I bought some Surface to Air silk shorts from ASOS, and they arrived this week!

I’m totally in love with them :)

I love the tailoring, the cut, the fit, the lush silk, and I dig the print of palm trees, flamingos and speckles!!

They were $324, but I got them on sale for $81.

Surface to Air are a Paris-based creative group producing award-winning collaborations (with musicians, artists, filmmakers) and acclaimed for their ready to wear collections. I’ve been loving their edgy designs, I’ve kept an eye on their recent collections, and I was stoked when ASOS was having a sale.

I also discovered that ASOS stocks brands like:

~ Sonia Rykiel – super cute, bold, colourful designs with a French flavour
~ Wheels and Dollbaby – a cult Australian rock-luxe label – I interviewed the designer, she’s from my hometown!
~ Spanx - haha everyone needs a bit of body shaping!
~ Elle Macpherson Intimates – so much cheaper and more range than the department stores
~ There’s always a great range of swimwear that is always well priced.
~ And you have to love the OUTLET 70% off section!

……………………………………………………………………………….

Oh oh oh! ASOS have some special deals!

1) I have something SUPER-SPECIAL for my Singapore readers!
Go to the ASOS Singapore Site and get 20% off your shopping cart by using this code – KAREN20

(Limit to one use per customer, maximum spend of £500, excludes sale items, Singapore deliveries only.)
Valid from 7 Feb to 12 Feb 2012.

2) For my Australian readers
Click here to access Womenswear: Sale now on. Up to 70% off

3) And for my readers in the rest of the world
Click here for Final clearance! 50% – 70% off womenswear

Happy Shopping!!

Outfit Details
Shorts – Surface to Air via ASOS
Button down – Witchery
Knit – Sportgirl
Bag – Alldressedup via ShopTheMag
Booties – Habbot Studios

( See all my Daily Outfits here )

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Check out more of my favourite online shops in my Women’s Online Fashion Shopping Guide.

We watched *yet another* Chinese Dragon Dance this week.

My kids just love them. The drums. The dragons. The costumes. The buff kung-fu guys dancing around. It’s all very cool for them.

But for me? I get a little bored.

Don’t get me wrong. I like a bit of dragon dancing action. It’s just that I’ve seen it a LOT of them since I was a kid.

So I found myself wondering (and my mind wandering)… yawn, how could this be more interesting?

AH HA!

It would keep my attention a lot longer if the dancing guys were wearing a lot less clothes.

Do you think the idea will take off? Is that un-Chinese of me?

Admittedly, we have been to quite a few gala balls held by the local Chinese community. Sometimes we go twice a year.

But hey, I love going to balls! I love the dressing up. I love the large ballroom filled with people wearing beautiful clothing. I love the food. And I especially love it when I know a lot of people there and get to chat to everyone. Oh and I do love to dance at the end of the night too!

On the other hand, for my dear husband, it is a bit of a chore. Firstly, he has little choice about his attire. He wears his same black suit every year (sometimes twice a year), with the same white shirt, with the same black shoes, and when I can’t stand it, I might go out and buy him a new tie.

Secondly, he’s deadly allergic to crustaceans – prawns, crab, lobster, oysters, mussels, abalone… and honestly, the biggest feature of a grand 10-course Chinese banquet is THE SEAFOOD. Everything is laced with seafood! The soup has crab! The spring rolls have prawns! The pork has shrimp paste! The vegetables have oyster sauce! The mushrooms have sliced abalone!

The only thing he can eat is the roast duck.

However, we never complain!

We always smile and laugh. In fact, we always make it our total and utter mission to enjoy the evening no matter what. Even if the music is bad. Even if the speeches are long and boring. Even if a waiter spills crab soup on my dress… we always have a good time, because we’re together AT A $200pp BALL!!

I wore my Pia Gladys Perey dress from Gosh Celebrity Fashion, which I wrote about in this post. It is such a beautiful dress to wear!

And my Vamp heels from GlamRockChic.

This is me showing off my golden nails and bling (from a mixture of brands). But the ones to note, which I’m wearing out for the first time, are my sparkly bracelet and knot ring from in this post.

During the evening, (when the prawns were being served) my husband went for a walk to stretch his legs and discovered that there was going to be an exclusive fireworks show, put on by the casino.

So we snuck out of the ball, followed some signs and joined a small crowd of people being ushered towards the car park. We found ourselves walking across a grassy field, in the dark and beside a small lake! The fireworks suddenly began, blasting into the air, just across the lake and a little beyond a row of cars! As you can see from the photo, it was a very busy fireworks display, and it went on for a LOOONG time. It was incredible!

We came back. I got a bit drunk. And I arranged various red things around my table for fun. Red much? We thought we were so funny. Well, you should have seen my RED face *flush* from drinking too much alcohol!

The very, very, VERY best thing about the whole evening… was that all our children were sleeping over my sister-in-law’s place… so my husband and I got to sleep in the next morning till 8am.

IT’S WAS FREAKING AMAZING!

Behaviour and Environment

During the school terms, his older brothers go to school, and Liam gets to hang out with me all day. We have our little routines. We have our weekly grocery runs, coffee dates, play dates, gym classes, story time sessions, outings and activities. We have snacks, lunches at home or while we’re out. It’s just him and me.

He’s really pleasant, easy, fun to be with, ok sometimes he’s demanding, but I know his quirks and I know how to work around him… so basically we have a happy little groove between us.

But during the recent 7 week summer holidays, he has had to play and compete with his older brothers – all day, every day.

As a result, my summary of him seems a little harsh, yet it’s all part of his life experience, and what makes him who he is.

Liam has been naughty, difficult, noisy and his behaviour has been awful. It’s such a hard thing to deal with, because I can see what’s driving him. I can see he just wants some attention.

He’s frustrated because his two big brothers will spend hours building intricate lego structures or playing an elaborate board game, and he wants to play too. Instead… he smashes everything onto the floor and steals the important pieces of the game, just so that they will play with him.

Or they will be lazing in bed reading a book or working on a puzzle, and he will come along and rip posters of their walls and tip their shelves over, just so that they will play with him.

It always ends in meltdowns, tears and fights. From everyone! Including me!

So in a way, he’s not really being naughty. He’s just trying to communicate his needs… and well, it’s been a tough couple of months trying to keep everything balanced.

Because, he’s not the only child who needs some attention. There are two others. Not to mention there are two adults in the family who needs some loving. So yes. Balance is the key.

We take things as a week-by-week balancing act. One day I might spend a couple of hours with my oldest boy. While my husband will hang out with the younger two. And the next day my husband will take the middle boy, and I’ll have the other two. And then during the next session I’ll have the youngest one and so one.

This keeps everything quite peaceful.

And it’s worked so well because my husband was on leave for a little bit over the Christmas and new year period.

When it’s just me looking after the kids, most days, they will all play happily for a couple of hours. But after that, they get bored and will need some direction. I either have to do an activity that makes all 3 kids happy. Or I have to send one kid into another room to work on something (nothing too special or the other 2 will get jealous) while I do something with the other 2 kids.

Or I just take them to the beach. And everyone is happy. Including me.

“Education”

Liam can identify lots of letters, numbers from 0-12, colours, shapes and symbols. Drawing and writing is an activity he just loves. And I believe he finds a lot of comfort in it. I take a little scribble pad and pencils wherever we go, and he enjoys looking at my past drawings and reading out the letters and numbers.

He has shown keen interest to write letters, so I have been teaching him to write his name. And while I’m at it, I’m trying to teach him to read simple words – not because I’m trying to get him ahead academically – because he just really enjoys it!

Speech

He speech is pretty impressive! He is a real chatterbox and he can talk and talk and talk, if you let him. It can be a bit exhausting, to have someone be in your face and talk at you all day. But I’m not complaining, I try to see it as his little gift.

I get him to re-tell stories of our day, just to help him gather and organise his thoughts, because they can get a bit jumbled and random most times! Kinda cute, but it’s hard to listen to hours of random, mangled sentences.

Gross Motor Skills

Liam is pretty active and coordinated. He can go for long walks, ride a 2 wheel scooter, sit on a big-kid swing, climb up a climbing frame. He can’t ride a bike yet (hasn’t worked out the peddling action).

I’d say that he’s not very daring or adventurous, in a physical sense.

He’s confident to splash around in shallow water, but he’s not brave enough to put his head underwater.

Fine Motor Skills

Really excellent here. The kid plays with big-kid lego, he can use a scissors, do a 48 piece puzzle, peel stickers, glue things, and other fine detail activities.

Sleep

He sleeps at 7:30pm, wakes up 6:00am. As long as he has one 1 hour nap in the day time, he’s fine. And he’s not fussy about when he has the nap.

Imagination Play

Every day Liam can spend 30 minutes to 1 hour playing by himself, with cars, drawing, water play, lego, blocks, or puzzles.

I’d say the biggest activity he is missing out on, is imagination play. I went to a friend’s house recently, who had a cubby house for her daughter. The little house was decorated like a real house, with a kitchen set, photo frames on the wall, tables and chairs… Liam was transfixed. He played inside for aaaaages and didn’t want to leave.

I can see how he would get a lot out of more age appropriate toys!

Social Skills and Friends

He doesn’t have many proper friends at the moment, as he’s a bit young. He prefers to hang around older children, because that’s what he’s used to at home. And he loves the company of adults.

When he is around other kids his age, he is very confident and he stands his own ground. He can be a bit bossy and loud when trying to get his point across, which scares the other kids who are a bit timid.

Separation

Since Christmas, Liam has been very clingy towards me whenever someone comes to babysit. He cries, wails, flings himself on the floor, and shouts things like “Mummy don’t go away!!!!”. He’s been cool with it for years and it just came up suddenly and we’re not sure why he’s changed in this way. We’re thinking maybe it’s just an age thing?

Eating

Ah. He has been a terrible eater lately! He loves cereal with milk. Apples. Any kind of sweet or salty biscuit. Noodles. Bacon. And he loves to snack on raw carrots. That’s about it.

He utterly hates pasta, curry, rice, stir-fries, casserole, potatoes, bread – sometimes he will reluctantly eat it, if I feed him.

Most days, when we sit down for a proper lunch or dinner meal… he utterly refuses to eat anything I give him. He refuses to feed himself. And he would rather put himself to bed than to eat what I give him.

But if I spoon food into his mouth, he WILL eat it, reluctantly and slowly. And just like that, he trained me to feed him.

Each mouthful is painful, full of fights, toilet breaks, whining, falling off the chair, crying. Some days I have no idea how much he has eaten, I felt so bad, yet he happily goes to sleep at the end of the day. And I tell myself, if he’s hungry, he’ll wake up in the middle of the night and I’ll make him some warm milk and toast. But he never wakes up.

Heh it is kind of my fault too. As I go through the day, out and about, driving from one event to another, I just throw random food at him for morning or afternoon snacks, a small bag of pop corn, an apple, half a bun with melted cheese on it, a jelly snake, rice crackers, a small carrot. And by dinner time he’s not hungry and I wonder why!

So, basically, I haven’t been very disciplined with his eating!

School

Liam will go to a Pre-Kindergarten for 3 year olds in a few months (he has to turn 3 first!). This particular centre came highly recommended, and it is also a 10 minute walk from our house. He was put on a waiting list, and after months of waiting, we finally got a call and was told that Liam had a place. I was sooooo happy. I know he’ll love it!

(He has been asking when he can go to school for several months now. And he desperately wants his own lunch box.)

But of course, I am struck by that familiar bittersweet feeling – I am totally freaked out that my littlest baby is going to a school AND I am dizzily excited that as he grows older, my life (and my relationship with all my children) will grow and evolve.

Some might call it a strange habit, but hey, it’s still counts as shopping therapy.

Anyway I went home and took a look at my shopping cart at Endless.com, and ooooh maybe I shouldn’t have gone back because it was full of very yummy and very buy-able items (under $100 too!).

Sam Edelman Leopard Pumps – $74.99

Steve Madden Red Suede Pumps – $64.99

La Mer Leopard Gold Triple Wrap Watch – $78.20

Anne Klein Swarovski Rosegold Watch – $75.00

Anne Klein Swarovski Blue Marbleized Watch – $75.00

BCBG MaxAzria Mesh Clutch – $59.99

Marc By Marc Jacobs Tablet Case – $48.00

Heidi Klum for New Balance Sneaker – $45.00

DKNY Women’s Fashion Sneaker – $48.52

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Check out more of my favourite online shops in my Women’s Online Fashion Shopping Guide.

My family has been going to Spencer Village, in Thornlie, for years! It’s a long way from the city (nestled deep in the southern suburbs), but it’s still one of the best places in Perth to get my fix of favourite dishes.

I do believe it is the most Hawker-Food-Centerish food court in Perth. It is always packed full of Asian faces, and it has that “it’s all about the food, not the presentation” style of cuisine. It’s fast, simple, and great value!

This is my ABSOLUTE favourite. Coconut laksa with prawns, fish cake, chicken, tofu, mixed noodles, and a big wedge of lemon (I would actually prefer it with lime though).

This is my children’s favourite, Char Kway Teow. Flat rice noodles fried in a dark soy sauce, with fish cakes, chicken, prawns, bean sprouts and vegetables.

Personally, it’s a bit too healthy for me. I like mine with cockles and deep fried lard, the way I have had it in Singapore. (But I do prefer them to eat healthier!)

My husband tried something different today. Singaporean Indian style Briyani – which was fricking yum!

And a large jug of sweetened soy bean milk, to wash everything down.

*Full tummy happiness*

The other night, I went out to dinner with good friends. We ate at a restaurant overlooking the beach. I watched the sky turn pink and the sun set over the Indian Ocean, while eating marron (local freshwater crayfish/lobster) and slow cook pork belly. It was bliss!

I sat opposite a huge mirror and just had to take a photo!

I wore my black and lime, patterned tulip dress from Birdsnest, fuchsia heels, and a swag of arm candy.

The next night, I went out to dinner with some girlfriends and again, I had such a fantastic time. Great friends, great food and great conversations – a magical combination indeed.

I wore my Sass and Bide singlet top, mustard skirt from Mersh (YesStyle) and again my fuchsia heels and arm party gear.

OK so here are the fuchsia suede heels that I’ve been wearing all week, from GlamRockChic :)

Gorgeous, striking, bold and super comfy!

And here’s my very Chinese New Year looking Marc Jacobs clutch in RED AND GOLD!!

I’m going to a huge Chinese New Year gala ball tomorrow, so I’ll post photos next week! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

xxx

( See all my Daily Outfits here )

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Check out more of my favourite online shops in my Women’s Online Fashion Shopping Guide.

The other day my toddler took his favourite bunny outside to play, and subsequently used it to rub CHALK DUST OFF THE CONCRETE.

Mr Bunny looked awful. He looked like he was run over by a hideous, dusty rainbow.

My toddler was a little upset.

So I brought Mr Bunny inside and gave him a bath. I couldn’t quite clean all the dust off his fur, so I decided that he needed a good soak.

I actually filled the bowl right to the top and placed a weight on his belly so he was completely submerged.

But it looked really creepy. As in horror-movie creepy. His head underwater. That frozen smile. Those innocent, black beady eyes peering up at me happily, from just beneath the surface of the water.

It made ME A LITTLE UPSET!

So I tipped some water out of the bowl and resolved that Mr Bunny was relaxing and enjoying a lovely spa treatment.

That’s what I told my toddler anyway.

Marni is an Italian label that always seems to catch my eye at fashion shows around the world. I love her (Consuelo Castiglioni) bold, colourful, quirky, off-beat style.

While I wouldn’t actually wear most of the quirky-bold pieces in her collections, there are always some sleek designs that I drool after, and her accessories are just gorgeous.

Top by Marni, denim shorts by Acne, shoes by Habbot Studios.

Anyway, I was looking for some casual tops, that still looked a bit dressy. Something that I could wear to a summer time dinner and drinks, and to a nice afternoon event.

I bought this simple, cotton camisole top by Marni – with flowers, mainly because I already have a good stock of plain tops and thought I’d try something different.

It arrived in 5 days, and it’s absolutely lovely! Light, simple, feminine, and very sweet, without being too sweet.

I also threw on some coloured cropped pants and a dressy skirt, just to play with the versatility of the top.

It’d go great with lots of other bottoms – maxi skirts, pencil skirts, wide leg pants, work pieces, and of course, your favourite pair of jeans :)

The next top is a Polka Dot Tank by Sonia by Sonia Rykiel.

Sonia Rykiel is an uber iconic French designer, first popular in the 70s. The label’s style is gorgeous, flirty, French, chic, ultra-feminine – full of bold colours, pink, stripes, and polka dots. It has a very unique and timeless style, but it’s very playful and cheeky too.

The top is a very simple tank, made from deliciously soft jersey, but not see-through.

While I think I will actually be wearing it more with casual shorts and skirts… I paired it with a leather skirt and pony hair heels, and it looked fab! Very French glamour!!

( See all my Daily Outfits here )

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Check out more of my favourite online shops in my Women’s Online Fashion Shopping Guide.

Sitting by the river at sunset.

My children in my lap.

Watching fireworks under the stars and the new moon.

Loving life.

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone!!

xxx