Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Dear readers, if you are looking for one of those novels that is hard to put down, I recommend that you check out the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I am almost finished with the first book which is called "Twilight." I bought the book in the first place when I noticed that all three books are at the top of the best seller lists. When I read that it was about a high school girl who falls in love with a vampire, I must admit I was a bit sceptical. After all, I am a sensible woman in my forties, and have never been particularly attracted to stories about vampires or other occult themes. However, after reading most of the book, I have been pleasantly surprised. The story is very well written and the vampire character could almost be any boy who is from the wrong family, the wrong side of town, or similar situations. I was particularly amused when the boy takes the girl to meet his family for the first time, and her biggest fear is that they won't like her! Anyway, if you read the book, or have read it, please leave your comments!

Nine West Shoes

I really like Nine West shoes. The main reasons that I like them is they have many styles that are similar to expensive designer looks, but are moderately priced, often in the $80 - $100 range. Their website currently has some great summer sandals on sale. The large sandal with the tan and brown straps is on sale for about $40. They also have in some really great new styles in for late summer - early fall weather. Here are a few that I particularly like:

Fabric origami flowers

Here is a skirt that I customized a few months ago. I bought the skirt at a thrift store, and then I sewed on a fabric origami flower, which is an interesting quilting technique. Here's the result!

Necktie skirt

Here's easy sewing project. I bought a bunch of silk neckties at our local thrift store, and I sewed them together to make a skirt. If you want to try this, I would suggest that you get approximately one tie for each inch of your waist size. My waist and hips are not very different in size. At the waist, I simply turned the fabric to the inside and sewed it down with some seam tape covering the raw edge. It tends to get too thick if you try to have more than two layers. See how great it turned out!

Bravo channel's Shear genius

Last night I watched a show called Shear Genius on the Bravo channel. It is a hair styling competition. The first challenge was to do a haircut while blind-folded. That one was not very interesting. The second challenge was more fun. The stylists had to makeup the ladies to look like a cartoon character. When they first said what the challenge was, i thought that they had to be kidding! However, for the most part, I was pleasantly surprised. The winner did a Wilma Flintstone hairstyle and it was beautiful! This picture does not do it justice!

Malaysian fashion

I have noticed that famous designers such as Dries Van Noten and Alexander McQueen have been heavily influenced by Malaysian fashions. I had the opportunity to live in Malaysia for several months during the 1990s and it was a great experience. I loved the friendly people and the flowery silk dresses. Here are some examples that I found on Malaysian websites.

Lanvin's 2009 Resort Collection, Albert Eber t-shirts

I absolutely love Lanvin's 2009 resort collection, which is now posted on Style.com. I particularly love the colorful backdrop and the t-shirts with drawings by Albert Eber. I have seen these in European magazines, but they don't seem to be as well known in the U.S. Seeing this shirts inspires me to paint more of my t-shirts!