thinking of summer

As I am sure many of you are already doing, my thoughts have begun to wander into summer fashions. The short burst of beautiful weather we had here in Melbourne last week really gave me a taste of what is to come, and what winter was missing.

Although it is still tentative, it is looking like I might be venturing over to Thailand in January next year – and this has prompted me to think of my potential summer outfits, more specifically what bathers will I wear? Now, when I lived in Perth I had a multitude of different swim suits, buying a new pair nearly every year – however due to the lack of water time in Melbourne, my choices have been dwindling, and now I am left with only one good (well wearable – and by wearable I mean not somewhat see through due to constant wear in chlorine) pair of bathers. Noting that the summer sales are about to launch in the northern hemisphere, what better time than to investigate purchasing a new pair. Below are a few of that I am currently choosing from:

asos: motel leopard triangle bikini top

asos: mix and match double loop strap bikini top

Victoria Secret: sequined striped triangle top

I will let you know what I eventually choose.

Daiso purchases

It is a bit belated – but here are my purchases from Daiso – the amazing 100 yen store in Doncaster:

cute origami paper to make my cranes

fancy foldback clips – not sure of their purpose yet – but look how pretty!

stainless steel soap - apparently really good to get out odours, have yet to try it

some peach flavoured drink – yum!

I could have bought a whole lot more, but I tried to curb the spending. I will definitely need to visit again. 

purchase tidbits

I finally got round to snapping my purchases from the weekend:

the new additions to my bedside table – courtesy of Ikea

from a far they don’t look too much like fake flowers. I love the pop of colour they add, without the upkeep of real flowers.

I discovered Colette Accessories at Northlands on Sunday, they had an amazing range (so cheap as well!), I had to restrain myself to the following:

I am headed back to Northlands tomorrow for its VIP night tomorrow – hopefully I’ll be able to snatch some bargains – I’ll report back!

weekend purchases

So after a weekend of trying to narrow down my options, I finally made an order from asos with my 20% discount code. I purchased:

ASOS Oversized Woven Panel Shirt – looks relaxed yet the collar makes it appropriate for work.

ASOS Short Sleeve Pussybow Cotton Blouse – I love anything with a bow, really makes the work shirt feminine.

ASOS Plain Bow Tie Shirt – I love the bow tie on this shirt. Not sure if I’d be brave enough to wear it, but the shirt by itself is nice also.

ASOS Clean Pocket Georgette Shirt – love that this shirt could be worn for both work and heading out.

ASOS Metal Kiss Ring – just a cute little ring.

All in all it ended up costing me only $150 with the 20% discount code. Hopefully they’re all as nice in person!

pay day

Do you think the internet knows when you get paid? It seems every online retailer I sign up to miraculously knows when I get paid and sends me out an email with a discount code, or free shipping or something inticing…and how I can I resist those.

I think it’s going to be an expensive weekend.

work outfit and quick order

Today’s work outfit:

 

cue purple (if you can’t see the colour) blouse, cue skirt (bought off ebay, woo!) tights, and wittner heels

Nothing too exciting going on in the dress department today – although I am loving all my ebay purchases so far.

I also squeezed in an Asos order last night – I had a 15% promo code and snapped up:

cheap monday jeans

a/wear spot blouse

why ebay? why?

As much as I have trawled eBay for finds for my house, and bought clothes from other online websites, and even sold my clothes on ebay, I have never bought clothes on eBay before. I always found it too daunting to look through the pages and pages of clothes, most of which were not very attractive, so most of the time I gave up. However, recently, I re-discovered the wonder that is eBay for clothes. I realised I was spending too much on new clothes, and usually choosing cheaper options in order to feed my needs. These cheaper clothes were getting a few wears, and then sitting at the back of the closet for the rest of eternity. I needed to start buying better quality and more timeless clothes, that would get multiple wears, and last through the different trends – however these clothes usually come with a heftier price tag. So I headed to eBay, set up a search with the filters of Cue, Veronika Maine, Review and Forever New to see what was out there -and wow! I couldn’t believe how much good stuff was listed. I have bought clothes in all these brands, so I am very comfortable in my sizing, and their general fit and style – which makes online shopping with them very easy. Cue and Veronika Maine in particular have very timeless styles, so even items that were seasons ago are still able to be worn now – and most of these items are a fraction of their original price. So on this re-discovery I made a few purchases…the best so far has been a pair of Cue pants for $5 – insane! I’ll post pics once the items arrive. eBay may be my new Asos, watch out.

bow-tie fancy

Red Honeycomb Bow Tie Dog Collar by SillyBuddy on etsy

I have a great urge to buy this collar for my cat Bailey (you can get it in small sizes, and considering Bailey is a large cat it could work). However Bailey may not appreciate…

desktop obsession

Unfortunately I seem to have an impatient personality, and I very easily get bees in my bonnets. The current bee inhabiting my bonnet is my need (well really want) for a desktop computer. I have been an exclusive laptop user for at least the last 7 years, mostly because I didn’t have room for desk in my room when I lived with my parents, and also because I love being able to browse the internet whilst watching tv (I am a serial multi-tasker). Early last year my trusty laptop at the time gave up the ghost, and as I had just been to Japan on holiday my funds didn’t allow for a sufficient replacement. I ended up purchasing an Asus eee netbook to tide me over. It now has been a year since then and my netbook really is straining under the amount of videos, music and photos I have. I could buy a bigger laptop, however now I am settled in my house, and have a place for a desk, I think it’s time to get a desktop. The ideal would be storing all my documents and media on the desktop, and relive my netbook of all this data and keep it just for internet browsing on the couch and airplane flights. Now that I think I’ve decided this is something that I need I’ve come up against the tough decision on what computer to buy. Since it will be rather a large object in my room (not like my netbook which I can hide away) it needs to be pretty – as well as functional – this has led me to look into the all-in-one desktops that are now on the market. After some searching, and excel spreadsheeting of all my options (nerdy I know, but it’s the only way I can narrow my options down) I have come up with three potential front-runners:the apple imac – nothing compares to apple when it comes to design, the apple would be a big change for me as I’ve only ever had PCs at home, but the prettiness is calling me…

 

dell inspiron one – before my Asus eee, I’d only purchased Dell laptops and was quite happy with them. It definitely isn’t as pretty as the Mac, but the price is a few hundred lower than the iMachp touchsmart – Venturing into unknown territory here. I have never had a HP computer at home, however I have used them often at work. The price is also competitive against the iMac, and similar to the Dell. I can’t decide which PC design I like more though – the Dell or the HP?

Right now I am definitely hearing the calling of the iMac. It’s external design, as well as the applications that are available with Mac are definitely looking like a plus, especially since you can even run Windows on the iMac, and network with PCs, so my netbook and iMac could talk to each other. I am also being tempted by the apple refurbished products on their online store – they are a bit cheaper than buying new, and still come with a year warranty….do I dare? Does anyone have any advice when it comes to choosing between these three? Or maybe even a model I haven’t considered?

portmans rediscovery

There are some stores I used to shop at, however a change in their style direction meant I stopped finding things I liked, and eventually stopped even looking. Portmans was one of those stores – I ventured in often through my teens and early university years, but I found that I was finding less and less items that I liked and so eventually wrote the store off, not even stepping in to see what they had on offer. It was only recently that I ventured back in, spurred by a search for a suit (for an interview, I don’t usually wear suits to work) that I re-discovered how many things there were that I loved in the store. Portmans has also just recently done a re-vamp of their website, so you can view some of the colelction online, although you can’t buy online which is a bit of a pain. Here are a few of the items that I am loving from their most recent collection:

 

Hmm…perhaps I want a printed dress?

                                

cute ruffle details

Fantastic printed skirt (I am seeing it with my maroon cue blouse) and cute camel maxi skirt and pants

I must resist going into the store until my leave payout comes through….

all images from portmans.com.au