands, my hair's always been too flat and when it was all one length and slicked back, it definitely didn't get along well with hairbands. I've also always harboured a slight envy for girls who do look amazing in them *cough* Melody *cough* but guess what? My new haircut's front layers means I can now rock them hairbands. It also solves the problem of not knowing how to style my hair for special occassions. 

I made the discovery in Diva and went.. slightly mad... and bought three. *eeps* Guess which one tempted me into trying it on? 

Pantene makeover & blogger tea party

I should warn you, there are ALOT of gratuitous vanity shots ahead. But after posing for almost two hours I feel like it's warranted! After participating in the Pantene 14-Day hair challenge, the nice people at Pantene treated us to a tea-party and makeover. Lest you think the review was "paid for" by this event, it wasn't really. They used the party for a press kit that went out to the media so everybody wins. :)

I however, am NOT in most of the shots that went out to the media due to the nature of my work and certain rules it brings. So here's my time in the limelight. *flicks hair*

Frockspiration: Firefly

For all my love of girly, flouncy frocks there's a bit of me that adores swashbuckling attire. Indiana Jones hats and satchels, skintight tan / leather pants, boots... ooh boots...  which is why I adore the costumes in Joss Whedon's prematurely-killed steampunk space cowboy series, Firefly. Browncoat anyone?

Like mother, like daughter

Technology is a funny thing. There was a time when Sepia was not a choice but a default and polaroids were the height of modern technology. Then film and finally digital cameras came along and all that was old fashion. But now, a sepia polaroid is well... cool. This shot by a friend not only amused me with its old-new coolness, it reminded me of something...

This was my mom. 36 years ago, in London. But for the glasses, we could be,well, twins. 

The similarities triggered an orgy of nostalgia with my parents:

Here are some of the amazing pics we dredged up:

A night with P. Ramlee

Well my Brekkie at Tiffie necklace didn't sit around looking lonely for long. Nope, the weekend I got it, it got a night on the town at the Tribute to P Ramlee concert, courtesy of Astro (for clarification I did not obtain tickets via this blog). The lovely Rinnah was my plus one for the evening.

Yes, we both played it safe and went with the classic black dress. Also as it was a very culturally Malay night we didn't want to offend Muslim sensibilities and showed our respect by covering up. How I wish I didn't. DBKL's airconds are old, cranky and none too effective!