I don’t even think I can express how much I love my new duffle coat (more correctly known as a duffel coat, but Target calls it “duffle”, so “duffle” it is!). The way I’m wearing it totally reminds me of Howl’s outfit in Howl’s Moving Castle, so that’s where the title came from, har har. That, and I’ve been watching a lot of Studio Ghibli movies lately and that’s probably where I subconsciously got this outfit idea from in the first place. I love those kinds of animated movies! Just watched Spirited Away last night and was blown away again by how amazing that movie is. Blown. Away. Anyways, I digress..

I’ve been looking for the perfect navy coat for a while, and I always have fond memories of Target sales in these sorts of areas, so off to Target I went. I saw this one and it didn’t look too impressive on the rack–not too impressive at all, that is, until I tried it on. It was a magical coat that slightly dipped in at the waist and flared out as it reached my knees. Pockets are also an important addition to any Winter coat, and this one had two giant ones on the side–perfect for a pair of freezing cold hands.

I showed my friend Ellen this same coat and she loved it so much that she wanted it too! This was back when the coat was $79, so I begged her to give it a little time and trust my judgement about upcoming sales. She did–we did–and a few weeks later, all Target coats were reduced to $39, including this beauty! We both immediately snapped one up. This style in particular was sold out months ago online, so don’t take the online listings as an indication of what’s in-stores, they have heaps of stock! Carindale has a couple in all sizes (with the majority in larger sizes, of course) and in red and orange, so it’s well worth a look.

As a cold Winter chill spreads through my town, I’ve been looking for warmer ways to dress myself and have been uncovering more gaps in my wardrobe than I’d like to admit. This is my third woollen (blend) coat, and these are my fourth pair of pants. This won’t do at all for the upcoming Winter!

I have itchy trigger fingers when it comes to ASOS stock–they have exactly the kind of pants that I like and I’m just longing for a sale code to come out soon–it seems like months since they last had a discount code out for sale items, though! Never mind, I have such weirdly specific styles in mind that it’s unlikely they’ll get sold out any time soon. Or at least, here’s hoping!

Here’s the rundown of today’s outfit:

Navy Toggle Closure Duffle Coat – Target, $39

Pussybow – ASOS, free with these shorts

Heart Print Blouse – eBay, $8 (but you can get yours from AliExpress for $10)

Belt – AliExpress, free with a dress (It had a weird leather bowknot hot glue gunned to the front but I ripped it off because it was stupid and definitely wasn’t the right size to be a waist belt.. bastards)

Wine and Gold Bangle – Rubi, $2

Houndstooth Jacquard Cropped Pants (Cerise) – Target, $15.86

Hush Puppies Black Patent Oxford Heels – Myer, $25

Total: $89.86

The coat does bump it up a bit, but nonetheless, it’s still a very affordable price for a coat, I reckon. With this outfit, you may have noticed me carrying another bow bag–I can’t help it, I go ga-ga for this style of bag and that’s why I have three of them now. I bought mine for $15, but it’s gone up to $25 on AliExpress now. If you’re looking for cheaper options, just search for “bow bag” and trawl through listings like I did, haha, they’ll be there somewhere. Keen to own more of them at some point, they get compliments all the time, the latest of which came from an lovely, enthusiastic sales assistant from Myer. She may be reading this now, and if so, hiiiii sales assistant from Myer!

Anyways, that’s enough out of me. How are the rest of my readers braving the Winter this year?

I think my friend Ellen best described it when she gently told me that I have a bit of a belt problem, or a “crazy belt obsession” as she put it. As an hourglass figure, I try to do my curves justice by emphasizing them through the use of belts, and I quickly found that they became one of my most useful accessories. I don’t think I’ve ever left the house without one! If they’re not cinching my waist, they’re keeping my damned pants up–it’s not easy finding pants that will stay up on their own accord.

But I soon noticed that I was buying a little too many. I had a shelf in my wardrobe that I usually put all my 50 or so-strong collection of belts on, and since I’m always in a hurry to leave the house, I’ll try on a few belts before stuffing the rejects messily back onto the shelf (I don’t have time to roll them up neatly and figure out where they belong!) and so it progressed until I had a jungle of polyurethane pythons tangled up on my shelf, with some on the floor, and a few with their tails hanging over the side. It all just made a shocking mess and I hated looking at it, so I was in denial about it. “Oh these? I have just a few belts, it’s not as many as it looks, really..”

That was the reality, until I came across these useful binder rings in the newsagent! Unlike the spiral rings you’d put on your keychain, these ones are much bigger and come with hinges so you can snap them open and closed. I bought the first one from the newsagent from about three years ago and kept it in my stationery drawer, but I couldn’t find them anymore when I went recently so I had to order the next two from eBay. Turns out they’re exactly the same and much cheaper than what I paid here, too! They’ll set you back about $2 each. You can fit about 10 belts on each ring, and my rings are categorized into neutrals, blacks, and brights.

As for where to hang them, I’m currently using my over-the-door hangers from Target that I picked up a few months ago for the photos, but I generally hook them onto the hanging rails in my wardrobe and unhook them every time I need to use a belt.

For other belt aficianados out there, don’t scrunch/roll up your belts like I did and shove them into your closet! Keeping them hanging straight like this dramatically improves a polyurethane belt’s longevity and will prevent weird looking kinks in the pleather. It will also take up much less room, and you’ll always have them organized and ready to grab when you need them.

Forgetting that the slogan for the alcohol “Imperial Blue” is actually “Men Will Be Men”, this outfit makes me feel ridiculously girly.

I am totally in love with this dress, but now that I think about it, I think I prefer how it looked with a white belt, so I may swap that over the next time I wear this outfit. Nevermind! This is the perfect dress, I love everything about it. I love that it feels tailored to my body (if I gain 150g in my left breast, I will break this dress, seriously), I love the white scallops on the neckline, I love the sleeves, and I love the little buttons on the sleeves. I had to sew new buttons onto this dress because it was actually missing a button, but that was okay since I probably would have given it new ones anyways (it had silver ones and as you’re well aware, I’m sure, I’m a gold gal). ASOS also gave me a 10% discount for the missing button too, which just added to the all-around awesomeness of this dress. Max C is definitely going down as one of my favorite affordable brands, forevermore!

Another reason I love this dress comes directly from the mouths of babes, no less. While on one of my shopping trips wearing this very outfit, a little 6-year-old girl in Carindale couldn’t resist pulling away from mummy and stopping me to tell me that I “have the longest legs in the world” (and also that my dress was very pretty).

I was like.. oh my goodness small child, I don’t even have a response for how sweet you are. Although the best words I’d have for her would have been straight out of a Dr Seuss book:

“Well, in Whoville they say – that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day.”

Why, yes, I suppose my legs do feel rather long in this dress!

Rundown time!

Gold Deer/Fawn Necklace – eBay, $1 (Won in an auction ages ago.. one of my favorite necklaces, but surprisingly hard to find on eBay nowadays–the link goes to a silver version I found)

Max C Dress With Scallop Collar – ASOS, $25

Gold Bow Patent Belt – Forever New, $10 (Kind of regret having spent this much for a belt that squeezes me so hard around the waist =\ )

Sheer Black Tights – Target, 25c (I think these are the 25c ones.. I just recently bought 12c ones from the exact same place so my stockpile of black tights is getting larger!)

Hush Puppies Black Patent Oxford Heels – Myer, $25

Total: $61.25

The bag worn is one I bought from AliExpress, haggled down to $17 (currently listed at $21). I kind of felt bad haggling down a few bucks for it, but it was worth it. Improved my haggling skills and obtained the best bag ever. I ADORE this bag. It goes with a surprising amount of things in my closet, and it’s so well-made, sturdy and spacious, I love it. I first spotted this bag in an Asian boutique in the Myer Centre, but I so was not paying $40 for it, so I trawled listings on AliExpress to find it. This is the only exact listing on AliExpress, I was stoked that it was so cheap and practically bought it the instant I saw it (sans haggling of course). No regrets, yiss.

The shoes are another great buy from the Myer shoe department in the “75% off already reduced items” bin. They were something like $150 down to $100, and of course, when you take 75% off $100, what you get is some sweet, shiny babies for the price of a sandwich in the CBD (not even kidding). These are most definitely the most perfect shoes in the whole wide world.

Genuine patent leather? Check. Toe cap to make my foot look smaller? Check. Perfect heel height (not too tall, not too short)? Check. Lace-up? Check. All-day comfort? Check. DING DING DING, we have a winner! These will be a key staple in my work wardrobe, I can just feel it.

Man, I feel like I have some kind of elaborate story for every single one of my purchases–is that just me or do you people have stories to go with your purchases too?? I would love to hear an awesome purchase story, just to feel less like a crazy person so please, lay them on me.

Hey frugalistas! What’s been happening, has anyone picked up some cool Winter bargains in the sales floating around? I’d love to know about your hauls.

As for mine, I wanted to update you on some of the bargains I’ve been collecting recently–Apart from the jewelry purchases from Lovisa (see my Instagram for more details), I’ve also been visiting Target and collected an amazing duffle-style wool-blend coat on sale now for $39 (incidentally, so is their entire range of coats, so you’d better get in quick)! It’ll surely be featuring in a heap of outfits to come–it’s very warm and snuggly and super flattering when worn. It’s actually something I’ve been waiting to go on sale for about two months now! Half price at $39, you can’t go wrong. Although I will cry if it goes down to $20 (this happened to a trench coat I bought last year from Target–originally $80, bought for $30, and dropped down to $20 the week after..), seriously.

Anyways, those steals aside, I ducked into Payless Shoes today (totally coincidentally, as I was there looking for the leather shoes that I felt like I had imagined seeing there from a while ago). I didn’t see anything particularly interesting until I spotted the rack of Human Premium shoes on super special near the back of the store, and my jaw dropped to the floor (to the floor! Yeah, rhyming!). I couldn’t believe it. Payless Shoes, actually stocking leather shoes?! When did this come about?!

So I had a miniature freak-out for a second there and tried on all the shoes on the size 40 rack (forgive me for digressing, but I kind of don’t like how a size 40 implies I’m a 9.5 instead of an 8.5 which is my true size.. anyways). I’ve always wanted to have yellow shoes and I finally found the perfect pair!

Both of these above pairs have leather inner and uppers, with the soles on the yellow flats being leather as well. Interestingly enough, the yellow flats are EXACTLY like the Target flats I bought a few months ago. They look the same, they fit the same (no toe cleavage, YAY!), and the soles are identical down to the very writing itself (except the Target flats tell me size 8.5 and these tell me size 40). Suspicious. I wonder if their wholesalers are the same and if I can find them and get them to make me more colours in this style? Hmmm..

Guess how much they cost? Less than $15 each. For leather shoes, that’s some kind of amazing, don’t you think?

In retrospect, walking around the house in the suede heels made me realise that I’ll probably have to return them. Apart from the awful amount of toe cleavage on Louboutin shoes (toe cleavage that extreme sort of reminds me of a woman trying to squish size DD boobs into a B cup bra–not a great look), their height is one of the reasons why I’ll probably never invest in a pair and I have the exact same problem with these shoes, too. I think the heels are about 10cm and just too high for me. Comfortable, yes, padded, yes, but I feel like I’m four inches closer to death in these shoes and I don’t much like footwear that feels too precarious to wear. (Besides that, hello back, knee and hip problems!)

Anyways, you didn’t need to know all that. Just unloading some recent things annoyances floating around in my head, and what better place to do so than my blog?

On the job-hunting note.. I feel fairly optimistic saying that I don’t think I’ll be unemployed much longer. I am very close to employment–so close I can smell it–and I am extremely excited. I was talking to my friend Ellen about this today and we both feels like full-time employment in the industry that you love is the last step to becoming an adult. It’s like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon into a brave new world. I wonder if I’ll be any good at my job? I wonder if I’ll be happy? (I hope so, on both counts!) I wonder if I’ll still be able to wear my pastels every day or whether I’ll have to save them for the weekend? Or will actually earning a stable income change the entire direction of this blog?

On the packed bus ride home today, grinning like an idiot about the prospects of finally finding a home for my designer self, I looked around at the other commuters and suddenly felt apprehensive. I had left the city during peak hour, so the bus was mostly filled with suits, suitcases, steely stares and people casting impatient glances at their watches. Is this what will become of me when I start working?, I wondered to myself.

Am I about to join this battle-hardened monochrome army in the pursuit of financial freedom?

Welcome to the second edition of Frugal Feeds–it’s like Cooking for Dummies but 35% less patronizing. This post is brought to you today by popular demand of my lovely readers who apparently have a hankering for some good old fashioned apple pie. After my flaunting my father’s apple pie on my Instagram account (check it out if you have time, it’s like a cute mini version of Carbon Chic!), I’ve had a few requests to “dish out” the recipe, so here it is.

All ingredients can be bought from your local supermarket. I bought most of these things from Aldi because they’re cheaper and my local store has a current special on Granny Smith apples ($1.50 a kilo!), but any store will do, really.

My dad has been trying to teach me this recipe for ages, but since he’s a baker by profession and I’m a professional screw up when it comes to the simplest of recipes, I’ve adapted his version into something a little bit more precise. He calls it his “1, 2, 3″ recipe. One part butter, two parts sugar, and three parts flour. Follow that sort of structure and you shouldn’t go wrong, but here are the estimated measurements for the shortbread:

• 3½ cups of flour
• 1½ cups of sugar
• 150g of butter
• 3 teaspoons of baking powder
• ½ cup of milk

The sugar I’m using today is my own “special blend”–half a cup of white sugar and a cup of brown sugar because I’ve apparently run out of white sugar. Ha, ha.. I don’t think it matters what sugar you use–the last time I used only white sugar, the recipe turned out pretty much the same, although my shortbread was a bit drier than it is today. I compensated by adding a bit more flour to my recipe for today (that’s a bit more on top of the 3½ cups needed for the recipe) so the shortbread would come together properly.

As for the butter, I have absolutely nuked this stuff in the microwave; I’m an impatient person so I didn’t feel like waiting, although what the sensible chef should be doing instead is melting at 10 second intervals and stirring inbetween to stop the butter from separating.  I, uhm, don’t actually notice a difference from using separated butter in the recipe versus using good butter, but Google tells me that apparently your dessert will turn out more greasy if you do it my way, so maybe patience is a virtue when it comes to things like these. Anyways, carrying on–!

Click “more” to read on (the following parts are a bit image-heavy):

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