Footlocker helped me to walk again. Even though never in my life did I forsee that I'd one day be…read morerecommending a shop that sells trainers (and, in fact, had never even been inside one before), a serious achilles injury 2 years ago - I severed it entirely - meant my daily routine of donning deeply fashionable high heels had ground to a temporary halt. I had doctor's orders to invest in my first ever pair of "proper" trainers to wear all day, every day during the lengthy recovery from my injury. No Vans, no Converse or anything even remotely cool - it had to be proper (i.e. ugly) running shoes with lots of support. Totally traumatised, I headed into my local Footlocker at Carindale and proceeded to take my distress out upon the poor, teenage shop assistant who was stupid enough to come to my aid. I've forgotten his name, but let's just call him Tim. Bless his heart, as soon as he heard I had a serious Achilles injury he immediately knew what trainers were needed and directed me to them (a display of big, chunky Asix ones). I almost had a panic attack at the ugliness in front of me - and kept trying to steer him towards a cool pair of Converse high-tops. But he gently steered me back again and said that I needed height and more support for my injury. (He was absolutely right and knew exactly what he was talking about). So I tried the ugly Asix on, and, tearfully, looked at myself in the mirror. And Tim, God love him, tried in vain to console me by saying that they looked quite cool with my outfit (I was wearing a vintage 50s dress at the time. I thought I looked like an ageing version of Lily Allen when she first hit the pop scene). Poor Tim copped the brunt of my horror and when I quite literally growled at him that they looked foul, he very calmly told me that if they gave my ankle the support it needed to get better, then it was worth a few months of readjusting my wardrobe. Oh, the shame. I behaved appallingly, Tim, and I hope I didn't put you off a career in retail. I wore those damn trainers daily for 6 months and yes, my injury did get better. I might have had a ceremonial burning of those damn Asix when I was done with them (I never got over my hatred), but thanks to Tim and Footlocker, I'm back in heels again. So the moral of the story is - Footlocker Carindale is my hero. Even though I never want to have to shop in there again as long as I live. The End.

Blue Velvet is one of my favourite dress shops. They have the most beautiful range of cocktail…read moredresses for all occasions, from a casual weekend barbeque to a night out in clubbing on a day on the race track. Think sparkles, frills and lots of colours. Everything you need to make you feel like a princess for a special occasion. There is certainly plenty of sparkle, the store even has a chandelier! There are a few full length gowns that are quite pretty but my favourites are the cocktail dresses. They have plenty of small sizes too which can be surprisingly hard to find at small boutique shops. Great to browse through even if you don't have an event coming up. The service is also fantastic. Last time I was there, there was a 'Back in 5 mins' sign on the door however a very nice gentleman advised me that the owner would be back shortly and proceeded to explain the current specials.