It’s been a week since I last posted and I’ve coughed up a ton of phlegm, probably coughed up a lung, blown my nose a hundred times and drank lots of tea. I have to say, some time between yesterday and today was when I was feeling better. I have only blown my nose once today, and that was this morning. I feel much better now, but I hope I don’t fall sick again. I seem to have spread my cold to my officemates. /um

Happy birthday today to Robbie from one of my favourite bands, The Griswolds! /clap ♥️

Last week my best friend Lilian arrived home from Vienna and Paris and Berlin and visiting all these awesome places. I might envy her to some extent but I certainly do not envy that she was primarily overseas for study. :P I don’t know where else I’d study web design or what I’ve got left of my Master degree (three subjects, duuuude!) but I dare say that travelling the world (or some parts of it) is in my aspirations. I get to catch up with Lilian tomorrow, and I’m super excited. I did see her off at the airport at the beginning of the year, but hey, we don’t see each other in person enough. Shamefully, I have not finished (or even started) reading the books she lent me, but she’s already read them and is in no hurry to have them returned to her. Tomorrow we don’t have a plan as usual, but we’ll meet for lunch and I’ll ogle over all her photos of the Eiffel Tower, likely.

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day – another day when most people expect gifts, and others simply don’t. I fall in the latter category. James and I don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day as a special day, but if we can spend time together, then we do, but otherwise, any time we spend together is lovely for both of us. We ate lunch at a Japanese restaurant down the road from my work. It was one of the ones where you pay before you eat, so we got a little confused when we went in. The place was very comfortable and the furniture was patterned with colourful flowers and stripes. It was quite a memorable place, tucked away in the corner of that street just before the bridge to the harbour. It was very homely – that would be the best way to describe it. Desserts were sold upstairs in a cafe-like area, and after having some noodles and seafood, we went upstairs for a chocolate parfait.

It was a lovely parfait, full of surprises. Biscuit, choc chips, wafer, cornflakes, jelly, pudding – all layered really neatly into a dessert glass. It was fun to eat. It’s rare that you can say food is fun to eat, but when it is – you know it’s usually something colourful and layered and with lots of different flavours. As long as they don’t clash.

James gave me roses that afternoon, which was also a pleasant surprise because I wasn’t expecting flowers. 🌹

And now for Fashion Friday. Friday is generally known as casual Friday, when people dress casually to go to work. I actually don’t know where that began, but it’s a popular custom. I have to admit I was dressed pretty sloppily today, but today’s outfit oozes much of what I wear most days – dressing up very casual clothes with nice shoes and a nice jacket.

I wore this last year when I went to see Lime Cordiale. It was my last day of work and I actually wore high heels to go out that night. (I mean ridiculous high heels. I don’t have a photo of them at the moment, but they’re about 14cm/5.5 inches high.) The flats were just a glorious change. I can’t tell you how desperate I was to get out of the shoes, I remember not being able to stand it after the show was done so I yanked them off right there in the middle of the crowd. Haha.

I remember hearing a celebrity (if I remember correctly, it might have been Nicole Richie) say that sometimes changing just the shoes and bag of an outfit can make the outfit completely different. I think I’ve proved her right one too many times there, but especially with today’s outfit.

Today I wore my favourite black shoes instead of those crazy shoes or the brown sparkly flats I wore last time, just to be practical and because I was on my way to work anyway. I did purple and brown last time, but this time I took my large red bag and decided clashing purple and red would be the bad deed of the day.

Top: A sleeveless top with a version of Mickey Mouse on it. Dare I say, it’s cuter in this version than the real Mickey Mouse. I remember when I wore this last year to Lime Cordiale’s show, the security guard wanted to get a good look at my top because it was so cute. I got this top in Indonesia, and have a bunch more that have cute cartoons on them in a similar style.

Leggings: These purple leggings have pockets, which made me really happy because I could put my phone or my wallet in there. I always underestimate how useful pockets are. I like these leggings because they’re shiny/sparkly/metallic. You can dress them up or down, and I guess in this case I did a whole mix of it. I can’t remember where I got these from.

Jacket: I love this little blazer! The tag has been ripped off but I bought it from a shop that was selling excess stock from Supre, Valleygirl, Cotton on and some other stores. I only recently started wearing the blazer with the sleeves folded up. I read about “faking fit” on Kelly’s blog – she gives some good tips on how to make clothes that don’t fit – well, look like they fit. ;) The blazer’s sleeves made me look even shorter because of their length, even though I fit fairly well in it. I think it looks much better when I fold the sleeves up a little.

Bag: It’s imitation Louis Vuitton. My mum bought it for me, knowing perfectly well that red is my absolute favourite colour. I don’t really care for brands. If the bag was not an imitation of Louis Vuitton it would make no difference to how much I love it. :)

Accessories: Along with my usual jewellery I’m wearing Swarovski crystal ball earrings that James’s mother gave me for Christmas, and a red ring again from my favourite eBay seller coloresky.

My desk needs cleaning! /wave