Flea fly foe fum

I had a second run at the Spottiswoode Flea Market today and this time round it was held between Blocks 103 and 104.

I sold some items prior to the start of the event – Kaelash bought a bunch of kids clothes and some items for Jeanette when they were over yesterday, and Aunty Zaiton came early this morning to grab 3 Gucci items that Swana was selling.

I made an e-flyer for the event and posted that on FB and during the sale itself, I uploaded pictures of some of the bags on sale and there was some interest from friends. In fact, Rena’s friend Flora even came down on the spur of the moment to buy a Gucci bag I was selling after she saw it online.


The sales from acquaintances was better than the walk-in traffic, hardly saw any local neighbours, 90% of those browsing were Pinoys living around the area or renting flats. Anyway, at least I cleared some space at home, but not much.

Earned about $600, but you know I spent a lot more buying those items. Nothing like an event like this to remind me about my excessiveness.

We spent most of the day in yesterday, Kavi and Ananya, Kaelash and co came over in the evening, Kavi is so good at entertaining the kids!



On Friday I met Hong Wei and Desmond for lunch at Vivo, ended up at Shin Kushiya. Had never been there before and ordered a yakitori-type set…I like grilled food! We had drinks at Pacific Coffee Company after that before Hong Wei dropped me back at the office. Need to organise a meet-up with the SingTel folks soon!

eBay is evil!

Jane commented yesterday she hasn't seen any postings on recent purchases, leaving her to wonder if I have been shopping online. That's because I've been too lazy and lost track of all the stuff I've bought online and in stores over the last few months!

Aside from dresses on eBay and some Vera Bradley bags, there have been the usual stuff from Old Navy, Gap and most recently Shopbop. Here's a sampling from old to new:

1) Marc by Marc Jacobs Cosmetic Bag in Royal Purple Multi (S$130) - Love this print so much, you know me and the blue and white combi. Was tempted to get the small Tate tote but I have a few of those already so I settled for the cosmetic bag, will use for toiletries when I travel.


2) Marc by Marc Jacobs Dotty Snake Sia Bag (US$111) - An impulse buy only because it was on sale on Shopbop...not inclined to keep it, might sell it at my flea market stall this Sunday.


3) Tibi Black & White Dress (US$40 excl shipping) - A used dress, have yet to see the condition but liked the print in the middle. Tibi dresses retail for over S$500 here so I consider this a bargain.


4) Trina Turk Swim Cover Up (US$110) - Not cheap for something to wear at the beach but the original retail price is $144, and mine included shipping. Figured it can double up as a dress or top.


5) Nanette Lepore Two to Tango Dress (US$138) - Just collected from the post office yesterday. The seller priced it at $145 or best offer and my offer of $120 got accepted. The original retail price is US$398, imagine my savings! Might save it for my birthday this year.


6) Laundry by Shelli Segal Medallion/Damask Print Jersey Dress (US$71 excl shipping) - Was so excited when I won the bid, luckily the end time was my morning and I could sit at my desk and put in my bid at the last possible second. Been eyeing it for a while, actually bought the same dress in a lighter colour from another seller based in Sweden but it turned out to be a sham and I never got the dress and had to get a refund through eBay, so I was really pleased when I succeeded in this one.


7) Ann Taylor Brown & White Floral Strapless dress (US$23 excl shipping) - lovely print, nice for a wedding.


8) DVF Greer Wrap dress in Black Flying Butterfly print (AU$220) - Finding this dress on eBay was like hitting the jackpot, especially when it was in my size and I won the bid! Love love love the print, my very first DVF wrap dress!


9) Muse Silk Chiffon Blue and White Floral Dress (US$9.90 excl shipping) - New with tags, a real bargain because there was a lipstick stain but it was only on the lining...original price is US$169!


10) Vera Bradley Bowler Bag in Viva La Vera (US$47 excl shipping)...love the numerous compartments and print.


11) Vera Bradley Get Carried Away Tote in Tea Garden (US$68 excl shipping). It's too big for me, any takers? I didn't check the dimensions before buying!


12) Vera Bradley Morgan Tote in Hope Garden (US$28 excl shipping). Joanne bought the same one.

Kodok's Birthday

The Kodok a.k.a Germaine turned 35 on Sunday and spent the weekend in Bali. Today we met up for her belated birthday lunch treat at Salt Tapas bar, which officially only opened a few days ago. Last year we had tapas too, don’t know what it is about that woman and tapas!




But it was a good meal, the individual tapas dishes would have been pricey if you order ala carte however they have a set meal option which allows you to choose 3 dishes for $33.50+. Among us we could pick 12 which allowed us to try more dishes, so we went with 9 savoury and 3 desserts.

We had some parma ham and lamb cecina, wagyu sausage with polenta, spiced veal and pork meatballs, charcoal grilled Iberico pork loin, rocket salad, arancini balls and crispy soft shell prawns with chilli and garlic aioli.




Everything was good, the cooked meat dishes stood out for me and I could have munched on the prawns all afternoon. Service was good too, the chef gave us an extra wagyu sausage on the house when he wasn’t satisfied with the doneness of the pork loin and didn’t want to keep us too hungry while he re-did it.

For dessert we shared an orange creme Catalan, liquorice parfait and churros. The churros were nice and warm and yummy.



We tried to plan our girly trip, finally settling to attempt Taipei in November…I hope it happens, this trip has been 16 years in the making! Rena bought over a spare pair of Loewe sunglasses I had and that funded my F1 ticket which we bought after lunch. I’m more excited about the concerts than the race this year, looking forward to Katy Perry and Maroon 5!

Ahoy Timbre!

It’s been ages since we went to Timbre and I popped in for a bit this evening to pass an angpow for Jayna to Jalen. He’s going to Sydney to celebrate Jayna’s 2nd birthday so Timbre was the venue of choice to meet up with the rest of the gang who have been craving their pizzas.



I went late though, after the bubs slept and met Kaelash at Tiong Bahru MRT, he was attending his Masters course at the PSB Academy.

The band performing was Goodfellas, they did some good covers. I wore my Lune DVF dress, only the second time ever wearing it and had to suck in my stomach the whole day, in addition to wearing a double layer of Spanx!




It was nice to be out, too short though, was there for less than 2 hrs. I miss the live music, maybe will drag the boy there for the T date.

Sasha's first salon visit

I cut and highlighted my hair after work today and the kids came over to the salon to get their hair trimmed as well. They saw me with all the foil on my hair when they first entered the shop and I teased them I was an alien.

It was Sasha’s first professional haircut, I’ve only DIYed her fringe twice. She was very reluctant to sit down, and had to be distracted by my phone and some sweets. It probably took all of 3 mins to even out her length and trim her fringe…she has such thin hair.




After her was Gigi, who was very well-behaved. She neatened up her locks and cut some bangs. Then Nat wanted in on the action so we tidied up her fringe. Meanwhile, I was getting my head washed at the sink and they were all curious as to what Mummy was doing.



Gigi saw the dye being washed from my head and later proclaimed she wanted to colour her hair too. When I asked if she wanted to colour it blue like Katy Perry, she nodded! The whole time when we were leaving, she kept insisting, ‘I want to colour my hair’!

The kids are staying at Membina this week so we went back there after the haircut to put them to sleep. They stayed there last night too and when we got home, I got into a cleaning frenzy by mopping the floor, doing a load of laundry, handwashing Nick’s smelly soccer gear that he had left overnight and trying to clean the built-up grease from the toaster oven to not much luck.


Today I bought baking soda and attacked the toaster tray again and the result is amazing. It’s shiny and silver again, baking soda rocks!

Nautical lunch

Nick received a TCC discount card for his birthday month, I bet he didn’t even remember he was a member and doesn’t know where his membership card is but heck all that, we made sure we used up the 50% discount by taking the bubs for lunch at the Keppel Marina outlet after mass today.

Got a nice table by the window but the restaurant layout is quite cramped. Sasha refused to sit in the high chair, which went to Nat instead. Good thing they had a kids menu, Nat had the fish and chips, and Sasha the ham and cheese quesadilla.



Nat enjoyed her fish and chips, it was a good white fish, crisp on the outside and flaky white flesh on the inside and the portion was generous. Sasha fed herself standing near the window and I gobbled down my corn and crab soup followed by seafood aglio olio whilst feeding Nat.

I rushed through my meal so that I could watch over Sasha, as Nick couldn’t eat in peace while keeping an eye on her. After 9 years of marriage, I’m only just realising he cannot multi-task i.e. feed himself and her at the same time.


He doesn’t like to rush through his meals, must sit down and enjoy properly, never mind that his dish will get cold. He needs to realise that’s not always possible when eating out with kids, especially ours who are not trained to sit and eat quietly.




Anyway, we made it to dessert in one piece and shared 2 slices of cake. Then we took a short walk around Keppel Island to show the kids the boats. Sasha and Nat have come up with new poses!

Estee Lauder sale

I love my friends, thanks to Rena working at Suntec, I scored tickets to the much-hyped Estee Lauder Private Sale that took place today.

Met Rena for lunch yesterday to pick up the tickets, I didn’t know the Marina Square foodcourt had been renovated, my laksa stall is gone so I settled for claypot rice but at least they have solid views from the window seats.



Kavi and Jeanette came over with the kids, and while Sasha napped, I went off with Ma to Suntec. Being mid-afternoon, all the good stuff would have been snapped up during the morning preview so I only bought some lip glosses and eyeshadow palettes, mainly from MAC, Bobbi Brown and Clinique.

Once back at Membina, we fed the kids and then headed out to Great World so the adults could have dinner. Skinny Pizza, mmmm.



Sasha was very restless and I took her to see the pet shop display for a while. But later on when we went back to the restaurant, she wriggled out of my arms and wandered out of the restaurant by herself, not bothering to look back even though I had my eye on her the whole time, watching from a corner.


She didn’t look for me till a good 2-3 mins later, imagine in that time, anyone could have walked off with her! Fearless that one!

My friends Germaine, Joanne, Rena and Jane ‘invited’ themselves over yesterday evening, it was quite an impromptu thing after the suggestion was made a few days earlier.

I think we should do it more often, especially when it’s a Friday night and you’re stuck with kids but craving for some adult company! The next best thing is to let all the kids play together in someone’s house, while the adults catch up over a quick meal!



I collected a ‘cover charge’ to take care of the food costs, we shared 3 pizzas from Parco Caffe and Nick bought chicken wings from Everton. Also picked up some baguettes to go with Ma’s chicken curry, and I made a strawberry tart for dessert.

Jane brought Ethan only, Rena brought both her bubs, Jo had Ray so for once my girls including Gigi were outnumbered by the boys!

The kids played individually and quietly at first but towards the end of the evening, they were playing London Bridge and Simon Says together, as well as making funny faces. Meanwhile, the adults tried to plan a trip to Hong Kong in August.




Nat wanted to stay over at Membina and followed Swana home, while Sasha didn’t sleep till everyone left which was close to midnight. She actually only slept at 12.30am!

We spent most of today at Membina, Sham and her mum came over and while Nat and Gigi attended Chinese class, Swana, Sham and I checked out Drips Café nearby. Cool joint, decent mocha and some very nice tarts on display. It was surprisingly crowded too.




The Jays popped by in the evening and the kiddos had fun together. The kids slept relatively early and we decided to leave them at Membina and see if we could catch a movie but there were very few seats left for Battleship so Nick watched footie instead.

In the end, Gigi woke up crying at 10plus and wouldn’t stop for a good 20 mins refusing milk or to be carried. We ended up going for a car ride and she was quiet the moment Nick picked her up…think she misses her daddy in Korea.