Killer Trinkets

Had a sudden craving for Hock Lam Beef Noodles this afternoon. Dragged @ndrea all the way to Far East Square.

While walking towards the shop, my shopaholic radar picked up sight of a quaint little shop called Entrepot. It was the display of Good Morning towels made into oven mittens that caught my eye. We walked in, and were absolutely smitten with so many of the little trinkets around the boutique.

We went gaga over these, and eventually succumbed to the temptation. I got the "Little Red Riding Hood" while she decided that she "Will Work for Peanuts".
















Back in the office (ok, I need to qualify that this was during one of our "breaks"), we checked out the rest of the trinkets at My Killer Heels.

Z and A thought the bracelet with the ants suits me most, and we thought "My Pet Chicken" is damn cute.
















While I cannot yet say "I Sold My Soul for a Birkin", I did know the "Cupcake Recipe". And so my credit card was swipped once more....

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.

And There's More...

In addition to the lure of online shopping, I found another source of retail therapy over the weekend - PEOPLE'S PARK COMPLEX!

Yes, thanks to r@e, I braved the heat of this non-air-conditioned complex (of a million shops), overcame my claustrophobia of crammy changing rooms, bashed through the jungles of clothes all hung tightly together (forget about stylish, upmarket window display here)..... and emerged a Chong Kee fan. Uh, yes, that's the name of the shop.

The clothes here are an amazing lot, almost every piece a familiar replica of those from Zara, GG5, Southhaven etc etc etc. I was so thrilled to find a few tops that cost only an average of 30 bucks each, yet good quality and chic enough for work. You can tell I'm so determined to break away from the monotony of matching the standard shirt/cami with suits!






The bad news is, although I don't know if the above is good news to the hubs, I AM FAST RUNNING OUT OF WARDROBE SPACE. I thought I bought hundreds of hangars from Ikea, enough to last a lifetime, when we first moved in a couple of years back. But tonight, I realised that there are no more hangars left. Now, is there an emergency here?!

And some of my clothes have just started to invade The Boy's wardrobe space.....

My Greatest Muse

Many have been amazed by how cool and fashionable my MIL is, that she's always decked out in the most "happening" clothes. I am sometimes awed too, especially by her love for bags, which surpasses mine!

We went shopping the other day, and at the mere mention that "this is the LAST piece" and "there's always a LONG QUEUE for it", she said "I'll take it" without too much hesitation.

Damn 爽快 right?! But admittedly, I LOVE this one too, I kept sighing (in admiration) when I first saw it.


And because bag buying can be contagious, I succumbed to the long held-back lust and overindulged. *OUCH* the wallet went, but hey, only the greatest muses can make my heart beat faster....


A side note, The Boy commented that I was talking in my sleep the other day. Apparently, I was saying, "Ok, I'll take it". Now, sometimes, things are predestined, aren't they?

For a Good Cause

It went well yesterday, at the Citibank-YMCA Youth for Causes selection process.

The judges were grouped into 3s, and sat through rounds of presentation by the candidates. I was teamed with an associate professor of SMU and a VP of risk management, to which I felt quite intimidated. But I guess my marketing BS came in handy ultimately.

We looked through the groups of under 16s, and it was really enriching to hear business proposals from these little budding social entrepreneurs. It was so inspirational to hear how they have an idea, and how much they believe in their idea, and that their idea is the best and will work.

That made me really think about how cynical we adults have become, how jaded we sometimes are, that we tend to say no first, even before giving the idea a chance to present itself. Even though there were really some proposals that we know from experience that won't work, it wasn't easy to make sure that we deliver the message across positively, that we won't crush their fragile confidence.

As the little kids sat before me, full of earnestness and eagerness, I thought it was so beautiful, to be able to feel their pure innocence and simplicity. I'm not a teacher, I don't come into contact very often with kids. So I really appreciate this opportunity, the guy who pulled me into this volunteer programme, to experience this youthful energy which I otherwise won't come across at work.

After the whole session was over, I was exhausted from the rounds of presentation, yet very much emotionally recharged and inspired. I sure won't mind doing this again, on a regular basis!

That aside, when I reached home, The Boy pulled out these boxes for me. YES! They have ALL arrived, both the loot from Forever 21 and Nordstrom.


Lilsnooze is right, the online shopping itself is exciting. But the parcels arriving is even more so!

The Parcel Arrives

And so, the kitchen pipe has been fixed. It turned out that I made it more drama than it seemed. But hey, there was water seeping out everywhere that could be detrimental to the wooden cabinet.

Learnt that we need to open up that "cap" at the bottom of the sink pipe and clear it every 6 months or so. This "cap" traps all the dirt from the washing.

I've always been paranoid that one day, the sink will get choked. So I try to make sure that every plate is wiped clean of any food bits, even a couple of grains of rice. Otherwise, these get washed down and get stuck in the "cap".

On a happier note, this arrived today. Thanks to Chloe, we found the ingenious way to gain access to their clearance items. I felt like a hacker when I was ordering my loot.


Am so glad that the sizing is A-OK! :D

More Surf n Shop

Thanks to online shopping queen Lilsnooze, I found a pretty cute "for the weekend" pouch for "ronberry" from Etsy, which has some of the most creative, artsy handmade stuff!


Even though I started out purely with the intention to just search for another iPhone pouch, I got distracted and ended up with a couple of items that would have been the last things on my mind to get.

But these aprons were just too cute to resist. A little voice had told me in my mind that a domestic goddess needs to look good too....




And so, in order to balance out the equation of my "irrational" purchase, a couple of jackets from the sale (!) at Nordstrom was it. I need more jackets for work anyway!




Ok, I need to stop. Maybe I should just start watching some new TVB drama series, so I would not spend too much time online....

Forever Online

I've been very busy at work lately, with non-stop series of back to back meetings. And even at night, I'm busy at the computer too, but doing something else quite different.

The deed is done. One of my first few online spree. Now I await their arrival.






Now, isn't it great that there are no shop closing hours to observe here?

The Husband Provides

Since the iPhone is not available in Singapore yet, those lovely casings are naturally not sold here as well.

In the end, after much surfing around on the net and after-lunch walking around town, a "chance" visit to KS had me ended up with this:




If only they have it in red, but no. But I like the striking green as well, and the black kind of "balances" it, making it serious enough for sitting on a meeting table.

Not too bad at all, with my VIP discount, and The Boy's Taka vouchers, I ended up paying only 7 bucks for it.

Speaking of the Taka vouchers, The Boy had earned them through his long hours of hard work put in for their company's D&D. It was the company's token of appreciation for a job well done. Only to have the wife spend them on her KS pouch. But hey, he gave them to me with love what!!!

Day Out @ Haji

Our today started like this:

The Boy:: Baby, what you wanna do today?
Me:: Let's go Sim Lim!

He looked at me incredulously, wondering why on earth would I suggest Sim Lim, of all malls.

The Boy:: But Sim Lim doesn't sell clothes leh.
Me:: I know. I just wanna go there to get the screen protector for my new iphone la.

Thanks to the ingenious Shutterbug, I would be able to use the phone soon. :)

En-route to Sim Lim, I suggested that we check out Haji Lane for a bit. Haven't actually been to Haji Lane till today. And I don't know whether it's because I haven't gone shopping for a long (?) time, or just that my "luck" is good today, MANY things caught my eye.

Some of the shops were really well designed, I love the creative flair of the interior decor. The Boy and I had a really good time walking in and out of these 2-storey shophouses, taking in the artsy charm of the place. Quite a number of the shops had both male and female clothes, so The Boy didn't get bored too fast, and could browse through the racks too.

Weather was pretty good, not too sunny. We even took a break with some smooth teh tarik.








Towards the end of the evening, we still haven't reached Sim Lim. (To which The Boy wasn't surprised at all.) Guess I was too happy, scoring great bargains, with each top costing only about 30 bucks. Heh. And the damage?






For the records, we did manage to go Sim Lim after all. For just 30 minutes, a quick zip in and out once I got the protector sheet done. Ha.

Never Too Young To Start

Never stepped into Zara at Vivocity before. Have always assumed that it's the same as Zara anywhere else, with almost the same collection. Yet 2 evenings ago, when The Boy and I were at Vivocity for dinner, for some reason, I decided to check out Zara.

And I was surprised (and super delighted) to see that there's a Zara section for babies and toddlers! All the baby girls' clothes were super cute, super sweet. Man, if I were Squarenails, having a baby girl, I would have gone oh so crazy. My daughter's Zara wardrobe would start from age 0!


Shopping aside, when we were shopping at Parkway Parade over the weekend, came across this at Challenger.


WOW! Guess I'm a techno idiot, but I was really surprised to see this! Gosh, how big is 1 TB? How many GB is that?! Can put your whole life in there lor!

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!

New Year, New Clothes

Even Emma, our "munchlet" wants to put on some new clothes for the Chinese New Year - or so I was told by the husband when he sent me this picture this morning.


Speaking of new clothes, each time I bring them back for washing, I'll let the helper know, so she would just need to give them a quick rinse through.

Just the other day, when I handed her another new loot, she went, "Again? Ma'am, you every week new clothes?"

To which I replied very quickly, "Huh?? Since when?! Where got every week? You mistake la!"

Geez. How can it be every week? And no, I'm not in self-denial. No... I'm not... it can't be.... really, I'm not....

The "Swop"

Objective of the Swirl Swop:

Give away your clothes and get "new" ones without having to spend money.

How it works:

You bring the clothes you would no longer wear. The girls bring the clothes they would no longer wear. Put all the clothes together, and pick what you fancy. One of the rules - "No cat fights please".

How I fared:

While waiting for more people to arrive, waiting for the pile to become bigger, I got distracted by the collection from Swirl and Dotted Line.

Excitedly, I tried on a couple of pieces. Just when the Swap begins, I was still in the fitting room. The others had begun their rummaging through the pile already - I didn't have a good headstart....

And so, in anticipation of the Swirl Swop, Beanbean and I met for lunch at Cedele, Raffles City, lugging our big bags of clothings along. Hers was a HUGE bag!

We had a very nice time chatting and laughing over the funny, endearing habits of our hubbies. Pity that the service was pretty slow, there wasn't enough time for us to have the desserts that we so wanted to have.

Over at Swirl, although I didn't manage to find anything, it was really fun just being there for the experience. And seeing a few pieces of my clothes being picked up by the others, knowing that they will be treasured. There were yummy mini pastries and cocktail punch, even bumped into Inthewilderness! :)




And Beanbean managed to find a few pieces of treasures! :)


Soon after, we got more interested in the clothes that were on sale. Again, no luck with it this time round as well, the piece of dress that I liked and wanted to buy was slightly torn and that was the last piece. But Beanbean managed to find yet another treasure! Heh..


Even though I didn't "score" well at the Swirl Swop, which should have been a case whereby you get "new" clothes without having to spend money, I went back with new stuff nonetheless, at a price. Dammit, and I thought I could be saving some money this weekend.

Both Beanbean and I love the black and white polka-dotted top from Nicholas so much, that we bought one each! By the way, the piece in this pic belongs to her - both bags were accidentally "swapped" during the payment process. Haha! =p

Oh, and Beanbean was wearing this same pair of Hue slip-ons. Talk about having the same tastes! :)