31 December 2009

Your daily dose of pretty: My Fair Lady booties

I have a bad case of unrequited love my pretties:



I am so utterly head over heels in love with the gloriousness of these shoes, but it cannot be.  We just spent several hundred dollars on a plumber today because we have no hot water. We still have no hot water and tomorrow the electrician is coming - which will mean several hundred more dollars. So in the meantime, no showers for Selina. And more distressingly no shoes for Selina.

If you don't have silly little things like bills to pay, you can buy the My Fair Lady booties for US$32.95 from Clockwork Couture.  In the meantime I'm going to go sit in the corner and get increasingly smelly.

HAPPY NEW YEAR MY PRETTIES!

30 December 2009

Your daily dose of pretty: White House Black Market chiffon dress

Why hello there my pretties, I took a few days off from blogging over Christmas just to relax but I am back now, and daily blogging will resume.  In fact blogging just got a whole lot more fun. And pink:





*SQUEE*

The Eccentric English Boyfriend did so good didn't he?  And notice that 14 Year Old Daughter has decorated it for me!  So no longer do I have to fight EEB and the kids for the good computer, and I can blog AND watch Johnny English at the same time.  (Ok I know it's a silly movie, but it's on and it makes me giggle.)

I was truly spoilt with Christmas presents, and I'll post some more pics soon, but in the meantime how about a pretty for today? And seeing as tomorrow is New Year's Eve I think a lovely party dress is in order:



Especially when that lovely party dress is on sale for US$39.98, down from US$168.00. I'm so tempted to buy it just because the price is so good, even though we're not doing anything special for New Year's Eve since it's our year to have the kids. Oh and it wouldn't get here in time anyway!  I love the pleating detail at the waistline, and it's just so pretty and floaty.

The One Shoulder Chiffon Dress is available from White House Black Market.

So what do you all have planned for New Year's Eve my pretties? And more importantly, what will you be wearing?

24 December 2009

Your daily dose of pretty: MiroMiro jewellery by Boh Runga. Oh and Christmas wishes!

My pretties, it is Christmas Eve!  Well at least it's Christmas Eve Morning here in New Zealand, a lot of the rest of you are probably still somewhere in the 23rd as I type this, but here the kids have already eaten the last chocolate on their advent calendars.

Since it's Christmas Eve I thought I should show you something a little special for your daily pretty, so I've settled upon a couple of pieces from Boh Runga jewellery.  Boh Runga is a very talented New Zealand singer (you can check out her music here) who recently collaborated with the New Zealand Mint to produce a range of jewellery based around New Zealand birds.  I love the level of detail she has put into her designs: the little wisps at the base of the feathers, or the fact that not every individual part of a feather is in exact alignment.

My particular favourites are these two pieces from the Messenger Stories range:



The Duo MiroMiro Feather Earrings are NZ$189.00.



The Duo MiroMiro Pendant is NZ$159.00.

Boh says of the design:

My feather design represents a little Miromiro or tomtit feather. The Miromiro feather was a magic token of devotion that would bring a loved one back to you. Take it with you wherever you go.

Look I even found you a photo of a pair of MiroMiro - aren't they cute?


Photo courtesy nzbirds.com

Click on the link under the picture for more information about MiroMiro.

There will likely be no post tomorrow my pretties, being as I'll be in a ham and dessert induced coma.  My family are coming here for Christmas lunch, but they have all banded together to arrange the food so as long as the control freak in me relinquishes the kitchen to them I shouldn't get too worn out, which is my main problem right at the moment.

And if I can, I'd just like to take a moment to say thank you to all of you.  When I started this blog on a whim back in April I didn't really know where it would take me, and the most marvellous thing that has come out of it has been the worldwide community of bloggers and readers I have found myself part of.  I feel like I have this huge group of friends all around the world, even though I'd have a hard time recognising you in the street from a photo a few pixels wide! So thank you for reading, commenting, sharing and most of all for all the kind wishes after my recent MS diagnosis (you all brought a tear to my eye, big softie that I am). I hope you all have the most wonderful Christmas Day full of all the prettiness you could wish for, and I'll be back with plenty more pretties in a couple of days.

Much love and prettiness
Selina xox

23 December 2009

Your daily dose of pretty: Storybook Elephant necklace by Ruche

I am so in love with this whimsical character:



I mean elephants are awesome, no?  All big and wrinkly and apparently easier to train than my cats. I want an elephant, and since our backyard might be a little small (which is obviously the only obstacle in my way), I will settle for this instead.

The Storybook Elephant Long Necklace is US$14.99 at Ruche.  And it probably makes less of a mess than the real thing too, come to think of it.

22 December 2009

Your daily dose of pretty: Dorothy Perkins lace up platform sandals, and another guest post at DP

Hellooooo my pretties - it took me a couple of days but here I am with a daily pretty for you.  I have another little guest post up at Dorothy Perkins' Style Society blog (on dressing up for Christmas parties, kiwi style), and I am so in love with the shoes that I chose for it that I wanted to show them here too:


I love, love, love the heel shape, and the bow adds a lovely pretty touch to them.  I may have to buy them, don't you think?

The black lace-up platform sandal is £45.00 on Dorothy Perkins.

20 December 2009

Update: the crap, the annoying and something silly to end on

Hello there my pretties, a little housekeeping for you, starting with the crap news, moving on to some annoying (for me) stuff and ending with something ridiculously silly, cos we like the silly!

As I said the other day, since our return from Dunedin life has thrown me rather a curve ball that is taking a while to adjust to. The day before we left for Dunedin I noticed some numbness and tingling in my toes and bottom (classy chick that I am), but determined that nothing was going to spoil my little brother's wedding I put all thoughts of it aside and had a fabulous weekend - just fabulous. I love weddings!  However by our return Sunday night the problem reached from below my hips to the tips of my toes, so Monday I saw my GP who was suitably flummoxed (Things You Don't Want Your Doctor To Say: "Hmmmm, you're a puzzle") and referred me to a neurologist at Auckland Hospital. The appointment wasn't until Wednesday, and having put off thinking about it over the weekend I decided it was damn well time I had a good old fashioned hypochondriac panic, so late Monday night The Eccentric English Boyfriend drove me to A&E, where they also looked suitably puzzled and slightly worried (Things You Don't Want Your Doctor To Do: look worried).

The doctor told me later that my symptoms and the pace with which they were spreading lead her to believe I could have a fast-growing tumour on my spine, so the MRI machine was fired up in the middle of the night (it takes an hour for it to warm up, did you know that?) the staff were called in and I spent and hour and a half having my spine and brain scanned.

The MRI luckily showed no tumour, unluckily what it did show were lesions on my spine and my brain indicative of Multiple Sclerosis. I guess you can imagine the news fairly knocked me for six, I spent a lot of that night crying.  I was sent home with steroids and instructions to keep the neurologist appointment on Wednesday, which I did and he confirmed that the most likely diagnosis is MS. There is apparently the smallest possibility that in fact it is simply a one-off occurrence, but that's pretty unlikely. MS being the very nebulous disease that it is what happens from here is an unknown. I can expect this episode to last anything from weeks to months, with the possibility of some residual permanent effects, and then I could have another episode within months, years, never - there really is no way of telling, or of telling how another episode will present itself. Despite the bizarreness of not being able to feel my feet, I still have full mobility, albeit in a slightly clumsy manner. I do get very very tired so quickly though, which I think may be the most debilitating thing.

So, crap news quite frankly. However, this is not a death sentence, nor indeed a sentence to disability - I have now heard many stories of people who have MS and live long healthy lives with very few problems and I'm going to be one of them dammit! I have two gorgeous children, an Eccentric English Boyfriend who has been an absolute rock and a world full of pretties still to explore, and I have no intention of letting this stop me!The pretties will continue (in fact I happen to know that a certain Eccentric English Santa, even before this happened, had listened to my not-too-subtle hints and my Christmas present this year is a computer of the lap variety, suitable for blogging from even if I'm laid up!).

For those of you wanting to know more here is a link to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of NZ website - I will be contacting them this week and starting to educate myself about what lies ahead.

Right, everybody take a deep breath, smile, say "Louboutins" to yourselves a few times over, that's the crappy stuff out of the way.

Next, the slightly annoying, but mostly for me.  You will have noticed there's been a distinct lack of posts containing my own pictures of late - that would be because my camera has decided to throw a wee tantrum and is refusing to talk to any of our computers. Whether this is the cord, the camera or the SD card I haven't yet gotten round to investigating - rest assured I will look into it and photos of my nails and my hauls will resume. In the meantime I do have some older photos on my computer, so you could end up with some posts that go something along the lines of "this is a polish that I wore, and it's pretty and stuff", since I'm not very good at labelling my photos!

And, to end, some silly. The hilarious Nixxy from Nixxy's Nails sent me this the other day, and it put a smile on my face. Let's face it, if you're a Christmas elf and your days are spent cajoling snotty nosed screaming children on and off Santa's lap, you're going to want to look pretty while you're doing it:



Plus if all else fails you can 'accidentally' skewer the little darlings with your stiletto. The Fantasy Elf Knee High boot is US$59.99 from LaLaLingerie.com. I'm guessing there is an outfit to go with it, but given it's a lingerie site that sells 'costumes' I haven't looked - yet!

As I said my pretties, the prettiness will continue, so keep watching this space as I fully intend normal service to resume now. Well, maybe after some dinner ...

Love
Selina

19 December 2009

And now a little bit of fun

Since that last post probably left you all hanging and wondering, here's a quick little bit of fun to lighten the mood - I was tagged by the gorgeous Allya of Painted Tips - the idea being that all the answers to these questions have to be one word.  I'll try, but anybody who knows me well will agree that it's going to be difficult for me not to ramble on!

1. Where is your phone? Handbag.
2. Your hair? Brunette.
3. Your Mom? Pukekohe (NZ).
4. Your Dad? Dead.
5. Your favorite meal? Lasagne (but only really really good lasagne, like the stuff I make myself).
6. Your last dream? Weird.
7. What do you like to drink? Coca Cola.
8. Your dream? Writing.
9. In what room are you? Kids' lounge.
10. Your hobby? Reading.
11. What are you afraid of? Slimy wriggly things with no legs.
12. Last travel? Dunedin (NZ).
13. Where were you last night? Home.
14. Something you are not? Succinct.
15. Muffins? Only if my jeans are too tight. (Oh to eat? Ok triple chocolate with chocolate on top.)
16. Wishlist? In one word - HAH! Shoes, polish, chocolate, shoes, did I mention shoes?
17. Where did you grow up? Dunedin (NZ).
18. Last thing you did? Blog.
19. What are you wearing? Pyjamas.
20. Your television? BIG!
21. Your pet(s)? Lots!
22. Your friends? So special.
23. Your life? Right now, scary.
24. Your temper? Hahahahahahahahahahaha - just don't get me mad!
25. Do you miss someone? Only when my aim's off.
26. Your car? Mazda 6 stationwagon.
27. Something you don’t bring with you? The thing I need most right at that moment.
28. Your favorite shop? H&M.
29. Your favorite color? Purple
30. Last time you laughed? Today.
31. Last time you cried? Yesterday.
32. Your best friend? Andie.
33. A place where you can go again and again? The Mall!
34. Facebook? Addicted.
35. Favorite place to eat? The Bunker, Queenstown, NZ.

I mentioned the bit about having difficulty answering in one word right?  Anyway, I tag my gorgeous 14 Year Old Daughter, and Evadne Hatte at Anyone Can Do It - I think most of you others have done it!  I have a few other tag posts that have been sitting in my To Do pile for a while, but I thought this one would be a fun quickie!

I'm still here

My pretties, I have not deserted you. I know I promised on my return from Dunedin that normal service would resume, and then promptly fell off the face of the planet - I do apologise.  Life has rather thrown me a curve ball this week which I am still coming to terms with - I will update you very soon and share lots of pretties with you, ok?

Selina
xox

15 December 2009

All I want for Christmas: Cat Burglar Barbie by Christian Louboutin

You know how sometimes in a "surfaces, sweetie, surfaces" cleaning frenzy you throw something out and then regret it further down the track?  Well a few years ago when we were shifting house I donated all of 14 Year Old Daughter's Barbie stuff because she was, like, so over Barbie and we just didn't have the room.  I wish I hadn't though, she had a limited edition dress and a car with a spa pool in the back (as you do) and all sorts of cool clothes and the world's most annoying singing baby in a pram ever, which her Grandad removed the batteries from the day after Christmas Day in an attempt to save his sanity.

Still, what's done is done and I'm sure The Eccentric English Boyfriend will empathise and buy me this to ease my pain:


Monsieur Louboutin may have caused some small scandal by insisting that Barbie's ankles needed to be thinner in order to wear his shoes but how many degrees of bat-s**t-crazy awesome is this?  And of course for those of us who will never in a million years be able to own a (full size) pair of Louboutins the opportunity to get four pairs for £118.13 may be impossible to pass by.  Even if they are four pairs of itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny Louboutins.

Oooh, I just had the BEST idea - I could totally make them into earrings.  How awesome would that be?

£118.13 on Net-a-Porter. Or she would be if she weren't sold out.

13 December 2009

I'm back, and I'm popping up all over the place!

Hello my pretties, I have returned.  The wedding was lovely - beautifully romantically prettifully lovely and I will fill you in on more tomorrow, and of course resume normal service.  In the meantime though you can read my guest post at The Fashion Police where I talk about anti-wrinkle bras.  Seriously!

10 December 2009

Your daily dose of pretty: to keep you going for a few days

Hello my pretties, a quick post before I madly start packing - we're off to my home town of Dunedin this afternoon for my little brother's wedding.  I am so looking forward to wearing my dress.  I mean I'm sure the bride will look lovely and all, but my dress is GORGEOUS!

We're away for a few days and although we're taking the laptop I doubt I'll have any chance to blog, so here's a couple of pretties to keep you going until my return.

First: Shoes. Pretty. Bright pink. Nuff said.




Actually, not quite enough said - also on sale! But I probably shouldn't buy them, right?  £7.00 from New Look

Moving along quickly before I buy the shoes, some more shoes.  Not on sale, but pretty nonetheless:


Mmmmmm, pretty nude shoe with lovely bow detail.  The Tony Bianco Cherish is NZ$219.99 on royalt.co.nz.

And finally, gorgeous jewellery:



That's the Hand Knit Argentium Silver and Blueberry Quartz Cuff, US$125.00 from KaelinDesigns on Etsy. Who knew you could knit silver - the thought leads me off on this weird tangent where I start imagining elderly robot grandmothers knitting jumpers for their grandchildren.

RIGHT!  Enough of the silliness, packing to do.  See you in a few days my pretties.

08 December 2009

My Dorothy Perkins guest post is up

Head on over to Dorothy Perkins' Style Society blog my pretties, my guest post is up today.

I'm liking the shoes they chose to go with my post:



Glittery shoes don't always rock my boat but these I like, they're not too over-the-top-fell-off-a-Christmas-tree glittery.  £40.00 from Dorothy Perkins.

07 December 2009

Your daily dose of pretty: Design History pintucked cap sleeve top

I love the pintuck detailing on the neckline of this top:



It's on sale on Bluefly.com for US$24.74, and if their international shipping wasn't so redonkulously expensive it would be winging it's way to me right now. But, 'twas not to be.

Also available in black, grape royale (purple) and teal, but I thought I'd show you the red one in the spirit of 'holy flaming duck pooh Batman it's nearly Christmas' and red is, you know, Christmassy!

06 December 2009

Your daily dose of pretty: 1960's White Silk Silver Beads Tea Length Dress

Good morning my pretties, it's Sunday and I've been up since 6am. I am not impressed, 6am is a completely ridiculous hour to be up on a Sunday, especially when I'm child-free because the kids are at their dad's.

Luckily I found Posh Girl Vintage - browsing pretty vintage dresses makes me do happy sighs. Even if I am doing it while clad in my pyjamas, dressing gown and ridiculously cute white fluffy doggie slippers.

In my head this is what I'm wearing:


Probably with some appropriate heels, I suspect the fluffy doggie slippers won't match.

Look at the beading:



*happy sigh* Pretty.

Unfortunately the 1960's White Silk Silver Beads Tea Length Dress is sold, but there are plenty of other pretties on Post Girl Vintage.

04 December 2009

Just had to share this

My favourite new site of the day: Sheldon Shirts, where they've collected the best shirts worn by Sheldon and Leonard on The Big Bang Theory (love, love, love that show), plus other cool stuff like Howard's belt buckles, the Period Table shower curtain, some of their favorite Sheldon quotes and lots more. The site gives links to where to buy each item, along with details of which episode it was seen in. Geek heaven much?

I want this one:


TV Color Bars tshirt, US$29.00 from dirtyword.net.

Sheldon Shirts was The Eccentric English Boyfriend's discovery, and he spent last night glued to his laptop, occcasionally yelling "I want this one!". Hmmmm, wonder what he wants for Christmas?

To put a smile on your dial, here's a Sheldon quote for you:

"Explain to me an organizational system where a tray of flatware on a couch is valid. I'm just inferring that this is a couch, because the evidence suggests the coffee table is having a tiny garage sale."

Is it weird that I find Sheldon really sexy? It is isn't it?

03 December 2009

Your daily dose of pretty: I can't stay away from this one

You know how sometimes you find something in a shop, and you want to buy it but you think you shouldn't, and then you keep going back and looking at it until either you give in and buy it or it sells out? Well this top is my something:



I am just so much in love with that back detailing.

The front's not too bad either:


*sigh* There's only so much temptation a girl can handle before she explodes, and then there's blood and guts and other unidentifiables everywhere. So really, to save on the carpet cleaning bills I should just go ahead and buy it, yes?

US$49.99 from Evilneedles on Etsy.

01 December 2009

Your daily dose of pretty: Lulu Corselette

It's probably one of the inevitable signs of growing older, when a woman's underwear draw starts to contain less in the way of frilly barely-there frippery and more of the cover here-there-and-everywhere heavy duty armoury.

If I was being honest I would admit that it's also one of the inevitable signs of eating too many potato chips!

Luckily wearing underwear designed to smooth, cinch and flatten doesn't necessarily mean resorting to matronly styles any more, especially with the resurgence of interest in vintage lingerie styling (thank you Dita von Teese). I want to buy this corselette simply because it's gorgeous - what it would do for my figure is an added bonus:


Even The Eccentric English Boyfriend, who's not a huge fan of lace and suspenders, gave the thumbs up to this one. £65.00 from What Katie Did, a store that will be a definite must-visit on our trip to England next year.