Two clubs

Yesterday I joined not one, but two clubs. Now these are metaphorical clubs; they aren't the kind of clubs that demand membership fees, a uniform and a sworn allegiance towards lifelong memberships, but they are clubs that I am proud to be a part of nevertheless.

Club # 1: the sore bum club

On Sunday I took myself off for a long overdue bike ride along the Bay Path to Beaurmaris and back, retracing a route I took earlier in the year.



The day was gloriously clear and perfect riding weather. Lovely and sunny, but not too warm to overheat and get all sweaty. It felt good to be out on the bike again, after a way-too-long break over winter.



Beforehand I was worried that I'd have forgotten how to ride with my fancypants shoes. Instead I should have worried about how my bum would fare. The last 15km or so were not pleasant indeed. Why oh why didn't I wear my padded shorts?

After a day or so, I thought I'd recovered as I was able to sit down without too much discomfort. Then last night, 4 days after the initial ride, I attended my first ever spin class at a local bike shop (cool idea hey!!). Getting up on the bike at the start of the class proved that my bum had not yet recovered. Ouch! My bum needs to toughen up, that's for sure!

Club # 2: the sandal booties club

Yesterday I received a package from Urban Outfitters containing my first summer shoe purchase: sandal booties.



After a fruitless winter-long search for over-the-knee boots I decided to give up and focus on building up my sandals wardrobe. Despite living in sandals for many months of the year, I only own a few different pairs. This is a vast improvement on a few seasons ago when I basically livied in Birkenstocks for 6 months of the year. Thanks to youlookfab my sandal wardrobe has expanded a bit, but still has a long way to go.

Enter the latest addition: a cross between a sandal and a bootie. Talk about the best of both worlds!



It's too cold to wear them out at the moment without my toes getting frostbite and dropping off, but I'm looking forward to the weather warming up soon (please Melbourne?), and these coming out to play.

---

One non-metaphorical club I am thinking of joining is some kind of bike riding group. Although I love heading out by myself, it's also great to ride with a group. To find new routes, to get encouraged as you go up hills, to chat as you ride down them, and then to stop for coffee at the end. My bike buddies are one thing I miss about Wollongong a lot!

I've searched on the internet and found a few prospects. My varied schedule makes it a bit tricky, but really it's just me being a big scardycat that's prevented me from actually trying out a ride somewhere. If I don't post that I've done so soon, can someone please keep me accountable and nag me about this?

exercise program day 1 (again)!

I can’t believe I missed out on exercising yesterday. And I was going so well too!!

Instead I did the following:

• Went to physio – neck is close to being all sorted.
• Traipsed around a shopping centre for 2 hours. Quite productive actually as I got both a new swimsuit and a brand new swimming cap!
• Went out for St Pats. I’m living with an Irish lass – I had to!!
  

And of course I wore green!!

But really, I could easily have squeezed in a 30 minute walk if I really wanted to, so it’s my own fault for not meeting this goal yet again. That just means more exercise for me coming up, doesn’t it?

Today was a good first day back though. I roadtested the new swimming gear and it passed with flying colours. No wardrobe malfunctions, I could see where I was going and I was able to leave the house just as soon as I’d put on sneakers, shorts and a bike helmet. No fuss.

Here’s the course I did today.

Notice there’s a bit of to-and-fro’ing at the start. I got halfway there before realising I’d forgotten my goggles, so rode back for them. Can you believe the lazy beastie inside of me seriously considered just buying a new pair there to solve the problem instead. I’m glad I talked myself out of that one!!

Then I swam 1.1km. Go me!

See more progress on: exercise every day for 30 days

RIP emerald shoes

Well it's been a long time between blog posts. I'm not going to make too many apologies, and I don't have too much time right now to update on everything that has happened in the last month (I'll try and do that soon).

I have officially moved to Melbourne, just so you know that all forthcoming posts are coming from the deep South :)

What has prompted today's post is the death of my beloved green pointy toed flats. I got these custom made in Vietnam and have worn them to bits. They're not real leather, but they are as comfy as a pair of slippers (although a bit sweatier).



Unfortunately their lack of quality is truly showing as they are not withstanding the test of time to the point at which I fear a wardrobe malfunction every time I put them on. The toes are scuffed, and the stitching on the heel is fraying apart. I fear they are now officially unwearable, so I'm turfing them.

The dilemna now, is how am I going to replace them? An online search of like.com, zappos and endless have all failed to find me anything approximating these beauties. The closest thing I have found is these Mia Hepburn flats, but they are turquoise rather than emerald, and lack the fun detail my current pair sport on the front.

Do you know of anything closer to what I'm after? Should I settle for the Mias or keep on looking for my perfect emerald pair?

p.s. the photo above highlights how well my current pair match the dining chairs that I bought at an Op Shop last week. I loooooove Melbourne Op Shops!!

It's not my birthday

It's not today....actually it was 3 days ago (bonus points for anyone who spots the They Might Be Giants reference!)

The actual birthday started off ok but ended up overwhelmingly sucky. When they found out at work it was my birthday my boss went and bought a tray of cakes and biscuits. Yum! He scared the beejesus out of me by luring me into the tearoom by telling me he needed to talk about a patient complaint though! However later on I had a very sick patient that I was looking after and was basically told by the cardiologist that it was on my head to stay back and make sure she was seen by the surgeons. Took me 4 hours after my shift ended to make sure that happened. So I missed out on my own bithday dinner and trivia with my parents and brothers. Boohoo!

But yesterday I bought myself 2 birthday presents, so it's not all bad. A lightweight short-sleeved cardigan from Target (Target always comes through for me) and a pair of gladiator sandals from Aldo.



Please excuse the hair (haven't combed it for over 24 hours). There's also a few stains on that singlet top that thankfully didn't photograph well!

This summer I really wanted to get a pair of sandals-slash-booties. I found a few pairs that I liked online, but dithered around too much and there's none available in my size anywhere. Australian shoe stores have a few options, but none of them jumped out at me.

Yesterday I saw these babies at Aldo. They're really just gladiators, not booties, however the combination of different textures, braids and studs won me over. I'm in love.



For any North Americans reading this, I'm curious: did US stores stock these same shoes during your summer? Aldo stores are a rarity in Australia (only 14 in the entire country) and I wonder if we just get your leftover end of season merchandise? I totally love these, so I'm not complaining!!

What I wore this week: #4

Another partial week's worth of outfits. Tried to mix in some new and old items this week.

1) Sailor shopping

I wore this when A and I went out to the closest mall last weekend. I think this tshirt didn't get the ylf approval on its own, but with the vest hiding its wider stripes, it somehow works better. Extremely comfortable, thanks in no small part to the amazing Me Too Swanns.



2) Casual Sunday

Drove several suburbs down to a beachside cafe for brekkie. It was packed. The food was good, but not as good as some of our locals!



3) Copying Angie's look

This look is a complete rip-off of an amazing dress Angie sported recently on ylf. When I saw a similar shaped dress at Target made out of t-shirt fabric I snapped it up faster than you can say ARGH! It's impossible to see on the black fabric, but there's gathers on the front similar to Angie's. I love the shape!

I even copied her idea of wearing pearls underneath, and tried unsuccessfully to copy her lovely poses too!

This outfit was comfortable beyond belief. It felt like I was wearing pajamas all day!!!



It was a bit cold out, so I added the Ben Sherman houndstooth jacket I bought not-so-long ago.



4) Turquoise knit top, take 2

I wore this knitted top from H+M again, deliberately pairing it with lighter colours. I think it works better than last time I wore it. I *really* wish I had bought the CM microchecks I tried on whilst away. I think their light colour would work really well with this top.

Behold in this outfit: the only item of yellow clothing I own!



5) Yet another dress from Target

OK it's official. My name is Tamara and I'm a Target addict. In the last few years I'd say a large percentage of my clothing, and pretty much ALL of my tops have come from Target.

I love the pattern and feel of this dress. It's a light, stretch cotton. However looking at this picture I don't feel it flatters my apple shape too well. Ooops.

I do love it though. Do you think this outfit is channelling the schoolgirl look too much, however? How else would you wear it?




Whew that's it! I'm glad I didn't take photos of *every* day now - that was exhausting!

Click on any image to be taken to flickr.com for a larger view.

What I wore this week: #3

First up: a confession. These outfits aren't *all* from this week. I've clearly been terribly slack with both taking photos and with posting here. I'd like to blame it on the fact that its winter here, and lighting is just bad for photo-taking.

But really, I'm just a slacker.

It's a shame, because I have managed to sport a lot of the clothes I bought whilst away. I'll just have to try and wear them again soon huh? Anyway enough with the explanations and excuses.

First up this outfit features a top I bought at H&M in SF & another pair of Me Too Swann's that I bought in SF as well. Both looking at the pic, and on the day I felt it was too dark. I didn't have any lighter colour pants that I thought would work. Kinda gave me some buyers remorse about not having bought the Club Monaco microchecks I tried on in SF after all - they may indeed have worked!



This is one of my more dressy work outfits. I had to present a couple of patients to the Mental Health Tribunal this day so wanted to look somewhat professional so they'd believe I knew what I was talking about. These are one of only 2 pairs of pants I own that need to be worn with heels (1.5 inches!) because they are TOO LONG!! My fault really as I got them custom made in Hoi An. The novelty of wearing too-long pants just hasn't worn off on me though.



Here's a close-up of the textures. Plain brown vest with funky bottons, silver and white striped shirt and brown and black plaid wool pants.



Finally today's outfit. I liked it, and as always when I wear these boots got several compliments on them. However I did also have one patient walk up to me and told me "you look like a hooker in those clothes". I have to admit I was somewhat taken aback, but having other people remind me that she was the one in a psych ward, made me feel better about things. Does this outfit say hooker to you?

Maybe I should have increased my credit card limit

I'm heading to San Fran tomorrow!! Then onto NYC, then Toronto for a cousin's wedding. 2.5 weeks holiday - yeeha!!!

Sitting at home procrastinating on packing, it's just starting to feel real.

I am getting inordinately excited about the the potential shopping in America. I love US department stores! And I have so many more than 5-year-old clothes that need replacing it isn't funny.

I've spent the last hour mapping out the stores I want to visit in San Fran. Here they are on a map in relation to where I'm staying.


Did I mention I'm going to be packing *very* lightly? Muahaha!!

Of course this could all backfire and I'll end up wearing the same pair of jeans, converse and cardigan for a fortnight, so cross your fingers the shopping gods are smiling upon me please!!

What I wore this week: #2

You can tell summer is over. It's getting darker and darker in the mornings. As a consequence these photos are getting fuzzier and fuzzer. Blah!

I'm a week behind posting these pics. They are now from 2 weeks ago. Oh well!

1) Monday



I'm not sure if I like these colours paired together. Even with a skirt this shirt is too short to wear on its own without a singlet underneath. A new red shirt is now officially going on my shopping list.

2) Tuesday



I felt unbelievably comfy in this outfit. I am loving this Target shirt! Unfortunately one of my bosses commented on my Cons - he thinks canvas shoes are unsafe. And yet they provide more foot coverage than ballet flats which he has no problem with. Blah!

3) Wednesday



Loving these pants and shoes. I wore them without socklets for the first time today and they were even more comfy!

4) Thursday



It's difficult to see in this poor quality pic, but the shoes I'm wearing here are brand new Me Too Swann's. For their first wear, they passed my 16 hour workday with flying colours. I am in love!



5) Friday



A dark and gloomy morning. I love this dress on hot days. For a cooler day it worked well with tights too.

6) Sunday



A very casual day, going shopping and for a pedicure at Miranda.

Shopping Hoi An

I started writing this as an e-mail to my parents, who are shortly popping across to Vietnam for Christmas. I don't profess to be an expert in anything Vietnamese, but I have twice experienced the delights of Hoi An, and have every intention of returning sometime in the not too distant future, so thought it would be nice to share some tips. Hopefully they will help my parents, your fine self, and my future self :)

Step 1: Plan of attack

Even if you're going to be staying there for more than a week, don't wait until you're there to decide what you want. With over 200 tailors and a myriad of brightly coloured shoe shops lining every street, to say the options are overwhelming is an understatement.

Yes most shops have catalogues that you can sit there and sort through, but do you really want to waste time doing that? And are you going to make the best decisions when being egged on by understandably eager shop assistants who will sometimes agree to anything to make a sale.

Instead, do your research. Browse the internet and save images of things you want. Take with you any existing clothes you have that you want to duplicate, or take pictures of you wearing them. Think about fabrics, colours, lining, pockets, every little detail before you get there. Channel your inner Project Runway. Arrive with a plan, all these pictures on a USB stick, and a big fat empty suitcase.

Step 2: On arrival

Whether you're going to dive in quickly and start your shopping immediately, or whether you can ease yourself into it at a more relaxed pace depends on how long you have there. The less time, the quicker your immersion has to be.

Either way, for things that you are 100% sure that you want, that you've thought about what fabric and trimmings you need and you don't want to compromise on quality, why muck around? For me that means going straight to Yaly Couture.


Yes they charge significantly more than any other tailor in Hoi An, but to me they are worth every penny. They are meticulous, professional and friendly. Their staff are lovely and attentive, patient and willing to help. They know about fabrics, and can give great advice about what will and won't work, without blindly agreeing with everything you say. They speak great English, minimising the chances of misunderstandings. They will happily prepare 1 garment for you, or 50. Same same. They don't negotiate on price, but after a while in SE Asia that can be a welcome change.

Summary of step 1: go to Yaly and sort out all the essentials on your list.

Step 2: Breathe

Sit down and enjoy the food and beverages at one of Hoi An's many lovely eateries. Bia Hoi + white rose = match made in heaven.


Do this as many times per day as you need shopping breaks (minimum 3 and that's an order).

Summary of step 2: eat and drink beer.

Step 3: More shopping

So you've got your basics underway. Now its time to wander around all the tailors in town and see what takes your fancy. Don't be pressured into buying the first time you see a cool and original design; chances are the shop around the corner will have something same same but slightly different.

Work out what you like first and then commit. Ask around for ballpark prices in similar styles before committing to any particular shop. The more you buy in one place, the more you can barter.

Be wary of how much time you have and make sure shops can commit to a deadline earlier than what you actually have. You don't want to waste your last night or miss your flight because you're chasing up an order that will "be delivered in 5 minutes". Don't pay anything more than a deposit until you get the item, and demand a refund on items that are either not what you ordered or are not going to be ready on time. Be firm.

Summary of step 3: look around for inspiration.

Step 4: And now for something completely different...

More shopping! This time, how about some shoes?

Again its really helpful if you've thought about this before leaving home. Do you need brown boots, purple flats and red heels? Or black boots, red flats and yellow heels? What height should the heels be? Should the toes be pointy or round? What decorative features do you want - bows, buckles, peeptoe?

Have some idea, but don't be afraid to be seduced by the colourful items and fancy styles on display. Again, taking images or existing copies of shoes you want duplicated is immensely helpful.

One warning though, while the variety and endless possibilities of shoes is intoxicating, beware of quality. Flats are your safest bet, but even then the type of soles will vary widely between cobblers. One set of heels I bought had fallen off by the time I even made it back home to Australia.

Again: bargain and be wary of deadlines. Be kind but firm if and when things start going pear-shaped.

Summary of step 4: shoes!

Step 5: Dress-up time

By the time day 2 rolls around you probably have a full day of appointments set up with various tailors around town. This is where the fun really begins.

You get to witness the creation of visions that up until now existed only in your head. Even better you didn't actually have to create it yourself. 'Cos that would mean needing to sew and stuff.

This is where you need to be objective and remember what you asked for. Make sure things are well sewn and fitting correctly. If not, speak up because now is your chance to get that changed. Inspect seams, pockets and hems carefully. Be specific about whether things need to be taken in or out, up or down.

Again, be careful of your time, and firm with deadlines.

Summary of step 5: try before you buy.

Step 6: Bits and pieces

Depending on where else you are traveling in Vietnam, don't limit yourself to clothes and shoes. Hoi An has an interesting market with an excellent range of jewellery.

You can also get all the usual touristy fare (more $ than Saigon though).

There's also shops selling beautiful scarves and pashminas. Or how about silk ties (that come packaged in the cutest little boxes). Or some artwork?

Another option is to go handbag shopping at a shoe shop. Like shoes, they can duplicate any handbag you take in.

Summary of step 6: yet more shopping.

Step 7: Getting it home

Unless you're on a flying visit through 'Nam and home again, you're not really going to want to cart around a zillion kilos worth of shopping are you?

If all your stuff fits into your bags (and your baggage allowance), then more power to you, but for the mortals amongst us, consider shipping your shopping home via the Hoi An postal service. Your hotel should call them up for you, and they come to you with boxes and packing tape. You barely need to leave your room.
It's an exciting and sometimes worrying few weeks at home waiting for your items to arrive. But when they do, it's like Christmas all over again rediscovering treasures you had forgotten about.


Hmm that's all I can think of for now. Wow I am really wishing I was in Hoi An right now after all that!! Time to start writing a shopping list for Mum & Dad methinks!

Shoes all sorted

It was over a month ago that I proudly announced I'd bought all the do-dads to get my shoe storage organised. It took me less than an hour to sort it all out, but for the last month I've been busy procrastinating finishing off a project that's been hanging over my head for so long it isn't funny. Finally I think it's sorted so I'm allowing myself to procrastinate play here again!

So hows it all looking now? Pretty bloody good if I do say so myself.

Here is the left side of my wardrobe - before and after (click on each image for a bigger version).



A significant improvement, no? And the right side of my wardrobe - equally as impressive I think!



Amazingly, in the nearly 4 weeks that I've had this set up, this is still what the floor of my wardrobe looks like! I've found it easy to access shoes when needed, and it's so easy to come home from the gym and just chuck my sneakers in one of those boxes - no excuse for leaving them lying around on the floor anymore!

I got a few other goodies while I was at ikea. Firstly, some storage boxes for the shelf above my wardrobe. That's where I store spare bed linen, towels, photos, sleeping bags, travel bags and other bits & pieces. Here's what it looked like before (sans the towels because they were in the wash).



It doesn't look nearly as bad without the towels (I have a lot!) but you get the point that its a shambles, right? This is what it looks like now, after the purchase of some ikea skubb drawers.



How much do I love the colour!!!!

And while I was there, I picked up a few other things I couldn't resist: a new frying pan, chopping boards and serviettes.



And some supplies for my next "project".



Stay tuned!!

riiiiiiiight

I’m starting this entry having bought the raw materials, but not even having unwrapped them.

So what did I end up deciding on for my shoe storage? To be honest, I hadn’t decided for sure till I was metres away from the checkout.

My dear Mum was kind enough to offer to trek out to ikea and DFO with me on Tuesday. After dosing up on coffee, we had a quick squiz at Howards Storage World before braving ikea. I wanted to see and price the options at HSW before scoping out ikea.

Minutes before I left home I measured the space underneath my wardrobe. I’m glad I did, because a lot of the beautiful solutions at HSW and ikea (including the tjusig shoe rack I’d had my eye on) wouldn’t fit into either of the two halves of my wardrobe.

Before the shopping commenced, I’d vaguely decided on getting:

• a shoe rack (a la tjusig) for one side of the wardrobe, where I’d put my nicer shoes that I didn’t want to get crushed.
• Several boxes for the other side, where I could dump sandals, sneakers and less delicate items. I was hoping the komplement ones would do the trick.

The first snag was the wardrobe measurements. The tjusig rack wouldn’t fit in either side by at least10cm lengthways. HSW had some great expandable shoe racks, but they were a little pricier. Since we’re moving in a few months, and I obviously have no idea what storage will be like at our new place, I decided to get a solution for now that would be as cheap as possible (but hopefully not too nasty).

Here’s what I came up with.

Firstly, the baboard shoe rack. At $9.95 its much cheaper
than tsujib. Plus it has the added advantage of fitting into my wardrobe. Both racks have the disadvantage of not providing dust protection, but I figure this is a cheap way of working out whether that will be a long term problem or not.

For the other side of the wardrobe, I settled on these komplement boxes.

The komplement shoe boxes I’d originally eyed were big enough to hold maybe up to 4 pairs of sandals, but I needed a lot more room than that. These komplement boxes are much bigger. 3 of them fit neatly inside inside my wardrobe (and quite handily they came in a pack of 3). Nice and cheap too. Of course the biggest drawback is no lid, but again, a good way to temporarily see how this solution works out.

Ikea had a lot of boxes on offer, at varying prices. Other options I considered were these, these and these. I grabbed all of them off the shelf, and pretty much did a meenie-mini-moe to pick them out. And went for the cheapest of course :)

That’s the theory anyway. I haven’t unwrapped or assembled any of this yet.

Perhaps this afternoon. I need a cup of tea.

See more progress on: Organize my shoes

Shoe dilemmas

Having just recently returned from the OC to Sydney for the final time, I have a few storage-related dilemmas on my hands.

To cut a long story short, I have too much junk, and not enough places to put it.

Now this has clearly been a long-standing issue for me, but what makes this higher priority than ever is that in a few short months, A and I will have to pack up not only all my crap, but all of both-of-ours crap and move it down to the gong.

Another confession: I am a complete sloth when it comes to unpacking. It's now been 3 days since I've returned to Sydney. The car got unpacked on day 2. Day 3 finds most of the bags that I lugged inside scattered over the lounge and bedroom floors.

But that's not what's really bugging me. Instead, I've suddenly developed an uncanny ability of being able to ignore the majority of the filth right under my nose. Instead I've focused on my shoe organisation, or lack thereof, as my main source of despair.

Case in point: the floors of my wardrobe, where I "store" my shoes.





Now before you say "that's not tooooooo bad" (whilst secretely thinking it is), I have a further confession to make. That tangle of shoes doesn't include the 15 or so pairs that I took with me to the OC. Yes, there are more shoes to add to this awful mess!

So before I go ahead and throw those shoes on top of this pile of ungainly debris, I'd really like to do something about it.

Over the past few months I've spent a few bit of time procrastinating scouring the internet for the ideal shoe storage solution. Unfortunately perfection is hard to find.

This is pretty much as close as I could get.

Mariah Carey's shoe closet, courtesy of http://www.instyle.com/instyle/package/falltrends/photos/0,,20053995_20045143_20066678,00.html

Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of owning my own wardrobe, let alone apartment; making this kind of customisation quite impractical.

I've been quite intrigued by all those clear plastic shoe boxes that seem to have sprung up everywhere. But how do you decide which ones to choose? Which are best? With handles? With a drawer? The cheapest? Clear or opaque plastic?


Image from http://www.imelda.com.au/well_shod_well_imformed/2008/02/shoebby-doo-whe.html

Given that I own a ridiculous number of shoes I can imagine forking out hundreds of dollars on flimsy plastic boxes only to get screwed. I'd either fill my wardrobe up completely with no room for clothes, or have them all break on me. Or not fit some of my shoes (I have big feet). Or I'd want more but suddenly the type I ended up choosing weren't being made anymore so I'd be stuck with unmatchy plastic boxes.

The possibilities for disaster are endless.

I like the look of racks like these Tjusig ones from ikea, but don't like the fact that they don't protect shoes from dust and don't really hold that many pairs. Yes you can stack two on top of each other, but can you store them two deep? Plus at $59 each, buying enough of these for all my shoes would be prohibitively expensive (for me anyway).


I'm hoping an in-person trip to ikea over the next few days will seal the deal for me. Man cannot wait endlessly for perfection, so I'm just going to settle for the best (and cheapest) I can get right now.

I'm thinking that for now, a compromise may be one of those Tjusig shoe racks, and a set of komplement shoe boxes.


They're cheap and come in a pack of 4. They'll protect shoes from dust, and you can still see what's inside.

The plan is that the shoes I wear most often will go on the rack, and everything else will fit semi-neatly into these boxes.

What do you think, is this a reasonable solution, or am I dreaming?