The Dark Side of the Closet - Episode 2

A couple of weeks ago I thought it would be fun to do a series of posts about the various items in my wardrobe that never get worn. Today we return to the forgotten corners of my closet to retrieve two more dresses that didn't work out. (You can see my first post here!)

These two dresses come from an ill-fated Modcloth order in which I ordered six dresses and only TWO of them fit! I was devastated, but the cost of returning them is too much to bother with, and so they have sat in my closet for far too long. Both of them were purchased with the intention of using them for job interviews and work-related stuff, so they're a little less flamboyant than my everyday attire.

The first is branded 'Fervour'. I love the colours and the cute little collar, and it came with a belt which is always a plus, but my god is the fit bad. The arm holes are HUGE which leads to mega gape happening, I tried to fix that by taking it in at the shoulders, which helped, but there are still other problems with it. The fabric is thick, but clingy, and having fabric clinging around my stomach and hips is a really unflattering look for me. Basically I just had to write it off as unwearable. One day I might get around to selling it on Ebay or something. I'm just so lazy about that sort of thing!

The next dress is from the Modcloth 'Be the Buyer' feature in which users are able to vote on which items of clothing go into production. I love the look of this dress, the asymmetrical seam up the front, the contrasting fabric, the cut, its all so adorable. But alas, it does not fit. It has a similar problem to the above in that the fabric likes to cling, only this one is much worse because the fabric is also incredibly thin. It accentuates every lump and bump, which may be fine for some but not those of us who are particularly lumpy and bumpy! It shows EVERYTHING around the stomach and hips, where it clings the most (ie. where I'm biggest), and I can't say I find highly visibly panty lines to be a terribly attractive look.

So that's two more dresses in the graveyard of unused clothing, and unfortunately there's plenty more where they came from!

Hope everyone is well!

The Dark Side of the Closet

I'm an avid online shopper. A vast majority of my wardrobe was purchased online, and I can't see myself ever relying on actual in-person shopping for most of my purchases. Online shopping has some great advantages like access to a huge range, competitive pricing, and you can shop in your pyjamas and no one will judge you! But it also has some disadvantages, the worst of which is SIZING! Some places offer returns, but if you're buying pieces from some random Ebay user, you can't really return an item because it doesn't fit you. And if you're ordering from an international site, often returning items is too costly to even bother. And given that I'm super lazy about trying to re-sell items, I have a section of my closet which is like a graveyard to purchases that didn't work out.

So I thought I would, over time, share with you some of the pieces in my closet that never get worn, just in the interest of letting them see the light of day once in awhile. So without further ado:

Cue thunder, lightning, a lone crow cawing and the cackle of a crazy old hag. Now that I've set the mood, on we go!

For today's Dark Side entry, I submit two items. They're both the same dress so I thought they should be included together. I bought them both at the same time, which turned out to be a big mistake, because the style just doesn't sit right on me. The top half fits super weirdly, I'm not sure if its a weight issue or a boob size issue, or that it was just designed poorly, but the front is very tight while the back gapes. I can't tell you a great deal about the dresses unfortunately. I bought them both from an ebay seller rather than from a store or  particular brand site. Neither dress has any information about the designer or brand on the tags, just a size and care instructions. There are quite a few brands I've seen that have dresses in this style, but I've been too wary to try another brand in case I have the same issue. I was really quite gutted when these dresses didn't fit. They're really quite pretty and I had great plans for them. But considering how many items I buy online, I have to expect that sometimes I'll have bad luck with the fit.

Doctor Dresses!!!

I don't exactly make a secret of my Doctor Who obsession, similarly I'm pretty out and proud with my love of a fit and flare dress. So when I got an email from the Doctor Who store showing me a fit and flare Doctor Who dress, I was pretty freaking excited. And it gets better. I immediately clicked the link and looked at the sizing, I felt like all my christmases had come at once when I saw they go up to a 3XL. And it gets even better! They have three different style of fit and flare dresses to choose from (10th Doctor, 11th Doctor and Dalek) AND two bodycon dresses for those who like to cut a more sleek silhouette!

I've placed my order for the 11th Doctor Dress (top middle). The 10th Doctor is actually my favourite (as in the actual character) but I feel like I'm much more likely to wear the 11th dress. I actually feel like a bit of a traitor to my favourite Doctor not buying his dress lol! I may yet buy it, depending on how this first one goes once it arrives. I so hope it fits!!!

If you'd like to get your own, or browse the rest of their range of amazing Doctor Who merchandise, you can find the Doctor Who online store here. Or if you're in the US, some of the range (as well as loads of other coolness) is available through Think Geek.

Time Flies

Where has the week gone??? Seriously, I can't believe its Thursday already. I've been keeping busy organising the house and a few other activities that seem to have made the week just disappear on me!

Yesterday I went on a tour of the CDU library as well as the NT Archives. They were arranged as part of a particular unit of the Cert III course I was doing last year, but I asked if I could tag along for interest's sake and my lecturer was happy for me to join in. I've visited the CDU library many times, but it was still interesting to have a guide to explain more about the library's inner workings. I also found out they take on casual workers as shelvers quite often, so that might be a foot in the door of the library industry for me! It was my first time visiting the Archives, in fact I didn't even know they existed until I began the course last year! It was super informative and a really great opportunity for me to find out more about another potential career path once my studies are finished. To be perfectly honest, I don't think a job like that is for me, they do amazing work and certain aspects of it are absolutely fascinating. But I don't think I possess the required patience to pore over paperwork for hours on end, especially when its a completely uninteresting topic like financial documents or something!

I really wanted to wear my Ikebana skirt from Modcloth (aka my favourite skirt ever), but I wanted to wear it with a different top than usual just to mix things up a bit. I had the hardest time trying to decide what to wear it with. I didn't really have any other tops that matched but thought I'd try layering it over a dress for something different.

Some combinations I was considering

I ended up going with the outfit on the top right, which is actually one way I imagined I'd wear the skirt when I first got it. I wasn't 100% happy with it for some reason. I can't quite put my finger on why. I think maybe the colour or style of the dress just doesn't feel delicate enough to go with the skirt. I wanted to wear my super long string of pearls, but it just wasn't working for me, so I changed to my trusty gold chain combo and felt a little more put together.

I don't know, I'm still kind of 'meh' on the outfit. I may give it another chance sometime and see how I feel about it then. It wasn't terrible, just not quite what I hoped it would be.

Hope everyone is well!

Sunday Spotlight: Polka-dots

I'm crazy about polka-dots. I love them. Every colour and every size, I want them all! I have many polka-dot items from dresses and hair bows to underwear and pencil tins. It may actually be considered some sort of unhealthy addiction. So it seemed only natural for my second Sunday Spotlight to focus on the spots I love so much.

I've kind of given up on Polyvore, its great for creating the collages but for some reason I'm just having no luck sharing them here lately. As usual I've included a link below the pic so you can head over there if you'd like more information about any of the items.

http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=115081052

And an post dedicated to polka-dots would have no integrity at all if I failed to include my absolute favourite dress. You've seen it a few times on here, I have it in navy but I honestly want it in every colour. Its so gorgeous and flattering and perfect for every occasion. I definitely want to buy more!

You can find these dresses and many more here:
http://stores.ebay.com.au/Hourglass-dresses?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

I was rather busy tonight so I've technically missed Australia's Sunday by an hour or so, but the rest of the world has a Sunday too so I went ahead and posted anyway!

Do you have your eye on any spotty items at the moment? I'd love to see them in the comments! :)

Too Tired for Titles!

I feel exhausted today! It's 6:30 pm and I'm feeling quite ready for bed. I honestly can't wait until I can go to sleep.

I've spent the past week (almost) unpacking, shifting and organising a whole big pile of my junk that has finally been sent up from NSW. I kind of didn't intend to stay here long term so I left loads of my stuff down there when I came up, but recently I finally bit the bullet and decided to bring it all up here and begin the tedious process of sorting it all out. A vast majority of the stuff is stowed away in a nearby self-storage facility and I've been steadily working my way through it, but some of the things I've found have made their way here, and as a result my house is a mess! A real proper mess. There are books and clothes and sheets and toys everywhere I look. I can't cope with clutter, it drives me batty, so my top priority is trying to find places for everything. I'm fighting an uphill battle I'm afraid and some tough decisions must be made as to what stays and what goes. Traditionally I've been quite the hoarder but I'm trying very hard to let things go, so wish me luck with that!

Today I had to do some shopping and take Ava to the vet to be desexed, microchipped and vaccinated. Everything went swimmingly though I brought her home and she immediately started chewing on the stitches! I had to take her right back to the vet to be fitted for a cone of shame and make sure she hadn't done any damage. She's quite unimpressed with the cone, but she's eating and drinking and playing and seems in good sorts.

I wore my blue spotty dress with a red belt and cardigan because it seemed like a bright colours sort of day. You may have seen it here before styled a little more neutrally.

Sorry the pic is blurry! It was a blurry picture sort of day too I suppose. My camera was having a little tantrum and wouldn't play nicely.

Twirly Dress Tuesday

Because, you know, everybody loves a little alliteration.

This is another from the last Modcloth order I received. I've worn it several times but haven't gotten around to photographing it. As with all my Hell Bunny dresses, its lovely to wear, and I do love a dress with pockets!

I'm so extremely tired today. I think I need an afternoon coffee before the kids get home from school else there may be bloodshed!  I'm trying to avoid napping because that will mean I stay up all night and I really need to try and normalize my sleep schedule. I'm always terrible during holidays, it only takes me a few days before I'm going to bed at 5 or 6am and waking up at midday! Once classes start again my sleep will be sorted out, but I'd rather become diurnal again beforehand so I don't have to sit through classes half asleep.

I spent some time yesterday making a floor plan of my bedroom with separate bits of paper for each of my pieces of furniture. I was trying to work out the best layout to maximize space. With my Mo Bird coming back to me I need to find somewhere to put his cage, and my bedroom is rather small. It took some shuffling but I think I've worked out the best way to put everything. I'm in no desperate rush to move things yet though. His cage should be here in about two and a half weeks, so I'll worry about it a little closer to then. I'm looking forward to it though. Along with his cage will be coming all of my other stuff I left in NSW when I came up here. Sorting it out is going to be a MASSIVE job, but I'll be glad to have a proper bed and more shelves and storage stuff for the house!

Hell Bunny!

I'm now onto book five of the Song of Ice and Fire series. I'm finally past what I've seen in the tv show for most of the characters, the only thing I can think of which hasn't been covered in the books so far is Theon's abduction, so maybe I'm going to read about that soon, or maybe its one of those things subject to artistic liberty in the tv series. I'm sure I'll find out! Its taken me three weeks to get this far so I'm a little worried about being able to complete the series before classes start in February, but I'll keep going and hope for lazy days in for the remainder of my holiday!

I haven't been going out much lately, budgetary restrictions keep me from doing much recreationally and school hasn't started back yet so I don't have classes to drag me out of the house. I did have a bit of a girls night in last night though. My best friend came over and my son was out with his dad so only my daughters were here. We watched As Told by Ginger, played a bit of Taboo and ate lots of snacks. It was a nice night, should do that sort of thing more often!

I've been loving my new dresses. They're all Hell Bunny, which is just such a great brand. They're not exactly cheap but the quality and design is worth it. If I could I'd buy 100 of their dresses and skirts without hesitation. They're definitely one of my favourite brands ever. Yesterday I wore their Leona dress which I absolutely adore. Its just gorgeous, like all their dresses, the print is beautiful, the skirt is full and voluminous and the fit is amazing. Their sizes go from XS to 4XL so they cater to a wide range of body types. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before that I can't find a website for them, but they do have a Facebook page where you can check out their most recent lines, and a google search is sure to bring up retailers that service your area if you'd like to own some of their clothing.

 

Peaches and Cream

I had a family birthday dinner to attend and I was dying to wear my new skirt. Its soooooooooooo (infinity) beautiful. The fabric feels gorgeous and silky and has just the right weight to it where it flutters in the breeze but won't blow away completely, and its such pretty colours. I wish I could buy 20 copies of it for when this one eventually wears out or gets damaged. My outfit made me think of peaches and cream and I felt equally delicate and delicious :D

So one of my favourite models Tess Munster (blog here and facebook page here) will be coming to Australia and doing makeup classes in Sydney and Melbourne. CURSE LIVING IN DARWIN!!! I'd have loved the chance to meet her. Nothing exciting ever happens here, its too far out of the way so whenever bands or plays or shows of whatever kind are touring they rarely come here. One day I'll get out of this damn town lol.

Baaaaaaaaack

Merry christmas! Happy new year! All that holiday nonsense! Yes, yes, I know I'm late. How was everyone's holiday season? Hope you all had a good time with friends and family wherever you are.

I've been busy moving house. I'm much happier here. The house is brand new and just feels so fresh and full opportunity.  I love my new room. It's small but I was able to get some new furniture and get some of my stuff out of storage to make it pretty. You may have noticed I'm a biiiiiiiit of a girly girl, but I'm also an overgrown child so I have stuffed toys and ponies and all the pretties that were in storage while I was living at the old place. It's very bright and airy, even at night, and I'm loving being in ultra-super-girl-mode.

I also FINALLY got my latest order from Modcloth. I ordered it back in November and it took aaaaaages getting here. I'm super happy with it though, my favourite order to date I'd say! I just picked them up yesterday afternoon and I can't wait to wear them. Everything fits really well and feels so nice on. I LOVE THEM ALL!!! The big question is: which do I wear first?! :)

So I hope everyone has had a great holiday period and that everyone is doing well now that the season's craziness is dying down. I've been super busy but now that the move is sorted out I can relax and enjoy the remainder of my holiday before going back to school in February. I'm looking forward to classes starting again, but at the same time I'm quite enjoying reading all night and sleeping half the day at the moment!

My favourite gift I received for christmas was a box set of the Song of Ice and Fire books. I've wanted to read them since I saw the first season of Game of Thrones but I never got around to buying myself the books and had loads of others to keep me occupied anyway. But now that I have them I'm addicted. I haven't had time to read them until last week, but I'm almost finished the second book and will probably be starting the third later today. I found the first book to be pretty faithful to the series as per my memory, but I feel like the second book has exercised a little more artistic liberty, although its possible I'm mis-remembering the series. I plan on watching it again though to refresh my memory. I'm looking forward to getting to the fourth book and beyond, I'm desperate to know what happens to some of the characters, although I'm equally terrified because these books do have a certain reputation! I'm sure everyone I'm most interested in will wind up dead far sooner than I'd like lol!

Hope everyone is well!

Off the Radar!

I've been MIA and I apologize to anyone who noticed. I had a lot on my plate finishing assignments for my course and also volunteering at the school, and I was feeling pretty down too so I wasn't much in the mood for blogging. I really want to get back into it now though!

Modcloth are having a sale! There are loads of awesome items for 50% off AND they have free shipping to Australia for a limited time on orders over $150. Sooooooo my friend and I went a little nuts and have a few items on the way. There were so many things I wanted to buy. Its rare to find things on sale AND available in my size, and the free shipping made it even more irresistible. I couldn't go too overboard, but I managed to get a few items that have been sitting on my wishlist for months and months, it was like fate! The dresses below are some of my favourites available on Modcloth at the moment. A couple are on sale, some are still full price. I wish I could have bought them all (and more)! If some wealthy benefactor wishes to sponsor my obsessive compulsive shopping habits feel free to drop me a line lol!

Current Favourites by alyzaria featuring a classic black dress

                            

I'm going to try to keep blogging regularly again. Its hard when I'm stuck in a deep blue funk. It feels like I have nothing interesting to say and there's no point to writing, which may yet be true, but when I'm in a good mood I can ignore that! And hopefully no one minds my rambling too much.

I'm finished studying for the year, I now have a couple of very uneventful looking months before I begin again next year. I'm looking forward to when the kids are off school so we can do stuff together during the day, but I'm also looking forward to going back myself, I feel much better when my days are full and productive. I was hoping I could enroll in some other course just for fun over the holiday period, but there's nothing available until next year unfortunately! I'll have to launch myself into some other projects to keep me busy. I have a few sewing projects I've been meaning to do, and I also really want to get back into photography, so hopefully I can manage to get somewhere with those things over the next couple of months.

I really hope everyone is doing well!

Rain, Libraries and Dinners Out

We had some wild weather here yesterday. A storm this time of year is not news, but this one brought sudden heavy wind and even hail in some suburbs which is very uncommon! There's a lot of bushland in my neighbourhood and today on my way out to dinner I saw loads of branches and even whole trees which had been brought down in yesterday's gale. A tree fell in the backyard of my friend's neighbour, fortunately the tree missed her yard, though their other neighbour was not so lucky and the falling tree destroyed their shed.

Yesterday I had my second day of work experience at the school library. It didn't feel quite as busy as last week, probably because I was focused on two main tasks for most of the day rather than skipping around as I was the previous week. I managed to finish compiling the list of books assigned a lexile number and I also finished checking the catalogue entries for a certain area of the library, making sure everything was accurate and up to date. The librarian suggested I organise an activity for the pre-schoolers to do during their library lessons, which is really exciting for me, but also a huge challenge as the kids are very young and I'm just not sure what I can do to for them which will be interesting and engaging but also quick and easy. I've got my thinking cap on for that one!

I went out to dinner tonight and had a really nice time. I ate a huge steak and enjoyed every bite. I was very tempted to get some dessert, but I had such a big dinner that I felt it would probably be overkill. I really hate having to think so much about what I'm eating, but obviously not thinking about it and just eating whatever I wanted did me no favours! I've let myself get to an unhealthy state, and I do feel good for being more conscientious, but when I go out for dinner I do sometimes wish I could just forget about being good! I decided to wear a dress tonight that I haven't worn in probably a couple of months. I don't even really know why I haven't worn it, probably just because I don't like the slip that I have to wear underneath, the dress is too sheer to go without one.

Playing Pretend

Today I woke up feeling rather terrible so I went back to sleep for another hour or two before finally dragging myself off to the library to try and be productive. I spent most of the day working on the poster to advertise the "event" I have to plan for an assessment. If we're able we can plan a real event in a library and have it assessed, but those of us who don't have that ability can just do a pretend one, as long as we do all the planning that would go into a real one. I decided to plan a "Kids' Day In" with games and stories and stuff for kiddies. I live in the tropics and it rains a lot for a few months of the year, so I thought it would be nice to get kids enthusiastic about reading on those rainy days when they're stuck indoors. The event would actually be really fun I think, I'd love to try it for real, maybe when I get a job! So the poster is done and I've also started work on the bookmarks to advertise the event, the bookmarks need to be double-sided so the front of all of them will be the same but the back will be slightly different. So I put a lot of time into that today and also worked a little on a couple of other assignments. I'm trying to get as much done as possible this week so when classes start again next week I don't have too much work to worry about and I can focus all my energy on my work placement.

As of this morning's weigh in I've lost a total of 7 kilos. It isn't very much considering how overweight I am, but I'm glad that I'm consistently losing weight at least, as long as I keep doing that I'll get there eventually! I've also noticed a difference in how some of my clothes fit, a dress that was quite tight around the waist is now a comfortable fit, and a belt that I previously couldn't do up can now be fastened on the second hole. I'm not sure if I look any different but at least something is happening! Its all progress!

Back to Busy!

First week back at school and I've already got three assignments due next week! Hopefully they won't be too bad once I get stuck into them, but it does look like this is going to be a pretty hectic term. All of the units seem pretty packed with content so I don't think I'll have the luxury of easy weeks with not much to do like I did last term. I should also be doing my work placement at some point which is going to leave me even tighter for time. But it will all be worth it once I'm finished!

Speaking of work placement... I've applied for a job. I think I briefly mentioned in a previous post that I was planning to but I've actually done it now. The automated email I received in response said they aim to get back to everyone within 6 to 12 weeks or something like that so it sounds like there's no huge rush to fill the position. I'll be honest, I know my chances of getting it are slim and I'm really trying not to get my hopes up, but that's easier said than done because I really want the job. We'll see how it goes though. Depending on when they actually do get back to me I may be pretty close to finishing my course which may make me a more attractive applicant.

So being back at school means getting out of my pajamas and into proper clothing and heading off to classes and the library and whatnot. I ordered some new dresses from Lindybop which I'm ABSOLUTELY LOVING. I posted a picture of the blue spotty one the other day which is definitely one of my favourites. This is my other favourite:

Its a nice light fabric, perfect for the hot weather. I love the colour and the pattern, its so very pretty, and its also a perfect length. You can't see it very well in the photo but it has a matching belt too. I've been really happy with all the Lindybop dresses I bought. They're awesome dresses and priced really well. I think next time I can afford it I'll order more of these dresses. They're all beautiful to wear, they make me feel like a princess and they're super comfy.

I'm having a bad hair life at the moment. I really need a hair cut but I always put them off for ages, and I decided it should be a reward for weight loss so I don't feel so terrible about spending the money on it. My hair looks fine when its curled, but when its straight the ends look really dry. I couldn't be bothered curling it before bed last night but I also didn't like how it looked when I was getting ready this morning so I had to do something to get it out of sight and out of mind. I pinned it up with a bunch of bobby pins and used these cute little decorative flower hair pins I got on sale a couple of weeks ago to make something actually rather pretty. I really just held my hair where I wanted it and threw in some pins not really knowing what it looked like so I was pleasantly surprised when it looked passable lol! The flower pins also matched nicely with the dress I think :)

Hope everyone is well!

When the Stars Align

Today was so amazing it was almost like a suspension of reality. Today was the first day of the 8th Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Top End Symposium (yeah perhaps it doesn't flow of the tongue quite as nicely as it should) and I had the opportunity to attend. I was really excited but also nervous to be meeting tonnes of people from the library industry, I'm taking any chance I can get to meet people and learn all aspects of the job I'll eventually be doing. So I wasn't sure if anyone I knew was going to be there but as it turns out three of my classmates did attend.

Now let me try and jump through the day as chronologically as possible. When I first went in and got my name tag I looked around and saw one of the girls from the Northern Territory Library who had given my class a tour. As she was the only person I sort of knew I went to where she was sitting and chatted with her. She was also talking with three other women and we all chatted merrily and laughed and joked and whatnot. We got onto the topic of jobs and I mentioned there was one I'm applying for, one of the girls I've been chatting with is on the interview panel and another works at the library the position will be. Both of them strongly encouraged me to apply because they think I'd be great. So that was win number one for the day.
During the tea break I was standing on my own for a moment when an old lady comes up to me and reads my name tag and says "oh, you're Kathy's student! I've heard wonderful things about you, she says you're doing really well!" Apparently she used to teach library studies and after she retired Kathy took over. So that felt like a huge win to have a total stranger come and acknowledge me because she's heard good things!

Third amazing thing happened at the after party. The Executive Director for ALIA came up to me and said she'd seen me sitting up the back while she gave her presentation and she thought I looked amazing. She said she wants to do a piece in their magazine early next year on chic, stylish librarians and revamping the library image and she wants me in it. I honestly don't know if that was all hot air or if it will actually eventuate, but regardless it was an amazing compliment. Of course I told her I'd love to and she took my details and we chatted for awhile. She seems like such a lovely person. She gave a great presentation on the future of the industry and how libraries can continue to meet the needs of the public.

So after that I was chatting with several other attendees when the Brisbane Manager of Library Services comes up to talk to me. She gave me her card and told me if I want to fly down there for my work experience she'll make sure she has a place for me. She was great too. In fact, everyone was so lovely and welcoming and supportive. I feel extremely lucky right now. And to top it all off, in addition to the informative talks and amazing social experience there was swag! They gave us all a sample bag which had in it a whole bunch of pamphlets and brochures as well as a bunch of little goodies. My two favourites are the coffee mug with cookie holder groove in the bottom and a little stylus I can use with my phone, but there were also a few nice pens, and who doesn't like pens!

I know this whole entry sounds super braggy and gauche but I'm really happy and excited about the way the day panned out and I just want to share. Its not everyday everything goes this well! ^_^

Dress by Lindybop

Goodies!

Salty and Spicy

This is called the Salty and Pepper dress from Modcloth. The brand is Hell Bunny, who don't appear to have their own website, but if you google it I'm sure you can find stockists that service your area. I've been a fan of Hell Bunny for ages and have a few of their items so I had high expectations for this dress, and it met them. It fits very nicely, perhaps just a tiny bit loose in the bust but not so much that it would be visible to others. The skirt comes down past my knees, it skims nicely over my hips and swings and flows and the hem. I also love the cute little heart-shaped pockets, adorable and functional! I love these big voluminous skirts, they just feel great to wear.

In other news I went out for dinner last night with some friends. I had a steak and guinness pie which was pretty good. Afterward I went home with my best friend and stayed the night at her place. We tried to set up her karaoke set which wasn't working, then tried playing Lips on the Xbox but there was so much lag it proved unplayable even after reconfiguring the microphones. So we decided to watch a movie, I chose Spice World because I haven't seen it in a million years and , like most girls my age I think, I was crazy for the Spice Girls back in the day. It was everything I hoped it would be, still so much fun. It was a bit strange to see Posh Spice actually displaying some sort of personality. I'm so used to seeing her as skinny, big boobed Victoria Beckham that I had kind of forgotten she might have a personality. But for me it was always all about Baby Spice (I bet you're super shocked), and I owned as many babydoll dresses and platform sneakers as my mother would let me have. That wardrobe phase didn't last terribly long, but it was fun while it did.

So how about you? Did you like the Spice Girls? Who was your favourite?

Minty Fresh

This is one of the dresses I got from Modcloth. This one is quite loose around the top, but I love it so much I can't resist wearing it anyway. I'm hoping it can be taken in somehow so that it will fit me properly, but I doubt I'll get around to having that done for ages knowing me! I put the pro in procrastinate!
The brand is Mikarose, the same as this dress which fit me beautifully. It feels so comfy to wear, the fabric is so soft and flowy and light. It also has hidden pockets! I do love me some pockets. The length is great, I love dresses to hit within an inch or three either side of my knee and this one fits nicely into that gap. The colour is super pretty. I just loved wearing this today. I wore it with my beige cardigan and one of the rings I got for my birthday (I picked the purple one just to add something different into the outfit). I really do need to do something about the top part though, its so loose. Bah! I'll get to it eventually!

You can see up close just how baggy the chest is in the bottom right pic. Its loose around the bust and right up into the shoulders

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Hello!

So the past few days have been full of cafeteria food, windy weather and getting very well acquainted with the computer desks at my library. I've finished all but one assessment from my current units, but I also have to start two business units tomorrow which will both require assignments, so I'm sure I'll be feeling snowed under again soon! In my spare time I've been trying to read as much as I can because I've been taking forever to finish this damn novel. Normally it really only takes me a few days, but I've only bee committing little bits of time here and there and it has made it impossible to get through a book.

In much more exciting news, I placed another order for some dresses from Modcloth. I'm super eager for them to get here but I know it will take awhile. I think it took about 4 weeks last time. I'm hoping it might be a little quicker this time as I have a 2 day conference I'll be attending in early October and I really want the dresses here for that! I'm also equally worried about the dresses fitting as I was last time because I still haven't figured out my size. Last time I ordered 2 dresses in a 3X and one in a 2X. The 2X fit perfectly and so did one 3X, and the other 3X was slightly large... so I'm still not sure! But even if I was "sure", they're all different brands and cuts anyway, so it doesn't mean that I could order a dress and be certain it would fit. So I've just done my best to order based on reviews and whatnot and hope everything works out! I tried to make sure I ordered dresses that would take me from work to play easily, because I need to start thinking about looking professional. Hopefully the ones I've ordered all fit well!

Last Dress from Modcloth

So this is the final dress from the little lot that I bought from Modcloth. This one is also from Mikarose and its lovely. The fabric is quite sheer and I need to wear a slip under it, but that's alright. The seafoam green overlay is sooooo soft and extremely floaty. It was meant to come with a little sash, but it was forgotten, but it goes fine with the belt from my other dress anyway, so its all good!

I spent the day at the library today again. AGAIN I got given more assignments when I thought I was done! So cue extension of busy beaver mode. Was really hoping to relax a bit this week, but alas! I did get another assignment completed today though, so at least I'm getting through them. Today my bestest buddy accompanied me to the library, so there was plenty of shenanigans in between bouts of productivity.

Top: Bored... draw orks!
Left: My bestie takes only the sexiest photos of me; Right: bathroom selfies ftw

This morning when I took my rollers out my fringe was doing a nice little barrel roll thing. Anytime I've intentionally tried to roll my fringe it has failed miserably, so I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth ad just went with it. I put two bobby pins underneath to hold it and sprayed it with a generous amount of hairspray. It stayed in for the most part, but I did feel very self-conscious about it and had the urge to fuss with it all day. But hey, my hair was willing to let me almost do a faux fringe (bangs, whatever you want to call them) so we'll call it a win.

I've also decided I no longer like my glasses! I got them probably almost 2 years ago and at the time I wanted the biggest frames I could get. Now I feel like these just don't suit my face at all and I need something smaller and more feminine. But glasses are so damn expensive, so I doubt it will be something I can do in the immediate future. We'll see how things go though.

Make Hay While the Sun Shines (Buy Pretty Things)

I don't feel as though I was as productive today as I have been other days. I'm kind of down to all the nasty annoying bits of assignments that have been continually put off because I didn't want to deal with them. Who knew leaving all the worst bits until the last minute would be a bad idea!

CURSE YOU, PAST AMBERRRRR!!! 

So I put in like a ten hour day or something stupid at the library. I was working so slowly though, and getting progressively more frustrated with each passing hour that didn't yield the results I wanted. I did finish one assignment though and made some progress on the others. Three left to go now! I swear I've been down to three twice already and then been given another assignment, but I'm pretty sure I've now been given all the assignments I'm meant to do for this term and now its just powering through and completing them. It shouldn't be too bad. Two of the assignments I have left are probably 80-90% completed, so the bulk of my work is going to be on my report comparing two different types of libraries. I feel like I need to go back to the first one I visited because at that stage we hadn't been given the assessment criteria for the assignment so a lot of my notes are pretty useless. I think another visit would help a lot.

So onto things that hopefully won't bore you to tears! I wore the second of my Modcloth dresses today. This one is by a brand called Maitai and I'm having trouble finding a website for them. I did find one but the font of the name is different than on the tag of my dress and it doesn't have any dresses I recognise from Modcloth on there to confirm I'm looking at the right label. So unfortunately due to my lack of ace detective skills I can't link you to the website of the brand.
I know you're probably sick of hearing me say the words "I love this dress", but I love this dress! I know I say that a lot lately but hey, I wouldn't be buying them if I didn't really like them and there's always that worry that an item purchased online might not quite meet your expectations. This dress actually exceeded them. It was described as being made of lycra on the Modcloth page, so I was expecting something similar to my other skater dresses which are fairly cheap and the sort of fabric you might expect bike shorts to be made of. The fabric on this dress is much thicker, and doesn't have that super matte quality to it where you know after a few washes it will have faded considerably. It really is great for me as with all my lumps and bumps a thicker fabric is more flattering. The cut is amazing, it hugs around my bust and waist and then flares out, skimming my hips and bum. It was super comfy for another long day of squirming around on a super uncomfy desk chair. The colour is gorgeous, the pink has kind of a whisper of lavender to it. Maybe that's just my crazy eyes, but while it definitely is a soft musky pink, it has a hint of being a touch purpley. I love the pattern, yes I've been very into florals lately and I feel very fortunate they they along with polka dots are so in right now. I need to stock up before something else becomes more fashionable and the plethora of gorgeous prints fizzles out.

I'll shut up now and show you pictures! :)

And can we all please just take a moment to appreciate these adorable little hair clips I found while on my lunch break yesterday! They match the dress so well, I couldn't resist buying them.