PANTS!!!

The unimitable Queen Gilda

Just a little update on the Hammer Pants contest! If you look a few entries back you'll see the ridiculous video of me dancing to hammertime which was my entry to the comp over at Queen Gilda dot com.

I didn't win but the lovely Gilda is making me some pants anyway, along with another 4 people that entered but didn't win first prize! That shows just how awesome she is!! I'm so excited!!!!! Hammer pants will be MINE!!!!

My New Baby!!!

Meet Jemima!! She's a Janome Junior (I love Janome. My mum always told me it's the only sewing machine brand I should buy). She's super portable and tiny. She comes with her own carry bag and everything! Super shmick.

I've been pulling my hair out for 2 weeks trying to find a little machine such as this. Mr A said he was sure he had seen them in a department store. The only machine I had ever seen was a pink Hello Kitty (super cute!!!) one in this little San Rio store. But he refused to buy me it because it was waaaaayyy over priced. So I went looking elsewhere. I found one for $30 but it was super dodgy and only straight stitched. I couldn't even adjust the tension!! So I trekked to every department store in the downtown Bangkok area and asked in every fabric store. Nobody had a clue! Finally, we went to the San Rio store and checked out the machine there. It was exactly what I needed. But Mr A was determined that he had seen them somewhere else cheaper. We went into the Central department store near his work and sure enough, there they were! It took me all of 30 seconds to decide Jemima was the one for me. LOVE!!!

I can finally start making a dent on the fabric I have been accumulating at a very scary pace. Stay tuned for many many crafty adventures staring Jemima & Clara! Hooray!

Cheap and Cheerful!

One of my favourite places to go in Bangkok is the flower market. You just take the ferry from Sathorn Pier down to Monument Bridge and walk back towards Tha Tien Pier (I normally walk from Tha Tien though because I get a massage at Wat Po first). It used to be a fish market but it was too smelly and was causing a lot of pollution so the King turned it into what it is today. I forgot to take my camera with me (as per usual) but I am going with Kim in the next few weeks so I will take some then. But here the flowers I got yesterday.

Aren't they stunning!!! You can buy just about every kind of flower you can think of at the markets but my favourites are the orchids. I would never be able to buy them in Australia because they would be around $20 a bunch. But I got the purple ones for 20baht (60 cents) and the red and yellow ones for 70baht ($2.30). CRAZY!! They last for ages if you change the water every day and they make my apartment feel more like a home.

I just love the purple orchids. They almost look like someone has painted them by hand in the most luscious shade of purple they could find.

These are also so so so lovely. They are flower rings for Buddhist offerings. A Thai guy told me they were very lucky. The little white flowers smell wonderful too, which is the main reason I buy them. They make my house smell fresh and sweet. I wish I knew what kind of flower they used. They usually only last a day or two. I get 3 out of them if I put them in the fridge overnight. It seems to keep them fresher. But at only 40baht ($1.30) each I can't really complain. Just look at the exquisite detail! It must take them ages to make.

*le sigh* So pretty.

Desperately Seeking Sandals.

Today I went shopping at Platinum. It's just down the road from Central World/Zen (my favourite department store here). Platinum is where a lot of the young hip things in BKK shop for hot this minute trends at bargain prices. I go there for the accessories. Shopping here for me is a little depressing. I'm not huge (size 12 AU sometimes 10) but even if I worked out all day every day and at nothing but leafy goodness, I would never be as small as a Thai girl. I have boobs and an arse, something which most Thai girls lack. I can buy shirts but they are usually too short. I often walk into stores and the assistants will immediately say "Miss, no size!". And I can forget about bras and undies here too. I stocked up before I left.

So anyway, today I went on a mission for sandals. I'm sick of just wearing my black canvas sneakers all the time every time I go out. They don't really go with anything but are comfy and don't kill my feet. So thought sandals were the perfect solution. I hate thongs (flips flops to you Americans, not the equally uncomfortable and gross underwear) with a passion. I do have a pair but they were a last minute buy so I wouldn't ruin my pedicure and they were only 99 baht. They are actually pretty comfy and have a cute frangipani on the strap. Normally thongs make my feet ache and shred the skin between my big and second toe. But even if they are comfy, my feet get wicked dirty in them walking around Bangkok and the thongs themselves look just as grotty.

I bought a black and white pair last time I was here that reminded me of the sandals my Oma wears but the soles fell off in Singapore. They had this weird red paper inside and it flicked up all over my legs (it was raining). When I looked down I panicked for a second because I thought I'd contracted a tropical Skin Disease. I've seen them a few times since but won't by them again because they just didn't last long enough. I know gladiator sandals are in just about everywhere right now so I thought it would be easy to find a nice, simple, flat black or brown pair. Thailand rips off trends pretty quickly. But how wrong I was. EVERYTHING was either sparkly, heeled or thongs (or crocs.......I loathe these more than thongs. If you wear these abominations pretending to be shoes you are dead to me). I did find one cute pair but of course, they weren't in my size. It's sandals people! They are a shoe staple!!! After searching every soi on every floor and having no sandals to show for it, I decided I must have angered the accessories gods some how. Defeated, I started down the escalators to make my way home. And that's when I saw it.

Clearly the shoe gods hate me but the Hat gods do not. Ever since I saw the Sex in the City movie, I have been lusting after the hat Samantha wears in this scene:

Normally, I despise everything Samantha wears. Too much fluro for my taste and shoulder pads out the wazoo. *Bleck*. But this is pure skin protecting, vintage movie star, glamazon gorgeousness. FIERCE! As much as I loved it I never hoped to find anything like it for a reasonable price (I bet this hat cost at least $500).

I got a little burnt at the beach on the weekend. This is a huge problem for me because it puts me totally out of wack for at least a week. I don't know why but it just makes me feel sick. Anyway, I thought I'd look for a sunhat so I'd at least be a little more protected. That's when I found this:

Isn't it just the most fabulous thing you've ever seen! It was $50 which was more than I was looking to spend on a hat but I couldn't resist. I feel so glamorous when I wear it. I know Alex will hate it but I love it and that's all that matters. It's like my own little personal shade. It's not quite as big as Samantha's but it is pretty darn close. I can't wait to wear it too the beach! *squeal*

(sorry I look so sweaty and gross in this photo. I call it Bangkok Chic.)

Oh I also got an Anna Sui-esque black hand mirror (sorry, I couldn't get a good photo). There is something wonderfully decadent about hand mirrors and Anna Sui for that matter. *love*. And it was only 40baht ($1.30AUD).

Do you like my hat?

Bling a Ding Ding.

Bling Bling yo! Myf got me this for my birthday last week and I am head over heels in love with it. I spotted this ring in all it's cupcake bling glory in a small stall at Chut a Chut markets when we went on Saturday. At first I denied my love for it because it was gold, which I don't wear, and it was just plain huge. But then my overwhemling love for items shaped like food stuffs and cupcakes in general took over and I had to have it! Sadly, I didn't have the scratch on me to buy it (it was about 850 baht which = approximately $30 AUD) so the lovely Myf offered to purchase it for me (thanks hon!). I couldn't be happier!!!