Friday favourites

Its a Christmas Eve Friday favourites!  Hooray!  Now given this is a week with both Birthday celebrations and Christmas preparation, I have more than five favourites.  But I'll just pick five for today.
Number one: This beautiful solid gold bangle from Mr Man for my birthday.  I haven't taken it off yet from the moment he gave it to me.

Number two: My GHD, a birthday gift from my sister.  (Second hand though, who can afford the real ones??)

Number three: This cute birthday badge, that Mr Man snuck in with my card.  I did indeed wear it all day long.

Number four: My new little friend.  This was an unexpected gift from my beautiful friend Kitty Kat.  We both adored it in the shop, so I was elated when he made his way to me.

Number five: My Christmas tree with all its presents underneath, waiting with baited breath to be opened!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Party no. 3

Friday night was Mr Man's work party.  I wanted to look nice, but at the same time, not go over the top.  I picked up this little dress at Target for about $20.  I've been hitting their sale racks hard recently, and once again it's paid off.

Mr Man loved it, and although it is a size small, I felt great (but still a smidgen overdressed).  These photos are taken pre-lipstick, as I was waiting for a last Mr Man kiss before applying. 

And of course my favourite photo was overexposed.  Shame.

Sigh.

Yesterday was my birthday.  Well, mine and my twin sisters.  And even though I'm now 28 I still get excited about it, and demand cards and presents and most importantly cake.  Mr Man knows that cake is non negotiable on this day.  Being a Tuesday we still all went to work, but there were presents from Mr Man in the morning, coffee out with work, a big lunch with my sister, dinner out with Mr Man, cake with his family and finally a trip round the biggest Christmas light display I've seen.

Unfortunately the Christmas light display was a last minute unknown, so my 5 inch sunshine yellow espadrille wedges were a bad idea.  (Love them, super exciting gift from my mum care of the Victoria Secret website!)  Fell off them repeatedly on the uneven ground, and looked like one of those silly girls that wear unsuitable shoes.  Which I suppose I was, but not deliberately!!

So apart from sporting a really sore foot today, my birthday was a triumph success of overeating and celebrating!

Feeling festive

So Thursday was one of those days, where I put something on that I'd bought special as its Christmas time and wanted to dress a little festive, but when it came down to it, I panicked.  That's right.  I was fairly well convinced that despite umming and ahhhing over this dress in two different Target stores and trying it on a couple of times and then going back and digging through every single sale rack I could find, it maybe looked a bit dodgy.

This is me, not sure and taking 'check it out' photos

Mr Man was of no help, laughing at my panic with a casual 'its too late now, you've bought it'.

Making sure the back is OK...

So after he left for work I took these photos.  They made me feel much better.  So did the plethora of compliments from colleagues.  Nice.

Feeling pretty chuffed with myself

Festive work dress?  WIN!

Friday favourites

What a week!  Its been hectic to say the least between work, and trying to finalise Christmas shopping now that Mr Man has decided we're buying for everyone, not just their kids.
Favourites for another Friday are, in no particular order....
Number one: This fancy smancy snow man that Mr Man bought for me.  Its the only Christmas decoration I have up at home, and its pretty darn cute!

This is him in red....

Fading out of blue....

And finally green!

Number two: Picking up a dress from Target, marked down from $59 to $7.47.  Bargain?  YEAH!
Number three: Getting an email advising we can be in casual dress all week next week at work.  Tricky?  Yes, but given its my birthday next week, I'm very happy with that!
Number four: Spending an entire afternoon standing on my desk stringing up Christmas decorations.  I may not have decorated at home, but I've gone silly at work.
Number five: Normal Brisbane weather, humid all day, and a ripping good electrical storm in the afternoon.

Now I have a couple of outfit posts backed up, I'll try to get them out this weekend!  Happy Friday!

Hawaii 5-0

Last night Mr Man and I went to a party.  Yep.  Together.  And it was dress up.  AND HE DRESSED UP.  I'm stunned and amazed.  4 years ago I had a pirate party for my birthday, he didn't dress up.  2 years ago we went to a T themed party.  He went as a 'Tradie' and just didn't get changed when he came home from work.  I didn't think that counted. 

This party was Hawaii themed, so I picked up a Hawaiian printed shirt for him and some lei's and away we went.  Only downside was the torrential rain we'd had all day, which turned the party into an ankle deep mud bath.

Once upon a time I would have laughed and just gotten on with it.  But I guess now I'm a total princess.  It was uncomfortable, wet, and too many kids screaming around the place.  I guess our friends all got middle-aged, and suburbanite without us.  Not that we're crazy party folk, but at no point did I feel we could sit back, relax and really enjoy ourselves.

Upsides of the party?  The amazing whole pig on a spit, the fantastically good pumpkin curry (vegetarian option), and catching up with some friends we hadn't seen for a long time.

Maybe next time we catch up we'll got to a restaurant though....less mud that way!

Friday favourites

Its Friday!  Hooray!  Favourites this week, in no particular order!

Number one: This super cute party dress I picked up last night.  Not sure when how or where I'll wear it, but I think its super!

Number two: Tuesday I had a job interview.  Surprise!  Yes I did.  And I wore a brand new dress suit which made me feel sexy and professional all day.  Loved it.  I know, I know I should have taken a photo.  No fear, it will come out again soon!

Number three: On Monday, after volunteering, I went for drinks, and then to a Chicks at the Flicks screening of Morning Glory.  Nibbles, free goodie bag, damn good company.  That was definitely a highlight this week!

Number four: The slowly dawning realisation that I have not bought a pair of shoes this week.  Put this one in your diary folks.  That's AMAZING!

Number five: My new glasses!  Of course!

Happy Friday all!

K's big birthday!

Today was my very dear friend K's birthday.  A gaggle of us went out for a girlie lunch, sipped wine in the sun, and had a lovely hour before schlepping back off to work.   Outfit for said girlie lunch?  Still office appropriate but a bright watermelon t-shirt is an instant mood lifter.  Instant.

 

 

Last nights buy, Kmart t-shirt $9

 Of course it helps that my super hip new glasses were waiting for me at work to be added to the ensemble!

Still can't work out.....

 It turned out to be a nice way to celebrate how wonderful K is, and we all really enjoyed it.

This silly picture taking gig....

 I did pick up two very cute little dresses at Target last night, and am working on some outfits in my head as we speak!

Over sized cardie, Suzanne Grae
Skirt, Target
Necklace, Diva

Happy Birthday K!  Hope you had a lovely day!

Glasses

Quick quick post because I'm excited.  Today when I got to work there was a little package waiting for me on my desk.
It was the glasses I ordered online a few weeks ago, arriving slightly earlier than I'd expected.  I'm thrilled.  They are indeed Wayfarer lookalikes, as I won't drop the money for another pair of RayBan's till my sunnies need replacing.

For the record, they are prescription.  I actually do need glasses, even though most photos show me without.  (Hey I'm vain, what can I say?).  No one's laughed at me yet, for which I am eternally grateful.

Christmas spirit

OK, so maybe I'm a little slow at getting my Christmas tree out, sorted, put together and decorated.  And maybe my brain skirts around the idea that Christmas is coming really really soon, and Mr Man hasn't asked me what I want yet.  But I did get into the Christmas spirit on Monday, and I really enjoyed it.  For a couple of reasons.

Me and an almighty pile of stuffed toys.

 Instead of work, I went and volunteered to help the Salvation Army.  My employer gives all employees two days a year to go and do charity work on full pay.  Its nice.  I like to save one up to do something at Christmas.  One year I did gift wrapping at a local shopping centre (mall?) and took home lots of paper cuts, but an awesome amount of gift wrapping skill.

So what did I do with the Salvos this year?  I helped unwrap, sort, organise, and allocate all the donated gifts that come in through the Kmart wishing tree.  I will admit, the unwrapping was a massive kick back to childhood Christmas mornings.  Ripping open paper and ogling the toys inside was great.  Then we organised into nice big big piles.  Really big piles (see picture of me with lots of stuffed toys).  Then we got a list, which had a list of the sex and age of the children in the family that needed presents, and I got to go round and choose them. 

This pile is nothing compared to how many they will get during the Christmas period

I did one day.  The Salvo's will be doing this every day till Christmas.  Its an amazing effort, and very humbling to see how generous people really can be.

Saturated saturday

Today I wore a dress I bought back in October, but haven't managed to wear yet.  

Dress, Foxy Fox
Cardigan, Target
Belt, Witchery

I'm not sure I'm happy with it, but I went out to two different destinations and got home without seeing anyone pointing and laughing....so I guess its OK.

Still not really sure....

First stop was DFO (a factory outlet, that doesn't quite understand the meaning of those words), where I picked up a pair of Country Road shorts for $9.95 (regular retail is $99.00) and a present for a family member, of which I will say nothing here!

Warming to the idea....

Next stop was Chermside Westfield.  Which was a mistake.  Rainy Saturday a few weeks out from Christmas?  Bad idea Cooks, bad idea.  Still I picked up my dress suit from lay by, and some cranberry and Camembert moneybags for tonight and after a stressful escape came home reasonably unscathed...

Love this belt from Witchery!

Work party

Finally the photos from my work Christmas party (nearly two weeks ago!) have been circulated amongst us staff.  I have to admit, I was a little disappointed with the photos, which I guess is what happens when you leave it to someone else!

This is me upon arriving,
I've cut Mr Man out, because he doesn't like blogs!

We had a great night Mr Man and I, and it was nice to have an excuse to get dressed up together.

Captivating conversation over dinner.
Check out my Sportsgirl statement necklace ($8.00)

Dinner was lovely, with much swapping around on the alternate drop, and dessert definitely the pick of the meals (Bailey's mousse?  Yes please!)

Later I got pulled up as a nominee for messiest desk...which is a half truth....

Love this dress, picked it up on Black Friday
12mnths ago, in a little cheap shop I can't
remember the name of! Although if you like it,
I saw it on Modcloth today for $54.99, which I didn't pay!

...and this is me being totally freaked out that someone else's desk is so messy it has bugs on it!  EWW!


Apparently yes, someone has bugs in their messy desk.
And no, its not me!

 One more Christmas party to go this year!

Friday favourites

Well its been another busy week, which isn't surprising.  Here's the favourites for the week!
Number one: Business trips.  Monday saw me up super super early to fly to Sydney for a one day only visit to that office.  It was fantastic getting to meet my counterparts.
Number two: Now that its officially December, my first Advent Calendar in years.  And now I'm a grown up I can have one with decent chocolate in it!

Number three: Again, on the Christmas theme, my reusable Starbucks tumbler with a candy cane straw!

Number four: Finding out I have a third Christmas Party to go to.
Number five: Finding out my friend the lovely E is pregnant with her first child.  Congratulations honey!

Ruby red

Its finally December, which according to Mr Man means I can start celebrating Christmas.  He hates that stores start putting up decorations in September/October here, so we make a stand and hold out till now.

For the first time since I was a kid, I have an advent calendar to count down the days (the one I eat on my birthday is always the sweetest!) and to celebrate the season for the 1st of December I wore my ruby red shoes because lets face it, they look super festive!

Shoes, Steve Madden

They're getting a little old now (I did buy them in 2007) but I still love them!