HOUSE RENO~

I can’t remember if I mentioned this before but I will be renovating my place in May. So, in the meantime, I tried finding many places for temporary housing but they are all serviced apartments and they all cost a BOMB!

I’ve managed to find 2 more accommodating to my budget as follow:

JJHBoutique ApartmentsThis company has quite a few properties but I was interested in the one at Wolskel because it is so near my current place. I could pop by my house to check on the reno progress anytime. And it has easy access to Serangoon MRT. Just note that minimum stay period is 1 month and the response from the manager is not always quick.

LUX SuitesAgain, this company has quite a few properties. I am not sure if they are all located near the train stations but the one at Paya Lebar/ Aljunied was quite interesting. The minimum stay period is only 4 days and it has a POOL! You can find this listing on Airbnb as well.Sadly, the availability of LUX suites did not suit my needs. 

So, my last resort – HOTELS…

BUT SINGAPORE HOTELS ARE FREAKING EXPENSIVE!!! TMD. 

I went on agoda and tripadvisor and finally trivago. Managed to find a deal for BAY HOTEL for a week and after discussion with my parents, we decided to go for it. So, will update again in a few weeks about my stay... Hopefully it does not disappoint kind of looking forward to their ‘infinity pool’ or sorts.

FREE PANDORA!

I know there is no free lunch in the world. And there is absolutely no free Pandora. Unless you get it as a gift but that is still paid by someone. HAHA. Anyhow, Maybank is offering new customers a free Pandora bracelet with a basic charm with minimum spending of 200SGD.

The good thing about this is that you can combine transactions! Up to 3! But the bad thing is, it is only valid for the first 5000 customers. Or so it says. I don't know if this promotion will be extended. So, ladies… 

Fastest fingers…

ACCEPTANCE!

It’s official! I’ve been accepted to Murdoch and will start my double degree with Kaplan in May. I’ve decided to do this degree with Kaplan because of the exemptions and the time needed to complete the degree.

As a part-time student, you are given the luxury to choose the number of units you would like to enroll for. I went on to search for other universities that offered part-time degrees and they were mostly offering 3 units each semester. That said, I decided to go against the recommendation by Kaplan and enroll myself in 3 units each trimester. Which means to say, if I start my degree in May, I will end my degree my Aug – provided I do not fail and repeat any modules. TOUCH WOOD! I don't know if the workload will be alright in conjunction with my work but let’s at least try the first trimester and see how it goes. If the workload gets heavy, there is always an option to go for 2 units the next trimester.

For part-time students, here is my piece of advice. Make sure your bosses know that you are going for further studies. It might indirectly indicate that you’re willing to improve yourself and help your career in the long run but more importantly, you should make sure your direct supervisor is aware of your schedules and that he/ she is supportive of you. It is very important that they are supportive because if not, you will probably face trouble splitting yourself in twos to complete your work and classes.

For myself, my boss is very supportive of my studies but change happens VERY FAST in my company. That is one of the reason why I would like to complete my degree at the soonest. As none of us can see the future, you never know if one day, your current boss might leave or get transferred and you will lose your support. So, always make sure you make known your schedules and gain support from your superior.  Clean their doubts about your schedule with them and if they are supportive, they will definitely accommodate your schedule. Of course there should be give and take but I believe this communication is most important. If you are intending to take part-time, think about it!

WHITE DAY. Ladies, have you received your cookies?

Okay, I did not receive any! HAHAHAHA. But in Singapore, I think we are not that fond of celebrating white day. Everything is usually done and shared during actual Valentines Day.

In case you are not aware, white day is mostly celebrated in Japan and Korea. It falls on 14-Mar – exactly one month after valentines day. In those culture, valentines day is the day where the girls gives chocolate candies to the guys and white day is the day where the girl knows if her love is reciprocated or not. In case you are confused by my explanation, please refer to Wikihow’s explanation. It is simplified with pictures and detailed explanation on the gift types.

Frankly, I like how this system works. HAHAHA. In a girl’s point of view, although it might be heart breaking to receive white chocolates or elated to receive the cookies. Either way, you get a conclusion, a resolution – to love with all your soul or to cry with all your heart. Guys… please start this in Singapore… HAHAHA. 

I’ve decided to move my butt and get going

Finally, I took a step forward and went for a university briefing session conducted by Murdoch with Kaplan. And surprisingly, although I didn't go with any expectations of signing any student contract, I actually did at the end of the event.

If you support Murdoch with Kaplan by sharing some video, you will get 300SGD off your fees. And, basically, if you attended the briefing session, you will only be charged half the administrative fees. Good job by their marketing, I think. I heard from my friend that if you were to put a referral name, your friend will be entitled to 700SGD off. Not too sure if it is true though, but if it is, you can put your friend’s name down and split the ‘profits’. HAHAHA.

Anyhow, that's the first step after somewhat stabilizing my career. Let’s just wait for the enrolment to start and the real test begins… 

My 8 shades of 小笼包

You must be wondering why the title? HAHAHA.

Well... Yesterday night, my friends and I went to watch the all-raved book turned movie - 50 shades of grey. And, before the movie, we ate...

Paradise Dynasty - 8 colours 小笼包

Anyway, about the movie. If you read the book because of the story line of how Anastasia managed to transform a f*cked up guy into a married man (and not because of the S&M sex), DO NOT WATCH THE MOVIE!

That's my recommendation for you.

Simply because there was very limited story line in the movie. It was just sex sex and sex. I would very much prefer to read the book to understand the entire story. Okay, you might say that I'm too quick to judge since there's "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed", but I think the movie did not do the 1st book justice.

Besides! I always thought all the characters in the books were super hot and cute. Frankly, in the movie, besides the main characters (Christian and Anastasia), the rest were only so-so. Sigh! Huge disappointment on the eye-candies. But oh wells, judge for yourself.

Tatas~

WAYYY Overdue: Bio Beauty Eyebrow Embroidery

In January, I made an appointment with Bio-Beauty to get my eyebrows in shape. My regular bows were not good as there were somewhat droopy. Appointment was set in late Jan, so I was unable to go back in time for a 'touch-up'before the Chinese New Year.

But, overview story first. I had the normal eyebrow embroidery done at Bishan's #1 salon by Amy last year. I had to wait 4 months to get her appointment. And, when I finally did, I was disappointed because:

1. It was my first time doing eyebrow embroidery, but she did not explain anything (She just drew the shape according to her likes and "confirm it with you"by rejecting any of your requests to change)
2. Then she put the numbing cream for me on my brows. But before the cream can work its magic, she started the embroidery process. It wasn't that painful because she was using an electric 'filler' and her strokes were fast but it just felt to me that she couldn't wait to finish up.
3. When she did your eyebrows, she was all talk (LOUD talk with LOADS of action) to her colleagues around her. What I found most unprofessional was that she was complaining about a previous customer to all her colleagues when the new customers are lying there on the beauty beds.

So, I waited 4 months just to finish my brows in less than 20mins and I told myself - after finishing the free touch-up, I will not go back again!

So this year, I decided to go look for other embroidery shops in Singapore and the list is long... Allure, Erabelle, Browhaus and somewhere hidden within it all, Bio-Beauty. I went to all their website to check the prices and the different types of embroidery services provided. I wanted to make sure I did my research right so that the "#1 situation" will not happen again. I even went on beauty sites and forums to confirm their reviews. And finally! I've decided on the one that had just about enough positive reviews that could also save my wallet from combustion - Bio-Beauty.

Edited & Extracted from http://www.biobeauty.com.sg/eyebrow/ 

I got the above pricing chart from their website. You see many different prices and might be confused. Even when I'm at the salon, I had a hard time understanding when looking at the pictures. So I've included the explanation in the purple arrows for easy understanding. And once I've decided on what I want to do, the beautician was all ready for me.

I chose the Nano 3D Korean Eyebrow colouring and Jocelyn was there ready to draw my brows. She was very patient and each time she drew, she made it a point to explain why it has to be higher/ lower and which point has to be thicker or thinner. All the drawing and consultations took almost 30mins.

And after the explanations, it's time for the numbing cream! Jocelyn made sure to let it set for at least 15mins before starting on my left brow. The embroidery process took about 15-20mins. And it took approximately another minutes or the colour to set in and I was done. The entire process took almost an hour.

After (left) and Before (right)

Can see the difference and how much it helps to light up my facial expressions right? My mum saw the difference and she couldn't resist. She ended up signing for the  same 'package' and did her eyebrow embroidery there too! HAHAHAHA!

Last but not least, a photo with the lady whose hands and skills made it happen.

Love the experience and the way things work at Bio-Beauty. Will definitely recommend my friends to go there. And, if you really did your research - like me - you will know that their price is definitely worth the try! Going to schedule my "touch up" sometime in March and will keep you guys updated!

Ciaos~