Hermès: Leather Forever

The Hermès: Leather Forever exhibit was recommended to me by Mimsta had visited twice already and mentioned that for a free event, it was very interesting.  I had never really given Hermes much thought but I can appreciate a behind the scenes production and so I thought I'd catch it before it shut up shop on Sunday.  

Walking up the grand staircase of Burlington Gardens. 

A ostrich leather rhino greets me at the entrance. 

Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside.  Boo, but you can see some pics here.  What I hadn't realised before is that each Hermès bag is handmade and handstitched by a long-serving single artisan, not merely 'just another employee'.  They even had two women sitting there, each making a handbag in front of us answering any queries we had.  I stood there fascinated for about 20 minutes.  I wasn't being weird!  There were other women who had clearly been watching for much longer.  I continued on peering at old and new handbags along with other leathergoods.  Most impressive was a winged leather saddle made specifically for a Japanese rock band.

The worst part about this exhibit was how much it made me want a Hermès bag!  I left really, really pining for one.  Good advertising Hermès!  (Or maybe I'm just another woman who loves handbags.  Yeah, that's probably it.)  

Hen's Weekend

JT and I rocked up to Sydney this weekend for AW's hens party.  I read a newspaper article which likened organising a Hens Party to herding cats.  I can relate!  We had to herd 30 cats/women! 

JT, AW and I began the weekend with a relaxing spa session at Panpuri.  It's a been years since my last dayspa session anywhere and I really enjoyed being pampered.  I can totally understand why Ladies of Leisure remain so!

Once we were buffed and polished, off we went to The Loft for high tea.  

Most of the food was acceptable but they served the worst creme brulee I've ever had.  It was runny - bleah! 

Pop! 

Afterwards we trotted over to the Astral Apartments at the newly revamped Star City casino.  Oh but now it's a bit more fancy pants and is now known as 'The Star'.  

 JT had set up a nice selection of antipasto and finger foods to get us through the night. 

Cupcakes for all the hens to take home. 

The rest of the night is censored because there a lot of NSFW photos out there.  To get an idea of the shenanigans we got up to, just one phrase - man slaves.  

The following day we got our artisan baking hats on at private session at Brasserie Bread.  Yes, instead of the typical scraggy pole dancing and life drawing classes of other hens parties, this was a nice mellow activity.

Making our own caramelised garlic bread.  Seriously THE nicest garlic bread I've ever tasted!  Yum! 

Making our dinner rolls and a fancy looking baguette.

No, not an S&M session.  While our bread was baking we were divided in teams and subject to a sensory challenge.  Winning group won a hamper!  My group lost :(

Afterwards, we enjoyed lunch in the cafe all to ourselves and played a few hen quizzes.

Then we collected our bread!  We were also given free reign to take as much bread as we liked from today's unsold stock.  If I had a good reason for taking more bread, I would have.  

Next weekend - the wedding! 

McDonalds in Asia Rocks

A shout out to SuBoo for showering me with some gifts from McDonalds.  SuBoo just happened to be flying in from Hong Kong for the weekend and these toys were just released before her arrival so I think that it's fate that I should be the recipient. 

 Hello Kitty on the side. 

McDonald characters on the other side.  What the hell is Grimace anyway?  

The back of the boxes.  So much effort.   

Hello Kitty dressed up as the McDonaldland characters.

These 'toys' are just too good to unwrap so I am going to be a Comic Book/Star Trek/Star Wars nerd and leave them in their original packaging, never to be opened.  Fanks SuBoo!

Another Handbag

Not much is happening in Rad-City so I shall blog about mundane stuff.  It's no secret that Cath Kidston has me under her spell.  Damn that woman and her seasonal prints!  You make me regularly stalk your website and regularly visit your store when I'm in London!

Anyway I realised that I forgot to post about my new found love - my Cath Kidston bucket bag.  I've wanted my own bucket bag for ages and yes I did buy one back here but I didn't end up using it and gave it to Ma instead.

I had trawled the website was settled on buying the Candy Flowers bucket bag but once at the store, I couldn't help but test drive other handbags in the mirror.  After to-ing and fro-ing between about five bags and 40 minutes later in the Selfridges Cath Kidston section, I decided that the Briar Rose bucket bag would be the wiser choice.  The Candy Flowers is a lovely bag but with it's bright pink detailing, I would find it difficult to pair it with much of my wardrobe.

I've already received some compliments which make me love it even more!  *hugs handbag*

I have to admit that when I look inside my bucket bag, it does look a little bit ker-razy madwoman-ish.  Like many women around the planet, I always found myself constantly rummaging through my bag searching for whatever the elusive item I was seeking.  I found that her printed zip pouches were very useful for organising my once-was "handbag full of crap".

The pink spotted pouch - lady things.  The red star pouch - make up.  (Ok I don't carry these two pouches all the time.)  The blue spot pouch  - medicinal items.  The strawberry pouch - oral hygiene items.  The blue flowery iPhone cover.  The green flowery public transport ticket holder.  

Crazy-looking?  It sure is, but I am able to locate items quickly!  Also when I change handbags, it is very easy just to throw the pouches into the new bag.  Hey presto! 

On a side note, I've noticed that David Jones has started to stock a small range of Cath Kidston bags.... at about 2.5 times the UK price!  Her products aren't overly expensive (but not exactly bargain basement either) but at 2.5 times the UK price, who on earth would pay that?!

Grace Kelly - Style Icon Exhibit

There are some people in the world who I find just so beautiful that I just can't help but stare (it's so rude and Asian!), amazed by their luck in the gene pool.  That is how I feel when I look at photos of a young Grace Kelly.  I just think she is simply stunning, stunning, stunning.  Some say she looks icy cool but I think she epitomises classical beauty.

I first saw pictures of Grace Kelly when I was aged 7.  Having exhausted my kiddie reading options, I started scouring Ma's Women's Weekly magazine.  (You see, my parents didn't really supervise my reading habits).  I had no idea who she was and to my 7 year old eyes, Grace was just a middle-aged lady with upswept hair standing in a royal palace somewhere in Europe.  However, she sure had presence in those photos and her image stuck in my head.  It was a few years later after watching a documentary about her death that I realised Princess Grace and Grace Kelly were one and the same.  (You see, my parents didn't really supervise my TV watching either).

When I saw posters on tube advertising the Grace Kelly: Style Icon exhibit at the V&A, I thought 'Yay! Pretty dresses!  I'm going to see that!'.  Admittedly, I've never seen any of her films but that shouldn't keep me apart from seeing pretty dresses.  After sleeping in to noon for the past few days, I managed to haul myself out of bed at the ungodly hour of 9am and arrive at the V&A at 10.30am.  I didn't bother pre-booking my ticket - I was just gonna fight the queue.  I figured I would need to get there early enough to avoid the flock of Ladies Who Lunch who like myself (for now), had the day to do whatever takes their fancy.  Being a Lady of Leisure in London sure is a tough life.

Seeing an exhibit alone has it perks.  The three ladies in front of me weren't allowed to enter for another hour due to crowd control, but me, all lonesome me was allowed in immediately because I would obviously take up less space.  Hehehehe..

Unfortunately, only one particular dress located at the entrance of exhibit was allowed to be photographed.  But even if I could take photos, they would probably turn out crap anyway.

The pink lace and silk taffeta dress which Grace Kelly wore a few times.  You can see her wearing it here.  It looks like a Prom Queen disaster but Grace manages to pull it off. 

The exhibit displays her dresses chronologically and the first thing I noticed is she had the TINIEST waist and was surprisingly a bit flat chested.  Not a criticism by any means, but in combination with her statuesque height, I guess clothes would look understated and elegant rather than flauntingly sexy.

Also for someone who could have bought an outfit for every occasion, she was known for wearing her favourite outfits repeatedly.  Well we could all relate to that, can't we?  Included in the display is also the famous Hermes Kelly bag.  It was a little worn as you'd expect and not very big but wow, I was looking at THE Kelly Bag!

As she got older, her minimalist style did not waver and while may not have been the trendsetter (avoiding the miniskirt rage), she kept to what worked for her and what she was comfortable.  The tell-tale signs of ageing were apparent in her facial features but it was all just 'graceful' ageing.  This is how all women should age and not down the plastic fantastic route.

For anyone interested in the Grace Kelly exhibit, tickets are £6 a pop and it runs until September.  For the accompanying book you can either buy it at the V&A or you be the thrift like Grace and get it cheaper on Amazon.  I might just get myself one.

As a side note, I wandered around other parts of the V&A and spotted the following:

A Juicy Couture velour tracksuit (wtf) and Princess Diana's Elvis dress.  Totally unexpected.  

New Hairstyle

The last time I cut my hair was back here and yep, it's pretty clear I'm not exactly high maintenance when it comes to grooming of the head fuzz.  It was the same old story (fringe in my face, general blah-ness - see right) which prompted my desire to track down a new hairdresser.

Having enjoyed the shorter length of my previous haircut, I critically anaylsed how my lack of hair volume negatively impacted the otherwise excellent cut executed by my London hairdresser.  I bemoaned the fact that the instructions of my last haircut dictated that it needed to be permed.  The conclusion to my analysis?

Digital perm = Volume. 

∴ Digital perm + short haircut = Win!

I went back to Beauty Box and remained mindful of the fact that if my perm went haywire, I would be accelerating an otherwise inevitable transformation into Asian Auntyhood.  So I trawled Beauty Box for styles which had looser curls and less Ronald McDonald-esque and decided that these styles were what I was after. 

All I needed now was a hairdresser.  I was pretty happy with my perm from Good Morning Hair a few years back, but the salon itself is a bit hit and miss.  It just so happened that while walking around town, I saw that a new salon had opened up and that they were having 50% off promotions.  It was stupidly named CATS Hair.Skin and the staff suspiciously looked like Good Morning Hair staff but when I asked if they were associated, they (too) quickly denied any knowledge. 

I queried how long a digital perm would take and was quoted 2 hours... which seemed a bit short to me.  Nevertheless, I booked myself in and decided that this was how I wanted to spend my Friday night.  They weren't wrong and the whole job did take just over 2 hours.  I nerdily took notes and basically the process went like this:

Wash hair
Cut hair
Put hair into rollers. I had 3 hairdressers simultaneously attending to me.  Velcro rollers were mounted at my scalp and my hair wrapped around a secondary roller which would then be ...
.. given the "Digital Heat", in other words I go hooked up to an octopus-like machine. 
Wash hair (again)
Nutrition treatment application.  My hair was literally fist pounded by the hairdresser and then a shower-cap was put on.
Sit under a radiating rotating heater.
Wash hair (third time).
Blow dry with 2 hairdressers going at it.
Feathering scissors to cut more of my hair. WTF! Don't thin out my hair!
Final touch hair trims.
Blow dry again this with a twirling action.
Finish off the look with some silky hair essence.

So after all that, this is the final look:

Ta-dah!!!!!!

Jane, my assigned hairdresser was supercute and enthusiastic and I would definitely recommend her.  Her English seemed a bit off to start with but she seemed to understand what I wanted.  I'm sure it helped that I brought in photos of what I wanted.

For those interested, all the angles you care for.

The rear view.

Overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  The real test is how it will look after the first wash and how long it will last.  I was told it would last a month (?!?!) which I'm a bit disappointed about given that my previous perm lasted about six!

Now excuse me while I go sleep on my face.

Fanks Peeps!

Judging from the below photos, my alternative career as a hand/wrist model isn’t about to take off anytime soon.  Too limpy and hairy.  In all fairness, it is a bit difficult to photograph one’s own hand in a most flattering pose. 

The purpose of photographing my wrist was to display the lovely Links bracelet I received to mark my significant day.  Thanks peeps!  You know who you are!  I also received a handbag which was still given to me despite my I-don’t-get-what-the-big-deal-is-about-those-bags rant.  Fear not dear friends – a girl can never have enough bags!  I will learn to love thee!  

I think I have singlehandedly managed to drive sales down with my dead, limpy wrist. 

In case you’re wondering, F stands for Pooey.  Duh!

Goodbye Goblin Boots

It's now high time for me to get out the suitcase and begin the packmule-ing duties.  I had stored some flat ankle boots away for the Summer and forgotten about them until tonight.  Smee had endearingly called them my 'Goblin Boots'. 

After Smee pulled out my suitcase, I saw my boots and happily retrieved them from their storage hell.  But it appeared all was not well.... especially the right boot. 

The right boot's toe had completely folded over on itself and when viewed from the front, it resembled grumpy old man's face.  It also kinda looks like the Sorting Hat from the Harry Potter films.

I could have salvaged them - the sole was just made of cheap bendy plastic courtesy of Primmy hahaha - but the boots were worn out in the heel so I've given them life in the Big Ol' Bin of Shoe Heaven.

Weekend Results

My Saturday was spent doing... you guessed it, more shopping.  It appears that this is blog is beginning to become merely a display of consumer goods. 

J, Lil Miss J and I planned for our shopping adventures to begin in Covent Garden at 10am on Saturday.  This is a mighty big ask from me, as I am one who relishes the weekend sleep-in.  I set my alarm for 9am and yep, didn't wake up for it and only rose when J messaged me at 9.30am.  It must've been my day because I was on the bus to Covent Garden by 10am and got to the meeting place at 10.10am.  Ten minutes late - it's very acceptable!  J had under-estimated my super-powers and was still at home when I called her at 10.  I began shopping alone (no biggie) and started ticking off the remainder of my list.

David & Goliath was the first stop where I picked up a few cheesy tshirts.  Note of warning- their tshirts are US$1: £1 on their US site.  If you're buying a few (and by a few I mean probably more than 6), then dish out the US$50 (!!) UPS fee and get them from the US. 

I couldn't help but succumb to this t-shirt.  Nevermind that it was a bit tight.

Lil Miss J and J finally joined me and I showed them the Le Sac dress.  Lil Miss J gave me a little verbal smacking and agreed that we could indeed make the dress. 

Next we ventured into Cath Kidston where J insisted she gift me with this adorable necklace.  We had an small "Asian-restaurant-who's-paying-the-bill-type-of-fight" at the counter.  We didn't take it to the level of wrestling but hey, it's a small store and we would have guaranteed some weird looks.

I like bows!  Fanks J - you're the best! Muah, muah!

A few more items were ticked off and we marched on despite the burgeoning Christmas crowds and the less than sprightly weather... well... it was just an endless umbrella fight down the West End.  We managed to get some wardrobe building blocks for J (yay for 30% off Gap) and our KK gifts for Sunday's Christmas gathering (yay for Muji!).  Btw, my KK gift rocks!! (A portable hairdryer which Lil Miss J cleverly bagged).

Our day ended at M&S where we stocked up on brassieres.  We all agree that M&S rocks!  Thus ended our 9 hours of shopping. 

Sunday was our early Christmas celebration at OKR Paddington-style and mulled wine was served.  Mmmm... mmmm...mmmm that's all I have to say.  The Christmas meal of the day was Asian Steamboat.  Mmm... Christmassy...?

After filling up, we all had a shot at the KK sack and we could endlessly argue who got the best gift, but I do have to say Smee did bring home an Elephunt.  That's pretty cool and the winner in my opinion!

Le Sac Dress - DIY

Well I seem to be getting some feedback about the Le Sac dress, except from Moo who only grasped that her knees are ageing along with mine.  While I do like it, I still look at it with slight contempt.  Anyone with very limited sewing knowledge could make that dress in an instant!  I made a drawstring bag in high school, I can make the dress!  I think the worst part is, despite my sewing *cough* prowess, I still bought it anyway.  I guess this is the price you pay for laziness and US-based labour.  I should be thankful that laziness is such a privilege. 

For anyone who wants to make the dress *wink wink nudge nudge SuBoo*, there are plenty of tutorials online but I thought this one was pretty clear cut.

American Apparel: Le Sac Dress

In the spirit of my previous blog post, I went on a small shop-wander in Covent Garden on the weekend.  Among the shops which I entered was American Apparel.  I always knew that they did a good selection of cotton basics but never bothered to buy for a number of reasons: -

1.  The US$ price is visible and almost 1:1 to the GB£, which up until recently equated daylight robbery;
2.  Most of the items were cotton and I had more than enough of plain, cotton garments (thank you Kookai);
3.  They tend to cut their clothes tight which is not very flattering for my frequent bouts of bloating and;
4.  The other stuff on offer - leotards, shiny tights, weird stuff - were not my cup of tea.

Not expecting to find anything to buy, I saw that they had a cotton spandex version of the Two Birds convertible dress.  'Hmm' I thought, 'This could be handy for summer'.  A unfussy fabric meant that this dress would be more casual than the Two Birds bridesmaid variant.  So into the fitting room I went with a size M. (I told you they cut their sizes small!  I also have gotten a little plumper hehe.)

So what did I think?  The dress was so-so.  The single shoulder style probably looked best along with the plain bandeau strapless.  The sweetheart strapless style (which I dearly wanted to work) didn't really suit me and would probably work better on a flatter chest :-S  The halter neck made look like I was gonna bust out.  The other looks were ok but I wasn't loving it and deduced that if I bought this dress for the £34 it was going for (cheap by British standards but still wtf, it retails in the US for $43!!), well I was only really gonna utilise two of its looks. I was pretty happy to leave the store at that point.

However, the (surprisingly) helpful fitting room assistant had handed me a "Ways to Wear It" pamphlet to help sort myself out with the bandeau dress.  She should well be pleased she did because this resulted in a purchase after I saw a picture of their Le Sac dress!

The very unimpressive Le Sac Dress. →

Let's face facts. I essentially bought a rectangular piece of jersey fabric with a jersey string. Shout out to Suboo - you must make me a replica!  I'm still too lazy to sew at this stage!

Still not so impressive on the hanger.

Oooh well this dress seemed to work much better for me.  The 'sackiness' of it all meant that it would be accommodating for fat days and the Le String (such a stupid name) gave me some looks which I preferred. 

Four of the looks I liked most.  I'm not the greatest poser and ok, I do look a bit flabby in the second pic. Also, is it me or are my knees ageing? Note to self - remember to wear a bra. 

I headed home pretty content with my purchase and raring for the many wears I would get out of it with the upcoming Aussie summer.  Yippeeeee!  On top of that, American Apparel doesn't exist in Oz...... but wait.... after coming home and beginning THIS actual blog post I discovered.....WTF!!!  They do have a store in Oz!  Since when?!?!!?  Obviously I've been away for some significant time *sigh*  Poo!!

Well at least I can revel in consolation that the strong AUD made my purchase in the UK cheaper than it's retail AU price.  Hmmph! I need more consolation than that!  Maybe I should go and buy more stuff?  Hehe...

I ♥ my hair!

So yeah, I did feel somewhat more masculine after going from the glamazon to the chop. But now, after looking at my mop in the mirror while washing my hands post pee-pee, I realised...... I LOVE MY HAIRCUT!

Maybe it's just the way it's sitting right now. Considering that I didn't blow dry it last night, I just woke up with it the way it is and didn't bother to run a comb through it.... it's still sitting 'just right' today.  The cut has settled in to it's new home (my head) and is the right amount of 'short' which is manageable yet feminine.  My fringe isn't too short and it looks like it has even a bit of volume in it.  The longer layers flick out at the bottom (usually one flicks in and one flicks out uuugggh) and the shorter layers are flicking in.  Yay! 

Wow... what a vacuous blog post. Sometimes a girl just needs to indulge in these kinds of revelations.

Baoey's Baby Shower

Well our dear Baoey has finally fulfilled her long life dream of being an incubator for human life. Yep, she's preggers.  Of course all this means to us non-pregnant folk is 'Baby Shower!'.  Hats off to Lil Miss J for organising everything and providing all the goodies for the day.  She and I did immensely enjoy watching watching America's Best Dance Crew while cutting out silhouettes of dummies, bibs, nappies and bottles.

Lunch was planned at Cafe Cibo in Mamas and Papas, seriously one of the nicest maternity and baby stores I've been in.  They have the coolest, most fashionable yummy mummy maternity clothes! The baby wear and toys aren't bad either.

We set up our table with all the goodies ready for the fellow potential incubators to enjoy.  The Cafe Cibo staff were thoughtful enough to also decorate our table with star confetti :D

The baby shower gifts, all ready for unwrapping.  Our shower goodies including cuticle softener, moisturisers and jelly lollies in a baby bottle of course!

Our session at the cafe included an afternoon tea complete with fruit skewers, mini cakes and other tidbits.

Mmmm... yummy.  I didn't have lunch but after eating all of this heavy food, I was pretty damn full. 

We also had some baby shower games planned, the first being 'Guess the size of Bao's bump'.  We each used a piece of string and estimated the circumference of the bump in question.  Then each had to perform a baby-related charade.  Fun!  Good that hardly anyone else was in the cafe too.

The next bit of fun involved 'the bump'..... yes a fake baby bump.  It is especially helpful for women buying maternity clothes but who aren't showing yet.  Wow, this store thinks of everything!

Unfortunately for me, the constraints of my dress didn't allow for the fake baby bump to advance very far up my abdomen and as result, the bump sat squarely on my crotch.  I only realised that now ummm and ummm I must apologise to J for wearing the bump after me!  The 'baby' looked much more like an out-of-control tumour on me.

Leesh and J doing a much better job with the bump.  Leesh with the horizontal stripes - good job!

More games ensued, one involving identifying the contents of 'dirty' nappies *thumbs up* and sampling baby food.  They do come up with the weirdest concoctions for food - vegetable lasagna?!

A fun afternoon out with all the girlies!  All the best to Baoey for the new bebe!

Shopping stuff...

After the haircut I thought I'd make the most of being in Covent Garden and headed to one of my favourite London stores, Cath Kidston. Her designs are not everyone's cup of tea but her kitschy, bordering on daggy, grandma-esque prints just win me over.  Well I also had to fulfil Spuey's request to buy a Tube Map beach towel but hey, Cath Kidston was only a slight detour.

The point of this blog is just to show off the BARGAIN I got.  A bucket bag for £26 - cheap!  When I first saw the price tag, I thought it was a mistake.  These bags usually retail for £40.  It had no 'sale' tag on it and I couldn't see anything defective with the bag so of course I took it to the counter to pay my dues to Ms. Kidston.  Hmm I think I might use it a few times and then give to Mummy. Hehehe...

The Big Chop

I've been so, so, SO sick of my hair for the past few months.  It's length was annoying me and I'm leaving a hair trail everywhere I go.  Also, I walk to work everyday and it's not particularly pleasant to arrive with wind-knotted hair.  Smee's been pretty good at pulling apart the knots which form on a seemingly daily basis.  With no events coming up requiring me to keep my hair long (bridesmaid duties over) I decided I was due for a big chop.  

I booked an appointment with Ticro, the only hairdressers I've been to in London.  Some people don't like how the stylists have a tendency to cut a lot of layers into your hair but I've never had a bad haircut from them.  I requested Yuki who has cut my hair on two previous occasions.  Her English isn't too bad, she understands what you ask for and she's quite sweet.  Her own haircut with the extreme short fringe is a bit suspect. 

I searched around on the net and found Beauty Box, a super-useful Japanese hair cut website.  After awhile all the photographs start looking a bit similar and more or less a variation of the basic fringe and layers.  I settled on this haircut and with the notes in Japanese, I figured it would be a win-win situation because Yuki would actually understand it.

There is nothing special about this cut.  The more I looked at it the more I realised this was the same cut I had in 1998 and again in 2004.  My hair is very fine and I know it would never look like the above unless I blow-dry the shit out of it.  But I think I was drawn to the cut because the model is pretty hehehe.  (Although Moo thinks she looks vacant.)  Too bad face transplants are not included in the salon service.

So here are the before and after shots:

Gone is the glamazon hair!  I have to admit I did feel less 'girly' (maybe more pathetically so, 'less pretty') after walking out of the salon.  I think I look older, but I've been told I look younger.  But the sure thing is, it does look just like me circa 2004 and circa 1998.  Sure, I don't look anything like the photo (who seriously expects to look anything like the hair model?) but I could tell that Yuki did her job well and cut the style I requested.  I'm far from loving the less-girly feeling I'm experiencing (I'm sure that is a just a passing phase) but I do love the light-weightedness of  losing the scraggly locks. 

Out of curiosity, I used Google Translate to interpret the Japanese instructions and this is what I got:

Air Perm 
Are the latest permanent longing for the kindness that everyone have a nice texture

Length - Medium

Cut - Transformed into a nice dry cutting heavy 

Colour - Soft color memorandum Me

Perm - The larger bristles to get permanent curls bouncing in the natural body like a soft one Carl Deru 

Set - BIG easy Doraihandodora roughly nuances of wax they finish the natural curl

Point - A-line silhouette

Ok, so a lot of the above is just gibbly-dook but the one thing I gleamed from above was AIR PERM.  (Here is someone's experience in English.)  I think it's just the same thing as a digital perm, though not terribly sure.  Well of course my hair will never look like the model's unless I get a perm!  I re-analysed the picture of the model and concluded that yep, her hair does look kinda fine, much like my own!  Well, I cbb getting a perm (for now) so I'll just leave my tresses as they are. 

Handbag Time!

The sales are on and the sales are sure damn good here. 50% off designer handbags!  Yippee!!!! Where else can you get such a deal?  I had to refrain from joining  the queue at Harrods for the 50% Gucci *sigh*

The purpose of this post is just to display my new handbag (yes he was half price). I have decided to call him Elephunt for the obvious reasons.  Soft, squishy, roomy handbags I do like.  Whatever - I like most handbags!  Typical.

Elephunt does smell a bit 'too leathery' and 'animal-y'at this stage but I'm hoping that will fade. 

Elsa Peretti Exhibition

I was made aware of the Elsa Peretti exhibit at the British Museum by accident after purchasing one of the Sunday newspapers back in March. My regular Sunday newspaper reading had pretty much ceased when I moved to London and being near a Sunday paper nowadays is rare for me. I later came across this article and reminded myself to head off to the museum and look at Elsa's designs before they are carted off. Whilst JD was here she had seen it and thought it was something worthwhile.

Smee went off to play badminton and I enjoyed the company of .. my own self! It was a lovely day I might add to go for a walk to the museum. I nearly got a tan! (Too bad I don't like tanning).

I can't remember how I came to admire Peretti's designs. I acknowledge that there's been a bit of overkill with the open heart range and many a copycat but I have to confess that this is one of my favourite designs.

The exhibit was small (so fans, don't get your hopes up) but it details how Peretti sources her manufacturers and displays some of her sketch pads. I took a few photos but they didn't turn out so great.

Oooh the bean clutch.

Silver chain mail bags, diamonds by the yard and the ever present open heart necklaces.

Bone candlestick holders and errm.. I think it was soup pot.

Not an exhibit for everyone but those appreciative or curious about jewelry design should give it a whizz. I do wonder why that this exhibit is at the British Museum rather than the V&A?

The Wedding!

The lead up to The Wedding was about as anti-Bridezilla as you could get.

Wedding shoes? Err.. only purchased 7 days before the wedding.
Quartet? The original musicians never confirmed their commitment so a replacement quartet headed by Kt's sister T were confirmed 5 days before.
Music? Quartet, please play what you guys think sounds nice.
Singer? Please liaise with quartet and sing a hymn which you guys think is nice. Groom and Bride are not musically inclined.
Dance lessons? None - male Lymbo is fairly adept on the floor and decided he'll lead the female Lymbo. Any dance rehearsals together in the privacy of their own home? Of course not! Let's just wing it on the night.
Cheongsam for the tea ceromony? Bought 3 days before from a very rude woman.
Rehearsal? Priest couldn't make it. My partnered groomsman wasn't there.

But you know what? Without my such blogging, no one would have known! Everything worked out oh-so-fine!

Hai Moo, Hai Spu.

The wedding of the male and female Lymbo began for the female bridal party at 8am. I'm pretty sure the boys were still snuggled up in bed. By Asian Wedding standards, an 8am start is not bad. For my previous stint as a bridesmaid we were woken at the ungodly hour of 4am for a 9am tea ceremony.

There was a small kerfuffle when I arrived at Lymbo's house and realised I forgot the all-important strapless bra. I contemplated calling my Papa to bring it over but then instead borrowed Lymbo's car and drove myself home. Lucky we live only five minutes apart.

Beautifying had already begun with hair in rollers and make up on it's way. Our transformation from fugly to *rawr* was courtesy of Lil Miss J's make-up team. I do have to say, I was pretty happy that I 1. didn't look skanky, 2. I didn't turn out skank and 3. the make up wasn't skanky :D

We were all done and fairy-dusted by 12-ish in time for some lunch. At 1pm the photographer arrived for 'dressing the bride' shots. There wasn't much posing (which is a good thing), we just got on with dress Lymbo and the photographers snapped away. We were ready to leave with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately the freeway wasn't on our side (there was an accident) and we had to detour.

It just so happened that the groomsmen caught up to our car close to the church. Unaware of that fact but needing a thirst quencher, our driver detoured to the closest petrol station. Of course, this was in the opposite direction of the church. A panicky mobile phone call from the groomsmen followed - "Where are you guys going!?!?"

Already running late, we moseyed on up to the church only to be asked to do another block because the groom wasn't there! The ceremony was meant to be at 3pm but I later heard that the groomsmen didn't leave home until 2.50pm! What the...

We opted not to do the one step-feet together walk because it took too long and we felt it would lessen our chances of pokkai-ing if we just walked normally. So of course I ran up the the aisle like a nutter. I got excited walking up because there were people in the pews I hadn't seen in ages! I nearly stopped on the way up the aisle to say HAI!

The krazy bridesmaid... oh wait, that's me. The not-krazy maid of honour. The bride and Daddy.

The vows had to be restarted after female Lymbo faltered with a 'err.... we do?' SO FARNIE! I met my partnered groomsman for the first time as we exited the church. 'Hello Groomsman, I'm Pooey!'. After the ceremony we tottered around the uni campus for the professional photos. We bumped into another wedding party with the UGLIEST bridesmaids dresses - they were army green. Bleah!

Posing with the peeps.

Time flew by and we had to make our way to the reception. People were already enjoying themselves, one even quoting 'Sorry I haven't been taking many photos, I've been having too much fun.'

The table setting.

Cakey.Wedding crashers enjoying the cakey. A photo of our bridemaidsy hair!

Speeches were given by all the relevant parties including yours truly and maid of honour. We opted to give our speech ahead of the groomsmen just so we could 'get it over and done with'. All I can say is, YAY for lame jokes and cheap laughs! I had prepared some audience members to 'laugh even if it's not funny' and 'fist pump even if you aren't enjoying our speech'.

Undoubtedly, the best bit of the night were the wedding games. Yes I was the instigator of such treachery. The pictures pretty much explain themselves.

Guess when the bride is kissing me? Or another male.

Guess who's bum is the belongs to the groom. Too many volunteers for that.

Move a golf ball through the grooms' pants. Yes.... savoury. We opted not to use a raw egg just in case there was an accident.

We partied long and hard until the ushering began. A few others moved the party on into a bar but I had a flight to catch in 14 hours. The reliable Spu carted me home.

To male and female Lymbo - a big fat congrats to you from your weeny bridesmaid and more so, I am honored to have been included as part of your wedding party and not just a mere sideliner who comes and eats your food! Yay to your marriage and enjoy the honeymoon!