I want to be a K-pop star

(This is for you YJ & TL!)

Knowing my craze over k-drama & Korea in general, Kisu very thoughtfully bought tickets to Seoul'ed Out when he found out about the event. It was held last Saturday at Fort Canning Park. I think it's the first (and probably last) standing room only concert I have been to (excluding Ballet Under the Stars which I went to eons ago at the same venue). I say last because dammit my legs and back almost gave way after 3.5 hours of concert time. A trip to the zoo earlier in the afternoon (for a friend's daughter's bday party) with all the heat and walking around had rendered my legs jelly, which did not help matters.

We were not ready for the power of hallyu, man. There was a line snaking all the way from the park entrance to past the Battle Box. Took us 45 minutes of waiting in line (90% teenage girls, 5% ahjummas, 5% hapless men who accompanied girlfriends/wives/daughters etc) before we got into the venue. And there were already throngs of people in there watching and screaming at the giant screens erected on site. Yes, there would be loud screams whenever their favourite boy band appeared on screen. On screen, people. Not like they were live on stage!!! (And by the way, the aforesaid boy band - Shinee - wasn't even in the concert lineup!!)

I had been waiting in anticipation for the event and the biggest draws for me were Lee Hong-ki from FT Island and Kim Joon of T-Max (more infamously known as the group that sang 2009 hit Boys Over Flowers theme song, Almost Paradise). Both have acted in the recent kdramas that I have watched, Hong-ki in You're Beautiful and Kim Joon as Woo Bin, one of the F4 guys in BoF. I also know the Brown Eyed Girls from a song they sang for another drama OST, My Fair Lady and from watching too much Music Bank/KPops/Showbiz Extra etc on KBS World/Arirang.

Concert started at 8.30pm (we sat on the grass waiting for about 30 minutes) - once the MCs came onstage everyone just jumped up and surged toward the front. I was surrounded by teenaged girls (front) and boys (back). We were in a pretty decent spot, I guess about 10 metres or less from the stage so I could see the performers very clearly. Had to endure the fringe acts and some silly MC banter before the main performers came on at about 10pm.

Lee Ji Soo - I have no idea who he is but he apparently he contributed a track in the drama My Girl. He had the quintessential kot mi nam (pretty boy) look favoured by male artistes these days - fair, smooth skin, slight built, comfortably blinged out, looking vaguely androgynous and probably the only guy (or girl) I've seen to rock a short sleeved jacket.

T-Max: The crowd only really got excited when this act came on, no doubt because of Kim Joon, who played the part of F4 Woo Bin in BoF. He was very charming and relaxed - every time he waved or smiled (which was a lot) the girls would scream and wave madly. One of my favourite acts of the night because they looked like they were enjoying themselves thoroughly and lapping up all the attention from the crowd. The crowd went absolutely wild when they burst out with Almost Paaaaaaradise, the theme song from BoF. With pyrotechnics no less (See below).

Fight the Feeling, also on the BoF OST

FT Island: I think this was the crowd favourite. There were a multitude of screams for "Hong-ki! Hong-ki!". He looked totally Jeremy-like (his character in You're Beautiful) with his blonde weird bundled up hair which resembled devil horns, and red and black leopard print leggings. An energetic performance but despite how I love his Jeremy character, I didn't feel much love for Hong-ki and his prepubescent looking band mates. The rest of the acts all tried to speak a few phrases of English with their Singaporean fans (which I appreciate no matter how clumsy they sound or how apologetic they are) but not Hongki. MC had to translate for him.

One Word

Brown Eyed Girls: Ooh I loved this act! I really wanted some slick dance moves and they were the only group that had it. Catchy tunes, cute girls, fun dancing. And Miryo had the best English (Mario doesn't count, he sounds totally American) and tried to give a decent speech to the fans.

They opened with "Sign".

And they sang Abracadabra, which I love - couldn't find a good one of them at Seoul'ed Out so this is another clip of their live performance. I want Ga-In's hairstyle!!! (She's the first one to sing. I also like Narsha's bob, but I think it might be a wig)

BEG closed the show, which ended at 11.30pm. As we were walking out cars were chauffeuring the artistes back to their hotel. We passed the car which Hong-ki was in, wah!

(online) retail therapy

I recently bought some stuff online (not clothes!). They're kind of cute and there are nice photographs of them to share - always a good addition to any post.

I first found decorette which sells decals on etsy but discovered that the seller is from Singapore and has a proprietary online store. I couldn't stop pouring over the designs and promptly ended up with 2 sets - the Rabbit ABCs for Ellis' room

and "Mirror Mirror on the wall" for my office.

The other 2 items are for Ellis - a handpainted carousel for her room (which also plays It's a Small World)

and a Hello Kitty pouch from Stephie's Shop. I gave her the pouch and she went "Kitty!" then "Apple!" and then "Um!" (i.e. Kitty eats the apple)

And one final item, which I couldn't help but buy while making a delivery at Maternity Exchange - it can also be purchased online - the Pupsik Kapok Bolster! I got the one in Mocha Dots for Ellis. Kapok reminds me of my childhood pillow/bolster and Ellis seems to be liking it so far - she's been happily hugging it!

Dote AW09 Collection

I've been waiting in anticipation to put this up - I actually completed most of the website updates a while back but was waiting for stock to arrive before I could upload everything. It's always gratifying, after months of work from drawing board to samples and shooting, to see the final product in its end state.

I started out with double the number of styles - but only half of those styles made the cut....that's about the amount of "wastage" expected when editing and culling designs. As always the process winds up taking longer than expected...which means I have to start working on the next collection - NOW! It's a neverending cycle.....

And another piece of news - for Singapore customers, Dote is now available at Mothercare. Selected styles (excluding those from the AW09 collection) are available at the Mothercare Harbourfront centre store, 1 Maritime Square #03-07.

press alert! dote in simply her sep 09 issue (singapore)

Dote's Georgia Dress is featured in the September issue of Simply Her magazine.

(click to enlarge)

Dote Photoshoot - A/W 09

Here we go again!

Behind the scenes from our recent photoshoot...

Our very fun and friendly model, Julianna with Jennis our talented MUA (make up artist)

At the National Stadium (!) Who knew it would be a great (deserted) place to shoot? Amidst the greys we found some lovely backdrops.

And here we are in the studio waiting to start the studio shots

IKEA

Of course I'm blogging only because there's something else I'm trying to avoid. Work, namely.

Procrastination is all relative with me - I take the path of least resistance.

Anyway, let's talk about some fun stuff (for me) since I'm in the mood to blog.

As much work as there is to be done, there's the prospect of moving into the new office that I'm looking forward to. Spent far too much time at IKEA his past week browsing for office furniture, not entirely by choice.

The service office comes with tables and chairs, but the tables are pretty dreary so I told the landlord to remove them. I have some spare tables at home that I can use, but I did need some sort of shelving solution for the goods. Off to IKEA I went.

Trip #1 - Recce trip to Alexandra to figure out what I needed. Decided on the IVAR shelves (IKEA having annual clearance sale but naturally what I wanted to buy was not discounted)

Trip #2 - IKEA Alexandra, again. I was there sharp at 10am, right when they opened. I picked up some plastic bins, tested them on the IVAR display. Armed with calculator and measuring tape - I sat down at the planning table to work out the optimised configuration and the number of units of each component I needed. Headed for the self-serve section (IKEA insists on you picking up the items yourself even if you plan to get them delivered) only to discover that IVAR side units are OUT.OF. STOCK.

IKEA guy asked me to check the Tampines branch stock by calling the Customer Service hotline (I asked him if he can help me check his system but his excuse is that the systems at the 2 branches are not connected - he was helpful enough to give me the hotline and SKU number). I call and am assured by the friendly operator that Tampines has the item I need.

Trip #3 - IKEA Tampines: went bright an early on my own..long drive but saving grace was free parking. And lots of space. Hit the self serve again; went straight for the IVARS. I am a woman on a mission. Hauled a bunch of the precious stuff onto my cart. IKEA guy sees me and tells me that there is this teeny little problem of a supporting component called the cross brace which is OUT.OF.STOCK. I ask if the delivery people can bring one along when they deliver it next Monday. He says no. I say, Can we assemble the shelf first and put on the brace later? No. cannot. Must buy before delivery. Okaaaaay - looks like it's back to Alexandra (Curses!!!!!)

Service here is better though. Guy sees I'm struggling to push the heavily laden cart so he helps me to the checkout area. He even calls customer service to help me check if Alexandra has stock of the cross brace, except that he can't get through, so I end up having to call them again. He's a cheerful and nice chap, compared with the sullen soul at Alexandra.

Whatever, at this point I am just happy that I sucessfully managed to purchase something and arrange a delivery. I might actually have some semblence of an office by next week!

Trip #4 - IKEA Alexandra, today. Went with Ellis after school to pick up the cross brace. Finally!

During the course of the day, I arrange to meet a friend for lunch next week.

She messages me "Let's meet at IKEA. Need to buy storage boxes."

The Work Equation

I did it - whoo hoo, I managed another post on this blog!

No, seriously - what I did was to commit to office space after months of dreaming about having a place of my own.

The thought was always at the back of my mind to get some dedicated work space, but it seemed an unnecessary expense given that I'd managed to operate from home so far. And it's undoubtedly more convenient to work from home - especially because I have to multitask - work and take care of Ellis - any free time I had, I would try to squeeze some work in.

The price of convenience? My life became a blur of baby, work, chores - and bags of goods took over the study and invaded our living and dining areas.

And the worst - Kisu suffering from horrendous allergies since I started this business. It got progressively worse as the stockpile increased. Last weekend, after watching him sneeze endlessly, steriod spray himself silly, AND wake up countless times in the night due to a stuffy nose, I decided that something had to be done.

Ellis so far has not shown signs of allergies but the dust that comes with the goods can't be good for her.

So the hunt for an office space began.

And while I have always dreamed of working out of one of those ubercool shophouses (the space! the high ceiliings!) the reality of the situation is that it is waaaay too expensive and impractical.

I found a serviced office instead that was recommended by my corporate secretary.

We (yes, we - it was a family affair) viewed it on a Saturday, went back the very next day for a second viewing followed by me putting down a deposit to secure the space.

It's seriously mini, with obiang decor and miles away from what I envisioned (it doesn't even have windows!), but very importantly, there's a receptionist so I don't have to hang around all day (I can't) waiting for the courier to pick up my shipments. I can zip in, do my stuff and be outta there.

The other big pluses - it is near home and located in an industrial area which means my goods can be loaded and unloaded easily. (There's even complimentary kopi & biscuits in the pantry, and free fruit on Mondays "Fruit Day" but I digress...)

Now,

Rent a place = Commitment to Fixed Cost = Start running on the treadmill (i.e. chase sales) = Cannot be as relaxed as before

The work equation, all of a sudden, has changed quite drastically.