Fly Away Pink Butterfly N Central Park Midnite Sale 2011

Full schedule ahead! But before boring you with all the details about my day, this is what I'm wearing on this bright lovely morning.

Pink embroidered butterfly top: from Bali. Skirt: made over from an old pair of jeans. Sky blue bag: Les Catino. Lavender wedges: Yongki Komaladi. Pink earrings: Aldo. Bracelet: Naughty MKG.

My second brother's business trip/vacation in Indonesia is finally over, and my parents, my eldest brother and me, are escorting him to the airport where he will catch a plane that'll take him all the way across the Pacific Ocean back to USA. The flight will take approximately 28 hours, so, good luck bro!

I found this ethnic, handmade, pink embroidered butterfly top in a small shop in Bali. There were many similar tops being sold at various Bali art markets, but mostly they were white. So, when I happened across this pink lovely thing, I knew I just had to have it eventhough I usually do not wear anything too ethnic. Guess the seller could see from my face how much I coveted this top, so she refused to lower the price! Ouch. I know it's a bit overpriced, but I don't regret buying it. This butterfly top is so pretty and unique, and given the same amount of money, I know I'd never find anything like this in Jakarta.

Check out the detail here.
My Mom took these pictures while we were waiting for the car at the pick-up area.
From the airport, we went straight to Central Park for dinner and some shopping. And my oh my, what do we have here! Say hello to an old "friend" from the US: Payless Shoe Source! I didn't know they have opened a store in Jakarta.
Talk about de ja vu! The store looks exactly what they have in USA. Even the way they arrange the merchandise according to shoe size. When I was a poor international student with no income across the ocean, ok, even after I had a full-time job and made some dollars pasca graduation, this store, together with other discount retailers like Ross, Kohls, Target, and Walmart, were my (fashion) life savers! The styles are cute and up-to-date, the prices are affordable, it's like a shoe haven.

Most of Payless products were made in China, perhaps that's why they could come up with such low prices? My brother always teased me for buying my shoes there, since he himself wears expensive designer brands, and I wear mostly discounted brands, but I didn't care. I still don't. I'm a frugal gal and proud of it, babe!

However, after browsing around, I realized that in Indonesia, Payless is no longer a pay-less place. In Indonesia, shoes and clothings are so cheap, much cheaper than in the US, that what I used to consider as cheap there, is not cheap here. In Jakarta, Payless' prices are just like any other shoe prices you find at major department stores like Centro, Matahari, Metro, and Sogo. *Cryyyy...* However, it's so good to roam around in a Payless store again! Feels like the good ol' days!

Two weeks ago, on July 1, Central Park was having a midnite sale, and here are some snaps.

Usually the mall is closed at 10, but this pic below was taken around 11.30 pm and the crowd was still huge, the restaurants were still open, and the music was blasting from loudspeakers!

My Dad took this pic of husbands, fathers, boyfriends, brothers, who were waiting their ladies doing their favorite sport: shopping! Haha! Look at their bored expressions. Poor guys!

Aaaaand... after all those frantic walking and shopping and running, I ended up with tired, aching, blistered feet! I should have followed my Mom's example and wore flats, but a bit of heels are much more flattering, dont' you think? Beauty is fun, beauty is pain. ^__^

Linking up to What I Wore Wednesday


and Feminine Friday Link Up Party Week 1

The Mexican Sun

Today is working day, and I rrreeeally-rrreally want to wear this fun, bold, colorful dress.
So wear it for the day...

Just throw a wrap skirt and black jacket over it, belt it with a piece of green fabric tied together with some hooks at the back...

... off to work this gal go!

When there's a will, there's a way.

Dress: from a thrift store at Florida (if I'm not mistaken). Black jacket n skirt: tailored. Shoes: Voire (Malaysia). Turquoise earrings: art market at Sydney. Turquoise bracelet: Shanghai.

Good thing I did! In the evening, some friends had some impromptu dinner at The Arcadia, and I had to do was discard the jacket, the skirt, the stockings, and the green belt. Ready for a night on the town! Away with not-supposed-to. Have fun and live a little. ^__^

Girlfriends N All That Glitters

"Girlfriends are the spices and sweets of a woman's life.
Never take them for granted. Never abandon them for any man."

LeeAnne, Style N Season

Yep, I do believe that. Most of my girlfriends don't believe me when I said that whenever I have a boyfriend in my life, it doesn't mean I can no longer hangout with them from time to time, even on a Saturday night. But I do really mean it! Having a boyfriend, a fiance, a husband and children doesn't mean that a girl must abandon other people in her life! And yes, no matter how difficult it is or busy you are, you can arrange your time for your spouse, work, family and girlfriends, if you really think it's important enough to be in your priority list. You can have the cake and eat it, too! In moderation, of course.

Anyway, today I'm having lunch with two of my friends, Inne and Inti, before heading to Church for evening mass. We used to hangout a lot when all of us were in Jakarta. Then Inti moved back to Toronto for a while, and Inne moved back to Surabaya (well, at least she didn't move back to London, that's sooo far away!), so I'm pretty excited to see them again today.

Today I'm building the whole outfit based on the purple espadrilles (from a small boutique at Plaza Semanggi) and purple sequin bag (Hana, 50% off at Sogo Emporium Pluit). Jeans skirt: made=over from old jeans. Chiffon top: unbranded (from a small shop in Guangzhou, China). Bead necklaces: Lotus Department Store. Angel wings necklace: Naughty, Emporium Pluit. Bracelets & earrings: my old collection.



This is the first time I wear anything sequin. I thought sequin looks too flashy and cheap. (I like cheap finds, but I don't like them to look like they're cheap though they really are!) But I make exception for this bag since the deep purple color makes the sequin just in the right amount of 'sparks'. A bit flashy but not over the top. Also, I usually avoid wearing wedges because in the past they were bulky and heavy. This pair is made of very light material, so I don't mind wearing them for hours. So comfortable!

See the lavender and green ribbons? They didn't come with the wedges. I just grabbed some ribbons from scented sachet packages and tied them up on a whimsical mood. If I get bored with the look I'll just untie them.

This is a funny cartoon snap taken at EX. Read the wording, so true, ain't it!

Left to right: Inti, me, Inne. When I asked permission to publish this picture, Inne just shrugged and said: "As long as I look good in it!" You do, girl. You do. :)

The odd thing is, the last time we had lunch together was December 2010. And we had lunch at the exact same place (Pancious, EX), sat at the exact same spot at the restaurant, and posed in the exact same position! Luckily we didn't wear the exact same clothes! Pancious should have given us free lunch for being such loyal customers!

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Love Letter: Finally, Follow With Bloglovin!

Aaaaah... finally! Finally I push myself to sign up to Bloglovin and put the button on my blog. Should have done it right from the start, but I was so lazy, I postponed and postponed and postponed.

As mentioned here, I'm basically technology challenged. I don't really care how things work on the internet, and I have no time (a.k.a too lazy) to learn how to blog properly. I've seen "Follow me with Bloglovin" buttons in so many other blogs, but I didn't know what it was and too lazy (again) to find out what it is. Until today.

Now I can follow all my favorite blogs in one page using my Bloglovin account. New posts from favorite bloggers will be shown on that page, marked as 'read' when I already opened it. No more checking gazzilion blogs one by one to see if Blog A or B or C has some new updates or not, because the page will only show a particular blog when it has unread new post. How convenient is that!

To cut the story short, now you, my dear Readers, can follow Style N Season in a much easier (and oh-so-stylish) way via Bloglovin!

So glad I did it... ^_^

"No accomplishment is too small to make an ordinary day extraordinary."

LeeAnne, Style N Season

All Girls Mix N Match

No outfit post today, dear Readers! At least, not MY outfit. Of course, my Mom will never get bored to see my picture day after day after day. Well, at least I think so... But before you get bored to see my face, I'll post some other Living Catwalk Ladies here for all the world to see!

These are four amazing ladies who work in the same office like I do, and lucky for me, on this particular day I can capture all of them with my camera!

First, meet Dina. And yes, if she looks familiar, perhaps because you have seen her before in this post. Love her grey sheath-like dress!

Check out the details here. Actually it's not just grey, it has some checked patterns going on the fabric. Ow, and that's not a necklace, that's a blackberry holder. And don't you just love those nude color sandals? Well, I do!

Now meet lovely Helen with her bright, cheerful, colorful ensemble. Have you ever felt that your office and work life so drab sometime? Wear something bold, like this shocking pink that Helen wears. It might lift up your spirit, as well as for others who see you.

And here comes Anissa, who, with Dina, also appeared in this previous post, and she loves it so much she gets more dressep up to work now so I can snap her pic and post it here, she was like: "When am I going to be featured again?" ^__^

I don't know what kind of agreement she has with Dina, it seems that both girls often wear similar outfits to the office. Well, I did say that they are twins. From different parents. :)

She even bought a new pair of silver slingbacks to wear with this dress. Ck ck ck Anissa...

Aaaand, last but not least, meet sweet Nana, who lets me take her picture, but refuse to have her face shown. >_< Too bad, since Nana is a very cute gal, in a Korean doll-like way. Hey, can anyone tell that she is four months pregnant? Can't tell from the dress she's wearing, and she's so petite everybody's attention is on the huge colorful butterfly at the front!

Seafoam Green, Ocean Blue N Matahari Mal Artha Gading Grand Opening

I was going to title this post "Seafoam Green, Ocean Blue N Sunshine" at first, because Matahari is an Indonesian word for "The Sun". But anyway, Matahari is a famous Indonesian department store. I used to shop there a lot when I was in high school because they have one near school and the prices are quite affordable. Like Kohls or Target in the US, I guess. This thrifty gal loves bargain shopping so I'm so excited that now they're opened in Artha Gading Mal, close to where I work and live! Talk about convenience!
On the day of grand opening, which was June 24, I went there straight after work for a 4-hour shopping excursion, with satisfactory results, I might add, and this seafoam green top (or you can call it pistachio ice cream green) is one of them.

Blue wedges: Voir (Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur). Pistachio green bag: Les Catino (50% off at Sogo Emporium Pluit). Scarf: thrifted from Miami. Peacock blue pants: Elle (from high school years, cropped and rolled up). Seafoam green top: Details (20% at Matahari MAG). Blue bead necklace: DIY. Bracelet: Naughty MKG. Turquoise earrings: (art market at Sydney, Australia).

Here are some closer snaps of the little details.

Les Catino has been one of my favorite bag brands for like, years now. They're colorful, fun, affordable, and when I get bored of one or cannot carry it anymore from wear and tear, I don't feel guilty to either toss it away, make it over into a DIY project (like in this post), or give it to someone else because I know it didn't cost an arm and leg! Cannot do that to my branded stuffs! Once I carried a leather Aigner bag my Mom got me in Paris to an outdoor project site, and when it rained, I chose to cover the bag instead of my own head. Silly me. Luckily I didn't end up with a cold!
With Les Catino, I feel free to carry it, have fun with it, abuse it (kidding) and do whatever I like with it. If the bags gets dirty or soiled, so what? It creates the perfect excuse to get a new one, haha!

These Elle pants were cropped on purpose because I thought they're too... well, blue. But I only roll them up for this look only. They are a bit flared at the bottom, which make my legs look like tree trunks with this top.

I bought six pairs of shoes from Matahari. Duh! I try to assuage my guilt that I only do my major shopping trips twice a year anyway, and the last time I bought shoes before Jakarta Great Sale 2011 was July 2010, AND they are 50% off, but still, I'm scared to think what my next month's credit card billing statement would look like!

Here are some snaps from the Matahari shopping excursion.

Being a fashion merchandiser must be fun! Look at the creative ways they arrange and dress these manequin dolls! Absolutely love it!

Colorful shorts are all the rage now for the summer.

And of course, the summer staple: navy striped style!

Big sale for the 3-day grand opening only. Lucky me!

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