#68 - Cats and pineapples

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I LOVE pineapple. So when I saw this pineapple print dress at Asos, I had to get it! (Even though it's brown. I don't really like brown, but I think the cuteness of the pineapple print makes up for it).

These photos were taken on Sunday, when I took my kitty Nemo for a walk. I think the photo below summarises the difficulties one faces when trying to walk a cat.

I have learnt over the past 5 or so years of walking Nemo that cats don't really like to be walked. (They're too independent for that). They do, however, like to do various other inappropriate things while their humans are trying to walk them - in Nemo's case, mainly eating grass and plants, and making himself sick. He does enjoy going outside, though. And here's another picture just to prove that we actually left our front yard (admittedly, we don't always get that far).

These shoes are from Marc Jacobs, and they don't look like much from a distance, but they have a blue heart print which is only really visible in direct light <3

On the weekend I also went to Sea World, which I love doing because of the amazing animals there. I especially like the polar bears.

I also went to the beach, which was lovely! It was nice to have good weather for a change. I will get around to taking some outfit photos in a nice location one day, but I'm usually wearing boring shoes when I go out!

Outfits of the week

I didn't manage to take any shoe challenge photos last week (although I think I hadn't taken a photo of one of these pairs of shoes yet, but I planned to 'save' them with another outfit), but here are some outfits I wore last week... I think I'm finally starting to get used to Winter dressing, although I still can't wait for it to be Summer again!

Alannah Hill cardigan, Review dress, Kate Spade shoes.

New Look skirt, random coat I bought in Hong Kong years ago, and Melissa/Vivienne Westwood shoes.

Review skirt, Decjuba cardigan, Kookai top, Diana Ferrari shoes.

#67 - Sale time!

The mid-year sales this year have been pretty good, and apparently it's because of the state of the economy (I hear that people haven't been shopping as much lately? I don't know about that, because aside from my no shopping month, I have been!). Anyway, on Friday I didn't get around to taking a photo of my outfit in the morning, and when I was trying on some clothes at a department store during my lunch break, I had the idea to take my shoe challenge photo then! (It's a weird photo, but at least I took one. You can also see some of the dresses I bought in the background).

Yes, I am wearing jeans! I don't wear jeans too often, and I never usually wear them to work, but I thought I would do casual Friday for once, as I didn't have to go to court, and I was going out ice skating after work (and I find that's easier to do in pants than a dress).

I think these might be the first boots I've saved as part of the shoe challenge? I really like them, because they're such a lovely colour. As you've probably noticed, I like colourful shoes, so I hardly ever wear boots (because they're generally so boring). I was really happy to find these ones recently.

We've had such nice weather this weekend - it's just a pity that it's so cold outside! I went into town today, and this is an artificial beach in the city. We had bad flooding here earlier in the year, and as it's next to the river, the beach was destroyed. I'm glad it's been re-built.

#66 - Pucci and bad shopping experiences

It's sale time, and I've been doing too much shopping lately (but I figure that even if I have to go over my budget this month, I will have saved money in the long term by buying things on sale, right?). I have gotten a few really good deals though, and now that I'm in a more conservative environment at work, I'm trying out some different outfits (so I do need new clothes!).

I've been thinking about it, and some of my fashion icons are people like Lady Gaga and Anna dello Russo. It's not so much that I'd like to dress like them, but more that I really admire them for being themselves, and for daring to be different. I have been 'censoring' myself lately in relation to my work outfits, and while while I probably should give up on wearing tulle skirts and plastic heels to work, I definitely don't want to start wearing shapeless grey dresses every day. So I'm trying to dress a bit more conservatively overall, but slowly introduce more colours and prints, and hopefully people will start to realise that I do have a lot of shoes, and I do wear heart print tights and pink cardigans, and they won't be too freaked out if I turn up in a red spotty skirt or patent orange shoes.

Anyway, I've saved a couple more pairs of shoes for the shoe challenge this week. I haven't been saving many lately, so I hope I'll still get through them all by next February.

I love these shoes! They're from Pucci, and the colours are perfect (grey, black, white, pink & purple) because they match so many things I wear. I am also liking grey tights lately.

I only know of one shop in my city that sells Pucci shoes, and I don't like to go there because it's a small, fancy boutique, and the shop assistants there never speak to me! It irritates me, because I only ever go into the store when I'm dressed nicely and wearing designer shoes, but for some reason, the ladies working there don't seem to think I'm worth their time. Bad service in stores is something that makes me want to stop going there. I realised just recently that if I don't get approached by sales assistants in stores, I usually won't buy anything. Anyway, if they don't want me to spend money in their store, it's their loss!

#65 - New hairstyle, and pants!

I should've saved a couple of pairs of shoes in the shoe challenge over the past week or so, but I haven't had time to take photos! I'm not a morning person, and getting up in time for work in Winter is never easy for me, so I rarely get up early enough to be able to take photos before I leave. Anyway, I did manage to save one pair of shoes in the end.

I've probably mentioned it before, but I'm completely useless with hair and make-up, so I'm rather proud of myself that I've managed to introduce a new hairstyle recently - the bun! It's quick and easy, and keeps my hair out of my face, so I'd say it's been a success so far!

The colours look a bit off in the photo, but these are some multi-coloured shoes (mostly grey & red) from Nine West.

I didn't take this next photo for the shoe challenge (I'm actually wearing some boots I borrowed from my Mum - I need more boots!), but I just had to post it because I'm wearing PANTS! This may never happen again! My workmates were quite surprised when I turned up wearing this on Friday, because they've only ever seen me wear pants to work once before (when someone dared me to). But the weather's been freezing here lately, and I find it easier to layer clothes when you're wearing pants. I feel really boring wearing outfits like this, but I did try to make it look a bit more girly with my pussy-bow blouse and hair and make-up.

In other news, my kitty Nemo has made a friend! Isn't she cute?

I don't think he knew what to make of her, as he'd never had a girl follow him home before! I might have to take him to visit her again today :)

Work dresses

I'm so glad that my 'no shopping month' is over. On the first day of June, I went out and bought two dresses straight away! This is one of them, and I'd been wanting to buy it for so long! It's from Jigsaw, which I think is a local brand, and I love the colour and style. It's got me thinking that dressing in a more appropriate way for work doesn't necessarily have to be boring. Most work dresses are ugly (because they're dull and black/grey), but there are plenty of nice ones out there too.

(This isn't really a shoe challenge post, as I've worn these shoes before. But I don't think I submitted a picture of them to the weekly round-up, so maybe I'll do that this weekend with this outfit).

Here are some other work dresses in pretty colours that I've found:

ASOS Linen Pencil Dress with Scallop Edge

Hybrid Contrast Piping Detail Belted Dress

Mariko Chloe Dress Pink

Fever Dara Dress Pink

I think all of these dresses would be suitable for work, yet they're still pretty and colourful. I'm trying to think of this change in offices in a positive way. It may mean that I'll have to stop wearing tulle skirts and excessive amounts of pink/red to work, but maybe I can start wearing some new outfits, too. I don't usually wear dresses in this fitted style, but I could probably get used to it.

#63 & #64 - The end of an era

So far this week, I've worn flat black shoes every day. I've also worn the same shoes two days in a row. These are not things I normally do, but at the end of last week, I moved offices. I actually transferred to a different department about a year ago, but because we had 'accommodation issues', I didn't actually get to move until now. For a long time, I was sitting with my assistant and two other guys who weren't even in the same section as us, and nobody cared what I wore. I didn't see my bosses most days, and the industry I work in is pretty casual anyway (the industry my clients are in, I should say).

But as of this week, I'm sitting in a office with about 30 other lawyers, most of whom I'd never met before. There are a couple of ladies who dress in a classic, stylish way that I admire, but pretty much everyone else wears black business clothes. So I'm not dressing in my usual way, and I'm finding it a bit depressing, because dressing up for work is something I've always enjoyed. When I talk to my friends and family about it, they all tell me to be myself and wear what I want, but I just don't feel comfortable doing that yet. Hopefully that might change in time, but at the moment, I don't want to stand out too much,and I certainly don't want to seem unprofessional.

Anyway, here are a couple of outfits I wore last week, before the move.

I'm not sure how I feel about midi skirts. I like the idea of them, but I think they have the potential to make you look shorter, and so they're not always flattering. I don't know if I'll be wearing this one again, as it's my sister's. (Please excuse the awful photo).

Cardigan from Anthropologie, top from Kookai, skirt from Review & shoes from Wittner.

I think these shoes are basically re-coloured copies of some Prada shoes. I've noticed since I've started buying designer shoes that there are designer copies everywhere. It makes it really difficult for me to buy cheap shoes anymore! I like the colours of these ones, though.

This is another outfit that was quite boring, but I've been trying to get through some of my more difficult to match shoes lately.

Top from Anthropologie, skirt from Country Road & shoes from Berverly Feldman.

These are cute shoes, but I'll remember if I buy any more from this brand to get a half-size smaller!

Here I am wearing my cat. He looks slightly possessed here, but he's very warm and soft :)