Outfit: primark duck dress

It's almost Autumn, hooray! Every year I eye up stylish autumnal clothes, picture myself in nice dresses and colourful tights... and then end up in a uniform of jumpers & jeans. Hmm. 

So I am going to try and blog outfit posts more regularly to try and stop myself from living in animal print jumpers! Here's a fairly typical work outfit to get things started. 

Dress - Primark
Cardigan - New Look
Shoes -   Dr Martens from Spartoo*

This is one of my very favourite dresses... I just can't resist animal themed clothing. It is super comfy and I have to resist the urge to wear it every day.

I'm so glad I decided to get a pair of docs too.. I had been swithering over what boots to get to see me through slushy weather and I love them so much! They don't have the traditional yellow stitching, which I am happy about, and are perfect for stomping about.

& the plait/bun hair thing is a really easy updo for slightly mucky hair - just section your hair into three bits, put the middle section into a loose bun, plait each section at the side, loop around the bun and pin with kirby grips! I've got badger stripes of blonde at each side of my hair now (plus a wee bit in my fringe!) so I'm liking hairstyles that show this off.

Ignore my slightly squint fringe.. I decided to trim it five minutes before I had to leave my house to get the bus, oops! Maybe not my best idea...

Kampung Ali, Edinburgh

At first glance Kampung Ali doesn't look like much. It's a big room with an Italian fresco ceiling which clashes quite harshly with a flashing skyline of Kuala Lumpur across one wall. It feels a wee bit like you have just wandered into a mis-matched diner.

But ignore that. Let's talk about the food. Oh the food! There was a cold chill in the air this week and I was craving tasty comfort food... a perfect excuse to go out for Malaysian.

The menu is mainly noodle and rice based dishes, all at totally reasonable prices. We went for the following:

Roti cenai, probably my favourite thing on the menu! 

Craig's dish was the Vegetarian Mee Goreng, which was very hot, but SUPER-tasty (Craig's words). 

Sorry for the iphone photos! It was an impromptu visit.

& I went for the chicken curry noodle. This used to be a bit bony (tasty but you had to be careful), but they've recently changed the menu so it is bone-free! 

For two starters, two mains and two drinks the bill came to £24. What a bargain. 

Kampung Ali is on 97 - 101 Fountainbridge (just round the corner from Lothian Road).  

The family also run a sister restaurant, Kampong Ah Lee, on 28 Clerk Street. It's teeny-tiny (you might be asked to share tables!) but it is also lovely. Perfect for all Edinburgh Uni students too! 

Pastel rainbow nails

I've had quite boring nails for the last few days - I tried a french manicure for the first time in my life... pretty, but not really my cup of tea! So to brighten things up I painted my nails with some of my favourite nail varnish colours:

Models Own lemon meringue, pastel pink, lilac dream, feeling blue & Rimmel peppermint.

Models Own are hands down my favourite brand of polish AND are planning to release a 50% discount code when they reach 100,000 likes on facebook. So if you are reading this & are a nail polish fan please like them, so I can stock up guilt-free!

Fab - daily design deals

Have you heard of Fab yet? It's a daily deals site, but with a bit of a difference. Instead of endless restaurant vouchers & cleaning companies (that nobody has heard of), it showcases brilliant design products - jewellery, homewares, accessories, prints & the like. Items are discounted from their usual retail price (sometimes by up to 70%) and are on site for about a week, so you can take time to decide if you really do need to buy that bowler hat light (er, yes, you do).

I've been meaning to blog about them for quite a while now... I haven't bought anything yet, but it's one of the only email newsletters I get that I open every single time - even if it's out my price range, I can't resist looking!

But that's all going to change today, as this wonderful item popped up.

LOOK AT THIS. It's called a MatchCarden and it's a teeny tiny card & garden by Another Studio. It comes flatpacked (you can send it as a card through the post), and you assemble it, sow the cress seeds (which are provided) and sit back and watch your garden grow. Awww.

City Street Trio - Another Studio

They come in different sizes too, you can get city versions, a mini hothouse, a botanical garden, a football pitch, and lots more. 

Fab have lots of nice looking products coming up too (including fluttery paper eyelashes, oooh), but I am obsessed with gardening at the moment.. and can't quite resist the idea of gardening at my desk! Be mine, tiny buildings. 

Couch to 5k - week one (again!)

It's been a good week!

Runkeeper - my new pal

I must admit, I was a bit nervous when I announced that I was going to start exercising again.. I was feeling fed up and lazy and the nights were getting colder. Brr! The last thing I fancied was running after work. But I am feeling DETERMINED, so I have restarted both Couch to 5k and the 30 day shred - it's a popular combination, and hopefully one that will get results.

And I've been really good! Hooray! I completed week one fairly easily - I'm running much faster than the last time I tried, and felt like I fell into a nice stride quite easily. I've also been up at 6.15am five times a week to do the 30 day shred before work - I've surprised myself with this one!

Can I keep it up? (oh please, I hope so!).

Week one summary:
+ nice easy start to running.
+ much faster, good to see obvious improvement!
+ feeling enthusiastic about everything.

- very achey already. Think this is due to the 30 day shred... hope it goes soon!