2011 Recaps

First of all, Happy New Year and wishing you all a prosperous & joyful 2012!

2011 has been a great year. I hope it's the same for you too.

Time really flies. It feels like yesterday when we were toasting our champagne for 2011. Tonight, we're doing it again.

January - Picked up another new hobby - soap making.
February - I married the same man for the second time! We flew home for a Catholic wedding and had a reception with close family members and friends. There's no wedding planner this time but my family did a great job organising everything.
March - Mr.M & I celebrated our 4th anniversary together.
April - We went on a trip to Olomouc, hoping we'd start our 'Czech Republic tour' in summer but that didn't happen due to our crazy work schedules.
May - We went to Malaysia with Mr.M's parents for a 2-week trip.
June - We spent a wonderful week on an island in Malaysia.
July - Mr.M & I celebrated our first wedding anniversary in Berlin.
August - Attended a very good old friend's wedding. I couldn't stop tearing up during the ceremony. We were invited to 7 weddings this summer.
September - My first trip to Moscow for business. Loved that city. Hopefully one day I'll go back for a vacation.
October - My fabrics addiction was back again. Bought heaps of them.
November - Finally completed the quilt project I started in May 2009!! Why it took so long? My excuse? I had no time.
December -  This winter has been really mild in this part of the world, even in the Alps. That didn't stop us from going to ski in the Austrian Alps like we do every December. 

Christmas 2011

I've been down with a bad flu since Boxing Day. I only started to feel better today - after lots of cough syrup, pills (yikes!) and Mr.M's taking extra good care of me. He makes sure I stay in the bed, drink plenty of hot tea and cooks for me. 

We spent the Christmas with Mr.M's family in Slovakia like we always do every year and came back to Prague 3 days ago. 

1/ Mama M's Christmas decoration
2/ Picked up a set of candle holders from M&S a week before Christmas. The white iittala Alvar Aalto vase was a surprise Christmas gift from Mr.M.
3/ Some of my presents for Mr.M.
4/ I bake my gingerbread thin - influenced by those days I spent in Helsinki.

5/ Mama M always has one of the best dinner set collections.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holiday!

Merry Christmas to you all! xoxo

Ski Weekend In Obertauern

Downhill ski is my favourite winter sport. There are several ski resorts within the country which are around 1-2 hours drive from here but they're usually packed with people or the pistes aren't that great.

Mr.M and I go to the Austrian Alps at least once in winter. I've been to a few of them so far but Serfaus is always my favourite. It's not that far from us if compares to the Italian or French Alps. This year, however, we decided in the last minute we would go to Obertauern due to the not so good condition in Serfaus. Mr.M has been to the surrounding resorts and it's my first time there.

The weather was really bad on the first day. It was windy, snowy and foggy. I don't usually ski with a mask on but we had to get one for me the next day. That explains why you don't see my face here at all :D



The second day was a beautiful sunny day. I woke up early to take pictures of the chalet and mountains. I'll upload from my dSLR next week when I'm back from Slovakia (we're spending Christmas with the in-laws).

It was really sunny and a few brave + crazy snowboarders were snowboarding topless under subzero temperature!

I'm Back!

I'm back from Obertauern - in one piece! I fell down way too many times while skiing that I lost count! It's either too icy on the or it's due to the thick snow and bumpy slopes (visibility was fairly poor on our first day there!).

The second day was sunny and very beautiful. I'll leave you with this photo for now. I've plenty of work to do - Christmas baking and more shopping!

Hello from Austrian Alps!

We're skiing in Obertauern, Austria this weekend. The sunny weather and the powder snow condition are exactly we need after the bad weather yesterday.

Bye-bye November

Pictures speak louder than words. Here's the summary of my November.

I travel way too much for work this year


My favourite bag of November


One of the many books I've bought this month


I bought more nail polish

I'm Still Here

Hi everyone! I've been MIA again...

There's been so much going on in my life. We *might* have to move to the East Coast (yes, to the US) sometime next year - the earliest by next summer. I wasn't entirely overwhelmed with this news at last week. I always knew one day we'll have to move to the US but I wasn't expecting it to happen so soon. The one thing that I'm not willing to let go is my career... and of course, my friends here.

I don't really know much about the job markets in the US particularly for my profession. When I was studying in the uni for my degree, it never came to my mind that one day I'd end up in supply chain and loving what I do for a living.

Decision.

Random

I'm loving this new iPhone app called 'Notica'. Does anyone else use this app?



That's me with my new love ;) I haven't bought a Prada in 5 years and am happy with this bag.

My sore neck is getting better but it still bothers me. I've an early flight to catch tomorrow, am going on a business trip again. Good night. xx.

Giveaway Winner!

The winner of the blog giveaway is.... Lucky #5!

Congratulations to Taylor! I have sent you an email a while ago. Please response and send me your details within the next 48 hours.

Thanks everyone for entering the giveaway. Hopefully there will be another one soon ;)

Saturday Arvo

How's your weekend so far? I'm home alone at my in-laws' now. Everyone's gone to a spa city nearby. I'm left behind because of my sore neck and cramps.

Mr.M took me shopping at Parndorf yesterday. I really appreciated Mr.M's help carrying the shopping bags, spending more than 30mins waiting for me at Prada and an hour at Polo Ralph Lauren when I didn't know which shirts I should get (in the end, I bought all 5!). He also bought me a pair of new ski pants from Salomon since mine are old and slightly tight on me.


Part of yesterday's haul

I'm gonna go and take a nap. My sore neck is killing me.

A Little Update!

I haven't had time to post any entries or reply to your comments. Sandy fell sick last Friday and he couldn't stand  up when I checked on him on early Monday morning. It scared me. We rushed him to the vet and found out he had a bacterial infection. After 4 jabs, he's back to himself again in the evening - eating and running.


We're having a long weekend. Will be visiting the in-laws and going to do some shopping in Vienna.

Enjoy your weekend and don't forget my first blog giveaway which ends this Sunday. Cheers.

First Blog Giveaway!

The giveaway is now closed. The winner will be announced soon.

I haven't forgotten about my first blog giveaway I mentioned in the previous post :)

I'm giving away the following items to one lucky reader of my little playground.



Here are some of my favourite items I've been collecting since the beginning of the year. They're all brand new, never been swatched/tested.

1. Kiehl's Lip Balm #1 (Pear).
2. Smashbox Jet Set Waterproof Eye Liner in Navy Blue.
3. My Scheming Provence Lavender Soothing Mask.
4. Deary Rose Co-Q10 Mask. Both My Scheming and Deary are from Taiwan. Apparently they're famous in Asia.
5. Essence Colour & Go in Where's the party?  (if you've been reading my blog for a while, you know how much I love Essence nail polishes).
6. Essence Multi Dimension XXXL Shine in Trendsetter.

How to enter?
1. Be a follower.
2. Leave your name, email address and tell me how do you get to know this blog. 1 comment per person only.
3. If you blog about this giveaway on a single entry, not just an entry with other blog giveaways, you will gain +1 extra entry. Post the link here on your comment.
4. Open internationally.
5. Ends Sunday 30 October GMT (the European summer time ends today).
6. Winner will be drawn at random.org.

Good luck! :)

Be Right Back!

I'm back from Moscow. It's so good to be at home but I already missed Moscow because it's one of the most interesting cities I've ever been to.

I finally have the chance to do something I've been planning to do for a long time - a blog giveaway!

Stay tuned! 

Greetings From Moscow

I'm still in Moscow! I managed to go to the Red Square on Wednesday, walked around and took some pictures. Hopefully I'll have more time to explore this city more ;)

Have a nice weekend!

H&M Loot

When I first moved to Finland from Australia in 2004, I went crazy at H&M when I first stepped in my first H&M store at Forum. I loved H&M.

I've slowly fallen out of love with H&M in these two years mainly due to the quality of H&M which  is getting worse than before. Besides, walking in a H&M store always gives me a headache, literally because they're always so unorganized and sometimes messy. That's another reason why I can't spend more than 5mins in the store. I easily lose my mood looking at their stuffs!

Nowadays, I only stop by their accessories section when I want to buy new scarves. That's one thing that I can't deny, H&M does have some nice designs. I saw they have some new stuffs for their autumn collection so I decided to have a look. I didn't expect to walk out of the store with the following items.


I really like this printed blouse. I got it in EU36 instead of my usual EU34 because I usually like my blouse a little loose. I also grabbed a scarf in similar print. It was the last one in the store.


I first saw this knit sweater on 9to5Chic. Since the weather is getting colder here and I'm getting new stuffs for my autumn/winter wardrobe (that also reminds me it's time to do a round of cleaning, getting rid of stuffs I don't wear anymore).


I was speaking to M earlier and he told me he went shopping yesterday (my husband enjoys shopping in the US and I'm hoping one day he'll take me there just to shop!). I'm so so jealous! ;) Everyone knows Moscow is one of the most expensive cities in the world, you bet I won't be shopping much there!

It's FRIDAY!

No, I haven't forgotten this blog of mine. Work has been keeping me busy after the summer vacation period. Now I'm back to working late, business travelling, never-ending conference calls... I'm home a week only this month and am spending the other 3 weeks somewhere else. M is still in the US and I'm flying to Moscow next week. Thank heaven for having a close friend who loves my dog and doesn't mind coming over to our place to 'babysit' him until M comes back next weekend!

I'm glad it's Friday today... It's also a mail day (new issue of Marie Claire UK in my mailbox) and a dry-clean day... I was too busy to book a massage for myself this weekend, I hope they do have a free slot for me tomorrow. My back is killing me...


Have a great Friday night, everyone! I hope yours is better than mine (staying at home watching some DVDs and eating chocolates - I need them!).

September...

Mr.M turned 29 yesterday. I took him out for dinner at a French restaurant last Saturday, had a date (it's been a long time since we went out for a date - blame our busy schedule). We celebrated his birthday with his brother yesterday at our favourite Italian restaurant. After the great food and a glass of chilled lambrusco, we headed home because we both were so tired and fell asleep before midnight - on a Friday evening!

I bought him a Kindle this year. I wanted to get one for last Christmas but they were backordered. He loves to read. Sometimes he also reads my Marie Claire and Cosmo ;) I'm loving the Kindle too. I've been shamelessly reading Confidential on Kindle. That was the first book we bought! I loved SVH when I was young and I read a few series of SVU.


Mr.M will be travelling to the US again for business next week. I'll have my first business travel after two months next week as well. By the time he's back after 3 weeks, I'm already in Moscow for a project. I'll only get to see him for the weekend before I fly again. I'm only at home for a week this month and will spend the rest of the weeks in Moscow and Brussels until the first week of October.

Tory Burch Reva

Tory Burch Reva leather flats were on my 'lemming list' for quite sometime. I always checked Net-A-Porter and MyTheresa, hoping my size would be available but I was never that lucky.

I was browsing Outnet one morning (I do this almost everyday but never found anything I want) and saw they had plenty of Reva on stocks! I quickly went through the colours and found lizard print leather in olive and black. I quickly added a pair of black to my chart, upon checkout, I got a message from Outnet that my size 7.5 have been sold out! I tried to add the olive one to the chart, checkout and they're mine! I had mixed feelings at that time that the 7.5 might not fit - I'm an EU38, I usually fit in US7.5 or US8. After reading so many posts on a forum, I decided to go for a US7.5 and they fit perfecly.


Here's my new Reva. They're new and do pitch a little but not too much. I believe I just need to break them in and they'll be one of the most comfortable flats I own. Have I mentioned that I really like the gold medallion?

Do you own any Tory Burch flats? How do you like them?

What Do You Wear?

While waiting for our lunch to be served at the restaurant, hubby was playing with the camera and asked, 'Show me what you are wearing today?' and took this picture.

I wear my e-ring and wedding band everyday. Tiffany heart-tag charm bracelet (I also have the matching necklace) that hubby bought me in 2008. Pandora bracelet which I got last year and am still collecting the charms. DKNY Tachymeter Chronograph watch with white leather strap. I saw this at Frankfurt airport in February and I just had to get it. I like big watches especially those from Michael Korrs but most of them are way too big for my skinny wrists. 

What do you wear?

Happiness Is...

seeing this cute little creature

Bratislava For M&M's Wedding

We went to Bratislava two weeks ago to attend a good old friend's wedding. We arrived in the hotel after spending 40mins driving around, looking for a secure car park nearby the hotel. The room was clean and newly renovated. Hubby and I didn't pass out on the bed after the long hour drive, we went out for a walk in the old town and looking for food instead. Unfortunately all the restaurants except for McDonald's and some fast food places were closed. We were thinking of some nice dinner and a glass of good wine. I guess 11:40pm was a bit too late for dinner! I only had a slice of not-so-great pizza.

Berlin Part 2: Sight-seeing, Shopping & Everything Else...

We spent our entire Saturday shopping since the most of the shops are closed on Sundays. I was really disappointed when the Chanel WOC I wanted to get was out of stock in both stores. I really didn't have the mood to continue shopping. I was hoping I'd find it there since there's no Chanel store in Prague.

We went to the infamous KaDeWe. I only bought a Tissot watch and we went for lunch at the food court (they've great food but it wasn't the cheapest lunch). M was the one who enjoyed shopping this time. I only got some Essence and P2 nail polishes from DM. Chanel disappointed me but at least I found the YSL Arty ring I wanted in my size. I also picked up some stuffs from Karen Millen.

Berlin Part 1: On Our Anniversary

I've always wanted to visit Berlin. M suggested Milan for our anniversary weekend but I told him I was too lazy to fly - that happens if you're a frequent flyer, I guess! I was thinking of some Czech cities where I could enjoy a weekend at the spa, getting pampered, drinking wine and doing nothing! He's not so keen to spend our anniversary weekend in the country so he thought Berlin would be a good idea.

He booked us a room at Kempinski Bristol, located right at Kurfürstendamm. Since it's my first time there, I had no idea what's there. When I looked up on google, I found out Ku'damm is some sort of 'shopping district'. M said the main reasons why he chose Kempinski because we're picky with accommodation and I could shop! M enjoys shopping but he couldn't stand shopping with me. It's not because he has to pay for me, it's because I could spend more than an hour at one store and I could shop non-stop for hours!

Berlin... to be continued

Berlin was fun despite the horrible weather - it was raining all the time and the sun was only out on our departure day.

I will write more when I'm back on Sunday :) We're leaving for Bratislava today to attend an old friend's wedding. I'm really excited for her... We got to know each other through our ex-boyfriends - yes, they're best buddies. After we broke up, we found ourselves Slovak boys - it wasn't on purpose, I swear! Now I've been married to mine for over a year and she's getting married with hers tomorrow! She's the only friend in Finland I still keep in touch with and we try seeing each other every summer.

Have a nice weekend, loves. See you soon! <3

Our First Anniversary

M and I still couldn't believe it's already been a year since we both said 'I do'.


Happy anniversary, darling. Thank you for being such a wonderful and a perfect husband.  <3

NOTD: Essence You're A Heartbreaker

I finally have the chance to try this beauty today.

You're A Heartbreaker is one of the nail polishes from Essence's last collection - 50's Girls Reloaded. This is my  most favourite shade among the ones I've mentioned in my previous post. Essence is very generous this time with the 15ml bottle (the usual limited collection nail polishes are around 7ml) without increasing the price - I paid 39,90CZK (approx. EUR1,60) for each of them.

This steel blue shade has grey undertone with shimmers. The application was surprisingly easy after the second  coat - the first coat was pretty sheer. Here's a quick snap of the colour. The photo doesn't justify how beautiful the colour is!

Essence 50's Girls Reloaded

I've said this a hundred times that I love Essence nail polishes. I went to the drugstore a few days ago, hoping I'd be able to find some nail polishes from Essence Ballerina Backstage collection. As usual, it's not available (am not sure if they're sold out or the collection was never released here). But the 50's Girls Reloaded collection is out.

I only picked up 4 nail polishes since I'm not a fan of their cosmetics. The only colour I didn't buy was ahoy! which is white in colour. They all come in a 15ml bottle.

From left: I’m a marine girl, You're a heartbreaker, Love me tender and Back to the 50’s

NOTD: Essence Forget-Me-Not

I'm a big fan of Essence nail polish. I'm not into their other products at all but their nail polishes are one of the best I've tried so far. They're long-lasting, fast drying, come in fun colours and they're cheap!

I've had Forget Me Not from the Blossom Etc collection sitting in my drawer for quite sometime. It has shimmer in the bottle but when applied, it looks creme. The application was very easy - no streaks, two coats and I finished it with Essie Good To Go top coat.



I was wearing this colour for 3 days without chipping. I was really impressed. I only changed my nails colours today because of a business meeting. One of my male colleagues jokingly asking me if I was cold yesterday. Cold? It's freaking 28°C outside.'Oh, your nails are BLUE. I thought you're cold...'

I just picked up some more colours from Essence latest collection 50's Girls Reloaded yesterday. Will post the swatches soon :)

I love...

How's everyone's weekend so far? I spent mine at home whole day watching Fringe season 3 and Harry Potter 6 (Part 1) despite the lovely weather outside.

I picked up some I love... products from Douglas yesterday. I've seen them around before but never bothered to try them simply because I've never heard of this brand before! The SA convinced me these are great products and I should give them a try. They smell heavenly! I'm now using the strawberries & milkshake bubble bath and vanilla & ice cream body butter. I'm pleased with them so far. I'm yet to try the mango & papaya lip balm.


Have you tried I love...?

A Productive Extra Long Weekend

Hi everyone! I haven't been very active on this blog lately, you know the usual reason - am too busy with work!

We're having a short working week :) Tuesday and Wednesday are bank holidays here. M and I finally get to rest. I've been busy in the kitchen making homemade strawberry jam, baking my favourite Finnish cinnamon rolls (pulla) and today I made matcha ice-cream!

I love summers. With the longer and warmer days, it always motivates me to start doing what I enjoy the most - baking and crafting. I didn't have a chance to do so last year because of our wedding planning.

It's the strawberries season. We've been talking about going strawberry picking at the nearest strawberry farm but M didn't quite like the idea. We ended up buying 2.5kg of fresh picked strawberries on Monday and made our own jam. I'm glad how it turned out.
The strawberries go great with the matcha ice-cream. Now I'm thinking about making strawberry sorbet.

My Marc By Marc Jacobs Natasha bag arrived last Thursday. It is smaller than I thought but is big enough as a casual bag.

Net-A-Porter black signature box always excites me :D



Natasha in taupe. The leather is so soft.



Now I can't wait to take this baby out :) 

Holiday Loot!

I hope everyone has had a great weekend. I spent my entire Saturday morning cleaning and we went for Korean BBQ dinner with some friends. I was supposed to have a session of massage therapy this afternoon but had to cancel it due to my second migraine this week.

We did a lot of shopping in Malaysia. I only picked up a couple of stuffs though. Some nail polish from The Face Shop and Skin Food, My Beauty Dairy Black Pearl masks and Neutrogena face wash which isn't available here. I went to Sephora, hoping I'd be able to get some UD 24/7 eyeliners but the colours I wanted to get weren't available. In the end, I only bought Duo Eyelash Adhesive Glue and SK-II Facial Treatment Essence.

We went to KLCC on our first afternoon in KL. I spent more than 2hrs at Kinokuniya. Looking for Japanese craft books was the only reason why I was there. I love crafting but I haven't had any time for it since last year. I'm hoping I'll be more productive this summer and finish the quilt project I started in 2009!

I also picked up 2 beauty magazines and some cooking books. I do read Chinese but am not good. The cooking books are also in English and with some illustrations, that shouldn't be a problem even for someone who doesn't read Chinese.

We went to Pavilion a lot since it's just next to our hotel. Coach was having season sale at that time. M and I went to check out the bags but we didn't find anything nice for me. All my Coach were bought from the US and UK since they're not available here. I was lucky to find this cross-body swing pack at the airport. It's big enough to carry my Coach wristlet, iPhone, Blackberry ad even my Prada sunnies fit in there.

Net-A-Porter 50% Sale

I received Net-A-Porter end of season sale  email notification an hour ago. I've been waiting for this forever!! My first check was of course the shoes section. Unfortunately I didn't find any Bloch and Tory Burch shoes I like. I then came across Marc by Marc Jacobs Natasha cross-body bags. I need a cross-body in my collection! It was hard to choose between the two different colours and leather types.

I read that a lot of people were having access issue on NAP site. I too had the same problem when submitting my order but it somehow got through. I called the customer service and they're processing my order.

I'm on a 'bags ban' now. This is my third one this month! I bought a Coach when I was at Kuala Lumpur International Airport and a Longchamp (my third le pliage - in pink!) at Schiphol.

Vacation!

Work's been keeping me so busy after we came back from Malaysia. I was on business trip again last week. One good thing is that there's no more business travelling for me in summer! I've been flying every week for the past 6 weeks. It's really tiring! I finally had time to sit down and uploaded our vacation from the memory card this morning. We took heaps of photos but I only managed to edit a couple of them - housework couldn't wait!

Our 2-week vacation in Malaysia was a great one despite some bad experiences like the lost Blackberry and the late arrival of my luggage. It was still in Schiphol when we're already in Kuala Lumpur! The airlines however did not deliver my luggage to our hotel as they said they would. I tried calling the lost luggage office in Langkawi Airport but there was no answer. Hubby and I drove to the airport (we rented a car) and saw my luggage had arrived and was standing next to the baggage carousel. Anyone could just grab and take it away. It did spoil my mood for half a day.

I'm Back!!

Hello!!! I'm finally back from my vacation! We arrived on Sunday afternoon, dead tired after more than 15hrs of travelling! I passed out at 7pm and woke up 8hrs later (blame jet lag for that!).

It was a great trip. Bad things did happen though. My luggage didn't arrive until the next day. I had to go and buy some new clothes (luckily I've some clean underwears in my hand-carry bag). My company Blackberry was stolen. Now I'm waiting for the new one.

I'll post some pics this weekend ;)

For now, this is the view we saw while chilling at a rooftop bar in KL.

May Favourites

It's the time for favourites of the month again.

Here is the list of my favourite, most-used products in May.

MAC Mineralize Blush - Nuance
I got this blush in 2008 from Sonic Chic collection. Nuance is a peach colour. It looks 'orange' in pan but when applied, it's a beautiful sheer peach with a hint of pink and gold sheen.

Be Back Soon

Am blogging from my iphone :) We're now on holiday in Malaysia with the in-laws. Will be home on Sunday!

Naked Palette - Finally!

I almost gave up on getting this palette. I've been trying to get my hands on one since September last year. It was available at HQhair in October and my order was 'Backordered'. HQhair later apologized for not able to fulfil the high demand and cancelled my order. I then found an eBay seller who was selling this palette in a pretty good price. I placed the order, paid but she later cancelled it because she told me Paypal had blocked her account. #@%&!



It's really frustrating so I went to MAC and bought some dupes. In March, HQhair sent me an email saying Naked was back in stock. I was thrilled and placed the order. Instead of waiting for the palette to be shipped within 3 working days but nothing happened. When I emailed them to check if they're going to restock, I was told to wait until further notice. It finally arrived after more than 2 months of waiting! Was it worth it? Well, yeah!



Am I keeping the palette? No. In fact, I'm giving it to my sister. :)

If you already have some of these MAC eyeshadows (I reckon they are good dupes).

Urban Decay / MAC
Virgin / Brule or Shroom (not shown here)
Sin / Naked Lunch
Naked / Wedge
Buck / Cork (not shown here)
Half Baked / Woodwinked
Toasted / Mulch / Sable is quite close too (not shown here)
Hustle / Handwritten
Sidecar / Patina
Creep / Carbon (not shown here)
Gunmetal / Knight Divine