happiness is...

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.

a little bit of you in everyone

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.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

(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.