it's been a while .

1.45pm this arvo, i received a phone call from a random number. this is how it went -

caller: "hi, may i speak to ms (insert my name) please?"
me: "yes speaking."
caller: "hi. would you like to meet some amazing girls?"
me: "sorry?"
caller: "we have some amazing girls. would you like to meet them?"
me: "sorry you've got the wrong number."
caller: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. SZE!!!"
me: "O-M-G YOU!!!"

my dear friend got me fooled. i seriously thought i had just wasted my moolah picking up a call from some stupid sex scam shit. so if you ever wanna fool a friend too, perhaps you can try this out. ;)

we met up in town and spent the bulk of our time in Topshop because ... ... okay there are two things you should know about my friend: 1. once she steps into Topshop, she just grabs clothes off the racks and lugs them all to the changing room. 2. she takes bloody long to decide which one(s) she'll take.

BUT, YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU BABE. =D

please meet my crazy-arsed girl in the two dresses that she got after trying on a gadzillion items.

i really liked how this white maxi looked on her and she really liked it too. but after trying on both colours at least 2 to 3 times, she decided to go with the black one as it was 'easier' to wear.

wearing: brandless dress, Just Jeans leather belt, Wittner pumps, Mulberry bag, Sportsgirl bangle, Diva bangle, Casio Data Bank watch.

dining is about ambience .

before my aunt left on Saturday morning, we made a trip to another restaurant on Friday arvo. since she had never been to Mount Faber, we decided to pay that spot in Singapore (with a very misleading name because it's hardly a "Mount" and more so a hill) a visit.

we ate at Black Opal - beautiful interior design and friendly service but it didn't fare so well in the food department. twas bummed out by that. and as if to bum me out even more, there was construction going on below the restaurant while we were having our lunch - the worst kind of dining-ambience killer i reckon! the manager couldn't do anything about it because the construction workers were rushing an overdue deadline to complete the cable car infrastructure. so yups! we had to sit through a drill-worthy lunch. not the best lunch i've had but thought i'd share the little beauties of the humble Mount Faber that made up for the not-so-pleasant lunch experience.

Shabu Shabu Beef Salad - the only dish that i enjoyed.


i love their toilets. do you see the dresser at the back? there's actually a fish tank at the bottom! they had pretty cute fishes in there.
(little fact of the day: did you know that there's a World Toilet Organisation and that it started in Singapore in 2001? it's no wonder you can find quite a lot of pretty toilets in this small country.)

wearing: handmade (not by me) dress, Sportsgirl necklace, random silver rings, vintage-style-inspired bag, Ray Ban aviators, Fossil watch.

now it's time for me to head to bed!
goodnight world .

oh hail food .

you know how sometimes we need a friend or relative visiting then only would we make an effort to go out to dine 'properly'? well if you do, that's what happens ever so often in my family. with my dad and sister now living overseas temporarily, it's quieter around the house. mom and i normally just have simple lunches and dinners and well, that's it.

so, it's been nice to have my aunt in town because today, we made the effort to head out to The Fullerton Hotel to have a nice and relaxing lunch by the river. we were pretty impressed with the food at Town Restaurant so i suspect we might head back there again some day for their buffet lunch. as for today, twas ala carte.

we started with these:

Caramalized apples and Foie Gras.


Mussels in tomato sauce with garlic bread.

my mom, aunt, cousin and i then moved on to our mains respectively:

Soft-shelled crab tempura.


Cracked Pepper Cod with Miso soup and Japanese rice.


Grilled Salmon with prawn-filled mashed potatoes.


Duck's leg and breast with shredded duck wrapped in cabbage.

to wrap up our arvo nicely, we had the restaurant's tasting plate for desserts:

Vanilla ice cream with some kind of sponge cake that tasted really good.


i can't remember what this is.


Puny cheesecake.


Green tea cake that's been weirdly pierced with chocolate flakes.

i wore this dress with one shoulder off at first but decided to pull it up after lunch. i reckon it's nicer when worn as a boat-neck dress instead of a off-shoulder dress so... don't know what i was thinking when i stepped out of the house!

"i like big butts and i cannot lie, you other brothers can't deny." from "Baby Got Back".
but this one ain't such a big butt aye? haha.

wearing: brandless dress, Camberwell Market belt, Ray Ban aviators, JKC bangle, Sportsgirl bangle, Fossil watch, Chanel canvas jumbo, Wittner beige pumps (not pictured).

"huat ah, huat ah!"

hoo! guess what? i managed to grab some photos of my trip back to Malaysia from my dad. there weren't a lot to begin with cos my dad was lazy to snap away too so here's a little of what my Chinese New Year (CNY) was like:

every CNY, we'd drive from Singapore to Nibong Tebal and it's always a looooonnnngggg drive (at least 10 hours!). so, toilet breaks and random stops are essential.
this was taken from the top of a small little hill. my dad had stopped the car to take some scenic photos (how enthusiastic he was at the beginning! hah. guess he later got sucked in by food too and forgot about taking photos). i can't remember where exactly this was but looking at the time the photo was taken, it's probably somewhere in between Malacca and Kuala Lumpur.

it's a tradition to get everyone together to "lo hei" (the act of tossing this particular dish called "yu shang" which is a Chinese fish salad) during CNY. apparently, the higher you raise your chopsticks, the better luck you'll get for the new year. haha.

we do it the 'kampong' style back in Malaysia. instead of sitting on chairs, we'd rather sit on random spots like this decorative piece (i think that's the purpose of it...) that runs along the back of the garden in my uncle's house.

mom once said, "you aren't a Chinese if you don't know how to use chopsticks." so she made my sister and i learn how to use them when we were kids but somehow, until today, i just can't seem to grasp the technique properly and still hold my chopsticks in the wrong way. shame on me. ):

mosquitoes are ALL OVER the place once night falls. my arms and legs were covered with mosquito bites and sores that i had to apply calamine lotion to all those spots to relieve the itch (thus making it seem like i love drawing white circles on my body).
this thingy (when i don't know what's the name for something, i just call it that) here is suppose to keep the mosquitoes away but it wasn't strong enough or something cos those damn insects just continued to buzz around and sting us every now and then.

Chinese New Year is almost over! ):
and so goes another Year.

gifts from halfway around the world .

i'm back from Malaysia! i know, what ever happened to blogging FROM Malaysia?! (this is the part where i start with excuses.) 1. the internet at my cousin's place was shit. 2. i was too caught up with eating that i didn't even bother taking photos. 3. i got lazy.

bad/good excuses? you decide. personally, i think excuses are bad to begin with but that's just gonna work against me now aye?

anyhoos, it's been a while since i got something in the mail so twas really nice to find the postman outside my house today with a package marked for me! i knew right away that it was from the boy in Manchester. even though it didn't reach me on Valentine's Day, the wait was definitely worthwhile.

Topshop Premium Stripe Shorts


Compiled pictures of various dogs with stuff on them

hope y'all had a good week!

double happiness .

this year's 14th February is a little different for the Chinese: 1. it's the first day (chu yi) of the Lunar Calendar which marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year; 2. it's Valentine's Day.

i always spend Chinese New Year with the family as it's tradition and as i'm originally from Malaysia, we always make a point to visit Penang (where i was born and dad's home town), Nibong Tebal (my mom's home town) and Kuala Lumpur (my dad's other home town) to catch up with the relatives and celebrate the occasion over reunion dinners.

on the other hand, i've never 'celebrated' Valentine's Day until the boy came along. even so, we didn't believe in forking out extra money to be part of a collective coupledom (if there's such a term) on one specific day.

with gaoster away in Manchester, this year's 14th February is pretty straight forward for me: family time. it's a pity the boy can't be around his family as well (one could say that Chinese New Year is the equivalent of Christmas where bonding with family is (and should be) of utmost importance).

so anyhoos, i leave you with a photo of my pooch Sushee and will update from Malaysia! 'til then, folks.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR (GONG HAI FAT CHOY) and  HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY PEOPLE !

going vintage .

even though i've been back in Singapore for a week, i'm still posting entries about Melbourne. i promise to move on in the next entry but before i do so, i'd like to share with you my Camberwell Market finds:

Anne Stooke blouse with funny dancing people. $5!



vintage belt with various bag 'studs'. $20 (tad exy for this one but it's just too unique to walk away from.)



Rummage Style playsuit made from vintage fabric. $30 (brand new so decided to go for it.)

i've been drawn !

a while back, a blog friend of mine offered her fellow blog friends to send some photos to her to get their portraits drawn. i love her artworks and when she 'announced' that she would love to draw us, i jumped on the wagon and sent her some photos. here's what the very lovely and superbly talented DollyAsylum (check her blog out if you haven't! she does heaps of cool stuff.) drew for me:

So long, Farewell Melbourne .

i'm back in sunny, hot and humid Singapore. i'm not enjoying the weather but i'll just have to start getting used to it all over again. (i'm trying not to start the next sentence with an I again) ... the weather is really getting to me that i'm not in the mood to do anything but just sit right in front of the fan 24/7 (we have a try-our-very-best-not-to-switch-on-the-a/c policy at home because we like to go Green when we can) it'd be great if i had a pool in my house but na-ah, no such luxury.

***

twas sad leaving Melbourne and am still kinda sad that i'm not there anymore. the silly sister teared up at the airport when i left which made me even sadder but hey, that's just part of growing up - you gotta go different ways at different times in your life.

you also know that it's time for you to have a change of outfit after your friends see you and ask, "sze, how long have you been wearing this?" so yes, i finally realised i should put away my MNG cuff pants for a while and put on another pair of pants and tee. here i am, with some photos taken at my sister's place -

the draped pockets were the first thing that caught my eyes.

wearing: Supre striped tee, Witchery draped pocket pants, Sportsgirl necklace and bangle, JKC bangle, Fossil watch, Wittner pumps.

good times, good food .

twas my last Sunday in Melbourne so i made every effort to get up early for Camberwell Market this morning. waking up on time was helped a little by the sun that was shining so hard into the bedroom that the room started to feel like a sauna. and here i was thinking, aww aren't you nice Melbourne, treating me with such wondrous weather before i leave you. BAAHH!

i found it hilariously amusing (and maybe slightly mean) to see my sister holding that expression throughout our whole time there. the heat was getting to her bad and i quote, "my thighs are gonna get an abrasion." she now knows NOT to wear her faux leather skirt on a blimey hot day.

after sticking around till the closing of the market (and getting ourselves some bargains which i'll try to post another entry on), we made our way to Miss Marples @ Mount Dandenong for lunch and scones. of all the scones i've had, Miss Marples has the best and i'll definitely miss it when i'm back in Singapore. but hey, that just means i've more stuff to look forward to when i do visit Melbourne again!

not so grumpy now aye?

with most of my clothes packed away, i've been finding some difficulty putting together a nice outfit whenever i head out. amidst this vanity trap, i've come to realise how lucky i am to have all the material things that i have and it's all thanks to the parents. i often wonder when one day i have a family myself, will i be able to provide for my kids as well as my parents are doing for me and my sister? but i shan't bore you with this self questions so this is what i wore today:

wearing: sister's Topshop cropped top (which i bought for her and wish i could keep for myself!), factorie denim skirt, Havaianas slippers, Sportsgirl bag.


ps. i'm coming home in 6 days' time, girls! (:

pps. and Roger Federer for the Australian Open 2010 win indeed!!! (: