2011

I've been wanting to do up a end of year post for some time now.. Even though I have a ton of events that I haven't gotten around to blogging about. They may be in that phase for quite some time ahaha..

So the year is coming to a close... Like finally..

While 2011 had it's ups and downs for me.. the downs seemed more significant and impacted me really negatively. I'm sure as hell glad 2011 over. I feel like I have aged significantly this one year.. :(

I've summed up in a few paragraphs the events / things that really shaped this one year for me.
I only just started out working this year and it has not been easy. Stress at learning something completely new and different, dealing with office politics, lack of opportunities at work.. all made the transition to working life very difficult. I think it took me about 6 agonising long months to break into my job and finally get the hang of things, before finding my place in my team.. Now, I don't stress too much. hahah.. many things have become more routine to me and my boss gives me opportunities to learn more and I'm now also involved in projects to streamline our processes as well as training the new folks.. I realise I don't fare well with big changes in my life... =/ (I think there will be even more change next year)

Last year, I made a decision to do something that I could not easily extract myself from this year. It was a very difficult position to be in. Despite knowing it was the wrong decision for me, I didn't really have the guts to change anything.. I also doubted myself a lot of times if it was really the wrong decision or if i just wanted to give up - as I think I am someone who gives up easily. =/ This dark cloud had plagued me for the better part of this year and sometimes I used to get so moody I just wanted to hide at home and wallow in my misery. ~2 months ago, I finally did something about the situation and I've never looked back. I'm happier, I have so much optimism for the future.. And I realise that it was a decision I should have made sooner. much much much sooner instead of taking so long.. owell the damage is done, and I'm just glad it's over and I can move on with my life.

One other thing, seemingly small and inconsequential, also shaped this year for me as well.

Believe it not, the iPhone 3GS handed down by my mum changed my way of life. There were so many things this wonderful device could do that my previous 'smart' phone couldn't. Simple things like surfing Facebook and checking my email were a trial. Loading pages seemed to tAke forever and the phone just couldn't seem to multitask. Send me a message when I'm loading a page and the whole phone just stops working. I love having these awesomely cool apps lol.. I think I have like 24 photo apps, 11 news apps.. among other popular ones like google maps and iris. And they are so useful!! :D I take photos of every damn thing coz the camera loads so quickly and it is so easy to beautify or edit the picture to create an awesome effect. Perfect for photoshop idiots like me. (: whatsapp and the messages in the phone is damn convenient lo! You can easily track a conversation thread and sharing pictures/location is so freaking effortless. The phone was so awesome that I spent $300 on the iPhone 4s. I'm so cheapo but I could not go back to life without an iPhone. Steve jobs was bloody brilliant.

That's sums up what 2011 has been for me. Of course there were alot of other things not mentioned here.. But they didn't characterise this one year the way these things did.

The north south line saga

It was a very interesting night last night when dex and I walked through orchard mrt to get to my bus stop and it was PACKED. All the doors to the mrt station were locked except for 2, and there was so many people trying to walk through those two pathetic doors.

After squeezing through the doors we saw train signs saying no trains from orchard to Ang mo kio.. And even the TVs were announcing no trains from marina bay to Ang mo kio. I was thinking Heng ah lucky I stay queenstown so I would have no problems getting home!

I was so wrong.

The bus stop behind taka was crazily crowded. Never seen such a crush at that bus stop before. Just standing there waiting for my bus, I got jostled every 5 seconds by somebody trying to squeeze through the crowd. Every 5 minutes, there would be mrt shuttles stopping at the bus stop and the attendants would come out and shout "bus to Ang mo kio (or bishan)".

I waited for my bus for at least 40mins. :(( for some reason, the buses were all arriving in pairs. But the intervals between buses were just ridiculous! >.< my bus never arrived. It moved only 2 minutes in the 40 minutes that I was waiting there.. Lucky me my mum came to my rescue! My feet were dying. X_X I felt so bad for all those poor souls still waiting there unable to get home. :(

Poor smrt gotta do so much damage control now..

Newwwwww

I'm so broke from all the Christmas shopping and somehow i still end up buying so much rubbish for myself!!

No time to blog much. just featuring a couple of my new buys..

I got this super cute vintage looking top from March Shop. Can't wait to wear it out this weekend!

Another pretty workdress from Missypixie.

And I walked all the way from office to Nankin row to pick up my top from Tracyeinny today.. It was almost 1km in heels and another km back!! AND i somehow ended up buying 2 more dresses!!! I never would have bought these online but they were so awesome when i tried them on. :DDD

Zebra dress for work

Cream casual lace dress for the weekend! (:

Credits:
March Shop Vintage Collared top in Teal
Missypixie Estee in Mustard
Tracyeinny Kaylee Cream Lace Dress & Lara Zebra Printed Dress

New buys!

And yet another blog post on my shopping exploits. hehhh. :x

I haven't bought many things from Tracyeinny before but it was love at first sight for this piece!

I love the pretty prints mixed in with the polka dots! they are so cute!! (:

Almost every shopping blogpost of mine has a feature from Intoxiquette. This time is no different.. 

You can never have enough black dresses for work.. and this one is so classy! (: (: 

I haven't shopped from Dopestreet in a while.. but this was yet another must-buy! 

I loved the unconventional colours for a workdress. (:

One of my old favourites Dandzelia, their prices for workdresses and such are very reasonable. 

They always bring in such pretty pieces for work! 

So sad I had to join the BO for this dress.. But it looks definitely worth the wait! (: 

lalalala~ christmas is coming! 

this means more xmas sales wheeee~~~

Credits:
Tracyeinny Rubik Chiffon Top
Intoxiquette The Paige Chanelesque Workdress
Dopestreet Eve
Dandzelia Secretwish Dress in Peach Tango

Cousins reunited!

Felicia organised a belated bday celebration for Tricia yesterday. She had initially planned a BBQ with treasure hunt and games but we ended up switching it to steamboat coz the weather forecast said it was going to rain zzz.

Our dear Felicia planned everything really early wrt to getting inputs for the food to prepare.. Who to bring what etc.. I had to buy the cake from Swissbake near my office.

What was supposed to be a simple bday dinner celebration ended up being more lively and happening than our CNY gatherings. (: we talked about everythingggggg. all the different stuff going on in our lives.. the older generation politics as well as all the latest gossips about everyone, AND we reminisced about the past gatherings and experiences with the other relatives.

I have 2 older cousins 4 & 7 years older than me.. As well as 5 cousins 4,7,8 & 10 years younger than me I thought that meant that I fell into the "older" cousin category and there would be some major age gap differences between us.

Boy am I glad that isn't the case. (:

We're going to have a cousins outing on the 18th and I'm really excited. We haven't had such outings since the days I use to give them tuition. I would bring them out 2x a year.. After each exam. (: we've gone ice skating almost once every year, as well as other activities like snow city (which tanked big time) and east coast cycling (it rained zzz).

Random update

I've been really sick since Sunday. Mad intense coughing like I'm on my deathbed.. And sharp headaches that prevent me from walking around and doing anything. Sigh. I've already taken two days of mc!! How's that for skiving? !

I really don't like taking mc. Even if it is warranted.. It's like broadcasting to everyone oh I'm just going to slack off today and throw my work to all you poor souls.

Oh whatever. My headache seems to have subsided. I finally left the house for dinner last night. It felt so goooood, I felt like I was released from prison lol.

I've recently painted my nails withe gold shatter. It has a very dark purple base haha looks really weird if you ask me. :p pictures will be up soon. Here's a pic from last week's nails. Black shatter & teenage dream. (:

new clothes!! (:

Yayyy was pleasantly surprised to come home to 2 parcels waiting for me! (:

First was this pretty top from TVD. 

I saw it in Kissjane and tried it on and it fit perfectly~! 

the colour is really unique.. me likeyyy (:

And yet another dress from my favourite blogshop Intoxiquette. 

Sadly, size S was a little too loose for me, but i'm going to get it altered. (: 

Good thing the zip is on the back. :D

Credits:
TheVelvetDolls Chiffon Keyhole Top in Ash Blue XS
Intoxiquette Pleated By My Side Dress in Red in S

post hk bluess

BOOO it sucks to be back after an awesome holiday!! 

I am missing Hongkong so much and 4 days seem like too short a holiday... There are so many more shops I want to go to, so many more things I wanna buy.. So much more food I wanna eat!! -sadded-

There are tons of places to go & things to eat in Hongkong. Like going mongkok for cheap shopping, sham shui po for electronics, citygate for outlet shopping, and all the different supermarkets!! On hindsight, I would have liked to spend more time in their supermarkets and buy snacks back to Singapore.. :( owell. There's always next time I guess..

I loved the food there! Top of the list of cheap and good food were the Zhu Gan mian (pork liver noodles), and the hongkong style porridge is mad love! We went to a couple of famous restaurants and my favourite one was Sweet Dynasty. We didn't order any fancy dishes, just simple noodles but they were awesomeeee! :D I loved my dessert too! Some coconut milk thing with white fungus and sea coconut. :D 

I miss hongkong BOOO 

I WANNA GO BACK NAO!!!

UPDATE!

HONGKONG HERE I COMEEEEEEEE!!!

I will be in Hongkong from tomorrow to Sunday. Yayyyyy I finally get a holiday~!

For 4 full days, I will do nothing but EAT and SHOP!

nom nom nom..

I didn't change that much money though, as I don't really intend to buy much.

ME CANT WAIT! :D

Nike Race / SUNIG

almost every single day from the day I signed up for the Nike race, to the actual day, I wondered why did I do this to myself??

I'm always so tired from work at the end of the day and I'm not the least bit interested in running / exercising and only doing it coz I should. But was signing up for a race really necessary? I mean I signed up for 1 hour of intense agony (possibly more).. a month of training..  and a week's worth of body aches post race. eep. 

After a month's worth of half-hearted training, it was finally D-Day. omgggggg I was freaking nervous can???

Tricia asked me before the race.. "Below one hour okay?" I'm like oooooo we try lor.. but deep down i was like no way la not possible. hahah.

Anyway, we did it! I managed to finish in 57:55mins!! WHEEEEEE~~~~~~ SUB 58 LEHHHH! I couldn't have done it without you mei. :D

Anyway pictures..

Fresh faces before the run.

Post run. (damn shag face)

T.I.R.E.D.

Some guy proposing to his gf... i hope she said yes.

us girls..

Siew! She won first prize! (: with timing of 42:27.. maddd IMBAAAAA

Group peekture! (:

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SUNIG

I didn't take that many race photos that day. I guess I'm a little tired of doing so.. PLUS Steven, Calvin and Ben had more upzz cams than me. No need for me to be so mai li! :P

w Alvin and Caisang.. (grabbed from fb :D)

our guys at the start.. We got 2nd btw..

Our girls.. they are seriously IMBA.we came in #1, #2, #3 and i think #6, #7,  #8. FREAKING AWESOMEE. :D

Random pics..

The girls..

GROUP PEEEKTURE! (:

FUN SHOT!

after the race, some of us went to Bedok for lunch..Here's 8 of us in the backseat of Eric's car. :DD

new buys!

I loveeeee this pair of shorts from TVD that came in the backorder! i wore it out today and it's so nice! but i didnt take any pics. :x Here's the pic from tvd..

And I joined the BO for TCL's Suede blazer. I tried it out in Kissjane and i absolutely loved it!!

And last but not least.. Intoxiquette! Another pretty dress for work. Me can't wait!

Credits:
TheVelvetDolls Candy Empire Highwaist Shorts in Burgundy
TheClosetLover Suede Blazer in Black
Intoxiquette  The Le Felicite Swirl Dress in Exclusive Cobalt Blue

Random trip down memory lane

I was clearing my inbox and I chanced upon this email drafted by yours truly.. Hahah. I didn't blog then. But reading this makes me miss the old times in school when I used to feel like I was part of something bigger than me..

Dear Ogls, Aogls and councilors,


OWEEK 2007 IS FINALLY OVER!!!

On the behalf of the Oweek committee, i'd like to express my thanks and gratitude for all your hard work and cooperation. =)




Just to bring you on a trip down memory lane....


Can you believe that just 2-3 weeks or so ago, you were contacted to join oweek? You attended briefings, dry runs after dry runs, leading up to this momentous event. And you didn't even have an og name 2 weeks ago! nor any freshies... It's hard to believe that at that time, your freshies, your junior councilors, were just names on a piece of paper..


Look at them today.. They are no longer names.. They are people you know personally.. There are feelings and thoughts associated with these names... They are people whom you've talked to, whom you've taken care of.. and helped orientate to this school.. People whom you've played games with, worked together, and even slept together!! =P And your og name becomes more than a name.. It is now something the group of you can call yourselves.. Something your og will identify with.. =)


On the behalf of the management committee, I hope that everyone here has taken something back from this exciting experience and I hope that you have all enjoyed it, despite the enormous amount of admin responsibility entrusted to you.. =P


I sincerely want to thank each and every single one of you. No matter how good our planning was, or the execution of our programs, or the quality of our games, Oweek 2007 could never be what it is without your help.


Here's to the bonds made through this program that will last beyond our years in Bizad!!


Cheers,
Valerie Chong

JESSIE J IS AWESOME!

My new favourite artiste! Just behind Katy Perry & Pitbull.. 

Love her songs and her lyrics. 

love love love this rendition of Nobody's Perfect. (:

When I'm nervous I have this thing yeah I talk too much

Sometimes I just can't shut the hell up

It's like I need to tell someone anyone who'll listen

And that's where I seem to mess up, yeah

I forget about the consequences, for a minute there I lose my senses

And in the heat of the moment my mouth starts going, the words start flowing

But I never meant to hurt you, I know it's time that I learnt to

Treat the people I love like I wanna be loved

This is a lesson learnt, And I hate that I let you down and I feel so bad about it

I guess karma comes back around cause now I'm the one that's hurting yeah

And I hate that I made you think that the trust we had is broken

So don't tell me you can't forgive me

Cause nobody's perfect, no, no, no, no, no, no, no..

If I could turn back the hands of time

I swear I never would never have crossed that line

I should of kept it between us but no Jessie went and told the whole world how I feel and oh

So I sit and I realise with these tears falling from my eyes

I gotta change if I wanna keep you forever

Promise that I'm gonna try

But I never meant to hurt you, I know it's time that I learn to

Treat the people I love like I wanna be loved

This is a lesson learnt and I hate that I let you down and I feel so bad about it

I guess karma comes back around cause now I'm the one that's hurting yeah

And I hate that I made you think that the trust we had is broken

So don't tell me you can't forgive me

Cause nobody's perfect, no, no, no, no, no, no, no..

I'm not a saint no not at all, but what I did it wasn't cool

But I swear that I'll never do that again to you

I'm not a saint, no not at all, but what I did it wasn't cool

But I swear that ill never do that again to you.

I hate that I let you down, and I feel so bad about it

I guess karma comes back around cause now I'm the one that's hurting yeah

And I hate that I made you think that that the trust we had is broken

So don't tell me you can't forgive me

Cause Jessie J isn't perfect, no

Nobody's perfect.

Cross Grads!

WOOHOO I'm so happy today. (:

I organised a gathering for a few of us graduated crossers today and everyone I asked turned up! :D

It was quite sad to be one out of the the only 2 crossers who graduated last year and it was so hard to meetup with the rest of the team especially when everyone was busy studying etc.. But I think this year ~10 of them graduated together so now I have more cross buddies to hang out with! :D

I decided to start small and ask those who I felt were more likely to come.. AND THEY ALL CAME WOOHOOO!!!

So pictures... (:

Alvin & Jayanta. Alvin's hair damn stylo lol. =P

Jayanta and his Fish & Chips.

My very spicy Aglio Olio.. :x

Eric's Lamb Shashlik which took >30mins to come!

Me, Alvin & Eric...

Jayanta, Meihui & Azrul..

Dessert! ♥

I'm so glad they came. :D :D :D

And they seemed happy to meetup, even though we didn't really do much but sit around and talk.. I don't know if they were just humouring me when they said they are looking forward to the next meetup. owell.. I choose to believe they mean it heehee.

I'm excited for the next one, I don't know if we can sustain these meetups in the long run.. but I hope we do. (:

WIW
MissyPixie Sueann Nude
Hollyhoque Slim Fit Silhouette Blazer

NIKE UPDATE

I completed my Nike run in 58+mins. I am SOOOOOO happy!! (: (: (:

I didn't think it was even possible to do less than 1 hr coz I'm so out of shape.. And like I did 55mins 2yrs ago, comparing my fitness then and now it really didn't seem possible to go even close.

But thanks for Mei, she wanted sub 1hr, and kept pushing me thru the race.. We did it woohoo!!! I'm so glad she ran w me. I knew she was capable of a much better timing but she still stuck w me. <3

I'm so happy it's finally over.

No more running for another 6 months. :P

Afi's Visit

AHH this post has been sitting in my drafts for the longest time!! =X

My JC classmate Afi was in Singapore for a super short visit. She went to Japan to study after jc graduation and has been working in Japan for some time now.. We haven't seen her since jc days, so when she finally came back to sg for a visit last month, we tried to meetup with her as much as we could. :P It was only 2 visits tho haha.

Us girls after badminton session. (: *photos grabbed from FB*

Class photo. (;

With zihong & iez.

vick, zh, kk & anand..

Class photo. (:

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We met up for popeyes dinner and Swensen's dessert later that week. Leroy came this time round and he brought me my OPI nail polish from the states! :D

Yup that's all the pics i have.. =/ My camera's been collecting quite a bit of dust lately. heh.. Not really going out.. and too lazy to take any pics either..