**Gotta Give these Fly's a Try**

The light bulb moment comes when you least expect it…. Or if the truth be told, “with a little help from your friends” aka the beautician. You do end up chatting about the most random things and anything really in these rooms which I think is the quick fix to taking your mind off what’s about to come! We had never really spoken about shopping before which is odd, I know….but today was the day I knew we had a common thread rather than the EXPLOSIVE “chit chat” about everything social. I walk in for my appointment with a bag which had a random logo on it (I actually had no idea what it meant but she knew what it was straight away) I had to ask her what the shop was called as its just ‘a shop I go into’. I know where it is ‘in the line’ of shops, I just didn’t know the name of it which is my first lesson of the day L-E-A-R-N the shops names rather than walking aimlessly in them all the time as it makes these conversations much more concise! 

After this, I Immediately knew I was in “perfect” company to bring up shopping in style and at a good price! There is a genre of shops, which are “THA bomb” and seriously, even lifting their game more so from when I first discovered them a few years ago. To be politically correct, I really don’t know what to call the genre except an agreed concept with the beautician – “sunny girl shops”. Bravo, Tamara, BRAVO! 


Seriously, get to know them… such treasures lie through these doors and they are spotted all over Melbourne the big mecca shopping centres, Chapel street, Fitzroy street, Acland street etc get my drift, at the risk of sounding like a cheesy         cheap ad time slot “there will be one near YOU”!

So “the bag” which I got when my goodies were packed previous to the appointment had just given me the biggest shopping “lift” when I knew I only had a total of 10 minutes to find an outfit for an engagement party that night and a tight schedule during the day. A small window of time, but we have all been there and know that dread of failure especially under pressure. That’s when I knew I had to move fast hit the sunny girl shop to hit success. Bang – scoot around that shop quickly and pick something that looks good and a fabric that will move with the body shape as we cant expect ‘chanel’ quality materials at a the fly price that these places offer. After a fast lap, grabbed two dresses off the racks, first one was pretty, a non-moving fabric and fit me in all the wrong spots, one movement sitting down and that dress was splitting all the way up the side revealing a whole lot of winter body which is not in the best shape. Second dress, looked good, bit more edgy being a bright yellow and material spot on…. A flexible cotton with double layering. Get out that change room, 5 minutes left, another fast lap for a jacket, tried on a couple and 2^nd bang – big black fur number which was super warm and had a dull matte finish so hid “the cheap” well… “that will be $79.90 thank you”…. Why thank you back, have a nice day… SUCCESS!

Key points for the Sunny Girl Shops;

Remember, ‘if you care, you wont wear’ so just walk in… its about shopping smart and wearing what suits your body shape

Pick the right fabric, granted there is some dead set    crapola in these shops too. Its not really a chain that you can just grab it off the rack so make sure you have time to try the garments on. The fabrics will be ok if they fit you in the right places hence the need to try them on.

Don’t over think it…. Its cheap for a reason, you cannot expect a “high quality” fabric when your paying on average $40 a garment. Its about picking the right one, getting it altered getting a professional lining put in and not expecting the chanel

You can’t really complain about the quality of the clothes. I wouldn’t worry about saving receipts if you only get 2 wears out of it, this is where we have to suck it up and say “I got what I paid for”. There will be other times, you find gems in these shops and they will last you years… It will even out in the end so save the complaining for our high end products that don’t “put out”

Have fun with it and when mix-matching with your expensive fly wear, it will hide the cheaper fly wear and when wearing your head to toe, its just as important with what your wearing as how you wear it!

Till the next fly with a little help from our friends!

AFJ xxx

Damn the apple, DAMN - that - apple…. It's sale season

<table b

So I take it majority of you saw the elusive 15^th day of the month fly by this week and with this, the plethora of sales on at the moment… I know I did and once again and this date that presents itself as….‘monthly financial planning with the best intentions’… The intention is there, so that’s what counts right?.....Wrong!

People don’t win gold medals because they had the ‘best intentions’ to train harder, they win because they follow through with their plan, regime and DO train harder but I’m not about to get ready for Rio in 2016 so I say, ‘intentions away’!

 So hear lies the justifiable reason to why we perform such acts in a state of weakness online wikepedia (June 2012) quotes temptation as.....

"...the desire to perform an action that one may enjoy immediately or in the short term but will probably later regret for various reasons: legal, social, psychological (including feeling guilt), health-related, economic, etc. In the context of religion, temptation is the inclination to sin. Temptation also describes the coaxing or inducing a person into committing such an act, by manipulation or otherwise of curiosity, desire or fear of loss"

So on a recent shopping expedition I used this methodology, this theory, this way of life, and realised its not my FAULT but I HAD to test my resistance to my “monthly plan” once again and here’s how I was to test it…..Enter the shop just to have a quick peep to see what I was missing out on. I would then politely smile and leave the shop and walk away feeling amazing that I had made NO purchases whatsoever. I would self profess my inner strength, give myself a high 5 and positively leave the complex purely with the items that I went there for (which by the way were a dog collar and a voucher birthday present)... anyway, I'd then drive out of the "chaddy" carpark, not make one single profanity whilst driving against "bumper to bumper" cars, kids, couples with hands in each others back pockets and the chaddy "locals" that just hang there doing a hell of amount of nothing. I would then come home and think, "wow, I'm really a good person and SO strong, resistant and pure to my temptations"...... Umm… HELL NO, for those who haven’t picked up the hint of sarcasm, it should be on high beam now.....of course I wont be going in to just have a look... as soon as I "walk the line" per say, I was leaving that shop with a bag that had a big fat red "SALE" on the side of it filled with goodies therefore turning my monthly financial plan to JUNK! I would drive away annoyed at all of the above and probably verbalise that profanity from the safety of my locked car if the situation presents itself as I'd be jacked at myself for ONCE AGAIN for giving in to the temptation!

So HOW did this happen?... whilst rushing around to be in and out of the complex to grab the "essentials", I "swished" past country road knowingly they had a sale on at present and 'reluctantly' dragged myself through those doors in the art of "research" and dammit walked out with THAT  bag of goodies that I hadn’t intentionally gone into buy.... HOW HYPOCRITICAL OF ME... but I point out, I’m not perfect and I’m here to profess my weaknesses as well as my strengths.... 

Hear lies RULE of FLY - ‘Monthly Financial Assistance Plan whilst Sales On’;

1 - Don’t walk the line….straight up and simple, walk past it, DO NOT even look at it.... its the devil and you how it ended for "mrs and mrs eve"....(ok its hard and here I am professing that I can do it but guess what, I cant at times too so lets not crack the whip on ourselves when were all a "sucker to the sale" on occasions, lets just try). 

2 - Keep credit card at home then have a think, "do I need those items” and pop back tomorrow if you NEED them…

3 - take your boyfriend, girlfriend, sibling whoever that doesn’t like shopping to stop you (please note, someone that has a rubber arm to a sale is unacceptable, please leave them in the "paris end" of chadstone if they must join the trip) 

4 – Organise dinner, lunch, brunch with friends, keep busy and away from shops! Remember this is “priceless” and should be prioritised over “unintentional items at the sales”. There is always money for veuve and good times

5 – Don’t leave the house, ever…. BEST prevention but SO not fun and may turn one into a recluse so please try options 1 - 4 first before attempting option 5

all that is said and done.... sales sometimes happen so PALEASE.... before all that good stock goes, have a peep in country road to pick up a bargain to gain maximum reductions in good quality brand/product. Save the dollars you save for the full price product for the "special items" to mix-match with your fly outfit when it counts OR spend it on time with friends... kitchenware is not a "special fly moment in fashion" but a nice to have when they are half price.....Thankyou CR!

www.countryroad.com.au

Hope this homeware "unintentional fly by" helps.... I have officially failed on fly by so far this month…. It happens!

AFJ xxx

ALi F JaY's Way - WHY ?

what a platform (pardon the pun) to write my first fly..... MTV top 1000 greatest songs of all time is on, we dont have to work tomorrow, THANKYOU ROYALS and I need somewhere to start so I 'gotta' a whole lot of time to be inspired by the music, the memories and what were here to do!

I am not here to DE-value fashion or what it stands for, I love nothing more than flicking through the latest Vogue wishing I could afford the pieces that are presented. For me its more the inspiration to HOW to wear it and for those that I can afford (which is SO not many, but I can dream), I integrate…. Winning. Its about buying with my means and limits. Its about integrating the references too, buy a ‘Vogue’, buy a ‘Madison’, buy a ‘Shop till you Drop’, TRUST me… “luxe to less” is there for a reason…. For people like you and me that dream of the “vogue wardrobe moment” but can only afford the latter right now… and quite frankly, who cares, as long we FEEL good and wear our ‘kits’ with confidence, that’s really all that matters

Ali F JaY's WaY.....

so where did this come from? growing older, wiser and finally working out that “good people” will like you for you, they wont completely judge you on what your wearing. yeah, it maybe a starting point of conversation, admiration or even pure shock but seriously, turn-it-up if they don’t talk to you because of your outfit. If that’s what they are judging a friendship on, probably best left to others to be-friend them and quite frankly, others will be a better fit for them, this is not a forum on “how to be best friends with everyone” its about not caring if you happen to mix your ‘white suede’ dress with a ‘diva’ necklace and not being “head-to-toe” high end if you cant afford it!

so growing up, cant say I had the most influential “fashionista’s” in my life apart from admiring my friends around me in their hypercolour tops, happy pants, reebok pumps and levi’s brand denim jeans (and matching denim shirts & jackets) whilst I wore pre-loved “st vinnies equivalents”,hand me downs and the big w specials. my favourites and point of grief in primary school were the Dunlop volleys (BEFORE they were cool). Its funny when I look back at that source of fashion in my younger years and nowdays would go “ im almost before my time here, ‘VINTAGE’ with the second hand shops and ‘DUNLOPS’ really took off in the two thousands so what was a worried about it”? well that’s just it, it was before my time and certainly not what “all the cool kids” were doing at school so I used to care MAJOR. I think those years are the toughest in establishing where you fit and what’s “cool” its certainly not whether you’re a nice person first, at primary school I found we were more segmented initially in what we wore hence my admiration for clothes from a young age and rattling my brain on HOW to fit in when we didn’t have the means to have the “brand name” stuff. I felt it didn’t matter how “nice I was” or how good at sport,I still wanted the reebok pump moment. I just wanted to be accepted or “cool”, as we ALL did.

So what did I do about it apart from wait until my birthday each year and wait in anticipation of what my aunty and uncle would send from Sydney as they ALWAYS were up with what was ‘cool’? I waited until I could work and buy my own stuff…. Yessssss! Started working when I was 15 and then with the funds I was bringing in from making pizza’s and after expenses, I would “stretch” that out into what I could and mix-matching at “cheaper shops” realizing that I could get away with not necessarily chasing that “head-to-toe” reebok moment, but making the clothes I bought…. Count.

YES it takes longer to sift through sale items, YES you have to try and overcome “fashion pride” walking into the “cheaper shops”, YES I may have had to snip the tags off and just use the whole “oh this old thing? I cant remember where I got it” but it worked and it worked within my means. It has helped my now in my older years as we have far more expenses than the few I had at 15 so im glad id “trained” myself from such a young age to shop wisely so I can still enjoy LIFE with an awesome boyfriend, a house, a pup and most importantly, time with friends!

Funnily enough, as a kid, acceptance can be as superficial as a brand name but as a grew up, I cared less and less about the brand and more about how I felt and surrounding with ‘high end valued friendships’ rather than ‘high end fashion’. The outfits just happen to be a part of me, rather THAN me. Seriously, I love fashion but there are other things in this world that are more important than the cloth on our back, in Australia, I feel very lucky and blessed to even have the cloth, the choices and the life we have… fashion is an element of life so I hope you have as much FUN with me and my friends along the way!

Now back to MTV top 1000 songs – 324 Elton John, Saturday… rock on elton, rock on…….

AFJ xxx 

~ inspirations ~

what are we here to do?..... shop, share and do it with style and if we can save some moola without compromising our looks, EVEN better!

inspired by some;

                                                 VOGUE ***

source; vogue facebook page, 2012

source; vogue australia, june 2012

source; home beautiful, june 2012

source; sunday herald sun magazine, april 2012

source; vogue facebook page, 2012

source; vogue facebook page, 2012

source; www.thenicksfix.com

source; www.brucespringsteen.net 

ROCK AND ROLL ROYALTY
***

source; GQ magazine, summer 2008

source; roxette official facebook page, 2012

to be inspired and to be continued............

number one fly.....

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one

C. S Lewis

source; facebook page 'vintage' - photographer unknown

~ day one and really navigation is the key..... lucky a long weekend coming up to hopefully get this thing going. day two and "bloggy" mistakes are the key to success, all this technologic integration... live, learn, laugh ~


so let's get started...im here for me, for you and anyone else that wants to fly along. i look forward to sharing the chicks (and dudes..) inspirations, their ideas, visions and most importantly, their wardrobes to see what treasures we can find. hope you like
AFJ xx