The traffic has been killing me this week… i had to turn up at work early one day for something, and i took an hour and 15 minutes. I did two U-turns trying to find the best possible way out to the highway. Out of the frying pan into the fire. Counted how many people wear sunglasses in their cars. Challenged myself to karaoke all the way.

This morning i intentionally left at 10am and i took 10 minutes. Saved an hour of my life!

Haven’t been blogging cos i’ve been so busy at work. Having fun. But i will turn my attention back to my blog again, swear. Haven’t had a Guinness at all this week. Nor seen any friends. Nor attended any of the events that have been taking place daily.

But if there’s one person who’s in the office more than anyone, it’s Bryan.
When i left at 10:30pm last Friday night, he was there.
When i went in at 3pm on Sunday, he was there.
When i left on Sunday at 7:30pm, he was there.
When i went to work really early on Monday at 8:30am, he was there.
When i looked over at his place at midnight on Monday, i told Ee Von, “Oh thank god. For once i’m in the office and Bryan isn’t!” Ee Von poked me and said, “No, he’s still there. He’s sitting there *pointed*” I saw his head peeking over the desk barriers and said, “You’re KIDDING ME.”

I suspect he’s secretly living in the office with a sleeping bag under his desk.

ANYWAY today is the first time all week i’ve managed to sit in front of my own laptop and it feels SO GOOD! I can’t wait for CNY! 4 days off and i can catch up on errands and blog stuff!

The one thing i’ve been indulging in a tad to destress, is watch New Girl.

I LOVE NEW GIRL! (And Modern Family, and Community. If you have other happy quirky series to recommend me, please do!!!)

Clem and i started watching it last week. I was sick with the flu and self-medicated with a ton of Redoxen, Clarinase and Panadol. There are two occasions when he just MUST be nice to me. 1) when i’m sick. 2) it’s my birthday. Am saying this cos he didn’t wanna watch it at first:
Clem: New Girl? You want me to watch a show that’s called New GIRL??
Me: But i’m sick… *puts on pitiful sad sick face*
Clem: Putainnnnn okayyy

In the end he likes it too cos there ARE some male characters in it. And i love Zooey! Pilot totally cracked me up and i swear watching it while eating a magnum almond ice cream cured me of my flu.

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I’ve been trying to go to the gym of late. Not that i need to lose weight, but i just need to be FIT. And get more muskels and at least be able to open the office door without having to lean on it. Pathetic. Oh and i just found out i have to be in another photoshoot next month and would like to be the girl that has to be photoshopped the least. I’m thinking CNY would be a great time to start cos noone would think of going to the gym then… right?

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What else can i blabber about, hmm oh YES! Yishyene, Sa and Nadia came over to my house last week for dinner. Clem went to the One Buck Short album launch to represent us, while the girls came over (there was just no other date we could set it!) They appeared in front of my door wearing pajamas and carrying soft toys, shrieking “Surprise! We’re ALL gonna stay over!” Of course they didn’t, it was a school night after all. But it did shock me a bit and i exploited it fully by sending Clem a picture of them saying, “LOOK they surprised me and are staying over tonight!” He ended up coming home really late and drunk.

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Yishyene and i went over our route plans for summer. We’re gonna start off in Italy, work our way up France, hopefully stop by Croatia (sounds so exotic!) and finish off in Belgium for Rock Werchter. Then i really really want to go to Stockholm. Been wanting to visit that city since i’ve started admiring some crazyass fashion bloggers / style / ad campaigns from there since a few years ago. And if i don’t just go there alone if i have to, i don’t’ know when i’d do it.

I heard this (silly) discussion on Capital FM last night – it was about this 30-year-old girl who’s in the middle of her career and unsure of whether to take a couple of years off to travel. Her worry isn’t money, but that she’d be ‘left behind’ in her career when she returns. I’m like, what a STUPID question! Why do we work in the first place? To LIVE. And what’s the point of having all this money when you forget to USE IT TO LIVE. All i can say is if you want to travel, just DO IT and you’d NEVER REGRET IT. I have NEVER once heard anyone say they regretted traveling.

I realize that my summer hols hold such high importance for me that i use it as THE pinpoint to plan my work, finances and year. ‘Before summer hols’. ‘After summer hols’. I can’t wait! It’s the carrot at the end of my stick for 11/12. See. My years are all split in half now.

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Damn. I wish my memory could serve to blog our entire conversation but the gist of it is:

Winner = expired shampoo that had an RM3 price tag on it

Daymn! I laughed so fucking hard.

Had heaps of drinks at The Bee @ Publika just now. Played the most violent game of Monolopy Deal ever with Claudia calling everyone a dick, and another saying everyone sucks. Sore losers deal out pain. Went to thirtyfour after that where i bought a gold leather purse and clutch by convincing myself they’re my Christmas presents.

Should stop writing before i say anything i might want to delete later.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

I cooked a Christmas dinner for the Sotongs – a group of couples we hang out with – last week. ‘Twas my first foray into proper Christmast dishes and my festive ham which i simmered for 4 hours before roasting it, turned out perfect and moist. Was quite proud of myself but i do owe most of this success to Nigella.

Tomorrow i attempt cooking dinner for 19 people. It was supposed to be a party of 14 max, but my disorganized way of inviting close friends (as and when i bumped into them) made me lose count… Oops. I feel guilty cos there are a few more people i’d like to invite, but we just can’t FIT any more people into our apartment.

Which brings me to wanting a big house so i can entertain more people at a time. Of course then i would also hire help to cook and prep, cos self-handedly feeding 50 people would be a stressful horror! My entire week has been studying recipes, buying food, preparing food, buying presents, and wrapping presents thrown in with work. But i’m not complaining! It’s the only season that would push me to do all these things with the utmost satisfaction.

Shopping in the super today was quite tough, what while nursing some brain damage incurred from my office xmas party the night before. I think a group of us were drunk by 11pm and i had to call Clem to pick me up just past midnight cos i didn’t trust myself with my car. Thank the fairies for my foresight to finish extra xmas chores the night before THAT because i KNEW i might get wasted at the office party. I recall talking to my boss for a long time and cringe. Also, i heard that i talked like jenny from the block when intoxicated. I really don’t know where it’s coming from right now… at one point years ago, i used to have a strong british accent when drunk.

I still haven’t finished buying all my Christmas presents so tomorrow will be a LONG day of TOTAL LAST MINUTE present-shopping, and cooking. I’m eager to start on the pumpkin and cheese lasagna, it sounds yummy just IMAGINING it!

Wish my turkey and me luck.

When i first had the idea, i texted Clem: “I just had this BRILLIANT idea! bla bla bla bla”
He replied: “I don’t know about ‘brilliant’…”

After he realized i was serious about it, he said, “You know, this is okay if you’re 14… but you’re almost 30!”
That kinda stumped me.
I never FELT myself at ‘almost 30′.
What does that mean anyway?
Age is so relative. As is time.

I felt like as if being ‘almost 30′ meant i had to stop doing things i wanted to…
Or more accurately, childish things i wanted to.
I don’t feel ‘almost 30′.
In fact, if you asked me how old i was, my insides instinctively squeal “18!”

So i got this because i really really wanted to.
While simultaneously having a slight inner smug emotion about going against society dictating i have to act a certain way at a certain age.

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Btw if you’re a tattoo fan and like staying home on Sundays,
NY Ink premieres tomorrow on TLC

But i JUST HAD TO half-kill myself moving blog/making tweaks and changes, putting together last min stuff for the LEFTBLOCK Junk Sale tomorrow, office work, and social events simultaneously all this week.
Crazy.
Not to mention feeling bad for not layaning Clem so i make sure i cooked once this week and spend some time with him too.

0_o

Will blog later tonight!

My REALITY is my life outside work.
Work is PART of my reality… so that my REAL life can move along.

I feel most alive when i’m traveling
or lying on Clem’s chest, listening to him breathe as he reads his book.

Sometimes i wish i could stay in that spot (traveling or on his chest) forever.
But of course that ain’t possible.

If you could stay in one spot forever, what would it be?

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Cammy pretending to help

Olivier and Tomas

Cams + Kenny

Clem, me, Serena and a potato

I didn’t know Cammy was taking pics as i tried to bite Clem’s arm passing me by.
I love chewing on his arm like a puppy. 

Clem won $ yay!

We drank till 12:30am before everyone left together.
It was* a Tues night after all!

Me to Clem: You know, i’m in that state where i feel like drinking somemore and partyinggggg
Clem: Me too. But we should GO HOME.

Sigh.
The tribulations of being an adult where you cannot function 100% the next day if you overdo it.

I had oyster mee sua to energize me before tackling Ikea,
and walked past this toy shop selling something i’ve been keeping an eye out for:

Plastic toy animals!
I’ve been wanting to buy some since last year,
when i thought how i wished i had a random toy animal to place somewhere to take pictures of while on holiday!
Managed to buy a packet for RM25 (which i thought was steep for cheap plastic animals -_-)
But i really really wanted them and so readily whipped out my money after bargaining it RM4 cheaper

Clem was standing on the side giving me a look.
“This is not what we came here for!”

Ugh. We spent 4 hours walking around Ikea, measuring and deciding what to buy.
He didn’t think i need so many shelves (was actually a book shelf) to store all my shoes.
I told him he was wrong and that he hasn’t seen half my shoes yet.

I finally got a full-length mirror so i can see what my outfit looks like before going out.
Before this, i had to occasionally stand on the dining room chair to view myself in the wall mirror 

Ikea only charges 5% of what the piece of furniture costs to assemble it.
Seeing we bought 2x shelves, 1x wardrobe (more hanging space for me :p), and 2x bedside tables
i thought it’d be so much easier and faster to just pay RM65 than assemble everything ourselves.
Note to all girlfriends/wives: Always keep at least 1 piece of furniture for your manly partner to assemble

Hello Ikea man.

So worth it to get them to do everything for you!
They transport to your place, carry everything in,
assemble it all, drill holes into walls for high cupboards to secure them,
and even picked up the pieces after themselves before leaving.

After paying for everything in Ikea, i turned to Clem and said,
“Phew! We made it. We’re still together after Ikea.”
Ikea is fun… but i think it can also be stressful and the easiest place for me to argue with Clem.
I don’t know whether this holds for other couples.
Wait till you go there to furnish a house then you tell me!
Buying some photoframes does not count.

Since we were already in the dreaded mall on a weekend,
we split up to quicky pick up some things we needed.
Clem went to the hardware store.
I went to buy a birthday present.
And some things for myself along the way 
This is why i avoid malls!
I can’t resist something as cute and funny as a giant giraffe head necklace!

Was the last one on sale at MNG, rm49

Also spotted this embellished leather bag i couldn’t resist.
Not on sale, rm299.

At home. Part of our living room.
I instagramed that i decorate our house like this because i CAN.

We were planning to go watch Reza and Liyana sing on Sat night,
but Clem got sick so i stayed in with him..
and played with my new toys!

ROARRRR I don’t snack on black meat!

All animals are introduced to Wilson the Ball God

Zirafah mothership

Sunday afternoon we surprised Sarah for her birthday at 21

Ming & Clouds practicing their smize

I wore a polka dot top from baci,
red shorts that comes with blue belt from azorias.com

The shorts are a wicked bright chili red
and so new they’re not even up on the website yet.
Guess you have to just keep on checking the site 

Lipstick blood and canary lemon.
Metallic ketchup and spiky mustard.

I quicky sat down.
The beats of my pulse throbbed at my cut fingertips.
I held an almost clean dish towel to it.
I tried not to think of possible microscopic germs jumping into the cuts.

Thoughts in my head at the time:
(1) Luckily you didn’t cut off a piece of your finger!
Like what you did in college? Jeez.
(2) Damn, how am i going to eat my seafood with both my hands? Something i was looking forward to tonight!
Really..? You’re bleeding and all you can think about it how it’ll affect your food intake? -_-
A laughed gurgled from me sitting alone on the sofa.

Clem handed me a tiny plaster.
Brown. Flat. Boring. Drab.
“I want a cartoon plaster,” i whined.
“Next time,” he said firmly.

“Poor baby… i don’t like it when you hurt yourself.”
“Then we should get a maid. So she can do all the boring cutting and i won’t hurt myself.”