A mini upgrade

Super chuffed to have figured out how to put up a feed of my Instagram pictures on the sidebar :)

This way, even when I don't have time to put up a new post, there will at least be some new pictures on the blog.

Tip: To see the most recent pictures, simply refresh this page and the slideshow will restart from the latest uploads.

Enjoy!

Back with a new project!

Well, what do you know, the first half of 2013 has zipped right by! Suddenly, it's time to start thinking about autumn getaways and Christmas holidays :)

But before I get to the holiday planning, I've gotten myself involved in one heck of an epic project - redecorating my apartment. Everything is still a work in progress, but in between shopping at furniture sales (super fun!), negotiating with contractors (not so fun) and trying to figure out how to clear out old stuff from the apartment (incredibly unfun), here's some stuff I've learnt:

1. Re-designing a bathroom is INSANELY EXPENSIVE, almost prohibitively so. So, get it right the first time around!

2. I have an irrational love for benches, and am almost about to get more benches than I could possibly use in the apartment. Oops!

3. I have an almost equally irrational love for tableware and I can't stop buying more and more and more! We better be cookin' up a storm when we move in haha.

A timely reminder

It's been pretty much a year since I'd made the big jump to strike it out on my own.

Today is a good day to remind myself that a lot of what I've done and achieved in the last 365 days has been to allow myself the opportunity to explore and grow as a person. It's been an amazing year. I've learnt so much more than I'd ever dreamt possible and had so many wonderful experiences that I wish I could share them all.

Most of all, I am incredibly grateful and humbled by all the generosity, faith and trust that has been showered upon me.

In the days and years to come, I pray I will never lose sight of my aims and that every action will be taken with the purest of intentions.

Peace and love :)

A scentsational experiment

Whoa, look how time has whizzed by! I've spent the last few months hard at work rushing to meet deadlines, spending as much time in yoga practice as possible and travelling a little, and before I could even check my calendar, it's almost the end of the world, if you are the sort to believe the Mayan doomsday predictions.

Well, I'm somewhat sceptical, but just in case, I've made sure to live every day as if it were my last. Come to think about it, that's actually a great resolution to make, supposing we make it to the new year lol.

Anyway in an attempt to live life as fully as possible, I've embarked on a little olfactive experiment, inspired by an article I read in an recent issue of Elle USA. In the article about male perfume afficionados, one of the guys interviewed told a story about how he lost his sense of smell during 9-11 as he was a first responder stationed at the site. Months later, he realised he was slowly regaining his sense of smell when he started to be able to smell garbage. Now that he has recovered, he is trying to build some sort of 'scent memory' by using specific perfumes for specific occasions. For example, on a holiday to Italy, he used only one perfume by Acqua Di Parma through the trip so that when he spritzes that scent in the future, memories of his vacation will come flooding back.

Easy breezy getaway

One of the best things about living in Singapore is its close proximity to nearby resort islands. There are even beautiful beaches just a one hour ferry ride away.

I had the pleasure of spending last weekend at Bintan Lagoon Resort. The picture above was taken from the rooftop of the resort's newest beachfront restaurant, Rice. Not a bad view eh. And yes, the sea is quite pretty too. Clear waters, mild waves and nice soft sand.

The resort was celebrating the grand opening of its new private ferry terminal, which is located a few hundred metres to the left of where this photograph was taken. Seriously, the hotel is a two minute walk away from the ferry terminal, which means you don't have to waste time with lengthy land transfers once you arrive in Bintan.

The resort very generously hosted a group of media people to a night's stay to take in all that the place has to offer. I decided to make a weekend getaway out of it and extended my vacation by a night so that I could have some time for R&R after all the festivities.