You are awesome

I think we don't say this anywhere near enough. Here are some ideas….

1. You astonish me.
2. You’re a virtuoso.
3. Your sagacity is stunning.
4. You’re a glitterbomb of glory.
5. Your genius would be alarming, if it wasn’t so damn consistent.
6. You’re a marvel, mama.
7. You’ve blinded me with science!
8. You just revived my faith in humanity.
9. I want to orbit around your splendor like a satellite.
10. I want to clone you for nefarious purposes.
11. I want to Xerox everything you say, and fax it straight to my cortex.
12. You’re a polished opal in a pewter world.
13. You’re luminous, lady.
14. You’re a smooooth criminal.
15. You’re all that & a bag of kale chips.
16. You are FAR fucking OUT!
17. You blow my mind like a Cat 5 hurricane.
18. When did you get so wise, woman?
19. Where did you pick up those sexy mind-moves?
20. BOOM! Brilliance strikes again.
21. Color me enlightened.
22. Radiance abounds.
23. I’m honored to share even a miniscule fraction of your miraculous DNA.
24. If it wasn’t completely inappropriate & biologically impossible, I’d be having ALL your babies.
25. Your acumen is making me weak in the knees. 
26. You’re like a laserbeam in the night. So bright. So right.
27. You’re more addicting that Twilight, The Hunger Games & street-grade cocaine, intertwined.
28. You’re so fantasmagoric, I almost wanna join Facebook — just to stalk you.
29. You are simply . . . beyond.
30. You foxy freak of nature!
31. You’re the cat’s meow, the dog’s howl, and the curmudgeon’s harrumph — all rolled into one.
32. You’re the genuine article, baby.
33. Do they sell you in bulk? And can I pre-order?
34. May I have one of you in every color?
35. Aaaaany chance you’re up for adoption?
36. You ooze ingenuity.
37. Your ebullience is infectious.
38. You’re a charmer.
39. You’re a prize.
40. You’re my personal Yoda.
41. You remind me what ‘possible’ feels like.
42. You dazzle me to the core.
43. I like the cut of your jib.
44. I hang on your every tweet.
45. One in a million? More like one a googleplex.
46. You’re a revelation.
47. You’re a machine. More, plz.
48. Your mediocre ideas are MENSA-level hotness.
49. You redefine ‘divine’.
50. You matter. Full stop.

Happy Friday! x

Credit to Alexandra Franzen

wanderlust

It's been really cold in Sydney in the past 2 days and looking at these pictures made me feel a bit warmer already.





















My friends have been planning on an epic Europe trip lately, but I have a strong feeling that it is not going to happen (lack of organisation, my visa issue etc). It came to my mind yesterday that I should go explore South East Asia, my home region, instead of Europe next year. It's cheap and I won't need to apply for visas to visit, being ASEAN and all. In my list are Bali (in style), Lombok, and Batam in Indonesia, then Ho Chi Min, Hanoi and Halong Bay in Vietnam, and then Cambodia for Angkor Wat.  At the moment I'm looking to go for 4 weeks... depending on the amount of leave I would accumulate from work I guess.

Have anyone been to Vietnam & Cambodia and have any tips to share? x

TOKYO Part 2: Ginza, Tsukiji and Imperial Palace

We depend on trains to get us around Tokyo when we were there. Our hostel is really close to the Ginza line station in Asakusa, so we catch this train almost everyday to attractions like Shibuya and Ginza. Tokyo rail network is really confusing because it is operated by a couple of companies instead of just one. We find it cheaper to buy the daily metro rail pass, which is 1000 yen, as this gives us unlimited use of the Ginza line and most of the subway lines in Tokyo. We can't use this to go on the JR line though, but this is not a problem because the Tokyo Metro usually operates another train line that is close to wherever JR line station you want to go to (for example, you can go to Akihabara station if you have the JR pass, but if you only have the Tokyo Metro Pass you can stop at Suehirocho, which is basically just 500m away from Akihabahara station). 

Only in Japan does train/railway attendant look so neat and fancy (and always happy to help!)

Ginza line takes us to Ginza (of course). We went there a couple of times during our stay in Tokyo. It's basically just one street full of high end fashion stores. Nothing too interesting here so did not take much pictures. 

 Tsukiji fish market is close to Ginza, but you do need to change trains to get here. 

 We came to Tsukiji at around 8am - did not bother to go to Tuna auction as it is impossible for us to wake up at 5am. When we got to Tsukiji we were not allowed to get in, as it is only open to public after 9am. So we decided to go eat breakfast at a sushi restaurant in the complex...

We looked up Sushi Dai first, but it was full of people and there's so much people queuing up outside to get in. I did some further googling and we went to Ryu sushi, which in a different block but not too far away. No lines here! 

The sashimi are nothing short of fabulous.  We ordered the seasonal special menu & they are all so fresh and tasty. They are pretty expensive though, I think we spent about 6000 yen for both of us. I think it is worth it though.

 I almost got hit by this mini car/trolley thing a couple of times when I was there.. what a hectic place!

 Not sure if they are mussels or what. So fricking huge!

We went to the Imperial palace (Tokyo station stop) after Tsukiji. Lots of office buildings, parks and fountains. We can see a bit of the palace but was not allowed to get in. We did get into some parts of the park though.....

Next stop: Odaiba and giant Gundam (I think..) x

trench coat lost

I lost my trench coat a month ago. I left it somewhere in Sydney CBD during a shopping trip with a soon to be married friend. I had that coat for about 4 years and we had some fun times together. It is only a $50 trench coat from TEMT, but it fits me perfectly, holds out very well & I love it dearly. I never really regard a trench coat as a staple and only just realised that after my trench is no more. Mostly because I have started embracing sweaters, and Sydney winter is not cold enough to wear a full on coat on top of my sweater. A trench will be perfect on top of my chunky knits. I guess it's time for me to buy a new one, but this time I'd like to splurge. My first choice will be this simple APC one; would like to have a Burberry coat but then I'll have to sell a kidney to fund for it. I think it's on sale in Incu.. will try to do a quick dash off work to see this tomorrow :)







These days I have been too lazy to dress up & always end up wearing some kind of tee with some denim. Casual workplace is the bomb yo. I love it 11/10 but sometimes I think that I am committing a fashion crime because I dress like such a slob. Well at least in my mind I look like these super chic but simply dressed girls.

This weekend was pretty uninteresting. Like my winter weekends in general. Therefore the slobby unoriginal picture posts. But whatever. Anyway, all I did was I went to my uncle's birthday BBQ, ate some shiz loads of food, and on Sunday I went to purchase some furnitures for the house. Those things ain't cheap huh! but furniture shopping made me feel like I'm such an adult. There were heaps of cute cushions on sale, and I was seriously tempted to practice the FF doctrine of 'never unknowingly under cushion'. but then I remember that I'm 23, rather untidy and basically can't handle the responsibility of arranging many fluffy cushions into perfect positions everyday. I came home cushionless, but I did get some pretty good deals on quilt covers which I shall show off once my home is looking nice & photo worthy.

enjoy your week peeps x

TOKYO part 1: Asakusa and Shibuya

So as I mentioned in my last post, I went away to Tokyo for a week. We stayed in Asakusa area for the whole week. Our hostel (Khaosan Tokyo Original) is super tiny but it is clean and located very conveniently close to the two train stations in Asakusa. The manager, Kenta was great and very helpful as well. We spent only about 350,000 yen for our stay for the whole week, which I think was fantastic value. I rate the place 10/10, but if I had to go back I'll probably choose the other Khaosan that's closer to Tawaramachi station, because it looks newer.




The Tokyo Skytree is quite close, but not really from our hostel. They have a really big shopping mall underneath the tower, and the whole complex lights up at night. Beautiful. I wish I had gone up to the top.






Went to check out Nakamise Dori early at 9 am is and most of the stores are still close. I note that they start a bit late in Japan (around 10am).





Good Fortune!! hurrah

Mr got a bad luck thing so this is tied down to this fence thing. I read only recently that you're only meant to tie down your bad luck paper but I tied down mine (good luck) too fml


I wish I could stay in Shibuya but hotels there are super expensive!! Well probably just on par with Sydney's hotel but since I'll only be using them for sleeping then what's the point. Luckily Shibuya is an easy train ride from Asakusa, via the Ginza line, and it only takes about 30 minutes or so. Shibuya just looks like the regular old shopping district on steroids in the morning

But it comes alive at night. the Shibuya crossing is surprisingly not as big as what I thought it would be. It's probably only 1.5x the big Town hall intersection in Sydney.



Had lunch in Genki sushi (its a sushi chain!!) in Shibuya. They are good value & taste great too. The food came on this robotic thing

Wall of eyelashes in Don Quixote Shibuya. I LOVE DON QUIXOTE

Shibuya is definitely my favourite district in Tokyo.. so much shops. I went to Shibuya 109 and they live up to my expectations - the clothes are pretty out there and the girls who works there are outstandingly pretty. I didn't shop there because they were EXPENSIVEEEEE (yes it's so expensive it deserves to be written in caps) and also they're just too frilly for me. Got my H&M fix in Shibuya though. Why can't we have H&M in Sydney??! WHY?!

Next stop: Shinjuku & Harajuku :)

in which I had gone away

Pretty literally, because I did went away to Tokyo for a week. It was a very welcome change of pace as I have been having a hectic time managing work & studying for my CPA exams, as well as trying to keep having a social life between the two thing. Oh and also, trying to manage to furnish & decor my house. My mom and my brother is staying in my house now, so that's a bit of help, but there's still a lot to do.

It did feel like another world. Concrete jungles and unfamiliar scripts. Thankfully there's English directions on every train station so we only managed to get lost twice. Photos coming soon!

We stayed in a hostel in Asakusa for about 7 days. Fantastic place. A bit far from the action (Shinjuku and Shibuya) but they are only 30 minutes train ride away via Ginza line, so all good. I'll just write up my experience in dot points, because I'm a crap writer like that:

• Favourite place in Tokyo is surprisingly Akihabara. I'm not a geek but I feel that Akihabara is where the Tokyo I dream about is at - bright lights, anime figurines, cat cafes. bizarre but surprisingly normal! I went to the notorious cat cafe and maid cafe - to one of Maiddreaming cafe to be exact - and oh my those are really some 'Only in Japan' experience. I'm fascinated with the AKB48 fandom, they are literally everywhere. The Mr thought that they are some soft core porn actress which is hilarious (they are not, they're kind of like Japanese Spice Girls on steroids)
• Trains are so much more advanced compared to Sydney.
• Tokyo station are ridiculously massive. Shibuya station is really big as well. To give you guys an idea, it's kind of like Central station, but 10x bigger
• People said that Tokyo is shopping heaven, but it's all a bit over the top for me. I didn't shop a lot, because most of the clothes there, although they are super cute and pretty, I know I won't be wearing them when I land in Sydney.
• Uniqlo make really good basics!
• Food. Oh my God the Food. This deserve a post on its own. I'm craving for some onigiri now.
• People are amazingly super nice and helpful. They make Sydney people look like the rudest people ever.
• They said that when you travel, you discover yourself a little bit. Well, I discover that I do understand a bit of Japanese & can sort of communicate.. because I spend so much of my childhood watching Doraemon... 
•  Tokyo is really flat. I know this because there was a day when me and the mr hired a bicycle and rode from Asakusa to Ginza. It was a lot of fun! 

more soon xx