Mon Meill Swarovski Zirconia Earrings and Necklace

Yay!!! My Groupon order arrived this morning! It was delivered Pos Laju and the mail man was super nice and friendly :)

I redeemed the Groupon on September 11 and got a confirmation email from them saying that my order had been received and that I would receive my order "within 14 working days (not inclusive of Saturdays and Sundays)". So going by that, I received my order on the 14th day which falls within the 14 working days delivery mentioned in their email to me.

I purchased a set of Swarovski Zirconia necklace and earrings set in 18 karat white gold plated 925 silver sterling. I don't know how true the 18 karat white gold plating claim is but time will tell --- if it changes colour, then I'll know that I've been short changed but hopefully, everything will be as stated in the deal and all will be fine (Insya Allah). So take a look at it...

It comes in a gift box

 The back of the jewellery pouch

The earrings and necklace --- nice!

I like that the necklace has two rings along the chain where you can hook the clasp to which allows me to have two lengths to choose from when wearing the necklace. I prefer to wear mine shorter. Solitaires look so much nicer when they sit in the hollow between your collar bones.

And now, it's onto the test to see if it will tarnish over time or not... hopefully not!

The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier

Truth be told, I read this book a few months ago but I guess I never got around to blogging about it until now (yeah, that's the procrastinator in me!).

Anyway.... this book, written by Sidney Poitier, is a memoir of his life. Written in the first person's voice, he looks back on his life and career.

He was born and raised in a small island named Cat Island. He had an idyllic life as a child growing up on the island. By thirteen, he had dropped out of school and was working on construction sites. Worried that he would end up in jail, similar to his friend who stole a bicycle for fun, his father sent him off to Miami to live with his elder brother.

He started in his acting career when there weren't any black actors working along side white actors. It is about him breaking barriers and never accepting limits that were presented to him. He has certainly come a long way from his hard beginnings and has made it big. It is most definitely a story of the American Dream. It's an inspiring read.

love

"A woman carries her pet cats as she wades through a flooded street during#typhoon #Nesat in San Mateo, #Rizal, east of #Manila on September 27, 2011." http://twitpic.com/6rgtmb

Something about this picture speaks of love.

The Big Bad Wolf Sale

The much awaited for sale is finally around the corner. I'm looking forward to making my annual book purchase. This time around I'm on the lookout for personal finance books as well as novels.

For those who are contemplating on whether or not to go, listen, it is worth your time going there. The books are dirt cheap (paperback novels at RM8!) and they are new.

This time around, Big Bad Wolf promises an even bigger sale with 1.5 million books! I've been going to the BBW sale ever since it started and during each sale period, I've made two to three visits. One visit is never enough!

The books that I purchased have given me many hours of reading pleasure. If you're like me and you absolutely cannot imagine life without books and you want to stretch your budget, this is the book sale that you MUST go to to stock up on books.

Yes, I've heard some people moan and groan that it's in Serdang, but you know what, Serdang is not out there in the sticks as some of you may want to believe. It's only 20 minutes from KL if you take the PLUS highway. Have a sense of adventure and venture out to this new location. You just might find yourself pleasantly surprised.

Will I see you there???

an apple in my oatmeal a day

I've always not liked any form of mushy food. I don't like melted ice cream, so when I do have some, I make sure that I finish it before it melts. I don't like milk in my breakfast cereal, I have mine dry, yes, dry! I don't like porridge because they're mushy.

This week, I hit a personal milestone, two, in fact : 1. I actually was brave enough to purchase a whole box of instant oatmeal when I was at the grocery store earlier this week, 2. I actually found that it's not too bad. Yes, I discovered that if you add apples to the oatmeal, it disguises the mushiness. So in the mornings for the past week, I've been having my instant oatmeal with one chopped up green apple thrown into the mix.

Why am I doing this? Well, don't know what inspired me to stop in the cereal aisle in the supermarket next door and take a look at the contents of the instant oatmeal mix, but I did, and guess what I discovered --- it has 20% iron in each serving! Okay, being anemic, that was enough to convince me to give it a go. What was the worst thing that could happen if I didn't like it, I asked myself --- that I would just give the rest of the box to my mom? I took the plunge and am glad that I did. Now, I just hope that this is getting me closer to my goal of getting my body to consume and hopefully retain more iron. I am tired of being tired (no pun intended there).

LOREAL Stock Clearance Sale

I went to the Loreal Stock Clearance sale in Sri Petaling Hotel today. Okay, granted that it was quite a drive for me to get there but I thought that I'd go to check it out to see if I could pick up some treats at a discount so that I wouldn't kick myself so much if the products didn't work out.

I haven't been to the Loreal Stock Clearance sale for quite a while now and I must say that it has changed quite a bit. Their warehouse sales in the past have been quite a mad house with loads of women pushing their way to get to the products. Back in those days the sales were often held only on one day and some women would take the day off from work just to go to it. Today, shopping was a breeze.

The products are no longer as cheap as they used to be, I'm afraid. I remember the days when the Maybelline  lipsticks used to be RM 10 each. Now, they cost RM19 each. Kinda pricey for a drugstore brand sold at a warehouse sale, if you ask me.

I recently bought the Maybelline Angel Fit Foundation at Watsons for RM32 (and that was a discounted price, the normal price is about RM40). I saw it at the sale today and it was selling at RM22. Strangely enough, it didn't have the same names that they have for the products in the stores. The bottles only had code numbers which can be difficult to buy especially if you're thinking of picking up a bottle after having tested out the colours at the stores earlier on.

Here's what I bought:
1. Loreal Derma Genesis Pore Minimising Smoother (Gel Cream) for RM27 (This product contains Hyaluronic Acid and it was a curiosity purchase as I've read so many good things about Hyaluronic Acid)
2. Loreal Touche Magique Concealer for RM20 (I've read great reviews about this product)
3. Maybelline Eyestudio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner (Waterproof) in 01 Black for RM23 (I've read great reviews about this product too). The package includes the gel liner as well as its own eyeliner brush.
4. Maybelline Clear Skin Minerals BB Cream in Fresh  for RM14 (This was my curiosity purchase. I've tried out the testers at the store many times before but never got around to forking out around RM20, normal price, for it. It's a small tube that's easy to carry in my bag and it comes with SPF 26)
5. Two Maybelline Eyestudio Eyeliner Pencils for RM6 each (for my mom)
6. Garnier Nutrisse Nourishing Permanent Hair Color for RM14 (This is my staple purchase)

The good thing is because everything was kinda pricey, I wasn't going crazy and getting EVERYTHING I saw. I was quite reasonable in selecting my purchases.

If you're thinking of going to the sale, it runs till Sunday, September 18, 2011.

Learning Photography

Knowing how to REALLY use a camera and being able to take good photographs is something that has always been sort of a mystery for me. So... I've decided to come out of the darkness and learn how to operate a camera. As always, I went to youtube.com (Thank God for youtube --- where would I be without it???).

I found this channel called PhotographersOnUTube and have so far watched 3 of the videos and wow... it suddenly is all making sense to me!!! They make fantastic videos for newbie learners of photography. I would strongly recommend that you watch their videos if you're interested in getting started with photography.

Buying Stuff on Sale

How many times have you bought something that you didn't even know you wanted before you saw it on sale at the store? I know that I have been guilty of the crime one too many times.

Buying things that you want and need on sale makes a lot of sense and yes, you're saving bucks. On the other hand.  buying things that you don't really need just because the price has just been slashed 50% doesn't make sense --- that would only mean that you spent money on something that you didn't even know that you needed before you set foot into the store.

Be aware of what's going on when you step foot into a mall or a store. Millions of money are spent researching the psychology of spending. There is a reason why stores are such comfortable places to be in --- they try to keep you there as long as they can. Remember, the longer you're in the store, the more likely you are to spend money on things that you don't really need.

The solution? Make a list of the things that you want. If there's any new product that you want to research on before buying, go to the store during a normal day when there isn't a sale (you're less likely to spend minus a price discount). Make your decision and then walk out of the store and wait for the next sale (in Malaysia, sales are often, so you wouldn't have to wait too long for the next one). Sometimes, if it's something you really didn't care about very much for in the very first place, you might even forget about wanting it at all in the very first place (yay! money saved!). If you still decide to make the purchase when the next sale rolls around, remember, anything not on your list shouldn't be purchased no matter how good a deal it is.

I normally go shopping to do my research on new products that I want to purchase during normal days. I have to make sure that I've done enough research before I purchase anything so that I won't be cluttering my home with things that don't work for me.

Recently, I've been going to drugstores to try out anti-aging serum testers. I know that I want to buy an anti-aging serum as my current serum looks like it will last me another month or so. Since there are so many brands and products out there, I'm using this time to do my research and make my decision. When the next sale comes around, I'll be ready to purchase the product that I want.

One thing to note: The product that I'll be buying may not be the cheapest on the market. The cheapest product may not be the best product (nobody wants premature wrinkles.... hey, nobody wants wrinkles, period!) as I'm making an investment on my skin and how I look (yes, vain thought, I know!). This will be a long term investment in me!!! Why wait for a sale, you ask? Well, that will be when I'll be purchasing a product of value and one that I need at a lower price and thus saving money! 

nail trimmer

i keep losing my nail clippers... yup, don't know where they're all hiding.  i had to go out and buy another nail trimmer since my nails were getting really long and they were getting to the point where they were bothering me and getting in the way of me using the keyboard comfortably. I got this set from Daiso (where else???) for RM5.  i figured that i might as well get the whole set since it was going at the same price as purchasing just the trimmer.  a spare tweezers might come in useful on those days that i can't locate my existing ones!  hopefully i won't misplace this set!

IT Fair in Mid Valley

Thought I was early for the IT Fair in Mid Valley (I arrived at 10:45 AM for the 11 AM opening) but it seemed as if the rest of the world beat me to it (check out the pic)! People were waiting in front of the still closed shutters!!!

I purchased the three user Kaspersky Anti Virus programme for RM72 (normal price RM99). It's another investment on my business.