>>> Fancy A Dip? <<<

The boys got another chance at swimming again. My friend invited us to her condo which houses a large pool and the boys had a great time swimming with her kids. As Zac hasn't learnt to swim properly, he had to go into the baby's pool where there were equipments to amuse him. Later, we managed to find some shallow areas in the deep pool where he played to his heart's content. I leave with photos of today's event:

As usual, he has to go down the slide in a different way!

That certainly wasn't meant for him!

The two boys at the baby pool. The see-saw actually squirts water when you go up and down. Have to say, I was quite impressed with the water equipments.

At the shallow end of the deep pool. These little fountains could be activated simply by the touch of a button.

TTFN!

>>> Psst! Have You Heard... <<<

Check out what's happening this weekend over here! You won't want to miss it! TTFN!

>>> So Much Going On <<<

Spent the mid afternoon checking out Art Friend, an art and craft store in Takashimaya. They not only sold Copic but also Promarkers too but it was great to be able to test the different types of Copics that they sold. Plus they had a 15% discount so I indulged in a few Copic Ciao markers to try out. I'm still partial to my Promarkers.

The evening was spent taking a leisurely stroll in Changi Village. Two of my ex-colleagues brought my boys and I there and we had a nice time catching up on old times while the boys let off steam, running around. I put my camera to good use and was lucky to catch the sunset.

My boys, hot and bothered, after running about so much!

Ex-colleagues and now fab friends of mine.

Caught the sun setting

Sun rises at 7pm and sets at 7pm here, more or less. Pretty regular.

TTFN!

>>> Scrap Day! <<<

Took some time out today and went over to a friend's place to scrap. Been ages since I've done that and we had a great time. I actually completed 2, yay two projects. The first is a hanging frame for my youngest and the second, is a card. Both were done for a scrappy blog .... which will be revealed this weekend!

Did more scrapping in the nite (guess mojo is coming back now) and completed another alphabet of my A-Z BOM album. Sheesh, that has been taking a while to complete and I've only got 5 more letters to do. I did the letter 'X' tonite and as soon as I've sought out photos for the other letters, will try and complete them.

For the letter X, made use of the word 'XO'. Can't say it's easy to find a suitable word with the letter X so XO just happened to suit my theme! Made use of Scarlet Lime July kit.

TTFN!

>>> Last Week Of July! <<<

Sheesh! Can't believe we are into the last week of July already! I will dread it when August start flying past as this means the end of summer vacation. So far, am enjoying my stay here. Can't tell you what a relief it has been not to be stuck with 2 kids all day long (and for 6 weeks)! My dad certainly has helped tremendously, especially during meal times, saving me the immense hassle of deciding what to eat/cook all the time, during bath time as he enjoys doing it (who am I to argue?) and playing with them. I'm around as well but it's nice to be able to put your feet up and read a magazine (in peace, I may add) and not be at the kids' beck and call all day. In fact, I'm actually enjoying their presence far more. Strange but true!

On the crafting side, managed to break my crafting lull and produced some LOs/projects. Here's one of the LOs that I did for Banana Frog July's Colour Focus challenge:

Brought a few Banana Frog stamp sets so had to make do with what I have (it's not easy scrapping with limited supplies). Made use of Scarlet Lime June kit (patterned paper is from Little Yellow Bicycle Traveller collection... entire set of papers rock!). Stamp sets used here are Greenwich Park, Backgrounds and Paper Chains.

Also played with Bellaboo August kit, which features Fancy Pants Kraft Kuts (the girl papers) and My Mind's Eye Penny Lane collection. There's a sneak peek on the Bellaboo blog so not difficult to guess the papers. As it's not August yet, so here are some sneak peeks of what I've done:

Ok I absolutely adore the owls so couldn't help using them to death! LOL! Did a lot of stamping too. Hope I've done justice to the papers as my crafting mojo is still on vacation mode and it's so darn difficult waking it up! Not having my border punches and embossing folders doesn't help either.

I'm off tomorrow to scrap with a friend! Best get my butt to bed as it's now 3am in the morning. I still can't sleep normal hours but at least I'm not yawning my head off in the daytime! TTFN!

>>> Another Week Gone! <<<

OMG! A week has almost passed since the last vacation posting. Where has time gone? Seriously it's passing by far too quickly for my liking.

The boys and I haven't done much although I did allow them out. On Monday, we eventually caved in and took them swimming! Yeah, they did have fun and so did I, capturing them on my camera.

On Tuesday, I brought Oliver to watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It was good although there was a couple of tedious bits that got me nodding off only to be awakened by my son! On Wednesday and Thursday, brought the boys to the two different parks. They both luv the exercise station at the park and never fail to experiment with the various equipments. But the biggest draw is the playground and it's ever so difficult to get them off.

Zac having a go at doing situps in Yio Chu Kang Park

Zac climbing up the vertical ladders at Bishan Park. His fear was going over to the other side but somehow he managed to conquer it and got over.

At the playground in Bishan Park.

On Friday, I met up with a friend while my dad brought Oliver out and mom looked after Zac. I managed to pop into Orchard Road and was transfixed by the new changes. Well, a new mega shopping center, Ion, was built. (It was an empty site last year when I was there). As if we don't have enough shopping centres here already! I didn't have much time to look around as I wanted to check out the Apple Store. Yes, I'm seriously thinking about switching to the Mac... had enough of PC!

Let see what the next few days bring.... definitely taking it easy and slow here. :) TTFN!

>>> On Display! <<<

My crafting mojo is gone at the moment... still on vacation mood! This was July's offerings at BackPorch Memories:

Solo kit

Medley kit

Stamp set

I was given the Medley kit to play with and it was such a delightful kit that it sold out rather quickly! Here's what I did:

Played with My Mind's Eye Breaking Free papers

Played with Bo Bunny Popsicle papers

Played with Fancy Pants Kraft Kuts That Boy papers. LO is based on a sketch by Becky Fleck which was assigned to the DT members.
Most of the stamps used here was from Unity Confession set. Absolutely adore that set!

Using Bo Bunny papers and BPM cupcake stamp set (another item that sold out quick as well)

Check out August sneak peek here. I'll be playing with Basic Grey June Bug papers! Can't wait! TTFN!

>>> It's Saturday! <<<

The boys again asked to go swimming but was again refused! Ollie's eyes are slightly swollen due to his constant rubbing and as it's the weekend, the pool will be packed with people. Instead, I brought them to the park and as a treat, allowed them to have a Happy Meal at MacDonald's.

The park has an exercise station and the boys lost no time in trying them out.

Zac's fav activity... riding on one of these motorised vehicles. Ollie felt a little embarrassed so didn't want to take part. Cost: S$3 for 15 mins of pleasure!

While we were in the town central, we dropped in at the camera store and my dad got me this baby:

So chuffed as it has been on my wishlist for a while ever since I upgraded my camera lens to 18 - 200mm. Since it was a big lens for my D40 body, at times the lens got in the way of the flash. Hopefully with this new baby, it won't happen anymore! Can't wait to have a play with it! :)

TTFN!

>>> Happy Birthday Oliver! <<<

Today is officially my eldest son's 9th birthday. Gosh, how the years flew. His grandad bought him a cake and I got him a DS Lite as his current one is no longer working. I did want to get him the latest DSi but was told it was pointless spending extra just for the camera which would eventually be a white elephant and I was offered a good price for a package deal so I went for it. I had a good browse at Sim Lim Tower, a place that sold mainly electrical stuff from camera to computers as well as electrical components. Checked out a couple of laptops too which are so dirt cheap now! Mmm ... might be tempted to get one later!

We did the usual birthday celebration for Oliver i.e. cutting the cake and giving him his pressie.

His grandad gave his some cash to spend so he was naturally delighted. Guess I'll probably bring him to a Lego shop to choose his gift.

As for myself, tried to book an appointment to get a hair cut for tomorrow but was told to come immediately instead as my fav hairdresser wasn't in tomorrow. So off I went. Had my hair coloured in a mahgony shade and he gave me a 'Vidal Sassoon' bob cut. Quite pleased with it and he even thinned it as I do have quite thick hair which can make styling a little difficult. I didn't finish till 9 pm and by then it was too late to do any shopping as shops were starting to close. So I had dinner outside instead. Such a bliss not having to cook everyday.

Boys are yearning to swim but as both have colds at the moment, keeping them indoors for the time being. With the threat of swine flu around, quaranting them for the moment till they are better. It so hard to keep them indoors as both want to go out but better be safe than sorry! TTFN!

>>> We Have Arrived! <<<

Wednesday passed like a blur! The day started out as per normal routine but in between, I was frantically packing and ensuring nothing was forgotten (I'm sure I will remember something mid-air)! Thankfully I had checked in online so we arrived at the airport an hour before departure, checked in the baggages and immediately headed for the departure lounge. People were already boarding the plane which incidentally was full house too.

Flight was eventful. Both boys occupied themselves with the inflight entertainment which had tons of movies & games. And they slept, a lot too! Had to wake them up when we reached Dubai to change planes and immediately on board, they went off to sleep again until the last 2 hours before arrival in Singapore. As for myself, didn't sleep a wink and spent most of the time playing a Shanghai Mahjong game (which was highly addictive).

My dad and brother greeted us and took us home. Since both boys didn't eat much on the plane, Ollie was first to ask for his fav food, hor fun. We arrive at 2120 but I doubt very much the boys will be sleeping early tonite.... the time difference will be drastically altered for the next few days!

I leave with some photos of our flight.... TTFN!

In Dubai airport

In Dubai airport. We had to catch another flight from Dubai to Singapore.

Both completely and utterly fast asleep!

As soon as they woke up, they were busy watching a movie. (Excuse the crap photography)

TTFN!

>>> Last Minute Scramble! <<<

Typical! The day I travel, I'm trying to do 101 things at the same time! No wonder I'm stressed out and suffering from insomnia! Luggage yet to pack and trying to finish up my boys' teachers gifts! Thankfully I opted for simplicity... merely decorating a calendar planner for the school year! Thank goodness cards have been made months ago (thanks to 365 Cards challenges). Now what's the chance of moi sleeping on the plane.... nada! I can't sleep on planes. So after 17 hrs of flying, I'm gonna be a zombie by the time I hit Singapore!

Enough rambling and back to packing.... will catch up on my blog when I'm in Singapore! Until then... TTFN!

>>> 365 Cards Day 132 <<<

Been MIA this month as there's lots to do... son's birthday party, teachers' gifts (as usual, leaving it till last minute) and of course, packing for our summer hols. I'm off to spend the entire summer with my parents in Singapore.

Doubt if I can keep up with all the card challenges this month or the next. However, will make an attempt when I can. Anyway, today, I managed to squeeze in this card when I checked the site this morning! The challenge 'Picture This' features a birthday cake with lighted candles. You are supposed to take inspiration from it.


A fairly easy card to do so here's my effort:

Patterned papers by Bo Bunny Popsicle papers. Stamped image by BackPorch Memories May stamp set and sentiment by Unity June KOTM set.

Gotta run.... need to organise party games for tomorrow's birthday party. Can't wait till it's over! TTFN!

>>> Unity Hip Hop Hangover! <<<

It's time for Hip Hop Hangover again and today I'm focussing on June 09 KOTM set.


I absolutely adore this set and lost no time in making a few cards with the images. Some of these may have appeared on my blog as I've done them for a few card challenges. But I'm pulling them together on this thread to showcase June KOTM set:







As you can see, the teapots are probably one of my fav images. I've not finished with the set yet and no doubt, will probably see more projects being done with this set. Thanks for dropping by. TTFN!