Wow your special Valentine this year with our unique bouquets and jewellery!  Oct 1983 has teamed up with The Bouquet People to come up with this special selection where you can show your love and appreciation without any fuss.

Choose from our unique bouquets where you can even have messages such as "LOVE", "MUAX" or "HUGS" or cute little foam cupcakes that reads, "Boy Love Girl".  Some of our handmade jewellery are made with 14k gold-plated materials, Swarovski crystals or even quartz!

More photos and the order form can be found at www.oct1983.com.sg.

Do note that last orders are on 8 February. Terms & Conditions do apply.  Check out the youtube version of our catalogue below!

Let it rain...let it rain....we woke up to the pouring rain in Philly...what a dampener...literally. Thank goodness my bro brought a poncho and a brolly. So, braving the rain, we went down the bus and took a quick picture of Independence Hall, which is featured on the $100 bill.

Below is the Liberty Bell that the Brits gave to America. It used to be lugged around during battle. Can you imagine? You're fighting and two dudes have to 'protect' this bell? Maybe hiding inside would be safer...lol

Philadelphia is also famous for being the city of...Benjamin Franklin, one of the forefathers of the USA. It's no wonder that he's also on the $100 bill.

Speaking of money...we went to the Mint where they manufacture coins. Gor and I couldn't help but think, "I wanna see where they manufacture the NOTES!" Well, we'll only pass by it in D.C.

After visiting the United States Mint, we were on our way to Washington D.C. and on the $50 note is....

That's not the White House...hahaha...some of you were thinking that, right? Don't deny!!! It's Capitol Hill, my dears :)

The weather in D.C was fantastic! It was nice and 'warm' (think 18-20 deg C) and it felt like Spring. Afterwards, we went off to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History which is the museum where the movie "Night at the Museum" is based on.

Ladies, I bet you'll like the following....

Look at the size of the Hope Diamond *eyes bulging*!!

Marie Antoinette's earrings....beautiful!!!

Pink Diamond!!! I want!!!!!!

This is a real life screen of the earthquakes in the world. Did you know that there are earthquakes happening in the world all the time, just that most of them are so small that you hardly feel a thing.

Doesn't this look familiar? Yup...its the Easter Island Statue that was featured in the movie.

This is then the White House.

The above is the National Christmas Tree. I kid you not. They've got a National Christmas Tree. I'm surprised that Singapore didn't come up with a similar thing...but then, Singapore has to be non-religious right?

That's the Lincoln Memorial and below is the actual thing!

Washington Memorial from Jefferson Memorial. Yup...the place is full of memorials...well, it IS the capital...

Jefferson Memorial.
Washington Memorial from the Lincoln Memorial with the reflection pool.

Korean War Memorial.
Below is the Vietnam War Memorial.
My favourite photo of the mauve sky below.

Yet another day goes by and it's time to head off to dinner and our hotel. Tomorrow will be another chapter :)

As the advertisements go: Don't tell your cardiologist! I managed to get Mel Li to join me for a Carl's Jr lunch yesterday as I had a sudden craving after watching an episode of "True Blood".

We shared a meal - just to lessen the guilt PLUS we get to eat the wonderful chilli fries!! We both love avocado and so, it was a no brainer to get the Guacamole burger. Half each. We were really making full use of the refill-able drinks and we drank 2 huge cups of Diet coke (yes yes, the things we do to lessen our calorie guilt).

Anyway, on the front of Oct 1983's latest collections....yes, I am in the midst of creating 2 collection and although I'm a little late, its still going to be part of my Spring/Summer collection =P

On the right is a necklace that I made to match the pair of customised earrings, which I made earlier. No, this wasn't a customisation order but I just felt like making a matching necklace. A slight variation is that I used antiquated leaves as well as white beads. This is a semi-choker so I felt that one could be a wee bit more drama.

Yes, I spent 1 whole entire night painstakingly winding the brass wire around the choker wire but I think the whole effect's quite good. I varnished the whole wire because I don't want it to tarnish AND I suspect that there are loads of people out there who are like me - sensitive skin and skin will itch like mad once the tarnish resistant coating comes off thanks to perfumes/perspiration.

Back to the main topic - my collections! I've got 2 main collections that are coming up - Titania and Cutie Pie.

How did I come up with these 2 collections? Well...for this particular two, it is the direction of the items that I bought and the designs that I think up.

I had bought a lot of cute enamel charms last week so naturally, I created a few really cute pieces, which will ALL belong to the Cutie Pie collection.

The necklace above and the earring on the left are more mature but yet have a certain whimiscal feeling. The colours are also popping BUT they're still more towards organic colours. Which reminds me of fairies and it struck me that these pieces are accessories that I can imagine Titania - the fairy queen in Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" would wear.

Btw, the earrings on the left are made with rainbow quartz. There are 2 distinct shades of blue as well as a green that looks weirdly like jade. Was tempted to put it on the 14k gold plated hooks BUT I don't want to create earrings that I have to sell at $50 and above. Moreover, I don't have 14k gold plated wires. Am tempted to buy....but they're expensive!! :( Someone please order a gold customised piece to give me an excuse to buy!! HHEHHEE.....

Oh...I actually showed my mum those quartz earrings and she actually asked me, "Plastic ah?" Hello....no...they're not blue and green stones either. They're real quartz!! Higher quality than the jade that I used for my enraptured earrings/ customised earrings/ necklace above.


Look to the right!! Tada...my horribly expensive but adorable enamel ballet shoe charm makes its appearance!!

I have to price this bracelet around $15-$20 thanks to the charm and I had to use another daisy enamel charm to complete the look. In order to keep costs reasonable, I used white beads and plastic pearls as well.

The charm's sooo cute...*oogggles*

Ok...this is just a preview. I've made a couple other pieces but I'm not gonna post the pics up here. You've got to keep a look out for the launch of the collections on my website!

Speaking of my website...I'm going to revamp the current Oct 1983 website. I hate the html coding and its wonky. Not multi-browser compatible either. I finally found another template that I like AND *drumroll* I managed to configure the php coding for it yesterday (or more like this morning since I started at 2am and finished at 5am)!! I'm turning into a geek.... @_@

Okies...lemme tweak the website now as there are still some kinks. I have yet to add in the content either. I wished I could clone myself. No no...I want to do the Naruto Kagebunshin replication. =P

Remember the customised pair of earrings that I made? Tada...here's the pic of the purchaser!! Nice! The bottom is a little blurry because it dangles and sways on the ear and there's no way to stop it from doing so.

Anyway, did a hunt on Tues for a few special pendants thanks to another request but unfortunately, could not find those and had to give up another customisation order. =(

Although I went out specifically JUST to find those pendants...look at what I ended up with!!



I can't wait to work on the really cute pair of horribly expensive ballet shoes charms as well as the chequered bows. Definitely a collection of more cutesy flavour.

That being said, my order of semi-precious stones arrived yesterday! I love the colours of the zirconia briolettes that I've ordered (pink, white and purple). I would probably make them into necklaces etc. Love the colours of the rainbow quartz and light blue quartz too *grinz*.

Went out today as well and as usual, on the look out for charms/ pendants or new ideas and voila...ended up buying 3 new charms. Even my bro said that the robot charm is cute. =) Aiy...I'm really spending a lot more than what I'm 'earning'. :P


Ok...this blog is going to be a bit long...Met up with Chowchow, Sing, Chow's sis and Mel Li last night for the movie special for "Confessions of a Shopaholic". I must say that the $15 was well spent! We had a goodie bag that contained samples of Laneige products, Miss Selfridge lip balm, Miss Selfridge discount vouchers (only discount...no $ value), Miss Selfridge nail buffer and a Touche voucher. To add, we had a popcorn combo! :) Yay...I don't need to buy any facial products for 2009.


The slight dampeners for the evening was the fact that we weren't allowed into the cinema before 9pm. The time of the screening was slated at 9pm but all of us weren't allowed in even at 9pm! By the time we were allowed in at around 9.10pm, all of us were squeezing in and it just wasn't pleasant because we females just wouldn't really give way to each other. Didn't help that the escalator leading up to the theatre was good for only 1 person and this created another bottleneck situation.

The emcee must've been very nervous because she was chattering inanely for the whole time she was there. Not very witty. To add, she mispronounced Touche as touch and toosh. I think we must've been quite bitchy cos all of us burst into a laughter.

As Miss Selfridge was one of the sponsors, we had to endure a short catwalk of their latest season's outfit. The 'model's were GV club members who won some 'best dressed' contest or something like that. I didn't really bother with the contest online. Anyways, one of the girls was questioned, "How do you like your outfit? What do you think of Miss Selfridge's latest collection?" Her reply was, "Oh, I think my dress is fabulous and the collection is fabulous." Someone please give her a thesauraus. Wait. The word 'fabulous' was used so often by the emcee and the Miss Selfridge representative, I think all of them need a thesauraus too. -__-;

Sing was rather pissed off that this event wasn't that well organised because we weren't allowed in early, the catwalk etc didn't start on time AND they were showing us 25 mins worth of ads! That's more than the usual 15 mins when we buy regular tix. To add to the situation, they didn't turn off the side lights in the theatre and it was glaring into our eyes.

Well, the movie did begin soon thereafter. The movie was hilarious, the actor was cute and the actress was quite adorable in the semi-airhead way. Although there were instances where you thought Rowntree blew up on her (bursts of bright colours for those who didn't get this remark). After watching the movie, I find myself staring at my credit card bill as well. Although I didn't accumulate over $16 000 worth of credit card debt, I must say that I'm a little worried at the state of my finances. I must really stop buying new charms etc :(

However, the movie and the magazines have also cemented the fact that statement pieces for accessories are in. Be it necklaces or earrings...statement pieces!! Tough call on my end because my taste is generally leaning towards classics. Furthermore, statement pieces are a love-hate kind of thing. Nonetheless, I do love creating statement pieces like my Caterpillar choker and 'Only you' pendant. Very avant garde too ;)

Ah well...despite the unhealthy state of my bank account, I must say that being self-employed/jobless has allowed me to enjoy the free things that Singapore has:

1. Free library books!
2. Free coffee samples @ Starbucks
3. Free samples from cosmetic counters
4. Simple window shopping
5. Walks along scenic places (parks etc)
6. Walks with my dog and amusement at how 'interesting' everything is to him
7. A bird 'singing' while perched on my window
8. Free outdoor performances during the Mosiac fest @ Esplanade
9. Free food tastings from new food stalls or at the supermarkets
10.Free entry to clubs every Wed on Ladies' night - free drinks too!!
11. Free parking in certain areas after 5pm
12. Browsing of mags and books in major bookstores
13. Free talks/workshops on careers etc by the various recruitment agencies as well as SGX

Haha...I may sound rather cheapo from the above examples but its true. There are many things that we can enjoy and they're FOC!!