A breath of fresh air

Because 2016 has been a crazy ride

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Top: Aere from FashionValet

Scarf: dUck scarves from FashionValet

Kain: Joo Chiat Complex

Shoes: Charles & Keith

It is the little things that counts

Today I spend some time with the man's family. Had a huge feast, had an amazing night and as I went home, The tummy decides to start contracting and ache so bad. I guess it's preparing itself for lady red... 

It was painful to the point of I was unable to move and started crying when I stood up while waiting for the cab. The man, the lovely amazing man, tap my arm lovingly and said 'breathe in deeply. Focus on your breathing'. He did not let go of my arm. He hold it tight and tried to make jokes that made me laugh and the pain got even more painful! 

Well he tried. And I'm grateful for that. Atleast he tried to make me forget the pain. 

What it takes to love

I am no love expert. I am not married (yet). But I do love people. I love my family, I love the people I am friends with, I love my colleagues and I love my man.

At times, I tend to say I love you too often. There is no such thing as too much right? But what if I am just using it with the same tone and expression as 'hello' and 'goodbye'. Does it count? Does my I love you becomes romantic? 

No. It does not. Instead, it becomes a cliche. 

To Love or be in love is not enough. You got to seek understanding, you got to seek acceptance. You got to give it back. You got to give your heart. 

Not many are capable of truly loving a person. I wish I can say I know all this. I don't. I learn as I go and today, after a long conversation with the man, I realised how ignorant I've become to understanding his likes and dislikes. How ashamed I felt that he had to remind me that all he wanted from me is simple; for me to understand him. 

I thought knowing what his favourite colour is, what size are his feet, what is his favourite food etc etc is enough. 

I realised those are just bonuses if I know. I should be paying more attention to his actions, to his principles, to his habits. I shouldn't whine that he is not romantic. I shouldn't whine that I don't get enough 'love' from him. He didn't whine when I left his jacket in a foreign land (oh yes I did. And I tried so hard getting it bad. I cried when I told him but he just said 'it's just a jacket, I can buy it again) neither did he throw a fit when I didn't planned his birthday celebration, instead he played along and spent a mediocre day with me (but I did brought him to see his idol). 

I have not been the best lady for him and yet he still stick by me. This man must really love me or just has a huge-ass amount of patience for me. I know it's both. And I am grateful. 

So today, ladies, think about what your man has done for you. No, not the moments he bought flowers for Valentine's Day kind. The He hugged me tight when I had a bad day or He called during lunch to sing a Stevie Wonder Classic kind of things. It's these gestures that you appreciate more than the flowers but you tend to overlook the little things.

If your man is next to you, give him the tightest hug and say you'll do better. 

And ladies, mean what you say. I will do better. I will 

2016

The last few months of 2015 has been tough for my family. A lot of changes, a lot of sacrifices. A lot of highs, a lot of really lows.

I am proud to say that as a family, we got through the 'dugaan' that HE brought to us. We got stronger as family.

Alhamdullillah my dad is doing much better now and what matters is that he is home!

2016 has been a whirlwind of events. Alhamdullillah I've moved to a new role within the company and I am loving it! I remembered when I was in school 5-6 years back, I told myself that I want to be able to travel for work and with this new role, I have been going over to our neighboring country for work. Though it is just Malaysia, I am still thankful that I got the chance. This coming week I'll be in Melaka!

I am enjoying work and I am grateful for it.

only 3 months into 2016 and I am having a blast

 

Smile 'cause you had the chance

It is funny how in school I don't show how interested I was with Makeup. I was hockey goalkeeper so technical I was deck in shorts, dry fit tees and my hair will be pulled back with my skin as tan as it could possibly be. Now, I get asked about my craft and sometimes, people would take the chance to hire me for their special events or work events. I, in turn, will be too shy to say yes.

To this lady, whom I met during school, I willing said ok to do her makeup for her engagement and again for her corporate photoshoot. 

It was a great eye opener for me as I am still new to this and to have the sudden exposure to this world of makeup artistry. 

Doing makeup not on yourself is a totally different ball game. You gotta know the person's face shape, skin tone, eye shape, eyebrow thickness, lips and skin condition 5 mins before you start slapping on makeup onto their precious faces.  That 5 mins scared the hell out of me with thoughts running through my head like 'what if I make them look fat instead of thin' or 'what if the camera picks out dullness in their complexion?' Or the worst 'what if they don't like my work!'.

Yes, these thoughts will run through my tiny head before I smile and start painting on the blank canvas I have. Scary isn't it? One thing I learn from this and a few other experience is that you can never be satisfied with your work. There will be things you want to change after and you have to take it in your stride. You can take it as a lesson and use it in the next assignment. 

So the learning point: 

1: to be apply more on the lids and cheeks as its a photoshoot. It may look good in real life but on camera, the colours might get toned down thanks to the lighting. 

2: to really define the brows. Again, like point one, more product and more emphasis on the brows. 

It's been tough

It has been a tough few months with a lot of lows than highs. We all can just take a day at a time and live it through the day. 

That is all I can do for now.

Gems in my City: Queenstown

Queenstown was built in the 1950's and named after Queen Elizabeth II after her coronation in 1952. Previously it was called Wu Wei Kang.

It is close to one of my favourite towns; Tiong Bahru. Queenstown has its own charm to it. It has so many historical places that it even has its own map of the places of interest.

We did not plan to walk this route. In fact our agenda for that day was to get running shoes for the better half. We were walking from Queenstown MRT to Queesnway shopping centre, one of the locals favourite spots to shop for sportsgear. While walking and eating ice-cream (it was a really warm day), we came to The 'Butterfly' block.

The start of our trail

One of the earliest pictures. Photo from http://www.queenstown.org.sg/.

Isn't it stunning? The apartment blocks today are of the same shape that it is only visually appealing with the use of colours. In the old days, homes were architecturally beautiful. Take Tiong Bahru and Dakota Crescent for instance. They add 'colour' to their neighborhoods.

We went about our shoe expedition before continuing on the trail. To a mosque that I had always wanted to see.

Quite a cool name isn't it!

It is quite a distance from Queensway Shopping Centre

It was named after one of the 5 warriors in Malay folklore and the mosque served as a praying area for the Malay regiment soldiers living in the area. It is now a 10 mins walk away from its nearest housing estate. There used to be the railway right next to the mosque but has since been removed when the railway tracks was decommission in 2011.

We walked along the stretch just to spend more time talking and enjoying each other's company. To those who would love to take long walks to talk or just take beautiful photos, I recommend walking along this stretch of 'greenery'. I found a website that documents more spots lile this. Have a look at The 'Green Corridor' . Such a great website for future dates!

I got tired after the 2 hours of walking. We went for a short coffee break and went off to Kallang Wave mall in search of his shoes. Till next time, Queenstown.

Where the KTM railway tracks used to lay

We wandered abit off the tracks and found this pathway. We believe that it might be at some point in time a small park for the kampung that used to be around the area.

The better half

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world ― J.R.R. Tolkien

The salted egg Calamari @ Wilder.sg is delicious enough to make me come back for a 2nd time

The 1st week of September was not kind to me and I was craving for some time to rest and not think of work or school. 1st half of my Saturday was spent at work and once the clock strikes 12pm, my body was itching to leave the extreme west of Singapore. 

When my mind wants a rest, my tummy starts to take over. So this weekend, it was all about food. My mind is fully rested while my tummy is working overtime. That is symbol of an awesome weekend in my books. 

The Better half dislike me taking photos of our food. He had to resort to this

Lime Mojito from Wilder.sg 

Wilder.sg is located at 749 North Bridge Road. Nearest MRT: Bugis

Their Gnocchi is good too!

You can never go wrong with Ice-cream

Sunday's Family lunch @ Fish & Co. Photo by my sister.

Blue moon

When you know you look good, a whole lot of photos!!! 

When I saw this dress at the Poplook website, I went gaga! I told myself, wait for pay and if the size is still there, grab and pay. And with god's grace, it's mine now!!! In love with the colour, the cut, and how comfortable it is. 

Initially I was worried of the lining. It was thick and quite heavy but today, being a hot day, I felt great through out the day! So thumbsup to Poplook!