What took so long?

Whoa. I haven't had a chance to blog here for nearly a month! Now that it's 6am, I'm finally sacrificing some sleep to siphon my memories here before time changes them! :)


Yours truly at Old Town White Coffee, Bangsar LRT Station

Last weekend, the "Room88 chatroom members" brought our online-shopping-kaki relationship offline - more specifically, to Berjaya Times Square and Sungei Wang Plaza. :D Despite the fact that Mechell was in the middle of exams (and yet still had the mood to shop! LOL!).



Cynthia Lee, Mechell Lee, Lydia Tong

Maybe you've never read about them on this blog before (besides Mechell). :) They're not really *new* friends, but not very old friends either. Maybe I should introduce them, since Cynthia and Lydia are my closest friends this summer! Apart from my 7 best friends of AnNie-TseMun-Vanessa-Leila-Denise-Carmen-Cheryl, I seem to have different sets of close friends every summer. And different friends during the semester. Hahhaha.

Cynthia
If I'm feeling lazy, I call her a batiker, although that's not really what she does. :P She's actually a sales and marketing manager at a batik gallery in Batu Caves, called "Meesha Sukira". Cool, right? :D She's a 30-year-old self-titled "Datin Diva", and my Guest Blogger on YSK.

Lydia
Fellow 21-year-old, but she's working already. At OCK or ZTE or something like that. Graduated/graduating with a diploma in biz from KDU. My online shopping kaki for sure, haha! She's one of the few Chinese people I know who speak more Malay than English (or Chinese, for that matter), and speaks English like she's speaking Malay. LOL! She still has my mannequin. -_- Well, Mechell's mannequin. :P


Times Square & Sungei Wang | The haul from the long-awaited spree

For a shopping spree that I've been planning with them for over a month, I don't think we bought a lot of stuff. But I did manage to get the stuff that I've been thinking about for a long time - like the RM25 studded waist corset, which I got Lydia to get for me because I didn't want to speak to the donkeyfaced cashier (who still looked like the unhappiest person in Sg Wang, after so many months!). And I got my lace tubes (RM4.50 each) and maxi dresses (RM25 and RM29 only!), plus the bonus item: a floral bucket bag for RM10 only! :D Considering I spent under RM100 for the entire day of shopping, that's pretty awesome. :P

What else have I been doing for the past month? After Korea, I've only been eating, sleeping, going out and - mostly - blogging. It sounds like a leisurely thing, right? It's not!


My self-employed summer job: Full-time blogger!

It's exhausting. Rewarding, yes, but don't-know-it-til-you-try-it exhausting. I'm organising this huge series of giveaways and contests as part of my goodbye-I'm-going-on-hiatus, and I'm calling it "The Big Bang". I wonder if anyone worked out that it's a reference to "going out with a bang". :P

And with the end of The Big Bang, comes the end of 2009, and the end of YSK for now. :D I can smell the relief! No more long working hours and strict (and necessary!) self-imposed deadlines that turned a blog into a publishing house and advertisement company all in one. Hehe. :P

BUT just when I thought this meant I could chill out 24/7 in January and February, along came a job offer that the workaholic in me couldn't resist! :P Lee Ann, an ex-blogshop owner, is running a physiotherapy center in TTDI with her fiancee, and offered me a job as a part-time receptionist. Long story short, come January I'll be working 9 hours a day on weekends - but what a cool work experience it could be! :D

Definitely a new experience. I can't wait! :D The awesome thing is that it's only 2 days a week - Saturdays & Sundays - and it's only for four or five weekends. :)

On a final note, before hitting the sack for a few hours of shut-eye before going out with mum in the morning ... the Year End Sales are taking aeons to really start. I haven't bought anything from the whole Year End Sale thing yet. Haha. How do the shops expect us to help the country's economy if the REAL sale won't start?



Floral vintage-inspired dress from Cotton On

Of course, there are good deals around even without the Year End Sale's painfully slow pick-up. :P Like the dress (pictured above)? I loved it the first time I saw it a few months ago at Cotton On, but it was RM99 so I didn't buy it. Mum said to wait for it to go on sale. And guess what? On Tuesday, it really did go on sale - 50% discount - and I bought the last piece! It so happened that it was in my size, too! Goodness gracious. :D

And yep, that's the only thing I got offline (besides the spree). :P

Hermes-inspired faux ostrich skin bag from glossyaddiction

This bag is my 21st birthday present to myself. :D :D :D RM55 - not that cheap, but mum said I could buy it using angpow money I got from grandparents, hoho! So of course I did!


Floral bucket bag from Level 6, Sungei Wang Plaza for RM10

Because I always wanted a floral bag. :D Cynthia bought the exact same one too. Her mum uses it to store newspaper and extra slippers. :(


Lace leggings from My Clothes Affair | Lace-backed tank top from Mizu Closet

I didn't have to wait til I lost 20kgs after all! :D Wei Li wanted a closing down advertorial for her blogshop, so I told her she could just pay me with the black lace leggings instead of cash. It would've been the perfect exchange (especially considered we go way back to the beginning of YSK), except there's a small hole at the back of my leggings. :( But anyway, it fits really perfectly (plus-size lace leggings, where else to find?!) so ... hopefully the hole won't cause the entire thing to tear. :P Even if it does ... then too bad la.

Aaaand my last non-cash advertisement payment: the lace-backed top I always wanted to get, ever since I first saw it pop up in blogshops about 2 months ago! :D Patience does pay off, haha, now I can just write an ad for it instead of paying RM40+. :D

Last but not least, I'm so thankful that An Nie's bathroom injury has been "diagnosed" as just a muscle injury and not a spinal-cord injury as feared! :)

Will update this post with photos from Korea later. :)

Today I said no to the apple.

I think I just overcame my biggest online-shopping temptation EVER. For 20 minutes I was staring at the two dresses, wondering which one I liked better - and if I could decide, which one I would buy - if I decided to buy.

But eventhough I'm "YSK" and all that, shopping online for me is harder than anything else - I can't really explain why, but it kinda feels like going behind my parents' back, so I've never done it without consulting with mum first. Unless, of course, I'm doing my advertising trading thing again - but I haven't done that in a long time under normal circumstances.

SO, when this plus-sized bustier dress came along at only RM29 (even with Pos Ekspres it's only RM33), I was really, really, really tempted.


From Paper Doll's Dresses, RM29

Firstly, I'd seen the same dress in another blogshop (pictured below) for RM59. That's a big price difference! Secondly, because the plus-sized model in the blogshop below could fit into it, that meant I would be able to, too.


From Trendy Confessions, RM59

But here I am, blogging about how I said no to the apple (of temptation). I didn't need to resist it, but after staring at it for 20 minutes struggling with myself, I reached a point in my train of thought where I just said "no".

That's quite cool huh. :P Didn't know I had it in me.

Every day deserves to be a holiday!

Whoa! Exams ended on Thursday (12th November) and it's already Saturday (21st November)! How did I spend my first 9 days of summer break? Well I don't feel like I've done that much, but here's to not forgetting how I hopefully haven't been wasting my holiday :P

FRIDAY
Chill time. My first ever visit to Cotton On. :D Totally my new favourite store in 1-Utama.

SATURDAY
Bazaar #1: KBU's Pink Bazaar. Reviewed it for YSK. Worked for Mei. :D
Learned to fix up racks. Learned how hard it is to be a bazaar vendor.
Learned how to fold clothes... more or less :P


I helped decorate the wall and table! :D

SUNDAY
Bazaar #2: Chic POP Street Market at Zouk, KL. Did a massive event review for YSK. Also helped Mei at her booth again! :) And met some cool people from Tongue In Chic, including Karen Wong. She's seriously so nice! :)


Pictured above: That's Karen in the grey cardigan!


I still can't believe Karen took my picture for a Style Shot. Omg hahaha.

MONDAY
Konked-out-exhausted from the very physical weekend! But whenever I'm home I basically have to work on YSK, what with multiple blog posts to write every day and all. :) Most of them are advertorials, as you've probably guessed from my previous blog posts here about how I overestimated the amount of time I had to blog before 2009 ended!

Summer job 2009 = Full-time blogger.

TUESDAY
Remember those 2012 tickets I got for free, courtesy of Yahoo! Youreka? :D Went to 1-Utama with Mummy on Tuesday to watch the movie! :D My mum hasn't been in a cinema in like ages, so I was really excited to show her that cinema theatres are no longer the dingy, awful places she remembers. I mean, GSC is movie-watching luxury, second-best only to living-room home theatres! And 2012 was awesome. So was the popcorn. :D Eventhough it was probably soggy from me crying three times during the movie. We also tried the restaurant called "The Garden Lifestyle Store & Cafe" that Daddy asked us to check out. Great decor, so-so food.



WEDNESDAY
Went grocery-shopping with Mum to Giant. Hahahaha. I like grocery-shopping. Oh and I bought a pair of wonderfully comfy, wonderfully long black "yoga pants" at the bazaar in front of Giant! :D Not bad considering I don't know how to do yoga at all. Lol. I just like calling them yoga pants. It's really hard to find pants in Malaysia that are actually long enough for me, takng into consideration the size of my butt and my height! RM27 can buy you happiness. :D


I also bought this cushion cover for RM5. I'm gonna turn it into a tote bag! :D

THURSDAY
I don't know where Thursday went. Lol! I think I woke up at 3pm, so my day was kinda super-short and spent in front of the laptop.

FRIDAY
Dragged Mummy to 1-Utama because I had Sushi Zanmai cravings. :D And guess what I managed to buy from Forever21? A beanie! A purple beanie! Couldn't capture this particular gorgeous purple on my camera, so you're looking at a different colour in the photos below. :P Anyway I bought it for only RM25. Yayyy. :)


My collection is complete! Three very different types of beanies -
the grey one is from H&M in England (I think) - a present from Daddy :D -
and the pink one is from Flaunts.

SATURDAY
That's today. :P In the morning, I received two pieces of clothing - one was a white bustier top from Little Angel Shoppe, and the other was my custom-made yellow maxi dress from Elegant Extravaganza. :D I still think it was/is super super nice of her to manufacture a separate piece for me because I needed the length to be 51 inches. :) :) :) Plus I picked this colour! A pale, creamy yellow. This dress has literally been months in the making, lol. I'm so glad it's finally here. :)


So now I have exactly 10 maxi dresses. :D And yes, I actually wear them - all the time!

Then in the afternoon Shaza came to pick me up for an impromptu shopping spree. :D Happy belated birthday, Shaz!! :D She turned 21 yesterday. Hohoho. We went to Sungei Wang (duh! our shopaholicism house of worship) and then when we got bored and hungry (you get really picky when you have more than enough clothes :P), we went to Pavilion to have an early dinner at Madam Kwan's. Also because Shaza claims the Malaysian Mega Sales have started. But I'm telling ya, the REAL sales totally haven't started yet! All the "inverted comma sales" are the ones which are on right now. :P

I can't wait for the REAL sales to start. Especially at places like Nichii and Marks & Spencer... when these places go on sale, they REALLY go on sale! :D Also checked out the Forever21 outlet in Pavilion - definitely the biggest of its outlets I've ever seen, ever! it's like Disneyland for pretty things. And checked out the Cotton On outlet there... definitely bigger than 1U's, but the staff are such SNOBS. Really. It takes one to know one, I know I can be a real snob sometimes, and some of the staff at Pavilion KL's Cotton On outlet are really, really snobby. It's a really easy comparison to the 1U outlet, where the Cotton On staff are really nice and friendly. Maybe because the Pavilion outlet is utter chaos, with frantic shoppers packing up the place... but I wouldn't want to go back to that outlet again.

Don't you hate it when salespeople are snobs? I thought "customer service" was at the forefront of their priorities. Most shops in Sg Wang have really friendly salespeople, but sometimes you get royal sourfaces. Like today there was one turdface who was totally unhappy because I found DEFECTS with all of the studded waistvests I wanted to buy. So because all of them were defected and the turdface was uber unwilling to be a little less like a turd, I just put them back on her table and we walked out. I'm sure turdface didn't care either way!


The day's haul from Sg Wang for yours truly. :)
Cotton patchwork-print dress and a lace-denim zipper dress :D

I actually bought three dresses today but due to a really stupid sizing mistake on my part (read: I thought my bust was the same size as my waist, LOL), I'm reselling the third dress (not pictured: cut-out back thunderbolt dress) to an online shopper.

Aaaaand that's my week. :) How has yours been?

PS: An Nie's officially moved into her new house! Can't wait to visit! :D Leila went for surgery and I didn't know til a few days ago, omg.. I can't wait to see her soon!

Birthdays and overbookings.

Happy birthday to me! ;D Well, with a little over 2 weeks left til I turn the big Two-One, Mummy bought me a lace cropped top and a grandma-floral long tank top today from Cotton On! :D Yayyyyy! Plus a floral dress for herself, because my floral fetish is just that infectious! :P


21st-Birthday presents from Mummy! :D

And now that exams are over, I've started my whole Full-Time Blogger stint with YourShoppingKaki - and after working out a whole lot of scheduling and stuff last night, I realised that I'm freakin' overbooked for advertising. So today I had to start turning away advertisers. LOL.


Jung Ai, celebrating The End of Semester 3 with me over SanFrancisco coffee!

This weekend I'll be "working" at two bazaars - the KBU Pink Bazaar on Saturday, TongueInChic's Chic Pop Street Market on Sunday. :) I'm "working" for YSK by covering the events to be blogged about, and when I'm done taking photos and stuff, I'll be "working" for Mei at her booth. :D More like "volunteering", haha! I hate that she has to do these bazaars alone, it's so exhausting and one time, she even got injured by a suitcase or something! :( So I volunteered to help :D Plus it's fun!

The pineapple tart tragedy.

There's only one pineapple tart left in the kitchen. :(

But anyway -

As Shangari so aptly put it, "Free Willy The Sequel!"

I'm free from exams, at last! :D Sat for my last paper for the semester this morning, Media Texts. After three or so days of preparing answers for the practice exam paper, imagine my horror when NONE of the practice exam questions came out in the real exam! :( For ten seconds, I was really annoyed at the person who set the questions. :P

But after taking a closer look (thank goodness for 10 minutes Reading Time where you can't do anything but read), I realised I could totally wing some answers at just enough questions. Literally just enough! In Section A, we had to answer 2 questions out of 5 options. I only knew how to answer 2 questions (ideology & genre). Haha! In Section B, we had to answer 1 long essay question out of 3 options. I only knew how to answer 1 question (Reality TV)! :P

Anyway, overall, the exam went pretty well. :) I just basically adapted everything I had in my head to answer the questions. And again, I left at 10.30am - exactly 13 minutes early. :D Again, I had somewhere else to be after the exam (to meet Michelle outside Pyramid's Starbucks to collect my copy of Sin Chew Daily, hahahaha, which she so generously bought for me!!) - and Jung Ai, who was my compass to Pyramid, had already left the exam hall like half an hour before I did. LOL. Again, this exam was full of people leaving really early. This is almost always a sign that the exam is really difficult. :S

But I had already written and written until my fingers hurt, so as soon as I finished my answers and checked them, I didn't want to loiter around anymore. Watching other people furiously answering exams is not fun to watch at all. Haha.

I'm so thrilled that the summer holidays are finally here! :D I've got tonnes of work to do, but no more exams to study for, for the next few months! YAY!!!