Day 40 and 41: Jubilation

We were jubilant as the final plenary session was called to a close. The long days and endless circular arguments were over. It would soon be time to head home.

My outfit:

Salmon pink cardigan from Giant (who says you can't find nice stuff at such places?)

Grey shift dress from Nex 

Belt came free with a pair of pants

Angeline's outfit: 

Black blazer form Zara

Dress from Primark

Burgundy shoes from New Look

Since it was going to be our last night in Bonn, we decided to treat ourselves to some good food.

The top rated place according to TripAdvisor was fully booked so we chose to dine at Gasthaus Reduttchen. I'm so glad we did.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, I liked it already. It's essentially a little cottage next to a park.

The whole setting was beautiful and charming. Everything from the cushions to the bread basket exuded a homely atmosphere. The service was impeccable too. The waiter recommended that we get the set menu with between 3-6 courses. And he also offered great wine recommendations. The dishes are innovative and I'm told it changes with whatever is seasonal. I chose a lamb dish which was yum. The dessert was a little strange though. The herb sorbet tasted like medicated oil. Lol. 

On the whole, it was a great experience. If you ever are in the Bonn, you should head here for a nice night out. Take the set menu with the wine pairing. Great value for money.

~

I woke up with a great sense of anticipation on Saturday as it was the day we were headin home. All our bags were packed and we were dressed for the long journey back. A taxi ride to Siegburg train station, a train ride to Frankfurt, the a 12 hour flight home.

My outfit:

Tank top from Mauritius

Jeans from Mango

Ombré purple scarf from my mom

Angeline's outfit:

Burgundy cardigan from Uniqlo

Stripey boat neck tee from Zara

Mother's scarf and pants

Bye bye Maritim Hotel. Someone aptly described it as "That 70's Show meets the Soviet era". But I'm grateful that we were staying there as I would have been frozen if we had to make a commute. It's also a very functional hotel with the basics. The best part is I could go up to my room to charge my laptop instead of lugging the charging cables around all day. 

Till we meet again. Auf Wiedersehen.

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at 11:31 AM

Day 177

Different Outfit Everyday is on another hiatus. But before that, here's what i wore last friday: a mandarin collar top from Gan Ann's sewing room and black pencil skirt. 

The hiatus this time is because Mr Kwek is away at Youth Conference. While it means I don't get to see him much for a week, it is a joy to see Mr Kwek serve God with such passion. I am glad that I can do my part as well by supporting him in his ministry through prayer and taking care of stuff at home like preparing fr our big move! But more about that next time. 

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at 9:38 AM

Day 176: Happy Birthday Mr Kwek!

It is Mr Kwek's birthday today!!!! 

I love how simple and down to earth Mr Kwek is. He does not need big celebrations, expensive dinners or gifts. He was happy with just a simple meal cooked by yours truly. One of the many reasons why I love this man :)

I've been blessed with a wonderful husband :) Sending lots of love.

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at 11:00 PM

Days 173-175: Different Outfit Everyday is Back!

Since it has been a week since I got back from climate change land, it's time to continue my DOED posts.

Monday's outfit was a hand me down from my colleague. I'm thinking of shortening it but feeling lazy...

On Tues, my never ending saga of the doors for my new place got me all riled up again :( dressed in one of my $2 dresses from Bangkok and pink cropped blazer from a flea market.

But by wed I was looking up again. I really like this outfit. If not for my DOED challenge, I probably would never have put this together. White tank top, vest from London and hand me down lace trimmed pencil skirt.

I've still been wearing different outfits everyday in the time I was in the abyss but I've been too tired to document them. So the daily count just starts from where I left off. 

Here's a selection outfits I managed to capture while in Warsaw. 

I think the DOED outfit was so much easier in a winter country. When wearing 5 layers of clothes, mixing and matching is easy. There is always at least 1 piece that is different. That said, I'm glad to be back to my warm little island. I am totally made for the tropics.

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at 9:30 AM

Day 172: The Stadium

This is my first time attending a conference at a sports stadium. 

Looks like there's gonna be lots of climbing up and down stairs and getting lost in the large venue. Because it's not a purpose built conference center, temperature control is not great either with some areas freezing and others stuffy. Let's hope we don't fall I'll.

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at 4:14 PM

Day 171: Warsaw

I arrived in Warsaw yesterday and I'm all bundled up for the cold, wet and dreary winter.

On arrival, I took the opportunity before the madness begins to take a look around. 1st stop was a bazaar 2 blocks from my hotel.

I was hoping to see those big Russian flea market, unfortunatly it was just a fresh produce and clothing market. It was still lovely seeing all the fresh produce. That's the most colour I've seen in this town so far. 

Next stop was the old town which is supposed to be the main touristy area. There weren't many people around though. 

The buildings here were all rebuilt after it was flattened in the war. What I loved was how the facades of each unit was decorated so uniquely and ornately. 

While I was wandering around the old town, I was summoned to attend a meeting, so I had to rush back and I had to figure out the public transport system. Thank God for helpful people around. 

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at 7:48 PM

Off to Climate Change Land

I'm off on my annual end of year pilgrimage to climate change land- a surreal place where people make "short" interventions that last 20minutes, where a normal work day starts at 8am and ends at 10pm if you are lucky, where a comma  instead of a semicolon could cost you a night's sleep, where thousands a people are cooped up together for 17 days straight to talk about one subject only, and where hopefully *fingers crossed* what we agree on makes a difference to our children's lives. 

To those who will be there too, let's just agree to make the next few days as painless as possible :)

As I sit here waiting for my 1.20am flight and getting my feet massaged by the pain machine, I figured now is a good time to catch up on the outfit posts I have missed along the way. 

In one of my $2 dresses fr Bangkok 

In colorful hand me downs :)

See you all when I get back! In the mean time, any prayers for my survival is appreciated. 

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at 12:42 AM

New Combinations

I'm down to trying out new combinations of my clothes for the different outfit everyday challenge. 

I've never thought of wearing this sleeveless shirt up cycled from my dad's old shirt to work before as I thought it was too rugged and casual but it seems paired with a work pencil skirt it turned out quite well. 

And I always thought it was so hard to match this skirt with the stuff in my wardrobe as it is so refined and dainty, but tucking my oversized jersey top in and pulling them together with the wide leather waist belt seems to somehow work. 

Just gotta make it work right?

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at 7:26 PM

Day 167: Brrrrr

At 1am on Friday, I will be flying off to spend 2.5 weeks in a land of 0-5 degree Celsius temperatures and about 5 hours of sunlight. And it seems the Singapore weather and office air-con is conspiring together to help me prepare for it.

Hence, my outfit for Monday was this:

A big warm wooly brown coat donated by my colleague upon hearing that I was freezing. My other colleague called it a bathrobe.

Clearly my office does not have a strict dress code. 

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at 11:57 AM

Day 164: Reno Diaries

The new Kwek Kampong is shaping up. In the week ahead, the kitchen cabinet surface, lights and plumbing should be fitted and the main Reno works will be complete. Then all that will be left is to settle our doors (I can't believe how incredibly difficult it is to get the doors we want), and window coverings. 

So we have been going down to the flat during lunch times to meet the renovations people and making sure they get the work done properly. The new Kwek Kampong is actually being done up very simply- but it seems contractors don't know how to do simple nowadays and quality of work is really not great. What I cant comprehend is why they can't just get work done properly without us going down constantly, and having to make a fuss just so they do their job. Sigh. 

After another trip down and having to make another fuss to insist that my kitchen cabinet be done decently, (seriously, the basic requirement would be for the drawers to close properly right?!), I decided to buy some drinks for the workers so they don't burn down my house. 

I'm so glad renovations are going to be done soon. On the bright side, we are discovering that there's lots of wonderful food around our new place. So excited to try them all. 

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at 8:58 AM

Day 163: Blooms

I'm not a fresh flower bouquet kind of girl.

I always thought fresh flowers were wasteful as they would wither too quickly and you would have to throw them away. I remember telling Mr Kwek not to buy me fresh flowers for valentines day and even said I didn't want flowers at my wedding (my wedding decor team pulled it off amazingly well).

But even I almost became a convert when we made a visit to the nurseries along Thompson Road.

Apart from the usual potted plants, there were several large cold rooms brimming with blooms of every size and colour. 

There were rooms for flowers from different seasons and there were rows and rows of buckets stuffed with bundles of beautiful flowers. 

They even had cotton blooms and lavender, and psychedelic roses!

:)

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at 11:18 AM

Day 156: Friends from the Awkward Years

Secondary school is when you make friends that will stick around. You saw each other everyday through the most awkward 4years of your life: puberty. Braces, acne, disastrous hairstyles, and other more embarrassing times forever etched in your collective memories.  Such friends are gold (in our case, we are jade and gold) :)

Such friends are also worth traveling across the island to have crab with. 

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at 9:26 AM

Day 159: (Red)eemed

The choir was presenting a song item on Sunday so we were all decked out in red. I wore my red batik dress from Surabaya and red Aigner suede shoes :)

I loved seeing everyone dressed in the same vibrant red, singing with one voice to The Lord. But more importantly, it is heartening to know that we sing because we have each been redeemed by the grace of God. And we sing in the same spirit of faith.

The song we sang was A Mighty Fortress. I was listening to the song during the week to try and memorize the lyrics and it brought me great encouragement. Knowing that our God is a righteous judge that rules over all with love, justice, freedom and mercy, we need not be overwhelmed by all the injustice, trials and bad stuff that we see and experience.

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at 9:32 AM

Day 157: Cross Country

I had successfully avoided running in all the cross country runs all the days of my school life. Yet on Friday, I voluntarily headed to Macritchie Reservoir for a run with my colleagues. Sometimes I surprise myself. 

So the days's outfit comprised of a really old tank top and FBT shorts. 

It felt good to fill my lungs with fresh air and feel my heart beating again.

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at 7:55 AM