Thank You All!

Thank you everyone for walking through 2008 with us.


Have a prosperous start in 2009! May all of you keep safe and be blessed with good health always!

Sour Grapes

Indeed they are. And these are Dad's pride and joy. The grape vines have been with us for more than twenty years. Previously, Dad planted them at our balcony which sort of restricted their growth. They now occupy our backyard which used to have two huge longan & lychee trees that never did bear any fruit. Instead, we got caterpillars falling off from the trees like snow. Yucks! Caterpillars that were fat, green and some were even hairy! Double Yucks!!


Btw, we also have apple, apricot and persimmon trees in our front yard but i doubt they will bear fruit.


And my dear readers, my home is in super hot, humid Malaysia, so yeah, surprise they can even grow huh? :)


So after three weeks of doing basically nothing, i'm really looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. But now, i have to find that darn blackberry charger. My blackberry has been hibernating for almost two weeks now. Time to wake up!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to All. Happy Holidays!

Over The Last Few Days..

I overate, slept in, watched movies with Shane, went office occassionally (i know i'm supposed to be on leave but my office is like my second home and i do enjoy the company of my girls) and of course, some 'Mommy-Me Time' :)


Went lunch with the gang on Wed at Borgo. No, diet can wait until after Chinese New Year!

Dinner and Drinks with my lovelies on Friday before everyone decides to disappear for the next two weeks:

Had dinner at Restaurant Ember (again!). I chosed it! :)

As always, i had my foie gras and beef tenderloin. Their food presentations were somewhat different from the last.

Next, drinks at The Screening Room.

We had our Round II of 'Truth & Dare'. Have you played that before? I didn't want the boring old style where everyone takes their turn. Rather i made them drew out number cards i prepared beforehand and the dices were rolled to determine the 'victim'.

This was my number - Magic Ten.

The girls were busy scribbling their Truth questions and silly embarassing Dares .

We had an amazing nite just drinking, chatting and acting silly. Try this game at your next Girls' Nite Out. You can check this site http://www.getdare.com/index.php for ideas.


And today, i did something frivolously fun. I blinged stuffs for my sisters, nieces and girlfriends. Yes, bling blings are for girls.



Do you like the sparkling effect on my picture? Sorry if i put one too many. I just learnt how to do this from the web today, so it's rather exciting for me. If you want to know how to create this, here's the tutorial to guide you: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/sparkle/. I had the photoshop program for over two years but never knew how to use it well. I didn't know this effect can be done using photoshop until i saw Eve's pic and i googled for it. I also came across this site that allows download of its stars and sparkles brushes. Here you go, you might like it too - http://www.photoshopbrushes.com/brushes/28.htm.

















Here are what you need to get started:

1) Glue. You'll need special glue that dries up fast, clear and water-proof. Mine is 'Perfect Deco' which cost about S$8.80.

2) Magic Pick S$16.90. This toothpick-like applicator has a rubber end that helps you pick up the rhinestones effortlessly. It works hand in hand with the double side tape found on top of the rectangular pad next to it.

3) Pen S$2.00. Length app 8.5cm.

4) Toothpicks. I use this to dot the glue on the pen bit by bit.

5) Lastly, size 10 Swarovski flatback rhinestones. I used different shades of pink (Fuchsia, Rose & Light Rose) and green (Olivine, Peridot & Erinite) for my two pens as shown in the pics above. Each pack are sold in 144 pieces and cost about S$5.40 per pack. All the materials shown here are from Mix & Match at #02-69 People’s Park Centre.

Now that you know where to get the materials, go try blinging something for someone today. It holds more meaning than getting your good friend that Red Lipstick from Chanel.

Music To My Ears

Shane has been taking music lessons for the past eight months and out of drum, violin and piano, he loves playing the piano most. Well, if you think i'm one of those 'kiasu' mother who forced her kid to go for these classes, you are very far from the truth. With the exception of piano, Shane was in love with drum and violin. I started him off with drum lesson which was the first instrument he wanted to learn and a week later, i started him on piano. i got him a violin too at that time. However, i didn't like the group classes he attended at Yamaha and i stopped him after 3 lessons. Now he's happily taking individual violin class for four months already at the same music school as his drum and piano and is loving them all.


I love the elegant sound of piano since young but unfortunately, had no chance to learn. Shane is my little piano teacher at home and he would get me to practise with him. What i enjoy most is listening to my kid playing my favourite instrument. Here's a clip showing Shane playing one of my favourite song - Long Long Ago. I gather taking vids of him practising is a good way for him to learn from his mistakes. Surprisingly, Shane agrees with me too.

Lost In Translation

Yours truly is taking almost a month long break from work. I needed not-to-work for a while. The beginning of the break saw me taking off to a land four and a half hours flight away from our sunny island. I ended up in cold Taipei.


So enjoy these pics while i collate and organize my thoughts. Time for a mind spring-cleaning session.

If you have not seen me before, you would think i'm as tall as Aud but the truth is.....



I'm being 'elevated' :)











The temperature was hovering between 13°C-20°C and i'm constantly wrapped up in at least three layers. Don't laugh, it's seriously cold for me na!


Taipei, the land of glorious food. Thank goodness i have Lotus & Pammie with me. I serously couldn't read Chinese and i have no clue what some of the food are.


















A super gigantic raddish cake!



A different variation of the smelly toufu. I don't quite like this, prefer the normal one.



Braised chicken leg and duck wings. Lotus bought some on the last nite and we had a quiet nite eating this, drinking Taiwan beer and chit chatting about everything in the hotel room.



The super big chicken steak. Everything is like extra big in Taipei, even their hotdogs!






Woah...!!



Bubble tea stalls are aplenty but this one specialised in white bittergourd juice. Supposedly to be good in battling heatiness.






Beef noodles



Grilled squid



Gyoza



I love smelly toufu!!! It's really very tasty. You got to believe me and try it once.



On the third nite, i just craved for some good old familiar food and i found Kentucky Fried Chicken!!


Taipei streets are flooded with gorgeous, slim and very pretty girls. Seven out of ten wear fake lashes though and their noses are sharp, small and with a slightly high nose bridge.



Fake lashes sold in packs of twenties. I'm not good at wearing them although Lotus gave me a lash applicator from Make-up Store. But ain't it tiring wearing them day in, day out?



It so happened i saw this - nose clip in one of the shops. Decided to buy and see if it can really make my nose as sharp and high as the Taiwanese girls! The sales girl told me all i need is to wear this for 15mins a day.



Immediately i tried it on when i reached the hotel. This is how my clipped nose looked like from the left.



And this is from the right. But alas, i didn't bring it back with me and so, my dream of having a nice higher bridge nose is gone :(



So until the next entry, have a great day at work everyone. I'm going back to my warm bed until dinner time. Then it's wine time with a good DVD in bed.