Tiny Budget, Big Ideas

So, back in November, I picked a quote about just plucking up the courage to do the things you want.

And then I went and did just that. 

So, amongst other exciting things this new year, I've got a new space to decorate! Yay!

The biggest thing I'd love to do with my space is to keep it as empty as I can.

Let's face it - I'm a messy person. And I need to have space for that mess to unfurl from my neatly packed moving boxes. Having way too much furniture is just going to make me feel really hemmed in. 

So here are my top 3 inspirations for planning my place:

1. As usual, Pinterest! 

Here's my board, called "the big move" where I'm constantly looking for creative ways to both fit all the stuff I have, and still feel like I've got a big airy space (when what I really have is the size of a closet).

Follow Ink's board .the big move. on Pinterest.

2. Ikea

I've been there so many times in the past couple of months, I think I've finally answered the question everyone I know has been asking for years - why the heck are there so many people there every freaking weekend?

But seriously, though. I've turned into one of those people who walk around with tape measure, and, well my phone instead of the cute little pencil and paper. Waaaay easier to keep track of all the ideas I get from walking around.

3. YouTube

Yeah so you knew to look there without me even telling you.

But anyways, me being me, I ended up watching most of the tutorials for fun instead of any actual instruction. Here were my favourites that just got me all pumped up about decorating my space.
Disclaimer: some of these videos are by Ikea as well.

Walk in closet - who doesn't need more space for clothes?

I've always fancied myself more of a lazy, clothes all over the place sort of person. But still, love this idea.

I really really love challenging the typical furniture up against the walls, TV on the opposite wall to the couch sort of living room arrangements. So this was a fun one to watch, although I don't think it'll come to this for me.

I've also always thought about all the different ways I could divide up my space. And after like a dozen "how to use a Billy bookcase to create a partition" videos (*blah*), this was really, really fun!

And just because I get distracted easily and end up watching stuff for fun

Quote of the Month: November 2014

There are times when one needs to be still to regroup and strategise. 

And then there are times when you've just got to pluck up the courage to get shit done!

Chalkboard Paint & Jam Jars

Hi, I'm Ink and I love glass jars. 

Who knew that all those glass jars Dad never threw out could be used in like a million awesome ways other than storing manageable portions of condiments?

And I also love chalkboard paint. 

. OMG something that can allow me to write on just about anything! Beware all surfaces in my personal space! To do lists for every room, here I come!

Here are just some of the awesome ways both can be used.

Image from Pinterest: http://goo.gl/uN10kc

From really pretty ways to serve dessert

Image fromn Pinterest: http://goo.gl/lchndY

To a very cute way to pack prezzies (or, you know, pack your own stuff, or the stuff you were supposed to buy as prezzies but decided you liked them foryourself). 

And chalkboard paint!

Image from Craft River: http://goo.gl/grMU1N

Oh, to be able to label everything!

Image also from Craft River

Really, I mean everything!

Another beautiful image from Craft River

And scrawl my to do lists and random ideas just about everywhere.

But I get ahead of myself. 

My first modest experiment with chalkboard paint: 

A bunch of old jam jars lying around the house.

Mac's can of chalkboard paint.

Some old newspapers. 

The pesky duo: Dog and Baby running around the house. 

The result:

 4 glass jars with lids ready for the scrawling on; one of which had to be re-painted.

One Baby who spent a good 20 minutes having paint rubbed off her palm with baby oil. Yes, Mac, that's your baby for you.

And a curious Dog circling the lids drying on the porch.

And here's one of them - finally a way I can store some of my scented tea lights..you know, other than in the partially opened packaging, on the bottom shelf.
To figure out next - how to actually write/draw anything on such a small space!

Gifts: Time to Read

Three months ago, I had a couple of pretty harrowing conversations. 

One with the impressionable new intern who called me boss. At which point I responded that my boss is our boss. I'm just the one who has to guide him along the way.

And the other one with my boss, who told me here's my chance to learn how to be someone's boss. 

Gah.

I've always been the baby, the one being mentored, the one getting advice. 

What the hell am I supposed to do when I'm supposed to actually be a mentor?

Three months down the line, it's time to bid adieu to the intern who almost seems like a permanent part of the team.

And, as part of his farewell present. here's how I've framed up what I think is the most important piece of advice I'd given in the past couple of months:

Along with the book I'd been talking about which had gotten a blank stare along with the answer 

"I don't have time to read books". 

Here's the whole set of things.

In case you're wondering, the orange thing is a "keep calm and" notebook. Wish I'd had time to go have a "Keep calm and WRITE THAT DOWN!" notebook made. That would be the second most important thing I've said to him the entire time. 

And yes, if you think that top item looks a little familiar on this blog, you're spot on. 

I love that stuff. And so does he.

Don't judge us.

Sunshine and Fresh Air

There's no doubt that I'm a city girl. But it's always nice to have a change of speed once in a while.

For me, that usually means going to a different town or city, and getting lost amongst buildings, random markets & museums.

So, imagine my trepidation at having to go on a more nature-y trip. For the entire week preceding this trip, I was whining about not wanting to go. But that's as far as my wet blanket tendencies go. 

So I went along.

Below, the continuation of my whining, laced with omgthisplaceissoprettywhydoesithavetobesohardtogetto?

1. Waking up at 5am so we can take a two hour bus ride and be dropped off at the side of the road? Gahhh... Okay I'm exaggerating. This is the beautiful spot where we got off the bus to continue on by lorry. Yes, by lorry  - which was both terrifying, and awesome.

2. OMG it's a winding road with loads of sharp bends. The kind you have to blast your horn as you approach because it's a blind corner on the side of the hill, with a huge drop off the side of the road. At one point, there was a huge, oil palm filled lorry coming from the other direction and we had to pull over to let it pass. And most of us city folk did what everyone tends to do when someone says "ooh...pretty" - go over to the side of the lorry that offered the better look. That would be the side that was on the edge of the cliff, of course. And of course, yours truly was the one who was in the opposite corner going "Whoah people...back on the safer side of the lorry, please!"

Otherwise, there was lots of clinging to the lorry, and being too worried about losing my phone over the cliff to take any photos. Until we arrived, of course.

3. But the place is so pretty! I don't really get the decor. But it's a nice place!

Gosh...gosh why do hotels always do this? I hate it when they have creepy paintings in the room.

4. More importantly, the food was uh-mayyyy-zinggg. Again, I probably exaggerate. But I've definitely had worse in fancier places. Definite thumbs up on the meals. And here are a couple of highlights that I bothered to take while we weren't too busy digging in. 

5. And now, my favourite bit - the slightly less terrifying lorry rides to and from some of the activities. 

Note the bangku in the corner - for those of us who can't figure out how to get on and off the lorry without one. 

This is one of my favourite shots from the trip.

6. Outdoor activities?! *cue frightening montage in my head of the thousand and one ways I could get injured* So while the rest went white water rafting, me and a couple of others stayed behind to chill out.

I can't help but hear the soundtrack from the Lord of the Rings play in my head while they head downstream. 

I'm a nerd sometimes. I know.

So it wasn't so bad after all. It was great just getting out of the city and soaking in some fresh air and sunshine.

Quote of the Month: September 2014

A quote attributed to Albert Einstein.

Just for fun (no pun intended!), here's also one of my favourite videos of all time.

Bonding with Food & Drink

One of life's pleasures I enjoy the most is catching up with friends over food and drink. 

It's one of the best parts of going home.

 

There's nothing better than a nice iced mocha while you catch up with a girlfriend on a hot afternoon.

Except maybe also being able to appreciate the quirkiness around every corner in Penang. 

Spot the blue heart?

All those desserts!!! Definitely want to come back again, preferably not right after a heavy meal so I can try these. 

These were taken at siTigun on Nagore road.

Gifts: Live Learn Laugh

Farewells are always a little bittersweet. But when you know the person in question is heading towards better things, the best thing to do is to wish them well and, of course, give them a kick-ass farewell gift. 

  

Decided to do something a little different this time What you see here is the envelope instead of the card itself. 

Live. Learn. Laugh. Kind of sums up the friendship. 

Here's my card on the inside. A hopefully useful reminder while a new day-to-day routine is being developed. :)

So, what was my kick ass gift?

This super cute travel journal from Typo, RM 75.

Spent a good half hour just browsing all the designs they have. Mostly because I was struggling not to get one for myself, too! So pretty, I just want to quit my job and travel for a year just so I have an excuse to use one of these.

But no, I just got the one. And gave it to someone who will actually have use for it in the immediate future. Yay!

Beauty Newbie: Oooo Shiny!

My makeup shelf hasn't seen much excitement lately. Until I got these! :)

Girl Meets Pearl
Liquid pearl for face by Benefit
Now if there's a bunch of people who know how to name and package their stuff, it's Benefit. It's so fun just going into their stores and browsing.

So, my tube of Girl Meets Pearl came out of the I'm Glam Therefore I Am kit. Haven't tried everything else yet - had to crack this open really quickly when I decided to quit trying to make the little bits I had left in my Too Faced palette work.

Image from benefitcosmetics.com

I was smitten from first dab. Really love the way it is so easy to use. Was a little worried that it would be a little harder to apply evenly than the palette one I've been accustomed to. It is, a little. But nothing one can't figure out really quickly.


Nail polish in loads of awesome colours!
I've got this whole love hate thing going on with nail polish. I spent my teenage years (and actually, to this day), struggling with getting a decent coat of nail polish on, and keeping it on in perfect condition for at least 24 hours. Yes, even with proper use of a base coat and top coat.
Admittedly it's usually because there isn't a manicurist who's telling me "No, stay there at the blower" every time I go "Are we done yet?". Tsk tsk. Impatience, I know.
These days, I usually get frustrated and either go to a shop to get it done, or just go without.

BUT I couldn't resist this set of really awesome colours when I came across it in Sasa.

All my favourite nail colours in one set - each bottle is 4.5ml (the typical size is around 15ml). Perfect for my sudden bouts of enthusiasm to try stuff I see on Pinteret.

By the beach

Another weekend of my continued effort to keep weekends interesting. This time, to a new place (for me at least), with good company.

This short weekend trip finally allowed me to check Port Dickson off my "places to go to" list, and also just chill out with a bunch of really fun people. Wasn't all that much to do there - which was exactly what we wanted. Strangely, a road trip with a killer playlist & fun people in the car doesn't happen as often as one would think.

Once the actual road trip part is over, other things to do were:

Stay in and play charades - another simple thing we don't quite do enough.

Go grocery shopping - we were supposed to stop by to pick up mixers. We ended up with a whole trolley that looked like full on stock-up-the-household groceries. We're weird shopaholics, I know.

Enjoy a sunset by the beach and then go for a swim, in the pool, of course.

Take silly photos with friends

And then stay in and play more games. Plus eat all that food we bought.

Then wake up the next morning to go food hunting.

One night in Ipoh

Weekends.

How to keep them interesting?

For this lazy girl who loves her comfort zone, the most interesting ones usually involve the least planning. Like this one weekend when I just hopped on the proverbial bandwagon of someone else's plans. 

Try a different mode of transport. 

I'm pretty sure I can count the number of times I've been on a train in Malaysia on one hand. But travelling interstate? A definitive zero.

So when I heard that we were going to be travelling by train for this trip, and that it would only last a bearable two and a half hours, I said why the heck not?

Indulge in food. 

As always, discovering good food in new places is always a plus!

Stay in an awesome place. 

I went only knowing where we were going to stay, and all the thigs people have told me about other Sekeping er...hotels? 

Did not do any research on the one in Ipoh. 

When we got to Sekeping Kong Heng, the first thing I saw was the library. 

Fell in love instantly.

Soak in the place. 

Taking a walk about the town, randomly discovering stuff, and just watching what a Sunday looks like here was pretty awesome. Even better when you have commentary from a former local. 

A Little Party

If you follow me on Pinterest, you'd know that I've been looking for inspiration for my outfit to a Great Gatsby-themed party. 

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/126593439499140406/

Being rather time-poor in addition to my baseline laziness, research consisted of Pinterest and YouTube.

And no, I've never seen the movie. Or read/seen/heard the story in any form except for the Wikipedia summary. Go ahead, gasp.

So here's the Pinterest board. Once I started, though, I couldn't stop. Who can resist shiny stuff??? I love the dresses!

Follow Ink's board .style: Gatsby party. on Pinterest.

At Party-8days I'd still yet to figure out how I'm going to find a dress that fit the theme, and didn't make me look like a big round disco ball. And also preferably, not pay a bomb it. And also not spend hours and hours going to various malls to look for it.

So after work, Seoky and I were on a mission - find me this dress that fit the theme, wasn't too expensive, and could be found before Kenny joined us for dinner.

Ta-daa!

Shiny. Check.

Lace. Check.

Fit me. Check.

Below RM 100. Surprisingly, check!

Did Mac ask me to get her one as well? [my usual benchmark for whether something looks grownup/dressy enough]. Check.

Paired with a pearl necklace, and I was pretty much done!

Except that I hadn't thought about what to do with my hair. That's usually a big problem for me - short of lots and lots and I mean lots of heat and so much hairspray it could freeze a bear in its tracks, my hair doesn't stay curled or styled. Ever. 

At this point I'm at Party-5 days and strongly debating if I should bother with those elastic hairband things that are more on-theme, but never seem to stay put when I wear them, or a regular hairband. 

Was about to give up after shopping all afternoon, being distracted (and tempted) by loads of other cute hairbands that didn't really fit the theme.

Then I finally decided to take a walk around the department store while my shopping buddy was trying on more dresses. Up the escalator, passing the kids section...and I found it!

Yes, in the kids section.

A little gift

A small parting gift for my desk neighbour of almost 2 years. 

Handmade best wishes card with floral details on the front. 

Stamp on the back says merci.

one day at a time

I've always had questions about "what it all means", and at one point in time, this was compounded with the whole idea of getting reacquainted with who I was with the "one half of a couple" tag having been recently ripped off. I was in search of something inspiring to watch/read. And just then, I had the good fortune of stumbling upon this book - A Year of Doing Good by Judith O'Reilly. This book seemed to be one woman's attempt to answer a couple of questions I've often thrown at my Mum since I was a child.

Do the little "good" things we do even make a difference?

How do you even know the people receiving the good deed even think you're helping them? Maybe they're just humouring you?

Why do we even bother?

I have to admit that as I read the book, I initially scoffed at the things that were counted as good deeds - could something so small (and yet so troublesome to the individual trying to do the good deed) really be worth it?

So, I decided to give it a try myself - a conscious effort to throw in a good deed here and there.

It's been more than 365 days since I first picked up the book (and some months since I've finished reading it, too). And I think I've found the best answer to my questions to date. 

Do the very small everyday "good" things we do even make a difference?

I like to think so now. 

Example: I used to be pretty indifferent about little things like opening doors for others, or just giving a damn about a passing stranger. And in my experience, that was the attitude of pretty much everyone else. Since being inspired to experiment with everyday doing good, a particular set of heavy doors I encounter day to day sets the scene for many a good deed of mine. Holding the door open for the old man wheeling his wife in on a wheelchair, or the young mother who's got her hands full trying to manage her young child and push the baby in a stroller. 

Then there was a time when someone did the same for me when my hands were particularly full. 

Doesn't quite end all the big problems of the world. But at least in my little piece of the world, I'm bringing sexy courtesy back.

Are people just humouring you when you're trying to do something nice for them? Trying being the operative word here.

Sometimes. But then the bigger question is, does it matter that they're just humouring you? I know it makes me feel good when I know someone even tries to do something nice for me.

And also when I run out of pink Panadols, it's a no brainer that handing me one is a definite good deed - no humouring required. 

Why do we even bother?/Is it worth the trouble?

I've since realised that the fact that we bother to do anything is because there's something in it for ourselves. Even if that something is just the satisfaction of being a nice person. So there. 

Is it worth the trouble? Well... I'm still selfish old me, and I've never really had a problem saying no to anyone. So I don't actually do anything that I find too much. So it's just a matter of what your threshold for troublesome is, and sticking to it?

I'm not sure if I'm a better person for it. But I know it's made me feel better about myself.

So, more good deeds to follow!

Book - made with love

It's been a crazy month so far. In fact it's been a crazy year. So much has been going on, there's really no time to even sit down, think about it, and write about it. 

So, my first craft project of the year.

The guestbook for D's wedding, which was a great start to doing all things with.

Here are some of my favourite pages.

Let's start with the very last page of the book.

 Very pretty flower embellishment. 

A couple of simple pages for easy writing.

Making things a little more interesting:

I particularly love this one which has all the things I love doing with craft:

First, the tag with the couple's initials on it and one of the very pretty dragonfly brads I've been dying to use.

The envelope is filled with bits of paper and little cards for guests to write their messages on.

Notes clipped to a ribbon. 

Button!!!!!!! Yeah I just needed an excuse to use that paper with that button.

Quote of the Month: March 2014

No idea who came up with the quote, but it's what gets me out of bed and working out every morning since I first saw it. 

Image by Mac-n-Ink. Let us know if u like it! 

Girls' weekend

One day to Valentine's day, and D's wedding! 

No pre-wedding routine is complete without a girls' weekend. Some sneak peeks behind the scenes of our weekend away. 

A photo session with the girls at sunset. 

A scrummy dinner at Feringghi Garden restaurant. 

 

With amazing desserts 

And this very cute horsie, which D called a bear, to the waiter's chagrin, on one of the yummiest cheese cakes I've had of late. 

More on crafting in the next couple of days! ❤️