hormones and selective insomnia are not my friends

It's that time of the month. That seasonal time of the year when there are parties and gatherings galore serving non too healthy party food washed down with alcoholic/carbonated beverages and usually lasts till the wee hours of the morning . Thought it was a post about PMS huh? Well, it's that AND about festive celebrations. The annoying after-effects that is.

Anyways, due to the late nights and a visit from dependable Aunt Flo, I have 3 frickin zits on my left cheek AND am suffering from a runny nose and the beginnings of a sore throat. So much for going low tech on the beauty front, lol. I post about beauty routines and skin improvements and BAM! THREE RED BUMPS appear on my cheek. Things like this always happen to me, I start saying something good happening and then the opposite will happen :D I've accepted it as my lot in life to be proven wrong by fate or whichever grand design that God has assigned to control these things :D However, it's not all fate/other grand design's fault. For the past 2 weeks I have been sleeping late, eating a lot of fried stuff and temporarily abandoned my exercise pledge.

Hence, no surprises on the face front nor am I shocked my immune system is so battered down. Just need a few days to recuperate and I'll, hopefully, God willing, be as good as new. Don't want to jinx myself further on this topic so see ya in the new year!

perhaps Barnes and Noble is trying to tell me......

to be more environmentally aware and less literary in 2009? Laughs, I'm not sure if that is the message they are trying to send to moi as I just received my package from them, which I ordered at the start of December 2008, and it turns out that I did not receive the much anticipated Homer's 'Iliad & The Odyssey' but instead I got 'The New Earth From Above: 365 Days'.



The Amazon.com editorial review from Booklist's Donna Seaman of 'The New Earth From Above: 365 Days' by Yann Arthus-Bertrand goes:

"Bird's-eye photography year-in-the-life books are perennial favorites, but famed aerial photographer Arthus-Bertrand is up to more than presenting 365 beautiful images. He has joined forces with a dozen conservationists to create a pictorial accounting of the impact of humankind on the planet. With brief essays on sustainable development, climate change, biodiversity, water, and global economics, and with vividly informative commentary accompanying each page-filling photograph, this is a unique illustrated eco-primer. The strikingly patterned and colorful aerial compositions reveal the unity of life on earth in all its glorious symmetry, contrasts, and complexity. Here are landscapes of breathtaking splendor, spectacular cities and archaeological sites, lively street markets and agricultural bounty. Here, too, are slums, refugee camps, and the devastations of drought, deforestation, industrialization, and war. Candid reports on harsh realities ranging from vanishing species to child exploitation are matched with such surprising revelations as the beauty of an aluminum scrap yard. Arthus-Bertrand's artistically documented whole-earth survey captures life's interconnectedness, the essence of ecology, and forms a map to a viable future."

I'm not entirely sure I'll want to go through the hassle of returning the book. Customer rights be damned. It took me nearly a month to receive the book itself and even then it was not delivered to my doorstep, a trip to the main post office was involved and my mum called to complain about the 5 lbs weight she had to lug around. I dunno B&N, your first impression ain't a good one despite all the attractive window dressing (read: customer pandering) you provide. Immediately after my book order was processed, I had tried to find a way to track my package but found, not only no way to do just that, but a lot of complaints on B&N's international delivery service. Some people did not even receive their packages! That got me worried but I gave B&N a chance. I was patiently waiting out the 21 business days delivery estimate and when I got the call from my mum about the package's arrival, I thought how lucky I was. Unfortunately, later in the evening, my sister sms-ed me and told me to gtalk as she had opened the package and although the invoice on the front read 'The Iliad & The Odyssey, Homer' or something to that effect, the book inside was 'The New Earth From Above: 365 Days'.

Sigh. I was all excited to get my leather bound Homer. My only consolation is the book I got was a hardcover and cost just as much as the full-price leather bound. Perhaps also I should be thankful that I received a package at all, there has been one other time when I did not receive my package at all from an eBay seller and after complaining and a supposed "re-sending" of my item, it has officially been one year since that purchase and I've chalked it up as a loss. Coupled with this delivery mishap, that would be the only 2 bad experience I have had with online shopping. I'm a great advocate of buying online and although I have had times when things go awry, there are still many honest-to-goodness retailers out there that have continually restored my faith and trust in the online way :)

Anyways, B&N, I am disappointed in you for failing to deliver what I paid money for but I haven't made my mind up if you fall into the 'Never Again' category. As for the book, maybe it's a good way for me to look back on Earth in 2007 when we are in 2030 and see how much the world has changed, God willing of course. I'd be in my fifties by then. I still want my leather-bound Homer though.

UPDATE: I ended up emailing B&N Customer Service to get them to send the book I paid for. This was done at the insistence of my sister who practically demanded I get them to right their wrong. I don't hold out high hopes for anything though as I have read many complaints on B&N's lack of customer care. Guess I can just count on my email to add to their impressive amount of screw-ups :)

i covet.....Naturalizer's Azle Sandals in Bronze

A warning passed out at shopaholics anonymous meetings that this temporarily rehabbing shopanista did not follow is to NEVER trawl the mall on your lunch break or you'll end up coveting things you can't exactly afford to buy! Anyways, there I was walking around the department store decorated with signs notifying everyone there was up to 70% discounts available, just browsing, and my eyes land on these gorgeous bronze sandals. I pick 'em up, my size, I put them on my feet, feels good, I turn to ask the SA how many percent off.....alas, I choose to covet the item from a brand that is NOT on sale. But the heart wants what it wants and my heart wants the Azle sandals. I realized after searching the web and googling till my arms are about to drop off that it's an old model. I can't seem to even find it on the Naturalizer site but I still can't help but covet it.

The design is very gladiator-inspired which makes it quite in-trend and the metallic bronze tone gives it a chic feel. I own 2 pairs of Naturalizer platform sandals so I can attest that they are one of the most comfortable footwear companies out there. I have broad feet and it is always difficult to find shoes that accommodate the unfortunate width of my feet while allowing a sense of style but from what I've experienced with Naturalizer, they have been able to create the best marriage between style and substance. Granted, these slides are actual 4 inch heels and not the platforms I'm used to but they just look so darn good! There's a pair calling out to me at the mall but at USD65, I'm quite reluctant to part with that much cash for an 'out-of-season' model. What makes it more unfortunate is I don't see them going on sale anytime.

I can't make another purchase after my big Mulberry buy so it looks like it's a pass on the shoes. For now. Ask me again in March when it's my birthday, I'd probably have bought it as a lil birthday gift to myself. If they are still in stock that is.

a lil celebratory gift for moi

I'm sooooo excited! As the post title suggests, I bought an 'I got promoted and a salary hike' gift for myself in the form of a 'Mulberry East West Bayswater' shoulder bag in raspberry! It cost me a little less than USD500 after a bit of discount as the Mulberry boutique was having an end-of-season sale. I love sales! I love bags! And I've always wanted to own a Mulberry Bayswater!

Since my sister was the actual person who was doing the shopping and got it for me, I don't have my grubby hands on it as yet. I'll have to wait for when she comes for a visit in January before I can fully appreciate my new purchase but it is exactly as depicted in the picture below:



Made out of spazzalato leather, it is a smaller take on Mulberry's iconic Bayswater. The East West Bayswater features the signature postman lock closure in an antique brass finish, an interior zipped pocket, an interior belt strap to enable widening for extra space (a feature I most appreciate), a unique high gloss shine to its leather and a handle drop of 7.5 inches which will enable me to have it comfortably slung on my shoulder or handily resting in the crook of my elbow. Other keywords I love to hear when describing leather goods are "soft to touch" as well as "will age naturally and become more characteristic with use" (although I hope this doesn't means scratches or stains easily).

Anyways, this will officially mark the stop of all bag-buying activities as I already bought a store shelf's worth this year alone. I declare 2009 to be a bag puchasing free year. Ok, so I've made this declaration before and it did not work out so well but maybe this time, with the vow made in a more public manner, I'll actually be able to keep to it. My pride and self-control is at stake.....unless, of course, a proposed sister bonding trip to gay Paree ends up happening then I will allow a teeny tiny LV caveat as it is supposedly THE place for a person to become a Louis Vuitton owner (not too sure what exactly dirt cheap means when it comes to LV but apparently Paris is where LV is considered just that). But otherwise, I hereby declare, 2009 as "Zlena's No Bag-Buying Year"

UPDATE:
My sis sent me some pics of my new purchase and I am totally loving the colour as well as the glossiness of the leather. I'm also really glad I went for the East West Bayswater instead of the normal sized Bayswater as the shape and size should suit my 5' 4" frame much better than the larger bag. Feast them eyes on the new addition to my burgeoning handbag collection, the raspberry Mulberry East West Bayswater.....



Simply stunning and completely gorgeous! Isn't it adorable how the second pic makes it seem as if its looking out the window and admiring the view?

one more rung up the ladder

For most companies, December is when the yearly employee performance evaluations are conducted and as I mentioned in one of my recent posts where I went a bit off my rocker, the place I am working at were in the midst of our project team's appraisal. Well we had our evaluation meeting last Friday and I am glad that I, and in the bigger picture, the rest of the team, have come away unscathed!

Considering the state of the global economy where a lot of industries are slashing their workforce, which incidentally were some of the issues brought up in my individual meeting, I am extremely blessed to be able to have gotten a promotion to a senior executive position with a 20% bump in pay. Receiving the official letter during the company Christmas/New Year team dinner, I felt overwhelmed by the gesture on the part of the company. Granted, in the grand scheme of things, our business remained relatively unaffected by the problems facing most other companies worldwide but I still took those factors into consideration and was not expecting much. I feel completely gratified, valued and as I recall the myriad of stresses I faced this past year, the end result has made all the hardship worth it.

In addition to the pay raises and for some, promotions as well, the company also announced that our annual company trip would still go ahead as planned. This elevated the already bouyant mood of the team to practically euphoric status with some individuals getting all silly with fist pumping and going all apey, lol. And there wasn't even any alcohol involved!

All in all, in the run up to the new year, I hope that this is a sign for more prosperous things to come, not only for myself but for the team and the company as a whole. I am grateful for the past year's experience in which I was assigned more work in the vein of project managerial duties as now it has provided me with a good practice run for the additional responsibilities I will undertake in the coming year. And on a more global scale, I sincerely hope that the global workforce is able to start recovering from the hits taken in the past year faced with a sluggish world economy.

I still do want my weekends to be uninterrupted though :D

cheap and adorable

Last weekend I was out and about around town, basically whiling away a Saturday afternoon trawling the markets when I found these completely adorable pair of sunnies. As are many other girls out there, I am always attracted to butterfly motifs and these pair of shades with the butterflies as the hinge of the frame totally caught my eye. Love the fact that the frame's colour fades to transparent with a brownish tint for the bottom-half under the lenses, the partnering of the brown-orangey frames and the gold hardware lends the shades an expensive retro feel but what ultimately won me over was its price tag of 3 dollars!



Once back home, I decided to google the makers, Kaluosha was written on the inside of the frame, and waddaya know.....they're manufactured in China. That solves the mystery of the bargain price, although the price listed on the website I looked at was for USD17.95. No matter, I'm not bothered about China-made products as long as its not food items. The design looks fantastic, the quality is great and it cost me all of three dollars. I like the name as well, Kaluosha sounds very Hawaiian, although I think that there is a Chinese meaning to the word. The only downside to it is the top of the butterfly wings like to get caught in my hair when I take them off. A small inconvenience I can live with.

My bottom line is, there's always a place for an extra pair of sunnies especially when the price is right :)

beauty is only skin-deep

One of the best things about being a girl is the beauty products available to cater to every imaginable beauty issue. My first ever brush with makeup was sneaking my mum's fire-engine red Chanel lipstick from her handbag and slapping a clown smile on my lips, completely not intentional, I was 7 and didn't have steady hands back then. The first time I felt like a 'grown-up' was my first facial cleanser experience when I was 12, it was my mum's avacado cream cleanser and boy, was that an exciting time in the bathroom. I thought being old enough to use, without permission, facial wash was a teenage girls' rite of passage. In hindsight, I should have treasured the days I did not have to bother with the whole cleanse, tone, moisturize routine, the days when being young meant the skin took care of itself without having the aids of cleansers, toners and moisturizers to keep it looking youthful. Yes, my mum's stuff featured prominently in my beauty experiments. Although I have 2 older sisters with, then, more current beauty products to 'borrow' from, it was my mother who never locked the door to her bedroom to keep a so-called annoying (unfairly named I might add) little sister from going through their stuff. Hence the products I experimented with was always for the 'advanced' age group.

My first cleanser, bought with my own allowance money, was from the Japanese brand Biore. Well, I believe it's a Japanese company. I thought I'd go in a different direction from my mum and settled on a gel based cleanser. Ice-cool, it was the tingly kind, the type that made your whole face tighten up like it's been seran wrapped. Of course, at that point in time, I was reading all these teen mags like Sugar and Bliss which advocated getting the right cleanser for your skin type. Back in my teen years my skin was of the more sebaceous nature, I was more prone to the oily t-zone conundrum. Not so much now. In my twenties, I have since discovered with age and more than a few trials and errors, the skin does not remember so much its youthful state.

When it comes to beauty products, I'm a brand loyalist by nature and although it's good for the companies of the brands that I buy, I can't always say it's the same for myself. I have a tendency to buy in bulk once I believe I've found my holy grail product range, especially cleansers, but its taken me till this year to realize that it's not the smartest move skin-wise nor financially. I have realized my skin has a low acceptance threshold when it comes to cleansers in particular. I can usually use a cleanser for a little over a year before my skin becomes, for lack of a better word, 'immune' to the cleanser's properties. I've also realized that I've been misdiagnosing my own skin-type, I kept on using products made for the oily/combination skin set so suitable in days of yore when I should have moved on to products for sensitive skin. I had a bout of adult acne on my chin area this year and for the life of me could not figure out what was causing it. Originally I thought that it was caused by a few dentist visits I made earlier in the year for some dental work I had done and all that face-touching, albeit gloved, was causing my chin to flare up but after a month of pimply recurrences, I figured there was something else up. I then started making slight changes in my diet, drank more than the pre-requisite 8 glasses of water, stopped using makeup, tried multiple types of acne solutions and still an annoying pimple will pop up on my chin. It's usually just the one every other week but the irksome thing about them was the lingering black mark it left which would take ages to heal.

Now, as I've previously believed I was more of an oily/combo skin person, I never used any type of moisturizer in my daily beauty routine as I was afraid it would aggravate my oil glands. The times I have dabbled with moisturizer, they have all been the oil-free kind and in a matter of 1 hour I would look not so matte. So, it is understandable that I am hesitant to slather any creams on my skin. However, at that point the acne marks were doing my head in. I figured I needed to put something on them to make them heal faster and that's when I threw caution to the wind and bought this dark spot lightening moisturizer from the Garnier Skin Naturals range. I also started slathering on base with spf to counter the sun's effects on my marks, it get's so hot here sometimes I don't doubt the sun factor contributed to the slow healing. In another fit of inspiration that hit me while I was browsing Walgreens during my summer holiday, I also ditched all acne cleansers and bought a USD2.95 bar of facial soap for sensitive skin by the brand Basis. And cue some revelation music when my face started calming down. For a while there I thought I'd have had to give up on my relationship with Benefit.

I still get the monthly zit caused by PMS but now with the pared down routine, it disappears faster. I don't even use any zit cream on them, I find that for me the cream/gels contribute to the pimple darkening effect, like a burn. From the countless of beauty/fashion magazines I've read, I knew the skin changes as you age and so I did not understand why I stubbornly clung to the same types of products for as long as I did. Perhaps it was an unwillingness on my part to accept change, even though the change was good as my skin condition has improved significantly without all the sebum control actions when using the acne solutions. I guess the overdrying effects of the acne products caused my oil glands to work overtime and that's the reason behind my un-matte look after a coupla hours. I kept Johnson & Johnson in business for quite a bit with my bulk purchasing of their oil-control sheets :D I also came to realize that it's not necessarily the expensive products that are going to help you, if it's not suitable, it just won't work. Drugstore brands are just as culpable, Clearisil can say you should appear clearer in 3 days but I trudged along for months and as time went on I felt it kept teasing me with the promises of clear skin but never quite getting me there. Well, that was my experience anyways. In the end it is just about figuring out what works for you, whether it cost USD26 or USD2.60 is not the issue.



Now, I just use the Basis soap which should last me till the middle of the next year as it's such a giant bar (how financially-savvy of me), Kiehl's Blue Herbal astringent (though I'm not sure I'll be sticking to them once my bottle finishes, I can't decide if it does anything or not) and the Garnier Skin Naturals moisturizer. For facial scrub which I try to do weekly, I just lather the Basis soap and sprinkle a 1/3 teaspoon of baking soda in the lather (a tip I got from Cosmo and reaffirmed when I read Camilla Morton's 'A Year In High Heels'). It works great at sloughing off dead skin as well as tightening pores. I also do a fortnightly clay mask and a regenerating tissue mask every other week using products from Garnier (I'll always find a brand to be loyal to though I don't do the bulk-buying so much anymore). I'm hoping that I can keep to this routine for more than a while.

someone to read.....imogen edward-jones

Author of the extremely entertaining Babylon series of which there are currently five books; Hotel Babylon, Fashion Babylon, Air Babylon, Beach Babylon and the latest Pop Babylon, Imogen Edward-Jones collaborates with individuals from the specific industries (hotel, luxury vacation, fashion, airline and music) for an insider look at what goes on behind the curtains of each trade.

Each book runs along a timeline. In Fashion Babylon, the account follows the trials and tribulations of a designer's life for a period of one year. It covers, among the 'behind the scenes' ongoings, the design process, material procurement, fashion week, the process of choosing models, etc. Hotel Babylon has the story played out within a 24-hour period detailing all sorts of believable and unbelievable shenanigans that go on in a five-star hotel. Beach Babylon allows a 2-week glimpse into the life of a beach resort manager where things are not always sun, surf and sand and money is definitely no issue. Next up we have Air Babylon which follows 48 hours in the life of a budget airline ground staff, the airline at which he works and the airport he works in. The new book, Pop Babylon, which I have not read but will definitely do so soon, is described as a look into the going ons in the music industry via the makings of a boy-band.



Let me just clarify, each book's protagonist is fictional but the events related are based on true happenings, hence, all the Babylon books' bylines include '... & Anonymous' aside from Imogen Edward-Jones's name. It also needs to be said that the occurrences did not necessarily happen all at the same establishment but are more a collection of anecdotes told by the industry insiders anonymously credited.

These books appeal to me as they offered me a glimpse of what is behind the glitz and glamour. Having a sibling who has 10 years experience in the hotel industry, I believe the stories written in 'Hotel Babylon' as they mirror some of the anecdotes my own sister has related to me. And the discussions I've had with friends in the airline business has somewhat reaffirmed the tales in 'Air Babylon'. I enjoyed getting some insider knowledge and generally believe the stories in the books, regardless if some creative license was used in to amp up the drama.

I can't wait to get my hands on 'Pop Babylon'!

what's not to love about lazy sundays

That's the kind of day this has been. I am now feeling less manic after the last post. Today has been good for me. No phone calls, no work interruptions, just a whole day of nothingness :)

As on most Sunday mornings, I woke up early today to do my weekly load of laundry. It's a communal laundry room and we practice a first come first dibs kinda rule. As this is the land of perpetual sun, our building does not have any dryers so I need to do the laundry early in order to milk all that sunny goodness for all its worth. While waiting for the clothes to be done, I'll usually try go back to bed for about an hour, else I'll catch up on the news, digitally of course. Once my alarm rings and I've gotten the laundry hung, however much I'd love to continue catching up on my Zzzzz's, my body is usually awake by now and I know it's a lost cause to try to trick myself into sleeping in. Today I got my laundry done by 8 a.m and after giving myself a breakfast of 1 blueberry muffin and a cup of hot choclate, I decided to treat myself to some tv extravaganza. I have been queuing up the entire Desperate Housewives Season 5 episodes and so for half a day I had a DH marathon.

At about 12 p.m, I'm done with 7 epis and am realizing I am hungry. I run down to the kitchen, ransack around and I realize that I need to make use of some romaine lettuce I had bought, before it renders itself inedible. Salad it is then. I make myself a big bowl of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, onions and a grilled chicken sausage topped off with one third of french dressing and a lot of parmesan cheese. *Grins*. I attempted to be healthier food-wise but well, I also want my food to taste good. At least I'm loading up on plenty of veggies, let's not think about the amount of dressing OR cheese that went in. Lunch was washed down with a glass of low-fat milk.

It's now a lil bit past 1 and I decide to do some web crawls. While surfing, I fell asleep and managed to nap for about an hour and a half before waking up at 3-ish p.m. I'm now feeling a choclate pang coming up but what's left in my hershey's choclate mix is not to my fancy, I decide to make a choclate ice blended drink instead. With 12 pieces of Whoppers, 1 mini Hersheys bar, a packet of hot choc mix and 2 handfuls of ice. Oh, the heavenly taste of ice cold malty choclate goodness going down my throat was beyond delicious. Took in my laundry and switched on my Wii. Did an hour and a half of WiiFit and a housemate of mine pops by to give me some tea, banana fritters, yummy!

After a long leisurely shower, I tackle the day's laundry in front of the tv. By the time I'm done folding and arranging my closet, I am beyond lazy to think of dinner so I nibble on some biscuits while continuing my relationship with the tube. And now here I am, typing up my non-descript day before I nod off to sleep.

There's nothing like a lazy sunday :)

morning meetings on saturday mornings

Bleurgh. That's the only word/expression I can think of that truly describes my feelings on work meetings on weekends. At 10:00 hours this Saturday, I and members of the team will meet up to discuss a performance appraisal exercise the management assigned us. Yes, it is that time of the year, PA Time. Where all good deeds are rewarded and all sub-par deeds are duly noted.

I realize that there is a serious issue with unemployment the world over and don't get me wrong, I am completely grateful to have a steady job I feel completely secure about but.....sometimes it all feels like it's too much. I dunno, maybe cos we are in the midst of the final stretch in this mega project and certain aspects are not going the way it should and I'm completely stressed but for the past coupla days, I have been feeling mighty resentful of all the personal time my job has taken away from me.

It's like a slideshow in my mind's eye, the times I have gone home and had my boss call me to discuss one thing or another, this occurs on practically a daily basis for the last 6 months, it's like any time I have is completely dedicated to this job. I go home and the first thing I do is check my work email. Then I reply my work emails. I have not been able to get a good nights sleep in ages. I have trouble falling asleep itself. I go to sleep with my work laptop right next to my bed, opened during the night so I can receive the emails incoming from different parts of the world. I know it's unhealthy to bring your work into your rest area but it's unavoidable, if I don't, I'll only end up walking up and down from the study to the bedroom during the night. My first waking action is to shake my mouse to wake the screen and check all the emails. And reply. I now officially resent emailing. It takes up half my days.

I love my job, I love having a job, I love all the opportunities this job has afforded me, I love the fact that I had a hand in effecting change in a foreign country but I am seriously burnt out. I don't want this job to take over my entire life. I just want my ME time back! I want work to leave my weekends and some of my weeknights alone!

'K, rant over :)

woe is me.....

Or it could be simply a blessing in disguise. I have officially stopped self-gifting for December. My credit card got canceled :P Yup, right after my last online purchase at Benefit, the next day I received a disturbing text from my mother telling me to cease and desist on all credit based purchases. With no further explanation. That's my mum, ladies and gents. Leaves you hanging :)

Of course this shard of information is not enough and has me going all Curious George. After a text request for a follow-up went unanswered so a slightly costly call to home ensued. I call my mother's mobile and get my sister. Figures. My mum assigned her sms duties, she was in the midst of composing the story. Anyways, turns out my dad's credit card got cloned by some devious humanoids out there. The credit card company called, after the fact, and enquired about a hefty charge totaling $1084 for marketing products. What in hell's name are marketing products? If it were me I'd go crazy on more mainstream retail items.

Anyways, the card I use for my online sprees is a supplementary of my dad's cloned card, which leads us to the blanket cancelation. Just to be clear, I may be a supplementary but all charges are settled personally in full (we are a family that do not believe in minimum monthly payments, that's how THEY get you, with the interest you accumulate), my dad is no crutch. As much as I was concerned about the whole card cloning issue, I was mighty relieved I got all my online shopping done and dusted prior to the incident (all ordered items are presently at some stage of shipment).

I only own the one card as I strongly believe multiple credit card ownership is a sure-fire way of digging your own financial grave, which I'm sure many people can attest to that as a fact since credit card debt is one of the biggest issues facing Americans, and perhaps, consumers around the world at large. With the temporary loss of my good friend Mastercard, I am now able to be free of the temptation of online shopping for the rest of this month, well actually, till I receive my replacement card next week.

Hence, no more credit shopping for me, it's all cash from here baby, all 390 dollars of it!

today we celebrate a.....

Happy International Human Rights Day! Yes, today is the day to celebrate the universal human right: to live and to do so peacefully. This day was declared to raise awareness of human rights and of those who are deprived of these rights.

A lil explanation, courtesy of Wikipedia (accuracy of information not guaranteed).......

"The date was chosen to honour the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights. The commemoration was established in 1950, when the General Assembly invited all states and interested organizations to celebrate the day as they saw fit."

Anyway, for as long as we have and will occupy this earth, there are many still out there who do not have access to the most basic of human rights such as clean water, food and shelter. Hopefully, we can all do our own small part, contribute to make a small difference. One way to do this is through the World Food Programme Feed Bag which is a product of the United Nations World Food Programme, and was designed to raise awareness and funds for hungry children. Each FEED bag sold (USD60) will provide a school year of meals for one child in need and give them the hope of an education and a regular meal.

Ok, off my soap box now. On to more frivolousness :)

gift of self-giving, part 3

I'm really getting in the groove of this self-gifting trip I'm currently on. I just came off the Benefit Cosmetics website where I laid down 76 of my hard earned american dollars on a beauty self-gift pack worth 1 c-note and 1 dollar. All bought for me, myself and I. My love for all things in pretty packaging is a blessed curse and Benefit has me wrapped around their pinky finger. Benefit, is a bene fit for me! Laughs, it was worth a shot, I always think it, corny as it is :D

Like many sites I sign up with, Benefit always have, on any given week, special online offers and today I discovered in my inbox, a generous virtual gift certificate worth USD25. The catch? I have to spend a minimum of 100 bucks worth of products to be eligible for said discount. No problem. I have not purchased any major makeup stuff since March of this year, aside from 2 CoverGirl Amazemints and some Garnier base/moisturiser and am due for some restocking in the beauty category.

Now, if it appears as if I'm buying just because of the online deals, well, in a sense that's true. I would probably have waited till next year to get the stuff I needed as I'm pretty at the limit of my budget on the personal expenses front this month but in my book of shopping do's & don'ts, you don't turn down a free cash gift. Hence, a deal's a deal and so I went to town shopping, in my own small way, at the Benefit site.

Last month, I had been looking around my makeup stash to see what needed to be replenished and saw my reflection at the bottom of my Dandelion blush when I opened the cute box, my Benetint was at the point of empty and my Some Kind-A Gorgeous foundation faker is nearing the end of its foundation faking days. So, I had a set list of the products I would have to get and with that in mind, off I navigated the browser to the wonderfully girly world of Benefit.

The first thing I put in my shopping cart was the Best of Benefit: Beauty Uppers, which is a special holiday gift set worth 86 US dollars containing a full size Dandelion all over face powder, a full size bottle of Benetint and a full size tube of the newly enhanced with spf, You Rebel Lite tinted moisturiser. All this at a cost of a further 15% discounted price of 58 dollars from the listed price of USD68! Woohoo! The set had 2 of the products I wanted and an added bonus of the tinted moisturiser, which I had always wanted to try but thought too pricey. I was damn happy to get ahold of this set as usually around the season of giving, most gift set items on the site are sold out.

While I was putting the Beauty Uppers set into the cart, the site subtly pointed out that their liquid foundation, Non Fiction, was going for 50% off the retail price. Now, in the coming days, there are multiple invites to gatherings and although usually I am not a heavy makeup wearer, I thought, hell, might as well widen my beauty repertoire to include not just a foundation faker, but real, honest to god, liquid foundation. A girl's gotta learn to put it on sometime right and it might as well be at a price of 15 dollars, a price comparable to any drugstore version foundation. After deliberating between warm beige and warm sand for my light olive skin tone, I finally went with warm sand and into the cart went Non Fiction.

Now, my total was just USD73. I'm 27 dollars short for the gift cert redemption. What luck that the Some Kind-A Gorgeous weighed in at USD28. I am now 1 dollar over the minimum purchase requirement and ecstatic to checkout my fabulous total of 5 fantastic products at a total cost of USD76. Now, if my math is correct, and it usually is, had I bought just the 3 products I initially wanted; Benetint, Dandelion and Some Kind-A Gorgeous, it would have costed me a total of 84 dollars. Instead, I have 5 full size products and a savings of USD8 from what it would have cost me with 3 items. And now I'm done makeup shopping for 2009. How cool is that? Completely and utterly worth every cent I'm gonna have to scrimp on this month's groceries. Why couldn't math in school had been something like this?

My general beauty routine does not entail a full face of makeup every day but on the occasions I do have use for makeup I like to look youthful-ler than my already youthful face and as au naturel as possible (basically not looking washed out after a late night), that's why I am a big proponent of Benefit Cosmetics. I believe Benefit delivers for me in terms of quality and price. The packaging makes it fun, it's all soooooo pretty!

for laughs anytime and a perfect way to spend your weekend.....

visit PassiveAggressiveNotes. I was doing my usual trawl of amazon when I happened on a book in my recommended list titled 'Passive Aggressive* Notes: Painfully Polite and Hilariously Hostile Writings'. It's basically a collection of, most times guaranteed, laugh out loud funny, intentional or otherwise, notes from, to quote the site, "shared spaces the world over".

Amazon.com's review describes the book as.....

"Voyeuristic entertainment, part group therapy, Passive Aggressive Notes offers a fascinating look at the all-too-familiar frustrations of embattled office drones, apartment dwellers, parents, and pet owners everywhere. This curated collection combines dozens of outrageous, never-before-seen notes as well as favorites from Passiveaggressivenotes.com a 2008 Webby Award Winner and the official "Best Blog" of the South by Southwest Interactive festival."

So, there's a website, an award-winning website at that! I'm a complete sucker for award-winning everythings (I believe awards validate the awesomeness of a product/service/anything) so thought I'd go check it out and I have not been able to do anything else since. Just thought I'd post the humble beginnings of the site before mosey-ing back for more laughs. I especially loved this post on muscle milk, something I had no idea even existed. Read the comments left as well, they are equally as entertaining, I spent close to 20 minutes just laughing about muscle milk!

A note from the author and site creator, Kerry Miller.....

"It all began with a first date...and not a particularly good date, either. Apparently, things between this guy and his roommate had gotten so bad that they now communicated almost exclusively via Post-it note. Ah, yes, I said, I know those notes well--my current apartment (where I lived with three other roommates) had seen its share, most of them about the presence of unwashed dishes in the sink. They were usually signed with love; they were never addressed directly. I should start collecting them, I joked--put them on the Internet or something. Now that would be passive-aggressive.

Later that night--after it became clear that our relationship wasn't going to progress beyond standard small talk--I decided to do just that. And unlike my roommates' approach to dish-washing, the response to passiveaggressivenotes.com was enthusiastic, immediate, and overwhelming. Within weeks of the site's launch, thousands of notes poured in from shared bathrooms, kitchens, cubicles, and parking lots. (Wrote one reader: "Instead of a single note, can I submit an entire person? Like my mother?") This book represents the funniest and most outrageous of those submissions."

If you enjoy the site and want more, the book is currently priced at USD11.16 on Amazon.com

listening to.....

After my last post on music, I figured I seriously needed to tweak my playlist with more recent tunes, grow out of my musical comfort zone so I've been listening to a bunch of people especially a lot of the new female singers; the popular Katy Perry, Marie Digby, Sara Bareilles and then the not as mainstream Kate Voegele, Kate Nash and Tristan Prettyman.

One thing I've noticed with the current crop of these young female songstresses is how almost identical their sounds are which has me slightly confused as they are all out to be different from one another. Katy Perry, Kate Nash and Lily Allen all have the same vibe although I have a marginal preference leaning towards Kate Nash because her songs are more honest lyrically, it's not out to provoke you by being controversial ala Katy Perry nor quite as rude as Lily Allen but she is telling the story of what a typical young woman goes through, she's relatable. Same goes with Marie Digby, Sara Bareilles, Kate Voegele and Tristan Prettyman. Pretty much coming in from the same genre, it gets quite mind boggling at times.

I've also caved in and listened to Coldplay's Viva La Vida as well as Simple Plan's self titled album. I have a slight dislike towards Chris Martin (I believe it stems from my dislike of Gwyneth Paltrow) and have been prejudiced towards Coldplay's music prior to this but being accosted everywhere by one or all of the 3 single releases (Viva La Vida, Violet Hill & Lost) for the past half year, I have been subtly brainwashed into liking them. The song Generation by Simple Plan is such an anthem song, it's catchy which got me to listen to the rest of the album and I found that they are alright as well.

I have also taken a spin in Jason Mraz's rocket. Ok, that's a take on his album 'Waiting For My Rocket To Come'. I love his song 'The Remedy (I Won't Worry)' and the other 2 singles 'You and I Both' and 'I'll Do Anything' are catchy, sing-along tunes as well. I've also gotten the soundtrack to the movie 'Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist' and have been listening along but haven't really pinned down any favourites besides the song 'Xavia' by The Submarines.

And I got the concert recording of Linkin Park's 'Road To Revolution: Live In Milton Keynes'. As much as I love you guys, LP, I have to agree with some of the reviews on Amazon that this was simply lacking in the vocals department. I have heard Chester on form in the 'Live In Texas' and 'Collision Course' recordings as well as at the Rock AM Ring last year but at Milton Keynes he simply sounded quite flat-ish on the rock-out meter. Still pretty rocking, it's just when you've heard him at his best, kinda hard to swallow sub-par Chester. Mike is not without blame either. Perhaps they were exhausted from the extensive touring they had been doing. Whatever the reason, this was not Linkin Park at their best vocally. Rob B (the hardest working drummer in the plethora of current rock bands), Mr Hahn, Phoenix and Brad, you guys were business as usual! Regardless, LP, you are still my number 1!

I still have a few albums I want to get before doing a complete playlist overhaul. I really want to get Oasis's new album 'Dig Out Your Soul'. 'What's The Story (Morning Glory)' still remains in my top ten favourite albums of all time so I have high expectations of this latest offering. The Verve's 'Forth' seems a good bet as well, along with The Killers's new one 'Day and Age'. I've also heard good rumblings on Keane's 'Perfect Symmetry' but I'm not really sure if it's really my cup of tea, might give them a listen anyway. And who can leave out Guns N' Roses 'Chinese Democracy', that's a default listen.

Ok, I have my work cut out for me if I want to come out with a new playlist by the year's end. It's a tough job!

gift of self-giving, part 2

I simply admit, I am a cyber shopaholic, I love the hassle-free checkouts, the fact that I'm making purchases lying on my bed wearing my PJs, the online only discounts, I could go on and on.....but I won't.

I think anyone who hasn't tried it before, should really give it a go cos there are many bargains galore waiting for the right person to snap it up. A bookaholic like me can get great deals from Barnes & Noble for instance. I recently registered with them and since then they have sent me emails on their fantastic store, brick-and-mortar and online, promos (not such a good thing if you dislike being inundated by emails on a weekly basis, to their credit, they are very inobtrusive). I finally bit at the bait when I got a 50% off deal on one title out of their leather-bound book collection. Always wanted to own a leather bound book and here is Barnes & Noble offering me that opportunity for a mere USD9.98 after discount.

The difficult part was choosing which book I wanted. There were a few selections in there that I had my heart set on but since I was receiving the discount on only one title and since I am using the balance of my L.A.M.B. fragrance purchase, I could only spring for one book (surprise, surprise, I do have some modicum of self-control). I narrowed it down to 3 choices, Jane Austen : Seven Novels, The Iliad & The Odyssey and Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales.

First dismissed was Jane Austen's Jane Austen : Seven Novels. Out of the seven tales bounded (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Lady Susan), I already owned 3. Granted, none were leather-bound but the Penguin paperbacks served its function, the stories were read and enjoyed. So, no Jane Austen for me, I'll just have to get the remaining four individually.



So now it's down to Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales and Homer's epic tales The Iliad & The Odyssey. My English upbringing means I grew up on a steady diet of fairy tales (with a liberal sprinkling of the 'Jane & Peter, Peter & Jane' books) and the volume offered by Barnes & Noble had a collection of over 200 tales ranging from the popular; The Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel & Gretel and Snow White to the obscure; The Juniper Tree, Clever Gretel, King Thrushbeard, and The Singing, Soaring Lark. And this is not the watered down version adapted by Disney. This volume contains the tales in its true gritty, dark form. What better way to revisit childhood tales as an adult right? The point is, reading the original, twisted version should leave me less disturbed now then it would have when I was a wee lass of six shouldn't it?



Then we have two epics of the ancient world, The Iliad & The Odyssey, written between the eighth and ninth century B.C. This edition employs Samuel Butler's classic translations of both texts. As it should be since I am not well-versed in ancient Greek, nor any Greek for that matter. For me, this would be a coup. I have always wanted to read Homer and to have both tales bound in one book, is simply magnifico. They are both on my '100 Must Reads Before I Die' list. Well, it's more like I pilfered the list of books from somewhere online. But I digress, Homer in a leather-bound volume would be more inspirational than Homer in paperback. Leather-bound sets the mood for tales of ancient past (is this an oxymoron?), of nations at war and of the courage and compassion of heroic soldiers, of voyages of self- and otherwise discoveries. This is a book that will sit proudly on my shelf till I receive the call to read it.

Lol, at least I'm honest. I have a few classic reads that I've bought eons ago and am only getting round to them. Sometimes, you need the wisdon of age (read: experience) to better understand a tale. I'm in the midst of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and if I had read it a few years earlier, I don't believe I would have made the connections I discovered reading the tale now. There are many parallels we can draw from that story, written in 1939, that mirrors what we are facing today, it is unbelievable. Anyways, my point is, it's nice if the Homer tales were already on my bookshelf should I finally be decreed ready to read them.

Which to choose? I put both in the shopping cart but only one will leave the Barnes & Noble warehouse to be delivered to moi. Both volumes are classics which I would be honoured to own, both would serve to entertain and educate but which will be triumphant? I picked Homer, it was the thicker of the two :D

gift of self-giving, part 1

Yes, tis the season to be giving and I am always in the mood for self-gifting. I'm stuck at work during these holidays so I figure I have carte blanche to make moi feel better with some really great prezzies to myself.



Thus far, I have gotten myself the gift of fragrance. I purchased Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B. 100 ml EDP. It's been released for some time but it retails for USD70 methinks for the 100 ml bottle and I was not about to spend that much on a celebrity scent, no matter how often I loved to sniff the samplers in my magazines. For quite some time I'd be walking around with L's scent constantly at the tip of my nose.

Anyways, there's this great beauty products site that I always go to which offers great deals on numerous name brands, it's called Strawberrynet, and they always have all sorts of great promo discount to encourage you to spend money (hehehe, it's true!). For example, every time you make a purchase at the site, each purchase will receive a loyalty bonus discount, from 1%-10%. It starts out at 1% from your first buy and the more times you buy from them, the larger the discounts gets. On any given purchase you can receive 5% off if you buy 3 or more products. And get this, shipping is FREE to anywhere in the world for skincare and make up AND for all fragrance items only 10% charge of sales (max USD 15) is added for delivery. If you haven't been buying from them, they'll actually send you a special email asking you to come visit the site and they'll give you additional 'please-come-back-and-spend-your-dosh' discounts. This is on top of the sometimes already discounted prices of the products and the checkout discount you automatically receive with purchase.

So, I recently got an email of a huge fragrance blowout Strawberrynet were having, between 40%-60% off, and thought I'd have a looksie, see if Gwen's L was on the market. Lo and behold (laughs, always wanted to write that!), it so was and it was going for 40% off and would ultimately cost me USD42. That's a total savings of USD28 I'm able to spend on something else! But, I held off, I figured I still have my signature Lancome Oui and Hilary Duff's With Love to finish. Perhaps, sensing my hesitation, the marketing geniuses at Strawberrynet sent me another email giving me an extra 7.5% off on my total purchase. Now, I can't keep on refusing a semi gift-horse can I? I'm being offered discount upon discount and if I don't take the proverbial bull by the horns I will end up L.A.M.B-less.

Short story long, I'm one fragrance up and happy to have come away spending a mere USD42.21 after all discounts were applied! The savings I made on this purchase, I'm using on a Barnes & Noble leather-bound book purchase where I'll receive a 50% discount. I'll blog about that once it's through. Till my next buy.....

seriously testing self-control

Aaaaarrrgggghhhhh! I am completely frustrated with Target! How can I err on the side of frugalism (who knows if this is even a word?) when they keep coming up with frickin awesome collaborations? And all due to be released around Christmas.....I am at the end of my small tether on sanity, shopping-wise.

Fantabulous accessories brand Hayden-Harnett AND the stupendous Thai-born Thakoon launching their Target lines at around the same time is really a double blow to my fragile hold on my December budget. I could probably swing a piece from the Thakoon line but I don't believe I can justify anymore purchases on the handbag front. In this year alone I have bought 12 pieces, yup, count 'em, TWELVE, and I just cannot, simply can't, allow another purchase without either selling off some from my existing collection. Which I do not foresee happening, I love each and every piece I currently own. Plus, most of this year's purchases are replacements for the 5 fantastic and disgustingly underused handbags that I lost to some kind of freaky peeling effect eating away the exteriors, DESPITE the fact they were all in their individual dust bags, which I discovered during a brief holiday back to the motherland.

But HH have come up with some enchanting pieces that bewitch my sensibilities! I love four pieces from the Target line; the Chain bag, the Hobo, the Double Flap and the Flight tote as seen in the collage above. Its gorgeousness lies in its simplicity. Like, I love the marriage of clean lines with the funky hardware detail on the Chain bag. That it reminds me of the MJ Stam which I covet and wrote about is only a positive in my book. The HH Hobo looks to me as if it's the delectable love child of the edgy Balenciaga City and the magnificent Foley+Corinna Jet Set tote, if handbags were ever to reproduce, and I'm always on the lookout for a decent evening bag and the Double Flap could totally be a contender seeing as you could carry it as a large clutch and it also has a chain strap for those hands-free moments. The Flight tote's appeal is in the fact that it's called a Flight tote. I'm assuming it should cater to being an air travel piece which I'm always on a quest to find the best option when I'm travelling. My current air travel situation is I carry 2 handbags, a small hobo to stuff the essentials like the wallet and travel documents and a slightly larger satchel to haul all my in-flight entertainment junk such as choccy goodness, facial wipes, book, magazine, Zen, etc. Why don't I stuff all in the satchel? Cos then it'll be a hodge-podge of things that will render the travel necessities (i.e: passport & boarding pass) unaccessible and have me digging around endlessly for 'em at the boarding gate/immigration. I dislike when I'm caught behind people holding up the lines rooting around their person trying to find their passport/passes when they know they should have it in a handy place so I don't do it myself. However, since I have not seen any images of the Flight tote's interior, I will reserve further gushings till then.

Thakoon, Thakoon, you feed my love of stripey tees! In a glance, I was drawn to the image of the gray/yellow tee. I know, it's just a striped tee, what's the big deal but I have an obsession with the stripes. Also loved the black pleated dress, could see it being a work piece. The Shibori Pleated-Front Tie-Waist 60s-ish inspired dress seems like a great option for Spring, very much romantic picnic at Central Park attire and the Shibori tunic is another cute piece that I'd wear paired with some black capris strolling down the streets grocery shopping OR as a beach cover-up, either way, it's versatile.

So, there you have it. All the lovely things I would love to own which will be arriving at a Target near you. Writing about them has been cathartic, sort of semi-purged the urge to click on the 'Buy Now' button once it's released. Even if I do cave and decided to get something, I'll most likely wait till the tail-end of the line as Target usually does crazy markdowns. The only full-priced item I got from Target was the Anya Hindmarch large hobo cos they were practically sold out everywhere and I didn't want to wait till around now to get it for fear there won't be any in stock left. Till then, the budget is safe.....

i sooooooo covet.....the smartphone that puts all pretenders of the throne to shame, Nokia N97

iPhone, schmiPhone. I will own this! The Nokia N97 (background harp music plays)! A work of technological art. The full QWERTY keyboard, the touchscreen, the 32/48 FRICKIN GIGABYTES OF ONBOARD STORAGE! I'm soooooo ready to dump my iPhone and I don't even have one! Yes, exclamation points are a must as I nearly gave in to the iPhone mania but now....the mobile phone gods, Nokia, have smiled upon me, wielded their mighty Neptune-like pitchfork thingy and saved me from my weakening will (hehehe, I could so turn this into something dirty but I won't AND am obviously making no sense right now as my brain is still focusing on the pretty, pretty, pretty mobile phone!) and the phenomena that is the iPhone blackhole.

Ok, dramatics and aversion to all things bandwagon-y aside, I sooooooo covet this phone! It had me at slide-out QWERTY keyboard as I'm not really a haptic kinda gal, I like using my opposable thumbs to type my sms-es, emails, web adds, etc. Plus, I'm used to the QWERTY on my E61i and can't quite see myself go stylus all the way. The 3.5 inch touchscreen with a 16:9 aspect ratio comparable to that of the iPhone does not hurt at all. Extolling further the virtues of the amazing N97, a 5-megapixel camera with...yea...dual LED flash! Beat that all other smartphone pretenders!

Bad things about the phone that I basically don't care about...the weight...I don't care that at 150g, it is heavier than the iPhone by a smidge. I carry a handbag full of heavy crap, a few more grams than usual will not pose a problem for me. I'm on an exercise trip high right now, it can be my hand weight! Not as slim as the iPhone? No problemo, the better to grip the thing while I'm curling my biceps, triceps, whatevs. And I can also do without the multitouch gestures, you know the pinching the screen action the iPhone can do, boohoo, such a loss :P

Riiight, again, let's get back on track and quit with the childish passive-aggressive behavior towards inanimate objects. (Adopts serious tone and takes deep breath)...The Nokia N97 also comes with 32/48 GB onboard memory (reports vary but the baseline is plentiful gigabyte goodness!), microSD card expansion slot, built-in GPS, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, a battery life of 499 hours on standby and 270 minutes of video playback including the ability to play flash vids which currently eludes the iPhone! And finally deserving honourable mention, another great trait the N97 possesses is it's built upon the ever-reliable Symbian platform!

The cost for all this techie goodness? A whopping 550, my friends! Euros! Laughs, yea, that's still not enough to deter me...I will own this!

P.S: Expect the N97 in the first half of 2009....can't wait!