Leaving on a Jet Plane...

This post was done on the plane but published hours later after I was grounded

Hey you,

I am finally on the flight home. After being on the road on a coach to Sydney for 3 and a half hours. And waiting at the airport for another 3 hours before I boarded this plane.

So it was really tiring. More so trying to lug 3 bags with impossible weight alone. Half the time one of the 3 bags would tumble to the ground and I was pretty much trying to stay cool, but I was so shouting to myself inside.
I would really like to thank the cab driver who helped me graciously with my bags and suggested a 'safe' configuration to carry my bags. Of course half way into the coach station the bags tumbled over. But really he was so kind, we chatted and he drove so slowly, I thought I would miss the coach.

But, I made it, so I was glad. More so when I managed to secure a seat with no one beside me. But the moment the coach moved on, and the bus drive said '

"For the comfort of fellow passengers, do keep your voice down when making a call, and keep it to a minimum."

Just 4 minutes after that, the guy who was sitting behind me was making calls after calls...non-stop!

I felt like turning around and knock him unconscious!
Did I mention he was smelly too! Yucks!

I was happy I had my ear phone and plugged my ears and blasted the music on. I managed to get about 2 hours of sleep and reached Sydney refreshed.

Getting to the SQ counter was another challenge. Could have gotten a trolley for the bags if only have had $4 worth of coins. So I stopped after every 10 painful steps and finally when I reached, the counter wasn't open.

I was so worried all the time about excess baggage. After I had sent 2 boxes home, it seemed I still had about 50kgs of stuff!
I didn't think I did a lot of shopping, I was really careful this time....really.

Finally it was my time, moment of truth.....

My bags fell everywhere while trying to gracefully lug it to the first class counter (nope I was on economy but with internet check in, you get priority).
Thankfully, a guy who was really a first class passenger helped me....first class chivalry I must say.

The moment of truth.....



Placed the bags on the scale




and













I was over 16kg over weight!.. But after I told them about me being a student, showing my card and admission letter, I was granted xtra 10kg....
So I had to pay for 5kg, and thank God, that was such a hefty sum....
Let's just say, I could have bought another of those clogs, perhaps in white. Well....

I was pretty happy, got the bags out of the way, enjoyed a proper lunch...chocolate shopping in duty free and off I got on the plane.

I was super happy that they were showing shows for November, which means I have so many to watch

Inception
The Girl who Played with Fire, sequel to Girl with Dragon Tattoo
Despicable Me
and many more, if I could fast forward them all.

and as a promise to a friend
managed to watch 2 episodes of Gossip Girls


Waiting to land, watching the clock tick
keeping tab on plane's route...

I am just so happy to be finally home.

See you soon.

PS: Btw, I decided to wear this top my hubby bought from Sweden which I haven't worn. Cant' wait for the smile on his face =)

Worn with jeans, white scarf and beige cardi

All Packed Up....Ready to GO

Hey you,

It's been a busy busy last few days.

Preparing for presentation, getting ready to go home, worrying about excess baggage.

This is what I've got so far.....and I still have another bag.

Well, it looks like the huge luggage is overflowing? I've still got clothes in the dryer! Help...

Well, at least one is down, presentation was rather well done I should say, just happy about that.

Also, managed to send a box in today,  FINALLY..

but was disappointed I did not manage to lug enough stuff to make up to 20kg.
Tomorrow's gonna be another day of sending more stuff back. But I have a problem.


This!

(something wrong with trying to upload photo.....even the photo refused to show itself!)

It DOES NOT FIT!!!

How am I gonna bring this printer and other notes to the courier place by bus tomorrow?

Well, taking a cab today wasn't really helpful as the guy had no clue where it was. But after I showed him the may he was 'Oh I've been to that building before."

So when he went, "Here we are, it should be somewhere here..."

I nearly shouted at him. He just drove me all the way to where I have classes everyday. I would have just taken a BUS, if I just wanted to go for classes!

and when I told him, "Nope, this aint the place, I walked from here to the place last week..."

and so we went all round to finally find the place....and he had the nerve to tell me " Well sorry bout' that, we are only human!"

WHAT!!!????

Anyhow, the more pleasant guy at the courier counter made me forget all those awful experience. And I am surely gonna see him again tom, with more of my stuff.

And I know I will take the bus tomorrow!

So I was stuck with my carry-on luggage the while day, dragging it around campus. And the lady on the bus asked me,

"You runnin' away from home, luv?"

Hah, quite the contrary....

"I am going HOME", I replied with a smile on my face.

Really, felt like a big weight taken off me...the thought of going home.  =)

Anyway, even though I was lugging my luggage around today, I was doing it in style no doubt.

I was clad in this:

Linen shirt dress, fr CLASS, Milan

My boyfriend cardi from Massimo

This skinny army green cargo from Zara, which I love so much that I also have it in black. This is featured in so many Mag for the last 3 months. Still in style!

As much as I am SUPER excited,

I also do feel sad to leave this apartment dilapidated unit, my home for past months. It's seen me through my endless stress with assignments, trying to get the T.V to work and wrestling with the long antennae, as though I am trying to get signals from the Moon!

Well, those were some of the sweeter moments.....

This place of nothingness, has served me well in my studies, taken much of the distraction of shopping away by having just ONE shopping center (I just can't stress that enough). Hence, people who've been here often say,

"This is one good place to study, it's like Oxford, a little study town."

More often than not, I seriously think they are absolutely exaggerating.
I've been to Oxford, it REALLY is nothing like this place.

Oxford has many many many quaint shops, vintage shops, nice bookstores,.....

Have I already said that it has many many interesting shops?

And more importantly it is only about 20 minutes to the Bicester Shopping Village...Aahhhhh Heavens!

I am really proud of myself having to survive with very little shopping, window or otherwise. Of course, I should thank this great lacking in shops for me having mastered the art of internet shopping.

Thank you...really.

Now you may ask...

Why do I have so many things to bring back, when there is not much shopping.

Well, I shall try to answer that some other time when

I have an answer to such a tough tough question. Be fair to me people, pleeze.

See u later.

the WINNER take it all

Hey u,

Yes, the lyrics of an ABBA (my all time fav group) song.

Well, I will leave it to later for the title of this post.

I was pretty excited spending the LAST Sunday here. I planned to be in town early, so that I can do my final look and see around before meeting friends for a birthday lunch at noon.

Well, that didn't happen, I woke up and it was 10am!

It's the weekend and buses only comes by once every hour. I didn't really get a good sleep, waking up every hour. I don't know if it's the shoe doing this to me.

Anyways,

the bus comes round at 11.08am, and I have an hour, wat to wear, wat to wear? QUICK!

It doesn't help when 3/4 of your wardrobe is back at home, 9hours away

It doesn't help that 3/4 of the 3/4 you have here (go figure) is in the luggage.

That leaves me with...erm....erm...(come on it's simple fraction..) 7/16 (I hope I am right, if not my kid is gonna LAUGH at me, and I told her fraction was SIMPLE) of clothes to choose from.

So, that being a difficult choice, I was clever enough to use me polyvore as an inspiration and wear the flag of France. So here it was:

Red top with the lace like white scarf

Denim mid length skirt.

And my bf navy blue cardi, glad I had dat, it was pretty chilly today.

So I got ready, glupped a glass of milk and I was out of the house by 11am. Reached the bus stop and waited

and

waited

11.08am


11.15am


o pleeezz don't tell me I missed the bus.

Than a guy came to the bus stop, ok at least I know I didn't miss the bus, as these people really knows what time the bus comes.

Soon an old lady, clad in a long grey coat, grey floral beret....

O I recognised her, the nice lady I chatted with before.

So, I greeted her and we chatted again.

11.20am

the bus finally came by. The lady really was good with bus timing, twice I notice after a minute she was at the bus stop, the bus came.

O, ya, it really helps

when she lives just opposite the bus stop. She may just be studying the time table of the bus, doing a weekly survey, and finally got the timing perfect.

Did I mention she's 72 years old (never mind how I know her EXACT age)

and living in that house, just opposite the bus stop for perhaps for the past 50 years, she should get the perfect timing for the bus.

We boarded the bus and chatted all the way.

Well, I have to admit I don't really know half the things she was telling me, coz she was a little soft and the bus was irritatingly loud.
Really nice lady, called me 'love' and her conversation was peppered with ' you know things like that appens...'

Did I mention she was wearing a grey coat with green bag, green scarf....it was the colour of my polyvore previous creation!
She must have been a fashionista in her hey days. I complimented her on her good fashion sense. She was appy (she has a tendency of leaving the 'H' of every word)

We reached the city, she hugged me and wished me well. We parted. She's so nice.

Then I found myself at Sportsgirl,

I came in.

Saw the red clogs.

'Can I have size 8 pleez'

Tried it on...PERFECT.

Oh no....






The wooden sole of one pair was tarnished. I knew perhaps after months of looking at it, we weren't fated to be together.

'Do you seem to have another pair?' I was near to queasy waiting for her reply......


She went to the store to check....











and


there it was!

YAY! Fated! the WINNER (me, me me!) takes it all.

I went off, being $109.95 poorer, but H A P P I E R.

We met for lunch at Blue Ginger (that would be my last meal there - authentic indian, ok near authentic). They all looked nice in their dresses.

We ate, took photos, took more photos, talked, telling our fair share of ghost stories (I really can't remember how that topic came about eating Indian food at 1pm).

They were nice to accompany me to the Parliament House, since it was my last chance.

O ya, I was SUPPOSED to go to the Museum, I know, it's just not fated me and museums.

Well, the Parliament house is more important than the museum.

Museums are about the past.

Parliament house is about the future, you know.

We decided to have cake back in town. We landed ourselves at Koko Black.

This place has super nice chocolates, hot choc, ice choc, choc tea cakes, choc chocolate. It's like a chocolate boutique.
But,

There was never a time the place was without a queue.

There was never a time we could really enjoy of time there, as we will either get hurried, to make space for others, or
they take ages to serve.

Today was no different. I had to catch a bus in 40minutes. So, yup ample time for my hot hazelnut choc and tea cakes.

They served my hot choc 35 minutes later!

I ended taking it away, while the rest got to enjoy their tea cakes and hot choc.

It was the first time and definitely the last time that I really got to fully utilized my long weekend fruitfully.

Now, time to get back to my assignments.

One more week of assignments and I will be done with studies
here.

See u later.

Blue Red White

Blue Red White by Afwena featuring betsey johnson earrings

Parisian chic

The Day I met Kevin Rudd

Hey u,

I woke up today, wondering...'What DAY is it?'

I have the luxury of having long weekends and when Saturday really comes, I'll go 'It's only Saturday..'
My days usually starts with Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday,Saturday,Sunday,Sunday. Now you understand what I mean by a LONG weekend.
Don't be too jealous ya?

So today I thought I will start with throwing stuff into the DHL box which looks rather big and vacuumed the whole house, I thought if I could do it today, I won't need to do it on Thursday....

which means......

I will have time for some last last minute shopping before I head home on Friday ;)

Anyhow, the house looks so clean and finally I could really breathe better, for awhile I thought I was gonna be asthmatic! Never remembered we have it in our family history.
Well, at least I know now, it's just the dust and oh all the pollinating seed flying in the air these day, it looks like snow on a wintry day.
Nice, but it's irritating getting all those woolly seeds stuck in your hair, eyebrow and nose!

So house is FINALLY clean, actually rather clean except for all the notes all over the floor and table. Soon... 

I got ready, transferred some moulah $$$, into the correct debit account, coz I am off to the DFO (factory outlet) after lunching with hubby's friend(let's call him H) and his lovely Jap wife.

I waited.....washed my clothes....waited...than was thinking 'Was it supposed to be a Sat or Sunday that we are going out?' - see, this long weekend is really confusing me....

He came finally.
Clad in a black top, jeans, proper shoes, red scarf and my ORANGE bag, off we went.

First stop, Manuka.
I love the place, it's so near to where I live, rather the Beverly Hills (ok I was exaggerating a bit, ok ok a whole lot) of Canberra.
It's really for the rich & richer lot of people, you really see the few branded shops and the clothes here you can't get in the city.

Families having a day out eating, all the cafes are full, people basking in the SUN.
I was telling myself, I must come here again, alone and shop....they really seem to have nice stuff and the SALE sign everywhere!

We had simple lunch, conversation, which range from politics, marriages, gay-ism, climate change, wow really heavy stuff, ya?

We drove off to Red Hill, I tell you Australia, has all those colourfull mountains, BLUE mountain in Sydney, BLACK mountain in Canberra, now RED hill. Gosh.
I understand the Blue and Black lived to it;s name, but Red hill....nothing red I saw, but you really get to see the whole of this city.


Some view from the hill, from my iphone:

It was a very cloudy day, the Southern skies are usually really beautiful

On our way down, then H was saying, 'Hey, that's Kevin Rudd..!!'
His wife was SUPER excited. Like a kind gentleman, he turned the car around
passed Kevin Rudd again,
brought down the window and

'Hey Kevin, can we take a a picture with you?'

He said yes, the next things we were clicking away. Wow! she was super excited, Kevin said something in Jap, we shook hands and let him continue his exercise up Red hill. That was great, the ex PM of Australia, very friendly and obliging indeed. No, he didn't have any security personnel with him, just one of the cabinet minister, which we all didn't recognised anyways.

Kevin (ex PM, now Minister of Foreign Affairs & Us (we are all shy people)

We went off to DFO, I was excited, my the mission of getting a beige/brown blazer. We split ways, I have 45 minutes to scan through the place and hopefully get something decent. Shoes and blazer, I'll be happy if I got those.

45 minutes later (I swear it felt like 10 minutes).......


I ended up with


ONLY


this!

A Dora Lunch Box for my baby

I was disappointed, but I know I will make her SUPER happy, and really that's what matters most! =)
The SMILE on her face is PRICELESS.


But...


I think I will end my torture tomorrow.

I am set.


I will.


Get

the

Shoes

tomorrow!!!!

The smile on my face....is priceless will cost me A$109.90.

See u later.

A Cheery Winter

A Cheery Winter by Afwena featuring striped scarves

Blisters on my feet, but I am Smiling

Hey u,

Wat a DAY it was!

I was out by 11am....geared up in this

Zara cap sleeve bling bling top

with Zara's blue sripped blazer, a pair of dark blue jeans

and the wrong pair of shoes. With the good intention of visiting the museums before shopping, I felt good knowing that I have a whole day, as Fridays shops close only at 9pm. I know, it should have been open till 9pm everyday, but, well, I think it's for the good, keeps my bank account rather healthy.


I reached town at 11.40am and walked straight towards the museum.....
I got so close,

I was just a few meters from the entrance


and

I walked on...


and the next thing I know, I was opposite the road, the museum seemed so far suddenly.

Somehow, traffic was heavy, getting back to the other side was impossible. Funny how there is usually not much traffic on a normal day. Perhaps, it just wasnt fated for me to be at the museum.

I just looked from the opposite side of the road, and wondered what was in that museum.

Well,

So the first shop I was in,
I had been passing the shop everyday in the bus and told myself I have to get to that shop.

I was finally in it....and the kind of shirts for me, the white shirts in all kinds of style, I was counting the number of shirt I will buy. And then came a lady...

"We are not a retail shop, so we do not have price tags displayed....You can have a look at the catalogue and order what you want.'

What was that about!? Anyway, I walked out of the shop, knowing that they have just lost a potential customer. Too bad for them.

I checked my mobile, coz I was supposed to meet up with a friend.

Well, no time to waste so I decided to shop for my kids, at least I won't feel bad if I ended up with lots of stuff for me today.

I got them these....

A very charming Fedora for my Prince. I bet he will look so cool!

I got the same denim top for both my princesses. And I got a similar denim top too!

 Paired it with floral leggings for this one.

Paired this with stripped red legging and scarf. They will look spiffy!

Well, I got 2 sundresses for my baby too. I am just one happy mama!

Now, alls settled for the kids, time for the mama....

My friend finally ringed me, she just woke up, coz she just had been working on her assignment thru the night. Well, look at me, I finished mine early and I could dedicate 2 days to resting. yay.
So she will meet me later....'take your time' was want I wanted to tell her, coz really I'd prefer to shop on my own.

So I walked everywhere in search for the beige blazer which I wanted to get. No blazer but lots and lots of bright orange shirts everywhere, perhaps thats the 'in' colour of spring here.

I was trying lots, and nearly bought too many white shirts, they all looked different really. But I resisted.
I went to Sportsgirl again to check out the clogs with red leather....still there waiting for me, still no sale, sigh.

Should I get it?

After walking past over 40 shops, I ended up with these:

Got my red, blue,white combi....the Parisian colours. The blue white jersey dress was from Miss Shop, it is sooo comfy. I wanted a red cardi, but couldnt fine a nice one.

Or I could wear the red top also from Miss Shop on the outside with a belt perhaps. Ooo the clogs with red leather would look perfect with this.

I was proud that I did not buy any jewellery but I got 2 headbands instead. As much as I think there too much 'bling bling', my friends (yup they finally met me 2hrs later) said they looked nice (coz I think my hair overwhelmed the bling)

Yup never intended a gold one, but again I think it looked nice on my head (according to my friends the shape of my head fit hairbands, wat?...) and whats more it was at 20% discount.

So I was happy...got something for my body, my head, but not very happy coz my feet didn't get anything. ;(

My feet was aching, but I was happy, that's most important.

After which I did my friends a favour by giving them important fashion advice while they shopped for dresses. I was happy to be of help, and they were happy with their haul too.

We had iced mocha while we rested our feet 5 hours later. Perhaps we were feeling guilty, coz somehow we were talking about our next assignment.
Next Wednesday seemed so far away, I was thinking that this would be my last Friday here.
Hmmm....I really want to go home, but I have really enjoyed myself surprisingly in this really quiet state with pretty much just one HUGE shopping centre.
And I survived! With just ONE shopping centre....I am so proud of myself.

Well I will dedicate a blog to this place soon...

We walked back to their hostel. I had to follow coz I had to get this:

Yup a 20kg box to fill some of things to send back. Truthfully, I think I need another 2 of such boxes....with all those haul. Well an least now I know I can get an extra 10kg on flight. Means I may get more things since I am going to DFO tom. I was supposed to get my assignment done, but I also have to meet up with these 2 nice people who insist to treat me lunch since I am going home.

At 8pm, I walked back to the bus stop, box, and shopping bags in tow, tired but happy.
I met a Prof. on the bus and we were talking about dense stuff, Climate change, Savings orang utans in Sumatra and all that good things about Science.

But most important of all,

he told me, I looked 10yr younger than my actual age. How's that for a GREAT day!

See u soon.

It's Autumn

It's Autumn by Afwena featuring suede handbags

Well, it's not really Autumn here, but I just Love the colours.

Internet shopping

Hey u,

I have been doing some work and some shopping all right in the comfort of 'home'. It's just so easy killing two birds with one stone. You don't feel guilty coz you've done work at the same time. Yay!
I do not need to dress up and take the bus out to town, but it still creates the same adrenalin rush when you go shopping. It's all so exciting.

Can't wait for the goodies to arrive. Was introd to this website from an American course mate yesterday  http://www.shopbop.com.

Love the accessories.

Well, to not make me feel guilty, I also shopped my my kiddos! Here :http://www.zappos.com/kids.
Of course they have everything for all ages....especially shoes. Watched a documentary on this company before, seemed it started with shoes.

I feel so good that I shopped for everyone, well, nearly everyone.

Will be back for more, gotta rush off to a seminar now.

C you later.

Finally...

Hey u,

After days of back breaking looming over the comp to finish my assignments, I m Finally done. Time to kick back and relax

For a few days before another whirlwind comes my way.

Anyways, weather has been looking good, and the sun is up.

I will post photos of my my look today, shall keep the writing to a minimal as I am suffering from mental block.

Here it goes...

Details of close up as requested of my multi tiered necklace

Multi tiered necklace

Got this yesterday.

My lovely buy yesterday. Just LOVE the colour.

My viscose olive green jersey dress from Sportsgirl

Neutral colour leather jacket from Mango

The complete look with distressed leather boots

Green scarf to match from alley shop in Melbourne

 See u later

I Luv Paris

I Luv Paris by Afwena featuring topshop jackets

Don't we just love Paris.
The balenciaga is obviously the star here. I am so used to my muted Autumn
colours, but now I am definitely making sure I have a POP colour in my wardrobe all the time now.
But first I must go do some shopping. Yay!

Bohemian

Bohemian by Afwena featuring carvela shoes

I so love the BoHo look. Conservative by definitely stylist. But do be careful not to over accessorize.
As Boho dresses are most printed. You don't want to look like a Christmas tree. Do keep the the 10 rule. 
Will go into the rule in y next post.

For now go BOHO!


C u later.

Glamour.....

'Fashion makes the beautiful gorgeous and the ugly tolerable'

Hey you,

This is my reward for working fervently on my assignment for the past 4 hours straight! 

My Title for this post was a quote which struck me during the matinee stage performance I watched today - "The clever country". A play about why less people are doing Science and more going into the Fashion Industry.
It was definitely entertaining albeit a small production, more importantly it brought meaning to my studies now. We all laughed out stress away for that one an a half hour production.

Of course the highlight of the day was my visit to the vintage dress shop. Between my friend and me, we tried 12 dresses in all, but we only left we a dress each. Well, better than nothing. The colour of the clothes definitely excited us but the style did not suit out non so petite frame.
Most of the short dresses had gutters around the waste which would looked better on any petite Asian frame. Nevertheless, I was overjoyed with getting my hands on the dress with the colour I have been hoping to add in my wardrobe forever!

Of course, not satisfied with just a dress, I was working hard to finding accessories to match. And I am proud to announce that I got 2 very lovely rings. Perhaps it doesn't match, but what's crucial here is that I brought back more than just a dress. I was supposed to get a nice scarf, nothing functional, more of an accessory, but I had to catch the bus instead!
Well, I will go get that after I am done with this assignment. You can count on me for that. And yes, the coveted clog like sandal with red leather straps. I have been ogling that for a month already!
Soon...I will.

For now enjoy the photos.

Presenting, my bright green dress. Well it may look non-vintage buy I am a sucker for simple shift dresses. Will pair it with white leggings. It can be accessorized with this layered necklace or the classic string of pearls.

I just love this vintage looking ring. Well, I'd prefer it if the stone was green but I'll be happy with this pastel pink too.

My other favourite and and gold. With a leopard like stone arrangement of black and gold.

See u later.

the SUN is deceiving

Hey you,

Brrrrrr, it's such a chilly day today! Looking out the window and the sun shining through, I picked up my attire for the day.
Stepping out and that unforgiving gust of wind; the cold ran right through my bones and back in for a quick change to adapt to the weather.

Being at the mercy of weather, I got this together in a jiffy and was just in time for the bus to town.

A staple of every wardrobe, white shirt with pleads

A cashmere cardi with leather belt from Massimo Dutti

A satisfied buy fr Melbourne from a quaint shop. A somewhat vintage looking quilted orange sling bag.

Tweed brown berms from UK's label Monsoon.

Pretty floral scarf from Promod

Gold and black ethnic chunky ring

Brown leather brogues. Got it almost 3 years ago and still serving me well.

Well, it was a cold day, felt like it was winter again! Glad my get-up kept me rather warm.
The cold didn't keep me from doing a bit of shopping before the theatre performance.


Will show my haul and review of performance in my next post.

Stay tuned....

C you later.

Vintage III

Vintage III by Afwena featuring butterfly jewelry

Work to party wear.
Bright red dress themed with off white cardi or scarf to mute the colour a little.
Accessorise with gold for a more glamorous look.
My fav brogues and a vintage bag with intricate detailing adds a touch of class.