Palm Beach

This weekend we had a family trip to Palm Beach for my dad's birthday. It's very rare the five of us are all together especially with my sister living in London these days. Palm Beach is the northernmost suburb of Sydney and features beautiful landscape including an historic lighthouse. I actually haven't been here for years. It was such lovely and warm weather. Ever since the start of September, the weather has improved almost instantly. Life seems so much better in all respects. I'm particularly pleased because training can only get easier now- those 5.30am starts at the pool in the middle of winter were brutal!















Kitten D'Amour Girl Friday Spot Top
Kitten D'Amour Girl Friday Full Skirt

Outfit

Hi all. Yesterday, the husband and I went to the park- a location we used to visit frequently but haven't visited at all for the last couple of years. It's lovely there, one of the biggest parks I've ever been to, but isn't as accessible ever since we moved and no longer have a car. The reason for the trip was to celebrate a birthday- that of an extremely important being called Yakamitsu Yak (also known as the husband's toy plastic yak). We've had him for 6 years now. One year we even took him to KFC on the 13th of December. No, we are not weird at all. Yaksmitsu had an amazing day. We quite enjoyed it too. The park always has good opportunities for photos. Pandora, our panda, joined us too- I have to resist the habit of calling her Sue. 

It was amazing to have the opportunity to wear my Cameo dress. It's such a pretty print and colour scheme. I love the neckline and the general vintage inspiration. I randomly decided to pair pink with it and I'm pleased with the way that turned out. The shoes I've had for many years now but haven't worn them in awhile. I've brought them to the front of my wardrobe again. I'd forgotten how much I love them with the floral design and pink detailing. 

I'm sure this is going to be the busiest week of the year so I won't be around here as much. I also need to take an exam for a course I'm doing through work which couldn't have come at a worse time. We've decided to go away for a few days just after Christmas. I'm looking forward to it because the husband and I hardly ever do things like that. I'm not really into Christmas (sorry everyone!) but this provides something to look forward to in the break. 






















Kitten D'Amour Cameo Dress
Wittner Shoes
Bow Belt via ebay

Forever New Imogen Scalloped Bag

Outfit

This set of photos are from the weekend before last when I was out with my husband. We also took Gerald who is my giraffe. I love him so much, he's heatable and very warm and cosy especially for a cold day! He makes a valuable contribution to the photos.

The dress I'm wearing here, in addition to the bicycle print dress from my previous post, are my favourite dresses at the moment; I seem to wear them almost on rotation. This dress is from Kitten D'Amour's latest collection called Serendipity. The collar is just gorgeous; I love big collars but they can be difficult to find on clothes. The floral print is completely my style and I love the touch of the velvet with the bow. I adore the shape of this dress, it's the perfect fit and flare for everyday. It's also very comfortable. I'm always posting about how much I love the clothes at Kitten D'Amour on my blog but I'm not a total advocate for the store. There's actually so much which annoys me about the brand. The main issue is the pushy staff. I know a number of stores like this, however Kitten D'Amour is the extreme. There are certain staff members which are worse than others. A few of the girls are fine. I like them a lot and I'll definitely visit the store when they are working. But there are a few that I have to avoid now. It's mainly the issues while attempting to try on the clothes. I don't like being asked every minute if I can come out and show the staff what I look like in the clothes, it' s even before I've had the chance to put on the first outfit. I've had times where the staff will actually open the curtains of the change room and just come in if I'm taking too long or haven't shown them what I look like yet. I really really object to this! I've often had to shop online if I really want something and know that the pushy staff members are the only ones working at the time. But that's my other point- the postage takes about a week and a half to come. It's only domestic postage and I live in a centralised location; it even takes four days for the order to be packaged and sent to the post office. I think we, as bloggers (and also customers) should be honest about our experiences with a store. I give Kitten D'Amour a lot of time on my blog (not to mention all the free advertising!) so if there are aspects of the brand which don't impress me I'd like to share them also so I'm providing a complete view. 

Now onto another brand which I have even more of an issue with and that is Guess. The Guess bag which appears in my photos below is extremely sub-standard quality. I was so happy when I found this bag as it's a good size and a beautiful colour (marigold yellow bags can be difficult to find). However, within the first week of use the handle snapped. I then obtained a replacement bag. However, I absolutely could not believe it when the exact same thing happened, this time within only four days. I was extra extra careful with the second bag and it broke even more quickly. These are expensive bags. My was bought at a discount but for the retail price of $169.95 this is terrible. I'm very disappointed as I've always loved Guess and most of my bags are by this brand. However, experiences like this change my opinion and I don't want to buy any more Guess bags for now. 

Now onto a more positive fashion experience. I absolutely love coloured tights at the moment and I can't believe I've only just introduced them into my wardrobe. I had thought about it many times before but never felt like I could make it work. I started off with the pair I'm wearing in this post and then last week become more daring when I purchased a number of coloured tights in the end of winter sale at H&M. I now have purple, red, blue, green, mustard and white. In addition to the pair in this post, my favourites are the red and the blue. I love wearing them because they are so warm and cosy. I like to think they often add to my outfits. I've seen coloured tights worn frequently on other blogs but almost never 'in real life,' so I like that unique aspect too.












Kitten D'Amour Serendipity Collar Dress
B.A.I.T Footwear Gloria Flats in Black
Alannah Hill Cest La Vie Cardigan
Coloured Tights H & M 

Milsons Point & Outfit

On Saturday my husband and I went for a walk around Milsons Point which, in my opinion, is right at the top when it comes to the most beautiful suburbs in Sydney. In fact I often go for walks here at lunch time during the working week. It's quite rare for us to go out on Saturdays, especially anywhere this far from where we live, since I am usually too tired from the week at work to do anything but stay at home. The waterside is so pretty. There are some even better locations for photos than this but there was a couple getting married at Luna Park so they occupied all the best locations. I've added a few photos of the area which I've managed to take on other days too.











In terms of my outfit, I am wearing a dress from the Innocence Collection by Kitten D'Amour. It's slightly different to my usual style given that it's much less colourful than my other dresses; prior to this piece I only owned one other piece which was entirely white. But the peter pan collar, the floral detailing, and the fact that the dress was less expensive than most pieces from Kitten D'Amour, was enough to convince me to buy it. I'm now very pleased that I did. It must be a big change because when I wore this to work, I received endless comments wondering where all the colour in my outfit had gone. The red belt, also from Kitten D'Amour, adds a lot to the look. I adore the combination of red and white, and I can never have enough bows. Like I mentioned in one of my recent outfit posts, I wish I had this belt in every colour. These bow belts literally look good with any outfit. I have this bow belt in both red and white, and I'm pretty sure it comes in black and blue also.  My double bow flats from Wittner were an obvious choice to complement the look. I have had these shoes for so many years now and posted them on my blog more times than I can remember. These are without a doubt my most worn shoes out of my entire shoe collection. I often find that with Wittner shoes;  they are extremely reliable, I never lose my love for them and I just wear them for much longer than I do with any of my other shoes. 













Kitten D'Amour Innocence Peter Pan Collar Dress
Guess Delaney Classic Tote in Polka Dot
Kitten D;Amour Bow Belt
Wittner Bow Flats

Linking to: More Pieces of Me, On the Daily Express

Outfit

Hi everyone. Isn't it interesting where life takes us sometimes. Thanks to the support and kindness of family, I find myself on a weekend away in the city. This is very different from my usual Saturdays which are very boring, I generally stay in bed all day resting from the week at work. Today we went for a walk around Darling Harbour, went to lunch and visited the markets. At the markets I bought this amazing 'Frozen' umbrella. Surprisingly I like Frozen, especially Princess Elsa because she is very pretty and I can relate to her a lot. Frozen merchandise is just about everywhere at the moment and I've wanted something for ages. What better than an umbrella, I cant wait to take it to work. The weather isn't great at the moment as it's rained for most of this month but with my panda umbrella and now my Frozen umbrella I don't actually mind. Darling Harbour is an excellent location for photos but the rain has made it very difficult. We walked around for ages just to get these few but any chance I have to do something different is great. In terms of my outfit this is a new dress I bought from Review. I more than ever need to cut back my spending but I'm using the end of college as an excuse to buy it at the moment. My new found love for yellow, combined with my long term love for polka dots makes this dress perfect. I also like how it's a darker shade of yellow; I've liked mustard yellow for awhile now having seen in on so many blogs but don't like it too dark so this is the ideal colour. I thought of my friend Mary from work when I bought this dress; it turns out she was the first to compliment my outfit when I wore it to work on Friday. I hope she buys the same dress and we can be matching! 

This week I've been feeling much more positive about life. It all started when I returned to work on Tuesday having been away at college for the week. The time away made me realise just how much I love the place I work, how grateful I am for the opportunity given the competitive job market for university graduates, and how I surprise myself each day with my capabilities. My job certainly isn't hard but I've had such low self confidence for my whole life that I still never expected I could do anything like this. It makes me very emotional sometimes when I think about how much I've exceeded any expectation I ever had for myself. After almost a year at my current job, going to work each day is still having this impact on me. I know it won't feel so positive forever, it comes and goes, but I'll try to enjoy it while I can. Also, the reality is starting to set in that I've actually finished college of law and its only the release of results and an admission ceremony needed for me to officially be a lawyer. I've basically done it. There is no better feeling in the whole world than achieving something beyond all your expectations.













Review Shayla Dress
Florsheim Heels
Alannah Hill 'The Kinky Cat' Cardigan 
Frozen Umbrella! 
Collette Clutch Bag 

Linking to: Fashion Item Friday, What I Wore Wednesday, More Pieces of Me, On the Daily Express 

Outfit

On Monday Rydog and I went on a day trip to the Southern Highlands which is located about an hour and a half from Sydney. This is a wonderful place to visit. I've been there many times before; the last time we stayed over night and I posted about it here. It is so scenic and beautiful, especially at this time of year, and there are always many photo opportunities. It was lovely and warm yesterday which is great because I usually find it extremely cold in the Southern Highlands. They also have the best macaroons on the main street and I get very excited about macaroons.  It was a very enjoyable day.

Now onto the outfit. I am wearing my red Alannah Hill cardigan, which goes with everything, yet again; I did my first remix post on it here. In fact this outfit, in its entirety, is one of my go to outfits so I'm suprised I haven't posted it before. It usually seems to work out for me. I love to wear the red cardigan with this pink floral skirt because I absolutely love the combination of red and pink together. I used to think it was a fashion rule that should never be broken but lately I believe the combination can be quite tasteful in the right circumstances. My bow top is my absolute favourite top; I adore the versatility and the size of the bow. I love the cut of it and the detailing adds to any outfit. I also have this top in the stripe version which I posted here. I tried to match my accessories with the silver glitter flats, silver bow and silver and purple earrings. I've had this hairstyle for a week now and it has been amazing. It has saved me so much time, made me feel less self conscious about my hair and saved my hair from straightener damage.  I guess I should take a break from this style which makes me very sad; I want to keep it as a special wedding hairstyle rather than an everyday style. It's just hard to know what else to do with my hair.



     


 

 
There was a wedding still set up from the weekend. How pretty!

 



 
 
This really hurt my wrists but at least I got the photo
 

 
 

 

 

 

  

Alannah Hill Cardigan
Forever New Zinnia Bow Tee
 Dangerfield Flower Skirt
Alannah Hill Bow Handbag
Forever New Glitter Flats
Lovisa Earrings
Equip Hairbow