The Long Floral Kimono

I'm sure you'll have noticed long kimonos have been appearing in stores everywhere. Many of them come in floaty chiffon (or some impersonation of it), which I love. Whilst a few do look a bit more like your grandma's dressing gown, than something you'd want to wear out, there are also a lot of them that are really pretty. I think hope mine qualifies as one of the later. Either way, I'm on board with this trend because anything that is light enough to throw on in Jakarta heat, but which still manages to hide my bum and give me that covered up feeling, is always nice to have as an option. 

This particular Kimono came from Forever 21 (Pondok Indah Mall branch for all you Jakarta friends). I couldn't track it down online but it's this season and it's still in store, well...here at least. There's plenty of others to choose from too, though. I have my eye on one in Topshop and a fringed one from River Island. Although, speaking from experience, you get caught on absolutely everything when you wear fringed ones - if you buy one, don't say I didn't warn you!

Coveted and Coveting

I don't know about you but I always have a little mental shopping list. Of course, several of the items fall into more of the 'wishlist category'. That's basically lots of gorgeous handbags and a few pairs of Louboutin shoes. But I also make mental notes of particular (more realistic) items that I've seen on other bloggers or in magazines and want to buy, or find similar versions of.

The Vivienne Westwood Lady Dragon shoes have been something I have coveted for a few years. The big shiny hearts give the shoes a cartoon-like quality that I absolutely love. I would have grabbed myself a pair right away but alas, I was living in Korea at the time, where my size (only UK7!) was never stocked, and importing my size would mean around a 60% markup. Errm, that's okay thanks! Skip forward to last weekend when I'm casually wandering around one of the malls here doing some window shopping. I passed by the Melissa store and spotted the iconic hearts at the back of the shop, and then even better, I spotted the sale sign in their section. They were 70% off, and against the odds they had my size! I snapped them up in the colour 'Lychee' and couldn't be happier. Such playful, fun shoes and such a bargain! Guess it's true that good things come to those who wait.

Finding these got me to thinking about other things I want to hunt down, high up my list is a short orange jacket. I saw the ASOS fluro boucle jacket last year on a number of bloggers and was reminded of it by Laura recently. It was half off then, but sold out fast. I bet some of you ladies were lucky/fast enough to snap one up, weren't you?! Anyway, try as I might, I now can't shake the idea that I need peachy orange coloured jacket. I have looked in all the stores here but to no avail. So naturally I started scouring the Internet, which lead me to a site called Peter Hahn that I hadn't heard of before, but it has this orange jacket. It's pretty much what I'm after, just sadly doesn't have the £35 ASOS price tag! The search may have to go on. If anyone knows where I can find a nice light orange or peach coloured short jacket let me know!


So ladies, what's on your current shopping lists? Come on, I know there must be plenty of things!

Dinner Date // Union, Plaza Senayan

I love that floral dresses are always 'in' every spring and summer; they're pretty and feminine, and even though they're the simplest thing to just slip on, they also transition well from day to unexpected dinner date.

The latest addition to my floral collection is from New Look, a popular, very budget-friendly British store. It's one of those stores that I often find nothing in but then a season hits and there's a bunch of items I really like. I spotted the red of this dress as I was passing the shop entrance and although I had no intention of doing any shopping that day (isn't that what we always say?!) the V-neck, A-line and short sleeves is something I know always works well on me. Add that to the floral print, and it was basically sold before I even tried it on.

One of our new favourite places in Jakarta is a restaurant/bar called Union. It has the feel of a Parisian cafe and does cocktails to die for. This was a school night though, so instead we just headed to Coldstone after dinner to share ice-cream.

Some very important decisions being made.

Coldstone for dessert

The prettiest gift wrap store. Even though it's tiny I always have to go in just to look at the beautiful things inside.

After dinner and ice-cream, I took an opportunity to snap a quick iPhone outfit selfie in a changing room. I have to confess...I haven't quite got the courage to stand and have outfit photos taken in public here yet. It was so easy in Korea, no-one ever batted an eyelid since they're such a click-happy nation. It's socially acceptable expected that you take selfies - girls, guys, mums, dads, sometimes grandmas...everyone takes 'selcas' (Korean word for them - from self camera) everywhere!  It's also not uncommon to see couples or groups of friends doing full photo-shoots of one another in the street for no particular reason. Here it's quite a different story; just trying to take a few shots at Christmas time I drew plenty of funny looks. I know I'll just have to suck it up and get on with it sometime, but until then, please bear with me!

Outfit Details
Floral Dress - New Look 
Pashli Bag - Phillip Lim via Shopbop
Ring - J.Crew (old)
Spiked Necklace - H&M (Not online but this season)

Watch - Marc Jacobs via Shopbop

Anyone else get really embarrassed doing outfit shots? Have any of you got any tips on how to make the whole process bearable with lots of eyes on you? I'd love to hear if you have

Making Me Smile // Hiatus Edition

Apologies for the unannounced hiatus. It wasn't planned, it's just been one of those periods where something comes up, quickly followed by another thing and another. Don't you hate those times?!

I think I mentioned before, we moved apartment last month and to say that it was a smooth transition would be lying. It felt like everything that could possibly be an issue was. One of the more frustrating problems was that it took us over a week to get an Internet connection sorted out, only for it to be cut off a couple of weeks later. It's then taken us until now, with no less than around 15 phone calls (of varying levels of politeness), to get it back on again. Fantastic! For a blogger and social media addict like myself, having no Internet at home is somewhat of a problem, but apparently not one the service provided seemed to care about! Also, in what felt like the final twist of ugly fate, the Mr managed to catch Dengue Fever (a tropical illness passed on by mosquitoes) a couple of weeks ago. He was sick in bed for about a week until he was hospitalised this last week. It's shocking how extreme some of the illnesses out here actually are. Thankfully he's heaps better now and is back home but...an easy, hassle free month...errrm, no, not quite.

Anyway, they say bad things come in threes and I think we've more than exceeded that, so hopefully from here on out it's plain sailing (and blogging). I know I sound like I'm ranting but believe it or not, despite all that's been going on for the last month, I'm actually really enjoying life here in Indonesia. Between the bad there's still been a lot of good. So, in the interest of looking on the bright side of life, here's just a handful of simple things that have been making me smile;

Moving apartment - if only because it helped me re-discover this amazing Christmas gift I'd tucked away and then somehow forgotten about! I love the lipstick in particular; a cremesheen called 'How Darling!'

Brunching and chatting with new lovely girl friends...

...at PAUL. If you've ever been to one, you'll know why this makes me smile. And, if you haven't been, you really need to!

Extra sparkle on stressful days.

Enjoying icy cool drinks and good conversations in the balmy evening sun on our balcony.

I'm grateful that tomorrow is a new day and the start of a new week (with Internet). Onwards and upwards :) Have a great week everybody!

x 

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As Summer Fades

 

Do you remember the sickly sweet floral tea-dresses that were a big trend about five years ago? Well, I was big into that trend. Of course I was, it appealed to my super girly side! I chose the floatiest I could find and dressed them up with oodles of sparkly bangles, pristine hair and makeup, and usually a pair of heels, too. 

My style has evolved since then; although I'll never stop being attracted to floral prints, these days I like to wear them differently, in a sort of 'girly grunge style' I'd call it. What this involves is basically...making a whole lot of effort so you don't look like you've made any effort or not making a whole lot of effort at all. I prefer the later, since I'm always running late. 

For me, it's air-dried hair, minimal makeup, a good worn-in pair of biker boots and a floral dress. This particular dress is a new one I just got from Choies. It has structured shoulders, something I always love, and also a decent amount of structure to the body.  Plus, because it's made from a fairly thick fabric (rather than the all too common limp, slinky stuff) the skirt also holds it's 'skater' shape and has a nice amount of volume. You can check it out - HERE!

So, do you wear florals? Are you more girly grunge or soft and floaty florals? 

If you want to try the girly grunge look yourself, the thing to remember is to keep the dress light and/or bright, otherwise you'll just be grunge! 

Have a great weekend everyone x x x

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The Designer Inspired Debate // Shourouk Rainbow Clutch

I spied this bag on a couple of websites including Choies, where I proceeded to order it without being aware that it was actually a copy of a designer piece. I saw the rainbow of crystals against the clear PVC (which makes it surprisingly more versatile than you'd imagine) and thought it'd be a gorgeous statement clutch to have. I've since found out that the original clutch is by Shourouk and it's quite a bit more than the forty dollars I shelled out.

Road Tripping // And Loving Luuuuurve Motels

My road trip seems like an eternity ago thanks to the last two weeks being crazy hectic! I'll fill you in on a bit of what's going on with me in another post, but right now I want catch you up on my mini-adventure. Road tripping is an absolute favourite of mine, I love to chatter and sing in the car as we cruise along the highways and detour around the sights. I love that feeling of being on the road, going wherever you please along the way, don't you?

For this trip, we headed down the country stopping off for a night in one of Korea's lesser known cities along the way. We took a walk around one of the popular districts and found a shabby chic restaurant to enjoy a few drinks over dinner before finding a place to stop for the night. Usually when we visit new places we book ahead, opting for the safety of a hotel. In Korea though motels are hugely popular (mostly thanks to a lot of extramarital activity and young couples looking for places to eeehmmm....hide-out??) and quite unlike what we westerners think of as a motel. For a start, there are hundreds of them in every city and even the small towns, mostly all doing a roaring trade. They do of course come in a full range of stereotypically drab, dodgy looking rooms that would be apt settings for a thriller movie. But, they also have various styles of themed motels and some insanely gaudy 'luxury' motels. We decided we'd try one out ourselves after spotting a 'luxury brand' themed one in the area. Sadly the Chanel and Prada rooms were all full when we arrived, but we managed to bag a Louis Vuitton room for only $50 (that's got to be the cheapest Louis Vuitton you can buy!) complete with neon LED lighting and a massive jacuzzi bathtub. 

Let me tell you, pulling into a private garage with automatic doors that slide down immediately behind you, getting out of your car to be serenaded by piped music as you walk up your private staircase to an automated check in on the wall outside the room (so there's not one person who can physically identify you as ever having been there), it's certainly a unique experience that's sure to make you feel just a touch seedy even in the most 'luxury' of the motels. And if all that doesn't (trust me, it will), then the free 'his and hers' gift bags in the room sure will! You don't even want to know some of the things that were in them amongst the toiletries. Seediness aside, the room was actually probably one of the best $50 we've ever spent. It had all the mod-cons, complimentary everything and we spent a good 15-minutes checking out the various rainbow lighting patterns. I really should have taken more photos, but honestly we were just having such a laugh, it was hilarious! 

We woke up early and hit the road for a little exploring on the 'scenic route', stopping off for bagels and coffee along the way. We made it to our main destination, the coastal city of Busan, in the evening. We  had an awesome dinner and took in some of the famous city sights. We had booked ourselves a hotel for the night, which much to my disappointment, despite being astronomically more expensive than the previous night, did not have rainbow lighting or even a hint of gaudiness. No, it was just nice, and luxurious, and chic, and civilised, and...well...quite frankly, boring! Thankfully it did have the comfiest and possibly biggest bed I've ever had the joy of sinking into, so at least that was something!

The next day we hit the road again for a little more exploring in the area, coffee and some shopping before embarking on the trip back. I have a million photos of beautiful landscapes and weird 'you wouldn't see that back home' type photos but for the purposes of keeping things brief and not boring you to death, here are just a few.

Cruising along the Asian highway...to Turkey?

 

OOTD  //  Breton Sweater - H&M  /  Skirt - Zara  /  Watch - Marc Jacobs  /  Bracelets - BheartB

Brunch pit-stop

Bus stop miles from anywhere

Made it to Busan. It's Korea's second largest city and sits on the edge of sea at the very south of the country.

Tired travel face.

Luxury just doesn't feel as fun anymore!

Got to get my morning Starbies in. Coffee addict.
 OOTD  //  Sandals - Topshop (similar)  /  Affirmation Bracelet - BCBG  /  Turquoise Bracelets - BheartB

What do you think of road trips? Have you ever stayed in a motel? Bet it wasn't as fun as mine, huh?!

x x x

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