Inspiration

I love the way how comfortable he is in his own skin and that him, despite being so different from everyone else, made him the success he is today. So I bought the book and loved loved loved it! I think overall he managed to advise on how a gal should proceed to make her life her own instead of trying to live her life like someone else – I think that’s a mistake which a lot of girls make (ok, I’m too lazy to fall into that but I need to snap out of my lethargic mode and lazy life!) Some of his tips which I think are so great…

1. Have a signature style – when people see something, they associate that with you
2. Be really neat and organized, whether it’s at home or at work
3. Be five minutes ahead!

Birthday

Last year of my twenties and a big step forward because I’m getting married this year! Honestly a bit apprehensive and not sure of what to expect and hence, I wish to keep a record of my growing in this next phase of life.

The celebrations started a week before – when I start meeting up friends and having great long meals and conversations. These girls are a huge part of my life and I feel incredibly blessed to meet them and becoming such good friends that we can talk to each other without reservation on all topics. Lovely small presents… incredibly thoughtful that fit me to a T!

On my actual birthday, we picked up my Coach bag! Philip, the guy from LovesCoach is a pretty nice chap. We went to pick up first at Fortuna Hotel but the bag has an obvious scratch on the leather so I called him up and he immediately agreed to swap for another piece which he has at his place. So we drove over and picked up the bag! Pretty happy with the service that I got!

Since his place was over at the East, we also went here to grab a meal (R by then was hungry and grumpy). The food came quite fast, but the main highlight – fries (I had curry) weren’t fantastic although R loved his and gobbled up everything. I still want to try their famous Nutella tart though, so will definitely pop by again!

And we finally got to catch up with my lovely cuzzie and her family plus an impromptu dinner outing to JB Pekin Restaurant hahaha! I know… we are so random! We dropped off a huge load of magazines at her place and then decided to go JB for dinner! R and I went back to get our passports and change $$$ at Bishan J8 and then he went back to his place for a quick shower. And the dinner was lovely… steamed herbal chicken (again), steamed prawns with garlic (again), stir-fried pea shoots, steamed Hong Kong style garoupa, egg omelet and sea coconut for dessert! We then adjourned to City Square for a spot of shopping (didn’t buy anything) and reached home at around 12+am… utterly random and so us!
Presents received so far…

1. Masks and good luck charm from Japan (for marriage preparation)
2. TWG tea (New York! God, how I love that city!)
3. Earrings from Isetan
4. Black/grey Swarovski pendant necklace

And nope, R didn’t get me anything because he brought me to a really nice dinner at Dozo and a small bunch of flowers besides. I was really disappointed though, and although I tried to cheer myself up thinking of the dinner at Dozo, it still wasn’t quite enough. But I have since recovered and he’s going to get me this!!!



I have tons of accessories and I figure that this will be really good to have all my jewelry in the same place so that I can remember what I have got! Since we are going to share his bedroom and I have lots of stuff, I figure this is fantastic storage plus a full-length mirror to boot! Will place my order tomorrow yay!!!

p.s. he has finally agreed to let me get the camera – I should have one before the end of the month!!!! Triple yay yay yay!!!

New Year Resolutions

1. Be punctual!
2. Exercise 3 times a week!
3. Be a good wifey
4. Cook
5. Write
6. Dance
7. Read
8. Sew
9. Declutter
10. Fluff up!

Think I’m done.

Still to do...

1. Date – check : 20 March 2011 (Sunday)
2. Venue – check : Pan Pacific Hotel (free upgrade to Pacific Ballroom yippee!)
3. Wedding, mothers’, sisters’, jiemeis’… all the ladies are taken care of! – check : Allure Charix (we are so lucky Anna is the boy’s cuz-in-law!)
4. Flowers, photographer, videographer, MUA – check : Allure Charix (all taken care of by Anna!)
5. Wedding bands – check : Goldheart and Poh Heng (lurve luurrrve them! We have two wedding bands each – one white gold and one gold)
6. Dowry jewellery set – check : Poh Heng of course! Nice dainty set that can be worn other than wedding day.
7. Boys’ suits – check : Daniel from Men’s Tradition. Fitting next week!
8. Wedding shoes – check : His from Aldo (really nice classic pair) and mine from Charlotte at Robinsons!

Some major stuff still pending… which we are kinda dragging our feet over…

1. Finalise the guestlist – it’s a MAJOR headache.
2. Guo Da Li – We will source from here, here, here and here
3. Setting up his bedroom and buying furniture – can only do the actual physical moving after 15 days of CNY…
4. An Chuang – again… no bed ha!
5. Lunch caterer – thinking of Manna Pot! But still not fixed as I read on the forum that the food is usually not enough. Both our families are not small eaters…
6. Register with ROM – meeting up with Gary this Saturday
7. Shop for gold accessories for tea ceremony – probably after CNY
8. Shop for bridal accessories and groom’s cufflinks
9. Finalize wedding day program and Krabi mini-honeymoon itinerary!

Erm ok… *deep breath* I need to think of something fluffy… like my wedding dress!!!



It’s MTM based on Rivini’s Brini gown… *LOVES!!!*

I also MTM an apple-green cheongsam and a red jeweled toga evening dress. (where’s my camera?!?!?! *wails*)

And just to sidetrack a bit, just placed an order for this from lovescoach… just right for CNY!!!




AND…. I’m thinking of getting one of the following Kate Spade iPhone cases…from here. Leaning towards Lady Cocktail… what do you think?

Busy busy

Went to JB yesterday for R’s car servicing (2 hours) and then had a yummy lunch at Pekin Restaurant! It’s somewhere around Taman Sentosa and we ordered herbal chicken, steamed prawns with garlic sauce and stir-fried french beans…. really delicious! Afterwards we had a plate of fruit (mango, watermelon and honeydew) and the total bill came to less than S$30!

After it was shopping at Coupe De Marriage to source for the wedding dowry and gifts. My dowry, his part plus the An Chuang stuff all came up to about S$160? Much cheaper than what we have seen around the shops in Singapore! Think we’ll just one more round of research and then proceed to buy from there after CNY.


Had his RM10 car wash (which included vacuuming!) and then we went to City Square to shop around a bit… mainly to look at shoes and bags for me but we chanced upon that elusive make up case!!!!

It’s so pretty in pale pink and just the right size to store all my make up (will upload photos later)! I did a fair bit of spring cleaning yesterday and am shocked at the amount of makeup that I had accumulated over the years! A lot of them were unusable and had to throw away! Some of them were brand new and not even used yet! That’s what this case serves as too – I know what make up I have on hand and will lessen garbage in the future. Hee.

Ok! Going for birthday dinner with my family at Prima Revolving Restaurant! Will upload pics next round!

Last year's Christmas Shopping

Time just flew past… and Christmas was over in a flash. I remember how happy I was the Sunday before last, doing last-minute Christmas shopping (well, it was supposed to be wedding shoe-shopping, but I spent over $500 without buying the shoes – they were an excuse to shop the next day and I finally got them at Robinsons City Hall during Monday lunchtime hour!), trawling the whole of Orchard Road with W and happily swiping away the plastic. I really want to take down the pictures of what I had bought, but the desired camera is still MIA so here’s the list with web-ready images instead:

1. Pair of colourful (mainly blue and red) disco bling earrings at Isetan Wisma ($12) – thinking of wearing them for CNY

2. Diamante silver bangle from Helen (~$14) – inspired by Sofia Coppola in advert for her LV line of bags… check out the diamond bracelet on her right wrist.



3. One cologne (Givenchy Summer Play Limited Edition) for R and two perfumes for me ($250)… love the pretty and feminine scents and packaging! Can just imagine these two bottles sitting pretty on my new dresser in his room! Btw, he loves his Xmas present too! Plus I got two free bags – one laptop satchel which I wrapped as a Xmas exchange present, and another white carry bag with a flower pattern embossed on it. Totally worth it!!!



4. Two biographies from Kinokuniya (~$60) – got a 20% discount as W is a member!

5. Shiseido eyelash curler ($18) and Intelligent Nutrients Lip Balm ($28) from Tangs. Couldn’t bear to throw away my BodyShop eyelash curler as it was a gift from Cuzzie 10 years ago… but it was dull and rusty and I finally had to lay it to rest. The latter because I tend to eat up everything that is put on my lips so I figure organic (never mind the price) is the way to go.

6. Two tubes of hand cream for R’s mum and sis as Xmas presents.

7. One Picard brown and black reversible belt ($65) – originally intended for R, but he’s too fat so passed on to my bro instead ;P

8. White leather BB key pouch and card case ($80) – have been aiming this for the longest time! My current key pouch is too bulky and the keys tend to slip out and scratch the rest of my stuff. However, I’m saving it to use when he passes me a copy of his house keys.

9. Etude House Petit Darling Eyeshadow in a soft pink ($8 – W has the 7% membership discount again!) to add to my collection of matte eyeshadows – I can’t really take shimmery stuff as my eyelids are extremely oily.

We then finally adjourned to Grandma’s Restaurant Paragon to have a good dinner and rest after walking for about 3.5 hours straight. If only I bought my Canon S95 then as an early birthday present to myself… the day would have been perfect.

Random... but happy day :)

Weather was great, office was quiet… altogether a peaceful and uneventful day….but the following made me happy…

1. My colleague brought her Canon S95 today and I was trying it out plus seeing her photos. Convinced more than ever that it’s the right choice over Lumix LX5 as it’s so compact and yet packs such a punch! We traded info also on the shops in Funan which matches YL’s descriptions exactly! Love YL for all the godly information that she possesses and which I can sponge off haha!

2. R came down to meet me for lunch today… sweet! Although his friend D butted in and joined us at Red Pig along Amoy Street ($11 set lunch deal AND it’s yummy!), altogether a nice warm fuzzy feeling just to see him in the middle of the day. *loves*
3.  Had KFC for dinner… Think my appetite is successfully decreasing as this is the FIRST, and I repeat, the FIRST TIME that I can ever bear to let my fried chicken go uneaten, and yet still satisfy my craving. But R got a tummy upset from all the black pepper that was firing up his stomach ;P

4. R’s mum got an iPhone 4 and I was busily helping her set up new email and FB accounts. I really do like the feeling of starting from scratch again!

5. Bought Taiwan make up artist guru Kevin’s make up book set from Popular at $26.95 together with MINA magazine. The former is really very informative and detailed… I can finally understand why one needs so many beauty paraphernalia – just to achieve a “simple and fuss-free” look needs so many products and shading techniques! I can foresee another beauty spending spree coming up…

6. R said he’s going to get me a make up case for my birthday when I asked him for Canon S95… :S so I have been diligently browsing (making the best out of the situation) and TA DAH! The perfect case from Sephora! Retailing at US$98 at Amazon, but I’m wondering would it be cheaper to buy from Sephora here? I should probably get one for my sis too as she’s more of a beauty junkie than me (she has all sorts of beauty products in every part of the house). Time to pay GWC a visit plus bring my parents to  Cz’Zar once again!



This is pretty cute too… I prefer this shade of pink actually, and the price is very reasonable – but it ran out of stock and they have no idea when it will be available…



This is nice as well… but black lace for make up box seems a bit weird for me… and doesn’t seem to fit in with our imaginary house decor (Hamptons style…baby)… plus it’s out of stock too….



7. Stumbled upon another interesting blog where the girl is so very quirky and yet so comfortable with herself and her own unique style. She loves traveling, does a fair bit of detailed research on her trips and is a foodie! She also likes crafting (she’s archi-trained) so she and her hubby DIY a fair bit of their wedding props and they turned out gorgeous! I love talented people…. opposites attract here you see… ;P

A new start...

Tomorrow is a brand new start... And I'm confident that I will do better than before...

Happy happy days...

Clearing the last of my leave (although it was spent in pain and discomfort)... and then 30 June 2010!!! A fresh new start for everything! :)

I've been reading through lots of home decorating blogs lately from Canada and it amazes me how hands-on and creative some of those ladies are... and how incredibly beautiful their homes look with creativity and character. I then tried to find some home decorating blogs from Singapore but the few that I found were brief, concise and sad to say, ugly in my opinion. I think I differ greatly from most Singaporeans' idea of a nicely decorated home! Check out this simple and pretty space... http://canadiancottage.blogspot.com/

I am inspired to start blogging about my impending house renovations next year... although I foresee a lot of arguments with MB who unfortunately does fall into the category of most Singaporeans as to what he thinks is nice. It's all laminates, plastic, steel, glass and spotlights... yuck! I hate all of the five except for glass (but not excessive of course). Fortunately, he has given me carte blanche to decorate the place and so far, the few ideas that I have are ok with him after a bit of a sulking... ;P

It might be a bit too late to write about my 2010 resolutions but I'm going by the financial year which is 30 June. Since, it's 1 day away, here goes:

1. Exercise regularly. I'm hoping to hit a 5-day workout eventually.
2. Do little acts of kindness.
3. Be well-groomed

Countdown to 30 June 2010... 1 more day...

A mad rush.... to 30 June 2010

A mad rush today after coming back from a short weekend break in Genting... Didn't really want to go in the first place but my father was so enthusiastic about my last trip with the family before I get married off next year that I went along with it, taking a coach up on Friday night myself after a great dinner and girls' night out with Ms T and the Aussie girls... Love 'em and their humour... Haven't felt this revitalised with good conversation and food concurrently for a long time! Next one should be coming up this Thursday with Shimenpai at Illuma.

And of course coming back and got caught up in a mad whirl of things... mainly 2 sets of accounts waiting to be signed off by 30 June 2010 and some final billing to be done. And of course was grilled and fried from one end to another from morning till night.... *BIG SIGH*...

But looking on the bright side, 30 June is coming next Wed! Can't wait and then it's a brand new year and brand new start all over.... :)

Sunday... working in office

I have recently turned down a firm offer, thinking to myself that I'm worth more than that. Am I???

I'm working overtime for free... on a Sunday when it should be spent with loved ones and last weekend was burnt on work as well. I think sometimes I focus too much on the $$$ in absolute terms without thinking how much sacrifice/sleep/scoldings is needed to earn that. Is it worth it???

Should I start measuring in less absolute terms?

Hope next week is a good week!

First post in 2010

After all these years, I don't think I totally get what life is all about. But I'm pretty sure it isn't working at 2:07am trying to review 2 sets of financial statements which totally add no value to my life as to whether they are accurate and complete. Hence, an impromptu desire to update my blog and settings and to set things right in a small way... so that I'll gradually move myself out of my current rut and truly live a good life...

In the meantime, back to work until I've found my escape... leave next Friday to Genting with family!!!

New beginnings...

Have just signed up for California Fitness for 3 years (2 months free!) plus a trainer for 30 sessions (with 5 free!)... at least I'm making my money work harder! The early morning training sessions are really tough... having to reach Raffles Place by 7:30am and that's only because ICPAS starts at 9:30am. Dad didn't fetch me so I actually took the feeder bus and train myself, squeezing with the rest of the world. Reminds me of primary school days when I take the bus myself (haha yes, it's been that long). It's amazing how many people start the day so early and even more amazing to see people already sweating it out at the gym!

Anyway, the point is for the next two weekdays, sessions are fixed at 7am so I will reach office late at 9am. ;P

It's too early to say that it's money well-spent coz I haven't seen the effects yet (currently weighing in at 64.3kg when target aim is 54kg), but I'm definitely feeling more energetic and taking on life with more zest (that is, other than work for which I feel like taking MC everyday upon waking up, and last Friday I did take MC but it's for a legitimate reason). The morning exercise part also helps to get exercise out of the way so that evening can be reserved for late work nights *gloomy gloomy* and other activities.

MB has also joined the Safra gym and is hard at exercise almost everyday trying to get in shape for his IBPT ($200 for silver - I've since encouraged him to go for gold to get $400 instead haha!). On a separate note, glad that his Liverpool finally found their form against ManU tonight!

This is depressing considering after this entry I got to go right back to work trying to review finish a file so that partner can review tomorrow. Tons of work waiting for me when I go back office tomorrow... so not looking forward to it... :(