Kitschy Kitschy

Kitsch is a term of German or Yiddish origin that has been used to categorize art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an existing style. The term is also used more loosely in referring to any art that is pretentious to the point of being in bad taste and also commercially produced items that are considered trite or crass.

If that's what it means, these items sure aint kitschy to me.


Cardboard Mini Boombox
Fold it yourself cardboard boom box, which comes with two fully working amplified speakers and a multi-position volume switch. Works with Ipods and MP3s, they even throw in free AA batteries!
AUSD$75


Mixed Tape USB
This is a big favourite. It's almost ingenious, mixing the old and new. Instead of compiling a whole cassette filled with music you love liek you usually do back in those days (for those who are old enough to have used one before), you now get to save twice the load of music you love in a 64MB thumb drive, and placed it inside a cassette. New in old. Pun intended.
AUSD$59.95


PAC Man Belt
Now you can wear the 4 ghosts; Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde around your waist. Issit just me, or did everyone know that these pac-kers were ghosts?
AUD$20


Frozen Smiles
Who would thought you'd be drinking out from your grandfather's glass? Especially the one he soaks his dentures overnight. A great way to freak your guests out by dropping this frozen bites into their glasses. Frozen Smiles is made from soft, food-safe synthetic rubber and packaged in clear, peggable, recyclable PET-G boxes. Some how I think that the person who invented this had a short stint working in a dental clinic before. Hmm..
AUD$13.50

Items are available online through their webbie. Click here. Check it out. They have loads more kooky stuff.

Scribbles

I won an award for the Lousiest Navigator yesterday. I got lost for almost an hour trying to get my butt to a magazine event last night, only to find out that the venue is only 20 minutes drive from my work place. There were a few points when I was lost driving in my, car to just bail the party or to park my car some where and catch a cab to the event venue. (The mad KL traffic didn't help ease any of my frustrations, thankyouverymuch). I done neither, arriving super late for the party with the help of of J, my partner for the night, who nagged directions to me over the phone. Needless to say, she was the one who handed me the award. Teeheehee.

Horsing around

Just horsing around on a Sunday afternoon.











Shirt, vintage chatujak market
Skinny jeans Topshop
Brown leather belt JeansWest
Horsey necklace gift from J
Knee high socks + mary janes worn as boots

Muses & masculinity

My inspirations for today:







There is something very sexy about women in men's clothes I think.

This is what I come home to everyday

High pitch howlings and barks

Waggy tails and jumps

Ridiculous funny faces

And 5 equally attention seeking, pampered, very hairy fur balls

All clamering to get hugs from me.

My monsters have grown.

This? Sexy?

I read in the papers today that some group in Malaysia thinks that our current school uniform worn by girls is SEXY.

Yes, these:

And these:


Huh? I though they were the hideous thing, hideous colour, hideous cut hideous material ever, and some men actually think that it's sexy? I understand the ones worn by Japanese school girls, but ours??

Seriously..

Snippets from the Star:
“The white blouse is too transparent for girls and it becomes a source of attraction,” National Islamic Students Association of Malaysia vice-president Munirah Bahari said in a statement. Munirah said that “covering up” according to Islamic precepts was important to fend off social ills, including “rape, sexual harassment and even premarital sex.”

Their suggestion of solving this:
“Decent clothes which are not revealing can prevent and protect women from any untoward situations,” she said, suggesting that girls wear a blouse of a different colour or with an undergarment.

...

Wow..since when did our high school girls gone commando style? Is this some kind of trend that I haven't spotted?

Like a Balinese princess

For my 26, I treated myself to a spa. After much research online, I decided on Jentayu Spa in Damansara Heights.

Their spa package seem reasonable and they had more treatments included for a good price. I made an appointment at 3:30pm after informning my boss that I'm taking a half day.

When I arrived there, parking was limited but lucky for me they allowed me to park at the only parking space available - the porch of the bungalow that they are in.

I was greeted by the spa manager, a Malay lady (I forgot to ask her name) and she sat me at the waiting area while she prepared for my session.


After letting me take a whiff of their 3 different kinds of aromatherapy blends - 2 types of Jentayu Bliss Oil and 1 Jentayu Sensual oil, I settled for the latter which had a much pleasant perfumy smell. The other two had very strong lemongrass and the other some kind of Malay spices which reminded me of rendang. And I do not want to smell like rendang.

Jentayu Sensual Oil contained a blend of Geranium (enhances physical and emotional balance), Ylang Ylang (stimulates the senses), Sandalwood (enhances physical sensuality) and Chamomile (provides healing and relaxing properties).


While I wait I took more pictures. Might as well since I was the only one there. Jentayu was opened by Sheila Majid, our very own Jazz Queen 5 years ago. A magazine with her as the front cover was clearly placed on their waiting room table.



The spa manager came back and ushered me downstairs to where the spa rooms were.

I was given a floral foot bath, a tub filled with peppermint salts and flowers, while my masseuese, this 40-ish Indonesian lady scrub my cracked heels with a pumice.

She was rather chatty, asking me in her Bahasa Indonesia if it was my first time here. She was quite motherly which made me feel comfortable to be around her half dressed during my later sessions.


After the foot bath, I was led to the spa room where a towel, disposable undies and a shower cap were laid for me to change into.


After that she led me to a steam room for 15 minutes to open up my pores. I was then given a full body scrub using a "Mococa scrub". It was black and smelled like chocolate, and I assumed it was.. Coco is good for slimming and smoothening away stretch marks. Yay!

I was asked to take a shower to clean away the scrub before I prepare myself for the 75minutes massage. The shower was right in the room itself which was very convenient. It really adds to the resort feel.

The massage was good. The kakak asked me if I wanted to it 'lembut' or 'kuat', I said, "Kuat sikit' which I actually meant, just a bit stronger. She really gave me a good rub down. That petite 5 ft tall woman had some strength in her! The massage was more of a traditional Malay/Javanese urut which is very good for the body. She was shocked when she saw the huge bruise on my bum, and offered to rub it away. According to her it was really bad as I had a few blood clots that were hardened, and if it's not rubbed soft, it will turn into a disease. I nearly fell off my massage bed.

Though a little hard for my liking, I felt really released from all the tension from my joints and muscle aches. She have me an 'urut perut' which she massaged my upper and lower abdomen which is supposedly good for women's reproductive systems. Apparently as we age, our uterus drops lower and by massaging that area, it's supposed to retain its original position.

After the massage I was given a floral herbal bath in a bath tub which is rigth beneath the massage bed! How ingenius. Sure saves space! It was very relaxing in the bath tub listening the sounds of traditional Balinese music softly playing at the background. I really felt like I was transported to Bali, while I sipped on honey ginger tea. The bath was supposed to last for 15 minutes but I got out as it was getting a little to hot and stuffy for my liking.

I went straight into the shower while my masseuse prepared my peppermint body lotion, and once I got out, she applied it all over my body. Talk about being pampered!

Overall it was truly a relaxing and pampering experience. I paid RM230 for the treatment package, and I think it was worth every cent. The place has a homely but resort feel, the masseuese was attentive, all the treatments were done properly, and they even gave me a little gift pack of a bottle of body lotion, a grooming kit and a free facial voucher from Origins! Definitely a rewarding gift to thyself. I think I love me more now =)

I'm definitely going back there again for their massages and other treatments ranging from aromatherapy, traditional, back& shoulder massages, to hair treatments and manicures & pedicures.

Appointments are necessary as the place can be quite packed.

Jentayu Spa is located in:

No 11, Jalan Gelenggang,
Bukit Damansara,
50490 Kuala Lumpur
(Right opposite Menara Manulife, a few doors down from Shell station in an orange bungalow)

Tel No: (03) 2094 4428
email: enquiries@jentayuspa.com.my

26 candles and counting

Every year my birthday is an exciting day to behold. (atleast for me) Much will be put into planning what I will do on that day, who I will be celebrating with, and just the sheer anticipation of waiting for it to arrive.

Come to think of it, birthdays are a whole lot of expectations, anticipation, and disappointments all rolled into one. And when it is spent with someone special like it has been for me for the last few years, that one whole nerve of a ball is big.

But for this year I decided to do nothing.

Expect nothing.

Plan nothing.

Birthdays are just another day in the year, I consoled myself.

Apart from the obligatory tradition of a family dinner, I really didn't want to do anyting. So when L & JH (along with many other friends who have been MSNing & texting me) what I plan or want to do, I said "Nothing".

Why?

Maybe I don't want people to fuss over this day. Perhaps it's the candles that are slowly (but surely) adding themselves on to the cake, or I maybe I just grew lazy. Ok, the latter probably is quite expected of me =P

But nothing became....1 unexpected family seafood dinner with all my aunties, uncles, cousins suprising me with a cake and them screaming a birthday song for me, 1 Italian dinner with the sis, mom & dad, 1 Korean dinner & beer with L&JL, angpows, M.A.C, 4 birthday cakes from my auntie, L & JL & my colleague D, an online dedication from R and a spa. And what more, last weekend was a long one. Even the country decides to give me a present through a public holiday!

Honestly..I've never felt more loved. It wasn't a big celebration but what each of them did for me was a reminder of how blessed I am to have family and friends who love me.

And oh, that things are SURE more fun when you expect nothing of it.
.
.
Speaking of cakes, when my cousins were planting the candles on my cake and lighting each one of them, they took a longerrrrrrrr time to do so.

I turned to my cousin ML "Wei..so long wan.."

She said "Ya la..so many to light whut"

Me: +_+


Those damn candles.

26 Reasons

26 reasons beat 26 candles on a custom made cake
26 reasons beat 26 presents in blue boxes and white ribbons
26 reasons beat 26 masseuses ready for 26 hours of pure relaxation
26 reasons beat 26 pairs of Louboutins, Zanottis and Steve Maddens
26 reasons beat 26 Daniel Wus in a hot Armani suit
26 reasons beat 26 Marc Jacobs Stams
26 reasons beat 26 first class plane tickets to absolutely anywhere

Actually..it doesn't on the last one, because I'd be bringing you with me in all the crazy wonderful trips (shopping) every where in the world. And I say ANYWHERE because with you, any place would be just as crazy and wonderful just like you.

I love you.

You made my 26 years of living much much more meaningful.

I love you my dearest J.

Geeks+Nerds

Now this still tops my wish list. I have seen a few of them, vintage, in a few stores in Suan Lum, but they were selling at quite a ridiculous price. Money that I don't have and prob won't spend on something I consider a fad/trend.


But aren't they cute?

*picture courtesy of Cafe Mode. This girl was a muse for The Sartorialist and many other famous fashion bloggers.

My alternative is converting MY own geeky glasses which I had in primary school (plastic pink huge ones) and spraying them black. Problem is, I couldn't find it. Ho-hums.

Speaking of geeks and nerds....

Our tribute to the world's famous geeks.

VOTE FOR PEDRO!

In dire need of these shoes and bag

I'm searching for a pair of chunky heels - T strap, gladiator heels and a fringe bag like these:



I haven't seen anything like these in our shops..yet. Nine West, Zara and topshop may have them in their stores already but am pretty sure they costs a bomb!


Anyone have any idea where to get them besides the stores mentioned above?

Feeling oh so blue

This is what I am wearing today:


A blue knit tunic dress with footless leggings and my new black peep toes.

Cluster chain from Diva. Mind my very wrinkly fingers. I'm in dire need of hand lotion and diligency.

Chunky bangles, white one was given to me by my aunt. She said it was ivory, I thought it was plastic, but it maybe ivory since it's quite heavy. Blue bangle I got it from one of the little shops in Cineleisure at a bargain.

I have a big thing for the colour blue now. I think it suits all colour tones especially those who have a cool (as apposed to warm) coloured tones. Mine happened to be pinkish, therefore falling to that category. I have a couple of blue clothing, and almost bought another blue dress when I was in Bangkok but was pursuaded by J not to. I ended up grabbing the pink one. Not that I hate the pink dress, but the image of the blue dress still lingers in my head till now. And that's a big shopping sign that I really have to get it. Gak.

Here's some blue inspiration from Suyin of Kyurii Wardrobe.

She is an art director with an international ag agency based in HK and who also has a fashion site selling clothes.

I love her style and how she put a piece of very simple clothing and comes up with few different looks. I'd say her style is very Japanese inspired, and am probably right since she frequent Japan for shopping.

Check-mate

When I was in school, I complained of wearing icky poo turquoise uniforms everyday. Since then, I vow not to get a job which requires me to be wearing similar company logo bearing outfits everyday for the rest of my working life. Lucky for me, I don't have a job which required me to do just that.

But ironically, I now wake up complaining that I have nothing to wear, oblivious to the fact I have 2 closet full of clothes and a bunch of new ones I just bought from my pilgrimmage back to shopping land. And let's not talk about fat days and bad hair days.

So I tend to buy clothes that are statement pieces which i can just wear on my lazy days or versatile ones which I can mix and match and wear it differently from how it originally intended to be when I am feeling a little adventurous, like these:


A black puffed sleeve short dress worn as a top
Checkered black+grey tube dress worn as a high waisted skirt
Black mock croc patent belt
Black stockings
Stack of old silver bangles
A neck of mix match silver chains

Check out my vintage suitcase on top of the cupboard. It's older than I am. I lug the poor thing all over Australia when I was there. Yes, I'm not quite a 'smart' traveller since that suitcase is quite heavy, but one must travel in style, no?

Pain in my arse

I had a pretty bad day yesterday.

I started off my morning by landing, left side, bum first, at the bottom of a fleet of tiled stairs. I think I must have slipped in my blur state.

Lucky it happened at home, as I was in a skirt. I think I will just bury myself or pretend to die if it happened elsewhere.

My threshold of pain is quite high, but when I sat at the botom of the stairs, I was in deep pain and shock. I couldn't talk yet alone move. I knew I was fucked.

The horrid fall left me with a 6 inch long, and 2.5 inch wide bruise on my left butt cheek. It's garishly purple with hints of black and red now. I took a picture to examine the aftermath; I'd wanna post it here but it wuld be near porn to do so. My left elbow was not spared too. I thnk I bump the joint area so now its aching with a roundish bruise on the skin.

Still I went to work yesterday - unable to sit properly or walk properly. And to make my day worse, my office's internet was down the whole day, which means I have no way of grunting my sorrows away on MSN or on this blog. Imagine my frustrations. But i did discover that I can go online on my Sony Ericsson, which was quite a cheer. The lengths people will go for the desperation of being online, huh.

Before you laugh your head off just like my mom, my sister, my dad, my besties at this unfortunate incident, lemme repeat that IT IS NOT FUNNYYYYYY ok?

Try having a fat, swollen, painful purplish bump on your ass for a day.

No wonder they call Barney a pain in the ass.

.
.
Negativity aside, I had the most delicious carbonara & pavlova in Delicious, Bangsar with R yesterday. I left for home with a red parrot and a black horsie around my neck. Thanks R!

Pickings

I have no idea why I came up with that headline. Maybe because I am picking my brains out now to write a proper and interesting blog entry, or plainly because I feel like picking my nose right now. Before you all squirm and accuse me of being a disgusting vile pig, a rude one of that I am, stop and think that you may just have that desire to do that right now, sitting infront of your PC, putting your tiny pinky finger with or without that extra half inch of nail attached for easier scrapping of boogers. Do you know or atleast notice that nose picking is one of Malaysian's favourite thing to do in the car? My sister has a good theory of that, which I will share in another post since those of you in denial of this bad (but rather enjoying) habit are beginning to click this page away.

But seriously, booger picking is not what I wanted to blog about today. How random ha when you let your mind travel abit and it comes up with a peculiar unrelated to what you intend to write about (or lack of it). It's like your mind having a mind of its own doesnt it?

Profound ain't that?

I just read a comment left by Yerdeh, a dear friend whom I have never met in real life before but yet feel like I have; her asking me about updates about my life. Since I started this blog away from the other one, I haven't been updating much about my own private life, and focusing more on my interest - fashion.

Guess there isn't much explanation there except I don't find anything interesting or atleast I think interesting enough to blog about here. My life has been rather quiet and dramaless fro some time now which in a way is a blessing to a certain extent. I still have those moments where I break into cold sweat and tears thinking about my the uncertainty of life, disappointments, regrets, but most of the time caused by imbalanced hormones and a condition many of my friends are facing - quarter life crisis.

Well my dear friend, I have been doing ok I think. I can't be too sure for the fear of jinxing it when I say that. Yes, I am quite supersticious. But I think I have improved from the days where I don't step on cracks or walk under ladders and freak when I see a black cat crossing my path. And then there is the counting street lamps. Ok , that is OCD i think.

I am on the verge of making a few changes to my career path and hopefully for the better. Crossing almost everything crossable, including crossword puzzles, hoping that I will get my big break. I think a lil help from above will get me by just fine. I think. I hope.



Romance has pretty much been a shelved topic for this past year. In an ironic kinda way, I am enjoying single life, and at the same time have left the door of my heart still open. I guess in everyway true, love will come to you when you least expect it too. Right now, I am at a comfortable place. Even though the smell of the four letter L word is all around me. My besties are all in love. People meeting new people. I don't feel the need to jump on the band wagon.

Holidays are what I am looking forward this year. Secretly made a pact with myself to travel more thsi year, be it short trips, exotic destinations, or splurges of the moment. I just got back from my yearly pilgrimmage to the hot hot hot country up north.

Which reminds me the pictures are not up yet---because---I couldn't find the camera cable. (part lie part truth ofcourse =P) Hope to do it real soon. Promise. It was a fun trip thsi time though not exactly a relaxing one. Call it shopping boot camp. yups. But highlight of the trip was us three (2 straight chicks and one diva gay boy) meeting our eye candy in an orange T, on one of the most random ways, and till today we're still gigling and discussing him.


*Just for the record, this aren't from my cam*

sigh.. isn't he a sight?

*slaps thyself*

Sorry I had to drool each time I see this picture. They sure produce some real fine men there.

Spring in my step

A few trends to look out for.

1) Blouses

These comes in all american plaids, stripes and floral. Stock them up for a comfy attire, which I think could take you on a normal walk in the park, the movies and even to work when paired correctly with formal accesories. On my recent trip to shopping haven, I stocked up on good ol' vintage plaid shirts, one of which I wore religiously to the bazaar night before and again on our flight back home a couple of hours later. Super comfy!

*pictures from Topshop.com



2) Gladiator inspired heels

These take a step up from the gladiator sandals which flooded the runaways last year and still making a stay in many fashionista's closets. (See YC's blog. She's selling her gladiators). I am dying for a pair of laced up, ridiculously high pair of these in black. I have yet to see it any where in stores here, which of course can be explained by our slow progress in trends and fashion. (I remembered scouting for stack peep toe heels and found it plentiful in Singapore where I couldn't see one here, not even Japanese fashion trend-following Sg Wang). So i'm guessing it's gonan be a good while before shops here start selling these, or if they would at all.

*Pictures from Fashiontoast

3) Faux leather jacket

This takes number one place on my fashion wishlist. I know it's pretty illogical to wear one in this kinda tropical climate weather of ours (which I think I should be living some where in NY, Milan or even Melbourne instead), but I really really really want it! Especially if its faux leather and much more suitable for tmy freezing office, cold cinemas and rainy days. I havent seen one like this around. Trying to find one online but they cost a bomb to deliver here. Sigh..I can so imagine it paired with anything! A floral dress, long tee with leggings, a scarf..ideas and inspirations are endless!

*Picture from VintageJane