The spoils for the day

Shopping malls are far and few on the Gold Coast. Most retail outlets are not housed in gigantic buildings, but instead neat little shoplots along main roads. This allows a certain sense of individuality and quaintness, though on summer days like these, I miss the air conditioning of indoor shopping.

Harbourtown is an outlet mall located in Biggera Waters, a 40 minute drive away from where we live. I'm not there as often as, so our excursion was a real treat.

The place is massive. Australian malls tend to be widely spread out, as opposed to the soaring Malaysian ones. I only have one decent pair of work pumps, so shoes were first on my agenda.

Nine West (I know they're copies of Loboutins!). They're a size 6 and a little loose, but the jelly cushions I stuffed in perfected the fit. Only AUD49! I know a certain someone *coughDicough* who spent MYR359 on her Nine West pumps is screaming now.

I've always liked the look of young people in plain white tees and jeans, with a skinny scarf slung around the neck. Plus heck, it was only AUD1.

As Girlfriend, it is my duty to upgrade X's wardrobe (that and I had to fulfill the obligatory Christmas present issue). We thought he could do with a nice pair of jeans. X is pretty thin for an Aussie and like me, often has trouble finding things that fit. We checked out Just Jeans and yd. before settling on these at City Beach.

We also stopped by Southport, Gold Coast's CBD to get some things. There's this fabulous secondhand bookshop, Reader's Delight. Kathy Kemp is the friendly and helpful lady who owns and runs the place. The book selection is extremely tasteful, as she personally selects everything based on her own experiences or recommendations from others. I got The Autograph Man by the ever reliable Zadie Smith, which proved to be a delightfully kooky experience. This was my most recent purchase. It's reading well, so far, in the vein of Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer winning The Hours.