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- We went into the city a lot.

- We had the cutest (and yummiest) mini burgers at Pop Burger!

- I finally got my ring resized at Tiffany’s and they did it in a day, good service!

- We got stuck in the snow for over an hour in NYBoy’s mustang.

- We decorated the best Christmas tree ever – and ditched the traditional angel topper with Bebek, Mr. Rabbit and the blue doll (childhood toys, guess which belongs to each person).

My favorite presents this year?
My Juicy Couture iphone cover, and my limited edition Barbie T3 hairdryer!

- Went to the beach after the snow!

- Made a trip down to Washington, DC to show Mumu the sights and museums. It was SO cold there, my favorite part was getting astronaut icecream at the Smithsonian Air & Space museum.

- Did a loooottt of shopping.

My favorite purchases?
True Religion skinnies, a new Dooney & Bourke purse (I was thinking of getting a Longchamp, until I found this, it’s the same material but with a cross-body strap, which I loovvve) and my wedding dress.

I have an Arabic final to sit next week and then on the 21st we’re getting on another plane and flying back home (MY home this time, not his!).

I’m really looking forward to spending time on the beach, eating very yummy food and seeing my friends who I haven’t seen since I was back in Summer 2008. Until then, it’s study, study, study.

Happy New Year everyone!

NOTE: I meant to post this before I flew out to Dallas but fell asleep and forgot about it, I didn’t end up shopping much during Fashion’s Night Out, but I’m feeling much better now because I got to do some sponsored birthday shopping in Dallas and got way too happy in Anthropologie.

Read below if you still want to know what I did on Fashion’s Night Out….

Streets were PACKED.

I planned so many store visits but seriously underestimated how long I would spend in each store haha, so we never made it downtown.

I saw crowds around so many people, and I’m short so I couldn’t see who/what they were, but I DID see Gwen Stefani, Anna Wintour, Howie Day (performing at Bloomingdale’s), Daria Strokous + some other models I didn’t recognize.

Was at Saks when Justin Timberlake was, but couldn’t be bothered to weave through the crowd, and saw the line outside Versace where Taylor Momsen was… but couldn’t be bothered to do that either.

Okay, to be honest?

I got sick of the crowds very early on and decided to quit looking for the attractions and just to shop as normally as I could… which I can tell you was near impossible on Fashion’s Night Out.

Came home by midnight to get some z’s in before our early morning flight to Dallas!

Overall the highlight of my night was – attending Ferragamo’s very exclusive store party/art exhibition.

The not-so-great part was trying to buy anything because it was so packed.

End of the night I ended up getting the official FNO tee and Anne Klein booties.

THAT WAS ALL.

It was a good effort to boost retail activity etc etc, but I think in the end there were too many people there for the freebies/parties/celebrity-spotting rather than actual shopping.

I think I’m going to go on my big shopping spree another day.

These balmain boots.

They go for $1,605 at Net-a-porter. I can’t wait to get a job and start making money, I’m going to be homeless but I’ll have the most fabulous shoes.

And clothes.

(here)

Spent all of today keeping NYboy’s mom company at the gem, mineral and fossil show in Freeport, and bought a bunch of pearls from Hong Kong from a dealer who NYBoy happens to know – so we got them at a crazy price!

They’re imperfect pearls, so they’re not perfectly round, but they’re real – and who’s going to get close enough to see all their imperfections?

I bought some bracelet making supplies from Michael’s and am going to string a bracelet and necklace out of them.

Including bracelet-making material, my new pearl bracelet and necklace will have cost me $56.

Bargain.

The past two weeks have been crazy!!!

I commute into the city every morning from RVC to Penn Station, which takes an hour each way, to be in at 10am – helping NYBoy with his internship, which he loves. I figure it’s better than sitting at home all day doing nothing, but boy is it tiring (and expensive!).

We’re reorganizing the stamp reference library, which is thousands of books – most of which are so old, they crumble as soon as you touch them. I end up inhaling and swallowing millions of tiny pieces of book every single day – the feeling of old book stuck in your throat is the most disgusting feeling ever, trust me.

Now that the month of Ramadan has started, fasting is the biggest hurdle of each work day. It’s such a challenge, and I’m really missing fasting at home where the sun sets at roughly 6-ish each day, it would be so much easier than not eating until 7.45pm here. I also miss the family gatherings! Not fair.

The weather in New York last week was incredibly messed up, I blame Hurricane Bill which was passing through somewhere over the ocean, we didn’t get crazy rainfall but check out the photos I took at 4pm in the afternoon.

The clouds were so scary, but it only drizzled and was a little more windy than usual.

Trains on either side of NYBoy at RVC station, very cool!

Now that we work pretty much full-time in the library on weekdays, we really try to make the most of our weekends. We watch movies together, lots of TV shows & do the occassional very fun outing!

We went to the M&M’s store at Times Square, where I got to pick the colors I liked (light blue & pink!) from the dispensers that went all the way up to the ceiling, and got to bring home a pound of M&M’s – most of which have now been eaten!

Next I want to go to the zoo. I have pictures from Pittsburgh Zoo to put up but still haven’t found a card reader, and truth be told we are very broke here, and it isn’t exactly high on my priority list of things to buy.

I’m trying to save up as much as possible for Fashion’s Night Out in NYC!!!

I’ve been trying to plan my itinerary through their website, but everything looks so good! I think I’ve added about 30 different places and they’re all scattered across Manhattan.

My top 5 places to go to will be:

- Lord & Taylor, I’m hoping to get my hands on a winning key.

- Vera Wang, to meet Vera herself.

- Magnolia Bakery, for the special Fashions Night Out cupcakes!

- Sephora (any one!) – I’m really tempted to hang around the Soho store where they’ll be picking two random people for Oscar Blandi makeovers, but what are the chances of getting that, I never win anything.

- Michael Kors – beg NYBoy for a new bag, and pick up the free tote?

There are going to be designers/models/celebrities everywhere on the night, which I got really excited about before, but I’d rather shop on the night than celebrity spot, so I’m planning my itinerary around the shopping and hopefully if I’m lucky I’ll bump into a few people worth noting on my way around!

Bedtime for me, early breakfast before another day of fasting at 3am-ish. I have frosted wheaties and strawberries. My mom always told us that wheat fills you up better than rice, and it’s much easier for me to prepare when I’m half asleep – so that’s my fasting month daily breakfast.

Happy Ramadan to everyone who reads this and is fasting!

I bought a pair of Nine West booties less than a month ago on sale, they only had 7.5M sized shoes left so I took them even though I’m a 7… unfortunately the half size makes a huge difference, so I’m selling these on!

They come in their original box, but without price tags, and were worn for under an hour so are in pristine condition.

EBAY FOR IT IF YOU’RE INTERESTED!

Ends in 7 days.

If I had lots of money, these would be mine.

They would be perfect with my winter uniform of skirts/shorts and opaque tights!

I can’t believe how quickly the weekend has come and gone, and I can’t believe I’ve been in Italy almost 6 weeks!

I’ve confirmed my onward travel plans from here, which unfortunately do not involve going home to Brunei as previously planned. I’m flying to New York instead, for two months, including my birthday!

I haven’t had a birthday at home in a loonnggg time, but I can’t complain about spending it in New York with NYBoy instead. He always goes beyond spoiling me for any special occassion.

I had a skype interview with Rag & Bone in New York on Friday evening, and they’ll be confirming the internship dates (which would have included NY Fashion Week!) and details early next week. The same Friday evening it was finally confirmed that I won’t be able to afford the expedited J1 visa cost (1100 euros) and so won’t be going to work there despite having gotten the job offer.

Whaaaatt a letdown.

I am so disappointed, it would have been an amazing opportunity, and do I even have to mention again – NY FASHION WEEK?

I’m going to keep trying to find a cheaper J1 visa sponsor, that can expedite it, for slightly cheaper – but it isn’t likely. Having a really hard time letting this one go!

And to make my weekend that much worse. I think I’m coming down with something. My throat’s sore, my head hurts and I’m trying desperately to reverse my downward spiraling health by eating lots of fruit and veg, and drinking lots and lots of water and hot honey lemon tea.

The past week in brief:

I made a big black bow hair accessory to jazz up my work clothes (so people don’t notice I am seriously running out of things to wear here!)

I love my new dress from Urban Outfitters, but I need a pair of sheer tights to go under it because it is definitely not knee-length as described!

Steak for dinner was a much needed break from the cheap pasta I cook every night for dinner.

And so was this whole fish baked in salt, a recipe I found at NYMag.

Cracking the salt crust open was the best part because I got to whack it with a wooden spoon.

I found Annie Greenabelle’s stuff at Topshop Edinburgh a couple of months back and they are gorrrgeous.

Wore my ballerina dress for the first time today to work! And I LOVE IT. Plus all her stuff is organic and fairtrade, so my dress was a completely guilt-free purchase.

I want this next.

But I’m going to have to wait because someone just bought me theeeseee, to make up for an extra bad day. I was going nuts, it was such a horrible day but I guess every cloud has a silver lining, and mine comes in the form of Juicy Couture leggings and UO clothes.

From ShopBop.com

From UrbanOutfitters.co.uk

(on sale, steal!)

I’m sleepy. I had work then class again today. I’m so tired by the time I get to class that none of these foreign words seem to register, she must think I’m a bit of a retard. The only thing that repeats over and over in my head is sono stanca, which is probably the phrase which is most applicable to me at 8pm on a weekday night.

Rent needs to be paid tomorrow, so its living on the bare minimum for the next couple of weeks. Punishment for spending money on clothes, but it was a present from someone who thinks I deserve it, and it’s going to be so worth it when they arrive

Good night!

Transformers 2 has such mixed reviews. I thought it would be good because I LOVED the first one, but I’ve read reviews calling it a load of cr*p, and my big sister said it was really bad too. I don’t even know if it shows here in English, so I suppose I won’t know until the DVD comes out!

Yesterday was a public holiday i.e. DAY OFF WORK! Unfortunately for me, it was also the day I felt a little sick, so I stayed in all day and watched Lost on my laptop and played Fruit Juice Tycoon on my iPhone. I love that game, I finished it and restarted it all over again because it’s that good.

Today I actually have work, and I am ready so early. Makeup, hair and all.

This is the makeup I brought with me from St. Andrew’s, it’s only a little part of my actual stash… but flight weight limits

And these are my new toys!

- Mat Lumiere by Chanel, because I read really good reviews on it at MUA

- Highlighter by Sephora, which I do not love so much because it’s so glittery

I went to the MAC store to buy new sponges and he gave me a bunch for free, because I was in a couple of weeks ago to get gel eyeliner. Pretty neat!

I wear basically the same face to work everyday, the only thing I change up a little is the color of my eyeshadow. I have about six colors to choose from so even that doesn’t change much. So on weekends I try to do different things, like insanely bright lip color.

And sometimes I cut the makeup down by half and look like a kid again.

I love makeup. Watching makeup how-to’s on Youtube makes me SO GLAD that I’m a girl!

I think the best makeup tutorials I’ve seen online are by Kandee. Maybe it’s just me but I can’t take makeup tutorials seriously unless the person looks good – why would I take makeup advice from someone who I think even after all the makeup still looks pretty average?

Off to work, and then language class straight after. It’s almost July, so I think this is the last week that I have to work Friday’s. Which is good because after Thursday night class, I feel dead.

I finally have internet in my little apartment in Florence!

This morning I woke up incredibly early because I was told to get to the Questura (immigration, I think?) to hand in some forms in exchange for some sort of document allowing me to stay here and study/intern. So I was out by 8AM and at the Questura by 8.15, which wasn’t bad considering the place opened at 8, right? WRONG.

By the time I got there the queue was so long that most people were just waiting outside, the number inside was at about 30, and MY number was 248. Nice.

So I waited an hour and my number gets called, and the lady looks at my papers for 5 seconds and gives me a second number.. ? Wait another hour for that and the man takes my papers and tells me to come back on Monday. I didn’t get a receipt or anything so how they’ll know what to give me when I come in on Monday is beyond me!

Because I have to go in on Monday though, my internship start date has been pushed back to Tuesday.

It was around 11am by the time I got out of the Questura and figured since I was on the other side of town, might as well walk to the Mercato Centrale and take a look at the local produce for sale. Picked up some fresh biscotti, lots of cheese, pasta, tomato sauce, bread and my new favorite snack; MUSHROOM TRUFFLE SALSA. It’s delicious spread on crackers, I think that’s what I’m going to bring back for my mom as a souvenir… but it might be an acquired taste, apparently it smells like my feet.

My feet smell good FYI. I bought Body Shop shower gel on Monday.

So after lugging back stuff from the market I had time to kill and a few errands to run before the internet technician was to come to the apartment, and as a treat (or torture, I’m not sure) someone decided to bring me around the shops in Florence that I’ve been drooling over from the outside, to look at bags!

I live so close to all these places, it’s very distracting. We went to LV, Gucci, Prada, Miu Miu, Ferragamo, Dior and this little boutique that carried Chloe, Jimmy Choo and Marc Jacobs bags. And in every store the sales assistants followed me around and I pointed at all the bags I liked and got to walk backwards and forwards in front of big mirrors imagining I owned the bag I was trying out.

My two favorites at the end of the day were;

Miu Miu’s Leather Coffer

(but in light pink) I’ve been looking everywhere for a nice bag with a shoulder strap long enough to be worn across my body.

And to NYBoy’s horror and dismay;

They didn’t have it in pink at the store but I played with the white version for a long time. The lady told me to! She told me to try to get used to it… that didn’t take very long. It’s the softest bag I have ever EVER touched. I love it.

Sadly, I’m going to have to work a while (in a real job, not an unpaid internship!) to be able to afford a Dior.

Tonight my dinner is going to be fresh mushroom filled ravioli from the market for dinner in a simple tomato sauce with extra parmesan cheese.

I love Florence. The food is amazing, even when it’s home cooked… I think the quality of ingredients here is much better than in the UK, the shopping is great, the weather is really nice, my apartment is super cute (and on the corner of the main shopping street!) and there’s a gelato shop on every street.

On the downside, I do not speak any Italian so it’s been hard to communicate with people for directions etc. BUT my first Italian language class is tomorrow! I’m doing 2 hours a week just to learn the basics.

I love how this summer is going, it’s such a dream come true!