Thursday, March 31, 2011

What lies ahead of us all?

I took a walk down the city today to get some groceries and to spend some me-time alone. Along the way, I was doing so much thinking I thought I'd just write them down somewhere.

I have always wondered, how people who get married in their early 20s ever get enough money to start their own families, get their own house, finance their living expenses, feed their parents AND children etc. & today, I happened to see this young couple pushing a pram with lots of groceries that suddenly hit me.

It is either they are very rich, or that they have lots of loans/debts waiting to be cleared up. I am now going 22 years old, and if I were to get married 6 years down the road, how much do I actually need? How about my future husband-to-be? Will he be earning enough to cover our expenses and all? How much do I actually have to save now to consider it "enough" for my own future?

You know, a wedding ain't cheap. And an office job can most likely only get me max $3k a month for the first few years. That's make it $36k a year, IF I managed to get such a good starting pay. What if I don't?

Do people our age actually save? How much of your pocket money or part-time salary do you save up? Or spend? Do you actually spend whatever you have, or keep some money that is very minimal, or keep majority of your money stacked away in the bank?

In a few years' time, I'd have to get my own place if I were to ever get married. And a standard HDB costs like $300-400k (*edited) if I'm not wrong. Where am I ever gonna get that sum of money to pay for the flat? What if I grew sick of the flat after a while and want to move out? And if I need a car, would I still depend on my parents for it, or do I have to get one with my own money?

Sometimes you wish that you don't ever have to grow up to deal with all these financial matters. But you have to. There are actually tons to plan for when you grow up, or hit the work force. You'll have to provide for your parents, give monthly household allowance, pay for your own transport, food, groceries, shopping, handphone bills (if you're still not paying for them), red packets for your parents when you get your end-of-year bonus or during Chinese New Year. If you're a guy, too bad for you, but you have to also pay for your wife's shopping in future, wedding expenses that can amount to tens of thousands (or more?), provide for your kids, your own parents, your monthly house rentals or installment payment for your car, electrical appliances, house, your kids' education, clothes, food and so on and on.

Where to find all these money?

Sigh, this is just part of growing up I guess. This is just a small part of what we're going to deal with in future. & I'm typing this to remind myself of what lies ahead of me, and prolly to the rest of you too.

But if the year 2012 thing is really gonna happen, I'm just gonna book a trip to the US and chiong all outlet shopping. #justsaying

Gotta run back to cooking my dinner, and studying afterwards. :>

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Backdated...


Just woke up not long ago from a very long sleep.. We had such a FULLfiling dinner last night I think the food's still rolling around in my satisfied tummy teheee. More about the dinner in next post! Have got a few backdated photos over here!

So 2 saturdays back, we headed to this Mumba Festival near Fed Square. Nothing much prolly 'cause it was the first day but definitely different from our usual "pasar malam" back home. Miss the chicken chops and taiwan sausages! And the beard candy where there's peanuts inside? I'll usually order the plain one 'cos it's soooooo nice to eat it plain you guys should try when you chance upon it!

Pictures!

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Guess what these people are doing?

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Watching a movie! I shall give it a try when the weather turn warm :)

At the carnival!

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Not like those in Singapore where they give u a toy the size of your palm.

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Yummy mini pancakes!

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And corn for the cold weather!


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Okay this is really interesting. So I saw a bunch of people dancing around under a tentage but there wasn't any music! Walked nearer only to find out that it's a...

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Silent disco! HAHA how cool is this man! If you look clearly, these people are actually wearing headphones and dancing to the music playing from the headphones! This way you won't disturb people living nearby, and you can still enjoy the music! HAHA cool stuff!

And then we baked a cheesecake the next day for Roy's birthday. Anyhowly dug out a recipe online (just wondering, who still buys recipe books?) and got down to baking it! We took only like.. an hour? It's really easy, 'cept that we don't have a whisk or electric beater and it's really tiring on the hands.


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We have to crush these digestive biscuits into CRUMBS. it's so freaking HARD!

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Beat the mixture, and sprinkle some chocs on top when it's done!

And we left it to chill in the fridge while we met the birthday boy for dinner along Lygon.


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Menu

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Interior.
Funny thing about this restaurant is that they will sneak up behind you, or throw a fake spider from the counter to your table to scare you. So be prepared!

After waiting for quite a while, our food came!!!!

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PIZZA.

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BEST. RISOTTO. EVER....!!!!
It is SO CREAMY and the mushrooms are SO GOOD that I don't even get sick of it!! It's like, with every mouth, you'll go "WOAH" kind. So so good, am craving for it now!!


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Seafood pasta, which imo was ah-okay only~ Risotto wins hands down~

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AFTER.

And then we ordered their famous desert! Some chocolate pizza thing....
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LOOKS DAMN GOOD RIGHT!! Well, it really is GOOD STUFF. The pizza crust is TO DIE FOR, for someone who hates dough like me!! YUMMERS

Then off we went back home to collect the cake, asking the birthday boy to stay at home and wait for us to come over and chill. FYI, we live like a street away? So it's really near and convenient.

Changed into our PJ-s (cause we were lazy to have to come back late and wash up haha) and off we went with a cake in our hands! Thankfully there wasn't much people on the streets as it was kinda late, but our cake still caught some passer-by's attention cos we didn't even put it into a box haha. No time la~~

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Yes she had to do the "dirty job" 'cos she FORCED me to bring it down from our apartment to the lobby, where you'll have a higher chance of meeting MORE people returning home.

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Our end product! HAHA I know it looks quite horrible la... But it's really nice!! We had a hard time squeezing the pink jelly thing for the words lor...

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Birthday boy!


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Birthday boy taking too long to make his wish. Check out the chopper beside the cake HAHA!

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While waiting for him to finish making his wish and cutting the cake~


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We took a few self-timer shots but I'm not going to post all of them up lest I get scolded by them. So here's a few to entertain you~

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Hope you had a great one dude! Knew this fella since I'm FOURTEEN and I'm glad our friendship is still going strong :))

Off to school! Will blog again when I have the time! My last assignment for this term is up on FRIDAY, after which will be PARTY TIME!! :D

Friday, March 25, 2011

Behind the scene of SIX&TWELVE..

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Some photos from the shoot that Baby and I did together some time back. I had an extra slot on hand so I just texted him to bring some clothes along for a short shoot together! Because I was always the one shooting my models, it's really awkward when I had to stand in front of the camera myself! Make me feel so damnnn self-conscious.

By the way, we had the camera on timer mode and had this remote control thing where we just have to press and the shutter will go off in 3..2..1 :)

I realized I haven't blogged much about why I started SIX&TWELVE.
Well, guess I have to go a while back to where I was in JC. I didn't really like the idea of going to a JC because I thought I'm learning stuff that I won't be using in future and it's really wasting my time. What's more, I really hated the subjects and all. It's like.. I will never be a Chemist in future so why am I mixing alcohols and acids in the lab? So I proceeded to withdraw from my JC and started looking around for new schools.

My first choice was to Retail Management in TP. You may ask me why, because it's such a new course (my batch was the 3rd batch). I had a friend in there, and she introduced me to it and I really found it interesting. We learn things that has design elements in it (more about it later), and it got me pondering over what I want to do in future. Should I just take a diploma in Business? Or Accounting & Finance? I knew Tourism was out of the question because I have zero interest in it. Then I started thinking about whether I will be helping my dad out with his business in future. I guess not.. I kept asking myself where the hell does my interest lie in, and as I kept reading about the different courses, it suddenly struck me.

I'm not someone who can endure the 9-5PM job routine. I'm someone who needs to be my own boss, needs to have control over what I'm doing, and I must like what I do. So I concluded that I'll be my own boss in future. Haha I know right, what a naive thinking. And I just simply settled for RMT in TP.

& you know what? As I go through the 2 year course, I slowly had a vision of what I want in future. We first learnt about fundamental marketing, which got me so hooked onto the subject, I knew I was going to go somewhere in this direction. Then I got into contact with subjects such as Merchandise Buying, Visual Merchandising, and this was where I started thinking.. I have the skills, can I be my own boss? Then I learnt more along the way, and this.. desire to want to set up my own brand grew so much I knew I had to fulfill it.

Then I graduated in a blink of an eye, and had 5 months of holidays to myself. Along came a friend who asked me if I want to set up a BS with her, and I immediately agreed! I didn't plan it to last this long, what I had in mind was, this is the first step to setting up my own business, and I need this experience! That was when I finally can put the skills I learnt in TP to practice. It was a lot of work, and I didn't expect most of it. But I enjoyed the process.

Then things happened, and I owned SIX&TWELVE myself now. I'm secretly proud of it to have come thus far, and really hope it will continue to grow. Yea I know it's nothing compared to bigger brands out there in this blogshop-ophere. But you need to build something from scratch, look back, and see how much both you and the brand have grown to know how I truly feel.

Lots of people ask me what's going to happen to SIX&TWELVE when I come over to Melbourne for my further studies. I have been planning, in fact months ahead, when I get to know that I'm coming to Melbourne for sure. I didn't want to just put it aside and then reviving it after 2 years. 2 years can be a short or long period of time, and we won't know what will happen all this time. So I am truly and really grateful when I knew that my dear sister was willing to help me with all the logistic side of SIX&TWELVE back in Singapore. So now, all your parcels received are packed by her :) She's new to this, so do give her more time to learn okay?

All in all, I just want to let people know that this brand, is my baby. And I'm so so proud of it. I work very hard for it. In fact, I'm working on it everyday: from drafting out designs on what to launch or manufacture, choosing sample colors, going through our samples, making sure that customers' emails get attended to and that they receive their parcels, what'sapping my sister to make sure everything's going well and so on.. There's so much to do behind the scene and I'm really glad for people who helped us in a way or another. Be it our models (Shuhua, Zoe, Shine I love you girls!), our suppliers who're ever patient with me, and even the guy who rents us his studio. They're all so helpful and I think I must really count my lucky stars to have met them. & of course, all our customers who have been SO patient with us. There're some nasty ones we've met, but all the e-mails sent back to us telling us how much they love our pieces simply just made my day and let me forget about those nasty or dead buyers. :)

I've learnt a lot during this (almost) one year too. I used to be someone who can't open up to people, and because of SIX&TWELVE, I have to and I'm glad I did. I've met so much more people, learnt how to socialize (a fair bit), and how to speak up and approach people.

So if any of you girls are looking to set up a blogshop, one thing you really need is this fire within you. You really need to love what you're doing, be prepared to meet all sorts of people, and well, good luck! :)

By the way, we have launched a brand new collection! Do support us okay, teehee, have got a new manufactured piece featured too! :)

Monday, March 21, 2011

Collection 37: Preview

** Edit: Added one more collage!

Woke up with a groggy head and burning throat this morning, and since I'm not getting any work done, I might as well blog!
Will be having a new collection up this Friday! Time flies huh, this is like the 3rd collection I'm launching here in Melbourne! Hope you girls are liking the collections so far.. Have about 7 new designs coming up (all self-manufactured) in the upcoming months!! Am so excited to launch them even though I haven't even got the chance to see the samples yet.

And as usual, we'll be having a self-manufactured piece this coming Friday! It's a half-sleeves ruffled front top with self-tie ribbon and stretchy waist to fit most sizes! Comes in 4 colors and is good for both work and play! Simple tuck it in to your favourite high-waisted skirt and you'll be looking smart enough for work or even presentations! I love love the material 'cos it's so smooth to the touch, and it doesn't make me perspire 'cos it's really soft and light.

Okay enough said, pictures!



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In Turq / White

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& in Pink / Navy

Here's another dress that I really really like! Haven't got very formal work dresses for you ladies who're working, so when I first saw it on a mannequin, I just had to get it for you girls! I super adore the high collared part with a ribbon/sash thing attached to it. The best part lies in the back! Love love the cutting and the slit in the middle!! But if you find it too revealing, you can always throw over a blazer of your own! This piece is a MUST GET if you're those who're sick of your office clothes being all shirts+pencil skirts combi.. It's definitely make heads turn!

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I believe this next dress needs no introduction to all those who've been purchasing from us regularly. Here's the last of the floral tube dress that we've imported, this time round in small pink florals! Quantities are limited (but in fact we've upped the qty for it a little), so stay by your computers if you really want to get them!

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Not forgetting the students, we have with us a few casual pieces! The first can be worn as a tunic for the petites (like Zoe dear), simply match it with a sash of your own and you'll be good to go! Second one is good for casual dress down days like Fridays, and will look good with a highwaisted jeans or even shorts as pictured :)
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These two dresses are good for school or dates with the boy too! The first on the left is extremely comfy and comes with lining, so no worries about it being sheer. Another way of wearing it would be to wear the buttoned up front as the back instead, and pulling the self-tie strings to the front to tie up a ribbon! Super versatile! The one on the right's for lazy days, and you don't even need to accessorize when wearing because it's so loud on its own already!

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Hope you girls are loving this collection that I've prepared, and see you all on Friday! :)

Saturday, March 19, 2011

What a girl wants

What a girl wants..

We always hear things like how girls are always thinking too much, trying to make simple things complicated, how we don't mean what we say and the list goes on and on.

But truth is, when we eventually grow up, we just stop wanting things.

We just want things to be well, simple.

When we were young, we post up wish-lists of what we want for our birthdays: wants on the side of our blogs always include "new bag, new ipod, new phone" etc - They're all materialistic wants. When we grow up, we start to want things like "a stable r/s, things to never change and stay the way they are" etc. We want things that are not as material.

Most of the time, we just want someone to be by our side. & for our friends to never leave, for things to never change.

But guess what? Change is the only constant. Cliche, but nonetheless true.

All these years, I've made many friends - from primary school, to secondary school, JC, Poly, Local Uni and now here in an overseas uni. We always have our fun times during the different stages in our lives, and we will always have a group of people whom we're close to during that particular time in life. Like how I was close to a little girl in primary school, and as we moved up to secondary schools, I had my own cliques in class as well as in my CCAs. Then, we tend to forget these people who used to be important in our lives, and when we realize, it'll be too late. They have their own friends who went through thick and thin with them, they have their really close cliques now, some even have a boy or girlfriend whom they spend every moment of their lives with.

Everyone and everything change, and we'll always start to reminisce only when we look back once in a while to realize how much we've missed everything.

Which was why, I was so touched when I see my group of primary school friends turning up for my 21st birthday party last year. Proved my decision to plan a party to be a good and wise one. Though we're no longer as tight as before, memory stays. And they'll never change. There never was once a moment of awkwardness, and we kept joking about how stupid and silly we were in primary school. Boy, that was 10 years ago. From the way we remember these silly antics down to the very minimal details, goes to show how much they occupy in our minds and hearts.

Then we meet more people, who proves to us along the way how their true self is like. We always need to go through such phases in life to learn more, and we'll emerge as stronger people. Sometimes we'll look back and think about what happened to all the "good 'ol times", where everyone's just so happy being together, and then returning to reality where backstabbers and two-faced bitches REALLY exist in this world.

Then there're those who managed to stay in our lives, and never choose to leave, and these are those who're worth keeping. They've seen the ugly side of you, and they don't mind whether you look hideous while crying, or any of your bad shopping habits.

There're also those who left and came again, and I'm glad they did, because I've now learnt to treasure these girls more than ever. We're now even more tight than before, even though we're miles apart in this world.

Then there's the person you want to live with all your life. He was initially just a huge crush, you smile to yourself when he texts you, you dream about him even while sleeping, and all you think of is him. Then you guys finally get together, the honeymoon period starts. You travel to all sorts of places together, and you think you can't live without him. You grow fat together because most of the time, you guys meet to eat, catch a movie, or hang around shopping malls. But you don't mind the fat tummy or the flabby arms that your partner has. You love to squeeze it and make fun of him or her instead, when you initially dreamt of being together with someone as charming Brad Pitt. But dreams are only dreams. Your heart always skips a beat when he says those sweet touching words, and you cry because of him too. Sometimes you get so annoyed with him you want to give him a huge punch in the face so that he'll go to school with a panda eye. But when you think of what he's done for you, you just simply give in.

Then the fights or quarrels get so often or huge, you're so tired of giving in. You know that you will, eventually, but you just don't want to do it. You want him to do something to make you feel... special. You want him to go the extra mile for you just to prove that "you're worth it". Everyone wants to feel special. But when he just doesn't catch the ball simply because he's too blur, you gave in again because you really want to talk to him again.

But when it goes on and on, you simply get tired, and just want to be left alone. Away from him, just doing things you like. Because, "I deserve it" and "I need to be happy". "I don't have to always be crying or be upset because of him, the one person, I have the rights to smile too". You really hope that he'll give you a few days off to clear your mind, to cool down and to do things that you have to do. And all these while, you're still hoping that he'll do something to make you feel special other than all the "sorry"s and "i love you, forgive me?".

But the more you expect, the more disappointed you'll become.. Till you come to a point where you realize, that while you're expecting people to do this and that for you, why not make the first move and the effort to try doing something else for the person you love?

Do you also realize, that when we were young, we tend to neglect our family a lot? We always place our friends as our first priority. Look, we can spend all day thinking of what to get for a friend's birthday, plan a surprise birthday celebration for their 18th birthday but ended up forgetting when's our parents' birthday? We'll usually just settle for a dinner outside, and that's it. I bet some of you don't even go and find a present for your mom or dad, or know what their favourite colors are. All in all, don't forget your family. I used to hate my family a lot, and the first time I ever hugged my dad after I grew up was when I was leaving Singapore for Melbourne. I thought my dad hated me for being the most troublesome kid in the family, wanting to come overseas when I already made it into a local uni, and all the jazz. When I saw him tearing while I was leaving, I couldn't bear to leave this old man behind. There he was, standing at the gates, tearing. I could hardly see his small eyes, and as I was about to enter the gates, I turned around, ran to him and gave him a big hug and asking him to take good care of himself. My dad is different, he loves to cry. But that makes him special (and now I know who I get my unusually sensitive tear glands from). I miss him a lot now, and I'm gonna study hard to make him feel better.

I have the craziest mom on Earth too. She likes to try on different dresses, and come up to where I'm working (on SIX&TWELVE) to ask me if she looks good in them. Then she'll try them again for a few times before she decides what to wear for her dinner at night. & this usually happens for thrice a week. She also loves taking photos of herself using her phone, develop them out and show them to us, saying "Eh see your mom so pretty ley, aiyo!". (& yes nowI know who I got that bit of narcism from too). My mom is so cute, she can go to Takashimaya every Friday without fail and I always wonder what she can buy from there. Do they stock up every Friday for their new arrivals? My mom used to hate dogs, but she love all 5 of them at my home now. One bad thing about her is that she REALLY loves to nag, but the way she nags is damn hilarious and I miss it now. She just got a phone that she can play a really silly game in, and she'll always play that while in the car with my dad. Until one day my dad can't stand it and asks "Who taught her how to play this game huh! Now she ignore me everyday!". I love how cute my parents are.


I have the best sister on Earth too. She's always my buddy for lots of things - be it cutting our hair (yes we have the same hairstylist for 7 years), shopping, finding food, or simply just driving to Parkway to get Koi, she's like my best friend at home. I love talking to her, and everytime we do, we'll end up laughing like mad. Every Sunday, I'll see her at the corner of the sofa in the living room watching the HK drama that's on repeat (I wonder what's showing in SG now), and I'll join her for the next few hours. We'll laugh together and when the show ends, either one of us will ask "Want to go parkway"? We'll procrastinate for a long time, and both will be too lazy to drive. But I love my sister, even though I don't tell her that. She's too lovable to not love her.

My brother, although the youngest, is the most pampered of us all. I used to be jealous of him ,probably 'cos he's the youngest of us all, and a boy at that. But after all these years, I've come to realise that "hey, I only have a younger brother, and he's gonna be my younger brother all his life."

So if you're at odds with your sibilings, why not try talking to them?

It's really simple what a girl, or rather... woman, wants. All she wants is for her loved ones to be happy, for her friends to always remain like how they are and don't ever change, and to feel special just once in a while.

All she wants is to love, and feel loved.

Now, that's so simple isn't it?

Goodnight everyone. Hope my post ain't too long for you. :)

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Short update!

Just a short one!

Have decided not to do backorders by the normal conventional way of placing your orders to secure a slot and having to wait 2-3 weeks.
We will just order a fixed quantity of those that are more popular, and putting them up for sale again when they arrive under New Arrivals! I understand how some may feel insecure with paying first and then waiting for damnnnn long. So, I hope this will be a better solution! If you decide to change your mind, you don't have to sell it away at some other communities as well. :)

Will send mailers as to which we will be re-stocking and will launch them together with new collections in future! :)

Also, we'll be launching another collection next week! Teehee, expect lots of dresses! And a self manufactured top :D :D

See ya girls soon!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

House tour (or sort of)


Hihi~
I wonder who reads this blog by the way...

Anyway! Am rather bored now so I'm here with some pictures of my house over here in Melb! FYI we stay on the 42nd level! Plus point is the scenery. Downside is that it gets REALLY COLD at night and in the evening, (omg imagine if it's winter, how am I gg to survive!!!) and we have REALLY BAD reception here.

So imagine if I were to stay home all day and my bf or sister whatsapp me, I will get to see it only when I get reception. & it comes and goes! No idea why when my phone will always be lying on the exact same spot for the whole day. So when my what'sapp messages come, they will "DING DING DING DING!!" which annoys me a lot!! And that's when I reply them, after maybe a good 2-3 hours or so.

HAHA. Quite funny tbh, but gets rather frustrating as well. and I HATE coming home when it's during the peak hour E.G. 5-6PM when everyone's returning home!! We'll have to wait for those people who stay below us to get out of the lift first, before we reach ours. Record time was 5 mins. Imagine being trapped in the lift for 5 mins!!! OMG.

And I haven't got started at how long we have to wait for the lift to come UP.

But ohwell...
Nice place anyway. I super love the scenery! Which isn't something that I get to enjoy back in Singapore where all I face is.. Trees. and my neighbor.

LOL.

Some pictures!


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What u see when u stepped into our apartment!

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Open concept kitchen

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Dining table and living room

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Yes we have lots of snacks!

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My room!! VERY small but cosy! I like!

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Little corner for my facial products, away from the sun


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Study Corner. Table from ikea!

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Love love!

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That's it!

OH!! Today I was about to check out my shopping cart from Forever21, and I realized that they changed their international shipping!!!!!!!!!! It's no longer a flat fee of USD35. OMG WHY!!! I was about to check out my cart that's worth about USD250 and the shipping was USD78!!! WHAT THE... WHY DID U HAVE TO RAISE THE SHIPPING FEE!!!!!!!! OMG. I'm so sad now.. Don't know whether to buy or not. URGHHH.

& there's been MORE and MORE deadbuyers nowadays. WHY!! Do you all find pleasure in clicking clicking clicking at some random website, look at chio pictures and then decide not to pay? Not funny lor! Makes me so pek chek!! Especially for popular items like the tube dress and lace insert dress this collection! If you're not going to pay for it, there're other people who really wants it! You know how it feels when you cannot get what you want? Disappointed one eh.. And it's quite hard for me to do BO now 'cos I got those stocks quite long ago lor...

BUT anyway! Am thinking of manufacturing a top like the lace-insert dress! But without the bottom bandage skirt part. So those who want to pair it with shorts, skirts, jeggings, jeans, can do so! Awesome! Teehee let me know what you girls think? :)

SIX&TWELVE's gonna reach our first year anni!! Am thinking of what we can do in the meantime.. Lots of ideas, but.... Very difficult to carry out 'cos I'm not in Melbourne! May hold contests and give away some freebies :)

Keep you girls updated again!