Rewards program

Today was spent rewarding myself for working... well, maybe not so much working hard as working smart ;) First stop was the Suntec Convention Centre for a sale event by an online shopping site I'm subscribed to. I arrived at 11 a.m., an hour before the event was scheduled to start and was welcomed by this monstrous queue.

While waiting for our turn to enter, Marlon got a crash course in women's designer handbags (he can now tell a Miu Miu from a Balenciaga, which is all that matters to me), a briefing on my color preferences (classic/subdued or bold/striking), and an assignment in my plan of attack.

We finally got to enter the event at 1:30 p.m., not a moment too soon. Let me tell you, things can get ugly when dozens of bag-crazed women are made to wait. Inside, the atmosphere was buzzing but civil—no shoving, grabbing or arguing, thank goodness. The strategy of choice seemed to be grabbing three or four bags, walking around with them while trying to decide on one, and making multiple return trips to a shelf to see if any women had discarded a bag that you were looking out for.

In the end, I narrowed it down to Subdued & Classic vs Bold & Striking. While I was vacillating in front of the mirror, a very fasyon Chinese woman ran up to me and grabbed my arm. She whispered urgently, with eyes wide open,"You HAVE to get the orange one. You have to. It's DIVINE!" and ran off.

It was in this fashion that Bold & Striking won! And so I am now the proud owner of a brand new Balenciaga Arena Covered City bag in the happy, juicy hue of orange!

Thank you, my clients! Thank you!

After a recharging lunch of kinilaw na tanigue and salpicao at 7107 Flavours in Marina Square, we headed off to Orchard Central for Fash Bash, a thrice-yearly bazaar. I miss market and bazaar shopping scene back home, so I check these things out whenever I can. I was curious about the local designers advertised, but when I got there it was really the young Thai jewelry designers who made me drool!

After much going back and forth between stalls, I chose this pair of delicate, handmade gold-plated earrings from Thai designer Fontips Tangviriyamate. I fell in love with the delicate workmanship of the intricate but organic-looking pattern, and the curved wire extending way below the earlobes was a unique touch that I really liked. (One woman asked the designer if she could cut the wire short. Anobuh! Kasama yun sa concept no!)

And with that, my personal "rewards points" are fully redeemed! My shopping moratorium starts now!