Oh joyful day

Hey it's December

We're almost nearing the end of the month and I thought I should at least have one more post before the year ends. I can imagine one of my new year resolutions (again) - be more active at blogging, scrapbooking, documenting my life and thoughts no matter how mundane I regard them to be.

Here's a pic of my Christmas tableau at the extra space behind my desk in the office. Thanks to friends who gifted each model and figurine. The Muji 3D pop-out cards are a big hit seeing how my cubicle mate keeps pilfering it for his desk!

I'm actually looking forward to the end of 2013 with a big breathe of relief. I survived the year. New year is supposed to bring new hopes, new joys and new challenges (mutually exclusive maybe?) and I hope it rings true for everyone.

I feel most alive when I'm immersed in nature. Am looking forward to more adventures in 2014!

Happy mail

Something came through the mail recently which really made my day - the Gola x Liberty sneakers which I bought with a discount on ASOS!

Nostalgic me thinks that it is sort of a tribute to the first pair of sneakers I bought from Peninsular Plaza with my own money which was incidentally a beige and maroon pair of Gola. It was a particularly unforgettable day because I went for the USP interview after my shopping and one of the interviewers actually broke the ice by talking about shopping and making a comment on it. On hindsight, it was probably not that most professional thing (for me) to do haha.

Trademark Liberty purple (one fav colour), check!

Red liberty fabric - another colour I'm partial to!

Padded insoles, seriously?

Now I really need to think how I can bear to break them in.

Like finally?

Finally a computer game that catches my eye. Too kiddy?

https://infinity.disney.com/en-apac 

One thing to another

You know how some things trigger other things? Like when object triggers a memory or a place triggers a feeling. My bro told me about how a band of students were practising their medley of Disney songs at Sentosa last week. 

That triggered my compulsion to sing along with all the Disney songs on youtube tonight. For all unabashed Disney fans, this one is really cool:

Loving (loved) summer

Did not draw up a summer bucket list but managed to get a summer tan which is fading way too fast!

Summer essentials

Smorgasburg!

Le Bernadin

Queuing for Totto Ramen

Dinner at Parker & Quinn

Cycling across Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn street art

Lunch at Pio Pio

Along the Hudson River

Chilling at DUMBO

Coming to London!

I cannot be more excited having found out that Ace Hotel is crossing the pond to London (in the Shoreditch area no less!)

Picnic!

Summer's time for endless picnics! Just not here in Singapore. The weather is simply not conducive.

Today was a relatively cooler day and by that, I mean it was slightly cloudier. We packed the picnic basket (imaginary one) and headed to Botanical Gardens for a girls pow wow. The mrt brought us to the side of the gardens that was just outside the Bukit Timah Campus. So nostalgic! I remember tramping across the gardens from school to Orchard Road with Bing after lessons last time.

After moving our mat (clever YW who bought a shower curtain) several times, we found our 'perfect' spot i.e. a spot with some shade and polished off the goodies we pooled together, the marshmallow chocolate muffins YW baked before meeting us. That girl is seriously the most motivated and domestically handy friend I have! My contribution was 2 packs of spicy chips and a 1.5l bottle of water. Would love to pack a Da Paolo style picnic lunch but my energy level is bordering zilch in the morning.

Highlight of the day? Meeting the enormous labradoodle (Labrador + poodle) who stole everyone's heart as he frisked down the Palm Valley. He stole the limelight and totally deserved it! I couldn't resist going up to his owner to ask for a pic.

Nutella overload

Friday was a shitty day which explains (is an excuse for) my Nutella overload. Surfeit is probably a better word cos it killed my appetite for the rest of the day - in a good way. To be fair, I did not start out searching for anything Nutella since I've already had two Nutella cupakes in the past week.

To backtrack, Friday was one of those days where I had a court hearing in the morning which over ran into lunch, and I had another court hearing in the afternoon so that effectively meant that I had to hustle around and could only grab a takeaway. I decided to indulge in my favourite chocolate chip scone from Gastronomia Da Paolo and it was at that moment when I spotted the Nutella cake - a new creation from the awesome people at Da Paolo.

I had to get it even though it looks horribly sinful and to be perfectly honest, not very attractive in the plastic tub. But, just the word 'Nutella' makes my heart skip a beat. I simply cannot resist anything Nutella. Maybe my love affair with Italy has something to do with knowing that some Italian dude created this hazelnut spread.

Here's a blur picture of the cake. I only remembered to snap a pic after taking a couple of mouths. I suspect half a bottle of Nutella goes into every piece of cake - that's 3 thick gooey layers of Nutella for you!

Currently...

Rediscovering the lyrical beauty of books by Japanese authors. I'm reading Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and it's as intriguing as promised by a friend and an intern.

Also reading Madeleine L'Engle's A Live Coal in the Sea. Another gripping and illuminating book but I'm partial when it comes to her books and might not be the best judge. I'm trying to savour the book as slowly as I can as this is the last fiction book of hers which I have not read.

Read the controversial The Shack by William P. Young about a man rediscovering his faith. Can't decide whether the whole lot of it makes sense or not.

I find that blogging is a way of keeping notes for my project life scrapbook album which I'm still trying to keep up. Not that my daily life is very eventful but I find myself 3 months behind (hence the blog entries are useful to remind me what I did 3 months ago). Here's a layout (lifted from KP) which I did sometime back when inspiration struck.

Happy Mother's Day

I really love how irreverently quirky Google is. 

You can guess how much time I spent "creating" these masterpieces.

10 reasons why The Great Gatsby cannot come soon enough

1. There's Leonardo DiCaprio (one and only)
2. There's Carey Mulligan (new crush!)
3. It's directed by Baz Luhrmann (R+J)
4. Soundtrack by Florence + The Machines, Lana Del Ray, Jay-Z etc (simply nuts)
5. 1920s decadence (need I say more?)
6. 1920s flapper dresses
7. Bejewelled headpieces 
8. Tiffany's designing the jewellery
9. Miuccia Prada's designing the outfits
10. An adaptation of a F. Scott Fitzgerald classic

Heard that an NYC premiere had a Great Gatsby themed afterparty. This Kate Spade clutch would literally be the perfect accessory.

How cute can this get!

Coveting

A simple dinner bag - this Vera clutch would match the classic Vera shoes perfectly.

I'm a sucker for collaborations and this Levis and Liberty collection is totally swoon-worthy. A causal dress in Levis demin x Liberty prints - ♥

Saturday

Had brunch today with my family at *gasp* Tiong Bahru. Nope, not that my parents have suddenly turned cool but they wanted to try Caffe Pralet which serves decent and reasonably priced food but don't expect any ODP or 40Hands ambience.

Unfortunately did not have time to wander around the area and was late to meet G for the play. So tired nowadays that I fall asleep whenever I'm seated, even amidst the guffaws during Wild Rice's Importance of Being Earnest. Can see why a number of people in the office have booked tickets to catch the play - it's hilarious.

Hi, Cookie

Say hello to Cookie, a random acquaintance I made today at Jones.

Cookie (who really looks like a giant Oreo) padded over from next door and sniffed and flopped and nuzzled my shoes/ankles from under the table before giving me an upskirt moment ahem.

How to tie a scarf etc

I really like receiving those random email shop updates from Liberty. 

Just have a thing for colours and prints.

Butter biscuits for the soul

I never knew that Marks & Sparks' "All Butter Viennese" biscuits (27% butter!) could be so comforting when I'm drafting submissions past midnight in the office.

To hell with fats and all.

Camera effects

My mom won an Olympus Pen sometime back at some lucky draw. Really lucky! I really like the warm colour tones this camera captures and the fast shutter speed.

She tried some of the camera's effects on my one day and this diffused effect is very flattering haha.

The pic below is taken without any effects. My mom is apparently so enamoured by how demure I look (for once) in the pic that she had it printed professionally. 

Saturday

Love this. The website's called saturday.com - how cool is that?

Dropping by

Dropping by to post one of the layouts I did sometime back about getting lost while hiking in the Cotswold, really one of the prettiest places I've visited.