I Got an Award!!!

Stylish Lotus from Red Phoenix Emporium nominated me for an award!!
Thank you so much, Lotus.

I'm supposed to tell you 7 things about me. Let's see...

1. I'm a shopaholic and I'm constantly trying to kick the habit. It doesn't help that my office happens to be located at the shopping mall. It takes me ages to get to the car after work. Right now hubby's been out of work for a long time and money's tight. So I close my eyes and run for it... Remember that movie "Confessions of a shopaholic"? It made me want to shop like crazy.



2. I used to smoke but I quit. Apparently it was much easier to quit smoking than buying stuff.



3. I love animal prints! I have 3 pairs of shoes and 2 pairs of boots - leopard, snake you name it. And a bag. When I heard that leopard print was "the new black" I was happy. Look, that's what I'm wearing today!

4. I love winter and really dislike summer. It used to be the other way around, but living in Israel killed the summers for me. Give me boots, jackets, trench coats any day. Summer here lasts pretty much 9 months. Funny, in Russia I dreamt of moving to the warmer climate, live by the sea, enjoy the weather. Now I live 20 min away from the sea (by car) and I go maybe twice a year.

Here is a photo of a boot. I wore them yesterday with fishnets. It's been ages since I wore fishnets!

5. I traveled quite a bit and lived all over the globe (I call it living even if it's for a couple of months. You have your routine, your habits, your hangouts - local way of life). Which city would I pick?

Paris is my favourite. I grew up in Saint Petersburg, Russia and Paris reminded me of my hometown. Only much better. Runner up - Berlin. And Vancouver BC just because it's so beautiful.

This is moi in Paris in 2008. Photographed by my lovely cousin. Love all that hustle and bustle (and the pic is taken on a Sunday!)

6. I'm very easily influenced by other people fashionwise. Bloggers' world has been a huge inspiration for me. I look at your photos and suddenly it hits me - I have this! I can wear it like that! Or the worst case scenario - I see something in a shop that reminds me of a blogger's outfit and... See number 1.

Best example - these shoes by Carlos Santana.


I saw them on BudgetChic blog and just had to have them!!! It was probably 2 years ago or more. I wore them once to a wedding. OK, they were 25 bucks plus shipping (ebay). Cost per wear? Astronomical. Still love them though. Mmmmm, purple!
Another photo from that wedding outfit, just to see the color.

7. I love my TV. What are my faves at the moment? The Mentalist, Castle, White Collar (waiting for 2nd season here), True Blood, Supernatural. I used to watch CSI a lot but then we changed the cable company and I lost it. I also watch Covert Affairs, Lie to Me, Closer. I loved Dexter.

My second job is directly connected to the TV shows. I translate films and series from English to Russian, working mostly with subtitles now. I watched and translated so many of the crime shows. The other day we watched "Law Abiding Citizen" and I could predict almost everything that happened in the movie.

I would do translations only if they paid better. This job is the best for me. You work from home, no phones, no clients, just deadlines that I can almost always handle. I think this job gives me a lot and teaches me lots of things. You can't have it all I guess.

Well, these are my "secrets". Thanks for listening.

Whose harem is this?

Over the last year there's been a lot of discussions about harem pants. Some like them, others think that women who wear them should be shot. I tend to wait till I see enough of them to form my own opinion. I have a slim friend, she owns two pair, one in black jersey and the other one is taupe linen. I liked these pants on her but wasn't sure if they'd suit my figure. And then one day I walked into a store that carries "normal" sizes (as opposed to xxxx-small) and tried them on. I was sold. They looked more like a skirt with leggings than a "diaper-bag". I bought them and wore them a lot. With slim-fitting tops, with a belt and without, with heels and flats. They are extremely comfortable and let me tell you, it's a great alternative to track or yoga pants. I wore them on the plane to Turkey, felt great and didn't look too bad either.

Here is my Sunday work outfit.

Harem pants: Crazy Line

Brown sleeveless turtleneck: Marco Polo

Cotton, rayon and linen blend cardi: Casey and Max (thrifted)

Necklace: Crazy Line

Leopart flats: Zara

Here is the closeup of the flats and a bit of the pant showing:

Another version, going shopping yesterday. Black pants, black v-neck tee, watch pendant, pink jacket from Zara and black Michael Kors flats. And a shot of my new haircut. Thank you, Armo!

Blog inspiration

Several days ago Sher at Fashion After Forty wore this sweet outfit. I really liked it and then I thought - hey, I have similar stuff in my wardrobe! So here is my version. The oufit was nice, though the quality of pictures - not so much.

Skirt: Mango (twin sister of this one)

Leopart cardi: Mango

Black tank top: Mango

Flats: Michael Kors

Bag: Tignanello

Belt: Bordo

Silver accents instead of gold, mainly because I didn't have a gold color belt. And the shoes have little silver accents on them.

The bag is red, not orange. But then you have an orange cushion there, see?

From tigers to snakes

I'm trying to experiment with the photos. Here I managed to snap one during 10 seconds ride on the elevator. All my attempts on taking self-portraits at the office failed because all puctures were fuzzy.





















Black pencil skirt: Mango
Nude bodysuit: Opera
Snake belt: only says "made in Italy"
Snake bag: Vera Pelle
Black studded sandals: Nine West

The skirt has two kick-pleats in the back.
I loved it so much that I bought it in two colors,
the other one is gray-beige. This is me at home, trying to demonstrate the pleats... Or a pleat.

And the sandals... They are so comfortable! Even though when I take them off, my feet are stripey from the pressure.

Good chance to show off my fresh pedicure :)


My office happens to be at the shopping mall. The worst place imaginable! Of course, it's convenient, you don't have to go far when you urgently need something. But what about those things you don't need? What about Zara and Nine West? What about jewelry, bags, cosmetics? It's a challenge, especially for someone like me who loves shopping.

Khamsin wind

Oh, the days of khamsin! For the lucky ones who do not know what it is, here is a quote from Wikipedia:

"a dry, hot and dusty local wind blowing in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula". Very dry description (no pun intended). They're not telling you about your eyes burning like they're full of sand, your nose getting so dry that it bleeds... Hey, I'm exaggerating. We're not dying over here, but we're definitely not comfortable. Normal humidity for us in this area is 70. Today it was 40. Big difference.

Other bothersome effects - frizzy hair, sneezing, dry fingertips (WTF?)

White pants: Matim Li (meaning "Fits me" or "Suits me" - it's a local chain for larger women)

Brown top: Mango

Pinstripe vest: Crazy Line

Bag: Gucci-styled something, doesn't even have a label, at least it's not a knockoff, it doesn't say "Gucci" anywhere on it.

Heels: BCBGirls, purchased from Nordstrom, and shipped to my aunt in Denver who in turn shipped them to me... (waited for them for about 3 months. It was totally worth it).

Looks like my pants shrank in the wash, they've gone short! I still wore them today with heels, but I'm not sure about my proportions... Well, I liked myself today, that's gotta count for something!

One reason for wearing pants today is my car. The door-handle on the driver's side is broken. Meaning it was broken but still functioned until my darling husband had an idea. We'll just take the good handle from the passenger door on driver's side and stick it into the driver's door... Not! Now I have to go to the shop and fix two door-handles instead of one. And they'll have to reconnect the automatic door locking system that used to work after pressing the button on the remote-control... In the meantime I "gracefully"climb into the driver's seat through the front passenger door. Don't tell me. I should have known. Trip to the mechanic is planned for Tuesday morning.