Blogger angst and Apple takes over the world

Well Apple is taking over my world, I first got on board with an iPod in 2004. I lived in a remote area and found a tiny store that was an Apple dealer that had got a couple in stock- I have a feeling I paid $399 for it. A year later my husband got one cheaper and bigger and a year after that I got one even cheaper and bigger! Five years later I am still yet to fill that sucker up with songs and I have about ten thousand on it!! Fast forward to 2012, both Hubby and I have IPhones (though not the 4s so maybe we are not truly Apple devotees) and I have an IPad.

And now we are thinking of getting a desktop Mac. Back story is I started three blogs last year, what can I say I love to blog! One about our house renovations, one about pregnancy/baby and this one - about everyday stuff :-). In October last year our laptop died - we don't have a desktop computer, so I got the iPad as I mainly wanted to surf the Internet, read books/magazines and of course blog! Hubby has a work laptop and we managed to revive our laptop but it works VERY slowly, so turns out Ipads are not the best blogging tool :-( sad face. I've experimented with different apps and it's just painful, I can't do a pretty format or really anything but the basic post. Plus it takes ages to write on the iPad keyboard lol. So we have decided on a getting a desktop and we have also decided on a Mac! In true Frugal February style though we won't be purchasing it this month so looks like I'm stuck boring blogging still.

Cameron Diaz dazzles and book club

Cameron Diaz recently cut her hair into a bob and it looks fantastic! She looks so good that I suspect age might of timed her bob cut with an overall 'touch up', call me cynical :-p. Cameron's bob is reminiscent of the one she had in the 'something about Mary' era, which I actually copied at the time! I liked it, and if I wasn't so attached to my long hair I would be tempted to chop it off for another Cameron Diaz bob!

Book club book is Jane Fallon's 'Ugly Sister'. I really liked this book even though I felt there was something missing from the main character Abu - she is written like she is older than 38 and both her and Cleo seem a bit flat, while the other characters came to life for me a bit more. All in all it's a chic lit book that is an easy read that I enjoyed.

The never ending Ally gift voucher

For my birthday my hubby gave me a $200 Ally gift voucher. This has greatly contributed to my 'minimal spend shopping ban' as I get to buy things without feeling guilty about it :-). It seems like the voucher will never run out but after these latest purchase there is only $25 left! Where will I get my guilty pleasure from now eeek. Strapless dress $19.95, white dress $29.95, shorts $29.95, belts $30. I an loving the dresses as they remind me of some cute skater dresses I saw on ASOS and instore at a cute boutique (all out of my price range). They are so cute! I have an app called Closet that I pretty much a year ago photographed my whole wardrobe and added it into the app. Then I got lazy and to be honest I forget about the app and then occasionally check it and go oh wow u forgot about that outfit! I really need to get on top of adding my wardrobe properly in. Especially now I have bubba and have less time to sift through my actual wardrobe!

How I miss the tv show Sex in the city

I heart Sex in the City - not the movies, the tv show. I never get bored watching them over and over again. It's such an awesome combination of everything, female friendships, looking for love, New York and of course fashion! Recently I bought this skirt from Ally as it reminded me of Carrie's tutu - it only cost $14.95 but I'm not sure how much wear I'm going to get out of it lol.

The skirt made me reminisce about the fashion that Carrie used to pull off own the show and I stumbled upon this Instyle article about 34 of Carrie's looks:http://www.instyle.com/instyle/package/general/photos/0,,20364084_20365543_20775661,00.html. I love it! I had totally forgotten about some of them including the Carrie necklace.

Bookclub!

At the moment I'm surrounded by baby magazines and books about newborns and breastfeeding. I haven't even had a chance to read the latest Instyle magazine I bought a week and a half ago! I have however been able to read Ruby Blues by Jessica Rudd. Jessica is former PM Kevin Rudd's daughter and this is her second book. I did read her first book which was an easy read, which is how I would describe this one as well. It's very 'Aussie' in its language and it's also very politic themed. It's a good quick read but I didn't enjoy it as much as her first book.

Magazine addict

I love magazines so much, it started when I was a kid growing up in an isolated outback town. My mum would always get Women's day and New idea so it started with that. Then I discovered the news agent and when I earnt pocket money it was spent on Girlfriend, Dolly, smash hits and tv hits. As an adult, the addiction hadn't changed but the magazine titles have :-). My favorites are Allure and Glamour both American magazines, I subscribe to these and recently they started releasing iPad issues for their magazines as part of the subscription! Yay, but to be honest because I know get a whole stack of other electronic magazines on my iPad I just wait for the hard copies to hit my mailbox to read them. During last years black Friday sales in America I discovered Zinio, which is a website/iPad app that provides magazine subscriptions including Australian and UK magazines :http://au.zinio.com/. I bought a years subscription to Elle, harpers bazaar and American cosmopolitan for ten dollars each! Then through their promotion scheme they awarded me $25 do I bought the uk glamour for $6! I'm so in love with Zinio :-) :-).

Reminiscing about my childhood makes me remember my obsession with the Trixie Beldon books:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trixie_Belden. I never got into Nancy Drew but I loved Trixie :-).

Shopping ban fail before it even started!

So after blogging yesterday about considering a shopping ban, I promptly went out shopping! Hhmm, wonder if there is something psychological in that! But in my defense the Novo shoes are a style I have been coveting for a long time. Tony Bianco had the style but had 11cm heels! These are quite reasonable heels and $59.95 is a reasonable price - plus they are work shoes as well as evening shoes. The gray flats are the same shoes different color to the pink and zebra print ones I bought a couple of months ago. They are so comfie and cost $40. I also included a pair of Equip sandals I hit in the sales for $18 - I was heavily pregnant when I bought them and my feet were swollen so I couldn't actually fit them until now! The Wonder Womsn and superwoman briefs are from Target and were $10 each. I've wanted briefs like these for ages so snapped than out - technically these were free as I used a gift card I got for Xmas to buy them. I also got a belt from Ally that what's technically free as well as I used a gift voucher as well :-). So I was thinking maybe if I say I have a hundred dollars a fortnight to spend in shopping for me, that's a good way to start the ban. Having already spent the hundred for this fortnight - wish me luck!!

The dregs of the sales are often the best!

Sportsgirl finally did their 50% off sale stock. Last time they did this I scored AWESOME bargains (previous post). This time there was slim pickings- this is because I now live in a town that has only one store vs the three where I lived previously. But still I got a bag for $14.95, a small purse for $4.95, two makeup pocket books for $3.45, a lipliner and gloss $6.00 and a $2.45 nail polish.

I popped into Dotti and scored a long coveted black sequin skirt for $19.95 - very excited about this purchase as I wanted one for ages! I can't wait to wear it out :-).

Last but not least my Mimco mini sequin cocoon bag arrived. I found this bnwt on eBay for $129 and hubby paid for it as a present (I like to think it was a 'push' present for delivering our baby ;-)).

Bling, Book Club

More jewelry for my store ;-). Lovisa sale, couldn't resist: orange/coral long necklace $9, fox ring -$5 I heart bargains like that and a non sale bracelet $15. My Hubby got me a $200 voucher from Ally for my birthday (awesome!). I mainly shop at chain stores and Ally is my favorite. There is no way I could afford the wardrobe I have if I shopped at boutique stores. This dress was in sale for $29.99 and it's very Sex in the City, can't wait to get my Carrie on!

Book club book is Grand Passion which is about a couple who restore an old house in Queensland. I have an interest in renovations (see my renovation blog), but this book although about the renovations had a bit of soul in as well. I really really enjoyed it :-), My dirty sneaky cheap read of the week was hulk hogans wife's biography, lucky the library is free and I don't have to pay for these quick reads. It was good for a bit of a gossip and mindless reading ;-).

2012

What will milestones 2012 bring for me:
•ten year wedding anniversary
•hubby's thirtieth birthday
•my baby's whole first year of life xxx

What major goals I have for 2012:
•do the major renovations on our house, spending only max $125,000 (see my renovation blog!)
•holiday in Sydney/Canberra to visit friends and family in March
• return to work in May
•work in strategy to get my hubby home more (he works away mon-fri only home on weekends)
•keep up friendships
•enjoy my hubby and bubby

I'm tempted to start a shopping ban, currently I have a $150 voucher from Ally that my hubby gave me - that should get me through a fair while without having to spend any $$. After being pregnant for 9 months I also have boxes of clothes to unpack and enjoy again :-). I am thinking an entire clothing/bag/shoes/makeup shopping ban might be a good start- ill check back in on the 16Th of Feb for an update ;-).
Meanwhile I'm loving this look!

Book club and what should I call my jewelry store?

I read a lot of books. This may be derailed by the birth of my daughter! I just finished reading Steve Jobs biography. I actually only picked up this from the library because I basically I borrow every new release book! I like to give everything a go :-), anyway I was hooked from the start with this book- its so well written which I guess is why Steve Jobs hassled the author to write his biography! I highly recommend this book if you have a Mac or IPhone or IPad - it will give you some interesting background info including why you can't access adobe flash player.

So I can't stop buying jewelry eeek! I do wear jewelry every day and I mix it up, so I don't feel guilty about being addicted to accessories! And my initial attempt to blog about the jewelry I wear every day proved that I don't have duplication in my collection. So instead I will continue to blog about the jewelry I buy instead lol. These purchases are a forever new ring on sale $6.95 and forever new bangles $20 - one a bargain and one that's not - but I heart these bracelets as you can wear them as a set or individually so maybe they are a bargain.....