kabloom

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It all began with an email from Samplestore.com announcing their event — a sneak preview of their new look. There were only 200 available slots to receive an invitation to the event and I was crossing my fingers that I’ll get it.

Got really excited when the invitation arrived.

Was really impressed that they actually printed my name on the invitation. That’s 200 personalised invitations…some effort there. Gotta give it up to the staff.

The event was held on Saturday, 20 September 2014 at Fullhouse Signature Cafe. I’ve been wanting to check out that cafe ever since I saw it being featured on another blogger’s site, so…just nice…got an opportunity to check it out!

After registration, I was given an awesome goodie bag filled with goodness (will show its contents later) and a play card.

There was an activity to be completed at each product sponsor’s booth. Each completed activity earned you a stamp. Three stamps to redeem a goodie bag (more great stuff!) and six stamps to enter the lucky draw. Some product sponsors were also selling their latest products at discounted prices. I would have bought some face masks at the My Beauty Diary booth but I have too many face masks already. As for Tsubaki, I just got the hair oil so not like I really needed anything more. The only product sponsor that I wanted to purchase from, NOV, was not selling their products at the venue. Dang. And the worst part was their products are only sold at Tokyu Hands in Westgate…so far!!! For other product sponsors, I would prefer to try out samples of their products first before purchasing anything. So, I didn’t purchase anything in the end.

There was some pretty cool stuff going on at the event too. Express makeover at Enavose’s booth, hair styling at Tsubaki/Ma Cherie’s booth and a skin type test at NOV’s. I tried the skin type test and found out that the oil and water ratio of my skin is not balanced. Not enough water but producing too much oil. Yea…quite obvious from my face. Been trying to combat the oiliness with shine free make up items but to no avail. Was recommended a line of items to try and balance the ratio. Sigh…gotta make a trip to Tokyu Hands some day.

It was kinda crowded at the venue and the queue for food was rather long. Of course, where there’s free food and samples, there’ll be kiasu aunties. Some even brought their kids in tow. *tsk tsk* It was quite obvious that they were there only for the free stuff. They weren’t bothered to learn about any products and shoved their way to get the stamps on the play card. I was so not motivated to get in queue for food so I didn’t in the end.

There was a photo booth and free instagram prints, but I didn’t get any. 🙁 Blame it on my VERY LATE sister. By the time she reached the venue and went round all the booths, the event was over and they had packed up. We only managed to get a shot with the standee.

I’m sure everyone’s curious about my awesome haul from the event.

There was a sure-win lucky dip at the belif booth and I got a 4-piece sample kit. I’ve used their aqua bomb moisturiser and it’s pretty good. Very light and not oily. Can’t wait to try the other products. Haha…sample-size products are good when going travelling. That’s the time I try all these products.

The awesome goodie bag I received during registration. Not all visitors got it; I think only the 200 who were originally invited. Other visitors got their invitations through a contest. Anyway, the goodie bag is packed with goodness. A lot of travel-size products. Unfortunately, the NOV travel kit that is included is not the range that was recommended for my skin type.

This is the smaller goodie bag I got from the play card. It’s in the new packaging. Took a picture of the old and new packaging so you can compare the difference. The use of white as the base colour is a lot more refreshing. Simple, modern and clean. Was even more amazed at how much stuff they managed to squeeze into the packet. Lol.

Thanks Samplestore.com for the event! Guys, do look out for their new look that’s going to be rolled out soon!

mummy battles for sleep

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Every time I meet up with my closest girlfriends, I learn something new about parenting. To date, we have three mummies and five babies (one more on the way). Quite a bit of experience among our group of eight I would say.

The latest meet up was for Jo’s bachelorette party. Two of the mummies in our group brought along their breast pumps. The last time we met, I learnt that even if baby does not feed, milk needs to be released to relieve the mother of pain from her “rock hard” breasts. What I did not realise then was the interval between each feed/pump.

So the scenario went something like this:
One of the mummies pumps milk before sleeping (which was quite late in the night already). We go off to sleep at around 2am. At about 6am (I think so), mummy wakes up to find that her shirt is a little wet (milk has leaked). She rushes to pump the milk. What?! Only four hours of sleep and she has to wake up to do this?! Out of curiosity, I asked her how often does she have to do this. She replied that baby usually feeds on a 3-4 hourly basis so the body sorts of gets used to this routine and produces enough milk to satisfy the demand.

I have heard more than enough stories of mothers having a lack of sleep because they need to care for their babies. I often thought that it was because baby would wake up and cry at night due to hunger or something else. As baby gets older, he/she would sleep through the night and that would relieve mummy from her lack of sleep. The sudden realisation that that was not going to be the case made me feel a little uneasy. I know I would want to breastfeed my baby as much as I can in the future. After all, cow’s milk is not easily digested by humans…or so I heard. But, having to battle for sleep even after my kid learns to sleep through the night? Ok…I think I need a lot of mental preparation for this.

It’s not like I’m not ready to be a mother. The hubby and I have talked about having kids and I know it is going to be tough. I know there will be lots of pain (physically and mentally) and challenges to face, and I’m ready to take on all of them. It’s just that the more I learn about being a parent, the more I wonder will I have enough strength to cope with it all. I have to anyway. I suppose that’s why having a strong support team made up of family and friends is important. For me, I know I’m going to have a strong support team so that lets me breathe a big sigh of relief. I know that as much as I gather all the knowledge now, I will still face problems later on for there’s no ideal situation for always. But I know my support team will always be there for me and that makes a huge difference.

Through this episode, I’ve also learnt that it is important for couples to understand what they will be facing before they decide to have kids. It’s definitely not going to be a walk in the park so be mentally prepared and be willing to make the necessary sacrifices.

uncovering the memories

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I’ve decided to slowly archive my blog entries from 2004-2005. I have them on Notepad, so I’m really just transferring them here.

I laugh at my style of writing then. My blog was pretty much an account of the day-to-day happenings. But it’s the details that bring back great memories…the good and the bad.

About the bad, there are just some things that never got resolved. It still hurts me till today. As much as I tell myself to “let it go”, I don’t think I ever will properly do so…because it does not just involve me.

30 day song challenge day 11: song from favourite band

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Day 11 — A song from your favourite band

I have lots of favourite bands and for each band, lots of favourite songs. Since I have posted a NewS song before, I shall share a song from my next favourite band, AAA. I love AAA’s “PARTY IT UP”. It’s my favourite dance track of the band. It’s so catchy. Although I can’t dance for nuts, I really love the dance moves for this song.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xxq8ms_aaa-party-it-up-hd-pv_music

PS: I’m also really happy that my favourite member of the band, Atae Shinjiro is getting more solo lines in the songs nowadays.

carry that weight

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My friends were sharing this story on Facebook and when I read it, I knew I had to share it too.

Columbia Spectator
TIME Magazine

You can also learn of Emma’s story and her project from this video:

I think Emma is very brave to share about her traumatic experience using such a method. I agree with her that our bedroom/bed is our comfort zone and should be the safest place. I admire her guts to display her mattress. It’s like laying yourself bare for the whole world to see. I also hope that the people who chose to look the other way when she reached out to them for help, would reflect on their actions.

Her story got me thinking about what schools did when students report of rape. In particular, what would my college, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign do?

I remember in my freshman year, students had to attend a compulsory discussion group where we talked about sexual assault on campus and the hotline to call. I also remember that there was this male student in my discussion group who was being a total asshole. If I remember correctly, our student facilitors had posed us the question of what we would do if a female friend came to us for help and said she had been raped. This male student kept suggesting that the female friend might be lying or might have dressed provocatively and hence it was her fault that she got raped. The student facilitators tried very hard to steer the discussion back to the main issue of what should be done instead of who we should be dishing out blame to, but the male student was adamant on his view. He finally walked out of the classroom much to everyone’s relief.

We as humans are quick to judge. Yes, the female friend might have dressed provocatively but that does not mean she asked to be raped. If she had asked, that would be called “consensual sex” and not “rape”. Please know the difference. I am not saying that girls should prance around in their underwear on the streets, but her dressing should not be the main reason that guys use their dick and not their brains to think. Likewise, girls, please consider your dressing, audience, and environment, and think about the consequences before you make a decision to wear something.

the domestic goddess

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I’m the kind of girl who believes in the traditional view that all girls must learn to cook, sew and housekeep. Well, if you think about it, you’ll be pretty much self-sufficient if you can do all three. Except I’m not particularly a good cook and I can’t sew much. I used to be the kind that would burn down the kitchen if I ever stepped into one, but my college days have trained me well. I can now whip up a few simple dishes. They are definitely not Michelin-star quality, but at least the husband does not complain so that’s good. (I think he’s too kind.)

Lately, I’m sick of cooking the same few dishes so I decided to add two more tofu dishes to my cooking repertoire. Anyway, the main point of this entry is to introduce two cooking sites I’ve found that are really useful. (Haha…who am I kidding? I think I have phantom readers.)

The first one is Noob Cook. As the title of website suggests, the recipes featured here are simple to follow and have relatively few steps as they are meant for beginners. Recipes are mainly local dishes or to suit the local palette.

 

The other one is actually a YouTube channel. Being a fan of Japanese culture, I would love to cook some Japanese dishes. Ochikeron’s channel features recipes for Japanese dishes. Her videos are rather detailed and seem easy to follow. She doesn’t just give verbal instructions, she actually shows you step by step how to cook a dish. This is really helpful for a beginner like me, who has to measure exactly every sauce or spice. (Ok, I’ve actually levelled up a teeny bit. I only need to measure exactly the first time I cook a dish. After that I just adjust approximately to taste.)

 

I haven’t really tried any of the recipes in both sites except to check the oven temperature for baked rice/pasta and timing for steamed tofu, but I guess I’ll be relying on both sites a bit more in the future. Need to learn to cook more dishes!