More from Singapore

The weekend that we were in Singapore happened to be the weekend of Chinese New Year! In a city that is always abuzz with activity, you can only imagine what excitement welcoming the year of the horse  would have created. Just a few hundred meters from our Hotel was Marina Bay, where the sights, sounds, smells and most importantly tastes all spelt C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-I-O-N!

Makansutra

Our dinner that night consisted of sampling different foods from the countless foodstalls that had sprung up along the river to feed the thousands of  revelers. Also a permanent feature on the Bay is a food court - no not like the ones on level 3 of a shopping mall - a real food court - with real, fresh, asian food stalls. Its called Makansutra. A MUST visit for when you are in Singapore, even if you are only there for one night - like we were.

We then walked over to the other side of the bridge, quite literally, to the uber-chic world of the Marina Bay mall. It makes malls like Chadstone look like a tent! I swear, my feet were aching just from walking across 3 quarters of this mall. And I walk 3ks everyday as part of my daily routine. 

Finally, what I wore to keep me comfortable and still looking appropriate for the festivities - an outfit post after so, so long!

Loose White Top: *$15 (Cotton On)

Blue Mini Skort: $49.95 (Zara)

Bow Necklace in Soft-Gold: $19.95 (Portmans)

Wallet with Wristlet: $35 (Charles & Keith - Singapore)

Black Peep-toe Flats: *$5 (Rubi Shoes)

CNY Outfit Total: $124.94

* = sale prices

Weekend Getaway - to Singapore!

A few weeks ago we spent the weekend in Singapore. No, no, we aren't the-super-rich-globetrotting-whisking-ourselves-away-to-exotic-locations-on-a-whim kinds. We were transiting via Singapore on our way back from another trip and decided to stay the night instead of trying to while away time in the confines of an airport. Ok, I'm not really helping my cause here, am I? What this other trip was, I'll have to tell you another time - probably could start writing a whole, entire, separate blog about that trip. Anyway, back to the weekend in Singapore...

We stayed the night at the Pan Pacific Hotel (the one near Marina Bay). Great hotel, great location, great value (room rate-wise), food was overpriced and not so great.

Cute little tipi-hut-like booths in the lobby bar. Had a mean Cosmo there later that night.

Our room

Breakfast for the Hungry-hippos!

Shopping I did earlier that morning

First order of business as I landed in Singapore at 8am that morning was to head straight to the Charles & Keith store at T3 of Changi airport and buy this amazing wallet! It's true, I don't like wasting time when it comes to shopping. Get right into it, I say, whatever the time of day. I love that it has that bangle/wristlet attached to take the wallet from day to night. Best part - the price of course, only $42 SGD ($36 AUD approximately)!

More on Singapore to come shortly. Stay tuned.

Looking Back!

Here's an incomplete post that I had started drafting but never published... it's strangely comforting to look back at how things were back then, so I'll share this with you anyway even though some of the information may seem outdated now.

November 2013: 
Blogosphere, I have missed you! To those who might have thought I've been too lazy to update my blog, it's actually the opposite - I've been working too hard and not playing hard enough and have had absolutely ZERO time for myself over the past month and a half. So, I'm glad for this midweek holiday of Cup Day - thank goodness this Race stops the nation because in my world I definitely needed a pause.

Ok, enough complaining. Let's focus on the positives. I haven't done much shopping but I have a few photos to share from my birthday celebrations a few weeks ago (September)...

Black Silk Tank: *$5 (Dotti)

Helena Embellished Skirt: *$75.99 (Forever New - now available in Mint)

Demask Pattern necklace: *$14.99 (Equip)

Gold Clutch: *$22 (Colette)

Pointed Black Heels: *$24 (Asos)

Assorted Bracelets: *$15 (Forever New)

Birthday Outfit Total: $156.98

* = sale prices

We had a great night with great friends with great Asian Tapas and Drinks at Golden Monkey. Highly recommend this place.

Later that night we went to Khokolat Bar aslo in Hardware Lane to continue the celebrations. And I had this AMAZING cocktail, fit for a fashionista called Coco Chanel: An elegantly decadent blend of Hennessy VSOP, Mozart chocolate liqueur, caramelised sugar and thick rich cream, drizzled with vanilla syrup. YUM!

The next day, I received my Birthday Gift from Mr. Pre! It was sitting in the car waiting for me as we were rushing out for lunch. He did SO well!

It was a Happy Birthday! :D

I'm back!

It was an unplanned hiatus. Its been a real roller-coaster ride, these last few months - that's the only way to describe it. Extreme highs and stomach churning lows. Many major, life-changing events have meant I haven't been in the right head space to blog: a car accident - no injuries, but financial losses and a blow to confidence and morale; a new job - very demanding, long days, late nights, little or no time for a social life; the loss of a loved one - sudden and untimely; a big fat wedding - a joyous celebration.
I was waiting to get back to normalcy before I could start blogging again, but with the way my life has been going, I've forgotten what normal is. So, I'm going to get back in the saddle and hopefully this will bring normality back into my life. With this little note, I just wanted to clarify my sudden and long disappearance - I've always wanted the tone of this blog to be positive and fun and I promise that that's what it will always be.
Watch this space....
xx

Chocolate Tour

A couple of weeks ago, my friend took me on a Chocolate Tour of Melbourne City's best Chocolatiers. She had bought this voucher as a birthday present for me last year and we finally got around to using it 11 months later! It was worth the wait. It was a gorgeous day in Melbourne. Our walking tour started at 2.15pm at Koko Black at the Royal Arcade (sorry I hadn't started taking photos at that point), we then walked a few stores down to Suga, next stop was The Chocolate Box...

....followed by Haighs....

.... then Ganache...

...and concluded with churros at Hairy Little Sista. YUM!

There was chocolate-tasting at every stop. And our lovely guide, Suzie shared interesting facts about the history of all these establishments and also the architecture of the buildings we came across along the way; things that are so easy to miss in the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives. For example, the Crabtree and Evelyn store at the Block Arcade is located where the Singer (sewing machine) store used to be and still has the original murals on the ceiling including the Singer logo. Fascinating!

 By the end of the 2 hour tour, you don't even want to think about chocolate any more. But still it was a good experience to just slow down and admire the things we take for granted in this beautiful city, whilst enjoying delectable chocolate treats. I would definitely recommend this tour to all Melbournians, Non-Melbournians and of course, to Chocoholics! You can choose from their various tours to find dates and times that suit you from their website http://chocoholictours.com.au/switchboard/.

Now, all I have to do is find ways to burn off the calories consumed over this 2 hour chocolate indulgence :P....

Currently Coveting

Black leather with gold detailing

Neon

Sequin Jacket

Lace Skirt & Asymetric Skirt

Long, loose trench

Arm Candy

Colour Block Pants and Coloured Coat

Black & Gold accessories

Preparing for Spring

This weekend, after a very very long time, I felt like my old self again. Shopping alone, just for fun, not for a particular outfit or occasion, examining all the shops in the area and then going back to the first, racing to get from one mall to another on public transport to get in before the shops close to get that one piece that I'm suddenly obsessed with but is only available in my size at another location (in this case from CBD to Chadstone at 4pm), fuelling myself with only sushi and coffee, something you can have on the go without wasting precious shopping time. Here's what I bought...

Embellished cuff Top - Zara; Scarf - Portmans; Blue Mini Skort - Zara; 5 Row Chain Link necklace - Lovisa; Earrings - Lovisa.

Though none of these were on sale, I was still happy to pay full price as they are all pretty unique and versatile pieces and most of them were selling out fast. The Skorts were all sold out in that colour in the city and so I had to rush to Chadstone. The top was the last one in my size. The scarf was the last one, too. The earrings there were plenty of but the necklace there was only one more remaining. 

The necklace is pretty cool, it sits almost like a turtle-neck, like the top of a suit of armour. The SA at the store was wearing it and I loved it as soon as I saw it on her and I loved it on myself, too. I don't know when or where I'd wear it, but it'd have to be for a special occasion....