Archeologist cardigan in Grey – courtesy of MAIA, ‘Dress’ – tailored (read below), Gold belt – thrifted @ Lost & Found, Melbourne, Gold cocktail ring – ASOS, Blue glass ring – Sunday Art Market @ St Kilda, Melbourne, Bag – Chanel, 200 denier tights – ASOS, Platform heels – Forever 21 (previously seen here).
Putting up outfit shots on t-n isn’t feasible for me because there really isn’t anyone I can ask to take photos of me except for my best friend but he lives in Singapore and I’m in Melbourne most of the year so I’ve taken to putting up my looks on Instagram instead (add me on Instagram: @ilyana 
) But when MAIA emailed me and asked if they could send me some pieces from their first collection, there were no apologies, no excuses – a style post had to be written.
The Archeologist cardigan I was sent is no ordinary cardigan. I’ll be honest: when I first spotted it on the MAIA website, I only picked it because I needed a new cardi stat, the Archeologist was a quirky option (name and all) and that was it. What you don’t really see in their photos is that each cardigan has secret air pockets hidden at the bottom (see first photo) to trap the wind, allowing the billowy fabric to float and whirl every time you move; it’s a cape disguised as a cardigan (it’s even made with a bit of spandex in it ;p) Genius! Easily my favourite pick from the collection.
Each clothing piece you purchase has a tag with a pretty sweet handwritten note with an inspirational quote from the MAIA girls. “In order to be irreplaceable, one has to always be different” – I’d like to think I am lol! 
I also picked up their Zoologist scarf whose name is strangely fitting; it’s a blend of two very abstract leopard and grunge prints doused in a dusty gradient of rose and pink. I think it is this feminine hue that makes it very wearable and I hate that I haven’t gotten the chance to wear it yet. It’s made of the softest poly satin, a godsend in our crap weather. Ready for more secrets? If you observe the scarf carefully, you’d notice these 6 black loop holes emerging from one of its edges..
Those loops are meant to be fixed onto these buttons you see on my President dress (I LOVE THESE NAMES LOL). I believe most of their pieces have this element in them, meaning the scarves were designed to be worn in synchronisation with the rest of the collection. Naturally, you can wear the scarf on its own but you can tell immediately a lot of thought has gone into the design process of this entire collection which is why I hesitate to call MAIA your run-of-the-mill “blogshop”.
Their prices are on the more expensive side and I think it’s fair because their clothes aren’t the sort of basics you buy and throw after two years – they have little secrets embedded in them and they’re designed to be statement pieces that are meant to add a little somethin’ somethin’ to your own style. If you want to check out MAIA‘s clothes in person (which I highly recommend you do!), they are stocked at OVA.
Thank you Diana and the other girls behind MAIA for sending me these pieces! Diana actually won my last giveaway too, I gave her free Lush products and now she’s giving me free clothes – good karma also exists, people! Don’t forget to join MAIA‘s mailing list and get 15% off your order ;D Full disclosure: I wasn’t paid for this post kthx!
Of course, I have my own style secrets too. The dress that I’m wearing in this style post? You see, technically it isn’t a dress. No one believes me when I tell them but it’s actually the top bit of my baju kurung – has your mind been blown yet LOL? This is probably the only baju kurung I bothered bringing over to Melbourne and I thought it was a bit sad I could only wear it once a year because it’s so god damn beautiful. It’s made of this sheer blue floral chiffon with gold lining so it’s got this duochrome effect I’m crazy about. I broke the baju out of its traditional realm and I’ve been wearing it out paired with the perfect gold belt, andddd INSTANT CHIC SHIFT DRESS TYVM. This, ladies, is how you ‘recycle’ your baju kurung without looking like a skank.
The gold cocktail ring is a recent purchase from ASOS to add to my dizzying ring collection and honestly I wasn’t expecting it to be this huge obnoxious thing (online photos, they lie) but I actually like it this way. My other bff, Aaron, and I have been jokingly calling it my future wedding ring – whether it’s really a joke or not, I can’t tell you that yet ;p
And my Chanel bag finally makes its debut on the blog with its own almost gratuitous shot. I suppose perfection doesn’t need to be explained.
Share this:
I had lunch in Chako, a Japanese restaurant tucked away in an area in Singapore I don’t venture to unless absolutely necessary. Getting to the restaurant was slightly cumbersome. Finding it was much, much easier. In an old mall littered with used car rental offices and dentists, it didn’t take long to find Chako. Just a white wash of walls and a small sign that bore its name – so achingly minimal but such is the way of the Japanese. And when you step past its faux rice paper sliding door and into the restaurant, you’d first notice how startlingly small – no, crazy tiny it is.
The entire restaurant is decorated in typical Japanese fashion: creepy lucky nekocat with extra long whiskers stares at you from the entrance, old paintings line the walls and a 2012 Mount Fuji calender is a visual tease to anyone hapless enough to have never gone (ME!). Sitting at the back of the cashier is a small Yakult fridge – the ones you can still find at old provision stores – with not one bottle of the colourful fermented milk that reigned in my adolescence. Instead, Fridge-san is filled with old bottles of sake. Old Japanese tunes are playing in the background, distracting us from the cacophony in the adjoining kitchen. I thought it was unfortunate a restaurant like this would be so inaccessible but having dined there now I realised it all made sense. For three hours, I was in Japan – where else would I be?
Let’s talk about the food. Chako is family-owned so they specialise in homecooked Japanese food. The head cook is a Japanese aunty who married a Malay sailor back in the day so Muslims, everything from the sauces to the softbroiled unagi served in Chako is made from scratch and is halal. The only thing is they serve sake to cater to the many Japanese expats who live in the area. It’s recommended that you shoot them an email regarding reservations and preordering your food before coming down because the restaurant can only take about 15+ people and that’s it. Here’s another catch: be prepared to wait for your food for this no-nonsense obasan only cooks the minute you arrive. How long did I have to wait for my preordered meal set? 2 hours. Not even kidding.
I didn’t mind the wait because I knew about it prior to my lunch and I was there with a bunch of great friends so we were entertaining ourselves with small talk in between sips of Chako’s homemade roasted barley tea. Diana ordered the Beef Sukiyaki, layers upon layers of enoki + shitake mushrooms, vegetables, thinly-sliced beef in this heavenly broth that all of us kept stealing to eat with our rice. I had the Unatamaju set – softbroiled unagi on the fluffiest bed of egg and rice. It’s $23, definitely not the cheapest unagi bowl in the country but damn, expensive unagi tastes extraordinary. So extraordinary, 4 of us ordered the same thing lol. My cousin, Nadz, hates unagi but after forcing a spoon down her throat, I think she might just like it a lil bit more now ;p Nadz had the Gyutamaju, sliced beef and egg in soy over rice which she loved. I had a bite of hers and the beef was so tender – I’d liken it to a truncated beef sukiyaki in a bowl actually – I’m ordering this next time! We also shared the Ikabata Yaki, stir-fried squid in butter and garlic, holy batman amazing. Every set comes with a small bowl of soft cold tofu, clam miso soup and pickles too.
Chako is so good at what it does, it’s put me in this permanent Japanese food mood; I am endlessly thinking about everything I ate since Sunday and I’d go there more often if I wasn’t living off a student allowance D: The food there is definitely not everyday cheap but where else can you take a 3 hour trip to Tokyo for under $30?
I’d like to wish all my Chinese readers across the globe a very stellar Lunar New Year! GET THOSE ANGBAOS, PEOPLE! x
Chako
Tel: 6776 3919
134 West Coast Way
Hong Leong Garden Shopping Centre
Mon – Fri: 12:15pm – 2:30pm, 6:30pm – 10:30pm
Sat – Sun: 6:30pm – 10:30pm
P.S: They have excellent customer service btw, they don’t open during lunch hours on Sunday but Diana did her superwoman thing and got them to open for us. A+, ‘mainstream’ sushi joints you could never.
Share this:
The past two weeks have been hectic for me so I’m sorry I MIAed on you guys. My baby brother got his O’s this month, proving that he is certainly much brighter than my 16-year-old self – especially in the Math department. He seeks a future in aviation so fingers crossed I might be able to travel for free in 10 years or so. CONGRATS LIL’ BRO, I’m so proud!
I had a gay friend, K, who flew in this week to meet his Singapore-based boyfriend and ladies, we have a problem. It took an expensive brunch (which my friend paid for *COUGH TAKE NOTE STRAIGHT MEN*) and a hilarious debate between the three of us and his other uh, rather conservative – that’s all I’m saying – friend about the “hazards” of having half naked A&F models gracing the Singapore store but I am convinced that all the nice guys are gay.
SIGH. I know I’m overgeneralizing here but honestly, I have never met a gay person I didn’t like. K has told me many stories about the assholes he’d dated but I’ve been lucky so far: all the gays I’ve befriended are warm, extremely well-mannered and so bloody nice. This is a serious epidemic ladies – there are plenty of amazing guys out there, they’re just not interested in us D8
My friend, Nad, tells me it takes a special kind of man to understand the modern Muslim woman – he has to have a wealth of knowledge of Islam, sufficient enough to guide his family, while being liberal in his views on religion, current affairs and just how much we want that clutch from Yves Saint Laurent. This man has to find some way to balance these sometimes conflicting ideals while tolerating my warped sense of humor. Does such a man exist? I’ve made some crass assumptions about men and I will continue believing in them until I cross paths with a guy who pisses me off because I was wrong, he’s right and in that moment of bewilderment, I will become the girl who traced the outlines of her lips and colored it with songs of his heartbeat – minus the dragon tattoos.
Oh yes on the A&F debate – obviously, I am all for some man candy while K’s said conservative friend (SHE’S NOT EVEN MY FRIEND JSYK) found the show of man flesh to be repulsive and “disrespectful to our society”. Bitch please, do you know how rare it is to find men in Singapore with abs (and hot faces LET’S BE REAL) of that calibre??
Photos were taken with my father’s Nikon 35mm f/2.0 lens I stole with no shred of remorse. Unfortunately, they stopped making this particular model some time ago but if you’re interested, Nikon makes a stellar 35mm f/1.4 lens I think. I’ve been wanting to check out Antoinette for a while now but don’t let the photos fool you – I never got to 
It was completely packed so my friends and I headed to TWG instead. TWG’s matcha raspberry cheesecake took my disappointment away, such an amazing cake!
p.s yes, this is one hell of a random entry. I’m talking about gay men in one paragraph and the ideal Muslim man in the next WHAT THE FORK. My best friend’s words of wisdom: “Every man has his own burden to bear”.
Share this:
I think Japanese shrooms tend to get overlooked here in Singapore since it’s readily available all year, you can find it anywhere, and a packet is just under a dollar (if you know where to look). Most people tend to go for the meatier, more expensive field or portobello variety which I’m also obsessed with and I’m lucky to be living in Australia where these shrooms cost half the price they get sold for in Singapore. The bad? The ‘specialty’ Japanese shrooms are expensive and should be avoided when you’ve spent half your allowance on things best left hidden away from the mothership LOL. Every time I fly home I make sure I eat my fill of Japanese shrooms until I can’t stand the sight of them anymore.
I like the idea of having Japanese food for New Year’s because it makes me feel like I’m one with my people HAHAHAHA RIGHT! The Japanese have this ritual of eating certain foods during New Year’s and while I’m not entirely sure whether they actually eat soba then but what the heck let’s pretend they do! I hope you guys like this recipe, it’s simple and clean eating – what the Japanese do best.
Tsuyu is essentially the dipping sauce that comes with your soba noodles and you can get it at any supermarket with a Japanese food aisle. Muslims might have some trouble finding a bottle without mirin or sake in it so here’s a recipe I always follow. Just replace the mirin with a little white grape or apple juice and add less sugar since juice is inherently packed with fructose ;p And because we’re already eating the soba noodles with the exact same tsuyu we’ve made/bought, I’ve added a couple of twists for the tsuyu simmering sauce so everything doesn’t end up tasting the same
Tsuyu Simmered Shimeji Mushrooms with Cha Soba
Ingredients
Chilled tsuyu
Cha soba (or normal soba if you prefer)
1 packet shimeji mushrooms (enoki works great too!)
A squeeze of lime juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Shredded seaweed1. Cook the soba according to the instructions on the packet. Drain the pot when done and if you like your soba chilled, plunge the soba in ice cold water. Drain again and put it in the fridge until ready to eat.
2. Pour some tsuyu into a pot and throw in some shredded seaweed, lime juice and soy sauce.
3. When the tsuyu reaches a light boil, it’s time to dump in your shrooms!
4. Let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes or until all the shrooms are cooked.
5. Drain the mushrooms but don’t throw away the simmering sauce! You can pour it in a bottle, chill it and voila – dipping sauce for your next soba meal!
6. Get your soba out of the fridge, pile your shrooms on the noodles, garnish with more seaweed and roasted sesame seeds! Pour the rest of your chilled tsuyu in a small bowl and you’re all set! ME GUSTAAAAAAA
Happy 2012, everyone! Thank you for reading this tiny speck of space on the web, it means so much to me! 
I was thinking of changing my layout but I remembered how torturous it was for me to recreate all my graphics last year so I’m scrapping that idea LOL. I did, however, change the typefaces for my entry titles and headings so everything looks more streamlined now – that counts right? 8D I also just renewed my web hosting for another 3 years so I guess tea noir’s not going anywhere. Here’s to a beautiful and fulfilling year for everyone!
Share this:
I haven’t written about beauty in such a long time. You guys can probably see a pattern emerging here: in Australia, I rattle on about food and how much school sucks. But put me on the plane home and I start writing about girly superficiality because (almost) everything is cheap when you’re paying in SGD$ – *snaps fingers* Then whoa! Ilyana becomes interesting again! 8D
I’ve had this Topshop blush in Pinch for a while now – my cousin, Nadz, gave it to me for my birthday half a year ago – but I stupidly forgot to pack it into my luggage when I was due back in Australia so it’s been unopened and hidden in my drawer ever since. But every make-up sob story has a happy ending: I’ve rediscovered it, torn open the chic box packaging, and smacked it onto my face. Literally.
I made the mistake of thinking the blush would glide on my face like a NARS Multiple and that I’d be able to blend it out easily. ’twas a no go. This is why one should read the instructions on the back of the box: DOT ON CHEEKS AND BLEND (see 4th image). What did I do my first time? Swirled two fingers in acid pink, confidently swiped the blush onto my cheeks and shrieked in horror when I realised that was it – the blush was nearly set. Cue panicky smacking into skin to blend the streaks into something that resembled radiant pink nothingness (if that makes sense at all).
It took forever and sore cheeks but I managed to fix my blonde mistake and..omg such perfection. It is the prettiest dolly pink I’ve found and because it’s cream, it gives you the best fake glow ever lol! It doesn’t have shimmer in it but it does give your skin a slight sheen. Since it was a gift, I’m not too sure about the price but I know the TOPSHOP make-up range is very affordable so it’s definitely below $20? It’s beautiful, it’s cheap but as I’ve highlighted, you can’t just swipe and go – dot it on your cheeks and blend it quickly because this baby sets almost immediately. And once it sets, it will take some brute force on your part to get this blended properly. It takes some time to get it right but when you do – AMAZINGGGG.
Oh yes – that picture of me? I’ve fallen down the dark path of Photobooth photos HAHA! I just cannot be bothered anymore :/ I wish I had someone who could take photos of my FOTDs and stuff but sadly, this girl rait here is FOREVER ALONE T_T Every girl has that paradoxical ‘no make-up’ make-up look right? This is mine.
Face:
MAC Studio Fix in NC25
MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC20
Cheeks:
TOPSHOP Cream Blush in Pinch
Eyes:
Paul & Joe Eyegloss in 05 Murmur
MAC Browset in Girl Boy
Maybelline Full n Soft Mascara
Lips:
Lush Lipbalm in Whipstick (MY FAVE – tastes like chocolate omg!)
What’s your favourite pink blush? Let me know in the comments x
Share this:
Here’s something I’ll miss doing when I was still living at the old apartment: having coffee at Alimentari. I’ve written about this cafe before here and at that time, I thought it was just an unnamed deli too cool, too chic to fiddle with names. One of my readers, Sher Reen (HEY GIRLLL! ;p), commented that said deli/cafe did have a name so that’s that lol. While some of its mystery has dwindled with the unveiling of its true name, you have to agree with me – Alimentari is one hell of a haute word. I thought it was a smart improvisation of ‘elementary’ at first but a quick google search tells me alimentari is actually Italian for food basics. Mmm. I can’t say I’ve tried their food since everything seems to be dripping in pork fat lol but their coffee? As fantastic as it looks in my pictures.
Here’s a quick update on what went down the last couple of weeks:
1) I’ve moved and am absolutely thrilled with my new place. I can’t believe I’m actually living in the city! My zip code’s Melbourne 3000 which isn’t as catchy as 90210 but I feel like I’ve made it somehow.
2) Results were released the first day of my move and my friends are tired of hearing me say this, but last semester was seriously my worst semester ever. I fell ill during the submission period and had to write all my essays while drugged by every brand of painkillers I could get my hands on. I also had terrible luck with essay questions this semester; I had to change my chosen question three times because Google wasn’t feeling any of them and (this is very painful to admit) some idiot actually got to the library books before I did. WTF SOMEONE IN SCHOOL IS ACTUALLY MORE KIASU THAN ME?! IMPOSSIBLE.
I was jittery the entire morning and refused to check the results until I couldn’t take the suspense anymore. So I did and I scored 3 distinctions and an A! I don’t know how the heck that happened but I am very, very, very thankful. Thank you God, you amaze me. I’m going to have to step it up next semester, get straight distinctions and borrow all my library books 2 months before my essay deadlines or something. These people need to know they’re dealing with a relentless Singaporean mmkay. Just kidding.
…or am I? ;p
3) Playing host/tour guide to friends and family is the worst thing to do in the midst of a move. My cousin flew in just as we were moving and dude, the residual stress from trying to fit the past two years of your life into boxes will temporarily disable all socializing skills, I can tell you that. Thankfully, the city itself was beautiful enough to captivate my cousin or we’d have failed as hosts tbh. Moving is serious business man, I don’t want to do it again.
4) I declined my dad’s offer to get me a Prada wallet as a reward for my grades and an additional bribe to keep them up next year. I know, I said NO TO A FREE PRADA OMFG WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? There’s a story behind why I said no though, and honestly, do I really need another Prada wallet? (Yes, yes, I do lol DAMN IT).
I’m flying home in a week YAYYYYYY! I can’t wait to start working on Storm in a Teacup when I’m back in Singapore again, thank you so much for all your FB ‘likes’ and comments on the project! I was so scared nobody was going to find it interesting but everything worked out for the best. I’m still ironing out some issues with both my new and old apartments and my roommate’s family is here too so this might just be my last entry before I’m back in Singapore Ah well, I’ll see you guys soon on the hotter side of the planet, take care x
Alimentari
251 Brunswick St, Fitzroy
Share this:
Roseanne is one of Singapore and Australia’s top beauty bloggers. Actually, she might possibly be the only beauty blogger with such a strong following in both countries. She’s quickly reaching 10,000 subscribers on YouTube and was recently featured in the Singapore broadsheet, The Straits Times, and its style supplement, URBAN. Roseanne’s also launched her own .com: Roseannetangrs.com, a beauty blog updated daily with beauty tips and tutorials (how does she do it??). It’s even got a spanky new forum to go with the site where members can discuss and sell beauty products!
We met a year ago in Art History but back then, I had no idea she was this big beauty blogger and no one knew I had a blog either so let’s leave it at that, fast forward 1.5 years later to the first time we’ve met officially as bloggers: we’re at one of my favourite spots for coffee and I was feeling sick that day so I forgo my usual skinny cappuccino and ask for a chai latte instead. Roseanne orders a strong, skinny latte. Damn, girl. She tells me she’s been studying for her exams and needs the caffeine. I can empathise: I was chugging two cups of coffee and a redbull almost every night writing up my essays the week before. We talk about our blogs and I listen in awe as she tells me her success story, all interspersed with little anecdotes about her love life. After coffee, she passes me her camera and asks for some tips, “I’m trying to figure out how to use this camera properly, I’m always looking for ways to make my blog better – I just want to be better.”
We have lunch after that and I ask Roseanne, “So what’s coming up next for you and the blog?”
“I want to do more collaborations with other bloggers”
“Oh my god!! We should totally do one together!”
“I was just going to ask you! Ah this is so exciting!”
“You know what Roseanne, there’s something I’ve been meaning to do..”
We’ve all seen the amazing ‘behind the scenes’-type websites that take you into the homes and reveal the beauty secrets of celebrities and fashion insiders. But what about the lifestyle side of things? And while most of us don’t possess the same amount of wealth and multiple estates these celebrities have, I’m positive our lives are just as fascinating. And I want to prove that by uncovering and learning the little quirks and everyday rituals that make a person through some casual conversation and an inquisitive (some might say voyeuristic ;p) peek into what goes on in their daily lives. Welcome to Storm in a Teacup, a new series on tea noir focused specifically on the lifestyle.
I wake up at like 7 or 8 – in Singapore, it’s 7 but here [Melbourne], it’s 8. Depends when I sleep, really. I wake up..and open my computer. I actually look at my Blackberry first so usually when I sleep, I have it next to me. And when I wake up, I check my email. I have so many emails, I get uh..a lot. I’ll probably wake up to 30 emails or something. And then, I’ll get my computer and I won’t leave the bed yet [laughs].
I’ll check my website, my Facebook page, my Twitter, my Gmail to see if I have anything that I need to do. Then I’ll see if there’s anything I can do to make my website better, you know if there are new plugins available, or I’ll do some research: I’ll read social media articles or search engine optimisation – today, I added CommentLuv. I think your blog [tea noir] has it too? So after doing all that, I decide I should probably go study [laughs].
During the semester [Roseanne majors in Marketing], I multi-task a lot. When I have lectures, I bring my laptop along and edit my pictures on one side of the screen and take my notes on the other. ‘Cos I don’t like waiting; I don’t like urm if the lecturer starts to ramble about something that’s not going to be important – I can’t stand it [laughs] so I have to edit my pictures while he’s doing that. That’s pretty much how I can post regularly and save time.
I do most of my writing at night and my videos in the morning. It doesn’t take a long time for me to write a blog post: for me, writing comes naturally and everything just comes out. But a detailed blog post takes ages; you have to do the make-up on you, take the pictures and edit them. Lifestyle blogs are easier, I think, you just take photos of you having fun? I want to do more of that.
I hang out with my friends a lot; we always go out for food! I love eating! My friend’s a food blogger so she always takes me out to eat. If there’s exams, I eat whatever I want and I don’t gym. I plump up like no frickin’ tomorrow and I go to Singapore and then lose everything. I know that my body gains weight fast and loses weight really fast so I don’t have to worry so much when I gain too much weight because I know I can just lose it. But during the semester, I swim regularly in the mornings or go to the gym. I just don’t bother during exams.
During the week, I watch what I eat; I’ll eat more salads, more healthy food but I’ll eat what I want on weekends. I find that it puts you in the habit of things? Because it becomes habitual when you eat oatmeal in the morning, a chicken salad in the afternoon and this or that at night, then you eat whatever you want with your friends during the weekend. The exam period’s a little crazy though, you’ll find me eating pretzels, bagels and whatever [laughs]. I’m not much of a tea person; I live on coffee. I need to have it everyday. I always get a skinny latte or a skinny mocha – skinny mochas are like my exam drink.
When I first started out, I was all high-end like Chanel, MAC, NARS and stuff, and then gradually, I realised that everything should matter in make-up; not just the high-end lines but the drugstore stuff as well? And because I’ve already wallowed in high-end brands for so long, the drugstore is a new place I haven’t been to. It’s more fun for me to buy drugstore stuff now because people can buy it; it’s not some Chanel Vitalumiere foundation – I think that’s $75 and not a lot of people can afford that. Plus, my readers are 18 to 20-year-olds so they might not have the cash to buy the expensive stuff. I don’t even have the cash to keep up with that!
I love shopping at Shopbop.com – best place ever! I buy my Tory Burch, Marc by Marc Jacobs, and Michael Kors from there. They’re so expensive in Melbourne and in Singapore as well. My Michael Kors watch would have cost $600 in Singapore but I bought it for a fraction of that on the website. These are my occasional indulgences – I only buy one per semester.
I tend to be an extremist. I can be like totally into gyming, or I’m really into dieting or not into dieting. I’m not much of a balanced person which is really bad? I feel like I should be on that middle path and take things slow..It’s just that if I work hard on something and I don’t see results, I get disappointed with myself so by doing as much as I can, in terms of effort, I can see the results. I have to immerse myself in one thing or not immerse at all – that’s how I roll.
Thanks for having me Roseanne! You guys can also check out my guest entry on photography I did for Roseanne’s blog: Beauty Blogging Tip – How to Take Great Pictures of Make-Up!
Share this:
And this is why I’ve been MIA last week: I FOUND MY WALDORF-ASTORIA!! My roommate and I scored the most amazing apartment after a month of hunting and 3 rejected applications (sucks being a jobless student sometimes – the landlords can’t help but think you’re a financial liability). Here’s a sneak preview of our new digs! I’m sorry I don’t have pictures of the bedrooms to show because an empty room is an empty room lol. The building was completed a little over two months ago so we’re going to be one of the first few to move in. Our apartment’s on the 13th floor and omg look at that incredible view! I can’t wait to see what the city transforms into at night ;D My best friend’s like, “OMG WHEN CAN I MOVE IN BB?” Dream on, honey ;p
Apart from the view, I’m really all about my new kitchen. It’s been domestically pimped out to a level that would make Nigella proud. Restaurant-grade stainless steel finish (k I made that up), a gas stove, a dishwasher (!) and a huge ass oven (!!). OH and what do we have hiding in that corner thar – A REGULAR FRIDGE! I know it seems silly to get excited over kitchen appliances but try living in crap student lodging with a sad bar fridge for two years while fighting strange insect infestations, druggies shooting up in your laundry room and you’d be feverishly thrilled to be elsewhere. Of course, my new apartment isn’t just some place else – it’s home now.
I’ll be busy with the big move these two weeks so this blog is going to be a lil’ quiet. Don’t worry though, I still plan on launching Storm in a Teacup in a day or two Catch you all soon!
Share this:
I found my old moleskine while cleaning out my drawers a couple of days ago. I can’t remember who or what started it but in 2008, Dejiki and I were religiously documenting our lives in our moleskines. We’d spend our lunch hour writing in the cafe at work while sharing a brownie and when we were done, we’d switch moleskines and laugh over the stupid things we’d written. “Omg this is so bitchy,” was what Aaron told me this week when I showed him some of my favourite pages from the book so for your sake, I’ve blurred out my writing so nobody gets hurt ;p
The main reason why I was so adamant in pouring my soul in this moleskine is also an unlikely one: I got dumped, wanted my ex-boyfriend back for reasons I don’t want to remember and you know that stereotype about designers being extremely dramatic? It’s true. I was determined to get my ex-boyfriend back so I found the solution in a beautifully-bound $25 notebook and the plan was to write about how much I missed, loved, cherished him (so it appears I actually had a heart in 2008? *gasp*) and I would pass it to him a month after – more precisely, the night before I was due to leave for a holiday in Hong Kong during which I hinted that since it was typhoon season, I might not come back alive. God, I would have made such a great actress in a Malay soap opera.
Of course, the theatrics didn’t stop there. I had these big, bold headings in my moleskine and sketched here and there to make it the most awesome, incredible, stunning etc diary I could possess. Designer stereotype of having a personalised moleskine with sketches? Check. After a while, writing in that book became a daily ritual; it was a form of catharsis for me and it helped me understand why my ex wasn’t the right person for me, why I had failed as a girlfriend and why it’s completely justifiable to spend $500 on a wallet. The sad thing is I’ve completely stopped doing any form of writing in my current moleskine, apart from scribbles about essay deadlines and lecture notes. So this summer holiday, I’m aching to bring back my dotted sketches and unrestrained writing in a brand new moleskine! What say you, Dejiki? Coffee, cake and quiet writing again? :3
ps: My moleskine project didn’t work in the end. It takes a lot more than a notebook to repair a broken relationship but looking back, I wouldn’t have done it any differently. He took up a large space in my heart for the bulk of my teenage years and I loved him. But to be frank, if your man isn’t a designer, an artist, or a writer, there is a chance he can’t tell the difference between an expensive notebook and a $2 one. Shit. I have such high expectations :/
pps: I am LOVING all the guesses on what you guys think Storm in a Teacup is! No one’s got it right yet but oh wow you have given me so many ideas on other entries I can work on for this blog Anyway, Storm in a Teacup will be unveiled in the middle of next week so look out for it! x
Share this:
Just a little preview for a new project I’m working on for this blog! I’m so excited for this I can’t even. type. in proper sentences. Anyway, I know the image probably doesn’t tell you anything about what’s coming up other than the fact that I had a pretty damn good cup of coffee with a friend lol, but stay tuned and it’ll be up soon enough!
Anyone want to make a guess what it’s all about? Winner gets a prize ;p
