Birthday vouchers

Birthday means shopping vouchers.  It's a happy time of year for me.

Kikki K gives you a $10 when it's your day of birth.  I used it to buy a sterling silver necklace with scissors pendant.  Retail was $80 I think, down to $40 and I paid $10 for it.

Mimco gives you $30 on your birthday and a week before my birthday they gave $50 to everyone to celebrate Mimco's 18th birthday so I had $80 up my sleeve.  My sister went to Birkenhead Point and scored an awesome tan handbag for $49 after she used her vouchers.  I went for the pink scarf and pink coin purse.

I got my free birthday Chatime but couldn't fit in a Boost as well.  What other birthday vouchers are out there??

While I was in Melbourne I visited the Uniqlo popup store and walked out with 2 merino wool jumpers.  Fuchsia and black.  I'm going through a fuchsia phase (am I ever NOT??!).  The xs is slightly too big for me but a few mins in the dryer will fix that.  They were giving out free camisoles or mens tees with each purchase.

And picked up these super cute Little Miss undies from Peter Alexander for half price.

Melbourne-town

I spent my 28th annual day of birth down in Melbourne this year.  It was great.  Except for the hotel pillow which was a piece of sht.  I hate hotel pillows.  I would bring my own pillow everywhere with me if I could.  And no I'm not rich enough to stay in a hotel that has a pillow menu haha, although I'm sure that would solve a lot of my problems.

We had breakfast at Operator25 BOTH mornings because the coffee was just amazing.  So I had 2 bowls of it.  And then I ate some food.  That was also amazing.

We visited the National Gallery of Victoria which had a great exhibition called Melbourne Now.

Ok please hold your judgement, but the first time I ate laksa was 2 years ago in Melbourne.  We happened across this random Laksa Bar and every time I visit Melbourne I have to make a trip to Laksa Bar.  I'm told it's not authentic laksa but rather a bastardised Westernised version.  Maybe that's why I like it!

Aaand of course, no trip to Melbourne is complete without a morning at DFO.  Sometimes I walk struggle out of there with too many bags but this time I actually didn't buy much.  The stock is so much better than the DFO in Sydney although they've done Sydney DFO up lately and I'm yet to visit.

I did, however visit the Uniqlo popup store.  I fell in love with Uniqlo a few years ago in NYC and just had to pay a visit.  Obviously I was expecting exhorbitant pricing but I was pleasantly surprised.

I picked up 2 ultra fine merino wool jumpers for $39.90 each.  More on that in another post.

Aaaand that's it.  Thanks for having me Melbourne!!

Can always count on my Dad for good advice

Daiso goodies

I periodically drop into Daiso to see what new goodies they have. Today was a good day.

Stackable shelves to get more usable space in your kitchen

Apparently can withstand from -40 degrees celcius to 230 degrees.  Much better than my other pot holders that melted

Laundry bags with a fine weave so bras don't get caught

House socks to keep my toes warm in winter

Always have to grab a packet of dried mango when I'm there!

Honeymoon Planning

Yes I'm planning the honeymoon before I plan the wedding.  The thought of planning a wedding still absolutely terrifies me.  I'm hoping someone will come to me one day and say "your wedding has been organised" and I won't have to deal with it.  I think the reason why I'm so scared is because I know I could easily become bridezilla and go crazy and I really don't want to piss people off or stress myself out.  For the time being the only thing I can do to prevent Kayzilla is not to think about it.  Let's see how long it lasts.

Anyway we were talking about our honeymoon.  Originally I suggested Europe as Tom's never been and I have but not for long.  Tom didn't want a long/stressful/rushing around honeymoon and just wanted to relax somewhere.  So we were tossing up between Bora Bora and the Maldives (which, in itself, was doing my head in) as we wanted to stay in those over-water bungalow things.  Honestly after a bit of research I still couldn't split the 2.  Then my mind started wandering back to Europe and I just need to convince Tom that it's a good idea.

My rough idea:

• London
• Paris
• Nice?
• Venice
• Cinque Terre
• Florence or Rome - any opinions?
• Santorini - or another Greek island?
• Barcelona? to visit and stay with my cousin who lives there
• Dubai/Abu Dhabi to visit and stay with my other cousin who lives there
• Maybe also Kuala Lumpur on the way from Sydney to London to stay in the over-water bungalows they have?

Any thoughts anyone??

Perfect white tee - FOUND

I have spent many years/dollars trying to find the perfect white tee.

I wanted a fitted (not tight) v-neck.  The Saba tee didn't work out too well for me despite many recs from Voguettes.  Neither did Asos or any of the 5 random tees I bought in desperation.

Then I found Everlane.  Their tees are 100% cotton and only USD$15!!!!

So I bought the white v-neck and a black one.  Then I bought grey.  Then I got a navy v-neck and a black u-neck.  I'm now converted.

And this is the u-neck:

The u-neck is cut slightly larger so size down if you want a similar fit to the v-neck.  I'm a 6 and I take XS in both v-neck and u-neck although I just noticed XXS in some tees so might try those out.

I've introduced the fiance to Everlane and he now owns more Everlane gear than I do.  He's got v-neck tees, pocket tees and oxford shirts and loves them all.

The only catch is Everlane don't ship to Australia so you have to use a parcel forwarder which adds a fair bit to the cost of a tee ($24 shipping + $15 tee).  Maybe grab a few tees and grab your other half some items to make it more worthwhile?  I heard rumours they were working on shipping globally but not sure where that's at.

Everlane if you are reading this, are you going to start cutting the silk shirts in a XXS?  The XS was too big for me but the silk shirt was gorgeous otherwise <3

Kx.

Keeping sane during unemployment

I have been unemployed more than once in my life (how awful, what does that say about me? eeek let's not go there!).  I can tell you it is really easy to fall into a vicious cycle of sleeping in, eating lunch late, eating dinner late, sleeping late, not leaving the house for days on end, questioning who you are and what you are achieving by being on this planet, etc etc.

I was actually talking to my GP about it (who is amazing btw, if anyone needs a GP on the lower north shore in Sydney email me and I'll give you her deets) and told her I was still looking for work.  She remarked that I was surprisingly upbeat for someone who hadn't found a job in 3 weeks and I explained the things I had been doing to keep sane.

1. To me the most important thing is routine and structure.  When you're working, you have structure to your day.  When you're not working, this is the first thing that falls away.  I get up at 9am every day, go grab a takeaway coffee and have a chat to the barista, come home and check emails and have a look at seek.  I'll make lunch, do some internet searching, then maybe watch tv for a few hours.  Grocery shopping, make dinner, eat dinner, some more tv watching with Tom, then bed.
2. Leave the house!  I went stir crazy last time I was unemployed.  There were literally days on end where I just didn't leave the house.  I didn't change out of my pyjamas in the morning, lounged around all day in them and then went to sleep in them that night.  Disgusting.  Go for a walk, go check the mail, go get a coffee/lunch/groceries.
3. Meet friends/family/ex-colleagues for lunch.  Yes this might mean going into the city but just being able to talk to another human being feels amazing after you've been talking to yourself/the computer for 2 days.
4. Try not to emotionally rely on your other half 100%.  I was guilty of doing this last time and it not only pissed Tom off but it made our relationship one-sided and unhealthy.  Yes they should be emotionally supportive but don't abuse this support.