today is my second day in this beautiful city and i know i’ll be super upset to leave this place. the weather is perfect.. not too hot with some cool breeze, the food is LOVE!!, and the shopping is good as always. so all the troubles just went away when i’m travelling. work has been going on rather smoothly too.. we’re having a full day break on Friday before flying off to Osaka for another meeting.

i will be heading down to the huge open field at the heart of Myeong Dong to catch the match between South Korea and Argentina tomorrow night! everything on the streets now seems to be red and everyone is getting ready for the fun tomorrow. i’m loving the atmosphere and energy!

was trying to pack my luggage just now and i think it’ll be overloaded again.

so then, i’m be flying to KL on Monday morning. i’d better remember to bring my makeup set or else i’ve to buy an entire set just like the last time i went.

i’ve been shopping more and MORE of late, together with my partner in crime, we never stop since the GSS has just begun. haha.

there’s a line of activities planned up in June so i’m really excited!

ps. u gotta watch Black Rose series from Channel 8, its awesome to the max. LMAO ALL THE TIME like seriously. hahaha. one of the best local shows ever.

this week has been really exciting. it all began with Ladies night at Powerhouse because Butter closed down on us when Melissa wanted to go. then we had a poly class gathering on thursday night at The Rice Table .. followed by drinks and desserts at Coffee Club.

Things have been moving at a very fast pace at work, i don’t even wanna talk about it. on one hand, i’m very happy with the opportunities presented to us, but on the other i’m pretty upset that as much as i wanna grab all of them, i don’t have someone to help me with it. i’m currently working on something which will be due in mid may. if everything goes on well, it’s going to be another milestone for the company.

i’m halfway there and i’m not going to give up.

sometimes i wonder, how is it like to have colleagues? in the past where i interned at SAL or work part time promoting cosmetics, we use to look forward to our one hour lunches, gossip about our fellow colleagues and bosses, and trying to get seats at food courts. but right now, i find myself confined to only me, myself and i. yes, i have staff under me, but i try not to be too close to them in case i find it hard to be authoritative?

i’m looking at upgrading myself on levels of management skills and on the financial matters. so far, short courses have proven to be quite effective.

anyway, back to my japan posts. our trip seemed to lack so much “substance” as compared to jess’s cos ours was nothing but food, shopping, food, shopping. haha. we totally have zero interest on touristy sights, okay, prob becasue we’ve been there last year, but we didn’t even set foot into disneyland and sanrio puroland as planned intitally. ahahah! shopaholics will always be … shopaholics. i’ll be meeting the BFF to pass her items from G (it has arrived!!) yay! cannot wait!

so much more work to be done before i fly off to KL this coming Monday geesh!

Day 4 marks our last 2 days at tokyo, so we made a mental note on the list of “regrets” that we’re going back for today. Couldn’t give Harajuku a miss on any day, our first stop happens to be at the cute guy’s shop where we changed sizes for the tees that we’ve gotten earlier. he’s such a sweetheart to change our items with a cheeky smile i think Mel almost died. hahaha

we settled for some sweets (for mel) and healthy rice (for me) for breakfast before starting our day!

the strawberry dessert is da bomb. i feel like having more as i’m lookin at the pictures now.

my healthy rice with edamane beans, prawns and egg. probably the healthiest meal i had throughout the trip.

finally gotten all our items on the wishlist and we’re off to Ebisu for some original Ippudo ramen!

here we are at Ippudo!

we had no problems locating the restaurant cos once u say “ippudo?” everyone will point you to the correct direction. its that famous!

there was an english menu to “welcome” us to the restaurant, but there was none for the ordering of the food. so we simply pointed to any that looks delish.

the soup is awesome. its so rich and flavourful.. really could have finish up every drop if it wasn’t too salty. and it was lunch special when we were there, we just had to top up 100 yen for 5 pcs of gyoza and a bowl of rice.

as you can tell, we couldn’t get enough of the ramen.

after a fulfilling meal, we’re on our way to Shibuya for more shopping.

Mark City was our ultimate love!

we made a trip back to our apartment to drop all our shopping bags before dinner. after a short walk around our hotel, we settled for a traditional shop that sells soba and tempura.

Shopping loots for day 4 :

F21 laced up collar dress

H&M black embellished dress

H&M Cut down dress

F21 shorts

F21 Black Toga Dress

F21 Accessories

Kitson Tote! <3 this!

Visee Eye shadow

Little Poodle (for mom’s table)

Best buy of the entire trip : First Class Passport Cover.

We got out of bed early to prepare for the long day ahead. the weather forecast predicted a good weather for the day. temperature ranging from 17-20 degrees, sunny! definitely the best time to hit the streets of Harajuku.

while waiting for Mel to get ready!

we have to pass this street of old shops to our nearest station.

the entrance & streets still looked the same, just like how we set foot there a year back. dropped by Fancl to get their cleansers before brekkie.

random shots along Harajuku :

we spent a while in the shoe heaven just above this place. i so badly want the shoe pictured above but it was out of stock! urggh.

there’s always room for crepes. esp the famous ones along the street itself!

we tried the 100 Yen chicken nuggets and shrimp burger from Lotteria too.

at PinkLatte.

love the random stickers on the wall. i wanna get those and paste everywhere in my room also!

where shopping takes flight.

then we moved on to the mega huge F21 & H&M , where most of our cash were wiped out and the first time we had to swipe our cards.

still, i would say its one of the best place to shop so far!

we were there for consecutive 3 days and each time we came out with more loots.

dinner time at our apartment!

we decided to buy all our favourite food from the supermarket and have a feast in the comfort of our own room. by the time we reach the counters, they were throwing discounts for all the food cos it was getting late. so we got a good deal for a wide spread!

Shopping buys for Day 3:

its like a tradition to get a luggage each time i go to harajuku. last year i got the polka dotted ones, so this year i went with the hearts. and guess wad ? i paid only SGD15 for this! *super happy*

a hat for sissy

necklace + heart printed ribbons

F21 floral head band + shoe

F21 ribbed shorts

H&M multi color strappy sandals

cap from PinkLatte

my favourite bottle!

tees for the dad and bf

F21 fitted ribbed jeans

 ++ some H&M dresses that i’ve yet to upload.

meanwhile, work has been piling and i’ll be attending my first upgrading course tomorrow! kinda excited cos its classroom based and i’m going along with my staff. it focuses on customer centric selling , on negotiation talks and “free information” when you listen.

sounds pretty interesting to me. so glad its going to be a different day instead of rushing to appointments everyday!

Travel Buddy : BFF

Length of Stay : 11-16 April 2010

Flight : ANA

Apartment : Citadines Shinjuku Tokyo

Total Damage : $1XXX.XX

Happiness Factor : 11/10

OKAY. this is going to be a major photo blog post cos i’m in a good mood to upload all the images including our buys! awesome huh!

apart from that, i’ll want the details to be remembered as well cos this is definitely the best trip so far for 2010!

the first day was spent on board ANA. as soon as we touched down, we bought tickets for the airport limo and off we go to our apartment for check in.

it was freezing cold in the morning, especially when the wind blows. i’m clad in thick winter jackets while Ms. Strong was wearing just a cardigan.

makeup-less faces on the plane.

waiting for the 7.45am airport limo to pick us girls up to our apartment.

from the drop off point, we took a cab to our hotel. dropped our bags, waste no time and we’re off to Shinjuku Sanchome station!

it was drizzling during the day.  + our first sighting of the cherry blossoms at the station.

our first stop – Ikebukero!

everything there is so kawaiiii .. love it!

BFF began her spree for makeup at the 3 storey drug stores!

makeup, sanrio, shoes.

endless row of clothes, accessories and candies on display.

after a good 4 hours of walking, we decided to dine at a ramen bar. there are slot machines outside for us to purchase a ticket before entering the shop.

it was the perfect place to rest our legs and aching arms.

another snack that we couldn’t miss are the crepes in Japan! they have savory and sweet ones, both just as awesome. i wish i could have one now!

after Ikebukero, we took the JR line to Shinjuku where we settled for dinner in a traditional shop opened by an old couple.

Ramen for Mel and Katsu Don for me.

after dinner, we tried navigating with the map in search for our apartment. we were lost on the streets for close to an hour, but all thanks to the helpful passerbys we managed to find our way afterall.

home sweet home!

Shopping Loots of Day 1:

make-up pouch for travelling

a big bow pen without a cover. (don’t know how i am going to bring this out anyhow)

kawaii hair accessories

make up brushes

badges & postcards

face masks! i love the heart shaped ones!

scarf to go with work clothes

an accesory to bun up your hair easily. this thing is amazing!

see! you can get cute high buns like jap girls in a flash.

there’s something similar in everything that i’ve bought right?

that’s for day 1/2 and ikebukero.

stay tuned! >.<