Tuesday 24 September 2013

Bet2huat

LOL! That is the funniest name ever!!!! They should just rename sg casino --- BET2HUAT!

Is this even legal??? Online gambling + anyhow spam email??

Monday 23 September 2013

The salad meal

Now I always thought that eating salad for a meal is pretty cool - I finally tried it today.

It all started... yesterday when my boyfriend told me he ate salad for breakfast because salad store has the least queue in the morning.

fuck, he is skinny enough, SKINNIER  THAN ME, and he runs more often than me and now he eats salad for breakfast?!?!?!? no way I'm going to lose out (I refuse to be heavier than him damn!). So I bought a box of veggies.

WOOHOO! Lots of veggies. I added beef & avocado for the fear of being hungry. I even added 2 pieces of home made bread.

Trust me, this is the largest bowl of veggy I ate in my life.
And... Guess what.

This is the process of eating salad:
Before salad: Hungry
During: Hungrier
After: still hungry, and even hungrier than ever

Now, when people tell u that you could just settle a meal via salad. therefore you could stay slim foreverrrrr...... THAT IS A LIEEEEE!!!!! I FEEL SOOOO HUNGRY that i had to go for a second serving.

With an egg this time.and even more avocado.

and... I'm still fucking hungry.

And that is just my breakfast.......

salad meal sucks. well maybe I just havent found a right mix of vegetables.

Xoxo

Sunday 22 September 2013

The perfect bread

Today I mastered the baking of perfect bread.

Well maybe not 100% mastered it, but kind of.

The secret is really to choose the right kind of flour. If you want bread texture, you are going to need 'bread flour'. Bread flour is high in gluten, hence it rise better, and give that bread texture. Now where to find this 'bread flour'? any supermarket! It'd be labeled as bread flour.

The next step is to use yeast. Now I've failed my previous bread because my yeast are probably all dead. So fresh ones is important. You could just use Kings instant yeast. The amount to add in comes with experience. For 1 loaf of bread, you probably want to use around half a cap of the yeast.

Seasoning: typical bread don't have much taste. So just add plain water to dough. Switch to milk if u want.. Add some herbs if u want too. Honestly.. Do anything to it. I am planning to throw some onions, ginger &lemon peel next time.

Tip though, food always taste better with something conflicting. So if u are intending to bake sweet bread, add a tiny bit of salt. Etc

Texture: you know the dough is the right texture when it feels like boobies. Ok maybe fats is the better term. But it should be really soft to touch, and is still sticky to your hand. It should not be runny though.

Leave that to rise in a baking tin/aluminum foil around 1 hr, and bake at 200deg around 15-20mins - depending on size of dough. Poke w Sth sharp.. If it comes out clean, serve.

Home baked bread tastes fucking delicious.







Friday 20 September 2013

Starting a blogshop

Well that is not a easy job. PERIOD.

I have a love hate thing with that 'blogshop' word.

1. I ever worked with one of my best friends on a blogshop before, and it didn't turn out too good. Well, I wouldn't say it is any of our fault though. Because I moved from Jurong to Kovan years back, so there is really not much way we could continue our business. PLUS we didn't start our blogshop with a specific role in mind. I'm just really glad that we maintained our friendship & positive attitude towards business.

2. We recently went for a flea market, and man! The clothes we picked about 5 years back SOLD OUT! Ok almost. That means we do have an eye for clothings, and that made me feel very sad that we're no longer operating.

3. I mentioned that I worked in a procurement & retail company - or did I? But now you know. And it is just these half year that we get a lot of inquiries from clients on whether we could help them with manufacturing their retail or blogshop clothes. HELL YES. (My company usually do gifts, carriers, name tags etc) It is quite a new thing to me initially. When me and my friends did it, we went to wholesale market to get them. So I kind of told my boss I know what I was doing but actually I don't. I don't know how big scale manufacturing of clothing work. Luckily I'm given a lot of contacts and guidance from my boss and my boss' friends :x

I'm a pro now... Maybe. lol.

And to my surprise, some of these manufactured pieces are even more expensive than the wholesale pieces. You would think that if you order more and even manufacture them yourself, it would be cheaper. But that wasn't the case at all. Manufacturers usually manufacture clothes at the count of hundreds or thousands. As a start up, or a general Singapore store, are you able to sell 1000 piece of clothes of the same design?

If not, then the price is going to go up. If 1000 piece of clothes cost 10sgd to manufacture, the second hand dealer probably would sell you at 15sgd or 20sgd. But if you only manufacture 200 piece of clothings, the manufacturer would probably charge you 25sgd.Why? Material fees are much more expensive! And for the same mold, they are just making 5 times lesser clothes. Now that is for the average quality stuffs. If you tell manufacturer you want quality, the price probably go up to 30sgd for example.  And if the price doesn't go up, probably the cut goes wrong. or they tell u its of better quality but actually its as crappy as ever.

That explains for the quality of most local blogshop clothes. I bought a lot of clothes from blogshops. And honestly, I am not happy with the quality at all. I have this pencil skirt from one of the top blogshops in SG, and all I see is underwear lines. Cost me around 33 with postage. I cant even wear it out at all.

I purchased a full dress from one of the top sg blogshops as well, but I could see my bra and underwear as well. so this piece can't see sunlight either. Cost me around 35 with postage.

Though.. I ever bought stuff within 35 and are still ok... like.. ok.

I really feel for a lot of these blogshop owners, because the quantity manufacturers are willing to do is often too big. Its either the owners are rich, they pay for it & then fail the business and got to sell their stuff dirt cheap. Or owners aren't rich, and they can't even pay for a proper first collection. What my company did in the end was to just go on war with manufacturers and push down the quantity requirements per design. But that was only possible because we had like 80 design from clients then. And my boss' friend opened a chain wholesale stores in sg. HE KNOWS THE BOSS OF THAT FACTORY. But they're still ex.

I kind of lost my point. But either way, if you are intending to start blogshop and want to manufacture your own stuff, you need a lot more money now. I started my blogshop last time with my friend with just 250 each. You probably need ALOT more now for one collection. alot.......

What inspire me to write this? I saw a post on flowerpod.. This is really random - its 2.04am now. 
and you know who to find if you need to manufacture stuff. any stuff.

Xoxo

Tuesday 17 September 2013

Cock hair

My boyfriend bought me a pecan pie yesterday, and I found a armpit hair in it.

GROSS! And here is our conversation:

Me: OMG! Dear I ate a armpit hair. Dam disgusting
Him: *ignoring what I said and take one big bite* well, god knows it might be cock hair!
Me: Omg that's worse.... The guy shoot on this pecan pie.........
Him: FUCK YOU! *he looked like he was dying while chewing the pie, and cough 3x at least*

We finish the pie in the end anyway...
Here is a picture of hair found.

Monday 9 September 2013

WEEKEND SEWING!


Weekends are the best time to slow down a little and enjoy life.

I like to spend mine doing things I like - Yes, doing makeup for my clients is one of those things I like.

And I've been sewing. This weekend, I sew a pencil skirt.

What you'll need:
1. 0.5m x 1.5m cloth of choice (main body)
2. 10cm width cloth of choice (waist band)
3. 0.5m x 1.5m lining cloth (optional)
4. 1 zip (I recommend around 20cm)
5. Scissors, iron, sewing machine, needles & thread
6. 3 Hours of your time

My choice of cloth. This is a batik cloth made in indonesia. Typically Batik cloth is made by hand, by applying layers of wax to the fabric, and peeling them off. Traditional Batik has white linings around the patterns - their religious reasons.

Mine came with gold linings, and the fabric is extremely soft. Almost silk like fabric, with velvety textures on the maroon & purple patterns.

I did not follow any patterns for this skirt. I just went along and see how it turns out. But to make the process easier, you could easily take a piece of your other pencil skirts and cut the rough shape out. Leave around 5cm extra cloth around though. When you are starting out, you will make mistakes. 5cm should be enough room for errors.

I finish the skirt with a covered zipper back. Sewing a zip is the hardest thing to do I think. When I sew pencil cases last time, I kept sewing the zip inside out. You really need to pin things out carefully if you are starting out. But it is not hard, it is just really tedious.

I did not use a conceal zip because conceal zips are usually hard zip up and down. Moreover, I think this brass colored zip suits the traditional pattern a lot more. I added a hook, but that is totally optional.

 

I also had linings inside, but forgot to take a photo of it.Anyway, here you get it! :)

Xoxo

Saturday 7 September 2013

Cutting my own hair + ROAST CHICKEN


You know sometimes you look in the mirror... and you go...
'neh, whats this long hair for?'

It gets tangled up sometimes.... and it takes time to dry... and maybe you just want a change.

You know it's time to cut it.

Before cutting:
My hair is the longest in my life at that point. It ends slightly after my boobs. Looks quite girly and stuff, yeh kind of like it. SCISSORS TIME.

And this happens. Loads of hair.... It occupies a quarter of a regular sheet of newspaper.

My new haircut! That I cut myself.

New hair with a bit of curls. Now it feels really light. And there is much more volume! I'm a mid length hair girl again.


My boyfriend asked if I roated a chicken before.....
And I thought...Yeh, I should probably do it.
1. Lay your ingredients on a pan. Here I have garlic, onions, lemon, thyme, ladies finger, black pepper, soy sauce, tabasco sauce.

Then Place your stuffed chicken on top of the things you laid.
Stuffing: Ladies finger, onion, garlic, lemon
Top: Black pepper, Tabasco sauce, salt, light soy sauce, thyme, oregano, loads of lemon juice.

Then line potatoes around the chicken - which I forgot to photograph.


180 degrees for 1 hr 15mins, then 200 degrees for30minutes. 
Or whenever your chicken is cooked. Cut a small slit around the thicken thighs. You know it's cooked when there is no blood in there. 

It's really easy to make this. This is my first time roasting a whole chicken, and it taste fantastic! Instructions are above, and here are the ingredients for disbgil's special roast (Name of dish that.. I came out with)

1. 2 medium red onion
2. 10 garlics
3. 1 lemon
4. 1 pack of ladies fingers (around 200-300g i think)
5. 1 pack of potatoes, around 500-600g
6. 1 chicken - mine should be between 1.5-1.8kg
7. thyme & oregano (optional)
9. black pepper
10. salt, oil, soy sauce

Xoxo

Friday 6 September 2013

Maxi dress

Just isn't for everybody.

Here you have me wearing a maxi dress...

And I look like a tweety bird. Or worse

Big head short and small body zzz



Wednesday 4 September 2013

Fashion Trends for fall 2013

Now I don't really care about trends for the 10000000000times, and trends to me looks around the same each season. For makeup, you always have clear skin, deep red lips, smokey/metallic eyes.... For fashion, its always the similar color tones, perhaps with a little change in style.

1. CROP
This year, crop is in. I mean, crop top. It may not be everyone's favorite since it is revealing. However, I think it is not so hard to wear a crop top as long as it is cut at the right place.










 
This is mid length to me, it shows off a little of your tummy. It's long sleeve also made it suitable for fall seasons. I could see colder countries throwing a jacket over it though.



 
Or if you're not confident with your tummy, just wear a high waist skirt to cover it up. I am a fan of pencil skirts, so if you could find a plain color one, you could pair it with corporate looking pencil skirt really easily. Topped with a jacket, you're basically reason to rock your work place. Transition to night time is really easy. Remove jacket, and pull your skirt down just a little bit. :)


This is the kind that I am quite keen in getting. It is very cropped, and it stops almost right after your boobs. I don't know about you, but I am quite boney at the part after the boobs. I have quite huge bones though, so sometimes they poke out a little bit. Bt I do have thicker layer around my tummy. Anyway, back to the top.. I feel that this length just reveals what I am comfortable with, and I could wear a flare or pencil skirt to hide the parts I don't love.
FYI, This photo looks like a sports bra though.......


2. COLORS
Fall seasons are usually more gloomy/darker.

This year in particular, I've seen a lot of maroon, army green, greys.


 
 A really easy chunky sweater is essential for colder parts. Singapore is relatively hot, but its getting colder, and we could do with a thinner one. A pretty on trend pairing would be to get chunky sweaters and get it paired with skinny jeans. I feel that looks really modern. Even pencil skirt works really well with chunky sweater.


 
Both camo prints and army green kind of color is very popular this time. I like the jacket above because it ha quite a fitted cut, yet it gives more masculinity through the leather patches. A very handsome jacket. This really goes well with almost anything you wear. Obviously, nothing too girly to be paired with this. Otherwise you lose its' point.

3. Floral prints

 
Floral prints are so popular! It is everywhere. I'd say floral prints has been quite popular all these years, but it is just this year we really see the florals emerge. Floral prints could look really old and silly. I don't like floral prints there are too tiny, because they reminds me of my grandmother. I don't like it too big either. It looks like my pajamas. Something in the middle is really good. When choosing floral prints, the color is so important. You get the focus wrong, it wouldn't look good anymore. I love the one above because the colors are simple. Basically there are only 2 main colors - pinks & black. I like to pair floral items with solid color items, and specifically choose a minority color from the floral item to be the solid color one.
So for the top above, the minority color is black. I would pair it with a black jeans/pencil skirt.


 
This is what I don't like when it comes to floral prints. This looks really old even though it is not really floral. It's just... wrong.

 
If loud prints are too much for you, start off with something simple. This white pair of jeans is perfect! I love how scattered the patterns are. Pair it with a statement jacket and you're good to go.

4. Leather


 
Leather additions are pretty. I always kind of liked it. Be it a leather top with skirt, or a pencil skirt with leather lining along the sides. They look really nice together. Fabrics usually have a rougher texture, but they feel soft and feminine. Leather on the other hand, feels smoother, not as much texture, but they give out a much tougher look. 

Right,I'll end here. Just wear what looks best on you. Find clothes with really good cut and doesn't show pantie lines. They're not nice at all.

BTW, all photos are from FOREVER21, and they're all within 3 pages in NEW items. Just in case you are interested.

Now, why do forever21 look so unappealing in the Singapore store, but they look so good online!
weird.

Xoxo

Monday 2 September 2013

PVZ 2

I've been on Plants vs zombies 2 lately. It's really addictive. <3


However, with joy, comes misery. (Right whatthefuck that sounds dumb)

And sometimes, I feel more like a zombie walking across a path filled with ice cubes, that freezes and immobilizes you. I work pretty hard to get to where I am today. 

Years ago, my parents both stopped working, and my dad opened his own business. Just as I thought everything was working out fine -- my dad realising his dream, everything gone wrong. My dad got scammed by his other 3 business partners, and what's left is a business with debts and that could not even pay its rent - 15k a month.

With no savings at all and my siblings still schooling at both primary and secondary school, I started working, tutoring, doing makeup to pay for my own expenses. Soon, I spent my savings on my home bridal concept - kellysbridals. I worked extremely hard, with bridal makeup dates stacking high, eating into my holidays, weekends, mainly the period after september. That is the peak season for bridal related work. However, it wasn't enough to help anyone else in my family. I get enough for second half of the year, but that is about it. All I could get was enough income to pay for my rent and bills - 300 rent, and 200 over bills per month. And of course the food and transportation. I made one of the biggest choice in my life - I stopped schooling, I quit my university degree half way.

It has been close to 7 years since I started on my makeup industry, 2.5 years since I did my home bridal concept, and 2 years working full time. I've learnt a lot. Over these years, I had no teachers around me. All I had was a ACER computer that is 7 over years old. I started off 7 years ago with only 1 stack of Costalscents palette, and 7 brushes that I bought online. Today, I have countless brands of expensive makeup items ready to be used on my brides, brush sets, I have an entire room dedicated to my bridal and makeup service. I mastered makeup & hairstyling, Adobe illustrator, Indesign and a little of fashion designs all by myself, oh, and of course, with my old but trusty ACER - and internet. 

I could not thank my friends around me enough for not giving up on me after countless times of me not attending outings, not asking them out. I am so thankful to my photography and modeling friends' kind effort to do photoshoots for me - though I am sure some hate me deep inside for a moment, but not for long. And I am so fortunate to have a supportive boyfriend who walked me through the difficulties, for giving me a pad on the shoulder that everything is going to be okay during my sleepless, teary nights.

My dad's business is finally coming to an end soon, and I am free to do what I want to do finally. I gave myself a little break, and I have a new perspective now. It's been several years since I planned this big thing (working secretly now).. Now is the time, and I spent the past months not sleeping much everyday, searching on resources I need. Again, everything wouldn't have been possible without my trusty ACER. 

Just as I thought I was ready to venture out, ACER grew weak. ACER's fingers got numb (Keyboard screwed up), and it finally died. ACER has turned from a trusty machine to a rock that shines a bit when you press the on button. And I have my years of portfolio, my business plans, bridal images files all trapped in the brains of ACER. 

Strangely I don't exactly feel sad about it. Perhaps that is ACER's way of telling me to forget what's done, and do something new.  Over these years, I've never told anyone what exactly I was going through - some months with absolutely nothing in my bank account - and how much fear I had. 

I'm just a girl who doesn't talk much, interact much. Someone who gave up on her tertiary education and could be jobless forever. Someone who possible couldn't achieve anything in her life. 

However, I'm strangely proud. I am not rich, but I could safely say that I earned every cent I had with sweat and tears (literally). I earned everything the hard way - I didn't just draw a stable salary. I strive hard to stay alive. 

And I will work even harder on what's coming next. 

Well, back to the PVZ game. what do you think happened after all the ice cubes, winter melon & pea shooters? The zombies won.

Xoxo