Seeing our last holiday together was Bali in March,
Clem and i decided to take off to Tioman for a short holiday,
before flying to Shanghai to meet his mom + stepfather.
No air con room was available when we booked,
save for the RM170 one which i thought was so not worth it.
So we stayed in the sea view room for RM100 a night.
View from our door
Breakfast is the only meal where we have clashing issues at times.
He always wants Western – toast, eggs, sausages, etc.
I always want Asian – gravy! oil! rice!
Two little island boys ventured near us (probably mesmerized by all the colourful things i had in hand)
so i gave them some chocolate i had in my bag.
Watched them munch it, thinking to myself they have no idea that the choc was from Tuscany.
We took a boat to Monkey Bay, which is more private and where we spent 2 afternoons.
Packed a cooler of beer,
lots of colourful scarves,
pastels + paper, food, snacks,
etc.
Secondly, what i’m about to write may cause obsession.
The sort of obsession that comes in different forms –
whether in a small seed of thought that sticks in your head…
or the type that grabs your attention and makes you clutch at your heart.
It’s also a type of obsession that sometimes causes butterflies in your tummy,
as if you just met your one True Love.
Before you continue reading my blog,
i just want to say that:
I, Joyce Wong, am not responsible
for any irreparable damage you do to your wallet. I can only be responsible for mine.
If you can guess, i’m talking about shopping.
SHOPPING.
The one thing that ALL WOMEN CANNOT RESIST. (okay, i met ONE female in my ENTIRE life that didn’t like shopping. That was weird.)
From the moment i started earning my own money at 16,
i’ve been shopping like a crazed person.
My room looks like a clothes warehouse.
Even my own father has suggested i rent a warehouse
to STORE my clothes/shoes/accs. -_-
And for a shopaholic like myself,
one thing i always always appreciate,
is SALE.
The second holy word after ‘shopping’.
I think if/when i have a child, one of the first words she will learn, is SALE.
Just last week, i was introduced to the UOB Lady’s Card (credit card).
And as i was being introduced to the card privileges,
i could feel my heart fluttering slightly.
Cos i was afraid.
And elated, at the same time.
I’m sure many of you can relate with me here…
Personally, i think this card will change women in Malaysia forever.
Wah, so drama-rama, says you.
But that’s the thought that went through my head!
If you read till the end of this post, and disagree…
(…I was going to say THEN I’LL PERSONALLY SEND YOU ONE OF MY BELOVED SCARVES!
but then i thought about how long i took to achieve my scarf collection
and what if ppl said otherwise just to get a scarf :p)
ANYWAY
The privileges for this UOB Lady’s Card is so brilliant,
cos it never seems to end!
One of my favourite promotions it offers, involves shoes.
And i love shoes.
These are not even all of them…
i was too lazy to fetch the other pairs from the rack outside the house,
in my car,
and i didn’t include any of my sneakers >.<
There’s this promo where you get 25% of what you purchase at 10 participating shoe outlets, back in cash!
As long as:
– you use the UOB Lady’s Card to pay for a minimum purchase of RM80 in a single transaction at any of the participating shoe brands on Wednesdays
– you swipe a minimum of RM500 per month (can be used for other retail transactions)
You get 25% cash back from any of their participating shoe outlets!
See more information about the promotion *here*
I’m trying not to think of all the $ i could’ve saved seeing i bought so many pairs from Aldo and Nine West -_-
(Of course, Wednesday will also be decreed Shoe Shopping Day now)
Other participating outlets include nose, Primavera, Hush Puppies footwear, Summit Shoes, Scholl and Esarli.
This is part of their Wonderful Wednesdays campaign,
which also includes “Buy 1 Get 1 Free” promos at F&B and beauty outlets!
Cathay Cineplexes – Buy 1 Get 1 Free Platinum Suite Movie Ticket (UOB Lady’s Platinum Card Members only) & Buy Any Normal Seat Movie Ticket & Free 1 Small Popcorn set (this is open for all UOB Lady’s Cardmembers) Theobroma Chocolate Lounge – Buy 1 Get 1 Free any chocolate drink Paddington House of Pancakes – Buy 1 Get 1 Free Pancake (and we know there are loads!) Lecka-Lecka – Buy 1 Get 1 Free Triple Scoop Gelato at RM9.90 Denise The Wine Shop – Buy 1 Get 1 Free house pouring glass/UOB Lady’s Bottle of the Month & Free first glass of house pouring every 1st Wed of the month
The wine promo caught my eye…
cos i buy a fair number of bottles of wine every month!
Clarins – Buy 1 Get 1 Free Facial Treatment AmanteNail Spa & Body Care – Buy 1 Manicure at RM23 Get Free 1 Express Pedicure Jojoba International – Buy 1 Get 1 Free Spa Package (75 mins) + 1 Free foot bath Bella Luna – Buy 1 Facial, Free 1 Herbal Bath + 1 eye treatment + 1 neck treatment
I thought the Clarins one is super value…
cos i’ve gone for facials there before and love them.
So it would be like getting them for half price now!
Besides Wonderful Wednesdays,
there are hundreds of participating outlets that can be used with the UOB Lady’s Card every single day.
For FASHION,
there are over 100 outlets that give you 10%-20% discount every time you shop there,
i.e. nichii, Axxezz. Bonita, Carlo Rino. Che Che New York, Cuffz, Edmundser, E’tho, Focus Point, Glampot Boutique.
But that’s not the best part.
I think the best is all the boutiques in Bangsar they managed to bring on board!
Called Bangsar Fashion Paradise, it’s a fashion zone where you can get discounts from all participating stores!
You can get mostly around 20% off purchases from boutiques like:
BACI, Bello Senses, Cats Whiskers, Cloth & Sash, Dressed to the nine, Goss:ps, Lush Icon, Moca, Mooie, Mori Pin, Musse, mydressroom, Nurita Harith, OWL, Purpledotz, Rosso, Sevendays, Sometime, and T-JOUE!
For BEAUTY, there are over 300 participating outlets so i won’t go into them all.
You’ll receive discounts and promos from places like A Cut Above, Jantzen Hair Salon, Colour Culture, Acca Kappa, Peek A Boo, Marie France Bodyline, Sothys, etc.
Trust me, it’s a lot.
One example would be – at Jantzen Hair Salon, you only pay RM10 for Wash & Blow. RM10!
I also quite like the discounts women can get forHEALTH,
i.e.
at Pathlab, you can get a UOB Lady’s Caring Heath Screen @ RM99 instead of RM150 + complimentary breast tumor marker,
and special rates at hospitals like Gleneagles KL, and Pantai Hospital.
It can be pretty taxing to remember the hundreds of offers they have for us,
hence the use of UOB Lady’s Soulmate – a mobile app that will help us keep track of it all!
The application runs on Android, iPhone, Symbian and Blackberry platforms.
You can search these promotions using list, map or augmented reality views,
use the CabCall to call for a taxi quickly,
or the Organizer function to keep track of your schedule, shopping lists & important contacts.
I like how you can use GPS to see what promotions are near you,
how far you have to walk
and the detailed rundown on what the promotions are!
This can even be used when you’re in Singapore and Thailand!
I am sure you’re as excited as I am by now.
Currently, there’s a promotion going on for new sign ups for UOB Lady’s Card as well as existing cardmembers.
Yup.
UOB is giving out a FREE Coach bag or accessory every single day!
If you are already an existing UOB Lady’s cardmember, from now till 30th Sept,
every minimum RM50 swipe on your UOB Lady’s Card gives you a chance to win.
Swipe as many times as you wish. The more you swipe, the higher your chances of winning.
NEW UOB Lady’s Card members will have it a bit better though!
A new cardmember that swipes a minimum of RM50 (within 30 days from card approval date), will get 20 contest entries! (From thereafter, one RM50 swipe = 1 entry)
ONE MORE THING that i wanted to add in (there was quite a lot i missed out cos it’s really just too much to put it all down!)
is the UOB Lady’s Card Protection Plans.
I don’t have a cc that has this… and i’d definitely have more peace of mind seeing how often us women get robbed / lose our handbags!
For the Purchase Protection Plan,
you get free purchase protection for a year on whatever purchases you make,
including coverage up to RM7,500 against theft or accidental damage (within 30 days from date of purchase)
Can you imagine if you had insurance for something new you bought?
This will relieve us of any heartache if something happened!
You also get free Wallet Guard Protection for 1 year,
meaning if you lost your handbag/wallet,
you get coverage up to RM500 (cos you know how you have to pay a fine for losing your IC, etc right?)
Check out more *here*
I thought that was awesome.
Along with all the discounts we get of course *cough*
Save all the hassle to apply as UOB consultants can always call you up.
You just need to enter your details here.
The best part of the this is at the same time when you enter your details,
you also get a chance to win a HP Mini Laptop.
This is only for Malaysians above 21 years old.
Please include your correct information because you will be contacted through phone if you’re the winner.
What are you waiting for, sign up for UOB Lady’s card today!
While AshleyTheMonkey and i were having lunch this week,
she updated me on her wedding plans and costs.
After seeing her stress over her wedding for the past few months,
i’m seriously considering NEVER having a wedding.
Ever.
It doesn’t seem like something i’d ENJOY having.
“How much does your whole wedding cost?” “Not counting the Chinese wedding dinner, –K. Expensive right!”
“Damn! *pauses for thought* I’d rather take the money and have a reallly nice holiday and forget about the wedding!” “Hey. That’s the same amount you spent in UK okay -_-“
“… *silence/nothing to say*…“
I don’t know…
I know some people HAVE to have the wedding due to their families really wanting it,
and it’s tradition and stuff.
But since when have i been a person of tradition anyway.
I’m just thinking that if i had a lump sum of money put aside to celebrate me being together with someone,
i’d rather take a freaking long holiday with him (for like, 6 months!) rather than spend it on a big party and having to invite hundreds of people,
some of which i’m sure i’ve never seen in half my life.
I’d just… rather not.
Preference, you know?
If i was crazy freaking awesomely rich
then SURE
a massive wedding would be of no bother to me.
Wedding planner, Vera Wang dress, BRING IT.
Do you remember the days of LD?
Well urm (after i calculated for a bit) if you’re an ’80s (or older) baby, you definitely would have!
LDs were the shiznit back then.
Weekly trips to the LD rental stores were on the same level of anticipation as rollerblading after school.
I remember being told most solemnly how one’s fingers should never touch the LD’s surface, resulting in me stretching my fingers to grasp it as best i could without dropping it as well (cos i thought it too troublesome to use both hands. Kids. Always doing things the more difficult way!)
A few years later came the VCD… which was better and smaller.
Followed by the DVD… which could hold more space, thus avoiding having to change VCDs halfway during the show (Remember that? Super potong stim man! We used to wait and see who would get up first :p)
More recently, we’ve got Blu-ray – sharper detail, better colours, clearer sound + faster clarity of motion – which is also easily available to us on Astro and in stores here.
And… what did you think was coming next?
I think we all know that sooner or later, whether we’re willing or not,
3D will make its way into our homes.
[click for larger view]
The big screen always paves the way to consumers’ desires for what they want at home.
And just like how we clamoured after a great surround sound experience,
or an HD flat screen TV… i think it’d be pretty soon when having the new PS3 is preceded by everyone saying they have a 3D TV at home.
I recall that watching Avatar in 3D was imperative to the experience of viewing the movie.
i.e. “Have you watched Avatar already?” “Yeah!”
“In 3D?” “… No…”
“Oh cheh. *reacts as if person watched Avatar halfway or something*3D is so MUCH better, you have to go watch it again.”
Right?!
I heard heaps of people doing that!
James Cameron stated that he put on hold the making of Avatar for years,
till the right technology came along to help create his perfect vision of it.
When it finally happened,
he worked with Panasonic 3D filming technology
to create one of the highest grossing films of all time ($2.7 billion)
and won 3 Academy Awards (Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction).
I didn’t know how involved Panasonic was in the film industry…
they even have a Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory (PHL) where Hollywood moviemakers turn to for consultation!
Now this is where it starts to get exciting for us non-Hollywood people.
Panasonic is embarking on a journey to provide people at home with 3D technology!
There are 2 ways in which we can receive 3D entertainment in our homes:
1. 3D broadcasts i.e. Sky 3D TV in UK (we don’t have it yet, but we will in time!)
2. 3D image software i.e. 3D Blu-ray Disc™ (this we can BUY )
Both need 3D Full HD Plasma TV + 3D eyewear
To let us learn more about 3D technology in our everyday lives;
there will be a 3D walkthrough experience event which will be very different and interesting,
as well as give us a thorough understanding of how 3D technology works.
Warning:
There are some terms that sound very zzzzz
but they’re things that we will ALL be familiar with,
so all the better you know some of them now!
Here are some characteristics of the Panasonic 3D Full HD Plasma TV:
Frame Sequential Technology consists of a sequence of alternating frames
– each successive frame carries the image meant for one or the other eye.
This means that if Frame number 1 contains the image for the left eye, then frame number 2 carries the image meant for the right eye, with frame number 3 again carrying the image for the left eye, and so on and so forth. [source]
And of course, the more frames per second, the better the clarity of the 3D Full HD TV.
It’s quite simple yet interesting how it works really!
The active-shutter eyewear used for viewing must sync with the 3D TV set to allow the correct eye to view the correct image at the precise time. [source]
The High-Precision 3D Eyewear operates in synchronisation with the alternating images,
resulting in sharper, crisper 3D moving images.
Crosstalk Reduction Technology shortens the luminescence time between frames
and minimizes double-image (ghosting) that occurs when left- and right-eye images are alternately displayed. [source]
I know right… Blacker Black? What *is* that?
I googled it and actually found forums where some people are OBSESSED with getting blacker blacks for their screens.
Panasonic’s Blacker Black Panel produces a dynamic contrast of 5,000,000:1
for extremely deep, rich blacks and vibrant colours
– even when viewing in brightly lit areas.
Look forward to 30th September 2010,
as Panasonic will be pushing off their 3D Campaign proving Panasonic as the best 3D technology in town.
Heck, Panasonic’s Viera 3D Full HD Plasma TV was already given the 2010 Best of CES Award,
not only as a 3D product, but best product overall!
“Woo… come and see this!” i yelled to Clem from the kitchen.
Made him peer at the chicken carcass i’d bought to make chinese herbal soup, so he could share my naive disgust.
It may sound silly, but true, that most city people don’t enter the world of livestock, carcasses, fruits and vegetables as others (others meaning those who cook haha).
Heck, i remember ClaudiaOnCrack’s reaction when we went to a village and she saw a rooster and a pineapple plant for the first time.
I *have* seen my maternal grandmother killing a chicken by slitting its throat over a drain before,
and for a young child, i sure as hell can remember the red blood dripping very clearly and abundantly!
I’d decided to attempt (you’re going to hear me use the word ‘attempt’ many times along with my posts on cooking. Cos they’re all attempts, lest they don’t work out) making herbal soup cos Clem and i were both having terrible food poisoning for 2 days.
And i thought some soup would be better than nothing for him to get down his throat cos he was refusing to eat like a little boy.
I also tried making 4 Heavenly Kings vege, this Chinese dish i absolutely adore and pay RM16 for (a tiny dish) every time i feel like it.
Didn’t take a picture of the raw carcass cos my hands were too messy and i wasn’t focusing on taking pictures!
Four-angled beans, ladies fingers + chilli
onion + garlic + aubergine
I actually liked how all the bits i threw away in the sink looked.
Different shapes, colours, textures and sizes!
Please don’t scold me if you think i’m cutting off bits i should be cooking
The veggie turned out exactly like the one i always buy… so i’m surprised how easy it was to cook cos i assumed Chinese food takes more skill and timing.
I was just banging balls trying my luck, cos there are no specific instructions with timing on recipes online.
Maybe this is the true Chinese in me coming out
My only problem is… i’m the only one who likes this dish.
And after using up all the veggie i bought to cook the dish twice (so i wouldn’t waste anything) i’ve got sick of eating it 4 times (4 portions) and don’t want to cook or even buy it anymore
So that’s that and i’ll have to think of something else to cook this week if i have time before Shanghai.
Was so tempted to throw in chicken’s feet cos i love it,
but knew Clem would refuse to touch the soup if i did, being the super anal kwailo who thinks Chinese people eat everything they can get their hands on, if i did.
I have to get a fine metal sieve so i can get all the small bits out before we drink it next time.
Yeah, can you believe it.
The next thing on my What I Want To Buy List is a metal sieve.
Cassie keeps on moving around in high places now that she’s older.
She was on the lights that day.
Now she’s on top the high kitchen cupboard and i can’t get her to come down.
