New Kitchen, New Job

Completed kitchen

Built in bookcase in the old dining area.. to hide a gas pipe!

The kitchen is well and truly done today after the gas man came and completed the final 1% of the reno works - connecting the gas supply.

It couldn't have been completed at a better time! I start work this Thursday afternoon with a client meeting. Ironically, it is the client I sought to escape from for a while by skipping from a PR agency to an experience marketing agency. Thankfully, I'll be working with nice client contacts here and this is just one project. I will still get to work on a variety of clients, which was the main reason I went back to an agency. It's tiring and you're at the mercy of clients but you really get to learn a lot and focus on getting work done rather than play internal politics. I've never been good at games or pretense.

With the kitchen done and house 90% in order, I feel that it's about time to go back to work. I'll run out household things to do soon. As it is, the buying of lights, sinks, taps etc etc was driving me slightly crazy. I don't think I want to repeat the experience any time soon!

Happy Birthday Ms Qoo!!!

Today is Ms Qoo's birthday. Though I miss the chance to celebrate it with her this year, I hope she's having a great time with family and friends in Beijing on this special day.

Happy birthday dear friend. Stay as beautiful in body, mind and soul as you've always been.

Missing you!

My first attempt at scrapbooking

Inspired by Miss Qoo and by the gorgeous bits and pieces at The Paper Market and NBC Japanese stationery shop, I decided to give scrapbooking a whirl.

Um... not very successful given I bought a base piece that had too many words!

Did not stick a photo on the page as this is meant to be sent to a friend for her to insert her own upcoming wedding pix...With a little ingenuity, I managed to create photo placeholders which are hidden by the 3D stickers.

Ah well! I learnt a few things from this first try. Maybe better ideas ( and end results) the next time.

Did I tell you about the day I delivered a plasma TV?

We bought this TV from Harvey Norman a couple of days after we got home. There wasn't any stock available and we were told it would arrive perhaps on Valentine's Day... a good 14 days after we paid for it. Dan and I shrugged and said ok. Dan said WE'd collect it ourselves. I raised my eyebrows at that thinking " you mean me?"

Couple days later, I got a call informing me that the TV was available for collection. Dan said, "go get it". I thought, " Told me so". So I proceed to enlist my dad's help to pick me ( and the TV) up at Millenia on XX day, XX time.

I got there early and my heart nearly stopped when I saw the box containing the TV.

1. It was 3/4 as tall as me ( placed on the side)

2. Stated on the side : "Box & Contents weigh 29kg"

First thought that came to mind : "SHEEEEEET! This **** thing weighs more than half of me!!! How the hell am I going to bring it to the car pickup, load it into the car, then after that, bring it up to the house????????"

After a lot of wheedling with the staff to help me move it to the pick up porch, muscle straining, box maneuvering and plenty of sweat, my dad and I managed to bring it home. I want to collect $50 from Daniel for delivery. Dammit.

what a mess...

BEFORE: Taken in 2008 before the house got a new coat of paint.

Home reno is tiring... I had to search for sinks, taps, lights, ceiling fans ... spend hours at Ikea with Daniel seeking inspiration for storage ideas... decide on laminates... ensure that the white paint I asked for is indeed pristine white.

And so far, this is what I have to show for it... ( ok, these pictures were taken randomly with my mobile. It's so messy I can't bring myself to photograph anything)

This is the bedroom after they tore down the built in cabinets

This is the kitchen mid-way of being taken apart

The mess seen from the living room.

Part of the wall is being taken down and replaced with doors...

This is the kitchen as of today.

If you're wondering why it's so grey, that's because it's going to have

2 plain concrete walls, dark grey floor tiles, one blue tiled wall and white cupboards.

Reminds me of Greece!