i really shouldn't have

BUT I DID!! Oh despair :(

I got those wedges that I was coveting from Sole Society. Those gorgeous color-blocked wedges. I didn't want to, I wanted to resist but I could not. I created a different account so I could take advantage of a $10 off first purchase deal. Gosh, the lengths I go to to buy stuff - it's rather creepy.

Ok, this is my second last purchase before I am putting spending into a freeze. My last will be when April rolls around and I wanna use up my drugstore.com dollars as well as a $10 off $50 coupon off of beauty.com. I am planning to get the DermaDOCTOR Wrinkle Revenge Eye Balm going for $48 and to round it up to over $50, I am getting the Too Faced Mood Swing in petal pink which is an emotionally activated lip gloss. Gimmicky, I know but it's on sale for 8 bucks and was the cheapest, lightest thing in the clearance section. I was originally going to use my coupon and drugstore.com dollars on Tarte's Smooth Operator Microionized HD finishing powder with an RRP of 28 bucks but after thinking it over, I decided I will just get the E.L.F Studio High Definition Powder instead that goes for $6. What a price disparity huh? The E.L.F powder is supposed to be a dupe for the MUFE HD powder which is said to be the HG of all HD powders and costs a pretty penny too at $30. I also have 3 E.L.F. brushes in my cart from the E.L.F. Studio line - the powder brush, complexion brush and angled foundation brush. Each retail for 3 bucks each. Plus, buy 4 E.L.F. items and get $2 off. The total comes up to $69.00 but with the coupon and drugstore.com dollars I have, I'll essentially pay USD46.70 :)

After that, just one last virtual swipe of my AMEX to send said items back home and I will commence the freeze!

total FAIL

Hmmm, clothes embargo Q1 ops has become a total fail. I went back to Homeland for work last week and I got myself 4 pairs of pants. In all honesty, I needed new work pants cos the ones I had were being held up by thumb tacks - yup, that's right, I was using thumb tacks to keep my zipper up, lol. The sad state of Zlena :D So I got 3 black pants for work - I needed them!

The other pants I got were a pair of purple straight leg pants. I wanted to try out the whole colored pants trend before they went out of fashion and these were going for roughly USD7.50 so I thought "Why the hell not!". I think I pull off the look but we'll see what I think about said pants a year from now. Will take a pic of me wearing 'em for posterity. Isn't it nice to have evidence of potential fashion mishaps - I already regret my yellow maxi dress from 3 years back :D

Also, I ended up with 2 shirts from a '2 For USD30' deal. And I just finished getting myself some more stuff from F21.com. Once you start, bla, bla, bla. Ok, I was trying to make my Portland shipping worthwhile. I got some stuff from beauty.com but when it shipped, the heavier items were out of stock so now I have a package that weighs 0.6lbs needing to be shipped back to Homeland. The charge will be roughly USD25 for every 0.5kg so I am not pleased to have to pay 25 bucks for something that is not even covered by the 0.5kg. So I thought I might as well checkout the stuff I have in my cart which was a grey blazer going for USD13.99 and a pair of palazzo pants going for $15.99. To round out for free shipping, my sis got a pin tuck blouse and a cami.

I originally had the pin tuck blouse for myself but when my sis also chose that blouse, I decided to give it to her and find myself something cheaper :D The pin tuck front blouse is $19.80 and the camisole with the built-in shelf bra was $4.80. When i looked at the stuff, the blazer, pants and blouse would really go well as an ensemble :D If my sis ends up not liking the blouse, I may just take it off of her, hehehe.

Malaysian GP 2012

Hmmm, looks like my blog will be inundated with F1-related posts again :D

The Malaysian GP will always hold a special significance to me as the 2006 event was my virgin live race. I got to see Kimi Raikkonen drive for McLaren at Sepang for all of 0.3 seconds before a first corner incident took him out.

Since then I have managed to attend 2 more GPs. Another Malaysian GP in 2010 and the latest being the Singapore GP in 2011. In both those GPs my driver was on a sabbatical though so I had no vested interest in the races except for the pure enjoyment of the racing machines. In fact, at the Singapore GP, I did not even watch the race from my pricey grandstand seats since I had to get to the concert area for primo standing access to the Linkin Park post-race concert :D.

As I mentioned in a post last year, despite not going through the whole physical torture of a GP weekend with a favorite driver in the lineup, it is a rather hollow experience when you watch/follow a race without a specific driver to root for. It just doesn't feel quite right. I guess if I had a team I was anchored to it would make the races more meaningful but when each team I look at has some kind of unsavory history in regards to Kimi's time in F1, it just doesn't make supporting any of them appealing :)

Anyways, with Kimi back in the fold this year, all that is in the past and the insanity of F1Kimi commences again. With Sepang, we should get a true idea of where things lie for all the teams. Melbourne, as I've mentioned before, is an anomaly race - mainly due to the fact that it's a street circuit. But the Sepang circuit is a true racing track and is said to be one of the most technically challenging and possibly physically hardest race on the calendar. Mix in the unpredictable weather and we have ourselves a game-changer my friends.

So, this weekend should be an enlightening race - the grid shakes down with more clarity. Can't wait!

OMG, i'm just beyond obsessed!

I kinda forgot how insane I get with F1Kimi. Now that the races have started, I think I'm off the charts. It's not even raceday, let alone free practice 1 and I am having the nervous butterflies constantly. It's so uncomfortable. You know that jitteriness that you can physically feel up to your fingertips - somewhat discomfiting and a little painful - I'm having it right now! It's annoying! Ok, it could also be down to the new thermo pills I'm taking, Burn 60 from GNC. That could be a contributing factor. But the Burn 60 is not the one making me obsessively clicking refresh on Google News for the latest in Kimi updates. I get impatient when I see nothing new - even if it's just another news outlet repeating news I've already read, I just want something new.

Zlena, get a grip!

from 17th to 7th

The first race of the 2012 Formula 1 season is done and dusted. My heart was beating so fast and hard during the opening seconds of the race, hoping and praying that Kimi would get off to a clean start, avoid any incidences and be able to gain some positions. That's exactly what he did and by the end of the first lap was running in 12th. And at one point, he was even up to second place in the race. All in all a great effort put in by Kimi to make up for the qualifying mishap yesterday.

Pity for Romain Grosjean being shunted out of the race by Pastor Maldonando. I pretty much suspected his inexperience in a racing situation would cause him to lose position at the start of the race and true enough he was boxed in and schooled by the Red Bull of Sebastien Vettel as well as Michael Schumacher's Mercedes. I was hoping to see him back on track but once I caught sight of his broken suspension, I knew it was all over for Grosjean.

So all hope for a productive first outing for 2012 now rested on Kimi's shoulders and boy am I really happy he managed that 7th place. It felt somewhat like vindication when Kimi made a decisive overtaking maneuver on Felipe Massa at one point midway through the race. He even provided some comic relief when he came on the radio to his engineer and enquired about the blue flags he presumed were being waved at him :) Apparently, he was a Chatty Cathy during the race if Eric Boullier, the Lotus F1 team principal is to be believed. Anyways, on the last lap he looked good for a 1 point finish in 10th place but in the span of a couple of corners he gained 3 places. It was a rather confusing last lap after the big Maldonado crash as Kimi moved up from 10th to 7th but I am not complaining - anything that hauls him up further in the standings and the points, I'll take it :D

Looking forward to Malaysia next weekend. Hopefully no more qualy blunders and a greater racing comeback from my main man.

Great drive Kimster!

DISCLAIMER:
Image is not mine, borrowed from PlanetF1 who most likely got it from Getty Images or something to that effect.

i'm jittery

I've got butterflies, my palms are sweaty, i'm nervous as hell. That's the F1 + Kimi Raikkonen effect for you, lol.

So today is the Australian Grand Prix. Yesterday's qualies didn't go so well for Kimi, he only managed row 9 on the grid in 17th due to a miscommunication with his engineer on how much time he had left to get his lap in for Q1. I'm not making excuses for him, that's just simply what happened.

I'm hoping he'll stage a comeback drive and at least collect some points :) Of course, the media and detractors are having a field day with the whole thing. To me, I observed it as a simple mistake in information.

Here's to a great race from Kimi and to the start of the Formula 1 2012 season. Let's go racing peeps!

how the press screws kimi over

So I've been really good about not coming on here to rant and rave about Kimi and F1. I figure pre-season ranting/raving is useless, we'll just see what happens on the track in Albert Park come this weekend and then we can lay down a more solid opinion. Yup, F1 is starting this weekend - Australian GP is this Sunday, I am really excited to see Kimi back on an F1 track racing an F1 car - it just feels right y'know.

But anyways, that's really not the point of this post. As the title suggests, it's how the F1 media like to put words in Kimi's mouth. I don't doubt they like to do that in general not only in F1 but in most 'journalistic' interviews. However, Kimi seems to be a particular target of all this. It's probably cos he's so light on the commentary but that really doesn't excuse some of the crap I've seen attributed to have been said by him.

Example of the day - the headlines re:Kimi Raikkonen making the rounds is, "Raikkonen Feeling Confident", "Raikkonen Expects Strong Opener" and goes on to detail that Kimi himself has said that he's practically going to be putting the E20 on the podium this weekend. They are just setting him up for failure if this doesn't happen. Readying the "comeback failure" headlines.

I was watching the Top Gear interview from which this supposed information was derived from. All he said is the car, E20, was looking good, it looked strong. When asked how he thought he would fare there, he simply mentioned that he hopes he and the rest of the team do well, without encountering any major issues.

So really, why can't sports journalist, in particular those who portend to cover Formula 1, just report things as they are. It's really annoying to read untruthful headlines. I also do get irritated when I see facts are wrong. Fact-check people or don't write an "official" article!

Ok, rant over :D

my F21 2012 birthday haul

So I finally decided to cash in my Q1 clothes quota and got myself 7 items that added up to $109.27. As usual, with F21.com, if you wait too long, things will disappear from your cart without warning. With this order, it was no different.

Number one on my list is actually the last item I put in my cart. One of the things missing from my cart was the satin cuffed pants that started the whole F21.com itch. I was pretty disappointed the pants I wanted were no longer available but I managed to get a different pair in a similar pattern. Pretty much the difference is in the fabric. I was just doing a last gasp cursory look through the inventory and came across these trouser capri pants. Comes with a free belt - SCORE! It was going for 21% off as part of Forever21.com's daily flash deal. I got the pants for $18.01 from its normal price of $22.80.

I also got 2 normal priced items. First up is the ruche sleeve blazer in peach. I already own this in black and let me tell you, I LOVE IT! It's, hands down, the best blazer I have ever gotten. This is my holy grail blazer. I actually contemplated getting another one in black but decided to go for peach because I am still in love with peachy hues and still wanted a blazer in that shade. It's RRP is $27.80.

The other full priced item was this tiny dot shirt. I have an unhealthy obsession with polka dots, stripes and blazers. When I find something in either of these that catch my eye, I usually can't resist. It's a simple white chiffon blouse with tiny black dots. Hence the very appropriately named tiny dot shirt :) It retailed for $13.50 - not too pricey.

The rest of the stuff were all sale items. The one thing that's been in my cart the longest is this black fold-over waist swing skirt. I've always been into maxi skirts, it was never simply a trend to follow for me, I wear them year-round. I was in need of a new black skirt and this one seemed to fit the bill aesthetically as well as price-wise. Originally priced at $15.80, I got it for $11.99.

And here we have another maxi length skirt. This time in a seventies/western patchwork style denim. I had seen this in the sales section for some time and finally decided that I wanted them after reading the reviews. Again, I am in need of a replacement denim maxi skirt and this was going for $16.99 from it's retail price of $24.80.

This silky kimono jacket was something that I had been waffling over. I had it in my cart and then decided to take it out, then back in again and out again. Then I noticed the price had gone down further from $27.80 to a mere $13.99. Back into the cart it went.

And last but not least, I have been looking to get some more long sleeve slub-like tees for running errands and the like. I realized that the stuff I have in my closet are all rather fancy for running errands and whatever tees I used to have are now, umm, shall we say they've shrunk :) So I thought that this floral art top that was going for $6.99 fit the bill perfectly. I love it when I can get the stuff for less than 10 bucks. The RRP for this top was actually $14.80. Hmmm, just realized that F21's original price point almost always end with a .80 :)

I'm still on the site to check the status of my order and managed to put some new stuff into my cart. It was this swiss dot blouse that I had wanted earlier in fuchsia but had disappeared and now is back in inventory. However, I am keeping to my word and will wait till Q2 rolls around before I make another purchase :D

March spending spree begins with drugstore.com

The post title basically says it all :)

I was in need of a skincare replenishment and decided to buy the stuff off of beauty.com so that I could use a $5 off coupon I had, get an Erin Fetherston train case filled with deluxe size samples and collect some drugstore dollars to spend in April.

I was actually holding off on getting my Murad stuff till later in the month but when I received the email from Beuaty.com with the Erin Fetherston train case offer, I knew I had to jump on it immediately. These kind of promos from drugstore.com usually finish fast. The only catch was that I had to spend a minimum of USD100 to qualify for the train case. And I did that by getting another bottle of the Murad Post-Acne Lightening Gel going for $60 and another Murad starter kit - the Murad Anti-Aging Acne Starter Kit with the RRP being $45. I decided to get this solution mainly because of the Time Release Cleanser that's contained within the kit but the other items included sound promising as well. A courtesy shot of the kit below:

And rather than painstakingly typing out the contents of the kit, I wisely decided to simply screen cap the description off of Beuaty.com as below:

Next is what I consider my coup-de-gras in this beauty haul which is this totally gorgeoussss Erin Fetherston train case filled with deluxe sized samples purported to be a USD130 get for moi to try out.

I'm most excited about the Murad Clarifying Mask as well as the full size Stila eyeshadow. Other samples included are as screen capped below:

And last but not least, I thought I'd share a shot of the interior of the beauty case. First of all, let me say that I adore the exterior baby pink shade and the button clasp closure. Secondly, the really cute butterfly print interior just did it for me. I just find it all so cute and girly and I wanted that train case!

In all, the total was USD105.00 but with my $5 off coupon, I was charged just an even 100 bucks. The stuff arrived safely to my Portland addy today and I am just awaiting to see if my F21 order will go through before deciding on shipping my stuff back :)