A little bit of Kirei

Continuing with my love for jumpers/sweaters at the moment, this dusky purple jumper from H&M which I bought after Christmas is another one of my favourite things. I wear a lot of purples and blues so this works really well in my wardrobe and goes nicely with this pretty silk scarf that I was sent over from HK for Christmas! FYI, I spent ages tucking and knotting that scarf to make it look like that!

 Jumper (H&M) Scarf (Gift from HK) Skirt (UO) Knee Socks (Primark) Shoes (Dune) Necklace (HK), Bag (Sisters from HK)

The candy pink coloured bag belongs to my sister Hailey. She bought the bag on one of our shopping trips in HK and I couldn't help but borrow it and attach this big fluffy charm on it.

The charm is actually made up of several charms which I had bought on a whim in Hong Kong in the Summer. They're actually intended as a phone decorations but unfortunately my phone doesn't allow phone charms (damn!) but it goes nicely on my bags! The fluffy ball and ribbon charms are from Kirei, a small accessory shop in Causeway Place which stocks lots of cute Japanese accessories. From what I gather, Kirei means pretty and this charm certainly is! The little Hello Kitty sitting in a Hong Kong taxi was a random (and touristy!) purchase in Sogo department store. It was far too cute and kawaii for me to pass up! Yeah so the charm in it's entirety is either super kawaii or sickeningly girly depending on the way you look at it. I'm OK with that.

Other cute things in my life include these new iPhone cases which now join the collection that I have amassed since Hong Kong. Iconemesis got in touch recently and sent me these cases for me and Hailey to play around with. Iconemesis are pretty cool because they work with some really talented artists to create designs for their cases. The cases are sturdy (perhaps slightly heavier than what I'm used to) but they do the job at keeping my phone scratch free and pretty. Having bought a case from them before, I can tell you that their customer service is excellent and are also constantly looking to improve their products.
Speaking of iPhones, I think I may start to do one of those weekly Instagram round up posts. I take so many photos on my phone, it would be nice to share them on here! Before I sort that out,  here are some pretty pastels I captured last week.

I have been loving all these pastel shades that are starting to make an appearance in the shops lately. I am always swooning over Acne in Selfridges which let's face it, they're a LOT out of my price range but the colours of these coats over at Oasis are a lot more purse friendly!

Year of the Dragon

It's hard not to do a repeat of the same post every year as I know my posts during Chinese New Year have always been pretty similar. Photos of CNY preparations, mandarin oranges, red and gold decorations around the house and that sweet box full of candied fruits. Maybe my instagram pictures will put a slightly new spin on things then? If you're on instagram too, my user name is Diamond Canopy. All but 3 of these photos here are taken from my iPhone, which has made photo taking today super quick, snappy and er...sneaky!

It's the Eve of CNY and the tradition is to have a big noisy get together with your family. It only seems like yesterday when we were all at my grandma's on Christmas Day but here we were earlier today, gathered around several tables at my grandma's house (the one above is the 'kids' table!) tucking into some yummy traditional food.

Below are plenty more photos from around my grandma's house and all her lovely decorations. My grandma is hard at work cooking up a feast in her little kitchen in the first photo! I really do love Chinese New Year, I love the vibrant colours, the traditions and the awesome atmosphere. I am determined to celebrate it in Hong Kong one of these days, the celebrations are unreal!
I learn new things every year to do with traditions. One of them includes the first door decoration below. I asked why the symbol for 'good luck' was upside down and I was told that it was arranged that way on purpose. According to tradition, the upside down character is placed that way to show that luck is coming for the new year. I rather like that!


Of course we finished off the evening with a noisy game of Mahjong (yay, I won a game!) and I took a photo of these awesome Hello Kitty lucky red envelopes (laisee) which were a couple that were given to me today. I always keep my favourite ones because they're just so pretty.
Right, off to complete one of the last traditions on the eve of CNY and that's to take a bath and throw in a whole bunch of fragrant pomelo leaves. It's meant to bring good luck for the rest of the coming year. It's strange one, but I love the tradition and it smells just lovely!

 新年快樂, 恭喜發財!

Happy Chinese New Year!