Improvise!

Trend guru, Faith Popcorn, predicted that this year it's cooler not to spend. Excess is out - excess spending, excess stuff, excess clamoring for recognized brands and labels - all out! As economies gradually slow down in reaction to the US market, I think that this is more of a necessity than a fad! Coincidentally, buying less is the motto that I've adopted as a new year resolution (again, out of need rather than choice!).

However, I'm not complaining at all. In fact, I think this restraint has been very good for our growth. Limiting the number of times we eat out has been beneficial for our health (we tend to eat healthily at home - salads, sandwiches) and as well as wealth - time wise. Eating at home saves us traveling time to and fro eatery and the wasted time we would undoubtedly spend window-shopping when we are out. Not eating out as often also helps us to appreciate more the times when we do.

This simple-living principle has also extended to how we approach things that are quasi-broken. Two evenings ago, our reading lamp which I like alot broke. Well, it didn't quite break enough for us to trash it (its base broke but otherwise functioning as it should as a lamp). So, I thought of a way to salvage it. I found that I've an extra vase and some smooth stones that have fallen out of favor. So, the result is wht you see in the pix below. What do you think?
Oh, sorry if I'm still in home decor mood but when we were in Ikea, we came across this lovely way to decorate with fabric - gave me ideas on how to use those sheer saris I have tonnes of!

"I shop, therefore I am!"

Husband and I received a postcard invitation from Ikea in the mail last week to their sale preview. Preview for exclusive customers (read: customers who've spent way too much at Ikea) starts at 8am and the sale will be opened to the public by 10am. While we're never those who'd drive to Best Buy on Black Friday to get 50% off last season's camera when we lived in the United States, we decided that since we would need new furniture when we move to our new apartment in May, we might as well check out the deals.

So, unlike most days when it would be impossible to get me out of bed anytime before 7:30 am, today we got up promptly 7, got dressed, made coffee and quickly downed a cup before taking two buses and a train to Ikea's annual sale. In fact, I've never seen husband so keen about a shopping trip before!

Oh, by the way, as we were waiting for our train, I kept asking myself if I would be able to live with lack of sleep in view of our baby plans...

Anyhow, we were surprised that there was no line outside the mall waiting to get in. Typically, Singaporeans would take the day off work just to cash in on some supposedly good deals. We arrived around 8:30am, looked around, found that none we wanted were on sale, and we were out of there by 9:15. So much for the gung- ho-ness! I should have known as, in the past, I never find what I want to be on sale at Ikea as the items coveted are typically new arrivals.

Now, this is not a commentary on how bad the sale at Ikea is (in fact, prices at Ikea, as you all know, are unbeatable for their design and quality) but on how much good advertising influences our behavior despite the fact that our experience tells us otherwise. So much of what drives the retail economy of Singapore is pure marketing ingenuity - convincing us that our wants are really our needs and creating new needs that we never knew we had! Is this a bad thing, though? Is succumbing to our wants always bad? What kind of effect would it have our soul?

Ahh...a question to ponder over the weekend...

Scaling down is hard to do

It was a decision most difficult for us to make but we have decided on an apartment that is half the size of where we are now. With the real estate market here still going strong, it does not look like we'd be able to get anything close to what we have now anytime soon.

It has been reported that moving is one of the most stressful events in one's life - and I believe it. When we moved to Singapore from the US three years ago, I lost tonnes of hair during those few months from stress! Now that my hair is finally growing back, we've to move again!

We need to move out of our apartment by the end of May but we really have to start packing now, in view of the amount of stuff we have. Times like these, we find ourselves asking, "Why did I get this leather jacket again?" when we come across our leather jackets all moldy from the lack of use and humidity here in tropical Singapore. Or, "What was I thinking???" as I'm rediscover my 3-inch stiletto black heels which I've only attempted to wear once - three years ago! You'd also hear me say to my husband caustically as I find his uncanny CD collection, "If only I knew you like this kind of music when we were dating!!!"

Anyhow, as a staunch believer in checklists, I revel in the fact that life-savers such as the Real Simple magazine exists. Their website offers tonnes of FREE checklists and resources. I've also been able to find exciting decor inspiration for small spaces from sites like www.apartmenttherapy.com. Finally, I'm able to put some of my design ideas for those fabric and saris that I lugged back from Madras, India to real use...yay!

Knock-off identity

Husband and I have just returned from a week-long visit at my parents. Other than receiving the usual subtle but persistent promptings to have a baby, from the family, I inherited a designer purse from an aunt who lives in the UK.

Now, I've never really owned a high-end designer purse. Okay, I have had handbags by Tommy Hilfiger or even Donna Karan but I would hardly consider them "designer" purses as none of them cost any more than $100. I also have had a friend who bought me a knock-off Mulberry and an Hermes wallet but then, these don't count.

So, safe to say, this handbag I've inherited is really the first real designer bag I own. And, therein lies my skepticism. First, it's a Louis Vuitton. Do you know how many LV replicas there are out in the market??? Zillions! In fact, it's so common that whenever we see someone carrying an LV, we would immediately discount it as a fake - so, it's fake unless proven genuine. Second, it's an LV Noe - another common model that is replicated. I can tell you already that whoever sees me with my Noe would almost immediately assume that it's a knock-off! Third, and most suspiciously, when I first got the bag, I look at its inside and discovered that it has no tag whatsoever to identify its authenticity. And, being a real skeptical rookie, I was convinced that it's a copy. However, my aunt left message that the bag is indeed the real thing - and I do have reasons to believe her as she's one of those who would spend thousands on such things.

Therefore, the minute I got home, I did what most people would do to clarify or authenticate anything under the sun - I Googled! After spending almost two hours in cyberspace and in total oblivion of my husband, I looked up from my computer and announced that my newly acquired purse is in fact genuine!This of course led me to further question myself why it was so important that the purse is a genuine designer item. And a larger question is why do some people yearn for designer goods so much that they would go to the extent of buying knock-offs when they can't afford the real thing. Do we think that somehow having a G or CC insignia on our purses or wallets would somehow elevate us as a person? And how far would we go in impressing those around us with our designer labels? Or do we somehow believe that a Fendi label would somehow raise our socioeconomic identity in some way? Hmmm... As far as I know now, my genuine LV Noe is great for lugging my new MacBook around as it was initially designed to bag bottles of champagne back in 1932 (holds 5 each). (I do love the historical part of the story behind most labels!)