My First Ever Interview

On Saturday morning, I was checking my office email for some reason (don't follow this!). I found an email from my colleague who is currently handling one of the initiative that was formerly mine. The initiative was employee profile, where an associate gets nominated by their managers to be interviewed. The result of the interview would then be published in company's Yammer group.

I scanned through the email's recipient list and said to myself, "why does she need to copy me on this?". I didn't realise until I read through the whole email that I was nominated to be interviewed this time! I read through the testimonial that my manager and her manager gave why I deserve to be featured. It's really sweet of them. I don't think I've done a better job compared to last year, but I'm definitely grateful to be appreciated for my efforts.

There were 7 questions in total that I needed to complete. Three questions were quite easy because it was only asking about my role and myself. Three questions were super difficult and one question I couldn't answer at all hahaha. The three difficult questions are as you see below. Despite of it's difficulty, I really do like the questions as I'm able to share my values and point of view through these questions.

30-day Minimalism Challenge - Day 1

Today I tackled challenge #23 Go bare-faced pretty easily. Until very recently when I figured out the correct way to apply make up, I used to never wear any make up at all. So, I have been bare-faced a lot in the past.

Yesterday I was feeling like I was about to get sick as my throat has been sending the signal from the morning. I took Codral tablets to minimise the symptoms so it wouldn't get even worse. Unfortunately, the phenilyphrine really got me in the afternoon and I immediately fell into deep sleep when I reached home without taking off my make up! There I was sleeping through the night with full make up on.

By morning I felt really sorry for my skin and decided to give my face a break. I cleaned my face and apply the usual serum and moisturiser, then off I go to the office bare-faced. Gotta love those freckles and acne scars!

I'm so grateful that my skin has never been better. Although I have those freckles and acne scars, I'm still loving my skin. I was never able to afford the skincare products that I'm using now, but to be honest it's what makes all the difference. I love the fact that they actually work on my skin!

4 Reasons Why I Keep My Wardrobe Minimal

MINIMALISM
noun | min·i·mal·ism | \ˈmi-nə-mə-ˌli-zəm\
A style or technique (as in music, literature, or design) that is characterized by extreme spareness and simplicity

I have just found Joojoo Azad's blog recently about minimalism (minimalist wardrobe). I (sort of) jumped into the "minimalism" wagon several months ago after I realised my closet is getting too full. When I moved to the new house, the new closet was even more screaming "I can't fit any more clothes!". I just can't comprehend how I was able to accumulate so many clothes.

I haven't really done any closet clean-up, because I still love my old clothes. So, what I'm trying to do now is to SHOP LESS. I did challenge myself to "no clothes shopping" for a year, but only managed to commit for 6 months (those darn SALE!). Something important I learned along the way, tho, is to buy only something that you will wear over and over again.

This is my 4 MAIN REASONS why I like to keep my closet minimal:

NO MORE OVERLOADED WARDROBE
As I have mentioned, since moving to the new place, the new wardrobe seemed to be screaming "I can't fit any more clothes!" The rack is just full with clothes to the extent that I wasn't able to slide the clothes easily. It takes quite a lot of energy if you have to forcefully separate the clothes while browsing through the rack. I said to myself, "I'm not going to add more clothes into the closet." - which I have already disobeyed because I just purchased sleeveless blazer from David Lawrence.

SAVE MORE MONEY
Do you realise how much money you spent on purchasing clothes? If you normally budget $100-200 a month on purchasing clothes, that is a whooping $1200-2400 a year! After seeing my closet really stuffed up, I tried to limit my shopping spree. In the first half of 2015 I only purchased one David Lawrence cashmere cape, and that was heavily discounted. I went a bit overboard on my my birthday though, but I still purchase discounted items which included a very pretty black trench from Portmans. And my most recent purchase is a sleeveless blazer from David Lawrence outlet. I don't have a sleeveless blazer, so it's a perfectly sound reason to purchase! In summary, within the past year, I only spent my hard earned cash on 5 pieces of clothing, which I think it's pretty good. Chaching!

CHOOSING OUTFIT IS NOW A BREEZE

Choosing an outfit is now down from 15 minutes to just 5 minutes. I have been so frustrated with the time it takes for me to choose an outfit to work! Until I found an article about someone who wears the same thing everyday (it's not that she doesn't wash her clothes, she just had multiple quantity of the same item). I thought, "hey, why don't I do that?". So, I did. I chose my basics (cardigan, t-shirt, chino pants/jeans) and stick with it. 

MORE APPRECIATIVE OF WHAT I HAVE
I know it's very easy to get bored of your wardrobe, but perhaps it's also time for you to learn to appreciate of what you already have. I now try to be more appreciative of the clothes that I have in my wardrobe. I have purchased my clothes for two reasons: I REALLY REALLY REALLY like them and I'm gonna wear them (many many times); so I try my best to get the thought "I'm bored of that outfit" out of my head.

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UPDATE: If you're looking for information on how to start minimalist wardrobe, I find this website very informative. So, please do check it out!