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Many of my friends around my age are getting BTOs or DBSS' or condos and are tying the knot. I have THREE weddings to attend in just November itself, with one that clashed that I had to turn down! I'm really happy for my friends who have found someone they want to spend the rest of their lives with and finally settling down! Getting a place to call your own is a huge responsibility, and for many, it's a first hand experience choosing the layout of your home, picking furniture, deciding themes and getting one of the biggest loans of your life.

I want my bathroom to look like this!

For me, the bathroom is the most important sanctuary in my house and hence, I'll want something with great quality and the best value. It's the place where I can be alone to my thoughts, to relax and unwind after a hectic day, and to thoroughly enjoy some me-time. I have some friends who spend an hour in the shower! Well, I accidentally dropped my no-brand, cheapo shower head recently and it broke, so I had been on the hunt for a new one. Instead of going for one of those $10 ones you can find almost anywhere in markets, I wanted a brand that had sophisticated technology and proven track records, while at the same time, providing relaxation to a new level - and I've found it.

Scratch-proof taps that don't leak water? Count me in!

GROHE, a German brand specializing in sanitary fittings, is a global leader offering innovative products that also helps save the environment's most vital resource - water. Their commitment to quality, design and technology can be seen through their multiple award winning products and wide range of different styles to suit any decor and taste.

Learn about how GROHE got its famed reputation

I was invited down to the GROHE Live Center, just off Dhoby Ghaut's red line exit, to have a look at their product portfolio. The first portion of the center invites you to explore GROHE's international reach and cutting edge technologies. It is respectable just how far they've come!

My favourite aspect of GROHE's products is their CoolTouch technology, so your hand does not get burnt when you accidentally touch the hot water portion of the heater, in fact, you don't feel the heat at all. There have been COUNTLESS times when my elbow/hand whatever touched my cheapo brand's hot faucet and I jerked my arm away :( Making me grouchy during my supposed relaxing time. I'm sure you guys know what I'm talking about.

The next part of the Live Center experience is... the actual products!

THE BATHROOM

There are tons of products here, but I'm just going to highlight those that stood out to me.

GROHE Zero, developed by GROHE, is a lead-free, 5x more corrosion-resistant faucet that reduces potential lead contamination to a minimum, because GROHE cares about your health :)

Take a look at this ultimate luxurious shower called the F-digital deluxe that massages your body with the water jets and also has a switch for you to pick your music, and adjust the lighting. Clubbing in your shower, anyone?

If you're a fan of rain showers (like me), there's a section at the Live Center where you can play with the different types of showers GROHE has to offer! They are resistant to soil and tarnishing, which means they have a long life shine!

My favourite is the Bokoma Spray, ask about it when you're there! It's a great affordable massage system for your scalp, here's a picture of it but a picture doesn't do it much justice.

Now imagine that revolving clockwise, over your scalp. Mmmmm... The Bokoma Spray uses its 8 dynamic spray nozzles to open and close, recreating the tension relieving effect of a fingertip massage. This GROHE Power & Soul shower comes with four different functions you can adjust (note the buttons) and also comes with a soft Rain Spray. Models are equipped with the EcoJoy water saving technology, which reduces water and energy consumption without compromising on the quality of the shower experience.Showering will never be the same again.

Impressed? Let's move over to...

THE KITCHEN

We also had the chance to check out GROHE's kitchen technology which really blew me away!

Check out the GROHE Red, designed to make your life easier. Now you don't need to boil water before you get that cup of coffee, and making instant noodles just got much simpler as instant boiling water comes out of your tap! The lever allows you to control the temperature and also comes with the CoolTouch function as explained earlier. These faucets also come with a child lock so your kids don't scald themselves while using the tap!

GROHE Minta Touch is a hygienic invention where the tap is sensitive to touch in addition to the normal lever! So if your hands are dirty and you HATE having dirty levers, this is amazing. Just touching the tap with the back of your hand or wrist sets the water flowing, and you'll never have an OCD problem with this again.

There's also the GROHE Blue where high performance filtered drinking water and cooler flows straight out of your tap. Saves you a lot of time, convenience and obviating the need for bottled water.

Check out the variety of designs!!

There's definitely a design to suit your taste.

Will share more about how GROHE products save water in the next post. Thank you GROHE for the handshower with the Bokoma spray! Will put it to good use and replace my current crappy one. The dinner was also fantastic.

To check out the cutting edge systems at the Grohe Live Center for yourself, head to:

Grohe Live! Center

180 Clemenceau Avenue #01-01/02

Haw Par Centre

Singapore 239922

Just specially for my readers:

A 20% DISCOUNT!

Here's a 20% discount coupon on regular priced GROHE products (with no minimum purchase required). Please note that it expires on 31 December 2014, so don't delay and get your new sanitary products asap!

Thanks for reading!

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A big thank you to the team at Oglivy and Casio for loaning me their highly anticipated and raved Casio Exilim TR-35!! If you haven't noticed, a number of my shots on Instagram and on my previous posts were captured using the popular camera, and I am totally in love with how the photos turn out on their 12 megapixel camera!!

They sent me an Exilim TR-35 in HOT PINK. When I opened the box I gasped as it was just so pretty and stylish. The new camera is packed with innovative and practical functions to help users capture the perfect selfie and create personalised short picture movies for instant sharing on social media, which I will share more about later!

It's very light and relatively thinner than most digital cameras, which makes it a breeze chucking it into your handbag and bringing it wherever you go. It features a 3-inch touchscreen display which can capture quite a wide angle for selfies which are great for group shots! There are a couple of editing and effect features like make up shots (which smoothen and brighten), painting, cutting out subjects, cropping, adding sparkles, etc. Apart from the stunning make up mode, the rest are pretty standard across Casio cameras.

The main feature of the TR-35 is its 360° rotating frame and 270° rotating display which contains a few ways for you to take photographs, depending on how you're holding the camera.

Convenient buttons

You can either press the screen, or press the button on the camera frame. One is usually more convenient to grip than the other. Major plus is that macro shots can be captured from 8cm and they turn out really well!

A new feature is their posing mode which allows you to set a timer and takes 5 consecutive shots. There's a guide voice prompting you while you change your stance. How cool is that? You can review your photos later and pick your favourite ones to Instagram ;) Which leads me to my FAVOURITE NEW FEATURE of the camera: Ability to send your picture seamlessly to your phone, and then uploading it on social media.

How to send your photos to your phone to upload to social media

Step 0: Download the "EXILIM Remote" on your App Store or Play Store

Step 1: Take your photo

Step 2: Press the phone icon on your screen, select the photos you want to be sent and hit "Send to phone"

Step 3: You will notice this screen! Use your phone to connect to this wifi hotspot, using the password.

Step 4: Once connected, open the 'EXILIM Remote' app that you've downloaded. You're done!

For more information and how to take remote photos, check out EXILIM Remote's website

Here are some snapshots I took with the Casio Exilim TR-35 so you can figure out their resolutions yourself!

Outdoor selfie

Macro mode!

Bright light selfie

Store selfie

Bedtime selfie

Some potent cocktail mixes uniquely presented in bottles at Finalsip's launch! Low light and macro.

Low light selfie at a train station in Kaohsiung lol.

Notice the clarity of the picture! Taken at Hualien, Taiwan

I LOVED how this shot turned out! The contrast of red and green just stands out so much. Spot the pagoda? I was just sitting there for the longest time taking it all in. Also taken at Hualien, Taiwan

Night shots are clear and lights aren't compromised! Raohe, Taipei.

New hairstyle selfie, make up mode that just makes your skin look dewy and soft *_*

This convenient and handy camera comes at a whooping retail price of SGD$1,199 which is reaaally expensive considering you can get an entry level DSLR with that kind of money. However, you've got to admit that the sheer size and genius of the rotating screen makes any selfie look good. You can experiment with different angles to find your favourite best side, and its lightweight makes it perfect to carry around in your bag. Best of all? You can share your photos on social media within seconds!

No other camera brands have come up with an innovative camera that is even near par to satisfy the appetites of selfie addicts.

Worth it? You make the choice.

Thank you again Oglivy and Casio!

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Finally managed to get a proper breather and we decided to head to Taiwan! It was a country I had never been to, and had only heard about its amazing food and beautiful scenery. Was it just a myth or were all the raves about Taiwan true? Only one way to find out :P

We flew Tiger Airlines as there was a flight at 11am ish which landed in Taipei on a Saturday around 2pm? That was perfect because we could sleep in yet reach in time for the night markets! We landed at Taoyuan international airport, and grabbed an express bus into the city which dropped us off at Taiwan Main Station, where our first accommodation was at. Was reminiscing a bit when Roommates (korean variety show) went to Taipei! It's really cheap to take a bus out (around SGD$6) and it comes at frequent intervals (15-20mins), plus takes about the same time to get to the city centre, so you can consider it over taking a cab. For more information on transport out of Taoyuan Airport, check this website.

Our plan for the day was to check into our hostel, freshen up a bit, head to the night markets, head back to the hostel to shower, then partyyyy! We kind of followed that plan, well, continue reading about that and you'll find out what happened.

We stayed at H132 Hostel the first night as hotels we wanted to stay at were all fully booked, and this 5 rating hostel opening suddenly came up, so we thought, why not? This was the first hostel I had ever stayed in, in my entire life, and I thoroughly scanned through the reviews before deciding to go for it. All comments was that it was clean, and the only complaint was that it was a little tough to locate because their entrance was a little obscure.

They were right. I completely walked past this the first time and had to walk backwards a bit because the numbers jumped lol. The hostel is on the second floor, so you have to be prepared to carry your luggage up! My room was on the 4th floor so you can imagine me lugging it up for 4 levels... This place is a short walk from Taipei main station, which makes it very convenient to get around!

The reception on the second floor. One thing I really really liked about this hotel was how friendly the staff were and how homely the whole atmosphere felt! We later bumped into this lady while she was going home from her shift and she still greeted us happily, even giving us suggestions on where to go!

The room was very basic, a bed, a small table, a tv, a small window, a clean toilet and shower, which is basically everything we needed. The room had enough space for me to open my huge check-in sized luggage. The toilet also smelt like disinfectant, and there were no traces of any insects around. Love how the place looks really modern and new, which is always a plus!

One of the only qualms was that the pillow was reaaally soft, which took a while to get used to. There were english channels on the TV for nights when we were bored!

We paid more for a private, en-suite bathroom because I don't really like communal toilets and sharing dorms with strangers after my experiences in NTU. Here's a picture of our simple and clean toilet. Shampoo, conditioner and body wash are provided in the form of sachets, which were pretty decent though they ran out really fast. Water was hot and the power of the shower head was pretty good. Towels are provided at no additional charge!

Cute house rules haha. Free Wifi yay!

The communal toilets are on the 3rd floor, which I snapped a picture of just in case any of you were interested! There are two showers! If I remembered correctly, they're unisex.

Back to the second floor, there is a chill out area for people to mingle, talk or just plan their day's activities. Love the colour scheme which injected fresh liveliness in the place!

The other side of the relaxing area. While we were there, we saw many guests from different countries like Korea, China and Hong Kong!

The second floor also comes with a kitchen where you can get complimentary breakfast made up of bread and some fruits. Their tap also supplies hot water for your coffee or tea!! The only thing that ticked me off was that some guests did not wash up after themselves, or that they washed up in a disgusting manner. What do I mean by disgusting? Well, let's just say that they basically scooped everything off their plate into the sink and thus clogging it with butter/strawberry etc. It was NOT a pleasant sight. Kudos to the staff there who cleaned it up though!! This is a hostel, and the staff aren't your personal maids geez.

Everyone removes their footwear once they step into the hostel! Was a little worried for my shoes hahah.

Overall, it was a really comfortable stay and I would highly recommend H132 as a great, value-for-money location to stay at in Taipei. This review was not sponsored and neither did H132 engage me to write for them. Directions were provided to us once we made our booking via hostelz.com

H132 Hostel

2F., 132, Section 1, Zhongshan North Road

Zhongshan District

Taipei

Thanks for reading! Keep checking back to find out more adventures!

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So the last time I dyed my hair was back in April or so, and my roots were really starting to grow out so I decided to book an appointment with my trust salon, Komachi the Hair Cult! It's a huge plus that they're located in Orchard, so I can go about my weekend plans easily.

Outfit of the day: Top from Hong Kong, Skirt from Thevelvetdolls, Heels from Aerosoles

Okay back to getting my roots dyed. Komachi the Hair Cult only uses organic hair dye, and coupled with their hair treatment, your hair doesn't shrivel and dry up much. They really care about your hair, and if you want to achieve a certain look, the stylists will advise you if your hair can withstand such treatment, whether your hair can even achieve the same look or not, based on their experiences.

Here's my hair and (gross) black hair roots when I stepped into the salon.

Quite obvious right! Haha. This is what 3-4 months of hair growth looks like. Opted for green eyeshadow that day.

Komachi the Hair Cult has good service, when I sat down, magazines were presented along with my choice of drink, which was a hot green tea, and later when my tea was too cold, they promptly changed it to a piping hot one!

First step was to apply hair dye over the roots, and lock in with their heat emitting rotating machine.

They put on plastic ear caps so your ear doesn't get any dye applied on it by accident! It's really cute and thoughtful :)

Said rotating machine.

After about 20 minutes, it was all washed off, and here are the end results! Oh, Meiko is amazing at braids, and she gave me lovely waterfall braids. Yay!