Yet another book.

I got home from work to find another new book waiting for me. To be fair, I ordered this book ages ago and it has just been been published. JR Ward releases one book every six months and I have been waiting (im)patiently for this one.

I'm diving straight in, guys. See you later.

He's Back!

Hooray, Mr K-E is back. He had a lovely time, although the conditions weren't that good on the slopes.

He brought me back some gifts. Swiss chocolate and nice Ham. What else could a wife ask for?

Weak Weak Weak

Despite all my good intentions, I bought five books yesterday.

JD Robb is one of my "old-faithfulls" but the others look like they could be very good.

I wanted to get Peter Godwin's other book about Zimbabwe, but it's still in hardback so I bought Mukiwa instead.

And the Qiu XiaoLong book is interesting - it's described as "an Inspector Chen mystery" which is like an "Inspctor Morse story" I guess, but set in modern-day China.





Just to remind myself why I shouldn't buy any more books, I have collected all my other to-be-read books and piled them up.

I can't wait to get into these books but I seem to be stuck reading The Poe Shadow at the moment. The problem is that it's not really that exciting so I keep forgetting about it and reading magazines, old books etc. I even have magazines that I haven't read - a National Geographic has been lying on the kitchen table for the last week, still in its plastic cover.

Sigh.....

I really, really, really like Orlando Bloom.

Just because I'm married, it doesn't mean that I don't get crushes anymore.

Sigh.











Big sigh.

Retail Withdrawal Part 1

As part of the general K-E household retail ban; there will be NO purchasing of books, DVDs, CDs, clothes, shoes, gadgets, computer games, cosmetics, household items etc etc until we have moved house.

Even though I haven't bought anything since Christmas, I still have piles of books to read, numerous DVDs to watch and brand new clothes that I haven't got around to wearing. If I don't hurry up and wear them, summer will be here and they will be relegated to the back of the wardrobe. Then when it gets cold again, I won't want to wear them because they will be so last season and not new anymore.

So maybe this ban is a good thing for me, as it will teach me some discipline . :)

The whole thing is getting quite painful, as one of my favourite things to do is browsing in bookstores and buying books. I probably used to buy at least 10 books a month, they were my "guilt-free" purchases, ha ha ha, money spent on books doesn't count.

So now I do "virtual shopping" instead, looking on the internet and planning all my future purchases. (Please don't tell me to join a library, it's just not the same...)

Books I want:

Peter Godwin: When a crocodile eats the sun. About Zimbabwe. I read an exerpt and it was v. good.
JD Robb : Innocent in Death. I don't think I can resist buying this book actually. I'm going into town to get it tomorrow. Jeez I'm so weak. :)
Bill Bryson : The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. Why oh why didn't I get this book for Christmas?
Anthology: Mortification: Writers' stories of their public shame
Will Ferguson : How to be a Canadian

I could just link all day, but I don't think anyone is really interested in reading my book list. I even have £35 of book vouchers (a christmas present) to spend! Oh, the irony.

As for handbags, look at these honeys:





Gucci Princy - I posted this picture yesterday.
Doesn't it look great? Perfect for work - not too flashy or chav-ey at meetings. (For details of "chavs", see here and here for the phenomenon that destroyed the Burberry brand)







The Chloe Ava. Much nicer than the "Bay" I think. This isn't a very good photo, check out the Chloe website.









I love this Anya Hindmarch clutch. Cracked metallic gold leather, yummy. I have promised myself a bespoke Ebury when (should that be if?) I get my next promotion. All the more reason to work harder!




Next time: shoes and CDs

To consume or not to consume?

Since Christmas, Mr K-E and I have been on a strict retail ban. The main reason is that we are going to put our flat on the market this summer (fingers crossed) so we are trying to get rid of stuff, not accumulate more. When we move to a bigger place, the retail ban will be lifted and I will probably engage in a shopping frenzy.

We have already performed several "culls"; getting rid of clothes, shoes and other assorted crap that just fills up your living space. I have taken several binbags of shoes and clothes (some still have the tags on) down to the charity shop but man, there's still a long way to go.

However, symptoms of retail withdrawal have begun. I spend my evenings looking at handbags on Gucci/Dior/Mulberry/Balenciaga websites, licking my lips and whining. I haven't bought shoes for more than three months. I don't even dare to go into shoe shops because I know I am weak.

This is a dangerous weekend for me because Mr K-E is away and Selfridges is just a bus ride away. Must resist.

The hardest thing is that it's not about the money - I can easily afford that £850 bag. In the grand scheme of things, it's just a blip. (That makes me sound like such a show-off biatch, but I'm not, I promise.) It's the fact that the handbags I already have lie around on the bedroom floor and sometimes I even forget about them because they are buried under piles of semi-dirty clothes. Not to mention my Catholic guilt about people living on $1 a day while I feed into the great consumerist lie i.e. that buying more "stuff" will make me happy.

I also don't want my Boss to think I'm overpaid. Note to self : must keep up air of genteel poverty at work.

That's a Gucci "princy" in chocolate leather. Be strong, Katie -Ella, be strong.

All Dressed Up

Mr K-E is away, sniff sniff. He is away snowboarding in Chamonix, France with some friends from work. He was up late last night packing and checking that all his snowboarding kit was OK. I think he looks really cute with all his gear on, so I couldn't resist a photo when he put it on to check it.

He told me to mention that he is not actually fat, just wearing lots of fleeces, thermals etc.

Have a nice time, honey!