I ordered another bag recently. This time it is from Pleats Mama! Actually I wanted to visit it when I was in Seoul last May and October/November. I didn’t manage to visit and didn’t get to see the pleated tote bag. I was able to try it out when Pleats Mama have a popup shop at TANGS Orchard. The quality seems pretty good and I decided to get it online – because the design I wanted is limited edition and is only available in Seoul and online.

Can’t wait to get it soon haha. I have been thinking about it for some time and was even discussing with some of my friends about it. The new Sakura is so much smarter with spending money now. Well, because I spent a lot last year in getting assets so yeah, need to save money now. 🙂 Haha.

In fact, the entire discussion I had with one of my friends is like lowkey funny.

Me: Serious topic. Even more serious than other stuff. Is to decided whether should I add more clutter and spend money hahahaha. (I’m supposed to declutter)
Gulabi: (rofl emoticon x4) It’s cute but do you think this is giving value for money?
Me: Like tote bag for work. I actually got backpack for work. Then another tote bag (green) too.
Gulabi: (sends a photo of her new sunscreen and also her new manicure)
Me: Wah got flower de!!!!! [I’m referring to her new manicure]
….
Gulabi: So do you need this? It’s cute but not very cute tbh
Me: It’s never a need.
Gulabi: Yes, to celebrate spring [referring to her new manicure design]
Me: I like this reason. Going to use this reason for the bag too. Hahahaha.
Gulabi: Your mind was always set, Sakura.

Hahaha. So that’s how I convinced Gulabi that I need the new cherry blossom bag from Pleats Mama. Going to take photo of it when it arrives! I got the bag insert for the bag too. I’m excited now!

I bought my first ever instant camera in my life. Well, I wanted to get a new instant photo printer and was thinking of getting Instax Mini Link 2 or Mini Evo. Then I discovered Leica Sofort 2 which is a hybrid (camera and printer). It looks really pretty and the photo quality is better than Mini Evo so I went for it. 🙂

Okay lah, I admit the beauty of Leica Sofort 2 and USB C support is what push me for Leica instead. Hahaha.

Quite happy to get a new toy to play with and can’t wait for more Instax films to arrive as I am finishing my first pack of films from Leica. Leica films are really expensive so I am going for cheaper alternatives from Fujifilm Instax series haha.

This is also my first Leica camera. I have a Panasonic compact camera that is using Leica lenses but it is not Leica camera. Well, now I technically have a Leica camera haha.

I was out today in my silver bling ballet flats and gosh, it shone so brightly that it is blinding under the sun. Well, now I know I cannot wear this to sunny places as I do not want to blind myself. Lol.

I finally wore the socks I got from Muji to match the shoes since it has been hurting my feet and causing wounds and blisters. Hopefully the socks works well as I really do love the ballet flats. Sakura is back in her bling bling era again. I realised I really do like bling shoes as I was looking through my old photos.

I have been looking for a blouse or t-shirt or shirt for my Chinese New Year and have yet to find one that I really like. Then I saw Ms Soignee is releasing another new top and bottoms cheongsam design and I am very tempted. Bleh. I know it is going to be really expensive and I have plans to really save money this year though. Oh well, let’s see the quality and how expensive the blouse will be. Brace my wallet! Haha.

The other problem with Ms Soignee blouses and dresses is that it is not exactly easy to wash. It needs to be dry clean on the first wash then subsequently it is recommended to be dry clean but still possible to hand wash. I really do love their designs as I have always been a fan of lace.

Speaking of lace, I am wearing both lace and blings today for a study date! May my favourites not distract me from studying hahaha.

I’m blogging this on my phone as I am flying from South Korea to Singapore. For some reason, I am always very motivated to blog when I am on the plane. Maybe it is a quiet time since I am not connected to WiFi and I can’t do much while on flights. Maybe I am feeling more insightful when I am up in the skies? Lololol.

Well, it is more boring in the current flight because my Netflix is not logged in before I fly so I cannot access my downloaded videos. Somehow Netflix thinks I am downloading videos on multiple devices and refused to let me download more videos so I have to login to log out all devices. I did log back in again but somehow it log me out again. Gah. I have to reach out to Netflix to sort out the issues when I am back in Singapore.

I realised I am the biggest critic to myself. I should learn to appreciate my own achievements. I have achieved much more than what I started out with. Just because there are people who doesn’t see my true value or appreciate my efforts/hard work does not mean I should not see my true value. I am gaining more self-awareness and learn to gauge people around me. I’m also learning to trust my gut/intuition more. It’s also important to celebrate small wins in life. 🙂

Anyway, it has been a fruitful trip as I was able to top up my skincare items along with getting my personal colour test and new hairstyle. I was able to get new makeup based on the results of my best colour match as well as 1 new outfit for Chinese New Year too. 🙂 I got a new cardigan for me to wear in US too! Whee!

I got more sunscreen from Olive Young too. Trying to save money by buying cheaper sunscreen instead of Kiehls sunscreen. Haha.

I did splurge on hand cream though. I went to Tamburins and got more hand and body cream for myself. I even got myself a new bottle of perfume from my favourite scent – Berga Sandal.

I even managed to get my new accessories which I didn’t get in my previous trip then got tempted when I am in Singapore. Sadly the first faux pearl necklace I got broke before I managed to wear it. I still managed to get replacement for it at another place too. I also managed to get a nice pair of clover earrings – yeah the fake Alhambra earrings lol. I probably won’t wear it with my real Alhambra jewellery haha. It’s in the colour that matches my best personal colours too.

The lady at the personal colour test told me that my current spectacles doesn’t suit me. I will look better with silver or transparent spectacles. Or even black. These are the colours I never considered until the personal colour test.

So I went to Gentle Monster and got a black frame with silver spectacles hehe. Still thinking if I want to make it into sunglasses or just normal spectacles. I’m definitely working hard to glow up after my break up. I have to put in extra effort to make sure that I am taking care of myself better. I think my goal for remaining months of 2023 and 2024 is to sleep more. I need to get my health in better condition. This year has been pretty tough for my health and I hope next year will be better. Eunice mentioned that this year is expected to be tough for us and whoa, she is right at least for me.

I definitely achieved way more than I initially expected in this trip, on top of learning new stuff for work. Good job, Sakura! *patting myself on my back* Hahaha.

Anyway, I’m listening to the audio book – 5 levels of leadership on Audible now. It’s a book recommended by one of my career mentors. I’m thinking if I want to buy the physical copy of the book. Not sure if I want to build a mini library of physical books in future. That is going to be on top of my library of music books. Space is a serious consideration though. Hmm…

I flew back to Singapore from South Korea yesterday and it was quite an adventure. Lol, my life is always an adventure especially when in airports lol. 🙂 What is a sagittarius life without adventure, right? Haha.

So here it goes…

(1) It started with my taxi ride to the airport. I just approached by the traffic officer to find out about my taxi cost and if I am overcharged. I have to share where I took the taxi from, how much is it, show my receipt, my payment method, if I have given any tips and how I book the cab. Well, I was very fortunate to stay in a pretty good hotel who got Bell Service to help me with luggage from my hotel room to the cab. First time going back to Singapore from Seoul that is so fuss free and not physically tiring at all.

(2) Then I went to Asiana Airlines counter to drop my baggage. As usual, it is the automated system and I have to go to another place for bag drop after printing out my boarding pass. Then the staff said it is overweight and kept asking me to pay. When I asked how much is it, she said 65,000 won (or is it 60,000 won?). Anyway, I asked how much overweight is my luggage and she showed me is 28kg. Gosh. It is within the baggage limit since I booked through SIA. I am well under the limit of 30kg so I told the staff. Then she directed me to a separate counter to register. I waited and there is another staff who helped me. Again, she asked me to pay which I told her I am well under the limit. She scanned my details and found out that is true. *shrugs* Anyway, she helped me with the baggage tag and forgot to pass me my boarding pass until I asked for it. Then she realised it was dropped on the floor. Aiyo… Luckily I wasn’t very sleepy at that time lol.

I didn’t buy much in this trip as I am very aware of the importance to keeping to budget. I still ended up exceeding a bit so that leaves less money for US. I was sharing with my friend that if I somehow managed to keep to the budget set for Seoul and US, I can reward myself with something! Then she was like… I thought you needed to save money? Okay, fine. Maybe I will reward myself with a nice home item instead. Lol.

(3) Then I was packing my winter jacket into the hand carry and realised I was seated opposite a group of friends where 1 lady is carrying a fake mini constance bag from Hermes. Lol… I almost brought that bag for my travels. Lol. Luckily I have already packed my Hermes mini evelyne bag into my backpack so it was not awkward.

(4) I went to do my tax refund and gosh, only my Hermes receipt is shown jn the system. Quite bullshit to be honest. My other 3 receipts from Sulwhasoo, Osulloc and SPAO were rejected. I went to the counter and asked and they said they needed to see the items before they can provide the customs stamp. Alamak. Those items are mostly in my checkin luggage which I have already checked in. I was pissed at myself since it’s quite a lot of money. Oh well, what can I do? Might as well forgive myself and feel better that it could have been greater loss of money if I buy even more skincare products lol. So I complained to some of my friends to vent out my frustrations.

(5) I got a cute cinnamonroll water bottle with vitamin C water and I wanted to drink when on the taxi ride to airport. I ended up forgetting to drink and have to throw it away. At least I managed to take out the cute cinnamonroll character head and let the customs lady throw it away. I also forgot to take out my laptop and ipad when going through customs check so they had to take more time to check my backpack. Lol.

(6) At this point it is close to 5pm and I haven’t had my lunch yet. I was supposed to eat before clearing customs which I obviously forgot. I do have snacks so it is not that bad. Luckily there is a food court after customs so I managed to go there and eat. I didn’t manage have soondubu (soft tofu stew) when I was in Seoul. Then I saw there is soondubu at the food court and was delighted! Unfortunately it was sold out so I still didn’t get to have it. I just ordered pork cutlet since I don’t eat beef and don’t want octopus.

(7) Linking back to (4), I went to tax refund counter after I have my late lunch. I just gave all the tax refund forms and the lady somehow managed to scan all of them for me and I managed to get my refund. The form stated only credit card and alipay for the refund but I was able to get cash refund in the end. 😀 Yay. So I didn’t lose my money haha. I opt for USD since I have to fly to US 2 weeks later. Turns out to be “losing” a bit of value since I could have gotten more in KRW. At that point I didn’t think I will be paying in KRW for any purchases at duty free stores. I ended up going to Gentle Monster and got a new spectacles. Price is listed in USD but they only accept KRW. Sigh. Oh well, at least I will still be using USD 2 weeks later anyway.

(8) I went into Hermes, Chanel, LV stores and walked out empty handed. Haha. Actually I found stuff I liked at LV and maybe Chanel too but I was able to have self discipline and not spend on them. I’m so proud of myself. I’m a changed lady haha. Well, my close friends will know what caused the change since I have been harping on it almost everyday. Lol. Unfortunately I forgot to get my lip balm refill from Hermes even though I went there. I guess I have to either get it from Singapore or Japan or San Francisco.

(9) I found my gate about 15mins before boarding time then saw Angel-in-us coffee next to my gate. Somehow I decided I should get matcha latte (since I can claim…) 5 mins before official boarding time. People already started queuing at the counter. I went to queue to buy matcha latte instead of the gate lol. I still make it in time and the gate hasn’t open by the time I joined the queue for the gate. Mind you, I was carrying a backpack, a huge tote bag as carryon luggage, 1 paper bag of snacks from GS25, including my cinnamonroll cartoon character in it and a cup of iced matcha latte. Really #likeaboss at that point. Lol. The gym workouts have helped for sure lololol.

That concluded my adventures of flying back to Singapore from Incheon airport. Which trip do I not have adventures? Lol. Not sure if I am attracted to adventures or adventures are attracted to me at this point. Hahaha. I’m proud of myself to be able to handle all these in a calm and positive manner by myself for sure. Definitely a Sagittarius! Hahahaha.

I’m blessed to get middle seat empty as my flight to ICN had a relatively plump Korean guy sitting next to me and he was sleeping and falling on me throughout the flight. I got quite irritated and just push back his head then he woke up to look at me and I gave my most #badgirl look while watching my korean drama on my ipad. Lol. He never do it again anymore.