The past week has been pretty eventful and fulfilling in fact, and like I always feel & say, it's good to be busy!
Had a flea at NUS, two full days of shoot, and another was a lunch meeting with the Nuffies & Ming, who brought us to SICC (Island) for a late lunch.
Too bad I had a lunch prior to that, and was too full to try anything at the club, but it seemed like SICC has pretty good food there!

Jayne, Gabby, Nicole, myself, Ming & Vel.

Thanks to Jayne & Gabby, as well as Amanda, Mel, Clara for being such good managers to us, and for being patience to me too, couldn't ask for more!

♥

Explored a new Japanese restaurant over the past week at Liang Court basement. Yayoiken, and their main specialty would probably be the fried stuff,
such as the Tonkatsu related dishes. We ordered different sets each and had a taste of each of our sets, and I think the Tonkatsu & Karaage were probably the best outta the lot!

Us waiting for food, that's Vel & Brad.

Tried the Karaage (Japanese fried chicken) and was pretty satisfied with it, would give it a 7/10 apples!

This is how we usually are when food arrives. hahaha ;p

YAYOIKEN JAPANESE RESTAURANT
177 River Valley Road,.
Meidi-ya Supermarket
#B1-50 Liang Court Shopping Centre,
Singapore 179030
OPENING HOURS: 10AM TO 10PM
TEL: 6338 7170
 
♥

I decided on the new designs for Klarra last week, and had a shoot with Caleen one afternoon.
Did the styling for the shoot, as well as editing the photos, designing the previews. Spent a long while doing all of those up, and i'm soo glad of my work!
Definitely still rooms for improvement, but for now, here are they! Hope you guys like how the shoot pictures turned out!

Thanks to dear friend Ryan, who is the owner of Habitat Coffee, and did us a favour by providing the space, and great coffee & snacks for the afternoon.
Love his Hazelnut Latte & truffle fries!! Do pop over to get your coffee fix if you are a fan of it!

These are all launched, for more do take a peek Here.

♥

Boohoo! My $2 iphone charger got jammed since yesterday and i have been bringing my phone along like this!

Couldn't get it out, and i think I probably have to make some time to head down to singtel/service center to get it fix!

 Today I’m gonna introduce to you something that I’ve been hooked on recently, and it’s sooo addictive!
It’s called FEECHA.  
(Yeah, it’s like “Featured” pronounced in a slang!!)

If you have never heard about it, you are totally missing out on all the fun!
It’s like the next IN thing on the social media platforms and I didn’t know I was missing out on all those until someone introduced it to me a few days ago.
But better late than never, I already got in on my phone since then, and no wonder my batt goes dead even faster for the past few days!
Facebooker, twitterers, google plusers, instagramers, (Right, I’m one of those who has an account with these four!!),
or even peeps who wants to jump on the bandwagon and move right in front, you might want to get the ball rolling with Feecha because you can simply get
a combination of these four social platforms and even more! Bet you will get addicted to it as well! :p

So to strangers of Feecha, READ ON!

1. WHAT IS FEECHA?


Feecha is basically this geo-blogging app for Iphones (Yay!! Iphone rocks!, but…fret not, android version is coming soon so I’ve heard).
You just have to download from app store, sign up an account in the app within like 10 seconds, and that’s it, you are good to do some postings!
What’s special is that each and every posting will be pinned to a location on the map, and it creates a better chance for interaction with peeps who are out of your social circle even.
What I like about it is that it allows us to post photos or even Videos too!


After exploring the app for these few days, though Feecha is pretty new, 
yet it’s a very powerful social interactive platform!
Will tell you more below and you might not want to read on cuz you don’t wanna miss out an awesome piece of news in this post too.. Geez!

2.  FOLLOW PEEPS & FOLLOW……..INTERESTS
Well, similar to the social platforms, one of the main ways why Feecha is fun is that – You can start following people you want (friends, family, relatives or peeps you admire/have a crush on),
or allowing people to follow you, and be instantly updated with their doings via the news feeds!!

Apart from following people, you can follow INTERESTS!

The picture says it all and yes, this is how it will look like in your account in the app:



You can see three fills, and Feecha makes sure you don’t fill lonely at first looking at no feeds cuz you are new, and had already included feecha_admin & some default interest categories! (
I know what you are thinking!!
Must be thinking how come I’m typing word of interests like Chio, fail, etc when I don’t really use/say them most of the time!!) I must say they configured a few interests that the majority likes………eg. Food, fashion, sale!! :p


So with the location aspect complimenting the the interest aspect, how it works is that – if you are following the interest “SALE”,  Feecha will detect your location,
and show you news feeds of random people who posted anything about “SALE” near your area!!!

How cool is that!!

3. POSTING ONTO FEECHA!


How to work with feecha is simple! Here’s one such example of mine over last weekend!

I think it’s really easy to meet/know friends at Feecha cuz of it’s unique location feature!
Like this above feecha I posted, I saw another Feecha beside me posted by a user called Adeline, and I was totally updated with what’s happening around the area! One word- Coolbeans.
And oh yes, you can share/like the Feecha posts too.

4. WHY FEECHA?




No doubts it’s the location aspect of this app that is unique and awesome! 




These orange icons are Feechas!
So the bigger it is at that particular area, the more people are putting feechas at that area – which also means it must be an EXCITING AREA!!
Definitely a good way to let us know where are the hot spots and what are happening at those spots!

Or why not we just use the above location & interest “SALE” example…
Imagine you are pissed off or girls having PMS and in need for some retail theraphy on a particular day, eg. The weekend.
How awesome is that when you can get hold of instant news from random people if they post about “SALE” around your location!! Perfectttttttttt news! 


PS.: You can also comment more on the person’s post asking for more details, and in the end, make a new friend!!
Or even… get to know your future partner through Feecha!! :p



5. ADD ME…… @BEATRICESAYS!



Don’t hesitate already, and hurry sign up an account and have fun with me together!
This is my account, and teehee, please be friendly and follow me there! I promise I will share whatever interesting or hot news around us!! 
Not just information about food, SALE, shopping, Feecha shall be the account which I will be looking around to post whatever that's eye catching, crazy & hilarious! *Wink
Just yesterday I saw this classic example of this car that was parked in an interesting spot, i snapped and posted on my feecha:

 
My feecha-feeds and the entered page. If you can't see clearly, click on that shot to see!

CRAZY & CLASSIC! And I was with Caleen and all for dinner, and the car was parked at the last lot of the row (as i remembered when I stepped out of the car.)
And we came back to get the car, we were so shocked to see one appearing beside us, parked at an interesting position overlooking all the cars.. #Likeaboss

if you are on Feecha with me, you will definitely know that this happened at Holland Village around 9pm yesterday!! (thanks to the location aspect!)

Anyway, join me! You can just search for me with my username, @BEATRICESAYS

6. DON’T MISS THIS!!
Last but not least, this is the awesome news!! You wouldn’t want to miss this part of the entry because…………

I’m serious!!
And what more is that it’s uber easy!
The person that walks away with S$8,888 CASH is actually the one with the most popular Feecha by 18th Feb! Popular = more views, more likes.
You can be the one to walk away with it even!!

Or maybe if time is too tight (and the prize goes to the Most popular feecha post), you might want to be really kind & nice,
and support my THIS particular lil Feecha by:
1. Downloading Feecha via itunes/app store on iphone
2. Search for me and follow! (@beatricesays)
3. Scroll to find this specific feecha post- view, like and share to FB/Twitter (i think it's funny enough to share w ya friends!!):


As i mentioned earlier, this is the photo of a Kiasu driver that parked on top of the grass when there is no lot!!

if I really have the honour to walk home w $8,888, I would…well, well, not allowed to bribe you guys,
but please support my lil feecha post pleaseeeee!
I promise i will share more exciting feeds whenever i can!

Nonetheless, if you have interesting things to share or so, do try it folks! You never know!


TIME TO FEECHA!!

♥ ♥ ♥

Holla to the lovely ladies, yes, just an exciting few days to the international sweetheart day,
and if you have not found the perfect dress yet… these three designs are calling out for you!

♥ A long classic convertible maxi dress from Pearlavish that can be worn in so many ways and each and every way is simply elegant!
Not to mention it's blue colour make brightens up your entire look instead of the usual classic black dress.
Or else, bridesmaid or bride-to-be, you know this will be a great dress to be donned in!

♥ A skater dress that has a slightly low V-back and flare bottom which are the two unique aspects of this design. Love how it hugs at the right parts!
Lovely piece from Pearlavish!

♥ Last but not least, those who loves to get tops for a good mix-&-match, this stunning hot pink top just at Pearlavish is totally versatile,
and it's pretty long which comes with a sash! With that in mind, I am sure it can be worn in different styles!

The last of the special Valentine's outfit's feature!
TGIF y'all!

Dear readers,
A BIG THANK YOU for those who took some time out to read the previous post,
and specially left your heart-felt comments or those who actually emailed me personally.
I have read every single one, and I'm really glad some of you stepped forward to share your own experiences and thoughts.
Thank you for affirming me of my decision, giving me faith and provide me with your utmost encouragement,
i'm so so so sooooooo touched!

Just wanna do a shout out to you too,
that if you need a listening "ear" or would like to hear my two cents worth for anything,
feel free to drop me a comment or email k?
Would be glad to be of help in any way I can too!!
LOVE Y'ALL!! ♥

On a side note, I received an uber happy news a few days ago from my darling girlfriend, haslinda
Hooray!! Definitely calls for a great celebration because she has delivered a very healthy yet heavy baby girl on 30th January @ Thomson Medical,
and awwww, say hello to lil Evangeline!

Awwww ♥

The proud daddy xiong!

And my very  brave girlfriend on the day of the labour!
heh (giving her a smiley face to cover up because she just finished 8 hours of labour process!)

The delighted us too!

And I went again on Day 2, such a lovely lil one!!

Thomson Medical is pretty near to Novena Square (two bus-stops away),
and there's this hong kong street family restaurant opposite Novena Square that has excellent chinese "zhi cha" food!
It's my second time there,  and you might have seen it in the blog before,
but it never fails to make me leave the place feeling very satisfied!

Not the usual fanciful restaurant, yet not the kinda run-down coffee shop,
but i do think that it's a very ideal place for big family dinners.
The folks will love the food, especially when the majority loves Chinese food!

Didn't take many pictures, but the must have there are definitely the prawn paste chicken wings, the sliced fish hor fun, minced meat french beans,
cereal prawns. We had a tofu as well, and it cost us around S$15/pax, which was pretty decent!

Do try it with your family, or if you are around the area,
hope you will leave with a satisfied tummy too! :p

HONG KONG STREET FAMILY RESTAURANT
273 THOMSON ROAD #01-01
NOVENA GARDENS
TEL: +65 6252 3132

This entry will be a uber long & wordy entry, it's gonna be boring,
but i just needed to get it all out here at my own space..

Well, CNY has just passed and I bet whenever you meet the relatives,
you will get the job-qns like, "Oooo so big already, how old are you?", "are you working now? what are you working as" etc etc.
And Phew, this year I skipped this entire qns & ans as I didn't celebrate CNY (as mentioned previously).

I know I have not really mentioned about my job for the past few months,
and last you heard or seen from the blog should be when I was still working full time in a foreign bank.

In fact, i did get some questions from some of you asking what am i doing,
asking me how can i blog/ go out so often given that I have a full time job,
or ahhhh, even admire/envy that I am able to manage my time so well, having the energy and able to balance such work and passion!!
But in fact, there's really nothing for ya to envy about, sigh 

Trying not to be too dejected or negative,
but sadly, I don't think i deserve those compliments to be honest cuz in actual fact,
I quit my full time banking job a few months back already.

I must say it wasn't really easy to land myself in a full time job, especially the banking sector (i guess you university peeps will understand),
and I did have my share of mass sending resumes, going for countless interviews,
disappointments on unsuccessful applications and failed negotiations etc,
revising my expectations etc until I managed to get this particular job in this foreign bank that pays rather decently,
and I got to meet really great people and company's welfare was pretty good as well.
heh, sounds puzzling to why i quit huh.

Actually, I was in a uber huge dilemma before I decided to give up on this job after a few months.
Furthermore, it was also a HUGE MIRACLE that i can get into NUS, and was more than thankful for that chance.
Yet we all studied for so long just to get a good job, yet i quit…
Not sure if it makes any sense to you or maybe it will sound foolish,
but the main reason why i gave up my job was to concentrate on the blog.
Hard to explain, but maybe as you read on, you will get what I mean..

Putting my reasons aside, not sure if any of you are facing the same crossroads as i am,
thinking of what is the next step for your career, thinking of what exactly do you want to do,
in particular, thinking of whether to follow your passion or to follow the direction for an iron rice bowl (铁饭碗) job or etc.
And i decided to follow what I would like to do because i can't think of any better period that I can take time out to do it already.

I had a hard time deciding, my worries are if i'm able to provide for my parents now or in the future,
or what if this entire social network industry bites the dust (remb friendster?).
Also, I know my blog is not at all as popular as Xiaxue's,
but I guess i like what I'm doing very much enough to take the risk..
And because I think im the kind that will work much much harder if it's something i like!

Anyway these few months, I'm at a loss for words whenever I give my only grandmother money at times,
and she just refused to take and her reply would be, "don't want don't want, you are not working at all, keep it for yourself.."
But then, I'm quite sneaky hehehe, i will force her to take by smuggling the notes into her coin pouch or so,
but normally, I would stuff it in her hand and quickly run away! heh.

It's pretty sad to not be able to answer her,
and I know she's probably thinking why i went to quit my bank job and do nothing..
I won't consider myself doing nothing, cuz ever since i quit, i have been busy enough i suppose.
(P.S: btw sorwee to those who sent me an email, the festive & cny period was pretty packed, will reply to you as fast as i can!)
 
I tried managing both the full time job and blog in the best I can,
and would usually do it all the emails and blog stuff only at night when i get home from work.
But i realised after that OT was inevitable, i mean they don't pay us well enough for no reason,
and i bet we all wanna prove ourselves at work as well right?
So by the time I got home, you can imagine how much energy am i left with
Sadly, intervals between blogposts were much longer,  quality of posts deteriorated and it was just so so hard to find the zest in writing and blogging as much as I want to.
And i couldn't even find time to have more than 4 hours of sleep except the weekends…

Besides that, the role in the bank wasn't exactly my cup of tea after trying for a few months.
I suppose when I applied for the job, the written job specifications seemed pretty interesting (yes it's accurate, no doubt),
and after hands-on experience on the job role, it turned out that i didn't quite enjoy doing it.
Well, I know I'm just a fresh-grad and was in no position to choose but my interest in doing the job gradually decreased,
and I found myself feeling really guilty when I don't perform. :\

My weekends would then be spent on the computer and sleeping. Totally no energy to head out and do anything else.
I wanted to work both and earn more money,
but then I got pretty stressed up, super tired, no time for anything else and kinda frustrated over everything.
Then i asked myself if it's worth it?
I was still thinking, i might kick the bucket tomorrow, next week, or all my hard-earn money gets stolen,
lose everything one day (heh i know my imagination is pretty wild, but you have to admit it might be true!! these are unpredictable..),
then these unhappy cum no-time-to-spend time spent on earning and saving moolahs is not exactly worth it huh.
I guess we all can't be so greedy in life yeah?
Certain things we want, we have to give up something else.. it might be a blessing if we manage to get both good things,
but it's not always the case I suppose.


Nonetheless, I have plucked up my courage to quit a few months back and I didn't regret my decision till date.
I do enjoy doing what am i doing now very much and at the same time i know i have to be realistic..
With this in mind, I hope you do enjoy the entries and am hoping to share a part of my life
Thank you for supporting this boring blog and I hope to find more helpful and interesting experiences,
things, reviews to share so that you can experience them like I do too!

So with the time now to do my blog and all,
I am taking this chance to do what I love too! )
I have recently joined and started to work with my girlfriend leney on the online shop- KLARRA!
You might have seen it before already as I sold my preloved apparels there previously,
but now my new role there is what I like to do- DESIGNS & STYLING!
Here's something that we did last week!

Caleen is modelling for Klarra and see how GORGEOUS she is!

As you know, I get mad crazy over clothes and accessories, and fashion stuff,
and with this online shop, there's no intention to compete but purely out to share fashion-related things that I like and my LOVE for dressing up with you all!
Don't worry fashion owners,
you will definitely still get your share of attention cuz one of the catch of the blog is also to share with readers what and where are the new styles in town,
and where else to get pretty clothes!

Really really hope you guys will support!
And thank you for all those that always give me encouragements and support the blog all these while!
Though it's mostly all behind the screens, but I appreciate every single one and they are very motivational and brightens up my day very much

This entry shall serve as a reminder and an experience.
And perhaps when i read it next time, this might be one of those I-should-have-known-better-reflections,
but for now, I will hold on to the faith and move forward!!

Life's too short..

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR FOLKS!

I hope you had your share of steamboats with lots shabu shabu, vegs and mushrooms (cuz that's the 3 staples),
and as well as CP wantons (my staple for steamboat)!
With consecutively 4 days of steamboat, I think my craving for it will not come for at least the.. next one month!

Am not really celebrating CNY this year cuz my maternal granny just passed away last year,
and i'm not suppose to do visitations exactly (something along bringing bad luck but i guess the younger generation doesnt really follow this).
So I was pretty much at home on both days, just a visit or two to my other granny, grandpa and hurhur's,
but i did indulge in a good share of steamboats with the smaller family too.

*

I had a half day photoshoot last week for Clarins together with three other gorgeous ladies,
and I love times like these, where we will have great fun together and this was no exception.
Especially when it's all females, you know how long & how much we can share. ;p

Thanks to the MUA, Eric who made us pretty, and Johna & Peter for shooting us pretty.
And we were all donned in white (yes, very Clarins!) which I had this gorgeous piece of white dress to wear,
albeit a tad oversized, but definitely something that I would get from the racks if i spot it on shopping days!
Pics of it later!

The photoshoot studio, A pixels.

Sarah & Jacinta, two new friends I met last week, and very sweet ladies!

Claire in action!

the outfits, that's the dress I wore!

Jacinta all dolled up, she was the first to be shot.

Me whom just reached, looking so tired with the bare face beside Jacinta! boo

The team behind the scenes

The MUA- Eric! I think he resembles the actor, Andie Chen a lot!
I still thought I saw a star at first, thinking that he was Andie Chen and he was here to shoot for Clarins!
(though I was pretty puzzled cuz I have never seen guys featured in Clarin's ads heh)

DONE!

A few with the girls before my turn to shoot!

Cheryl from Clarins in the middle, my senior from NUS too!

Yanling & Sarah from the PR agency

I was the last to go during the shoot, and was famished by then as well.
The guys brought us to a place nearby for delicious roasted pork rice for lunch,
but too bad they couldn't join us longer for desserts cuz i wanted to introduce them to this banana chocolate cake from Old School Delights,
which is one of the best tasting ChocoBanana cakes I have ever tasted!!

Poots introduced me that and I was hooked on it ever since!

Dope!! We tried the lemon vanilla cake too,
but the ChocoBanana cake still beats it hands down!

OLD SCHOOL DELIGHTS
215M Upper Thomson Road Singapore 574408
TEL: +(65) 6458 4518
CLOSED ON MON & TUE,
WED- SAT : 12PM TO 11PM

♥ ♥ ♥

1. Love anything boho style, and this is one pretty find i found from The Wearhouse!
I bet you will adore the intricate detailing at the sleeves, collar, and dress bottom,
and it comes in many lovely sweet shades as well. Love the look!

2. Something staple for us all, and this mid waisted shorts from The Wearhouse has structured fit and that's what i like about it.
Besides that, the material is somehow reflective, which gives it a classy feel, which I didn't manage to capture it here.
The real piece is definitely more gorgeous that what it looks here!