Whynotspeakup: Eternity (sp)

Hello everyone (: Glad to be back on this space after a tough few weeks back faced with work and everything else in between!

Been recently sent these unique necklaces from Whynotspeakup, an online store retailing necklaces made from having a frozen flower stored in a bullet shaped casing. The lovely message behind this concept is the idea of eternity - an everlasting love that will never wither. 

The frozen flowers are real flowers that have undergone a certain technique of frosting. They will bloom in dry and cold environments and close up when it is moist and warm. The store offers them at various colours which you can pick on site when ordering and the casings come in 2 colours - White and Black. I was sent both and here are some shots of how I styled them. 

I picked Rougenight for my black piece and paired it out with a sleek white romper coupled with a hat and heels for a more polished look.

And I opted for a more casual look with the white piece by pairing it with a striped tee dress. I picked Roselight for my other choice. 

Personally, I love the contrast in the Rouge shade with black (: But the white is clean cut and exudes a more casual feel in my opinion! 

Product shots of both necklaces: 

And in case if you're wondering if there's any maintenance to be done with the flowers; it actually requires minimal effort to keep them pretty and blooming (: All you have to do is to water the flower bud with a single drop of water once a week and keep the necklace away from direct sunlight! The owners would be glad to answer any maintenance questions you may have as well (:

Plus, there's a discount code which can be used if you wish to purchase a piece! Quote "JOCINA10" to get 10% off from 1st May to 10th May (: With Mother's Day coming up, this could also be the gift to surprise your mum with! (:

More information can be found at their site and Instagram page:

Website: www.whynotspeakup.com

Instagram: @Whynotspeakup

Do hop over to take a look at the other colours they offer! (: 

Love, Jocina ♡

[Sponsored post] PUB: Water conservation.

Hi everybody! (: I've been terribly busy these past few weeks from school and it has not been easy honestly. I'm still trying to adjust to these new changes in my life and I do hope things will get smoother as I go on! Keeping the optimistic attitude up heh -flex muscles!-.

Anyway, I'm gonna be blogging about a topic which everyone uses/comes into contact with every day and that is:

Water! 

I remember the times where my grandmother would remind me and my sisters that we are incredibly lucky to be living in a time where clean water can be assessed so conveniently. So, where does our water come from?

Singapore has four sources of water supply and they are:

1. Local catchment water (e.g. our reservoirs)

2. Imported water (from Malaysia)

3. NEWater (reclaimed water)

4. Desalinated water (seawater reverse-osmosis to obtain water)

Also, I had the opportunity last June to attend a trail walk on the Lorong Halus Waterway and how this water catchment area has it's water collected and purified. It was really informative and I enjoyed it with the boyfriend! (: Here's some pictures of the reservoir area which I snapped:

However, having an adequate supply of water is only half of the water equation because it is equally important to manage the water demand and how we use our water.

Over the years, the water conservation plan by Singapore's national water agency, PUB, which encourages customers to use water wisely has brought down Singapore's per capita domestic water consumption from 165 litres per day in 2003 to the current 150.4 litres!

And what they are currently targeting is to lower it to 147 litres by 2020 and to 140 litres by 2030.

This can definitely be reached if everyone adopts good water saving habits I feel (:

"Ah Gong says..." PUB TV commercial on water conservation

Here's PUB's 2015 commercial on water conservation which I felt was rather well-made and it reminded me of my own grandparents telling me to rinse my mouth with a cup when I'm brushing my teeth in the morning as a child (':

Hence, I'll like to share about some handy water-saving tips which we can all practise at home and even in our schools or workplaces (: But firstly, let us look at what areas does water consumption go to.

Breakdown of water use in a typical Singapore household (from http://www.pub.gov.sg/conserve/Households/Pages/Watersavinghabits.aspx)

You'll see that most of the water use goes to showering, kitchen use and for laundry and there are actually quite a few tips and ways to conserve water in these areas.

When using the bathroom or toilet, we can:

1. Take shorter showers

2. Turn off the shower tap when soaping or shampooing

3. Use a cup or tumbler when rinsing your mouth

4. Use the reduced flush button for liquid waste (for dual flushing systems)

When doing laundry, we can:

1. Run the washing machine only on a full load

2. Collect rinse water from the washing machine for flushing the toilet or mopping the floor.

Personally for my family, when we are cooking, we would wash food items (e.g. vegetables etc) in a small container of water instead of running them under the tap. When washing dishes, we would also be sure to switch off the tap when you are soaping the dirty dishes too (: 

Here's a commercial about washing dishes by PUB which I thought was pretty funny too! 

And my mum would also reuse the water we used to mop the floor to wash the floors outside our flat area to ensure that the soapy water doesn't go to waste either (:

Also, here's a look at PUB's mascot, Water Wally in one of his cute cartoon videos! More videos can be found on Youtube as well (:

Thank you for reading this post! I'm greatly thankful for Singapore's clean water which can be so easily assessed and used. I do hope it has been informative and useful for everyone about the importance of water conservation and how we can all make a difference through our everyday actions! (:

More information can also be found at http://www.pub.gov.sg/conserve (: 

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/PUBsg

Instagram: www.instagram.com/PUBsingapore

Love, 

Jo ♡

[Advertorial] Beans to Bars - A Chocolate Lover's Dream.

I'm an avid lover of chocolate. Milk, dark, white...whatever, I'll eat them all heh. And so, I'm here to share about Beans to Bars, a local company that brings in handmade artisan chocolates from Europe and Australia.

Basically, the owners started out this business with a simple goal: to be able to eat artisan chocolates which they enjoyed while living overseas but yet, not worry about exorbitant shipping prices for these indulgences (: 

They sent me a box of their handpicked artisan chocolates - in a personalized pinewood box which has a photo of Tzu and I (which I emailed to them) printed on it - so I was really excited to have a look at how it'll turn out and have a taste of the chocolates as well (: 

While unwrapping, I caught a glimpse of the box and I was srsly wow-ed (not pose one okay - Tzu can be my witness hahaha he took these photos of me):

Ta-dah! (:

A full view of how the box looks like when you slide the cover out

And here are some product shots I captured:

The box came together with a lovely note with some information on the content of the chocolates sent/picked (:

Close-up of the printed pinewood box

And... revealing the best bit of this box - the chocolates! 

For chocolates that are brought in by Beans to Bars, they contain 0% vegetable oils and are made by artisans - they are not made by pre-programmed machines! (: And Beans to Bars are exclusive distributors of these award-winning chocolates in Singapore.

Plus, some of the flavours are crazy unique. The chocolates they bring in more more experimental on flavours, like porcini mushrooms, cordyceps, organic mulberries and cinnamon! Read on for more details about the flavours of chocolates I received

(:

For the chocolates I've received (from left to right):

1. Dark Milk Chocolate with Tahini and Roasted Sesame - Awarded Bronze the Northwest Chocolate Festival 2014; a combination of lovely sesame and dark chocolate.

------

Who knew roasted sesame would make such a good combination with dark milk chocolate? The taste actually reminds me of sesame tang yuan: sort of like a mix of flavours between the east and the west.

2. Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt Crystals - expect a combination of flavours like oyster sauce, vegemite and even chicken essence! 

------

I know the description sounds really weird but I actually really like this?! It's like salty and the saltiness goes really well with that bitter Cacao taste. 

3. Dark Chocolate with Honeycomb

------

HONEYCOMB: who doesn't love honeycomb?! No one would hate this I think, it's absolutely delish?! This is actually my second sister's favourite; she couldn't stop eating it. It's practically almost finished hahaha. 

4. Milk Chocolate with Hazelnut Cream - fresh hazelnut toasted and peeled by hand create a twist on traditional Italian gianduja chocolate 

------

A classic mix of hazelnut and milk chocolate: I love the creaminess of the hazelnut! This is perfect for people who have more of a sweet tooth when it comes to chocolate I feel (:

5. Limited Edition Dark Milk Chocolate with Wild Porcini Mushroom - Nutty and woody

-----

Okay, I know what you must be thinking: MUSHROOMS AND CHOCOLATE? Hahaha that was my initial thought too, but THIS WORKS (I promise) - I could eat this all day, no kidding. 

Anddd.. with Valentines' Day coming up this Saturday, what better time would there be to try out these delicious and unique chocolates with your loved ones! (:

Plus, Beans to Bars offer packaging in the form of the printed and personalized pinewood box! I was really really impressed when I opened up the parcel to find the printed pinewood box, plus my sisters said I can save the box to use for my wedding next time hahaha. 

The box can be purchased at $40; but if you spend above $80 on site - the chocolates would be automatically delivered in the pinewood gift box (i.e. $80 for chocolates + $40 personalized box at only at the cost of $80!). 

Hence, it's actually more worth it to purchase $80 worth of chocolates - you'll actually get the box together too!

Plus.. as part of their Valentines' day promo, the first 100 people to use the code "jocinabeanstobars" when checking out from their site will receive $2 off their total bill (: 

In conjunction with the celebration of SG50 this year, Beans and Bars are also gonna be holding giveaways throughout the year for 50 times - so do like their Facebook page and follow them for updates on Instagram if you'll like to win something! (:

For their first giveaway, there's a caption competition running on their Facebook page where they are giving out $60 worth of chocolates - go participate everyone heh!

Beans to Bars

Site: www.beanstobars.sg

Facebook: Beans to Bars

Instagram: @beanstobars

P.S. I am actually munching on these chocolates while typing this blog post hahaha. I really think this would be such a wonderful Valentines' Day present for your other half, especially if he/she is a lover of chocolate (:

Thanks for reading! (:

Love, Jo ♡

OSIM uDiva; in collaboration with the MBS 2015 Countdown!

I'm gonna be sharing about one of OSIM's products today: the uDiva! OSIM very kindly sent me one of their uDiva massage sofas as they were one of the main sponsors for the Marina Bay SG Countdown 2015 (: 

And here's how it looks like:

It can be used as a sofa, lounger and massage chair (by simply using the remote control to adjust)! 

My family loved it; my dad would use it almost everyday after work and watch TV from it in our living room area in a reclining position coupled with it's massage functions! I even caught him asleep on it before hahaha. 

Ta-dah! The uDiva flips out easily to it's reclining position for a massage 

The remote control and all of it's functions

The uDiva features the 3D-Power Ball massage technology which comes with specially designed massage programs which would help your body to relax and unwind after being out for a day. 

These 6 programs are:

Sleep, Stretch, Lumbar, Happy Hour, Spa and Neck & Shoulders.

As for myself, I have really really really low tolerance for massages. People always look at me weirdly when I say I don't go for massages when I'm in Bangkok hahaha. I'll feel either really ticklish or it'll feel painful if the force used is too great? 

And that's where the uDiva is perfect for massage-sensitive people like me. You can actually adjust the strength of the massage going on at specific areas - High, Medium, Low and even the roller width/position!

Close-up of the adjustable functions

CHILLIN'

So, well what's not to love of it heh - mad user-friendly and it can simply be just used as a sofa/lounger when you're not in the mood for a massage. 

Plus, it comes in such a chic design with 5 versatile shades: Gorgeous Pink, Elegant Beige, Luscious Maroon, Enchanting Blue and Stunning Black. (The one sent to me was in Stunning Black!) (: 

And...I'm gonna end off with a video of Lee Min Ho (he's so dreamyyyyy), who's the spokesperson for uDiva:

Thankful for such a chance from OSIM to try out one of their uDiva massage sofas! It was a wonderful experience for my family members and myself (: 

Oh yes, and OSIM has very kindly offered a uSnooz Neck Pillow as a giveaway prize for my readers and followers on Instagram! Stay tuned to my Instagram account for more details (: 

Love, Jo ♡

MBS Countdown to 2015: at the floating platform

Hello! (: I'm gonna be blogging about my countdown experience to 2015 on 31st Dec 2014! I was gifted tickets by URA to the MediaCorp SG50 concert, which was held at the floating platform (: and

I was pretty excited because I've never been to any of these large scale countdowns! 

Since the concert had free seating, everyone turned up pretty early and we had to queue to get in. Here are some shots I captured while queuing; I can never get sick of Singapore's skyline in the Marina Bay area:

After queuing for close to a couple of hours, we finally got in and here's the view of Marina Bay from our seats:

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the flash on my camera out so most of my portrait shots turned out blur hahaha but oh well, blur photos better than no photos right?!

And the only photo I took of Christabel and Joal, who were with us on that night too, (BLUR ALSO ): )

There was non-stop music and entertainment all the way through from 730pm by both local and overseas artistes such as The Sam Willow, Gentle Bones, Stefanie Sun, and many more too! (: Not forgetting the crowd's favourite: Big Bang! Here are more photos before 12 midnight:

Stefanie Sun!! (okay on the screen but still, she's amazing)

And of course when it was 11:59 pm...

...FIREWORKS! (': Oh-so-beautiful. I love watching fireworks. It's like as if the world has come to a stop and everyone's fixated on watching these fleeting bursts of explosives light up the night sky. 

And of course, the night ended off with Big Bang's performance where everyone went nuts; the atmosphere and energy of the place was crazy high!

And, here's a short (and very badly shot hahaha) video which I took at the concert:

We left about 1-ish cause we didn't really want to get caught in the human jam when everyone leaves. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience being live at the countdown with the crowd and everything going on, plus I got to see the live performances of many many talented people!! Heh, here's to a wonderful 2015 (Jan has been okay so far, crossing my fingers for Feb cause it's just gonna get busier!)

I'll be back soon!

Love, Jo ♡