15 April 2012 - Stuck with you

It's been exactly 2 weeks since ROM. No time to blog.. haven't on my comp for awhile actually...back from phuket honeymoon with SMB... busy with work... gg physio.... dunno what I've been busy with also..but time just ticked away.

Nothing's changed except we can now legally impose unfair rules on each other without fear of anyone running away.

On the escalator down to train platform.. the long NEL escalator at dhoby ghaut.

Me: oh! our train is here!! quick quick!
ES: what.. you are going to make me dash for the train..AGAIN?! I don't believe it. wait for the next one la.. I just ate..
Me: QUICK LA!!! (dragged him and galloped down the steps..)
ES: (panting in the train...shaking his head) I'm gonna get this for the rest of life man... what did I get myself into.
Me: eh, come..let's play bejeweled and break high score on my phone.
ES: let me catch my breath first can not!

I still love u ES.

DIY Gifts in a jar - Hot Chocolate

I think the best part of my coming ROM would be the many enjoyable hours with ES putting together a small gift for my wedding guests.

I think I need to continue this hobby so that I can get better at it. It's something I really love doing. Time is always the issue but I should start to scrape this excuse.

Hope this will inspire you to DIY your love to your family or loved ones...

1)

I made these ribbons to decor the jars. The pretty ribbons were bought from Daiso. If you intend to tie the ribbons yourself, pls avoid buying silky smooth ribbons. Hard to keep them in place. I totally heart the mad stack papers from the scrapbook shop. The book comes with a variety of deisgns of paper which you can detach and use as you like. $11.90 per stack. Pricey..but the paper designs were WOW. I couldn't resist pretty papers... bought 2 stacks and got one free. 

2) Used Alton Brown's hot Cocoa recipe and it was silky thick. Definitely a comfort drink for anyone. But we tried making one mug and it was really thick and sweet. We added more water and could make 2 mugs instead of one. So you could cut down on the sugar content. 


http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/hot-cocoa-recipe/index.html

Ingredients (Yields 5.5 cups dry mix)

• 2 cups powdered sugar (aka. icing sugar)
• 1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
• 2 1/2 cups powdered milk (we used creamers instead.. tasted great too!)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or more to taste (try it, it's supposed to bring out the choc flavour!)
• Hot water

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate evenly. In a small pot, heat 4 to 6 cups of water.

Fill your mug half full with the mixture and pour in hot water. Stir to combine. Seal the rest in an airtight container, keeps indefinitely in the pantry. This also works great with warm milk.

Used Hershey's cocoa.. can't go wrong I suppose. ;)

 3) Bought the empty jars from Ikea. Spice jars $3.90 for 4 jars. Really value for money.

4) That's how it looks like filled up with cocoa. Oh, you can't see it but I popped a marshmellow in each jar. Yum.

5) The pretty card tag was from the mad stack paper. I bought this stack coz of this heart design actually. The twine is from daiso. I used brown serviettes to give a hat to the jar...from daiso too. I love daiso. Punched a hole on the card...wrote a secret message behind for the guests.. Tada. Done.

6) This is how it looks from behind. And I did not use the ribbons in the end coz I thought they looked too awesome already.

7) It looked pretty painless. But we actually spent half a day each day over 2 days to finish it. Satisfaction guaranteed.

8) Each gift costs about $2.60 + lots of love.

Legaci by chance

Rays peeking through the lush greenery at Bukit Timah Hill

Was trying to compile a great collection of songs for Sunday so youtube was my best friend for the whole noon.

I concluded that oldies are really timeless. And the best thing about them is that the lyrics are simple, conveying one consistent message throughout and harmoniously stringing what I want to say in one tune....making search for 'occasion' songs really easy. 

Chage and Aska - Say Yes

All-4-One - So much in love

Ozaki Yutaka - I Love You (Original tune of Chen WeiLian's 'I love you'!!) 

Queen - I was born to love you

The Carpenters - Close to you

Love all these songs. 

Yep. So that kept me happily busy for a good 5 hours. 

And while youtubing, I chanced upon this accapella band called 'Legaci'. They are the backup singers band for Justin Bieber and they ARE freakin awesome. Buddy Ng might not be too happy to hear these but they are filipinos based in USA. Regardless... everyone should listen their covers.. some I swear are even better than the original singers. Amazing stuff. Immediately became a friend of them in FB... and myspace....subscribed to them in youtube and recced to buy their new single in itunes but buying of mp3 songs are not available in Asia yet.... what's apple doing?!. sigh.

Anyway, I hope these guys get an album out soon.

my S100

My new toy. I wanted a compact camera though I have a DSLR. DSLRs are simply too bulky or not suitable for certain places or occasions... beach.. trekking.. simple gatherings. 

But I've risen to become more anal after being so used to DSLR quality photos. I get so irked by the noise and quality of the normal point and shoot cameras and had to spend alot of time doing post-processing to make the photos palatable to the human eyes... or my eyes. Ya.. eyes too atas already. 

My Canon ixus 860i had served me well for a good 5 years but technology's getting too advanced and I gotta say bye to it. I'm a die hard fan of canon. I have not started using it, but I'm pretty sure S100 will not disappoint me. Shall bring her go Bukit Timah Hill for trekking this Saturday. 

A really fun long weekend coming up. Gonna spend my fave gal time with SMB watching titanic 3D, trek, catch up w sharon san who's been drowning in work and collect my wedding rings. I'm sure it'll be a busily happy weekend.

Pic quality comparison: left is S100: Right is my ixus 860. normal non-flash mode.

In indoor low light condition, pic 1 is less noisy than pic2.

Color rendition in pic 1 is much more accurate than pic2.

A realm of activities

Blogging at tampinesOne now waiting for my hair dye to set. Twister has 49% off on chemical services so taking chance to change my hair color. Read some news... Collated some pics from
Happenings of The week... And tadA...

3 more weeks to a quick phuket chill out SMB without A.. Told A that vowels r crucial.... Can't do without her... Can't form a word without A. See u back soon A.

Activities in a list.. Try to match w the pics! This app can't do captions.

Electric vehicle launch.. Pig out at Suki sushi.. Phuket chill out checked... Humping flies on top of sharon's car pic courtesy of Sharon... Cedele healthy brunch w maria... First on the ranks for bejeweled!...Mystery on who owns that tree.....