Valen’s Vanity Square

Friday night. Oh, no, it’s already Saturday morning, 1 am!

Went to the Coach outlet in Sunway Pyramid after work, saw a few designs that I like. Of course, their price tags are so way out of my budget! I believe I can find better price on the internet. Since my hair’s still wet after shower, so I took the opportunity to browse through some Coach handbags online. (Actually, I should be looking for baby gifts instead of immersing in my ‘passion’, haha, as it’s my niece’s birthday next Sunday! Need to buy a present for her.)

I indeed found a couple of blogs selling original Coach handbags with a lower price, average RM500 cheaper than buying from the outlet in shopping centres. But somehow the blogs don’t seem to have in stock those that I like.

Anyway, there’s no rush. I can take my time to consider carefully which one I like the best, then find the best offer from the internet before I open my wallet.

Wow, it’s the second day of a brand new year! Happy New Year!

My mood is getting better these few days, because I am always out of the house to escape from the noise pollution coming from next door. Can’t believe it, renovation is still going on after 3 weeks, although the drilling and banging is now happening at a much lesser extent now. But this morning, they started hammering at 8.30 am sharp! Hello, today is Saturday okay? And it’s the second day of a brand new year!

I think it will be another month before I can finally gain some peace and quiet. I sort of saw how it’s like inside the house when I passed by my neighbor’s house yesterday. Well, after 4 weeks, the house still looks totally BARE! The floor tiles and parkay were all dug out, wires hanging down from the ceiling, no grills, no lighting, everything is just in a mess, sort of. So what have they been doing for the past few weeks?

I mean, I really don’t understand why would one do this. Bought a new house and give it a total makeover? If you are so darn rich, get a bigger house, or build one from scratch. You can design it whatever way you want. You can have as many Dolan lighting chandeliers and Lorenzzo leather sofas as you want. You can have the floor in the whole house covered with top-quality marble. Just stay away from your neighbor and save her from insanity.

Hmm, I’m still not in too good a mood, I think.

Chandeliers from Dolan Designs - elegant and classically modern

I’ll try to be friendly to them when the move in - if they have one of these in their living or dinning area.

What a tired day! Went window shopping at MidValley Megamall today, didn’t get my pair of shoes though. There were so many people in the mall (it’s school holiday), and I didn’t like to shop when there’s a big crowd.

I got to visit my favorite shopping mall today because hubby was able to accompany me. He didn’t have any seminar to conduct this weekend, but there are a few taking place this coming week. Don’t ask me why there are so many seminars for him to conduct, all I know is that his company offers many types of insurance plans; and some plans kind of supplement the others. Just like in the US, there is Medicare supplement to the original Medicare. So, hubby has to present to different group of customers to sell the different types of products.

Actually, hubby is not getting any benefit out of the work he’s doing. ACTUALLY, it is NOT his job! Well, all I can say is that, a responsible, efficient, smart, reliable, diligent staff always end up working more and harder for those who are not - without getting justified return (i.e. commission, bonus). :P  Poor hubby…

Well, poor ME! When can I ask my hubby to buy a second diamond ring for me? (The first one being the proposal ring, but the diamond is so small, haha!)

Due to my crazy shopping spree last week, plus a delayed project payment, once again my bank account is on the verge of being empty. Now I have to refrain myself from buying anything for at least a month.

And it’s time to start thinking how I can make more money besides relying solely on my freelance paychecks.

I wonder how some bloggers can make lots of money by just blogging alone. I have read that one blogger made so much money that she actually bought herself laptopssss, a plasma TV, and a bike for her husband (plus a lot more items that I won’t know, of course).

I don’t know how many people are reading my blog, but I suppose there are ways to at least first drive traffic to a website before the readership builds up. Apparently, I did not apply any of those methods. (Otherwise my blogging income would have reached sky high, eh?)

Anyway, I just learned that it is very important to submit our website link to web directories, so that our websites/blogs will receive more exposure. If you have a new blog or website, you should look up for a list of internet web directory and submit your site to as many web directories as you could.

I don’t know how many of the web directories I will submit my blog link to. Even by submitting one a day, I would have submitted to 365 web directories in 1 year! But, are there so many web directories out there?

Today is considered quite a relaxing day–stopped all communications with clients and am mentally preparing myself for my east coast holiday tomorrow! Haha! I haven’t started packing my bags though, will leave that till tonight. (I’m kind of a last-minute person.)

On normal days, I usually emphasize on anti-aging care. For a trip like this, i.e. staying by the beach, my skin care regime for the next few days will primarily focus on UV protection during the day and hydration replenishing at night.

Am planning to try out the driving range at the resort and chill out in the bar at the beach. May also want to try their jacuzzi pool. I haven’t been in one. Hope the water pressure is not powerful like pressure washers that are used to clean building walls, haha! I definitely can’t do these activities without my sunblock on. Light exfoliation will be important at the end of the day to make sure dead skin cells (killed by UV rays!) are removed before I quench the thirst of my skin with a facial mask.

Just pray that I don’t come back from a trip all tanned up and with a face full of zits! Haha!

My favorite drama series Ghost Whisperer Season 4 is not shown on 8TV yet (I don’t subscribe to ASTRO), but I have gotten myself the DVDs for the first 10 episodes or so last month, and finished watching it in just a couple of days! (So that’s how I wither my life away, haha!)

I love watching Ghost Whisperer because the stories are spooky but not scary, and I’m glad to know that even ghosts have problems and unresolved issues of their own - even after they’re dead. Haha!

Of course, I also enjoy watching Melinda Gordon’s wardrobe! Her vintage clothing style is classy, feminine, and with just the right amount of sexiness. I also wish I could own just one silky sexy lingerie like hers, coz mine are more like the-girl-next-door lingerie, haha! Oh, and her hair and make-up is just perfect. Smokey eyes, but not wild. Her hair is sometimes wavy, sometimes straight, just right for the occassion. I wonder how much time a gal need to spend to create that look before she walks out the door and head off to work…

Back to the story. It’s kinda sad to see Jim died and ‘reincarnated’ in another man’s body that is not as half good-looking as him! I think I should check out the DVD store soon to get the remaining episodes of Ghost Whisperer, and find out what’s going to happen between Melinda and the ‘new’ Jim.

I am sort of on a weight loss plan currently (I’m not taking diet pills though), and when I weighed myself a week ago, I was surprised to see that I was almost 2 kg lighter than before! However, when I stepped onto the weighing scale this morning, I was almost back to my previous weight, hahaha!

This tells me that there must be something that I had done right earlier to lose weight, but unfortunately the results were screwed due to things I did or didn’t do enough last week.

Things done right:

• Eat according to my body type (read more about this on my weight loss blog); keep away from junk food and unhealthy snacks, including beverages and desserts.
• I don’t exercise during week days, but a 45 to 60 minute walk outdoor is a must every Sunday.
• Keep moving around in the house - doing housework, walking up and down the stairs, cooking, etc.

Things didn’t do well last week:

• I think I ate more than usual last week , and, errrr, indulged in chocolates that I bought from Langkawi.
• Missed my Sunday walking session a week ago as it rained the whole morning.
• Had not been moving around much at home, was glued to my desk top most of the time.
• Had constipation.

So, losing weight is just like some sort of karma thing; do things the right way and you will see the results you desire and receive happiness. Or else, be prepared to pay for the consequences! Haha!

I used to have very smooth and acne-free forehead, even when I had the worst stubborn whitehead problems on my jawlines. But since I moved back to KL, I keep getting these little bumps on my forehead.

I suspected the cause of the problem to be originated from the environment, i.e. cleaning up a new house that was dusty, construction works that were taking place in the neighborhood, etc. The problem was resolved when I started using Cellnique pro sebum gel, and my forehead was clear for most of the time, except for a couple of pimples during my menses.

Today, however, a whole lot of whiteheads appeared again on my forehead (it wasn’t like that last night)! I relate this outbreak to yesterday’s event - a cleaning and painting charity service for a nursing center that takes care of old folks and mentally retarded adults.

I guess it was the scraping work (i.e. scraping off the old painting before applying the new paint). You know, as you scrape, the paint chips, dust, chemicals, germs and whatever that have been resting on the old wall for a long time started to fly all over the place. So, my delicate, sensitive skin reacted to these triggers!

*Sigh* If one has issues about migrating, she can always consult immigration attorneys. For this sensitive skin problem, who can I ask for help? I can only think of two ways to preven this from happening again: Use Cellnique pro sebum gel, or simply don’t do any dirty work again, haha!

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Happy Chinese New Year!

It’s the first day of CNY, so far there’s been nothing much to do today, except had lunch at parents in law’s. There will be some guests visiting us later though, so I need to prepare some drinks and foods. I’m aware that this bunch of guests have a big appetite, haha!

That’s what people enjoy most during festive holidays - eat, eat and eat! ;P

One of the things that we like on long holidays is the smooth traffic. Less vehicles on the road, especially the heavy vehicles such as moving trucks; this makes driving more enjoyable and we reach our destination faster.

Well, I think I’d better stop here, gotta prepare for my guest arrival. Till I post again, enjoy your holiday!