什么鬼都有

Omy is running a "7th month promotion" called 什么鬼都有, following which we received a set of magnets from them.

Perhaps it's the trauma from work, perhaps it's the trauma from the polluted air caused by the renovation going on (for which our place looks like a fortress now), the girls got inspired by the magnets enough to end up like this:




And for the fun of it, we sent it to the OMY team to "show our support", and now, I think a couple of them are posted on the website as "scary face?" Haha.

It's great to have a bunch of crazy, fun-loving friends at work. Makes a day's work so much easier to pass!

I'm Alive

Yes, I'm still alive. Have since been getting calls from a number of dear friends demanding an explanation for my lack of updates on this page. Thank you darlings, for all your concern. I love you all too.

Books, SATC dvds and such have been keeping me occupied these days. Other than that, think I'm still pretty much the same.

#1: I still love my bags and shoes. Vive la France, Viva l'Italia!


#2: I still love my food.




#3: And my wine.


#4: My job.





#5: And all its fun.




#6: And of course, family time. Julian's so grown up now, but still as cute!


Now, that pretty much sums up what I've been up to. Somewhat.

There's still another though - I'm still around in sunny Singapore, and not in New York as planned. That will be one major ranting in the next entry. For now, it's time to hit the Zara sale....

What I Can't Say No To

The event went well, we raised a good sum of money for the beneficiary. Our artist did well too, he completed this in under 15 minutes, and sold it for $15k.


So to celebrate the accomplishment and the start of the GSS (I say this AGAIN - being right smack in the middle of the shopping belt, the lure of the malls is simply too irresistible), I indulged.

Like seriously, twice in a row, like I was on drugs. Am loving the red pair, didn't even realise that it has the potential to peep up skirts till @ndrea said so, haha.

The Story of My Miu Miu

Since Lilsnooze was on the topic of Miu Miu, I was reminded of mine. The one that I had gotten last year in Florence. The one that you see in these pictures here - I no longer own it.



These were taken a few months back. Before I could post them up here, I found that the metallic joints of the bag had started to rust. It was most unbelievable, given that I only got to carry it for like, twice?!

Took it back to the boutique here, and they sent it over to HK for checking. After more than a month, they called to say that the parts cannot be replaced and would like me to pick another same model back as replacement. "Old" bag exchange for a brand new one, not that bad right?

But I hesitated for the longest time, simply because I had loved the chocolate brown colour so much, and they don't carry that colour anymore. The current colours of the S/S season were that of pastels, pretty and soothing, but I much prefer my strong chocolate brown.

So I asked if I could hold till later when the darker colours of the F/W season are available, perhaps I could pick my choice then? No, they said cannot. They said in fact, I was supposed to pick and replace as quickly as possible within the week. I was quite upset - I paid good money for the bag, for a colour that I loved. And now I'm supposed to settle for a colour that I'm not crazy about??

Changing to another model was possible, but I had to produce the receipt (which I had already discarded) or my credit card statement from almost 6 months back. It was so inconvenient. Why couldn't they just call their own people in Florence to check the price then, and determine the difference that I would have to top up if I wanted another bag?? It's not as if the bag was a fake!

Anyway, I love the shape of this bag too much, I decided that I was going to have the same model back. So I tried to settle for the soft grey, although a tiny voice in my head said the colour wouldn't be lasting, and that it wouldn't be evergreen enough for my liking.

Fortunately, the last piece they had was stained slightly. Till now, they haven't called me to say if they got another new piece, so I'm buying as much time as possible. Just noticed that the pre-fall colours of black and red are out! This could possibly be the red that Lilsnooze was referring to. Both are very desirable. Well, we shall see..... I'm still sad that the dark brown is no longer available, that I'm only left with these pictures to serve as memory.

Nonetheless, despite the less than pleasant experience, I STILL HEART MIU MIU!!! Heh.

Meanwhile, tomorrow's finally the day of the soft launch. An event that I had worked my arse off for the last few months, the cause of my sleepless nights.

Hopefully, this would be my lucky dress, that the event would go on as smoothly as possible, and most importantly, I get my art bidders to raise a respectable sum for the beneficiary. THAT would be the most stressful moment, ARGH, STRESS!!!!!

Art Frenzy

This has been a crazy week, as we prepare for a launch/charity art auction next week. It's the launch of a shopping gallery, and my team has been tasked with quite a lot of the event's components, especially the charity art auction.

Too long a story to pen down here, it gets too confusing too. Let's just say that there has been quite a few near heart attack moments along the way, enough to have made me age a decade and grow a few more strands of white hair. But at least things do get under control after a while, as we move on to face other challenges. Not complaining here, despite the stress and late nights, I love the adrenaline rush!

We invited an artist over from Japan, and commissioned him to do a number of works for the charity auction. As with every artist I work with, I would discover that while each and every one is eccentric unique, all of them have an underlying surge of passion and conviction. And this is the part that is most admirable about their profession - they truly love and enjoy what they are doing.

A third generation artist, he has certainly mastered the technique of chinese ink painting over the years, and I must say that even his speed of work is impressive! From a blank canvas to a full painting, it took him all under 2 days, with sleep, meal times and breaks as per normal.

A painting of this size, he would normally sell for about S$100,000 in Japan. So since I couldn't afford such, I took a picture instead.




The coming week will be very crucial, as we tie up the finest details of the event. Wish me luck!

Work Saturday

Was on duty yesterday - it sure sucks to be working on a Saturday, right smack in the middle of Orchard, while the rest of the world is happily shopping around you.

The Boy was sweet enough to come over and have dinner with me. Decided to have local food at an altitude - Chatterbox on level 38/39. Think he enjoyed the Lobster Laksa and my Char Kway Teow tremendously.

Not doing my "work" of PR here, but really, these 2 items are very noteworthy, especially the Char Kway Teow. Some may say that the prices are too expensive for local food, but I guess it sort of justifies paying the extra buck, given the quality of ingredients and serving portions.


But if any one has a differing opinion from a previous visit, feel free to let me know! :)

Days of Our Lives

During our lunch break at Tiong Bahru today, we became best friends with the biscuit auntie.

Her shop is in the Tiong Bahru market, on the 1st floor, next to the wet market. She has the bestest collection of retro cookies ever - from the colourful "gems" to the apollo, the ice-cream wafers, the "wallets", the "ear biscuits" etc etc. I don't know how many people would be able to catch what I'm saying, but maybe if you see the cookies, you would so know what I'm referring to!

Our Ah Lian here bought not 1 pack, but ONE KILOGRAM of strawberry-flavoured egg rolls. Plus she kept calling the auntie "大姐", which had the auntie grinning from ear to ear.


And because of that, we got discounts off our loot of cookies! She even offered us free "Milky Boy" sweets - haha, I don't recall eating that before.


So the next time you're at Tiong Bahru, go check out her shop if you miss the cookies from our childhood days. They are very fresh and absolutely nostalgic!

A Vinous Afternoon

Went out with the team just before noon to check out some wines for an upcoming event. And of course that meant wine tasting. Compared to the norm, this was definitely a different experience tasting "draft wines", drinking them "from the taps" of the barrels.

Wise Wine has a pretty wide selection of specialty wines, muscats and ports. The owner very patiently explained each type of wine to us, as we tasted them. Most of them were pretty mild, some others with more character.

We particularly like the fruity muscats, which I think are their signatures. In fact, despite knowing that we might have to wait another 6 months or so for the next production of the melon muscato, we've placed our orders already! Believe me, the melon muscato was YUMMY!

Here, you can choose your own wine, bottle and cork it yourself. You can even print your very own label. So, I had a try at corking the bottle, which was well, not as drama as these pictures seem.




So despite the numerous wines we tasted, we managed to remain sober, reminding ourselves that there was still work waiting for us back in the office.

Lunch was next door at the coffee shop, where the famous Hainanese curry, pork chop rice was super, duper yummy. Even though I don't take rice, I found myself eating some, cos the sauce was just so delicious!


And because that was "wine tasting" only, we went for the real round of drinks later in the evening after work. Haha, I'm working with a bunch of alcoholics, but I totally enjoyed the evening!

The Supermodel

One of the guests invited by STB to attend this year's Fashion Festival is staying with us. There was supposed to be a series of interviews lined up for this guy, and we were involved in arranging the venue.

I didn't think too much about who the guy was, given that such arrangements are pretty standard.

No, I wasn't really excited about who he was, till I saw his picture and write-up in yesterday's Straits Times Life! section. I knew it was some famous supermodel to be interviewed, but I didn't think he would look like this:


I know. "HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW WHO HE IS??!" you may ask.

But to me, I only remember the Claudia Schiffers and Heidi Klums. Name the female models I can, they are afterall, the higher profiled ones in the modelling industry. Thus, male models all kinda look the same to me, despite this guy's many years in the industry.

Anyway, cut the long story short, I straight away personally went up to "oversee" the interview.

My Relationship with A

Have not been blogging much in the last couple of weeks. Firstly, work has been keeping me very busy, working till pretty late at times. Am settling in well, and I must say that I've got a very nice and fun team - some of them just need a little bit of warming up to. And some, a little more motivation and encouragement.

And so when I managed to finish up my stuff earlier today, ending by a record time of 7pm, I was at a loss as to what to do next. So much so that I asked @ndrea what was I supposed to do if I got home earlier. So much so that I "loitered" around Prada and Miu Miu, as well as the Market Place, for a while more before I decided that it was "time" to head home. Haha, I hope this doesn't become habitual, I mean the going home only at a certain hour.

Secondly, instead of the usual logging on once I get home, I was fervently trying to finish watching a Korean drama series. Drool factor was high, with not one but two Korean hunks. And now, there's lot of catching up on the various blogs to do.

In other news, I seem to have this perpetual "affinity" to ANTS. Random ones just keep appearing out of nowhere on my office table. Much as I have tried, I haven't been able to find any food source or anything that seems to be attracting these buggers.

How I hate ants!!!!

Off to the "Oscars"

Tomorrow's the start of the World Effie Festival 2008, at the Suntec where I'll be for the next 2 days. Have been so excited about it since the announcement that it would be held here last year.

The Effie Awards, described as the "Oscars" of the advertising industry, will also be held at the end of this 2-day exchange. Am really looking forward to hearing from these advertising gurus, and especially MM Lee's discussion on the Branding of Singapore.

Ok, switch off shopaholic mode (I zipped in and out of Miu Miu today at lunch, but only a quick glance!!) and turn on brain juices.

PS: I merely went into Miu Miu on the pretext of helping Beanbean check whether there's new stock of the bag that she was eyeing. Serious.

Day 1 @ Orchard

The day went by quickly. I was, and still am, quite blur about what's going on. And after the hand-over was done, and I got an update from the team about what's going on and what's in store, I was starting to feel rather overwhelmed already.

Great, exciting plans ahead. From the renovation of the grand lobby, to the repositioning of the mandarin gallery (YES! I'm probably trying my hand at RETAIL for the first time!!!!) and the rebranding of its F&B mix, it sure sounds like lots of work to be done. But it's not the hard work that I fear, but rather I hope that I would add good value to this milestone in the hotel's 30-year history in time to come.

The Boy, being the sweet boy that he is, felt bad for not being in town on my first day. He had flowers ordered and sent to my office.

Him:: How's baby girl's first day?

Me:: So far so good! Still blur but ok. Thanks for the flowers, I love you!

Him:: You goddit??

Me:: Uh huh! :) By the way, I don't think you realised that you ordered fabric flowers right?

Him:: Huh?! Really? I so blur baby. But good also since you always throw my flowers away.

(At this point I would like to clarify that I DO NOT always throw them away unless they start getting mouldy.)

Me:: Haha, no lor! Oh and the arrangement was as big as those that your mum buys and puts in the living room.

Him:: I'm a dumb dumb. But but but... it's expensive lor.

Haha, that silly boy! So I was right in suspecting that he didn't see the flowers properly when he was ordering them online.

Of course no matter what, the effort that he has already taken in sending me those flowers is more than enough. Can't wait till he comes back tomorrow!!!

Meanwhile, here's a look at the lovely flowers and my new office. It's a fish tank, amidst a pretty open concept. Miss my old office, whereby each department is confined to their individual rooms, and I could scream and curse as much as I could! Ha.




By the way, I ended the work day with a quick zip next day - Takashimaya. BUT only because I had to get a mug for the office ok!

A Quiet Weekend In Anticipation

This has been a quiet weekend, especially since The Boy is away in Dusseldorf, Germany, for a trade show. I spent all of Saturday recuperating from the bad cough and flu.

Spent the day watching some Taiwanese drama on Channel 55. Quite drawn by Alex Fong in the show, "ho man ah"! Just like the other more matured TVB drama actors such as Michael Miu and Bowie Lam. Swoons.

Ok, I've not forgotten about my boyish Raymond Lam, in case the BBs say how come I've got a change of heart.

Realised that this Taiwanese drama is adapted from Qiong Yao's novels. No wonder I was quite drawn to it, I watched so many of those Qiong Yao shows since young. They can be really drama-mama, but quite addictive leh. Especially when we were young and impressionable, always dreaming of that perfect romance that would be dazzling with fireworks.

Ok back to reality.

Tomorrow will be my first day of work at Orchard. Had my manicure and pedicure done today, for that extra confidence booster. Haha, do I sound lame and Becky Bloomwood-ish?

Yup, finished up the book, Shopaholic & Baby over this weekend as well. Love all of Sophie Kinsella's books, looking forward to the release of her new book next.

Now, am going through the media planning that has been handed over to me for review. Hmmmmm..... looks like there's lots to be done.

A Time for Everything

And so, the last day came and went. It has been an emotional last few days. It could be a good thing that I've been so sick with flu and a bad cough, that I had lesser energy to feel the sadness in its entirety.

It's a good thing too, that the BMW Popiah Party has been postponed, cos I definitely wouldn't want to pass my sickness on to some of the brides-to-be, and new mummy! ;)

And for one more, possibly last, time, we were in coordinated dressing again, at the Padang yesterday! The atmosphere was so electrifying when they were about to announce the results of the Youth Olympic Games bid. As if we didn't know the answer already!



And there was the farewell lunch today, with all the department heads and my team as well.




Oh, and I had a little farewell gift from the dept heads. On the pretext of wanting to borrow to "take a look", the BBs later added on this charmer as a surprise. Absolutely love it, will always be reminded of how much we love to shop during lunch hours!


Saying goodbye to some of the greatest people I've come to love has been really hard. Even these chefs call me "Mama".




A lot has happened in the last couple of years I've been here. There were highs and there were lows. There were difficult periods we had to deal with, we overcame them all. And we did it as a team.

I don't need a report card from anyone to tell me how I've fared during this tenure. Because having the following validation is good enough for me. One email from Matt, one ST article of "the Mandarin girls". I think I've done what I first set out to do.

知道他们有我的心， 我就心满意足了。 Ok I don't know which "zhu" or "zu".

Dear all luppies,

The only piece of work that I am proud to present to mama (my dear boss) got to be the poster
that I did for her birthday cum farewell. 40% that I wanna show her how far I had improved on my creativity,
another 60% got to be from my heart to thank her for being patient, kind and most importantly giving chance for me to improve my CS skills.

As she said, change boss doesn't mean change job, I totally agree with both legs and hands.
Though Marina Mandarin to Meritus Mandarin is just a stone throw away, we must make sure our friendship is as strong as stone and no one can thrown us apart.

We must keep in touch, email and stay tune with gossip.

LUP,
Matt

Fark, this is machiam like breakup, crying for days on end. But the beauty of it - we have built a lasting, meaningful friendship.

BBs, LUP MANY MANY!!!