KEEP IT IN THE PHAMLY

Luckily I once wore cloth tape to a sci-fi costume party - terrible idea! It sticks to skin better than skin sticks to flesh - so I had some handy when my jacket ripped. Cloth tape has held my beloved jacket together for seven months and counting. If you think taping clothes is bad then I won't tell you about Little Sissy Pham's boyfriend who staples his pyjamas together.

Then one terrible day the girl decided to get her head tattooed and thought she may as well take this opportunity to damage her hair since she would be shaving half of it off. She had it bleached and dyed auburn for the first time in 2009 and so it began...
Once the girl had shaved the left side of her head and gotten the tattoo, her creatively-suppresed hairdresser who spent day after day straightening already straight Asian hair or dying hair varying shades of brown took advantage of the girl's experimental spirit and started creating styles for her professional folio. No one knows if this red clown perm was intentional but this is how the girl's head looked after three sessions in three consecutive weeks.
The girl had funny angles and shapes in her black hair for what seemed like the longest time while she waited for the shaved side of her head to catch up with her unshaved side. It has been 20 months since she last set foot in a hair salon and her beloved hairdresser has since sold her salon and gone on a well deserved holiday. It is a good thing the hairdresser has gone. The girl had intended to perm her long hair for Xmas 2011 and we all know how that story wouldn't have a happy ending.

NB: I wouldn't style these shoes the way I have in this pic - disco bottoms plus sporty casual top. I was just super-excited when I got my new Julias and had to slip them on in place of my space boots!

Okay, so i have something to confess. When I tell people Beyonce's do in Lady Gaga's Telephone clip inspired me to cut a fringe it is only half true. Beyonce inspired me to keep my fringe while i grew out the rest of my hair, which quit my head, and i really must remember to blog the story of how my hair fell off. Anyhoo, my real inspiration is:
Pocahontas, the Disney cartoon. Not even the lead character but her sidekick bestie Nakoma who discouraged Pocahontas' love affair and frowned a lot. Some google trawling found this less bitter expression. I am not a fan of her character - I don't approve of making facial expressions nor discouraging romance. We need more love in this world! But I do approve of her blunt fringe.

I was hesitant to base my next hairstyle on a cartoon character and then I recalled a time when a boy had an epiphany and sent me a text to tell me I look exactly like Mulan 1 and 2! He was stacking DVDs on a shelf at the time. I figure if I can look like Mulan, I can totally look like Nakoma too.
There, I confess. My fringe is inspired by a cartoon character and not even a famous one.

I have a crush on New Zealand footwear designer Kathryn Wilson's entire shoe range. Not only are they strong and empowering, they're also very feminine. Yay grrl power! The best part for me is KW shoes fit so well that even I, the teetering tower of tip-over, can comfortably walk in them. No weird camel loping or penguin sway - it's a miracle!

I spent quite some time in the office one day (yes, lucky me, it's my job to look at, talk about, write about and wear awesome shoes). I settled on three pairs - the Sydney Wedge in Turquoise as seen hugging my feet, a Miss Wilson (her diffusion line) Courtney Wedge I posted about last week and a the Julia Heel in black & gold that I'll blog about next week. The Sydney Wedge makes me feel like the prettiest girl in the room! In this instance, the room was empty except for Captain Catman who watched me like a hawk because I was posing near his food bowl but you know what I mean.

For many years I never wore necklaces because they tangled in my hair and it hurt to yank them out. Then as fortune would have it I tortured my hair for over a year (bleach, perms, dyes - you name it, I did it) until it decided to quit my head. After that I promised myself I'd take better care of my hair when it grew back. And so 12 months later, once I had hair again, I bought a hairbrush and brushed my hair for the first time in a decade. Lo and behold I discovered one can wear necklaces without pain when one brushes one's hair regularly.

That's when I bought this murano glass red heart necklace on eBay around the time I got my cougar necklace! It comes on a red leather cord and is oh so '90s. I lurrrve it.

For the first few weeks after Mum Pham passed away I could only listen to Bjork's All Is Full Of Love because everything else in my 50GB of iTunes music was too depressing. Then a switch flicked and now I crave songs that make me want to cry.

I think this is a good thing because I feel the opposite to the music I listen to. Fast and loud music makes me calm, slow sappy acoustic crap makes me agitated and angry. Fleetwood Mac is about as mellow as the office music can get before my eye starts twitching.



If anyone has suggestions for really sad songs, please send 'em my way. I'm in the mood for sad songs 'cause I'm more cheerful now.

Let's see... I'm pigeon-toed, uncoordinated and sometimes tip over just standing on a slightly inclined surface. When I am sober. Understandably, heels and I are aren't the best of friends. Our relationship is one of mutual admiration from afar. I admire their beautiful, elegant and sexy designs, and they admire me for keeping my oafish feet the Hell away from them.
Lately after looking through photo albums full of well dressed Pham women from the '60s and '70s, I've had the urge to dress more like a girl. A girly girl, one that doesn't wear sneakers all the time and with everything. The stars must have heard me because along came a pair of New Zealand designer Kathryn Wilson's Miss Wilson Summer 2011 'Courtney Wedge' in Red Check.
Ladies, you won't believe how comfortable these shoes are to walk in. They aren't so heely that I'll tip over yet ultra girly and nice too. I was going to take a close up  photo of the Miss Wilson wedge on my feet but then I noticed what I thought was my sickly Melbourne complexion in much need of a tan. It turned out to be my toes turning blue from the cold. Think I got a few more weeks before I can strut around Melbourne in these babies but summertime here I come!

This photo is evidence that Little Sissy Pham learned to walk just so she could run away from me, the crying gives her away:
This photo is of Little Sissy Pham resigning to a miserable life of my hugs:
Can't see the tightly controlled terror in her face? Here's a close up:

If you couldn't tell from my blog name, I love my Phamly to bits. Sadly, love can't keep your loved ones alive in the flesh forever. Mum Pham's passing has been the most heart breaking experience of my life. Fortunately for me, she raised us kiddies to be strong, grounded and to be there for The Phamly.

Right now I'm being completely emo and mopey to my beloved friends but I won't tell you about that 'cause it's private. Lucky for you, they get my snot and tears while you get some of my favourite photos of Mum Pham.

This is Mumma Pham and Daddy Pham on their wedding day. I pretty much have Mum Pham's face so this will be me in 8 years. Hopefully I won't be marrying my own father but maybe I'll tell a fart joke and we'll both laugh like it's the best day ever.


At some point, kids happened and Mum Pham got a bit chubby. She hated being in photos in her later years so I won't share them with the Internet. Instead here is one of Mum Pham's favourite photos of me with Big Brother Pham.


It makes me happy to know I'll be a cute little old Asian lady like Mum Pham one day. Thanks for sharing your beautiful genes and BIG love, Mummy Pham. I'll live the best life I can to honour your gifts.