That time of the month

My best friend in secondary school introduced me to this brand of sanitary napkins when I was 14. Had been using it since then. Ultra thin way before the other brands came out with their version & amazingly absorbent! I had tried Kotex (they came to our school!), Laurier and Whisper but none matches the comfort level. But this brand has undergone at least 2 name changes in the past decade.

When it was first launched, it was Prima (or something like that). Years later, it changed to Modess. Now, it's Stayfree. I guess the demand for this brand is not as strong as the dominant brands, hence the several rebranding attempts. It was frustrating when I couldn't find my favourite brand on the shelves. Would take several months for me to find it again and I always have to figure out which is the one. 

Guess how I always re-find my favourite brand of pads?

From the front, the Butterfly symbol! It was their mascot since Prima days! Sometimes it's big, sometimes it's small, sometimes it's fully coloured, sometimes it's just a silhouette drawing.

And step no. 2,

I look for the manufacturing company! It's by Johnson & Johnson!

Stayfree also has sanitary napkins meant for lighter flow days. I find that so useful!

My mum is an ardent fan of Kotex, but I'm a Johnson & Johnson convert all the way! I wish they have more aggressive marketing like how Kotex & Laurier do! That will make buying their pads easier! I used to buy half a suitcase worth of their pads when I stayed over at Bangkok. Much cheaper there! Watsons in Singapore did not carry this brand for a very long time, and I have to get it at Cold Storage/Guardian. But now not only Watsons has this, so does Mustafa! Surprise surprise!

And Mustafa has a comprehensive Eu Yan Sang counter at its newer building at Level 1 too! That's where I snapped these pics on Sun! Now I know where to find 真材实料 herbal tea in the middle of the night!

I've been swearing by Eu Yan Sang Bak Fong Pills for about a decade. They help relieve my tiredness, slight cramps and discomfort during menstruation. Having 八珍汤 after menstruation is heaven for me! My mum used to make that for me, before I got married. There would be a chicken drumstick and a hard-boiled egg each  for my sister & I and chicken liver in the soup! The soup is kick-ass bitter! I'm pretty sure that helps keep my sister's and my wombs clean, healthy & strong! Hahaha! We didn't have cramps problems in our younger days or experience much tiredness then. But it's a different story now. =P

Best to get the Bak Fong Pills in bulk when Eu Yan Sang has 20% discount. Happens about twice a year, during the 三八妇女节 period and somewhere 2nd half of the year. That's when I stock up!

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

What's in my Wallet

I had always read posts where people blog about what they have in their bags.

Being a bag seller, I thought I should do something like that too! But after reading quite a few, I realise, honestly, it's more or less the same. So I thought of blogging about something else.

The first branded wallet I ever bought for myself!

When I was a kid, I used to fantasize about owning many branded wallets & bags. Thought it was as easy as ABC when I am a working adult. On hindsight, I was rather delusional, wasn't I? Haha!

My girlfriends were very sweet to give me a Jean Paul Gaultier black short wallet on my 17th birthday. Had no idea why they did that (we were only college kids!). Maybe they found it embarrassing to hang out with me who was still using a colourful velcro wallet from my secondary school days.

I am not a change-my-wallet-every-other-month kind of girl. (Ya lah, I was too lazy to buy a new wallet & transfer all the contents.) That JPG wallet lasted me till I was 26. The reason for changing was my money and cards were slipping out of the slots, after a decade of usage! 我很长情耶!

Got this Burberry Blue wallet from Fukuoka, during my first flight there! I am a fan of Burberry checks and Burberry Blue and what's better than to get it from the land of Hello Kitty! I swear merchandise there are much sweeter looking than those in Taiwan & Hong Kong!

I remember going for the flight all excited, not just because I love Japan & it was my first time to Fukuoka but that I was finally going to buy my dream wallet! Right after a short rest, I was thronging the malls together with another stewardess. We checked out the wallets at several Burberry Blue branches before deciding on this. It was so pretty and adorable! I think it cost me about S$500+. Had wanted to get a long wallet for more compartment space, but wasn't able to find a suitable one.

Mad excited was an understatement.

Fast forward 5 years later, my Burberry Blue wallet was starting to look real dirty (didn't know how to clean canvas proper!) and Master Dai Hu was telling me that using a black/dark wallet is best for keeping money. Keeping as in storing wealth, not the simple act of having a case for shoving your money in. In all honesty, I do think I manage to store more wealth during my JPG wallet days. =/

Bought the above wallet from Skyblue when TFL was still taking stock from them. It's not my favourite wallet out of the 3 I have owned. But this will do for the time being till I have the time and willingness to part with more money. =X

My first long wallet! It makes storing and sorting of cards and whatnots so much easier than a short wallet! Never ever going back to a short wallet! Silly but it just feels more elegant to be whipping out a long wallet from my bag and pulling out S$50 notes (as if I carry that many, hahaha!) that are nicely laid flat. My notes used to be all squashed in my short wallet, especially when I was in a hurry. Yes, I'm not the most ladylike girl around. Hahaha!

Some of the many, many, many cards in my wallet!

In my growing up days, money was always an issue at home. So over the years, I have learnt that one way of spending less money for the same thing a.k.a saving money is to own a membership card from the shop/restaurant I patronize. I remember having a separate plastic case during my teenager days to hold all the odd membership cards, those girly & pastel personal namecards from my friends and Aaron Kwok's photos! What a memory!

So there's the TCC and Coffee Club cards. I can't remember what's the qualifying criteria, but it's somewhere along the line of spending more than S$88 in a receipt. Being my birthday month this April, TCC was very generous to send me a 50% discount card for my first consumption at TCC and a subsequent 30% discount for my 2nd consumption. 太慷慨了!

And the all-necessary Popular card for the stationery for Tian Fen Lan. Now, who doesn't shop at Watsons?? S$5 to get lifetime membership is mad affordable! I've lost track of the number of times I've redeemed my Watsons points. Definitely very worth it!

I had forgotten that I had this Eu Yan Sang card till I see this pic! Aaah, always never present the card! Think I got the Helen card after spending more than S$30 at one time. The IORA card? Sorry, I can't remember! Might be S$150 & above in a receipt.

My first credit card was a supplementary card from the then-Boyfriend-now-Husband. I eventually got to having a credit card under my name, and that was because I wanted to help this random marketer to earn some commission. The then-Boyfriend-now-Husband was telling me how these cold callers earn almost nothing if they didn't get people to sign up for the bank's cards.

However, I do not like to use credit cards, because the idea of paying bills at the end of the month & possibility of being in debt is very off-putting. Apart from using it to pay for the occasional air tickets or to secure hotel bookings, my credit card is pretty much sitting around doing nothing.

So those cards above are debit cards from UOB & DBS! I love my debit cards! The same convenience of credit cards but without the worry of debt & bills and they double up as ATM cards with NETS functions too! When used as a debit card, they chalk up points that allow me to redeem free stuff from the card catalogue too! I always feel that I should only spend what I have. If don't have, don't spend. As simple as that.

I used to love DBS because once upon a time, there was barely any queue at their ATMs. But the peace of withdrawing money in solitude was gone after DBS and POSB merged. That prompted me to open a UOB a/c. Their ATMs are just as accessible as DBS/POSB's. I can't stand queuing up for ATMs! Such a waste of time when other banks' ATMs are queue-free.

UOB cards are much loved by me because I get to enjoy a lot of dining privileges with their debit cards. I  have had 10-15% deducted from my dining bills at Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant,  Goodwood Park Hotel, Mandarin Oriental Meltz Cafe and many others! UOB hooks up with some of the best restaurants around and most importantly, the restaurants I dine at too, to give their cardholders very useful discounts.

The DBS-Takashimaya debit card is really cool too! I can accumulate Takashimaya Bonus Points to redeem for gift vouchers, become a Takashimaya VIP to enjoy an additional 10% discount at selected sale events, and get a free S$3 top-up to my CashCard with a purchase of S$120. Only thing is I don't shop much at Takashimaya, but together with CK Tang, they are my favourite deparment stores!

Alright, I'm starting to sound either like I'm marketing for the banks or very auntie in the way I love the discounts. =__=

My membership card from Fabric-Pro, the laundrette that has done so many miracles on my curtains, suits & other workwear! Paid S$20 for lifetime member discounts! 非常值得!

Salon Vim membership card that I paid S$50 for, which is fully redeemable for their hair services! 哪里不划算! And 15% discount!

Apart my IC and the usual stash of "护生符", there's also a Metro membership card which I obtained by painstakingly accumulating S$300 worth of receipts over 3 months (buying new curtains & bedsheets pre-CNY helped!) and this Ala-carte membership card from the Millennium hotel group! 

That brings the number to a whopping 11 membership cards in my wallet! Do you have as many cards as I do or perhaps even more?

My next black wallet must have a lot of card slots too!

One last thing, I'm so so so so happy with the response from you girls for TFL debut clothing line! Thank you thank you! =DD

Metta, 

欣雨 Xinyu

Jakarta in March

Waiting at the transit area for the plane, on March 24th! Terminal 1 is now so gorgeous!

I was rather grouchy at that time because this hastily planned trip resulted in me booking the wrong flight timing and topping up S$150 to change it. Plus, I was upset at not being able to fly over in the morning, because the Husband flew back from Pakistan only in the morning. Arrrrgh!!

Hot chocolate at Coffee Bean. Too sweet. Ice chocolate would be better. With an abundance of sunlight comes good pictures. Watching the planes can be therapeutic. If you are already in a good mood, that is. I personally am no fan of travelling. I don't fancy staying at hotels, no matter how many stars they have. I love my home. Period.

Didn't help that I couldn't find a pair of flats to bring along for the trip. Wasn't gonna wear heels for a place with tens of thousands of people. Couldn't believe I didn't have FLATS! So here's my oxfords with missing shoelaces. Honestly, oxfords are really very comfortable for walks! Just that they can be too manly looking for me.

And I was also grouchy that my favourite brown pants shrank shorter after washing. Certainly didn't start the trip off on a good tune.

This Zara travel bag for guys is gorgeous and well made! It definitely looks even better in real life! For S$120, it's such a great bargain! Plus, it's synthetic leather! No kill cow, yay!

The 3-star hotel that we stayed for 3 days 2 nights, in Bogor, Indonesia. A 2 hour ride from the airport. A 2 month-old hotel that has very friendly service staff, despite their lack of fluency in English.

Everywhere was very clean in the hotel, including the rooms. Coca-cola was cheeaaap! Being 3 stars, it was just a very basic room. At least it was very new. But food was bad over here. Breakfast buffet was only one table-ful of selection. Their restaurant is small and most of the time, I was starving over there. We had to order Pizza Hut delivery one night, through the hotel because of language difficulties. But Pizza Hut there did not do Hawaiian. o_O

Had to remind myself that I was there to participate in the puja by my Grandmaster and not on holiday.

We arrived on Saturday evening. The puja ceremony was on Sunday, 2pm at Sentul International Convention Centre.

Source: Google Images

Having prior experience in KL and Singapore, the Husband woke up at 7am to get the tickets for 30 of us. The rest of us arrived at 11am and sadly, tickets were only for tentage seats. White tents were set up outside the convention centre, and we sat there baking in the sweltering heat till about 2pm, when ushers came to give us entry to the halls. There were seats available! Woohoo!

Participants submitting their registration forms! The crowds lasted from 7am-1pm. Amazing!

Many Dharma Brothers & Sisters from Taiwan set up stalls at the convention area, selling made-in-Taiwan Buddhist artifacts, jewellery and chanting beads. I love collecting prayer beads! Had almost one in every colour! I didn't have enough rupiah with me and ended paying for most of the things in Singapore dollars. It was quite a sight with almost everyone paying in different currencies and the sellers would be busy converting the amounts with their calculators. And if they weren't able to give change, the sellers were generous to give an extra something. Sweet! Buddhist artifacts from Taiwan are so much more well-made than Singapore & Malaysia!

Source: Facebook

Wished we had seats in the main hall where Grandmaster was. =(

Oh well, watching him from a TV in another air-conditioned hall was still happiness! At least there's air-con! =))

At the risk of sounding silly, I was very moved when I saw Grandmaster on the TV. All the grouchiness and tiredness just melted away. Practically glued to the TV throughout the whole 3 hours of the prayer ceremony. Well, I don't get to see him every other day, you must understand. If you are a Christian who attends Sunday service every week and love hearing your favourite pastor speak, I'm sure you will know what I mean. For that matter, if you have a religion and are devoted to it in one way or another, you should know what I mean. 

When doing dedication of the prayer merits, Grandmaster mentioned thrice about 风调雨顺 for Indonesia. So yes, I was very very very glad that the recent Aceh ocean earthquake turned out to be safe for all!

In our chartered bus after the puja ceremony! Just nice for 30 of us!

After the puja ended at 7plus at night, some of us got separated from one another. Took us almost 2 hours to gather everyone back together. Because one group of us were SO lucky to be standing near the side exit where Grandmaster came out from, after the whole puja ceremony ended. The Husband was one of them and he literally turned into a gleeful fanboy when he saw Grandmaster. The whole group of them were personally blessed by Grandmaster one by one!!

All this while, I was standing at the main entrance for more than an hour, waiting for the Husband who said he would go find the rest back. Talk about 望穿秋水.  =____=

I didn't have a photo of the crowds at night, but there was only one pathetic doorway to the carpark, where many coaches were awaiting. And almost 30,000 people had to squeeze through that one doorway?? I wonder what went through the minds of the architects when constructing the convention centre. It took like 2-3 hours for the crowds to be fully dispersed that night. 

Source: Google images

Next day before the flight, we rented a car, wanting to go shopping at the malls. But the hotel staff gave a lousy recommendation and we ended up at some half-past six mall called Seasons City, after an hour ride. It was like our People Park Complex. Gosh!


Later on, we requested for the driver to drive us to Central Park Mall that we saw en route to Seasons City. After much language difficulty and many phone calls, we finally made it! Albeit with only an hour left before we had to leave. This mall is classy, huge and awesome! It can totally rival our Ngee Ann City! We saw Topshop, Mango, Zara, Marks & Spencer and many other familiar brands! The food selection was vast and the money changers provided competitive exchange rates. Best of all, it's only 45 minutes away from the airport! If I ever had to go Jakarta again, I would seriously consider staying at the Pullman Hotel beside the mall. Such convenience!

Took Jetstar there and Valuair back the next day after the puja. This was the last flight back to Singapore. I have no idea why I booked a flight so late. There were many Dharma brothers & sisters all on the same flight. =D

In my grouchiness pre-departure, I totally forgot to check out the beauty products at Changi Airport. Was reminded of it when I was Jakarta airport. So delighted to find my favourite cleanser from Biotherm, with a new name and packaging! It was discontinued for almost a year!

I had tried Laneige sleeping pack many many years ago. Result was so-so. Thought I would give it another try with the advancements they have made. Bought the duo set and got a pack of Laneige samples free (in the pic above)! Happiness! Best of all, the products suit me! Will blog about them soon!

Nothing beats being back in Singapore. =)

I'm really happy to have the chance to go Jakarta amidst my busy schedule, even though that means missing out one launch. Most of the time, Grandmaster is based in Taiwan. It would be more expensive for everyone to make it there. I'm thankful that my job now gives me the flexibility and freedom to make room for plans like these. No matter how passionate I am about TFL, there is always a part of me that needs to be refuelled by spirituality. We all need to be reminded now and then about what life is all about, don't we? And it's definitely not about money alone.

Have a fun Sunday, everyone! I'm so thrilled about introducing clothing to TFL this week! Hope you girls will love it too!

Metta,

欣雨 Xinyu

简单的幸福

Last week, I was reminded why I chose to left the working world for a more peaceful haven in running my own business. Running an online store is easier for me, as I do not have to interact with a lot of people. I meet my customers electronically, my suppliers are nice and easy-going people and so are my photographer & models. I want to do better, I can. I want to push up TFL name, I just to have to work harder. I want to boost TFL brand image, I got to be more innovative.

It's all about how hard the owner can work and how good she is at it. Fair and square.

It's a much simpler world to exist in, without the politics of the working world to climb higher or secure a position better. I do not have to go pulling strings in order to get business or supplies. Neither do I have to see the 'colours of the world'. I don't like to gossip and I don't like hearing them either. I don't even like talking much in the first place. If everyone do their jobs well, remember why they are in their jobs in the first place and be cordial towards one another without having improper thoughts , the world will be a better place, won't it? It's even worse when some people bring undesirable behaviour to charity or religious organisations and pollute the environment there, distorting the true meaning of such organizations, hampering work processes and preventing real talent from contributing to the organizations because they feel threatened.

Oh well, there are probably as many kinds of people in the world as there are the number of colours in the Pantone colour books.

I love the business environment that Singapore has for us. No corruption, no bribery. Everyone gets a fair chance, if you wanna set up a business.

I'm happy doing what I like at Tian Fen Lan. A simple world of existence. I'm too old for drama.

And now for more simple happiness! A HUG ME vending machine at at NUS LT14! How adorable!! Half a mind to go NUS just to hug it!

"The Coca-Cola Hug Machine. You hug it, it returns the favour with a Coke. 

Because vending machines have feelings too. #hugmecoke"

Metta,

欣雨 Xinyu


每天都要把自己简单化。

What ensues after a cancelled shoot

Before every photoshoot, lots of preparation work is involved. It's not as simple as driving the clothes to the studio and snap snap snap. Any blogshop owner will tell you the same thing.

For our photoshoots, it involves shooting of both PDP clothes and TFL bags. We are talking about 40-60 items at any one shoot. We try to maximise the number of items, so that the cost involved can be brought down to the lowest and we can continue to bring you girls the best prices possible. A blogshop, after all, is about high volume and low margin.

To get a launch out, 4-5 of us from the family are involved. The Husband helps me with the stuffing & measurement of bags, which takes us about 1.5 hours. If I stuff the bags alone, I will probably pass out from all the PU leather smell and take 3-4 hours to complete. Whichever comes first. 

Mum helps the piggies to iron their 20-30 pieces of clothing, and the piggies will pack them neatly into garment bags to bring to the shoot. Mum does this at night or over the weekend, when she's done with her teaching assistant work and housework. This process takes about 2 hours.

As I do not go to shoots, before every shoot, I will either call/text/email 2nd Brother (he's in charge of the shoots) if there is any special instruction e.g. a different way of carrying a particular bag, a certain expression I prefer the model to have, things to take note when packing certain bags after the shoot to ensure no damage is done.

Arranging for shoots can be tricky sometimes. We have to check the schedules of 2nd Brother, the models and the photographer. Exams, projects, overseas trips, special occasions, exhibitions and other bookings often play a hand in determining our shoots realisation.

 

We were supposed to have a photoshoot today at 10am.

This shoot was arranged last Wednesday night. Initially, the photographer couldn't make it but agreed to helping us out. The model also confirmed her availability. All was good.

But at 8am, we got a text from the model saying she had something on at home and had to cancel the shoot.

Although this was not the first time a model did that (you would be surprised at how irresponsible some pretty girls are), this was the first time this model has done this.

I'm not going to be politically correct here. I was not just upset when I heard the news. I was furious.

Where are we supposed to find a stand-in at 2 hours before the shoot?

Big Brother had took half-day leave from work to help 2nd Brother out with this shoot. Everyone was rushing at home to do the last minute touch ups required for the shoot when the text came in. Because TFL is adding clothing to its product line and the style is gonna be different from that of PDP, more assistance was needed to ensure that everything go smoothly. I was particularly excited and nervous about this shoot because of the clothing.

The model's last-minute change of plans messed up our launches for next week and wiped out my excitement. Photos were supposed to be ready by Thur/Fri so that we can launch on Mon/Tues. But now, the shoot is rescheduled to Friday, which means the launch might only happen on Wed, as the photographer takes about 3 days to edit the photos. The later a launch is, the harder it is for us to do backorders. And Big Brother will be away on a work trip then.

Sickening? Absolutely.

I prefer having shoots 2 weeks in advance before the photos of scheduled launches run out. But sometimes the range of new items we have is not enough to call for a shoot. Before this mess, I was just telling Big Brother that we should get another model in for the shoot, because the photographer can only spare us 2 hours instead of the usual 3.5 hours and I worry that we don't have enough time. But the piggies were concerned about the cost as the photographer would charge more when there are 2 models, so we agreed on finishing as much as we can.

Throughout the day while packing & mailing parcels, I was still simmering.

And a fruit stall assistant got the brunt of my wrath later in the evening.

I wanted watermelon juice and requested for less, with no ice. Wasn't able to finish the whole cup of juice without a tummy upset and I did not want to waste the drink by throwing it away. But I told the lady I would still pay the intended price. I was definitely not hankering for a discount.

Fruit stall assistant: 我们是卖整杯的，没有卖少的。

Her attitude was not pleasant. Singaporean service can be too inflexible for its own good.

I was already exhausted from the parcel packing and the screwed-up shoot to bear with this kind of nonsense.

Me: 钱我照给啊！你只要给我少一点就行啦！

Fruit stall assistant: 没有！没有！没有卖少的！

This did not make sense.

I raised my voice and in a very harsh tone: 钱我照给，我没有要你收少，你又没有少赚，你为什么不可以卖给我？

Fruit stall assistant, looking slightly startled: 不要冰，一块七哦！

Me, still in the same harsh tone: 可以啊！我没有在跟你在计较那几毛钱啊！

I got my cup of 75% filled watermelon juice.

As I walked away, the happiness of getting what I wanted was quickly overwhelmed by a sense of remorse. Why did I choose to lash out that way? I didn't have to talk like that in order to get what I wanted. If I had made an effort to talk nicely, I know I would still have it my way.

I was too ashamed to walk back to apologise and honestly, I was so angry with the circumstances yesterday that now I couldn't remember which assistant it was.

Love is blind. So is anger.

You will never read this, I am sure. I repented in my nightly prayers but I still wish to say I'm sorry I let my anger got the better of me. I'm really sorry. =((((((

Metta,

欣雨 Xinyu


福祸相依，表面上是好的，可能会变坏，有时坏的也会变好的。我要学会以平常心对待。

A blogger I like and my new watch!

Recently I started following: http://fashiononymousblog.blogspot.com . It's a personal fashion blog of a fresh-faced Hong Kong teenager, Zoe Suen aged 15.

I can relate very well to her colourful & lively style. Zoe makes everything looks so wearable and put together. Some styles of other bloggers can be too abstract and unwearable for me. Like it will only look good on that blogger and not on me, so it's kinda hard to get inspired by following their blogs. Hehe. 

Another big plus for me is how Zoe mixes and matches her outfits often, so we get to see how much mileage one can get from one skirt or a shirt. She's not a wear-once-and-throw kind of gal. That, by the way, is what real fashion is to me. You won't see her dressed all skimpy and sexy too aka no money to buy cloth. (It's really very cold to always dress so little, you know.) I like! 

Here's some of my personal favourites: 

Credits: http://fashiononymousblog.blogspot.com

Credits: http://fashiononymousblog.blogspot.com

She made that skirt and hair bow herself!

Credits: http://fashiononymousblog.blogspot.com

Credits: http://fashiononymousblog.blogspot.com

I had been wanting to get another old-school Casio digital watch in gold for ages. The one I have now is silver and has dual clock faces, one analog and one digital. This is the one I had my eyes on for years:

If you are wondering why I have not bought this since I wanted it for so long, that's because I don't really need it. It's a want that I can do without. I'm very calm when it comes to shopping. My girlfriend will be buying almost everything she likes while I can just walk around with my wallet still full of cash. She says shopping with me can be a downer sometimes because I made her feel poor. Haha.

Such old-school watches go with almost everything and are really classic! I'm not the kind who can spend tons of money on 1 accessory, e.g few hundreds/thousands on a bag or a watch. I like getting value out of the things I buy and my attention span in that one accessory probably won't last long enough to milk all the value in it. Lol.

After seeing the watch Zoe bought from ASOS, it ignited the want in me all over again.

I know one place in Singapore that will sell the watch at a fabulous bargain.

Credits: storyofbing.com

The Husband drove me to Mustafa on a whim yesterday and boy, it was crowded!

Braving the crowds, with my squirrel ponytail and a old sling bag from Tian Fen Lan long long ago.

Walking and walking and walking. The walk felt especially long with having to walk left and right, to avoid banging into people. We entered from the newer building but the watches section was located in the other building. There's really A LOT of things that Mustafa sells.

Finally made it to the Casio watches! I was quietly excited! There were so many gorgeous varieties! Bracelets, leather straps, old-school, futuristic, vintage and many others that I couldn't find at the mall in my neighbourhood!

Trying on my long-time dream watch! It was going at S$33. That's like more than S$10 cheaper than the mall!

I used to wear only chunky watches. But as I age, I prefer smaller watches. Maybe it's a late and feeble attempt on my part to be more feminine. *bleah*

My dream watch looks really gold in real life too. So...

Tadah! I bought the watch as seen on Zoe! This is the smallest watch I have ever owned, not including those plastic toy watches my Mum bought for me as a little girl. It's not as golden as the previous watch, daintier and just as versatile. Feel so ladylike with this! Hahaha!

If you are keen, Mustafa is selling it at S$30. It does not come in a box, just that pouch you see in the photo and a 1-year warranty card. I <3 Mustafa!

Having a 要笑不笑, 要哭不哭 expression over here. The Husband was talking about buying the watch for me since it's my birthday month and I was mildly amused at his lack of creativity and the laziness in giving me a surprise proper. Hey, 9 years doesn't mean you don't have to spring well-executed surprises!

We went up to the Household department to look for a green floor mat. Reminds me of grass. I couldn't think of anywhere else that sells green mats and lucky us found it at Mustafa on our 1st try! And wow, that bright yellow floor mat looks really cheery! It's only S$4.50!

Very bad lighting over here, so got to turn this photo into black & white. I was so fascinated by the rows and rows and rows of waterproof table cloths! It's so hard to find a nice one at my neighbourhood. There were like 60 over options for me to go gaga at! 

The Husband was very unconstructive. He was going, "Eeek! Eeek! Eeek!" when I asked him for opinion, saying how the PVC cloths look very 'orbiang' and all. Without even looking at them in detail. Some men have no idea how difficult it can be to dress up a house. So annoying!

Till I gave him the death stare and asked him why such cloths (the one I was holding) didn't remind him of English cottage style. I might have also told him if I couldn't get a cloth, he wouldn't be eating at the dining table anymore.

He caught the hint and was like, "Oh yeah man, you are right! Yeah yeah yeah!"

=___=

At S$9.50 per metre, the price is pretty reasonable! I think it will look pretty draped over the washing machine!

I had wanted to buy a Canon S100 as a birthday present for myself and shucks, I forgot to check out the price at Mustafa. 

Now I realise why I find Zoe so familiar. Is it only me who find Zoe and my model having very similar 气质, apart from both being very pretty and skinny?
 
Have a great week ahead, my dear readers! =))

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

Bye bye, March!

Friday started out great! 

Now when I say great, that means I have a lot of waking hours. For Friday, it was from 915am till 5:16am Sat. That's an amazing record given that I slept from 6am till 915am!

So! I managed to scrape through my to-do list for Friday! Like rushing to the Post Office twice in a day! It was a bad bad bad idea to do parcel posting in the morning. Never done it before, cos usually I post in the afternoon. I was on the phone for at least 10 minutes and I couldn't book a cab nor could I hail a cab. So there I was, walking up and down the street under the blazing sun, praying for a cab to drop from the sky, but my Guardian Angel must have been too busy to hear my prayer. At my wits' end, I took the train, after eons of not being in a carriage.

To make up for all the anguish I suffered in the early morning, I bought myself Mac's Sausage Mcmuffin breakfast with Coca-cola afterwards. =D

It was just 1050am after I was done with breakfast and you know what? No cabs at the taxi stand, despite a short queue. Not wanting to swelter in the heat again, I shopped around at Cotton On and bought 4 loose tops on sale! The shirts with long backs were selling at S$15 and the the T-shirts were S$10 each! I love them to bits! I like how I can dress up or down in them and long tees can be so hard to come by. During stock moving or parcel packing, such tops will come in handy! When I'm so tired, I really love looking like a sack.

The Husband couldn't agree with my choice of clothes though. He said I tend to dress differently from most girls. Is that a good or bad thing? *scratch head* But he made up for it by saying as long as I am happy, he is happy. Hmm, 话有玄机. Oh well, at least he doesn't come and 碍手碍脚 in what I like to wear! =))

Friday night ended off with us having supper/dinner at Changi Airport T3. There's a nice stall at T3 Kopitiam foodcourt that sells yummy 炸酱面 and 饺子.

It faces Ya Kun and prices are really reasonable.

It was around midnight when we reached and Level B2 was still very crowded. The airport really made a great place to hang out late at night, especially during the weekend with food options aplenty.

Looking stiff posing for the photo. Spot the herbal tea in the pic! Eu Yan Sang herbal tea really rocks! It's not as sweet as those from ZTP or Fu Hua and best of all, it uses rock sugar! The others, if I'm not wrong, use 蔗糖 (cane sugar). They have several flavours like ginseng chrysanthemum and luo han guo. A great option for people who travel abroad and need their dosage of herbal tea, as the bottles are fully sealed.

There's no preservatives in the drink, but you can certainly keep it for at least a month before it goes bad. I wonder how this bit of science works.

My favourite 炸酱面!

I had almost threw away that pinstriped shirt I donned prior to wearing it out on Friday. It had turned 'giam-chye' under my very unprofessional way of washing. Everything about it was good though, so I thought let's send it to the laundry people before donating it to Salvation Army.

And you know what? Fabric-pro did such a PRO job! My shirt came back, looking almost as good as new! The fabric became stiffer, the yellow-ness in it disappeared and  my shirt looked so much smarter! Did they use starch in it? I think so. The Husband said the chemicals the laundry people used were certainly better than those we use at home. In any case, it's S$4.50 well spent! Gonna do it again when my shirt start turning 'giam-chye'! I'm not very good at maintaining such white clothing. At such an affordable price, I rather leave it to the pros!

 

2nd round of dining at The Connoisseur Concerto!

That's their fat dessert-style Pancakes, Caesar Salad and Marble Cheesecake!

TCC at Terminal 3 is the only branch that serves all-day breakfast, which includes the fat pancakes above. We had it without the usual icing sugar and caramel on the bananas. That would be too jelat! They usually comes with some raspberries/blueberries though. That explains the more-than-usual amount of bananas.

I like TCC Caesar Salad a lot! My next favourite after Spizza's version (fabulous chicken meat in the salad). I like the slight runny yolk in the eggs, the thin toasts instead of the common hard croutons, the addition of cherry tomatoes and the cheese flakes! Yumms! Coffee Club's version is not nice at all! =P

The Husband is a fan of cheesecakes and according to him, the chocolate in the Marble Cheese balanced the overload of cheese one would expect from a plain cheesecake.

The bag I brought out on Friday! Had wanted to bring this in to TFL but there weren't enough stocks, so I only got 1 black bag for my books. I called it the Ladder Satchel, guess why? =P

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu