Dorothy Perkins Order

3 sparkly blouses and a floral dress are coming my way! The total (with 2 plain black singlets added in for good measure) came to approx AU$95 delivered. Not bad for 4 items (+2 basics).

I returned EVERYTHING from my last Asos order (so dissapointing!) and resold the dress I bought from Boohoo on eBay (luckily made no loss!) so fingers crossed that this works out better!

If I had unlimited money and storage space, I would also buy:

Op Shopping and Garage Sales

Here are the recent buys. I have been to a few garage sales lately and have also stopped into op shops when I have time. I got a little carried away at one of the garage sales (some of the shoes in particular I might not wear...) but hopefully I can resell them for no loss if I so choose.

I absolutely love this vintage hand blown glass vase ($10):

It's pictured next to my milk glass platter which is currently holding a collection of marble and pottery birds (some of which have been chipped by Jack the cat...)

Antique glass (Garage sale in Bayswater)

 This cute little guy was $1, I couldn't resist (Garage sale in Subiaco)

 Bambi / deer wall hanging plate, $4 (Garage sale in Bayswater).

 Shoes!!! $2.50 at Good Sammy's 50% off sale - grey leather heels by Charles and Keith and another synthetic pair which is brand new and perfect for the office.

 Review skirt, a steal at $2!!! Unfortunately it's a size 12 which means it's a little big for me, but I think I can get away with wearing it slightly lower waisted ;) (Good Sammy's)

 Miss Shop skirt, $2 (Good Sammy's)

 Ermis by George Ermis tunic dress with chain detail on sleeves, $15 from Good Sammy's (brand new with tags)

 Brown leather boots from the garage sale, $5 (Garage Sale in Bayswater)

 Cue skirt, $20 (Garage Sale in Bayswater)

 Necklaces for $2 each (Good Sammy's)

Fluro havaianas ($3), Clarks chunky leather heels ($8) and purple and yellow leather heels ($5) - (all Garage Sale in Bayswater)

If I won lotto....

... this is my fashion wishlist!

1) Alex Evenings Twist Front Matte Jersey & Lace Sheath Dress - $140
2) MARY KATRANTZOU Harbour Bridges Printed Dress in Multi - $2670
3) Erdem Lelani printed silk dress - $2465
4) ALICE by Temperley Pepita printed silk dress - $800
5) Alexander Wang Marion Gold Top Handle Bag - $1240
6) MARY KATRANTZOU 'Seagauge' printed skirt - $1455
7) Women's Betty Medium Chain Bag, Beige/Black - Saint Laurent - $2065
8) Jimmy Choo Candy Nude Acrylic Clutch Bag - $795

Highest on the 'must have' list are (2), (4) and (6)!

Meet Jack!

 He is super affectionate and has not so much as taken out his claws despite me continuously brushing him and removing almost half of his coat (the pre-summer malt!) and being terrified in his new environment.

He has been with me for a week now, and I have followed all of the guidelines for bringing a new cat home:

(1) I bought a cat carrier for transporting him home and put a soft blanket in it. They recommend that you take a blanket from their old home which will help them to feel more comfortable to put inside, but Jack's previous owners didn't have one. Jack was pretty scared on the ride home, he even peed in his carrier :(

(2) When we arrived home, I closed Jack in the laundry with his cat carrier, food, water and litter tray. I put out the same food and kitty litter that he is used to which is recommended to minimise the already huge number of changes.

(3) I left him alone for an hour or so and then visited Jack regularily in his laundry cave, and gave him plenty of attention. He ate a little bit of his food and used the litter tray on that first night, which made me feel better.

(4) On the evening of day 2, I gave Jack a really good brush and he loved that. I continued showering plenty of attention on him but always in his laundry area.

(5) By day 4, I decided to see if Jack wanted to come out so I left the laundry door open when I got home in the evening. He wouldn't come out despite being coaxed, but stood at the door looking out.

(6) On the evening of day 5, Jack was still too timid to leave the laundry. I picked him up and sat on the sofa with him, where he promptly fell asleep on my lap and enjoyed lots of stroking. After that he ran straight back into the laundry, but it was the start of him becoming more confident.

(7) Days 6 and 7 were the weekend, so I was home most of the day and left the laundry door open. By the evening of day 7, Jack was exploring the house and had come and laid on my bed etc. He was confident around me but remained terrified of my housemate.

(8) On days 8 and 9, Jack would come out of the laundry and explore the house every morning before I left for work and every evening until it was bedtime. I tried leaving him out at night (he still had access to his laundry if he wanted) but he came in to my bedroom and meowed for attention at 1am, at which point he was promptly relegated back to the laundry (LOL)...

(9) On the evening of day 9, I put a collar on Jack. He is not used to wearing one and he was VERY UPSET with me!! I took the bell off so that the sound wouldn't scare him, but the next morning the collar had been torn and chewed, so he had obviously been working on it throughout the night. Lucky I have started getting him used to a collar well before it's time to let him venture outside!

(10) It has now been almost three weeks since Jack arrived, and I think it's time to start letting him outside. He is very confident now and seems to want to explore. We have had some minor issues - him breaking some ornaments and my antique lamp, oh and there is the meowing at night... but overall things are going well and he's super cuddly :-)

Neon Run

Recently I participated in the Perth Neon Run. It was a blast! I have never seen so many glow sticks and flashing lights in one place. It's such a kitsch idea and yet we embraced it with gusto and would do it again in a flash. The track was about 5km long, and we walked it instead of running. I collected stray glow sticks along the way (like the kid at heart I am!).

Here we are with our neon laces or glow sticks attached to our trainers, pre race:

We even had flashing neon balloons, which were super cool. They were normal balloons with little flashing lights in them, which caused the whole balloon to glow and flash.

We made it!! That's me at the front with my glow stick collection!

Afterwards, a post race snack at San Churros was in order:

Click Frenzy online shopping purchases

I managed to *somewhat* restrain myself during the recent Click Frenzy sale. Here is the haul:

 Lovestruck dandelion print dress (5.95 GBP), Asos 3D multi flower collar (3.15 GBP), Beloved Fiona shirt dress with embroidered collar (14 GBP) and Asos sleeveless skater dress in colourblock (12.25 GBP). I paid in pounds because it ends up being cheaper than using their AUD/GBP conversion rate!

Fila neon aerosprinter runners - $30 delivered. These might hurt my eyes too much to use, but at the price I just couldn't resist!

Slazenger items - grey top ($5), spray jacket ($6), running pants ($5), running 3/4 pants ($5), men's hoody ($5) and men's white tennis shirt ($5) - all including postage.

A Garage Sale on my Street...

On Saturday, I somehow regained my sleeping in mojo. It's very strange - most weekends I wake up at my usual weekday time of 6:30am, and might doze until 7:30am but don't have much luck sleeping past then. Occasionally, as I did on Saturday, I sleep in until midday and then wake up feeling icky from TOO MUCH sleep. Go figure!

Anyway, when I finally emerged from my slumber I drove out of my driveway only to see a garage sale 4 doors down. *Obviously* I had to check it out, and boy do I regret sleeping in! It was fantastic and super cheap, and the owners said they had already sold so much because the buyers started at 6:30am!

Here are the buys:

 A gorgeous lamp, only $20.

Next, a whole selection of funky vintage jumpers for $2 each:

 I absolutely could not go past this bag!

 And even though I don't need it, I couldn't resist the candle holder (pictured in the middle)

The print on this dress is so summery :)

A vintage hat for my next trip to the races (if that ever happens!?)

And finally, my favourite purchase - a carved wooden side table for $20. It looks *perfect* at the top of my stairs!

In Search of a Kitty Cat

I have decided to get a cat. This is partly brought on by loneliness (I broke up with my boyfriend about a month ago). I have wanted a dog for a long time as I am definitely more of a dog person than a cat person. Then my Aunty, Uncle and cousins went away for a weekend and left their dog with me to look after. It completely put me off the idea of getting a dog. Their little mutt kept me awake all night with its barking, whining and when I eventually let it inside, jumping all over me on my bed and running around the house like a crazy monster. It put into perspective how high maintenance dogs are, and I only have a smallish courtyard which just wouldn't be fair. I also work long hours, and while I would walk the dog every day, it would spend a lot of time alone.

My first stop was Gumtree, the online classifieds site. It is mind blowing how many cats there are up for adoption, and the amount of irresponsible pet owners. A common statement is "We're moving so we need to find a new home for our cat". Another is "We aren't allowed pets at our new rental". Surely you shouldn't get a cat if you are likely to need to get rid of it in the near future!? People treat them like toys that can be disposed of.

There are also a number of cats that haven't been desexed or vaccinated and people giving away kittens because their cat just had a litter. No wonder so many cats are put down every year by cat havens!

I first settled on a moggy called Felix (pictured above). According to the owner, he is one year old and timid yet affectionate. He has been an inside cat but is vaccinated and desexed (which ticks boxes for me!). He came with a cat scratcher, food, litter, litter box, bed, carry case etc meaning I wouldn't have to buy accessories to begin with (another tick!).

Unfortunately, over a 3 week period Felix's owner cancelled my visit 3 times at the last minute. She lives an hour away, so each time I had put aside an afternoon for travel time etc, worked myself up into excitement and was then sorely dissapointed when she cancelled (on all 3 occasions, she cancelled literally as I was leaving the house or work). The first time her son had gastro apparently, the next time she had to work late and the third time her son had been hospitalised due to an asthma attack. She assured me that her partner would be home all week and I could come any time I wanted (4th time lucky) but then suddenly became prescriptive and said I could only come on a Thursday night. At that point I snapped inside, and gave up on this annoying woman and her poor kitty. Seriously, thanks for messing me around! Something tells me that she's a nutter and not genuine.

Luckily, there are plenty of other cats wanting a loving home. At the moment I am choosing between Chandler and Jack, both 2 years old. I am leaning towards Chandler, although of course I'll want to meet him first :-)

Whimsical Watercolours

I am loving watercolours. They are so calming and beautiful to look at. Etsy has some fabulous prints on sale, and originals too. Here are some favs:

The artists?

Cate Parr

Leather Cords

Water in my Paint

Christy Dekoning

They are all so talented!

A Personality / Career Questionnaire

1. What is your personality type?

ESTJ

2. Tell us about your chosen career path. Where do you work? Would you consider this your dream job? Why?

I am a corporate lawyer. Previously I worked in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), now I work predominantly in banking and finance. I work at a smaller firm because as a junior lawyer, it allows me to have more responsibility and hands on experience. It is definitely not my dream job - I see it as a job, not a passion and ideally I'd prefer to combine the two. I preferred working in M&A, because it was a faster pace and efficiency and commercialism was often valued over process and procedure. However, I left M&A because it was taking over my life - I was so good at micromanaging transactions that I was overloaded, and spent 80+ hours per week working intensely. Being a corporate lawyer is definitely aided by my personality type, especially as I am robust and don't mind criticism. However, I also find that excelling as a corporate lawyer brings out the worst in me and encourages negative traits (or to the extent they're not as of themselves negative, over emphasizes them) - my need for control, lack of empathy, rationality, bossiness etc. 

3. How did you get to where you are now? What mistakes have you made? What would you do differently if you could go back?

When I finished school I had strong academic marks. I didn't know what to do, but I did what was expected of me to some extent which was to enter a course that required high marks - law. I breezed through university. I didn't need to do much study and I graduated with first class honours. During my final few years, I did clerkships at various top tier firms and I didn't like the environment. I think I found it overly competitive and intimidating, and also disliked the formality and pretentiousness. I started as a graduate in the federal government, but quickly because frustrated by the lack of efficiency, lazy people getting a 'free ride' and lack of challenges available to me. I moved into a mid sized firm where I did M&A work, which I really enjoyed but it also took over my life. I knew it wasn't healthy, emotionally or physically. An opportunity to move to a smaller firm unexpectedly presented itself and I decided to take up the offer.

If I had my time again, I wouldn't necessarily study law. It's somewhat pointless to say that though because when I finished school, I didn't know myself, or the workplace well enough to understand which careers I would get the most out of.

4. What is the best thing about your job? What is the worst?

The best thing is the intellectual challenge and feeling proud when I push myself and successfully take on a high level of responsibility or finish a challenging task. The worst is being bored during slow periods and wanting to be anywhere else during that time, and being treated badly, overloaded and taken advantage of by more senior lawyers.

5. What would you like to achieve in 10 years? Have your goals changed since the beginning of your career?

I don't want to be a lawyer forever, definitely not in 10 years time. I might enter business, start my own business, or retrain so that I can pursue a career which would allow me to work with children. I definitely didn't feel this way when I first started working.

6. If someone with your personality type was just about to start looking for their first job, what advice would you give them?

Identify your passions and what you really enjoy doing, and choose a career path which is broad enough to accommodate them.

7. Looking back at your career, what do you regret most? What makes you feel happy?

I don't have any regrets, except perhaps the failure to be 'happy' on a day to day basis during certain periods. I am proud of what I have learnt in the law, and also about myself and others - that makes me happy.

8. In your opinion, which traits of your personality help you the most? Which ones are the most problematic?

The ones that help: being able to multi-task, good time management skills and the ability to distill a very large and complex task into smaller steps, robustness and ability to accept criticism and ignore it when it is unwarranted, ability to stand up for myself, confidence to express and argue my opinions.

The ones that have been problematic: Inability to 'let things go', which increases my stress levels, inability to say no to taking on more work and to 'turn work off' at the end of the day, avoidance of delegating because I don't trust others to do the job 'in my way' or as well as I would, frustration/anger at people I perceive to be lazy or unjustifiably self-entitled at the expense of others.

9. If there was one thing you could change about your personality, what would that be?

I would like to be able to relax and compartmentalize more easily and more readily appreciate the small, simple things in life.

The Search Continues for the Perfect Antique Kitchenette in WA!

I am still in search of the perfect vintage kitchenette. My taste has changed and I am now looking for something in raw wood (as opposed to painted which would require stripping) and with leadlight windows. The wood used back in those days is stunning, it's a pity to cover it in paint. My taste has certainly 'matured' since this post made in April of this year!

The problem is that in WA, these babies are rare and they are priced accordingly. I'll need to cough up $1000+ for an already restored version, and people ask for $200+ for a completely unrestored piece in need of new fittings and hours upon hours of work! This is completely different to NSW, QLD, VIC and SA, where there are plenty available for as low as $100, in already acceptable condition.

Here are a selection of beauties from eBay:

The one above sold for $101 (yes, *cries* so cheap) in the ACT!

This one is in WA, and the seller is asking for $600 which is not bad for WA prices.

 This one has been passed in at auction a few times now, because no one has bid the starting price of $200!

Hopefully one will pop up within my budget (max $300) in WA soon, otherwise I'll just have to keep looking at what other states are offering and swooning over those!