Year End Ramblings

 I just returned home from dropping off a rather heavy bag of edible goodies at a collection point for IRR #WeHaveADream. 

Actually it was not in my plans to contribute to it. I am kind of a wet blanket during this festivity because Christmas gifting simply feels too wasteful. I have practically taken a total hands-off approach. This has messed with my head a little especially when I felt like the only outsider amidst a worldwide celebration. I did not receive many gifts this year (or for some years now) probably because my friends know how I feel about it (or maybe because they know they will not get any from me? 🤣)

I contemplated getting holiday themed cheesecakes for my colleagues because good food can always be enjoyed and less likely to be wasted. But a few factors put me off it and sometimes when things are not going smoothly I do not wish to force it to make it happen. Does anyone ever get this feeling?? Or is it just me being stingy again?

Well, one of the factors is that we already have so many gifts of chocolates, sweets and biscuits from our very generous clients/customers/kids! There really was no way we could have finished all of it at work and it was suggested that we bring them home but none of us was exactly thrilled with that idea either.

I saw a win-win solution. It is not the first time I found myself in such a position where my connections and knowledge solved a problem and/or fulfilled a need. The IRR initiative is available in the public domain and despite news coverage on them, who they are and what they do is not that widely known. Or perhaps it is just my crazily deep desire that nothing goes to waste that made me put two and two together.

So that is how I came to contribute, or rather, how my colleagues and I donated and hopefully put smiles on the faces of some migrant workers!

Which brings me to the concept of regifting because that is basically what we did. It is definitely not my first time but I have come a long way from feeling guilty about it to doing it appropriately. Let's make this a norm already!!

 

The images taken at the Bishan Salvation Army Donation Booth have been widely shared these few days. This situation can be avoided if we can move away from the R of recycle towards the R of reduce. Or apply the R of rethink right now and consider regifting those items that are on the wishlist of #WeHaveADream! 

The initiative runs till 10 Jan 2022 so do take the time to review what brand new items you have that might be an essential but out-of-budget item for the very people who are helping to build our nation. Alternatively, they are still accepting ReDiscover vouchers too! You only have 2 days left before they go to waste!!

All the crafty things I did in 2020

I hope the first thing you thought of was nothing deceitful; I am referring to decorative stuff that I DIY!

I do not consider myself to be a creative person. To me, a truly creative artist innovates and produces something out of nothing with pure inspiration. I am not at all that way. Sometimes I really envy the artists I come across and drool over their artwork which seemed to come alive so effortlessly. I am a huge fan of My Modern Met!

That said, I am relatively good at copying, adapting and following the creative works of others which sometimes also produces some aesthetically pleasing pieces. At least in my eyes. 😛 In any case, I do enjoy art and crafts very very much. 

As mentioned previously, I started a BuJo in 2020 and I certainly poured most of my "creative" juice into it throughout the year. Pinterest had been an enormously helpful resource for many pages. I practised both faux calligraphy and brush calligraphy and small little doodles in odd spaces left blank within the pages. However, for the monthly covers, I really tried to plan and "perfect" them. So here is a look at all of them at a go!

Other than using it for my BuJo, Pinterest is also where I found inspiration for the following design I pencilled into this little concrete corner of our newly renovated kitchen! Although it is quite a hidden corner that you don't really notice the white patch but it just feels like the perfect spot to make a home for my non-existent pet rat.

 

 

Another favourite platform of mine is Canva. It is so user-friendly and the best thing is that it has such a treasure trove of templates!! Best for someone like me who is better at modifying than creating. So for the whole year of 2020, my friends received Canva-designed birthday "cards" from me. Hahaha... Besides birthday cards, I often fall back on Canva to create non-copyright version of images I want to use on this blog. Real lifesaver. Here is a sample of other stuff I made, including a work proposal, my birthday invitation and some cheer-up notes for migrant workers.

When Circuit Breaker started, the thought of having to stay home for long hours compelled me to purchase these Diamond Art sets online. I am pretty certain that I had been scammed as they turned out to be much smaller (and therefore blur images) than expected but at least they arrived instead of getting mysteriously lost after payment. However, the environmentally friendly me does not approve of the amount of plastic involved in the production of these sets. More microplastic getting into the stomachs of our fishes. 🙁

      

 

 

 

Finally, just before the year was done, I got down to completing this DIY zero waste craft that I was inspired to do. Upcycled an old and overused but perfectly sized chopping board after scouring through numerous suggestions on Pinterest and deciding on my own preferred design. So spoilt doorbell is now successfully replaced and it will never spoil again.. 😏

So what do you say? Am I creative? Or crafty?

5forSG55

August. The month we celebrate Singapore. Usually I get all hyped up when this month rolls round because I am really so proud to be a Singaporean. However this year the feeling is just different. Maybe it is because we are in a pandemic. Perhaps it is the negativity surrounding this year's election that had rubbed off me the wrong way. Or it could be that I was disappointed that the NDP committee had decided to provide a funpack for every household despite designating 2019 as the Year Towards Zero Waste. I guess my decision to opt-out of collecting said funpack also did nothing to add to the usual festive mood of the month. Hmm.... the biggest reason might be the grief of losing a dear colleague most unexpectedly just before the month began. 😢

Regardless of my personal feelings, the country was certainly in celebration mode. Practically every other post on my Facebook news feed was about a National Day promotion or a special 55 related offer or screaming red and white or a gratitude note that I might have written myself. The one post that really got my attention was one with #5forSG55 - a challenge to gather a group of 5 to pick 5 bags of trash from our East Coast Beach as a way to celebrate National Day.

As a diver, I am particularly aware of how our usage of plastic is causing harm to our seas. My first attempt at a beach cleanup was on a stretch of pebble beach in Bali after reading about #2minutebeachclean. There had been news about how the monsoon had been bringing in an incredible amount of trash to our shores and I knew I wanted to help somehow. The challenge just provided even more motivation for me to make this journey to the east. 😂 Thus I promptly joined the telegram group and created my own group. 

I was quite ready to do it solo but *surprise surprise* someone actually joined my group! And between the 2 of us we collected 7 bags of trash in under 2 hours. The best part of this cleanup was being able to encourage a stranger to help out with just our actions! We had been working silently and separately in a bid to cover as much ground as possible when someone approached my new friend to ask what we were doing and then if he could help! I gave him a pair of extra gloves I had and a recycled plastic bag and he went right to work!

A week later, I joined another group to do some "beach forensic examination" during which our focus was to document the source of the trash found on our shores. Unsurprisingly, most of the identified trash came from neighbouring countries but there were definitely some local trash too. In a shorter period of about 45 minutes, I bagged one plastic bag worth of trash. The best part of this cleanup was when 2 young girls approached me to clarify what I was doing. It so warmed my heart to see the acknowledgement in their eyes that what I was doing was not in vain. They started their own cleanup there and then.

Before the month was up, I organised another beach cleanup when some of my own friends decided that they wanted to do their part too!! This time round, I booked the use of Cleanpod 

                    

and really leveled up equipment-wise with a cart, weighing scale, pails, tongs and even sieves! The area we worked at did not have the usual large trash so I made full use of the available sieve and went after the microplastics! After about an hour's work, the 5 of us actually bagged just over 5 bags for SG55! 6.7 kg of tiny plastic and styrofoam kept out of the stomachs of sea creatures! But the best part of this cleanup had to be the ice cold beer we had before we even began work. 🤣

The plastic issue is such a humongous problem. I had been a lot more passionate about speaking against it in previous years. I wonder if I am becoming a little numb to it because you see it everywhere, even in the streets, by the roadside, on communal tables in void deck. Can I collect them all? Do my actions really make a difference? I don't have an answer to that. I just know I cannot do nothing at all.

Please stop trashing our planet.

 

Plastic Free July

So for the whole of last month, I decided to put a focus on plastic. The #plasticfreejuly movement has actually started way back in 2011 but I only heard about it on 1st July this year through one of the many environmental advocacy groups I follow. Although it felt late in the game but the idea of being part of the solution really resonated with me so I joined the challenge!

Since embarking on this journey to reduce waste, especially plastic, I have seen enough responses and reactions to know that my efforts will not always be appreciated. So it is certainly a challenge - not so much the actions of reducing plastic but to be prepared to be rejected or even ridiculed. But since the decision was made, I committed to it by changing my profile picture and cover page on Facebook and basically made an online declaration about it.

I do like this year's logo which included a turtle. That video of a turtle suffering with a straw in its nose was probably what started me off on this journey in the first place. What better image to use as a profile picture right? And for the cover page, I applied my creative juices on Canva once again to design my very own with a slogan to boot!

Initially I really thought I would be posting and hashtagging every single day but as I wanted to be authentic and only to relate something I personally do, finding something to post everyday was not easy at all. But I tried my best and really made an effort to at least set some time each day to consider what I could share and managed to post something on Facebook 13 days out of 31 days.

Perhaps because I was conscious of the possible backlash, the text accompanying my posts are "mild"? Well, I am always super conscious about what I post online anyway... I hoped I came across as encouraging rather than imposing and more often than not, I included my failures and shortcomings in my attempts to show how this journey will not be easy but not impossible. Because (see image)

Where I held back in my written stories to the images and posts, I was consistent in the hashtags that accompanied them. #plasticfreejuly is a given. #byobsg and #saynotosingleuseplastic are almost always relevant. #consciouschoices is one I came up with as I realised it was exactly what most people are not making which contributed to the problem. And finally #motherearthisworththeinconvenience is one I thought up last year when I posted about my experience reducing waste for a camp in school because our mother earth really is worth it. 

I am really glad I did it though I was not sure how much of an impact I made. For most posts, I received a range of 5 to 14 likes, usually from the same people. The most likes I received was for a post on OCK [19 likes] - was it because many people liked OCK or the way to avoid plastic using a silicon bag was the easiest to implement? And I received almost no comments at all save for the last one on supposedly zerowaste items I bought for home. I received one comment. So I was not able to start conversations either.

I suppose all these are within my (lowered) expectations. And like a teacher who will never know the extent of the influence he or she has on students, perhaps, hopefully I have planted some seeds of change in some minds in this short time of a month.

My ZW intended Wedding

my self-made mini bouquet made of shells - spot the rings!

If you have no idea what ZW refers to, perhaps this post will not interest you. Although the concept of zero waste is getting increasingly common, I personally think it is really important to frame it properly and realise that ZW is a desirable and even essential goal but to achieve absolute ZW given our current lifestyle will not be easy. Sometimes it feels downright impossible especially when you care about your relationships with others.

I have always cared about the environment, the main reason most people got started on this journey. Beginning from my uni days when I joined NUS Students Against Violation of the Earth (SAVE) group, I really want to be part of the solution by acting and choosing consciously in my everyday life. But I would say I only really learnt about sustainability and the power of choices and actions after joining the Facebook group - Journey to Zero Waste (JtZW) in Oct 2016. That is how my intention to make my own wedding a ZW one came about.

First of all, I am not the person to go to when planning events. I dread organising this sort of thing and easily get disheartened by the mere knowledge of the potential waste that such events almost inevitably incur. But as this was my own wedding, with newfound insight to ZW possibilities and the support of a fiance hailing from the country with world's highest recycling rate, I somehow found the strength and faith in myself to want to make it happen.

In my mind when I began planning the wedding, I remembered distinctively that I wanted a small and simple wedding. Many ZW-based choices simply come down to doing away with what is not necessary and having attended my fair share of weddings, I knew what I did not want in mine. Unfortunately for my now-hubby whose idea of "small and simple" was just the signing of the papers with immediate family, I did still want to involve my extended family and at least the tea ceremony. Still traditional in some ways.. and somehow the wedding became a lot more elaborate than expected.

Venue(s)

With the initial idea of "small wedding", I first looked at restaurants that are able to cater to less than 100 people but after taking into consideration the location, cuisine and whether they served sharks fin (big no no!!), each of them was eliminated one by one. Eventually I contacted my first choice hotel, found their package fitting and our date available that I just stopped looking at others!

PARKROYAL on Pickering is my first choice because it is an eco-friendly hotel and I just love the whole architecture design with greenery along flowy lines. It was also easy to finalise on it as it was where Axel and I had our first staycation together. Lots of sweet memories already made here.
The package we selected was a basic solemnisation one without excessive themed decorations or wedding favours. (One of the first things I knew I did not want to have at my wedding.) Given their status as a Green City Hotel, I made assumptions that waste in the hotel is already minimised. However during our meetings with the manager Joelyn, I did explicitly state that I was aiming for a ZW wedding and even suggested to them to consider rolling out a ZW-focused wedding package! It will be such a niche, befitting the hotel!

After deciding on having a lunch buffet at the hotel which cater for an ideal number of 100 guests, and with various queries from friends who found out about our upcoming wedding, I began toying with the idea of also having a dinner party just for friends. As Axel had been very accommodating to my preferences with regard to my family, I thought it would be lovely to have the dinner venue to be somewhere distinctively German. Again, without spending too much time and effort, we swiftly decided on Stuttgart Blackforest Boutique S-Cafe. Similarly, during our meetings with manager Wen Cheng, we made it known our intention to make it a ZW event and thus one of the first points that he took note of was to "hide the straws". Unfortunately, some wastage I had not forsee and had to accept included paper table signage, paper napkins and plastic dessert containers here. Could I have insisted on cloth napkins? Hmmm....

For both venues, as they are proper dining venues with actual cutlery and kitchen ware, no disposables were used despite both meals being buffets. This point was very important to me. Each venue also had its own unique ambience and design that there was no need for me to bring in additional decorations even if I wanted to. Finally, I like that both venues are within walking distance to a MRT station and centrally located in or near Orchard. Although I could not possibly have controlled how my guests arrive for our wedding, at least the option to take public transport was not totally out of question!

Food 

From most wedding banquets that I had attended, unfinished food at every course was almost a given.

Thus, I preferred the idea of buffets for which I can somewhat control the amount of food being prepared by ordering less than the expected number of guests, a suggestion I learned from JtZW group. As it was still highly likely to be leftover food, I fiddled with the idea of purchasing mason jars or similar as wedding favours so that guests may immediately utilise them to pack the excess food home. I put this idea forward to the JtZW group and received a lot of feedback from the community which brought up food safety concern among other considerations that I had not factored in. Through that post, a founder of Food Rescue @ Events reached out to me to consider having their team to save the remaining food after our meals. What a brilliant idea!

Naturally, Axel and I were both very keen to prevent the excess food from going to waste but getting approval from the respective venues was not as easy as we thought. Given Singapore has implemented time-stamping on cooked food, the managers were understandably resistant to have a third-party collect the food for later consumption. Thankfully, myself together with the volunteers of Food Rescue @ Events were able to  reassure and convince them that the food were taken at our own risk and I was very happy to see the food being packed to benefit others.

 

 

Bouquet and Floral

I have never really been a flower lover. Generally I prefer admiring and smelling them while they are still planted with roots in the soil so I did not really see the need for floral decorations at our venues or even a bridal bouquet. Such a pity for these to subsequently wither and die, no?

Over at PARKROYAL, the package was inclusive of table centrepieces by their own florist. There was also a slightly larger setup for the reception table which doubled up as table decor for the solemnisation table held on a different level. Love the innovation of my bridesmaids! I only hoped that these were reused or re-purposed by the hotel given their green status and my conversation with manager Joelyn. On hindsight, perhaps I could have collected them and redistribute them to a nursing home like the people from Happy Flowers. But the logistics of it..... hmmmm......

I really almost got away without a bridal bouquet until my sisters/bridesmaids heard of it and would have nothing of it. One of them was ready to order and pay on my behalf so I gave in and accepted her florist's number. Surprisingly, I ended up quite liking what I saw (simple stalks tied together with twine) and made arrangement with said florist. We were at the point of payment when I found out there would be a lot of wastage from that one bouquet as she does not have a shop and could not benefit from economies of scale nor save the excess. And when I finally decided to go with it anyhow she was no longer available. I wouldn't be surprised that she might be just weary of having to deal with a ZW-focused bride..

As even mummy dearest stated that I should have a bridal bouquet, I began a search for it albeit reluctantly. And I did find my dream bridal bouquet eventually! On Carousell no less! Just happened to chance on it and even Axel was receptive to it so we agreed to rent this gorgeous grey-silver masterpiece. Moreover, it totally matched my shoes and Axel's vest on that day! Really love that it is such a statement piece and can be reused again and again. If I knew I would have a bridal bouquet, I would have made my own bridal brooch bouquet! Maybe with a touch of red..

On a side note, Carousell was also where I found perfectly reusable bridal car decor that dolled up the car without being overdone! Fixed them up on the car myself with the help of daddy dearest with some satin ribbons from my own craft collection. Within a week after the wedding, re-sold them on Carousell!

One thing the traditional me wanted to do was to express my gratitude to my parents during the wedding. After all, it has been nearly 40 years before they could marry me off and really I am who I am today only because of their love, care and upbringing. When it came to selecting a gift for this purpose, I was very pleased to discover Bloomback which not only re-purpose flowers to more lasting gifts but also train and hire marginalised women.

Attires, Hair and Makeup 

My wedding makeup artist was the first person I hired in the planning of my wedding. I hardly wear makeup and am nowhere near even proficient when it comes to prettifying myself. This was one task I knew would be outsourced and it had to be no other than her as I really liked what she did for my bestie for her wedding. She being a professional MUA would also be less likely to waste all the makeup products necessary for the task. I was also quite glad that she did not generate much waste (only 2 tissue papers!) during the process although I made no mention of aiming to be ZW to her. Additionally, she was able to loan me a gorgeous veil for the day! Unfortunately, I lost the dried flowers in my hair which she wanted to reuse and I also threw away the fake eyelashes at the end of the day.

My first option for wedding dress was to rent but I was unable to find one I really like despite trying on quite a few. Next I looked at purchasing one that is versatile enough to still be worn in the future. But mummy dearest wanted me to look like a bride so in one afternoon with my mother and sister-in-law, we browsed dresses on Taobao and found an ideal one in ivory (not white) with a low back. Again, not wanting to waste time and effort, we ordered it. It came and it fit and so it was settled! It is now listed on Carousell and hopefully not be hanging in my wardrobe for too long.

My shoes was a pair I had for more than a year but never worn. It was not bought for the wedding but it turned out to match the dress and bouquet quite beautifully. Similarly, Axel wore a suit and shoes he already owned. However, considering Singapore's humid weather, he had a grey vest tailor-made so that he could have the option of removing the coat and still look well-dressed.

 

Invitations

This was one item I was certain I did not want to waste for the wedding. So I made full use of my aesthetic side and created my own e-invites with the help of Canva. What an amazing tool! I had so much fun designing and redesigning not just the invitations to the lunch and dinner, but even some background slides that was projected on the big screens during the event and an instruction sheet for the reception table.

The invitations were Whatsapp-ed to my guests and I maintained the guest lists (and wedding day schedule) entirely on Google Sheets so I could keep the printing of documents to a minimum.

 

Photobooth?

As we were not having wedding favours, and there were going to be some waiting time in the schedule, I considered the idea of having a photobooth where guests could have fun making memories during our wedding and at least bring home a picture as a keepsake. But eventually I decided digital photos were just fine. But I did make my own photobooth props for the ocassion! Almost all out of recycled materials. Super proud of myself. I was also very luckily blessed by someone from the JtZW group with some used party decorations which I incorporated into mine as a backdrop for the photobooth. These were thereafter reblessed to others in the same group.

Final Thoughts

I tried my best. Really gave this shot to the best of my ability. But as the ex-teacher in me would say, "There is always room for improvement." And when you are planning a major event that involves your family who do not quite buy in to the entire ZW concept, compromises need to be made. With a lot of the traditions carried down over generations, my mother and I had a lot of give-and-take. Initially, I said "no" to many things as I really do not wish to purchase a brand new item that would only be used for a few moments. My mother ended up purchasing new fan, umbrella, lamps and tea set amongst other items because she really believed that these would ensure a blissful marriage for Axel and myself. But my stubborness had also deterred her somewhat that with some "essential" items, instead of buying them for me, she gave an angbao for each in lieu.

Anyhow, I think the most important thing in any wedding of any sort, ZW or not, is to have fun! I had loads of fun and really really enjoyed our special day with our dearest and closest. ☺️

fashion conscious? eco conscious!

that is a pretty goodlooking jumpsuit right?

and i think i look quite fetching in it =P

i didn't buy it.

despite recommendation from someone with an eye for this kind of thing to "grab it!"..

despite going back to the shop a second time to try it

despite the willingness of hubby-to-be to splurge on it

i am definitely not one who is on the forefront of fashion but once in a long while i do like to dress up when the occasion calls for it. like most girls, i can have quite a lot of fun trying on clothes in a changing room but most times i leave those gorgeous garments back on the rack. one of the main deterrents to making them mine is the cost. although i am also starting to appreciate the fact that higher-end products also mean better quality. a point the hubby-to-be is trying to drill into me..

long before i heard of KonMari, i read about a hack for the wardrobe which made me realised just how many of my clothing are left hanging without being worn even once. moreover, as i become more and more environmentally conscious and learnt how devastating the fashion industry really is, i am more prudent than ever when it comes to fashion.

besides ending most of my fashion-related decisions with a "no", i also started exploring more sustainable options. ethical retailers, rental services, second-hand shopping and clothes swapping are some possibilities. through a facebook group on zero waste, i discovered The Fashion Pulpit. With 2 bags of clothes that no longer spark joy, i finally made my way to this "permanent swapping fashion space".

 

prior to the visit, my expectations were low as shopping isn't my favourite pastime and i had no idea  how much the clothes i brought along were worth. what a pleasant surprise i had! it turned out to be really enjoyable as not only was the space so tastefully decorated and charmingly serene, i received a lot more "points" than i thought and couldn't find enough clothes! even after three rounds of browsing, picking and trying dozens of tops, bottoms and dresses in the spacious fitting room, i came away with 7 pieces of clothing and a leather sling bag which only used up half the points i was allocated!

thankfully, they have a relatively flexible system with a one-time swap option which allows me to freeze the unused points for next time. i really had a lot more fun than i thought. in fact, a little too much fun - the idea was to reduce the amount of clothing i have, i thought i would only come away with one "new" top, not 7 + 1?!?! but i felt like i had money to spare with those extra points and really allowed myself to indulge in some retail therapy without the usual guilt... will certainly be back.. perhaps if and when i need work clothes?

how about you? shop less and swap more... make a difference today!