Like in my dreams...

Sailing away across the seven seas...

New year, new look

New Year. Time to present to the world with a better version of me -

New hair, new clothes and a renewed resolve to conquer the world in my 5 inch heels, among other things. Hee

You know how the Chinese always pray for a good year ahead, failing which they will spend the year quivering in fear avoiding water, marriage, and women with surnames beginning with "P" or "L" or "C".

But I choose to believe that life is given to those who take it.

I had a hell of a 2010 defined by memories of me beating incredible odds, meeting incredible people, learning incredible things, finding incredible luck, feeling incredibly dejected, behaving like an incredible asshole and getting incredibly drunk.

And such is life.

So come 2011, who knows what I'll learn, which new places I'll visit and what opportunities might come knocking on my door. But whatever it is, 2011, I am coming straight at you.

And perhaps, just perhaps, this year, I will take a leap of faith.

Square-necked "Audrey Dress" in Grey from Sophisticate @ 51 Telok Ayer Street #01-05 Singapore.

CNY promotion at Sophisticate boutique from now till CNY. 10% off 2nd item, 15% off 3rd item. Exclusively manufacture, limited pieces available (only 2 - 3 per size, per design).

When I grow up...

I want to have an awesome Executive Biography.

It would be completed with an orchestrated smile, airbrushed skin and a lofty title.

But I will write myself the awesome Executive Biography.

Because of late, I've been scarred from reading the Executive Biographies of many Senior Executives, that are written by outsourced professionals with a misguided sense of humour.

• Some are empty-caloried fluff; others are so mindnumbingly technical that I'd rather read Sumiko's Sunday columns.
• Some develop the kind of creative conflict within the bio that makes the Sino-Japanese relationship look like a pillow fight.
• Some come with personal pledge creation like "My Personal Motto is Ever Onward!"
• Some so disturbingly personal that I won't be surprise to learn from the bio that the Executive uses Herbal Essences Shampoo and goes for bikini waxing twice a month.

Mid-Year Resolutions

Having New Year's resolutions is like the Thais declaring a war against their state, or Linsey Lohan announcing that she found a cure for cancer- there is a lot of fanfare but nobody actually takes them seriously.

Remember my one of my earlier resolutions to go to New Zealand to pick apples? Well, like any New Year's resolutions, it never materialised.

But Mid-Year's resolutions are goals that are precipitated as a result of observations and experiences from the first half of the year, and then forecasted onto the next half a year. Simply said, they are the more realistic and trustworthy brothers of New Year's resolutions.

So here are my top 4 and I can assure you that they are not your usual run-of-the-mill list:

1) Learn Bahasa

I am seriously thinking of signing up for the Bahasa classes at the Community Club.

Already I hear guffaws from all you fancy schmucks. But what's the point of learning French and fancy German when I'm probably only going there once, at most twice in my entire life. When I took up Japanese, it was because I used to travel to the country a lot with my dad, and hence a basic grasp of the language was useful.

Nevermind the 'Hellos' and the 'How do you dos', I need to at least learn how to swear, say "I understand what you're saying" or act blur with a "I don't understand Bahasa" when I want to amuse myself with the kind of things that people say aloud when they think you do not understand their language.

Besides, coming from someone who made a boo-boo in Indonesia when I ordered "Selamat satay" and the guy just stared at me like his face would crack.

I only found out later that while I wanted to buy 10 satays, whatever I said actually meant something like "Greetings satay!" which not only doesn't make sense, it made me look really stupid. It's going to be a fantastic face-saving language if I travel out into the region in the next couple of months, and I expect to be doing that quite a bit.

2) Pick up Poker and be damn good at it
I wanna hold em like they do in Texas Plays, fold em let em hit me raise it baby stay with me, luck and intuition play the cards with Spades to start...

Alright, I'll admit that the Gaga fever got to me, but what with the 2 new casinos opening in Singapore at the Integrated Sentosa Resorts and the Marina Bay Sands, I think it's time I do my part as a proud Singaporean to win back some worthy "foreign investment" - One. Game. At. A. Time.


3) Learn to play golf
Like snorting noodles through your nostrils or bungee jumping, I'll bet that learning to play golf is one of those evergreen items on everyone's list of "Things to do before you turn 30". Well, it is on mine.

Who cares if Mark Twain once said that golf is “a good walk spoiled”, and nevermind that I'd probably golf a grand total of ONCE a year. Golfing is just one of those things that at the ripe young age of 24, you don't really know why you want to do it, but you simply have to have the badge on your sleeve.

Besides, it's way cooler than telling people that you have the Certificate of Achievement for scaling the Great Wall of China, which nobody actually gives a fly about.


4) Join a gym/ dance class
Before my ass sags like a duffel bag and before I get thrown into TAF club. Nuff said.

Yours Mathematically, Best Boy Slave

Sometimes in life, mathematics theories are applied to the most unthinkable of situations, like gambling, picking up chicks, shoe shopping, and rush hours in the morning. Over an MSN conversation on Sunday, it was a proposition.

I have a weakness for well-arched, painfully skinny 4 inch heels in a way as if my intelligence depended on them. Inevitably, I have amassed legions of Foot-philes with a soft spot for my well-heeled appendages. And what do they say about shoe-philes; is that beneath the heel of every successful Shoe-phile is a dedicated Footphile.

A Footphile, like people with most forms of philism, are attracted to feet, in the same way some men are to big boobs, rebonded hair and plastic nails. I wouldn't call a Footphile a Fetishist, because then you'd conjure up the images of strange men with froth at the corner of their mouth, wear their pants at chest-level, and who overdosed on colgate and peanut shells as an infant.

No, in fact they are well-heeled, god-fearing and normal looking professionals who would make my obsession with stealing toilet papers from library toilets look dangerous and abnormal.

So on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I was having a normal serious conversation with a Footphile when it expectedly steered towards him volunteering to bring me shoe-shopping. My dwindling collection of kick-ass boots and 4-inch heels has to be replenished just so that he can polish them for me. Talk about taking boot-licking to a whole new level, which I basically interpreted as:

"Free fashion advice, new sinful heels. Oh and being unconditionally worshipped."

With that part of the conversation starting with "You are the enigma of Goddess Isabelle", I was pretty much sold on the idea.

Footphile: I want to be your BBS - Best Boy Slave. That is how it's meant to be. Damn, maybe it shld be BBSF.

Me: Huh? What is BBSF?

Footphile: You know, it's like BBF, Best Friends Forever.
Mathematically, B(BS)F, where F is substituted by BS, and the outside B and F remain constant.
So that makes me your Best Boy Slave Forever.

"What Girls Think" of Amara Sanctuary Resort

Catch me in my bimbo moments with SauceInk's series of "What Girls Think?" - as we tour Singapore to bring you the very best (and candid/unrehearsed) review.

For our debut, we visited the Amara Sanctuary Resort.

On a separate occassion, I had the good fortune of visiting their two-bedroom villa (image) below: Featuring an outdoor bathroom, and 2 rooms adjourned by a pool. Being a sucker for outdoor bathrooms and idyllic living, I thought the place was so beautiful, that I think I teared a little when I left for the day.


Nestled on the hillside of Sentosa's Palawan Beach offering its guests great seclusion, the Amara Sanctuary resort bears vestiges of Singapore's rich colonial past. Tastefully blending old-fashion romance with chic modernity, it's hard not to fall in love with the place.

Although it's not my maiden visit here, this was the first time that I was given a VIP tour of the place, and here're the highlights that makes the place oh-so-worth your buck.

Upon arrival, we were hosted at Shutters, a casual fusion restaurant with an open-concept kitchen. Amara Sanctuary doesn't only have 1, but 5 dining areas, including the ever-famous ThanYing Thai Restaurant, which (unfortunately) we didn't go to :(





The Infinity Pool
The sky Infinity Pool on the rooftop overlooks the South China Sea and it seems to stretch endlessly over the edge, and here's the best part. The inifinity pool area bans children from entering - That sounds like paradise to me


The courtyard suite
You would never believe it, but the 2-storey colonial-style Courtyard Suites were created from former British Sergeants’ quarters from the 1930s. It features an outdoor courtyard with a sunbed (that I am sitting on), a sumptuous four-poster bed with super high-thread count bedsheets (gasp!) , and a Jacuzzi in its own private garden.


The Jacuzzi in private garden was a winner for most of the girls.

Enough of my boring ramble...catch me on sauceINK's "What Girls Think".




*An early bird who caught the preview texted me the following,
U r so not you in the "What Girls Think" video! Ha...I can see you are struggling to keep the real you from surfacing! :-D

What can I say, except that even bimbos have their shy moments lah.

Isabelle the weekend Rocker

When I am not out partying up a storm and guzzling peanut butter jello vodka shots at Butter Factory, this is really what I do during the weekend.



I am using their video because I'm too embarrassed to show my own video. But my title sure caught your attention didn't it.

Who wants to be a "Real Woman" blogger

A piece of document produced by A reads:
A: These bloggers are 'real' woman...

B saw it and yelled across the room:
B: What is "A real woman"? Are there fake women bloggers?

Everyone in the room burst out laughing and C replied:
C: Got! Isabelle lor....

Yea, so I am actually not a real woman blogger. I am a man, as much as Megan Fox is.

Hurhurhur. Not funny. K back to work.

Isabelle didn't win the Watsons You Award...BUT

As the title suggests, I didn't win the Watsons You Award Healthy Hair thinggie. It's just too bad because I can already hear groans because my kickass prizes that were contingent upon me winning are now being forfeited...

• No me in wet-T-shirt
• No dominatrix serving coffee
• No peeping at my assam-looking IC photo
  
• No free Sunsilk haircare products
• No smelling of random stranger's armpits
  

I was even prepared to jump into the Suntec City fountain, and sell my . But boo!

That said, it was fair that I didn't win. Although I had a whole digital campaign mapped out, I only managed to fulfill about 3-4 out of 15 milestone mostly due to laziness and addiction to guitar hero. All in all, it was a great mini-research relevant to whatever that I do at work (somewhat).

But to all you lovelies out there who have supported, tweeted, helped to spread the word in one way or another, here's a huge thank you to you! Special thanks to those who voted tirelessly for me everyday, or even those who bothered responding to my plea for votes.

Now that this is over, I will revert to blogging in profanities. :) And I'll be posting a very backdated entry soon...a secret skill that I have acquired from the hills of Vietnam. So stay tuned!

Lastly, allow me to extend my congratulations to winner of the Watsons You Award Hair Category, Samantha! :P

Do Singaporeans dress badly?

Singaporean's fashion scape is a unique one. On one end of the sprectrum, teenagers roaming the malls in beach shorts and slippers are a common place, and on the other, executives in Raffles place are so impeccably dressed in their tailored power suits of fine silk and premium cotton, that you spend the entire MRT trip home engineering your outfit for the next day, so that you won't feel out of place.


Singaporeans the cosmopolitanders
Singapore is a melting pot for many cultures around the world. Consequently, the dominant style is probably inspired by a mixture of cultures that we are exposed to.

Mid-range to high end international fashion brands have set up shops in town, niche boutiques mushrooming across the heartlands, and even the online world is bursting at its seams with the abundance of online shopping sites. The popularity of spree communities means that we (ME!) shop for clothes all over the world at the click of a mouse.

We take inspiration from British High Street fashion and the whimsical dreamy sillouttes synonymous with Korean Pop; we devour fashion blogs and celebrity watch for the latest IT bag and bomber jacket. We take a pinch of this and a bit of that, formulating into something that we call our own.

Perhaps you could say that we weren't very fashion savvy and looked a bit gong in the early 90s, but a decade later in 2009, Singaporeans are pretty discerning when it comes to grooming and making ourselves to look good.


Singaporeans the sensible dressers
I wouldn't use "trendsetters" to describe Singaporeans, and depending on which of our regional sistas you speak to, you'd probably get a variation of that observation.

But if you ask me, I think that Singaporeans are sensible in the way we make themselves look good, balancing comfort and style. Basking in the 32 degrees celsius heat almost everyday would make wearing fur coats look very silly, and in this kind of heat, hair flops and makeup melts...Nuff said.

After all, we are fashionably snooty enough that during my trip to Vietnam, my companions and I were sniggering at how the Vietnamese women had no qualms about roaming the streets at 5pm in their matching yellow daisy flower and pink polka dot PJs with pleated hair.

It makes sense that our staple wear is an ensemble of the tube top/singlet variation with short skirts.

Should people wearing their PJs out?

The Spring Summer Collection 09 debuted at Milan saw high-end designer brands, from Prada to Jean Paul Gaultier, ditch the stiff power suits in favour of a softer and more sumptuous trend: Pyjamas. Or what the big guys like to call "Luxury Loungewear".

So has sleepwear become the new outerwear?

I can image in image conscious Singapore, the idea of running around town in one's PJ might raise a few plucked eyebrows. But in my opinion, it all boils down to one's skill in pairing.

Forget about the cotton plaid fannel pyjamas with a matching blouse and bottoms, keep those at home; In fact, don't consider a matching satin one as well - those are reserved for Kungfu practitioners. Neither am suggesting that one consider wearing a half see-through negligee from Victoria's Secret. Even the slinky polka Dolce and Gabanna set that Jessica Alba donned for the Hollywood movie premiere might get you mistaken for a Geisha wannabe.

Instead go for a fine boudoir-inspired alternativemodernas suggested by the pretty Deputy Editor of STYLE: magazine, May Yip.

I thought the pairing of a kimono PJ with a modern gold skirt was brilliant.

Or you could do it like me, a couple of looks that are PJ inspired - relaxed, loungey and luxurious. Most importantly, good enough to hit the streets.

- Pair a long, diaphanous soft cotton drawstring pyjamas trouser with a fitted (and short) modern top, that barely graze the belly-button. I can see me sipping hot lemongrass in pretty china teacups at Dempsey on Sunday.

- Pair a silky PJ top with a high-waisted tight skirt. Add a dash of blusher, lipstick and slip on killer heels. You are ready for Raffles Place, and your colleagues wouldn't even guess that you just rolled out of bed!

The rest of my ugly Piyo Piyo an Hello Kitty PJ sheaths violates my fashion reputation, therefore my examples stop here, until I get nicer PJs for myself. :)

The Intern

In the week that I was away gallivanting in Vietnam, a new intern came into our office.
Since there was an empty spot at my desk, she was asked to fill my space until I am back from vacation.
.
.
.
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I arrived at work unusually early that morning, and happily returned to my seat.

About half an hour later, the intern arrived in the office and made a beeline to the seat that she has grown accustomed to in the past 1 week, which of course I was perched prettily on.

Intern (to me): Isabelle?
Me: No, it's Muthu.
Intern: Where's Isabelle? And why are you sitting on Isabelle's seat? So where am I supposed to seat?
Me: Isabelle vas eaten up by me. Hee Hee Hee, and now I am going to eatchu!

The intern started crying.

Intern: Why, you are a horrible, horrible person and I hate you!
.
.
.
.

Fine... that didn't happen. The intern wasn't a bimbo, and the conversation above didn't happen beyond the 1st line.

Being the nice AE that I am, I showed her to her new seat, and brought her some draft paper from my stash to doodle on.

But if I didn't talk about what went on in my head, there wouldn't be an entry, would there?

My Vampire Chronicles

I've always been intrigued by the charismatic and sophistication of Vampires portrayed in modern fiction (the disgusting ones in Buffy are an exception). But as a general rule of thumb, most vampires that I've came across are mysterious, sensual and powerful blood suckers that have held my fascination for as long as my memory went.

Some friends and I have been musing upon the idea of dressing up as vampires, when we finally got down to it last Saturday.

Contrary to what one might think, there was no cheesy plastic fangs and messy bovine blood trailing off anyone's neck. Through the clever use lighting, some expert styling and Underworld-inspired costume: full thigh-high boots, corsets that suck your breath out and flasher leather coats, the shoot was laid out to depict a vampire's surreal existence, stylized solitude and animalistic sensuality.

We focused on 2 key ingredients that makes up a vampire:

1) Haunting eyes.

Although I might have fall slightly short of achieving that, but the idea is that the typical Isabelle "cow" face doesn't show.

2) Sleek but deadly poise of a vampire

And of course not forgetting the disputes stemmed from their territoriality.

Me on Creative Vado HD Camcorder

Working on tech and digital PR has its perks. Everytime the company gets a cool new gizmo, you are the first to test it out. I doubt the alcohol team gets to guzzle down buckets to Champagne/Whisky before the event itself.

So for the event this Saturday, my company ordered this cool gizmo, Creative Vado HD Camcorder from Creative for me, which delivered within a short 24 hours.

I was hyperventilating when it came because not only was it cool and compact, it's totally idiot proof and really easy to use.

Complete with 8GB of memory, and cool movie editing functions, like adding music, effect and all the la-dee-dum, videos can also be automatically shared on various online platforms in just a matter of seconds.

So presenting my virgin movie, created by me, directed by me, and starring me...

*Eh clap la!!*

The truth about wine and food pairing

I have always wondered, when connoisseurs pair wine with food, is the wine supposed to bring out the flavour of the food, or is the food supposed to bring out the flavour of the wine. 

Today, I faux pas and learnt it the hard way that it is the latter, when I said, "Hmm, this sauvignon blanc made my chicken really yummy," and everyone at the table cracked up.

M.A.C. Hello Kitty makeup comes to town

Unless you were born before 1950 or if you have a PhD (you are excused from anything if you have a PhD :p), you should have heard or read about the unexpected union between quirky makeup brand, M.A.C. and Hello Kitty, the pink sweetheart with a red bow from Sanrio.

So move aside, Majorlica Majorca, because M.A.C Hello Kitty is in town and is on the prowl! Meow~



Hello Kitty Mild, meet Hello Kitty Wild! Sweet and innocent or out on the prowl: when she's good, she's very good, but when she's bad, she's unmistakably M·A·C!

I had the good fortune of being invited to the M.A.C. Hello Kitty cocktail soiree that celebrated the debut of the adorable collections of colours, finishes, glitters and accessories. The M.A.C. kitty collection features the iconic cat in a pop art design packaging, with limited-edition colour in intense hues that are a signature of M.A.C cosmetics.




Topless men kitties (I was told later that they were known as S&M kitties - complete with leather pants and nipples) were the hors d'oeuvres at the event, as they stood around to take pictures with the celebrity-studded audience.

I simply couldn't give this a miss, could I? Oops, I look a tad too happy.




In between ooh-ahhing over the kitty-oriented cocktails, canapes and accessories that were served, we were bowled over by the huge array of kitty accessories that sprung out of this collection.





Being the beauty junkies that we are, Val and I also had a smashing time dipping our fingers into the limited-edition makeup palettes with quirky names such as Lucky Tom, Too Dolly, and Pink Fish.

While neither Too Dolly nor M.A.C.'s glitter pigments were my cup of tea, considering that I have the type of face that simply cannot wear too much makeup and colours, I was really sold on the Lip Glass.

Unlike some cheapo lip gloss that melts into a "greasy mouth syndrome" (think oily lips after eating oily chicken wings), M.A.C.'s lip glass works like a lip gloss but it sort of dries up to leave a beautiful glaze over your lips, making it look luscious and shiney without that sticky & wet feel that most lip gloss have.

I was given the colour Mimmy, a nubile peach pink with a slight hint of glitter, that is coincidentally so me. Use it on its own for a barely-there oh-I-am-so-beautiful-naturally look, or slick on a nude lipstick shade underneath for a an understated city chic.

You can tell how yummylicious the lip gloss is from the above picture, with me looking as if I was trying to crunch it all up for dinner.



The nice folks at M.A.C also gave us a matching eye colour each.
Isabelle -> Mimmy(the lip glass) and Concrete (the dark brown eye shadow)

Valerie -> Nice Kitty (the lip glass) and Nanogold (the pale golden eye shadow) that works beautifully as a base on Asian skin tones.

I'll be re-creating my own M.A.C Mild kitty look soon. So stay tuned~

Till the next time I blog. Images are a courtesy of Valerie, and here's the link to her blog...just so you know who's the real camwhore here. LOL~

How legitimate are smoke breaks?

The smokers in my office make their daily pilgrimage, climbing 3 storeys down to the designated smoking area for a puff or two. They do that repetitively over the course of the day, while the non-smoking yours truly has her fat ass stuck onto the chair and eyes glued onto the too-glaring computer, frantically typing away to meet one of ther many deadlines.

And that got me wondering; I wondered, not because I was sore about the fact that my smoking colleagues gets about an hour of extra break everyday due to their nicotine addiction, but because I am woman and can multi-task between writing a press release, doing research and conjuring up fancy scenarios like this.

Although I have nothing against the act of smoking, and in fact have a sick obsession with inhaling the intoxicating second-hand fumes from Virginia Slims, I know for a fact that it is socially regarded as a bad habit.

Even though the frequent MC-takers are usually the non-smokers, it is scientifically proven that smokers are less likely to remain healthy for the company in the long run. Besides, to whom should we bill the additional 1 hour that is burnt off each day on chugging over-priced rolled up tobacco sticks?

Therefore theoretically, isn't it unprofitable for a company to encourage such habits, considering that smokers, too, take tea/food/shit/chitchat breaks like the rest of us.

And if smoke breaks are acceptable, why aren't fuck breaks acceptable?
Supposing smokers take a smoke break of 10 minutes every 2 hourly, that will add up to 40 minutes of extra break-time for every 8-hour working day. For a quickie, 20 minutes would suffice, and supposing I only take 2 fuck breaks a day, I wouldn't be taking any more time off than the smokers in my company.

Fucking, carried out safely, is a healthy activity. it releases endorphines which increases work productivity, with no known negative side effects. Even insurance agents don't increase your premium for indulging in sexual activities more than twice a day, unlike that of smokers.

But I don't foresee bosses to be thrilled if such a scenario were to arise:

"Boss, I am feeling horny now, can I cross over to the next building for a quickie?"

Or when moving offices,"Boss, where's the nearest quickie area?" as opposed to, "Boss, where is the nearest smoking area?"

In fact, I think by asking the former, I'd be more likely to get the sack sooner.

But my point is, both are fringe activites that eat off time from work. Both are time-consuming activities that will take time off one's usual working schedule. But if one is a lesser evil than the other, why isn't it accepted?

That said, I am not about to start indulging in fuck breaks anytime soon, nor am I secretly jealous of my smoking counterparts for having "more" break-time than me. As stated right at the beginning of this entry, this is purely stemmed out of my own nonsensical musings following a very interesting discussion with a friend.

And also because I am a multi-task-abled woman.

Contributing to the economy

It feels like Christmas when Pay Day coincides with a Weekend.

Now it's time for me to do my part as a good Singaporean by contributing to the economy, One.Dress.At.A.Time.

(P/S: Christmas in Singapore is just about shopping excessively)

Be Yourself Day

In lieu of Youth Day's celebration, Thursday was decreed to be a "Be Yourself Day".

I intend to turn up at work with a potentially lethal vodka breath, streaky makeup and smudged mascara - remnants of Wednesday Ladies Night's partying, and scare the living daylights out of everyone else. **** KTG!!! ****

OR

I could just NOT turn up at work.

That's being myself.

Cheap Sex

It was early in the morning and about 8 of us were crammed in the tiny makeshift Girl's locker room, mulling around doing nothing in particular and talking about nothing specific in particular, and soon our conversation topic shifted to Tampons.

Girl A: Crap, Red Flag's up today... Not sure if I brought enough tampons.

A few of us: I have some if you need.

In between applying lipstick, Girl B who was originally sitting quietly in a corner napping looked up.

Girl B: I don't dare to use tampons; my friend said that it feels like having sex 24/7 when you have it on.

(Before you start taking her word for it, it doens't. You don't see random females writhing away on the streets in ecstacy...)

Girl A: Please lor, if that were true, then sex is damn cheap. Just $10 for a box of 32 Happy Hours.

The Flawed Judgment

Things that I will do for a Raoul sale, especially when I sense one brewing over the horizon

1) Google for news of the sale on all Singapore Online Forums, every other day

2) Found the announcement at 3AM in the morning and text all my girly-pals.

Raoul Annual Sale

HITACHI TOWERS
#01-11/12
OPENING HOURS: 11AM - 9PM, MON - FRI
11AM - 5PM, SAT
CLOSED ON SUN & PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

3) Woke up at 9AM in the morning so that I'll be a pioneer shopper when the sale starts at 11AM. It's a major feat because 9AM is the time for birds to wake up.

4) Brave all the sweatiness and smelly armpits (of other people), and risk being spotted like an Auntie from the market, just so to dig through the pile of discounted clothes

I love Raoul Men's 2-ply cotton shirts in tapered cut, especially on tall, lean men. It gives them an extremely composed and in-control look, as if even the shirt is afraid of crinkling on them.


:
:
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On the way back home, I took a seat on the train opposite a Mother with 2 young daughters (probably between 7 to 10 years old).

The younger of the 2 daughters was fixated on me, and after staring at me for 5 minutes, she whispered a very audible whisper - I guess all kids that young have severe volume control disability - to her mother.

Girls : Mummy, that jiejie is very pretty! Her eyes look like princess eyes!

The mother smiled at her daughter, while I pretended to not hear her...eh this girl will grow up to be someone with very good taste ley, I silently thought to myself. Plus she didn't call me an auntie. Smart girl. Not only will she have good taste, she'll grow up to be smart too.

Then the little girl continued...
"Mummy, can you make my hair curly curly like hers? And I also want that dot on the cheek", the little girl raised her pinky to her right cheek, all the while still looking at me.

The mother took a quick glance at me, as if embarrassed that her daughter is talking so loudly, and to my mortification, she whispered back not too softly either...

"Why on earth would you want a pimple on your cheek for?"

gwa gwa gwa..... I guess volume control disability runs in the family