Goodbye Dubai.

I left Dubai in September, my home for the last five years!!
I miss it already but I'm glad to be back in my hometown, Melbourne.

On my last night in Dubai, my girlfriends and I spent the evening out at Armani Hotel.

Mabellie and I in the foyer of Prive.
I'm wearing a dress I had tailor made in the Satwa souks of Dubai (blogged below) and that cute pink 'Allanah Hill-ish' purse is a thrift shop find!

This is my favourite photo. Dee took it on her blackberry but it turned out pretty magic. It's the background of my phone screen actually, I love it that much!

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.

Gothchic.

Last week I was given the opportunity to work with three amazing and talented people.

Makeup artist and stylist Gene Ginno Alducente, and fashion photographers Tinayums and Mahryska.

Not only was this an exciting experience, but the outcome of the shoot was pretty amazing. 

Makeup, styling and accessories provided by Gene.

It's so inspiring to work with such creative people. Thank you all for the fab experience!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Ps- this is a pic I took from my blackberry - I LOVE the makeup and will only dream of going gothchic full time :-)

iFly Dubai!

I had a pretty interesting weekend. Shopping and watching football, but the best part was when I got to experience indoor skydiving! In Mirdif City Centre, they have this centre called 'iFly' which is a skydiving simulation tunnel where you get in with the trainer who helps you on body positions and techniques. It's pretty fun. I'd like to do the real thing but after feeling so uncoordinated in the tunnel, I can't imagine how it'd feel thousands of feet up in the air! Anyway, If you're in Dubai and interested in the experience, go to their website.

And now, random cupcake photo! There was a parade at the mall and I couldn't help but take a photo with the cupcake (or muffin)! How cute is the cookie too. Dubai is so random sometimes - one minute you're shopping, the next thing there's a marching band with jugglers, stilt walkers and sweets following behind.

 In our super stylish skydiving outfits - the wind tunnel is in the background.

Some pics of the instructors up to their tricks. They're pretty amazing, and super nice guys!
I'll definitely go back to iFly while I'm in Dubai - it's a great chance to experience the thrill of skydiving without jumping out the plane (and also a good chance to learn a few new tricks) ;)

Paranoid ballerina android.

Hey everyone, how was your weekend?  My weekend was fun. We had a friend from Australia in town so spent a lot of time outdoors at the beach, the markets and the Aquaventure water park at Atlantis hotel (SO FUN). I went for a very casual look - but not so casual (erm tutu anyone?) but there is definitely something about tshirts that take years off any age. I looked like a 17 year old school girl apparently!
What I wore yesterday-

Radiohead shirt - Ebay / H&M skirt / Rubi ballerina flats / Beaded headband as anklet / Soto Smith purse
(they even have an online store, check them out: http://www.sotosmith.com/)

 Me waiting in the air-conditioned car while my sister and Nicole were out taking tourist photos with the Burj Al Arab... :-)
It was probably 37-40C degrees yesterday!!

We had breakfast at Saladicious in Jumeirah, which is my favourite restaurant in Dubai (Foursquare mayor hell yeah!). I could eat here every day.
It's located just around the corner from The One furniture store, next to Jumeirah Mosque.

Our breakfast of massive pancakes and delicious nutella and strawberry crepes. SO YUM. 

I love the cool and eclectic interior of the restaurant, and the male/female bathroom 'signs' are also pretty cool!

Belated happy birthday to me.

My gorgeous friends organised a surprise dinner for me on the weekend to celebrate my 25th birthday (which I was out of town for).
They're so sweet (and secretive!!). I was so shocked and the tiniest bit annoyed because I really hate surprises!!

The venue was absolutely amazing though. On board the Bateaux Cruise, which is a 2.5 hour journey along the Dubai creek, we had a beautiful 360 degree panoramic view of the city since the boat was made almost entirely of glass. We had an amazing three-course meal and went up on the deck to take photos with the lovely city we currently call home.

 Me and some of my friends who all looked gorgeous in their summer florals.
I wish I knew about the party, and that I was going to be on the Bateaux Dubai!! If I knew in advance, I definitely would have dressed up more. I was just wearing a Zara embroidered shirt with a long woolen vest over, and the oldest pair of crappy flat sandals I own! 

Note to self: when living in Dubai, make sure you ALWAYS look fancy!

Very full after a three-course meal of salmon for starter, sirloin steak for main and raspberry creme brulee for the dessert. Then the chocolate cake of course (couldn't eat it - too full!)

Thank you to my dear friends for such an unforgetable evening.

***

I'd definitely recommend dinner on the Bateaux if you're ever in Dubai.

For more information, visit their website here.

My Wednesday Wish - Miu Miu doll.

My Wednesday wish is to be a Miu Miu doll. A Miu Miu doll would have unlimited supplies of gorgeous satin platform pumps, sparrow and kitty printed clutches, stunning lashes over huge doe eyes, and out of this world, long, lean legs.

Take your pick.

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!

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/

Moving day.

Today my sister moved out (taking my kitty cat with her.. :( ) hence the bare room in the background.

I'm moving out in a few weeks time as well. All that's left is pretty much my bed and my closet. But who needs anything else!;)
I'll miss this place. Such a perfect location: just 10 minutes from work, the beach, the biggest mall, and a 10 minute walk from my favourite one, Mall of the Emirates.

But - must keep moving - on to bigger and better things!

Dress from H&M, Shoes from Aldo.

A webcam timeline.

I've had this laptop for almost five years now, I'm about ready to buy a new one.
I was just looking though some old photos stored in the webcam folder and have been lol-ing at all the memories. I don't know what it is about a webcam, even if not broadcasting to anyone, we all kind of become posers, don't we?

Here are my favourite grainy photos, 2006-2010.

November 2006 - My first webcam shot in my sisters apartment, I was crashing with her for a few months until I sorted myself out in Dubai. These was also the days I used to cut my own hair :-|

June 2007 -  In my new place, a crummy little studio apartment wearing my beloved Chloe sunnies, which later wrecked after a weekend in Istanbul. Also was going through a bad case of acne at this point. Nice to look back on, NOT!

April 2008 - McQueen biaatch! And a new apartment - hell yeah.

March 2009 - Trying for a lighter hair colour for the summer... didn't last long.

May 2009 - Playing dressup - Fafi style.

June-August 2009 - Looking back and remembering how little my kitty cat was, just a few months ago it seems. She's such a fatty now. And again, newer and bigger apartment!

November 2009 - Decided to go downstairs to the salon to chop my fringe off.

At least it's straight, I've learnt something over the years!

Do you guys use your webcams much? I don't really anymore. It's still fun to look back though. I can kind of use it as a time line of different hairstyles and weight loss/weight gains - so makes a very interesting picture storyboard.

Regretfully yours.

I'm the first to admit, I have a shopping problem. But my shopping problem runs deeper than just an addiction. I'm also an impulsive buyer. You know the shopping rule, that if you hesitate or are unsure, you should just put it back on the racks... My mind can't seem to filter out the "maybe's" and just tells me to just go for everything!
So the problem is, I'm left at home with a closet full of items I have never worn.

In the last year or so, I have accumulated 20 dresses I've only worn once (who the eff do i think I am, some Hollywood star?), and 16 that I've never even worn yet.

This is not good for my budget... I need to stop buying "maybe" items.
Or, I maybe need to start going out more!?
One of the dresses I've only ever worn once (it's fairly new though) is this 'nighty' dress. It's really pretty, I saw it and fell in love with it. But the reason I don't wear it is because of the strict-parents-in-the-form-of-Dubai-government problem I have. I mean, it looks like lingerie, I actually don't feel comfortable wearing it out (hence the huge bag to hide behind;))

New Look dress / Steve Madden platforms / Amorni bag (Melbourne).

So why did I buy it if I wasn't comfortable wearing it? Basically because it's a perfect 'date night' dress!
On the other hand, if it wasn't suitable to wear in the UAE, they wouldn't have sold it here, right?

Friday in pictures.

Spent yesterday shopping with bbff (best blogger friend forever?;)), Mabel.

Here are some pictures from our day at the newly opened Mirdif City Centre. They had a special 'fashion weekend' in sponsorship with Viva magazine so there were catwalk shows by Topshop, Bershka, Jane Norman and others. As well as heaps of sales and freebies!

 First stop, launch party for Garage clothing store from Canada.

Free icecream cupcakes from Cold Stone - WIN!

They announced they were having a singing contest, just had to sing a few lines from Lady Gaga's Pokerface. She was so shy but I managed to get her to enter. The other contestant was pretty good but when Mabel sang, everyone was WOW-ed. She won a 50 dirhams gift voucher, easiest ever!

Browsing through F21.
Their prom collection is totally cute. I wish the fashion was like this when I was still in High school!

The mall was pretty cool, reminded me of Chadstone in Melbourne (except filled with European brands;)).

While waiting for our dinner, I was subject to Mabel's paparazzi practice.

 Chicken wingssssss.

 

Sugar fix via the BEST cupcakes in Dubai.
Sunnygirl dress from a store in the Walk Arcade, Melbourne city. 

Hope you all have/had a great weekend!

xx Cathy