Entrepreneurship and (Mom) Logistics

Ever since I became a mom, time has taken on a quite odd sensation -the mornings blur into afternoons that blur into nights and back again. And just like that, the week has passed and it’s the weekend again!

Time, too, is now counted in blocks of 2-3 hours:

It is the clinically-advised duration of time between each feed (but in reality it could be 4 hours or 30 minutes);

It’s also a leading indicator for how much time I have to grab a bite, whip up a meal, do some household chore or reply mails;

It’s also a good amount of time to buffer for some “get ready time” before you go out, inclusive of the time required to poop, put on some makeup, pump and/or feed, find some undergarments that fit, find some clothes that fit. To shower and change baby, add another hour, because he’d probably want to eat again after the shower lol.

Side advisory: do not throw your pre-pregnancy bras away. Your rib-cage shrinks back – at least mine did – and all my bras are falling off me faster than leaves from a tree in fall 😦

If 2-3 hours have passed with any kind of inactivity – no feeds, no diaper changes, nothing to do – start to be worried, ha ha ha.

In other non-mom news, we attended the awards gala dinner for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneurship of the Year Singapore 2016 last night and it was a thoroughly inspiring affair. After 2 months out of the office and having only a peripheral view of the happenings at Naiise, it was wonderful to be reminded again of the long journey that entrepreneurship is, and how much further we as a company, and as bosses, have to go.

Time to dust off these mushy brains and get back to pushing forward!

The year is not over yet, but I think I’ve already found my three resolutions for 2017. Maybe I can start practising them before the year is out, so they have a higher chance of succeeding 😉

1. Re-learn driving
2. Be more active in the community
3. Mentor my team more

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Thanks for having us, what an inspiring night and so proud of @dennisstays for being a part of it!! ❤️ Hearing everyone's stories tonight was a timely reminder that running a business is a long journey and that we have so much further to go. Time to put these mushy brains back into action and get set go! #love #besttayofmylife #naiise #teamnaiise

A post shared by Amanda Eng (@amandinaxx) on Oct 21, 2016 at 9:22am PDT

Has it really been two years? O_O

So much has happened, mostly amazing, feel-good, too-happy-being-busy, too-busy-living-to-blog kind of things. Highlights being our marriage (yuh! to the same guy I was blogging about being I fell off the blogging cliff lol!), an easy pregnancy that flew by in the twinkling of the eye, and the arrival of our beautiful baby boy Ralph who’s now 7 weeks old.

And wadya know – Naiise now has more than 100 people under our payroll! That’s a fair cry from September 2014 (the date of my last post) when we probably had 5 people surviving on $300 a month. Good times, poor but good 🙂

Being on maternity leave now means more time for myself so maybe I’ll come back to this wonderful space on the Internet which I used to call home. We’ll see how long this sudden burst of writing enthusiasm lasts! Hopefully for a while, because it’s really quite nice to document our beautiful lives in more detail, and with more sincerity – ways that Instagram pictures, Facebook status updates and Instastories cannot.

Funny, I had always envisioned my maternity break to be a never-ending cycle of diaper changes, feeds and baby poo in unwashed hair. I mean it is quite never-ending, but there’s also a lot of time in between and I can still take long baths (so I don’t have unwashed hair), cook a quick meal or two, keep my work email count to less than 100, do the laundry and so on.

The only thing I can’t do so well is leave the house on my own with baby Ralphie (still feeling needy ha ha!) and think deeply about a business issue for more than 10 minutes.

I confess, after years of thinking of myself as a relatively analytical person, my brains have somewhat turned to mush in the course of having this baby.

Well, I’ll see you around 🙂

 

 

ERMYGAWD…

… Yes, I am alive!! And well!!!

I’ve never been happier, more fulfilled and more busy.

But I’ve also taken to playing with data in my spare time instead of spending some good ol’ “alone time” with my blog. So here it is, marking the revival, and my return. But I’ll keep it short, gotta ease into it.

Leaving you with some Facebook chat quotes of the night – it perfectly characterises who we are 🙂

A: my favourite program is excel lol
A: i feel v relaxed while seeing numbers lol
A: and when they’re in a nice small size
D: My fav is keynote
D: Where I can draw diagrams

Lifehacked.

It’s been almost 30 hours, so just 6 more to go. That’s what you’re supposed to do when your phone has gone swimming – turn it off, place it into a ziplock bag full of rice and leave it untouched for 36 hours.

And it works! This morning (somewhere at the 14th hour mark), I turned it on and it worked! Just to be safe though, and because it’s strangely weird and liberating to not have a phone, I left it until the full 36-hour window has passed.

It’s crazy that for such an important thing, phones are so incredibly not water-resistant. It wasn’t like it actually went swimming; all that happened was a bottle of water spilled inside my bag and because Bottegas are just so water-resistant from the inside, I didn’t even realise until I got into the car.. meh.

Anyway, Bali was a blast! The weather was so good, and we both managed to top up our tans even at SPF90 throughout. The theme of our trip was: do nothing. We were just so tired from everything here in Singapore that we didn’t even want to be adventurous in where we stayed or what we did. The only new thing we did this trip was make a trip to Canggu where our friends live, and in the process of doing so, got stopped by a traffic police and fined 2mn rupiahs (1mn after ‘discount’). Oh, and we also tried a new taco place, first time tacos in Bali, although we have yet to discover this ‘hole-in-the-wall’ tacos place that Cheryl keeps talking about.

And in other news, we are getting an office. This is such a OMFG moment, at which we now need to make even more money than before in order to pay rent and our team, but I can’t help but be excited. It comes bare with huge windows and a 4m-high ceiling so it’s got a nice loft feeling – you know, the sort that you see on Pinterest, and in Europe only. So the possibilities are endless, but of course we need to first install the lights and air conditioning and all that jazz. Baby steps!

And because I am a champion of amazing things.. here are my favourite new and notable brands at Naiise:

• snug.studio – hailing from Germany, I LOVE their cumulus cloud shaped cutting board because it’s so dreamy and whimsical, as well as their super-sustainable cardboard vases.
• Vicara – continuing my current cardboard obsession, fuelled by flat-packed sex appeal and a recent appreciation for sustainable living
• Love Limzy – beautiful flower + watercolour prints by talented artist @lovelimzy whose artwork has gone viral and comes with its own hashtag #wearflowersinstead
• Parasolbag – a homegrown designer we should be proud off, Tiffany uses off-cut canvas from parasol factories and turns them into one-of-a-kind bags that are uber resilient and waterproof (probably very good for letting your iPhone swim in water lol)
• Wood & Lead – beautifully-illustrated whimsical stuff for hipsters who love cafes and food

I also re-designed all our slider banners so please hop on over and tell me it’s beautiful. Well, I think they’re beautiful, I think I have sharpened my design skills quite a bit via ‘on-the-ground training’ lol!

Happy (filtered) pictures here ❤

Shout-out to my mom who bought this beautiful Zimmermann bikini for me! There are many cut-outs on the bralet; had to keep looking down to make sure my nipple wasn’t playing peekaboo, and I also had a really, really weird tan line after. (Like 5 love bites along the sides of each boob!)

Yup, that’s a really big close-up of us! Horrifying.

Day 2 I busted out in this really beautiful bikini too from Cheryl! Omigosh, I have such cool family and friends! Everyone knows a bikini really gets high, the way heels do for other women.

 More.. (sorry, please indulge me – I’m turning 30 next year!)

Our hippie momma friend Crystal and her equally hippie son at Echo Beach, Canggu

Chilling at The Betelnut Cafe and having a power smoothie with dragon fruit and coconut milk, and all that cool jazz. It was VERY filling! That’s not me, I wish I got that seat 🙂

(He’s not the kind of guy to re-post this on Instagram and hashtag #mygirlfriendtakesnicepictures.) So I do it.

Beautiful you.

Brunch with girlfriends is the best invention of the 21st century

Three Days to Bali!! + Happy Pictures

TGIF folks!! It’s a rare moment of freshly-showered peace, and I’m just simply, looking forward to a well-deserved break in Bali.

It will be the first vacation I’ve had where being away actually means work piling up. One of the most overlooked luxuries of working in a larger organisation is the assurance that someone capable will cover your duties while you’re away. I am guilty of overlooking that one too, so treasure it if you do! Say thank you very much to your colleagues.

That said, our little team has expanded over the last few weeks, and I’m really happy and thankful that there are more hands, legs and fingers to keep the show running faster, and at a more manageable pace for everyone. I love it too that we are able to find, and work with, people who are passionate about making the business grow and succeed.

This morning was spent looking for offices – it’s probably one of the most exciting things that can ever happen for a company. The exhilaration of contemplating empty spaces and turning it into an amazing place where people can work happily.. is frankly, quite fantasy-inducing.Industrial spaces can be so beautiful with their double, triple volume spaces, I don’t think I can quite adjust back to shoebox apartment hunting.

We had a great past couple weeks with good coverage, and we’re also excited to introduce the launch of our new food section which features locally made food from small-scale makers here. Like the rest of our designers and makers, our food producers do amazing things with produce we already have here, and we love being able to support them on our platform.

I’ve tried the jams and granola so far, and they are very, very good. In fact, I personally swear by a bowl of Greek yogurt and Coconut Gula Melaka granola every morning, and I think I’m losing 500g everyday without even trying to. There must be some wisdom in the old adage “Eat like a king for breakfast, a prince for lunch and a pauper for dinner”. Cf: funny local publication My Mother Says 😉

Plus bonus: and of course it’s the only place you can get my sister’s famous macarons without having to camp on Instagram and wait for one of those SALE posts which close in like an hour -_-”

In non-work news, WE ARE SOOO LOOKING FORWARD TO BALI. All I want to do is lie at the beach and stare out into the open sea, pillion on a bike behind D, head back to our villa and jump into the pool. Maybe find that mysterious taco place in Seminyak that we’ve always wanted to find, but never quite were able to. And, of course, dine at our all-time favourite La Lucciola (so good it doesn’t even have a website).

Happy times lie ahead, and happy pictures for the post below 🙂

 

Farewell to the beautiful people at NONG

Me and D, shot by the awesome Weekend Cheoks, a lifestyle blog run by Stacey and her two sisters who’ve been very supportive of Naiise x

Then we had another photo shoot and an interview where we were asked the question “So, who wears the pants?” It’s actually pretty nice to have pictures of us taken by someone else! 😛

Then we had the ‘act natural’ picture – I like this lots 🙂

And which self-respecting person these days wouldn’t have a mandatory hipster shot when hanging around in grimy areas? We’re such fun.

Last weekend’s bento picnic with the family, D and Kira. LOVE, DIE HARD LOVE.

The End Of Q1.. Can’t Wait For The Next!

So today marks the end of our pop up store at Naiise, and while D is feeling quite sentimental about it, I’m perfectly fine. I think it was AWESOME, it was a fantastic ride, and we made lots of great friends who subscribe to this crazy, hippie thing called DREAMS, mixed with a little bit of DOWN TO EARTH.

But all good things need to come to an end, and I’m ready for it. And our upcoming vacation too, finally!

I know I’ve been somewhat absent on the blog, but hey – if you really want to stalk, you can follow my alter-ego @naiise on Instagram, and my real self @amandinaxx. And for fun peeks at all the cool and amazing things that have gone on at NONG, just search #nongpopup and #naiise.

(Is this a good time to break into a little rant about how much I hate Facebook these days, from a business perspective and would rather embrace Instagram which creates a much more organic, loyal following? Next time perhaps.)

One of the most special things about NONG was its inaccessibility and strangely beautiful location – the type that makes you suspend reality for a minute and escape the crazy world of incessant brunches and poseur affairs. Even the leaking air con systems – a la HK style – were perfectly genuine and sincere in their manners towards us.

Due to an ongoing battle between the car-park and building landlords (straight out of a Channel 8 movie), we weren’t allowed to have signages anywhere to direct traffic upward. So there was no ‘foot traffic’, only inquisitive, persistent souls who discovered NONG via Facebook and/or Instagram, and specially made the trip down.

And we loved meeting you, every single one of you – from the random weekends, to our wildly successful Hit The Roof party, to Singapore Design Week (we were one of the pit stops for the Design Trail), to workshops spanning a wide range of lifestyle topics (make your own plant babies, make your own kimchi, make your own bar stool, etc). All of it. We even liked the crazy scientists and environmentalists that swung by some times.

D conceived Naiise as being design for everyone, and I think finally understood it.

Anyway, let me run back to my other tab. I have products to upload and HR protocols to read.

It Takes Time To Adjust

It definitely does.

But I’m really loving my ‘job’ now.

Not to say I don’t sometimes miss the structure of a 9-to-5 job, the ability to just space out and do monotonous work (there is comfort in that, sometimes), the assured salary that makes it way to your bank account every month end.

But this freedom, it’s intoxicating.

Which is why people say, once you go down, you can’t come back up. Or is it the other way around? Depends on your perspective!

Too Many Things To Say

Realisation: cigarettes DO NOT make you poop. Oh god! I’ve been living with this fallacy for the past 10 years! 😦

Random shout-out: new dresses up on The Scarlette.

Somewhat random: NONG prettified by blogshop Lollyrouge here. So pretty! ❤ Watching them in action really reminded me of those gentle days EONS ago, when we would hang out in Bali Lane WAY before it become cool, taking pictures for our first The Scarlette collection. Sweet memories, oh just check out those cap locked SUPERLATIVES that remind us so much of how time has flown.

On small businesses (pre-amble): I love being at NONG. It’s one of those intimate spaces that foster intellectual exchange (if you want), and good ol’ down to earth constructive chatter. It’s like one of those roundtable sessions I read about in Flapper novels – the type typically chaired by a ridiculously good-looking woman and her gay friend, and emulated by no other.

On small business (actual): Being at NONG all the time means we get to meet a lot of small business owners – restaurants, coffee bars, social enterprises, retailers, everything. We love being able to work together, it’s a new breed of business owners, and a new way of thinking. We’re in it together, we have larger players to fight (together). Collaboration, the word, has never resounded stronger.

Green Drinks: participated in a session last night albeit from the fringes. Fascinating for environment lovers, especially if you have a brain, an opinion, a passion, a cause, and a mouth. Here.

The Quit Smoking Project

So this is it – the last year I can ever describe myself as being in my ’20s’.

90% of my friends are married, 95% of them have been proposed to, 50% have kids, 40% are well into the second year of their first kid’s life,  30% are onto baby #2.

I might have exaggerated the statistics slightly, that’s what people who write/have written reports for a living do. They tend to take a skewed proportion of the population and apply a logic that works to their advantage 😛

But back to the topic – I’m no where near the above, and age is starting to really creep on me.

It manifests itself when I look at the younger, fresher faces of Insta celebs I meet occasionally (not without a sour, private thought of ‘oh they look better on Insta.. side note to self: TSK TSK SHAME ON YOU). When I look at these newfangled hipster filters of Instagram that make everything look so faded, and wonder what happened to good old vibrant colours. When I carry kids (no shortage of them around now) and wish that soon, I’ll have a kid of my own too.

OMG, I’M GETTING OLD!!!

So, in a bid to gain back some time, I have decided to quit smoking!

Some myths about quitting smoking bunked, and de-bunked:

1) Cutting down works better. False, just quit already.

2) It makes you snack more. True, try stocking your refrigerator with fruits. I told my mom to “support” me in my latest quest and suddenly we have pineapples, grapes, dragon fruit and watermelon in the house chopped into bite-sized yummy pieces.

3) It makes you restless. True, when you don’t have to go for a cigarette break, you suddenly realise how incapable you are of sitting down at a desk/task for a few hours at a go. Solution: walk the dog. Kira is totally benefitting from my sudden desire to go on long, frequent walks.

4) It makes you gain weight. I’ll let you know again.

5) It makes you feel better. Erm, this too I’ll let you know in due time – but it’s nice to stop smelling like a nightclub 😀

6) It’s a sin to err. False, I smoked 1 puff from D and concluded it was gross. See, it’s better to do it, than to wonder what if you did it.

I’m on my 4th smoke-free day now. Hurray! Kissing bye to almost a decade of smoking (ewww!!) Friends: you are allowed to be super nice to me from now on because you know it’s an uphill task and I need all the love I can get rofl. ❤

A February Barrage Of Things!

Hello friends, it’s been a while no?

Let me regale you with a picture of my usual flexible self. Yup, white background, studio shot and a made-up visage – that is right, we have new dresses up on The Scarlette soon. Otherwise, you’d find me running around town in denim cut-offs and thin white cotton tees that feel like heaven in this heat.

 

So let’s do some catching up, shall we?

First off, a shameless plug for some really cool things on Naiise.com you should check out in your spare time:

Boskke – upside down sky planters, just the sort of hipster adornment your kitchen needs to achieve a Kinfolk Table moment. Think: reaching up, grabbing some organic, home-grown rosemary to season your steak.

Plumen – cool industrial light bulbs. If I’ve learned anything from making and hanging my own industrial light bulbs at NONG, it’s that cheap or vintage light bulbs blow easily and pose a fire hazard. Better to go with these designer energy-saving ones instead or risk having a burned down home.

Things I Saw/Ate/Did In Singapore – really cute letterpress printed checklist Singapore postcards for out-of-town friends.

Mee & Kuehs – one of the best things of being at NONG is meeting lots of new and interesting people – gardeners, cooks, social entrepreneurs, nature lovers, community engagers, the list goes on. One of my favourite people is Shu Han Lee, a cookbook author and graphic designer who runs the blog Mummy, I Can Cook! while retailing her own line of self-designed Mee and Kueh posters.

Amai – handmade porcelain plates from Saigon, courtesy of Galanga Living in Singapore. So pretty I want to eat them all!

Next,

Confessions of a noob gawker at a recent dessert bake-off: in short, it reflects nothing about real life. When someone tells you to “Instagram-off” something, it’s a warning signal. Pick my brain IRL for unadulterated version.

Next next,

What will you do if you were at a popular brunch spot, at the only wheelchair-accesssible table in the whole restaurant, and a lady (me) is waiting from 11am to noon for your table, and at noon her frail wheelchair-bound grandmother arrives? Will you offer to re-group at another table (as I totally would), or will you sit there and say “oh no, but we have one more person coming so we’re not leaving soon” all the while tut-tuting and looking around in mock concern to see if we can find another seat?

Hello Madame, there is no other seat. And you’ve totally ruined our family brunch – all we wanted to do was bring my granny to today’s newfangled brunch spots, show her what kiddos are up to these days.

It was the day my faith in local humanity suffered an extra big kink. I have a million mean things to wish upon you, but let’s refrain from that. And I do not you don’t suffer the same indignity two decades later. You’re not that young, old age is upon you soon.

Next, next, next, (happier things)

Really need a vacation, ha ha ha.

Lastly,

I miss this space. Happy to be writing again! ❤

Final Lastly,

I have a favorite dessert from Nat – it is this, and it is AMAZING. I told her that it’s one of the best desserts ever because everyone loves something in it. Deb and Gabby liked the pâte à choux (ok I confess that I had to copy and paste that), someone else liked the crunch caramel, Micki and I liked the lemon cream, and D probably liked the whole thing (he has very love-it-all taste buds). Yum, and proud/grateful sister moment! ❤