Wednesday, December 30, 2015

10 cents eggs and toast



Lunch today.

Scrambled eggs and toast are $3.90, which includes a coffee or tea. If want ice tea add $1, ice cafe latte, add $2.

Total I paid $5.90. Then I realise ice cafe latte on its own is usually $5.80. This also means that I paid only 10 cents for the egg and toast!

The auntie in me can't help but dayre this shiok moment. Hahahaha.



I'm the type that finishes all the butter given to me. Hahahah. Even if I have only 1 small loaf of bread and the waiter gives me 3 packs of butter, I will finish all 3 on that single piece of bread. Haha. Very fattening!



Me to my sis. Hahahaha. 自问自答.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

it's a vicious cycle



Not sure why but I was unable to fall asleep last night even late till 3am. I usually feel sleepy before that but I was so awake. Tried hard to sleep and suddenly it was morning already. So tired!

Monday, December 28, 2015

Random Today

Good morning! Was planning my outfit last night and picked out a nice blue dress. Just before I went to bed though, I started to think it was abit too dressed up for work. So this morning I anyhow chose a top and skirt.

End up too casual lor. Machiam weekend. Hahaha. Still in denial of Monday.

Am I the only one who dresses up during weekends and dresses down during weekdays?

Somehow I always feel abit wasted if I wear nice to work. 神经病. Lol.

***


Not posting this photo on Instagram cos the positioning of the dishes abit off. One side got color another side no color. Luckily I still have dayre. Haha. This is proof that not all photos can be saved by vscocam.

Smelling like Korean food now but I got my cravings for kimchi pancake fulfilled! Nice catch up over lunch with cm and eugene :)

***

The grumpy toilet aunty working near my office is forever screaming her lungs out agitatedly at someone over the phone. Very drama leh.

***



Stocked up on my frisky bits so that I don't have to keep buying three by three. There's no such thing as unfresh in world of #nekoatsume. Haha.

***

I think my bf secretly don't like me cos just now when we both approached a wrong direction escalator, he turned away quickly but didn't tell me/pull me along. He want me to roll down the escalator. So evil!

Sunday, December 27, 2015

My Merry Christmas 2015

The only reason why I can blog this so quickly is because I updated on Dayre that day so I just have to copy the entire post over. Hehehe. I've so many other backlogs but I'm lazy to sort the photos and think of captions. I just wanna watch videos on YouTube all day longggggg.

On Christmas Eve, bf came over for a Christmas feast with my family again! We've been doing this for the past couple years hehe.



We are meat lovers!

On the platter are lamb chops, pork belly in red wine sauce, pork sausages which are oh so yummy and chicken drumsticks in teriyaki sauce!

For sides, we had some fries and coleslaw. Finished everything among us 5!

Next is presents time!

Bf picked me up from work before driving me home and when I got into the car, I saw these 5 staring at me. Hahaha. Bf told me in advance that he was fixing the present he got for me, so I thought it must be some jigsaw or nanoblock thingy. True indeed!



What I didn't expect was this!!!! He bought the kit and set up this entire house himself. I like it so much!!

Dad say, "Wah, I also want to live in such house!"

Then I told him, "Er, this house actually very small leh, our current apartment is so much bigger. Hahahaha"


He bought the boy and girl figurines separately.


The white poolside chair was also bought separately! Hehe. What a nice addition. But it's smaller than the figurines..... Maybe it's for the dog. Hahahah.


Bedroom. He told me the chandelier actually can switch on light de. But he couldn't figure out how to make it work so he cut the wire and let it be.

I ask him next time issit our house if he can't figure out the lights he also will cut off the wire and let it just be decor? Lol.


Everything is fixed by hand. The pillow, the lamp, everything!




Cups, books, cushion.... All the little details. His fingers are so huge, I wonder how he managed to create these little crafts.


Two folded clothes slotted under the sink. Hehe. And those jars.....


Are those cups of candy floss??? Lol.


Love it!

I felt so guilty afterwards cos the presents I gave him felt like rubbish in comparison. He lah, told me he giving me a useless present, so I thought nothing much.

Gave him a mini fan that works when connected to the phone, a fishbone comb (funny mah no meh? Haha), ferrero rocher, and a craftholic keychain.

Asked him if he liked the gifts and he jokingly said he's gonna take back the house. Hahahaha.


This was probably him that day. Lol.



Mum gave me these jewellery!! :)


Me, Sis and dad shared to buy a craftholic large bunny for mum.
For dad, me and sis shared the fan thingy and two phone covers, while mum separately bought him a tee. Really very hard to buy presents for men lah!


Got my sis a Pandora charm. Knew she'd love it because someone gifted her an empty pandora bracelet on her birthday and it has been empty for months already. Finally she has one charm on her chain now! Hahaha.

Told bf to not buy Pandora chain for me because I don't want to spend all my money on those expensive charms! I don't mind if someone else spent thousands on it for me but I don't want it to be my bf. Haha. Bohua lah I feel. Those money can treat me go eat good food. Or a nice bag. Haha.


In return, sis got me this accessory set from Lovisa.

So happy to see everyone happy with the gifts I got for them! Except bf lah, not sure if he likes my presents. Haha.

On Christmas Day itself, my family went to watch Alvin and the chipmunks! Theodore is so adorable! Love how innocent and fat and gluttony he is.

Took a cab from Suntec to gardens by the bay but there was a traffic jam so we got out of the cab midway and ran across the street full of cars.



Plan was to go to satay by the bay for dinner first, then view the Christmas lights at the garden.

Wah, not sure if it was a good idea to leave the cab cos it was a long long long way in! Luckily the sun was setting and it was quite breezy.


Ordered the $15 portion of the Hokkien Mee because the other time we came, it was so good that $10 portion was not enough. Haha. It was so worth it cos the plate was huge and the prawns were plump and fresh. But so many people and the queue was long, so abit sian half.


Pork belly satay, lamb satay, and pork satay. So good!!!! I don't usually like satay but these were very delicious! Still having a sore throat but heck it lah, come all the way here must enjoy!


Huge barbecue prawns!! Five not enough I want moreeeee.


Stingray....
Me: "this one the flesh like not as smooth as the usual stingray hor?"
Sis: "it's no difference from eating normal fish."
Hahahah. Both ways of saying the stingray not awesome. But the Chilli quite nice! But very spicy, can't believe I drink finish all my Coke already my tongue still spicy!


Sambal sotong!


Finally time for the lights! It was so crowded there and everyone taking photos. It's like no matter where I stand, I am in someone's photo's background.

We spent a long time taking pics at the first light we saw. Sis was saying, "This is just the entrance!" Hahahahaha.










This photobooth super cool! They are actually lying on the floor, then the photo is taken of the mirror. So funny the guy holding an empty McDonald's fries holder.



Carousel! Checked out the prices for rides and most of them are $8-$10 per ride. Cheapest is train ride at $6. And parents will always bear to spend on their kids if they can! Imagine the kid ride twice on each, it's almost a hundred spent! Go universal studios more worth it. Haha. maybe next time I will tell my kid, "just one ride ok? Then put him/her on the train ride. $6 only. Hahaha. He/she don't get to choose. Lol say only lah maybe I'd be one of those that spend $100 on rides. Jialat.


So many minions!

Then when we wanna go home, at the mrt station there was a winding long queue with prams and elderly people waiting to use the lift. Next to the lift was a long stretch of staircase down.

Afterwards at the control center, we saw a winding long queue again to top up card. Lol. Those people who left with insufficient value in the card at this time sure feel damn suay and "should have topped up earlier!"

Follow me on Dayre: www.dayre.me/estherxie or Instagram: @theiceangel 

Tomorrow's Monday. Back to work and last few days before we hit 2016!

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

$100/week challenge




Monday, December 21, 2015

Halia at Singapore Botanic Gardens




Thursday, December 17, 2015

Nuffnang Blogcon

If you've been following me on Instagram or Dayre, you'd know I attended Nuffnang's Blogger's Conference last month!



We were supposed to reach the bloggers conference at around 8plus in the morning and at 7.15am, I was still struggling to leave my bed. Have to wake up earlier than workdays leh, it's a miracle that my eyes were already open at this hour. Haha.

Didn't select my clothes nor packed my bag the night before so I rushed like mad. While putting makeup in the car I was feeling so sleepy, my eyes kept closing themselves. Hair still wet, I was hoping that it would magically dry in 15 minutes. Haha.

Reached just in time to eat one Egg Benedict before the conference start!



Goodies on the table! ❤️


Nice gifts from sponsors: Bath and Body Works, Ministry of Print, and Hotel Jen Tanglin!



Wah! The thumbdrive so chio!


The blogcon started with an introduction of Hotel Jen Tanglin, who was a sponsor of the event and generously gave each of us a room for the night! Will blog about the staycation another day :) Today, I wanna share my thoughts on some of the things shared during the conference.

The first speaker was Boss Ming, who touched on so many points that got me nodding along. I may sound a little incoherent here... I am just putting down all the thoughts running in my head now!

He mentioned that 2008-2009 was the golden age of blogging. Yes! Those days I could get more than a 100 comments on each blog post (sad because I used an external commenting system which closed down afew years back so I can reminisce the comments anymore).Not many bloggers were in the scene during that time because most people can't keep up with writing long articles day after day. It was a time-consuming hobby, but I enjoyed it very much. People those days followed bloggers for a peek into their personal lives and I was happy to share. Now when I read back on my older entries, even I feel shock at how much I reveal about myself. I tend to self-censor nowadays.... I've grown up to hate being involved in drama.

Then twitter and instagram came. Twitter was quite fun for awhile, before Instagram took over. Instagram was an easier way to share. Just post a photo and a caption. Most people can do this. Success is easy as long as you have a pretty face, glamorous and jet-setting lifestyle, or have a consistent photography style/filter. People are no longer interested to read mundane lives, they want to see beautiful people, luxurious lifestyles, or photogenic food.

I was never good at Instagram. I was never instant, because I didn't like posting raw-looking photos. Also, I can't edit or filter my photos consistently enough to have a pretty feed. Plus, I always run out of captions for food pics or my ootds. Haha. But instagram is nice to look at, and I enjoy the ease of scrolling through all the people I am following, without the need to load individual sites.

Back in the heydays when blogging was more 'alive', most readers come in daily so a fresh entry every day is welcomed. But now, I think people just visit around once a week? I know this because I also usually read other blogs like only once every three months. Haha. And some of the bloggers post just a couple of times a month! But I cannot leh! I got so many backlogs I can't catch up if I don't post regularly. I still have stuff from six months ago!

Sometimes though, I think I shouldn't blog so often because my entries get pushed down before any one even get to read it? Although blogging is mostly to keep memories for myself, it's also abit wasted if nobody reads lah hahahaha.

I've been posting more on my Dayre nowadays but I still prefer typing on my laptop so I leave the elaborate entries to this blog.

After the rise of so many other social platforms, I still love blogging the most. I like long-form sharing, I like sitting down infront of my desktop and dedicating my entire concentration towards a blog post. I can spare some time in my daily life to take photos for a blog entry later because it's quick and doesn't distract me from enjoying the moment, but I can't instantly post up a photo and think of a caption, without neglecting all the people and happenings around me. To update something, I must be sitting down doing nothing else, with nobody around me. I can't multitask.

I blogged about this previously here: http://www.estherxie.com/2015/06/catching-up-with-social-media.html

Boss Ming also showed us a video of the instagrammer called Essena O'Neill. I actually rolled my eye when I initially heard about her and her antics. Then I forgot about her immediately after. Boss Ming mentioned afew things that I agree so much, it fueled me enough to wanna share my views too.

First, all the things she blamed Instagram for, I feel that she should point the blame at herself instead. The problem lies with her, not Instagram. Even without Instagram, she'd still starve herself to look like magazine models. Does that mean magazines are evil too? I have no idea why she let a mere social platform define her and bother her so much. She was the one who went to extreme lengths to look good, Instagram didn't ask to make sure she looked perfect in that bikini photo, nobody forced her to it. I am sure not every successful instagrammer inconvenienced themselves just like she did. She was the one who chose to do it, she was the one who wanted the approval.

Second, a person who truly is tired of the public eye would just quietly exit. Not make it so dramatic, and then open another channel for her new-found followers. That's not quitting the scene at all.

Another thought: Would you notice if an instagrammer you follow quits instagram one day? Probably not. Would you notice if your favourite blogger stopped blogging? Yep. This is because, most people don't read captions and it's not easy to feel attached to an instagrammer as compared to a blogger, who may be more personal about her thoughts in her entry. Instagram is a nice side app, but blogging is what allows readers to know you more as a person and follow your life more indepthly.

So anyway, Boss Ming also discussed about the topic of whether blogging is fading off. Nope, blogging is evolving. Lifestyles are different now, and many people spend more time on social platforms using the mobile instead of a desktop. Gone were the days that people log in to 3-5 blogs a day regularly. Nowadays people scroll feeds, and that's why Nuffnang created Dayre. I've also been quite active on it too! You can download the app and follow me on: https://dayre.me/estherxie/

I wished that I can combine the content on dayre and my blog though, and also continue to blog on desktop because it's not easy to blog on the mobile for me. Haha. I work faster on the laptop.

The panel of speakers besides Boss Ming also includes: Sherwayn (spoke about vlogs), Audrey Phoon from Elle (spoke about having a personality), and Simon Kemp from We Are Social (Crisis management), answering questions from the ground.


Time for lunch at Ah Hoi Kitchen! I've been telling everyone about the awesome promo, $12 per person for 12 dishes, refillable!!! Where to find such good deal? Plus the food were really tasty and good. I wanna visit again! It's available during weekdays lunch.



Happy me cos I love the food!


With the girls - Nadia and Fioloh.


Afterwards we went back for two workshops. Some chim SEO stuff by Jeremy from Digital Marketing Centre and photography by Ivan from SGIG. All very relevant to blogging!

We had a break midway through for candy buffet!!
Adorable emoji cookies!


Titbits laundry! Such a cute idea.



The red velvet cake was too irresistible!!! Love the cubes on top. I would eat cakes alot more if they came in cubes like this.


Mountain of chocolates!!!! Wow!


Cotton candy madness!


And lots of donuts! Hotel Jen Tanglin really knows how to pamper us! #thatjenfeeling


Love the top which I wore that day! It's available at www.lyraminn.com if you are interested.



The warm hospitality from Hotel Tanglin Jen and the effort put in by the organising team from Nuffnang was evident. Enjoyed myself alot.

Will be back next with photos from the staycation at Hotel Jen Tanglin! (and also the photography workshop by the pool which resulted in many nice photos so I shall lump it together with the staycation entry!)