A Birkin & a Bday

Super tight trip to HK and SZ this weekend, I'm exhausted!

We arrived at Hotel LKF (very nice boutique) at 12.30am and made it up to FINDS bar as quickly we could to meet some of our friends. We were super late and had really bad coordination, so some people got sick of waiting and left while others couldnt even find us.

But the lovelies that did were lovely indeed!

We picked up the Birkin the next day (well Steve did, I slept) and I felt a sudden gratitude for all the nice things he does for me that I take for granted - like surprising me with a Birkin for my bday (even though I checked his email and found his liaison with the concierge company), and all the effort he went to in order to make sure we only waited 1 month and not 3 years (or never) like everyone else. Oh, which reminds me - has anyone read the book Bringing Home the Birkin by Michael Tonello? Its such a great book, very entertaining and you get some insight into what people do to get this coveted bag, which really..... after I held it in my hands, is just a bag.

HK skyline:

We had to leave for SZ right away, and there was hardly any time and I didnt even get to EAT YUM CHA! *grief*...

I did get a Beijing duck crepe from Wyndam St though, that was really tasty and made me feel better.

We then spent another night in a hotel in SZ and left the next day. Hectic.

Here we are at dinner with Steve's dad's side of the family for his grannie's 90th birthday - wow! She's so cute too, really energetic and fun :)

I only ate 2 meals there but I made sure that I overdosed both times so that it was worth it. YUMS.

So everyone's probably already heard about our silly little rendezvous with customs in Seoul on the way back. Basically, they were asking us to pay up to $7k tax on the Birkin, cos I had so many duty free items (oops) and we totally forgot about how that happens. I should have just pretended it was old and held it in my arm instead of brand new in the box with all the tags and packaging still on it.

OH WELL.

Steve has already got another ticket going back to HK in 2 weeks so that he can get it out and back into the country again LOL... my only regret is that I let the dirty customs ppl put their grubby paws all over it and dump it in their holding dock grrr... never mind, this will not be my last Birkin so I'll live!! 2 trips to HK for a bag is such a damn funny story though, loves it :D

Oh, and good thing I took some pics of it first in the hotel so that I can share with you guys:

Yay Orange Togo, I'll see you soon!

xxoo

Fun with old Sydney friends

I'm dashing off for the airport soon, and super busy at work, but wtf ill just put up these pics from Stella & David and baby Noah's visit cos I have no time management skills.

I LOVE NOAH, he's such a sweetie. He can say oh-ma and dada now :)

@ Ola! with the Chois...

We were so bad, I made Stella hang out with me for 2 days in a row when she should have been with in-laws... even on Children's Day! hahaha... the night before we went and stuffed ourselves silly (at my company's expense) cos I needed to do a food review. We ordered everything on the menu and the boys got drunk. I have to do another review by Tuesday and I'm away the entire weekend ~~~ argh!!! Too busy :(

Meanwhile, Fresno is also in Seoul. I haven't see him for 6 years and he's still exactly the same, calling me "Graciepoo"  and asking if I'm still constipated. Yes, I am.

Eating @ the Hilton with the Hilton man himself...love our bread rolls in mugs LOL

Toodles!

xxoo

Brunch with Babes - the 3rd installment

I missed the 2nd one cos I was in Sydney (and they went to Gorilla in the Kitchen, that super posh place where u can count the calories of every dish you order - fun!) but I was most certainly that this one.

It was held at Passion5, this gigantic building in Itaewon with really cool interiors - very fly. There is a gelato, bakey, patisserie, and dessert section downstairs, and dining upstairs:

Super love!!

Some of the food we ordered:

Dorothy also came with a whole stack of her D-Style scarves - I chose a yellow&grey and a fuschia&orange one. She also gave me a pair of flats that she got for 7,000W haha! I asked her to get one of the girls to model all the different ways the scarf can be worn... might put it into one of my articles :)

Fun times in the toilet...

The Babes who Brunch! (well, most of us....) It's really funny, cos they made the booking under "Hello Kitty" so when we walked in we all had to say "I'm with the Hello Kitty table". The waiters thought it was so cute :P

No, Steve was not invited but he came at the end cos we were all going to church together. All the girls gushed and drooled over him again (why?) and they've now dubbed us Ken & Barbie - like, for real! That's what they're calling us now... OMG. I guess it's a compliment though haha!!

Anyway, THAT was brunch which went until 4pm. Then after church we went to Bennigans for pre-dinner, where I met the little child actor from "Boys before Flowers" - he's soooo cute! Oh, and also Brian from Fly to the Sky is in that picture but I've met him heaps of times before and I dont think of him as a star anymore. The guys in the pic on the top right hand side are members of this new boy band called One Way. Peter, the guy on the left, grew up in Sydney and went to Newtown Performing Arts College - small world, huh!

After Bennigans, we went for our REAL dinner which was this fried chicken place in a Korean market that was meant to be very good. It was! But I think we were all pretty full by then... didnt stop me though - I couldn't even be bothered to look at the camera when they were taking pictures LOL

I woke up this morning STARVING again. WTF is wrong with me?!

Stella & Fresno are arriving in Seoul this week! I have 2 magazine deadlines and a trip to HK as well... too much to do!

Laterz
xxoo

Peeeeeekaboo...

So I ended up getting the peekaboo... mostly because it was the last one left in the store in black, and there was only ONE other left in milky white. All the other colours were completely sold out (even python) and theres a 8mth waiting list for some style... *dies*... Korean's are so fashion crazy.

Meanwhile, we've in the process of sprucing up the Dress Me Pretty homepage, blog and facebook. We already have a new look shopping album, and we're looking for more fan contributions for the new fan album. Send us your best looks, your fave purchase, or just a pic of you looking fab!!

Btw has everyone seen Ange's wedding video yet? Click here and input usename: mcghee and password: 280310. I really love the bit where she's looking over Phil's shoulder and also the dance at the end. Still the most amazing dance I have ever seen!

Ok now is it bad that I like Justin Bieber? He's so cute! I feel totally sorry for the little shits that waited for him since 2am outside Sunrise, the poor dears. Coppers suck, let's kill them. BOOOOOO.



Oh, swoon. I wouldn't mind having a boy if he's as cute as that :P

xxoo

Broadcasting and bags...

Have been super busy again lately... spent last week in beautiful Busan on a company trip - must say I did love being in a 5-star hotel with a 180 degree view of the beach and gorging on buffets 3 times a day. My body did NOT love though... my boss said I eat too much and warned me about my bum!

So yesterday, I decided to go on a 48hr raw food diet. MASSIVE FAIL. I lasted 5hrs before I started eating ramen and chocolate biscuits. Whatever. I'm just not the dieting type (unless of course I'm getting married, but that's not gonna ever happen again, thank god.)

Meanwhile, after that article about me appeared on Korea.net, I was asked by Arirang Radio (a national broadcaster here) if they could interview me on their Culturescapes segment as a personality in Korea. The bonus is that I got paid for it - YAY!

So last night, I went into the studio and we did a 1hr recording, talking about my life in Korea, my passions, Australian beef, fashion editing and of course, Dress Me Pretty. It was great fun and apparently I'm a natural, which got me thinking that I should get into broadcasting haha....

Here's me in the studio with the segment DJs, Hannah & Jooch:

... and then afterwards just hangin' with Dorothy in the studio while she recorded the Evening Groove segment live:

You can listen to the interview here on Saturday night at 7pm Seoul time (8pm Australian time), although I have no idea what I said and the whole thing was recorded in one take so I probably sound like a blubbering idiot cos I didnt even know the questions beforehand!

Now onto the most important question at hand: WHICH HANDBAG TO CHOOSE.

My top 3 choices at the moment are... the new Balenciaga blue giant briefcase (or part timer). The colour is actually really amazing, much better than it is pictured here. So hip, so now, so blue blue blue!

Next, the Chloe Marcie. I've seen it look fab on Katie Holmes so many times now but when I checked it out in the store I wasn't quite sure if it's my style. Looks GREAT in pictures though!

And finally, my favorite of the day... the Fendi Peekaboo. I'm not normally a fan of Fendi bags, and my original Fendi tote disappeared whilst moving across countries many years ago. I've never thought of getting another Fendi bag until now... but this is just pure perfection. You can wear it around your arm as a briefcase, or with the strap, clasped up or "peekaboo" like on the runway. I'm really tempted but my husband is gonna so roll his eyes if I get another bag right now, especially as we are picking up the BIRKIN NEXT WEEK!!! (dies of excitement...)

Check out the pictures and tell me what you think plz!

xxoo

Little fat Taiwanese boy and others...

So I'm sure you've all see little chub chub with the bowl haircut belt out an amazing rendition of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" on Taiwan's 星光大道 (the equivalent of Idol). Since then, he's been on Lopez Tonight singing a really weird version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" with William Shatner, who btw - totally fucks up the song. I felt so sorry for little fat boy, cos it must have been SO HARD to sing in tune with a crazy person TALKING when they should be SINGING next to you...

WTF.



How cute is he at the end when he's bopping to the music :P

He also appeared on Ellen:



Oooooh he's so cute, I just wanna eat him! MUNCH MUNCH!!!

Paedophilia aside, the news in town is that Toni Braxton is BACK! I used to love her back in the day... ooooh, that I shall never breathe again...



Can someone please tell me how these old ppl manage to look hotter/fitter/younger than they did 10 years ago?? If botox & lipo is the key, then I aint against either. Bring it on!!!

And yes, ack that I've posted this next one up already on my fb, but I just love how Rain can dance like this to a slow song. I have yet to see an African-American do it better (NB. this used to say "nigger" instead of African-American, but a hater has noted that I am being politically incorrect in their comment following this post, so I have removed the offending word and I do apologise if i have offended anyone - which I dont think I have, as I obviously was complimenting them on their dancing skills. I have not, however, removed the offending post, because as we all know - haters should be showcased for all the world to see!).

This version even has English subtitles yay.



Ok I'm gonna leave you with the best.

The new trailer for Eclipse is out. WOOOOOOOOT!!!! And it will be out just in time for my bday!



So exxy, so exxy!!!

xxoo

Korea.net - Fashionista in Korea

I was asked a while back to write a contribution for Korea.net, the government's official tourism website. I dont really know how they discovered me - probably through my column - so I wrote up a little story about myself and my experiences in Korea.

They edited quite a bit and made me kinda sound like a retard in sections, but it's finally up and the final result is quite good.

Quick screen shot...

Read it here!

Talking about fashionistas, good story on Vogue about SJP:

And random, but I love this pic of Adriana Lima as envisaged by Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele in Vogue Paris...

xxoo

Xtine & LC's visit

Sorry this is so late! They left 2 weeks ago, but then I had the in-laws over, and since then I have been too sick to bother with anything.

Boooo....

Anyhoooo, here are some of LC's lovely pictures that she left on my desktop.

Cakes, coffee & other dessert... Mmmmmm, what we do best :)

Hello Kitty cafe!!

The Princess cafe that is actually called something else, but I like to call it the Princess cafe cos I can never remember what it's called...

The girls out exploring Seoul:

Our last night out. I MISS YOU BEAUTIFUL GIRLS!!!

Spent an hour skyping with Xtine tonight cos I was so sick and depressed. Felt immediately better afterwards :)

Oh, and hubby is back from Shanghai tonight! Hope he got me a pressie otherwise he is SO DEAD.

xxoo

P.S. BoyzIIMen rocked hardcore!! Even in my deliriously cold-medicine drugged up state, I mustered up the energy to sing along and scream hysterically. Seriously, I've never heard anyone else sound that great live. Truly the kings of R'n'B - magical! (think there are some pics on fb that I got tagged in). Oh, and P.P.S.... that decision that I had to make re. who to take cost me a friend. Ridic, huh. Over a pair of tickets. Ugh. Dont wanna go into it....

To Boyz2Men or not to...

UGH

I'm still super sick sitting at my desk.... slowly dying...

And need super urgent advice.

THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT!!!!

I have 2 VIP tickets to Boyz2Men for tomorrow night, and they are worth like $300+. Froggie is away in China, so I need to pick a date to go with me (there are 2 ppl vying for it right now).

Do I:

1) Just give them away and skip it cos I'm too sick and need to get better (seems like such a waste)
2) Go with one of them and just deal with the pain of illness for the love of old skool r&b and the tingling feeling that "End of the Road" will undoubtedly bring me... and also risk offending the other person who also wanted to go (a lot of politics here)
3) Sell it (might be a bit too late)

Anyway, too disgusting to think about this anymore...

Am considering to do this to my hair:

(a friend of mine who just left Korea)

Obviously, she can get away with it cos she is a chameleon and she has a really small face, but I wonder if the beef guys would mind me as a blond...?

Questions, questions...

xxoo

Seoul Fashion Week article

I just received the final edit of my article for this month's column and I really like it! It always looks better in print than it does for the online version.

I couldn't even attach it, so I just took a picture of the pdf on my screen with my iphone lol:

I'll try and blog it properly on Dress Me Pretty or something.

Click here to see some of my other articles online.

Black Day

It's Black Day in Korea - something I had no idea about until this morning. When someone told me it was "black day" I was really worried I was gonna die - especially since I caught a cold from my boss (grrrr) and I had a really awful dream last night about someone stealing my cello which woke me up super anxious.

Anyway, what is Black Day? According to one article, it is a South Korean original, "marked by people who have not found love dressing in dark colors and commiserating over meals of black food, with the dish of choice being jajangmyeon" (this Chinese noodle with black paste).

Pretty sad, huh?

Let's not forget that this is also the country that has a "White Day" in March, which celebrates couples being in love and men spending copious amounts of money on gifts for their woman.

Hence, by Korean standards - you're fucked if you're single and you're broke if you're not.

Hey, that was pretty clever! *high five*

Meanwhile, Lady Gaga just uploaded this on her Twitter:

And then this.

I love you Gags, but why anyone would do that to their Birkin is beyond me!

xxoo