I just got my necklace from Shanice yesterday, who had her collegue buy it for me in the US. It was hand delivered to my store ... Thanks! :) So when I met up with Evon today in Orchard, I decided to bring it to Tiffany's to get it engraved.
It was pretty crowded when we got there ... looked around a little b4 finally getting someone's attention. Took out my necklace and bracelet and told her that I wanted it engraved. She told me it would take THREE days. I told her I wanted the engraving to match my bracelet EXACTLY! At first we could not find the font and my heart sank ...I told her that I had it engraved at a Tiffany's in the US. She said that they did not have in hse engraving here and that it was sent out. Just as that was said, I spotted my font .... GREAT :) I asked whether she could also take the bracelet and then tell the person that I wanted it THE SAME. She said that it might be confusing for the person if he received 2 items, then she said if I was free now, why not take it there myself and then I could tell him directly and get it done on the spot. The best part was it was just 2 buildings away .... I thanked her and Evon and I made the short walk to Cineleisure.
I reached the store and told the lady I wanted to get something engraved. Just as that was said, an Indian guy came out from the back and was carrying a piece of paper and a chinese dictionary. He asked whether the hanyu pinyin that he wrote for a name was correct. Even I knew the first word was wrong and we told him. He said he checked the dictionary ... we then asked him to show us and when he did it was the wrong word, we were right. Evon told him the second word was right (it can't be found in the dictionary as it was made up to be auspicious) but they could not find the third word. She told him what he wrote down should be right...
After settling the hanyu pinyin, I was finally able to explain to him what I wanted .... He said ok, he will do it exactly. He went to the back and was hard at work ..... Evon then whipped out her phone, she was still a little unsure and puzzled that we could not find the word in the dictionary. So she called her friend and found out the correct pronounciation. We then waited around .... he was busy at work, I kept peeping in the back and kept seeing the computer screen reloading with my initials. My heart was pounding, got a little nervous ... he better not mess up my necklace! Yes, very drama.
After abt 15mins or so, he finally came out with both items. He said because we were so patient and helpful, he also redid my bracelet! The engraving b4 was a little light. I checked them out and a huge smile appeared :) It was PERFECT! It looked great. I thanked him profusely .... so happy!
Evon then told him about the last word, he thanked us for our help and headed to the backroom. I asked the lady how much was it for the engraving. She said ...
$5
Huh? $5? Yes, she said, $5
I gave her the $5, went back to thank the guy again and left the store.
It cost me US$8 to engrave my bracelet, 3 times more! I did not ask how much it was earlier when we were at Tiffany's, but I am assuming it would be more? Moreover, he helped me redo my bracelet! Haha, thank god I had Evon with me, I would have been no help to him if I had been there alone and was asked how to read chinese words.
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Here's me wearing my new necklace ... haha, had tons of help to get it. 40% was from birthday ang pow $ from my parents, bro and sis-in-law, the rest was me. Then Shanice who got her collegue to get it ... will thank him when I pay him. Last but not least, Evon who was there at the right time and place so that I was able to get a perfect job done on my engraving at a great price :)
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Close up ... umm, the engraving was S.S.L. Why? Well, I am very ang mo (caucasian) ... my name is Serena Su-Ping Loh, so S.S.L. If I wasn't a twinkie/banana, it would have been L.S.S. Not as pretty leh .. I love that the letter S is in the begining :)
I actually thought of only getting 2 initials (S.L.) when I got my bracelet. However, Nikki said that 3 initials would be nicer ... I agree :) I love my matching set! Next ... hmm, charms for my bracelet. The charms cost S$230 each .... abt the same price as getting it in the US, might save about S$10 or less depending on the exchange rate, not worth the effort unless I get 4 or 5 at a go .....
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Hmm .... How? Yes? No? Should I just leave my bracelet plain and not clutter it up and make it chunkier?Decisions, decisions :)
Anyway, after I got the engraving done, we went to eat. I was craving for Xiao Long Bao so we went to Din Tai Fung which was across the street. While waiting, KL called and asked if they could join us as they were unable to get ticket to their movie. So KL and Huiyi joined us ... we had dinner and after than headed down to Hereen where we did a little shopping. Evon was the only one that bought something.
We headed down to TCC where we had coffee and dessert. Yum ... chocolate :) Tonite was an early nite, actually took the train home with Evon ... I think it might be a first for us! We usually are out so late that we have to share a cab back :)
Will be working afternoon tomorrow .... the mall will be having their midnight shopping. So it looks like I won't be home until about 1am or later .... GROAN!
