We had been planning and organizing our first “employee only” agency event (our boss always used to invite clients, too – so bad) for weeks, than we had to postpone it, since it was too windy outside and we were all too busy. But then, finally, last Thursday, we made it onto the catamaran. Not all of us though, since many were too busy at work.
This was one of those days that remind me of how good life in Dubai can be. (Just in case you’re wondering – little me is the one in the grey jumper.)
No, this is not about the corporation of Marni and H&M, which has just been announced today (makes me really excited). This is about a little event at the newly opened Marni store in Mall of the Emirates – featuring the designer herself, the adorable Consuelo Castiglioni. Damn, I was so shy (because I really, really love her and everything Marni) that I didn’t even had a picture taken with her. But she smiled at me when she saw me in my Marni outfit (I didn’t even wear it for the occasion, it was really a coincidence). Gosh, this woman is just so charming – and look at her shoes (and that amazing skirt)… I think I love her.
It’s been two weeks already, since Alex and I were in Japan. And I’ve got so much to tell and so many photos to show – what I don’t have is time to prepare everything and blog. To make a long (and beautiful) story short: We enjoyed every single minute and had so much fun. I’ve been to all ‘my’ shops and cafes and restaurants and hairdresser and… Hopefully I’ll blog some more Japan (and especially Tokyo) experiences (and purchases) soon. We’ve visited my grandmother and grand uncle, and I discovered some hidden (and little) Japanese in the last corner of my brain. It was lovely. Oh, but my grandmother cried so hard when Alex and I had to leave. Unfortunately my sister Michiko called her in exactly that moment, and she was really worried since she couldn’t understand a word our sobbing grandma tried to say – so hard did she cry. So naturally, we’re going to visit her soon again. Hopefully very soon. Cherry blossom time? This time it’s gonna be Michiko, Fabian, Alex and I – all together. I can’t wait. Counting the days already…
Alex got ‘interviewed’ by some cute school kids – of course a photo had to be taken, too. 
A long weekend finally gives me the chance to leave a little update here on my blog. It’s been a crazy past three months, in which I had no time for anything. Partially, I have to blame myself, because in the middle of chaos at work and everything I’d decided it would be the right time to adopt a third cat. Until then I didn’t have a clue of how easy-going Atze and Feia had actually been when we adopted them back then. Naive as I am I thought a third cat would probably need a week to settle in and then we would all live together in peace and harmony until the end of days. So wrong.
Little Watson, an only two-months old rescued street-kitten (we thought a kitten would be better for our two oldies) moved in and took over the house. This little guy was ALL OVER the place, like you have no idea. He played like crazy and for at least one week the rest of us – meaning Atze, Feia, Alex and myself – were on the run or trying to hide from him. And there was nothing that would slow Watson down. We told him “no”, we shouted, we used our water pistol… it left him totally unimpressed – you know, like you could see on his tiny face that the message just hadn’t reached him. At all.
When Watson didn’t riot around he wanted to be hugged, cuddled and carried around. I’ve never seen a cat so desperately in need for a human hug. He would climb up to my head and start licking my ears or biting my nose. And if I’d put him down he’d scream like a parrot – seriously. At night he would sleep so close to me that I’d wake up sweating because of him. Then the next problem: We were not allowed to close any door in front of him. Bathroom visits or just getting dressed while opening and closing the wardrobe caused pure desperation in our little fella. He would get so scared of being excluded and alone that he started to pee and poo – not in his litter, that is.
Friends asked me: “So why don’t you just leave the bathroom door open?” Because Watson would climb between my legs into the toilet bowl. Seriously, it’s a cat, and you suggest me just to let him do whatever he wants so we have our peace? So, once I had finished “my things” in the bathroom I would have to clean up Watson’s “things” in front of the bathroom. Thank god we have no carpet. And you can imagine that this “routine” is a bit stressful if you have to work full days, being totally overloaded with jobs at the office.
Next: After two weeks or so, we noticed a little eczema on Watson’s white fur. We took him to the vet and – oh no: He’d got a street-kitten fungus, which is highly infectious and – if not medicated – can seriously damage organs, too. At that time I’d been only worried about Atze and Feia being infected, too. But when I noticed a really disgusting looking eczema on my face and arms I knew that I had another problem. I went to the doctor and got some hammer medication. Then Alex noticed an eczema on his skin, too. So now we’re still all three under medication (but at least not infectious anymore). THANK god Atze and Feia didn’t get it.
The only good thing about that sickening and disgusting cat fungus: Watson has become a lot more calmer with his medication. So most of the time he can accept that doors close – and open up again. He uses his litter (also because I’ve bought two additional litter boxes), and he has also accepted that not every cat in this household wants to play in his wild ways. (Oh thank you, Atze and Feia, for being so patient with him!) His affection is still annoying sometimes and he eats like a pig (I really can’t get enough cat food to satisfy the beast’s cravings) – but at last he’s one of us.
Now – the test: Alex and I are flying to Tokyo next week. Finally! So we’ve got Claire from HomelyPetz, who already knows Atze and Feia, taking care of the cats. Please cross your fingers that Watson’s gonna be a good boy! And when we’re back, he’s going to the vet to get his balls cut. Yes, those tiny balls that seem to give him the power and energy of at least three horses (or 10 Red Bulls).
I’ll be back after Tokyo with loads of pictures – promise! So long… xoxoxo
We used to live a quiet life…
Thank god, even the devil sleeps sometimes.
Life in Dubai is rather boring these days. At 45 degrees Celsius (which is around 113.0 F), it has slowed down to an ‘almost dead’ level. Even with the AC constantly running you can feel the heat everywhere. And the humidity… It’s my fifth summer in Dubai, the most exhausting summer so far. If I didn’t put my alarm clock, I’d easily sleep more than 10 hours per night (on the weekends I do allow myself 10 hours of sleep). But my friends and colleagues say the same: this summer is like hell. My energy level: -10. Alex is on another business trip this week. Turkmenistan. So the kittens and I try to entertain ourselves as good as possible.
A couple of random photos…
Sleepy Atze.
Sleepy Feia.
And instead of posting a photo of sleepy me, I give you – the Marni shoes my sister ordered for me (since Marni don’t ship to the United Arab Emirates. Thank you:/ ) a while ago. They are so comfortable.
Just when I thought I would never see the light at the end of the tunnel at work (the reason for my blog hiatus), little sister Michiko (well, she’s not really little anymore) announced her spontaneous Dubai visit. So I took a couple of days off, Alex had to fly to Munich for one week anyway, and Michiko and I had time for shopping, indulging, and shopping!
Unfortunately, our time off didn’t go without problems in our house – it’s only natural that power outages and everything that comes with that only appear when Alex is away. We were three days without internet, without TV and – at the peak of all that fun – one day without AC at 48 degrees Celsius outside. At one time we had four different maintenance people and technicians in our house. We called the electricity station three times – they came three times, but couldn’t find the problem on the first two. With shorter power outages we also had fire alarms from time to time – it was like hell. But that’s Dubai. First, when you complain, they don’t believe you. Then, when they start to believe that you could really have a problem, they send someone, who doesn’t know what to do, who doesn’t understand you, and vice versa. Multiply this by three (at least) and you have the average procedure to solve a technical problem in Dubai. But let’s move on to the good stuff…
These are the Balenciagas my sister got. I had seen them before and never liked them. Also couldn’t understand the hype about them in many fashion blogs. Michiko on the other hand saw them, fell in love, tried them on and looked absolutely fabulous.
She wore them with a floral skirt, with shorts, with pants… these shoes are the icing on top of every outfit!
Of course – we had our nails done. This is my old hand painted in Dior’s Nirvana.
And we went to Ikea and bought the cats a supercool tube from the kids department. They love it.
Michiko also scored some hot tops on superhot sales at Harvey Nics, and I got a really cool top and a supercool huge white fabric bag (to be worn as a piece of clothing) by Rundholz at IF Boutique (niiiice boutique, useless sales staff as everywhere).
After all this excitement I’ve slept 15 hours non-stop last night. Michiko took off to Germany yesterday, and Alex came back home a couple of hours ago, asking how our week was. Tomorrow I have to go back to work – I just don’t know how.
If you live in Tokyo, you can stop reading here. Everyone else might be interested to read about my online shopping experiences… The first part is for newbies, the second for more experienced online shoppers.
1. You’ve heard of net-a-porter.com before, but you can’t remember exactly what it is? You’re a beginner:
I don’t understand why I still get the look every time I answer: “This? I ordered it online.” Online shopping still seems to be reserved for couch potatoes or other pitiable people who don’t have the time to go to the mall. It also kind of revives that old flair of ordering via catalogue – you call, they deliver. If it’s crap, you call them up again and they come and pick it up.
First, I’m not a couch potato, but indeed I’m always a little short of time. Secondly, many things I need or want are not available in the retail stores – shoes in size 35, many Japanese and Belgium designers… And last but not least, I don’t like Dubai’s shopping malls: Who needs five Louis Vuitton flagships? Who needs a Harvey Nichols and a Bloomingdales full of unfriendly sales staff, who have no clue of anything.
Recently at Balenciaga: I ask for a pair of shoes in my size – 35. He (I don’t know why they still hire male assistants, who really don’t have any idea of women’s clothing) comes back with a size 39. “Try it, it runs a little small I think.” Or at the jeweller: I need my ring to be altered. He takes my size – ok, no problem. When I come to pick the ring up I can already see from far away: This ring would not even fit a baby’s finger (seriously, I’m not exaggerating) – but the ‘goldsmith’ still insists I should try it on at least. I almost freaked out – “give me a magnifier”, I wanted to scream. What went wrong? There were two kinds of sizing on the jeweller’s scale – the European and the American… Can you guess what had happened? Seriously, I’ve rarely had a pleasant shopping experience in Dubai in almost five years.
After all that crap – I’d rather return something I’ve ordered online than get upset about the stupidity of the sales personal. Quite the contrary: Depending on the online shop, the customer service is extremely helpful, friendly and fast. Some stores send a handwritten note with your order, most of them have beautiful packaging… It’s a pleasure. OK, you don’t get your items ‘right here, right now’. You have to be patient and wait for the UPS, DHL or FedEx guy to deliver the parcel. But once it’s there, you can take your time to try the item on, combine it with your clothes – and if it doesn’t fit or is not up to your expectations, you send the store a message, get a return number, arrange a pick-up appointment with the store’s appointed courier service and send it back. Some stores offer free returns, and some charge the return shipping costs. But you can avoid returns if you order a brand you already know (so you know their sizing and their quality in general = no bad surprises).
2. If you’ve already ordered online and need more sources and inspiration – this is for you, the experienced online shopper. And these are my favourites:
Superfast and reliable…
My Theresa – carries many ‘It-designers’, has a beautiful packaging and adds goodies like notepad + pen.
Matches Fashion – as for the brands: they carry, as My Theresa, the usual suspects; the packaging is beautiful, too. Their shipment arrived after three days, which I didn’t experience with any other online store.
Totokaelo – definitely the best online store when it comes to presenting their items. They have a model combining different pieces, and on their website you can interact with other clients and exchange opinions or give advice. It gives the store a very personal touch. Their packaging is also beautiful. Another advantage: They carry brands and designers you don’t get everywhere. Inspiring!
Departement Feminin – They carry only a handful of designers in their online store, very high-end. But what I really love about them – they give you the feeling that they really care: I was once in touch with them regarding an item – half a year later, they contacted me again, saying that they ‘remembered’ (I know it’s in their system – but still…) my interest in a certain designer and asking if they could reserve anything for me from that particular designer. I emailed back and forth with the customer service woman, who was really sweet. I felt that she was excited about the products they sell.
LN-CC – apart from the fact that they carry so many of my favourite designers, they are fast and reliable. (And they’ve got the perfect model to present their clothes!)
Net-a-porter – you’re in good hands.
I also like Browns and Colette, but mainly for the brands and products they’ve got available. Their service is comparable to Net-a-porter – nothing exciting, but reliable.
Here is a list of online boutiques I’ve already ordered from:
I’ve had two disappointing experiences yet. If you want to know more – give me your email.
Do you know any other good designer online stores? Share your experiences!
I’ve got too much to do at the agency and at home these days to update my blog. But the time will come again, soon. So today I just want to show you what kind of activities keep me busy when I’m not working. And I can already hear you say “No, please spare us with another boring cat story.”
I just did this pic with my Mac Photo Booth. Can you see the scratches on my cleavage? Little bitch Feia did this to me today. I had let her and Atze play outside in the garden. But Feia got bored after a while and went one of the at least 2-meter high garden walls up to be closer to the little birds. We don’t allow her to be up there, because on the other side is our neighbour’s garden. And this particular neighbour has a dog, and I don’t want this dog (and with him his owners, too) to go crazy and mad because one of our spoilt cats wants to take a stroll in his territory.
So, what we usually do as soon as Feia jumps on the wall: we call her, convince her with treats or – if nothing else works – go over to her with our water pistol, shoot some water at her, and she comes down. But today none of that worked. Before she could even think (I actually doubt that she has the ability to think), she slipped and fell from the wall – unfortunately, onto the other side. Damn it!
So I put on some shorts and flip flops, went out on the street to our neighbour’s garden and called for Feia. I could see her sitting in a bush. I couldn’t enter the garden though as it was closed. So I had to knock on the door, and our poor neighbour, who was just taking a shower opened (wrapped in a towel) and let me into her garden. As you can surely imagine – Feia didn’t want to go home. She was save in her bush, so let the sweating creature (I’m talking about me here) keep on talking. I think Feia didn’t even recognize me, because she was all puffed up. And when I finally got her, she tried everything to free herself and escape. I’ve never seen her that mad. (The one time she went missing for a whole day, she must have been too weak to resist.)
I know what you’re thinking: “Freakin’ cat woman, not being able to hold her spoilt little rats.” Maybe you’re right. But it’s still love. What can I do?
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