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OHAI there!

How was your Chinese New Year? Mine was pretty good. We had our reunion dinner the eve of Chinese New Year as per tradition. Then the first day consisted of the usual visiting and getting all excited about dressing up. Okay, my priorities seem a little messed up. Haha. It’s as though I get more excited about the dressing up and going out rather than seeing my relatives. Lol.

But anyhoo, that’s the besides the point. Because it’s Chinese tradition to adorn ourselves in new clothing each new year, the blog has also undergone some changes!

If you havent noticed the change, I really suggest seeing an eye doctor.

Fret not. While the changes are on-going, the usual posting will not be disrupted. The pink skin is probably temporary until I find a better outfit for the blog. Shopping for the perfect outfit always takes time.

If you have suggestions about what changes you will like to see made on the blog, please do drop me a comment. I would love to hear from you!

In the meantime, here’s my outfit from the first day of visiting.

Outfit breakdown

Orange/red tunic top with layered necklace print – Nichii
Rocket Skinny Leg Jeans – Guess Jeans
Balmain lookalike booties – New Look

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

New year, new start.

If the new year was an indication of how the rest of 2010 will be like, I spent most of it at home, eating and nua-ing in bed watching Zombieland. Haha.

New Year’s Eve was slightly different. My New Year’s Eve was spent doing some cardio.

Dancing is always good to burn up the extra calories from the festive eating.

And then making monkey faces to say good bye to 2009.

Of course, going out on special occasions always means a great excuse to dress up. I made me a special pair of bling eyelashes and I got to wear them out!

Eye of the day
M.A.C Paint Pot in Rubenesque
M.A.C Mineralise eyeshadow Gilt by Association
Kate Gel Eyeliner
NARS eyeshadow in Pandora

They matched well with the theme that night: Black with a Touch of Gold. Thank goodness for all the inspiration from monoxious.com. Spending all that time with them, gave me loads of ideas how to dress up that night.

will tell you honestly now. It takes work to be beautiful. And the saying that there are no ugly women only lazy women holds very very true.

The person who said it must have been a beauty queen of some sort.

The last time we were so sleep deprived was the time we travelled 8 hours on the bus from Subic to Mamburao. If my sleep-deprived-working-in-safe-mode brain still serves me well that is.

We had our final long gown competition last night in Pagcor and Sandra, Miss Philippines, definitely had the most outstanding gown among the top 15 finalists. We were blown away the moment she stepped on stage. Alongside Best in Swimsuit, she thus also bagged Best in evening Gown.

3am and we leave for the airport to Iloilo. A convoy of buses carrying girls in states of unconciousness blazes through the surprisingly still busy streets of Manila. We arrive at the airport and everyone files out. You’d think that a bunch of Hollywood celebrities have arrived since almost 80% sport large sunnies. But really we’re all hiding behind our oversized shades trying to conceal our fatigue.

Iloilo’s CPU was the venue for the talent competition tonight. It was a tough fight but Tahiti danced her way amidst other hiphop, traditional and song performances. She definitely wow-ed the audience and the judges with her nimble hips.

As I was watching the contestants, I did wish I had continued with dance more. Haha. I miss dance so much! Especially my loves jazz and hiphop. I could have been up there with a fighting chance. LOL.

But I’m so proud of Neu!! And so happy for her. She is such a sweetheart. Tonight she was excellent on stage. Not only were her moves fantastic she won the judges over with her beautiful smile. Yayyy!!! Group 3 for the win! So far we’ve got Best in Talent, Best in National Costume and Miss Congeneality to our group’s name. Wo00ot! I hope somebody from our group gets Top 4 spots.

Just a couple more days to Coronation before a new queen is crowned. It’s tiring but hang in there girls. This will probably be the only time in our lives we do something like this.

No one ever said being beautiful was easy.

I’m impressed.

Everyone loves good service. But that was not what I expected when I got my Gmask done at Plaza Singapura. They offered a 1 month warranty after masking covering defects including workmanship and I thought I’d go back and get my mask done again because the prints had somehow faded even though I put my Berry back in its case after I got the mask done. In my mind, it probably was something she didnt do that caused it to fade because I’m careful when it comes to my gadgets.

I mean, I’d used the magic Berry case EVEN after masking. Double protection yknow. Wanted to protect both the mask and the phone.

However, I was sorely disappointed when I went back there. After explaining my situation to the girl at the counter, the salesgirl said that the fading of the print was due to the fact that MY BERRY PLUS THE INSIDE OF THE CASE WAS DIRTY! Hello a 2-month old Berry is not DIRTY. It’s not like I use it while bathing in mud either. I obviously wasnt pleased with her “reason” of my Berry being dirty.

I’d paid good money for this. But sadly, it didnt deliver and live up to my expectations. But hey, since I’d already covered up the original backing (albeit with a high price), I might as well zhng it the way I want it right? Turn the BlackBerry into a BlingBerry without ruining the original cover.

Rummaging through my DIY box, picking up scraps and a couple of hours later, my Berry is now a chio BlingBerry.

But as Murphy would have it, happy with my BlingBerry now, the owners of Gmask themselves actually contacted me via email and offered to remask my berry for me at the original boutiques in either Junction 8 and Suntec!

click to enlarge

I’d first said thank you and turned down his kind offer since I’d already covered the mask with my own handicraft. But it was his persistence and strong belief in his own product that impressed me. He honestly didnt have to contact me; he didnt have to offer an explanation that included shouldering the blame and explainiing thoroughly the masking process because the branch I went to at Plaza Singapura was only a franchise and not directly managed by the owners themselves. They dont have direct control over the staff working there.

Despite that, he humbly apologised on behalf of the girl although it was not his responsibility to. It was his sincerity and faith that impressed me. The fact he was able to eat humble pie, unlike so many we usually encounter, is what I called putting service above self. One is able to see that he truly believes in what he’s selling. He even asked for suggestions and feedback with regards on how they could improve. And for someone like me who’s worked in service, I’d never sell anything that I dont personally use or believe in.

So now, my question is what do I bring down for them to remask? My iPod Touch is already blinged up as is my Berry Bold. Maybe I might just get my camera done. Hrm…

One of the reasons why I love coming home early to have dinner.

I get free massages when I have dinner. Hahaha.

Disclaimer: No children were hurt in the taking of this photo.

Short note: The last three pictures were taken with my Berry phone for Tweeting. The picture quality is obviously not fantastic. The only gripe I have against my otherwise awesome phone now with super chio themes!

I didnt think I’d spend my birthday 2 weeks ago in any special way but it turned out to be an awesome and fun day.

I spent most of the morning wondering how best to conduct the birthday giveaway because I’ve never done it on such a large scale. Haha. I worried and fretted over whether there’d be a loophole in the system or whether anyone wanted the items, but eventually figured out the best way of doing so. Lo and behold, in the end, I got more commenters than I thought I would have for the giveaway! I’m still reeling from the success of it and hope to do more awesome giveaways with other sponsors in the future. Silkmineral.com has kindly sponsored a whole of items which I will be giving out this week and next! Wheeee! They even included a little set for my own personal use making me a very happy girl.

Anyway, the morning spent with Mum and Nicole on my birthday passed quickly and soon I headed out to meet Mich for Ice Age 3 in 3D! Awesome show with fantastic graphics. It’s a feel-good show meant for chilling out, laughing and simply enjoying yourself. No need to crack your brains over some weird and twisted plot. What came as a surprise was that not only was the show in 3D, the trailers were in 3D too! Super cool!

After the movie we went to take Neoprints! Hahahaha. I think Neoprints are some things that you should just definitely take on birthdays or special celebrations to commemorate them. What better way to mark the occasion by capturing the moment in a pseudo photo studio? Afterall, you ALWAYS come out looking fabulous in Neoprints. No harm done.

To maximise the money we paid for the photos, we decided to linger in the studio a leeeeetle longer and make use of their background and soft white lighting. Lol.

Doing the 1, 2, 3. I leeched the pictures from Mich’s blog. I love what she’s done with the colours!

Our attempts to copy the Japanese girls in the posters looking kawaii failed miserably. Let’s just stick to being us.

I have so much fun with Mich because she’s so easy to be with. Thanks babe for the birthday treat! Oh and did I mention that she inspired me so much with her outfit that day, especially the Zara blazer, that I went out and bought something to that effect within the next couple of days? She’s got a wicked sense of style.

After all that excitement, I met with nadnut and Belle for coffee and got a little cake courtesy of beautiful Belle.

That somehow progressed into a mini birthday celebration involving the several SPI-ders orchestrated by my mom.

Queen Sallee. Princess Taqinah.

They so cute. They brought me flowers and a crown to simulate the crowning of Miss Earth. Hahaha! Huiwen bought the lovelies and brightest bouquet of gerberras for me. Thank you loves.

So, I am officially almost a quarter century old.

Father’s Day passed with little fanfare as with most of the festivals in my family. We adjourn for dinner at simple restaurants and well, hardly exchange gifts. I do feel guilty about not showering mum and dad with gifts on Mother’s or Father’s Day, but I do try to make it up to them on their birthdays with extra special and expensive dinners at posh places.

Plus this year, with my brother in the army we had an early celebration last week.

I think it’s seems to harder for us to express our affection for our Dads. Especially with stay-home moms, it’s obvious the things she does for the house to keep the house in tip-top living conditions.

But have we ever thought about what our dads go through at work to bring home the bacon? Some people take for granted their dads are personal money banks. Wtf.

I never truly understood what it was like having a full time job until I got into the workforce myself. My dad’s the strong silent type and he never talked about work; I just thought he wasnt the chatty type. However, being the same horoscope as him, I can now fully understand where he comes from when all he wants to do is sit in front of the TV after dinner and veg out.

When it comes to the big decisions about things/choices in life, ideas or growing up, my dad always gives me advice about making the right choices. Not that I ever reaalllly listened when I was younger, but now I know better. Haha. Plus, with the deep knowledge he has about Singapore’s roads, I know that if I ever got lost anywhere in Singapore via public or private transport, I’d be able to call Dad.

I heard about the idea of a date with dad during the Kieng’s hen party from Jeannie, but I never thought I’d be able to carry one out. The idea seemed scary too. What would we talk about!? Jeannie mentioned that lotsa children never took the time to understand their dads and y’know what, my date with dad out turned out pretty nice.

Mum was out for dinner with her friends and my brother had an appointment, so it was just us two. I had initially planned for us to eat at Marina Square, but dad decided that since the Botanic Gardens has a foodcourt at the basement, we should thus go there. Check! My dad’s great at planning a nice dinner date, he just never shows it regularly.

The food wasnt spectacular at the foodcourt (I had some overpriced avocado milkshake and undercooked grilled chicken), but it was fun hiking/walking around the area with dad looking at the various plants as he retold the story of him and mum 25 years ago in that very same Gardens in their wedding gear.

I remember clearly the picture of them posing at the Swan Lake. The lake which, according to dad, used to have black swans currently only has two white swans.

After his story, I told dad about how I remember coming here to release my terrapins into the ponds. Coincidentally, one swam up to us at that moment.

We then roamed about the Gardens looking for the tree that mum and dad took their wedding pictures at; the famous one that all couples HAVE to have a picture at. But dad couldnt remember where it was and we ended up walking around exploring the different attractions with narration about how horrid the weather is by my personal tourguide. Haha.

My dad, my superhero.

Okay. After a week of no updates, here is a long post with lovely photos. Somehow I’ve been unofficially appointed as the school’s co-photographer without my knowledge. The teachers had a meeting and the next thing I knew, I was rostered as photographer for the Cross Country Carnival at MacRitchie which happened on Wednesday.

Not that I mind seriously, because the kids are absolutely adorable to photograph; they are such a gorgeous bunch! But they should drop a memo and check with my Personal Assistant first next time. Haha. I wouldnt have known if it wasnt for the other teacher who told me.

Only after a few hours in the shade, I still managed to get a slight tan. It’s pretty awkward at times going around shooting in these situations. My almost black hair makes me stand out amongst the natural blondes, brunettes and redheads. Furthermore, without the official STAFF tee-shirts the other teachers were wearing, I looked like some random person going around pointing a camera at their kids. But this being the second time I was the “outsider” poking my camera lens into their faces, I think the parents present pretty much recognised me as one of the teachers helping out with the event.

There were several races – Pre-school race, Kindy race, Year 1 to 6s. The pre-school and Kindy has the shortest races of course: 250m. Hahaha. Imagine those tiny 3, 5 and 6 year olds running along gravel at MacRitchie Reservoir. So cute!

Okay. I’ll tell you at this point that the view at that part of the MacRitchie Reservoir took my breath away. I didnt know that the area was SO gorgeous! That probably explained why so many other local school children from track and field teams were there training in their respective teams.

So, it was thus a sight to see the big bunch of little ang mohs trudging down the gravely path of MacRitchie in their trekkers and coloured house tees.

I like this picture – brotherly love. Awwwww.

The kiddos had a walk through the dark forested area before the actual race started.

Along the way, deep in the forest trails, were the checkpoints where the teachers were stationed with spray bottles to cool them off.

When we finally got back from our recce, the race, starting with pre-school, commenced before proceeding to the Kindys, Year 1, 2 all the way up to the Year 5/6.

Run Forrest run!

“I see the finish line!”

As the other kids waited their turn to run, they cheered their respective house teams on.

Once the races by 12 noon, we were done just in time to avoid the strongest sun of the day. Not that the sun wasnt already bright enough during the morning.

Here are some other pictures I particularly like, captured as I was trigger-happy on that bright sunny day.

My absolute favourite: it almost looks like some family ad. Hahaha!

OH did I forget to mention that there were monkeys in the area? As we were recce-ing the place, we saw the monkeys jump from tree to tree. But we never thought they would attack anyone.

Lo and behold, at the end as we were packing up, we heard news that a group of TEN monkeys came and charged at one of the teachers, in particular the one who had the First Aid box. They must have thought that the box contained food for they ransacked and scattered the contents all over the place. What the hell.

Here’s the pictorial evidence by the other teacher. She got really good pictures of them. Hahaha.

Look at the scary teeth! It’s yellow. I dont think they have monkey dentists.

“Oei come down now! Here got food!

They ransacked the cotton buds. Lol. Maybe they need to clean their ears too.

“Ooooo… What’s this? White and fluffy! Maybe it’s cotton candy.”

“Let me taste it”.

“Nommm nommm nommm…

“I think I might be able to use this for lining the garbage bin.”

“Ooooo.. That white stuff didnt go down very well. I think I have a headache.”

“I think some Panadol will do the trick. One might not be enough, I better take the whole pack.”

Let me play some music on my straw flute for you. Doooo.. dooo.. dooooo.. DOOOOOO!

“WAH! Who’s making such a ruckus? I need my Tiger Balm.”

“Ahhhh.. I feel much better now after downing some water and using the Tiger Balm. Whaaa… What? What do you mean this is the end of the post? Fine.”

BYE!

The End

My blog is struggling to keep itself afloat. Or rather Im trying my very hardest to keep the blood pumping and running through what used to make dweam.com. A recent conversation with a good friend revealed that our blogs are becoming so random. Posting randomness about goodness knows what has become the norm. I think we’ve kinda just lost focus. Okay lah, maybe I’m just boring and lazy. Lol.

We wouldn’t say we’re ugly but definitely not the kinds to post pictures of ourselves red-faced, semi-sober and possibly in various states of undress. The latter qualities, however, are what makes some of the blogs out there “popular”. Voyeurism has been taken for a technological ride. We, on the flip side, are seekritive people leading a life of shady activities and unmentionable business (HAHA), hence churning out limited posts that aren’t exactly colourful and detailed regarding our whereabouts and whatnots.

So anyway I’ve hopped on the Twitter bandwagon and after only about a week on Twitter, I feel that micro-blogging is a much easier and personal way to communicate.

Here are my top 4 reasons why I like Twitter so far.

1) It’s like SMS. It feels as though you’re directly texting your friend, making it similar to a personalised message. But infact your “text” is reaching more than just your intended audience. A wider audience just happens to be lurking behind the screen. Best part? It’s FREE!

2) Yes blogging is free too but it doesn’t sound the same when you post on your blog sveral hours, or even days later, how much you thought the person next to you stank. Yes tweeting is in real time and would sound as though your friend is yelling at you all the way from Jurong or Pasir Ris ,”OMG! The person next to me stinks like a sewer!! Save me.”

3) 140 characters is easier to think of than a 500 word post.

4) Keeping track of your friends’ activities is very much easier. You don’t need to navigate different pages as everything is published on your “Home” page. No need to remember different web links!

Okay now if you will excuse me, I need to go check my Twitter page. The 80 over updates that spam me when I’m merely several hours away, is scary.

It’s Earth Day today!

“Earth Day, celebrated April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment.”
from Wikipedia.com

Did you do your green part today? I did my part by taking public transport today. In fact, I do my part for the environment by taking public transport everyday! Pfffft. My body clock is still getting used to have to wake up just half an hour earlier. I get up and remain in semi-sleep mode until about 9 or 10am when snack/breakfast time comes around. With the fuel in my system, the engine starts to get going. School has just reopened and I have to sheepishly admit that I do enjoy going to school amidst all the good-looking kids who make me wonder what an anomaly is doing in their midst.

But, that’s another story to tell. Today also coincided with a birthday! A birthday the posse celebrated last weekend over seafood.

We ordered crabs and man tous. Though Im not a big fan of crabs, this was only my second conscious memory of eating crabs, I do enjoy the chilli crabs from Jumbo Seafood Restaurant. YUM!

The crab was the main highlight of dinner. We had an order of 2 chilli crabs and 15 man tous amongst other dishes like veggie, fried rice and fried squid.

Chuan looks guilty because he started on the crabs before we did!

While poor Jasper wonders when it’s going to be his turn to tuck into the tasty dish. Haha.

After dinner, we had cake. As the years go by, it seems, however, the cake gets smaller, but the meals get bigger. Definitely a good thing because the smaller the cake, the less candles you can put on it to remind yourself of your true age. HAHAHAHA!

“Where’s my cake?!”

There it is!
It’s a tiny Spiderman cake! Haha! So cute.

And the birthday boy is very excited to eat his cake. I think he can audition for the next evil villain role in a Spiderman movie.

“Aha! And now Im going to eat you up Spidey!”

“But first, Im going to karate chop you!”

Because we are old and atas people now, we adjourned to a nice place owned by Chuan’s friend to chill out where we also did a prize presentation ceremony for the birthday boy.

Prize presenters and the guest-of-honour.

Opening his present.

“Eh? Whaaaa…?” Jas looks on in disbelief.

It’s a box of mints!

Although he was pleased with his “presents” (Jas is a serial mint eater), the real present lay buried within the folds of the box.

“So this is the real present!

Look at his brilliant smile. It was hard for him not to because it was a belt from his favourite brand! It is also a belt he uses for other purposes! Hahaha!

Jon: “Eh? Is that the newest way to wear a belt?”

Lilian, being the classy one, looks on in disdain.

And what’s a gathering without a group picture?

Oei Birthday boy. Happy Birthday lah!