Morning ramblings

Was it only in March that we said yes to our first home? 

I can't believe that was only 3 months ago.. It feels like AGES ago. >_<

These 3 months have been a whirlwind of activity and I've suddenly become an expert on the whole first time buyer for a resale hdb unit. 

You see.. In the span of 3 months, we first bought the option to purchase, then exercised our option, complete hdb checklist & hle eligibility, get a loan, prepare for first appointment, meet the lawyer, and now settle all the outstanding paper. In less than a month, I will finally have the keys to my new place. 

It's pretty unbelievable. 

On my way to work, I would take the train from Dakota station and catch a glimpse of our block. Sometimes, on the weekend or after work, we would also pass by the estate. Every time I lay eyes on the block, I would be filled with excitement and joy. 

This is where E and I will set up our home, and hopefully have our own family. 

HDB? Checked!

A lot of epic shit has been going on in my life lately, I'm afraid I would forget it all so I'm posting it here. 

So here goes... omfg I've bought a flat! Not just any ole flat in the middle of nowhere with a layout I would have no possible way of visualising. I bought a resale, on city fringe, mid high floor, 5 room with sq room layout, 400m walk to the mrt station, less than half that distance to the ntuc, hawker centre and wet market. Naturally, the price is ridiculously high and I feel like I can't breathe every time I think of having so much debt. 

I initially had some reservations about the place as it was only of a mid height floor, and already so bloody expensive.. Aaaand it's not sheltered all the way to the mrt station! 

The hubs liked it a lot though, so even though we went to the block twice in the day, we ended up dragging ourselves there at 10pm to recce the walking paths. After walking around the area for 1 hour, I was like ok let's do it! We saw the flat at 6pm on Sunday, recced the place at 10pm, went to the temple to qiu qian at 9am, and offered at 10am. Every thing happened in a blur and the next thing I know, our real estate agent is sitting us down and asking us to sign the documents. -major freak out-

So yea.. that was barely 48hours ago. 

Till the next update..

People come and go

It was my manager's last day today. A day I have most certainly NOT been looking forward to. 

I've worked with her only a short 7 months, but somehow the best managers are the ones that leave. 

Before joining the team, people told me that she's a very nice person to work with - she even holds an unofficial title of nicest person in Barclays. I did wonder how does the nicest person on Barclays perform a project management role? I mean sometimes you need to be hard on people to get things done no? 

Within a few days I realised that it was her charm that made people willing to go the extra mile for her. She talks to everyone, always had a nice word to say. I was actually very lucky to work with an individual such as her. I had a billion questions regarding this new world I had landed in and during every meeting I would jot down the jargons I didn't understand and any other issues that didn't make sense to me and she would literally spend one hour explaining all these things to me every single time.. Until I got up to speed that is..

She never has a bad word to say about anyone unless said person is a complete moron. Even when I made countless mistakes, even the really awful huge repercussions kind, she taught me how to address and fix those mistakes and even shielded me when necessary. 

They say people don't leave jobs.. They leave bosses. Granted my job is highly stressful and people always leave anyway.. I would definitely work for her anytime, anywhere again if the opportunity arose. 

Dressabelle

I'm superrrrr in love with my first purchase from Dressabelle. This dress is gorgeous and the cut is super flattering, albeit tight though haha (who asked me to buy S?!). And the material very flattering!!

They had initially sold out after the launch, but I requested to be notified if they had more stock.. and lucky me! I think perhaps there were deadbuyers who didn't pay for their item. :D

I think I'm going to have a new favourite blogshop... heehee.

Credits:
Dressabelle Sketches Print Drape Dress

Facial Foam Review

I figured that since I'm such a skincare freak, I should try my hand at beauty reviews... But then if I think about it.. I actually barely have any time to sit in front of my computer let alone time to think through and actually formulate a review on a product.

That said, I still wanted to do this for myself. I wanted to jot down my thoughts on the different products that I've tried so I know to buy or not to buy the same product again!

I want to share 2 of my current favourite facial foams. I hate those gel/menthol ones that always burn up my eyes. I have developed a preference for cream-based cleansers coz I feel they leave my skin feeling clean and moisturised at the same time!

Kose Infinity Pure Advance Clear Up Wash **favourite!**

This is currently my favourite cleanser! I use a very small amount, like half a fingernail, and it is enough for my whole face! I only need to lather it 2 rounds, and it is sufficient to remove all the dirt and oil from my face! I have had horrible cleansers that do not remove the makeup remover properly and I had to wash my face another 1-2 more times afterwards! Best part of this cleanser was my skin was left feeling clean and not dry. This is really important for me as I have sensitive skin and it gets really itchy when it is dry.

It is currently selling at most departmental stores at $43. I'm using those small free samples and I love it to bits. And since I use so little each time, I can use it for a very long time!

***

Belif Creamy Cleansing Foam Moist

This cleanser from Belif comes a close second on my list of favourite cleansers. Like the above one from Kose, it has a creamy texture and is not drying. I especially love that smell of it.. If I had to pick cleanser with the best smell, this would win hands down! It cleanses very thoroughly and I use a standard amount each time to wash my face. Why this isn't taking first place is it does not have that moisturised feel that the Kose one leaves behind after washing off... But all in all it's still a pretty awesome product. 

I didn't buy this as I tried this out in a 3ml sample. They are really generous with their samples. I checked online though and it's selling for $33 at Tangs and I would assume the same price in the Belif stores.

Cheers, and I hope you enjoyed this review! 

Bloomberg Square Mile

Team photo at Bloomberg Square Mile 2013 (missing 2 peeps)

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I initially didn't want to run this race...

It was 1.6 km race costing $100 per sign up! Not to mention there was no women's category so no possibility of winning anything.

However, after seeing the enthusiastic response on the internal running channel, I felt myself being sucked into the idea. Short distances are my forte, and I always enjoy running corporate races.

By some stroke of luck, I ran into the team captain at the North Face 100 when I went to support Eric. I asked if he was still looking for people to run, and if we would have to pay the full fee. Turns out that yes, he still needed people for the team, and the fee would be subsidized $40.

Can I just say that it is so rare for my company to subsidise race fees, even if it is still freaking expensive at $60 per person, I just had to get that last slot in the team.

This was maybe 2-3 weeks ago and I was (and still am) training for a 10 km race. How was I supposed to slot in a 1.6 km training when I needed to do a lot of mileage and endurance training (vs speed training)?

I didn't really do any speed training before the race and my only prep was a recce run on the route. The route sucks balls... There were a lot of sharp bends, u-turns, steps and narrow pathways. Not ideal for a distance that depends a lot more on speed than anything else.

We sent in 2 teams, one competitive team and one fun team - each team had 10 runners. I was runner number 7 in the fun team, so by right there shouldn't have been much pressure. But I guess it's my competitive spirit and something I demanded of myself so I made sure I was fit enough for the race.

Come race day it was such a crush with 160 teams of 10 people. The roads were narrow and the waiting pen was awfully stuffy. My adrenaline levels kept spiking up and down throughout the event before I started. As the 7th runner, I had to wait approximately 40 minutes after the start of the event before I went out to race. It was horrible. I never want to be a runner so late in a relay ever again. The emcee kept raising the hype, counting down the minutes before the start... and then counting down the subsequent runners. Each time I watched a fellow team runner come in, my heart would race, as though I was the next one to go. It was bad...

By the time it was my turn to run, I had depleted my adrenaline resources. Once I received my baton, I was like comeon let's gooooooo but my legs couldn't seem to move. I felt so tired and couldn't seem to propel myself forward. After the first 200m, I finally made some progress. And it helped I had fellow runners standing on the sideline cheering me on. As it was a short race, I knew I had to keep pushing hard through the race and not slow down. It wasn't long before my throat became unbearably dry and my legs ached way before half the race was complete. I don't know how I managed to keep going the second half but I think I slowed down quite significantly.

Once on the final stretch, I knew this was it. My final push... I had to make it count somehow someway. So I kicked. Whoop it felt good going at a pace that no one was able to overtake me. I was so happy to pass on the baton and I saw I had clocked 6.12 when I checked my watch. Way above my expectations of 6.40-7.12. In fact, my official time was 6.05 and can you believe it I started berating myself for not going 6 seconds faster to clock at sub 6 timing. -.-"

See lap 7..

My team did 42nd overall which was still pretty good since we were only doing this for fun. Our first team got 3rd and we got to share their glory, taking the "winners" photos as a group and going on stage together to collect the prize. The event could have been organised a bit better though.. We were entitled to 3 drinks, 1 dessert and 1 main course, but the queue for the food after the event was horrible. There were 5 queues, all equally long and slow-moving... We queued for 40mins and the line barely moved 1 metre. You would think that they would have catered for 1600 people clamouring for food after the event right?

Some of my teammates never got to eat anything coz of the queue.

I liked that there was a post-run event and I got to hang out with the other runners from my company. We popped the champagne that we got as part of our 3rd place prize and celebrated our victory with the party music going on late into the night. 

I didn't expect to enjoy myself so much despite all the organisational hiccups... 

I would definitely do this again next year (hopefully it will be fully subsidised heehee).

One of those days

I've been having one too many of just one of those days... Days where there's so many things happening at the same time it makes me feel so lost and troubled by it all. 

Work is not exactly bad. It's just heavier.. And my sleeping problem has gotten worse. I don't know if work is the reason I'm not sleeping well or the lack of sleep is making me stressed at work. 

It's a bloody vicious cycle.

Please please please let tomorrow be better. If possible, make next week even better. 

I'm thankful though that through all this shitty-ness, I have Eric always supporting me and encouraging me. (:

Intoxiquette & The Blush Inc

I just scored some purchases from my all time favourite blogshops, Intoxiquette & The Blush Inc.

I'm soooooo broke now... heh.

I got these from Intoxiquette's launch earlier today. They're so gorgeous I couldn't help myself even though I'm over my expenditure budget for the month already!

And these from The Blush Inc at an earlier launch this month... I bought them in XS without realising the XS measurements were too tight! >_<

Luckily the ladies from The Blush Inc are super awesome and let me do an exchange provided I pay for 2-way postage, which is still a better deal than no exchange at all. (:

Can't wait can't wait!

Mr Postman please hurry...

Credits:
Intoxiquette Hibiki Floral Romper & Tinge of Surprise Collared Dress in Navy
The Blush Inc TBI Emboss Lace Pleated Dress in Navy & TBI Sofie Embroided Laser Cut Romper in White