Addicted to Blog shops

Most recently I was drawn by a Facebook ad to a blogshop selling clothes at low prices. Then I stumbled upon a whole list of shops from Hazel who is an avid blogshopper herself. The more I looked, the cheaper the clothes seemed to get! The cheapest clothes had to be the ones from Korean Fashion sites. Tops went as low as $12! Crazy right?

But the sad part about this is that, my picky nature only found one decent blogsite that I could honestly say that I truly am addicted to. I loved the style of clothes All Things Lovely sell which suited a more mature crowd than the teeny-boppers with their rompers and baggy clothes. I preferred clean lines, good quality material (that looks and feels expensive) and I am crazy about pleats and polka dots. Sadly not all the clothes can fit me and many of them are for the skinny.

Not saying that I am fat but I have to pick the clothes I buy very carefully for fear they don't fit into my big hips a la J-Lo. Okay fine! I don't have that HUGE a hip but wide enough to be a problem when buying clothes. Hence I could only buy A-line and flare cuts.

All Things Lovely or ATL for short really does have "all things lovely", even the site itself looks rather presentable despite the Live Journal messy blog concept. It took me like a month to finally figure out how to read a LiveJournal website.

ATL is known by the blogshoppers for their good quality material. My first purchase (which I felt was like winning an ebay auction... these sites sell fast... it's crazy!) was a white dress called Enchanted Chic. When it finally arrived, I was a little disappointed that it didn't fit me very well. The hip area of the skirt was very tight and the top was very loose. Putting it on was a major difficulty...having to squeeze my chest through the tiny waist and yet having a top that was meant for women with big boobs to fill.... it's ironic! But I am getting it fixed to fit me better, all thanks to my capable mother who is helping me fix the problem areas. Having said all that, this is to be expected of buying clothes online when you can't try. But Enchanted Chic is a really gorgeous dress. It looks very feminine yet sophisticated and I don't regret my purchase despite it all.

Then I bought Polka Dot Classique and I was really in love with that dress. This dress was a bit loose in certain areas and putting it on was, yet again, another major feat! I have no idea why the designer did not open up the zipper all the way to the sleeve hole. Every time I wear it, I get so fearful of tearing the dress up when I try to cram my elbows through the tiny sleeve holes. Me putting it on is quite a sight.... almost like I was doing some new age yoga technique. I wore that dress to a function yesterday and I thought it looked really good!

I bought another dress Chapel Of Love from them. That was the first dress that I fell in love with and decided to stick to ATL for my future purchases. But they tend to sell dresses and I need tops! I hope they will sell more tops in future as those are way easier to buy and fit into (I think!). Plus I am in dire need of getting some light colored tops. I'll post up pictures of my other dresses once I have them ready!

Having said all that, my loyalty remains with ATL for their clothes' material quality and for the design which is really classic and I really love that about them.

My (late) 3rd year anniversary gift

Chris finally bought me my third anniversary gift... after a long tiring search we decided the Cath Kidston polka dot wallet. After we received it like 2 weeks ago, I insisted on it being wrapped and a card or letter to go with it. I don't want to compromise on the effort in giving the gift. :) Three days passed and no letter. So I insisted on a handmade card since he was already 3 months late and still nothing.

I still could not rceceive my gift because he still hasn't made the card. It was only on Saturday while I was busy working on my bouquet, that he finally completed making the card for me. It was gorgeous and beyond my expectations. It basically blew me away and moved me to tears from the effort he put into making it. This guy never fails to move me with what he does for me and it reminded me of why I married him. It is his distinct silent yet full of 'heart' character that makes people like him so much.

Check out the impressive card he made...using my tools and paper of course... it really put my rubberstamping/craft-making to shame... haha


The wallet and front of card which has a ribbon to 'seal' the card. Notice our wedding couple icon embossed in the centre of the scallop circle?


The back of card which looks like the reverse of the front. Note the doily lace punch details. Love it!

The heartfelt effort put into creating this pop-up inside the card really made me cry.
Isn't Chris so sweet?

the ring...

I had meant to upload this but didn't get around to doing it. Ok I plucked a pic from the Net. This is the ring Chris bought me.... It's still gorgeous and shiny... but the necklace I got from US by Elsa Peretti kinda sucked.... the chain has tarnished and with cloth polish it still doesn't get back to its original shine... the pendant is also starting to tarnish a bit. This was after Tiffany polished for me and I decided to wear it daily. I think my sweat was too much for it. I have to dip it in polish solution though I haven't quite done it yet.

My 30th birthday

Wow it took me 5 days to finally update on my birthday. No pictures though... lazy to upload. :P

As usual my persistent questioning of 'what are you going to do for my birthday?' worked well, Chris planned a midnight cake and glutton-like celebration with a couple friend of ours Jonathan and Karen. We were slightly delayed because of our Kairos lesson which ended at 945pm on 20 April and rushed over to their place to meet for supper/dinner at Chomp Chomp for some good stingray and kang kong. The stingray was really good, fresh fish, tender flesh, nice sambal though I'd like more! The kang kong was not bad (I've tasted better) and portion a bit small for $10. All in all my craving for stingray was met and we adjourned to Jon and Karen's place to apparently 'pick up' something big Chris was borrowing.

I had anticipated a lychee martini cake from Pine Gardens when we met them at their flat downstairs for supper then realised the cake could be at home, waiting for the stroke of midnight. And it did happen, though 5 minutes early (Jon's clock was 5 min faster) and lights were shut off while I was reading and then alas the birthday song was sung with a nice lychee martini cake from PG (as anticipated).

We had fun making Chris sing a solo for my birthday song and it was a blast. We even got it captured on video, just waiting for Jon to upload to Youtube and link it up on FB for all our friends to watch! Hah!! He's not done it yet... which reminds me...

We ate 2 slices each and felt the ultimate sin of gluttony. It was quite bad... i felt so fat when I got home and had to prepare for bed... imagine sleeping with a full stomach! The next morning, we got up early and 7-ish 8am and Chris had planned a surprise day for me. He brought me to have breakfast at a place I've never been to and never heard of. It was called Hatched at Evans Rd on Evans Lodge. It was a cosy and quaint little bistro that serves.... eggs! It was my first time having a fancy breakfast (in Singapore) and eggs benedict, I enjoyed it! Though the wagyu beef wasn't all wagyu-tender to me, the overall was okay. Chris enjoyed his ham sandwich and we'll definitely be back to try other stuff on the menu. They didn't even charge service charge which was great! The service was good with the only server chatting with his customers, though a little slow.

Then we headed home and I was to pack for an afternoon of sun, sand and sea with PorkChop which I'd thought would be at Sentosa. Chris was to head out and run an 'errand' which I already guessed what it was. He had some trouble running the 'errand' as he could not find his IC. I had already guessed we were going to hire a car for the day and so the cat had to be out of the bag when he told me to help him look for his IC at home. He returned home and we both spent about 20-30min looking for his IC. When we were on the verge of giving up, out of the blue, I just stuck my hand into a side pocket of my Porter bag and dug out his IC!

So Chris returned to the rental company with his IC at about 11.45am. He came back at about 12.15pm with a smile on his face and we were all set and ready to go in 15min. Pulled along by PorkChop in his usual excitement, we went downstairs with all our barang and I waited at the void deck for Chris to retreive the car from the carpark. Five minutes later, I saw a silver Mitsubushi inching slowly down the narrow ramp of our carpark and I was laughing at his snail-like moves. We loaded up and had to put PorkChop into the carrier cos the rental company didn't allow pets in the car.

Well it was a good thing we did, for we found so much fur in the backseat even with him inside the carrier! PorkChop really liked the car ride we guessed for after barking and whining for 5-10min (after he was done chewing his rib... we had to put it in or he wouldn't go in), he kept quiet and even lay down. I think he really liked the A/C and the scenery in the window, plus we kinda ignored him.

Chris drove to East Coast Park and we found a place to park near the Road Safety Park and headed to the beach. We forgot to bring a canvas to lie on and had to settle for a shelter near the beach. The waves was surprisingly big and current was also strong. We brought PorkChop into the water and tried to help him get accustomed to the water. He was quite frightful because of the bigger waves (compared to Sentosa) and the current felt quite strong for him... he looked like he was going to be swallowed up by the water.

We didn't last long there and wanted to do lunch but the sky was turning dark and we barely made it to the car before the storm came upon us. We drove around and ended up at Thomson for our late lunch. We found a cafe/bistro along the row of shops and settled down for lunch at 4pm. The rain caught up with us as we reached the shops, we barely made it to cover again (we'd parked a distance from the shops). Parking is ridiculous for cars... hard to find and expensive!

This little cafe place was called ICE and had surprisingly decent spaghetti and the strawberry ice cream I ordered strangely tasted similar to Movenpick's strawberry ice cream except their strawberry bits were a tad smaller than Movenpick's. It was nice and we had wedges too! :)

After the rain stopped we went back and drove home. Porkchop desperately needed a shower but we could only do it the next day for we had to rest and prepare for dinner later. Chris thought it would be a good idea to make our car rental worthwhile by driving all the way to Changi for dinner. And so we did.

We were talking and enjoying the radio and got so distracted that we did not realise we were heading straight towards an ERP entry along the expressway. Chris made a smooth maneuver from the third lane to the shoulder lane within 50m of the gantry and we stopped there, hazard light on and all. We desperately searched for a cashcard even though we already knew Chris left his in his bermudas pocket at home and I left mine in my pouch at home. I was all panicky and weighing the options of going through the gantry and getting a fine or parking there to wait for the ERP to go off. We were there at 7.55pm.

Chris decided to wait and we found 2-3 vehicles behind us waiting. I was so worried about getting caught. Alas 8pm came and the lights went off. We thanked God but I'm still worried we'll get into trouble because there are cameras there! So we headed to this bistro at Changi that Jon had recommended. We spent 10min searching for a way into this secluded bistro and had to U-turn 2-3 times just to get in. It felt like a looped dream where you kept going to the same place again and again.

After so much frustration we parked our car and headed to the bistro for dinner. It was 9pm. I had chicken chop in hickory sauce and mushroom soup while Chris had a set meal of rib eye steak. There was no breeze and Chris was sweating like a pig as we ate. I was paranoid about getting bitten by mosquitoes even though I had a mosquito coil burning near my feet.

After dinner we headed to my aunt's place at Pasir Ris to check Chris' eyesight and have his new glasses made by my uncle. We relied quite heavily on the map app in Chris' iPhone and after Chris parked his car, all the way at the top deck, and after admiring Chris' impressively straight parking, we realised we parked at the wrong block and this was not her block!

After much grumbling from Chris, we made our way to the correct block in the cluster of flats opposite this one we were at. Finally made it! We did our deed and then went home at close to midnight. What a day! Just when you think the night is over, we spent another 5min searching frantically for our book of 50cents coupons for the parking of the car from 7am-8am the next day. Then I found it hidden at the side of the front seat. What an eventful day!

We made full use of the car rental and took PorkChop out early the next morning for breakfast at West Coast Park. We had Mackers while PorkChop had his usual Go Natural! Salmon & Oatmeal kibbles. We met a nice lady from Holland with her brown poodle Ben, who didn't like PorkChop at all. PorkChop kept sniffing and wanting to play with Ben even though Ben kept snarling at him countless times. PC just doesn't get it and don't take no for an answer.

We rushed home and then returned the car at 11am. I cleaned up the car of all the fur and I think the rental car dude was very happy with its condition, he grinned and asked us to rent again!

If you're wondering what Chris got me that day, he had not gotten me a gift then, I was too picky and he had no idea. But I finally chose a silver intertwined ring from Tiffany's last Sunday to mark my 30th birthday from Chris. :)

metamorphosis

January has been a crazy month for me. Weekend after weekend of weddings. Good business of course but not without a price. For one of the weddings... either Jac's bubbles/brunia or the wedding before (grace's)... we found a caterpillar from one of the stalks. These are from South Africa so we assume the caterpillar was also from there. We tried to keep it in a glass jar and fed it with leaves. Unfortunately it died during its metamorphosis. Not sure why. Turned black and died.

Another week later, I took out a rag from the flower fridge and found another caterpillar inside! We tried again and kept it in a jar. This time it seemed to be a success. Many days ago we saw it formed a cocoon/chyrsalis. We thought it would die because it was taking a long time. But we noticed the color change not black but to light yellow/white. Then we know this one survived! This morning I came to check and saw that a butterfly was inside the jar. We missed it climbing out of the chrysalis but it is not hanging onto a twig and the wings are still wet and small.

But according to the internet, it is pumping a lifesaving fluid into its wings so it can enlarge, harden and fly. I really hope that will happen. It didn't move for sometime. But then just now it moved a bit to change its position. I saw a part of its bottom secrete a kind of fluid and then it dropped off.

The wings appear to be shimmer pale yellow. I wasn't sure if it was a moth or a butterfly but it has a smooth body without furry texture and its wings has a metalic-like shimmer so my guess is it's a butterfly.

It's so wonderful to be able to witness a metamorphosis first hand. Pity that Chris is out and did not see the butterfly. I dropped a flower in there just in case it is hungry. Now I am thinking if I should go find a garden to let it fly into. It needs to mate in the next 4-6 days and then it will die. I am afraid there are no potential mates in Telok Blangah. Hopefully Chris comes back soon!

Pictures will be posted later. Lunch now!

Porkchop wears a hat

We've been wanting to get a hat for Porkchop for the longest time but haven't found one perfect hat and haven't got around to making any. Today out of the spur of a moment, we made him a party hat out of recycled paper. He wore it and tried very hard to shake it off. He was successful a few times but then we managed to have it stay on him long enough to take some shots. Today also marks the day he finally has his own name tag on his brand new red collar. Looks so smart.


Left: Chris took some really nice profile shots for him. He just turned 10 months old on 25 Dec! Right: Here he looks grouchy in the hat he doesn't like.

Left: I could not resist taking a picture with him in his hat. Look at his expression, he looks like he is saying "humph"! Right: Who says a dog can't smile? Look at that wide grin!

Namaste!

It is the last night of my Nepal trip and tomorrow I will fly back to Singapore for a quick one and then to Bali. Nepal has been amazing and beautiful. The experience is also hard to describe because so many things has happened. Truly God is good for I saw His wonders and how He has provided and protected us all the way.

We met with no trouble in terms of health and we have been protected all the way though there were incidents that will take time to tell in detail. People are waiting to use the computer so I have to leave now. See you all back home!