the cotton on love continues.....

I am not going to say much. I'm just going to post the images I got of the stuff I bought and that will be that :D

Been looking for a shaping mini skirt slip - found in the sales section for a lil less than 10 bucks. Only clothing item I got.

Fell in love with this watercolour eiffel 15x15 canvas print when I saw it. Became obsessed to own it when I saw the price - on sale for $2.60 :D

In keeping with the vive le paris theme, I also got the above retro photo canvas 28x28 print of the eiffel tower. I feel the angle of the "shot" is as if we're peeking up (is this even possible????) at the eiffel tower through springtime Paris flora lending the print a whimsical air. Hehe, arty prententions become me I guess :D The price to experience this whimsy up close and personal? $1.95 :D

Also continuing on with the "places i've set foot in" decor trend I've been adopting of late, came across this old London map 50cmx40cm print - something similar to the NYC map magnets I got. It was pricier when I made my first Cotton On purchase last time but now, it was going for a song at $1.95 :D

I was actually sharing this purchase with my bestie who is currently holidaying with me right now to accrue enough items for free shipping to Homeland. So after I chose the stuff I wanted and she did too, we were still some ways off from free shipping. I decided to choose a couple more prints to help achieve our goal :D

Decided to get this very tres chic watercolour-style perfume bottle 15x15 canvas print. It was going for the same price as the watercolour le tour eiffel.

Then I went for another canvas print. I'm usually not a "hearts" kinda girl cos it just feels silly to me and like I'm some kind of sappy romantic - which outwardly I'm not. But the twee girl in me is :D Anyways, it was a nice print, not mushy. The 40x50 print was of a heart shaped out of floral motifs which I think gives it an "english country" vibe, hehe. This was slightly pricier than the others at $4.90.

Last but not least, to tip it over the edge so we could get the free shipping at exactly the minimum amount required, I decided to get this NY Soho 2012 spinout calendar. Again, keeping with the whole "been there" thing I've started doing. This was cheap - just 98 cents :D

Perhaps after the year is over, I can use some of the pictures in the calendar as wall art :) In total, my haul from Cotton On this time around was an astounding $23.20, hehehe. I love sales!

DISCLAIMER:
All images belong to Cotton On. I am borrowing them to enhance my "journal" entry :D

f21 holiday shopping

As is the norm, my downfall was a 50% off coupon code. HOLIDAY50, you rascal! Was doing pretty well before you came into my inbox.....

Putting aside my rather crazy behavior of addressing completely virtual inanimate "objects" as if they are living, breathing beings (which in this case is the coupon code :D), I got really good deals and finally scored the absolutely most perfect blouse in mint green. FINALLY!

The first 4 items in the picture were from the sales section which is where the additional 50% off code was applied. It all started with the mint green high neck top. I've been getting a bunch of green clothing but never found a style and the right shade of mint green till I saw that blouse. It was going for less than a tenner and with the discount code, I got it for $4.99. Which lead me to getting the same blouse in an eggshell/beige shade. I then decided to get the hot pink lace maxi slip which I'm going to pair with my bought-eons-ago Walmart Norma Kamali grey maxi as styled in the pic. This I got for the slightly lower at $4.49. Lastly, I got the cute knitted geo slippers for wearing to bed. I've been taking better care of my feet lately, slathering on Soap & Glory's Heel Genius to soften up my battle-weary feet :D. These will serve well as sleep socks to keep the moisture locked for longer. These went for a mere $2.99

But of course, I abhor paying shipping fees and hence decided to spend more money to avoid that fate :D I was looking around for items which I definitely liked that were going for a bargain. I didn't simply want to get things to round up the total to the minimum 50 bucks. The first thing I saw was the chiffon maxi skirt in coral. I thought it was a really pretty shade. The RRP for this one was $12.50 - is that not a score? Then I spotted the drawstring harem pants I have in red but this time they had it in basic black. I totally jumped on that. I love those red pants, I think they are a very flatterng cut for coloured pants and have often wondered, when I look at the F21 inventory and spot these pants, why they never had it in black. WISH GRANTED! Snapped that up.....then snapped up another pair in royal blue :D I always did admire the blue and when I first decided to get the pants, it really was a toss-up between the royal blue and red. I picked red then and don't regret it but now I can get the royal blue to nicely round off the total.

Total charged to credit card was a fair $58.96 for all 7 items. They've shipped and are in Portland but yet to be delivered to my address there. I will be waiting for January to roll around before I ship these home as I'm coming into some substantial drugstore dollars next month. Have been trying to figure out if I want to use it onpractical stuff or frivolous stuff :D

DISCLAIMER:
All images belong to Forever 21. I am borrowing them to provide some nice visuals for my "journal" entry :D

the realization just hit me.....

As is getting to be the norm when it's close to my time of the month, I suffer from a bit of mild insomnia. I will feel real sleepy but when all the lights are out and I'm lying down on my back, I end up staring at the ceiling and thoughts will start overwhelming my brain. Seems like I can't be relaxed.

Last night, there I was, in bed, feeling tired and sleepy but again, the moment the back of my head hits my mattress (since I don't really sleep atop pillows, I like to squeeze my head in the space between pillows, hehe), and I was thinking about my friend who is coming up today to spend the week with me. And that led to me thinking about the holiday I had to cancel because of my whole work thing that initially was about something else but now has evolved into a smaller yet still problematic thing. And I felt that stab of disappointment about having to cancel and simply stay here in this city.

I was thinking that even though I took leave, it just wasn't gonna feel like much of a holiday. I was still gonna have to make myself available to work calls and the like. And that got me feeling depressed. It led me to think that I have not felt rested on any of the holidays I've been on these past few times. I can't even recall the last time I was on holiday and I wasn't bothered by work stuff. I guess it can be said that I've let work infiltrate my personal life.

And you know what, it has. That's what I came to realize. I have allowed work to fuse with my personal space. I also realized that I don't know how to seperate the two. Which brings me to my dilemma - I feel that the reason this has happened is because I work in a company where my eldest sis is the MD and my other sis is the Business Development Exec. I have a cousin who is a graphics designer in the company, though he's leaving soon but another cousin is a 3D Visualization Artist. The workplace is pretty much incestuous for me <- for lack of a better way to describe it. Even when I'm supposed to be on holiday, work always permeates conversations because emails and issues and calls don't stop just because I'm on holiday. I may not be completely available but I am always around my sisters who talk shop and I end up 'working' too. I never get a break when I'm supposed to be on break.

Honestly, I need to learn to seperate my ME time from work. It's getting to the point where I actually don't enjoy going back to Homeland because I have an MD who does not realize the boundaries between work and home. For her, everything bleeds into each other. I am also at fault for allowing this to fester and grow until it's become a norm. What I need is just to have a break where I don't see my eldest sis cos she really is horrible at keeping the two lives apart. Since I can't go back to Homeland to be able to do that, I am thinking I just need to go somewhere either by myself or with someone and just truly have a holiday before I am driven nuts by this.

My other option is to leave this job. Not a thought I haven't considered. of course I have. I think I've mentioned before but I don't think I'll do it. Firstly, it's difficult to tell your boss who's also your sister that you want to leave. I have like put it out there before and though she said the right stuff like it is my life and she wouldn't take it personally, I know my sister well enough - she ALWAYS takes it personally. It's of course not all about her. Professionally, I have grown up in this company, I know what I bring to the table here and I know I do it extremely well (allow me this moment of pompousness:D). If I left and joined another place, I don't know how I would ultimately fit in that work culture. I don't even know if I want to remain in this line of work. Hell, if I'm completely honest, this wasn't even my choosing; this industry I'm working in! Lol. I just went with the flow and though I am good at what I do and I deliver, I didn't even choose to do this. Yet, I don't know what else I could do. How would I move on from this to do something that is of my own choosing? Perhaps I allow myself to continue so that I don't have to blame myself if things don't work out. As if I can say, "Well, I didn't choose this life for myself, somebody else made that decision for me." which is the ultimate accountability avoidance! And ironically enough, I feel I am the most accountable employee they have, hehehe!

Gosh, all this self-examination is making me even more depressed, lol. I'm just gonna stop now and maybe think about planning a nice holiday sans phones, boss/sisters and work :D

second lil treat

After the massive (?, I guess in terms of volume, it is) purchase from Cotton On, I got that "itchy" shopping feeling again. Being depressed the past 2 weeks before that didn't really give me any desire to shop but once the major work headache was resolved, and I broke the duck with the Cotton On order, it's like a spiral, y'know?

I'd been lazily browsing those groupon-style sites for the past week and though I had my eye on a number of things, I managed a bit of self-restraint. I was especially taken by this bag -

- and with less than 3 hours left on the deal, made a quick snap decision to get it. I've actually coveted a Zara bag similar in style and shape to this one but made from buffalo leather. Emily of CUpcakesandcashmere.com fame has that one and when she's taking her outfit pics with that bag, I always find myself thinking I should have gotten one. Anywho, I am under no impression this is a leather bag. This one is likely plain PU. However, where it doesn't win on the textile side, my bag does also comes with a 23 (L) x 31 (W) x 33 (H) cm pouch cum wristlet so it's basically like I got TWO bags!

The bag's dimension is 32 (L) x 31 (W) x 37 (H) cm. It's pretty sizeable, no? I'll admit, I had a moment of buyers' remorse after I purchased it. After USD conversion it comes to about $29.50 which isn't all that expensive considering I've gotten bags that are close to 2k so that's not why I quibbled. It was mainly cos it struck me that I just got a perfectly wonderful TCS Batchel and the fact that this bag isn't even leather. I mean, I think I've shown on this blog how I can be a bit of a leather snob :D Anyways, I got over it since I managed to convince myself that this is the bag I'll use to its death. I mean it's hardly expensive and it's PU, I think I won't be so sad to see it roughed up should it get roughed up :)

It's spacious, just look at the inside of this bag -

As shown, the interior of the bag is some faux suede material I guess. Basically it's unlined. I don't believe it has any interior pockets either. That's really fine by me. I've noticed I don't really keep anything worthwhile in those pockets anyhow. I just like to throw things hodge podge into my bag and then organize them. Plus, I have my bag organizers, that is where I mainly keep all my handbag junk :D

The detail that really caught my eye about this bag were the top handles. I think the overall aesthetics come of as luxurious when you look at the handles alone. Well, that's simply the impression it gives moi. Perhaps others would not feel so enthused by them.

And for good measure, here's a pic of the stitiching on the top handle -

I'm not gullible to believe that the overall quality will be as top notch as what I'm seeing in these product photos but if they are even 80% true, I'll be happy. One thing that does have me confused about this deal I got is that I have no clue if there was just the one colour or there were actual options. The stock photos featured both black and cognac but when it came time to purchase, there was no option to choose. I would have preferred the black if there was a choice but I think there was only cognac available. Don't get me wrong, the cognac is gorgeous and I do fancy it as well - just I love bags in black :D But I think all the bags they had to offer are only in cognac. The majority of the product images were of the cognac bag.

Size-wise, I think this bag is huge. One of the photos they had showed Olivia Palermo carrying a possible dupe for this bag. I will insert that here -

And some of the pics with petite korean/japanese/chinese chicks holding the bag do make them appear as if the bag outsizes them :D But anyways, I am not as petite as Olivia Palermo or those Asian handbag model chicks so there should be no issues with me drowning in the bag :D

Okay, I'm done with this very image heavy post. As per usual, I put my disclaimer that all images do not belong to me. They are not mine. I just borrowed them from the deals site to illustrate the whole post. Plus, I do not know if they have rights to use that Olivia Palermo photo so please do not sue me for also using the photo to further describe the bag. Olivia Palermo, I love your fashion sense, chica! Muahs! (Don't sue me!)

i've cotton-ed on.....

.....to Cotton On. :D

Alright, ignoring my cheesy love of making puns - funny or otherwise - I did mention i had some online retail therapy courtesy of Cotton On. I've actually never gotten anything from the brand before this. I've entered their brick-and-mortar stores plenty atimes but never seemed to walk out with anything. They have nice stuff, I actually have no clue why I never got into them. Forever21 has me entranced, I guess.

Anyways, after the whole work debacle, I decided to treat myself to a few things. The first thing I got was this:

It's a metal plaque of the Eiffel Tower. This is actually from Typo, a knick-knack subsidiary of Cotton On. I had also previously gone in to Typo and saw they have wonderfully kitschy stuff, just a tad overpriced, I'd say. Online however, some of the things were on sale and this gorgeous, vintage-y depiction of the La Tour Eiffel was going for.........USD equivalent of $5.25! Is that not a score?!?!? I've been getting into wall decor of late and one of my interests is getting wall art representative of iconic places I've been to. For example, the London city prints I got from Ikea. I also have a jigsaw of the view of NYC from across the Brooklyn Bridge. So my La Tour Eiffel will add to the "wall travels chart" I'm working on :)

And honestly, I say you can have more than one representation of a location you've visited. Which is why I also decided to get this vintage NYC map magnet set.

I saw this and I just had to have it! I'm gonna frame this one up. Also on sale at Typo, this was about $5.40, just a tad more expensive then La Tour Eiffel. I love, love, love this.

Also something I fell in love with at first sight is this travelling mug. It's just so ME! My sisters think I'm moody and sarcastic and though I feel they malign me too much for my occasional crankiness and 'creative' way with words, I felt a kinship towards this mug when I read what it said.

"My Degree Of Sarcasm Depends On Your Degree of Stupidity". Such truer words never resonated with me as much as this did. Lol, I have no clue what this actually says about me as a person but there are times I guess I think I'm surrounded by idiots. Hey, I'm not proud of it and I know I can act/be idiotic too but I'm generally fabulous. :D. Right, delusions aside, I actually first saw this in the shop but the price tag was a turn-off. Online though, it was on sale :D It went for nearly $8.50 so I snapped it up.

As if I haven't bought enough tech accessories for this MacBook Pro I'm typing on, I saw this.....

.....and found myself having to have it. Okay, I was also in the market for a horizontal zippered laptop sleeve that wouldn't be as heavy as the Rebecca Minkoff I have so that when I stuff this laptop into my TCS Batchel, it won't add as much to the weight as the leather RM case/bag/sleeve. I have a vertical opening sleeve but since the laptop is placed horizontal and I usually just unzip the top to take my laptop out, I needed to find one that wouldn't add so much bulk and weight. This seems perfect. Added bonus, it's like the RM laptop case cos they actually provided straps to carry cross-body. Oh, and did I mention the vintage pink typewriter design? This tres cuteness went for about $14.15 on sale.

Of late, I have been strangely enamoured by peplum shapes. I have wanted a peplum top for some time now. It's most likely cos the fashion world is bombarding me with imagery that intimates peplums are the way to go these last couple of months. Coincidentally, I found a peplum style hoodie I got last year before all this peplum craziness began. I only discovered it again when I forced myself to trim my closet. Was so surprised that I had been ahead of the curve fashion-wise, hehehe. So, to continue.....

This is what Cotton On calls the River peplum top. Sale price of about $9.90. I got this in a size S because looking at the size guide, S is the equivalent of a 6 in US sizes. Cotton On apparently uses Australian sizing for my part of the world. I really wanted to size up to M because of my broad shoulders but since I waited too long before checking out, the M was all sold out. Since I still really wanted it, I got it in S anyway. Hopefully it'll fit. I'm asking my sis to stuff it in the laptop sleeve so my bestie can bring it up next Saturday.

Next up is something I bought three different variations of. The Cotton On Sarah Sleep Tight Shirt.....

Just fyi, I am not planning to use this as sleepwear. It can call itself a sleep shirt if it wants but that looks more like going out shirts to me so I will be using these as going out apparel :D Plus, my sis did double confirm with me that they definitely look decent enough to pass as normal shirts. What I love about these shirts is that it's long, I like shirts that cover my ass. Yes, my butt makes me feel self-conscious. Which is usually why I get shirts that cover 'em. Two, it's menswear inspired, love the trend. Three, the coral red and black has a polka-dot style while the blue one is stripes - the two patterns I love most in the world! I just had to get all 3 of 'em! It was on sale for about 29 bucks each. would have gotten a fourth in all-white if there were sizes left but there weren't. The sizing for these shirts were just an ambiguous S/M or M/L only and since the size guide did indicate S = US 6 and M = US 8, I went for the S/M. My sis, upon unboxing, did say that I might have wanted to size up but I am completely going to have faith that the shirts will fit me. I think I may ask my sis to slip this in for bestie to bring as well.

This item was a last minute entry to the cart. I was just looking around to see if anything else on sale caught my fancy and for the price it was going for, I thought I might as well get it.

It's what Cotton On calls the Polly printed scarf in the pattern spliced zebra. No clue why the zebra print is spliced, perhaps it simply means incongruent. Honestly, that isn't important really. What was important was the fact I got it for $1.65. I wanted to laugh when I saw the price. I was ecstatic when my sis took it out of the box and modeled it - it looks damn good. I'm slightly regretting not getting the Missoni-esque print which was also $1.65. Perhaps in the next purchase if still available :)

Lastly, I needed to fulfill my collar necklace obsession. I have been searching for the perfect collar necklace that comes attached with the perfect price point. Some of the ones I've had my eye on have been ridiculously overpriced, in my humble opinion, but Cotton On gave me an option I couldn't refuse. On sale for about $9.85, the collar bead/faux pearl necklace in the hue named gardenia, which is simply off-white, really, was the one I was looking for. However, I didn't have time to screen cap it cos by the time I wanted to do this post, the necklace appears to be OOS. I actually wanted to get one in black as well but by the time I was ready to buy, that was OOS as well.

And thus ends my Cotton On haul post. In total, I spent roughly $119.15 for all 10 items. Not too bad. I got free shipping for spending above USD85, otherwise shipping would have been an additional 14 dollars. Considering the whole shopping->shipping->delivery process was really fast, I actually wouldn't mind paying the cost of shipping.

DISCLAIMER:
All images belong to Cotton On. I did however, paste the Sarah Sleep Tight shirt images together. Just didn't make sense to do individual ones of the same shirt, no?

life updates 14.12.2012

Hmmm, the past couple of weeks has been horrendous personally. I mean I get that out there in the world there have been more tragic happenings but in my own personal stratosphere (am I using this right?), I've just had a completely exhausting start to December and I didn't enjoy it at all.

And it all boils down to a work crisis. I guess when you work in a foreign country where the government is still finding its democratic legs, you tend to face more unscrupulous people in power who are in it for their own selfish gains and not the good of the country. Gosh, corruption is just incredible!

And that is all I can really say about the work situation I found myself in. I really did not enjoy being a chess piece in these people's shitty game of real-life chess. You are playing with people's lives/livelihoods. Did they think about it when they started the shitstorm? No. But they had the audacity to throw it back on us when they realized they had been out-maneuvered. Ok, ok, whatever. For now, situation diffused. I just hate having that feeling where I constantly have to watch my back. I didn't enjoy the emotional breakdowns I had to endure in private due to all the added stress either.

Another thing that had me all up in arms is because of this 'lil' incident, I had to cancel my HCMC trip as I couldn't, in good conscience, leave the work situation during this rather sensitive period. I mean, yes, the stand-off did end on Tuesday night but like I mentioned earlier, that 'gotta watch my back' atmosphere is still lingering and since I am the.....bishop, I guess, in the proverbial chess game being played, I can't seem to just up and leave at this time. So I canceled my hotel booking, which my boss later did say she was going to ask me to do, anyways. I'm still taking the leave during that time as my friend's visit is still on but I just have to stay in this boring city where there really isn't anything interesting to do.

Ok, I may be unfairly tarring the city due to my recent experience but honestly, this town hasn't really got anything particularly touristy to offer that isn't morbid. After you visit a few interesting shopping spots which takes 2 days max, there really isn't anything to see which isn't depressing! A whole week is just too much to stay just in this place. Luckily, my gal pal is here just for some downtime with yours truly though this being her first overseas trip ever, I did want to make it special. Sigh. Thanks again to those higher ups who screwed over my plans.

And not only that, my frickin ELF order I made during Cyber Monday is stated as 'Delivered' on Monday 10/12 via the Fedex tracking site but my HopShopGo account did not list the package as having arrived. I contacted comGateway customer service on Wednesday, my local time, and after a few emails back and forth where they came back to me and said they checked and the package was not at their warehouse but they will keep a lookout for it, I then contacted ELF to see if the delivery address on their shipping label was the same as the one in the shipment confirmation email they gave me. The response I got was an apology for my lost package and they gave me the option of having my order total refunded or having them resend the items. I thought it over and considering the US postal services is going to be even more insane coming up to Christmas, asked them to refund the charge to my credit card. That made me a lil sad since I loved all the things I got and was truly excited to get them. Plus, the total cost was a bargain! Ah, well.

On a happier note, since the ELF package was MIA, I decided to get my other stuff shipped back to Homeland ASAP in order to make the Chirstmas delivery cutoff and through PayPal I had a HopShopGo promo code, PPLNOV10, where I would get an upgrade to express shipping, 10% off on my total shipping cost and, the best part, I got the 1st kg for free!. The free express shipping thing wasn't such a big deal since I was already a prime member so express shipping was a privilege of said membership. I was stoked for the 10% off but that deal for the 1st kg free - THAT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME! My total for my 4.5kg shipment was a mere $22.56! SCORE! I've already gotten my tracking number and it's supposed to arrive to Homeland on the 19th. In time for me to pick and choose what I'd like from said shipment for bestie to bring over when she flies up on the 22nd.

Oh, and I also did some online shopping. As a treat for myself to compensate for all the mental stress i had to endure. I made my purchase right after the work thing was diffused Wednesday night. I got myself a couple of things from Cotton On's site. It was my first time shopping there and I really do have to say it was a good experience as the package is already at my house! It got delivered this morning via Fedex. I had an unboxing with my sis just a couple of hours ago. Will probably do a seperate post on that :)

Ok, now that I have unburdened my thoughts unto you, I will go off to watch 'Last Resort'. I am so bummed it's getting axed due to low ratings! I'm in love with Navy Seal James! What am I gonna do if I don't get to see Daniel Lissing's gorgeous face on a weekly basis after this?