so basically while i was all negative about my new job it has its bonuses. for example i'm working in what is clearly a male dominated workplace. there is a first for everything i guess.

it is just like i expected. the women's toilets are miles away.

plus men flirt. i'd forgotten. interestingly, there are no flirts in my actual vicinity, but IT are all about inviting you out for coffee. or at least dropping it into conversation casually that they drink coffee. same difference i reckon.

remember when i was in vietnam. that was awesome in terms of boys. but they only wanted me for my sunnies...


this guy stole my sunnies in a handicapped handicrafts shop without warning. i was alarmed, but ready for the photo opportunity. obviously.

this weekend i was invited to hubris hq for a boy party. but i'm pretty lame about these things and in the end watching the West Beverly class of 93 attend their senior prom proved too hard to turn down. brandon walsh is such a loser. unlike hunk of burning love steve.

but, while that was lame i did manage to haul myself out of the relative 'warmth' of my house to prove my friendship and go wedding dress shopping with a bride to be. not only was this awesome in and of itself. but i was reminded of how people hook up at weddings. i know all about this cos i've seen the wedding crashers. fingers crossed for an owen wilson type.

although, right now in all honesty i'd settle for an electric blanket. my house is so not aligned with the world health organization's healthy home guidelines. 18 degrees is the healthy house temperature. that is just a pipe dream for me. which is why i think i've come over all sickly. either that or i have slow developing malaria. which seems unlikely given how i was covered in deet all through vietnam and cambodia without fail.

and in vietnam and cambodia i was hot. stinking hot even. i am struggling to remember the feeling. i bet it was choice.

so when i'm doing exciting stuff i don't blog. when i spent four hours watching grey's anatomy, however, i'm all over the blogosphere telling everyone about it.

go figure.

anyway, i'm clearly back from vietnam. this is a photo in hanoi. the only place i was cold in vietnam. everywhere else i was so hot i thought i might expire. so it was just as well we were living the high life with swimming pools. returning home was not as cool as i'd hoped. but there were advantages, like my own bed. and cheese.

oh and i have a new job. you might be all like: didn't you just get a new job. and yes, but this is a different one. one i didn't apply for. again, go figure. but i'm embracing it with open arms. after all it means i'm now only seconds away from strongerlight during the working day, and that i get to walk around with a security card WITH MY PHOTO ON IT. life ambition achieved.

one last thing. i hosted a party last night. you might have known about it, in which case you were probably there and are still buzzing from how awesome it was. if you didn't know about it, i blame myself. i was patchy at best on the invites. but all you need to know is that it was a talent quest and it ruled. there were three categories: performance, baking and visual arts. and many more winners. plus my own entry, a lip synch to hayley mills and hayley mills in the Parent Trap, received honourable mention from the judges who were ENTIRELY UNPROMPTED TO DO SO. i'm thinking of taking my act on the road.

that is probably it. there are other events, such as my inability to sleep, which i will probably blog about later. along with how insomnia is not cured by watching episodes of 90210, but it sure is made more awesome by them. for now, i should attempt sleep. i have a big day tomorrow. what with the new job and all.

i am in hoi an. it is beautiful. and i wonder if monty was kicked off dancing with the stars. probably. if i could be bothered i'd check stuff but i'd rather await an email update from AL (hint hint).

i love vietnam.

today i went to my son sanctuary and then climbed marble mountain, which wasn't a mountain so much as a staircase, and hung out in caves EVEN THOUGH I COULD HEAR ANIMALS SQUEEKING. i am so goddamned brave.

i have eaten a lot of great food too. oh my god, the vietnamese know how to make a salad. light on the vegetables, heavy on the vinegar and shrimps. they also know how to make bread and banana pancakes. the two things (apart from cheese) i think may be my very favourite foods of all time. the vietnamese don't really know how to run hotels yet. which is why so far we've been kicked out of one hotel and in another asked if three people could share one bed (on the assurance it was a big bed, but guess what: it wasn't). everything else though is faultless. unlike my bike riding. which if you are my facebook friend you may have realised - my cycling is crap. which is why i fell off into a tree when i was trying to find china beach. like a soldier in the vietnam war i sought refuge on the white sand shores of china beach. but no dana delany for me. only a street urchin trying to sell me beads. i showed her my injury, seeking sympathy. she told me shit happens. i bought a five dollar necklace. afterall, it was good advice.

anyway, one other thing about vietnam, it is effing hot. which is why i'm in the hotel lobby right now. i came out to get them to adjust the air-con to twenty degrees because it feels like thirty five in our room. they seemed to have done it but to be sure i'm lingering out of the room as long as poss.

tomorrow is my last day in hoi an. i will miss it, but there is so much more of vietnam to see. and since i declare whole heartedly that i love vietnam, i guess i'd better get right on now and see it.

goodnight (and i hope monty made it to the finale).

i am basically addicted to vietnamese food now. it only took three days.

i have had culture shock and spring rolls. i have played yatzy with swedes and swum in halong bay with the french. i have eaten salad even though i promised my travel doctor i wouldn't. not to mention the precut fruit i have risked my health for.

and the shopping. i have become a bargaining machine. i walk away saying "too expensive". and you'll all be pleased to hear that i may have bought even bigger sunnies than i already owned.

i am in hanoi. the capital of vietnam. but have only spent two days here. the bulk of my time has been in halong bay - the unesco world heritage site. it took my breath away. my journal, which i have been obsessively keeping, is full of gush about it. i needn't repeat it here. but i have been blown away. my legs are sore though from the number of steps i have climbed to get good panoramic shots of the bay.

tonight i will eat pho. my favourite vietnamese dish so far (although their croissants rate very highly too). a reunion with my swedish and french companions. i can't wait to tell them about my bargain hunting...

there is a hotel in singapore i am in love with. the fullerton. if you are an eligible bachelor you will win my heart if you take me there on a romantic retreat. it probably costs a bomb to stay there which would add to the romance of course. it is so very flash that the bathrooms have glass basins, the conceirge checks things on the internet for you and taxis charge you four dollars just for waving down a taxi near the fullerton. it oozes class.

i didn't stay there for obvious reasons. but i did take a boat ride past and then later use their conveniences. it was like heaven on earth.

singapore has been a-ok. my cellphone semi works here but apparently is sending messages multiple times which is just fantastic. overcharging me no doubt. perhaps i should turn the phone off now. what else? um it is h.o.t. and i have swum a lot to recover. there are lots of white men with asian girlfriends and the orchids are beautiful. i look like crap no doubt due to the humidity and the general tiredness making of travel. added to that in auckland i got to sit in the plane for three hours while mechanics checked out a problem on the plane. which turned a ten and a half our journey into a thirteen hour nightmare.

anyway, singapore airports very famous free internet is about to run out on me so should end here. today i fly to hanoi for some hustle and bustle and maybe even seeing a long dead ho chi minh. if i'm very lucky.

the thing i like about friday night television is that it usually involves some kind of fashion related reality television. which is why i am not really a regular at friday night drinks. but tonight i miss timed it because the blimmin bus was late and i only got to see the end of the fashion police show. i tried to make up for it by watching bridezilla but after thirty seconds it was already unbearable i retreated to my room with yoghurt and blueberries and guidebooks for vietnam.

and my camera. which reminds me: it is your favourite time of the week

fashion challenge - part iii

week three: black beads

history of the necklace: when i first started working after university i had one work outfit: a shirt and a skirt. which i basically wore every day with a cardi when i wanted to look especially professional. (or a suit which was three sizes too big. but i don't count it.) anyway, to disguise the lack of variety in my wardrobe i bought three sets of beads for $10 from kleins. these are the only set of the three beads to survive.

day one: shine on, you crazy diamond.

due to the long weekend, day one was a tuesday. which threw my game some. but like a professional, i gathered my wits and created this ensemble. cardi: the jacqui e cardi i now realise i wear EVERY WEEK, a skirt from the internets and a charcoal slip from carly harris. total cost: $200.

here i am, super fly and rocking the outfit.

even though it officially means i have worn underwear as outterwear at work, this was my favourite outfit of the week. the beads were shining. and so was my slip.

day two: dress to impress

i have already blogged about it, but wednesday was important. i wanted to dress sharp. but i couldn't find a single outfit that went with the beads. i was about to abandon the challenge and offer the beads up to the first person who showed any interest when i decided on this outfit. white victoriana top: from farmers two years ago, black/grey (or is it blue) waistcoat: from century 21 in NYC, black skirt (not pictured) the bargain of the century skirt that, again, i appear to wear every week. all up we're looking at around $100 worth of clothes. bargain city.

and here i am. doing my best miss tyra: being fierce. you will see how i could be so bold as to blame my eye makeup for ripping an eyelash out from its roots and into my eye. talk about overdoing the eyes and underdoing the lips. but actually, the eye makeup is the redeeming feature of this outfit. i shall not be wearing it again. plus i think i will give away the waistcoat. so one more free hanger in my wardrobe. hurrah.

day three: reow! what a tiger.

animal prints. for me it is a bit love/hate. sometimes they are so wrong. but sometimes, like in this banana republic top, they are so very right. i paired the top with my favourite world dress (which, incidentally doesn't come across as slammin in this photo as it is in real life). and kaPOW, an outfit that is a 30% tiger and 70% girly girl with bows. ie 100% me. this is the most expensive outfit of the week, at $400.


and here i am in the outfit. and i just realised that it looks like an actual tiger has bitten off my legs and i am about to passout from the pain. i do not usually look like this. but anyway, great outfit. just not as kaPOW as i was hoping for.

so at the end of week three, i have no fewer necklaces than when i began. next week i plan to pick something deliberately impssible to match. i need some space for all the goodies i will pick up in vietnam.

*****

as an aside: do you love how i'm just casually dropping in to the blog how i'm going to vietnam? cos it is true. i am in the final stages of booking tickets to vietnam. and i'm being very practical about it and everything. take today for example, i bought a tog bag for my togs when i'm in vietnam...


sooooooo at the top of my MUST HAVE list. ride 'em cowboy....