details in the fabric

THIS BLOG HAS MOVED!

2011-11-14T00:42:00.005+08:00

Hi guys, I've decided to that I'm shifting this blog to my new one. :) It didn't really make sense for me to keep updating two separate blogs, especially since at the end of the day, I sort of have the same ideas for both blogs. Choosing to maintain one is a lot easier and I've been able to update the new one more frequently.

So here it is:

After just a short 1.5 months on the wordpress blog I decided I probably won't go with my own domain for now since... it's expensive! :p But maybe in the future... who knows?

Anyway, I've loved blogging here and hearing from you. Hopefully you'll follow my new blog and continue commenting there. I've loved hearing from you and making friends from all over the world here and I definitely hope it'll continue on at the new blog. :) CHEERS!

A New Project

2011-11-05T12:08:00.004+08:00

Wow everytime I blog, I'm always starting off with the same line -- "It's been a long time"! But it's true. Lately, I've been spending more time developing a new blog of mine :)

Welcome to The Wellness Project.

I thought about the idea for this new blog a couple of months back, when I realized that I was not appreciating enough the things that I had in my life. I suppose all of us have gone through periods of 'unwell'. And by that, I don't mean illness, but more of a state of mind that was anything but happy or content. I read somewhere that every moment we spend feeling angry, upset, frustrated, jealous, sad or ungrateful in life is a moment that we could have spent happy. It really struck a chord with me because there are times (oh, so many) when I succumb to those feelings as well but at the end of the day, when I think about things, I always come back to the same point - that I have so much to be thankful for and there's no reason why I should be anything but happy. Happiness is not just a feeling; it's a state of mind and a conscious choice on our part that we can choose to make every second of every day. I know that like most things in life, it's easier said than done. But being aware of this choice that we have is the first step towards actively changing our perspective of things in life. I suppose nothing sums it up better than this quote -- "The happiest people don't have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have".

So really, this blog is my attempt at rediscovering and reinforce in my mind, the things that I love in life but all too often, forget to appreciate. It's a blog about photography, about food, about places in Singapore, about my travels, about design, fashion, family and friends; all the things that I love in life and that inspire me. It's a platform for me to share the things that I love and enjoy in life and for me to constantly remind myself about the happiness that can be found in the everyday bits and bobs.

Do check it out! :) I hope you'll find something you enjoy reading here and that just maybe, it'll inspire you to look to the areas in your life to improve your own well-being.

In the meantime, I'm still continuing to post stuff on this blog too. Might be a little slow, but I'm still here. Thanks for reading and I love hearing from you.

Antoinette

2011-09-18T21:20:00.003+08:00

I know it's been ages since my last update but it's always the case during the school term! :( I've just finished a posting so this weekend was complete degeneration on my part. Took a ton of photos which only ends in my ever-growing pile of photos to sort through and edit. ;p I believe one day I shall catch up on that stash.

So here's a post about a lovely dessert cafe in Singapore that's a few weeks belated. My friends and I visited Antoinette, a gorgeous cafe tucked away at Penhas Road in Kallang. Kallang is definitely not someplace I go to on a regular basis so it was pretty refreshing to visit that area and enjoy tea and cakes with my friends whom I had not seen in quite a long time.

Macaroons galore!! Who here likes macaroons?? I definitely adore the sweetness and the slight crispy exterior that crumbles so readily when you bite down on it... but then each one always costs a hand and a foot. I hardly ever buy them because every bite I take all I'm thinking of is, "there goes $1... and that was just 50 cents down my throat... to my thighs..."

Gigantic meringue puffs. :) They remind me of little bits of cloud! Though I can imagine how disgustingly sweet they'd be in the mouth...

Upon walking into the cafe, we were greeted with a long table piled with a display of mouth-watering cakes and pastries of all kinds, placed on the prettiest crockery and tucked into large glass jars. Wouldn't it be awesome to return home next time to this scene upon walking through your front door?

Finally, these two were the pièce de résistance! Chocolate cake and The Antoinette Strawberry Shortcake. I'm sure there were much classier names for these two cakes but I can't for the life of me remember them. I actually like the chocolate cake a lot more than the shortcake, which was pretty average. But that said, I do have a weakness for all things chocolate. The cakes were a little on the pricey side (most were at least $6 per slice) but they are pretty worth it given that you get to enjoy them in a place with pretty decor and lovely ambience.

Antoinette

30 Penhas Road

If you have the time, I definitely recommend that you check out this place. It's a beautiful, quaint cafe tucked away in a quiet nook of Singapore. Quite a perfect way to spend a weekend afternoon.

So in other news, I'm trying to create another blog! ;p It's sort of a personal project that I'm hoping will materialize one way or another. I'm hoping to create a blog that will be able to feature all of my favorite things -- my photography/travels, places in Singapore great for food and shopping, hopefully some pieces on health and beauty... just a much more organized platform for sharing some of the things I love. I tried teaching myself html and CSS today and BOY has it been tiring. :( I have no idea if I'll be able to build up a website from scratch eventually but definitely not anytime soon I suppose. If anyone has good learning websites to recommend, I'd really appreciate it! Sometimes I wonder why I end up making use of my free time to learn/do things other people would probably view as extraneous or unnecessary... but at the end of the day, it does make me happy knowing that I'm working towards something I feel strongly about.

Have a great week ahead~ :)

just. this.

2011-08-09T02:02:00.005+08:00

(dress: Jane's Closet, necklace, bag, blazer and sandals: Urban Outfitters)

Wore this when my mum and I went to watch the broadway musical, Rock of The Ages. Believe it or not, the first time I heard about it was when I was reading The Babysitters Club :) and it was mentioned inside. Ever since then I've always been curious about it and since tickets for The Lion King were completely sold out (reminder to self: book tickets for something as epic as that about 2 years in advance if I happen to know I'll be going to NY in the future), I dragged my mum to watch it with me. Unfortunately, she always seems to be extraordinarily sleepy whenever we go for musicals (she actually fell asleep during Avenue Q, right before the puppet porn scenes! Yeah, that's my mum for you.) and if not for the sheer loudness of the rock music the band was whacking out, I'm quite sure she would've dozed off too.

Bought this maxi dress at a store called Jane's Closet in Brooklyn! :) It was one of my favorite buys from my entire stay in NYC. That store had soooo many gorgeous dresses and pretty accessories that I wish I could've stayed a lot longer to browse through it all... unfortunately I'd run out of money and was hunting around for an ATM outside to pay for the dress HEH. (Yarrr I know I'm incorrigible. Need therapy...soon.)

Sometimes after a prolonged hiatus from something, I do just feel like yelling this clear and loud:

(One of my favorite MoMA exhibits. Just simple words pregnant, aching with power. It's still showing btw! If you happen to be in Manhattan or the vicinity, why not take a stroll through?)

This past weekend was one of the best I've had in a long long time. :) It was the weekend after my end of posting test, so really, I was able to just relax without worrying about having to do any work/read up beforehand for anything.

A couple of things I did that I'm really happy about:

took a long and glorious nap on Saturday afternoon. I LOVE late afternoon naps especially when you don't have anything on after that. :) I remember lying in bed and waking up intermittently during the nap, feeling so comfortable snuggled up in bed with the air conditioning blowing gently across my face and thinking, I don't have to go anywhere... so I'm just going to go back to sleep. Honestly, it's the simple things like these that bring me the most joy.

had a sleepover with one of my dearest friends who's finally back after studying in London for the past 3 years! We attempted an E.R (the tv series yo) marathon but didn't even make it past disc 1!! That said, it was pretty fun to watch the show and appreciate all the stuff that was going on...drugs, management... the works. Oh and then we totally pigged out on chocolate-covered oreo biscuits and ice cream. At about 3 am in the morning.

went for a pedicure on Sunday afternoon and walked through the shops in Far East Plaza. I love how there are so many stores that sell all sorts of clothes that are probably mass imported from Korea/Taiwan/HK and while some things aren't of the best quality, I love sifting through the sheer volume of clothing and accessories bit by bit by bit...

So that was my happy weekend in a nutshell. What about yours?

P.S. (to my fellow Singaporeans) Happy National Day~! I'm so happy it's a public holiday today! :DDD (triple smile!)

yummy for my tummy

2011-07-30T00:02:00.003+08:00

Hey guys. How're things in life? This post is just a little snippet of one of the highlights of my pretty mundane life these days. School has started of course, so naturally I get a lot more tired...and wistful about the incredibly fun times I had during the holidays... At the moment I'm almost nearing the end of a posting and there's a test next week but really, I'm in such a state of semi-fatigue that I don't quite feel capable of achieving anything at the moment. And it just so happens to be Friday night. :) So I'm giving myself a break.

Last week, my mum and I went out for dinner at the new Ramen place at Iluma! A group of 6 famous Ramen restaurants from Japan have been invited to set up their own temporary restaurant at the eatery level of a shopping center and it's part of a competition - ULTIMATE RAMEN CHAMPION 2011. At the end of the year, the restaurant with the highest number of votes (via handphone texts/email votes/sales takings...the works) will be crowned the WINNER and will set up a permanent restaurant here. (In my opinion, it's a REALLY smart way of attracting more crowds to the shopping mall that is otherwise rather lacking in consumer traffic.)

So it's set up Marche style, as you pay using a card and each individual restaurant has their own sort of stall and seats around it...

Left: QOO Apple Juice! :D It's been AGES since I had a sip of this! I remember when it first came out into the market; I must've been like 10?? I just remember my friends and me really liking this drink. They've got it in other flavors too like Green Apple...Grape... MMM.

Right: The side order of bean sprouts and chives. This was a MISTAKE. I thought it would be a simply topping of bean sprouts on top of the ramen but NO. This HAD to come DRENCHED IN THE HOTTEST CHILLI SAUCE EVER. :((( I ended up having to soak it continuously in the ramen broth in order to wash off some of the chilli. What a nightmare.

Just so you know, Ramen is one of my favorite dishes. :D EVER. I love Japanese food and Ramen usually never fails to make me extremely contented. This one was from Iroha. Chewy noodles and delicious broth. I would definitely recommend it over the dipping-style ramen I tried from the other restaurant, Testu. That one just didn't have the right kind of kick that a normal bowl of steaming hot ramen offers.

Yeah, I really couldn't resist the Asian pose. Hey, it's Ramen for crying out loud! :)

THICK SLICES OF CHAR SIEW PORK. YUMYUM.

There was a little Wish Tree (methinks) at the entrance and I happened to see this one. Go figure?

P.S. So being the huge ramen fans we are, my mum and I are determined to try out all 6 of the restaurants and come to our own conclusion as to which one deserves the title of champion. :) Can't wait to go back and try more! 4 more to go.

Brooklyn Flea: Part 2

2011-07-23T00:04:00.006+08:00

So I do sort of realize that the title of this post is a bit of a misnomer since I'm not actually writing anything about the Brooklyn Flea in this post... but it's really just a continuation of that wonderful day I spent in Brooklyn when I'd set out to visit the Brooklyn Flea. :)

The one that my friend, Steph, and I went for was the Williamsburg Flea which was right at the waterfront so there was a fantastic view of Manhattan at the pier.

THE skyline photo! :D I suppose this is probably where artists stand when they paint the Manhattan skyline.

photos taken by Stephanie. :)

(dress: Need Supply Co., blazer: random store in Tokyo quite a long time ago, mocassins: Aldo, bag: Le Mode Accessories)

I bought these Aldo mocassins very early on when I was in NYC and they ended up being my staple shoes for a large part of the trip.

Outfit shot for Steph! :) Aren't her oxfords darling? She had the cutest collection of them!

Next we continued our exploration of Brooklyn and managed to locate Blue Bottle Coffee ! I'd read so many glowing reviews about it so I was really happy when we managed to find it.

(Doesn't that look incredible? I have NO IDEA what those are though. ;p So if anyone does, please enlighten me! I just love the way they've been displayed against that gorgeous blue wall beneath a mysterious spotlight.)

A technique they use to make 'Drip Coffee'. Basically using filter paper to distill the goodness out of those coffee beans with hot water. I didn't actually try any of the coffee (because I'd run out of money after getting a dress HEHEHE) but the aroma of the entire place was so lovely.

Berry St. Brooklyn
160 Berry Street, Brooklyn NY
M-F 7-7, Sat & Sun 8-7

If you're ever in Brooklyn, this is definitely a place to check out! I love everything about it - the interior decoration and design... their minimalist and clean branding... Do check out their website and take a look at the really cute illustrations they have!

One thing I really love about Brooklyn is how so many buildings look so different from each other on the outside. None of that mass produced homogeneity.

It was really funny because Steph and I were searching high and low for THE famous vintage clothing store, Beacon's Closet, which is like THE HAVEN for vintage shoppers in Brooklyn. We happened to walk down a street and the first thing we saw was that sign and we went, "EW. What a scary looking baby!!!", not realizing that... THAT WAS THE STORE. ;p

203 Grand Street

(between Bedford and Driggs Avenue)

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Bird is one of the nicest stores I've been into. It carries all sorts of incredible brands such as Alexander Wang, A.P.C, Tsumori Chisato... basically all the most awesome and expensive brands. Even though I usually end up feeling semi-crappy after, I do love going into stores that sell gorgeous things simply because... I love looking at things that are beautiful. :) It does make me feel happy...until I pick up a price tag. But this store also has really nice interior decor; notice the hanging lights? I love how cozy it makes the place feel.

See why I love Brooklyn so much? :)

Brooklyn Flea: Part 1

2011-07-05T12:03:00.005+08:00

One of the best weekends I had in New York City was the one when I traveled to Brooklyn with my friend, Stephanie, to check out the Brooklyn Flea. I'd heard so much about it and was sooo excited to check it out and visit Brooklyn for the first time!

Steph and I started out the day with a DELICIOUS Rio Bowl from Juicy Lucy, a teeny little coffee shop tucked away in the heart of the East Village.

Juicy Lucy

85 Ave A

New York, NY 10009

The Rio Bowl is a MUST HAVE if you're ever able to pop by the shop. It's an absolutely phenomenal bowl of yummy granola and sliced bananas, topped off with a refreshing blend of acai berry smoothie. It was SOSOSO refreshing; every bite felt like a fresh burst of healthy goodness and it was the perfect start to a Sunday morning. I could eat that every day of the week (just that I was too lazy to wake up early for breakfast. SIGH!). I miss it so much now!

Funnily enough on that day, the L subway to Brooklyn wasn't in operation (it's the most direct way to get to Bedford Avenue and just ONE stop away from my dorm!) so we had to take long arduous route which included switching a couple of times on the subway and then eventually taking a shuttle bus to our destination. It was funny how we waited at what we hope was the shuttle bus stop and the longer we waited, the more people came along asking us if we were also waiting for the shuttle to Bedford Ave so we weren't the only clueless souls there.

One the bus, we sat behind the sweetest little pup and his owner. That doggy was just the best-behaved dog ever! Not a barf, pip or squeak; just doeful curious eyes that stared right back at you. If I ever had a dog, I'd want one like him... just so I could bring him along with me when I go shopping and he wouldn't cause any trouble or attract any unwanted attention.

PEEK-A-BOO~~!

So happy when I saw this sight. :D What could be more perfect that people lounging on a field beside the flea market enjoying the gorgeous spring weather, munching on their lunches and having a good chat with each other? A sight like this just calms me down.

There were so many incredible stalls at the flea market, selling all sorts of items ranging from conventional ones such as jewelry/vintage clothes... to really niche-market items such as well... LIGHTBULBS for one, wacky furniture... BOTTLES... type stamps... you name it, there was probably a stall that had it.

How cute are these scrabble rings! :D Probably highly DIY-able too.

Steph at the lightbulb stall!

GRUNGE-Y SESAME STREET LAMP COVER!! I took this pic really to show my sis since we're both mega fans of Sesame Street. Cookie Monster and Ernie FTW!! Not an Elmo fan at all. (Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. Why does everyone like Elmo?!? He's small and whiny. Like the kind of guy you'd never want to date.)

Lunch was a delicious grilled cheese sandwich! Oh did I forget to mention? There were also a ton of food stalls! Some sold drinks like Lemonade amongst other more unique concoctions... others sold sandwiches...burgers...fries...pizzas... and I think there were frozen bananas/chocolate covered bananas being sold. YUMM.

I'm not usually a fan of cheese but I happen to LOVE grilled cheese sandwiches! Maybe because they add in other stuff like onions and herbs that flavor the cheese such that the original cheese flavor isn't so strong and all you really taste is a gooey salty crispy goodness.

We sat on the field by the side of the market and LOUNGED. :)

Me and my dear friend, Steph. She's one of my classmates from the Graphic Design course and I'm soso happy I met her! :) We both ended up walking around the quaint and quiet(er) streets of Brooklyn but that'll be for the next post.

I know this is a little voyeuristic of me but really, I just wanted to capture the feeling that was presented by this scene at that particular moment in time. It would be nice to live in Brooklyn next time. :) Something to work towards in the future.

I just think that every Sunday should be like this.

in search of something as perfect and sweet...

2011-07-02T00:25:00.003+08:00

as those days in New York.

I miss NYC so so much. Back in Singapore now, back to school (unfortunately), and back to this insanely hot weather. Every time I think about all the awesome days in NY I feel this bubble of happiness inside...yet it's always lined with sadness since I'm not there at the moment... But I do hope I'll be able to go back again soon enough.

Blogging's been slow but I'm hoping to make use of this weekend to finally go through at least a portion of my photos! :)

In the meantime, I've discovered a new brand of shoes -- Castañer.

. It's a brand that produces really lovely resort style shoes that are stylish in their simplicity and so multifunctional. I mean, just look at these:

SIGH. (I think people tend to overlook Happy Sighs in life).

just because :)

2011-06-09T11:37:00.002+08:00

Have been pretty slow on the updates but it's really because all the projects are suddenly PILING UP!! :((( The first two weeks were incredibly relaxed and I think my classmates and I were all taking things slow and easy since there weren't any real deadlines given. But suddenly, there's only a little more than a week left (which makes me very very sad) and all the deadlines are coming fast and furious. Some of the projects I'm currently up to my neck with include: completing a Children's book cover, finishing up a flip book (which was INCREDIBLY tedious but am looking forward to seeing the end product! :D), starting on posters for Coney Island and Frank Gehry - architect extraordinaire... and there are a couple more. You get the idea. Basically am feeling bogged down by work now.

But, just because it's something I love doing, I went into Urban Outfitters today and found a perfect white maxi dress. :D

Reformed by the Reformation Mayfair Dress, Urban Outfitters

I tried on both XS and S and while XS is probably the perfect fit, it's just a little tooooo snug. I worry about what might happen if I eat too much or gain just a bit more weight. It's that precarious. ;p So I'm thinking of getting it in size S which is definitely looser but then I'll still be able to wear it to a buffet brunch or after 3 kids. Hopefully. :) I'm trying to think long term here.

Tomorrow after class, I think I'll try out a dessert place called Momofuku . I've heard so much about it and it's so near my dorm! I've consciously been staying away from dessert places because I've been trying to save money (well, more like spend it all on clothes rather than food) but now that I'm nearing the end of my stay here, I think I should work in a dessert place a day. :) Starting with the East Village and starting tomorrow.

xx

from east village to west

2011-06-04T12:48:00.005+08:00

Last Sunday, my roomie Sabrina and I traipsed all the way from our dorm to the heart of the East Village, all the way across to the West Village and then back again to our dorm in the heat of the scorching sun. I'd wanted to check out the hotel that my mum will be staying at when she comes to visit (in just a little over a week!) which is all the way over on West Eleventh. While I remember the heat to be pretty unbearable and nastily reminiscent of that of Singapore's (UGHHH I did not come to NYC to face the same sort of heat!), the afternoon's walk was made much more pleasant with the funky sights of the East Village and slow siesta feel of the West Village.

Funky Graffiti. I love spontaneous urban art like this. :)

Originally we'd planned on checking out the famous Cafe Habana for lunch but when we strolled over at 1pm, it was PACKED to the brim. We waited for like 10minutes and they kept telling us that the 'hostess' would be back soon (from where, huh??) to put us on the waiting list blahblah. The 'hostess' never showed up and our growling tummies lead us elsewhere. SIGH.

But we ended up at a quaint little cafe not very far down! I love how there are always great places to eat at practically every single street so it really doesn't matter if you don't manage to find a seat at an intended place because there's another great, albeit relatively undiscovered place just around the corner.

Our brunch at:

Prince St. Cafe

26 Prince Street

My "New Yorker" (it was literally called that) brunch special. AWESOME eggs benedict with scrummy hollandaise sauce. Only thing that wasn't fantastic was the bread that was crunchy at the sides but almost impossible to tear into pieces in your mouth if you aren't a dinosaur. So...you'd probably wanna help your granny with that if she ends up ordering it.

Sabrina's vegetarian sandwich. Yeah, she likes to eat vegetarian stuff. Like my sis. Go figure these people out. ;) I'd never foresake my bacon.

Fruit bowl for dessert! That was part of the brunch special. I relish every opportunity to sink my teeth into some yummy fruit when I'm over here... I love how Whole Foods Market has such fat juicy strawberries all the time... but that's a story for another day.

Walked by some street stalls. This one (without a visible owner) sold movie Scripts! I was so tempted to get the one for Dead Poet's Society (one of my favorite movies!) and The Social Network.

Isn't it fun how there are all these stalls along the side of the road that sell just about ANYTHING? You could get all the furniture you need for a new apartment just off the sidewalk... add a new coat of paint of your choice and it's good to go. :D

Quickie outfit shot taken outside our dorm (photos of me taken by Sabrina and vice versa!).

(top and bag: Urban Outfitters, skirt: American Eagle Outfitters, shoes: Aldo)

So I have recently discovered the awesomeness that is American Eagle Outfitters thanks to a fellow coursemate whose entire outfit that day comprised of A.E.O wear. I've never ventured into it before because I thought it would be something like a Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch; just full of generic tank tops and hot shorts for summer drenched in cologne. But A.E.O had some pretty nice stuff! :D And the offshoot brand, Aerie, has such a nice collection of nightwear and lingerie for really reasonable prices too. And no, no one's paying me to say all this. X) I do recommend you check it out for some pretty summerwear and lingerie at decent prices. When I saw this skirt in the store, it really reminded me of some sort of whimsical oil painting on a canvas. I suppose the beautiful Kandinsky paintings were still fresh in my mind from last Friday when we went to the Guggenheim (sososososo good. One of the best museum experiences ever!) so I pounced on it. Imagine my happiness when I found out that EVERYTHING was 30% OFF!

Sabrina in her new shades that she scored off Prince Street at a random stall. She has such a great collection of colorful print clothes.

And before I end off this post, take a look at what I found nestled in a RECORD STORE.

JUST ABOUT THE FATTEST GREY CAT ALIVE!

We went into a random record store in Greenwich Village and as I walked down the aisle not really looking for anything in particular, something MOVED out of the corner of my eye. I nearly choked on my own saliva when I saw this monstrous fur ball right in the center of the store. It was probably the most grouchy cat I'd ever seen. -___- But cute in its own way.

Oh wow, I was so tired today but somehow at night I never really want to sleep.

loving each day

2011-06-02T11:57:00.004+08:00

Hi there, from NYC! :) A week has gone by already and gosh what a week it has been. I'll be in NYC attending a summer program at Parsons for the month and ahhhh what an experience this has been so far! =) If you haven't heard of it, Parsons has what they call 'Summer Intensive Studies' every year during the summer holidays (basically summer school) and the variety of courses they have on offer is really incredible! They run the gamut from your awesome design courses such as interior design (which I really do want to take one day XD), industrial design, fashion design (of course), graphic design... to the more esoteric ones such as footwear design and I think they offer stuff like art history as well. :) The one I'm taking is Graphic Design. I was sooo happy when I randomly googled a few months back and realized that the time frame for the course fit exactly into my summer vacation. It's something I've always been interested in so I figured, why not give it a try now? When I'm young and malleable. And my mama was so understanding about it. Couldn't be more grateful to her for letting me experience this whole other incredible field.

So I'll be chronically my time here in bits and bobs.

This is what my dorm room looked like when I first arrived just a little over a week ago:

I was sooo excited! :) After all, I've never stayed away from home for an extended period of time by myself (since I have never even stayed at the university dorm back at home) and was really looking forward to experiencing life away from... overly concerned *coughnaggycough* parents. I'll probably take a photo again soon, maybe at the 2 week mark, just to see how my room has evolved. Mind you, now it looks... VERY LIVED IN. (My roomie's side, on the other hand, is still incredibly clean. How do people do it, honestly?)

When I first got to NY, I stayed with my mum's friend's place in Brooklyn and she was such an incredible help (she and her mum brought me to Marshall's and helped me through the maze of bed linen and pillows). I don't know what I would have done without all the help settling in (of course, the extra hands with the luggage was fantastic ;p). After checking in at the dorm, she brought me to this great Italian restaurant in Soho, called Il Corallo.

Il Corallo Trattoria

176 Prince Street

New York

NY 10012

I wish I could give a really nice caption of the dishes above as they were written out on the menu but I was too busy eating to remember to take note of the descriptions.

Honestly, that ravioli was one of the BEST mushroom ravioli I've had EVER. I don't even like creamy pasta usually because I've got mixed responses to cheese heh, but this one was simply DIVINE. I mean it. Every bit was a perfect blend of not-too-cheesy-yet-rich cream sauce and mushroom with chewy slices of ravioli. MMMM. I'm definitely going back there to have this dish at least once or twice more if I can. :D

(Soho is just full of quaint little boutiques like this.)

And here are my roomies! :)

(Sisi and Sabrina)

So in the dorm, I stay in well, I guess you could call it a suite, with two bedrooms and two people stay in each bedroom. Sabrina is my roomie while Sisi stays in the room next door. For some reason the other bed in her room never got occupied so it's just the 3 of us for now. Given that this is the first time I'm staying in a dorm with others and how I've heard of some horror roommate stories, I'm so glad they're such lovely roommates to live with. :D They're both doing the Photography course (Sabrina's taking digital photography and Sisi's taking film photography) and the stuff they get to do sounds sooo fun. Plus, they have hardly any coursework compared to me. -__-

Isn't she gorgeous? :) Sabrina's actually a fashion photographer from Uruguay! Check out her website HERE. Her work is really professional and she is such a nice roommate to have. For one, we love the same sort of music so she's introduced me to a couple of bands (some Spanish ones), we both love Urban Outfitters (anyone who's an Urbie fan is a woman after my own heart) and among other things...she doesn't complain about the mess on my side of the room. ;)

Here's Sisi. She's from China and is currently doing her masters in engineering in Boston. Pretty awesome, no? :) That day, she had to retake photos for her class because of some little accident in the dark room. Since it had to be portrait shots, Sabrina was her model and we all went to the nearby park for an afternoon of photos and fun. :D I loooove spending time with people who are into photography. No one finds it weird when you stoop down in awkward positions to capture a shot or break off from a conversation halfway to capture something you've just seen... and no one says no when you point the camera at them. :)

top: Fancy French Cologne (check out their website! lots and lots of pretty stuff and great service. The owner, Carly is really friendly and gets back to your queries about items really quickly. Obviously I've bought quite a few items from them already), jeans: Urban Outfitters, shoes: Aldo (recent buy in NY and soooo comfy), hat: Brixton

So this hat is appearing again, but I do love it. :D I'm too lazy to learn how to do my hair into some funky style so this will have to do for now.

(Stuyvesant Park, May 2011)

Ok, I'm so tired now. The one thing I still can't get used to is waking up for 9 am classes every day so I'm really looking forward to the weekend at the moment. Lots more to come soon!

Have a great week, guys. <3

tea for two

2011-05-21T08:34:00.010+08:00

Rather belated I know, but here are some photos from a little tea session my mum and I had in celebration of Mother's Day! =) Did you do anything fun with your mama?

(Jumpsuit and bag: Urban Outfitters, necklaces: Madewell and Chapel, platform sandals: Gap, Hat: Brixton)

I bought this jumpsuit sometime last year when it was on sale in an Urban Outfitters store, but I'd never had the chance to wear it out (or more truthfully, I'd never bothered to make the effort to mix it up in an ensemble). But there's something about being on holiday that makes me feel a little more adventurous... I mean, what better time to try something out than now, right?

(tea for two at Four Season's!)

I looooove high tea. Just the feeling of being in someplace quiet, sipping on steaming cups of refreshing tea and nibbling on tasty treats (i.e. sconessssss) while catching up on things with someone close... it's one of the best ways to spend an afternoon. Sadly, I don't get to do this as often as I'd like to with my mum since we're both usually busy with our own matters. But we usually go for it whenever there's something to celebrate about. This time, Mother's Day and the end of my exams!

(Am not really one for the clotted cream. Normally I just take a huge dollop of strawberry jam and... add the scone in as an afterthought.)

One of my favorite bracelets from a store in HK called Chapel! :) That places is just an accessories heaven. And all sooo reasonably priced too! I just liked how this one's a little quirky and cute.

(Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap)

So a couple of things I've been up to:

am currently on vacation in the U.S! :D I've just spent a week at my uncle's place in Seattle, visiting my two cute little cuzzins (well, not gonna be little for long) and doing all sorts of kiddy stuff with them like attending Brownie troop meetings and updating myself on the current popular artistes totally rockin' it in tweendom.
just discovered the awesomeness that is Modern Family. My aunt mentioned some plotlines to me and it sounded hilarious so I decided to check it out myself online. And homg, Mitchell and Cameron are adorable. And Sofia is way hot! Everyone in that show is so perfectly cast. Anyone know a good website for streaming the episodes and one that is errr preferably... free? :P I'll buy the DVD one day, promise.
Currently in NYC! Just arrived today and am staying at my mum's friend's place in Brooklyn! Anything fun to do in Brooklyn? I'm really keen on checking out the Brooklyn flea markets but the minute I brought it up, my mum's friend's mum (who is like 1st generation immigrant to NY from HK awesome matriarch type immediately recommended I check out Marshall's instead XD for items that are cheap, good quality, and best of all, refundable! teehee. She's really quite funky.)

More updates soon~

of the sun and sea

2011-05-12T02:21:00.002+08:00

(Stanley, Hong Kong, Dec 2010)

I went to Stanley for the first time last year when I was in HK. It's basically a town that is part of a peninsula off Hong Kong Island with a pretty waterfront area that's lovely to walk down and take tons of photographs at. I remember the weather being pretty perfect that day, with a cooling, almost chilly breeze that quickly wore away with all that walking around. I suppose the main drawback would be the long bus ride along windy roads and craggly hills but then again, for a chance at the sun and sea, why not?

(These next few posts will probably just be tons of photos that I've finally managed to sort out from last year. :D More to come soon!)

happiness is...

2011-05-11T01:47:00.006+08:00

THE HOLIDAYS ARE HEREEEEE!!!!! :)

So that wasn't meant to be a continuation of the title (look further down for that) but it pretty much sums up the situation here. I couldn't be more happy! :D FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY the exams are over and ughh it was such torture preparing for it. I find the preparation and waiting for everything to be over a lot more tortuous compared to actually taking the examination. But that's just me.

(top: Madewell, jeans and necklace: Urban Outfitters, platform sandals: GAP, bag: Topshop)

The other night before my finals, I attended a dance concert that a friend was performing in and it felt soooo good to have been able to just get out of the house.

A couple of my favorite accessories -- Pyrite Cluster Necklace from Urban Outfitters (I could live in that store, really) and a little corset ring from ASOS. :)

So to continue where I left off at the title of this post, HAPPINESS IS...

1. Not having to wake up to an alarm clock

I'm sure there's no need for elaboration, this one.

2. Coming up with a list of books to read -- ALL FOR LEISURE :D

So far I'm just coming up with a real hodgepodge of a list. I tend to like to read a few books at a time because at any moment of the day, the book I pick up to read really depends on my mood. (And usually I'm not in the mood for melancholic/tragic stories, which, unfortunately, most of the classics revolve around??)

I'm currently reading The Opposite of Fate, a collection of short stories by Amy Tan. I think I started but never actually completed The Joy Luck Club (perhaps it was too melodramatic for when I was in secondary school) but now that I've read some of Amy Tan's non-fiction short stories, I'm really keen on reading more of her works. I find her work extremely readable and so vivid that you really do get transported off to a whole new other place; not necessarily physically, but just somewhere else within the heart.

Other books that I've cracked open today include: Twelfth Night (yeah Shakespeare, LOL. ;p But I've had that text on my shelf ever since I was in secondary school and well, what better time to read it than now?) and Lolita. AND... since the undeveloped sci-fi bud in me has been ignited ever so slightly ever since watching Thor a few nights back, I've also borrowed 2001: The Space Odyssey from the boy. I hope I'll get to read all of these in the next few days. There's always so much stuff out there it kiiills me to think that we're probably never going to be able to read all the great works out there in one lifetime.

Any books to recommend? :) Or what's on your reading list at the moment?

3. Looking at websites to satisfy whichever path curiosity takes my mind to :)

At the moment, I'm rather preoccupied with my new favorite actor, Tom Hiddleston, probably better known as the actor who played Loki in the movie, THOR. :) Any of you guys seen it? I just have a soft spot for guys with that wide eyed earnest look. Of course, Loki just HAS TO BE evil in the movie. -___- Le sigh. I love how this actor is not just GOOD AT ACTING but he's also pretty darn intelligent! Double first at Cambridge while studying Classics? That's just scary.

But whatever it is, I just love not having to feel guilty/that I'm wasting time. Which is always the case during the school term.

4. Taking luxurious afternoon naps.

'Nuff said.

So ladies, what are some things in the past few days that have made you feel absolutely happy, inside and out? :)

Okie, now I'm off to enjoy the latest episode of Castle before sleeping. :) (Psst, any other Castle fans??) Oh and it's 2.49 a.m. God, I love the holidays.

because i can't sit still

2011-04-21T22:50:00.003+08:00

(From Hong Kong Island to Kowloon by ferry)

I suppose it's more of a touristy thing to do, but I really enjoy taking the leisurely ferry ride from HK Island to Kowloon (and the minute I get off at the pier it's STRAIGHT TO THE SHOPS :D). My boyfriend told me that they're going to be discontinuing these rides soon because it's no longer economically sustainable. It would be really quite saddening if that were the case though. There are so few things of historical significance that remain nowadays. I respect places that place emphasis on preserving things that are of culturally meaningful rather than always give in to what makes more economic sense. Which reminds me, I really need to go to Eastern Europe before it gets mass-gentrified and unrecognizably modern (!).

(I do believe that's the BF walking 10 steps ahead while I whip out my camera on the street. :D What's the rush, big boy??)

I also visited my grand-uncle and grand-aunty who live in a quaint, quiet part of Hong Kong called Tsuan Wan. It's almost like a retirement village where the air is (supposedly) fresher, life is slow-paced and simple, and you can always depend on the ONE dimsum restaurant to go to in the vicinity rain or shine.

In the two years in a row that I've visited HK, every single time I visit my granduncle and aunty they bring me to the SAME restaurant that's like a 2 min walk from their apartment. I wonder if they groan inwardly every time they receive that dreaded courtesy call from me saying, "I'm here!!" thinking, I haven't even gotten the chance to wash off the scent of that restaurant and now I'm going back again. HEH.

But really, the food's pretty tasty. And being the dimsum noobie that I am, I really can't tell the difference between good and excellent dimsum.

Two of my favorite dimsum dishes - fried rice with lap cheong (the yummy Chinese sausage) and carrot cake!! (though there's nothing carrot about it).

Here's a photo of my dear old grand-uncle. He's a real sweetie.

(GAH look at all the medicine bottles in the background. Enjoy life while you can kiddos, 'cos it ain't getting any better!)

(Yummy tangerines and grapes that they brought out, being the gracious hosts they are! :))

I suppose this is what you get after 50 odd years of marriage.

Ooo and because he received such rave reviews, here's another photo of Chomper! :) Can't wait for the day when I can get my own doggie... I'm all for a Labrador Retriever!! They're the absolute cutest in my opinion... And great to bring out for a jog too.

So my finals starts in 1 week. I'm determined to use less of the internet over the next few days but we all know how terrible my will-power is. :((( I'm sooooo looking forward to the summer holidays which will be in just a little over 2.5 weeks! This past school year has been one of the most tiring and challenging ones yet and it just seems like I never really had a nice long enough break to take a proper rest. In fact, the only break we had was the Xmas break that was just about 2 weeks long.

It's funny though, because I used to be able to sit down at the table and really concentrate on studying when I was a lot younger... but now I can barely sit still before I get immensely bored and have a compulsive need to be stimulated by anything... usually it's the nearby iPhone which is such a blessing (or is it?) since it provides instant access to Tumblr/gmail/Twitter... Tumblr is pretty incredible don't you think? I love how it provides instantaneous gratification through posting something out into the world in such an seamless, uncomplicated manner. So I guess over the next few days, my little tumblr will be overflowing with updates borne out of boredom and study angst/frustration. Let me know if you have tumblr! I'm always interested in finding more tumblr-blogs to read and of course it'd be even better if I could get to know you better through that.

Before I end off, just a little sneak peak into the tip of the iceberg of my Spring 2011 Wish List. :DDD

I've been dreaming of getting a lovely little brown envelope clutch but of course that Jimmy Choo one is merely a dream buy! I think by the time I earn enough to get that it'll probably be a vintage item. I'm planning on DIY-ing my own little leather clutch once the exams are over and more importantly, once I can FIND some leather fabric to DIY it with. I've just seen how simple/awesome it can be from Cheetah Is The New Black and Style Scrapbook and am so looking forward to giving it a try! :)

There are so many things I want to get down to doing this holidays... I think I've been a little too pessimistic about some things in life recently and it's really time to just move on and look forward to the best parts of life, always. Some things I'd really like to get started on or do more of:

1. Bake!! Especially cupcakes. I'm really want to master the art of baking a REALLY GOOD CUPCAKE. Pretty frosting and scrummy flavor combined.

2. Get back to photography. I haven't really had the chance to further my photography skills these past few months (it's always food food food :P) but one day, I really want to just go to a random, less explored part of Singapore and just snap away!

3. Explore all sorts of lovely design, fashion and photography blogs. After quite a long hiatus, I've discovered some really great blogs over the course of this past week and it just so happens to be the week before my finals grrr so I can't wait to catch up on my blog reading and get inspired to do awesome stuff of my own.

4. Exerrrrcissseeee. I've totally degenerated into a big ball of inertia. School does that to you. -___- I actually prefer study breaks to the school term because there's so much more time to do stuff of your own accord. I've exercised more in these past 2 weeks than the entire past year combined. Haha, do you guys feel that way? That really, work or school can just get in the way of the good things in life?

Alright, I guess that's enough for the time being. Till... next... well, hopefully soon! :)

P.S. SOB. I just realized that the change in 'age' in my profile was LONG OVERDUE. Yup, the truth is out. SIGH.

why, hello stranger

2011-04-15T15:04:00.005+08:00

It's been ages, I know. :P And I seem to always start off a post with something along those lines! And end off with a rambling paragraph about how school sucks and there's never any time for anything else. Quite EEEEYSH I know, but I'm trying to look on the bright side of things. 2.5 weeks to my finals for the year and I'm taking a break looking at photos taken in these past few months (soooooo many soooo many) to break the monotony of the day.

I left off at Hong Kong, Dec 2010, so that's where I'll continue from! :)

Say hello to Brownie. He's the adorable mangly furball of a POODLE who belongs to my aunt! I stayed with her when I was in HK over the holidays and got quite acquainted with her THREE cutie patuties. He's my faaaaaavorite. :)

Here's his older brother, Chomper, who is also about half his size. Funny how things work out in life, no?

I tried to get a shot of the youngest one, who's also a poodle, and darker brown but he was ALWAYS moving so most of the shots are blurred. Maybe one semi-clear one will pop up in the folders soon. ;p

A visit to HK is never complete without a walk through the market/street stalls (and of course, the market shot is a must).

So there was this particularly famous Dimsum restaurant that my bf kept saying we had to try because not only was it supposed to be fabulous grub it's also really CHEAP. It opens at 10am on weekdays and thinking we'd be there earlier to beat the crowds, we strolled over at 10.30. THIS WAS THE SCENE. :(((( And I never did get to try the super dimsum from there!

There was, however, lots of this:

(Pork Chop bun!)

And this:

(Left: Bo Lor Pao! something like Pineapple Bun but there's nothing Pineapple flavored about it... Right: One of the boy's favorite street snacks. It's really hard to pronounce...something like Gai Dan Zai..? Egg Puff Waffle. Pretty nice when it's hot but a little on the bland side for me.)

(In Mongkok)

Here's chomper saying "Night, night!".

chomp-fest

2010-12-24T01:09:00.003+08:00

The past few days has been a bit of a baking-fest for me! :) The school term is always so insanely tiring and busy that I seldom have the time to bake stuff though it's such an enjoyable hobby for me. (Which reminds me, how will I ever become a domestic goddess a la Nigella if I don't practise now huh??) So I took the opportunity over the past few days of the Christmas vacation to create a mess in the kitchen and indulge in a major chomp-fest.

First off, chocolate chip cupcakes stuffed with chunks of hershey's cookies and cream chocolate and topped off with rainbow sprinkles. A friend gave me this recipe once and it's actually REALLY SIMPLE :p as it doesn't really involve baking entirely from scratch (coughcough I use the Betty Crocker devil's chocolate cake mix) but it does allow for some creativity in terms of what you add into the mix. Trust me on this, the Hershey's cookies and cream chocs are divine and go soooo well with the normal chocolate flavor.

These ginger snaps actually look better than they tasted. :( I dunno what really happened but there these were just an overdose of baking powder. 'Nuff said. SIGH.

The chocolate cupcakes in a pile! :)

Then came the fun part. This was the first time I've actually made gingerbread men by myself (previously it was with my aunt in Seattle a few years back and we always simply used the ready made cookie dough) and boy, was it a challenge! I found a recipe online which called for the use of 1/2 cup of honey but TYPICAL blur me read it as 1 and a 1/2 cups of honey syrup and the boy only realized it when 1 cup had gone into the batter and the entire thing was so runny there was no way of making a dough out of it. So in order to salvage it, I had to double the batter and repeat all the steps once again in order to make up for the extra honey and in the end, I just kept adding FLOUR FLOUR FLOUR and more FLOUR. Must've used up more than 4 cups of flour for sure. Sure it was an ordeal but you know what? It was so fun. :D I LOVE making gingerbread men now! My favorite part is rolling out the dough and pressing the cookie cutter into it and then peeling the perfectly cut piece of dough and placing it on the tray. Totally tedious but so fun.

The gingerbread men are actually pretty ginormous! About the size of my palm? I didn't realize they'd be so big but the cookie cutter I bought just happened to be a larger than average. While baking in the oven under the glow of the oven light they all looked like little expanding monsters. *shudder*

Felt like a total kindergardener in an art class! :p Not great at icing them but what the heck. It kinda sucks too that my family is on the whole pretty health conscious so I had to limit the number of cookies I decorated lest no one in my family eats any of them because of the icing sugar.

In other news... I'm in HK now! :) Meant to post this yesterday while I was packing but in the end I just ended up doing all sorts of other stuff. Just felt all happy and excited because finally -- I'm able to wear my new f21 beanie and Frye Engineer boots!

One of my favorite things about HK is the weather. I love how it actually gets colder during the winter such that it's just the right weather for boots, scarves, hats, coats... layers, layers, layers! Fun things that are impossible in Singapore. I just arrived in HK a few hours ago and am going to be staying at my aunt's place for the next week or so and there's wifi so hopefully I'll be able to update daily! =) Stomach's totally growling now... can't wait for breakfast to come soon...!

So how's everyone's Christmas coming along? 2 more days! :)

Here's something I put on my Christmas list and openly hinted to my sis, my mum AND the boy yet nobody paid any attention to my pleas:

1. DOMO CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!

And these would be so multipurpose too because you can use them to decorate the place for all sorts of parties, not just xmas ones! But did they listen to my very tempered and well thought out reasoning? NO.

If I were a guy living in the U.S. with an Urbie store right around the corner, I'd so get these two shirts.

So what's on everyone's Christmas list? :) Do tell!

At Christmas :)

2010-12-19T00:15:00.002+08:00

I'm so happy that it's the Christmas season!! It's just my favorite holiday of the entire year. Even though I don't really get anymore presents anymore :p but since I was a little girl, I've just always loved the idea of gift-giving, present wrapping, cookie baking, eggnog drinking, merry making... I know it's the commercialized version of Christmas and that the real meaning behind everything is supposed to be the religious one but I happen to love the former a LOT. And it's so FUN. :)

I just started making ornaments again today. We don't have a tree at home unfortunately and we've never had a real one before (i doubt my parents would know what to do to keep it alive) but we DO have some pretty xmas lights. So I decided to take one of the new bookshelves that my dad recently procured and give it a makeover in time for Christmas.

Felt ornaments are my favorite to make. Simply because they're the easiest. I love putting on some music/switching on the television and making them at the same time. Today I listened to some old school HANSON music on youtube (because I can't find their CD in the mess that is my room :( ) and gosh it brought back memories! They released a record entitled Snowed In '97 and I used to play it every single Christmas as a Hanson-obsessed tween while laying on the couch fantasizing about Zac Hanson WHOM I JUST FOUND OUT IS HAPPILY MARRIED and he and his wife just gave birth to their SECOND CHILD on 15 Dec! Oh my wasted heart...

I remember flipping through a craft magazine once many years ago when I saw a "Santa's laundry line" ornament on a page and I just thought it was adorable, especially the long john's.

(Yeah, I know, that gingerbread man is just creepy. The next one will look more benevolent, I promise!)

So tomorrow I think I'll start baking some Xmas cookies. :) Anyone has any good recipes to share? I suppose the usual butter/sugar cookies would be the easiest to bake as well as decorate but my whole family's the more health conscious type so I don't think anyone will be lapping up the gorgeous colored icing any time soon. Are there any "healthier" cookies I could bake? :P Guess that's kinda an oxymoron.

Shall end my night by watching another episode of Party of 5. I ordered the first 3 seasons and had them delivered to my sis who's studying in the U.S. and who's now back for the holidays. Scott Wolf and Neve Campbell are simply gorgeous! I never actually watched the series very intensely before but I think now I'm in a better position to appreciate it. Recently I've been reminded of all the good times I had as a tween. Hanson... Party of 5... Baby-Sitters' Club... Thank god for those days.

it always comes back to this

2010-12-17T20:18:00.004+08:00

HOLA~~!

:D We are officially back in business.

Today's the last day of the school term for now and I'm starting an extremely precious 2 week Christmas vacation that I'm determined to live, breath, CHERISH like nothing before. It's been an incredibly tiring 6 months of school. Can you believe we've had close to 30 weeks of school without a single break till now? I could cry.

But there are so many things to do now. :) First of, I thought of continuing where I left off from. Back in Seattle!

One fine morning, my lil' cuz Teagan, and I decided to go for a cycle. I don't even own a bicycle now so the only time I ever cycle would be the occasional trip to the park with my friends where we rent bicycles for 2 hours. I wish I had one though! It's so much fun though Singapore is definitely one of the most dangerous places to cycle in. Horrible weather, a severe dearth of bicycle lanes, the WORST bunch of angry drivers who don't even give way to other cars... Seattle is so much more fun. Neighbourhoods seem built for cycling around.

(That's my cousin and she's 7. I'm 21 and not much taller than her. HATE MY SHORTIE GENES!)

HERE'S MY VERY FIRST GIF! :DDD (It took me AGES to get this figured out but now I realize how it's actually really pretty simple. Silly noobie me.)

(and off we go!)

When I accompanied my cousins to their swim class and was freezing in the blustery weather (outdoor pools in cold weather = torture) while waiting for them, I decided to walk around and into the neighbouring park. Met the most adorable retriever there.

One of those days, my aunt, the cousins and I, went for a hike up the SNOW CAVES - so called because in the winter it's apparently covered in snow and there are little caves that can be explored. When we went it was late spring/early summer so there wasn't any snow but it was a pretty walk nonetheless. Though I do remember feeling ill then and after the hike I ended up getting a full blown flu that kept in the house for the next 3 days. In hindsight though, it's the good things that stay. :)

Who was the artist who left his mark here eh??

One night my aunt brought me for some Mexican food since that's one of the few cuisines I haven't tried very much before.

Nothing beats freshly baked tortilla chips...

and salsa!

This was some special Mexican drink which, for the life of me, I cannot recall. I think it was some rice drink? Or if anyone has drunk this before and would care to enlighten me on its name/origins, I would really appreciate it! :) It had a little bit of an eggnog taste to it...

THIS... WAS THE MOTHER OF ALL SALADS. I made the amateur/tourist mistake of ordering a "Mexican Salad" when I could've ordered something quintessentially Mexican like a BURRITO or something. So I ended up with the HUGEST salad I've seen in my entire life. It was literally three times the size of my face.

American food portions never cease to amaze me. ;p

Finally memory for tonight -- eating a pesto pasta and salad dinner out in the backyard with my aunt, uncle and cousins. :) It was one of the highlights of my trip really. I love spending time with them and the weather was PERFECT for an alfresco evening meal.

(Haiying with her annoying camel toy which she KNOWS I hate! Press it and it launches incessantly into a LOUD and annoying song in a weird language I can't even understand.)

They have a playground in their background. :) How perfect is that?

I keep posting photos of my travels (well, this blog is pretty much just all about stuff that's happening to me/things that I like) and I suppose to some people it may come across as self-indulgent or narcissistic? But blogging is, at its heart, an extension of the blogger's own self. Every word, picture, quote, song that's posted here has something to do with me that I'd like to share and connect with someone else who has an affinity to it too. I'll keep doing this, because at the end of the day, looking back and reflecting on things that mean something to me... sharing little frivolous things such as likes and dislikes in fashion/photography/food...these are all forms of expression that keep me happy. At the end of the day, perhaps that's all there is to it. :)

XX. More tomorrow! :) I daresay I'll be able to post twice a day now that it's the holidays. Can't wait to have the BEST NIGHT OF SLEEP i've had in a looong time tonight.

it's been awhile...

2010-11-24T21:11:00.002+08:00

...But I'll be back! :)

Still alive here. Just really busy with so much school stuff. Almost coming to the end of a posting which means there're a couple of tests that I'm going to have to take... and it just so happens that so many things are coinciding around the same period next week! Next Friday, my end of posting test. Next Saturday, a play that I'll be acting in (definitely hope my class wins. ;p it's an inter-level play competition so each class is really going all out this year it seems). Next Sunday, my Japanese exam. Deep breath... *SILENT SCREAM*.

Just now I was eating dinner with my dad and we happened to be watching the grand finale of this show -- Step It Up and Dance. I love dance competitions. They're my favorite sort of competitive television series. I mean if I were to choose between So You Think You Can Dance and errr America's Next Top Model... I think I'd definitely go for the former. Just the way they always give so much constructive feedback to the dancers already shows how it's all about nurturing and bringing out the best in the participants.

So to cut a long story short, one of the final 4 participants, Cody, performed his solo dance to an incredible song that I tried Shazam-ing (free iPhone app that identifies songs on the radio/tv :D) but wasn't able to find out who the singer was. So I did what I always do when I try to identify songs that I'm interested in - I googled a line from the song along with the name of the show and voila! The first link that came up highlighted the exact thing that was in my mind: "In the Step It Up and Dance final, what was Cody's solo song?" :p I think it's pretty amazing how somewhere across the world, a million miles removed from me, someone else had the exact same feelings and thoughts about a song.

So here it is:

my heart's in so many places

2010-10-24T22:40:00.007+08:00

Ta-dahhh! Finally a continuation of my posts on my travels this past summer. :p It's about 4 months overdue and there are still about say 500 photos I'd love to go through and eventually post so... at least that's something to look forward to till the end of this year.

So here's the next bit about my Seattle trip. I left off at the FIRST day of my time in Seattle. Now we're making the momentous leap into day 2 of the epic chronicles.

(coat: ebay, boots: shop in Hong Kong, scarf: Ruche.com)

Half opened eyes and face drenched in sleepiness? Puts the time of the photo taken to anywhere before 12 noon. That was pretty much my default outfit every day in Seattle because it was chiiilllly. I love though, the feeling of cold air so crisp and biting that it startles the senses every morning upon leaving the house.

First stop? Nordstrom Rack!! That was the first time I'd been into one so I had no idea what to expect. Racks and rows and shelves crammed to the brim with clothes, shoes, accessories... in so many different sizes and designer labels too!

Biggest score of the day? Swedish MIA clogs at a discounted price of about $60. I later found out the exact same ones were being sold in Urban Outfitters but for close to $100! Thank you, God of outlet shopping.

It probably wasn't on the same day but eventually I did manage to stumble in a drunken haze of happiness into the Urban Outfitters store at Alderwood Mall.

(BEST SIGN EVER. I just couldn't resist.)

(new basic striped shirt!)

Was really tempted to get this multicolored striped tee for my boyfriend since, who doesn't love a splash of color? But then I remembered most boys are timid and conservative when it comes to fashion. My future son, however...

(I love how they displayed all the shirts in that manner against the wall! :D Another reason to be in love with UO.)

So Alderwood Mall is pretty much one of my favorite malls in the entire world. Granted, I haven't really been to that many malls in the world but this one basically has all the stores I love under one roof. I remember the first time I was brought there by my aunt a couple of years back. I'd painstakingly written down a whole list of the stores I wanted to go into ("American Apparel... GAP... F21... Urban Outfitters...Payless") and didn't know how lucky I'd get with this mall. By the end of the day, with every turn of a corner inside, I was greeted with multiple surprises as I managed to locate store after store on my list, eventually striking almost everything off. (I think Anthropologie and H&M would be the only two missing ;p. That's still a dang high score rate!)

It seems that every time I go to Alderwood Mall I end up getting a Charley's grilled beef sub. ;p I remember being incredibly famished the first time I tried it out and it was SO good I've not really tried anything else every time I go back.

(Colors colors colors. I just brighten at the sight of them. This one was in the AA store.)

So this was just a random shot taken in a supermarket. Isn't it amazing, the sheer number of choices available for something as simple as burritos? I was just bowled over.

This Ted Talk I viewed recently discusses the paradox of choice and how too many choices actually overwhelms us, makes us indecisive, and paralyzes us in a state of inaction. :P Thoughts about it? I still say there's no question about it - the more choices the merrier.

Bye for now. I wish I could spend more time blogging but then reality always wins. School stresses and sleep beckon.

lit by moonlight

2010-09-27T23:47:00.005+08:00

2 weekends ago, we celebrated the Mid Autumn Festival here.

Of course, most importantly, there were mooncakes. Plain lotus ones, double yolk ones, snowskin ones... I've come to like the snowskin ones a lot especially when they're cold, fresh out from the fridge.

We decided to take a walk around the neighbourhood with our little lanterns in tow. :) My bold (and childish) suggestion if I might add. I feel like the older I grow, the more I feel dissatisfied with the childhood I had. Why did I never have the incredibly gleeful experience of carrying a lantern lit by candlelight triapsing brazenly through the neighbourhood without a care of the curious (stunned?) looks from passersby? My motto is, it's never too late to create these experiences for yourself. 21? Pffft. I've always felt like a 10 year old.

Latest updates:

Ok so I've finally decided to ditch awful photobucket which still isn't allowing me to view my own photos in my own account. O_o For some reason, I can't even view most of the photos in the previous posts on my own laptop... Hope it's not the same case for you guys? Do let me know if so! I grimace at the thought of having to re-upload all the gazillion photos from previous posts but if it has to be done, it has to be done. ;p This is my baby after all. In the meantime, hello to flickr.

The past weekend was pretty darn awesome. Lots of time spent GUILT FREE (post-test!) lounging around, finally opening up and reading a few chapters of a novel and spending time figuring out the new iphone4 my dear ol' mum managed to procure for me. :) And then there was really scrummy brunch on Saturday. MMM. At this rate, I'll NEVER run out of things to blog about.

Until the next time~!

oh oh

2010-09-24T00:07:00.002+08:00

Something is deathly wrong with my photobucket account. I can't even view my own photos in my account! O_O Nothing seems to be loading. And it's affecting all the photos on this blog too. Can't even change my header because the photo won't load...!

Feeling terribly helpless now...

22.9.10

2010-09-22T21:23:00.002+08:00

I think this will do for quote of the week.

i go for it everytime

2010-09-20T20:53:00.005+08:00

(Heidelberg, Germany, July 2009)

My best friend is back in Singapore. If only for a few weeks. I'm just happy she's here, not a million miles away from me where text messages travel through a black hole before reaching her; where I can call her anytime without having to strain my brain with subtractions to figure out the time difference.

One of the best moments I had last summer visiting her was when we settled our tired feet down and sipped steaming cups of hot chocolate in a coffee bar, in from the cold and the rain. Somethings always create that warm fuzzy spot in your heart; somethings you just don't ever forget.

Over the weekend I met up with so many old friends and we did childish things like carry lanterns while traipsing through the neighbourhood at night, munching on mooncakes and chattering about things while sitting on a picnic mat by the riverside... I wish I had more time for people in my life. It sucks that for the first week when my bestie's here I have to spend the week nights studying for a test at the end of the week. Is it just me, or does school always get in the way?

it's on with Madewell!

2010-09-12T02:06:00.002+08:00

I first heard of the store Madewell when I went to New York in June (photos to come! ;p i promise!) from my sister's friend who's a real fashionista; she lives in Manhattan, works at a 9-5 job, makes it to incredible sample sales of which items she can actually AFFORD -- pretty much my dream life. Oh and did I mention she has the droolworthy PS1 bag? MMMM.

Well, ever since I went to the store on Broadway (right next to Topshop!) I was HOOKED...line and sinker! There are some stores that you tend to simply fall in love with based on the vibes they give you. Of course the music playing in the store at the moment has a huge role to play in that. Madewell represents its namesake so well -- it exudes classiness, elegance and yet remains down to earth with its practical boyfriend shirts, timeless denim pieces and very very gorgeous shoes. IF NOT FOR THE PRICE...

That said, when I first heard a few months back about the Alexa Chung + Madewell collaboration I immediately kept a reminder at the back of my head to keep a lookout for it. (Not that I really needed it with the email subscription/reminders). It's every bit as lovely as I thought it would be! I've never been a crazed fan of Alexa Chung but I do admit I find her unique, countryside/boarding school inspired ensembles rather intriguing. Above are some of the pieces from the collection as well as some other in-house items that I adore. There were many items I really liked in the collection but only a few that I could envisage myself actually pulling off/wearing. Honestly, how can anyone withOUT her endless legs pull off the whole socks + ankle boots look?? So if you do happen to look like her/possess her stature, this collection is for you. Plenty of floaty dreamy vintage-inspired dresses and coats.

Oh and be sure to check out the video on the website too. :) I just like the song v v much.

(YOU CAN GO HERE)

i can't go on; i'll go on

2010-09-05T00:16:00.007+08:00

It's amazing how I've not done any work at all the entire day and have not yet felt the familiar sensation of guilt. Hope it doesn't happen to you, but for my case whenever I go out for too long a period of time during the weekend this feeling of guilt tends to creep up on me and the only way to shake it off is usually to break off the fun and head home with the thought of making up for it at night. Occupational hazard which i haaaaaaaaate to the bone. I've been toying with the idea for the past 2 years of possibly doing something else other than medicine in the future but I'm a complete coward and haven't had the balls to explore other options. So I'm stuck feeling sorry for myself in the meantime. But I guess there comes a point when you end up caving in to something as simple and elusive as a full day of rest and relaxation. That was today for me.

(romper: Topshop, cardigan and bag: store in Japan, shoes: Modcloth.com )

I've been wearing these sandals which I ordered from ModCloth and ooohhhh they are COMFY. Very very comfy. Possibly one of the best pairs of shoes I've ever gotten because they are so easy to walk around in and I didn't even have to break it in with blisters at all. :) I have a niggling feeling these are going to become my new favorite shoes since they pretty much go with any sort of outfit and even allow my feet to breathe in this tootootoo-warm-for-comfort tropical heat.

For lunch, my bf and I went to Marche! He'd been craving for a gigantic pork knuckle dish (ever since he came back from a backpacking trip to Germany he's gotten rather fond of meat and beer lol) and we didn't manage to go last week so this time there was no stopping us. In the end though, we ended up having our usual staple of Rosti, threw in a mixed salad, enjoyed a steaming asparagus soup and topped it off with some sweet Crepe for dessert. No pork knuckle ;p

Am a huuuuuge fan of cream of asparagus soup. Veggies in general. And I love how it's so thick and warm, it fills you up so quickly. It's one of the soups I dream of making in the future when I become a domestic goddess, mother of 5 kids whom I feed warm, hearty soups and stews on a daily basis. (Yes, we should always dream big.)

(Secretly, I just want to bury myself in that pile of potatoes. Oh but before that, hand over the ketchup!)

Hehehe ok so it's rather obvious that we try to maximize the space accorded to us by the medium sized plate but that's really because it's SO expensive (and we're just your average Singaporeans who want our money's worth). I worried about today's mountain of veggie though. Thought it would collapse in a humiliating and accusatory pile on the floor.

:) That's the face I see every time I want to take a photo of the food UNTOUCHED. Sorry, pie. :P

Today's strawberry crepe was a lot better than expected! Usually am not a huge fan of crepe since I've always found the dough bit to be rather tasteless... this one though had a lovely orange flavored whipped cream topping which definitely added to the taste.

Today's buys from Forever 21. XD I tried on the first cream colored one on the left and it was such a perfect fit I couldn't help but try on the teal one too. Naturally, I fell in love with the second one as well. And how often do you come across clothing items that fit so perfectly? So I decided to get both. The guy at the cash register even commented, "Wah, you must really like this dress eh?". All I could do was beam back and nod my head really vigorously. I do love how the dresses have a vintage feel to them because of the print and the fall. I think I've been reading too much Liebemarlene Vintage.

On the way back home, I stopped by a small shopping center near my house and there was the monthly little book fair so I went over in the hopes of finding some Children's books. Low and behold -- SWEET VALLEY TWINS!!! Yes, I was a huge fan of the Sweet Valley Twins series and used to have practically the entire collection until my dear old dad forced my sis and me to throw away most of the books from our kiddy collection in order to make room for... some silly adult thing or another. I've been trying to buy them back ever since. I love being able to find these books at the 2nd hand book fair -- these were only 50 cents each! SCCCCOOOOREEE! ;p What were your favorite childhood storybooks anyhow?

Hmm I think I'm getting into a bit of a rut here with this blog. I keep end up posting the same sort of stuff each time ;p It's pretty much the only creative outlet I have so I'm going to be more creative about it. Maybe next time you'll see something other than food and little ol' me.

On an incredibly random note, I think these are absolutely adorable:

(Etsy.com )

My cousin's wife will be giving birth to a baby sometime later this month and I'm going to be an aunt. :D My mum and I are so excited about getting a ton of stuff for the little kiddo to play with. These teeth are so full of WIN. And so highly DIY-able too. Maybe I should work on it with my grandmama.

Good night, now.

where will we go

2010-08-22T00:07:00.006+08:00

About time I got out of this hiatus eh? :p It's been way too long.

About 2 weeks back the boy and I made a much anticipated trip to one of our favorite places -- IKEA. Which person has been to Ikea and come out not feeling a pleasant buzz in the tummy? I pin it down to the warm recessed lighting, the delicate scent of Swedish meatballs and room after room of exquisitely manipulated spaces and COLORS. Oh, the colors. I have such a thing for colors.

I LOOOOOOVE the Swedish meatballs. Really just the best thing that's sold there (a teeny better than the awesome soft ice cream). I could take a bath in that sauce.

Another of my favorites -- cold shrimp salad with melon/raisins and other little bits of fruit!

How cute is it that we stumbled upon a cookie jar with a mouse peeking out just like that?

(top: bustier from Urban Outfitters, necklace: Aldo, skirt: The Scarlet Room, sandals: Target, bag: Topshop)

(Perfecting the WHUUDDD??? look)

Outside Ikea along the street there was a little food stall fair thingamajig going on. All sorts of funky local snacks were being sold (think Ramley Burger, sweet corn, fresh coconut juice, fried chicken...) alongside a ton of fruits in season. See if you can spot the Mangosteen. :D

One of my favorite fruits ever (especially when ICE COLD and de-shelled (DUH ;p)).

Current favorite satchel bag from Topshop.com. =) Since am not pooping enough money to afford my dearest love (the one and only PS1) for the next 20 odd years, this is the next best thing. There are a TON of rip offs floating around the SG market now especially those imported from neighboring countries and sold on Blogshops but most of them are made from really poor quality material that doesn't quite resemble even faux leather. But who can blame the copycats? It's such a gorgeous design (those two strips down the front get me each time).

So it's been a reeeeally long while since I last posted. Not that I wanted to but it's just been so so so tiring what with the school semester having started since I returned back home from my vacation trip in June. Oh those were such great times. These past few weeks I've just been really tired trying to keep up with school work and a bunch of other activities. Still have a TON of photos from my trips which I'm dying to share with you guys. :P Hopefully I'll be able to churn out another post sometime this weekend? I've kinda missed the one creative (if it can even be deemed so) thing I'm able to do.

Apart from school... I've been watching a lot of this series called CHUCK. :D HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended. Really hilarious and provides the exact level of excitement and adventure that's missing from my life. And the fact that the soundtrack is sooo good just clinches it. Here's a fab song just to prove my point:

Can You Tell by Ra Ra Riot

On another random note, I love love love love love Fridays. Can't even begin to express the relief that comes the minute the clock strikes 12am on Friday. Everything just seems easier since weekend respite is on the way ~

sleepsleepsleeping in seattle~

2010-05-25T14:45:00.003+08:00

HELLLLOOOOOOOOO WORLD~! X)

I know it's been awhile but GOSH it's been a really incredibly hectic past week. A TON of things happened some of which include these:

- i attended my cousin's soccer match within2 hours of arriving in Seattle! :P Boy was it cooooold but such fun finally being away from the insane humidity and heat of Singapore. And all those little kids had so much energy running around the field...they made me feel tired just looking at them hurhur.

- i fell ill!! :( my aunt and younger cousin had already been down with some sort of flu and i arrived right smack in the middle of their evil virus phase... so i spent a good 2-3 days with a gross drippy nose, fuzzy head and general desire to lie down and vegggg out (not really very different from usual in that last aspect...just a more pronounced version I suppose)... those days were really NOT the most fun but on the bright side, it just allowed me to sit around and do nothing without feeling TOO guilty since it is the holidays after all.

- both my uncle and aunt's cars DIED. Well my uncle's car died and my aunt's car got into a little scrape with another crazy ass driver's car when she went to pick my uncle up pretty late at night. Nobody was hurt thank goodness, but we were left carless for the past few days. ;p Luckily my aunt is incredible and has friends who LOVE her and were able to carpool the cousins/us around. Now we have a cool new flashy red rental car to use for the time being.

Ok and mannny other things happened but I'm getting way ahead of myself here! :P Let me just show you the first batch of like a thousand photos I've been taking. I know there are a ton of photos of my little cuzzins but I'm SO not a paedophile alright? I just love taking photos of subjects who LOVE the camera and keep relatively still. And those cuzzins of mine are NATURAL cam-hoooars. :))

First day in Seattle:

This is my dearest little cousin, Teagan. :D She's 6 and is by far the more subdued cousin. Let's see what else... she's very sweet and loves cold weather, cuddly objects, cuddling up to people and rubbing her cheeks on people's sweaters... oh and a really gross purple and blue spongy toy tarantula that she's been leaving behind on the odd place in my room such as my laptop.

Lunch at Chinook's! :)

This is Hai-ying, the older one of my 2 cousins. She's 9 and well, can be a EXTREMELY SWEET at times and at other times... a COMPLETE TERROR. :((((((( She's a tough cookie. Very intelligent and curious and is ALWAYS questioning the actions of her parents. I'd be very frazzled if I were her mum. In fact, she already frazzles me quite a bit. But she's definitely improved from when I last saw her a few years back... So hopefully she'll become an angel when she's my age. ;p

Totally scrummy scones! :D They were soft on the inside, crispy on the outside and most importantly -- WARM. I totally piled on the strawberry jam onto these babies and lapped them up like a dawg.

Salmon and potatoes for the main course which I shared with Haiying (because the portions here are so ginormous ;p but i'm already starting to eat sooo much more so i have no doubt that in no time, i'll be polishing off U.S. portions with ease. *shudder*)

Oatmeal! As part of the kids' breakfast/brunch set. Believe it or not, this was actually my first taste of oatmeal! :P It's not really a common thing to eat in SG imo, so this was kinda nice, having my first taste of it. Except it was pretty bland and gooey and filling. No wonder it's diet food.

My dearest aunt and Teagan. :D My aunt's really the coolest, most enthusiastic, warmest aunt ever. She's really the one who makes Seattle fun since my uncle's always busy with work so she's the one who takes me around and takes care of the kids.

The view at the harbour was really pretty. :)

Ooo and this is the incredible view from my aunt and uncle's bedroom window. I'd kill to have a house facing the sea! I wish I could've captured the colors of the sunset a lot better but this was the best shot I got with the rays of the sun half blinding me while looking through the viewfinder.

Fruit smoothie whipped up within 1 min by my aunt. The trick? Frozen fruit from a packet. I'd never heard of that before but it works and gives the flavors too!

Stay tuned for more photos and updates... I've been a lazy lazy blogger and person haha in general for the past week. There's so much energy required to keep up with the kids that my optimum time to sleep at night is 10p.m. so that I can have enough sleep when I'm woken up by the sounds of YELLING/SCREAMING/CRYING by the kiddos at absurd hours of the morning. 6.30 a.m. is just wayyy too early, young ladies. But do they care? HELL NOZ. sobbbbbbb.

xxxxoooo

my 7 layered slice of heaven

2010-05-17T05:57:00.004+08:00

Chapter 2 of The Breakfast Club Chronicles took place at an awesome restaurant called Barracks Cafe at Dempsey Hill. It's a restaurant in a building called House which used to be former army barracks (hence the name, I presume) and inside there's a cafe, a bar and a beauty emporium -- all under one roof. Yet another place that can only be accessed by car though because I can only imagine the walk all the way inside from the main road under the sun would be heeeellish. This place was amazing though. Thankfully, it was fully air-conditioned, service was prompt and there was a huge selection to choose from from the brunch menu .

Cute newsletter style menu.

Poached eggs and asparagus. Not great for me because the sauce was a little too sourish and creamy for my liking (almost like what i'd imagine rotten eggs would smell like ;p).

Oregon salmon hash. This one was DELECTABLE. It was a mix of salmon pieces, potatoes, chives all lumped together in a yummy sour cream based sauce that was sooo good and so easy to eat. I love stuff that's soft and that goes down the throat easily without much chewing. This was a little like luxury comfort food.

THIS WAS THE BEST. THE BEST. THE BESTTTTT!! And my fav photo of the entire day XD

7 layered pancakes!! My friend who introduced us to the place had read about it online and that was what we had all come for... It was pretty much the best pancakes I'd eaten in my entire life.
In between the layers were all these delicious NUTS and RAISINS and DRIED FRUIT and they even sprinkled such a generous helping all over the plate! =D I'm a huge huge huge fan of well, what you can call trail mix ingredients because they're so easy to eat and they cater to my sweet tooth while fooling me into thinking that it's a healthier snack option compared to other stuff. Together with the maple syrup it was sweet but not overly sweet because there was enough pancake to balance it out. I loved the feeling of stabbing a bit of plain pancake and then topping it with a spoonful of raisins/dried fruit/nuts. It even felt healthy if one didn't focus on the syrup...and the nutella in between the layers.

So basically it was heavenly... Too bad it was more like 1/4 of 7 pancakes piled on top of each other and not 7 whole pancakes eh?

Squid ink pizza. This one was kinda weird. ;p Because the crust was made with squid ink, it came out all black and dusty. We felt like we were eating ash. But the squid and veggies on top were decently cooked with a lemon tangy taste so I ended up eating the toppings rather than the crust. Muahaaa.

For dessert, we tried this dish called Rumbaba - something like a sponge cake SOAKED in rum. One bite and it was like woahhh! :)

Oh the multitude of desserts that we wanted to try but were too full/broke to order. There were so many cakes there that were really TALL-- possibly 5 to 7 inches high type of cakes. I'm definitely going back one day, if only for the pancakes...

maxi dress and vest: Topshop, sunnies: Witchery, necklaces: f21 and shop in Shibuya 109, Tokyo, sandals: Target.com

a little bit of you in everyone

2010-05-15T03:41:00.007+08:00

For the month of May, my weekends were the best. I spent the weekdays at a hospital learning the basics of examining patients and talking to them to get a history out and most of the time
it was just tiring, extremely humid (my friends and i would always try to take the route that allowed us to cross into the air-conditioned wards for that few blissful minutes of respite) and demoralising because well, compared to my groupmates i was pretty terrible at everything. So glad it's over for now.

The weekends were the times when I would get to relax a little and spend time with my boyfriend and other friends and those were the little bits of the month that really got me through. Nothing like starting Monday a little less grouchier with the thought that Saturday
there'd be something to look forward to! :) Don't know if you guys feel the same about things like that in your life?

A couple of friends and I have been getting into this whole brunch movement (it seems like there are lots of great placesfor brunch that have been mushrooming up lately!) and it's quite a good idea because while it's a little pricier thannormal meals, you do skip both breakfast and lunch (2 for theprice of 1! sort of ;p) and end up eating a little less for dinner because you're so full.And the brunch experience is just priceless. I loooove theanticipation of a great pile of pancakes and eggs.

So Chapter 1 of the The Breakfast Club Chronicles took place at a restaurant called Prive at Marina Bay. Perhaps it was just an off day for them and normally I'm easy going about it but this time, service was REALLY BAD! It took ages for someone to take our orders and it didn't help that we were seated outdoors beneath the scorching sun. Customers were literally fighting to adjust the direction of the huge fans such that they'd point towards their table. Another table of expats beside us waited "45 minutes for oureggs and pancakes" (which never arrived) and ended up storming off to their yacht nearby (what a life eh? that's what I call storming off in style). We waited it out though and the result was decent pancakes and VERY TASTY smoked salmon eggs benedict. I'm so hooked on that combination now. :D

After that maro and I hitched a ride from our dear friend who had possession of his dad's car that day (THAT is the keyto even getting anywhere for brunch) to VIVOCITY yet again! I had a $25 left of a $50 Häagen-Dazs voucher to use up heheso we ended up tucking in to a deeeelicious ice cream + wafflecombo dribbled with chocolate sauce. I don't usually eat Häagen-Dazs very often (because one scoop is like ten bucks or some exorbitant price like that) but everytime I do I can't help but feel that it's in a class of it's own. We had a little combo dish of 6 different flavors and they worked sooo well together! 3 berry/fruit flavors, chocolate, rum and raisin and...(Wait for it!)...---TIRAMISU. MMM :D

$25 goes by very quickly at Häagen-Dazs unfortunately.

top and shorts: GAP, shoes: Urban Outfitters, tights: random, necklaces: F21 and gift, sunglasses: Witchery, bag: mum's

(ahhhaha watch me displace those sunnies by accident; in total dweeb-like fashion)

This is what happens when you spend too long in the changing room at Topshop, leaving your boyfriend to his own devices to pass the time. TSK TSK TSK. Men.

I ended up getting this grey drapey blazer and this maxi dress from Topshop! :D I'm really in love with drapey designs now because they just add this softness to the overall look... HURR this was the most substantial purchase at Topshop yet and for that -- I became a rightful owner of the awesome Topshop MEMBERSHIP CARD!! Haha 10% off every subsequent purchase and 20% off a single purchase in my birthday month. Topshop's one of my favorite shops ever, alongside Zara (UO's still numbah one though!) so everytime I look at my membership card, I just feel so HAPPY. :) Cheap thrill!

At night we made our way down to Orchard and had our dinner at a most unexpected place ever -- an "economic rice" stall (so said because it's basically rice + a number of other Chinese dishes that you can select and it's usually the cheapest option in any food court) on one of the upper floors of Far East Plaza! I had no idea there were stalls there that sold such good and reasonably priced food. I went for claypot tofu which was so tasty, warm and comforting after a long day of walking.

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Btw, GREETINGS FROM SEATTLE!! =DDD I arrived a couple of hours ago after a loooong and tiring 20 hours of flight (complete with layover in Narita airport in Tokyo) and now I'm finally at my uncle's house... So happy to be here because the weather is fantastic and my relatives here are just the BEST. The cousins are still driving everyone up the wall though.

I'll be updating about Seattle soon but right after one more post of photos from Singapore...

How awesome is it that it's only Sunday? I love gaining one day through traveling to a different time zone.

marshmallow days

2010-05-14T00:30:00.005+08:00

(Yeahh we like to pile our veggies up like that to really MAXIMISE the volume of that tiny bowl. ;p Typical Singaporeans, we are)

These photos are all so belated. :p A couple of weeks back maro and I went to Vivocity (which is pretty much THE BEST SHOPPING COMPLEX in the whole of Singapore, I daresay!!!) and mannnnnn was it fun!! I'd forgotten just how awesome it is for shopping. It's really the best place to go to if you have a whole afternoon to spare and don't really wanna face the horrible humid weather outside because you could just walk round and round the entire complex for about 6hours and just about finish up with the great stores (i.e. Zara, Topshop, F21 -- which are conveniently lined up nicely in a row near/next to each other). Then there's the pretty decent selection of restaurants/cafes/food court.

We went to Marche the way we always do; and ordered the same thing that we always do -- Rosti with a ton of sour cream and spring onions :D (YUMMMM), a small bowl of salad (because the medium sized one is like... really EXPENSIVE!) and then the 3rd dish is the variable. This time we had a savory crepe which wasn't too bad but the fact that I can't remember the ingredients in it reminds me that it wasn't a very memorable dish either. ;p I do like Marche's food, but in my honest opinion.... it's really overpriced! Just that there aren't a lot of places that do some really good Rosti so... we're slaves to this enterprise.

cardigan, skirt, shoes: Urban Outfitters; shirt: Zara; bag: Mphosis (gift from friend), necklaces: bazaar + DIY

Yeahhh as you can tell, I'm like the numbah ONE fan of Urban Outfitters. :P But I can't help! I love 99% of the stuff they put on their online shop. I'm so gonna go ballistic when I finally step into a an actual store when I'm the U.S. At the moment I'm just living off the sheer kindness of fellow bloggers who live in the States (thank you my dearest Annabel who so kindly placed an order for me for the above pair of two-toned oxfords and thank you to my dear Kelly who also helped place an order for me for stuff which I'll get when I reach Seattle! XD You guys are awesome) so thank godness for wonderful fellow bloggers who are nice enough to help me out in this area! FYI, I'm a biggg fan of these blogger to blogger shopping requests-exchanges (i don't really know of a better way to put it at 1.30 a.m in the morning haaa) thingamjig... So if you'd like anything from Singapore, I'm just an email/comment/tweet away! :D Not really sure what SG has to offer that can't be found anywhere else in the world apart from our food... but really, just try me. I'd be more than happy to help. :)

These little boy shorts from GAP are just the cutest! XD I love looking at kiddies' clothes... especially teeny weeny shoes. Isn't it kinda scary though just how TINY we all were once upon a time? So crushable. *shudder*

GAP was fantastic that day though. For the first time ever, I bought myself someting from GAP which I really adore and am going to be wearing lots in Seattle since it's of a warmer material. I saw so many nice looking shirts in GAP that would be perfect for work attire but the smallest sizes still hung over me in an unflattering sponge-bob rectangular manner. GRRR.

Saw a whole row of boyfriends/hubbies sitting on the ledge inside the Forever21 store at Vivo and REALLY wanted to take a photo from the inside of the store with their faces facing the camera. But thought that might be rubbing a little too much salt into their already injured man-egos. HURHURHUR.

Scored a bunch of awesome necklaces at F21 though! :D I'm really in LOVE with the f21 store at Vivocity now. Even though the Somerset313 one is the flagship store and is the biggest with 3 floors, everytime I go to the vivo outlet with something in mind that I need to get I always manage to find it there! (and the same can't be said for the somerset313 store) It's just so much easier to navigate round the Vivo store since it's basically just a huge single floor of merchandise that's very clearly sorted out and I have a feeling all the stuff at somerset313 gets sold out too quickly whereas the stuff at Vivo reamins there a lot longer. AND, the crowds are way more manageable at the vivo outlet. HAH. A million and one reasons to head straight to Vivo whenever I need anything from f21.

Would you believe this last one was a mere $2?? I had to double check with the sales assistant because when can you ever get stuff for $2 in SG?? :D MAJOR SCORE!

Ooo gosh it's Friday already! Where did the week go? I know I was supposed to get in a helluv a lot of exercise but I haven't attended a single yoga class all week. One thing I have done though is watch a ton of How I Met Your Mother. XD Am on season 3 now (SLOW, I know) and am looovin' in. It's a bedtime ritual for me. There was one scene in an episode where Lily's heavily in debt because of SHOPPING (what else?) and when she finds out that Marshall took a high paying job at a company that basically went against everything he stood for, she imagines herself drowning happily in a sea of brand new shoes that keep cascading down upon her like heaven-sent rainfall...

Oh, dear Lily. A girl after my own heart.

a thousand times...YES

2010-05-13T02:01:00.003+08:00

(source: Hideaki Hamada's flickr photostream)

I can't even begin to describe how happy I felt upon discovering Hideaki Hamada's flickr photostream. I'm completely in love with these photos of his! So much about it represents a kind of ideal photography I'd love for myself to achieve one day. There's the immense clarity of the photos, the composition, the balance of human and natural elements...and of course the *ZOMGMOSTADORABLELITTLEBOYSEVAARRR* subjects of majority of his photos who speak volumes without even having to say anything.

Where can I get my hands on little boys like those?? *NOMNOMNOM* >:D

I haven't gone through all his photos even once over yet but these are a couple of my favorites. If anything, do check out his photostream and we can start a Hideaki Hamada fanclub soon ya? Kthxbye :D

just like old days

2010-05-09T23:13:00.008+08:00

A few weeks back I went back to my old secondary school for a carnival! :D It was a fund raising event to raise money for a new performance arts cum sports complex but i didn't even know about the purpose of the carnival till I got there and read about it on the display boards in the reception area. Heh well for my friends and I, any reason to head back to school is good enough for us... I was pretty amazed at the sheer scale of the carnival! They actually brought in theme park style/sized rides and had these inflated pools filled with water where kids could paddle mini boats or squeeze into a gigantic inflatable ball and roll around on the water... AHH i totally wanted to give it a go!!

Lots of yummy food sold by different classes that'd set up their own stalls. Of course they probably ordered in all the better looking cupcakes and such to sell. Some other classes sold handmade cookies and snacks. Really brings back fond memories of the times we had mini carnivals in school and each class had to think of what to sell at their stall... I don't really recall selling anything sensational though. Probably just the usual iced drinks and toasts or sth unremarkable like that. ;p

These little SC bear notebooks were sooooo adorable!! I would've gotten all of them if not for the fact that they were REALLY expensive. $7 each?? AGHH. :(( But they depict the typical SC uniform so accurately!! The green shorts the bears are wearing are actually called 'bloomers' ;p and i used to wear them when I was in primary school (the equivalent of Elementary school elsewhere I suppose) for sports lessons. They're notoriously hideous looking and soo uncomfortable because of the elastic waistband but really cute and puffy so I like seeing little kids wear em now that i no longer have to >:P

Some bits about my school have changed. There are a couple more play areas now and there were tons of little kids - siblings of the students or kids of the teachers.

This little dude in particular was SUCH a good subject. Most kids either run away or turn their faces away but this guy just stared calmly into the camera and REMAINED STILL.

Heehee I was just like "You're doing a great job, kiddo!! SMILE ok???", and without a word, he continued staring at the camera with a big GRIN. :D

Of course I couldn't resist -- got myself an SC teddy bear!!

After the carnival I met up with maro and we went to Central Mall for lunch on the way to the Asian Civilisations Museum.

(psst. fake cherry blossoms in the background. part of some travel exhibit promoting travel to Japan :p)

One of my favorite buildings in the area! I've always wanted to go inside the MICA building because of the cool multicolored shutters but i've never actually had the guts to do so. It IS a Ministry building after all... Another thing on my to-do list.

We went to the Asian Civilisations Museum because maro wanted to check out this exhibition about "jewelled treasures from the Indian Mughal empire" and I have to admit that it was pretty interesting... it was just bejewelled EVERYTHING. From swords to dinner plates to earrings to hair accessories... The one bit that was fun though was sitting down at a childrens' corner coloring a special illustration specific for the exhibition. ;p An outline of a little Mughal king/queen and there was a mound of crayons for us to use. Sigh, I go to a museum and all I remember was coloring a sheet of paper. Totally cultured aren't I?? *cough cough*

(shirt: Zara, vest: Topshop, pants: H&M, clutch/bag: Melie Bianco, shoes: Jeffrey Campbell Pilgrim Shoes)

After that we made our way to the Somerset area where we walked around some more... I love going out to town with my boyfriend, really, because he's the only one who comes close to being able to keep up with me. ;p

Went into one of my favorite shops -- Rockstar by Soon Lee -- at Cineleisure and as always, it was just like going into another world altogether. They sell the nicest (but also incredibly pricey) stuff there that hints of old school prep and vintage. I've only ever gotten a basic white tee and a pair of pants there before because most of the stuff is wayyy too expensive! I love going in there just to look at all the gorgeous stuff on display...and to enjoy the soothing music that's always makes me feel like I'm in an a softer world. My friend noted that Kings of Convenience is always playing.

Aren't these black canvas slip ons pretty? :) Nothing spectacular, I know, but I like stuff that's infinitely versatile. (Like this.)

A few weeks back I received my Jeffrey Campbell Pilgrim shoes from NeedSupply! :) It took quite a bit out of my savings but boyyy when I first stepped into them at home, I knew it was totally worth it. The leather is so soft and there base of the shoe felt comfortable and supported -- how often do you get that nowadays? I used to buy all these cheap flats last time but now I try not too since they don't offer much support for feet at all and end up hurting one's feet anyway.

So I wore these babies out that day to the carnival and the museum and they held up really well until the afternoon when I realised my cardinal mistake -- I'd forgotten to wear socks with them!! >< I'm so used to slipping on flats without any socks so for some reason I thought i'd be able to do the same with this pair; completely forgetting that it's brand new, unworn, and highly likely to give blisters regardless of how comfortable it feels initially. So needless to say, I ended up with a ton of blisters and it got so painful after awhile I ended up sending my dear maro to get a pair of socks for me while I waited at a corner pathetically. ;p Central Mall has like no store that sells proper socks so in the end I ended up with one of those cutesy toe socks bought from a gift store that's not only BRIGHT PINK but also has a cutesy cartoon print on it with bad english.

Whew, ok that was a lot of photos and words! :) Surprised to see more than 1 new post within a week? Heh I'm trying to keep it up since I'm on holiday now... Haven't really done anything much today except bring my mum out for a mother's day pedicure session and gorge on Northern Indian food. Time flies by so quickly though! I ended up getting seasons 3 to 5 of How I Met Your Mother from a classmate of mine today so I'm going to entertain myself with that over the next few days too.

Tomorrow I'm going to continue with research for my trip. Heh so if you guys have any stores to recommend to me while I'm in the U.S (NY and Seattle), do let me know?? :D

Muchos Gracias.

Here's to an awesome week ahead!

the countdown begins: 7 days to go!

2010-05-09T01:05:00.007+08:00

Today's exam was a real killer. I'm pretty sure I did kinda...REALLY BADLY on a couple of stations...one required me to take a history from a 'fake' patient and find out about her presenting illness but I totally blanked out and what emerged from my mouth was about 100 different permutations of the sound "erRMMMM....errr....ahhhhhh...." and the list goes on. Might have been because of that that resulted in me spending a not very exciting time out after the exam ended in te evening... Yesterday I was all prepared to paint the town red and hit all my favorite shops but instead today, I wasn't in the mood for anything fun at all :( Ended up walking aimlessly round Millenia Walk before giving up and deciding to just head home for a late dinner. It was quite nice in the end though -- ended up watching episodes of How I Met Your Mother at the dining table with my mum (very very backdated :D we were only on Season 2 episodes!) who also came back late. It was really funny introducing the storyline to her and having to explain what was going on every 5 min or so because there were no subtitles and she kept missing crucial jokes.

Bad exam aside, whenever I think about the holiday ahead, I just feel like.... THIS:

Isn't this photo of ernie(s) adorable!! XD I LOVE Ernie. Almost as much as Cookie Monster. Found it on Tumblr, I think!! (Forgot to note down the exact source)

In 7 days time I'll be leaving on a trip to the U.S!! :D I've been looking forward to this for agggeeeesss now. First I'll be headed to Seattle to visit my Uncle's family (I sure hope the two lil' cousins haven't surpassed me in height) for about a week. Soooo excited about seeing them again. They're my favorite relatives ever and I spent a couple of Christmasses with them when I was younger and they always celebrated it just the way I like it. :D After that, I'll be meeting my mum in.... NEW YORK! Haha she says she wants to be there too so that she'll be able to rein me in and prevent me from shopping too much but I know the real reason is that she just wants to have her own fun too. My mum works way too hard so I'm really glad she's taking this time off to have a holiday for herself too.

I'm going to be spending the next few days planning out a REALLY DETAILED ITINERARY for NY. There are just so many places to go to!! Where do I start?! Just check out this shopping map I found online:

And this is only for SOHO!!! We haven't even gone on to other locations yet!! And it's only shopping! I really want to visit places like MoMA and Central Park and Times Sqaure...hopefully we'll be able to catch a musical while we're there! :D Ahhh I just wanna go to as many places as possible there... 7 days in NY is just not enough.

Any recommendations for NY or Seattle? :)

I'm so looking forward to totally vegging out tomorrow... finally I'll be able to catch up on all the internet reading/surfing that I've been meaning to do. Have a whole list of links that I wanna follow up on.

Check out Dallin Chase's Fall 2010 Collection. So many gorgeous gorgeous pieces in this collection that I absolutely adore.

source: Dallin Chase, Fall 2010 Collection (referred from Refinery29.com)

1. Don't you love the flowy lines in this outfit? I have such a huge thing for flowy vests/jackets now; they just add such gentle, feminine lines to any ensemble.

2. Biker Jackets? HELL YEAH. I've always wanted to get a really nice fitted jacket to go with dresses and jeans but leather is a little too suffocating in Singapore :( unless I can find something of a more lightweight material...

3. Nothing like simple solid elegant pieces like this black top.

4. I just love the silhouette of this outfit. And aren't the shimmery waterbrush/acid wash style pants simply gorgeous? I think I'd need to poop money out before I could afford something like that.

5. Those olive pants look sooo comfortable and fall in such a way you could probably imagine the sheer soft quality of them. MMM.

6. Another jacket with a unique fit and flow. I love these huge outerwear pieces that are drapey and oversized yet still fitted and neat.

Oh and I've discovered the wonders of ModCloth.

This satchel is purrrfect. Unfortunately it's out of stock! :( Will be keeping my eyes peeled for something like this though.

Starting to realise that watches can be quite good an accessory. This is really cute isn't it?

Btw, any brands I should check out when I'm in the U.S? :D Haha of course I'm just going to go into every single H&M/Urban Outfitters/American Apparel/GAP/Forever 21 outlet I come across... Ooo and Target too! XD Any other labels that sell reasonably priced clothes too that I could check out? Would love to hear from you guys who live in the States! What are the merits of going to department stores like Macys or Nordstroms or J.C Penney compared to regular shops in a mall? ;p Just wondering if I should spend time checking out the huge department stores or if I should head straight for the smaller shops like U.O for better deals?

XXXOOO~ OFF TO BED for a gooood night's sleep :D

date night :)

2010-05-04T01:22:00.009+08:00

On friday night, maro and I decided to go watch the movie, Date Night, and of course, have our own while we were at it. We went to the newly opened mall at Millenia Walk, Parco Marina Bay, which was still pretty quiet though the entire mall concept was great! It reminded me very much of a typical Japanese departmental store (ahhh Shibuya malls ~) -- laid out neatly in open sections so you can see many stores and their wares all at a quick glance. I loved how refreshing that was but I suppose it's a bit of a walk from the nearby Marina Square haunt so maybe most people have just been too lazy to explore the place. I know if I hadn't been dragged there specifically for the ramen I probably would've waited for a perfect non-humid non-fatigued day (which may never arrive =_=) before going. Sooo...thank goodness I acted against feminist instincts and agreed to being dragged along?

Nantsutei なんつ亭

Parco Marina Bay

9 Raffles Boulevard

#P3-06 Parco Marina Bay, Millenia Walk

We went there specifically for this! It was sooooo tasty. :) Definitely didn't disappoint. Apparently it's got some special broth made from boiling the pork with garlic oil (can't recall the exact details) for days and days... whatever the case, it was good. I LOVE garlic anything so I ended up slurping up most of the broth. The noodles were well cooked -- had just the right amount of spring to them and weren't too soggy... comparable to Marutama Ramen at Central Mall :D which is one of the best I've eaten. Am no ramen expert though. Whatever tastes good to me ends up being labelled good.

Date Night was a great movie. Tina Fey and Steve Carell fit the bill of exasperated suburban parents perfectly. There were some really hilarious moments in the movie and it had a sweet ending (which I'm a total sucker for) so that wrapped it up nicely. Oh and JAMES FRANCO was in it too! Though he acted like a total (still charming) bum.

Saw this display set at a bookstore on one of the top floors. I totally want something like this for my house in the future so that I can put all my framed family photographs on display like this. I also bought the most gorgeous black bag from a store there (photos next time!) and there were lots of Japanese labels that I didn't have the chance to check out after the movie... looking forward to exploring the mall again soooon.

Ok I know this probably elicits a couple of mixed reactions ;p Shocked?? Alarmed?? Impressed?? Wondering what the hell it is?? Haha it's basically a glorified shaved ice topped with soft vanilla ice cream, covered with black sesame paste and sprinkled with condensed milk dessert from Azabu Sabo at Marina Square. NOT really my kind of dessert ><>

Maro's new Olympus EPL-1! :)) So happy for him that he finally managed to get a camera to use just in time for his trip to Europe. It's AWESOME finally seeing him pause after the food arrives to take out his camera and start shooting a couple of shots before digging in (because I do the exact same thing). Maybe now he'll finally stop giving me exasperated looks whenever I ask him to take photos for me?

3.5 weeks in Europe for him and then I'll be off for my own trip to the U.S. Won't be seeing him for another month and a half. :(( I really quite miss him already...but then again, this is the chance for me to do all the things I don't usually get the chance to do when he's around. ;D

5 more days 5 more days 5 more days till the last of my final exams and then it's the summer holidays for me. I just need to study for the next 5 days but it's so hard focusing especially in the afternoons >_< Have been suffering from a chronic lack of motivation for the past 2 years so this ain't new. But well, what's 5 more days? After that it's gonna be read read read/yoga/bake/photography/sleeeeeep/read/jog/take it easy for the rest of my holiday.

wish me luck!

oh, what a world this life would be ~~

2010-04-12T00:05:00.005+08:00

Just some photos of the past couple of weeks (months, more like). :) Warning: this is REALLY a whole load of photos. I counted and there are exactly 20. HAHA what a perfect number eh?

Udders Cafe at Lorong Kilat.

I really like this outlet for a couple of reasons.

1. It serves some pretty darn incredible flavors like LYCHEE MARTINI and UMESHU (with liquer!) (but is soooo sweet and reminds me of my homestay in Japan when the hosts made bottles of umeshu for me to try...yumyumyum) and CHENDOL if I'm not wrong. I always end up sticking with the usual flavours though...some berry flavored one...

2. It's nice and quiet around the area at night so it's perfect for supper and a slow walk to digest all the ice cream after that.

3. It's in between my house and maro's :) one of the few places almost equidistant from our houses.

Oh, and did I mention that their ice cream bowls are in the shape of UDDERS? :) tres cute!!

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This year we actually had a neighbourhood Lo Hei session during Chinese New Year! Quite a fun experience I must say, though I was a little nervous about meeting a whole bunch of neighbours for the first time. We've been living at our current house for about a year and a half now (?) but ermmm I'm a terrible neighbour to have. I hardly know anyone around though my mum and sis somehow manage to keep in tune with the neighbourhood gossip. I just keep to myself and stick my ipod earphones deeper into my ears whenever I pass by anyone while jogging. ;p But the people who showed up were niceee... Lots of YOUNG KIDDIES though! My sis and I are easily the oldest in entire neighbourhood. All of them were about 10 and running around screaming and shouting and speaking in 10/12/14 year old speech that is so funny to listen to.

A million egg tarts are pretty much my idea of heaven (or at least one version).

Cute baby?? ;)

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Had lunch at Riders Cafe with my old friends a couple of weeks back. Actually skipped an afternoon lecture for that HURHUR but it's only because I had possession of my dad's car for that day and we HAD to make the most of it and Riders is sooo hard to get to by public transport! There's a looooong winding and tortous walk by foot from the main road all the way in (to protect the horses from us humans and our evil ways and huge ass cars of course) so it's nearly impossible to go to if not by car/taxi.

The food was REALLY GOOD. :) My absolute favorite was the crabmeat pasta with white wine sauce! It was one of the best pastas I'd ever had in my entire life. SERIOUSLY. There was so much crabmeat it was so great (I hate it when restaurants stinge on the ingredients for pasta!! Like spaghetti bolognaise with meatballs and in the end it comes out as spaghetti with tomato sauce and maybe... 1 meatball). You HAVE to try it if you ever make it there! :) The others...well not really that much to my liking. I can't quite remember what that melted cheese covered one is but I'm not a fan of cheese at all so...

We were lucky enough to get up close and personal with a horsie outside the cafe after lunch!! :DD haha i was sooooo excited. I love horses. I could just stroke that bit of their faces above their noses for ages and agesss (until they bite my hand off, that is). This one was such a beauty and so patient too! :) It had just come out of a shower, according to its keeper so it was all gleaming wet and musky.

The horse just kept BITING at my bag clasp!! What could I do but let him chew?! His one tooth was as big as my face....

Come back home with me horsieeee....~

My friend was hilarious. She pointed to it and was like, "THAT'S A FEMALE RIGHT??" when it was very very VERY obviously... a male.

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Last but not least, my first DIY in a loooong time. :) Saw something similar in a store the other night for like $20 ++ and decided why not make one myself eh? Definitely much cheaper. I really want to find a good beads store though that sells chains for a reasonable price. The one place I went to yesterday was such a rip off! $5.50 per yard of chain??? That'd be close to $20 for just a metre of chain! Whyy is it so hard to find good bead/chain stores here...

That's probably how I'll wear it this weekend :)

Sigh. Tomorrow I start my first hospital posting. I'm really NERVOUS. I know I should probably have slept 3 hours ago to get myself energized for the week ahead. I didn't really have a good rest this weekend what with family commitments (today I spent the entire afternoon at a granduncle and aunty's house making CURRY PUFFS haha. -__- me and the ELDERS.) and spending time with my friends out so I probably should've hit the sack a lot earlier. But I just wanted to do something for myself.

I shouldn’t be so pessimistic about things right? It may not be so bad a week. I’m just scared of a challenge because my brain’s too fried to handle anything major.

But, as Dan from Dan in Real Life says, “Prepared to be surprised”. It's the single best piece of advice I’ve heard in a long long time.

"Instead of telling our young people to plan ahead... we should tell them to plan to be surprised."

Let's see how this week goes then.

Sondre Lerche FTW!!

ha-ha-ha-haaallelujah!

2010-04-09T21:46:00.008+08:00

Ohhmygosh I'm so tired. As I'm typing this now my head's just feeling all heavy and foggy and I really wanna crash into my pillows and not get up but what a waste of a free night for once eh?? Finished my final exams today!!!! Sooo relieved that it's over but it's only going to be another month until I have a practical exam and then it's the real vacation. Am gonna treasure this weekend like anything because it's going to be the only real break I have between now and starting to prepare for the practical exam. Bleaghh.

Just a little of what I did today:

(chambray top: Massimo Dutti, pants: Amisu, bag: mum's (bought in some random discounted goods market in Shanghai if i remember correctly hehehe XD)

(That was probably me going, "MUMMMEEEEE the lights have turned greeeeeeen!!")

(point form since my brain's pretty fried up!)

had lunch with my mum for the first time in agessss. :D and we had really yummy minced meat/dumpling mini hot pot with meepok and meekia noodles at a random food court. sooooo tasty especially with the tomato ketchup. :) I'm definitely taking a photo the next time. I just realised how odd it is that one of the variations of minced meat/fishball noodles is mixing the noodles in tomato ketchup. I mean, where did they get that idea from???

grocery shopping for drinks and snacks for my sister's junior college class gathering at night. i'm always my mum's camel. ALWAYS. =______=

got stuck in terrible terrible traffic. but then again time passes a lot easier when you have a camera! :)

picked up the most GARGANTUAN PIZZA from Pepperoni Pizzeria at Greenwood! I used to go there so often with my family for lunch for the most amazing pizza/pasta/salad deal but we haven't gone there in a long time... We ordered the giant 'family sized' pizza once before for a birthday party of mine and my jaw almost never got back to its original position upon seeing it but even now I'm still amazed at the SIZE of that monster. See the glasses in the background? those are your usual glass sizes and measure that against the diameter of that monster pizza. YEAHHH. ;9

Pinky being exactly where I wanna be right now. X)

Imma gonna have the best night of sleep i've had in a long time I think. Must've slept a grand total of 10 hours over the past 2 nights. Tomorrow I'm going to go for a little carnival at my old secondary school :D not too sure what to expect but i sure hope there're balloons, frosted icing cupcakes with sprinkles on the top... and pink cotton candy.

Now... maybe for a movie with my mum? Up In The Air or New York, I Love You? >

while it's raining outside

2010-03-24T01:52:00.010+08:00

Feels like it's been too long. :p Finished an exam two weeks back and meant to get back to blogging after that but things have just been so busy lately. In another two weeks, it'll be my finals. *SCREAAMMMMM* I'm not too sure what I'm still doing online at the moment but it's sort of a break I decided to give myself for tonight. And for that, I'm determined to do some serioussss work tomorrow but in the meantime, here's what I've been up to:

(cardigan and skirt: urban outfitters, tank: bcbg max azria, scarf: ASOS.com, shoes: ecco (borrowed from sis), bag: mum's)

(how cool is it that this blazer has an inner lining with a print like that?? :D haha i love how unexpected that is!!)

(new vest from Topshop!! :DD i looove it so much. Just got it over the weekend and managed to make use of my sister's debit card to get 15% off! the only time ocbc ever has any promotions with worthy stores. The latest collection in Topshop is gorgeoussss... so much lovely peach/army green/subtle florals. i do wanna go back soon!)

Ramen with my mum. we both thought the stuff printed on the bottle was just HILARIOUS. "Spices C. I decided to live on my own away from my parents...The most difficult part was choosing the right place for me...It should face south and have a nice view". Say whaaaattt??? All this from a spice?

It occurred to me that though I spend most of my shopping time at Orchard Road, I've never actually taken any photos of the place...ever! :) It's nicest at night in my opinion. Many times recently that I've walked along the streets of Orchard at night, thinking that everything really does look very pretty amidst the lights.

Seriously nice plaid shirt I tried on at RockStar by Soon Lee at Cineleisure. unfortunately I do have monstrously broad shoulders in comparison to non-existent hips so.... with much sadness I had to place it back on the rack.

(Ice-cream uncle! I haven't eaten the ice cream sandwich in so long... love how the bread used is the colorful marbled sort)

I just discovered igoogle from a friend. Check out my sushi theme! XD

So, apart from going out occasionally and school, I've just been stuck at home trying to get on with revision (though most of the time I end up back on the computer). I've sort of come down with a severe obsession with shoes at the moment (as Annabel would definitely be able to attest XD). Jeffrey Campbell shoes are pure genius. More next time? Along with many many more photos that I've been accumulating in my camera! I don't really know where to start! :P I also borrowed Ms Congeniality from the video rental store just becaue I felt like watching something funny and Sandra Bullock is such a great actress/celebrity...worth respecting! Nothing better than seeing her kick that Benjamin Bratt's ass in the beauty pageant (oops, "scholarship program").

Oh gods I just checked the mirror and my right eye has a bloodshot line right across. GAHHH. Sleep, do your thing!

TWEETS and TUMBLES.

2010-03-04T19:03:00.003+08:00

Hey y'all~~ X) Ahhh it's been awhile. I've been so swamped with schoolwork and preparations for yet another exam (story of my student life...ROAR!) hence the slow down in posting... I've been wanting to post for quite a few times these past couple of nights but i've always ended up trying to do other stuff or falling asleep LATE at night.

In the meantime, on pretty much a fantastic whim, I decided to set up a tumblr account. =DD Don't ask me why I decided to try it out when I don't even have time to regularly update this blog, but I dunno, I was attracted to the fact that it's so easy to use and I like the idea of shorter but more frequent updates. I love this blog too much to want to make it into a place where I mindless post stuff. Haha isn't it rather paradoxical, how when we put in effort into something we end up neglecting it because we only want to focus on it when there's more time to make it totally awesome but usually... there just isn't?? So we end up deflecting to these other easier and less mentally strenuous means of expressing ourselves.

Just a thought. ;p Any of you share the same view?

So here it is! (http://lynnchacha.tumblr.com)(super easy to remember)

The good thing about this is i've been UPDATING much MORE FREQUENTLY! :p like everyday since i set it up two days ago haha. Let's hope it continues this way!

I managed to add a 'comments' box so at least it won't just be a one way me-myself-and i thingamajig. :P I definitely prefer it when there's some form of interaction.

Any of you have tumblrs? I'd love to check them out!!

Oh and I TWEET now too. :) Let me know if you do! It's such a funky way to communicate with people and to find out more about what everyone else is doing... Yeah yeah I'm a bloody voyeur.

Ok it's frickin early in the morning as usual and time for me to sleeeep. Gosh that's how I always end my posts eh? :( I can't wait to post a proper one real soon!! Haven't had much time to read other blogs/reply to comments too...Took lots of photos over the Chinese New Year and for other random stuff which I can't wait to share haha... ok all in time.

PEACE OUT~

this-a game-a sucks!!

2010-02-21T23:09:00.006+08:00

This is just about the coolest/cutest shirt I've seen from Threadless.com!!! I first saw it on a friend and the minute I saw BLANCA from Street Fighter I was like OMGWTFBBQ-ME-WANTS-IT!!!

(source: threadless.com )

HEHEHE I just love every single one of those characters!! Mario boy... conveniently STEPPING on PAC MAN... DONKEY KONG!!! .... SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!!... ahhh all those childhood gaming memories are coming back to me now. Though I have no idea who the others are... Who's the frog??? O_o

(I just think the expressions on their faces are classic. Did you notice the Rock Band set in the corner? Rock Band!!!! I totally wanna play now... just have the urge to blast my eardrums with music and beats and rhythm)

Unfortunately it's almost all sold out except for 2XL and ermm I'm pretty sure little Asian midget me would drown in that. Hope they reprint the shirts too! :D You know what you can do for karma of the day? Go and key in your email requesting for a reprint of the shirt!! If there are enough people clamouring for a reprint, it just might happen!! Soooo... help me out here?

Mmm, today was just tiring. I was so tired I ended up having a nap at around dinner time and woke up after that feeling grouchy and eating a late dinner. Weekends need to come NOW. Mondays make me wanna talk-a like-a Blanca anyway.

I've decided to take the easy way out by skipping tomorrow morning's 8.30 a.m lecture. ;p I shall go in for the 11 a.m. one a lot more well rested and sane. Currently taking my time, savoring the moments as I count my hong bao (red packet) money received for the new year. It's enough for me to get a new lens that I want :D Though now I'm pretty determined to deposit the remainder of it in my account and not use it for another purchase for a long long time... (oh but Denise is coming this weekend and she managed to get me some stuff from H&M! So excited. :D)(hmm right, this is why my resolutions always fai---- falter.)

Ugh it's a ridiculous 2.18 a.m. now. Hope to post again soon.

新年快乐

2010-02-14T00:14:00.008+08:00

Everyone, meet Pinky. Pinky, say hi.

"Hi"

Isn't he the most adorable thing ever? X)))) HAHA I received him as a birthday present from some of my classmates and at first I was like woahhh pink!!! -insert grimace- righttt...thanks very muchhhh.... But then as time went on and Pinky accompanied me at the dining table for my late night study sessions, he totally grew on me. The pink is actually pretty darn adorable and don't you just love that smile?? That sets off the innocent, carefree twinkle in his eyes? Hehe i just love him. And look at him go at those pineapple tarts. I've been taking quite a few photos of him but you'll see him in small doses each time, I promise.

Ahhh finally finally finally, Chinese New Year has arrived!! I've been waiting so desperately for this weekend to come, mainly because it's the first weekend after my mid term exam and I can finally SLEEP IN. I've just spent the last week (or two) studying and studying and studying (well not really that much but it's been a huge pain) and I'm so tired out from school. Thank goodness we have a long weekend break. :) I get Monday and Tuesday off to visit relatives and eat eat eat all my favorite new year goodies which also happen to be the most unhealthy...

My favorite new year goody ever -- pineapple tarts!! There are many variations to this but this one's my favorite. With a tart base and a very generous dollop of pineapple jam on the top. Some people make it with the tart enclosing the jam on the inside but I definitely prefer the ones with the jam exposed... more jam = yummier!! :) Haha I love how there's so much jam on this one it's like a tiny mountain that's as big as my nose...

(Pinky overdosed and K.O-ed.... tsk tsk.)

It was great coming back home today to a living room that was air conditioned and a dining table full of boxes of new year goodies. It was so hot outside I was keeling over from all the sweat and muckiness... Nothing like a glass of iced water and a pineapple tart.

(New Year's Eve reunion dinner at my grandparents' house. Yu Sheng (鱼生) taking its proud place in the middle.)

Had reunion dinner at my grandma and grandpa's house tonight and it was such a great feast. The Yu Sheng (which is basically a huge dish full of all sorts of veggies and usually raw salmon/abalone covered with sweet plum sauce and crackers/peanuts and other condiments) was exceptionally tasty this year. I loooove Yu Sheng mainly because of the sweet sauce and gods I'm such a sucker for sweet things. I could eat an entire plate of it for a meal and not need anything else for dinner.

(Kong Ba Bao buns! Hehe basically buns for a dish that consists of really yummy stewed pork (usually with quite a fair bit of fat) that's put inside these steamed buns and eaten hamburger style. (psst: I've added a link to a recipe for it if you want to find out more about the dish/how to make it)

The cutest little tangerines/ Mandarin oranges ever! Look how tiny each slice was...They were really tasty and juicy and CHILLED and so easy to eat as they were seedless. (In my opinion, nothing worse than popping a grape/slice of Mandarin orange into your mouth only to chew on a seed. UGH.)

Ok so I really haven't kept up with fashion news at all except I did hear about the death of Alexander McQueen and that was quite a big shock. Funny though, how he's just another one who took off at the peak of his success. Wonder who will fill his shoes now?

I ended up spending quite a bit of time browsing through online shops in the period leading up to my mid term exam (as always) and needsupply.co totally blew me away. I'm really in love with their minimalist layout and all the incredibly luxurious albeit expensive items they stock.

Yummy yummy yummy yummy... I love the colors in that floral top and the zip wedges? AHHH. If only I could feel it on my feet now and see if they fit... it's pretty crazy ordering shoes online unless they aren't too expensive since you can never be sure of the fit right? Though sometimes it's so tempting...

Just a sneak peek at the dress I'll be wearing for the first day of the new year tomorrow! :) It's really my mum's dress but I've never worn it out before so it can be considered new eh? I didn't actually buy any new clothes for the new year but at the rate I go, it's like new year every month or so.

Ok I'm so zonked out. Plans for the next few days?

SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP.

EAT EAT EAT.

Write letters/replies to friends/pen pals/relatives overseas.

Try to read a new book or two!

I haven't read a new book in ages which makes me feel like my mind is in a gradual state of degeneration... It sucks that most of the time after studying/reading my textbooks my eyes are too tired for more books and all I can take it usually the computer screen and tons of photos... Any good books to recommend?

To those who celebrate, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! And to those who don't, waddever!! Just have a great weekend and upcoming week! XD

P.S. Follow my blog with bloglovin

i need you so much closer

2010-01-28T01:21:00.005+08:00

Gosh it feels like ages since I last blogged. I seem to always be starting on that note whenever I start a new post eh? But it sucks to want to do something yet reason/time constraints tell you that something else should be done instead of what you really want to do. It's like a biological urge to eat being suppressed by a supposedly rational mind in order to ... keep healthy/not put on weight? At the end of the day you just wanna GIVE IN. Which is pretty much what I'm doing now. :P 1.19 a.m. with a class at 8.30 a.m and what am I doing? But it just feels good. Like I'm doing something for myself at the end of the day. A nice way to be able to end the night.

Little Snippets of The Little Part 1 Cafe :)

(Hands down, THE most DELICIOUS APPLE CRUMBLE in SINGAPORE, I DARESAY!)

On Wednesday, my mum, my sis and I decided to head down to one of my favorite places -- The Little Part 1 Cafe for dinner. It's one of those really homely, cosy places with warm lighting and a nice cushion to sink into and all sorts of interesting trinkets stuck on walls (tons of postcards and photos and posters), a cupboard chock-a-block full of boardgames... basically it's just a wonderful place to relax in and you never get bored looking around the place while waiting for your food to come. XD And they serve the most scrummilicious apple crumble with vanilla bean ice cream. Honestly, I want to kneel on the floor and cry every time I take my first bite. And it's a lovely, small establishment that doesn't charge GST so you're free to tip however much you want.

And guess what, I'll actually be celebrating my 21st birthday there! X) Sigh, did I mention, I'm going to be turning 21 in less than a week? My actual birthday is next Wednesday but I'm gonna be having a little celebration early this weekend with some of my friends because next week is going to be taken up by studying for an exam that's the week after... yada yada. :) I'm just really excited about the weekend and seeing all my friends again. We were all in the choir together. HEH.

(bracelets from gmarket.co.kr! finally started wearing them quite a fair bit recently)

(dress worn as top: H&M, shorts: flea market, necklace: little boutique in HK)

HEHEH so I felt kinda shameless one night and decided to make myself a little 21st birthday wish list. I actually kinda had trouble thinking of things I wanted! Which is a good sign, no? :) I did manage to find some lovely covetables from Topshop (since it's one of the few stores that has online shopping available and the items on the website correspond quite well with those found currently in shops here)

1. Secret Garden Tiered Shell dress

2. Butterfly Floral Blouse

3. Striped Gold Button Blouse

4. Rosebud Strap Skater Dress

5. Gold Button Stripe Vest

Which one's your favorite? :D As you can see, I'm currently (still) into florals... and stripes. (all available for purchase/viewing at the topshop website!)

(Oh and on my shameless streak, Topshop has the option/button that allows you to 'SHARE' the items you like. I conveniently forwarded all the links to my older sis. HEHEHEHE... we'll see if my dearest dobby got the hint)

I was also thinking of whether I should get my self a Holga... it might be interesting to experiment in this other area of photography... or lomography as they might call it? :)

(how cool is that. seriously.)

(this one just looks so professional)

(Curious George on the front?! hahaha)

Hmm but really, I've come to the conclusion that my parents have given me pretty much all that i could wish for currently. Can't thank them enough for it... I guess I'll have the chance to do so in a few weeks time during Chinese New Year. ;p They always force us to do a little speech thangy for them before they release our Ang Baos (red packet filled with MONEY) to us.

Btw, just out of curiosity, WHAT DID YOU DO FOR YOUR 21st BIRTHDAY? :)) (if you fit the bill)

Oh yeah, on a totally random note, I must say, DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE ROCKS MY SOCKS!! I've just been listening to songs from the uber old but awesome album, Title and Registration, and am falling in love with so many songs all over again. :DDDD

MMMMMM. YESSS.

1 more day till the end of the week. Hang in there~~~~!!

my mind is fuzzy

2010-01-19T23:38:00.002+08:00

Wow. It's 2010.

HAPPY 2010 EVERYONE!!

(I left my babies behind in HK!! :((( Hehehe my favorite's Ernie but it seems no one in HK likes Ernie because they never produce Ernie plush toys?!! It was always these 4. WHYY??!)

Sorry about the prolonged absence but it's been an incredible blur over the past 2 and a half weeks it's really starting to tired me out. Then again, most of the time when I find myself ready to keel over and conk out in lectures in school, I really only have myself to blame. Yesterday I spent the entire afternoon walking round Orchard Road, visiting some of my favorite stores with the boy because we (or I) just had this URGGEEE to check out all the stores (the sales!!) (that sadly appeared to have ended the day before on Sunday -___-) before it was too late...I'm really glad I managed to walk through most of the stores because then at least I won't be distracted this week by the thought of possible awesome items on sales racks disappearing under the hands of ladies with more time than I do...

So basically I was so tired I really wanted to dig a hole for myself and fall asleep in the lecture theatre.

I haven't had the chance to go through a lot of my holiday photos (Korea was SOOOOO COLD. Really. Pain-in-my-fingers-and-toes type of cold. O_O I'd never felt so cold anywhere else in my entire life!!) because the day after I came back I had to go back to school and I've been trying to catch up with work and other activities since then. A few words though --> KIMCHI. The Face Shop. SNOW SNOW SNOW. And naked body scrub. ;) Yesss, pictures will follow soon!!

Ok here's a sneak preview:

(korean dish BIBIMBAP)
(before it was covered in some special chilli sauce)

(MMMMMMMMM.... He probably has the best abs ever. If you haven't already heard of him, google Rain)

(there were such beautiful sunsets :))

(Nami Island, Korea, Dec 2009)
(the frickinnnnn coldest place on EARTH)

I feel like I'm ready to move to a new phase in terms of my dressing. I'm starting to gravitate towards the loose shirt + trousers look (ala MKA) but pretty trousers are sooo expensive. At least the ones in Zara are. Big question to anyone who can help: How does one with broad shoulders and no hips dress? I've been working on this problem for the past 1.5 years and I still have lots of trouble.

(Makes me wanna wear all black and put on a shade scarlet red lipstick.)

(source: http://fuckyeahmarykateashley.tumblr.com)

(Sigh. Makes me feel like dressing up and going out.)

(source: leloveimage.blogspot.com)

So far I've come up with a couple of New Year Resolutions:

1. Take care of my body. Exercise more, eat healthily, rest more.

2. Spend more wisely. Quality not quantity.

3. Be PUNCTUAL (this has been a real failure so far ;p)

4. Love more.

Ok brain's fuzzy now. Sleep beckons.

let's. live. fast

2009-12-31T02:13:00.003+08:00

Less than 24 hours since I've touched down back on home soil and I'm already feeling the ache of leaving someplace awesome.

(Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, December, 2009)

This was just about the best holiday I've ever had so far. A week's too short. I could have gone on for a much longer time... but reality always has to be such a biaaatch. The entire trip was really all about eating eating eating, walking walking walking even more and... the occasional shopping :) HONEST! Haha this time there really wasn't much to get because it was all winter sales and while I swooned over many woollen cardigans, gorgeous scarves and boots, I had to remind myself every 2 seconds that I do stay for majority of the year in a place that does not entertain those who love wool/layers. The food was sooo good though. Ate a ton of snacks. :D I can feel another layer of tummy fat forming. :X

(I love the lights)

(scary Santa!! but I couldn't resist taking a photo with him since there was actually a sign (i'm covering it) saying TAKE PHOTO HERE!! (in Chinese lulz) This is the other side of Santa. The one who eats kids and only climbs into houses through chimneys in order to kidnap 'em for a bite at night)

I LOOOVE maggi noodles. Before the trip, I hadn't eaten maggi mee in forever... I know it's not the healthiest thing to eat so I never ever buy any from the supermarket. But I love how holidays are a time for indulgence. The boy was soooo scandalised when I told him I wanted this for breakfast. Apparently it's very un-Hong Kongish to even order these noodles but wth I just wanna fulfill my cravings!

So I have less than 20 hours before I need to get my bags packed for a trip to Korea. :) Some of my oldest friends and I will be going on a week long 'ski escapade' to Korea. Apparently the warmest temperature in Seoul now is -7. FARRCKK. I like cold weather but this is really pushing it!! O_O I've no idea how to pack for sub zero weather. Need my sis to come back from ermm Sri Lanka asap so she can lend me all the warm clothes that she used in college to weather off snow storms.

It wasn't supposed to be so rushed. The trip was supposed to be in May of this year but one of my friends came down with swine flu so it got pushed to Dec. But I don't mind the rushing from place to place. I think of it as a blessing. I need to squeeze in as much travel as I can before the next few years descend and school holidays become nothing more than week long STUDY BREAKs.

(source: http://fuckyeahmarykateashley.tumblr.com/page/6)

Such a nice long cardigan. It would be pretty darn perfect right about now. If only I had it in my closet and if only I had the legs eh? :) I think I'm going to start checking out more photos of MKA. I know they've been style icons for ages but i've never religiously followed sites dedicated to them... it'd be nice to get ideas on 'how to dress if you're a midget'.

School starts on January 4 for me. I'll be missing probably 4 days and depending on what time I get back to SG next Thursday, I'll probably end up missing the afternoon practical sessions which seem pretty important. ARGH. It was so easy to just say who cares, i'll play first and then worry!! but that was under exam stress and now that I'm faced with the upcoming term's schedule, I'm really starting to get worried.

I wish I were fervent about becoming a doctor. I wish I knew for a fact that this was my calling and that I had the strength to dedicate all my time towards furthering my knowledge in this area. I have seniors who are so into the whole med school thing and wish for us too to be 'fervent and enthusiastic'. Those words just make me very very uneasy because I should be that way but I'm not.

Times like this when I wish my retardo Maro pie were here to talk some sense into me. I always need wake up calls from him but he's off, probably uncontactable at the moment in wintry Xi An in China. At least we'll both be in sub-zero climates for the next week.

I should probably start thinking up some resolutions for the New Year. I'm always big on change but 20 years has passed and have I really become anything better than what I've always known I'd be?

always love

2009-12-22T03:33:00.005+08:00

I guess the next best thing after not having a UO outlet where I live/not living in a place that UO offers shipping to would be having friends who do (and who are willing to bring them items back with them as they return home for the holidays) :))).

(cardigan and dress: Urban Outfitters)

I'm really loving the print of this dress and am just bowled over by how incredible the designers at Kimchi & Blue are for having designed a dress with button-adjustable straps! This baby was 9.99 pounds from the UK site. :)) LOVE LOVE LOVE. I'm actually rather worried about losing my suitcase on the way to Hong Kong. After all, those things do happen eh? I'd just be pretty darn crushed. But then I suppose I'd get over it slowly and painfully by thinking that there has to be a reason for the way things turn out. Am putting all sorts of lovely items in there to wear in HK over the Christmas holiday there. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I'll be in HK for the next week! Soooo excited. 9 more hours to go! :) I hope it won't be too cold there though it would be such a relief to get away from the heat in Singapore.

And I can FINALLY wear these boots that I got ages ago in anticipation of eventually going to someplace cold enough to wear them. Well I was supposed to wear them out in Sg but I never managed to muster up enough guts to do so...

(Notice something new? THE BED. I finally have a bed to sleep on at night. It's quite a nice feeling being able to sit on something with my legs dangling and not simply collapsing onto a mattress at night)

I totally miss Christmas in Seattle. It's the only time when Christmas really does feel like Christmas. My Aunt is just the nicest, most bubbly and Christmas-loving aunt ever and there's always a whole lot of xmassy things to be done such as baking xmas cookies (i feel really hungry now and it's 3 a.m. aghh.), decorating the porch and the tree in the living room, playing the same xmas cd which begins with my fav song "The Christmas Song" by the inimitable Nat King Cole over and over again...

It's kinda hard being the only one in my immediate family remotely interested in and excited about Christmas. My dad (the Buddhist), scoffs and goes, "Christmas? Who's celebrating it?". My older sis, the biggest scrooge on the planet, gives me a look just short of "Bah Humbug". To my mum, it makes no difference whether we celebrate it or not but she does enjoy some festive cheer. Heh well to cut a long story short, it always never seems xmassy enough over here... I'd love to go back there again. :)

It's always the littlest things that jog up my memories of Seattle... such as the smell of cinammon in stores. It seemed as if all the little stores/even supermarkets or places like Walmart always seemed to smell of cinammon.

(the two cutest cousins ever. :) I can't actually remember how old they are now. Probably 6 and 9? These photos were taken just about a year ago when I spent Christmas with them in Seattle. They are such tykes.)

(Seattle, December 2008)

Probably the best memory I have of my time over there. Late nights spent bathed in a shower of coloured lights, huddled underneath a quilt, lapping up each second, each breath of cold air, settling into dreams.

P.S. In case I don't get to eventually, MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS. :)

my Christmas tree

2009-12-20T02:14:00.003+08:00

So many Urban Outfitters videos to get through... I'll probably save them all for when I'm bored to death with studying for the next exam. :)

I loved everything about this one, except for the fact that it was so short! But the quirky, upbeat music and frantic movements just get me in a chipper (chippy? chipmunky??) mood each time.

Obviously this was UO inspired. :)

I shall be sleeping beneath my very own Christmas tree tonight. Let's cross our fingers in the hopes that it doesn't come crashing down in the middle of the night. That green industrial duct tape should hold.

2 more days till my bed arrives! I've been sleeping on a futon (Japanese style mattress) for the past year since we moved house and while it's been comfortable enough, I can't help but feel my back's been moulded to the gradually sinking mattress in a rather unhealthy, hunched manner. Once the bed comes, at least i'll have something to step on to adjust the lights. It's looking rather lopsided now.

(Oh and contrary to popular belief, the Christmas tree in the previous post isn't a fixture of my living room sadly. It was one of the trees on display in Ikea! :p)

god only knows what i'd be without you

2009-12-13T23:23:00.004+08:00

Whoooo long absence here...! As always the case, I had to take time away in order to study for my exams which THANKFULLY, THANKFULLY, BLESS THE LORD I SURVIVED-ly is OVER. The exam was on friday and the time I spent since then till now has just been... the most fun ever. :) I know some people who get quoted in those 'words of wisdom' books often say stuff like you need to get through hardship before you can truly taste the sweetness of success or something to that extent. Normally I'd just scoff and say, give me life without the hardship please! I don't really need to know how incredible freedom/success is as long as I lead a blissfully ignorant and uneventful life. But times like these when I do sort of think there might be a shred of truth to that statement... ;) it just feels sooo good. To not have to dread waking up in the morning to a full day of studying.

(Yummy yummy Strawberry Cheesecake from a Japanese fusion food restaurant called Sun with Moon at Wheelock Place. I had a really nice chat with my former Japanese teacher who'll be going back to Japan soon and I actually managed to conduct a conversation with her in Japanese that lasted all the way through lunch. She's just good at understanding her students' broken Japanese.)

As always, Ikea is just lovely and even more so now at Christmas!!! Had meatballs, ice cream, fruit and shrimp salad (all Ikea staples) and tried searching the store for Christmas decorations but surprisingly they didn't have a 'tree trims' section...I did buy some cinammon-scented candles though which remind me so much of Seattle. :)

(Heh well I couldn't help but snigger)

I'm so excited for Christmas. :) I love love love love love Christmas. It's my absolute favorite time of the year. I love everything about it... the presents, beautiful wrapping paper, gorgeous shiny decorations, the feeling of people going out and about meeting up/shopping/just getting a whole lot livelier... I could go on and on about this. But i'll save it for another post.

(I'd LOVE to hear what everyone's got in store for Christmas though!)

Yayy to another night of restful sleep. It doesn't get better than this.

P.S. Oh noooo that terrible Miley Cyrus song, "Party in the U.S.A" is just stuck in my head because I heard it in the store. How could it have been top on the U.S. Billboard charts???? UGH.

my love runs deep

2009-11-25T22:27:00.004+08:00

Ever since I found out about the existence of the UK edition of the Urban Outfitters website, I've had an immense, IMMENSE craving to go to London...

(the incredible edifice that is the Urban Outfitters BUILDING at Covent Garden)

Looking at this beautiful building brings back memories. =)) I can't believe in the 3 days that I was in London over the summer I very nearly missed it!! It was sometime in the evening when my friends and I were walking to a show at the covent garden area when I happened to turn my head to the left and the sight of it completely stopped me dead in my tracks and elicited an almighty shriek. Thank goodness I spotted it because none of my travel mates had even heard about UO ;p that was the only tough bit about traveling with non-shoppers. I felt like a crazed, obsessive woman half the time.

I love the UK Urban Outfitters site so much more than the U.S one! ;p The items for sale just seem so much prettier... a lot more refined...dressy... just a personal preference I suppose. And the best thing is, there are all these GORGEOUS photos available for downloading.

(UrbanOutfitters.co.uk)

I've never seen a prettier dress than the very first floral one. I would get it in a heartbeat if it wasn't so expensive and if not for the fact that UO.co.uk doesn't allow billing addresses to come from anywhere outside the UK region! Why why whyyy do they insist on coming up with things like that that are merely curtailing the millions more they could make?! I'm praying that the price of this item will eventually be whittled down to a mere 9.99 pounds... in the meantime, I'll be watching diligently.

(View from my friend's room in her apartment in London.)

I miss the feeling of exploring a new place. I miss the feeling of London. The excitement, the feeling that there are sooo many incredible places to step into, sights to see, things to eat... This is what photos and the stress of impending exams does to you I suppose. I've got about a week and a half more before an exam. Yelp.

I can imagine being absolutely happy even by myself in London because all I'd do all day is walk walk walk... step in shop after shop after shop... rest at a cafe and people watch...go for a musical/play at night... and repeat the same sequence of events the next day. :) so the only thing missing from that equation is money hmm....

Strawberry yoghurt from Sainsburys :D I LOVE.

never settle

2009-11-15T00:57:00.004+08:00

This is my 3rd blog in a year. I find myself a bit of a walking contradiction. I love it when things are constant, when nothing changes. But then once I settle into something and realize it's just not what I want, I have to up and go for something new.

It reminds me a little of Steve Jobs' commencement speech. Don't settle. Keep searching till you find what you need. I wish life was all about living the way we want and not about always striving and searching until we get to that stage... but it never works that way does it?

I'm happy with the way things are now.

favorites

2009-11-14T01:45:00.007+08:00

(Heidelberg, June 2009)

I'm finally started to dig out all my Europe photos taken during the summer! I've a ton of stories to tell but I guess this one will be first since chronologically it happened first too.

First stop on my trip was Heidelberg, Germany, to visit my best friend whom I hadn't seen in agesss. I was supposed to get off at Heidelberg Hauptbanhoff (the main station) and since I'd gotten everything right before that (getting on the right plane by myself, getting the right train ticket, all that tough stuff ;p) I was feeling absolutely proud. I knew based on the schedule given that I'd be reaching the Hauptbanhoff soon so when I heard the announcement "fjkaljdsfklajklsdjfkljskHEIDELBERG-HAUPTBANHOFFfjklsjfkdljfa" I immediately stood up from my seat, struggled a bit with a backpack 1.5 times my height (am sure the Germans were sniggering), waited at the door and when it reached the platform, promptly got off.

It was so peaceful and quiet and there were hardly any people on the platform it took about a second (and that's the length of time it took for the train doors to whooosh close behind me) to realize that I was definitely at the WRONG STOP. I was at PFAFFENGRUND station, the station right before the Hauptbanhoff. Way to travel by myself eh? :)

I love how I the name is so unpronounceable. It just makes the story more exciting to tell.

No worries, I called my friend and managed to get onto the next train within a few minutes and the next time, I got off at the right stop.

(my favorite sandwich EVER! hands down! :) smoked salmon sandwich at The Soup Spoon. go treat yourself)

500 Days of Summer seems like such a long time ago... I remember feeling moody and pensive a week after that with songs from the movie playing in my head. I've a new favorite band now though. Listen to Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap. :)) It's my current cell phone ring tone now.

(the best soft ice cream ever! i love how it's Soya Bean ice cream hence you don't really feel guilty eating it since Soya Bean's supposed to be superbly healthy.)

Feels like I've neglected this blog for quite awhile... Have been busy with so many random things. There's so much stuff to study now I'm not too sure how I'm going to remember everything for my next exam in december...boo.

Cleared out my closet and have started selling my old clothes/even new items that I just can't wear now on livejournal. I get sooo frustrated whenever I see the hugeass pile of decent yet unused clothes in front of my closet. Making clothes look nice on photos is hard work though...Cumulatively I think it's a hell lot of time spent on that lj shop... but I definitely get a high when I'm able to get rid of one more item. And I'm just amazed at the colossal amount of crap I have in my closet.

It's been so long since I last clicked on style.com.

(Phi, Spring RTW, 2007)
(love love love this V-neck design!)

(Phi, Resort, 2009)

source: style.com

I love the versatility between seasons.

(go get some sleep, you)

today's as good day as any

2009-11-02T00:05:00.008+08:00

(i know, i wish this were a corner of my room too. unfortunately, it's from Ikea ;p)

Recently I've been having a bit of a funny rollar coaster ride of emotions inside of me. It gets me when I least expect it and then at those moments I just feel like I don't really know what to do about things in life.

I borrowed a book from the library entitled 14,000 Things To Be Happy About. It's basically an extended, 611 page list of things the author's happy about. Things that she's noticed since she was in grade school and has kept a note of. I'm such a sucker for books like these. :) I know some people would rather... do something really extreme than to open up the pages of a self-help book/inspirational book but I runnnnn to these things the minute I feel I need some kind of direction in life. Most of the time I think these things actually work! Heh but maybe it's also because I start of being open and receptive and words can only work their power on malleable minds.

I'll start on a couple of things today:

crisp, white bedsheets to snuggle into
cold, fresh, ripe pieces of mango
holding my grandma's hand as we walked out of the restaurant after lunch
eating year old fruit cake (cousin's 1st wedding anniversary)(apparently it's tradition?)
afternoon nap
11.30p.m jog under the watchful eye of the moon and clouds
looking through photos taken over the past few weeks

What are some things on your list? :)

P.S. Am really really craving some good ol' popcorn... crunchy, hot popcorn perhaps tinged with a hint of cinnamon spice... not sure why I thought about Christmas with my uncle,aunt and my little cousins last year but i remembered us walking in a little Christmas village at night. it was so cold and their was mushy snow around and my uncle bought the hugest bag of fresh popcorn i'd ever seen from a stall and we all dug our hands into it with relish...

so please please please, let me get what I want

2009-10-22T23:37:00.003+08:00

(Maggie Gyllenhal. I love her eyes in this photo. source: fffound)

A couple of things I ordered 2 weeks back possibly the day before my mid-term exam(sans a few more that I couldn't find pictures of). :D Yes, I was that focused. My number of online shopping purchases also seem to increase exponentially during any exam period. I ordered quite a bit at one go this time but couldn't help it. Even with shipping it each adds up to less than what I'd get the item for over here (on average) XD (hopefully i didn't calculate in blissful denial) Can't wait for them to arrive!

Went to the hairdresser today to get a much needed trim. I got my hair curled two months or so back but only a few people realized and asked about it. I have trouble maintaining the curls. Probably just due to the nature of my hair. Dry. Big. With a life of its own. Today I learnt the secret though which my dear hair dresser did not divulge the first time. Hair spritzer (or whachamacallit) that's necessary a couple times a week each time after I wash my hair. Why did he not tell me that before???

My dad's friend has been spending the past couple of months making his own gourmet ice cream at home. This one's Cherry flavoured with rum in it and the cherries are sooo juicy. I love how he's so generous with the cherries and how he's such good friends with my dad he gave us an entire tub for free. :)

Obviously, the Smiths are still in my head. :) (hint: song title)

i'd like for there to be a reason

2009-10-21T00:59:00.006+08:00

(ANTON ANTON ANTON! source: weheartit.com)

I spent my night doing absolutely nothing productive in the conventional sense. In my post-500 Days of Summer reverie, I've started rethinking my wardrobe. Zoey Deschanel made vintage dresses look so versatile and wearable and...pretty. I can't help but love pretty things. An hour or more of this night was spent on etsy clicking on link after link following the lead of 'vintage tulip dress'. Nothing yet of course. I don't know why I get so fixated on some things. It's at if the search is all that matters and as long as I'm blindly doing something... I don't have to think about anything else in life. I think it's time to invest more effort into building up my wardrobe for the future though. I should stop buying printed tanks and short skirts (esp the latter) because how many more years can I actually wear them? Wrinkly knees will probably start to appear at age 30... which gives about a 10 year lease on majority of my current clothes? I probably think too much.

($127 dress that makes me go sighhhh. source: stantonjames.com)

On a brighter note, I did spend time writing a letter to my dear penpal, Emily, while listening to the great mixed cd she sent over. :DD (thanks so much, Emily! the songs are totally my kind of songs) It was probably the highlight of my day. I'd live for moments of music and quiet and writing...

Anton Yelchin is gorgeous. And he's the same age as me. :D That's gotta say something huh???

i so bloody love this outfit <3<3<3

2009-10-19T00:56:00.002+08:00

(I can't help but think that the layering effect is genius.)

And those eyes... I feel a girl-crush coming up...!! :)))

i just couldn't resist

2009-10-18T00:54:00.005+08:00

Meet Domo, my new pencil case. He was going for $5 and since my old pencil case has been with me since I was about 10 (yeahh i'm an old fart) and is ink and pencil-shavings stained and tiinyy (and also to do with a random Japanese cartoon character), I thought there was no better time than this. ;) Besides, it's DOMO. How can anyone resist his indolent charm?

(Haarto ice-cream. The boy and I always end up getting black sesame and green tea with red bean. YUM.)

Have a new favorite item in my closet now. My heart melted when I saw that floral tank a couple of weeks back in the store but my really close girlfriend and the boy both unanimously said "NO" when I picked it up. My friend actually used the phrase "Ah Mah" when she saw it (which is colloquial speak for "Aunty" i.e. something that a middle aged mama with gaudy fashion sense would pick up). So just to appear considerate of their opinions, I decided to distance myself from it and try to see if I could live without it. Naturally I failed (especially after I saw how nice it looked on a girl in class too). I'm starting to get rather attuned to my instinctive emotions nowadays. Sometimes if you know from the start you're going to go back to something you might else well give in to the feeling now.

Tomorrow is monday again whyyy. Yesterday I had a crash course in rock climbing and it was awesome fun. :) Would've climbed a lot better if I'd cut my nails beforehand. Back and arm muscles are still aching like crazy. Today I finally watched 500 Days of Summer and it fulfilled my expectations and beyond. JGL's the LOVE. I'm sooo dedicated an entire post to that movie.

catch that banana

2009-10-14T00:02:00.005+08:00

One place that gives me an incredible amount of comfort (when it's needed the most) would have to be the supermarket near my house.

(check out the cute-ass Japanese candy! used to eat a ton of them when I was younger. it's the sort that melts into a sugary mass on your tongue almost instantaneously. grape-flavour's no doubt the best! ;p)

When I was up to here in pre-exam frustration and general lassitude towards life (last week. muaha all over now!), I just felt sooo much better after walking in and grabbing all sorts of snacks that I could lay my hands on. It's the one type of shopping that you can never feel guilty about since, how can anyone ever stinge on necessities?? Then there's the bright lights, the background buzz of (noisy)strangers coming together in the same place for a similar purpose, rows and rows of stacked foodstuffs and the colours...

In other random news, today as I was leaving the house in my dad's car (my sis and I were running late as usual) my dad all-knowingly asked if anyone had forgotten anything. Of course, I'd left my cell phone in the house. Made a quick dash back to the house in the light rain to retrieve it. All was well till I was dropped off at school. Not 10 seconds after my dad drove off, I fished into my bag for that blasted cell phone and surprise surprise -- I'd left it in the car. Somehow. Took me quite awhile to get over the inital agitation (kinda wish I wasn't so dependent on devices that allow me to channel my neuroses into the world 24/7). I have to accept that it was just fate. Pure and simple as that.

i hate the way i don't hate you. not even a little bit, not even at all

2009-10-11T14:40:00.000+08:00

(photo source: weheartit.com)

Watched 10 Things I Hate About You last night while still on a post-mid term exam high. Initially I watched it for JGL and while his adolescent awkwardness was purrrfect for the role, it was Heath Ledger who completely stole everything from the movie (including my heart <3!).

Needless to say, I wish he were still here, making epic movie after indie movie after epic movie and bringing his craft to the world. So many things one could say about the way it ended. But for me, I'm just grateful for moving pictures, movie star paraphernalia and truckloads of photos on weheartit.

(this one's for the road!)