Valen’s Vanity Square

Oh my gosh, what is it with my face? Why are there 7 zits on my face?!! Pores seem to be getting bigger, too! Is it hormone (period due soon), or is it time to change my pillow case? Hmmph!

May be I should start using facial sheet mask again. Have stopped using mask for quite some time coz afraid of allergic reaction, although I don’t know if the mask is really the cause.

Anyway, I found this beauty ‘recipe’ on the internet that you may like to try if you like DIY skin care:

1 tsp raw honey + 1 tsp aloe vera juice

What to do: Stir honey and aloe until well blended. Paint mixture on face using a large, clean makeup brush, wait 15 minutes and rinse, says Josh Rosebrook, creator of the Josh Rosebrook organic skin-care line in Los Angeles.

Why it’s a beauty boon: When mixed with water, raw honey grabs onto water, creating a film that seals in moisture. It also fights breakouts because the glucose helps skin zap bacteria. Aloe contains nearly 75 nutrients that benefit skin, according to Jeannette Graf, M.D., assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. And it delivers moisture deep down below skin’s surface.

Have also done a skin age test. Results showed that my skin age is 2 years younger than my actual age. Well, should I be happy about it? I want my skin to be at least 5 years younger than my actual age!

You can try the quiz and test your skin’s age by visiting this page.

If your boyfriend or husband is going to wear a tuxedo to an event, and you want to get him a tuxedo vest, then here are some tips to help you decide which vest to buy.

1. Consider the event time that he will be attending. For daytime events, gray vest is the best.

2. For formal events, stay away from vests with bright colors or patterns. Unless the event is casual and somewhat a lighthearted occasion, then tuxedo vests with prints and images are fine.

3. If he is attending a formal evening event, then pick a vest, usually white or black, preferably with a pique collar.

4. If he is going to wear a jacket throughout the event, then a backless vest may make him look less bulky.

5. Does his weight change often? If yes, then consider getting him an adjustable full-back vest with adjustable straps to accommodate for weight changes.

6. It’s always good to have more than one vest for a man who has to attend events quite regularly. This allows him to look different even if he is wearing the same old tuxedo.

Hubby’s office is actually not too far away from mine. Usually it takes him about 20 minutes to reach my office to pick me up after work.

It’s school holiday now, so I thought it would be much faster for him to get to my office without all the cars with parents picking up their children from school. But then…

Yesterday, there was rain. Hubby was stuck in the traffic for 45 minutes.

Today, there was an accident on a highway, causing a congestion that extended all the way to the road that leads to the area where my office is located. I also waited for 45 minutes.

This is our highway and road system. One single accident or incident will cripple several highways at the same time. If you are so unfortunate that your car breaks down at such unfortunate moments, it will take hours before the roadside assistance could arrive to rescue you and your car.

So, it’s best to work from home! No waiting for husband, no caught in a traffic jam. But where to look for a job that allows me to work from home and pays me well?

Sometimes we resort to magazines for ideas on home decor, what type and color of sofa set to put in the living room, or which patio furniture to place in the garden, to create the style and ambient we want.

Besides reading up magazines or interior design related reference books, checking out photos on internet actually helps a lot too. For one, you can get ideas from photos of celebrities’ home. While we may not have big mansions like they have, at least we can make one part of our house looks beautiful and a nice place to hang around.

For example, Eva Longoria has a nice, cozy kitchen in her beach house that I wished I could have, while Meg Ryan’s new home is simple in white and light color furniture that looks so clean and peaceful. Good to come home to such a place after a hard day’s work.

I don’t know them personally, haha, but I saw those photos of their house from magazine and on the internet. I know, I’m a nosy woman who likes to peek into other people’s house and examine their taste. Haha! Well, are you not one too? ;P

Oh dear, a colleague of mine who has been on medical leave for the past 3 days just messaged another colleague to inform us that she is diagnosed with H1N1!

Does that mean all of us have to be quarantined? I was in a same car with her last Thursday! I am still coughing a little bit, which started 2 weeks ago. But so far there are no other symptoms. There are a few people in the office fell sick in the past few days; one even has been coughing since last month.

Jeez, I think this is going to ring an alarm in the office. I wonder if my boss will ask us to take days off and quarantine ourselves at home?

I don’t know if my colleague is resting at home or admitted to the hospital. If she needs hospitalization, then having some form of medical insurance will be of great help.

Realizing the importance of having adequate protection in case of mishaps, I have recently got myself another insurance coverage. Well, actually persuaded by hubby to do so, as he said I need to raise my insurance coverage amount for the optimal benefit. In addition, it was a coverage that only company staffs and their spouse are entitled to.

Actually, I don’t quite know what type of insurance I’m getting, whether it’s a term life insurance or the normal one. But since it’s recommended by hubby, I think it should be good.

Meanwhile, I think I should sleep early and get 8 hours of sleep from now onwards. Having sufficient rest is important for a strong immune system, which in turn will protect me from H1N1.

Really wonder how my boss will react when she finds out about my colleague tomorrow. She was at the same meeting with her last Saturday.

Got home just in time to watch a new show on TV, after accompanying hubby to look for plastic knobs in the hardware shop. The plastic knobs of an old cupboard of ours are broken, but it’s cheaper to replace the knobs than to get a new cupboard.

My favorite series Ghost Whisperer completed its season 4 last episode 2 weeks ago. The new show that I’m now so keen to watch is Vampire Diaries.

Haven’t heard about this show before, but I think I will continue to watch it every Tuesday. It’s a bit like Twilight, I think. Vampire guy likes human girl, bla bla bla. More importantly, I like to watch horror, scary, and eerie stories.

I know, it’s a bit weird for a female to prefer thriller and horror movies or shows over lovey dovey romantic stories. yeah, I’m just weird. I also prefer looking at gadgets, mobile phones and laptops over clothes and shoes.

But at least I’m not a vampire!

There is an old Chinese saying that goes something like this: If you want to do the perfect job, you need to have the perfect tools.

Just like if you need to open up a hundred of boxes, you need to use a professional box cutter to help you do the job.

In work, to finish a writing assignment fast, you need a speedy internet line so that you can do the necessary online research and gather the information you need in the shortest time possible.

So, when the internet line is moving so superly duperly slowly as a snail, it is so frustrating!

I don’t know why the internet speed in the office has been so slow over the past few weeks. There have been a few temporary staffs working in the office recently, and we all share the same internet line. May be that’s slowing down the line.

Perhaps the company should upgrade the internet speed, as well as upgrade the software and hardware that we are using. Sorry for saying this, but I can’t stand using out-of-date computers for work.

I don’t read newspapers everyday these days, so I only knew about the burnt down of the big furniture mall located beside the highway only few days after the incidence. We used to pass by the furniture mall every day on our way home.

Well, we still pass by the mall everyday, except what left of it now is only rubble and black ashes …

I don’t know if it’s merely ‘coincidence’ or… bad luck? News about furniture malls being burnt down are NOT news in our city. It happens relatively frequently, as compared to fire of factories or buildings.

Anyway, not that the furniture sold in the furniture mall is super duper beautiful or what, just that they are relatively cheaper than those carrying Italian names, so more people can afford buying from them.

Speaking of furniture, the specialist doctor I interviewed for an assignment the other day, has a very nicely decorated office. I’ve never met a medical doctor with such good taste. His office is appropriately placed with contemporary modern furniture, retro lamps and chairs, and a corporate-style leather sofa with metal frame. Just what I like.

I think the next time we want to replace our old furniture, we will not go to IKEA or furniture malls any more. It’s time to upgrade our ‘taste’. Of course, before we can do that, we need to ‘upgrade’ the amount in our bank account first. Haha!

Hot, hot, hot! The weather today is so warm, my thighs got sweaty even I was sitting in an air-conditioned car!

Well, it’s Sunday, so of course it should be a sun day, right? Haha! (Bad joke, I know.)

In reality, Sunday also means THE ironing day. So many working clothes to iron for use in the coming week. Lucky for me, I just have to iron my own clothes, and hubby will take care of his. I’m not a good wife, I admit.

But hey, ironing is such an tiring task, you know? I can sweat more when ironing clothes than when brisk walking on treadmills or ‘cycling’ on elliptical machines. The ironing chore is almost like a form of exercise for me, except that my legs and thighs aren’t really working out la. Don’t worry though, as they will get their share of exercise by climbing up the stairs to my office!

Oh man, what time should I start ironing, I feel so sleep and lazy in this warm Sunday afternoon….