Valen’s Vanity Square

Today’s Friday! It’s end of a working week, and also the end of April. That means - pay day! Well, it also means that it’s time to pay off my credit card bills for this month.

I spent a lot earlier, coz had to buy some working clothes and bag and shoes. I will try to slow down my shopping in May, as I have other expenditures to take care off, like daily meals and taxi fares (sometimes when hubby is out of town, I have to take taxi to and back from office).

I have also bought additional insurance coverage. Nowadays I don’t have to compare life insurance rates from brochures or on the internet, as telemarketers hired by different insurance companies will call me up and inform me about their ’special’ insurance offer or whatsoever. Of course I didn’t just simply agree to whatever was offered to me, I only accepted what I think is essential.

I’m also contributing a big chunk to our shared pool of funds. May be the fund will serve as the down payment for our new car in the future.

And, finally, I need to save up what I have exhausted in the past 2 years! It’s time to build back my financial security net. Who knows one day I will quit working again, and I will need my savings to pay for all my shopping. Haha!

Argghhhh, still haven’t managed to spot the shoes I like! Another unfruitful evening in the shopping mall. (Well, I did get my favourite compact powder from Elianto, and now it has a nice casing to go with it.)

It would be so much easier if I was looking for heels that look like those from christian louboutin shoes. In fact, I saw many shoes on display that have designs similar to these ones, very lady like and elegant. But too bad, I don’t need these heels, I just need a pair of shoes that I can wear to work, that allows me to climb up stairs and cross the pedestrian bridge without pain in my feet.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the shoes in these photos. But those are meant for special occasions like dinners and weddings and out on a date, where I don’t have to walk a lot and torture my feet to sores and cramps. I know some women can even run on high heels. They are really the Superwoman of the Millennium.

I really salute them!

Hubby has a work-related dinner to attend, so I am hanging out in the shopping mall, which is on the other side of the highway next to my office.

Actually it’s a good opportunity for me to do some shopping. I still need a third pair of shoes to wear to work. But I am wearing boots today, not the right kind of shoes to wear when you want to shop for shoes!

And I’m one of those picky shoe buyers. I’ve started to shop around for shoes since 2 weeks ago, have been to a couple of shopping malls and a dozen of shoe retail shops, I still can’t find one that I like!

You see, unlike people with acne problem who can try out different products to find the best acne treatment for them, or people who want to lose weight who go all out to whichever best weight loss product made available to them, finding a pair of shoes to me is like looking for the right guy - it should be love at first sight!

First impression is right (the shoes design looks pretty), the feeling of the first date is right (the shoes look nice on my feet and I feel comfortable), bingo! He is (the shoes are) the one! Haha!

Well, hubby is going to pick me up late again tomorrow, so I will do my love-at-first-sight shoe hunting tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a successful search. ;P

Anyone suffering from Monday blues today? I didn’t… not yet. I’ve only been back to a regular job for a month, the effect hasn’t set in yet. Eventually, I will be having Monday blues, Tuesday blues, or even Wednesday blues. Haha!

It’s a certainty that I will get hit by the blues sooner or later, but I hope that I can find ways to lessen the effects. One of the ways I can think of is to focus on my rewards - the paycheck! After years of working, somehow I finally understand that a job is just a job. At the end of the day, I just need someone pay me so that I can go shopping and indulge myself.

I know this sounds so unambitious. But hey, who said each and everyone of us has to be ambitious at work? I’m ‘ambitious’ in another way. That is to be able to make money without leaving the house. Or better still, I don’t have to do anything for a month but I still get money at the end of the month. That’s outrageous! Who said I’m not ambitious? Ha!

Of course, I won’t be able to achieve that in the near future, but I’m working towards that. Perhaps the first things that I can do is to sell used books that I don’t read anymore, or sell dresses that I can no longer fit in.

I’m definitely not hit by Monday blues today, but I’m struck by daydreaming!

What a beautiful Sunday morning! Earlier this week I thought I could get some exercise outdoor in the park on the weekend, since hubby is back in town. But it looks like I have to postpone this plan for another week! Hubby has to get some training materials done for work, and I have a ‘fun-filled’ day ahead of me, too.

First, I have to pick up my internet ‘activities’ that have been slowed down due to my 9-to-5 job. Rest assured that my internet activities are nothing to do with illegal or indecent matters, okay? It’s my plan for early ‘retirement’, so that I’m going to finally quit my job and become a housewife - AGAIN. Haha!

After that, I have to complete an article for work. Yeah, work that can’t finished in the office, I have to get it done at home during the weekend. Luckily I’m so used to work from home, so this doesn’t feel at all strange to me. Ha!

Next, I have some laundry to clear, some ironing to do, floor to sweep, etc.

Jeez, this is how I spend MY Sunday! Well, I suppose this is the way of modern living? We multitask, we have multiple responsibilities to fulfill - at the same time! I feel so like a KVM switch. While the device is used to control several computers at the same time, my ONE brain has to organize so many tasks and jobs simultaneously, and send out instructions to my hand and body to execute them all in one day.

So, am I becoming like a computer, a machine, or what?

Two weeks ago I thought I had lost a little weight. I have been eating only three meals a day since I stared to working, no afternoon snack or whatsoever even if I was hungry. I ate moderately every meal, and I was suffering from some mild form of diarrhea. I felt that my tummy was slightly flatter. So I thought finally “I’m losing weight the natural way!”, haha!

But now, my bowel movement is back to normal and regular, I have some muesli bars in my drawers to munch on in case I get hungry in the office, and I eat heartily during dinner time. When I checked my weight on my sister’s digital scale. Darn, I’m back to where I was before.

Oh well, I think the only way for me to cut a couple of kilograms is really to hop back onto the elliptical machine. (Haven’t been exercising lately!) Although I read that one of the ways that celebrities use to lose weight is to drink black coffee, without milk and sugar. I like coffee, but don’t think I can take it without milk and sugar.

Some people said that it’s the caffeine in the coffee that is causing the weight loss. It’s still a debatable issue. What caffeine does is it helps the body to lose additional water, suppress our appetite, and may has some calorie burning effect. But whether those effects can last or cause significant weight loss remain to be answered.

One of the weight loss products that I know of that contains caffeine-type ingredient is Nuphedragen. It is advisable to check out various nuphedragen reviews before one first try it for weight loss plan. Certain people who are sensitive to caffeine should not take this type of weight loss supplement.

I’m not sure if I’m considered sensitive to caffeine, but I do find my stomach feel uncomfortable after drinking those 3-in-1 coffee. Not so if it’s coffee from Starbucks of Coffeebean. Jeez, even my stomach prefers ‘branded’ stuffs. Haha!

Last week was ‘intestine’ week for me. This week is ‘bacteria’ week. What am I talking about here? Well, I’m referring to my projects at work. Because last week all I wrote about was about the health of our intestines. This week is all about the bacteria living in our intestines! Haha!

Oh, I also wrote about probiotics, you know, those friendly bacteria that you drink along with Vitagen or Yakult? Jeez, this reminds me of my Vitagen in the fridge, which is going to expire end of this week! Eeks, better drink them tomorrow when I go home (today I’m still at my mom’s).

Did you notice that if you are taking antibiotics because you’re sick, you would later get diarrhoea after you finished your medicine and recovered? This is because antibiotics not only kill the germs that cause you to be sick, the medicine also destroys the naturally present friendly and beneficial bacteria in your intestines. This give a chance to other bad bacteria to grow in population and cause diarrhoea.

If you’re generally healthy, then there’s nothing much to worry about. The diarrhoea effects will eventually subside. But if you take yogurt or drink cultured milk while you’re on antibiotic, you may reduce the severity and duration of, if not prevent, diarrhoea.

Some people would take probiotic pills because they frequently experience digestive problems. If you’re also considering taking probiotic pills, then it would be wise to first do a research on or check out reviews for the probiotics you intend to consume. (Just like women who want to lose weight would check out weight loss product reviews, and men who need some sexual enhancement help would check out review on extenz.)

Nevertheless, at the end of the day, the best way and most natural way to take probiotics are through foods you eat everyday. Fermented milk products (yogurt and cultured milk) or fermented soy products,  or even kimchi, carry a good load of probiotics.

Hubby is away for two nights, so tonight I’m sharing bed with my sister at my parent’s home. Actually there’s a vacant room (my younger sister’s room, she is now living with her husband and baby daughter), but the room is not air-conditioned. And I can’t stand sleeping in a warm and stuffy room nowadays. (A spoilt wife I am…)

I also don’t want to risk getting skin irritation or rashes over my body or my face if I get all sweat up. I haven’t been getting adequate sleep since I started working. So at least I want to be able to sleep comfortably and sleep well for the number of hours I have. Don’t wanna to have acne popping up on my face, then I would have to resort to acne pills to get rid of the blemishes.

One really saves a lot when the face is free of acne problems. All you need is basic skin care items, and just have to make sure that your skin is well hydrated to keep it healthy and supple. The money then can spend on something else, for more pressing issues, like a bottle of hair grow tonic to deal with hair loss….

Tired! Not because of working (today is Saturday), but because of shopping!

Went to my favorite boutique Iora in One Utama this afternoon and got myself a new pair of 3-quarter length pants, a ‘fake’ denim skirt, a pair of hot pants (answering to hubby’s request), and a casual top. Jeez, few hundreds gone just like that…

Well, clothes at Iora are quite expensive I would say. All their tops range from RM60-80, skirts almost RM100, and pants cost above RM100. But I revisited the boutique because their clothes just fit me so well, as long as I choose ‘L’ size for 3-quarter length pants and tops that come in Free size. You know how sometimes certain clothes just don’t fit you no matter what size. But most of their clothes just fall so nicely on my body, and I like their designs, very suitable for OLs. Not too serious and proper, not overly casual.

Previously I like clothes from the Treats boutique, but somehow I couldn’t seem to find anything to my likes during my recent trip to their outlets. Message carries nice clothes too, but I feel that most of their designs are slightly ‘mature’ for me, hehe.

Oh well, that’s just how I shop. My taste. My style. I know I will go back to Iora again. Probably the security cameras in Iora boutique will have me in their videos very often in the future. Haha!