Monday, August 26, 2013

Guess Demin x Cleo (Part II)

Here's the followup post for the Guess x Cleo photoshoot ;)
Love how the make-up artist did such a fabulous job ;)
But when it came to posing, my heart was thumping, and shoulders were stiff.
But as crew tried to make me laugh, my shoulder visibly relaxed.
Hadn't noticed the part about tensing up when I take photos.
There was once  when my makeup artist came to touch up on my hair,
and caught me by surprise by shaking me front and back and jokingly said "relax.. relax"
lol! I'll bear that in mind ;) 

The shoot location was at a lovely furniture store called "Journey East"
It's indeed a modern gem found in an otherwise run-down building.
So many retro, hippy looking furniture within its premises! 
Here're some behind the scenes


Hoping everything will turn out aokay.
It will come out in the November series of Cleo,
and can't wait to see the final series of 6 different looks!
Finally got to see a few of the other girls today, and they are all sooo pretty.

With the bubbly make up artist :)

Managed to steal a few shots before changing back into my own clothes.
I feel like purchasing the tie-dye jeans. 
Had felt so reluctant to return them to the crew.

In the rest of the photos below, you'd get to see the awesome furniture found there.
Cleo had some questions to ask me, so I camwhored while waiting for them. heh.
Most of the photos are of me parading in my newest buys:
Top - River Island
Skirt - Asos
Heels - Love Bonito

And oh, the cat is Ginger.
It's the owner's pet, and he kept strolling around and purring really loudly! 
The last photo is Shane's new shoes. haha!

After everything wrapped up at 3pm,
we headed to Strangers' Reunion which was located really nearby.
Can't resist a photo with the rustic looking shop house front. 

We had decided on this place due to its proximity to the shoot's locations,
and also partly due all the great reviews by bloggers.
It's packed for a weekday 3pm timeslot,
where most of the crowd consists of people in the age range of 18 - 30.
We had walked past an entire row of cafes before reaching Strangers' Reunion,
and they were all empty (as we had expected).
Thus, we were rather taken aback to see how this cafe was.

The cafe gave off a very laid-back vibe, 
and everyone seems deeply engaged in their conversations.
We ordered the Egg + Bacon Ciabatta, and the truffle fries.
And two hot cappucinos to go along with them.

The truffle fries were good, not overfried,
and gave a delicate taste of truffle oil.
The parmesan cheese on top was a perfect complement ;)
Plus the dip sauce was good too.
Would definitely recommend this dish.

For the egg + bacon ciabatta,
the bread was too tough!
I know the nature of ciabatta is to be tough and dense. 
But I think this one really disappoints.
Bacon and egg were normal, I guess?

Overall, I'd say it's a lovely place to chill,
but with the crowd, and seats being so near to each other,
it can be a little uncomfortable to have private conversations.
I could hear every single word spoken by couple seated 10cm away from us. lol.
Oh well, can't really fault the owner since they are so popular.
I'm sure I'd fill up the place to its maximum if I was in the owner's shoes ;) 

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Guess Denim Event (Part I)

It's funny how life throws you with lovely surprises like confetti when you make impromptu decisions.
Well, it's been a while since life has treated me this way, 
and I'm pleasantly surprised when a great opportunity rolls in my direction.

I had gone to the Guess Denim event due to a twist of fate.
I was tired from a week's workload, and all I wanted for a Saturday morning was to sleep in. 
But the lil bro wanted to head to town at 11.30am.
Now that's rare, as he's the kind who sleeps in even more than me. 
I had grudgingly woke up and didn't exactly feel like dressing up,
but the thought of being left at home after mum and lil bro leave wasn't too pleasant,
so I decided to tag along as well.

While they were scouting for his pair of new shoes at Ion,
I strolled aimlessly, and found myself standing at the doorsteps of Guess store at Takashimaya.
I vaguely remembered, having read on a few bloggers' blogs, that there is an event happening,
so I went in.

What happened next was quite a whirlwind.
Greeting me was a pretty blue-themed dessert table, draped with a preppy looking tablecloth,
with cupcakes, sweet pastries and nothing short of an awesome dessert table,
 photographers with huge, mean looking cameras everywhere,
and bloggers Sherlyn and Velda were just walking around right in front of me,

Before I knew it, I was caught up in a flurry of excitement.
It's hard to resist the many pretty clothes hanging on the racks,
and I wanted to try so many of them, esp the shorts!

The chirpy Sherlyn. Nice to meet you!

The super tall Velda

The final ensemble which I bought (minus the heels)

Totally love the gold studs which lined the creases of the shorts.
It's a very comfortable pair of shorts, which I thought to be perfect for lazy weekends!
The top depicts a bull, which cleverly disguises a question mark. ;)
It's nicely decorated with silver jewel charms as well!
Had wanted to get the heels too, but the smallest size they have still doesn't fit me. 

When we took the above photo, I believe there were at least 3 cameras pointing at us.
After all the photo-taking, a lady from Cleo magazine came over and took down my particulars.
I didn't think very much about it as I assumed  it was a mailing list of sorts.
She mentioned something about a photoshoot, 
but the absent minded side of me wasn't really concentrating 
as I couldn't tear my eyes off the new pieces of my selected buys. :P

Well, Cleo magazine called me up on Monday to inform me that 
I've been one of the 6 ladies who have been shortlisted for a Cleo x Guess photoshoot!
Honestly, I wasn't expecting this stroke of good luck ;)
However, the feeling of joy was quickly taken over by a horrible sense of insecurity and inadequacy.
"Will I be good enough? Am I too short? Will I look weird? Will there be an interview?"
were the immediate thoughts as I ended the call.

In the end, I decided to take the leap of faith, and to agree to take up the photo shoot.
Cleo then scheduled a fitting for me at Guess Paragon.
Annabelle (the representative from Cleo) was really friendly and kind.
I told her of my concerns that I can't really pull off long jeans and requested for shorts instead,
she quipped that I'd look fine in jeans and not to worry so much. :)

Apparently, they have brainstormed over the look for each of the 6 girls,
and mine is "Girl Next Door".
I have no idea what that means exactly,
but my assumption is that the color pink is part of the equation since I was given so much pinkish stuff :D
Managed to steal a glance at the sheet of paper, 
and saw that there are other looks such as "Resort Chic & Sex Siren" etc.
Looks like this series is going to be great fun! :D

Here's the three sets of clothes which were arranged for my fitting:

I shall leave it for the next post (after the photoshoot) to reveal which is the final decided set ;)
It was a really fun experience to do the fittings,
and even though I didn't manage to wear the shorts (which I had hoped so much for),
 I had the chance to express my views for the shoes and tops.
I'll be having the photoshoot on Monday, and I'm keeping fingers crossed that everything will be ok!

Alright, the Guess x Cleo craze aside,
I've just dyed my hair in a lighter shade of brown-blonde :)
Love how it brightens up my outlook immediately!


Also, I've recently jumped unto the Chanel cosmetics bandwagon.
I love how the color stays on for 3 - 4 hours, and that the color appears to be very vibrant in photos. 
Definitely a keeper. 
I got "La Favourite" - a lovely combination of red and peach pink


Other than all the self-pampering, I've been baking too!
These are the red velvet cupcakes which I've experimented with recently.
It's close enough to the real deal,
I just need to up the cream cheese taste for the frosting!
Can't wait to make the perfect ones for the upcoming baby shower of my colleague's baby boy :D


Till the next, have a lovely weekend people! :)

Friday, August 9, 2013

NDP 2013

Shane & I finally had a chance to watch together National Day Parade this year!
Since our dating days, I've always wanted to watch NDP with him, 
but somehow, it never did materialize.
Thanks to a dear friend, I managed to score tickets for this year's NDP's preview :)
The best part is we got the orange sector's tickets, which is the next best seats other than the VIP red sector.

Catching the last bit of sunshine before the sun sets :)

The NDP was hosted by 4 different hosts of different ethnicities.
We had Gurmit Singh, Siti, Roz and Sebastian.
They were all really awesome hosts, 
and their level of enthusiasm really helped to rave up the whole festive atmosphere.
The crowd anticipating the start of programme. 
Love how most people took the effort to dress up in our national colors of red and white!

Oh yes, I was seated at the 5th row from the front 
We arrived later than most of the people.
Apparently, they filled people up from the back seats.
The late-comers (like ourselves) were shown the way to the first few rows instead.
That is rather queer, isn't it?
My natural assumption is the earlybirds would get the better seats. 


As ours is a preview session, the cabinet members were represented by these young men.
You can hear chuckles from the crowd when they see the awkward expressions on these representatives.
lol. If I was in these  poor chaps' shoes, I'd be awkward too ;)






Just saw that the Red Lions did not manage to complete their act on the actual NDP.
That's really quite a shame as they were really a crowd-pleaser.
All of them landed very gracefully, and the crowd were more than happy to cheer on them on as they landed.
There is a female red lion in the midst too! Spot her ;)

The mini-versions of the 4 hosts.
I liked how the show had 2 sets of hosts (the younger and the original).
They had their own segments. 
I especially liked the part where the kids were telling the Singapore stories.
They are so young and innocent, and tell the stories in all earnestness.









Next up was a show of our competent troops and weapons.
This segment was fast-spaced, 
and they made use of every single space in the performance ground to showcase. 
The floating platform, the road, the sea, the air. 
Of the lot, I was really fascinated with the tanks.
They looked bulky, but they travel pretty quickly for their sizes!






The cast of "Ah Boys to Men" had a feature too!
The actors split up to walk up the stairs to wave hi too :)
As you can tell, the crowd kind of went crazy. 
One of the ladies shouted "Hello Lobang king!"
To which, he replied "Yaya! I'm Lobang king! You want any lobang?!"










Here's the army contingents looking all smart and handsome!
They were really uniform and neat in their marching. 
Really hats off to them for being able to tolerate the drilling in this overbearing Singapore weather. 




The moment we sang our national anthem.
It was a really heart-warming moment, to hear the whole crowd belting out the familiar national anthem.
It was years ago since I last sang it, and it kind of brought goosebumps.
And I couldn't stop grinning as I sang it again.








This human LCD idea isn't exactly new, but still, it's really cool to watch it live.





They had sparklers attached to the back of the bikes. 
So cool to see the bursts of lights come alive!





The sea of lights. 
Don't they look like lighted popsicles? 













I thought the idea of having the animated merlion to be really innovative!
It's humorous, and it's a joke which only Singaporeans would really understand and laugh about :)
Bringing a sense of togetherness, no? 












Then it was a showcase of our local talents in their respective fields.
There was the sportsmen and sportswomen, in synchronized swimming, table tennis etc.
There was the singing of NDP song 2013 by the 68 performers as well.
The oh-oh-oh portion was really popular with the crowd











Last but not least, the fireworks! :D

Here's us while waiting for the crowd to disperse.

Loots from the NDP 2013 funpack!

Overall, I really enjoyed this year's NDP.
The feeling of watching it live is definitely very different from watching it on TV.
The festive atmosphere rubs off even the most cynical Singaporean (i swear). haha.
Even though we as Singaporeans have our misgivings about how our tiny country is being ruled,
and we each have our own grievances to share,
but at the end of the day, we have to admit that Singapore does occupy a special place in our heart.
Our memories, our happy moments, our family and friends are here.
That's what that makes Singapore special to us, isn't it so? ;)