This is exactly what happens when I go shopping: I see something I like, I check for colour variations and then I check its price tag, holding my breath since I’ve decided 10 seconds ago that I couldn’t leave the store without buying every colour available. It’s not surprising that I am one of those people who fall prey to bargains. You don’t say no to pretty things when they’re cheap and come in colours that would complement my almost monochromatic wardrobe.
Even if they aren’t exactly cheap, this is the best time to get a sugar rush (can I recommend a small cone of ice-cream?) and let your mind play tricks on you. Don’t worry darling, your bank account has more money than you think. Buying that extra pair of shoes isn’t going to change the numbers drastically. And your mother will never find out as long as you get the credit card bill from the letterbox before she does. Your pulse will quicken once you’ve signed for the shoes and when you carry them with you on the train home, you feel a strange sense of fulfillment. Savour it, it won’t last long.
Since I am no longer earning my own keep and my love life is a barren wasteland, I can’t afford nor bribe a foolish man into buying me expensive shoes. No worries, actually. I’ll just keep finding cheap designer rip-offs. My Forever21 chunky heels are an amazing combination of ugly/beautiful and I’m pretty sure they were inspired by this pair of miu miu platforms. J’adore <3 Of course, the most blatant shoe rip-off in this entry would be my fake Ferragamos lol. They aren't exact copies (I prefer it that way) and I couldn't decide between the black or gray so I bought them both!
I have new rings too, don't they look like cracked speckled eggs? Again, I couldn't choose between the coral or the turquoise so...don't you see the distinct pattern here lol? Currently having a rekindled love affair with my tilkah bracelet, I can’t decide what it reminds me of: reptilian scales or a costume prop from Xena the Warrior Princess. I bought it on my birthday but it’s very heavy so it isn’t the best accessory to wear to school when you’re expected to take down a flurry of notes.
Sadly, my shopping/eating adventures in Singapore are drawing to an end. My heart grows uneasy whenever I am reminded that I only have two weeks left before I am due back in a country I don’t call home. It is natural for people to link studying overseas as something fun, prestigious even and while I would never trade this experience for anything in the world, leaving your family, your things behind is the most bittersweet feeling. Sometimes I feel like a gypsy; always moving around in places never been, forging beautiful memories but never truly belonging. I don’t feel particularly attached to Singapore, to be honest. Sure, I was born and raised here but I find it a little too stifling, too safe. Still, there is an eminent sense of familiarity that draws me back whenever I’m away.
I don’t know if I’m meant to call Singapore home forever but for the moment, this is home and that is good enough.
Things have slowed down quite a bit since my last update so I’m taking a well deserved breather before I start going full throttle again. Mid terms are over and everything’s been smooth sailing so far. I recently discovered vanilla soy milk and it’s the only thing that’s keeping me away from dishing out AUD$4.00 for a cup of bubble tea. Spring has finally decided to move out of the shadows of winter, she’s about a month late but ah spring is quickly becoming my favourite season- the wind has mellowed down to a slight breeze, the trees are slowly regaining their greenery and oh the warmth of the sun!
I’m slowly breaking out my spring wardrobe, which is honestly my summer clothes being remixed for Spring – I’m a poor student now guys, can’t afford no McQueen ._. It actually feels foreign to me now since I’ve been wearing a blazer/trench everyday for the last 3-4 months. It’s nice not to feel icky when wearing a blazer after 10 minutes as opposed to when I was in Singapore but you cannot imagine how liberating it is to be able to wear just 1-2 layers of clothing without running the risk of freezing your bits.
Yumi and I headed to the Docklands last weekend for the Finders Keepers art and design market! The Finders Keepers markets offer a collective of stalls run by emerging designers and artist. Typically only held in Sydney and Brisbane, last weekend marked Melbourne’s first Finders Keepers event yay!
The Docklands is somewhat detached from the city in terms of its architecture and layout. You have clusters of futuristic buildings built near the water and evenly spaced out with large planes of wooden planks. It reminds me a bit of Singapore’s HarbourFront/VivoCity area except on a much larger scale.
The enigmatic Yumi with her kitty holga! No photos of me sry, as much as I’d like you to believe I look effortless everyday – I don’t.
The market’s held in a huge warehouse named Shed 4, I had weird visions of Warhol’s Factory the whole time I was there except no one was tripping on amphetamine.
Frankie was one of their major sponsors so naturally, there was a couple of tables dedicated to Frankie magazines and merchandise.
Scratch greeting cards, I thought it was an interesting concept. Greeting cards are usually passive but these cards only reveal their saccharine messages when you’ve scratched off the silver coating with a coin.
SQUEE! Animal rings! This stall was easily one of my favourites from the market. Look at those bunny rings! I usually go for antiqued gold when it comes to jewelry but that matte black finishing some of the rings had were stellar. Yumi bought a bunny one for herself and she sneakily surprised me with a ring from the same store before we left.
Trying on some cocktail rings at another stall. Such (expensive) beauties. My nail colour’s CHANEL Le Vernis in Particuliere. It’s an offbeat a brownish shroomy grey, it’s not a colour I would normally pick but CHANEL has somehow made mud look elegant, folks.
I really, really wanted this beautiful light green/blue ring (the silver ring’s mine) but it was $125 urgh. That’s 5 times over my allotted budget for rings. It’s sterling silver and the stone’s Aquamarine which prolly explains the price tag.
Kitschy cute hand-printed stationery!
My Finders Keepers loot! You can see subtlety isn’t for me when it comes to my rings lol. Scored this carved rose cameo ring for cheap.
This ring is a mystery to me, it looks like some sort of gilded, textured metal coated with a thin layer of acrylic. It fascinates me somehow, gold often has that effect on me.
The ring Yumi surprised me with, any guesses what it is? I think the antlers give it away ;p
FORK YEAH A MOOSE RING! This is so kick-ass I don’t even. Thank you so much, Yumi <3333 Btw I still owe you a slice of cake, Brunetti's soon? Let me know xx
You can find out more about Finders Keepers here. Remember they have markets in Sydney and Brisbane too so if you’re based in those areas or flying over for a holiday, check to see if a market’s happening in your vicinity ;D
I had quite the busy weekend! My cousin got married on Sunday so the whole extended family was camped out at my house scrambling to put together a dinner meal for the guests; the women were chopping up what seemed to be like an endless bag of onions while the men were just sitting down and sipping their coffee. Urgh, men. The only thing they’re good for is the occasional phonecall and when we need them to pay for our shopping >D I got your back, single ladies.
The best/worst thing about having your entire family over at your house (including the ones from overseas) is that they tend to bring over a LOT of food, not that I don’t appreciate food but one aunt bought 5 large boxes of donuts from KL so you can imagine how much of a feast we had in my kitchen! diet confession: I ate 4 donuts HAHAHA…shit.
Aah don’t you remember the days when we were kids and didn’t give a hoot about our weight? Everytime we had access to sweets or cake, we had no qualms about table manners and greedily stuffed our faces with as much junk food as possible, pausing only to savour the taste momentarily.
Hid got me some really cool chocolates and a bag of mints from South Africa! Cadbury South Africa, I LOVE YOU! You make Cadbury Asia look so boring! The Dairy Milk Question chocolate had a question printed on the wrapper, “Are you keen?” and the chocolate had the answers YES or NO imprinted on it so I can imagine this particular chocolate gets sold out very fast during Valentine’s Day lol. I think it’s really cute and tastes even better, it’s dairy milk chocolate with white chocolate creme in it! Hid told me I should give it to a special someone when he comes along but sorry I wait for no man when it comes to chocolate so I shared it with my brother haha!
I love looking at my mother’s vanity table not because of what she has on it but rather what my dad has. He’s got an extensive collection of watches he keeps in a glass coffret, most of them are wind-up watches instead of battery-powered which just makes his collection even more special to me! The man knows his watches as well as I know Prada lol.
One of my fave watches is the kooky colorful watch you see on the left. It’s called Crazy Hours by Franck Muller, a Swiss watchmaker known as the “Master of Complication” because of his knack for creating complex time pieces. Observe the haphazard numbers on the watch? Normally you would think it’s 5:10 but it’s actually 9:10! The hour hand actually jumps from number to number every hour, AMAZING.
My super early new year’s resolution for 2010: GET ORGANIZED AND PLAN AHEAD. The best friend and I got a moleskine daily planner each during the Kinokuniya 20% sale; we’re keeping it sealed in its original plastic wrap until 2010 hits! I think moleskines are the best notebooks/planners around, they cost a little more than what you would expect to pay for a notebook but they are the BEST. I used to be someone who refused to pay more than 10 bucks for a notebook but I got my first moleskine at a heavily discounted price and there was no looking back – after I finished using it, I bought another at full price. They last forever, inspires you to write more and looking at it makes me happy.
What are some of the little things that make you happy? Tell me in the comments!
If you’re following me on twitter, you would probably know that about 2 weeks ago, I was tweeting about going dirt broke because I bought something ridiculously expensive and that I prolly had to eat soba for the rest of my life.
I didn’t tell anyone what I bought (save for my BFFs) and purposely kept it a secret because I didn’t exactly “purchase” it myself and I didn’t want to jinx anything because I didn’t receive it until yesterday.
OH YES I DID!
