Day 5

Dear you, 

I miss you. I miss you so much.

We have been so busy lately. So busy that I sometimes neglect that you are my boyfriend and you sometimes neglect that I am your girlfriend with feelings.

But business has been great, and so I guess that's to be happy about.

I don't have much to say today because all we have been doing is working and rushing around working. But I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the brief 10 minutes we had alone in the small studio in the dark today. I really miss these quiet times and I really miss you.

I hope when things settle down and when we are not in so much of a financial crunch anymore, we have more time together.

Love,
Vilvian

Day 3

Hi baby,

Happy 8.5 years to you! It's been a long and exhausting day at work and it will be another long day tomorrow... Guess we won't be celebrating the day but it's okay! I hope we will still find joy in something we do together tomorrow.

I've been feeling very frustrated and easily angered the last 2 days. I'm not too sure why but I realize I take it out on you a lot. I am sorry.

You know, sometimes, a little voice in me suggests that I hope to lead a normal life with you whereby we walk hand in hand together all the time, meet twice or thrice a week for date nights and earn a stable income so that we get to spend more time with each other and not feel so guilty about spending money.

But it is a very quiet voice. A larger part of me still knows that I am doing what I love and even though I'm not making much out of it, at least I am still following the path I wanted to and at least I am still passionate about my life. I think that is important.

Money is such a sensitive topic these days. I hate any topic about having not enough money. I hate it because I try my best to work to my bones but it is still hard to bring enough money each month. I hate it because this stupid money issue brings me back a lot of horrid memories and truthfully each time, we talk about a lack of money, the traumatic experience from my childhood hits me with such ridiculous force..

And it tires me so much. I really really want to get out of this vicious cycle of not having enough money.

Love,
Vilvian

Day 1

Dear GJ,

I've decided to change this space into a dedication sorta thing to you. I think it would be a good idea for me to try and write a letter to you everyday through this platform. At least someday we can sit back and reminisce our life together through these letters...

Today marks our second year going to Savour together. Although the event was of a much smaller scale than the previous year, I still enjoyed myself immensely. I think it was because you were there with me. Food always tastes better when you are with your loved ones. In 2 days time, it will mark our 8.5 years together.

The last 8 and a half years have been something like a roller coaster ride. Sometimes we go through crazy dips and other times, we go through some insane rounds and then, there are times we go on an impossible high. Although there were moments that I felt like I needed to give up, I am glad I didn't. I am happy that I managed to listen to myself and know that only with you around, would I be happy.

Today's letter is about how important you are to me in my life because that's what you are, you are important to me. As you know, I am extremely family oriented. Sometimes, ridiculously so. Thank you for always letting in to me. When we first got together, I thought we wouldn't have lasted. I didn't believe that someone that I've only known for a mere 2 months could bring me happiness for the rest of my life. I'm glad we took that leap of faith though. Life wouldn't have been the same for me without you.

The past 3 years in particular has been a whirlwind of activities. Thank you for La Novella. Thank you for building our future with me. I don't see this as just a business. I see La Novella as our baby. I see this as our future. We built it together and I think the business wouldn't be what it is today without either of us. So I am glad we did this together. I am happy that everything is starting to take shape and that we are finally going somewhere with La Novella. Thank you for believing in me and thank you for letting me believe in you.

I just want to thank you for everything once again.

And I love you. I really really truly do.

Always loving you,
Vilvian

8 years ago...

We were in secondary school, only 15 years old. On different occasions, we went to the beach together. Sometimes, we stayed back in the beach together after school events. We only had the two of us. I only had you and you only had me. The only things that accompanied us were the sand, the sea and the skies. But we had so much, so much fun together. We spent all the time together frolicking under the skies, in the sea amongst the sand. And it was so much fun. We had no money then. No commitments. No rental to pay, no bookings to fulfill. 

And we were so happy. 

Now we have a functioning business, we have sufficient money to spend... But we have no time for the beach anymore. We have no time to enjoy the sun, the skies, the sea and the sand anymore. We also have no time for fun anymore. 

When we are at the beach, we don't spend time frolicking in the water anymore. Instead, we peacefully stare at the sea. 

I have so much to say but so little words that can explain these feelings. 

But I think 8 years ago, we were happier.

Mandatory Year End Post

Hello world, 

It's been yet another long while but here's my mandatory end of the year post!

2013 has been a year full of ups and downs. I honestly don't remember much of it because I spent so much of my time working and life has became such a blur to me. 

I cannot believe the year is finally coming to an end and that I will be turning 23 in 5 months time. 

2013 saw La Novella's business blooming into one that's starting to take more shape, one my worst physical fall so far, the boyfriend finally finishing army and just a whole slew of things that really feels quite like a blur to me.

I hope come 2014, business will start becoming brisker and that our financial situation can finally stabilise.

My 2014 resolutions include: 

1) Repaying all of my debts to the boyfriend's family, my family and my uncle. 

2) La Novella expansion

3) Travel to a different country every month or at least every 3 months

4) Love more, trust more, worry less. 

5) Be happier

Love,
Vilvian

Hello world. It's been another long long while since I entered this space.

As of this moment, I am sitting down at Food Republic in 313 Somerset with a cleanly installed macbook. I also only have about 10 more minutes worth of Internet before this free Internet thing at 313 runs out.

My phone is also running out of battery.

I am currently trying to install Photoshop here in a bid to entertain myself while waiting for the boyfriend.

-

Mundane updates aside...

I am finally, finally letting go.

To those who don't know, I am officially only a supporting partner of LNS now. I don't manage the studio anymore.

I wish I could put the amount of relief I felt after the arrangements were made into better words. I can't though.

All I can say is that I feel like a huge weight have been lifted off my shoulders.

Don't get me wrong though. I still love LNS like I did on day 1. But passion... I've learned that passion cannot sustain you forever. That even the most passionate of individuals get tired sometimes, they get burnt out sometimes. And this is me burning out, this is me getting exhausted.

And sometimes, stepping backwards when you are exhausted is a great way of letting your brand progress.

The boyfriend is currently managing the studio and I think he's doing a damn good job at refreshing our brand and ensuring that things don't get too stale.

He has huge plans for the studio.

And I am happy for him.

-

The point is... I haven't blogged for so long.

This is starting to sound a little funny. Haha.

I think I am going to stop now.

Love,
Vilvian

Follow your dreams.

11 days ago, I turned 22.

The past 2 years have been insane.

I dedicated the bulk of my time to La Novella Studio. As a result, I had one the best birthday presents presented to me in my entire life. I was invited back to Temasek Polytechnic last month for an alumni talk to the Marketing juniors.

I remember when I first accepted the invitation, I swore I could have kicked myself because I asked myself on what basis do I head back to school to talk to people? I am not an incredibly successful person and it's not like I have been through university education. But I realized that was my self esteem talking.

I headed back to school on the morning of 25th April with the support of the boyfriend and Qi Rong. I remember it was extremely nostalgic to head into school again. Walking around the school brought back a lot of memories that I seem to have forgotten because I was too busy working.

I saw all the marketing lecturers that has taught us before and it made me miss school even more.

After which, I got to find out that I was the first speaker of the morning. That made me extremely nervous. I walked up to the stage. My legs were shaking furiously as I spoke my greetings to people.

After that, I got a lot more confident. I realized all I was doing was to share my life with these young boys and girls who had their own set of dreams as well. I finished off my presentation and it was quite heartening to notice that people actually stopped to listen to what I had to say.

Q and A came and I came to the realization that my speech actually touched people's hearts. I had a lot of questions directed to me that day. And I answered every single question happily because I realized that these young people are full of ambitions that no one probably realizes.

I realized that my talk actually made them realize that going into university after poly is not the only choice available to them. If you have enough guts, and if you are willing to work hard enough, you can fight for your own piece of land as well.

And I was glad to have this opportunity to share my story because I realized that I managed to somehow, inspire people with my speech.

And it is quite touching. I really really felt touched when I realized that people were actually interested to listen to me.

So thank you Temasek Polytechnic Marketing, it was an extreme honor to head back to school and thank you for having me.