black is the new black

Years ago, i was bewildered by the colour BLacK.

I never could wear it comfortably.

It puts in a weird mood. Drags me down somewhat.

Never could pull it off, I thought.

It just seemed too sombre and heavy a colour for our exuberance, youth and optimism.

Too solemn, dark, with its own mystic, forbidding aura.

It's chic and alluring and flattering, no doubt.

But it just wasn't me. It overwhelmed my complexion and skin tone, I imagined.

I just don't have the austerity to pull off a all-black outfit.

But these pictures are pretty convincing.

It's very chic, elegant, sophisticated and Parisian.

And now, at the edge of 26, I may just be able to try it more.

I've grown up too. Not as frivolous as before.

Black goes well with a certain nuance of experience and age.

When in chiffon, lace or jersey, it can even be light and pretty.

Let's just hope it keeps pace with my still-exuberant self.

my best friend

The other day, I met Zenny for coffee at Vivo 2 days before she returns to the States.
We talked about many things...
And confronted some issues I'd conveniently stashed away in my big head for too long.
Issues that were non-pressing, but disturbing nonetheless.

I miss that.
I miss that reality check only true frens like her can give.
Those utterly no-holds-barred, very ugly, unpleasant, not-nice-to-hear truths.
She can detect everything,
Probably cos she's as weird, nitpicking, instinctive and foxy as me.
I miss her friendship, and realised then...
How long we've not been able to do that.
You just can't do it on MSN, on an IDD call

It's a blessing to have honest frens like tat.
People who don't sing your praises and say nice flattering things.
People who are close to you, yet free of bias, envy, jealousy, competition, comparison.
It's really not that easy to have people like tat in your life.

She and I are as dissimilar as day and night.
But yet, in some strange way, our way of logic and reasoning are very similiar.
Talking to her is so easy. I don't need to simplify or break it down or explain.
We get each other just like that.
Even if I don't wish to say it out, I can bet my last penny she's thinking the same thing and trying to break it to me.
I appreciate that.

With her around, I can't run away from things.
Can't stash things away too long and pretend everything's rosy.
Can't deceive myself, can't deceive her.
My guard is down, my front is off, my bluff is out.
And I thank God for that.
For her presence, friendship and time.

Christmas entry

A Christmas blog of thanksgiving.

Thank you Lord for a lovely husband, a great family, wonderful friends and a beautiful cosy new home.
2006 has really been quite a ride of experiences.

I got married, officiated twice, found and wore a gorgeous wedding gown, changed Jobs and bade night shifts adieu forever, wrote my first editor's letter, received ample lovely media gifts as occupation hazards, shifted home, shopped till i dropped at VIVOCITY, fell in love in and with HoNg KoNG, discovered Bintan's underrated boredom, navigated BaNgKoK thru and thru, re-discovered MaNuAL Driving, had the most painful sEven StitCHes of my life and a huge scar to remember it by, got back in touch with some great pals, forsaken Zouk for MOS, renewed my loyalty to TopSHoP and started a love affair with Ted Baker, embraced a new family as my own, missed my brother's graduation and finding it hard to forgive myself, saw GERALD after 4-5 years and answered a long-held ? in my heart, bought the most EXpen$ivE present in my life, became a cyber FAsHioN voyeur, stayed FaiThfuL to this bLoG.

Hot Looks for Now

Outfits I soooo love right now:

Satin tops with shorts.

I just wore someth like tat on Sunday.

Very comfy, very nice.

The satin adds a touch of class and luxe to the shorts.

Black-white ensembles.

Always in, always look sophisticated.

Perfect to experiment with my black jeans.

A twist to a boring black dress.
People love calling it the LBD - 'little black dress'.

But I don't understand its mystique and popularity.

A black dress always works.

Yes, it takes 5 pounds off your look.

Yes, it is slimming.

But it is sooo boring and safe on its own. Soooo safe.

I don't do safe. We're too young to play it so straight and dull and safe.

Tis a fun way to jazz it up, with a plaid or patterned shirt inside.

The layering look is still very in.
Never thought of it, but brown, purple and black works pretty fine.

With cool opaque tights.

I just got a pair of opaques from Topshop!

An ex-boyfriend used to observe that my fashion obsession goes in waves.

Like for a while, if i'm crazy about jeans, I'll have tonnes of it.

Then there was a while i was mad about skirts...this long love affair spanned 2 years and I think I covered every base for skirt then.

Now, I think I'm onto yet another good thing - dresses.

I already have several from just the last couple months...

Mango has great cuts, several from Topshop, Miss Selfridge is my current fave, Daniel Yam, Forever 21 for casual workwear, Far East Plaza -- all great options for copies of the latest looks.

Then jazz it up with a great pair of shoes, a nice bag and you're ready to go.

It's just so effortless. There's no need to pair with other items - it's fuss-free.

My dresses are not frou-frou so I don't stink of the overtly feminine air either.

Because of my dress collection, my shoe collection is expanding big-time as well! Not that I mind!

Still deliberating over the $213 Miss Selfridge pink dress I blogged earlier.

Gosh, it looks so beautiful on the model, but the colour is not really shown well in the pic. I'm jus afraid the shade looks too mature or God forbid, frumpy, for me.

Dilemma, dilemma.

Chanel Muses

Chanel perspectives
-- Strong, striking women in classic Chanel black-white ensembles in awesome B/W shots.





Diane Kruger for Chanel.








Anna Mouglalis for Chanel.






Irina Lazareanu for Chanel.

Middle Ground

I've officially been poached.
And officially chewing over it.
Gosh, dilemmas really do love to mess my head.

The money's really good, but I'm afraid of losing the things money can't buy.
Freedom, time, flexibility, creative control, autonomy.

I'll be setting the editorial direction for a new mag, but with just 4 issues under my belt, am I ready for it? I don't take failure well, unfortunately.

I yearn for a strong creative unit and team support, but am actually very independent at work.
Will there be mutual consent or mad clashes?

With a fresh marriage and new house, should I introduce yet more changes to my already change-infested lifestyle?
'Tis the year of major adaptations as it is.

Oh gosh...i can go on for days.
When in doubt, pray.
I guess it will still come down to where it always does: -
I will be where God wants me to be.

The Holiday - Great!

Need to kick off Xmas?

Watch The Holiday!

Smokin' Angelina Jolie kicks off Vogue 2007

Evidence

Plan B

The year-end is indeed here.

How else to explain the dreamy, slow state of things?

Stress is gone. Deadlines seem distant. Money, strangely, is not lacking.

Shops open late. The roads are dazzling in lights. People are spirited.

Sales are omnipresent.

It's just a really wonderful fashion moment.

What should I wear for Christmas?

A short black lace dress with ribbon details, a la Chanel?

A lady-like halter low-back peach dress from Miss Selfridge?

Or a more casual mod long-sleeved jersey dress?

Everyone asks me these days.....how is married life...
I have been married since February!

But the wedding banquet and traditional stuff do add an edge to marital affairs.

If it hasn't already, then now it really is cast in stone.

It has been witnessed and applauded by all we love and who loves us.

Terence is a great husband. He does everything and more.

He tries so hard, my heart aches just seeing his efforts.

But we have quarrelled at least 3 times since last Sunday.

For some reason, we can't communicate as well as we should.

He is either quiet and accommodating or raging mad. No middle ground.

I am always sharp-tongued and quick to pick.

Not the best of yin and yang.

But he is a great person. With him, I have no fear.

It's amazing and sometimes hard to believe good things can come our way.

I sense less resistance on my part too.

Less resistance to be equally devoted.

For a long time, I've always fought for my priorities.

I refused to put him and the r/s on top of things, believing that my life, my friends, my work, my own family deserves equal placing.

That created a lot of friction between us, becos clearly for him, our marriage came first.

I'm younger - I had more to lose, I thought.

But now, I am placing our marriage on top.

It's the only way to make things work.
The home just gotta be in my heart and we need to be putting in the same efforts.

I can't always be "protecting myself" and planning an escape route.

That's a single woman talking, and I'm no longer that selfish, defensive, single woman.

Anyway, we have many more years to get used to each other.

Will be moving house in 2 weeks, and that brings us so much joy.

My new place is very teeny weeny, but cosy and lovely.

I see it as our home of love.

I am doing what my parents did in their 20s, building a home, a family.

And I'm so proud of ourselves.
Our love has brought us so many things, and I'm so grateful.

DECEMBER 3, 2006

My big day came and went in about 19 hours, from 5am to 12mn.
Beautiful beautiful beautiful.
I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Let me recount before they become hazy memories.
The loveliest sights of the day:
1. My beautiful gorgeous friends arriving at my place, punctually, one by one.
They looked gorgeous in their all-shades-of-blue dresses and tops.

2. The girls preparing for the evil games and awaiting the groom's arrival.

3. My parents and siblings all dolled up. My brothers actually wore whole suits! Impressive!

4. My grandma crying at the tea ceremony as she dug out a box of diamond earrings for me. Made my heart ache.

5. All my aunties and uncles being so happy for me. In front of them, i sometimes feel eternally 12. And now, I'm getting married.

6. The lovely huge giant suite at Hilton. Gosh, most beautiful room I've slept in.

7. Qiuli, Jas + Michelle.... sneaking in as I was resting alone in the suite. These 3 stayed with me all day, all nite. They are champions! Some of the rest went home to bathe and change and rest, but these 3 troopers never left my side.


8. Terence looking so handsome in his suit as he entered my room with the bouquet and a beaming smile. My wonderful husband for the world to see.

9. His brother teasing me endlessly at his house. I really am his sister-in-law now. He ain't got a choice, haa.

10. All the girls crashing in Terence's bedroom with me. And examining all his stuff and our stuff. Struck me that this is the first time they been to his place.

11. Sight of all my friends coming for the wedding, dressed to the nines. Weixiong in a crisp white shirt? Situ and Sinwee in jackets? Nick in a cool jacket? Jacqueline in a dress? And Shiyun, in all the 10 years i know her, in MAKEUP and a Dress? Very very cool.

12. The band arriving....

13. Terence fetching me to the ballroom from the suite.... lovely.

14. Jasmine tying the ribbon for me just before we go downstairs. She's really good and sweet with these stuff.

15. Ruiqiang reaching very early at the suite at 4pm. He's such a lovely sweet fren.

16. Qiuli, Jasmine and Ruiqiang sitting behind me on the couch, the girls putting on makeup and Ruiqiang entertaining himself with the TV. classic scene. FYI, they took longer than me to paint their faces!!!

17. All the guests applauding wildly as we walked in both times. Surreal.... the moment just floated by, like in a beautiful, please-dont-wake-me-up dream.

18. Watching the well-wishes from frens and family.

19. My parents' faces as we gave the speech on stage. I guess pride and joy looked like that.

20. My brothers and sisters. They looked so cute and happy.

21. Jerry standing outside. A fren of sincerity.

22. Zenny and her wicked jokes, all day, all nite.

23. Terence in the suite, after all is said and done. His face was really red. First time I have seen him drunk. We are really really married. It cannot get any more real than this.

Blythe wears Chanel

Believe it, Blythe in Chanel threads!

She is so pretty!

my friends

This is a great great fantastic week.
No, not just cos of my wedding.

First things first - my 2 best friends are back in town!
Jerry n Zenny are both here, to see me on my big day.
This just makes my heart glow with joy and put a silly smile on my face the whole day.

And also, i'm on leave.
A whole week of doing nothing, lounging around, shopping...is just pure bliss.

And I just met all my bridesmaids this evening, for dinner + shopping.
They are a really fun bunch.
So good at conjuring up evil games and silly ideas.
Ingenious!

So it is a fantastic week. And today just caps it off nicely.
2 more days to my big day!
Yes, i am very excited.


It was really nice catching up with jerry today.
Over lunch with his parents and then over coffee at Taka.
So jerry, if you are reading this,
know that I am ever so elated and completely over-the-moon that you are physically here in Singapore.
Have been waiting FOREVER for a nice chat with you over coffee.
Serious, it's just one of those we long for, but don't say.

To me, having wonderful frens in life that I can chat easily, sincerely for hours over coffee or dinner is such an incredible blessing.
These connections, these friendships define my very existence.

Same for my lovely gaggle of girlfriends.
They have been there for me since we were kids in ugly uniforms.
Today, they are gathering to plan for my wedding day.
This is really what life is made of.
Or my life, rather.

The people around me.
The things we do together.
The stories we share and tell.
The experiences we have together.
It's really beautiful to have friends and family like these.

They say friends are the family we choose.
Agreed.