The start,

The beginning is always bittersweet, like saying good bye to 365 days of summer every year and the familiar orange city lights in the night skyline during take off. Yes, even though it's only 6 months. And it's hard to write a start because you just want to plunge into the middle bit, or so they say the real deal. Like in a dream, you're always thrown in the midst of nowhere before you grapple on to reality. But this is different because there were so many hiccups and arrangements that I had to overcome to get here, and of course I can't express my gratitude for how my family and some of my close friends could find time to send me off with a brilliant DIY apron they made me wear at the departure gate  ♥ 

But as soon as my transit plane from Dubai begins to touch down onto Heathrow, the bright foreign skies look heartwarming enough to make my heart skip a beat - surreal much.

New chapter,

Hello old friends, I've been on a long virtual hiatus and to that I give my sincere apologies! London has been treating me lovely under her warm (or not so warm, it's been a long winter) embrace, and it's been so amazing meeting people from all walks of life ♥ 

Spend the start of the week trying to catch up for the looming exams at Senate library (libraries here are gorgeous) and pigging out at Burger and Lobster, ...while the next two days saw me paralyzed in bed battling a cold; but I definitely got better and took a walk around Camden market for some munchies and headed down to Sigmund freud's house - where I saw the renowned reclining couch where he conducted therapies for his patient. Simply amazing for any Psychology student! Came back to finally change my halogen room lights so I'm no longer living in half darkness. Headed out again where Yuechin brought me to have, possibly the best, salmon donburi I've had in London and had good ole long chats before bringing her home and coming back to Lina asking me if I had any eggs. Obviously stared at her in awe because it sounded ambigious (hahaha) but it turns out that she and Ana used all the eggs in the fridge for a giant omelette - I love my housemates.

Ah, such is life.

I'll try to recapture my journey slowly, and hopefully catch up with my daily routine ♥ Ciao!

The dream begins,

Greetings from London...while I do my nails! It's currently subzero temperatures but I'm toasty indoors in bed with hot tea ♥  I've been settling in well, and enjoying most of the classes in school - especially the guest lecturers invited for their specialized field of study. Their passion is infectious and definitely reminds me of the beauty of Psychology and why I chose to major in the first place, so I'm thankful for this intellectual exploration. It has been nothing but a blessing these few weeks (except a few hiccups, like my apartment heater being as dead as a doornail no matter how many times we tried to ignite it) and meeting my fellow affiliate coursemates and housemates who turned out to be so incredibly nice and whom I've grown to love! And of course, having R around to help me out so much. Still finding my way around the city, it's hard not to wander aimlessly along the streets of London albeit the cold. The snow has started to accumulate on the sidewalks, and it's such a gorgeous white sight to behold from my room window. Truly the words spoken from a summer girl like myself! London has been beautiful by far, and I hope to be further charmed by her for my stay in the next 5 months ♥ Ciao!

His.tori,

I proudly present to you 6/8 of the gang - we've gone to His.tori korean barbeque 3 times even though it's clearly next to the popular 2D1N because we're just not mainstream like that (but most of the time it's because the latter is packed and no one likes hunger games). The night always ends the same - we eat our hearts out, take a mandatory picture outside the shop and smell like smoke for the next 24 hours. This time round it's the last time we're gonna be there for the next 6 months because 3 of us are going for our respective exchanges, I will definitely miss them all :( Thanks to yiangmeng (all camera credits to him) I have such wonderful snapshots to hang out to remind me of Home ♥

Till 6 months later ♥

My Thursdays,

Good evening to my future self reading this, twelve hours of a day went by in the blink of an eye - for the lack of a better expression I apologize. The workload this semester is killing me by the day, oh the woes of Continual Assessment modules, they remind me of IB. That aside, I have eaten a waffle for lunch, endured bullets at my lab final presentation, given a presentation on child sexual abuse, gotten contacts from the lovely Dutch girls from my trauma Psychology class to hopefully pop by Netherlands in Spring next year, and trudged on a long journey back home during peak hour traffic. And not to mention having received images of the countryside donkeys from my beau on his road trip vacation. Et moi, J'ai mal à la tête. I have a throbbing headache, which refuses to go away. I think I have been conditioned to receive cognitive lab induced pains that it automates itself every Thursday! 21 days down to my freedom, no time for disillusions because reality aka the looming examinations, is sinking in fast....pretty much like me in quicksand. At times I really just want to give in to procrastination and my 1001 (but serious) dreams waiting, stop and think through all these paper chasing. But just like how I always mix up pouvoir and vouloir in French class,  want and can aren't really in the ideals of situation right now. Au revoir, à bientôt!

Foot for the soul,

Song of the moment: Sweet disposition - Temper trap

High boots clearly don't appear tops in tropical states for obvious reasons, which is such a dear pity because some of the classic ones are so gorgeous when adorned. I admit I'm guilty of wearing slippers for classes on quite a regular basis, pretty soulless but it feels like a second skin especially with this summer weather. Soooo lately I've been into shoes, wedges platforms embroidered you name it I got it, but I'll still rely on my usuals for that first line of comfort (or perhaps time for a trusty pair of flats). I got this pair of  ankle boots a month ago, it's a shade of brown I'm sitting on the fence about - between Camel and Chamoisee...not very practical for school but adds a quick fix to any outfit. College work has been swamping me, and I have been juggling my module loads, SOS because it's my busiest semester ever yet. Or perhaps it's the act of all these summer heat transpiring to this stress - don't think anyone's gonna like being in my shoes now for sure.

P.S. Plans for next year are all falling in place, and thanks for the amazing feedback I had for my previous DIY Ombré shorts post, so grateful thank you so much!  ♥

Get too close to the flame,

Song of the moment: Give me sympathy - Metric

I've been extremely busy - with college classes starting (I'm 6 weeks behind in saying this oh my), meetups with my friends coming back to Singapore for a short period and dealing with 101 other issues like my exchange administration (which has been a pain because of my concurrent applications but hopefully nonetheless will be worth the risk) and a countdown to R's London bound. I've also refurnished my red highlights in a heartbeat, which turned out more vibrant than expected. I admit that I didn't really fancy it at first but now that I've grown to love it, it feels like a permanent fraction of my identity - which is quite a refreshing change I must say ♥  Deep down, I must have subconsciously trying to retain my summer hair which has since grew out and faded away. Off to brew some hot tea to nurse my cold in this gloomy wet weather, with Metric playing on repeat because Emily haines deserves to be on loop for forever. Shall do up my DIY posts from summer - if you can't tell by now summer is one of my favourite words, perhaps if I say summer really fast and clicked my heels together I could return back just like Dorothy. Summer summer summer summer summer summer summer.

Snippets of life II,

Summer has been really kind to me thus far and I'm really thankful, in fact it's probably one of the best college summers I've had in a long while ♥ Filled with so much love, family and friends!  I really felt like I had a terribly refreshing break, a sojourn in laid back fashion (or you could say a respite before school starts) In the midst of which, I've also completed a 10 week internship stint, and met amazingly talented individuals whom I've enjoyed talking to and learning so much from - definitely keeping in touch with all of them :) So here's a photograph log of the later part of my summer, mostly taken from my mobile phone camera. Enjoy, ciao!

Sugar free chocolate from San Fran

Wardrobe spring cleaning

Cupcakes from Mu parlour @ Holland village

Hair salon magazines

In a heartbeat ♥ 

QTpii spotted on my bed

Ippudo ramen @ Mandarin gallery

Showing Lydia how I can have a kawaii pose too ^^

New Lucky claypot rice @ Holland drive, not bad but long wait!

En route to MBS skypark observation deck

ACE investor forum: great eye opener from startups!

Late after-dinner sweet treats, especially good after tennis

Workday lunch break with the PRU gang!

Hibiscus tea for brunch @ Wild Honey

Me doing what I do best

So much respect for this abstract ring designer

NYDC mudpies are awesome, 'nuff said

Mini adventure with Amanda during lunch hours!

Happy fourteenth to my pretty sister :)

USS!

Din Tai Fung @ MBS

Dinner @ Ban Heng pavilion restaurant with the family

Camera-ception

     Gorgeous purple rose earphones

Persimmons in a cup for tea break!

While waiting for mumsie @ the fitting rooms

Hello why does my owner do this to me

Table tennis matches @ work

Like owner like dog

Half done Jelly hearts for the party

Salmon teppanyaki

Polaroid camera rental from the sweetest owner

Failed armswag hahaha  

 

Prepared with so much love ♥♥♥

Warm and snug in the bathrobe

Floating around on a lazy Saturday

Post dinner chat over a pot of chamomile tea

Shopping with my birthday vouchers ^^

DIY nails!

Revolving restaurant @ Prima tower for Dad's birthday

Passing my 21st midnight mark @ Shuffle

Prata at Mustafa (because swee choon was closed)

Yiangmeng thinks digestive biscuits have emotions

Biggest poodle I have ever seen

All clad in black in town

Spotted @ Typo

Kite flying and picnic with amazing ex-colleagues!

Lovin' the cosy ambience @ Wild Honey

Pretty pink carnations ♥

En route to marina barrage

Can't wait to design the inner paper lining!

Overrated chendol @ ABC market

Before decorations for my 21st party

Matric fair balloons, hope you guys liked it!

Geisha tea @ The Courtyard Fullerton hotel

Starbucks birthday cake

Pink nails!

Almond caramel cheesecake tart for Shiany's 21st ♥

Sean's saddistic yet stress relieving iPad game

Wild honey catch up with my BFF, thank you :)

At the usual hairdresser's

Working hard or hardly working?

♥