woohoo! f21 finally shipped!

So my EXTRAFIFTY F21 order finally shipped! I think they were having trouble gathering the stuff and that's why it took so long. On a similar note, the site is having a FALLFIFTY promo which is valid on their sales section but this time around there's nowt interesting. I have my eye on a 2 blouses in their regular section but will hold off on them, nice as they are :)

I've been slightly obsessed with amassing clothing in mint green and mustard plus that mint top is in a peplum style which is on trend for this year. Not that they are both not nice regardless of the fact these hues are what Spring/Summer 2012 was all about.

I've also got USD15 and USD10 credit from Beauy.com but have to spend $75 and above or $40 and above respectively. I do have some things in mind but since I'm trying to save for a Cambridge Batchel, I'm thinking I can do without for now and simply wait till the site has a 20% discount in the future. I will be getting something from the site once October rolls around and frees up my Drugstore.com dollars for use. I've roughly $19.xx available and I'm gonna get myself another jar of the BareMinerals Pure Transformation Night Treatment powder. I'm sorta liking wearing the powder to bed, lol. In terms of what it's supposed to be doing, I really don't have a clue if it is doing what it says it's supposed to be doing. There's a tongue twister for ya :) Alls well as long as I don't break out.

Anyways, off now. Toodles!

it's been a half hour already and i'm still stunned

Watched the 3rd epi of season 5 Sons Of Anarchy - no more Opie. Kurt Sutter killed him off, wrote him right out of the show. Oh, Kurt, I do see the big picture, I do but I don't like it! Opie was the Sons redeeming quality, to see you have him done away the way that he was.....I saw it, I do get it, I just don't like it.

still trying

So the F21 order I placed last week on Forever21.com still hasn't gone through yet but I decided to make another one just now, hehehe!

The site was having a code for free shipping on orders with a $21 minimum purchase so I figured I would just take a look around. I had chosen this dark navy blazer a couple of days ago but wasn't too keen to check it out just yet considering it wasn't on sale or anything. Been looking for a blazer in this shade for awhile to complete my neutral shades blazer collection, lol.

Well it became discounted today! Part of F21's daily flash deals, the blazer received a temporary 21% off of its RRP of $29.80. So I got it for $23.54. Hopefully both my orders will go through. It would really suck if I can't get my stuff :(

DISCLAIMER:
Image screen capped off of Forever21.com.

UPDATE (27/09/2012):
Okay, maybe F21 is still a viable shopping option. My blazer has shipped, I got a tracking number for it. My other order, however, is still showing up as NEW. I think some of the items I got are now OOS or something to that effect and they are trying to figure out how to complete my order maybe? I dunno, really. What I do know is F21 is still a go.....

might be the end of the road.....

I dunno why but my order at F21 is still reading as PENDING. It's been some time already so I'm wondering if they've finally caught on again that I've been fraudulently putting my billing address as the Portland addy, lol. I admit, I've been cheating but it's not like they never received the monies from all my transactions! If they've truly wised up then it means my F21 shopping sprees will essentially be over. Sad :(

On a totally unrelated note, I am feeling like shit today. This year has been relatively illness-free for me till I caught a cold yesterday and it's making me feel rundown this morning. Sucks! I thought I could carry my good health till the end of the year but it's done now. The only thing I can do right now is hope I can beat this bug before it becomes a full-blown monster :D Ooh, since we're talking health, I also thought I might note compression socks really do help to alleviate numbness/pins and needles and/or improve blood circulation. I'm slightly amazed how having really tight socks on actually increases blood flow instead of constricts it. Weird!

Oh, might as well have a lil Kimi bit. Am too lazy to write an entirely seperate post on the Singapore GP so will just do an addendum of sorts in this one, hehehe. Well, what can be said really, aside from the fact that generally the Singapore GP is a dead boring race in terms of on track action if no SC are involved, that Marina Bay circuit just doesn't really bring out the best in the Iceman. He always tends to have forgettable races here. Not to say he didn't perform relatively well to secure that 6th place after qualifying 12th on saturday but in all fairness, he did have a spot of good luck with quite a number of cars who were in front of him retiring due to mechanical issues or driver error. Nonetheless, he kept his own nose clean so that really does and should count for something. And as it stands, with Hamilton's completely unfortunate retirement whilst leading the race, Kimi maintains his third position standing in the WDC race. Of course, FAlonso keeps scoring points but I'm hoping some bad luck will bestow itself upon him soon - he's ALWAYS too lucky in general, sooooooooo, so annoying!

and now i'm addicted to groupon-style sites!

Sheesh! I really can't sit in front of computers with internet access on weekends, man!

I just spent another 50 bucks buying rubbish I don't need, for goodness sake! I mean I bought these.....

LOL. I bought 5 deals from 2 different sites. The first was the Lipodress which was roughly $12.79. It's a shaping tube innerwear. I was eyeing something similar on Amazon.com called cocoon dress that was selling for 20-plus so this was a better deal all around. I'm always looking for innerwear/shapewear that is tunic length so this really seemed like a great purchase. Plus, it not only can be worn long, it can also be scrunched up shorther to wear as a tube top. Win-win all around, I guess. Since the site is based in Homeland, I don't have to think about spending on shipping costs if I had gotten it off of Amazon instead.

I was also on another similar-style site where I got the remaining deals. First thing that caught my eye were these slimming socks. OMG, LOL. I can't believe I got suckered into getting these, hehehe! Supposedly you wear these during sleeping. Honestly, I don't particularly believe they will work to slim you down but what i hope they'll do for me is improve my blood circulation. I'm costantly getting numbness in my legs/feet and I HATE that pins and needles feeling. It makes me feel like my legs aren't apart of me! I have a pair of compression socks that I got for travelling and have been wearing those at home to help. I figured I might as well add these to my wardrobe considering they are overnight slimming sock and should be worn to bed :D This was a $19.02 deal for 2 pairs. I got mine both in black.

Next, I saw this deal for "2 Big Waterproof Foldable Street Shopper Pocket Handbag". I got a RUME bag back in 2009 and that has served me sooooooooo well but when I was using it yesterday, I saw that the bag has minute holes/tears/??? which got me upset. I know I've abused my RUME but I figured it was going to last me longer than this. Sigh. So, in my impulsive way, I decided to get these as replacements. I mean it's TWO foldable waterproof bags for USD equivalent $13.12.

Then i decided to get these handbag organizers. Yes, I have the expensive one whose brand I can't seem to recall right now but I decided to get these "Practical and Trendy Korean Style Handbag Organiser" in bright colours so it's easier to rummage through. The one I currently use is a dark brown which makes it difficult to see when inside my cavernous dark bags so I decided I'll get these cheapie ones in coral orange and rose pink. I know that the point of bag organizers is so that you can easily transfer the contents of what you normally carry in a handbag from one bag to another without hassle so I really don't need 2, do I? But the deal was $15.41 for two of 'em so it's not like I had a choice in the matter :P.

Trendy Top - The Solution to Fashion Malfunctions! LOL, honestly, what in the world have I been buying?!?!?! These are those half slips you wear under shorter tops so that when you reach up or squat/bend down, you're not flashing people unsightly muffin tops or butt cracks, hehehe. I saw these on Amazon as well and thought about getting them. Again the whole shipping costs from US to Homeland truly deterred me but since Homeland site was doing a promo, I thought, wth not! It was going for approximately $13.09. You get 2 pieces in one pack. These came in nude and black, tres perfect!

Ok, I just totaled everything up and it costs more than 50 bucks. 50 bucks simply got me stuff at the one site only. Everything cumulatively amounted to roughly $70.15. Okay, am really gonna stop now. I got other stuff I wanna buy but all these unexpected rubbish I keep spending money on is killing me :D

DISCLAIMER:
All images screen capped from the deals sites. I own nothing :)

there once was a bunch of discount codes.....

and Zlena being the sucker that she is just CANNOT resist!

It started with Beauty.com giving me an email-only 20% off for being such a loyal customer :D Despite the fact that I wanted to get sooooo much more stuff than i actually did, I restrained myself to two items only that I felt I needed and really wanted to try out. I got myself another bottle of the Murad Acne Clarifying Toner cos I'm a fan and I like it. I also got myself the Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer in the shade medium which I've heard so many good things about. I'm in need/want of good undereye concealer and apparently this one does the trick without creasing. That's really the issue I have the most with trying to conceal my dark circles - the creasing which then settles into the fine lines and just accentuates further what you want to stay hidden, hehehe. Ah, the pains of aging!

The toner retails at 22 bucks while the concealer is $24.00. So 20% off each and the total I ended up paying was a lil over 30 bucks at $36.80. Individually, I was charged as below:

Then I decided that I could get away with a 50 bucks budget on my Amex so I decided to go ahead and get the thing I've had in my cart since March this year - the Fuzz Wizard Fabric Shaver! Lol, I know that's probably a really weird and unsexy thing to be wanting for so long and not getting. I have no clue why I just didn't get it earlier since it isn't even expensive. I got it for $14.09.

I've had plenty of issues wih my clothes pilling due to friction with handbag straps or sometimes simply wearing the darned apparel makes pilling occur like magic. I used to actually use a shaver to get rid of the little balls of fabric but it's a tedious and irritating job. So either I would live with the pilling and wear the item anyway or it would be relegated to the back of my closet. Hopefully, with this fabric shaver that I got, clearing the pilling will not be a pain and I will get to enjoy pill-free clothes! The reviews were really good for this particular one so I have very high hopes for it.

And last but not least, Forever21. I got myself 15 items. Yup, that's right, FIFTEEN, I'm not even joking. And I paid.....

Woot! Woot! That's right, uh-huh! I paid a mere $51.85 for my stuff! F21 sent me an email announcing a promo to get an additional 50% off of already reduced price items in their SALE section. Even though the offer was a good one, I hadn't particularly been enamoured by anything in that section of late. But then as I was casually going through the selections on offer and finding a few things I was interested in yet not enough to wanna make the purchase, I came across a pair of wedges. The most perfect casual wedges I have ever set my eyes on. Hehehe, I know I'm being dramatic as it always seems I'm writing about seeing "the most perfect ______" on my blog. I found a pair of natural-hued woven wedge sandals going for $15.99. It's a woven straw wedge sandals featuring crossed top straps, buckled ankle straps, padded insole and a textured outsole. I was very intersted but knew that sizing might prove to be the dealbreaker. There was only ONE size - mine! It was then that I decided to actively find things to buy so I could use the coupon code EXTRAFIFTY to make the purchases worthwhile. With the code, I got the wedges for $7.99! And the rest of the stuff.....

As can be seen, I did get multiples of the same item in differnt shades and mainly accessories. I've been looking into more sleeveless tops to wear with my maxi skirts and I'm always a sucker for swiss dots. And peach hues. And tiered dresses! As well as lace panels :D Also, the accessories were going for real discounts! I saw the feathered choker and immediately put it in my cart, I didn't even have to think twice! It's just so cute and I imagine pairing it with a long sleeve collared shirt and wearing it to accentuate the collar. Like a bib necklace so to speak. And the hierogliphic bracelet is another piece to add to my Egyptian jewelry collection. I love the multi-tier chain necklace and I also got another peacock brooch in pink. I mean it did hurt a little to see that my peacock brooch I got last year for $10-ish is now a lowly $4.99 and further reduced with my 50% discount but I've had the brooch for more than a year now so I figure I have had my ROI on that blue one. Then I have the bejeweled bracelet which is so colourful and reminds me of Bollywood. The two sunnies were completely impulsive. I loved the shade of green and brown on the more square shaped shades and I wanted a ray-ban style pair without actually paying ray-ban prices so the black shades with the zebra print on the inside was a good bet. Lastly, I decided to get myself the cute orange coloured gym bag. For no other reason than I loved the colour and shape.

And thus ends for now, the shopping escapades of Zlena.

DISCLAIMER:
All images screen capped from the individual sites (Beauty.com, Amazon.com & Forever21.com). I just collaged them together :D

subversive advertising at its best

I have officially been suckered in. I want one of those satchels from The Cambridge Satchel Company!

Since I've been forced to stream F1, I watch it on SkySports F1 HD cos honestly, that's where I can get the best stream. I'll usually have it on an hour before the events and there'll be all these British ads running. One of the adverts is a Google Chrome ad which features the founder of The Cambridge Satchel Company, Julie Deane. I kept seeing it race weekend upon race weekend but in a distracted way since I would also be doing other things whilst waiting for qualies/race to start. Till Monza that is. I was actually paying attention to the pre-race show and when the ad came up, I was completely charmed! I love the backstory, it was so inspiring. How something she dreamt up to help her kids became this cult phenomenon. And the bags are reasonably priced which is such a big plus :).

I'm definitely going to get one. I've decided on the design and size. I am going for the 15 inch Batchel which retails for GBP93. I just haven't completely settled on the shade just yet. I'm trying to avoid the black so it's really between the dark brown or the vintage. Right now, the vintage is winning out slightly.

Gorgeous, ain't it? I'm still thinking it over a bit. My sis is planning on a London escapade for her babymoon so I'm thinking of getting this when she goes there. Otherwise, the online store does deliver to Homeland so I wouldn't necessarily have to wait on her will she/won't she on the whole babymoon destination thing. It'll just be an additional 20 pounds for Fedex shipping. Of course I'd love to avoid paying for that, hehehe.

DISCLAIMER:
Image was screen capped off of The Cambridge Satchel Company site. It does not belong to moi.

a piece a year?

Last year I bought myself the gold bracelet and charm from Tiffanys'. It's something I've been wearing every day and I truly enjoy this purchase - well, I better, it did cost me 2.5k USD, after all! Anyways, I mentioned in the post last year that I wanted to get myself a ring too. At the time I was thinking Tiffany as well but I'm going to be more flexible in regards to where I'm gonna get the ring. I've been casually looking at simple gold rings, nothing fancy, just plain gold with no stones but with a unique design.

I finally settled on a "concept" in terms of what I want. I would love to get a simple yellow gold ring with an infinity knot design. I googled it and found this Etsy shop that hand crafts these 14K solid gold bands. The e-tailer is IndulgentDesigns based out of British Columbia, Canada. I'm particularly enamoured with the Hug Ring as its called.

According to the description, the Hug Ring is called as it is..."because the gold wire loops against each other in a tight and never ending hug-like embrace". While I'm not particular about the meaning behind the design, I do believe it's a cute description. I think the ring is just truly gorgeous in it's overall simplicity. It goes for USD198. Plus shipping would cost $208. Looking at the images, I feel paying this much for this ring through etsy would be okay considering the width of the wire appears to be rather solid. Some of the rings I've seen, generally look quite thin. I also do prefer this design because it is crafted using 2 solid gold wires instead of the one. The seller also has the traditional infinity ring but it did look a tad flimsy although was much cheaper at USD112.

I'm going to mull on this for a bit before I decide if I wanna take the plunge. If I do, it would effectively close the books on my precious jewelry collection in terms of items I choose to wear. I don't particularly want to own tons, I just prefer to buy items I'm gonna be wearing constantly. What I wear daily consists of pieces that hold some meaning for me. I wear two yellow gold necklaces, one given by my mom that comes with a heart pendant with a raised 'O' and another from my grandma. I wear a pair of white gold tiny hoop earrings with diamond accent which my dad gifted when I graduated university. And I have my charm bracelet with my Tiffany Notes 'O' charm. My family nickname is something that begins with 'O' which is why all my lettered charms starts with that letter. They are all simple with very clean lines hence why I love something like the Hug Ring. A simple yet beautiful design like this one would fit right in with my personal aesthetics :)

DISCLAIMER:
Image was screen capped off of IndulgentDesigns etsy.com page. It does not belong to moi.

moi <- satisfied customer ;)

My ebay purses arrived in timely fashion, truly pays off to pay extra for faster shipping. That $30 extra was worth every penny. I still marvel at how the whole concept of online shopping works - it's just so absolutely fantastic how I can buy something from halfway around the world and in a matter of 4-5 days, it's in my home. Ok, fine, I don't have the purses in hand since their in Homeland but my sis/boss is coming up to Workland this tuesday so I'm hoping other sis will manage to slip in my 2 purses along with her. I asked for one but am hoping both will make it :)

As per my usual M.O, I got my sis to take some pics of my new purchases. The first one is the Chanel-esque classic flap diamond quilt wallet-on a-chain.

Gosh, that quilting looks so puffy, makes me want to take a bite out of it, hehehe. Looking at it, it's definitely taken the sting out of missing out on the Love Moschino purse.

The Balenciaga motor-inspired trifold long wallet also look satisfyingly great. I am glad I got it in midnight blue instead of going black/grey. I'm truly in love with the aesthetics of this one.

I just can't figure out why my favourite part is the buttoned card compartment. I just love the fact that it's there. And there's plenty of slots. I am amassing a ridiculous amount of member cards so with this purse they'll all fit. And the two ID card slots - love that too. This way I can put my drivers' license in one and my ID in the other.

My sis says the craftsmanship is done really well. I'm very happy about that. Maybe the only snafu is the fact that on the inside of one of the slots in the motor purse, there's a tag that reads "Made in China". I'd be okay with that if the eBay ad did not say it's made in Korea. Lol. I decided not to make a stink out of that when I gave my eBay feedback, overall I'm more statisfied by my whole experience to let something rather insignficant affect the rating.

Sigh, I hope I get both my new purses next week. So excited!

quilted triumvirate complete!

It started with the BCBGMaxAzria Large Quilted Satchel gotten from 6pm.com. Next came the Chanel 2.55-inspired diamond quilt wallet-on-a-chain through eBay seller, whosbag11. And the final piece to complete the triumvirate of diamond quilt leathery goodness, we have the Steve Madden Tipy, another 6pm.com alum!

My 10% off bonus finally came through on 6pm.com so I got to use it for the shoes. It was selling for $64.99 but with 10 percent off, I got them for $58.49. The RRP is $79.95. I know this wasn't as great a savings as the Steve Madden Kwilted I got for my sis last month but I think this style will fit me better because of the gathered elastic on the sides (which I erroneously mentioned was on the back in that earlier post I did).

I also got the SkullCandy Ink'd Mic'd (2011) in a pink\black combo. I love the impulse pair, the titan earbuds, I got off of Rue La La earlier this year and just thought that this girlier pair would be a great alternate. This one has an on-line mic, control switch, and volume control so would definitely be great to use with my iPhone.

The RRP for these earbuds is $39.95 but they were marked down to $12.50. With my 10 percent off, I paid $11.25 for these. Sometime in early August it was actually going for $10.50 or something so I definitely ended up paying a lil bit more but it's better that I waited to get it together with the shoes.

Lastly, as I wanted to feel that I'm fully utilizing my 10 percent discount, I decided to give myself a budget of about USD100 to make the wait and purchase worth it. So I scoured around to find what else I could get. I put some bags in the cart, some shoes, some apparel but in the end decided to settle on these black flatform-ish leather sandals from Charles By Charles David.

These are called Theory and the RRP is $95.00 but they were marked down to a lowly USD34.99. With my discount it went down to $31.39.

So total came to a lil over my $100 budget at $101.23. I wasn't too pleased to be a buck 23 over but the alternative was getting shoes that I wasn't as keen on as the Theory wedges so I swallowed my dissatisfaction and just got the purchase done. I'm having them shipped to my Portland addy but won't get them shipped Homeland anytime soon. Will wait it out tll October when i have somedrugstore.com dollars to make use of and I get something off of them.

DISCLAIMER:
Images do not belong to me and were screencapped from 6pm.com.

am i a soothsayer?!?

Hehe, Kimi loves to tell people he is 'not a soothsayer' so he cannot predict/guess the outcome of a race or situation before it happens. He always says we'll live through it and then look at the results then :D I, on the other hand.....

5th, I said he'd need to finish 5th and that's where he finished! Kimi Raikkonen is now third in the WDC standings! Okay, my earlier calculations were off to be honest. I thought that Kimi had a point more than he did so if he had really finished 5th and whatever happened in the Italian GP did not happen, he would have been 4th still cos Hamilton would still have jumped him into third and Vettel would still have been second going into the Singapore GP.

Anyways, 5th was what he needed, 5th was what he got. He is now 38 points behind Fernando Alonso who is on 179 and a point behind Hamilton who moves into second with 142. Hamilton won Monza today ahead of Sergio Perez and Nando. I have to say the star of the race for me is definitely Sergio Perez. He came from 12th to finish second by running the longest first stint out of everybody then steadily hunted down THREE former world champions before settling behind Lewis. If the race was a little longer, Sergio definitely would have caught up. I think he was about 5 seconds out when they crossed the finish line on the 53rd lap. The best part is that both Red Bull drivers failed to score a point as some part of Sebastan's car failed him and he had to stop immediately on track to save his engine from blowing up and Mark Webber possibly incurred the same issues cos he retired on the penultimate lap I believe. Jenson Button, who I have to just say I do not like because he comes across as so smug, also retired while in second due to some fuel thingamagy failing.

It simply wasn't a great day for Renault in general. The highest Renault finisher was Kimi. I think he really drove a game-saving race this time around. Plus, the way he 1-stopped the race was completely incredible cos he was one of the earliest to pit for his set of hards and he made them last over 30 laps, if I'm not mistaken. He is definitely playing the long game in this championship and I have been completely impressed. However, that Lotus E-20 needs to find pace cos Kimi NEEDS to have some race wins in order to continue in serious contention for the 2012 WDC.

Right, I'm a bit bummed there's gonna be a 2-week respite from F1 till Singapore GP but I think it's gonna be a good thing cos I have been tweeting (and blogging) F1 like C-R-A-Z-Y :D.

UPDATE:
OMG! I may be a soothsayer after all. In THIS post, I actually said I will pray for Alonso to DNF at SPA and that is what happened! Coincidence?!?! Hmmmm?!?!?! *raises an eyebrow* Maybe I should make a bold prediction or something for the Singapore GP.....talking about the Sing GP, I can't seem to remember who won there last year, lol. And I was there! My focus was entirely on Linkin Park :D

upgraded to 7th

Just finished qualies in Monza. Didn't particularly have ecstatic feelings going into this weekend. Kimi never seems to have much luck in Monza regardless which team he drives for. He's placed podium numerous times but that win always seems to escape him. And after the disappointment of SPA, I have a feeling the Lotus E-20 is behind on the development curve coming out of the summer break relative to the other front runners of the WDC and WCC.

Nonetheless, at least he is in the top 10 - ahead of Fernando Alonso! Hehehe, I dunno what it is but Alonso has never been this unlucky. In fact, I would say that he's been the luckiest of all the WDC. With talent, of course. Ferrari with Fernando were looking good for pole position all weekend but apparently something called a roll bar broke on the rear of his car at the beginning of the Q3 shootout and he was unable to set a competitive time. Thus he starts in 10th. While Kimi finished in 8th but gets upgraded to 7th because Paul DiResta has a 5-place grid penalty due to his gearbox change.

Yeah, that Renault engine is looking sketchy this week. The Mercedes and Ferrari both have had the measure of the Renault this whole weekend so far. We'll just have to see if that dominance continues tomorrow during the race. Martin Brundle commented that Kimi was setting impressive race pace on high fuel loads during FP2 yesterday and both Lotus were fastest in the speed trap. That sounds promising but Kimi can't make the most out of his speed if he's gonna get stuck behind slower cars as Monza is a circuit that punishes you if you have to sit behind the dirty air of another car for long periods.

Okay, enough bla, bla, bla. Just gonna have to see what the race will bring. I want Kimi to win but the Mercs of the McLarens are looking far too racy so the best I can hope for is a continuance of his podium runs. This would make him a truly serious WDC title contender. However, realistically, I'm just hoping he grabs enough points to jump Mark Webber for third and stay ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the points standings. That would essentially mean he would have to finish 5th at the most. Till tomorrow.....

shopping in september.....part un

Let's be honest, this isn't gonna be the first shopping spree for the month so i will call it as it is :D

Bought some stuff from the online site based in Homeland. I had a bunch of coupon codes that if you buy above a certain amount, you can get cash rebates so I used two of the promos in 2 seperate transactions. Total of the 2 transactions is $120.26 but with the individual cash rebates I was charged $78.46 only. That's around a $41.80 savings. All in all, it was quite a savings. My haul consisted of the following:

Next stop was drugstore.com for my supply of GNC Burn60. Honestly, they work. I have lost 5kg since starting a supplement regime that includes taking 2 of the Burn60 with 2 L-Carnitine capsules every morning. I was thinking of stopping but decided to keep up with the weight management till at least the end of the year. It's GNC week on drugstore.com which means i get an additional 20% off of the RRP and they also have a "Buy 1, Get 1 50%". I got 4 bottles total which should last me till December. Total came to a very savings savvy $83.98. Since I had an email-only "$5 0ff $40" coupon, I used that so my total charged was $78.98.

My latest purchase stop is eBay. Ever since missing out on the Love Moschino quilted purse on 6pm.com, I've been on an obsessive quest to find the equivalent quilted purse that'll fit my requirements. Been looking on eBay and found these replica purses from eBay store whosbag. The seller clearly states that they do not own any of the designs as it is copying that of design houses but since there are no markings of the brand it's copied from, it apparently passes muster legally. I found a 2.55 classic flap wallet-on-chain inspired piece in black for $78.00. It's entirely made from cowhide, both exterior and interior. The exterior features the diamond quilt stitching while the leather interior is a bright pink hue. There's also 2 D-ring hooks on the inside where the accompanying chain strap can be attached so the wallet can be carried on the shoulder and perhaps even cross-body. This is the feature that completely sold me on the purse. Pics of the actual product as seen below:

I also fell in love with the same seller's version of Balenciaga's motor purses. Especially the one in Midnight Blue. So I got it :D

This one was a lil pricier at $89.00. Though if we're talking about the prices of real Balenciaga long wallets, well they range in the high end spectrum between $600-$700 so $89 for a look-a-like is of course a steal in comparison, hehehe. I mean, I'll pay the exorbitant prices for the real thing if it's a handbag but these purses/wallets have less leather real estate and they go for at minimum $500. That's just too absurd in my point of view. Yes, I've paid close to USD2000 for handbags before but I will not, on some weird principle, pay $500 for a frickin wallet! So, anywho, this trifold purse is made out of soft calfskin. I decided to get this as well as the purse has plenty of compartments for me to stuff my inordinately large amount of member cards - I admit I may have too many :D

Another feature I liked was the fact that the card slot compartment area has a button to secure it - a great feature that should ensure cards don't fall out of the purse. I ended up paying $187.21 inclusive of $30 expedited shipping for both purses. The total was actually $197 but as I had the money I got from my eBates membership totalling about $9.79, I put that to work on my total hence the reduced charge on my credit card.

That's been it so far but I'm looking into getting a pair of quilted ballet flats soon. I am awaiting my 10% coupon from 6pm.com and am aiming firstly to get the Steve Madden Tipy flats which is similar to the one I purchased for my sis. Difference is the Tipy has an elastic back for better grip. I tried on my sister's Steve Madden Kwilted and it was a bit loose even though the size was the normal 8.5 I usually wear. I'm not willing to size down as I have bunions and do not fancy squeezing them into a small toe front. So I'm hedging my bets that the gathered elastic back will make a Steve Madden 8.5 fit better for me.

Okay, that's all so far that I'm definitely planning on getting. Of course there are some other items I have in mind but they're not definite. Like from 6pm.com there's a pair of limited edition SkullCandy Ink'd Mic'd earphones from 2011 going for $15.99 I have my eye on. But that purchase depends on if the Steve Madden flats are still available. There's also a replica Chloe Paraty made out of real anaconda leather sold by the same eBay seller, whosbag, that I also am tres interested in. As the price on that one is a hefty $598.00, I'm gonna have to wait till I check out the two purses I ordered first to determine the quality before I invest that much money on a replica. Again, comapratively, USD598 is a sniff of the price of the actual Paraty. Plus, the real deal uses Python skin. I'd think Anaconda's were harder to find but I guess they have lower quality skin, lol.

Right, I'm off to support Kimi for qualies at Monza. It's too tight to call, m just hoping he at least qualifies top 5 but it may be asking a lot as the one lap pace of the Lotus E-20 is quite behind that of the Ferrari and Mercedes engine. Sigh. We'll see how it goes.....

DISCLAIMER:
All images derived from the respective sites. None belong to me.

UPDATE:
Both my drugstore.com GNC stuff and my 2 purses have received tracking numbers. Woohoo! Of course, they're headed for different places. It's all the way to Oregon for the GNC package while the wallets are headed for my home in Homeland. I'm hoping I'm gonna get called back to Homeland sometime soon for work and by that time the purses will have arrived. Rather excited to see the quality and if the pictures do them too much or too little justice :D

it's weird how i'm disappointed with kimi's 6th podium

I'm truly feeling bummed. I mean, the guy has been away from open wheel racing for 2 years and made a comeback to F1 racing in changed conditions and is now defying expectations by being a legitimate contender for the WDC in fourth, a measly point behind 3rd placed Mark Webber - who has had two race wins!

And therein lies the dissatisfaction. I am pleased as punch Kimi is on the podium for the fourth time in a row I think but I want a win already! I mean sub-par Jenson Button gets to win TWICE?!?!?! Webber gets TWO wins?!?!?! It's damn frustrating!!!!!

God Almighty, it is not that I'm ungrateful for all his podiums and the consistency and reliability Kimi Raikkonen has been showing thus far and I pray VERY hard that that will continue ad infinitum. It's just, it would really make the year of a whole lotta people out there if Kimi was able to get at least two wins this year and continue his podium scroing runs to beat the entire field to the WDC on his comeback year. I will be eternally happy if we could even out the score on Kimi's F1 career with another WDC as he has previously been robbed of TWO in 2003 and 2005 due to reliabilty issues. Also, who knows what all that stuff was during the Ferrari years but he certainly did not deserve that after all the McLaren heartbreak. Therefore, in his second coming of the Iceman, please allow him to get at least one more WDC. He's due at least that much. Thanks.

Annnnnddd thus ends the crazy dialogue with God :D