I quit my job today to start living my dream life!

 
Yes, the cubicle life is over for me! I resigned today from my Online Sales & Marketing job after a year and a half in the company. I'm still like floating in another planet but I think I'll manage to explain the reason why I resigned.

Basically, I have never been an office girl. I got this job a year and a half ago and I have been really happy with it because it allowed me to earn very good money while getting some very valuable insights on e-commerce among other areas, but I've always known it was something temporary. I knew I didn't want to be in the office after I had children and having to leave them with someone else 8-5. So I thought why not starting now? Why not start to live the life that I really want?

I have always known deep down inside that it is my wish to work for myself, and that I most certainly don't want to spend my life working at an office for somebody else. I started to consider this seriously and wondered why I was still where I was, given that I had more than enough savings, and that I wasn't learning much new. At that moment, about two months ago, I decided to start the project of my online store, Frill Me, with the idea of making a living out of it and quitting my full-time job to devote myself to it. One week ago, my online store was successfully launched, and I realized if I really wanted to make something big out of it, I couldn't keep my office job much longer. I kinda knew this even before the launch, and since the first reason I created this store was to work full-time on it, I decided the sooner I could focus wholeheartedly on it, the better. 

I'm a bit scared with my decision because it really takes a lot of strength to quit a job just like that, but I'm very motivated and passionate about this new project of mine. Besides, I'm also writing a book on afternoon tea, as I mentioned on instagram before, so don't worry, I won't be bored!!! In fact, I expect to be really, really busy, but enjoying every part of it, while getting to go for afternoon tea! Ha! Having to spend tea time in the office is something I really hated :D

Almost everyone around me was telling me to wait a bit longer until I could see how the store was working out. The thing they didn't understand is the store won't go alright just by itself! I believe good results come from hard work, and thus I need to put all my effort in it. Some, or most, probably wouldn't dare to leave such a good and stable job just like that, but I thank my parents for my entrepreneurial spirit, that makes me brave and daring. As Steve Jobs put it: Stay hungry, stay foolish. I most certainly will.


Image via iStockPhoto

Wedding Wednesday: Revisiting my wedding venue!

Last month when back home in Barcelona to get everything ready for my wedding, I {of course!} revisited our wedding venue, to ultimate some details with the owners, and just to take a look again at that marvelous place where our wedding will be taking place on October 6, 2013. I'd say the venue was at its best when I visited in April, with vivid colors and blossoms everywhere thanks to the arrival of spring. The light was perfect and the colors really astonishing, I like these pics I took so very much!!!

With mommy!

As I mentioned before, our wedding venue is La Garriga de Castelladral, in central Catalonia, a house from the 17th century currently renovated into a 8-room hotel specializing in wedding ceremonies. This area you can see on the pics will be where our ceremony will take place, at 1:30pm, and then we will go on to another area for the appetizers and the banquet.

If you like wedding blogs, you're gonna love the one from La Garriga de Castelladral. Besides, our pre-wedding pics will be soon featured on their blog... ;) I'll let you know!

My new fave at Tony Wong

I have a new Tony Wong favorite and I just couldn't wait to share it with all of you! I've talked about Tony Wong Patisserie before, {their Pink Rose Cake was my birthday cake for both my 24th and my 26th birthdays!}, and I told you I really like some of their cakes and French pastries! Well I just recently tried their Lychee Dome and fell in love with it! It reminded me of my all-time favorite French pastry, the Ispahan. I'm not one to like lychee as a fruit, but I find it particularly  delicious in pastries. If you're like me, you'll love Tony Wong's Lychee Dome. It comes as a big-sized cake, too, if you want to have it as a birthday cake! 

I tried another of their pastries on the same day, but it was so not good that I even forgot what it was made of! It was chestnut or hazelnut anyways, so chestnut or hazelnut napoleon, but it didn't taste of anything at all, so I wouldn't recommend it!

Check out Tony Wong Patisserie's locations, go try some pastries, and judge by yourself :)

Price around HK$42 per cake

My online store Frill Me is open!

So it's official! My new online store Frill Me is up and kickin'! We launched it last night and we couldn't be happier! There's still much room for improvement, but we will soon figure everything out :) We will be adding more products almost every day, so don't miss out! 

Everything on Frill Me is hand picked by myself, true to my own fashion style, cute and elegant at the same time. I hope you'll like it! Go take a look!

www.shopfrillme.com

Wedding Wednesday: Bachelorette! (II/II)

Woohoo! Here is the second part of the amazing bachelorette party my friends organized for me last month! Feel free to take a look at the first part if you still haven't! So after we finished lunch, off we went to our next stop... my surprise party at a cupcakes shop!!! It was SO awesome when I got in there and I saw the whole thing they had prepared for me. I felt so touched I couldn't help but crying... Thank you girls for all the effort you put on my bridal shower, it was an unforgettable day for me, and hopefully for all of you, too! 

The venue was Victoria's cakes, and it was all decorated for me in my favorite colors, pink and white, with my first name Xenia on a banner {Olivia is my middle name as I mentioned previously}. There were cupcakes, cake pops, sandwiches...

and a big gorgeous princess-like cake!

We ate, drank tea, chit-chatted, took pics, and I received some presents! Mainly bridal underwear! :D Thank you so much once again, I feel so blessed to have friends like you.

Here are some pics with my bridesmaids-to-be! There's still one missing, my friend Connie from Hong Kong who will join my wedding too! Woohoo! 

I'm sososo happy and thankful. Love you all!

PS. J and I have been taking our gorgeous pre-wedding pics this last weekend. Remember to follow me on instagram or facebook for I've been posting plenty of nice sneak peeks!

Discovery Bay

Discovery Bay is the American suburb of Hong Kong. Practically isolated from the city, it's filled up with expatriates with children who like to live away from the city buzz. It's located half an hour by ferry from Central, in Lantau Island. J and I are planning on moving to a bigger place after our wedding, so we're now enjoying visiting all the residential areas in Hong Kong we'd consider living in. Our current apartment has two bedrooms but we turned one of them into our dressing room so there is no space for a baby... Anyway, I didn't like Discovery Bay at all, it's so inconvenient! I guess this is what a suburbia is like after all, and it is not for me. You can only get to Discovery Bay by ferry or bus, no cars are allowed! Crazy @@ I can't imagine living there regardless of their beautiful beach. Besides, I got 40 mosquito bites, OMG! I don't think you'll be seeing me around there anytime soon!

Have a lovely week and remember that I'll be launching my new online store this Thursday! Stay tunned! {Dress and earrings available on my store on Thur!}

Brick Lane: Probably the best eggs benedict in Hong Kong

So as I mentioned previously on my review on 18 grams, I've always loved the eggs benedict from Brick Lane, and I seriously couldn't decide whether 18 grams or Brick Lane should get the highest rating! I think both are simply the best in Hong Kong. At Brick Lane, I like the fact that you can choose what to have your eggs benedict with: salmon, bacon or something else. Of course I always go for salmon!

There's two Brick Lane branches, one right next to the other! I've always been to Brick Lane Gallery because it's bigger. I think some people don't know it exists and they queue like crazy for the small Brick Lane restaurant... So beware! If there's people lining up at the small Brick Lane on 2 Blenheim Avenue, TST, just walk 50 meters to 17-23 Minden Avenue for Brick Lane Gallery!

Visited on: May 11, 2013
Overall Quality: 5* for the eggs benedict!
Price: $80 for the eggs benedict + $25 for a caffe latte + 10% service charge
Value for Money: 5*
Would I recommend it? Yes, these eggs benedict are a must try, yummy!

Surprise!

Wedding Wednesday: Bachelorette! (I/II)

Finally! I have all the pics from the utterly amazing bachelorette party my girlfriends prepared for me on April 13th in Barcelona! I was waiting for the photographer to send me the much awaited pics, and here they finally are!

Everything started on April 12 when Jamie and Soraya came to my home from Oxford and Madrid respectively to be able to attend my bridal shower on the 13th. Words cannot describe how thankful I am to each and every girl who made it to my day, specially those coming from really far away just for the occasion, like Soraya and Jamie, Eva from Andorra, Mireia from Mallorca and Marta from San Sebastian. Thanks to each and everyone of you for an amazing weekend! 

On Saturday the 13th of April, the girls came to my home to pick me up around noon. The first thing I had to do was putting a pseudo-veil on my head... Just so that everyone was clear that this was a bachelorette party and I was the bride-to-be >.<'

Our first stop was at restaurant Murmuri, where the girls had booked a big table for lunch. When lunch was almost over, an amazing surprise arrived: THE PHOTOGRAPHER!!! These girls really know me well! They hired a photographer so that she could follow us around for the whole day paparazzi style :D At the end of the day she had taken 2,000 pictures!!! Jesus!

After lunch we had coffees on the sofas of the restaurant, and then headed to my next surprise, which I shall be introducing to you next Wednesday! You probably already know what it is though, because there were several sneak-peeks on my instagram!

Obviously Jamie didn't get the Spanish of look at the hands hehe

I hope you're enjoying reading about my bridal shower so far. I LOVED IT!