Girly Stuff

It's Sunday morning, and I've decided to have an 'at home' day today. The plan is to cook, to upload my new photo's to facebook and write comments on them and to get caught up on my blogging.

First I'm going to finish this blog about clothes and hair, etc that I started ages ago. So now I just have to decide how much girly stuff to confess too ;-)

Since I've been in Korea I've been slowly collecting places where I can go and get the various things that girls require. So far I have found:

• A great beautician - although she can be a little rough, last time I went I had bruises for two weeks as a result of the massage she gave me, but my skin looked great between the black and blue spots!!
• A fantastic hair dresser, only five minutes from my apartment by bus. From her I got a 'Magic Straight Perm.' This is an amazingly wonderful process that made my hair dead straight and cuts down the time it takes to do my hair everyday. I can comb it wet, straight out of the shower and walk away. An unheard and undreamed of luxury!!!!! Saves me 15 minutes of blow drying and spraying and trying to make it look respectable - only to be thwarted by the humidity that curls everything into a uncontrolled mess within 10 minutes of stepping outside. With Magic Straight the humidity doesn't turn a hair! Having said that in the last two weeks the weather has become decidedly autumn-ish, there is no humidity and a decided chill in the air, cool mornings and evenings bracketing long summery afternoons. One of my favourite times of the year! I'm told that in a couple more weeks the leaves will start to change colour and every thing will look glorious.
• A shoe shop that has shoes that fit me and shop attendants that are eager to help me find shoes I like - a very important factor that actually keeps me in the shop, otherwise I would be walking around bare foot!!! (Had actually gotten down to just one pair of shoes before I found this place - the other had literally fallen off my feet.) I have enough trouble finding shoes to fit in NZ, (short, wide feet with a high instep.) Here where most people have small, narrow, apparently flat feet it is almost impossible to find shoes to fit. Add into that the factor of trying to communicate in another language and my habitual aversion to shoe shopping and I am finding myself in the situation where I have to follow the advice; "If the shoe fits, buy it!"
• A clothes shop that has clothes I like and that fit me!! This is not as easy as it sounds. On the one hand I actually can fit clothes on the rack these days which is something I thank God for everyday. (The difference between now and 18 months ago is amazing and I know it is not me that did it. If it was up to me I would still be getting fatter!!!) On the other hand Koreans love bling, lace and frills. The more shiny, sparkly, fake jewels, lace, and ruffles they can load onto an item of clothing the better, and if all this can be combined with a 'pretty' floral pattern then they are in heaven! I however dislike bling, frills and lace. I prefer solid colours and classic uncluttered lines. However in this particular shop by searching between the fluff I actually found a number of things I like. Will put pictures below - I promise I tried on things that were colourful but I just like the black stuff best! But there is some colour amongst what I bought!! Then yesterday I bought a pair of trousers (slacks for the Americans) off the rack! I don't know how many years it's been since I did that. Have to get them taken up by about a foot, because apparently you can only have a big butt if you are also 7 feet tall, but I have found a place within five minutes walk of my apartment that only charges 1000 won per seam for alterations. I've been visiting this clothes shop about once a month and am beginning to build up a respectable wardrobe and throwing away some things that are ridiculously oversized but that I had kept because naked is not an option.
• Have joined the gym that it turns out is only 10 meters from the front of my apartment building - it's underground. First couple of times I was there I was lifting weights and aghast at how much strength I had lost since leaving the US. The numbers I was lifting were sooooo low. About day three I realised that things were not as dire as they seemed - in the US everything is in pounds, in Korea it is all in Kg's.   
• Only thing I'd like here in Korea that I can't get is a place to have my eyelashes dyed (silly things turn blonde half way) - and I'm fairly certain I'm not going to find it here, seeing as I'm living amongst a race of people who naturally have the blackest of black eyelashes. On the other hand if I desired I could have eyelash extensions ... when I first heard about this I was like "Really?? Why???" Turns out most Korean eyelashes are not that long. Have brought some Korean mascara since I can't get my eyelashes dyed and that stuff is amazing. Put it on in the morning and it's not going anywhere - I could go deep sea diving and it wouldn't move! Only thing I have to remember is to make sure it's dry before I put my glasses on or I get black stripes on the lenses.

Thinking I've exposed enough female vanities so will end this blog with some pictures of the clothes I've bought and go put another loaf of olive, walnut and rosemary bread in the oven - I found some flax seeds on Friday so I'm going to experiment with making the bread recipe vegan. Already very healthy, no oil and very little sugar compared to most bread recipes, If I can remove the egg from the recipe then it will be the perfect loaf. (Thought I might make an apple, honey, spice loaf too.)

Also bought this is black :-)

This goes really well over the black version of the top above. I also like it over a black turtle neck top I picked up. Not pictured - I haven't posted all the black things I've bought :-) For the record this is not black, it's actually a sage green colour, lighter shade at the top and getting darker at the bottom.

My favourite colour, powder blue. Looks really good over black :-D

 Red coat, nice and warm, also looks really good over black!

Final coat, has a hood and is nice and warm and looks great with black and colours.

Even the shoes have ruffles. This pair is fairly tame.

Shoes have bling too ...

 I bought this pair of shoes when I was desperate - normally wouldn't consider buying shoes with this much bling.

 Nice shoes, leather. Bought them for winter - they are good quality, non-slip and should handle snow well.

 Rubber sneakers - very ugly! On the other hand they were invaluable during the monsoon season - for wading.

Boots, also for winter.
















Currently I own more pairs of shoes than I ever have at the same time before. Comes from my current philosophy "If the shoe fits, buy it." Don't worry though, while I will admit to enjoying shopping - feel like I'm in a bargin shop continually, everything is so cheap compared to NZ, I am being responsible too, not spending all my money - saving lots too.