I HAVE BEEN AWAY

It has been around 4 months since my last post and during these months of absence, my career side of life experienced a major turn over which was something I had been yearning for the past 3 years. It all came way too sudden, way unprepared. But when all was settled, I started to feel, it couldn't be any less perfect.
Hence, I am happy to humbly announce that I'm now a part of one of my country's most reputable apparel company doing nothing too glamorous, but just to be a part of it, brings me a step closer to what I've always dreamt of.

I have always known pursuing my dream job, would cost me my family, as in I will need to leave home and won't be able to see them on a daily basis. I was homesick for a full month, almost quit my job and had swollen eyes in the mornings, every now and then. Life away from the family was definitely hard for me, both on the emotional & financial side. However, the thought of not being able to decently and hopefully, lavishly provide for my parents during their future old age got me to being strong and determine to make this work.

And for this, I'm thankful to God for opening paths, for His guide and grace. It wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for Him :) and to my family for their support, care and love through out, especially my Mom, who never failed to keep me updated with the latest going-ons whenever I'm back home with them, and the special meals prepared to celebrate my coming home, my Dad whom I counted on when it comes to all things technical, my beloved sisters who kept me inspired and my youngest siblings who never failed to make smile and angry (sometimes) but humoured most of the time.
To my readers, I can't promise outfit posts as making one seems impossible at the moment, but I will try my best for all of you here. Thank you all for reading and following my blog <3

Here's to a brand new year!

FAITH

One morning, I woke up and decided, for the love of myself, my family and my loved one(s), I will:

Stop Reduce shopping, both online and offline
Start setting aside some money for savings every month
Start taking care of my health and wellness - Vitamins / Supplements consumption
Eat healthily - more proteins, vitamins and minerals and less of craps and carbs
Holy Communion twice a day - one in the morning and one at night
Bible reading every night, before dozzing off
Not forgetting Bible studies every Friday
Take my job seriously (Yes mom, if you are reading this, I have decided to stay put for the love of you and my younger siblings, until the time comes)
Blog more
Smile more and less of frowns
Think nothing is impossible, with God
Think everything has been taken cared of, by God
Start drawing and sketching again
Make at least one handmade outfit of my own, once a month - the least
Sleep early, and stop complaining!

Most importantly, WAKE UP. I'm not getting any younger.
Can I manage it? Of course. Requoting, 'Think nothing is impossible, with God'.
AMEN.

Note: This will serve as a reminder every time I look at my blog and yes, I look at my blog every hour day.

SLOW LIFE

That's a small part of my clothes collection. One on the left belongs to my sis, and on the right's mine. There's more in the closet. See the scarf in the
middle? It's to hold the rail from being bent. Just a random update as I'm pretty occupied with my work lately and at the same time, I didn't wanna
abandon this blog like I used to. Besides, I have been hit with the flu bug of late and I'm sort of taking some time off to recover. So see yall in a bit.

♥

BREAKING UP AND OUT

After more than a month of hiatus, I finally made up my mind to give my blog a revamp and well, maybe a lil update on what has been going on
behind The Absence. Probably in my next post, haven't got it composed yet. In short, too much things in such short time actually. My emotions
literally hit the rocks and thank God for God, for His peace was like morphin to me.

And to my fellow readers, I am probably back for good. Thank you for the concern and sweet comments left below. You are the reason I am back
here ♥

Any Given Sunday

(Vintage vest dress from Winkstick, random vintage bag, rings from Diva and Vincci, oxfords from?)

Another delayed post. Randomness is my currently middle name. So do excuse the random meaningless shots. Yesterday was theee V-day and also the Chinese New Year. It was one of thee most happiest day of my life as 'he' was there to celebrate it with me. It's been awhile and yes, I missed him a lot now that he's back home. I will try to blog about it some other day but I might not cos the feelings might subside then LOL. Yes, blogging is closely related to mood. We'll see about it.

Floral Fuss

I enjoy looking at pictures of people making something, especially clothes. Like a DIY. I find them interesting and somewhat, soothing. A few days ago, I altered one of my dresses which seriously needs some alteration on the sleeves or you may find it here. I think the length of it is really weird. It just stops there with not much of a surprise like a puff or something. It looked like an, Italian football jersey. Yes, that's the word. Now that it is shorter, like a capped sleeve, it's so much better but I haven't planned on wearing them just yet.
Anyway, these minor alterations are nothing compared to those who make things, like Childhood Flames' most talked about poofy skirt tutorial last year (I think). I was amazed and still am. I'm just too lazy making something from scratch. I'd rather just buy them LOL.

Scattered Pictures of The Smiles We Left Behind

The previous Sunday, my sisters and I decided to have lunch together - Something we almost never do, as sisters. We hung out with our friends, bfs at cafés but between us sisters, we had a mutual agreement not to spend on food when we're out together. So, we shop, grab what we want and head straight back home. Pretty boring.
We went to Black Canyon Coffee and the food was great. Tasteful. I ordered Stir Fried Spaghetti with Minced Chicken and Hot Basil. Didnt taste basil at all. It was more of a mushroom flavour and dang it was spicy! I literally had mucus running down my nose and yet, that platter seemed so freakin 'harmless'.
My elder sister of Style-Antagonist had some Udon Tomyam Noodles which was equally delish. We had an awesome time that day and I cherish moments like this.
Today, mom and I recalled something of quite a few years ago where my lil bro claimed that he saw Jesus! The whole family was stunned and started questioning him questions like what was Jesus doing and how did He looked like. Unable to feed us all with a sharper image of what he actually saw as he was still a young boy, one of us asked him this very simple question - What was the colour of the Jesus you saw? And he said, "Black." We had goosebumps right away.

I Like 'Em Boys ..and Girls

Last week, as I was going thru my mailbox, I was thrilled to have came across an invitation mailed to me as one of the guest list for the opening reception of the East London Boys / Photos by Jacopo J Moschin. (Whispering: Frankly, I've never heard of this guy and am not intending to act smart by claiming that I do)
Anyone, by any chance, received the same invitation too?
Anyway, being a nosey person, which I'm normally not, I googled this guy and was enchanted by the quality of his work - And as I'm still utterly speechless now, I'm gonna let the pictures do all the talking.

[Image source: jacopomoschin.com]

What do you think?
The illustrous event will be held in Milan, which seems impossible for me at the moment. So, I'm gonna have to give it a pass :(
As for Mr Jacopo for his kind invitation, THANK YOU so much for it is an honour to be invited and to be even recognized by you. My best wishes for your career, and future undertakings!

A Dose of Sunrise

(Random maxi and bangles, vintage owl necklace from online boutique, Vincci accessories)

Had a coupla drinks with my high school bestie weeks ago at Noodle Station. I recalled always being a lone ranger back then and he would always be around hence making me appeared accompanied.
Updates updates. Yeah, got my hair chopped as well and ended up getting clip-on extensions soon after, only to realize that I actually loved my hair the way it is. Speaking of indecisiveness, I am the living proof. Pff.

Stranded

Random bangle purchased online

What a relief. I've managed to get my job done before the deadline and with this extra time I have, why not a lil updating over here? That's a snapshot of my not-so-recently bought bangles, which I really love. For some reason, I kept typing the word Bangles as Bagles.


[Image source: Babeinthecity]

I also love Beef Noodles or in chinese, Ngau Lam Meen. This morning I had a bowl of it and I particularly loved the Kon Loh ones, meaning the dried version. I like them with lotsa black soy sauce, so I kind of edited the picture thus making it slightly darker in shade.
Not much of an update, ain't it? I'm feeling less of a fashionista lately and it has always been me and my work lately, so definitely no outifty pictures coming up. But hey, at least I managed to get some pics and words posted here right? (:

That Night

As promised in the previous post, my big beautiful family and I attended this mini, supposedly Oscar night held by a local college at a local hotel. The food was excellent and delicious, probably becos we starved ourselves during the day to fit into our dresses. So, basically, even if they served some left-over pizzas, it'll still be rated as deliciously mouth-watering. So, pictures, come on out!



The decor was, almost there. Love the ceiling deco though. There were performances by the college students, some out-of-tune karaoke performances, MJ tribute dance, err what else? Think think. Yeah, a drag-queen style fashion show which I totally disagree of as my two younger siblings were there too and they are like barely 18.
We, sort of attended just for the food. So we didnt bother much about the performances LOL




There wasn't much pictures of the food either cos we were concentrating on getting 'em food into our mouths. Btw, that ain't a mini corn. It's actually a squid trying hard to incognito as one.



My sisters and I (Rebecca of Style-Antagonist, Ivy of MuteMode, and me of, you know). This has gotta be my first with the falsies and I kinda love it. Makes my eyes looked as if I just saw my favourite shoe was on sale.



Do excuse us for the multiple shots of ourselves. Tee-hee.
What a fake giggle I just gave.



Yawn. The same old shoes. I haven't been buying shoes lately and had to strap this on over and over again. And not to mention that predictable snake-skin clutch which is quite overrated here in my country.



Rebecca got nominated for Best Dressed but sadly, it only stopped there. I personally feel she should've been the Best Dressed of the night. What do you think? Obviously. Anyway, other than that, we just stuffed ourselves up till the night ended.



(MNG Suit dress, Vincci accessories, Random bangle, Urbanog shoes)

Burp. Ooo excuse me (:

Take A Picture

peace at home

Was feeling a lil bored at home last week as I had to babysit my younger siblings whose schools were temporarily closed due to the H1N1 outbreak. It's been spreading quite rapidly over here but fret not, cos God is with us all :)
And with the abundance of time which I had the other day, my itchy hands decided to take pictures of that lovely quiet morning, before they were awake. I love quiet mornings. Do you too?
Oh gosh, I forgot that it's been a week since I last posted something here! I must admit I have been a bum when it comes to doing something routine like updating this space (I hate calling this a blog). My sincerest apology to you all!

Just a quick note here. I recently, meaning 2 weeks ago, purchased these beautiful thing. The ring was awesomely affordable, but as for the chain, for me, it was so not affordable at all. I love and regret it at the same time.

Another quick note here LOL. A HUGE gratitude to my sister, style-antagonist for featuring me in one of her blog post. I definitely do not deserve it at all, seriously. But still, thank you so much sis!

*sorry, I couldn't stop it seems. Notice the smaller pictures? I thought my previous ones were kind of, large so the new ones are now rescaled by just 50px smaller. Not much of a difference, isn't it?

black|coffee|heart

With the extra time I have now, I decided to share with you some of the things or places I've loved for almost all my life and nothing makes me happier than sharing it with all my readers and those who happen to come across my blog :)

1.) The Beach House - Been dreaming of having a house by the seaside since I was a kid. I love the splashing sound of the waves hitting the shore and the non-stopping wind. If I were to ever own one in the future, I would want it all white with a tinge woody brown with lots of windows, with an extra room where I can draw, paint and even sew.

2.) Paris - It's so, Ratatouille (the movie). Dreamy.

3.) Venice - My dream vacation spot. Been wanting to give it a visit since I got to know the existance of Italian football. It doesn't seem to make any sense, right? Long story short, I used to have a crush on an Argentinian footballer during the World Cup of 2002 and after much tracking down (stalking on footballers was my favourite past time), I found out he was also playing for an Italian football club, Internazionale. And from there, I went on to discover the existance of this really beautiful place called Venice.

4.) Wet Brick Road - I love streets made of bricks. Being wet is a plus point. Think Anna Nalick's Catalyst or any songs from Chris Botti and you'll get what I mean.

5.) Chicken Pesto Pasta - Something me and a friend of mine liked to chow down on back when we were at University. However, the pesto at my university was so inconsistenly flavoured with too much salt today and too much oil the next, got me doubting to rate it as the best. My sister, Rebecca went on to improvise this recipe and got me addicted plus rating it THE BEST ever since.

6.) Oreo Cookies - Double stuffed cream without the twisting, licking and dunking please. A lil seperation of the layers are fine. Why complicate it with those three unnecessary steps?

7.) Starbucks' Chocolate Cream Frappis - Almost heavenly.

8.) Secret Recipe's Chocolate Indulgence - My family's favourite occasions cake, be it birthdays, Christmas or the 'I-feel-like-eating-a-cake' cakes. I love moist cakes, you know those which glides down your oesophagus easily and don't suck up all your saliva? Yeah, this is definitely one of them.

9.) Autumn leaves - The grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side, and so are the leaves :)

10.) Who Moved My Cheese - I wouldn't have given it a go if it wasn't for my sister. The only book I read besides investigational story books which I love to read in my early teens. Extremely motivational and helps me to cope with changes of life. I love reading things which relates to the human psychology or behaviour/attitude. I love books which make me think and realize something but have yet to find a time to find one. Any suggestion?

These are only a few of the things I heart which I could think of at the mo. I will do another compilation some other time of some other things I like. I hope all of you had fun reading this :)

Time for me to grab a bite of something for lunch. Bon appetit everyone!

Drip Drop

The last Sunday was a pretty gloomy one coz it was raining. Sunday is the only day where I can be at home during the day coz I'm working full tilt from Mondays to Fridays, nine till seven. So usually Sunday is the only day I can rest, well sort of. Anyway, and so I decided to take some shots of the rain pouring down my room window, trying to be artistic I guess. It only rained for a few minutes or so and then it got sun-shiny again. Took advantage of the bipolared weather to snap pictures of a vintage blazer I bought the day before while shopping with mutemode from a thrifted store. It has these stripes which I really, heart. Costs ≈ USD13. Not really a best buy for me coz there's some tear at the lining but I can say it's affordable considering that it's a blazer. With shoulder pads.

I'm thinking of changing the buttons to black though. What do you think?