Do you ever buy just because it's cheap?

I did that yesterday; I bought 3 books from Basement Books only because they were $1.20 each. Afterwards I was like, why did I do that!? More unecessary clutter. I suppose I can try to read them and donate them to charity afterwards. The books are:

And the total cost? A whole $3.60 for all three including shipping. I just had to do it.... 
I've been feeling cold lately, only because we had such warm weather last week. Now it's back to winter (as it should be) and I need to re-acclimatise!


Last night was eventful at our place, as we discovered a beautiful Bengal kitten on the patio. It sat there meowing to be let inside for hours and hours. Eventually at 10pm we let it inside and made a bed for it in the laundry- the poor thing was cold and scared. It's obviously someone's indoor pet and it escaped and got lost. Such a cute breed, I really want a Bengal kitty now! Bubnamed him 'Tom' (an ugly name, but for some reason she calls every cat Tom and sometimes pretends to be a cat called Tom... not sure where she gets it from).

This morning M let Bengal kitty outside and took Bub to her gymnastics lesson, upon their return he had dissapeared :-( I think we should have kept him and taken him to the vet for microchip scanning, I'm sure such an expensive breed would have a microchip. Oh well, maybe Tom will return tonight if he's still lost in the area. He looks a lot like this:

Photo credit: Bali Hai Bengals

Only 3 and a half weeks until I'm back in Perth for a visit, and performance appraisals at work this week... a few things to look forward to!

Op Shop Saturday

This morning I woke up bright and early to go to the YMCA garage sale in Yarralumla. Unfortunately, apart from lots of squishing past people, my morning was uneventful. Last time I went to this sale I found some lovely retro wares, but this time nothing took my fancy. I did find a clay bangle which only cost 50c.

I then had a physiotherapy appointment and afterwards I decided to pop into the YMCA shop in Kingston. This place is hit and miss- it can be overpriced and often I find nothing. Today however I had great success!!!

This photo shows the clay bracelet I bought, and also:

• Sportsgirl hat with shell and button cord, $2
• Cosy warm double lined scarf, $2
• Floral scarf, $1

My favourite purchase is this lovely coat, a bargain for only $5. I have too many black coats but I just couldn't resist, I love this one!

I have no idea why the picture is showing up as sideways- it is the right way up on my computer!!! Technology is trying to mess with my head (as usual), so I'll have to leave it sideways (in order to remain sane!).

This is probably my most successful op shopping day in Canberra so far, I am usually so unimpressed with the op shops here. Whoever priced the above items has made me very happy :-)

The weather is horrible today - grey and rainy... it had to happen as we just had the most lovely sunny week. At least I made the most of the good weather by going for a walk every lunchtime.  I am looking forward to staying in tonight and watching TV in my warm cabin, with my warm fluffy throw and dressing gown, whilst sipping a mug of hot milo!

I listed a few items on ebay - I figure I might as well sell my heels from this season (since I haven't really worn them, and won't be able to thanks to breaking my ankle) and while I was at it I decided on a few more items I can bare to part with. You can have a look at my listings here if you'd like.

Loafer love

Heels are out for the foreseeable future (thank you broken ankle which is taking ages to regain strength) - so I have been wearing flats to work every day. I have decided that I wear too many black flats. I probably have 8 pairs of flats, all of which are black. I'd love some loafers but black and navy blue are out (I'm broadening my horizons!).

These are my ultimate flats:

 Todd's 'Dee' patent leather loafers.

They don't look like typical loafers, but that's what they're called apparently.

Then I did an Ebay search, and I like all of these (all from the same seller, who is located in Taiwan):

What do you think? If I was to limit myself to two pairs, which ones should I get?

Canberra sunsets

The sunset was so gorgeous last night that I pulled over on the way home from work not once, but twice to park my car by the road and enjoy it. Others obviously felt the same way because there were cars pulled up everywhere- I've never seen that before!

Online shopping

I'm not sure online shopping is a good thing for me. I love it way too much. It's bad for my health because I sit at my computer during lunchtime and shop instead of going for a walk and getting fresh air.  It's not great for my finances. That's not going to stop me online shopping though, no way. It gives me too much joy. I shop online because I can!

Recent purchases include:

Pearl and dove necklace, $3.50 delivered from Ebay:

 T2 mini mesh tea strainer. Using the free shipping coupon 'Chaddy', this only cost $5.50 delivered:

2 x 100% merino wool tunics from Glassons online, $40 NZD for both delivered (came to $32.60 AUD including credit card currency exchange fee):

Basque blouse, $5 incl postage from Ebay. Not a massive fan of this but it's a cheap work top for when I can't be bothered ironing:

Cute remote control holder pouch for my sofa, so I don’t keep loosing the remotes, $4 delivered from Ebay. In blue of course:

And finally, a new GPS system, after I left mine in the dashboard of my car which was parked in Perth’s hot summer sun for 5 months when I went overseas and it consequently died. This is exactly the same model that I had before, cheap and cheerful and does the job a lot better than a cheap one bought here, $55 incl postage from Ebay (sent from Hong kong/China).

In other fashion news, I have 2 items to add to my wishlist. The first is a pair of shoes that my cousin was wearing in a photo she posted on facebook. These shoes are amazing- the brand is J Renee and she bought them in San Francisco. Does anyone know anything about this brand? How comfy do they look:

And I've decided I really like this Olga Berg bag, it's so cute... pity Olga Berg doesn't do leather, I'm not a fan of faux. It's $70 at the moment, I might consider it if it's further discounted down the track:

DFO Delight

In shopping news, I have had some success at DFO recently (2 separate trips, approx. a month apart).
My haul:

• Two casual tops at Jacqui e, reduced to $20 each and with a further 30% off ($14 each) - reduced from $70 and $60 respectively
• Sheer tunic from Dotti, $10 - reduced from $70
• 5 pairs of cute underpants from Cotton on Body for $10 ($2 each!) - reduced from $5-$7 each
• Stainless steel drink bottle from Typo, $5 [On my 2nd visit, these same bottles were back at full price of $20 again?]
• Portmans stunning embroidered top, $30 with a further 30% off ($21) - reduced from $70
• Windsor Smith black leather ‘Louie’ ankle boots, $40 - reduced from $120:

Joanne Mercer nude strappy heels, my bridesmaid shoes- $25, reduced from $99-

Kids activity books from Angus & Robertson, $2.50 each (reduced from $15 and $20 respectively):

Which begs the question.... why pay full price??? I just can't justify it...

Simply brunching

My new living arrangement is going quite swimmingly. The family are lovely and I have so much space to myself. My little granny flat has wooden walls, making it look and feel like a cosy little log cabin. It’s actually brick with wooden slats over the top, so it’s well insulated- not sure I’d be happy living in a place made totally out of wood in Canberra’s winters. I can hear the little girl at night and it occassionally wakes me up, but I’m not expected to get up and go to her so I pop in some earplugs and fall straight back to sleep.

My ankle is healing slowly but surely. It still hurts and I am supposed to be doing physio exercises, but I am really sick of them so I’m being lazy. I think that within a few weeks I’ll be able to go jogging again, although I don’t know if I’ll be motivated enough to do that. I’ve been so busy- I now work fulltime, study fulltime and am a part time live in nanny. Any spare time I have I like to spend socialising or sleeping, and I guess that given the amount of stuff I have on I can justify skipping the exercise. Not good for me I know....

In other news, I have been making an effort to try out new brunch places. I have decided that I’m going to photograph and review the meals on here. On Sunday I went with a few girlfriends to Doubleshot Caffe in Deakin. The service was good- friendly and fast. The coffee was average, maybe slightly above. The food was simple but hearty. I wish they knew how to poach eggs properly though, mine were half hard boiled. I had the ‘Veg Delight’, which comprised of poached eggs, quinoa and soy bread, wilted spinach, sauteed mushrooms and roasted tomato. It was tasty and filling, a satisfying winter brunch:

I have also recently been to Pizzazz in Kingston a few times. They had some ‘Lemon Meringue Pancakes’ on their specials menu, which were amazing:

 

They looked and tasted divine, the best pancakes I have had anywhere. We returned several weeks later but alas the specials menu had changed. I ordered the ‘Orange and Semolina Pancakes’ but although nice, they didn’t compare to the LMPs: