Yes yes, I’m still very much alive and kicking. Call it a massive writer’s block that simply wouldn’t go away. Shine a torch in my blogger’s mind, and you won’t even see light at the end of that tunnel. Oh yeah, it’s that bad.

I haven’t been buying anything new for the past couple of months. By anything, I mean new skincare products and makeup (because goodness knows I sure have been spending money on other things). Hence, nothing new on that topic to talk about. And I call myself a *gasp* beauty blogger. Blasphemy, I tell you!

So in the meantime, until I clear that darn writer’s block, here are a few updates of what I’ve been up to the past month or so.

– I spent my first Chinese New Year in Australia. There wasn’t much of that “tong tong chiang” atmosphere here (then again, I wasn’t in Chinatown for the festivities). I missed my family and friends in Malaysia, but I still managed to have fun. Tim and I had reunion dinners with friends – yumcha with family friends, and a New Year’s day potluck dinner with Geekchic and friends. It was a lot of fun, and I was really glad that my meat dish was such a hit! 🙂

– With Valentine’s Day coinciding with the first day of Chinese New Year, Tim and I were more into the latter than anything else. Still, he didn’t forget and picked some gorgeous dual-coloured roses for me from a garden somewhere. The roses were huge, and would have cost a pretty penny if purchased on Valentine’s Day. It’s the thought the counts, bless him 🙂

– The Valentine’s Day/Chinese New Year’s promotion on Sweet Contemplation Accessories was, I’m glad to say, a big success. For two weeks, I’ve been working my butt off, and you know what? When you do what you love, it was nothing! No moaning, no whinging 😉 Also found out that my husband is quite the salesperson too (he’s my *ahem* chief sales officer, if there’s such a position). Tee hee hee.

– On that note, I’ve also been working on several new designs, reworking some pieces, resnapping some photos, etc. Do stay tuned on what’s coming up next! (yes yes, shameless self-advertising again 😛)

– I’ve also managed to catch up on my reading. Of books this time, and not just the number of blogs I follow daily and heaps of magazines. Here are a few of the books I’ve been reading lately.

If you’re a fan of Hermes’ Birkin, Bringing Home The Birkin will have you in stitches AND wanting the highly-coveted-but-bloody-unaffordable bag even more. Dana Thomas’ Deluxe is an informative read on how the famous luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior, etc came about and how luxury is losing its lustre.

– February and early March are musical months. Watched Diana Krall in concert last week, and it was absolutely AWESOME. What made the concert even sweeter was that my favourite jazz singers, Melody Gardot and Madeleine Peyroux were guest performers in the concert. Diana Krall live was superb. And this Wednesday, I’ll be watching Mamma Mia (the play) with Indulgent Diva. I can’t wait!

So, what’s in store for me next?

– I’ll be attending a jewellery-making course all of March. It’s always good to pick up new skills and hone old ones.

– I’m finally hitting the gym again. I’ve been piling on the pounds (although it doesn’t show on the scales, it shows very well on my waist, hips, and worst of all, the face) all of last winter and this summer, and I have to get rid of them. Plus, I was bloody wasting money paying for gym membership when I was too lazy to go! Tsk tsk. Starting March, I’m hauling ass and hitting the gym once more. Wish me luck that I’ll persevere and not quit after a month. Gulp.

– Lots of house inspections are in store. Tim and I are very determined to get our own place this year, and have been looking hard. If I could, I’d love a walk-in closet (come on, I need a lot of space just to house my crap!). I managed to do a lil’ sneaky photo snap of a walk-in closet at one of the houses we inspected.

How smart of them to place designer paper bags just to give the place a “look and feel of luxe” 😉

And that’s it! Just some random updates and what I’ll be doing next. I have started to use a new moisturiser which I bought when I was back in Malaysia for Christmas, so I’ll be doing a review of that come a few weeks. Plus Myer just sent me their latest beauty brochure for autumn/winter 2010 and there are some beauties inside which I’m lusting after. Woohoo! *rub palms*

So. What have you been up to?