Remember I was babbling about my new heels here? well, the pics have finally been uploaded so here they are. First up, what I refer to as my cute heels. They aren’t formal at all and not what I expect to see from heels. The brand is North Star which normally sells track/running shoes. Hence the casualness of these I guess. Like I said in the last post, original price was RM89.90. Got them at a whopping 70% off. So after taking into consideration the FX rate, price for me was S$20/US$14. Love the teal blue and white. Got a lovely teal long dress that would match pretty much perfectly *happy happy* and look at the heels. Gotta make sure to practice a little before leaving the house. Haven’t really used heels this high since I’ve had kids and that’s… erm… 9 years ago? On to something a little more ethnic. If you were to meet a Peranakan woman a couple decades ago, chances are high that she’d be wearing one of these (pic from here) Well, personally, I don’t like the old fashioned look of these and prefer to have an open toed pattern (to show of my pretty nails especially after a pedi… yes, I’m vain) So this is my latest pair of beaded sandals (I’ve got two others. Pics on the way). Actually, I have no need to get these… I just wanted them. And they looked so pretty. So I picked my pattern and my color (you can choose both) and the nice lady made a pair of sandals for me. See how pretty the little flowers look? And to think someone hand beaded them one by one. Oh the time taken… if I had to do it, my eyes would surely be totally crossed! Finally, here’s my lovely cheap pair of ‘classy’ heels. They were a “quick! I have to get these” type of buy. One size too big but at S$10 they were seriously a steal. Love the stitching detailing, the buckle and the nice red inside. Had to buy two sets of insoles just to make them a little more wearable. Haven’t worn any of these shoes yet.. been in a pretty casual mood lately. But they’re sitting pretty on my shoe shelf and I can’t wait to wear them. :)
I thought I'd share some products that I fell in love with this year, some that continue to keep me in love (so worth mentioning again) and some things that I wouldn't purchase again.
As we gear up for a new year, I've decided that change is good...
New Hair
After nearly a decade of keeping my hair rather long, the time for the yearly trim came again. I usually take off about 4 inches but this time I went with closer to eight. I have to say I'm happy with it and have received nothing but compliments. I've been asked many times over by patrons at work if I don't mind them asking how old I am because I can't possibly be old enough to be working in a bar/casino. For reference, I'm 23 and married.
New Job
I've spent my entire working life in the Food & Beverage/hospitality industry. And when the money is good, it's not too bad, but when my venue changed management at the beginning of the summer, they made some drastic changes that cut my income in half. Add to that some personality clashes with a superior's questionable style (she has many harassment complaints against her, one by me, and two sexual harassment complaints by male co-workers. She also used to party with the staff and has slept with several people still working in the building). On top of that, my sister and my husband both work there, and though we have always been open about our familial ties, the company has randomly and repeatedly questioned us through the year as if it's not okay, and after 7 failed attempts at a promotion that i am more than qualified for, it has become clear to me that they have no intention of ever allowing me to advance there. Needless to say, between the paycut and the drama and the absolute impossibility of advancement, it was time for me to leave. So I am finally leaving the casino and going to the Hershey Lodge part-time instead of full-time where I will be making more money and working fewer days alongside friends who also left the casino. It's also down the street from my house, a huge tourist destination, and i get free passes to the park and discounts at all my favorite restaurants (In Hershey, almost everything is owned by Hershey). So I get to leave the drama behind, retrieve my lost income, and work fewer days leaving me more time to pursue my artistic interests. I'm very excited about all of it, but especially about the prospect of more time to pursue my true interests. I feel like it's a huge step toward my own personal fulfillment.
New Car
I bought a new car on Halloween this year which Bob has named Shadow Walker. I loved my old car but at 16years, 200k miles, and a whole lot of money and parts later, it was time to move on to something more reliable. I'm still adjusting to the switch from manual(which i prefer) to automatic(which my husband prefers) but do love my cute lil black Saturn SC2 3-door coupe. The white sports car on the left is my old and dearly loved '93 ford probe gt and the black semi-sports car on the right is my new 2002 saturn SC2. I like low arrowhead shaped sportscars (would love a transam!) and think I did a good job of finding something that mimicked the style but that will adapt to a child if and when i have one (it's a coupe that has 3 doors instead of 2)
New Makeup
Most of my makeup is Silk Naturals and I really have nearly the entire collection. Karen has been so kind as to create the Mystery Adventure Club and I'm so excited because I'm going to get fun little packages that satisfy my color craving. I'm so excited.
I also have finally given in and am going to try my very first OCC liptars. They're expensive (IMO) so I'm starting with two. Vintage which is a deep red wine color, and clear-which is essentially a lipbase you can mix any pigment into (which I think is a good way for me to start, i'm not going to buy them all so my color mixing options would be really limited, but with a base, i can at least take my favorite pink, peach, and red pigments and turn them into lipsticks. I do wish I had more matte pigments because i prefer mattes for converting to lip colors, but it should still be a ton of fun).
I'll be stalking the mailman all week!!!
Oh yes...and...
Santa was good to me :)
Bob and I still keep our gifts relatively secret. We each make a list, buy what we're going to from the other's list usually by the end of november, then forward what's left of the list to our parents in two separate halves so neither of them gets the same list. We did exchange big gifts early. He bought me a netbook (my laptop is 5 years old and his just up and decided not to work on day in late november) and i bought him a nice wool peacoat and cashmere scarf he'd been wanting. We also buy each other 2 ornaments every year, one we exchange when we decorate the tree, and the other magically appears on xmas morning. His are always starwars and mine are always fairies. He loved them. From Bob, my BIL(secret santa), and our two sets of parents, I got to open...
-$150 in giftcards to Victoria's Secret (which became a bra, a bra/panty set, and two sweaterdresses)
-A pair of black Tom's wrap boots (This is the company that gives a pair of shoes to a needy child in a third world country for every pair bought. The general style of their shoes isn't very pretty, but I do like their boots)
-A copper necklace and a pearl bracelet I'd been wanting (Both from the animal rescue site, notice a trend in my xmas lists? lol)
-A bag of Burt's Bees assorted chapsticks. We laughed because I think there were 4-5 in there and not one of them was the original which is my favorite, but it's the gesture and i did like one- they have a passionfruit one that's exactly like the original but passionfruit flavored instead of peppermint. And I gave the pomegranate one to Bob which is his fav. (Burt's Bees is also working to save the Bees! Love companies that pass along some love)
-A fairy calendar (i get one every year) with beautiful fairy art by jessica galbreth
-Lots of Kitchen Things I needed mostly from pampered chef: A green marble rolling pin and pastry board set, cookie sheets with lids(i only had 1 small cookie sheet!), one of those giant glass measuring cups with a lid, microwaveable pots (i ruin these somehow), and a beautiful set of small bowls. Oh and my mom made all 4 of us girls(i'm 1 of 4. lol) a Rachel Ray style apron that is like an oversized teatowel with built in overmitts that tucks into your waistband.
-Hair flowers (i love to put flowers in my hair) and 2 sets of Hot Rollers, which have 4 different sizes. I've never had hotrollers and I'm loving them.
-Lots of DVDs
-Shea-infused isotoners. I love isotoners! lol
-A lot of chocolate! 1.5 lbs of chocolate silk fudge, those chocolate oranges that you smack and separate, a box of gourmet german chocolate (my fav. was marzipan filled)
Bob is one of those people who buys everything he wants so I always forbid him to buy anything from the end of september til after xmas and we try to only buy from his list. He got giftcards to Borders and Amazon.com, a fun arcade-type starwars game you just plug in to your tv, silk pants, boxers, cashmere shirt, a leather belt with a celtic buckle, cologne, cufflinks, books, DVDs, decals for his xbox360, a homemade bottle of mamajuana, Bookshelf boardgames, and lots of chocolate.
I was meaning to post this last week but I got lazy and partly also because the new bathroom isn´t completed. It would have been completed just in time for Christmas but something just had to go wrong. The tile shop gave us floor tiles from 2 different production batches so they weren´t the same thickness. The shop and all the other branches were sold out so they had to order more from Italy. We´ll get them next week hopefully but I´m slightly worried they won´t be the same thickness as the ones we have on our floor now. Daniel, the guy that did absolutely everything traveled back to his home country Poland for the holidays but will be back 1st week of Jan to finish the rest. That means he´ll be back 2nd week of Jan. He´s really good with his hands and did a terrific job with the bathroom so far but he sucks big time when it comes to punctuality. We were warned before we hired him so we were prepared and didn´t get upset. The quality of his work makes up for his tardiness.
Here are pics of the bathroom before the remodeling. I´m quite embarrassed to show these pictures but even more shocked now after the transformation that I actually lived with it for 3 years. I mean, it was pink. And floral. How this style could actually be "in" in the ´70s is beyond me.
This
was where all the MU application took place. Just a single light at the
top of the mirror, not the best I know. Nor was there much natural
light.
A doorknob came loose, we super-glued it back on but it came off again. We just never bothered with it anymore.
Ahh...the shower cabinet that was a royal PITA when it came to cleaning. It shall NOT be missed. I didn´t dare show what was behind the doors. Chest of drawers was crap from Ikea. Broke apart like it was made of cardboard. Ok, I may have shoved one towel too many in the drawer but still! Middle drawer was broken so we only made use of top and bottom drawers. Was close to replacing it many times but we came to our senses and waited until we got new matching furniture for the whole bathroom.
Our
old potty! Daniel took it apart and left it outside by our front door.
So for a while we had a toilet outside our door, lol. Even our
neighbour commented on our new décor. Well a lot of trash accumulated
so we hired a container and got rid of all the crap and made our front
yard look a bit more presentable. When we first moved in, I bought the
bright pink rug with matching toilet brush (behind the trashcan) to
brighten up the bathroom without clashing with the pink walls ;P .
In the middle photo, the brown spot you see under the window was a burn
mark. Don´t know how it got there but it was there when we moved in.
Same goes for the curtain. I searched and searched but was unable to
find a suitable replacement. I know the easiest would be to buy cloth
and sew my own curtains but I´m too lazy :/ The curtain is actually
see-through, we have white wooden blinds behind. Third pic is a close
up of the dreadful, awful, horrendous, ugly, hideous and not
forgetting, cold floor. Boy I´m so glad I don´t have to step on it any
longer.
And so began the transformation...
Daniel took apart everything including the old walls as they were not aligned and he put up new walls.
Next, he covered each wall with waterproof latex paddings, laid down my favourite part of the whole bathroom - heating cables "MMmmmMMMmm" and installed the toilet cistern.
Daniel did a terrific job with the tiles. The white tiles on the walls
are actually subtly patterned with lines. Gives it a textured look.
voila. . .
We are going to install another light in the ceiling. A high cabinet in the same style and colour as the vanity will be mounted on the wall in the corner where the silver vase is. It´s not mounted on yet because the cabinet will jut out and cover part of the window. Daniel suggested we change to a smaller window and get more wall space. It´s more work of course but I think it will look much better, we were intending to replace the window anyways since the current one is punctured. Also we´re thinking of a frosted window so we don´t have to think about curtains :P
Almost complete yet still a lot of patching up here and there and of course window to be changed. Changing to a smaller window means changing of wooden boards on outer wall too. I´m wondering how Daniel is going to do that when there is about 2 feet of snow outside, not to mention we´re expecting very very cold days ahead of us. I won´t be surprised if we have to wait till spring to get the window done.
to be continued . . .
Song: You're My Angel
(Gem of Life & TVB Forensic Hereos),
Sung by Loretta Chow ,
Composer: Vinci,
Images of LTS from Google Image,
Video produced by MdmChris,
Lyrics:
Once upon a time
Archangel in the sky
Made a cover every night
Once upon a time
The angel loved me so
It'a miracle
In the snow, my heart won't be cold
My Dear
You are my angel
Tell me what you know
Something should be told
My Dear
You are my angel
Tell me where you go
I will brace behind your throne
Once upon a time
My angel gave me life
OMG!!! O_o
Found this newsletter from inbox ..... should I splurge? I know I know I know .. I have too many many many colours are waiting for me to use ...
Quote /
FREE Shipping & After Christmas Discounts
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10% off any order coupon code: 2010
Unquote/
On 23 Dec'09, my fave Dutch lady sent me a lovely personalised photo of she and her darling xmas card :) I can't read Dutch except "liefs" means LOVE
On 26 Dec'09, got belated Xmas card and gift from my buddy photographer :)
Airplane
Camera
Eiffel Tower
Some friends gave me xmas gifts and I didn't know the supplier would give me a box of Japanese snacks.
Didn’t feel very colorful today… so here’s what I came up with… No base I had forgotten how totally goregous Beyond Skin Deep is. It gives a lovely subtle glow to my eyes that is really so pretty. Am pretty sure I’ve got a spare sample baggie of this color cos I love love love it. Now to rummage through my stash again. For asians, I can’t emphasize how much I love this color! Sadly it was an LE… so I doubt its available any more. Still no harm checking with Heather from TheSheSpace:P These pics were taken at 11.37pm and the m/u was applied at 4pm so… eyes are slightly oily. Apologies. Forgot to take pics as I was rushing out the door.
NYX JEP in Yoghurt – all over lid
TSS Beyond Skin Deep – patted on lid and blended upwards all the way to the brow.
MM’s liquid eyeliner in 995 (I think… its the greyish/silverish black) – tried for a slightly winged look
MM’s gorgeous lash mascara
Maybelline’s Volum’ Express Turbo Boost mascara in black
Inuovi’s brow pencil in I dunno what color. *lol*
End of Year Sale. Everything 20% off (all prices have already been reduced). Will be relisting them until they are all gone.
Enjoy. :)
I know I've been quiet... with school holidays here... life is just so full. Not just 3 kids at home but 4... more personalities to juggle and defintiely more housework!
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