Of coffee, good friends and autumn leaves

November came and went… silently… December has arrived.

As I score zero on the shopping chart - after all, did you hear that Chanel has increased prices once more? And my 2.55 has doubled its value (and slightly more) in just merely two years? - I did set my eyes on meeting good ol’ friends this festive season.

Everyone loves a meet up over Starbucks. Proof that we are all Starbucks addicts. All drinks were on the house (13th cup).

This Christmas (rather pre-Christmas) I gifted my friends with this lovely cup from starbucks.

One wish I have to get granted one of these days is to drink a cup of coffee mix with eggnog.

Though having felt extremely guilty for bursting my shopping budget time and time again… I did succumb to adding this little number to my closet. I usually steer far away from prints, but there is just something about these that I just fell instantly in love with.

Remind me when 2012 comes, I ought throw out some clothe, reinvent my wardrobe and blog more often.

Merry Christmas everyone!

J’adore my very first vintage Chanel

As I lament how rough the stocks have been doing in the last two months, let me say that it has been an equally rocky ride on Chanel stocks - the price of the bags that is.

As people watched to see the US markets free fall, eBay bidders watched the price of Chanel yo-yo. Everyone adopted a watch-and-wait attitude.

For the longest time ever, the bids for Chanel were surprising low, I gawked and almost slapped myself at seeing a Jumbo Maxi XL go for a minimal USD$1600. Yes, the same bag that you see glorified on Richie’s and Beckham’s arms.

Or, how about that clutch bag that vintage classic lambskin that I saw auctioned for USD$800?

Comparing to the current Chanel price, that is great divide.

Those days of Chanel eBay hunting were one of the best past times ever. The exchange rate was in my favour, coupled by low bid rates. Hey, I think I was close to Chanel heaven.

Well, I confess, I got lucky and score myself this beauty for a really affordable price.

I fell in love with this bag on first sight when I saw it on eBay. What is there not to like about the golden logo, something so different from the usual CC turn-locks or the mademoiselle lock.

It’s really tiny, but manages to store my essentials - phone, lip balm, wallet, car keys. And over sometime, the purse softened, expanded and became more charming then when it first arrived.

The chains can be tucked in, and voila, it becomes a nice clutch with character.

After owning one semi-vintage Chanel, I have gotten over my fears of owning some old lady’s purse. Vintage Chanel prides itself for being extremely well made for its time. And its true. Some of the vintage Chanels are far superior than current seasonal (and classic) Chanels.

So here sits the mini lady that is 30 years old. She was born from 1980 - 1985. Pretty fine for her age.

J’adore, j’adore, j’adore.

C’est tu?

Hong Kong: Of friends and fun

This is my final post on my Hong Kong trip with my girlies.

Oh the fun, the glamour and the drama.

No prizes for guessing which is my bag.

So long!

Hong Kong: Breathing in the sights and sounds

I had much fun walking the streets of Hong Kong with my girlies and it’s much regret that I’m ending my posts for this trip soon. =(

On day three, we woke up really early to cross over from Tsim Tsa Tsui to Central.

I’ve never taken the star ferry and was super excited! It’s a really inexpensive way of travelling across the bay.

Limin will kill me for putting this picture up. But, check out the smile on our faces!

Wenbing loves me, I love Wenbing, we love Limin!

Once we alighted the ferry, we headed immediately to the Golden Bauhinia monument.

My friends had great difficulty taking a picture of this monument without any humans in the way. Ta-da! Amazed that I did.

Wearing: H&M Black maxi dress - purchased in HK! Love this so much. Asos leather bag. Grey jacket by Stephie’s shop - totally worn to death.

Limin says she loves this picture a lot. So I will upload this on her behalf.

While goofing around the bay…

You probably spotted me wearing this grey jacket like 9 times out of 10 pictures from my travelogues. This is an item that I really love so much. It completes my outfit. I have two of them in grey, one in black, one in blue. But my favourite is still the grey. What am I going to do when both are all tattered and torn? Sigh.

Exploring Central is easy peasy.

Argh, I miss my long wavy hair. If only I had not been so tempted as to ask my hairstylist to chop it all off! But, it was between the chops or having split ends in the middle of my crop. Decisions.

While I get totally engrossed with my dried hair. It is obvious that Ganny really does not like to take pictures with me.

Oh well, love that girl anyway. Even more after Margarita and Mojito.

I love this other girl as well.

While you look past the love-struck look - evidence of having too much fun in Hong Kong - that is the world’s longest travelator.

Tucked away on one of the streets here at Central lies the most famous bakery shop of them all… Tai Cheung Bakery. At SGD1 per egg tart, hello this is heavenly inexpensive and so good. I bought a dozen.

Being half a Cantonese, one of my other favourite bakery delights is this…

Steam caaaaake!!!!!!! I love steam cake! It always made my day when my mum packs one for me for my school lunch.

Aye, immediately after this short detour to get delicious pastry…

It’s back to Tsim Tsa Tsui.

Thankfully, shopping makes up for it all.

Christmas wish… AE would you come to Singapore?

The streets of Hong Kong

Seriously, travelling on a road trip with best pals you have known for a decade is a crazy affair. No cat fights, but tons of shopping.

HELLO STREETS OF HONG KONG!

What I wore: Bysi ruffled top and Zara leggings. Balenciaga triple tour, turqoise necklace from River Island and Asos leather bag.

Day two, we hit Ocean Terminal and Pedder Street to check out the fuss.

In many ways, Hong Kong reminds me so much about Singapore. At every turn in the city, you will see a luxurious brand.

But of course, my heart never strays far away from…

Unfortunately, it turns me off that I have to wrangle my way through the thick crowd to get into Chanel. So, goodbye my love. I’ll see you in Singapore.

I did, find the time to check out the first Shanghai Tang shop in the world at Pedder Street.

While the exterior looked Eastern and promising, the shops in this building failed to impress. With exception of this…

In typical Singaporean style. Spot the slippers.

Moving on, I did find a shop that I was drooling over.

I’m a huge fan of Nars’ blusher. My favourite colours are Orgasm and Deep Throat. While I had no qualms about buying another blusher, I had difficulty parting with their $80  Kabuki brush. If only I hadn’t cave into my Chanel make-up indulgence…

To balance beauty shopping, there is always a need to buy some clothes!

Way before H&M decided to come to Singapore, there was H&M in Hong Kong. And boy was it fun!

I love my girlfriends.

Nostalgia

Nostalgia is hitting me like bees swarming around flowers in spring.

As I wrapped up my extensive travel across Canada, I came across the photos of people I have met and made friends with.

A huge shout-out to everyone who made my stay in Canada memorable.

Thank you everyone!

Reebonz goes global on wheels!

The night was young and bustling with excitement at Chjimes.

Fans of reebonz gathered at Chjimes to snag their favourite bags and to take a sneak peak of Reebonz’s latest business platform - the truck!

Photo credits: Channel Newsasia

While I did not manage to snap a picture of the truck myself - I did busy myself and snuck in before the 7pm start time!

The dress code was elegant causal. So I paired my fushia maxi with an asos pleated bag - I won’t risk my Chanel in a mad crowd! And my new found love - black Fendi cuff.

Of course I brought my best pal - my sister to the event. Or as my sister will claim, it was the other way around. She was the shopper, I was the accessory.

As my sister shopped the shelves - note the absolutely neat display behind her - I was happy to whirl around with my glass of sparkling wine.

I just love the mosaic tiles on the church floor.

Not before long, the clock struck 7pm and the crowd came flowing in.

Note the messy shelf.

Note the long long long queue to browse the truck!

But of course, we had snagged a lovely Miu Miu flat clutch way before the crowd made its way in and weren’t too bothered to queue to go up the truck.

To inject a little humour, Reebonz had to give us this as a parting gift.

But honey, if you were really that kind, I won’t have mind to have this as a parting gift.

But the best surprise of the evening is to run into your long-lost primary school friend! The last time I bumped into her was on a train many years back. Talk about Singapore being awfully small.

What a great evening.

Happy 400 - I heart Ferragamos

It’s my 400th post on this blog.

Wow, what a milestone. Every time I clock 100, I celebrate it with something special and lovely.

This post is no different.

xxx

I have a super duper soft spot for leather shoes. Since the end of 2009, I have resolved never to buy shoes that bite. Out goes PU shoes, in comes leather shoes.

1) I like my feet to be happy.

2) I like my shoes to go the distance with me.

3) I like the smell of fresh leather - it’s a strange fetish I’ve developed over the years (GAH).

Since then, I’ve only broken the rule once. I purchased a stylish PU suede bootie from Charles & Keith. Had to hunt it down in Raffles place for they were sold out island wide in less than a week!

Anyways…

Since that resolution in 2010, I’ve developed a softie heart for Ferragamos!

This lad started my obsession with the comfy shoes.

I bought them on sale 3 seasons back. They were half size larger and I had to get my shoe maker to fill in with padding. The padding made the shoes so comfy, I practically lived in them for all my formal functions.

I’ve worn them to all my friends’ wedding dinners. It’s amazing how comfy they are judging that they add a cool 10cm to my height. All the other stilettos that I own - leather or not - makes the ball of my feet burn.

So during the last season’s sale, I woke up really early and headed for the annual sale.

My heart skipped many beats. I secured all the shoes that I’ve been eying all season!

My sister got this pair as well. We love nude shoes. They are so versatile.

Nudes are the new blacks.

Adding a pop of colour is this pair of mustard heels. The plastic that you see peeking from the sole is rubber padding. A tip that I picked up from my shoe maker.

But my favourite buy at that sale, has got to be this…

Paired with friendship band from Phuket. And my black tulle skirt from Japan.

Nude flats; in my size!!!!! I was so lucky.

Another girl wanted the same pair in the same size. She had spotted the pair before I did; but her SA got her a size bigger. My SA was quick - actually my sister was quicker and told the SA we wanted the pair in our size - and out she came with the correct size. There was only one pair.

Voila! It was love at first sight.

Tick tick tick. When will the spring sale happen?

xxx

Lots of hugs and kisses to all my readers who have made my day many times over. =)

I heart my GFFs.

I know this bunch of GFFs for a decade and we are planning on a formal 10 year anniversary celebration this year. I’m so excited!

How much do I love these gals? Pretty much, so much so that we celebrate each others’ birthdays, and we make it a point to meet up once every three months to chill and chat - we are really busy people with very different time schedules…

The other day, we met up to celebrate Bing’s birthday.

She was very happy indeed..

Ganny and I.

I love sushi. I really do love sushi. I love my sushi raw!!!! My mouth is watering just looking at this…

Or.. scallop anyone?

The birthday girl and I.

Ganny and Limin.

On Bing’s request, we had our supper at Max Brenner. Awesome chocolate! I would like to try their super duper chocolate shake one day.

Instead, we decided to share this delicious banana waffle with hazelnut chocolate.

And this heavenly waffle with ice-cream.

Chocolate makes my day… Mmm….

David and Yan’s Wedding

I admit… I haven’t been hardworking to blog new stuff of late. My brain has been pretty occupied with manipulating matrices, visualising angles, and counting numbers.

Pretty nerdy stuff.

But the end is near, and celebratory mood is about to kick it. Till the next round of madness that is.

So to begin that craze, here are some photos that I took with my friends during a church wedding a month ago.

It was a day that felt more like church friends reunion than a church wedding.

Pardon the low quality photos, taken by my Iphone as I didn’t want to squeeze the camera into my sister’s precious Chanel.

Eileen and her baby! Eileen go way back with my sister. She is a great sister and leader who inspires.

Behold the pretty bridesmaid, Chai Ling. Chai and I go way back where we sqaubble with our youth members over the most nonsensical stuff. She’s definitely one of the prettiest counsellor there is.

You know how people often say… 女大十八变? This surely describes my best pal’s younger sister, Adeline.

The wedding took 2 hours, and by the time the dinner had ended, I was pretty much low on energy…  A quick re-route to Cold Creamery @ HV fixed my need for sugar.

What I wore… Topshop tank with Bysi skirt and burgundy Chanel. Seen here with my own East-West Chanel instead.

Lol what a difference lighting makes for photo snapping on the Iphone.

Happy weekend everyone!