26th birthday

Just like my wedding anniversary, my birthday fell on a Monday.

I took leave on that day and on Tuesday as well. No way I was gonna work on my birthday and be depressed about going to work the next day.

Hubby couldn't take leave on my birthday so I went to my parents' house to spend some time with my mum. First thing in the morning, the parents gave me a birthday card.

For my parents, birthday card is a must for each birthday. Clearly they don't really mind about not preserving the environment.

I spent my birthday shopping at KLCC with my mum. Initially I wanted a Pandora bracelet as a gift but then there's none of the design that I like. I ended up choosing a gold-plated Swarovski bracelet instead.The bracelet has a timeless, classic design and I just love the 3 crystals on it.

After my husband came home from work, we went out for dinner at Subang Parade and he bought me the Panasonic Ionic Facial Steamer which I've always wanted:

I'll do a review on the facial steamer in a future post.

My last FOC: Trip to London - Day 1

Those of you who have read my previous entry would know that I have already resigned from MAS. My official last day was on 3 Nov but since I had annual leave balances, my actual last day was on 24 Oct. On 27 Oct, I went to London for a 3D2N trip to utilize my annual privilege travel. Yeah, a very short trip due to budget and my dad’s leave constraints.

We took MH002 to LHR and got complimentary passes to the Golden Lounge at KLIA.

On the flight, I had fish & potatoes for supper (not that nice) and then slept until 2 hours before landing when they would serve breakfast. Haha. Had omelet for breakfast and I hate to say this but the taste of the omelet had worsened since my last trip to London.

Arrived in LHR at around 5.45am local time. To avoid the peak hour traffic on the London Underground, we hang out at the airport first. Sat in front of WH Smith and my first purchase in London:

Innocent smoothie.

I LOVE Innocent smoothies and whenever I’m in London, this is all I drink. Guess that explains why my skin looks better when I’m in London.

After wasting our time hanging out at the airport, we decided to take the tube to hotel, drop our bags, maybe freshen up a bit and then walk down Oxford Street. We stopped at Oxford Circus station and the hotel was supposed to be a 5-minute walk from the station. My mum wanted to ask for directions but my dad said it’s OK, we can find the hotel on our own. Guess what? We walked for more than 5 minutes and could not find the hotel. My heels were killing me so I told my parents to ask for directions. Turned out that we were heading towards the opposite direction and had to walk a looong way to the hotel.

Finally, we arrived at The Langham Hotel and the hotel staff allowed us to refresh ourselves at the hotel gym’s changing room while they got our room ready. So I showered, washed my face and reapplied my makeup, and then I was all set to go!

We walked down Oxford Street and here are some of my ‘interesting’ purchases:

PINK Casio scientific calculator! I’ve been wanting this since my schooldays! Of course, this is not yet available in Malaysia.

Kate ring which I bought at Claire’s.

When our room was ready, we went back to the hotel and passed out on the bed.

The very welcoming king-sized bed.

Colourful rhinestones headbands

I have a thing for colourful stones. I love jewelleries and hair accessories adorned with colourful acrylic rhinestones.

A few months back, Mr.Y bought me a very expensive Evita Peroni headband (which I can never afford!). The headband has all these colourful stones lined up on it. I love it so much that I wear the headband almost all the time.


I'm always on the lookout for headbands similar to the one that Mr.Y gave me. Sadly, I couldn't find any so far. There's a similar headband at Evita Peroni, but it costs RM299 :-(

I browsed the Internet and came across FashionValet.net. There's a pink Sereni & Shentel headband that really caught my eyes. It's slightly cheaper than Evita Peroni (priced at RM120) but somehow I couldn't bring myself to buy it.

A few days ago, I went back to JB and went to Plaza Angsana with my mum and aunt. We went into a shop that sells art & deco stuffs. I found some bracelet, necklace and earring hooks and decided to buy them and make my own jewellery. I also found LOTS of colourful acrylic rhinestones and I went crazy and bought it in almost every colour.

As I was paying for my purchases, my mum commented, "Bila masa awak nak buat jewellery ni?" She was right, I have no time for art & craft hobbies. But I was determined to prove to her that me buying all these beads and accessories hooks isn't pointless. Today I went to ACE Hardware and bought nylon string and superglue.

I went home, and decided to make a bracelet. Too bad -- those rhinestones aren't suitable for making bracelets. I need to get normal beads. So I thought, nevermind, since I couldn't make a bracelet, I'll make something else. I saw a plain headband on my drawer and decided to make a rhinestone headband.

This is how it turned out to be...

My first handmade headband! I was so proud. I showed my mum and the first thing she said was, "What is the cost of making this headband? You should sell it. It's gorgeous."

I was ecstatic. So I decorated another plain headband with rhinestones.

Mr.Y also thinks that I should sell those headbands. Hmm...what shall I call my shop/business? Maybe I should name it after my mum's cat, Koko, since she's the one who suggested that I start a business.

Me -- Managing Director, Koko Jewellery Boutique.

Sounds good!

Talking about the past

Today I went to Diva again and bought MORE earrings. They're still having the 4 earrings for RM30 promotion.

I doubt that the camera earrings are suitable for office. If I wear it I'm afraid there'll be a circular coming out saying that no camera earrings allowed. But I think the earrings are cute, though.

Today I talked to Mr.Y about when we started dating. He said he fancied me and decided to approach me but was intimidated when I asked him the following questions:

1) What's your CGPA?

2) Do you have a car? What sort of car are you driving?

I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I was like, "Hey!!! I did NOT ask such awful things!"

But he insisted that I did. Then I realized, I've NEVER had any boyfriend before him so that explains it!

I can't believe I actually asked him what's his CGPA! It's like I was holding a job interview or something! And the question about the car...gosh, that makes me seem so materialistic isn't it?

However, Mr.Y still liked me despite all these rediculous questions I asked him. He said it's good that I "filter" the guys I date, and he likes the fact that I look for security when searching for a boyfriend and wouldn't just go out with some random guy on a motorcycle (refer to the do-you-have-a-car question).

Great day

Today is one of the (very rare) happy days when I get to spend time with Mr. Y.

We went to the Cineleisure/The Curve/Ikano area. Watched a movie at Cineleisure, "True Grit." A boring Cowboy movie. Lots of shocking, loud gunshot suns which I really don't like.


Did some shopping as well. Bought the Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Cream to heal my acne scars.
Went to Ikea and bought a document tray to sort out all the papers at my desk in the office.

...and some artifical flowers. Each stalk costs RM3 and the vase is only RM3.90. Oh how I love Ikea.

Dropped by my favourite accessories store, Diva. There's a promotion -- a pair of earrings cost RM10. Buy 4 for RM30. Comes with a pink pouch.

And of course, a couple of headbands. I'm into headbands. Initially I wanted to buy headbands at the flea market but it was an extremely hot day and I wasn't in the mood for bargaining.

Next week will be the start of a busy period for me. 3 projects to work on. Targeted deadline** is in September this year. Can I handle this? I don't know.

** Now I can spell 'deadline' correctly. All this while I spelled it as 'dateline' until my boss corrected me :-p

Liz Claiborne Pink Jeweled Heart

The Liz Claiborne Pink Jeweled Heart collection features 2 things that I like: the colour pink and heart shape.

Necklace and earring set
Bracelet

Ring

I looked at the website and each of these jewelleries retails at $12.99. Which is approximately RM50. But there's no way it will be priced at RM50 when sold in Malaysia. Here, even the ugliest and simplest Liz Claiborne accessory costs about RM200.

*Photos taken from the JCPenny/Liz Claiborne website.

Headbands

I have an on/off liking for headbands.

I remember during my first year in university when I first started dating with my bf, I was so into headbands. How did it all started? I wore a pink headband on one of our first few dates and my bf complimented that I looked cute. So I started wearing headbands all the time. Until I got sick of it.

And now I'm crazy about headbands again. Especially the beaded ones.

Some of my headbands collection. Left: Bought it at Great Eastern mall, middle: Diva, right: John Candice (the most expensive headband I've ever owned!).

2 pair of new shoes & third Thomas Sabo charm

Update: my dad said I don't have to pay for the Estee Lauder serum! My dad is the best!

OK, back to the topic, I got my salary yesterday, so today is shopping day! I've been hunting for the perfect pair of work shoes. Went to KLCC, and I saw a pair at Clarks which I really, really like but they don't have it in my size :-( I tried size 3, but it was so freaking tight. Size 5 was too big. I asked for a size 4 and the salesgirl told me that they don't have it in size 4. There's only size 3,5,7 etc. So sad.

But then I was happy again when I saw not one, but TWO pair of shoes that I like at Pedal Works. And the good news is that a pair of Pedal Works shoes is 1/3 the price of a pair of Clarks.

These Pedal Works shoes are similar to the ones I tried earlier at Clarks. But it's definitely better! And cheaper too. Only RM99. The Clarks shoes are RM298.

So in love!

Faux-snake skin peep toe shoes.

Side view.

Sukaaa!!!!

Besides that, I also bought another Thomas Sabo charm! The lipstick charm!

Next on my wishlist: Skechers Shape Up shoes!

My (expensive) new hobby

The next time I'm going to have to write a resume, I'm going to say I'm a member of the Thomas Sabo Charm Club under "extra-curricular activities."

I'm so obsessed with Thomas Sabo charms!

This is what I already have right now. Well, almost. Currently I'm wearing my charms with a necklace. I have the charm carrier, the aircraft charm and the dancing shoe charm. Next, I'm going to buy the lipstick charm.

However, the charm carrier could only hold up to 3 charms. Once I have 4 or more charms, I'm gonna buy the bracelet! And then maybe I can randomly mix all the charms into one bracelet, like in the picture above (aircraft, the letter 'N', lipstick, butterfly, pearl + butterfly pendant, gummi bear, bow, dragonfly).

Or maybe I can have a theme for the bracelet. Like in this one, the theme is SHOES! Ohmygod ohmygod so cute. Tak tahan.

I was thinking of collecting all the birthstones charms. The more colours, the merrier.

And since I'm a handbag addict, I can have a HANDBAG theme for my bracelet! But Thomas Sabo handbag charms are so expensive (more that RM200 each).

The choices are endless! The only thing you need is $$$.

My first Thomas Sabo charm

Bought my first Thomas Sabo charm at ISetan KLCC yesterday!

I bought the "Dancing Shoe" charm. I happen to own a pair of shoes which are very similar to the charm! I also bought the charm pendant (the large size). I want to wear the charm with necklace first. Once I've collected 3 charms or more, then I'll buy the bracelet.

Day 1 without my bf

From today until 22nd May, I will be updating this blog DAILY. My bf is in outbound school in Lumut, Perak and handphones are confiscated. So when he comes back, he can just read my blog and find out what I've been up to while he's gone.

By the way, I've just learned something. If you get something you want, it doesn't mean you'll be happy with it. Yasser and I had always dreamt about working in our current jobs. In other words, our dreams had came true. He got the job that he like, and I got the job that I like. But things don't always work out the way we want. Yasser was transfered to Kluang (I'm a Johorean and I've never even been to Kluang! I don't even know where it is on the map!). He cannot request for tranfer to KL for 2 freaking years! The thought of being in a long-distance relationship worries me because we've always been so close. Well, not that close, but from his house to my house takes about 40 minutes using the NPE. While I, on the other hand, I like my job, but I'm still in a depressed and confused state. My friend Fiza said she felt that way too in her first few weeks at the company. I feel lonely and lost.

OK, enough complaining. I'm gonna blog about what I'm doing today. When I woke up, I texted Yasser until about 12pm, and then I never heard from him again (i.e. his handphone had been confiscated) :-(

I went to KLCC with my mum. Checked my bank balance. I only have RM131 in my account. Hence, I am very very looking forward to payday :-)

Went to Accessorize. I bought a silver heart-shaped pendants (I have a thing for heart-shaped jewelleries) and my mum wanted this diamond stud earrings (fake, of course) so I bought it for her as Mother's Day present. At the cashier counter, we both fell in love with a solitaire fake-diamond ring (gee, I'm really bad at describing jewellery. What do you call something that looks like a diamond but is actually made of plastic?). So we both bought the ring. The ring looks like an engagement ring.

We packed our lunch. I had paprik fried rice. I had sudden craving for white chocolate (it's that time of the month) so I bought Cadbury Dream at the Choc Boutique. I swallowed all the white chocolates, and when I got home, I weighed myself, I had gained 1kg. Nice.
And I also ordered Mango Passion at Juice Works. Simply yummy.
Went home, read The Lovely Bones. Sleep. That's all.

Balik kampung

I've just finished packing all my stuffs.
And I'm bringing a suitcase full of beauty products...

Some of the things that I'm bringing:

-Benefit's Lip Plump

-Benefit's Gee That Was Quick Makeup Remover

(These are the only two Benefit products that are beneficial for me! Haha)

-Clinique Derma White Super City Block SPF40

-Redoxon chewable vitamin C

-Vera Wang Princess EDT

-Guardian Hand Sanitizer

-Clinique Clarifying Lotion & Dramatically Differerent Moisturizing Lotion

-2 tubes of Clinique All About Eyes Concealer!! (One tube is about to finish)

-Blackmores vitamin ACE (antioxidant for my skin!)

-The Body Shop lash and brow gel

-The Body Shop cammomile eye make up remover

-The Body Shop peppermint foot rescue

-Revlon mineral foundation

-The Body Shop lip colour in Bare

-Clinique All About Eyes Rich

...and the list goes on.

As I was packing, I came across my jewellery boxes, and it struck me that apart from handbags, I love to collect earrings. This is only a quarter of my entire collection.

I bought most of the earrings from Dorothy Perkins, Topshop and Claire's stores in the UK. And some of them are pressies. Each earrings sort of tell a story, you know. Reminds of me past birthdays etc etc. And everytime I travel to a country, I always buy jewelleries, and most of the time it will be earrings. Some of the earrings in the picture is from UK, Sweden, Australia.