Ski bunny!

The other week my friends and I went to Ski Dubai, the indoor ski slope and snow park in Dubai's Mall Of The Emirates. Five years of living in this city, it was the first time I actually visited the place... it actually opened a couple of months after I arrived!

I'm originally from Australia and I have to say, I'm not a winter person - I love to be in the summer sun (which is why I avoided this place for so long!) but it was so much fun. We had skiing lessons and a bit of a play around in the snow park with all the kiddies.

 Overlooking the indoor ski resort. In the background there you can see the glowing yellow lights... that's the shopping mall! 

While you're shopping you can stop and watch people playing in the snow.

(PS sorry about my facials... it was cold! I can't be accountable for my facial reactions, I'm not used to it ;))

The mini slope where we took our first ski lesson. I was actually quite surprised and it was easier than I thought it'd be. 

I think I'll be taking more lessons before I leave Dubai. What a story to tell people... 

"So Cathy, what'd you do in Dubai?" 

"Oh I learnt to ski!"

"You learnt to ski in the middle of the desert?!"

 Avalanche Cafe, a place to escape from the -2 degrees chill.
The chill is a nice change from the outside temperatures of approximately 48 degrees though.

 We couldn't resist... Fashion blogger poses. ;)

Sporting our ever stylish (and borrowed) snow suits courtesy of Ski Dubai.

We've both been terrible bloggers, Mabellie and I, with such infrequent posting, but the blogger in us still lives.

Girls night in.

On Friday night, my friend Majeigh hosted a little 'cupcake party' for Resh, Mabel and myself.

Not only is Majeigh's house just absolutely adorable, but she prepared for us a gorgeous table of macarons and cupcakes.

Cute, right? It felt like we were dining in some chic and sweet cafe.
The delicious girly cupcakes were decorated with icing of handbags, shoes and lipsticks! ;)

 

I wore my New Look lingerie dress, Carvela short heels and my purse from Bangkok markets.

It was such a great evening in with the girls. The chance to just dress up a bit and indulge in all these sweets...

I'm definitely going to miss nights like this when I leave Dubai! :(

When bloggers meet: Blooming wonderful!

Summer in Dubai not only means uncomfortable scorching heat and sweaty foreheads, but also SUMMER SALES.
And to kick start the Dubai Summer Surprises offers, Grazia magazine teamed up with Bloomingdale's department store to host a beauty party with massive makeup trials, goodie bags and free Magnolia Bakery cupcakes.

Myself and fellow bloggers Mabel, Meho, Mariyah and Tina took this opportunity to catch up and talk  clothes, shoes, and of course, take plenty of photos!

Reiss top / Philippines thrifted shirt / SM floral wedges / Reworked vintage clutch

Everyone was given the chance to test out the makeup in the whole department store and draw out our preferences. They later put them all up on display - it was like a kindergarten colouring contest for make up lovers!;) In the Little Brown Bag of goodies we received great products like Chanel mascara and Coco Rouge lipstick, salon and beauty bar vouchers and perfumes - I got Bvlgari and Mabel got Gucci! They definitely spoiled us so a big thanks goes to Bloomingdale's Dubai Mall and Grazia Middle East!

Me, Mabel and Meho with our little brown bags of treats!

Colourful rings and a red velvet cupcake. What more would you want in your hands?

My necklace was a custom made purchase from cbtscloset.com. I've mentioned her shop in a previous post and definitely recommend you check her out if you're after custom made jewelry! I love her to bits! She can make pretty much anything for you!

The bag was a birthday gift last year from my friend Karen from Sydney. Next time I'm in Sydney I will beg Karen to the shop that she bought it at!! It's a vintage purse which has been spraypainted with this beatbox design. It's my most awesomest and favourite purse. You should be very jealous.

***
UPDATE: The bag is from a Sydney Designer called Soto Smith - I probably should have realised this sooner, since there IS a tag inside the bag. But... here's their website: http://www.sotosmith.com/)

Vanilla Ice Cream.

No no, not another food post ;)

I wanted to dedicate a post to the lovely Gizelle over at Vanilla Ice Cream. 

She held a giveaway competition the other week after reaching 200 followers (congrats my dear!) and I won!

  I'll be receiving a stone ring, stud earrings and dangling wooden earrings. These will look gorgeous with a couple of maxi dresses that I own so I'm really excited to receive the snail mail package from Cebu soon!

(PS Gizelle, my mum is originally from Cebu City :))

Follow her blog here. She's got great style plus she's such a sweetheart!

Blog to follow: ilegallcargo to go.

I've been naughty and haven't posted any photos from my holiday earlier this month like I said I would.

You should check out Crystalline's travel blog though: http://ilegallcargotogo.blogspot.com

She's taken the time to blog almost daily short stories and photos while she's on a family trip. Her gorgeous photos show us the easy, beautiful, tropical life that is a holiday in the Philippine Islands.

Jealous, jealous, jealous. I want to be back.

Enjoy the rest of your vacation CC! x

My Wednesday Wish - Sony's NEX-5 & NEX-3 Cameras!

Maybe I should start a new weekly feature called' Wednesday wishes'.
If you could have anything right now, what would it be? For me, it's currently a new digital camera.

My current (a gorgeous little black Canon Ixus100IS) is fully functioning but falling to pieces after a 'self-timer' slip up. Oops! I think I may treat myself to a present though, and purchase a Sony NEX-5 or NEX-3 when they launch in the Middle East soon. 

Basically it's a fashion bloggers dream: small and lightweight with DSLR quality (14.2-megapixel), interchangeable lenses, HD quality video and HDR effect features. This revolutionary design allows you to experience the performance of DSLR without the size and weight.

Dubai based fashion blogger Mahryska was lucky enough to get her hands on it before its release.
They look perfect together ;) this is totally my Wednesday wish!

***
More about the NEX Camera's at Sony
Follow Mahryska's blog at mahryskadaily.blogspot.com/

Independent artists versus the fashion world.

Imagine you're out at the mall, or browsing online and suddenly see something very familiar. Something that belongs to YOU! How would you feel? Cheated, ripped off, maybe flattered? It's happened to many independent fashion bloggers, and happens more and more frequently as the number of influential bloggers increase (along with the number of their followers)!

The latest one, discovered by Parisien blogger Betty of le blog de betty, left her puzzled and unsettled.
It seems that Zara's TRF line 'borrowed' her photo and used it for a tshirt design.

While under the right circumstances, finding a tshirt with obvious inspiration from something that you had created would be amazing. If the company had approached you and you agreed to your image being used and all that. But if you come across it by surprise, I can't imagine the emotions you'd feel. The resemblance is too uncanny to ignore.

Other OBVIOUS examples of plagiarism by large companies: 

Boyfriend tshirt by Thrasher Store (which they say they have been selling for 20 years now) and on the right, an Urban Outfitters tshirt, only on sale sometime in 2009.

On the left - cute earrings by LolaPop and on the right, Hello Sailor earrings by Topshop, which coincidentally were released a few months after LolaPop was featured in NME magazine in 2009! These LolaPop designs are CUTE AS HELL by the way! I'm definitely checking back at the store when it's open again (early June).

The design above originally by Tabitha Emma to be used in a Leeloo event, was blatantly copied by Alannah Hill for window displays around Australia. Shortly after the Leeloo blog and definatalie spread the word, Alannah Hill sent an apology letter, but the opinion of most other independent artists was that Tabitha should receive monetary compensation for her work being used by such a well known design house.

At the end of the day, plagiarism is rampant in all parts of the art community. Not just by bloggers or fashion design; also in multimedia, advertisements, novels, music, poetry, films and games. And it's not always the brands fault - they could just be buying the artwork off a hired illustrator that has claimed the work as their own. I'm sure most of these big brands wouldn't want to sell 'stolen' artwork... I hope honest young designers and creative minds aren't deterred from doing what they love out of fear/the expectation that someone else will profit off it!

***

Original Sources

Betty's blog: leblogdebetty.com

Tabitha Emma/Alannah Hill: definatalie.com and leeloo.com.au

Thrasher store and LolaPop xamples from this interesting website (open for public submission):

http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com

Just shoot me!

My awesome Franki boy from back in Melbourne town has just unleashed his latest shots.

He's a bit of an ametuer photographer, preparing styled shoots in his spare time, and lucky for him, surrounded by beautiful friends that are willing to model! His latest models are my little-sistah-from-another mister Kim and my cousin Stephen, I must admit he's a bit of a hottie, no? ;)

 

 Great work J, I'm really digging these.

A sunshine socialite!

Many thanks and big love to the gorgeous Tuesdai Noelle, who has awarded me with a Socialite Crown Award!

Happy to answer some questions and will also 'pass the crown' onto my girls in the Dubai blogosphere:

Mabel, Mariyah, Resh & Tracy!

1. Who is your style icon?

Zooey Deschanel for sure. She’s totally cute, wholesome but fun at the same time.

Also, other bloggers from around the world are my icons. Everyday girls just like any other except that they are kind enough to share their style tips and tricks with the rest of us.

2. What is your favorite socialite lit book?

Not sure about socialite lit book, but the latest novel I’ve read and loved was ‘Hunting & Gathering’ by Anna Gavalda. A story about a young French girl tired of the world, who finds unexpected inspiration in her quirky neighbours.

3. Favorite party theme?

Karaoke:-)

4. Go to Halloween costume?

We don’t really do Halloween in Australia but have been out celebrating here in Dubai a few times. I like to just dress up out of the ordinary, not particularly as someone else. Perhaps throw on a wig and that’s it for me. Last year I dressed up as a sailor. Wasn’t planning to but on the day itself I was at Dragonmart and walked past a lingerie store *cringe* selling ‘sexy costumes’. The sailor girls were still decent and totally cute – and fairly cheap so I went with that!

5. Extravagance you cannot live without?

My life is in no way extravagant at all. I’d say I can’t live without traveling now though. And I know a lot of people haven’t been able to travel the world at all (I haven’t been to even half of the places I still want to visit) but I'm quite satisfied with the rate I'm going at.

6. Living person you admire?

My mother for being both mum & dad to my siblings and I.
And also for just turning 60 but not looking a day over 40.

7. Greatest Fear?

I don't want to sound silly and say something like 'spiders' but it's true!

But I'm also a good, God-fearing girl:-)

8. Trait you deplore in yourself?

I'm most unsatisfied with my inability to speak up in certain situations. I can be painfully shy sometimes.

9. Which talent would you most like to have?
Musically - playing an instrument. I tried guitar, but didn't try hard enough I guess.

10. Greatest Achievement?

I think the tight relationship I still have with my family and oldest friends back home. I've been living apart from them for 5 years now, on opposite sides of the world. And even though there has been years or months between visits, every time we meet it's like I never left. I think that's quite an achievement, because I know it's easy for to drift away from those you grew up with. Never forget your roots. ;-)

Also big thank you to Jasmine for awarding me a Sunshine Award.

You guys really made my day, and glad to be starting the weekend off feeling like a summer princess:-)

xx Cathy

Giving you my daily dose.

The reason I got back into serious blogging over the last few months was due to a fellow blogger and uber-fashionista MARIYAH who arranged for a photoshoot one day at her home studio in January. It kind of gave me a refreshed interest in fashion, photography and the like, inspiring me to just get back into it!

The photoshoot was based around the idea of the "fashionable Pinay". Pinay is the colloquial term for Filipina, those gorgeous ladies from the far-eastern islands of the Philippines. I'm half Filipina (from my mothers side), and half Australian - so a bit halo-halo (mix-mix)! :-)

Mariyah gathered six of us at her studio, each with three 'typical' outfits we wear, to show the diversity and individual style of her fellow fashion-lovers. I really admire the international fashion-blogging world - the encouragement and shared inspiration - it's a great community to be involved in!

These are the three outfits I came up with.
Day outfit: weekends, movies, brunches etc.

Night outfit: parties, dinners etc.

My typical outfit: personal style, a 'trade mark' look.

You can read interviews and check out the other girls at:

mahryska's daily dose: fashionable pinay tribute

I also recommend following Mariyah for trend updates and for the latest fashion news in Dubai!

Ilegallcargo (and an Ericka Crosse visit).

A big, late thanks to ilegallcargo blog for featuring me last month. You can check out her little tribute here. I featured Sidney and her photography company Another Surography earlier in my blog so click here if you missed that.

As she mentioned, I was reunited with our mutual friend, Miss Ericka Crosse recently for a few days and got to tour her around my beloved little city. Firstly, of all my friends, she has the most epically awesome hairstyle.

The Cassie-Ventura-inspired half shaved head.

I wish I could do it, but it's definitely not something I could pull off!

Here are some photos from our mini-Dubai tour.

On the traditional dhow boat from Deira side, across the creek to Bur Dubai.
Cheapest mode of transport in Dubai - just one dirham!

At the entrance of quite a small but amazing mosque in Bur Dubai. Years ago when I was still new here, I would wander around old parts of the city and I actually discovered this place. Amid the boring sandy buildings surrounding it this structure really stood out. I'm glad we accidentally stumbled across it again.

And back over on the Deira side of the creek, entering the Gold Souks.

Just some store windows showcasing their blinding, shimmering collections.

In Khan Murjan restaurant, Wafi City for a traditional Arabic (Lebanese;)) lunch. 

The hummus and fattoush here is SO GOOD.

A little bit of a self-timer angle fail here. In front of the massive Atlantis Palm hotel.

I love playing tour guide here in Dubai, although I'm not 100% educated on the city and it's history, I still like to give my point of view (and the little I do know).
Not many friends have visited me over the years - I wish more would, preferrably before I leave!!