Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge - Animals and animal print

Today's wardrobe challenge was "animals and animal print" I decided to make a frock for it - but the shiny fabric I was making the frock from fought with me lots and it's still not finished! When I do finish it I will show you all I promise!Turns out my snake print from from last week would have been perfect for this challenge too - but I couldn't wear the same thing two weeks in a row!I think this scarf is so perfect with animal prints - that's why I wore it last week as well. My friend Grace made this amazing corsage, she has mad craft skills. Sadly she moved back home to Melbourne so we can't hang out and get our craft on any more.
My friend Lisa bought this for me from Taipei when she came to visit last year - its pretty rad!

OUTFIT DEETS:

Dress - Op Shopped, Red Cross Store, Kilbirnie

Slip (worn underneath) - Farmers

Cardi and Tights - Glassons

Scarf - Equipt

Rosette - Made by Grace

Bracelet - Gift from my friend Lisa

You may have noticed, yes I am wearing my glasses again! Honestly this saga just goes on and on. I finally decided it was time to change optometrists - I have been going to OPSM but they have really not been useful. They seem to just want to rush you in and out the door and they feel like they are the McDonalds of opometrists which is something you just don't want when something that's as delicate and important as your eyes is involved.

My new optometrist is WAY better - she gave my eyes a decent examination, it took about 45 minute and has given me LOTS of options for sorting out my dry eye problem which is making my life fairly horrible and at times just painful.

The options include a whole lot of eyedrops and a new type of contact lense solution (preservative free). Here's a picture of what I left the optometrist with today:

I also sorted out my glasses today - they will be ready in a weeks time, I decided on the red frames. I really liked Sarah's idea of hunting down a cute pair of vintage frames on e-bay and I may still do that in the future, but for now I just need a decent pair of glasses to wear so that I can give my eyes a break for a while and clear up all this horrible dryness!

Glasses - option number two

Hello folks! Just a quick post to show you all the other glasses frames I am considering - I think I do prefer the red one to these black ones. They have sparkly bits on the side that Rich says reminds him of Dame Edna - actually there were a lot of glasses frames at the optometrist that Dame Edna would be quite happy to wear. Perhaps she is the current style icon for glasses frames designers - why not? She is consistently fabulous.

Wednesday will be the final day I have to choose which frames I want - no doubt in the interim I will try both these pairs of glasses on numerous times trying to decide which ones I want. Glasses are so expensive, I want to get it right - but I think the red ones will work with my look pretty well.

I've been having a bit of a blue day today actually - a few things are getting me down lately, nothing major just one of those rough patches. What gets you guys through a rough day (low calorie suggestions only - otherwise I'll get in trouble with my personal trainer!).

Batu Caves

One of my favourite days in Kuala Lumpur was the day Lisa, Aaris and I visited the Batu Caves.

The Batu Caves are caves just outside of KL, you can take a train there and it takes less than an hour.

The caves are so amazing, they aren't any ordinary caves - they are the site of a Hindu Temple and monkeys, so many monkeys.













We also had lunch at caves, there was a lot of delicious vegetarian India restaurants, this was my lunch and it was AMAZING!
When we returned to Kuala Lumpur we did a bit more exploring and we came across this notice, this is what I love about travelling, stumbling across things you would never, ever see in New Zealand!Finally we finished off the day at the KL Towers (again) - Lisa and Aaris hadn't visited the towers at this stage and I was happy to go along again. You can also get a better idea of the scale of the towers from this photo that Aaris took.

Glasses - option number one

Hello world - I am finally having a rather relaxing weekend and loving every minute of it! Today I've been to the gym, been op shopping with my friend Diane and gone for a walk on the waterfront in the sun.

Those of you who are my facebook friends will already know, I've been having trouble with my contacts again. It's nothing major like last time, I just have very dry eyes which makes it hard to wear contacts some days and other days are totally fine (like today).

All this means I REALLY do need a new pair of glasses to wear on the days my eyes are a bit irritated and need a break from contacts. This is the first pair of frames I am thinking of buying, I have borrowed them over the weekend. Let me know what you all think - there is one other pair I am considering - they are black with sparkles! I will post a picture of those on Monday, I am seeking the optometrist on Wednesday for an updated prescription so I will need to make a decision then - its so hard to decide on frames! Even though I wear them infrequently, I don't want to end up with something I don't like in six months time.

I know they are a bit librarian/secretary - but that's one of the reasons I kind of like them!

Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge - Locally Made

I did consider wearing something I made for this challenge - but I usually show you what I've made as soon as I'd made it so I thought I'd better wear something different.
This is one of my favourite dresses ever - its also my travelling dress as its super stretchy and comfortable. It's not by a Wellington label, but an Auckland label called Illicit Clothing. They currently sell street wear - hoodies and tee shirts and import a few dresses, tops, etc... from some USA labels. But there was a time when they used to make the cutest girls clothing. I am not sure why they stopped doing this - I used to see lots of girls wearing their stuff.

When I went to put this frock on yesterday I was a bit worried - I thought it might have been as case of "designed in NZ - made in China" but I was happy to learn the dress was both designed and made right here in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Excellent.

My outfit/accessories aren't terribly New Zealand, although every single day I wear this cute ring that Rich bought me for my 30th Birthday. It's from the New Zealand Jewellery designer Meadowlark. I think when I reach my weight loss goal (10kgs down - 20kgs to go) I might buy myself another one of their rings to reward myself for a job well done (hopefully I will make it before the end of this year).

OUTFIT DEETS

Dress - Illicit Clothing, Aotearoa

Scarf - Equipt

Belt & Tights - Glassons

Boots - The Big Shwop

Back to Kuala Lumpur

Hey all - I am back from our friends wedding in Taranaki and we had such a great time! I will post some pictures soon, but I thought it was time for another photo update from my trip earlier this year.

Once I returned to Kuala Lumpur my friends Lisa and Aaris joined me from Taipei - yah! We met Lisa and Aaris whilst we were living in Taipei and they are are so much fun, I was so happy they could come over and meet me.

We decided to start out by visiting the National Mosque of Malaysia and the Islamic Arts Museum - here's a few shots of our walk to the mosque.

Along the way we saw the KL station and took a few photos, its a pretty amazing building - in fact its hard to believe its a train station at all.

We even had lunch at the train station - ice blended drinks (mine is kiwi fruit) and assorted roti full of awesome things - mine had milo in it!
Next up was the National Mosque of Malaysia - we all had to wear robes inside the building. All women have to wear them and cover their hair, turns out Aaris had to wear one too as his shorts weren't long enough.

It wouldn't have been so bad wearing the robes if they were made of cotton - but they were made from the most nasty scratchy polyester. But I was still smiling - I think the red sunnies add so much more to the look.
Below is the view from the mosque - it was really nice walking on the cool marble and tiles inside.

Below is the prayer hall, which as you can see is extremely beautiful. However as non-Muslims we weren't allowed to go inside, but it was still pretty cool that we could have a look at it from the outside.



After the mosque we went to have a look at the Islamic Arts Museum, which was amazing - so many beautiful things to look at. I honestly felt like I could have spent a whole week just at the museum. If you even visit Kuala Lumpur you have to go there!

Next we decided to stop for a cheesy tourist photo.

Then it was time for more exploring of KL - so many sights to see!

We finally found ourselves back in China town - Lisa and Aaris were staying in a hotel around here.We stumbled across another temple, I think it was maybe Buddist - but I'm really not sure, it could have been Taoist.

We stayed in Chinatown just a little bit longer and had a look around the most beautiful Hindu Temple - it was amazing. It was the first Hindu temple I've ever seen and the colours were so beautiful and the designs so intricate.

Then it was time for something completely different, we went to Times Square which is a big mall to check out a tattoo artist for Aaris. Finally we finished off our day with a "Fish Spa" which is exactly what it looks like - you put your feet in a tub with some fish and they eat away the dead skin. I did this a few times in Korea and over there it is called "Dr Fish". I have to say the Korean fish were much smaller than the type they use in Malaysia - you could really feel these guys eating away at your feet! That was the end of day one with Lisa & Aaris and as you can see - it was pretty epic! It was the most adventure filled day of all our days in Kuala Lumpur. I have more photos of my adventures with Lisa & Aaris to post soon.