A new shopping experience

I was recently invited to the opening of Zalora's pop up store at ION Orchard and guess what?!

Wait, don't guess. Let me just tell you!

I was really excited and super stoked because Zalora has always been my go-to website since two years back! Whenever I need a new blouse, dress, shoes or even make-up, it's the first site I visit. 

Crossed-my-fingers-and-hope-to-not-get-my-favourite-on-sale-item-if-I-lie.

Imagine my delight when my favourite website finally opened its first store! I can finally feel and touch those items that I've been saving in my shopping cart and even get to try them on before I make an actual purchase!

How awesome is that!?

The offline store with a digital shopping experience.
Absolutely.

This image is credit to Zalora FB page.

I got right down to business, put my game face on and these blazers caught my eye!

Material Girl
Colour Block Meshed Sleeved Blazer

 

River Island
Black Blurred Floral Print Blazer

Neon Rose
Clueless Check Blazer

Dorothy Perkins
Black Boyfriend Blazer

There're a lot more designs so go grab some blazers! Blaze hot while staying warm in the chilly weather!

The pop up store is located at:

ION Orchard B2-04/05 and opens daily from 10am to 10pm

It will close in January 2015! 

PS: Go take a look see now and get a S$10 voucher when you sign up for their newsletter! While you're at it, use my voucher code ZBAPPpe* during check out for additional 15% off!
*valid only for new customer

PPS: This post has been brought to you by Zalora.

The Help

I once watched a film called Paris, je t'aime in 2006 which consists of several short stories all somewhat interlinked to one another. But a particularly short story that really got me which I am able to recall till this day (which in itself is also particularly somewhat incredible given my goldfish memory) was that of a young mother and her child.

In the opening shot, she was cradling her child getting them ready to head out. And the next scene was that she was handing her child to a minder and when her child cried, she turned back and was seen patting her child to sleep while humming a lullaby.

When she made sure her child has fallen asleep, she thank the minders and left. And the following sequence showed her commuting to work by taking the bus, subway and then finally walking to her employer's place.

Only her work place was actually a house and her employer had a child of her own and this young mother was the nanny.

Oh the irony.

This story always gets to me. Perhaps I can resonate with it as I'm a mother now but back then? It's weird.

And the irony is that I'm also getting a helper whom's a mother of two herself and she will be helping me to look after my own kids.

On one hand I'm sure she will miss her own children terribly yet on the other I'm also hoping that she will look after my boys as she would as her own. Because we're both working mothers and we know how it feels to be away working and missing our kids.

Only this time she is the one far away from them. What a double edged sword.

Honey Creme

This.

This was the most happening, hipster or hippening that I ever did on a weekday night.

I joined in the craze yo!

Eh not quite though as my friends and I happened to be in the area after dinner and she mentioned that it was nice, so we decided to give it a shot. Was supposed to share with a friend but I ended eating most of it. #whatdiet

Verdict?

While I'm not really a fan of soft serve, this was quite all right as it was really soft (duh!) and didn't had the milky after-taste that I dislike. And the honey comb makes up for it as it was the right amount of sweetness and doesn't taste that artificial.

But it cost $6 for a small cup and after thoughts were "Meh-I-most-probably-will-not-buy-it-again-but-the-boys-might-like-it-so-most-probably-will-buy-it-just-for-them" #thoughtsofamother

The Incidental House pet, or not

So.

It turns out we have 2 house lizards living happily in the corner of our living room. How do I even know there's 2?

Because lizard 1 is the fatter and bigger sized one and lizard 2 is the slimmer and smaller sized one. Talk about double team eh?

And! They certainly make their presence felt whenever they make those lizard sounds and scrambling for cover when we open the door whenever we get home.

So much so that I've told my boys that they're our pets for now.

And my smarty ass pants 4 year old actually quipped this when we got home one night and found lizard 1 scrambling for cover, "Mama, your pet says welcome home!"

Thanks kid, just thanks. If you boys clean up after your meals and not leave crumbs for them to feast on, then perhaps they will just leave us alone?!?!

And who knows I could probably missed them. Or not.

If you have one and you know it, put your hands up

I never knew eating was a torture till Jeb came along. No scratch that, he brings a whole new level to torture eating.

To him, eating is simply not in his vocab. This guy lives on nothing but air and maybe sometimes, just sometimes, actual real food. And only when he wants to, which is..... rarely?

I've tried many tricks and bribery to get him to eat. Because he really likes fruits, I've resorted to feeding him a spoonful of rice followed by a bite of fruit. This usually works on the good days. And the bad days? I've resorted to using gummies to get him to open his mouth just so I can spoon food in. And on seriously bad days? I'm ashamed to say that I've resorted to flicking and even slapping his mouth in the hopes that I'll scare him to quickly swallowed his food.

I did scared him alright. Just maybe not in swallowing though.

The thing is this and I'm sure most mothers would feel this way is this. It's really not about them not eating per se. It is really more about getting those nutritrients into their growing bodies that makes this feeding all the more exasperating. Put your hands up if you're with me.

Because as an Asian parent, a chubby toddler is a sign of eating and growing well. Not some gangly two year old who runs away at the sight of food. But you know what?

I am trying to Let.It.Go.

Keyword. Trying.

I guess its because I really do not want to stress the both of us out and also, I could tell he is growing in terms of height and just a little bit of weight. But the thing is this. I try not to worry so much any more.

I still try my best to provide nutritious and delicious food, maybe not so much in the delicious part, but whatever chance I've got to shove that piece of salmon or chicken or avocado in his golden mouth, mother here will do all she can to do it.

And recently, a friend of mine told me about this funny book 'You have to F@cking Eat' by Adam Mansbach that talks about his experience with feeding his picky daughter. But the highlight was a recording done by a British actor Stephen Fry that up the book notch.

Take a listen and together, let's put our hands up!

Oh, it is a little vulgar and crude. So if you're the prudish type, consider yourself warned!

The occasional indulgence for them, junk snacks and ribena!
What?!

Our weekends were made of this

We spent 2 full hours in the pool under the glorious sun, had a late lunch and everyone took an epic 3 hour nap after!

Which we woke up to a rainy cooling evening and headed out for dinner, took a short walk at the pasar malam near our place and I actually allowed the boys to stay up past their bed time on account of the long nap they had in the afternoon! 

It was just an awesome weekend where I didn't cook at all, allowed the boys to have pop corn and candy floss, there was more than enough fun and laughter in the house and best of all, it is free!

That's more than enough for mother here to be thankful for. 

Wife Solo

For most parts of the time, I solo parent my 2 boys. The husband had to travel quite a bit this year and while most trips were for a week, there were some that lasted almost a month. 

And those were some lonely days and nights.

I'm thankful that while we have a suitable arrangement for the boys to be at my mum's place to be looked after when the husband travels, it is not an ideal arrangement for us. For one, the boys will be apart from us and two, I'll be honest to say that sometimes I don't even go over to my mum's place for the night as I have to do the laundry and housekeeping at our own place. 

Oh and as I was saying, solo parenting.

It's really tough especially when the boys keep asking for their father though. It's even tougher when they are crying and asking for their father at the same time. Manipulation these boys.

On the flip side, I feel like a single mother. Not that I am, just that it really does makes me feel like one. 

I do however, enjoy my time with them very much though! They're more than I could ever ask for, especially that little guy right in front. Yes, that guy with that pout.