I hate ballet flats

[At the time of writing] This morning, I discovered that I hate ballet flats. I am not alone. I realised that they are perhaps one of the most deceiving pair of shoes. To me, they are not comfortable at all. At least heels would give you some sort of idea of how uncomfortable they would be, but ballet flats - uh oh, no. They are called flats, which makes me expect them to be comfortable, except, they are not, mainly because I could feel the ground when I walk in them. Plus they look hideous on my feet.

Why I did not realise this earlier still baffles me. Why I put up with the discomfort for so long is another baffling thing. Perhaps because I expect to suffer, to a certain degree, when it comes to fashion. But for someone who has said don't scrimp on shoes, albeit for health reasons... ironic much?

If I could walk around in heels all day long, I would. If I could run in them, I would too.

EDIT: ok, perhaps I was too quick in writing ballet flats off; perhaps I've been wearing terrible versions of these shoes. Perhaps another chance. Perhaps.
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I have decided to pack up my uncomfortable ballet flats. There are a couple of pairs or so that are gently worn. If you want them, please contact me via Twitter @drbelles. Or you can just call me, if you have my number. On a totally unrelated thing, I was told recently that I should rename my instagram as drool-fest. For non-drooling stuff, visit my other blog, it is very wordy though. Until then.

Numbers Game

I admit that sometimes the nerdy side of me tend to get out and that's when I get irrationally excited seeing posts about how much people spend on their clothing, aka, their wardrobe budget. Like this one, for example. Or something along a similar line, like this one, or this, or this or this. Because, hey, building a well-curated wardrobe requires, amongst other things, money. It can be a rather expensive exercise, so I am curious to see how other people allocate their money towards this particular aspect of their lives.

I mean, it is only natural that a lot of people ask that question about fashion bloggers in general - what do you do for a living, like as in, your real job - because what they really want to know is how those bloggers can afford to spend so much money on their wardrobes!

But what I really want to know is this: what are their buying strategies? How do they navigate the overwhelming push to buy in a society whereby we've been conditioned to purchase without thinking? How often do they succumb to impulsive shopping?

Image is from here. More images like that, you can find on my instagram. My other blog, where I occasionally talk about money, can be found here. And let's connect via Twitter - @drbelles.

I struggle to look good in summer

Despite growing up in a tropical country (at least for part of my childhood), I struggle to dress well in summer. The last thing I want to do when it's stinking hot outside is to dress up - perhaps because it is easier not to wear anything. Either that, or staying in an air-conditioned room. I feel like I have had enough summer for now, but I bet that as soon as the temperature drops, I will be whining that it's too cold. First world problems, I know.

Outfit above worn to a dear friend's birthday celebration, and is pretty much my go-to summer outfit, plus or minus the jacket depending on how hot it is (I was sweating when the above photo was taken!). Yes, I know that this is an outfit that most people would not wear past a certain age, I may very well have passed that age, but hey, #yolo. Plus I am not getting any younger.

Jacket is by Saxony AW2012 (if I am not mistaken). This is one of the best jackets that I have given the price point. Love, love, love Saxony for their minimalistic approach to fashion. 

For more musings of my first world problems and #yolo manifestations, head over to my other blog. I document snap shots of the good moments in my life in my instagram. As usual, let's connect via Twitter - @drbelles. 

Reflections on shopping bans

I've been meaning to write about this earlier, but life got in the way. Instead of slaving away at the solitary rendezvous of this thing called blogging, I chose to go out and have fried chicken with my friends. Yes, I realise that I am blocking my arteries. Can we just leave my arteries alone?

So far, I have voluntarily submitted myself on two shopping bans. For the first one, I got a friend to join me and she just said yes without hesitation (gotta love her!). Prior to this, we were both on a shopping ban (she initiated it) and we both failed within 3 days. This time around, I am happy to report that while the temptations are still there, we both finished with flying colours! The second one is a step I took towards the fulfillment of my wardrobe resolutions for this year. It is easier the second time around, I must admit. I read some where that will power is similar to physical muscles - you gotta use it so that you get stronger. The more you practise, the better you will be. (Mental note: want to do a similar exercise with this virtue called patience.)

Temptation - the biggest of them all My Achilles heel is asos.com, I've said this over and over and over again, I am pretty sure a lot of people out there know this by now. It is even worst when Asos is having an additional 15% off all discounted items. Not participating in such a promotional event is ... devastating for my sense of being. Because, I have things on my wishlist that I do want to buy, and I would love to buy them at the lowest price possible, because I like to stretch the buying power of my limited resources like that.

Discipline - wardrobe and financial I think the whole point of a shopping ban is to practise this thing called discipline, both in the financial sense and in the wardrobe sense. In this respect, I am focusing more on the latter because ... as much as I hate to admit this to myself, I prefer a smaller wardrobe that is well-curated. It is not going to be small and well-curated if I do not practise wardrobe discipline. So, in an effort to better myself, I am giving my wardrobe more attention.

To put it differently, this is perhaps the first time that I am able to articulate this goal properly: I do want to dress better, and I want to do it based on a small, well-curated wardrobe. In the past, my goal has always been "dressing better", which resulted in an overflowing wardrobe, which I conveniently attributed to a very small closet space (that I share with le husb). I am exploring what it feels like to have a small, well-curated wardrobe that everyone seems to be raving about.

Worthy investment? I admit defeat on certain things more readily these days. Not so much because I do not want to make them work, but because I know myself better. I have donated and given away a shit load, and lately, as you know, been putting things up on eBay. I still maintain that it is a lot of hassle, but I do realise that it is actually beneficial for this whole wardrobe discipline exercise. My revelation is this: clothes, shoes, handbags are terrible investments. You can hardly recover your initial costs let alone try to make some money from them. The only good thing about them is how good they make you feel, and it sorta stops there. To everyone else, these things are worthless. This is perhaps because my wardrobe does not consist of couture and/or branded goods that are highly coveted, but let's face it, I have the wardrobe of the masses instead of the riches.

This takes an impact whenever I come across something I like, that is heavily discounted, and I subsequently purchase for value. Like seriously. I was probably one of the few people who saw value in the said item and no one else in this world does. How is that a good investment? It does not and will not appreciate in value. Take for example this Karen Millen dress that I recently sold on eBay for a grand sum of ... $10.50. Case closed.

So, am I a shopaholic? This question is bound to come up, right? Especially knowing me and my preference to over-analyse anything and everything. The answer is yes. I did experience withdrawal symptoms and I did have to manage them, and the only saving grace is that I was able to manage them. Do I like shopping? Of course, yes! Do I still want to like shopping? Of course yes!

What I do not want is to be a compulsive over-shopper; I want to be the thoughtful, mindful shopper. I don't think engaging in another shopping ban is going to help me to be a step closer in becoming a thoughtful shopper. Because I really think I should be able to walk away from things that I do not want and/or need, not because of a shopping ban, but because I just do not want to buy them. As I said previously, the real challenge is to exercise this discipline sans the shopping ban.

Okay, that was a long post. Congratulations you've made it this far! As always, any discussion, we need to conduct via twitter. If you want to see more stories in pictures, you can peek at my instagram. See my pretend geeky/nerdy self over at my other blog. Image is from here.

#ishall Saying no to shopping (for a while)

So last week I wrote about my wardrobe resolutions for this year. From this point onwards, it will be about how to get there.

Last I wrote about my shopping ban, it was, truth be told, something that I was rather scared writing about. Because I was not sure if I could do it or not. And because of this, I was not very open to sharing the journey on this blog. I spoke about it with my friend that I was doing it with, and our conversation goes like this:

Her: I nearly bought a new pair of shoes last night. Shopbop was having an additional 25% off sale.
Me: Really? OMG, I have to check it out.
Her: But we are on a shopping ban.
Me: I just want to look.
(half an hour later)
Me: Oh man, I was about to buy these dresses but I had to close the window.

I am obviously on the it's-okay-to-look camp. I find it fun to look, and I get inspiration on how to dress and what to wear, etc etc etc. My wish list is a very dynamic list, it hardly ever stays constant. I change my mind too often when it comes to what I want - which really means I don't really want them. Does that make sense? Does anyone else feel this way?

The whole point of this post is to say that I put myself on another shopping ban. It started on Jan 18 and it concludes today, Feb 18. I was still very much on the it's-okay-to-look camp. Funny thing about this exercise is that it gets easier with time. It's like, you get used to it. But the real challenge is to exercise this discipline sans voluntary shopping ban. 

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Image is from here. Yes, that's my instagram account. If you want to connect with me, you gotta do so via twitter. Largely because I don't want to deal with spams in my comments, and because I am personally of view that in the world of social media, conversations (with strangers) are best conducted via twitter. If you want to read other stuff I write, then visit my other blog, where I pretend to be all nerdy and geeky. 

#ishall Wardrobe resolutions for 2014

In 2014, I resolve to simplify my closet. Simplify as in cut it in half. Or maybe by a third from what it is right now.

I shall wear everything in my closet at least five times during the course of this year. 

I shall give away the things that make me feel less than good, (which are mostly the things given by other people (!!!)). This is kind of hard especially if they were a favorite once upon a time. Le boyf husb reckons I am too attached to my clothes (and shoes and bags). I am starting to realize that he is right. Ugh.

I shall only purchase things that I need and want. This is already broken, unfortunately, by the purchase of the pictured bag, something I don't exactly need (although this is somewhat debatable), but had been wanting for over 5 years. To be fair, when I first coveted the bag, it was the yellow version and it was love at first sight. I did not manage to purchase it at the time. Last month, the beautiful coincidence was that I received a Mimco gift voucher for Christmas. In the true spirit of lazy shopping, I browsed the sale section of the website and spotted the fuschia cocoon bag. It was love all over again, and for once, money did buy love. 

Where the treasure lies

I have this love-hate relationship with clothes, or specifically, the ones on offer for females. It is not that I don't love dresses and stuff, I do, it is more like a lot of the items that I would like to have in my wardrobe are the ones I stumble upon in....

the men's department.

I guess I've always been a tomboy at heart. x