Fitting Room Woes

I got my credit card bill today. I was shocked. Even though I truly expected it to be a large amount. The bad part is knowing that my next credit card bill amount will be a lot more. Yikes. I guess it helps that half of the charges will be shouldered by my sister. After all, she was the one who went on a shopping spree galore. A mighty tiring expedition of huge proportions. You would think the malls were closing shop, permanently. :D

This brings me to recount my stint as her personal shopper assistant. You know the person who runs (ok so I didn't really run) in and out of the fitting room to get her the correct size of pants, jeans, tops or whatever apparel she was trying on. It is exhausting to say the least. She would assemble a basket full of clothes then try them all on. We made sure we entered a different fitting room each time so we don't earn the wrath of the other customers who waited in line. It helps that we would shop in the afternoons when it wasn't too crowded.

On very few occasions, I would see something I fancy and try them on as well. A rather frustrating feat for me since I've gained weight. Size medium doesn't fit me anymore. The struggle to fit myself into clothes which just a year ago would bring out my curves was pretty pathetic. So after several huffing and puffing sessions of struggling with buttons and zippers, I gave up the nasty task of finding a suitable pair of jeans.

But I did manage to harvest some tops which fortunately hid my bulging waistline. And for someone who hated the color 'green' for the longest time (it reminded me so much of my ugly High School uniform), I find myself veering towards green tops. Strange, ha!

The brown abstract print dress is a welcome addition to my collection of short dresses. While this sleeveless ruffled blue top goes well with my new blue bag which I mentioned in a previous post. =)

A scented affair

I like to smell good. So I'm big on perfumes. I never leave the house without spraying them on my clothing. Sometimes even though I'm only staying home, I spray a few whisk on me. Most of the perfumes I use have been my favorites for decades now. To cite a few - Pleasures by Estee Lauder, Rive Gauche by Yves Saint Laurent, Anais Anais by Cacharel and Elizabeth Arden's Splendour.

I have a bitter sweet love affair with Splendour. It was gifted to me by my sister who I believe received it as a corporate giveaway. I fell in love with its strong scent. Not too sweet nor too floral, it was just the perfect aroma for me. After using it for a few years, I panicked when it was suddenly pulled out of the market. I searched all the perfume counters at the malls and also frantically searched online perfume websites. But it was in vain. I was disappointed but simply had to move on to the next perfume to satisfy my scented desires.

Then to my utter surprise among the pasalubongs my sister bought for me from Singapore was a bottle of Elizabeth Arden's Splendour. She was fully aware of my desperate search for this specific perfume so when she accidentally chanced upon it at the duty free shop in Changi Airport (Singapore) she willingly bought one for me. Now I am ecstatic with my renewed scented affair with one of my favorite perfumes.

Thank God for a generously kind and sweet sister who truly knows the way to my heart! =)

My comfort zone

When we were still dating and planning our married life, D was a bit worried about leaving me all alone while he had to work long hours. I told him that as long as I have my computer and get to connect to the Internet, I'm a happy clam. =)

A little over a year ago, I distinctly recall how excited I was to set up my computer in the second bedroom of our rented apartment. I was sweating a lot because the room gets its fair share of the blazing afternoon sun. D took over in setting up the complicated phone lines from the lower floor all the way up to the second bedroom. He was very organized in making sure the unsightly wires were neatly tucked along the contours of the walls. To this day, I am constantly amazed with his organizational skills to make the house 'appear' clutter free.

As you can see in the picture, my computer table has a functional appearance. I only have the bare essentials on the counter top. The LCD monitor, the Canon printer. Plus my cup of coffee, a bottled mineral water, D's glasses (which he forgot to bring to work today!). My writing materials are in the lower shelf along with some Dvds I have yet to watch.

You also have D's computer space, a library full of over spilling books, an electric fan, D's golf clubs and some fitness contraption which is gathering dust - all jostling for space in the small room. But it is well ventilated from the natural breeze which seeps through the large windows and as I've mentioned above, it can get really sunny and a bit humid during the afternoons. Yet it is definitely my comfort zone.

Most of the time, you will find me seated in front of my computer multitasking online and completely spaced out. So I got my wish and I am happy in my little sanctuary. D has nothing to worry about except maybe the messy stove with all the nasty spilling of food. But I make sure I clean it all up before he gets home so I'm safe! :D

By the way, this is my entry to Caryn's birthday giveaway.

Pasalubongs Galore

I have a huge pile of backlog research materials (for my sister) waiting to be edited and emailed but the fish I am supposed to fry for lunch is still frozen so what better way to spend the time than to blog!

When my sister emailed me to ask what I wanted as pasalubong from the Lion City, my only requests were instant Miso soups (I adore them) and a couple of Singapura T-shirts for D.

Yet when she unpacked her huge luggage, it was bulging with unexpected pasalubongs! Aside from the requested Miso soups (it looks like she raided an entire convenience store!) and the tees, she surprised us with food items and an assortment of handbags of different sizes and different colors.

I was overwhelmed.

But since I have a very tiny closet and I hardly go anywhere to merit a wide array of handbags, I merely picked two bags to add to my growing collection.





I remember the time when I first moved my things into our apartment over a year ago, D was astonished at the amount of bags I had. Little did he know that I had already trimmed the amount to the very essential ones and left the rest at the condo. Here's a picture of the so called essential ones I desperately try to stuff into our very limited closet space. I purposely took them out for the photo shoot. :D

Rainy days and Mondays

Yes rainy days and Mondays always bring me down. More so since my sister went back to Singapore yesterday. The 10 days she spent here were pretty hectic but we had so much fun.

She pampered us with pasalubongs galore.

She regaled us with her stories about her adventures and mishaps in her new home.

We shopped till the stores closed down.

We binged at her favorite restaurants.

We watched a couple of movies (her type of films - the wizards and transformers kinds!) at the cinemas.

We laughed our hearts out.

We bonded as sisters and as a family.

It was a jolly good time!

Yesterday as we bid her farewell, we couldn't wait till December to see her again!

In the meantime it is back to the daily grind of a domesticated diva for chubby lil me! :D

A short blogging hiatus

This afternoon, my parents and I will be at the airport to fetch my everdearest sister.

She will be in town to attend some business conference.

This would entail loads of sister bonding time, however brief it may be.

I'm really excitedly happy to see her again.

Ergo I have a valid excuse for not updating this blog.

But I shall return ... promise! =)

RIP, Michael Jackson

I watched the Michael Jackson memorial live from the Staples Center this morning. I stayed up till 4 am to see his friends and family pay homage to his music, his charitable works and his humanitarian spirit. They shared poignant moments as well as anecdotes of his playful mischief. I started crying when Brooke Shields narrated her special friendship with the King of Pop. And I was sobbing like crazy when his daughter praised him for being the best father you could imagine. So sad.

Michael, you will be truly missed but never ever forgotten.

Thank you for your electrifying concert performances. I will forever cherish the fact that I was able to watch you perform live in concert in Singapore in 1993.

Thank you for inspiring us with your meaningful songs.

Thank you for your great spirit.

May you rest in peace!

Ang sarap ng weekends!

Weekends are pretty much welcomed in this household. Well particularly for me! It is the time when D is home and he completely takes over the household chores.

Yes I'm mighty spoiled that way. Bless him!

As most of my friends can attest, I'm not really the domesticated diva type. But since I got married and with D at work till evenings, I've more or less lived up to the task. The task of experimenting with recipes, dusting, washing dishes, doing light laundry (the rest we simply call our friendly laundry shop to take care of our dirty linens). At the same time trying to stay online for a number of Internet activities.

Multitasking is the key!

A task I'm slowly learning. I say slowly because there were instances where I was so engrossed in front of the computer, I forgot I was heating the mushroom soup. When I finally rushed down there was soup all over the 2 burner stove and hardly any left for my lunch. Geez.

I like to think that this running up and down the stairs keeps me fit. Although every time I see my dear mother (I see her like once a week and she keeps saying the same thing!) she would always amusingly comment that I'm turning into a cute lil ball of fat in all the wrong places. Then she will say that married life suits me as though that would console my "chubby" feelings.

So perhaps I am in denial? :D