That was what the news was saying in London last night.
I landed on Friday morning, and pretty much have been working and battling jetlag since i got here!
Well, at least i’m working in a different city instead of KL (tho i wish i was in KL for the KBF stall we opened at Seek & Keep).
See what i mean about wanting to split myself in two!?
Or a teleport machine at least…
When i left KL the weather in London was said to be 11°C and rainy (no surprise there)
but when i arrived… it was 20°C and sunny all day! Weird!
And it’s sunny today too! I didn’t even bring a single pair out of my MANY sunglasses -_- cos i forgot and it wasn’t top of my priority list to remember…
Besides being cooped in working while it’s so wonderfully sunny out, i did accompany my Mama to Waitrose cos she wanted to cook us dinner and i wanted to spend some time learning the recipes from her. She’s 85 and walks with a 3-wheeler now, but she’s doing so much better than when i saw her last spring. I’m really happy to be here to see my family… this was the whole point i stopped by London seeing i’m ‘in the neighbourhood’ to go to Paris next week.
Workwise, I’ve been spending hours sorting out orders for party stock for The Ship, praying customs won’t give us problems, checking up on how sales are doing in Seek & Keep, sending emails for other jobs we’re securing for 2015… poor Sweet Ee and Weng Yee, i’ve been totally overworking them the past few days. Thank you for being so awesome, dinner on me when we’re all together again!!!
Ok i’ve been up since 8:30am working, and it’s time to go out and play with Yishyene! Yay!!!
It’s gonna be a AWESOME COLOURFUL weekend everyone!! You want to know why??
Because KinkyBlueFairy will once again be at Seek & Keep @ BSC!!
We’ve been busying ourselves sourcing for all the fun stuff we WISH we had! Had to go through many different channels but we did it! And the stocks have arrived just in time for us to pack up for this month’s Seek and Keep market, which starts tomorrow!
This time around, we are introducing lots of new products such as decorative garlands, KinkyBlueFairy diffraction glasses, party supplies, animal masks, colourful leis, etc. Our office looked like a crazy fairyland while we were sorting everything out :p
Our very own diffraction glasses that come in single, double, and glow-in-the-dark frames; in different colours and lenses. These diffraction glasses are perfect for raves, parties and generally any time you need a new outlook in life =D.
We brought them to Fat Spoon for lunch today! It looks even BETTER with lights, LED toys (we are selling those too!), or even under broad daylight.
This unicorn mask only comes in limited quantities and we’re already receiving orders! If you’d like to pre-order some, look for Sweet Ee and ask her! For last minute Halloween-shoppers, fret not about not having the perfect costume cos we just might have the best solution for you!
HUGE tulle hairband.
We are in love with this huge bow headband on the right.
Bored of the typical nurse, pirate, or witch costume? Try our full set Hawaiian costume this time for Halloween, or even pool party! Full set comes with a flower crown, 2 flower bracelets, a lei, flower bikini top and hula skirt (we didn’t have time to take a shot of us wearing the whole set.) If you’re looking for it to be a bit simpler, we sell individual leis in other colours too!
We’ve always wondered why there aren’t any cute tutu skirts for us grown-ups. So we decided to sell one ourselves. This muted hi-lo tutu skirt comes in limited quantities, so grab it before it’s out!
If you love hosting house parties, come check out our colourful bird picks, bird ceramic knives, colourful fruit spoons, and Imagine kaleidoscopes. Don’t bore your guests with the same old partyware!
There’s nothing better in life than having a beer while you’re in the pool. Grab our flamingo floaties to keep your beers floating right next to you so you can stay in the water without holding on to your beer (yes, our arms get tired sometimes).
We were so overwhelmed by all the positive feedback from our gymnast ribbons in the last Seek & Keep that we decided to bring more in this time! Expect nicer colours (cause lots of you wanted the rainbow ones), and child-sized gymnast ribbons.
Don’t feel left out craft junkies! We’re also bringing different varieties of DIY garlands and decorations. There are clouds, rainbows, and lots of colourful paper options!
Excited yet!? Come and check out our stall this weekend.
We’ll be on the concourse area from 10am-9pm from Friday till Sunday.
Just look out for the most colourful shop in the mall!
Seek & Keep market will be at Bangsar Shopping Centre
from 31st of Oct till 2nd of November, 10am to 9pm.
I popped by the Alexander Wang for H&M media preview at their Lot 10 outlet. It’s really just an excuse to hang out with the other fashion media, feast on yummy canapes from Nathalie’s Gourmet (i headed straight for the food first), play dress up, take pictures, laugh, and groove to the same MJ song they played over and over again (thanks for making it stick in my head guys…). This is one of those fun get-togethers that constitutes as work 😀
I got coerced into trying on a couple of outfits, wasn’t feeling very up to it at first cos i’d just finished a trying week in Sydney and the Love Bonito event was the night before…
Ok that bandage top is really hot. The way it’s cut gels perfectly with the curve’s of one’s body… i might just get it.
As i was sitting on Cammy’s balcony talking to her on Saturday night, i suddenly felt so GRATEFUL for my life.
I felt grateful for having a friend like her. And then i thought about ALL my friends, and realise, i’m so fortunate! I have so many people that i love so much.
I have a family that i wish i would see more of.
I have a home i’m very comfortable in, and about to move into a bigger home which will be my personal super colourful land of peace, play and joy.
I’ve created a job for myself doing what i love.
The more you focus on the good, the more good will become of it.
I learnt (probably at Awesomeness Fest) that giving gratitude daily was a beneficial practice.
So i started making an effort to think about all the things i was grateful for every morning.
OK sometimes i skipped a morning if i was rushing, but gradually it grew into being happy and thankful for everything around me all day.
I’d walk to my car every morning now, and go, “Hi Stacey! Oh my god you’re so beautiful. I just can’t get over it. Ready to go!?” I’ve had her for almost two years (come Christmas) but it’s only now that i’ve started to feel really grateful that she’s mine and i’m hers.
I’m now grateful for my Chinese name. I recently changed my name on FB cos i was thinking about my grandmother, and the Chinese name she gave me, and how i don’t even use it on my FB nor namecards. I’d previously put my confirmation name “Kirsten” to differentiate me from other Joyce Wongs in KL. (There are a handful… one’s in the marketing dpt of a fashion mag, my friend’s mum’s name is Joyce Wong, and there’s a fashion designer called Joyce Wong.)
I’m so grateful for my family. They’ve each taught me so many great lessons about my life.
I’m even grateful to be HAPPY. I sometimes wake up in the morning because a happy song is playing in my head. Do you know how wonderful that feels? Once, i jumped out of bed and flung my arms to the ceiling as if to hug the Universe cos i was so happy for a new day!
I’ve started feeling grateful for each moment (i know… it sounds really corny) but by being grateful for each experience, i relish in it and try to ensure i do everything i want and say everything i mean.
There’s this line that’s stuck in my head from Kute Blackson‘s speech when i watched him on stage. He shared with us that he lives to a point where at the end of each day, he can say to himself, “It’s a good fucking day to die.” Because by acting on something that COMPELS you (it’s called your intuition) you’re being your true self. (Of course, that doesn’t mean you go around being an asshole) What i mean is that you don’t hold back on any expression of self.
I’m so happy that my friends and i don’t hold back with love. We tell each other “i love you” all the time. We say it in our whatsapp messages, on the phone, when we say bye… Girls and guys alike. And that is it – love. LOVE is the essence of gratitude. Being able to look at every thing, person, experience and inside one’s self; and think clearly, “I love you.”
I love you. Three individual words that that when said in its sequence, run on a specific vibration that can change the world.
I love you. Say it more and more.
To yourself, to others, to anything and everything.
And watch your world change.
Read about the spectacular launch of the OMEGA De Ville Butterfly i attended *here*
The day after the launch, we had a press conference to interview Nicole Kidman.
Yes yes i’ve received so many comments that she’s so tall and i should’ve worn my heels. The truth is that i was super hungover from the big party the night prior, and wanted to be comfortable wearing my flats that morning XD
Nicole is such a beautiful person… and true beauty radiates from within. Her true beauty is so quietly powerful that it can stun a whole room into awe, no joke. It was an immense pleasure to meet her, and discovering that she’s such a sweet LOVELY being.
All the media were divided into three groups for the interview sessions, and i personally feel that i was in the most interesting one… her answers at times were emotional, due to the recent passing of her father. For a brief moment her eyes went extra shiny and she almost cried, and the room froze cos nobody knew what to do. I was almost in tears watching her and felt like running up to give her a big hug! I probably should have now that i look back. Who cares what a freak people will think i am. When someone is sad you hug them!
Anyway, she regained her composure magnificently and continued the session. I couldn’t help nodding my head at some of her answers. She’s got it, you know? She gets life. Which is probably why she’s so successful.
Enjoy reading her answers, i definitely thoroughly enjoyed listening to them.
Asia’s the most important market for OMEGA and you have been their face for ten years. Why do you think you have so much appeal for the consumers of the brand and what do you think are nowadays the standards of beauty?
I don’t know why. I know that I believe in their products. I believe in their watches and I’ve had an incredible relationship for a decade now, which is amazing. And so I can speak very passionately about the watches and the authenticity of them as a company and the way in which they – I mean, the exquisite craftsmanship that goes into their watches so . . . I think the world is important to them, not just Asia. I think obviously they do very, very well. They’re sort of the supreme brand in terms of watches. I know all my girlfriends are always asking, “Can you get me a watch?” Which is a good sign, right? And the other question was . . . ?
What do you think nowadays is the standard of beauty?
I think it’s diverse. I think beauty now is so – the great thing is that because we have so much access to so much information and therefore, the world is so much smaller, what we consider to conform to “beautiful” has completely broadened. And that’s great and important because beauty is always, as they say, in the eyes of the beholder and ultimately, beauty is who you are. And I think everyone would say that – that you meet someone who looks fantastic, but then you get to know them and suddenly not so good. And the opposite. Somebody that you get to know, you see their inner light, the more and more appealing and the more and more beautiful they get and ultimately, that is the most important thing.
Speaking of beauty, can we ask about your secret of not aging at all?
I feel like I’m aging. I find the travel a lot harder now as I get older. I don’t sleep as well as I used to. It’s those sorts of things. I don’t if that’s just – I don’t know what that is but I attribute it to aging. The thing I love about being older and particularly about being an older mother is the patience that you get and the wisdom that comes with that and I love having mothered children in my early 20s and now mothering children in my mid-40s. What I’ve learned as a woman and as a human being is so beneficial to my ability now to raise my children. On the flip side of that, you don’t have the energy. The physical energy. You have the mental energy.
How do you see your life after so much success today?
I look around and I see that I have seen the industry and I have seen the world change over the last couple of decades. I mean when I became, I suppose, really well known internationally, was around Moulin Rouge. That would have been when I was probably at the height of my fame, so to speak. And that was a while ago now and I’ve seen the industry morph and change. There’s a huge benefit in that because I’m able to know why I do it which is because it’s in my blood. And it’s a passion and I love to act. Because I don’t have to act anymore. I could choose not to. But I love it. And how I judge success – Arianna Huffington wrote a fantastic book about this just recently – where success is not power and money and all of the things that you’re running yourself into the ground. But it is how you appreciate life and how you live your life and how you’re able to rest. And how you enjoy your time off, which not enough of us have any more. I so know even with my phone I’m like, “Oh, I’ll just do this one more text. Oh, I’ll quickly get this one more thing. Oh, I’ll just . . .” And before you know it, the two hours you would have spent with your children, you’re quickly finishing and now I don’t do that. I’ll go, “No. I’m not going to do that.” And we have – my husband and I –try to do weekends where we say there’s a tech-free weekend, which is an amazing thing to do. At first it’s really hard. With one of you sneaking it. But ultimately, what it does is it brings you closer together and it makes you all talk and spend more time, which we all need. It’s a great thing to always be discussing: what ultimately is success? As this whole world changes so rapidly, and we know it all is and we can basically work 24/7 if we want.
After such a long and prosperous show business career, what’s next?
I’m doing a film where I do – I tend to do films that are either a short period of time or smaller roles now in places that I’m interested in taking my children. So I’m doing a film called Genius, which is with Jude Law and Colin Firth, again. And I have a film coming out called Before I Go To Sleep, which came out in England but it’s coming out around the world over the next couple of months. It’s a thriller and I love thrillers. And then I have a kids’ film coming out called Paddington Bear, which is, I have to say, adorable. And I also do a lot of work for UN Women. So I have a field trip planned for the beginning of next year for them and they have a big day on the 25th of November, which is the day where they do functions in terms of cinema for peace and the thing that I’m involved in which is violence against women and eradicating that so . . . and that’s something that I really love to do and I also do a lot of raising money for children’s hospitals, particularly for oncology for children who have gone through cancer treatments and things like that, which is a big thing that I do in terms of fundraising. That’s my future.
What has been the most fulfilling aspect of your decade-long relationship with OMEGA?
Just that they are who they say they are. They have incredible quality as anyone who has bought one of their watches knows. It lasts. They have integrity, which is what you want, particularly when you’re purchasing something like a watch. So everything that they are personally, they are in terms of their product as well. And that’s the greatest endorsement you can give a company. And as you’ve seen, even just doing something like this, they do it perfectly and with such class and that’s how they make their watches and you can’t say anything more about them other than that they’re quality. They’re also very philanthropic. They’ve been involved in UN Women for me. They’ve done a number of events where they will also make sure that they’re giving back – particularly in terms of everybody’s different charities. They have another one now, Orbis, which is a plane that flies around the world delivering eye care to people with treatable and preventable blindness. I’m going to get involved with that a little bit more as well. I really believe in karma for a company, and I think their karma’s really good.
How do you feel when you put on an OMEGA watch?
There’s so many different types of watches – that’s what so beautiful. Say this, which is the De Ville Butterfly, it has the butterflies on it I feel is incredibly feminine and light and the Ladymatic just has – I think that is opulent. I mean you wear that and people stop me in the streets (because of it). They see that and they go . . . It’s an exquisite watch; whereas this is something you can where with a t-shirt but it’s chic. It’s very, very chic.
If there’s a piece of advice that you could give your twenty-something or thirty-something self, what would it be?
This is a think I always say and I so apply now because I’ve been reminded of it in the past few weeks. I’ve gone through a tragedy for our family, which has absolutely shattered our family. That is, live in the moment because you never know what’s going to happen. And having just lost my father, which is just devastating for me because I was so close to him, just live. And he lived like that. He was so joyful and I can sometimes worry and have more of that thing about worrying about the part, worrying about my children, he would always be, “Nicci, don’t worry.” And I so take that to heart now. He would just say, “Nicci, be happy.” And that is how I’ve pledged to live my life from this point on because of him and what he gave me. And he was also – and I speak about this because it’s important for me because I’m his legacy now – he was also about the underdog. He was about always taking care of people who didn’t have as much or who were less fortunate. He was a psychologist. He was a giver. And that is what I hope he’s given me and my sister and that’s what we always say we will continue to do. We will live the way he lived, which was just, I had an incredible father.
That beautiful lesson that your dad taught you to be happy, what do you do when you want to cheer yourself up?
Hug my children. Kiss my husband. Make love, not war. And really, the simplest things can give so much joy for me. That’s one of the great things getting older. I don’t need that much. I can look at a sunrise. I can go for a swim in the ocean, that makes my day. I can go and play in the park with my kids and when you’re 17, that’s like (groans). But at this age, that’s just joyful for me. And to see them I think also part of getting older is seeing the joy in others. And so much is being able to see them having fun and love life and love things. That’s why we always do big Christmases and I’m doing a big Hallowe’en party and I just love seeing their excitement. That would be – my husband always says that, he says, “You always love seeing other people have a great time” but that’s just me. I’m like that. That’s probably why I’m an actor too because I like to see other people laugh and enjoy themselves and that gives me joy. That’s enough for me.
What is the main thing you learned from your role in UNIFEM and UN Women?
The extraordinary strength of the human spirit. That even under enormous duress and even under enormous pain and the way in which women who I’ve interviewed and talked to have had things done to them that you feel you would never survive, and they do and those people are the true heroes. Those people get to somehow move from being a victim to a survivor and it’s an extraordinary feat. Something that I’m also really interested in in terms of filmmaking is the human spirit and the way in which we can survive because the strength of human beings is extraordinary. Even under enormous duress and what we can go through and still come out the other end and I’m fascinated by that, artistically, emotionally, psychologically and I’ve seen women in many – I’ve travelled the world and interviewed women who’ve been victims of war crimes, been abused, had domestic abuse and still managed to seize the day. Still managed to push forward and accept the gift of life.
It makes you stronger.
I don’t even know if it’s stronger. It some sort of way in which there’s an ability to grasp why we’re here and a purpose, I suppose is what really I hear. And a lot of that purpose is giving back and helping other people.
Is it easy to be part of a couple with two famous partners?
I think if there is an enormous amount of love. Yes, it’s not even is it easy or hard, it’s just meant to be. And I am fortunate that I have a partner who is just an extraordinary man and that makes it incredibly easy. It makes me very, very grateful too.
