listening to: 'happy' - leona lewis

I am a very naughty girl.
My shopping spree, chronicled in my last post, has continued to the point where I had to force myself to put every last cent (bar money for partying this weekend) into another account and give Dad my eftpos card to hide. I'm planning on going shopping next week - for a new laptop, after the old one packed up - and I'm going to need as much funds as I can muster for that job!
But anyway, that's not important. What is important is that I finally got myself a necklush. I have wanted one for seriously two or three years - I think I did a post about it a eons ago - and I finally took the plunge and just got it. I figured if I had thought about them and wanted one for more than a couple of years, then the $NZ100 was probably a decent investment.
I am super excited!
I got a navy one with silver accents - I thought it'd be great with blacks (which I wear in abundance), browns, greys, whites... I was tempted to get the creamy natural one, but thought the navy would actually be more versatile and a bit more interesting.
It's my first Etsy purchase... I can't believe it has taken me this long. Ever since I heard about Etsy I've checked it religiously, and now my favourite sellers list is so huge I get sick of browsing through it all and just head to my favourites.
I'm super obsessed with babooshka boutique, which also seems to be on the hitlist for the Queens over at Kingdom of Style. Maybe that will be my next stop.

i've been shopping, ooh la la

listening to: empire state of mind - alicia keys/jay z

So, today I brought a new black day dress. It's weird how I have gone this long without owning such a basic ingredient in the wardrobe mix... I have plenty of black dresses, it's just they are all nighttime-only-appropriate. It's quite simple but has got some nice draping action going on - love love love draping - which makes it a bit snappier. I've been spending all afternoon pondering what to pair it with...

I really want a long, grey marle cardigan that I can pull on overtop, and belt with a patent leather black belt. Then I'd spice it up with a really big chunky statement necklace (black too) and some killer heels. Like my black gladiators, a la Carrie Bradshaw... I know they were all the rage a couple of years ago now, but I still ADORE them. I like to think I'm not a slave to the seasons anyway. And in the winter I want some really cute ribbed black leggings (you know the kind I mean - vertical stripes, some sheer, some opaque). Don't think ribbed is the right description there (it makes me think of jersey, but it's not jersey) but meh. and some wee black ankle booties. I don't like how some people are so anti-black. I don't mind black setting the tone for an entire outfit, as long as you break it up with some interesting patterns/textures (ie, the tights) or different shades of blacks (people might think that last sentence is an oxymoron, but it's not. Kohl black is completely different to something more sheer). I think my affinity to black comes not only from being on the chunky side, but also from living in Dunedin for 4 years. That whole city wears black to DEATH.

I also got a really cute blue sequinned quasi-blazer from Jeanswest. It's pretty Balmain on a budget... No, of course it does not compare to the genius of Christopher Decarnin, but with an additional 40% off the sale price (meaning about $100 off the original price) I'm not going to be too fussy. The cut of it is actually pretty good, as is the fabric; here's hoping the quality of the stitching holds up too. I think it'll look really cute with all of the afore-mentioned LBD's for a night on the town, and might even work with the new black dress to party up an otherwise staid office outfit.

All in all, it was a good day to be Alana's wardrobe, but not such a good day to be Alana's bank balance. Oh well... I know which I would rather have more of!! I guess that's a sign I really am a slave to clothing.

2010.

Right. 2010.
I've never really been a big resolutions fan - I'm quite aware of how fickle I can be. I'm literally the definition of an Aquarius - I start something, and rarely finish it. I change my mind constantly. But my love of fashion is something that has been with me basically for as long as I can remember - and so has my love of writing. I think I did a post last summer about my resolutions for 2010, which are basically the same this year. It's all about self improvement: I just want to be myself, and not worry about what other people think or whether I might fail at something or worry about trying to please everybody. 2010 really is a fresh start for me and I want to keep on keepin' on with my 2009 resolution, which while not entirely fulfilled has made a nice little start.

So... since it has been a long, long time since I last wrote I better do an update. Don't you just hate these pointless update posts? Probably nobody reads them but it will save me trying to explain things later. But my old laptop has been packing a sad since about June (and I'm not even exaggerating. It has been a NIGHTMARE) so I haven't spent a lot of time writing anything except rubbishy essays and random facebook status updates. But now, I pledge, I will use my time wisely and update my baby blog.
Here is the major news of my life for the past year.

1. I graduated. Finally! On December 16 it became official; I became part of the University of Otago alumni, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Political Studies. Very exciting stuff. I celebrated by making my Dad pay for a rather delicious, but rather expensive, celebratory dinner of scampi. Scampi, for those unfortunate souls out there who have never experienced the sheer joy of it, is probably the most delicious thing to come out of the sea. No kidding. It is melt in your mouth, seafood heaven. I have only had it twice in my entire life, because of its rarity and it's price tag. This stuff is the Hermes bag of seafood. I'm getting peckish thinking about it again. On to the next thing.

2. Even though I've graduated, I'm not done with the scholarly thing yet. I got a Fairfax internship/scholarship award - Fairfax, one of the biggest newspaper and magazine publishing companies in Australasia, pay for my journalism course fees for a year and then I am bonded to work for them for two years. Massive opportunity. So I am off to the small seaside town of Timaru at the end of the month, where I'll start my course. Expect a lot of posts for me the first couple weeks, as I do not know a soul up there and will probably be a bit of a recluse until I come out of my shell and make some friends.

3. I've started drifting away from my main group of friends. At first that realisation made me pretty sad, but then I decided to see it as an opportunity. I have always secretly wished I had a group of friends more like myself - I don't think I could have taken much more walking on eggshells, knowing that the people I hung around with were more conservative at their core than I really like. Your friends should make you happy, and feeling left out and isolated wasn't making me happy. I have been spending more time with people who have been only accquantinces in the past, and it has made me realise that I can fit in other places, if only I had the courage to put myself out there. Sad knowing that my group of friends, with whom I have spent so much time, have moved on together with their lives, sans me. But c'est la vie.

4. I am finally one half of a couple. Yes that's right, after all of my moaning about my crappy loveless life, I have finally settled with a boy who was under my nose all along. His name is Mark. We've been friends for a long time, and even flatted together in 08. At the risk of sounding really banal, we really really connect with each other - we both feel we can tell each other anything. We have had a couple bumps (one major one in particular, which is ALL my fault. I'm lucky he managed to forgive my stupidity, because I don't know I would have been strong enough to do so if the shoe was on the other foot) but things are generally really great. We've been together since the end of May, and I am blissfully happy.

5. I have started work at the Southland Times, the provincial newspaper of Southland. My Dad's the news editor, so it's not wholly unfamiliar territory, but the reporters room sure was. It was absolutely daunting: I haven't had any training, but I was being asked to go out and about and interview people and act like I knew what I was doing! It was terrifying but I'm happy how it's turned out. I've been here since November I think, and I've even had a few front pages! People have been very complimentary, giving my ego a much needed boost, apart from one douchebag who left a nasty comment on one of my stories on the Stuff website this morning. But if you've got dirt on your shoulder, you have to brush it off, right Jay-Z? Blech, that should probably be the only hip hop reference I make in this blog EVER.

So, in a nutshell, those were the exciting things that happened to me in 2009. Maybe they don't sound like much to the average reader, but to me they mean a whole lot. Hopefully 2010 keeps me going in the direction I started heading in in 09. And I guess that's where I'll end it for today...
I promise the next post will be something fashion related. Probably a 'I want this-this-and-this' post. Even though I have money, I am trying trying TRYING to be sensible and save as much as I can. I did blow last week's pay on a set of ghd's though, but hair is a different story.. New laptop is required for my course, as is money to live on. But a girl can dream, right?

Peace out kids.