What I Do With My Hands...

My hands aren't good for making music only, I love to do things using my hands. That includes cooking, baking, doing crafts, and doing household chores!! LOL. After some dilly-dallying, I'm finally feeling brave enough to show you some of the things I made in my spare time. Warning: it's my very first foray into this type of craft. Look away if you don't like them. Hehehe...

Necklace: silver beads on an adjustable leather string.

The next 2: hairclips decorated with natural & man-made materials. I used silver wire to tie everything together - no offense, stucked on glue are sooo last season! Hehehe...

What do you think?

Psst... I've officially made them a part of my Mystery Giveaway...

P.S. I assert my right as the designer & maker of the above items. I don't believe that immitation isn't the biggest form of flattery. Therefore: copying my ideas without my permission = stealing, punishable by your own conscience and also by law (they're copyrighted). 

Pretty Nails in Bali

I was looking through some old photos when I came across this from my trip to Bali. I had my nails done on the beach by a local lady who used the sharp bit of a nail file as her only tool to draw ALL the flower patterns from scratch. Amazing. My only contributions? I chose the colours and I paid her very generously to do the rest. :)

Close up picture - a bit blurred thanks to my non-existent photo-cropping expertise... :)

Boredom Brings Beauty

Grubby hand and grubby foot out in the midday sun with my latest toy: Barry M Vivid Purple - NP161. The sun makes the purple looks bluer than what it actually is.

P.S. I forgotten that I also used a blue-ish photo effect to make the picture a bit more artistic. That's why my pale skin looks really tanned on it! :)

Barry M Nail Paints I Own So Far

Sometime ago I wrote about Barry M Nail Paints here. Today I'm showing you the 4 colours I own so far.

Shades from left to right:
- Pink Flamingo (NP305)
- Block Orange (NP301)
- Turquoise (NP295)
- Vivid Purple (NP161)

I bought the Block Orange and Turquoise ages ago, and won the other two on a Barry M competition. I don't receive any remuneration for writing about it and I don't get any commission for providing a link to their website. Why am I telling you this? After the recent online brouhaha about bloggers and companies, I felt compelled to write this, just to cover my backside, in case anyone ever accuse me of being one of the "sold-out bloggers". Hehehe...

Shoes and More Shoes

I seem to collect shoes wherever I go. It's not a disease, it's a necessity. Surely there's no such thing as having only one pair of shoes that's perfectly suited for every occasion in life?

To me "functional shoes" = shoes that are designed to serve a particular purpose. To this extent, all my functional shoes have travelled the world with me.

Here are some examples:

a pair of sturdy walking boots to tackle muddy fields (walking in Auckland, NZ)

a pair of slinky heels to match my eyeshadows (indoors in England)

a pair of sneakers to walk around Taj Mahal (on a trip to India)

a pair of ballet shoes (standing on a parchland in Kenya)

a pair of shoes with chunky heels (attending a wedding in Bali)

See what I mean? There's always a time and a place for every shoes! :) Rest assured I have a pair of ankle length boots to wear with jeans, a pair of comfy espadrille to walk around town, a pair of sensible black shoes (not sure what they are for, yet), a pair of knee-length boots to wear with my dresses, plus some more. Oh, alright, I confess: plus many, many, many, many more pairs... (blushing)

Most of my shoes are in the storage place as I'm sort of "in-between country" at the moment, staying at PIL's place. I do have my favourites with me. I'm an organist by trade, so I always carry a pair of modified jazz shoes with me to play the organ. See whether you can spot my tiny organ shoes on the picture below.

Can't really see the shoes, I know... at least you can see me in action! :)

Back to more shoes. Amongst my summer acquisition is a pair of satin Monsoon shoes, RRP £65, acquired for the sum of £1. I couldn't believe it when I saw the price tag. I asked the sales assistant whether there was something wrong with it. She said, "Nope. Only because it's the last pair left-over from last season." Huh?! Last season or not, I fell in love with them straight away. The next picture shows the Monsoon shoes from different angles. Bear in mind that I do not use them for organ playing, the spiky heels make them almost useless for playing the pedals properly. They're just there for a show, in real life they're worn before and after playing the organ. Such is the life of an organist...

Rare Moonflower

Moonflower gets it's name from the fact that it blooms in the evening. It's quite a rare thing to see, as they only flower once a year when they're doing well and the blooms only last a few hours before they died. You know a flower is about to open when you can start smelling the scent. The intoxicating scent gets stronger as the flower opens bigger and wider.

I consider myself lucky as I've seen the rare Moonlower bloomed twice. The first one was seven years ago and the last one was a few weeks ago. Not surprising, really, as PIL own a Moonflower plant. It was a present from a fellow expat who brought it back from Singapore.

PIL always host "Moonflower party" everytime the bloom is out. I remembered them knocking on the neighbours doors and ringing up everyone in their gardening club whenever the flower bloomed. They said the plant always flower everytime there's a great thing happening in the family. There were three flowers in 2002, that was the year we got married and came back to England. Last year there wasn't any flower, nor did the year before. This year there was one, so the plant must have loved us coming back to England (again)! :) Must be a good thing then, since this time I don't really like being back here...

Bicycles, Being Chic, and My Photo

When I was very young I had a tricycle. The rainbow coloured ribbons on the handlebars used to fly wildly whenever I terrorized Micie, our poor dog. Naturally when I got older my parents bought me "proper" bicycle: a red BMX (the most coveted brand in Asia at that time). I thought everyone in the neighbourhood would envy me once I was on that bike! :)

The euphoria didn't last long though. An accident happened not long after. I remember practicing cycling on an empty car-racing track with my cousins. I don't remember exactly what happened next. I probably ventured out of the ground to the nearby street when a motorbike knocked me over. My bicycle turned into a heap of mess, I was in a mess, and that was the last time I rode a bicycle...

Fast forward to the present. Last month I was on the train back from London when a newspaper article caught my attention. It was about different companies that sell interesting cycling accessories. There was also a competition on the same page. The main prezzie was a bicycle with accessories included. I couldn't decide whether I'd like to take up cycling again, in case I win, so I kept the newspaper for my reference.

The following evening I still thought about the bicycle. My heart told me that I should submit my details on internet. So I did. I told hubby, if I happen to win, it would mean that God wants me to take up cycling again.

Guess what, I actually won!! I received the good news when I was down with swine flu. Imagine that! Isn't that strange how things turn out sometimes... After all I've been through recently, chicken pox and all, the news came like some sort of "reward" for my "sufferings". Perhaps it's restitution from God? Whatever that is, I'm not complaining, a happy Music I still am! :)

Anyway, the bicycle is absolutely stunning, miles better than the red BMX I had! It's a Velorbis Danneborg with 3 gears, in fire engine red, of course! It has a beautiful leather seat and pretty white wheels. I'm not really bicycle-savvy, but I think I know a good thing when I see one. :)

I met the gorgeous Caz from Cyclechic when I picked it up. She kindly let me choose the helmet and the colour of Knog Frog lights. I love black, so I chose a black Yakkay helmet that comes with herringbone patterned cover. As for the lights, I chose one black (for the rear) and one white (for the front). I'm also a proud owner of a cream coloured Satchel Pannier. A fantastic and generous collection of prezzies, don't you think?! :)

If you love cycling but "refuse to be another Lycra clad anorak", check out the trendy stuffs available at Cyclechic and read Caz' blog here. Even if you don't like cycling but just want to see more picture of moi, head straight to her blog! :)

P.S. Someone has promised to get me this chic Yakkay Tokyo helmet cover once I'm up and about with the bike again! ^.^

The CrazySticks: Solid Perfume in A Stick

Being on the move quite a bit doesn't always go well with my love of perfumes. Especially after airlines started to limit your on-board liquid allowance, I'm always in a dilemma as to which perfumes I'd take with me. Granted I have travel size/miniature bottles of my most favourites (Hermes Un Jardin Sur Le Nil, Lancome Magnifique, and Bvlgary). Like all liquids, leaking is always a possibility. Sure, I can always take solid perfumes, but they're quite difficult to find as not everyone does them. Currently I have none, nil, zilch, nada solid ones in my possession.

So I'm overjoyed when I found out that Crazylibellule has "Crazy Stick: Solid Perfume in A Stick". What a good idea! I can carry one (or two, or perhaps three?) in my handbag. I mean, if some girls are carrying more than one lip product in their bag, surely I'm allowed to carry more than one perfume sticks with me. Not being a lip-addict = more perfume space in the bag. :)

Take a look at pictures of the pretty packaging I've stucked all-over this post, aren't they chic!

No paraben? I like! The next time I'm in the big smoke (= London) I'm going to Fenwick to check the scents out! :)

Edit: since I wrote this I found out that apparently they contain petrolatum and paraffin, which might be of concern to some people. I'm not a die-hard "naturalist" and I'm still not sure about my stand with petrolatum as I've read many conflicting things written about it. For now if the scent is good enough I'd still be interested to try it, petrolatum or non-petrolatum. Sadly I didn't have time to go to Fenwick on my last trip to the big smoke. (20/09/09)

A Bird Does Not Sing...

This wonderful tag is made by A Robin's Nest. Love the quote! :)

A Tidy Home...

"A tidy home...
is a sign of a wasted life."



I saw a signage with this quote on a shop window in Oxford. :)

I'm generally a neat and tidy person. Personally I think it's ok to have a tidy home, as long as you're not obsessed with tidying up to the extent that it's the top of your priorities in life. Life is too short to be spent that way! :)

Beautiful M&S Gift Cards

These beautiful gift cards (with matching greeting cards) are from Marks & Spencer. They work like the pre-paid Visa gift card I wrote about sometime ago here. The voucher value could be anything from £10.00 - £500.00.

This one on the top left is my favourite, because the card's shape isn't square.

Why am I writing about it? I just had my very first outing after being stucked indoors for 21 days due to the chicken pox! I saw them at the shop, they looked prettier than the pictures here.

Being Artistic

I spent a couple of hours designing the header for my blog. Hope you like it. :)

Pretty Things and Bags

I'm in a whimsical mood today, therefore the pictures.

I came across this beautiful creation on inspire company. It's the kind of pretty things that I'd like to have in my house once we settle down sometime, somewhere in the world...

The handmade bags on the right are from Just A Little Bit Pink. Bags are one of my favourite things. :)

Graphics Fairy

I stumbled upon these delightful pictures on Graphics Fairy while searching for vintage graphics. I've almost forgotten that I like this kind of graphics! :)

Visa, VISA, Tweety, and Moving

Yesterday I received the news that my visa is sorted. Hurra! :) Received all my documents back today. I was told it would take 12 weeks. We pulled strings and pray that it would be sorted quicker. Amazingly it only took 2 weeks instead. Thank God for that! I don't fancy waiting around doing "nothing" here for longer than necessary...

On the subject of Visa, last Christmas I received a pre-paid VISA card with the Tweety picture on it. Though I've spent the $$ at KIT, I'm keeping the card as it's so cute.

Years ago my cousin gave me a bag in the shape of Tweety's head. I loved it and carried it everywhere until a pickpocket took my wallet on the bus in Singapore. I lost my bankcards and student pass amongst other things. You see, the bag didn't have a zip. Since then I don't carry bag that doesn't have a zip on it.

Back to the subject of moving. We've decided to go up to the Southern hemisphere again for a few years. Don't know exactly where we're going to settle yet, it all depends on where hubby gets a job. In a way not knowing what lies ahead makes life more exciting. Can be scary at times...

Nevertheless, God has proven time and time again that He's faithful. He provides all our needs. With the benefit of hindsight I could see His hands in everything that happens in my life. I can even say that my relationship with hubby started with God as the matchmaker. But that's another story.

I hope I don't come across as a religious freak. I believe in God and I'm not ashamed to say it. I do feel ashamed with some brands of "Christianity" that do stupid things using God's name. I guess every religions has it's bad points...

So that's my various thoughts of the day. Now I've got to go back to sorting stuffs ready for the move. One thing to look forward to: I'm meeting a very special person next week. I'm very excited about it. Stay in tune for more news! :)