Facial-done by a Japanese!

This is the first time I had a facial done by a Japanese woman. Haha

I decided to go for Jurlique day spa, since the treatments in the nearby university's health centre is fully booked till next week!.

Overall impression:
The spa is less impressice than I imagined from its name-Jurlique day spa. It is a no-nonsense place with treatment rooms, and soothing music though.

Service?
Big improvement compared to my thirsty facial! This time I was offered a drink when I arrived-although it is just water plus slices of lemon in it while waiting for my therapists. After my therapist, a very petite Japanese woman who look not a day older than 25 introduced herself and brought me to the therapy room, I was offered another cup of water without me asking. I think she saw my cracked lips! haha. Compared this to my previous experience where a call for water during a hot summer day in a spa ended up with a "there is nothing I can do for you!" I think this is attentiveness, this is hospitality.

Skills?
She got the most gentle pair of hands. Perhaps too gentle. At times, I just wished that she would use a bit more pressure, especially on the shoulders and certain acupoints on the face. And although Jurlique stuff are nice and mild, I think Elemis' stuff smells much better! I thought she applies too much moisturiser/cream on my face-looked oily. But no...it felt just right after 1 hour.My skin was so supple and soft. Talk about plastering money on face.

No extraction. That is my main complain. And it is not as relaxing as I wished. 30 minutes is not enough time i think.

Extras??
I was offered another drink. (Three!!), at the end of the facial by my therapist. She later showed me to the lounge on the top floor, where I could sip my camomile's tea and relax. That was really good, as I often feel giddy after facials.

Effect?
Damage to my wallet-£35!!! I could get a very very good facial at this price in Sg BKK, or Malaysia!!!!

Ego booster #1....... therapist said I got very very smooth skin. :)

Ego booster #2; Another Japanese therapist saw me in the hallway spoke to me in Japanese! haha. She thought I am one of them! :D

I think my face is less saggy, after a good massage. Sigh.. age. Age age. What will happen to me if my earnings cannot catch up with my need for facials???

Do/Will I JURLIQUE?

No thanks. very expensive stuff.

I am not a rose kind of person. Rose water on my face is just too much. I was so conscious about the smell on my face and my hair the whole evening. I even find the light rose scents on Lancome stuff a bit tooo.......eeee. So.. I can never be Jurliqued.

I miss my shiseido. I think that is my scent. Addictive scent. Which made me look forward to my night routine.

My winter foot wear

The past few days have been really cold. Glad that I have my winter clothing shopping partially done. Have my coat for work, my tights to keep my pins warm etc etc, and yeah, bought boots too!!!

I like my boots. Got them from Clarks. £39.90, if I remember correctly. Still considered very cheap!!!

When I wear them, I feel ....

1. warmer
   
2. taller, therefore slimmer
   
3. sexier (bleah!!!)
4. more stylo-mylo
5. I walk with more confidence??

It is just 1.25 -inch heel, but is "high" compared to the completely flat shoes I usually wear. I think I will buy another pair- a total non-slip, ice resistant flattie. 1.25 inch is till too high, and a bit too dangerous (for me) when the roads get really icy!!!

At home, my best investment is these shoe-socks!!!

Fleece!!! Very warm, soft and cozy!!! Got them from Primark for £1!!! The bottom part has some rubber "dots", that prevent it from slipping. After wearing it many times and it get smelly, just need to dump into washing machine.Hygienic. Not like those cozy indoor "shoes", looks warm and everything, but is a nightmare to wash and dry.

They are so cute that I was so tempted to post a pair to each friend of mine... but I cant see how they are going to make use of it. Maybe I get a pair for Phi when she comes here :).

Keeps my feet from freezing, and I could keep my heater at a lower temp with these!

Nah... dont look at those fat fat legs.... just look at those cute prints...They are a bit too small for me, because the larger sizes were all sold out!!! Over here, my shoe size is the most popular!!! hahahahahahaha..........Buying shoes is a breeze in UK!!! Hated those shops that didn't stock my size.

My first coat, and my first UK job

Cunning shopper..,.Who?Me?

The past week or so was spent desperately getting a working wardrobe. Yeah, the past week or so, which means I bought things before the mid-season sales started!!! I was really reluctant to buy, as I knew teh sales would start 1-2 weeks later. Darn.

But luckily, I learned to be more cunning, or rather.. bitchy?? I am afriad I am learning to be the later one. Uh oh.

I bought a white blouse which I thought was PLAIN but quite nicely cut from M&S for £25. It is a bit ex for a blouse which look like that. I cant help bvut convert to SGD--- 75!!!

But like I said, I am kinda getting shrewed/bitchy whatever, thanks to observing women bring bag loads of clothes for refund. Nah, I am not so LOW as to wear the clothes on with the tags on and then ask for refund. That is was too LOW. I rather wear rags than do that. I just left the tags on, and wash it a day or two before I was going to wear it.

....And before I got a chance to wear that blouse, the sales started. So... I send it back for refund!!! As I paid with credit card, it was not cash refund, but a refund in voucher. So, I can take my £25 voucher to buy stuff at discounted rate now!!! Hehehe.... Hubby have not found out about it- I wonder what is his reaction when he reads this entry.

Hahah.. he better realise I am not so innocent/gullible/goody goody anymore... I am BAD!!

The first COAT............
BTW, I settled on the BLACK one from Dorothy Perkins. :)

This is the FIRST coat in my life!!! £60. Relatively cheap for a coat. But when during sales, it will cost only 1/2 of this!!!
The photo they supplied is a size 8 coat-which did not reflect how it would look like on me. So I EXPANDED the photo above Horizontally......... to get the size 14 effect. Size 14 is a bit tight on me, and will be really tight in middle of winter if I pile on more layers. I think I will not be able to button and freeze to death. So, this kind of reminds/threatens me to lose some weight for freeze to death. I got two more weeks to do so before going to Copenhagen.

FIRST week at work.............
Bless those Brits! The press "log off" at 5.00pm SHARP!! By 5.02, bags are packed, and by 5.05pm, they are at the car-park. Haha!! Needless to say, I love them to pieces.

Compare this to my previous office. Even in those rare 1 or 2 days i magically finished off at 430 pm, I still hanged around, pretended to look busy and only left at 6:30pm (officially to work till 530pm) Even then, people still gave me the "woah, so early??" As if, it is normal/expected of me to leave at 9pm every day? Work now is 830 to 5:00pm. -7.5 hours per day. people dont come late,but they dont leave late. Brilliant!

Things went quite well, although the travel kills me-both in terms of cost and time. On my first day, I took the usual route, and spent almost £10 on it. Then, I took the bus, and saved. Spent £3 on my third day at work, but I was dead tired.

oh ya Copenhagen. ... I am going off end of the month for 6 days!!!

woah ahahahaha.... for work though, which means it is damned stressful. Well, boss is nice, and since Matt (my colleague, a 6 feet 4 inch guy) and I have not been to Copenhagen, she sent us there one day early, so that we could hang around and "play tourist" a bit before slaving it out. Yipee...

This is the first time I ever had got to go one day early and got my hotel paid... haha...
Damn the stupid ex-boss who made me take the 7 am flight out and 11pm flight in. Inhuman!!

.. and I need to shop.. for really decent clothes for that 5 day meeting. 5 sets of really decent clothes... £££££££... before i even get my pay. Damn broke.

A reward

Today I rewarded my self with two things
1) a facial
2) an ice cream

I have never fell asleep during facials/massages before. The insecurity of lying naked or semi-naked in front of a stranger will not allow me to let my guard down and snooze. What if she decide to whip out her latest 3.2 Megapixel camera phone and snap away? Worse still, camera phones are no longer camera phones. They promise "DVD" quality video recording. .... I wont want to be a Yo*T*be star ....

Today, I dozed off.... somewhere during the EXTRACTION!!!

I was semi awake when I got my shoulder massage... and then.. I doze off again.

Well... I snored.

I SNORED!!!!!!! in that "treatment" room! Heck, I can hear the sounds from next door if a chair was moved.. I snored. that prof thinks that I should check Yo*T*be now. I might be a star already.

Latest headline" Latest Yo*T*be craze:
"Video of a snoring-over-weighted- woman; taken during her facial, when someone was squeezing her pimples... Net citizens are debating whether it is possible, it cant be real. The ladies say extraction= pain!!! How can one fall asleep???"

The other possible outcome is me replacing miss *d* Choi as the spokeswoman of this "spa". Videos of me snoring away shows how skillful the facialist is.. and all the stressed out aunties/career women/ kept woman professional wives** will turn to this spa to relax.

Well, my first reward turn out to be a potential embrassment I got to watch out for.. sigh....

Ok. The second one is simple. I walked pass Anderson's of Denmark.. and I thought! Heck! I have been postponing it for ages...I am going to get a year older soon, and I should have tasted that!

There i go, shelling out $4 for a scoop of RUM and RAISIN ice-cream!!! I was soooo happily eating it, I even took a photo of it. I was happily licking it... up and down... while walking up and down the mall.......

:D

.....



.....but when I told the prof my exploit, she almost fainted... but quickly recovered to analysed it calmly, logically.. from different angles.

"Someone might have taken your photo, worse still, video! You can check Yo* T*be now!"

Then it occurs to me......... Shit!!

That would have been a video that mummies (living, nagging ones) would approve of.

Just show that video to your kids and tell them "Look, see-lah. She like (mummies dun say like-s) eat ice-cream. Enjoy!Enjoy!. See now? How fat!??? Fat fat already. No more ice-cream ok, unless you want to be fat fat".

Sigh............


.........sigh...........



who is the fella who put a camera in a phone????

... sigh.......



But on an optimistic note, I might clinch a deal to be the spokes person for Anderson of Denmark. Spa X might also think that I am more effective that *d* Choi.

Then I will get free ice-cream, and free-slimming, and free facial!!

So... did anyone sent my video to YOU TUBE???

** it is not easy being a kept woman. Have you been reading the JUICY important gossips news?? Moral of the story is dont work bekept for an "intelligent" man. I am sure you will need to de-stress if you do.

I had a thirsty, free, facial!

I redeemed my facial at Cannons yesterday.

What a surprise!

These Brits really know how to make use of ancient buildings. The gym cum spa was converted from an old steel factory building, next to the river Thames, and there are real cannons located outside this spa called “Cannons”. :)

I always thought spas reflect the culture of a country very much. After all, this is what people expect to get from pampering, ie REWARD. So, different cultures would be different.

If you go to a Japanese thing, the first thing you get when you enter is tea. Asians, at least Japanese and Chinese will definitely serve you tea, the moment you get there. It is hospitality; basic politeness. You get other varieties in Bangkok and other places, but you will definitely get something. And you take off different amounts of clothings in different countries for massages and facial, that again reflect the culture.

My first impression, is British is invaded by Eastern European. My therapist in another Eastern European.

This is my experience and “take home points” from my facial yesterday:

1. No water/tea/liquid whatever given to you. You are getting a facial, not drinks.
The answer? “Thirsty? There is nothing I can do for you. I am going to start now.” It was a warm day, and I walked a while to get there. By the time I got to the treatment room, I felt really thirsty! (I tend to get delayed thirst here, because even when you sweat, you don’t feel wet).

When the therapist ask me, “Are you ok?” I said, “How long with the treatment last? I feel really thirsty.”

The answer? "Thirsty? There is nothing I can do for you".

Since I was half naked, there was nothing I could do for myself as well.

2. Take off your socks!
Yup. I only took of my shoes. Little did I know that she would massage my feet for a while, to “relax” me. That was nice. Warm towel infused with aromatherapy oils on tired feet = HEAVENS!!!

When the session was over, I was shocked to see 1 of my socks (which she took off), lying on my branded handbag (my one and only branded handbag, which my super stingy SO bought to compensate for not taking me to US), and the other sock flung to a corner of the room.

My experience of living with Eastern Europeans enlighted me that they have no concept at all that the feet is not considered very clean. That is why you have people putting your used socks on your nice bag.

If I am not being used to getting shocked about what my housemates put right next to their shoes (freshly washed undies, put on a radiator, with the undies touching their smelly shoes), and where they would put your shoes, I would have been quite mad. Oh ya, my housemates also "borrowed" my plastic basin which was meant for handwashing my lingerie to soak their athlete feet!!!

3. The “aromatherapy” here is much more intense!
Much better quality oils, I suppose, and more generous amounts? I got four varieties oils added to my treatment- ylang ylang, lavender, rosewood, and lime. The lime was fantastic!

4. Massage skill of therapist?
Really really so so. She tried to do some acupressure, but it did not hit the points. I was pretty annoyed.

5. No extractions
No extractions, but I think the Elemis scrub and peel she used was good. Most of the large black heads are gone!

6. No hard sell.
Yup, no hard sell. That is the best part. My experience in some Singapore “spas” including having a “manager” going through packages with me as my extractions are done.

The facial was so-so. I must say the products and concepts are good, with "relaxation" stuff life warm towels, deep breathing thrown in to make me comfortable. That was great, but I would have been a very happy girl if she had given me a cup of water.

Post facial, she tried to introduce me to her products, but I did not really listen. I was just hurrying off to go and get a cup of water!

How to get free facial? If you are in UK, join www.nectar.com. The introductory period points are huge!

Earning money for my Bird nest

I wish I am in Bangkok now. I can imagine doing the typical Sunday routine there. Wake up after a good sleep, check out the buffet spread offered for breakfast at the hotel and headthen to JJ (Catuchak) market. At this time of the day, I would be leaving JJ market for the comfort of air-conditioned shopping at MBK or Siam Square.

Why am I not there?
1) I need to complete some work here
2) I am broke

I just read the Problogger's website. Wow, so much money! There seem to be so many people talking about Adsense and stuff like that. I see Adsense, Adsense and Adsense everywhere. They are all talking about SEO(Search engine optimisation) etc etc. Hmm, is there such a thing called techniques in optimizing websites to earn money from it? There must be really alot of people interested in it, judging by the number of website advertisements I saw on his website that is supposed to be offering advise about these things? Of course, I am always as curious as a cat and went to check all those website. WOW! I did know know there are such interesting things. Hmm afternoon well spent!

Can you really earn that much from hitting the keyboard from the comfort of your home (or hotel!) ?? Hey, these people are talking about thousands of dollars. I spent some time reading the things that these people did. I will be happy if I ever get to earn 20USD/month. This is sufficient for a coconut (it is served in a coconut, not bowl) of premium bird nest at Nam Sing. (Branch 1: China Town (Yaowaraj) Bangkok.TEL：(66) 2222-6292, 2226-3682 Branch 2: FL., 3 MBK Center,Bangkok. TEL：(66) 2611-4787). And please, dun stinge when you actually go there. At least get the 200B birdnest. Go for premium birdnest and you will get the real stuff.