of the glorious sun

I fell in love with these as I searched Etsy for all things yellow and sunflowers...



I wouldn't mind any of these handcrafted-with-love goodies for X'mas. Check out my wishlist here to see where you can get the above or for more suggestions on what you can fill my X'mas sock with. *wink*

my personal lime pixie

Santa came early for me this year and brought me my own electric lime pixie!





Love love love my first cuppa!

uggy warmth

Just when we thought we saw the end of the cold season, my winter present - Pawpaw's Ugg boots - arrived. It's been such a cold spring so far that I've had to rely on these furry comfies for tromping around at home.

pressies from myself

I kind of have a relatively new tradition of treating myself to lots of goodies during the birthday month of July. This year, on top of all the showers of love from friends, family and colleagues, I bought myself the below shoes, bags and clothes without much hesitation during the ASOS clearance sale. Half of the goods have arrived and they all look exactly as shown on the website and fit me perfectly. I am quite hooked onto shopping at ASOS now.

I still have several Karen Millens, Ted Bakers, Vero Modas and Kookais in my 'Saved Items' that I am seriously considering getting while the sale is still on even though they are still quite pricey after the discount. I am trying to convince myself that I really do not need that many dresses or shoes since I end up wearing the same old crappy stuff all the time anyway.

Shoes and Bags



Clockwise from top left:
- ASOS Princess peeptoe court show in taupe
- ASOS suede court shoes in blue
- ASOS suede court shoes in pale yellow
- Suzy Smith party clutch bag in light gold
- ASOS pointed ballet pumps in light grey
- ASOS pointed ballet pumps in black


Work Dresses



Left to right:
- ASOS ponti fit and flare dress with boat neck in navy
- ASOS pencil dress in black and white
- Warehouse block print shift dress


Pretty Party Dresses



Left to right:
- Lipsy embellished waist asymmetric drape dress in deep purple
- Lipsy cutwork back drape chiffon dress in kiss pink
- Lipsy Laura dress in lilac pink


Casual Spring/Summer Dresses



Left to right:
- ASOS belted tea dress with orange and white heart prints
- Vero Moda tie back dress with bird prints
- A Wear belted dress with white chiffon top and floral printed skirt


Retro-looking Dresses



Left to right:
- Vero Moda 50's swing shirt dress in burnt ochre
- Pearl colour block maxi dress
- ASOS dress with cherry print dress


Thankfully, the great discounts made the burn in the pocket bearable.

more pressies!

More to add to the birthday loot previously reported! I got this cool looking Kikki.K laptop bag which I've had my eye on for a while now.



An elegant looking jewellery box for my precious blings.



And a cute little guitar charm!

reporting the birthday loot

Besides the birthday treat, I was showered with pressies which made my turning 31 a lot more bearable - it's the first time in my life I actually really started to feel old zomg *gasps*.


Left: a bouquet turned up at my office that was the surprise of the day as I received the warmest wishes from someone dear all the way from faraway Hong Kong.

Right: A nice hanging lantern for my scented candles and a blingey long necklace.



Contained in this above pic are:

- Books 2 and 3 of the Inheritance series to add to the Eragon I recently finished reading
- An Oroton purse
- A bottle of bird's nest concentrate
- A cute little doggie bookmark all the way from Singapore
- A quirky eye mask also from Singapore
- A pair of heart-shaped earrings
- A scarf filled with cute little umbrellas
- Some sexy lingerie from a sexy babe

And a Lulu & Rose green military jacket - which is my current favourite jacket - that I'm modelling in the pics below.





And of course not forgetting the hundreds of FB/Whatsapp/SMS/Email wishes from all corners of the globe that kept pouring in at all times of the day. Thanks for all the love!!! I'm glad I'm still loved by many even though I'm turning into an old hag!

outlet shopping in orlando

The work trip to Orlando was planned in such a way that I had a day before the conference to rest after the 24 hours journey to the other side of the globe and to do the necessary event setup. Not wanting to sleep through the day and hence worsening the already bad jetlag, the guys and I decided to go outlet shopping. After consulting my two comprehensive travel guides bought in Kinokuniya and the hotel concierge, we took the i-Ride Trolley at the stop conveniently located right in front of our hotel to Orlando Premium Outlets just a 20min ride up north along International Drive. Second stop was to Florida Mall as one of the guys had a whole list of comestics he had to get for a sister.

Here is showcasing a bit of what I got that required some muscle help from the guys to lug back to the hotel. I shudder at the thought of compiling the stack of receipts to calculate the total spending on this trip although the fantastic exchange rate (1AUD:1.1USD) and 60% discount deals made a lot of the purchases extremely worthwhile to the extent I would have kicked myself if I gave them a pass.

A quick trip to Victoria's Secret where I almost didn't survive the throngs of people and only managed to grab a handful of cotton bras.



I finally got myself the Clarisonic set I wanted so badly at Sephora, saving myself the shipping cost if I had purchased online.



I was pleasantly shocked to find that the Dermalogical products cost only 60% of what I usually pay for in Australia so I decided to stock up on the cleansers as they tend to use up very quickly. The Very Sexy body mist was a $10 impulse grab at Victoria's Secret when I was queueing to make payment.






















One of the items on my planned shopping list was a big Samsonite hard case with four wheels (they call them the 'spinners') as my own suitcase that had served me faithfully for six years was damaged enroute. But I got distracted by this baby pink Tumi carry on case at their shopfront display. At close to USD300 with no special discount, I only convinced myself to get it after returning to the store three times to gaze longingly at it by reminding myself that 20% of the sales proceeds from that case went to some breast cancer support foundation. Thankfully I got a great deal at Samsonite subsequently where this particular case that met all my requirements was going at 50% of its usual retail price of $600. These two purchases assisted greatly in getting all my shopping loot around while I shopped some more.























I bought lots of clothes too but I soon tired of photographing them so here's a sneak peak at just two of my favourite buys. I love the tops for their retro stripes, colours and fit and because I have never owned a fur coat in my life and this XXS sized snow leopard faux fur coat fitted me so well and it was a steal at only USD40, I got it despite not knowing when the weather will get cold enough for me to ever have a chance to wear it out in Sydney. Other great clothing bargains were a pair of black velvet jeans with sparkly diamantes on the back pockets that made my legs look 50% longer and slimmer, a petite work jacket and some Calvin Klein underwear.






















I went into Kenneth Cole hoping to get a wallet as a gift but was distracted by their timepieces instead. I spent the better part of an hour staring at the many men's watches on display and convincing myself not to get anything as I have stopped wearing watches altogether since 2006. Then I spent another better part of an hour repeatedly trying on a cream coloured slightly above knee length trench coat and finally deciding not to get it as it was missing a belt. Well I did try to negotiate the price down and would have gotten it if they agreed to drop the price by 60% but the furthest they were willing to consider was a 40% discount. Too bad. A consolation was this pair of black sandals to replace the current pair that had its soles flapping open after a day of hard walking at the outlets. And as you can see from the series of handbag pictures below that I am a Kate Spade fan, just like the young Tin Pei Ling who's running for MP in SG now.






















All these handbags were going at 60% discount - how not to get them???






















There was no need for yet another toiletry bag or purse so I'm not sure how these came to be added to my shopping bag too. ;p






















Here's all the Kate Spade stuff I ended up with at the check out. I would have gotten at least a couple more if I had the means to carry them back to Sydney and if I haven't already owned a hundred other bags sitting idly in my wardrobe without ever getting to see daylight. I think I need to somehow either sell most of them or start using them!



I also got a Juicy Couture bag, not for myself, but as a belated present to a dear friend who was recently saddened she had to throw hers into the bin after it got ripped a big tear at the side.



And of course I had to get some Disney souvenirs for the girls at work. I also got a nice little Mickey with the American flag badge to add on to my flag collection of countries I've visited displayed on my camera bag.






















Next, I need to check my bank account to see how many days of air and water I have to survive on before the next pay check comes in.

mega amp

I offered to help a friend move house and spent an entire Saturday cleaning up and restoring her old place to its original condition when she first moved in and transporting countless boxes of stuff to her new place.

Just when we were about to wrap up the day's work, I discovered her flat mate was relocating overseas and thought to ask if he was selling all his music instruments and accessories - a keyboard, a drum kit, an electric guitar and an amplifier.

Sadly the one item I wanted the most - the keyboard - had been reserved for his brother. Second on my list - the electric guitar - wasn't for sale and I couldn't afford the drum kit. But he offered to give me the amp for free! Extremely generous of him. All the aching limbs resulting from the day's cleaning was worth it. :D

"this time, i want a squarish one plsssss......"

was what I said to Flyaway when I made a special request for another 爱心枕头 to be made. And ta-dah! I got this JAC pillow as a X'mas pressie last year to keep my COO pillow company.

Can you see there is a small tear at the bottom right corner of the COO pillow? The useless me does not possess any sewing skills and hence I have to be really mindful not to worsen it.

Sorry for being greedy but may I please have a round one next? ;p

extremely long distance message

Exhaustion and jet lag hit me with a tight slap on the face when I arrived in Istanbul after about 30 hours of travelling. Add to that two full days of attending to an exhibition booth, you get a fatigue so severe that even lying down to sleep feels painful.

So I offloaded my misery in a single torrent of babbling on the phone to a certain someone. All I wanted was for the trip to end right away so I could fly straight home to sleep on my own comfortable bed with my special pillow formation (I have difficulty sleeping in an unfamiliar environment).

A big bouquet of blood red roses in a crystal vase and a huge box of chocolates (I counted total of 60 pieces in that box!) greeted me in the hotel room when I arrived at my second destination - Neu Isenburg (10min away from the city of Frankfurt) in Germany.

What a sweet way to try and send me some comfort from 16,000 km away. (How amazing is it that with current technology, you can reach out to anyone on earth with just a simple phone call: "Hello is this ABC florist? I'd like to have a bouquet delivered to...." when it used to be that people had to wait ages for hand written letters to arrive by snail mail before you even know if the other party has arrived at his/her destination safe and sound?)

Although the chocolates and roses didn't take away my physical distress, they did stir up some fuzzy feelings inside that kept me warm in the harsh German winter cold. while I endured the next part of the work trip.

the complimentary photo is finally here...

I finally received the one and only complimentary small print that was a result of hours of posing in a photoshoot which was a birthday present from a sweetie back in July. What you see here is a scanned version. Not sure I like the eye make up but wow this pose really makes me look damn feminine... I think I much prefer candid shots of my funny faces; don't think I look natural at all in such studio photography. Well, it was great fun and a nice girlie experience so no complaints!

date night

It was Date Night a couple of weeks ago at a warm cosy French restaurant in the city. A single long stalk of the conventional red rose elegantly wrapped in simple black paper and a shocking red plastic mesh secured with a black ribbon greeted me on the table reserved for two. It was the most beautifully presented floral gift I have ever received even by the standards of a person who's not that into flowers. Or maybe I should say especially by the standards of someone who's not half as appreciative of flowers as the average female; this one was impressive enough to awe me.





The intricate wrapping aside, the thought, effort and efficient coordination by the friendly staff at Uptown Florist and La Guillotine that went into organising this elaborate presentation of a simple gift to me were most commendable and worth complimenting over and over again. Because Date Night was on a non working day for the florist, they delivered it to the restaurant a day before with a special personalised handwritten instructional card on caring for the flower such that it remained fresh and beautiful on presentation. It was also worth mentioning that contrary to what was expected, it didn't cost an arm or a leg, probably merely a main dish at a local thai takeaway.

And the restaurant staff took tender loving care of that lonely flower for more than 24 hours. I gathered it must have been a challenge for them to find a suitably cool but not overly cold fridge of an adequate size to fit the extremely long package which must have been about at least a metre from tip to tip without squashing it. It was also obvious that they timed its removal from the fridge such that it didn't feel icy cold in my hands upon my arrival.

As cliché as this whole receiving a red rose on Date Night affair was, I was touched by a few simple things that are not measurable by how much was paid or spent or how sophisticated the setting was: The Florist's love for their products and pride in their work; The looks on all the staff's faces when handing over the rose to me were one of excitement and that blew me away as this simple gesture of making a complete stranger happy genuinely meant something to them; and of course the sweet intentions from the brains behind this plot.

Now that the bar has been raised, I await with much anticipation on what comes next. ;p

the coo pillow

I got this in the mail a few days after my birthday. It's a handmade little pilow specially sewn with love from Flyaway. I was so touched when I opened up the package. It's been such a long time since anyone made anything for me. And a pillow! I love pillows! It has been added to my collection of pillows and is now part of the multi-pillow formation set up every night before I sleep.

Can you tell that there are actually three alphabets sewn onto the white square patches of flowers against the yellow background of dragonflies? It took me a while to realise that Flyaway has added the word COO onto the cute little pillow.

She meant it as a congratulatory gift for a little promotion I got at work as well. Remember how a project I took on reached a major milestone earlier in May? I got promoted shortly after that. And yeah, my new title is called COO. No brownie points for guessing correctly what it stands for.

I only shared the good news with a very few people I was close to when I first heard it. I actually felt a bit embarrassed by the new title at first and I got so overwhelmed that I didn't quite know how to handle the new added responsibilities.

Things have stabilised a bit since but I am still terrified by the fact that now so many more people depend on me for directions everyday. I just hope I have the wisdom to make the right decisions.

autumn kiss

Many moons ago, I added the Autumn Kiss necklace onto my Etsy Favourites list and quickly forgot about it... until I received it in a package. Obviously there are people out there who stalk my online persona! Anyways, I love the oversized pendant that looks better than it appeared on the Etsy site and have already worn it more than a few times.

The package arrived promptly after the purchase and the delicate item was nicely wrapped in a small velvet pouch with an accompanying customised card that contained a short note handwritten by the seller Tina Tarnoff. Such nice gestures and pleasant online buying experiences which are so rare these days should be rewarded with a heartfelt thank-you message and a testimonial posted on her site.

video of the big surprise

Here is a short video compilation of the scenes captured by the HAH on the day of the big birthday surprise at work.

exclusive photoshoot

I got to go for a full makeover and professional photoshoot at Exclusive Photography's studio in Leichhardt as a belated birthday present from the pretty Vanisha. My very first such experience! So exciting!

We lugged a huge bag each - to be more specific, I lugged a huge bag while Van lugged a suitcase - of shoes and clothing (we were told to bring a few outfits each for the shoot) to the studio on a rainy Friday afternoon. We were then made to sit down for an hour each for the make-up artist to slap on a tonne of powder onto our faces before we got instructed on the order of the outfits we were supposed to get changed into.


Here's part of the studio.


Getting my eyes made up.


Left: You can already see how thick the make up was.
Right: My first outfit - ridiculously short and body hugging off shoulder dress with thigh high stiletto boots full of diamante bling blings.


My casual outfit was a red backless top with skinny jeans and knee high boots. These were taken by Van while we were waiting around for the photographer.


And a shot of us together before we left the studio.

We ended up with only one complimentary small print from the entire shoot (which we're still waiting to be sent to us) that took hours (I reckon we took hundreds of shots) because we did not feel like paying $1400 for a large canvas portrait nor $1000 for a CD compilation of all photos taken nor $220 for every additional 10cm x 8cm print. It was exhorbitant!

But we did have heaps of fun dressing up and posing like super models. It was extremely tough work though. I thought I was going to have cramps from the many poses we had to strike and maintain for minutes without moving. And those make-up! I had to go through the make-up removal process three times to completely get them off my skin. I can now fully appreciate the fact that super models don't have it easy despite the glamour we all see.