annual start-of-summer/resuming-blogging-again post

listening to: 'rien de rien' - edith piaf

hello hello! i am super aware of how slack my posting has been, and how neglectful i am as a blogger, but i had a rather busy second semester and just couldn't be bothered doing anything except study, drink and sleep haha. thankfully the study paid off, and i passed all my exams! only one more year of uni to go... exciting but scary at the same time. i've been back home for summer for just over a month now, but we only just got the internet hooked up so that further delayed getting my a into g and giving the blog a wee bit of attention.

anywho, summer has finally arrived, and yesterday i got the sunburn to prove it! silly silly alana... i plastered on the sunblock but then i kind of got engrossed in my book (the deep end of the ocean, by jacquelyn mitchard) and didn't realise how long had passed without another application. i also didn't turn over, so i look pretty freakin silly right now, as the redness is all on my front lol.

i don't have much to say right now, except that hopefully after christmas i get to do a bit more op shopping! i just wanted to swing by and say merry christmas, happy new year, and i promise i haven't forgotten anybody out there who still cares!

fuelling addicts everywhere

listening to: 'do you feel' me - anthony hamilton

before i get started, i just want to emphasise how much i ADORE this song right now. in my book, nothing beats some smooth soul music; and after watching american gangster [yes, i know i took my time getting round to it. i'm not much of a dvd-renter] i was desperate to find some of the music from the soundtrack - specifically this song! i thought it was like an old song, seeing as the film is set during the vietnam war, but realised it's not. ANYWAY that wasn't an overally exciting story... just go listen to this song, its magic.

today i was procrastinating from study - again - and decided to pop onto bag, borrow or steal for a look.

OH EM GEE.

i could spend frikkin hours on this site!! favourites so far are the chloe heloise bag [which i spotted months ago, and which has periodically infiltrated my dreams ever since], the prada multi striped pochette in purple and the fendi b in the most delicious shade of electric blue my eyes have ever encountered... and i'm only up to page 5!

finally!

listening to: 'peace sign index down' - gym class heroes feat busta rhymes

hey friends! this is just gonna be a quick post cos i have to start getting ready for work, like, now.. but i was away all weekend [and we still dont have the net at home, grr! but thats a whole diff story] and didnt get a chance to update my blog before i left. it's not THAT exciting anyway haha...

so, friday morning, my flatmate miranda and i moseyed into town to shop round for 21st presents. after we got them, we headed into glassons - i was desperate for a waist belt. i found a really cute one... its brown, stretchy, and i cant wait to wear it! there was a mad sale going on: miranda ended up buying a heap of stuff! i also picked up this really cute grey highwaisted skirt, which im super excited about!! it seems really good quality [for glassons at least] and ill be able to team it with lots of different things... so i finally found a highwaisted look that doesn't make me look super short and blobby! hurrah.

love ya biatches :)

oh! and..

i am also in love with this girl, whoever she may be! she reminds me of mia farrow in the great gatsby... as seen on the facehunter.

a post as eclectic as my musical taste!

listening to: 'where the city meets the sea' - the getaway plan [download!! it rules!!]

hello all! at the moment im procrastinating from a)study for my COMS201 concept test tomorrow and b)completing my annotated bibliography on an article by elihu katz for the same paper, which is also due tomorrow. i was just browsing the net, checking out the usual sites on my hit list and also stumbling across a couple new ones, when i found a couple note-worthy things that made me remember my poor forgotten little blog. so voila, here i be.

1. it is absolutely FREEZING here in dunedin right now! though i can't complain; this has been an uncharacteristically mild winter for invercargill/dunedin... therefore i am spending a lot of my time rugged up in not-hot jerseys and canterbury pant combos. thankfully, i received an email today from the person selling me this woolen shrug to say it was now on it's way! i'm making a pilgrimage tomorrow to george street [present time! got two 21st parties to attend this weekend] so will hit up a few shops looking for a nice, vintage-esque brown waist belt.

2. speaking of these 21st parties, i am dying for some new party dresses... alas, the majority of the dough currently sitting in my bank balance is headed my younger sister's way... she lent me some money last week when my cruddy cellphone crapped out! but that's a whole 'nother story. anywho, my daydreaming about waltzing into these parties in super cute new ensembles led me online, where i found these:

the top dress is from asos [apparently, in the style of charlize theron]. i think it's really flirty, wispy and fun... im not usually such a fan of lacy kinda things, but this one immediately caught my eye. oh, and as a sidenote: while i applaud asos for embracing the whole one-shouldered, 80s prom vibe, i think they should review the construction of their single shoulders. is it just me or is there something just slightly off about them??

the middle dress is by life with bird, which i found on mycatwalk. everybody heard over there tout de suite, because the rear view is to die for... im a complete sucker for a good racerback. for some reason it wouldnt let me frigging copy and paste that view though!! grr. too bad i dont have either $582 to spare, or a body little enough to squeeze into it haha.

and finally, the bottom picture is cameron diaz [duh] at some shrek premiere. i remember seeing this picture in one of my mum's magazines, and wishing my legs looked like that! i think that dress would be frigging perfect for some rowdy 21st times... i can just picture my ideal self carving up a storm on the dancefloor at the frog this saturday night!! though i'd pair them with my faaaaaavourite pair of shoes ever, my ever-present [and starting to get pretty well-worn] yellow shoes!! cos thats how i roll. oh, and some big hair.

3.like the legendary susie bubble, i frothed at the mouth a bit when i first saw these miu miu heels. i actually let out a little groan - no jokes. the pink pair for me, thanks.

4.truly my favourite quote of the week: natalie wood, australian designer hailing from sydney (sample, insight, something, and something else), whose work philosophy is "we're not out for mass domination of the fashion scene, we just want to make cool shit". Find the quote, and the rest of the article, here at refinery29. Judging from a subsequent google search, she's doing a pretty darn good job of it - but its not for the timid. There's a decent [albeit brief] interview with her at nylon's website too.

5. i have a big fat girl crush on erin wasson right now. sure, she's not exactly the newest face on the block - i think i first saw her round 2003? i'd gone through a dry spell of vogues etc, but 2003 was when i got my first job! so i would have had money to burn haha - but i'm really into that whole sultry-eyed, leggy vibe she embodies! jealous much? her look is kinda mk olsen, without the bordering on homelessness looking thing... she looks a bit healthier!

6. i want some ladyhawke-like eyeliner. search out 'paris is burning' on youtube and you'll see what i mean. i'm gonna team it with my duffy-inspired hair this weekend - how musical/brigitte bardot of me! i think she's my all time number one fash icon. for now anyway... we aquarians change our minds incessantly.

told ya it was a mish mash. over and out :)

whoa.

listening to: 'hero' - nas feat. keri hilson

my last post was on april 18?! that is a super long hiatus, even for me! apologies to anyone who commented on earlier posts and found me lacking the response department - forgive me!

as always i don't really have anything of interest to report; my life has been uni work sleep eat drink. and again as always some of those things were of a higher priority than others. passed all my exams though, which was super. even managed to get myself an a- on my 200 level pols paper, which despite the AWFUL lecturer was my favourite of last semester's papers. it was political communication, so very media/politics focused which was right up my alley.

last semester was really tough for me. it was the first semester where i have worked and studied, and it seems so lazy and spoiled to say so but i found it really hard. maybe if i didnt loathe my job so much it would be better, but i do so its not a barrel of laughs. i wasn't really enjoying my living situation either: it was weird, because i like the people i live with, but i've been feeling really distant and isolated. one of the hardest things to deal with after losing mum was the feeling that there was nobody who would listen, understand, care unconditionally. so i've been keeping a lot to myself, and it definitely eats away at me. maybe this semester i'll turn here more, so don't be surprised if a lot of my posts are random thought posts rather than anything trendy. knowing that other peoples lives move forward while mine is simultaneously so stuck is hard to deal with, and makes me really jealous and titchy. it just seems unfair; but the situation itself is a big pile of unfairness. if that makes sense.

my dad, younger sister and i went on holiday at the end of the semester. a week in vanuatu; the thought was the only thing that kept me anywhere near 'sanity' during the semester. while it wasn't always bliss, it was fantastic to get away and relax. we all needed it! the weather wasn't that flash, and i cut my foot on this massive rock on the beach and couldnt walk for two days! but other than that it was rad haha. the people were lovely and friendly, it was nice and warm, the scenery was so beautiful, and all the fresh fruit and fish was delish!

and now im back here in dunedin. last week was the first week of classes, and last night was possibly the last ever all blacks game at carisbrook! i was so happy i got a ticket... it was my first all blacks game! we were playing south africa, and we blimming lost! 30-28. i was gutted... but then we went and got drunk and hit town. had a great time... it was cranking! i stayed out until about 4:30 i think. i came home with a guy from back in invercargill... we have a bit of a history. actually, understatement. i've been sleeping with him sporadically since 7th form. kind of different now, considering he has a girlfriend. i feel really sleazy and guilty, as i should. but at the same time, he is the only guy i've ever been with who hasn't hurt me. it's so selfish and horrible of me, and i'm sure karma will keep kicking my ass because of it. a couple of my flatmates have let me know they aren't impressed at all, and i'm sure there are people reading this whose opinion of me just took a massive nosedive. but the need to have a guy, just for one night, who sleeps next to you and is there in the morning and who holds your hand as you cross a street is something that has been eating away at me for so long. i've been lonely for so long! and i know how bad it is of me to fill that need with a some other girl's boyfriend. but even though i feel guilty, i don't feel as guilty as i should. their relationship obviously doesn't mean that much to her either, as she has cheated before, but i don't like the fact that i'm that girl. it makes me feel super sleazy... but i know deep down that i'd do it again.

no other news. will be back again, as soon as i have something post worthy.

i heart heidi klum!

listening to: 'love story'- mariah carey

so it's been ages, but i'm back. sorry, i've been so exhausted from work etc and i just couldn't really form a cohesive, comprehensible sentence let alone a post.

tonight the first episode of project runway (season 5) has just aired here in new zealand. even though i already know who wins - grr e! channel and perez hilton!!!!! - i still find it so frikkin fascinating to watch. it was apparent that this season is going to the the strongest yet: the general standard set even in episode one was crazy high. my favourite from the show? probably victoria hong's lbd, with the big metallic flower. i thought it was super cute and something i would love to wear myself. that gladiator-inspired, flowy charcoal dress was also really gorgeous: i'm a draping addict, i guess! but at least i can admit it, right?

BUT. i can't stress enough how weird i found it that simone was voted off over that crazy hippy dippy chick (aka rain goddess, as someone - maybe christian? - dubbed her). i thought her dress, while poorly executed and not up to standard finishing-wise, was really pretty (that colour combo basically made me swoon and also made me overlook how wrong wrong wrong the jacket was) and showed more potential than that hideous blue thing with the mental train at the back. seriously, what the hell was that?! spew.

can't wait to see the rest!

my big decision

listening to: 'bye bye' - mariah carey

mariah's new album was leaked onto the net! i've been listening to it nonstop since yesterday.

anyway, the big decision i decided to share was that i've decided to volunteer for critic, the student magazine. at this stage i'm only going to put my name forward to do like book reviews and shizz, but it's a big step. i find it really hard to have people read my writing... the only reason i keep this blog is because i really really love to write, and the anonymity of the internet lets me hide a bit easier than writing full blown print articles in the student mag does.

so yeah. just thought i would share. wish me luck!

ps...

i had a dream about those yellow shorts. and then i woke up. sadddd

cold snap = alana's increasing desire for cardigans

listening to: 'wreck of the day' - anna nalick

well friends daylight saving has brought about the official beginning of the southern hemisphere's autumn. which doesn't bother me too much, as i grew up in a little bitty town with a reputation for being a bit on the nippy side. although i still adamantly maintain that dunedin is in fact colder than invercargill.

cold weather means i get to bust out my cold weather clothes. yay! this autumn/winter my focus is going to be on an androgynous tailored layering vibe. i've started scouring online for oversized men's cardigans (so far i have found at least 4 that i am DESPERATE to have. and considering they range in price from $4 to $15 i think i will be able to purchase at least a couple. i think my favourites would have to be a vintage pierre cardin one (i can't tell if it is grey or soft blue, with white vertical stripes) and a basic olive marle one. there is also an alpaca wool women's longline cardi that i am dying for but reserve is already $27 so i will possibly miss out on that. i've also had a quick look at mens blazers, but as yet haven't found anything that i couldn't live without. i know layering oversized men's pieces isn't exactly original, but i need to invest in some more basics. hopefully i will come up with ways of jazzing things up a bit. my first paycheck from work comes next wednesday (sadly i handed in my paperwork too late to get it this week) and i am soo excited! it will be nice to be able to buy a few bits and bobs. however, as i also have to purchase a new outfit for a wedding on the 26th i somehow think my shopping will be limited for a few weeks more yet. i am really digging a super sharp silhouette, with more structure than a skyscraper. usually i would define myself (and others would do the same) as a very girly, feminine person; but i guess this is just another eg of my super eclectic personality emerging. since it's getting colder now i will probably be stuck in a jeans/boots combo (yaaaaawn) but it would be nice to keep things interesting up top.

on a completely opposite note, dad has finally booked our holiday to vanuatu this winter! we leave on june 25th and stay 7 nights at the iririki resort and spa, which is a 69-acre little island directly across from port vila. it looks absolutely amazing, and i can't wait to just go and relax on a white sandy beach. heaven! i definitely think the 3 of us need it. anyway, as a result i've decided i need to buy a new bathing suit, so i've been spending literally hours online having a looksee. moontide's 'stardust' is my pick right now, but i guess it'll depend on how much i can afford to spend! i am so super excited though. if anybody has been there i'd love to hear anything and everything about it.

so my updated wishlist right now includes:
1. super long cardigans
2. oversized tailored blazers. single breasted only. i'd like them to be quite low cut too
3. a new pair of slim cut jeans. i only have a pair in black, which i left at home, and i don't really like the bogan vibe they throw off
4. some crisp white shirts with big collars i can turn up and have poking out of cardis and blazers
5. a checkered scarf, still
6. an interesting hat of some description
7. swimsuit!!
8. bright red suspenders. or yellow. or maybe electric blue. ok so anything in a primary colour