Eat.Shop.Play.Love

Eat Shop Play Love (ESPL) is a blog that aims to lend a voice to the millions of Asians around the world who have left their native countries to live their lives in a different place, for whatever the reasons may be.

Guess what?  Starting from June, I will be contributing an article to ESPL every first Tuesday of the month on what I love best – Eating , Shopping, Playing and Love!  You can check out my author profile on the page.. hehe.

Wish me luck as I’m feeling kinda nervous as this is my first writing project but am looking forward to embracing this new challenge that will hopefully enhance my writing skills.

And, watch this space come 7 June!

[Photo credit: Eat Shop Play Love blog]

What’s in my bag : Weekend

Over drinks with the Imp last night, I marveled at her bag (and btw, love those Tory Burch shoes that you wore – they are simply the best flats yeah?).  Having just raided her bag recently, I said that there’s no way that bag she was touting could carry all her stuff she posted previously, she smiled gleefully and said it was her weekend bag (la).

She said she was going to do a post on her weekend bag for it holds lesser things that the daily bag.  I gamely said I will follow suit for I too have a bag that I sort of specifically take around when the weekend beckons.

My bag of choice for the weekends is usually the Balenciaga First in Cobalt Blue.  Yes, I love this shade of blue very much!  I have 2 blouses, a dress, a pair of Ray Ban shades and a bag in this electrifying shade.  The Balenciaga First is actually rather tiny but for the weekend, it’s perfect cos I’m usually out about town running errands.  I usually chuck my wallet, my iPhone, my cardholder and keys.  And depending on my attire, I rotate my sunglasses to match the outfit or mood.  Felt like a tee and denim shorts kind of gal today, so popped my trusty Ray Ban Wayfarers to complete the laid-back look.

So, do you have a weekend bag?  What goes in it?  I’ll love to find out, so do link back to this post and I’ll update the list as it grows.

In the meantime, go suss out what’s in Imp’s weekend bag and I’m tagging Miss Ene for the fun of it since she started this ‘What’s in your bag’ meme in the first place.

Check out what’s in my bag or simply raid my wardrobe.

{Sake} up baby.

It was a classic story in the making – Imp met Lady J in blogosphere. I think Imp made the first move and no rejection on this Lady’s part (heehee) was necessary. And the rest they say is history.

I’ve been on a massive blog-roll last year and along the way in the past couple of months, I’ve made some really good friends. Oh-kay, I’ve not seen them in person, but I feel like I kinda know them as they let me delve into their lives through their blogs. So, Imp was off for a month long’s work trip, I was updated on her daily happenings with twitter and through her blog.  As she was making her way back to Sing, I ‘summoned’ the courage and asked if she would like to go for a celebratory drink. I know the girl loves her whisky and meeting up in person over alkie should be fun right?

So thankfully, she didn’t reject my offer and the date was set to meet over sake and some pub grub at Oriharu Sake Bar (Mohamed Sultan). I was kinda nervous for it felt like a first date. In her honor, I omitted black/white choices and went with a Summery blouse from Rebecca Taylor. Usually I have no problems but more than half of my wardrobe followed me to S-Land, so I’m left with boring ensembles at home. She, on the other hand put on a white top (in my honour) for she claimed that most of her wardrobe choices are usually black. Hehe, the funny things we pay attention to while reading each other’s blogs.

After a great big hug and a reassurance that my hair looked fine (I was grumbling on Twitter that the stylist chopped off my bob and gave me a pixie cut). We attacked our Sake choices. She left me with the orders seeing that I’ve been here before. I thought instead of 2 dainty cups of sake, we could possibly polish off a 750ml bottle of sake. Shouldn’t be that tough right? She drinks, I drink. The most ‘high only what‘, I thought.

And, we’re off to a flying start from the moment when the alcohol was placed on the table. The conversations over booze were relaxed and peppered with the occasional squeals plus laughter. The topics? Revolved largely around our lives plus a whole lot of talk around shopping and Japanese food!!! My fave topics!!!!

In between the juicy girl-talk, the sweet little imp presented me with a going-away gift. I was really surprised for I knew her packed schedule allowed her no time for shopping much less shopping for souvenirs and gifts for friends.  Plus, we were ‘virtual’ friends before this ‘blog-date’ so no reason why she should be giving me a gift. But she insisted and according to ‘Argentinian’ customs (she just came back from Argentina), she asked that I open the gift. In it lies a beautiful Merino wool shawl which she hand-picked and knew could go with most of my clothes plus one of my fave bags. She knew how cold S-land was going to be so she thought this shawl would be ideal to keep myself stylishly warm. I was touched by her sweet gesture… Gal, this is going to be the first thing I put on upon arrival into Geneva! Apparently, weather is still hovering between 8 degrees to 20 degrees.. so perfect!

Before I knew it, the 2 odd hours of girlie chit-chat was up as I had to meet another dear friend – Princess Min for dinner. Before we said our goodbyes, I insisted on ordering a shot of 12Y Yamazaki whisky to drink to new friendships formed. When I come back Imp, you have to bring me to your ‘home-ground’ Whisky Bar and teach me a thing or to about proper whisky. That’s another date yah?

All in all, a really happy (and buzzed) night spent with 2 great babes – a new-found friend from the present and a really treasured girlie from the past.

stuck in rut.

Oh-kay, mid-week grumblings… It’s been raining almost the entire day and I’m a grumpy Lady when I’m stuck at home!  Technically, I could have gone out but there’s something lulling about the rain.  It puts me in a sleepy mood and I end up not wanting to go out.   Plus, I hate getting wet so I rather just stay indoors.

On to my day 3 of rantings – The movers came, packed and was gone within 1.5 hours.  I thought not too bad, seeing that the Man and I packed quite haphazardly the night before.

Also, 17 boxes of stuff between the 2 of us was another achievement!  The last time I moved from Singapore to Japan, my load itself was already 20 over boxes.  Not to mention, the move from Japan back to Singapore, the 2 of us accumulated so much stuff that we had a full-sized container to bring back over 100 boxes of stuff.  The movers were amazed by the sheer amount of things we have for just a young couple cos that’s the amount of boxes that a family of 4 would bring.

Since I wasn’t in the mood to head out, I started surfing the net and stumbled on a couple new blogs and this article – ‘No one cares what you did last weekend‘.  As I read the article, I thought to myself, ‘Oh dear.. I think I might have just put a couple of people asleep with my ’5 things’ post and this week-long running commentary about the move to S-land.’  I went into a momentary state of depression thinking how torturous it must have been to read the posts.

But then, I took a step back and thought it can’t be all that bad.. I mean there are some really sweet bloggers out there who are genuinely interested in finding out about my life.  Last night convo with Del (my long-time schoolmate) also revealed that she enjoys living her life vicariously through me.

So, there… I’m going to continue blogging the way I do… there will be good days where my creative juices will just flow but there will also be days where I will experience a little something called the ‘blogger’s- block’.  That’s where I hope I will get your help to spur me on to tell me in all honesty what turns you ‘on’.  Sorry, I meant to say.. what makes you click.. hehe.

Before I end, I’ll like to share a post (that really speaks from the heart) from one of my favourite bloggers – BookJunkie from Tiny Island.  She’s such a sweetheart and will always take the extra effort to reply to each and every comment left on her blog.  I think that’s an admirable trait and she inspires me to do the same for each comment that I receive here on my blog too.

Thanks for all the blog-♥ you’ve given through your comments for they really inspire me and spur me to keep blogging. And if it’s not too much to ask for, I hope you’ll continue to keep the lovin coming as ‘a blog is a lonely place without your comments (quote by BookJunkie)’.