Thank you to the sisterhood. You girls have all my love!

Went birthday shopping with the sisters today (I shop, they pay) and had such helluva time shopping at Bugis Village! I think I've finally gotten an idea how great a tai-tai feels, buying and buying and have someone else pay for them. Thank you, girls! I really appreciate it. Such a wonderful birthday shopping. And for a shopaholic, a birthday present couldn't get better than this! :D

Seriously, that place is the heaven! So many things, so shiny, so affordable! And bargainable! Sales people are also more friendly than those in shopping malls. Definitely the best shopping experience I've had after Bangkok. Forget Orchard and City Hall, okay? Just head down to Bugis.

***

I've finally gotten a strawbag, and one that is exquisite, such that it stands out from those we're seeing everywhere. I was quite annoyed to see the mass of people carrying strawbags because I'd been looking for one since the earlier part of this year when the hype has not yet set in. Now that it has, in a massive scale no less, it seems a little too ordinary to carry a strawbag around. But I've decided not to let that bother me too much, and the truth is, I love this strawbag of mine so much, I couldn't have let it alone. Especially when the stallholder was so easy on the bargaining. The quoted price was $25, which I thought was okay for a well-made bag, but I still wanted to look around to see if there would be better ones around, so I told the stallholder just that. He misinterpreted my words, and asked me to quote a price. I wasn't about to bargain, but since he asked, I was curious. You do not get to bargain very much in Singapore, you know. So I asked for $20. He countered at $22. And then I thought, okay, bargaining was fun, but I really wanted to look around somemore, so I turned to leave when he said, "Okay, $20!".

It seemed rude to leave when he had admitted defeat and surrendered to my quoted price, so I took the bag happily (and the sisters paid), but wondered if I should have quoted $18 instead.

Typical woman, I know. But hey, the inner auntiehood is nothing to be ashamed of!

***

There were many stalls selling colourful and exquisite accessories. We stepped in the first one and started trying on everything. There were so many that caught my eyes I got so confused! I usually don't buy necklaces by the way, because the elaborated ones that I like are expensive ($30-$80), but those at Bugis Village are priced at $12-$20+. One of the very pretty necklaces I bought is made up of many big colourful stones and looked like it may cost $30-$40+ elsewhere, but it was sold to me at $14+! Such a bargain!

And so shiok, when there are people paying for me. ^__^

In total, my birthday presents from the sisterhood adds up to 4 necklaces (beri pretty ones!) and a strawbag.

In addition to that, *I* bought a very nice tubetop in deep green (my favourite colour when it comes to clothing) that came with an elaborated ethnic necklace. I like that it is increasingly a trend to sell matching accessory with the top as one collective product. And it cost only $20! The necklace itself looks like it could be sold around $20 elsewhere, so imagine the bargain. I also bought another bag (because a girl can never have too many bags) and had the price reduced from $28 to $25. It's the same bag Bing carries to school (and that's when I saw it and fell in love with it!) and she bought it at $28+. The ZINC in Bugis Junction sells it at $28.90, and for some reason (lower rent possibly), the same ZINC in Bugis Village quotes $28 and is bargainable. The purchase was made more enjoyable by the fact that the guy was quite cute and was very very polite and nice, and volunteered to cut the price to $25.

I think with the exception of Euphie, all of us had a great time sifting through the clothes at Bugis Village. There are a lot of ethnic-inspired clothing, especially those Fond-Hugs long skirts, except they are much cheaper. Also spotted very chic bohemian tops, club wear, mickeymouse-studs-design denim skirts and jeans, cool T-shirts, and military-inspired jackets, cropped shorts, and bermudas that are going to be the hype soon. There is also a shop that sells very pretty watches, some alike those of Fossils, from about $20-$30. Even Bing, who never had the habit of wearing watches, bought one.

All in all, such a happy happy day. Thanks a lot, girls!