It’s my first day of work in 2025 and I am starting the work day right by waking up earlier than usual, reaching office earlier than usual and wearing brand new clothes (new top and jeans which I got from my US trip). Not to forget my new shoes from Sunny Steps and with my new perfume from Chanel (Les Exclusifs de Chanel Comete). Hehe. May this year be a great year and I hope I can get promoted this year. Fingers crossed!

After 8 years of using my MacBook Pro 2015 version, I finally changed to the latest MacBook Pro Nov 2024 version. It’s December 2024 and this laptop is basically the latest one one can purchase now. It’s literally just released last month and announced 2 months ago. Haha.

Well, my old MacBook Pro is out of support period for new OS updates. That means it is no longer going to support the latest OS and security updates. As a cybersecurity professional, I cannot imagine myself using a device that is no longer receiving security updates so I decided to just buy the new MacBook Pro. Given that I have used the old MacBook Pro for 8 years, I decided to just go back to MacBook Pro and get the best specs that I can use for my purpose and best value for money. In the end, I went for MacBook pro with M4 Pro chip (with 14-Core CPU, 20-Core GPU, 48GB Unified Memory) and upgraded the storage with 1 TB. I had the 256 GB of storage and regretted shortly after my purchase. This time all the default MacBook Pro with M4 Pro chip come with 512 GB and I decided it will definitely not be enough so I just pay extra and got the 1 TB version. I had to wait for a week before it arrived to me as it has to be configured at the warehouse in Chengdu City before it ships to me.

May Apple continue to support this laptop for as long as possible. At least 9 years maybe? Haha. I got their 2015 version back in 2016 and they supported all the way to 2024. You don’t even get this level of long support for Windows laptop lololol. I think my next laptop change will be in 2033. 😀

On a side note, I noticed I have blog more than 90 public posts for 2024. That’s like a huge jump from before and it seems like I am going back to my old self (pre-dating phase). Definitely loving it! Maybe I will continue to keep blogging and hit 100 public posts in 2024? Haha.

Belated post again but better late than never, right?

I didn’t buy my birthday gift for myself in advance this year but this year I went to the city that I have always wanted to visit – New York. I was reminded by my colleague, Steven, that Tiffany headquarters is in New York. So I went to the store and asked to see their store exclusives. I got 2 heart pendants that are exclusive to New York Landmark store and US Christmas exclusive. I guess that is counted as my birthday gift? Hahaha.

I also got my first ever Coach bag – The Swing Zip in white in San Francisco. I wasn’t able to find it in Scottsdale, Phoenix and New York but manage to find it in San Francisco. It’s like fated for me haha.

I got my birthday cake from Narita airport this time round. I will upload the photo of the cake later. 🙂

I finally finished the Hermes Le Jardin de Monsieur Li Eau de toilette after about 3 years? Well, to be honest, I only started using it more often last year. It’s my second favourite scent and I was thinking if I should buy it again. Then I went to try the new Barenia perfume from Hermes and it smells really good on me. My SA was telling me when it first launched, it was completely sold out. In addition, it is refillable which was a plus point for me. But then again, the refill and the 100ml bottle is like the same price. The refill is 25ml more though…

Anyway, I decided to switch to the new Barenia perfume and have been using it for the past few days. I have been trying to use my Hermes and Jo Malone perfumes more since Le Labo perfume is really expensive.

There’s this saying that perfume will improving your aura and I think that’s a good thing. I need toxic people and toxicity far away from me. Lol.

Did it help to improve my aura? I think so. At least it helps along with my inner self work too.

After 2 years, I have finally finished using my Le Labo Citron 28 perfume. I went back to MBS branch to get the refill and got a shock of how much it costs. It is S$432 to refill the 50ml bottle. I immediately felt that I am really very expensive. Why is my signature and favourite scent so expensive? 😮

Then I went to check how much I paid for it when I first brought it. It was S$475. Okay, so I actually save S$43 for refilling it. It’s only their City Exclusives series that is so expensive and of all scents, I love their Seoul City Exclusive. Oh well.

Anyway, that means I should use more of my cheaper perfumes from brands like Jo Malone and Hermes instead of Le Labo.