Merry Christmas from Australia !!

Yes I am so useless with this blog.  Merry Christmas from Tasmania, Australia !!

So it begins

And so the training begins. Being as unfit as I am, I'm starting slow and small, but I'll get there.

First step is to get more active. This was a big constraint previously when you have a boss insisting on you sitting in front of your computer all day and all night after you get home. I also used to get dropped off and picked up from work everyday by my dearest hubby. But working in the CBD really doesn't allow that, so every morning and evening, I battle my way through the throngs of everyone commuting to the CBD. You might be thinking, oh what's the big deal, it's just taking the MRT. WELL, let me tell you, I get on at commonwealth for a few stops, switch up at Outram park, speed walk from the green line to the purple line, make my way to China Town, switch up to the blue line, and make my way to Telok Ayer, and then walk to office. This is more walking than I have done in ages. Much less twice a day every day. At lunch time I try to go on walks too just for adding activity.

I'm gradually adding exercise to my routine, squats here, plank there. We also spent 4 hours the other day walking up and down the CBD filming a TOP SECRET teaser video (If I tell you I'll have to kill you). Side note: I can't seem to get away from production no matter what job I end up in and I LOVE IT!! Today I did 10 laps in the pool and some leg lifts and boy am I aching all over. (SUPER UNFIT). But anyway, the goal, is firstly to get fit, strong and healthy enough to participate in, and COMPLETE next year's Reebok Spartan Race Singapore. Also to get back into my size 10 jeans that fit perfectly in 2013.

This photo was taking 2013 December at the Launceston Country Club for hub's and my wedding anniversary. Size 10 everything. I doubt I will ever be anything smaller than a size 10 but hey, that works for me.

In case anyone was wondering, I'm wearing a coat from Myer, my favourite Chanel clutch (a gift from my cousin-in-law) and ZU heels from Crown Casino in Melbourne.

I'd post a current photo but I hardly take photos, also i'm too fat for photos so like whatever. I'd say I'm about a 14/16 now, so it's not a huge task to undertake, but for a food lover like me, it's going to be hard.

Back after a long Hiatus

Sorry for the longest Hiatus !! I'm sure we all know how life gets. So much has happened I don't even know where to start! 

I suppose we can start with career. The last time I blogged, I was business development for the digital startup - e-sol media. Let's just say I reached the end of my tether after a very long year and quit. I got a couple of offers, and eventually ended up in a beauty supply and retail company. I'm not even going to go into that. But now, I think I have actually found my dream job. I am happily employed by Spartan Race! If you haven't heard of them - http://www.spartan.com/en And they've inspired me so much I am in training for next years race! This years race for Singapore is coming up in November so there's no way I'm going to make that. (I'll be working on site anyway so no go). For the first time in ages, I actually have time to blog regularly, so you can expect lots of posts of rubbish haha. 

Please don't take offence to what I'm going to say next; I have had it with working for Asian employers. Aside from a select few, my asian bosses have worked me to the bone, with no regard for rest, family and personal time. Yes yes, I know what the mentality of working in Singapore is like, and I've had heaps of people tell me their employers are the same. Maybe I'm not lucky enough to get the good bosses. But let me tell you about working for an American company. They look out for you in so many ways that actually warmed my heart. They appreciate the good work that I do, and make sure I have enough time to spend with my family. I've never had anyone tell me to take the night off and not to do any work. 

I would also like to say a quick thank you to a dear friend Marcus from Social Metric who helped me secure this job. I truly appreciate you looking out for me and I will forever be grateful. Side note, Marcus' company Social metric is one of the best and most hardworking social media companies I have ever encountered. So hit them up if you ever need some Social Media Marketing done. 

So here's to living and breathing the Spartan Lifestyle. Wish me luck! 

#SpartanStrong

UTC corporate shoot

Some stills from my recent freelance production stint. I may be a full time marketeer now but that won't stop me from ocasionally accepting free lance production jobs! Believe it or not I actually took leave to do this. I absolutely adore producing and I will never be able to completely give it up. I'm very lucky that my producing mentor and very good friend Shane calls me to come work with her. We worked so well together when we were working together in Moving Bits, and we still work great together <3 <3 

We got to shoot in the UTC office on top of Raffles Place, and the view was absolutely spectacular!! Their office is huge and glassy and simply oozes corporate charm. The pantry is beautiful, fully black and silver with top of the line kitchen equipment. And at lunch time, delicious healthy food is served for all the employees to indulge in. I met one particular employee who left quite an impression on me. She was a lady of colour with the most stunning features, tall and thin and dressed perfectly, and I overheard her conversation with another colleage about her dolce & gabanna shoes. I assumed she was American from her accent, and overheard that she used to be in the military. I immediately wanted to be just like her. Honestly. She wrapped her scene at 10pm, and I asked if she was heading home. Unfortunately, she was stuck in the office waiting for a conference skype call coming from the USA. Apparently it happens quite often. That's when I realised, that they probably get paid giantic salaries, but they devote a lot of their time to work. No matter how much I want to be in her Dolce & Gabanna shoes, I would'nt give up time with my little Jacob for all the money in the world. Anyway, loved meeting everyone from UTC, they were extremely friendly and I loved working with them. 

We also shot at W hotel, and I'd like to thank the lovely b&f Winsider Laura for her hospitality & Euphi as well for helping us out with all our requests for loading and laying tracks and equipment and house keeping to constantly remake the beds for all reshoots. W hotel is absolutely beautiful and is perfect for a staycation! Tucked away in the heart of Sentosa Cove, it's theme revolves around 'urban jungle', hence the birdcages and modern nature like motiffs. The pool side is dotted with colourful bean bags for chill time. I recently was invited to try WOObar's 'Drop the T2' high tea set. Will do that in a seperate post for my fellow foodies benefit :)  

W Hotel Singapore is located at  21 Ocean Way, 
and you can call 6808 7288 for bookings. Winsider Cara can help you with all your booking needs.  

gorgeous room setting at W hotel Singapore

Lobby of W hotel Singapore 

View of CBD from the UTC office at night

Rolling, ACTION! 

Lobby of Raffles City Office Tower

Lift Lobby

Filming in progress!! 

My Favourite producer Shane <3

ENVY Flatlay Contest

Hello everyone <3

To all my instagram flatlay lovers & beauty bloggers, ENVY is having a #flatlay contest !! And the prize iss ....

A gorgeous NYX Winter in moscow makeup palette! 

All you have to do is grab your absolute favourite cosmetics, and create a flatlay of them & post them on ENVY's contest post on facebook! Click HERE for the fb contest post. Don't forget to tell your friends and family to vote for your flatlay because the flatlay with the most amount of likes wins! 

So start flatlaying your cosmetics now! I've already entered my picture <3 

$5 Voucher and FREE SHIPPING VOUCHER

Hi guys! 

In the spirit of Christmas, ENVY is giving away $5 Vouchers with NO minimum spending as well as FREE shipping vouchers with NO minimum order!

Envy is a curated online store which carries elegant, edgy and ecochic beauty & skin care products. Here you'll find classy items like Dior, Estee Lauder, Clinique to awesome cult brands like NARS, NYX & ELF, and for the tree huggers there are flenco, hurraw!, Crazy Rumours.. 

So whether you're fancy, a cult lover, or a hippie, Envy has something for everyone!

                            

                                                             

           

Use your code: ENVY5 

for $5 off all orders with NO MINIMUM SPENDING. 

or ENVYFREESHIP 

for free shipping with NO MINIMUM ORDER!!

http://envy.sexy/ 

HAPPY SHOPPING <3 

Are you an envy diva ?! WIN $50 voucher!!!!

Hey guys, do you wanna win a $50 voucher to spend on gorgeous beauty products & perfumes on envy.sexy  ??? All you have to do is complete this survey, and not only will you be given a 20% off voucher, but you'll be put in the draw for a $50 voucher to be drawn on 15 November !! Envy has your favourite fragrances & beauty products at competitive prices! They even have a bundle sale going on! So check out the newly launched envy.sexy today!!  <3 <3

https://marxkmadhavan.typeform.com/to/HDCNGH   (click here for the survey)

dependability

You know how they tell you blood is thicker than water, in theory that may be true, but recently I've realised that bad blood still runs within. So much wrong and so much hurt when situations like these occur. The horrifying selfish RUDE traits of someone you trust and look to for dependability simply because they are your elders. Tell me you wouldn't be annoyed, when a relative asks you for help, you take the time to plan and work out the solution. Then they decide to ignore your phone calls, tell their maid to tell you they're busy. And you never hear from them about it in the end. To add to that this person is blood. Why would you ask me to do it if you decided within a day that you didn't want my solution for you. Following other MULTIPLE incidents that another family member mentioned to me, I have decided against any more requests, from any extended family members, who aren't my direct family. Direct family referring to my parents, spouse, children, grandparents and godparents... I am sorely disappointed in the behavior that this person has exhibited. Call me petty or whatever, I don't really care. I've noticed as we grow up and grow into our careers and get tangled up in family, things like spending time with my husband and little boy start to take priority rather than going to some hip new joint with a friend. I start thinking more about what school my child should be enrolling in and what to invest in and joint bank accounts and property purchase and whatnot, rather than who is saying what about me. This post was prompted by a sequence of messages sent by this family member, harassing and lecturing me over my lack of reply. So it's okay for you to be condescending and rude to me when I don't reply. But when you tell your maid to tell me your busy, and refuse my calls, and never call me back, and never say anything about it like it never happen, then THAT'S OKAY ? thanks but no thanks.

So here's to LETTING GO of the toxic in my life, and embracing how lucky I am to have an amazing husband & son, and supportive parents who love me no matter what, my grandparents and godparents and sibling who love my little boy to bits. And the few friends who, despite my absence and constant cancelling due to Jacob needing a nap or throwing tantrums or being uncooperative, were understanding and continued to stay true to me, THANK YOU, thank you for being wondering and understanding and so giving. I love you guys <3

D.i.y party favours

Jacob turned one while we were still in Aussie and unlike singapore where you can find shops selling anything and everything, Launceston doesn't have much. So hunting down decent party favours that didn't cost a bomb was not an option. So I made my own :D. I am kind of a hoarder. Not for rubbish though, but things I can definitely use again, in this case, the key items would be baby food jars and scrap booking paper. Every time I see a beautiful patterned paper in a magazine/flyer anywhere at all, as long as it had no words or other pictures spoiling it, I cut it out and stuck it in a file. See in Launceston I was lucky enough to have a spare room for myself which I stored my heavy coats, bags, shoes and all my hobby craft and sale items so I could simply collect what I want and store it. And I kept baby food jars to portion out Jacobs meal portions for daily use. 

Instructions 

- remove sticker label and sticky residue from outside jars, simply removing the label before u put them in the dishwasher is enough. Let the dishwater to the work. 

- fill the jars with jellybeans/gummy/candy whatever u want, but avoid chocolate unless they are individually wrapped pieces. 

- measure the size of the cap, cut out circles from the coloured paper you want to paste on the top of the cap. Write your event/guest names or whatever you want on the top for easy viewing. 

- measure the jar and cut out long strips of paper you want to cover your jar in, this depends of course on the size of the jar and exactly how much of the jar you want to cover. 

- finally, attach a ribbon round the screw top for extra embellishment, if the ribbon refuses to stay on you can use a tiny dab of non toxic glue to keep it there. 

There you go! Your very own d.i.y extremely affordable party favours !!!  

edge of tomorrow

I am not a fan of Tom Cruise, but I do love Emily Blunt. The edge of tomorrow was sort of a weird version of groundhog day. When the movie first started I thought it was gonna be one of those typical 'explosion explosion explosion' movies and nothing more. But it turned out pretty good. It even had an element of comedy to it which surprised me. SPOILERS UP AHEAD so STOP reading if you haven't seen the movie.

I loved how they developed the movie as TC kept dying and re-spawning at the same point every time, and I found it hilarious how Emily blunt kept using him as a reset button. The movie doesn't go too deep into any character development, not even TC. We see a little bit of insight into TC & EB as they spend a little bit of time together, (not that she remembers anyway). I felt like I was just thrown into the movie with no back story, but I suppose no back story was really needed. The Aliens were pretty awesome but more robot like than alien. Predictably, when Emily Blunt said that she lost her 're-spawning powers' when she landed herself in hospital and got a blood transfusion, that TC would end up in the same situation to give a difficult 'twist' to the situation after being able to constantly reset every time they got into trouble. You have to be paying attention to realize the reason why this started happening is because TC died covered in the blood of the alpha that he killed. Emily blunt was a hard ass in this one and she definitely worked out for this movie, you can see she's pretty ripped. That was all the good bits. Now the ending, I did not like. I felt like it built and built and built up to the climax and then it all just ended so quickly. Like it simply just happened and then it was over. And conveniently he died covered in the blood of the alpha again and it took him back all the way to the start, no one remembered him, everyone was alive again, and they had defeated the aliens. Yup. Shitty ending if you ask me. But the majority of the movie made up for the lousy ending, so I still say it's definitely worth a watch.

22 jump street

I'm a little behind time, but I only JUST got the chance to watch 22 jump street, and just like the first one, I LOVED IT. The comedic styling of Jonah Hill + the 'duh duh' hottie Channing Tatum make a perfect combination for the main characters, and they are oh-so-endearing. It's full of slapstick jokes and is pretty much similar to the first one, but that's just proof that sometimes the same joke works twice ;) Ice cube was hilarious as always. The movie is pretty predictable, but if you're like me - a sucker for main stream (almost teenage) comedy films, then you'd have loved it too! There were scenes which had me clutching my stomach laughing, but there were some lame jokes that I did chuckle at lol. I'm easy... Oh and I adore Amber Stevens from Greek, I think she's absolutely beautiful and a wonderful actress, mind you I haven't seen her in any challenging roles, but she's doing great for what shes done anyway. So if you're expecting an award winning emmy nominated movie, then this movie isn't for you, but if you're looking for a fun night with lots of laughs and giggles with your pals, then get this for your next movie night. This movie is NOT for 'squidwards, but more for spongebobs and patricks if you know what I mean. LOL. I leave you with a quote from the ending scene of the movie (this bit almost reminds me of the bit in dumb and dumber - dude! what does my tattoo say, SWEET what does mine say! Dude but what does mine say? bla bla u get the gist, let me know what you thought of 22 jump street. Have a listen to the soundtrack too! It's pretty catchy. Til next time <3 <3 


Schmidt: Man, What did you say back there? 
Jenko:Something Cool
 Schmidt: Yeah, what did you say?
 Jenko:Something Cool man 
Schmidt: Yeah, but what did you say
Jenko: I said something cool

etsgrocery.com

Grocery shopping can be a real pain, going to the supermarket can mean heckling for parking, maneuvering your trolley through tight crowded isles, queuing at the check out, and still having to lug your groceries all the way home. Why go through all that trouble when you can sit in the comfort of your own home and have them delivered right to your doorstep! Ets grocery has amazingly competitive prices and they do next day delivery RIGHT to your doorstep! And if you order over $75 worth, you get FREE delivery! Their product list is growing fast so check out  http://etsgrocery.com/ now! ets guarantees quality fresh goods so you don't have to stress about grocery shopping. Become a loyalty member of ets and you get points for all the groceries you buy, which can be exchanged for vouchers to knock down your next grocery bill! They have prices like nowhere else in Singapore and even offer special items made specially for ets! So get a taste of local flavor, shop local, shop etsgrocery :)

For a limited time only, use the code GET20%OFF and knock 20% off your total bill! Follow them on facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/etsgrocery 

 I just got my first delivery for my husbands birthday party!! Thank you ets !!

Remember to use your discount code GET20%OFF at check out!! 

#GIVEAWAY

Hi everyone! Envy is doing their very first give away!! We all know how important it is to keep your lips hydrated. And if you're like me, and you don't have the time to drink as much water a day as you should, your lips sometimes get chapped and dry, I carry around my crazy rumours Red Velvet flavoured lip balm all the time, but.. i always forget to apply it lol. Envy now carries Pucker Singapore's collagen and hyaluronic acid infused lip masks! They hydrate and moisturize your lips and prep your lips to receive all the goodness from your lipgloss!! All you have to do is join envy HERE, and share the facebook contest post with all your friends on facebook! 

There are only 10 pieces to be won!! So quick quick quick join and share today! And while your browsing the Envy site, use  ENVYVICTORIA for 20% off all your purchases!! <3 

Styletribute

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'll be selling a few of my branded goods on styletribute.com !! Everything from shoes to accessories to clothes. 

Style Tribute offers the amazing white glove service which handles everything from the photography and the shipping and authenticating of your products! You have to have 8 pieces and above to make use of this service but don't worry!! you can still do it yourself if you have less! It was as simple as filling up the sell form and then dropping my items off to their amazing warehouse where they store heaps of beautiful branded items for you to browse while you wait :D Was so tempted to shop, but managed to finish up without buying anything. The team at style tribute was absolutely wonderful and one of the pretty ladies even dug out a gorgeous vintage Chanel bag for me to oogle at as well as help me pull out some pieces in my size. Not only do they photograph your items beautifully and do the research for the write up for you, they even have an open house sale at the end of every Saturday for the public to browse and shop. That means that stuff for sale goes flying off the rack even quicker! I've had a wonderful experience with styletribute and here's hoping some of my items sell so I can use the money to buy more things. LOL.  

http://styletribute.com/skirt-rochas.html

http://styletribute.com/dvf-wrap-top-2295.html

Here are a couple of my items already up :D Anyone feel like shopping ?? Okay now gotta get back to work, so so busy xxx more updates soon !! 

<3 <3 

Red velvet

Knowing that I absolutely adore red velvet anything, a good friend of mine got me this lovely lip balm: Crazy Rumors - Red Velvet flavour, and let me say I am loving it!! It's hydrating, smooth not gloopy or sticky! And most of all it actually tastes like red velvet! I can't stop licking my lips ! I hate lip balms that spread a thick sticky layer all over my lips, but this is NOT one of them. Nice thin smooth layer, great for applying under any lip stick. I drink less water daily than I should and sadly I do occasionally get chapped lips, and this lip balm is an amazing amazing help !! The cherry on top is that all Crazy Rumor lip balms are natural, vegan and CRUELTY FREE !!! so no animals were harmed in the making of this product! 

You can get the Crazy Rumors Red Velvet lip balm here!! 

http://envy.sexy/products/crazy-rumors-red-velvet?variant=830026395

at Envy e-store for only $8.90! 

For a further 20% discount, use the code ENVYVICTORIA at check out !! 

<3 

etsgrocery

If you do your grocery shopping online, check out up and coming etsgrocery. As their launching offer, they are offering 20% off across the board!! Use your exclusive code GET20%OFF at check out to get 20% off your total bill!! They have a awesome range of products so far and the best thing is their HUGE selection of reasonably priced BOOOOZZZEEE. There's free delivery for any orders over $75 so GET ON IT, and GET AROUND IT !!! Their list of items is growing so keep watching this space for more info. Or you can check out their facebook page HERE  

Only at

http://etsgrocery.com/ 

#mygrocerystore 

I do but I dont.

You know how everyone tells you growing up is not fun and they all claim they want to go back to school? I see why now. Being an adult means bills bills bills and all the things you never thought about before, like how EXPENSIVE it is to buy a house in Singapore. We have recently been on the look out for a 4 bedroom condominium so Jacob can have his own bedroom. But boy are they expensive. We had someone from the bank come down and evaluate our house and even with the low housing market, we still got a nice 3 mil figure. But let me tell you, we've had a few people through our house and the best offer we got was still 2.75 mil which is not acceptable by my parent's standard, considering all the new 4 bedroom condos are smaller than 2000 sq ft, which is the size of our current 3bed + maids room. Don't shoot me for saying this but I'm missing our house in Australia, with the beautiful back and front yard, and its spaciousness and most of all I miss the 4 seasons. As much as I was dying to come back, I have seen the people whom I wanted to see the most, and I've even started working again. Working is extremely fulfilling and I love it, even more so because I am working for a dear friend who already knows my work ethic and trusts me. Having absolutely no formal training in marketing, and only the experience of working as marketing executive in a club for a few short months, I've learnt so much from my amazing boss who is patient and kind. But that's me, my dearest husband is still waiting on the ICA for his LTVP, and to be honest it's moving a lot slower than we expected. 

On the bright side Jacob's Singapore Citizenship settled quick, and the government even gave us a baby bonus which was a big help with getting started, but a man needs to work to feel good about himself, and Chris gains no satisfaction from hanging out at home everyday while Jacob goes off to school and I go off to work. We have finally been given the approval (in principle), I've made the payment, and chris has to finish some medical examinations. But we have still no idea if we have been given the LTVP or the LTVP+ which doesnt seem like a big difference, but basically that little '+' sign, is the difference between Chris being able to get a letter of approval to work, or having to apply for a work permit with a prospective employer and proceeding to MOM to get it approved (case by case basis). the + means he wont be counted within the company's foreign work quota, NO + means he WILL be counted in the foreign worker quota and I cannot recall if or if not they will have to pay the worker levy to hire him. BIG PAIN I KNOW. Also the residential time is also significantly longer with the +. Family or no family the ICA makes the decision. This decision will also be the thing that might have to send us packing back to Australia, and I am half half about this. 

I do but I don't. God help me I love working, but I want to be able to buy a lovely house with a yard for a reasonable price. The dream is to get a lovely 4 bedroom with a front and back yard for less than 500K. And in Australia that is more than reasonable. But anyway, that's my musing of the day. I'm really tired. Work is lovely but oh-so-demanding. Okay time for the baby's bath. Til later xxx 

Jacob's first birthday party, our back yard, launceston - tasmania - Australia Jan 2014 

Envy

All mah ladies, we all know that we should wear lip balm under our lipstick to prevent our lips from getting dry chapped and cracked. Envy has an amazing lip care bundle starting soon!! Choose from a selection of natural cruelty free VEGAN lip balms and pair them with the lip gloss/ lip stick of your choice and save heaps!! 

Check out 

http://envy.sexy/

TODAYYYY <3 

or click HERE for link ;) 

habitual

I really need to keep the habit of blogging, its actually pretty good for the soul. I have just been so busy, and so tired. Times have been a bit rough on my family, as you know, my dad's office is based in Thailand, and KL, and what with the bad political situation and the bad economy, he is actually back here working with resorts world. So our finances are pretty low at the moment, we finally have an appointment with the ICA for hub's LTVP, and hopefully the LTVP +. Now this silly visa, has taken so long to finally get to this point, we have had to constantly extend his short term visa, and that requires us to go down to the ICA, and queue for ages, to get his passport stamped for a 30 day extension. You can get the first extension online IF you have been here under 89 days, following which is hey ho, off to the ICA you go. So lets cross our fingers and hope that they grant the LTVP +, otherwise I suppose we will have to get advice from MOM as to how to proceed for hubs to work. Would have thought having a Singaporean wife and child would make it easier, but no not really. So friends, I have happy to dole out advice and procedure should anyone need any info on how to apply for the LTVP and how it works.

Work has been going well, more clients under my belt, very busy as usual. Very tired as always. Today, I decided to learn to be grateful. Yesterday I had the misfortune of having a huge blowout with my parents, and it wasn't pretty. Personally I feel you shouldn't run your kid into the ground to make a point. Thank you mom and dad for making me feel like shit. BUT on my part, I suppose I shouldn't keep pointing fingers, and be grateful for everything I have been blessed with so far, and sticking together as family would be the ideal situation. I am TIRED of all the fighting and bickering and it is taking a toll on my little, or not so little brother. He's 20 but still mummys golden child. Anyway, so from today, I am determined, to be grateful, for my parents who have given me so much, for my brother, and mostly for my gorgeous husband and son. All aside, I am happy to be home. I dont have to keep proving myself to everyone, I can just be me. I am no longer a social butterfly, and my true friends have kept the faith. The once friends who have weedled out of my life because I am not fun anymore, or cant go out randomly anymore, or party anymore - I am a mother, and a wife, I have responsibilities. And I dont believe in dumping my child on my maid or mother and going out. Once in a while my lovely mother looks after my darling so hubs and I can go on a date, but no sorry, i will not do otherwise. So dear folks, thank you for making it easy for me, and walking out on me, because I know the people left truly care for me, and understand my situation. I am happier with my husband and son, than I have ever been with my superficial lifestyle of parties and splurging money on rubbish. I wish you all the best, and I pray you may find true happiness and peace like I have with my family.

GSS

I haven't done much shopping for myself but we have done some shopping for Jacob :D hit up John little in plaza singapura the other day and got lots of stuff on sale!! 

There is a heap of gorgeous kids clothing and shoes on sale so I suggest all you mummies and daddies head down to John little this GSS and get your little one a bargain today!! I ESP loved all their marvel stuff and Jacob now has his first pair of high top sneakers. SWAG!!