Steal Her Style, I Want To!

Been a while since I posted. Been busy and didn't really know what to post about. Today, though, through Harper's Bazaar's twitter, I saw their Senior Market Editor Joanna Hillman's "Look of the Day" and quite liked it. In fact, I love it so much I had to post it here for future inspiration. This could be the birth of a new blog topic :P

Anyway, it's quite obvious that Harper's Bazaar is trying very hard to push Hillman to Anna Wintour or Anna Dello Russo status by featuring what she wears every day, but I've never really taken to any of her looks before. This one, though, is just really striking to me in all it's simplicity. Perhaps because it is closer to my casual, laid-back, rugged style (I think that's my style!). And I love how that plaid-bag matches the stripey top! And what a non-slutty way to wear a bustier!

Long-sleeved top: Proenza Schouler

Bustier: Pleasure Doing Business

Harem-style jeans: Hudson

Necklace: Tory Burch

Bag: APC

Boots: Aldo

via Harpers Bazaar US

To Market To Market!

Apparently, Les Puces de Saint-Ouen at Porte de Clignancourt (Les Puces for short, it means "Fleas" according to Google Translate. Charming...) is the BIGGEST flea market in the WORLD, with 7 hectares of precious other-man's trash waiting to be found. Travel sites recommend that you go with a guide to avoid getting lost. Err... okaaay.... Also, beware the pickpockets! Check!

(The image above is of a flea market in Sweden, though. Couldn't find any free-to-use pic of Les Puces. This photo is by Vullioud Pierre-André at www.sxc.hu/zebulon666)

On the other side of the discount-shopping coin, I am also aspiring to visit La Vallee Village, a designer discounter village with shops like Burberry, Calvin Klein, Celine, Dolce & Gabbana, Marni and Ferragamo amongst its many tenants. 

Pic from La Vallee Village's website.

A Walk In The Park

 Promenade Plantee, Paris

Wishing for a Promenade Plantee or New York railway hanging garden in Malaysia someday. I mean, just look at these amazing pictures...

Promenade Plantee, Paris

The Promenade Plantee is an elevated garden that has been constructed on an old abandoned railway viaduct that connected Paris to Bastille. I think this is really cool and I should pencil in a walk thru the gardens on my Paris trip.

They also have another one in New York, also built on an abandoned railway line.

High-Line Railway Garden, New York

More pics of the romantic Promenade Plantee here, while you can see the more modern-designed High Line gardens here.

Happy Bastille Day

It's France's La Fete Nationale today, or le quatorze juillet (14 July) as they call it. If you've ever wondered what exactly Bastille Day was, this is it. It was the day that the common people of France stormed the Bastille prison in their effort to break away from sovereign rule. Well, that's the gist in a really small nutshell. Read more about Bastille Day here.

Image by Mark Garber

AirAsia having another "Sale"?

Shot of the London Eye by Irum Shahid

Hmmm... AirAsiaGo just posted an ominous message on their Twitter/Facebook page:-
"Fancy going on a tour to cities in China? India? Taiwan? Australia? London? Or maybe even some major cities in europe?"

Usually this signals an upcoming sale. Thus, I am going to record today's tix price for a KL - London return trip, and see if it will go higher after the sale starts (it's this theory i have that their flight tix are actually cheaper before the sale).

So, today, a KL - London return trip on 21 April  - 3 May 2011 would have cost RM2792 (what??!!). Let's see what it'll cost after the sale (I remember when I was testing out the prices a few months ago, it was only RM1700 return - that's why I decided to plan a trip to Europe). I really hope it will be a real sale this time!

FIFA World Cup 2010 - VIVE LA FRANCE!

I've never been a fan of football, but since researching it for my magazine, I've taken a liking to reading about sports statistics and am interested to see if Brazil will win for the 6th time or if defending champs Italy will snag it's 5th World Cup. Or, bien sur, if France will come on top this year and grab its second title!

To show my support, I created a French flag necklace, so that an ill-fitting football jersey (or cap) will not be my only option for showing my colours.

Vive La France!

Available in Deutschland and Italia colours, too.

All necklaces are available on my Etsy shop as well as from my Facebook page.

44th Montreux Jazz Festival

Here is the poster for the 44th Montreux Jazz Festival, happening this 2-17 July in Vaud, Switzerland.

It's so cute, I just had to park it here to be printed out later to be hung somewhere in my house!

Perfect Make-Up Corner

I have fallen in love with this image:-

Yes, this is from the home of actual people, Erin and Chris, who were featured on Apartment Therapy. I don't have a spot for a make-up table like this in my room, but I just love this whole look and maybe I can incorporate any part of this in my little "getting ready" crany. The best thing about Erin's make-up table above? It's DIY-ed by the both of them! 

Here's an amateur rendition of my version (done on good ol' MS Paint), featuring some finds from Etsy, that might be a better fit for my room:-

Driftwood mirror by WaveAndTide; Shelf with hooks by OldNewAgain; Stool by BrandMojoInteriors; Bag by BonspielCreations; all from Etsy.com.

Etsy Shop Promo

Here's the latest item in my Etsy shop.

Since it's my Etsy-versary this month (it's been a year since I started my Etsy shop), I'm offering Free Shipping anywhere in the world, until the end of the month of May 2010. Do check out my items :)

Planning Is Everything!

2011 Planner by Letter C Design

My sister, Syafinaz, will be joining me on my Europe trip! Yay!

So now we're actively and excitedly planning our trip. It's still about a year away, but early planning is essential to us financially-challenged folks. We need to know just how far we can stretch all this money we're dilligently saving.

Here are some places of interest that we hope to be able to visit:-

1. Paris (bien sur!)
Staples are, of course, the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, and hip store Colette. Also looking to shop vintage. And H&M!

Colette a 213 Rue Saint Honore, Paris

2. Cannes
If we can't attend one of the (very) few screenings open to the general public, at least to soak up the glamourous indie cinema atmosphere.

Aishwarya Rai at an Emilio Pucci event in during the 2010 Cannes Film Festival

3. St Tropez
We saw pics of our cousin on a trip there and fell in love with the ambience of this chic resort town. Apparently, it's Musee Annonciade is the best art museum this side of the Riviera.

Photo of St Tropez by Arian Schoen

4. Monaco
Hoping to stop by the Football Walk of Fame and just laze at a sidewalk cafe observing all the rich folks driving by in their gazillion-bucks sports cars. Being able to watch the Monaco Grand Prix would be a bonus!

Photo of Monte Carlo, Monaco by Andrea De Stefani

5. London
I don't really care much for the staple tourists traps of London, but shopping at Picadilly Circus is a must, no? Also, if convenient enough, perhaps a snap with one of the Berlin Wall monuments.

Photo of London by Agata Urbaniak

6. Liverpool
If we're fortunate enough to have our dates coincide with my cousin Zura's trip, we may make a trip to Liverpool and get acquianted with the cool indie arts scene.

Photo of Liverpool by Alasdair Ferguson

Can't wait!

Pretty Packaging Poser

I was over the moon yesterday when I saw that I had made another 2 sales at my Etsy shop! The same person ordered two necklaces and the amount came up to quite a bit, especially after converted to the Malaysian Ringgit. Because of that, I had to really make sure that the receiver will be very happy and satisfied with the package. Since I was on an ongoing mission to revamp my Etsy shop anyway, I decided to make some jewellery backing cards to sew the necklaces to so that hopefully they wouldn’t be all tangled up in the package. I had also included complimentary felt rosette pins in previous orders, so I included them here, too. Plus, I think the rosettes give some much-needed flair to the basic packaging.

What do you think?

I have a crush on Frankie!

Wow, I never realised that I had been living under a rock all this time! I only just discovered Frankie magazine, an indie-artsy-crafty-all-kinds-of-things-I-love magazine in Australia, and it’s been around since 2004! Where the heck had I been?

Look at the pretty covers...

Vive La Francaise

As mentioned before, I am looking forward to a trip to England and France, and possibly another European country, about a year from now. I may be going with my band of cousins, or may be going alone. Taking into account the possible outlook, a girl’s gotta have a sound backup plan, so I’m researching French language centres in Paris that offer 1- or 2-week courses where I can study the language while also have time to go sightseeing on my own in case the cousins are not coming along.


Some finds from the Internet are looking quite good, but I will most probably go with L’Atelier 9 as they offer an intensive 20-hours week-long course for €225 (RM955), the cheapest thus far. Of course, the testimonial from former students sound good, too - I especially like the part where they're very flexible with dates and time, and how they "shock" you into speaking French by not using any books during lessons. Bring it on!

About this trip with the cousins, I’ve been planning so far with a cousin of mine, Zura, and we’re hoping the other cousins will join us on this Euro Trip so that we can relive our “Jaffar Kazens Trip ‘04” when we went to Phuket – our first holiday trip with no chaperones (well, we already were adults at that time, ages ranging from 19-24, but we’d never gone anywhere without parental units before).


However, it is still a long way away, and some factors may not be too supportive of this dream of ours. Zura is pregnant with her firstborn, (CONGRATS!), so when March 2011 rolls around, the baby would only be around 4 months old, and may not be ready for travel yet (although my mother thought nothing of hauling my brother and me to New Zealand when he was just one month old – this is a story I keep telling Zura heheh). Another cousin will be going to the UK in May, while another is going to Germany, so they may not be so ready to go back to Europe so soon. Meanwhile another cousin just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl two months ago, (CONGRATS, too!), so baby-logistics may prove a problem to the new parents (but I keep telling them how we brought Nada to Bandung at 8 months old, and it’s way easier handling a baby than a toddler).

Well, we can plan, so we'll see how it all will turn out! 

Photo: Orsolya Ganzler

Etsy Shop Revamp

Today is the day I start working on segueing my Etsy shop to be more "French". My first step would be to take better pictures of some jewellery pieces already on the site, as well as of some I haven't put up yet.

Here are some of the stuff I'll need to take pics of:-

On Etsy, pictures are what draws the customer to your shop. So, armed with tips from the lovely Etsy community, I hope my new pics will be enough to attract the right kind of attention!

I have some inspirations to refer to, including from French General and The Vamoose, but I really, really do not want my pics to be too similar to theirs. Some of their pretty pics below.

The French General's jewellery pics.

Pics of accessories by The Vamoose.

(Note: I just realised that The Vamoose has some necklaces with clasps attached to knotted rope, like the one above, made by my sister, Syafinaz. Although Syafinaz braided a piece of cord after I told her about The Vamoose and how the artist has sold hundreds of knotted-rope accessories, the placing of the clasps are purely coincidental as I never even noticed The Vamoose had done some of her necklaces like that. I really hate copycats or being one, but I really liked the necklace Syafinaz made and I hope people will see it is different enough to The Vamoose's necklaces.)

Shame On Her!

Today, I tweeted in "pretentious" French (simple rudimentary French that anyone can say and understand):

Je deteste les copycats!

It was in response to my friend Grace Hester's tweet about a copycat artist on Etsy. Well, copycats abound on Etsy, but what was enraging about this particular one was that she actually had a copyright statement in her item description, warning viewers that her "designs" were not to be used without permission!

Anyway, Grace responded to my tweet with a phrase French that I was almost too embarrased to admit that I had no idea what it meant:

Comment ose-t-elle!

A quick search on the search bar on the right, though, revealed that it said:

How dare she!

Well! What a fitting phrase for some people I have to work with! Yep, extra long blog just to share a new French phrase ;P but I just love how it fits into my life! Thanks, Grace!

A Backpacker's Guide To The French

I really should update this blog more often. Indeed-y I should! ;D

Well, here's a book I'm currently re-reading, Talk To The Snail: Ten Commandments For Understanding The French by Stephen Clarke.

It's packed with lots of tips and tricks for dealing with the French, who are notorious for their snobbery at everyone else around them (well, at least apparently the Parisians are). From lessons/commandments on how to get the attention of waiters at a tres chic cafe to the real proper etiquette when eating in Paris, this book will definitely get a re-read and a ticket to Europe when I go!

Will post excerpts from the book next time.

Au revoir!

Euro Store: Muji

After browsing the Muji website, I feel like it's a glorified Tesco, albeit with better-quality products and no food items. I mean, they've got everything from plastic travel containers to bathroom accessories to clothes hangers to toys. While I may not buy the overpriced but very chic storage containers, there are some items that I think are worthwhile as souvenirs.

 Art print eco shopping bag, GBP0.50(!)

 Paris Box Card, GBP4.95

Italy In A Bag wooden toys, GBP5.95

London Landmarks T-Shirt, GBP9.95

  
Muji has stores in the UK, France and Italy, as well as franchise outlets in Ireland, Sweden and Norway.

Paris In A Bag!

Look at this cute ickle toy set. Why, it's a miniature version of, oh! Paree! lol

I found this set on the Muji website,  only GBP5.95 (about RM30). It's part of the City In A Bag series, which also includes Barcelona, Tokyo, London and New York. Yes, you can get your own Sagrada Familia! 

There are Muji stores in the UK, Paris, Milan and other parts of Europe and they have plans to expand to many countries including China, Singapore,  Hong Kong and Thailand. Alas! Malaysia is not on the cards :(

And since they don't post outside of Great Britain, mainland Europe, the US and Canada, guess I'll have to remember to stop by during my Euro trip!

Paris Store: Colette

I know, I know… I’ve been focusing more on my trip to France rather than my French-inspired home makeover, but I can’t help it as I need to be obsessing over whether I’ll be able to actually afford an enjoyable trip!

Well, when I get to Paris, one of the shops I HAVE to go to is Colette, a chic and trendy concept store that stocks cool indie-style designer items as well as funky and quirky novelty items.

While I don’t need to go to all the way to Paris and look for this unmarked store to blow a kajillion dollars on Marc Jacobs ballerina flats, I wouldn't mind dropping a few Euros on some treats like these special edition Coke bottles, below:-

Of course these bottles will go up on display once the content has been consumed! So now, I have blogged a bit about my interior decorating plans! Yay!

Combien? Seulement dix euros! (How much? Only 10 Euros!)

Air Asia Sales Schedule 2009

It is 12.05am Malaysian time when this post was started, on 3 March 2010, and I was logging on to the AirAsia website tu see how low their prices will go on this first day of their BIG SALE!

Aaaannnddd.......

They haven't updated their rates to London yet. -_-"

Okay... we'll come back in 30 minute's time.

In the mean time, here's a flashback of when AirAsia had their sales last year in 2009. I'm hoping they're following more or less the same pattern this year, as I don't have the means to get my tix to Paris via Stansted Airport in London yet for now.

2009

5 May - Sale on flights to Singapore

13 May - FREE SEATS to Australia, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Philippines 

16 June - All-in Fares promotion

24 June - No-admin-fees promotion

7 July - BIG SALE  - RM530 all in fare one way to London

21 July - Hot Spot, Cool Fares promotion

11 Aug - BIG SALE goes international - RM479 all in fare to London

17 Aug - Year End Escapades promotion

14 Sept - Explore, Experience and Escape promotion

19 Oct - 2010 Sale

23 Nov - Best Deals For Top Picks promotion

30 Nov - Asia Calling promotion

8 Dec - 8th Bday Bash promotion

16 Dec - December Markdown sale

24 Dec - Final Call promotion

This list was compiled based on what messages were left in my mail inbox. I may have deleted some due to disgust at not being able to afford a vacation at that time.

So moral of the story is... seems that AirAsia will always have on average 2 sales or promotions each month. So if you're going domestic or around South East Asia, I'd say it's safe to wait until 2 or 3 months before the vacation date to book your flight. 

If you're planning to go to Paris via London, though, like I am, the list yielded only 2 periods when London was on the list, so you really gotta go with your instincts here. Speaking of that London trip, checking the AirAsia website, promotion bookings for London for December flights are up, and it's not looking good.

30 minutes later...
 The cheapest flight costs RM2,294! That's RM800 more than the cheapest rate for non-peak hours. And I'd have to stay there for 12 days! This is so almost impossible on an RM5000 budget that I'm just gonna laugh! LOL!

Ok, now, let's hope MATTA fair will give me a better bargain. Either that or when I'm ready to pay in May, I'll hit on a special promotion! Wish me luck!

Paris Hotels

Ooh la la! I have been very "itchy" and went surfing for hotels in Paris to see how much they may cost if ever I get to go there end of this year.

Voila! Je vous presente Villa Royale a 2, Rue Duperre, Paris!

The cheapest room here on http://www.wotif.com/ is currently going for 114 Euros (approx. USD$155 or RM528!). Well.... maybe I could stay a night or two here, and then move on to one of the many Premier Classe hotels (see pics below). They go from as low as 54 Euros (USD$76 or RM250) per room for 3 people!

Not too bad, huh?

Together We Can End Extreme Poverty And Hunger

Every year, Girl Guides and Girl Scouts around worldwide celebrate World Thinking Day on 22 February. This year, their theme or tagline is "Together We Can End Extreme Poverty And Hunger". This is a theme that resonates within me as I've always thought that most governments around the world have the resources to help citizens burdened by these two conditions, but instead are spending resources aka taxpayers' money on redundant submarines and fighter copters, among others.

The good Girl Guides and Scouts are organising various activities to raise money for 5 of the most impoverished countries in the world, namely:-

Haiti (a Francophone country), in the Western Hemisphere
Sudan, in the Arab region
Zimbabwe, in the African region
Maldives, in the Asia Pacific region
Georgia, in the European region

Not too sure what the Malaysian chapter of the Girl Guides will be doing for this. You're welcome to check out and decipher their site. There may be another site that I'm not aware of, do let me know if you find it.

For more info on World Thinking Day 2010, go to http://www.worldthinkingday.org/ , where you can download the above postcard to be sent to friends around the world, and learn more about how to help or donate.

Butterflies in Brass

Mon Dieu! It has been almost a month since I last updated this blog. I really hope this isn't the start of my "resolution" dissolving.

At least I managed to get something to add to the house. Not sure if they're "French" but they do fit the overal theme I have in mind.

Two vintage-looking metal candleholders for the price of an average lunch! And they match my wrought iron grilles, too. They could be brass, but I'm not sure. I bought these at Jaya Jusco, Mid Valley Megamall, and am thinking of getting more.

As they say...

Plus on est the fous!

The more the merrier!

Au revoir!