This isn't beauty related, but I had to share some of these pictures! My parents are hoping to purchase an apartment here in Melbourne, and I am probably going to wave my tyrannical hand and impose my designing greatness onto the entire apartment (okay, I'll let my sisters design their own rooms).

Here are a few pictures I was particularly taken to:



I love neutrals, so I'm thinking there will be a lot of neutral colours and designs at the new place. I think it will balance out bold colours perfectly, which I will also be using! I want to paint one wall a nice dark purple or maybe blue, so that it contrasts nicely against the other walls and neutral furniture.





There will also be a lot of high cupboards, since there will probably not be a lot of floor space. I will have an absolute ball drilling holes into walls.

We are all fans of low, orange lighting. So there will be a lot of lamps and reading lights. I bet low orange lighting next to a dark purple/blue wall would look fabulous!

I'll also be getting a bunch of cheap photo frames to put up on one of the walls. I love the way multiple photo frames look up on a wall. I'll probably get photo frames that are more similar in size, shape and colour, just so it doesn't look too cluttery and crowded.

One huge challenge will be finding affordable furniture! From what I've seen so far, Melbourne some really ridiculously priced furniture! Any suggestions as to where I could get some cheap furniture?

Just a quick post today - I'm finally flying home to Malaysia! I'll be there for about a month, to soak up the Chinese New Year goodness with my loved ones and maybe get some shopping in before I come back to Melbourne.

I'll be busy running some last minute errands today, and making arrangements for Chloe's care. I'm going to miss her so much!


As for me, I'll be posting more beauty posts once I get back to Malaysia!

You can also follow me via Twitter to check out all the food porn I'll be bringing straight to your computer/mobile screens, as well as Malaysia's sights, sounds, smells, and tastes, Chinese New Year customs, and of course, the attractions and shopping destinations in Malaysia. Are you excited? Already anticipating the yumminess? I'm so excited about posting via Twitter about Malaysia! Hope you guys enjoy reading my tweets as much as I will enjoy posting them :)

Off to make myself useful. Gong Xi Fa Cai to everyone!

Malaysia, here I come!

After an eternity of being cooped up at home, studying for exams, I'm finally starting to go out again.

Today, I went out to Vic Market with the boyfriend for a leisurely grocery run. I still have a research paper to hand in, so I'm not quite ready to while the day away doing the things that I do.

What's interesting is that, during lunch, we suddenly had this talk about our future, about what we both want, separately and together. It's a hard thing to do, listening and sharing, especially with people as different as the two of us. We wanted some of the same things, but we also wanted some very different things. We disagreed on how we would get where we wanted to get.

But at the same time, these differences brought to light the fact that we could compromise with one another; give and take without really compromising too much of ourselves. This showed us harmonizing at our best.

I know to most people, this may not be a lot. In fact, it may not be anything at all.

But it showed me, and taught me a lot about our relationship. I'm glad we had the talk, and I'm glad we're able to do the things that we do.


And I got all this from a simple trip to Vic Market   :)

Sometimes I wonder what the hell I'm doing with my life.

I wonder if I'm doing the right things, making the right choices, going down the right paths.

I wonder if I'm supposed to be feeling this lost. I wonder whether I should be happier than I am, more accomplished than I am.

I wonder if I will be happy with the decisions I make. I wonder whether I am just settling for my life right now, or whether I really want to be on this path.

I look at others, and I wonder if they're really happy, or whether they are content with the lives they are leading now.

I feel like I'm barrelling through life at warp speed, and that I haven't really slowed down to enjoy it, to live it. Am I supposed to? Or am I only allowed to do that once I've achieved what I need to achieve? What is it, really, that I need to achieve?

Is money meant to be saved, continuously hoarded for the impending, and seemingly inevitable, 'rainy day'?

Sometimes, I feel like leaving it all. Taking myself out of the running. Is happiness really at that finish line? I highly doubt it.

Oh, well. Maybe that's what holidays are for.

Lately there have been little reminders (OK, and huge ones thrown in the mix too) of how terrible things were for me a couple of years ago.

I remember back in college, before exam period came round, I started going to the library with my friends.

I'd stay back after class (ah, the luxuries of having your own car) and find my own little study carrel beside my friends, and I'd study till the sun went down.

I remember each time I started studying, I'd flip through the sheer volume of text from the point where I last stopped. Sometimes, if I gave in to the pressure, I'd just silently sob for a few seconds, and lay my head down on the table and just take deep breaths to try and calm myself down.

And then when I was done studying, or when it was time to go home for dinner, I'd get up, gather my books, and walk out. More often than not, we'd leave just as the sun was setting. There'd always be this calming, orange light out, and the sky would be a picture of gorgeous yellows, purples and blues.

And I'd feel so at peace. I'd feel like at that very moment, I'd done all I could do in a day, and that I'd done enough. I'd feel content.


I hadn't really felt that feeling since then. It had been a really, really long time. Today, however, I had that very same feeling. It was evening, and I'd just finished my last lecture for the day. I looked up from my computer screen, and I was overcome with that same contentment. It takes a heck of a lot of studying and tears to get to that point each day, but I guess, it's worth it.  :)

On a whole other note, the giveaway ends in a week! Submit your entries and be in the running to get one of 4 cool prizes. Good luck!

There's something about Westlife music that makes me happy.

Ever since I was a scrawny 13-year old, Westlife has been a constant, and very major part of my life. I remember talking on the phone for hours to my friend Delia, scrutinizing every aspect of the Westlife album cover, and the songs in the CD.


I remember blasting their Allow Us to Be Frank album when I drove a car by myself for the very first time. I played it so loud, singing at the top of my lungs to calm my nerves.


Every single album they released, I bought. To this day, I love their music. I get a little bit miffed when they do too many covers, but hey, that's another story for another day.

Today's story is about how hyped up I am that their next album is being released! They are releasing album number 11 on November 15th, 2010. You can pre-order your copy here.

Their single is being released November 7th. I am so looking forward to hearing it!

The past week has been really hectic for me. All I seem to think about are the upcoming exams, and I feel so weighed down by them.

So since we started living together, I've taken to entertaining the boyfriend on random nights.

I have little or no recollection of these events happening, but the boyfriend remembers them in stark detail, unfortunately for me.

So anyway, to rip the band-aid off quickly - I sleeptalk.
I come up with these nonsensical scenarios in my head, and I talk about them in my sleep.

Jace finds these episodes very highly entertaining, and has recently started to prompt my monologue by asking me questions.

He then keeps them in memory so that the next afternoon, once he wakes up, he can then recount them to me, laughing hysterically through the whole thing.

-.-"

I'm so glad to be of service.

Hello all! I'm back from my holiday.

Will be posting a bunch of pictures from my holiday, and blogging a little about life back here in Melbourne.

For now, I am going out for dinner with my boyfriend, and maybe going clubbing later tonight?

Keep up with me via Twitter, and I will see you all tomorrow morning!

Also, stay tuned for a detailed review of Clarins Beauty Flash Balm and Micro-derma Abrasion.

I accompanied the boyfriend to Clayton yesterday. He had to sign up for IELTS and attend soccer practice, and I needed to read a book from the library.

I was at the library FOREVER, but got little to no reading done :)

What I did manage to do was continually update Twitter, scare myself senseless when the library closed and I went to the nearby building to wait for my boyfriend to be done with soccer, eat egg tarts (I love egg tarts!), and chat with the family.


So I was in the Menzies building waiting for the boyfriend after the library closed on me, and I was freaking myself out because it was dark-ish, and there were all these cardboard walls and scratching and crackling sounds from construction works going on, but I couldn't see anyone.

I was kind of relieved to have another person (a security guard, I think) in the building with me, but then he walked outside to check on something.

That's when I heard a woman's voice. Singing.

All my hairs stood on end, and I wanted so badly to look up and confirm that there was in fact an actual girl singing. But I was also afraid that I would look up and see something I didn't want to see. At this point, mind you, the singing was getting louder and I was probably very close to peeing my pants.

As the voice got louder, so did the footsteps. But they were both eventually drowned out by my heartbeat and the psychotic screaming I was doing to myself in my head.

The way I tell it, this took forever to play out. In reality it was only a couple of minutes within which I scared myself silly, found out the girl was in fact an actual girl, and got my heart to stop trying to beat its way out of my chest.

The things I do to myself  :)

I've been with the boyfriend almost 2 years now, so we've kind of settled into the routine of things, especially since we live together.

This semester in particular, was very heavy in terms of workload and activities for the both of us. It had been quite a long time since we'd both gone out together, just the two of us.

For the last two days, we spent some time together, having lunch and just taking in Melbourne.

We had lunch at one of our favourite Korean restaurants (I still can't remember the name).


We went looking for a decorative canvas for his sister.


I got a little shopping done in between - rings from Collette accessories and a mousepad-slash-notepad from Typo (I love that shop!).


The next day, we took a little morning trip to Vic Market (one of my favourite places in the city).


I love everything there! The boyfriend was, of course, patient enough to follow me around as I aimlessly wandered the stalls. I wanted to get a beanie and a scarf, but somehow ended up with this instead...


...which was completely fine by me  :)


The boyfriend also got pretty excited about a pug he saw at Vic Market. I'm thinking he secretly wants Chloe to be one, too.

I loved my weekend!