When words are all I have

Yes, I've moved.
I've been wanting to move out from livejournal for some time but told myself to be patient.
I'd thought the switch back to blogger would happen once I have a new little person to blog about.
Since it doesn't seem as though that's gonna be happening anytime soon, I'm gonna pitch a temporary tent HERE.
It will now be THE place where I'll be baring my thoughts until further notice.
Patience is a virtue, I guess I have a long way to go before I become virtuous ;)
See you @ blogger!

It was great here while it lasted. Time to move on.

Hello earthlings :)

I'm tired and ready to go to bed, but thought i'd write about my experience setting up a booth at a carnival/bazaar before i forget. i'm getting used to pushing myself the extra 7 miles anyway. plus, if i wait any longer i may not write about it at all. and that's no good coz i might want to refer to it myself someday :)

so.. lemme start with the purpose of my participation in the carnival.
frankly, it was to clear all my  existing stocks from Satin Dream.
my moto is to try new things, within limits of course (disclaimer), and to step out of my comfort zone as much as i can.
hubby was reluctant at first, but now he really gets it :)
he understands what i'm doing and why i'm doing it. it feels soo good to be understood.
my parents on the other hand, aren't used to the idea. they seem to think i'm doing this coz i'm running out of dough. my mom particularly.
well, i can always find things to spend extra cash on but i'm in no way living in hardship. hehe
i don't blame her for worrying about me, and whether or not i'm in trouble financially. i know she's only concerned and trying to help her daughter the best way she knows how. by making things easy for us. she's been doing that all our lives after all.
she's just wonderful like that :) i want her to help me by not making it too easy for me but by letting me make my own mistakes so i can learn.
but i know it's hard for her to do that, when she feels like it's ridiculous that i should have to work so hard when she can afford to provide me with the comfort and luxuries i MAY be looking for
(i'm not, mom. trust me. i'm gonna print this out and let you read it when i'm done k ;D).
i don't expect you to be able to watch me work my ass off sweating profusely for some measly bucks.
but mom.. i like it. reallyy :) i like doing things for myself. i'm not doing it for the money. if and when i have to do it for the money, don't u think it's perfect that i've already tried it and have gathered some skills along the way?

i guess i should warn you now that this post is gonna be a super duper long one ;P despite my being tired.

okay2 back to the event.

hubby and i arrived at the venue half an hour later than we intended to, but on time according to the organiser's schedule.
still, me being me, i was nervous that i might not be ready before the 1st customer arrived. the sun was shining brightly on our booth. needless to say, i was soaked. at least it was the morning sun.
Dini arrived shortly and helped me get things up and ready. Awanis arrived not long after. we started arranging things, stacked the cupcakes, and laid out everything in order.and then.. whaddya know, i was right. i wasn't worrying for nothing. my neighbour had to nudge me to tell me i had a customer who was hiddden behind my rack of clothes, thumbing through the selection. great. i thanked my neighbour for the heads up and attended to the lady.
in the end she walked away with 2 items. not bad ey :) good start.
but fret not, i'm not gonna talk about each and every customer :)

okay i have a confession, i have trouble saying no (to requests that don't go against my principles that is. why do u insist on making me explain?!).later in the day, 2 lady cleaners came by. 1 was very interested in one of the tops that was hanging on my rack. she was asking the other lady whether or not it would look nice on her and which colour was nicer. i told her the price  and said i could give her about RM5 off when she looked disappointed. then she asked if i could lower the price by another fiver. i shook my head and smiled trying to hide the difficulty i was having just denying her the additional RM5 discount (eh maybe it's not something i should disclose so publicly. people might take advantage of me one day. hehe). then she pleaded and that was all it took. i couldn't take it so i said okay. that particular piece of item happened to be something i was having trouble selling off, lucky for that.
i guess my compassion got the better of me. some of you would disagree but i felt good afterwards so that's fine :)
a lot of things happened that will forever be memorable to me.

my whole family came to show support. mom bought a lot of items from neighbouring stalls (one of the owners later told me how grateful she was), as well as from my stall (i later found out she bought some of the stuff just for the sake of supporting me, not knowing they were items my friends were trying to get rid of. funny mommy). i bet they too were appreciative of my mother's purchaseS =) i love you Momma!dad came by later as he had a golf tourney earlier on. he told passersby to come hav a look at my stall as they were walking by. so cute! it shows that he's been practising the same for his company. i love you too Pa~ =) sorry i don't have a photo with you.

sis spent her Sunday accompanying me and helping me with so many things. i know it's not easy when you have like 3 jobs urself. mwahs =)bestfriend came by all the way from KL where his family was staying for the wkend, only to head right back after about a half hour visit.
at least he got to show off that Azalia didn't mind him carrying her ;PMuni and Awanis took the time to be there with me. they were there with their brownies and unwanted stuff but i know they could've been in at least 5 other places. i doubt they know how much it means to me. thanks girls :) hope you had fun too. Awanis got her friend to feature us. the 3-minute act was fun albeit a little embarassing. hehe. thanks Wanis, i'm sure it's good exposure for my biz if only it was here to stay ;)

from The Star

since my main idea of writing this post is to list down the things i'd learnt that day, i should start with that now:

1. always arrive early! it makes a difference. i believe you will be so much calmer and will be better prepared.
2. don't forget to bring water.
3. bring enough change!
4. too many cooks spoil the broth. so try to limit the number of people manning the booth. at one point i had 3 different hands handing me cash. that got me confused alrite
5. if you wish to have friends by your side (like me), be a good project manager and delegate! be orderly. i certainly learnt my lesson with this one.
6. put only a few of the attractions (like the items on sale) up front and direct customers to your main items by creating a trail using the sale items. put the rest of the sale items between the normal priced items to force them to browse through. this is not failproof but am probably gonna try it if there's a next time. sometimes it may be better to separate the two to better serve customers' needs and preferences.
7. communicate more with the passersby. it doesnt matter if they don't answer or ignore you. don't be shy
8. be prepared to say NO when you have to.
9. bring something to shade your booth from direct sunlight
10. if you can, bring a fan, and extension cords if you have to. its unlikely that the blower will be directed straight at you.

that's probably all i wanted to share =) thanks for reading.
comments/suggestions or opinions are welcomed. 

before i go, I'd like to thank my hubby (who stayed up with me the night before) for running around with me on the days leading up to the event as well as on the day itself. you were at the right places at the right time. you appeared when I needed assistance and disappeared when I couldn't attend to you.  I don't know what I'd do without all your help and support sweetie. love you!

Morning! =)

There will be a Young Ladies' Carnival called Fiesta Femina on the 7th of June 2009 at Kelana Jaya Park.
So if you're not doing anything much that day, do drop by between 9-6 that Sunday.
I'll be selling things from http://satindream.blogspot.com, cupcakes and some preowned clothes in very good condition.

Visit http://fiesta-femina.blogspot.com for more info.

MAP of the venue.

I don't have much to say to be honest. I was contemplating what to do on yet another warm night when i decided to spend some time writing some words down here.
somehow our living room is still soo stuffy even with all the windows open. i get so restless i can feel the heat on my skin and last night i showered twice within the span of 2 hours! and i still felt heaty right after. so here i am on my bed where i should be able to feel the cool air from the air cond. read: SHOULD.
i can't really eventhough i'm sitting right below it for crying out loud. with the shutters directed straight at me. i can hardly feel any breeze at all. will need to check the filters this weekend. am not doing it now as i'm trying my best not to move so much in an effort to prevent myself from sweating. i hate going to bed sticky. i prefer to retire fresh as a daisy :)

had loads of fun laughing and goofing around with the girls last wkend. enjoyed making the food and cupcakes for everyone. discovered that durra can really work fast ;)
i was happy to plan things with durra although i didnt spend much time chatting with any one of the girls. couldn't really talk over the booming music at itallianies, was too exhausted from all the running around from making hantaran cupcakes for a wedding  and cupcakes and food for the party and i guess by the time I was able to sit and talk, it seemed like an odd time to be saying 'so.. apa goss.." next time i'll choose to chill and listen to their stories instead. we eat in k next time girls :)

am currently busy with several things:

1. usual stuff, homemaking. trying my best to fit in dropping by to see parents and family in my wkend plans
2. baking on an ad hoc basis. be it for my own cravings, family , friends or for special requests
3. teaching accounts tuition for an SPM student. only 1 for now, unless his friends wish to join him later. am not looking for more myself
4. helping out my brother who'll b sitting for PMR this year with his maths and other random subjects whenever i can
5. trying to finish some sewing projects (last priority in this list)
6. promoting and selling stuff from satin dream on and off. whenever i please. lol
7. am considering opening a booth at fiesta femina. am 90% sure now. will confirm with the organiser's tomorrow. if i do i'll update on the details later.

because of the reasons above, i haven't been able to attend my dance class for what seems like ages!
but it's not like anyone forced me to do all of the above. hehe. just my itchy hands and feet wanting to be active and productive all the time.

i suddenly came to ponder about this word: itchified.
read this.
i've been hearing it from my mom, cousins and aunties since i was a kid of about 4 or 5? ever since i can remember basically. and then last year i think it was, a friend mentioned that her teen sister has been using this word. kinda like the IT word now. lol. the best part was none of my other friends had heard of it too. and there were about 10 of them at the time.
funny huh? how terms and phrases evolve in different people's lives? of course up until last year i somehow thought it was spelt 'itchy fight' or something. never gave the spelling any thought since i'd never had to spell it.
much like another term my mom always use to describe loitering/galllivanting. i just can't recall it now. will update it here when i remember. nites~

If you're gonna have to sit for PMR/SPM/STPM this year, it may be worth your while to check out the website below:

http://www.chinwynn.com/store/index.php?cPath=63

Or you could introduce it to your friends/brothers/sisters/sons/daughters/cousins/nephews etc.
The website provides past trial exam papers for SBP, MRSM and some states, in various subjects.
Also available for download are answers to some of the papers.